Kinetics and kinematics analysis of incremental cycling to exhaustion

Technique changes in cyclists are not well described during exhaustive exercise. Therefore the aim of the present study was to analyze pedaling technique during an incremental cycling test to exhaustion. Eleven cyclists performed an incremental cycling test to exhaustion. Pedal force and joint kinematics were acquired during the last three stages of the test (75%, 90% and 100% of the maximal power output). Inverse dynamics was conducted to calculate the net joint moments at the hip, knee and ankle joints. Knee joint had an increased contribution to the total net joint moments with the increase of workload (5–8% increase, p < 0.01). Total average absolute joint moment and knee joint moment increased during the test (25% and 39%, for p < 0.01, respectively). Increases in plantar flexor moment (32%, p < 0.01), knee (54%, p < 0.01) and hip flexor moments (42%, p = 0.02) were found. Higher dorsiflexion (2%, for p = 0.03) and increased range of motion (19%, for p = 0.02) were observed for the ankle joint. The hip joint had an increased flexion angle (2%, for p < 0.01) and a reduced range of motion (3%, for p = 0.04) with the increase of workload. Differences in joint kinetics and kinematics indicate that pedaling technique was affected by the combined fatigue and workload effects.     

Acute effects of static and dynamic stretching on hamstrings’ response times

Abstract

The main purposes of this study were to (a) investigate acute effects of static and dynamic lower limb stretching routines on total response time, pre-motor time and motor time of the medial and lateral hamstrings during maximal eccentric isokinetic knee flexion; and (b) determine whether static and dynamic routines elicit similar responses. A total of 38 active adults completed the following intervention protocols in a randomised order on separate days: (a) non-stretching (control condition), (b) static stretching and (c) dynamic stretching. After the stretching or control intervention, total response time, pre-motor time and motor time of the medial and lateral hamstrings were assessed during eccentric knee flexion movements with participants prone. Measures were compared via a mixed-design factorial ANOVA. There were no main effects for total response time, pre-motor time and motor time. The results suggest that dynamic and static stretching has no influence on hamstrings response times (total response time, pre-motor time and motor time) and hence neither form of stretching reduces this primary risk factor for anterior cruciate ligament injury.     

The Emergence and Transformations of the World Cup for the Homeless: From the Excitement of Soccer to Managerial Decisions between 2003 and 2012

Abstract

An international football-soccer tournament was initiated for socially excluded homeless individuals in July 2003 and has been held ever since, growing annually in terms of size, competing delegations, media attention and corporate involvement. The aim of the paper is to analyze the initial, historical, journey of this World Cup from its conceptual formation until the end of its first decade (2003–2012). The paper looks particularly at the efforts involved in bringing the concept to life and the challenges the organizers faced before achieving the annual frequency of an event dedicated for wider social purposes. However, also discussed is the use of competitive football formats and the organization of the competition for male and female players. As the tournament has become more successful, it is argued that its overall aim of proposing tools beyond sport for homeless people has been displaced in certain ways. The management orientations, the focus on the trophies, images of excitement, and the corporate agendas have brought sensitive contradictions to its principles of inclusion.     

Identification of histological threshold concepts in health sciences curricula: Students' perception

Students' metacognitive skills and perceptions are considered important variables for high-quality learning. In this study, students' perceptions were used to identify histological threshold concepts (integrative, irreversible, transformative, and troublesome) in three health sciences curricula. A specific questionnaire was developed and validated to characterize students' perceptions of histological threshold concepts. A sample of 410 undergraduate students enrolled in the dentistry, medicine, and pharmacy degree programs participated in the study. Concepts assessed in the study were clustered to ten categories (factors) by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Concepts linked to tissue organization and tissue functional states received the highest scores from students in all degree programs, suggesting that the process of learning histology requires the integration of both static concepts related to the constituent elements of tissues and dynamic concepts such as stem cells as a tissue renewal substrate, or the euplasic, proplasic and retroplasic states of tissues. The complexity of integrating static and dynamic concepts may pose a challenging barrier to the comprehension of histology. In addition, several differences were detected among the students in different degree programs. Dentistry students more often perceived morphostructural concepts as threshold concepts, whereas medical students highlighted concepts related to two-dimensional microscopic identification. Lastly, pharmacy students identified concepts related to tissue general activity as critical for the comprehension and learning of histology. The identification of threshold concepts through students' perceptions is potentially useful to improve the teaching and learning process in health sciences curricula.     

