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The first part of this article looked at the basic idea of devices and computer systems that can deal with loosely connected actors, human and mechanical. This part takes it further into current experiments in health care.
Devices Must Adapt to Collaborators' Needs
To be a useful agent, a computer system must understand the context in which it is operating. Take pulse oximetry–the measurement of oxygen in the blood. It's an easy procedure to perform, and is used in hospitals to tell whether a sick patient, such as one with lung problems, is in danger. The same technology can also be used by fitness buffs to tell whether they're getting a good workout.
These are obviously very different goals–and the device used for pulse oximetry will also be used in different ways. In a risk monitoring situation, samples may be taken less often than during a healthy fitness workout. At the minimum, a device should be configurable so that it gives the timing and accuracy needed in a particular setting. It should also be easy to turn a device on and off if it is needed for a limited time period, such as a workout.
Diego Alonso, a researcher at MD PnP, points to analgesia (the administration of pain killers) in the hospital as an example of competing needs that must be reconciled by a supervisor, human or machine. So long as the patient is stable, the pain killer should be administered. But if a monitor notices a drop in the patient's vital signs, the painkiller's dose must be reduced.
A popular standard for exchanging data among devices is the Data Distribution Service (DDS). The standard is rich and complex, typical of those produced by the Object Management Group. But among its virtues are an ability to specify how often you want data from a particular device. OpenICE uses DDS, among many other systems.
In short, the frequency and accuracy of data collection should be configurable. As patterns of human behavior are better understood, devices may become even more responsive to the contexts in which they are needed.
Even before the current move to standards, Capsule Tech managed to get devices to talk to EHRs through the grueling effort of interpreting the inputs and outputs of each system and crafting protocols to make them work together.
Started in 1997, the company has recently expanded from merely sharing data to developing useful tools based on data, such as alerts and a modest amount of analytics. Some of these tools demonstrate a kind of adaptability reminiscent of a human-agent collective.
For instance, alerts are crucial in any hospital environment, but notorious for crying wolf–90% can be false. In addition to sending data to the EHR, Capsule's SmartLinx's Medical Device Information System sends near-real-time alarm data to its Alarm Management System. This helps hospitals manage their alarms, in line with the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals.
SmartLinx does not suppress any information, but when reporting it through the Alarm Management System to the clinician's mobile device, includes some context to help the clinician decide whether the alert needs a response. Some context involves basics such as who, where, when, and which device was activated. Other context can consist of physiological data such as the patient's heart rate and how long the alarm has been sounding.
Additionally, to provide actionable, timely information that aids in human decision making, Capsule has built an early warning scoring system application that uses vital sign information to calculate an immediate general health status score for patients and to identify those likely to deteriorate. The application also guides the care team through appropriate actions. This may be the beginning of an intelligent, integrated health system.
Computer Systems Must Be Sensitive to Bad Input and Failure
An unfortunate tenet of human-agent collectives is that agents can't be trusted. The most basic example is system failure. If you don't hear from a device, does that mean the patient is fine or that the device's battery has run out of power? DDS offers a handshake or heartbeat, the common way for distributed computing systems to determine whether part of the system has gone bust.
Provenance is another requirement for collaborative environments. This means recording when a measurement was taken, and what person or device was responsible. There must also be ways to protect against data that arrives late or is assigned the wrong timestamp. When data is entered by humans, errors can be assumed as a matter of course, even in something as simple as spelling the name of a medication manufactured by your company.
More subtle is input from inexact devices, and worse still is the potential for malicious manipulation. I heard of instances where people who got rewards by their employers for reporting exercise put their fitness devices on their dogs. Using analytics, a health care system should be able to tell that a series of sudden 20-mile-per-hour rushes interrupted by inactivity are not a human activity.
Ethical and Technical Considerations
Lots of issues come up as simple human-computer interaction evolves into collaboration among agents. I've already mentioned error detection and provenance. Other issues include flexibility in computers taking or relinquishing control (agile teaming), legal responsibility, providing each agent with the right incentives, considering when to engage the user's attention (instead of taking action behind the scenes), and offering the proper interface to do so. Connected health is a deep concept offering a lot to explore, and technologies will get better as we understand more of it.


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Patent Hoarders Hiding Behind Shell Companies In Lawsuits
from the can't-admit-anything deptWhile it used to be that patent hoarding companies like Acacia would file their lawsuits under their own names, more recently the trend has been to hide behind a series of shell companies. The latest is Altitude Capital Partners, a company we've discussed in the past. It's raised hundreds of millions of dollars solely to invest in patents. While officially a private equity firm, it's clear that the company is clearly just a patent hoarder. While it appears to have changed its website somewhat, it used to list "Number and Quality of Potential Infringers" as an investment criteria. It's clearly taken that to heart in its latest series of lawsuits against companies like Google, Yahoo, AOL, RIM, Palm and many others. The interesting thing, though, is that Altitude is doing its best to hide its involvement in these lawsuits, just like it tried to hide an earlier investment in Visto. Instead, it's been using a series of shell companies that are clearly formed solely for the purpose of filing these lawsuits. In the case of Altitude, it appears to be quite difficult to even track down that they're involved at all. Acacia has been doing the same thing as well. There could be a few reasons for the use of such shell companies -- but a big one might be to pretend that these really are cases of "little inventors" vs "big companies" instead of the truth, which appears to be big time investors with hundreds of millions of dollars looking to use questionable patents to squeeze money out of successful companies. Just how Jefferson and Madison envisaged things when they set out to create the patent system.
Filed Under: patent hoarding, patent trolls, patents, private equity
Companies: altitude capital

subset: commoncrawl


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Merry Christmas! I just wanted to drop a reminder to recycle your Christmas cards and decorations. You will be rewarded many times over for taking a few additional, easy steps while opening your gifts and taking down your decorations.
It only takes a few minutes to tuck your ornaments into a box to reuse next year while you are taking down the Christmas tree. Wrap the breakable items in tissue paper to cushion them and wind those endless strands of lights around a paper towel tube or an old broomstick that you were smart enough to save when the broom itself was past repair.
Here are some tips to keep those beautiful greeting cards from going to waste.
- Snip the names and handwritten greetings off the card and save the beautiful art, graphics and Christmas poems on the cards for craft projects for the kids to use in their crafts projects next fall. They can enjoy cutting out the pictures and threading a pretty ribbon through a hole to decorate a children's tree in their bedroom.
- Package them up and recyle Christmas cards by mailing them via UPS "ground" or "bound printed matter" to the St. Jude's Ranch that collects and reuses old Christmas cards: St. Jude's Card Recycling, 100 St. Jude Street, P.O. Box 60100, Boulder City, Nevada 89006.
- Trim them into sizes to use as gift tags next year.
The most important item to recycle is the Christmas tree. If you cut down a tree to decorate, please take advantage of one of the free programs to recycle your Christmas tree. Here are some ideas of how to get this taken care of:
- Contact your town's street and water department to find the address of facilities where you can take your tree to be ground up to make mulch for your yard.
- Check with your local fish and wildlife officials to see if they are taking trees to put in ponds and lakes to provide breeding spots for fish.
- The most environmentally friendly, green way to have a tree for the holidays is to have a potted, live tree that can be planted outdoors after the decorations have been removed.
While your family is involved with unwrapping gifts, don't forget to remind them to save those ribbons, boxes and bows. When we recycle Christmas cards and holiday items we save trees and in the long run; our planet.
Return to Oooh Baby Baby Parenting Recycling and Environmental Issues to see more ways to make the Christmas holidays more green.


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|Little Becky Bartram
What a cutie!
Happy Mother's Day, everyone! Today, I dedicate my blog post to my Mom: Rebecca Elizabeth Bartram (Brittain Santos). Mom was born in 1946, in Livermore, California, to John Bartram and Donna Madsen Bartram. She's the third of four children, including her older brother and sister, Jimmy and Brenda, and her younger brother, Clay.
Mom grew up around the Livermore valley, where my Grandpa John worked as a cowboy (for the Harry Rowell Ranch as well as riding rodeo). She met my dad, William Lee Brittain, when she was a teenager, and they married on September 12, 1964. They soon started their family with my younger sister, Cindy, and me. We moved around the Livermore area (with short stints in San Luis Obispo and the Reno, Nevada, area) until we settled outside of Tracy, California, in 1974.
|Mom, Dad and me
|Cindy, Mom and me at Mom and Rodney's wedding
|Grandma I-U and her boys, Liam and Evan
|Mr. and Mrs. Rodney Santos
Happy Mother's Day, Mom!
|Isn't she beautiful??


