Titleofwork: Combat sports motivation. Workobjective: The aim of this diploma thesis is to determine motives for participating in certain combat sports and to examine if the individual combat sports vary from each other or whether there is a common motive. The further objective is to examine a motive for combat sports in general. Usedmethods: The diploma thesis is designed as a quantitative research using a questionnaire survey. To compile the anonymous questionnaire, the international multidimensional standardized questionnaire The Sport Motivation Scale "SMS-28" was used. The standardized questionnaire was supplemented by questions to determine the sex, age and type of combat sport. The data acquired were then statistically evaluated using pivot tables and research questions were acquired by Pareto analysis. Results: It was discovered that the most important component of motivation for combat sports in general is the inner motivation to experience, on the contrary, the least important for the respondents was the external regulation. The individual combat sports differentiated then by a different spectrum of motivation. However, there were three combat sports, in particular, karate, MMA and judo, which had common type of motivation, particularly to experience the inner motivation. Regarding...

Title: The use of gymnastic ball in combat sport. Objective: The aim of this work is to create a stack of exercises for martial arts wrestlers usable for training and improvement of movement on the ground. The exercises used use a gymnastic ball, which replaces the absence of a sparring partner. The partial aim of the thesis is to find out the difficulty of the proposed exercises based on the respondents' subjective perception. Methods: Based on a long-term observation of martial arts training in conjunction with professional resources dealing with the issue, gymnastic ball exercises were profiled. There were 18 respondents who distinguished the difficulty of the 8 selected exercises. A 10-point Borg Scale was used to evaluate the difficulty, which records the individual perception of the effort required to perform the exercise. Results: The result of the work is a set of exercises on the gymnastic ball suitable for training fight positions and situations for combat on the ground. Furthermore, individual evaluation of the difficulty of selected exercises wrestlers combat sports. The exercises were evaluated by the respondents from simple ones, such as the "Shifting feet while lying on belly" exercise to very demanding "Kneeling on one leg" exercises. The overall assessment suggests that the...

Title: Acute effect of a warm-up on the force of a punch Objectives: The aim of this diploma thesis is to test whether a warm-up before a performance affects the force of a punch at a sample participants practicing full-contact combat sports. Further goal is to analyze a change in the force of a punch depending on elapsed time after warming up. Methods: Each participant in this experimental study with intra-subject design went through all phases of the measurement, where the force of a punch was tested in four specified times (before a warm-up and then 4, 10 and 25 minutes after the warm-up). Results: No statistically significant effect of a warm-up on the force of a punch was observed, nor was there a statistically significant change in the force of a punch during the time following a warm-up. However, a warm-up did have a significant effect on change in heart rate and body temperature. Keywords: Combat sports, performance, fight, dynamic stretching, explosive power, punch sensor

Title: The development of flexibility and its influence on sports training of judo Objectives: Analysis of the influence of flexibility in sports performance in judo and its appropriate methods of development. Methods: The diploma thesis was processed as a descriptive-analytical work in the form of a critical literary resource search. Results: Based on the literature search, it was found that judo in the main part of the training unit leads to the development of flexibility. It influences the speed of execution of the technique and improves sports performance. Flexibility can be amplified not only by the traditional stretching method, bud also by strength training. However, this is not the case with the development of maximum strength. There is no established test in testing methodology for evaluating flexibility. Keywords: Judo, flexibility, sports performance, resistance training, motor testing, literary research

Since footwear flexibility impacts functional design factors, numerous studies have investigated footwear bending stiffness. However, the various methods used to measure footwear bending stiffness have some limitations. Hence, the scope of this study was to develop and quantify the reliability of a novel test set-up for measuring footwear bending stiffness. A test set-up consisting of a hydraulic testing machine, a bending apparatus and a fixation unit was created that fulfilled the requirements specified in the initial phase of the study. The test set-up was evaluated by testing 15 different boots in three series of measurements. Bending stiffness of the boots ranged from 0.61 ± 0.03 Nm/° to 2.38 ± 0.08 Nm/°. Two-way analysis of variance test yielded that the test set-up enabled the reliable measurement of footwear bending stiffness. Relative measurement uncertainty ranged from 1.3 % to 6.1 %.

Title: Effects of isokinetic strength and postural muscles on dynamic strength, velocity and angular velocity of a front kick with and no carried load. Objectives: The aim of the work was to find the effect of the isokinetic strength of hip and knee flexors and extensors of the lower limb performing a front kick, hip rotators during concentric and eccentric contraction of the standing lower limb and the postural muscles on dynamic forces, velocity and angular velocity of a front kick with and no carried load. Methods: This correlation study was conducted on 16 male participants (age: 22 ± 1,5 years⁏ weight: 79 ± 6,6 kg⁏ height: 182 ± 6,1 cm) studying military physical education at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports of Charles University in Prague. Participants performed 5 consecutive front kicks with or without additional load (0 kg, 5 kg, 15 kg, 30 kg, 45 kg). The dynamic strength of the kicks was measured using a Kistler force plate. The velocity and angular velocity of the kicks were measured using a motion capture system (Qualisys). The isokinetic strength of hip and knee flexors and extensors and hip internal and external rotators were measured using a Humac Norm isokinetic dynamometer (CSMI). Postural muscles strength was assessed using 5 different stability tests. The correlation...

