Rethinking the Rural Idyll

ABSTRACT

This article traces the profound social repercussions that resulted from the mass enlistment of British office workers into the armed forces during the First World War. Drawing heavily upon fictionalized autobiographies of the period, my study examines the various stages of the clerk's experience of the conflict and argues that the confidence gained during warfare by surviving office workers fundamentally shaped a more democratic postwar society. This change is evidenced, I argue, in the profile of the fictional clerk that emerges in British literature after 1918.     

Prolonged static stretching does not influence running economy despite changes in neuromuscular function

The aim of this study was to examine the acute effects of prolonged static stretching (SS) on running economy. Ten male runners (VO2(peak) 60.1 +/- 7.3 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) performed 10 min of treadmill running at 70% VO2(peak) before and after SS and no stretching interventions. For the stretching intervention, each leg was stretched unilaterally for 40 s with each of eight different exercises and this was repeated three times. Respiratory gas exchange was measured throughout the running exercise with an automated gas analysis system. On a separate day, participants were tested for sit and reach range of motion, isometric strength and countermovement jump height before and after SS. The oxygen uptake, minute ventilation, energy expenditure, respiratory exchange ratio and heart rate responses to running were unaffected by the stretching intervention. This was despite a significant effect of SS on neuromuscular function (sit and reach range of motion, +2.7 +/- 0.6 cm; isometric strength, -5.6% +/- 3.4%; countermovement jump height -5.5% +/- 3.4%; all P < 0.05). The results suggest that prolonged SS does not influence running economy despite changes in neuromuscular function.     

Similarity of WISC-R and WAIS-R scores at age 16

Thirty learning disabled students of average intellectual ability between 16 and 17 years of age were given both the WISC-R and the WAIS-R to determine if the WAIS-R provided higher average IQ scores, as had been reported for educationally mentally retarded adolescents. The results indicated: (a) no significant differences between the two scales on either the Verbal, Performance, or Full Scale IQs, (b) significant correlations between the WISC-R and WAIS-R on the three IQ scores and 9 of the 11 subtests, and (c) the emergence of the ACID profile for learning disabled adolescents on both tests.     

Reviews

Vivienne Gross, Hackney Child and Family Consultation Service, Child Abuse and the School's Response: A Workshop for Professionals Involved with Ghildren/Young People from Nursery to Further Education by Eve Brock. Harlow, Essex: Longman, 1992. 22pp. ISBN 0 58210060 7, £25.00

Louise O'Connor, Roehampton Institute, Social Education and Personal Development Studies in Primary Education by Delwyn and Eva Tattum. London: David Fulton, 1992. 194pp. pb ISBN 185346 110 5, £12.99

Sue Smedley, Froebel Institute College, Stress in Teaching by Jack Dunham. London and New York: Routledge, 1992. 200pp. hb ISBN 0 415 06634 4, £35, pb ISBN 0 415 06635 2, £12.99

David Thomas, Department of Education University of Liverpool, Learning Support for Young People in Transition: Leaving School for Further Education and Work by Jean McGinfy and John Fish. Milton Keynes: Open University Press. 116pp. pb ISBN 0 335 09765 0, n.p.     

“Forget birth pains,we haven't got past the conception stage yet”. A reply to Frank Coffield's ‘Britain's continuing failure to train: the birth pangs of a new policy’

This article is a response to Frank Coffield's recent reflections in this journal on the Performance and Innovation Unit's project on workforce development in Britain. It questions the extent to which the PIU's findings represent a ‘new understanding’ of the UK's skills problem and asks why academics have been so reluctant to spell out what a demand‐side strategy for tackling the problem would involve.     

Chronic flexibility gains: effect of isometric contraction duration during proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching techniques

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of to isometic contraction durations during propiceptive neuromuscular facilitation stretching on gains inflexion at the hip. Forty-three women (M age = 20.0 years, SD = 1.3) were assigned to one of three groups: 5-s isometric contraction (5-IC), 10-IC, and control. Flexibility was assessed at baseline and Weeks 3 and 6. Analysis of covariance, controlling for pretest differences, showed a significant interaction, F(2, 33) = 44.1, p < .001. Flexibility was significant lower in the control group relative to the 5-IC and 10-IC groups and in the 5-IC group relative to the 10-IC group at 3 and 6 weeks (3 weeks = 101.2 +/- 1.4 degrees, 114.3 +/- 1.5 degrees, 120.5 +/- 1.3 degrees; 6 weeks = 103.0 +/- 1.4 degrees, 126.1 +/- 1.6 degrees, 133.3 +/- 1.4 degrees for control, 5-IC and 10-IC groups, respectively). A longer contraction time led to greater increases in flexibility.