Research question: The current study investigates the income elasticities and socio-economic determinants of direct and indirect sports expenditure categories by means of a log normal hurdle regression. Research methods: The data stem from a representative sample of 3005 Flemish families with school-aged children, gathered through a sports-specific survey. A log normal hurdle regression was used to calculate the determining factors and expenditure elasticities of expenditure on sports participation. Results and findings: The results indicate that income, education and the age of the youngest child are positively related to almost all sports expenditure categories, while the number of family members and degree of urbanisation are significant for only a number of the expenditure categories. The elasticity value of the direct sports expenses is smaller than is the case for indirect sports expenditure. Between the expenditure categories large differences exist, as relatively large elasticities are found for sports holidays, transport and sports food and drinks, as opposed to low values of sports events, sports club membership, entrance fees for sports infrastructure, sports camps, clothing, footwear and equipment. Implications: The fact that income significantly influences all expenditure categories demonstrates that further policy intervention is required to make sports consumption more accessible to lower income groups. Sports enterprises and policymakers need to be aware that negative income shifts have a more profound impact on the indirect expenditure categories, and that certain sports activities (e.g. participation events) are relatively more favoured by low-income groups than is the case for sports club membership
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Background: Differential learning (DL) is a motor learning method characterized by high amounts of variability during practice and is claimed to provide the learner with a higher learning rate than other methods. However, some controversy surrounds DL theory, and to date, no overview exists that compares the effects of DL to other motor learning methods.Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of DL in comparison to other motor learning methods in the acquisition and retention phase.Design: Systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.Methods: PubMed (MEDLINE), Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched until February 3, 2020. To be included, (1) studies had to be experiments where the DL group was compared to a control group engaged in a different motor learning method (lack of practice was not eligible), (2) studies had to describe the effects on one or more measures of performance in a skill or movement task, and (3) the study report had to be published as a full paper in a journal or as a book chapter.Results: Twenty-seven studies encompassing 31 experiments were included. Overall heterogeneity for the acquisition phase (post-pre; I2 = 77%) as well as for the retention phase (retention-pre; I2 = 79%) was large, and risk of bias was high. The meta-analysis showed an overall small effect size of 0.26 [0.10, 0.42] in the acquisition phase for participants in the DL group compared to other motor learning methods. In the retention phase, an overall medium effect size of 0.61 [0.30, 0.91] was observed for participants in the DL group compared to other motor learning methods.Discussion/Conclusion: Given the large amount of heterogeneity, limited number of studies, low sample sizes, low statistical power, possible publication bias, and high risk of bias in general, inferences about the effectiveness of DL would be premature. Even though DL shows potential to result in greater average improvements between pre- and post/retention test compared to non-variability-based motor learning methods, more high-quality research is needed before issuing such a statement. For robust comparisons on the relative effectiveness of DL to different variability-based motor learning methods, scarce and inconclusive evidence was found.
CHI PLAY '20, November 2–4, 2020, Virtual Event, Canada We have built and implemented a set of metaphors for breathing games by involving children and experts. These games are made to facilitate prevention of asthma exacerbation via regular monitoring of children with asthma through spirometry at home. To instruct and trigger children to execute the (unsupervised) spirometry correctly, we have created interactive metaphors that respond in real-time to the child’s inhalation and exhalation. Eleven metaphors have been developed in detail. Three metaphors have been fully implemented based on current guidelines for spirometry and were tested with 30 asthmatic children. Each includes multi-target incentives, responding to three different target values (inhalation, peak expiration, and complete exhalation). We postulate that the metaphors should use separate goals for these targets, have independent responses, and allow to also go beyond expected values for each of these targets. From the selected metaphors, most children preferred a dragon breathing fire and a soccer player kicking a ball into a goal as a metaphor; least liked were blowing seeds of a dandelion and applying lotion to a dog to grow its hair. Based on this project we discuss the potential and benefits of a suite-of-games approach: multiple games that each can be selected and adapted depending on personal capabilities and interests.
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