Iron status in Winter Olympic sports

Iron status was surveyed amongst 92 Winter Olympic sport athletes from Nordic and Alpine skiing, figure and speed skating and ice hockey. Haemoglobin and serum ferritin values were obtained by physicians as part of a monitoring programme, since iron deficiency would have an adverse effect on maximal performance. Four (7%) of 56 men were anaemic (Hb < 14.0 gdl^‐1) and three (8%) of 36 women had haemoglobin values less than 12.0 gdl^‐1. Nine men (16%) and 14 women (39%) had prelatent iron deficiency (serum ferritin < 30 ng ml^‐1). Ice hockey had the lowest while Nordic skiing had the highest incidence of sub‐optimal iron status. A total of 50% of Nordic women skiers had prelatent iron deficiency and 7% were anaemic. An equal percentage of women speed skaters were low in serum ferritin as well. Only one of 20 male ice hockey players was low in serum ferritin. These results suggest there would be value in instituting screening procedures for iron status in Winter Olympic Sports.     

The contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ executive function to children's academic achievement, learning-related behaviors, and engagement in kindergarten

Executive functioning (EF) refers to higher order thought processes considered foundational for problem-solving. EF has both ‘cool’ cognitive and ‘hot’ emotional components. This study asks: (a) what are the relative contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ EF to children's academic achievement? (b) What are the relative contributions of ‘hot’ and ‘cool’ EF to learning-related classroom behaviors and observed engagement? (c) Do learning-related classroom behaviors and observed engagement account for the relation between EF and achievement? For a sample of 173 kindergarteners, cool EF predicted math achievement, learning-related classroom behaviors, and observed engagement. Hot EF did not predict any achievement or behavior outcomes when examined concurrently with cool EF. Children's classroom behavior did not account for the relation between cool EF and math achievement, suggesting cool EF and math performance are directly associated.     

Newsroom Workers’ Job Satisfaction Contingent on Position and Adaptation to Digital Disruption

A survey of journalists in the United States (N?=?1181) finds that job satisfaction during the era of digital disruption varies across job titles. Previous studies have examined job satisfaction of these job titles individually, but this study compares job satisfaction among four primary occupations in the newspaper newsroom. Desk workers demonstrate lower levels of job satisfaction than non-desk workers, while sports journalists report higher levels of job satisfaction than non-sports workers. Furthermore, online responsibilities appear to be negatively received by desk workers, yet positively received by sports journalists. Open-ended explanations and the quantitative survey results discuss the implications of the demands, adaptation skills, and autonomy of newspaper workers on job satisfaction.     

Optimization-based motor control of a Paralympic wheelchair athlete

The following research approximated how the central nervous system of Paralympic wheelchair athletes resolve kinematic redundancies during upper-limb movements. A multibody biomechanical model of a tetraplegic Paralympic athlete was developed using subject-specific body segment parameters. The angular joint kinematics throughout a specified Paralympic sport movement (i.e., wheelchair curling) were experimentally measured using inertial measurement units. The motor control system of the Paralympian was mathematically modelled and simulated using forward dynamics optimization. The predicted kinematics from different optimization objective functions (i.e., minimizing resultant joint moments, mechanical joint power, and angular joint velocities and accelerations) were compared with those experimentally measured throughout the wheelchair curling movement. Of the optimization objective functions under consideration, minimizing angular joint accelerations produced the most accurate predictions of the kinematic trajectories (i.e., characterized with the lowest overall root mean square deviations) and the shortest optimization computation time. The implications of these control findings are discussed with regards to optimal wheelchair design through predictive dynamic simulations.     

Fine motor skills and executive function both contribute to kindergarten achievement

This study examined the contribution of executive function (EF) and multiple aspects of fine motor skills to achievement on 6 standardized assessments in a sample of middle-socioeconomic status kindergarteners. Three- and 4-year-olds' (n=213) fine and gross motor skills were assessed in a home visit before kindergarten, EF was measured at fall of kindergarten, and Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Academic Achievement were administered at fall and spring. Correlations indicated that EF and fine motor skills appeared distinct. Further, controlling for background variables, higher levels of both EF and fine motor skills, specifically design copy, predicted higher achievement on multiple subtests at kindergarten entry, as well as improvement from fall to spring. Implications for research on school readiness are discussed.     

A Sport Education Fitness Season’s Impact on Students’ Fitness Levels,Knowledge, and In-Class Physical Activity

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which a sport education season of fitness could provide students with recommended levels of in-class moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) while also increasing students’ fitness knowledge and fitness achievement. Method: One hundred and sixty-six 5th-grade students (76 boys, 90 girls) participated in a 20-lesson season called “CrossFit Challenge” during a 4-week period. The Progressive Aerobic Cardiovascular Endurance Run, push-ups, and curl-ups tests of the FITNESSGRAM® were used to assess fitness at pretest and posttest, while fitness knowledge was assessed through a validated, grade-appropriate test of health-related fitness knowledge (HRF). Physical activity was measured with Actigraph GT3X triaxial accelerometers. Results: Results indicated a significant time effect for all fitness tests and the knowledge test. Across the entire season, the students spent an average of 54.5% of lesson time engaged in MVPA, irrespective of the type of lesson (instruction, free practice, or competition). Conclusions: The results suggest that configuring the key principles of sport education within a unit of fitness is an efficient model for providing students with the opportunity to improve fitness skill and HRF knowledge while attaining recommended levels of MVPA.     

Classification of trampoline jumps using inertial sensors

The automatic segmentation and classification of an unknown motion data stream according to given motion categories constitute an important research problem with applications in computer animation, medicine and sports sciences. In this paper, the scenario of trampoline motions is considered, where an athlete performs a routine consisting of sequence of jumps that belong to predefined motion categories such as pike jumps or somersaults. As main contribution, a fully automated approach for capturing, segmenting, and classifying trampoline routines according to these categories is introduced. Since trampoline motions are highly dynamic and spacious, optical motion capturing is problematic. Instead, it is reverted to a small number of inertial sensors attached to the athlete’s body. To cope with measurement noise and performance differences, suitable feature and class representations are introduced that are robust to spatial and temporal variations while capturing the characteristics of each motion category. The experiments show that the approach reliably classifies trampoline jumps across different athletes even in the presence of significant style variations.