Body composition of female road and track endurance cyclists: Normative values and typical changes

The aims of this study were to describe normative values and seasonal variation of body composition in female cyclists comparing female road and track endurance cyclists, and to validate the use of anthropometry to monitor lean mass changes. Anthropometric profiles (seven site skinfolds) were measured over 16 years from 126 female cyclists. Lean mass index (LMI) was calculated as body weight?×?skinfolds^?x. The exponent (x) was calculated as the slope of the natural logarithm of body weight and skinfolds. Percentage changes in LMI were compared to lean mass changes measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) in a subset of 25 road cyclists. Compared to sub-elite and elite cyclists, world class cyclists were (mean [95% CI]) 1.18?kg [0.46, 1.90] and 0.60?kg [0.05, 1.15] lighter and had skinfolds that were 7.4?mm [3.8, 11.0] and 4.6?mm [1.8, 7.4] lower, respectively. Body weight (0.41?kg [0.04, 0.77]) and skinfolds (4.0?mm [2.1, 6.0]) were higher in the off-season compared to the early-season. World class female road cyclists had lower body weight (6.04?kg [2.73, 9.35]) and skinfolds (11.5?mm [1.1, 21.9]) than track endurance cyclists. LMI (mean exponent 0.15 [0.13, 0.18]) explained 87% of the variance in DXA lean mass. In conclusion, higher performing female cyclists were lighter and leaner than their less successful peers, road cyclists were lighter and leaner than track endurance cyclists, and weight and skinfolds were lowest early in the season. LMI appears to be a reasonably valid tool for monitoring lean mass changes.     

Effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence: An empirical evidence in learning oriental music

Blended learning emerged as the most popular instructional design strategy in the field of education since last decade to present date. In fact, it is well acknowledged that blended learning approach significantly elevate students’ engagement and competency in learning process. Despite immense potentiality, many countries are still lag behind adopting this instructional design, such as Sri Lanka. Therefore, the primary aims of this study are two fold, (a) to investigate the effect of blended learning and learners’ characteristics on students’ competence and (b) to investigate the effectiveness of blended learning in teaching Oriental Music. This study mainly carried out among the senior secondary schools students at Colombo, Sri Lanka. A mixed methods, experimental and survey, were carried out to test the effectiveness of blended learning and identifying the important factors for enhancing students’ competence in learning Oriental Music. Results of independent sample t-test confirmed that blended learning is effective in terms of improving students’ performance in learning Oriental Music. Similarly, regression analysis confirmed that attitude and motivation are the two most important determinants for improving students’ competence. This study fulfilled an existing research gap by utilizing blended learning to teach highly traditional abstract art. Results of the study contributes to the curriculum designing field with novel ideas to adapt in hybrid instructions to teach secondary level students effectively. The curriculum designers will make use of these findings during innovation and future researcher would be benefitted to overlook more possible platforms to deliver music instructions. It will help them to understand how their set objectives have been achieved in technology integrations and seek for improvement where necessary.     

Improved fast intra prediction algorithm of H.264/AVC

With advanced prediction modes of intra prediction, intra coding of H.264/AVC offers significant coding gains compared with previous video coding standards. It uses an important tool called Lagrangian rate-distortion optimization (RDO) technique to decide the best coding mode for a block, but the computational burden is extremely high. In this paper, we proposed an improved fast intra prediction algorithm including block type selection and mode decision algorithm based on analysis of edge feature of a block. Our algorithm filters out unlikely block type and candidate modes to reduce the RDO calculations. Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm can reduce the computation complexity of intra prediction from 52.90% to 56.31%, with 0.04 dB PSNR degradation and 2% increase of bit rate.     

Triadic interaction in clinical task-based interviews with mathematics teachers

A clinical task-based interview can be seen as a situation where the interviewer–interviewee interaction on a task is regulated by a system of explicit and implicit norms, values, and rules. This paper describes how documenting and mapping triadic interaction among the interviewer, the interviewee, and the knowledge negotiated can be used to increase procedural replicability of the interview and accuracy of drawn conclusions about the interviewee’s thinking process. Excerpts from interviews with 25 inservice mathematics teachers working on a task to make up a problem whose solution requires division of two fractions are discussed. The excerpts illustrate the relationship between methodological decisions taken by the interviewer during the interview and the applicability of the interview output to the research questions. A divergent analysis of the interviews with these teachers, which spanned over two years and were conducted by four interviewers, is used to offer a framework for analyzing data collected in clinical task-based interviews.     

