Drug Talk in Context: The Relationship between Situation and Performance in the Expression and Reception of Drug-Related Knowledge.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Lynn

1996-01-01

Maintains that the ways in which students react, absorb, and communicate new information are defined by their perception of the requirements and expectations of their surrounding situation. This information is particularly relevant in designing and implementing school-based drug prevention programs. Provides examples of various situational-based…

The Journey from Rhetoric to Reality: Participatory Evaluation in a Development Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chouinard, Jill Anne; Cousins, J. Bradley

2015-01-01

In this paper, we focus on participatory evaluation in the context of international development and specifically on the emerging empirical knowledge base. In a prior review and critique of research on participatory evaluation (Cousins and Chouinard 2012), we examined 121 studies, with only 21 (17%) situated in development contexts. However, the…

Familiarity knowledge in student nurses' clinical studies: exemplified by student nurses in palliative care.

PubMed

Haugan, Grethe; Hanssen, Ingrid

2012-01-01

In this article based on a literary study, the form of knowledge named familiarity knowledge is examined. Although rooted in the philosophical tradition of Wittgenstein and Polanyi, the development of familiarity knowledge is tied in with clinical practice and particular patients and contexts while paying attention to the framework factors influencing the setting as a whole as well as with theoretical knowledge relevant to the situation at hand. Palliative care makes a backdrop for some of the discussion. Familiarity knowledge can never be context free and attends to that which is unique in every nurse-patient relationship. Both assertive and familiarity knowledge are needed to care for dying patients in a competent, sensitive, and truly caring manner. Mentors need to help students synthesize assertive knowledge and familiarity knowledge during their clinical studies to enrich both kinds of knowledge and deepen their understanding. Student nurses expertly mentored and tutored while caring for dying patients living at home become, for instance, less apprehensive about facing dying patients than students not so mentored. Nurses need to understand the complexity of nursing care to be able to see the uniqueness of the situation and approach the individual patient on the bases of experience and insight.

The Influence of Non-Epistemic Features of Settings on Epistemic Cognition

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kawasaki, Jarod N.; DeLiema, David J.; Sandoval, William A.

2014-01-01

Situated theories of learning recognize the rules, tools, goals, and communities within which activities develop. Similarly, situated theories of epistemic cognition recognize that individuals' ideas about knowledge are tentative and dependent on particular contexts. In this study, we bring these frameworks together and qualitatively examine how…

Cultural Regulation and the Reshaping of the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Brien, Stephen

2012-01-01

This paper is set within the context of university change in the Republic of Ireland. Irish third-level institutions are increasingly situated, whilst situating themselves, in the global advance of the so-called "entrepreneurial" university model. This model promotes knowledge as utilitarian and performative that, in turn, informs new…

Negation in context: Evidence from the visual world paradigm.

PubMed

Orenes, Isabel; Moxey, Linda; Scheepers, Christoph; Santamaría, Carlos

2016-01-01

Literature assumes that negation is more difficult to understand than affirmation, but this might depend on the pragmatic context. The goal of this paper is to show that pragmatic knowledge modulates the unfolding processing of negation due to the previous activation of the negated situation. To test this, we used the visual world paradigm. In this task, we presented affirmative (e.g., her dad was rich) and negative sentences (e.g., her dad was not poor) while viewing two images of the affirmed and denied entities. The critical sentence in each item was preceded by one of three types of contexts: an inconsistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had little savings) that activates the negated situation (a poor man), a consistent context (e.g., She supposed that her dad had enough savings) that activates the actual situation (a rich man), or a neutral context (e.g., her dad lived on the other side of town) that activates neither of the two models previously suggested. The results corroborated our hypothesis. Pragmatics is implicated in the unfolding processing of negation. We found an increase in fixations on the target compared to the baseline for negative sentences at 800 ms in the neutral context, 600 ms in the inconsistent context, and 1450 ms in the consistent context. Thus, when the negated situation has been previously introduced via an inconsistent context, negation is facilitated.

The historicity of the physics class: enactments, mimes and imitation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bergwik, Staffan

2014-06-01

This essay discusses Anna Danielsson's article "In the physics class: university physics students' enactments of class and gender in the context of laboratory work". The situated co-construction of knowledge and identity forms the crucial vantage point and I argue that it is a point of intersection between the history of science and research in science education. The former can provide a valuable understanding of the historicity of learning science. I thus highlight the importance of knowledge as situated in time and space, for instance the importance of the historical division between "head and hand" clearly visible in the discourse of Danielsson's informants. Moreover, the article discusses how identity is produced in specific knowledge contexts through repeated performances. The article closes by briefly suggesting analytical alternatives, in particular "belonging" and "imitation". Both draw on post-structuralist ideas about the citational nature of identity. Belonging is created by citing and reinstating norms. Imitating knowledge, identity and norms is an issue that should be brought to the fore when we speak of education and training.

Needles in the Haystack: Finding Content Worth Preparing for Workplace Learning with the KEP Model

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thalmann, Stefan; Maier, Ronald

2017-01-01

Knowledge transfer between employees is a primary concern in organizations. Employees create or acquire content that partially represents knowledge. These knowledge elements are specific to the context in and for which they are created and rarely address the learning needs of other employees in other work situations. Organizations therefore need…

Placing "Knowledge" in Teacher Education in the English Further Education Sector: An Alternative Approach Based on Collaboration and Evidence-Based Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loo, Sai Y.

2014-01-01

This paper focuses on teacher education in the English further education sector, where the teaching of disciplinary and pedagogic knowledge is an issue. Using research findings, the paper advocates an approach based on collaboration and informed research to emphasize and integrate knowledge(s) in situated teaching contexts despite working in a…

Education and Patterns of Communication In a Situation of Restricted Literacy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyer, Barbara

1982-01-01

Interaction between oral and literate modes of communication in a predominantly oral culture is discussed in the Islamic context of West Africa. Communication is viewed as transmission of knowledge in a formal learning situation (a one way process) and as an informal shared process between literate and nonliterate community members. (BRR)

The use of engineering design scenarios to assess student knowledge of global, societal, economic, and environmental contexts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKenna, Ann F.; Hynes, Morgan M.; Johnson, Amy M.; Carberry, Adam R.

2016-07-01

Product archaeology as an educational approach asks engineering students to consider and explore the broader societal and global impacts of a product's manufacturing, distribution, use, and disposal on people, economics, and the environment. This study examined the impact of product archaeology in a project-based engineering design course on student attitudes and perceptions about engineering and abilities to extend and refine knowledge about broader contexts. Two design scenarios were created: one related to dental hygiene and one related to vaccination delivery. Design scenarios were used to (1) assess knowledge of broader contexts, and (2) test variability of student responses across different contextual situations. Results from pre- to post-surveying revealed improved student perceptions of knowledge of broader contexts. Significant differences were observed between the two design scenarios. The findings support the assumption that different design scenarios elicit consideration of different contexts and design scenarios can be constructed to target specific contextual considerations.

Context-Inappropriate Anger, Emotion Knowledge Deficits, and Negative Social Experiences in Preschool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Locke, Robin L.; Miller, Alison L.; Seifer, Ronald; Heinze, Justin E.

2015-01-01

This study examined contextually inappropriate (CI) anger in relation to emotion recognition and situation knowledge, negative social experiences, and externalizing behavior among low-income 4-year-olds attending Head Start (n = 134). Approximately 23% showed anger when presented with positive/neutral slides and videos (valence-incongruent CI…

Stealing Knowledge in a Landscape of Learning: Conceptualizations of Jazz Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bjerstedt, Sven

2016-01-01

Theoretical approaches to learning in practice-based jazz improvisation contexts include situated learning and ecological perspectives. This article focuses on how interest-driven, self-sustaining jazz learning activities can be matched against the concepts of stolen knowledge (Brown & Duguid, 1996) and landscape of learning (Bjerstedt, 2014).…

Application Exercises Improve Transfer of Statistical Knowledge in Real-World Situations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daniel, Frances; Braasch, Jason L. G.

2013-01-01

The present research investigated whether real-world application exercises promoted students' abilities to spontaneously transfer statistical knowledge and to recognize the use of statistics in real-world contexts. Over the course of a semester of psychological statistics, two classes completed multiple application exercises designed to mimic…

Literacy, Knowledge Production, and Grassroots Civil Society: Constructing Critical Responses to Neoliberal Dominance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mein, Erika

2009-01-01

Within the context of neoliberal globalization, portrayals of "literacy" and "knowledge" are increasingly emphasized for their instrumental value for individuals and markets. At the same time, locally situated movements have emerged to challenge, resist, and transform these representations. This article examines a grassroots…

Lightweight Adaptation of Classifiers to Users and Contexts: Trends of the Emerging Domain

PubMed Central

Vildjiounaite, Elena; Gimel'farb, Georgy; Kyllönen, Vesa; Peltola, Johannes

2015-01-01

Intelligent computer applications need to adapt their behaviour to contexts and users, but conventional classifier adaptation methods require long data collection and/or training times. Therefore classifier adaptation is often performed as follows: at design time application developers define typical usage contexts and provide reasoning models for each of these contexts, and then at runtime an appropriate model is selected from available ones. Typically, definition of usage contexts and reasoning models heavily relies on domain knowledge. However, in practice many applications are used in so diverse situations that no developer can predict them all and collect for each situation adequate training and test databases. Such applications have to adapt to a new user or unknown context at runtime just from interaction with the user, preferably in fairly lightweight ways, that is, requiring limited user effort to collect training data and limited time of performing the adaptation. This paper analyses adaptation trends in several emerging domains and outlines promising ideas, proposed for making multimodal classifiers user-specific and context-specific without significant user efforts, detailed domain knowledge, and/or complete retraining of the classifiers. Based on this analysis, this paper identifies important application characteristics and presents guidelines to consider these characteristics in adaptation design. PMID:26473165

Engaging the Small Firm in Learning: Practice Based Theorising on Complex Social Knowledge

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higgins, David

2009-01-01

Purpose: The paper sets out to suggest that knowledge in the SME enterprise is embodied as evident in such notions as tacit knowing and learning, and embedded grounded in the situated social historic contexts of individual lives and work. This supports the view that the nature of knowledge is inherently indeterminate and continually evolving.…

Shifting Contexts: Investigating the Role of Context in the Use of Ubiquitous Computing for Design-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Willis, Katharine S.; Corino, Gianni

2014-01-01

In design teaching ubiquitous technologies can offer new ways of situating learning within real world experiences. Yet they require new types of knowledge; both an understanding of how to work with the technology and also an understanding of how to use the technologies to respond to changing contexts such as the place and the people. We sought to…

LapOntoSPM: an ontology for laparoscopic surgeries and its application to surgical phase recognition.

PubMed

Katić, Darko; Julliard, Chantal; Wekerle, Anna-Laura; Kenngott, Hannes; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie; Jannin, Pierre; Gibaud, Bernard

2015-09-01

The rise of intraoperative information threatens to outpace our abilities to process it. Context-aware systems, filtering information to automatically adapt to the current needs of the surgeon, are necessary to fully profit from computerized surgery. To attain context awareness, representation of medical knowledge is crucial. However, most existing systems do not represent knowledge in a reusable way, hindering also reuse of data. Our purpose is therefore to make our computational models of medical knowledge sharable, extensible and interoperational with established knowledge representations in the form of the LapOntoSPM ontology. To show its usefulness, we apply it to situation interpretation, i.e., the recognition of surgical phases based on surgical activities. Considering best practices in ontology engineering and building on our ontology for laparoscopy, we formalized the workflow of laparoscopic adrenalectomies, cholecystectomies and pancreatic resections in the framework of OntoSPM, a new standard for surgical process models. Furthermore, we provide a rule-based situation interpretation algorithm based on SQWRL to recognize surgical phases using the ontology. The system was evaluated on ground-truth data from 19 manually annotated surgeries. The aim was to show that the phase recognition capabilities are equal to a specialized solution. The recognition rates of the new system were equal to the specialized one. However, the time needed to interpret a situation rose from 0.5 to 1.8 s on average which is still viable for practical application. We successfully integrated medical knowledge for laparoscopic surgeries into OntoSPM, facilitating knowledge and data sharing. This is especially important for reproducibility of results and unbiased comparison of recognition algorithms. The associated recognition algorithm was adapted to the new representation without any loss of classification power. The work is an important step to standardized knowledge and data representation in the field on context awareness and thus toward unified benchmark data sets.

Metaphores et representations du cerveau plurilingue: conceptions naives ou construction du savior? Exemples dans le contexte d'enseignement andorran (Metaphors and Representations of the Multilingual Brain: Naive Conceptions or Knowledge Construction? Examples in the Context of Andorran Education).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Larruy, Martine Marquillo

2000-01-01

This article concentrates on the use of metaphors characterizing a multilingual brain in a corpus of oral interactions drawn from the Andorran part of an international research study. First, the situation and the status of metaphors in fields connected to the elaboration of knowledge is questioned. Next, the most important metaphors associated to…

Constructive, Self-Regulated, Situated, and Collaborative Learning: An Approach for the Acquisition of Adaptive Competence

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

de Corte, Erik

2012-01-01

In today's learning society, education must focus on fostering adaptive competence (AC) defined as the ability to apply knowledge and skills flexibly in different contexts. In this article, four major types of learning are discussed--constructive, self-regulated, situated, and collaborative--in relation to what students must learn in order to…

Mobile, Collaborative Situated Knowledge Creation for Urban Planning

PubMed Central

Zurita, Gustavo; Baloian, Nelson

2012-01-01

Geo-collaboration is an emerging research area in computer sciences studying the way spatial, geographically referenced information and communication technologies can support collaborative activities. Scenarios in which information associated to its physical location are of paramount importance are often referred as Situated Knowledge Creation scenarios. To date there are few computer systems supporting knowledge creation that explicitly incorporate physical context as part of the knowledge being managed in mobile face-to-face scenarios. This work presents a collaborative software application supporting visually-geo-referenced knowledge creation in mobile working scenarios while the users are interacting face-to-face. The system allows to manage data information associated to specific physical locations for knowledge creation processes in the field, such as urban planning, identifying specific physical locations, territorial management, etc.; using Tablet-PCs and GPS in order to geo-reference data and information. It presents a model for developing mobile applications supporting situated knowledge creation in the field, introducing the requirements for such an application and the functionalities it should have in order to fulfill them. The paper also presents the results of utility and usability evaluations. PMID:22778639

Mobile, collaborative situated knowledge creation for urban planning.

PubMed

Zurita, Gustavo; Baloian, Nelson

2012-01-01

Geo-collaboration is an emerging research area in computer sciences studying the way spatial, geographically referenced information and communication technologies can support collaborative activities. Scenarios in which information associated to its physical location are of paramount importance are often referred as Situated Knowledge Creation scenarios. To date there are few computer systems supporting knowledge creation that explicitly incorporate physical context as part of the knowledge being managed in mobile face-to-face scenarios. This work presents a collaborative software application supporting visually-geo-referenced knowledge creation in mobile working scenarios while the users are interacting face-to-face. The system allows to manage data information associated to specific physical locations for knowledge creation processes in the field, such as urban planning, identifying specific physical locations, territorial management, etc.; using Tablet-PCs and GPS in order to geo-reference data and information. It presents a model for developing mobile applications supporting situated knowledge creation in the field, introducing the requirements for such an application and the functionalities it should have in order to fulfill them. The paper also presents the results of utility and usability evaluations.

Emotion Knowledge and Autobiographical Memory across the Preschool Years: A Cross-Cultural Longitudinal Investigation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qi

2008-01-01

Knowledge of emotion situations facilitates the interpretation, processing, and organization of significant personal event information and thus may be an important contributor to the development of autobiographical memory. This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis in a cross-cultural context. The participants were native Chinese children,…

Using Broadcast Journalism To Motivate Hypermedia Exploration.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kass, Alex; And Others

An effective learning environment must ensure that students are motivated to access whatever information is available, that they have an authentic context in which to situate that knowledge, and that they face challenges that allow them to put that knowledge to use. In an attempt to address these issues, a computer program was developed, called…

Towards Transformation of Knowledge and Subjectivity in Curriculum Inquiry: Insights from Chen Kuan-Hsing's "Asia as Method"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Angel M. Y.

2012-01-01

Chen's book, "Asia as Method" (Duke University Press, 2010), and his theorization on topics of de-imperialization, de-colonization, de-cold war, as well as on foregrounding epistemologies and frames of reference situated in the diverse contexts in Asia have contributed to empowering scholars and researchers situated not only in Taiwan,…

Content in Context Improves Deception Detection Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blair, J. Pete; Levine, Timothy R.; Shaw, Allison S.

2010-01-01

Past research has shown that people are only slightly better than chance at distinguishing truths from lies. Higher accuracy rates, however, are possible when contextual knowledge is used to judge the veracity of situated message content. The utility of content in context was shown in a series of experiments with students (N = 26, 45, 51, 25, 127)…

Beyond the Triple Helix: Framing STS in the Developmental Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Amir, Sulfikar; Nugroho, Yanuar

2013-01-01

For the past three decades or so, the field of Science and Technology Studies (STS) has shed light on the interrelationship between modern science and technology, on one side, and contemporary society, on the other. A majority of this knowledge and insights are situated in the context of Western societies, or more precisely, in economically and…

The Function of Contextual Knowledge: A Videotaped Class Session in France

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schelle, Carla

2015-01-01

This paper concerns seeing; specifically, what should and what can be seen in a classroom situation in a progressive school in Paris. It focuses on a lesson given in a foreign cultural context and the possibility of documenting it and reconstructing it: first, as far as possible, unaffectedly and out of context, to achieve comparative and…

The role of tacit knowledge in the work context of nursing.

PubMed

Herbig, B; Büssing, A; Ewert, T

2001-06-01

Previous research on the role of tacit knowledge is ambiguous. Some studies show the superiority of expertise, while other studies found experts would not be better than laymen. This paper aims at clarifying the contribution of tacit knowledge to expertise in the domain of nursing. Two important concepts for dealing with critical situations are outlined - tacit knowledge and experience-guided working. The framework of tacit knowledge and experience-guided working can contribute to an explanation of the ambiguous results. Tacit knowledge is acquired implicitly in the course of working and is therefore not subject to reflection. For this reason it can contain erroneous or problematic contents. A method for the explication of tacit knowledge was developed and a laboratory study with 16 experienced nurses conducted. In the laboratory study the nurses had to deal with a critical nursing situation that was developed in co-operation with nursing experts. The explicit knowledge of the nurses was tested before the laboratory study. No systematic differences in explicit knowledge could be observed, i.e. differences in performance could not be attributed to this knowledge mode. Results from multidimensional scaling procedures illustrate differences in the tacit knowledge of nurses who successfully accomplished the critical situation and those who did not. The findings are in line with the assumption that experience-guided working is of the utmost importance for dealing with critical situations. Consequences of these results for nursing and person-related services in general are discussed and the aim of future research is outlined.

Expertise for Teaching Biology Situated in the Context of Genetic Testing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Van der Zande, Paul; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Brekelmans, Mieke; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Vermunt, Jan D.

2012-07-01

Contemporary genomics research will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who want to teach up-to-date genetics in secondary education. This article reports on a research project aimed at enhancing biology teachers' expertise for teaching genetics situated in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge concerning genetic testing and the related consequences for decision-making indicate the societal relevance of an educational approach based on situated learning. What expertise do biology teachers need for teaching genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing? This article describes the required expertise by exploring the educational practice. Nine experienced teachers were interviewed about the pedagogical content, moral and interpersonal expertise areas concerning how to teach genetics in the personal health context of genetic testing, and the lessons of five of them were observed. The findings showed that the required teacher expertise encompasses specific pedagogical content expertise, interpersonal expertise and a preference for teacher roles and teaching approaches for the moral aspects of teaching in this context. A need for further development of teaching and learning activities for (reflection on) moral reasoning came to the fore. Suggestions regarding how to apply this expertise into context-based genetics education are discussed.

Exploring Interconnections between Local Ecological Knowledge, Professional Identity and Sense of Place among Swedish Fishers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garavito-Bermúdez, Diana; Lundholm, Cecilia

2017-01-01

The ecological knowledge of those who interact with ecosystems in everyday-life is situated in social and cultural contexts, as well as accumulated, transferred and adjusted through work practices. For them, ecosystems represent not only places for living but also places for working and defining themselves. This paper explores psychological…

Describing functional requirements for knowledge sharing communities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garrett, Sandra; Caldwell, Barrett

2002-01-01

Human collaboration in distributed knowledge sharing groups depends on the functionality of information and communication technologies (ICT) to support performance. Since many of these dynamic environments are constrained by time limits, knowledge must be shared efficiently by adapting the level of information detail to the specific situation. This paper focuses on the process of knowledge and context sharing with and without mediation by ICT, as well as issues to be resolved when determining appropriate ICT channels. Both technology-rich and non-technology examples are discussed.

Privacy-Related Context Information for Ubiquitous Health

PubMed Central

Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-01-01

Background Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Objective Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Methods Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Results Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. Conclusions This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual’s privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation. PMID:25100084

Privacy-related context information for ubiquitous health.

PubMed

Seppälä, Antto; Nykänen, Pirkko; Ruotsalainen, Pekka

2014-03-11

Ubiquitous health has been defined as a dynamic network of interconnected systems. A system is composed of one or more information systems, their stakeholders, and the environment. These systems offer health services to individuals and thus implement ubiquitous computing. Privacy is the key challenge for ubiquitous health because of autonomous processing, rich contextual metadata, lack of predefined trust among participants, and the business objectives. Additionally, regulations and policies of stakeholders may be unknown to the individual. Context-sensitive privacy policies are needed to regulate information processing. Our goal was to analyze privacy-related context information and to define the corresponding components and their properties that support privacy management in ubiquitous health. These properties should describe the privacy issues of information processing. With components and their properties, individuals can define context-aware privacy policies and set their privacy preferences that can change in different information-processing situations. Scenarios and user stories are used to analyze typical activities in ubiquitous health to identify main actors, goals, tasks, and stakeholders. Context arises from an activity and, therefore, we can determine different situations, services, and systems to identify properties for privacy-related context information in information-processing situations. Privacy-related context information components are situation, environment, individual, information technology system, service, and stakeholder. Combining our analyses and previously identified characteristics of ubiquitous health, more detailed properties for the components are defined. Properties define explicitly what context information for different components is needed to create context-aware privacy policies that can control, limit, and constrain information processing. With properties, we can define, for example, how data can be processed or how components are regulated or in what kind of environment data can be processed. This study added to the vision of ubiquitous health by analyzing information processing from the viewpoint of an individual's privacy. We learned that health and wellness-related activities may happen in several environments and situations with multiple stakeholders, services, and systems. We have provided new knowledge regarding privacy-related context information and corresponding components by analyzing typical activities in ubiquitous health. With the identified components and their properties, individuals can define their personal preferences on information processing based on situational information, and privacy services can capture privacy-related context of the information-processing situation.

Extending Situated Language Comprehension (Accounts) with Speaker and Comprehender Characteristics: Toward Socially Situated Interpretation.

PubMed

Münster, Katja; Knoeferle, Pia

2017-01-01

More and more findings suggest a tight temporal coupling between (non-linguistic) socially interpreted context and language processing. Still, real-time language processing accounts remain largely elusive with respect to the influence of biological (e.g., age) and experiential (e.g., world and moral knowledge) comprehender characteristics and the influence of the 'socially interpreted' context, as for instance provided by the speaker. This context could include actions, facial expressions, a speaker's voice or gaze, and gestures among others. We review findings from social psychology, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics to highlight the relevance of (the interplay between) the socially interpreted context and comprehender characteristics for language processing. The review informs the extension of an extant real-time processing account (already featuring a coordinated interplay between language comprehension and the non-linguistic visual context) with a variable ('ProCom') that captures characteristics of the language user and with a first approximation of the comprehender's speaker representation. Extending the CIA to the sCIA (social Coordinated Interplay Account) is the first step toward a real-time language comprehension account which might eventually accommodate the socially situated communicative interplay between comprehenders and speakers.

Extending Situated Language Comprehension (Accounts) with Speaker and Comprehender Characteristics: Toward Socially Situated Interpretation

PubMed Central

Münster, Katja; Knoeferle, Pia

2018-01-01

More and more findings suggest a tight temporal coupling between (non-linguistic) socially interpreted context and language processing. Still, real-time language processing accounts remain largely elusive with respect to the influence of biological (e.g., age) and experiential (e.g., world and moral knowledge) comprehender characteristics and the influence of the ‘socially interpreted’ context, as for instance provided by the speaker. This context could include actions, facial expressions, a speaker’s voice or gaze, and gestures among others. We review findings from social psychology, sociolinguistics and psycholinguistics to highlight the relevance of (the interplay between) the socially interpreted context and comprehender characteristics for language processing. The review informs the extension of an extant real-time processing account (already featuring a coordinated interplay between language comprehension and the non-linguistic visual context) with a variable (‘ProCom’) that captures characteristics of the language user and with a first approximation of the comprehender’s speaker representation. Extending the CIA to the sCIA (social Coordinated Interplay Account) is the first step toward a real-time language comprehension account which might eventually accommodate the socially situated communicative interplay between comprehenders and speakers. PMID:29416517

Designing authentic assessment: strategies for nurse educators.

PubMed

Poindexter, Kathleen; Hagler, Debra; Lindell, Deborah

2015-01-01

Increased emphasis on health care safety requires renewed attention to teaching and learning processes for future health care professionals. When presented with problems situated in a clinical context, learners have rich opportunities to demonstrate integration of concepts. Authentic assessment is an approach to evaluation of learning through which students can demonstrate acquired knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the context of real-world or realistic nursing practice activities. This article describes features, approaches, and examples of authentic assessment processes in the context of classroom, clinical, and online nursing education.

Reasoning and Knowledge Acquisition Framework for 5G Network Analytics

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Autonomic self-management is a key challenge for next-generation networks. This paper proposes an automated analysis framework to infer knowledge in 5G networks with the aim to understand the network status and to predict potential situations that might disrupt the network operability. The framework is based on the Endsley situational awareness model, and integrates automated capabilities for metrics discovery, pattern recognition, prediction techniques and rule-based reasoning to infer anomalous situations in the current operational context. Those situations should then be mitigated, either proactive or reactively, by a more complex decision-making process. The framework is driven by a use case methodology, where the network administrator is able to customize the knowledge inference rules and operational parameters. The proposal has also been instantiated to prove its adaptability to a real use case. To this end, a reference network traffic dataset was used to identify suspicious patterns and to predict the behavior of the monitored data volume. The preliminary results suggest a good level of accuracy on the inference of anomalous traffic volumes based on a simple configuration. PMID:29065473

Reasoning and Knowledge Acquisition Framework for 5G Network Analytics.

PubMed

Sotelo Monge, Marco Antonio; Maestre Vidal, Jorge; García Villalba, Luis Javier

2017-10-21

Autonomic self-management is a key challenge for next-generation networks. This paper proposes an automated analysis framework to infer knowledge in 5G networks with the aim to understand the network status and to predict potential situations that might disrupt the network operability. The framework is based on the Endsley situational awareness model, and integrates automated capabilities for metrics discovery, pattern recognition, prediction techniques and rule-based reasoning to infer anomalous situations in the current operational context. Those situations should then be mitigated, either proactive or reactively, by a more complex decision-making process. The framework is driven by a use case methodology, where the network administrator is able to customize the knowledge inference rules and operational parameters. The proposal has also been instantiated to prove its adaptability to a real use case. To this end, a reference network traffic dataset was used to identify suspicious patterns and to predict the behavior of the monitored data volume. The preliminary results suggest a good level of accuracy on the inference of anomalous traffic volumes based on a simple configuration.

On the predictability of event boundaries in discourse: An ERP investigation.

PubMed

Delogu, Francesca; Drenhaus, Heiner; Crocker, Matthew W

2018-02-01

When reading a text describing an everyday activity, comprehenders build a model of the situation described that includes prior knowledge of the entities, locations, and sequences of actions that typically occur within the event. Previous work has demonstrated that such knowledge guides the processing of incoming information by making event boundaries more or less expected. In the present ERP study, we investigated whether comprehenders' expectations about event boundaries are influenced by how elaborately common events are described in the context. Participants read short stories in which a common activity (e.g., washing the dishes) was described either in brief or in an elaborate manner. The final sentence contained a target word referring to a more predictable action marking a fine event boundary (e.g., drying) or a less predictable action, marking a coarse event boundary (e.g., jogging). The results revealed a larger N400 effect for coarse event boundaries compared to fine event boundaries, but no interaction with description length. Between 600 and 1000 ms, however, elaborate contexts elicited a larger frontal positivity compared to brief contexts. This effect was largely driven by less predictable targets, marking coarse event boundaries. We interpret the P600 effect as indexing the updating of the situation model at event boundaries, consistent with Event Segmentation Theory (EST). The updating process is more demanding with coarse event boundaries, which presumably require the construction of a new situation model.

"Yo Soy Indígena": Identifying and Using Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) to Make the Teaching of Science Culturally Responsive for Maya Girls

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamlin, Maria L.

2013-01-01

This study examines how traditional ecological knowledge--TEK--can be identified and utilized to create culturally responsive science learning opportunities for Maya girls from a community in the Guatemalan highlands. Maya girls are situated in a complex socio-historical and political context rooted in racism and sexism. This study contextualizes…

Cognitive patterns: giving autonomy some context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dumond, Danielle; Stacy, Webb; Geyer, Alexandra; Rousseau, Jeffrey; Therrien, Mike

2013-05-01

Today's robots require a great deal of control and supervision, and are unable to intelligently respond to unanticipated and novel situations. Interactions between an operator and even a single robot take place exclusively at a very low, detailed level, in part because no contextual information about a situation is conveyed or utilized to make the interaction more effective and less time consuming. Moreover, the robot control and sensing systems do not learn from experience and, therefore, do not become better with time or apply previous knowledge to new situations. With multi-robot teams, human operators, in addition to managing the low-level details of navigation and sensor management while operating single robots, are also required to manage inter-robot interactions. To make the most use of robots in combat environments, it will be necessary to have the capability to assign them new missions (including providing them context information), and to have them report information about the environment they encounter as they proceed with their mission. The Cognitive Patterns Knowledge Generation system (CPKG) has the ability to connect to various knowledge-based models, multiple sensors, and to a human operator. The CPKG system comprises three major internal components: Pattern Generation, Perception/Action, and Adaptation, enabling it to create situationally-relevant abstract patterns, match sensory input to a suitable abstract pattern in a multilayered top-down/bottom-up fashion similar to the mechanisms used for visual perception in the brain, and generate new abstract patterns. The CPKG allows the operator to focus on things other than the operation of the robot(s).

A Dynamic Security Framework for Ambient Intelligent Systems: A Smart-Home Based eHealth Application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Compagna, Luca; El Khoury, Paul; Massacci, Fabio; Saidane, Ayda

Providing context-dependent security services is an important challenge for ambient intelligent systems. The complexity and the unbounded nature of such systems make it difficult even for the most experienced and knowledgeable security engineers, to foresee all possible situations and interactions when developing the system. In order to solve this problem context based self- diagnosis and reconfiguration at runtime should be provided.

Postmodern Test Theory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mislevy, Robert J.

2014-01-01

Background/Context: This article explains the idea of a neopragmatic postmodernist test theory and offers some thoughts about what changing notions concerning the nature of and meanings assigned to knowledge imply for educational assessment, present and future. Purpose: Advances in the learning sciences--particularly situative and sociocognitive…

An object-relational model for structured representation of medical knowledge.

PubMed

Koch, S; Risch, T; Schneider, W; Wagner, I V

2006-07-01

Domain specific knowledge is often not static but continuously evolving. This is especially true for the medical domain. Furthermore, the lack of standardized structures for presenting knowledge makes it difficult or often impossible to assess new knowledge in the context of existing knowledge. Possibilities to compare knowledge easily and directly are often not given. It is therefore of utmost importance to create a model that allows for comparability, consistency and quality assurance of medical knowledge in specific work situations. For this purpose, we have designed on object-relational model based on structured knowledge elements that are dynamically reusable by different multi-media-based tools for case-based documentation, disease course simulation, and decision support. With this model, high-level components, such as patient case reports or simulations of the course of a disease, and low-level components (e.g., diagnoses, symptoms or treatments) as well as the relationships between these components are modeled. The resulting schema has been implemented in AMOS II, on object-relational multi-database system supporting different views with regard to search and analysis depending on different work situations.

[Patient-centred prescription model to improve adequate prescription and therapeutic adherence in patients with multiple disorders].

PubMed

Espaulella-Panicot, Joan; Molist-Brunet, Núria; Sevilla-Sánchez, Daniel; González-Bueno, Javier; Amblàs-Novellas, Jordi; Solà-Bonada, Núria; Codina-Jané, Carles

Patients with multiple disorders and on multiple medication are often associated with clinical complexity, defined as a situation of uncertainty conditioned by difficulties in establishing a situational diagnosis and decision-making. The patient-centred care approach in this population group seems to be one of the best therapeutic options. In this context, the preparation of an individualised therapeutic plan is the most relevant practical element, where the pharmacological plan maintains an important role. There has recently been a significant increase in knowledge in the area of adequacy of prescription and adherence. In this context, we must find a model must be found that incorporates this knowledge into clinical practice by the professionals. Person-centred prescription is a medication review model that includes different strategies in a single intervention. It is performed by a multidisciplinary team, and allows them to adapt the pharmacological plan of patients with clinical complexity. Copyright © 2017 SEGG. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Revising explanatory models to accommodate anomalous genetic phenomena: Problem solving in the context of discovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hafner, Robert; Stewart, Jim

Past problem-solving research has provided a basis for helping students structure their knowledge and apply appropriate problem-solving strategies to solve problems for which their knowledge (or mental models) of scientific phenomena is adequate (model-using problem solving). This research examines how problem solving in the domain of Mendelian genetics proceeds in situations where solvers' mental models are insufficient to solve problems at hand (model-revising problem solving). Such situations require solvers to use existing models to recognize anomalous data and to revise those models to accommodate the data. The study was conducted in the context of 9-week high school genetics course and addressed: the heuristics charactenstic of successful model-revising problem solving: the nature of the model revisions, made by students as well as the nature of model development across problem types; and the basis upon which solvers decide that a revised model is sufficient (that t has both predictive and explanatory power).

Understanding the Role of Context in the Interpretation of Complex Battlespace Intelligence

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-01-01

Level 2 Fusion)" that there remains a significant need for higher levels of information fusion such as those required for generic situation awareness ... information in a set of reports, 2) general background knowledge e.g., doctrine, techniques, practices) plus 4) known situation-specific information (e.g... aware that notwithstanding any other provision of law, no person shall be subject to a penalty for failing to comply with a collection of information

Situated conceptualization and semantic processing: effects of emotional experience and context availability in semantic categorization and naming tasks.

PubMed

Moffat, Michael; Siakaluk, Paul D; Sidhu, David M; Pexman, Penny M

2015-04-01

It has been proposed that much of conceptual knowledge is acquired through situated conceptualization, such that both external (e.g., agents, objects, events) and internal (e.g., emotions, introspections) environments are considered important (Barsalou, 2003). To evaluate this proposal, we characterized two dimensions by which situated conceptualization may be measured and which should have different relevance for abstract and concrete concepts; namely, emotional experience (i.e., the ease with which words evoke emotional experience; Newcombe, Campbell, Siakaluk, & Pexman, 2012) and context availability (i.e., the ease with which words evoke contexts in which their referents may appear; Schwanenflugel & Shoben, 1983). We examined the effects of these two dimensions on abstract and concrete word processing in verbal semantic categorization (VSCT) and naming tasks. In the VSCT, emotional experience facilitated processing of abstract words but inhibited processing of concrete words, whereas context availability facilitated processing of both types of words. In the naming task in which abstract words and concrete words were not blocked by emotional experience, context availability facilitated responding to only the abstract words. In the naming task in which abstract words and concrete words were blocked by emotional experience, emotional experience facilitated responding to only the abstract words, whereas context availability facilitated responding to only the concrete words. These results were observed even with several lexical (e.g., frequency, age of acquisition) and semantic (e.g., concreteness, arousal, valence) variables included in the analyses. As such, the present research suggests that emotional experience and context availability tap into different aspects of situated conceptualization and make unique contributions to the representation and processing of abstract and concrete concepts.

Gaze-informed, task-situated representation of space in primate hippocampus during virtual navigation

PubMed Central

Wirth, Sylvia; Baraduc, Pierre; Planté, Aurélie; Pinède, Serge; Duhamel, Jean-René

2017-01-01

To elucidate how gaze informs the construction of mental space during wayfinding in visual species like primates, we jointly examined navigation behavior, visual exploration, and hippocampal activity as macaque monkeys searched a virtual reality maze for a reward. Cells sensitive to place also responded to one or more variables like head direction, point of gaze, or task context. Many cells fired at the sight (and in anticipation) of a single landmark in a viewpoint- or task-dependent manner, simultaneously encoding the animal’s logical situation within a set of actions leading to the goal. Overall, hippocampal activity was best fit by a fine-grained state space comprising current position, view, and action contexts. Our findings indicate that counterparts of rodent place cells in primates embody multidimensional, task-situated knowledge pertaining to the target of gaze, therein supporting self-awareness in the construction of space. PMID:28241007

Learning and Retention through Predictive Inference and Classification

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sakamoto, Yasuaki; Love, Bradley C.

2010-01-01

Work in category learning addresses how humans acquire knowledge and, thus, should inform classroom practices. In two experiments, we apply and evaluate intuitions garnered from laboratory-based research in category learning to learning tasks situated in an educational context. In Experiment 1, learning through predictive inference and…

Public health situation awareness: toward a semantic approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirhaji, Parsa; Richesson, Rachel L.; Turley, James P.; Zhang, Jiajie; Smith, Jack W.

2004-04-01

We propose a knowledge-based public health situation awareness system. The basis for this system is an explicit representation of public health situation awareness concepts and their interrelationships. This representation is based upon the users" (public health decision makers) cognitive model of the world, and optimized towards the efficacy of performance and relevance to the public health situation awareness processes and tasks. In our approach, explicit domain knowledge is the foundation for interpretation of public health data, as apposed to conventional systems where the statistical methods are the essence of the processes. Objectives: To develop a prototype knowledge-based system for public health situation awareness and to demonstrate the utility of knowledge intensive approaches in integration of heterogeneous information, eliminating the effects of incomplete and poor quality surveillance data, uncertainty in syndrome and aberration detection and visualization of complex information structures in public health surveillance settings, particularly in the context of bioterrorism (BT) preparedness. The system employs the Resource Definition Framework (RDF) and additional layers of more expressive languages to explicate the knowledge of domain experts into machine interpretable and computable problem-solving modules that can then guide users and computer systems in sifting through the most "relevant" data for syndrome and outbreak detection and investigation of root cause of the event. The Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research is developing a prototype knowledge-based system around influenza, which has complex natural disease patterns, many public health implications, and is a potential agent for bioterrorism. The preliminary data from this effort may demonstrate superior performance in information integration, syndrome and aberration detection, information access through information visualization, and cross-domain investigation of the root causes of public health events.

Using social constructionist thinking in training social workers living and working under threat of political violence.

PubMed

Shamai, Michal

2003-10-01

This article describes and analyzes an intervention program with social workers living and working in a situation of uncertainty created by political violence such as war and terrorism. The author used a social constructionist perspective as a theoretical framework, emphasizing the effect of the social and political context in constructing the experience and a recognition of the personal and professional knowledge acquired in the daily experience. The author used qualitative methods to evaluate the process and outcome. The narrative-holistic analysis focused on reconstructing meaning and adapting it to the new situation, the main thrust of the program. From the thematic analysis four main themes emerged: (1) loss as a result of political violence; (2) meaning of strength and weakness in situations of political violence; (3) preparation for terrorist attacks; and (4) definition of a safe place. The outcome evaluation describes the meaning of this kind of training program to the participants. The specific context of the training program is discussed as well as possibilities of using it in different contexts.

Context-Inappropriate Anger, Emotion Knowledge Deficits, and Negative Social Experiences in Preschool

PubMed Central

Locke, Robin L.; Miller, Alison L.; Seifer, Ronald; Heinze, Justin E.

2015-01-01

This study examined contextually-inappropriate (CI) anger in relation to emotion recognition and situation knowledge, negative social experiences, and externalizing behavior among low-income 4-year-olds attending Head Start (n=134). Approximately one-quarter of children (23%) showed anger when presented with positive/neutral slides and videos (valence-incongruent CI anger), whereas 2/5 of children (40%) showed anger when presented with negative slides and videos (valence-congruent CI anger). Valence-incongruent CI anger was associated with lower emotion situation knowledge (for boys only), more self-reported peer rejection and loneliness, and greater negative nominations by teachers and peers. Both valence-incongruent and (for boys only) valence-congruent CI anger were positively associated with externalizing behavior. Overall, valence-incongruent CI anger was more strongly associated with negative child outcomes than valence-congruent CI anger. PMID:26376288

Wisdom in Context.

PubMed

Grossmann, Igor

2017-03-01

Philosophers and psychological scientists have converged on the idea that wisdom involves certain aspects of thinking (e.g., intellectual humility, recognition of uncertainty and change), enabling application of knowledge to life challenges. Empirical evidence indicates that people's ability to think wisely varies dramatically across experiential contexts that they encounter over the life span. Moreover, wise thinking varies from one situation to another, with self-focused contexts inhibiting wise thinking. Experiments can show ways to buffer thinking against bias in cases in which self-interests are unavoidable. Specifically, an ego-decentering cognitive mind-set enables wise thinking about personally meaningful issues. It appears that experiential, situational, and cultural factors are even more powerful in shaping wisdom than previously imagined. Focus on such contextual factors sheds new light on the processes underlying wise thought and its development, helps to integrate different approaches to studying wisdom, and has implications for measurement and development of wisdom-enhancing interventions.

Information and communication technology needs for distributed communication and coordination during expedition-class spaceflight.

PubMed

Caldwell, B S

2000-09-01

AO-lU. Expedition-class missions are distinct from historical human presence in space in ways that significantly affect information flow and information technology designs for such missions. The centrality of Mission Control in these missions is challenged by the distances, associated communication delays, and durations of expeditions, all of which require crews to have more local resources available to manage on-board situations. The author's current research investigates how ground controllers effectively allocate communications bandwidth, cognitive resources, and knowledge sharing skills during time critical routine and non-routine situations. The research focus is on team-based information and communication technology (ICT) use to provide recommendations for improvements to support adaptive bandwidth allocations and improved sharing of data and knowledge in Mission Control contexts. In order to further improve communication and coordination between controllers and crew, additional ICT support resources will be needed to provide shared context knowledge and dynamic assessment of costs and benefits for accessing local information vs. remote expertise. Crew members will have critical needs to understand the goals, intentions, and situational constraints associated with mission information resources in order to use them most effectively in conditions where ground-based expertise is insufficient or requires more time to access and coordinate than local task demands permit. Results of this research will serve to improve the design and implementation of ICT systems to improve human performance capabilities and system operating tolerances for exploration missions. (Specific research data were not available at the time of publication.)

Schema Knowledge for Solving Arithmetic Story Problems: Some Affective Components.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Sandra P.

This report discusses the role of affect in cognitive processing. The importance of affect in processing mathematical information is described in the context of solving arithmetic story problems. Some ideas are offered about the way affective responses to mathematical problem solving situations influence the development, maintenance, and retrieval…

The Effect of Lesson Structures on Predication and Inference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Tiancheng; Jonassen, David H.

