Never too much—the benefit of talent to team performance in the National Basketball Association: Comment on Swaab, Schaerer, Anicich, Ronay, and Galinsky (2014)

As long ago as the 4th century BCE, Aristotle (~350 BCE/1999) claimed that moderate amounts of qualities, rather than an abundance thereof, are needed for success. Indeed, there are a number of too-much-of-a-good-thing (TMGT) phenomena in psychology in which generally positive traits start to exert negative influence after a certain point (for reviews, see Grant & Schwartz, 2011; Pierce & Aguinis, 2013; for a general framework, see Busse, Mahlendorf, & Bode, 2016). Swaab, Schaerer, Anicich, Ronay, and Galinsky (2014) demonstrated such a phenomenon in team sports: Having more talented team members leads to better team performance up to a certain point, after which talent becomes “too much” and detrimental to performance. This too-much-talent (TMT) effect was present in basketball and soccer, professional team sports with high coordination requirements, presumably because status conflicts among highly skilled members impair coordination in teams. The TMT effect was absent in baseball, in which these requirements are lower. Here, we reexamine the TMT effect in basketball, the only domain in which the TMT effect has been shown,1 using the same data set as in the original study as well as a much larger data set. We demonstrate that Swaab et al.’s evidence of TMT is based on an inappropriate approach to testing the inverse-U-shaped relation. The results demonstrate that the common belief among laypeople (Swaab et al., 2014 Study 1) is actually correct—teams generally benefit from more talented members although the benefits decrease marginally. We did not observe any case in which increased talent was detrimental to team success

Large data and Bayesian modeling—aging curves of NBA players

Researchers interested in changes that occur as people age are faced with a number of methodological problems, starting with the immense time scale they are trying to capture, which renders laboratory experiments useless and longitudinal studies rather rare. Fortunately, some people take part in particular activities and pastimes throughout their lives, and often these activities are systematically recorded. In this study, we use the wealth of data collected by the National Basketball Association to describe the aging curves of elite basketball players. We have developed a new approach rooted in the Bayesian tradition in order to understand the factors behind the development and deterioration of a complex motor skill. The new model uses Bayesian structural modeling to extract two latent factors, those of development and aging. The interaction of these factors provides insight into the rates of development and deterioration of skill over the course of a player’s life. We show, for example, that elite athletes have different levels of decline in the later stages of their career, which is dependent on their skill acquisition phase. The model goes beyond description of the aging function, in that it can accommodate the aging curves of subgroups (e.g., different positions played in the game), as well as other relevant factors (e.g., the number of minutes on court per game) that might play a role in skill changes. The flexibility and general nature of the new model make it a perfect candidate for use across different domains in lifespan psychology

Home advantage mediated (HAM) by referee bias and team performance during covid

The fans’ importance in sports is acknowledged by the term ‘the 12th man’, a figurative extra player for the home team. Sport teams are indeed more successful when they play in front of their fans than when they play away. The supposed mechanism behind this phenomenon, termed Home Advantage (HA), is that fans’ support spurs home players to better performance and biases referees, which in turn determines the outcome. The inference about the importance of fans’ support is, however, indirect as there is normally a 12th man of this kind, even if it is an opponent’s. The current pandemic, which forced sporting activities to take place behind closed doors, provides the necessary control condition. Here we employ a novel conceptual HA model on a sample of over 4000 soccer matches from 12 European leagues, some played in front of spectators and some in empty stadia, to demonstrate that fans are indeed responsible for the HA. However, the absence of fans reduces the HA by a third, as the home team’s performance suffers and the officials’ bias disappears. The current pandemic reveals that the figurative 12th man is no mere fan hyperbole, but is in fact the most important player in the home team

Filipino Students’ Standpoint on Going Back to Traditional Schooling in the New Normal

Schools worldwide have started opening doors to welcome back students who, for almost two years, have been stuck studying at home. This study looks at the standpoint of Filipino students on going back to regular face-to-face schooling. There were 2,274 students of different tiers of education (high school, collegiate, graduate) from different major island groups of the Philippines (Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao) who participated in the study. The study used a mixed-method of descriptive statistics to present the quantitative data gathered and thematic analysis of qualitative responses from the subjects. The majority of all the respondents favored going back to the physical classroom, and little only favored staying using the distance mode. In the qualitative analysis, the recurring reasons of the students varied from personal, economic, and fear of getting the virus. It was concluded that Filipino students want to go back to schooling. Moreover, a sizeable amount preferred hybrid while a small number preferred to stay in online or distance mode. Educational institutions should always observe the covid 19 protocol when students go back

Factors Affecting MAPEH Students’ Performance in Integrated Art Education

This study aims to find out the factors that hinder students in learning Integrated Art Education. A descriptive research design was utilized in the conduct of the study. The researcher prepared a questionnaire with 15 closed-ended- questions that could be answered objectively. The study discovered that the students would learn more when they feel that they belong to a certain group. Interests in a subject also matter, the more you are interested in a particular subject, the more you will learn the material. Parent support marks an impact on the student's interest in learning Arts. Therefore, personal interest in a subject must be given attention and managed properly. Parent's support also plays a vital role in reinforcing the students on what to pursue in order to maintain their motivation

