Maturity status effects on torque and muscle architecture of young soccer players

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the effects of maturity status on knee extensor torque and vastus lateralis architecture of young soccer players. Thirty-four males aged 13–18 years were divided into two groups: pubescent (PUB, n = 15) and postpubescent (POSP, n = 19). Torque by angle interaction was established for absolute [F(2.649, 84.771) = 9.066, p < 0.05] and relative to body mass [F(2.704, 86.533) = 4.050, p < 0.05] isometric torque with the POSP group showing greater values. Muscle volume torque-angle relationship was similar between groups. Absolute, relative to body mass, and relative to muscle volume concentric and eccentric torque-velocity relationship showed a non-significant interaction but a significant group effect in favour the POSP group for absolute and concentric torque relative to body mass. Torque-angle and torque-velocity relationship normalized by body mass allometric exponents showed a non-significant interactions and group effects. Muscle thickness (3.6 ± 0.6 vs. 3.8 ± 0.6 cm), fascicle length (8.3 ± 1.4 vs. 8.9 ± 1.6 cm) and pennation angle (15.0 ± 2.3 vs. 14.3 ± 3.2 degrees) was similar between PUB and POSP groups, respectively. Maturity status did not show a significant effect on muscle architecture and on isometric and dynamic torques when allometrically normalized.     

Attitudes and self-efficacy of physical education teachers toward inclusion of children with disabilities: a narrative review of international literature

Background: Teachers in various countries worldwide have been confronted with the placement of students with disabilities in general classes, and the need to provide them with support and adapted physical education (APE). However, physical education (PE) teachers often do not feel prepared or self-confident enough for this inclusion. While a considerable amount of research has been identified, researchers have emphasized a need for additional studies that can shed more light on the influencing factors relevant to shaping teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion, as well as on their inclusion practices.

Purpose: The current article aims to provide a narrative summary of international research perspectives and findings regarding PE teachers’ attitudes and self-efficacy (SE) toward inclusion, as well as to develop a model for conducting further research.

Design: A narrative literature review was performed, based on a search of the databases SPORT Discus and MEDLINE (combined via EBSCO host and screened for peer-reviewed academic journals only), and Google Scholar. The search used the following terms: physical education teachers, inclusion, disability, and attitudes or SE. The narrative review begins with setting the scope of this topic via definitions and theoretical frameworks used to enable the understanding of attitudes and SE within inclusive PE. The Social Learning Theory (SLT) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) were outlined in order follow up with an explanation of the link between attitudes and SE. In the next section, the literature on attitudes and SE of PE teachers is presented. This section is comprised of subsections describing the development of instruments and their utilization in the field of study, as well as contextual variables influencing PE teachers’ attitudes and SE toward inclusion.

Findings: Seventy-five articles were included in total, of which 54 discussed research on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive PE, 12 were related to research on teachers’ SE (three of which also included research on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion), and 12 were considered reviews or viewpoints. The article ends with a model, including the following parts: background variables (regarding teachers’ personal attributes, school attributes, and disability attributes); moderating variables (attitude and SE); and, teachers’ behavior toward inclusion, all of which are interrelated and include a feedback loop. This model can be used for designing future research, as well as evidence-based interventions aimed at facilitating teacher training toward inclusion.

Summary for practitioners: From a practical point of view, educational inclusion practitioners should be aware of several factors influencing attitudes and/or SE while engaging in inclusion of children with disabilities in PE: (a) The teachers’ volume and type of experience with persons with disabilities at school, in the family or in the community; (b) The professional and academic training toward inclusion; (c) Individual factors, including gender; (d) School environmental factors, such as a process rather than performance orientation; and, finally, (e) The type and degree of disability.     

Just One More Episode: Predictors of Procrastination with Television and Implications for Sleep Quality

Sleep experts have raised concern over the effects of electronic media use on sleep. To date, few studies have looked beyond the effects of duration and frequency of media exposure or examined the underlying mechanisms of this association. As procrastinatory media use has been related to lower well-being, we used data from two survey studies (N₁ = 821, N₂ = 584) to investigate (a) predictors of procrastinatory TV viewing and (b) the link between procrastinatory TV viewing and sleep quality. Findings from both studies indicate that those with a stronger viewing habit, higher TV involvement, and an eveningness preference reported more procrastinatory TV viewing. Procrastinatory TV viewing was related to subjective sleep quality, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, and daytime dysfunction. This association was fully mediated by perceived stress. As sleep is key for the replenishment of self-control, procrastinators may be setting themselves up to fail at self-regulating, a situation exacerbated by the omnipresence of media in today’s society.     

