Inter-repetition rest training and traditional set configuration produce similar strength gains without cortical adaptations

This study compared the functional and neural effects of two strength training programmes differing in set configuration. Thirteen participants performed 10 sessions, over a period of 5 weeks, of unilateral leg extensions with different set configurations but with identical work-to-rest ratios for each limb: a traditional configuration (4 sets of 8 repetitions, 10RM load, 3-min pause between sets) and an inter-repetition rest configuration (32 repetitions, 10RM load, 17.4 s of rest between each repetition). Mean propulsive velocity of the traditional sessions was lower than for inter-repetition rest sessions (0.48 ± 0.06 vs. 0.54 ± 0.06 m · s^?1; P < 0.001), while perceived exertion was higher (8.3 ± 0.9 and 6.56 ± 1.6 for traditional training and IRT; P = 0.002). One repetition maximum (RM), work with 10RM load, maximum mean propulsive power, maximum voluntary contraction and time to failure with 50% of maximum isometric force improved similarly in both legs (time effect, P < 0.001; effect size range, 0.451–1.190). Time and set configuration did not show significant main effects or interactions for cortical adaptations (motor-evoked potentials, short-interval intracortical inhibition, intracortical facilitation). There were no significant correlations between changes in cortical and peripheral neural adaptations and strength improvement. In conclusion, inter-repetition rest configuration was as effective as traditional training in improving muscle performance.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity and attention,and their relationship with students’ approaches to learning

Past research has shown that working memory capacity, attention and students’ approaches to learning are all important predictors for educational achievement. In this study the interrelations between these three variables are investigated. Participants were 128 university students. Results show a negative relationship between attention and deep approaches to learning: students with a lower level of attention seem to use more deep approaches to learning than students with higher levels of attention. It was also found that students with a high working memory capacity score lower on both the surface and deep approaches to learning than students with a low working memory capacity. A possible explanation is that these high capacity students might not need a consistent profound strategy to be successful because they are very good at acquiring, processing and integrating all types of new information before moving it to storage.     

A conceptual approach to secure electronic elections based on patterns

Electoral processes are complex and need to be secure, reliable, and auditable. It is then important to define ways to evaluate their functional completeness and correction as well as their security and reliability. Many solutions to specific aspects of voting have been proposed but we do not know of any holistic view of this process. We present a unified approach to elections based on a conceptual model built using software patterns. A set of analysis patterns describe the structure and management of an election. The patterns describe voter registration, ballot structure, election day management, voting process, and the complete election. A conceptual model is built from the analysis patterns and defines precisely the functional properties of such a system together with its security requirements. The conceptual model is defined using UML diagrams that can be extended or complemented with formal methods to make the system verifiable. We show how to continue to the design phase for this system. While the model will not apply exactly to all elections it can be used as a reference architecture for voting applications and to show explicitly the security considerations for these kind of events. It can also be used for existing elections to verify that they have the required security provisions. The model can also be used as a reference for researchers to integrate their solutions in the complete process.     

The Effects of Vertical Integration on the Release of New Films

This article both theoretically and empirically addresses how a vertical structure in the motion pictures industry determines the number of prints a distributor releases of a new film. A simple theoretical model shows that the optimal number of copies is increasing on the expected demand for the film and the revenue share of the distributor and decreasing on the cost of each copy. The model also predicts that the optimal number of copies will decrease with the number of theaters that are vertically integrated with the distributor, as long as running a cinema requires financing a non-negligible cost of capital. The theoretical results are empirically tested using a very rich dataset of films' exhibition patterns in the major Chilean markets. The empirical results show that, on average, a non-integrated distributor releases 8 more copies than an integrated distributor.     

Dialogic/Authoritative Discourse and Modelling in a High School Teaching Sequence on Optics

In this paper we aim to establish a link between two theoretical frames: modelling and its use in the design and analysis of scientific teaching sequences, and the communicative approaches as they alternate in classroom activities. In this case study, we follow the interactions between the teacher and a pair of students during an entire teaching sequence in Optics (grade 11). We focus on the way the teacher managed the dialogicity and the modelling processes in the classroom discourse. A qualitative analysis shows some difficulties in such an achievement, and their consequences on students’ meaning making.     

Faith in school: immigrant families’ attitudes towards education in Spain

This paper is based on a preliminary exploration of the in‐depth interviews and focus groups that are part of a more extensive research project on the education of children of immigrants in Spain. In the process of migration, families undergo profound transformations that are often complicated by extended periods of separation—not only from extended family members, but also from the nuclear family. Though many immigrant families are involved in transnational separation and reunion processes of this kind, there has been little research on the impact of these forms of family transformations on the vision of education held by immigrants. This impact seems to be two‐fold. On one hand, family separation and living or work conditions hamper educational support and monitoring; on the other, the experience of migration poses a tremendous faith in the benefits of education and makes families highly motivated in education. The main idea underlying this paper is that an accurate knowledge of the schooling experience of the children of immigrants has to be related to the moral and psychological effects of this adaptive transformation and, in a very special way, to the weave of projects, expectations and frustrations that permeate the life of an immigrant family. The psychosocial consequences of the processes of adjustment and relearning that immigration entails, the need for a comparative perception of success and the willingness to make an effort and work hard make immigrant families strongly meritocratic and—contrary to some common beliefs—able to show a high level of commitment and expectations in relation to the education of their children.     

¿Podemos favorecer el aprendizaje autónomo del significado de palabras?

Se presenta aquí un programa de adquisición del vocabulario y desarrollo de la comprensión a partir de contextos naturales. El programa, que abandona otras rutinas tradicionales de enseñanza de vocabulario, trata de mejorar la capacidad de inferencia y comprensión textual de los alumnos para dotarles de mayor autonomía lectoescrita.     

A Comparative Study of Finland and Chile: the Culture-Dependent Significance of the Individual and Interindividual Levels of the Mathematics-Related Affect

Mathematics-related affect is established regarding both individual and interindividual levels. However, the interaction between the levels has not been elaborated. Furthermore, it is known that people may draw either from intrinsic or extrinsic experiences to construct their identities depending on their cultural environment. Thus, affective individual and interindividual levels seem to interact with culture. In this study we focus on the significance of and the interaction between the individual and the interindividual levels of affect. This is done with respect to 2 different types of countries (Finland and Chile) to include cultural effect. We use questionnaire-based data and pupils’ drawings of their mathematics class to find out about their individual and interindividual experiences. By using mixed data, we are not only getting a wider picture of pupils’ affect but we can also avoid the most typical errors made in the cross-cultural comparisons as the pupils’ own voice is strengthened. The main finding in the study is that the 2 affective levels are not congruent and that the incongruence appears differently in different types of cultures.     

Between the prescribed and the lived in physical education lessons

This study examines physical education (PE) curriculum development in an elementary school. Our goal was to understand the daily construction of a curriculum. We sought to analyse the theoretical and methodological framework and documents that a PE teacher uses each day while putting a curriculum into practice (lived curriculum). The data collection instruments included participant observation, interviews and document analysis. The analytical process revealed the influence of internal and external factors that affect both the authorship and the autonomy of a teacher working on the daily construction of a lived PE curriculum and that create tensions, struggles and conflicts.     

European Higher Education Society

In his paper, the author – anacademic and former Minister of Education forPortugal – traces the origins of the BolognaDeclaration of 1999 and its follow-up studiesleading to the Prague Conference of HigherEducation Ministers in May 2001. He summarisesthe outcomes of the Prague Conference, anddraws conclusions on the crucial role of the`Bologna process' in advancing European HigherEducation.