Sport competition as a dynamical self-organizing system

The existence of structure in sport competition is implicated in the widespread practice of using the information gathered from a past contest to prepare for a future contest. Based on this reasoning, we previously analysed squash match-play for evidence of signature traits from among the stochastic relations between the various types of shot. The mixed findings from these analyses led us to re-analyse squash match-play as a dynamical system. Here, we extend this line of investigation with some suggestions as to how various sports might be described further within this theoretical framework. We offer some examples of dynamical interactions in dyadic (i.e. one vs one) and team (e.g. many vs many) sports, as well as some predictions from a dynamical systems analysis for these types of sports contests. This paper should serve to initiate further research into the complex interactions that occur in sport competition.     

The useful archive

Archives have historically been remote and inaccessible, but the Internet wrests the archive from a passive role for custodians into an active role for publishers and readers. This paper examines the implications of a networked archive on archiving, reading, publishing, and access.     

Children’s book-reading habits: A new criterion for literacy

Conclusion No reasonable person could argue against learning to read. The point of this article is that learning to read is not just a matter of mastering a few simple skills, nor is literacy just a matter of passing a reading test. Learning to read must involve acquiring the reading habit. Literacy must be viewed as the regular exercise of reading skills through reading books. The time-honored reasons why children should read books are now bolstered and supplemented by new research evidence that book reading can make a unique and powerful contribution to children's reading development. Our society, then, must provide all possible encouragement and opportunity for children to read books. Access to books is a necessary condition for becoming a good reader. Reading itself is the key to literacy. Helping America's children build lifelong reading habits must now be regarded as a true national priority. Education…has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading —George Macaulay Trevelyan, English Social History Good habits gather by unseen degrees—As brooks make rivers, rivers run to seas. —John Dryden, Ovid, Metamorphoses Professor Richard C. Anderson is the center's director. Their research assistant