Sports Management Education in Turkish Universities, Analysis of Undergraduate Programs

The aim of the study is to examine the undergraduate program courses of the universities providing training in Sports Management in Turkey. In this study, electronic screening method was used via web sites of universities. 80 Sports Management Departments （SMD） were found and only 20 of them which were up to date were analyzed. 2016-2017 academic year curriculums were examined. All universities examined were state universities. The courses were grouped as Compulsory-Elective, Theoretical-Practical and Total number of course-hour and credit. The percentages of the courses were calculated over the total course hours for that group.

Predicting the Evolution of Sports Federation Membership： An Important Tool to Asses National Governing Bodies＇ Strategic Planning

Quantifying the potential market of sports licenses is key in order for National Governing Bodies of sport （NGBs） to be able to design good strategic planning. We compared the classical methods of univariate prediction and the Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average （ARIMA） methods. Reliability of the available data was verified with the Time Series Regression with ARIMA Noise, Missing and Outliers （TRAMO） method, and the existence of a trend was verified using Daniel＇s test. For the purposes of this study--the researches collected and analysed secondary data from a 40-year series in 45 sports in Spain covering a very long period of time in a variety of sport disciplines. The study shows that, with the available data, short- and mid-term forecasting is possible in a number of sports, but not in all of them. It also proves that Holt＇s classical method of exponential smoothing is the one that yields best results. Golf, Basketball, Athletics and Hunting NGB show worrying prospects of decline levels and need an immediate change in the strategic plans. Other than for forecasting the evolution of athletes in the mid-term in order to improve strategic planning in NGBs, the present findings can be useful for public authorities to define their aid policies for NGBs, and they can also help companies in the industry to anticipate market developments.

Design of Semipersistent Resource Allocation in LTE-V Network

Radio network access technology currently used in 4G/5G is Long Term Evolution-Advanced(LTE-A),which was developed by 3rd Generation Partnership Project(3GPP).Device-to-device(D2D)communication is a technology enabling direct communications among wireless devices without forwarding through an evolved Node B(eNB).Moreover,D2D transmission can support vehicles as a vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V)environment.It is possible to avoid accidents via exchanging movement-related information among vehicles and effectively increase driving safety(and efficiency).However,radio resources are limited in radio networks.A vehicle transmits through D2D in Long Term Evolution-Vehicle(LTE-V)mode-3 standard,and an eNB can allocate the same spectrum radio resources for cellular and V2V links simultaneously.When using the same radio resources,the probability of interference may increase.This study designed a semipersistent resource allocation algorithm based on different cycles in an LTE-V network.Moreover,resource allocation under different cycles was analyzed,and a scheme for resource selection is proposed based on cycle size.The proposed Semi Persistent Gain Aware Resource Allocation(SP-GARA)scheme selects resources based on the expected sum rate of the cycle size and analyzes and discusses the results of the total sum rate at different cycles and speeds for an improved performance.

Chinese nomogram to predict probability of positive initia prostate biopsy： a study in Taiwan region

Several nomograms for prostate cancer detection have recently been developed. Because the incidence of prostate cancer is lower in Chinese men, nomograms based on other populations cannot be directly applied to Chinese men. We, therefore, developed a model for predicting the probability of a positive initial prostate biopsy using clinical and laboratory data from a Chinese male population. Data were collected from 893 Chinese male referrals, 697 in the derivation set and 196 in the external validation set, who underwent initial prostate biopsies as individual screening. We analyzed age, prostate volume, total prostate-specific antigen （PSA）, PSA density （PSAD）, digital rectal examinations （DRE） and transrectal ultrasound （TRUS） echogenicity. Logistic regression analysis estimated odds ratio, 95% confidence intervals and Pvalues. Independent predictors of a positive biopsy result included advanced age, small prostate volume, elevated total PSA, abnormal digital rectal examination, and hyperechoic or hypoechoic TRUS echogenicity. We developed a predictive nomogram for an initial positive biopsy using these variables. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for the model was 88.8%, which was greater than that of the prediction based on total PSA alone （area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve 74.7%）. If externally validated, the predictive probability was 0.827 and the accuracy rate was 78.1%, respectively. Incorporating clinical and laboratory data into a prebiopsy nomogram improved the prediction of prostate cancer compared with predictions based solely on the individual factors.

