Comparing Measurement Error Between Two Different Methods of Measurement of Various Magnitudes

Measurement error is a common problem in several fields of research such as medicine, physiology, and exercise science. The standard deviation of repeated measurements on the same person is the measurement error. One way of presenting measurement error is called the repeatability, which is 2.77 multiplied by the within subject standard deviation. In this article, the two different repeatabilities obtained from two different protocols or “tests” are statistically compared. Briefly, the squared differences between protocols are natural log transformed to achieve normality and compared with a paired t-test. The natural log transformation guarantees that the squared differences follow a normal distribution. When more than two repeatabilities are compared from more than two protocols or “tests,” repeated-measures ANOVA comparing the log transformation of the squared differences is used. When comparing repeatabilities between protocols and between different magnitudes of measurement, repeated-measures ANOVA compares the natural log transformation of the squared differences between protocols and between different magnitudes of measurement.     

Isokinetic Leg Flexion and Extension Strength of Elite Adolescent Female Track and Field Athletes

Abstract

Sixty-two elite adolescent (age: 16.39 ± 1.62 yrs) female track and field athletes volunteered to be measured isokinetically for peak torque of the leg flexors and extensors. The sample included 16 throwers, 11 jumpers, 12 middle-distance runners (> 400 m), and 23 sprinters. A Cybex II isokinetic dynamometer was used to measure dominant leg strength at 180°/sec. One-way ANOVA revealed significant between group differences for absolute flexion and extension (Nm), extension/body weight (Nm/Kg), and extension/lean body weight (Nm/Kg). Scheffe post-hoc comparisons showed that, for absolute leg extension strength, throwers were stronger than middle-distance runners (by 54.4%), sprinters (35.6%), and jumpers (23.6%). For absolute leg flexion movements, throwers were stronger than middle distance runners (37.4%) and sprinters (32.1%). Jumpers had greater extension peak torque values than middle-distance runners relative to body weight (14.0%), and throwers were stronger than middle-distance runners for extension/lean body weight (14.9%)). No other comparisons were significant. However, when strength was expressed relative to body weight or lean body weight, there were few differences between events for flexion or extension. Given that absolute strength scores were correlated with body weight and lean body weight, peak torque/body weight or peak torque/lean body weight may be more sensitive than absolute values as indicators of underlying factors (such as training status or fiber type composition) responsible for the differences in muscular strength between groups.     

The Acute Response of the Immune System to Tennis Drills in Adolescent Athletes

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine changes in school-based physical education (PE) attendance over time among nationally representative samples of U.S. high school students and how changes in PE attendance have varied across demographic subgroups. Method: Student demographic information and PE attendance data were obtained from 13 biennial cycles (1991–2015) of the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). Physical education variables derived from YRBS data included PE attendance, daily PE, average PE days/week, and PE frequency. Logistic regression models examined trends in PE attendance, daily PE, and PE frequency for the overall sample and demographic subgroups. Linear regression models examined trends in average PE days/week in the overall sample only. Results: Overall, there was no significant change in the percentage of students reporting PE attendance during 1991 to 2015. However, daily PE and average PE days/week declined significantly from 1991 to 1995 (41.6% to 25.4% and 4.64 days to 3.64 days, respectively) and then remained stable through 2015 (29.8% and 4.11 days, respectively). The percentage of students reporting a PE frequency of 3 days per week increased significantly from 1991 to 1995 (1.5% to 19.0%) before stabilizing through 2015 (9.1%). Trends across demographic subgroups revealed notable differences in PE attendance. Conclusions: Study findings showed that U.S. schools have not substantially reduced PE amounts in recent years. Still, the prevalence of PE attendance among U.S. high school students is well below recommendations. For PE to contribute to increased adolescent compliance with national physical activity guidelines, significant policy actions are needed to improve PE access for all students.     

Book reviews

William J. Baker and James A. Rog (eds.), Sports and the Humanities: A Symposium (University of Maine, Orono, Maine, 1983), Pp.126. $8.95.

