Culture is tricky. A recent encounter with the word culture in the Sunday newspapers illustrates just how tricky it can be. In one article, culture referred to classical music, dance, and art—sometimes called highbrow culture. Another section listed cultural events—each of them celebrating one or another ethnic group. In a third instance, a reporter wrote about how religious organizations were ...

Contaminated sediment management is complex and multivariate, involving a careful balance of science, politics and economics. As is true for most such complex issues, there is not a single correct way to address a problem, but rather the approach should be driven by the ecological, political and economic goals of all interested parties. However, because the choices made have far-reaching implic...

Individual differences in spatial skill emerge prior to kindergarten entry. However, little is known about the early experiences that may contribute to these differences. The current study examined the relation between children's early puzzle play and their spatial skill. Children and parents (n = 53) were observed at home for 90 min every 4 months (6 times) between 2 and 4 years of age (26 to ...

Our research aims to explore the potential that tangible, embedded, embodied interactions (TEIs) has in enabling children’s (age 3-5 years old) active play. This paper describes our study of 66 commercially available digitally augmented toys have get children moving, and how these digital may be conceptualised as TEIs. During analysis, type persistence feedback from was an important factor conc...

The purpose of the present study was to analyze mother-child collaborative play in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) compared to children with Down Syndrome (DS) and typical developing children (TD). Children with ASD are often described as having deficient play skills, particularly in the symbolic domain. Caregivers' involvement in child play activities increases the structural com...

Pretend play has a central role for children's development and psychological well-being. However, there is a paucity of standardized and valid measures specifically devoted to assess the core domains involved in play activities in preschool and primary school children. The Affect in Play Scale-Preschool (4-5 years) and the Affect in Play Scale-Preschool Extended Version (6-10 years) are semi-st...

Play is a widespread phenomenon in the animal kingdom. But only humans engage in games, that is, in rule-governed, conventional play activities. We move pieces of wood on a board according to some arbitrary rules, making some of the pieces queens, others knights, and the whole activity that of chess. We walk on stages and declare war or peace—in games of makebelieve. No other species engages in...

This paper presents an approach to conduct risk assessments of complex incentive systems, using a case study of the normative Peer Review Process (PRP). This research centers on appliances and adaptations of the Conflicting Incentives Risk Analysis (CIRA). First as an approach to Root Cause Analysis of a known incident, and then for a full assessment of the incentives in the PRP together with p...