Ein einfaches Verfahren zur Herstellung anellierter Thiophene

A simple method for the synthesis of fused thiophenes by reaction of agr-carboxymethyl substituted cyclic ketones withLawesson-reagent is described. Considerations concerning the reaction mechanism are given

Comparative and Developmental Anatomy of Cardiac Lymphatics

The role of the cardiac lymphatic system has been recently appreciated since lymphatic disturbances take part in various heart pathologies. This review presents the current knowledge about normal anatomy and structure of lymphatics and their prenatal development for a better understanding of the proper functioning of this system in relation to coronary circulation. Lymphatics of the heart consist of terminal capillaries of various diameters, capillary plexuses that drain continuously subendocardial, myocardial, and subepicardial areas, and draining (collecting) vessels that lead the lymph out of the heart. There are interspecies differences in the distribution of lymphatic capillaries, especially near the valves, as well as differences in the routes and number of draining vessels. In some species, subendocardial areas contain fewer lymphatic capillaries as compared to subepicardial parts of the heart. In all species there is at least one collector vessel draining lymph from the subepicardial plexuses and running along the anterior interventricular septum under the left auricle and further along the pulmonary trunk outside the heart and terminating in the right venous angle. The second collector assumes a different route in various species. In most mammalian species the collectors run along major branches of coronary arteries, have valves and a discontinuous layer of smooth muscle cells

Измерения фазовых сдвигов периодических сигналов с применением прямого цифрового синтеза

The development of new methods and high-bit instruments for measuring phase shifts of high-frequency periodic signals with high speed for radar and radionavigation tasks is an actual task. The purpose of this work is to create a new phase shift meter for high-frequency periodic signals based on the double-matching method using direct digital frequency synthesis.On the basis of the proposed mathematical model of phase shift measurements of periodic signals by the method of double coincidence using the statistical accumulation of pulse coincidences, a functional diagram of a digital phase shift meter of periodic signals using a direct digital frequency synthesizer is developed. This allowed the implementation of an 8-bit converter phase shift signal to the code on the programmed logic integrated circuit EPM240T100C5N firm Altera.The digital phase shift meter of periodic signals based on the double-matching method consists of two comparators, two short-wave pulse generators, a direct digital frequency synthesizer, two pulse counter control circuits, two short pulse coincidence circuits, two pulse counting circuits, four clock counters, four registers, a microcontroller and an indicator. Block diagram of a double-matching digital phase meter using direct digital sintesizer use minimal hardware logic.In the developed phase shift meter, due to the use of the double-matching method, the time delay between signals does not depend on the period of input signals and can be found when changing the frequency of periodic pulses in wide limits. Measurement errors will be determined mainly by the duration of the pulses of coincidence. The use of statistical accumulation of pulse coincidence in the basis of the work allowed eliminating the restrictions on the duration of pulses of known non-ionic meters.On the basis of the obtained results, a high-bit converter of phase shifts of high-frequency periodic signals into a binary code with high speed for problems of industrial tomography, radar and radionavigation can be developed.Разработка новых методов и высокоразрядных средств измерения фазовых сдвигов высокочастотных периодических сигналов с высоким быстродействием для решения задач радиолокации, радионавигации является актуальной задачей. Целью данной работы являлось создание нового измерителя фазовых сдвигов высокочастотных периодических сигналов на основе метода двойного совпадения с использованием прямого цифрового синтеза частот.На основе предложенной математической модели измерения фазовых сдвигов периодических сигналов методом двойного совпадения с использованием статистического накопления импульсов разработана функциональная схема цифрового измерителя фазовых сдвигов периодических сигналов с использованием прямого цифрового синтезатора частот. Это позволило реализовать 8-разрядный преобразователь фазового сдвига сигналов в код на программируемой логической интегральной схеме EPM240T100C5N фирмы Altera.Цифровой измеритель фазовых сдвигов периодических сигналов на основе метода двойного совпадения состоит из: двух входных устройств, двух формирователей коротких импульсов, прямого цифрового синтезатора частоты, двух схем управления счетчиками импульсов, двух схем совпадений коротких импульсов, двух схем управления счетчиками импульсов, четырех счетчиков тактовых импульсов, четырех регистров, микроконтроллера и индикатора. Предложенная блок схема реализации измерителя имеет минимальную аппаратную сложность.За счет использования метода двойного совпадения временная задержка между сигналами не зависит от периода входных сигналов и может быть найдена при изменении частоты периодических импульсов в широких пределах. Погрешности измерения будут определяться в основном только длительностью импульсов совпадений. Использование в основе работы статистического накопления импульсов позволило устранить ограничения на длительность импульсов известных нониусных измерителей. На основе полученных результатов исследования разработан высокоразрядный преобразователь фазовых сдвигов высокочастотных периодических сигналов в двоичный код с высоким быстродействием для задач радиолокации и радионавигации