Investigating an Online Course for Player Psychosocial Development in Elite Sport (Professional Football)

The scope of this study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of an online course based on an applied psychological model (The Four Pillars ©). The course was developed for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) for young professional players, to assist in the process of transition into the professional game and to promote psychosocial development. We investigated how an online course might assist in the process of professional and psychosocial development by providing contextually relevant and evidence-based sport psychological concepts and principles that are relevant for maintaining a career in elite sport (football) and transitioning into the professional game. A total of n=219 16-18-year-old professional players and n=18 club staff members completed the eight modules of the online course. A post-course online survey was completed by both sets of participants and data was collected online. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Qualitative data was based on thematic analysis of experiences given by the participants while quantitative data explored associations and differences between coaches and players. Findings indicate that both coaches and players found the online course beneficial in raising awareness of the demands that elite professional football can place upon mental health, and providing the potential to develop psychological literacy around relevant psychological coping and performance skills that may promote improved performance and provide a protective mechanism for mental health. Future studies should focus on the real-world effectiveness of the online course in the development of psychological skills and the protection of mental health.publishedVersio

Investigating an Online Course for Player Psychosocial Development in Elite Sport (Professional Football)

The scope of this study was to examine the perceived effectiveness of an online course based on an applied psychological model (The Four Pillars ©). The course was developed for the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) for young professional players, to assist in the process of transition into the professional game and to promote psychosocial development. We investigated how an online course might assist in the process of professional and psychosocial development by providing contextually relevant and evidence-based sport psychological concepts and principles that are relevant for maintaining a career in elite sport (football) and transitioning into the professional game. A total of n=219 16-18-year-old professional players and n=18 club staff members completed the eight modules of the online course. A post-course online survey was completed by both sets of participants and data was collected online. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected. Qualitative data was based on thematic analysis of experiences given by the participants while quantitative data explored associations and differences between coaches and players. Findings indicate that both coaches and players found the online course beneficial in raising awareness of the demands that elite professional football can place upon mental health, and providing the potential to develop psychological literacy around relevant psychological coping and performance skills that may promote improved performance and provide a protective mechanism for mental health. Future studies should focus on the real-world efficacy of the online course in the development of psychological skills and the protection of mental health. Keywords: Psychological literacy, Psycho-social development, Professional football, Elite sport, Academy, Mental health

The influence of competitive co-action on kata performance

Social facilitation is a phenomenon that can help explain performance outcomes in competitive sports. Previous research has shown that performing in the presence of others may increase physiological arousal and that performance can be either facilitated or inhibited depending on the skill level of the performers and the complexity of the skill performed. Although extensive research on this phenomenon has been reported in the sport psychology and related literature, previous findings have not focused on individual differences in terms of how social facilitation influences performance, and very little research has focused on martial arts. To bridge these gaps in knowledge, we investigated how a co-action situation would affect performance among 17 participants performing karate kata routines at a regional competition in SE England, comparing outcomes across age and sex variables. Expert judges awarded scores to each participant in both solo and co-action settings. Results showed higher performance scores in the co-action setting across the entire sample, with female karateka and older performers appearing to benefit the most. We argue that more research is required to explain this phenomenon, specifically with respect to understanding the apparent effects of age and sex on social facilitation

Cognisance as a Human Factor in Military Cyber Defence Education

The authors may share the final published article on public non-commercial sites in the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Additionally, the authors may use the article in a subsequent compilation of their work, or extend it to book length form, or include it in a thesis or dissertation, or otherwise to use or re-use portions or excerpts in other works, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. All copies of the article should link to the original publication in IFAC PapersOnline via its DOI and have a copyright statement and a reference to the CC-BY-NC-ND license. Except for such uses, IFAC has the exclusive right to make or sub-license commercial useCyber Defence Exercises (CDX) are common training and learning tools. A recently discussed challenge in cyber defence teaching and training is the gap between the fast technological advancement accompanied by rapidly changing demands on future cyber defence operators, and the lack of science-based teaching and training methods. A growing body of evidence suggests a crucial role of human factors as a central predictor for human performance in sociotechnical systems. While this has been acknowledged in a wide range of safety-critical applied fields, there is still a lack of knowledge about the impact of human factors on cyber defence performance. The lack of conventional metrics of performance and learning progress contribute to this deficit. To address this gap, the Norwegian Defence Cyber Academy (NDCA) follows a science-based educational approach that identified in a series of empirical studies cognitive-psychological predictors for learning success of future cyber defence operators. These predictors and elements of a human factors research program are deeply embedded into educational practice and include processes such as metacognition, self-regulation, coping, communication and shared mental modelling. Slow education methods and mentoring are fundamental to enabling the advancement of human factors cognisance among military cyber cadets. As a tool for efficient training, the NDCA developed and implemented a mentoring concept that involves a cyber defence retrospective timeline analysis involving expert and practitioner level mentors. The timeline differentiates between performance relevant hard-and soft-skills and leads progressively towards an alignment of Security Operation Centre (SOC)-and expert judgments of performance. The NDCA argues that this educational concept facilitates educational benefits based on insight, accurate self-perception, motivation and decreased team workloads following more efficient collaboration.publishedVersio

