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Caffeine is a popular ergogenic aid, but its effects on swimming performance are not yet fully clear. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of caffeine on swimming performance.

Crossover placebo-controlled studies that explored the effects of caffeine on swimming performance were included. Six databases were searched to find relevant studies with additional forward and backward citation tracking. The data were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis.

Eight studies were included in the review. The main meta-analysis showed a significant ergogenic effect of caffeine ingestion on swimming performance (Cohen’s d: –0.20; 95% confidence interval: −0.32, −0.08; p = 0.0008; –1.7%). In the analysis for short-distance swimming events, caffeine ingestion had a significant ergogenic effect on swimming performance (Cohen’s d: –0.14; 95% confidence interval: –0.27, −0.01; p = 0.03; −1.4%). An ergogenic effect of caffeine was also found in the analysis for moderate-to-long swimming distance events (Cohen’s d: –0.36; 95% confidence interval: −0.67, −0.05; p = 0.02; −2.2%).

The present meta-analysis found that caffeine ingestion decreases the time needed to complete a given swimming event. While these ergogenic effects may be classified as small, they are likely important in swimming, where narrow margins commonly determine placings.

There has been an increase in swimming in natural bodies of water as reported in personal qualitative accounts. However, limited academic research has explored the meaning of this occupation. Engaging with nature, exercising and being part of a community contribute to better mental and physical health. The purpose of this research was to explore the meaning that adults attribute to open-water swimming in natural bodies of water.

This study used phenomenological interviews to explore the meaning that five adults attribute to open-water swimming.

Open-water swimming contributes to meaning-making in many ways. Participants reported swimming as necessary for maintaining mental and emotional well-being and forming meaningful connections with the social environment, nature and their true selves.

This study contributes to the understanding of the meaning of open-water swimming for adults in Ireland. Understanding the meaning of this occupation may add to the body of evidence exploring blue-space to promote health.

Open-water swimming is an occupation growing in popularity. This is the first paper to explore open-water swimming from an occupational perspective. This may provide an alternative perspective for viewing blue-space engagement and understanding the relationship between health, blue-space occupations and our oceans.

Swimming is a popular holiday activity in tropical tourism destinations but is not risk free. Aside from the obvious risks of drowning, tropical waters harbour a number of marine animals that have the potential to injure or even kill unwary swimmers. Sharks, marine jellyfish and crocodiles may pose threats. From a destination perspective, strategies need to be implemented that firstly reduce the risk of injury and secondly care for swimmers who are injured. This paper first reports on the results of a survey of swimmers that examines a range of swimming-related behaviours then proposes an action pathway model that may be implemented by destinations to reduce risk for swimmers.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the health and well-being benefits of outdoor, cold water swimming.

This paper describes the personal experience of one cold water swimmer. It also explores some of the research literature suggesting there is evidence of the benefits to the health and well-being of people of all ages.

The paper explores literature suggesting there is evidence of the benefits of “blue therapy” to the health and well-being of people of all ages.

This paper describes the personal experience of one cold water swimmer. However, a growing body of published literature suggests there is value in “blue therapy” informing future social prescribing programmes.

While there is an increasing use of anodised aluminium for some applications in swimming pool buildings, there is considerable reluctance in accepting it for general use, because of a mistaken belief that the chlorine‐containing atmosphere will cause corrosion of both mill finish and anodised aluminium.

This study aims to determine the effects of three different carrier system materials (laminated wooden beams, post-tensioned concrete beams and steel beams) used widely in interior spaces on the perceptual evaluations of respondents.

The large opening Olympic swimming pool space was chosen as the research environment. A total of 376 university graduates participated. After experiencing the 360-degree virtual images of the experimental spaces, a “spatial perception” questionnaire was applied to these respondents.

The spaces using the laminated wood beams in the carrier system were perceived as warmer, lighter, more attractive, more spacious, more informal, closer, more well-planned, freer, simpler, more peaceful, more exciting, and uncrowded compared to the spaces that used post-tensioned concrete beams and steel beams. The architect respondents made more negative perceptual evaluations for all the adjective pairs compared to the respondents in the other professional groups. Respondents who were males, and in the 26–35 years of age group, perceived more positively the physical environmental factors of the virtual swimming pools compared to females, and the 36 years of age or above age group.

The results set forth that the structural elements of buildings, such as ceilings, walls and furnishings, were not only systematic elements used in the formation of the structure, they were also important environmental factors in the perceptual evaluation of the space.

