Performance characteristics of long-track speed skaters: a literature review.

Speed skating is an intriguing sport to study from different perspectives due to the peculiar way of motion and the multiple determinants for performance. This review aimed to identify what is known on (long-track) speed skating, and which individual characteristics determine speed skating performance. A total of 49 studies were included. Based on a multidimensional performance model, person-related performance characteristics were categorized in anthropometrical, technical, physiological, tactical, and psychological characteristics. Literature was found on anthropometry, technique, physiology, and tactics. However, psychological studies were clearly under-represented. In particular, the role of self-regulation might deserve more attention to further understand mechanisms relevant for optimal performance and for instance pacing. Another remarkable finding was that the technically/biomechanically favourable crouched skating technique (i.e. small knee and trunk angle) leads to a physiological disadvantage: a smaller knee angle may increase the deoxygenation of the working muscles. This is an important underlying aspect for the pacing tactics in speed skating. Elite speed skaters need to find the optimal balance between obtaining a fast start and preventing negative technical adaptations later on in the race by distributing their available energy over the race in an optimal way. More research is required to gain more insight into how this impacts on the processes of fatigue and coordination during speed skating races. This can lead to a better understanding on how elite speed skaters can maintain the optimal technical characteristics throughout the entire race, and how they can adapt their pacing to optimize all identified aspects that determine performance.

Root morphology and anatomical patterns in forensic dental identification: a comparison of computer-aided identification with traditional forensic dental identification.

An online forensic dental identification exercise was conducted involving 24 antemortem-postmortem (AM-PM) dental radiograph pairs from actual forensic identification cases. Images had been digitally cropped to remove coronal tooth structure and dental restorations. Volunteer forensic odontologists were passively recruited to compare the AM-PM dental radiographs online and conclude identification status using the guidelines for identification from the American Board of Forensic Odontology. The mean accuracy rate for identification was 86.0% (standard deviation 9.2%). The same radiograph pairs were compared using a digital imaging software algorithm, which generated a normalized coefficient of similarity for each pair. Twenty of the radiograph pairs generated a mean accuracy of 85.0%. Four of the pairs could not be used to generate a coefficient of similarity. Receiver operator curve and area under the curve statistical analysis confirmed good discrimination abilities of both methods (online exercise = 0.978; UT-ID index = 0.923) and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient analysis (0.683) indicated good correlation between the results of both methods. Computer-aided dental identification allows for an objective comparison of AM-PM radiographs and can be a useful tool to support a forensic dental identification conclusion.

Impulsive responses in children with conduct disorder and borderline intellectual functioning.

The study is designed to investigate response inhibition in children with conduct disorder and borderline intellectual functioning. To this end, children are compared to a normal peer control group using the Alertness test. The test has two conditions. In one condition, children are instructed to push a response button after a visual "go" signal is presented on the screen. In a second condition the "go" signal is preceded by an auditory signal, telling the child that a target stimulus will occur soon. Compared to the control group, the group carrying the dual diagnosis made many preliminary responses (responses before the presentation of the "go" signal), especially in the condition with an auditory signal. This impulsive response style was controlled for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder characteristics of the children.

Attention and impulse control in children with borderline intelligence with or without conduct disorder.

This study was designed to investigate attention and impulse control in 21 boys with dual diagnoses of conduct disorder and borderline intelligence and in 19 boys with borderline intelligence only. Using the Continuous Performance Test A-not-X, it appeared that children with the dual diagnosis made substantially more errors reflecting poor impulse control than the other group. The frequency of these errors was associated with scores on Impulsiveness, Aggression, and Delinquency subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist (Teacher Version). Also, the group with the dual diagnosis showed signs of a deficit in attention.

Response inhibition in children with conduct disorder and borderline intellectual functioning.

The aim of the study was to investigate impulse control in children with conduct disorder (CD) plus borderline intellectual functioning (BIF), in children with BIF-only, and in a control group with a normal IQ. For this purpose, a Go-No-Go test with varying inter-stimulus-intervals was used. The group CD plus BIF made more errors of commission than the group with BIF only. Therefore, it was concluded that poor impulse control in the group CD plus BIF was associated with CD, not with IQ level. Poor impulse control in the group CD plus BIF was independent of the presentation rate of the stimuli.