Manipulating generalized motor program difficulty during blocked and random practice does not affect parameter learning

Blocked practice engenders more trial-to-trial response stability, which is thought to be crucial for developing the generalized motor program (GMP) but not parameter learning (Lai, Shea, Wulf, & Wright, 2000). It was hypothesized that reducing the difficulty of the GMP might permit additional cognitive resources to be allocated to learning the parameter requirements. However, GMP theory maintains the independence of the memories governing the GMP and parameters. This notion suggests that manipulating the difficulty of the GMP should have no effect on the blocked practice participant's ability to successfully specify the appropriate parameters. Participants learned a simple or complex relative timing pattern under either blocked or random practice conditions. Smaller GMP errors were exhibited for the simple relative timing patterns, but this was not associated with improvements in parameter specification following blocked practice. A clear advantage for parameter specification was evident in transfer following random practice. Taken together, these data support the theoretical separation of the GMP and parameter processes.     

New science for a new era: the Zimbabwean experience

Summaries

English

An attempt has been made to describe how curriculum developers in science in Zimbabwe have endeavoured to cater for the decision by government, at a stroke, to treble the intake of secondary school pupils and how the developers have, at the same time, attempted to employ the new situation as an opportunity to introduce the kind of science programme in schools which they believe to be appropriate to the conditions which obtain in a developing country like Zimbabwe. The practical, economic, philosophical, political and cultural issues which have been raised in the exercise have been outlined as well as the strategies that have been adopted, wherever possible, to meet them. Implications with international relevance have been highlighted.     

Spectacular Bodies: The Swimsuit,Sexuality and Hollywood

This article explores the mutually beneficial relationship between the American swimsuit and film industries during the first three decades of the twentieth century. Three examples will be used: Fatty and the Bathing Beauties from 1913 (prior to regulated film content), Footlight Parade from 1933 (when limited self-regulation had been put in place, but was not yet rigorously enforced) and the Tarzan film franchise (which spans both the second period and a later, third period of actual implementation and subsequent negotiation). Using these examples, the paper will consider several of the popular associations attached to the swimmer and the swimsuit. It will discuss the ways in which Hollywood utilised the swimsuit, the swimmer and swimming in both its films and its promotional materials and will demonstrate how through the sporting associations of both the garment and sports stars, film producers negotiated the processes of censorship and self-regulation while allowing the continued use of semi-naked and eroticised bodies, to their own profit and to that of the increasingly fashionable swimwear industry.     

A Strategy for Operationalizing Privacy by Design

Recent controversies surrounding privacy have sparked a move by regulators toward the idea of privacy by design (PbD), a concept pioneered by Ontario Information and Privacy Commissioner Ann Cavoukian. Industry has also started to recognize the importance of taking privacy seriously, with various PbD corporate initiatives currently underway. However, some commentators have criticized PbD for being too vague. Using three case studies and a range of best practice examples of PbD, privacy impact assessments (PIAs), and privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), this article addresses the gap between the abstract principles of PbD and their operationalization into more concrete implementation guidelines for software engineers.