Reliability and Validity of Outcome Expectancy-Related Measures in Physical Education

The purpose of this study was to examine the reliability and validity of outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy using data collected from students in secondary school physical education classes. Dependent measures were examined for construct, concurrent, and predictive validity, as well as internal and temporal reliability. The results of the investigation indicated the following. First, confirmatory factor analyses for the dependent variables (outcome likelihood, outcome value, outcome expectancy) revealed a suitable fit of the data with a hypothesized factor structure. Second, significant associations between these variables and other personal beliefs and values provided sound evidence for the concurrent validity of outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy. Third, results of regression analyses revealed that outcome likelihood and outcome value had strong predictive validity in predicting physical activity behaviors. Finally, the internal reliabilities of self-report scales for the outcome likelihood, outcome value, and outcome expectancy over a three-semester period were satisfactory. The temporal reliabilities were also acceptable.     

Interdisciplinary therapy changes superoxide dismutase activity and adiponectin in obese adolescents: a randomised controlled trial

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of interdisciplinary therapy in the parameters of the oxidative stress and the anti-inflammatory responses of obese adolescents. We selected 57 participants, who were randomly divided into 2 groups: interdisciplinary therapy group and a control group. After 6 months of intervention, 17 participants of the interdisciplinary therapy group and 8 of the control group returned for re-evaluation. The interdisciplinary therapy group participated in a treatment with 4 weekly sessions of exercise, a weekly group therapy session and a weekly nutritional education session. Blood parameters of oxidative stress and anti-inflammatory response were evaluated. The results demonstrated that there were significant increases in the interdisciplinary therapy group for superoxide dismutase activity (6.56 ± 3.22 to 11.40 ± 7.49) and ferric-reducing antioxidant potential concentration (532.91 ± 106.48 to 573.25 ± 112.57), although adiponectin levels did not reduce (40.9 ± 29.34 to 49.05 ± 41.22). A significant decrease in nitrite levels was also found (14.23 ± 8.48 to 11.45 ± 6.05). In the control group, significant reduction was found in adiponectin (31.56 ± 18.88 to 18.01 ± 11.66). This study suggests that interdisciplinary therapy for 6 months was effective in improving the anti-inflammatory responses and the antioxidant defences in obese adolescents.     

Making Sense of What Students Know: Examining the Referents, Relationships and Modes Students Displayed in Response to a Decimal Task

Written tasks that request an explanation can offer detailed information concerning students' knowledge to the classroom teacher. The examination of students' written responses for the mathematical systems that are employed (referents), the connections that are displayed (relationships) and the communication methods that are utilized (modes) provides evidence that suggests how the student is making sense of a problem. The purpose of this article is to describe the constructs of referents, relationships and modes and to illustrate how these constructs may be reflected in students' written responses to a decimal task that requests an explanation. This article will also examine sets of responses from two classrooms using the proposed framework to illustrate the type of information that teachers may acquire through the application of this framework. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Guidance for older workers in Denmark and Spain

Guidance has a role to play in helping older workers to lead meaningful and fruitful lives; inside, outside, on the edge of the labour market, or in voluntary work with examples from two very different European countries: Denmark and Spain. This paper aims to draw attention to older workers guidance from an economic policy approach. It will be demonstrated that there is a need for more policy making for older workers’ guidance in both countries.     

Cardiorespiratory fitness and arm bone mineral health in young males with spinal cord injury: the mediator role of lean mass

Spinal cord injury (SCI) derives in loss of bone mineral content (BMC) and bone mineral density (BMD). However, physical activity is an important determinant in bone mass acquisition, which is partially mediated through the lean mass (LM). The aim was to examine the effect of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) on BMD and BMC arms of adult males with SCI and able-bodied controls using the arm LM as a mediator variable. Thirty able-bodied men and thirty men with SCI participated. BMC and BMD were analysed by DXA, and indirect calorimetry was used to calculate VO_2peak during a progressive arm-cranking test. When groups were divided by the amount of LM, the subgroup with highest LM had significantly higher arm BMC compared to the lowest LM subgroup (p ≤ 0.05) in both SCI and able-bodied groups. Moreover, same differences were found when confidence intervals were analysed. Only in the SCI group, arm LM mediated the relationship between bone mass and CRF at 30.9%, as indicated by the Sobel test (z = 2.17 and z = 2.04 for BMC and BMD, respectively). In conclusion, LM mediates the indirect association between CRF and bone health, specifically in the arms. This finding highlights the importance of having an adequate CRF for the maintenance of good bone health in SCI men.     

Adult Students — The New Mission for Higher Education?

This paper identifies the main factors underlying the increasing demand by adults for higher education within industrialized countries. The patents of adult participation in higher education in the UK are outlined in the context of a recent imitational project on Adult Participation in Higher Education, conducted by the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (CERI/OECD). While the current levels of participation of adults in higher education vary considerably between countries, a number of common trends can be identified. Two trends in particular emerge as having significant policy implications in terms of the relationship between access issues for individuals 10 higher education, and the vocational updating activities which are frequently regarded as synoyomous with short-course work. In the first place, as most adult students currently gaining entry to higher education have already achieved relatively high levels of educational qualifications, those who are often referred to as the 'second chance' students are in the minority. Secondly, career interests figure predominantly amongst the reasons given by adult students for choosing to return to study.
The pattern of student involvement in an innovative programme in one English polytechnic is provided as an illustration of an attempt to provide for both the needs of individuals for access, and for those in employment for updating and post-experience vocational education in an integrated way.     

Anaphoric reference strategies used in written language productions of deaf teenagers

There are few researchers who analyze written productions by deaf individuals; there are also few researchers who discuss the knowledge these people have about written text comprehension and production. For the present study, the investigators analyzed 16 written productions by four deaf individuals based on the anaphoric reference concept as recently proposed in textual linguistics (see, e.g., I. V. Koch & L. A. Marcuschi, 2002). It is important to show that referential progression is one of the textual aspects capable of giving stability and continuity to written productions; referential progression is also relevant to discursive coherence. The results of the writing analysis in the present study show that deaf individuals can learn to use expressive resources that are available in the Portuguese language and can use reference strategies, as long as these individuals can interact with a partner who knows Portuguese.