Training and Competition Readiness in Triathlon

Triathlon is characterized by the multidisciplinary nature of the sport where swimming, cycling, and running are completed sequentially in different events, such as the sprint, Olympic, long-distance, and Ironman formats. The large number of training sessions and overall volume undertaken by triathletes to improve fitness and performance can also increase the risk of injury, illness, or excessive fatigue. Short- and medium-term individualized training plans, periodization strategies, and work/rest balance are necessary to minimize interruptions to training due to injury, illness, or maladaptation. Even in the absence of health and wellbeing concerns, it is unclear whether cellular signals triggered by multiple training stimuli that drive training adaptations each day interfere with each other. Distribution of training intensity within and between different sessions is an important aspect of training. Both internal (perceived stress) and external loads (objective metrics) should be considered when monitoring training load. Incorporating strength training to complement the large body of endurance work in triathlon can help avoid overuse injuries. We explore emerging trends and strategies from the latest literature and evidence-based knowledge for improving training readiness and performance during competition in triathlon

Assurance of learning standards and scaling strategies to enable expansion of experiential learning courses in management education

In today’s dynamic globalized business environment, management educators must develop pedagogies that support students to manage and lead in rapidly changing business contexts. An increasing number of institutions use experiential learning as a component of their curriculum to address this challenge. Initially, a response to industry criticism that graduates were unable effectively apply skills needed to be successful, experiential learning has become a baseline expectation in management education programs. Students increasingly expect opportunities to practice and demonstrate competency in the theories they learn in the classroom by applying them in real-world projects. However, expanding such opportunities for students is limited by a unique set of complex administrative challenges inherent in this approach. To expand opportunities for students, institutions must overcome scalability obstacles resulting from the customized nature of the offerings. Business challenges where student teams work with external partners provide a real world learning experience. But they also pose difficulty in applying a standardized approach to assurance of learning. Course content must be redeveloped each time the course is offered, as external projects must be sourced, leading to input and output variation. Advising, monitoring, and assessing students is resource intensive, because at many schools each team is assigned a different business challenge. This article offers a set of assurance of learning standards that institutions can apply to project-based experiential learning courses and posits that greater cross-departmental integration in sourcing projects and better use of technology can increase the efficacy and efficiency of the courses to address the scalability issue.Educatio

Measuring Resilience and Resistance in Aging and Alzheimer Disease Using Residual Methods: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

OBJECTIVE: There is currently a lack of consensus on how to optimally define and measure resistance and resilience in brain and cognitive aging. Residual methods use residuals from regression analysis to quantify the capacity to avoid (resistance) or cope (resilience) "better or worse than expected" given a certain level of risk or cerebral damage. We reviewed the rapidly growing literature on residual methods in the context of aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and performed meta-analyses to investigate associations of residual-method based resilience and resistance measures with longitudinal cognitive and clinical outcomes. METHODS: A systematic literature search of PubMed and Web-of-Science databases (consulted until March 2020) and subsequent screening led to 54 studies fulfilling eligibility criteria, including 10 studies suitable for the meta-analyses. RESULTS: We identified articles using residual methods aimed at quantifying resistance (n=33), cognitive resilience (n=23) and brain resilience (n=2). Critical examination of the literature revealed that there is considerable methodological variability in how the residual measures were derived and validated. Despite methodological differences across studies, meta-analytic assessments showed significant associations of levels of resistance (HR[95%CI]=1.12[1.07-1.17], p<0.0001) and levels of resilience (HR[95%CI]=0.46[0.32-0.68], p<0.001) with risk of progression to dementia/AD. Resilience was also associated with rate of cognitive decline (β[95%CI]=0.05[0.01-0.08], p<0.01). CONCLUSION: This review and meta-analysis supports the usefulness of residual methods as appropriate measures of resilience and resistance, as they capture clinically meaningful information in aging and AD. More rigorous methodological standardization is needed, however, to increase comparability across studies and, ultimately, application in clinical practice

