title: Workload demands during ball-in-play periods: A comparative study of locomotive and contact metrics in professional male and female rugby union players.

authors: MacDonald, Chantal

abstract: Title: Workload Demands during Ball-in-Play Periods: A Comparative Study of Locomotive and Contact Metrics in Professional Male for Female Rugby Union Players. 
Purpose: Rugby Union is a high collision-based sport demanding the best physical, technical, tactical and decision-making capabilities of players to influence success on the field. Various factors affect the ability of females and males to perform and meet the demands of match-play. This thesis was developed as a pilot study and employed an innovative design that examined and compared contact and workload metrics between female and male professional rugby players, aiming to explore differences in match play. 
Methods: Data were collected from 60 professional male and female rugby players, from two professional 2023 New Zealand National Provincial Rugby teams. All participants wore GPS units (Apex Pro Pod, STATSport, Newry, NIR). Each match was filmed and coded using a Sportscode video analysis software package (Sportscode 12.4.3, Sportstec, Australia), where contact and GPS metrics during Ball-in-Play periods were identified and recorded throughout the match. GPS and Sportscode data for each Ball-in-Play period for each match were combined in a bespoke software package. Differences between the sexes for each metric were analysed using Welch’s t-test with the level of significance set at P<0.05 and the magnitudes of the standardised differences were calculated using effect sizes determined by Cohen’s d (Hopkins, 2009, 2017). Tests for equality of variances, normality, and the examination of outliers were conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27) and the few metrics that failed normality testing were log-transformed. 
Results: Males locomotive metrics (GPS measures) and impacts (accelerometer measures) were typically significantly greater than females showing large to moderate magnitude differences. On the other hand, contacts were often significantly higher for females with small to large magnitude differences. 
Conclusion: The differences between males and females were likely a combination of genetic differences, and differences in how the respective games were played, and the males in this study typically had greater full-time professional training support and resources. Due to these differences, altering female threshold standards for specific intensive locomotion metrics to suit the physical capabilities of females, may give more of an accurate representation of game demands. On the other hand, providing greater resources to female rugby union players for similar periods to the males may reduce the differences observed in this study.

text: Workload demands during ball-in-play periods: A comparative study of locomotive and contact metrics in professional male and female rugby union players. Title: Workload Demands during Ball-in-Play Periods: A Comparative Study of Locomotive and Contact Metrics in Professional Male for Female Rugby Union Players. 
Purpose: Rugby Union is a high collision-based sport demanding the best physical, technical, tactical and decision-making capabilities of players to influence success on the field. Various factors affect the ability of females and males to perform and meet the demands of match-play. This thesis was developed as a pilot study and employed an innovative design that examined and compared contact and workload metrics between female and male professional rugby players, aiming to explore differences in match play. 
Methods: Data were collected from 60 professional male and female rugby players, from two professional 2023 New Zealand National Provincial Rugby teams. All participants wore GPS units (Apex Pro Pod, STATSport, Newry, NIR). Each match was filmed and coded using a Sportscode video analysis software package (Sportscode 12.4.3, Sportstec, Australia), where contact and GPS metrics during Ball-in-Play periods were identified and recorded throughout the match. GPS and Sportscode data for each Ball-in-Play period for each match were combined in a bespoke software package. Differences between the sexes for each metric were analysed using Welch’s t-test with the level of significance set at P<0.05 and the magnitudes of the standardised differences were calculated using effect sizes determined by Cohen’s d (Hopkins, 2009, 2017). Tests for equality of variances, normality, and the examination of outliers were conducted in IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 27) and the few metrics that failed normality testing were log-transformed. 
Results: Males locomotive metrics (GPS measures) and impacts (accelerometer measures) were typically significantly greater than females showing large to moderate magnitude differences. On the other hand, contacts were often significantly higher for females with small to large magnitude differences. 
Conclusion: The differences between males and females were likely a combination of genetic differences, and differences in how the respective games were played, and the males in this study typically had greater full-time professional training support and resources. Due to these differences, altering female threshold standards for specific intensive locomotion metrics to suit the physical capabilities of females, may give more of an accurate representation of game demands. On the other hand, providing greater resources to female rugby union players for similar periods to the males may reduce the differences observed in this study.

year: 2024-10-31

title: Time varying risk aversion and its connectedness: Evidence from cryptocurrencies

authors: Corbet, Shaen

subjects: cryptocurrencies

abstract: Changing patterns of risk aversion may follow a non-linear counter-cyclical process. However, the evidence so far has not considered developing cryptocurrency markets. Given some unique features of cryptocurrencies, it is interesting to distinguish how these assets differ from traditional products. This paper investigates the time effects of periodicity on risk aversion for a selection of major cryptocurrencies compared to major financial assets. Significant periodic time-varying patterns are identified when analysing risk aversion. Further, bilateral and bidirectional Granger causalities are identified within cryptocurrencies, as well as between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial assets. Bitcoin is identified as a leading information transmitter of the spillover of risk aversion upon other cryptocurrencies, while estimated risk aversion of traditional financial markets plays a dominant role in the spillover processes upon the cryptocurrency cluster. The latter finding presents further evidence of developing cryptocurrency market maturity. The COVID-19 pandemic is found to have significantly influenced the connectedness of risk aversion among cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets.

text: Time varying risk aversion and its connectedness: Evidence from cryptocurrencies Changing patterns of risk aversion may follow a non-linear counter-cyclical process. However, the evidence so far has not considered developing cryptocurrency markets. Given some unique features of cryptocurrencies, it is interesting to distinguish how these assets differ from traditional products. This paper investigates the time effects of periodicity on risk aversion for a selection of major cryptocurrencies compared to major financial assets. Significant periodic time-varying patterns are identified when analysing risk aversion. Further, bilateral and bidirectional Granger causalities are identified within cryptocurrencies, as well as between cryptocurrencies and traditional financial assets. Bitcoin is identified as a leading information transmitter of the spillover of risk aversion upon other cryptocurrencies, while estimated risk aversion of traditional financial markets plays a dominant role in the spillover processes upon the cryptocurrency cluster. The latter finding presents further evidence of developing cryptocurrency market maturity. The COVID-19 pandemic is found to have significantly influenced the connectedness of risk aversion among cryptocurrency and traditional financial markets.

year: 2024

title: Strawmen and the decolonisation of the academy

authors: Tauri, Juan Marcellus

subjects: Social justice

abstract: For this piece I take as my point of departure Biko Agozino’s response to a series of questions posed by a member of the audience, to a panel he was a member of during this time in New Zealand. The panel in question was part of the launch of a new journal, Decolonisation of Criminology and Justice, at AUT University, Auckland in June 2018. Biko was invited to give a speech at the launch of the journal, and participate in a panel discussion on the broad theme of ‘decolonising criminology and criminal justice’.

text: Strawmen and the decolonisation of the academy For this piece I take as my point of departure Biko Agozino’s response to a series of questions posed by a member of the audience, to a panel he was a member of during this time in New Zealand. The panel in question was part of the launch of a new journal, Decolonisation of Criminology and Justice, at AUT University, Auckland in June 2018. Biko was invited to give a speech at the launch of the journal, and participate in a panel discussion on the broad theme of ‘decolonising criminology and criminal justice’.

year: 2019-07-10