The Power of a River

When I was younger, my family and I would spend our summers in northern Michigan at our cottage. My sister, Grace, and I filled our days adventuring along the river that ran through our backyard. Before leaving for the summer, my dad would always tell me to go down to the dock and say goodbye to the river. It has become something that I always do before leaving. I sit on the end of the dock and lean over to let the water flow through my fingers

Metal and Stone, Brush and Ink: Word as Source in the Art of Huang Binhong

Like many of his contemporaries, scholar-artist Huang Binhong (1865-1955) received a classical education with deep foundations in text-based historical learning that engendered creative expression in the form of painting, calligraphy and seal carving. While based on cultural traditions of the past, these scholarly arts were directed at experiencing the present and imagining the future. Calligraphy and painting may be understood as the living embodiment of the artist who is vitally connected to the historical past, whereas the printed impression of words or images carved into stone conveys ideas associated with authenticity, longevity and artistic completion. When combined in a brush-and-ink painting there is an interesting tension between the spiritual and temporal; the historical and contemporary. During his lifetime, Huang Binhong was highly regarded as a scholar, art historian, art editor, collector and connoisseur, as well as an artist. His multiple identities formed an integral part of his creative practice. This paper will discuss aspects of Huang Binhong’s life as a scholar, connoisseur-collector and artist, referring to his writings on seals, first published in the Journal of the National Essence (Guocui xuebao) and his involvement with the Shanghai-based art magazine National Glories of Cathay (Shenzhou guoguang ji). It will also analyse some of Huang’s paintings in which, through colophons, he makes a direct connection between the study of ancient inscriptions in bronze and stone and contemporary creativity. Through this example it is possible to reflect on ways that contemporary Chinese artists have drawn on the mutual interdependence of word and image to create compelling works of experimental art

An interdisciplinary approach to the management of vocal cord dysfunction in an elite female swimmer: A case study

Acute pulmonary disorders are commonplace within the athletic population, with exercise induced bronchoconstriction, and vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) common diagnoses. VCD is a condition that causes the vocal folds to close during inhalation, causing obstruction at the larynx and thereby a severely impaired sporting performance. VCD can be brought on by laryngeal irritants, emotional and psychological stress and asthma. The present case study details the interdisciplinary approach to the treatment of an elite female swimmer with VCD with an intervention programme that lasted nine weeks, instigated by a local general practitioner who chose to engage a sport psychology practitioner due to the sport-specific nature of the psychological stress she experienced. The steps involved in the design of the sport psychology interventions are outlined and the relationship of those interventions to the work of the other specialists is discussed. The nine-week intervention programme was aimed at reducing the swimmer's levels of precompetitive state anxiety and perfectionist tendencies; using a combination of goal-setting, imagery, and cognitive restructuring. During the course of nine weeks, the athlete’s levels of competitive state anxiety and perfectionist tendencies reduced over time along with the frequency of VCD occurrence

An exploration of shifts in visual fixation prior to the execution of baseball batting: Evidence for oculomotor warm up, attentional processes or pre-performance routines?

The visual performance of athletes should be considered high on the list of variables fundamental to elite sport performance. One particular aspect of visual performance that has gained dominance over the last 25 years is the quiet eye. Quiet eye is the final visual fixation of long, steady duration prior to the execution of a motor skill. However, as the concept of quiet eye has achieved dominance in the field of motor control, we know increasingly less about the visual behavior that precedes the onset of it. This is especially true for externally-paced interceptive tasks such as baseball hitting. The present study collected data on the visual scene using mobile eye trackers, as experienced by 58 professional baseball players during batting practice. The results suggest that athletes exhibit multiple dynamic shifts in visual fixation prior to the onset of quiet eye and the pitcher's action. Furthermore, cluster analysis revealed a significant positive relationship between the number of shifts in visual fixations and batting average, indicating that this visual skill may contribute to more efficient interception of the ball. The purpose of these dynamic shifts in visual fixation are proposed, alongside a call for further research to develop a deeper understanding of this pre-task visual behavior and its role in sport performance

Two Modes of Literary Architecture: Bernard Tschumi and Nigel Coates’

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Jamieson, C., & Roberts-Hughes, R. (2015). Two modes of a literary architecture: Bernard Tschumi and Nigel Coates. Architectural Research Quarterly, 19(2), 110-122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1359135515000366. COPYRIGHT: © Cambridge University Press 2015. This version is free to view and download for private research and study only. Not for re-distribution, re-sale or use in derivative works.Tschumi’s experimental use of the literary text as part of design briefs for students at the Architectural Association in the late 1970s formed the basis for a preoccupation with what he termed the disjunction between space and the events that happen within it. For Coates, the literary briefs triggered a fixation with what was happening in space – but instead of focusing on its conceptual interaction with events, he moved towards the dramatisation of architecture. Grounded in the architects' shared teaching at the AA, the article discusses the early briefs and projects that shaped the directions they would each take.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Enhancing Student Learning Experiences in Sport Psychology Modules Using Practical Activities

The University of Worcester states in its most recent strategic plan (2013 – 2018) a set of enduring values that guide and direct the activities of the institution. The first listed, and perhaps the most important value is the striving to be “an outstanding university at which to be a student”. This is further supplemented by values such as “to inspire our students to reach their full potential through excellent, innovative teaching, scholarship and research” (University of Worcester 2013: p.4). One of the many ways in which the institution strives to provide this outstanding educational experience is through regular engagement, both formal and informal, with students at a number of points in each semester. Regular experiences of collating formal and informal feedback has led to the identification of a common theme amongst Higher National Diploma (HND) students in the Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences (ISES), where they consistently request ‘more practicals’. The ISES modules however are designed to incorporate a high degree of interaction, practical activities and tasks. This is especially important for those studying at HND level as research suggests differences in learning preferences exist when compared to undergraduate students, the former preferring a more tactile style of learning (Peters et al. 2008). Using an introductory Sport Psychology HND module as an example, practical activities and tasks are fully embedded in the taught sessions to enable contextual links to be made between the learning outcomes and their subsequent use. Examples of these include: a. interviewing athletes to produce a performance profile (Butler & Hardy 1992); b. completing psychometric instruments such as the Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 (CSAI-2) to measure competitive anxiety in sport (Martens et al. 1990) and demonstrate data collection and construct measurement; c. performing relaxation interventions on the students to demonstrate how specific techniques (in this instance, decreasing somatic anxiety) might work in practice; d. demonstrating how observational learning facilitates skill acquisition by creating experimental conditions that the students participate in, in teaching a new skill. Nevertheless owing to the students' previously stated on-going requests for more practical activities, it became evident that assumptions about what students consider an effective means of experiential or active learning in the context of sport-related disciplines of study needed to be investigated. This is where the opportunity to undertake an action research project arose, this being a practical method commonly employed in pedagogical enquiry to aid reflection on teaching and assessment practice for the purposes of working towards continuous improvement