The challenges facing library and information science journals: Editors' opinions

This study aimed to gather the opinions of editors of Library and Information Science journals indexed in Scopus and the Web of Knowledge regarding the current situation and their forecasts on open access, peer review procedures, functionalities, and specialization. The response rate was 23%, and some noteworthy conclusions can be drawn according to editors' opinions: Within 5–10 years, the main business model for journal publishing will be open access. Institutional support is the preferred source of financing. The review process requires less than 2 months, and the main problems are low quality of texts and finding reviewers. Functionalities such as mobile versions of the journals, social media, data policy, and altmetrics have yet to be exploited; interdisciplinarity will increase the presence of these functionalities in journals, especially through the influence of the related areas of Communication, Management, and Computer Science. Finally, the area that will see the most changes is the management of research data.     

Influence of ACTN3 R577X polymorphism on ventilatory thresholds related to endurance performance

The purpose of this study was to verify the association between ACTN3 polymorphism and physiological parameters related to endurance performance. A total of 150 healthy male volunteers performed a maximal incremental running test to determine the speeds corresponding to ventilatory threshold (VT) and respiratory compensation point (RCP). Participants were genotyped and divided into terciles based on the analysed variables. Genotype frequencies were compared through χ² test between lower and higher terciles, with the lowest or highest values of each analysed variable. ACTN3 XX genotype was over-represented in higher tercile for VT and RCP. Odds ratio also showed significantly higher chances of XX individuals to be in higher tercile compared to RR (7.3) and RR + RX (3.5) for VT and compared to RR genotype (8.1) and RR + RX (3.4) for RCP. Thus, XX individuals could attain the VT and RCP at higher speeds, suggesting that they are able to sustain higher running speeds in lower exercise intensity domains. It could result in higher lipid acids oxidation, saving muscle glycogen and delaying the fatigue during prolonged exercises, which could be the advantage mechanism of this genotype to endurance performance.     

Frontal plane comparison between drop jump and vertical jump: implications for the assessment of ACL risk of injury

The potential to use the vertical jump (VJ) to assess both athletic performance and risk of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury could have widespread clinical implications since VJ is broadly used in high school, university, and professional sport settings. Although drop jump (DJ) and VJ observationally exhibit similar lower extremity mechanics, the extent to which VJ can also be used as screening tool for ACL injury risk has not been assessed. This study evaluated whether individuals exhibit similar knee joint frontal plane kinematic and kinetic patterns when performing VJs compared with DJs. Twenty-eight female collegiate athletes performed DJs and VJs. Paired t-tests indicated that peak knee valgus angles did not differ significantly between tasks (p = 0.419); however, peak knee internal adductor moments were significantly larger during the DJ vs. VJ (p < 0.001). Pearson correlations between the DJ and VJ revealed strong correlations for knee valgus angles (r = 0.93, p < 0.001) and for internal knee adductor moments (r = 0.82, p < 0.001). Our results provide grounds for investigating whether frontal plane knee mechanics during VJ can predict ACL injuries and thus can be used as an effective tool for the assessment of risk of ACL injury in female athletes.     

Discussing education by means of metaphors

Abstract

Metaphors help us understand a concept by resorting to the imaginary because it is sometimes difficult to do so through the use of words alone. Thinkers have made use of metaphors to not only describe ‘falling in love’, ‘the pain of losing someone dear to us’, but also to describe particular concepts both in arts and sciences. In fact, the use of metaphors in some disciplines, particularly the sciences, is now regarded as something essential for the development of the field. We note that influential philosophers of education, such as Martin Buber, Paulo Freire, Michael Apple, Gert Biesta and Ilan Gur-Ze’ev have also made use of metaphors to discuss education and specific issues in educational contexts. In this article, we do two things: (i) we discuss the methodological importance of metaphors in helping us make better sense of concepts and particular problems; (ii) building on this methodological discussion, we critically discuss the problems posed by the current processes of ‘marketisation’ and ‘learnification’ in education. We conclude by arguing that metaphors do not provide us with ultimate answers to the problems we face; rather, they help us unveil a diversity of novel perspectives and a world of new possibilities.     

The COVID-19 epidemic in Brazil: how statistics education may contribute to unravel the reality behind the charts

Educational Studies in Mathematics - The world is now facing the most severe health, social, and economic event of the last hundred years, which has made the need to acquire statistical thinking to...     

Researching research: mathematics education in the Political

We discuss contemporary theories in mathematics education in order to do research on research. Our strategy consists of analysing discursively and ideologically recent key publications addressing the role of theory in mathematics education research. We examine how the field fabricates its object of research by deploying Foucault’s notion of bio-politics—mainly to address the object “learning”—and ?i?ek’s ideology critique—to address the object “mathematics”. These theories, which have already been used in the field to research teaching and learning, have a great potential to contribute to a reflexivity of research on its discourses and effects. Furthermore, they enable us to present a clear distinction between what has been called the sociopolitical turn in mathematics education research and what we call a positioning of mathematics education (research) practices in the Political.     

The Relationship Between Running Economy and Biomechanical Variables in Distance Runners

In this study, we analyzed the relationship between running economy (RE) and biomechanical parameters in a group running at the same relative intensity and same absolute velocity. Sixteen homogeneous male long-distance runners performed a test to determine RE at 4.4 m.s^-1, corresponding to 11.1% below velocity at the ventilatory threshold. We found significant correlations between RE and biomechanical variables (vertical oscillation of the center of mass, stride frequency, stride length, balance time, relative stride length, range of elbow motion, internal knee, ankle angles at foot strike, and electromyographic activity of the semitendinosus and rectus femoris muscles). In conclusion, changes in running technique can influence RE and lead to improved running performance.     

School Life and Adolescents' Self‐Esteem Trajectories

This study investigates heterogeneity in adolescents' trajectories of global self‐esteem (GSE) and the relations between these trajectories and facets of the interpersonal, organizational, and instructional components of students' school life. Methodologically, this study illustrates the use of growth mixture analyses, and how to obtain proper student‐level effects when there are multiple schools, but not enough to support multilevel analyses. This study is based on a 4‐year, six‐measurement‐point, follow‐up of 1,008 adolescents (M_age = 12.6 years, SD = 0.6 at Time 1.) The results show four latent classes presenting elevated, moderate, increasing, and low trajectories defined based on GSE levels and fluctuations. The results show that GSE becomes trait‐like as it increases and that school life effects, moderated by gender, played an important role in predicting membership in these trajectories.     

Private tutoring through the internet: globalization and offshoring

The private tutoring industry has come forward as the third great sector of education. The common sense representation about private tutoring is changing. The growing search for supplementary educational support services and the technological innovation have created a new paradigm. This paper focuses on one of the most interesting faces of this new phenomenon: the rise of private tutoring through the internet. The very promising market is considered by some analysts as a true explosion on the offer and demand levels. Many families are feeling increasingly unable to provide their children the “extra help” they need to meet the requirements of further steps in the education system. So, for several reasons, they are outsourcing and even offshoring this so important and competitive task. The field is full of learning and market opportunities. This is the new globalized world of the less shadow and progressively growing private tutoring in the XXI century.