Discourses of forgiveness and resilience in stepchild–stepparent relationships

Challenges and conflicts experienced by stepfamilies are well documented, but researchers are increasingly focused on communication processes that facilitate resilience in these relationships. In other contexts, communicating forgiveness has been linked to relational healing after transgressions or adversity. In the current study, the researchers sought to understand how stepchildren talk about the role of forgiveness in the development of positive adult stepchild–stepparent relationships. Data were drawn from interviews with adult stepchildren who have a positive relationship with a stepparent. Following an interpretive analysis, the researchers identified five themes representing the ways forgiveness was conceptualized and enacted in these positive stepchild–stepparent relationships: forgiveness as (a) healing family connections, (b) explicit negotiation, (c) maturation and acceptance, (d) a response to vulnerability and compassion, and (e) evidence of relational growth. Theoretical and practical applications for understanding and fostering resilient stepfamilies and the role of forgiveness are discussed.     

Grammar for writing? An investigation of the effects of contextualised grammar teaching on students’ writing

The role of grammar instruction in the teaching of writing is contested in most Anglophone countries, with several robust meta-analyses finding no evidence of any beneficial effect. However, existing research is limited in that it only considers isolated grammar instruction and offers no theorisation of an instructional relationship between grammar and writing. This study, drawing on a theorised understanding of grammar as a meaning-making resource for writing development, set out to investigate the impact of contextualised grammar instruction on students’ writing performance. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach, with a randomised controlled trial and a complementary qualitative study. The statistical analyses indicate a positive effect on writing performance for the intervention group (e = 0.21; p < 0.001); but the study also indicates that the intervention impact differentially on different sub-groups, benefiting able writers more than weaker writers. The study is significant in being the first to supply rigorous, theorised evidence for the potential benefits of teaching grammar to support development in writing.     

The effects of protease supplementation on skeletal muscle function and DOMS following downhill running

Protease supplementation has been shown to attenuate soft tissue injury resulting from intense exercise. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of protease supplementation on muscle soreness and contractile performance after downhill running. Ten matched pairs of male participants ran at a ?10% grade for 30?min at 80% of their predicted maximal heart rate. The participants consumed two protease tablets (325?mg pancreatic enzymes, 75?mg trypsin, 50?mg papain, 50?mg bromelain, 10?mg amylase, 10?mg lipase, 10?mg lysozyme, 2?mg chymotrypisn) or a placebo four times a day beginning 1 day before exercise and lasting a total of 4 days. The participants were evaluated for perceived muscle soreness of the front and back of the dominant leg, pressure pain threshold by dolorimetry of the anterior medial, anterior lateral, posterior medial and posterior lateral quadrants of the thigh, and knee extension/flexion torque and power. The experimental group demonstrated superior recovery of contractile function and diminished effects of delayed-onset muscle soreness after downhill running when compared with the placebo group. Our results indicate that protease supplementation may attenuate muscle soreness after downhill running. Protease supplementation may also facilitate muscle healing and allow for faster restoration of contractile function after intense exercise.     

Influence of cold-water immersion on indices of muscle damage following prolonged intermittent shuttle running

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the effects of cold-water immersion (cryotherapy) on indices of muscle damage following a bout of prolonged intermittent exercise. Twenty males (mean age 22.3 years, s = 3.3; height 1.80 m, s = 0.05; body mass 83.7 kg, s = 11.9) completed a 90-min intermittent shuttle run previously shown to result in marked muscle damage and soreness. After exercise, participants were randomly assigned to either 10 min cold-water immersion (mean 10°C, s = 0.5) or a non-immersion control group. Ratings of perceived soreness, changes in muscular function and efflux of intracellular proteins were monitored before exercise, during treatment, and at regular intervals up to 7 days post-exercise. Exercise resulted in severe muscle soreness, temporary muscular dysfunction, and elevated serum markers of muscle damage, all peaking within 48 h after exercise. Cryotherapy administered immediately after exercise reduced muscle soreness at 1, 24, and 48 h (P < 0.05). Decrements in isometric maximal voluntary contraction of the knee flexors were reduced after cryotherapy treatment at 24 (mean 12%, s _x  = 4) and 48 h (mean 3%, s _x  = 3) compared with the control group (mean 21%, s _x  = 5 and mean 14%, s _x  = 5 respectively; P < 0.05). Exercise-induced increases in serum myoglobin concentration and creatine kinase activity peaked at 1 and 24 h, respectively (P < 0.05). Cryotherapy had no effect on the creatine kinase response, but reduced myoglobin 1 h after exercise (P < 0.05). The results suggest that cold-water immersion immediately after prolonged intermittent shuttle running reduces some indices of exercise-induced muscle damage.     

Developmental foundations of physiological dynamics among mother–infant dyads: The role of newborn neurobehavior

This study tested whether newborn attention and arousal provide a foundation for the dynamics of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) in mother–infant dyads. Participants were 106 mothers (M_age = 29.54) and their 7-month-old infants (55 males and 58 White and non-Hispanic). Newborn attention and arousal were measured shortly after birth using the NICU Network Neurobehavioral Scale. Higher newborn arousal predicted a slower return of infant RSA to baseline. Additionally, greater newborn attention predicted mothers’ slower return to baseline RSA following the still-face paradigm, and this effect only held for mothers whose infants had lower newborn arousal. These findings suggest that newborn neurobehavior, measured within days of birth, may contribute to later mother–infant physiological processes while recovering from stress.     