The relationship between strength asymmetries and jumping performance in professional volleyball players

Knee peak torque (PT) is associated to jump performance in volleyball players. It is not clear whether muscle strength imbalances of the knee joint can influence jump performance. The purpose of study was to analyse the association between PT and knee muscular imbalances with jump performance in professional volleyball players. Eleven elite male volleyball players (90.3 ± 9.7 kg body mass and 1.94 ± 0.06 m height) were evaluated in an isokinetic dynamometer at speeds of 60, 180 and 300 deg/s. Muscle strength imbalances were obtained through calculation of contralateral deficit between limbs and the conventional ratio (hamstrings/quadriceps). Countermovement jump (CMJ) was performed on a force plate to calculate mechanical power and height. Association was found between knee extensor PT at 180 deg/s with CMJ power (r = 0.610, p = 0.046). Conventional ratio at 300 deg/s showed negative association with CMJ (r = ?0.656, p = 0.029). The optimal ratio between knee extensors PT in relation to the flexors PT is associated with the greater mechanical power in CMJ. Contralateral deficit does not seem to be associated with the CMJ performance. Considering the knee extensor PT is associated with CMJ power, our findings suggest that strength-based training in volleyball athletes should not omit the conventional muscle ratio.     

A “gathering of enthusiastic expense account tourists”?

The paper addresses the question whether the cooperative relationship between organized sport and state actors has left an impact on the legislative organization of sport policy-making. The idea of whether the Sport Committee of the Bundestag can be categorized as a constituency committee staffed mainly with lobbyists from the sport associations and backbenchers is examined. Empirical results for the hypotheses are mixed. Committee assignments and career trajectories show some features supporting the idea that membership in the Sport Committee is mainly interesting for legislators with a strong sport background. However, committee members have strong party ties suggesting that the committee is also of relevance for the political parties and is under party control. The Sport Committee member’s ties with the sport bodies indicate patterns of co-optation between sport and legislature.     

A Cross-Linguistic,Longitudinal Study of the Foundations of Decoding and Reading Comprehension Ability

ABSTRACT

The present study investigated the moderating role of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension in four language groups (English, n = 179; Spanish, n = 188; Czech, n = 135; Slovak, n = 194) from kindergarten to Grade 2. In all languages, early variations in phoneme awareness/letter knowledge, rapid automatised naming, and emerging decoding skills, but not oral language, predicted variations in decoding skills at the end of Grade 1; these in turn predicted reading comprehension in Grade 2. For the three consistent orthographies (Spanish, Slovak, and Czech), kindergarten language skills were another significant predictor of Grade 2 reading comprehension. This effect was absent in the English sample, where variations in decoding skills were a more powerful predictor. These results provide the first longitudinal evidence for effects of orthographic consistency on the development of reading comprehension and provide support for the simple view of reading.     

Finding facts and constructing memory: the creation and custody of human rights records in South America

Gabriela Andaur Gómez is currently a student in the Master of Archival Studies at the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies at The University of British Columbia, in Vancouver, Canada. Her interest in Human Rights records arose from her experience as the Coordinator of the Archives of the Federación de Estudiantes de la Universidad de Chile (FECH), the repository responsible for safeguarding the records produced by the student Federation from the dictatorship period to the present, and for documenting the Chilean student movement. Ms Andaur Gomez holds a BA in History from the Universidad de Chile (2010) and is a scholarship holder of the Becas Chile program of the Government of Chile. She will soon start work as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Records in the Cloud project at UBC.

Human rights records have been characterised as those created during the reign of repressive governments or in a transitional context, produced by the state or non-governmental organisations and whose content is related to, or is evidence of, the occurrence of human rights violations. This paper examines three major types of human rights records produced in South America during the second half of the twentieth century, with the aim of identifying their characteristics, the functions that they have served and the challenges that have emerged in relation to their preservation and custody.     

Prediction and the Periodical Aspect as Generators of Knowledge in a Social Practice Framework

We start from the assumption that school mathematics knowledge could be better explained if social practices were considered to be generators of knowledge. This perspective changes the way we look at what school mathematics knowledge is and what it takes to teach and learn it. In this article, we will present a teaching situation about periodic functions, which was designed with this perspective in mind. The design was based on the assumption that the scientific notion of periodic function is related with the social practice of prediction. In the situation, prediction as a social practice is transformed into a situational line of argument which redefines that which is periodical. The situation brings into play meanings for the repetition of a movement, which takes place in time in the context of graphs of functions. Our analysis of the situation will focus on the prediction tools that participants generated in order to define that which is periodical. We will conclude with some implications of our observations for the teaching of mathematics.