6 research outputs found
Effects of in-season uphill sprinting on physical characteristics in semi-professional soccer players
AIM: Soccer performance is determined by a number of physiological adaptations that can be altered by high intensity training. However, the effectiveness of using an uphill sprint based protocol has not been demonstrated for soccer players. We sought to determine the effectiveness of an in-season uphill sprint training (UST) programme on soccer related physiological outcomes. METHODS: 14 male soccer players (age: 22 ± 8 years, height: 1.81 ± 8 m, body mass: 76 ± 12 kg) underwent testing (5-10-5 agility drill, Yo-Yo Intermittent Recovery Test Level 1, leg and back dynamometry & 3km time trial) at baseline and after 6 weeks of UST or normal activity. Participants were allocated to a control (n=7) or UST (n=7) group. The UST group took part in twice weekly training consisting of 10 x 10 sec sprints with 60s recovery on a 7% gradient for 6 weeks. The control group maintained normal activity patterns. RESULTS: 3km time trial, strength, agility and Yo-Yo performance were all significantly improved pre to post following 6 weeks of UST (Agility 3%, d=1.3; Strength 10%, d=-3.2; VO2 max 3%, d=-1.4; 3-km TT 4%, d=1.3). In the control group 3km time trial, strength, agility and Yo-Yo performance remained unchanged after 6 weeks (Agility 0.1%, d=-0.2; Strength 2%, d=0.0; VO2 max -0.1%, d=0.0; 3-km TT 1.3%, d=0.3). CONCLUSION: Therefore in-season short duration UST is an effective way to improve soccer fitness in a time efficient manner
Systems Thinking in Practice: Participatory Modeling as a Foundation for Integrated Approaches to Health
One Health (OH), EcoHealth (EH), and Planetary Health (PH) share an interest in transdisciplinary efforts that bring together scientists, citizens, government and private sectors to implement contextualized actions that promote adaptive health management across human, animal and ecosystem interfaces. A key operational element underlying these Integrated Approaches to Health (IAH) is use of Systems Thinking as a set of tools for integration. In this paper we discuss the origins and epistemology of systems thinking and argue that participatory modeling, informed by both systems theory and expertise in facilitating engagement and social learning, can help ground IAH theoretically and support its development. Participatory modeling is iterative and adaptive, which is necessary to deal with complexity in practice. Participatory modeling (PM) methods actively involve affected interests and stakeholders to ground the field of inquiry in a specific social-ecological context. Furthermore, PM processes act to reconcile the diverse understandings of the empirical world that stem from divergent discipline and community viewpoints. In this perspective article, we argue that PM can support systems thinking in practice and is essential for IAH implementation. Accordingly we invite PH, OH, and EH practitioners to systematically incorporate specialists in systems science and social engagement and facilitation. This will enable the appropriate contextualization of research practice and interventions, and ensure a balanced representation of the roles and relationships of medical, biological, mathematical, and social disciplines. For completeness, funding schemes supporting IAH need to follow the same iterative, adaptive, and participative processes to accompany IAH projects throughout their implementation
Conservation and sustainable use of New Zealand flora: on non-conservation land
Department of Conservation, Environment Canterbury,
Landcare Research NZ Ltd, Ministry for the Environment, Office of the Parliamentary
Commissioner for the Environment, the Agricultural Economics Research Unit and
Centre for Mountain Studies at Lincoln University
The efficacy of different commercial contact lens solutions on different concentrations of Acanthamoeba spp. trophozoites and cysts in Egypt
Measurement of the isolated diphoton cross-section in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
The ATLAS experiment has measured the production cross-section of events with
two isolated photons in the final state, in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s)
= 7 TeV. The full data set acquired in 2010 is used, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 37 pb^-1. The background, consisting of hadronic jets
and isolated electrons, is estimated with fully data-driven techniques and
subtracted. The differential cross-sections, as functions of the di-photon
mass, total transverse momentum and azimuthal separation, are presented and
compared to the predictions of next-to-leading-order QCD.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (27 pages total), 9 figures, 2 tables,
final version to appear in Physical Review