The effects of fantasy football participation on NFL consumption: A qualitative analysis

The growth of fantasy sports into a multi-billion dollar industry has made it an important component of the sports industry. Sport leagues must acknowledge the impact fantasy sports have on the way its participants consume their sport. This study examines the impact of fantasy football on the consumption of NFL-related products and services using an adapted version of the attitude/behavior model developed [Fazio, R. H., Powell, M. C., & Herr, P. M. (1983). Toward a process model of the attitude–behavior relation: Accessing one's attitude upon mere observation of the attitude object. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(4), 723–735]. Using qualitative methods, the data indicate that fantasy football participants utilized various media sources, specifically the Internet, television, cellular telephones, and a variety of print media, at much higher levels as a result of their interest and participation in fantasy football. Further, contrary to previous literature on fan loyalty, team and player outcomes were found to alter perceptions towards a favorite team or a fantasy team.     

Reliability and Validity of the PLAYfun Tool with Children and Youth in Northern Canada

The reliability and validity of the PLAYfun and PLAYbasic tools were assessed. The PLAYfun, PLAYbasic, Canadian Agility and Movement Skill Assessment (CAMSA) obstacle course, and Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) were administered to children (aged 8–14 years) in two remote Canadian communities. Inter-rater reliability of the PLAYfun and PLAYbasic were good-to-excellent for average measures and moderate-to-good for single measures. The PLAYfun subscales were poor-to-excellent for average and single measures. The internal consistency of the PLAYfun tool was good, PLAYbasic was poor-to-good, and the individual subscales were poor-to-good. Convergent validity was moderate-to-large for the PLAY tools and CAMSA obstacle course, and small-to-moderate for the PLAY tools and the PAQ-C, and small-to-moderate for the PLAY tools and age. For children and youth in northern Canada, the motor competence aspect of physical literacy is most accurately assessed using the complete PLAYfun tool and two raters.     

Coming to Terms with Perfection: The Case of Terri Schiavo

Our project is intended to supplement and extend research that emphasizes how the rhetoric informing the euthanasia debate admits a call of conscience and how this call would have us act heroically as we acknowledge what is arguably some particular truth that is at work in the debate (e.g., only God has the right to take a life). The relationship between conscience, acknowledgment, heroism, truth and rhetoric, we submit, presupposes the workings of our metaphysical desire for perfection—a desire that is definitely on hand when debating issues of the “good life” and the “good death.” The relationship constitutes a rhetoric of perfection that plays an essential role in the euthanasia debate as a whole. Such a rhetoric lies at the heart of the recent and much publicized case of Terri Schiavo—a young woman who lived in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years before she was allowed to die the “dignified” death that she supposedly wanted all along.     

Internet access in libraries

Abstract

This article compares the newspaper coverage of Internet access in public libraries across two countries, Canada and Singapore. The aim is to discover some of the main concerns and themes that the press identifies with libraries, noting the differences between the two countries in this regard, and then to provisionally link these differences to certain structural characteristics of their respective societies and states. To achieve these aims I compare press coverage produced in terms of dates of publication, discourse producers, and discourse content. Implications of the findings for libraries and librarians are discussed.     

Kinanthropometric and physiological characteristics of outrigger canoe paddlers

We describe the physiological characteristics of amateur outrigger canoe paddlers. Twenty-one paddlers (13 males, 8 females) were evaluated for body stature, aerobic power, muscular strength and endurance, peak paddle force, flexibility and 250 m sprint paddle performance at the end of the outrigging season. The mean variables ( - s) for the males were: age 27 - 9 years, height 175 - 5 cm, body mass 80 - 5 kg, arm span 178 - 7 cm, sitting height 100 - 2 cm, aerobic power 3.0 - 0.4 l·min-1, maximum bench press strength 85 - 19 kg, right peak paddle force 382 - 66 N and left peak paddle force 369 - 69 N. For the females, these were: age 26 - 6 years, height 168 - 5 cm, body mass 70 - 8 kg, arm span 170 - 5 cm, sitting height 97 - 3 cm, aerobic power 2.3 - 0.5 l· min-1, maximum bench press strength 47 - 10 kg, right peak paddle force 252 - 63 N and left peak paddle force 257 - 60 N. Analysis of variance revealed diff erences (P ? 0.05) between the dominant and non-dominant sides of the body for peak paddle force, isokinetic internal and external rotation, and flexion and extension torque of the shoulder joint. The outrigger canoe paddlers were generally within the range of scores found to describe participants of other water craft sports. Outrigger canoeists should be concerned with the muscular strength imbalances associated with paddling technique.     

Variability and progression in competitive performance of Paralympic swimmers

Abstract

Analysis of variability and progression in performance of top athletes between competitions provides information about performance targets that is useful for athletes, practitioners, and researchers. In this study, 724 official finals times were analysed for 120 male and 122 female Paralympic swimmers in the 100-m freestyle event at 15 national and international competitions between 2004 and 2006. Separate analyses were performed for males and females in each of four Paralympic subgroups: S2–S4, S5–S7, S8–S10 (most through least physically impaired), and S11–S13 (most through least visually impaired). Mixed modelling of log-transformed times, with adjustment for mean competition times, was used to estimate variability and progression. Within-swimmer race-to-race variability, expressed as a coefficient of variation, ranged from 1.2% (male S5–S7) to 3.7% (male S2–S4). Swimming performance progressed by approximately 0.5% per year for males and females. Typical variation in mean performance time between competitions was ～1% after adjustment for the ability of the athletes in each competition, and the Paralympic Games was the fastest competition. Thus, taking into account variability, progression, and level of competition, Paralympic swimmers who want to increase substantially their medal prospects should aim for an annual improvement of at least 1–2%.     

Reflective practice,experience, and the interpretation of anxiety symptoms

Abstract

We offer an examination of the processes athletes undertake following a sporting experience in order to learn how to interpret their anxiety-related symptoms as facilitative to performance. Six experienced, elite athletes were interviewed regarding the reflective practices adopted following both positive and negative critical incidents with a view to generating knowledge about their competitive anxiety symptoms. Composite sequence analysis procedures were employed to allow data to be considered as meaningful sequences for both the positive and negative incidents. Findings showed distinctions between the effects of positive and negative incidents on the reflective and learning processes and how this influenced the further appraisal of competitive anxiety symptoms. Support is provided for the use of reflective practice as a framework for experiential learning within sport.     

Global Status, Intra-Institutional Stratification and Organizational Segmentation: A Time-Dynamic Tobit Analysis of ARWU Position Among U.S. Universities

Ranking systems such as The Times Higher Education’s World University Rankings and Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Academic Rankings of World Universities simultaneously mark global status and stimulate global academic competition. As international ranking systems have become more prominent, researchers have begun to examine whether global rankings are creating increased inequality within and between universities. Using a panel Tobit regression analysis, this study assesses the extent to which markers of inter-institutional stratification and organizational segmentation predict global status among US research universities as measured by position in ARWU. Findings indicate some support that both inter-institutional stratification and organizational segmentation predict global status.     

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother–infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother–infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (M_age = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic). Newborn attention and arousal were measured shortly after birth using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale. Higher newborn arousal predicted a slower return of infant RSA to baseline. Additionally, greater newborn attention predicted mothers’ slower return to baseline RSA following the still-face paradigm, and this effect only held for mothers whose infants had lower newborn arousal. These findings suggest that newborn neurobehavior, measured within days of birth, may contribute to later mother–infant physiological processes while recovering from stress.