Role of intensive training in the growth and maturation of artistic gymnasts

Short stature and later maturation of youth artistic gymnasts are often attributed to the effects of intensive training from a young age. Given limitations of available data, inadequate specification of training, failure to consider other factors affecting growth and maturation, and failure to address epidemiological criteria for causality, it has not been possible thus far to establish cause–effect relationships between training and the growth and maturation of young artistic gymnasts. In response to this ongoing debate, the Scientific Commission of the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) convened a committee to review the current literature and address four questions: (1) Is there a negative effect of training on attained adult stature? (2) Is there a negative effect of training on growth of body segments? (3) Does training attenuate pubertal growth and maturation, specifically, the rate of growth and/or the timing and tempo of maturation? (4) Does training negatively influence the endocrine system, specifically hormones related to growth and pubertal maturation? The basic information for the review was derived from the active involvement of committee members in research on normal variation and clinical aspects of growth and maturation, and on the growth and maturation of artistic gymnasts and other youth athletes. The committee was thus thoroughly familiar with the literature on growth and maturation in general and of gymnasts and young athletes. Relevant data were more available for females than males. Youth who persisted in the sport were a highly select sample, who tended to be shorter for chronological age but who had appropriate weight-for-height. Data for secondary sex characteristics, skeletal age and age at peak height velocity indicated later maturation, but the maturity status of gymnasts overlapped the normal range of variability observed in the general population. Gymnasts as a group demonstrated a pattern of growth and maturation similar to that observed among short-, normal-, late-maturing individuals who were not athletes. Evidence for endocrine changes in gymnasts was inadequate for inferences relative to potential training effects. Allowing for noted limitations, the following conclusions were deemed acceptable: (1) Adult height or near adult height of female and male artistic gymnasts is not compromised by intensive gymnastics training. (2) Gymnastics training does not appear to attenuate growth of upper (sitting height) or lower (legs) body segment lengths. (3) Gymnastics training does not appear to attenuate pubertal growth and maturation, neither rate of growth nor the timing and tempo of the growth spurt. (4) Available data are inadequate to address the issue of intensive gymnastics training and alterations within the endocrine system.

Climate-induced reaction norms for life-history traits in pythons

Climate change modelers predict increasingly frequent “extreme events,” so it is critical to quantify whether organismal responses (such as reproductive output) measured over the range of usual climatic conditions can predict responses under more extreme conditions. In a 20-year field study on water pythons (Liasis fuscus), we quantified the effects of climatically driven annual variation in food supply on demographic traits of female pythons (feeding rate, body size, body mass, and reproductive output). Reaction norms linking food supply to feeding rates and residual body mass were broadly linear, whereas norms linking food supply to female body size became curvilinear when a dramatic (flooding-induced) famine reduced the mean body size at sexual maturity. Thus, the reaction norms recorded over 16 years of “normal” (albeit highly variable) climatic conditions gave little insight into the population's response to a more extreme nutritional crisis.

Late maturers at a performance disadvantage to their more mature peers in junior Australian football

Children and adolescents mature at different rates such that individuals competing in the same competition may differ in physical and biological maturity despite being of similar chronological age. Whether or not differences translate into on-field performance in competition is relatively unknown. This study investigated the influence of biological maturity on fitness and match running performance in junior Australian football. Eighty-seven under-15 years players were categorised into early (n = 20), average (n = 45) and late (n = 22) maturity groups based on self-reported and anthropometric assessment of biological maturity. Running movements during competition were collected using GPS (5 Hz) technology. Early maturers were heavier and taller than all other boys (P < 0.05), while biological maturity was significantly correlated to 20 m sprint (r = 0.53, P < 0.01). Total distance, high-intensity (>14.4 km · h−1) running distance and number of high-intensity efforts were significantly greater (20.8%, 53.6%, 31.7%, respectively; P < 0.01) in early compared to late maturers. Number of sprints and peak speed in competition were not different. Pubertal development and maturity status partially explained the differences between players in physical size, functional running fitness and match running performance. Late maturing players in this Australian football under-15 age group were at a physical and performance disadvantage to their earlier maturing peers.