On delay-dependent stability conditions for Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems

This paper presents new less conservative stability analysis conditions for Takagi–Sugeno fuzzy systems subject to interval time-varying delay. The methodology is based on the direct Lyapunov method allied with an appropriate Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional choice and the use of the integral inequalities, Finsler lemma, Newton–Leibniz formula manipulations and convex combination properties. Particularly, the main result differs from previous ones since the positiveness of the Lyapunov–Krasovskii functional is guaranteed by new relaxed conditions. Two examples illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.     

Evaluating research efficiency within National R&D Programmes

Relying on efficiency analysis, we evaluate to what extent policy makers have been able to promote the establishment of consolidated and comprehensive research groups to contribute to the implementation of a successful innovation system for the Spanish food technology sector, oriented to the production of knowledge based on an application model. Using data envelopment analysis techniques that allow calculation of a generalized version of the traditional distance function model for productive efficiency, we find pervasive levels of inefficiency and a typology of different research strategies. Among these, in contrast to what has been assumed, established groups do not play the pre-eminent benchmarking role; rather, partially oriented, specialized and “shooting star” groups are the most common patterns. These results correspond with an infant innovation system, where the fostering of higher levels of efficiency and the promotion of the desired research patterns are ongoing.     

Influence of leg preference on bilateral muscle activation during cycling

The purpose of this study was to investigate asymmetry of muscle activation in participants with different levels of experience and performance with cycling. Two separate experiments were conducted, one with nine cyclists and one with nine non-cyclists. The experiments involved incremental maximal and sub-maximal constant load cycling tests. Bilateral surface electromyography (EMG) and gross and net muscle efficiency were assessed. Analyses of variance in mixed linear models and t-tests were conducted. The cyclists in Experiment 1 presented higher gross efficiency (P < 0.05), whereas net efficiency did not differ between the two experiments (21.3 ± 1.4% and 19.8 ± 1.0% for cyclists and non-cyclists, respectively). The electrical muscle activity increased significantly with exercise intensity regardless of leg preference in both experiments. The coefficient of variation of EMG indicated main effects of leg in both experiments. The non-preferred leg of non-cyclists (Experiment 2) presented statistically higher variability of muscle activity in the gastrocnemius medialis and vastus lateralis. Our findings suggest similar electrical muscle activity between legs in both cyclists and non-cyclists regardless of exercise intensity. However, EMG variability was asymmetric and appears to be strongly influenced by exercise intensity for cyclists and non-cyclists, especially during sub-maximal intensity. Neural factors per se do not seem to fully explain previous reports of pedalling asymmetries.     

Let’s begin with ourselves: attempting resonance responses in the exchange of researchers’ professional autobiographies

The economic, social, cultural, technological and labour changes experienced by Spanish universities in the last 40?years have had their impact on the professional lives of the university teachers. Our methodological decision to study, through the construction of life histories, how scholars cope with social and institutional changes in their professional lives led us to start by writing our professional autobiographies which were followed by a resonance practice in which each of us wrote a response to a partner’s autobiography. Results show that our responses appeared to have three different functions: give some feedback to our partners, tell our group our position about our partner’s autobiography and make sense of it for us. It became clear that writing about our resonance responses is a difficult task for academics like us and that our texts were bound by the position each one occupied in the research group and at the university. Our experience lets us rethink the interweaving of reflexivity, personal practical knowledge and resonance. The tension between our academic rationality and our efforts to give spontaneous resonance responses shows that even with narrative researchers, changing one’s personal practical knowledge may conflict with a rationalist point of view.     

Countercultural Autobiography: Stories From the Underside and Education for Justice

This article describes a countercultural approach to autobiography in comparison with three dominant uses of autobiography in religious education. It defines countercultural autobiographies as stories from the underside of society meant as tools for education for justice and as invitations for transformative dialogue in institutional and societal settings. The article's goal is to invite religious educators, in seminaries and faith communities, to begin a dialogue for finding ways to use countercultural autobiographies to inform theories and practices of religious education that will educate us all in the path of God's vision of justice for the world.