Effectiveness of Interval Exercise Training in Patients with COPD

Physical training is beneficial and should be included in the comprehensive management of all patients with COPD independently of disease severity. Different rehabilitative strategies and training modalities have been proposed to optimize exercise tolerance. Interval exercise training has been used as an effective alternative modality to continuous exercise in patients with moderate and severe COPD.Although in healthy elderly individuals and patients with chronic heart failure there is evidence that this training modality is superior to continuous exercise in terms of physiological training effects, in patients with COPD, there is not such evidence. Nevertheless, in patients with COPD application of interval training has been shown to be equally effective to continuous exercise as it induces equivalent physiological training effects but with less symptoms of dyspnea and leg discomfort during training.The main purpose of this review is to summarize previous studies of the effectiveness of interval training in COPD and also to provide arguments in support of the application of interval training to overcome the respiratory and peripheral muscle limiting factors of exercise capacity. To this end we make recommendations on how best to implement interval training in the COPD population in the rehabilitation setting so as to maximize training effects.Key Words: interval exercise training, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exercise tolerance, pulmonary rehabilitation     

Cycling power output produced during flat and mountain stages in the Giro d'Italia: a case study

Until recently, the physiological demands of cycling competitions were mostly reflected by the measurement of heart rate and the indirect estimation of exercise intensity. The purpose of this case study was to illustrate the varying power output of a professional cyclist during flat and mountain stages of a Grand Tour (Giro d'Italia). Nine stage recordings of a cyclist of the 2005 Giro d'Italia were monitored using a mobile power measurement device (SRM Trainingssystem, Julich, Germany), which recorded direct power output and heart rate. Stages were categorized into flat (n = 5) and mountain stages (n = 4). Data were processed electronically, and the overall mean power in flat and mountain stages and maximal mean power for various durations were calculated. Mean power output was 132 W +/- 26 (2.0 W x kg(-1) +/- 0.4) for the flat and 235 W +/- 10 (3.5 W x kg(-1) +/- 0.1) for the mountain stages. Mountain stages showed higher maximal mean power (367 W) for longer durations (1800 s) than flat stages (239 W). Flat stages are characterized by a large variability of power output with short bursts of high power and long periods with reduced intensity of exercise, whereas mountain stages mostly require submaximal, constant power output over longer periods.     

Converging Subjective and Psychophysiological Measures of Cognitive Load to Study the Effects of Instructor‐Present Video

Many online videos feature an instructor on the screen to improve learners' engagement; however, the influence of this design on learners' cognitive load is underexplored. This study investigates the effects of instructor presence on learners' processing of information using both subjective and psychophysiological measures of cognitive load. Sixty university students watched a statistics instructional video either with or without instructor presence, while the spontaneous electrical activity of their brain was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG). At the conclusion of the video, they also self‐reported overall load, intrinsic load, extraneous load, and germane load they experienced during the video. Learning from the video was assessed via tests of retention and transfer. Results suggested the instructor‐present video improved learners' ability to transfer information and was associated with a lower self‐reported intrinsic and extraneous load. Event‐related changes in theta band activity also indicated lower cognitive load with instructor‐present video.     

Entrepreneurial orientation in turbulent environments: The moderating role of absorptive capacity

The literature on entrepreneurial orientation (EO) has confirmed the positive relationship between EO and firm performance and that relationship's dependence on several contingencies. The present study connects the resource-based view and its dynamic capability extension to introduce absorptive capacity (ACAP) as a moderator of the relationship between EO and firm performance. This theoretically derived research model is empirically validated using survey data from 219 small and medium-sized enterprises in Germany. Our empirical findings are that ACAP strengthens the EO–performance relationship in turbulent markets.     

Informationen des Deutschen Olympischen Sportbunds (DOSB)

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Informationen des Deutschen Olympischen Sportbunds (DOSB)     

Individual Development Plans as Governance Tools – Changed Governance of Teachers’ Work

Auditing, accountability, and transparency are concepts that greatly impact the working conditions of today’s public sector professionals, including teachers. Documentation requirements have been on the increase for some time, which can be seen in the education sector’s Individual Development Plans (IDPs), for example. These IDPs are pedagogical tools, but can also be seen as governance tools, which is how we will treat them here. In this conceptual paper, we argue that to improve knowledge of education policy changes, there is a need to consider the changed documentation requirements from the perspective of sociology of professions. To this end, we use Evetts’ occupational and organisational logics and Abbott’s three aspects of professional work.     

Citizenship discourses: production and curriculum

This paper explores citizenship discourses empirically through upper secondary school student’s understandings, as these emerge in and through their everyday experiences. Drawing on a post-structuralist theorisation inspired by the work of Michel Foucault, a discourse analysis of data from interviews with students is carried out. This analysis characterises three discourses of the active citizen – a knowledgeable citizen, a responsive and holistic citizen, and a self-responsible ‘free’ citizen. The analysis raises questions over the implications of contemporary efforts for the intensification of standardising forces through citizenship education. It also stresses the notion that engaging students actively does always also involve discourses other than those stressed through the curriculum, which nurtures the body and nerve of democracy itself.     

Development and evaluation of an e-learning course for deaf and hard of hearing based on the advanced Adapted Pedagogical Index method

Web-based and adapted e-learning materials provide alternative methods of learning to those used in a traditional classroom. Within the study described in this article, deaf and hard of hearing people used an adaptive e-learning environment to improve their computer literacy. This environment included streaming video with sign language interpreter video and subtitles. The courses were based on the learning management system Moodle, which also includes sign language streaming videos and subtitles. A different approach is required when adapting e-learning courses for the deaf and hard of hearing: new guidelines must be developed concerning the loading and display of video material. This is shown in the example of the e-learning course, ECDL (European Computer Driving Licence). The usability of the e-learning course is analyzed and confirmed using two methods: first, the Software Usability Measurement Inventory (SUMI) evaluation method, and second, the Adapted Pedagogical Index (AdaPI), which was developed as part of this study, and gives an index to measure the pedagogical effectiveness of e-learning courses adapted for people with disabilities. With 116 participants, of whom 22 are deaf or hard of hearing, the e-learning course for the target group has been found suitable and appropriate according to both evaluation methods.     

Sind Modelle der Item-Response-Theorie (IRT) das „Mittel der Wahl“ für die Modellierung von Kompetenzen?

Item response theory (IRT) models can be subsumed under the larger class of statistical models with latent variables. IRT models are increasingly used for the scaling of the responses derived from standardized assessments of competencies. The paper summarizes the strengths of IRT in contrast to more traditional techniques as well as in contrast to alternative models with latent variables (e. g. structural equation modeling). Subsequently, specific limitations of IRT and cases where other methods might be preferable are lined out.