Regional differences in the reproductive parameters of the sparsely-spotted stingaree, Urolophus paucimaculatus, from South-Eastern Australia

Whether spatial variation occurs in the life-history traits of chondrichthyan species is important to fisheries modelling and assessments. A study on the reproductive parameters of Urolophus paucimaculatus from four separate regions across south-eastern Australia found regional differences in maximum total length (TL), size-at-maturity, size-at-maternity and litter sizes. Inshore embayments (Port Phillip Bay (PPB) and Corner Inlet (CI)) appear to allow for larger TLs (females and males) than do offshore areas (Lakes Entrance (LE) and Western Bass Strait (WBS)). Size-at-maturity and size-at-maternity decreased across longitude from west (PPB) to east (LE) and seasonality of parturition and ovulation occurred earlier in PPB (August-October) than in LE (September-December). Maximum litter size correlated with maximum TL (six in PPB, five in each of CI and LE, and four in WBS). There was uncertainty in classifying females for maternal condition because the reproductive cycle appears to range from a continuous annual cycle to a non-continuous biennial cycle. Much of the uncertainty arises from the ambiguity of observation of non-pregnant mature females, which have either aborted through capture and handling, or are in a 'resting year' between pregnancies. Most likely, the majority are reproducing annually with an unknown proportion of females non-continuous and resting between pregnancies.

Asynchrony and regional differences in the reproductive cycle of the greenback stingaree Urolophus viridis from south-eastern Australia

Determining the periodicity of the reproductive cycle in chondrichthyan species when the population is recruiting asynchronously, as found for Urolopus viridis, can be problematic. The reproductive cycle generally requires distinguishable trends in reproductive indices across the population. The present study utilised other similar and sympatric urolophid species with synchronous reproductive cycles. Through data collected in the present study and comparisons of maximum total length (TL), periodicity of egg and embryo in utero, ovarian cycles, largest ovarian follicle diameter, and matrotrophic contribution (percentage increase from egg to embryo after maternal histotroph supplement) from similar studies, an annual reproductive cycle can be hypothesised. Sampling across two separate regions of Lakes Entrance (LE) and Western Bass Strait (WBS), U. viridis also showed regionality in several of the reproductive indices. Maximum TL and mass for females, mean size-at-birth, and female size-at-maturity and size-at-maternity in LE were markedly smaller than in WBS. In both regions litter size (1–2) increased with TL, with an exception of one female in WBS producing a litter of 3 which could be attributed to the larger TL. The implication of U. viridis producing such few young annually is they have the lowest biological productivity of any urolophid species in south-eastern Australia.

Infrared face recognition: a comprehensive review of methodologies and databases

Automatic face recognition is an area with immense practical potential which includes a wide range of commercial and law enforcement applications. Hence it is unsurprising that it continues to be one of the most active research areas of computer vision. Even after over three decades of intense research, the state-of-the-art in face recognition continues to improve, benefitting from advances in a range of different research fields such as image processing, pattern recognition, computer graphics, and physiology. Systems based on visible spectrum images, the most researched face recognition modality, have reached a significant level of maturity with some practical success. However, they continue to face challenges in the presence of illumination, pose and expression changes, as well as facial disguises, all of which can significantly decrease recognition accuracy. Amongst various approaches which have been proposed in an attempt to overcome these limitations, the use of infrared (IR) imaging has emerged as a particularly promising research direction. This paper presents a comprehensive and timely review of the literature on this subject. Our key contributions are (i) a summary of the inherent properties of infrared imaging which makes this modality promising in the context of face recognition; (ii) a systematic review of the most influential approaches, with a focus on emerging common trends as well as key differences between alternative methodologies; (iii) a description of the main databases of infrared facial images available to the researcher; and lastly (iv) a discussion of the most promising avenues for future research. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

Legal systemology and the geopolitics of Roman law: a response to Stuart Elden’s critique of Carl Schmitt’s spatial ontology

