INJURY PREVENTION IN ARTISTIC GYMNASTICS: A GUIDE FOR COACHES AND DIRECTIONS FOR RESEARCH

Competitive artistic gymnastics is a high risk activity. Injury prevention essentials include: Avoid the ‘lumbar fold’ into extension; Maximise hip extension range; Maximise thoracic extension range; Maximise thoracic rotation range; Gain calf strength and endurance; Ankle proprioceptive training. Injury prevention essentials may be important for all gymnastics coaches to recognise, but could also be used to guide future research investigating injuries in gymnastics

QUANTIFYING LANDING IMPACTS DURING A LEG STRENGTH CIRCUIT IN MALE ARTISTIC GYMNASTS - A PILOT STUDY

Measuring landing impacts in gymnastics has previously been difficult and has rarely taken place in the daily training environment. The aim of this pilot research was to quantify the number and magnitude of landing impacts experienced by elite level male gymnasts when completing a leg strength circuit that they regularly perform in training. Acceleration data revealed gymnasts were being exposed to a high number of very high magnitude landing impacts (up to 9 landings/exercise and \u3e10 g) during the leg strength circuit. These results prompted the development of two alternate leg strength circuits, specifically developed for gymnasts recovering from injury, which do not include the high loading exercises. Tibial acceleration is a promising method for the measurement of landing impacts during gymnastics training

El humanocentrismo ante el etnocentrismo: ubicando la experiencia humana al centro de la disciplina de Relaciones Internacionales

El objetivo en este trabajo es analizar los orígenes del eurocentrismo, así como de su consolidación en la forma de un etnocentrismo anglosajón, como las visiones dominantes en el estudio de Relaciones Internacionales. De igual manera, se revisan las razones por las que esta ideología continúa vigente y por qué estos enfoques han influido no solo en la disciplina académica sino también en la misma estructura política de la sociedad internacional pasando por alto las voces de las regiones periféricas de este centro europeo-anglosajón. Al respecto, en él se hace un análisis introductorio sobre el papel que la Historia ha fungido dentro de la disciplina y la forma en que la corriente principal de esta la ha utilizado, muchas veces, como la cantera desde donde extraer los hechos que han apoyado a conformar las teorías y los paradigmas del presente. La Historia ha sido una herramienta exógena, si no superflua, por mucho tiempo, utilizada por la ideología dominante, que ha contribuido al paradigma eurocentrista. Por lo que en este trabajo se aboga por la ampliación de la perspectiva geotemporal en el análisis y la diversificación de las temáticas en Relaciones Internacionales para darle voz a todas las regiones del mundo. A partir del análisis documental de diversos textos, con especial atención a aquellos escritos fuera del centro académico tradicional europeo, como los trabajos de Deniz Kuru, de Turquía, Melody Fonseca, de Puerto Rico, y las opiniones de académicos de diversos centros de investigación en América Latina, se propone en este artículo reconstruir la disciplina, como lo sugiere Jacques Derrida, no con el objetivo de disolverla o destruirla, sino el de analizar las estructuras sobre las que se basa el elemento discursivo, la manera en la que pensamos, la perspectiva desde donde analizamos. Un punto de partida para enriquecer esta visión es la de buscar en la historia de cada una de las regiones del mundo los orígenes de las interacciones humanas, qué nos puede decir la historia de cada región sobre su propia experiencia internacional para así darnos cuenta que, como Aristóteles lo dijo, el ser humano es por naturaleza, un ser político y que lo internacional está intrínsecamente ligado a la naturaleza humana. Con esta visión humanocentrista, podemos reconstruir acertadamente una disciplina global e inclusiva, sumándola a la concepción dominante y perfeccionándola en unas Relaciones Internacionales con un conocimiento holístico de la sociedad internacional, dando pauta a elaboraciones teóricas “hechas en casa”

