9,253 research outputs found

    Management strategies and contributory factors for resistance exercise-induced muscle damage: an exploration of dietary protein, exercise load, and sex

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    The World Health Organisation recommends that resistance exercise be performed at least twice per week to benefit general health and wellbeing. However, resistance exercise is associated with acute muscle damage that potentially can dampen muscle adaptations promoted by chronic resistance training. The extent to which muscle is damaged by exercise is influenced by various factors, including age, training status, exercise type, and – notable to this thesis – sex. To this end, establishing sex-specific management strategies for exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD) is important to optimise the benefits of exercise. Two EIMD management strategies were focussed on in this thesis: dietary protein supplementation and exercise load manipulation. It was identified in this thesis that research into the impact both of protein supplementation and exercise load on EIMD heavily underrepresent female populations (chapters 3 and 5), despite well-documented sex differences in EIMD responses. Therefore, future research priority should be placed on bridging the sex data gap by conducting high-quality studies centralising around female-focussed and sex-comparative methodological designs. Both peri-exercise protein supplementation and exercise load manipulation in favour of lighter loads were revealed to be effective management strategies for resistance EIMD in males through systematic and scoping review of the current literature (chapters 3 and 5, respectively). Due to a lack of data from females, it is only appropriate for these strategies to be recommended for males at present. To decipher whether protein supplementation and lower exercise loads are beneficial for managing EIMD in females, a randomised controlled trial (RCT) (chapter 4) and a protocol for an RCT (chapter 6) involving male and female participants are presented in this thesis. The incorporation of ecologically-valid resistance exercise in the RCT in chapter 4 highlighted that even mild muscle damage is attenuated in females, reflected in diminished increases in post-exercise creatine kinase concentration and muscle soreness compared with males; however, the reason for this difference requires further investigation. This study, while supporting sex differences, contrasted previous studies, as neither males nor females experienced an attenuation of EIMD during milk protein supplementation. This difference likely owed to the lower severity of muscle damage induced in the current study relative to previous studies, and accordingly, future research should seek to discover alternative management strategies for mild EIMD. A protocol for an RCT examining the impact of exercise load on EIMD in untrained males and females is described in Chapter 6 of this thesis and may be used as guidance for researchers developing similar, sex-comparative studies. It was hypothesised that females will experience attenuated muscle damage relative to males and low-load exercise will induce less muscle damage than high-load exercise in both sexes. A lack of methodological consistency among EIMD studies was a recurring finding throughout this thesis, which posed an issue when attempting to compare between-study outcomes and reach a consensus. Achieving greater uniformity in study designs by adopting comparable methods relating to EIMD markers and time-points of assessment would help improve understanding of the factors influencing the magnitude of EIMD and effective management strategies. While there are limitations with several EIMD markers – for example the variability of biomarkers and subjectivity of perceptual assessments – once the optimal markers are determined, these should be consistently used moving forward. Overall, this thesis has contributed to the current body of knowledge by demonstrating that milk protein ingestion is not an effective management strategy for muscle damage following ecologically-valid resistance exercise; therefore, alternative strategies to mitigate mild muscle damage should be investigated. Further, this work supported previous reports of sex differences in EIMD and indicated that the attenuation of EIMD in females relative to males was not attributed to sex differences in body composition; thus, the aetiology of such differences necessitates further exploration by means of high-quality sex comparative research. Finally, this thesis reached the consensus recommendation that lower exercise loads can be utilised to reduce muscle damage in males; nonetheless, supporting evidence for the application of this recommendation to females is required

    The evolution of learning and technological innovation: preparing students for successful careers

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    The chapter describes the major guiding learning theories and paradigms, and summarizes classic and recent instruction methodologies while exploring technology's impact on learning. An interesting finding is that while methods for teaching children differed from adult ones in the past, current approaches to adult learning adopt methodologies that were developed for children, such as gamification, to make learning feasible, consistent, engaging, and motivating. The chapter also reports on the findings of a case study within a UK university setting employing the flipped classroom approach. The chapter concludes by connecting learning to career sustainability in ecosystems and providing practice recommendations

    Comparative Multiple Case Study into the Teaching of Problem-Solving Competence in Lebanese Middle Schools

