Variability of inter-team distances associated with match events in elite-standard soccer

Abstract

In soccer, critical match events like goal attempts can be preceded by periods of instability in the balance between the two teams' behaviours. Therefore, we determined periods of high variability in the distance between the teams' centroid positions longitudinally and laterally in an international-standard soccer match and evaluated corresponding match events. Position data were collected with AMISCO Pro®. Inter-team distance variability was calculated over a 3-s moving window. Out of the 242 match periods that exceeded the variability criterion, 51 were dead-ball situations. Match events identified through longitudinal inter-team distance primarily related to defending players moving forward-backward after a longitudinal pass. Match events identified through lateral inter-team distance mainly corresponded with defending players moving laterally following sideways passing. One of two goals and two of fourteen goal-attempts were preceded by a period of high variability. Together, periods of highly variable inter-team distance were associated with collective defensive actions and team reorganisation in dead-ball moments rather than goals or goal attempts. Inter-team dynamics quantified (mutual) reorganisation of the teams and marked teams' collective defensive ability to respond to attacking explorations.     

Science and Values in Undergraduate Education

Science & Education - While a conception of science as value free has been dominant since Max Weber defended it in the nineteenth century, recent years have witnessed an emerging consensus that...     

Designing learning environments to teach interactive Quantum Physics

This study aims at describing and analysing systematically an interactive learning environment designed to teach Quantum Physics, a second-year physics course. The instructional design of Quantum Physics is a combination of interactive lectures (using audience response systems), tutorials and self-study in unit blocks, carried out with small groups. Individual formative feedback was introduced as a rapid assessment tool to provide an overview on progress and identify gaps by means of questioning students at three levels: conceptual; prior knowledge; homework exercises. The setup of Quantum Physics has been developed as a result of several loops of adjustments and improvements from a traditional-like type of teaching to an interactive classroom. Results of this particular instructional arrangement indicate significant gains in students’ achievements in comparison with the traditional structure of this course, after recent optimisation steps such as the implementation of an individual feedback system.     

Assessing social participation of pupils with special needs in inclusive education: the construction of a teacher questionnaire

This study addresses the development of a teacher questionnaire to assess the social participation of pupils with special needs in regular primary schools and is divided into 2 parts. In the 1st part, the construction of the questionnaire is described. The questionnaire consists of 30 statements related to 4 key themes of social participation: “friendships/relationships”, “contacts/interactions”, “perception of the pupil”, and “acceptance by classmates”, yielding 4 subscales.

The 2nd part of the study addresses an empirical study in which the questionnaire's quality was examined. The outcomes of a confirmatory factor analysis largely supported the division of social participation into 4 key themes. The analysis revealed that 22 out of 30 statements correlated strongest with the subscale they were assigned to. The questionnaire as a whole turned out to be reliable, whereas the reliability of the subscales varied. The construct validity was found to be mainly acceptable.     

When favourites fail: tournament trophies as reward cues in tennis finals

In tournaments in various sports that feature one-on-one competition, the trophy is sometimes prominently displayed near the athletes during the final. Based on recent research on subtle reward cues, we propose that such trophies have the potential to induce choking under pressure in the match favourites, who are known to be most at risk. To test this idea, we analysed real-life tennis performance data (service performance and rally performance) from professional tournaments. While favourites generally outperformed underdogs during rallies, they did not do so in finals in which (a) large amounts of money were at stake and (b) a trophy was on display near the court. These findings support the idea that tournament trophies may distract favourites by continuously reminding them of what is at stake, and via that route may severely thwart their performance.     

Antecedents of organizational citizenship behavior among blue- and white-collar workers in Turkey

This study investigated the relationship between employees’ beliefs about their social world (social axioms: reward for application, social cynicism, religiosity, social flexibility, and fate control), their relational identification with their supervisor, and their organizational citizenship behavior (OCB; i.e., interpersonal facilitation, job dedication and organizational support) within collectivistic Turkish society. We expected OCB to depend upon one's relational identification with the supervisor and also to depend on several social axioms, given their salience in collectivistic cultures. We also investigated these relationships across white- and blue-collar workers, as this has not been studied much. To this end, we conducted a survey among 376 Turkish blue-collar and 147 white-collar factory employees. A series of hierarchical regression analyses confirmed our expectations that for both blue- and white-collar workers the reward for application belief was positively related to job dedication and organizational support. Religiosity was positively related to job dedication and organizational support only among blue-collar employees. As hypothesized, relational identification with the supervisor related positively to all dimensions of OCB in blue-collar employees and to interpersonal facilitation and organizational support in white-collar employees. However, the relationship between relational identification with the supervisor and organizational support appeared stronger for blue-collar than for white-collar employees. Apparently, relational identification with the supervisor is an important antecedent of OCB, particularly for blue-collar employees. Theoretical and practical implications of the study findings are discussed.     

Academic and social integration and study progress in problem based learning

The present study explores the effects of problem-based learning (PBL) on social and academic integration and study progress. Three hundred and five first-year students from three different psychology curricula completed a questionnaire on social and academic integration. Effects of a full-fledged PBL environment were compared to (1) effects of a conventional lecture-based learning environment, and (2) effects of a learning environment that combined lectures and other methods aimed at activating students. Lisrel analyses show direct positive effects of the learning environment on study progress: students in PBL obtained more credits compared to students in more conventional curricula. Moreover, the levels of social and academic integration were also higher among students in the PBL curriculum. The links between integration and study progress were less straightforward. Formal social integration positively affected study progress, but informal academic integration was negatively related to study progress.