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Individual differences in tempo and timing of biological maturity, especially in adolescents, has been argued as a potential underlying cause of relative age effects observed in Physical education (PE). Indeed, differences in maturation could influence pupils`achievement in PE where motor behavior and physical activity are central tenets. However, the timing of biological maturity has not previously been investigated in the context of academic achievement in PE. Therefore, the current study`s aim was to investigate the association between timing of biological maturity and relative age on adolescents`academic achievement in PE. The data material consists of two samples from lower secondary schools (13–16 years old). Sample 1 (45 boys and 31 girls) was used to compare differences in anthropometrics and indicators of biological maturity between pupils with different grades (i.e., 3/4, 5, 6), while in sample 2 (114 boys and 127 girls) differences in mean grade were compared between birth quartiles. Pupils`final grade in PE were collected for both samples as a proxy for academic achievement. A one-way analysis of variance indicated a moderate-to-large association between timing of biological maturity, through age at peak height velocity, and academic achievement in PE, where later maturing pupils received a higher grade compared to earlier maturing pupils. Results from a factorial analysis of variance indicated an interaction effect between gender and birth quartile on academic achievement in PE. Post hoc analysis revealed that relatively younger boys received significantly lower grades as opposed to their relatively older peers. This effect was not present for girls. Collectively, these results indicate that developmental differences are associated with academic achievement in PE. Hence, PE teachers should be aware of these individual constraints in their teaching and assessment practice to accommodate fair and equal opportunities for achievement in the subject.

Individual differences in tempo and timing of biological maturity, especially in adolescents, has been argued as a potential underlying cause of relative age effects observed in Physical education (PE). Indeed, differences in maturation could influence pupils`achievement in PE where motor behavior and physical activity are central tenets. However, the timing of biological maturity has not previously been investigated in the context of academic achievement in PE. Therefore, the current study`s aim was to investigate the association between timing of biological maturity and relative age on adolescents`academic achievement in PE. The data material consists of two samples from lower secondary schools (13-16 years old). Sample 1 (45 boys and 31 girls) was used to compare differences in anthropometrics and indicators of biological maturity between pupils with different grades (i.e., 3/4, 5, 6), while in sample 2 (114 boys and 127 girls) differences in mean grade were compared between birth quartiles. Pupils`final grade in PE were collected for both samples as a proxy for academic achievement. A one-way analysis of variance indicated a moderate-to-large association between timing of biological maturity, through age at peak height velocity, and academic achievement in PE, where later maturing pupils received a higher grade compared to earlier maturing pupils. Results from a factorial analysis of variance indicated an interaction effect between gender and birth quartile on academic achievement in PE. Post hoc analysis revealed that relatively younger boys received significantly lower grades as opposed to their relatively older peers. This effect was not present for girls. Collectively, these results indicate that developmental differences are associated with academic achievement in PE. Hence, PE teachers should be aware of these individual constraints in their teaching and assessment practice to accommodate fair and equal opportunities for achievement in the subject.

The relative age effect (RAE) is a statistical bias observed across sport contexts and consists of a systematic skewness in birth date distribution within an annual-age cohort. In soccer, January 1st is the common cut-off date when categorizing players in competitions according to their chronological age, which potentially disadvantages those within the cohort who were born later in the year. Thus, relatively older soccer players in their cohort can be favored in talent identification, selection, and development. The aim of the current study was to investigate the variations in RAE in male and female international youth world-cup tournaments (U17 and U20) in the period from 1997-2019 and in international senior world-cup-tournaments from 2006-2019. A total of 20,401 soccer players participating in 47 different tournaments were analyzed. The birthdate distributions were categorized into four quartiles (January-March, Q1; April-June, Q2; July-September, Q3; October-December, Q4) and compared to a uniform distribution using Chi-square analysis with Cramer's V (Vc) as a measure of effect size. Based on the existing data concerning RAE in elite junior and senior soccer, it was hypothesized that: (I) the RAE is present in youth soccer world cup tournaments but is stronger in male players than in female players; (II) the younger the soccer players, the stronger the RAE; and (III) the RAE in world cup soccer tournaments has strengthened over time. All these hypotheses were supported by the data; novel findings included that the effect has now entered women's soccer, and in men's soccer it persists into senior world cup tournaments. Thus, a strong RAE bias occurs in selection among elite soccer players competing in international world cup tournaments.

Stocking of hatchery produced fish is widely used to supplement wild fish populations. Here, the authors show that supplementary stocking can unintentionally favour introgressed individuals with domestic genotypes and compromise the fitness of a wild population of Atlantic salmon.

While research on the effects of 'birth month' is usually referred to as relative age effects, the study of the effects of 'birth year' is described as the constituent year effect (CYE). In the present study we examined the impact of the CYE on participation in the Junior World Championship in alpine skiing. Based on previous research, we expected to find increasing numbers of participants the older the age-group, and that the CYE would be stronger in the speed events compared to the technical ones. The sample in the present study consisted of 1188 male skiers and 859 female skiers within the age range of 17 to 21 years at the time of competition. The results show that the number of male participants increased with increasing age, which can be described as a CYE. For female skiers, a CYE was found, but it dissipated two years earlier than for male skiers. The CYE varied with event and was more pronounced the higher the speed of the event. The findings thus suggest that a constituent year effect exists among skiers participating in the FIS Junior World Ski Championship in the alpine skiing championships, and that the effect varies with gender and event, rather unrelated to age. Thus, it seems that the effect may not be a relative age effect, but instead a relative development effect.

