Traditional balance and slackline training are associated with task-specific adaptations as assessed with sensorimotor tests

The purpose of this study was to measure alterations in sensorimotor skills and balance resulting from slackline training and conventional balance training. Forty-three physically fit subjects were randomized into three groups. Two groups practiced three times a week for 15?minutes, including at least once supervised session, on the slackline or perform conventional balance training for 6 weeks. The control group was not allowed to perform any balance training. Before and after the intervention, the subjects underwent sensorimotor and strength tests. The results of our intra-class correlation analysis showed that the stability parameters from the multifunctional training device (MFT, 0.7), the height during the countermovement jump (CMJ, 0.95) and the maximum force (0.88) during leg press showed excellent reliability. A post hoc comparison indicated a larger effect of conventional training (almost 11% reduction in MFT stability) compared with slackline training in group-wide comparisons of the pre- to the post-training measurements. The factor analysis showed that stability and sensorimotor assessment using MFT were correlated, as were height during CMJ and maximal force during leg press, which represented dynamic strength. Because CMJ had the highest intra-class correlation value, it was chosen over maximum force from leg press. For these reasons, only two out of nine measured parameters, namely MFT stability and CMJ, were analysed across groups. The only observed difference between the two groups was MFT stability (slackline???1.5%, conventional???13%), whereas the improvement of CMJ was the same (slackline?+?3%, conventional?+?3%). It can be concluded that slacklining is partly complementary to conventional sensorimotor training.     

How is professionals’ information seeking shaped by workplace procedures? A study of healthcare clinicians

Professional work is often regulated by procedures that shape the information seeking involved in performing a task. Yet, research on professionals’ information seeking tends to bypass procedures and depict information seeking as an informal activity. In this study we analyze two healthcare tasks governed by procedures: triage and timeouts. While information seeking is central to both procedures, we find that the coordinating nurses rarely engage in information seeking when they triage patients. Inversely, the physicians value convening for timeouts to seek information. To explain these findings we distinguish between junior and expert professionals and between uncertain and equivocal tasks. The triage procedure specifies which information to retrieve but expert professionals such as the coordinating nurses tend to perform triage, which is an uncertain task, by holistic pattern recognition rather than information seeking. For timeouts, which target an equivocal task, the procedure facilitates information seeking by creating a space for open-ended collaborative reflection. Both junior and expert physicians temporarily suspend patient treatment in favor of this opportunity to reflect on their actions, though partly for different reasons. We discuss implications for models of professionals’ information seeking.     

Why do commercial companies contribute to open source software?

Many researchers have pointed out that the open source movement is an interesting phenomenon that is difficult to explain with conventional economic theories. However, while there is no shortage on research on individuals’ motivation for contributing to open source, few have investigated the commercial companies’ motivations for doing the same. A case study was conducted at three different companies from the IT service industry, to investigate three possible drivers: sale of complimentary services, innovation and opensourcing (outsourcing). We offer three conclusions.     

The Musical Ear Test,a new reliable test for measuring musical competence

This paper reports results from three experiments using the Musical Ear Test (MET), a new test designed for measuring musical abilities in both musicians and non-musicians in an objective way with a relatively short duration (< 20 min.). In the first experiment we show how the MET is capable of clearly distinguishing between a group of professional musicians and a group of non-musicians. In the second experiment we demonstrate that results from the MET are strongly correlated with measures of musical expertise obtained using an imitation test. In the third experiment we show that the MET also clearly distinguishes groups of non-musicians, amateurs and professional musicians. The test is found to have a large internal consistency (Cronbach alpha: 0.87). We further show a correlation with amount of practice within the group of professionals as well as a correlation with a forward digit span test.     

Differences in impact characteristics,joint kinetics and measurement reliability between forehand and backhand forward badminton lunges

ABSTRACT

This study identified the effect of badminton lunging directions on impact characteristics, joint kinetics and measurement reliability. A total of 14 badminton players performed 20 lunges in both forehand and backhand sides. Ground reaction force (GRF) and three-dimensional joint moment variables were determined for further analyses. Paired t-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were performed to determine any differences between the two lunge directions and intra-class correlation (ICC) and sequential averaging analysis (SAA) were used to estimate the minimum number of trials. Compared to the forehand side, participants experienced significantly larger total GRF impulse (+ 3.8%, p = 0.021) and transverse moment (hip + 63.5%, p < 0.001; knee + 80.7%, p = 0.011), but smaller hip (?7.7%), knee (?18.7%) and ankle frontal moments (?58.0%, p < 0.05) in backhand lunges. The minimum number of trials was similar for both lunge directions, as the averaged absolute differences was less than one in both ICC and SAA. Furthermore, smaller minimal number of trials was determined by the ICC (7.9–8.0), compared with the SAA approach (9.5–10.3). Lunge direction would influence GRF and joint loading, but not on the measurement reliability. These results give important insights to establish performance or equipment evaluation protocols during badminton lunges.     

Education and the concept of commons. A pedagogical reinterpretation

This paper explores the concepts of commons and commoning from an educational vantage point. These concepts point to places and activities that are shared, communal and un-privatised, in other words they point to places and practices not yet enclosed or appropriated by capital and market logics. Education is certainly a place and an activity that is increasingly being enclosed and appropriated by these logics, but at the same time education seems to always find ways of escaping this enclosure, and teachers and students find ways of being that escapes appropriation. Exploring the concepts of commons and commoning from an educational vantage point is thus an attempt at describing schooling as an activity that takes place in common and makes something common. By sharing and introducing a subject matter to the students, the teacher offers a shared space of exploration and study that can escape the instrumental and proprietarian framework of the neoliberal education agenda.     

Best entry points for structured document retrieval—Part I: Characteristics

Structured document retrieval makes use of document components as the basis of the retrieval process, rather than complete documents. The inherent relationships between these components make it vital to support users’ natural browsing behaviour in order to offer effective and efficient access to structured documents. This paper examines the concept of best entry points, which are document components from which the user can browse to obtain optimal access to relevant document components. In particular this paper investigates the basic characteristics of best entry points.     

Christopher Freeman: social science entrepreneur

This paper focuses on Christopher Freeman's contributions to the field of innovation studies. First, we consider his role as the creator of various organisational and intellectual frameworks crucial for the field's development, including the main research activities he initiated. Next, we examine the publications by Freeman that these activities led to. A database of surveys of the innovation literature, assembled from articles in handbooks covering this area, is used to identify the most influential of his writings for this field. In addition, citations to these works in scholarly journals are analysed in order to examine the nature and extent of his influence on other scholars. The final section sums up the evidence regarding Freeman's influence on the field's development. A list of Freeman's scholarly works is included as Appendix B.