Theories of situated learning attempt to overcome the ill-structured nature of some domains of learning, and to use students' tendencies to construct knowledge representation on context and prior experience. Success comes when students apply abstract principles to real life. This study compares the effectiveness of two different lesson structures…

Receptive Vocabulary Measures for EFL Costa Rican High School Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro-Garcia, Damaris

2017-01-01

The study offers a glimpse of the current situation of foreign language education in the Costa Rican context from the perspective of vocabulary knowledge, particularly passive vocabulary size. Students from two institutions participated: one school implements Content Based Teaching while the other follows traditional, Foreign Language Teaching…

Exploring practical knowledge: a case study of an experienced senior tennis performer.

PubMed

Langley, D J; Knight, S M

1996-12-01

The purpose of the study was to explore sport-related practical knowledge through the perceptions and experiences of a senior adult competitive tennis performer. Practical knowledge was defined as goal oriented, experiential knowledge developed within particular physical activity settings. Data were collected through formal interviews and participant observation and analyzed through narrative inquiry and conventional coding techniques. The data suggest that the tennis environment was perceived in terms of the opportunities afforded by that environment. Specifically, the participant's practical knowledge centered on performance capabilities and strategic planning that revealed opponent limitations. This knowledge appeared to be developed and expressed within the relationships among individual capabilities, the task, and the situated context of game play.

Science teaching in science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Callahan, Brendan E.; Dopico, Eduardo

2016-06-01

Reading the interesting article Discerning selective traditions in science education by Per Sund , which is published in this issue of CSSE, allows us to open the discussion on procedures for teaching science today. Clearly there is overlap between the teaching of science and other areas of knowledge. However, we must constantly develop new methods to teach and differentiate between science education and teaching science in response to the changing needs of our students, and we must analyze what role teachers and teacher educators play in both. We must continually examine the methods and concepts involved in developing pedagogical content knowledge in science teachers. Otherwise, the possibility that these routines, based on subjective traditions, prevent emerging processes of educational innovation. Modern science is an enormous field of knowledge in its own right, which is made more expansive when examined within the context of its place in society. We propose the need to design educative interactions around situations that involve science and society. Science education must provide students with all four dimensions of the cognitive process: factual knowledge, conceptual knowledge, procedural knowledge, and metacognitive knowledge. We can observe in classrooms at all levels of education that students understand the concepts better when they have the opportunity to apply the scientific knowledge in a personally relevant way. When students find value in practical exercises and they are provided opportunities to reinterpret their experiences, greater learning gains are achieved. In this sense, a key aspect of educational innovation is the change in teaching methodology. We need new tools to respond to new problems. A shift in teacher education is needed to realize the rewards of situating science questions in a societal context and opening classroom doors to active methodologies in science education to promote meaningful learning through meaningful teaching.

Context and contingency in the history of post World War II nursing scholarship in the United States.

PubMed

Fairman, Julie

2008-01-01

To examine the context for the development of nursing scholarship post World War II. Historiographical analysis of the social, political, and cultural context of nursing scholarship in the postwar period, with an understanding of how this context shaped nursing scholarship. The development of nursing scholarship was influenced by three contextual strands: Nurses' use of experiential clinical knowledge to situate practice questions in the changing clinical care milieu of the 1950s to the 1970s; The development of an intellectual genealogy through new educational opportunities at the baccalaureate and graduate level from the 1960s to the 1980s that provided the foundation for reintegrating practice and education; and the creation of a growing cadre of nurse scholars and their political influence on the relationship between power, knowledge, and clinical practice. These formulations are critical for understanding how scholarship changed over time and help us understand contemporary clinical practice, its authority structure, how it helps us define a body of knowledge from which practice proceeds, and then, how it responds to public demands. Nursing scholarship is nested in a particular social, political, economic, and cultural context. This context also determines how and why it is generated, debated, and used. Its production does not always follow a rational, logical pattern. Nursing knowledge development is influenced as much by the political underpinnings of health care as it is by social, economic, cultural, and scientific foundations.

Designing Tasks to Promote and Assess Mathematical Transfer in Primary School Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Clark, Julie; Page, Shaileigh; Thornton, Steve

2013-01-01

This study aims to design learning situations and tasks that promote and assess the capacity of primary school children to transfer mathematical knowledge to new contexts. We discuss previous studies investigating mathematical transfer, and particularly the strengths and limitations of tasks used to assess transfer in these studies. We describe…

Faculty and Student Attitudes about Transfer of Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lightner, Robin; Benander, Ruth; Kramer, Eugene F.

2008-01-01

Transfer of learning is using previous knowledge in novel contexts. While this is a basic assumption of the educational process, students may not always perceive all the options for using what they have learned in different, novel situations. Within the framework of transfer of learning, this study outlines an attitudinal survey concerning faculty…

Strategic Planning: An Examination of the Role of Disciplines in Sustaining Internationalization of the University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agnew, Melanie

2013-01-01

Internationalization of the curriculum is arguably a key strategy to developing and sustaining campus-wide internationalization. Using Becher and Trowler's (2001) categorization of the disciplines, this qualitative study examined how 37 faculty members situate internationalization in the context of the disciplines. Disciplinary knowledge is viewed…

Effects of "Handep" Cooperative Learning Based on Indigenous Knowledge on Mathematical Problem Solving Skill

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Demitra; Sarjoko

2018-01-01

Indigenous people of Dayak tribe in Kalimantan, Indonesia have traditionally relied on a system of mutual cooperation called "handep." The cultural context has an influence on students mathematics learning. The "handep" system might be suitable for modern learning situations to develop mathematical problem-solving skill. The…

Technology-Mediated Second Language Vocabulary Development: A Review of Trends in Research Methodology

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elgort, Irina

2018-01-01

Technology-mediated vocabulary development (TMVD) in a second language (L2) covers a wide range of instructional and learning treatments, contexts, and technologies and is situated in a broader field of second language vocabulary learning. Vocabulary knowledge is a complex, multidimensional construct that has been interpreted and categorized in…

Evaluation of the Effect of a Digital Mathematics Game on Academic Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wale, Christine M.

2013-01-01

Digital games are widely popular and interest has increased for their use in education. Digital games are thought to be powerful instructional tools because they promote active learning and feedback, provide meaningful contexts to situate knowledge, create engagement and intrinsic motivation, and have the ability individualize instruction.…

Storying the Terroir of Collaborative Writing: Like Wine and Food, a Unique Pairing of Mentoring Minds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griffin, Shelley M.; Beatty, Rodger J.

2010-01-01

As two faculty members in a Canadian post-secondary teacher education context, the authors inquired into their collaborative writing process initiated through an informal faculty mentoring relationship. Situating their writing in the discourses of personal practical knowledge, social constructionism, narrative inquiry, and autobiography grounds…

Conceptualising Information Literacy as Social Practice: A Study of Pregnant Women's Information Practices

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Papen, Uta

2013-01-01

Introduction: The present study presents a view of information literacy not primarily as skill but as different practices, situated within specific social and institutional contexts. It suggests that questions of authority of knowledge are central to understanding people's information practices. Method: First, the concept of information practices…

Circle Talks as Situated Experiential Learning: Context, Identity, and Knowledgeability in "Learning from Reflection"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seaman, Jayson; Rheingold, Alison

2013-01-01

This article presents research that used ethnographic and sociolinguistic methods to study ways participants learn through reflection when carried out as a "circle talk." The data indicate that participants in the event (a) invoked different contextual frames that (b) implicated them in various identity positions, which (c) affected how…

Procedural versus Content-Related Hints for Word Problem Solving: An Exploratory Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kock, W. D.; Harskamp, E. G.

2016-01-01

For primary school students, mathematical word problems are often more difficult to solve than straightforward number problems. Word problems require reading and analysis skills, and in order to explain their situational contexts, the proper mathematical knowledge and number operations have to be selected. To improve students' ability in solving…

Attitude of Teachers and Students towards Formal Learning through Online Social Networks

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akbari, Elham; Naderi, Ahmad; Yazdi, Mahdi Hosseinzadeh; Simons, Robert Jan; Pilot, Albert

2016-01-01

Despite the potential of social networks in formal learning, there should be more knowledge on the students and teachers attitudes toward such technology and more recent information in the context of the actual educational situation. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was used. The instruments included a questionnaire investigate the attitudes…

Systematizing Scaffolding for Problem-Based Learning: A View from Case-Based Reasoning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tawfik, Andrew A.; Kolodner, Janet L.

2016-01-01

Current theories and models of education often argue that instruction is best administered when knowledge is situated within a context. Problem-based learning (PBL) provides an approach to education that has particularly powerful affordances for learning disciplinary content and practices by solving authentic problems within a discipline. However,…

The Impact of Mixing Modes on Reliability in Longitudinal Studies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cernat, Alexandru

2015-01-01

Mixed-mode designs are increasingly important in surveys, and large longitudinal studies are progressively moving to or considering such a design. In this context, our knowledge regarding the impact of mixing modes on data quality indicators in longitudinal studies is sparse. This study tries to ameliorate this situation by taking advantage of a…

Knowledge Transfer and Information Skills for Student-Centered Learning in Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Molina, Maria Pinto; Sales, Dora

2008-01-01

Knowing how to select, organize, and use information in order to solve problems, handle new situations, and continue learning are key issues in the teaching and learning scenario in contemporary society. Teaching these skills is particularly critical for European universities and is currently recognized as vital in the context of the European…

Engineering Design Activities and Conceptual Change in Middle School Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schnittka, Christine G.

2009-01-01

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of engineering design classroom activities on conceptual change in science, and on attitudes toward and knowledge about engineering. Students were given a situated learning context and a rationale for learning science in an active, inquiry-based method, and worked in small collaborative…

Beyond Economic Growth: Meeting the Challenges of Global Development. WBI Learning Resources Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soubbotina, Tatyana P.

This book is designed primarily to help readers broaden their knowledge of global issues, gain insight into their country's situation in a global context, and understand the problems of sustainable development nationally and globally. Because development is a comprehensive process involving economic as well as social and environmental changes, the…

Aim, Shoot, Ready! Future Teachers Learn to Do Video

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hernandez-Ramos, Pedro

2007-01-01

This paper describes an intensive 2-hr workshop designed to introduce preservice teachers to digital video in the context of an instructional technology course or as a stand-alone activity. Acknowledging time constraints in most real-life instructional situations, this format takes novices with no or very limited knowledge of video making to the…

Viewpoints of Higher Education Teachers about Technologies

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bouras, Adel; Albe, Virginie

2008-01-01

In the context of recent debates on technological literacy, a renewed research effort has focused on the nature of technologies. The aim of this work, which considers "epistemological knowledge" as viewpoints which spring into gear in a given situation, is to use questionnaires and interviews to identify the opinions of teachers in a training…

Methodological Reflections: Supervisory Discourses and Practice-Based Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarja, Anneli; Janhonen, Sirpa

2009-01-01

The concept of dialogue is often examined apart from the social and historical context in which it is embedded. This paper identifies how dialogue between a superior and a subordinate generates a reorganisation of situated knowledge in the education and training of nurse teachers. We created an analytic method of supervisory discourse founded on…

Fostering Students' Conceptual Knowledge in Biology in the Context of German National Education Standards

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Förtsch, Christian; Dorfner, Tobias; Baumgartner, Julia; Werner, Sonja; von Kotzebue, Lena; Neuhaus, Birgit J.

2018-04-01

The German National Education Standards (NES) for biology were introduced in 2005. The content part of the NES emphasizes fostering conceptual knowledge. However, there are hardly any indications of what such an instructional implementation could look like. We introduce a theoretical framework of an instructional approach to foster students' conceptual knowledge as demanded in the NES (Fostering Conceptual Knowledge) including instructional practices derived from research on single core ideas, general psychological theories, and biology-specific features of instructional quality. First, we aimed to develop a rating manual, which is based on this theoretical framework. Second, we wanted to describe current German biology instruction according to this approach and to quantitatively analyze its effectiveness. And third, we aimed to provide qualitative examples of this approach to triangulate our findings. In a first step, we developed a theoretically devised rating manual to measure Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in videotaped lessons. Data for quantitative analysis included 81 videotaped biology lessons of 28 biology teachers from different German secondary schools. Six hundred forty students completed a questionnaire on their situational interest after each lesson and an achievement test. Results from multilevel modeling showed significant positive effects of Fostering Conceptual Knowledge on students' achievement and situational interest. For qualitative analysis, we contrasted instruction of four teachers, two with high and two with low student achievement and situational interest using the qualitative method of thematic analysis. Qualitative analysis revealed five main characteristics describing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge. Therefore, implementing Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in biology instruction seems promising. Examples of how to implement Fostering Conceptual Knowledge in instruction are shown and discussed.

The President Clinton crisis and the Starr report: children's perceptions and parents' awareness.

PubMed

Kelley, B R; Beauchesne, M A; Babington, L M; Christensen, M H; Patsdaughter, C A

1999-01-01

The media have suggested that the President Clinton crisis, as publicized by the Starr Report, has had detrimental effects on school-age children. Parents, too, have been concerned that their children are confused about the presidential controversies involving dishonesty, mistrust, betrayal, infidelity, and misuse of authority. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions and reactions of school-age children to information surrounding the President Clinton situation, as well as parents' perceptions of their children's knowledge and reactions. A descriptive, qualitative design was used in this study. Data collection took place during the 2-week period following publication of the 1998 Starr Report. Fifty-one parents and 67 school-age children were interviewed using semi-structured interview guides with 5 open-ended questions addressing the President Clinton situation. Major themes that emerged from children's interviews were lying, getting caught, infidelity, and role modeling. Parents' awareness of their children's knowledge regarding the President Clinton situation varied; few were aware of the depth of knowledge their children had, nor had they discussed this situation with their children. Findings have relevance for nurse practitioners as they support parents in listening to and talking with their children about tough issues such as morality and sexuality in the context of real life events.

Assessment of knowledge transfer in the context of biomechanics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchison, Randolph E.

The dynamic act of knowledge transfer, or the connection of a student's prior knowledge to features of a new problem, could be considered one of the primary goals of education. Yet studies highlight more instances of failure than success. This dissertation focuses on how knowledge transfer takes place during individual problem solving, in classroom settings and during group work. Through the lens of dynamic transfer, or how students connect prior knowledge to problem features, this qualitative study focuses on a methodology to assess transfer in the context of biomechanics. The first phase of this work investigates how a pedagogical technique based on situated cognition theory affects students' ability to transfer knowledge gained in a biomechanics class to later experiences both in and out of the classroom. A post-class focus group examined events the students remembered from the class, what they learned from them, and how they connected them to later relevant experiences inside and outside the classroom. These results were triangulated with conceptual gains evaluated through concept inventories and pre- and post- content tests. Based on these results, the next two phases of the project take a more in-depth look at dynamic knowledge transfer during independent problem-solving and group project interactions, respectively. By categorizing prior knowledge (Source Tools), problem features (Target Tools) and the connections between them, results from the second phase of this study showed that within individual problem solving, source tools were almost exclusively derived from "propagated sources," i.e. those based on an authoritative source. This differs from findings in the third phase of the project, in which a mixture of "propagated" sources and "fabricated" sources, i.e. those based on student experiences, were identified within the group project work. This methodology is effective at assessing knowledge transfer in the context of biomechanics through evidence of the ability to identify differing patterns of how different students apply prior knowledge and make new connections between prior knowledge and current problem features in different learning situations. Implications for the use of this methodology include providing insight into not only students' prior knowledge, but also how they connect this prior knowledge to problem features (i.e. dynamic knowledge transfer). It also allows the identification of instances in which external input from other students or the instructor prompted knowledge transfer to take place. The use of this dynamic knowledge transfer lens allows the addressing of gaps in student understanding, and permits further investigations of techniques that increase instances of successful knowledge transfer.

[Suicidal behavior: a psychiatric emergency situation, suicide prevention: a psychiatric obligation].

PubMed

Wolfersdorf, M; Schneider, B; Schmidtke, A

2015-09-01

In German psychiatry suicidal behavior is seen as sign of a psychiatric crisis in a person in the context of psychopathology, psychodynamics and psychosocial situation. Psychiatric disorders are found in up to 90% of people who commit suicide and the time span following the decision to commit suicide is often very short, within 24 h. Suicide prevention is a central duty and obligation in psychiatry and psychotherapy. This article gives an overview on the current state of knowledge on suicide from a clinical point of view.

Task analysis of autonomous on-road driving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barbera, Anthony J.; Horst, John A.; Schlenoff, Craig I.; Aha, David W.

2004-12-01

The Real-time Control System (RCS) Methodology has evolved over a number of years as a technique to capture task knowledge and organize it into a framework conducive to implementation in computer control systems. The fundamental premise of this methodology is that the present state of the task activities sets the context that identifies the requirements for all of the support processing. In particular, the task context at any time determines what is to be sensed in the world, what world model states are to be evaluated, which situations are to be analyzed, what plans should be invoked, and which behavior generation knowledge is to be accessed. This methodology concentrates on the task behaviors explored through scenario examples to define a task decomposition tree that clearly represents the branching of tasks into layers of simpler and simpler subtask activities. There is a named branching condition/situation identified for every fork of this task tree. These become the input conditions of the if-then rules of the knowledge set that define how the task is to respond to input state changes. Detailed analysis of each branching condition/situation is used to identify antecedent world states and these, in turn, are further analyzed to identify all of the entities, objects, and attributes that have to be sensed to determine if any of these world states exist. This paper explores the use of this 4D/RCS methodology in some detail for the particular task of autonomous on-road driving, which work was funded under the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) Mobile Autonomous Robot Software (MARS) effort (Doug Gage, Program Manager).

Nurses' knowledge of pressure ulcer management in elderly people.

PubMed

Wilkes, L M; Bostock, E; Lovitt, L; Dennis, G

The nursing management of pressure ulcers has not been extensively reported in the Hong Kong context. This article reports the results of a survey of 34 Hong Kong registered nurses to determine their knowledge and practices in preventing and treating pressure ulcers in the elderly. The findings indicate that, overall, the nurses had a sound knowledge of the prevention and treatment of pressure ulcers, but that there were inconsistencies in their practices. This situation could be improved if standardized systems for assessing patients at risk of developing pressure ulcers and for grading (staging) these pressure ulcers were used.

Delivering "Just-In-Time" Smoking Cessation Support Via Mobile Phones: Current Knowledge and Future Directions.

PubMed

Naughton, Felix

2016-05-28

Smoking lapses early on during a quit attempt are highly predictive of failing to quit. A large proportion of these lapses are driven by cravings brought about by situational and environmental cues. Use of cognitive-behavioral lapse prevention strategies to combat cue-induced cravings is associated with a reduced risk of lapse, but evidence is lacking in how these strategies can be effectively promoted. Unlike most traditional methods of delivering behavioral support, mobile phones can in principle deliver automated support, including lapse prevention strategy recommendations, Just-In-Time (JIT) for when a smoker is most vulnerable, and prevent early lapse. JIT support can be activated by smokers themselves (user-triggered), by prespecified rules (server-triggered) or through sensors that dynamically monitor a smoker's context and trigger support when a high risk environment is sensed (context-triggered), also known as a Just-In-Time Adaptive Intervention (JITAI). However, research suggests that user-triggered JIT cessation support is seldom used and existing server-triggered JIT support is likely to lack sufficient accuracy to effectively target high-risk situations in real time. Evaluations of mobile phone cessation interventions that include user and/or server-triggered JIT support have yet to adequately assess whether this improves management of high risk situations. While context-triggered systems have the greatest potential to deliver JIT support, there are, as yet, no impact evaluations of such systems. Although it may soon be feasible to learn about and monitor a smoker's context unobtrusively using their smartphone without burdensome data entry, there are several potential advantages to involving the smoker in data collection. This commentary describes the current knowledge on the potential for mobile phones to deliver automated support to help smokers manage or cope with high risk environments or situations for smoking, known as JIT support. The article categorizes JIT support into three main types: user-triggered, server-triggered, and context-triggered. For each type of JIT support, a description of the evidence and their potential to effectively target specific high risk environments or situations is described. The concept of unobtrusive sensing without user data entry to inform the delivery of JIT support is finally discussed in relation to potential advantages and disadvantages for behavior change. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Non-formal learning and tacit knowledge in professional work.

PubMed

Eraut, M

2000-03-01

This paper explores the conceptual and methodological problems arising from several empirical investigations of professional education and learning in the workplace. 1. To clarify the multiple meanings accorded to terms such as 'non-formal learning', 'implicit learning' and 'tacit knowledge', their theoretical assumptions and the range of phenomena to which they refer. 2. To discuss their implications for professional practice. A largely theoretical analysis of issues and phenomena arising from empirical investigations. The author's typology of non-formal learning distinguishes between implicit learning, reactive on-the-spot learning and deliberative learning. The significance of the last is commonly overemphasized. The problematic nature of tacit knowledge is discussed with respect to both detecting it and representing it. Three types of tacit knowledge are discussed: tacit understanding of people and situations, routinized actions and the tacit rules that underpin intuitive decision-making. They come together when professional performance involves sequences of routinized action punctuated by rapid intuitive decisions based on tacit understanding of the situation. Four types of process are involved--reading the situation, making decisions, overt activity and metacognition--and three modes of cognition--intuitive, analytic and deliberative. The balance between these modes depends on time, experience and complexity. Where rapid action dominates, periods of deliberation are needed to maintain critical control. Finally the role of both formal and informal social knowledge is discussed; and it is argued that situated learning often leads not to local conformity but to greater individual variation as people's careers take them through a series of different contexts. This abstract necessarily simplifies a more complex analysis in the paper itself.

A critical narrative review of transfer of basic science knowledge in health professions education.

PubMed

Castillo, Jean-Marie; Park, Yoon Soo; Harris, Ilene; Cheung, Jeffrey J H; Sood, Lonika; Clark, Maureen D; Kulasegaram, Kulamakan; Brydges, Ryan; Norman, Geoffrey; Woods, Nicole

2018-06-01

'Transfer' is the application of a previously learned concept to solve a new problem in another context. Transfer is essential for basic science education because, to be valuable, basic science knowledge must be transferred to clinical problem solving. Therefore, better understanding of interventions that enhance the transfer of basic science knowledge to clinical reasoning is essential. This review systematically identifies interventions described in the health professions education (HPE) literature that document the transfer of basic science knowledge to clinical reasoning, and considers teaching and assessment strategies. A systematic search of the literature was conducted. Articles related to basic science teaching at the undergraduate level in HPE were analysed using a 'transfer out'/'transfer in' conceptual framework. 'Transfer out' refers to the application of knowledge developed in one learning situation to the solving of a new problem. 'Transfer in' refers to the use of previously acquired knowledge to learn from new problems or learning situations. Of 9803 articles initially identified, 627 studies were retrieved for full text evaluation; 15 were included in the literature review. A total of 93% explored 'transfer out' to clinical reasoning and 7% (one article) explored 'transfer in'. Measures of 'transfer out' fostered by basic science knowledge included diagnostic accuracy over time and in new clinical cases. Basic science knowledge supported learning - 'transfer in' - of new related content and ultimately the 'transfer out' to diagnostic reasoning. Successful teaching strategies included the making of connections between basic and clinical sciences, the use of commonsense analogies, and the study of multiple clinical problems in multiple contexts. Performance on recall tests did not reflect the transfer of basic science knowledge to clinical reasoning. Transfer of basic science knowledge to clinical reasoning is an essential component of HPE that requires further development for implementation and scholarship. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Context-Aided Sensor Fusion for Enhanced Urban Navigation

PubMed Central

Martí, Enrique David; Martín, David; García, Jesús; de la Escalera, Arturo; Molina, José Manuel; Armingol, José María

2012-01-01

The deployment of Intelligent Vehicles in urban environments requires reliable estimation of positioning for urban navigation. The inherent complexity of this kind of environments fosters the development of novel systems which should provide reliable and precise solutions to the vehicle. This article details an advanced GNSS/IMU fusion system based on a context-aided Unscented Kalman filter for navigation in urban conditions. The constrained non-linear filter is here conditioned by a contextual knowledge module which reasons about sensor quality and driving context in order to adapt it to the situation, while at the same time it carries out a continuous estimation and correction of INS drift errors. An exhaustive analysis has been carried out with available data in order to characterize the behavior of available sensors and take it into account in the developed solution. The performance is then analyzed with an extensive dataset containing representative situations. The proposed solution suits the use of fusion algorithms for deploying Intelligent Transport Systems in urban environments. PMID:23223080

Alpha band event-related desynchronization underlying social situational context processing during irony comprehension: A magnetoencephalography source localization study.

PubMed

Akimoto, Yoritaka; Takahashi, Hidetoshi; Gunji, Atsuko; Kaneko, Yuu; Asano, Michiko; Matsuo, Junko; Ota, Miho; Kunugi, Hiroshi; Hanakawa, Takashi; Mazuka, Reiko; Kamio, Yoko

2017-12-01

Irony comprehension requires integration of social contextual information. Previous studies have investigated temporal aspects of irony processing and its neural substrates using psychological/electroencephalogram or functional magnetic resonance imaging methods, but have not clarified the temporospatial neural mechanisms of irony comprehension. Therefore, we used magnetoencephalography to investigate the neural generators of alpha-band (8-13Hz) event-related desynchronization (ERD) occurring from 600 to 900ms following the onset of a critical sentence at which social situational contexts activated ironic representation. We found that the right anterior temporal lobe, which is involved in processing social knowledge and evaluating others' intentions, exhibited stronger alpha ERD following an ironic statement than following a literal statement. We also found that alpha power in the left anterior temporal lobe correlated with the participants' communication abilities. These results elucidate the temporospatial neural mechanisms of language comprehension in social contexts, including non-literal processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Context-aided sensor fusion for enhanced urban navigation.

PubMed

Martí, Enrique David; Martín, David; García, Jesús; de la Escalera, Arturo; Molina, José Manuel; Armingol, José María

2012-12-06

 The deployment of Intelligent Vehicles in urban environments requires reliable estimation of positioning for urban navigation. The inherent complexity of this kind of environments fosters the development of novel systems which should provide reliable and precise solutions to the vehicle. This article details an advanced GNSS/IMU fusion system based on a context-aided Unscented Kalman filter for navigation in urban conditions. The constrained non-linear filter is here conditioned by a contextual knowledge module which reasons about sensor quality and driving context in order to adapt it to the situation, while at the same time it carries out a continuous estimation and correction of INS drift errors. An exhaustive analysis has been carried out with available data in order to characterize the behavior of available sensors and take it into account in the developed solution. The performance is then analyzed with an extensive dataset containing representative situations. The proposed solution suits the use of fusion algorithms for deploying Intelligent Transport Systems in urban environments.

Narrative Inquiries of School Reform: Storied Lives, Storied Landscapes, Storied Metaphors. Research in Curriculum and Instruction.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Craig, Cheryl J.

This book explores the embodied narrative knowledge that educators hold and express in context and call forth in situations. It is about teachers and principals living and telling and reliving and retelling stories intuitively developed around metaphors borrowed from classical literature, music, drama, mythology, and children's literature to…

Weaving the Cloth of Literacy: The Relationship between Braille and Reading.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zago, P. A.

1996-01-01

This brief article uses a weaving metaphor to address the relationship between braille and reading, with prior knowledge (the warp threads) interacting with reading content (the weft threads) by means of braille (the shuttle). Reading is seen to be an interactive process between reader, text, and the context of the reading situation. (DB)

Portable Technologies: Science Learning in Context. Innovations in Science Education and Technology.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tinker, Robert F., Ed.; Krajcik, Joseph S., Ed.

Education has traditionally studied the world by bringing it into the classroom. This method can result in situated learning that appears to students to have no relevance outside the classroom. Students acquire inert, decontextualized knowledge that they cannot apply to real problems. The obvious solution to this shortcoming is to reverse the…

Communities of Practice in Higher Education: Professional Learning in an Academic Career

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthur, Linet

2016-01-01

This article focuses on the life history of a university academic, and the ways in which he learned in different communities of practice during his career. This account raises questions about the applicability of situated learning theory to a knowledge-based organisation, and argues that both the external context and the individuals within the…

The Historicity of the Physics Class: Enactments, Mimes and Imitation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergwik, Staffan

2014-01-01

This essay discusses Anna Danielsson's article "In the physics class: university physics students' enactments of class and gender in the context of laboratory work". The situated co-construction of knowledge and identity forms the crucial vantage point and I argue that it is a point of intersection between the history of…

Catching the Moments--Coteaching to Stimulate Science in the Preschool Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nilsson, Pernilla

2015-01-01

An important task for the preschool teacher is to create meaningful learning situations where children have opportunities to experience science. However, many teachers have both weak subject knowledge and a lack of confidence to teach science. The aim of the project presented in this article was to capture how nine preschool teachers developed…

Prospective Middle School Mathematics Teachers' Knowledge of Linear Graphs in Context of Problem-Posing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kar, Tugrul

2016-01-01

This study examined prospective middle school mathematics teachers' problem-posing skills by investigating their ability to associate linear graphs with daily life situations. Prospective teachers were given linear graphs and asked to pose problems that could potentially be represented by the graphs. Their answers were analyzed in two stages. In…

Lesson Study and the Co-Construction of Pedagogical Knowledge among Secondary Specialty Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mesa-Lema, Liliana

2014-01-01

Teacher learning in the workplace is situated within a complex context involving the individual and multiple aspects of an educational organization. The present action research study uses a socio-constructionist inquiry lens to further research the local and multifaceted nature of professional learning in schools. The goal is to re-conceptualize…

Journey to the 'New Normal' and Beyond: Reflections on Learning in a Community of Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Watson-Gegeo, Karen Ann

2005-01-01

Through poetry and strips of narrative, this paper discusses the embodied experience of chemical sensitivity and the anthropologist author's and other patients' journey through altered perception towards knowledge, community and transformation in the context of a medical clinic. The narratives are situated in several strands of relevant theory,…

Review of game theory applications for situation awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blasch, Erik; Shen, Dan; Pham, Khanh D.; Chen, Genshe

2015-05-01

Game theoretical methods have been used for spectral awareness, space situational awareness (SSA), cyber situational awareness (CSA), and Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance situation awareness (ISA). Each of these cases, awareness is supported by sensor estimation for assessment and the situation is determined from the actions of multiple players. Game theory assumes rational actors in a defined scenario; however, variations in social, cultural and behavioral factors include the dynamic nature of the context. In a dynamic data-driven application system (DDDAS), modeling must include both the measurements but also how models are used by different actors with different priorities. In this paper, we highlight the applications of game theory by reviewing the literature to determine the current state of the art and future needs. Future developments would include building towards knowledge awareness with information technology (e.g., data aggregation, access, indexing); multiscale analysis (e.g., space, time, and frequency), and software methods (e.g., architectures, cloud computing, protocols).

Exploring arts-based knowledge translation: sharing research findings through performing the patterns, rehearsing the results, staging the synthesis.

PubMed

Rieger, Kendra; Schultz, Annette S H

2014-04-01

Cultivation of knowledge translation (KT) strategies that actively engage health professionals in critical reflection of their practice and research-based evidence are imperative to address the research-practice gap. While research-based evidence is exponentially growing, our ability to facilitate uptake by nurses and other health professionals has not kept pace. Innovative approaches that extend epistemological bias beyond a singular standpoint of postpositivism, such as the utilization of arts-based methods, expand the possibility to address the complexities of context, engage audience members, promote dissemination within communities of practice, and foster new audiences interested in research findings. In this paper, we address the importance of adopting a social constructivist epistemological stance to facilitate knowledge translation to diverse audiences, explore various arts-based knowledge translation (ABKT) strategies, and open a dialogue concerning evaluative tenets of ABKT. ABKT utilizes various art forms to disseminate research knowledge to diverse audiences and promote evidence-informed practice. ABKT initiatives translate knowledge not based upon a linear model, which views knowledge as an objective entity, but rather operate from the premise that knowledge is socially situated, which demands acknowledging and engaging the learner within their context. Theatre, dance, photography, and poetry are art forms that are commonly used to communicate research findings to diverse audiences. Given the emerging interest and importance of utilizing this KT strategy situated within a social constructivist epistemology, potential challenges and plausible evaluative criteria specific to ABKT are presented. ABKT is an emerging KT strategy that is grounded in social constructivist epistemological tenets, and holds potential for meaningfully sharing new research knowledge with diverse audiences. ABKT is an innovative and synergistic approach to traditional dissemination strategies. This creative KT approach is emerging as potent transformational learning tools that are congruent with the relational nature of nursing practice. ABKT facilitates learning about new research findings in an engaging and critical reflective manner that promotes learning within communities of practice. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

A Preliminary Study of Sex Differences in Emotional Experience.

PubMed

Reyes-Aguilar, Azalea; Barrios, Fernando A

2016-04-01

Evolutionary approaches have proposed that women possess an advantage over men in emotional functioning to promote attachment for child-rearing. Likewise, sex differences have been reported in traits such as personality and empathy, traits that likely modulate emotional processing. In this preliminary study, sex differences in emotional processing were analyzed, including empathy as a social emotion and personality traits, as well as whether there exist relationships between those measures. Young volunteers (N = 105) indicated the emotional valence, activation, and dominance that they experience in situations categorized as emotionally positive, negative, or neutral. The results of comparison between sexes supported the approach that women showed more sensitivity to high activation and dominance for positive emotions and empathy, and men were more sensitive to negative situations. Correlation analysis showed only one positive relationship between scores of Self-transcendence, a subscale of Temperament and Character Inventory, with activation scores of neutral situations, but not with emotionally charged situations, perhaps because emotions are context-dependent processes while personality traits are considered context-independent descriptions of habits. These findings should be replicated to enrich knowledge about problems in emotional processing. © The Author(s) 2016.

Thinking like a nurse: a research-based model of clinical judgment in nursing.

PubMed

Tanner, Christine A

2006-06-01

This article reviews the growing body of research on clinical judgment in nursing and presents an alternative model of clinical judgment based on these studies. Based on a review of nearly 200 studies, five conclusions can be drawn: (1) Clinical judgments are more influenced by what nurses bring to the situation than the objective data about the situation at hand; (2) Sound clinical judgment rests to some degree on knowing the patient and his or her typical pattern of responses, as well as an engagement with the patient and his or her concerns; (3) Clinical judgments are influenced by the context in which the situation occurs and the culture of the nursing care unit; (4) Nurses use a variety of reasoning patterns alone or in combination; and (5) Reflection on practice is often triggered by a breakdown in clinical judgment and is critical for the development of clinical knowledge and improvement in clinical reasoning. A model based on these general conclusions emphasizes the role of nurses' background, the context of the situation, and nurses' relationship with their patients as central to what nurses notice and how they interpret findings, respond, and reflect on their response.

Exploring Faculty Developers' Experiences to Inform Our Understanding of Competence in Faculty Development.

PubMed

Baker, Lindsay; Leslie, Karen; Panisko, Danny; Walsh, Allyn; Wong, Anne; Stubbs, Barbara; Mylopoulos, Maria

2018-02-01

Now a mainstay in medical education, faculty development has created the role of the faculty developer. However, faculty development research tends to overlook faculty developers' roles and experiences. This study aimed to develop an empirical understanding of faculty developer competence by digging deeper into the actions, experiences, and perceptions of faculty developers as they perform their facilitator role. A constructivist grounded theory approach guided observations of faculty development activities, field interviews, and formal interviews with 31 faculty developers across two academic institutions from 2013 to 2014. Analysis occurred alongside and informed data collection. Themes were identified using a constant comparison process. Consistent with the literature, findings highlighted the knowledge and skills of the faculty developer and the importance of context in the design and delivery of faculty development activities. Three novel processes (negotiating, constructing, and attuning) were identified that integrate the individual faculty developer, her context, and the evolution of her competence. These findings suggest that faculty developer competence is best understood as a situated construct. A faculty developer's ability to attune to, construct, and negotiate her environment can both enhance and minimize the impact of contextual variables as needed. Thus, faculty developers do not passively experience context; rather, they actively interact with their environment in ways that maximize their performance. Faculty developers should be trained for the adaptive, situated use of knowledge.

Exploring Faculty Developers’ Experiences to Inform Our Understanding of Competence in Faculty Development

PubMed Central

Leslie, Karen; Panisko, Danny; Walsh, Allyn; Wong, Anne; Stubbs, Barbara; Mylopoulos, Maria

2018-01-01

Purpose Now a mainstay in medical education, faculty development has created the role of the faculty developer. However, faculty development research tends to overlook faculty developers’ roles and experiences. This study aimed to develop an empirical understanding of faculty developer competence by digging deeper into the actions, experiences, and perceptions of faculty developers as they perform their facilitator role. Method A constructivist grounded theory approach guided observations of faculty development activities, field interviews, and formal interviews with 31 faculty developers across two academic institutions from 2013 to 2014. Analysis occurred alongside and informed data collection. Themes were identified using a constant comparison process. Results Consistent with the literature, findings highlighted the knowledge and skills of the faculty developer and the importance of context in the design and delivery of faculty development activities. Three novel processes (negotiating, constructing, and attuning) were identified that integrate the individual faculty developer, her context, and the evolution of her competence. Conclusions These findings suggest that faculty developer competence is best understood as a situated construct. A faculty developer’s ability to attune to, construct, and negotiate her environment can both enhance and minimize the impact of contextual variables as needed. Thus, faculty developers do not passively experience context; rather, they actively interact with their environment in ways that maximize their performance. Faculty developers should be trained for the adaptive, situated use of knowledge. PMID:28678104

Gender performance in an out-of-school science context

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Silfver, Eva

2018-03-01

This article examines how school students perform gender during a visit to a science centre where they programme Lego cars. The focus is on how students relate to each other—how they talk and what they do. Theoretically, the article draws on the `heterosexual matrix' and a Foucauldian understanding of how power and knowledge are tightly interwoven and that discursive practices regulate people's possible positions and ways of being in different situations and contexts. The analysis is primarily based on video data from the science centre and a number of student interviews. The article gives several examples of how stereotypical gender performances are maintained but also challenged. This is important knowledge, because if we want to challenge norms, we first need to see them and understand how they are reproduced.

Revitalizing the Field of Educational Foundations and PK-20 Educators' Commitment to Social Justice and Issues of Equity in an Age of Neoliberalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hartlep, Nicholas D.; Porfilio, Bradley J.

2015-01-01

In this article, we situate the imminent extinction of educational foundations within larger macro contexts, including the corporate control of knowledge production, the marginalization of critical academics who challenge the social, economic, and political status quos, and the global (United States in particular) economic recession. We also…

Education in a Time of Terror: An Address Given at Kent State University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Masemann, Vandra L.

2008-01-01

This paper gives an overview of the ideas generated in a course taught by a Canadian academic to American students on the subject of teaching in the post-9/11 period. The four major topics discussed are the technological context in which modern societies are situated, particularly the evolution from agrarian to industrial and now knowledge-based…

Genetic Testing in a Drama and Discussion Workshop: Exploring Knowledge Construction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dawson, Emily; Hill, Anne; Barlow, John; Weitkamp, Emma

2009-01-01

In this pilot project, drama was used to situate genetic testing in a social and cultural context--that of the family. The drama was used to stimulate discussion about social issues relating to genetic testing, such as who has the right to know the results of the test and whether participants would want to know their "genetic future". A…

Constructing Content and Language Knowledge in Plurilingual Student Teamwork: Situated and Longitudinal Perspectives

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moore, Emilee

2014-01-01

This paper explores how students in an Educational Psychology subject in a university L2 immersion context accomplish learning, mobilise their plurilingual repertoires and restructure their participation in carrying out a teamwork task over the course of approximately one week. The study is novel in several ways. First, it aims to fill a gap in…

The Computer-Based Assessment of Complex Problem Solving and How It Is Influenced by Students' Information and Communication Technology Literacy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greiff, Samuel; Kretzschmar, André; Müller, Jonas C.; Spinath, Birgit; Martin, Romain

2014-01-01

The 21st-century work environment places strong emphasis on nonroutine transversal skills. In an educational context, complex problem solving (CPS) is generally considered an important transversal skill that includes knowledge acquisition and its application in new and interactive situations. The dynamic and interactive nature of CPS requires a…

The electronic encapsulation of knowledge in hydraulics, hydrology and water resources

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, Michael B.

The rapidly developing practice of encapsulating knowledge in electronic media is shown to lead necessarily to the restructuring of the knowledge itself. The consequences of this for hydraulics, hydrology and more general water-resources management are investigated in particular relation to current process-simulation, real-time control and advice-serving systems. The generic properties of the electronic knowledge encapsulator are described, and attention is drawn to the manner in which knowledge 'goes into hiding' through encapsulation. This property is traced in the simple situations of pure mathesis and in the more complex situations of taxinomia using one example each from hydraulics and hydrology. The consequences for systems architectures are explained, pointing to the need for multi-agent architectures for ecological modelling and for more general hydroinformatics systems also. The relevance of these developments is indicated by reference to ongoing projects in which they are currently being realised. In conclusion, some more general epistemological aspects are considered within the same context. As this contribution is so much concerned with the processes of signification and communication, it has been partly shaped by the theory of semiotics, as popularised by Eco ( A Theory of Semiotics, Indiana University, Bloomington, 1977).

Bridging the gap between formal and experience-based knowledge for context-aware laparoscopy.

PubMed

Katić, Darko; Schuck, Jürgen; Wekerle, Anna-Laura; Kenngott, Hannes; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie

2016-06-01

Computer assistance is increasingly common in surgery. However, the amount of information is bound to overload processing abilities of surgeons. We propose methods to recognize the current phase of a surgery for context-aware information filtering. The purpose is to select the most suitable subset of information for surgical situations which require special assistance. We combine formal knowledge, represented by an ontology, and experience-based knowledge, represented by training samples, to recognize phases. For this purpose, we have developed two different methods. Firstly, we use formal knowledge about possible phase transitions to create a composition of random forests. Secondly, we propose a method based on cultural optimization to infer formal rules from experience to recognize phases. The proposed methods are compared with a purely formal knowledge-based approach using rules and a purely experience-based one using regular random forests. The comparative evaluation on laparoscopic pancreas resections and adrenalectomies employs a consistent set of quality criteria on clean and noisy input. The rule-based approaches proved best with noisefree data. The random forest-based ones were more robust in the presence of noise. Formal and experience-based knowledge can be successfully combined for robust phase recognition.

Lucky Belief in Science Education - Gettier Cases and the Value of Reliable Belief-Forming Processes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brock, Richard

2018-05-01

The conceptualisation of knowledge as justified true belief has been shown to be, at the very least, an incomplete account. One challenge to the justified true belief model arises from the proposition of situations in which a person possesses a belief that is both justified and true which some philosophers intuit should not be classified as knowledge. Though situations of this type have been imagined by a number of writers, they have come to be labelled Gettier cases. Gettier cases arise when a fallible justification happens to lead to a true belief in one context, a case of `lucky belief'. In this article, it is argued that students studying science may make claims that resemble Gettier cases. In some contexts, a student may make a claim that is both justified and true but which arises from an alternative conception of a scientific concept. A number of instances of lucky belief in topics in science education are considered leading to an examination of the criteria teachers use to assess students' claims in different contexts. The possibility of lucky belief leads to the proposal that, in addition to the acquisition of justified true beliefs, the development of reliable belief-forming processes is a significant goal of science education. The pedagogic value of various kinds of claims is considered and, it is argued, the criteria used to judge claims may be adjusted to suit the context of assessment. It is suggested that teachers should be alert to instances of lucky belief that mask alternative conceptions.