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I'm currently in the planning stage for my next game, and since I've been away from C++ for a while I have some questions about helpful libraries. I plan on making a 2D game with SDL, constructing my own simple 2D engine. I plan on making this game for the PC.
What libraries would you recommend to make this process easier?
What about unittests?
What about an enforce operator to throw exceptions?
int a = 1;
enforce(a == 2); //Throws an exception,
Specifically, i'm looking for general purpose libraries, that implement that make my life easier (like boost). Also, a helpful library for physics/collision, AI, XML file parsing (specifically working with the Tiled map editor), and any others that you guys have used that are useful in a 2D game.


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May 3, 2009 at 6pm to May 15, 2010 at 7pm – Bethesda Row I'd like to get together with local tennis enthusiasts, play some tennis and perhaps develop an fun group to hang out with as well. Organized by Natalie | Type: tennis, get, together
July 18, 2009 at 8am to August 29, 2009 at 10am – Nothern Virginia Clay courts near Lake Newport just off Weihle and Reston Parkway (on North Village Road) Organized by | Type: doubles
August 13, 2009 from 5pm to 7pm – Red Morton Park, Redwood City Everyone is welcome. Come out and play. Organized by Chris | Type: hit, around
© 2020 Created by Mark / The Mayor. Powered by


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Every time I see these aerial dancers it starts in my head – "…love is in the air…", well, than I correct it in "…dance is in the air, everywhere I look around". I mean really, as if the dancing (on the ground) itself isn't great enough, just imagine the feeling of dancing in the air, without any boundaries, where you can spin in any direction, hang upside down… I'm interested in trying this for years but I guess I'm too clumsy that I'd accidentally hang myself up in the air with all those sheet around. I don't know, should I try it?
At the time where there were no computers, television, phones and photos, before the "civilized" man became civilized, the decoration of the body was the ultimate material artifact. One of the most active cultural body interventions is the sum of those called decorations. Beside the decorating value it represented a way of communication among its users. The most common purpose of decoration in traditional cultures was to convey a specific message about the person who has it. There are 5 basic techniques of decorating the human body: painting, tattooing, scarification, inlay (incrustation) and cauterization. – Painting –
Painting was, historically, mainly a sort of identification tag. The most famous example of body painting is "war paint" in some Native American tribes. Today it is something completely different – an artistic expression, except for maybe in the military service. The function of the "war paint" was to invoke major supernatural forces to protect and help the warrior. However, there is yet another function, according to which these colors were used to frighten the enemy.The other techniques are called stigmatization (labeling or marking).– Scarification –
Scarification (cutting certain forms under the skin) and inlay (inserting different materials under the skin) are sorts of decorating techniques uncharacteristic for European culture. Scarification served for marking the social and cultural status.
– Inlay –
Inlay was commonly used in celebration of magic or religious rituals.
– Cauterization –
Cauterization means destroying a part of the skin by burning it in order to get a specific shape that would stay on the skin permanently.
– Tattooing –
Tattooing has been and it still is the most widely used decoration technique of all. The word itself is of Polynesian origin. A misconception resulting from this is that the birthplace of tattooing is Polynesia. The term came to Europe with Cook after his traveling across the Oceania, but the Europeans encountered with this technique before, in touch with American Indians. But some archeological findings indicate that it even had prehistoric origin in all the continents. Tattooing was a visual mark of identity of the individual or his/her membership in a particular group and / or culture (belonging to the genus, clan, tribe, totemic group). Another aspect of possible usage of tattooing was a celebration of joining a group or changing of status within the group (marriage, birth of a child, the introduction in the world adults).


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Over a hundred people joined the fourth Roma Pride march through the centre of Prague on Sunday afternoon. The event is an annual celebration of Romany culture and identity and aims to draw attention to the discrimination of Romanies in the Czech Republic, be it in the sphere of housing, education or on the job market. Similar Roma Pride marches took place in 13 European capitals. There are estimated to be around a quarter of a million Romanies living in the Czech Republic.
The ANO party of the ruling coalition led by Finance Minister Andrej Babiš would presently win general elections gaining 26 percent of the vote, according to the outcome of a poll conducted by TNS Aisa for Czech Television. The Social Democrats, who won the last general elections, would get 18 percent of the vote, the Communist Party would get 10 percent, while the Christina Democrats, the junior party in the ruling coalition would get 7 percent. The position centre-right Civic Democrats would get 9.5 while TOP 09 would get 8.5 percent.
A staggering 246 million rands (434 million crowns) had been made available to ensure the smooth escape of Czech fugitive Radovan Krejčíř from a South African prison before the plot was thwarted last week, the Sunday Independent reported. The paper said sources close to the investigation had confirmed that three prison warders were paid R 1.5m to help expedite the prison break. Some of the money was to pay for a helicopter to spirit Krejčíř away once he had escaped. The fugitive has since been transferred to an underground isolation cell. The Sunday Independent last week reported on a dramatic raid of Krejčíř's cell after officials received a tip-off of the escape plot.
Czechs are increasingly investing in modern technology, according to the results of a survey conducted by the agency Nielsen Admosphere. The survey of technology in Czech households suggests that the number of smartphones has doubled in the past year to 39 percent. 48 percent of households have a laptop which is gradually replacing PCs now present in 39 percent of households. Ipads can be found in 17 percent of Czech households, up from 14 last year, and 11 percent of households now have a smart TV, up from 8 percent last year.
Chapman Taylor, a studio of international architects and designers, is to transform Prague's Václav Havel International Airport with the aim of giving it a strong Czech identity, the news site idnes.cz reports. According to idnes, the plan is for the airport to be decorated with images that are related to Prague and the Czech Republic- well-known sights and faces from the country's history, culture, music, sports and other areas. The airport's owner allegedly wants a strong statement such as visitors can see at the international airports in Vancouver, Kuala Lumpur or Amsterdam.
The Czech Bar Association has urged its members to offer their services to the foreign migrants held in Czech detention centres. According to Stepan Holub, the lawyer coordinating the volunteer effort, the Bar Association has received signals from journalists and the Ministry of Justice that migrants are in dire need of legal aid. They are held in detention, with no money, no possibility of contacting a lawyer and no knowledge of the Czech language, frequently they are unaware of the fact that they have the right to legal services, Holub told the news site ihned.cz. Twenty lawyers have so far offered their services.
Allstar Refugee Band, Tonya Graves, Michael Kocáb and Monika Načeva will perform at a charity concert in aid of migrants on Sunday evening. The concert at Prague's La Fabrika is co-organized by People in Need and United Islands. We want to make people remember what their lives were lie 30 years ago, the fact that many Czechs also fled from communism and were not welcomed with teargas in Western Europe, the head of La Fabrika Richard Balous told the ctk news agency.Well-known Czech emigres have pre-taped video messages for the audience and two short films will be screened from Syria and Turkey, documenting the plight of Syrian refugees.
People in fifty Czech towns and cities can take part in a series of events entitled Days of Architecture which focus on city planning and interesting architectural buildings in the given locality. The Days of Architecture, organized by the civic association Kruh, aim to raise public awareness of decisions impacting people's surroundings, insensitive reconstructions, co-existence of historic and modern architectural styles, public spaces and the revitalization of communist-era housing estates. The program includes lectures, forums, film screenings, and excursions in search of architecture and interesting exhibitions that are dedicated to new trends in architecture.
The Food Inspection Office says that over a third of Czech restaurants, delis and eateries are not complying with the law on allergy labelling which went into force in December of last year. The office says 37 percent of restaurants and eating places inspected either failed to provide the respective information on their menus or only gave it on request. According to the legislation food businesses are bound to provide information relating to 14 of the most common allergens, including eggs, milk, fish, molluscs and peanuts. While the information is now available on pre-packaged foods, restaurant and deli owners have not yet fully complied with the norm, arguing that it is obtrusive and confuses their diners who are generally not interested in the ingredients of their dishes.
Petr Dongres, the former head of President Zeman's security team, has been appointed deputy head of the special operations force responsible for protecting public officials and visiting foreign dignitaries, the ctk news agency reports. Dongres asked to be released from his post in the president's service after a breach of security last month in which activists, posing as chimneysweeps, managed to climb onto the roof and hung a pair of red underpants in place of the presidential standard. He had served as head of security at Prague Castle since 2012 when his predecessor Jiri Sklenka resigned after a man in the street shot several pellets at then president Klaus from an airsoft plastic gun.


