Does Learning English Require Grit? Examining the Differential Effects on Grades in Core Subjects

Research indicates that beliefs on the locus of the primary source of learning can have negative effects on learning behaviors in school (Mercer & Ryan, 2011). To an increasing extent, young people in Sweden acquire English outside school through different cultural practices (Sundqvist & Sylvén, 2012). At the same time, students lack enthusiasm in English lessons, which can lead to a reduced investment of effort in the language classroom (Henry, 2014). However, learning a language requires both interest and effort. In psychological research, the capacity of showing consistency in interest and perseverance to achieve a goal, such as learning a language, is defined as grit (Duckworth et al., 2007). Studies investigating the association between grit and language achievement remain scarce. The present study contributes to filling this gap by investigating whether the effects of grit differ across different performance domains (i.e., English, Swedish and Mathematics). An additional purpose is to investigate whether there are differential effects of grit for subgroups of students with different SES, achievement levels, and gender. A total of 4646 compulsory school students born in 1992 were extracted from the Evaluation Through Follow-up Database (ETF). Multiple-group path analysis was used to examine the mechanisms of the grit facets (i.e., interest and perseverance) across time and subgroups. While both interest and perseverance predicted grades in Swedish and Mathematics, interest alone predicted grades in English. The low SES high achieving group also showed higher consistency in interest and perseverance than the other groups, indicating that grit could be more valuable in face of adversities.

Factors influencing performance on the Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist Examination: Passing rates and domain-level scores

The Board Certified Psychiatric Pharmacist (BCPP) specialty certification was launched by the Board of Pharmacy Specialties in 1994. Candidates for the BCPP can qualify for the examination through 3 possible pathways: practice experience (4 years) in the specialty, completion of a PGY-1 residency plus an additional 2 years of practice experience, or completion of a PGY-2 specialty residency in psychiatric pharmacy. Recent fluctuations in the passing rate raised questions as to explanatory factors. This article represents the first published comprehensive study of candidate performance on the BCPP Examination. It describes a retrospective, observational study presenting (a) statistical trends of examination passing rates for biannual cohorts over the past 5 years, as well as (b) score distributions on the 3 performance domains of the certification. Pass-rate trend analyses suggest that variation in the proportion of eligibility pathway cohorts in the respective testing samples explains some of the fluctuation in passing rates. An analysis of variance of domain-level scores, using groups defined by eligibility pathway, yielded significant differences for nearly all group comparisons. Evaluation of the effect sizes suggest that the most disparate performance was observed on the core clinical domain, Patient-Centered Care. The results of this study are consistent with previously published research and will inform the upcoming role delineation study for the Psychiatric Pharmacy Certification.

Mind wandering and musical creativity in jazz improvisation

Mind wandering is a prevalent and ubiquitous phenomenon. Several studies suggest that mind wandering benefits creativity if it occurs in the incubation period of a creative problem-solving task. However, it could be impairing real-time expression of creative behavior if it occurs during the course of a creative task. This dissociation between incubation and performance suggests that mind wandering poses a double-edged sword to creative cognition. Jazz improvisation provides an ecologically useful framework for studying the effects of mind wandering on creativity. Here we hypothesized that mind wandering during a musical improvisation task would be associated with higher levels of musical creativity, compared with on-task attention. Nine experienced musicians performed several jazz improvisation tasks interleaved with the presentation of random thought probes. The results showed that musical improvisation during unintentional mind wandering was associated with higher musical creativity when compared with improvisation during on-task attention. However, mind wandering did not impact overall improvisational quality. Altogether, these data suggest that the positive relationship between mind wandering and creativity also extends to artistic performance domains.

Knowledge, Default, and Skepticism

Chapter 7 introduces a distinctive idea of default assumptions and explains how that idea reconfigures earlier virtue epistemology. Default assumptions are endemic to human performance domains generally including games and sports. Our domains of judgment are only special cases in which a telic normativity allows performers to assume by default the standing of the background conditions required for success and aptness of performance. This enables a fresh treatment of philosophical skepticism. The response to the skeptics will be that they have mistaken what is required for the epistemic quality of ordinary judgments and beliefs. This treatment of skepticism is enabled by analogies between epistemic and athletic performance, and between episteme and praxis more generally.

