Utilizing mythic criticism in contemporary narrative culture: Examining the “present‐absence” of shadow archetypes in spider‐man

This paper conducts a reading of the popular film Spider‐Man by examining the use of shadow archetypes in the portrayal of the Green Goblin. The Gram Goblin character provides a complex representation of villainy in a modem popular narrative. Utilizing cultural definitions of shadow in mythology, this paper discerns that the Goblin incorporates two traditional portals of access to the shadow, the mirror and the mask. These two symbols allow the audience access to the shadow, but at the same time allow the shadow to remain elusive. Ultimately, I argue for the use of polysemic analysis, particularly hermeneutic depth, in mythological criticism. By positioning mythic criticism as a way of understanding polysemy in contemporary narrative, we are able to ascertain patterns of mythic context rather than mythological retellings in narratives.     

Innovation intermediaries and collaboration: Knowledge–based practices and internal value creation

This paper analyses how knowledge-based practices adopted by innovation intermediaries enable them to generate value for themselves when collaborating with their clients. While the literature focuses on value creation for their client organisations, little is known about how innovation intermediaries create internal value even though this is essential for ensuring their long-term survival and sustaining their key facilitating role in the innovation system. This understudied issue is explored using empirical evidence from a sub-set of innovation intermediaries, Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs). The results indicate that by capitalising on existing knowledge vested in employees and collaborators as well as understanding and shaping the knowledge base of the innovation ecosystem, innovation intermediaries generate internal value from their involvement in collaborative innovation, which range from different financial to non-financial types of value. Implications for intermediaries, their collaborators and for policymakers are then discussed.     

Protection from motorcycle neck–braces using FE modelling

In road and off-road motorcycle accidents, neck injury often has a catastrophic outcome if not fatal. To protect motorcyclists’ necks, a number of neck–braces are available on the market. The level of protection from these systems is not well reported because of the absence of an accepted neck-loading evaluation standard. The present study proposed a numerical evaluation for the neck–brace to protect the neck. Twenty-four impacts with and without the brace were simulated by changing impact angles and initial impact velocities. For each simulation, the vertical force, the extension moment, and the normalized neck injury criterion were calculated. Results showed that the risk of AIS 3?+?neck injury was reduced by the neck–brace on average by 39 and 13% at 5.5 and 6.5 m/s, respectively, when the normalized neck injury criterion was considered; however, for impact velocities, above 6.5 m/s, the neck–brace was not as efficient in reducing overall neck injury risk.     

The development of affective subscales to reflect variation in students' experiences of studying mathematics in higher education

The focus of this paper is on the isolation and modelling of a set of affective sources of variation in student learning that seem specific to the discipline of mathematics. Such affective sources contribute to developing a more comprehensive discipline-specific model of student learning that can provide information about individual students, and the context of their learning engagement, in terms that are sufficiently specific for counselling and other forms of teacher-based interventions. The first part of the paper describes the development of conceptually discrete subscales to represent these sources of variation, and their associated psychometric properties. These subscales constitute the Experiences of Studying Mathematics Inventory (ESMI). The second part describes a field trialling of the ESMI subscales to test their sensitivity to influences and learning outcomes within a particular context of first year mathematics studies.     

Examining the Motivation of Health Profession Students to Study Human Anatomy

Students' motivation is a vital determinant of academic performance that is influenced by the learning environment. This study aimed to assess and analyze the motivation subscales between different cohorts (chiropractic, dental, medical) of anatomy students (n = 251) and to investigate if these subscales had an effect on the students' anatomy performance. A 31-item survey, the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire was utilized, covering items on intrinsic and extrinsic goal orientation, task value, control of learning belief, self-efficiency for learning and performance, and test anxiety. First-year dental students were significantly more anxious than chiropractic students. Second-year chiropractic students attached more value to anatomy education than second-year medical students. The outcome of this research demonstrated a significant relationship between first- and second-year chiropractic students between anatomy performance and motivation subscales controlling for gender such as self-efficacy for learning and performance was (β = 8, CI: 5.18–10.8, P < 0.001) and (β = 6.25, CI: 3.40–9.10, P < 0.001) for first year and second year, respectively. With regards to intrinsic goal orientation, it was (β = 4.02, CI: 1.19–6.86, P = 0.006) and (β = 5.38, CI: 2.32–8.44, P = 0.001) for first year and second year, respectively. For the control of learning beliefs, it was (β = 3.71, 95% CI: 0.18–7.25, P = 0.04) and (β = 3.07, CI: 0.03–6.12, P = 0.048) for first year and second year, respectively. Interventions aimed at improving these motivation subscales in students could boost their anatomy performance.     

The effect of westward travel across five time zones on sleep and subjective jet-lag ratings in athletes before and during the 2015’s World Rowing Junior Championships

This study examined sleep-wake habits and subjective jet-lag ratings of 55 German junior rowers (n = 30 male, 17.8 ± 0.5 years) before and during the World Rowing Junior Championships 2015 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Athletes answered sleep logs every morning, and Liverpool John Moore’s University Jet-Lag Questionnaires each evening and morning. Following an 11-h westward flight with 5-h time shift, advanced bedtimes (?1 h, P < .001, η_p² = 0.68), reduced sleep onset latency (P = .002, η_p² = 0.53) and increased sleep duration (P < .001, η_p² = 0.60) were reported for the first two nights. Jet-lag symptoms peaked upon arrival but were still present after 6 days. Sleep quality improved (P < .001, η_p² = 0.31) as well as some scales of the Recovery-Stress Questionnaire for Athletes. Participation was successful as indicated by 11 of 13 top 3 placings. Overall, the initial desynchronisation did not indicate negative impacts on competition performance. As travel fatigue probably had a major effect on perceptual decrements, sleep during travel and time to recover upon arrival should be emphasised. Coaches and practitioners should consider higher sleep propensity in the early evening by scheduling training sessions and meetings until the late afternoon.     

Functions of Written Language in a First Grade Classroom

Teachers of young children often ask them to write across a wide variety of genres and functions. This article focuses upon the experience of one child as she undertakes all this writing. Richard Meyer finds that several hidden functions of language come to the fore in the child's experience and he goes on to examine the implications of this view of classrooms for future development.