VOTERS AND CITIZENS IN A NEW DEMOCRACY: SOME TREND DATA ON POLITICAL ATTITUDES IN SPAIN

General Franco's death in 1975 saw the end of a long dictatorshipand the beginning of political changes of extraordinary importance.This article examines the most outstanding political attitudesof the Spanish people during the processes of transition anddemocratic consolidation. Using survey data from different sources,the authors try to trace the patterns of continuity and changewhich arise from the political indicators selected. The findingsreveal moderate, reformist and supportive attitudes towardsdemocratic principles. These attitudes are compatible with perceptionsof political mistrust and inefficacy, and with limited politicalparticipation.     

Effectiveness during ball screens in elite basketball games

Ball screens are one of the most frequently used tactical behaviour in elite basketball games. The aim of the present study was to identify their predictors of success related to time, space, players, and tasks performed. The sample was composed of 818 ball screens corresponding to 20 close games (mean differences in score of 3.1 ± 0.8 points) randomly selected from the playoff games of the Spanish Basketball League (2008–2011). Classification tree analysis (CHAID) was used to analyse which variable or combination of variables, better predicts effectiveness during ball screens. The main results allowed identifying interactions with dribbler actions after the screen and the orientation of the screen on the ball. The results showed no interaction with game quarter and quarter minute temporal-related variables in both analyses. The present findings allow improving coaches’ strategic plans that involve selecting the most appropriate offensive approach when performing ball screens.     

Towards an understanding of the role of language in the science classroom and its association with cultural identity development in the context of Mozambique

I am reflecting here my struggle to understand the issue of language in the science classroom and in our lives from three different perspectives: before and after Mozambican independence and after completion of my doctoral research. The main method used is auto|ethnographic inquiry in which I use the events in my life to question what is happening in my society. I have used Maria Rivera Maulucci’s paper, Language experience narratives and the role of autobiographical reasoning in becoming an urban science teacher as a reference. This paper helps me to show how isolated and generalized is the Mozambican situation and the value of our struggle in giving value to local languages.     

How Often and for What Purposes Apprentices Seek Help in Workplaces: A Mobile Technology-Assisted Study

In the ‘dual’ system of vocational training, working in company represents the major part of training. At the workplace, apprentices are expected to acquire the typical skills of their profession but, at the same time, to contribute to the production of the company. For this reason apprentices are expected to carry out activities on their own from early on in their training and to ask for help only when they need it. Learning to ask questions and to seek help appropriately is, therefore, an important competence for learners to acquire during vocational training, just as it is important for the company to offer the learner every opportunity to ask for help when needed. In this study, we used mobile phones to follow at a distance 19 apprentices in car mechanics at the workplace. We then analyzed a corpus of approximately 77 hours of work, in search of all questions and requests they addressed during this time. Data show that requests for information are twice as frequent as requests for assistance (i.e. intervention or physical help) and that all together, requests are introduced more often by more advanced apprentices than by those in the early stages of their training. These findings are linked with the facts that: a) bringing apprentices to be autonomous early in their work is a deciding factor of the philosophy of work in many of the enterprises training apprentices, b) more advanced apprentices are given more complex tasks to work on, c) more advanced apprentices work more is often undertaken in collaboration with an expert car mechanics and d) questions and requests for help are more likely to be addressed when working collaboratively than when working alone. These findings are interpreted as evidences of a natural regulation which takes place at the workplace between the learner’s engagement and the workplace affordances.     

Instrument adaptation in cross-cultural studies of students’ mathematics-related beliefs: learning from healthcare research

Much comparative research into education-related beliefs has exploited questionnaires developed in one culture for use in another. This has been particularly the case in mathematics education, the focus of this paper. In so doing, researchers have tended to assume that translation alone is sufficient to warrant a reliable and valid instrument for cross-cultural research, prompting concerns that a number of necessary equivalences are unlikely to have been addressed. In this paper, we consider the nature of these equivalences before examining the literature of a different field, healthcare research, to synthesise an approach to instrument adaptation that is pragmatic but rigorous. Finally, we demonstrate how this pragmatic approach, incorporating extensive cognitive interviews, enabled us to adapt and refine a mathematics-related beliefs questionnaire, developed in Flanders, for use with students aged 14–15 in England and Spain. Analyses indicate that the instrument so developed is multidimensional, reliable and cross-culturally valid. Some implications are discussed.     

