Tournament Participants Research Articles

English

The purpose of this study was to explore the motives for participating in physical activity, and to compare motives with respect to gender and age in pupils aged from 9 to 11 years in Turkey. The participants were 400 voluntary pupils (205 females and 195 males) from a total of four public schools in the center of Cappadocia region. Authorization of parents, teachers and principals were ensured at all times. Data were gathered by “Questionnaire of Motives for Physical Activity Participation”. Exploratory factor analysis revealed a four factor solution -psychological, cognitive, physical, and social aspects of motives- explaining 60.3% of the variance with 30 possible reasons for participating in physical activity in daily life. Internal consistency coefficient was a=.88 for the questionnaire. Descriptive statistics showed that the most important motives for being physically active were social factors (M=2.28±.69), it was followed in order of importance by psychological factors (M=2.25±.63), physical factors (M=2.20±.51) and cognitive factors (M=1.82±.63). The most indicated social motive was “to be and play with friends”, while the least were “social events as tournament participation” and “to be well-known and popular”. Kruskal Wallis Test showed that mean ranks on cognitive and physical motives were significantly different according to age, increasing in importance from age 9 to 11 (p<.05*). Mann-Whitney U test showed that there was no significant difference on participation motives regarding gender (p>.05) in primary school students. Key words: Physical activity, motivation, participation, Turkish students.

‘All-things-considered,’ ‘Better-than,’ And Sports Rankings

Comparative judgments abound in sports. Fans and pundits bandy about which of two players or teams is bigger, faster, stronger, more talented, less injury prone, more reliable, safer to bet on, riskier to trade for, and so on. Arguably, of most interest are judgments of a coarser type: which of two players or teams is, all-things-considered, just plain better? Conventionally, it is accepted that such comparisons can be appropriately captured and expressed by sports rankings. Rankings play an important role in sports arguably because of the conventional acceptance that rankings capture and express all-things-considered relations between the ranked teams or players. Standard ranking practices rely on a number of widely held assumptions. I discuss three of the most important and argue that at least one of them must be false. If this is right, the strong and growing commitment to using rankings to determine participation in tournaments and the awarding of championships is mistaken. At the least, given the conventional wisdom about rankings, my argument provides good reasons to be skeptical that any particular ranking ‘gets it right’. At the limit, it suggests that our most basic assumptions about all-things-considered athletic quality are wrong.

Assessing Fishers' Support of Striped Bass Management Strategies.

Incorporating the perspectives and insights of stakeholders is an essential component of ecosystem-based fisheries management, such that policy strategies should account for the diverse interests of various groups of anglers to enhance their efficacy. Here we assessed fishing stakeholders’ perceptions on the management of Atlantic striped bass (Morone saxatilis) and receptiveness to potential future regulations using an online survey of recreational and commercial fishers in Massachusetts and Connecticut (USA). Our results indicate that most fishers harbored adequate to positive perceptions of current striped bass management policies when asked to grade their state’s management regime. Yet, subtle differences in perceptions existed between recreational and commercial fishers, as well as across individuals with differing levels of fishing experience, resource dependency, and tournament participation. Recreational fishers in both states were generally supportive or neutral towards potential management actions including slot limits (71%) and mandated circle hooks to reduce mortality of released fish (74%), but less supportive of reduced recreational bag limits (51%). Although commercial anglers were typically less supportive of management changes than their recreational counterparts, the majority were still supportive of slot limits (54%) and mandated use of circle hooks (56%). Our study suggests that both recreational and commercial fishers are generally supportive of additional management strategies aimed at sustaining healthy striped bass populations and agree on a variety of strategies. However, both stakeholder groups were less supportive of harvest reductions, which is the most direct measure of reducing mortality available to fisheries managers. By revealing factors that influence stakeholders’ support or willingness to comply with management strategies, studies such as ours can help managers identify potential stakeholder support for or conflicts that may result from regulation changes.

