Spatial abilities in an elective course of applied anatomy after a problem‐based learning curriculum

A concern on the level of anatomy knowledge reached after a problem‐based learning curriculum has been documented in the literature. Spatial anatomy, arguably the highest level in anatomy knowledge, has been related to spatial abilities. Our first objective was to test the hypothesis that residents are interested in a course of applied anatomy after a problem‐based learning curriculum. Our second objective was to test the hypothesis that the interest of residents is driven by innate higher spatial abilities. Fifty‐nine residents were invited to take an elective applied anatomy course in a prospective study. Spatial abilities were measured with a redrawn Vandenberg and Kuse Mental Rotations Test in two (MRT A) and three (MRT C) dimensions. A need for a greater knowledge in anatomy was expressed by 25 residents after a problem‐based learning curriculum. MRT A and C scores obtained by those choosing (n = 25) and not choosing (n = 34) applied anatomy was not different (P = 0.46 and P = 0.38, respectively). Percentage of residents in each residency program choosing applied anatomy was different [23 vs. 31 vs. 100 vs. 100% in Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Surgery, and Anesthesia, respectively; P < 0.0001]. The interest of residents in applied anatomy was not driven by innate higher spatial abilities. Our applied anatomy course was chosen by many residents because of training needs rather than innate spatial abilities. Future research will need to assess the relationship of individual differences in spatial abilities to learning spatial anatomy. Anat Sci Ed 2:107–112, 2009. © 2009 American Association of Anatomists.     

Performance Enhancement and Politicisation of High-Performance Sport: The West German ‘air clyster’ Affair of 1976

While the politicisation of high-performance sport is perceived to represent one of the driving forces behind doping, we know not much how exactly the cold war in sports has affected sporting misconduct in western societies. Therefore, we propose here to distinguish between ideological and institutional politicisation and explicit and implicit acceptance of dubious practices. We apply our framework to analyse the West German ‘air clyster’ affair of 1976 in order to examine to what extent the politicisation of high-performance sport during the cold war affected the search for innovation in performance enhancement. We find that political pressure for improved competitiveness in West German sport had served to create a semi-autonomous high-performance sport sector in West Germany where blurred lines of accountability allowed questionable practices to prosper. While the public despised the use of questionable methods, sportive nationalism served to eclipse dubious practices. West German sport leaders adopted insofar a permissive attitude towards questionable practices as sporting misconduct was not sanctioned. Thus, our results strongly suggest that sport's politicisation during the cold war facilitated the search for performance-increasing methods in western societies.     

Teachers' Perspectives on the Challenges of Teaching Physical Education in Urban Schools

The purpose of this study was to analyze how the challenges of urban schools influence physical education teachers' emotional understanding and connections with their students and the implications on their teaching. Sixty-one elementary physical educators from an urban school district in the midwestern U.S. were interviewed multiple times (N = 136) over 3 years using interpretive methodology. Teachers reported five unique challenges that significantly shaped their thinking about students and their careers, along with strategies they used to overcome or manage those challenges. The challenges were: (a) insufficient instructional resources, (b) implementing culturally relevant pedagogy, (c) dealing with community violence, (d) integrating more games in curricula, and (e) teaching in a culture of basketball. Implications centered on the guilt-inducing nature of urban teaching, developing an informed and realistic vision of urban physical education, and the role of teacher preparation and professional development.     

Effects of Ventilation on Segmental Bioimpedance Spectroscopy Measures Using Generalizability Theory

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of three ventilation conditions (i.e., normal, regimented, and no-ventilation) on the reproducibility of bioimpedance scores in humans for the forearm and trunk segments. One hundred able-bodied North American men and women, from 18 to 71 years of age, volunteered as participants. The experimenters used a Xitron Bio-Impedance Analyzer System model 4200 instrument with Hydra software (Xitron Technologies, San Diego, California, USA) to collect bioimpedance data on extracellular fluid and intracellular fluid scores. The experimenters analyzed the data using the generalizability theory,with persons as the facet of differentiation and time as the facet of generalization. The major findings were (a) ventilation conditions did not have a significant impact on the reproducibility of the test scores, (b) the forearm segment produced consistently higher intracellular fluid generalizability coefficients across three ventilation conditions for both gender groups when compared to the trunk segment, (c) the trunk segment produced intracellular fluid generalizability coefficients that were higher for the male group, and (d) the measurement error affected extracellular fluid scores less than segmental intracellular fluid scores.     

