Fatigue and Recovery from Dynamic Contractions in Men and Women Differ for Arm and Leg Muscles

Introduction: Whether there is a gender difference in fatigue and recovery from maximal velocity fatiguing contractions and across muscles is not understood. Methods: Sixteen men and 19 women performed 90 isotonic contractions at maximal voluntary shortening velocity (maximal velocity concentric contractions, MVCC) with the elbow flexor and knee extensor muscles (separate days) at a load equivalent to 20% maximal voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC). Results: Power (from MVCCs) decreased similarly for men and women for both muscles (P \u3e 0.05). Men and women had similar declines in MVIC of elbow flexors, but men had greater reductions in knee extensor MVIC force and MVIC electromyogram activity than women (P \u3c 0.05). The decline in MVIC and power was greater, and force recovery was slower for the elbow flexors compared with knee extensors. Conclusions: The gender difference in muscle fatigue often observed during isometric tasks was diminished during fast dynamic contractions for upper and lower limb muscles

Home

Tom Hunter in conversation with Robert Elms to discuss the notion of 'Home' in relation to location and means of representation in photography and art. The discussion spans Hunter's work during the past twenty years, from his graduation from the London College of Printing in 1994 to the present day, focusing on his new book 'Le Crowbar' and the accompanying exhibition 'Life in the Road', which was shown in the London College of Communication Upper Street Gallery from February 2014

Report. Robert Boyle for the twenty-first century

In recent years, major steps have been taken in terms of understanding and exploiting the vast archive of Robert Boyle (1627-91), which was presented to The Royal Society in 1769. The collection was first catalogued in the 1980s; since then, it has been extensively used in preparing the definitive editions of Boyle's Works (14 vols, 1999-2000) and Correspondence (6 vols, 2001), both published by Pickering & Chatto, and the edition of his 'workdiaries', which has been available online since 2001. Now, thanks to a generous grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, various steps have been taken to enhance access to the archive--particularly by electronic means, and especially through the provision of high-quality digitized images of its key components--and thus to increase understanding of Boyle and his significance for the origins of modern science. The project, entitled 'Robert Boyle for the twenty-first century', is a joint initiative between Birkbeck (University of London), The Royal Society and Access to Archives. It has three main components: first, the revision of the catalogue of the Boyle archive and its presentation in online, searchable form; second, the creation of digitized images of the entire content of the core volumes of the Boyle Papers and the publication of these on the World Wide Web, some as illustrations to an updated edition of the workdiaries; and third, the provision of introductory material on Boyle aimed at schools on the Boyle website at Birkbeck

Selected issues for closing the income gaps between Indigenous and other Australians, 2001-11

This paper charts recent changes in personal and household income by combining the first release census data for 2011 with community profiles for Indigenous and other households from the 2001 and 2006 Censuses. Changes in household size and housing cost are also explored in order to appreciate some of the changing pressures on family resources. Image: breahn / flick

Local Maxima of Quadratic Boolean Functions

How many strict local maxima can a real quadratic function on $\{0,1\}^n$ have? Holzman conjectured a maximum of $n \choose \lfloor n/2 \rfloor$. The aim of this paper is to prove this conjecture. Our approach is via a generalization of Sperner's theorem that may be of independent interest.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur