Moral communication in elite sport – forms,functions and effects

This contribution examines the use of morality in the communication between coaches and athletes in elite sport. Here, moral communication is constructed as a social fact from a systems theory perspective in order, under the light of this construction, to analyse concrete examples of it from the sports of team handball and field hockey and to reflect on its functions and effects. The findings of the analysis are incorporated in recommendations for coaches which advise a cautious use of morality since careful consideration must be given to the polemogenic nature of moral and moralizing communication.     

Water-Based Aerobic Training Successfully Improves Lipid Profile of Dyslipidemic Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of water-based aerobic training on the lipid profile and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) levels in premenopausal women with dyslipidemia. Method: Forty women were randomly assigned to: aquatic training (WA; n = 20) or a control group (CG; n = 20). The WA group underwent 12 weeks of water-based interval aerobic training twice a week at intensities ranging from 9 to 15 on the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high- (HDL) and low- (LDL) density lipoprotein, TC/HDL ratio, LPL levels, and peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak) were evaluated before and after 12 weeks in both groups. Results: The WA group elicited decreases in TC (9%; effect size [ES] = 0.69; 95% CI [0.05, 1.33]), LDL (16%; ES = 0.78; 95% CI [0.13, 1.42]), and the TC/HDL ratio (17%; ES = 1.13; 95% CI [0.46, 1.79]), as well as increases in VO₂peak (10%; ES = 0.64; 95% CI [0.002, 1.27]) and HDL (10%; ES = 0.28; 95% CI [?0.35. 0.90]), without significant changes in TG (ES = 0.16; 95% CI [?0.46, 1.79]) and LPL (ES = 0.36; 95% CI [?0.27, 0.98]) levels. In the CG, no statistically significant changes in any of these variables were found (TC, ES = 0.19, 95% CI [?0.43, 0.82]; LDL, ES = 0.22, 95% CI [?0.40, 0.85]; HDL, ES = 0.05, 95% CI [?0.57, 0.67]; TG, ES = 0.09, 95% CI [?0.53, 0.71]; TC/HDL ratio, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]; LPL, ES = 0.02, 95% CI [?0.60, 0.64]; VO₂peak, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]). Conclusion: Water-based interval aerobic training positively affected the lipid profile in premenopausal dyslipidemic women.     

Memory Profile of Children with Nonverbal Learning Disability

The aim of this study was to compare visual and verbal memory in children with nonverbal learning disability (NLD) using the Children's Memory Scale and to identify the profile of strengths and weaknesses in visual memory abilities. Performance was significantly lower on measures of visual than verbal memory, indicating that children with NLD have deficits in visual memory despite adequate verbal memory. A unique pattern of performance emerged for the visual but not the verbal subtests. Performance on the Faces Immediate subtest was well below average, although other measures of visual memory were within the average range. Hence, it appears that children with NLD have a specific deficit on immediate memory for faces. This facial memory deficit may be linked to a deficit in right hemisphere functioning, which has already been implicated in facial processing and may also be linked with other disorders (e.g., autism spectrum disorder) in which similar facial processing deficits have been documented. More research is needed to further understand the visual memory profile of children with NLD and to inform instruction and remediation.     

Examining Transcultural Spiritual Literacies Among Latino Children Through Artifactual Mediations

Although the notion of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) has been well studied and affirmed as important in recognizing the strengths of children and developing inclusive pedagogical models (Albright & Luke, 2008), this article presents a study of transcultural spiritual literacy—an element of cultural capital that is often overlooked, seldom studied in an organized fashion (Smith & Osborn, 2007, p. 23), and rarely validated in pedagogical inquiry as a vital indicator of children’s meaning-making. However, this important form of cultural capital threads through the lives of children who participated in this study, which provided a “multi-modal ethnographic gaze” (Rowsell, 2011, p. 335) of spiritual literacies of 14 children from first-generation immigrant Latino families at a U.S. church-affiliated community center. This article, which discusses part of that study, will focus on the artifactual mediations of one of those children: Paulina. Spirituality, although not synonymous with religion in our study, overlaps with religion in both space and ideology, and surround issues including identity, transcultural navigations, and sociocritical perspectives and understandings.     

Video clips for YouTube: Collaborative video creation as an educational concept for knowledge acquisition and attitude change related to obesity stigmatization

Mobile phones and advanced web-based video tools have pushed forward new paradigms for using video in education: Today, students can readily create and broadcast their own digital videos for others and create entirely new patterns of video-based information structures for modern online-communities and multimedia environments. This paradigm shift in video usage can be used for advanced learning about complex topics in higher education, for example, learning about socio-scientific or medical topics. Yet–technology aside–applicable educational concepts using collaborative video creation as a method need to be developed. In the present study, we investigate a specific concept designed to fight obesity stigmatization by developing knowledge using a learning-through-design-approach. We expected that creating videos can actually contribute to a deeper understanding of obesity and to a reduction in stigmatizing attitudes–when compared to a control condition. Dependent measures were based on the students’ video products, obesity-related knowledge and attitudes. The course group assessed their own knowledge on causes of obesity and stigmatization because of obesity higher in the post-test than a control group who read a newspaper article on the topic. A corresponding significant reduction in stigmatizing attitudes was found. In sum, results indicate significant differences between students who produced YouTube videos and a control group of students. The results are interpreted as a confirmation of our initial assumptions and evidence indicating that the program is successfully applicable in higher education.     

Stability robustness of perturbed structured systems

In this paper, the robust stability problem of structured linear systems is analyzed. In order to preserve the structure of the initial system, the structure of the admissible perturbations is characterized. Frobenius and infinity matrix norms are used to study the robust stability of the system affected by different admissible perturbations. Upper bounds for the perturbations are obtained, which guarantee that the perturbed system remains stable. Finally, some examples are shown to illustrate the results.     

Social Support,Quality of Life,and University Programs for Seniors

In addition to educating and extending knowledge, university programs for seniors, at least the university program for seniors at the University of the Balearic Islands during the period analyzed, also fulfil physical and psychological health-related functions specifically related to our analysis of social support. This article reaches several conclusions on social support that reaffirm the idea of the role these university programs play in seniors' lives. Reducing these programs to a purely instructive approach would not only be a conceptual error, but would also overlook the effects and impacts they have on seniors' quality of life, regardless of the knowledge that may be acquired.     

Faculty Employment Trends in Criminology and Criminal Justice

The academic job search process is perhaps one of the most important and stressful events for scholars hoping to gain full‐time employment in academia. The stress that this process induces is due, at least in part, to the fact that candidates are forced to make important, life‐changing decisions with very little information. The goal of the present study is to provide an update on faculty employment trends in criminology and criminal justice by examining faculty position announcements posted in The Chronicle of Higher Education (CHE) from August 2004 to July 2009. Findings reveal that candidates seeking assistant professor positions will have the most choice, as positions posted at this rank make up the largest category of advertisements. Furthermore, when a specialization was included in the announcement, most departments sought those with a law enforcement focus, followed by generalists.