Scapulohumeral kinematic assessment of the forward kayak stroke in experienced whitewater kayakers

By understanding the normal humeral and scapular kinematics during the kayak stroke, inferences about the relationship of kayaking technique and shoulder injury may be established. The purpose of this study was to describe scapular and humeral kinematics and to compare dominant versus non-dominant symmetry in healthy whitewater kayakers performing the forward stroke. Twenty-five competent whitewater kayakers (mean age: 34.1 ± 9.4 years, mean height: 1.768 ± 0.093 m, mean mass: 78.2 ± 13.0 kg) underwent humeral and scapular kinematic assessment, using an electromagnetic tracking device, while kayaking on a kayak ergometer. Paired t-tests were used to determine symmetry. Scapular and humeral kinematic means and standard deviations at six time points during the kayak stroke were described. Scapular and humeral kinematics were shown to be similar upon bilateral comparison. The greatest potential for injury during the forward stroke may be at thrust paddle shaft vertical when the humerus is maximally elevated in internal rotation and adduction as subacromial structures may be mechanically impinged. The relationship between scapulohumeral kinematics related to injury at other time points are also described.     

Game as Paradox: A Rebuttal of Suits

Here I examine Bernard Suits’s definition of games and explain why that definition is in need of reference to representation or, put more generally, to semiosis. And, once admitting the necessity of the representational in games, Suits’s definition must also then admit the essential paradoxy of games.     

Graphic symbols as "the mind on paper": links between children's interpretive theory of mind and symbol understanding

Children gradually develop interpretive theory of mind (iToM)—the understanding that different people may interpret identical events or stimuli differently. The present study tested whether more advanced iToM underlies children’s recognition that map symbols’ meanings must be communicated to others when symbols are iconic (resemble their referents). Children (6–9 years; N = 80) made maps using either iconic or abstract symbols. After accounting for age, intelligence, vocabulary, and memory, iToM predicted children’s success in communicating symbols’ meaning to a naïve map‐user when mapping tasks involved iconic (but not abstract) symbols. Findings suggest children’s growing appreciation of alternative representations and of the intentional assignment of meaning, and support the contention that ToM progresses beyond mastery of false belief.     

The Relationship Between Students’ Motives to Communicate With Their Instructors and Classroom Environment

This study examined the relationships between students’ motives for communicating with their instructors (i.e., relational, functional, participatory, excuse making, and sycophantic) and their perceptions of the classroom environment (i.e., classroom climate, classroom connectedness, and personalized education). Participants were 174 undergraduate students enrolled in several introductory communication courses at a large, Mid-Atlantic university. The results indicated that students’ self-reports of their relational, functional, participatory, and sycophantic motives to communicate with their instructors were positively related to their perceptions of the classroom environment, but students’ self-reports of their excuse-making motives were not related to their perceptions of the classroom climate. Future research should examine whether students’ motives to communicate with their instructors remain constant or whether these motives fluctuate over the course of a semester or increase or decrease based on the instructional tasks that normally occur during an instructional period.