Assessment and analytical framework for sport literacy : a case of college basketball

This dissertation aims to develop an analytical framework for measuring sport literacy from a case study of college basketball literacy. The dissertation is motivated by the recognition of the importance of sport literacy as an essential concept for fan development and the lack of empirical research on the development of an assessment tool. The goals of this dissertation are twofold: 1) to build a conceptual framework that explains the necessary components for sport spectating, and 2) to develop an assessment that can measure the sport literacy of college students. To accomplish these goals, I constructed two sequential studies within the context of college basketball. The first study proposes a conceptual model of sport literacy through a multiple case study design method (Eisenhardt, 1989). Data were collected from multiple sources including expert interviews, scenario plays, and documentary evidence. Multiple comparisons and inductive analyses allowed the discovery of relevant knowledge categories and components. In the second study, I developed a college basketball literacy assessment (CBLA). The instrumentation process was guided by the evidence-centered design method (Mislevy & Riconscente, 2006). Initially, 51 items were generated with the aid of six content experts including basketball players, coaches, and fans. These items were reviewed by an additional group of experts to establish the content validity. Through the expert reviews and pilot testing, 40 items were finalized for the CBLA. A total of 382 responses from college students were used to evaluate the CBLA. Using the Rasch model, all 40 items were calibrated to examine psychometric properties of the assessment. The results supported the construct validity of the CBLA, showing acceptable unidimensionality, fit statistics, differential item functioning, etc. All except one item showed good fit statistics within the model. The results also demonstrated that the level of sport literacy has moderate and significant correlations with team identification and intention to watch the game. These findings prompt a re-thinking of developing strategies to recruit and retain spectators for a given sport. In conclusion, the results of this dissertation provide theoretical and empirical justification for developing the sport literacy assessment and highlight the importance of improving sport literacy as a solution for enhancing the intercollegiate sport spectating experience. Kinesiology and Health Educatio

Effects of Training with Blood Flow Restriction on Muscular Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(3): 1563-1577, 2022. The purpose of this study was to analyze how blood flow restriction (BFR) training influences muscular strength through a systematic review and meta-analysis. The review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The following databases were used to conduct the research: Academic Search Complete, Medline, Web of Science, SPORT-Discus, HealthSource: Consumer, and HealthSource: Nursing. The following search limitations were included in this study: full-text articles investigating the effects of BFR training on muscular strength, published in a peer-reviewed academic journal, and published in the English language. Out of 327 articles, 25 were eligible to be included in this study. Comprehensive meta-analysis v.3 software was used to run statistics of the collected data from each study. The results showed that BFR training positively affects muscular strength. However, no group difference was found by gender, duration, workload, and cuff type/pressure in current data. This study provides additional information that can be used in future studies to obtain optimum strength results during BFR training

Why Referees Stay in the Game

Current trends indicate the number of qualified sports officials continues to dwindle. Therefore, this research sought to better understand reasons for initial entry, continuation, and potential discontinuation with officiating, while also identifying problematic issues, and potential solutions. Content analysis was utilized to examine five open-ended online survey responses from 2,485 referees. The results indicate that Enjoyable Affiliation (58%) and Remuneration (14%) were key to referees becoming involved in officiating. Those two themes, Enjoyable Affiliation (75%) and Remuneration (14%), were also identified as important to retaining officials. Physical Limitations were mentioned by 58% of the respondents regarding why they plan to discontinue. In terms of the most problematic issues, referees most frequently indicated Abuse (42%) and Administrative Issues (20%). Lastly, findings suggest the best ways to recruit and retain officials are to Provide Mentors and Training (32%), Market to Young People (23%), and Increase Pay (19%). Practical implications and strategies that include attracting more women, underrepresented ethnicities, and young people into sports officiating are provided

