Long-term impact of the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games on sport participation: A cohort analysis

The sport participation rate has been shown to decrease with age in many countries. In Japan, however, the elderly sport participation rate has increased over the last decade and is the highest among all Japanese. This study investigated whether the cohort effect generated by the shared experience of hosting the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games during their youth can explain the increased sport participation of elderly Japanese. Data from the Japanese National Sport-Life Survey over 20 years were analyzed through regression analysis. The results show that, after controlling for demographics and other determinants of sport participation, individuals who experienced the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games participated in sport more frequently than other generations.     

金属间化合物Nd_3Co的比热测定

我们对金属门化合物Nd3Co的比热在2K～35K的温度范围内进行了测量．观察到在8.5K、14K和25K．有三个磁性转变点。     

Investigation of snowboard stiffness and camber characteristics for different riding styles

Previous research has indicated that the flex pattern and camber of a snowboard are crucial to its perceived “feel”, or the physical and psychological feedback given to the rider whilst snowboarding. These features are the primary cause of variation in snowboard performance for different riding styles. Consequently, this article deals with the identification of stiffness and camber characteristics for freestyle, freeride and versatile test boards, and their statistical correlation to a comprehensive list of qualitative feel-based performance requirements. It has been determined that the test boards spanning the major styles all possessed similar bending profiles, that were highly representative of each snowboard’s respective thickness distribution. The torsional stiffness curves however appeared to be driven by the composite architecture used in construction. Unsurprisingly, the freeride test board showed the greatest level of overall stiffness. The versatile board exhibited the greatest fluctuation in bending stiffness along the chord, whereas the freestyle profile was far more even throughout, with less variation from tip to tail. All of the subjective performance parameters except forgiveness showed positive associations to the body stiffness and camber, with manoeuvrability exhibiting the strongest correlations. The forgiveness showed the exact opposite trend, implying that higher levels of flex and less camber promotes a forgiving snowboard.     

Japanese Elementary Teachers’ Learning Experiences of Physical Education Professional Development

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate Japanese elementary teachers’ professional development experiences in physical education in Japan. Participants were nine teachers from four public elementary schools. Data sources included semi-structured face-to-face interviews and annual physical education professional development portfolios. Three themes emerged from the data analyses: (a) the importance of mentoring for teachers’ growth, (b) annual in-house physical education portfolios as a professional development tool, and (c) the dilemma of being an independent learner in collective culture. The findings suggest that having access to past portfolios developed by previous teachers helped the Japanese elementary teachers to conceptualize the contents of professional learning that facilitated their transitions when they changed their teaching settings. To continuously grow as a teacher, they need to become independent learners who can make decisions about their instruction, identify the weaknesses of their instruction, and understand the impact of their pedagogy on their students’ learning.     

公立图书馆在美国全境服务的实现过程

为所有居民服务既是公立图书馆的原则,也是公立图书馆的理想,这个宗旨如何在美国实现,作者对此详细观察并深入分析其历史过程。尤其重视关注1960年美国公立图书馆行业对于为所有居民服务的思想认识变化过程。     

"周鲁时代"的终结与《吕氏春秋》的登场

本文欲阐明《吕氏春秋》撰写可能的动机以及其论述内容对战国末期当时的历史、思想角色上之固有意义.本文的论述内容可分成如下三点:(1)概述在前256年周室灭亡后产生的"后周鲁"时代的秦王之动态.(2)《吕氏春秋》的撰写目的是将治理天下人民的统治理论提供给秦王.就《吕氏春秋》作者(们)而言,借由此统治理论的实践,秦王从当今"实际上"(de facto)的"天子"能够提升为真正的天子.(3)关于《吕氏春秋》的内容是否受到《荀子》思想的影响这一点,笔者认为,《荀》《吕》两书的论述内容基本上是独自展开的,只是吕不韦可能继承了荀子的基本问题意识(即如何治理天下人民),并且将这样的论述转换成专为秦主实践的一种"行动计划"(action plan).总之,《吕氏春秋》所提出的治理天下的理论,对从前240—前230年代的秦廷以"间接支配周边诸侯和天下人民"的模式来与对外诸侯互动的政策应该发挥了某种影响力.     

