Postural balance and rifle stability in a standing shooting position after specific physical effort in biathletes

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of maximal specific physical effort on postural balance and rifle stability in biathletes in a standing shooting position. The study included 10 junior elite biathletes. The measurements were taken with the Vicon system and AMTI force platform. Postural balance and rifle stability characteristics were determined at rest as well as 1 and 5 min post maximal specific physical effort which was performed on a ski ergometer and continued until exhaustion. Maximal physical effort exerted a significant effect on all examined postural sway and rifle sway characteristics. The duration of the post-exercise changes was longer than 5 minutes. Higher post-effort rifle sway was observed in the vertical direction than in the across the shooting line direction. Post-effort postural balance impairment in the shooting line was much greater than in the across the shooting line direction. Moreover, a strong correlation was found between postural balance and rifle stability. Maximal physical effort influenced postural balance and rifle stability during aiming. Rifle sway during aiming in a standing shooting position seems to be coordinated with the postural sway of the biathlete’s body. Thus, an increase in postural sway contributes to greater sway and lesser stability of the rifle.     

National academic award winners over time: their family situation,education and interpersonal relations

The article presents the results of a study focusing on the family situation, education and interpersonal relations of adults (26–35 years old) who in their adolescence (16–19 years old) displayed exceptional giftedness. One group of those surveyed were national academic award winners (90). The control group consisted of 90 people of no outstanding academic achievement. The research found many differences between these two groups, both in the family situation and in interpersonal relations. High achievers were raised in families of higher social and professional status, and almost 72.2% of them decided to continue their academic career after they had graduated from university. The national academic award winners showed higher scores in shyness and lower scores in sociability in interpersonal relations.     

Gender Differences in High‐school Students’ Views about Science

This study examined gender differences in 79 high‐school students’ attitudes towards their science classes, their perceptions of science and scientists, and their views about majoring in science. The study identified some of the subtleties underlying females’ low participation in, and interest in, science documented in previous research. Four themes emerged from responses on the rating scales and questionnaire. First, even when females planned to major in science, they were more interested than males in the people‐oriented aspects of their planned majors. Second, biology was the one exception to females’ low interest in science. Third, females often planned a science major mainly because they needed a science background in order to enter a health profession such as medicine or physical therapy. Fourth, females generally found science uninteresting and the scientific lifestyle (as perceived by them) unattractive. Implications for teaching science were discussed.     

The CRASP Research Institute: A Response to the Need for Informed Policy in Higher Education and Research

The Polish higher education system has undergone profound changes since 1989. In particular, state institutions have gained a great deal of autonomy, and private institutions have been organized. Student enrollments have skyrocketed, but funding per student has decreased, along with faculty salaries. The system of higher education as it stands today requires deft strategic management based on competent analyses and accurate information. Thus, in order to better address matters of policy, governance, and management collectively, the Polish doctoral degree granting institutions have formed the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland (CRASP) that in turn has decided to support the creation of an independent research institute. The work of this Institute will cover almost all aspects of higher education and science. It will function foremost according to a networking principle. The results of its research projects will be made available, not only to CRASP itself, but also to other interested parties.     

LQ optimal sliding-mode supply policy for periodic-review perishable inventory systems

In this paper we consider the problem of designing an efficient supply strategy for logistic systems with perishable goods. In the analyzed systems, the stock at a distribution center is used to fulfill an unknown, time-varying market demand. The stock deteriorates exponentially, and is replenished with delay from a remote supply source. The objective is to specify a supply strategy such that high level of demand satisfaction is obtained despite unknown pattern of demand variations. As opposed to the previous approaches based mainly on heuristics and static optimization, we apply formal design methodology of sliding-mode control and discrete-time dynamical optimization. We show that the designed controller ensures full demand satisfaction irrespective of the value of delay and the demand uncertainty. Moreover, with the application of appropriate reaching law, the controller is demonstrated to conform to the supplier capacity limitations, and it outperforms the classical order-up-to policy in terms of higher service level, smaller holding costs, and smaller order-to-demand variance ratio.     

The implementation of the Bologna Declaration in Poland

The implementation of the Bologna process in Poland, being one of the Newly Associate States with the European Union, is of great importance for the development of the European Higher Education Area. In the paper, on the basis of historical background, the current situation of higher education in Poland is presented, then the Bologna Declaration priorities and its impact and implementation in Poland are described in some detail. The future trends are shown as conclusions.     

Job satisfaction and temperament structure of gifted people

This article focuses on the problems of adults who in secondary school were high ability learners. The main point of interest of the research presented here is job satisfaction among gifted people and their temperament structure. The authors are interested whether there exist correlations between the investigated variables both in the entire group of gifted individuals as well as in the subgroup of those gifted in the humanities and in the control group. The research results show that between the group of gifted people and the control group there appear significant differences in vigorousness (VG) and activity (AC). The studied groups differ as to the kind and extent of the fulfilment of expectations concerning professional career. Gifted individuals, in comparison to the control group, are more satisfied with their jobs.