The effect of environmental conditions on performance in timed cycling events

Air temperature, pressure and humidity are environmental factors that affect air density and therefore the relationship between a cyclist’s power output and their velocity. These environmental factors are changeable and are routinely quite different at elite cycling competitions conducted around the world, which means that they have a variable effect on performance in timed events. The present work describes a method of calculating the effect of these environmental factors on timed cycling events and illustrates the magnitude and significance of these effects in a case study. Formulas are provided to allow the calculation of the effect of environmental conditions on performance in a time trial cycling event. The effect of environmental factors on time trial performance can be in the order of 1.5%, which is significant given that the margins between ranked performances is often less than this. Environmental factors may enhance or hinder performance depending upon the conditions and the comparison conditions. To permit the fair comparison of performances conducted in different environmental conditions, it is recommended that performance times are corrected to the time that would be achieved in standard environmental conditions, such as 20 oC, 760 mmHg (1013.25 hPa) and 50% RH.

Clinical measurement of muscle tone using a velocity-corrected modified ashworth scale

Objective: To develop a new form of the modified Ashworth scale (MAS) for muscle-tone assessment that combines the MAS score with the passive muscle-stretching velocity during the assessment of muscle tone, resulting in a measure that has higher intertester reliability than the MAS.

Design: Twanty-two volunteer subjects with spinal cord injuries at a tertiary care outpatient and inpatient spinal cord injury rehabilitation center affiliated with a university were recruited for this study.

Results: A decision tree in which V-MAS scores were obtained was developed. The data obtained from three independent raters, when adjusted by means of the V-MAS, showed an excellent interrater reliability.

Conclusions: Results indicated that the V-MAS is a more reliable measure. In addition, the resulting units of the V-MAS, ranging from 0 to 1, are of the same form as pendulum test data. The V-MAS method is quite simple to use because the rater need only measure the angular range and duration of the passive movement to calculate average velocity during the MAS assessment in addition to the normal MAS rating of muscle tone.

Chinese perceptions of Japan's security strategy post-11 September 2001

Looking mainly at the changing nature of the U.S.-Japan security alliance since 11 September 2001, this thesis argues that the recent emergence of a more assertive Japanese security policy has led to a more robust Chinese response to perceived security challenges from Tokyo and Washington.