The general election in the UK, May 2005

At the 2005 general election in the UK, held on 5 May, the Labour Party won an historically unprecedented third victory in a row, and, correspondingly, the Conservative Party suffered its third defeat in a row. In total, 62 seats changed hands, and, as all three major parties experienced both some success and some failure, the election results were curiously ambivalent

How to experimentally measure the number 5 of the SO(5) theory?

According to Wilson's theory of critical phenomena, critical exponents are universal functions of $d$, the dimension of space, and $n$, the dimension of the symmetry group. SO(5) theory of antiferromagnetism and superconductivity predicts a bicritical point where $T_N$ and $T_c$ intersect. By measuring critical exponents close to the bicritical point, and knowing that $d=3$, one can experimentally measure the number 5 of the SO(5) theory.Comment: Invited talk at the M2S conference in Housto

Next Step: State Funding for the Parties?

The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 marked the most comprehensive and radical overhaul of British party finance for over 100 years. It instituted reforms in many areas, with the notable exception of the comprehensive extension of state funding for political parties. However, despite the radicalism of the Act, questions have already arisen as to whether further state funding should occur. This article argues that in order to examine the case for more comprehensive state funding, policy–makers need to look beyond the current calls and make a decision by evaluating several criteria on the basis of empirical evidence rather than assumptions. First, however, it is worth outlining the stage we are at presently by summarising the new Act, looking at its impact to date and examining the claims made in recent episodes which have led to calls for more comprehensive state funding of political parties

Small kingdoms and crumbling organizations: Examining the variation in constituency party membership and resources

The 'revisionist school' of party campaigning in Britain has successfully demonstrated the importance of party members (see, for example, Denver and Hands, 1997; Johnston and Pattie, 1995; and Seyd and Whiteley, 1992). We have, however, much less information about the size and resources of local constituency parties. This article reports data collected during the Committee on Standards in Public Life's investigations into party finance. The aim of the survey was to gain an impression of the resources and expenditure of local parties in a manner similar to the investigations undertaken during the Houghton Committee's investigations in the 1970s. The article then analyses predictors of local party strength

Beware the Meta-Analysis: Is Multiple Set Training Really Better than Single-Set Training for Muscle Hypertrophy?

While many individuals perform resistance training with the purpose of increasing the size of their muscles, reviews have not clarified a training prescription for optimizing hypertrophy. A 2010 meta-analysis concluded that multiple set training resulted in greater hypertrophic gains compared to single set training. However, while the use of meta-analysis in exercise physiology is well documented, there is sufficient reason to be cautious when applying a single statistic acquired by combining multiple studies and the relevant effect sizes (ES). This paper reviews the articles included within the 2010 meta-analysis. In particular, the differences in subject training experience, gender, and clinical condition, the training frequency, the intervention duration, the repetition duration used, and the method of measuring hypertrophy, as well as other variables that appear not to have been considered are discussed in this paper. The substantial limitations in comparing or grouping these articles suggest that the meta-analysis cannot be used to support the conclusion that multiple sets produce greater hypertrophic gains than single set training

Attitudes toward and preferences for male and female personal trainers

Previous research has considered the perceptions of athletes towards gender of coach and strength and conditioning coach. However, to date there appears little research considering the perceptions of clients towards gender of personal trainer. The purpose of this study was to investigate male and females perceptions of same- or opposite-gender personal trainers. Four hundred and two (male = 201, female = 201) undergraduate University student participants completed an adapted version of the Attitudes of Athletes toward Male versus Female Coaches Questionnaire (AAMFCQ; 23). A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that neither males nor females showed any preference for gender of hypothetical personal trainer (p > 0.05) although both males and females reported that a personal trainer of the opposite gender might make it harder to concentrate (p < 0.05). Previous research has reported a preference for male coaches/strength and conditioning coaches from both male and female athletes. However, this study suggests that there is no such gender bias towards personal trainers in this population