Taichi Softball as a Novel Chinese Health-Promoting Exercise for Physical Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Taichi softball was voted as one of the most popular health-promoting exercises in the category of ball games, which is attributed to that Taichi softball is not only beneficial for lower extremity-related physical health (e.g., balance, leg strength, and flexibility), but can also develop manipulative skill and hand-eye coordination (eating, bathing, dressing, bathing required manipulative skills, grips movement and strength). However, the positive effects of Taichi softball on physical health have rarely been investigated. Therefore, the purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the effect of Taichi softball on physical health. Methods: Five electronic databases were used to conduct literature searches. Two review authors independently extracted data in a standardized manner. The methodological quality of studies included was independently evaluated according to the Cochrane Collaboration’s for Assessing Risk of Bias from the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Review Interventions. The standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using more conservative random effects model were calculated. Results: The sample size of 411 participants ranged from 32 to 150 in the RCTs, along with a wide age range from 18 to 75. The length of Taichi softball intervention peri-ods in the eligible studies ranged from 12 weeks to 12 months. The participants in the studies consisted of healthy college students, patients with Type 2 diabe-tes, and older adults from community centers. Six randomized controlled trials were used for the meta-analysis. The aggregated results are in favor of Taichi softball on improving physical health in participants with healthy status and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. The improvement on the primary components of the physical health consisted of handgrip strength (SMD, -0.6, 95% CI -0.84 to 0.36, p < 0.00001), trunk flexibility (SMD, -0.4, 95% CI -0.74 to -0.05, p = 0.03), static (SMD, -0.73, 95% CI -0.94 to -0.51, p < 0.00001) and dynamic balance (SMD, -0.68, 95% CI -1.2 to -0.17, p = 0.009). Conclusions: Taichi softball appears to be beneficial for improving physical health (hand strength, physical balance, flexibility, aerobic endurance, resting heart rate, diastolic and systolic pressures) among healthy adults and patients with Type 2 Diabetes. However, because of the low methodological quality of assessment, ill-designed experimental designs, and small study size, a definite conclusion of Taichi softball improving physical health can be confirmed along with high-quality studies with long follow-up.

Influence of Gender, Race and Generation on College Students’ Exercise Motivation Levels: A Generational Comparison

The purpose of this study was to investigate exercise motivation of a Generation Z sample and to compare exercise motivation between Generation Z and Y. College students from Generation Z (N = 1,457) and Y (N = 2,199) completed the exercise motivation inventory. A two time-point cross sectional quasi-experimental design was implemented for this study. The strongest exercise motivators for Generation Z college students were strength/endurance, ill-health avoidance, and positive health. Generation Z participants scored statistically significantly higher across all subscales of the EMI-2 (exercise motivation inventory-2) when compared to Generation Y. Understanding generational differences in exercise motivation can help in tailoring effective physical activity interventions.

Positive Thinking Training Increases Tolerance Levels of Ambiguity and Distress in Men with Hemophilia

Background: Low levels of ambiguity tolerance and distress tolerance observed in people with hemophilia lead to decreasing their function and quality of life. How positive thinking training program affects tolerance of ambiguity and distress is not completely understood. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to explain the role of positive thinking training in men with hemophilia of Lorestan province and examine its effectiveness on ambiguity tolerance and distress tolerance. Method: The statistical population of this study included 129 patients with hemophilia who were a member of Hemophilia Association of Lorestan province. Thirty (30) patients who were randomly selected were randomly assigned to the experimental group (N = 15) and the control group (N = 15). The design of present study was an experimental design with the pre- and post-test that the experimental group received a positive thinking training. Eight techniques that were adapted from Seligman’s techniques were used to teach positive thinking. These techniques were held in 8-two hours sessions (two sessions per week). The instrument of this study included Simons and Gaher’s distress tolerance scale and McLean and David’s ambiguity tolerance questionnaire. The collected data were analyzed by the analysis of covariance. Results: The results of this study showed that there was a significant difference between scores of post-test and follow-up of two variables in two groups. Conclusion: The amount of ambiguity tolerance and distress tolerance increased in the experimental group in comparison with control group.

Analysis of the Differences in Expenditure Levels of Participants at the 2014 Asian Basketball League in Ho Chi Minh City

Research focuses on studying the economic impacts of 2014 Asian Basketball League in Ho Chi Minh City （hereinaiter referred as ABL 2014） with respect to direct expenditure of all types of participants, including organizers, coaches/athletes, journalists/communicators, audiences, etc. Research was implemented with 920 subjects, including 48 members of the organizing committee, 56 coaches/athletes, 800 audiences and 16 members of journal and media teams.

