If movement control is afforded through the advance planning, or preprogramming, of upcoming actions, then one of the behavioral outcomes should be an increase in reaction time (RT) as the movement becomes more complex. In some situations, however, RT does not increase across levels of complexity, rather it remains invariant. In these cases, on-line preparation is typically inferred. That is, the sequence is said to be prepared in parts throughout the movement, as opposed to entirely beforehand. Given that there is some planning occurring during the sequence, then evidence of this process should be apparent within the movement itself. Three such dependent variables appear to provide such evidence. Specifically, the number of times the underlying accelerations cross the zero line within the movement, the number of "significant deviations" within the acceleration trace, and the length of time for which the muscles are active (as measured by EMG) in relation to the duration of the movement. In the present experiment, then, these variables were measured in addition to the time required to prepare and initiate a movement performed under conditions conducive to either preprogramming or on-line preparation. Specifically, the movements were either completed as fast as possible, or at a considerably slower, more controlled speed. Each of the dependent variables displayed evidence of preprogramming in the movements completed at the fast velocity, and on-line preparation in the slower paced movements. Thus, in the slow condition, subjects appeared to rely more heavily on on-line prepared adjustments to produce an accurate outcome. The convergence attained between the various dependent measures lends power to the conclusions regarding hypothesized modes of control within the different speeds of movement. / Education, Faculty of / Curriculum and Pedagogy (EDCP), Department of / Graduate

The purpose of this study is to construct and validate a wall type test of badminton short serve skill by comparison with the French Short Serve test and to determine the effect of changing the distance through which the serve must pass on scores made on tests with and without a restraining line.

Two studies were undertaken to investigate the relationship between upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) and exercise performance. The first study documented the incidence of URTI in an athletic population and the second study determined the effect of URTI on exercise performance during the recovery period. Endurance runners (n=29) were used for these studies and the athletes were monitored for 45 months. During this time the subjects ran an average of 40 kilometers/week. In the first study, 22 reports of symptoms (n=22) of URTI occurred during the 45-month period. Of these, 10 subjects (n=10) were ill for less than 3 days. All 10 subjects reported their symptoms directly following an endurance event. The other 12 subjects (n=12) were ill for 5 days and longer and fulfilled the inclusion criteria for illness due to infection. The incidence of symptoms of URTI/1000 hours of training for the group of 29 runners was 1,26. The incidence of symptoms for the 10 athletes not fulfilling the inclusion criteria for illness was 0.58 and the incidence for the 12 athletes fulfilling the inclusion criteria was 0.69. The odds ratio for the athletes (n=22) for developing symptoms of URTI during a year is 1.03 compared to the odds ratio of 2.5 for the general population during the similar period. These results seem to indicate that 45% of athletes (n=10) who reported URTI symptoms directly following strenuous exercise do not have clinical infection. Furthermore, the study indicates that regular, moderate, endurance exercise may afford protection against URTI, when compared to the general population. In the second study, 5 athletes (n=5) of the original 12 subjects with URTI complied with all the test protocols. On recruitment, baseline tests were done for muscle strength, muscle endurance, aerobic endurance and maximal effort to exhaustion. Following the development of the URTI, the above parameters were tested over six days on days 0, 2, 4 and 6. After regaining their pre-illness fitness levels over a three-month period, the subjects were detrained for comparative periods and the above tests repeated on similar days for comparative purposes. iv Parameters for muscle strength and muscle endurance [Work (Joule), Power (Watt), Torque to mass (Nm/kg), and Total power (Watt)] appeared to be unaffected following periods of illness and following comparative periods of detraining.

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No description available.

Psychomotor skills are a combination of innate abilities as well as skills developed because of repeated actions. Researchers have dedicated many studies to understand the extent to which past videogame play contributes to psychomotor skills and fine motor control dexterity. However, not all gamers are created equal. With today's proliferation of platforms, many people are gamers who never pick up a controller. Grouping all gamers together forms dangerous confounds when trying to generalize across a population as diverse as today's gamers. The current study aims to study a population comprised only of gamers to see if there are significant differences in their psychomotor skills. A psychomotor skills test has been developed, which is designed to simulate proven physical tests, with the express purpose of exposing differences between gamers. After filling out an extensive survey of gaming habits, participants completed the psychomotor skills test. Participants were then grouped by measured psychomotor ability and a selection of high and low performing gamers completed four tutorial exercises on the dV-Trainer by Mimic Technologies, a validated robotic laparoscopic training device. The study shows that the number of hours reported per week using analog controllers is correlated with the psychomotor score as measured by the newly developed simulation. In particular, the Purdue Pegboard and Finger Tapping simulation software is the best discriminator among members of the gamer population.

Yes

Whereas the LGBTQ2+ movement has made notable gains since its inception, these gains do not reflect the experiences or political priorities of the entire collective. In fact, within the movement there are varied understandings of who ‘we’ are, where ‘we’ should go, and where the sources of our struggles lie. It is this tension between collectivity and fragmentation that guides this dissertation, specifically, I ask, how do intersecting power relations shape the processes whereby we mobilize and strengthen collectivity, engage in consciousness-raising, and advocate for certain political priorities in our protest. Using popular drag and queer cabaret as a case study, my findings contribute to core movement concepts including collective identity, storytelling, ‘free spaces’ and infighting to better explain the tension between collectivity and fragmentation in the LGBTQ2+ movement in Ontario, Canada. Using a combination of field observation, semi-structured interviews, and cultural artifacts I find that intersecting power relations shape drag and queer cabaret in both shared and movement free spaces. Drag and queer cabaret are valuable means of mobilizing and sustaining collectivity as well as consciousness raising; however, failure to address how intersecting power relations shape these processes simultaneously undermines collectivity by introducing hierarches and subsequently fragmenting the movement. Groups that seek to challenge these hierarchies do so in two primary ways. In the case of ‘free spaces,’ queer cabaret groups build intersectional prefigurative politics into their performative protest to expand the narrative of who ‘we’ are. In ‘shared’ movement spaces like Pride—wherein LGBTQ2+ experiences and ideologies vary greatly—marginalized groups use drag and queer cabaret as a form of strategic resistance. Overall this dissertation attests to the need for greater attention to how ‘our’ LGBTQ2+ resistance is situated within larger relations of inequality. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2007. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 46-03, page: . Adviser: Carrie Nordlund.

This paper investigates the nature of the attraction of XPs to clauseinitial position in German (and other languages). It argues that there are two different types of preposing. First, an XP can move when it is attracted by an EPP-like feature of Comp. Comp can, however, also attract elements that bear the formal marker of some semantic or pragmatic (information theoretic) function. This second type of movement is driven by the attraction of a formal property of the moved element. It has often been misanalysed as “operator” movement in the past. Japanese <i>wh</i>-questions always exhibit focus intonation (FI). Furthermore, the domain of FI exhibits a correspondence to the <i>wh</i>-scope. I propose that this phonology-semantics correspondence is a result of the cyclic computation of FI, which is explained under the notion of <i>Multiple Spell-Out</i> in the recent Minimalist framework. The proposed analysis makes two predictions: (1) embedding of an FI into another is possible; (2) (overt) movement of a <i>wh</i>-phrase to a phase edge position causes a mismatch between FI and <i>wh</i>-scope. Both predictions are tested experimentally, and shown to be borne out.