Storing and retrieving word phrases

We have developed methods for storing and retrieving large dictionaries of word pairs and other multi-word phrases based on hashed indexing. From analysis of text samples we have derived Zipfian laws for the frequency distributions of word pairs and longer phrases. We show where these Zipfian curves cross and deduce that the number of multi-word phrases which occur frequently in text is surprisingly small, of the same order of magnitude as the number of individual word-types in a text. Dictionaries of phrases are therefore amenable to fast processing with modest computer equipment. Finally, we suggest that in stylistic analysis word phrases might better discriminate between authors than do single words.     

Precompetitive anxiety and motor performance: a psychophysiological examination

Male volunteer subjects (27) completed a 5-week habituation period during which practise was undertaken on three motor performance tests. Tests were of serial reaction time, visuomotor ability and muscular power. Following stabilization of performance subjects entered an experimental period where they performed the tests before an evaluative audience on one occasion, and against a matched opponent, also before an evaluative audience on the final occasion. Preperformance measures were obtained of neuroendocrine activity, anticipatory heart rate and state anxiety. Significant precompetition elevations in state anxiety, heart rate and adrenaline levels were observed, supporting the notion that the exposure was perceived as stressful by subjects. Significant correlations were obtained between adrenaline levels and both state and trait anxiety scores. Results showed a significant increase in performance compared to habituation levels for all three tests in the audience condition. In the competitive situation against a matched opponent, performance level for the visuomotor and power tests declined significantly compared to the previous session performed before an audience. Serial reaction time performance showed a continuing upward trend, although failing to achieve significance. Changes in performance are discussed with reference to cue-utilization explanations and broader cognitive resource limitations.     

Sources of new material included in lectures by lecturers in agricultural education: An analysis of unpublished sources used

A random sample of 268 single lectures given in 55 different agricultural colleges in the United Kingdom were analysed by the lecturers concerned to reveal the sources of new information they used. This article deals with new material drawn from unpublished sources; fourteen separate sources are identified and the use of these sources in six subject groups is quantified. Comments are offered, in terms of source characteristics and user characteristics, on the different patterns of use across the six subject groups.     

IS THERE REAL OPINION CHANGE?

Public opinion research in general and the study of opinionchange in particular have frequently been challenged as unreliable.Attitudinal measurements are characterized as merely reflectingnon-attitudes, labile moods, and/or methodological artefacts.Given this basis, the measurement of opinion change is seenas a product of random variations and systematic biases ratherthan as reliably measuring true change. However, most opinionchange is (1) not chaotic, but slow and steady and (2) largelyexplicable. Even opinion change that is rapid and/or multi-directionalcan be plausibly explained. Measurement variation does howeveroften distort time series and greatly complicates the reliableassessment of true change.     

Diagnostic Utility of the Bannatyne WISC‐III Pattern

Regrouping Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children‐Third Edition (WISC‐III) subtests into Bannatyne's spatial, conceptual, and sequential patterns has been thought by many to identify children with learning disabilities (LD). This study investigated the prevalence and diagnostic utility of WISC‐III Bannatyne patterns by comparing 1,302 children with LD to 2,158 children in the WISC‐III normative sample. Further analysis was conducted on a subsample of students with specific reading disabilities. Results indicated that the presence of the Bannatyne WISC‐III pattern would not lead to decisions that are useful in differentiating children with LD from children without LD. For example, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, measured by the area under the curve (AUC), indicated that the Bannatyne WISC‐III pattern exhibited low diagnostic utility (AUC = 0.54–0.55). Due to its inaccuracy, use of the Bannatyne WISC‐III pattern is not recommended.     

The School Leadership Initiative: An Ethically Flawed Project?

This paper considers the conception of leadership and management found in the UK government's school leadership initiative. It contrasts earlier 'scientific' theory with the more recent 'humanistic' theory on which the initiative appears to be based, and finds that they share significant features and flaws. Moreover, despite the moral tone of the new initiative, it finds on examination that it is based on an emotivist theory of ethics that in practice may require the headteacher to be manipulative in her leadership and management of the school. Finally, it outlines an alternative conception of leadership.