The book contains the proceedings of the Sixth International Congress on Science and Skiing, which was held at St. Christoph am Arlberg, Tyrol, Austria, in December 2013. The conference was organized and hosted by the Department of Sport Science at the University of Salzburg, Austria. It was also part of the programs of the steering group “Science and Skiing” of the World Commission of Sports Science and contains a broad spectrum of current research work in Alpine and Nordic skiing and in snowboarding. In the proceedings of this congress, the keynotes as well as the oral presentations are published. The manuscripts were subject to peer review and editorial judgment prior to acceptance.

This book brings together the world's leading researchers and practitioners working on mental toughness to discuss this vital ingredient of performance excellence in sport, to survey the latest research and to present cutting-edge developments in theory and professional practice. Also highlighting important avenues for future research, it is essential reading for all advanced students, researchers and practitioners with an interest in sport psychology or performance sport.

Human Sleep and Cognition

Human Sleep and Cognition.

Fatigue is a recognized problem in many facets of the human enterprise. It is not confined to any one area of activity but enters all situations in which humans have to perform for extended intervals of time. Most problematic are the circumstances in which obligatory action is continuous and the results of failure are evidently serious or even catastrophic. Therefore, the modern media especially highlights fatigue-related failures in industries such as transportation, materials processing and healthcare. It can be, and indeed is, no coincidence that most of the spectacular failures in process control that have resulted in the world's largest industrial accidents have occurred in the small hours of the morning when the circadian rhythm is lowest and operator fatigue itself peaks. While there have been legislative efforts made at state, federal and international levels to regulate working hours of employees, the appropriate implementation of such legislation is still a long way off. The Handbook of Operator Fatigue provides a comprehensive account of the subject to serve as the definitive reference work for researchers, students and practitioners alike. The volume features 30 chapters written by experts from around the world to address each important facet of fatigue, including: the scale of the fatigue problem (Section I), the nature of fatigue (Section II), how to assess fatigue (Section III), the impact of fatigue on health (Section IV), fatigue in the workplace (Section V), the neurological basis of fatigue (VI), sleep disorders (VII), and the design of countermeasures to fatigue (VIII).

An evidence-based scientific understanding of factors determining Olympic winter sports performance, recent changes, the evolution in training content and methods, the improvement in technology as well as the occurrence of injury and illness is required. On one hand, this would provide the opportunity to translate research to practice. On the other hand, to guide the practice of Olympic winter sports with the ultimate goal of improving the performance. Certainly, the continued evolution of Olympic winter sports has contributed to an enormous accumulation of knowledge, evidence, and relevant training technologies. Sports sciences, including physiology, conditioning, nutrition, biomechanics, coaching, psychology, as well as sport technology, history and social sciences, have much to contribute to the preparation of the athletes in the Olympic winter sports. Consequently, this Research Topic sought to provide a platform of contributions to set out a comprehensive framework of the components that should be addressed when developing training plans leading to elite Olympic winter sports performance. Overall, the papers were all directed toward a better understanding of physiological, biomechanical, and training factors related to different Olympic winter sports disciplines: cross-country skiing, alpine skiing, biathlon, Nordic combined, speed skating, snowboarding, and ski-cross.

This brand new Handbook addresses Paralympic sports and athletes, providing practical information on the medical issues, biological factors in the performance of the sports and physical conditioning. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction of the Paralympic athlete, followed by discipline-specific reviews from leading authorities in disability sport science, each covering the biomechanics, physiology, medicine, philosophy, sociology and psychology of the discipline. The Paralympic Athlete also addresses recent assessment and training tools to enhance the performance of athletes, particularly useful for trainers and coaches, and examples of best practice on athletes' scientific counseling are also presented. This new title sits in a series of specialist reference volumes, ideal for the use of professionals working directly with competitive athletes.