Reliability of force-velocity parameters obtained from linear and curvilinear regressions for the bench press and squat exercises

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to compare the goodness of fit and the reliability of different regression models for fitting the force-velocity relationship (FV) of bench press (BP) and squat (SQ). Additionally, the reliability of the position on FV of the velocity (V_1RM) and the force performed with the 1RM (F_1RM) was explored. Nine rugby players and 12 judokas participated in this study. The FV of BP and SQ were obtained twice by a protocol performed until the 1RM. Individual FV were fitted by linear (LM), quadratic polynomial (PM), and exponential models (EM). Adjusted coefficients of determination of LM and PM (medians higher than 0.919) were higher than for EM. The reliability was higher for LM in comparison with PM. The reliability of V_1RM was not acceptable (CV% = 19 and 18% for BP and SQ). High reliability was observed for F_1RM (CV% = 3 and 2% for BP and SQ) and for the ratio between F_1RM and the force-axis intercept of FV (CV% = 2 and 4% for BP and SQ). The reliability of the relative values of F_1RM around 92 and 87% of F₀ for BP and SQ suggests the use of these values for monitoring resistance training programmes.     

“Selling less of more?” The impact of digitization on record companies

In this paper, we use data from a survey of 151 French record companies to test the “long-tail” hypothesis at the level of the firm. More specifically, we test whether, following the “selling less of more” principle coined by Anderson (2006), record companies that have adapted to digitization (at various levels: artists’ scouting, distribution, and promotion) release more new albums without having higher overall sales. We construct a production function in which the output is produced from conventional inputs of labor and capital, as well as inputs that are more specific to the recorded music industry. We consider two types of output: a commercial output (albums sales) and a creative output (number of new albums released). We show that labels that have adapted to digitization are more efficient in respect of creative output, but that there is no effect of adaptation to digitization on the commercial output, which is consistent with the predictions of the long-tail hypothesis.     

Psychometric properties of the triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire: Prevalence across seven roles

This study created a Spanish triangulated version of the European Bullying Intervention Project Questionnaire and obtained indicators of its validity and reliability. This new tool allows researchers to triangulate and flexibly investigate the three main roles in school bullying, obtaining seven potential roles (pure victim, pure bully, pure bystander, bully/victim, victim/bystander, bully/bystander, and bully/victim/bystander). The sample was 2,068 adolescents and young adults aged 11–19 years (M_age = 14.2 ± 1.48 years old; 53.8% females). Confirmatory factor analysis indicated a good fit for the three-related-factor model and adequate reliability (ω > 0.91) in all dimensions. About 28.2% of the sample reported victimization; of whom only 2.9% were pure victims, 15.1% were victim/bystanders, and 9.8% were involved in all three roles (bully/victim/bystanders). Only 0.8% played the role of a pure bully, and 0.4% were bully/victims. The most prevalent profile was that of pure bystander (30%). These results are discussed in light of their importance for the interpretation of the prevalence of traditional bullying, and their implications for bullying assessments and interventions.     

Relevance of the SFU ReviewSP-NEG corpus annotated with the scope of negation for supervised polarity classification in Spanish

Up to now, negation is a challenging problem in the context of Sentiment Analysis. The study of negation implies the correct identification of negation markers, the scope and the interpretation of how negation affects the words that are within it, that is, whether it modifies their meaning or not and if so, whether it reverses, reduces or increments their polarity value. In addition, if we are interested in managing reviews in languages other than English, the issue becomes even more problematic due to the lack of resources. The present work shows the validity of the SFU Review_SP-NEG corpus, which we annotated at negation level, for training supervised polarity classification systems in Spanish. The assessment has involved the comparison of different supervised models. The results achieved show the validity of the corpus and allow us to state that the annotation of how negation affects the words that are within its scope is important. Therefore, we propose to add a new phase to tackle negation in polarity classification systems (phase iii): i) identification of negation cues, ii) determination of the scope of negation, iii) identification of how negation affects the words that are within its scope, and iv) polarity classification taking into account negation.     

The Cost of the Veil: Visual Communication Impacts of Hijab on News Judgments

Using disposition theory as a framework, this 2 (headscarf vs. no headscarf) by 2 (US citizen vs. refugee) experiment sought to elucidate the impact of visual and verbal cues in mediated messages on conclusions drawn from a television news package about a woman accused of consorting with a known terrorist group in the US, in terms of parochial empathy for and perceived innocence of the woman. Parochial empathy measures the difference between ingroup and outgroup empathy; higher levels indicate ingroup empathy is greater than outgroup empathy, meaning the individual’s empathy is very narrow in scope or “parochial.” Political identity was a measured independent variable. The data supported a model in which political identity was a significant moderator of the headscarf’s effect on parochial empathy, and that parochial empathy mediated the relationship between the manipulated and measured predictor variables on perceived innocence. Details of the relationships among variables are reported and the implications for theory and journalism practice are discussed.     

Performance,motivation, and enjoyment in young female basketball players: An interdisciplinary approach

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the variation in accumulated basketball training experience, body size, functional performance, deliberate practice motivation, achievement and competitiveness motivation and sources of enjoyment among young female basketball players, partitioning the potential variation by individuals´ biological characteristics (menarche status) and contextual characteristics (competitive age group and competitive level). We considered 114 adolescent female basketball players aged 14.3 (1.8) years. We used multilevel regression and poststratification estimations. The adolescent female basketball players selected for state-level had more accumulated experience, were taller and with better functional performance. Conditional on the data, youth female coaches tend to value (probably overvalue) size and function when selecting/promoting players, even at early age groups, likely contributing to an overrepresentation of early maturing girls in at early age groups. Players from club- and state-level were similarly highly motivated for deliberate practice and to achievement. Only for competitiveness, state-level players had higher values than club level players. The sources of enjoyment were influenced by context (competitive levels) for self-referenced competencies and others-referenced competencies. Structured programs of training and competition in youth female basketball provide a nurturing environment for the development of players´ engagement and commitment to training and excellence attainment.     

Is That Even Checkable? An Experimental Study in Identifying Checkable Statements in Political Discourse

The first step in journalistic fact-checking of political discourse is identifying whether statements contain “checkable facts” (i.e., not opinions). This randomized controlled experiment investigated how different demographic factors (age, gender, education, profession, and political affiliation) are associated with the ability to discern if statements contained checkable or noncheckable facts, as well as what impact training in identifying checkable facts can have on overall outcomes. A total of 3,357 participants identified checkable and noncheckable statements from a fictional political speech extract containing eight statements. Overall, participants were able to correctly identify an average of 69% of statements. Specific demographic factors (being male, young, and university educated) were positively associated with increased performance as well as working in professions that commonly analyze data, such as research. Participating in a short training session significantly increased participants’ performance. Initial political affiliation slightly reduces the ability to assess whether statements made by named politicians contained checkable facts.     

Analytics for learning design: A layered framework and tools

The field of learning design studies how to support teachers in devising suitable activities for their students to learn. The field of learning analytics explores how data about students' interactions can be used to increase the understanding of learning experiences. Despite its clear synergy, there is only limited and fragmented work exploring the active role that data analytics can play in supporting design for learning. This paper builds on previous research to propose a framework (analytics layers for learning design) that articulates three layers of data analytics—learning analytics, design analytics and community analytics—to support informed decision-making in learning design. Additionally, a set of tools and experiences are described to illustrate how the different data analytics perspectives proposed by the framework can support learning design processes.