Influence of coaches training on athletes motivation

El objetivo del estudio era conocer la influencia de las formaciones académica y federativa de los entrenadores sobre los niveles de motivación, diversión, aburrimiento e intención de persistencia en jóvenes deportistas. Para ello, participaron 432 jóvenes con edades entre 10 y 16 años (M = 13,44; DT = 2,92), pertenecientes a disciplinas deportivas individuales (n = 162) y colectivas (n = 270), de género masculino (n = 245) y femenino (n = 187), seleccionados mediante un muestreo por conglomerados. También, participaron 88 entrenadores deportivos, con edades entre los 20 y 56 años (M = 35,79; DT = 9,58). Se llevó a cabo un análisis de diferencias en función de la cualificación académica y federativa de los entrenadores. Los resultados señalaron que los deportistas dirigidos por entrenadores sin formación federativa presentaban mayores niveles de desmotivación. Asimismo, los deportistas entrenados por técnicos sin titulación académica obtuvieron mayores puntuaciones en las regulaciones extrínsecas (identificada y externa). Por tanto, los hallazgos respaldan parcialmente la relevancia de la formación de los entrenadores, obteniéndose diferencias en regulaciones alejadas del máximo nivel de autodeterminación (externa), desmotivación y aburrimientoThe aim of the study was to examine the influence of the coaches´ academic and federative training on motivation, enjoyment, boredom and intention to persist levels in youth athletes. Participants were 432 youth athletes (male = 245, female = 187) ranged from 10 to 16 years old (M = 13.44; SD = 2.92) who participated in individual (n = 163) and collectives sports (n = 270) selected by cluster sampling. Moreover, 88 sport coaches, ranged from 20 to 56 years old (M = 35,79; SD = 9,58), participated in the study. An analysis of differences with regard to academic and federative coaches´ qualification was conducted. Results revealed that athletes trained by coaches without federative training showed greater amotivation levels. Moreover, individuals trained by coaches without academic qualification had higher scores in extrinsic regulation (identified and external). Therefore, findings partially supported the relevance of coaches’ qualification levels, due to the differences found in some extrinsic regulations (external), amotivation and boredo

Integrating local environmental data and information from non-driven citizen science to estimate jellyfish abundance in Costa del Sol (southern Spain)

Tourism, fishing and aquaculture are key economic sectors of Costa del Sol (southern Iberian Peninsula). The management of these activities is sometimes disturbed by the onshore arrival and stranding of jellyfish swarms. In the absence data on the occurrence of these organisms, it may be interesting to explore data from non-driven systems, such as social networks. The present study show how data in text format from a mobile app called Infomedusa can be processed and used to model the relationship between estimated abundance of jellyfish on the beaches and local environmental conditions. The data retrieved from this app using artificial intelligence procedures (transition network or TN algorithm), were used as input for GAM models to estimate the abundance of jellyfish based on wind speed and direction. The analysis of data provided by Infomedusa indicated that only 30.39% of messages provided by the users had information about absence/presence of jellyfishes in the beaches. On the other hand, the TN processing capacity showed an accuracy level to discriminate messages with information on absence/presence of jellyfish slightly higher than 80%. GAM models considering the wind direction and speed of previous day explained between 37% and 77% of the variance of jellyfish abundance estimate from Infomedusa data. In conclusion, this approach may contribute to the development of a system for predicting the onshore arrival of jellyfish in the Costa del Sol.Versión del edito

Influencia de una aplicación de telefonía móvil de entrenamiento sobre las necesidades psicológicas y la motivación autodeterminada en escolares

Sobre la base teórica de la Teoría de la Autodeterminación, conel presente estudio se pretendía analizar el efecto de las aplicaciones móvilesrelacionadas con el control del entrenamiento, sobre las necesidades psicológicasbásicas, el nivel de autodeterminación hacia la práctica deportiva yla diversión. Para ello, se desarrolló un estudio cuasiexperimental en el queparticiparon 54 alumnos (M = 16.4; DT = 1.51), de género masculino (n =32) y de género femenino (n = 22) de cinco centros de enseñanza secundariade la comunidad autónoma de Extremadura. Los sujetos del grupo experimental(n = 27) desarrollaron un programa de intervención de entrenamientoautónomo de tipo aeróbico registrado y controlado en la aplicaciónmóvil “Endomondo Sport Tracker” de ocho semanas de duración. Los componentesdel grupo de control experimental (n = 27) registraron el mismoprograma de entrenamiento autónomo en una ficha de registro facilitadapor el grupo investigador. Los resultados demostraron que la satisfacción dela necesidad de competencia, la autodeterminación hacia la realización de laactividad y la diversión al realizarla fueron mayores en aquellos participantesque utilizaron la aplicación respecto a aquellos que no la utilizaron. Apesar de ello, no se registraron diferencias significativas en la mayoría de lasvariables analizadas en el estudio, por lo que se considera necesario seguirindagando en esta línea de trabajo

