Academic literature on the topic 'Specific sport skills'

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between basic cognitive functions and sport-specific physical performance in young volleyball players. Forty-three female volleyball players (age 11.2 ± 0.8 years) were tested for cognitive performance by measuring simple reaction time (clinical reaction time), executive control (Flanker task), and perceptual speed (visual search task). Moreover, a set of tests was used to assess physical abilities as volleyball-specific skills (accuracy of setting, passing, and serving) and motor skills (change of direction, vertical jump, and balance). A cumulated value for both cognitive and sport-specific physical performance tests was computed by adding up each test’s domain outcomes. Pearson’s r correlation analysis showed a large positive correlation (r = 0.45, d-value = 1.01) of the cumulated score summarizing cognitive functions with the cumulated score summarizing sport-specific physical performance. Moreover, small-to-medium correlations (d-value from 0.63 to 0.73) were found between cognitive and motor skills. Given the cumulative scores, these results suggest that volleyball athletes with superior basic cognitive functions present better sport-specific physical performance. Our findings encourage to extend the knowledge of the associations between cognitive and motor skills within a sports performance context.

The purpose of this paper is to further illuminate trust as a specific mental skill during performance and to offer a three-phase program for training in trust. Trust is a skill in which athletes release conscious control over movements and allow automatic execution of the motor programs that have been developed through training. The performance goal is to release conscious control and free oneself from fear of mistakes in execution or outcome. Attainment of this goal depends on the quality and quantity of concentration, confidence, and composure necessary to access trust. To better acquire the necessary skills, athletes can benefit from a three-phase training program that provides an education phase, a skills training phase, and a skills monitoring phase. The elements of these phases are described, and example drills are suggested for training concentration, confidence, and composure skills in order to access trust.

In this paper we propose that research in motor behavior has failed to meet the obligation of studying how children learn important sport skills. In particular, understanding the specific sport knowledge base is essential to studying skilled sport behavior. To support this view we review the research in the cognitive area relative to the development of expertise. We then attempt to justify why a similar approach is useful for motor behavior researchers and why they should undertake the study of sport skill acquisition. Finally, we offer a paradigm within which sport skill research might take place.

Athletes in a particular sport have specific cognitive skills acquired due to regular confrontation with sport-specific requirements. Studies show that the particular type of sport carried out and fostered by general physical activity impacts executive functions (EFs) such as inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility. There are inconsistent results on the connections between domain-specific cognitive skills and executive functions. This study aimed to evaluate the relations between EFs and domain-specific cognitive skills in climbing. Due to that, we examined the executive functions (neuropsychological tests) and domain-specific cognitive skills (climbing-specific test: a preview of the route vs. climbed moves; climbed moves vs. recognition of moves) of 19 climbers (10 novices, 9 experts, grades 5 to 6a vs. 6c+ to 7b). The inter-subject effects analysis shows that novices and experts in sport climbing do not differ in executive functions in this particular case. Concerning domain-specific cognitive skills, there are differences between experts and novices. Experts show a significantly higher level in planning performance or route idea (p < 0.001) as well as in memorizing of climbed moves (p = 0.004). There are no relations between executive functions and domain-specific cognitive skills in climbers.

A four-phase psychological skills educational program for closed-skill performance enhancement is outlined. The four phases of the program are sport analysis, individual assessment, conceptualization/motivation, and mental skill development. The sport analysis phase involves analyzing the unique characteristics and demands of a particular activity or sport. The individual assessment phase entails establishing an individual profile of the athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. The conceptual/motivational phase provides information on the athlete/athletic situation interaction, the kind of commitment needed to change inappropriate behaviors, and the importance of establishing an efficient goal-setting strategy. The final phase focuses on the development of general and specific mental skills. Sources and examples of data-gathering techniques, questionnaires, and mental skill enhancement strategies are described.

