In recent years researchers have argued that in order to fully understand perceptual cognitive expertise in sports, representative tasks must be used to preserve the tightly coupled links between perception and action that experts exploit. Previously, tasks have been considered as representative or not, with little evidence existing to indicate the degree to which a task is representative enough. This thesis primarily aimed to investigate experimentally representative tasks in cricket batting and the degree to which a laboratory-based task of cricket batting was able to represent batters’ emergent perceptuo-motor behaviour for perceiving bowlers’ delivery length. A secondary aim was to re-evaluate perceptuo-motor behaviours thought to contribute to skilled performance and their development. In chapter 2 skilled batsmen’s foot movements were recorded in response to balls bowled to a range of lengths under in situ and video-based laboratory conditions. Kinematic analyses quantified decision-making skill and movement scaling. Analyses revealed the laboratory condition to have a high degree of fidelity. Skilled batter’s Foot movements were reliably replicated and differences were found compared to a novice group. In chapter 3, response mode, occlusion condition and skill level were compared on the representative laboratory test developed in chapter 2. Analyses identified that skilled performance was only aided by maintaining coupled responses under occluded conditions, whilst no differences were observed under un-occluded conditions. Skilled performers were also shown to possess greater anticipation skills compared with novices under both coupled and un-coupled conditions. In Chapter 4, the effects of manipulating information present in situ, through simulated ball flight, and fully simulated training aids were compared in a novel experimental paradigm. Skilled batsmen faced deliveries across a range of lengths from a bowler (in situ), from a bowling machine (simulated ball flight) and from a ProBatter simulator (fully simulated action and ball flight). Results showed that simulated ball flight condition resulted in foot movements that were closer to in situ than the fully simulated condition, suggesting that if present, the link between bowling action and ball flight needs to be tightly coupled. These results demonstrate for the first time that representative tasks must not be considered unilaterally as representative or not, but instead the degree of representativeness should be quantified and evaluated against the expert behaviour under investigation. Determination of the degree of representativeness would allow researchers to apply findings to the performance environment with greater knowledge of their potential impact.

As an area of academic and popular interest it is generally acknowledged that migrant British players and coaches were instrumental in football's global diffusion and that different technical and tactical emphases developed according to particular geographical locations and cultural milieu. As the twentieth century unfolded the trend reversed with increased inward flows of elite foreign playing and coaching labour into the upper tiers of UK football, challenging the distinctive and erstwhile dominant occupational culture of the English game. This study examines this process of sub-cultural adaptation. It is principally concerned with critical evaluation of the dynamics of occupational culture modification and any resultant tensions evidenced between expatriate and indigenous coaching talent and other interest groups operating within the higher echelons of English professional football.

During its first decade, Game Studies debate mainly revolved around the juxtaposition between two perspectives: the one of ludology and the one of narratology, each positing a primary quality of video games against the other. The study of the relationship between cinema and video games got somehow caught in the crossfire between these two fields. In this work, I investigate the extent to which representation in video games is connected to cinema and its representational codes. A number of authors before challenged this assumption, theorising models that only partially connect the cinematic form to video games. Such investigations have always started from the ludologically educated assumption that video games are different from cinema and, therefore, for the premises of this comparison to be considered “vitiated”, only tangentially useful due to the irreconcilably different nature of the two media. The adjective “cinematic” is a concept constantly evoked in cultural discourses concerning video games. Magazines, reviewers, critics, but also designers, artists, users and commentators (even scholars) often summon the idea of cinematic games in the attempt of describing some peculiar features that share affinities with films and suggesting that video games possess the aura of the big screen. Cinematic games are born at the crossroads between interactive movies and video games, for which the cinematic expression is retained by means of audiovisual representation while keeping the action in the hands of the player. Due to the vast scale of the subject, my work focuses on relatively recent developments in game design which have yet to be fully investigated, and seeks to extend existing attempts to apply the tools of film theory to Game Studies. A secondary value of this work is an annotation on the disengagement of moving image scholars with video games, and it partly serves as an invocation for this to change.

This study investigates the forces that shape and determine the attitudes and choices that Chinese women have made and continue to make in regard to their sport engagement at a non-elite level. It argues that the constructs of gender and class are so deeply ingrained within Chinese society that they still play their essential roles in women’s decision making processes of their sport participation. A theoretical framework that utilizes the concepts of Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu and Raewyn Connell is significant in explaining how gender and class affect the women cited in this study. Life history interviews and auto-ethnography were employed in this investigation in order to uncover more detailed and qualitative insights as to how gender and class are discursively defined and how women conform or negotiate these discourses about gender and class.