Determinants of the price response to residential water tariffs : meta-analysis and beyond

Meta-analyses synthesise available data on a phenomenon to get a broader understanding of its determinants. This work proposes a two-step methodology. 1) Based on a broad dataset of residential water demand studies, it builds a meta-regression model to estimate mean and standard deviation of price elasticity of residential water demand. 2) The resulting meta-model serves as a basis for implementing an approach that directly simulates the range of price elasticities resulting from policy-relevant combinations of its determinants. This simulation approach is validated using the available dataset. Despite evidence of low average price elasticity, the scenarios simulated using our meta-regression estimates show that increasing block rate tariffs are associated with higher price elasticity, and stresses the importance of using state-of-the-art methodologies when evaluating the price response. This completes other methodological insights obtained from the meta-analysis itself. Policy implications on the use of pricing to bring about water savings are discussed

Design and assessment of an efficient and equitable dynamic urban water tariff. Application to the city of Valencia, Spain

Water pricing policies have a large and still relatively untapped potential to foster more efficient management of water resources in scarcity situations. This work contributes a framework for designing equitable, financially stable and economically efficient urban water tariffs. A hydroeconomic simulation model links the marginal value of water, which reflects water scarcity given its competing uses, to water supply reservoir levels. Varying reservoir levels trigger variations in the second block of the proposed two-block increasing-rate tariff; these variations then reflect water's value at that time. The work contrasts the two-block scarcity tariff with a constant volumetric rate for the city of Valencia, Spain, and the drought-prone Jucar basin, where most of 430,000 households are equipped with smart meters. Results show urban consumption is reduced by 18% in the driest years, lowering basin-wide scarcity costs by 34%

Motivación y burnout en profesores de educación física: incidencia de la frustración de las necesidades psicológicas básicas

A través del presente trabajo se pretende valorar la importanciade las necesidades psicológicas básicas para explicar y predecir el tipo demotivación y los niveles de burnout en profesores de educación física. Paraello, la muestra estuvo formada por 357 docentes de género masculino yfemenino, pertenecientes a diferentes centros educativos públicos y privadosde España. Se realizó un análisis de regresión lineal por cada variabledependiente, que indicaron cómo la frustración de la necesidad de competenciapredecía positivamente la desmotivación, el agotamiento emocionaly el cinismo, y negativamente la motivación intrínseca y la eficacia profesional;la frustración de autonomía predecía positivamente el agotamientosemocional y negativamente la eficacia profesional; y la frustración de relacionessociales predecía positivamente la eficacia profesional. Estos resultadosestán en la línea de la Teoría de la Autodeterminación (Deci y Ryan,2000; Ryan y Deci, 2000), destacando la importancia que adquieren lasatisfacción de autonomía, competencia y relaciones sociales para optimizarla motivación y el bienestar de los profesores de educación física

Adaptación y validación de un cuestionario para valorar la motivación en el contexto deportivo

El objetivo de este estudio era adaptar y validar al contexto deportivo el Cuestionario de Motivación en Educación Física (CMEF), basado en la Teoría de la Autodeterminación (Deci y Ryan, 1985; 2000; Ryan y Deci, 2000) y desarrollado originalmente en el ámbito educativo, para tratar de analizar la motivación intrínseca, identificada, introyectada, externa y desmotivación de los adolescentes. Para ello, participaron un total de 985 deportistas con edades comprendidas entre los 10 y 16 años (M = 14.34; DT = 2.52), de género masculino y femenino pertenecientes a 24 modalidades deportivas diferentes. Los resultados obtenidos demostraron que la escala con cinco factores correlacionados presentaba una adecuada validez factorial a partir de los índices de ajuste obtenidos, registró relaciones positivas entre los motivos de práctica más autodeterminados y relaciones negativas con la desmotivación, que oscilaron de entre -,21 a ,74. Además, se obtuvieron valores aceptables de consistencia interna (Ω > .70) y resultó invariante en función del género, considerando las mínimas modificaciones sufridas en ΔCFI. Asimismo, la validez discriminante de los factores resultó satisfactoria. Por tanto, este estudio aporta una nueva herramienta que permite analizar los tipos de regulación motivacional que impulsan a los adolescentes a realizar una práctica deportiva

Assessment of smart-meter-enabled dynamic pricing at utility and river basin scale

