The effect of badminton-specific exercise on badminton short-serve performance in competition and practice climates

This study examined the effects of changes in physiological and psychological arousal on badminton short-serve performance in competitive and practice climates. Twenty competitive badminton players (10 males and 10 females) volunteered to participate in the study following ethics approval. After familiarisation, badminton short-serve performance was measured at rest, mid-way through and at the end of a badminton-specific exercise protocol in two conditions; competition vs. practice. Ratings of cognitive and somatic anxiety were assessed at three time points prior to badminton short-serve performance using the Mental Readiness Form 3. Heart rate and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed during the exercise protocol. Results indicated that better short-serve performance was evident in practice compared to competition (P?=?.034). RPE values were significantly higher in the competition condition compared to practice (P?=?.007). Cognitive anxiety intensity was significantly lower post-exercise in the practice condition compared to competition (P?=?.001). Cognitive anxiety direction showed greater debilitation post-exercise in the competition condition compared to practice (P?=?.01). Somatic anxiety intensity increased from pre-, to mid- to post-exercise (P?=?.001) irrespective of condition. This study suggests that badminton serve performance is negatively affected when physiological arousal, via badminton-specific exercise, and cognitive anxiety, via perceived competition, are high.     

Comparing physical activity estimates in children from hip-worn Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometers using raw and counts based processing methods

This study examined differences in physical activity (PA) estimates provided from raw and counts processing methods. One hundred and sixty-five children (87 girls) wore a hip-mounted ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer for 7 days. Data were available for 129 participants. Time in moderate PA (MPA), vigorous PA (VPA) and moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA) were calculated using R-package GGIR and ActiLife. Participants meeting the wear time criteria for both processing methods were included in the analysis. Time spent in MPA (?21.4 min.d^?1, 95%CI ?21 to ?20) and VPA (?36 min.d^?1, 95%CI ?40 to ?33) from count data were higher (P < 0.001) than raw data. Time spent in MVPA between the two processing methods revealed significant differences (All P < 0.001). Bland-Altman plots suggest that the mean bias for time spent in MPA, VPA and MVPA were large when comparing raw and count methods. Equivalence tests showed that estimates from raw and count processing methods across all activity intensities lacked equivalence. Lack of equivalence and poor agreement between raw and count processing methods suggest the two approaches to estimate PA are not comparable. Further work to facilitate the comparison of findings between studies that process and report raw and count physical activity data may be necessary.     

Utility of international normative 20 m shuttle run values for identifying youth at increased cardiometabolic risk

The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of international normative centiles for the 20 m shuttle run test (20mSRT) to identify youth at increased cardiometabolic risk. This was a cross-sectional study involving 961 children aged 10–17 years (53% girls) from the United Kingdom. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves determined the discriminatory ability of cardiorespiratory fitness percentiles for predicting increased cardiometabolic risk. ROC analysis demonstrated a significant but poor discriminatory accuracy of cardiorespiratory fitness in identifying low/high cardiometabolic risk in girls (AUC = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.54–0.63; p = 0.04), and in boys (AUC = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.54–0.63; p = 0.03). The cardiorespiratory fitness cut-off associated with high cardiometabolic risk was the 55^th percentile (sensitivity = 33.3%; specificity = 84.5%) in girls and the 60^th percentile (sensitivity = 42.9%; specificity = 73.6%) in boys. These 20mSRT percentile thresholds can be used to identify children and adolescents who may benefit from lifestyle intervention. Nonetheless, further work involving different populations and cardiometabolic risk scores comprising of different variables are needed to confirm our initial findings.     

Effects of movement velocity and training frequency of resistance exercise on functional performance in older adults: a randomised controlled trial

Objectives: To investigate the effects that high-velocity, low-load (HVLL) and low-velocity, high-load (LVHL) resistance exercise, performed once or twice-weekly, have on indices of functional performance (primary outcome), maximal strength, and body composition (secondary outcomes) in older adults.

Methods: In a randomised, controlled, multi-armed, parallel design, 54 moderately-highly active, but resistance exercise naïve older adults (aged 60–79 years), attended baseline and post-10-week intervention assessment sessions. Physical and functional assessments were completed, and predicted one-repetition maximums (1-RM) were obtained for eight exercises. Participants were then randomised into one of five conditions: HVLL once-weekly (HVLL1: n?=?11) or twice-weekly (HVLL2: n?=?11), LVHL once-weekly (LVHL1: n?=?10) or twice-weekly (LVHL2: n?=?11), no-exercise control condition (CON: n?=?11). The HVLL conditions completed 3 sets of 14 repetitions at 40% 1-RM and the LVHL conditions, 3 sets of 7 repetitions at 80% 1-RM. In total, 50 participants completed all testing and were included in analyses.

Results: Only LVHL2 improved 30-sec chair stand performance (p?=?.035; g?=?0.89), arm curls (p?=?.011; g?=?1.65) and grip-strength (p?=?.015; g?=?0.34) compared to CON. LVHL2 improved maximal strength compared to CON for 7/8 exercises (p?p?Conclusion: Possibly due to the lower intensity nature of the HVLL conditions, LVHL, twice-weekly was most beneficial for improving functional performance and strength in moderately-highly active older adults. Therefore, we recommend that exercise professionals ensure resistance exercise sessions have sufficient intensity of effort and volume, in order to maximise functional performance and strength gains in older adults.     

