Olympics,Media and Politics: The First Olympic Ideas in Brazilian Society During the Late Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

The Olympic Games of the modern era are powerful global mediated events. Olympic cities receive an overwhelming examination by world media. As the 2016 Olympic host, Rio de Janeiro has been given an enormous amount of attention, both by the international media and researchers who looked at the urban spaces of Rio, the struggles over the hegemony of the city and the social meanings the Olympics bring to the host city’s citizens. However, studies over the historical relationship between Rio, sport and media are rare. This paper addresses the historical uses of the term Olympic by Brazilian media during the late nineteenth and the early twentieth centuries. By looking at the main articles in the newspapers of these periods, we examine the extent to which ideologies over sports have changed the way the Olympics were represented in Brazil’s national imaginary. We demonstrate how the use of expressions associated with the Olympics historically generated a closer appreciation of these events by the public. We also show how political authorities appropriated the Olympics for their own benefit. The paper concludes by asking whether or not the historical lessons from the early Olympic ideas in Brazil have been learned by the 2016 Rio Games organizers.     

学风建设深层问题的几点思考

高校学风建设要以学生为中心，一切从学生的根本利益出发，对学生全面负责。通过深化教育教学改革，充分调动学生学习的积极性、主动性、创造性并培养学生优良的道德品质是学风建设的根本目的。     

Socialisation into organised sports of young adolescents with a lower socio-economic status

Studies investigating sport socialisation often focussed on the barriers for youngsters from lower socio-economic status (SES) families to participate in sport. In the present study, the socialisation into sports of young adolescents from lower SES families that do participate in organised sports was investigated. A total of 9 girls and 12 boys from lower SES families (18 Dutch; three foreign ethnic background) from one city in the Netherlands who participated in organised sport were interviewed. Although multiple agents may be of influence on the socialisation process, this study was limited to the family, school and peers as potential socialising contexts. Drawing on the theoretical work of Bourdieu and Bernstein, parents were found to be the main influencers of the sports habitus of these young adolescents. The school context appeared to have no influence on their sport socialisation. Peers were found to have an influence on the choice for a specific type of sport. This interplay between socialising contexts for young adolescents from lower SES families is similar to the sport socialisation of youngsters from higher SES families. Therefore, it is suggested that if sport socialisation takes place, then the role of SES is less pronounced than often assumed. Moreover, there seem to be differences in the relative importance of the socialising contexts with younger children with a lower SES. Therefore, it is hypothesised that the relative importance of socialising agents changes over time. Although the findings may be limited to the specific sample of this study, they provide hypotheses that challenge the often-presumed importance of SES if sport socialisation takes place.     

Measurement precision of body composition variables in elite wheelchair athletes,using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry

The purpose of this study was to assess the reproducibility of body composition measurements by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in 12 elite male wheelchair basketball players (age 31 ± 7 years, BMI 21 ± 2 kg/m² and onset of disability 25 ± 9 years). Two whole body scans were performed on each participant in the supine position on the same day, using Lunar Prodigy Advance DXA (GE Lunar, Madison, WI, USA). Participants dismounted from the scanning table and were repositioned in-between the first and second scan. Whole body coefficient of variation (CV) values for bone mineral content (BMC), fat mass (FM) and soft tissue lean mass (LTM) were all <2.0%. With the exclusion of arm FM (CV = 7.8%), CV values ranged from 0.1 to 3.7% for all total body and segmental measurements of BMC, FM and LTM. The least significant change that can be attributed to the effect of treatment intervention in an individual is 1.0 kg, 1.1 kg, 0.12 kg for FM, LTM, and BMC, respectively. This information can be used to determine meaningful changes in body composition when assessed using the same methods longitudinally. Whilst there may be challenges in the correct positioning of an individual with disability that can introduce greater measurement error, DXA is a highly reproducible technique in the estimation of total and regional body composition of elite wheelchair basketball athletes.     

Lower limb alignment characteristics are not associated with running injuries in runners: Prospective cohort study

There is conflicting evidence on the association between lower limb alignment characteristics and the incidence of running-related injury (RRI). Therefore, the primary aim of this study was to investigate the association between lower limb alignment characteristics and the incidence proportion of RRI in a convenience sample of recreational runners. A total of 89 recreational runners were included in this prospective cohort study. These participants had been running for at least six months and were injury-free at baseline. Lower limb alignment measurements were conducted in order to calculate lower limb discrepancy, Q-angle, subtalar angle and plantar index. All participants also answered a baseline and biweekly online surveys about their running routine, history of RRI and newly developed RRI over a period of 12 weeks. The prevalence of previous RRI and the 12-week incidence proportion of new RRI were calculated. Logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between lower limb length discrepancy, Q-angle, subtalar angle and plantar ach index with the incidence proportion of RRI. The prevalence of previous RRI was 55.1% (n?=?49). The 12-week incidence proportion of new RRI was 27.0% (n?=?24). Muscle injuries and tendinopathies were the main types of RRI identified. The lower leg and the knee were the main anatomical regions affected. We did not find significant associations between lower limb length discrepancy, Q-angle, subtalar angle and plantar arch index and injury occurrence.     

What’s in a name: dimensions of social learning in teacher groups

Induced by a literature review, this paper presents a framework of dimensions and indicators highlighting the underpinning aspects and values of social learning within teacher groups. Notions of social networks, communities of practice and learning teams were taken as the main perspectives to influence this social learning framework. The review exercise resulted in four dimensions: (1) practice, (2) domain and value creation, (3) collective identity and (4) organization. The indicators corresponding to these dimensions serve as the foundation for understanding social learning in practice. The framework of dimensions and indicators can be of assistance for researchers as well as teacher groups that aim to assess their views on social learning and analyse whether these views fit the learning goals of the group or that adjustments are required. In this way, learning processes within groups of teachers can be improved.     

Modular programming of curricula

A large scale modularisation of curricula in higher education based on relatively large modules is discussed. These modules are flexible courses and not the well known small instructional modules within a course. The idea of these so-called programme modules, together with some applications and implications are discussed in the context of the Dutch higher educational system which is quite similar to that in other Western European countries. One implication is a less static concept of what a curriculum is. This may affect students, teachers, curriculum planners and legislators in their thinking about what kind of education a university can offer (in the near future) to its potential clients.     

ADAPT<Superscript>IT</Superscript>: Tools for training design and evaluation

This article describes a set of computerized tools that support the design and evaluation of competency-based training programs. The training of complex skills such as air traffic control and process control requires a competency-based approach that focuses on the integration and coordination of constituent skills and transfer of learning. At the heart of the training are authentic whole-task practice situations. The instructional design tools are based on van Merriënboer's 4C/ID^* methodology (1997). The article describes a training design tool (Core) that supports the analysis and design for competency-based training programs and an evaluation tool (Eval) that supports the subsequent revision of this training design.