The Beck Initiative : training school-based mental health staff in cognitive therapy

A growing literature supports cognitive therapy (CT) as an efficacious treatment for youth struggling with emotional or behavioral problems. Recently, work in this area has extended the dissemination of CT to school-based settings. The current study has two aims: 1) to examine the development of therapists’ knowledge and skills in CT, an evidence-based approach to promoting student well-being, and 2) to examine patterns of narrative feedback provided to therapists participating in the program. As expected, school therapists trained in CT demonstrated significant gains in their knowledge of CT theory and in their demonstration of CT skills, with the majority of therapists surpassing the accepted threshold of competency in CT. In addition, an examination of feedback content suggested that narrative feedback provided to therapists most frequently consisted of positive feedback and instructions for future sessions. Suggestions for future research regarding dissemination of CT are discussed in light of increasing broad access to evidence based practices.peer-reviewe

MULTI AGENT-BASED ENVIRONMENTAL LANDSCAPE (MABEL) - AN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE SIMULATION MODEL: SOME EARLY ASSESSMENTS

The Multi Agent-Based Environmental Landscape model (MABEL) introduces a Distributed Artificial Intelligence (DAI) systemic methodology, to simulate land use and transformation changes over time and space. Computational agents represent abstract relations among geographic, environmental, human and socio-economic variables, with respect to land transformation pattern changes. A multi-agent environment is developed providing task-nonspecific problem-solving abilities, flexibility on achieving goals and representing existing relations observed in real-world scenarios, and goal-based efficiency. Intelligent MABEL agents acquire spatial expressions and perform specific tasks demonstrating autonomy, environmental interactions, communication and cooperation, reactivity and proactivity, reasoning and learning capabilities. Their decisions maximize both task-specific marginal utility for their actions and joint, weighted marginal utility for their time-stepping. Agent behavior is achieved by personalizing a dynamic utility-based knowledge base through sequential GIS filtering, probability-distributed weighting, joint probability Bayesian correlational weighting, and goal-based distributional properties, applied to socio-economic and behavioral criteria. First-order logics, heuristics and appropriation of time-step sequences employed, provide a simulation-able environment, capable of re-generating space-time evolution of the agents.Environmental Economics and Policy,

Souvenaid in the Management of Mild Cognitive Impairment: An Expert Consensus Opinion

Background Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) among an aging global population is a growing challenge for healthcare providers and payers. In many cases, MCI is an ominous portent for dementia. Early and accurate diagnosis of MCI provides a window of opportunity to improve the outcomes using a personalized care plan including lifestyle modifications to reduce the impact of modifiable risk factors (for example, blood pressure control and increased physical activity), cognitive training, dietary advice, and nutritional support. Souvenaid is a once-daily drink containing a mixture of precursors and cofactors (long-chain omega-3 fatty acids, uridine, choline, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium), which was developed to support the formation and function of neuronal membranes and synapses. Healthcare providers, patients, and carers require expert advice about the use of Souvenaid. Methods An international panel of experts was convened to review the evidence and to make recommendations about the diagnosis and management of MCI, identification of candidates for Souvenaid, and use of Souvenaid in real-world practice. This article provides a summary of the expert opinions and makes recommendations for clinical practice and future research. Summary of opinion Early diagnosis of MCI requires the use of suitable neuropsychological tests combined with a careful clinical history. A multimodal approach is recommended; dietary and nutritional interventions should be considered alongside individualized lifestyle modifications. Although single-agent nutritional supplements have failed to produce cognitive benefits for patients with MCI, a broader nutritional approach warrants consideration. Evidence from randomized controlled trials suggests that Souvenaid should be considered as an option for some patients with early Alzheimer’s disease (AD), including those with MCI due to AD (prodromal AD). Conclusion Early and accurate diagnosis of MCI provides a window of opportunity to improve the outcomes using a multimodal management approach including lifestyle risk factor modification and consideration of the multinutrient Souvenaid

