Validity of a pictorial perceived exertion scale for effort estimation and effort production during stepping exercise in adolescent children

This is the author's PDF version of an article published in European Physical Education Review ©2002. The definitive version is available at http://epe.sagepub.com.Recent developments in the study of paediatric effort perception have continued to emphasise the importance of child-specific rating scales. The purpose of this study was to examine the validity of an illustrated 1 – 10 perceived exertion scale; the Pictorial Children’s Effort Rating Table (PCERT). 4 class groups comprising 104 children; 27 boys and 29 girls, aged 12.1±0.3 years and 26 boys, 22 girls, aged 15.3±0.2 years were selected from two schools and participated in the initial development of the PCERT. Subsequently, 48 of these children, 12 boys and 12 girls from each age group were randomly selected to participate in the PCERT validation study. Exercise trials were divided into 2 phases and took place 7 to 10 days apart. During phase 1, children completed 5 x 3-minute incremental stepping exercise bouts interspersed with 2-minute recovery periods. Heart rate (HR) and ratings of exertion were recorded during the final 15 s of each exercise bout. In phase 2 the children were asked to regulate their exercising effort during 4 x 4-minute bouts of stepping so that it matched randomly prescribed PCERT levels (3, 5, 7 and 9). Analysis of data from Phase 1 yielded significant (P<0.01) relationships between perceived and objective (HR) effort measures for girls. In addition, the main effects of exercise intensity on perceived exertion and HR were significant (P<0.01); perceived exertion increased as exercise intensity increased and this was reflected in simultaneous significant rises in HR. During phase 2, HR and estimated power output (POapprox) produced at each of the four prescribed effort levels were significantly different (P<0.01). The children in this study were able to discriminate between 4 different exercise intensities and regulate their exercise intensity according to 4 prescribed levels of perceived exertion. In seeking to contribute towards children’s recommended physical activity levels and helping them understand how to self-regulate their activity, the application of the PCERT within the context of physical education is a desirable direction for future research

Learners' perceptions of their successes and failures in foreign language learning

This is a postprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the Language Learning Journal © 2004 Copyright Taylor & Francis; Language Learning Journal is available online at http://www.informaworld.comResearch into learners’ attributions for their successes and failures has received considerable attention. However very little has been carried out in the area of learning foreign languages. This study is timely in view of the current interest by the government in promoting foreign languages. The aims of the study were (1) to investigate secondary students’ attributions for their success and failures in learning foreign languages (2) to examine the ways in which these vary according to age, gender, perceived success and specific language studied. The sample consisted of 285 students between the ages of 11 and 16 studying French, German and Spanish in five secondary schools in the UK. A simple open questionnaire was administered by language teachers, consisting of a personal evaluation by students of their perceived level of success as learners of specific foreign languages and their attributions for success and failure in those domains. The resulting responses were analysed by means of a grounded theory approach allowing categories to emerge from the data. The resultant categories were then tabulated according to student age, gender, and language learnt, together with level of perceived success. Over one thousand attributional statements gave rise to 21 attributional categories for doing well and 16 categories for not doing well at language learning. A far wider range of attributions were identified than is generally shown in the research literature, six of which were most commonly called upon as reasons for both success and failure. Clear differences emerged between boys and girls, year groups, perceived success and language studied. These results and, in particular, the lack of clarity in the learners’ comments about strategy use and the lack of focus on metacognitive strategies, have important implications for policy makers and for teachers of foreign languages in UK schools. In addition there are important implications for future research in this area

A qualitative exploration of nurses leaving nursing practice in China

AIM: This paper reports a theoretical understanding of nurses leaving nursing practice by exploring the processes of decision‐making by registered nurses in China on exiting clinical care. BACKGROUND: The loss of nurses through their voluntarily leaving nursing practice has not attracted much attention in China. There is a lack of an effective way to understand and communicate nursing workforce mobility in China and worldwide. DESIGN: This qualitative study draws on the constant comparative method following a grounded theory approach. METHOD: In‐depth interviews with 19 nurses who had left nursing practice were theoretically sampled from one provincial capital city in China during August 2009–March 2010. RESULTS: The core category ‘Mismatching Expectations: Individual vs. Organizational’ emerged from leavers’ accounts of their leaving. By illuminating the interrelationship between the core category and the main category ‘Individual Perception of Power,’ four nursing behaviour patterns were identified: (1) Voluntary leaving; (2) Passive staying; (3) Adaptive staying and (4) Active staying

The Importance of Context in Managerial Work: The Case of Senior Hotel Managers in Greece

Qualitative research on the interplay between context and hospitality managerial work has not been previously addressed in the literature. Based on the works of Johns (2006) and Dierdorff et al. (2009), this research suggests that luxury senior hotel managers (GMs and department managers) are to a certain degree recipients of contextual/cultural influences, depending on the ownership status of the hotel. It is also argued that managerial work is shaped and exercised by a set of moderating factors, which are unique for each individual. Overall, the aim of this research is to increase the level of awareness and trigger further research in this topic area. © 2014 Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

A Metamodel for Agents, Roles, and Groups

Abstract. Societies need patterned behavior to exist. Large-scale agent societies may contain a diversity of agents, each with differing abilities and functionalities. When such an agent system is given a task, it must dynamically muster together a group of agents that collectively have the capability to accomplish the task. To do this, the agent society needs to be able to understand its agents and their potential interactions. This paper contains a proposed superstructure specification that defines the user-level constructs required to model agents, their roles and their groups. These modeling constructs provide the basic foundational elements required in multi-agent systems to foster dynamic group formation and operation. As agent systems scale beyond the point where an individual organization can track and control their behavior, the use of these concepts within the society will facilitate dynamic, controlled, task-oriented group formation. This in turn will enhance the predictability, reliability and stability of the agent system as a whole, as well as facilitating the analysis of both group and system behavior.

Specifying Reuse Concerns in Agent System Design Using a Role Algebra

During the design of an agent system many decisions will be taken that determine the structure of the system for reasons that are clear to the designer and customers at the time. However, when later teams approach the system it may not be obvious why particular decisions have been taken. This problem is particularly acute in the case of designers attempting to integrate complex &quot;intelligent&quot; services from many different service providers. In this paper a mechanism for recording these decisions is described and grouping functionality into Roles which can then be combined using the recorded design knowledge is subsequent development episodes. We illustrate how design decisions can be captured, discuss the semantics of the constructs we introduce and how these abstractions can then be used as the basis of reuse in an extension of the Zeus agent toolkit