A new footwear technology to promote non-heelstrike landing and enhance running performance: Fact or fad?

This study sought to compare the kinetics and kinematics data in a group of habitual shod runners when running in traditional running shoes and newly designed minimalist shoes with lug platform. This novel footwear design claims to simulate barefoot running and reduce energy loss during impact. We compared footstrike angle (FSA), vertical average (VALR) and instantaneous (VILR) loading rates, energy loss and initial vertical stiffness between two shoe conditions. Runners demonstrated a decreased FSA while running in minimalist shoes with lug platform than traditional shoes (P = 0.003; Cohen’s d = 0.918). However, we did not observe a landing pattern transition. VALR and VILR between two footwear conditions showed no significant difference (P = 0.191–0.258; Cohen’s d = 0.304–0.460). Initial vertical stiffness (P = 0.032; Cohen’s d = 0.671) and energy loss (P = 0.044; Cohen’s d = 0.578) were greater when running in minimalist shoes with lug platform. The results show that minimalist shoes with lug platform reduce the FSA but may not lead to a landing pattern switch or lower vertical loading rates. Interestingly, the new shoe design leads to a greater energy loss than traditional running shoes, which could be explained by a higher initial vertical stiffness.     

A knock to the system: A new sociotechnical systems approach to sport-related concussion

Broader contextual factors that influence concussion management have tended to be overlooked. To address this, the present study used a sociotechnical systems approach to identify perceived responsibilities and applied strategies for three domains of concussion management (i.e., prevention, identification and treatment). Participants were 118 members of the community rugby union system in Australia (69.2% male). Participants from throughout the rugby system (e.g., players, parents, coaches, club management) were asked open-ended questions about their perceived responsibilities and the strategies they use for concussion management. It was found that (a) proper training, technique correction and education were recurrent prevention themes; (b) the majority of key stakeholders felt that they could consistently identify concussion; however, medical aids (medics) were the only system actors who stated a responsibility to use standardised concussion assessment measures and (c) less than one third of the respondents indicated their involvement in treating concussion. This study identifies specific junctures in the system that prevents effective concussion management strategies. A sociotechnical systems approach improves the understanding of concussion prevention, and management beliefs and behaviours.     

Guideposts and Roadblocks to the Career-Long Scholarly Engagement of Physical Education Teacher Education Faculty

Purpose: Scholarship is essential for the growth and development of the physical education field. Over time, scholarship expectations have changed, forcing faculty members to alter time spent for research, teaching, and service. Social-cognitive career theory (SCCT) presents a model for understanding performance and persistence in an occupational environment. The interconnected aspects of SCCT have different emphasis related to self-efficacy, outcome expectations, or personal goals pursuit. This study explored physical education teacher education (PETE) faculty members’ continuing engagement in scholarly activity through SCCT. Method: Data collection included interviews with 9 senior PETE faculty members who met the criteria for “productive scholars over time.” Curriculum vitae were collected to verify productivity. Results: Data analysis revealed guidepost themes that included collaborating, finding balance, defining a research process, and maintaining a strong work ethic. Roadblocks encountered included other obligations and lack of support for research. Conclusions: Participants demonstrated strong self-efficacy; held high, positive expectations for success; and set very specific, clear, and deliberate goals. Participant behavior was moderated by their personal attributes (capacity to build relationships, set goals, and maintain interest and passion) and was tempered by the environments in which they worked. Fostering similar behaviors has the potential to guide future and current PETE faculty members in creating supportive and encouraging atmospheres for sustained productivity. The lack of literature relating to this topic warrants the need for more research exploring the influential factors and benefits gained from sustained scholarly productivity over time for PETE faculty members.     

Development and Initial Validation of the Volition in Exercise Questionnaire (VEQ)

The present study describes the development and validation of an instrument to measure volition in the exercise context. Volition describes an individual’s self-regulatory mental processes that are responsible for taking and maintaining a desirable action (e.g., exercising regularly). The scale structure was developed in an exploratory factor analysis which resulted in a reliable structure of the following six factors: Volitional Inhibition—Reasons, Volitional Inhibition—Postponing Training, Volitional Facilitation—Self-Confidence, Volitional Inhibition—Unrelated Thoughts, Volitional Inhibition—Approval From Others, and Volitional Facilitation—Coping with Failure. A sound theoretical explanation for these six factors is based on the Personal System Interaction Theory. This six-factor structure was also confirmed in a new sample in a confirmatory factor analysis, delivering an 18-item questionnaire with strong model fit and good internal consistency. In addition, the Volition in Exercise Questionnaire showed convergent validity because it was able to predict exercise participation. It showed incremental validity by explaining additional variance to the Sport Motivation Scale’s well-established predictors of exercise participation.     

