Upset among youth in response to questions about exposure to violence,sexual assault and family maltreatment

To assess whether youth are upset by being asked questions about sensitive kinds of abuse, victimization, family maltreatment, and sexual victimization in the course of standard epidemiological surveys. A national sample of youth aged 10–17 were interviewed on the telephone by experienced interviewers as part of the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence. At the end they were asked whether answering questions had upset them. Of the youth interviewed, 4.5% reported being at all upset and 0.8% reported being pretty or a lot upset. However, only a minority of those upset, .3% of the total sample, said they would not participate again had they known about the content. But even in this group, the regret about participation was mostly due to the length of the survey, not the types of questions being asked. Thus, asking about exposure to abuse and sensitive kinds of victimization in standard interview surveys is associated with low levels of respondent upset due to the nature of the questions.     

Testing elementary and secondary school students’ ability to perform historical perspective taking: the constructing of valid and reliable measure instruments

Historical reasoning competencies play an important role in history education. However, valid and reliable large-scale measurement instruments to assess these competencies are scarce. This study considers two instruments for measuring students’ ability to perform historical perspective taking (HPT) as a historical reasoning competency. The instruments have been tested for validity and reliability among 1,270 Dutch upper elementary and secondary school students, ranging in age from 10 to 17 years. One instrument offers effective validity and reliability and can map HPT performance among a large and heterogeneous student population. The results show that even upper elementary school students are capable of performing HPT. However, as students age, their ability to perform HPT increases. Differences regarding the ability to perform HPT were also found between educational levels. Pre-university students performed HPT more successfully compared to students at lower educational levels. The results of this study can be used to gain insight into the construct of HPT and into how historical reasoning competencies such as HPT can be measured. Furthermore, the results provide insight into how differences between students, such as age and educational levels, influence the performance of HPT.     

Universities,dependency and the market: innovative lessons from Kenya

Higher education in developing nations is typically viewed from a dependency perspective – institutions are seen as merely recipients of Western knowledge, aid and reform efforts. Nevertheless, universities in both the centre and the periphery are dealing with tensions between protecting the public good and embracing neoliberal values based on a market approach to higher education. In the USA and Europe these competing interests are typically cast as mutually exclusive. Our study on the market approach to higher education in Kenya, however, suggests that public and private interests can be complementary, contributing to a re-envisioning of the traditional mission of higher education. This article seeks to examine more fully the nature of reform efforts at two universities in Kenya, to elucidate lessons for universities undergoing market-oriented reform in the West and to suggest a reciprocal relationship between institutions in Africa and Europe, upending the centre-periphery paradigm.     

A system-wide professional learning approach about inclusion for teachers in Hong Kong

This study examines changes in attitudes, teaching efficacy, and concerns about inclusive education in a sample of 2361 teachers in Hong Kong who took a professional learning course about inclusive education. Participants completed a questionnaire seeking demographic information and their perceptions about these three aspects of inclusive education both before and after their course. Items were selected from the Sentiments, Attitudes, and Concerns about Inclusive Education Scale Revised and Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practices scales that were of relevance to the objectives of this study. The results indicate that in all three areas of acceptance, teaching efficacy, and concerns about inclusive education, positive improvements were made as a result of training, although generally this improvement was strongest in areas that teachers felt were under their direct control. The small amount of change in areas that teachers felt were not under their control may indicate that whatever change initiatives are put in place, they need to be holistic and systemic.     

Reinvention,Revolution and Revitalization: Real Life Tales from Publishing’s Front Lines

Over the past 10 years the publishing industry has undergone major changes with the shift from format driven print publishing to the dynamic delivery of information to users in a variety of digital and printed formats. These changes have affected all aspects of the publishing business including the technology platforms and product development processes. This paper will survey these areas and discuss (1) The principals of the information delivery platforms powering the new generation of products; (2) Strategies for innovation and product development including; (a) Innovation Hubs: enabling new products while maintaining the core; (b) Data driven publishing: the complete picture of your users and markets; (c) Contextual delivery to better deliver information beyond the traditional touch points of publishing and research. These strategies will allow publishing and information provider organizations to reinvent themselves in the continuing digital revolution and are key to bringing new vitality to the ever-changing role of publisher and information provider.     

