Pattern makers' journal.

Mode of access: Internet.

Convention Proceedings

Mode of access: Internet.

¿Qué se entiende por fútbol infantil? Críticas al modelo de enseñanza

Esta investigación está basada en el funcionamiento de las ligas de Fútbol Infantil en la ciudad de La Plata, con niños de edades comprendidas entre los 6 a 12 años, entendiendo al Fútbol Infantil como un deporte de ligas altamente competitivas sin tener en cuenta los intereses de los niños en función de la edad, o los contextos políticos y socioeconómicos en los cuales esos niños se desarrollan. El principal punto de observación fue conocer cómo se comportan los chicos en distintas situaciones que se plantean; realizarle críticas a ese Fútbol Infantil, tratando de explicar también lo que se entiende como fútbol dentro de la escuela. Para desarrollar este trabajo decidimos realizar observaciones en distintos clubes de las ligas de Fútbol Infantil de la ciudad de La Plata. Las mismas fueron realizadas durante el año 2013 para el Eje Fútbol de la materia Educación Física 2, correspondiente al segundo año del Profesorado Universitario en Educación Física de la Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educación de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Luego utilizamos esas observaciones como insumo para el Trabajo Final de Promoción de la materia Educación Física 2. Del análisis de las observaciones realizadas tomamos para su desarrollo los siguientes aspectos: 1) relación entre el sujeto, sus compañeros, entrenadores y público; 2) aspectos psicológicos de los niños (dentro de un partido de Fútbol Infantil); 3) relación de los niños con los elementos del juego; 4) relación con las reglas. Nuestra investigación es de carácter cualitativo ya que decidimos darle un enfoque en el que se puedan describir las características y la particularidad que tienen las ligas infantiles de fútbol en la ciudad de La Plata 1 . La recolección de datos se realizó en distintos clubes pertenecientes a las ligas 2 . Hicimos distintas observaciones y encuestas a los padres y dirigentes. Además, se tuvieron en cuenta para el análisis las referencias bibliográficas obligatorias de la cátedra, a sugerencia de los docentes. Este tema obtuvo nuestra atención ya que consideramos que el funcionamiento de las ligas no parece ser el adecuado. Por ende el propósito de nuestro trabajo es demostrar esta afirmación por medio de diferentes situaciones que surgieron en las observaciones. También se observó que los adultos tratan como profesionales a los niños, deseando que sus hijos ganen a cualquier costo. Teniendo en cuenta lo planteado anteriormente, entenderíamos a la escuela como uno de los sitios principales donde se pueden practicar varios deportes, entre ellos el fútbol, ya que es masiva la concurrencia de niños de diferentes condiciones socioeconómicas. Una de las críticas que le podríamos dar a esta institución es que no se enseña este deporte ya que se da por sobreentendido que puede ser aprendido en diferentes espacios (plazas, clubes, colonias, etc.) debido a su popularidad y atracción. En el caso de la escuela, la enseñanza está a cargo de profesionales que tienen en cuenta el contexto económico, social y cultural de cada niño; a diferencia de un mero entrenador no profesional que, a pesar de sus conocimientos sobre el deporte, no tiene en cuenta las cuestiones antes mencionadas, que a nuestro entender son de vital importancia. Estas son las cuestiones que se observan según nuestro estudio en las ligas y con las cuales disentimos. Para finalizar consideramos que otros ítems podrían ser desarrollados pero son objeto de investigaciones futuras o de otras disciplinas, como por ejemplo la relación entre padres y niños al tratar que los mismos lleguen a ser profesionales cuando en realidad todavía se encuentran en una etapa de desarrollo, o por qué existe el prejuicio de que lo popular no necesita estudio o preparación dentro de la escuela

Passion and psychological adjustment: A test of the person-environment fit hypothesis

Passion represents a strong inclination toward an activity that is important, liked, and in which significant time is invested. Although a harmonious passion is well integrated in one’s identity and is emitted willingly, obsessive passion is not well integrated and is emitted out of internal pressure. This study tested for the presence of a Passion × Environment fit interaction with respect to psychological adjustment. Elite hockey players (N = 233) who tried out for a team in a highly competitive league participated in this short-term longitudinal study. As hypothesized, being selected by the highly competitive leagues led to higher psychological adjustment than not being selected by such leagues. Two months later, an interaction revealed that among athletes who were playing in highly competitive leagues, obsessively passionate athletes reported higher psychological adjustment than did harmonious athletes. Conversely, among athletes playing in less competitive leagues, harmonious athletes reported higher psychological adjustment than did obsessive athletes.

When "where'' is more important than "when": Birthplace and birthdate effects on the achievement of sporting expertise

In this study, we assessed whether contextual factors related to where or when an athlete is born influence their likelihood of playing professional sport. The birthplace and birth month of all American players in the National Hockey League, National Basketball Association, Major League Baseball, and Professional Golfer's Association, and all Canadian players in the National Hockey League were collected from official websites. Monte Carlo simulations were used to verify if the birthplace of these professional athletes deviated in any systematic way from the official census population distribution, and chi-square analyses were conducted to determine whether the players' birth months were evenly distributed throughout the year. Results showed a birthplace bias towards smaller cities, with professional athletes being over-represented in cities of less than 500,000 and under-represented in cities of 500,000 and over. A birth month/relative age effect (in the form of a distinct bias towards elite athletes being relatively older than their peers) was found for hockey and baseball but not for basketball and golf. Comparative analyses suggested that contextual factors associated with place of birth contribute more influentially to the achievement of an elite level of sport performance than does relative age and that these factors are essentially independent in their influences on expertise development.