Organised Military Sports of the Hellenic Armed Forces for the Period 1948–1968

The year 1948, as a starting point both of this study and of the organised military sport for Greece, was particularly hectic, since the newly liberated country was embroiled in the Civil War while, simultaneously, it was trying to reconstitute itself. The next two decades were marked by the foundation and the activities of the Higher Coordinating Committee for Sport in the Armed Forces (Anotera Syntonistiki Epitropi Athlitismou Enoplon Dynameon – A.S.E.A.E.D.). This Committee organised and materialised the first steps of the newly established organised sports activities of the Hellenic Armed Forces and evolved as a result, into the Supreme Council for Sport in the Armed Forces (Anotato Symvoulio Athlitismou Enoplon Dynameon) in year 1968. Due to the lack of specific and thorough research on the topic during this era, the purpose of this study was to identify references and the original sources (archives both of the A.S.E.A.E.D. and of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff) and to highlight and reveal the activities of organised Greek military sport, in the organisational field, and the Hellenic Armed Forces' participation in international sports tournaments.

An Exploration of Robot Builders’ Emotional Responses to Their Tournament Robots

Our exploratory study about robot builders‟ attachment to their LEGO robots found that college level participants showed strong affection for their robots, but the relationship was different from human-human or human-pet attachment in terms of lack of separation related anxiety and enjoyment of companion. Whether the relationship should be named attachment is now pending. The present research investigated further in three aspects: 1) revised the emotion questionnaire based on a newly developed emotional response model; 2) expanded the participants to middle school and high school students who participate in robotics competition tournaments; 3) examined additional factors that might influence their emotional responses to the robot, including: participation in tournaments, team dependency, time/effect input, performance expectation, and features of the robot. The revised emotion response questionnaire showed high reliability and significantly positive correlations with the overall affection for robot. Time/effort input and features of the robot were found significantly contribute to their emotional responses to the robot. This study will help robotics educators better understand students‟ emotions, and adjust accordingly to increase students‟ learning effectiveness and well-being.

Information slows down hierarchy growth.

We consider models of growing multilevel systems wherein the growth process is driven by rules of tournament selection. A system can be conceived as an evolving tree with a new node being attached to a contestant node at the best hierarchy level (a level nearest to the tree root). The proposed evolution reflects limited information on system properties available to new nodes. It can also be expressed in terms of population dynamics. Two models are considered: a constant tournament (CT) model wherein the number of tournament participants is constant throughout system evolution, and a proportional tournament (PT) model where this number increases proportionally to the growing size of the system itself. The results of analytical calculations based on a rate equation fit well to numerical simulations for both models. In the CT model all hierarchy levels emerge, but the birth time of a consecutive hierarchy level increases exponentially or faster for each new level. The number of nodes at the first hierarchy level grows logarithmically in time, while the size of the last, "worst" hierarchy level oscillates quasi-log-periodically. In the PT model, the occupations of the first two hierarchy levels increase linearly, but worse hierarchy levels either do not emerge at all or appear only by chance in the early stage of system evolution to further stop growing at all. The results allow us to conclude that information available to each new node in tournament dynamics restrains the emergence of new hierarchy levels and that it is the absolute amount of information, not relative, which governs such behavior.

Action-based feature representation for reverse engineering trading strategies

This paper considers the problem of reverse engineering strategies for trading in the financial markets. We investigate this problem in the context of a trading tournament in which student teams used delta hedging and other mechanisms to attempt to achieve benchmark performance in managing a hedge fund in a simulated market. Our hypothesis is that machine learning models can be trained to solve the apprenticeship learning problem; that is, these models can learn to trade like tournament participants. After reviewing classical return-matching approaches and recent work in inverse reinforcement learning, we propose a supervised learning methodology that makes use of recursive partitioning (RP). Our proposed RP approach is based on a feature representation for actions that, we argue, corresponds to the information structures readily available to tournament participants. RP achieves high accuracy in predicting the type and scale of participant trades and in tracking overall portfolio performance. Our results suggest that further research on our proposed approach is warranted and should include an expansion to testing on data from real markets.

