National and Institutional Policies on Open Access in the United States

National and institutional policies on open access are not yet fully established in the United States because of the manner in which the open access movement has evolved. In this report, the authors illustrate how the open access movement has evolved within each community libraries, universities, publishing companies, government agencies, the professoriate, public interest groups, and the U.S. Congress and note what trends now are beginning to emerge.     

Predictive and concurrent relations between literacy skills in Grades 1 and 3: A longitudinal study of Italian children

A sample of 170 Italian children was assessed for reading accuracy, reading speed, text comprehension and spelling in Grades 1 and 3 in order to investigate the concurrent and longitudinal relationships among literacy skills. Main results from multivariate analyses (regression, discriminant and path analyses) indicated that reading speed was the best predictor of later literacy and that spelling was the most stable measure and influenced text comprehension and reading speed. An asymmetry was also observed in the longitudinal relationship between reading and spelling errors, with reading errors predicting later spelling errors and a non-significant result in the opposite direction.     

Meanings given to algebraic symbolism in problem-posing

Some errors in the learning of algebra suggest that students might have difficulties giving meaning to algebraic symbolism. In this paper, we use problem posing to analyze the students’ capacity to assign meaning to algebraic symbolism and the difficulties that students encounter in this process, depending on the characteristics of the algebraic statements given. We designed a written questionnaire composed of eight closed algebraic statements expressed symbolically, which was administered to 55 students who had finished their compulsory education and who had some previous experience in problem-posing. In our analysis of the data, we examine both syntactic and semantic structures of the problem posed. We note that in most cases students posed problems with syntactic structures different to those given. They did not include computations within variables, and changed the kinds of relationships connecting variables. Students easily posed problems for statements with additive structures. Other differences in the type of problems posed depend on the characteristics of the given statements.     

Undoing diversity: knowledge and neoliberal discourses in colleges of education

In this article we analyze discourses of ‘diversity’ in colleges of education in Chile. We contend that the use of discourses of diversity, as reproducing the separation between mainstream subjectivities and those uncontained by the category of normal, is one of the ways universities align themselves with the rules of a democratic society, based on ideas of multicultural understandings and tolerant communities proliferated by inter-governmental institutions such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and others. Our interest is to question the marginalization of cultural politics through the intensification of these discourses. At the same time, we explore the relations between the advancement of neutral discourses of difference and the value-free practices expressed in neoliberal educational agendas. We use discourse analysis to read interviews with future teachers. We understand students’ narratives as perpetuating normative ways of thinking and legitimating those knowledges promoted by institutional curricula.     

Effect of 12-week-long aerobic training programme on body composition,aerobic capacity,complete blood count and blood lipid profile among young women

Background

Numerous data suggest that aerobic-type exercise improves lipoprotein-lipid profiles, cardiorespiratory fitness and body composition in young women. The aim of this study was to evaluate the biological response to high-low impact aerobic fitness among young women.

Materials and methods

Thirty-four young women aged 22 (19-24) years were divided into three groups: underweight (N = 10), normal weight (N = 12) and overweight (N = 12). Aerobic capacity, anthropometry and body composition together with complete blood count and lipid profile were determined before and after completion of a 12-week-long training period.

Results

The training programme caused a significant decrease in weight (by 4.3 kg, P = 0.003), body mass index (by 1.3 kg/m², P = 0.003), free fat mass (by 2.1 kg, P = 0.002), total body water (by 0.4 kg, P = 0.036), percentage of fat (by 3 percent points, P = 0.002), all analyzed skinfolds thicknesses, as well as the lipid profile in overweight group, and no changes in normal weight group. Significant changes in weight (by 4.2 kg, P = 0.005), body mass index (by 0.9 kg/m², P = 0.005), crus skinfold thickness (by 3.3 mm, P = 0.028), and in maximum oxygen uptake (by 2.49 mL/kg/min; P = 0.047) were observed among underweight women. No change in total blood count was observed in all groups.

Conclusion

Twelve-week-long fitness training programme of two alternating styles (low and high impact) has a beneficial effect on overweight young women.Key words: body composition, physical fitness, overweight, women     

Motivational variables involved in commitment of female soccer players at different competitive levels

Today more and more women are playing sport and choosing activities previously considered the exclusive domain of men, such as soccer. The main purpose of this study was to analyse the role of motivational variables (individual and team) regarding the commitment to and future expectations of playing higher levels of competition in a sample of female association soccer players (N = 117) at different levels of competition (local, regional and national leagues). Results confirm that the highest league shows high values in perception of success (ego orientation and task orientation), transactional psychological contract and future expectations. On the other hand, the local league produces high values in relational contracts. A path analysis tests a theoretical model with all the motivational variables as predictors of sporting commitment and future expectations. It shows the power of individual and team motivational variables in terms of predicting the involvement of women in soccer.