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Naming changes
I would like to recommend that this article be moved to either Grand Theft Auto (series) or Grand Theft Auto series and that the article Grand Theft Auto 1 be moved right here, Grand Theft Auto. The original Grand Theft Auto does not have number "1" as the suffix, hence my recommendation. Any objections? --Legion 01:12, 30 April 2007 (BST)
- I object. I chose to do it this way because GTA is what we do all the way through the site to tell people about Grand Theft Auto (the series) and what it is and what is in it. Grand Theft Auto (series) isn't as simple. Not as many people want to view the page about GTA1, but that is still easy to find because it is known as "GTA1" because it's the first GTA. Also, if we are referring to which game Liberty City was featured in, saying "Grand Theft Auto" is slightly confusing (they're all featured in GTAs), so we say it was in GTA1. Just keeps things all the same having it as "Grand Theft Auto, known as GTA 1." Yes - technically you are right, however I would choose to use Grand Theft Auto (game) for GTA1 rather than move GTA. Xenon (Admin) talk 07:27, 30 April 2007 (BST)
- Sounds like you're suggesting this page ought to be turned into a disambiguation page with links to one for series and one for game....? Or are you suggesting that this page ought to stay and the article about original Grand Theft Auto ought to be moved to Grand Theft Auto (game)? --Legion 08:40, 30 April 2007 (BST)
- I think we should just leave it as it is, where GTA refers to all GTA games, and where GTA 1 refers to the first GTA game. That's simple enough for everyone to understand, and easy enough to find what you want. The "do you mean..." line at the top is good enough to redirect people who make a mistake. I don't want to say "The GTA Series" every time I say "GTA" on this wiki. I veto any changes. Xenon (Admin) talk 08:58, 30 April 2007 (BST)
Okay, understood. This red link you gave me, Grand Theft Auto (game).... does this need to be redirect or something? Thanks. --Legion 13:14, 30 April 2007 (BST)
You can redirect it to Grand Theft Auto. Unless Xenon wants to redirect it to somewhere else. George 08:42, 1 May 2007 (BST)
I think it should be called "grand theft auto series" to prevent confusion with "GTA1" MiloBellic 02:39, May 7, 2010 (UTC)
This page should be for the first Grand Theft Auto game, we already have the wikia home page. Toquen (talk) 15:27, April 30, 2013 (UTC)
Can we improve this page
People searching for Grand Theft Auto on a search engine will often end up on this page before any other. How can we improve this page (the first thing they see) to ensure they find/visit other parts of the wiki? Currently it's just boring text and a few random links scattered around, and not a very good first impression. Any thoughts? Gboyers talk 09:03, November 26, 2009 (UTC)
- One thing we can do is ditch the general navbox at the bottom, since it's redundant (because we already have the contents section; that template should be intended for other articles with don't have this support), making it short and less confusing to newbies. Images for links in the content section would also draw in readers better (as the Fallout and Half-Life wikis have demonstrated). - ZS 10:21, November 26, 2009 (UTC)
Era Changes
I think we need to change the whole era thing on here. I read in this month's edition of GameInformer that Rockstar separates the eras not by the number of the different sequels. On page 63 under the subject "Familiar Faces", Rockstar said that "the five PS2 games are one universe, this is the high definition universe, so they don't co-exist". So basically, they admit that they go through the eras by a different way. Also, Wikipedia now does the era thing a different way. Grand Theft Auto 1, it's expansion packs and Grand Theft Auto 2 goes under the 2D Universe. Grand Theft Auto 3 and it's prequels goes under the 3D Universe. Finally, Grand Theft Auto IV, it's two episodes, GTA: Chinatown Wars and Grand Theft Auto V falls under the HD Universe, which is the current era right now. -TTG (November 18, 2012; 2:10 PM)
Suggestion for change of falsely labeled GTA eras
Can we please get GTA V era changed to GTA HD era (or something along those lines)? I absolutely hate the fact that, even though they are in the exact same universe, GTA IV and V are kept in seperate eras. It's annoying and unnecessary. Completely redundant. Why, in the uncountable months that I've dedicated serious time in obsessing over this wonderful Wikia site, has this clear and disgusting error continue its existance? I just wanted to bring it to light. I mean, the top honchos at Rockstar have even said that they consider those two specific games to be in the exact same world. They said that characters from one would appear in the other, and that the GTA 3 and 4 eras are entirely seperate. C'mon, people.
ArmedChicky (talk) 04:27, April 10, 2013 (UTC)ArmedChicky
Yes, GTA IV and V are both in the HD Universe and should be rightfully noted and placed together on the wikia. Matt Seay (talk) 04:35, April 10, 2013 (UTC)
ArmedChicky and Matt, in case you haven't noticed, I've renamed the Era related pages to their correct universes and created some of these pages.
I also created a lot of categories to add those pages in them.
Take a look at one of the pages I've created: here.
Also, type GTA IV Era and click the pages that appear in the search result. I renamed all of them. And created the new correct categories.
Mikey Klebbitz (talk) 21:20, April 10, 2013 (UTC)
The Charts Under "Games"
I noticed how the different games are separated between two charts: Main Games and Spin-offs. I also noticed how GTA: Vice City and San Andreas are labed under Spin-offs. Rockstar actually treats those two games as main entries in the series. I would take them out of the spin-off chart and add them into the main game chart, but I really don't know how to add on to them. Perhaps someone wants to change them, or at least talk about it first. -TTG (December 26, 2014; 6:21 PM EST)
- Well...Wikipedia (the Arabic version) uses that way. AK-28 (Talk ⋆ Edits) 08:18, December 27, 2014 (UTC)
Grand Theft Auto X?
- 17. Grand Theft Auto X (2026) - Set from spring to summer in the mid-2010s, taking place in New Jersey, New York City, and Connecticut. Rashan Timmons is the main protagonist.
whos confirm this? I mean: official link please!
It may have been the same user who got blocked for adding fan fiction into the pages of the wiki (sockpuppet), but I really don't know for sure if it's him.
Biollante, the Bio-Beast (talk) 12:20, October 25, 2016 (UTC)
Trivia about women on GTA box art
So I'd thought I'd ask this before doing any changes to the page, making sure that I'm right as I don't want to put wrong info on the page. It says that since Vice City, the console games feature women on the left side of the box art who don't appear in the game itself and in the list it mentions Episodes from Liberty City. Well isn't that wrong as the girl featured on it is Joni who works at the Maisonette 9 and that you can have sex with the woman? Jamie64326 (talk) 19:10, April 20, 2019 (UTC)


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Über dieses Add-on
For detail information please also refer the following blog posts:
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This extension adds new toolbar and display the tags you have created as toggle buttons; the added toolbar is called "Tag Toolbar" and the space for showing tags is called "Tag Bar". You can attach/remove tags to/from the selected messages. The tag buttons' states are changed automatically, so you can easily know what tags are attached to the message. Moreover, you can filter the tags to be displayed by categorizing tags. You can create and change category from the listbox on Tag Bar.
Tag Toolbar is the same as original one. So, you can put other toolbar items on it. Tag Bar is the same as other toolbar items. So, you can move it to other toolbar. If you don't need Tag Toolbar, right click on the original toolbar and uncheck the "Tag Toolbar" menu.
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In Argentina there are national orientations (at the federal level) but then each province can organize its own curriculum. The national orientations are called "Núcleos de Aprendizaje Prioritarios (NAP)", the Nuclei of Priority Learning.
In the case of the "Nivel Inicial"-Initial Level and the two first cycles of the "Nivel Primario"-Primary Level, Language, Mathematics, Social Sciences and Natural Sciences are included in the same document. For the case of the "Tercer Ciclo del Nivel Primario" (ciclo básico de la Educación Secundaria)-"Third Cycle of the Primary Level (basic cycle of Secondary Education) there is one document for each area. There is no document for the "ciclo Superior"-Higher cycle, but presently there is a new reform of Secondary Eduction going on, which implies a number of agreements at the federal level, and this includes the curricular ones.
Nivel Inicial: http://portal.educacion.gov.ar/inicial/files/2009/12/nap_nivel_inicial.pdf
Nivel Primario - Primer Ciclo: http://portal.educacion.gov.ar/primaria/files/2010/01/nap-egb-primario.pdf
Nivel Primario - Segundo Ciclo: http://portal.educacion.gov.ar/primaria/files/2010/01/nap_egb2.pdf
Nivel Primario - Tercer Ciclo/ Ciclo Básico - Educación Secundaria: http://portal.educacion.gov.ar/secundaria/files/2009/12/nap3matem.pdf
ICMI representative for Argentina