Development of the Referee Retention Scale

Building upon the current sport officiating research, this study puts forth the Referee Retention Scale (RRS). Through a three-phase process, the researchers developed a valid and reliable scale to predict sport officials’ job satisfaction and intention to continue. The first phase consisted of instrument development, while the second phase included field testing of referees (n=253). After EFA and Rasch analysis, the resultant refined scale from phase 1 and 2 was then administered to 979 referees in phase 3. Phase 3 results using CFA indicated that the 7-factor, 28-item RRS was a valid and reliable tool for measuring and predicting referee retention. The results highlight the importance of considering a variety of factors associated with the referee experience, which include Administrator Consideration, Intrinsic Motives, Mentoring, Remuneration, Sense of Community, Lack of Stress, and Continuing Education. A discussion on how the RRS can help administrators manage and retain sport officials is included

Effect of Exercise Intervention on Flow-Mediated Dilation in Overweight and Obese Adults: Meta-Analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis is to summarize the effect of exercise intervention on flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in overweight and obese adults. We searched four electronic databases (PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and CINAHL) through June 2016 for relevant studies pertaining to the effectiveness of exercise intervention on FMD. Seventeen of the 91 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 3) was used to compute the standardized mean difference effect size (ES) and 95% CI using a random effects model. We calculated 34 ESs. We found that exercise intervention had medium and positive effects on FMD, with an overall ES of 0.522 (95% CI = 0.257, 0.786). Heterogeneity of ESs was observed ( = 239, ≤ 0.001, 2 = 86.19), and the effect was moderated by comorbidity ( = 6.39, df = 1, = 0.011). A large ES for the combination exercise, low intensity exercise, and comorbidity subgroups (ES = 0.82∼1.24) was found. We conclude that while exercise intervention significantly improves FMD in overweight and obese adults, the effect may depend on the different characteristics of exercise intervention and on participants’ demographics

Why Referees Stay in the Game

Current trends indicate the number of qualified sports officials continues to dwindle. Therefore, this research sought to better understand reasons for initial entry, continuation, and potential discontinuation with officiating, while also identifying problematic issues, and potential solutions. Content analysis was utilized to examine five open-ended online survey responses from 2,485 referees. The results indicate that Enjoyable Affiliation (58%) and Remuneration (14%) were key to referees becoming involved in officiating. Those two themes, Enjoyable Affiliation (75%) and Remuneration (14%), were also identified as important to retaining officials. Physical Limitations were mentioned by 58% of the respondents regarding why they plan to discontinue. In terms of the most problematic issues, referees most frequently indicated Abuse (42%) and Administrative Issues (20%). Lastly, findings suggest the best ways to recruit and retain officials are to Provide Mentors and Training (32%), Market to Young People (23%), and Increase Pay (19%). Practical implications and strategies that include attracting more women, underrepresented ethnicities, and young people into sports officiating are provided

Stimulated penetrating keratoplasty using real-time virtual intraoperative surgical optical coherence tomography

An intraoperative surgical microscope is an essential tool in a neuro-or ophthalmological surgical environment. Yet, it has an inherent limitation to classify subsurface information because it only provides the surface images. To compensate for and assist in this problem, combining the surgical microscope with optical coherence tomography (OCT) has been adapted. We developed a real-time virtual intraoperative surgical OCT (VISOCT) system by adapting a spectral-domain OCT scanner with a commercial surgical microscope. Thanks to our custommade beam splitting and image display subsystems, the OCT images and microscopic images are simultaneously visualized through an ocular lens or the eyepiece of the microscope. This improvement helps surgeons to focus on the operation without distraction to view OCT images on another separate display. Moreover, displaying the OCT live images on the eyepiece helps surgeon's depth perception during the surgeries. Finally, we successfully processed stimulated penetrating keratoplasty in live rabbits. We believe that these technical achievements are crucial to enhance the usability of the VISOCT system in a real surgical operating condition.open0