Mindfulness and self-efficacy in pain perception, stress and academic performance. The influence of mindfulness on cognitive processes

Purpose: This study seeks to understand the mediating effects of mindfulness on selfefficacy, academic performance and ability to cope with pain. It further examines the effect of mindfulness on the capacity to cope with pain-induced stress. Whilst there are physiological changes which occur due to mindfulness, it is still not clearly understood how the mechanisms behind mindfulness work or whether the role of self-efficacy is an agent of mindfulness which may impact on performance and stress coping. Participants and methods: A three-part study (n=92) was conducted to test the relationship between mindfulness, self-efficacy and well-being factors, alongside academic performance in university students. Part one involved data collection one month prior to an experiment where trait scores for all factors were used to check pain and well-being behaviors. Part two consisted of participant randomization into three intervention groups(control, sham, mindfulness) and then an exposure to a fear induction task followed by cognitive tasks. The third part consisted of investigating the effect of a short mindfulness intervention on self-efficacy, pain and well-being in students. Results: The results indicate that self-efficacy had a positive effect on well-being factor (study 1 & 3) and in the experiment (study 2). Conclusion: Self-efficacy influenced pain intensity and pain unpleasantness and significantly predicted academic performance. Mindfulness had mixed results in how it influenced self-efficacy. While it influenced well-being and lowered stress (study 1 & 2) in the long term, the mindfulness intervention significantly decreased self efficacy.acceptedVersionpublishedVersio

Exploring the therapeutic alliance and race from sports psychologists' and athletes' lived experiences: A pilot study

The therapeutic alliance has been explored widely within therapy literature but more research is necessary on the sport and exercise psychology client dyad. The racial/cultural identity development model and Rogers's (1957) six core conditions provide the conceptual and theoretical framework for this pilot qualitative study, which seeks to explore the building process in therapeutic relationships within cross-racial sport and exercise psychology. The perspectives of four black athletes of mixed descent and seven sport and exercise psychologists from diverse backgrounds (Arab = 1, Black British = 3, White British = 3) were considered. One-hour semi-structured interviews were analysed using an inductive thematic analysis. This yielded the following themes for athletes: lack of disclosure, racial impact on alliance, desired characteristics and experience. For sport and exercise psychologists these themes included therapeutic alliance building blocks, creating safe spaces and the racial impact of disclosure. Recommendations for building the process in cross-racial dyads are explored based on the participants' comments. The findings are discussed and areas for future research are explored based on these main themes.publishedVersio

La reforma energética en perspectiva regional. El caso del gas shale en el noreste de México

122 páginas. Maestría en Economía.El gas shale es conocido como un nuevo recurso energético que en años recientes ha transformado pautas de consumo y le ha dado creciente importancia a la industria del gas en general, la cual es junto con el petróleo y el carbón la matriz energética contemporánea. También es conocido el hecho de que la tecnología aplicada en su extracción del subsuelo, el método conocido como fractura hidráulica, ha suscitado en algunos sectores de la población el rechazo a esta actividad económica por el impacto al medio ambiente que la misma pudiera generar. En la zona noreste del país se encuentran grandes yacimientos del gas shale en los estados de Coahuila, Nuevo León y Tamaulipas, lugares estos donde se albergan dichas provincias petroleras con gran potencial de recursos prospectivos no convencionales (gas/oil shale) conocidas como Sabinas-Burro-Picachos, Burgos y Tampico-Misantla. Este trabajo da cuenta de las acciones de los actores en los estados involucrados, formación de sus instituciones, motivaciones y objetivos preliminares tomando en cuenta que la explotación del recurso tendrá un horizonte de tiempo limitado la cual se caracteriza por ser una economía de enclave, esto es, economías muy focalizadas que incluso puede estar rodeada de zonas totalmente aisladas del desarrollo capitalista, aspecto éste que con ayuda de la reforma energética aprobada en diciembre de 2013, se intenta detonar