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In the course of updating a book for Python 3.0, I've had a lot of need to test and compare code in Python 3 and Python 2.6. The first is obvious, and the second is needed because Python 2.6's -3 commandline switch is a key step in the process of converting code from the 2.x world to Python 3.
Python 3 vs Python 2.6
In this post I'll talk about installing Python 3.0 from source. Python 2.6 works much the same way except that you need to exercise some caution to make sure that 2.6 doesn't replace 2.5 as the default Python. This is a bad thing because all the Python packages and libraries you install by way of Ubuntu packages are tied to the default Python 2.5 installed automatically. If 2.6 becomes your default Python interpreter, suddenly you lose all of those packages. Python 3.0 on the other hand will not set itself up as the default Python interpreter unless you explicitly tell it to.
The problem with Ubuntu
The problem with Ubuntu is that I've been running it for a few years and I'm spoiled. Using synaptic or apt-get to install software has become second nature to me, and it's been a while since I installed any significant package from source. So when I needed the latest Python installed, my automatic reaction was to look for packages.
The bad news wasn't unexpected – there are no Python 2.6 packages in the standard repo's, which is really no surprise since 2.6 wasn't released until after Intrepid. However, there were packages for Python 3. Beta and RC versions, to be sure, but there were packages. The problem was that while the base Python 3 package installs just fine, there seems to be no compatible Tkinter package. No Tkinter, no IDLE. Since the book I'm revising makes some mention of IDLE, this was a deal-breaker for me.
Back to the source
So out of necessity, I figured out how to make source installs of Python 3 and Python 2.6 (mostly) happy on Ubuntu 8.10. If you're familiar with compiling from source on Linux/UNIX, just grab the packages listed below and get to it. OTOH, if you're new to compiling, I've given more complete directions below…
General Prerequisites
In general, you need the following packages installed before you try to build Python from source:
- build-essential – the compiler and tools to build pretty much anything.
- libsqlite3-dev libreadline5-dev libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev libssl-dev libgdbm-dev and tk-dev – these packages (and their dependencies) are needed to build various Python libraries. Note that you need the "-dev" versions. Having libsqlite3 installed, for example, won't be enough to build the Python libraries.
If you're already at a terminal prompt the fast way to handle the above is:
doc@x60:~$ sudo apt-get install build-essential libsqlite3-dev libreadline5-dev libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev libbz2-dev libssl-dev libgdbm-dev tk-dev
If you installed the Python 3 Ubuntu packages, you should uninstall them before going on.
Installing Python 3.0
- First you need to get the Python 3.0 source from http://www.python.org/download/ – choose either of the compressed source tarballs and save to your home directory (or other convenient spot).(For the following steps you need to be in a terminal window)
- The next step is to unpack the tarball – switch to the folder where you saved the tarball and…
tar xvf Python-3.0.tgz
- The tarball should be unpacked into a folder called Python-3.0, so switch there…
doc@x60:~$ cd Python-3.0
- There are 3 steps to compiling from source – configuring the package, compiling, and then installing. You configure the source package with the configure command;
doc@x60:~/Python-3.0$ ./configure(the "./" is important here)
This command checks your system and sets up the correct options for the build. It should end with a statement "Creating Makefile". If there are errors instead, they must be fixed before you go any further.
- The compile step is pretty easy – you give the "make" command:
doc@x60:~/Python-3.0$ make
The make command will take some time, since it has to compile everything. Again, if the make ends with an error, you must fix the error to go on.
- The install step is the big one, since it actually puts Python 3 on your system. By default Python 3.0 will not replace your existing Python, so it's safe to go for it:
doc@x60:~/Python-3.0$ sudo make install
You need to use sudo because the install will try to place the files in spots where a normal user doesn't have access – by default under /usr/local/.
After this, you should have python3.0 and idle3.0 available from the commandline. Creating menu entries,shortcuts, etc, I'll leave as an exercise for the reader.


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It's been quite a week for Lil' Wayne, which is saying something, because in Lil' Wayne's world you can be receiving a briefcase containing one million dollars in cash at Mansion for your birthday or awaiting sentencing on firearms charges at any given time.
In just the last few days, Wayne's given "street cred" to University of Tennessee football, been featured in the greatest celebrity birthday cake of all time, and found himself in the middle of Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Halloween blackface controversy.
Even Dwyane Wade thinks that's an eventful personal life.
U.S. & World
And now? He's being sued by a Florida man accusing him and his mentor, Cash Money Records artist and co-founder Birdman, for copyright violations over "Italian-styled spoken word recordings" that they are alleged to have used without permission or compensation.
So says Spring Hill resident Thomas Marasciullo, a former Long Island Italian restaurant cheese grinder and current owner of Doo-Wop Auto Sales in Hudson. Marasciullo, known as "Tommy Mara" to friends, filed suit in New York Friday against Wayne, Bird, Cash Money, and various distribution outlets; Marasciullo says he recorded the bits for Cash Money in 2006 but they never made him an offer he couldn't refuse.
In fact, he says, they didn't make him an offer at all.
According to the filings, Mara was unaware that his voice was used until his daughter tried to download Aretha Franklin's "Respect" for use as a ringtone and got "Respect (Outro)" instead, from the two's 2006 dual album "Like Father, Like Son," and heard her dad's voice.
The line Wayne and Bird selected for use? "The main name in this game is respect and loyalty. Family is a big thing. When we do this kind of business, everything is with respect."
Apparently the "except compensatory deals for voice work" part was silent, and not implied at all.
But on the plus side, should he win, perhaps Marasciullo can hire someone to teach his daughter how to use the iTunes store.


text:
Playing a cable newsman on HBO's "The Newsroom" has reminded Jeff Daniels of the importance of what you say on the air. And if Aaron Sorkin's writing it, that's what matters most to him.
As the series – which from the start has prompted lively and frequently quite divided discussion on everything from how it depicts modern news broadcasting to character competence among gender lines to its soapy romantic subplots – concludes its freshman season Sunday night, Daniels admits he always knew controversy would be part of the equation. What he doesn't know is exactly where the show – or its viewers – will fall on any given issue from week to week, but as the second season begins to take shape, the actor says he's ready for more leaps of faith, confident that the writing of the show's creator Sorkin will also lead the juciest character he's ever played to increasingly challenging places.
How hard is it to learn and deliver an Aaron Sorkin soliloquy?
It's no harder than learning a play. I think one of the smartest they did at casting was they cast theater people. So we're not afraid of words – we see this Sorkin-esque mountain range of dialogue and it's okay, we have to do our homework. Usually it's at least a week ahead – or at least four or five days ahead – you're getting it into your head. And then you work on it leading up to the day of and you're always overlapping with the next episode, memorization on the next episode, memorization on the current episode, memorization of what we're shooting today. It's like cramming for an exam for seven months. But that's the gig. You know with Aaron, that's the gig. I have to make it look like it's falling out of my head. I'm thinking this and then saying it and that's part of the trick of what I'm trying to do with Will.
You must've known this would be a controversial series. Was that part of the attraction?
Yeah, look, whether you like his writing or not, you want Aaron Sorkin writing about something that's important, that matters, that's relevant. So you want him writing 'West Wing." You want him writing "Newsroom." You want people to love it and you want people to hate it. As strange as that may sound in this ego-driven business, you want that kind of provocative reaction. You want that water cooler thing happening on Monday where the one guy's going, 'I hated it – It treats women horribly.' And the other is going, 'No, not so much. They're all just flawed human beings.' They're having a discussion, not to mention the political, not to mention the newscasts. So we love it. We knew going in it was not going to go unnoticed. Our job was to throw our best craft at it so that the acting, the directing and the writing would hold up. Then you just disagree or don't like what it is. That's okay. We love that.
How has the first season changed the way you look at news?
I know what they're saying in their ears. I know that when they do, say, Sarah Palin and they take a certain slant on that, that their numbers will go up, that their base will like it. If they take a different slant on her, on MSNBC if they go negative on her, the base and the viewers are going to love it. They'll see a spike go up. There's a whole ratings vs. facts.
When we did the premiere in New York in late June, before the Sunday premiere, all the cable news folks came: '60 Minutes' producers, guys who've been in the field for 40 years – they had a cocktail reception before, and they said, 'Well, we can't really talk about it yet because you may just try to attack us, but I hope that the series deals with the fact that there are those of us who are in the business who are hanging onto the ideals of journalism and we fight for those important stories that aren't necessarily another week of Casey Anthony. We fight those and we don't always win and I hope the series is about that.' And it is. And then they saw the premiere and they were all over me. It was quite something. I was very happy with the reaction of those guys because those guys really matter. We want them to feel that they're represented.
When a national news story does break, do you find yourself paying more attention to the process of how it's covered?
The process and the fill: keeping that interview subject on the air. How do we keep the Colorado shooting thing alive for another week? They've got a lot of time to fill on cable news and sometimes they're successful and sometimes they're just filling time. They know it, I know it, I can see it and the viewers, I think, have an idea that it's going on. But having done the show I can see, when there's breaking news, when it's breaking right now this hour, that's when these guys are really good. On both sides of the aisle, the right and the left on cable news, they're both on it.
It's when they start to have time to start to spin that it goes into columnists on the air for an hour, which is okay. Then the problem I see is speculation becomes fact, and that didn't used to be. Part of that problem is there's so much time to fill, they've got another four minutes. 'Jerry, you're outside the Casey Anthony courthouse. We know you weren't inside but can you tell us what you think might've happened?' 'Well, I don't want to speculate, but I think what might have happened was that...' And then they do speculate, because they've got to fill two minutes. And then now it's reported as fact two hours later and everything gets distorted. So I think they're all fighting that. They don't always win.
Is Will McAvoy the role of a lifetime?
It is. The creative challenge I have at 57 years old – there are guys my age who are scrambling just to get a job anywhere, and to have Aaron Sorkin, one of the best we've got, tailoring a leading role for you at a network that is known for its creative support and freedom, it's gold. It's just gold.
How much do you know about next season? Will it deal with the election?
The fact that Aaron said he was thinking about the next season is as much information as I've gotten. I'm serious. The way Aaron works, you can't go 'I need to know what the next five episodes are about so I can do my backstory.' To hell with your backstory! This is life. Tomorrow's a new day. We don't know what it is. The next episode's a new chapter in Will's life. Just find out like everybody else. I kind of embraced that.


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South African Journal of Education
On-line version ISSN 2076-3433
Print version ISSN 0256-0100
S. Afr. j. educ. vol.34 n.2 Pretoria Jun. 2014
Developing Sport Psychology in a girls' sport academy curriculum
Andrew Lewis
Centre for Human Performance Sciences and Department of Educational Psychology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa email@example.com
This article explores the initial steps in developing and presenting Sport Psychology in a leadership and sport curriculum at Stellenbosch University's (SU) Centre for Human Performance Sciences' (CHPS) Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development. Sport Psychology does not feature within the South African school curriculum specifically, yet the CHPS recognises the importance of exposing girls to the principles and skills of Sport Psychology and has a leadership curriculum for girls participating in sport to this end. This paper reports on a qualitative and exploratory reflective inquiry by the author who presented this theme. What was gained during this process, as well as the associated challenges encountered, suggest possible areas for research as well as changes and adjustments which could be made in similar Sport Psychology curricula.
Keywords: adolescent girls; curriculum; Life Orientation; life skills; sport; sport academy; sport psychology
The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development (hereafter Academy) is a project of the CHPS at SU. Sport, exercise and physical activity are individual and social development objectives in achieving the Academy's vision of girls as active agents for transformation at several systemic levels (Bressan, 2010; Centre for Human Performance Sciences, n.d.). The Academy provides girls with experiences that strengthen their self-respect and social interaction skills in preparation for leadership. The context of 'service to the community' also offers girls the opportunity to reflect on how to improve the world around them by learning how to support sport or educational programmes as volunteers (The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development, n.d.). Sport and Physical Activity (PA) contribute to an overall healthy human being (Holt, Tink, Mandigo & Fox, 2008) and this project is aimed at developing girls, through sport and PA, to become leaders at all levels - individual, community and societal (Bressan, 2010).
As an international phenomenon, sport academies enhance the sporting performance of athletes (Anderson, Hodge, Lavallee & Martin, 2004; Kortjaas, 2013). Sport and PA also inculcate life skills, that is, essential skills needed by humans in order to navigate challenges at all levels of development (Botterill, 2005; Holt et al., 2008). Debate, Pettee Gabriel, Zwald, Huberty and Zhang (2009:475) also stress the link between sport and life skills, stating "Sport programmes provide the opportunity for life skills instruction because of parallels that exist between life and sport, which include problem solving, goal setting, teamwork, communication, the management of success and failure, and receiving and applying constructive feedback". Zaichkowsky (2007:1-2) broadly defines Sport Psychology as "a science-based specialisation with a body of knowledge that provides professional services to children, adolescents, and adults interested in improving their quality of life through exercise and sport." Given this definition, Sport Psychology is considered a suitable and effective vehicle for imparting essential life skills (Zaichkowsky, 2007; Holt et al., 2008) and thus forms part of the proposed curriculum policy document offered by the Academy (Bressan, 2010; The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development, n.d.). However, this policy document lacks a more detailed exposition of Sport Psychology as component of the Academy curriculum, which is based on sound theory, best practices and an application to the target audience, that is, adolescent girls attending the Academy to enhance their competitive sport careers.
In light of the above, this article describes the engagement, process and facilitation of the steps undertaken by the author, a teacher and registered educational psychologist who holds a qualification in Sport Psychology, in presenting themes in Sport Psychology at the Academy. This qualitative study was exploratory in its positioning and its aim was to support similar projects in the current context and other settings in future. As few evidence-based youth sports programmes designed exclusively for girls exist (cf. Debate et al., 2009), this preliminary study intends filling the identified gap in the body of knowledge.
Context and conceptual analysis
The CHPS and the Academy were established in 2007 with the mandate to optimise the sport, physical activity and exercise contact between the academic resources of Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch University Sport (known as Maties Sport) and the Stellenbosch University Sport Performance Institute (SUSPI). In addition, its objective is to stimulate the development of partnerships with other African universities (Stellenbosch University, 2008; The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development, n.d.). The administration of CHPS is housed in Stellenbosch University's Faculty of Science and its focus is the design and delivery of interdisciplinary programmes, research projects and community activities in the human performance field (The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development, n.d.).
The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development is a joint partnership between CHPS, SUSPI and Maties Sport aimed at developing girls and women to their full potential as individuals and in their communities and broader South African society. Academy programme presentations consist of after-school modules, weekend and holiday workshops and sport training camps where secondary school girls can develop holistically. It aims to help: "girls (ages 12-19) develop an active lifestyle and their abilities in sport as they discover their potential to become leaders in their families, their communities and in Africa" (Centre for Human Performance Sciences, n.d.:1). The Academy presents two different programme streams to accommodate the interests of girls who would like to combine their Leadership Education with (1) improving their performance in a competitive sport or (2) acquiring the knowledge, skills and dedication to follow a physically active way of life. Sport Psychology as well as topics such as nutrition and tactical coaching in competitive situations features within the Competitive Sport Option curriculum offering of the Academy. The Competitive Sport Option also combines sport skill development and fitness training sessions with Sport Leadership Education and takes girls progressively through the four stages of the development of their sporting talent in one sport (e.g. hockey) offered by Maties Sport (The Academy for Girls' Leadership and Sport Development, n.d.).
Community engagement is crucial to CHPS's vision; the Academy realises this objective by means of sport and PA. The vision of the Academy is to be actively involved in the transformation of business and community sectors through capacity building and the empowerment of girls and women. This is achieved, inter alia, by means of a mentoring system whereby female university students support Academy girls in the practice of their emerging leadership skills in programmes in their specific school and community contexts (Centre for Human Performance Sciences, n.d.).
Sport Psychology and practice context
Sport Psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from several fields and focuses on how psychological factors impact sports performance and how participation in sport and exercise influences psychological and physical factors (Wikipedia, 2012). Traditionally Sport Psychology focused on performance enhancement and mental skills and has recently explored and engaged with several other epistemologies and research methods (Ryba, 2005). Ryba (2005:15-16) advocates that Sport Psychology be viewed as a "cultural praxis" that recognises an inter- and multi-disciplinary approach, looking at its sociocultural and social justice landscape from a research-practice paradigm, "favour[ing] forms of progressive qualitative research." In essence, this advocates moving from an individualistic and rigid view of the field to the recognition of multiple realities and lived experiences notable within a postmodern, interpretive paradigm (cf. Lewis & Steyn, 2003).
In South Africa, Sport Psychology is generally housed in sport and exercise departments at higher education institutions and not within psychology or education related departments partly due its historical development. Moreover, it is not a category of psychology registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) (cf. Republic of South Africa (RSA), 2011). According to Du Toit, Möller and Potgieter (1993:13), "historically, sport psychology developed from the fields of physical education and sport science and was followed by an increased involvement by psychologists". This has in part led to its location in the sport sciences.
Generally Sport Psychology is not presented in teacher education faculties (Le Roux, 2010), but there are instances where it features as part of a module.
Life Skills
Life Skills (LS) aims to equip learners to cope holistically for significant living in a transforming society (Department of Education (DoE), 2002; DoE, 2003a). Van De-venter (2009:129) regards LS as assisting learners in addressing needs and challenges prevalent in the 21st century. Furthermore, it guides and prepares "learners for meaningful and successful living in a rapidly changing and transforming society." According to Muthukrishna (2002:86), "In life situations, we will draw on a range of life skills because these are interrelated. Therefore, we need repertoires of life skills in a number of different areas. These skills need to be appropriate both to the developmental tasks and activities at particular stages of our lifespans, and to any challenges or transitions we face".
LS, applicable to the adolescent girls in this research, feature within the school curriculum and form part of the umbrella term, Life Orientation (LO) in the Revised National Curriculum Statement (RNCS) and current National Curriculum Statement (NCS) Grades R-12 documents (RSA, 2011) which provide a sound theoretical underpinning in presenting life skills to children (cf. Prinsloo, 2007). The RNCS includes the aspects of LS that feature under the LO learning area: guidance, vocational and career education, health education, physical education, environmental education, religious instruction, and citizen education (Donald, Lazarus & Lolwana, 2007). Sport and PA also feature within these themes. Recently, the National Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS) were developed for each school subject to replace the previous RCNS curriculum. The National Department of Basic Education introduced CAPS into Grade 10 in 2012 and Grade 11 in 2013 and will introduce CAPS in Grade 12 in 2014 (Western Cape Education Department (WCED), 2010). At the time of this project, the RCNS was still in use; thus, CAPS was not part of the development of this specific Sport Psychology curriculum.
Five areas were identified in the RCNS in South African schools as core Learning Outcomes (LOs) for the promotion of LO in the senior phase (Grades 7-9) and four in Grades 10-12 (Further Education and Training (FET) phase) (DoE, 2003a:20-23; DoE, 2003b:12-13). As the Academy girls were in the secondary school, the senior and FET curricula were used as follows:
Grades 7-9
- LOs 1 - Health promotion: The learner is able to construct informed decisions concerning personal, community and environmental health.
- LOs 2 - Social development: The learner is able to demonstrate an understanding of and dedication to constitutional rights and responsibilities and shows an understanding of varied cultures and religions.
- LOs 3 - Personal development: The learner is able to use acquired life skills to attain and broaden personal potential to respond in effect to challenges in his/her world.
- LOs 4 - Physical development and movement: The learner is able to demonstrate an understanding of, and take part in activities that support movement and physical development.
- LOs 5 - Orientation to the world of work: The learner will be able to make informed decisions about further study and career choices.
Grades 10-12
- LOs 1 - Personal well-being: The learner is able to achieve and maintain personal well-being.
- LOs 2 - Citizenship Education: The learner is able to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the values and rights that underpin the constitution in order to practice responsible citizenship, and enhance social justice and sustainable living.
- LOs 3 - Recreation and Physical well-being: The learner is able to explore and engage responsibly in recreation and physical activities, to promote well-being.
