Over egging the pudding? Comments on Ojala and Thorpe

In a recent paper in ISCJ, Ojala and Thorpe offered a culturally based observation that questions the role and application of coaching in action sports. Their critique is focused on the action sport of snowboarding which, despite its’ comparatively recent inclusion in the Olympics, retains a different, almost collaborative rather than competitive culture more akin to other action sports such as skateboarding and surfing. Ojala and Thorpe then present Problem Based Learning (PBL) as the solution to many of these perceived ills, describing the positive characteristics of the approach and promoting its cultural fit with action sport environments and performers. In this paper we offer a different perspective, which questions the veracity of the data presented and the unquestioningly positive view of PBL as the answer. Our alternative, data-driven perspective suggests that action sport athletes are increasingly positive, or even desirous of good coaching, of which PBL is a possible approach; suitable for some athletes some of the time

A climatically-derived global soil moisture data set for use in the GLAS atmospheric circulation model seasonal cycle experiment

Algorithms for point interpolation and contouring on the surface of the sphere and in Cartesian two-space are developed from Shepard's (1968) well-known, local search method. These mapping procedures then are used to investigate the errors which appear on small-scale climate maps as a result of the all-too-common practice of of interpolating, from irregularly spaced data points to the nodes of a regular lattice, and contouring Cartesian two-space. Using mean annual air temperatures field over the western half of the northern hemisphere is estimated both on the sphere, assumed to be correct, and in Cartesian two-space. When the spherically- and Cartesian-approximted air temperature fields are mapped and compared, the magnitudes (as large as 5 C to 10 C) and distribution of the errors associated with the latter approach become apparent

Labour process theory and critical management studies

Labour Process Theory (LPT) is conventionally and rightly listed as one of the analytical resources for Critical Management Studies (CMS). Yet, the relationships between the two have been, in the words of a classic of the former, a contested terrain. This is hardly surprising. Even if we set aside the inevitable multiplicity of perspectives, there is a tension in potential objects of analysis. Before CMS burst on to the scene, LPT was being criticised at its peak of influence in the 1980s for paying too much attention to management and too little to capital(ism) and labour. This was sometimes attributed to the location of many of the protagonists (in the UK at least) in business schools, but was, more likely a reflection of wider theoretical and ideological divides

A retrospective analysis of trick progression in elite freeskiing and snowboarding

This study offered a first examination of skill development within freeskiing and snowboarding, using semistructured interviews to examine trick progression. Participants were purposefully recruited as performing at world top 8 level in 2014, the most recent Winter Olympic Games. A semi structured interview protocol, using a personalized progress chart, enabled the examination of trick progression across disciplines, with at least one participant from each of the events represented at the Games. Trick progression was achieved intermittently, moving through different stages during the year subject to experiencing the right conditions, training facilities, balancing time for progression with time for consolidation, competition periods and rehabilitating from injuries. There was high variance in the duration of trick progression between individuals and also high variance in the number of repetitions required to land a trick in competition. Imagery was a mental skill widely used and universally supported by our sample. Athletes and coaches should take directionality into consideration when planning their progression, ensuring all four directions are included and that prerequisite manoeuvres are included in an athlete’s training repertoire at the right stage to facilitate the learning of more complex manoeuvres at a later stage of development. Our data found a 60–40 balance between time-spent training on and off-snow, further research is required to determine the best combination of traditional strength and conditioning versus movement conditioning approaches, both from an injury prevention and a performance enhancement perspective

The performance of the EU-Rotate_N model in predicting the growth and nitrogen uptake of rotations of field vegetable crops in a Mediterranean environment

The EU-Rotate_N model was developed as a tool to estimate the growth and nitrogen (N) uptake of vegetable crop rotations across a wide range of European climatic conditions and to assess the economic and environmental consequences of alternative management strategies. The model has been evaluated under field conditions in Germany and Norway and under greenhouse conditions in China. The present work evaluated the model using Italian data to evaluate its performance in a warm and dry environment. Data were collected from four 2-year field rotations, which included lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.), fennel (Foeniculum vulgare Mill.), spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), broccoli (Brassica oleracea L. var. italica Plenck) and white cabbage (B. oleracea convar. capitata var. alba L.); each rotation used three different rates of N fertilizer (average recommended N1, assumed farmer's practice N2=N1+0·3×N1 and a zero control N0). Although the model was not calibrated prior to running the simulations, results for above-ground dry matter biomass, crop residue biomass, crop N concentration and crop N uptake were promising. However, soil mineral N predictions to 0·6 m depth were poor. The main problem with the prediction of the test variables was the poor ability to capture N mineralization in some autumn periods and an inappropriate parameterization of fennel. In conclusion, the model performed well, giving results comparable with other bio-physical process simulation models, but for more complex crop rotations. The model has the potential for application in Mediterranean environments for field vegetable production

