Cooperation in innovation activities: The importance of partners

This paper analyses the importance of cooperation partners for the development of innovation activities. We contribute to the literature on cooperation in innovation activities that seeks to identify the characteristics differentiating cooperative from non-cooperative firms by proposing a different approach to this problem. We distinguish firms according to their evaluation of cooperation partners in the development of innovation activities. We apply a probit selection model to account for the firm's decision to cooperate (or not). The data we use come from the Portuguese Third Community Innovation Survey. Our estimation results show that firms from high-technological industries, with higher levels of absorptive capacity and of innovation investment, who give importance to incoming spillovers management, and who cooperate with firms from the same group or with suppliers, place greater value on cooperation partners in the innovation process. Additionally, we also find that the factors influencing the importance attributed to cooperation activities are different from the ones behind the decision to cooperate.     

Effects of a contrast training programme on jumping,sprinting and agility performance of prepubertal basketball players

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 10 week contrast training (CT) programme (isometric + plyometric) on jumping, sprinting abilities and agility performance in prepubertal basketball players. Fifty-eight children from a basketball academy (age: 8.72 ± 0.97 years; body mass index: 17.22 ± 2.48 kg/m²) successfully completed the study. Participants were randomly assigned to experimental groups (EG, n = 30) and control groups (CG, n = 28). The CT programme was included in the experimental group’s training sessions – twice a week – as part of their usual weekly training regime. This programme included 3 exercises: 1 isometric and 2 plyometric. Jumping, sprinting and agility performance were assessed before and after the training programme. Significant differences were found in posttest between EG and CG in sprint and T-test: EG showed better results than CG. Furthermore, there were significant differences in posttest-pretest between EG and CG in squat jump, countermovement jump, drop jump, sprint and T-test with the EG showing better results than CG. The CT programme led to increases in vertical jump, sprint and agility levels, so that the authors suggest that prepubertal children exhibit high muscular strength trainability.     

Defining,assessing, and developing creativity in sport: a systematic narrative review

ABSTRACT

Research on creativity in sport is gaining momentum, due to a growing interest from coaches and academics in developing strategies to increase unpredictability in individual and collective behaviour which may allow teams to gain an important advantage over their opponents. The purpose of this paper was to conduct the first systematic narrative review of the literature on sporting creativity, critically synthesising 51 years of published research (1967–2018) and proposing avenues for future research. Six databases were used, and 48 documents met search criteria. The findings are organised in four categories: (a) defining creativity, (b) correlates of creativity, (c) assessing creativity and (d) developing creativity. Creativity definitions and assessments have privileged thought processes over the ability to act. A distinction is warranted between creativity about sport and creativity in sport (in action) and aligned assessment methods. The literature does not support a single strategy for the development of sporting creativity but does support its trainability. Evidence of the effectiveness of programmes for the enhancement of sporting creativity is growing but is still limited. Furthermore, while it is recognised that coaches have a pivotal role in the development of sporting creativity, research involving them is still scarce.     

Hidden connections: Network effects on editorial decisions in four computer science journals

This paper aims to examine the influence of authors’ reputation on editorial bias in scholarly journals. By looking at eight years of editorial decisions in four computer science journals, including 7179 observations on 2913 submissions, we reconstructed author/referee-submission networks. For each submission, we looked at reviewer scores and estimated the reputation of submission authors by means of their network degree. By training a Bayesian network, we estimated the potential effect of scientist reputation on editorial decisions. Results showed that more reputed authors were less likely to be rejected by editors when they submitted papers receiving negative reviews. Although these four journals were comparable for scope and areas, we found certain journal specificities in their editorial process. Our findings suggest ways to examine the editorial process in relatively similar journals without recurring to in-depth individual data, which are rarely available from scholarly journals.     

Poor precompetitive sleep habits,nutrients’ deficiencies,inappropriate body composition and athletic performance in elite gymnasts

This study aimed to evaluate body composition, sleep, precompetitive anxiety and dietary intake on the elite female gymnasts’ performance prior to an international competition. Sixty-seven rhythmic gymnasts of high performance level were evaluated in relation to sport and training practice, body composition, sleep duration, daytime sleepiness by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), sleep quality by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), precompetitive anxiety by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test form A (SCAT-A) and detailed dietary intake just before an international competition. Most gymnasts (67.2%) suffered from mild daytime sleepiness, 77.6% presented poor sleep quality and 19.4% presented high levels of precompetitive anxiety. The majority of gymnasts reported low energy availability (EA) and low intakes of important vitamins including folate, vitamins D, E and K; and minerals, including calcium, iron, boron and magnesium (p?p?=?.001), sport practice (p?=?.024), number of daily training hours (p?=?.000), number of hours of training/week (p?=?.000), waist circumference (WC) (p?=?.008) and sleep duration (p?=?.005). However, it was negatively correlated with WC/hip circumference (p?=?.000), ESS (p?=?.000), PSQI (p?=?.042), SCAT-A (p?=?.002), protein g/kg (p?=?.028), EA (p?=?.002) and exercise energy expenditure (p?=?.000). High performance gymnasts presented poor sleep habits with consequences upon daytime sleepiness, sleep quality and low energy availability.     

