Effect of defence response time during lunge in foil fencing

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of stimulus change timing on reaction response time parameters, horizontal velocity of the centre of mass (CM) and precision during offensive actions in fencing. Twelve fencers from the Spanish National Foil Team were included in the study. Two 500 Hz force plates were used to register the horizontal component of the reaction force while a 3D video camera set at 250 Hz recorded the spatial position of 11 body markers and a projector connected to a programmed stopwatch projected a moving target (stimulus) on a screen. When the circle (target) appeared in the centre of the plastron, fencers had to execute a step-forward-lunge as fast as possible, trying to touch the circle with the tip of the foil. During the lunge, the position of the target could randomly shift or not to three different positions. The stimulus change was performed randomly at four different times with a progressive delay. The results show that target changes did not have any effect when they occurred at the beginning of the movement sequence. However, when the target change was delayed, reaction and movement times increased and the technical execution of the lunge changed, leading to more errors.     

Ecological dynamics of continuous and categorical decision-making: The regatta start in sailing

Abstract

Ecological dynamics of decision-making in the sport of sailing exemplifies emergent, conditionally coupled, co-adaptive behaviours. In this study, observation of the coupling dynamics of paired boats during competitive sailing showed that decision-making can be modelled as a self-sustained, co-adapting system of informationally coupled oscillators (boats). Bytracing the spatial–temporal displacements of the boats, time series analyses (autocorrelations, periodograms and running correlations) revealed that trajectories of match racing boats are coupled more than 88% of the time during a pre-start race, via continuous, competing co-adaptions between boats. Results showed that both the continuously selected trajectories of the sailors (12 years of age) and their categorical starting point locations were examples of emergent decisions. In this dynamical conception of decision-making behaviours, strategic positioning (categorical) and continuous displacement of a boat over the course in match-race sailing emerged as a function of interacting task, personal and environmental constraints. Results suggest how key interacting constraints could be manipulated in practice to enhance sailors' perceptual attunement to them in competition.     

Automatic evaluation of digital libraries with 5SQual

Digital libraries (DLs) are complex information systems which can present changes in their structure, content, and services. These complexities and dynamics make system maintenance a non-trivial task, since it requires periodical evaluation of the different DL components. Generally, these evaluations are customized per system and are performed only when problems occur and administrator intervention is required. This work aims to change the situation. We present 5SQual, a tool which provides ways to perform automatic and configurable evaluations of some of the most important DL components, among them, digital objects, metadata, and services. The tool implements diverse numeric indicators that are associated with eight quality dimensions described in the 5S quality model. Its generic architecture was developed to be applicable to various DLs and scenarios. In sum, the main contributions of this work include: (i) the design and implementation of 5SQual, a tool that validates a theoretical DL quality model; (ii) the demonstration of the applicability of the tool in several usage scenarios; and (iii) the evaluation (with usability specialists) of its graphical interface specially designed to guide the configuration of 5SQual evaluations. We also present the results of interviews conducted with administrators of real DLs regarding their expectations and opinions about 5SQual.     

Approaches to studying in higher education Portuguese students: a Portuguese version of the approaches and study skills inventory for students

This paper examines the validity of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students—short version (ASSIST; Tait et al. in Improving student learning: Improving students as learners, 1998), to be used with Portuguese undergraduate students. The ASSIST was administrated to 566 students, in order to analyse a Portuguese version of this inventory. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factor analysis followed by direct oblimin rotation) reproduced the three main factors that correspond to the original dimensions of the inventory (deep, surface apathetic and strategic approaches to learning). The results are consistent with the background theory on approaches to learning. Additionally, the reliability analysis revealed acceptable internal consistency indexes for the main scales and subscales. This inventory might represent a valuable research tool for the assessment of approaches to learning among Portuguese higher education students.     

Intercultural Communication Competence Scale: Invariance and Construct Validation in Portugal

ABSTRACT

This article explores the psychometric validation of an Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) scale. Three studies were performed: (1) psychometric evidence pertaining to the scale’s reliability and factor structure and an analysis of the measurement invariance; (2) assessment of convergent and predictive validity; and (3) analyzes the association between ICC and affective and cognitive dimensions of cultural empathy. A three-factor model with eight items yielded the best fit to the data. The scale showed non-invariance between genders, but proved to be a predictor of intercultural contact. Convergent validity were demonstrated.     

An assessment of a social–cognitive model of academic performance in mathematics in Argentinean middle school students

This study tested a set of hypotheses derived from the model of academic achievement in mathematics of the Social Cognitive Career Theory in a sample of Argentinean middle school students. To this aim, 277 students (male and female; age: 13–15 years) were assessed using the following instruments: logical–mathematical self-efficacy scale, mathematics outcome expectations, mathematics performance goals, and mathematics ability test. All of these instruments had been adapted for use in Argentinean students. Academic achievement in mathematics (i.e., grades obtained on regular school exams) was the variable to be modeled through the path analysis technique. The analysis allowed identification of interrelations among the variables and identification of direct and indirect effects. Academic achievement in mathematics was partially explained by the model. Overall, the results support the theoretical postulates of Social Cognitive Career Theory.     