Summary The identification of talented athletes and their timely inclusion in the training process in the sport which most suits their abilities is one of the most demanding processes in modern sports science. Incorrect decisions are frequent and usually very painful. Elite sport is a field of human creativity which Slovenians value highly. In relation to the size of the population. Slovenia is one of the most successful “sports countries” in the world. Due to a decreased biological basis, a well-meaning and professional approach is necessary in the selection of individuals for a particular sport. The Faculty of Sport has developed certain expert systems and methods of evaluation and identification of talented children, whose purpose is to help parents and experts make the right decisions when it comes to introducing children to sport. These methods were based on the application of specific tests for determining individual motor skills. A battery of 13 morphological tests, 14 tests for special motor skills and 3 tests of the motor skill of running were used. It was determined that special tests of explosive strength and speed had the greatest predictive power for talented children. It should be pointed out that, despite the technology and state-of-the-art methodology used in the measuring procedure, it is impossible to predict talent with absolute certainly, let alone future sports achievements. The human body is an exceptionally complex system which is determined by numerous unpredictable factors. There is no doubt that the results of professional methods can be used as guidelines in the process of selection of an individual for a particular sport.

15 boys, ages 6 to 9 yr., participated in a summer sports day camp under the supervision of counselors trained in ways to enhance self-concept. An attempt was made to implement strategies in the program so that campers would experience persistent success during sports-skills learning and performance and develop positive peer relations. Subjects were pre- and post-tested on a self-concept scale which measured self-knowledge and self-esteem for physical maturity, peer relations, academic success, school adaptiveness, and sports-skills ability. It was thought that a positive experience through developing skills in sport and peer relations might improve at least the area of self-concept related to sports skills as opposed to the other dimensions. This hypothesis was supported. Only the aspects of self-concept related to sport were significantly enhanced after the camp experience. The findings support past research indicating that personal self-concept is situation-specific.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.<br>ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the present study the psychological skills of professional and social basketball players were compared. A literature review has highlighted the need for domain specific and sport specific psychological skills research, from countries outside the United States of America. The Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) was administered to professional (n=60) and social (n=67) basketball players. The ACSI-28 is a multidimensional scale that measures seven specific psychological skills and also yields a global psychological skills score. The results showed that professional basketball players rated their global psychological skills significantly higher than social basketball players. The results also showed that the professional basketball players scored significantly higher on five of the seven specific psychological skills namely: coping with adversity, peaking under pressure, goal setting, concentration and self-confidence. Cross-cultural differences were found between South African and Greek basketball players. The assumption that psychological skills is domain specific was not verified as baseball and basketball players from different countries showed remarkably similar ACSI-28 profiles. The results can be used to develop a psychological skills training programme which is relevant for elite and pre-elite basketball players in South Africa.<br>AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die sielkundige vaardighede van professionele- en sosiale basketbalspelers is in die huidige studie onderling vergelyk. 'n Literatuurstudie het die behoefte aan domeinspesifieke, sowel as sport-spesifieke sielkundige-vaardigheidsnavorsing beklemtoom, veral vir lande buite die Verenigde State van Amerika. Die Athletic Coping Skills Inventory-28 (ACSI-28) is toegepas op professionele (n=60) en sosiale (n=67) basketbalspelers. Die ACSI-28 is 'n multidimensionele skaal wat sewe spesifiek sielkundige vaardighede meet. Hierdie vaardighede kan gekombineer word om 'n globale sielkundige vaardigheidstelling te kry. Volgens die resultate het die professionele basketbalspelers hul globale sielkundige vaardighede beduidend hoër as sosiale basketbalspelers geëvalueer. Die professionele basketbalspelers het hoër tellings as sosiale basketbalspelers behaal op vyf van die sewe spesifiek sielkundige vaardighede naamlik: hantering van terugslae, prestasie onder druk, doelwitstelling, konsentrasie vermoë en self vertroue. Kruis-kulturele verskille is gevind tussen Suid-Afrikaanse en Griekse basketbalspelers. Die aanname, dat sielkundige vaardighede domein-spesifiek is, is nie ondersteun nie, aangesien bofbal en basketbalspelers van verskillende lande ooreenstemmende ACSI-28 profiele getoon het. Die resultate kan aangewend word om 'n sielkundige vaardigheidsopleidingsprogram te ontwikkel wat relevant vir elite and preelite basketbalspelers in Suid Afrika is.