- LOs 4 - Careers and Career Choices: The learner is able to demonstrate self-knowledge and the ability to make informed decisions regarding further study, career fields and career pathing.
LS, as an integral part of sport and PA, are reflected in the LOs above. LOs 4, for example, relates specifically to physical development and movement, aspects particularly linked to sport and PA. As the Academy focus is on Grade 7-12 female adolescents, LS should cater for these learners while linked to and forming part of the broad education received through the LO Learning Area. It is thus argued that LS for girls doing sport should reflect skills specific to sport and yet not be detached from the education system (cf. Le Roux, 2010).
Research design and method
In agreement with Ryba's (2005:17) thinking about Sport Psychology as a "cultural praxis" recognising multiple ontologies, epistemologies and methodologies, and moving beyond "essential subjectivity", this study is qualitative and exploratory in nature and views Sport Psychology as an "embodied subject of multiple discourses" within a specific context.
This is an exploratory study framed within an interpretive paradigm. Reber, Allen and Reber (2009:280) view an exploratory study as "[a] preliminary study designed to provide some feeling for, or general understanding of the phenomenon to be studied". To Henning (2004:20), an interpretive paradigm is when "phenomena and events are understood through mental processes of interpretation which are influenced by and interact with social contexts".
Regarding the involvement of youth in after-school (sport) activities, Larson, Jarrett, Hansen, Pearce, Sullivan, Walker & Watkins (in Holt et al., 2008:284) recommend that researchers consider "what goes on within programmes; what youth experience, how development occurs, or what effective youth practitioners do to support development". A similar contextual approach as this has been taken in this exploratory research, hence the suitability of a qualitative study, framed within an interpretive paradigm which recognises multiple interpretations and discourses. This study therefore explores the initial engagement, development process and facilitation of Sport Psychology modules as part of the leadership curriculum for the Academy in order to inform similar existing and future projects launched by CHPS and other sport organisations.
The Sport Psychology themes were presented over several weeks to a combination of sport disciplines; thus the groups ranged in size and sport-discipline composition from smaller groups of approximately 10 to larger groups of 20 participants. At times, sole sport disciplines and at other times combined disciplines were present at the workshops and presentations. The girls represented various sports disciplines: hockey, netball, soccer, swimming, golf and athletics and participated in workshops held at different times according to the delivery format (i.e. after-school sessions, weekend workshops or residential camps during school holidays) (Bressan, 2010).
As the author was continually involved in the development and presentation of the Sport Psychology modules, reflective notes were made by him during and after the curriculum development process and of his own process of presentation of the modules. These reflections are discussed and related to relevant literature (cf. Henning, 2004).
The author is an HPCSA-registered educational psychologist who obtained a Sport Psychology qualification from a South African university and is involved in research and practice in both the educational psychology and sports psychology fields. As a psychologist he adheres to the HPCSA scope of practice (RSA, 2011) and ethical principles (HPCSA, 2007) contained within the field. These ethical principles were also adhered to in this process of engagement and research.
Findings: Engagement, process and development
During mid-2010, the Director of CHPS engaged in discussions with the author regarding the presentation of Sport Psychology modules to the girls who were engaged in the Competitive Sport Option of the Academy programme. Within this option, Sport Psychology is captured under mental preparation in the programme's curriculum where girls first learn to cope with the mental challenges of competition and also develop short and medium-term goal-setting skills for sport. The emphasis then shifts to developing the mental skills to compete at competition level with the emphasis on the development of persistence, self-confidence and a desire to win (Bressan, 2010).
Taking mental preparation for sport challenges and goal setting as a point of departure, an understanding thereof was necessary for both the presenter and the girls. Mental preparation is referred to in the literature under assorted names: mental training, mental skills training, mind/body skills. Mental skills are applicable in varied life contexts, school and sport alike and the applications for mental training reach far beyond Sport Psychology. Mental skills include aspects such as relaxation, imagery, focusing and refocusing, goal setting and stress management. This ranges from the use of developing mental skills in negotiating sport challenges and the setting of goals in sport to that of developing intra-psychic skills in the individual (namely, perseverance, self-assurance and striving to triumph in sport) (Orlick & McCaffrey, 2007).
Developing a theoretical link between Sport Psychology theory and LS curriculum theory was the next step in establishing an educational framework to ensure the sound presentation of this module. By framing the Sport Psychology module within a Learning Area contained in the RNCS, namely LO meant that the curriculum proposal was given a theoretical and educational platform for subsequent development.
Curriculum development is a continuous practice characterised by order and methodical expansion. Four phases characterised this curriculum development process as identified by Carl (2002:23), namely design, dissemination, execution and appraisal. It was recognised that this process did not evolve in a linear fashion, but interactively and dynamically (Du Toit, 2011). Based on the educational philosophy of LO, as well as the uniqueness of a sport environment, in general and this sport environment in particular, several prevalent Sport Psychology themes (cf. Potgieter, 2003; Murphy, 2005; Le Roux, 2010) were proposed for the Academy as part of the Sport Psychology curriculum content:
- Stress and burnout in sport
- Mental skills in sport
- Setting goals in sport
- Time management in sport
- Problem solving, decision making and conflict management in sport
- Living a healthy sport life
- Intrapersonal skills and sport
- Interpersonal skills and sport
- Sport as a career
- Professional behaviour on the sports field
This proposal was accepted by the Director of CHPS in principle. However, the fluid nature of the curriculum content and design was acknowledged (cf. Du Toit, 2011) when shaping the various formats (workshops, presentations and holiday camps) that made up the Academy's offerings.
After the acceptance of this proposal, discussions and the presentation format development moved from engagement with the Director of CHPS to the Academy Leadership Programme Manager (ALPM) to operationalisation and the subsequent individualised tailoring of specific courses as part of the dissemination and execution of the curriculum. A weekend hockey workshop programme, for example, incorporated the following specific aspects:
- Stress and Burnout in Sport: Causes and Symptoms Identification, Prevention and Treatment
- Mental Skills in Sport: What and Why? This theme also included goal setting and mental imagery.
As the participants were in the adolescence phase which coincides with Piaget's formal operational stage of cognitive development (Woolfolk, 2010), characterized by abstract thinking; a higher-order and interactive, yet practical-experiential engagement approach was followed suitable to this level of development. Furthermore, the educational principle of moving from the concrete to the abstract was also adhered to (Woolfolk, 2010). As constructivism is an underpinning philosophy of the South African macro education system (Du Toit, 2011), where "learners actively build systems of meaning and understanding of reality through their individual experiences and interactions" (Du Plessis, Conley & Du Plessis, 2007:4), this philosophy was the point of departure in both the design and implementation of the micro-curriculum.
For example, the module on imagery, as part of "Mental Skills in Sport: What and Why?" of the above-mentioned weekend hockey programme, stipulated the following outcomes and also advanced the learning philosophy and principles mentioned in the previous paragraph:
- Understanding what imagery is
- Why we use imagery
- How we use imagery, and
- When we use imagery.
Understanding what imagery is and why we use it in sport is just as important as its actual application. According to Orlick and McCaffrey (2007:243), "the ideal (sport-A.L.) situation is to incorporate mental skills into the execution of every maneuver during practice sessions". Hall, Munroe-Chandler, Fishburne and Hall (2009:93) view imagery as "...a volitional experience that involves the use of one or more of the senses to create, or re-create, a particular sporting skill or situation". Imagery is thus the process of creating or recreating a scenario in the mind's eye and can be used in several different ways: during injury, practising physical skills when physical practice is not possible, to reduce stress and anxiety, managing sports injuries and for motivation. As self-evaluation is a characteristic of adolescence (hence influencing their sport performance) (Strydom & Le Roux, 2004), imagery was used to explore the participants' specific sport performance motivation. The girls were guided to a general understanding of mental imagery, how they understood it and where and when they would make use of such a technique, given their own specific contexts. The interaction also included experiential demonstrations and exercises on how to use imagery in sport in general and to apply and practise it in a specific sport context. To Du Plessis et al., (2007:3), "experiential learning is the result of experience and practice".
Imagery resonates in several LOs of the RNCS and is featured in this process. For example, imagery assists with personal well-being (LOs 1, Grade 11) (DoE, 2003b:28) where sports girls are able to use life skills (in this instance, mental imagery) to "plan and achieve life goals" in their chosen competitive sport and other life situations. Imagery is also used mentally to plan and prioritise competitive sports goals and motivation (cf. DoE, 2003b). The development of mental imagery skills was used to promote the girls' well-being in developing their goals for their competitive sport and their lives. To Orlick and McCaffrey (2007:242), "Children who learn these mental skills early have more time to apply them to living their lives and pursuing their goals".
Varied learning approaches were applied during the process and engagement. This included the use of bibliotherapy. Bibliotherapy makes use of the content of books to solve varied human challenges (Ilogho, 2011). To Geldard and Geldard (2008:213), "...as a story unfolds (through bibliotherapy-A.L.), themes develop, issues emerge, and the characters and objects in the story respond with particular thoughts, emotions and behaviours". As stories are interpretive and dialogical, they encourage recipients see things in a different or a new way. "When children listen to a story, they may identify with a character, or a theme or an event within the story" (Geldard & Geldard, 2008: 213). The presenter used this method in the programme to approach sport and other life challenges (cf. Ilogho, 2011), thereby giving the girls an opportunity to construct their own knowledge and learning experience and to apply it to their own specific sport context by means of age-appropriate stories and metaphors according to the Sport Psychology principle of visualisation (cf. Thomson, 2005). As the author is a registered educational psychologist, the relevant ethical principles of the profession (HPCSA, 2007) were kept in mind.
Critical discussion of the curriculum process
The following critical aspects flowed from the whole engagement, development and facilitation process of the Sport Psychology curriculum presented at the Academy.
Consultation is an essential part of any initial process of engagement where the involved parties deliberate, seek information or advice and take into consideration feelings and interests of each other and what each one has to offer (Sykes, 1976). Perna, Neyer, Murphy, Ogilvie and Murphy (1995:235-236) observe that "...a critical aspect of sport consultation is the process of clarifying expectations on the part of clients, so that consultation can proceed with both parties agreeing on the criteria by which the efficacy of consultation will be evaluated". Determining who the client is and the services to be provided are therefore critical in this process.