Giving Education a Bad Name: Bookish Boys in Contemporary American School Stories

This article discusses contemporary American school stories that appear to advocate learning and literacy as a democratic good, but actually undermine democratic possibilities by teaching young readers to think of academic inquiry as a means to selfish, petty ends. Since “learning” and “literacy” are catchwords for educators dedicated to remedying neoliberal inequities, it is understandable why authors of school fiction such as Andrew Clements and Tommy Greenwald are celebrated by educators for foregrounding the exploits of bookish characters. Yet, as is shown, the narrative arcs in works such as Frindle by Clements and Charlie Joe Jackson’s Guide to Not Reading by Greenwald ultimately endorse the market consciousness, deregulation, and excessive individualism for which neoliberalism is known. Examining the ways in which these two novels intersect with ongoing debates over literacy standards, learning outcomes, and academic honesty, it is argued that the didactic-pedagogical imagination in contemporary American fiction for young people has a biased conception of student development and life preparedness, ideologically at odds with democratic curriculum provision.     

Visualization of structured packing with laser induced fluorescence technique: Two-dimensional measurement of liquid concentration distribution

A method of using laser induced fluorescence(LIF)technique was applied to two-dimensional measurement of the liquid concentration distribution in the 250Y structured packing sheet. The experimental structured packing sheet was made of perspex so that the laser could pass through it. The visualization of the distribution of the liquid concentration in the structured packing sheet was realized. The calibration of the thickness and liquid concentration was carried out firstly and the regression formula I=kcd was acquired, in which concentration c and the liquid film thickness d were both considered. Then the liquid feed of uniform tracer(rhodamine)concentration entered the perspex structured packing from the top under different spraying densities. The corresponding thickness of liquid film on the packing was calculated. Finally, tracer(rhodamine)with a high concentration was injected only at one fixed point of the structured packing under different spraying densities of the liquid. With the known liquid film thickness, the concentration distribution of the tracer can be calculated inside the structured packing sheet.     

Establishing a Center to Support Faculty Research

This article describes the establishment in fall 2002 of a School of Education Research Center designed to support faculty in increasing productivity and quality in research. Details are provided about center goals, services, staffing, space, resources, and logistics during the first year of operation. In addition, data are shared about faculty usage of the Center, the level of faculty satisfaction with center services in the first year, and initial increases in faculty productivity. The article concludes with plans for continued data collection to monitor the impact of the Center, a discussion of lessons learned at this point in the Center's development, and possibilities for the evolution of the Center. All authors are at the University of Colorado, Denver. Laura Goodwin, Ph.D., University of Colorado at Boulder, is Interim Associate Vice Chancellor for Faculty Affairs and continues to serve as a Faculty Research Associate. Elizabeth Kozleski, Ed.D., University of Northern Colorado, is the Associate Dean for Research in the School of Education. Lynn Rhodes, Ed.D., Indiana University, is the Dean of the School of Education. Rodney Muth, Ph.D., Claremont Graduate School, is a professor of Administrative Leadership and Policy Studies in the school and chaired the Research Center Advisory Board. Kim Kennedy White, M.A., University of Oregon, was the original School of Education Research Center Coordinator and was responsible for collecting most of the data included in this study.     

基于核密度估计多样性采集的背景建模算法

1IntroductionBackground subtraction methods are extensively ex-ploited for moving object detection in videos in manyapplications ,such as traffic monitoring[1],human mo-tion capture[2]and video surveillance[3]. The centralidea behind such methods is to segment foreground ini mage sequences taken from a fixed camera by com-paring each newframe to a model of the scene back-ground . Therefore , correctly and efficiently modelingand updating the background model is one of the mostchallenging aspec…     

掺杂剂与基质材料能量匹配的红色有机发光二极管

1　Introduction　Organiclight emittingdiodes(OLEDs)haveattract edconsiderableattentionduetoitsgreatpotentialinefficiency ,low voltage ,large area ,lightweight ,andfull colorflat paneldisplays[1,2 ] .Forfull colordis plays ,itisnecessarytohaveefficientred ,green ,andblueemitterswithappropriatechromaticity .Bycom parisonwiththehighperformanceofblueandgreenOLEDs ,theperformanceandpurechromaticityofredOLEDsarestillrelativelypoor .UsuallyredOLEDsareimprovedbydopingreddyesintohostmaterialswit…