During the South Pacific campaigns of World War II, the United States Navy faced a formidable challenge in waging nighttime surface battles against the Japanese Navy. In a war that emphasized the carrier and battleship, the little destroyer became a key player in these actions. By studying this campaign from the perspective of the destroyers, three key factors emerge that allowed the Americans to achieve victory: innovation in tactics, adaption of technology, and efficient use of resources. The research for the thesis was based upon action reports, oral histories, and other documents obtained from the National Archives, Naval War College, Naval History and Heritage Command Center, and East Carolina University. The Japanese perspective was attained from numerous secondary sources. Innovation in tactics, technology, and resources allowed the Americans to persevere through severe defeats to achieve success against a very skilled Japanese Navy in the seas of the South Pacific.

While some theorists have hinted at various social functions served by the gothic genre—such as providing an outlet for grief, anxiety, and violence in their various forms—recent research within the last few decades into sociology, military science, and trauma studies supplies compelling new ways of rereading the horror genre. In addition to providing an outlet for grief, anxiety, and violence in their various forms, horror media can now be read as a preemptive measure in an effort to mediate the immediate and long-term effects of the trauma and horror faced by humanity. I argue that in much the same way an author may write a self-help tract such as The Gift of Fear to try and inform women how to repel a sexual predator by graphically relating harrowing tales of sexual predation, so do some horror texts and film claim to preemptively mediate different types of trauma before, during, and after it occurs. This is done in each case not by merely scaring readers, but by inoculating them against them against future debilitating trauma before, during, and after it may occur. The relatively recent (or at least recently popularized) genre of self-help books that overtly seeks to prepare its audience for future trauma by exposing them to it in a controlled environment draws upon the canon of gothic literature for its inspiration as well as for its rhetorical strategies and literary devices. Without discounting the aesthetics and the utility of horror as a psychological outlet, I will show that gothic media can be reread and reconfigured within this new framework. By realigning horror studies within the framework of trauma studies and the possibility for inoculation against future trauma, this study will provide new insight into one how popular culture often portrays trauma through text, and I will seek to establish a new category affiliated with both trauma theory and horror, the study and representation of pre-memory. This thesis will also present as a case study the rhetorical self-inoculation of American horror author H.P. Lovecraft.

Traumatic brain injury, concussion, and subconcussion are different clinical conditions associated with head injury. These conditions share a common origin, mechanical forces directly or indirectly transmitted to the head. In sports, modalities with high exposure to head traumas require further investigation, especially those in which strikes directly to the head are allowed and a determinant of success, such as combat sports. The causes and effects of brain injuries in combat sports such as Mixed Martial Arts, boxing, Muay Thai, and kickboxing are complex and require a comprehensive investigation of many factors. The objective of this dissertation was to explore the main causes that justify combat sports as the main sport sample when it comes to head injury and the effects of chronic exposure to head trauma in this population. Original studies were developed to assess the head injury risk in competition and in training, the level of knowledge of athletes and coaches, and the consequences of chronic exposure to head traumas in the balance function, brain activity, and spinal cord excitability. The risk of a fight ending due to head strikes in competition is directly related to the weight category, and the risk seems to be exacerbated in female athletes. Combat sports athletes are exposed to numerous strikes to the head in simulated fights on a weekly basis in training, when healthcare professionals are absent. During this time that makes up the bulk of exposures, therefore, athletes and coaches are the ones managing potential cases of concussion. However, coaches are not familiar with assessment tools and don’t often seek out concussion knowledge. Alarmingly, coaches, often prior athletes themselves, are the main source of concussion knowledge for their athletes. High exposure to head trauma both in competition and training in addition to iv poor knowledge and behavior are liable to cause consequences in the nervous system. Athletes chronically exposed to head trauma presented subtle deficits in static balance in the most basic human stance, which is the double-leg over a firm surface. Moreover, while the literature consistently shows impairments in brain function, our study expanded the association between head trauma and nervous system deficits to the least studied component of the nervous system, the spinal cord. While athletic training promotes neuroplastic benefits in spinal cord excitability, these were hindered in a sample of athletes chronically exposed to head traumas. The studies in this dissertation demonstrated that athletes in combat sports are chronically exposed to intentional and repetitive head traumas, and that this exposure is likely associated with long-term functional detriments in balance and spinal cord excitability. / Graduate

<p dir="ltr">With increasing frequency, American schools have been plagued with mass casualty events perpetrated by offenders using various types of firearms. In recent years, several studies have used AnyLogic®, an agent-based computer modeling software, to model some of these mass shooting events. More specifically, researchers have modeled mass shooting events and how changes in police response and victim response affect casualty rates in these scenarios. Another model has used the same agent-based software to model mass-casualty events of various venues. The model goes further by integrating what will be known throughout this paper as “the bleed-out model”. The bleed-out model uses known data from these mass casualty events to model types of injuries and their related probability of resulting in a fatality. The model also uses known data about traumatic wound interventions from mass casualty scenarios, as well as law enforcement and military applications, to model life-saving measures to counteract traumatic injuries and decrease the probability of a victim becoming a fatality. This research used AnyLogic® software to integrate agent-based school shooting models with an agent-based bleed-out model. Once combined, individual first aid kits (IFAKs) geared toward traumatic wound/hemorrhaging care were introduced into the environment and their placement was arranged in several different ways. AnyLogic® software and quantitative analysis were used to make recommendations about best practices for implementing IFAKS in schools. This research specifically examines whether the placement distance for IFAKS in schools during an active shooter incident could have a statistically significant impact on the survivability of active shooter victims. Different scenarios are assessed in the AnyLogic® model varying the placement of a fixed number of IFAKS throughout the school during an incident.</p>