Nursing knowledge: hints from the placebo effect.

PubMed

Zanotti, Renzo; Chiffi, Daniele

2017-07-01

Nursing knowledge stems from a dynamic interplay between population-based scientific knowledge (the general) and specific clinical cases (the particular). We compared the 'cascade model of knowledge translation', also known as 'classical biomedical model' in clinical practice (in which knowledge gained at population level may be applied directly to a specific clinical context), with an emergentist model of knowledge translation. The structure and dynamics of nursing knowledge are outlined, adopting the distinction between epistemic and non-epistemic values. Then, a (moderately) emergentist approach to nursing knowledge is proposed, based on the assumption of a two-way flow from the general to the particular and vice versa. The case of the 'placebo effect' is analysed as an example of emergentist knowledge. The placebo effect is usually considered difficult to be explained within the classical biomedical model, and we underscore its importance in shaping nursing knowledge. In fact, nurses are primarily responsible for administering placebo in the clinical setting and have an essential role in promoting the placebo effect and reducing the nocebo effect. The beliefs responsible for the placebo effect are as follows: (1) interactive, because they depend on the relationship between patients and health care professionals; (2) situated, because they occur in a given clinical context related to certain rituals; and (3) grounded on higher order beliefs concerning what an individual thinks about the beliefs of others. It is essential to know the clinical context and to understand other people's beliefs to make sense of the placebo effect. The placebo effect only works when the (higher order) beliefs of doctors, nurses and patients interact in a given setting. Finally, we argue for a close relationship between placebo effect and nursing knowledge. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Preparing for motherhood: authoritative knowledge and the undercurrents of shared experience in two childbirth education courses in Cagliari, Italy.

PubMed

Ketler, S K

2000-06-01

This article compares the social settings and teaching organization of two differently structured childbirth education courses in Cagliari, Italy, in order to understand how social processes and contexts work to negotiate authoritative knowledge. Although the explicit goal of both courses was to transmit biomedical knowledge, knowledge based in women's experience nonetheless dominated some course sessions. Thus, I examine the social processes and interactions that enabled women's experiential knowledge to dominate discussions and subsequently share in the authority of biomedical knowledge in some situations. Because few existing studies do so, this article also addresses a gap in our current understanding by exploring not only how experiential knowledge comes to share authority with biomedical knowledge, but also, why it is important that it does. Focusing on the efficacy of differently structured courses, this article informs the planning of future childbirth education courses in similar settings.

From Clinic to Classroom: A Case Study of a Literacy Specialist Examining Teacher Learning and Instructional Decision Making

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pontrello, Camille Marie

2011-01-01

The purpose of this case study was to explore how the specific content knowledge developed in a newly certified literacy specialist's practicum experiences are taken up in her practice as she supports the learning of her struggling literacy learners in the situated context of the middle school. Focused on her perspective, the present study…

Brain Mechanisms for Making, Breaking, and Changing Rules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levine, Daniel S.

Individuals differ widely, and the same person varies over time, in their tendency to seek maximum information versus their tendency to follow the simplest heuristics. Neuroimaging studies suggest which brain regions might mediate the balance between knowledge maximization and heuristic simplification. The amygdala is more activated in individuals who use primitive heuristics, whereas two areas of the frontal lobes are more activated in individuals with a strong knowledge drive: one area involved in detecting risk or conflict, and another involved in choosing task-appropriate responses. Both of these motivations have engineering uses. There is benefit to understanding a situation at a high enough level to respond in a flexible manner when the context is complex and time allows detailed consideration. Yet simplifying heuristics can yield benefits when the context is routine or when time is limited.

Learning Situations in Nursing Education: A Concept Analysis.

PubMed

Shahsavari, Hooman; Zare, Zahra; Parsa-Yekta, Zohreh; Griffiths, Pauline; Vaismoradi, Mojtaba

2018-02-01

The nursing student requires opportunities to learn within authentic contexts so as to enable safe and competent practice. One strategy to facilitate such learning is the creation of learning situations. A lack of studies on the learning situation in nursing and other health care fields has resulted in insufficient knowledge of the characteristics of the learning situation, its antecedents, and consequences. Nurse educators need to have comprehensive and practical knowledge of the definition and characteristics of the learning situation so as to enable their students to achieve enhanced learning outcomes. The aim of this study was to clarify the concept of the learning situation as it relates to the education of nurses and improve understanding of its characteristics, antecedents, and consequences. The Bonis method of concept analysis, as derived from the Rodgers' evolutionary method, provided the framework for analysis. Data collection and analysis were undertaken in two phases: "interdisciplinary" and "intra-disciplinary." The data source was a search of the literature, encompassing nursing and allied health care professions, published from 1975 to 2016. No agreement on the conceptual phenomenon was discovered in the international literature. The concept of a learning situation was used generally in two ways and thus classified into the themes of: "formal/informal learning situation" and "biologic/nonbiologic learning situation." Antecedents to the creation of a learning situation included personal and environmental factors. The characteristics of a learning situation were described in terms of being complex, dynamic, and offering potential and effective learning opportunities. Consequences of the learning situation included enhancement of the students' learning, professionalization, and socialization into the professional role. The nurse educator, when considering the application of the concept of a learning situation in their educational planning, must acknowledge that the application of this concept will include the student's clinical learning experiences. More studies are required to determine factors influencing the creation of a successful learning situation from the perspectives of nurse educators and nursing students, clinical nurses and patients.

An Intact Social Cognitive Process in Schizophrenia: Situational Context Effects on Perception of Facial Affect

PubMed Central

Lee, Junghee; Kern, Robert S.; Harvey, Philippe-Olivier; Horan, William P.; Kee, Kimmy S.; Ochsner, Kevin; Penn, David L.; Green, Michael F.

2013-01-01

Background Impaired facial affect recognition is the most consistent social cognitive finding in schizophrenia. Although social situations provide powerful constraints on our perception, little is known about how situational context modulates facial affect recognition in schizophrenia. Methods Study 1 was a single-site study with 34 schizophrenia patients and 22 healthy controls. Study 2 was a 2-site study with 68 schizophrenia patients and 28 controls. Both studies administered a Situational Context Facial Affect Recognition Task with 2 conditions: a situational context condition and a no-context condition. For the situational context condition, a briefly shown face was preceded by a sentence describing either a fear- or surprise-inducing event. In the no-context condition, a face was presented without a sentence. For both conditions, subjects rated how fearful or surprised the face appeared on a 9-point Likert scale. Results For the situational context condition of study 1, both patients and controls rated faces as more afraid when they were paired with fear-inducing sentences and as more surprised when they were paired with surprise-inducing sentences. The degree of modulation was comparable across groups. For the no-context condition, patients rated faces comparably to controls. The findings of study 2 replicated those from study 1. Conclusions Despite previous abnormalities in other types of context paradigms, this study found intact situational context processing in schizophrenia, suggesting that patients benefit from situational context when interpreting ambiguous facial expression. This area of relative social cognitive strength in schizophrenia has implications for social cognitive training programs. PMID:22532704

Tool and ideological knowledge in Street Outreach Office working process.

PubMed

Kami, Maria Terumi Maruyama; Larocca, Liliana Muller; Chaves, Maria Marta Nolasco; Piosiadlo, Laura Christina Macedo; Albuquerque, Guilherme Souza

2016-01-01

To identify ideological knowledge and tool knowledgethat provide support to the Street Outreach Office working process. Qualitative and exploratory research. TwentyStreet Outreach Office professionals and six users collected the data, applying different semi-structured interview schedules for each category of participants. The resulting categories were analyzed in light of tool and ideological knowledge presented in the working process. From the participant discourses the following ideological knowledge emerged: public policies and the needs of the person ina street situation and tool knowledge, as well as devices and tools for the care of people in street situations and a weekly schedule. The focus on the working process discourse, supported by ideological knowledge, was verified. The structural dimension of the objective reality of the population in street situations was perceptible in the social determination of being situating on the street. When daily situations were revealed, the limitations to be overcome in the working process context were noticed. Identificar os saberes ideológicos e instrumentais que subsidiam o processo de trabalho do Consultório na Rua. Pesquisa qualitativa e exploratória. A coleta de dados foi realizada junto a 20 profissionais e seis usuários do Consultório na Rua de um município do sul do Brasil, por meio de entrevistas com roteiros semiestruturados distintos para cada categoria de participantes. As classes resultantes foram analisadas à luz dos saberes ideológicos e instrumentais presentes no processo de trabalho. Dos discursos dos participantes emergiram os saberes ideológicos: políticas públicas e necessidades da pessoa em situação de rua e os saberes instrumentais: dispositivos e instrumentos no cuidado à pessoa em situação de rua e agenda semanal. Constatou-se a centralidade dos discursos no processo de trabalho, sustentado pelos saberes ideológicos. A dimensão estrutural da realidade objetiva da população em situação de rua foi perceptível na determinação social do situar-se na rua. Ao descortinar contradições no cotidiano, apontam-se limites a serem superados no âmbito do processo de trabalho.

Maternal Discussions of Mental States and Behaviors: Relations to Emotion Situation Knowledge in European American and Immigrant Chinese Children

PubMed Central

Doan, Stacey N.; Wang, Qi

2010-01-01

This study examined in a cross-cultural context mothers’ discussions of mental states and external behaviors in a story-telling task with their 3-year-old children and the relations of such discussions to children’s emotion situation knowledge (ESK). The participants were 71 European American and 60 Chinese immigrant mother-child pairs in the U.S. Mothers and children read a storybook together at home, and children’s ESK was assessed. Results showed that European American mothers made more references to thoughts and emotions during storytelling than did Chinese mothers, who commented more frequently on behaviors. Regardless of culture, mothers’ use of mental states language predicted children’s ESK, whereas their references to behaviors were negatively related to children’s ESK. Finally, mothers’ emphasis on mental states over behaviors partially mediated cultural effects on children’s ESK. PMID:20840236

``Yo soy indígena'': identifying and using traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) to make the teaching of science culturally responsive for Maya girls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamlin, Maria L.

2013-12-01

This study examines how traditional ecological knowledge—TEK—can be identified and utilized to create culturally responsive science learning opportunities for Maya girls from a community in the Guatemalan highlands. Maya girls are situated in a complex socio-historical and political context rooted in racism and sexism. This study contextualizes the current situation of Maya women and girls in Guatemala and emphasizes the important need for educators to create science-learning opportunities that are culturally congruent. The author posits that when considering how to make the teaching and learning of science culturally responsive for Maya girls, educators must begin with the scientific knowledge inherent within Maya communities. Indigenous communities have a wealth of TEK that can be used to contextualize science curricula that can be purposely designed to meet the nuanced cultural needs of traditional Maya girls within and outside Guatemala.

Maternal discussions of mental states and behaviors: relations to emotion situation knowledge in European American and immigrant Chinese children.

PubMed

Doan, Stacey N; Wang, Qi

2010-01-01

This study examined in a cross-cultural context mothers' discussions of mental states and external behaviors in a story-telling task with their 3-year-old children and the relations of such discussions to children's emotion situation knowledge (ESK). The participants were 71 European American and 60 Chinese immigrant mother-child pairs in the United States. Mothers and children read a storybook together at home, and children's ESK was assessed. Results showed that European American mothers made more references to thoughts and emotions during storytelling than did Chinese mothers, who commented more frequently on behaviors. Regardless of culture, mothers' use of mental states language predicted children's ESK, whereas their references to behaviors were negatively related to children's ESK. Finally, mothers' emphasis on mental states over behaviors partially mediated cultural effects on children's ESK. © 2010 The Authors. Child Development © 2010 Society for Research in Child Development, Inc.

Incursions from the epicentre: Southern theory, social science, and the global HIV research domain.

PubMed

Hodes, Rebecca; Morrell, Robert

2018-03-01

Research about HIV constitutes a global domain of academic knowledge. The patterns that structure this domain reflect inequalities in the production and dissemination of knowledge, as well as broader inequalities in geopolitics. Conventional metrics for assessing the value and impact of academic research reveal that "Northern" research remains dominant, while "Southern" research remains peripheral. Southern theory provides a framework for greater critical engagement with knowledge produced by researchers within the global South. With a focus on HIV social science, we show that investigators working in and from Africa have produced and disseminated knowledge fundamental to the global domain of HIV research, and argue that their epistemological contribution may be understood within the framework of Southern theory. Through repurposing a bibliometrical measure of citation count, we constitute a new archive of highly cited social science research. With a focus on South Africa, we situate this archive within changing historical contexts, connecting research findings to developments in medicine, health sciences and politics. We focus on two key themes in the evolution of HIV knowledge: (1) the significance of context and locality - the "setting" of HIV research; and (2) sex, race and risk - changing ideas about the social determinants of HIV transmission.

The political economy of publication: marketing, commodification, and qualitative scholarly work.

PubMed

Lincoln, Yvonna S

2012-11-01

The globalized economy, fueled by late capitalism, has pressed forward its necessity for accumulation and expanding growth into the information and knowledge economy. One result has been the privatization of essentially public knowledge, knowledge produced at public universities, often with public, federal dollars. Both the "mania for ranking academic institutions," where universities compete for students, tuition dollars, and external funding, and the incessant creep of the managerial "audit culture" contribute to this situation. Although there is little individual scholars can do to resist globalization and capitalist forces, understanding the context into which their research is circulated can suggest opportunities for sharing research results between the "center" and "periphery" that counter some of the privatization trends.

The Impact of Situation-Based Learning to Students’ Quantitative Literacy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Latifah, T.; Cahya, E.; Suhendra

2017-09-01

Nowadays, the usage of quantities can be seen almost everywhere. There has been an increase of quantitative thinking, such as quantitative reasoning and quantitative literacy, within the context of daily life. However, many people today are still not fully equipped with the knowledge of quantitative thinking. There are still a lot of individuals not having enough quantitative skills to perform well within today’s society. Based on this issue, the research aims to improve students’ quantitative literacy in junior high school. The qualitative analysis of written student work and video observations during the experiment reveal that the impact of situation-based learning affects students’ quantitative literacy.

Repeated causal decision making.

PubMed

Hagmayer, York; Meder, Björn

2013-01-01

Many of our decisions refer to actions that have a causal impact on the external environment. Such actions may not only allow for the mere learning of expected values or utilities but also for acquiring knowledge about the causal structure of our world. We used a repeated decision-making paradigm to examine what kind of knowledge people acquire in such situations and how they use their knowledge to adapt to changes in the decision context. Our studies show that decision makers' behavior is strongly contingent on their causal beliefs and that people exploit their causal knowledge to assess the consequences of changes in the decision problem. A high consistency between hypotheses about causal structure, causally expected values, and actual choices was observed. The experiments show that (a) existing causal hypotheses guide the interpretation of decision feedback, (b) consequences of decisions are used to revise existing causal beliefs, and (c) decision makers use the experienced feedback to induce a causal model of the choice situation even when they have no initial causal hypotheses, which (d) enables them to adapt their choices to changes of the decision problem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved).

An application of the Hospital-in-the-Home unlearning context.

PubMed

Cegarra-Navarro, Juan-Gabriel; Wensley, Anthony K P; Sánchez-Polo, Maria-Teresa

2010-01-01

Many researchers who have investigated health care organizations have indicated that health care professionals are replete with outdated knowledge, and some researchers go even further to argue that without the presence of a context that facilitates unlearning (forgetting) practitioners may lose the ability to recognize relevant changes with respect to knowledge pertaining to all aspects of the health care sector and they may decide to rely on potentially out-of-date knowledge and inappropriate ways of interpreting data with attendant loss of decision quality and attendant risks. This article presents an analysis and develops a model of the factors that influence unlearning which is focused on the health care industry and is comprised of three constituent components: (1) a framework characterizing the lens through which individuals view situations; (2) a framework for characterizing how individual habits change; and (3) a framework for characterizing the manner in which emergent understandings are consolidated into existing knowledge and knowledge structures. The model was developed and analyzed using qualitative data from the Hospital-in-the-Home Unit of a Spanish Regional Hospital. From a practical perspective the article provides for the identification of factors that influence the nature and effectiveness of the unlearning context in Hospital-in-the-Home-Units in regional hospitals. This not only valuably adds to the knowledge of the way these units function but also may enable actions to be taken to improve the learning processes associated with such units, resulting in an improvement in the quality of knowledge used in day-to-day decision making. It is to be assumed that, as a result of improving the quality of knowledge used in decision making, the quality of decisions will be improved.

Contextual Teaching and Learning: Preparing Teachers to Enhance Student Success in the Workplace and Beyond. Information Series No. 376.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Columbus, OH.

The papers in this volume outline a vision for teacher education based on the concept of contextual teaching, defined as teaching that enables learning in a variety of in- and out-of-school contexts to solve simulated or real-world problems. They are based on the realization that the construction of knowledge is situated within, and greatly…

Students' Situated Action in Physical Education: Analysis of Typical Concerns and Their Relations with Mobilized Knowledge in Table Tennis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guillou, Julien; Durny, Annick

2008-01-01

Background: In most studies in the classroom context, the student is generally only one variable in the analysis of the effects of the teacher's work. Our research was based on the postulate that the student's activity is basically autonomous, i.e. irreducible with the influence that the teacher has. This is why we propose to analyse the dynamics…

Management of complex knowledge in planning for sustainable development: The use of multi-criteria decision aids

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kain, Jaan-Henrik; Soederberg, Henriette

2008-01-15

The vision of sustainable development entails new and complex planning situations, confronting local policy makers with changing political conditions, different content in decision making and planning and new working methods. Moreover, the call for sustainable development has been a major driving force towards an increasingly multi-stakeholder planning system. This situation requires competence in working in, and managing, groups of actors, including not only experts and project owners but also other categories of stakeholders. Among other qualities, such competence requires a working strategy aimed at integrating various, and sometimes incommensurable, forms of knowledge to construct a relevant and valid knowledge basemore » prior to decision making. Consequently, there lies great potential in methods that facilitate the evaluation of strategies for infrastructural development across multiple knowledge areas, so-called multi-criteria decision aids (MCDAs). In the present article, observations from six case studies are discussed, where the common denominators are infrastructural planning, multi-stakeholder participation and the use of MCDAs as interactive decision support. Three MCDAs are discussed - NAIADE, SCA and STRAD - with an emphasis on how they function in their procedural context. Accordingly, this is not an analysis of MCDA algorithms, of software programming aspects or of MCDAs as context-independent 'decision machines'-the focus is on MCDAs as actor systems, not as expert systems. The analysis is carried out across four main themes: (a) symmetrical management of different forms of knowledge; (b) management of heterogeneity, pluralism and conflict; (c) functionality and ease of use; and (d) transparency and trust. It shows that STRAD, by far, seems to be the most useful MCDA in interactive settings. NAIADE and SCA are roughly equivalent but have their strengths and weaknesses in different areas. Moreover, it was found that some MCDA issues require further attention, i.e., regarding transparency and understandability; qualitative/quantitative knowledge input; switching between different modes of weighting; software flexibility; as well as graphic and user interfaces.« less

Neural correlates of language comprehension in autism spectrum disorders: when language conflicts with world knowledge.

PubMed

Tesink, Cathelijne M J Y; Buitelaar, Jan K; Petersson, Karl Magnus; van der Gaag, Rutger Jan; Teunisse, Jan-Pieter; Hagoort, Peter

2011-04-01

In individuals with ASD, difficulties with language comprehension are most evident when higher-level semantic-pragmatic language processing is required, for instance when context has to be used to interpret the meaning of an utterance. Until now, it is unclear at what level of processing and for what type of context these difficulties in language comprehension occur. Therefore, in the current fMRI study, we investigated the neural correlates of the integration of contextual information during auditory language comprehension in 24 adults with ASD and 24 matched control participants. Different levels of context processing were manipulated by using spoken sentences that were correct or contained either a semantic or world knowledge anomaly. Our findings demonstrated significant differences between the groups in inferior frontal cortex that were only present for sentences with a world knowledge anomaly. Relative to the ASD group, the control group showed significantly increased activation in left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) for sentences with a world knowledge anomaly compared to correct sentences. This effect possibly indicates reduced integrative capacities of the ASD group. Furthermore, world knowledge anomalies elicited significantly stronger activation in right inferior frontal gyrus (RIFG) in the control group compared to the ASD group. This additional RIFG activation probably reflects revision of the situation model after new, conflicting information. The lack of recruitment of RIFG is possibly related to difficulties with exception handling in the ASD group. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Situation resolution with context-sensitive fuzzy relations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakobson, Gabriel; Buford, John; Lewis, Lundy

2009-05-01

Context plays a significant role in situation resolution by intelligent agents (human or machine) by affecting how the situations are recognized, interpreted, acted upon or predicted. Many definitions and formalisms for the notion of context have emerged in various research fields including psychology, economics and computer science (computational linguistics, data management, control theory, artificial intelligence and others). In this paper we examine the role of context in situation management, particularly how to resolve situations that are described by using fuzzy (inexact) relations among their components. We propose a language for describing context sensitive inexact constraints and an algorithm for interpreting relations using inexact (fuzzy) computations.

The Integration of Javanese Indigenous Knowledge in Biology Learning Resources Development

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anazifa, D.; Hadi, R. F.

2017-02-01

The student’s difficulties in learning and understanding Biology concepts are caused by the adoption of scientific phenomenon that not suitable with the environment they live in. Students who comes from the Javanese background sometimes find the Biology concepts hard to understand. Science content that comes from the West sometimes is not suitable with the student’s background, because the cultural and geographical background that underlining the science development are different. It can potentially cause the clash in constructing knowledge of students. The proportion of western knowledge and indigenous knowledge has to be balanced, in order to give the scientific rationale of the natural phenomenon that faced by students in everyday life. The ethnoscience experienced by student is still in the form of concrete experience as a result of the interaction with the nature. As one of the largest tribe in Indonesia, Javanese has many unique cultures that can be adopted in science classroom especially in Biology class. The role on ethnoscience in the context of developing Biology learning resources is to connect the science concept with the real world situation. By considering indigenous knowledge as one of learning resources, teachers can start to adjust the Javanese indigenous knowledge into the curriculum. This paper is literature review which will present the background, rationale, and procedure in integrating Javanese indigenous knowledge into Biology classroom as learning resources. The integration of Javanese indigenous knowledge in Biology learning resources development is necessary in order to connect the Biology concept into real situation.

Negotiating health and life: Syrian refugees and the politics of access in Lebanon.

PubMed

Parkinson, Sarah E; Behrouzan, Orkideh

2015-12-01

In the context of ongoing armed conflicts in Libya, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, it is vital to foster nuanced understandings of the relationship between health, violence, and everyday life in the Middle East and North Africa. In this article, we explore how healthcare access interacts with humanitarian bureaucracy and refugees' daily experiences of exile. What are the stakes involved with accessing clinical services in humanitarian situations? How do local conditions structure access to healthcare? Building on the concept of "therapeutic geographies," we argue for the integration of local socio-political context and situated knowledge into understandings of humanitarian healthcare systems. Using evidence gathered from participant observation among Syrian and Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, we demonstrate how procedures developed to facilitate care-such as refugee registration and insurance contracting-can interact with other factors to simultaneously prevent and/or disincentivize refugees' accessing healthcare services and expose them to structural violence. Drawing on two interconnected ethnographic encounters in a Palestinian refugee camp and in a Lebanese public hospital, we demonstrate how interactions surrounding the clinical encounter reveal the social, political, and logistical complexities of healthcare access. Moreover, rather than hospital visits representing discrete encounters with the Lebanese state, we contend that they reveal important moments in an ongoing process of negotiation and navigation within and through the constraints and uncertainties that shape refugee life. As a result, we advocate for the incorporation of situated forms of knowledge into humanitarian healthcare practices and the development of an understanding of healthcare access as nested in the larger experience of everyday refugee life. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Situationally-Sensitive Knowledge Translation and Relational Decision Making in Hyperacute Stroke: A Qualitative Study

PubMed Central

Murtagh, Madeleine J.; Burges Watson, Duika L.; Jenkings, K. Neil; Lie, Mabel L. S.; Mackintosh, Joan E.; Ford, Gary A.; Thomson, Richard G.

2012-01-01

Stroke is a leading cause of disability. Early treatment of acute ischaemic stroke with rtPA reduces the risk of longer term dependency but carries an increased risk of causing immediate bleeding complications. To understand the challenges of knowledge translation and decision making about treatment with rtPA in hyperacute stroke and hence to inform development of appropriate decision support we interviewed patients, their family and health professionals. The emergency setting and the symptomatic effects of hyper-acute stroke shaped the form, content and manner of knowledge translation to support decision making. Decision making about rtPA in hyperacute stroke presented three conundrums for patients, family and clinicians. 1) How to allow time for reflection in a severely time-limited setting. 2) How to facilitate knowledge translation regarding important treatment risks and benefits when patient and family capacity is blunted by the effects and shock of stroke. 3) How to ensure patient and family views are taken into account when the situation produces reliance on the expertise of clinicians. Strategies adopted to meet these conundrums were fourfold: face to face communication; shaping decisions; incremental provision of information; and communication tailored to the individual patient. Relational forms of interaction were understood to engender trust and allay anxiety. Shaping decisions with patients was understood as an expression of confidence by clinicians that helped alleviate anxiety and offered hope and reassurance to patients and their family experiencing the shock of the stroke event. Neutral presentations of information and treatment options promoted uncertainty and contributed to anxiety. ‘Drip feeding’ information created moments for reflection: clinicians literally made time. Tailoring information to the particular patient and family situation allowed clinicians to account for social and emotional contexts. The principal responses to the challenges of decision making about rtPA in hyperacute stroke were relational decision support and situationally-sensitive knowledge translation. PMID:22675477

Situationally-sensitive knowledge translation and relational decision making in hyperacute stroke: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Murtagh, Madeleine J; Burges Watson, Duika L; Jenkings, K Neil; Lie, Mabel L S; Mackintosh, Joan E; Ford, Gary A; Thomson, Richard G

2012-01-01

Stroke is a leading cause of disability. Early treatment of acute ischaemic stroke with rtPA reduces the risk of longer term dependency but carries an increased risk of causing immediate bleeding complications. To understand the challenges of knowledge translation and decision making about treatment with rtPA in hyperacute stroke and hence to inform development of appropriate decision support we interviewed patients, their family and health professionals. The emergency setting and the symptomatic effects of hyper-acute stroke shaped the form, content and manner of knowledge translation to support decision making. Decision making about rtPA in hyperacute stroke presented three conundrums for patients, family and clinicians. 1) How to allow time for reflection in a severely time-limited setting. 2) How to facilitate knowledge translation regarding important treatment risks and benefits when patient and family capacity is blunted by the effects and shock of stroke. 3) How to ensure patient and family views are taken into account when the situation produces reliance on the expertise of clinicians. Strategies adopted to meet these conundrums were fourfold: face to face communication; shaping decisions; incremental provision of information; and communication tailored to the individual patient. Relational forms of interaction were understood to engender trust and allay anxiety. Shaping decisions with patients was understood as an expression of confidence by clinicians that helped alleviate anxiety and offered hope and reassurance to patients and their family experiencing the shock of the stroke event. Neutral presentations of information and treatment options promoted uncertainty and contributed to anxiety. 'Drip feeding' information created moments for reflection: clinicians literally made time. Tailoring information to the particular patient and family situation allowed clinicians to account for social and emotional contexts. The principal responses to the challenges of decision making about rtPA in hyperacute stroke were relational decision support and situationally-sensitive knowledge translation.

[How much knowledge do health insurance companies need to make reimbursement decisions?].

PubMed

Pfeiffer, Doris

2009-01-01

Health insurance companies play a very significant role in the sociopolitical context. It is their responsibility to meet the demands of modern health services delivery, while at the same time limited financial resources need to be considered. Difficult decisions have to be made which must take into account the needs of the insured party as well as the healthcare situation and oncoming possibilities. Health insurance companies rely on secure knowledge with a high level of evidence to justify their decisions in a collectively funded healthcare system. Where the elimination of knowledge gaps is not related to the expectation of profit on the part of potential providers of medical services, procedures or products the funding of high-quality studies should be considered.

Objective Situation Awareness Measurement Based on Performance Self-Evaluation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

DeMaio, Joe

1998-01-01

The research was conducted in support of the NASA Safe All-Weather Flight Operations for Rotorcraft (SAFOR) program. The purpose of the work was to investigate the utility of two measurement tools developed by the British Defense Evaluation Research Agency. These tools were a subjective workload assessment scale, the DRA Workload Scale and a situation awareness measurement tool. The situation awareness tool uses a comparison of the crew's self-evaluation of performance against actual performance in order to determine what information the crew attended to during the performance. These two measurement tools were evaluated in the context of a test of innovative approach to alerting the crew by way of a helmet mounted display. The situation assessment data are reported here. The performance self-evaluation metric of situation awareness was found to be highly effective. It was used to evaluate situation awareness on a tank reconnaissance task, a tactical navigation task, and a stylized task used to evaluated handling qualities. Using the self-evaluation metric, it was possible to evaluate situation awareness, without exact knowledge the relevant information in some cases and to identify information to which the crew attended or failed to attend in others.

A Study of User's Acceptance on Situational Mashups in Situational Language Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huang, Angus F. M.; Yang, Stephen J. H.; Liaw, Shu-Sheng

2012-01-01

Situational awareness and mashups are two key factors influencing the success of situational language teaching. However, traditional situational language teaching cannot smoothly conduct relevant learning activities in changing learning context. This study developed a situational mashups system for detecting users' context and proposed a research…

Women's experiences of hassles and uplifts in their everyday patterns of occupations.

PubMed

Erlandsson, Lena-Karin; Eklund, Mona

2003-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate experiences of hassles and uplifts among women. One hundred working mothers were interviewed using the Target Complaints instrument. Content analysis, resulting in both qualitative categories and quantitative variables, was used. Working mothers' hassles were mainly generated by their social, temporal and doing contexts and illustrate the importance of considering women's total patterns of everyday occupations and not focusing one-sidedly on the work situation when treating occupation-related ill-health. Women's uplifts were experienced through the social context and by doing such different occupations as going to the movies, cleaning the house, or attending a class. This indicates the appropriateness of using a client-centred approach in interventions with openness to the client's unique situation. Unexpected occupations were identified almost exclusively among the hassles. This is important knowledge for occupational therapists since women will continue to be dual workers and at potential risk of developing unbalanced and detrimental patterns of occupations, in turn causing ill health.

Parents with Intellectual Disability in a Population Context.

PubMed

Llewellyn, Gwynnyth; Hindmarsh, Gabrielle

Parenting by people with intellectual disability continues to confront societal sensibilities. On the one hand, parents with intellectual disability engage in the valued social role of raising children; on the other, their parenting attracts (typically negative) attention based on an expectation of their limited capacities to parent. The literature primarily addresses the question of whether or not parents with intellectual disability can be adequate parents or reports on methods for improving their parenting skills. An emerging trend in the literature over the last decade takes a different perspective. Rather than concentrating exclusively on parents with intellectual disability, this perspective focuses on their parenting situation compared to that of other parents more generally. This paper reviews the current state of knowledge about parents and parenting with intellectual disability in this broader population context. The focus of the paper is on the use of larger scale datasets to understand the situation of parents with intellectual disability compared with other parents and to examine the contextual variables that influence their parenting.

A model for indexing medical documents combining statistical and symbolic knowledge.

PubMed

Avillach, Paul; Joubert, Michel; Fieschi, Marius

2007-10-11

To develop and evaluate an information processing method based on terminologies, in order to index medical documents in any given documentary context. We designed a model using both symbolic general knowledge extracted from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and statistical knowledge extracted from a domain of application. Using statistical knowledge allowed us to contextualize the general knowledge for every particular situation. For each document studied, the extracted terms are ranked to highlight the most significant ones. The model was tested on a set of 17,079 French standardized discharge summaries (SDSs). The most important ICD-10 term of each SDS was ranked 1st or 2nd by the method in nearly 90% of the cases. The use of several terminologies leads to more precise indexing. The improvement achieved in the models implementation performances as a result of using semantic relationships is encouraging.

A Model for Indexing Medical Documents Combining Statistical and Symbolic Knowledge.

PubMed Central

Avillach, Paul; Joubert, Michel; Fieschi, Marius

2007-01-01

OBJECTIVES: To develop and evaluate an information processing method based on terminologies, in order to index medical documents in any given documentary context. METHODS: We designed a model using both symbolic general knowledge extracted from the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) and statistical knowledge extracted from a domain of application. Using statistical knowledge allowed us to contextualize the general knowledge for every particular situation. For each document studied, the extracted terms are ranked to highlight the most significant ones. The model was tested on a set of 17,079 French standardized discharge summaries (SDSs). RESULTS: The most important ICD-10 term of each SDS was ranked 1st or 2nd by the method in nearly 90% of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: The use of several terminologies leads to more precise indexing. The improvement achieved in the model’s implementation performances as a result of using semantic relationships is encouraging. PMID:18693792

Locating the global: culture, language and science education for indigenous students

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McKinley, Elizabeth

2005-02-01

The international literature suggests the use of indigenous knowledge (IK) and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) contexts in science education to provide motivation and self-esteem for indigenous students is widespread. However, the danger of alienating culture (as knowledge) from the language in which the worldview is embedded seems to have been left out of the philosophical and pedagogical debates surrounding research and comment in the field. This paper argues that one of the main ways in which indigenous knowledge systems will survive and thrive is through the establishment of programmes taught through indigenous languages so that a dialectal relationship between language and knowledge is established that continues to act as the wellspring. The article concludes by reviewing the situation in Aotearoa New Zealand with respect to the indigenous population, Maori, and the recent science education initiatives in te reo Maori (Maori language).

Emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory across the preschool years: a cross-cultural longitudinal investigation.

PubMed

Wang, Qi

2008-07-01

Knowledge of emotion situations facilitates the interpretation, processing, and organization of significant personal event information and thus may be an important contributor to the development of autobiographical memory. This longitudinal study tested the hypothesis in a cross-cultural context. The participants were native Chinese children, Chinese children from first-generation Chinese immigrant families in the U.S., and European American children. Children's developing emotion knowledge and autobiographical memory were assessed three times at home, when children were 3, 3.5, and 4.5 years of age. Children's emotion knowledge uniquely predicted their autobiographical memory ability across groups and time points. Emotion knowledge further mediated culture effects on autobiographical memory. The findings provide important insight into early autobiographical memory development, and extend current theoretical understandings of the emotion-memory interplay. They further have implications for the phenomenon of infantile amnesia and cross-cultural differences in childhood recollections.

Defining information need in health - assimilating complex theories derived from information science.

PubMed

Ormandy, Paula

2011-03-01

Key policy drivers worldwide include optimizing patients' roles in managing their care; focusing services around patients' needs and preferences; and providing information to support patients' contributions and choices. The term information need penetrates many policy documents. Information need is espoused as the foundation from which to develop patient-centred or patient-led services. Yet there is no clear definition as to what the term means or how patients' information needs inform and shape information provision and patient care. The assimilation of complex theories originating from information science has much to offer considerations of patient information need within the context of health care. Health-related research often focuses on the content of information patients prefer, not why they need information. This paper extends and applies knowledge of information behaviour to considerations of information need in health, exposing a working definition for patient information need that reiterates the importance of considering the patient's goals and understanding the patient's context/situation. A patient information need is defined as 'recognition that their knowledge is inadequate to satisfy a goal, within the context/situation that they find themselves at a specific point in the time'. This typifies the key concepts of national/international health policy, the centrality and importance of the patient. The proposed definition of patient information need provides a conceptual framework to guide health-care practitioners on what to consider and why when meeting the information needs of patients in practice. This creates a solid foundation from which to inform future research. © 2010 The Author. Health Expectations © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Evaluating interactive computer-based scenarios designed for learning medical technology.

PubMed

Persson, Johanna; Dalholm, Elisabeth Hornyánszky; Wallergård, Mattias; Johansson, Gerd

2014-11-01

The use of medical equipment is growing in healthcare, resulting in an increased need for resources to educate users in how to manage the various devices. Learning the practical operation of a device is one thing, but learning how to work with the device in the actual clinical context is more challenging. This paper presents a computer-based simulation prototype for learning medical technology in the context of critical care. Properties from simulation and computer games have been adopted to create a visualization-based, interactive and contextually bound tool for learning. A participatory design process, including three researchers and three practitioners from a clinic for infectious diseases, was adopted to adjust the form and content of the prototype to the needs of the clinical practice and to create a situated learning experience. An evaluation with 18 practitioners showed that practitioners were positive to this type of tool for learning and that it served as a good platform for eliciting and sharing knowledge. Our conclusion is that this type of tools can be a complement to traditional learning resources to situate the learning in a context without requiring advanced technology or being resource-demanding. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fostering nurses' political knowledges and practices: education and political activation in relation to lesbian health.

PubMed

MacDonnell, Judith A

2009-01-01

This article describes findings from a qualitative policy study focused on female nurses' activism in relation to lesbian health. Critical feminist analysis and comparative life history methodology were applied to career histories obtained from 10 diversely situated female nurses across Ontario, Canada. The findings show that nursing activist practices are informed by advocacy experiences that foster inclusive professional and community education plus formal education processes that shape their political socialization. Implications for nursing theory include the development of political knowledges and practices that support caring science, sociopolitical knowing, and primary healthcare nursing practice in a community context.

[In process.

PubMed

Anagnostou, Sabine

Missionary pharmacy developed as a special type of the European pharmacy from the 16th to the 18th centuries in the overseas missions in the context of the proclamation of the Christian faith, the European expansion and the beginning globalization. As this type of pharmacy was determined by the specific circumstances of the medical-pharmaceutical situation in the mission countries as well as by the knowledge of the missionaries themselves, it can be defined as missionary pharmacy. It followed principally the model of the medieval monastery pharmacy and paved the way for the Medical Mission at the beginning of the 19th century. Different lines of development on various levels of exchange, forming, documenting and transmission of knowledge shaped the concept of the missionary pharmacy. The activities in the context of the missionary pharmacy initiated a global transfer of drugs and the referring pharmaceutical knowledge, which was institutionalized by the pharmacies of the Jesuits and essentially influenced the development of the Materiae medicae and the development of modern pharmacy all around the globe. The trading routes of typical drugs like the Fever bark and compositions can reconstruct this international transfer of knowledge. Still nowadays, knowledge of the missionary pharmacy, especially about genuine plants of the non-European countries, can be interesting for the development of new phytotherapeutics and possibly active substances.

Machine actionable information about observed environments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Stocker, Markus; Nativi, Stefano; Pearlman, Jay

2017-04-01

Data, information, and knowledge are terms commonly used in earth and environmental sciences, as well as in informatics supporting these sciences. The Lindstrom et al. Framework for Ocean Observing highlights the "challenge of delivering ocean information for societal benefit" and suggests that a key framework concept is to promote the "transformation of observational data organized in [Essential Ocean Variables] into information." A flyer presenting the Integrated Carbon Observation System says "Knowledge through observations." Writing about Oceans 2.0, Ocean Networks Canada highlights that the system is able to mine "data streams to detect trends, classify content and extract features [...] thereby turning raw data into information and setting the stage to allow the information to be transformed into knowledge." At 2016 AGU Fall Meeting, Rebecca Moore presented the vision of monitoring a changing planet and "generating precise, actionable information and knowledge." Yet, what exactly are these entities in the context of earth sciences and environmental research infrastructures? Can they be defined? To which processes are they input and output? How are they represented and managed? Can we extend Moore's vision to machine actionable information and knowledge? Information Systems research has for long struggled with defining data, information, and knowledge. Literature on the Data, Information, Knowledge, Wisdom (DIKW) hierarchy underscores the challenge of defining these terms. Some scholars have even suggested that providing general definitions is beyond the scope of the discipline. This may be particularly true at the higher levels, where wisdom should be considered in the context of the societal environment and may not be quantifiable out of context. While reaching consensus is hard, to obtain a better understanding for what the terms mean, how they are applied, and to what processes they are relevant in the context of earth sciences and environmental research infrastructures is arguably worthwhile. This can be done in some situations through the examination of exemplars or use cases, particularly addressing processing for translation of data to knowledge. In this talk, we will not attempt to define what data, information, and knowledge are in the context of earth sciences and environmental research infrastructures. Rather, in the particular context of a concrete use case in aerosol science - namely for the study of atmospheric new particle formation events on concentration of polydisperse aerosol - we present how observational data on concentration evolve to but are different from information about events, and how these entities are input and output, respectively, to the process of interpretation. The presentation involves technologies that enable the formal representation and management of information. Information about new particle formation events is thus machine actionable.

Knowledge-based public health situation awareness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mirhaji, Parsa; Zhang, Jiajie; Srinivasan, Arunkumar; Richesson, Rachel L.; Smith, Jack W.

2004-09-01

There have been numerous efforts to create comprehensive databases from multiple sources to monitor the dynamics of public health and most specifically to detect the potential threats of bioterrorism before widespread dissemination. But there are not many evidences for the assertion that these systems are timely and dependable, or can reliably identify man made from natural incident. One must evaluate the value of so called 'syndromic surveillance systems' along with the costs involved in design, development, implementation and maintenance of such systems and the costs involved in investigation of the inevitable false alarms1. In this article we will introduce a new perspective to the problem domain with a shift in paradigm from 'surveillance' toward 'awareness'. As we conceptualize a rather different approach to tackle the problem, we will introduce a different methodology in application of information science, computer science, cognitive science and human-computer interaction concepts in design and development of so called 'public health situation awareness systems'. We will share some of our design and implementation concepts for the prototype system that is under development in the Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Informatics Research, in the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. The system is based on a knowledgebase containing ontologies with different layers of abstraction, from multiple domains, that provide the context for information integration, knowledge discovery, interactive data mining, information visualization, information sharing and communications. The modular design of the knowledgebase and its knowledge representation formalism enables incremental evolution of the system from a partial system to a comprehensive knowledgebase of 'public health situation awareness' as it acquires new knowledge through interactions with domain experts or automatic discovery of new knowledge.

Enhancing Evacuation Plans with a Situation Awareness System Based on End-User Knowledge Provision

PubMed Central

Morales, Augusto; Alcarria, Ramon; Martin, Diego; Robles, Tomas

2014-01-01

Recent disasters have shown that having clearly defined preventive procedures and decisions is a critical component that minimizes evacuation hazards and ensures a rapid and successful evolution of evacuation plans. In this context, we present our Situation-Aware System for enhancing Evacuation Plans (SASEP) system, which allows creating end-user business rules that technically support the specific events, conditions and actions related to evacuation plans. An experimental validation was carried out where 32 people faced a simulated emergency situation, 16 of them using SASEP and the other 16 using a legacy system based on static signs. From the results obtained, we compare both techniques and discuss in which situations SASEP offers a better evacuation route option, confirming that it is highly valuable when there is a threat in the evacuation route. In addition, a study about user satisfaction using both systems is presented showing in which cases the systems are assessed as satisfactory, relevant and not frustrating. PMID:24961212

Enhancing evacuation plans with a situation awareness system based on end-user knowledge provision.

PubMed

Morales, Augusto; Alcarria, Ramon; Martin, Diego; Robles, Tomas

2014-06-24

Recent disasters have shown that having clearly defined preventive procedures and decisions is a critical component that minimizes evacuation hazards and ensures a rapid and successful evolution of evacuation plans. In this context, we present our Situation-Aware System for enhancing Evacuation Plans (SASEP) system, which allows creating end-user business rules that technically support the specific events, conditions and actions related to evacuation plans. An experimental validation was carried out where 32 people faced a simulated emergency situation, 16 of them using SASEP and the other 16 using a legacy system based on static signs. From the results obtained, we compare both techniques and discuss in which situations SASEP offers a better evacuation route option, confirming that it is highly valuable when there is a threat in the evacuation route. In addition, a study about user satisfaction using both systems is presented showing in which cases the systems are assessed as satisfactory, relevant and not frustrating.