This study explored the subjective interpretations of five adolescent athletes who experienced a sport-specific version of the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment (MAC) approach. The MAC approach is an alternative sport psychology intervention to more traditional control-driven approaches, such as Psychological Skills Training (PST). An in-depth qualitative study was conducted at the High Performance Centre (hpc) of the University of Pretoria (UP). The sport-specific MAC programme was developed for the sport of athletics. The programme was facilitated to five adolescent athletes who participate in the sport of athletics. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after the participants experienced the programme. The interviews were based on written reflections provided by participants during the programme. The research position for this study was phenomenology, and specifically Interpretive Phenomenology (IP). Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was used to analyse the material. The results revealed that there was only one theme that was common to all five participants. Furthermore, the results portrayed diversity amongst the participant experiences and subjectivity in their interpretations of the MAC approach. The results displayed how some themes are consistent with MAC-related literature, and how other themes contradict the literature. Additionally, some themes have not been reported in MAC literature before. Thus, the study contributed to the expansion of literature on the MAC approach.<br>Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2013.<br>lk2014<br>Psychology<br>MA<br>Unrestricted

Aim:                Parkour is a relatively new action sport, which is not only popular in non-conflict regions but also in regions where armed conflict is taking place. When being featured in the media, youth from conflict regions frequently report that Parkour has helped them to deal with the consequences of armed conflict. Although Parkour is being used in psychosocial and life skills interventions in European countries, and despite the fact that action sports are used in humanitarian assistance, there is no research on the potential of Parkour as a tool in humanitarian interventions. The aim of this thesis is to analyse how Parkour can be used in humanitarian aid interventions, particularly focusing on its potential for life skills interventions. In order to do so, a mapping of Parkour teams in conflict regions is conducted. What is more, example cases highlight the importance Parkour has for youth in conflict regions. Lastly, a qualitative thematic analysis, will review the cases and academic literature, in order to discuss to what extent these characteristics coincide with the ten life skills as they were outlined by the World Health Organization (WHO). Methods:       Mapping is limited to the timeframe 2013 – 2018 and to countries which display a high amount of organized violence within said timeframe. Furthermore, qualitative thematic analysis in combination with a review of relevant literature is used, in order to understand what Parkour’s potential for life skills interventions could be. Findings:         The mapping indicates that Parkour teams and individuals are active in 16 out of the 22 countries which comply with the mapping criteria. The cases further exemplify that for many practitioners in the conflict regions, Parkour is used as a tool to deal with the consequences of armed conflict.  The qualitative thematic analysis shows that Parkour’s characteristics seem to coincide with the 10 life skills laid out by the WHO. Conclusion:    Action sports are already being used in aid interventions. Parkour’s assets in particular are multiple. It is an accessible, cost-effective and popular sport that youth globally and in conflict regions is attracted to. That, in combination with its characteristics and social media based nature, could be compelling arguments to use Parkour in humanitarian assistance.

碩士<br>國立臺南大學<br>體育學系碩士班<br>101<br>Purpose: The main purpose of this study is to explore the impact of 12 weeks of resistance training on the speed of footwork and reflexes of male elementary badminton players. Method: This study includes 16 elementary boy badminton players as its subject. Subjects are divided into two groups of eight: General training (control group) and resistance training (experiment group). Tests are given to both teams before the trainings. Trainings last for 12 weeks, with each week consisting of two 30 minutes trainings. The control group receives general ball receiving and serving training; whereas the experiment group receives resistance training. The Paired-Samples T Test is used to compare data from the two groups on pre-training performance, reaction time and their sport-specific skill (speed of six-point footwork). The Independent Sample T Test is used to compare the differences between the two groups, their reaction time and sport-specific skill (speed of six-point footwork) after 12 weeks of training. The level of significance is set at α = .05. Result: Statistical analysis reveals that both trainings result in a significant difference in the development of their sport-specific skill (p<.05). However, the control group shows no significant difference (p>.05) in their reaction time while the experiment group does (p<.05). Conclusion: Resistance training can effectively increase elementary badminton player’s reflexes, however, different training methods does not result in a significant difference in sport-specific skills.