Within this context, consultation only took place at management level and did not take place with the participants prior to the commencement of the module presentation. While this process of engagement was necessary at management level to ensure the process taking place, better practice would have included engagement with the participants prior to the sessions to gauge their specific needs. A discussion around the facilitator's identity and what he would be doing in the Sport Psychology module would have contributed to a better understanding of the process. Orlick and McCaffrey (2007) emphasise the importance of this kind of engagement and suggest possible ways of involving the participants, which includes making a prior need analysis and the setting of appropriate aims and objectives, as is good practice with any individual or community engagement (cf. Wilson, 2013). This serves to pay attention to the participants' voices, yet also allows them to experience the presenter's point of departure so that all can reach common ground and an understanding of who they are and in what direction the curriculum process will lead them. Debate et al. (2009) note that girls' interests and perceptions of physical activity differ from that of boys, and consulting with girl participants initially would have ensured the presentation of specific, tailored life skills and Sport Psychology themes. Gill (1995:228) cautions that "gender is so ingrained in our sport structure and practice that we cannot simply treat all athletes the same. But, neither can we assume that male and female athletes are dichotomous opposites and treat all males one way and all females another". Thus, the author as presenter constantly adopted a sensitive, yet inclusive approach to the diversity of the sports girls as participants bearing these aspects in mind.
Curriculum content and delivery
Sport is an appropriate context for teaching secondary school girls a LS curriculum (Danish, Forneris & Wallace in Holt et al., 2008). The curriculum content contained in the Academy Sport Psychology presentations generally reflected that of other well-known international Sport Psychology themes (cf. Le Roux, 2010). However, the unique context of South Africa in particular and Africa in general was generally not recognised. A wider search of the literature to identify similar programmes implemented in Africa and beyond would have shed more light on the relevance of the current programme to its specific context and may have suggested other possible curriculum content. While acknowledging the value of western, Eurocentric curriculum content, content relevant to a South African context was also deemed important by the author. In this respect, Daniels' (2011) observations regarding the influence of western ontology, epistemology and methodology on research are salient. Thus, the need was recognised to become "southern researchers" who are "critical consumers of global scholarship and engage with research in ways that make them the epistemological owners of such research" (Daniels, 2011:13).
Furthermore, addressing the previously mentioned lack of a thorough consultation process could have contributed to the inclusion of more contextually relevant and specifically-directed curriculum content in the course, leading to a deepening of the engagement and construction of the girls' own knowledge. Knowledge construction as a human activity empowers learners to become life-long learners thereby contributing to a curriculum that goes beyond sheer disciplinary knowledge (Du Toit, 2011). Problem solving, verbalisation, teamwork, experimentation and critical thinking are skills required in order to create new knowledge in the process of developing a curriculum (Woolfolk, 2010). The influence of the South African and African Indigenous knowledges were recognized and implemented during this process, but not always at a critical and deep level.
Content was imparted to the girls by means of various recognized and appropriate didactical formats aimed at creating a more diverse learning atmosphere, and aligning and scaffolding the cognitive and metacognitive developmental phases that characterise adolescence. These changes include: increasing physical changes, abstract cognitive development and increased social awareness (Newman & Newman, 2006; Kaplan, 2000; Papalia, Olds & Feldman, 2006). The content of the presentation was placed on slides and the module outcomes preceded the module content to orientate the girls to the module topic, content and expected outcomes. The amount of content per slide was according to standard guidelines for presentations and several non-culturally specific caricatures were inserted to elicit discussion on a particular topic. Individual as well as group activities were conducted to allow participants greater opportunity to construct meaning. The girls' capacity to construct meaning through experience and interpretation was considered throughout; thus, an interpretive, constructivist paradigm (cf. Henning, 2004) guided the entire process. By way of illustration, a collaborative worksheet on "Sport Stress and Burnout" required participants to answer the following: "When you hear the word 'stress' and 'burnout', what do you think of? Take a few minutes and discuss what you think stress and burnout are". Participants were asked to discuss stress and burnout as it occurred in their personal and sport lives and answer the question in light of "In my personal experience stress and burnout are ... "
As competitive sport also involves working in groups and teamwork (Veach & May, 2005), this programme also advanced social and interpersonal skills training aimed at enhancing cooperative learning through meaning making (cf. Goudas & Magotsiou, 2009). This life skill development had value, as adolescence is a phase characterised by the importance of and acceptance by peers. Within these relationships the adolescent girls developed social skills, their emotions were explored within a safe space, their identity discovered and new roles learnt (Papalia et al., 2006; Meece & Daniels, 2008). Meaning making is a dynamic process subject to constant change and development (Donald, Lazarus & Lolwana, 2007). These aspects were recognised during this process as was each girl's uniqueness and the uniqueness attributed to adolescence. In recognition of children's uniqueness, Orlick and McCaffrey (2007: 241) state, "It is important to recognise and respect their unique qualities and to be sensitive to their vulnerabilities". The specific developmental phase, adolescence, not only contributed to having a more developmentally 'uniform' audience which meant that mode of delivery and content were specifically tailored and targeted, but it also implied that the author as presenter could better understand the uniqueness of the particular developmental phase: related emotional, cognitive and social changes specific to this phase (cf. DoE, 2003 :b). Content and presentation style were therefore aimed at this specific developmental phase (cf. Orlick and McCaffrey, 2007).
Furthermore, while acknowledging individual difference, the girls shared many commonalities; all were high-performing athletes at school and on a national level. This was considered during the presentation of content and style of delivery. In all, Orlick and McCaffrey's (2007) principles of delivery were promoted: keeping the presentations enjoyable; advancing the tangible, physical component; exploring the girls' individuality; multiple delivery approaches; being positive and making use of role models.
Role modeling took place during a session where an international hockey player addressed the participants on her psychological approach to sport. The author as presenter initially facilitated questions followed by a discussion with the athlete based on the topics that the girls had dealt with during the previous sessions in order to contextualise and deepen their knowledge. Thereafter, the girls posed questions to the speaker and engaged in discussion with her. According to Orlick and McCaffrey (2007:246), "If chosen well, a role model can set a positive example to emulate with respect to mental skills, physical skills, a healthy perspective, persistence, or anything else one might want to pursue".
Cognisance was taken of the gender of the author as presenter which could have influenced the process with regard to gender differences in discourses of power and gender relations. To Daniels (2011:8): "Discourses are means by which power is exerted" and an awareness and reflection on the role and gender formed part of the presenter's own reflective practice. Gill (1995:207) adds, "Sport psychologists should be aware of the many overt and subtle ways that gender affects athletes, the sport setting, and sport psychologists themselves and attempt to turn that awareness into action in their practice". Power imbalances may be also observable in that athletes' status or prestige related to their sporting prowess, giving rise, at times, to insecurities, power struggles and relationship challenges (Coppel, 1995). In both instances, cognisance was taken thereof.
Assessment of curriculum
An evaluation of and feedback from the participants of the programme is an integral part of curriculum development. Curriculum content and delivery assessment serve several purposes, including the improvement of the existing curriculum for future groups (Wilson, 2013).
No assessment of the Academy's Sport Psychology modules took place by the author due to time and logistical constraints. Future programme sessions would therefore benefit from this as little research has been conducted of evaluations of adolescents' learning experiences through similar programmes (Holt et al., 2008). Based on this, the necessity in future of assessing the module content and presentation style is emphasised; this may lead to improved curriculum practice: development, engagement and delivery.
Broader contribution
LO imparted through this Sport Psychology module at the Academy aimed at developing skills in the individual sports girl. However, through the individual the wider systems where athletes function at community, societal, national and international level may also be affected positively. This is in line with a systems perspective (cf. Bronfenbrenner, 1995, 2005) that argues that people interact with a number of different levels of human ecological systems, ranging from more proximal microsystems (e.g. the individual) to more distal macrosystems (e.g. government policies) (cf. Lewis, 2009). Interestingly, at a meso- and macro-level, an African university has already expressed an interest in this programme of the Academy, including Sport Psychology.
Concluding remarks
Sport is a means for crossing personal, social, community and societal boundaries. In this particular instance, the Leadership Programme at the Academy of the CHPS aims at empowering adolescent girls to become active agents of change within the community of Stellenbosch and the broader South African and African contexts with a focus on girls' holistic development.
This exploratory study has highlighted certain conceptual terms and various strengths and challenges faced in presenting this programme, specifically the Sport Psychology module, through this curriculum process. The design dimensions that were considered and emerged (yet did not always realise) in this curriculum process included balance, articulation, scope, integration, progression, continuity, purposefulness, consultation, sound curriculum theory, relevance, social justice and continuous evaluation - essential aspects in further developing and enhancing a similar curriculum in future.
What was gained during this reflective process, as well as the associated challenges encountered, suggest areas for research as well as changes and adjustments which could be made in similar Sport Psychology curricula.
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text:
NEW YORK, Nov. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden read an election-themed Top 10 list on "Late Show with David Letterman" in New York.
Biden, who is running for re-election alongside President Barack Obama, appeared on Thursday's edition of the late-night chat show.
His "Top 10 Good Things About Voting Early" list went as follows:
10. I'm not saying each early voter gets a free cheeseburger, but I'm not saying they don't either.
9. It's vastly more effective than voting late.
8. You know who votes early? People with a backbone like a ramrod.
7. In a less-crowded polling center, there's plenty of room to stretch out, linger and relax.
6. If you vote early, you don't have to pay taxes. I'm sorry. I'm being told that's not accurate.
5. Single and looking to mingle? Find that special someone in the early voting booth.
4. Of course, there's the open bar.
3. Not exercising your right to vote is malarkey -- it's literally malarkey.
2. Early voters will receive a $5 million donation from Donald Trump.
1. Honestly, don't you want this election over with already?


