Match performance of high-standard soccer players with special reference to development of fatigue

The aim of this study was to assess physical fitness, match performance and development of fatigue during competitive matches at two high standards of professional soccer. Computerized time-motion analyses were performed 2-7 times during the competitive season on 18 top-class and 24 moderate professional soccer players. In addition, the players performed the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test. The top-class players performed 28 and 58% more (P < 0.05) high-intensity running and sprinting, respectively, than the moderate players (2.43 +/- 0.14 vs 1.90 +/- 0.12 km and 0.65 +/- 0.06 vs 0.41 +/- 0.03 km, respectively). The top-class players were better (11%; P < 0.05) on the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test than the moderate players (2.26 +/- 0.08 vs 2.04 +/- 0.06 km, respectively). The amount of high-intensity running, independent of competitive standard and playing position, was lower (35-45%; P < 0.05) in the last than in the first 15 min of the game. After the 5-min period during which the amount of high-intensity running peaked, performance was reduced (P < 0.05) by 12% in the following 5 min compared with the game average. Substitute players (n = 13) covered 25% more (P < 0.05) ground during the final 15 min of high-intensity running than the other players. The coefficient of variation in high-intensity running was 9.2% between successive matches, whereas it was 24.8% between different stages of the season. Total distance covered and the distance covered in high-intensity running were higher (P < 0.05) for midfield players, full-backs and attackers than for defenders. Attackers and full-backs covered a greater (P < 0.05) distance in sprinting than midfield players and defenders. The midfield players and full-backs covered a greater (P < 0.05) distance than attackers and defenders in the Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test (2.23 +/- 0.10 and 2.21 +/- 0.04 vs 1.99 +/- 0.11 and 1.91 +/- 0.12 km, respectively). The results show that: (1) top-class soccer players performed more high-intensity running during a game and were better at the Yo-Yo test than moderate professional players; (2) fatigue occurred towards the end of matches as well as temporarily during the game, independently of competitive standard and of team position; (3) defenders covered a shorter distance in high-intensity running than players in other playing positions; (4) defenders and attackers had a poorer Yo-Yo intermittent recovery test performance than midfielders and full-backs; and (5) large seasonal changes were observed in physical performance during matches.     

The making of Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals

Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals are a series of paintings on canvas commissioned by Harvard University and created in the early 1960s. The present study investigates Rothko's creative process, materials, and technique with ultraviolet and infrared imaging, analytical chemistry, cross-sectional analysis, and comparisons with the literature. Infrared and Raman spectroscopy imaging of cross sections help with the chemical mapping of the paint stratifications. A comparison of paper studies, studies on canvas, and the final five works installed give a detailed insight into Rothko's editing process. The intimate relationship between works on paper and canvas is traced by uncovering a back and forth between the two media, and the mixing of dry pigment with binder is a common theme for works on both supports. Motif developments, changes, and distinct painting campaigns become apparent with ultraviolet induced visible fluorescence imaging and infrared reflected infrared digital photography. Color measurements and microfading experiments give insight into the stability and light sensitivity of the materials used by Rothko in the Harvard Murals.     

Conservation of a room: A treatment proposal for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals

A treatment with projected light for Mark Rothko's Harvard Murals (1962) is proposed. The group of five paintings on canvas has changed color due to the presence of a fugitive red pigment and excessive exposure to natural light in a room with large windows. For the conservation of Rothko's Harvard room, it is brought into context within his other commissions and environments. The original color of the works is determined by the digital restoration of contemporary photographs. With a camera projector system a compensation image is calculated that is projected onto the original canvas resulting in a restored color appearance. This approach of inpainting with light is compared with considerations of cleaning and inpainting in conventional conservation treatments. Overall lighting and architecture including the unusual wall color carefully chosen by Rothko play a key role in the treatment of the Mural cycle as an environment.     

Studies on educational reconstruction of chaos theory

The studies presented here comprise a project on the educational significance of chaos theory. Or to put it in a nutshell, we attempt to analyse critically whether the core ideas of chaos theory (as, for instance, limited predictability of chaotic systems despite deterministic laws governing them) are worth teaching and learning and furthermore we follow up the question of accessibility of these ideas for students. Subject matter structure clarification (i.e., construction of the mentioned key ideas) analyses of educational significance on the basis of widely accepted aims of teaching science, empirical studies on students' learning processes, and finally, development and evaluation of pilot instructional modules are closely interrelated. To put it into our terminology, the studies are embedded in a Model of Educational Reconstruction which may be seen as an approach to curriculum development that, on the one hand, takes into account the major insights provided by the constructivist view of the past two decades resting, on the other hand, on the tradition of German pedagogical theories on framing educational issues.     

A Poetics of Teaching

In this article, I elucidate the idea of a poetics of teaching and outline its value to scholars and teachers who seek a deeper understanding of the practice. A poetics of teaching draws together aesthetic, intellectual, and moral dimensions of the work that are often treated separately, if treated at all, in both research and in the classroom. In so doing, a poetics clarifies our picture of what the work offers to the men and women who take up the role. A poetics of teaching calls attention to how teaching can enrich the life of the teacher, even as he or she seeks to deepen and to broaden students' knowledge, understandings, and outlooks. I draw upon aspects of art, of inquiry, and of metaphor to help illuminate these educational values.