The Effect of Beetroot Juice Supplementation on Muscle Fatigue: A Meta-Analysis

Dietary supplementation with beetroot juice has been reported its positive effects on diverse 5 aspects of sports performance, but its effect on muscle fatigue remains unclear. PURPOSE: The 6 purpose of this meta-analysis is to investigate the effect of beetroot juice supplement on muscle 7 fatigue assessed by changes in strength or power outputs. METHODS: The meta-analysis 8 followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses guidelines. 9 Through the comprehensive search using major databases including Science Direct, PubMed 10 (MEDLINE), SPORTDiscus, Web of Science, and Academic Search Complete, 215 relevant 11 studies were identified. Three search terms were used to identify a potentially relevant article; 12 “Beetroot” AND “Exercise” AND “Fatigue.” The inclusion criteria for the search included: 1) 13 human subjects, 2) exercise type (Strength and Power), 3) the peer-reviewed journals published 14 in English. Out of 215, data from the 30 trials were extracted for inclusion in the meta-analysis. 15 Comprehensive meta-analysis v.3 software was used to compute the standardized mean 16 difference effect sizes based on a random effects model. Several moderator analyses were 17 conducted to examine the effect of dosage, timing of supplementation, type of measure, gender, 18 and participation on the overall effect size. The Egger’s test was used to evaluate for no 19 evidence of publication bias. RESULTS: The results showed a significant positive effect of 20 beetroot juice supplementation on muscle fatigue: the overall strength of ESs (Hedges’ g) 21 was .334 (95% CI = .149, .520, p \u3c .001; moderate effects; cf., Cohen’s criteria). The prediction 22 interval was -.925 to 1.593, indicating that there are some populations where the impact of 23 beetroot juice on fatigue would be negative. There was no significant effect of moderators (participation (athletes vs. non-athletes), duration of supplement consumption, NO3 − 24 25 concentration, gender, and type of measurement (power vs. strength)) on the size of the effect. 26 CONCLUSION: This study shows that dietary supplementation with beetroot juice significantly 27 reduces fatigue indicated by reducing strength and power outputs

Effect of Exercise Intervention on Flow-Mediated Dilation in Overweight and Obese Adults: Meta-Analysis

The objective of this meta-analysis is to summarize the effect of exercise intervention on flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in overweight and obese adults. We searched four electronic databases (PubMed/Medline, Scopus, and CINAHL) through June 2016 for relevant studies pertaining to the effectiveness of exercise intervention on FMD. Seventeen of the 91 studies identified met the inclusion criteria. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software (version 3) was used to compute the standardized mean difference effect size (ES) and 95% CI using a random effects model. We calculated 34 ESs. We found that exercise intervention had medium and positive effects on FMD, with an overall ES of 0.522 (95% CI = 0.257, 0.786). Heterogeneity of ESs was observed (Qb=239, p≤0.001, I2 = 86.19), and the effect was moderated by comorbidity (Qb = 6.39, df = 1, p=0.011). A large ES for the combination exercise, low intensity exercise, and comorbidity subgroups (ES = 0.82~1.24) was found. We conclude that while exercise intervention significantly improves FMD in overweight and obese adults, the effect may depend on the different characteristics of exercise intervention and on participants’ demographics

The Functional Interactions between Cortical Regions through Theta-Gamma Coupling during Resting-State and a Visual Working Memory Task

Theta phase-gamma amplitude coupling (TGC) plays an important role in several different cognitive processes. Although spontaneous brain activity at the resting state is crucial in preparing for cognitive performance, the functional role of resting-state TGC remains unclear. To investigate the role of resting-state TGC, electroencephalogram recordings were obtained for 56 healthy volunteers while they were in the resting state, with their eyes closed, and then when they were engaged in a retention interval period in the visual memory task. The TGCs of the two different conditions were calculated and compared. The results indicated that the modulation index of TGC during the retention interval of the visual working memory (VWM) task was not higher than that during the resting state; however, the topographical distribution of TGC during the resting state was negatively correlated with TGC during VWM task at the local level. The topographical distribution of TGC during the resting state was negatively correlated with TGC coordinates’ engagement of brain areas in local and large-scale networks and during task performance at the local level. These findings support the view that TGC reflects information-processing and signal interaction across distant brain areas. These results demonstrate that TGC could explain the efficiency of competing brain networks