Influence of a caffeine mouth rinse on sprint cycling following glycogen depletion

Attenuated performance during intense exercise with limited endogenous carbohydrate (CHO) is well documented. Therefore, this study examined whether caffeine (CAF) mouth rinsing would augment performance during repeated sprint cycling in participants with reduced endogenous CHO. Eight recreationally active males (aged 23?±?2?yr, body mass 84?±?4?kg, stature 178?±?7?cm) participated in this randomized, single-blind, repeated-measures crossover investigation. Following familiarization, participants attended two separate evening glycogen depletion sessions. The following morning, participants completed five, 6?s sprints on a cycle ergometer (separated by 24?s active recovery), with mouth rinsing either (1) a placebo solution or (2) a 2% CAF solution. During a fifth visit, participants completed the sprints without prior glycogen depletion. Repeated-measures ANOVA identified significant main effect of condition (CAF, placebo, and control [P?P?P?P?P?P?相似文献   

Development and Validation of an Instrument for Assessing Distance Education Learning Environments in Higher Education: The Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES)

The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a new learning environments instrument designed to aid investigators and practitioners in measuring and researching the psychosocial learning environment in post-secondary distance education. Using a three-stage approach, the Distance Education Learning Environments Survey (DELES) was developed, field-tested with 680 distance education students, and then validated. The DELES has 34 items allocated to six scales: (1) Instructor Support; (2) Student Interaction and Collaboration; (3) Personal Relevance; (4) Authentic Learning; (5) Active Learning; and (6) Student Autonomy. An additional scale of Enjoyment was included in this study to explore associations between the psychosocial learning environment and student affective traits. Each learning environment item had a factor loading of at least 0.50 with its own scale, and less than 0.50 with all other scales. The alpha reliability coefficient for each scale ranged from 0.75 to 0.94. Simple correlations between Enjoyment and the DELES scales ranged from 0.12 to 0.31, with the scale of Personal Relevance having the strongest correlation with Enjoyment when all other scales were mutually controlled. The DELES, an online instrument that can be utilized by students at any location, eliminates data transfer errors and does not allow for non-responses, adding to the overall validity of the instrument. The development of DELES relied extensively on literature pertaining to high-quality distance education and expert content validation techniques. It treats distance learning as having a distinct social-psychological climate unlike those found in other post-secondary classroom environments.     

Lesson study: an inter-professional collaboration approach for Educational Psychologists to improve teaching and learning

This paper describes an innovative use of Lesson Study (LS), an internationally used collaborative approach in which teachers develop their teaching knowledge and practices. It aimed to evaluate how EPs join teachers in LS teams, using working memory and other knowledge to inform the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties. The study uses a case study methodology to evaluate LS teams (three teachers and EP) in a primary, secondary and special school. The findings show how working memory knowledge is used in reviewing and planning research lessons, how the teams interact, including the teachers’ perceived EP contribution to the Lesson Study process. The paper illustrates the potential of an inter-professional LS study to embody collaborative reflective practice in order to improve the teaching of pupils with learning difficulties.     

Sexual behavior and social education in China

The application on a massive scale of various population, family planning, sex education measures in China is a societal feature that is quickly evident to the country's visitors. For anyone concerned with population limitation on a national scale, the Chinese experiments and progress are of particular interest. In China there is a clearly discernible 3 step program: the minimization of sexual interest or enforced "national abstinence standard" in the teen years; a period of intense propaganda to postpone marriage until the mid 20s and avoid sexual intercourse outside marriage; and a concerted educational campaign aimed predominantly at married females for the 20 year span covering the fertile ages of approximately 25-45 to limit families. The Chinese approach to family planning and sexual education is direct and ubiquitous. One of the more paradoxical aspects of China's campaign to enforce their severe and particular natalist policy is the relatively high level of preventive sex knowledge among young married couples and the virtual absence of any major form of sex education for teenagers in the schools. In the past few years there has been a modest yet detectable change in this approach. Some middle school students are now being introduced, albeit on a sexually segregated basis, to somewhat wider aspects of population knowledge and human population studies. For the most part these units fall into the traditional teaching areas utilized in many western nations, i.e., physiology, biology, and physical education courses. The development and expansion of such courses may foreshadow the gradual introduction nationally of new material into the middle schools, but the predominant aim of sex education will remain the limitation and control of population. Some of the answers to sex education questions posed by this author in various schools and to a range of senior education officials are reported. The answers represent a recent sample, extracted from a number gathered during various visits to China in the past 3 years. The topic of sex education is viewed within special parameters. The target for sex education, particularly as it relates to birth control, will remain for the foreseeable future the young adult of marriageable age.     

