National structures for building and managing sport facilities: a comparative analysis of the Nordic countries

Abstract

Sport facilities are instrumental in keeping the population fit and healthy. Governments worldwide are thus engaged in devising policies, programs and projects for building such facilities, with the aim of providing citizens with opportunities for a healthy lifestyle. This feature is prominent in the Nordic countries, which have incorporated sport, leisure and physical activity into their universal welfare models. Understanding policies and politics for building sports facilities has therefore become a cornerstone in the understanding of conditions for sport and physical activity for all. In this paper, we investigate and compare the national structures for building and managing sports facilities in the Nordic countries, in order to add to the understanding of how policies and politics for building sport facilities can add to or hamper the sport-for-all ambitions salient in most of today’s western societies.     

Development of a magnetic immunosorbent for on-chip preconcentration of amyloid β isoforms: Representatives of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers

Determination of amyloid β (Aβ) isoforms and in particular the proportion of the Aβ 1-42 isoform in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients suspected of Alzheimer's disease might help in early diagnosis and treatment of that illness. Due to the low concentration of Aβ peptides in biological fluids, a preconcentration step prior to the detection step is often necessary. This study utilized on-chip immunoprecipitation, known as micro-immunoprecipitation (μIP). The technique uses an immunosorbent (IS) consisting of magnetic beads coated with specific anti-Aβ antibodies organized into an affinity microcolumn by a magnetic field. Our goal was to thoroughly describe the critical steps in developing the IS, such as selecting the proper beads and anti-Aβ antibodies, as well as optimizing the immobilization technique and μIP protocol. The latter includes selecting optimal elution conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate the efficiency of anti-Aβ IS for μIP and specific capture of 5 Aβ peptides under optimized conditions using various subsequent analytical methods, including matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), capillary electrophoresis, microchip electrophoresis, and immunoblotting. Synthetic Aβ peptides samples prepared in buffer and spiked in human CSF were analyzed. Finally, on-chip immunoprecipitation of Aβ peptides in human CSF sample was performed.     

Activity profile and physiological demands of top-class soccer assistant refereeing in relation to training status

To determine the movement patterns and physiological demands of top-class soccer assistant referees, we performed computerized time-motion analysis and measured heart rate and blood lactate concentration in 15 assistant referees during 22 competitive matches in the top Danish league. To relate match performance to the physical capability of the assistant referees, they performed a 3 x 30 m sprint protocol before and after matches and a laboratory treadmill test within 3 weeks of the games. The mean total distance covered by the top-class assistant referees was 7.28 (range 5.78-8.16) km, of which 1.15 (0.86-1.44) km was high-intensity running and 1.16 (0.12-2.34) km was sideways running. The amount of high-intensity running during a game was correlated with performance of repeated sprints (r = 0.80, P < 0.05). Mean heart rate was 137 (117-159) beats x min(-1), corresponding to 73% (60-88%) of maximal heart rate and 65% (53-80%) of maximal oxygen uptake. Blood lactate concentration was 4.7 (1.6-11.0) and 4.8 (1.1-13.7) mmol x 1(-1) after the first and second half, respectively. Sprinting performance was poorer (P < 0.05) after than before the games. The peak distance to the offside line was greater (P < 0.05) in the second than the first half (7 +/- 1 vs 5 +/- 0 m). Our results show that: (1) top-class assistant soccer refereeing is characterized by brief intense bouts of forward and sideways running interspersed with long periods of low activity; (2) top-class soccer assistant referees have moderate aerobic energy production during games with episodes of high aerobic and anaerobic energy turnover; (3) assistant referees' performance of repeated sprints correlates with the amount of high-intensity running performed in a game; and (4) sprint performance decreases towards the end of a game, which appears to affect assistant referees' ability to keep up with play.     

Genauigkeit von Aufwandssch?tzungen in Reengineering-Projekten – Erfahrungen aus einer Sprachumstellung von Assembler nach COBOL

Die Sch?tzung des Aufwands für die Erstellung oder die überarbeitung von grossen Softwaresystemen stellt immer noch ein betr?chtliches Risiko dar. Dieses versch?rft sich noch weiter, wenn wie im vorliegenden Fall das Projekt auf Festpreisbasis, d.h. ohne M?glichkeit zu Budgetnachforderungen w?hrend des Projekts selbst, abzuwickeln ist. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt die Erfahrungen mit der Sch?tzung und vor allem der Nutzung der detailliert ermittelten Produktivit?tsmasse in einem grossen Konversionsprojekt, bei dem 350 Assembler-Programme aus dem Wertpapierbereich einer Bankorgansiation mit unver?nderter Funktionalit?t nach COBOL zu konvertieren waren. Dabei wurden w?hrend des Projekts die bereits vorliegenden Produktivit?tszahlen genutzt, um neben einer weiteren Optimierung der Verfahren und Abl?ufe auch die Sch?tzung bez. der noch zu bearbeitenden Arbeitspakete weiter zu verbessern. Es hat sich auch in diesem Projekt gezeigt, dass auch einfachere Sch?tzans?tze tragen, wenn sie denn auf den Erfahrungen der eigenen Projektorganisation basieren. Allgemeine algorithmische Ans?tze sind zwar als grober Anhaltspunkt brauchbar, ersetzen aber nicht die eigenen Zahlenbasen. Diese in jedem Projekt immer wieder konsequent und detailliert zu ermitteln, bleibt die vorrangige Aufgabe zur Unterstützung der Sch?tzung weiterer Projekte.     

