Bricoleurs Extraordinaire: Sports Coaches in Inter War Britain

In Inter War Britain, individuals exploited their athletic skills by pursuing professional careers, or adopting amateur roles, as instructors, trainers and coaches, invariably drawing from, and elaborating on, existing practices. The coach was the master of a body of specialist craft knowledge, the tacit nature of which was transmitted through ‘stealing with the eyes’ as the apprentice watched the master in action (Gamble, 2001). Professional coaches saw themselves as practical men whose experiential knowledge concerning diet, physiological and psychological preparation, stimulants, massaging, medical treatments, talent identification, and so on provided critical components in their coaching ‘toolbox’ (Nelson, 1924, 25-26). Craft knowledge was never static. Coaching expertise is a fluid, cyclical process with practitioners continuously redeveloping their competencies (Turner, Nelson and Potrac, 2012, 323), and part of traditional craft expertise was the ability to react positively to shifting circumstances. Coaches were constantly stimulated to experiment by competitors, commercialisation, and emerging technologies (Clegg, 1977, 244), and they exemplified the notion of the ‘Bricoleur’ in constantly trialling emerging knowledge, intuitively accepting or rejecting appropriate material. This paper explores the ways in which practitioners developed their coaching ‘toolbox’ in Inter War Britain by drawing on examples from newspaper reports, personal and public archives, and instructional texts (eg. Tilden, 1920; Gent, 1922; Nelson, 1924; Mussabini, 1926; Lowe and Porritt, 1929; Abrahams and Abrahams, 1936). The author highlights the range of knowledge that coaches had at their command, well before the emergence of sports science and coaching certification programmes, and questions assumptions that coaches can no longer rely solely on ‘learning the trade’ through experience (Evans and Light, 2007). As Winchester et al. (2013) have emphasised, knowledge, skills, attitudes, and insights are developed from daily experiences in sport, work and at home, as well as through exposure to the coaching environment, and contemporary coaches still employ a largely implicit form of knowledge, closely connected to past experiences, which shares similarities with Inter War craft knowledge (Smith and Cushion, 2006, 363; Jones, Armour and Potrac, 2003), while identifying experimentation and experience as key reference points (Irwin, Hanton and Kerwin, 2004, 436, 439; Potrac, Jones and Cushion, 2007)

Ocena koncentracji zarodników grzybów przy zastosowaniu dwóch metod liczenia

The aim of the study was to estimate the spore counts of Alternaria and Cladosporium using the single longitudinal traverse and twelve transverse traverses methods. Both the single and twelve traverses methods generally showed similar average daily concentration fluctuations of the two studied spore types on the same days, although the single traverse method usually presented higher spore concentrations. However, analysing the distribution of concentrations obtained using both methods, there were days when the single or twelve traverses method showed a rise or fall in concentration which was not reflected by the other method. In case of Cladosporium higher daily concentrations obtained using the twelve traverses method occurred more frequently in the months of the highest spore concentrations. The higher concentrations of Alternaria spores obtained using this method occurred more frequently in the months of the lowest concentrations. Analysis of correlation (Pearson’s correlation coefficient r) between those variables (number of days with higher concentration and monthly concentration) showed that the correlation was significant for Cladosporium and not significant for Alternaria, for both at the significance level alpha = 0.05. The results of the Wilcoxon’s Paired Sample Test indicated that for both taxa the average daily concentrations obtained using the 1 traverse method were significantly higher than those obtained using the 12 traverses method.Celem pracy była ocena koncentracji zarodników Alternaria i Cladosporium przy zastosowaniu metody liczenia zarodników w 1 pasie horyzontalnym i w 12 pasach wertykalnych w preparacie mikroskopowym. Obydwie metody liczenia wykazały podobne wahania dobowych koncentracji obydwu typów zarodników w tych samych dniach, chociaż metoda liczenia w 1 pasie horyzontalnym wykazała wyższe koncentracje zarodników. Jednak analizując rozkład koncentracji uzyskanych dwoma metodami stwierdzono, że wystąpiły dni, kiedy metoda 1 pasa horyzontalnego lub 12 pasów wertykalnych wykazywała wzrost lub spadek koncentracji, czego nie odzwierciedlała druga z metod. W przypadku Cladosporium wyższe dobowe koncentracje przy zastosowaniu metody 12 pasów wertykalnych występowały częściej w miesiącach o najwyższej koncentracji zarodników. Wyższe koncentracje zarodników Alternaria przy zastosowaniu tej samej metody występowały częściej w miesiącach o najniższej koncentracji zarodników. Analiza korelacji (współczynnik korelacji Pearson’a r) między tymi zmiennymi (liczbą dni z wyższą koncentracją a koncentracją miesięczną) wykazała, że istnieje istotna korelacja w przypadku Cladosporium i nieistotna w przypadku Alternaria na poziomie istotności alfa = 0.05. Wynik nie parametrycznego testu Wilcoxon’a wskazuje, że dla obydwu taksonów średnie dobowe koncentracje uzyskane za pomocą metody 1 pasa horyzontalnego są istotnie wyższe niż uzyskane za pomocą metody 12 pasów wertykalnych

Research for TRAN committee : infrastructure funding challenges in the sharing economy

The study analyses the disruption created by shared mobility in the funding of transport infrastructure. While recognizing the benefits of shared mobility in terms of reduction of private car use, the study identifies that there might be short term negative effects on the revenues of long distance railway and coach operators. It also points out other potential risks, which include capturing the revenues through commissions charged by platforms mediating mass-transit services (Mobility as a Service), freeriding and lower tax contributions. The study makes recommendations to reduce these risks

PERFORMANCE OF PRECAST SEGMENTAL STRUCTURES WITH EXTERNAL TENDONS UNDER MODERATE SEISMIC CONDITIONS

The 1998 draft of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) Guide Specifications for Segmental Bridges restricts the use of external posttensioning tendons in regions of severe seismic activity, Seismic Performance Category (SPC) C and SPC D, by requiring that at least 50% of the tendons be internal to the concrete. This requirement has also been applied to selected projects in SPC B designed before or during the development of the 1998 draft. A case study is presented that substantiates the use of purely externally posttensioned structures in SPC B and indicates that the requirement may not even be necessary for SPCs C and D. The case study concerns a project in which precast segmental superstructures carry a light-rail access system to the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Two different precast segmental superstructures with external tendons are modeled using a multimode spectral analysis. The goal is to determine the stress levels under the worst possible seismic conditions for SPC B and, in particular, to establish whether the joints would open or crack and the external tendons would suffer any distress. For both models, results show conclusively that the forces, moments, and stresses in the superstructure are less severe than under normal service level loads. Thus, there is no risk of cracking or opening of joints, and the external tendons experience no increase in stress over their normal service conditions. In addition, research shows that there is no significant difference in behavior between external and internal tendons for loads within ultimate conditions