博士<br>中國文化大學<br>體育學系運動教練碩博士班<br>103<br>Branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), arginine (Arg) and citrulline (Cit) are involved in multiple physiological functions. The supplementation of BCAA could reduce cerebral uptake of free tryptophan, leading to the decrease in serotonin synthesis. The lower cerebral serotonin levels may prevent central fatigue. Arg and Cit may alleviate hyperammonemia by increasing urea cycle. The combination of these supplements could reduce central fatigue induced by exercise and improve the performance. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of supplementation of BCAA, Arg and Cit on central fatigue and the specific test for Taekwondo reactive skills after three intermittent high-intensity exercises. Methods: Twelve elite collegiate male Taekwondo athletes were recruited and randomly assigned in counterbalanced order. Subjects completed the interval exercise imitating the real volume of Taekwondo competition. Each period of exercise contained three 2-min rounds on a 0.1 kp/kg cycloergometer. Each round contained 4 repeats of 5-s sprint and 25-s rest. Each round was separated by a 2-min rest. The supplement contained 0.17 g/kg BCAA, 0.05 g/kg arginine, and 0.05 g/kg citrulline (AA trial) or placebo (maltodextrin and VitE, PL trial) and given 60 min before the third period of exercise. The premotor reaction time (PRT), motor reaction time (MRT), reaction time (RT), movement time (MT), total response time (TRT) and the time of second task in a dual-task scenario were measured in the Taekwondo skill test. The test was conducted 1 hour after the breakfast, and after each round. Plasma concentrations of BCAA, tryptophan, nitrogen oxide (NOx), ammonia, urea, glucose, glycerol, and nonesterified fatty acid (NEFA) were determined. Ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) was also recorded using the Borg scale. Results: The AA trial showed significantly faster PRT (AA trial:A movement 0.142±0.016 s, B movement 0.141±0.018 s, C movement 0.139±0.015 s, D movement 0.139±0.012 s; PL trial: movement 0.166±0.016 s, B movement 0.163±. 0.023 s, C movement 0.162±0.009 s, D movement 0.168±0.024 s). The time of the second trial in dual task (AA trial 0.259±0.030 s; PL trial 0.293±0.049 s) at the end of the third period. The ratio of plasma Trp/BCAA in the AA trial (35.0±4.3) was significantly lower than that in the PL trial (70.0±9.6). The value of RPE was similar between the two trials. The AA trial (13.2±5.7 μM) elicited significantly higher NOx concentrationthan the PL trail (8.2±4.0 μM) in the third period. Nevertheless, the two trials did not appear significant differences in the concentrations of ammonia, urea, glucose, glycerol, NEFA, and blood lactate. The performances of average power value and maximum power value were also similar in each period of intermittent exercise between the two trials. Conclusion: The combination of BCAA, Arg and Cit supplementation could result in better PRT in Taekwondo skill tests after 3 periods of intermittent exercise, possibly throught the attenuation of central fatigue. Combination of Arg and Cit could stimulate the blood vessel dilatation to augment flow of blood via higher NOx concentration. It appeared that the supplement had no significant effect on metabolite removal.

Title: The mutual relationship between fundamental motor skills and specific football skills in children aged 8 - Byškovice in the - oup. Their average age was 9.0 ± 0.9 years. Using the TGMD - (52%) of participants reached a level of at least 'average'. The results of this 's general motor skills is recommended

碩士<br>國立新竹教育大學<br>體育系體育碩士在職進修專班<br>103<br>Abstract Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between upper ,lower limbs’ Reactive strength index (RSI) and specific-sport in youth baseball player’s skills and to establish a prediction equation of specific-sport skills. Method: Fifty youth baseball players in Hsinchu City. All players join to evaluated four specific baseball skills including pitching velocity, pitching accuracy, swing speed, running base, and RSI results of upper and lower limbs by Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient, and using Stepwise Regression to Analysis, define a formula to predict the performance of specific sport skill effectively. Significant correlation coefficient is set at p<0.5. Result: This research showed that a correlation between lower limbs’ RSI and pitching velocity (r＝.247), pitch accuracy (r＝－.423) and running base (R1 r＝.295, R2 r＝.471, R4r＝.341); therefore a correlation between upper limbs’ RSI and pitching velocity (r＝.361) , swing speed (r＝.483) and running base (R1 r＝－.378, R2 R4 r＝－.359). Regression equation was pitching velocity Y^＝15.345 (upper RSI)＋79.843, pitch accuracy Y^＝-15.821 (lower RSI)＋46.731, swing speed Y^＝24.82 (upper RSI）＋78.441, running base R1 Y^＝.326（lower RSI）＋4.728, R2 Y^＝.668（lower RSI）＋4.446 and R4 Y^＝.873（upper RSI）＋4.677. Conclusions: Youth baseball player’s upper and lower limbs’ RSI affect their specific sport skill.