Context-Aware Intelligent Assistant Approach to Improving Pilot's Situational Awareness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spirkovska, Lilly; Lodha, Suresh K.

2004-01-01

Faulty decision making due to inaccurate or incomplete awareness of the situation tends to be the prevailing cause of fatal general aviation accidents. Of these accidents, loss of weather situational awareness accounts for the largest number of fatalities. We describe a method for improving weather situational awareness through the support of a contextaware,domain and task knowledgeable, personalized and adaptive assistant. The assistant automatically monitors weather reports for the pilot's route of flight and warns her of detected anomalies. When and how warnings are issued is determined by phase of flight, the pilot s definition of acceptable weather conditions, and the pilot's preferences for automatic notification. In addition to automatic warnings, the pilot is able to verbally query for weather and airport information. By noting the requests she makes during the approach phase of flight, our system learns to provide the information without explicit requests on subsequent flights with similar conditions. We show that our weather assistant decreases the effort required to maintain situational awareness by more than 5.5 times when compared to the conventional method of in-flight weather briefings.

A cognitive framework for analyzing and describing introductory students' use and understanding of mathematics in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tuminaro, Jonathan

Many introductory, algebra-based physics students perform poorly on mathematical problem solving tasks in physics. There are at least two possible, distinct reasons for this poor performance: (1) students simply lack the mathematical skills needed to solve problems in physics, or (2) students do not know how to apply the mathematical skills they have to particular problem situations in physics. While many students do lack the requisite mathematical skills, a major finding from this work is that the majority of students possess the requisite mathematical skills, yet fail to use or interpret them in the context of physics. In this thesis I propose a theoretical framework to analyze and describe students' mathematical thinking in physics. In particular, I attempt to answer two questions. What are the cognitive tools involved in formal mathematical thinking in physics? And, why do students make the kinds of mistakes they do when using mathematics in physics? According to the proposed theoretical framework there are three major theoretical constructs: mathematical resources, which are the knowledge elements that are activated in mathematical thinking and problem solving; epistemic games, which are patterns of activities that use particular kinds of knowledge to create new knowledge or solve a problem; and frames, which are structures of expectations that determine how individuals interpret situations or events. The empirical basis for this study comes from videotaped sessions of college students solving homework problems. The students are enrolled in an algebra-based introductory physics course. The videotapes were transcribed and analyzed using the aforementioned theoretical framework. Two important results from this work are: (1) the construction of a theoretical framework that offers researchers a vocabulary (ontological classification of cognitive structures) and grammar (relationship between the cognitive structures) for understanding the nature and origin of mathematical use in the context physics, and (2) a detailed understanding, in terms of the proposed theoretical framework, of the errors that students make when using mathematics in the context of physics.

A theoretical framework for antigay aggression: Review of established and hypothesized effects within the context of the general aggression model⋆

PubMed Central

Parrott, Dominic J.

2008-01-01

Theory and research on antigay aggression has identified different motives that facilitate aggression based on sexual orientation. However, the individual and situational determinants of antigay aggression associated with these motivations have yet to be organized within a single theoretical framework. This limits researchers’ ability to organize existing knowledge, link that knowledge with related aggression theory, and guide the application of new findings. To address these limitations, this article argues for the use of an existing conceptual framework to guide thinking and generate new research in this area of study. Contemporary theories of antigay aggression, and empirical support for these theories, are reviewed and interpreted within the unifying framework of the general aggression model [Anderson, C.A. & Bushman, B.J. (2002). Human aggression. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 27–51.]. It is concluded that this conceptual framework will facilitate investigation of individual and situational risk factors that may contribute to antigay aggression and guide development of individual-level intervention. PMID:18355952

Cooperative knowledge evolution: a construction-integration approach to knowledge discovery in medicine.

PubMed

Schmalhofer, F J; Tschaitschian, B

1998-11-01

In this paper, we perform a cognitive analysis of knowledge discovery processes. As a result of this analysis, the construction-integration theory is proposed as a general framework for developing cooperative knowledge evolution systems. We thus suggest that for the acquisition of new domain knowledge in medicine, one should first construct pluralistic views on a given topic which may contain inconsistencies as well as redundancies. Only thereafter does this knowledge become consolidated into a situation-specific circumscription and the early inconsistencies become eliminated. As a proof for the viability of such knowledge acquisition processes in medicine, we present the IDEAS system, which can be used for the intelligent documentation of adverse events in clinical studies. This system provides a better documentation of the side-effects of medical drugs. Thereby, knowledge evolution occurs by achieving consistent explanations in increasingly larger contexts (i.e., more cases and more pharmaceutical substrates). Finally, it is shown how prototypes, model-based approaches and cooperative knowledge evolution systems can be distinguished as different classes of knowledge-based systems.

Ontology-based prediction of surgical events in laparoscopic surgery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Katić, Darko; Wekerle, Anna-Laura; Gärtner, Fabian; Kenngott, Hannes; Müller-Stich, Beat Peter; Dillmann, Rüdiger; Speidel, Stefanie

2013-03-01

Context-aware technologies have great potential to help surgeons during laparoscopic interventions. Their underlying idea is to create systems which can adapt their assistance functions automatically to the situation in the OR, thus relieving surgeons from the burden of managing computer assisted surgery devices manually. To this purpose, a certain kind of understanding of the current situation in the OR is essential. Beyond that, anticipatory knowledge of incoming events is beneficial, e.g. for early warnings of imminent risk situations. To achieve the goal of predicting surgical events based on previously observed ones, we developed a language to describe surgeries and surgical events using Description Logics and integrated it with methods from computational linguistics. Using n-Grams to compute probabilities of followup events, we are able to make sensible predictions of upcoming events in real-time. The system was evaluated on professionally recorded and labeled surgeries and showed an average prediction rate of 80%.

Supporting Authentic Learning Contexts Beyond Classroom Walls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Herrington, Jan; Specht, Marcus; Brickell, Gwyn; Harper, Barry

At the classroom level, contexts for learning are often limited in the experiential component. Teachers and trainers feel overwhelmed by the difficulty of inventing authentic learning contexts, and creating tasks that truly reflect the way knowledge would be used in the real world (Herrington et al. 2004). However, there are growing numbers of examples of how such authentic learning environments are being used in schools, higher education, and professional development in a variety of contexts and discipline areas, such as in literacy education (Ferry et al. 2006), in physical activity fitness and health (Rice et al. 1999), in Indigenous education (Marshall et al. 2001), in evaluation (Agostinho 2006), in multimedia and ICT (Bennett et al. 2001), in literature (Fitzsimmons 2006), and in business writing (Pennell et al. 1997). Teachers and trainers who subscribe to this approach to learning can be very inventive in developing learner perceptions of authentic contexts, but often financial, situational and time constraints limit the experiential elements of authentic learning settings.

Construction of teacher knowledge in context: Preparing elementary teachers to teach mathematics and science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowery, Maye Norene Vail

1998-12-01

The purposes of this study were to further the understanding of how preservice teacher construct teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of elementary mathematics and science and to determine the extent of that knowledge in a school-based setting. Preservice teachers, university instructors, inservice teachers, and other school personnel were involved in this context-specific study. Evidence of the preservice teachers' knowledge construction (its acquisition, its dimensions, and the social context) was collected through the use of a qualitative methodology. Collected data included individual and group interviews, course documents, artifacts, and preservice teaching portfolios. Innovative aspects of this integrated mathematics and science elementary methods course included standards-based instruction with immediate access to field experiences. Grade-level teams of preservice and inservice teachers planned and implemented lessons in mathematics and science for elementary students. An on-site, portable classroom building served as a mathematics and science teaching and learning laboratory. A four-stage analysis was performed, revealing significant patterns of learning. An ecosystem of learning within a constructivist learning environment was identified to contain three systems: the university system; the school system; and the cohort of learners system. A mega system for the construction of teacher knowledge was revealed in the final analysis. Learning venues were discovered to be the conduits of learning in a situated learning context. Analysis and synthesis of data revealed an extensive acquisition of teacher knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge through identified learning components. Patience, flexibility, and communication were identified as necessities for successful teaching. Learning components included: collaboration with inservice teachers; implementation of discovery learning and hands-on/minds-on learning; small groupwork; lesson planning; classroom management; and application of standards-based instruction. Prolonged, extensive classroom involvement provided familiarity with the ability levels of elementary students. Gains in positive attitudes and confidence in teaching mathematics and science were identified as direct results of this experience. This may be attributed to the immersion in the school-based setting (hands-on) and the standards-based approach (minds-on) methods course. The results are written in case study form using thick description with an emphasis on preservice teachers.

Development and Evaluation of ALEC Micro-Wand IIIe (tradename) Training

DTIC Science & Technology

1994-08-01

requires a learning environment in which trainees are active participants in the planning, delivery, and evaluation of instruct on. Both the procedural...is useful outside of the training environ - ,ment, it must take place in contexts that resemble the situations in which the know- ledge and skills will...that knowledge at later times. i2 USACERL TR TA-94/04 Transfer of Learning. Transfer of learning from the training environment to the job is a

Situated learning theory: adding rate and complexity effects via Kauffman's NK model.

PubMed

Yuan, Yu; McKelvey, Bill

2004-01-01

For many firms, producing information, knowledge, and enhancing learning capability have become the primary basis of competitive advantage. A review of organizational learning theory identifies two approaches: (1) those that treat symbolic information processing as fundamental to learning, and (2) those that view the situated nature of cognition as fundamental. After noting that the former is inadequate because it focuses primarily on behavioral and cognitive aspects of individual learning, this paper argues the importance of studying learning as interactions among people in the context of their environment. It contributes to organizational learning in three ways. First, it argues that situated learning theory is to be preferred over traditional behavioral and cognitive learning theories, because it treats organizations as complex adaptive systems rather than mere information processors. Second, it adds rate and nonlinear learning effects. Third, following model-centered epistemology, it uses an agent-based computational model, in particular a "humanized" version of Kauffman's NK model, to study the situated nature of learning. Using simulation results, we test eight hypotheses extending situated learning theory in new directions. The paper ends with a discussion of possible extensions of the current study to better address key issues in situated learning.

A Unified Theory of Trust and Collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Guoray; Squicciarini, Anna

We consider a type of applications where collaboration and trust are tightly coupled with the need to protect sensitive information. Existing trust management technologies have been limited to offering generic mechanisms for enforcing access control policies based on exchanged credentials, and rarely deal with the situated meaning of trust in a specific collaborative context. Towards trust management for highly dynamic and collaborative activities, this paper describes a theory of trust intention and semantics that makes explicit connections between collaborative activities and trust. The model supports inferring trust state based on knowledge about state of collaborative activity. It is the first step towards a unified approach for computer-mediated trust communication in the context of collaborative work.

Who Really Wants an Ambitious Large-Scale Restoration of the Seine Estuary? A Strategic Analysis of a Science-Policy Interface Locked in a Stalemate.

PubMed

Coreau, Audrey; Narcy, Jean-Baptiste; Lumbroso, Sarah

2018-05-01

The development of ecosystem knowledge is an essential condition for effective environmental management but using available knowledge to solve environmental controversies is still difficult in "real" situations. This paper explores the conditions under which ecological knowledge could contribute to the environmental strategies and actions of stakeholders at science-policy interface. Ecological restoration of the Seine estuary is an example of an environmental issue whose overall management has run into difficulties despite the production of a large amount of knowledge by a dedicated organization, GIP Seine Aval. Thanks to an action-research project, based on a futures study, we analyze the reasons of these difficulties and help the GIP Seine Aval adopt a robust strategy to overcome them. According to our results, most local stakeholders involved in the large-scale restoration project emphasize the need for a clear divide between knowledge production and environmental action. This kind of divide may be strategic in a context where the robustness of environmental decisions is strongly depending on the mobilization of "neutral" scientific knowledge. But in our case study, this rather blocks action because some powerful stakeholders continuously ask for more knowledge before taking action. The construction and analysis of possible future scenarios has led to three alternative strategies being identified to counter this stalemate situation: (1) to circumvent difficulties by creating indirect links between knowledge and actions; (2) to use knowledge to sustain advocacy for the interests of each and every stakeholder; (3) to involve citizens in decisions about knowledge production and use, so that environmental issues weight more on the local political agenda.

Cynefin as Reference Framework to Facilitate Insight and Decision-Making in Complex Contexts of Biomedical Research.

PubMed

Kempermann, Gerd

2017-01-01

The Cynefin scheme is a concept of knowledge management, originally devised to support decision making in management, but more generally applicable to situations, in which complexity challenges the quality of insight, prediction, and decision. Despite the fact that life itself, and especially the brain and its diseases, are complex to the extent that complexity could be considered their cardinal feature, complex problems in biomedicine are often treated as if they were actually not more than the complicated sum of solvable sub-problems. Because of the emergent properties of complex contexts this is not correct. With a set of clear criteria Cynefin helps to set apart complex problems from "simple/obvious," "complicated," "chaotic," and "disordered" contexts in order to avoid misinterpreting the relevant causality structures. The distinction comes with the insight, which specific kind of knowledge is possible in each of these categories and what are the consequences for resulting decisions and actions. From student's theses over the publication and grant writing process to research politics, misinterpretation of complexity can have problematic or even dangerous consequences, especially in clinical contexts. Conceptualization of problems within a straightforward reference language like Cynefin improves clarity and stringency within projects and facilitates communication and decision-making about them.

Evaluation of selected faculties at Tehran University of Medical Sciences using CIPP model in students and graduates point of view.

PubMed

Neyazi, Narges; Arab, Prof Mohammad; Farzianpour, Freshteh; Mahmoudi Majdabadi, Mahmood

2016-12-01

Evaluation of higher education is an increasing demand for information on academic quality, which contributes to accountability among authorities and affects universities ranking. In educational institutions, the purpose of education is producing knowledgeable students and improving quality of the university system. Among many evaluation models, the CIPP model or Context, Input, Process, Product model is very beneficial and recommendable method to educational evaluation. This is a descriptive study conducted in four selected faculties of Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS) (Public health, Nursing and Midwifery, Rehabilitation and Allied Medical Sciences), undergraduate educational departments in 2014. This research found out quality level of undergraduates courses in viewpoint of students and graduates and determined their weak points. Data were collected through researcher- made questionnaires. Collected data were then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results showed undesirable situation of context, process and product area and undesirable situation for input except for "interest and understanding of students towards field and labor market" factor, which had relatively desirable situation. At the end, researchers recommend some steps to improve goals and mission of programs, allocated budget, curriculum and providing a system for communication with graduates. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Anatomy by whole body dissection: a focus group study of students' learning experience.

PubMed

Burgess, Annette; Ramsey-Stewart, George

2015-01-01

The social construction of knowledge within medical education is essential for learning. Students' interactions within groups and associated learning artifacts can meaningfully impact learning. Situated cognition theory poses that knowledge, thinking, and learning are located in experience. In recent years, there has been a reported decline in time spent on anatomy by whole body dissection (AWBD) within medical programs. However, teaching by surgeons in AWBD provides unique opportunities for students, promoting a deeper engagement in learning. In this study, we apply situated cognition theory as a conceptual framework to explore students' perceptions of their learning experience within the 2014 iteration of an 8-week elective AWBD course. At the end of the course, all students (n=24) were invited to attend one of three focus groups. Framework analysis was used to code and categorize data into themes. In total, 20/24 (83%) students participated in focus groups. Utilizing situated cognition theory as a conceptual framework, we illustrate students' learning experiences within the AWBD course. Students highlighted opportunities to create and reinforce their own knowledge through active participation in authentic dissection tasks; guidance and clinical context provided by surgeons as supervisors; and the provision of an inclusive learning community. Situated cognition theory offers a valuable lens through which to view students' learning experience in the anatomy dissection course. By doing so, the importance of providing clinical relevance to medical teaching is highlighted. Additionally, the value of having surgeons teach AWBD and the experience they share is illustrated. The team learning course design, with varying teaching methods and frequent assessments, prompting student-student and student-teacher interaction, was also beneficial for student learning.

Portuguese Coaches' Perceptions of and Preferences for Knowledge Sources Related to their Professional Background.

PubMed

Mesquita, Isabel; Isidro, Sofia; Rosado, António

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyse Portuguese coaches' perceptions of, and preferences for, knowledge sources as related to professional background; namely academic education level, coach education level and coaching experience. The study's participants comprised 336 Portuguese coaches from twenty-two sports. A questionnaire was used to identify coaches' demographic characteristics and representations about their preferred sources of coaching knowledge. MANOVA using Tukey's HSD test was used to compare groups. The results highlighted that coaches perceived that coaching knowledge is built from a broad range of sources from personal coaching and playing experiences to more explicit formal, informal and non-formal learning situations. Results indicated that the coaches ascribed more importance to experiential sources such as working with experts, learning by doing, interacting with peer coaches and attending informal seminars and clinics, than to the formal learning situations provided by the national coaching certification programs. Differences, however, were found in that coaches who had a greater background within higher education (physical) and sport valued informal and non-formal learning sources more than did coaches who were defined as not coming from an academic background. The findings point to the importance of developing new learning, experientially-based, opportunities within the Portuguese context, where curricula content continues to be delivered via didactic means. Key pointsCoaches recognized that learning is obtained from a broad range of sources of coaching knowledge and each source has a particular role in the development of a coach.Experiential guided sources reached more importance to coaches as working with experts, learning by doing, attending seminars/clinics outside of the formal system and interaction with peers were the most acknowledged.The only source that is related to formal learning, national certification programs, was recognized as the less importance than all informal and non-formal learning situations.The profile of the source of coaching knowledge showed to be stable among coaches as only the academic education level differentiated the coaches' perceptions.

Portuguese Coaches’ Perceptions of and Preferences for Knowledge Sources Related to their Professional Background

PubMed Central

Mesquita, Isabel; Isidro, Sofia; Rosado, António

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to analyse Portuguese coaches’ perceptions of, and preferences for, knowledge sources as related to professional background; namely academic education level, coach education level and coaching experience. The study’s participants comprised 336 Portuguese coaches from twenty-two sports. A questionnaire was used to identify coaches’ demographic characteristics and representations about their preferred sources of coaching knowledge. MANOVA using Tukey’s HSD test was used to compare groups. The results highlighted that coaches perceived that coaching knowledge is built from a broad range of sources from personal coaching and playing experiences to more explicit formal, informal and non-formal learning situations. Results indicated that the coaches ascribed more importance to experiential sources such as working with experts, learning by doing, interacting with peer coaches and attending informal seminars and clinics, than to the formal learning situations provided by the national coaching certification programs. Differences, however, were found in that coaches who had a greater background within higher education (physical) and sport valued informal and non-formal learning sources more than did coaches who were defined as not coming from an academic background. The findings point to the importance of developing new learning, experientially-based, opportunities within the Portuguese context, where curricula content continues to be delivered via didactic means. Key points Coaches recognized that learning is obtained from a broad range of sources of coaching knowledge and each source has a particular role in the development of a coach. Experiential guided sources reached more importance to coaches as working with experts, learning by doing, attending seminars/clinics outside of the formal system and interaction with peers were the most acknowledged. The only source that is related to formal learning, national certification programs, was recognized as the less importance than all informal and non-formal learning situations. The profile of the source of coaching knowledge showed to be stable among coaches as only the academic education level differentiated the coaches’ perceptions. PMID:24149644

A European perspective on medical tourism: the need for a knowledge base.

PubMed

Carrera, Percivil; Lunt, Neil

2010-01-01

Since the early 1990s, medical tourism, whereby individuals choose to travel across national borders or overseas to receive treatments, has been increasingly recognized in the United States and Asia. This article highlights the emergence of medical tourism in the European context. It examines the drivers for such developments and situates medical tourism within the broader context of health globalization and forms of patient mobility in the European Union. In outlining the developments of medical tourism in Europe, the authors distinguish between two types of medical tourist: the citizen and the consumer. The discussion explores the need for greater empirical research on medical tourism in Europe and argues that such research will contribute toward knowledge of patient mobility and the broader theorization of medical tourism. The authors make suggestions about the content of this research agenda, including understanding the development of medical tourist markets, the nature of choice, equity implications, the role of brokers and intermediaries, and general issues for health management.

A schema-based model of situation awareness: Implications for measuring situation awareness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fracker, Martin L.

1988-01-01

Measures of pilot situation awareness (SA) are needed in order to know whether new concepts in display design help pilots keep track of rapidly changing tactical situations. In order to measure SA, a theory of situation assessment is needed. Such a theory is summarized, encompassing both a definition of SA and a model of situation assessment. SA is defined as the pilot's knowledge about a zone of interest at a given level of abstraction. Pilots develop this knowledge by sampling data from the environment and matching the sampled data to knowledge structures stored in long-term memory. Matched knowledge structures then provide the pilot's assessment of the situation and serve to guide his attention. A number of cognitive biases that result from the knowledge matching process are discussed, as are implications for partial report measures of situation awareness.

Mock Institutional Review Board: Promoting Analytical and Reasoning Skills in Research Ethics.

PubMed

Dols, Jean Dowling; Hoke, Mary M; Rauschhuber, Maureen L

Although it is critical that nurses possess ethical reasoning skills for research, there is limited information on effective strategies to develop these skills in graduate health care students. A research study analyzing educational interventions including the effect of online human subjects training followed by a mock institutional review board simulation demonstrated that knowledge acquisition is not enough to acquire the ethical reasoning skills needed to implement health care research. Situational context is also needed to envision the application of ethical principles.

Crossing boundaries in interprofessional education: A call for instructional integration of two script concepts.

PubMed

Kiesewetter, Jan; Kollar, Ingo; Fernandez, Nicolas; Lubarsky, Stuart; Kiessling, Claudia; Fischer, Martin R; Charlin, Bernard

2016-09-01

Clinical work occurs in a context which is heavily influenced by social interactions. The absence of theoretical frameworks underpinning the design of collaborative learning has become a roadblock for interprofessional education (IPE). This article proposes a script-based framework for the design of IPE. This framework provides suggestions for designing learning environments intended to foster competences we feel are fundamental to successful interprofessional care. The current literature describes two script concepts: "illness scripts" and "internal/external collaboration scripts". Illness scripts are specific knowledge structures that link general disease categories and specific examples of diseases. "Internal collaboration scripts" refer to an individual's knowledge about how to interact with others in a social situation. "External collaboration scripts" are instructional scaffolds designed to help groups collaborate. Instructional research relating to illness scripts and internal collaboration scripts supports (a) putting learners in authentic situations in which they need to engage in clinical reasoning, and (b) scaffolding their interaction with others with "external collaboration scripts". Thus, well-established experiential instructional approaches should be combined with more fine-grained script-based scaffolding approaches. The resulting script-based framework offers instructional designers insights into how students can be supported to develop the necessary skills to master complex interprofessional clinical situations.

Context recognition and situation assessment in autonomous mobile robots

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yavnai, Arie

1993-05-01

The capability to recognize the operating context and to assess the situation in real-time is needed, if a high functionality autonomous mobile robot has to react properly and effectively to continuously changing situations and events, either external or internal, while the robot is performing its assigned tasks. A new approach and architecture for context recognition and situation assessment module (CORSA) is presented in this paper. CORSA is a multi-level information processing module which consists of adaptive decision and classification algorithms. It performs dynamic mapping from the data space to the context space, and dynamically decides on the context class. Learning mechanism is employed to update the decision variables so as to minimize the probability of misclassification. CORSA is embedded within the Mission Manager module of the intelligent autonomous hyper-controller (IAHC) of the mobile robot. The information regarding operating context, events and situation is then communicated to other modules of the IAHC where it is used to: (a) select the appropriate action strategy; (b) support the processes to arbitration and conflict resolution between reflexive behaviors and reasoning-driven behaviors; (c) predict future events and situations; and (d) determine criteria and priorities for planning, replanning, and decision making.

Using ecological momentary assessment to identify common smoking situations among Korean American emerging adults

PubMed Central

Cerrada, Christian Jules; Ra, Chaelin Karen; Shin, Hee-Sung; Dzubur, Eldin; Huh, Jimi

2016-01-01

The present study provides detailed contextual information about smoking habits among young Korean American smokers with the goal of characterizing situations where they are most at risk for smoking. Relevant situational factors included location, social context, concurrent activities, time of day, affective states, and food and beverage consumption. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) over 7 days, participants (N=78) were instructed to respond to smoking prompts (n=2,614) and non-smoking prompts (n=2,136) randomly scheduled throughout the day. At each prompt, participants completed a short survey about immediate contextual factors. We used multilevel models to evaluate the association between contextual factors and smoking and further explored the distribution of smoking locations and concurrent activities across each social context and reason for smoking. Compared to non-smoking events, smoking events were associated with being outside, the presence of Korean friends, socializing, consuming alcohol, and experiencing more stress relative to one’s average stress level (all p’s < 0.01). Further analyses involving only smoking events showed that when participants smoked alone, they were most commonly at home (50%) and most often studying/working (28%). When smoking with Korean friends, participants were most often outside (38%) and socializing (54%). When smoking to reduce craving, participants were most often at home (39%) and studying/working (25%). To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide detailed descriptions of real-time smoking contexts among young Korean American smokers. Information with this level of granularity is needed to develop effective just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) for smoking cessation. PMID:27476588

Using Ecological Momentary Assessment to Identify Common Smoking Situations Among Korean American Emerging Adults.

PubMed

Cerrada, Christian Jules; Ra, Chaelin Karen; Shin, Hee-Sung; Dzubur, Eldin; Huh, Jimi

2016-10-01

The present study provides detailed contextual information about smoking habits among young Korean American smokers with the goal of characterizing situations where they are most at risk for smoking. Relevant situational factors included location, social context, concurrent activities, time of day, affective states, and food and beverage consumption. Using ecological momentary assessment (EMA) over 7 days, participants (N = 78) were instructed to respond to smoking prompts (n = 2614) and non-smoking prompts (n = 2136) randomly scheduled throughout the day. At each prompt, participants completed a short survey about immediate contextual factors. We used multilevel models to evaluate the association between contextual factors and smoking and further explored the distribution of smoking locations and concurrent activities across each social context and reason for smoking. Compared to non-smoking events, smoking events were associated with being outside, the presence of Korean friends, socializing, consuming alcohol, and experiencing more stress relative to one's average stress level (all ps < .01). Further analyses involving only smoking events showed that when participants smoked alone, they were most commonly at home (50 %) and most often studying/working (28 %). When smoking with Korean friends, participants were most often outside (38 %) and socializing (54 %). When smoking to reduce craving, participants were most often at home (39 %) and studying/working (25 %). To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide detailed descriptions of real-time smoking contexts among young Korean American smokers. Information with this level of granularity is needed to develop effective just-in-time adaptive interventions (JITAIs) for smoking cessation.

Knowledge Co-production at the Research-Practice Interface: Embedded Case Studies from Urban Forestry.

PubMed

Campbell, Lindsay K; Svendsen, Erika S; Roman, Lara A

2016-06-01

Cities are increasingly engaging in sustainability efforts and investment in green infrastructure, including large-scale urban tree planting campaigns. In this context, researchers and practitioners are working jointly to develop applicable knowledge for planning and managing the urban forest. This paper presents three case studies of knowledge co-production in the field of urban forestry in the United States. These cases were selected to span a range of geographic scales and topical scopes; all three are examples of urban researcher-practitioner networks in which the authors are situated to comment on reflexively. The three cases resemble institutional structures described in the knowledge co-production literature, including participatory research, a hybrid organization of scientists and managers, and a community of practice. We find that trust, embeddedness, new approaches by both practitioners and researchers, and blending of roles all serve to recognize multiple forms of capability, expertise, and ways of knowing. We discuss the impacts of knowledge co-production and the ways in which hybrid institutional forms can enable its occurrence.

Knowledge Co-production at the Research-Practice Interface: Embedded Case Studies from Urban Forestry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Campbell, Lindsay K.; Svendsen, Erika S.; Roman, Lara A.

2016-06-01

Cities are increasingly engaging in sustainability efforts and investment in green infrastructure, including large-scale urban tree planting campaigns. In this context, researchers and practitioners are working jointly to develop applicable knowledge for planning and managing the urban forest. This paper presents three case studies of knowledge co-production in the field of urban forestry in the United States. These cases were selected to span a range of geographic scales and topical scopes; all three are examples of urban researcher-practitioner networks in which the authors are situated to comment on reflexively. The three cases resemble institutional structures described in the knowledge co-production literature, including participatory research, a hybrid organization of scientists and managers, and a community of practice. We find that trust, embeddedness, new approaches by both practitioners and researchers, and blending of roles all serve to recognize multiple forms of capability, expertise, and ways of knowing. We discuss the impacts of knowledge co-production and the ways in which hybrid institutional forms can enable its occurrence.

Concepts, Control, and Context: A Connectionist Account of Normal and Disordered Semantic Cognition

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Semantic cognition requires conceptual representations shaped by verbal and nonverbal experience and executive control processes that regulate activation of knowledge to meet current situational demands. A complete model must also account for the representation of concrete and abstract words, of taxonomic and associative relationships, and for the role of context in shaping meaning. We present the first major attempt to assimilate all of these elements within a unified, implemented computational framework. Our model combines a hub-and-spoke architecture with a buffer that allows its state to be influenced by prior context. This hybrid structure integrates the view, from cognitive neuroscience, that concepts are grounded in sensory-motor representation with the view, from computational linguistics, that knowledge is shaped by patterns of lexical co-occurrence. The model successfully codes knowledge for abstract and concrete words, associative and taxonomic relationships, and the multiple meanings of homonyms, within a single representational space. Knowledge of abstract words is acquired through (a) their patterns of co-occurrence with other words and (b) acquired embodiment, whereby they become indirectly associated with the perceptual features of co-occurring concrete words. The model accounts for executive influences on semantics by including a controlled retrieval mechanism that provides top-down input to amplify weak semantic relationships. The representational and control elements of the model can be damaged independently, and the consequences of such damage closely replicate effects seen in neuropsychological patients with loss of semantic representation versus control processes. Thus, the model provides a wide-ranging and neurally plausible account of normal and impaired semantic cognition. PMID:29733663

Generalize or Personalize - Do Dogs Transfer an Acquired Rule to Novel Situations and Persons?

PubMed Central

Hertel, Anne; Kaminski, Juliane; Tomasello, Michael

2014-01-01

Recent studies have raised the question of whether dogs, like human infants, comprehend an established rule as generalizable, normative knowledge or rather as episodic information, existing only in the immediate situation. In the current study we tested whether dogs disobeyed a prohibition to take a treat (i) in the presence of the communicator of the ban, (ii) after a temporary absence of the communicator, and (iii) in the presence of a novel person. Dogs disobeyed the rule significantly more often when the communicator left the room for a moment or when they were faced with a new person, than when she stayed present in the room. These results indicate that dogs “forget” a rule as soon as the immediate human context becomes disrupted. PMID:25029253

How to develop and write a case for technical writing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Couture, B.; Goldstein, J.

1981-01-01

Case of different sizes and shapes for teaching technical writing to engineers at Wayne State University have been developed. The case approach was adopted for some assignments because sophomores and juniors lacked technical expertise and professional knowledge of the engineering world. Cases were found to be good exercises, providing realistic practice in specific writing tasks or isolating particular skills in the composing process. A special kind of case which narrates the experiences of one technical person engaged in the problem-solving process in a professional rhetorical situation was developed. This type of long, realistic fiction is called a an "holistic" case. Rather than asking students to role-play a character, an holistic case realistically encompasses the whole of the technical writing process. It allows students to experience the total communication act in which the technical task and data are fully integrated into the rhetorical situation and gives an opportunity to perform in a realistic context, using skills and knowledge required in communication on the job. It is believed that the holistic case most fully exploits the advantages of the case method for students of professional communication.

Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context. Literacies Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barton, David, Ed.; Hamilton, Mary, Ed.; Ivanic, Roz, Ed.

This book contains 13 papers on situated literacies and reading and writing in context. The following papers are included: "Foreword" (Denny Taylor); "Introduction: Exploring Situated Literacies"; "Literacy Practices" (David Barton, Mary Hamilton); "Expanding the New Literacy Studies: Using Photographs To Explore…

Epistemologies of Situated Knowledges: "Troubling" Knowledge in Philosophy of Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lang, James C.

2011-01-01

Epistemologies of situated knowledges, advanced by scholars such as Donna Haraway, Lorraine Code, and Maureen Ford, challenge mainstream epistemology's claim to be the gold standard in determining what counts as knowledge. In this essay, James Lang uses the work of these and other feminist theorists to explicate the notion of situated knowledges…

[Coaching: a reference model for the practice of nurse-leaders in the hospital context].

PubMed

Cardoso, Maria Lúcia Alves Pereira; Ramos, Laís Helena; D'Innocenzo, Maria

2011-06-01

The objectives of the present study was to evaluate the leadership of nurses by using the coaching strategy as a managerial tool, and identify, measure and analyze the acquisition of competencies from the view of nurse-coaches. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, exploratory and field study that was performed using a quantitative approach. Situational Leadership was selected as the theoretical framework and the research instrument was submitted to statistical and content analyses and was applied on 11 nurse leaders of a large scale private general hospital located in São Paulo. The results showed that participants gained new knowledge, confirmed the Situational Leadership model as the recognized being a coach leader, with a style that is mainly aimed at tasks and people, according to the situation involved, and pointed out the following skills as determinant of coaches: communication, giving and receiving feedback, assigning and gaining power and having an influence. Finally, the attitudes reflected the practice of coaching.

Enhancing meaningful learning and self-efficacy through collaboration between dental hygienist and physiotherapist students - a scholarship project.

PubMed

Johannsen, A; Bolander-Laksov, K; Bjurshammar, N; Nordgren, B; Fridén, C; Hagströmer, M

2012-11-01

Within the field of Dental Hygiene (DH) and Physiotherapy (PT), students are taught to use an evidence-based approach. Educators need to consider the nature of evidence-based practice from the perspective of content knowledge and learning strategies. Such effort to seek best available evidence and to apply a systematic and scholarly approach to teaching and learning is called scholarship of teaching and learning. To evaluate the application of the scholarship model including an evidence-based approach to enhance meaningful learning and self-efficacy among DH and PT students. Based on the research on student learning, three central theories were identified (constructivism, meaningful learning and self-efficacy). These were applied in our context to support learner engagement and the application of prior knowledge in a new situation. The DH students performed an oral health examination on the PT students, and the PT students performed an individual health test on the DH students; both groups used motivational interviewing. Documentation of student's learning experience was carried out through seminars and questionnaires. The students were overall satisfied with the learning experience. Most appreciated are that it reflected a 'real' professional situation and that it also reinforced important learning from their seminars. The scholarship model made the teachers aware of the importance of evidence-based teaching. Furthermore, the indicators for meaningful learning and increased self-efficacy were high, and the students became more engaged by practising in a real situation, more aware of other health professions and reflected about tacit knowledge. © 2012 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Selective Attention and Distraction in Context-Interactive Situations in Children and Adults.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ackerman, Brian P.

1987-01-01

Results from three experiments suggest that attention to context may benefit target recall in situations in which the context can be meaningfully related to the target. Adults seem to be more able to engage in context-interactive processing of stimulus information than are children, who base target selection on perceptual information. (PCB)

Analysis of a physics teacher's pedagogical `micro-actions' that support 17-year-olds' learning of free body diagrams via a modelling approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tay, Su Lynn; Yeo, Jennifer

2018-01-01

Great teaching is characterised by the specific actions a teacher takes in the classroom to bring about learning. In the context of model-based teaching (MBT), teachers' difficulty in working with students' models that are not scientifically consistent is troubling. To address this problem, the aim of this study is to identify the pedagogical micro-actions to support the development of scientific models and modelling skills during the evaluation and modification stages of MBT. Taking the perspective of pedagogical content knowing (PCKg), it identifies these micro-actions as an in-situ, dynamic transformation of knowledges of content, pedagogy, student and environment context. Through a case study approach, a lesson conducted by an experienced high-school physics teacher was examined. Audio and video recordings of the lesson contributed to the data sources. Taking a grounded approach in the analysis, eight pedagogical micro-actions enacted by the teacher were identified, namely 'clarification', 'evaluation', 'explanation', 'modification', 'exploration', 'referencing conventions', 'focusing' and 'meta-representing'. These micro-actions support students' learning related to the conceptual, cognitive, discursive and epistemological aspects of modelling. From the micro-actions, we identify the aspects of knowledges of PCKg that teachers need in order to competently select and enact these micro-actions. The in-situ and dynamic transformation of these knowledges implies that professional development should also be situated in the context in which these micro-actions are meaningful.

Secure Base Narrative Representations and Intimate Partner Violence: A Dyadic Perspective

PubMed Central

Karakurt, Gunnur; Silver, Kristin E.; Keiley, Margaret K.

2015-01-01

This study aimed to understand the relationship between secure base phenomena and dating violence among couples. Within a relationship, a secure base can be defined as a balancing act of proximity-seeking and exploration at various times and contexts with the assurance of a caregiver’s availability and responsiveness in emotionally distressing situations. Participants were 87 heterosexual couples. The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model was used to examine the relationship between each partner’s scores on secure base representational knowledge and intimate partner violence. Findings demonstrated that women’s secure base representational knowledge had a significant direct negative effect on the victimization of both men and women, while men’s secure base representational knowledge did not have any significant partner or actor effects. Therefore, findings suggest that women with insecure attachments may be more vulnerable to being both the victims and the perpetrators of PMID:27445432

[Democratic management and new craft: concepts to rethink integration between autonomy and responsibility in health work].

PubMed

Campos, Gastão Wagner de Sousa

2010-08-01

This article analyses tensions between the dominant management rationality and health work. By means of philosophical concepts and bibliography revision it was found that clinical and public health practices are structured as praxis, a term defined by Aristotle. It does not work automatically, depending on a human being to reflect and decide in most situations, making mediation between established knowledge and singular context. So, it is recommended the adoption of a management model that enables and favors the combination of professional autonomy and sanitary responsibility.

[Philosophy within the context of neurosciences].

PubMed

Estany, Anna

2013-03-16

Based on the interrelation between science and philosophy, this article addresses the impact of neurosciences on the philosophical issues posed by today's society, especially those related with epistemology and the philosophy of science. To do so, the different approaches in the cognitive sciences are taken into account, with special attention paid to those that have to do with social, embodied and situated cognition versus a more individual, rational and abstract cognition. This initial framework is taken as the starting point with which to analyse the ways of representing knowledge and the characteristics of the cognoscente agent.

Exploring Situational Interest Sources in the French Physical Education Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roure, Cédric; Pasco, Denis

2018-01-01

Based on the framework of interest, studies have shown that situational interest possesses strong motivation potential for students in physical education. Understanding how teachers can use situational interest in a classroom context is critical to motivate students. However, such investigations have been exclusively conducted in the United States…

The Influence of School Health Education Programmes on the Knowledge and Behaviour of School Children towards Nutrition and Health

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keirle, Kathleen; Thomas, Malcolm

2000-02-01

A comparative investigation was conducted involving two school situations; one identified as being health promoting and having a comprehensive policy and a defined programme of health education, and the other not health promoting, having no policy and an unstructured programme of health education. A total of 367 students from two secondary and four primary schools participated in the study. The factors used to categorise schools are highlighted. A self-completion questionnaire was employed to assess students' knowledge and behaviour with regard to nutrition and health. Students' dietary intake was monitored by employing a frequency of consumption tick sheet. The results revealed that students from the more health promoting secondary school (School 1(H)) were more knowledgeable of what constitutes a healthy diet and the benefits and risks to health. The implications of these results are considered within the context of the many factors that could influence students' knowledge and behaviour.

Emotion Knowledge, Loneliness, Negative Social Experiences, and Internalizing Symptoms Among Low-Income Preschoolers

PubMed Central

Heinze, Justin E.; Miller, Alison L.; Seifer, Ronald; Locke, Robin

2014-01-01

Children with poor emotion knowledge (EK) skills are at risk for externalizing problems; less is known about early internalizing behavior. We examined multiple facets of EK and social-emotional experiences relevant for internalizing difficulties, including loneliness, victimization, and peer rejection, in Head Start preschoolers (N = 134; M = 60 months). Results based on multiple informants suggest that facets of EK are differentially related to negative social-emotional experiences and internalizing behavior and that sex plays a moderating role. Behavioral EK was associated with self-reported loneliness, victimization/rejection, and parent-reported internalizing symptoms. Emotion recognition and expressive emotion knowledge were related to self-reported loneliness, and emotion situation knowledge was related to parent-reported internalizing symptoms and negative peer nominations. Sex moderated many of these associations, suggesting that EK may operate differently for girls versus boys in the preschool social context. Results are discussed with regard to the role of EK for social development and intervention implications. PMID:25859097

Coordination of knowledge in judging animated motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Thaden-Koch, Thomas C.; Dufresne, Robert J.; Mestre, Jose P.

2006-12-01

Coordination class theory is used to explain college students’ judgments about animated depictions of moving objects. diSessa’s coordination class theory models a “concept” as a complex knowledge system that can reliably determine a particular type of information in widely varying situations. In the experiment described here, fifty individually interviewed college students judged the realism of two sets of computer animations depicting balls rolling on a pair of tracks. The judgments of students from an introductory physics class were strongly affected by the number of balls depicted (one or two), but the judgments of students from an educational psychology class were not. Coordination analysis of interview transcripts supports the interpretation that physics students’ developing physics knowledge led them to consistently miss or ignore some observations that the other students consistently paid attention to. The analysis highlights the context sensitivity and potential fragility of coordination systems, and leads to the conclusion that students’ developing knowledge systems might not necessarily result in consistently improving performance.

Urban Options for Psychological Restoration: Common Strategies in Everyday Situations.

PubMed

Staats, Henk; Jahncke, Helena; Herzog, Thomas R; Hartig, Terry

2016-01-01

Given the need for knowledge on the restorative potential of urban settings, we sought to estimate the effects of personal and contextual factors on preferences and restoration likelihood assessments for different urban activities-in-environments. We also sought to study the generality of these effects across different countries. We conducted a true experiment with convenience samples of university students in the Netherlands (n = 80), Sweden (n = 100), and the USA (n = 316). In each country, the experiment had a mixed design with activities-in-environments (sitting in a park, sitting in a cafe, walking in a shopping mall, walking along a busy street) manipulated within-subjects and the need for restoration (attentional fatigue, no attentional fatigue) and immediate social context (in company, alone) manipulated between-subjects. The manipulations relied on previously tested scenarios describing everyday situations that participants were instructed to remember and imagine themselves being in. For each imagined situation (activity-in-environment with antecedent fatigue condition and immediate social context), subjects provided two criterion measures: general preference and the likelihood of achieving psychological restoration. The settings received different preference and restoration likelihood ratings as expected, affirming that a busy street, often used in comparisons with natural settings, is not representative of the restorative potential of urban settings. Being with a close friend and attentional fatigue both moderated ratings for specific settings. Findings of additional moderation by country of residence caution against broad generalizations regarding preferences for and the expected restorative effects of different urban settings. Preferences and restoration likelihood ratings for urban activity-environment combinations are subject to multiple personal and contextual determinants, including level of attentional fatigue, being alone versus in company, and broader aspects of the urban context that vary across cities and countries. Claims regarding a lack of restorative quality in urban environments are problematic.

Immediate integration of novel meanings: N400 support for an embodied view of language comprehension.

PubMed

Chwilla, Dorothee J; Kolk, Herman H J; Vissers, Constance T W M

2007-12-05

A substantial part of language understanding depends on our previous experiences, but part of it consists of the creation of new meanings. Such new meanings cannot be retrieved from memory but still have to be constructed. The goals of this article were: first, to explore the nature of new meaning creation, and second, to test abstract symbol theories against embodied theories of meaning. We presented context-setting sentences followed by a test sentence to which ERPs were recorded that described a novel sensible or novel senseless situation (e.g., "The boys searched for branches/bushes [sensible/senseless] with which they went drumming..."). Novel sensible contexts that were not associatively nor semantically related were matched to novel senseless contexts in terms of familiarity and semantic similarity by Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA). Abstract symbol theories like LSA cannot explain facilitation for novel sensible situations, whereas the embodied theory of Glenberg and Robertson [Glenberg, A.M., Robertson, D.A., 2000. Symbol grounding and meaning: A comparison of high-dimensional and embodied theories of meaning. Journal of Memory and Language, 43, 379-401.] in which meaning is grounded in perception and action can account for facilitation. Experiment 1 revealed an N400 effect in a sensibility judgment task. Experiment 2 demonstrated that this effect generalizes to a situation in which participants read for comprehension. Our findings support the following conclusions: First, participants can establish new meanings not stored in memory. Second, this is the first ERP study that shows that N400 is sensitive to new meanings and that these are created immediately - that is, in the same time frame as associative and semantic relations. Third, our N400 effects support embodied theories of meaning and challenge abstract symbol theories that can only discover meaningfulness by consulting stored symbolic knowledge.

Describing the Situational Contexts of Sweetened Product Consumption in a Middle Eastern Canadian Community: Application of a Mixed Method Design

PubMed Central

Moubarac, Jean-Claude; Cargo, Margaret; Receveur, Olivier; Daniel, Mark

2012-01-01

Little is known about the situational contexts in which individuals consume processed sources of dietary sugars. This study aimed to describe the situational contexts associated with the consumption of sweetened food and drink products in a Catholic Middle Eastern Canadian community. A two-stage exploratory sequential mixed-method design was employed with a rationale of triangulation. In stage 1 (n = 62), items and themes describing the situational contexts of sweetened food and drink product consumption were identified from semi-structured interviews and were used to develop the content for the Situational Context Instrument for Sweetened Product Consumption (SCISPC). Face validity, readability and cultural relevance of the instrument were assessed. In stage 2 (n = 192), a cross-sectional study was conducted and exploratory factor analysis was used to examine the structure of themes that emerged from the qualitative analysis as a means of furthering construct validation. The SCISPC reliability and predictive validity on the daily consumption of sweetened products were also assessed. In stage 1, six themes and 40-items describing the situational contexts of sweetened product consumption emerged from the qualitative analysis and were used to construct the first draft of the SCISPC. In stage 2, factor analysis enabled the clarification and/or expansion of the instrument's initial thematic structure. The revised SCISPC has seven factors and 31 items describing the situational contexts of sweetened product consumption. Initial validation of the instrument indicated it has excellent internal consistency and adequate test-retest reliability. Two factors of the SCISPC had predictive validity for the daily consumption of total sugar from sweetened products (Snacking and Energy demands) while the other factors (Socialization, Indulgence, Constraints, Visual Stimuli and Emotional needs) were rather associated to occasional consumption of these products. PMID:23028597

A Protection Motivation Theory application to date rape education.

PubMed

Singh, Shweta; Orwat, John; Grossman, Susan

2011-12-01

Date rape risk communication is a key component of education-based Date Rape Prevention Programs, common across colleges. In such programs, risk assessment in date rape is approached cautiously in order to avoid a tone of "victim blaming." Since it is important in the assessment of any risk to understand the surrounding social context of the risky situation and the individual's unique relationship with that social context, this study examines Protection Motivation Theory as it applies to handling the risk of date rape without victim blaming. The paper links individual personality and social contexts with risk communication. The study sample comprised 367 undergraduate women enrolled in a large Southern Public University. The study examines the relationships between dating activity, social competency, and type of information provided with the dependents variables of date rape related protection behavior (intent), belief, and knowledge. A factorial multiple analysis of covariance analysis found that the dependent variables had a significant relationship with aspects of social competency and dating activity. The exposure to varying information about date rape was not significantly related to the dependent variables of date rape-related protection behavior (intent), belief, and knowledge. The identification of social competency and dating activity status as protective factors in this study makes a significant contribution to the practice and research efforts in date rape education.

Situating emotional experience

PubMed Central

Wilson-Mendenhall, Christine D.; Barrett, Lisa Feldman; Barsalou, Lawrence W.

2013-01-01

Psychological construction approaches to emotion suggest that emotional experience is situated and dynamic. Fear, for example, is typically studied in a physical danger context (e.g., threatening snake), but in the real world, it often occurs in social contexts, especially those involving social evaluation (e.g., public speaking). Understanding situated emotional experience is critical because adaptive responding is guided by situational context (e.g., inferring the intention of another in a social evaluation situation vs. monitoring the environment in a physical danger situation). In an fMRI study, we assessed situated emotional experience using a newly developed paradigm in which participants vividly imagine different scenarios from a first-person perspective, in this case scenarios involving either social evaluation or physical danger. We hypothesized that distributed neural patterns would underlie immersion in social evaluation and physical danger situations, with shared activity patterns across both situations in multiple sensory modalities and in circuitry involved in integrating salient sensory information, and with unique activity patterns for each situation type in coordinated large-scale networks that reflect situated responding. More specifically, we predicted that networks underlying the social inference and mentalizing involved in responding to a social threat (in regions that make up the “default mode” network) would be reliably more active during social evaluation situations. In contrast, networks underlying the visuospatial attention and action planning involved in responding to a physical threat would be reliably more active during physical danger situations. The results supported these hypotheses. In line with emerging psychological construction approaches, the findings suggest that coordinated brain networks offer a systematic way to interpret the distributed patterns that underlie the diverse situational contexts characterizing emotional life. PMID:24324420

The Cognitive Costs of Context: The Effects of Concreteness and Immersiveness in Instructional Examples

PubMed Central

Day, Samuel B.; Motz, Benjamin A.; Goldstone, Robert L.

2015-01-01

Prior research has established that while the use of concrete, familiar examples can provide many important benefits for learning, it is also associated with some serious disadvantages, particularly in learners’ ability to recognize and transfer their knowledge to new analogous situations. However, it is not immediately clear whether this pattern would hold in real world educational contexts, in which the role of such examples in student engagement and ease of processing might be of enough importance to overshadow any potential negative impact. We conducted two experiments in which curriculum-relevant material was presented in natural classroom environments, first with college undergraduates and then with middle-school students. All students in each study received the same relevant content, but the degree of contextualization in these materials was varied between students. In both studies, we found that greater contextualization was associated with poorer transfer performance. We interpret these results as reflecting a greater degree of embeddedness for the knowledge acquired from richer, more concrete materials, such that the underlying principles are represented in a less abstract and generalizable form. PMID:26648905

[Tendencies on ability related to competence education when realizing undergraduate public health study system].

PubMed

Sveikauskas, Vaclovas

2006-01-01

The aim of this paper is to reveal tendencies on competence and ability education when realizing undergraduate public health study program in the interaction context of traditional and modern higher education features. Competence is implementation of qualification or the ability to act, conditioned by individual's knowledge, skills, motives, personal characteristics, and values. The integrated competence is necessary for the change of the internal and external work conditions; it is based on the integrity of behavior and knowledge that conditions the essential change of activity. The holistic competence is necessary for a new work development and the transfer of qualification to new situations; it is conditioned by holistic approach toward education. When researching undergraduate public health study program in the context of traditional and modern higher education features at Kaunas University of Medicine, the following problems were stated: insufficient qualities of student's self-analysis, self-directed learning and formation of communication skills; insufficient communication of teachers and students during study process; limited possibilities team work with representatives of other professions when solving problems of public health improvement.

Rethinking Social Barriers to Effective Adaptive Management

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

West, Simon; Schultz, Lisen; Bekessy, Sarah

2016-09-01

Adaptive management is an approach to environmental management based on learning-by-doing, where complexity, uncertainty, and incomplete knowledge are acknowledged and management actions are treated as experiments. However, while adaptive management has received significant uptake in theory, it remains elusively difficult to enact in practice. Proponents have blamed social barriers and have called for social science contributions. We address this gap by adopting a qualitative approach to explore the development of an ecological monitoring program within an adaptive management framework in a public land management organization in Australia. We ask what practices are used to enact the monitoring program and how do they shape learning? We elicit a rich narrative through extensive interviews with a key individual, and analyze the narrative using thematic analysis. We discuss our results in relation to the concept of `knowledge work' and Westley's 2002) framework for interpreting the strategies of adaptive managers—`managing through, in, out and up.' We find that enacting the program is conditioned by distinct and sometimes competing logics—scientific logics prioritizing experimentation and learning, public logics emphasizing accountability and legitimacy, and corporate logics demanding efficiency and effectiveness. In this context, implementing adaptive management entails practices of translation to negotiate tensions between objective and situated knowledge, external experts and organizational staff, and collegiate and hierarchical norms. Our contribution embraces the `doing' of learning-by-doing and marks a shift from conceptualizing the social as an external barrier to adaptive management to be removed to an approach that situates adaptive management as social knowledge practice.

Looking inward, looking outward: Developing knowledge through teacher research in a middle school science classroom during a unit on magnetism and electricity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, Melissa D.

In this study I aimed to understand effective teaching and learning in the context of my middle school science classroom. The study was a multiple case analysis of two classes of students, one gifted and one academic, during a unit on magnetism and electricity. From a teacher researcher perspective, I conducted the study to investigate the development of my knowledge---scientific, pedagogical content, and reflective---as a teacher. From an analysis of questionnaires, field notes, transcribed audio tapes of small and large group discussions, and student artifacts, I constructed an understanding of my students' learning and my own growth in several realms. My scientific knowledge grew both substantively and syntactically; I elaborated my understanding of magnetism, rethought my delivery of electricity, realized a need for training in electronics, and refined my definition of the nature of science in research. I built on my pedagogical content knowledge with regard to students ideas about magnetism and electricity, learning characteristics of gifted students, tools of inquiry that facilitate learning, and methods to operationalize the situated learning model. Most importantly I gained an understanding of teacher research and its three components: ownership, purpose, and methodology. The findings contribute to the understanding of teacher research as well as various bodies of science education literature: (a) students' ideas about magnetism, (b) the science learning characteristics of gifted students, (c) tools of inquiry in the science classroom, and (d) operationalization of the situated learning model.

Rethinking Social Barriers to Effective Adaptive Management.

PubMed

West, Simon; Schultz, Lisen; Bekessy, Sarah

2016-09-01

Adaptive management is an approach to environmental management based on learning-by-doing, where complexity, uncertainty, and incomplete knowledge are acknowledged and management actions are treated as experiments. However, while adaptive management has received significant uptake in theory, it remains elusively difficult to enact in practice. Proponents have blamed social barriers and have called for social science contributions. We address this gap by adopting a qualitative approach to explore the development of an ecological monitoring program within an adaptive management framework in a public land management organization in Australia. We ask what practices are used to enact the monitoring program and how do they shape learning? We elicit a rich narrative through extensive interviews with a key individual, and analyze the narrative using thematic analysis. We discuss our results in relation to the concept of 'knowledge work' and Westley's (2002) framework for interpreting the strategies of adaptive managers-'managing through, in, out and up.' We find that enacting the program is conditioned by distinct and sometimes competing logics-scientific logics prioritizing experimentation and learning, public logics emphasizing accountability and legitimacy, and corporate logics demanding efficiency and effectiveness. In this context, implementing adaptive management entails practices of translation to negotiate tensions between objective and situated knowledge, external experts and organizational staff, and collegiate and hierarchical norms. Our contribution embraces the 'doing' of learning-by-doing and marks a shift from conceptualizing the social as an external barrier to adaptive management to be removed to an approach that situates adaptive management as social knowledge practice.

Early Childhood Educators Attitudes towards Playful Aggression among Boys: Exploring the Importance of Situational Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hart, Jennifer L.

2016-01-01

The current study investigates the influence of situational context on perceptions of playful aggression. Using an online data collection instrument embedded with video vignettes showing young boys engaged in aggressive play behaviour, 36 situational profiles that are defined by the unique combinations of variables believed to influence attitudes…

Common knowledge: Now you have it, now you don`t?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fagin, R.; Halpern, J.Y.; Moses, Y.

The notion of common knowledge, where everyone knows, everyone knows that everyone knows, etc., has proven to be fundamental in various disciplines, including Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, Economics, and Psychology. This key notion was first studied by the philosopher David Lewis in the context of conventions. Lewis pointed out that in order for something to be a convention, it must in fact be common knowledge among the members of a group. (For example, the convention that green means {open_quotes}go{close_quotes} and red means {open_quotes}stop{close_quotes} is presumably common knowledge among the drivers in our society.) Common knowledge also arises in discourse understanding. Supposemore » Ann asks Bob {open_quotes}What did you think of the movie?{close_quotes} referring to a showing of Monkey Business they have just seen. Not only must Ann and Bob both know that {open_quotes}the movie{close_quotes} refers to Monkey Business, but Ann must know that Bob knows, Bob must know that Ann knows that Bob knows, and so on. In fact, by a closer analysis of this situation, it can be shown that there must be common knowledge of what movie is meant in order for Bob to answer the question appropriately. Finally, common knowledge also turns out to be a prerequisite for agreement and coordinated action in distributed systems. This is precisely what makes it such a crucial notion in the analysis of interacting groups of agents. On the other hand, in practical settings common knowledge is impossible to achieve. This puts us in a somewhat paradoxical situation, in that we claim both that common knowledge is a prerequisite for agreement and coordinated action and that it cannot be attained. We discuss two answers to this paradox: Modeling the world with a coarser granularity, and relaxing the requirements for coordination.« less

Through the eyes of children: Drawings as an evaluation tool for children's understanding about endangered Mexican primates.

PubMed

Franquesa-Soler, Montserrat; Serio-Silva, Juan Carlos

2017-12-01

This study seeks to understand children's perceptions and knowledge of endangered Mexican primates. The black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra) is a charismatic species endemic to Southern Mexico, Northern Belize, and Guatemala and is a symbol of the region that fosters a sense of local pride. Therefore, it can be considered a flagship species for the forests of Southern Mexico. We evaluated the perception and knowledge that 297 Mexican elementary school children (8-10 years old) have about black howler monkeys. Specifically, we analyzed and categorized drawings made by these children based on gender, geographic context (rural or urban), and residence within or outside of Protected Areas (PAs). Student drawings were categorized into three levels of knowledge (no familiarity, basic knowledge, and sophisticated knowledge). Common misconceptions and important landscape elements for black howler conservation were gathered from these visual representations. Children were largely unfamiliar with black howlers, despite sharing the same geographical location. Knowledge was affected by context and residence, with students living within PAs more aware of black howlers than students living outside of PAs. However, overall the children showed a deep understanding of the current forest conservation situation in Southern Mexico; meaning they could be presenting a shifting baseline syndrome. The study highlights the value of assessing children's drawings as a tool that can be used to help policy makers and educational practitioners in fine-tuning educational, environmental, and marketing programs. More importantly, it is a methodology that can be applied in future research for understanding children's perceptions and knowledge about endangered species and environmental change in deciding how to improve the effectiveness of conservation messaging. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Ambiguity Within Nursing Practice: An Evolutionary Concept Analysis.

PubMed

McMahon, Michelle A; Dluhy, Nancy M

2017-02-01

To analyze the concept of ambiguity in a nursing context. Ambiguity is inherent within nursing practice. As health care becomes increasingly complex, nurses must continue to successfully deal with greater amounts of clinical ambiguity. Although ambiguity is discussed in nursing, minimal concept refinement exists to capture the contextual intricacies from a nursing lens. Nurse perception of an ambiguous clinical event, in combination with nurse tolerance level for ambiguity, can impact nurse response. Yet, little is known about what constitutes ambiguity within nursing practice (AWNP). Rodgers evolutionary method was used to explore AWNP, with emphasis on nurse thinking during ambiguous clinical situations. Literature searches across multiple databases yielded 38 articles for analysis. Attributes of AWNP include (a) variations in cues/available information, (b) multiple interpretations, (c) novel/nonroutine presentations, and (d) unpredictable. Antecedents include (a) a context-specific, clinical situation with ambiguous features needing evaluation and (b) an individual to sense a knowledge gap or perceive ambiguity. Consequences include ranges of (a) emotional, (b) behavioral, and (c) cognitive clinician responses. Preliminary findings support AWNP as a distinct concept in which ambiguity perceived by the nurse likely affects judgment, decision making, and clinical interventions. AWNP is a clinically relevant concept requiring continued development.

Expansive learning in the university setting: the case for simulated clinical experience.

PubMed

Haigh, Jacquelyn

2007-03-01

This paper argues that simulated practice in the university setting is not just a second best to learning in the clinical area but one which offers the potential for deliberation and deep learning [Eraut, M., 2000. Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge in professional work. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 113-136]. The context of student learning in an undergraduate midwifery programme is analysed using human activity theory [Engeström, Y., 2001. Expansive learning at work: toward an activity theoretical reconceptualization. Journal of Education and Work, 14, 133-156]. The advantages of this approach to student learning as opposed to situated learning theory and the concept of legitimate peripheral participation [Lave, J., Wenger, E., 1991. Situated Learning: Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Cambridge University Press, New York] are discussed. An activity system changes as a result of contradictions and tensions between what it purports to produce and the views of stakeholders (multi-voicedness) as well as its historical context (Historicity of activity). A focus group with students highlights their expressed need for more simulated practice experience. The views of midwifery lecturers are sought as an alternative voice on this tension in the current programme. Qualitative differences in types of simulated experience are explored and concerns about resources are raised in the analysis. Discussion considers the value of well planned simulations in encouraging the expression of tacit understanding through a group deliberative learning process [Eraut, M., 2000. Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge in professional work. Journal of Educational Psychology, 70, 113-136].

Struggling with growing bodies within silence and denial: Perspectives of HIV and AIDS among youth in Rural Zimbabwe

PubMed Central

Chikovore, Jeremiah; Nystrom, Lennarth; Lindmark, Gunilla; Ahlberg, Beth Maina

2013-01-01

Concerns regarding HIV and AIDS were elicited from 546 school youth (51% female, age range 9–25 years) in a Zimbabwean rural district, through a self-generated question writing process. Concerns emerged around how to avoid infection at a time when they were undergoing secondary sexual development, had growing feelings for love and were even engaging in sexual activity, but had limited access to preventive methods due to denial by the adult world. Fears were expressed regarding how to tell one’s HIV status, even just after sex. HIV and AIDS were visualised in terms of suffering, loneliness, quarantine and death. The youth stressed they would have difficulties communicating with other people should they suspect or find they are infected with HIV, as this would imply they had been sexually active. They seemed to have knowledge around HIV and AIDS that either was incomplete, or they could not apply given a context of silence and denial around their sexuality. Some of the knowledge was coloured with misconceptions, suggesting contradictory information from multiple sources. After more than two decades, the scenario portrayed raises questions about interventions targeting young people. The question is why is their situation in this state when several stakeholders are actively participating in debates and interventions around their well-being? Campaigns and interventions may need to consider young people’s complex social contexts, the factors generating and sustaining their situation, and what role diverse actors and social change processes play in this. PMID:23814546

Using theories of learning in workplaces to enhance physiotherapy clinical education.

PubMed

Patton, Narelle; Higgs, Joy; Smith, Megan

2013-10-01

Clinical education has long been accepted as integral to the education of physiotherapy students and their preparation for professional practice. The clinical environment, through practice immersion, situates students in a powerful learning context and plays a critical role in students' construction of professional knowledge. Despite this acknowledged centrality of practice and clinical environments to the students' experiential construction of professional knowledge, there has been limited exploration of learning theories underpinning clinical education in the literature. In this paper, we explore a selection of learning theories underpinning physiotherapy clinical education with a view to providing clinical educators with a firm foundation on which to base wise educational practices and potentially enhance physiotherapy students' clinical learning experiences. This exploration has drawn from leading thinkers in the field of education over the past century.

The General Aggression Model.

PubMed

Allen, Johnie J; Anderson, Craig A; Bushman, Brad J

2018-02-01

The General Aggression Model (GAM) is a comprehensive, integrative, framework for understanding aggression. It considers the role of social, cognitive, personality, developmental, and biological factors on aggression. Proximate processes of GAM detail how person and situation factors influence cognitions, feelings, and arousal, which in turn affect appraisal and decision processes, which in turn influence aggressive or nonaggressive behavioral outcomes. Each cycle of the proximate processes serves as a learning trial that affects the development and accessibility of aggressive knowledge structures. Distal processes of GAM detail how biological and persistent environmental factors can influence personality through changes in knowledge structures. GAM has been applied to understand aggression in many contexts including media violence effects, domestic violence, intergroup violence, temperature effects, pain effects, and the effects of global climate change. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Combining elements of information fusion and knowledge-based systems to support situation analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Roy, Jean

2006-04-01

Situation awareness has emerged as an important concept in military and public security environments. Situation analysis is defined as a process, the examination of a situation, its elements, and their relations, to provide and maintain a product, i.e., a state of situation awareness for the decision maker(s). It is well established that information fusion, defined as the process of utilizing one or more information sources over time to assemble a representation of aspects of interest in an environment, is a key enabler to meeting the demanding requirements of situation analysis. However, although information fusion is important, developing and adopting a knowledge-centric view of situation analysis should provide a more holistic perspective of this process. This is based on the notion that awareness ultimately has to do with having knowledge of something. Moreover, not all of the situation elements and relationships of interest are directly observable. Those aspects of interest that cannot be observed must be inferred, i.e., derived as a conclusion from facts or premises, or by reasoning from evidence. This paper discusses aspects of knowledge, and how it can be acquired from experts, formally represented and stored in knowledge bases to be exploited by computer programs, and validated. Knowledge engineering is reviewed, with emphasis given to cognitive and ontological engineering. Facets of reasoning are discussed, along with inferencing methods that can be used in computer applications. Finally, combining elements of information fusion and knowledge-based systems, an overall approach and framework for the building of situation analysis support systems is presented.

Prediction and Cross-Situational Consistency of Daily Behavior across Cultures: Testing Trait and Cultural Psychology Perspectives

PubMed Central

Church, A. Timothy; Katigbak, Marcia S.; Reyes, Jose Alberto S.; Salanga, Maria Guadalupe C.; Miramontes, Lilia A.; Adams, Nerissa B.

2008-01-01

Trait and cultural psychology perspectives on the cross-situational consistency of behavior, and the predictive validity of traits, were tested in a daily process study in the United States (N = 68), an individualistic culture, and the Philippines (N = 80), a collectivistic culture. Participants completed the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and a measure of self-monitoring, then reported their daily behaviors and associated situational contexts for approximately 30 days. Consistent with trait perspectives, the Big Five traits predicted daily behaviors in both cultures, and relative (interindividual) consistency was observed across many, although not all, situational contexts. The frequency of various Big Five behaviors varied across relevant situational contexts in both cultures and, consistent with cultural psychology perspectives, there was a tendency for Filipinos to exhibit greater situational variability than Americans. Self-monitoring showed some ability to account for individual differences in situational variability in the American sample, but not the Filipino sample. PMID:22146866

Effects of the situational context and interactional process on the quality of family caregiving.

PubMed

Phillips, L R; Morrison, E; Steffl, B; Chae, Y M; Cromwell, S L; Russell, C K

1995-06-01

A staged theoretical model designed to explain the quality of elder caring by family members was tested. The model posits how the situational context, interactional process, and caregiving burden perceived by the caregiver affect the quality of elder caring. The purpose was to determine the amount of variance explained by the interactional process beyond that explained by the situational context and caregiving burden. Data were collected from 209 elder-caregiver dyads using interviews, observations, and caregiver self-reports. The strongest predictors of caregiving burden were the caregiver's stressful negative life events (situational context) and discrepancy between past and present image of elder (interactional process). The strongest predictors of quality of elder caring were the caregiver's perception of subjective burden and a monitoring role definition on the part of the caregiver (interactional process).

School and Situated Knowledge: Travel or Tourism?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Damarin, Suzanne K.

1993-01-01

Examines issues related to situated cognition and learning, both in the classroom and in the world. Topics discussed include educational theories; the situated nature of knowledge; the perception of experts; and the role of technology in situated learning, including virtual reality, hypertext, and telecommunications. (26 references) (LRW)

The adult literacy evaluator: An intelligent computer-aided training system for diagnosing adult illiterates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yaden, David B., Jr.

1992-01-01

An important part of NASA's mission involves the secondary application of its technologies in the public and private sectors. One current application being developed is The Adult Literacy Evaluator, a simulation-based diagnostic tool designed to assess the operant literacy abilities of adults having difficulties in learning to read and write. Using ICAT system technology in addition to speech recognition, closed-captioned television (CCTV), live video and other state-of-the art graphics and storage capabilities, this project attempts to overcome the negative effects of adult literacy assessment by allowing the client to interact with an intelligent computer system which simulates real-life literacy activities and materials and which measures literacy performance in the actual context of its use. The specific objectives of the project are as follows: (1) To develop a simulation-based diagnostic tool to assess adults' prior knowledge about reading and writing processes in actual contexts of application; (2) to provide a profile of readers' strengths and weaknesses; and (3) to suggest instructional strategies and materials which can be used as a beginning point for remediation. In the first and developmental phase of the project, descriptions of literacy events and environments are being written and functional literacy documents analyzed for their components. Examples of literacy events and situations being considered included interactions with environmental print (e.g., billboards, street signs, commercial marquees, storefront logos, etc.), functional literacy materials (e.g., newspapers, magazines, telephone books, bills, receipts, etc.) and employment related communication (i.e., job descriptions, application forms, technical manuals, memorandums, newsletters, etc.). Each of these situations and materials is being analyzed for its literacy requirements in terms of written display (i.e., knowledge of printed forms and conventions), meaning demands (i.e., comprehension and word knowledge) and social situation. From these descriptions, scripts are being generated which define the interaction between the student, an on-screen guide and the simulated literacy environment. The proposed outcome of the Evaluator is a diagnostic profile which will present broad classifications of literacy behaviors across the major areas of metacognitive abilities, word recognition, vocabulary knowledge, comprehension and writing. From these classifications, suggestions for materials and strategies for instruction with which to begin corrective action will be made. The focus of the Literacy Evaluator will be essentially to provide an expert diagnosis and an interpretation of that assessment which then can be used by a human tutor to further design and individualize a remedial program as needed through the use of an authoring system.

Elder Mistreatment among Chinese and Korean Immigrants: The Roles of Sociocultural Contexts on Perceptions and Help-Seeking Behaviors

PubMed Central

LEE, YEON-SHIM; KAPLAN, CELIA P.; PEREZ-STABLE, ELISEO J.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify dimensions of elder mistreatment in Chinese and Korean immigrant communities and to increase sociocultural understanding of such mistreatment by elucidating the complexities of abuse embedded in unique social and cultural contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 local professionals working primarily in Asian elderly advocacy, and six focus group discussions were conducted involving 60 community members in the San Francisco Bay area. Five dimensions of elder mistreatment were identified: psychological abuse, neglect by a trusted person, financial exploitation, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. In general, fewer Korean community member participants reported having observed physical or financial abuse than Chinese groups, but they reported greater knowledge of situations involving psychological abuse, neglect by a trusted person, and sexual abuse. The contexts of cultural influences and immigration and acculturation were salient themes that shaped participants’ subjective perceptions and beliefs about elder abuse and hence help-seeking behaviors. PMID:24779539

Elder Mistreatment among Chinese and Korean Immigrants: The Roles of Sociocultural Contexts on Perceptions and Help-Seeking Behaviors

PubMed Central

Lee, Yeon-Shim; Kaplan, Celia P.; Perez-Stable, Eliseo J.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to identify dimensions of elder mistreatment in Chinese and Korean immigrant communities and to increase sociocultural understanding of such mistreatment by elucidating the complexities of abuse embedded in unique social and cultural contexts. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 local professionals working primarily in Asian elderly advocacy, and six focus group discussions were conducted involving 60 community members in the San Francisco Bay area. Five dimensions of elder mistreatment were identified: psychological abuse, neglect by a trusted person, financial exploitation, physical abuse, and sexual abuse. In general, fewer Korean community member participants reported having observed physical or financial abuse than Chinese groups, but they reported greater knowledge of situations involving psychological abuse, neglect by a trusted person, and sexual abuse. The contexts of cultural influences and immigration and acculturation were salient themes that shaped participants’ subjective perceptions and beliefs about elder abuse and hence help-seeking behaviors. PMID:25431530

Problem-Oriented Corporate Knowledge Base Models on the Case-Based Reasoning Approach Basis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gluhih, I. N.; Akhmadulin, R. K.

2017-07-01

One of the urgent directions of efficiency enhancement of production processes and enterprises activities management is creation and use of corporate knowledge bases. The article suggests a concept of problem-oriented corporate knowledge bases (PO CKB), in which knowledge is arranged around possible problem situations and represents a tool for making and implementing decisions in such situations. For knowledge representation in PO CKB a case-based reasoning approach is encouraged to use. Under this approach, the content of a case as a knowledge base component has been defined; based on the situation tree a PO CKB knowledge model has been developed, in which the knowledge about typical situations as well as specific examples of situations and solutions have been represented. A generalized problem-oriented corporate knowledge base structural chart and possible modes of its operation have been suggested. The obtained models allow creating and using corporate knowledge bases for support of decision making and implementing, training, staff skill upgrading and analysis of the decisions taken. The universal interpretation of terms “situation” and “solution” adopted in the work allows using the suggested models to develop problem-oriented corporate knowledge bases in different subject domains. It has been suggested to use the developed models for making corporate knowledge bases of the enterprises that operate engineer systems and networks at large production facilities.

A gaze through the lens of decision theory toward knowledge translation science.

PubMed

Bucknall, Tracey

2007-01-01

Research findings become evidence when an individual decides that the information is relevant and useful to a particular circumstance. Prior to that point, they are unrelated facts. For research translation to occur, research evidence needs filtering, interpretation, and application by individuals to the specific situation. For this reason, decision science is complementary to knowledge translation science. Both aim to support the individual in deciding the most appropriate action in a dynamic environment where there are masses of uncensored and nonprioritized information readily available. Decision science employs research theories to study the cognitive processes underpinning the filtering and integration of current scientific information into changing contexts. Two meta-theories, coherence and correspondence theories, have been used to provide alternative views and prompt significant debate to advance the science. The aim of this article is to stimulate debate about the relationship between decision theory and knowledge translation. Discussed is the critical role of cognition in clinical decision making, with a focus on knowledge translation. A critical commentary of the knowledge utilization modeling papers is presented from a decision science perspective. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications for knowledge translation when viewed through the lens of decision science.

Informed consent: information or knowledge?

PubMed

Berger, Ken

2003-01-01

A fiduciary relationship should be nurtured between patient and physician. This requires effective communication throughout all aspects of care - especially pertaining to treatment decisions. In the context of illness as experienced by the patient a unique set of circumstances is presented. However, communication in an illness context is fraught with problems. The patient is vulnerable and the situation may be overwhelming. Voluminous amounts of information are available to patients from a host of health care providers, family members, support groups, advocacy centers, books, journals, and the internet. Often conflicting and confusion, frequently complex, this information may be of greater burden than benefit. Some information is of high validity and reliability while other information is of dubious reliability. The emotional freight of bad news may further inhibit understanding. An overload of information may pose an obstacle in decision-making. To facilitate the transformation of information into knowledge, the health care provider must act on some occasions as a filter, on other occasions as a conduit, and on still other occasions simply as a reservoir. The evolution of patient rights to receive or refuse treatment, the right to know or not to know calls for a change in processing of overwhelming information in our modem era. In this paper we will discuss the difference between information and knowledge. How can health care providers ensure they have given their patients all necessary and sufficient information to make an autonomous decision? How can they facilitate the transformation of information into knowledge? The effect of knowledge to consent allows a more focused, relevant and modern approach to choice in health care.

Urban Early Adolescent Narratives on Sexuality: Accidental and Intentional Influences of Family, Peers, and the Media.

PubMed

Charmaraman, Linda; McKamey, Corinne

2011-01-01

In this paper, we examine the ways that early adolescents talked, interacted, and made references to events in their individual and collective lives during photography-based focus groups about sexuality and relationships. Twenty-three participants (10 boys and 13 girls) were recruited from three urban schools participating in a comprehensive sex education impact evaluation in the Northeast. We analyzed conversational narratives that were elicited in a group process while sharing photos of important people, contexts, and situations, showcasing participants' exploration of sexuality and relationships. Our analysis revealed four main themes: (a) direct and indirect family communication about sexuality, (b) accidental and intentional Internet usage, (c) shared and contested peer knowledge, and (d) school as a direct and indirect learning context. Implications and future directions for practice, research, and policy are explored.

Urban Early Adolescent Narratives on Sexuality: Accidental and Intentional Influences of Family, Peers, and the Media

PubMed Central

McKamey, Corinne

2012-01-01

In this paper, we examine the ways that early adolescents talked, interacted, and made references to events in their individual and collective lives during photography-based focus groups about sexuality and relationships. Twenty-three participants (10 boys and 13 girls) were recruited from three urban schools participating in a comprehensive sex education impact evaluation in the Northeast. We analyzed conversational narratives that were elicited in a group process while sharing photos of important people, contexts, and situations, showcasing participants’ exploration of sexuality and relationships. Our analysis revealed four main themes: (a) direct and indirect family communication about sexuality, (b) accidental and intentional Internet usage, (c) shared and contested peer knowledge, and (d) school as a direct and indirect learning context. Implications and future directions for practice, research, and policy are explored. PMID:22983141

Teaching undergraduate nursing students about environmental health: addressing public health issues through simulation.

PubMed

Stanley, Mary Jo; Rojas, Deb

2014-01-01

Schools of nursing are challenged to find clinical placements in public health settings. Use of simulation can address situations unique to public health, with attention to specific concerns, such as environmental health. Environmental health is an integral part of public health nursing and is a standard of professional practice. Current simulations focus on acute care situations, offering limited scenarios with a public health perspective and excluding environmental health. This study's simulation scenario was created to enhance nursing students' understanding of public health concepts within an environmental health context. Outcomes from the simulation include the need for integration of environmental issues in public health teaching. Students stated that this scenario provided a broader understanding of the environmental influences that can affect the client's and family's health. This scenario fills a void in simulation content, while providing an interactive teaching and learning strategy to help students to apply knowledge to practice. Copyright 2014, SLACK Incorporated.

Examining the Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence and Concern for Animal Care and Safekeeping.

PubMed

Wuerch, Melissa A; Giesbrecht, Crystal J; Price, Jill A B; Knutson, Tracy; Wach, Frances

2017-03-01

The current study examined the knowledge and experience of animal welfare and human service providers in urban and rural communities of Saskatchewan, Canada. Nine exploratory qualitative interviews were conducted to gather a more in-depth understanding of whether the concern for animal care and safekeeping impacts the decision to leave situations of intimate partner violence. The interviews were semistructured and guided by four questions, which were designed, reviewed, and revised based on feedback from a community-based research team. Thematic analysis highlighted important findings, allowing for the generation of suggestions for improvement of current supports and services offered. The current study findings suggest that concern for animal care and safekeeping creates significant barriers regarding the decision to leave situations of intimate partner violence and abuse, warranting further research to inform support services and resources within a Canadian context.

Situational trust and co-operative partnerships between physicians and their patients: a theoretical explanation transferable from business practice.

PubMed

Dibben, M R; Morris, S E; Lean, M E

2000-01-01

A model to explain interpersonal trust development, and its consequences for co-operative behaviour in doctor/patient partnerships derived from the context of business relationships is applied to patient/physician relationships. Threshold barriers exist against all human behaviours or actions and trust is the process by which barriers to co-operation and compliance are overcome. Dispositional trust (a psychological trait to be trusting) is dominant in the early stages of a relationship and contributes to the weight of subsequent trust development. Co-operative behaviour or compliance ultimately requires a secure situational trust emerging from consultations, which is carried forward as learnt trust and modified in each subsequent consultation. The model comprises three types of situational trust (calculus-based, knowledge-based, and identification trust) and five co-operation criteria from which to determine an individual's tendency for co- operative behaviour. These model components can be identified and mapped from a range of qualitative data, with the aim of enhancing co-operative behaviour and efficiently achieving optimal patient compliance.

Data collection and processing tools for naturalistic study of powered two-wheelers users' behaviours.

PubMed

Espié, Stéphane; Boubezoul, Abderrahmane; Aupetit, Samuel; Bouaziz, Samir

2013-09-01

Instrumented vehicles are key tools for in-depth understanding of drivers' behaviours, thus for the design of scientifically based countermeasures to reduce fatalities and injuries. The instrumentation of Powered Two-Wheelers (PTW) has been less widely implemented that for vehicles, in part due to the technical challenges involved. The last decade has seen the development in Europe of several tools and methodologies to study motorcycle riders' behaviours and motorcycle dynamics for a range of situations, including crash events involving falls. Thanks to these tools, a broad-ranging research programme has been conducted, from the design and tuning of real-time falls detection to the study of riding training systems, as well as studies focusing on naturalistic riding situations such as filtering and line splitting. The methodology designed for the in-depth study of riders' behaviours in naturalistic situations can be based upon the combination of several sources of data such as: PTW sensors, context-based video retrieval system, Global Positioning System (GPS) and verbal data on the riders' decisions making process. The goals of this paper are: (1) to present the methodological tools developed and used by INRETS-MSIS (now Ifsttar-TS2/Simu) in the last decade for the study of riders' behaviours in real-world environment as well as on track for situations up to falls, (2) to illustrate the kind of results that can be gained from the conducted studies, (3) to identify the advantages and limitations of the proposed methodology to conduct large scale naturalistic riding studies, and (4) to highlight how the knowledge gained from this approach will fill many of the knowledge gaps about PTW-riders' behaviours and risk factors. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Impact of Selected Contextual Factors on Experts' Clinical Reasoning Performance (Does Context Impact Clinical Reasoning Performance in Experts?)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Durning, Steven J.; Artino, Anthony R.; Boulet, John R.; Dorrance, Kevin; van der Vleuten, Cees; Schuwirth, Lambert

2012-01-01

Context specificity, or the variation in a participant's performance from one case, or situation, to the next, is a recognized problem in medical education. However, studies have not explored the potential reasons for context specificity in experts using the lens of situated cognition and cognitive load theories (CLT). Using these theories, we…

Determinants of Children's Risk-Taking in Different Social-Situational Contexts: The Role of Cognitions and Emotions in Predicting Children's Decisions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morrongiello, Barbara A.; Matheis, Shawn

2004-01-01

This study examined the contribution of cognitive and emotion-based factors in predicting school-age children's risk-taking decisions when the social-situational context did, and did not, pressure for risk-taking. Using drawings of play situations that depicted three possible paths of travel that varied in injury risk and pitted convenience…

Knowledge base and sensor bus messaging service architecture for critical tsunami warning and decision-support

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sabeur, Z. A.; Wächter, J.; Middleton, S. E.; Zlatev, Z.; Häner, R.; Hammitzsch, M.; Loewe, P.

2012-04-01

The intelligent management of large volumes of environmental monitoring data for early tsunami warning requires the deployment of robust and scalable service oriented infrastructure that is supported by an agile knowledge-base for critical decision-support In the TRIDEC project (TRIDEC 2010-2013), a sensor observation service bus of the TRIDEC system is being developed for the advancement of complex tsunami event processing and management. Further, a dedicated TRIDEC system knowledge-base is being implemented to enable on-demand access to semantically rich OGC SWE compliant hydrodynamic observations and operationally oriented meta-information to multiple subscribers. TRIDEC decision support requires a scalable and agile real-time processing architecture which enables fast response to evolving subscribers requirements as the tsunami crisis develops. This is also achieved with the support of intelligent processing services which specialise in multi-level fusion methods with relevance feedback and deep learning. The TRIDEC knowledge base development work coupled with that of the generic sensor bus platform shall be presented to demonstrate advanced decision-support with situation awareness in context of tsunami early warning and crisis management.

Immune to Situation: The Self-Serving Bias in Unambiguous Contexts

PubMed Central

Wang, Xiaoyan; Zheng, Li; Li, Lin; Zheng, Yijie; Sun, Peng; Zhou, Fanzhi A.; Guo, Xiuyan

2017-01-01

Traditionally, the self-serving bias has been investigated in ambiguous contexts in which participants work on tasks that measure novel abilities before making attributions without clear criteria for success or failure feedback. Prior studies have confirmed that the self-serving bias is pervasive in the general population, yet it varies significantly across situations involving ambiguous contexts. The present study features an unambiguous context encompassing interpersonal events that involved implicit causality (with the “self” as an actor or recipient), the inherent logic of which indicated attribution criteria. The aim of this study was to explore whether there is a self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts and to examine whether it is as sensitive to situation as it has been shown to be in ambiguous contexts. The results showed that, in an unambiguous context, participants exhibited self-serving bias in relation to attribution associated with negative interpersonal events. Additionally, the self-serving bias was greater in the actor condition relative to the recipient condition (Study 1), and this effect was not affected by the level of self-awareness, which was manipulated by the use or otherwise of a camera during the experiment (Study 2). Our findings provide evidence for the existence of the self-serving bias in unambiguous contexts. Moreover, the self-serving bias was shown to be immune to situation in unambiguous contexts, but it did depend on factors associated with the events per se, such as the actor versus recipient role that the self played in interpersonal events. PMID:28588532

Situation awareness: when nurses decide to admit or not admit a person with mental illness as an involuntary patient.

PubMed

Patterson, Christopher; Procter, Nicholas; Toffoli, Luisa

2016-09-01

This paper will explore the application of situation awareness in nursing to determine its suitability as a framework to study how the decision to admit or not admit a person as an involuntary patient is made. The decision by a specially qualified nurse to admit or not admit a person to a mental health facility against their will remains a central component of contemporary mental health legislation. The decision has an impact on a person's autonomy and human rights. Conversely, the decision to admit may facilitate urgent assessment and treatment and ensure the safety of the individual and others. Research highlights that decision-making in this context is challenging due to the multiple information sources and often incomplete information available to the clinician. Situation awareness is a concept used to explain how practitioners identify, use and make meaning of a multitude of factors and elements relevant to their practice. Discussion paper. A search of terms related to situation awareness and mental health nursing was conducted in the period 2000 - present. Exploring nurses decision-making using a situation awareness framework provides for a more nuanced understanding of nurses knowledge and skill when deciding to admit or not a person as an involuntary patient. The concept of situation awareness provides a framework to better understand the decision-making process associated with the involuntary admission decision. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Methodology for the Detection of Residential Vulnerable Areas - the Case of Barcelona

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cornado, Cossima; Garcia-Almirall, Pilar; Vima, Sara; Vila Busqued, Gemma; Uzqueda, Angel

2017-10-01

In a context of a shifting environmental, economic and social paradigm, European cities face a situation that is at the same time challenge and opportunity: the need for urban rehabilitation of the vulnerable degraded socio residential fabric. Public administrations in big cities and metropolitan areas are confronted with both the undercurrent need of actualization of the built stock and the rise of urban residential vulnerability. The city of Barcelona, as many others, is the result of multiple phenomena with high urban and social consequences. The socio spatial integration of immigrant population, the touristic rise and gentrification processes are current situations simultaneously taking place in the city. In parallel, a framework of economic crisis in which public investments in urban and social matters decrease, provides a temporal juncture that results into an increase of social polarization and socio economic inequality that becomes evident and expressed in the territory. This research focuses in the case of Barcelona, and presents a methodology based on a system of indicators elaborated through the exploitation of statistical data complemented with very specific data supplied by the Barcelona City Council. The accurate knowledge of socio demographic, socioeconomic and residential and urban characteristics is crucial in order to define the very complex urban dynamics that describe in the city neighbourhoods and areas. Residential vulnerability is defined as an assembly of objective conditions that relate to residential space and indicate situations of social discrimination and structural disadvantage of the population, related to a specific time and context. Thus, it is relevant to analyse the concentration of certain indicators of vulnerability in specific places or neighbourhoods, to contrast its effect on the socio-residential situation and its temporal evolution in order to identify tendencies. The present study contributes to the identification of data sources and a system to calculate the purposed indicators, the elaboration of a GIS analysis in order to determine the characterization of neighbourhoods and census sections according to each indicator, and the identification of areas with a higher degree of problematic based on synthetic analysis. A very relevant knowledge basis that can be used by public policy makers in order to establish measures that define vulnerable areas where to carry out actions that foster urban equality.

A leader's framework for decision making. A leader's framework for decision making.

PubMed

Snowden, David J; Boone, Mary E

2007-11-01

Many executives are surprised when previously successful leadership approaches fail in new situations, but different contexts call for different kinds of responses. Before addressing a situation, leaders need to recognize which context governs it -and tailor their actions accordingly. Snowden and Boone have formed a new perspective on leadership and decision making that's based on complexity science. The result is the Cynefin framework, which helps executives sort issues into five contexts: Simple contexts are characterized by stability and cause-and-effect relationships that are clear to everyone. Often, the right answer is self-evident. In this realm of "known knowns," leaders must first assess the facts of a situation -that is, "sense" it -then categorize and respond to it. Complicated contexts may contain multiple right answers, and though there is a clear relationship between cause and effect, not everyone can see it. This is the realm of "known unknowns." Here, leaders must sense, analyze, and respond. In a complex context, right answers can't be ferreted out at all; rather, instructive patterns emerge if the leader conducts experiments that can safely fail. This is the realm of "unknown unknowns," where much of contemporary business operates. Leaders in this context need to probe first, then sense, and then respond. In a chaotic context, searching for right answers is pointless. The relationships between cause and effect are impossible to determine because they shift constantly and no manageable patterns exist. This is the realm of unknowables (the events of September 11, 2001, fall into this category). In this domain, a leader must first act to establish order, sense where stability is present, and then work to transform the situation from chaos to complexity. The fifth context, disorder, applies when it is unclear which of the other four contexts is predominant. The way out is to break the situation into its constituent parts and assign each to one of the other four realms. Leaders can then make decisions and intervene in contextually appropriate ways.

Intentions and knowledge shaping local safety policy: A comparison of two Swedish cities.

PubMed

Hanberger, Anders; Lundström, Ulf; Mårald, Gunilla

2015-12-01

This article explores how intentions and knowledge shape two Swedish cities' local safety policy (LSP). The applied framework is derived from the integration of governance and implementation research and the theory of knowledge and its use. The study shows that LSPs are shaped by a mix of intentions and different kinds of knowledge, and intentions and knowledge interplay and intertwine in many ways. Key-persons construct LSPs when they work out solutions to urgent safety problems and take departure in the local context, its pre-conditions, and their experience-based and professional knowledge. The state governs LSP softly through management by objectives in the background, but more often key-actor intentions and commitments, local safety problems, and events initiated and influenced LSPs. The article contributes to a better understanding of conditions for LSPs in multi-level governance. The article can be used to improve governance, identify implementation problems and knowledge needs that will improve LSPs and the overall safety situation in the community. The study has implications for how LSPs should be evaluated; many different evaluation criteria can be appropriate, such as relevance, legitimacy, achievement of key actors' objectives, sustainability of policy solutions, and creation of a local safety culture. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd and National Safety Council. All rights reserved.

Extremity amputation: how to face challenging problems in a precarious environment.

PubMed

Rigal, Sylvain

2012-10-01

Indications for amputation in natural disasters are not the same compared to our daily practice. They must be determined by those with great surgical experience and good knowledge of military or disaster surgical doctrine. Unfortunately, nowadays few surgeons have this experience. In fact, some volunteer surgeons may be interested in providing care for civilian victims of war or disaster in developing countries. However, there are significant differences between the type and the management of cases seen in this context versus those seen at home. The problems of amputations cannot be solved schematically. Amputation will depend on several factors: the form of warfare or disaster, the conditions for surgery, the skill of the surgical team and the experience of the surgeon, and the length or duration of the mission. Here is a schematic showing the three main situations: civilian practice, war practice and disaster context. These three different situations require different strategies for treating the wounded and for making amputation decisions. In the case of a natural disaster, there are many wounded civilians, they arrive at the medical facility late and there is usually only one surgeon and a single, limited medical facility to provide all treatment. He must make quick, wise choices, economising limited blood supplies and the use of surgical procedures. The decision to proceed with limb salvage or amputation for patients with severely injured limbs will be a source of continued debate. Amputation, radical and irreversible intervention, is a frequent and essential procedure in the disaster context and one of the standard means to successful treatment of limb wounds. We propose to reflect on the following questions: why to amputate, how to perform amputation under these conditions and how to pass on a doctrine to the voluntary surgeons who lack experience in a disaster context.

Learning situation models in a smart home.

PubMed

Brdiczka, Oliver; Crowley, James L; Reignier, Patrick

2009-02-01

This paper addresses the problem of learning situation models for providing context-aware services. Context for modeling human behavior in a smart environment is represented by a situation model describing environment, users, and their activities. A framework for acquiring and evolving different layers of a situation model in a smart environment is proposed. Different learning methods are presented as part of this framework: role detection per entity, unsupervised extraction of situations from multimodal data, supervised learning of situation representations, and evolution of a predefined situation model with feedback. The situation model serves as frame and support for the different methods, permitting to stay in an intuitive declarative framework. The proposed methods have been integrated into a whole system for smart home environment. The implementation is detailed, and two evaluations are conducted in the smart home environment. The obtained results validate the proposed approach.

Elementary student teachers' science content representations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zembal-Saul, Carla; Krajcik, Joseph; Blumenfeld, Phyllis

2002-08-01

This purpose of this study was to examine the ways in which three prospective teachers who had early opportunities to teach science would approach representing science content within the context of their student teaching experiences. The study is framed in the literature on pedagogical content knowledge and learning to teach. A situated perspective on cognition is applied to better understand the influence of context and the role of the cooperating teacher. The three participants were enrolled in an experimental teacher preparation program designed to enhance the teaching of science at the elementary level. Qualitative case study design guided the collection, organization, and analysis of data. Multiple forms of data associated with student teachers' content representations were collected, including audiotaped planning and reflection interviews, written lesson plans and reflections, and videotaped teaching experiences. Broad analysis categories were developed and refined around the subconstructs of content representation (i.e., knowledge of instructional strategies that promote learning and knowledge of students and their requirements for meaningful science learning). Findings suggest that when prospective teachers are provided with opportunities to apply and reflect substantively on their developing considerations for supporting children's science learning, they are able to maintain a subject matter emphasis. However, in the absence of such opportunities, student teachers abandon their subject matter emphasis, even when they have had extensive background and experiences addressing subject-specific considerations for teaching and learning.

[From relativism to evaluation. Recent trends in the historiography of science and the humanities].

PubMed

Jonker, Ed

2011-01-01

Historians of science have taken leave of finalism. No longer do they write teleological histories of scientific progress. Instead of a grand narrative on the triumph of science they now tend to write small stories on local knowledge. This is the result of several decades of criticism of Whig history. Starting with neo-marxist critique in the interwar years, enhanced in the social history of the 1970s, science was seen as an economic commodity and as a social product. Cultural history and anthropology added the view that scientists and scholars are mere mortals, muddling through messy life. This critique was topped off with postmodern criticism of knowledge as power, which translates into the accusation that historiography is only legitimating cultural and political oppression. To counter these allegations, many historians have insulated themselves into a kind of retro-historicism that shies away from any teleology, coherence, meaning and evaluation. It depicts the production of knowledge as a practical, local activity that is strictly limited to its cultural context. No claims to truth, validity, let alone progress or even development were allowed. This situation of rampant relativism could not last. Total abstinence of any evaluation of knowledge claims, quality of research or success of theories has proven unsatisfactory. The need has arisen to study broader issues of traveling knowledge and longer lines of scientific development. There is a shift of interest into traditions of knowledge that spring the bonds of locality and context. Why do some scientific theories and research practices succeed in surpassing paradigms and bridging epistemic ruptures? In this respect disciplines are in the process of being rehabilitated. Instead of oppressive structures they become the vehicles of sustained knowledge growth. Especially the role of education and academic training is focused on. Facing up to the charges of conceptual anachronism, historians of knowledge now opt for a cautiously evaluative history. The alternative would be an intellectually barren historicism.

Cognitive and contextual influences in determination of latent fingerprint suitability for identification judgments.

PubMed

Fraser-Mackenzie, Peter A F; Dror, Itiel E; Wertheim, Kasey

2013-06-01

We examined forensic fingerprint examiners' suitability determinations of latent fingerprints comparing situations in which the latent is assessed solo (in isolation) versus situations in which it is presented alongside a comparison (matching or non-matching) exemplar print. The presence of a non-matching comparison exemplar led examiners to be more inclined to draw the conclusion that the latent was suitable for comparison compared to when the latent was presented solo. This effect persisted even when the latent presented was highly unsuitable for comparison. The presence of a matching comparison exemplar led examiners to be less likely to decide that the latent was suitable and more likely to decide the latent was questionable compared to solo analysis. This effect persisted even when the latent presented was highly suitable, suggesting a strong main effect. Knowledge of another examiner's previous determination that the latent was unsuitable was found to increase the likelihood that the examiner would conclude that the latent was unsuitable. However, knowledge of a previous "suitable" determination by another examiner did not increase the likelihood of a "suitable" conclusion by examiners. The finding that effects were weaker, although not entirely removed, in those with IAI certification suggests that training may be an appropriate route for reducing the effect of contextual influence and bias in suitability determinations. It was also shown that latent prints that were previously classed as "unsuitable" in a non-biasing context, continued to be judged to be "unsuitable" in a strongly biasing context (a major case in which a previous examiner was purported to have made an Individualization). Copyright © 2013 Forensic Science Society. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oral traditions: a contextual framework for complex science concepts—laying the foundation for a paradigm of promise in rural science education

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Avery, Leanne M.; Hains, Bryan J.

2017-03-01

The overarching goal of this paper is to bring a diverse educational context—rural sayings and oral traditions situated in ecological habitats—to light and emphasize that they need to be taken into consideration regarding twenty-first century science education. The rural sayings or tenets presented here are also considered alternative ways of learning and knowing that rural people (elders and children) acquire outside of school in rural places of home and habitat. Throughout this paper we explore the complex nature of rural sayings or tenets that have been shared by community elders and examine their historic scientific roots. In so doing, we uncover a wealth of information regarding the diverse rural sociocultural and ecological connections and the situated macro and micro-contexts from which these tenets arise. We argue for a preservation and educational revitalization of these tenets for current and future generations. We show how this knowledge both augments and differs from traditional western science and science curricula by illuminating the ways in which oral traditions are embedded in place, people, memory and culture. We close by presenting an alternative paradigm for science education that incorporates pluralism as a means to enrich current place-based pedagogies and practices. We suggest that in order to tackle the complex problems in this new age of the Anthropocene, revitalizing elders' wisdom as well as valuing rural children's diverse knowledge and the inherent connectivity to their habitats needs be cultivated and not expunged by the current trends that standardize learning. As stated in the call for this special issue, "rurality has a real positionality" and much can be learned from individual and unique rural contexts.

Situation Model for Situation-Aware Assistance of Dementia Patients in Outdoor Mobility

PubMed Central

Yordanova, Kristina; Koldrack, Philipp; Heine, Christina; Henkel, Ron; Martin, Mike; Teipel, Stefan; Kirste, Thomas

2017-01-01

Background: Dementia impairs spatial orientation and route planning, thus often affecting the patient’s ability to move outdoors and maintain social activities. Situation-aware deliberative assistive technology devices (ATD) can substitute impaired cognitive function in order to maintain one’s level of social activity. To build such a system, one needs domain knowledge about the patient’s situation and needs. We call this collection of knowledge situation model. Objective: To construct a situation model for the outdoor mobility of people with dementia (PwD). The model serves two purposes: 1) as a knowledge base from which to build an ATD describing the mobility of PwD; and 2) as a codebook for the annotation of the recorded behavior. Methods: We perform systematic knowledge elicitation to obtain the relevant knowledge. The OBO Edit tool is used for implementing and validating the situation model. The model is evaluated by using it as a codebook for annotating the behavior of PwD during a mobility study and interrater agreement is computed. In addition, clinical experts perform manual evaluation and curation of the model. Results: The situation model consists of 101 concepts with 11 relation types between them. The results from the annotation showed substantial overlapping between two annotators (Cohen’s kappa of 0.61). Conclusion: The situation model is a first attempt to systematically collect and organize information related to the outdoor mobility of PwD for the purposes of situation-aware assistance. The model is the base for building an ATD able to provide situation-aware assistance and to potentially improve the quality of life of PwD. PMID:29060937

Passing Decisions in Football: Introducing an Empirical Approach to Estimating the Effects of Perceptual Information and Associative Knowledge.

PubMed

Steiner, Silvan

2018-01-01

The importance of various information sources in decision-making in interactive team sports is debated. While some highlight the role of the perceptual information provided by the current game context, others point to the role of knowledge-based information that athletes have regarding their team environment. Recently, an integrative perspective considering the simultaneous involvement of both of these information sources in decision-making in interactive team sports has been presented. In a theoretical example concerning passing decisions, the simultaneous involvement of perceptual and knowledge-based information has been illustrated. However, no precast method of determining the contribution of these two information sources empirically has been provided. The aim of this article is to bridge this gap and present a statistical approach to estimating the effects of perceptual information and associative knowledge on passing decisions. To this end, a sample dataset of scenario-based passing decisions is analyzed. This article shows how the effects of perceivable team positionings and athletes' knowledge about their fellow team members on passing decisions can be estimated. Ways of transfering this approach to real-world situations and implications for future research using more representative designs are presented.

Passing Decisions in Football: Introducing an Empirical Approach to Estimating the Effects of Perceptual Information and Associative Knowledge

PubMed Central

Steiner, Silvan

2018-01-01

The importance of various information sources in decision-making in interactive team sports is debated. While some highlight the role of the perceptual information provided by the current game context, others point to the role of knowledge-based information that athletes have regarding their team environment. Recently, an integrative perspective considering the simultaneous involvement of both of these information sources in decision-making in interactive team sports has been presented. In a theoretical example concerning passing decisions, the simultaneous involvement of perceptual and knowledge-based information has been illustrated. However, no precast method of determining the contribution of these two information sources empirically has been provided. The aim of this article is to bridge this gap and present a statistical approach to estimating the effects of perceptual information and associative knowledge on passing decisions. To this end, a sample dataset of scenario-based passing decisions is analyzed. This article shows how the effects of perceivable team positionings and athletes' knowledge about their fellow team members on passing decisions can be estimated. Ways of transfering this approach to real-world situations and implications for future research using more representative designs are presented. PMID:29623057

Evolutionary Intelligence and Communication in Societies of Virtually Embodied Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Binh; Skabar, Andrew

In order to overcome the knowledge bottleneck problem, AI researchers have attempted to develop systems that are capable of automated knowledge acquisition. However, learning in these systems is hindered by context (i.e., symbol-grounding) problems, which are caused by the systems lacking the unifying structure of bodies, situations and needs that typify human learning. While the fields of Embodied Artificial Intelligence and Artificial Life have come a long way towards demonstrating how artificial systems can develop knowledge of the physical and social worlds, the focus in these areas has been on low level intelligence, and it is not clear how, such systems can be extended to deal with higher-level knowledge. In this paper, we argue that we can build towards a higher level intelligence by framing the problem as one of stimulating the development of culture and language. Specifically, we identify three important limitations that face the development of culture and language in AI systems, and propose how these limitations can be overcome. We will do this through borrowing ideas from the evolutionary sciences, which have explored how interactions between embodiment and environment have shaped the development of human intelligence and knowledge.

Dual-Use system architecture for a space situational awareness system in Japan

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Otani, Y.; Kohtake, N.; Ohkami, Y.

The use of outer space plays a vital role in both defense and civil fields. Since the separation of space activities between civil and defense applications is extremely inefficient, the Dual-Use concept has been considered fundamental for promoting the effective use of space. To the best of the authors' knowledge, most previous studies on Dual-Use focused on the technological aspects, and very few on a system engineering approach to Dual-Use. This left some important issues untouched such as the operational aspects of a system of systems, which need to be understood in a more generic context. This paper presents the results of a conceptual study, system design and management analysis of Dual-Use system architecture. First, an outline of the Dual-Use concept will be described and a definition of Dual-Use given. The effectiveness of applying the Dual-Use system concept to Space Situational Awareness (SSA) for both defense and civil users as a system of systems will then be discussed and investigated with a stakeholders analysis, context diagram and design structure matrix method. It has demonstrated that there is a need for a Dual-Use SSA Data Center which works as a binder between defense and civil systems as well as a data policy for constructing a Dual-Use SSA system.

Elements of the Competitive Situation That Affect Intrinsic Motivation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reeve, Johnmarshall; Deci, Edward L.

1996-01-01

Explores the effects of three elements of the competitive situation (competitive set, competitive outcome, and interpersonal context) on intrinsic motivation in a sample of college students (n=100). Competitive outcome and interpersonal context affected intrinsic motivation: winning increased intrinsic motivation, while pressured interpersonal…

Maintaining Research Integrity While Balancing Cultural Sensitivity: A Case Study and Lessons From the Field.

PubMed

Sibbald, Rebekah; Loiseau, Bethina; Darren, Benedict; Raman, Salem A; Dimaras, Helen; Loh, Lawrence C

2016-04-01

Contemporary emphasis on creating culturally relevant and context specific knowledge increasingly drives researchers to conduct their work in settings outside their home country. This often requires researchers to build relationships with various stakeholders who may have a vested interest in the research. This case study examines the tension between relationship development with stakeholders and maintaining study integrity, in the context of potential harms, data credibility and cultural sensitivity. We describe an ethical breach in the conduct of global health research by a arising from the ad-hoc participation of a community stakeholder external to the visiting research group. A framework for reflection is developed from a careful examination of underlying factors and presented with a discussion of consequences and mitigation measures. This framework aims to present lessons learned for researchers working abroad who might face similar situations in their work. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Systematic review of effectiveness of situated e-learning on medical and nursing education.

PubMed

Feng, Jui-Ying; Chang, Yi-Ting; Chang, Hsin-Yi; Erdley, William Scott; Lin, Chyi-Her; Chang, Ying-Ju

2013-08-01

Because of the complexity of clinical situations, traditional didactic education is limited in providing opportunity for student-patient interaction. Situated e-learning can enhance learners' knowledge and associated abilities through a variety of activities. Healthcare providers who interact with virtual patients in designed situations may avoid unnecessary risks and encounters with real patients. However, the effectiveness of situated e-learning is inconsistent. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of situated e-learning in prelicensure and postlicensure medical and nursing education. Literature databases of PubMed, Medline, CINAHL, ERIC, and Cochrane Library were searched. The study eligibility criteria included articles published in English, which examined the effectiveness of situated e-learning on the outcomes of knowledge and performance for clinicians or students in medicine and nursing. Effect sizes were calculated with 95% confidence intervals. Fourteen articles were included for meta-analysis. Situated e-learning could effectively enhance learners' knowledge and performance when the control group received no training. Compared to traditional learning, the effectiveness of situated e-learning on performance diminished but still remained significant whereas the effect become insignificant on knowledge. The subgroup analyses indicate the situated e-learning program significantly improved students' clinical performance but not for clinicians. Situated e-learning is an effective method to improve novice learners' performance. The effect of situated e-learning on the improvement of cognitive ability is limited when compared to traditional learning. Situated e-learning is a useful adjunct to traditional learning for medical and nursing students. © 2013 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Situational Interest, Cognitive Engagement, and Achievement in Physical Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Xihe; Chen, Ang; Ennis, Catherine; Sun, Haichun; Hopple, Christine; Bonello, Marina; Bae, Mihae; Kim, Sangmin

2009-01-01

Students' learning has been the center of schooling. This study examined the contribution of situational interest motivation and cognitive engagement in workbooks to student achievement in learning health-related fitness knowledge. Situational interest, performance on solving workbook problems, and knowledge gain in cardio-respiratory fitness and…

Rejection or selection: influence of framing in investment decisions.

PubMed

Cheng, Pi-Yueh; Chiou, Wen-Bin

2010-02-01

According to prospect theory, reflection effects result in preferences for risk-averse choices in gain situations and risk-seeking choices in loss situations. However, relevant literature in regard to decision making has suggested that positive information receives more weight in a selection task, whereas negative information receives more weight in a rejection task. The present study examined whether the nature of a decision task (selection vs rejection) would moderate the reflection effects. Undergraduates (47 men, 49 women; M age = 20.5 yr., SD = 1.1), selected according to specific screening criteria, participated in an experimental study. Typical reflection effects were observed in both selection and rejection task conditions. More importantly, negative information (i.e., the information about probable loss in risky choice of gain situations and the information about certain loss in cautious choice of loss situations) provided in the context of a rejection task received more weight and resulted in more frequent endorsements of the cautious choice in gain situations and of the risky choice in loss situations. Hence, the findings suggest that a decision context characterized by rejection may expand the reflection effects and thereby provide important information about situations in which investment decisions occur in a context characterized by rejection.

[Basic assessment of needs for training in evidence-based medicine in Slovakia].

PubMed

Bacharova, L; Hlavacka, S; Rusnakova, V

2001-01-01

The health care reform in Slovakia produces a desire for greater responsibility for and control of strategic decisions and to be better able to evaluate international knowledge and experience in the specific national social and professional contexts. Evidence based medicine (EBM) provides an increasingly organised and accessible database of international knowledge in health and health care, capable of informing decisions at the macro and micro levels. The aim of this pilot study was to assess education, training and other capacity building needs in EBM and evidence based health care. This study was primarily qualitative and based on a triangular approach, which included: (1) The analysis of the situation in pre- and postgraduate education in Slovakia aiming to the estimation of needs in EBM and critical appraisal skills training; (2) The analysis of questionnaires distributed in a sample of 50 medical doctors and university educated public health workers undergoing a postgraduate training; (3) The discussion in focused groups. The findings and analysis uncovered a gap in knowledge and experience of EBM approaches, particularly of searching for evidence, utilising information technology, of undertaking critical appraisals of the validity and quality of external evidence and of knowledge of English. On the other hand the findings revealed a high access to information including the Internet access at the workplace, an increasing awareness of the need for up-date information, a demand for training and potential opportunities for action. The effective implementation introduction of EBM approach would require changes in broader political, cultural and behavioural contexts, including changes in pre- and postgraduate systems of professional and managerial education, changes in professional and managerial attitudes and changes in emphasis in skills and capacity building and improvements in knowledge management systems at the national level.

Co-producing active lifestyles as whole-system-approach: theory, intervention and knowledge-to-action implications.

PubMed

Rütten, Alfred; Frahsa, Annika; Abel, Thomas; Bergmann, Matthias; de Leeuw, Evelyne; Hunter, David; Jansen, Maria; King, Abby; Potvin, Louise

2017-09-08

Population health interventions tend to lack links to the emerging discourse on interactive knowledge production and exchange. This situation may limit both a better understanding of mechanisms that impact health lifestyles and the development of strategies for population level change. This paper introduces an integrated approach based on structure-agency theory in the context of 'social practice'. It investigates the mechanisms of co-production of active lifestyles by population groups, professionals, policymakers and researchers. It combines a whole system approach with an interactive knowledge-to-action strategy for developing and implementing active lifestyle interventions. A system model is outlined to describe and explain how social practices of selected groups co-produce active lifestyles. Four intervention models for promoting the co-production of active lifestyles through an interactive-knowledge-to-action approach are discussed. Examples from case studies of the German research network Capital4Health are used to illustrate, how intervention models might be operationalized in a real-world intervention. Five subprojects develop, implement and evaluate interventions across the life-course. Although subprojects differ with regard to settings and population groups involved, they all focus on the four key components of the system model. The paper contributes new strategies to address the intervention research challenge of sustainable change of inactive lifestyles. The interactive approach presented allows consideration of the specificities of settings and scientific contexts for manifold purposes. Further research remains needed on what a co-produced knowledge-to-action agenda would look like and what impact it might have for whole system change. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Urban Options for Psychological Restoration: Common Strategies in Everyday Situations

PubMed Central

Staats, Henk; Jahncke, Helena; Herzog, Thomas R.; Hartig, Terry

2016-01-01

Objectives Given the need for knowledge on the restorative potential of urban settings, we sought to estimate the effects of personal and contextual factors on preferences and restoration likelihood assessments for different urban activities-in-environments. We also sought to study the generality of these effects across different countries. Methods We conducted a true experiment with convenience samples of university students in the Netherlands (n = 80), Sweden (n = 100), and the USA (n = 316). In each country, the experiment had a mixed design with activities-in-environments (sitting in a park, sitting in a cafe, walking in a shopping mall, walking along a busy street) manipulated within-subjects and the need for restoration (attentional fatigue, no attentional fatigue) and immediate social context (in company, alone) manipulated between-subjects. The manipulations relied on previously tested scenarios describing everyday situations that participants were instructed to remember and imagine themselves being in. For each imagined situation (activity-in-environment with antecedent fatigue condition and immediate social context), subjects provided two criterion measures: general preference and the likelihood of achieving psychological restoration. Results The settings received different preference and restoration likelihood ratings as expected, affirming that a busy street, often used in comparisons with natural settings, is not representative of the restorative potential of urban settings. Being with a close friend and attentional fatigue both moderated ratings for specific settings. Findings of additional moderation by country of residence caution against broad generalizations regarding preferences for and the expected restorative effects of different urban settings. Conclusions Preferences and restoration likelihood ratings for urban activity-environment combinations are subject to multiple personal and contextual determinants, including level of attentional fatigue, being alone versus in company, and broader aspects of the urban context that vary across cities and countries. Claims regarding a lack of restorative quality in urban environments are problematic. PMID:26731272

Exploring partners' perspectives on participation in heart failure home care: a mixed-method design.

PubMed

Näsström, Lena; Luttik, Marie Louise; Idvall, Ewa; Strömberg, Anna

2017-05-01

To describe the partners' perspectives on participation in the care for patients with heart failure receiving home care. Partners are often involved in care of patients with heart failure and have an important role in improving patients' well-being and self-care. Partners have described both negative and positive experiences of involvement, but knowledge of how partners of patients with heart failure view participation in care when the patient receives home care is lacking. A convergent parallel mixed-method design was used, including data from interviews and questionnaires. A purposeful sample of 15 partners was used. Data collection lasted between February 2010 - December 2011. Interviews were analysed with content analysis and data from questionnaires (participation, caregiving, health-related quality of life, depressive symptoms) were analysed statistically. Finally, results were merged, interpreted and labelled as comparable and convergent or as being inconsistent. Partners were satisfied with most aspects of participation, information and contact. Qualitative findings revealed four different aspects of participation: adapting to the caring needs and illness trajectory, coping with caregiving demands, interacting with healthcare providers and need for knowledge to comprehend the health situation. Results showed confirmatory results that were convergent and expanded knowledge that gave a broader understanding of partner participation in this context. The results revealed different levels of partner participation. Heart failure home care included good opportunities for both participation and contact during home visits, necessary to meet partners' ongoing need for information to comprehend the situation. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Theory and interpretation in qualitative studies from general practice: Why and how?

PubMed

Malterud, Kirsti

2016-03-01

In this article, I want to promote theoretical awareness and commitment among qualitative researchers in general practice and suggest adequate and feasible theoretical approaches. I discuss different theoretical aspects of qualitative research and present the basic foundations of the interpretative paradigm. Associations between paradigms, philosophies, methodologies and methods are examined and different strategies for theoretical commitment presented. Finally, I discuss the impact of theory for interpretation and the development of general practice knowledge. A scientific theory is a consistent and soundly based set of assumptions about a specific aspect of the world, predicting or explaining a phenomenon. Qualitative research is situated in an interpretative paradigm where notions about particular human experiences in context are recognized from different subject positions. Basic theoretical features from the philosophy of science explain why and how this is different from positivism. Reflexivity, including theoretical awareness and consistency, demonstrates interpretative assumptions, accounting for situated knowledge. Different types of theoretical commitment in qualitative analysis are presented, emphasizing substantive theories to sharpen the interpretative focus. Such approaches are clearly within reach for a general practice researcher contributing to clinical practice by doing more than summarizing what the participants talked about, without trying to become a philosopher. Qualitative studies from general practice deserve stronger theoretical awareness and commitment than what is currently established. Persistent attention to and respect for the distinctive domain of knowledge and practice where the research deliveries are targeted is necessary to choose adequate theoretical endeavours. © 2015 the Nordic Societies of Public Health.

Developing Intercultural Science Education in Ecuador

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schroder, Barbara

2008-01-01

This article traces the recent development of intercultural science education in Ecuador. It starts by situating this development within the context of a growing convergence between Western and indigenous sciences. It then situates it within the larger historical, political, cultural, and educational contexts of indigenous communities in Ecuador,…

A predictive model of nuclear power plant crew decision-making and performance in a dynamic simulation environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coyne, Kevin Anthony

The safe operation of complex systems such as nuclear power plants requires close coordination between the human operators and plant systems. In order to maintain an adequate level of safety following an accident or other off-normal event, the operators often are called upon to perform complex tasks during dynamic situations with incomplete information. The safety of such complex systems can be greatly improved if the conditions that could lead operators to make poor decisions and commit erroneous actions during these situations can be predicted and mitigated. The primary goal of this research project was the development and validation of a cognitive model capable of simulating nuclear plant operator decision-making during accident conditions. Dynamic probabilistic risk assessment methods can improve the prediction of human error events by providing rich contextual information and an explicit consideration of feedback arising from man-machine interactions. The Accident Dynamics Simulator paired with the Information, Decision, and Action in a Crew context cognitive model (ADS-IDAC) shows promise for predicting situational contexts that might lead to human error events, particularly knowledge driven errors of commission. ADS-IDAC generates a discrete dynamic event tree (DDET) by applying simple branching rules that reflect variations in crew responses to plant events and system status changes. Branches can be generated to simulate slow or fast procedure execution speed, skipping of procedure steps, reliance on memorized information, activation of mental beliefs, variations in control inputs, and equipment failures. Complex operator mental models of plant behavior that guide crew actions can be represented within the ADS-IDAC mental belief framework and used to identify situational contexts that may lead to human error events. This research increased the capabilities of ADS-IDAC in several key areas. The ADS-IDAC computer code was improved to support additional branching events and provide a better representation of the IDAC cognitive model. An operator decision-making engine capable of responding to dynamic changes in situational context was implemented. The IDAC human performance model was fully integrated with a detailed nuclear plant model in order to realistically simulate plant accident scenarios. Finally, the improved ADS-IDAC model was calibrated, validated, and updated using actual nuclear plant crew performance data. This research led to the following general conclusions: (1) A relatively small number of branching rules are capable of efficiently capturing a wide spectrum of crew-to-crew variabilities. (2) Compared to traditional static risk assessment methods, ADS-IDAC can provide a more realistic and integrated assessment of human error events by directly determining the effect of operator behaviors on plant thermal hydraulic parameters. (3) The ADS-IDAC approach provides an efficient framework for capturing actual operator performance data such as timing of operator actions, mental models, and decision-making activities.

The architecture of personality.

PubMed

Cervone, David

2004-01-01

This article presents a theoretical framework for analyzing psychological systems that contribute to the variability, consistency, and cross-situational coherence of personality functioning. In the proposed knowledge-and-appraisal personality architecture (KAPA), personality structures and processes are delineated by combining 2 principles: distinctions (a) between knowledge structures and appraisal processes and (b) among intentional cognitions with varying directions of fit, with the latter distinction differentiating among beliefs, evaluative standards, and aims. Basic principles of knowledge activation and use illuminate relations between knowledge and appraisal, yielding a synthetic account of personality structures and processes. Novel empirical data illustrate the heuristic value of the knowledge/appraisal distinction by showing how self-referent and situational knowledge combine to foster cross-situational coherence in appraisals of self-efficacy.

Physiotherapy as bricolage: theorizing expert practice.

PubMed

Shaw, James A; DeForge, Ryan T

2012-08-01

Theories about how knowledge is sought and applied in clinical practice are often referred to as practice epistemologies, and have not been extensively explored in the physiotherapy profession. Tacit assumptions about what counts as physiotherapy knowledge thus form the basis for many approaches to gaining and using information in practice. The purpose of this paper is to propose a physiotherapy practice epistemology, through the notion of the bricoleur, which takes an alternative approach to understanding how knowledge might best be viewed in relation to physiotherapy. The term bricoleur refers to a handyman or handywoman who uses all tools and types of knowledge available. The notion of physiotherapists as bricoleurs recognizes that all practice knowledge is situated within social, cultural, and historical contexts that shape our beliefs about what counts as physiotherapy knowledge. This recognition leads physiotherapists who act as bricoleurs to embrace multiple epistemologies, discovering new ways of knowing and clinical reasoning strategies to provide a more holistic approach to physiotherapy practice. The relationships between expertise in clinical reasoning and the epistemology of the bricoleur are then addressed, explicating the utility of multiple epistemologies in achieving excellent physiotherapy care. A bricoleur's epistemology is then applied to the concept of expertise in physiotherapy, de-stabilizing the notion that a single authoritative approach to the practice of physiotherapy ought to be idealized.

Educational Configurations for Teaching Environmental Socioscientific Issues Within The Perspective of Sustainability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simonneaux, Jean; Simonneaux, Laurence

2012-01-01

Education for Sustainability has become an institutional requirement in many countries. It takes many forms that can integrate the teaching of environmental Socioscientific Issues (SSIs). In this context, we present the French notion of Socially Acute Questions (SAQs). We develop a theoretical frame to analyse educational configurations applied to the teaching of SAQs within the perspective of sustainability. This frame is built with a reference to a matrix integrating attributes of knowledge (universal, plural, engaged or contextualised), teachers' epistemological postures (scientism, utilitarianism, skepticsm or relativism) and various didactic strategies (doctrinal, problematizing, critical or pragmatic). To illustrate this frame, three situations of teaching-learning are compared.

Social Knowledge and Goal-based Influences on Social Information Processing in Adulthood

PubMed Central

Hess, Thomas M.; Kotter-Grühn, Dana

2011-01-01

Effective social functioning is reflected in the ability to accurately characterize other people and then use this information in the service of social goals. To examine this type of social functioning, the authors conducted two studies that investigated potential influences of social experience and chronic socioemotional goals on adults’ social judgments in an impression formation task. In line with a social expertise framework, middle-aged and older adults were more sensitive to trait-diagnostic behavioral information than were younger adults. Relative to younger adults, older adults paid more attention to negative than to positive information when it related to morality traits. Increasing the salience of the social context, and presumably activating such goals, did not alter this pattern of performance. In contrast, when more global social evaluations were examined (e.g., suitability as a social partner), older adults were less likely than younger or middle-aged adults to adjust their evaluations in response to situational goals. Consistent with a heightened focus on socioemotional goals, older adults’ judgments were more consistently influenced by their attributions of traits that would likely impact the affective outcomes associated with interpersonal interactions. The results demonstrate the interaction between social knowledge, situational social goals, and chronic socioemotional goals in determining age differences in social information processing. PMID:21604887

Modeling Cross-Situational Word-Referent Learning: Prior Questions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yu, Chen; Smith, Linda B.

2012-01-01

Both adults and young children possess powerful statistical computation capabilities--they can infer the referent of a word from highly ambiguous contexts involving many words and many referents by aggregating cross-situational statistical information across contexts. This ability has been explained by models of hypothesis testing and by models of…

Enhancing Access to Situational Vocabulary by Leveraging Geographic Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Patel, Rupal; Radhakrishnan, Rajiv

2007-01-01

Users of augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) aids could benefit from novel methods for accelerating access to contextually relevant vocabulary. This paper describes our initial efforts toward improving access to situational vocabulary through the use of geographic context to predict vocabulary. A corpus of spoken data produced by one…

Idiom comprehension in Mandarin-speaking children.

PubMed

Hsieh, Shelley Ching-Yu; Hsu, Chun-Chieh Natalie

2010-12-01

This study examines the effect of familiarity, context, and linguistic convention on idiom comprehension in Mandarin speaking children. Two experiments (a comprehension task followed by a comprehension task coupled with a metapragmatic task) were administered to test participants in three age groups (6 and 9-year-olds, and an adult control group). Laval (Journal of Pragmatics 35(2):723-739, 2003) showed that familiarity had an effect on idiom comprehension for French 9-year-olds. However, our finding showed that familiarity was important for 6-year-old Chinese children when a context was not given. Abkarian et al. (Journal of Speech and Hearing Research 35:580-587, 1992) claimed that context has little or no effect on comprehension for children under 6. Our results show that context has an effect on 6-year-old children's understanding of idioms in a different way. Overall, our major research findings are: (1) Familiarity first appeared in responses at age 6. (2) Context played an important role in idiom comprehension and had different effects on different age groups. (3) Linguistic convention starts from age 6 on, and a significant effect took place at the age of 9. (4) Metapragmatic knowledge showed at the age of 6 and could surface even younger. As context and linguistic convention have a substantial effect on the comprehension of idioms, it is necessary to take them into account to explain language functioning and communicative situations.

Situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery to hospitalized elderly in The Netherlands: a comparison between hospitals

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background It is known that interprofessional collaboration is crucial for integrated care delivery, yet we are still unclear about the underlying mechanisms explaining effectiveness of integrated care delivery to older patients. In addition, we lack research comparing integrated care delivery between hospitals. Therefore, this study aims to (i) provide insight into the underlying components ‘relational coordination’ and ‘situational awareness’ of integrated care delivery and the role of team and organizational context in integrated care delivery; and (ii) compare situational awareness, relational coordination, and integrated care delivery of different hospitals in the Netherlands. Methods This cross-sectional study took place in 2012 among professionals from three different hospitals involved in the delivery of care to older patients. A total of 215 professionals filled in the questionnaire (42% response rate).Descriptive statistics and paired-sample t-tests were used to investigate the level of situational awareness, relational coordination, and integrated care delivery in the three different hospitals. Correlation and multilevel analyses were used to investigate the relationship between background characteristics, team context, organizational context, situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery. Results No differences in background characteristics, team context, organizational context, situational awareness, relational coordination and integrated care delivery were found among the three hospitals. Correlational analysis revealed that situational awareness (r = 0.30; p < 0.01), relational coordination (r = 0.17; p < 0.05), team climate (r = 0.29; p < 0.01), formal internal communication (r = 0.46; p < 0.01), and informal internal communication (r = 0.36; p < 0.01) were positively associated with integrated care delivery. Stepwise multilevel analyses showed that formal internal communication (p < 0.001) and situational awareness (p < 0.01) were associated with integrated care delivery. Team climate was not significantly associated with integrated care delivery when situational awareness and relational coordination were included in the equation. Thus situational awareness acted as mediator between team climate and integrated care delivery among professionals delivering care to older hospitalized patients. Conclusions The results of this study show the importance of formal internal communication and situational awareness for quality of care delivery to hospitalized older patients. PMID:24410889

[How to decide with precision, justice, and equity? Reflections on decision-making in the context of extreme prematurity. Part one: the problematics of decision-making in the context of extreme prematurity].

PubMed

Azria, E; Tsatsaris, V; Moriette, G; Hirsch, E; Schmitz, T; Cabrol, D; Goffinet, F

2007-05-01

Extreme premature child's long-term prognostic is getting better and better known, and if a resuscitation procedure is possible at birth, it won't guarantee survival or a survival free of disability. Incertitude toward individual prognosis and outcome for those childs remains considerable. In this field, we are at the frontier of medical knowledge and the answer to the question, "how to decide the ante and postnatal care?" is crucial. This work is focused on this problematic of decision making in the context of extreme prematurity. It attempts to deconstruct this concept and to explicit its stakes. Thus, with the support of the medical sources and of philosophical debates, we tried to build a decision-making procedure that complies with the ethical requirements of medical care, accuracy, justice and equity. This decision-making procedure is primarily concerned with the singularity of each decision situation and it intends to link it closely to the notions of rationality and responsibility.

Focus: global currents in national histories of science: the "global turn" and the history of science in Latin America.

PubMed

McCook, Stuart

2013-12-01

The "global turn" in the history of science offers new ways to think about how to do national and regional histories of science, in this case the history of science in Latin America. For example, it questions structuralist and diffusionist models of the spread of science and shows the often active role that people in Latin America (and the rest of the Global South) played in the construction of "universal" scientific knowledge. It suggests that even national or regional histories of science must be situated in a global context; all too often, such histories have treated global processes as a distant backdrop. At the same time, historians need to pay constant attention to the role of power in the construction of scientific knowledge. Finally, this essay highlights a methodological tool for writing globally inflected histories of science: the method of "following".

Electricity and Empire in 1920s Palestine under British Rule.

PubMed

Shamir, Ronen

2016-12-01

This article examines some techno-political aspects of the early years of electrification in British-ruled 1920s Palestine. It emphasizes the importance of local technical, topographical and hydrological forms of knowledge for understanding the dynamics of electrification. Situating the analysis in a general colonial context of electrification, the study shows that British colonial rulers lagged behind both German firms and local entrepreneurs in understanding the specific conditions pertaining to electrification in Palestine. Subsequently, the study shows that the British had limited control of the actual electrification process and its declared/professed developmental purposes, thereby complicating assumptions about electrification as a tool of the Empire/tool of empire. Finding some similarities between the cases of electrifying Palestine and India, the article's findings may shed further light on the importance of micro-politics of knowledge for understanding the trajectory of electrification in the colonies.

Effects of Situated Learning on Students' Knowledge Acquisition: An Individual Differences Perspective

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zheng, Robert

2010-01-01

This study focuses on the effects of situated learning on students' knowledge acquisition by investigating the influence of individual differences in such learning. Seventy-nine graduates were recruited from an educational department and were assigned to situated learning and traditional learning based on a randomized block design. Results…

A transactional framework for pediatric rehabilitation: shifting the focus to situated contexts, transactional processes, and adaptive developmental outcomes.

