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Introduction: International medical trainees, including residents and fellows, must cope with many challenges, such as differences in cultural hierarchical systems, languages, and acceptance. Nonetheless, the need for adjustment perpetuates even after training is completed abroad. When some international trainees return to their countries of origin, they continue to face adjustment challenges due to reverse culture shock. Others must make many further readjustments. This study presents an exploration of the adjustment and coping strategies of international medical learners after returning to their countries of origin upon completion of their programs. Method: This study employed a qualitative approach grounded in interpretivism and utilised inductive thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke's method. Semi-structured, in-depth individual interviews were employed to explore the participants' coping strategies. Participants included international medical learners who were (1) international medical graduates who had already returned to their countries of origin, (2) non-Canadian citizens or nonpermanent residents by the start of the programs, and (3) previously enrolled in a residency or fellowship training programme at the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Results: Seventeen participants were included. Three main themes and seven subthemes were created from the analysis and are represented by the Ice Skater Landing Model. According to this model, there are three main forces in coping processes upon returning home: driving, stabilising, and situational forces. The sum and interaction of these forces impact the readjustment process. Conclusion: International medical learners who have trained abroad and returned to their countries of origin often struggle with readjustment. An equilibrium between the driving and stabilising forces is crucial for a smooth transition. The findings of this study can help stakeholders better understand coping processes. As healthy coping processes are related to job satisfaction and retention, efforts to support and shorten repatriation adjustment are worthwhile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify the factors contributing to expedited passage through curved sections in skating by analyzing centripetal acceleration and skating motions during curving in a 3,000 m race for ladies' world-class speed skating. It included 14 elite skaters participating in the ladies' 3,000 m race held during the World Cup. The recorded area consisted of the first inner curve lane. Skaters were recorded as they passed through the measurement range at the initial, middle, and final stages of the race. Three synchronized high-speed cameras were used to record skaters from the front, back, and side. From the images obtained by the high-speed camera, 21 body endpoints and 4 blade edges were digitized at 50 Hz using specialized digitizing software. Three-dimensional coordinates of the 25 points were obtained using a panning direct linear transformation technique. The stroke-averaged centripetal acceleration and kinematic parameters were calculated based on the three-dimensional coordinates of the body during the curve-skating motion. Centripetal acceleration had a significant effect on the curved-section time in all three race stages (initial: F = 17.19, middle: F = 23.30, final: F = 16.64) and significantly decreased as the race progressed (left: F = 9.42, right: F = 8.05). Throughout the race, the right and left shanks and the body's center of mass (CM) during the stroke were raised (shank angle: left: F = 13.62, right: F = 11.02, CM height: left: F = 21.15, right: F = 21.69). The body-tilt angle for both strokes and shank-tilt angle for the right stroke were significantly correlated with centripetal acceleration in all race stages (body-tilt: left: initial: r = 0.80, middle: r = 0.75, final: r = 0.89, right: initial: r = 0.78, middle: r = 0.84, final: r = 0.67, right shank-tilt initial: r = 0.80, middle: r = 0.77, final: r = 0.63). These results suggested that to reduce the skating time through curved sections, maintaining an inward body tilt and minimizing the decrease in centripetal acceleration even in the final race stage are crucial considerations. They also suggested that when leaning the body inward and maintaining centripetal acceleration, the right shank should be leaned inward for the right stroke and the left shank should be leaned inward for the left stroke, or the left blade should be positioned farther to the right of the CM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pioneering work of Getis and Ord on local spatial statistics has a counterpart in spatial econometrics in treating spatial heterogeneity. This can be approached from a continuous or a discrete perspective. In a discrete perspective, referred to as spatial regimes, the coefficients vary by discrete subregions of the data. Whereas the estimation of spatial regime regressions is well understood, the delineation of the regimes themselves remains a topic of active interest. Generally speaking, two broad classes of methods can be distinguished, one in which the delineation is carried out separately from the coefficient estimation and one where the two are tightly integrated. Tightly integrated approaches are referred to as endogenous spatial regimes. A number of different methods have been suggested in the literature, including finite mixture models, GWR-based