Influence of a stressing constraint on stiffness and damping functions of a ski simulator's platform motion

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of stress on a previously acquired motor coordination. Following a longitudinal learning experiment, four participants performed oscillations on a ski simulator, either in normal or stressful conditions. The results showed that the amplitude of the oscillations decreased under stress, but no significant effect was seen regarding coordination, suggesting the strong resistance to stress of overlearned behaviour. Nevertheless, for one participant, a transient regression towards a former stage of learning was observed. This result was consistent with the regression hypothesis formulated by Fuchs (1962).     

Analysis of performance in orienteering with treadmill tests and physiological field tests using a differential global positioning system

The aim of this study was to determine the physiological responses to orienteering by examining the interrelationships between the information provided by a differential global positioning system (dGPS) about an orienteer's route, speed and orienteering mistakes, portable metabolic gas analyser data during orienteering and data from incremental treadmill tests. Ten male orienteers completed a treadmill threshold test and a field test; the latter was performed on a 4.3 km course on mixed terrain with nine checkpoints. The anaerobic threshold, threshold of decompensated metabolic acidosis, respiratory exchange ratio, onset of blood lactate accumulation and peak oxygen uptake (VO2peak) were determined from the treadmill test. Time to complete the course, total distance covered, mean speed, distance and timing of orienteering mistakes, mean oxygen uptake, mean relative heart rate, mean respiratory exchange ratio and mean running economy were computed from the dGPS data and metabolic gas analyser data. Correlation analyses showed a relationship between a high anaerobic threshold and few orienteering mistakes (r = - 0.64, P < 0.05). A high threshold of decompensated metabolic acidosis and VO2peak were related to a fast overall time (r = -0.70 to -0.72, P < 0.05) and high running speed (r = 0.64 to 0.79, P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively), and were thus the best predictors of performance.     

Figuring out the dome

The New Millennium Experience ‐ an exhibition on the theme of time sited in a fibre‐glass dome on the Greenwich Peninsula adjacent to the Prime Meridian ‐ was the centrepiece of Millennium celebrations in Britain. From its inception in the mid‐1990s ‘the Dome’ had been controversial for several reasons, not least of which was its financial viability were it not to prove very popular with the general public. Within weeks of opening, it emerged that the Dome was financially insecure to the point of possible bankruptcy. Largely funded by the National Lottery in the first place, four extra grants from that source were required in order to keep it open during the year 2000. The Dome was regarded widely as of dubious cultural value and a drain on public resources that might have been better spent elsewhere.

This chapter of Cultural Trends does not, strictly speaking, set out to confirm or refute these common criticisms of the Dome. Instead, it aims to establish the facts and figures concerning various aspects of the project as precisely as possible. This in itself is difficult to do since, for instance, the exact value of corporate sponsorship is impossible to ascertain due to commercial confidentiality, although it was quite a small proportion of the actual funding ‐ less than 20 per cent. Further complicating matters is polling evidence of high visitor approval for the Dome which must be set against its general damnation in the media.

In effect, the chapter traces a complex process whereby an ambitious cultural project was beset by a series of seemingly intractable problems from beginning to end, including eventual disposal and future use of the site. Whether the Dome is considered an abject failure or an under‐reported success, it certainly did not meet its official targets in terms of visiting, revenue and sponsorship.