Uneducating South Africa: The failure to address the 1910–1993 legacy

This paper analyses various data on the South African schooling system since 1910. The data collected for the study cover a wide range of education indicators, from pupil enrolments, pupil teacher ratios, real expenditure (aggregate and per capita), matriculation pass rates, to some indicators of the quality of matriculation passes. The authors provide an indication of both inputs into and outputs of the educational system. In broad terms, the data indicate that from an educational perspective South Africa followed a modernisation trajectory that, although it drew ever larger numbers of pupils into the schooling system, was partial, distorted and fundamentally dysfunctional. The educational process was strongly affected by racial factors. To the extent that education is an important determinant of long run growth performance of economies, this implies that South Africa's educational policies were inimical to its long run growth.     

Auto detecting deliveries in elite cricket fast bowlers using microsensors and machine learning

ABSTRACT

Cricket fast bowlers are at a high risk of injury occurrence, which has previously been shown to be correlated to bowling workloads. This study aimed to develop and test an algorithm that can automatically, reliably and accurately detect bowling deliveries. Inertial sensor data from a Catapult OptimEye S5 wearable device was collected from both national and international level fast bowlers (n = 35) in both training and matches, at various intensities. A machine-learning based approach was used to develop the algorithm. Outputs were compared with over 20,000 manually recorded events. A high Matthews correlation coefficient (r = 0.945) showed very good agreement between the automatically detected bowling deliveries and manually recorded ones. The algorithm was found to be both sensitive and specific in training (96.3%, 98.3%) and matches (99.6%, 96.9%), respectively. Rare falsely classified events were typically warm-up deliveries or throws preceded by a run. Inertial sensors data processed by a machine-learning based algorithm provide a valid tool to automatically detect bowling events, whilst also providing the opportunity to look at performance metrics associated with fast bowling. This offers the possibility to better monitor bowling workloads across a range of intensities to mitigate injury risk potential and maximise performance.     

Making sense in education: Deleuze on thinking against common sense

According to a widespread view, one of the most important roles of education is the nurturing of common sense. In this article I turn to Gilles Deleuze’s concept of sense to develop a contrary view of education—one that views education as a radical challenge to common sense. The discussion will centre on the relation of sense and common sense to thinking. Although adherents of common sense refer to it as the basis of all thought and appeal to critical thinking as instrumental in eliminating its occasional errors, I shall argue, following Deleuze, that common sense education in fact thwarts thinking, while only education which revolves around making sense may provoke thinking that goes beyond the self-evident. I demonstrate how making sense can become an educational encounter that breaks hierarchies and generates thinking independently of the thinker’s knowledge and place in the sociopolitical order. The present article attempts, therefore, to put some sense into Deleuzian education for thinking, and thereby shed new light on its radical-political, counter-commonsensical power.     

Stepwise reductions in US density and intensity: Maintenance and extinction of conditioned suppression

Information was sought on how the strength of fear, acquired and extinguished in a classical conditioning paradigm, might be affected by certain of the circumstances that normally are associated with the course of avoidance learning. Following preconditioning exposures to the conditioned stimulus, one group of rats (Group PRF) was given continuous conditioned stimulus-unconditioned stimulus (CS-US) acquisition trials followed by stepwise reductions in US probability (given the CS) over three phases to about 11% for the final phase. Another group, Group US(lo), was given continuous CS-US pairings throughout, but, following acquisition, received stepwise reductions in US intensity (to permit evaluation of a progressively changing feature of the US over a wide range without having to employ excessive shock) over the same phases. A third group, Group US(hi), received unchanging (from acquisition) CS-US pairings over these phases, and an explicitly unpaired control group (Group RU) was included. Although outcomes differed somewhat depending upon whether suppression ratios or absolute measures of responding were considered, the major findings were that suppression to the CS was complete by the end of acquisition and persisted thereafter throughout the three phases for all but control subjects. In contrast to Group US(lo), which showed relatively little resistance to extinction of suppression to subsequent CS-only exposures, Groups US(hi) and PRF displayed marked resistance over two separate, extended sets of extinction sessions. Suppression to context cues was pronounced only for Groups US(hi) and RU, and varied as a function of US parameters and not whether the shocks were or were not signaled. Theoretical reconciliation of these findings was most difficult for Groun PRF.     