Nullifying quality: the marketisation of higher education

The increasing dominance of educational markets means that quality of higher education has the character of open signifiers of periodic occurrence, embedded institutionally as ways of consensual communication on how to go on as smoothly as possible. This promotes the growth of context dependent and local interpretations of how to meet in agreement regarding quality in everyday practices. All interpretations are contextualised and as a result are nullified outside the context in which they occur. Discourses on quality promote flexibility and create periodic legitimacy through discursive nullification processes. On the other hand, institutions have to adopt standards in education as a measure of outcome indicators for benchmarking. When quality is replaced by standards and if standards are equivalent to labour market relevance this might signal the beginning of overall external control over higher education. In the long run it will hardly benefit educational programmes if institutions of higher educations fail to ‘stand for’ quality that, in the very least, can supplement the fulfilment of politically determined targets and standards. In this way the market will have not only graduates who are going into employment but also engaged citizens who can transform and challenge the market.     

The industrial dynamics of Open Innovation—Evidence from the transformation of consumer electronics

This paper addresses how the Open Innovation concept, as recently coined by Henry Chesbrough, can be analyzed from an industrial dynamics perspective. The main proposition of the paper is that the specific modes in which different companies manage Open Innovation in regard to an emerging technology reflect their differential position within the innovation system in question, the nature and stage of maturity of the technological regime, and the particular value proposition pursued by companies. The proposition is analyzed through an in-depth study of the current transformation of sound amplification from linear solid state technology to switched or digital technology within the consumer electronics system of innovation. The analysis especially addresses the complex interplay between technology entrepreneurs and incumbents, and demonstrates that Open Innovation sometimes has to be conducted under conditions of high transaction costs.     

Software-Sicherheitsprüfung mit VALSOFT

Zusammenfassung. Die Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt mu? alle eichpflichtigen Me?ger?te prüfen. Da heute fast jedes Me?ger?t durch Software gesteuert wird, mu? sichergestellt werden, da? der Datenpfad vom Sensoreingang zur Anzeige (Eichpfad) nicht durch externe Faktoren beeinflu?t werden kann. Das VALSOFT-Werkzeug erkennt, analysiert und visualisiert Beeinflussungen der Eichpfade. Grundlage der Analyse sind Program-Slicing und Constraint-Solving. Zu beliebigen Programmpunkten (z. B. Me?wertausgaben) k?nnen diejenigen Anweisungen bestimmt werden, die diesen Punkt beeinflussen (sog. Slice). Zus?tzlich k?nnen genaue Bedingungen berechnet werden, unter denen verd?chtige Datenflüsse stattfinden (sog. Pfadbedingungen). Anwendungen in anderen sicherheitskritischen Bereichen sind ohne weiteres m?glich. Eingegangen am 3. November 1998 / Angenommen am 23. M?rz 1999     

Frame of Reference Effects Following the Announcement of Exam Results

The internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model by Marsh (e.g., 1990a) assumes two central information sources for the constitution of domain-specific academic self-concepts: (1) social comparisons (external frame of reference), in which students compare their own achievements with those of their classmates; and (2) intraindividual comparisons (internal frame of reference), in which students compare their own achievements in one subject with their achievements in other subjects. In path analyses, it has been found that the latter type of comparison leads to negative paths from achievement indicators in subject A to self-concept measures in subject B. To investigate the actual impact of achievement feedback and of the frames of reference on changes in self-concept variables, we analyzed math and German self-concepts immediately following the announcement of exam results in each subject. Participants were 258 7th- to 9th-graders. Path analyses using structural equation modeling supported the validity of the I/E model with respect to the impact of simultaneously given current exam results. In particular, German achievement had a negative impact on subsequent math self-concept. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Knowledge Production and Knowledge Transmission. The interaction between research and teaching at universities

Abstract

Even though the interaction between teaching and research at universities is a well‐studied topic, it is difficult on the basis of available studies to draw any definite conclusions concerning the character of this relationship. This study, which is based on survey data, as well as interviews, shows that university faculty believe that their research influences their teaching and that their teaching activities have a positive effect on their teaching. They find, however, that research is more important for teaching than vice versa. The characteristics of the interaction vary between teaching on various levels and between disciplines. In general, the interaction is stronger at a graduate than at an undergraduate level. At an undergraduate level the relationship is stronger in the humanities and the social sciences than in other fields of learning, while there are no such differences at a graduate level. The findings are discussed on the basis of differences between disciplines and types of teaching