‘Having It All’? : Pre-Teen Girls Negotiate Successful Femininity

Depictions of girls and young women as powerful, unconstrained and outshining boys and men characterise the modern postfeminist cultural climate and imbue femininity with wide reaching success. However, research into postfeminist discourse reveals a far more complicated picture than this straightforward ode to success. Previously the focus has been on successful femininity within education or employment, or on the future aspirations of girls and young women. Yet considering the grandiose postfeminist claims of successful femininity it is important to examine specifically what success means to those who are expected to hold it. The current research has done so from the perspective of ethnically diverse pre-adolescent girls, addressing the lack of research with this age group and with girls from minority ethnic backgrounds. Incorporating the latter enabled the thesis to examine how ethnic identities may intersect with understandings of successful femininity. Focus groups and photo-narrative books were used to explore the ways 32 girls between 11- and 13-years old made sense of successful girl/womanhood, including media representations of successful femininity. Participants were recruited from two urban schools within New Zealand. The study used a feminist poststructuralist framework and employed thematic and Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Two overarching themes were identified: ‘Success as Individual Qualities’ and ‘Spheres of Success.’ Across these themes the girls’ drew heavily on postfeminist and neoliberal discourses and constructed success through the competing and contradictory discourses of girl power and traditional femininity. Successful femininity was constructed as a highly individualised endeavour, predicated on the individual qualities of hard work, constant striving towards goals and overcoming adversity. These qualities were required to accomplishing success within three mandatory spheres of success; education, employment and motherhood. The successful female subject was expected to move linearly through these three spheres, engaging in higher education to earn a successful career in order to financially sustain motherhood. Discussions of employment success oscillated between constructions of unbounded possibility for young women in the workforce and recognition of the barriers facing young women and especially Māori women who work. Motherhood, described as the apex of successful femininity, was also shot through with complexity. The girls constructed a narrow scope for success through motherhood: those who had children without planning, had many children or who gave birth while young or single were positioned outside of this successfulness. The ultimate form of successful femininity required a delicate balancing of the three spheres of success in order for women to achieve the contradictory and unobtainable task of ‘having it all.’ Findings demonstrate girls’ lack of access to a language with which to articulate oppression and inequality and emphasise the problematic entanglement of ‘new’ discourses of equality, empowerment and success with the enduring presence of powerful and regulatory traditional discourses of femininity

AGRICULTURE AND CLIMATE IN CENTRAL OTAGO

The variation and individuality of Central Otago result from a unique combination of climate and topography. The range and basin structures produce New Zealand's nearest approach to a "Continental" Climate, and on a yearly basis Central Otago can be one of the driest as well as one of the hottest and coldest areas in the country. There are two unique features. The first a dry central core wth horticulture as a dominant activity. The second is a high pastoral plateau, the East Otago Plateau, from 400 to 900 metres altitude, marking the Eastern boundary of Central Otago. The agricultural pattern is traditional but it is suggested there is scope for other non traditional crops. Of all the physical elements surveyed in the past, e.g. rock or soil type, slope or vegetation, there is frequently no reference to climate. However, the resource value of any locality draws from its particular local climate or "topoclimate". Climate when regarded as such requires a new approach to data gathering. Research in Central Otago aims to increase our knowledge of topoclimate on the valley floors and locate special microclimates suitable for possible and existing horticultural crops and at the same time remove some of the hazards. Keywords: topoclimate</jats:p

Optimisation of short term log allocation

The objective of the project was to develop an economic model for the management of short term log production and implement it in a prototype computer program. An algorithm was required that could be used in a central system that would control field computers that were running dynamic programming log bucking software used for log production in the forest. The system had to be capable of selecting cutting strategies for crews to follow and provide values for log products that would result in efficient forest resource allocation during harvesting. The project investigated development of a Dantzig Wolfe linear programming decomposition model that uses Dynamic Programming to generate new columns. The hypothesis tested was that an economic model of log production based on Dantzig Wolfe decomposition and Dynamic Programming column generation would give maximum value log resource allocations that were contingent on company constraints. The Dantzig Wolfe algorithm was successfully implemented using the C programming language. Initial feasible solutions to start the Dantzig Wolfe algorithm were generated by the program using an adjusted Two Phase procedure. The accuracy of the program's calculations was verified by comparison with a problem that was solved using a spreadsheet. The program has been shown to provide feasible maximal solutions to two hypothetical problems. The program has generated new cutting strategies and values, as well as demonstrated iterative progress towards a maximum, in doing so providing validation of the underlying economic model proposed for log production. The basic decomposition model could be extended to improve its capability and to provide a closer representation of the short term planning problem. Development of the program into a production model would include improvements to the program in the following areas: incorporation of uncertainty, adding restrictions on product combinations and cutting strategies and crew allocation to stands. For larger problems acceleration of computation will be required. This may be achieved by software improvements or multiple processor computing

