Fair Game: Using Simulators to Change Likelihood of Distracted Driving at the Minnesota State Fair

Distracted driving is a problem on U.S. roadways. Strategic campaigns have tried to curb this behavior with varying success. Researchers are examining how distracted-driving simulators might be useful in helping to combat this epidemic. Participants (N = 193) took part in a pretest/posttest, between-subjects field experiment where they were randomly assigned to one of five video game driving simulation scenarios (e.g., texting/talking/two combo conditions/distraction-free). Results indicated that participants texting during simulation committed more crashes, fog line crossings, and speed infractions than those talking and those who were not distracted. Further, results indicated that the simulation experience led to reports of being less likely to drive distracted in the future.     

Modelling relationships between match events and match outcome in elite football

Identifying match events that are related to match outcome is an important task in football match analysis. Here we have used generalised mixed linear modelling to determine relationships of 16 football match events and 1 contextual variable (game location: home/away) with the match outcome. Statistics of 320 close matches (goal difference ≤ 2) of season 2012–2013 in the Spanish First Division Professional Football League were analysed. Relationships were evaluated with magnitude-based inferences and were expressed as extra matches won or lost per 10 close matches for an increase of two within-team or between-team standard deviations (SD) of the match event (representing effects of changes in team values from match to match and of differences between average team values, respectively). There was a moderate positive within-team effect from shots on target (3.4 extra wins per 10 matches; 99% confidence limits ±1.0), and a small positive within-team effect from total shots (1.7 extra wins; ±1.0). Effects of most other match events were related to ball possession, which had a small negative within-team effect (1.2 extra losses; ±1.0) but a small positive between-team effect (1.7 extra wins; ±1.4). Game location showed a small positive within-team effect (1.9 extra wins; ±0.9). In analyses of nine combinations of team and opposition end-of-season rank (classified as high, medium, low), almost all between-team effects were unclear, while within-team effects varied depending on the strength of team and opposition. Some of these findings will be useful to coaches and performance analysts when planning training sessions and match tactics.     

Modeling parameters that characterize pacing of elite female 800-m freestyle swimmers

Pacing offers a potential avenue for enhancement of endurance performance. We report here a novel method for characterizing pacing in 800-m freestyle swimming. Websites provided 50-m lap and race times for 192 swims of 20 elite female swimmers between 2000 and 2013. Pacing for each swim was characterized with five parameters derived from a linear model: linear and quadratic coefficients for effect of lap number, reductions from predicted time for first and last laps, and lap-time variability (standard error of the estimate). Race-to-race consistency of the parameters was expressed as intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs). The average swim was a shallow negative quadratic with slowest time in the eleventh lap. First and last laps were faster by 6.4% and 3.6%, and lap-time variability was ±0.64%. Consistency between swimmers ranged from low-moderate for the linear and quadratic parameters (ICC = 0.29 and 0.36) to high for the last-lap parameter (ICC = 0.62), while consistency for race time was very high (ICC = 0.80). Only ~15% of swimmers had enough swims (~15 or more) to provide reasonable evidence of optimum parameter values in plots of race time vs. each parameter. The modest consistency of most of the pacing parameters and lack of relationships between parameters and performance suggest that swimmers usually compensated for changes in one parameter with changes in another. In conclusion, pacing in 800-m elite female swimmers can be characterized with five parameters, but identifying an optimal pacing profile is generally impractical.     

What happened to the Open University : Briefly

This paper provides an external, international assessment of The Open University, United Kingdom. It questions whether The Open University of the early 1970s is dead and perhaps — in the context of the current emphasis on open learning — invites staff of other open universities throughout the world to anticipate their future five or ten years hence.     

