Supervising mentors’ lived experience on supervision in teaching, nursing and social care education. A participation-oriented phenomenological study

Research concerning the supervisor role in separate educational programmes has been undertaken, but cross-professional studies are few. The aim of this study was to explore the lived experience of supervising mentors in Sweden during the practice-based, off-campus sections of the education in teaching, nursing, and social care. The study used a participatory phenomenological approach in which four researchers and nineteen supervising mentors worked together in the research process which was accomplished in four different phases. The data collecting method used was interview. The results constituted a main essence entitled “Struggle of power and control of professional quality enhancement” built upon four themes: “Constitutes a motivating force”, “Feelings of responsibility”, “Feelings of frustration” and “Wishes for alteration”. Conclusions from the study are that communication, information and contact between the professionals in the fields and university teachers need to be strengthen to keep up supervising mentors’ motivating force and to give them support.     

Reflink: A microcomputer information retrieval and evaluation system

Reflink is a system based on sophisticated information retrieval techniques which is housed in a small, inexpensive microcomputer. The paper describes the system, along with its predecessor, REFLES. Such systems are then placed in a conceptual framework involving stable and dynamic information, and several illustrations of multiple uses are presented.     

Bidirectional association between sedentary behaviour and depressive symptoms in adolescent girls

This study examined longitudinal and bidirectional association between sedentary behaviour (SB) and depressive symptoms (DS) in adolescent girls. Participants (n?=?253) completed measures of SB and DS at three time points spanning a four-year interval. DS were obtained using the modified Centre for Epidemiological Depression Scale (CES-D). Weekday and weekend SB was assessed using a questionnaire. In the latent growth model, both SB and DS increased and the change in SB was positively associated with change in DS (β?=?0.24). Higher levels of SB at baseline were associated with larger increases in DS over time (β?=?0.23), and higher baseline levels of DS were associated with smaller increases in SB over time (β?=??0.17). These findings suggest persistent longitudinal and bidirectional associations between SB and DS and encourage the design of interventions that limit sedentary time as a possible means of reducing adolescent depression.     

Peace Education: Cooperative Building of a Humane Future

The notion of peace education has been a subject of considerable controversy and criticism. Indeed, at one time it was one of the major targets of the last UK government's attack on what it saw as trendy, left-wing teaching. Although the attacks were often frenzied, it seemed that there was little clarity about what peace education did or should actually involve. In this paper, Lennart Vriens provides a clear and well-argued antidote to this lack of clarity. He sets out the main arguments that are levelled against peace education and then counters each one effectively. He goes on to provide a clear and instructive explanation of peace education as an active, ongoing process, explaining what this should involve and why it is of great importance.     

Public and Popular: British and Swedish Audience Trends in Factual and Reality Television

The research in this article examines audience responses to a range of factual and reality genres. It takes as a starting point that television audiences do not experience news or documentary or reality TV in isolation but as part of a range of factual and reality programmes. Factual and reality programming includes a broad understanding of non-fictional programming on broadcast television, satellite, cable and digital television. The breakdown of factual and reality programming into specific genres includes news, current affairs, documentary, and reality programmes, with further sub genres applied within each of these categories. This article critically examines genre evaluation. The quantitative research in this article is based on two national representative surveys conducted in Britain and Sweden. In both Britain and Sweden, programme makers have moved towards a reliance on popular factual genres. In Britain this is across all channels, and in Sweden this is mainly concentrated on commercial channels. Whilst there is still a commitment to news, there is an increasing use of hybrid genres in an attempt to popularise factual output. The impact of this changing generic environment on audiences is that in both countries viewers have reacted by drawing a line between traditional and contemporary factual genres. It is precisely because of the redrawing of the factual map that viewers rely on traditional ways of evaluating genres as public and informative, or popular and entertaining. The data provides evidence that contributes to existing debate on television genre, public service broadcasting, and media literacy skills. The central argument in this article is that genre evaluation is connected with wider socio-cultural discourses on public service broadcasting and popular culture, and that these are common social and cultural values that are shared by national audiences in two Northern European countries.     

Immediate effect of visual and auditory feedback to control the running mechanics of well-trained athletes

The correlation between mechanical factors of running and running economy as measured by metabolic cost is a subject of much interest in the study of locomotion. However, no change in running technique has been shown to result in an immediate improvement in running economy on an intra-individual basis. To evaluate the effect of a modified running technique, it is probably necessary that the individual trains with the new technique for a longer period using a feedback system to control the new kinematics. In this study, we examine the feasibility of using visual and auditory feedback to adapt running technique according to a simplistic model of the mechanical cost of running. The model considers only the mechanical work against gravity, which is the product of the magnitude of the vertical displacement of the runner's centre of mass and the step-frequency. In the experiments reported here, 18 trained runners, running at 16 km · h(-1) on a treadmill, were given feedback on these parameters together with indicated target levels. In almost all cases, the runners were able to adjust their technique accordingly.     

Three dimensional musculoskeletal modelling of the seated biceps curl resistance training exercise

The aim of this study was to evaluate the benefits and limitations of using three dimensional (3D) musculoskeletal modelling (LifeModeler) in assessing the safety and efficacy of exercising on a seated biceps curl resistance training machine. Three anthropometric cases were studied, representing a 5th percentile female, 50th percentile and 95th percentile male. Results indicated that the LifeModeler default model was not adequate to solve the forward dynamics simulations. Therefore adjustments had to be made to the default model to successfully complete the forward dynamics simulations. The software was able to sufficiently highlight the shortcomings of the biceps curl machine's engineered adjustability in relation to the anthropometric dimensions of the studied cases, as the 5th percentile female could not be accommodated suitably on the machine. High lumbar spine anterior/posterior shear forces for all anthropometric cases and maximum muscle tensions for the female and 50th percentile male indicate that the seated biceps curl exercise may pose risks for injuries. To conclude, it appears that 3D musculoskeletal modelling can be used to evaluate resistance training equipment such as the seated biceps curl machine. However the limitations as indicated by this study must be taken into consideration, especially when using the default LifeModeler model.     

Foreign and International Media

Allan M. Winkler's The Politics of Propaganda: The Office of War Information, 1942-1945 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1978—$11.95)

46. Mass News Media and the Third World Challenge by Leonard R. Sussman (80 pp.)

49. International News and the American Media by Barry Rubin (71 pp.)

Kees Van Der Haak and Joanna Spicer's Broadcasting in the Netherlands (London and Boston: Routledge &; Kegan Paul, 1977—$7.95, paper)

Tomo Martelanc, et al. External Radio Broadcasting and International Understanding: Broadcasting to Yugoslavia (Paris: Unesco/ New York: Unipub, 1977—$2.75, paper)

John A. Lent's Asian Mass Communications: A Comprehensive Bibliography-1977 Supplement (School of Communications, Temple University, Philadelphia, Pa. 19122—$25.00 1 paper)