PubMed

King, Gillian; Imms, Christine; Stewart, Debra; Freeman, Matt; Nguyen, Tram

2018-07-01

A paradigm shift is taking place in pediatric rehabilitation research, practice, and policy - a shift towards the real-life contexts of clients rather than requiring clients to navigate the world of pediatric rehabilitation. This article proposes a conceptual framework to bring about a broader awareness of clients' lives and transactional processes of change over the life course. The framework draws attention to transactional processes by which individuals, situated in life contexts, change and adapt over the life course and, in turn, influence their contextual settings and broader environments. This framework is based on (a) basic tenets derived from foundational theories taking a life course perspective to change, and (b) transactional processes identified from relevant pediatric rehabilitation models that bring these foundational theories into the pediatric rehabilitation sphere. The framework identifies three types of transactional processes relevant to pediatric rehabilitation: facilitative, resiliency, and socialization processes. These processes describe how contexts and people mutually influence each other via opportunities and situated experiences, thus facilitating capacity, adaptation to adversity, and socialization to new roles and life transitions. The utility of the framework is considered for research, practice, service organizations, and policy. Implications for Rehabilitation The framework supports practitioners going beyond person and environment as separate entities, to provide services to the "situated person" in real-life contexts The framework shifts the focus from "body structures/functions" and "person in activity" to "person in changing and challenging life contexts" Working from a transactional perspective, practitioner-client conversations will change; practitioners will view client situations through a lens of opportunities and experiences, assess client experiences in real-life contexts, and strive to create context-based therapy opportunities The framework suggests the benefit of greater focus on resiliency processes to support client self-efficacy, self-determination, and autonomy, and socialization processes to enhance ability to enact new life roles at times of transition.

An overview of current applications, challenges, and future trends in distributed process-based models in hydrology

USGS Publications Warehouse

Fatichi, Simone; Vivoni, Enrique R.; Odgen, Fred L; Ivanov, Valeriy Y; Mirus, Benjamin B.; Gochis, David; Downer, Charles W; Camporese, Matteo; Davison, Jason H; Ebel, Brian A.; Jones, Norm; Kim, Jongho; Mascaro, Giuseppe; Niswonger, Richard G.; Restrepo, Pedro; Rigon, Riccardo; Shen, Chaopeng; Sulis, Mauro; Tarboton, David

2016-01-01

Process-based hydrological models have a long history dating back to the 1960s. Criticized by some as over-parameterized, overly complex, and difficult to use, a more nuanced view is that these tools are necessary in many situations and, in a certain class of problems, they are the most appropriate type of hydrological model. This is especially the case in situations where knowledge of flow paths or distributed state variables and/or preservation of physical constraints is important. Examples of this include: spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture, groundwater flow and runoff generation, sediment and contaminant transport, or when feedbacks among various Earth’s system processes or understanding the impacts of climate non-stationarity are of primary concern. These are situations where process-based models excel and other models are unverifiable. This article presents this pragmatic view in the context of existing literature to justify the approach where applicable and necessary. We review how improvements in data availability, computational resources and algorithms have made detailed hydrological simulations a reality. Avenues for the future of process-based hydrological models are presented suggesting their use as virtual laboratories, for design purposes, and with a powerful treatment of uncertainty.

Beyond Compliance Checking: A Situated Approach to Visual Research Ethics.

PubMed

Lenette, Caroline; Botfield, Jessica R; Boydell, Katherine; Haire, Bridget; Newman, Christy E; Zwi, Anthony B

2018-03-19

Visual research methods like photography and digital storytelling are increasingly used in health and social sciences research as participatory approaches that benefit participants, researchers, and audiences. Visual methods involve a number of additional ethical considerations such as using identifiable content and ownership of creative outputs. As such, ethics committees should use different assessment frameworks to consider research protocols with visual methods. Here, we outline the limitations of ethics committees in assessing projects with a visual focus and highlight the sparse knowledge on how researchers respond when they encounter ethical challenges in the practice of visual research. We propose a situated approach in relation to visual methodologies that encompasses a negotiated, flexible approach, given that ethical issues usually emerge in relation to the specific contexts of individual research projects. Drawing on available literature and two case studies, we identify and reflect on nuanced ethical implications in visual research, like tensions between aesthetics and research validity. The case studies highlight strategies developed in-situ to address the challenges two researchers encountered when using visual research methods, illustrating that some practice implications are not necessarily addressed using established ethical clearance procedures. A situated approach can ensure that visual research remains ethical, engaging, and rigorous.

Individual differences in BEV drivers' range stress during first encounter of a critical range situation.

PubMed

Franke, Thomas; Rauh, Nadine; Krems, Josef F

2016-11-01

It is commonly held that range anxiety, in the form of experienced range stress, constitutes a usage barrier, particularly during the early period of battery electric vehicle (BEV) usage. To better understand factors that play a role in range stress during this critical period of adaptation to limited-range mobility, we examined individual differences in experienced range stress in the context of a critical range situation. In a field experiment, 74 participants drove a BEV on a 94-km round trip, which was tailored to lead to a critical range situation (i.e., small available range safety buffer). Higher route familiarity, trust in the range estimation system, system knowledge, subjective range competence, and internal control beliefs in dealing with technology were clearly related to lower experienced range stress; emotional stability (i.e., low neuroticism) was partly related to lower range stress. These results can inform strategies aimed at reducing range stress during early BEV usage, as well as contribute to a better understanding of factors that drive user experience in low-resource systems, which is a key topic in the field of green ergonomics. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterizing the nature and variability of avalanche hazard in western Canada

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shandro, Bret; Haegeli, Pascal

2018-04-01

The snow and avalanche climate types maritime, continental and transitional are well established and have been used extensively to characterize the general nature of avalanche hazard at a location, study inter-seasonal and large-scale spatial variabilities and provide context for the design of avalanche safety operations. While researchers and practitioners have an experience-based understanding of the avalanche hazard associated with the three climate types, no studies have described the hazard character of an avalanche climate in detail. Since the 2009/2010 winter, the consistent use of Statham et al. (2017) conceptual model of avalanche hazard in public avalanche bulletins in Canada has created a new quantitative record of avalanche hazard that offers novel opportunities for addressing this knowledge gap. We identified typical daily avalanche hazard situations using self-organizing maps (SOMs) and then calculated seasonal prevalence values of these situations. This approach produces a concise characterization that is conducive to statistical analyses, but still provides a comprehensive picture that is informative for avalanche risk management due to its link to avalanche problem types. Hazard situation prevalence values for individual seasons, elevations bands and forecast regions provide unprecedented insight into the inter-seasonal and spatial variability of avalanche hazard in western Canada.

Narrowing the Transfer Gap: The Advantages of "as if" Situations in Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vermeulen, Rita C. M.

2002-01-01

A schema a frame creates context and shapes interpretation. Using an "as if" framework can connect the contexts of training and job performance to improve transfer. Techniques that create "as if" situations include role playing, visualization, psychodrama, voice dialogue, improvisation, playback theatre, and six-steps reframing. (Contains 23…

Expertise for Teaching Biology Situated in the Context of Genetic Testing

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Zande, Paul; Akkerman, Sanne F.; Brekelmans, Mieke; Waarlo, Arend Jan; Vermunt, Jan D.

2012-01-01

Contemporary genomics research will impact the daily practice of biology teachers who want to teach up-to-date genetics in secondary education. This article reports on a research project aimed at enhancing biology teachers' expertise for teaching genetics situated in the context of genetic testing. The increasing body of scientific knowledge…

Personality, emotion, and individual differences in physiological responses.

PubMed

Stemmler, Gerhard; Wacker, Jan

2010-07-01

A dominant paradigm in biopsychological personality research seeks to establish links between emotional and motivational traits and habitual, transsituationally consistent individual differences in measures of physiological activity. An alternative approach conceptualizes traits as dispositions that are only operative in certain situational contexts and consequently predicts associations between emotional and motivational traits and physiological activity only for trait-relevant situational contexts in which the physiological systems underlying the traits in question are engaged. In the present paper we first examine and contrast these personistic and interactionistic conceptualizations of personality and personality-physiology associations and then present data from several large studies (N>100) in which electrocortical (e.g., frontal alpha asymmetry) and somatovisceral parameters were measured in various situational contexts (e.g., after the induction of either anger, or fear, or anxiety). As predicted by the interactionistic conceptualization of traits as dispositions the situational context and its subjective representation by the participants moderated the personality-physiology relationships for measures of both central and peripheral nervous system activity. We conclude by outlining the implications of the interactionistic approach for biopsychological personality research. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial Navigation and the Central Complex: Sensory Acquisition, Orientation, and Motor Control

PubMed Central

Varga, Adrienn G.; Kathman, Nicholas D.; Martin, Joshua P.; Guo, Peiyuan; Ritzmann, Roy E.

2017-01-01

Cockroaches are scavengers that forage through dark, maze-like environments. Like other foraging animals, for instance rats, they must continually asses their situation to keep track of targets and negotiate barriers. While navigating a complex environment, all animals need to integrate sensory information in order to produce appropriate motor commands. The integrated sensory cues can be used to provide the animal with an environmental and contextual reference frame for the behavior. To successfully reach a goal location, navigational cues continuously derived from sensory inputs have to be utilized in the spatial guidance of motor commands. The sensory processes, contextual and spatial mechanisms, and motor outputs contributing to navigation have been heavily studied in rats. In contrast, many insect studies focused on the sensory and/or motor components of navigation, and our knowledge of the abstract representation of environmental context and spatial information in the insect brain is relatively limited. Recent reports from several laboratories have explored the role of the central complex (CX), a sensorimotor region of the insect brain, in navigational processes by recording the activity of CX neurons in freely-moving insects and in more constrained, experimenter-controlled situations. The results of these studies indicate that the CX participates in processing the temporal and spatial components of sensory cues, and utilizes these cues in creating an internal representation of orientation and context, while also directing motor control. Although these studies led to a better understanding of the CX's role in insect navigation, there are still major voids in the literature regarding the underlying mechanisms and brain regions involved in spatial navigation. The main goal of this review is to place the above listed findings in the wider context of animal navigation by providing an overview of the neural mechanisms of navigation in rats and summarizing and comparing our current knowledge on the CX's role in insect navigation to these processes. By doing so, we aimed to highlight some of the missing puzzle pieces in insect navigation and provide a different perspective for future directions. PMID:28174527

[Investigation on level and influencing factors of first aid knowledge among dentists in Sichuan province].

PubMed

Qiu, Yu; Li, Yuan-Yuan; Li, Tian-Guo; Chen, Yi-Ge; Kong, Jing-Jun; Pan, Jian

2018-04-01

The study aims to investigate the cognition degree and influencing factors of first aid knowledge among dentists in Sichuan province, and to provide suggestions for the training of oral clinician. A questionnaire was designed for this study. It included the basic situation of population, first aid knowledge level, emergency situation often encountered in stomatology clinic, first aid training situation, learning approach and attitude of first aid knowledge, etc. This questionnaire was used to investigate the dentists of medical institutions in various cities in Sichuan province. The survey results was statistical analyzed. There were 245 valid questionnaires. 1) The level of first aid knowledge of dentists was generally lower in Sichuan province. Work department and other departments work experience were the influencing factors of knowledge level of first aid knowledge among dentists. 2) 87.3% of dentists believed that it was very necessary to master the knowledge of first aid, but in the event of an emergency situation, 73.5% of dentists only can find other doctors to guide themselves to help. 3) The most common way to learn first aid knowledge was through work experience and medical school's first aid course. Dentists should strengthen the learning and training to improve the first aid skill.

Development of a Situational Judgment Test as a Predictor of College Student Performance

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Matošková, Jana; Kovárík, Martin

2017-01-01

It has been suggested that tacit knowledge may be a good predictor of performance in college. The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which a situational judgment test developed to measure tacit knowledge correlates with predictors and indicators of college performance. This situational judgment test includes eight situations…

Contextual Variability in Personality From Significant–Other Knowledge and Relational Selves

PubMed Central

Andersen, Susan M.; Tuskeviciute, Rugile; Przybylinski, Elizabeth; Ahn, Janet N.; Xu, Joy H.

2016-01-01

We argue that the self is intrinsically embedded in an interpersonal context such that it varies in IF–THEN terms, as the relational self. We have demonstrated that representations of the significant other and the relationship with that other are automatically activated by situational cues and that this activation affects both experienced and expressed aspects of the self and personality. Here, we expand on developments of the IF–THEN cognitive-affective framework of personality system (Mischel and Shoda, 1995), by extending it to the domain of interpersonal relationships at the dyadic level (Andersen and Chen, 2002). Going beyond Mischel’s early research (Mischel, 1968), our framework combines social cognition and learning theory with a learning-based psychodynamic approach, which provides the basis for extensive research on the social-cognitive process of transference and the relational self as it arises in everyday social interactions (Andersen and Cole, 1990), evidence from which contributes to a modern conceptualization of personality that emphasizes the centrality of the situation. PMID:26779051

Emerging issue of e-waste in Pakistan: A review of status, research needs and data gaps.

PubMed

Iqbal, Mehreen; Breivik, Knut; Syed, Jabir Hussain; Malik, Riffat Naseem; Li, Jun; Zhang, Gan; Jones, Kevin C

2015-12-01

This review article focuses on the current situation of e-waste in Pakistan with the emphasis on defining the major e-waste recycling sites, current and future domestic generation of e-waste, hidden flows or import of e-waste and discusses various challenges for e-waste management. Needed policy interventions and possible measures to be taken at governmental level are discussed to avoid the increasing problem of e-waste in the country. Our findings highlight that there is still a general lack of reliable data, inventories and research studies addressing e-waste related issues in the context of environmental and human health in Pakistan. There is therefore a critical need to improve the current knowledge base, which should build upon the research experience from other countries which have experienced similar situations in the past. Further research into these issues in Pakistan is considered vital to help inform future policies/control strategies as already successfully implemented in other countries. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Contextual Variability in Personality From Significant-Other Knowledge and Relational Selves.

PubMed

Andersen, Susan M; Tuskeviciute, Rugile; Przybylinski, Elizabeth; Ahn, Janet N; Xu, Joy H

2015-01-01

We argue that the self is intrinsically embedded in an interpersonal context such that it varies in IF-THEN terms, as the relational self. We have demonstrated that representations of the significant other and the relationship with that other are automatically activated by situational cues and that this activation affects both experienced and expressed aspects of the self and personality. Here, we expand on developments of the IF-THEN cognitive-affective framework of personality system (Mischel and Shoda, 1995), by extending it to the domain of interpersonal relationships at the dyadic level (Andersen and Chen, 2002). Going beyond Mischel's early research (Mischel, 1968), our framework combines social cognition and learning theory with a learning-based psychodynamic approach, which provides the basis for extensive research on the social-cognitive process of transference and the relational self as it arises in everyday social interactions (Andersen and Cole, 1990), evidence from which contributes to a modern conceptualization of personality that emphasizes the centrality of the situation.

Situated Learning in Computer Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ben-Ari, Mordechai

2004-01-01

Sociocultural theories of learning such as Wenger and Lave's situated learning have been suggested as alternatives to cognitive theories of learning like constructivism. This article examines situated learning within the context of computer science (CS) education. Situated learning accurately describes some CS communities like open-source software…

Context as Relevance-Driven Abduction and Charitable Satisficing

PubMed Central

Attardo, Salvatore

2016-01-01

It has been widely assumed that the full meaning of a linguistic expression can be grasped only within a situation, the context of the utterance. There is even agreement that certain factors within the situation are particularly significant, including gestures and facial expressions of the participants, their social roles, the setting of the exchange, the objects surrounding the participants, the linguistic, cultural and educational backgrounds of the participants, their beliefs, including those concerning the situation, the social procedures and conventions that regulate the situation. Finally, there is some agreement that context is dynamic, reflexive (the speakers are mutually aware of their beliefs), not limited to linguistics actions, and last but not least, a psychological construct. This definition of context is not (very) controversial, but it leaves out two major problems, which will be addressed in this paper: how is context arrived at? And, since a perfectly natural interpretation of the above definition could be that the context of each utterance is the entire universe, how is the relevant context delimited? Four related concepts will provide the answer to both questions: abductive reasoning, driven by relevance and cooperation, and bounded rationality and the principle of charity. Simply put, context is derived abductively by the speakers assuming that for the speakers to behave the way they behave and do so rationally, a given context must be available to them. The context is bounded by the simple requirement that speakers not try to optimize their interpretation/calculation, but rather satisfice, i.e., find the first acceptable solution and by the need to follow the principle of charity, which forces intersubjective agreement. Thus, abductive reasoning and bounded rationality will be shown to be sufficient to calculate the relevant context of utterances (or other rationality-driven interactions) and to effectively delimit the potentially infinite search space that must be explored to do so. PMID:27014123

Context as Relevance-Driven Abduction and Charitable Satisficing.

PubMed

Attardo, Salvatore

2016-01-01

It has been widely assumed that the full meaning of a linguistic expression can be grasped only within a situation, the context of the utterance. There is even agreement that certain factors within the situation are particularly significant, including gestures and facial expressions of the participants, their social roles, the setting of the exchange, the objects surrounding the participants, the linguistic, cultural and educational backgrounds of the participants, their beliefs, including those concerning the situation, the social procedures and conventions that regulate the situation. Finally, there is some agreement that context is dynamic, reflexive (the speakers are mutually aware of their beliefs), not limited to linguistics actions, and last but not least, a psychological construct. This definition of context is not (very) controversial, but it leaves out two major problems, which will be addressed in this paper: how is context arrived at? And, since a perfectly natural interpretation of the above definition could be that the context of each utterance is the entire universe, how is the relevant context delimited? Four related concepts will provide the answer to both questions: abductive reasoning, driven by relevance and cooperation, and bounded rationality and the principle of charity. Simply put, context is derived abductively by the speakers assuming that for the speakers to behave the way they behave and do so rationally, a given context must be available to them. The context is bounded by the simple requirement that speakers not try to optimize their interpretation/calculation, but rather satisfice, i.e., find the first acceptable solution and by the need to follow the principle of charity, which forces intersubjective agreement. Thus, abductive reasoning and bounded rationality will be shown to be sufficient to calculate the relevant context of utterances (or other rationality-driven interactions) and to effectively delimit the potentially infinite search space that must be explored to do so.

User Situational Context: An Essential Challenge to Context Awareness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mowafi, Yaser Abdallah

2009-01-01

Existing research on context and context awareness has broadly focused on the technical aspects of context acquisition and interpretation of users' surroundings, also called physical or sensor-based context. Such an approach has lacked from reconciling the perception of real-world context exhibited by humans, also known as user context, and…

CellNOptR: a flexible toolkit to train protein signaling networks to data using multiple logic formalisms.

PubMed

Terfve, Camille; Cokelaer, Thomas; Henriques, David; MacNamara, Aidan; Goncalves, Emanuel; Morris, Melody K; van Iersel, Martijn; Lauffenburger, Douglas A; Saez-Rodriguez, Julio

2012-10-18

Cells process signals using complex and dynamic networks. Studying how this is performed in a context and cell type specific way is essential to understand signaling both in physiological and diseased situations. Context-specific medium/high throughput proteomic data measured upon perturbation is now relatively easy to obtain but formalisms that can take advantage of these features to build models of signaling are still comparatively scarce. Here we present CellNOptR, an open-source R software package for building predictive logic models of signaling networks by training networks derived from prior knowledge to signaling (typically phosphoproteomic) data. CellNOptR features different logic formalisms, from Boolean models to differential equations, in a common framework. These different logic model representations accommodate state and time values with increasing levels of detail. We provide in addition an interface via Cytoscape (CytoCopteR) to facilitate use and integration with Cytoscape network-based capabilities. Models generated with this pipeline have two key features. First, they are constrained by prior knowledge about the network but trained to data. They are therefore context and cell line specific, which results in enhanced predictive and mechanistic insights. Second, they can be built using different logic formalisms depending on the richness of the available data. Models built with CellNOptR are useful tools to understand how signals are processed by cells and how this is altered in disease. They can be used to predict the effect of perturbations (individual or in combinations), and potentially to engineer therapies that have differential effects/side effects depending on the cell type or context.

CellNOptR: a flexible toolkit to train protein signaling networks to data using multiple logic formalisms

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Cells process signals using complex and dynamic networks. Studying how this is performed in a context and cell type specific way is essential to understand signaling both in physiological and diseased situations. Context-specific medium/high throughput proteomic data measured upon perturbation is now relatively easy to obtain but formalisms that can take advantage of these features to build models of signaling are still comparatively scarce. Results Here we present CellNOptR, an open-source R software package for building predictive logic models of signaling networks by training networks derived from prior knowledge to signaling (typically phosphoproteomic) data. CellNOptR features different logic formalisms, from Boolean models to differential equations, in a common framework. These different logic model representations accommodate state and time values with increasing levels of detail. We provide in addition an interface via Cytoscape (CytoCopteR) to facilitate use and integration with Cytoscape network-based capabilities. Conclusions Models generated with this pipeline have two key features. First, they are constrained by prior knowledge about the network but trained to data. They are therefore context and cell line specific, which results in enhanced predictive and mechanistic insights. Second, they can be built using different logic formalisms depending on the richness of the available data. Models built with CellNOptR are useful tools to understand how signals are processed by cells and how this is altered in disease. They can be used to predict the effect of perturbations (individual or in combinations), and potentially to engineer therapies that have differential effects/side effects depending on the cell type or context. PMID:23079107

What's so critical about Critical Neuroscience? Rethinking experiment, enacting critique.

PubMed

Fitzgerald, Des; Matusall, Svenja; Skewes, Joshua; Roepstorff, Andreas

2014-01-01

In the midst of on-going hype about the power and potency of the new brain sciences, scholars within "Critical Neuroscience" have called for a more nuanced and sceptical neuroscientific knowledge-practice. Drawing especially on the Frankfurt School, they urge neuroscientists towards a more critical approach-one that re-inscribes the objects and practices of neuroscientific knowledge within webs of social, cultural, historical and political-economic contingency. This paper is an attempt to open up the black-box of "critique" within Critical Neuroscience itself. Specifically, we argue that limiting enactments of critique to the invocation of context misses the force of what a highly-stylized and tightly-bound neuroscientific experiment can actually do. We show that, within the neuroscientific experiment itself, the world-excluding and context-denying "rules of the game" may also enact critique, in novel and surprising forms, while remaining formally independent of the workings of society, and culture, and history. To demonstrate this possibility, we analyze the Optimally Interacting Minds (OIM) paradigm, a neuroscientific experiment that used classical psychophysical methods to show that, in some situations, people worked better as a collective, and not as individuals-a claim that works precisely against reactionary tendencies that prioritize individual over collective agency, but that was generated and legitimized entirely within the formal, context-denying conventions of neuroscientific experimentation. At the heart of this paper is a claim that it was precisely the rigors and rules of the experimental game that allowed these scientists to enact some surprisingly critical, and even radical, gestures. We conclude by suggesting that, in the midst of large-scale neuroscientific initiatives, it may be "experiment", and not "context", that forms the meeting-ground between neuro-biological and socio-political research practices.

Understanding physicians' professional knowledge and practice in research on skilled migration.

PubMed

Weiß, Anja

2016-08-01

Research on the integration of migrant professionals into high-skilled labor markets either focuses on differences between nation states which may be exacerbated by national closure or it celebrates the global versatility of professional knowledge, especially in the natural and health sciences. Building on a pragmatist approach to professional knowledge, the article argues that professional knowledge should not be seen as either universal or local, but both the institutionalized and the incorporated aspects of cultural capital are characterized by 'local universality'. Professionals recreate professional knowledge in specific 'local' situations by relating to universal standards and to internalized 'libraries' of situated expert experience. While the more common notion of knowledge as a socially contested resource continues to be relevant for research on skilled migration, professional knowledge should also be seen as emerging in situations in response to socio-material problems. These problems can be structured by the nation-state, but they can also be transnational in nature.

Observational Word Learning: Beyond Propose-But-Verify and Associative Bean Counting.

PubMed

Roembke, Tanja; McMurray, Bob

2016-04-01

Learning new words is difficult. In any naming situation, there are multiple possible interpretations of a novel word. Recent approaches suggest that learners may solve this problem by tracking co-occurrence statistics between words and referents across multiple naming situations (e.g. Yu & Smith, 2007), overcoming the ambiguity in any one situation. Yet, there remains debate around the underlying mechanisms. We conducted two experiments in which learners acquired eight word-object mappings using cross-situational statistics while eye-movements were tracked. These addressed four unresolved questions regarding the learning mechanism. First, eye-movements during learning showed evidence that listeners maintain multiple hypotheses for a given word and bring them all to bear in the moment of naming. Second, trial-by-trial analyses of accuracy suggested that listeners accumulate continuous statistics about word/object mappings, over and above prior hypotheses they have about a word. Third, consistent, probabilistic context can impede learning, as false associations between words and highly co-occurring referents are formed. Finally, a number of factors not previously considered in prior analysis impact observational word learning: knowledge of the foils, spatial consistency of the target object, and the number of trials between presentations of the same word. This evidence suggests that observational word learning may derive from a combination of gradual statistical or associative learning mechanisms and more rapid real-time processes such as competition, mutual exclusivity and even inference or hypothesis testing.

Dual-process theory and consumer response to front-of-package nutrition label formats.

PubMed

Sanjari, S Setareh; Jahn, Steffen; Boztug, Yasemin

2017-11-01

Nutrition labeling literature yields fragmented results about the effect of front-of-package (FOP) nutrition label formats on healthy food choice. Specifically, it is unclear which type of nutrition label format is effective across different shopping situations. To address this gap, the present review investigates the available nutrition labeling literature through the prism of dual-process theory, which posits that decisions are made either quickly and automatically (system 1) or slowly and deliberately (system 2). A systematically performed review of nutrition labeling literature returned 59 papers that provide findings that can be explained according to dual-process theory. The findings of these studies suggest that the effectiveness of nutrition label formats is influenced by the consumer's dominant processing system, which is a function of specific contexts and personal variables (eg, motivation, nutrition knowledge, time pressure, and depletion). Examination of reported findings through a situational processing perspective reveals that consumers might prefer different FOP nutrition label formats in different situations and can exhibit varying responses to the same label format across situations. This review offers several suggestions for policy makers and researchers to help improve current FOP nutrition label formats. © The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Life Sciences Institute. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

The coexistence of alternative and scientific conceptions in physics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozdemir, Omer F.

The purpose of this study was to inquire about the simultaneous coexistence of alternative and scientific conceptions in the domain of physics. This study was particularly motivated by several arguments put forward in opposition to the Conceptual Change Model. In the simplest form, these arguments state that people construct different domains of knowledge and different modes of perception in different situations. Therefore, holding different conceptualizations is unavoidable and expecting a replacement in an individual's conceptual structure is not plausible in terms of instructional practices. The following research questions were generated to inquire about this argument: (1) Do individuals keep their alternative conceptions after they have acquired scientific conceptions? (2) Assuming that individuals who acquired scientific conceptions also have alternative conceptions, how are these different conceptions nested in their conceptual structure? (3) What kind of knowledge, skills, and reasoning are necessary to transfer scientific principles instead of alternative ones in the construction of a valid model? Analysis of the data collected from the non-physics group indicated that the nature of alternative conceptions is framed by two types of reasoning: reasoning by mental simulation and semiformal reasoning. Analysis of the data collected from the physics group revealed that mental images or scenes feeding reasoning by mental simulation had not disappeared after the acquisition of scientific conceptions. The analysis of data also provided enough evidence to conclude that alternative principles feeding semiformal reasoning have not necessarily disappeared after the acquisition of scientific conceptions. However, in regard to semiformal reasoning, compartmentalization was not as clear as the case demonstrated in reasoning by mental simulation; instead semiformal and scientific reasoning are intertwined in a way that the components of semiformal reasoning can easily take their place among the components of scientific reasoning. In spite of the fact that the coexistence of multiple conceptions might obstruct the transfer of scientific conceptions in problem-solving situations, several factors stimulating the use of scientific conceptions were noticed explicitly. These factors were categorized as follows: (a) the level of individuals' domain specific knowledge in the corresponding field, (b) the level of individuals' knowledge about the process of science (how science generates its knowledge claims), (c) the level of individuals' awareness of different types of reasoning and conceptions, and (d) the context in which the problem is situated. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Reflective Questions, Self-Questioning and Managing Professionally Situated Practice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Malthouse, Richard; Watts, Mike; Roffey-Barentsen, Jodi

2015-01-01

Reflective self-questioning arises within the workplace when people are confronted with professional problems and situations. This paper focuses on reflective and "situated reflective" questions in terms of self-questioning and professional workplace problem solving. In our view, the situational context, entailed by the setting, social…

On Educational Advocacy and Cultural Work: Situating Community-Based Youth Work[ers] in Broader Educational Discourse

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baldridge, Biana J.

2018-01-01

Background/Context: The current educational market nestled in neoliberal and market-based reform efforts has shifted the nature of public education. Community-based educational spaces are also shaped within this context. As such, given the political and educational climate youth workers are situated in, their role as advocates, cultural workers,…

Function as a Determinant of Speech Production--Implications for Language Development in Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Skull, John

The function of speech and its implications for studying, understanding, and promoting language development are explored in this paper. Function is considered to be the purpose of the speaker when speaking, variously termed context of situation, situation, context, circumstance, or mode. It is noted that very few studies of speech and speech…

A School-Level Analysis of Adolescent Extracurricular Activity, Delinquency, and Depression: The Importance of Situational Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guest, Andrew M.; McRee, Nick

2009-01-01

In this article we investigate the extent to which the relationship between extracurricular activities and youth development depends on situational contexts. Using a national sample including 13,466 youths in grades 7-12 across 120 schools, we conduct school-level analyses of the association between extracurricular activities, delinquency, and…

Integrating movement in academic classrooms: understanding, applying and advancing the knowledge base.

PubMed

Webster, C A; Russ, L; Vazou, S; Goh, T L; Erwin, H

2015-08-01

In the context of comprehensive and coordinated approaches to school health, academic classrooms have gained attention as a promising setting for increasing physical activity and reducing sedentary time among children. The aims of this paper are to review the rationale and knowledge base related to movement integration in academic classrooms, consider the practical applications of current knowledge to interventions and teacher education, and suggest directions for future research. Specifically, this paper (i) situates movement integration amid policy and research related to children's health and the school as a health-promoting environment; (ii) highlights the benefits of movement integration; (iii) summarizes movement integration programs and interventions; (iv) examines factors associated with classroom teachers' movement integration; (v) offers strategies for translating research to practice and (vi) forwards recommendations for future inquiry related to the effectiveness and sustainability of efforts to integrate movement into classroom routines. This paper provides a comprehensive resource for developing state-of-the-art initiatives to maximize children's movement in academic classrooms as a key strategy for important goals in both education and public health. © 2015 World Obesity.

Decision making under uncertainty: a quasimetric approach.

PubMed

N'Guyen, Steve; Moulin-Frier, Clément; Droulez, Jacques

2013-01-01

We propose a new approach for solving a class of discrete decision making problems under uncertainty with positive cost. This issue concerns multiple and diverse fields such as engineering, economics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and many others. Basically, an agent has to choose a single or series of actions from a set of options, without knowing for sure their consequences. Schematically, two main approaches have been followed: either the agent learns which option is the correct one to choose in a given situation by trial and error, or the agent already has some knowledge on the possible consequences of his decisions; this knowledge being generally expressed as a conditional probability distribution. In the latter case, several optimal or suboptimal methods have been proposed to exploit this uncertain knowledge in various contexts. In this work, we propose following a different approach, based on the geometric intuition of distance. More precisely, we define a goal independent quasimetric structure on the state space, taking into account both cost function and transition probability. We then compare precision and computation time with classical approaches.

Can goal-free problems facilitating students' flexible thinking?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maulidya, Sity Rahmy; Hasanah, Rusi Ulfa; Retnowati, Endah

2017-08-01

Problem solving is the key of doing and also learning mathematics. It takes also the fundamental role of developing mathematical knowledge. Responding to the current reform movement in mathematics, students are expected to learn to be a flexible thinker. The ability to think flexible is challenged by the globalisation, hence influence mathematics education. A flexible thinking includes ability to apply knowledge in different contexts rather than simply use it in similar context when it is studied. Arguably problem solving activities can contribute to the development of the ability to apply skills to unfamiliar situations. Accordingly, an appropriate classroom instructional strategy must be developed. A cognitive load theory suggests that by reducing extraneous cognitive load during learning could enhance transfer learning. A goal-free problem strategy that is developed based in cognitive load theory have been showed to be effective for transfer learning. This strategy enables students to learn a large numbers of problem solving moves from a mathematics problem. The instruction in a goal-free problem directs students to `calculate as many solution as you can' rather than to calculate a single given goal. Many experiment research evident goal-free problem enhance learning. This literature review will discuss evidence goal-free problem facilitate students to solve problems flexibly and thus enhance their problem solving skills, including how its implication in the classroom.

Towards A Self Adaptive System for Social Wellness.

PubMed

Khattak, Asad Masood; Khan, Wajahat Ali; Pervez, Zeeshan; Iqbal, Farkhund; Lee, Sungyoung

2016-04-13

Advancements in science and technology have highlighted the importance of robust healthcare services, lifestyle services and personalized recommendations. For this purpose patient daily life activity recognition, profile information, and patient personal experience are required. In this research work we focus on the improvement in general health and life status of the elderly through the use of an innovative services to align dietary intake with daily life and health activity information. Dynamic provisioning of personalized healthcare and life-care services are based on the patient daily life activities recognized using smart phone. To achieve this, an ontology-based approach is proposed, where all the daily life activities and patient profile information are modeled in ontology. Then the semantic context is exploited with an inference mechanism that enables fine-grained situation analysis for personalized service recommendations. A generic system architecture is proposed that facilitates context information storage and exchange, profile information, and the newly recognized activities. The system exploits the patient's situation using semantic inference and provides recommendations for appropriate nutrition and activity related services. The proposed system is extensively evaluated for the claims and for its dynamic nature. The experimental results are very encouraging and have shown better accuracy than the existing system. The proposed system has also performed better in terms of the system support for a dynamic knowledge-base and the personalized recommendations.

Learning Behavior Analysis of a Ubiquitous Situated Reflective Learning System with Application to Life Science and Technology Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Chen, Hong-Ren; Chen, Nian-Shing; Lin, Li-Kai; Chen, Jin-Wen

2018-01-01

Education research has shown that reflective study can efficiently enhance learning, and the acquisition of knowledge and skills from real-life situations has become a focus of interest for scholars. The knowledge-learning model based on verbal instruction, used in traditional classrooms, does not make use of real-life situations that encourage…

Modelling Situation Awareness Information for Naval Decision Support Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-10-01

Modelling Situation Awareness Information for Naval Decision Support Design Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Doering, Dipl.-Ing. Gert Doerfel, Dipl.-Ing... knowledge -based user interfaces. For developing such interfaces information of the three different SA levels which operators need in performing their...large scale on situation awareness of operators which is defined as the state of operator knowledge about the external environment resulting from

Using ethnography in implementation research to improve nutrition interventions in populations

PubMed Central

Neufeld, Lynnette M.; Pelto, Gretel H.

2015-01-01

Abstract ‘Implementation research in nutrition’ is an emerging area of study aimed at building evidence‐based knowledge and sound theory to design and implement programs that will effectively deliver nutrition interventions. This paper describes some of the basic features of ethnography and illustrates its applications in components of the implementation process. We review the central purpose of ethnography, which is to obtain the emic view – the insider's perspective – and how ethnography has historically interfaced with nutrition. We present examples of ethnographic studies in relation to an analytic framework of the implementation process, situating them with respect to landscape analysis, formative research, process evaluation and impact evaluation. These examples, conducted in various parts of the world by different investigators, demonstrate how ethnography provided important, often essential, insights that influenced programming decisions or explained programme outcomes. Key messages Designing, implementing and evaluating interventions requires knowledge about the populations and communities in which interventions are situated, including knowledge from the ‘emic’ (insider's) perspective.Obtaining emic perspectives and analysing them in relation to cultural, economic and structural features of social organisation in societies is a central purpose of ethnography.Ethnography is an essential aspect of implementation research in nutrition, as it provides important insights for making decisions about appropriate interventions and delivery platforms; determining how best to fit aspects of programme design and implementation into different environmental and cultural contexts; opening the ‘black box’ in interventions to understand how delivery and utilisation processes affect programme outcomes or impacts; and understanding how programme impacts were achieved, or not. PMID:26778802

Using ethnography in implementation research to improve nutrition interventions in populations.

PubMed

Tumilowicz, Alison; Neufeld, Lynnette M; Pelto, Gretel H

2015-12-01

'Implementation research in nutrition' is an emerging area of study aimed at building evidence-based knowledge and sound theory to design and implement programs that will effectively deliver nutrition interventions. This paper describes some of the basic features of ethnography and illustrates its applications in components of the implementation process. We review the central purpose of ethnography, which is to obtain the emic view--the insider's perspective--and how ethnography has historically interfaced with nutrition. We present examples of ethnographic studies in relation to an analytic framework of the implementation process, situating them with respect to landscape analysis, formative research, process evaluation and impact evaluation. These examples, conducted in various parts of the world by different investigators, demonstrate how ethnography provided important, often essential, insights that influenced programming decisions or explained programme outcomes. Key messages Designing, implementing and evaluating interventions requires knowledge about the populations and communities in which interventions are situated, including knowledge from the 'emic' (insider's) perspective. Obtaining emic perspectives and analysing them in relation to cultural, economic and structural features of social organisation in societies is a central purpose of ethnography. Ethnography is an essential aspect of implementation research in nutrition, as it provides important insights for making decisions about appropriate interventions and delivery platforms; determining how best to fit aspects of programme design and implementation into different environmental and cultural contexts; opening the 'black box' in interventions to understand how delivery and utilisation processes affect programme outcomes or impacts; and understanding how programme impacts were achieved, or not. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A time-responsive tool for informing policy making: rapid realist review.

PubMed

Saul, Jessie E; Willis, Cameron D; Bitz, Jennifer; Best, Allan

2013-09-05

A realist synthesis attempts to provide policy makers with a transferable theory that suggests a certain program is more or less likely to work in certain respects, for particular subjects, in specific kinds of situations. Yet realist reviews can require considerable and sustained investment over time, which does not always suit the time-sensitive demands of many policy decisions. 'Rapid Realist Review' methodology (RRR) has been developed as a tool for applying a realist approach to a knowledge synthesis process in order to produce a product that is useful to policy makers in responding to time-sensitive and/or emerging issues, while preserving the core elements of realist methodology. Using examples from completed RRRs, we describe key features of the RRR methodology, the resources required, and the strengths and limitations of the process. All aspects of an RRR are guided by both a local reference group, and a group of content experts. Involvement of knowledge users and external experts ensures both the usability of the review products, as well as their links to current practice. RRRs have proven useful in providing evidence for and making explicit what is known on a given topic, as well as articulating where knowledge gaps may exist. From the RRRs completed to date, findings broadly adhere to four (often overlapping) classifications: guiding rules for policy-making; knowledge quantification (i.e., the amount of literature available that identifies context, mechanisms, and outcomes for a given topic); understanding tensions/paradoxes in the evidence base; and, reinforcing or refuting beliefs and decisions taken. 'Traditional' realist reviews and RRRs have some key differences, which allow policy makers to apply each type of methodology strategically to maximize its utility within a particular local constellation of history, goals, resources, politics and environment. In particular, the RRR methodology is explicitly designed to engage knowledge users and review stakeholders to define the research questions, and to streamline the review process. In addition, results are presented with a focus on context-specific explanations for what works within a particular set of parameters rather than producing explanations that are potentially transferrable across contexts and populations. For policy makers faced with making difficult decisions in short time frames for which there is sufficient (if limited) published/research and practice-based evidence available, RRR provides a practical, outcomes-focused knowledge synthesis method.

Does what you know matter? Investigating the relationship between mental models of climate change and pro-environmental behaviors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, R.

2013-12-01

The purpose of this study is to test the conjecture that environmentally sustainable decisions and behaviors are related to individuals' conceptions of the natural world, in this case climate change; individuals' attitudes towards climate change; and the situations in which these decisions are made. The nature of mental models is an ongoing subject of disagreement. Some argue that mental models are coherent theories, much like scientific theories, that individuals employ systematically when reasoning about the world (Gopnik & Meltzoff, 1998). Others maintain that mental models are cobbled together from fragmented collections of ideas that are only loosely connected and context dependent (Disessa, 1988; Minstrell, 2000). It is likely that individuals sometimes reason about complex phenomena using systematic mental models and at other times reason using knowledge that is organized in fragmented pieces (Steedle & Shavelson, 2009). Thus, in measuring mental models of complex environmental systems, such as climate change, the assumption of systematicity may not be justified. Individuals may apply certain chains of reasoning in some contexts but not in others. The current study hypothesizes that an accurate mental model of climate change enables an individual to make effective evaluative judgments of environmental behavior options. The more an individual's mental model resembles that of an expert, the more consistent, accurate and automatic these judgments become. However, an accurate mental model is not sufficient to change environmental behavior. Real decisions and behaviors are products of a person-situation interaction: an interplay between psychosocial factors (such as knowledge and attitudes) and the situation in which the decision is made. This study investigates the relationship between both psychosocial and situational factors for climate change decisions. Data was collected from 436 adult participants through an online survey. The survey was comprised of demographic questions; three discreet instruments measuring (1) mental models of climate change, (2) attitudes and beliefs about climate change, and (3) self-reported behaviors; and an experimental intervention, followed by a behavioral intention question. Latent class analysis (LCA) and item-response theory (IRT) will be employed to analyze multiple-choice responses to the mental model survey to create groupings of individuals assumed to hold similar mental of climate change. A principal component analysis (PCA) using oblique rotation was employed to identify five scales (Chronbach's alpha > 0.80) within the attitude/belief instrument. Total and sub-scale scores were also calculated for self-reported behaviors. The relationships between mental models, attitudes and behaviors will be analyzed using multiple regression models. This work presents not only the development and validation of three novel instruments for accurately and efficiently measuring mental models, attitudes, and self-reported behaviors, but also provides insight into the types of mental models individuals hold. Understanding how climate change is conceptualized and how such knowledge influences attitudes and behaviors gives educators tools for guiding students towards more expert understandings while also enabling environmentalists to craft more effective messages.

Socially constructed ‘value’ and vocational experiences following neurological injury

PubMed Central

Fadyl, Joanna K.; Payne, Deborah

2016-01-01

Abstract Purpose: Paid work is seen as a key outcome in rehabilitation. However, research demonstrates that because of normative expectations in the job market and workplace, experiences of disability can be intensified in a work context. We sought to explore this issue in more depth by analysing the effects of societal constructions of worker ‘value’ within individual case studies of people with acquired neurological injury. Method: Instrumental case study of four heterogeneous participants, employing a discourse analysis approach. Results: Participants described a perpetuation of discourses in which a disabled body or mind itself is seen to qualify, disqualify or limit a person’s value in employment. Nevertheless, interviews also highlighted discourses that constructed other worker identities: based on pre-injury identities, life experiences and other aspects of self. The contrasts between individuals illustrated how worker identities, when situated within broader societal discourses of worker ‘value’, can either constrain or expand the vocational opportunities available to individuals who experience disability. However, current and historical interactions about worker ‘value’ shaped the identities genuinely available to each individual. Conclusion: Understanding how societal discourses enable and constrain worker identities may be vital to (a) facilitating valid opportunities and (b) navigating situations that could unintentionally hinder vocational possibilities. Implications for RehabilitationThis study shows how worker identities, situated within societal discourses of worker ‘value’, can constrain or broaden vocational opportunities available to individuals who experience disability.Barriers to gaining, maintaining and developing in employment could be re-envisaged in terms of what is limiting a person’s ability to embody an enabling identity.A knowledge of both societal discourses and individuals’ interactions with them may be vital to facilitating opportunities that users of rehabilitation services experience as valid options. This knowledge can also provide information with which to navigate situations that could potentially (sometimes unintentionally) constrain vocational possibilities. PMID:26836299

Are Pediatric Emergency Physicians More Knowledgeable and Confident to Respond to a Pediatric Disaster after an Experiential Learning Experience?

