Functional Performance Testing in Ice Hockey: the Role of the Single Leg, Medial Countermovement Jump

Due to the physical nature of the game, injuries are common in ice hockey. Injury rates have been difficult to interpret due to the inconsistencies in the definitions of injury and athlete exposure. Consensus statements on injury definitions have been developed for sports such as soccer and rugby but have not been established in ice hockey. Furthermore, many different off-ice tests are performed, but a hockey-specific performance test has not been promoted. Accordingly, the objective for this thesis was to investigate injury rates, injury definition, athlete exposure and injury type in men’s ice hockey, and providing information on a practical test practitioners can use to monitor fatigue and measure performance. This was achieved through three research projects. An integrative literature review was conducted to suggest a specific definition of injury and athlete exposure (Chapter 2). This study identified that the International Ice Hockey Federation’s definition of injury is preferred based on the clarity and relevance of the injury description and that the preferred athlete exposure metric is player game-hours based on accuracy and ease of use. In addition, lower extremity injuries were identified as common and costly in men’s ice hockey. The single leg, medial countermovement jump was identified as an appropriate hockey-specific performance test. This jump enables objective measures of frontal plane force and power and is particularly applicable for ice hockey players given that ice skating involves applying lateral forces. All twelve parameters of the jump showed moderate to excellent reliability (Chapters 3) suggesting that this jump is a reliable test for assessing frontal plane force and power in ice hockey players. Finally, normative values and asymmetry indices were presented in ninety-one male youth hockey players aged 10–18 years (Chapter 4). In conclusion, lower extremity injuries are common in hockey and injury rates are difficult to interpret as the definition is not consistent. The single leg, medial countermovement jump is an appropriate functional test for measuring skating performance. Ice hockey performance staff can use this evidence-based research to measure performance, monitor fatigue, and document recovery from injury

A software system for pathological voice acoustic analysis

International audienceA software system for pathological voice analysis using only the resources of a personal computer with a sound card is proposed. The system is written on the basis of specific methods and algorithms for pathological voice analysis and allows evaluation of: 1) Pitch period (To); 2) Degree of unvoiceness; 3) Pitch perturbation and amplitude perturbation quotients; 4) Dissimilarity of surfaces of the pitch pulses; 5) Ratio aperiodic/periodic components in cepstra; 6) Ratio {energy in the cepstral pitch pulse}-to-{total cepstral energy}; 7) Harmonics-to-noise ratio; 8) Degree of hoarseness; 9) Ratio low-to-high frequency energies; 10) Glottal Closing Quotient. The voices of 400 persons were analyzed - 100 (50 females/50 males) normal speakers and 300 (100 females/200 males) patients. The statistical analysis shows very significant changes in PPQ, DH, DPP, DUV, APR, HNR and PECM, and significant changes in APQ and CQ

Measurement of the η\eta -η′\eta' mixing angle in π−\pi^{-} and K−K^{-} beams with GAMS-4π4\pi Setup

The results of mixing angle measurement for $\eta'$, $\eta$ mesons generated in charge exchange reactions with $\pi^{-}$ and $K^{-}$ beams are preseneted. When the $\eta'$, $\eta$ mesons are described in nonstrange(NS)--strange(S) quark basis the $\pi^{-}$ and $K^{-}$ beams allow to study $|\eta_{q}>$ and $|\eta_{s}>$ parts of the meson wave function. The cross section ratio at $t'=0$ (GeV/c)$^{2}$ in the $\pi^{-}$ beam is $R_{\pi}(\eta'/\eta)= 0.56 \pm 0.04$, results in mixing angle $\phi_{P} = (36.8 \pm 1.)^{o}$. For $K^{-}$ beam the ratio is $R_{K}(\eta'/\eta)= 1.30 \pm 0.16$. It was found that gluonium content in $\eta'$ is $\sin^{2}\psi_{G}= 0.15 \pm 0.06$. The experiment was carried out with GAMS-4$\pi$ Setup.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, to be submitted in European physical journal C. Minor changes, the Bibliography extende

On the problem of interactions in quantum theory

The structure of representations describing systems of free particles in the theory with the invariance group SO(1,4) is investigated. The property of the particles to be free means as usual that the representation describing a many-particle system is the tensor product of the corresponding single-particle representations (i.e. no interaction is introduced). It is shown that the mass operator contains only continuous spectrum in the interval $(-\infty,\infty)$ and such representations are unitarily equivalent to ones describing interactions (gravitational, electromagnetic etc.). This means that there are no bound states in the theory and the Hilbert space of the many-particle system contains a subspace of states with the following property: the action of free representation operators on these states is manifested in the form of different interactions. Possible consequences of the results are discussed.Comment: 35 pages, Late

Study of the ηπo\eta\pi^o system in the mass range up to 1200 MeV

The reaction $\pi^-p \to \eta\pi^o n$ has been studied with GAMS-2000 spectrometer in the secondary 38 GeV/c $\pi^-$-beam of the IHEP U-70 accelerator. Partial wave analysis of the reaction has been performed in the $\eta\pi^o$ mass range up to 1200 MeV. The $a_0(980)$-meson is seen as a sharp peak in S-wave. The $t$-dependence of $a_0(980)$ production cross section has been studied. Dominant production of the $a_0(980)$ at a small transfer momentum $t$ confirms the hypothesis of Achasov and Shestakov about significant contribution of the $\rho_2$ exchange ($I^GJ^{PC}=1^+2^{--}$) in the mechanism of $a_0(980)$ meson production in $t$-channel of the reaction.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, talk given at HADRON'9

On detection of narrow angle e+e- pairs from dark photon decays

A class of models of dark sectors consider new very weak interaction between the ordinary and dark matter transmitted by U'(1) gauge bosons A' (dark photons) mixing with our photons. If such A's exist, they could be searched for in a light-shining-through-a-wall experiment with a high energy electron beam from the CERN SPS. The proposed search scheme suggests detection of the e+e- pairs produced in the A' -> e+e- decay with a very small opening angle. Coordinate chambers based on the thin-wall drift tubes with a minimal material budget and a two-hit resolution for e+ and e- tracks separated by more than 0.5 mm are considered as an option for detecting such pairs

Measurement of the K+→μ+νμγK^+\rightarrow{\mu^+}{\nu_{\mu}}{\gamma} decay form factors in the OKA experiment

A precise measurement of the vector and axial-vector form factors difference $F_V-F_A$ in the $K^+\rightarrow{\mu^+}{\nu_{\mu}}{\gamma}$ decay is presented. About 95K events of $K^+\rightarrow{\mu^+}{\nu_{\mu}}{\gamma}$ are selected in the OKA experiment. The result is $F_V-F_A=0.134\pm0.021(stat)\pm0.027(syst)$. Both errors are smaller than in the previous $F_V-F_A$ measurements.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure