Validating the Sedentary Sphere method in children: Does wrist or accelerometer brand matter?

This study aimed to validate the Sedentary Sphere posture classification method from wrist-worn accelerometers in children. Twenty-seven 9–10-year-old children wore ActiGraph GT9X (AG) and GENEActiv (GA) accelerometers on both wrists, and activPAL on the thigh while completing prescribed activities: five sedentary activities, standing with a phone, walking (criterion for all 7: observation) and 10-min free-living play (criterion: activPAL). In an independent sample, 21 children wore AG and GA accelerometers on the non-dominant wrist and activPAL for two days of free-living. Per cent accuracy, pairwise 95% equivalence tests (±10% equivalence zone) and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC) analyses were completed. Accuracy was similar, for prescribed activities irrespective of brand (non-dominant wrist: 77–78%; dominant wrist: 79%). Posture estimates were equivalent between wrists within brand (±6%, ICC > 0.81, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.75), between brands worn on the same wrist (±5%, ICC ≥ 0.84, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.80) and between brands worn on opposing wrists (±6%, ICC ≥ 0.78, lower 95% CI ≥ 0.72). Agreement with activPAL during free-living was 77%, but sedentary time was underestimated by 7% (GA) and 10% (AG). The Sedentary Sphere can be used to classify posture from wrist-worn AG and GA accelerometers for group-level estimates in children, but future work is needed to improve the algorithm for better individual-level results.     

Synthetic peptides in foot and mouth disease vaccine research

Foot and mouth disease is one of the most serious infections of farm livestock. Traditionally, the only effective control measures have been the wholesale slaughter of affected herds and strict regulation of animal movement. Latterly, preventive vaccination has proved very effective but, apart from cost, difficulties arise from the antigenic variability of the virus and the hazard of working with large quantities of live virus. This article describes research designed to mimic the antigenic determinants of the vaccine with synthetic peptides, which can then be linked to a carrier protein: possibly even the latter may prove unnecessary.     

Strategies for Affecting the Necessary Course of Cognitive Growth as an Integral Part of Curricular and Instructional Planning

This paper explores the public awareness that there presently exists a crisis in mathematics education and a “dumbingdown" of the curriculum, examines the nature of this crisis and argues that there has been a lowering of cultural, pedagogical and cognitive expectations with respect to most learners. The notion of cognitive development in mathematics education is re-examined and a model of how the concepts of learners can be transformed in the very process of engaging with the conceptual revolutions that defined geometry is proposed. The importance of cultivating a meta-narrative in support of metacognition and the development of cognitive growth are stressed.     

Comparison of accelerometer and pedometer measures of physical activity in boys and girls, ages 8-10 years

Accelerometers record total physical activity and time spent at different intensities. Pedometers indicate total activity only. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between pedometer counts and attainment of > or = 60 min of moderate activity. Thirty-four children, ages 8-10 years, wore a Tritrac accelerometer and Yamax pedometer. Published recommendations of steps per day were compared to attainment of > or = 60 min moderate activity. Boys who accumulated 13,000 steps.d(-1) and girls who accumulated 12,000 steps.d(-1) engaged in > or = 60 min moderate activity. However, 23% of boys and 15% of girls did not reach the pedometer thresholds but did engage in > or = 60 min moderate activity. In conclusion, these pedometer thresholds provide a reasonable estimation when assessment of physical activity intensity is not possible.     

Turning Vygotsky on His Head: Vygotsky' `Scientifically Based Method' and the Socioculturalist's `Social Other'

Vygotsky has become an authority, but the authority has more to do with justifying a sociocultural relativism than it has with his Marxist objectivist approach to psychology and pedagogy. This paper is an attempt to understand Vygotsky's perspective in relation to Marxist epistemology, and will critically examine the sociocultural interpretation of Vygotsky but within the light of his own perspective. It will be shown that the relativism of the sociocultural school not only takes Vygotsky's zone of proximal development out of its social and historical context, but as a consequence downplays the zone of proximal development as a dynamic research methodology. As an extension of the discussion of the zone of proximal development, this paper will also examine the sociocultural interpretation of Vygotsky's relation between scientific and everyday concepts, and the pedagogical consequences of such an interpretation.     

Teaching the Conceptual Revolutions in Geometry

Mathematics begins in human experience thousands of years ago as empirical and intuitive experiences. It takes the deliberate naming of concepts to help crystallize and secure those observations and intuitions as abstract concepts, and to begin separating the concept of number from specific instances of objects. It takes the creation of compact symbols to enable efficient calculation and to begin raising a consciousness of this activity we call mathematics. And it takes the sustained development and discussion of mathematical conventions and practices to create entire domains of mathematical thought, such as we find in geometry. The major innovations and conceptual reformulations are few in number, but these represent perhaps the greatest challenges to learners. Historically significant transformative events have their counterpart in the cognitive growth of the individual. This article examines the interplay between these big ideas in cultural history and the deliberate processes of cognitive change that are their counterpart in the educational process.     

A Case Study of Student Teachers' Science Placements

The role of placements in the development of the education/industry partnership is considered with particular reference to initial teacher education. A detailed study of a placement scheme run by an ITE institution and Teacher Placement Organisers (TPO) is described and analysed to highlight issues regarding the nature and process of students' learning from placements. In the context of science and technology it is suggested that modifications to the content of subjects are necessary if students are successfully to investigate the workplace using their subject understanding. However, there are dangers that learning might become narrowly vocational and it is argued that in the evaluation of learning it is necessary to consider the use of inquiry skills in relation to the subject‐specific context if educational concerns are to be safe‐guarded.     

Eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage dissociates the lactate and gas exchange thresholds

We tested the hypothesis that exercise-induced muscle damage would increase the ventilatory (V(E)) response to incremental/ramp cycle exercise (lower the gas exchange threshold) without altering the blood lactate profile, thereby dissociating the gas exchange and lactate thresholds. Ten physically active men completed maximal incremental cycle tests before (pre) and 48 h after (post) performing eccentric exercise comprising 100 squats. Pulmonary gas exchange was measured breath-by-breath and fingertip blood sampled at 1-min intervals for determination of blood lactate concentration. The gas exchange threshold occurred at a lower work rate (pre: 136 ± 27 W; post: 105 ± 19 W; P < 0.05) and oxygen uptake (VO(2)) (pre: 1.58 ± 0.26 litres · min(-1); post: 1.41 ± 0.14 litres · min(-1); P < 0.05) after eccentric exercise. However, the lactate threshold occurred at a similar work rate (pre: 161 ± 19 W; post: 158 ± 22 W; P > 0.05) and VO(2) (pre: 1.90 ± 0.20 litres · min(-1); post: 1.88 ± 0.15 litres · min(-1); P > 0.05) after eccentric exercise. These findings demonstrate that exercise-induced muscle damage dissociates the V(E) response to incremental/ramp exercise from the blood lactate response, indicating that V(E) may be controlled by additional or altered neurogenic stimuli following eccentric exercise. Thus, due consideration of prior eccentric exercise should be made when using the gas exchange threshold to provide a non-invasive estimation of the lactate threshold.