Examination of birthplace and birthdate in World Junior ice hockey players

The present study investigated birthdate (known as the Relative Age Effect; RAE) and birthplace as determinants of expertise in an international sample of elite ice hockey players. The sample included 566 World Junior (WJR) ice hockey players from four countries (Canada, n = 153; USA, n = 136; Sweden, n = 140; Finland, n = 137). Participants competed in the International Ice Hockey Federation World U20 Championship between 2001 and 2009. A series of Poisson regression models were conducted to examine the consistency of direct then interactive relationships between both birthdate and birthplace and WJR membership across the four countries (Canada, USA, Sweden, and Finland). Findings revealed a consistent RAE across the four countries for World Junior participation from 2000 to 2009. WJR players from the four countries were also less likely to be from major cities. In addition, there was no evidence in any of the four countries of an interaction between RAE and birthplace. Future research should explore the contextual and cultural factors that influence elite athlete development in smaller towns, cities and communities.     

Grease and Sweat: Race and Smell in Eighteenth-Century English Culture

From 1690 to 1800 texts printed in England linked racial difference and foul odour through understandings of occupation, food, cosmetics and sweat. Even by the end of the eighteenth-century racial odour was represented as a labile, culturally and environmentally determined characteristic. This article traces how the social ‘use’ of olfactory stereotypes, particularly their links with cosmetics, food, and odorous spaces, determined the mobilization of explanations for and attitudes to racial scent. It argues that ideas of race should not be considered monolithic or described in terms of narratives that posit a divide between the body/culture, but that racial stereotypes should be understood as collections of traits, of which smell was one, with distinctive histories.     

BOOK REVIEWS

ESSAYS IN TEACHING. Edited by Harold Taylor. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950. 239 pp.
Two Essays On A Prize-Winning Book EDUCATION AND MORALS. By John L. Chills. New York: Appleton-Century - Crofts, 1950. 293 pp. $2.75.
PHILOSOPHICAL NARCISSISM
PATTERNS OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY: A DEMOCRATIC INTERPRETATION. By Theodore Brameld. Y onkers-on-Hudson, New York: World Book Company, 1950. 824 pp.     

Application of a semi-quantitative estimation of nitrogen and other elements in organic microanalysis

Several methods of decomposition of original sample for the detection of nitrogen and other elements are reviewed briefly. Emphasis is placed on a procedure in which aliquot portions of the stock fusion solution are used and the amount of constituent elements present is approximated. An accuracy of within 5 per cent (absolute) can be obtained within half an hour for nitrogen, halides, sulfur, and phosphorus. The method is useful as a screening test, and allows the selection of the correct amount of sample for a quantitative organic microanalysis.     

Book reviews

International Review of Education -