Does Augmented Visual Feedback from Novel,Multicolored, Three-Dimensional-Printed Teeth Affect Dental Students' Acquisition of Manual Skills?

Although three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is increasingly used in dental education, its application regarding the provision of online visual augmented feedback has not been tested. Thus, this study aimed to: (1) develop two generations of multicolored 3D-printed teeth that provide visual augmented feedback for students conducting the cavity preparation process, (2) assess students' clinical performance after training on the 3D models, and (3) acquire student feedback. For the first-generation model, augmented feedback was obtained from five 3D-printed teeth models for five cavity preparation procedures. Each model comprised three layers printed in green, yellow, and red indicating whether preparation was acceptable, limited, or unacceptable, respectively. The study used a crossover design in which the experimental group trained on five multicolored models and 10 standard plastic teeth, and the control group trained on 15 standard plastic teeth. Students gave positive feedback of the methodology but complained about the printed material's hardness. Therefore, a second-generation model was developed: the model's occlusal plane was replaced with a harder printed acrylic material, and the experiment was repeated. During training, instructors provided external terminal feedback only for performance on standard plastic teeth. Manual grades for cavity preparations on standard plastic teeth were compared. No significant differences were found between the control and experimental groups in both generations' models. However, less instructor time was needed, and similar clinical results were obtained after training with both generations. Thus, multicolored 3D-printed teeth models promote self-learning during the process of acquiring manual skills and reduce student dependency on instructors.     

Reliability of a combined biomechanical and surface electromyographical analysis system during dynamic barbell squat exercise

An analysis system for barbell weightlifting exercises is proposed to record reliable performance and neuromuscular responses. The system consists of surface electromyography (sEMG) synchronized with electrogoniometry and a barbell position transducer. The purpose of this study was to establish the reliability of the three components of the system. Nine males (age 28.9 ± 4.8 years, mass 85.7 ± 15.1 kg) performed squat exercise at three loads on three separate trial days. A data acquisition and software system processed maximal knee angle (flexion), mean power for the concentric phase of squat exercise, and normalized root mean square of the vastus lateralis. Inter-trial coefficients of variation for each variable were calculated as 5.3%, 7.8%, and 7.5% respectively. In addition, knee joint motion and barbell displacement were significantly related to each other (bar displacement (m) = 1.39-0.0057 × knee angle (degress), with goodness-of-fit value, r2 = 0.817), suggesting knee goniometry alone can represent the kinematics of a multi-joint squat exercise. The proven reliability of the three components of this system allows for real-time monitoring of resistance exercise using the preferred training methods of athletes, which could be valuable in the understanding of the neuromuscular response of elite strength training methods.     

The Digital Shift:How eBooks and e-Content Are Changing Readers and Libraries

电子书和电子阅读的出现及快速普及使图书馆界面临着挑战、挫折和机遇等不确定性因素,电子书生态系统和整个图书生态系统也在发生变化。笔者参加美国图书馆协会开展的有关数字内容以及向电子书转变这一进程如何改变图书馆等重要问题的研究,与多家出版商进行会谈,并对数字资源和电子书的使用情况进行调研。法律问题仍然是数字领域最重要的问题。在数字资源和电子书利用中,信息获取是最重要的问题之一。美国公共图书馆也积极采取策略应对各种变化和挑战,并始终坚持其发展目标,即在提高民众受教育水平、培养对阅读的喜爱以及保证公民的知情权方面发挥重要作用。此外,开放获取、版权和合理使用的法律裁决、美国数字公共图书馆、全球化知识获取的潜在可能性等问题是目前美国图书馆界讨论的热点话题。