80 Years of the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation Prerequisites and Creation

INTRODUCTIONWrestling is a national sport in Bulgaria. It is unique in style and has a centuries' old history. Its numerous victories have paved a glorious path of great tradition. Looking back to its origins and the formation of the Bulgarian Wrestling Federation is only logical on the eve of its 80th anniversary. The issue of determining the exact date when the federation was founded has not been thoroughly studied. Some attempts have been made to identify an approximate period as ‘the beginning’, naming certain professional wrestling competitions, circus contests, gymnastics tournaments or the participation in international tournaments as such a starting point. These events did take place and are undoubtedly historical facts; however, they are only part of the prerequisites for the founding of the Bulgarian wrestling federation. The main purpose of the current study is to research and record certain prerequisites for the formation of the Bulgarian wrestling federation.

Microsporidial Keratoconjunctivitis Outbreak among Athletes from Hong Kong Who Visited Singapore, 2012

Microsporidial Keratoconjunctivitis Outbreak among Athletes from Hong Kong Who Visited Singapore, 2012

2401 飛行性能向上のための紙飛行機形状のパラメトリックスタディ

Distance and duration of flight for paper planes exist in guinness record and the world tournament. Throwing method and flight are significantly different in the competition of distance and duration of flight. Tournament Participants get the best throwing technique by experience. The experiment was based on the rules of the world tournament by changing the parameters by prepare a plurality of airframe and quality of paper for the purpose of flight performance improvement. Consequently, paper quality and airframe required for flight duration improvement and flight distance extension are the direct contrast, that the strategy is different has been discovered.

The internal adaptation processes of professional boxers during the Showtime Super Six Boxing Classic: A qualitative thematic analysis

ObjectivesThe Super Six World Boxing Classic was conceived by Showtime Sports to feature the best six professional boxers in the super middleweight division (168 pounds) throughout a modified round robin tournament. The objective was to explore the adaptation and mal-adaptation processes of the tournament's original six tournament participants over time. DesignMedia data in the form of documentary episodes (n = 12 episodes, ∼30 min each from the foregoing source were transcribed verbatim. Data included athletes' responses prior to their first bout and as each progressed or was eliminated. Boxers' post-bout explanations were also included. MethodThe original six contestants (mean age = 28.8 years at tournament start) from the tournament, with a record of 157 wins and 4 losses, were included within the project. Data were analyzed via thematic analysis (see Braun & Clarke, 2006). ResultsThe following themes were identified: (a) pre-conditions: moving into the tournament (subthemes: positive anticipation, uncertainty), (b) outcomes: moving through the tournament (subthemes: tournament progression, tournament regressions), and (c) consequences: moving out of the tournament (sub-themes: responses of the defeated, the king's adaptation). ConclusionsThis study highlights the adaptation processes of the six tournament contestants, demonstrating how one athlete adapted successfully and became champion through personal focus. The remaining athletes lost at least once, with pre-bout adaptation processes suggesting performance regression. These findings add to the adaptation literature, further contextualizing how adaptation meanings change and unfold over time.

Tournament Selection Efficiency: An Analysis of the PGA TOUR's FedExCup

Analytical descriptions of tournament selection efficiency properties can be elusive for realistic tournament structures. Combining a Monte Carlo simulation with a statistical model of player skill and random variation in scoring, we estimate the selection efficiency of the PGA TOUR's FedExCup, a very complex multi-stage golf competition, which distributes $35 million in prize money, including $10 million to the winner. Our assessments of efficiency are based on traditional selection efficiency measures. We also introduce three new measures of efficiency which focus on the ability of a given tournament structure to identify properly the relative skills of all tournament participants and to distribute efficiently all of the tournament's prize money. We find that reasonable deviations from the present FedExCup structure do not yield large differences in the various measures of efficiency.

Managerial compensation structure and firm performance in Chinese PLCs

In this article, I examine whether and to what extent intra-firm compensation structure affects managerial incentives and firm performance. Using an unbalanced panel consisting of a total of 43 626 executives in 1362 publicly listed corporations in China during 1999–2007, I find that pay rewards increase as executives move up the corporate hierarchy and that the largest pay gap is between first- and second-tier executives. Pay dispersion is positively related to the number of tournament participants, level of risk in the business environment and firm performance. Moreover, state ownership and corporate governance play some role in determining managerial pay dispersion and firm performance. The empirical results are consistent with tournament theory and against equity, relative deprivation and sabotage theories of managerial compensation.