A ninety minute competitive soccer match consists of many intermittent sprints resulting in fatigue, and consequently, a reduction in skill performance. The combination of caffeine and carbohydrate (CHO) has been shown to have ergogenic effects which help maintain skill measures during fatiguing states, however, there has been little research investigating this combination on soccer performance. Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine the effects of three sports drinks, including a placebo (PLA), a 6% CHO drink, and CHO + caffeine (CCAF; 5 mg/Kg body mass (BM)) on soccer-specific skills, throughout a fatigue-inducing soccer match. Twelve male soccer players completed three ninety minute intersquad matches played outdoors on a grass field in a randomized crossover design. Players consumed 5 ml/kg BM 45 minutes prior to kickoff and 3 ml/kg BM every 15 minutes during match play. Soccer passing skill was measured using the Loughborough Soccer Passing Test (LSPT), shot speed, and 20m sprint performance were measured pre-match, immediately at halftime and immediately post-match. Countermovement jump (CMJ) was measured pre-match and post-match. Heart rate (HR) was measured continuously. Blood lactate, rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and perceived fatigue were assessed every fifteen minutes throughout the match. Urine was collected pre-match for analysis of urine specific gravity (USG). BM was measured pre-match and post-match. LSPT total performance time was significantly better in the CCAF trial compared to the PLA trial at halftime (55.3 ± 10.3 s vs 66.5 ±8.7 s, p = .027). There were also significant improvements in penalty time (CCAF 8.2 ± 7.6 s vs. PLA 16.6 ± 7.8 s, p = .042) and movement time (CCAF 8.2 ± 7.6 s vs. PLA 16.6 ± 7.8 s, p = .028) during the CCAF trial in comparison to the PLA at halftime. HR and blood lactate was elevated throughout the PLA trial in comparison to the CHO trial. There were no other significant findings. Most players (50% - 83%) started all three matches in a dehydrated state (USG > 1.020). The CHO trial had significantly lower sweat rates (0.83 ± 0.25 L/hr) than both the PLA trial (1.06 ± 0.26 L/hr, p = .038) and the CCAF trial (1.11 ± 0.19 L/hr, p = .009). The addition of caffeine to a CHO sports drink significantly improved passing performance (quicker completion time and fewer penalties accumulated) over a PLA. All three sports drinks appeared to be equally as effective in preventing deterioration of soccer skill performance during a game situation. This suggests that the total volume of fluid consumed is of greater importance than the type of fluid. Caffeine appeared to have limited ergogenic effects on skill performance without any negative consequences.<br>Graduate

My thesis focuses on the problem on person with hearing impaiment in physical training and sport. My research is based on own experience as I am a hearing impaired pesrosn myself. After having collected the all the necesery data, the theorectical part was dividend into six charter. The first chapter focuses on hearing itself hearing impairment and hearing dysfunctions. The second chapter focuses on the issue of hearing aids. The third chapter is devoted to education and communication of people with hearing impairment. In the fourth and fifth chapter, sports opportunites and limitations of aurally weakened persons are analyzed. Last chapter is devoted to motor skills. The balance between healty persons and those with hearing impariment is described in the practical part of the thesis. A hypothesis is suggqsted and research results will either support or oppose it. The essential part odt the part the thesis consists in the results of a questionnaire and physical test applied and also graph processing. The thesis work includes additional affachments which are essential for further understanding. Keywords weakened persons, hearing impared, communication, locomotive abilities, coordination and balance skills, sport, hearing aids, cochlear implant

Self-efficacy theory is one of the most researched topics in sport psychology. This chapter defines self-efficacy and provides an overview of the antecedents and outcomes of strong and weak self-efficacy. An overview of self-efficacy-based research in disability sport is also provided. Correlational work has demonstrated that athletes with strong self-efficacy, relative to athletes with weaker efficacy, have stronger psychological skills, less anxiety, more positive affect, and less negative affect and receive more social support from significant others. Imagery and self-talk are also related to self-efficacy providing theoretical support for these two antecedents. Athletes with strong training self-efficacy also tend to have strong performance self-efficacy. Research examining self-efficacy for pain management and the challenges of training is advocated as well as longitudinal research and intervention work. Similarly, work examining disability and disability sport–specific antecedents and outcomes of efficacy is called for, as is research into coach, team, and referee self-efficacy.