Counsellors and outcome measures : usage trends, familiarity and attitudes : a NSW pilot study

Outcome measures play a crucial role in the evaluation of counselling and psychotherapy. Perspectives on what contributes to and brings about therapeutic change vary widely, with outcome measures having also been a source of disagreement with regards to what they measure – as well as when, and how often they should be used. Since the early 1980’s, the endorsement of Routine Outcome Monitoring by regulatory and funding bodies has intensified this dialogue. It has been argued that commonly used outcome measures are over-simplistic, irrelevant, therapy interfering and primarily aligned to behavioural approaches to treatment. Consequently, alternative measures that attempt to capture relational aspects and more nuanced therapeutic change processes have been developed. Little research has been conducted on the current usage trends and attitudes towards outcome measures amongst Australian counsellors. A cross disciplinary online survey, employing a mixed methods design was conducted to develop an understanding of Australian counsellors’ usage patterns and attitudes towards using outcome measures. One hundred and six clinicians were asked about their experiences with using outcome measures. Outcome measure usage was found to be widespread at 80% and voluntary usage was determined to be 47%. Few process-oriented measures were used or known about. Attitudes towards measures were found to be mixed, with clinicians articulating perceived benefits, limitations and potential harms associated with measuring. This pilot study contributes to the understanding of outcome measure usage patterns and their effects from the perspective of clinicians in Australia. It casts a “wide net” in investigating the utilisation of outcome measures and connects to a wider range of issues within the field. The results, therefore, lead to a range of recommendations for research, clinical training, and practice which aim to enhance awareness and application of outcome measures and more broadly, optimize clients’ experiences of counselling and psychotherapy

Sustaining Teacher Resilience for Montessori Education

The purpose of this action research self-study was to determine the effects of a sustainable self-care practice on the resilience of an unemployed, mid-career Montessori early childhood teacher. This 4-week intervention consisted of twenty 20-minute sessions with meditation, yoga, and/or inspirational readings. Data was measured using a pre- and post-resilience survey, a daily adjective checklist, and a daily reflective journal. An increase in resilience was demonstrated by the resilience survey and self-assessed in journal entries, suggesting that taking time each day for personal self-care can positively impact resilience. Further research should include a larger and diverse study group of full-time teachers, longer or shorter daily intervention times, and a longer intervention period to determine further sustainability of the practice. This research will inform my practice as a teacher both personally and professionally, with consistency of teacher effectiveness being the greatest professional benefit

The Need for Trauma-Informed Training to Build Teacher Efficacy in Managing Externalizing Student Behavior

This starred paper is a review of literature that examines qualitative and quantitative studies conducted to explain the relationship between childhood adversity, childhood development, and externalizing behaviors. Additionally, this literature review further examines the impact of childhood adversity and trauma on student learning, teacher efficacy, and the need for trauma-sensitive school systems

PILOT STUDY OF MENTAL HEALTH SYMPTOMS IN COLLEGIATE ATHLETES: THE INFLUENCE OF RESILIENCE ACROSS A COMPETITIVE SEASON

Objectives: We explored associations between training load (TL) and mental health symptoms (MHS) throughout a competitive season. Secondly, we examined resilience as an influencer on these associations. Participants: 114 student-athletes between 18-23 years old. Methods: We measured MHS and resilience at 3 timepoints throughout a competitive season with psychometric questionnaires. We collected TL daily then calculated average acute to chronic workload ratios (ACWR) and total TLs. Results: None of our hypothesized variables predicted the change in flourishing mental health or anxiety. Total TL at timepoint 3 had a positive main effect. Those who had greater total TL had greater increases in depression (t = 2.14, p = 0.035). Individuals with greater total TL at timepoint 3 and lower average resilience tended to report the greatest increases in depression (t = -2.75, p = 0.007). Conclusion: Results suggests the importance of evaluation of student-athlete resilience and follow-up evaluation of depression.Master of Art