Study of optimal training protocols and devices for developing and maintaining physical fitness in females prior to and during space flight

Pedalling a bicycle at least ten minutes a day at 85% of maximum pulse rate, three days a week for ten weeks will produce moderate increases in overall strength and physical work capacity in college-age females. The longer the training session, up to thirty minutes per session, the greater are the increases in physical work capacity that result when college-age females are trained three days a week for ten weeks at 85% of their maximum heart rate

Isokinetic exercise: A review of the literature

Isokinetic muscle training has all the advantages of isometrics and isotonics while minimizing their deficiencies. By holding the speed of movement constant throughout the full range of motion, isokinetic training devices respond with increased resistance rather than acceleration when the power output of the muscle is increased. Isokinetic training is superior to isometric and isotonic training with respect to increases in strength, specificity of training, desirable changes in motor performance tasks, lack of muscle soreness, and decreases in relative body fat

Blaming Bill Gates AGAIN! Misuse, overuse and misunderstanding of performance data in sport

Recently in Sport, Education and Society, Williams and Manley (2014) argued against the heavy reliance on technology in professional Rugby Union and elite sport in general. In summary, technology is presented as an elitist, ‘gold standard’ villain that management and coaches use to exert control and by which players lose autonomy, identity, motivation, social interactions and expertise. In this article we suggest that the sociological interpretations and implications offered by Williams and Manley may be somewhat limited when viewed in isolation. In doing so, we identify some core methodological issues in Williams and Manley’s study and critically consider important arguments for utilising technology; notably, to inform coach decision making and generate player empowerment. Secondly, we present a different, yet perhaps equally concerning, practice-oriented interpretation of the same results but from alternative coaching and expertise literature. Accordingly, we suggest that Williams and Manley have perhaps raised their alarm prematurely, inappropriately and on somewhat shaky foundations. We also hope to stimulate others to consider contrary positions, or at least to think about this topic in greater detail. More specifically, we encourage coaches and academics to think carefully about what technology is employed, how and why, and then the means by which these decisions are discussed with and, preferably, sold to players. Certainly, technology can significantly enhance coach decision making and practice, while also helping players to optimise their focus, empowerment and independence in knowing how to achieve their personal and collective goals

Linking Physical Education With Community Sport and Recreation: A Program for Adolescent Girls

The engagement of adolescent girls in physical activity (PA) is a persistent challenge. School-based PA programs have often met with little success because of the lack of linkages between school and community PA settings. The Triple G program aimed to improve PA levels of secondary school girls (12-15 years) in regional Victoria, Australia. The program included a school-based physical education (PE) component that uniquely incorporated student-centered teaching and behavioral skill development. The school component was conceptually and practically linked to a community component that emphasized appropriate structures for participation. The program was informed by ethnographic fieldwork to understand the contextual factors that affect girls’ participation in PA. A collaborative intervention design was undertaken to align with PE curriculum and coaching and instructional approaches in community PA settings. The theoretical framework for the intervention was the socioecological model that was underpinned by both individual-level (social cognitive theory) and organizational-level (building organizational/community capacity) strategies. The program model provides an innovative conceptual framework for linking school PE with community sport and recreation and may benefit other PA programs seeking to engage adolescent girls. The objective of this article is to describe program development and the unique theoretical framework and curriculum approaches

Detecting the Cosmic Gravitational Wave Background with the Big Bang Observer

The detection of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMB) was one of the most important cosmological discoveries of the last century. With the development of interferometric gravitational wave detectors, we may be in a position to detect the gravitational equivalent of the CMB in this century. The Cosmic Gravitational Background (CGB) is likely to be isotropic and stochastic, making it difficult to distinguish from instrument noise. The contribution from the CGB can be isolated by cross-correlating the signals from two or more independent detectors. Here we extend previous studies that considered the cross-correlation of two Michelson channels by calculating the optimal signal to noise ratio that can be achieved by combining the full set of interferometry variables that are available with a six link triangular interferometer. In contrast to the two channel case, we find that the relative orientation of a pair of coplanar detectors does not affect the signal to noise ratio. We apply our results to the detector design described in the Big Bang Observer (BBO) mission concept study and find that BBO could detect a background with $\Omega_{gw} > 2.2 \times 10^{-17}$.Comment: 15 pages, 12 Figure

Influential factors of aligning Spotify squads in mission-critical and offshore projects – a longitudinal embedded case study

