Mumford on aesthetic–moral interaction in sport

Stephen Mumford argues that aesthetic and moral values in sport are interdependent, focusing on cases where immorality taints beautiful performance. This interdependence thesis is insightful but, I argue, in need of refinement, as its normative implications are unclear and perhaps implausible (e.g. the Nazi aesthetics problem). I also challenge Mumford’s perspective on the infamous Dynamo Kiev death match. Whereas Mumford claims that the match’s morally oppressive circumstances detract from it so that ‘it was not something knowingly we should have admired aesthetically’, I argue that, on the contrary, and in light of what Mumford says about other cases, such circumstances actually enhance the game’s aesthetics such that it would be wrong not to appreciate it aesthetically.     

Understanding key performance indicators for breast support: An analysis of breast support effects on biomechanical,physiological and subjective measures during running

To assess the effectiveness of breast support previous studies monitored breast kinematics and kinetics, subjective feedback, muscle activity (EMG), ground reaction forces (GRFs) and physiological measures in isolation. Comparing these variables within one study will establish the key performance variables that distinguish between breast supports during activities such as running. This study investigates the effects of changes in breast support on biomechanical, physiological and subjective measures during running. Ten females (34D) ran for 10 min in high and low breast supports, and for 2 min bare breasted (2.8 m·s^?1). Breast and body kinematics, EMG, expired air and heart rate were recorded. GRFs were recorded during 10 m overground runs (2.8 m·s^?1) and subjective feedback obtained after each condition. Of the 62 variables measured, 22 kinematic and subjective variables were influenced by changes in breast support. Willingness to exercise, time lag and superio-inferior breast velocity were most affected. GRFs, EMG and physiological variables were unaffected by breast support changes during running. Breast displacement reduction, although previously advocated, was not the most sensitive variable to breast support changes during running. Instead breast support products should be assessed using a battery of performance indicators, including the key kinematic and subjective variables identified here.     

Surveying the Aspect of the Medieval West Anatolian Town

The aim of this short article is modest: it means to fill a lacuna in scholarly output by offering a concise and accessible survey of the physical structure of the typical west Anatolian town in the High Middle Ages. Attempts to locate such a study meet with disappointment. If one wishes to look through the eyes of medieval travellers in Anatolia, whether they be merchants, pilgrims or soldiers, and discover what type of construction they witnessed when approaching and entering a typical town, one is compelled to trawl through a great number of specialist articles and monographs dealing with specific archaeological sites or particular narrow periods of history. This laborious exercise will be made somewhat redundant by a brief synthesis of the appropriate evidence which historians and archaeologists have addressed and compiled since the late 1950s when attempting to reconstruct the development of the Byzantine city. The article traces the slow development of the typical Anatolian urban form and aspect from the late fourth century, through the mid-seventh to mid-eighth centuries, and then through to a period of urban recovery until the latter part of the twelfth century. The choice of periods separated by some 800 years is not arbitrary: the physical character (and function) of the typical town began to change in the late fourth century, and the form it obtained during the seventh and eighth centuries continued to be the one retained (with inconsequential variations to the general pattern) during the intermediate periods of Byzantine recovery     

Cultural plan implementation and outcomes in Ontario,Canada

Since 2005 there has been a surge of cultural planning initiatives in Canada, especially in the Province of Ontario. However, very little research has been conducted in the more established cultural planning contexts of Australia, Great Britain and the United States let alone in Canada to support the assertions that underlie much of the movement's continued success. In particular, there has been an absence of research on the actual outcomes of the cultural planning strategy. This article examines whether the wide range of strategic goals presented in most cultural plans are being met. The method for assessing the effectiveness of cultural plans involved analyzing which strategic objectives were implemented as recorded in progress reports and as reported on by cultural planners. The research findings show that cultural plans are being effectively implemented and the majority of strategic goals contained within most cultural plans are being achieved. In addition, it is observed that the strategic objectives being implemented are not limited to traditional arts sector concerns.     

When marketisation and privatisation clash with socialist ideals: Educational inequality in Urban China

In the last two decades, China's education has experienced significant transformations and restructuring on account of privatization and marketization. Unlike the Mao era when the state assumed the major responsibilities in financing and providing education, individuals and families have now to bear increasing financial burdens in paying for education. The marketization and privatization of education has undoubtedly intensified educational inequalities and widened regional disparities between the economically developed areas in the eastern coast and the less economically developed areas in the middle and north-western parts of the country. The growing inequalities in education and the increasing financial burdens presented by education have been a source of social discontentment, which have in turn prompted the central government to revisit its approaches to educational development. This article sets out to examine, how in this wider policy context, China's education has been transformed following the adoption of more pro-competition and market-oriented reform measures. This article is based on intensive secondary data analysis, fieldwork observations, and findings from a household survey conducted in eight different Chinese cities about people's perceived education hardship. The article concludes by considering how the Chinese government has attempted to address the problems of educational inequalities that have intensified on account of two decades of education marketization.     

Digital redesign tracker for cascaded analog systems with state saturation and external loads

This paper presents a newly developed digital redesign control scheme with a weighted switching strategy and output-reference tracking, for a cascaded analog system with state saturation and external loads. The proposed method improves the generally poor transition response and output deviation caused by state-saturation constraint and external loads. It replaces an existing or theoretically well-designed analog controller with state saturation, by a digital controller with almost identical performance.