Incidence and risk for traumatic and overuse injuries in top-level road cyclists

All traumatic and overuse injuries occurring during an average period of 4 years (2002/09) in a group of 51 currently active road top-level cyclists were retrospectively registered through clinical interviews. Average age was 25.8 years. Average training and competition period was 28.3 ± 2.4 h a week. Only 8 cyclists (15.6%) were completely free from lesions during the period of study. The remaining 43 cyclists suffered a total of 112 lesions; however, 9 out of these were unrelated to their cycling practice. These 103 cycling-related injuries include 50 (48.5%) traumatic and 53 (51.5%) overuse injuries. Twenty-eight fractures were reported, the clavicle being the most frequently affected bone (11 cases). The 68.5% of overuse injuries were located in the lower limbs. Most overuse injuries (89.6%) occurred during the training period. According to the injury abbreviated scale (AIS), severe lesions were only found in 4 cases (8% of traumatic injuries). Overall injury rates were 0.50 per racer/year, 2.02 per studied racer, and 0.007 per 1000 km of training and competition. Active professional top-level cyclists are exposed to a high injury risk. According to the scarce previously published data the current study provides relevant information on the injury occurrence of still active top-level road cycling.     

Quantitative and qualitative evaluation of linguistic input support to a prelingually deaf child with cued speech: A case study

This paper studies the linguistic input attended by a deaf child exposed to cued speech (CS) in the final part of her prelinguistic period (18-24 months). Subjects are the child, her mother, and her therapist. Analyses have provided data about the quantity of input directed to the child (oral input, more than 1,000 words per half-an-hour session; cued ratio, more than 60% of oral input; and attended ratio, more than 55% of oral input), its linguistic quality (lexical variety, grammatical complexity, etc.), and other properties of interaction (child attention and use of spontaneous gestures). Results show that both adults provided a rich linguistic input to the child and that the child attended most of the input that the adults cued. These results might explain the positive linguistic development of children exposed early to CS.     

El aprendizaje de las matemáticas elementales como proceso condicionado por la cultura

En «El aprendizaje de las matemáticas elementales como proceso condicionado por la cultura», Carlos Vasco examina el «mito» de que las matemáticas son un «lenguaje universal de la ciencia» y, por tanto, una materia supracultural. En sus análisis de casos de niños colombianos, llega a la conclusión de que las matemáticas pueden depender tanto de la cultura como el aprendizaje de la literatura o la historia. Según Vasco, la mayoría de los enseñantes cree que los niños no saben nada de matemáticas cuando entran en la escuela; por tanto, la enseñanza de la «matemática moderna» sólo puede llegar a un pequeño porcentaje de los niños. Vasco aduce que sólo los estudiantes que pueden construir sus propios «sistemas conceptuales a pesar de sus maestros» y desentrañar por su cuenta la maraña de sistemas simbólicos serán inmunes a la «fobia a las matemáticas».     

How Exactly Does Place Matter in Crime Analysis? Place,Space, and Spatial Heterogeneity

This article has four aims. First is to clarify the origins and different meanings of place, space, and other basic concepts in spatial analysis. The second aim is to reiterate the illogicality of the spatial homogeneity assumption in ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. An illustration of the comparison between traditional OLS and geographically weighted regression modeling is included for this purpose. The third aim is to explain that place matters in crime analysis not only when crime data are spatially clustered, but when relationships between correlates are found to be conditional upon place. The final aim is to convince criminology and criminal justice faculty to begin discussing the inclusion of spatial modeling as a compulsory topic in the curriculum.     

Instrumental Variables Two-Stage Least Squares (2SLS) vs. Maximum Likelihood Structural Equation Modeling of Causal Effects in Linear Regression Models

In the presence of omitted variables or similar validity threats, regression estimates are biased. Unbiased estimates (the causal effects) can be obtained in large samples by fitting instead the Instrumental Variables Regression (IVR) model. The IVR model can be estimated using structural equation modeling (SEM) software or using Econometric estimators such as two-stage least squares (2SLS). We describe 2SLS using SEM terminology, and report a simulation study in which we generated data according to a regression model in the presence of omitted variables and fitted (a) a regression model using ordinary least squares, (b) an IVR model using maximum likelihood (ML) as implemented in SEM software, and (c) an IVR model using 2SLS. Coverage rates of the causal effect using regression methods are always unacceptably low (often 0). When using the IVR model, accurate coverage is obtained across all conditions when N = 500. Even when the IVR model is misspecified, better coverage than regression is generally obtained. Differences between 2SLS and ML are small and favor 2SLS in small samples (N ≤ 100).     