Tournament Qualification, Seeding and Selection Effciency: An Analysis of the PGA TOUR's FedExCup

Analytical descriptions of tournament selection efficiency properties are elusive for realistic tournament structures. For example, with more than four competitors, there are very few robust analytical tournament selection efficiency measures. Combining a Monte Carlo simulation with a statistical model of player skill and random variation in scoring, we estimate the seeding and selection efficiency of the PGA TOUR's FedExCup, a very complex multi-stage golf competition, which distributes $35 million in prize money, including $10 million to the winner. Our assessments of efficiency are based on traditional selection efficiency measures along with several new measures which focus on the ability of a given tournament structure to identify properly the relative skills of all tournament participants and to distribute efficiently all of the tournament's prize money. Using these measures, we also estimate the relative efficiency of several alternative formats for the FedExCup Finals. We conclude that despite its lack of transparency compared with alternative Finals formats, the present Finals format appears to be the most efficient using all selection efficiency measures.

STATE OWNERSHIP, CORPORATE TOURNAMENT AND EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION: EVIDENCE FROM PUBLIC LISTED FIRMS IN CHINA

This article tests several predictions of tournament theory on executive compensation in the context of a transition economy. Using an unbalanced panel of 34,701 executives in 1,386 public listed firms in China during 1999 and 2006, the paper finds that (1) pay increases as executives move up the corporate hierarchy into higher ranks; (2) pay gap is the largest between the first- and second-tier executives; (3) pay dispersion increases with the number of tournament participants and the risk of the business environment; (4) state ownership of shares reduces pay, pay gap and the sensitivities of the contestant pool and business risk to pay dispersion; (5) board composition and independence, CEO duality and the independence of the supervisory committee all affect pay and pay dispersion. Overall, this paper shows that listed firms in China, as they become more and more market-oriented, have adopted a pay structure that is largely consistent with the predictions of tournament theory, and that it is important to consider both state ownership and corporate governance in analyzing executive compensation structure.

An Addendum to Injury Rates in Iranian Taekwondo Athletes: A Prospective Study

Purpose: The objective of this study was to compare the Iranian taekwondo-in statistically in terms of total injury rates to international counterparts as gleaned from the extant literature. Methods: The Iranian sample consisted of 204 male taekwondo-in participating in the national championship. The international sample included the participants in national and international tournaments. Validated standard questionnaires were employed at all tournaments to collect injury data that were always diagnosed by the respective tournament physicians. An injury was defined as any circumstance for which assistance was sought from the medical personnel. In addition to injury rates, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) around the rates were computed. To assess which group was at higher risk, odds ratios were calculated, including the 95% CIs. Results: Compared to Greek counterparts, the injury rate for the Iranian taekwondo-in was statistically significantly higher. The Iranians were also at a higher risk to incur an injury: OR = 11.2 (95% CI: 6.60 - 18.88, P Conclusion: A statistical comparison of total injury rates in Iranian and international taekwondo-in revealed no difference between the two groups. However, what is of concern is that the total injury rate across taekwondo studies is significantly higher than those reported for American football.

Characteristics of martial art injuries in a defined Canadian population: a descriptive epidemiological study

BackgroundThe martial arts have emerged as common activities in the Canadian population, yet few studies have investigated the occurrence of associated injuries on a population basis.MethodsWe performed such an investigation and suggest potential opportunities for prevention. The data source was 14 years (1993 to 2006) of records from the Kingston sites of the Canadian Hospital Injury Reporting and Prevention Program (CHIRPP).Results920 cases were identified. Incidence rates were initially estimated using census data as denominators. We then imputed annual injury rates per 10000 using a range of published estimates of martial arts participation available from a national survey. Rates of injury in males and females were 2300 and 1033 per 10000 (0.3% participation) and 575 and 258 per 10000 (1.2% participation). Injuries were most frequently reported in karate (33%) and taekwondo (14%). The most common mechanisms of injury were falls, throws and jumps (33%). Fractures (20%) were the most frequently reported type of injury and the lower limb was the most common site of injury (41%).ConclusionsResults provide a foundation for potential interventions with a focus on falls, the use of weapons, participation in tournaments, as well as head and neck trauma.