The cardiac-specific medical services plan, in and around a sports stadium or arena, should be carefully undertaken and individualized, in order to ensure safe, effective, and coordinated management of any sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). This is ensured practically by tailoring the designated number and skills of on-duty health-care personnel and by having adequate and appropriate medical equipment, effective communication systems, and the emergency medical service transportation logistics required to initiate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and defibrillation within the first 3–5 minutes after SCA, regardless of the size or type of sport environment. The planning should be written down in a medical action plan (MAP) which should be communicated to all relevant and appropriate officials, health-care personnel, and, where relevant, participants and spectators. Relevant contact information regarding activation of the necessary emergency medical services, listing the sport environment health-care personnel, and continuous education and skills training are vital parts of the MAP.

The article presents results of the research on jumping strategies applied by elite athletes in various sport disciplines. Research hypothesis: to perform the same motor task athletes employ different ways of organizing the movement and different features of MTU functioning. The choice of a mechanism to enhance muscle contraction depends on sport discipline, in particular specific features of the sport movement. The study involved members of the Russian national teams in alpine skiing, bobsleighing, mogul skiing and ski jumping. The athletes performed drop jumps from the heights of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.5 m with no arm swing. Experimental data were obtained online from 24 cameras using the Qualisys motion capture system (400 frames per second) and the two force plates AMTI 6000. Data was processed using the OpenSim package. The authors calculated the amount of accumulation and utilization of elastic strain energy and assessed metabolic energy expenditures in MTU. The authors concluded that employment of different strategies of movement organization in drop jumps could be explained by the transfer of motor skills specific to the athlete’s sport discipline. The results of the study may help coaches develop individual training plans for athletes, in particular strength training exercises targeting specific muscle groups.

Since mid-2000s, online coaching games emerged as meta-games which support players who need professional training for knowledge and skills in playing specific games. This chapter presents a case study of a coaching game for first-person shooters (FPS) involving a collaboration between a game-based learning researcher, a professional FPS coach, and a team of game developers. The focus of this study is how the collaborative team balanced the seriousness of a coaching needs and the fun of game playing systematically. The object of this study was to propose a coaching framework for designing and developing meta-games for use in mastering various genres. To achieve this objective, the researcher discussed with professors in sport science, interviewed with professional gamers, conducted multiple brainstorming sessions with game developers, and analyzed design documents of published FPS titles. The proposed coaching game framework—when used appropriately—can be a guide for coaching in different game genres.

In many cases it is the teacher who first suspects that a child may have a specific learning difficulty. Teachers are able to compare a child’s work and behaviour to that of his peers, and so can often spot a child who is experiencing difficulties before this is noticed by his parents. Sometimes, however, parents are the first to realize that their child may have a problem. There is no completely reliable way of detecting that your child has a specific learning difficulty, but here are some pointers that may alert you to the need for further evaluation of your child’s difficulties. . . . Pointers to a specific learning difficulty . . . It is quite normal for a child to struggle with skills such as reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic in the first year or two of school, but after this period, he should attain a basic level of competence. If your child continues to struggle beyond this period, he may have a specific learning difficulty. This should be suspected if he seems to be out of his depth and is not showing signs of becoming competent in basic academic skills. It may also be apparent to you that he seems brighter than these difficulties in his academic work would suggest. His reading may be slow and hesitant, with elementary errors. When reading, he may make up the story based on the illustrations to cover his difficulties, or he may guess wildly at words. He may be unable to spell the words in his spelling list, despite trying reasonably hard. His writing may remain very immature or illegible despite his best efforts. Another warning sign is a child who can write neatly, but only if he writes at an extremely slow speed. If his arithmetic skills are affected, he will seem to be lost when asked to do the calculations expected of a child in his class. He may have great difficulties understanding the meaning of arithmetical operations such as addition, subtraction, and multiplication. Another clue that a child may have a specific learning difficulty is speech delay.

This chapter covers the common adult presentations of respiratory disease and how to examine to help diagnose a respiratory problem. The chapter also provides common scoring systems for acute presentations of asthma (British Thoracic Society guidelines), adult pneumonia (‘CURB 65’ score), and pulmonary embolism (Well’s score). The chapter also explains the fundamentals of common investigations including chest radiographs (how to look at a chest film and spot signs of infection, pulmonary oedema, pneumothorax, and bronchiectasis) and spirometry. The categories of respiratory failure (type 1 and type 2) are explained. Along with asthma, pneumonia, and pulmonary embolism, the chapter also covers chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and tuberculosis. Investigations and management of common presentations such as COPD, asthma, pneumonia, and asthma are discussed, including oxygen therapy, drug therapy, and indications for chest drain placement. There is a summary of landmark research papers in the management of respiratory problems. History and examination skills specific for respiratory medicine are also covered.