UQ RoboRoos: Achieving power and agility in a small size robot

The UQ RoboRoos have been developed to participate in the RoboCup robot soccer small size league over several years. RoboCup 2001 saw a focus on the mechanical design of the RoboRoos, with the introduction of an omni-directional drive system and a high power kicker. The change in mechanical design had implications for the rest of the system particularly navigation and multi-robot planning. In addition, the overhead vision system was upgraded to improve reliability and robustness.

Classifying an opponent's behaviour in robot soccer

This paper illustrates the prediction of opponent behaviour in a competitive, highly dynamic, multi-agent and partially observableenvironment, namely RoboCup small size league robot soccer. The performance is illustrated in the context of the highly successful robot soccer team, the RoboRoos. The project is broken into three tasks; classification of behaviours, modelling and prediction of behaviours and integration of the predictions into the existing planning system. A probabilistic approach is taken to dealing with the uncertainty in the observations and with representing the uncertainty in the prediction of the behaviours. Results are shown for a classification system using a Naïve Bayesian Network that determines the opponent’s current behaviour. These results are compared to an expert designed fuzzy behaviour classification system. The paper illustrates how the modelling system will use the information from behaviour classification to produce probability distributions that model the manner with which the opponents perform their behaviours. These probability distributions are show to match well with the existing multi-agent planning system (MAPS) that forms the core of the RoboRoos system.

AS ESTRATÉGIAS DE COMUNICAÇÃO DA LIGA FUTSAL 2008 Comunicação e Negócios versus Futebol Arte

Este estudo aborda as estratégias de comunicação e marketing que são realizadas pela CBFS para divulgar a Liga Futsal, ou seja, o Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol de Salão. O principal objetivo desta pesquisa é mostrar quais são as ações de comunicação e marketing da Liga Futsal e verificar se estão sendo bem administradas pela Confederação e/ou empresas especializadas. Pretende-se, também, analisar como a comunicação pode transformar-se em ferramenta útil na divulgação dos clubes de futebol de salão e da Liga Futsal. Clubes como Malwee Futsal, de Jaraguá do Sul, e PEC de Petrópolis, têm modernizado seus departamentos de comunicação e marketing a fim de atender melhor os seus diversos públicos. Tais avanços podem ser modestos até o momento, porém é inegável que aos poucos a Liga Futsal vem ganhando projeção no cenário nacional. Através de entrevistas com profissionais da Confederação, dos clubes, da mídia, de empresas, etc, foi possível avaliar as ações de comunicação da Liga. Realizou-se um estudo situacional de caso da Liga Futsal resultando no registro de apontamentos iniciais que apresentam algumas das estratégias de marketing do futsal brasileiro.(AU)

From apartheid to unity: white capital and black power in the racial integration of South African football, 1976-1992

This article analyses the complex process that deracialised and democratised South African football between the early 1970s and 1990s. Based mainly on archival documents, it argues that growing isolation from world sport, exemplified by South Africa's expulsion from the Olympic movement in 1970 and FIFA in 1976, and the reinvigoration of the liberation struggle with the Soweto youth uprising triggered a process of gradual desegregation in the South African professional game. While Pretoria viewed such changes as a potential bulwark against rising black militancy, white football and big business had their own reasons for eventually supporting racial integration, as seen in the founding of the National Soccer League. As negotiations for a new democratic South Africa began in earnest between the African National Congress (ANC) and the National Party (NP) in the latter half of the 1980s, transformations in football and politics paralleled and informed each other. Previously antagonistic football associations began a series of 'unity talks' between 1985 and 1986 that eventually culminated in the formation of a single, non-racial South African Football Association in December 1991, just a few days before the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) opened the process of writing a new post-apartheid constitution. Finally, three decades of isolation came to an end as FIFA welcomed South Africa back into world football in 1992 - a powerful example of the seemingly boundless potential of a liberated and united South Africa ahead of the first democratic elections in 1994.

Strategies against racism: a comparison of a social movement and case studies of anti-racist policy and practice in the local state

The thesis compares two contrasting strategies employed with the aim of combating particular forms of racism within contemporary Britain. Both are assessed as political strategies in their own right and placed within the broader context of reformist and revolutionary political traditions. The sociology of social movements is examined critically, as are Marxist and post-Marxist writings on the role of human agency within social structures and on the nature of social movements. The history of the Anti Nazi League (ANL) in the late 1970s and its opposition to the National Front is considered as an example of anti-racist social movement based on the Trotskyist model of the United Front. The degree to which the Anti Nazi League corresponded to such a model is analysed as are the potential broader applications for such a strategy. The strategy with which the ANL is compared is the development of anti-racist and equal opportunities policies within local government in the 1980s, primarily by Labour-controlled local authorities. The theory of the local state and the political phenomenon of municipal socialism are discussed, specifically the role of various groups operating in and around local authorities in the formation and implementation of anti-racist policy and practice. Following this general discussion, two case studies in each of the areas of local authority housing, education and employment are explored to consider in depth the problems of specific anti-racist policies. In summation the efficacy of the two strategies are considered as parts of wider political currents in tandem with their declared specific objectives.

