What the Zoo Should Ask: The Visitor Perspective on Pro‐wildlife Behavior Attributes

Abstract Zoos have some choice about which pro‐wildlife behaviors to ask their visitors to do, but with this freedom comes the difficult task of choosing behaviors that are appropriate, effective, and that do not affect visitors’ experiences. This paper presents attributes of pro‐wildlife behaviors that emerged from self‐completed questionnaires administered to 114 zoo visitors. Questions sought to elicit attributes that visitors felt should be considered in the behavior selection process. The results say that behaviors should: have an on‐site option; be new, or if known, include new learning that underpins why they are needed; be easy to do; and have a clear link between the behavior and how it helps wildlife. Respondents also made comments about specific behaviors as well as how behaviors should or should not be requested. We suggest that visitors’ perspectives be incorporated into pro‐wildlife behavior selection in zoos, and we propose that these findings may be relevant beyond zoos.     

Early visual cues associated with a directional place kick in soccer

The purpose of this paper was to establish postural cues in kicking that may be of use to goalkeepers. Eight male soccer players (age 20.5 ± 1.1 yrs; height 1.78 ± 0.053 m; mass 75.18 ± 9.66 kg) performed three types of kick: a low side-foot kick to the left hand corner of the goal, a low side-foot kick straight ahead, and a low instep kick straight ahead. Kicks were recorded by an optoelectronic motion analysis system at 240 Hz. At kicking foot take-off (about 200 ms before ball contact) the variables which were significantly different and could act as cues were support foot progression angle, pelvis rotation, and kicking hip and ankle flexion. The support foot progression angle was considered to be the most valuable of these variables as its angle coincided with the direction of ball projection. The other variables were less clear in their interpretation and so less valuable for a goalkeeper to use for decision making. Cues appearing after support foot contact were thought unlikely to be of value to a goalkeeper in their decision making. These include kicking leg knee flexion angle, and support leg shank and thigh angles.     

Post-warmup strategies to maintain body temperature and physical performance in professional rugby union players

We compared the effects of using passive-heat maintenance, explosive activity or a combination of both strategies during the post-warmup recovery time on physical performance. After a standardised warmup, 16 professional rugby union players, in a randomised design, completed a counter-movement jump (peak power output) before resting for 20 min and wearing normal-training attire (CON), wearing a passive heat maintenance (PHM) jacket, wearing normal attire and performing 3 × 5 CMJ (with a 20% body mass load) after 12 min of recovery (neuromuscular function, NMF), or combining PHM and NMF (COMB). After 20 min, participants completed further counter-movement jump and a repeated sprint protocol. Core temperature (T_core) was measured at baseline, post-warmup and post-20 min. After 20 min of recovery, T_core was significantly lower under CON and NMF, when compared with both PHM and COMB (P < 0.05); PHM and COMB were similar. Peak power output had declined from post-warmup under all conditions (P < 0.001); however, the drop was less in COMB versus all other conditions (P < 0.05). Repeated sprint performance was significantly better under COMB when compared to all other conditions. Combining PHM with NMF priming attenuates the post-warmup decline in T_core and can positively influence physical performance in professional rugby union players.     

Developing educational goals: insights from a Peer Assisted Teaching Scheme

The rapid changes facing higher education are placing increased focus on the quality of the student experience, achieving learning outcomes, and employability expectations. As a result, academics in teaching roles are increasingly measured on performance via student evaluations amplifying attention on professional development initiatives for academics. One such initiative is the Peer Assisted Teaching Scheme currently in practice across many Australian universities. The critical component of the scheme is the establishment of teaching goals that provide focus and direction for the peer partnership. This study addresses two questions: (1) Around which aspects do academics set their goals for teaching improvement? and (2) How do academics’ goals align with the SMART goal-setting framework that is prescribed in the scheme? Findings from five Australian universities showed that goals align with a variety of educational areas yet many were underdeveloped, or misaligned with the proposed strategy. The implications of this are discussed and a framework for setting education goals for teaching improvement is developed.     

