Impact of carbohydrate mouth rinsing on time to exhaustion during Ramadan: A randomized controlled trial in Jordanian men

Mouth rinsing using a carbohydrate (CHO) solution has been suggested to improve physical performance in fasting participants. This study examined the effects of CHO mouth rinsing during Ramadan fasting on running time to exhaustion and on peak treadmill speed (V_peak). In a counterbalanced crossover design, 18 sub-elite male runners (Age: 21?±?2 years, Weight: 68.1?±?5.7?kg, VO_2max: 55.4?±?4.8?ml/kg/min) who observed Ramadan completed a familiarization trial and three experimental trials. The three trials included rinsing and expectorating a 25?mL bolus of either a 7.5% sucrose solution (CHO), a flavour and taste matched placebo solution (PLA) for 10?s, or no rinse (CON). The treatments were performed prior to an incremental treadmill test to exhaustion. Three-day dietary and exercise records were obtained on two occasions and analysed. Anthropometric characteristics were obtained and recorded for all participants. A main effect for mouth rinse on peak velocity (V_peak) (CHO: 17.6?±?1.5?km/h; PLA: 17.1?±?1.4?km/h; CON: 16.7?±?1.2?km/h; P?η_p²?=?0.49) and time to exhaustion (CHO: 1282.0?±?121.3?s; PLA: 1258.1?±?113.4?s; CON: 1228.7?±?98.5?s; P?=?.002, η_p²?=?0.41) was detected, with CHO significantly higher than PLA (P?P?P?>?.05). Energy availability from dietary analysis, body weight, and fat-free mass did not change during the last two weeks of Ramadan (P?>?.05). This study concludes that carbohydrate mouth rinsing improves running time to exhaustion and peak treadmill speed under Ramadan fasting conditions.     

Relationships Differentiation: Cross-ethnic Comparisons in the Malaysian Workplace

This research examines how Malaysian managers and employees interpret and embody leader–member relationships differentiation. To analyze this question, we conducted a thematic analysis of top management, middle management and supporting dialogue group discussions. Results showed that leader–member relationships differentiation is a symbol that is essential for the creation and sustenance of leader’s conceptual skills, communication openness, respect, trust, and age differentiation. These findings validate our proposition of leader–member relationships differentiation in Malaysian workplace and empirical support for the central roles of communication exchange processes in workgroups.     

Classroom-level curriculum development: EFL teachers as curriculum-developers,curriculum-makers and curriculum-transmitters

This qualitative study aimed to explore teacher curriculum approaches and the strategies attached to each approach because they influence the taught curriculum, teacher development and student learning. The study was therefore grounded in teacher curriculum development, curriculum implementation, teacher development, student cognitive and affective change and constructivism. To address this study's qualitative and exploratory purposes, it made use of the qualitative paradigm at the levels of ontology (multiple curriculum realities), epistemology (interaction with rather than detachment from respondents) and methodology (using idiographic methodology and instruments). In line with the qualitative paradigm, it used qualitative case-study (method), general interviews, pre/post-lesson interviews, group interviews and participant observation (data collection methods) in addition to grounded theory (data analysis approach) to meet the research purposes. Working with English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers and mixed-nationality college students, the study reached a teacher curriculum approach classification comprising curriculum-transmission, curriculum-development and curriculum-making. It recommended alternatives for teacher, student and curriculum development, curriculum implementation and teacher training.     

The suitability of the EPQ‐R Short Scale for counselling Brunei student teachers when administered in English and Malay languages

The study investigated the psychometric properties of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire – Revised (EPQ‐R) Short Scale administered to two groups of Brunei trainee teachers of both genders taking psychology courses in English (117 students) and Malay (106 students). The extraversion scale had the most problematic items. Both administrations produced means and standard deviations comparable to the norms in the technical manual. All the scales, except P (psychoticism), had satisfactory levels of alpha reliability and validity (discriminant and construct) on both versions. In addition factor analysis correctly assigned some of the items to their respective scales on both versions. No statistically significant gender difference in performance on both scales was obtained. Findings suggest that the instrument was suitable for use with Brunei student teachers with tertiary‐level education when technical terms were clarified and reasonable administration time was given.     