It is widely accepted that doing exercise regularly is essential to promote physical, psychological and social well-being. Yet, often dropout rates tend to be high. The purpose of this paper is to propose a model to understand the potential drivers of satisfaction and loyalty in the sports and fitness context looking in particular at four main dimensions of service quality: infrastructures/physical environment, relationship with instructors/staff, outcomes achieved and customer-to-customer interaction.

An extensive literature review was conducted to identify potential drivers of customer satisfaction and loyalty in sports. The proposed model was estimated using data collected from a sample of 384 users of four Portuguese swimming pools facilities by means of a survey questionnaire.

The majority of the hypotheses tested found support in the data. In particular, the quality of the interaction with instructors and the results obtained from exercising have a strong impact on satisfaction, which, in turn, is highly correlated with psychological commitment and positive word-of-mouth communication.

Based on the findings some managerial implications can be derived. Such recommendations can enhance users’ perceptions of service quality and indirectly contribute to a more regular and effective sports practice.

The importance of enhancing loyalty has been emphasised in sports management literature. Yet, few studies have empirically investigated the simultaneous relationships among service quality dimensions, customer satisfaction and loyalty. This research partially addresses this gap.

For precisely presenting the swimming behavior of fish robots underwater and the practical implementation purpose, this paper aims to investigate a well-formulated fish robot model which integrates the nonlinear rigid body dynamics, kinematics and models of actuators.

This fish robot model is mainly built up by three basic parts: a balance mechanism, a four-links vibrator and a caudal fin. In the fish robot’s head, there is a balance mechanism used to control the rotations in pitch and roll directions of the fish robot by moving two movable masses. The four-links vibrator with three active joints actuated by DC motors is designed to vibrate the fish’s body. In the end of the fish robot body, a caudal fin which connects with the passive joint is developed to generate hydrodynamic thrust forces to propel the fish robot.

From the real stability tests and control verification, it is obvious that this proposed model can precisely present the swimming behavior of fish robots and possesses the potential to develop a fish-like robotic prototype.

A well-formulated model with dynamics of actuators is integrated for presenting the swimming behavior of carangiform locomotion type fish robots in this investigation. From the simulation results and the practical test of a real fish robot, the feasibility of this proposed model for building up real fish robots can be proven, and this proposed model is accurate enough to effectively present the swimming behavior of fish robots.

This case is designed to introduce students to organization culture and how employees are being affected by it. They should have some familiarity with organizational behavior (OB) issues, especially in relating to work culture. They need to be familiar with the related theories and models in organization behavior and development. More particularly, the learning objectives using this case are as follows. By using this case, the students should be able: to understand the real-life workplace scenario where fellow colleagues, like Catherine, can act bossy; to understand the problems because of communication barriers at the workplace. to be exposed on the concept of leadership style and organizational culture; and to understand the necessity of a leader’s interference in handling a chaotic situation in the organization.

This case illustrates the challenge faced by a young entrepreneur with regard to handling workplace chaos among employees. It highlights the importance of having a smooth communication flow and work culture in the organization. SWM was a swimming center in Southeast Asia founded by Ayyub, a young entrepreneur, in July 2014. Over two years, in 2016, SWM had designed different ranges of swimming programs for children and adults. The company’s culture gave employees freedom and flexibility to work. During 2015, the company’s growth was fast, thus encouraging Ayyub to recruit new staff to handle business operations. But hiring new staff caused problems among employees. On September 2016, Ayyub received numerous complaints from employees about a particular senior staff named Catherine with regard to her quarrelsome attitude and bossy behavior toward other junior employees. As a consequence, four employees left within a one-year period, and Ayyub started to receive complaints almost every week. However, because as Catherine was Ayyub’s friend and she was loyal to the company and technical skills, Ayyub fervently wanted to retain Catherine. Nevertheless, he was in dilemma how to fix this workplace miscommunication to maintain the harmony and peace in the organization. He was planning to open a new branch at Southeast Asia on February 2017, during Chinese New Year. He wanted to solve this problem before he starts his new branch. Taking into consideration the whole situation, Ayyub is now contemplating whether to conduct one-to-one meetings with Catherine on a continuous basis to train her with communication and leadership skills, isolate her in a department with less interaction with other staff, transfer her to the new branch or fire her.

The case target audience is for MBA students, particularly for OB and HR classes. Students/participants are challenged to identify the major issue in the case and help decision maker to make decision.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 7: Management Science.