Sport as a Valued Human Practice: a basis for the consideration of some moral issues in sport

ABSTRACT It is argued that sport, like science or medicine, is a valued human practice and is characterised as much by the moral manner in which its participants conduct themselves as by the pursuit of its own skills, standards and excellences. Virtues, such as justice, honesty and courage, are not only necessary to pursue its goals but to protect it from being corrupted by external interests. After explicating the practice view of sport in contrast to the sociological view, the nature of competition in sport is discussed before examining two related issues: winning at all costs and the taking of performance-enhancing drugs. The importance of practices to education and the good life is also outlined.     

Meta-analysis: a tool for medical and scientific discoveries.

Medicine has made increasing use of meta-analysis, largely as a quantitative procedure for combining results of clinical trials. Meta-analysis begins with a comprehensive review of the literature. The next step is a systematic analysis of the quality and content of each study. Finally, results are combined statistically and conclusions are drawn from this new overview of the data. This paper presents a brief historical perspective on the use of meta-analysis in medicine with emphasis on the medical library. The authors conclude that in the future, medical librarians will play a significant role in the application of this useful technique.     

Pre-season physiological characteristics of English first and second division soccer players.

This investigation was undertaken in an effort to establish physiological characteristics of soccer players and to relate them to positional roles. A total of 135 footballers (age 24.4 +/- 4.6 years) were assessed for body mass, % body fat, haemoglobin, maximal oxygen uptake (VO2 max), leg power, anaerobic capacity and speed prior to an English league season. The sample included 13 goalkeepers, 22 full-backs, 24 centre-backs, 35 midfield players and 41 forwards. The goalkeepers were significantly heavier (86.1 +/- 5.5 kg; P < 0.01) than all groups except the centre-backs, had significantly higher estimated body fat percentages than centre-backs, forwards, midfield players (P < 0.01) or full-backs (P < 0.05), significantly lower estimated VO2 max values (56.4 +/- 3.9 ml kg-1 min-1; P < 0.01) and were slowest over 60 m (12.71 +/- 0.42 s). The midfield players had the highest predicted VO2 max values (61.4 +/- 3.4 ml kg-1 min-1), this being significantly greater (P < 0.05) than for the centre-backs. The forwards were the fastest group over 60 m (12.19 +/- 0.30 s), being significantly quicker than goalkeepers or centre-backs (P < 0.01) and full-backs (P < 0.05). Anaerobic power, as well as knee extensor torques (corrected for body mass) and extensor-flexor ratios, were similar between groups. No difference in estimated body fat percentage was observed between any of the outfield players, and haemoglobin concentrations were similar among players of all positions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Chaos theory, informational needs, and natural disasters

This study applies chaos theory to a system-wide analysis of crisis communication in a natural disaster. Specifically, we analyze crisis communication during the 1997 Red River Valley flood in Minnesota and North Dakota. This flood, among the worst in modern American history, consumed entire metropolitan areas, displacing thousands of people. The conditions and decisions leading to the disaster, and the subsequent reactions are retraced. Communication related to river crest predictions (fractals), the shock at the magnitude of the crisis (cosmology episode), novel forms of reorganizing (self-organization), and agencies that aided in establishing a renewed order (strange attractors) are evaluated. Ultimately, we argue that preexisting sensemaking structures favoring rationalized, traditional views of a complex system led officials to make inappropriately unequivocal predictions and ultimately diminished the effectiveness of the region's crisis communication and planning.     

冰上课教学方法与难点教学实践初探

在教学实践中感到冰上课的难点有2个:站立和弯道技术.就冰上站立和弯道技术进行了技术和教学方法的初步探讨.在冰上首先要解决站立问题,能站立后滑行就比较容易;另一个难点就是弯道滑行,这点若也解决,冰上课就成功了.     

Storage and retrieval of e-mail in a business environment: An exploratory guide

Executives recognize the value of maintaining access to information. More managers filter their own e-mail rather than have assistants do this task. Organizing and storing data for future use are left to the personal preference of the individual manager. Is this in the best interest of the organization? Are data being stored in a manner causing them to be irretrievable in the future? Are irrelevant data being stored? This study investigates the strategies used to store and retrieve e-mail. The results revealed that the primary search strategy was a reliance on memory. The labels assigned to the e-mail folders triggered the user's memory. Although, in the short term, memory is sufficient for organizing and retrieving information, the lack of transferability and preservation of this information poses a danger. The association between the electronic file label and the stored information is unique to the manager and may lead to inaccessibility of relevant corporate knowledge in the future.     

John Marshall and the Humanities in Europe: Shifting Patterns of Rockefeller Foundation Support

John Marshall is best remembered asthe first resident director of the RockefellerFoundation's Study and Conference Center atBellagio. Yet, his influence on knowledge,thought, and practice rivalled that of any ofhis contemporaries at the Rockefeller. Thispaper describes how he `went about hisbusiness' as a Foundation officer, and examineshis contribution to the creation of atransatlantic community of like-mindedtheorists and practitioners of communications.     

The written composing ability of children with learning disabilities: a review of the literature from 1980 to 1990.

This article reviews the literature pertaining to the written composing ability of students with learning disabilities that was published primarily in the decade from 1980 to 1990. The papers included are either reports of research or discussions of instructional procedures that are based on research. The topics addressed include story composition, expository writing, training/intervention research, and rationales/procedures for instruction.