Methodological-conceptual problems in the study of chimpanzees’ folk physics: How studies with adult humans can help

In three experiments, we examined humans’ folk physics (i.e., a naturally occurring and spontaneous understanding of the physical world), using variations of problems used to study chimpanzees’ folk physics. Presented with trap-tube problems in two experiments, adult humans showed an unnecessary bias to insert a stick into the end of the tube farthest from the reward to push it out the other end. When presented with trap-table problems with ineffective trapping holes, people unnecessarily avoided the side with the hole. The similarity of humans’ and chimpanzees’ behavior on these tasks highlights methodological and conceptual problems in studies of chimpanzees’ folk physics and suggests alternative explanations for their behavior.     

American influencies in Brazilian physical education: clues in the specialised periodical press (1932–1950)

This study investigates the American presence and influences in the physical education press to understand the way in which that presence influenced and contributed to the production of a sports culture in the first half of the twentieth century. As historical sources, the study uses periodicals in the field that were published in the period 1932–1950. As a theoretical frame of reference, it uses the repertoire of the New Cultural History in terms of strategy, tactics and devices. It is written in a narrative way, following Ginzburg's style, presenting data and contextualizing them with the historic scene. Clues enabled us to infer that the American presence, which was catalysed by the Brazilian Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), sought to shape a sports culture from physical education and society. This effort reflected the yearning of Brazilian intellectuals for modernisation and an attempt at cultural colonisation by the government of the USA.     

Paternal Sensitivity and Children’s Cognitive and Socioemotional Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review

In a series of meta-analyses, paternal sensitivity was associated with children’s (age range: 7 months–9 years) overall cognitive functioning (N = 3,193; k = 23; r = .19), including language skills (k = 9; r = .21), cognitive ability (k = 9; r = .18), and executive function (k = 8; r = .19). Paternal sensitivity was not associated with children’s overall socioemotional functioning (N = 2,924; k = 24; r = −.03) or internalizing problems, but it was associated with children’s emotion regulation (k = 7; r = .22) and externalizing problems (k = 19; r = −.08). In the broad cognitive functioning, executive function, broad socioemotional functioning, and externalizing problems meta-analyses, child age was a significant moderator.     

Development of mechanical engineering curricula at the University of Minho

The implementation of the Bologna protocol in the European Union has set new goals for the whole higher education system as: (a) a quality assessment for university courses; (b) a framework for the exchange of students and academics; and (c) an opportunity for changing the teaching/learning procedures and methodologies. Within the context, the mechanical engineering curricula at the University of Minho have been comprehensively formulated in order to meet these and future challenges and expectations. The whole process has been based upon various cornerstones: the legal framework for the higher education system; the introduction of new learning methodologies and an accurate survey and understanding of the existing strong and week points of the previous experience. For this purpose, a comprehensive evaluation has been carried out with former students and a detailed map has been formulated regarding their professional careers and experiences. Furthermore, a discussion has been carried out in order to define the mission of the graduate in mechanical engineering. In brief, such mission may be referred by his ability to participate in the wealth creation through technology based innovation. Within this context, the curriculum has been structured in order to meet such goals. In addition to strong foundations in physics and mathematics, new subjects are introduced into the curriculum. The whole education is based upon project development which stimulates the students' initiative, responsibility and their ability to integrate knowledge. Throughout the curriculum, students are enrolled into research projects developed in the department and it is expected that a few selected projects may be taken into a quasi industrial stage.     

高水平乒乓球运动员有力臂最大等长收缩力的评估

乒乓球是使用单侧上肢的一项运动,其特征是要进行重复多次高速且具爆发力的动作,无氧乳酸酵解代谢能力占有重要作用.研究对象与方法男女高水平乒乓球运动员(n=31).采用Takei5101握力计测量单侧上肢有力型和非单侧上肢有力型运动员的上肢最大等长收缩力.18名男运动员(平均年龄23.5±5.4岁)和13名女运动员(平均年龄21.3±3.3岁)均为西班牙乒乓球协会的国家联盟成员.采用SPSS v12.0 for windows和Excel v10.2软件包进行数据统计分析.研究结果发现无论男女运动员单侧上肢有力型的最大等长收缩力均高于非单侧上肢有力型,而左势手女运动员与右势手女运动员相比、右势手男运动员与左势手男运动员相比,单侧上肢有力型的最大等长收缩力均高于非单侧上肢有力型.研究还发现进攻型运动员与防守型运动员相比,单侧上肢有力型的最大等长收缩力高于非单侧上肢有力型.分析与讨论无论男女,单侧上肢有力型运动员手握力高于非单侧上肢有力型运动员.男性运动员比女性运动员的等长收缩力高,一个可以解释的事实是男性有更高的睾酮水平.肌肉力量不平衡可能发展成为脊柱侧弯姿态,这应该通过适当的力量和柔韧性训练来避免,以防止将来的运动损伤和运动成绩的下降.