Actions Speak Louder Than Goals: Valuing Player Actions in Soccer

Assessing the impact of the individual actions performed by soccer players during games is a crucial aspect of the player recruitment process. Unfortunately, most traditional metrics fall short in addressing this task as they either focus on rare actions like shots and goals alone or fail to account for the context in which the actions occurred. This paper introduces (1) a new language for describing individual player actions on the pitch and (2) a framework for valuing any type of player action based on its impact on the game outcome while accounting for the context in which the action happened. By aggregating soccer players' action values, their total offensive and defensive contributions to their team can be quantified. We show how our approach considers relevant contextual information that traditional player evaluation metrics ignore and present a number of use cases related to scouting and playing style characterization in the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 seasons in Europe's top competitions.Comment: Significant update of the paper. The same core idea, but with a clearer methodology, applied on a different data set, and more extensive experiments. 9 pages + 2 pages appendix. To be published at SIGKDD 201

Woordvorming tussen systeem en norm: affixoïden in het Duits en in het Nederlands

Starting from observations from (Belgian-)Dutch usage, the present article offers a comparison of affixoids (better known in English as "semi-affixes") in German and Dutch. We begin with a discussion of recent developments in the affixoid debate with regard to both German and Dutch and then compare prefixoids and suffixoids in the two languages on the basis of corpus data. As it turns out, divergences between German and Dutch affixoids (though at times considerable) are not due to differences between the linguistic systems. Rather, they are associated exclusively with the level of norm, raising interesting questions as to potential determining factors and making a wider crosslinguistic comparison of affixoids (e.g. including Swedish) an even more promising proposition

New composition-dependent cooling and heating curves for galaxy evolution simulations

In this paper, we present a new calculation of composition-dependent radiative cooling and heating curves of low-density gas, intended primarily for use in numerical simulations of galaxy formation and evolution. These curves depend on only five parameters: temperature, density, redshift, [Fe/H] and [Mg/Fe]. They are easily tabulated and can be efficiently interpolated during a simulation. The ionization equilibrium of 14 key elements is determined for temperatures between 10 K and 10(9) K and densities up to 100 amu cm(-3) taking into account collisional and radiative ionization, by the cosmic UV background and an interstellar radiation field, and by charge-transfer reactions. These elements, ranging from H to Ni, are the ones most abundantly produced and/or released by SNIa, SNII and intermediate-mass stars. Self-shielding of the gas at high densities by neutral hydrogen is taken into account in an approximate way by exponentially suppressing the H-ionizing part of the cosmic UV background for H i densities above a threshold density of n(HI, crit) 0.007 cm(-3). We discuss how the ionization equilibrium, and the cooling and heating curves, depends on the physical properties of the gas. The main advantage of the work presented here is that, within the confines of a well-defined chemical evolution model and adopting the ionization equilibrium approximation, it provides accurate cooling and heating curves for a wide range of physical and chemical gas properties, including the effects of self-shielding. The latter is key to resolving the formation of cold, neutral, high-density clouds suitable for star formation in galaxy simulations

Modeling the recrystallization textures in particle containing al alloys after various rolling reductions

Various degrees of rolling reductions account for diverse recrystallization mechanisms and thus different microstructural and texture features. The development of deformation and recrystallization textures is discussed based on experimental data and results of finite element and crystal plasticity simulations. A recrystallization model is presented that incorporates the microstructural heterogeneities and changes in local stored energy. The experimental observations and results of crystal plasticity calculations testify that orientation selection during recrystallization is controlled by low stored energy nucleation which is incorporated in the recrystallization model. Results of texture simulations show that the evolution of {100} and {011} components is related to a particle stimulated nucleation mechanism

Development and validation of the characteristics of resilience in sports teams inventory

This multi-study paper reports the development and initial validation of an inventory for the Characteristics of Resilience in Sports Teams (CREST). In four related studies, 1225 athletes from Belgium and the United Kingdom were sampled. The first study provided content validity for an initial item set. The second study explored the factor structure of the CREST, yielding initial evidence but no conclusive results. In contrast, the third and fourth study provided evidence for a two-factor measure, reflecting (a) the team’s ability to display resilient characteristics and (b) the vulnerabilities being displayed under pressure. Overall, the CREST was shown to be reliable at the between-players and the between-teams level, as well as over time. Moreover, its concurrent validity was verified by linking the characteristics of team resilience with various relevant team processes. Its discriminant validity was established by comparing the CREST measures with individual athletes’ resilient traits. In conclusion, the CREST was argued to be a usable state-like measure of team-level resilient characteristics and vulnerabilities. To gain further understanding of team resilience as a process, this measurement could be used in future process-oriented research examining adverse events and sports team’s pre- and post-adversity functioning

A new analytical approach for the velocity field in rolling processes and its application in through-thickness texture prediction

A new analytical model is presented that expresses kinematically admissible velocity fields in rolling processes. Opposed to conventional streamline approaches, the current model does not force the material to flow along the prescribed lines, but introduces a new coordinate that is constant over these lines, to prescribe a fixed component of the velocity in the rolling direction as a function of that coordinate and the coordinate along the rolling direction. The interaction between the rolls and the surface is incorporated in the model via two scalar parameters which depend on the friction conditions between the roll and the sheet, and the properties of rolled material. The scalar parameters can be tuned with experimental observations of deformation flow across the thickness. The modelled material flow does not reveal significant deviation from the one calculated by streamlines. The obtained analytical expressions for the velocity gradient tensor components combined with polycrystal plasticity models enables the prediction of the through-thickness texture evolution for various friction conditions.status: publishe

MICRO-SCALE STUDY OF RESIDUAL STRESSES IN CR2O3 COATINGS SPRAYED BY APS

Whichever the application field, every material forming process generates residual stresses on the surface. While they are likely to enhance the aimed properties of the final mechanical part, these stresses may also drastically reduce them and result in early failures. Therefore, understanding the residual stress state remains a major challenge when coating complex parts, especially as most characterization methods at the microscopic scale involve specific sample preparation procedures which may affect the residual stresses field. This work investigates the residual stress state that exists in chromium oxide coatings deposited via Atmospheric Plasma Spray (APS), using two pioneering techniques featuring high spatial resolution: Scanning Microwave Microscopy and Raman Micro-Spectroscopy. The first technique combines the measurement of microwave electromagnetic capacities of a Vector Network Analyzer with the subnanometric resolution of an Atomic Force Microscope: it thus enables performing depth investigations at very accurately defined positions of the probe on the surface. The second technique relies on the principle of photons inelastic scattering and involves a laser beam aiming at the material sample: it allows a fine characterization of the microstructure as well as defects and stresses detection via molecular vibratory signatures. The investigation scale is limited here to a few cubic micrometers. Due to the highly localized scales of our investigations, which also depend on the device, the objective of our procedure required that the comparison should be made not on individual points but on definite mapped areas, every spot being analyzed and post-treated one after another, with optimum measuring parameters. Results have been correlated with XRD measurements to cross-check the average amount of stress observed over a wider area