title: Using convolutional neural networks to value game positions in professional basketball

authors: Gibb, Jacob

subjects: Statistics

abstract: Many professional sports are currently midway through their own “Data Revolutions”, with advances in analytics being driven by the intense competition for even the most minor advantages, although typically being focused on offensive actions within a game, rather than statistics or metrics pertaining to a player’s defensive abilities.
A significant portion of defensive duties is positioning one’s self to prevent opponent actions from occurring at all, and often defensive actions such as tackles or steals are indicative of defensive mistakes rather than an example of good defending.
In other areas, Deep Learning models have shown an uncanny ability to identify trends and perform tasks typically considered too complex for software, and better left to humans. Various Deep Learning models have been designed and developed to estimate the value of positions in multiple sports, and shown to be very promising.
This thesis attempts to contribute to this by investigating the use of Convolutional Neural Networks to estimate the value of basketball possessions. The model predicts both the terminal actions and the expected value of a possession, and achieves good results relative to the closest published literature in similar tests.
Finally, we show how such a model may be utilised to produce metrics describing a player’s positioning ability as a potential tool for player scouting or coaching.

text: Using convolutional neural networks to value game positions in professional basketball Many professional sports are currently midway through their own “Data Revolutions”, with advances in analytics being driven by the intense competition for even the most minor advantages, although typically being focused on offensive actions within a game, rather than statistics or metrics pertaining to a player’s defensive abilities.
A significant portion of defensive duties is positioning one’s self to prevent opponent actions from occurring at all, and often defensive actions such as tackles or steals are indicative of defensive mistakes rather than an example of good defending.
In other areas, Deep Learning models have shown an uncanny ability to identify trends and perform tasks typically considered too complex for software, and better left to humans. Various Deep Learning models have been designed and developed to estimate the value of positions in multiple sports, and shown to be very promising.
This thesis attempts to contribute to this by investigating the use of Convolutional Neural Networks to estimate the value of basketball possessions. The model predicts both the terminal actions and the expected value of a possession, and achieves good results relative to the closest published literature in similar tests.
Finally, we show how such a model may be utilised to produce metrics describing a player’s positioning ability as a potential tool for player scouting or coaching.

year: 2024

title: Institutional contradiction and management control innovation: A field study of total quality management practices in a privatized telecommunication company

authors: Sharma, Umesh Prasad

subjects: institutional theory

abstract: The purpose of this paper is to theorise the changes surrounding the introduction of a management control innovation, total quality management (TQM) techniques, within Telecom Fiji Limited. Using institutional theory and drawing on empirical evidence from multiple sources including interviews, discussions and documents, the paper explicates the institutionalization of these TQM practices. The focus of the paper is the micro-processes and practice changes around TQM implementation, rather than the influence of the macro-level structures that are often linked with institutional theory. The change agents used Quality Action Teams and the National Quality Council to introduce new TQM routines. The present study extends the scope of institutional analysis by explaining how institutional contradictions impact to create and make space for institutional entrepreneurs, who in turn, modify existing routines or introduce new routines in fluid organizational environments which also exhibit evidence of resistance.

text: Institutional contradiction and management control innovation: A field study of total quality management practices in a privatized telecommunication company The purpose of this paper is to theorise the changes surrounding the introduction of a management control innovation, total quality management (TQM) techniques, within Telecom Fiji Limited. Using institutional theory and drawing on empirical evidence from multiple sources including interviews, discussions and documents, the paper explicates the institutionalization of these TQM practices. The focus of the paper is the micro-processes and practice changes around TQM implementation, rather than the influence of the macro-level structures that are often linked with institutional theory. The change agents used Quality Action Teams and the National Quality Council to introduce new TQM routines. The present study extends the scope of institutional analysis by explaining how institutional contradictions impact to create and make space for institutional entrepreneurs, who in turn, modify existing routines or introduce new routines in fluid organizational environments which also exhibit evidence of resistance.

year: 2010

title: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible

authors: McLachlan, Claire

abstract: In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

text: Te Whariki revisited: How approaches to assessment can make valued learning visible In 2016, Te Whariki: He Whariki Matauranga mō ngā Mokopuna o Aotearoa: Early Childhood Curriculum (Te Whariki) (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2017), New Zealand’s early childhood curriculum was updated for the first time in 20 years. Although the gazetted principles, strands and goals of the curriculum were not part of the update, the remainder of the curriculum was revised to meet the changing social and linguistic context, the revised national curriculum and associated documents, reviews of early childhood practice and relevant theory and research. The updated curriculum has reduced learning outcomes (from 118 to 20) and stronger guidance on the need for both informal and formal approaches to assessment to ensure children’s learning in each strand are assessed. This article reflects on the changes between the 1996 and 2017 version of the curriculum in relation to assessment and the rationale for the changes. Approaches to both ‘in the moment’ and planned assessment are explored and the usefulness of approaches which enable teachers to reflect on ‘discrepant data’ and support children’s learning in each strand are examined.

year: 2018