American influencies in Brazilian physical education: clues in the specialised periodical press (1932–1950)

This study investigates the American presence and influences in the physical education press to understand the way in which that presence influenced and contributed to the production of a sports culture in the first half of the twentieth century. As historical sources, the study uses periodicals in the field that were published in the period 1932–1950. As a theoretical frame of reference, it uses the repertoire of the New Cultural History in terms of strategy, tactics and devices. It is written in a narrative way, following Ginzburg's style, presenting data and contextualizing them with the historic scene. Clues enabled us to infer that the American presence, which was catalysed by the Brazilian Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), sought to shape a sports culture from physical education and society. This effort reflected the yearning of Brazilian intellectuals for modernisation and an attempt at cultural colonisation by the government of the USA.     

Changes in tibiofemoral contact forces during running in response to in-field gait retraining

We evaluated the efficacy of an in-field gait retraining programme using mobile biofeedback to reduce cumulative and peak tibiofemoral loads during running. Thirty runners were randomised to either a retraining group or control group. Retrainers were asked to increase their step rate by 7.5% over preferred in response to real-time feedback provided by a wrist mounted running computer for 8 routine in-field runs. An inverse dynamics driven musculoskeletal model estimated total and medial tibiofemoral joint compartment contact forces. Peak and impulse per step total tibiofemoral contact forces were immediately reduced by 7.6% and 10.6%, respectively (P < 0.001). Similarly, medial tibiofemoral compartment peak and impulse per step tibiofemoral contact forces were reduced by 8.2% and 10.6%, respectively (P < 0.001). Interestingly, no changes were found in knee adduction moment measures. Post gait retraining, reductions in medial tibiofemoral compartment peak and impulse per step tibiofemoral contact force were still present (P < 0.01). At the 1-month post-retraining follow-up, these reductions remained (P < 0.05). With these per stance reductions in tibiofemoral contact forces in mind, cumulative tibiofemoral contact forces did not change due to the estimated increase in number of steps to run 1 km.     

Automatic evaluation of digital libraries with 5SQual

Digital libraries (DLs) are complex information systems which can present changes in their structure, content, and services. These complexities and dynamics make system maintenance a non-trivial task, since it requires periodical evaluation of the different DL components. Generally, these evaluations are customized per system and are performed only when problems occur and administrator intervention is required. This work aims to change the situation. We present 5SQual, a tool which provides ways to perform automatic and configurable evaluations of some of the most important DL components, among them, digital objects, metadata, and services. The tool implements diverse numeric indicators that are associated with eight quality dimensions described in the 5S quality model. Its generic architecture was developed to be applicable to various DLs and scenarios. In sum, the main contributions of this work include: (i) the design and implementation of 5SQual, a tool that validates a theoretical DL quality model; (ii) the demonstration of the applicability of the tool in several usage scenarios; and (iii) the evaluation (with usability specialists) of its graphical interface specially designed to guide the configuration of 5SQual evaluations. We also present the results of interviews conducted with administrators of real DLs regarding their expectations and opinions about 5SQual.     

Reasoning by analogy: Is it schema-mediated or case-based?

One of the “classical” ways of learning consists of studying examples of already solved problems. In two experiments, we analyzed the degree of abstraction of the knowledge used by ninth grade students to solve algebra problems after studying worked examples. The results showed that there are two processes underlying reasoning by analogy, one that uses abstract knowledge and another that involves case-based reasoning. Both experiments pointed out interindividual differences in the population under study: when given examples, some subjects seem to extract the structure of the solving process by comparing the worked examples, while others focus more on the specifics of each example. To these two processes correspond two levels of transfer: correctly solve problems that have the same structure as the examples, regardless of how similar they are, or be better at solving problems that resemble the examples the most. Experiment 2 used a dual-task paradigm to show that some subjects implement both processes, in which case the mental load is greater. This experiment also showed that both processes can lead to the long-term acquisition of the principles behind the examples.     

Are we promoting critical autonomous thinking? A discussion on conversational genres and whether they can help us answer this question

This work is based on the assumption that if the classroom is a space in which manifestations of critical autonomous thinking appear systematically, then it promotes that same kind of thinking by the students, in other contexts. But what count as manifestations of critical autonomous thinking, and how can we observe them? As Robert Young's Habermasian work on indoctrination and conversational genres seemed a promising conceptual framework for understanding classroom situations in this respect, we took it as a starting point for exploring answers to these questions. Our exploration, both through fieldwork and theoretical reflection, led us to some findings, among which are (1) the existence of new genres which refine the conceptual categories originally formulated by Young; (2) that analysis of function is not enough, requiring also a contents dimension with which one can study what critical autonomous thinking is promoted about, in particular classroom situations; and (3) that classroom situations can be more contradictory and fragmented than presupposed by the very idea of genre.     

Questioning a tradition: A French way of excellence

The following article was written in French as a keynote speech at the IGIP Symposiumat the Biel School of Engineering (University of Applied Sciences, in Biel, Switzerland), held in March 2000. The topic of this symposium was 'Unique and Excellent'. It aimed to show that engineering education cannot really head towards unification, but will reach uniqueness and excellency if there are many different ways of educating engineers. What happens on the spot, in each technical university, in each course, is much more important for excellence than the fact that all curricula can be compared directly at an international level. Owing to the very particular way of educating engineers in France, it was considered most important to learn about this particular organization. André Béraud accepted presenting it to the audience. His contribution had a very lively echo. The text presents a short outline of the history of French engineering education and its very particular ways and means. Engineering is not taught at technical universities but at Grandes Ecoles (Grand Schools), which represent a very high level of education open only to the very best. They will form the élite of the public servants of France, much more than what is generally considered the task of an engineer. In consequence, the education is broadly based with humanities as an important element in it; it is also very scientific, with mathematics and theoretical physics as central topics. The disadvantage of such a system lies in the fact that it is most rigid, not very open to the needs of industry and of foreign students. There have been, however, some changes.     

The impact of the Programme for International Student Assessment on academic journals

The aim of this study is to assess the impact of PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) on international scientific journals. A bibliometric analysis was conducted of publications included in three main scientific publication databases: Eric, EBSCOhost and the ISI Web of Knowledge, from 2002 to 2010. The paper focused on four main questions: who carried out these studies, in which academic journals have the articles been published, what has been the evolution of these publications and what were the main article topics? The study concludes that PISA has had a considerable impact on the scientific research, reflected primarily by university-based authors from the areas of education and social sciences analysing student performance. The evolution since 2007 seems to indicate that more articles will be published in coming years through the initiative of researchers (rather than the editorial boards), even from other scientific areas, thus increasing the number of topics of analysis.     

How does mental fatigue affect soccer performance during small-sided games? A cognitive,tactical and physical approach

ABSTRACT

Objectives

We examine how mental fatigue (MF) influences peripheral perception, tactical behaviour, and physical performance of soccer players during a standardized small-sided game.