William J. Baker, Sports in the Western World. (Totowa, N.J., Rowan and Littlefield, 1982), Pp.viii + 360. $19.95 (hardback).

J. Bale, Sport and Place: A Geography of Sport in England, Scotland and Wales. (London, C. Hurst; Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press, 1982). Pp.187 £9.50.

J. A. Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School: the Emergence and Consolidation of an Educational Ideology. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1981). Pp.368. £28.

Beryl Furlong, Carnegie 1933–1983: College and School. (University of Liverpool, 1983). Pp.40. NP.

Gerald Redmond, The Sporting Scots of Nineteenth‐Century Canada. (London and Toronto, Associated University Presses, 1982). Pp.347. £16.50 (hardback).

Steven Tischler, Footballers and Businessmen (New York, Holmes and Meier, 1981). Pp.154.     

Chronische Myeloproliferative Erkrankungen (CMPE)

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

An analysis of predictors of college students' ethical inclinations

Correlational and path analyses are used to examine the effects of four situations on self-reported ethical behaviors on four primary ethical dimensions among 323 undergraduate communication students in two mid-Atlantic public universities. The four situations are: the students' self-reported ethical beliefs, the students' perceptions of their professors' ethical beliefs, and the students' perceptions of both the beliefs and behaviors of their peers. The ethical dimensions, which form the basis for path models, are direct-testing, indirect-testing, indirect-substitution, and direct-substitution behaviors. Results indicate that different path models fit different types of behaviors. For example, professors' beliefs, as perceived by the students, have an indirect effect on students' behaviors, particularly in the indirect dimensions. Also, in three dimensions, interactions among professors' beliefs and most college students' beliefs and behaviors influence students' behaviors. An interpretation of these behaviors is suggested, based on an adaptation of the Ajzen and Fishbein theory of reasoned action.     

Academic Literacy Skills and Progression Rates Amongst Pharmacy Students

This article addresses relationships between academic literacy skills and progress in a university degree program. Academic literacy skills of enrolling cohorts of pharmacy students were measured on four criteria. Correlations were calculated between these literacy measures; the time taken to reach graduation; the Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER); and each final first‐year course mark. Results indicate that almost half the enrolling students lacked adequate English language resources necessary for tertiary study. More interesting was the lack of significant correlation between each of these literacy skills and the TER. Logistic regression indicated that measures on three separate literacy criteria were better predictors of university success than the TER alone. When each of these three literacy measures was combined with the TER, prediction of the time taken to reach graduation was improved above using the TER alone. The outcome of this research indicates not only the importance of identifying and subsequently assisting those incoming students who may be experiencing literacy related problems, but also has wider implications for curriculum design and choice of selection criteria employed by university faculties.     

Pay,rank, and growing old with more of each

Factors which comprise the bases for salary increases and adjustments at major research universities have long been topics of conversation and supposition. Based on responses from over 12,000 faculty members, this paper reviews, by faculty rank, items which are likely to contribute to salary and suggests that faculty members can follow certain strategies which are more likely than others to bring a financial reward. Research procedures employed include linear models and multiple regression.     

Higher education marketisation and its discontents: the case of quality in Kenya

This study addresses the implications of higher education marketisation for quality in Kenya. It focuses on full fee-paying programmes, the de facto market source of revenue for Kenya’s public universities. The study argues that Kenya’s public universities were precipitately subjected to diminished public capitation, and so was their plunging into marketisation. These institutions started enrolling full fee-paying students at a time when they were strained in terms of institutional capacity. There were not enough physical facilities, and most of those available were suffering decay following many years of neglect. They did not have enough teaching staff, a problem, which the marketisation agenda has made worse. The desire to claim a bigger share in the student market has seen the introduction of many new courses in advance of capacity to offer them. The study concludes that by seeking economic self-determination through full fee-paying programmes, in advance of a well-developed institutional capacity, the subsequent pressure seems to have made the quality situation worse.