Food Safety Training Needs of Child Care Providers

Millions of children are cared for in child care centers or family day care homes. The care environment can be a significant source of foodborne pathogens if proper food safety practices are not followed by caregivers. To decrease children's risk of foodborne illness, caregivers must know and apply safe food handling practices. To identify what care providers need to know about safe food handling, and how they want to learn, needs assessment research was conducted with a random sample of child care centers and family day care homes in Michigan (n=335). Research Findings. Results indicate that persons who care for young children in licensed centers or homes wanted to know more about the relationship between food and illness. Specifically, they wanted information about what causes food to become unsafe and how to prevent foodborne illness in the child care environment. Providers in both centers and homes preferred print materials (booklets, fact sheets, and newsletters) to videotapes, audiotapes, workshops, teleconferences, or an informational hotline. Implications for Practice. Developing and providing food safety booklets, newsletters, and/or fact sheets which include application-oriented and understand- able food safety information consistent with licensing regulations could reduce the risk of contracting foodborne illness of young children cared for in child care centers or day care homes.     

Adaptation of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction for Elementary Grades

The secondary school version of the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) was adapted for the elementary school level and administered to 1 512 Singaporean students in 39 mathematics classes. The QTI is based on a two-dimensional model of influence (dominance-submission) and proximity (cooperation-opposition). Data supported each scale's internal consistency reliability, ability to predict student achievement, and ability to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms.     

A Study of Computer-Assisted Learning Environments in Singapore

The present study filled some gaps in past learning environment research in that, first, it involved the development of a new instrument tailor-made specifically for use in computer-assisted learning (CAL) classrooms and, second, it provided one of the rare examples of an evaluation of computer-assisted learning based on its impact on the nature of a classroom learning environment as perceived by students. In addition, the research was conducted in the unique milieu of the Singapore school system, and it investigated associations between students' outcomes and the classroom environment in computer-assisted learning settings.     

Effect of environmental constraints on multi-segment coordination patterns during the tennis service in expert performers

The aims of this study were to examine the effect of different environmental constraints on kinematic multi-segment coordination patterns during the service and its coordination with service time variability. Ten expert tennis players (Age: 34.1 ± 5.3) volunteered to take part in this study. Participants served 30 times in 3 different conditions: control, target and opposition. The order of conditions was counterbalanced between participants. A wireless 3D motion capture system (STT Co, Spain) was used to measure 7 joint motions, with a 17 degrees of freedom biomechanical model created to capture the entire service action. Results of the principal component analysis showed that 4 synergies were created; however, their roles were changed relative to the perception of the environment. The results of repeated-measures analysis of variance did not show any significant difference on total variance and individual principal components between conditions; however, one synergy pattern significantly predicted the service time variability in both control and opposition conditions. In conclusion, the findings demonstrated that expert performers reduce the joint dimensionality by creating functional synergies in different phases of service and adapt the service action according to the perception of the environment.     

Measuring the cultural value of the Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries Exhibition as a platform for emerging artists

In our analysis of the cultural value of the Royal Scottish Academy New Contemporaries Exhibition, we assessed the institution's role in shaping emerging artists’ careers, as well as wider cultural value. Supported by our conceptual framework of value creation, issues assessed included the expected versus experienced value of the exhibition and the individual artworks, price setting, the market mechanism surrounding the exhibition, and its enhancement. The created cultural value is facilitated by high-visibility media exposure and through development of career-enhancing networks. We have generated new insight into cultural value more generally by moving beyond dominant instrumental valuation approaches. We have addressed many of the gaps in understanding the mechanisms behind engagement with contemporary art. We have progressed theory with the assistance of our conceptual framework and supporting qualitative data. Cultural value is expressed in contemporary art through artistic production systems and its cultural messages. Artists’ cultural value is often constructed via the intrinsic worth of their work, rather than from market influences. Cultural value is often personal to the viewer, shared with others and remembered over time. It is also co-created among the other stakeholders involved.     

The Birth of a New Journal: Editor's Introduction

This article traces several historical landmarks in the development of the burgeoning field of learning environments and shows that the time is ripe for the birth of this new journal. The scope of the new journal is described. A brief overview of the six other articles in this issue is provided.