The Meeting, Incentive, Convention and Exhibition (MICE) industry, including conferences and trade shows, is a large and rapidly growing industry over the recent decade. Its growth not only brings benefits for the tourism sector, but also delivers many other potential benefits to host nations. In Thailand, the tourism and MICE industry is a major economic factor as it generates a huge amount of revenue. However, the Thai MICE industry is subject to market fluctuations and sustainable growth is difficult to maintain. Hence, this research examines the factors which influence the decisions of delegates to participate in international conventions as well as factors or criteria influencing organising committees and planners take into consideration when holding international conventions, along with an investigation to the potential of Thailand as a MICE destination, and the positioning of Thailand as a hub for the international conference and convention industry in Asia. The research also aims to identify any factors which limit the potential growth of Thailand as an international hub for the MICE industry through a Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis. The guidelines for a best practice and specifically implemented development policies including marketing strategies are developed, as well as recommendations to help Thailand become a sustainable hub for the international convention industry in Asia. A mixed-methods was employed to collate both the qualitative and quantitative data obtained from the delegates, convention organising committees and planners. The methods entailed interviews, a focus group, and responses of open-ended questions from questionnaire surveys to collate qualitative data, and a questionnaire survey was employed to collect the quantitative data. The data obtained through the qualitative and quantitative methods was triangulated in order to complement the weaknesses of one approach with the strengths of another. The result of the questionnaire survey revealed that 86 percent of the respondents agreed that Thailand has the potential to become a major MICE destination and a hub for the international convention industry in Asia, due to the advantages that Thailand offers as a destination, such as service quality; affordability and value for money; tourism activities; the attractiveness of destination; intervening opportunities; destination image factor; safety and security issues; the standardisation of hotels and accommodation; the quality of the facilities, and standardisation of the conference venue; and the quality and sufficiency of food and beverages. However, the weaknesses of Thailand as a MICE destination include other opportunities; long haul flights or travelling distances and political instability. Following triangulation with the qualitative results, it was recommended that Thailand needs to create its own events particular relevant to agriculture which Thailand does best with help from MPs, CVBs, service providers, as well as employing a diversity of strategies, including the marketing mix beyond 8Ps.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:28:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005-11-08Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:32:22Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 freire_m_me_rcla.pdf: 1503956 bytes, checksum: f82ce0fa7ede09a23ce6cb881cdc570f (MD5) / Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP) / Este estudo Mergulho livre: desvelando emoções e sensações objetivou investigar as sensações e emoções que permeiam os praticantes dessa atividade física de aventura na natureza, no âmbito do lazer. A metodologia utilizada foi composta de revisão de literatura combinada com pesquisa exploratória, utilizando-se como instrumento para coleta dos dados uma entrevista semi-estruturada. A amostra selecionada para estudo constou de 30 participantes, de ambos os sexos e faixa etária entre 29 a 40 anos, praticantes regulares de mergulho, há mais de 1 ano. Os dados coletados foram analisados descritivamente, por meio da técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temático, o que permitiu constatar que, os valores sociais e afetivos advindos da prática do mergulho autônomo permitem contribuir para o bem-estar bio-psico-social, para um estilo de vida mais saudável e para a Educação para o lazer, com reverberações no modo de viver de uma sociedade. / This study Diving free: unveiling emotions and sensations - it objectified to investigate the sensations and emotions that permeate the practitioners of this physical activity of adventure in the nature, in the scope of the leisure. The used methodology was composed of revision of literature combined with exploratory research, using itself as instrument for collection of the data a half-structuralized interview. The sample selected for study consisted of 30 participants, of both the sex and ages enters the 29 40 years, regular practitioners of diving, has 1 year more than. The collected data had been analyzed descriptive, by means of the technique of Analysis of Thematic Content, what it allowed to evidence that, the social values and affective happened of the practical one of the independent diving they allow to contribute for bio-psycho-social well-being, a style of more healthful life and for the Education for the leisure, with reverberations in the way of living of a society.

