Three-dimensional assessment of squats and drop jumps using the Microsoft Xbox One Kinect: Reliability and validity

The Microsoft Xbox One Kinect? (Kinect V2) contains a depth camera that can be used to manually identify anatomical landmark positions in three-dimensions independent of the standard skeletal tracking, and therefore has potential for low-cost, time-efficient three-dimensional movement analysis (3DMA). This study examined inter-session reliability and concurrent validity of the Kinect V2 for the assessment of coronal and sagittal plane kinematics for the trunk, hip and knee during single leg squats (SLS) and drop vertical jumps (DVJ). Thirty young, healthy participants (age = 23 ± 5yrs, male/female = 15/15) performed a SLS and DVJ protocol that was recorded concurrently by the Kinect V2 and 3DMA during two sessions, one week apart. The Kinect V2 demonstrated good to excellent reliability for all SLS and DVJ variables (ICC ≥ 0.73). Concurrent validity ranged from poor to excellent (ICC = 0.02 to 0.98) during the SLS task, although trunk, hip and knee flexion and two-dimensional measures of knee abduction and frontal plane projection angle all demonstrated good to excellent validity (ICC ≥ 0.80). Concurrent validity for the DVJ task was typically worse, with only two variables exceeding ICC = 0.75 (trunk and hip flexion). These findings indicate that the Kinect V2 may have potential for large-scale screening for ACL injury risk, however future prospective research is required.     

Design,implementation, and evaluation of a multi-disciplinary professional development program for research mentors

ABSTRACT

Undergraduate research experience has been shown to enhance student learning and improve persistence in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Researchers studying undergraduate research experiences have largely focused on student outcomes and have seldom investigated the outcomes of graduate and postdoctoral mentors. Here, we report a non-credit, year-long mentor professional development program designed for graduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and research staff in STEM. Mentors attended a series of six interactive and discussion-based workshops and mentored first-year undergraduate students in independent summer research projects. We report evaluation findings for three mentor cohorts using a combination of qualitative analysis of mentoring philosophies and quantitative assessment of pre- and post-surveys about mentoring objectives and skills. Results indicate that mentors gained self-efficacy in some objectives and skills. However, many other objectives and skills remained unchanged. We explore possible explanations for the lack of more broad-scale gains across survey items and present ideas for program improvement.     

Social Media in the Funeral Industry: On the Digitization of Grief

This article explores how innovations in the funeral industry borrow from the technological affordances, commercial logics, cultural norms, and affective registers of social media platforms. Based on ethnographic research of funeral industry conventions, we analyze examples of funeral planning tools, funeral service mediation, and digital memorialization products. We consider how these products aim to capture forms of data, affect, and value as part of the funeral industry’s efforts to shore up their historically intermediary relevance in the face of potential “disruption” from technological innovation, and threats of marginalization posed by shifting norms of networked grieving and commemoration in digital culture     

体育教育专业课程改革的理性思考

体育教育专业的根本任务是培养师资,师范性是它的基本属性和职业属性.因此,课程改革必须以培养高素质的体育师资为出发点,树立新的课程观,以"立足教育实际,突出师范性质,面向基础教育,注重全面发展"为指导思想,优化课程结构,重视素质教育,加强基础课;突出主干课,优化选修课;增大教育类课程比例,强化师德和职业技能训练;培养创新意思,增强适应能力;创建以培养学生从师素质为核心的课程体系.     

Lockbox: mobility,privacy and values in cloud storage

This paper examines one particular problem of values in cloud computing: how individuals can take advantage of the cloud to store data without compromising their privacy and autonomy. Through the creation of Lockbox, an encrypted cloud storage application, we explore how designers can use reflection in designing for human values to maintain both privacy and usability in the cloud.     

Bounding,An Accessible Method for Estimating Principal Causal Effects,Examined and Explained

Estimating treatment effects for subgroups defined by posttreatment behavior (i.e., estimating causal effects in a principal stratification framework) can be technically challenging and heavily reliant on strong assumptions. We investigate an alternative path: using bounds to identify ranges of possible effects that are consistent with the data. This simple approach relies on fewer assumptions and yet can result in policy-relevant findings. As we show, even moderately predictive covariates can be used to substantially tighten bounds in a straightforward manner. Via simulation, we demonstrate which types of covariates are maximally beneficial. We conclude with an analysis of a multisite experimental study of Early College High Schools. When examining the program's impact on students completing the ninth grade “on-track” for college, we find little impact for ECHS students who would otherwise attend a high-quality high school, but substantial effects for those who would not. This suggests a potential benefit in expanding these programs in areas primarily served by lower quality schools.     

Sports-based Text Sets: Fostering Critical Literacy at the Intersections of Sport and Society

Sports culture is central to the lives of many students, whether they participate in athletic competitions or sports fandom. Unfortunately, sports culture also reflects many sociopolitical issues and inequities that impinge upon our greater society in the present day (e.g., domestic violence, racism). For those reasons, sports-based text sets—diverse collections of texts about figures, events, and happenings in sports culture—stand to support teachers in honoring students' knowledge of and interests in sports culture while also facilitating critical literacy practices through the investigation of inequities that ail both sport and society. This article introduces the notion of a sports-based text set, addresses the types of texts that might be featured in such a set, and presents ideas for exploring specific texts with students, using the issue of inequitable compensation for male and female athletes as an example.     

新奥运会周期男子体操竞争态势及发展趋向的研究

依据第28届奥运会体操比赛实况录像和2005年国际男子体操评分规则的变化内容,采用调研访问法、录像统计法及文献资料法,系统分析了新奥运会周期世界男子体操竞争态势与发展趋向:中、俄两国“统治性”竞争格局分离,中、日、美等多国“无统性”纷争金牌的态势形成,团体和全能将在新的格局下进行全方位的“稳定性”竞争。而针对新规则各项技术变化趋向特点的训练,是单项发展的重点。     

Public procurement and innovation—Resurrecting the demand side

Demand is a major potential source of innovation, yet the critical role of demand as a key driver of innovation has still to be recognised in government policy. This article discusses public procurement as one of the key elements of a demand-oriented innovation policy. The paper starts by signaling the new significance of public procurement for innovation policy strategies at the EU level and in a range of European countries. It then defines the concept of public procurement and embeds this concept within a taxonomy of innovation policies. The rationales and justifications of public procurement policies to spur innovation are discussed, followed by a consideration of the challenges and potential pitfalls as well as appropriate institutional arrangements and strategies, including some recent empirical examples of good practice. It concludes by confronting the public procurement approach with two of the most common objections to it and by considering future prospects.     

THE WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA TECHNOLOGY CONSORTIUM: A COLLABORATIVE APPROACH TO BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

Community college presidents face an uphill struggle in preparing their institutions for the rapidly changing technological learning environment. Visionary presidents in rural community colleges are presented with yet another challenge: that of finding themselves on the wrong side of the digital divide. This article describes how presidents of 12 rural community colleges in the mountains of western North Carolina formed a technology consortium to collaboratively address critical technology issues. Integral steps in the joint venture were a combined assessment and planning process authorized by the presidents, formation of the Western North Carolina Technology Consortium, and an e-commerce project designed to meet the needs of small busi-nesses and entrepreneurs in the region. Lessons learned and implications for practice are presented for community college presidents seeking ways to collaborate.