Biomechanical mechanisms of jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players

ABSTRACT

We aimed to determine key biomechanical parameters explaining age-related jumping performance differences in youth elite female soccer players. Multiple biomechanical parameters from countermovement (CMJ) squat (SJ) and drop (DJ) jump testing of elite female soccer players (n = 60) within the same national training centre were analysed across ages 9-11y, 12-14y and 15-19y. Effects of age group and jump type on jump height were found, with the older jumping higher than the younger groups in all jumps (P < 0.05). For DJ, higher reactive strength index was found for older, compared to each younger group (P < 0.001). For CMJ and SJ, peak power was the most decisive characteristic, with significant differences between each group for absolute peak power (P < 0.0001) and body-weight-normalised peak power in CMJ (57 ± 7W/kg, 50 ± 7W/kg, 44.7 ± 5.5W/kg; P < 0.05) and between the older and each younger group in SJ (56.7 ± 7.1W/kg, 48.9 ± 7.1W/kg, 44.6 ± 6W/kg; P < 0.01). Age-related differences in jumping performance in youth elite female soccer players appear to be due to power production during standing jumps and by the ability to jump with shorter ground contact times during reactive jumps.     

ICT Inclusion and Gender: Tensions in Narratives of Network Engineer Training

Government, major information and communications technology (ICT) companies, and educational institutions in the United Kingdom currently claim that ICT skills training offers inclusion into the new economy. We focus on a private-public training initiative and its impact on the socially excluded, specifically lone women parents. Narrative data from four United Kingdom educational sites participating in this computer network engineer training program highlight a systemic paradox: that ICT skills development initiatives designed to support lone women parents are simultaneously working in opposition to broader policy goals such as work-life balance and ironically serve to reproduce the participants' classification as socially excluded. The assumptions underpinning the model of social inclusion driving the ICT skills training course are analyzed critically using the concepts of community of practice, classificatory systems, and marginalization. Our findings suggest that ICT training courses and initiatives should be accompanied by changes in pedagogic practice that accommodate the more wide-ranging needs of those targeted for inclusion, as well as changes in employment settings. We conclude by exploring the implications of this for government policy formation, business vendor qualifications, the design of ICT skills training initiatives, and our understanding of the role of ICT skills in overcoming the digital divide.     

Contribution of temporal processing skills to reading comprehension in 8-year-olds: evidence for a mediation effect of phonological awareness

This study tested whether the association between temporal processing (TP) and reading is mediated by phonological awareness (PA) in a normative sample of 615 eight-year-olds. TP was measured with auditory and bimodal (visual-auditory) temporal order judgment tasks and PA with a phoneme deletion task. PA partially mediated the association between both auditory and bimodal TP and reading, above nonverbal abilities, vocabulary, and processing speed. PA explained a larger proportion of the association between auditory TP and reading (56% vs. 39% for bimodal TP), and most of the association between bimodal TP and reading was direct. This finding is consistent with a dual-phonological and visual-pathway model of the association between TP and reading in normative reading skills.     

Reliability and Validity of the Flemish Physical Activity Computerized Questionnaire in Adults

The purpose of this study was to investigate the test-retest reliability and concurrent validity of the Flemish Physical Activity Computerized Questionnaire (FPACQ) in employed/unemployed and retired people. The FPACQ was developed to assess detailed information on several dimensions of physical activity and sedentary behavior over a usual week. A triaxial accelerometer, the RT3 Triaxial Research Tracker (RT3), in combination with a written 7-day activity record, was used as the objective criterion measure. In employed/unemployed people, 2-week test-retest reliability for several activity variables calculated from the FPACQ was good to excellent with intraclass correlations (ICCs) ranging from .67 to .99. In retired people ICCs were lower but, except for time spent eating, still fair to excellent, ranging from .57 to .96. Except for time spent in leisure time activities for men and the average energy expenditure related to sports participation in women, correlations between the RT3 and the FPACQ generally supported the relative validity of the FPACQ for employed/unemployed people (r ranging from .37 to .88). Values for retired people were somewhat lower (r ranging from .15 to .85), but most variables still reached at least moderate correlations. Concerning absolute validity, the FPACQ generally overestimated physical activity and underestimated sedentary behavior compared to the RT3. From this study, it can be concluded that the FPACQ is a reliable and reasonably valid questionnaire for assessing different dimensions of physical activity and sedentary behavior.     

