Evaluation of a university course to promote physical activity: project GRAD

Project GRAD (Graduate Ready for Activity Daily) evaluates a university course to promote physical activity. In a randomized study, 338 university seniors participated in either an intervention or control course for academic credit, and posttest data were collected on 321. The control course was knowledge-oriented. The intervention course taught behavior change skills in weekly lectures and peer-led labs. Physical activity was assessed with 7-Day Physical Activity Recall interviews. The intervention had no significant effects on men. Among women, the intervention increased total physical activity during leisure, strengthening exercises, and flexibility exercise. This university course had the intended effects of promoting healthful patterns of physical activity among women, but no effects were observed on men, who were more active than women at baseline.     

Scottish Archive of Print and Publishing History Records

‘It's important that we remember the past is not just dry facts and statistics but also the detailed lives of real people. SAPPHIRE aims to give a voice to these lives.’ The Scottish Archive of Print and Publishing History Records (SAPPHIRE), an initiative with Napier University as lead and Queen Margaret University College as main collaborative partner, is an oral history project which aims to record the social, economic and cultural heritage of the Scottish printing and publishing industry in the 20th century. Undertaken in partnership with a number of Scottish organizations, its results are providing a better understanding of an important and overlooked part of Scotland's heritage. Outcomes of the project include a permanent oral history archive stored at the Edward Clark Collection at Napier University, and exhibitions and publications on the history of the printing and publishing industry. The development and current activities of SAPPHIRE are described and reviewed.     

User satisfaction survey and usage of an electronic desktop document delivery service at an academic medical library

In June 2000, the Biomedical Library at the University of South Alabama introduced Prospero, an electronic desktop document delivery service. From June 2000 to November 2002, Prospero delivered 28% of interlibrary loan requests and 72% of document delivery requests. In November 2002, the library conducted a user satisfaction survey of the Prospero service. Forty-two surveys were used. Fifteen responses were received from affiliated faculty, staff, and students, who generally expressed satisfaction with the service. Twenty-seven responses were received from unaffiliated users, comprised of medical libraries, individual users, and businesses. Based on the survey results, the library deemed the Prospero service a success. To better support users, the library's Web page was updated to include hardware and software requirements for successful use of the Prospero service, as well as screen shots of the Prospero process.     

An analysis of selected kinematic variables in national and elite male and female 100-m and 200-m breaststroke swimmers

The kinematic analysis of competition breaststroke swimming has tended to focus on the mean values of swimming speed, stroke rate and stroke length; values in individual lengths, as well as the start, turns and finish, have largely been ignored. This study includes all such variables and aims to improve the coach's holistic understanding of breaststroke racing by determining the relationships and differences between and within these selected kinematic variables. We also compare 100-m events with 200-m events to determine if there are characteristic differences between them. Competitive breaststroke swimming performances in 100-m events (males: n = 159, finishing time = 65.05 +/- 2.62 s; females: n = 158, finishing time = 74.04 +/- 3.66 s) and 200-m events (males: n = 159, finishing time = 141.47 +/- 6.15 s; females: n = 158, finishing time = 158.66 +/- 7.87 s) were collected and analysed from 12 world, international and national championships. The better 100-m and 200-m breaststroke swimmers were found to demonstrate greater competency in the kinematic variables measured, except stroke kinematics, which were unique to each individual. These findings suggest that coaches should place emphasis on all of the kinematic components in training and that they should attempt to identify the stroke rate to stroke length ratio most appropriate for the individual. Finally, characteristic differences do exist between the 100-m and 200-m events, which has implications for how swimmers might train for each event.     

Analysis of non-urban end users' MEDLINE training.

The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (OUHSC) Library mailed a MEDLINE End User Practice Survey Form to 310 health professionals who had attended MEDLINE seminars supported by a two-year NLM grant. The survey sought to determine how many respondents had obtained NLM codes, reasons for not obtaining a code, searching time done since the seminar, differences in the use of information since taking the seminar, factors helpful in successful searching, and factors contributing to frustrations. The most prevalent reasons for not obtaining a code were lack of a microcomputer and modem, infrequent use of MEDLINE, cost, lack of time, complications, and ability to obtain free searches.