Fictionalized History in the Philippines: Five Narratives of Collective Amnesia

The paper analyzes five historical fictions for children in the Batang Historyador (Young Historian) series which detail five periods in Philippine history. The books discuss the issues of child labor in precolonial Philippines, child labor and the right to education regardless of gender during the Spanish colonial period, child labor during the American Occupation, children as witnesses of history in the Japanese Occupation and Martial Law periods. The narratives reveal (consciously or unconsciously) how distortedly and inaccurately the past is told from the perspective of a colonized mind. The struggles of historians to review and revision history from a pro-Filipino consciousness were totally unheeded. The works attempt to throw light on issues of class, gender and children’s rights but Filipino issues regarding culture, identity, politics and history were obliterated because the framework was tied to a “universal” notion of history.

Historical memory and educational privatisation: a portrait from Cambodia

Educational privatisation has received increasing scholarly attention in recent decades. In much of this work, educational privatisation is viewed as the outcomes of certain government policies or as the result of the influences of education businesses in school systems. This article presents a portrait of an educational entrepreneur in Cambodia to show how privatisation has been enacted by individuals. The empirical data for this article were collected between February and May 2014 using classroom observations and in-depth interviews. The method of portraiture was employed to understand educational privatisation through the perspective of the research subject while embracing the subjective nature of interpreting findings by the researcher. This article develops the literature on educational privatisation by offering a detailed look at the way in which historical memory shapes the behaviour of individuals. This analysis shows how educational privatisation is not only a process of government policy but also a social practice.     

The role of student academic beliefs in perceptions of instructor ideological bias

A common perception exists in the media that university instructors are a liberal elite who use their positions to instill a biased perspective in their students. Exploring student attitudes in the United States and Australia, the present study examined how students’ academic beliefs are related to their inferences of instructor ideological bias and the degree to which they identify as reacting to these inferences in the college classroom. Results of regression analysis using previously validated survey instruments revealed that students’ academic entitlement and grade orientation (GO) predicted perceptions of instructor bias. In addition, students’ GO predicted students’ reactions to such inferred bias. Institutional differences, pedagogical implications, and areas for future research are discussed.     

The validity and utility of the California Family Risk Assessment under practice conditions in the field: A prospective study

Objective

Analysis of the validity and implementation of a child maltreatment actuarial risk assessment model, the California Family Risk Assessment (CFRA).

Questions addressed

(1) Is there evidence of the validity of the CFRA under field operating conditions? (2) Do actuarial risk assessment results influence child welfare workers’ service delivery decisions? (3) How frequently are CFRA risk scores overridden by child welfare workers? (4) Is there any difference in the predictive validity of CFRA risk assessments and clinical risk assessments by child welfare workers?

Method

The study analyzes 7,685 child abuse/neglect reports originating in 5 California counties followed prospectively for 2 years to identify further substantiated child abuse/neglect. Measures of model calibration and discrimination were used to assess CFRA validity and compare its accuracy with the accuracy of clinical predictions made by child welfare workers. The extent of use of an override feature of the CFRA and child welfare worker reliance on CFRA risk scores for making service decisions were analyzed.

Results

Imperfect but better-than-chance predictive validity was found for the CFRA on a range of measures in a large temporal validation sample (n = 6,543). For 114 cases where both CFRA risk assessments and child welfare worker clinical risk assessments were available, the CFRA exhibited evidence of imperfect but better-than-chance predictive validity, while child welfare worker risk assessments were found to be invalid. Child welfare workers overrode CFRA risk assessments in only 114 (1.5%) of 7,685 cases and provided in-home services in statistically significantly larger proportions of higher- versus lower-risk cases, consistent with heavy reliance on the CFRA.

Conclusions/practice implications

Until research identifies actuarial models exhibiting superior predictive validity when applied in every-day practice, the CFRA is, and will be a valuable tool for assessing risk in order to make in-home service-provision decisions.     

在群体创造性学习运化动力中修炼身心能量

组织机械认知论和知识管理学领域中的一个关键问题是：在什么条件下领导和群体创造性学习运化动力的能量可以持续和增长,又如何在实践群体内部及不同实践群体之间,开发这种增加集体认知能力和知识创造力的动力？通过近期挪威北海上的一个石油井架极有创新的设计过程,运用元极理论阐明这个问题。