Students’ Perception of Risk About Nanotechnology After an SAQ Teaching Strategy

We experimented with teaching nanotechnology in high school within the perspective of citizenship education in science by involving experts in nanotechnology, education, ethics and philosophy. After training, the students debated a Socially Acute Question (SAQ) that they elaborated during the various phases of instruction. The field of SAQs represents a French orientation for the teaching of SocioScientific Issues. We analyzed the interactions of students in the debate to determine their risk perception on nanotechnology. We compared and put their arguments into perspective using various analytical frameworks. We observed two contrasting argumentative tendencies: one reflecting a positivist view that involved an individualistic use of nanotechnology and science and one carrying a critical and humanistic vision of the use of nanotechnology and science.     

El retraso de origen afectivo: nueva orientación en el enfoque de las deficiencias intelectuales y revisión crítica de la literatura sobre la carencia de cuidados maternos

RESUMEN

Se puede hablar de retraso mental de origen afectivo cuando no se encuentran determinantes biológicos y hay una evidente situación de privación afectiva precoz. La carencia de cuidados maternos provocada por la situación de separación definitiva de la madre podría determinar su desarrollo cognitivo, al incidir en el aprendizaje en curso y en la organización emocional del niño. Se analiza la naturaleza del vínculo madre-hijo desde las diferentes escuelas. Quedan planteadas algunas cuestiones: la posibilidad de que la separación definitiva madre-hijo conlleve en determinados niños una insuficiencia intelectual; a través de qué mecanismos ésto se produce; y la reversibilidad de este proceso. Las contradicciones entre los resultados obtenidos y las divergencias de opinión entre los especialistas nos muestran la complejidad del tema.     

Preschool children’s conversational skills for explaining game rules: communicative guidance strategies as a function of type of relationship and gender

Ten trios of children from 4 to 6 years old were observed in a situation where one child (the expert) who had learned the rules of a game explained these rules to two other children at the same time (the novices): one with whom s/he had a positive relationship and the other with whom her/his relationship was negative. Within this asymmetrical situation created artificially, the children functioned on the basis of a complex tutorial contract. The results indicated that, at these young ages, children are capable to strongly manage three dimensions of the explanatory goal: interactional, ideational (management of the object), and linguistic. However, the errors made by the novices were regulated differently, depending on the type of relationship and gender: the experts in boy trios intervened less frequently when errors were made by the novice with whom the relationship was negative (i.e., the not-friend novice) than with the other novice; conversely, the experts in girl trios intervened less frequently when errors were produced by the novice with whom the relationship was positive (i.e., the friend novice) than with the other novice. An analysis of the communicative strategies observed here highlights early sophisticated pragmatic skills in this interactive assigned design.     

Objective Vitality as Moderator of Ethnolinguistic Identity Gratifications

This article examines the role of subjective and objective determinants of ethnolinguistic identity gratifications among Swedish speakers in Finland (N = 703) and French speakers in Canada (N = 4969). As expected, in both settings, the results demonstrated that ethnolinguistic identity as well as ethnolinguistic vitality significantly predicted the linguistic patterns of TV use; furthermore, a significant interaction between identity and vitality indicated that the effect of identity on TV is greater in areas where objective vitality is higher and the TV access in the given ethnic language is greater. Findings and implications are discussed.     

Communities of practice in inclusive education

The data in this paper represent the experiences and perspectives of parents and teachers who worked as communities of practice, designing support plans for the inclusion of three students with intellectual disabilities in general education classrooms. Their reflections, obtained through interviews and questionnaires, show how they constructed relevant knowledge to support these children with special educational needs in their class. The findings show the potential benefits of partnerships and local knowledge in addressing the educational challenge of inclusion.