Factor Analysis with Ordinal Indicators: A Monte Carlo Study Comparing DWLS and ULS Estimation

Factor analysis models with ordinal indicators are often estimated using a 3-stage procedure where the last stage involves obtaining parameter estimates by least squares from the sample polychoric correlations. A simulation study involving 324 conditions (1,000 replications per condition) was performed to compare the performance of diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) and unweighted least squares (ULS) in the procedure's third stage. Overall, both methods provided accurate and similar results. However, ULS was found to provide more accurate and less variable parameter estimates, as well as more precise standard errors and better coverage rates. Nevertheless, convergence rates for DWLS are higher. Our recommendation is therefore to use ULS, and, in the case of nonconvergence, to use DWLS, as this method might converge when ULS does not.     

Promoting a participatory convergence in a Spanish context: an inter-university action research project using visual narrative

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the deconstruction of an inter-university action research project that has allowed us to rethink our teaching and research, questioning the social, political and ethical dimensions of the university. Following the pre-assembly proposal to promote participatory convergence, organized within the framework of the 1^st Global Assembly for Knowledge Democracy (2017), an action research process was implemented in order to generate systematic inquiry around the current situation of the university and the need to act and rethink our commitment to promoting changes in this context. We have reflected on the meaning of democratization, rethinking the pedagogical relationship with our students and how we critically commit them to promote activism. We generated an environment where we look for the meaning of our practices by means of a visual narrative which has enabled us to weave and identify our own biography and become aware of where we are and why we act in one way or another. We have also focused on the search for the meaning of our actions in relation to the community we belong to and how to deal with the challenges of social justice, encouraging collaboration with other networks in a wider inter-university framework.     

Adaptation and evaluation of a learning analytics dashboard to improve academic support at three Latin American universities

Despite the success of academic advising dashboards in several higher educational institutions (HEI), these dashboards are still under-explored in Latin American HEI's. To close this gap, three different Latin American universities adapted an existing advising dashboard, originally deployed at the KU Leuven to their own context. In all three cases, the context was the main ruling factor to these adaptations. In this paper, we describe these adaptions using a framework that focuses on four different elements of the context: Objectives, Stakeholders, Key moment and Interactions. Evaluation of the adapted dashboards in the three different Latin American universities is conducted through pilots. This evaluation shows the value of the dashboard approach in different contexts in terms of satisfaction, usefulness and impact in academic decision-making and advising tasks. The main contribution of this paper is the systematic reporting of the adaptations to an academic advising dashboard and showing the value of an academic advising dashboard on academic decision-making and advising tasks.     

Application of velocity loss thresholds during free-weight resistance training: Responses and reproducibility of perceptual,metabolic, and neuromuscular outcomes

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate the differences and long-term reliability in perceptual, metabolic, and neuromuscular responses to velocity loss resistance training protocols. Using a repeated, counterbalanced, crossover design, twelve team-sport athletes completed 5-sets of barbell back-squats at a load corresponding to a mean concentric velocity of ~0.70 m·s^?1. On different days, repetitions were performed until a 10%, 20% or 30% velocity loss was attained, with outcome measures collected after each set. Sessions were repeated after four-weeks. There were substantial between-protocol differences in post-set differential ratings of perceived exertion (dRPE, i.e., breathlessness and leg muscles, AU) and blood lactate concentration (B[La], mmol·L^?1), such that 30%>20%>10% by small to large magnitudes. Differences in post-set countermovement jump (CMJ) variables were small for most variables, such that 30%<20%<10%. Standard deviations representing four-week variability of post-set responses to each protocol were: dRPE, 8–11; B[La], 0.8–1.0; CMJ height, 1.6–2.0; CMJ PPO, 1.0–1.8; CMJ PCV, 0.04–0.06; CMJ 100ms-Impulse, 5.7–11.9. Velocity loss thresholds control the magnitude of perceptual, metabolic, and neuromuscular responses to resistance training. For practitioners wanting to reliably prescribe training that can induce a given perceptual, metabolic, or neuromuscular response, it is strongly advised that velocity-based thresholds are implemented.     

Trajectories of Adjustment in a Brazilian Sample of Street-Involved Youth

Trajectories of adjustment were examined in a sample of street-involved youth across a 1-year period. Participants (N = 113; M_age = 14.18 years; 80.5% male, 91% non-White) were recruited in three Brazilian cities. Interviews conducted at three time points included six measures of physical and psychological adjustment. Unconditional growth models revealed linear declines over time (i.e., improved adjustment) on three indicators: health symptoms, sexual risk behaviors, and negative affect. There were no linear changes in drug use, positive affect, or life satisfaction. Conditional growth models revealed few significant effects for age or gender, but ratings of stressful life events moderated longitudinal changes in health symptoms, drug use, and negative affect. Implications for practice, policy, and theory are discussed.