Metacognitive skills and intellectual ability of young adolescents: a longitudinal study from a developmental perspective

In the last decades, students increasingly have been placed in the role of active learners with responsibilities for their own learning. Students have to be able to plan their learning activities and execute them in a systematic and orderly way and to monitor and to evaluate their learning and to reflect on it. All aforementioned skills are components of metacognitive skillfulness. The first objective was to gain insight in the development of both quantity and quality of metacognitive skills in young adolescents (aged 12–15 years). The second objective was to establish whether development of metacognitive skills is intelligence related or relatively intelligence independent. Finally, the generality vs. domain specificity of developing metacognitive skills was investigated. In a 3-year longitudinal study, participants performed two different tasks (text studying and problem solving) in two different domains (history and math), while thinking aloud. Results show that between the age of 12 and 15 years, metacognitive skills do not develop linearly or at the same pace. Furthermore, metacognitive skills contribute to learning performance, partly independent of intellectual ability. Finally, the results show that metacognitive skills appear to be predominantly general by nature over the years. Although a smaller domain-specific component was found as well in the first 2 years, this component disintegrated in the third year. The age around 15 years appears to be a relevant point in time during the developmental trajectory of metacognitive skills: Growth is (temporarily) put on hold, while the nature of these skills becomes fully general.     

Innovative product and customer retention: Strategies in the music business ‐ An analysis of Santana's enhanced album “Shaman”;

Abstract

The music business is facing hard times with declining CD sales and increasing piracy. Whereas the economic downturn is one reason for lower sales, the industry has decided to target the second factor, the fast diffusion of technologies such as CD burners and peer‐to‐peer networks like KaZaA allowing massive illegal distribution of music. Some labels focused on an offensive strategy to promote their artists. New services are being added to so called Enhanced CDs that create a new user experience. These CDs offer bonus content (i.e. videos, additional songs, pictures, or lyrics) stored directly on the CD that can be accessed on the PC. Other CDs offer (additionally) online access to actual bonus content or services (i.e. tour dates or news) if the CD is entered in the FC. The impact of these services on consumer experience has not yet been researched in depth and it remains unclear if consumers actually use the offered services on Enhanced CDs. The music label Arista has introduced several new albums on Enhanced CDs to the market providing more value to the user instead of reducing the utility by focusing only on copy protection. This article analyzes the usage of such services provided by Arista and focuses on Santana's new album “Shaman”;. Using a unique data set provided byfavakitty Media (Bandlirik) and Arista, we show for the first time what services are actually used by Santana fans and compare the results to albums of other artists such as TIC or Toni Braxton. Our results indicate that Enhanced CDs are used frequently by a relatively small group of fans, providing more value to the customer and creating a stronger relation between fans and artists.     

Buttercups and daisies: building a community of practice amongst teachers in a Brazilian university

This article examines the promotion and adoption of action research as an instrument of institutional change by academic staff in a Brazilian rural university. The results of the research are presented showing the mobilisation of a group of volunteers, the implementation of their action research projects and the sustainability of the process. Particular attention is drawn to the significance of an insider change agent/facilitator as the initiator of the action research process and how his role became superfluous as the networks evolved into true communities of practice. On reflection the original composite daisy model of Melrose and Reid has been discarded in favour of a simpler buttercup‐type flower model of analysis to describe the process.     

Theatre U.S.A.: Actual and potential

IN PRAISE OF PROMETHEUS: HUMANISM AND RATIONALISM IN AESCHYLEAN THOUGHT. By Leon Golding. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1966; pp. ix+137. $5.00.

THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND OF AESCHYLEAN TRAGEDY. By Anthony J. Podlecki. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1966; pp. x+188. $7.50.

TWELFTH NIGHT AND SHAKESPEARIAN COMEDY. By Clifford Leech. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1965; pp. vii+88. $3.50.

HAMLET AND REVENGE. By Eleanor Presser. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1967; pp. xiv+287. $7.50.

THE THEATRE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. By Marvin Carlson. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1966; pp. xii+328. $10.00.

ROYALL TYLER. By G. Thomas Tanselle. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1967; pp. xvi+281. $7.50.

DRAMAS FROM THE AMERICAN THEATRE 1762–1901. Edited and Introduction by Richard Moody. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1966; pp. 873+illus. $15.00.

THE LANGUAGE OF CRITICISM. By John Casey. New York: Barnes &; Noble, 1966; pp. xii+205. $5.75.

MARK TWAIN'S LETTERS TO HIS PUBLISHERS, 1867–1894. Edited with an introduction by Hamlin Hill. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967; pp. xiv+388. $10.00.

MARK TWAIN'S SATIRES AND BURLESQUES. Edited with an introduction by Franklin S. Rogers. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967; pp. viii+485. $10.00.