Effects of emphasising opposition and cooperation on collective movement behaviour during football small-sided games

ABSTRACT

Optimizing collective behaviour helps to increase performance in mutual tasks. In team sports settings, the small-sided games (SSG) have been used as key context tools to stress out the players’ awareness about their in-game required behaviours. Research has mostly described these behaviours when confronting teams have the same number of players, disregarding the frequent situations of low and high inequality. This study compared the players’ positioning dynamics when manipulating the number of opponents and teammates during professional and amateur football SSG. The participants played 4v3, 4v5 and 4v7 games, where one team was confronted with low-superiority, low- and high-inferiority situations, and their opponents with low-, medium- and high-cooperation situations. Positional data were used to calculate effective playing space and distances from each player to team centroid, opponent team centroid and nearest opponent. Outcomes suggested that increasing the number of opponents in professional teams resulted in moderate/large decrease in approximate entropy (ApEn) values to both distance to team and opponent team centroid (i.e., the variables present higher regularity/predictability pattern). In low-cooperation game scenarios, the ApEn in amateurs’ tactical variables presented a moderate/large increase. The professional teams presented an increase in the distance to nearest opponent with the increase of the cooperation level. Increasing the number of opponents was effective to overemphasise the need to use local information in the positioning decision-making process from professionals. Conversely, amateur still rely on external informational feedback. Increasing the cooperation promoted more regularity in spatial organisation in amateurs and emphasise their players’ local perceptions.     

Acute effects of aerobic exercise performed with different volumes on strength performance and neuromuscular parameters

The aim of the present study was to investigate the acute effect of the aerobic exercise volume on maximum strength and strength-endurance performance; and possible causes of strength decrements (i.e. central and peripheral fatigue). Twenty-one moderately trained men were submitted to a maximal incremental test to determine anaerobic threshold (AnT) and maximum dynamic strength (1RM) and strength-endurance (i.e. total volume load [TV]) tests to determine their baseline strength performance. Following, subjects performed six experimental sessions: aerobic exercise sessions (continuous running at 90% AnT) with different volumes (3?km, 5?km or 7?km) followed by 1RM or strength-endurance test in the 45° leg press exercise. Maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC), voluntary activation (VA) level, contractile properties, and electromyographic activity (root mean square [RMS]) of the knee extensor muscles were assessed before and after aerobic exercises and after strength tests. TV was lower after 5?km and 7?km runs than in the control condition (12% and 22%, respectively). Additionally, TV was lower after 7?km than 3?km (14%) and 5?km (12%) runs. MVIC, VA, RMS, and contractile properties were reduced after all aerobic exercise volumes (～8%, ～5%, ～11% and ～6–14%, respectively). Additionally, MVIC, VA, and contractile properties were lower after strength tests (～15%, ～6%, ～9–26%, respectively). In conclusion, strength-endurance performance is impaired when performed after aerobic exercise and the magnitude of this interference is dependent on the aerobic exercise volume; and peripheral and central fatigue indices could not explain the different TV observed.     

Effect of dual-attention task on attack and defensive actions in fencing

The objectives of this study were to investigate the effect that the presence of two stimuli that require two different responses (dual-attention) has both, on offensive reaction-response time to a light stimulus, and on defensive response time when the stimulus is a real fencing attack. Twenty-five elite fencers and a fencing master were included in the study. The equipment included four force plates adapted to a scaffold that served as a fencing piste. Two force plates were placed, at the start position, under the fencer’s feet and another two plates were placed under the master’s feet. The results demonstrate that choice reaction time to visual stimuli increases in dual-task conditions with respect to simple reaction time, whereas the mean horizontal force tends to decrease in dual-task. However, when the stimulus was an opponent’s movement, dual-task conditions did not have any effect on the time required to initiate a defensive action. The changes in reaction time when real movements were used as stimuli challenge the validity of the reaction time to visual stimuli paradigm as a predictor of performance in fencing. Also, the results obtained demonstrate that perceptual and attentional processes play a major role in fencer performance in real competition.     

Crossed looks: globalisations and curriculum in Guinea-Bissau

This article focuses on education in Guinea-Bissau in the context of globalisations, examining the concept of globalisation and its relation to education and the curriculum. It focuses on the relatively neglected area of national education policies in Guinea-Bissau, comparing differences and common points of interference/influence of multilateral (international and regional) and bilateral organisations in these policies. Data collection was based on content analysis of a corpus of documents – the Education Act, the document of Portuguese Cooperation Programme, the Education Sector Policy Paper, the Education for All National Plan of Action, and Policy n. 3/2007/CM/UEMOA – and field notes collected from 2009 to 2012. The article argues that there is a tendency for the homogenisation of curriculum policies, at least at the macro-level, due to the different types of pressures coming from international/regional organisations.