text:
Now that the Big East's non-football schools have decided to ditch the Big East, ESPN senior college basketball writer Andy Katz is among those waxing nostalgic about the Big East's heyday as a hoops league. But at the end of his paean published early this morning, Katz gets a little defensive about the role played in all this by the folks who sign his paycheck:
On a sidenote, the notion that ESPN wanted the Big East to fade is rubbish. ESPN had a huge deal on the table that the Big East rejected. Had it taken the deal, Syracuse and Pitt might never have left for the ACC.
Ah, yes. ESPN had offered the Big East a nine-year, $1.4 billion extension in May 2011. The Big East turned it down, gambling that it could get a better deal from Fox or NBC, with Pitt among the schools leading the charge against taking ESPN's offer. This was right around the time the Pac-12 had raised by the bar for TV rights deals by signing a 12-year, $3 billion contract with ESPN and Fox. And football—not basketball—was the source for most of this money. Here's the the Hartford Courant on the terms of the Big East's current deal with ESPN, which is soon set to expire:
The Big East has never divulged how its money is split. It has been speculated 60 percent is divided among all the members and 40 percent among the football schools. Right now, that would give the basketball schools $4.6 million and football schools about $10.3 million. By contrast, the SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12 schools get about $21 million a year.
The Big East also rejected the ESPN extension because the basketball and football schools could no longer agree on how to divvy up the pot. With or without a new TV deal, the league was already splintering, as the football schools wanted more of what they were bringing in. As ESPN's Andrea Adelson wrote earlier this year:
One of the biggest stumbling points has been how the television money would be divided among the basketball and football schools. Last year, at the spring meetings in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., one proposal suggested a 75/25 split—75 percent of the money going to football schools, and 25 percent going to basketball schools. One athletic director at a basketball school raised his hand and wondered why the numbers were not flipped, since hoops is the reason the Big East exists in the first place.
You can imagine how well that went over in the room.
A short time later, Syracuse and Pitt bolted for the ACC, and then-Boston College AD Gene DeFilippo essentially said the ACC poached those schools on orders from Bristol:
"We always keep our television partners close to us. You don't get extra money for basketball. It's 85 percent football money. TV—ESPN—is the one who told us what to do."
It made perfect business sense: The ACC already had a billion-dollar deal with ESPN, and ESPN knew the Big East was divided. By further weakening the Big East, ESPN made the Big East less attractive to its competitors before they could so much as schedule a meeting. DeFilippo, who recently retired, eventually took back his comment a couple of days later, but by then it was too late. His candor had already told us everything we needed to know. Andy Katz just doesn't want to believe it. Wonder why.