Peak Power Assessment of Isokinetic Knee Flexor and Extensor Tests – Pitfalls of a Dynamometer-based Assessment

ABSTRACT

Many sports demand high forces at high movement speeds. Joint power combines these two measures and is frequently analyzed by isokinetic tests. However, various concepts of assessing joint power lead to conflicting results. The aim was to examine different methods to calculate peak power during isokinetic knee tests of sixty-one healthy male participants (20 y, 182 cm, 76 kg). Unilateral movements of the eccentrically working hamstrings and the concentrically working quadriceps at 150°/s were captured by high-speed cameras. Peak power derived from isokinetic data was significantly higher (p < 0.01, d > 1.54) compared to the camera-based kinematic procedures. To achieve best accuracy, peak power should be derived from the camera-based joint angular velocity and the measured moment at time of peak power during the dynamometer’s isokinetic range of motion. A meaningful assessment of isokinetic joint power should incorporate a camera-based kinematic analysis to account for potential measuring inaccuracies owing to anatomical features, axis misalignment, and tissue deformation.     

Preparing Society for the Information Age

The Federal Government of Germany has initiated a nationwide discussion on the forthcoming “Information Society.” The purpose is to broaden awareness of the opportunities, challenges and risks of future telematics applications on all aspects of life and to prepare the citizens for these changes, including labour market and media literacy, sustainable development and cities, etc. More than 150 societal groups, associations, and organizations are participating (trade unions, citizens' groups, industry associations, large corporations, representatives of churches, youth, women, handicapped people, elderly citizens, etc.). All serve as multipliers to spread awareness into all the facets of the society. The paper reviews the conceptual approach, the organizational infrastructure, the topics, the implementation of the dialogue process and the first experiences. It also identifies implications for similar initiatives in other countries. 7     

The Reality beyond the Hype: Mobile Internet is Primarily an Extension of PC-Based Internet

The mobile Internet (MI) has been hyped as the next big thing by telecom operators, handset manufacturers, and content providers. However, recent studies indicate that the usage of Internet via mobile phones has remained quite flat. The authors inquire into this discrepancy by focusing on actual usage of the MI and the motivating factors behind its use. Based on focus-group interviews in Norway and Hungary, they argue that MI usage is interrelated with and is an extension of the personal computer (PC)–based Internet. The key motivation behind MI use is to attain information in situations in which the PC is out of reach. In effect, MI has not led to the development of new usages. The expectation that the development of new killer applications will lead to an explosion of new usage is therefore misguided. MI usage is and will perhaps continue to be a mere extension of PC-based Internet usage—and such use activities are the very nature of MI.     

力竭运动对大鼠微循环的影响

本文观察了１０只大鼠安静时、力竭运动后即刻、力竭运动后２４小时耳廓微循环的动态变化。观察结果表明：力竭运动后即刻大鼠微循环发生明显障碍（Ｐ＜０．０１）。休息２４小时后微循环障碍得以明显改善（Ｐ＜０．０１及Ｐ＜０．０２）．但是，与安静时比较，血管形态积分值和总积分值仍有显著性差异（Ｐ＜０．０２），而流态积分值和管周状态积分值已无显著性差异（Ｐ＞０．０５）。     

Reflexive professional subjects: knowledge and emotions in the collaborations between teachers and educational-psychological consultants in a Danish school context

In this article, we investigate how the shift towards inclusive education in Danish schools changes and affects the ways in which educational-psychological advisory service (in Danish, PPR) units and school staff collaborate. Since inclusion is generally a matter of ensuring that every child can be accommodated within the mainstream school system, the increased inclusion agenda has altered the type of support that PPRs typically offer. Classic psychological assessments now play a lesser role, with PPR staff expected to conduct consultative work to promote the school staff’s reflection on their own practice, with the aim of supporting the inclusion of children. Based on an ethnographic study of the collaboration between PPR and school staff, we investigate the impact of the changes on the forms of knowledge and professional subjectivities that are produced, as well as the emotional work that is involved.     

