Librarians' experiences of the teaching role: Grounded in campus relationships

Analyses of information literacy instruction practices have neglected, until now, in-depth exploration of librarians' experiences in their teaching roles. That gap was addressed by this study, which explored Canadian academic librarians' self-perceptions as teachers. Semistructured interviews with 48 participants revealed that they experience complex relationships with teaching faculty. Data are analyzed using symbolic interactionism, Erving Goffman's concepts of deference and ceremonial rules, and work on gifting and reciprocity. The relationships are discussed as unequal in terms of power, where power is ceded to the teaching faculty. Study participants discuss this unequal balance of power by referring to their own self-positioning and the institutional culture of their workplaces. These results suggest areas of challenge to full realization of instructional goals, which merit attention by managers and by those charged with preparing librarians for instructional work.     

A six-year monitoring case study of a top-10 cycling Grand Tour finisher

This study analysed the evolution of the physical potential of a twice top-10 Grand Tour cycling finisher (Tour de France and Vuelta a España) whose training was monitored between the ages of 18 and 23 years. The world-class cyclist’s power output (PO) data and training indices were analysed over six years to determine the evolution of his record power profile and training load (TL), which were estimated by using the session rating of perceived exertion (RPE) method. The total annual duration and TL increased through six seasons by 79% and 83%, respectively. The record POs in all exercise intensity zones improved over the six years. The increases in TL, monotony (+34%) and strain (+162%) from the junior category to the world-class level significantly correlated with an improvement in his aerobic potential, which was characterised by an increase in the record POs between 5 min and 4 h. This case study of the performance level and training parameters of a world-class cyclist provides comprehensive insight into the evolution of a cyclist to the top level. Furthermore, determining the record power profile of this athlete over six competitive seasons illuminates the maturation of the physical potential of a top-10 Grand Tour finisher.     

Book Review: Foundations for the next era of elementary mathematics teacher education. Yiping Li,Roger E. Howe,W. James Lewis,and James J. Madden (Eds.) (2021) Developing mathematical proficiency for elementary instruction

Educational Studies in Mathematics -     

Managing Dialectics to Make a Difference: Tension Management in a Community-Building Organization

This article is an ethnographic report of the dialectic tension management practices of a community-building organization called the Nehemiah Group. ¹ The Nehemiah Group, in 2009, changed their name to the Nehemiah Network to reflect their expanded involvement of business leaders (Our History, n.d. Our History . ( n.d. ). Retrieved from http://www.nehemiahnetwork.org/about  [Google Scholar]). This group unites local churches to serve the community. This three-year participant-observation study documents how group members manage two primary and intertwined dialectic tensions: noncooperation-cooperation and unity-division. Members use multiple practices to manage these tensions and other intertwined tensions: They construct narratives to voice moral issues, to alternate between tension poles to address pragmatic obstacles, to frame tensions as complementary through segmentation, and rely on prayer rituals to reframe tensions. From this analysis, three implications follow: (a) moral narratives serve to construct framing options, (b) a larger discursive history is utilized to create counternarratives, and (c) metadiscursive practices rely on rituals to manage tensions.     

Teachers in Schools with Low Socioeconomic Composition: Are They Really that Different?

This article aims to assess whether differences in teacher characteristics vary with differences in socioeconomic compositions of schools. We conducted correlation analyses on administrative data from the French-speaking education system in Belgium. This database regroups more than 20,000 teachers in 1,630 elementary schools. We selected indicators to measure the link between schools’ socioeconomic composition and a set of dimensions of teachers’ profile such as experience, job security, and stability. The results confirm that some of these dimensions are linked to the school composition. The findings highlight the relevance of considering segmentation of the school market when studying the topic.     

