An assessment of social sciences coverage by four prominent full-text online aggregated journal packages

The cost effectiveness and quality of full-text journals are analyzed for four prominent online aggregated journal packages: EBSCOhost Academic Search FullTEXT, UMI Proquest Direct Periodicals Research II, IAC’s Expanded Academic ASAP, and H.W. Wilson’s OmniFile. Price data from EBSCO’s Librarians’ Handbook are used to assess the total and average value of social sciences journals in each package. Quality of social sciences journals coverage is compared based on citation impact factors as recorded in Journal Citation Reports—Social Sciences Edition.     

The effectiveness of online instructional videos in the acquisition and demonstration of cognitive,affective and psychomotor rehabilitation skills

The use of instructional videos to teach clinical skills is an ever growing area of e‐learning based upon observational learning that is cited as one of the most basic yet powerful learning strategies. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of online instructional videos for the acquisition and demonstration of cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills among undergraduate students, throughout formative assessments with two different durations of instructional videos. The research suggests that the use of videos to support traditional learning should be encouraged. While a conclusive evidence—base for their usage has not yet been established they are a medium which is likely to benefit a proportion of a cohort, and it is very unlikely that they will be harmful to students' learning.     

Construct validity of the K-ABC for gifted children

Fifty-four elementary-age gifted students were administered the K-ABC. To determine construct validity of the test for this population, the factor structure was obtained for mental processing and achievement subtests and then compared to the factor structure obtained for children from the standardization sample via a procedure that determines factor structure similiarity between groups. Except for minor variations, the factor structure for the gifted children was very similar to that for nongifted children in the standardization sample. However, the most parsimonious structure accounted for slightly less than 40% of the shared test variance, which leads to questions about the advisability of educational program planning based on obtained scores.     

Is salivary cortisol moderating the relationship between salivary testosterone and hand-grip strength in healthy men?

This study examined the moderating effect of cortisol (C) on the relationship between testosterone (T) and hand-grip strength (HGS) in healthy young men. Sixty-five males were monitored for salivary T, C and HGS before and 15?min after a short bout (5?×?6-s trials) of sprint cycling exercise. Sprint exercise promoted (p?<?.05) positive changes in T (6.1?±?24.9%) and HGS (3.4?±?7.5%), but a negative C response (?14.4?±?33.1%). The T and C measures did not independently predict HGS, but a significant T?×?C interaction was found in relation to these outcomes. Further testing revealed that pre-test T and HGS were negatively associated (p?<?.05), but only in men with high C levels. The exercise changes in T and HGS were also negatively related in men with low C levels (p?<?.05), but no relationship was seen in men with high C levels. In summary, complex relationships between T and HGS emerged when considering C as a moderating variable. The pre-test combination of high C and low T levels favoured absolute HGS, whereas low pre-test C levels and a smaller T change were linked to larger HGS changes. These associations suggest that, in the current format, T is not necessarily anabolic to muscle strength in healthy young men. Such complexities could also explain some of the inconsistent T relationships with physical performance in lesser trained male populations.     

Increasing heat storage by wearing extra clothing during upper body exercise up-regulates heat shock protein 70 but does not modify the cytokine response

Plasma heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) concentrations rise during heat stress, which can independently induce cytokine production. Upper body exercise normally results in modest body temperature elevations. The aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of additional clothing on the body temperature, cytokine and HSP70 responses during this exercise modality. Thirteen males performed 45-min constant-load arm cranking at 63% maximum aerobic power (62 ± 7%V?O_2peak) in either a non-permeable whole-body suit (intervention, INT) or shorts and T-shirt (control, CON). Exercise resulted in a significant increase of IL-6 and IL-1ra plasma concentrations (P < 0.001), with no difference between conditions (P > 0.19). The increase in HSP70 from pre to post was only significant for INT (0.12 ± 0.11ng?mL^?1, P < 0.01 vs. 0.04 ± 0.18 ng?mL^?1, P = 0.77). Immediately following exercise, T_core was elevated by 0.46 ± 0.29 (INT) and 0.37 ± 0.23ºC (CON), respectively (P < 0.01), with no difference between conditions (P = 0.16). The rise in mean T_skin (2.88 ± 0.50 and 0.30 ± 0.89ºC, respectively) and maximum heat storage (3.24 ± 1.08 and 1.20 ± 1.04 J?g^?1, respectively) was higher during INT (P < 0.01). Despite large differences in heat storage between conditions, the HSP70 elevations during INT, even though significant, were very modest. Possibly, the T_core elevations were too low to induce a more pronounced HSP70 response to ultimately affect cytokine production.     

The Impact of School Disadvantage on Senior Secondary Science: a Study of Patterns of Participation and Achievement in Government Secondary Schools in Victoria,Australia

Research in Science Education - Science and science education are recognised internationally as essential for ensuring a sustainable and prosperous future. At the same time, significant equity...     

Comparison of a finite element model of a tennis racket to experimental data

Modern tennis rackets are manufactured from composite materials with high stiffness-to-weight ratios. In this paper, a finite element (FE) model was constructed to simulate an impact of a tennis ball on a freely suspended racket. The FE model was in good agreement with experimental data collected in a laboratory. The model showed racket stiffness to have no influence on the rebound characteristics of the ball, when simulating oblique spinning impacts at the geometric stringbed centre. The rebound velocity and topspin of the ball increased with the resultant impact velocity. It is likely that the maximum speed at which a player can swing a racket will increase as the moment of inertia (swingweight) decreases. Therefore, a player has the capacity to hit the ball faster, and with more topspin, when using a racket with a low swingweight.