Measuring the value of theatre for Tyneside audiences

What values do theatre and dance hold for audience members? And how do these values differ between subsidised, amateur, and commercial performance? This paper addresses these questions through a survey of over 1800 spectators for theatre and dance in Tyneside in northeastern England, as well as a parallel set of focus groups, in the spring of 2014. These methods, which are designed for comprehensiveness and comparability, are being used across Europe by the Project on European Theatre Systems, a working group of theatre sociologists. Our research showed two sets of values which performances achieved; one was a common measure of performance quality, while the other described the values particular to subsidised work. This allows us to articulate both the general value of the arts and the particular values which subsidy (attempts to) facilitate. This has implications for both understandings of cultural value and for cultural policy, as the distinction between the two groups was not clean. We also found that amateur theatre participated in the same value system, but with an increased emphasis on loyalty and community cohesion. The paper concludes a methodological reflection on the use of quantitative methods in theatre studies.     

Enlightenment and Education in Eighteenth Century America: A Platform for Further Study in Higher Education and the Colonial Shift

The prolific educational discussions of America's founding generation have led to extensive treatments surrounding the nature of early-national education in recent scholarship. Republican educational models Jefferson, Rush, and Webster have been scrutinized and praised as the forerunners to modern American higher education. Where these treatments are remiss, however, is in clearly identifying the fundamental shift in educational purpose between 1740 and 1780. Higher education classrooms were inundated with both Enlightenment and Evangelical literature, resulting in new arenas of student autonomy, thus radically departing from the traditional model of higher education carried over from England. An analysis of this transformation will highlight how the highly regarded republican educational ideas on education did not necessarily illustrate a thoroughly new model of higher education. Rather, it gave new definition to an already existing paradigm.     

The influence of crank rate on peak oxygen consumption during arm crank ergometry

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of three imposed crank rates on the attainment of peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) and other physiological responses during incremental arm crank ergometry. Twenty physically active, although non-specifically trained, males volunteered for the study. They completed an exercise protocol using an electrically braked arm ergometer (Lode Angio, Groningen, Netherlands) at crank rates of 60, 70 and 80 rev x min(-1). The order of tests was randomized and they were separated by at least 2 days. Peak VO2 was significantly higher (P < 0.05) at 70 and 80 rev x min(-1) than at 60 rev x min(-1). Peak ventilation volume increased as a function of crank rate and was higher (P < 0.05) at 80 than at 60 rev x min(-1). Peak heart rate was higher (P < 0.05) at 70 and 80 rev x min(-1) than at 60 rev x min(-1). Furthermore, 70 and 80 rev x min(-1) resulted in an extended test time compared with 60 rev x min(-1). The greater physiological responses observed during the tests at the two faster crank rates might have been the result of a postponement of acute localized neuromuscular fatigue, allowing for more work to be completed. We recommend, therefore, that an imposed crank rate between 70 and 80 rev x min(-1) should be used to elicit VO2peak and other physiological responses in arm crank ergometry.     

Who Studies Women's Studies?

ABSTRACT This article reports the initial findings of a study of the cohort of students who entered Liverpool John Moores University, England, to study women's studies in the autumn of 1994, basing its focus on the survey carried out as soon as the students entered the University and the in-depth interviews carried out later in that semester. The work proceeded within the tradition of grounded theory research and endeavoured to avoid prepared hypotheses in order to allow the themes to emerge from the students' answers. From the initial findings, the very strong emphasis on the salience of the students' choice of women's studies and the experiential importance of identity as a concept was striking. The article debates the theoretical difficulties in the theorising of identity in relation to the empirical, existential project of the students.     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

Educational gaps in medical care and health behavior: Evidence from US Natality data

The US Natality files provide information on medical procedures and health related behavior during pregnancy and childbirth. The data set represents nearly the universe of mothers who give birth in the US, providing the most complete coverage possible of medical care and health behavior among a specific patient population. We document gaps in outcomes by education of the mother and the changes in these educational gaps during 1989-2002.