Rachel is eight years old. She was slow to crawl and walk. She still cannot pedal a tricycle, fasten small buttons, or tie her laces. She is very poor at sports and is often teased by the other children for her awkward running style. She is a messy eater and washes herself and brushes her teeth with great difficulty. Her mother says that she has a poor sense of direction and still confuses right with left. Rachel’s school work is satisfactory. Her writing is untidy, but if she prints slowly it is legible. Rachel has been tested by a psychologist and found to have some visual perception difficulties, but to be of normal intelligence. Her reading, spelling, and arithmetic are in the average range. A paediatrician has examined Rachel and detected no abnormalities that can account for her clumsiness. The term ‘clumsiness’ will be used in this chapter to refer to unexplained, significant difficulties in the coordination of movement in a child of average, or above average, intelligence. This sort of clumsiness is commonly associated with other forms of specific learning difficulty, such as reading difficulty. This does not mean, however, that most children with specific learning difficulty are clumsy. Many are, in fact, well coordinated. But clumsiness is far more common in children with specific learning difficulty than in other children. Clumsiness is more common in boys and quite often runs in families. The word ‘motor’ is used for movement. Gross motor skills involve large groups of muscles responsible for activities such as walking, running, jumping, hopping, and bicycle riding. Fine motor skills involve the hands and fingers, and are concerned with activities such as writing, drawing, using scissors, and tying knots. There are a number of standardized tests of both gross and fine motor proficiency. These may be performed by a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, or a doctor. Activities must be carefully observed to detect the presence of tremors and other unusual movements. Balance, strength, tone, reflexes, and ability to interpret certain sensations are all assessed. It is essential that rare, serious conditions associated with poor coordination are excluded by a doctor.

When David was 12 years old it became apparent that he was having significant difficulty writing. He struggled on, but his writing did not improve and he was regularly having his work returned by teachers because it was illegible. If he tried to write painstakingly slowly he could produce work that was barely legible, but there was not enough time to do this during examinations. David was very intelligent, an avid reader, an excellent debater, and good at sports. He was well coordinated in every manual task except writing, and was physically healthy. No cause for his difficulty could be found. At high school and university, he was given permission to type his examination papers and obtained excellent results. He is now a professor of law. He still cannot write legibly, but has had many papers and a number of books published. He uses a combination of dictation and typing instead of writing. This chapter deals with the mechanics of handwriting, that is, the formation of letters and their arrangement on the page. In contrast with disorders of reading and spelling, such difficulties have received little attention. This is partly because writing is a skill that cannot be easily evaluated by standardized tests, and partly because significant impairment of writing skill seems to be relatively uncommon. Unfortunately, this lack of knowledge means that children with specific writing difficulty are often misunderstood and maligned. Assessment of writing should form part of a comprehensive assessment, as described in Chapter 2. It is impossible to score a sample of writing in a precise way. In practice, samples of writing are usually evaluated by an experienced tester. Three samples of writing are obtained: a passage of free composition on a particular topic, a piece of dictation, and a copy of some printed material. In the case of the free composition, the child is usually given a limited amount of time, such as five minutes. In the other two tests, he is timed to see how long he takes.

