Influence of recovery intensity on time spent at maximal oxygen uptake during an intermittent session in young, endurance-trained athletes

In this study, we examined the effects of three recovery intensities on time spent at a high percentage of maximal oxygen uptake (t90[Vdot]O(2max)) during a short intermittent session. Eight endurance-trained male adolescents (16 +/- 1 years) performed four field tests until exhaustion: a graded test to determine maximal oxygen uptake ([Vdot]O(2max); 57.4 +/- 6.1 ml x min(-1) . kg(-1)) and maximal aerobic velocity (17.9 +/- 0.4 km x h(-1)), and three intermittent exercises consisting of repeat 30-s runs at 105% of maximal aerobic velocity alternating with 30 s active recovery at 50% (IE(50)), 67% (IE(67)), and 84% (IE(84)) of maximal aerobic velocity. In absolute values, mean t90[Vdot]O(2max) was not significantly different between IE(50) and IE(67), but both values were significantly longer compared with IE(84). When expressed in relative values (as a percentage of time to exhaustion), mean t90[Vdot]O(2max) was significantly higher during IE(67) than during IE(50). Our results show that both 50% and 67% of maximal aerobic velocity of active recovery induced extensive solicitation of the cardiorespiratory system. Our results suggest that the choice of recovery intensity depends on the exercise objective.     

Could teacher grading practices account for unexplained variation in school achievements?

In the economics of schooling literature, input substitutions have been identified as the major difficulty in assessing school and teacher effectiveness. In this paper we examine whether a teacher's grading practice can improve students' academic achievements by reducing these input substitutions. We use the teacher-student interaction model of Correa and Gruver (1987) to enhance the specification of the traditional production functions of students' academic achievements by introducing a teacher grading parameter in these functions. Under specific conditions, Correa and Gruver show that a student may respond either positively or negatively to the teacher's greater effort and/or harder grading, depending upon the student's preferences; thus the issue of an efficient grading practice is, as usual in the economics of education research, an empirical issue. To implement the econometric specification of the model, we define a latent grading variable from an error components specification on class grade regressions. This variable is used to explain the students' grade specific standardized test results for a sample of first and fourth-graders of Montreal francophone public elementary schools.     

Oxford Scholarship Online

An account is given of Oxford Scholarship Online (OSO), a website containing a growing collection of new and backlist titles from Oxford University Press. The technical set‐up, the design of the site, and its business model are described. It is proposed as an important step towards solving the so‐called ‘monograph crisis’ and improving the availability of scholarship world‐wide.     

Preschool Verbal and Nonverbal Ability Mediate the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and School Performance

We compared the extent to which the long-term influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on children's school performance from age 7 through 16 years was mediated by their preschool verbal and nonverbal ability. In 661 British children, who completed 17 researcher-administered ability tests at age 4.5 years, SES correlated more strongly with verbal than nonverbal ability (.39 vs. .26). Verbal ability mediated about half of the association between SES and school performance at age 7, while nonverbal ability accounted for a third of the link. Only SES, but not verbal or nonverbal ability, was associated with changes in school performance from age 7 to 16. We found that SES-related differences in school performance are only partly transmitted through children's preschool verbal abilities.     

Students’ experiences of academic success with dyslexia: A call for alternative intervention

This article describes a small‐scale study exploring the perspectives of five undergraduate students with dyslexia. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted in two universities in the UK. The interviews explored participants’ perceptions of their dyslexia label and how it had affected their academic success. The aim of the research was to identify facilitating factors that supported participants with dyslexia during their education. The following themes were identified: age of dyslexia identification, family support, dyslexic identity, self‐advocacy skills and learning resources. The study makes a case for an intervention for children and young people (CYP) with dyslexia that, in addition to remedial literacy support, explores self‐advocacy, thinking and study skills and facilitates positive academic self‐concepts. Future research could evaluate such an intervention for its effectiveness on CYP's social emotional well‐being and literacy skills.     

大师与大师

作为中法建交50周年系列活动之一及第十六届中国上海国际艺术节参展项目的"大师与大师——徐悲鸿与法国学院大家作品联展"在上海的中华艺术宫展出。"Masters and Masters——Exhibition of Artworks of Xu Beihong and French Masters"was held at China Art Museum in Shanghai as a part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary     

The social geography of childcare: making up a middle‐class child

Childcare is a condensate of disparate social forces and social processes. It is gendered and classed. It is subject to an excess of policy and political discourse. It is increasingly a focus for commercial exploitation. This is a paper reporting on work in progress in an ESRC funded research project (R000239232) on the choice and provision of pre‐school childcare by middle‐class (service class) families in two contrasting London locations. Drawing on recent work in class analysis the paper examines the relationships between childcare choice, middle‐class fractions and locality. It suggests that on the evidence of the findings to date, there is some evidence of systematic differences between fractions in terms of values, perspectives and preferences for childcare, but a more powerful case for intra‐class similarities, particularly when it comes to putting preferences into practice in the ‘making up of a middle‐class child’ through care and education.     

Young black males: resilience and the use of capital to transform school ‘failure’

This article addresses the idea of ‘failure’ of young black males with respect to schooling. Perceptions of black masculinity are often linked to ‘underperformance’ in the context of school academic achievement. This article addresses how young black men, by great personal effort, recover from school ‘failure’. It explores how young black men, despite negative school experiences, see possibilities for their future and how they seek to transform school ‘failure’ into personal and educational ‘success’. Low attainment combined with permanent/temporary exclusion from school does not necessarily deter young black men from pursuing their education. This low attainment is used by some to make a renewed attempt at educational progression in a different post-school learning environment. Yosso’s concept of ‘community cultural wealth’ provides an understanding of how different forms of capital are accessed by young black men to form a ‘turnaround narrative’. This article considers the complex ways in which young black males work to transform their negative school experience. Their narratives reveal a determination to succeed and the ways in which cultivation of this determination by the family, organisational/community agents promotes a sense of possibility. However, it remains to be seen how, in the UK, the cuts to vital local services and support will impact on this sense of possibility.