Structural Examination of Au/Ge(001) by Surface X-Ray Diffraction and Scanning Tunneling Microscopy

The one-dimensional reconstruction of Au/Ge(001) was investigated by means of autocorrelation functions from surface x-ray diffraction (SXRD) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Interatomic distances found in the SXRD-Patterson map are substantiated by results from STM. The Au coverage, recently determined to be 3/4 of a monolayer of gold, together with SXRD leads to three non-equivalent positions for Au within the c(8x2) unit cell. Combined with structural information from STM topography and line profiling, two building blocks are identified: Au-Ge hetero-dimers within the top wire architecture and Au homo-dimers within the trenches. The incorporation of both components is discussed using density functional theory and model based Patterson maps by substituting Germanium atoms of the reconstructed Ge(001) surface.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Unit cell of graphene on Ru(0001): a 25 x 25 supercell with 1250 carbon atoms

The structure of a single layer of graphene on Ru(0001) has been studied using surface x-ray diffraction. A surprising superstructure has been determined, whereby 25 x 25 graphene unit cells lie on 23 x 23 unit cells of Ru. Each supercell contains 2 x 2 crystallographically inequivalent subcells caused by corrugation. Strong intensity oscillations in the superstructure rods demonstrate that the Ru substrate is also significantly corrugated down to several monolayers, and that the bonding between graphene and Ru is strong and cannot be caused by van der Waals bonds. Charge transfer from the Ru substrate to the graphene expands and weakens the C-C bonds, which helps accommodate the in-plane tensile stress. The elucidation of this superstructure provides important information in the potential application of graphene as a template for nanocluster arrays.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, paper submitted to peer reviewed journa

The electronic structure of La1−x_{1-x}Srx_{x}MnO3_{3} thin films and its TcT_c dependence as studied by angle-resolved photoemission

We present angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy results for thin films of the three-dimensional manganese perovskite La$_{1-x}$Sr$_{x}$MnO$_{3}$. We show that the transition temperature ($T_c$) from the paramagnetic insulating to ferromagnetic metallic state is closely related to details of the electronic structure, particularly to the spectral weight at the ${\bf k}$-point, where the sharpest step at the Fermi level was observed. We found that this ${\bf k}$-point is the same for all the samples, despite their different $T_c$. The change of $T_c$ is discussed in terms of kinetic energy optimization. Our ARPES results suggest that the change of the electronic structure for the samples having different transition temperatures is different from the rigid band shift.Comment: Accepted by Journal of Physics: Condensed Matte

Phoretic Motion of Spheroidal Particles Due To Self-Generated Solute Gradients

We study theoretically the phoretic motion of a spheroidal particle, which generates solute gradients in the surrounding unbounded solvent via chemical reactions active on its surface in a cap-like region centered at one of the poles of the particle. We derive, within the constraints of the mapping to classical diffusio-phoresis, an analytical expression for the phoretic velocity of such an object. This allows us to analyze in detail the dependence of the velocity on the aspect ratio of the polar and the equatorial diameters of the particle and on the fraction of the particle surface contributing to the chemical reaction. The particular cases of a sphere and of an approximation for a needle-like particle, which are the most common shapes employed in experimental realizations of such self-propelled objects, are obtained from the general solution in the limits that the aspect ratio approaches one or becomes very large, respectively.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, to appear in European Physical Journal

Systematic Control of Carrier Doping without Disorder at Interface of Oxide Heterostructures

We propose a method to systematically control carrier densities at the interface of transition-metal oxide heterostructures without introducing disorders. By inserting non-polar layers sandwiched by polar layers, continuous carrier doping into the interface can be realized. This method enables us to control the total carrier densities per unit cell systematically up to high values of the order unity.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure