‘Supporters,not consumers.’ Grassroots supporters’ culture and sports entertainment in the US

Abstract

Based on ethnographic research with supporters’ groups in the US, this article explores how Ultra and other global models of fandom are being appropriated by soccer fans in the US and Canada. I argue that these fans enact more than stylistic expressions of fandom but instead contest the boundaries of locally accepted models fandom. Most notably, organized soccer supporters in the US reject the notion of being simply consumers of sports entertainment and see themselves instead as stakeholders in the teams they follow and as de facto constituents that the clubs need to be accountable to. At the same time, the global and local organizational structures and histories of professional soccer confront these fans with specific restrictions in how they are able to articulate their interest as fans.     

Undisclosed desires: quality managers’ normative notions regarding the implementation of quality management

Following decades of quality management featuring in higher education settings, questions regarding its implementation, impact and outcomes remain. Indeed, leaving aside anecdotal case studies and value-laden documentaries of best practice, current research still knows very little about the implementation of quality management in teaching and learning within higher education institutions. Referring to data collected from German higher education institutions in which a quality management department or functional equivalent was present, this article theorises and provides evidence for the supposition that the implementation of quality management follows two implicit logics. Specifically, it tends either towards the logic of appropriateness or, contrastingly, towards the logic of consequentialism. This study’s results also suggest that quality managers’ socialisation is related to these logics and that it influences their views on quality management in teaching and learning.     

What keeps science spiralling? Unravelling the critical success factors of knowledge creation in university research

Based on Nonaka’s knowledge spiral, this paper examines how processes of knowledge creation contribute to success in academia. It presents the outcomes of an in-depth exploration of the workings of the knowledge spiral in a university research institute. The research shows the outstanding but undervalued importance of socialization processes. It also shows that, while research success is typically defined at the interplay of the individual, group and institutional levels, in the institute that was examined none of the four knowledge creation processes (socialization, externalization, combination and internalization) appears to run smoothly at the institutional level.     

Teaching Stress Management in Physical Education: A Quasi-Experimental Study with Vocational Students

The aim was to develop, implement, and evaluate a physical education-based coping training program for vocational students. Two vocational schools participated in the quasi-experimental pilot study (EPHECT I). One school received the intervention (intervention group: n?=?434), while the other school maintained regular physical education classes (control group: n?=?430). Repeated measures ANCOVAs were used to examine the effects on coping and perceived stress. Additionally, effects were compared among students who reported low versus elevated life satisfaction. Finally, the implementation rate was considered as a moderating factor. Overall, no significant time by group effects were found between the intervention group and the control group. However, a reduction in maladaptive coping occurred among students of the intervention group who reported low life satisfaction. The implementation rate did not moderate the findings. Despite a relatively low implementation rate, the intervention program reduced maladaptive coping strategies in adolescents with low life satisfaction. Program monitoring needs to be increased in future research.     

Influence of different attentional focus on EMG amplitude and contraction duration during the bench press at different speeds

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether using different focus affects electromyographic (EMG) amplitude and contraction duration during bench press performed at explosive and controlled speeds. Eighteen young male individuals were familiarized with the procedure and performed the one-maximum repetition (1RM) test in the first session. In the second session, participants performed the bench press exercise at 50% of the 1RM with 3 different attentional focuses (regular focus on moving the load vs contracting the pectoralis vs contracting the triceps) at 2 speed conditions (controlled vs maximal speed). During the controlled speed condition, focusing on using either the pectoralis or the triceps muscles increased pectoralis normalized EMG (nEMG) by 6% (95% CI 3–8%; p = 0.0001) and 4% nEMG (95% CI 1–7%; p = 0.0096), respectively, compared with the regular focus condition. Triceps activity was increased by 4% nEMG (95% CI 0–7%; p = 0.0308) at the controlled speed condition during the triceps focus. During the explosive speed condition, the use of different focuses had no effect. The different attentional focus resulted in comparable contraction duration for the measured muscles when the exercise was performed explosively. Using internal focus to increase EMG amplitude seems to function only during conditions of controlled speed.     

信息质量研究的现状与未来研究方向

从信息质量评估、信息质量管理和情景信息质量3个方面进行了综述分析.信息质量评估从质量问题、维度和评估方法3个方面进行了分析.信息质量管理从质量管理、信息管理和知识管理3个角度进行了分析.情景信息质量主要对信息质量在信息系统和决策支持方面进行了研究.分析结果揭示出潜在的研究领域以及当前在信息质量方面研究的局限性,旨在弥补研究差距.文章通过提供未来信息质量研究存在的问题以及经验应用给予的启示做出总结.     

Acquiring knowledge about human goals from Search Query Logs

A better understanding of what motivates humans to perform certain actions is relevant for a range of research challenges including generating action sequences that implement goals (planning). A first step in this direction is the task of acquiring knowledge about human goals. In this work, we investigate whether Search Query Logs are a viable source for extracting expressions of human goals. For this purpose, we devise an algorithm that automatically identifies queries containing explicit goals such as find home to rent in Florida. Evaluation results of our algorithm achieve useful precision/recall values. We apply the classification algorithm to two large Search Query Logs, recorded by AOL and Microsoft Research in 2006, and obtain a set of ∼110,000 queries containing explicit goals. To study the nature of human goals in Search Query Logs, we conduct qualitative, quantitative and comparative analyses. Our findings suggest that Search Query Logs (i) represent a viable source for extracting human goals, (ii) contain a great variety of human goals and (iii) contain human goals that can be employed to complement existing commonsense knowledge bases. Finally, we illustrate the potential of goal knowledge for addressing following application scenario: to refine and extend commonsense knowledge with human goals from Search Query Logs. This work is relevant for (i) knowledge engineers interested in acquiring human goals from textual corpora and constructing knowledge bases of human goals (ii) researchers interested in studying characteristics of human goals in Search Query Logs.