Examining the Roles and Consequent Decision-Making Processes of High-Level Strength and Conditioning Coaches

Research into sports coaches has identified the valuable role they play concerning social support provided to athletes together with their contribution to social and cultural interactions within both the participation and performance domains. The purpose of the present study was to qualitatively extract and examine the knowledge and on-task cognitions of high-level coaches (HLCs) within strength and conditioning (S and C). Applied cognitive task analysis (ACTA) was used to examine ten HLCs, each purposefully sampled to reflect over eight years of work in full time environments. The analysis of responses demonstrated HLCs engage in a pattern of innovative and diverse thinking, together with adaptability and multilevel planning, designed to promote an inclusive approach from performers, coaches and management. Commonality was demonstrated within the decision making of HLCs during the design of training programs. Communication was another important consideration when connecting with athletes, observing athletes, speaking to the head coach and integrating their approach with others. A confident, flexible approach to adapting to situational demands was evident and supported by the ability to recall and select from a wide range of previously learnt and tested strategies. Evidence is offered for the importance of interpersonal and social factors in HLCs’ relationships with athletes and coaches. The incorporation of strategies to support versatile, dynamic decision making within future S and C coach development materials will support more impactful performances by coaches at all stages of the coaching process.

Exploration of Mental Readiness for Enhancing Dentistry in an Inter-Professional Climate

Competencies required for dentistry go far beyond the academic or scientific spheres. They incorporate important mental readiness concepts at its core with an appropriate balance of operational readiness (i.e., technical, physical, mental readiness). The aim of this exploratory study was to investigate the importance of mental readiness for optimal performance in the daily challenges faced by dentists using an Operational Readiness Framework. One-on-one interviews were conducted with a select group of seasoned dentists to determine their mental readiness before, during and after successfully performing in challenging situations. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of mental readiness were applied. Study findings were compared with a Wheel of Excellence based on results from other high-performance domains such as surgery, policing, social services and Olympic athletics. The analysis revealed that specific mental practices are required to achieve peak performance, and the balance between physical, technical and mental readiness underpins these dentists’ competency. Common elements of success were found—commitment, confidence, visualization, mental preparation, focus, distraction control, and evaluation and coping. This exploration confirmed many similarities in mental readiness practices engaged across high-risk professions. Universities, clinics and hospitals are looking for innovative ways to build teamwork and capacity through inter-professional collaboration. Results from these case studies warrant further investigation and may be significant enough to stimulate innovative curriculum design. Based on these preliminary dentistry findings, three training/evaluation tools from other professions in population health were adapted to demonstrate future application.

Blockchain performance in supply chain management: application in blockchain integration companies

PurposePerformance assessment of blockchain in the supply chain requires a systematic approach because of its interdisciplinary and multiobjective nature. Hence, four types of performance domains are identified, namely, environmental, economic, customer and information.Design/methodology/approachThe following methodologies have been utilized: (1) literature review to find relevant factors, (2) factor analysis to validate factors and (3) DEMATEL theory to find the cause and effect relationships amongst performance measures.FindingsAn integrated holistic performance assessment model incorporating the 4 criteria and 25 subcriteria is applied.Originality/valueThis is the first paper to analyze blockchain performance in an industry setting.

Working with Uncertainties: An Adaptive Fabrication Workflow for Bamboo Structures

This paper presents and investigates a cyber-physical fabrication workflow, which can respond to the deviations between built- and designed form in real-time with vision augmentation. We apply this method for large scale structures built from natural bamboo poles. Raw bamboo poles obtain evolutionarily optimized fibrous layouts ideally suitable for lightweight and sustainable building construction. Nevertheless, their intrinsically imprecise geometries pose a challenge for reliable, automated construction processes. Despite recent digital advancements, building with bamboo poles is still a labor-intensive task and restricted to building typologies where accuracy is of minor importance. The integration of structural bamboo poles with other building layers is often limited by tolerance issues at the interfaces, especially for large scale structures where deviations accumulate incrementally. To address these challenges, an adaptive fabrication process is developed, in which existing deviations can be compensated by changing the geometry of subsequent joints to iteratively correct the pose of further elements. A vision-based sensing system is employed to three-dimensionally scan the bamboo elements before and during construction. Computer vision algorithms are used to process and interpret the sensory data. The updated conditions are streamed to the computational model which computes tailor-made bending stiff joint geometries that can then be directly fabricated on-the-fly. In this paper, we contextualize our research and investigate the performance domains of the proposed workflow through initial fabrication tests. Several application scenarios are further proposed for full scale vision-augmented bamboo construction systems.

Multi-objective sensitivity analysis of shell-and-tube LHTES performance

In the present paper a sensitivity analysis has been carried out concerning the charging/discharging time and the stored energy performances of a shell-and-tube LHTES with respect to the number of tubes and the tube internal radius. The aim of this analysis is to investigate how the design variables affect the LHTES performance. this could lead to determine the thermal storage optimal design. Thus, the sensitivity analysis has a key role in the selection of several acceptable solutions. The considered LHTES exhibits a cylindrical shell geometry characterized by constant height and diameter. This aspect has allowed to employ simplified theoretical models able to predict the charging/discharging time and the stored energy performance. These models consider a constant heat exchange wall temperature whereas the heat exchange area and the whole PCM volume vary according to the design variables. This analysis represents the first step to solve the multi-objective optimization of the thermal storage design problem and then to determine the best solutions in both design variables and thermal storage performance domains.