The Motor-Proficiency-Test for children between 4 and 6 years of age (MOT 4-6): An investigation of its suitability in Greece

Given the negative influence of motor difficulties on people's quality of life their early identification seems to be crucial and consequently the information provided by a sound assessment tool is of great importance. The aim of this study was to examine the suitability of the MOT 4-6 (Zimmer & Volkamer, 1987) for use with preschoolers in Greece. Seven hundred and seventy-eight Greek children aged 48-71 months participated in the study. The two-way ANOVA used on total MOT performance revealed significant differences among the age groups formed in preschool age within Greeks, while boys' and girls' scores were quite similar. From the comparisons of Greeks' scores with the German standardization sample's ones, statistically significant differences were found in two age groups. However according to the Cohen's d effect size they were not of great importance. The distribution of Greeks' scores according to the test cut-offs, revealed that the MOT can differentiate all levels of performance, although a slight deviation from the distribution of Germans' scores was noticed. Finally, both the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of the test were found to be excellent. The MOT 4-6 seems to be a valuable motor assessment tool for Greek preschoolers. Regarding its norms, despite the minor differences that were noticed between the motor development of Greek and German preschoolers, their adjustment was thought to be unnecessary. Instead of lowering the norms, efforts for preventing the motor performance decline should be enhanced. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd

Knowledge Compilation for Core Competence Extraction in Organizations

Abstract. Knowledge Management (KM) asks for information-intensive services over large amount of data, modeling the intellectual capital of an organization. To combine the expressiveness of logic-based languages with efficient information processing, we adopt a Knowledge Compilation approach to the extraction of “Core Competence ” of a given company, a typical KM problem. In particular, we translate into a relational database schema the full logical description formalized in a Knowledge Base (KB), modeling organizational intellectual capital according to the formalism of Description Logics (DLs). Core Competence extraction is consequently performed through standard-SQL queries, while retaining the expressiveness of the logical representation. The service has been embedded in a system for Human Resource Management, I.M.P.A.K.T. 3, to show how Core Competence extraction performance significantly improves w.r.t. implementations exploiting DL reasoning engines

Business ethics competencies research: implications for Canadian practitioners

This paper describes a proposed framework of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) that a practitioner who is competent in business ethics, compliance, or integrity should possess. These competencies may be leveraged as key input to selecting content for an institutionalized business ethics training program. The focus in this paper is on the management problem of 'What competencies are important for job performance of business ethics practitioners'. Phase I consisted of developing a provisional taxonomy of business ethics competencies and Phase II involved academic and industry practitioners implicated in business ethics to validate the conceptually developed provisional taxonomy of business ethics competencies to eventually make recommendations regarding the selection of business ethics training content. The contribution to the business ethics competency-based management knowledge that is presented in this paper is a proposed business ethics competency model and the implications of this model for Canadian practitioners are discussed

Plyometrics trainability in preadolescent soccer athletes

Michailidis, Y, Fatouros, IG, Primpa, E, Michailidis, C, Avloniti, A, Chatzinikolaou, A, Barbero-Alvarez, JC, Tsoukas, D, Douroudos, II, Draganidis, D, Leontsini, D, Margonis, K, Berberidou, F, and Kambas, A. Plyometrics' trainability in preadolescent soccer athletes. J Strength Cond Res 27(1): 38-49, 2013-Plyometric training (PT) is a widely used method to improve muscle ability to generate explosive power. This study aimed to determine whether preadolescent boys exhibit plyometric trainability or not. Forty-five children were randomly assigned to either a control (CG, N = 21, 10.6 6 0.5 years; participated only in regular soccer practice) or a plyometric training group (PTG, N = 24, 10.6 6 0.6 years; participated in regular soccer practice plus a plyometric exercise protocol). Both groups trained for 12 weeks during the in-season period. The PT exercises (forward hopping, lateral hopping, shuffles, skipping, ladder drills, skipping, box jumps, low-intensity depth jumps) were performed twice a week. Preadolescence was verified by measuring Tanner stages, bone age, and serum testosterone. Speed (0-10, 10- 20, 20-30 m), leg muscle power (static jumping, countermovement jumping, depth jumping [DJ], standing long jump [SLJ], multiple 5-bound hopping [MB5]), leg strength (10 repetition maximum), anaerobic power (Wingate testing), and soccerspecific performance (agility, kicking distance) were measured at baseline, midtraining, and posttraining. The CG caused only a modest (1.2-1.8%) increase in speed posttraining. The PTG induced a marked (p , 0.05) improvement in all speed tests (1.9-3.1% at midtraining and 3-5% at posttraining) and vertical jump tests (10-18.5% at midtraining and 16-23% at posttraining),SLJ (2.6% at midtraining and 4.2% at posttraining), MB5 (14.6% at midtraining and 23% at posttraining), leg strength (15% at midtraining and 28% at posttraining), agility (5% at midtraining and 23% at posttraining), and kicking distance (13.6% at midtraining and 22.5% at posttraining). Anaerobic power remained unaffected in both groups. These data indicate that (a) prepubertal boys exhibit considerable plyometric trainability, and (b) when soccer practice is supplemented with a PT protocol, it leads to greater performance gains. © 2013 National Strength and Conditioning Association