The effect of ball carrying method on sprint speed in rugby union football players

Different methods of ball carrying can be used when a player runs with the ball in rugby union. We examined how three methods of ball carrying influenced sprinting speed: using both hands, under the left arm and under the right arm. These methods were compared with running without the ball. Our aim was to determine which method of ball carrying optimizes sprinting speed. Altogether, 48 rugby union players (age 21 +/- 2 years, height 1.83 +/- 0.1 m, body mass 85.3 +/- 12 kg, body fat 14 +/- 5%; mean +/- s) were recruited. The players performed twelve 30-m sprints in total (each player performed three trials under each of three methods of carrying the ball and sprinting without the ball). The design of the study was a form of Latin rectangle, balanced across the trial order for each of the methods and for pairwise combinations of the methods in blocks of four per trial. Each sprint consisted of a 10-m rolling start, followed by a 20-m timed section using electronic timing gates. Compared with sprinting 20 m without the ball (2.58 +/- 0.16 s), using both hands (2.62 +/- 0.16 s) led to a significantly slower time (P < 0.05). Sprinting 20 m with the ball under the left arm (2.61 +/- 0.15 s) or under the right arm (2.60 +/- 0.17 s) was significantly quicker than when using 'both hands' (P < 0.05), and both these methods were significantly slower than when running without the ball (P < 0.05). Accordingly, running with the ball in both hands led to the greatest decrement in sprinting performance, although carrying the ball under one arm also reduced the players' sprinting ability. Our results indicate that to gain a speed advantage players should carry the ball under one arm.     

Fragmented spaces in the urban landscape: A socio-spatial analysis of educational supply in the city of Madrid

The geography of school choice critically shapes families’ educational opportunities. Residential segregation, social inequalities and the educational marketplace interact in complex ways and produce spatialised educational opportunities for families. This paper analyses the link between these dimensions and how they structure families’ educational opportunities in the city of Madrid. Based on several administrative datasets that capture students’ residential location, their socio-economic position, the schools they attend and the characteristics of school supply, our analysis reveals the uneven spatial distribution of the different school modalities in Madrid, where advantaged families and neighbourhoods have more diversified and socio-economically homogenous nearby schooling options. The results also depict the way the city is spatially divided along a continuum of ‘privileged’ residential and educational assets. The paper reflects on how reforms expanding school choice and diversification of the educational market undertaken by the regional government may have increased the link between residential and school segregation.     

The Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS) predicts adjustment above and beyond personality and general intelligence

Recent research has shown that the psychological skills assessed by the Intercultural Adjustment Potential Scale (ICAPS) can predict adjustment, above and beyond what is already accounted for by personality. The purpose of this study was to examine if the skills tapped by the ICAPS can predict adjustment above and beyond that accounted for by both personality and general intelligence, and whether intelligence can predict adjustment above and beyond skills and personality. International students completed a battery of instruments including the ICAPS, a personality measure, and several adjustment indices. In a separate session they also completed a measure of general intelligence. The results indicated that the ICAPS did predict adjustment independently of both personality and intelligence, but that intelligence did not.     

Taxonomy of quantities

The adjectives “generic”, “subgeneric”, “specific”, and “individual” are proposed to be added to the term “quantity”, depending on the case, in order to diminish the ambiguity of this term and to classify the different types of quantities.     

The roles of the mentor and link tutor in primary school mentor training

This paper reports the evaluation of a small scale pilot mentoring scheme developed by a University Faculty of Education and some of its link primary schools to illuminate how the initiative might most profitably be developed in future years. This evaluation focused on the perceptions of all the parties involved in the mentoring (Head teachers, mentors, class teachers, students and link tutors) about their roles. Some suggestions are made about how the scheme might be developed in the future.     

The use of a collaborative math tutoring model to improve content knowledge among special education teacher candidates

ABSTRACT

The mathematics achievement gap in special education is a chronic and significant challenge for the field. The need for improved teacher preparation in mathematics is crucial in addressing this gap. This study examines a capstone experience in higher level mathematics tutoring for preservice teachers. Results indicate that the experience was effective at improving preservice teachers’ higher level math content knowledge compared to teachers who did not receive experiential math learning in their teacher preparation. Implications for preservice teacher preparation programs are presented.     

Planning,re-bordering and setting times: a comparative analysis of European and Latin American ‘education spaces’

The article compares educational regionalisation in Europe and Latin America. This analysis unveils the influence of three social phenomena in the two case studies, namely power, fields of activity and knowledge. Mostly, it focuses on the initiatives led by the European Union and the Organisation of Ibero-American States in order to implement large strategic, multi-government educational plans in each continent. The actions of international political players, the theories (or ‘ontologies’) embedded in these devices and the consequences for sub-national politics are observed.     

Variability of creativity judgments

The Consensual Assessment Technique (CAT), developed by Amabile [Amabile, T.M. (1982). Social psychology of creativity: A consensual assessment technique. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 997–1013], is frequently used to evaluate the creativity of productions. Judgments obtained with CAT are usually reliable and valid. However, notable individual differences in judgment exist. This empirical study shows that creativity judgments for advertisements vary, depending on (1) the level of two underlying components of creativity — originality and appropriateness, (2) the creative ability of the judges, i.e. variations in their ability to be original, and finally, (3) instructions or training that they received about the topic of creativity assessment. Effects of advertisements' appropriateness and judges' ability to be original on individual differences in creativity judgments are discussed.