The development of a method for identifying penalty kick strategies in association football

Penalty takers in association football adopt either a keeper-independent or a keeper-dependent strategy, with the benefits of the keeper-independent strategy presumed to be greater. Yet, despite its relevance for research and practitioners, thus far no method for identifying penalty kick strategies has been available. To develop a validated and reliable method, Experiment 1 assessed characteristics that observers should use to distinguish the two strategies. We asked participants to rate 12 characteristics of pre-recorded clips of kicks of penalty takers that used either a keeper-independent or keeper-dependent strategy. A logistic regression model identified three variables (attention to the goalkeeper, run-up fluency and kicking technique) that in combination predicted kick strategy in 92% of the penalties. We used the model in Experiment 2 to analyse prevalence and efficacy of both the strategies for penalty kicks in penalty shoot-outs during FIFA World Cups (1986–2010) and UEFA Football Championships (1984–2012). The keeper-independent strategy was used much more frequently (i.e., 78–86%) than the keeper-dependent strategy, but successes did not differ. Penalty takers should use both the strategies to be less predictable. Goalkeepers can use the developed model to improve their chances to succeed by adjusting their behaviour to penalty takers’ preferred penalty kick strategy.     

The Wind in the Willows and the Style of Romance

The style of Kenneth Grahame??s The Wind in the Willows arises from an alternative vision and choice of values characteristic of romance. Romance seeks fulfillment beyond the consequences of everyday relationships and the constrictions of ordinary life. Causal relationships give way to lists of independent items, unmotivated outcomes, and fulfilled wishes. Typical syntax in The Wind in the Willows includes compound listing of elements: instead of subordinating the parts to each other, both sentence style and larger organization deemphasize causality, giving an additive and coordinate nature to the work. Grahame??s style is an appropriate vehicle for a ??new life?? that is inherently rather than conditionally worthwhile. Characters acknowledge each other as ends. Such a style is a natural outcome of the worldview of romance.     

Calibration of two objective measures of physical activity for children

A calibration study was conducted to determine the threshold counts for two commonly used accelerometers, the ActiGraph and the Actical, to classify activities by intensity in children 5 to 8 years of age. Thirty-three children wore both accelerometers and a COSMED portable metabolic system during 15 min of rest and then performed up to nine different activities for 7 min each, on two separate days in the laboratory. Oxygen consumption was measured on a breath-by-breath basis, and accelerometer data were collected in 15-s epochs. Using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, cutpoints that maximised both sensitivity and specificity were determined for sedentary, moderate and vigorous activities. For both accelerometers, discrimination of sedentary behaviour was almost perfect, with the area under the ROC curve at or exceeding 0.98. For both the ActiGraph and Actical, the discrimination of moderate (0.85 and 0.86, respectively) and vigorous activity (0.83 and 0.86, respectively) was acceptable, but not as precise as for sedentary behaviour. This calibration study, using indirect calorimetry, suggests that the two accelerometers can be used to distinguish differing levels of physical activity intensity as well as inactivity among children 5 to 8 years of age.     

Measurement of contact forces on a kayak ergometer with a sliding footrest–seat complex

Kinematic analysis is done by measurement of the position of bodies, followed by differentiation to get the accelerations of the centres of mass, and it is widely used in sport research. Another common approach is to measure the forces directly. Our intention here is to perform both a kinematic and a kinetic analysis of the same athlete-equipment system, in this case an athlete on a sliding kayak ergometer, with the aim of exploring the errors that may occur with each measurement type. The kayak ergometer with a sliding trolley, instrumented by seven uniaxial force sensors and two goniometers, was placed in a filming area. The instrumentation was validated in the direction of the anteroposterior axis using Newton’s second law. Ten athletes paddled at 92 strokes per minute, following a stationary phase. The comparison between the net force and the time-derivative of the linear momentum indicated a friction level of about 20 N between the trolley and the frame. Other errors came mainly from the inertial parameters of the trunk. A first analysis of contact forces shows a large inter-subject variability, in particular for the forces applied to the footrest and the seat.     

When is a discovery? The affective dimensions of discovery in music consumption

ABSTRACT

This article explores the concept of music discovery and seeks to provide a definition of the act of discovering music content. Research on music consumption has weakly theorized what the moment of “discovery” consists of, since it has been more preoccupied with debates about the conditions of discoveries, which either highlight the importance of individuals’ social milieus or the enhanced technological agency that they enjoy in the digital age. Drawing on qualitative data about musical experiences, this article frames discoveries as affective responses to music content that occur within individuals’ life narratives and mediate their interpretation and definition of music.     

Whatever Happened to Progressive Education? A comparison of primary school teachers’ attitudes in 1982 and 1996

Two cohorts of teachers working full‐time in Church of England voluntary‐aided and voluntary‐controlled first, primary and middle (deemed primary) schools within the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich were invited to complete a questionnaire concerned with teaching styles in 1982 and again in 1996. The data demonstrate a significant shift toward placing greater value on traditional teaching styles between 1982 and 1996.     

Mental arithmetic in children with mathematics learning disabilities: the adaptive use of approximate calculation in an addition verification task

The adaptive use of approximate calculation was examined using a verification task with 18 third graders with mathematics learning disabilities, 22 typically achieving third graders, and 21 typically achieving second graders. Participants were asked to make true-false decisions on simple and complex addition problems while the distance between the proposed and the correct answer was manipulated. Both typically achieving groups were sensitive to answer plausibility on simple problems, were faster at rejecting extremely incorrect results than at accepting correct answers on complex addition problems, and showed a reduction of the complexity effect on implausible problems, attesting to the use of approximate calculation. Conversely, children with mathematics disabilities were unaffected by answer plausibility on simple addition problems, processed implausible and correct sums with equal speed on complex problems, and exhibited a smaller reduction of the complexity effect on implausible problems. They also made more errors on implausible problems. Different hypotheses are discussed to account for these results.