Sovintersport and the cashing in on Soviet football

This article focuses on the Soviet sports agency Sovintersport, which was created in the late 1980s and became an import–export company for everything related to sport in the Soviet Union. Sovintersport and its subsidiary companies were responsible for importing and exporting sporting equipment, negotiating sponsorship contracts with foreign companies, as well as the transferring of Soviet athletes and coaches to other countries. This article will, therefore, analyse the operations of Sovintersport and its subsidiary companies in the period between 1987 and 1991, with a special focus on foot-ball related operations. Sovintersport is in many ways is an excellent case study, which illustrates how international trading corporations that were set up during Gorbachev’s reign of the Soviet Union, operated. Sovintersport demonstrates how football in the Soviet Union turned from a spectator sport into a valuable asset that was worth capitalizing on.     

How to Assess and Categorize Teachers’ Views of Science? Two Methodological Issues

Research in Science Education - This paper addresses two methodological issues related to the assessment of teachers’ views of science. The first concerns the distinction between the...     

Epidemiology of injuries in First Division Spanish football

Abstract

The aim was to examine the injuries sustained by Spanish football players in the First Division and to compare injury-related variables in the context of both competition and training. The injury data were prospectively collected from 16 teams (427 players) using a specific web-based survey during the 2008/2009 season. A total of 1293 injuries were identified (145 were recurring injuries). The overall injury incidence was 5.65 injuries per 1000 h of exposure. Injuries were much more common during competition than during training (43.53 vs. 3.55 injuries per 1000 h of exposure, P < 0.05). Most of the injuries (89.6%) involved the lower extremities, and overuse (65.7%) was the main cause. Muscle and tendon injuries were the most common types of injury (53.8%) among the players. The incidence of training injuries was greater during the pre-season and tended to decrease throughout the season, while the incidence of competition injuries increased throughout the season (all P < 0.05). In conclusion, the results of this study suggest the need for injury prevention protocols in the First Division of the Spanish Football League to reduce the number of overuse injuries in the muscles and tendons in the lower extremities. In addition, special attention should be paid during the pre-season and the competitive phase II (the last four months of the season) in order to prevent training and competition injuries, respectively.     

The effects of inter-letter spacing in visual-word recognition: Evidence with young normal readers and developmental dyslexics

Recent research has demonstrated that slight increases of inter-letter spacing have a positive impact on skilled readers' recognition of visually presented words. In the present study, we examined whether this effect generalises to young normal readers and readers with developmental dyslexia, and whether increased inter-letter spacing affects the reading times and comprehension of a short text. To that end, we conducted a series of lexical decision and continuous reading experiments in which words were presented with the default settings or with a small increase in inter-letter spacing. Increased spacing produced shorter word identification times not only with adult skilled readers (Experiment 1), but also with young normal readers (Grade 2 and Grade 4 children; Experiment 2) and, even to a larger degree, with readers with dyslexia (Experiments 3 and 4). These experiments suggest that slight increases in inter-letter spacing would improve the readability of texts aimed at children, especially those with dyslexia.     

If I experience formative assessment whilst studying at university,will I put it into practice later as a teacher? Formative and shared assessment in Initial Teacher Education (ITE)

The aim of this article is to analyse whether having experience of formative assessment during their initial teacher education courses (ITE) influences graduates’ subsequent practice as teachers. That is, if the assessment methods that university students are subject to during their learning process are then actually employed by them during their professional practice as schoolteachers. To address this issue, questionnaires were issued and focus groups were held with a sample of ITE graduates. The main results of the study are that: (1) formative and shared assessment (FSA) is not used a great deal during ITE, but is highly valued; (2) some graduates have implemented FSA in their practice as teachers, following their experience on their ITE course; and (3) significant variables are found regarding the implementation of FSA in schools (possible resistance from colleagues and/or pupils’ parents, etc.).     

Agreement in activity energy expenditure assessed by accelerometer and self-report in adolescents: variation by sex, age, and weight status

The agreement between self-reported and objective estimates of activity energy expenditure was evaluated in adolescents by age, sex, and weight status. Altogether, 403 participants (217 females, 186 males) aged 13-16 years completed a 3-day physical activity diary and wore a GT1M accelerometer on the same days. Partial correlations (controlling for body mass) were used to determine associations between estimated activity energy expenditure (kcal · min(-1)) from the diary and accelerometry. Differences in the magnitude of the correlations were examined using Fisher's r to z transformations. Bland-Altman procedures were used to determine concordance between the self-reported and objective estimates. Partial correlations between assessments of activity energy expenditure (kcal · min(-1)) did not differ significantly by age (13-14 years: r = 0.41; 15-16 years: r = 0.42) or weight status (normal weight: r = 0.42; overweight: r = 0.39). The magnitude of the association was significantly affected by sex (Δr = 0.11; P < 0.05). The agreement was significantly higher in males than in females. The relationship between activity energy expenditure assessed by the objective method and the 3-day diary was moderate (controlling for weight, correlations ranged between 0.33 and 0.44). However, the 3-day diary revealed less agreement in specific group analyses; it markedly underestimated activity energy expenditure in overweight/obese and older adolescents. The assessment of activity energy expenditure is complex and may require a combination of methods.     

Fostering parents-professional collaboration for facilitating the school inclusion of students with ASD: design of the “ToGather” web-based prototype

Educational technology research and development - In recent years, many psycho-educational technologies were studied to address the school-related difficulties encountered by students with autism...     

Clones identification of Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl. in Chile by using PCR-RAPDs technique

A protocol of polymerase chain reaction-random amplified polymorphic DNAs (PCR-RAPDs) was established to analyse the gene diversity and genotype identification for clones of Sequoia sempervirens (D. Don) Endl. in Chile. Ten (out of 34) clones from introduction trial located in Voipir-Villarrica, Chile, were studied. The PCR-RAPDs technique and a modified hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) protocol were used for genomic DNA extraction. The PCR tests were carried out employing 10-mer random primers. The amplification products were detected by electrophoresis in agarose gels. Forty nine polymorphic bands were obtained with the selected primers (BG04, BF07, BF12, BF13, and BF14) and were ordered according to their molecular size. The genetic similarity between samples was calculated by the Jaccard index and a dendrogram was constructed using a cluster analysis of unweighted pair group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA). Of the primers tested, 5 (out of 60) RAPD primers were selected for their reproducibility and high polymorphism. A total of 49 polymorphic RAPD bands were detected out of 252 bands. The genetic similarity analysis demonstrates an extensive genetic variability between the tested clones and the dendrogram depicts the genetic relationships among the clones, suggesting a geographic relationship. The results indicate that the RAPD markers permitted the identification of the assayed clones, although they are derived from the same geographic origin. Project (No. CONICYT-FONDEF PROYECT D01 I 1008) supported by the National Commission of Science and Research of Chile     

The Socio-Economic Background of Erasmus Students: A Trend Towards Wider Inclusion?

The article focuses on the financial issues and family background of Erasmus students. It examines the costs of Erasmus study periods in the academic year 2004/05 and the socio-economic background of Erasmus students that year, based on over 15000 survey responses. Results are compared with those of a similar survey undertaken in 1998 to track changes over the last decade. The main question that the article addresses is whether international mobility of higher education students within the Erasmus programme has been expanded to more students from lower socio-economic backgrounds during this period. We find that, in spite of still important socio-economic barriers to the take-up of the programme, access has been moderately widened.