Patterns of Participation in Higher Education in England: A Statistical Summary and Commentary

The purpose of this paper is to identify features of participation in higher education which are distinctive to the situation in England and which have exercised an important influence on the shift to mass forms of higher education in that country. Statistical comparisons are made with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which indicate considerable variations in the levels, patterns and profiles of participation in each territory. At the same time, some limitations and cautions are voiced about the use of official statistics for this purpose, especially where data collection has been the responsibility of separate departments and different agencies.     

Publishers and technology: Face to face

Roundtables on Enabling Technology for the New Media sponsored by the Association of American Publishers, July 30, 1996. Christopher Burns is President of Christopher Burns, Inc., a research and consulting company specializing in business planning for information and media industries.     

Incremental Relevance Feedback in Japanese Text Retrieval

The application of relevance feedback techniques has been shown to improve retrieval performance for a number of information retrieval tasks. This paper explores incremental relevance feedback for ad hoc Japanese text retrieval; examining, separately and in combination, the utility of term reweighting and query expansion using a probabilistic retrieval model. Retrieval performance is evaluated in terms of standard precision-recall measures, and also using number-to-view graphs. Experimental results, on the standard BMIR-J2 Japanese language retrieval collection, show that both term reweighting and query expansion improve retrieval performance. This is reflected in improvements in both precision and recall, but also a reduction in the average number of documents which must be viewed to find a selected number of relevant items. In particular, using a simple simulation of user searching, incremental application of relevance information is shown to lead to progressively improved retrieval performance and an overall reduction in the number of documents that a user must view to find relevant ones.     

Early Learning in CRESPAR

The goal of the Center for Research on the Education of Students Placed At Risk (CRESPAR) Early Learning program is to ensure that young children reach the 1st grade with the necessary skills and competencies to be effective learners. This goal has been accomplished by 2 integrated areas of research. One area of research focuses on the development of effective practices that promote the development of language and literacy skills in young children. A 2nd area of research examines the systemic issues regarding school policies and teachers' beliefs and expectations that affect classroom practices. Over the past 5 years, the CRESPAR Early Learning Program has been conducting research in these areas, which has added to our understanding of how children learn and what teachers think that they can learn.     

Boys’ Underachievement: issues,challenges and possible ways forward

This article considers the issue of boys’ perceived lack of achievement at 16 and the context within which this issue has developed. In addition to conducting a review of relevant literature concerned with boys’ achievement, case study research was carried out in three comprehensive schools in the Midlands, taking the form of interviews with one senior member of staff from each school with a specific responsibility for boys’ achievement. The purpose of the interviews was to consider how different schools perceived the issue of boys’ underachievement and to examine the strategies employed by each to combat it. The discussion of the research indicates some significant factors affecting the ways in which boys identify themselves as being ‘male’ and which may influence their behaviour and attitudes towards school and towards their peers. The authors attempt to place the issue of boys’ underachievement into a wider social context and consider other factors which may have a bearing on the issue. The authors then attempt to relate the experiences of these three schools, and their other research, to the national picture and suggest ways in which teachers nationally may take steps to address the issue of boys’ underachievement within their own schools.     

Inter-segmental coordination in progressions for the longswing on high bar

Abstract

The aim of this study was to determine if critical parameters for elite performance could be identified among a population of female shot putters. The performance of seven of the top women shot putters competing at the 2002 USA National Championships was examined. Video data were captured using two Panasonic 60 Hz cameras and the best throws of each athlete were digitized and analyzed using a Peak Motus three‐dimensional motion analysis system. Thirty variables were examined for their effect on the distance of the throw. Correlation analysis indicated that measured distance was positively correlated with release speed (r = 0.97, p < 0.0003) and shoulder‐hip separation (r = 0.72, p < 0.06) and negatively correlated with release angle (r = ‐0.74, p < 0.056), rear knee angle at rear foot touchdown (r = ‐0.93, p < 0.003) and rear knee angle at release (r = ‐0.76, p < 0.047). Greater knee flexion angle at both rear foot touch down and release along with a neutral shoulder‐hip angle at release were identified as the most critical parameters for success among this sample of elite women shot putters. The unique observation about the knee positions at specific events should assist in new training and coaching developments.     

The influence of the vaulting table on the handspring front somersault

The traditional “horse” was replaced by a new vaulting “table” in artistic gymnastics competitions in 2001.The aim of this study was to determine whether the table led to a change in vaulting technique. This was achieved by comparing three-dimensional video-based analyses (50 Hz) of selected biomechanical discrete and continuous variables across four elite male gymnasts performing a series of handspring front somersault vaults on the traditional horse and the new table. Individual joint and inter-segment coupling (continuous relative phase) were used to quantify techniques used on the two apparatuses. Differences were attributed in part to the design and construction of the new table. No differences were observed for the approach and take-off from the board. Significant differences in hip flexion at board take-off and strike angle on the table were observed. One of the effects of the latter was an increase in vertical take-off velocity compared with the horse. Individual strategies were observed in hip and shoulder coordination patterns that were obscured when group data were considered. Close monitoring of the evolution of skill on this new apparatus is paramount for gymnastics coaching, and further studies of current elite competitive vaulting techniques are required.     

Influence of longswing technique on the kinematics and key release parameters of the straddle Tkachev on uneven bars

Tkachev on uneven bars is a release and re-grasp skill performed using variations of preparatory longswing techniques; the reasons why different techniques are chosen remains unclear. This study examined kinematic and key release parameters specific to three distinct techniques with the aim of understanding the relative benefits of each. During two international artistic gymnastics competitions six arch, straddle and pike longswings preceding the straddle Tkachev were recorded using twin video cameras. Calibration and movement images were digitised and reconstructed using 3D DLT. Shoulder and hip angular kinematics, angular momentum and key release parameters were compared between techniques. In the arch longswing, the first and second hip functional phases began significantly earlier than the straddle or pike. No significant differences were established for release parameters although large effect sizes for horizontal release velocity and angular momenta about the mass centre and bar were reported between the arch and other two variants. Therefore, the arch variant may provide the opportunity to develop more complex combinations following the Tkachev. Providing insight into mechanical advantages of specific longswing techniques, and highlighting those that elicit desirable characteristics offers the potential to provide coaches with objective data on technique selection and ultimately skill development.