Is salivary cortisol moderating the relationship between salivary testosterone and hand-grip strength in healthy men?

This study examined the moderating effect of cortisol (C) on the relationship between testosterone (T) and hand-grip strength (HGS) in healthy young men. Sixty-five males were monitored for salivary T, C and HGS before and 15?min after a short bout (5?×?6-s trials) of sprint cycling exercise. Sprint exercise promoted (p?<?.05) positive changes in T (6.1?±?24.9%) and HGS (3.4?±?7.5%), but a negative C response (?14.4?±?33.1%). The T and C measures did not independently predict HGS, but a significant T?×?C interaction was found in relation to these outcomes. Further testing revealed that pre-test T and HGS were negatively associated (p?<?.05), but only in men with high C levels. The exercise changes in T and HGS were also negatively related in men with low C levels (p?<?.05), but no relationship was seen in men with high C levels. In summary, complex relationships between T and HGS emerged when considering C as a moderating variable. The pre-test combination of high C and low T levels favoured absolute HGS, whereas low pre-test C levels and a smaller T change were linked to larger HGS changes. These associations suggest that, in the current format, T is not necessarily anabolic to muscle strength in healthy young men. Such complexities could also explain some of the inconsistent T relationships with physical performance in lesser trained male populations.     

Non-targeted metabolomics in sport and exercise science

Metabolomics incorporates the study of metabolites that are produced and released through physiological processes at both the systemic and cellular levels. Biological compounds at the metabolite level are of paramount interest in the sport and exercise sciences, although research in this field has rarely been referred to with the global ‘omics terminology. Commonly studied metabolites in exercise science are notably within cellular pathways for adenosine triphosphate production such as glycolysis (e.g., pyruvate and lactate), β-oxidation of free fatty acids (e.g., palmitate) and ketone bodies (e.g., β-hydroxybutyrate). Non-targeted metabolomic technologies are able to simultaneously analyse the large numbers of metabolites present in human biological samples such as plasma, urine and saliva. These analytical technologies predominately employ nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry. Performing experiments based on non-targeted methods allows for systemic metabolite changes to be analysed and compared to a particular physiological state (e.g., pre-/post-exercise) and provides an opportunity to prospect for metabolite signatures that offer beneficial information for translation into an exercise science context, for both elite performance and public health monitoring. This narrative review provides an introduction to non-targeted metabolomic technologies and discusses current and potential applications in sport and exercise science.     

Perspectives of applied collaborative sport science research within professional team sports

The purpose of the study was to examine the perspectives of both academics and practitioners in relation to forming applied collaborative sport science research within team sports. Ninety-three participants who had previously engaged in collaborative research partnerships within team sports completed an online survey which focused on motivations and barriers for forming collaborations using blinded sliding scale (0–100) and rank order list. Research collaborations were mainly formed to improve the team performance (Academic: 73.6?±?23.3; Practitioner: 84.3?±?16.0; effect size (ES?=?0.54), small). Academics ranked journal articles’ importance significantly higher than practitioners did (Academic: M_rank?=?53.9; Practitioner: 36.0; z?=??3.18, p?=?.001, p?q). However, practitioners rated one-to-one communication as more preferential (Academic: M_rank?=?41.3; Practitioner 56.1; z?=??2.62, p?=?.009, p?q). Some potential barriers were found in terms of staff buy in (Academic: 70.0?±?25.5; Practitioner: 56.8?±?27.3; ES?=?0.50, small) and funding (Academic: 68.0?±?24.9; Practitioner: 67.5?±?28.0; ES?=?0.02, trivial). Both groups revealed low motivation for invasive mechanistic research (Academic: 36.3?±?24.2; Practitioner: 36.4?±?27.5; ES?=?0.01, trivial), with practitioners have a preference towards ‘fast’ type research. There was a general agreement between academics and practitioners for forming research collaborations. Some potential barriers still exist (e.g. staff buy in and funding), with practitioners preferring ‘fast’ informal research dissemination compared to the ‘slow’ quality control approach of academics.