MARK TWAIN'S WHICH WAS THE DREAM. Edited by John S. Tuckey. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967; pp. xi+588. $10.00.

AMBROSE BIERCE: A BIOGRAPHY. By Richard O'Connor. Boston: Little, Brown, 1967; pp. 333. $6.95.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM. By M. K. Naik. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1966; pp. ix+221. $4.95.

REMEMBERING MR. MAUGHAM. By Gar‐son Kanin. Foreword by Noel Coward. New York: Atheneum, 1966; pp. vi+313. $5.95.

SOMERSET AND ALL THE MAUGHAMS. By Robin Maugham. New York: New American Library, 1967; pp. 224. Paper $0.95.

FROM PROUST TO CAMUS: PROFILES OF MODERN FRENCH WRITERS. By André Maurois. Translated by Carl Morse and Renaud Bruce. Garden City, N.Y.: Double‐day, 1966; pp. 368. $5.95.

RELIGION AND THE AMERICAN MIND: FROM THE GREAT AWAKENING TO THE REVOLUTION. By Alan Heimert. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966; pp. x+668. $12.50.

THE GREAT AWAKENING: DOCUMENTS ILLUSTRATING THE CRISIS AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. Edited by Alan Heimert and Perry Miller. Indianapolis: Bobbs‐Merrill, 1967; pp. lxx+663. $7.50; paper $3.75.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By Ralph Ketcham. New York: Washington Square, 1965; pp. xiv+226. $3.95.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: ENVOY EXTRAORDINARY. By Roger Burlingame. New York: Coward‐McCann, 1967; pp. 255. $5.75.

DANIEL WEBSTER AND THE SUPREME COURT. By Maurice G. Baxter. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1966; pp. ix+265. $6.75.

THE PAPERS OF WOODROW WILSON, Vol. II, 1881–1884. Edited by Arthur S. Link. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1967; pp. xvi+680. $15.00.

THE PRESIDENCY OF WOODROW WILSON: PRELUDE TO A WORLD CRISIS. By Leon H. Canfield. Rutherford, N. J.: Fairleigh Dickenson University Press, 1966; pp. xv+299. $6.00.

LANDON OF KANSAS. By Donald R. McCoy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966; pp. x+607. $8.50.

CHANGING VIEWS ON BRITISH HISTORY: ESSAYS ON HISTORICAL WRITING SINCE 1939. Edited by Elizabeth Chapin Furber. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1966; pp. xii+418. $9.00.

HUMAN COMMUNICATION THEORY: ORIGINAL ESSAYS. Edited by Frank E. X. Dance. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967; pp. x+333. $6.50.

NEBRASKA SYMPOSIUM ON MOTIVATION: 1966. Edited by David Levine. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1966; pp. ix+209. $5.95; paper $2.75.

COMMUNICATION: THEORY AND RESEARCH. Edited by Lee Thayer. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 1966; pp. xv+583. $22.50.

COMMUNICATION: CONCEPTS AND PERSPECTIVES. Edited by Lee Thayer. Washington: Spartan Books, 1967; pp. viii+440. $14.00.

COMMUNICATION AND PUBLIC RELATIONS. By Edward J. Robinson. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill, 1966; pp. 618. $9.50.

THE PLAY THEORY OF MASS COMMUNICATION. By William Stephenson. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967; pp. x+225. $5.00.

MICROCOSM: STRUCTURAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND RELIGIOUS EVOLUTION IN GROUPS. By Phillip E. Slater. New York: John Wiley, 1966; pp. ix+276. $7.95.

MODERN INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATION: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE. By Arthur Lall. New York: Columbia University Press, 1966; pp. xii+404. $8.95.

BIOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS OF LANGUAGE. By Eric H. Lenneberg. Appendices by Noam Chomsky and Otto Marx. New York: John Wiley, 1967; pp. xvi+489. $14.95.

PORTRAITS OF LINGUISTS: A BIOGRAPHICAL SOURCE BOOK FOR THE HISTORY OF WESTERN LINGUISTICS, 1746–1963. Edited by Thomas A. Sebeok. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1966; pp. xvi+580, I; 605, II. $27.50 set.

THE APHASIC CHILD: A NEUROLOGICAL BASIS FOR HIS EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION. By Alice Calvert Roberts. Foreword by Louis D. Boshes. Springfield, Ill.: Charles C Thomas, 1966; pp. xi+79. $4.50.

CHILDHOOD APHASIA AND BRAIN DAMAGE: VOLUME III, HABILITATION. Edited by Sheldon R. Rappaport. Norris‐town, Pa.: Pathway School, 1966; pp. vii+ 120. Paper $3.25.