The Role of Self-Regulation in Experiences of Digital Distraction in College Classrooms

The chapter investigates digital distraction in college classrooms from the perspective of self-regulation theory. To this end, the chapter commences with a brief analysis of the distinction between behavioural and cognitive shifts in attention, the role of intentionality in digital distraction, and the concept of online vigilance. Thereafter the general premises of self-regulation theory are described, and prominent theoretical models that have emerged in this domain are briefly outlined. Two models deemed particularly applicable to digital distraction are selected from these. The first is the value-based choice model which frames self-regulation as a process of deliberative decision-making which foregoes action taking. The second is the process model which emphasises the strategies individuals employ to prevent goal conflict. Both models are described before being applied as interpretive lenses to analyse key findings from empirical studies of digital distraction.

Przedsiębiorczość jako fundament dynamicznej analizy gospodarczej

One of the more significant methodological errors in economic analysis consists in treating the concept of equilibrium — be it general or partial — as either a real state of affairs obtaining in the economy in a stable manner or a normative ideal that an optimally functioning economy should be able to reach. The purpose of the present article is to demonstrate that, in contrast to the above two views, a free economy is a process of incessant social self-development aimed at the attainment of ever more qualitatively advanced (and always temporary) states of equilibrium, whose main driving force are entrepreneurial prudence, alertness, and innovativeness. The successive sections of the present article describe several characteristic examples of supposed states of permanent stagnation or suboptimal equilibrium, which, on closer inspection, turn out to be strictly transitory, provided that a given situation is characterized by conditions conducive to the operation of entrepreneurial activities. In other words, the present article is an attempt at illustrating the thesis that entrepreneurship constitutes the foundation of dynamic economic analysis — i.e., the kind of analysis that fully incorporates the creative character of human action taking place in the context of large-scale social cooperation.

Słownictwo z zakresu komunikacji międzyludzkiej w polskich tekstach literackich

Vocabulary Concerning Human Communication in Polish Literary Texts Novels that cover action taking place in the 21st century refer to all kinds of social phe­nomena, including the ways in which people communicate, which are very different from those popular only 40 years ago. Literary works provide the names of devices (computer, laptop, palmtop, iPhone, iPad, tablet, smartphone), as well as the companies which manufacture them (Dell, Apple, Nokia, Samsung). Novels include the names of computer software (Windows, Word, Excel), social media (Facebook), and internet communicators (Messenger). There are also words that denote the activities performed while using these devices and applications (to log in, to click, to email, to google). The majority of these words originate from English and have international scope. Słownictwo z zakresu komunikacji międzyludzkiej w polskich tekstach literackich Powieści obyczajowe i kryminalne o akcji rozgrywającej się w XXI wieku rejestrują wszelkie zjawiska społeczne. Do nich można zaliczyć sposoby komunikowania się ludzi, tak różne od tych sprzed 40 lat. Utwory literackie dostarczają nazw urządzeń (komputer, laptop, palmtop, iPhone, iPad, tablet, smartfon) oraz firm je produkujących (Dell, Apple, Nokia, Samsung). Znajdujemy w nich nazwy programów komputerowych (Windows, Word, Excel), mediów społecznościowych (Facebook), komunikatorów (Messenger). Nie brak określeń czynności wykonywanych w trakcie ich używania (zalogować się, kliknąć, mailować, guglać). Absolutna większość tych słów pochodzi z języka angielskiego i ma zasięg międzynarodowy.

On the new standard of court authorization of investigative actions that restrict the constitutional rights of citizens

The article analyzes the essence and content of the petition of the investigating authorities to the court for permission to conduct an investigative action and the court decision adopted on its basis. It is concluded that the specified procedural documents do not specify the specific constitutional rights of a citizen, which may be restricted during the investigative action. Taking into account this circumstance, the inconsistency of the requirements of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation and the law enforcement practice developed on its basis with the requirements of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, according to which the restriction of any constitutional right should be carried out on the basis of a court decision or with subsequent notification of the court about the investigative action. It is proposed to adhere to the procedure of judicial authorization in all cases of restriction of the constitutional rights of citizens.