Abstract Human’s motion and its mechanisms had become interesting in the last years, where the medecine’s field search for rehabilitation methods for handicapped persons. Other fields, like sport sciences, professional or military world, search to distinguish profiles and ways to train them with specific purposes. Besides, recent findings in neuroscience try to describe these mechanisms from an organic point of view. Until now, different researchs had given a model about control motor that describes how the union between the senses’s information allows adaptable movements. One of this sense is the proprioception, the sense which has a quite big factor in the orientation and position of the body, its members and joints. For this reason, research for new strategies to explore proprioception and improve the theories of human motion could be done by three different vias. At first, the sense is analysed in a case-study where three groups of persons are compared in a controlled enviroment with three experimental tasks. The subjects belong to each group by the kind of sport they do: sedentary, normal sportsmen (e.g. athletics, swimming) and martial sportmen (e.g. karate, judo). They are compared thinking about the following hypothesis: “Martial Sportmen have a better proprioception than of the other groups’s subjects: It could be due to the type of exercises they do in their sports as empirically, a contact sportsman shows significantly superior motor skills to the members of the other two groups. The second via are records from encephalogram (EEG) while the experimental tasks are doing. These records are analised a posteriori with a set of processing algorithms to extract characteristics about brain’s activity of the proprioception and motion control. 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A number of pathologies impact on the way a patient can either move or control the movements of the body. Traumas, articulation arthritis or generic orthopedic disease affect the way a person can walk or perform everyday movements; brain or spine issues can lead to a complete or partial impairment, affecting both muscular response and sensitivity. Each of these disorder shares the need of assessing patient’s condition while doing specific tests and exercises or accomplishing everyday life tasks. Moreover, also high-level sport activity may be worth using digital tools to acquire physical performances to be improved. The assessment can be done for several purpose, such as creating a custom physical rehabilitation plan, monitoring improvements or worsening over time, correcting wrong postures or bad habits and, in the sportive domain to optimize effectiveness of gestures or related energy consumption. The paper shows the use of low-cost motion capture techniques to acquire human motion, the transfer of motion data to a digital human model and the extraction of desired information according to each specific medical or sportive purpose. We adopted the well-known and widespread Mocap technology implemented by Microsoft Kinect devices and we used iPisoft tools to perform acquisition and the preliminary data elaboration on the virtual skeleton of the patient. The focus of the paper is on the working method that can be generalized to be adopted in any medical, rehabilitative or sportive condition in which the analysis of the motion is crucial. The acquisition scene can be optimized in terms of size and shape of the working volume and in the number and positioning of sensors. However, the most important and decisive phase consist in the knowledge acquisition and management. For each application and even for each single exercise or tasks a set of evaluation rules and thresholds must be extracted from literature or, more often, directly form experienced personnel. This operation is generally time consuming and require further iterations to be refined, but it is the core to generate an effective metric and to correctly assess patients and athletes performances. Once rules are defined, proper algorithms are defined and implemented to automatically extract only the relevant data in specific time frames to calculate performance indexes. At last, a report is generated according to final user requests and skills.

For many people, the interpretation of vibration signals for a machine at running speed is complicated and foreign, and is considered an art in many circles. Interpreting the rich characteristics of the raw signals during run-up and coast down requires even more skill and experience. For some, interpreting the signals at slow speeds (sometimes called slow roll speeds) is so difficult that the signals are often ignored and discredited as not useful data. This paper will communicate the author’s experience in using this valuable, yet sometimes difficult, data to correlate and corroborate with high-speed data. This data and interpretation are used to understand the dynamic behavior of the machine while the forces on the rotor are driving the response characteristics at run up, full speed and coast down. In the sports arena, good coaches often say that if you cannot execute skills in slow motion, you likely won’t be able to execute them at normal speeds and absolutely not in high-pressure game situations. This is also true for vibration diagnostics: if you don’t do correct slow speed analysis, full speed and transient (startup and coast down) analysis may be misleading or just wrong. In this instance, the analyses and diagnostic calls that were made by using slow speed signal analysis include: Selecting Slow Roll Values, Shaft Surface Quality, Direction of Rotation, Rotor Bow (Gravity), Rotor Bow (Thermal), Locked up Coupling, Non-Concentric Coupling, Reverse Rotation. This paper will describe the methodologies for collecting data and the analysis of the data to make the above calls on specific examples experienced by the author and his colleagues.

Traditional moxibustion generates heat stimulation that expands blood vessels and promotes blood circulation. We developed a novel noncontact-type thermal therapeutic system using an infrared laser diode. The device allows direct interaction of laser light with the skin, thereby rendering a temperature distribution on both on the skin’s surface and deep under the skin. Optical and thermal properties—the absorption coefficient, specific heat, and thermal conductivity—are the three most important parameters for a tissue phantom used as a substitute for real skin. We found that these parameters could be manipulated using the concentration of agar gel, and we fabricated multi-layer tissue phantoms using combinations of agar gels with different concentrations. The temperature distribution inside the tissue phantom during laser irradiation was measured using inserted thermocouples and thermal imaging. The temperature increased with agar gel concentration, and could reach a maximum value under the surface of the tissue phantom. Further analysis of the temperature distribution yielded controllable parameters for laser irradiation (output power, spot size, wavelength, and pulse width) to induce a similar thermal effect with moxibustion therapy. With known compositions and the opto-thermal properties of a patient’s skin tissue, we manipulated the temperature distribution inside the tissue by optimizing the laser parameters, which will ultimately enable patient-specific thermal therapy.