Frankish Captives in Mamlūk Cairo

Latin presence in the Middle East came to an end with the fall of Acre in 690/1291. Among the last prisoners, Roger of Stanegrave, who gave testimony of his captivity in Cairo, was released around 715/1315. Therefore, how can we explain that Egyptian chroniclers kept on telling the life and tribulations of “Frankish captives” (asārā min al-Afranj) in Cairo as late as the last decades of the fourteenth century? This article looks first at the conditions of the Latin prisoners in Mamlūk Cairo and at their forced labour on the building sites of the city. It investigates afterwards the astonishing life and business of their descendants, trading wine and dealing with entertainment and prostitution in the city centre of Cairo, before being confronted with repression by Mamlūk authorities and being scattered over the most disreputable areas of the city. The history of Cairo and its urban fabric gives a unique opportunity to bring to light the life of people still referred to as “Frankish captives”, one century after the end of the crusader wars, and to understand how they finally became indigenous.     

Information literacy proficiency: Assessing the gap in high school students' readiness for undergraduate academic work

This study examines how high school students' information literacy (IL) skills prepare them for academic work in the digital age. The project included: (a) an audit of university IL practices; and (b) the administration of the James Madison University (JMU) Information Literacy Test (ILT) to 103 twelfth grade students in Alberta, Canada. Due to the low stakes of the test, there was concern about the reliability of the results. Rapid guessing, response time effort, and motivation filters were applied to confirm the reliability of the results. Results indicate a gap between expectations of high school students and their skills. Using a standardized test, potential incoming undergraduate IL proficiency was identified, including student strengths and weaknesses. The audit identified IL policies and practices at the university, indicating discrepancies in the IL instruction students may receive. Findings indicate that students lack the IL proficiency required to succeed in the post-secondary educational environment, and the libraries are not prepared to effectively address this gap.     

Live-streaming: Time-lapse video evidence of novel streamer formation mechanism and varying viscosity

Time-lapse videos of growing biofilms were analyzed using a background subtraction method, which removed camouflaging effects from the heterogeneous field of view to reveal evidence of streamer formation from optically dense biofilm segments. In addition, quantitative measurements of biofilm velocity and optical density, combined with mathematical modeling, demonstrated that streamer formation occurred from mature, high-viscosity biofilms. We propose a streamer formation mechanism by sudden partial detachment, as opposed to continuous elongation as observed in other microfluidic studies. Additionally, streamer formation occurred in straight microchannels, as opposed to serpentine or pseudo-porous channels, as previously reported.     

Combined effects of sleep deprivation and strenuous exercise on cognitive performances during The North Face® Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc® (UTMB®)

This study investigated the effects of combined sleep deprivation and strenuous exercise on cognitive and neurobehavioral performance among long-distance runners completing one of the most difficult ultramarathons in the world. Seventeen runners participated. Each had a wrist-worn actigraph throughout the race to record their sleep time. In addition, each individual’s performance in 10-min response-time tests before and after the race was recorded and a questionnaire enabled participants to report any difficulties they experienced during the competition. During race completion times of 27 to 44 h, combined acute lack of sleep (12 ± 17 min of rest during the race) and strenuous exercise (168.0 km) had marked adverse effects on cognitive performances ranging from mere lengthening of response time to serious symptoms such as visual hallucinations. This study suggests that regardless of rest duration and time in race, cognitive performances of ultramarathoners are adversely affected.     

Electromyographic analyses of the erector spinae muscles during golf swings using four different clubs

The purpose of this study was to compare the electromyography (EMG) patterns of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the erector spinae (ES) muscle during the golf swing whilst using four different golf clubs. Fifteen right-handed male golfers performed a total of twenty swings in random order using the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge. Surface EMG was recorded from the lead and trail sides of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle (T8, L1 and L5 lateral to the spinous-process). Three-dimensional high-speed video analysis was used to identify the backswing, forward swing, acceleration, early and late follow-through phases of the golf swing. No significant differences in muscle-activation levels from the lead and trail sides of the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle were displayed between the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge (P > 0.05). The highest mean thoracic and lumbar ES muscle-activation levels were displayed in the forward swing (67–99% MVC) and acceleration (83–106% MVC) phases of the swing for all clubs tested. The findings from this study show that there were no significant statistical differences between the driver, 4-iron, 7-iron and pitching-wedge when examining muscle activity from the thoracic and lumbar regions of the ES muscle.