Relationships between training load,injury, and fitness in sub-elite collision sport athletes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop statistical models that estimate the influence of training load on training injury and physical fitness in collision sport athletes. The incidence of training injuries was studied in 183 rugby league players over two competitive seasons. Participants were assessed for height, body mass, skinfold thickness, vertical jump, 10-m, 20-m and 40-m sprint time, agility, and estimated maximal aerobic power in the off-season, pre-season, mid-season, and end-season. Training load and injury data were summarised into pre-season, early-competition, and late-competition training phases. Individual training load, fitness, and injury data were modelled using a logistic regression model with a binomial distribution and logit link function, while team training load and injury data were modelled using a linear regression model. While physical fitness improved with training, there was no association (P = 0.16 – 0.99) between training load and changes in physical fitness during any of the training phases. However, increases in training load during the early-competition training phase decreased (P = 0.04) agility performance. A relationship (P = 0.01 – 0.04) was observed between the log of training load and odds of injury during each training phase, resulting in a 1.50 – 2.85 increase in the odds of injury for each arbitrary unit increase in training load. Furthermore, during the pre-season training phase there was a relationship (P = 0.01) between training load and injury incidence within the training load range of 155 and 590 arbitrary units. During the early and late-competition training phases, increases in training load of 175 – 620 arbitrary units and 145 – 410 arbitrary units, respectively, resulted in no further increase in injury incidence. These findings demonstrate that increases in training load, particularly during the pre-season training phase, increase the odds of injury in collision sport athletes. However, while increases in training load from 175 to 620 arbitrary units during the early-competition training phase result in no further increase in injury incidence, marked reductions in agility performances can occur. These findings suggest that reductions in training load during the early-competition training phase can reduce the odds of injury without compromising agility performances in collision sport athletes.     

Severity and cost of injuries in amateur rugby league: A case study

The aim of this study was to determine the severity and cost of injuries in amateur rugby league. Seventy-two amateur rugby league players aged 28 - 6 years (mean - s) were surveyed at the end of a competitive season. An injury was defined as any pain, disability or injury that occurred as a result of a competition game which caused the player to miss subsequent games. Injuries were classified as minor (one game missed), moderate (two to four games missed) and major (five or more games missed). Of the 72 questionnaires distributed, 34 (47.2%) were returned. Twenty respondents (58.8%) sustained an injury that resulted in one or more missed games. Eight injured players (40.0%) missed five or more training sessions, six of whom (30%) missed five or more games as a result of the injury. The median time lost from employment or study for all injured players was 2 days per playing injury. The respective median direct (e.g. medical expenses) and indirect (e.g. wages lost) costs associated with the injury were 28.29 and 77.04 per playing injury. A considerable proportion of injuries sustained in the present sample of amateur rugby league players were major, resulting in a loss of training, playing and employment or study time, and these injuries were associated with significant direct and indirect economic costs. Further studies, using a larger sample, would complement the present findings in establishing the severity and cost of amateur rugby league injuries. These results suggest that prevention strategies are required to reduce the severity and cost of amateur rugby league injuries.     

Influence of training and match intensity on injuries in rugby league

The aim of this study was to examine the influence of perceived intensity, duration and load of matches and training on the incidence of injury in rugby league players. The incidence of injury was prospectively studied in 79 semi-professional rugby league players during the 2001 season. All injuries sustained during matches and training sessions were recorded. Training sessions were conducted from December to September, with matches played from February to September. The intensity of individual training sessions and matches was estimated using a modified rating of perceived exertion scale. Training load was calculated by multiplying the training intensity by the duration of the training session. The match load was calculated by multiplying the match intensity by the time each player participated in the match. Training load increased from December (278.3 [95% confidence interval, CI 262.2 to 294.5] units) to February (385.5 [95% CI 362.4 to 408.5] units), followed by a decline until September (98.4 [95% CI 76.5 to 120.4] units). Match load increased from February (204.0 [95% CI 186.2 to 221.8] units) to September (356.8 [95% CI 302.5 to 411.1] units). More training injuries were sustained in the first half of the season (first vs second: 69.2% vs 30.8%, P?<0.001), whereas match injuries occurred more frequently in the latter stages of the season (53.6% vs 46.4%, P?<0.001). A significant relationship (P?<0.05) was observed between changes in training injury incidence and changes in training intensity (r?=?0.83), training duration (r?=?0.79) and training load (r?=?0.86). In addition, changes in the incidence of match injuries were significantly correlated (P?<0.05) with changes in match intensity (r?=?0.74), match duration (r?=?0.86) and match load (r?=?0.86). These findings suggest that as the intensity, duration and load of rugby league training sessions and matches is increased, the incidence of injury is also increased.     

Worldwide variation in the performance of children and adolescents: An analysis of 109 studies of the 20-m shuttle run test in 37 countries

Abstract

This study is a meta-analysis of 109 reports of the performance of children and adolescents on the 20-m shuttle run test (20-mSRT). The studies were performed in 37 countries and included data on 418,026 children, tested between 1981 and 2003. Results were expressed as running speed (km · h^?1) at the final completed stage of the 20-mSRT. Raw data were combined with pseudodata using Monte Carlo simulation. The 20-mSRT performances were expressed as z-scores relative to all children of the same age and sex from all countries. An overall “performance index” was derived for each country as the average of the age- and sex-specific z-scores for all children from that country. Factorial analysis of variance was used to compare scores among countries and regions, and between boys and girls of the same age. There was wide and significant (P < 0.0001) global variability in the performance of children. The best performing children were from the Northern European countries Estonia, Iceland, Lithuania, and Finland (0.6 – 0.9 standard deviations above the global average). The worst performing children were from Singapore, Brazil, USA, Italy, Portugal, and Greece (0.4 – 0.9 standard deviations below the global average). There is evidence that performance was negatively related to being overweight, as well as to a country's average temperature.