Multitasking With TV: Media Technology,Genre, and Audience Influences

This study explored how media technologies, TV content genres, and demographic and trait individual differences influence the amount of media multitasking while viewing TV, or “second screen viewing,” among college undergraduates. A dual structural and audience factor approach examines influences on multitasking while viewing TV, and a limited capacity theory guides an examination of the effect of TV genre on multitasking while viewing. Survey data reveal that media technology access, sex, age, trait immersive tendency, and multitasking preference predict greater multitasking and that individuals are most likely to multitask during sports content and least likely to during dramatic content.     

Teenage girls' perceptions of the functions of relationally aggressive behaviors

Adolescent girls reported on their experiences both as perpetrators and as victims of several distinct forms of relational aggression. Details of these incidents were gathered from 114 ethnically diverse ninth and tenth graders via a secure online survey. The frequency with which girls perpetrated or were targeted for particular acts of relational aggression was assessed and, based on the responses, a computer program randomly selected one item (i.e., gossip, ignoring, or exclusion) for which each girl was asked to recall a specific experience and answer follow‐up questions. Perceptions of the goals and functions of specific relationally aggressive acts were assessed, as well as how the perpetrator or victim felt at the time of the incident. Ignoring or “giving the silent treatment” appeared to be a unique form of relational aggression inasmuch as the girls perceived different motives, or functions, for ignoring compared with gossip and exclusion and felt worse at the time of the ignoring incident, both when they were reporting as aggressors and as victims. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Who likes math where? Gender differences in eighth-graders’ attitudes around the world

Some of the most male-dominated science, technology, engineering and mathematics occupations and degree programmes are found in the world’s most affluent societies. This article assesses whether gender gaps in attitudes follow similarly surprising patterns. Multivariate analysis of eighth-graders’ affinity for mathematics and aspirations for mathematically related jobs in 53 countries shows that the attitudinal gender gap is indeed larger in affluent ‘postmaterialist’ societies. Moreover, both girls and boys view mathematics more negatively in these societies. The authors suggest that cultural ideals of individual self-expression, highly prevalent under conditions of broad-based existential security, operate to reduce girls’ and boys’ interest in pursuits thought to be economically practical but personally non-expressive. Girls may be particularly susceptible to this negative effect, because taken-for-granted cultural beliefs about core female personality traits (and girls’ gendered understandings of their own authentic inner selves) are often at odds with dominant representations of mathematical and technical work.     

Theory and Passion in Action Research

The starting point for this article is Polanyi's insight that learning involves the personal participation of the knower in taking possession of knowledge, and that this process ‘takes place within a flow of passion’. Somekh pays tribute to Elliott's role in her own intellectual development, as her tutor while she was still a teacher, and later as her colleague. The article focuses on the contribution of the articles published in Educational Action Research, during its first 10 years, under the title of ‘Theoretical Resources’. The contested nature of this title is discussed and illuminated through an exploration of Elliott's writing about teachers' knowledge and the role of both theory and practice in theory generation. Somekh argues for the importance of intellectual engagement with ideas and theories through passionate participation within a ‘personalised and contextualised reality’ – she sees this process as akin to Elliott's notion of action research as a process which ‘problematises the ideas of theorists’.     

Investigating the effectiveness of gamification on supply chain operations knowledge and practice

The use of gamification to enhance learning in education has been well documented. However, little is known about whether gamification can impact supply chain management knowledge and behaviors among healthcare professionals. In this study, we tested the effectiveness of a simulation app (ShipShape) designed and developed to gamify the fundamental concepts of supply chain management. We field tested the effectiveness of the app to impact knowledge gain and supply chain practice by asking healthcare professionals to use the app in their day-to-day operations. We collected longitudinal data spanning the period before and after the introduction of the app. The analysis and results of different types of data collected provide support for the positive impact of the app on both supply chain knowledge and practice among healthcare professionals.     

Affective responses to an aerobic dance class: the impact of perceived performance

The current study tests the mastery hypothesis as an explanation for the affective benefits of acute exercise. Participants were 204 undergraduate women who were participating in self-selected aerobic dance classes. Following the class, participants were asked to rate their exercise performance on a 5-point, Likert-type scale. Affect questionnaires were completed prior to and at 5 and 20 min following the aerobic dance class. Results indicated an overall improvement in affect following exercise. Negative valenced subscales were unaffected by performance ratings. Both groups showed similar reductions in these states. There was, however, a significant Group x Time interaction for the positive valenced subscales. High-performance participants reported greater increase in these variables throughout recovery than did low-performance participants. These data support the mastery hypothesis as an explanation for the exercise-induced change in positive affective states.     

Predictors of multiple injuries in individual distance runners: A retrospective study of 75,401 entrants in 4 annual races–SAFER XX

BackgroundThere are limited data on factors that predict an increased risk of multiple injuries among distance runners. The objective of this study was to determine risk factors that are predictive of individual runners with a high annual multiple injury risk (MIR).MethodsA retrospective, cross-sectional study at 4 annual (2012–2015) Two Oceans 21.1 km and 56.0 km races in South Africa with 75,401 consenting race entrants. Running-related injury data were collected retrospectively through an online pre-race medical screening questionnaire. The average number of injuries for each runner every year was calculated by taking a runner''s race entry history and injury history into account and categorizing entrants into 4 MIR categories (high, intermediate, low, and very low (reference)). Multiple logistic regression modeling (odds ratios) was used to determine whether the following factors were predictive of a high MIR (average > 1 injury/year): demographics, training and racing, chronic-disease history (composite chronic disease score (CCDS)), and history of allergies.ResultsOf all entrants, 9.2% reported at least 1 injury, and 0.4% of entrants were in the high MIR category; the incidence rate was 2.5 injuries per 10 runner-years (95% confidence interval (95%CI): 2.4–2.7). Significant factors predictive of runners in the high MIR category were: running for > 20 years: OR = 2.0 (95%CI: 1.3–3.1; p = 0.0010); a higher CCDS: OR = 2.2 (95%CI: 2.0–2.4; p < 0.0001); and a history of allergies: OR = 2.8 (95%CI: 2.0–3.8; p < 0.0001).ConclusionRunners who have been running recreationally for > 20 years and those with multiple chronic diseases or a history of allergies were at higher risk of multiple running-related injuries. This high-risk group can be targeted for further study and possible injury-prevention interventions.     

Open access and predatory publishing: a survey of the publishing practices of academic pharmacists and nurses in the United States

Objective:Academics are under great pressure to publish their research, the rewards for which are well known (tenure, promotion, grant funding, professional prestige). As open access publishing gains acceptance as a publishing option, researchers may choose a “predatory publisher.” The purpose of this study is to investigate the motivations and rationale of pharmacy and nursing academics in the United States to publish in open access journals that may be considered “predatory.”Methods:A 26-item questionnaire was programmed in Qualtrics and distributed electronically to approximately 4,500 academic pharmacists and nurses, 347 of whom completed questionnaires (~8%). Pairwise correlations were performed followed by a logistic regression to evaluate statistical associations between participant characteristics and whether participants had ever paid an article processing fee (APF).Results:Participants who had published more articles, were more familiar with predatory publishing, and who were more concerned about research metrics and tenure were more likely to have published in open access journals. Moderate to high institutional research intensity has an impact on the likelihood of publishing open access. The majority of participants who acknowledged they had published in a predatory journal took no action after realizing the journal was predatory and reported no negative impact on their career for having done so.ConclusionThe results of this study provide data and insight into publication decisions made by pharmacy and nursing academics. Gaining a better understanding of who publishes in predatory journals and why can help address the problems associated with predatory publishing at the root.