Ein Beitrag zur systematischen Sportgeräteentwicklung

Sporting goods companies face significant challenges. As a result, the importance of a structured and systematic product development process has increased. There are several paradigms to support the product development, with the integrated product development paradigm as one of the most important ones. This study aims at the verification of an efficient application of Integrated Product Development for the development of sports equipment. For that purpose Insider Action Research is used. Three different case studies (leisure, fun and professional sports market) were conducted and analysed. To objectify the results, objective and subjective efficiency criteria were defined. The results show a positive evaluation of the criteria. So far, the development projects have been performed in an academic context only.     

Influence of ski materials on muscle activity

The purpose of this study was to examine whether differences in construction between the compact ski, the racing ski and the soft ski influence the behavioural and electromuscular responses of the user. Eight qualified male ski instructors performed two 'shuss' trials and three different basic turns. Six muscles (M. biceps femoris, M. gastrocnemius lateralis and medialis, M. rectus femoris, M. vastus lateralis and M. tibialis anterior) were studied, using a conventional but portable electromyographic (EMG) registration with telemetric synchronization, active electrodes and a six-channel portable data recorder. Muscle contractions were continuously registered and visualized in raw EMG form and linear envelopes. The differences between the mean rectified EMG data of dynamic contractions while skiing and the mean rectified EMG data of the maximal voluntary contraction were used in the primary analysis of data, from which the participation levels of the muscles investigated could be calculated for each type of ski. Based on this comparison, differences between the effects on muscle activity of the three types of skis were unimportant. In a second phase, the normalized linear envelopes of all subjects were graphically superimposed and averaged. This was performed for each muscle, for each movement, for each leg and for each ski tested. The EMG data were considered in combination with anthropometric values, with snow characteristics and with the velocity of skiing. This study showed systematic differences between the use of the racing, soft and compact ski. On average the soft ski showed the lowest muscle activity patterns and thus the most economical muscular efforts for all muscles investigated and within all movements.     

Risk on Elder Abuse and Mistreatment - Instrument: Development,psychometric properties and qualitative user-evaluation

Prevalence data of elder abuse from social and health services only present a tip of the iceberg. A large amount of situations of abuse is left undetected. Professionals often lack knowledge and skills on the topic of abuse. Consequently, this paper focuses on supporting professionals to prevent and assess elder abuse by developing and testing the Risk on Elder Abuse and Mistreatment Instrument (REAMI), using a mixed method design. Quantitative data from a widespread screening among 1920 older clients of home care are analysed with exploratory and confirmatory analysis. In addition, 24 professionals who have used the REAMI have been qualitatively interviewed about their practical experience and critical reflection on the instrument and its use. These interviews were transcribed and content analysed. Findings provide evidence of good internal reliability and internal validity of the REAMI and its three dimensions: 1) risk factors of the older person, 2) risk factors of the environment, 3) signals of abuse and mistreatment. Users report an increase of knowledge and awareness among staff, satisfaction with the possibilities for prevention and the user-friendliness and brevity of the REAMI. However, some users are missing a follow-up protocol: what to do when risks are assessed? In the discussion, the argument is developed that the REAMI can be used to examine risk at elder abuse, although an overarching protocol to support prevention and intervention which embeds the detection instrument is needed.     

Foreword

Tertiary Education and Management -     

Jugendkulturen zwischen Globalisierung und Ethnisierung

Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft - Wie formt sich der Prozess der Globalisierung in den Lebensstilen Jugendlicher aus? Dieser allgemeinen Fragestellung gehen wir im folgenden am Beispiel...     

Examining charter student achievement effects across seven states

Since their inception, charter schools have been a lighting rod for controversy, with much of the debate revolving around their effectiveness in improving student achievement. Previous research has shown mixed results for student achievement; this could be the consequence of different policy environments or varying methodological approaches with differing assumptions across studies. In our analysis, we discuss these approaches and their assumptions and estimate charter school achievement effects using a consistent methodology across seven locations.     

A study of gender differences among school psychologists

Full and intern members of ten state school psychology associations were surveyed regarding demographics, salaries, experience, yearly evaluations completed, contractual arrangements, and professional credentials and affiliations (N = 1,527). Results indicate higher proportions of women are increasingly entering the field. With years of experience considered, there were significant gender differences in yearly (p < .05), daily (p < .01), and hourly (p < .05) salary. There were no gender differences in the number of days worked yearly, number of hours worked daily, number of yearly evaluations completed, or the number of assigned schools. Gender differences were noted in professional credentials and professional affiliations. Implications of the emerging gender trend for service delivery are discussed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The effect of modular education on school dropout

Modular education refers to the division of conventional courses into smaller components or modules. Each module enables students to obtain a partial certificate that can be combined into a qualification. This article evaluates whether modular education, which is widely used in secondary and tertiary education, has been effective in reducing school dropout. For this purpose, the study exploits a policy change in the Flemish Community of Belgium, which recently introduced modular education for some programmes. Using a difference-in-differences framework with diverse adoption dates per school, the results indicate that modular education may significantly reduce school dropout by 2.5 percentage points, with the largest effects on foreign origin students. Therefore, modular education is likely to be an effective policy to tackle school dropout and reduce the ethnic attainment gap. Additionally, students enrolled in modular education are more likely to be employed and to incur higher earnings on the labour market.     

Pre-service teachers’ epistemic perspectives about philosophy in the classroom: it is not a bunch of ‘hippie stuff’

Using epistemic perspectives as a theoretical framework, this study investigated Australian pre-service teachers’ perspectives about knowing, knowledge and children’s learning, as they engaged in a semester-long unit on philosophy in the classroom. During the field experience component of the unit, pre-service teachers were required to teach at least one philosophy lesson. Pre-service teachers completed the Personal Epistemological Beliefs Survey at the beginning and end of the unit. They were also interviewed in focus groups at the end of the semester to investigate their views about children’s learning. Paired sample t-tests were used to explore changes in epistemic beliefs over time. Significant differences were found for only some individual items on the survey. However, when interviewed, pre-service teachers indicated that field experiences helped them consider children as competent ‘thinkers’ who were capable of engaging in philosophy in the classroom. They reported predominantly student-centred perspectives of children’s learning, although a process of adjudication (exploring disagreements and evidence for responses) was lacking in these responses.     

“I Want to Know About Everything That’s Happening in the World”: Enhancing Critical Awareness Through a Youth Participatory Action Research Project With Latinx Youths

Abstract

Through a yearlong, qualitative ethnographic study that incorporated a youth participatory action research project, this research identifies and documents the learning outcomes achieved when core principles of critical pedagogy are brought into practice with urban Latinx youths to develop critical awareness. Analysis reveals three themes around how critical awareness was raised: attention to current events, an ethic of care, and challenging traditional curricula.