Case studies of learning disabled students with deficient syntactic control in English as a foreign language

This paper discusses a mini‐experiment; an exercise was devised to investigate the effects of repeated articulation on the acquisition of syntax. The main participants of the experiment are two Hebrew‐speaking students, one formally assessed as having reading disabilities, one female age 14 (Q) and one dyslexic male age 16 (W). Q has been learning English at school for 4 years; she is in eighth grade. She is in the group for weak learners of English and does not show signs of a reading disability. She has taken private tuition once a week for approximately 5 months. She had not previously studied the target structure in the experiment. The results are discussed in light of the literature review findings, and some applied implications and conclusions were drawn for learning disabilities (LD) teaching.     

Autonomy in Science Education: A Practical Approach in Attitude Shifting Towards Science Learning

This work describes a 2-year study in teaching school science, based on the stimulation of higher thinking levels in learning science using a highly student-centred and constructivist learning approach. We sought to shift and strengthen students’ positive attitudes towards science learning, self-efficacy towards invention, and achievement. Focusing on an important aspect of student’s positive attitude towards learning, their preference (like/dislike) towards independent study with minimal or no teacher interference, which leads to increased learning autonomy, was investigated. The main research was conducted on elementary school students; 271 grade level one (G1; 6 years old) to grade level four (G4; 10 years old) participated in this study. As a result of this study, it was found that: (1) 73% of the students preferred minimal or no explanation at all, favoring to be left with the challenge of finding out what to do, compared to 20% of the control group, indicating a positive attitude shift in their learning approaches. (2) The experimental group achieved slightly more (9.5% difference) than the control group in knowledge-comprehension-level based exam; however, the experimental group scored much higher (63% difference) in challenging exams which required higher thinking levels. (3) The same trend was also observed in self-efficacy toward invention, where 82% of the experimental group saw themselves as possible inventors compared to 37% of the control group.     

Effective Integration of ICT in Jordanian Schools: An Analysis of Pedagogical and Contextual Impediments in the Science Classroom

A series of interviews and classroom observations were conducted with a group of in-service science teachers, students, school principal, and computer lab supervisors, from a “Discovery” female school in Jordan to assess their utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) in teaching science. The study also intended to determine how these participants were using ICT and if they had any internal and external impediments in the way of the effective integration of ICT in the teaching of science. Results showed that some participants were using ICT creatively in their science teaching. However, despite considerable political pressure to increase ICT use in the classroom, most expressed frustration at the lack of ICT tools, support from the school, from the Ministry of Education, and from the surrounding community. The article proposes possible resolutions to help these participants overcome their impediments. Some of the suggested resolutions for the internal impediments include involving teachers in preparing the school’s time-table, equipping the school with more ICT tools and offering more training courses for teachers. However, the suggested resolutions for the external impediments involve (1) The Ministry of Education to rethink the administration of board examinations, (2) The school to sacrifice scoring higher in board examinations for preparing more creative and more versatile students’ perspectives.     

Aerobic, anaerobic, and skill performance with regard to classification in wheelchair rugby athletes

The purpose of the study was to examine the sport-specific performance of wheelchair rugby players with regard to their classification. A group of 30 male athletes from the Polish Wheelchair Rugby League participated in the study. The seven International Wheelchair Rugby Federation classes were collapsed into four groups. Standardized measures of aerobic, anaerobic, and skill performance were examined to identify performance differences among the four groups. Major findings were that most differences were between Group I players and all others and that anaerobic performance was the most sensitive to classification differences. Another important finding was that for all other groups, with one exception, adjacent groups did not differ in anaerobic, aerobic, and sport-specific skill performance. The results of this study demonstrate the need to investigate other performance measures that will help in evaluating the current wheelchair rugby classification system.