Reciprocal Negative Affect in Parent-Child Interactions and Children's Peer Competency

The relationship between preschool children's peer competency and the exchange of reciprocal negative affect displays during physical play with parents was examined. Teacher ratings of children's peer competency were obtained from children's preschools. Parents and children (41 families) were observed during a physical play paradigm called "the hand game" which permitted physically stimulating play, yet which also permitted clear recording of participants' facial expressions. Interactions were coded second by second for 8 min using a system of 12 mutually exclusive and exhaustive codes to categorize the affect displayed by participants. Fathers who typically responded to their children's negative affect displays with negative affect of their own had children who shared less, were more aggressive, and avoided others. Implications of the findings for theories of family-peer relationships are discussed.     

Three-dimensional assessment of squats and drop jumps using the Microsoft Xbox One Kinect: Reliability and validity

The Microsoft Xbox One Kinect? (Kinect V2) contains a depth camera that can be used to manually identify anatomical landmark positions in three-dimensions independent of the standard skeletal tracking, and therefore has potential for low-cost, time-efficient three-dimensional movement analysis (3DMA). This study examined inter-session reliability and concurrent validity of the Kinect V2 for the assessment of coronal and sagittal plane kinematics for the trunk, hip and knee during single leg squats (SLS) and drop vertical jumps (DVJ). Thirty young, healthy participants (age = 23 ± 5yrs, male/female = 15/15) performed a SLS and DVJ protocol that was recorded concurrently by the Kinect V2 and 3DMA during two sessions, one week apart. The Kinect V2 demonstrated good to excellent reliability for all SLS and DVJ variables (ICC ≥ 0.73). Concurrent validity ranged from poor to excellent (ICC = 0.02 to 0.98) during the SLS task, although trunk, hip and knee flexion and two-dimensional measures of knee abduction and frontal plane projection angle all demonstrated good to excellent validity (ICC ≥ 0.80). Concurrent validity for the DVJ task was typically worse, with only two variables exceeding ICC = 0.75 (trunk and hip flexion). These findings indicate that the Kinect V2 may have potential for large-scale screening for ACL injury risk, however future prospective research is required.     

The Impact of an Obstacle Course Sport Education Season on Students' Aerobic Fitness Levels

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine if factor patterns of selected sports skills were similar for two samples, a skilled sample and one consisting of a wide range of skills. Comparisons were also made with kinesiological evidence regarding the patterning of basic sports skills. Data consisting of performance scores on various sports skills were available for 166 high school girls. Out of this sample, a smaller sample was drawn consisting of 69 girls who were above average in skill. Two factor models, alpha and incomplete image analysis, were used in the analysis of this data. The factor pattern of selected sports skills performed by subjects above average in skill was similar in many respects to that of a sample which included a wide range of skill. The primary difference lay in the clustering of overarm skills which appeared in the above-average factor pattern. The overarm and push patterns of the above-average sample resembled the patterns of skill obtained through kinesiological analysis. The structure of kicking, underarm, and sidearm skills remained obscure, based on the results of factor analytic techniques.     

Symbolic and cued immersion: Paratextual framing strategies on the Doctor Who Experience Walking Tour

This article employs autoethnographic reflections to contribute towards debates concerning film-induced tourism by analysing the officially endorsed Doctor Who Experience Walking Tour around filming locations from the BBC series in Cardiff Bay, Wales. Approaching this tour as an example of paratextuality, the article pursues two arguments. First, it reflects upon the attempts used within the tour for encouraging connection between participants and the locations visited from the perspective of immersion. However, noting preceding positions, it is recognized that the tour constructs forms of imaginative immersion. The terms symbolic and cued immersion are subsequently introduced to consider the strategies that the tour employs to position fans and engage them with its frequently quotidian spaces. Second, the article explores the links between the tour’s immersive strategies and its institutional context, arguing that these assist in reinforcing core brand values regarding BBC Worldwide.     

Influence of regression model and initial intensity of an incremental test on the relationship between the lactate threshold estimated by the maximal-deviation method and running performance

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of the regression model and initial intensity during an incremental test on the relationship between the lactate threshold estimated by the maximal-deviation method and performance in elite-standard runners. Twenty-three well-trained runners completed a discontinuous incremental running test on a treadmill. Speed started at 9 km · h^?1 and increased by 1.5 km · h^?1 every 4 min until exhaustion, with a minute of recovery for blood collection. Lactate–speed data were fitted by exponential and polynomial models. The lactate threshold was determined for both models, using all the co-ordinates, excluding the first and excluding the first and second points. The exponential lactate threshold was greater than the polynomial equivalent in any co-ordinate condition (P < 0.001). For both models, the lactate threshold was lower when all co-ordinates were used than when the first and the first and second points were excluded (P < 0.001). 10-km race pace was correlated with both the exponential and polynomial lactate thresholds for all the co-ordinate conditions (r ≥ 0.75, P < 0.001 and r ≥ 0.56, P < 0.05, respectively). The results suggest that the exponential lactate threshold should be used instead of the polynomial equivalent since it is more strongly associated with performance and is independent of the initial intensity of the test.     

Unpacking Our Academic Suitcases: The Inner Workings of Our Feminist Research Group

In this paper we focus on the lived experiences of multidisciplinary scholars as we navigated and coalesced into a productive, interdisciplinary collaboration. We pull from our foundations in feminist methodology and provide excerpts from personal journals and reflexive group interviews to provide a behind-the-scenes account of the inner workings of a feminist research group. While sharing a common research goal, each member negotiated her personal, conceptual, and epistemological stances as we produced an effective, interdisciplinary pastiche. Throughout this process, we worked to create a non-hierarchical atmosphere, continuously and ethically questioned our methods, and incorporated reflexivity in the research processes. In addition to sharing our past experiences, we note challenges we encountered and offer practical suggestions based on the lessons we learned through this collaboration.     

Perseveration of associative strength in rabbit nictitating membrane response conditioning following ISI shifts

The present experiment determined whether associative strength based upon 15 CS-US pairings at various interstimulus intervals (ISIs) could survive shifts of the ISI to influence the subsequent acquisition of the nictitating membrane (NM) CR. The choice of 15 preshift pairings was based upon previous work, which had shown that this training level produced substantial associative strength without NM CR acquisition. Consequently, this experiment, by shifting the ISI before the beginning of CR acquisition, served as an extension to traditional ISI-shift studies that have imposed the manipulation after CR acquisition. The findings of the experiment indicated that 15 preshift pairings in Stage 1 at ISIs from 250 to 4,000 msec were as effective as 15 pairings at a 500-msec ISI in determining the number of trials to the first NM CR in Stage 2 in which the training ISI was 500 msec. Moreover, 15 pairings in Stage 1 at ISIs from 250 to 2,000 msec were equivalent to 15 pairings at 500 msec in controlling the number of trials to 10 successive NM CRs in Stage 2. These outcomes demonstrate that, within a large ISI range, the associative strength based upon relatively few pairings is preserved despite various shifts of the ISI. Therefore, these results suggest that the reductions in CR performance, which have been consistently observed in traditional studies following ISI shifts, are not due to the loss of associative strength.