This paper explores the production, destruction, and reproduction of the geopolitical spaces of Roman law in order to offer an analysis of Schmitt’s (selective) notion of Jus Publicum Europaeum and its relevance to the current “depoliticization” and “dejuridification” of the world. By adopting a historical and geopolitical approach that reaches the boundaries of legal systemology and political theology, the present contribution investigates the manipulative and instrumentalist use of the material object of Rome’s (universalist) competence, namely the “territory” as dominium of its political intervention, which was ultimately (and idealistically) aimed at avoiding the natural destiny of any living being: birth, maturity, and death. Attention is therefore paid to the Roman strategy of (ontological?) contamination of its mythical identity through the legal and sociopolitical administration and regulation of its geographical spaces in terms of (non-)cultural signification. Through the analysis of such concepts as “nomos,” “Großraum,” “Ortung,” and “Ordnung,” it is claimed that Schmitt voluntarily chose to identify the Jus Publicum Europaeum with the geopolitical order produced during the Age of Discovery and not with the “comprehensive” Roman spatial order. The reason for this choice may be identified in the distortive use of Rome’s social relations and political allegiances that lay at the core of its genealogical expansionism (and subsequent inevitable dissolution) since the conquest of Veius in 396 BC and the historical compromise between patrician nobility and plebeians in 367 BC.

Theoretical issues in psychology : Proceedings of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology 1999 conference

As to the former, a glance at the contents list of this volume will demonstrate both the maturity and the vigour of theoretical debate within psychology. There is a level of sophistication here that should be the cause of quiet celebration.

LaGuardia Community College: The First 25 Years

Ch.1: A Sign of It's Times; Ch.2: Orientation; Ch.3: Growing Pains; Ch.4: Maturity; Ch.5:New Beginnings; Ch.6: The Road Ahead

Speculative attacks, openness and crises

In this paper we propose a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to evaluate financial adjustments that some emerging market economies went through to overcome external crises during the latest decades, such as default and local currency devaluation. We assume that real devaluation can be used to avoid external debt default, to improve trade balance and to reduce the real public debt level denominated in local currency. Such effects increase the government ability to deal with external crisis, but also have costs in terms of welfare, related to expected inflation, reductions in private investments and higher interest to be paid over the public debt. We conclude that openness improves expected welfare as it allows for a better devaluation-response technology against crises. We also present results for 32 middle-income countries, verifying that the proposed model can indicate, in a stylized way, the preferences for default-devaluation options and the magnitude of the currency depreciation required to overcome 48 external crises occurred as from 1971. Finally, as we construct our model based on the Cole-Kehoe self-fulfilling debt crisis model ([7]), adding local debt and trade, it is important to say that their policy alternatives to leave the crisis zone remains in our extended model, namely, to reduce the external debt level and to lengthen its maturity.

A hipótese de Samuelson no mercado futuro brasileiro: um estudo empírico

A pesquisa objetivou testar a existência, no mercado futuro brasileiro, do fenômeno que a literatura batizou como a Hipótese de Samuelson, que postula que a volatilidade dos retornos de preços futuros aumenta à medida que o vencimento do contrato respectivo se aproxima. Para testar a hipótese em foco, foram utilizados dados dos seguintes contratos futuros, negociados na BM&F - Bolsa de Mercadorias & Futuros : contrato futuro de Ibovespa, contrato futuro de dólar comercial, contrato futuro de boi gordo e contrato futuro de café arábica. O período abrangido estendeu-se de 30 de junho de 1994 a 30 de abril de 1998. Aplicação de quatro testes distintos a cada contrato não autoriza afirmar-se que a Hipótese de Samuelson se observa no mercado futuro brasileiro.

