Modeling parameters that characterize pacing of elite female 800-m freestyle swimmers

Pacing offers a potential avenue for enhancement of endurance performance. We report here a novel method for characterizing pacing in 800-m freestyle swimming. Websites provided 50-m lap and race times for 192 swims of 20 elite female swimmers between 2000 and 2013. Pacing for each swim was characterized with five parameters derived from a linear model: linear and quadratic coefficients for effect of lap number, reductions from predicted time for first and last laps, and lap-time variability (standard error of the estimate). Race-to-race consistency of the parameters was expressed as intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The average swim was a shallow negative quadratic with slowest time in the eleventh lap. First and last laps were faster by 6.4% and 3.6%, and lap-time variability was ±0.64%. Consistency between swimmers ranged from low-moderate for the linear and quadratic parameters (ICC = 0.29 and 0.36) to high for the last-lap parameter (ICC = 0.62), while consistency for race time was very high (ICC = 0.80). Only ~15% of swimmers had enough swims (~15 or more) to provide reasonable evidence of optimum parameter values in plots of race time vs. each parameter. The modest consistency of most of the pacing parameters and lack of relationships between parameters and performance suggest that swimmers usually compensated for changes in one parameter with changes in another. In conclusion, pacing in 800-m elite female swimmers can be characterized with five parameters, but identifying an optimal pacing profile is generally impractical.     

Multimedia and interactivity in distance learning of resuscitation guidelines: a randomised controlled trial

The aim of the study was to conduct a comparative analysis of three forms of knowledge transfer online, taking into account the long-term knowledge growth rate and the satisfaction of students surveyed in respect to distance learning. The cohort of participants for this survey were students of the first degree, studying in the Emergency Medical Services. The authors created three e-learning courses in basic and advanced resuscitation procedures. The level of course participants’ satisfaction was analysed, as well as the knowledge growth rate measured three times: 7, 30 and 90 days, respectively, after finishing the course. The level of satisfaction in all the groups surveyed was comparable. The growth rate for knowledge was the highest in group C in the second and third survey, respectively (30 and 90 days after the end of the course), and a significant difference in favour of course C was demonstrated one month after finishing classes.     

Language Attitudes and Community Engagement: Diwan–The Breton Immersion High School Through the Eyes of Its Pupils

This article is based on long-term participant observation and interviews with pupils and graduates of the Diwan immersion high school in Brittany, France. With reference to the theory of communities of practice, this article shows how the education in the Breton immersion school can influence a knowledge of the minority language and the young peoples’ engagement with the protection of the Breton language. This article presents the social and cultural capital received through the learning of the Breton language; the distinction between Diwan pupils and people from outside the community; and the gradual formation of a collective new Breton-speakers identity. The sociolinguistic prognostic shows that in a few dozen years the only Breton speakers will be Breton learners. The use of Breton depends thus on having knowledge of it and on finding a community in which this language acts as the benchmark for the creation of a Breton identity.     

Digital competences of residents in Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in the light of the polish training project “E-active”

Education and Information Technologies - The purpose of the article is to describe the trainings implemented as part of the project “E-Active Residents of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian and...     

The socio-economic effectiveness of education

The authors discuss the factors which predetermine research into the effectiveness of education and the role of economics in educational research. Three fundamental research areas are identified: macroeconomic research into the relations between the national economy and culture and the educational system, economic aspects of the functioning of education, and cost-effectiveness in individual terms. The principles of planning and its implications for policy are discussed and the role of research on expenditure and costs defined. The effects of education are shown as being of two kinds, direct and indirect, and their relative importance for planning is considered and illustrated with examples from the authors' own research in Poland. Finally, the quantitative and qualitative aspects of extensive and intensive development policies and their relationship to overall national economic development are investigated and a number of conclusions drawn.

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Résumé Les auteurs discutent les facteurs qui conditionnent la recherche consacrée au rendement de l'éducation ainsi que la rôle de l'économie dans la recherche sur l'éducation. Ils distinguent trois domaines fondamentaux de la recherche: premièrement, la recherche macro-économique portant sur les relations entre la culture ou l'économie nationale et le système d'éducation; deuxièmement les aspects économique du processus d'éducation; troisièmement les études de rendement en fonction du coût de l'éducation par téte. L'article discute les principes de la planification et ses implications en termes de politique de l'éducation et cherche à définir les effets de la recherche sur les dépenses et les coûts. On montre que les conséquences du processus d'éducation sont de deux types et leurs importance relative du point de vue de la planification est mise en évidence et illustrée par des exemples empruntés aux recherches des auteurs sur la Pologne. En conclusion, l'article éclaire les aspects tant quantitatifs que qualitatifs des politiques de développement extensif et intensif de l'éducation dans leurs relations au développement global de l'économie nationale pour en tirer un certain nombre de remarques finales. *** DIRECT SUPPORT *** A0010002 00003

     

Compressed sensing for real measurements of quaternion signals

The paper concerns compressed sensing methods in the quaternion algebra. We prove that it is possible to uniquely reconstruct – by ?₁ norm minimization – a sparse quaternion signal from a limited number of its real linear measurements, provided the measurement matrix satisfies so-called restricted isometry property with a sufficiently small constant. We also provide error estimates for the approximated reconstruction of a non-sparse quaternion signal from noisy and noiseless data.     

Are School-Provided Skills Useful at Work? Results of the Wiles Test

Research in Higher Education - We test for the signaling hypothesis versus the human capital theory using the Wiles test in a country which has experienced a dramatic increase in the supply of...     

Arguing in Portugal: A cross-cultural analysis

We report data on Portuguese understandings of interpersonal arguing, based on a survey conducted in Portugal (N?=?252). Employing concepts and methods developed for studying interpersonal arguing, we report on the levels of argumentativeness, verbal aggressiveness, personalization of conflict, and argument frames. After comparing Portuguese men and women, we compare Portuguese respondents with two groups of US respondents. In contrast to US respondents, Portuguese report to argue more prosocially, cooperatively and civilly, and are more sophisticated in their reflections about arguing. We discuss these results in the context of the Portuguese notion of argumentation (argumentação) and Portuguese culture more broadly.     

The Ethos of Science in Contemporary Poland

Modern science is moving away from Michael Polanyi’s vision of ‘the Republic of Science’ and gradually becoming subordinate to political and economic social institutions. This process is accompanied by changes in the normative structure of science. Poland provides an interesting case for empirical study of the scientific ethos mostly because in a relatively short time it experienced a significant reform of the science system, especially in terms of evaluating and financing scientific work. In this paper we examine whether different sets of values and norms are embedded into the normative structure of science in contemporary Poland. The results of a representative survey conducted among 801 researchers were examined with the use of confirmatory factor analysis and fuzzy clustering. The statistical analysis revealed a great complexity in the normative structure of science that goes beyond the expectations formulated on the basis of the theories reviewed. We identified three distinctive groups of researchers, guided by different sets of values and norms in their professional conduct (academic science, post-academic science and the industrial science) and a cluster of researchers with an unidentified system of principles. We argue that the complexity of the normative structure of science should be taken into account in the decision-making regarding any future reforms of the science system.