Uses and Gratifications,Journalists’ Twitter Use,and Relational Satisfaction with the Public

This study employed the uses and gratification approach to investigate how journalists perceive relational satisfaction with the public on Twitter, specifically the associations between journalists’ motivations to use Twitter, their Twitter use, and their relational satisfaction with the public. Through a survey of South Korean journalists, this study revealed that journalists’ motivations for Twitter use are positively related to their job-related activities on Twitter (e.g., posting/sharing their news and interacting with audience), which consequently influences perceived relational satisfaction with the public. The findings provide new insight into an increasingly important part of the public’s engagement and news/information flows in the digital media environment. This study expands upon the literature by analyzing how journalists’ motivations for using Twitter and their job-related activities on Twitter are associated with relational satisfaction with the public.     

Social Media Type Matters: Investigating the Relationship Between Motivation and Online Social Network Heterogeneity

This study investigated relationships between social media motivation, relative preferences for social media type, and network heterogeneity, using a U.S. national survey. By classifying social media into the symmetrical and the asymmetrical, we showed that relationship motivation was more likely to be associated with a preference for the symmetrical type, whereas information motivation with a preference for the asymmetrical. Network heterogeneity was positively predicted by relationship motivation but not by information motivation. Finally, a relative preference for the symmetrical type was found to mediate the association between relationship motivation and network heterogeneity.     

The “sacred” standing for the “fallen” spirits: Yasukuni Shrine and memory of war

This essay examines the rhetoric/politics of Yasukuni Shrine as an experiential memory-scape, a material and discursive ground to frame and enact banal patriotism and militant nationalism. As a powerful mnemonic and rhetorical institution, Yasukuni Shrine (re)produces a nationalistic narrative and identity by (con)fusing natural feelings of individual grief and cultural tradition of commemoration with national heritage of banal patriotism. By (con)fusing what is “particular” and “universal,” Yasukuni Shrine establishes its rhetorical ground to justify a “banal” sense of patriotism that slips into the “ordinary yet honorable” fervor of militant nationalism, while effectively evading its moral/ethical reflexivity.     

A coach’s political use of video-based feedback: a case study in elite-level academy soccer

This paper examines the video-based pedagogical practices of Terry (pseudonym), a head coach of a professional junior academy squad. Data were collected through 6 in-depth, semi-structured interviews and 10 field observations of Terry’s video-based coaching in situ. Three embracing categories were generated from the data. These demonstrated that Terry’s video-based coaching was far from apolitical. Rather, Terry strategically used performance analysis technologies to help fulfil various objectives and outcomes that he understood to be expected of him within the club environment. Kelchtermans’ micropolitical perspective, Callero’s work addressing role and Groom et al.’s grounded theory were primarily utilised to make sense of Terry’s perceptions and actions. The findings point to the value of developing contextually grounded understandings of coaches’ uses of video-based performance analysis technology. Doing so could better prepare coaches for this aspect of their coaching practice.     

Influence of moderate intensity physical activity levels and gender on conditioned pain modulation

This study examined the potential influence of moderate intensity physical activity (PA) levels and gender on central pain modulation using conditioned pain modulation (CPM) in healthy men and women. Twenty four individuals (12 men and 12 women) who reported engaging in the moderate intensity PA for 150 min or more per week and 24 individuals (12 men and 12 women) who reported engaging in moderate intensity PA for 60 min or less per week completed a self-report PA questionnaire and a 7-day PA assessment using an accelerometer. Furthermore, the participants completed the CPM testing to evaluate the efficiency of central pain modulation. The active individuals scored higher on the PA questionnaire and spent more minutes for light, lifestyle, moderate and vigorous intensity PA than the less active individuals. The active men and women exhibited comparable magnitudes of CPM, and showed a greater magnitude of CPM when compared to their less active counterparts. However, these beneficial effects of higher dose moderate intensity PA disappeared when time spent for vigorous intensity PA was statistically controlled for. These results suggest that the higher dose moderate intensity PA does not add to the benefits from vigorous intensity PA to further improve central pain modulatory systems.     

An Evolution of the Migration of Taiwanese Female Basketball Players: From the ‘American Dream’ to the ‘Chinese Dream’

Abstract

This paper explores the migration of female basketball players from Taiwan to China. Governance theory is adopted as the framework in this study to analyze the phenomenon of players’ migration and to understand how it was shaped over the years. The empirical work draws on a qualitative approach, which is based on a review of documentary materials and semi-structured interviews; coding and analysis were undertaken with a content analysis approach in order to investigate the decision-making processes and their consequences for the players’ migration. The feature of systematic governance for the development of women’s basketball has been revealed in this study. Stakeholders with personal interests caused the downturn of women’s basketball development in Taiwan, and it eventually led to the players’ migration abroad. Through the lens of governance theory, it has been revealed that a number of factors – namely, political, financial, personal, socio-economic, and cultural – all intertwine with one another dynamically to influence the female players’ decision to move abroad. This finding broadens the scope for the research of Taiwanese athletes’ migration to China, extending the focus from only business or industry to other aspects, thereby highlighting the fact that the subject is more complex than previously understood.     

中欧体育健康项目“健康儿童?健康社会”研究

“健康儿童?健康社会”（HCSC）是在欧盟体育健康发展准则下,构建由家庭、学校、体育组织、地区政府等诸多部门组成的复合体系,通过降低BMI值减少超重,改善运动能力,进而提高个人生活质量。主要通过对HCSC项目的历史发展进行论述,对HCSC的核心理念、组织构架、运作模式3方面进行剖析,并以中国实验学校为例,对实验干预前后学生的身体健康指标进行对比分析,旨为国内相关领域研究抛砖引玉。