Alchemy and the history of science. Introduction

Alchemy is part of the cultural experience of early modern Europe and yet has had to overcome problems of demarcation to be considered relevant to the history of science. This essay considers historiographical and methodological issues that have affected the gradual demarginalization of alchemy among attempts to explain, and find things out about, nature. As an area of historical study, alchemy relates to the history of science as part of an ensemble of practices that explored the natural world through natural philosophy and speculative traditions and by functioning as a nexus of social and intellectual life.     

The effects of conscious processing on golf putting proficiency and kinematics

Researchers have suggested that skill performance deteriorates when people try to exert conscious control over automatic actions. Unfortunately, little is known about the effects of different types of conscious processing on skilled performance by expert athletes. We conducted two experiments to address this issue. Experiment 1 investigated the influence of a specific form of conscious control (making technical adjustments to a stroke) on the putting skills of expert golfers. The expert golfers maintained putting proficiency (i.e. number of putts holed) when making technical adjustments. However, this form of conscious processing altered the timing and consistency of golfers' putting strokes. Experiment 2 compared the influence of technical adjustments and conscious monitoring (paying attention to the execution of the stroke) on expert golfers' putting skills. Technical adjustments had no disruptive influence on expert golfers' putting proficiency but did reduce the consistency of their strokes. However, conscious monitoring was found to impair putting proficiency. The implications of the work for theory and future work are discussed.     

Analysis of the 5 iron golf swing when hitting for maximum distance

Most previous research on golf swing mechanics has focused on the driver club. The aim of this study was to identify the kinematic factors that contribute to greater hitting distance when using the 5 iron club. Three-dimensional marker coordinate data were collected (250 Hz) to calculate joint kinematics at eight key swing events, while a swing analyser measured club swing and ball launch characteristics. Thirty male participants were assigned to one of two groups, based on their ball launch speed (high: 52.9 ± 2.1 m · s(-1); low: 39.9 ± 5.2 m · s(-1)). Statistical analyses were used to identify variables that differed significantly between the two groups. Results showed significant differences were evident between the two groups for club face impact point and a number of joint angles and angular velocities, with greater shoulder flexion and less left shoulder internal rotation in the backswing, greater extension angular velocity in both shoulders at early downswing, greater left shoulder adduction angular velocity at ball contact, greater hip joint movement and X Factor angle during the downswing, and greater left elbow extension early in the downswing appearing to contribute to greater hitting distance with the 5 iron club.     

Viscoelastic impact characterisation of solid sports balls used in the Irish sport of Hurling

In recent years, variability in behaviour of the sliotar, a small leather-bound ball used in the Irish sport of hurling, has become evident in championship matches. The inconsistency in performance was attributed to the range of constructions and material compositions of currently approved ball types. With a view to adopting a standard core, a new methodology has been commissioned to assess the dynamic impact behaviour of approved sliotar cores. In this paper, the relationship between the dynamic stiffness and the coefficient of restitution is presented with regard to material properties, ball construction and viscoelastic strain and strain-rate dependencies. The modern polymer ball types were shown to exhibit strain-rate sensitivity, while the performance of the traditional multi-compositional ball types exhibited lesser strain-rate dependence. The traditional balls types were shown to be up to 2.5 times stiffer than the modern ball types, with this finding having implications for ball energy dissipation.     

Losing is Not an Option! Women's Basketball in Israel and its Struggle for Equality (1985–2002)

The current paper sheds light on a process that has changed Israeli sport between the years 1981 and 2002. The paper traces, conceptually and historically, the multiphase nature and struggle for equality of the Israeli women's basketball team. Through examining interrelated processes, this paper illustrates that although women have gained some ground as far as visibility and awareness is concerned, it is far too early for a ‘victory lap’. The rapid increase in women's participation in sports in Israel over the last decades expresses the change in the status of women in sports itself and in many other social areas, but in parallel also exposes staunch thought patterns in regard to women's and men's involvement in sports.     

Can a competence or standards model facilitate an inclusive approach to teacher education?

The paper seeks to determine whether programmes of initial teacher education (ITE) can contri–bute to the development of beginning teachers’ inclusive attitudes, values and practices. The majority of ITE programmes are based on government prescribed competence or standards frameworks, which are underpinned by Codes of Professional Values. It is these value statements, which will form the focus of the research, alongside the views of ITE tutors. Since the professional values and practices element is integral to the teacher education framework, it is inevitable that a rather utilitarian approach has been adopted, both to the specification and development of the values statements.     

Training and accrediting a school staff as mentors: experience of a primary school in Northern Ireland

Arrangements for initial teacher education in Northern Ireland are different from England and Wales in three major respects. Firstly, no formal contracts exist between Higher Education Institutions (HEI) and schools for the training of student teachers. Secondly, no financial resources are transferred from the HEIs to the schools to assist with supporting student teachers while on school placement. Thirdly, the competence framework has been designed to identify the distinctive contribution which schools make to the training process. The amount of time student teachers spend in schools, however, is the same as that in England and Wales but no formal training has been provided for schools to enable them to undertake the new and additional responsibilities which the competence framework implies. This paper describes an initiative in which the whole staff in a primary school in Belfast participated in a programme of Mentorship Training which was provided and accredited by the University of Ulster. The programme which comprised two modules was offered at postgraduate level and was designed to assist the teachers to develop a more structured and systematic approach to supporting and training student teachers and newly qualified teachers. On completion, the programme was evaluated and the findings are reported in this paper.     

Building professionalism and employability skills: embedding employer engagement within first-year computing modules

This paper outlines a means of improving the employability skills of first-year university students through a closely integrated model of employer engagement within computer science modules. The outlined approach illustrates how employability skills, including communication, teamwork and time management skills, can be contextualised in a manner that directly relates to student learning but can still be linked forward into employment. The paper tests the premise that developing employability skills early within the curriculum will result in improved student engagement and learning within later modules. The paper concludes that embedding employer participation within first-year models can help relate a distant notion of employability into something of more immediate relevance in terms of how students can best approach learning. Further, by enhancing employability skills early within the curriculum, it becomes possible to improve academic attainment within later modules.