Predictive ability of the medicine ball chest throw and vertical jump tests for determining muscular strength and power in adolescents

This study examined the predictive ability of the medicine ball chest throw and vertical jump for muscular strength and power in adolescents. One hundred and ninety adolescents participated in this study. Participants performed trials of the medicine ball chest throw and vertical jump, with vertical jump peak power calculated via an estimation equation. One-repetition maximum and peak power for the chest press and leg press were assessed using pneumatic exercise machines. The medicine ball chest throw strongly correlated with chest press one-repetition maximum and peak power, while the vertical jump peak power strongly correlated with leg press one-repetition maximum and peak power. The predictive ability of medicine ball chest throw was better than vertical jump peak power for muscular strength and power when controlling for sex, age, height, weight, and maturation, and was not affected by involvement in sports. Results show good predictive ability of the medicine ball chest throw for muscular strength and power in adolescents, while predictable ability of vertical jump peak power is weakened when other factors are taken into account.     

Ischemic preconditioning enhances critical power during a 3 minute all-out cycling test

This study tested the hypothesis that ischemic preconditioning (IPC) would increase critical power (CP) during a 3 minute all-out cycling test. Twelve males completed two 3 minute all-out cycling tests, in a crossover design, separated by 7 days. These tests were preceded by IPC (4 x 5 minute intervals at 220 mmHg bilateral leg occlusion) or SHAM treatment (4 x 5 minute intervals at 20 mmHg bilateral leg occlusion). CP was calculated as the mean power output during the final 30 s of the 3 minute test with W′ taken as the total work done above CP. Muscle oxygenation was measured throughout the exercise period. There was a 15.3 ± 0.3% decrease in muscle oxygenation (TSI; [Tissue saturation index]) during the IPC stimulus, relative to SHAM. CP was significantly increased (241 ± 65 W vs. 234 ± 67 W), whereas W′ (18.4 ± 3.8 vs 17.9 ± 3.7 kJ) and total work done (TWD) were not different (61.1 ± 12.7 vs 60.8 ± 12.7 kJ), between the IPC and SHAM trials. IPC enhanced CP during a 3 minute all-out cycling test without impacting W′ or TWD. The improved CP after IPC might contribute towards the effect of IPC on endurance performance.     

‘He didn’t want to let his team down’: the challenge of dual loyalty for team physicians

Team physicians have a complicated job that involves potentially conflicting obligations to multiple entities. Though responsible for the medical care of the athletes as individuals, they also have obligations to the team that employs them which can include returning athletes to play who are at heightened risk of re-injury. The fact that the athletes and owners have some overlapping interests (e.g. players playing well and winning games) only complicates this issue. Further, there are strong financial incentives to do what is necessary to obtain and keep a position as a team physician. This article examines dual loyalty and conflict of interest in sports medicine, and argues that there is not now a widely accepted or adequate solution to either. Moving toward a solution will require fairly serious changes in the role of the team physician.

Abbreviations: FIMS International Federation of Sports Medicine; NFL National Football League; MVP Most Valuable Player; RGIII Robert Griffin, III     

Journals and repositories: an evolving relationship?

It is now widely accepted that there are two routes to open access (OA): OA repositories and OA journals. It is often assumed these are distinct alternative parallel tracks. However, it has recently become clear that there is potential for repositories and journals to interact with each other on an ongoing basis and between them to form a coherent OA scholarly communication system. This paper puts forward three possible models of interaction between repositories and journals; services such as arXiv and PubMed Central, and the work carried out by the RIOJA project, are working exemplars and pilot implementations of these models. The key issues associated with the widespread adoption of these models include repository infrastructure development; changing ideas of the ‘journal’, ‘article’, and ‘publication’; version management; quality assurance; business and funding models; developing value‐added features; content preservation; policy frameworks; and changing roles and cultures within the research community.     

Use of astronomical literature—A report on usage patterns

In this paper we present a number of metrics for usage of the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS). Since the ADS is used by the entire astronomical community, these are indicative of how the astronomical literature is used. We will show how the use of the ADS has changed both quantitatively and qualitatively. We will also show that different types of users access the system in different ways. Finally, we show how use of the ADS has evolved over the years in various regions of the world.     

Personal epistemologies, work and learning

This paper elaborates the role and development of personal epistemologies when learning through and for work. It does this by drawing on explanatory propositions from psychology, sociology and philosophical accounts. The aim here is to go beyond conceptions of epistemological beliefs and to position personal epistemologies as being active, intentional, derived in personally particular ways through the unique set of socially derived experiences that comprise individuals’ life histories or ontogenies. In this way, they are held to be comprehensive and encompassing as a conception to explain individuals’ learning and as constructed through social experiences, albeit in person-specific ways. Given their active and constructive character, these epistemologies are placed centre stage in the dual processes of learning and remaking culturally derived practices, such as with paid work. These propositions are discussed and elaborated through a consideration of engagement and learning in forms of work that provide, respectively, relatively weak and rich forms of direct social guidance, and which require the enactment in different ways of individuals’ personal epistemologies in the conduct of and learning through paid work.     

ASERA: brief histor(y/ies)

This collection of historical accounts provides diverse perspectives on the structure and culture of the community of researchers who participate in activities of the Australasian Science Education Research Association (ASERA). It describes the formation of the Association, and identifies major changes and challenges for the ever growing and internationalisation of its membership.

The first seven years at school

This paper assesses the cumulative long-term impact of successive years of high quality provision in schools. This was achieved by looking at the consequences, up to the age of 11 (Year 6), of attending a school where there was high or low value-added in each of the 7 years of primary education in England. Multi-level models for thousands of pupils were set up in which the relative contribution of the school was estimated each year, as was the impact of attainment levels reached in each previous year. The analyses indicated that: relative progress each year was important but progress in the earliest years was the most important. Good progress in the first year at school was still detectable in the last year of primary schooling. Boosts or setbacks to progress in one year can be added or subtracted to progress in another. The relative importance of school for maths and reading were similar but smaller for vocabulary. The analyses suggest that teachers are of key importance when considering educational effectiveness and the implication for policy makers and school effectiveness researchers are discussed.

How Middle Schoolers Draw Engineers and Scientists

The perceptions young students have of engineers and scientists are often populated with misconceptions and stereotypes. Although the perceptions that young people have of engineers and of scientists have been investigated separately, they have not been systematically compared. The research reported in this paper explores the question “How are student perceptions of engineers and scientists similar and how are they different?” Approximately 1,600 middle school students from urban and suburban schools in the southeastern United States were asked to draw either an engineer or a scientist at work. Drawings included space for the students to explain what their person was doing in the picture. A checklist to code the drawings was developed and used by two raters. This paper discusses similarities and differences in middle school perceptions of scientists and engineers. Results reveal that the students involved in this study frequently perceive scientists as working indoors conducting experiments. A large fraction of the students have no perception of engineering. Others frequently perceive engineers as working outdoors in manual labor. The findings have implications for the development and implementation of engineering outreach efforts.