We describe an Underwater Hyperspectral Imager (UHI) deployed on an instrument-carrying platform consisting of two interconnected mini-ROVs (Remotely Operated Vehicle) for the mapping and monitoring of Arctic macroalgal habitats in Kongsfjorden (Svalbard) during the Polar Night. The mini-ROV-UHI system is easy to transport, assemble and deploy from shore, even under the dark, icy and cold conditions of the Arctic Polar Night. The system can be operated by two persons, keeping the operational costs low. In vivo hyperspectral reflectance of collected specimens of brown, red and green macroalgae was measured with a spectrometer in the lab to provide a spectral library for supervised pigment group classification based on UHI photomosaics. The in situ UHI-photomosaics provided detailed information of the areal coverage of the seafloor substrate (16%), as well as brown (51% habitat cover), red (18%), and green (14%) macroalgae, with spatial resolution in the range of cm and spectral resolution of 2 nm. The collected specimens from the mapped area were also used for species identification and health state evaluation. This innovative UHI sampling method provides significant information about macroalgal distribution and physiology, and due to its flexibility in terms of deployment, it is applicable to a variety of environments.

Entrainment is a ubiquitous property not only of interacting non-linear dynamical systems but also of human movements. In the study reported here, two premises of entrainment theory were investigated in a tapping task conducted in both interpersonal (i.e. between individuals) and intrapersonal (i.e. between effectors) conditions. Hypothesis 1 was that interacting oscillatory systems should demonstrate synchronisation, which was predicted to emerge as in-phase tapping behaviour in both inter- and intrapersonal conditions. Support for Hypothesis 1 was observed in the in-phase synchronisation of tapping in both individual bimanual trials and uni-manual and bimanual tapping in dyads. By contrast, Hypothesis 2 was that the oscillatory system with the faster initial rate would decelerate, whereas the one with the slower initial rate would accelerate, as manifest in increased self-paced tapping rates amongst participants with initially slower rates and decreased rates amongst ones who initially tapped at faster rates. However, that pattern predicted in Hypothesis 2 was not observed; on the contrary, all participants increased their tapping rates in interpersonal conditions, which occurred significantly amongst participants with the lowest preferred tapping rates. Such an outcome indicates a novel aspect of synchronised movement in humans that warrants further investigation.

This study examined the effects and specificity of structured and unstructured activities played at the playground Primo Sport 0246 in Northern Italy on motor skill competence in five years old children. The playground was specifically designed to promote gross motor skills in preschool children; in this study 71 children from local kindergartens came to the park once a week for ten consecutive weeks and were exposed to 30 minutes of free play and 30 minutes of structured activities. Before and after the ten visits, each child completed nine tests to assess levels of motor skills, three for fine-motor skills and six for gross-motor skills. As control, motor skills were also assessed on 39 children from different kindergartens who did not come to the park. The results show that the experimental group who practiced gross-motor activities in the playground for 1 hour a week for 10 weeks improved significantly in 4 out of the 6 gross motor tasks and in none of the fine motor tasks. The data indicate that limited transfer occurred between tasks referring to different domains of motor competences while suggesting cross feeding for improvement of gross-motor skills between different exercises when domains related to physical fitness and strength of specific muscle groups are involved. These results are relevant to the issue of condition(s) appropriate for maintaining and developing motor skills in this age group as well as for the planning, organization and implementation of play and physical activities in kindergartens.

Impaired postural control has been associated with poor reading skills, as well as with lower performance on measures of attention and motor control variables that frequently co-occur with reading difficulties. Measures of balance and motor control have been incorporated into several screening batteries for developmental dyslexia, but it is unclear whether the relationship between such skills and reading manifests as a behavioural continuum across the range of abilities or is restricted to groups of individuals with specific disorder phenotypes. Here were obtained measures of postural control alongside measures of reading, attention and general cognitive skills in a large sample of young adults (n = 100). Postural control was assessed using centre of pressure (CoP) measurements, obtained over 5 different task conditions. Our results indicate an absence of strong statistical relationships between balance measures with either reading, cognitive or attention measures across the sample as a whole.

The present study investigated the relationship between individual differences in timing movements at the level of milliseconds and performance on selected cognitive and fine motor skills. For this purpose, young adult participants (N = 100) performed a repetitive movement task paced by an auditory metronome at different rates. Psychometric measures included the digit-span and symbol search subtasks from the Wechsler battery as well as the Raven SPM. Fine motor skills were assessed with the Purdue Pegboard test. Motor timing performance was significantly related (mean r = .3) to cognitive measures, and explained both unique and shared variance with information-processing speed of Raven's scores. No significant relations were found between motor timing measures and fine motor skills. These results show that individual differences in cognitive and motor timing performance is to some extent dependent upon shared processing not associated with individual differences in manual dexterity.