Economy in track runners and orienteers during path and terrain running

The aims of the present study were to assess running economy in track runners and orienteers and to identify the factors responsible for any differences. The participants were 11 orienteers and 10 track runners of similar age, body mass, maximal oxygen uptake and training background. However, the orienteers included heavy terrain running in their daily training, whereas the track runners ran almost entirely on the roads and tracks. Maximal oxygen uptake and running economy were calculated during horizontal path running and during cross-country running in rough terrain with steep hills, using a telemetric system (K2, Cosmed, Italy). Running economy during path running was 217+/-12 and 212+/-14 ml x kg(-1) x km(-1) (mean +/- s) in the orienteers and the track runners, respectively. Running economy was impaired by 41-52% in heavy terrain (P < 0.05), and was less pronounced in the orienteers than in the track runners (88+/-18 vs 109+/-26 ml x kg(-1) x km(-1); P < 0.05). In conclusion, the better running economy of orienteers when changing from horizontal path to heavy terrain running could be an innate ability, or it could be speculated that specific training may improve running economy, indicating the importance of specific training for orienteers.     

No More Liaisons: Collection Management Strategies in Hard Times

Collection development in medium to large academic libraries typically involves multiple subject librarians or “liaisons.” The University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Libraries have lost significant numbers of personnel in the last four years due to attrition and retirements, including most of the professional liaison librarians whose positions will not be replaced in the foreseeable future. In addition to this challenge, collection budgets have been severely reduced due to the State of Alaska's ongoing budget crisis, necessitating large cancellation projects. This article examines UAF Libraries’ collection strategies used to sustain a research-intensive collection without liaisons and with a drastically reduced budget.     

Educational TV Consumption and Children’s Interest in Leisure Reading and Writing: A Test of the Validated Curriculum Hypothesis

The relationship between children’s TV consumption and literacy outcomes is currently unclear, as past research has identified both linear and curvilinear trends. One explanation for the contradictory results is the varying content children consume; specifically, researchers have argued that research-based educational TV programming should be positively related to literacy outcomes whereas non research-based programming should be negatively related to literacy outcomes (what we refer to as the validated curriculum hypothesis). To test this hypothesis, students in grades 4 and 5 N = 120) completed a survey assessing educational TV consumption and leisure reading/writing behaviors. The results upheld the validated curriculum hypothesis and revealed several key moderators including composite TV consumption and parents’ reading behavior.     

Combining Theory with Tutorial Experience: pre‐service training for the teaching of disadvantaged pupils

The goal of the course described here was to train prospective teachers towards the teaching of disadvantaged pupils. Teacher trainers should pay special attention to both the needs of the disadvantaged and the attitudes of the student teachers towards them. Pre‐service training of teachers should strive to provide the students with knowledge of the socio‐economic background of the disadvantaged, their mental and affective condition, their language, ways of thinking and behaviour. It should also promote positive attitudes towards these pupils. With these views in mind, a course was planned which included both theoretical components and practical tutoring experience. It consisted of theoretical introductions, individual tutoring activities with small groups of pupils, and post‐activity theoretical discussions. Furthermore, each tutorial session was planned according to the same pattern. The results were that changes in attitudes and meaningful theoretical learning happened simultaneously and in close relations with each other. The students developed positive attitudes, designed appropriate unconventional tutorial activities and were able to apply theoretical conceptions to the analysis of their teaching behaviours.     

Are Test and Academic Disengagement Related? Implications for Measurement and Practice

A vast literature investigates academic disengagement among students, including its ultimate manifestation, dropping out of school. Research also shows that test disengagement can be a problem for many inferences educators and policymakers wish to draw from test scores. However, few studies consider whether academic and test disengagement are related. In this study, we examine whether behaviors indicative of academic disengagement like chronic absenteeism and course failures are related to behaviors indicative of test disengagement like rapidly guessing on items. We also examine whether social-emotional factors like low academic self-efficacy and self-management, which research suggests are the root causes of academic disengagement, are also related to rapid guessing behavior. Our results provide evidence that academic and test disengagement are related, including through a common association with poor self-management. The implications of this connection for measurement and practice are discussed.     

Changing Patterns of Thinking: Individuals and organisations

The promises and hopes of the 'reconstructing' movement in educational psychology post-Summerfield 1968 (Gillham, 1978) have not had a major impact on the ability of the profession of applied educational psychologists to effect change across systems. Despite innovative ideas generated by individuals over the past few decades that have promoted opportunities to apply psychology more widely, there is little evidence that the profession has been able to expand on these initiatives and incorporate them into their existing practice. Ideas drawn from a variety of psychological sources enable applied educational psychologists to review their thinking and practice, and to develop different models that can promote and influence useful change at an institutional and/or individual level. This paper considers, in particular, the impact of new models of language and thought on organisational behaviour and, in turn, identifies the manner in which change at an individual and organisational level can be promoted.     

Student financial aid and degree attainment

This research examines the relationships of student aid with degree attainment using a sample of aid recipients, nonrecipients who applied for aid but were not eligible, and a representative group of controls selected from the 1970–1971 entering freshman class at Washington State University. When the other independent variables are statistically controlled, student aid is found to have a very small positive association with degree attainment. The denial of aid to those who were not eligible decreases their likelihood of graduation. A grant, loan, and work study package is found to be the most effective for enhancing degree attainment. The loan-grant package is also positively related to degree attainment, but the grant-loan package is detrimental to the completion of a college degree.     

Taste quality and extinction of a conditioned taste aversion in rats

Rats (Rattus norvegicus) that received a taste cue (saccharin, saline, quinine, or sucrose) paired with a lithium chloride (LiCl) injection displayed a robust decrease in consumption of that taste, relative to controls that had the taste unpaired with LiCl. Consumption of the paired taste increased with each nonreinforced presentation (i.e., extinction). After asymptotic extinction, rats that had had a 0.1% saccharin cue paired with LiCl consumed less of the saccharin solution than did controls. A similar data pattern was observed with a 10% sucrose solution. These results are consistent with the view that some aspect of the excitatory CS-US association remains after extinction. On the other hand, rats that had a bitter (0.005% or 0.001% quinine) or salty (1% or 0.5% saline) solution paired with LiCl drank similar amounts of the fluid as controls after asymptotic extinction treatment. Together, these experiments suggest that a taste that is either sweet or preferred is required in order to demonstrate the chronic decrease in fluid consumption after extinction treatment. The data suggest that the conditioning experience prevents the later development of a preference for the sweet taste, rather than there being a retained aversion that suppresses fluid consumption.