Effects of stretch shortening cycle exercise fatigue on stress fracture injury risk during landing

The purpose of this study was to examine changes in landing performance during fatigue that could result in increased stress fracture injury risk. Five participants performed nonfatigued and fatigued drop landings (0.60 m), while ground reaction force (GRF), electromyographic (EMG) activity, and kinematics were recorded. Fatigue was defined as a 5-20% reduction in vertical jumping performance. Single-subject analyses revealed that all participants were affected (p < or = .05) by fatigue. Post hoc comparisons revealed a group effect (p < or = .05) for selected variables. Participants landed with (a) less joint flexion at contact and used a greater range of motion, (b) greater GRF peaks and loading rates, and (c) less EMG activity. These changes were consistent with greater risk of stress fracture.     

A social network perspective on the management of product development programs

Creativity is essential to the performance of product development programs (PDPs). Most PDPs are designed around teams that jointly work together according to the product decomposition into components, the design and development procedure, and the methods of the final integration. Since the creative product development task requires the teams to combine and integrate input from multiple other teams, the team's structure of interaction is an important determinant of their creativity. In research and practice, however, little is known about the social networks of the teams and their creativity within PDPs. In this study we investigate different structural aspects of social networks of such teams and their creativity within two multinational PDPs. The main results of our investigation imply that many direct network contacts around a weekly intensity stimulate the creativity of teams of PDPs, whereas very open networks with a high information variety minimizes the team's creativity.     

Cost-Consequences Analysis: A Case Study

The means and resources used by an organization are best understood within the context of results and payoffs. Organizations, both public and private, are means to societal ends. In order to be accountable for their value to society, organizations must demonstrate that what they produce and/or deliver is of positive value for the time, money, and resources invested. If an organization is to spend time, money, and resources on interventions, social initiatives, organizational re-alignment, or a quality management/continuous improvement process, leaders and decision makers frequently want to know if the value of their results is worth the investments. The Cost-Consequences Analysis offers a coarse-grain estimate of return-on-in-vestment when there is not the necessity nor time and/or resources available for a complete determination of all of the variables that actually go into a return-on-investment analysis.     

Objectives—Are they useful? A quick assessment

Most people understand the importance of objectives and the link between having objectives and accomplishing results. However, there is a difference between a well‐defined objective and a poorly developed objective both in how they are constructed and in what they ultimately lead to. In this article, we explore three levels of objectives, provide examples of good objectives at each level, and put forth a 7‐point inspection any objective should meet if it is to be a useful objective.     

Avoiding legal liability for adult educators,human resource developers,and instructional designers by John Sample

John Sample, SPHR, has his PhD from Florida State University, where he was an associate professor in human resources development. He has 35 years of experience as a consultant, educator, and administrator in human resources management, training, and development. He has served as an expert witness. Avoiding Legal Liability for Adult Educators, Human Resource Developers, and Instructional Designers (ISBN 13: 978–1–57524–273–6 and 10: 1–57524– 273–7) is published by Krieger Publishing Co. This publisher may be reached online at http://www.kreiger‐publishing.com.     

‘Whatever you say,say nothing’: student perceptions of online learning and community in Northern Ireland

While there has been extensive research on online communities of enquiry, little work has been done on the extent to which cultural factors can inhibit student participation. In this study of a ‘blended’ model of learning in which students attended face-to-face lectures but were required to take part in online seminars, we found that although most students felt that they belonged to a community of enquiry, there were considerable obstacles to their readiness to respond fully to the views of others. We ascribe these difficulties to the particular cultural context in which the learning occurred in Northern Ireland and contend that course designers should take account of such ‘cultural inhibitors’ in designing online or blended courses.