Moderate Association of Anthropometry,But Not Training Volume,With Race Performance in Male Ultraendurance Cyclists

In 28 male Caucasian nonprofessional ultracyclists, we investigated whether anthropometry or training volume had an influence on race speed in the 600 km at the Swiss Cycling Marathon 2007. Anthropometric parameters (age, body mass, body height, skin-fold thicknesses) were determined before the race to calculate body mass index and percent body fat. In addition, participants, using a training diary, recorded their training volume in hours and kilometers in the 3 months before the race. The influence of anthropometry and training volume on speed in the race as the dependent variable was investigated in a multiple linear regression model. Anthropometry showed a moderate association with speed in the race (r² = .178, p < .05), whereas training volume showed no association (r² = .000, p > .05). We concluded that anthropometry had a greater influence on race performance than training volume in recreational ultraendurance cyclists.     

Parallel assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes: Validation against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion,and indirect calorimetry

Abstract

The assessment of nutrition and activity in athletes requires accurate and precise methods. The aim of this study was to validate a protocol for parallel assessment of diet and exercise against doubly labelled water, 24-h urea excretion, and respiratory gas exchange. The participants were 14 male triathletes under normal training conditions. Energy intake and doubly labelled water were weakly associated with each other (r = 0.69, standard error of estimate [SEE] = 304 kcal · day^?1). Protein intake was strongly correlated with 24-h urea (r = 0.89) but showed considerable individual variation (SEE = 0.34 g · kg^?1 · day^?1). Total energy expenditure based on recorded activities was highly correlated with doubly labelled water (r = 0.95, SEE = 195 kcal · day^?1) but was proportionally biased. During running and cycling, estimated exercise energy expenditure was highly correlated with gas exchange (running: r = 0.89, SEE = 1.6 kcal · min^?1; cycling: r = 0.95, SEE = 1.4 kcal · min^?1). High exercise energy expenditure was slightly underestimated during running. For nutrition data, variations appear too large for precise measurements in individual athletes, which is a common problem of dietary assessment methods. Despite the high correlations of total energy expenditure and exercise energy expenditure with reference methods, a correction for systematic errors is necessary for the valid estimation of energetic requirements in individual athletes.     

Peer feedback mediates the impact of self-regulation procedures on strategy use and reading comprehension in reciprocal teaching groups

The goal of this research was to highlight the role social regulatory processes play in making students’ teamwork in reciprocal teaching (RT) groups (a classroom activity in which students take the teacher’s role in small group reading sessions) effective. In addition to teamwork quality, we expected peer feedback to be a key factor in enhancing students’ reading comprehension achievements. Because previous research (Schünemann et al. in Contemp Educ Psychol 38:289–305, 2013) has shown that procedures of self-regulated learning (SRL) augment the effects of RT methods, we further assumed that such procedures would promote the quality of students’ collaborative efforts. In a cluster-randomized trial, students in 12 fifth-grade classes practiced a strategic approach to reading either in a RT condition or in a RT + SRL condition. In one of the 14 sessions, students’ interactive behavior was videotaped. Strategy use and reading comprehension were assessed at pretest, posttest, and maintenance. Performance differences between conditions were reliable only at maintenance. A multilevel mediation analysis showed that relative to RT students, RT + SRL students were better able to provide their teammates with informative feedback and organize their group work in a task-focused manner. Only feedback quality mediated the sustainability of treatment effects on strategy use and reading comprehension. In essence, this research suggests that effective reading comprehension trainings should integrate explicit instruction and practice in reading strategies, SRL, and focus on supportive peer processes in small groups with extensive instruction and practice in peer feedback.     

Public interest programming: Taxation by regulation

This study examined the relationships among viewers’ family communication patterns, sex and pregnancy experience, music video viewing motivations, and viewers’ cognitive processing of a music video about teenage pregnancy. Respondents were high school students, who watched a music video and filled out questionnaires on two occasions. Results of a path analysis demonstrated different paths for girls and boys: For girls, family communication patterns and sexual/pregnancy experience were directly related to the activity with which they processed the video; for boys, family communication patterns had a direct path to activity, but also had a path through observational goals. Results suggest that family communication patterns may operate as enduring general cognitive structures that predict viewer activity.     

Learning and Collective Knowledge Construction With Social Media: A Process-Oriented Perspective

Social media are increasingly being used for educational purposes. The first part of this article briefly reviews literature that reports on educational applications of social media tools. The second part discusses theories that may provide a basis for analyzing the processes that are relevant for individual learning and collective knowledge construction. We argue that a systems-theoretical constructivist approach is appropriate to examine the processes of educational social media use, namely, self-organization, the internalization of information, the externalization of knowledge, and the interplay of externalization and internalization providing the basis of a co-evolution of cognitive and social systems. In the third part we present research findings that illustrate and support this systems-theoretical framework. Concluding, we discuss the implications for educational design and for future research on learning and collective knowledge construction with social media.     

Knowledge transfer by sharing task templates: two approaches and their psychological requirements

This paper considers two paradigms of process-aware information systems (PAIS) that are used to share knowledge about planning and executing tasks. The case-based task management (CBTM) system is based on the transduction of execution protocols, so-called cases; and the pattern-based task management (PBTM) system is based on task patterns that are derived from cases but yield more abstract information. As user motivation to contribute to a collaborative task management system is a crucial factor for its success, we consider the different motivational requirements of CBTM and PBTM from a psychological point of view. Based on experimental findings about different factors that have been shown to enhance people's motivation to contribute their knowledge to a shared pool, we compare the two approaches and assess which one is more appropriate with respect to motivation.     

Gender-related beliefs of teachers in elementary school mathematics

In this quantitative study, questionnaire data of fifty-two third- and fourth-grade teachers were analyzed using MANOVA tools. Teachers were asked to consider boys' and girls' achievement in mathematics, giving their views on the reasons for the students' successes and failures and describing their learning characteristics. Teachers thought that their average achieving girls were less logical than equally achieving boys. The girls were thought to profit less than boys from additional effort and to exert relatively more effort to achieve the level of actual performance in mathematics. Teachers rated mathematics as more difficult for average achieving girls than for equally achieving boys. With regard to girls, teachers attributed unexpected failure more to low ability and less to lack of effort than with boys. The results increase our understanding of stereotypical teacher beliefs that might help explain gender differences in achievement and in subsequent occupational choices.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Adults'' Tolerance of Cries: An Experimental Investigation of Acoustic Features

Variations in the aversiveness of a newborn's distress cry were examined using experimental manipulation of 3 acoustic features of the cry (fundamental frequency, intonation, spectral complexity) and of the information given to subjects about the infant's health status. The subjects (N = 164 medical students) were allowed to control the sound pressure level (range: 50 dB [A]-105 dB[A]) of the different cry versions by repeatedly pressing a button (operant titration). For the nonmanipulated (original) cry version, the accepted sound pressure level decreased as fundamental frequency increased at above 610 Hz. This effect was modified by experimental manipulation of spectral complexity as well as intonation. A preference of intonated cries over monotonous cries was most pronounced between 534 and 686 Hz. Significant interactions of the information variable with the intonation and the complexity variables suggest that the listener's reaction to certain physical cry characteristics can be altered substantially by inducing different cognitive sets.