Nationalism gone global:the Hauptverband Deutscher Flottenvereine im Auslande 1898-1918

The Wilhelmine battle fleet was a powerful symbol of national strength and unity not only within the Reich but also in German ethnic communities abroad. A global network of 179 navy clubs with 9,500 members (1913) was coordinated by the Berlin-based Central League for German Navy Clubs Abroad (Hauptverband Deutscher Flottenvereine im Auslande). Its aims were the collection of migrants’ money for concrete navy projects and the promotion of allegiance to the Reich and of ethnic cohesion abroad. The article analyses German navy campaigning within a transnational framework and supports the view that migrants were discursively drawn into Imperial Germany’s global aspirations as outposts of ‘Germanness’ abroad. Existing scholarship, however, tends to look at them as passive objects of a discourse conducted within Germany, as a canvas onto which (semi-)colonial fantasies could be projected. This article argues, rather, that ‘Germans abroad’ could also be active participants within a transnationally conducted and multi-directional discourse. They did not necessarily defy nationalist assumptions but could, in fact, be deeply embedded in the construction of these assumptions.

Photosensitive benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy

Purpose: To describe the electroclinical features of subjects who presented with a photosensitive benign myoclonic epilepsy in infancy (PBMEI). Methods: The patients were selected from a group of epileptic subjects with seizure onset in infancy or early childhood. Inclusion criteria were the presence of photic-induced myoclonic seizures and a favorable outcome. Cases with less than 24 month follow up were excluded from the analysis. Results: Eight patients were identified (4 males, 4 females). Personal history was uneventful. All of them had familial antecedents of epilepsy. Psychomotor development was normal in 6 cases, both before and after seizure onset. One patient showed a mild mental retardation and a further patient showed some behavioral disturbances. Neuroradiological investigations, when performed (5 cases), gave normal results. The clinical manifestations were typical and could vary from upward movements of the eyes to myoclonic jerks of the head and shoulders, isolated or briefly repetitive, never causing a fall. Age of onset was between 11 months and 3 years and 2 months. Characteristically, the seizures were always triggered by photic stimulation. Non photo-induced spontaneous myoclonic attacks were reported in 2 cases during the follow-up. Other types of seizures were present at follow-up in 2 cases. The outcome was favorable, even if, usually, seizure control required high AED plasma levels. Since the clinical symptoms were not recognized early, some patients were treated only many years after the onset of symptoms. Conclusion: Among BMEI patients, our cases constitute a subgroup in which myoclonic jerks were always triggered by photostimulation, in particular at onset of their epilepsy. © 2006 International League Against Epilepsy.

Idiopathic epilepsies with seizures precipitated by fever and SCN1A abnormalities

Purpose: SCN1A is the most clinically relevant epilepsy gene, most mutations lead to severe myoclonic epilepsy of infancy (SMEI) and generalized epilepsy with febrile seizures plus (GEFS+). We studied 132 patients with epilepsy syndromes with seizures precipitated by fever, and performed phenotype-genotype correlations with SCN1A alterations. Methods: We included patients with SMEI including borderline SMEI (SMEB), GEFS+, febrile seizures (FS), or other seizure types precipitated by fever. We performed a clinical and genetic study focusing on SCN1A, using dHPLC, gene sequencing, and MLPA to detect genomic deletions/duplications on SMEI/SMEB patients. Results: We classified patients as: SMEI/SMEB = 55; GEFS+ = 26; and other phenotypes = 51. SCN1A analysis by dHPLC/sequencing revealed 40 mutations in 37 SMEI/SMEB (67%) and 3 GEFS+ (11.5%) probands. MLPA showed genomic deletions in 2 of 18 SMEI/SMEB. Most mutations were de novo (82%). SMEB patients carrying mutations (8) were more likely to have missense mutations (62.5%), conversely SMEI patients (31) had more truncating, splice site or genomic alterations (64.5%). SMEI/SMEB with truncating, splice site or genomic alterations had a significantly earlier age of onset of FS compared to those with missense mutations and without mutations (p = 0.00007, ANOVA test). None of the remaining patients with seizures precipitated by fever carried SCN1A mutations. Conclusion: We obtained a frequency of 71% SCN1A abnormalities in SMEI/SMEB and of 11.5% in GEFS+ probands. MLPA complements DNA sequencing of SCN1A increasing the mutation detection rate. SMEI/SMEB with truncating, splice site or genomic alterations had a significantly earlier age of onset of FS. This study confirms the high sensitivity of SCN1A for SMEI/SMEB phenotypes. © 2007 International League Against Epilepsy.