“We're Trying to Take Action”: Transformative Agency,Role Re-mediation,and the Complexities of Youth Participatory Action Research

This article seeks to illuminate the complexity of youth participatory action research (YPAR) through the use of two concepts: (1) transformative agency, a collective initiative to address conflicts and contradictions in activity systems, and (2) role re-mediation, the disruption of power relations. We demonstrate that these concepts, in comparison to the concept of civic participation, allow for an expanded consideration of the cross-contextual processes that are involved in collective mobilization to enact justice. To explore this area, we examine an afterschool YPAR program involving the adult authors and youth of color with intersectional identities—including emergent bilinguals and youth perceived as struggling academically. We illustrate three avenues of transformative agency and role re-mediation within the YPAR program: (1) engagement with critical fiction and non-fiction texts that expose power relations; (2) interactions between individuals within and beyond the YPAR space; and (3) production and dissemination of knowledge. Through this exploration, we illustrate how the lenses of transformative agency and role re-mediation can provide new understandings of change-oriented action in YPAR.     

Emotional responses during repeated sprint intervals performed on level,downhill and uphill surfaces

The purpose of this study was to test emotional responses during sprint intervals performed on a level, down and up surface. Fifty trained participants performed a maximal effort during a 60-m sprint and 10 repetitions of 60 m running sprints on a level, down and up surface on a 5.9% slope. Running speeds, emotional responses and heart rate were measured. Self-selected speeds were correlated with the rating of perceived exertion, the affective balance, the desire to stop and the resources needed for the task in all conditions whereas the pleasure, the desire to continue and the capacity to realise the task were correlated with speeds only during level and uphill running. Mean values of emotional parameters were significantly different (P < 0.05) during running on a flat surface, downhill and uphill. When the gradient of running surface is changed, the pattern of emotional responses was just translated, i.e. most of the slope between the evolution of emotional parameters and the repetitions were not significantly different whereas Y-intercepts were different.

Consented effort is highly correlated with the resources needed for the task (P < 0.001, r² = 0.72). We propose that the difference in the resources needed for the task between level, downhill and uphill running (F _{2, 1499} = 166.5, P < 0.001, Eta² = 0.18) is the most important key that explains our results.     

Effect of environmental feedbacks on pacing strategy and affective load during a self-paced 30 min cycling time trial

The purpose of this study was to analyze the pacing strategy and its affective consequences during self-paced cycling time trials (TT) performed at different severity of hypoxia. Eight competitive cyclists performed five 30 min self-paced TTs at their best performance in the following conditions: 1) normobaric normoxia (NN_SL); 2) normobaric hypoxia under two simulated altitudes: 2000 m (NH₂₀₀₀) and 3500 m (NH₃₅₀₀) and 3) normobaric hypoxia but the cyclists were deceived and thought to be at sea level for 2000 m (DecNH₂₀₀₀) and 3500 m (DecNH₃₅₀₀). Power Output (PO), oxygen uptake (VO₂), and blood lactate concentration ([La]) were recorded to assess exercise intensity and physiological adaptations. The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and pleasure were measured with a CR10 Borg scale to evaluate the affective load (AL). PO and VO₂ decreased with the severity of hypoxia but no significantly difference on performance was measured between deceived and real conditions, except for pacing strategy. The started intensity depends on the exercise expectations, but PO was rapidly adjusted with the physiological constraints and the rate of increase of RPE. Finally, AL did not reach maximal values so that the athletes sustained a physiological and emotional reserve to perform a final spurt.     

Communications Research

Thomas F. Gordon and Mary Ellen Verna Mass Communication Effects and Processes: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1950-1975 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1978—$15.00),

Charles Winick, Deviance and Mass Media (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1979—$18.50/8.95),

Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method by Don A. Dillman (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1979—$19.95)

Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education by J.P. Guilford and Benjamin Fruchter (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979—$16.00)

Jane T. Bertrand Communications Pretesting (Chicago: University of Chicago Community and Family Study Center, 1978—$3.50, paper)

Gary Gumpert and Robert Cathcart, Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1979—$S.95, paper)     

French Media Books

ELECTRONIC MEDIA: A GUIDE TO TRENDS IN BROADCASTING AND NEWER TECHNOLOGIES, 1920-1983, by Christopher H. Sterling (New York: Praeger, 1984—$34.95/$17.95)

THE LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE SOURCEBOOK: A GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, (Bethesda, Md.: Phillips Publishing, 1984—$127.00, paper)

TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES: AN EPISODE GUIDE TO 153 TV SITCOMS IN SYNDICATION, by Joel Eisner and David Krinsky (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., Inc., 1984—$49.95)

RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING 1920-1983; A SELECTIVELY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, by George H. Hill and Lenwood Davis (New York: Garland Publishing, 1984—$36.00)

FM ATLAS AND STATION DIRECTORY, by Bruce F. Elving (FM Atlas Publishing, Adolph, Minn. 55701—$7.50, paper)

COMPUTER CONTENTS, (Management Contents, 2265 Carlson Drive, Northbrook, Ill. 60062—$95.00/biweekly, or $4.00 per copy)

AMERICAN RADIO: SPRING 1984, by James H. Duncan, Jr. (Duncan Media Enterprises, Box 2966, Kalamazoo, MI 49002—$55.00, paper)

WORLD TABLES: THE THIRD EDITION, by the staff of the World Bank (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984—$50.00/$25.00 for Volume I, Economic Data; and $25.00/$12.50 for Volume II, Social Data)

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, edited by Donald R. Whitnah (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1984—$49.95)

ACRONYMS, INMALISMS, AND ABBREVIATIONS DICTIONARY, edited by Ellen Crowley and Helen Sheppard (Detroit: Gale Research, 1984—$145.00, two volumes)

STATISTICS FOR TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND FINANCE AND INSURANCE: DATA AVAILABILITY AND NEEDS, by Sol D. Helfand, et al. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1984—price not given, paper)

TELECOURSE INVENTORY 1984 (Center for Learning and Telecommunications, One Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036—$20.00, paper)     

Effects of foreign acquisitions on R&D activity: Evidence from firm-level data for France

This paper investigates the causal effect of foreign acquisitions on the research and development (R&D) activities of domestic target firms over the period 1994–2004. Using accounting data on French innovative manufacturing firms, we implement appropriate difference-in-difference estimation techniques associated with a matching propensity score procedure. We find that the acquisitions of French firms by foreign companies boost R&D spending. There is a simultaneous rise in the external and in-house R&D expenditures of French acquired firms. R&D is more contracted out to local research providers, in particular to local public laboratories and universities. The increase in internal R&D spending benefits to development, but also basic and applied research. Finally, the growth of the R&D budget is not only financed by internal resources but also receives financing from external partners, especially parent companies. Thus, our results call into question the idea that foreign takeovers hamper the R&D development of target firms and are detrimental to the national innovation system of the host country. First, acquisitions appear to bring efficiency gains enough to counterbalance the various costs of integration and market power effects, pushing firms to invest more in R&D. Acquisitions do not seem to incite managers to take shorter term and more financial driven decisions at the expense of R&D. Second, when motivated by technology sourcing and overseas R&D development, acquisitions might be used to access the specific know-how of target firms and to tap into the knowledge of the national innovation system. Then, purchaser firms could be more likely to develop the innovative capability of target firms and to strengthen their linkages with local partners than to reduce them and relocate R&D abroad.