Orientador: Gisele Maria Schwartz / Banca: Afonso Antonio Machado / Banca: Valério José Arantes / Resumo: Este estudo Mergulho livre: desvelando emoções e sensações objetivou investigar as sensações e emoções que permeiam os praticantes dessa atividade física de aventura na natureza, no âmbito do lazer. A metodologia utilizada foi composta de revisão de literatura combinada com pesquisa exploratória, utilizando-se como instrumento para coleta dos dados uma entrevista semi-estruturada. A amostra selecionada para estudo constou de 30 participantes, de ambos os sexos e faixa etária entre 29 a 40 anos, praticantes regulares de mergulho, há mais de 1 ano. Os dados coletados foram analisados descritivamente, por meio da técnica de Análise de Conteúdo Temático, o que permitiu constatar que, os valores sociais e afetivos advindos da prática do mergulho autônomo permitem contribuir para o bem-estar bio-psico-social, para um estilo de vida mais saudável e para a Educação para o lazer, com reverberações no modo de viver de uma sociedade. / Abstract: This study Diving free": unveiling emotions and sensations - it objectified to investigate the sensations and emotions that permeate the practitioners of this physical activity of adventure in the nature, in the scope of the leisure. The used methodology was composed of revision of literature combined with exploratory research, using itself as instrument for collection of the data a half-structuralized interview. The sample selected for study consisted of 30 participants, of both the sex and ages enters the 29 40 years, regular practitioners of diving, has 1 year more than. The collected data had been analyzed descriptive, by means of the technique of Analysis of Thematic Content, what it allowed to evidence that, the social values and affective happened of the practical one of the independent diving they allow to contribute for bio-psycho-social well-being, a style of more healthful life and for the Education for the leisure, with reverberations in the way of living of a society. / Mestre

Doctorat en sciences politiques / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

A number of policies for the provision of open space for informal recreation and sport have been developed by the Greater London Council, and other agencies including the Regional Council for Sport and Recreation and the Docklands Development Organisation. The study evaluates the extent to which these policies have been correctly formulated and are realistic, in the light of surveys of the supply of open space and the recreational use made of it by residents in south east London. The degree of success with which these policies have been adopted and implemented by executive authorities, given their existing legislative and financial powers, is also examined. In this way deficiencies in policies are identified and a number of opportunities and alternatives are suggested. The evaluation of both the formulation and implementation of open space policies for Greater London has not hitherto been carried out. Individual Borough Councils have produced topic reports or policy statements adapting strategic policies to local needs, but these do not look at their broader implications for the metropolitan area. Also the strategic open space policies contained in the Greater London Development Plan, the structure plan for London approved in 1976, have not been reviewed subsequently. Finally, although some research has been carried out in Britain and the United States on the general application of open space standards, there has been no detailed work specific to London.

This study investigates the internal and external environmental factors that affect destination marketing in Jordan and the use of the destination marketing concept by tourism companies in Jordan. Furthermore, special emphasis is placed on investigating and identifying the existing relationship between the internal and external factors in destination marketing by pinpointing the factors being used by tourism companies and those factors that contribute to the attraction of tourists to Jordan. The empirical research to support the study uses survey methods to develop and test the critical factors of a destination marketing success model that can be used to market and promote Jordan, regionally and globally, as a preferred tourism destination area. A number of hypotheses were formulated to realise the objectives of the study. In the formulation of the research hypotheses, the researcher was guided by a deductive method regarding the groups of tourist destination attitudes and practices of marketing with consistency of questionnaire responses in comparison with available literature on the subject. Eight hypotheses covered the following aspects: tourists’ satisfaction, quality, product, accessibility, people, price, promotion and physical evidence. The results were quantitatively analysed by using SPSS. Review of previous research on critical factors of success, tactical management, destination tactical management and destination competitiveness models was undertaken in an endeavour to find a framework for the development of critical factors of the destination marketing success model that can be used for the identification and integration of critical factors of success. The findings indicate that respondents rated all the factors of service quality listed as critical. Most of the respondents felt that, in order to please the global tourists, the experience must be safe, secure, comfortable and relaxing. Also, the quality of capability, accommodation, access to natural areas, tour guides, tourist information, transportation, financial and communication institutions were factors regarded as contributors to tourist satisfaction. It was also revealed that the most critical factors of product of destination marketing development were improving the tourism products, identifying and exploring new opportunities and upgrading visitor services and facilities. The proposed destination marketing model was developed and tested in the Jordan context and proved to be operational. A number of recommendations were made in terms of safety and security management, destination product marketing development, accessibility systems, people development and dependable management. This study contributes to the field of tourism through testing a destination marketing success model that can be applied to global destinations.