‘Having It All’? : Pre-Teen Girls Negotiate Successful Femininity

Depictions of girls and young women as powerful, unconstrained and outshining boys and men characterise the modern postfeminist cultural climate and imbue femininity with wide reaching success. However, research into postfeminist discourse reveals a far more complicated picture than this straightforward ode to success. Previously the focus has been on successful femininity within education or employment, or on the future aspirations of girls and young women. Yet considering the grandiose postfeminist claims of successful femininity it is important to examine specifically what success means to those who are expected to hold it. The current research has done so from the perspective of ethnically diverse pre-adolescent girls, addressing the lack of research with this age group and with girls from minority ethnic backgrounds. Incorporating the latter enabled the thesis to examine how ethnic identities may intersect with understandings of successful femininity. Focus groups and photo-narrative books were used to explore the ways 32 girls between 11- and 13-years old made sense of successful girl/womanhood, including media representations of successful femininity. Participants were recruited from two urban schools within New Zealand. The study used a feminist poststructuralist framework and employed thematic and Foucauldian discourse analysis to analyse the data. Two overarching themes were identified: ‘Success as Individual Qualities’ and ‘Spheres of Success.’ Across these themes the girls’ drew heavily on postfeminist and neoliberal discourses and constructed success through the competing and contradictory discourses of girl power and traditional femininity. Successful femininity was constructed as a highly individualised endeavour, predicated on the individual qualities of hard work, constant striving towards goals and overcoming adversity. These qualities were required to accomplishing success within three mandatory spheres of success; education, employment and motherhood. The successful female subject was expected to move linearly through these three spheres, engaging in higher education to earn a successful career in order to financially sustain motherhood. Discussions of employment success oscillated between constructions of unbounded possibility for young women in the workforce and recognition of the barriers facing young women and especially Māori women who work. Motherhood, described as the apex of successful femininity, was also shot through with complexity. The girls constructed a narrow scope for success through motherhood: those who had children without planning, had many children or who gave birth while young or single were positioned outside of this successfulness. The ultimate form of successful femininity required a delicate balancing of the three spheres of success in order for women to achieve the contradictory and unobtainable task of ‘having it all.’ Findings demonstrate girls’ lack of access to a language with which to articulate oppression and inequality and emphasise the problematic entanglement of ‘new’ discourses of equality, empowerment and success with the enduring presence of powerful and regulatory traditional discourses of femininity

THE ROLE OF EARTHWORMS IN PASTURE PRODUCTION AND MOISTURE CONSERVATION

RESEARCH has shown that pasture production on soils without earthworms is limited to considerably less than the true potential. Increased production with beneficial earthworms is associated with pronounced changes in the physical and chemical properties of the soil. Infiltration rate is increased, moisture is conserved and the risk of soil erosion is reduced</jats:p

El humanocentrismo ante el etnocentrismo: ubicando la experiencia humana al centro de la disciplina de Relaciones Internacionales

El objetivo en este trabajo es analizar los orígenes del eurocentrismo, así como de su consolidación en la forma de un etnocentrismo anglosajón, como las visiones dominantes en el estudio de Relaciones Internacionales. De igual manera, se revisan las razones por las que esta ideología continúa vigente y por qué estos enfoques han influido no solo en la disciplina académica sino también en la misma estructura política de la sociedad internacional pasando por alto las voces de las regiones periféricas de este centro europeo-anglosajón. Al respecto, en él se hace un análisis introductorio sobre el papel que la Historia ha fungido dentro de la disciplina y la forma en que la corriente principal de esta la ha utilizado, muchas veces, como la cantera desde donde extraer los hechos que han apoyado a conformar las teorías y los paradigmas del presente. La Historia ha sido una herramienta exógena, si no superflua, por mucho tiempo, utilizada por la ideología dominante, que ha contribuido al paradigma eurocentrista. Por lo que en este trabajo se aboga por la ampliación de la perspectiva geotemporal en el análisis y la diversificación de las temáticas en Relaciones Internacionales para darle voz a todas las regiones del mundo. A partir del análisis documental de diversos textos, con especial atención a aquellos escritos fuera del centro académico tradicional europeo, como los trabajos de Deniz Kuru, de Turquía, Melody Fonseca, de Puerto Rico, y las opiniones de académicos de diversos centros de investigación en América Latina, se propone en este artículo reconstruir la disciplina, como lo sugiere Jacques Derrida, no con el objetivo de disolverla o destruirla, sino el de analizar las estructuras sobre las que se basa el elemento discursivo, la manera en la que pensamos, la perspectiva desde donde analizamos. Un punto de partida para enriquecer esta visión es la de buscar en la historia de cada una de las regiones del mundo los orígenes de las interacciones humanas, qué nos puede decir la historia de cada región sobre su propia experiencia internacional para así darnos cuenta que, como Aristóteles lo dijo, el ser humano es por naturaleza, un ser político y que lo internacional está intrínsecamente ligado a la naturaleza humana. Con esta visión humanocentrista, podemos reconstruir acertadamente una disciplina global e inclusiva, sumándola a la concepción dominante y perfeccionándola en unas Relaciones Internacionales con un conocimiento holístico de la sociedad internacional, dando pauta a elaboraciones teóricas “hechas en casa”.</jats:p