From "the Nietzsche hypothesis" to the concept of governmentality. Theoretical changes in the work of Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault desarrolló las nociones de gobierno y gubernamentalidad en la segunda mitad de la década de 1970 para clarificar algunos de los problemas a los que había dado lugar su tratamiento del poder. En este texto se explican las razones teóricas que llevaron al francés a formular estas nociones desplazándose de una serie de elecciones conceptuales que el propio autor identificó con el nombre de “hipótesis Nietzsche”. A lo largo del escrito se intenta mostrar que las categorías de gobierno y gubernamentalidad permiten explicar de mejor manera las prácticas sociales de asimetría y dominación en nuestras sociedades que la primera noción de poder desarrollada por Foucault. El texto se concentra en el trabajo del francés en la década de 1970 y acentúa el carácter rupturista del artículo titulado El sujeto y el poder.Michel Foucault developed the notions of government and governmentality in the second half of the 1970s to clarify some of the problems that his treatment of power had given rise to. This text explains the theoretical reasons that led the French to formulate these notions, moving from a series of conceptual choices that the author himself identified with the name of “Nietzsche hypothesis”. Throughout the writing, an attempt is made to show that the categories of government and governmentality allow us to better explain the social practices of asymmetry and domination in our societies than the first notion of power developed by Foucault. The text focuses on the work of the French in the 1970s and accentuates the disruptive character of the article entitled the subject and power.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

A framework for using humanoid robots in the school learning environment

With predictions of robotics and efficient machine learning being the building blocks of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, countries need to adopt a long-term strategy to deal with potential challenges of automation and education must be at the center of this long-term strategy. Education must provide students with a grounding in certain skills, such as computational thinking and an understanding of robotics, which are likely to be required in many future roles. Targeting an acknowledged gap in existing humanoid robot research in the school learning environment, we present a multidisciplinary framework that integrates the following four perspectives: technological, pedagogical, efficacy of humanoid robots and a consideration of the ethical implications of using humanoid robots. Further, this paper presents a proposed application, evaluation and a case study of how the framework can be used.publishedVersio

Cálculo de sistemas de climatización marinos con base en ahorros energéticos

The development of ship propulsion in the areas of Economic Operation, Environmental Protection and Ship Efficiency (Triple E - Economy, Environment, Efficiency) is the comparison standard of the manufacturers of contemporary ships. The standard is based on the application of a more modern design of the diesel engines, the wide use of waste heat and the efficient operation of the ship.In accordance with the Economic Operation, the need to evaluate the design of air conditioning systems has been identified in order to determine the possible savings, which are represented by a decrease in fuel consumption, as a result of: the significant impact of this consumption in the operation of the ship, the current high costs of this energy, the periodic increase in the price of the same, and the international policies for the reduction of emissions to the atmosphere and preservation of the environment.By means of the energy diagnosis of the air conditioning system it is possible to determine the possible opportunities of energy saving during the operation of the ship.The results indicate that the thermal load and the cooling capacity required by the air conditioned spaces have a difference between their maximum and average value of 14%. This justifies the need to use a conditioning system with a variable volume of air supplied to the air conditioned space.El desarrollo de la propulsión de los buques en los aspectos de Operación Económica, Protección del Medio Ambiente y Eficiencia de la Propulsión del buque (Triple E- Economy, Environment, Efficiency) constituye el estándar de comparación de los fabricantes de buques contemporáneos. El estándar está basado en la aplicación de un  diseño más moderno de los motores (máquinas) diésel, en la utilización amplia del calor de desecho y en la operación eficiente del barco.En correspondencia con la Operación Económica se ha identificado la necesidad de evaluar el diseño de los sistemas de aire acondicionado con el objetivo de determinar  los  posibles ahorros, que se vean representados en disminución del consumo de combustible, dado por: el significativo impacto de este consumo en la operación del buque, los altos costos de este energético en la actualidad, el incremento periódico en el precio del mismo, y las políticas internacionales para la reducción de emisiones a la atmósfera y preservación del medio ambiente.Mediante el diagnóstico energético del sistema de aire acondicionado se puede determinar  las posibles oportunidades de ahorro energético durante la operación de la embarcación.Los resultados indican que, la carga térmica y la capacidad de enfriamiento requerida por los espacios acondicionados tienen una diferencia entre su valor máximo y medio del 14 %. Esto justifica la necesidad de utilizar un sistema de acondicionamiento con volumen variable del aire suministrado al espacio acondicionado