The advent of smart metering is set to revolutionize many aspects of the relationship between water utilities and their customers, and this includes the possibility of using time-varying water prices as a demand management strategy. These dynamic tariffs could promote water use efficiency by reflecting the variations of water demand, availability, and delivery costs over time. This paper relates the potential benefits of dynamic water tariffs, at the utility and basin scale, to their design across a range of timescales. On one end of the spectrum, subdaily peak pricing shifts use away from peak hours to lower a utility’s operational and capital expenses. On the other end, scarcity pricing factors in the variations of the marginal opportunity cost of water at weekly or longer timescales in the river basin from which water is withdrawn. Dynamic pricing schemes that act across timescales can be devised to yield both types of benefits. The analysis estimates these benefits separately for Greater London (United Kingdom) and its 15 million inhabitants. Scarcity pricing implemented on a weekly timescale equates the marginal cost of residential water with estimates of the marginal economic values of environmental-recreational flows derived from tourism, property values, etc. Scarcity pricing during droughts could result in a 22–63% average reduction in environmental flow shortage while residential price increases would be capped at 150% of base levels. Yet, its ability to protect environmental flows could decrease in extreme shortage situations. The net present value of savings from peak pricing is conservatively evaluated at approximately £10 million for each initial percentage point in daily peak-hour price increase

Week 96 efficacy and safety results of the phase 3, randomized EMERALD trial to evaluate switching from boosted-protease inhibitors plus emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate regimens to the once daily, single-tablet regimen of darunavir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (D/C/F/TAF) in treatment-experienced, virologically-suppressed adults living with HIV-1

Altres ajuts: This study was sponsored by Janssen.Darunavir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide (D/C/F/TAF) 800/150/200/10 mg was investigated through 96 weeks in EMERALD (NCT02269917). Virologically-suppressed, HIV-1-positive treatment-experienced adults (previous non-darunavir virologic failure [VF] allowed) were randomized (2:1) to D/C/F/TAF or boosted protease inhibitor (PI) plus emtricitabine/tenofovir-disoproxil-fumarate (F/TDF) over 48 weeks. At week 52 participants in the boosted PI arm were offered switch to D/C/F/TAF (late-switch, 44 weeks D/C/F/TAF exposure). All participants were followed on D/C/F/TAF until week 96. Efficacy endpoints were percentage cumulative protocol-defined virologic rebound (PDVR; confirmed viral load [VL] ≥50 copies/mL) and VL < 50 copies/mL (virologic suppression) and ≥50 copies/mL (VF) (FDA-snapshot analysis). Of 1141 randomized patients, 1080 continued in the extension phase. Few patients had PDVR (D/C/F/TAF: 3.1%, 24/763 cumulative through week 96; late-switch: 2.3%, 8/352 week 52-96). Week 96 virologic suppression was 90.7% (692/763) (D/C/F/TAF) and 93.8% (330/352) (late-switch). VF was 1.2% and 1.7%, respectively. No darunavir, primary PI, tenofovir or emtricitabine resistance-associated mutations were observed post-baseline. No patients discontinued for efficacy-related reasons. Few discontinued due to adverse events (2% D/C/F/TAF arm). Improved renal and bone parameters were maintained in the D/C/F/TAF arm and observed in the late-switch arm, with small increases in total cholesterol/high-density-lipoprotein-cholesterol ratio. A study limitation was the lack of a control arm in the week 96 analysis. Through 96 weeks, D/C/F/TAF resulted in low PDVR rates, high virologic suppression rates, very few VFs, and no resistance development. Late-switch results were consistent with D/C/F/TAF week 48 results. EMERALD week 96 results confirm the efficacy, high genetic barrier to resistance and safety benefits of D/C/F/TAF

Report on the sixth blind test of organic crystal-structure prediction methods

The sixth blind test of organic crystal-structure prediction (CSP) methods has been held, with five target systems: a small nearly rigid molecule, a polymorphic former drug candidate, a chloride salt hydrate, a co-crystal, and a bulky flexible molecule. This blind test has seen substantial growth in the number of submissions, with the broad range of prediction methods giving a unique insight into the state of the art in the field. Significant progress has been seen in treating flexible molecules, usage of hierarchical approaches to ranking structures, the application of density-functional approximations, and the establishment of new workflows and "best practices" for performing CSP calculations. All of the targets, apart from a single potentially disordered Z` = 2 polymorph of the drug candidate, were predicted by at least one submission. Despite many remaining challenges, it is clear that CSP methods are becoming more applicable to a wider range of real systems, including salts, hydrates and larger flexible molecules. The results also highlight the potential for CSP calculations to complement and augment experimental studies of organic solid forms