Cultured meat and cowless milk: on making markets for animal-free food

According to its proponents, animal-free animal food products, such as cultured meat and synthetic cow’s milk, have the potential to overcome various environmental, health and ethical challenges that have emerged around global animal product consumption and the industrial agriculture that is needed to support it. Apart from the myriad of technical problems making animal-free food products, critics have pointed out the blurry ontological status of the food and the ethical challenges therein, and have questioned the veracity of the various promissory narratives being produced. This paper considers animal-free food from a social studies of economies and markets (SSEM) perspective. As a market that currently mostly only exists in potential, an SSEM perspective can reveal the various social and material relations that comprise the (bio)capital formation that will underpin any market-to-be, an aspect of markets that are often invisible once markets are up and running. Moreover, this perspective details the intimate role markets have in establishing the ethical and ontological aspects of animal-free foods in a political economy shaped by neoliberalisation and financialisation.     

Optimizing recovery to support multi-evening cycling competition performance

Road criterium and track bicycle racing occur at high speeds, demand repeated high power outputs, last 10–90?min, and offer little chance for recovery after the event. Consecutive evenings of criterium and track racing are respectively known as speed-week or six-day events and take place in evening hours over the course of a week. Given the schedule and timing of these competitions, return to homeostasis can be compromised. No recommendations exist on how to optimize recovery for cyclists participating in these types of repeated evening competitions. Criterium and track cyclists spend considerable time, near and above the individual lactate threshold and therefore mostly utilize carbohydrate as their chief energy substrate. Henceforth, pre – and post-race nutrition and hydration is examined and recommendations are brought forward for carbohydrate, protein, and fluid intake. As evening high-intensity exercise perturbs sleep, strategies to optimize sleep are discussed and recommendations for an optimal sleep environment are given. Active recovery is examined, and the benefits of a short duration low intensity exercise reviewed. Passive recovery methods such as compression garments and cold water immersion are recommended, while evidence for massage, pneumatic compression devices, and neuromuscular electrical stimulation is still lacking. Optimizing recovery strategies will facilitate a return to the resting state following strenuous night competition.     

Sprint running kinematics and kinetics in pre-peak-height-velocity male children on a non-motorised treadmill: reliability and normative data

The purpose of this study was to quantify the reliability of kinematic and kinetic variables using a sample of pre-peak-height-velocity (PHV) male athletes sprinting on a non-motorised treadmill. Following variables were measured and their normative data presented, average and peak velocity, average and peak power, average and peak horizontal force, average and peak vertical force, average step frequency, average step length, average work. Twenty-five participants performed three 5-s all-out sprints from a standing split start on a non-motorised treadmill on three separate occasions. Per cent change in the means (-3.66 to 3.35%) and coefficients of variation (0.56–7.81%) were thought reliable for all variables. However, average step rate, average horizontal force and average vertical force did not meet the standards (≥0.70) set for acceptable intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Due to the homogeneous group, it was expected to receive low ICC values. Therefore, youth sprinting performance can be tested reliably on a non-motorised treadmill, especially if the per cent change in the mean and CV are deemed the important reliability measures. Normative data are given for the participant’s age as well as their maturity level for kinematic and kinetic variables.     

Key somatic variables in young backstroke swimmers

The purpose of this study was to estimate the optimal body size, limb-segment length, girth or breadth ratios for 100-m backstroke mean speed performance in young swimmers. Sixty-three young swimmers (boys [n = 30; age: 13.98 ± 0.58 years]; girls [n = 33; age: 13.02 ± 1.20 years]) participated in this study. To identify the optimal body size and body composition components associated with 100-m backstroke speed performance, we adopted a multiplicative allometric log-linear regression model, which was refined using backward elimination. The multiplicative allometric model exploring the association between 100-m backstroke mean speed performance and the different somatic measurements estimated that biological age, sitting height, leg length for the lower-limbs, and two girths (forearm and arm relaxed girth) are the key predictors. Stature and body mass did not contribute to the model, suggesting that the advantage of longer levers was limb-specific rather than a general whole-body advantage. In fact, it is only by adopting multiplicative allometric models that the abovementioned ratios could have been derived. These findings highlighted the importance of considering somatic characteristics of young backstroke swimmers and can help swimming coaches to classify their swimmers and enable them to suggest what might be the swimmers’ most appropriate stroke (talent identification).     

Facilitators and Barriers to Movement Integration in Elementary Classrooms: A Systematic Review

Purpose: A systematic review was conducted to identify facilitators and barriers to movement integration (MI) in elementary school classrooms. Method: Online databases (Educational Resources Information Center, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, and PubMed) served as data sources for the study. Following the PRISMA guidelines, relevant published research on MI was identified and screened for inclusion in a qualitative synthesis. Content analysis of the included articles (N = 28) was used to identify themes of MI facilitators and barriers. Facilitators and barriers were then categorized using a social-ecological framework. Results: A total of 12 themes of MI facilitators and barriers were identified and categorized into two social-ecological levels: institutional factors (e.g., administrative support, resources) and intrapersonal factors (e.g., teacher confidence, ease of implementation). Conclusion: This review can inform research and practice aimed at supporting the implementation of MI in elementary classrooms.     

The effect of acceleration signal processing for head impact numeric simulations

Brain injury research in sport employs a variety of physical models equipped with accelerometers. These acceleration signals are commonly processed using filters. The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of applying filters with different cutoff frequencies to the acceleration signals used as input for finite element modeling of the brain. Signals were generated from reconstructions of concussion events from American football and ice hockey in the laboratory using a Hybrid III headform. The resulting acceleration signals were used as input for the University College Dublin Brain Trauma Model after being processed with filters. The results indicated that using a filter with a cutoff of 300 Hz or higher had little effect on the resulting strain measures. In some cases there was some effect of the filters on the peak linear (8–30g) and rotational measures (1000–4000 rad/s²), but little effect on the finite element strain result (approximately 2–6 %). The short duration and high magnitude accelerations, such as the puck impact, were most affected by the cutoff frequency of different filters.