Educational alternatives for marginalised youth

In the context of pressure to increase retention rates a wide variety of alternative educational programs has developed in Australia over the past few decades. The purpose of this paper is to provide a map of the alternative education landscape for marginalised youth in New South Wales, in order to reduce confusion and enable communication between programs, practitioners and scholars, locally and internationally. This paper focuses on two dimensions to do with the program’s purpose in relation to locus of change and with the stability of the program to construct a proposed map of alternative education for marginalised youth in Australia. Based on this map, the paper argues that one type of program is most useful, not only for marginalised young people but also for suggesting possibilities for reform in mainstream education.     

Helping Teachers Support Pupils with Mental Health Problems Through Inter-professional Collaboration: A Qualitative Study of Teachers and School Principals

ABSTRACT

A qualitative study conducted in four lower secondary schools in Norway explored teachers’ and school principals’ experiences of collaboration with a variety of extended services (ES). Particular attention was directed to the ways (if any) they perceived collaboration to be relevant to helping teachers support pupils with mental health problems through their everyday social and pedagogic practices. Findings of the study indicated that teachers valued initiatives that could help develop mutual understandings of teachers’ and ES professionals’ roles and responsibilities. Initiatives to build inter-professional relationships were perceived as laying the foundation for more productive collaboration. However, to be able to provide coherent, sustained support in the classroom, teachers needed guidance from ES professionals. This required a shift in collaborative processes away from a focus on individualized pupil support towards helping teachers support pupils through their classroom-based social and pedagogical practices. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Internal branding in higher education: dialectical tensions underlying the discursive legitimation of a new brand of student diversity

ABSTRACT

Most studies on branding in higher education focus on external branding or image-building towards external stakeholders such as students. Internal branding is an underexplored topic, even though it should be considered as important as external branding. Internal branding is about achieving the necessary internal support for the external brand. Drawing on the theoretical concept of discursive legitimation, we explore the strategies that contribute to an internally supported new brand with student diversity as brand value. We conducted a case study of a Flemish university college that has (largely) succeeded in achieving internal support for its new external brand of student diversity. Analyzing the case from the perspective of Critical Discourse Analysis, we specifically zoomed in on the dialectical tensions underlying the discursive legitimation of this new brand. We identified three specific tensions, which illustrate the inherent complexity of the internal branding process: authorization as (dis)empowerment, normalization as (dis)empowerment and moralization as (dis)empowerment.     

A Closer Look at Low-Performing Adult Readers in the Scandinavian Countries

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on low-performing adult readers in the Scandinavian countries, seeking to identify and describe some of the literacy-related problems that they face. Following a presentation of the Reading Components Assessment (RCA) used in PIAAC (Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies), we provide profiles for those informants who completed the RCA. Then we compare the RCA results of adults having well-functioning literacy skills with the results of adults identified as low-performing readers. The presentation includes both results for items correct and information about the time used to complete the items. The findings indicate that the gap in performance on the Component task sets is wider between adults scoring Below level 1 in literacy and those scoring on Level 1 than the corresponding gap between Level 1 and Level 2. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.     

Rhythm production at school entry as a predictor of poor reading and spelling at the end of first grade

Rhythm plays an organisational role in the prosody and phonology of language, and children with literacy difficulties have been found to demonstrate poor rhythmic perception. This study explored whether students’ performance on a simple rhythm task at school entry could serve as a predictor of whether they would face difficulties in word reading and spelling at the end of grade 1. The participants were 479 Norwegian 6-year-old first graders randomized as controls in the longitudinal RCT on track (n = 1171). Rhythmic timing and pre-reading skills were tested individually at school entry on a digital tablet. On the rhythm task, the students were told to tap a drum appearing on the screen to two different rhythms (2 Hz paced and 1.5 Hz paced). Children’s responses were recorded as they tapped on the screen with their index finger. Significant group differences were found in rhythm tapping ability measured at school entry, when groups were defined upon whether children went on to score above or below the 20th percentile reading and spelling thresholds in national assessment tests at the end of grade one. Inclusion of the school-entry rhythmic tapping measure into a model of classification accuracy for above or below threshold reading and spelling improved accuracy of classification by 6.2 and 9.2% respectively.