From the Editors: Assessing the International Journal of Exercise Science after One Year

Western Kentucky University (WKU) strives to be a “leading American university with international reach.” In an effort to contribute to that mission, Drs. Scott Lyons and James Navalta of the Exercise Science program endeavored in 2007 to start a student-focused, on-line journal. Working closely with Berkeley Press, the platform for the International Journal of Exercise Science (IJES) was established during the summer of 2007 and it went “live” in January 2008. The journal has now been on-line for over one year and has enjoyed great success, with quality research submitted from graduate and undergraduate students, as well as professionals. We at IJES look forward to continued success in 2009

Symmetric mixed states of nn qubits: local unitary stabilizers and entanglement classes

We classify, up to local unitary equivalence, local unitary stabilizer Lie algebras for symmetric mixed states into six classes. These include the stabilizer types of the Werner states, the GHZ state and its generalizations, and Dicke states. For all but the zero algebra, we classify entanglement types (local unitary equivalence classes) of symmetric mixed states that have those stabilizers. We make use of the identification of symmetric density matrices with polynomials in three variables with real coefficients and apply the representation theory of SO(3) on this space of polynomials.Comment: 10 pages, 1 table, title change and minor clarifications for published versio

The International Journal of Exercise Science: 2011 Year in Review

The International Journal of Exercise Science: 2011 Year in Revie

Student Reflections on a Study Abroad Course to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing

The authors lead a study abroad trip to Beijing, China during the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Included are reflections from the students who participated. Throughout the visit, students had the opportunity to complete learning outside of the traditional classroom setting. In addition, various challenges were faced and overcome which also constituted a learning experience and was the cause of reflection. The country of China and all of its historical landmarks had a great impression on these students, especially the day that was spent at the Great Wall. Finally, being able to be at the Olympic Games was a life-changing experience, from the Opening Ceremony to the events that were attended. In all, it was a thoroughly worthwhile adventure and one that we hope to replicate every two years

Test-Retest Reliability of the Digijump Machine

Repetitive jumping has been identified as a possible exercise modality able to provide sufficient stimulus to improve bone health. However, it is necessary to establish whether repetitive jumping can elicit a consistent physiological response with the ablity to monitor work rate. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the stability reliability of the Digijump device for the commonly used laboratory measures of oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), and rate of perceived exertion (RPE). College-aged individuals (N = 17) completed two 3-min repetitive jumping bouts on the Digijump machine (120 jumps per minute, jump height = 1.27 cm) at least seven days apart. Stability reliability was calculated using the intraclass correlation coefficient derived from 1-way ANOVA. Absolute VO2 displayed the highest test-retest reliability (0.95), while the coefficient for relative VO2 was also acceptable (0.71). The test-retest reliability coefficients for HR (0.89), and RPE (0.75) were determined to be within acceptable limits. Coefficients for all variables compared well with the stability reliability reported for other ergometers such as the Stairmaster, treadmill, and cycle. This data represent an important step in determining the validity of the Digijump machine for physiological testing

Effects of Varying Load Intensity on Skeletal Muscle Damage Between Two Isovolumic Resistance Exercise Bouts

International Journal of Exercise Science 15(4): 1212-1221, 2022. There are limited data comparing the efficacy of resistance loads within the hypertrophy range for promoting muscular growth, particularly when similar training volumes are utilized. The purpose of this study was to determine if two similar volume-loads, utilizing different intensities, would produce dissimilar muscular damage and inflammation. Eleven resistance-trained, college-aged males participated in this study. After testing 1RM barbell squats, participants completed two similar volume-load barbell squat sessions at two different resistance loads (67% and 85% of 1RM) on two separate visits. Venous blood samples were collected at baseline and one hour after completion of each exercise session. Plasma was isolated and analyzed for myoglobin and C-reactive protein (CRP) expression via ELISA. Plasma myoglobin expression was significantly elevated above baseline (BASE) values only after the 85% of 1RM (HHL) session (p =0.031), though the 67% (LHL) trial (p = 0.054; h2 = 0.647) was approaching significance (BASE: 1.42+.12 ng/mL; LHL: 4.65+1.13 ng/mL; HHL: 5.00+1.01 ng/mL). No changes in plasma CRP were observed. Despite attempts to equate volumes between resistances, mean total volume-load was significantly higher during the 67% of 1RM trial than during the 85% trial. Resistance loads at 85% of 1RM inflict significantly increased muscle damage over baseline values, even when significantly less total volume was lifted during the 85% trial. Individuals looking to maximize strength and hypertrophy during general training or during rehabilitation may benefit from these findings when determining the appropriate training load

Entanglement classes of symmetric Werner states

The symmetric Werner states for $n$ qubits, important in the study of quantum nonlocality and useful for applications in quantum information, have a surprisingly simple and elegant structure in terms of tensor products of Pauli matrices. Further, each of these states forms a unique local unitary equivalence class, that is, no two of these states are interconvertible by local unitary operations.Comment: 4 pages, 1 table, additional references in version 2, revised abstract and introduction in version 3, small clarifications for published version in version

BLOOD FLOW RESTRICTION DOES NOT AFFECT ACUTE MEASURES OF POWER AND FATIGUE DURING MAXIMAL CYCLING AMONG WOMEN

While it is known that blood flow restriction (BFR) can positively affect training and rehabilitation progression timelines, the physiological basis of this intervention is not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to determine the short-term impact of BFR upon power and fatigue performance measures during maximal cycling. In this study, maximal cycling was assessed using the Wingate Anaerobic Test (WAnT). Using a counterbalanced design, fourteen female participants completed standardized BFR and non-BFR protocols while completing the WAnT. No statistically-significant differences (p ≤ 0.05) were found between conditions for measures of peak power (PP), low power (LP) or fatigue index (FI). These findings suggest that BFR had no statistically-significant acute effect on these performance measures commonly assessed during the WAnT