Opinions about judo athletes’ image

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to evaluate opinions of persons who are involved with judo about judo athletes’ personality. METHODS: For this purpose 132 coaches, athletes, students of Department of Physical Education and Sport Science (DEPESS) and students of military school answered to a 35-item questionnaire describing their image towards judo athletes, in regard to social, volition, active, physical and emotional nature. RESULTS: statistical analysis showed that all the groups rated from the average, to somewhat strong and, also, to strong, while coaches rated higher to the most items. More specifically, one way ANOVA revealed significant differences, with coaches rating significantly higher, in the items of “being healthy” in physical nature (F=2.85, p<0.05), in items “having proper manner” and “being sincere” in social nature, (F=3.41, p<0.05 and F=3.09, p<0.05 respectively), “being positive” in active nature (F=3.95, p<0.05). Also in the items “being mild” (F=3.04, p<0.05), “being cheerful” (F=3.60, p<0.05) and “being carefree” (F=2.98, p<0.05) in emotional nature. Moreover, students of military school rating significantly higher in the item of “being cautious” in active nature (F=2.51, p<0.05) and in the item of “having power of concentration” in active nature both students of military school and of DEPESS rating significantly higher (F=5.66, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The high rating in the most items might be due to the nature of the attitudes provided and cultured during the judo lessons, practice time and matches. Moreover, the differences between the groups for the coaches group might be observed because they have the most real image for judo athletes.

Variables utilizadas en cuestionarios de consumo de suplementos ergonutricionales

Introducción: el consumo de suplementos ergonutricionales está aumentando en los últimos años tanto en España como en el resto del mundo. Los cuestionarios que estiman la ingesta y uso de suplementos presentan limitaciones metodológicas. El objetivo de este estudio es describir las variables utilizadas en los cuestionarios de estimación de consumo de suplementos ergonutricionales para población deportista, descritas en el apartado de metodología de los artículos científicos. Metodología: revisión bibliográfica de variables utilizadas para estimar el uso y consumo de suplementos ergonutricionales. Búsqueda estructurada en la base de datos PubMed y mediante la estrategia bola de nieve. Ecuación de búsqueda: “Questionnaire” AND “Supplementation” AND “Athletes”. Criterios de inclusión: artículos publicados en cualquier país en idioma inglés o en español, que contengan cuestionario en el anexo o las variables que se describen en el apartado de metodología que puedan inferirse a partir de los artículos, que estimen la ingesta y uso de suplementos ergonutricionales y vayan dirigidos a deportistas que entrenan a nivel competitivo (amateurs, élite, etc.). Se realizó un análisis de contenido y un análisis descriptivo. Resultados: de los 122 estudios identificados, 21 cumplieron los criterios de inclusión. Las variables descritas fueron factores sociodemográficos y relacionados con el deporte que se practica, así como la frecuencia de entrenamiento, población deportista a la que iba dirigida, razones/motivos de uso y consumo, fuentes de información, lista de suplementos y frecuencia de uso y consumo. Discusión: existe gran heterogeneidad en cuanto a las variables propuestas por los autores en los cuestionarios de estimación de ingesta y uso de suplementos ergonutricionales. Es necesaria la estandarización de metodologías en el diseño de cuestionarios, así como definir una clasificación de referencia como la propuesta por el Instituto Australiano del Deporte.

How can directories of open access repositories improve the reuse of learning objects in building engineering?

This paper studies the use of directories of open access repositories worldwide (DOARW) to search Spanish repositories containing learning objects in the field of building engineering (BE). Results show that DOARW are powerful tools, but deficiencies (indicated in this study) have to be solved in order to obtain more accurate searches, and to facilitate repository-finding for potential users who are seeking learning objects (LOs) for reuse. Aiming to contribute to the promotion of the reuse of Spanish LOs, this study exposes to the academic community all existing Spanish repositories with LOs, and in particular, the repositories that contain LOs in the field of BE. This paper also studies the critical mass of available content (LOs) in the field of BE in Spain. It has been found to be low.

Characterization of a zeolite-templated carbon by electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance and in situ Raman spectroscopy

Electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance was used to monitor the mass changes during the electrochemical characterization of a zeolite-templated carbon (ZTC) in 1 M H2SO4 medium. Under electrochemical oxidation conditions, a high anodic current and a net mass increase were recorded, resulting in the increase of the specific capacitance owing to the contribution of the pseudocapacitance, mainly derived from the hydroquinone–quinone redox couple. Under more severe electrochemical conditions, a net mass loss was observed, revealing that electrochemical gasification took place. Surface chemistry, before and after the electrochemical treatments, was analyzed through temperature programmed desorption experiments. Furthermore, in situ Raman spectroscopy was used to further characterize the structural changes produced in ZTC under the electrochemical conditions applied, supporting that high potential values produce the electrochemical oxidation and degradation of the carbon material.