Family risk as a predictor of initial engagement and follow-through in a universal nurse home visiting program to prevent child maltreatment

Objective

As nurse home visiting to prevent child maltreatment grows in popularity with both program administrators and legislators, it is important to understand engagement in such programs in order to improve their community-wide effects. This report examines family demographic and infant health risk factors that predict engagement and follow-through in a universal home-based maltreatment prevention program for new mothers in Durham County, North Carolina.

Methods

Trained staff members attempted to schedule home visits for all new mothers during the birthing hospital stay, and then nurses completed scheduled visits three to five weeks later. Medical record data was used to identify family demographic and infant health risk factors for maltreatment. These variables were used to predict program engagement (scheduling a visit) and follow-through (completing a scheduled visit).

Results

Program staff members were successful in scheduling 78% of eligible families for a visit and completing 85% of scheduled visits. Overall, 66% of eligible families completed at least one visit. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses indicated that high demographic risk and low infant health risk were predictive of scheduling a visit. Both low demographic and infant health risk were predictive of visit completion.

Conclusions

Findings suggest that while higher demographic risk increases families’ initial engagement, it might also inhibit their follow-through. Additionally, parents of medically at-risk infants may be particularly difficult to engage in universal home visiting interventions. Implications for recruitment strategies of home visiting programs are discussed.     

Measuring Knowledge Integration Learning of Energy Topics: A two-year longitudinal study

Although researchers call for inquiry learning in science, science assessments rarely capture the impact of inquiry instruction. This paper reports on the development and validation of assessments designed to measure middle-school students’ progress in gaining integrated understanding of energy while studying an inquiry-oriented curriculum. The assessment development was guided by the knowledge integration framework. Over 2 years of implementation, more than 4,000 students from 4 schools participated in the study, including a cross-sectional and a longitudinal cohort. Results from item response modeling analyses revealed that: (a) the assessments demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties in terms of reliability and validity; (b) both the cross-sectional and longitudinal cohorts made progress on integrating their understanding energy concepts; and (c) among many factors (e.g. gender, grade, school, and home language) associated with students’ science performance, unit implementation was the strongest predictor.     

Development of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion Instrument for Japanese Physical Education Majors and an Analysis of their Judgments

The purpose of this study was to assess the validity and reliability of the Physical Educators’ Judgments about Inclusion (PEJI) survey for analysing the judgments of Japanese (361 male, 170 female) physical education teacher education majors. A secondary purpose was to examine group differences in judgments as a function of gender and past experiences. Data were collected and psychometrical properties of the PEJI were assessed using a maximum-likelihood extraction method. Confirmatory factor analysis resulted in salient loadings for all items on three hypothesised dimensions, resulting in 47% explained variance for measuring judgments about: Inclusion versus Exclusion, Acceptance of Students with Disabilities, and Perceived Training Needs. Supported by the three interpretable factors that emerged, construct validity evidence is presented. Although most of the physical education teacher education majors sampled had yet to teach students with disabilities, they had formed preliminary judgments about doing so.     

Key motion characteristics of side-step movements in hip-hop dance and their effect on the evaluation by judges

In hip-hop dance, the elements of motion that discriminate the skill levels of dancers and that influence the evaluations by judges have not been clearly identified. This study set out to extract these motion characteristics from the side-step movements of hip-hop dancing. Eight expert and eight non-expert dancers performed side-step movements, which were recorded using a motion capture system. Nine experienced judges evaluated the dancers’ performances. Several parameters, including the range of motion (ROM) of the joint angles (neck, trunk, hip, knee, and face inclination) and phase delays between these angular motions were calculated. A quarter-cycle phase delay between the neck motion and other body parts, seen only in the expert dancers, is highlighted as an element that can distinguish dancers’ skill levels. This feature of the expert dancers resulted in a larger ROM during the face inclination than that for the non-expert dancers. In addition, the experts exhibited a bottom-to-top segmental sequence in the horizontal direction while the non-experts did not demonstrate any such sequential motion. Of these kinematic parameters, only the ROM of the face inclination was highly correlated to the judging score and is regarded as being the most appealing element of the side-step movement.