Changing the development process of an organization is one of the toughest and riskiest decisions. This is particularly true if the known experiences and practices of the new considered ways of working are relative and subject to contextual assumptions. Spotify engineering culture is deemed as a new agile software development method which increasingly attracts large-scale organizations. The method relies on several small cross-functional self-organized teams (i.e., squads). The squad autonomy is a key driver in Spotify method, where a squad decides what to do and how to do it. To enable effective squad autonomy, each squad shall be aligned with a mission, strategy, short-term goals and other squads. Since a little known about Spotify method, there is a need to answer the question of: How can organizations work out and maintain the alignment to enable loosely coupled and tightly aligned squads? In this paper, we identify factors to support the alignment that is actually performed in practice but have never been discussed before in terms of Spotify method. We also present Spotify Tailoring by highlighting the modified and newly introduced processes to the method. Our work is based on a longitudinal embedded case study which was conducted in a real-world large-scale offshore software intensive organization that maintains mission-critical systems. According to the confidentiality agreement by the organization in question, we are not allowed to reveal a detailed description of the features of the explored project

Morphologies of High Redshift, Dust Obscured Galaxies from Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics

Spitzer MIPS images in the Bootes field of the NOAO Deep Wide-Field Survey have revealed a class of extremely dust obscured galaxy (DOG) at z~2. The DOGs are defined by very red optical to mid-IR (observed-frame) colors, R - [24 um] > 14 mag, i.e. f_v (24 um) / f_v (R) > 1000. They are Ultra-Luminous Infrared Galaxies with L_8-1000 um > 10^12 -10^14 L_sun, but typically have very faint optical (rest-frame UV) fluxes. We imaged three DOGs with the Keck Laser Guide Star Adaptive Optics (LGSAO) system, obtaining ~0.06'' resolution in the K'-band. One system was dominated by a point source, while the other two were clearly resolved. Of the resolved sources, one can be modeled as a exponential disk system. The other is consistent with a de Vaucouleurs profile typical of elliptical galaxies. The non-parametric measures of their concentration and asymmetry, show the DOGs to be both compact and smooth. The AO images rule out double nuclei with separations of greater than 0.1'' (< 1 kpc at z=2), making it unlikely that ongoing major mergers (mass ratios of 1/3 and greater) are triggering the high IR luminosities. By contrast, high resolution images of z~2 SCUBA sources tend to show multiple components and a higher degree of asymmetry. We compare near-IR morphologies of the DOGs with a set of z=1 luminous infrared galaxies (LIRGs; L_IR ~ 10^11 L_sun) imaged with Keck LGSAO by the Center for Adaptive Optics Treasury Survey. The DOGs in our sample have significantly smaller effective radii, ~1/4 the size of the z=1 LIRGs, and tend towards higher concentrations. The small sizes and high concentrations may help explain the globally obscured rest-frame blue-to-UV emission of the DOGs.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

A Formalization of the Theorem of Existence of First-Order Most General Unifiers

This work presents a formalization of the theorem of existence of most general unifiers in first-order signatures in the higher-order proof assistant PVS. The distinguishing feature of this formalization is that it remains close to the textbook proofs that are based on proving the correctness of the well-known Robinson's first-order unification algorithm. The formalization was applied inside a PVS development for term rewriting systems that provides a complete formalization of the Knuth-Bendix Critical Pair theorem, among other relevant theorems of the theory of rewriting. In addition, the formalization methodology has been proved of practical use in order to verify the correctness of unification algorithms in the style of the original Robinson's unification algorithm.Comment: In Proceedings LSFA 2011, arXiv:1203.542

POX 186: A Dwarf Galaxy in the Process of Formation?

We present deep U, V and I band images of the "ultracompact" blue dwarf galaxy POX 186 obtained with the Planetary Camera 2 of the Hubble Space Telescope. We have also obtained a near-ultraviolet spectrum of the object with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph, and combine this with a new ground-based optical spectrum. The images confirm the galaxy to be extremely small, with a maximum extent of only 300 pc, a luminosity ~ 10^-4 L*, and an estimated mass ~ 10^7 M(sun). Its morphology is highly asymmetric, with a tail of material on its western side that may be tidal in origin. The U-band image shows this tail to be part of a stream of material in which stars have recently formed. Most of the star formation in the galaxy is however concentrated in a central, compact (d ~ 10 - 15 pc) star cluster. The outer regions of the galaxy are significantly redder than the cluster, with V - I colors consistent with a population dominated by K and M stars. While these results rule out earlier speculation that POX 186 is a protogalaxy, its morphology, mass and active star formation suggest that it represents a recent (within ~ 10^8 yr) collision between two clumps of stars of sub-galactic size (~ 100 pc). POX 186 may thus be a very small dwarf galaxy that, dynamically speaking, is still in the process of formation. This interpretation is supported by the fact that it resides in a void, so its morphology cannot be explained as the result of an encounter with a more massive galaxy. Clumps of stars this small may represent the building blocks required by hierarchical models of galaxy formation, and these results also support the recent "downsizing" picture of galaxy formation in which the least massive objects are the last to form.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ; 23 pages, 5 figure