A Survey of Bowfishing Tournaments in Arkansas

AbstractBowfishing is an understudied method of fishing that appears to be legal throughout the United States. Therefore, species composition and harvest rates were determined at six bowfishing tournaments held in Arkansas at the lower White River, the Arkansas River at Lake Dardanelle, the Arkansas River at Piney Bay, Lake DeGray, Bull Shoals Lake, and Lake Ouachita between July 1999 and May 2000. A total of 3,280 fish were harvested at the six tournaments; of this total, 2,751 fish representing 19 species were identified. Total harvest per tournament ranged from 179 to 1,674 fish and from 6 to 12 species. Mean (±SD) harvest rate for tournament participants was 3.8 ± 1.1 fish/h; among tournament winners, the harvest rate was 7.7 ± 2.8 fish/h, which appears high compared with other sport fisheries (range = 0.28–2.59 fish/h). Five species accounted for 84% of fish harvested: spotted gar Lepisosteus oculatus, common carp Cyprinus carpio, shortnose gar L. platostomus, spotted sucker Minytrema melanops, and smallmouth buffalo Ictiobus bubalus. Rank number of each species harvested at the tournaments was correlated (P < 0.05) for only 4 of 15 pairwise comparisons, which suggests that harvest often varies by tournament. Tournaments held at the Arkansas and White rivers had correlated harvest, as did spring tournaments held at the Ouachita River drainage reservoirs (i.e., Lake DeGray and Lake Ouachita). Harvest of fish smaller than published size‐at‐maturity estimates was generally not problematic but appeared to be of greatest concern for smaller‐bodied catostomid species. This study indicates that tournament bowfishers have higher harvest rates than traditional rod‐and‐reel anglers. Results of this survey should provide baseline information that may assist natural resource agencies with management of bowfishing.

An Addendum to Injury Rates in Iranian Taekwondo Athletes; a Prospective Study

The objective of this study was to compare the Iranian taekwondo-in statistically in terms of total injury rates to international counterparts as gleaned from the extant literature. The Iranian sample consisted of 204 male taekwondo-in participating in the national championship. The international sample included the participants in national and international tournaments. Validated standard questionnaires were employed at all tournaments to collect injury data that were always diagnosed by the respective tournament physicians. An injury was defined as any circumstance for which assistance was sought from the medical personnel. In addition to injury rates, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) around the rates were computed. To assess which group was at higher risk, odds ratios were calculated, including the 95%CIs. Compared to Greek counterparts, the injury rate for the Iranian taekwondo-in was statistically significantly higher. The Iranians were also at a higher risk to incur an injury: OR = 11.2 (95%CI: 6.60-18.88, P<0.001, CLR = 2.86). When comparing the Iranian taekwondo-in to their colleagues competing at the 1999 World Championships, the former recorded a statistically significantly lower injury rate but the latter were not at a higher risk (OR = 0.61, 95%CI: 0.41-0.91, P=0.014, CLR = 2.20). A statistical comparison of total injury rates in Iranian and international taekwondo-in revealed no difference between the two groups. However, what is of concern is that the total injury rate across taekwondo studies is significantly higher than those reported for American football.

Distinguishing between amateur sport participants and spectators: the List of Values approach

This study uses the List of Values (LOV) (Kahle, 1983) approach to investigate the differences in social values of amateur basketball tournament participants and spectators. The data from the survey of tournament attendees (N = 399) were utilised to demonstrate that social values can be used to predict the likelihood of a person becoming either a participant or a spectator in an amateur sport tournament. The value orientations are discussed in the context of demographic differences between the two groups. The sense of accomplishment and excitement values were positively related to tournament participation. In contrast, the warm relationship with others and security values were positively related to tournament spectatorship. Practical implications of these findings for marketing and management of amateur sport tournaments are discussed.