William Gaddis's aesthetics of recognitions

William Gaddis’s The Recognitions (1955) is a selfreflexive novel that portrays Wyatt Gwyon’s trajectory from childhood to maturity, as he rejects and searches for originality. The present work bestows an analysis of William Gaddis’s The Recognitions focusing on the problematization of originality and authorship proposed by the novel by means of the central issues of forgery and plagiarism, which bring with them two larger and more important sister-notions: authorship and originality. The novel questions the prevailing demand for originality and discusses the possibility of being original. It formulates an aesthetics of recognitions defended in the novel and used by the author in the making of this text. In order to do that, this work provides a view on the different concepts associated with the terms originality and original, as well as some of the main infringements related to them in contemporary society. It also offers an account of the development of the concepts of originality and authorship in Western society, showing the growing importance of the figure of the author and the parallel development of the concepts of plagiarism and copyright. The next three chapters are dedicated to attempt to provide an account of William Gaddis’s The Recognitions focusing on the main artist characters and an analysis of the novel in the light of the theoretical and historical background provided. The first of these chapters focuses on Wyatt’s trajectory and his visions of art. The second identifies and analyses Wyatt’s mirrors in the narrative, which reinforce the self-reflective structure of the novel. And the third chapter exemplifies and analyses Wyatt’s aesthetics of recognitions, which turns out to be Gaddis’s own aesthetics in the making of his fiction.

Mapas de Conhecimento: Em Busca de um Instrumento de Aplicação nas Organizações para Operacionalização da Gestão do Conhecimento

The present work consists on the development and exploration of a knowledge mapping model. It is aimed in presenting and testing that model in an exploratory manner for the operationalization in theoretical terms and its practical application. For this proposal, it approaches ¿knowledge management¿ by three dimensions of management: processes control, results control and leadership. Assuming the inherently personal character of knowledge and admitting the impossibility for the management to command the individuals knowledge mental processes, this study states the possibility for management to control the organizations information processes, to state and to monitor the objectives and to lead people. Therefore, the developed tool searches to graphically represent the people¿s knowledge, which becomes, consequently, information. Also it evaluates the individual¿s maturity against the identified knowledge and prescribes, according to the Situational Leadership Theory, a style of leadership in compliance with the respective maturities. The knowledge map considered here translates the graphical representation of the relevant knowledge that is said to reach the objectives of the organization. That fact allows the results management for two reasons: first, the knowledge items are directly or indirectly connected to an objective and second, the knowledge map developed indicates a importance grade of the identified knowledge for the main objective stated. The research strategy adopted to explore the model of knowledge mapping and to test its applicability, also identifying its possible contributions and limitations, is the Actionresearch. Following the research strategy¿s prescribed stages, the knowledge map, as considered by this study, was applied in a software development company to hospitals, clinics and restaurants management which is called ¿Tergus Systems and Consulting¿. More precisely, the knowledge map was applied in the customer support company¿s area for hospitals. The research¿s empirical evidences had concluded that the model is applicable with low level of complexity, but with great demand of time. The more important contributions are related to the identification of the relevant knowledge to the department objectives in set with a prescription of the knowledge capture and transference necessities, as well as, the orientation for the appropriate leadership style for each subordinate related to the knowledge item in question.

A influência da maturidade do CRM no desempenho organizacional

A importância do tema relacionamento com clientes tem sido crescentemente reconhecida pelo mercado, enquanto alternativa para diferenciação estratégica e mesmo sobrevivência competitiva. Este estudo objetiva avaliar a influência do nível de maturidade da implementação da estratégia de Customer Relationship Management no desempenho organizacional. O nível de maturidade é estudado em função de capacidades (Analítica e de Consistência na Comunicação), compostas por diversas atividades, e o desempenho em função de suas componentes financeira e não-financeira. O presente trabalho contribui para o estudo da gradação de atividades e capacidades de CRM enquanto critério para mensuração dos resultados de sua implementação. Para isso é analisado um modelo de equações estruturais utilizando-se o software LISREL. Os resultados evidenciaram um modelo final com bom grau de adequação, permitindo constatar que a Capacidade Analítica da organização tem influência em seus desempenhos financeiro e não-financeiro e que, por sua vez, a Consistência na Comunicação influencia somente este último tipo de desempenho. Ao final são apresentadas as implicações gerenciais, limitações e sugestões para pesquisas futuras.