Persistence and Fadeout in the Impacts of Child and Adolescent Interventions

Many interventions targeting cognitive skills or socioemotional skills and behaviors demonstrate initially promising but then quickly disappearing impacts. Our article seeks to identify the key features of interventions, as well as the characteristics and environments of the children and adolescents who participate in them, that can be expected to sustain persistently beneficial program impacts. We describe three such processes: skill-building, foot-in-the-door and sustaining environments. We argue that skill-building interventions should target “trifecta” skills—ones that are malleable, fundamental, and would not have developed eventually in the absence of the intervention. Successful foot-in-the-door interventions equip a child with the right skills or capacities at the right time to avoid imminent risks (e.g., grade failure or teen drinking) or seize emerging opportunities (e.g., entry into honors classes). The sustaining environments perspective views high quality of environments subsequent to the completion of the intervention as crucial for sustaining earlier skill gains. These three perspectives generate both complementary and competing hypotheses regarding the nature, timing, and targeting of interventions that generate enduring impacts.     

Engaging White parents to address their White children's racial biases in the Black-White context

Multiple studies (n = 1065 parents, 625 females, 437 males, 3 nonbinary, 99.06% White; n = 80, 5 to 7-year-old children, 35 girls, 45 boys, 87.50% White; data collection September 2017–January 2021) investigated White U.S. parents' thinking about White children's Black-White racial biases. In Studies 1–3, parents reported that their own and other children would not express racial biases. When predicting children's social preferences for Black and White children (Study 2), parents underestimated their own and other children's racial biases. Reading an article about the nature, prevalence, and consequences of White children's racial biases (Study 3) increased parents' awareness of, concern about, and motivation to address children's biases (relative to a control condition). The findings have implications for engaging White parents to address their children's racial biases.     

Application of nonlinear fatigue damage models in power electronic module wirebond structure under various amplitude loadings

This paper presents mean fatigue lifetime predic- tion of a wire-bond structure model in power electronic module using a failure physics approach that integrates high fidelity modelling and reduced order modelling. Loading current with variable amplitudes is applied to a finite element model of simplified wirebond structures. The resulting accumulated fatigue damage due to random loads is predicted by using reduced order modelling based on failure physics, a cycle counting algorithm, and various nonlinear fatigue damage models widely used in the literature. The reduced order mod- elling approach based on failure physics uses prediction data for the electro-thermo-mechanical behaviour of the wire-bond design of a power module obtained through non-linear transient finite element simulations, in particular for the fatigue life-time of the aluminium wire attached to the silicon chip of the wire in the module. The reduced order models that capture the black box function of the accumulated plastic strain are used in pre- dicting the mean fatigue life time of the wire bond structure under random loads. One of the widely used cycle counting algorithms, rainflow counting algorithm, is used to count cycles of the temperature profile at the specific point of the wire bond structure in a power electronic module. The cycle data from the rainflow algorithm mean life time of the wire bond structure are predicted with various cumulative fatigue models. Non-linear cumulative fatigue models such as damage curve approach （DCA）, double linear damage rule （DLDR）, and double dam- age curve approach （DDCA）, and linear cumulative fatigue damage model such as Palmgren-Miner rule are used to predict the mean fatigue life of the wire bond structure, and the results are compared.     

Capping them off! Exploring and explaining the patterns in undergraduate capstone subjects in Australian business schools

Universities are increasingly offering capstone subjects as part of curricula to prepare final-year undergraduates for employment through consolidating and integrating their knowledge and skills while bridging the gap between academic learning and professional work. This study investigates capstone subjects offered by Australian business schools, drawing on national survey data collected in 2010 and 2011, complemented by interviews with associate deans teaching and learning instrumental in curricula design. Findings indicate the sector-wide use of capstone subjects in business disciplines, diversity in the patterns of offerings, and instances where subjects labelled as capstones do not meet the definition of capstones. We argue that these features are explained by a range of historic and strategic factors, such as the ad hoc development of subjects and a lack of understanding of the features of capstones. The findings of this paper inform the debate on the design, development, value and the use of capstone subjects identifying the implications for staff development and knowledge management in higher education.     

A Study of the Transferable Elements in Interviews with Parents

The authors used correlational and confirmatory factor analytic techniques to examine the relationship between measures of the constructs of mathematics anxiety and test anxiety. The correlations found between measures of the 2 constructs were nearly as high as those found within measures of the 2 constructs, bringing into question the separateness of the constructs. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis provided some support for a distinction between the constructs; the correlation between the 2 factors, however, was relatively high. Those findings suggest that mathematics anxiety and test anxiety may be separate phenomena; the conceptual uniqueness of mathematics anxiety, however, needs to be further delineated and its measurement improved.