Combined effects of sleep deprivation and strenuous exercise on cognitive performances during The North Face® Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc® (UTMB®)

This study investigated the effects of combined sleep deprivation and strenuous exercise on cognitive and neurobehavioral performance among long-distance runners completing one of the most difficult ultramarathons in the world. Seventeen runners participated. Each had a wrist-worn actigraph throughout the race to record their sleep time. In addition, each individual’s performance in 10-min response-time tests before and after the race was recorded and a questionnaire enabled participants to report any difficulties they experienced during the competition. During race completion times of 27 to 44 h, combined acute lack of sleep (12 ± 17 min of rest during the race) and strenuous exercise (168.0 km) had marked adverse effects on cognitive performances ranging from mere lengthening of response time to serious symptoms such as visual hallucinations. This study suggests that regardless of rest duration and time in race, cognitive performances of ultramarathoners are adversely affected.     

Frankish Captives in Mamlūk Cairo

Latin presence in the Middle East came to an end with the fall of Acre in 690/1291. Among the last prisoners, Roger of Stanegrave, who gave testimony of his captivity in Cairo, was released around 715/1315. Therefore, how can we explain that Egyptian chroniclers kept on telling the life and tribulations of “Frankish captives” (asārā min al-Afranj) in Cairo as late as the last decades of the fourteenth century? This article looks first at the conditions of the Latin prisoners in Mamlūk Cairo and at their forced labour on the building sites of the city. It investigates afterwards the astonishing life and business of their descendants, trading wine and dealing with entertainment and prostitution in the city centre of Cairo, before being confronted with repression by Mamlūk authorities and being scattered over the most disreputable areas of the city. The history of Cairo and its urban fabric gives a unique opportunity to bring to light the life of people still referred to as “Frankish captives”, one century after the end of the crusader wars, and to understand how they finally became indigenous.     

Managing Dialectics to Make a Difference: Tension Management in a Community-Building Organization

This article is an ethnographic report of the dialectic tension management practices of a community-building organization called the Nehemiah Group. ¹ The Nehemiah Group, in 2009, changed their name to the Nehemiah Network to reflect their expanded involvement of business leaders (Our History, n.d. Our History . ( n.d. ). Retrieved from http://www.nehemiahnetwork.org/about  [Google Scholar]). This group unites local churches to serve the community. This three-year participant-observation study documents how group members manage two primary and intertwined dialectic tensions: noncooperation-cooperation and unity-division. Members use multiple practices to manage these tensions and other intertwined tensions: They construct narratives to voice moral issues, to alternate between tension poles to address pragmatic obstacles, to frame tensions as complementary through segmentation, and rely on prayer rituals to reframe tensions. From this analysis, three implications follow: (a) moral narratives serve to construct framing options, (b) a larger discursive history is utilized to create counternarratives, and (c) metadiscursive practices rely on rituals to manage tensions.     

Communications Research

Thomas F. Gordon and Mary Ellen Verna Mass Communication Effects and Processes: A Comprehensive Bibliography, 1950-1975 (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1978—$15.00),

Charles Winick, Deviance and Mass Media (Beverly Hills, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1979—$18.50/8.95),

Mail and Telephone Surveys: The Total Design Method by Don A. Dillman (New York: Wiley-Interscience, 1979—$19.95)

Fundamental Statistics in Psychology and Education by J.P. Guilford and Benjamin Fruchter (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979—$16.00)

Jane T. Bertrand Communications Pretesting (Chicago: University of Chicago Community and Family Study Center, 1978—$3.50, paper)

Gary Gumpert and Robert Cathcart, Inter/Media: Interpersonal Communication in a Media World ( New York: Oxford University Press, 1979—$S.95, paper)     

French Media Books

ELECTRONIC MEDIA: A GUIDE TO TRENDS IN BROADCASTING AND NEWER TECHNOLOGIES, 1920-1983, by Christopher H. Sterling (New York: Praeger, 1984—$34.95/$17.95)

THE LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE SOURCEBOOK: A GUIDE TO ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, (Bethesda, Md.: Phillips Publishing, 1984—$127.00, paper)

TELEVISION COMEDY SERIES: AN EPISODE GUIDE TO 153 TV SITCOMS IN SYNDICATION, by Joel Eisner and David Krinsky (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland and Co., Inc., 1984—$49.95)

RELIGIOUS BROADCASTING 1920-1983; A SELECTIVELY ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY, by George H. Hill and Lenwood Davis (New York: Garland Publishing, 1984—$36.00)

FM ATLAS AND STATION DIRECTORY, by Bruce F. Elving (FM Atlas Publishing, Adolph, Minn. 55701—$7.50, paper)

COMPUTER CONTENTS, (Management Contents, 2265 Carlson Drive, Northbrook, Ill. 60062—$95.00/biweekly, or $4.00 per copy)

AMERICAN RADIO: SPRING 1984, by James H. Duncan, Jr. (Duncan Media Enterprises, Box 2966, Kalamazoo, MI 49002—$55.00, paper)

WORLD TABLES: THE THIRD EDITION, by the staff of the World Bank (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984—$50.00/$25.00 for Volume I, Economic Data; and $25.00/$12.50 for Volume II, Social Data)

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES, edited by Donald R. Whitnah (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1984—$49.95)

ACRONYMS, INMALISMS, AND ABBREVIATIONS DICTIONARY, edited by Ellen Crowley and Helen Sheppard (Detroit: Gale Research, 1984—$145.00, two volumes)

STATISTICS FOR TRANSPORTATION, COMMUNICATION, AND FINANCE AND INSURANCE: DATA AVAILABILITY AND NEEDS, by Sol D. Helfand, et al. (Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, 1984—price not given, paper)

TELECOURSE INVENTORY 1984 (Center for Learning and Telecommunications, One Dupont Circle, Washington, D.C. 20036—$20.00, paper)     

Information literacy proficiency: Assessing the gap in high school students' readiness for undergraduate academic work

This study examines how high school students' information literacy (IL) skills prepare them for academic work in the digital age. The project included: (a) an audit of university IL practices; and (b) the administration of the James Madison University (JMU) Information Literacy Test (ILT) to 103 twelfth grade students in Alberta, Canada. Due to the low stakes of the test, there was concern about the reliability of the results. Rapid guessing, response time effort, and motivation filters were applied to confirm the reliability of the results. Results indicate a gap between expectations of high school students and their skills. Using a standardized test, potential incoming undergraduate IL proficiency was identified, including student strengths and weaknesses. The audit identified IL policies and practices at the university, indicating discrepancies in the IL instruction students may receive. Findings indicate that students lack the IL proficiency required to succeed in the post-secondary educational environment, and the libraries are not prepared to effectively address this gap.     

Affective issues in library and information science systems work: A content analysis

Increasing attention to affective issues is evident in human information behavior work in library and information science (LIS) as well as in a wide range of other disciplines. However, it is questionable whether the LIS systems-oriented literature reflects any serious interest in affective issues such as emotion or confidence, as these affect information behavior. This study analyzes systems work in LIS to determine the relative interest in affective issues being shown. Content analysis of articles published between 1999 and 2003 indicates that systems work in LIS pays little attention to affective variables. In addition, insufficient intellectual access to affective issues is provided by the primary indexing services.