Isokinetic hamstrings-to-quadriceps peak torque ratio: the influence of sport modality, gender, and angular velocity

The purpose of this study was to determine differences in hamstrings-to-quadriceps (H/Q) peak torque ratios evaluated at different angular velocities between men and women who participate in judo, handball or soccer. A total of 166 athletes, including 58 judokas (26 females and 32 males), 39 handball players (22 females and 17 males), and 69 soccer players (17 females and 52 males), were evaluated using an isokinetic dynamometer. The H/Q isokinetic peak torque ratios were calculated at angular velocities of 1.05 rad · s?1 and 5.23 rad · s?1. In the analysis by gender, female soccer players produced lower H/Q peak torque ratios at 1.05 rad · s?1 than males involved in the same sport. However, when H/Q peak torque ratio was assessed at 5.23 rad · s?1, there were no significant differences between the sexes. In the analysis by sport, there were no differences among females at 1.05 rad · s?1. In contrast, male soccer players had significantly higher H/Q peak torque ratios than judokas (66 ± 12% vs. 57 ± 14%, respectively). Female handball players produced significantly lower peak torque ratios at 5.23 rad · s?1 than judokas or soccer players, whereas males presented no ratio differences among sports At 5.23 rad · s?1. In the analysis by velocity, women's muscular ratios assessed at 1.05 rad · s?1 were significantly lower than at 5.23 rad · s?1 for all sports; among men, only judokas presented lower ratios at 1.05 rad · s?1 than at 5.23 rad · s?1. The present results suggest that sport modality and angular velocity influence the isokinetic strength profiles of men and women.     

Anthropometric, physiological, performance, and nutritional profile of the Brazil National Canoe Polo Team

The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological, anthropometric, performance, and nutritional characteristics of the Brazil Canoe Polo National Team. Ten male canoe polo athletes (age 26.7 ± 4.1 years) performed a battery of tests including assessments of anthropometric parameters, upper-body anaerobic power (Wingate), muscular strength, aerobic power, and nutritional profile. In addition, we characterized heart rate and plasma lactate responses and the temporal pattern of the effort/recovery during a simulated canoe polo match. The main results are as follows: body fat, 12.3 ± 4.0%; upper-body peak and mean power, 6.8 ± 0.5 and 4.7 ± 0.4 W · kg(-1), respectively; 1-RM bench press, 99.1 ± 11.7 kg; peak oxygen uptake, 44.3 ± 5.8 mL · kg(-1) · min(-1); total energy intake, 42.8 ± 8.6 kcal · kg(-1); protein, carbohydrate, and fat intakes, 1.9 ± 0.1, 5.0 ± 1.5, and 1.7 ± 0.4 g · kg(-1), respectively; mean heart rate, 146 ± 11 beats · min(-1); plasma lactate, 5.7 ± 3.8 mmol · L(-1) at half-time and 4.6 ± 2.2 mmol · L(-1) at the end of the match; effort time (relative to total match time), 93.1 ± 3.0%; number of sprints, 9.6 ± 4.4. The results of this study will assist coaches, trainers, and nutritionists in developing more adequate training programmes and dietary interventions for canoe polo athletes.     

Drawing some evaluation patterns inferred from the biblical Gideon’s passage

This article provides an interpretation of a biblical text about the judge Gideon. It uses the hermeneutic method of research to draw some evaluation patterns from this case study relating to the analysis of needs, the declaration of aims, the context and circumstances of evaluation, the agents involved, the recruitment process, the assessment of evaluative evidence, the results and the assessment report.     

Technology,learning and instruction: distributed cognition in the secondary English classroom

In this paper, we analyse interactions between secondary students and pre‐service teachers in an online environment in order to understand how their meaning‐making processes embody distributed cognition. We begin by providing a theoretical review of the ways in which literacy learning is distributed across learners, objects, tools, symbols, technologies and the environment in modern English language arts classrooms. This is followed by a case study where we identify how programme values, textual resources and cultural schema function as distributed tools. In traditional schools, with an emphasis on taking standardised tests, the learning environment is designed on the view that learning is a transaction that happens solely ‘inside the head’. Unfortunately, this pushes many students to the margins of classroom engagement and participation. By analysing students' and pre‐service teachers' online discourse, we argue that virtual spaces can facilitate critical dialogue and can act as catalysts for a distributed theory of mind.     

Mapping the impact of climate change on biomass accumulation on stone

Several climate parameters affect the growth of organisms and, hence, their capacity to accumulate biomass. In the present research, we analyse the influence of two parameters, temperature and precipitation, on biomass accumulation on stone substrate, and propose a function to estimate it in temperate areas. The expression is subsequently used for the first time to evaluate the impact that climate change would have in biomass accumulation in Europe. The models on climate change predict an increase in temperature and precipitation in northern areas of Europe for the far future (2070–2099), which would lead to a higher accumulation of biomass. Otherwise, a significant reduction in precipitation is expected in southern areas of Europe, associated with a lower biomass accumulation in such areas.     

The use of trigram analysis for spelling error detection

Work performed under the SPElling Error Detection COrrection Project (SPEEDCOP) supported by National Science Foundation (NSF) at Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) to devise effective automatic methods of detecting and correcting misspellings in scholarly and scientific text is described. The investigation was applied to 50,000 word/misspelling pairs collected from six datasets (Chemical Industry Notes (CIN), Biological Abstracts (BA). Chemical Abstracts (CA), Americal Chemical Society primary journal keyboarding (ACS), Information Science Abstracts (ISA), and Distributed On-Line Editing (DOLE) (a CAS internal dataset especially suited to spelling error studies). The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of trigram analysis in the automatic detection and/or correction of misspellings. Computer programs were developed to collect data on trigram distribution in each dataset and to explore the potential of trigram analysis for detecting spelling errors, verifying correctly-spelled words, locating the error site within a misspelling, and distinguishing between the basic kinds of spelling errors. The results of the trigram analysis were largely independent of the dataset to which it was applied but trigram compositions varied with the dataset. The trigram analysis technique developed determined the error site within a misspelling accurately, but did not distinguish effectively between different error types or between valid words and misspellings. However, methods for increasing its accuracy are suggested.     

ASSESSMENT OF CONTENT AND COGNITIVE STRUCTURES IN PHYSICS AT COLLEGE LEVEL

First, the theory of directed graphs (digraphs) was used to map the conceptual structure of the content, implicit in the instructional materials, in the area of electricity at college level. After this, the graphical representation of content structure, thus obtained, was compared with those obtained for the teacher's cognitive structure and the student's cognitive structure through a word association test and the multidimensional scaling technique. Research findings suggest mainly that the techniques used to assess content and cognitive structures might be useful tools for such a purpose.

     

Reflexiones sobre los niveles y agentes del diseño del curriculum

Resumen

Este artículo explora un tema actual del diseño del curriculum. Después de hacer una definición de términos sobre el tema, se expone una propuesta sobre los distintos niveles de concreción del diseño del curriculum.