The effect of acute caffeine ingestion on upper body anaerobic exercise and cognitive performance

Abstract

The current study examined the effect of acute caffeine ingestion on mean and peak power production during upper body Wingate test (WANT) performance, rating of perceived exertion, readiness to invest effort and cognitive performance. Using a double-blind design, 12 males undertook upper body WANTs, following ingestion of caffeine (5?mg*kg^?1) or placebo. Pre-substance ingestion, 60?mins post substance ingestion and post exercise participants completed measures of readiness to invest physical and mental effort and cognitive performance. Peak power was significantly higher (P?=?.026), fatigue index greater (P?=?.02) and rating of perceived exertion lower (P?=?.025) in the presence of caffeine. Readiness to invest physical effort was also higher (P?=?.016) in the caffeine condition irrespective of time point (pre, 60?mins post ingestion and post exercise). Response accuracy for incongruent trials on the Flanker task was superior in the presence of caffeine (P?=?.006). There was a significant substance?×?time interaction for response speed in both congruent and incongruent conditions (both P?=?.001) whereby response speeds were faster at 60?mins post ingestion and post exercise in the caffeine condition, compared to placebo. This is the first study to examine the effects of caffeine ingestion on this modality of exercise and suggests that caffeine ingestion significantly enhances peak power, readiness to invest physical effort, and cognitive performance during WANT performance.     

Effects of Classroom Seating Arrangements on Children's question-asking

This study investigated the relationship between classroom seating arrangements and the question-asking of fourth-graders. Data were collected during 53 lessons spread over 8 weeks. Children were assigned to sit in a semicircle and then in a row-and-column seating arrangement for 2 weeks each. This rotation was repeated. Both children's questions and the teacher's verbal reactions were recorded using an observational system based on Kearsley's question taxonomy. The results showed that children asked more questions in the semicircle than in the row-and-column arrangement, and that the pattern of question characteristics was stable over time. The findings also revealed that, within the row-and-column arrangement, there was an action-zone in which children asked more questions per lesson. The results are interpreted in terms of Steinzor's postulation that social interaction is encouraged when individuals are able to establish face-to-face contact. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

‘It was precious to me from the beginning’: material objects,long-distance fandom and home

Material objects and football fandom are intimately linked. As a repository of emotion, memorabilia holds value as a marker of identity. For many football fans, the conception of ‘home’ is integral to their identity. Despite its centrality to football fans’ construction of identity, the notion of ‘home’ has received little attention from sports scholars. Drawing on recent work in cultural geography, this paper employs concepts of home to explore the ways in which materiality holds identity for football fans. Evidence from New Zealand-based fans of European teams displays how material objects are able to collapse distance between fans and their club, acting as palimpsests for memory and narratives for significant emotional experiences. Embedded in the New Zealand home of the fan, memorabilia resides as an emotional bridge to their football home locality, stadia and supporters.     

Hypertext vs boolean-based searching in a bibliographic database environment: A direct comparison of searcher performance

The purpose of this study is to carry out a direct comparison of a hypertext-based bibliographic retrieval system with a traditional Boolean-based retrieval system, each using the same database. Novice and experienced searchers were assigned to either a prototype hypertext system called HyperLynx or to a traditional Boolean system and were asked to perform a set of search tasks. The study revealed that the Boolean system performed better than the hypertext system for search tasks with a large number of relevant items. Searcher experience level did not play a significant role for either system. Findings of the study have implications for the design of future information retrieval systems that take advantage of the best features of both approaches for more effective and efficient retrieval of highly structured databases.     

Tackling early school leaving: Principals’ insights into Portuguese upper secondary schools

This article addresses Early School Leaving (ESL) as a phenomenon that is identified in the EU and European countries such as Portugal as being the result of school disaffection that can be associated with social and educational problems. The relevance of this problem at the European level is highlighted by the large number of European guidelines on the matter and by the inclusion of ESL as one of the main questions to be addressed by the Horizon 2020. Based on interviews, this article questions possible relationships between how principals perceive both ESL and the measures to deal with it and the culture of the school as an identity of differentia specifica (ethos). It should be emphasised that the approaches of these principals to ESL and the school‐based practices addressing it are quite diverse and relate to the ethos of the schools; students’ trajectories and the complex relationship between education and the labour market. The principals manifest their investment and implication in the provision of adequate measures for their specific contexts and see teachers and external partners as key actors.     

Discrimination and Ethnic-Racial Socialization Among Youth Adopted From South Korea Into White American Families

The current study examined how discrimination relates to adjustment outcomes in a sample of internationally, transracially adopted Korean Americans from the Minnesota Sibling Interaction and Behavior Study (N = 456 adoptees; M_age at T1 = 14.9, M_age at T2 = 18.3, M_age at T3 = 22.3). The moderating roles of ethnic socialization and preparation for bias by parents (i.e., ethnic-racial socialization) were also examined. Results indicated that discrimination predicted higher levels of depressive and externalizing symptoms in youth who reported less preparation for bias. In those experiencing more preparation for bias, associations were not significantly different from zero. Ethnic socialization did not moderate these associations. Such findings provide important information for adoptive parents regarding how to prepare their children to cope with discrimination.     

Transition systems and non-standard employment in early career: comparing Japan and Switzerland

Even though Japan and Switzerland are characterised by comparatively low youth unemployment rates, non-standard forms of employment are on the rise, posing a risk to the stable integration of young labour market entrants. Drawing on the French approach of societal analysis, this paper investigates how country-specific school-to-work transition systems stratify the risk of non-standard employment in early career differently in Japan and Switzerland. Our results reveal that in Japan, young entrants who completed university education are least at risk of becoming employed in non-standard work. On the contrary, it is the highly educated university graduates who mainly enter the labour market via non-standard employment in Switzerland, where vocational education promotes smooth transitions into standard employment relationships. Our findings suggest that the transition systems of the two countries differ in the way they revert to non-standard forms of employment. However, while job insecurities may not endanger labour market integration of highly skilled university graduates holding good career prospects in Switzerland, they may go hand in hand with social exclusion processes for the low-educated young entrants lacking bargaining power in the segmented Japanese labour market.     

“I Like English Better”: Latino Dual Language Students’ Investment in Spanish,English, and Bilingualism

This mixed-methodology study surveys 63 fifth graders in a one-way dual language school. Findings alarmingly indicate that although these students are native Spanish speakers in a school that delivers 50% of their instruction in Spanish, they prefer English both academically and socially. Subsequent interviews with 10 sample students of the larger study generate deeper understandings about how these students view their languages. If dual language programs are going to be maximally successful, then they must foster an environment that encourages students’ attitudes and investments toward both of their languages, taking particular care to protect and promote the minority language.