Sports’ disciplinary legacy and the challenge of ‘coaching differently’

Be empowering. Be athlete-centered. Be autonomy supportive. These are three related topics currently being promoted by sport psychologists and sport pedagogists in an effort to recognize athletes’ unique qualities and developmental differences and make coaching more holistic and coaches more considerate. This has led us to ask, how likely are such initiatives to lead to coaches putting their athletes at the center of the coaching process given that coaches’ practices have largely been formed through relations of power that subordinate and objectify athletes’ bodies through the regular application of a range of disciplinary techniques and instruments [e.g. Barker-Ruchti, N., &; Tinning, R. (2010). Foucault in leotards: Corporeal discipline in women's artistic gymnastics. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27, 229–250; Heikkala, J. (1993). Discipline and excel: Techniques of the self and body and the logic of competing. Sociology of Sport Journal, 10, 397–412; Gearity, B., &; Mills, J. P. (2012). Discipline and punish in the weight room. Sports Coaching Review, 1, 124–134]? In other words, to try to develop athlete-centered coaches capable of coaching in ways that will empower their athletes without also problematizing the discursive formation of coaches’ practices concerns us [Denison, J., &; Mills, J. P. (2014). Planning for distance running: Coaching with Foucault. Sports Coaching Review, 3, 1–16]. Put differently: how can athlete empowerment initiatives be anything more than rhetoric within a disciplinary framework that normalizes maximum coach control? It is this question that we intend to explore in this paper. More specifically, as Foucauldians, we will argue that coaching with greater consideration for athletes’ unique qualities and developmental differences needs to entail coaching in a less disciplinary way and with an awareness and appreciation of the many unseen effects that disciplinary power can have on coaches’ practices and athletes’ bodies.     

Evidence for the Validity of a Social Connectedness Scale: Connectors Amass Bridging Social Capital Online and Offline

One of the key characteristics of effective opinion leaders is that they are highly connected; they know many people and have numerous weak-tie relationships. Two studies were conducted that found evidence consistent with construct validity. The first (N = 35 and N = 57) found that connectors knew more people from a randomly selected list of names. A second study, with two surveys, was created (N = 561 and N = 189) such that the connectedness scores of some of the subjects in the first survey could be linked to how many subjects knew them in the second. Results indicated that those with higher connection scores were more likely to be known by others. Moreover, in the second survey, measures of Facebook use and bridging social capital were found to be associated substantially with connector scores.     

Factors influencing students’ perceptions of graduate attribute acquisition in a multidisciplinary honours track in a Dutch university

This article studies the relationship between students’ perceptions of teaching and learning in a multidisciplinary honours programme and their impact on graduate attributes acquisition. The study, conducted among 73 honours students in a Dutch research university, evaluates perceived improvement in graduate attributes through annually collected survey data pertaining to student motivation, perception of the teaching and learning environment, engagement in the programme and registered course marks. The evaluation study reveals that to the extent of the perceived development of graduate attributes, three factors play crucial roles: students’ performance motivation, the amount of teacher support in creative and critical thinking, and students’ inclination to approach the honours track as a learning community.     

Effects of peer-mediated instruction on the acquisition and generalization of written capitalization skills

This study investigated the effects of a peer teaching procedure, combined with student letter-writing activities, on the acquisition and generalization of capitalization skills. Three students, aged 9 years, obtained instruction from peer partners that included (a) an introduction and review of capitalization rules, (b) feedback on each participant's previous capitalization work, and (c) guided and independent practice on sentences that required capitalization. All three students demonstrated acquisition of the capitalization rules after participating in the teaching sessions with one or two peer partners. In addition, there were increases in capitalization accuracy in participants' letters to peers who did not serve as teaching partners, thus demonstrating a measure of across-peer (stimulus) generalization. Mixed results were obtained on a response generalization task (sentence writing). Finally, sentencing-writing activities also showed that two of the peer partners substantially improved their use of capitalization skills as a result of teaching the target students.     

Preliminary studies on the detection ofMycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex using DNA probe from a clinical isolate

Genomic DNA from a clinical isolate ofMycobacterium avium-intracellulare complex was purified and cloned in PBR 322 at the tetracycline resistance site using Bam HI restriction enzyme. A 16 kb cloned fragment was purified, radiolabeled and used as a probe. Genomic DNA isolated from nineteen MAC strains, threeM. tuberculosis strains and oneM. kansasii strain were digested with Eco RI restriction enzyme, Southern blotted and hybridized with the 16 kb cloned and labeled fragment. Twelve MAC strains showed positive hybridization although five strains gave faint signals. Positive hybridization was noted in two out of the threeM. tuberculosis strains, possibly due to shared DNA homology. No signal was received from the singleM. kansasii strain used in this study.