Application of Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling to Evaluate the Academic Motivation Scale

In this research, the authors examined the construct validity of scores of the Academic Motivation Scale using exploratory structural equation modeling. Study 1 and Study 2 involved 1,416 college students and 4,498 high school students, respectively. First, results of both studies indicated that the factor structure tested with exploratory structural equation modeling provides better fit to the data than the one tested with confirmatory factor analysis. Second, the factor structure was gender invariant in the exploratory structural equation modeling framework. Third, the pattern of convergent and divergent correlations among Academic Motivation Scale factors was more in line with theoretical expectations when computed with exploratory structural equation modeling rather than confirmatory factor analysis. Fourth, the configuration of convergent and divergent correlations connecting each Academic Motivation Scale factors to a validity criterion was more in line with theoretical expectations with exploratory structural equation modeling than with confirmatory factor analysis.     

Effect of environmental feedbacks on pacing strategy and affective load during a self-paced 30 min cycling time trial

The purpose of this study was to analyze the pacing strategy and its affective consequences during self-paced cycling time trials (TT) performed at different severity of hypoxia. Eight competitive cyclists performed five 30 min self-paced TTs at their best performance in the following conditions: 1) normobaric normoxia (NN_SL); 2) normobaric hypoxia under two simulated altitudes: 2000 m (NH₂₀₀₀) and 3500 m (NH₃₅₀₀) and 3) normobaric hypoxia but the cyclists were deceived and thought to be at sea level for 2000 m (DecNH₂₀₀₀) and 3500 m (DecNH₃₅₀₀). Power Output (PO), oxygen uptake (VO₂), and blood lactate concentration ([La]) were recorded to assess exercise intensity and physiological adaptations. The rate of perceived exertion (RPE) and pleasure were measured with a CR10 Borg scale to evaluate the affective load (AL). PO and VO₂ decreased with the severity of hypoxia but no significantly difference on performance was measured between deceived and real conditions, except for pacing strategy. The started intensity depends on the exercise expectations, but PO was rapidly adjusted with the physiological constraints and the rate of increase of RPE. Finally, AL did not reach maximal values so that the athletes sustained a physiological and emotional reserve to perform a final spurt.     

A comparison of lactate indices during ramp exercise using modelling techniques and conventional methods

The aim of this study was to compare the lactate indices provided by single- and double-breakpoint models with lactate thresholds obtained with conventional methods. Arterial samples for the determination of lactate concentrations were drawn from eight participants at rest and every minute during a ramp test (15 W x min(-1)) on a cycle ergometer. Lactate thresholds were determined from a blood lactate concentration equal to 4 mM (LT(4)), from an increase of 1 mM above the resting level (Delta1 mM), and from indirect methods using ventilatory parameters. Other indices were computed from the modelling of the lactate curve using an exponential function (LSI), a polynomial function (Dmax), a semi-log model (SLog), a parabola plus delay model (Mod P), and a two-breakpoint model (Mod M). Mod P and Mod M showed poor agreement with the other methods. LT(4), Dmax, LSI, and respiratory exchange ratio equal to 1 were correlated with each other (0.81 相似文献   

Les systèmes éducatifs à la reé et l'île maurice: Quelle efficacité sociale?

The islands of Mauritius and Réunion have contrasting educational policies. This article examines, from a comparative perspective, not only the impact of political decisions on education but also the way in which the different educational systems in the two islands affect the democratisation of learning. In order to do this, the authors compare the educational trajectories of different pupils from a range of schools in Mauritius and Réunion. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, it is possible to show that the expected social effects are moderated in the course of teaching. While the adoption of mass education is a prerequisite for democratisation, it must be recognised that systems also operate selectively with regard to variables such as sex, age or social origin, depending on what transpires in schools on a daily basis.     

Gender,affect, and landscape: wartime films from Northern and Southern Vietnam

Abstract

Examining two Vietnamese films, one made in the North in 1959, and another produced in the South during the American War in 1971, this article contends that Vietnam's landscape serves as an affective site for a gendered construction of nationalism within key moments in Vietnamese history. In analyzing the attachments that the Vietnamese and Vietnamese diaspora feel towards their country, I explore a topic rarely discussed in US film scholarship and historicize these filmmaking efforts to demarcate a different way of viewing Vietnam in film. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding how gender and affect are projected onto landscapes in a national cinema like Vietnam's. More exactingly, it emphasizes that affects underlying Vietnamese nationhood and war are undergirded by the political economy of film and filmmaking. My arguments point to the modes of production and circulation of film, which shape the making of affect in Vietnam War discourse. My analyses are framed by the questions: how is affect inscribed in Vietnamese film, and what are its effects on notions of belonging and nationhood? In what ways has affect traveled about Vietnam in the past and present moment? Who is able to access such representations, and why does this matter?     

The Path Not Taken

In a response to critics, R.S. Peters acknowledged that a more general concept of education exists than the ‘school-related’ one he analysed and defended his decision to ignore it by saying that it ‘indiscriminately’ marks out the ‘mundane, instrumentally oriented operations’ involved in rearing children. In this paper I sketch in the portion of the educational landscape that Peters left out of the picture. Once seen, it becomes apparent not only that he staked out just one small part of a vast domain but also that he rendered invisible some of the most basic philosophical issues and problems that confront humankind.     

The influence of wearing ski-boots with different rigidity characteristics on postural control

Abstract

External supports that reduce ankle joint mobility such as ski-boots can impair postural control of healthy participants. Although this disruptive effect has been attributed to the rigidity of the external supports, the results remained controversial and no study has been conducted in order to evaluate the influence of ski-boots rigidity. Hence, the question about the influence of ankle support rigidity on postural control remains open. This study was therefore undertaken in order to investigate the effect of ski-boots rigidity on postural control. Ten healthy active participants were recruited. The wearing of soft and rigid ski-boots was compared to barefoot while standing on a seesaw generating mediolateral and anteroposterior instability. Centre of pressure displacements were sampled with a force platform. The surface electromyographic activity of the main muscles from the leg, thigh and trunk was recorded. A motion analysis system was also used to calculate the ankle, knee and hip angles. The results did not reveal any negative influence of ski-boot rigidity on postural control but rather suggest a less active postural control with the rigid ski-boots which offered a higher mechanical contribution.     

Educational Justice and the Value of Knowledge

How should a liberal democratic society value knowledge and understanding, and does this valuation inform how we ought to reason about the justice of our educational institutions? In scholarly and public discourse, it is orthodox to argue that because educational institutions bring about various goods—goods of character such as wellbeing or economic goods such as social mobility – they ought to be structured by principles of political justice. In this paper, I argue that knowledge and understanding valued for its own sake should also inform judgements of educational justice.