Segmented sedentary time and physical activity patterns throughout the week from wrist-worn ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometers among children 7-12 years old

Background:This study examined the volume and patterns of physical activity(PA) and sedentary time(ST) across different segments of the week among boys and girls.Methods:A total of 188 children aged 7-12 years wore a wrist-mounted ActiGraph GT3 X+accelerometer for 7 days.Time spent in PA and ST was calculated using ActiLife software.The mean number of minutes of light PA,moderate PA,vigorous PA,moderate-to-vigorous PA(MVPA),and ST were calculated per weekday(before school,during school,and after school) and per weekend day(morning and afternoon-evening).Results:After school represented the greatest accumulation of ST compared with before school and during school segments.Boys engaged in225.4 min/day of ST(95% confidence interval(CI):216-235),and girls engaged in 222.2 min/day of ST(95%CI:213-231).During school,boys engaged in significantly more MVPA than girls(46.1 min/day(95%CI:44-48) vs.40.7 min/day(95%CI:39-43)).Across the whole weekday,boys participated in significantly more MVPA than girls(103.9 min/day(95%CI:99-109) vs.95.7 min/day(95%CI:90-101)).The weekend afternoon—evening segment represented the larger accumulation of ST,where boys were significantly more sedentary than girls(367.5 min/day(95%CI:353-382) vs.339.8 min/day(95%CI:325-355),respectively).Conclusion:Our findings suggest that children are highly sedentary and spend little of their time in school in MVPA,especially girls.Routine breaks in school elicit increases in light PA and MVPA.Future work should consider the use of more active breaks within school time to encourage PA and reduce ST.     

How does phonological awareness relate to nonword reading skill amongst poor readers?

This study examined phonological awareness at the level of phonemes and rhyme and related this to nonword naming ability. Poor readers were compared with 11 year old chronological-age controls and 8 year old reading-age controls. The poor reader group was impaired for chronological age in all tasks, and impaired for reading age at nonword naming and phoneme deletion. The poor readers' rhyming skills, however, were commensurate with reading age. Individual variation was observed together with exceptions to the group findings; most poor readers performed within the range of the reading-age controls on the phonological tasks and in nonword naming. Dissociations in phonological skills were evident, including indications that intact awareness of rhyme may not be a prerequisite for the development of phoneme awareness. Furthermore, phoneme awareness correlated significantly with poor readers' word and nonword reading ability, whereas rhyming skill did not. Therefore, phoneme awareness may be more important than rhyming skill in understanding reading disorders.     

The Via Media of American Museum Practice: Henry Watson Kent and the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Speculation about the character and purposes of American art museums has occasioned intense debate since their inception—never more so than today. Whether to be elitist or populist, object‐based or audience‐based forms the crux of many heated arguments. This article asserts that, in the midst of competing philosophies, the successful American art museum has in reality grown from an amalgam of ideas that form a via media or middle path, far more inclusive and pragmatic than is usually noted. This comprehensive philosophy is most effectively demonstrated in the work of Henry Watson Kent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York during the first decades of the twentieth century. The work of Kent and his colleagues at the Metropolitan Museum is here examined as a paradigm for the via media museum practice that speaks to the aspirations of America's current art museum leadership.     

莫高窟第85窟壁画地仗酥碱模拟试验

本文以莫高窟第85窟壁画颜料、地仗以及地仗中可溶盐分析结果为依据,制作了含盐量分别为1%、6%、13%的模拟壁画试块,并将其放置于模拟空气湿度变化的实验装置中,观察试块在高低湿度循环时产生的变化.实验表明,试块中含盐量为1%时,相对湿度的变化不会造成酥碱.而含盐量为6%和13%的试块,经过一个高低湿度循环后,就开始产生酥碱的现象,且含盐量13%的较6%的试块发生酥碱的速度快.经过30多个循环后,6%和13%含盐量的试块其酥碱严重程度趋于相同.该模拟试验得到了与莫高窟85窟内相似的酥碱现象.     

Psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory in a competitive sport setting: a confirmatory factor analysis

The present study was designed to assess selected psychometric properties of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory (IMI) (Ryan, 1982), a multidimensional measure of subjects' experience with regard to experimental tasks. Subjects (N = 116) competed in a basketball free-throw shooting game, following which they completed the IMI. The LISREL VI computer program was employed to conduct a confirmatory factor analysis to assess the tenability of a five factor hierarchical model representing four first-order factors or dimensions and a second-order general factor representing intrinsic motivation. Indices of model acceptability tentatively suggest that the sport data adequately fit the hypothesized five factor hierarchical model. Alternative models were tested but did not result in significant improvements in the goodness-of-fit indices, suggesting the proposed model to be the most accurate of the models tested. Coefficient alphas for the four dimensions and the overall scale indicated adequate reliability. The results are discussed with regard to the importance of accurate assessment of psychological constructs and the use of linear structural equations in confirming the factor structures of measures.