How to motivate yourself and others? Intended and unintended consequences

To achieve goals, individuals and organizations must understand how to effectively motivate themselves and others. We review three broad strategies that people employ to increase motivation: giving feedback, setting goal targets, and applying incentives. Although each of these strategies can effectively motivate action under certain circumstances and among certain people, they can also result in unintended consequences: not helping or even hurting motivation. For example, employers may give positive feedback that leads employees to relax their effort or negative feedback that undermines employees’ commitment, organizations may set goals that are overly ambitious and consequently reduce motivation, and certain incentives might appear attractive before pursuing an action but uncertain incentives better motivate action during goal pursuit. By identifying when and how these common motivational strategies work versus fail, we are able to prescribe a specific set of guidelines that will help people understand how to motivate themselves and others.     

基于语料库的实习生课堂反馈语与优秀教师课堂反馈语对学生积极性影响的对比研究

在英语课堂中,实习生的课堂反馈语与优秀英语教师的课堂反馈语在类型和使用场合上是有差距的,他们的反馈语对学生学习热情的影响各不相同.本文主要研究的问题包括:(1)从教学录像中考查:在课堂中,哪一种类型的教师反馈语使学生表现更为积极和活跃?(2)通过语料检索软件Antona3.2,统计不同类型的教师反馈语使用频率和调出语料...     

Using Public Feedback and Competitive Rewards to Increase the Safe Driving of Pizza Deliverers

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of a safe driving competition facilitated by publicly-posted individual feedback. The turn-signal use, safety-belt use, and complete intersection stopping of 82 pizza deliverers were observed at two experimental and three control stores, as well as among the civilian population. After baseline observations, pizza deliverers received posted weekly individual feedback on their turn-signal use (at Store A) or complete intersection stops (at Store B). The deliverers' safe driving scores were posted individually on a vertical scale along with their names. Each week the deliverer with the highest average performance was rewarded with a free vehicle-maintenance coupon. Turn-signal use among drivers at Store A (n= 24) increased 22 percentage points from baseline to the intervention phase which was maintained into the withdrawal phase. Complete intersection stopping among drivers at Store B (n= 21) increased 17 percentage points from baseline to the intervention phase and was maintained into the withdrawal phase. Although the winners of the weekly competitions had the greatest increase in performance, non-winners also increased their instances of safe driving during the competition.     

教育生态学关照下的英语写作多维反馈模式的应用研究

教育生态学视角下的多维反馈模式有机地将教师反馈和同伴反馈相结合,促使各类课堂生态因子和谐互动。多层次的协商交流凸显学习者的主体性,使学习者了解自己“多元智力发展”偏向。学习者基于对多维信息的收集和处理而完成深层次的知识及心理建构,产出与写作目标更加接近的语言输出,提升学习者自主及合作学习能力,实现生态主体协同进化目的。     

Maximizing Student Learning: A Case Example of Applying Teaching and Learning Theory in Social Work Education

Social work is a practising profession and when students undergo a social work undergraduate course they are expected to learn and apply the knowledge, skills and values necessary for their future social work career. As an educator, the challenge exists in determining whether students have learnt the material and are prepared to implement the knowledge, skills and values into practice. Current theories on teaching and learning are useful tools to educators who want to ensure that course units are maximizing students' learning potential. This paper focuses on the application of three established teaching and learning theories implemented in a social work module. The paper begins with an overview of Biggs' theory of Constructive Alignment, Biggs' four levels of understanding/Bloom's Taxonomy, and Race's five factors that underpin successful learning. The paper describes the integration of the theories to a social work undergraduate module through the following four-step process: (1) revisit learning outcomes; (2) determine teaching methods and learning activities; (3) design assessment; and (4) receive feedback/evaluate. The students' learning experiences were positively reflected through their personal learning outcomes, formative feedback and summative feedback, which demonstrated the ability to maximize student learning through the incorporation of teaching and learning theory.     

Controlling epileptic seizures in a neural mass model

In an effort to understand basic functional mechanisms that can produce epileptic seizures, we introduce some key features in a model of coupled neural populations that enable the generation of seizure-like events and similar dynamics with the ones observed during the route of the epileptic brain towards real seizures. In this model, modified from David and Friston’s neural mass model, an internal feedback mechanism is incorporated to maintain synchronous behavior within normal levels despite elevated coupling. Normal internal feedback quickly regulates an abnormally high coupling between the neural populations, whereas pathological internal feedback can lead to hypersynchronization and the appearance of seizure-like high amplitude oscillations. Feedback decoupling is introduced as a robust seizure control strategy. An external feedback decoupling controller is introduced to maintain normal synchronous behavior. The results from the analysis in this model have an interesting physical interpretation and specific implications for the treatment of epileptic seizures. The proposed model and control scheme are consistent with a variety of recent observations in the human and animal epileptic brain, and with theories from nonlinear systems, adaptive systems, optimization, and neurophysiology.     

A Tandem Queue with Server Slow-Down and Blocking

Abstract

We consider two variants of a two-station tandem network with blocking. In both variants the first server ceases to work when the queue length at the second station hits a ‘blocking threshold.’ In addition, in variant 2 the first server decreases its service rate when the second queue exceeds a ‘slow-down threshold, ’ which is smaller than the blocking level. In both variants the arrival process is Poisson and the service times at both stations are exponentially distributed. Note, however, that in case of slow-downs, server 1 works at a high rate, a slow rate, or not at all, depending on whether the second queue is below or above the slow-down threshold or at the blocking threshold, respectively. For variant 1, i.e., only blocking, we concentrate on the geometric decay rate of the number of jobs in the first buffer and prove that for increasing blocking thresholds the sequence of decay rates decreases monotonically and at least geometrically fast to max{ρ₁, ρ₂}, where ρ _i is the load at server i. The methods used in the proof also allow us to clarify the asymptotic queue length distribution at the second station. Then we generalize the analysis to variant 2, i.e., slow-down and blocking, and establish analogous results.     

论微格教学的重要作用

本文论述微格教学在师范教育中的作用，并对微格教学的教学技能和技能培训的作用进行了较为详细的讨论。     

中心城市粮食安全系统结构与因果分析

随着我国城镇化的进程,中心城市粮食安全对于区域乃至全国粮食安全具有举足轻重的作用。中心城市粮食安全相对于全国的粮食安全,具有不同的特征、结构、内涵和主导因素。论文从系统的角度提出中心城市粮食安全系统的概念,分析中心城市粮食安全系统结构、中心城市粮食安全系统子系统构成、中心城市粮食安全子系统的相互作用,在此基础上建立因果模型,详细探讨中心城市粮食安全系统主要反馈回路及相互影响,为我国中心城市粮食安全的系统管理提供有益探索。     

用于反馈放大器的四条密勒推广定理

本文应用电网络理论,从二端口网络着手,根据不同反馈环节,在原来密勒定理的基础上提出四条密勒推广定理,将使密勒定理在理论上更完善、更系统化,适用范围更广,实用性更强。