Olympic Movement or Diplomatic Movement？ The Role of Olympic Games on Development of International Relations

The Olympic Charter is categorized into three main sections： the IOC （International Olympic Committee）, the IFs （International Federations） and NOCs （National Olympic Committees）. Since the 1980s, the prominent functions of sport and in particular mega events such as the Olympic Games have been deeply analyzed by academic and political writers. Sporting mega events like the Olympic Games can produce lots of advantages： international branding and prestige, economic development, unity and cooperation, cultural exchanges and interactions, reduction in political isolation and sanctions, and so on. One of the most important legacies of Olympic Games for the host country/city is social cohesion, national pride and patriotism. For example, the success of Iran in the London 2012 Olympics resulted in heightened cultural identity and national prestige. Despite political and economic isolation resulting from international sanctions, Iranian athletes and coaches overcame obstacles to win four Olympic gold medals in ＂Mega Media Event＂ that is the summer Olympic Games. The present study demonstrates the interconnections between success in the Olympic Games and the development of nations. The data to support the analysis and arguments were gathered through public documents and interviews with sport diplomacy experts. At first, we investigated some international functions for sport, then we had 13 interviews with 11 Iranian and 2 foreign experts who had international positions in different sport organizations like IOC, Ifs, FIFA （Federation international the Football Association） and OCA （Olympic council of Asia）. Finally, all information was organized into the following factors： enhancing international branding and prestige, international image, number of sport tourists as virtual industry in new millennium, national cohesion and identity, national patriotism, peacefulness, cultural exchanges among nations and reduce political boycotts and economic sanctions.

The most cited articles on the topic of health behaviors in Google Trends research: a systematic review

Background: Over the past decade, the use of Web-based data in public health issues has been proven useful in assessing various aspects of human behavior. Google Trends is the most popular tool to gather such information and has been applied to several topics with the most focused subject related to health and medicine. However, the most cited articles and the popular medical subject headings (MESH terms) on health behaviors in Google Trends research remain unknown. The web-based behavior requires to monitor and analyze on-line data for examining actual human behavior to predict and even prevent health-related issues that constantly arise in daily life. Objective: This systematic review aimed at reporting and further presenting the most cited articles and the popular MESH terms on health behaviors in Google Trends (infodemiology) researches in health-related topics since 2009 to provide an overview of the topic burst for future research on the subject of health behavior. Methods: Following the Meta-Analyses guidelines for selecting studies, we searched for the term “Google Trends [Title]” in PubMed databases since 2009, applying specific criteria for types of journal articles. A total of 86 published papers were extracted, excluding those that did not fall inside the topics of health and medicine or the selected article types. We then further categorized the published papers according to MESH terms using social network analysis (SNA) and selected the most cited articles that related to the health behavior in Google Trends. Results: The most cited articles are those from the US in 2009 (PMID= 19845471 cited 88 times) and the UK in 2013 (PMID= 23619126 cited 74 times). The MESH term represented by Internet earns the highest impact factor (IF) and presents significantly different among term clusters (F (3,20)=15.79, p<0.001). The most number of citing journals is from PloS One. The most number of author affiliations is from the US. Conclusion: The monitoring of online queries can provide insight into human behavior, as the phenomenon is significantly and continuously growing at present and in the future for assessing behavioral changes in health topics.

A Novel Smart Forwarding Scheme in LTE-Advanced Networks

Long Term Evolution(LTE) and IEEE 802.16 WiMAX are competing access network technologies adopted in 4G wireless networks in recent years.LTE complies with3 GPP standards whereas 802.16 WiMAX is regulated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE).Although WiMAX is already operating commercially in Taiwan,the system is limited to an independent new system that is incompatible with the current 3G system.Hence,the cost of implementing the WiMAX system is relatively high,this being an impediment to its rapid uptake and widespread use.On the other hand,LTE conforms to 3GPP that is supported by telecommunication manufacturers and operators and is,moreover,backward compatible with 3G/UMTS cellular systems.The LTE specifications define how user equipment(UE) connects and communicates with evolved Node B(eNB) base stations.The enhanced version,LTE-Advanced,adds a new entity called the relay node(RN) to widen service coverage,although this change has resulted in a more complex architecture.Mobility management and data forwarding are essential components in wireless mobile networking.This paper focuses on the efficient handover procedure in LTE-Advanced networks,and proposes a Smart Forwarding mechanism to improve the handover performance.Simulation studies show that the proposed Smart Forwarding scheme employs a better operational transmission path that effectively reduces handover latency and signal overhead.