The Exercise Physiology Paradigm in Contemporary Biology: To Molbiol or Not to Molbiol—That is the Question

Two perspectives on exercise physiology in contemporary biomedical research are presented. First, exercise represents a powerful tool for understanding physiology. The magnitude and gradation in physiological responses to exercise afford an opportunity for studying the range and control mechanisms in physiological systems under the diverse circumstances. Moreover, the exercise stimulus of training offers a means to study processes of physiological adaptation. Second, the science of physiology represents a powerful means for understanding the limits of human performance. The concepts, tools, and techniques of physiology allow performance-based exercise physiologists to contribute significantly to understanding and improving the limits of human performance. In contemporary biomedical science, there is a pronounced emphasis in the burgeoning area of molecular biology (molbiol). Molecular biologists have developed powerful tools for studying the regulation of essential cellular processes, such as gene expression. Consequently, within biomedical research there has been a deemphasis on classic organ-systems physiology. However, even in this milieu exercise physiologists will continue to contribute, for they are uniquely prepared to address important contemporary problems related to adaptation to environmental stressors, resistance to degenerative diseases, and expansion of the limits to human performance.     

Post‐graduation reflections on the value of a degree

This article investigates the impact of a changing higher education system on young adults' priorities and motivations. A considerable number of studies have explored the impact of recent changes on patterns of participation within higher education. However, there has been less emphasis on how such changes have been played out in the experiences of graduates and, more specifically, in the interface between higher education and lifelong learning. To redress this gap, this article explores the changes to graduates' experiences brought about by the ‘massification’ of the higher education system. Research conducted amongst young people in Australia has suggested that as result of the normalisation of post‐compulsory education and the encouragement of high aspirations, young people have come to assume a one‐to‐one relationship between being qualified and having a lasting professional career. It has been argued that as a result of these assumptions, young adults are often disappointed when they do eventually enter the labour market, and experience uncertainties previously associated with the end of compulsory schooling. If young adults do indeed feel misled about the rewards of a higher education, it is possible that this may have a significant bearing on their perceptions of the value of engaging in further education and training in the future. Drawing on 90 life history interviews with graduates in their mid‐twenties, this article explores the prevalence of such attitudes in the UK and their impact on young adults' attitudes to lifelong learning.     

Resistance and invention: becoming academic,remaining other

In this paper, we take an unsanctioned academic network, a writing group, as a site of inquiry into both the broad given-ness of the norms of the neoliberal academy and our simultaneous compliance with and resistance to these norms. We choose to comply because we are invested in becoming academics; we continue to research and write for conferences and publication and to frame our scholarly work in terms of how it can be used on our CVs. We choose to resist by working collaboratively and towards remaining intelligible (both to ourselves and to those outside the academy) while becoming scholars. Here we put several concepts to work to think about the role of the writing group in our experiences as becoming-scholars, in particular ‘becoming-minoritarian,’ ‘schizoid subjectivities,’ ‘agential assemblage,’ and ‘institutional passing.’ Then, to think about how we (might) live through the process of becoming academic, we turn to the concept of survivance.     

Physiological responses to maximal intermittent exercise: differences between endurance-trained runners and games players.

Six games players (GP) and six endurance-trained runners (ET) completed a standardized multiple sprint test on a non-motorized treadmill consisting of ten 6-s all-out sprints with 30-s recovery periods. Running speed, power output and oxygen uptake were determined during the test and blood samples were taken for the determination of blood lactate and pH. Games players tended to produce a higher peak power output (GP vs ET: 839 +/- 114 vs 777 +/- 89 W, N.S.) and higher peak speed (GP vs ET: 7.03 +/- 0.3 vs 6.71 +/- 0.3 m s-1, N.S.), but had a greater decrement in mean power output than endurance-trained runners (GP vs ET: 29.3 +/- 8.1% vs 14.2 +/- 11.1%, P less than 0.05). Blood lactate after the test was higher for the games players (GP vs ET: 15.2 +/- 1.9 vs 12.4 +/- 1.7 mM, P less than 0.05), but the decrease in pH was similar for both groups (GP vs ET: 0.31 +/- 0.08 vs 0.28 +/- 0.08, N.S.). Strong correlations were found between peak blood lactate and peak speed (r = 0.90, P less than 0.01) and between peak blood lactate and peak power fatigue (r = 0.92, P less than 0.01). The average increase in oxygen uptake above pre-exercise levels during the sprint test was greater for endurance-trained athletes than for the games players (ET vs GP: 35.0 +/- 2.2 vs 29.6 +/- 3.0 ml kg-1 min-1, P less than 0.05), corresponding to an average oxygen uptake per sprint (6-s sprint and 24 s of subsequent recovery) of 67.5 +/- 2.9% and 63.0 +/- 4.5% VO2 max respectively (N.S.). A modest relationship existed between the average increase in oxygen uptake above pre-exercise values during the sprint test and mean speed fatigue (r = -0.68, P less than 0.05). Thus, the greater decrement in performance for the games players may be related to higher glycolytic rates as reflected by higher lactate concentrations and to their lower oxygen uptake during the course of the 10 sprints.     

Safe Discussions Rather Than First Hand Encounters: Adolescents Examine Racism Through One Historical Fiction Text

summary This article presents a case study class response to Mildred Taylors now classic and widely read novel, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. Through data collected during one school year, the ways urban, adolescent students use their contemporary lenses to interpret the literary theme of confronting, overcoming and challenging racism are discussed. The participants responses are organized into four reader response categories that explicate the complex and interactive interpretations developed by the children while reading the novel. In addition to providing insights about the participants textual understanding, pedagogical findings indicate that the book can also be used to explore the nature of racism while creating a safe space to confront and more deeply understand racisms impact on the past as well as the students current reality.     

The linguistic base of initial reading and spelling in English: a tutorial review

ABSTRACT

This article summarises the linguistic base of initial reading and spelling in English for the benefit of teachers and others engaged in education who need explicit understanding of parts of the linguistic base in order to teach initial literacy accurately. The aspects covered are those most relevant to children entering formal schooling: spoken language as the foundation of literacy; phonetics and phonology; phoneme-grapheme and grapheme-phoneme correspondences; sequencing in phonics teaching; vocabulary, morphology and syntax; and the linguistic effects of reading to children. Several aspects are discussed from two angles, first describing the full system, then summarising where 5-year-olds have reached in their development towards it.