A Model-Based Inquiry Sequence as a Heuristic to Evaluate Students’ Emotional,Behavioural, and Cognitive Engagement

Research in Science Education - In this study we address the need to promote student engagement with school science and the need to measure a more comprehensive conception of engagement considering...     

Investigating science teacher educator identity through the politics of domestication and critical positional praxis

The focus on identity in the field of teaching and learning continues to grow, especially when it concerns equitable outcomes for students. While most attention is placed on students' identities and increasingly those of teachers, lesser addressed are the identities of the teacher educators and researchers broaching the issue of identity. Additionally, identity research is not often linked to relationships between self, others, and transformative action. We recognize these as gaps to be addressed and offer critical positional praxis (CPP) as a response. CPP is the public manifestation of the insights gained through our sense of identity and reflexivity. More specifically, CPP is the actions (or inactions) that express who we are in response to an event in any given social context—especially oppressive ones. In this article, we draw from our own critical autoethnographies, as a context for putting CPP into practice in identity research. Our collective analysis of these critical autoethnographies revealed how our identity development was inseparable from the ways in which we have each resisted the politics of domestication. Our autoethnographies further point to the role of dissent as central to our experiences of becoming critical science teacher educators committed to equity, diversity, and anti-racism in education. We draw from this analysis to offer recommendations for how identity and positionality can move beyond theoretical constructs toward transformative personal and collective change in science education.     

A Review on the Role of Nutraceuticals as Simple as Se2+ to Complex Organic Molecules Such as Glycyrrhizin That Prevent as Well as Cure Diseases

Nutraceuticals are nutritional medicines which are present in edible food items. Most of them are antioxidants with various other biological properties viz, anti inflammatory, anti atherogenic, anticancer, anti viral, anti aging properties etc. They are as simple as minerals like Se²⁺ to complex organic molecules such as glycyrrhizin (Ca²⁺, K⁺ salts of glycyrrhizic acid). They can prevent as well as cure various diseases. Most of the medical people are not aware of the importance of the nutraceuticals as such matters are not part of their text books. Many still think that vitamins are the major nutritional medicines. Actually other dietary principles like terpenes, carotenes, phytosterols, polyphenols, flavanoids, di and poly sulphides, their sulfoxides and their precursor amino acids are necessary to scavenge free radicals in the body which are reactive oxygen species to protect and maintain the vitamin levels in the body. They down regulate the activities of those enzymes which are increased in diseases and they increase those that remove oxidants and detoxify carcinogens. They are immune boosters too. Recently glucosinolates, non toxic alkaloids, certain proteins and even fiber are included in the list of nutraceuticals.     

Changes in repeated-sprint performance in relation to change in locomotor profile in highly-trained young soccer players

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the effects of changes in maximal aerobic (MAS) and sprinting (MSS) speeds and the anaerobic reserve (ASR) on repeated-sprint performance. Two hundred and seventy highly-trained soccer players (14.5 ± 1.6 year) completed three times per season (over 5 years) a maximal incremental running test to approach MAS, a 40-m sprint with 10-m splits to assess MSS and a repeated-sprint test (10 × 30-m sprints), where best (RSb) and mean (RSm) sprint times, and percentage of speed decrement (%Dec) were calculated. ASR was calculated as MSS-MAS. While ?RSb were related to ?MSS and ?body mass (r² = 0.42, 90%CL[0.34;0.49] for the overall multiple regression, n = 334), ?RSm was also correlated with ?MAS and ?sum of 7 skinfolds (r² = 0.43 [0.35;0.50], n = 334). There was a small and positive association between ?%Dec and ?MAS (r² = 0.02 [?0.07;0.11], n = 334). Substantial ?MSS and ?MAS had a predictive value of 70 and 55% for ?RSm, respectively. Finally, ?ASR per se was not predictive of ?RSm (Cohen’s = +0.8 to ?0.3 with increased ASR), but the greater magnitude of ?RSm improvement was observed when MSS, MAS and ASR increased together (0.8 vs. +0.4 with ASR increased vs. not, additionally to MSS and MAS). Low-cost field tests aimed at assessing maximal sprinting and aerobic speeds can be used to monitor ?RS performance.