Sport and Civilisation: Violence Mastered? From Civilising Functions to Pacifying Functions

Explaining that it is not possible to divide human activity (political, economic, social, sport, etc.) into different sectors, as they all originate from the same actors, Norbert Elias and Eric Dunning thus came to formulate the central hypothesis of a network which linked the process of pacification of customs, the development of a parliamentary system for society, the state monopoly of violence, the euphemisation of violence in the aristocracy, the genesis of sport and, by recursion, the roles and functions of modern sports in the state control of violence and the learning of self-control. Elias and Dunning contrast modern sports with the ancient games, euphemisation and the persistence of violence, ‘sport’ leisure characteristic of ‘modern’ societies and traditional games in the ‘ancient’ societies, which accompanied the religious calendars and rites of passage. But do they really question society? This paper shows how the problems posed by Elias' theory are, essentially, of three types: first, those linked to the methodology used; second, those related to the limits imposed by the notion of self-constraint; and, finally, those concerning the pacifying function attributed to sport.     

青年奥运会：同一个世界和民族

1 国家主义理解我们所生活的“世界”时,从“全球”的视角或者将重点放在国家上,都会有不同的概念：即全球主义或国家主义。     

The effect of directive tutor guidance in problem-based learning of statistics on students’ perceptions and achievement

In this study directive tutor guidance in problem-based learning (PBL) of statistics is investigated. In a quasi experiment in an educational setting, directive guiding tutors were compared with tutors in a more traditional role. Results showed that the subjective perceptions of the students with regard to the course, the tutor, and the discussions in the tutorial meetings were more positive in the guided condition. The quality of the problems used in the meetings and general tutor functioning were evaluated as equal in both conditions. Achievement was marginally higher in the guided condition. It can be concluded that directive tutor guidance is an effective addition to PBL of statistics.     

Human newborns prefer human milk: conspecific milk odor is attractive without postnatal exposure

Behavioral responses of 3- to 4-day-old newborns to the odors of various human milk (HM) and formula milk (FM) were examined in paired-choice tests. When both stimuli were nonfamiliar, breast-fed, as well as bottle-fed, infants oriented their head and mouthed more vigorously to HM than to FM. When breast-fed infants were exposed to nonfamiliar HM along with the familiar FM, their head-turning responses were undifferentiated although they mouthed more frequently to the human stimulus. When nonfamiliar HM and familiar FM were equalized in intensity, nonfamiliar HM again elicited more head orientation and mouthing responses. These results demonstrate that the odor of HM is more attractive to human newborns than FM and that this preference is independent of postnatal feeding experience.     

Low-dose exercise training does not influence cardiac autonomic control in healthy sedentary men aged 55-75 years

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a realistic, feasible, and commonly used fitness training programme on cardiac autonomic control in 14 sedentary men aged 62.0 +/- 6.1 years (mean +/- s). All participants performed a one-year fitness training programme in which training intensity and frequency were specifically chosen to be compliant for the majority of the participants (2-3 sessions per week at moderate intensity). At the same time, a reference group consisting of 15 sedentary age-matched men (age 64.2 +/- 6.5 years) did not change their habitual physical activity. Measurements were performed before and after the training intervention. Cardiac autonomic control was inferred from resting values (supine and standing) of heart rate variability (HRV) computed in the frequency domain over 10-min intervals. Endurance capacity was evaluated during a maximal incremental bicycle ergometer test. In spite of an increase in peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) by 6.4% after training, heart rate in the training group remained unchanged at rest and at the same metabolic demand. No changes in resting parameters of HRV were shown for either groups or positions. Results from this study provide no evidence of a clinically meaningful increase in the vagal modulation to the sinus node at rest after one year of low-volume and moderate-intensity fitness training in men aged 55-75 years.     

Energy Cost of Disco Dancing

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the energy cost of dancing in the conditions that prevail in disco clubs. To avoid any hindrance in the movements of the dancers, oxygen uptake was assessed by retroextrapolating the 0₂ recovery curve to time zero of recovery. Males and females required a similar energy cost for disco dancing, that is 30.1 ± 10.3 ml 0₂ · kg_-1 · min^-1 for a fundamental music rhythm of 135.0 ± 7.7 bpm (X ± SD = for 15 university students). Males, being heavier than females, have a higher absolute energy expenditure (X ± SD = 48.5 ± 15.2 and 31.7 ± 13.7 kj · min^-1). Heart rate was 134.5 ± 13.4 bpm. Total energy expenditure for a dancing evening (90 min of active time) was estimated to be 4350 and 2850 kJ for the males and the females respectively. At approximately 60 and 70% [Vdot]O₂ max for the males and females respectively, disco dancing could be efficient for improving aerobic fitness and for controlling excess body fat. In this respect, and from the literature, disco dancing (rock and roll, hustle, twist, disco) appears almost twice as strenuous as square dancing and most other traditional dances (rumba, fox trot, waltz). The above figures are averages, and intra-individual variations of 3.0 ml kg^-1 min^-1 (average difference between two trials) and inter-individual variations of 10.3 ml · kg^-1 · min^-1 (standard deviation) suggest caution before applying the average scores to any individual. Results reported above did not appear to be affected by the music rhythm, at least not for the range observed in this study (120–150 bpm). Indeed the energy cost of dancing on two music rhythms (128.0 ± 8.9 and 140.0 ± 9.8 bpm) was not significantly different; furthermore, the correlation between the rhythm and the oxygen uptake was only r = 0.1.     

Theft in a wireless world

I explore philosophically the phenomenon of home wireless networks as used to share broadband Internet connections. Because such networks are frequently unsecured, third parties can use them to access the Internet. Here I consider carefully whether this kind of behaviour should be properly called theft. I begin with a brief non-technical introduction to 802.11 wireless networks. Subsequently, I present a four part argument – appealing to the unsecured nature of the networks discussed, entrenched software and hardware behaviours, trespass law, and the openness of ‹public park’ spectrum – suggesting that this kind of behaviour is permissible and should not be construed as theft. Substantively, I conclude that, despite the quite compelling considerations that these arguments bring to bear, this behaviour is theft. Additionally, I draw attention to significant flaws in the design and implementation of wireless technology (specifically in the out-of-the-box configuration for wireless access points and in the wireless connectivity of early versions of Windows XP) that facilitate the intentional and unintentional theft of Internet bandwidth. I suggest some simple mechanisms that could be incorporated into the technology which would serve to remove the ethical ambiguity in its usage by third parties, including adding the ability for a network owner to explicitly mark her network as not for public use,␣and changes to default hardware and software behaviours. I conclude by encouraging increased use of value-sensitive design practices in the development of future wireless technologies.