Connecting Forensics and Assessment in the Twenty-First Century

A major feature of education in the twenty-first century is assessment. Forensic educators should heighten the importance of learning outcomes and utilize assessment efforts to directly measure how forensic programs develop educational foundations for students. This article focuses on the use of tournaments and noncompetitive educational outcomes, such as engagement within academic communities, service-learning, and the promotion of the value of forensics, to connect the educational benefits of the activity to help define the mission of forensics in the twenty-first century.     

Reviewing the Family Unit as a Stakeholder in Talent Development: Is It Undervalued?

As elite youth sport becomes more organized and professionalized, the role of the family is increasingly acknowledged as being significant in the development of young talent. High-profile examples across a range of professional sports, both positive and negative, have drawn attention toward this important stakeholder. Accordingly, this review first examines the key issues in relation to family involvement in talent development in relation to what is perceived as good and bad practice on behalf of the family. Next the key theoretical underpinning is considered, Family Systems Theory, and how it may be integrated within elite youth sport. Finally, the article concludes with a summary of where the current literature leaves us and where we can progress from here. Two possible inputs are suggested that could benefit the effectiveness of family involvement: a focus on the family holistically and a second on the role different family members can play.     

In search of systemic innovation for sustainable development: A design praxis emerging from a decade of social learning inquiry

Processes of designing for systemic innovation for sustainable development (SD) through the lens of three long-term case studies are reported. All case studies, which originated from the SLIM (Social Learning for the Integrated Management and Sustainable Use of Water at Catchment Scale) Project, funded within the EU Fifth Framework Program (2001–2004), constitute inquiry pathways that are explored using a critical incident approach. The initial starting conditions for each inquiry pathway are compared; significant pathway dependencies are identified which foster the development of social learning processes locally, but constrain their uptake and embedding across the wider system of interest. In the first case study, in England & Wales, promising developments in the application of social learning approaches to river basin planning over an initial 3-year period were subsequently marginalised, only to resurface towards the end of the 10-year period of study. In the second, South African case study, significant spaces for social learning and innovation in integrated water resources management were opened up over a five year period but closed down again, primarily as the result of lack of policy support by national government. The third, Italian, case study was designed to assess options for adapting to climate change by opening up new learning spaces between researchers, stakeholders and policy makers. A case for investing in local level systemic innovation through social-learning praxis design approaches and in learning processes around well contextualised case-studies is supported. However, concomitant investment by policy makers in social learning as an alternative, but complementary, governance mechanism for systemic innovation for SD is needed.     

Effect of time of day on perceived exertion at work rates above and below the ventilatory threshold

The effect of time of day on ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) at various intensities of cycling exercise, both below and above the ventilatory threshold, was studied in 32 subjects, 18 to 35 years of age. The ventilatory threshold occurred at the same (p greater than .05) mean (+/- SD) work rate in the morning (110.6 +/- 27.0 watts) and in the afternoon (111.9 +/- 23.9 watts) and was perceived as equally strenuous (p greater than .05) in the morning (RPE = 13.8 +/- 2.4) and in the afternoon (RPE = 13.6 +/- 2.8). At intensities below the ventilatory threshold, RPE was the same (p greater than .05) in the morning and in the afternoon; above the ventilatory threshold, RPE was lower (p less than .05) in the morning. We conclude that, during incremental submaximal cycling exercise above the ventilatory threshold, a particular work rate is perceived as less strenuous in the morning than in the afternoon. About 20% of this difference in RPE is explained by lower ventilatory demands in the morning.     

On the Shapley value and its application to the Italian VQR research assessment exercise

Research assessment exercises have now become common evaluation tools in a number of countries. These exercises have the goal of guiding merit-based public funds allocation, stimulating improvement of research productivity through competition and assessing the impact of adopted research support policies. One case in point is Italy's most recent research assessment effort, VQR 2011–2014 (Research Quality Evaluation), which, in addition to research institutions, also evaluated university departments, and individuals in some cases (i.e., recently hired research staff and members of PhD committees). However, the way an institution's score was divided, according to VQR rules, between its constituent departments or its staff members does not enjoy many desirable properties well known from coalitional game theory (e.g., budget balance, fairness, marginality). We propose, instead, an alternative score division rule that is based on the notion of Shapley value, a well known solution concept in coalitional game theory, which enjoys the desirable properties mentioned above. For a significant test case (namely, Sapienza University of Rome, the largest university in Italy), we present a detailed comparison of the scores obtained, for substructures and individuals, by applying the official VQR rules, with those resulting from Shapley value computations. We show that there are significant differences in the resulting scores, making room for improvements in the allocation rules used in research assessment exercises.     

Authorship analysis of specialized vs diversified research output

The present work investigates the relations between amplitude and type of collaboration (intramural, extramural domestic or international) and output of specialized versus diversified research. By specialized or diversified research, we mean within or beyond the author’s dominant research topic. The field of observation is the scientific production over five years from about 23,500 academics. The analyses are conducted at the aggregate and disciplinary level. The results lead to the conclusion that in general, the output of diversified research is no more frequently the fruit of collaboration than is specialized research. At the level of the particular collaboration types, international collaborations weakly underlie the specialized kind of research output; on the contrary, extramural domestic and intramural collaborations are weakly associated with diversified research. While the weakness of association remains, exceptions are observed at the level of the individual disciplines.     

Development and initial validation of the Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence Questionnaire

The development of talent is a complex process mediated by a host of psychological, social, physical, and environmental variables. Unfortunately, the multiple processes involved in talent development are frequently ignored by the systems and protocols employed in sport. Modern approaches to talent development are beginning to stress the initial possession, then subsequent development, of generic psychological characteristics (e.g. psychological characteristics of developing excellence; MacNamara, Button, & Collins, 2010a , 2010b ) as the best way to realize latent potential. Accordingly, this paper describes the development and initial validation of the Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence Questionnaire (PCDEQ). In the first phase, an initial list of 160 items was developed. A combination of expert panel reviews, cognitive interviews, and a pilot test was used to assess the relevance, representativeness, and validity of each item. Ninety-six items were retained following these steps. Exploratory factor analysis, with a sample of 363 athletes, revealed an interpretable 59-item, 6-factor solution with good internal consistency (0.870, 0.866, 0.847, 0.741, 0.749, and 0.701 respectively). The Psychological Characteristics of Developing Excellence Questionnaire would appear to hold promise as a useful tool to provide coaches and athletes with information about the psychological characteristics of developing excellence that are being properly addressed or neglected during different stages of development or in different contexts.