Response Efficacy and Action to Prepare for Disasters With Different Lead Time: Age Differences

This study investigated how disaster types, namely those with short and longer warning lead time, contextualized individuals’ preparatory action, especially as associated with their response efficacy and age. The working sample included 1,467 respondents from the 2017 U.S. National Household Survey. Logistic regressions showed that individuals with higher levels of response efficacy were more likely to prepare after learning information about how to prepare. Respondents in areas prone to short lead-time disasters were less likely to prepare than those in longer lead-time disasters areas. Response efficacy was more important for action taking for short lead-time disasters, which was observed only among older adults when older and younger adults were examined separately. These findings revealed the impacts of disaster types and response efficacy on disaster preparedness and older adults’ unique vulnerability and resilience, which could guide policymaking and interventions to promote national disaster preparedness tailored to regional peculiarities.

Students’ perception of written, audio, video and face-to-face reflective approaches for holistic competency development

Reflection has been increasingly used to enhance student development in higher education, in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Learner autonomy is essential on reflection, particularly on how learners interpret their learning experiences. The learner has to take initiatives in making meaning of their learning by examining their experiences, and purposefully exploring their learning. Reflection is a key component in active learning as students actively engage in the process of thinking about what they have learnt or experienced. Mezirow highlighted how reflection can mean many things, including awareness of a perception, thought, feeling, intention and action, taking something into consideration or simply imagining alternatives. And there are also multiple approaches to embracing reflection today, such as reflective essays, videos and online blogs, where reflective processes and approaches may differ particularly in relation to technological adoption. In a learning environment, reflective approaches are adopted with the aim for learners to transfer knowledge and experiences to practice. However, there is scarce literature on student perception of the different reflective approaches. The present paper therefore examines student perspectives on four different reflective approaches and how these different approaches are applied within the context of higher education. The four approaches chosen are written, audio, video and face-to-face based on current literature on how reflection is documented or presented in education) and the integration of the concept of multimodality.

Examining the Relationships between Individualism, Collectivism, Perceived Vulnerability, and Mental and Behavioral Responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has had massive global consequences that call for a better understanding of factors relating to people’s mental and behavioral responses. The present study explored factors that have been examined in past pandemics and expanded upon previous findings. We explored the links between individualistic/collectivistic orientations, germ aversion, and perceived infectability to individual worry and actions related to the pandemic. Using data collected via an online survey (N = 433, M age = 33.18, SD = 15.42), a series of hierarchical regressions and mediation tests were conducted. The results revealed that collectivistic orientation related to both actions and worry, and that worry mediated the association between collectivism and actions. Additionally, while germ aversion and perceived infectability were both significantly related to higher levels of worry, only germ aversion significantly related to higher levels of action-taking. Our findings suggest that messages centered around collectivistic values and germ aversion might improve adherence to public health guidelines.

How We Resist Metaphors

Most people love metaphor, but we still sometimes find ourselves resisting their presence or meanings for various reasons. We resist metaphors both as a general strategy (e.g., “Metaphors are meaningless” or “Mixed metaphor are incoherent”), and as a response to some metaphors in very specific situational and discourse contexts (e.g., “I do not like the idea that my cancer treatment is seen as a war against my body”). People resist metaphors they have produced, metaphors imposed on them by others, and metaphors that they find to be offensive or that negatively stigmatize other individuals, or groups of people. But metaphors are also resisted for their lack of explanatory power in, for instance, scientific communities. There are also many ironies associated with metaphor resistance, such as consciously resisting some metaphor while still being governed by that same metaphor in our unconscious thinking and actions. Most generally, though, metaphor resistance is its own kind of metaphorical action. Taking a dynamic systems approach to resistance to metaphors, we discuss several implications of these observations for theories of metaphorical thought and language.

An Account of Intensional and Extensional Actions, and its Application to Belief, Nondeterministic Actions and Fallible Sensors

In general, an agent may have incomplete and inaccurate knowledge about its environment. As well, actions may not turn out as intended or may have nondeterministic effects, and sensors may on occasion give incorrect results. We present a general, qualitative approach to reasoning about action and change in such a setting. The approach is expressed as an extension to basic action theories in the situation calculus, where an agent's epistemic state is modelled by a set of situations, where each situation is assigned a non-negative integer representing its plausibility. The agent's epistemic state is updated by modifying these plausibility values after the execution of an action, taking into account the possibility of unexpected results. To this end, we consider actions to have an intensional aspect, under the control of and determined by the agent, and an extensional aspect, not directly accessible to the agent and controlled by "nature". This leads to two distinct but related related notions of belief, an extensional "bird's eye" view which models an agent's beliefs wrt actually-executed actions, and an intensional view representing beliefs from the agent's point of view. We argue that the approach is significantly more general and comprehensive than previous accounts, and leads to a unified view of failed actions and nondeterminism with respect to physical and sensing actions.