methods, and penalized regression. One drawback of regime delineation is that the results do not necessarily satisfy a spatial contiguity constraint, i.e., observations are grouped despite not being spatially connected. In this paper, we outline a heuristic to determine the spatial regimes endogenously, as an extension of the well-known SKATER algorithm for spatially constrained clustering. This guarantees that the resulting regimes consist of contiguous observations. We outline the method and apply it in the context of the determination of housing submarkets, which is represented by rich literature in applied spatial econometrics. We use a well-known Kaggle data set as the empirical example, which contains observations on house sales in King County, Washington. We compare the estimation of a hedonic house price model using the endogenous spatial regimes approach to a range of more traditional methods, including pooled regression, the use of administrative districts, data-driven regimes based on a-spatial and spatial clustering of explanatory variables, and finite mixture regression. We evaluate the results in terms of fit and assess the trade-offs between the spatial and a-spatial approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the rate of injuries related to a certain sport is accepted as the primary step toward designing, implementing and evaluating injury prevention programs. This observational and retrospective study was to examine the injuries sustained by elite young Spanish inline speed skaters during a season. Athletes participating in the national championship (n = 80) were surveyed via an anonymous online questionnaire to screen for injury characteristics: incidence, location, and tissue affected; plus training information and demographics. A total of 52 injuries were recorded across 33,351 hours of exposure, which gives a rate of 1.65/1,000 h. The lower body comprised 79% of the total amount of injuries (1.3/1000 h), and the main areas affected were the thigh and foot, accounting for 25% and 19.2% of the recorded injuries, respectively. Musculotendinous injuries were the most frequent, with an incidence of 0.92/1000 h. No significant gender differences were observed for any of the variables studied. Speed skating can be considered a low injury rate sport based on our findings. The risk of sustaining an injury was independent of gender, age, and BMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preface of Bill Butler and Elin Schoen's 1979 skating instruction manual, Jammin', teems with encouragement, but offers one slight warning. Welcoming his first-time skaters, Butler tells the reader, "chances are, once you've roller-discoed, you won't want to stop. You'll want to stay on wheels. And there's no reason why you shouldn't, even if you're not in a rink." With the tagline "[everything you need to know to get up and boogie down!]," Jammin' begins with "skating the rail"—a necessary means for first-timers to establish balance, appreciate the tempo of the rink, and learn to control the skates beneath them. Butler then goes on to describe couples skating, group skating, and dancing in place, each of which articulates a relationship to tempo and "the beat," to the other individuals in the rink, and the contradictions of the rink itself. Jammin' therefore proposes a practice of emphatic improvisation that is decidedly nonlinear and centers an expressive practice. Jammin' also cites the logistics and pleasures associated with skating as a community. These logistics and pleasures include everything from "dealing with other people" to "how to become a disco dazzler in one minute flat." Butler tells us the secret of both is, simply put, to relax. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study focused on the effects of longitudinal and lateral spacing on the aerodynamic drag characteristics of the whole team and each member in speed skating team pursuit competition (SSTPC). To further understand the effect of formation spacing on the aerodynamic drag distribution on the skater body surface, a combination of experiments and numerical simulations was performed. Three identical mannequins were used to conduct wind tunnel tests and the results were compared with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results obtained using a 3D digital model of the mannequin. The results showed that, as the longitudinal spacing decreased, greater drag reduction was gained by the whole team and three members (leading, middle, and last). When the longitudinal spacing was 1.05 L (L refers to body length), the whole team and the three members had drag reduction of 31.5%, 10.1%, 42.1%, and 42.3%, respectively. After each 0.1 L increase in longitudinal spacing, the whole team and the leading, middle, and last skaters lost 2.0%, 1.8%, 2.3%, and 1.8% of their drag reduction, respectively. When the leading skater moved laterally to 0.2 W (W refers to body width), the whole team and the last skater achieved an additional drag reduction of 0.7% and 4.2%, respectively. The CFD simulation results further revealed that the body surface drag distribution trend of the leading skater was similar to that of the isolated skater, with the largest proportion of drag being located on the calves. The drag on the torsos, thighs and calves of the middle and last skaters was significantly smaller than that on the corresponding parts of the isolated skater, and its proportion was comparable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]