Recreational angling tournaments: participants' expenditures

Fishing tournaments are a common feature in recreational angling across a wide range of target species in both fresh and salt waters. Tournaments are organised for a number of purposes, including as commercial enterprises; as fund-raising initiatives for angling clubs; for economic development purposes (e.g. tourism); as well as improve participants' skill levels. Most tournaments are confined to geographically small areas and usually occur over a small number of days, which can mean a pulse of economically significant activity in the local area. This paper analyses the nature of expenditure associated with angling tournaments, including travel, food and accommodation, and angling-related expenditures as a function of socio-economic and angler characteristics. Analysis based on 106 tournaments across Ireland during 2013 finds a clear 80/20 segmentation between ‘high’- and ‘low’-spend anglers and that the segmentation occurs across all fish target species considered. The analysis also finds that British coarse anglers participating at Irish angling tournaments spend considerably more than other anglers irrespective of target species or angler country of origin.     

Sand training: Exercise-induced muscle damage and inflammatory responses to matched-intensity exercise

This study compared markers of muscle damage and inflammation elevated by a matched-intensity interval running session on soft sand and grass surfaces. In a counterbalanced, repeated-measures and crossover design, 10 well-trained female athletes completed 2 interval-based running sessions 1 week apart on either a grass or a sand surface. Exercise heart rate (HR) was fixed at 83–88% of HR maximum. Venous blood samples were collected pre-, post- and 24?h post-exercise, and analysed for myoglobin (Mb) and C-reactive protein (CRP). Perceptual ratings of exertion (RPE) and muscle soreness (DOMS) were recorded immediately post- and 24?h post-exercise. A significant time effect showed that Mb increased from pre- to post-exercise on grass (p?=?.008) but not on sand (p?=?.611). Furthermore, there was a greater relative increase in Mb on grass compared with that on sand (p?=?.026). No differences in CRP were reported between surfaces (p?>?.05). The HR, RPE and DOMS scores were not significantly different between conditions (p > .05). These results suggest that in response to a matched-intensity exercise bout, markers of post-exercise muscle damage may be reduced by running on softer ground surfaces. Such training strategy may be used to minimize musculoskeletal strain while still incurring an equivalent cardiovascular training stimulus.     

Thermally multiplexed polymerase chain reaction

Amplification of multiple unique genetic targets using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is commonly required in molecular biology laboratories. Such reactions are typically performed either serially or by multiplex PCR. Serial reactions are time consuming, and multiplex PCR, while powerful and widely used, can be prone to amplification bias, PCR drift, and primer-primer interactions. We present a new thermocycling method, termed thermal multiplexing, in which a single heat source is uniformly distributed and selectively modulated for independent temperature control of an array of PCR reactions. Thermal multiplexing allows amplification of multiple targets simultaneously—each reaction segregated and performed at optimal conditions. We demonstrate the method using a microfluidic system consisting of an infrared laser thermocycler, a polymer microchip featuring 1 μl, oil-encapsulated reactions, and closed-loop pulse-width modulation control. Heat transfer modeling is used to characterize thermal performance limitations of the system. We validate the model and perform two reactions simultaneously with widely varying annealing temperatures (48 °C and 68 °C), demonstrating excellent amplification. In addition, to demonstrate microfluidic infrared PCR using clinical specimens, we successfully amplified and detected both influenza A and B from human nasopharyngeal swabs. Thermal multiplexing is scalable and applicable to challenges such as pathogen detection where patients presenting non-specific symptoms need to be efficiently screened across a viral or bacterial panel.     

Knowledge of bout duration influences pacing strategies during small-sided games

This investigation examines pacing during intermittent team sports. Sixteen junior Rugby League players participated in eight different small-sided offside touch games. All games were 24 min, but bout durations differed in continuous (1 × 24 min) or repeated (2 × 12, 3 × 8, 4 × 6, 6 × 4, 8 × 3, 12 × 2 or 24 × 1 min) formats. Repeat bouts were interspersed by 2 min of passive rest, and participants were informed of the bout duration immediately prior to the game. Heart rates, ratings of perceived exertion and data gathered from global positioning system devices were used to investigate the pacing strategies employed within each game. No significant (P > 0.05) between-game differences were observed in total distance; however, during the 1-min bouts, high-speed movement was significantly (P < 0.05) increased, during the first and second quarters of the 24 × 1-min game compared to all other formats (effect size range: 0.75 ± 0.61–1.38 ± 0.47). Furthermore, the rate of decline in high-speed movement over-time was greatest during the 24 × 1-min game with large differences observed between the first and third quarters (effect size: 0.90 ± 0.58). Greater moderate-speed (effect size range: 0.62 ± 0.63–1.56 ± 0.40) and less low-speed (effect size range: 0.69 ± 0.62–1.54 ± 0.40) distances were also observed during the 1-min bouts, yet heart rates were higher during the continuous 1 × 24-min game. Pacing strategies during intermittent activities are influenced by the number and duration of exercise bouts. Practitioners should consider within-game bout durations when prescribing game-based activities to improve aerobic capacity.     

Research on teaching practicum – a systematic review

The aim of the present study is to conduct a systematic review research which focuses on research studies into the school practicum. In order to identify the main issues and also to provide a contemporary picture of practicum, 114 studies published on the topic are reviewed and analysed in terms of: (i) aims, (ii) main participants, (iii) methodology used and (iv) the main outcomes emerging. Many of the reviewed studies take pre-service teachers as their main participants. The review also shows that many practicum studies are relatively small-scale studies since they are mainly qualitative focused and findings derived from a relatively small sample. This suggests that more large-scale studies are needed in the field in order to provide greater insight into teaching practicum. Finally, this systematic review provides some food for thought in the area of practicum research and promotes further studies in this complex field.     

To Catch a Liar: Challenges for Research in Lie Detection Training

Can we train people to detect deception? It is the contention of this article that communication scholars should learn how to train law enforcement professionals on how to detect high stake lies, like those faced by police, judges, customs officials, immigration officials, and so forth. It is proposed that in order to know whether we can train or should bother to train people to detect deception, each training study must meet 6 challenges: (1) relevance, (2) high stakes, (3) proper training, (4) proper testing, (5) generalizability across situations, and (6) generalizability over time. Our quantitative review of the literature suggests that training does significantly raise lie detection accuracy rates. Meta-analytic findings indicate a mean effect size of r = .20 across 20 (11 published studies) paired comparisons of lie detection training versus the control group (i.e., those without some type of training). It should be noted that the majority of the studies that attempt to train lie detectors fall short on many of the above challenges. Current research in lie detection training may actually underestimate the ability to train lie detectors due to the stimulus materials employed in most experiments.