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The aim of the study was to record the attitudes and intentions of Greek and Cypriot primary education teachers towards teaching children with special educational needs (SENs) in mainstream schools. The instrument used was based on 'Planned Behaviour Theory'. The sample of the study included 179 educators, 87 from Greece (34 men, 52 women) and 92 from Cyprus (15 men, 70 women). Descriptive statistics indicated that school teachers have positive attitudes about the possibility of teaching students with and without SENs. Pearson's correlation coefficient revealed that intention has significant correlations (p ≤ 0.001) with attitudes, self-identity, attitude strength, experience, information and knowledge. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) analysis revealed that intention, attitude strength and knowledge are the variables where the differentiation between the educators was located, with the educators from Cyprus having the higher records. Also, Cypriot educators had more experience in working with SENs pupils, and all of them had low universitylevel education in the subject of Special Education. In conclusion, experience, attitude strength, self-identity, knowledge, information and also tertiary-level education, in the subject of Special Education, have a positive effect on the attitudes and intentions of people who want to teach pupils with SENs.

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The purpose of the current research was the comparison of the snatch technique between elite male and female weightlifters. Two S-VHS cameras operating at 60 fields per second were used to record the snatch lifts of 6 male and 6 female Greek weightlifters under competitive conditions. The spatial coordinates of selected points on the body and the barbell were calculated using the direct linear transformation procedure, and the raw data were digitally filtered with a cutoff frequency of 4 Hz. Analyses of variance for dependent and independent samples were used to compare the selected variables in men with the corresponding variables in women. The results revealed that women flexed their knees significantly less and slower than men did during the transition phase (p < 0.05). Women also dropped under the barbell during the turnover and catch phases significantly less and slower than men did (p < 0.05). Moreover, the external mechanical work for the vertical displacement of the barbell in men was significantly greater in the first pull than in the second pull (p < 0.05). In contrast, women showed similar work outputs in the 2 phases. These differences between the 2 sexes might be because of the lower skill level of women in comparison with men, which is partly because of the recent participation of women in weightlifting.

The aim of this study was to examine the acute effect of front crawl sprint resisted swimming with different added resistances on the kinematic characteristics of the stroke and the orientation of the hand. Ten female swimmers swam four maximal trials (25 m) with small, moderate, large, and no added resistance respectively. Four camcorders were used to record the underwater motion of the right hand and digitizing was undertaken using the Ariel Performance Analysis System. Stroke rate, the stroke length, and mean swimming velocity were significantly decreased, whereas the total duration of the stroke and the relative duration of the pull and push phases were significantly increased during resisted swimming. The increase in the total duration of the stroke was accompanied by an increase in absolute pull length, while no alterations were observed in relative pull length or medial-lateral displacements of the hand. Moreover, the mean resultant velocity of the hand, as well as the pitch and the sweepback angles of the hand were not modified. In conclusion, resisted swimming appears to be a specific form of training, at least regarding its acute effect, although long-term effects should be investigated further.