News about the faculty and staff at the University of Minnesota's School of Kinesiology« September 2008 | Main | November 2008 »
We have been notified by the Office of the VP for Research that Dr. Nicole LaVoi’s work in the Tucker Center will be featured in the University's upcoming Research Annual Report. Congratulations, Dr. LaVoi!
The following manuscript has been accepted for publication by Vascular Medicine: "Efficacy of Arm-Ergometry versus Treadmill Exercise Training to Improve Walking Distance in Patients with Claudication." The authors are Dr. Diane Treat-Jacobson and Dr. Ulf Bronas, School of Nursing, and Dr. Art Leon, Kinesiology. Dr. Bronas completed his Ph.D. with Dr. Leon in 2007.
Congratulations!
Dr. Nicole LaVoi and Chelsey Thul, Ph.D student, will present their research on underserved girls at the 2009 Active Living Research (ALR) Annual Conference to be held February 18-20, 2009 in San Diego, Calif. Active Living Research is a national program of the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. The project titled Reducing Physical Inactivity and Promoting Active Living: From the Voices of East African Girls was funded by the Melpomene Institute for Women's Health Research.
The Tucker Center has released a full-length video of its Fall Distinguished Lecture, which featured three Minnesota track and field Olympians: Janis Klecker, Carrie Tollefson and Shani Marks. The lecture was moderated by U of M Professor of Sociology Doug Hartmann. To view the video online, go to the Tucker Center home page.
Jill Haom, a 2008 Summer Tucker Center McNair Scholar, has been selected as one of five U of M students who will present research at the 2008 National McNair Research Conference October 28-30th in Delavan, Wisconsin. She will present her project Unequal Opportunities, Unequal Outcomes: The Physical Activity of East African Girls, which was funded by the Melpomene Institute for Women’s Health Research. Congratulations Jill!
Kristy Popp, School of Kinesiology PhD student (advisor, Moira Petit), is the Principal Investigator on a just-awarded $2,500 National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) survey project award titled "Bone Geometry Strength and Biomechanical Changes."
The School's Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory (APAL) is co-sponsoring "Body Expression of Emotion," a lecture given by Marina Fridin of the Weizmann Institute of Science Robotics Laboratory in Rehovot, Israel. The lecture will be given Wednesday, November 12, at 11:00 AM in Peik Hall, Room 315.
Research on recognizing emotion is dominated by studies of facial and vocal expression. Emotions influence facial and vocal expression; however, emotions also influence the overall configuration of the body. In this talk, Dr. Marina Fridin of the Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics’ Robotics Laboratory at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel, discusses research on the recognition of body expression of emotion, or BEE.
Our off-line vision-based recognition system recognizes BEE with relatively high accuracy, taking as input still photos of subjects, picturing basic emotions (Anger, Fear, Sadness, Joy). Based on this algorithm, an online system for recognition of BEE and for expression of bodily emotional states of the robot could be developed.
Separately, Dr. Fridin has studied how BEE are perceived and interpreted. Eye movements of human subjects were recorded while observing and recognizing photographs of static body postures expressing basic emotions. The research was targeted at determining recognition accuracy, response times and eye fixation patterns.
Dr. Fridin has also assessed human arm movement under the influence of basic emotions. Subjects were asked to make a periodic movement (drawing an ellipse) while experiencing different emotions. Both, geometrical and kinematical characteristics of movement were analyzed and the correlation between those characteristics (by power-laws) was evaluated showing that most characteristics are influenced by emotion.
Summarizing the talk, Dr. Fridin will discuss possible applications of the presented studies.
The talk will be given on Wednesday, November 12, at 11:00 AM in Peik Hall, Room 315.
