Enhancing student experience through alumni engagement: building a lifelong community.

During academic session 2022/23, a graduate engagement project was undertaken for the BSc(Hons) Applied Sport and Exercise Science course at Robert Gordon University. The aim of the project was to enhance students' knowledge of possible career pathways, enhance student engagement through relatable real-life applications, and to create a lifelong community for our students and graduates. The project began by contacting all graduates from the course since its commencement in 2012 (n=329), through the use of emails, LinkedIn and snowballing techniques. Graduates were asked to complete a short survey and indicate whether they were willing to be involved further. As a result, 108 responses to the survey were collected. Outputs from the survey have included: the creation of a "Graduate Journeys" document, to assist current students in identifying potential career pathways and employability skills; and the creation of an advice document for current students, containing 'words of wisdom' to help in their studies. In response to the survey, 59 graduates expressed an interest in finding out more about hosting student placements; this has resulted in 8 new placement providers for academic session 2022/23 and 2 interested in offering placements for 2023/24 (10 investigated further, but their employer was not in a position to take on placement students at this time). 83 respondents expressed an interest in finding out more about guest-lecturing. Further contact with these 83 graduates lead to 21 indicating those aspects of the course to which their expertise and job role best aligned. From this, 13 were selected to present to current students, spread across the full range of stages and modules on the course. All students and graduates were invited to join a LinkedIn group, to create a lifelong learning community. This presentation provides an evaluation of the project and its impact

Use of Virtual Environments for Simulation of Accident Investigation

Aircraft accident investigation requires extensive theoretical and methodological knowledge as well as hands-on application. While there are a handful of training centers that offer crash site reconstructions as training aids, these facilities offer limited static tools that can only be accessed by a minimal number of trainees who have flexible work schedules and access to available budgetary resources for travel, lodging and tuition to attend what is generally not-for-credit hands-on training. The use of a virtual interactive aircraft crash training environment can deliver a virtual crash laboratory to an infinite number of trainees, worldwide, provided computer technology is present. The virtual hands-on experience allows students to apply complex theories and investigative methodologies in a secure, interactive, portable learning environment. Training can be modularized to specific airframe and crash scenarios, and can be geared toward initial, recurring, or advanced training and assessment needs. This research demonstrates the application, current capabilities, and future potential of the ERAU Aircraft Accident Investigation Virtual Lab and addresses issues and challenges associated with adapting this technology in academia and industry. Issues to be addressed relate to current training/educational challenges for aircraft accident investigation, quality in context, student satisfaction, integration into curriculum, and assessment protocols

Simulating association between training load and injury using the acute: chronic workload ratio and Bayesian methods in youth football.

Previous research has examined the relationship between relative workload and injury, where acute training load is expressed in relation to chronic training load using simple ratio scaling or non-linear models including the exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA). Research has demonstrated that higher relative workloads are associated with greater injury risk; however, statistical models generally report non-intuitive statistics such as odds ratios and as a result the practical consequences of increased player loading remain unclear. Here we combine training and injury data collected in youth football with a predictive simulation approach to model the number of injuries sustained across a range of seasonal workloads

Reliability and validity of the running anaerobic sprint test (RAST) in soccer players.

To investigate the validity and relative and absolute reliability of the Running Anaerobic Sprint Test (RAST) in ama teur soccer players. Cross-sectional experimental design with an element of repeated measures. Twenty three males completed the RAST on two occasions and a Wingate test (WAnT) as criterion measure of anaero bic power. Criterion validity for the RAST was strong for peak power (r = 0.70, p < 0.001) and average power (r = 0.60, p = 0.002); however, the RAST significantly underestimated peak power compared to WAnT. The RAST showed very good relative reli ability for average power, ICC = 0.88 and good relative reliability for peak power, ICC = 0.72. Assessment of absolute reliability highlighted that although when averaged across a group, test and re-test scores will be similar, when monitoring individuals an individual's retest score may range between 0.81 and 1.2 times the original value for peak power and between 0.9 and 1.16 for average power. The RAST is a practicable field test to estimate levels of average anaerobic power. However, the results show that the RAST is not sensitive enough to detect strongly individual changes below 20 % and is therefore not recommended to continually monitor an individual's anaerobic power. Also, if true measures of peak power are required the RAST test is limited

Effect of acute tensile loading on gender-specific tendon structural and mechanical properties.

Stretching is commonly used prior to exercise, as it is thought to reduce the risk of injury, and it is also used in the preconditioning of tendon grafts. As tendon properties have been shown to be different between genders, it is proposed that stretching will differentially affect the structure. Here we examine the effect of acute stretch on the mechanical properties of both male and female medial gastrocnemius tendon. Female [20 years ± 1 (SEM), n = 17] and male (22 years ±1, n = 18) subjects underwent a 5-min passive dorsiflexion stretch. Prior to and post stretch medial gastrocnemius tendon stiffness (K), length (1) and cross-sectional area (csa) were measured using ultrasonography and dynamometry. Stiffness and Young's modulus (ε) were significantly reduced with stretch for both genders (p < 0.05). Females showed significantly (p < 0.05) greater pre- to poststretch decreases in K (22.4 vs. 8, 8%) and e (20.5 vs. 8.4%) in comparison to males. The present results show that stretching acutely reduces stiffness of the medial gastrocnemius tendon in females and males, with females showing significantly greater change. The observed disparity between genders may be due in part to variations in tendon moment arm and intrinsic differences in tendon composition. These differential changes in tendon mechanical properties have functional, motor control, and injury risk implications, as well as possible implications for preconditioning of tendon grafts

Effects of self-monitoring of heart rate and additional sprint running on exercise intensity and technical performance during small-sided games in soccer.

The purpose of this study was to assess whether relatively simple interventions including self monitoring of heart rate and the use of targeted sprints for those with the lowest relative HR values (%HRmax) could be used to increase exercise intensity during small sided games (SSGs) in soccer. A secondary aim of the study was to assess the effect of these interventions on overall gameplay. Fourteen male semi-professional players performed SSGs (6 vs. 6) under four conditions including a control, a self-monitoring approach where players monitored their own HR via a wristwatch, and two sprint conditions where players with HR values below 90%HRmax performed sprints either during the game or during the recovery period between games. A linear mixed effects model was used to test for main effects whilst accounting for covariances between observations made on the same player. The results identified relatively small but significant differences in average %HRmax (p<0.001) and RPE values (p<0.001) between the three modified conditions and the control. No significant differences were found between any of the modified conditions for measures of exercise intensity. On average, the modified conditions resulted in a 3.7% increase in %HRmax values and a 9.3% increase in RPE. The results from this study demonstrate that exercise intensity of SSGs in soccer can be increased by relatively simple and practical manipulations, the most basic of which requires only the use of inexpensive HR monitors