Compression garments and cerebral blood flow: Influence on cognitive and exercise performance

This study aimed to describe the effect of compression garments on middle cerebral artery blood flow velocity (MCA_v) in relation to cognitive and exercise performance whilst cycling. In a randomised-controlled-cross-over design, 15 well-trained male cyclists were recruited to participate in three identical trials wearing loose fitting shorts (control), low-grade, or medium-grade compression garments. The protocol involved four 8?min increments of cycling at 30%, 50%, 70%, and 85% maximal power output and a 4?km time-trial. Participants undertook a cognitive Stroop task at baseline and at the midpoint of each increment. MCA_v was monitored with Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) and partial pressure of end-tidal CO₂ (P_etCO₂) were measured throughout. MCA_v, MAP, P_etCO₂, and reaction time of the complex Stroop task were influenced by exercise intensity, but not compression garments. Compression garments significantly affected cognitive accuracy in the complex Stroop task such that low-grade compression appeared to enhance cognitive accuracy in comparison to the control condition at the highest intensity (p?=?.010). Time-trial performance did not differ between the control (338.0?±?17.3 s), low-grade (338.7?±?18.7 s), or medium-grade (342.2?±?19.3 s) conditions (p?=?.114). Compression garments did not affect MCA_v during exercise or time-trial performance, but compression may be beneficial for improved cognitive accuracy during high-intensity exercise. Further research is required to elucidate the potential impact on cognitive performance.     

Teaching Against the Grain as an Act of Love: Disrupting White Eurocentric Masculinist Frameworks Within Teacher Education

What is radical love in teaching? How can radical love incite change and transformation within teacher education? What does radical love entail to prepare critically minded teachers for urban schools? In this conceptual paper, we respond to these questions through our individual and collective experiences as social justice oriented teacher educators preparing students to teach in urban schools. We engage with our womanist ways of knowing (Walker in In search of our mothers’ gardens: womanist prose, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston, 2004) and “theory in flesh” (Moraga and Anzaldúa in This bridge called my back: writings by radical women of color, 2nd edn, Kitchen Table/Women of Color Press, New York, 1983) to collaboratively reflect and analyze our conversations, reflective journaling, meetings, and other telling moments about what it means to practice radical love in teaching. More specifically, we identify three central concepts of what love as an act of resistance or teaching against the grain entails: (1) vulnerability, (2) collective support and healing, and (3) critique. Through these concepts we offer a framework from which to practice radical love in teaching and work in solidarity with others to transform oppressive systems in urban (teacher) education.     

Consequences and outcomes of policies governing medium-stakes large-scale exit exams

Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability - Large-scale externally mandated exit exams are common in many education systems. Exit exams are considered medium stakes when exam scores are...     

An Examination of Coursera as an Information Environment: Does Coursera Fulfill its Mission to Provide Open Education to All?

In terms of international education, the concept of online education seems to be a growing trend. Edxonline.org, Minervaproject.com, and Udacity.com are all new massive online open courses (MOOCs)—education websites similar to Coursera offering students the ability to receive the best education from elite universities entirely online. The most tantalizing promise of a company like Coursera is the role it might play in improving education for the world's have-nots: high school dropouts, the global poor, and those less able to self-teach.