This event is co-sponsored by:
Affordance Perception-Action Laboratory
Center for Clinical Movement Science
Center for Cognitive Sciences
The 2007 Tucker Center Research Report: Developing Physically Active Girls (TCRR) continues to make an impact! The TCRR is cited numerous times in Go Out and Play: Youth Sports in America, an extensive report that measures the nationwide participation rates of girls and boys in exercise and organized team sports. The report, authored by Don Sabo and Phil Veliz, was released October 18, 2008 by the Women's Sports Foundation and The Center for Research on Physical Activity, Sport & Health at D’Youville College. The report can be downloaded here.
Dr. Carol Leitschuh, research associate in Kinesiology, was invited to present in September at the Universita Degli Sudi Roma "La Sapienza," Dipartimento di Psicologia (Psychology Department) on "Movement of Babies Born Premature." In addition, productive meetings were held with graduate faculty and students on the progress of their research on assessing infants, toddlers, and preschoolers using Dr. Leitschuh's tool for monitoring movement skill development at these very young ages.
Kristen Pickett, a Kinesiology doctoral candidate in the Human Sensorimotor Control Laboratory, is the lead author of an upcoming article on measuring kinaesthetic sensitivity in typically developing children. The manuscript has been accepted for publication in the journal Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, which is one of the top three international journals in pediatric neurology. This is Kristen's fourth publication originating from her work in the lab. It is her first as a lead author. The senior author is Dr. Juergen Konczak. Congratulations, Kristen! For more information go to http:\\hsc.umn.edu.
Prof. Beth Lewis, assistant professor in exercise physiology, was quoted in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an article about stand-up desks for elementary students. See the full story at: http://www.twincities.com/ci_10716630?source=most_emailed
The School of Kinesiology's Maureen Weiss, professor of Kinesiology and co-director of the Tucker Center, has set up a blog for her 3-week trip to five universities in China—Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Xian, Shanghai—from October 9-23. You can read more about Dr. Weiss's endeavors at http://blog.lib.umn.edu/kin/weissinchina2008/.
Nicole LaVoi will be featured in an article on overscheduled children in the fall volume of Stemwinder, a publication for St. Paul/Minneapolis 3M employees and retirees.
The Minnesota Daily has published a front page article featuring Professor Maureen Weiss's trip to China with other Big Ten Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC) kinesiology professors. The article can be accessed here.
Maureen Weiss, professor and co-director of the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport in the School of Kinesiology, gave a distinguished research lecture—the Margaret Jo Safrit Lecture in Kinesiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on October 3. Dr. Weiss’ lecture, “The Jo Chronicles: Tribute to a Difference Maker in Kinesiology,� honored Professor Emerita Margaret Jo Safrit, a pioneer in measurement in kinesiology and who served at UW-Madison for 21 years. Among her many achievements, Dr. Safrit developed the first health-related physical fitness test in the world, served as president of American Association of Kinesiology and Physical Education (AAKPE), and received the prestigious Luther Halsey Gulick Award, the highest award bestowed by the American Association of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (AAHPERD).
Dr. Arthur S. Leon, M.D. and exercise physiology professor, has been invited and accepted participation as a member of the "People to People Citizen Ambassador's Cardiovascular Health Delegation," which will visit Vietnam and Cambodia this November for the purpose of exchanging information on prevention, management, and rehabilitation of heart disease. Dr. Leon has previously been part of similar delegations to Cuba, China, and Egypt.
Dr. Leon is director of the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene and Exercise Science.
Diane M. Wiese-Bjornstal and Nicole M. LaVoi will give an Action Item presentation based on The 2007 Tucker Center Research Report - Developing Physically Active Girls: An Evidence-based Multidisciplinary Approach at the Action on Obesity Summit being held at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN on October 16-17, 2008.
Dr. Stephen Ross, School of Kinesiology marketing professor, is quoted in "Brewers struck fast on merchandising," in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Through most of September, as the Milwaukee Brewers were looking more like a team heading home for October, the business side of the organization was making plans for a playoff run. “As long as the team is winning, it’s good,� said Dr. Ross. “They have all of these designs done ahead of time with the printer. The turnaround time is quick. But if the Brewers go three and out, people are going to be a little less willing to buy them or wear them.