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    This multiple case study investigates how problem-solving competence is integrated into teaching practices in private schools in Lebanon. Its purpose is to compare instructional approaches to problem-solving across three different programs: the American (Common Core State Standards and New Generation Science Standards), French (Socle Commun de Connaissances, de Compétences et de Culture), and Lebanese with a focus on middle school (grades 7, 8, and 9). The project was conducted in nine schools equally distributed among three categories based on the programs they offered: category 1 schools offered the Lebanese program, category 2 the French and Lebanese programs, and category 3 the American and Lebanese programs. Each school was treated as a separate case. Structured observation data were collected using observation logs that focused on lesson objectives and specific cognitive problem-solving processes. The two logs were created based on a document review of the requirements for the three programs. Structured observations were followed by semi-structured interviews that were conducted to explore teachers' beliefs and understandings of problem-solving competence. The comparative analysis of within-category structured observations revealed an instruction ranging from teacher-led practices, particularly in category 1 schools, to more student-centered approaches in categories 2 and 3. The cross-category analysis showed a reliance on cognitive processes primarily promoting exploration, understanding, and demonstrating understanding, with less emphasis on planning and executing, monitoring and reflecting, thus uncovering a weakness in addressing these processes. The findings of the post-observation semi-structured interviews disclosed a range of definitions of problem-solving competence prevalent amongst teachers with clear divergences across the three school categories. This research is unique in that it compares problem-solving teaching approaches across three different programs and explores underlying teachers' beliefs and understandings of problem-solving competence in the Lebanese context. It is hoped that this project will inform curriculum developers about future directions and much-anticipated reforms of the Lebanese program and practitioners about areas that need to be addressed to further improve the teaching of problem-solving competence

    Life Satisfaction and Psychological and Physical Well-Being

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    A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section Health-Related Quality of Life and Well-Being . It showcases a review and empirical studies on life satisfaction and its related aspects. The studies are from several countries on a wide range of samples including university students, faculty, nurses, entrepreneurs, adolescents, national databases, refugees, and community samples Prof. Dr. V. K. KumarProf. Dr. Jasmin Tahmaseb-McConathaGuest Editorshttps://digitalcommons.wcupa.edu/ctsmfaculty_books/1028/thumbnail.jp

    Sustainable Futures for OA Books:The Open Book Collective

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    This article explains the need for and describes the work of the Open Book Collective (OBC). The OBC is a major output of the Community-led Open Publication Infrastructures for Monographs (COPIM) project. The collective will bring together diverse small-to-medium open access (OA) publishers, open publishing service providers, libraries, and other research institutions to create a new, mutually supportive, and interdependent community space and platform designed to sustain the future of OA book publishing. The OBC is founded upon equitable, community-led governance and helping publishers move beyond book processing charges (BPCs). Central to the functioning of the OBC is an online platform that will make it easier for libraries and other potential subscribers to compare, evaluate, and subscribe to different OA publishers and open service providers via membership packages. The OBC supports small-to-medium OA publishers by way of the COPIM philosophy of “scaling small.” This allows publishers and other members to operate sustainably and collaboratively while retaining their diverse and singular editorial missions, rather than operating from philosophies centered on economic growth, competition, and monopoly

    Citizen Science : Pathways to Impact and why Participant Diversity Matters

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    Citizen science has a problem with engaging diverse participants, with a growing number of studies showing those most marginalised in society, who could benefit most from citizen science activities, are the least likely to participate. The full implications of this lack of diversity for what citizen science can achieve remains unexplored. To do this, we reviewed the literature to create a comprehensive list of 70 proposed benefits, outcomes, and impacts of citizen science. We used this list to construct 9 pathways to impact, showing how short-term project outcomes under the themes of data, participant engagement and collaboration lead to a suite of medium- and long-term outcomes. We then explored how a lack of diversity in citizen science participants can cascade through these pathways, affecting the overall ability of citizen science to achieve its myriad potential impacts and further entrenching disparities in society. We advocate for project leaders to use a pathways to impact approach to explore how who they recruit will affect what their projects can achieve. We also call for greater imagination in exploring, testing, and sharing ways in which barriers to participation can be understood and overcome to open citizen science up to all and to achieve its potential

    Evaluating night-time light sources and correlation with socio-economic development using high-resolution multi-spectral Jilin-1 satellite imagery of Quito, Ecuador

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    Artificial light at night (ALAN) has positive and negative effects on social, economic, environmental, and ecological systems, and will increase with urban expansion. In this study, we used a multi-spectral 1.5 m resolution night-time acquisition from a Jilin-1 satellite over the city of Quito, Ecuador, to evaluate spatial lighting patterns in an expanding and topography complex-built environment. We demonstrated a requirement for robust georeferencing and orthorectification due to the complex topography, with errors on the order of 4–6 pixels (5.8–8.4 m CE95). We also quantified differences in observed brightness due to the image acquisition and local geometry. Street light type was distinguishable between high-pressure sodium (HPS) and light emitting diode (LED) sources (F1-score = 0.72–0.83) using a shark random forest decision tree approach. Additionally, street lights could be located within 10 m (F1-score = 0.71) with balanced omissions and commissions. Spatial trends revealed that the road network was the dominant source of illumination, accounting for 45% of illuminated pixels, whereas built-up areas accounted for 23%. Overall, 68% of all illuminated pixels were on or within 10 m of the road. Higher socio-economic development was associated with higher proportions of LED lighting, greater road network lighting and density of street lights, higher overall radiance for built-up areas and the road network, and greater coverage and illumination of designated green spaces. The broad impacts of ALAN mean that addressing the causes and consequences of lighting inequalities is a complex issue. Nonetheless, Jilin-1 night-time imagery offers a low-cost way to map and monitor light sources at high-resolution that will be beneficial to city-planners and progressing Sustainable Development Goals
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