PubMed

Bank, Ilana; Khalil, Elene

2016-10-01

Pediatric hospital disaster responders must be well-trained and prepared to manage children in a mass-casualty incident. Simulations of various types have been the traditional way of testing hospital disaster plans and training hospital staff in skills that are used in rare circumstances. The objective of this longitudinal, survey-based, observational study was to assess the effect of disaster response and management-based experiential learning on the knowledge and confidence of advanced learners. A simulation-based workshop was created for practicing Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) physicians, senior PEM physicians, and critical care and pediatric surgery residents to learn how to manage a disaster response. Given that this particular group of learners had never been exposed to such a disaster simulation, its educational value was assessed with the goal of improving the quality of the hospital pediatric medical response to a disaster by increasing the responders' knowledge and confidence. Objective and subjective measures were analyzed using both a retrospective, pre-post survey, as well as case-based evaluation grids. The simulation workshop improved the learners' perceived ability to manage patients in a disaster context and identified strengths and areas needing improvement for patient care within the disaster context. Advanced learners exposed to an experiential learning activity believed that it improved their ability to manage patients in a disaster situation and felt that it was valuable to their learning. Their confidence was preserved six months later. Bank I , Khalil E . Are pediatric emergency physicians more knowledgeable and confident to respond to a pediatric disaster after an experiential learning experience? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(5):551-556.

Near-death experience in a boy undergoing uneventful elective surgery under general anesthesia.

PubMed

Lopez, Ursula; Forster, Alain; Annoni, Jean-Marie; Habre, Walid; Iselin-Chaves, Irène A

2006-01-01

Near-death experience (NDE) is a complex subjective experience, which may include affective elements such as a sense of peacefulness, paranormal components such as a sensation of floating out of the body, and a perception of being in a dark tunnel and seeing a brilliant light. It is usually reported to occur in association with a wide range of life-threatening situations, as for instance, cardiopulmonary resuscitation. We report on an episode of NDE that occurred in a 12-year-old boy who underwent a general anesthesia for an elective uncomplicated surgery. To our knowledge, this is the first case of NDE in a child that has been reported in this context.

Revitalizing traditional ecological knowledge: a study in an Alpine rural community.

PubMed

Ianni, Elena; Geneletti, Davide; Ciolli, Marco

2015-07-01

This study aims to contribute to the debate on the value and the role of ecological knowledge in modern conservation strategies, with reference to the results of a case study conducted in the community of Montagne, located within a World Heritage site in the Italian Alps. This community is a paradigmatic example of the multiple transformations experienced by cultural landscapes in Alpine areas under the influence of global change. This study seeks to understand whether ecological knowledge is still in place in the community, and what the relationship is between the knowledge transmission and land use and social changes that have occurred in recent decades. To that end, the community is described by identifying the key variables (social, institutional, and ecological) that have historically shaped the landscape and the future priorities of the residents. Forest expansion, the most significant change in land use in the last 60 years, is analyzed using aerial photos; changes in biodiversity-related knowledge in the community are quantified by analyzing the inter-generational differences in plant species recognition. Results are discussed in the context of the current situation of the Montagne community, and the recommendation is made that policies and actions to promote traditional ecological knowledge protection or recovery in Europe be viewed as an important part of the recovery of community sovereignty and vitality. Lastly, concrete actions that can be implemented in our case study are proposed.

Revitalizing Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Study in an Alpine Rural Community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ianni, Elena; Geneletti, Davide; Ciolli, Marco

2015-07-01

This study aims to contribute to the debate on the value and the role of ecological knowledge in modern conservation strategies, with reference to the results of a case study conducted in the community of Montagne, located within a World Heritage site in the Italian Alps. This community is a paradigmatic example of the multiple transformations experienced by cultural landscapes in Alpine areas under the influence of global change. This study seeks to understand whether ecological knowledge is still in place in the community, and what the relationship is between the knowledge transmission and land use and social changes that have occurred in recent decades. To that end, the community is described by identifying the key variables (social, institutional, and ecological) that have historically shaped the landscape and the future priorities of the residents. Forest expansion, the most significant change in land use in the last 60 years, is analyzed using aerial photos; changes in biodiversity-related knowledge in the community are quantified by analyzing the inter-generational differences in plant species recognition. Results are discussed in the context of the current situation of the Montagne community, and the recommendation is made that policies and actions to promote traditional ecological knowledge protection or recovery in Europe be viewed as an important part of the recovery of community sovereignty and vitality. Lastly, concrete actions that can be implemented in our case study are proposed.

Transforming Energy Systems and Indian Initiatives in Intelligent Grid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Razdan, Anil

2014-07-01

Ancient words of wisdom have remarkable clarity, brevity, universality and timelessness in their applicability. They cut across civilizations, systems, and situations, almost effortlessly. The positive take is that mistakes can be committed, but can be rectified. What may be appropriate in one situation, has to change in another context. Two proverbs from diverse civilizations are very relevant in the current context...

Situated Willingness to Communicate in an L2: Interplay of Individual Characteristics and Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yashima, Tomoko; MacIntyre, Peter D.; Ikeda, Maiko

2018-01-01

Recently, situated willingness to communicate (WTC) has received increasing research attention in addition to traditional quantitative studies of trait-like WTC. This article is an addition to the former but unique in two ways. First, it investigates both trait and state WTC in a classroom context and explores ways to combine the two to reach a…

What is science in preschool and what do teachers have to know to empower children?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Andersson, Kristina; Gullberg, Annica

2014-06-01

In this article we problematize the purpose of teaching science in preschool and the competences preschool teachers need in order to conduct science activities in the classroom. The empirical data were collected through an action research project with five preschool and primary school teachers (K-6). In the first section of this paper we use one situation, a floating-sinking experiment, as an illustration of how two different epistemological perspectives generate different foci on which kind of science teaching competences can be fruitful in preschool settings. In the first perspective, the central goal of science teaching is the development of the children's conceptual understanding. With this perspective, we found that the science activities with children were unsuccessful, because their thoughts about concepts did not develop as expected, the situation even enhanced a "misconception" concerning density. Moreover, the teacher was unsuccessful in supporting the children's conceptual learning. The second perspective uses a feminist approach that scrutinizes science, where we investigate if the floating-sinking activity contributes to a feeling of participation in a scientific context for the children and if so how the teacher promotes this inclusion. This second perspective showed that the children's scientific proficiency benefited from the situation; they had a positive experience with density which was reinforced by the teacher. The children discovered that they had power over their own learning by using an experimental approach. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that there are competences other than subject matter knowledge that are also important when preschool teachers engage children in scientific activities. Through process-oriented work with the teacher group, we identified four concrete skills: paying attention to and using children's previous experiences; capturing unexpected things that happen at the moment they occur; asking questions that challenge the children and that stimulate further investigation; creating a situated presence, that is, "remaining" in the situation and listening to the children and their explanations. We discuss possible ways to move preschool teachers away from their feelings of inadequacy and poor self-confidence in teaching science by reinforcing this kind of pedagogical content knowledge.

Implication of Culture: User Roles in Information Fusion for Enhanced Situational Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-07-01

situational understanding through assessment of the environment to determine a coherent state of affairs. The information is integrated with knowledge to...Implication of Culture: User Roles in Information Fusion for Enhanced Situational Understanding Erik Blasch Air Force Research Lab 2241...enhanced tacit knowledge understanding by (1) display fusion for data presentation (e.g. cultural segmentation), (2) interactive fusion to allow the

Understanding context in knowledge translation: a concept analysis study protocol.

PubMed

Squires, Janet E; Graham, Ian D; Hutchinson, Alison M; Linklater, Stefanie; Brehaut, Jamie C; Curran, Janet; Ivers, Noah; Lavis, John N; Michie, Susan; Sales, Anne E; Fiander, Michelle; Fenton, Shannon; Noseworthy, Thomas; Vine, Jocelyn; Grimshaw, Jeremy M

2015-05-01

To conduct a concept analysis of clinical practice contexts (work environments) that facilitate or militate against the uptake of research evidence by healthcare professionals in clinical practice. This will involve developing a clear definition of context by describing its features, domains and defining characteristics. The context where clinical care is delivered influences that care. While research shows that context is important to knowledge translation (implementation), we lack conceptual clarity on what is context, which contextual factors probably modify the effect of knowledge translation interventions (and hence should be considered when designing interventions) and which contextual factors themselves could be targeted as part of a knowledge translation intervention (context modification). Concept analysis. The Walker and Avant concept analysis method, comprised of eight systematic steps, will be used: (1) concept selection; (2) determination of aims; (3) identification of uses of context; (4) determination of defining attributes of context; (5) identification/construction of a model case of context; (6) identification/construction of additional cases of context; (7) identification/construction of antecedents and consequences of context; and (8) definition of empirical referents of context. This study is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (January 2014). This study will result in a much needed framework of context for knowledge translation, which identifies specific elements that, if assessed and used to tailor knowledge translation activities, will result in increased research use by nurses and other healthcare professionals in clinical practice, ultimately leading to better patient care. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The first encounter with Norwegian psychomotor physiotherapy: patients' experiences, a basis for knowledge.

PubMed

Ekerholt, Kirsten; Bergland, Astrid

2004-01-01

The intention of this study was to elucidate patients' experiences of the examination of the body given in Norwegian Psychomotor Physiotherapy. A qualitative approach was used, based on interviews with nine women and one man aged between 41 and 65 years. The data were analysed with the aid of grounded theory, using the first two steps: open and axial coding. Three categories were identified from the patients' experiences. The first category "The Situation before Treatment", emerged from the subcategories "Prejudice concerning the prefix 'psycho"', "Difficulties in recognizing the body's information", and "The body is ambiguous". The second category, "Establishing the Relationship", emerged from the subcategories "Getting to know the therapist as an empathic person" and "Discovering professional skills". The third category, "Examination is Interaction", emerged from the subcategories "Dialogues--room for reflection", "Undress, the feeling of disclosure", and "Personal boundaries--good to be seen". These three categories emphasize the importance of cooperation between the physiotherapist and the patient in exploring the social and emotional context in order to understand the meaning of the body's symptoms. There must be no doubt about the skill and competence of the therapists, including their insight, personal responsibility, engagement, attentiveness, and awareness. Our material reflects the great impact the body examination had on the informants. Examination requires mutual interpretation. The patients' knowledge represents a significant potential for understanding of their own situation.

A Study on Situated Cognition: Product Dissection's Effect on Redesign Activities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Grantham, Katie; Okudan Kremer, Gül E.; Simpson, Timothy W.; Ashour, Omar

2013-01-01

Situated cognition theory describes the context of a learning activity's effect on learner's cognition. In this paper, we use situated cognition theory to examine the effect of product dissection on product redesign activities. Two specific research questions are addressed: 1) Does situated cognition, in the form of product dissection, improve…

Faces in Context: A Review and Systematization of Contextual Influences on Affective Face Processing

PubMed Central

Wieser, Matthias J.; Brosch, Tobias

2012-01-01

Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals’ emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant “basic emotion” approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, automatic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, de-contextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual’s face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social information gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias. Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual variables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at (1) systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and (2) summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of automatic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in future research. PMID:23130011

Faces in context: a review and systematization of contextual influences on affective face processing.

PubMed

Wieser, Matthias J; Brosch, Tobias

2012-01-01

Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals' emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant "basic emotion" approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, automatic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, de-contextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual's face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social information gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias. Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual variables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at (1) systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and (2) summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of automatic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in future research.

Evidence-based medicine for every day, everyone, and every therapeutic study.

PubMed

Govindarajan, Raghav; Narayanaswami, Pushpa

2018-04-17

The rapid growth in published medical literature makes it difficult for clinicians to keep up with advances in their fields. This may result in a cursory scan of the abstract and conclusion of a study without critically evaluating study quality. The application of evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the process of converting the abstract task of reading the literature into a practical method of using the literature to inform care in a specific clinical context while simultaneously expanding one's knowledge. EBM involves 4 steps: (1) stating the clinical problem in a defined question; (2) searching the literature for the evidence; (3) critically appraising the evidence for its validity; and (4) applying the evidence in the context of the patient's situation, preferences, and values. In this review, we use the recently published trial of thymectomy in myasthenia gravis as an example and systematically go through the steps of assessing internal validity, precision, and external validity. Muscle Nerve, 2018. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Small solar system bodies as granular systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hestroffer, Daniel; Campo Bagatín, Adriano; Losert, Wolfgang; Opsomer, Eric; Sánchez, Paul; Scheeres, Daniel J.; Staron, Lydie; Taberlet, Nicolas; Yano, Hajime; Eggl, Siegfried; Lecomte, Charles-Edouard; Murdoch, Naomi; Radjai, Fahrang; Richardson, Derek C.; Salazar, Marcos; Schwartz, Stephen R.; Tanga, Paolo

2017-06-01

Asteroids and other Small Solar System Bodies (SSSBs) are currently of great scientific and even industrial interest. Asteroids exist as the permanent record of the formation of the Solar System and therefore hold many clues to its understanding as a whole, as well as insights into the formation of planetary bodies. Additionally, SSSBs are being investigated in the context of impact risks for the Earth, space situational awareness and their possible industrial exploitation (asteroid mining). In all these aspects, the knowledge of the geophysical characteristics of SSSB surface and internal structure are of great importance. Given their size, constitution, and the evidence that many SSSBs are not simple monoliths, these bodies should be studied and modelled as self-gravitating granular systems in general, or as granular systems in micro-gravity environments in particular contexts. As such, the study of the geophysical characteristics of SSSBs is a multi-disciplinary effort that lies at the crossroads between Granular Mechanics, Celestial Mechanics, Soil Mechanics, Aerospace Engineering and Computer Sciences.

The Energy Forum of Sri Lanka: Working toward appropriate expertise

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nieusma, Dean

Taking my cue from the knowledge base and practices comprising appropriate technology development, and building on politics of expertise scholarship, this dissertation develops the concept of appropriate expertise: the combination of social and technical competences required to address marginalization through technological interventions. The dissertation asks what appropriate expertise looks like "on the ground" in the context of development as practiced by an exceptional group of technology designers from the Energy Forum of Sri Lanka: What design goals did they strive toward? What challenges did they face? What strategies did they employ? In an effort to answer these questions, the dissertation looks at how these designers interacted across a range of contexts with a broad spectrum of people and institutions, each with its own expertise to draw upon. In particular, it looks at how they situated their work in a highly contoured field of social power, where different types of expertise were used as resources for reinforcing or resisting existing power relations. I use the concept relations of expertise to denote the structure of expert interactions across multiple contexts of activity. Although this concept links to broad political-economic conditions that order varied expert practices, my analytic focus is at a different level: the situated experiences of expert practitioners. By starting with ground-level practices and understandings, I argue that creating new relations of expertise---that is, changing the nature of the interactions among experts and between experts and those they work with---is the key way my informants worked to legitimate marginalized perspectives and thereby empower marginalized social groups around technology-development practices. Appropriate expertise enables the creation of appropriate technologies, but it does more. It enables the creation of new relations of expertise, both through inspiring new forms of interpersonal interaction surrounding technology development and through incremental modification of existing decision-making structures to allow a more diverse group stakeholders to come together around technology decision making in the context of development.

Access Control for Cooperation Systems Based on Group Situation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Minsoo; Joshi, James B. D.; Kim, Minkoo

Cooperation systems characterize many emerging environments such as ubiquitous and pervasive systems. Agent based cooperation systems have been proposed in the literature to address challenges of such emerging application environments. A key aspect of such agent based cooperation system is the group situation that changes dynamically and governs the requirements of the cooperation. While individual agent context is important, the overall cooperation behavior is more driven by the group context because of relationships and interactions between agents. Dynamic access control based on group situation is a crucial challenge in such cooperation systems. In this paper we propose a dynamic role based access control model for cooperation systems based on group situation. The model emphasizes capability based agent to role mapping and group situation based permission assignment to allow capturing dynamic access policies that evolve continuously.

[The good PBL tutor--to be or not to be: instructional films for tutors].

PubMed

Skelin, Silvia; Huwendiek, Sören; Nikendei, Christoph; Dieter, Peter; Kirschfink, Michael; Bosse, Hans-Martin

2008-01-01

Many faculties worldwide apply the method of problem-based learning (PBL) in their curricula as a form of instruction by which students in small groups develop problem-solving strategies on the basis of a specific case. This approach fosters self-responsible and context-dependent learning, which aims at providing an improved anchoring of knowledge. For this reason, the previous decades have seen a distribution of the method to medical schools across the world. The role of the tutor assumes particular importance since, in contrast to the traditional university system, he or she serves as a facilitator who fosters and structures content-related and group-dynamic learning processes. In some cases, this requires an intervention by the tutor. The major challenge is to intervene at the right time and in an appropriate manner. This paper presents examples of difficult PBL situations using short film sequences to demonstrate and comments on potential approaches of the tutor in attempting to resolve the problem. Standard problem situations within a PBL tutorial were defined and produced in a film. A collection of seven frequent critical PBL situations are presented in short film sequences. Potential instruments of intervention are demonstrated in the videos and discussed. The film sequences may be downloaded in the supplementary of the electronic version of this article (www.sciencedirect.com). Within the framework of a tutor-training programme, the problematic situations and interventions presented in this article will help to sensitise tutors to potentially critical PBL tutorial situations and aid the development of individual resolution approaches.

Current Welfare Problems Facing Horses in Great Britain as Identified by Equine Stakeholders.

PubMed

Horseman, Susan V; Buller, Henry; Mullan, Siobhan; Whay, Helen R

2016-01-01

Despite growing concerns about the welfare of horses in Great Britain (GB) there has been little surveillance of the welfare status of the horse population. Consequently we have limited knowledge of the range of welfare problems experienced by horses in GB and the situations in which poor welfare occurs. Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a cross -section of equine stakeholders, in order to explore their perceptions of the welfare problems faced by horses in GB. Welfare problems relating to health, management and riding and training were identified, including horses being under or over weight, stabling 24 hours a day and the inappropriate use of training aids. The interviewees also discussed broader contexts in which they perceived that welfare was compromised. The most commonly discussed context was where horses are kept in unsuitable environments, for example environments with poor grazing. The racing industry and travellers horses were identified as areas of the industry where horse welfare was particularly vulnerable to compromise. Lack of knowledge and financial constraints were perceived to be the root cause of poor welfare by many interviewees. The findings give insight into the range of welfare problems that may be faced by horses in GB, the contexts in which these may occur and their possible causes. Many of the problems identified by the interviewees have undergone limited scientific investigation pointing to areas where further research is likely to be necessary for welfare improvement. The large number of issues identified suggests that some form of prioritisation may be necessary to target research and resources effectively.

Context-rich semantic framework for effective data-to-decisions in coalition networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grueneberg, Keith; de Mel, Geeth; Braines, Dave; Wang, Xiping; Calo, Seraphin; Pham, Tien

2013-05-01

In a coalition context, data fusion involves combining of soft (e.g., field reports, intelligence reports) and hard (e.g., acoustic, imagery) sensory data such that the resulting output is better than what it would have been if the data are taken individually. However, due to the lack of explicit semantics attached with such data, it is difficult to automatically disseminate and put the right contextual data in the hands of the decision makers. In order to understand the data, explicit meaning needs to be added by means of categorizing and/or classifying the data in relationship to each other from base reference sources. In this paper, we present a semantic framework that provides automated mechanisms to expose real-time raw data effectively by presenting appropriate information needed for a given situation so that an informed decision could be made effectively. The system utilizes controlled natural language capabilities provided by the ITA (International Technology Alliance) Controlled English (CE) toolkit to provide a human-friendly semantic representation of messages so that the messages can be directly processed in human/machine hybrid environments. The Real-time Semantic Enrichment (RTSE) service adds relevant contextual information to raw data streams from domain knowledge bases using declarative rules. The rules define how the added semantics and context information are derived and stored in a semantic knowledge base. The software framework exposes contextual information from a variety of hard and soft data sources in a fast, reliable manner so that an informed decision can be made using semantic queries in intelligent software systems.

Current Welfare Problems Facing Horses in Great Britain as Identified by Equine Stakeholders

PubMed Central

Horseman, Susan V.; Buller, Henry

2016-01-01

Despite growing concerns about the welfare of horses in Great Britain (GB) there has been little surveillance of the welfare status of the horse population. Consequently we have limited knowledge of the range of welfare problems experienced by horses in GB and the situations in which poor welfare occurs. Thirty-one in-depth interviews were conducted with a cross -section of equine stakeholders, in order to explore their perceptions of the welfare problems faced by horses in GB. Welfare problems relating to health, management and riding and training were identified, including horses being under or over weight, stabling 24 hours a day and the inappropriate use of training aids. The interviewees also discussed broader contexts in which they perceived that welfare was compromised. The most commonly discussed context was where horses are kept in unsuitable environments, for example environments with poor grazing. The racing industry and travellers horses were identified as areas of the industry where horse welfare was particularly vulnerable to compromise. Lack of knowledge and financial constraints were perceived to be the root cause of poor welfare by many interviewees. The findings give insight into the range of welfare problems that may be faced by horses in GB, the contexts in which these may occur and their possible causes. Many of the problems identified by the interviewees have undergone limited scientific investigation pointing to areas where further research is likely to be necessary for welfare improvement. The large number of issues identified suggests that some form of prioritisation may be necessary to target research and resources effectively. PMID:27501387

Ambiguous Loss in a Non-Western Context: Families of the Disappeared in Postconflict Nepal

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Robins, Simon

2010-01-01

Ambiguous loss has become a standard theory for understanding the impact of situations where the presence of a family member is subject to ambiguity. A number of studies of ambiguous loss have been made in a range of situations of ambiguity, but almost all have been firmly located within a Western cultural context. Here, ambiguous loss is explored…

Understanding Expressive Speech Acts: The Role of Prosody and Situational Context in French-Speaking 5- to 9-Year-Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aguert, Marc; Laval, Virginie; Le Bigot, Ludovic; Bernicot, Josie

2010-01-01

Purpose: This study was aimed at determining the role of prosody and situational context in children's understanding of expressive utterances. Which one of these 2 cues will help children grasp the speaker's intention? Do children exhibit a "contextual bias" whereby they ignore prosody, such as the "lexical bias" found in other studies (M. Friend…

Culture, demographics, and critical care issues: an overview.

PubMed

Núñez, Germán R

2003-10-01

The population dynamic and the immigration trends in the United States continue to challenge health care professionals who each day must serve an increasingly diverse population. Today's physicians must not only have a solid background in medical sciences but they must also have knowledge of how culture, race, and ethnicity impact how patients view and accept traditional Western practices. Whether doctors and patients are close in the "context spectrum" will often determine their ability to communicate beyond the spoken language. According to a report of the American Medical Association, by the year 2000, out of a total 812,770 physicians, only 2.5% were Black, 3.5% Hispanic, and 8.9% Asian. Only a fraction of a percent was American Native/Alaskan Native. Therefore, the majority of the physicians are Caucasian, and it could be assumed that they would likely be accustomed to high-context communication styles. The gross of the demographic changes and population increases in the United States during the past 10 years can be attributed to immigration from regions of the world where low-context communication styles are prevalent. Such differences between physicians and patients can create difficult, tense situations in an already charged atmosphere as can be that of a critical care unit.

Adaptive dynamic programming approach to experience-based systems identification and control.

PubMed

Lendaris, George G

2009-01-01

Humans have the ability to make use of experience while selecting their control actions for distinct and changing situations, and their process speeds up and have enhanced effectiveness as more experience is gained. In contrast, current technological implementations slow down as more knowledge is stored. A novel way of employing Approximate (or Adaptive) Dynamic Programming (ADP) is described that shifts the underlying Adaptive Critic type of Reinforcement Learning method "up a level", away from designing individual (optimal) controllers to that of developing on-line algorithms that efficiently and effectively select designs from a repository of existing controller solutions (perhaps previously developed via application of ADP methods). The resulting approach is called Higher-Level Learning Algorithm. The approach and its rationale are described and some examples of its application are given. The notions of context and context discernment are important to understanding the human abilities noted above. These are first defined, in a manner appropriate to controls and system-identification, and as a foundation relating to the application arena, a historical view of the various phases during development of the controls field is given, organized by how the notion 'context' was, or was not, involved in each phase.

How Knowledge Is Constructed and Exchanged in Virtual Communities of Physicians: Qualitative Study of Mindlines Online

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Background As a response to the criticisms evidence-based practice currently faces, groups of health care researchers and guideline makers have started to call for the appraisal and inclusion of different kinds of knowledge in guideline production (other than randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) to better link with the informal knowledge used in clinical practice. In an ethnographic study, Gabbay and Le May showed that clinicians in everyday practice situations do not explicitly or consciously use guidelines. Instead, they use mindlines: collectively shared, mostly tacit knowledge that is shaped by many sources, including accumulated personal experiences, education (formal and informal), guidance, and the narratives about patients that are shared among colleagues. In this study on informal knowledge, we consider virtual networks of clinicians as representative of the mindlines in the wider medical community, as holders of knowledge, as well as catalysts of knowing. Objective The aim of this study was to explore how informal knowledge and its creation in communities of clinicians can be characterized as opposed to the more structured knowledge produced in guideline development. Methods This study included a qualitative study of postings on three large virtual networks for physicians in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway, taking the topic of statins as a case study and covering more than 1400 posts. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to theories of collaborative knowledge construction and communities of practice. Results The dataset showed very few postings referring to, or seeking to adhere to, explicit guidance and recommendations. Participants presented many instances of individual case narratives that highlighted quantitative test results and clinical examination findings. There was an emphasis on outliers and the material, regulatory, and practical constraints on knowledge use by clinicians. Participants conveyed not-so-explicit knowledge as tacit and practical knowledge and used a prevailing style of pragmatic reasoning focusing on what was likely to work in a particular case. Throughout the discussions, a collective conceptualization of statins was generated and reinforced in many contexts through stories, jokes, and imagery. Conclusions Informal knowledge and knowing in clinical communities entail an inherently collective dynamic practice that includes explicit and nonexplicit components. It can be characterized as knowledge-in-context in practice, with a strong focus on casuistry. Validity of knowledge appears not to be based on criteria of consensus, coherence, or correspondence but on a more polyphonic understanding of truth. We contend that our findings give enough ground for further research on how exploring mindlines of clinicians online could help improve guideline development processes. PMID:29396385

Context Graphs as an Efficient and User-Friendly Method of Describing and Recognizing a Situation in AAL

PubMed Central

Olaru, Andrei; Florea, Adina Magda

2014-01-01

In the field of ambient assisted living, the best results are achieved with systems that are less intrusive and more intelligent, that can easily integrate both formal and informal caregivers and that can easily adapt to the changes in the situation of the elderly or disabled person. This paper presents a graph-based representation for context information and a simple and intuitive method for situation recognition. Both the input and the results are easy to visualize, understand and use. Experiments have been performed on several AAL-specific scenarios. PMID:24960085

Conceptualising GP teachers' knowledge: a pedagogical content knowledge perspective.

PubMed

Cantillon, Peter; de Grave, Willem

2012-05-01

Most teacher development initiatives focus on enhancing knowledge of teaching (pedagogy), whilst largely ignoring other important features of teacher knowledge such as subject matter knowledge and awareness of the learning context. Furthermore, teachers' ability to learn from faculty development interventions is limited by their existing (often implicit) pedagogical knowledge and beliefs. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) represents a model of teacher knowledge incorporating what they know about subject matter, pedagogy and context. PCK can be used to explore teachers' prior knowledge and to structure faculty development programmes so that they take account of a broader range of teachers' knowledge. We set out to examine the application of a PCK model in a general practice education setting. This study is part of a larger study that employed a mixed method approach (concept mapping, phenomenological interviews and video-stimulated recall) to explore features of GP teachers' subject matter knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and knowledge of the learning environment in the context of a general practice tutorial. This paper presents data on GP teachers' pedagogical and context knowledge. There was considerable overlap between different GP teachers' knowledge and beliefs about learners and the clinical learning environment (i.e. knowledge of context). The teachers' beliefs about learners were largely based on assumptions derived from their own student experiences. There were stark differences, however, between teachers in terms of pedagogical knowledge, particularly in terms of their teaching orientations (i.e. transmission or facilitation orientation) and this was manifest in their teaching behaviours. PCK represents a useful model for conceptualising clinical teacher prior knowledge in three domains, namely subject matter, learning context and pedagogy. It can and should be used as a simple guiding framework by faculty developers to inform the design and delivery of their faculty development programmes.

Cortical network architecture for context processing in primate brain

PubMed Central

Chao, Zenas C; Nagasaka, Yasuo; Fujii, Naotaka

2015-01-01

Context is information linked to a situation that can guide behavior. In the brain, context is encoded by sensory processing and can later be retrieved from memory. How context is communicated within the cortical network in sensory and mnemonic forms is unknown due to the lack of methods for high-resolution, brain-wide neuronal recording and analysis. Here, we report the comprehensive architecture of a cortical network for context processing. Using hemisphere-wide, high-density electrocorticography, we measured large-scale neuronal activity from monkeys observing videos of agents interacting in situations with different contexts. We extracted five context-related network structures including a bottom-up network during encoding and, seconds later, cue-dependent retrieval of the same network with the opposite top-down connectivity. These findings show that context is represented in the cortical network as distributed communication structures with dynamic information flows. This study provides a general methodology for recording and analyzing cortical network neuronal communication during cognition. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.06121.001 PMID:26416139

A science methods course in a professional development school context: A case study of student teachers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sopko, Linda Diane

The purpose of this case study was to explore how six student teachers constructed their personal understanding about teaching science to elementary students in the context of a professional development school (PDS). The science methods course was one of five university courses that they attended at the PDS site. The participants spent the remainder of the school day in an assigned classroom where they assisted the classroom teacher in a paraprofessional role. This study was an attempt to determine the knowledge that the participants constructed of science instruction and the school during the preservice semester of their PDS experience and what knowledge was transferred into their student teaching practices. The methodology selected was qualitative. A case study was conducted to determine the constructs of the participants. Data collection included documents concerning the PDS school and personal artifacts of the student teachers. Student teachers, cooperating teachers, and administrators were interviewed. The student teachers were also observed teaching. Triangulation was achieved with the use of multiple data sources, a reflexive journal, and peer debriefers. A cross case comparison was used to identify issues salient to the research questions. The PDS context immediately challenged the participants' prior conceptions about how children learn and should be instructed. Participants believed that the situational knowledge constructed during the PDS semester contributed to their self-confidence during student teaching. The instructional emphasis on standardized tests in the PDS and the limited emphasis on science curriculum and instruction constructed an image of science as a minor component in the elementary curriculum. The student teachers were able to transfer knowledge of inquiry-based instructional strategies, as modeled and practiced in their science methods course, into their science lesson during student teaching. One student teacher used inquiry-based strategies in other content areas. The cooperating teachers with an interest in science instruction provided materials and encouragement to include science in their lessons. The student teachers in grades four and five believed they were unable to teach science to the degree that they desired because they had to prepare students for standardized tests in language arts and math.

High efficacy and students' satisfaction after voluntary vs mandatory use of an e-learning program in traumatology and orthopedics--a follow-up study.

PubMed

Back, David Alexander; Haberstroh, Nicole; Sostmann, Kai; Schmidmaier, Gerhard; Putzier, Michael; Perka, Carsten; Hoff, Eike

2014-01-01

Within the last decade, e-learning has gained a consistent place in surgical teaching. However, as the use of new programs is often voluntary, more information on the implications of the data regarding user acceptance and knowledge with mandatory use is desirable, especially in the context of the long-term developments of courses. Starting in 2009, the e-learning program Network for Students in Traumatology and Orthopedics was offered in a voluntary blended learning context. Students' satisfaction and increase in knowledge were evaluated using questionnaires and written tests. With proven effectiveness, the program became a mandatory part of the curriculum, and students' attitudes and gain of knowledge were re-evaluated in 2010 and 2011 to detect differences in voluntary vs mandatory use. In the evaluation questionnaires (n = 108 voluntary vs n = 361 mandatory), the overall appreciation regarding the offerings remained high. Significantly more students felt better prepared for clinical situations (p < 0.001) and asked for e-tutoring (p = 0.025) with mandatory use. In written tests, both voluntary (n = 70) and mandatory (n = 147) users showed significantly increased knowledge (p < 0.001). Starting with a lower base level (p < 0.001), mandatory users had a significantly higher absolute increase compared with voluntary users (p = 0.015), leading to a similar final level. The presented blended learning concept was an efficient way to teach students orthopedics and traumatology. Data can support the assumption that even if the voluntary evaluation of e-learning offerings might be subject to a selection bias, the results can serve as a representative impression for the students' overall mood and their gain in knowledge. However, as changes would have to be anticipated when shifting to mandatory use, users' perceptions should be constantly evaluated. © 2013 Published by Association of Program Directors in Surgery on behalf of Association of Program Directors in Surgery.

Improving information management in primary care: the proof is in the pudding.

PubMed

Reed, Virginia A; Schifferdecker, Karen E; Homa, Karen

2008-01-01

Generalists in both the USA and UK have been at the forefront of improving information management skills, defined here as the abilities required to locate and utilise synthesised information for patient care that is accessible, current, relevant and valid. Over the past decade, a variety of interventions designed to improve knowledge and skills relative to information management has been implemented. The goals of training are for learners to demonstrate long-term retention of knowledge and skills gained and to be able to transfer this learning from the context of training into different situations and contexts, such as those encountered in the workplace. Thus, to conclude that learning has taken place, it is essential to study performance after learners have acquired knowledge and skills to see how well those have been retained and generalised. The current study builds on previous work conducted by the authors that described and evaluated an intervention designed to improve information management knowledge, skills and use of Web-based resources by participants from generalist primary care practices. This cross-over study found that both groups of participants--those who received training initially and those who received training later--showed the same improvements when assessed 15 months and three months, respectively, after training. Given the definition of learning as 'relatively permanent', we wondered if these improvements would last. Participants in the original three phases of the study completed questionnaires during each phase; for the current study they were asked to complete a fourth questionnaire administered 27 and 15 months, respectively, after their original training. All variables showed non-significant differences between participants' scores at the end of the original study, where learning was assessed as having occurred, and the current administration of the questionnaire. Demonstrated long-term retention of knowledge and skills and generalisation to the workplace show that the goals of training have been met.

Building theories of knowledge translation interventions: use the entire menu of constructs.

PubMed

Brehaut, Jamie C; Eva, Kevin W

2012-11-22

In the ongoing effort to develop and advance the science of knowledge translation (KT), an important question has emerged around how theory should inform the development of KT interventions. Efforts to employ theory to better understand and improve KT interventions have until recently mostly involved examining whether existing theories can be usefully applied to the KT context in question. In contrast to this general theory application approach, we propose a 'menu of constructs' approach, where individual constructs from any number of theories may be used to construct a new theory. By considering the entire menu of available constructs, rather than limiting choice to the broader level of theories, we can leverage knowledge from theories that would never on their own provide a complete picture of a KT intervention, but that nevertheless describe components or mechanisms relevant to it. We can also avoid being forced to adopt every construct from a particular theory in a one-size-fits-all manner, and instead tailor theory application efforts to the specifics of the situation. Using audit and feedback as an example KT intervention strategy, we describe a variety of constructs (two modes of reasoning, cognitive dissonance, feed forward, desirable difficulties and cognitive load, communities of practice, and adaptive expertise) from cognitive and educational psychology that make concrete suggestions about ways to improve this class of intervention. The 'menu of constructs' notion suggests an approach whereby a wider range of theoretical constructs, including constructs from cognitive theories with scope that makes the immediate application to the new context challenging, may be employed to facilitate development of more effective KT interventions.

New frontiers for intelligent content-based retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benitez, Ana B.; Smith, John R.

2001-01-01

In this paper, we examine emerging frontiers in the evolution of content-based retrieval systems that rely on an intelligent infrastructure. Here, we refer to intelligence as the capabilities of the systems to build and maintain situational or world models, utilize dynamic knowledge representation, exploit context, and leverage advanced reasoning and learning capabilities. We argue that these elements are essential to producing effective systems for retrieving audio-visual content at semantic levels matching those of human perception and cognition. In this paper, we review relevant research on the understanding of human intelligence and construction of intelligent system in the fields of cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, semiotics, and computer vision. We also discus how some of the principal ideas form these fields lead to new opportunities and capabilities for content-based retrieval systems. Finally, we describe some of our efforts in these directions. In particular, we present MediaNet, a multimedia knowledge presentation framework, and some MPEG-7 description tools that facilitate and enable intelligent content-based retrieval.

New frontiers for intelligent content-based retrieval

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benitez, Ana B.; Smith, John R.

2000-12-01

In this paper, we examine emerging frontiers in the evolution of content-based retrieval systems that rely on an intelligent infrastructure. Here, we refer to intelligence as the capabilities of the systems to build and maintain situational or world models, utilize dynamic knowledge representation, exploit context, and leverage advanced reasoning and learning capabilities. We argue that these elements are essential to producing effective systems for retrieving audio-visual content at semantic levels matching those of human perception and cognition. In this paper, we review relevant research on the understanding of human intelligence and construction of intelligent system in the fields of cognitive psychology, artificial intelligence, semiotics, and computer vision. We also discus how some of the principal ideas form these fields lead to new opportunities and capabilities for content-based retrieval systems. Finally, we describe some of our efforts in these directions. In particular, we present MediaNet, a multimedia knowledge presentation framework, and some MPEG-7 description tools that facilitate and enable intelligent content-based retrieval.

Basic physiological systems indicator's informative assessment for children and adolescents obesity diagnosis tasks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marukhina, O. V.; Berestneva, O. G.; Emelyanova, Yu A.; Romanchukov, S. V.; Petrova, L.; Lombardo, C.; Kozlova, N. V.

2018-05-01

The healthcare computerization creates opportunities to the clinical decision support system development. In the course of diagnosis, doctor manipulates a considerable amount of data and makes a decision in the context of uncertainty basing upon the first-hand experience and knowledge. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the knowledge scope in medicine is incrementally growing, but the decision-making time does not increase. The amount of medical malpractice is growing and it leads to various negative effects, even the mortality rate increase. IT-solution's development for clinical purposes is one of the most promising and efficient ways to prevent these effects. That is why the efforts of many IT specialists are directed to the doctor's heuristics simulating software or expert-based medical decision-making algorithms development. Thus, the objective of this study is to develop techniques and approaches for the body physiological system's informative value assessment index for the obesity degree evaluation based on the diagnostic findings.

The Neglected Situation: Assessment Performance and Interaction in Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maddox, Bryan

2015-01-01

Informed by Goffman's influential essay on "The neglected situation" this paper examines the contextual and interactive dimensions of performance in large-scale educational assessments. The paper applies Goffman's participation framework and associated theory in linguistic anthropology to examine how testing situations are framed and…

Acute alcohol intoxication among adolescents-the role of the context of drinking.

PubMed

Grüne, Bettina; Piontek, Daniela; Pogarell, Oliver; Grübl, Armin; Groß, Cornelius; Reis, Olaf; Zimmermann, Ulrich S; Kraus, Ludwig

2017-01-01

This study aims (1) to describe the context of drinking among adolescents with acute alcohol intoxication (AAI) by gender, (2) to explore temporal changes in the context of drinking and (3) to analyse the association between the context of drinking and blood alcohol concentration (BAC). A retrospective chart review of 12- to 17-year-old inpatients with AAI (n = 1441) of the years 2000 to 2006 has been conducted in five participating hospitals in Germany. Gender differences in the context of drinking were tested with t test and chi 2 test. Differences over time were analysed using logistic regressions. Multivariate linear regression was used to predict BAC. Girls and boys differed in admission time, drinking situation, drinking occasion and admission context. No temporal changes in drinking situation and in admission to hospital from public locations or places were found. Higher BAC coincided with male gender and age. Moreover, BAC was higher among patients admitted to hospital from public places and lower among patients who drank for coping. The results suggest gender differences in the context of drinking. The context of drinking needs to be considered in the development and implementation of target group-specific prevention and intervention measures. What is known: • The context of drinking, e.g. when, where, why and with whom is associated with episodic heavy drinking among adolescents. What is new: • Male and female inpatients with acute alcohol intoxication differ with regards to the context of drinking, i.e. in admission time, drinking situation, drinking occasion and admission context. • Being admitted to hospital from public places is associated with higher blood alcohol concentration.

Health informatics 3.0.

PubMed

Kalra, Dipak

2011-01-01

Web 3.0 promises us smart computer services that will interact with each other and leverage knowledge about us and our immediate context to deliver prioritised and relevant information to support decisions and actions. Healthcare must take advantage of such new knowledge-integrating services, in particular to support better co-operation between professionals of different disciplines working in different locations, and to enable well-informed co-operation between clinicians and patients. To grasp the potential of Web 3.0 we will need well-harmonised semantic resources that can richly connect virtual teams and link their strategies to real-time and tailored evidence. Facts, decision logic, care pathway steps, alerts, education need to be embedded within components that can interact with multiple EHR systems and services consistently. Using Health Informatics 3.0 a patient's current situation could be compared with the outcomes of very similar patients (from across millions) to deliver personalised care recommendations. The integration of EHRs with biomedical sciences ('omics) research results and predictive models such as the Virtual Physiological Human could help speed up the translation of new knowledge into clinical practice. The mission, and challenge, for Health Informatics 3.0 is to enable healthy citizens, patients and professionals to collaborate within a knowledge-empowered social network in which patient specific information and personalised real-time evidence are seamlessly interwoven.

The role of language in emotion: predictions from psychological constructionism

PubMed Central

Lindquist, Kristen A.; MacCormack, Jennifer K.; Shablack, Holly

2015-01-01

Common sense suggests that emotions are physical types that have little to do with the words we use to label them. Yet recent psychological constructionist accounts reveal that language is a fundamental element in emotion that is constitutive of both emotion experiences and perceptions. According to the psychological constructionist Conceptual Act Theory (CAT), an instance of emotion occurs when information from one’s body or other people’s bodies is made meaningful in light of the present situation using concept knowledge about emotion. The CAT suggests that language plays a role in emotion because language supports the conceptual knowledge used to make meaning of sensations from the body and world in a given context. In the present paper, we review evidence from developmental and cognitive science to reveal that language scaffolds concept knowledge in humans, helping humans to acquire abstract concepts such as emotion categories across the lifespan. Critically, language later helps individuals use concepts to make meaning of on-going sensory perceptions. Building on this evidence, we outline predictions from a psychological constructionist model of emotion in which language serves as the “glue” for emotion concept knowledge, binding concepts to embodied experiences and in turn shaping the ongoing processing of sensory information from the body and world to create emotional experiences and perceptions. PMID:25926809

Passing the Bubble: Cognitive Efficiency of Augmented Video for Collaborative Transfer of Situational Understanding

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

media factors affecting: • Shared Understanding – explicit and operational knowledge • Decision-Making – what information format best helps decision...Passing the Bubble: Cognitive Efficiency of Augmented Video for Collaborative Transfer of Situational Understanding Collaboration and Knowledge ...operational knowledge ? • Informed Decision-Making – what information format is best to pass the bubble to a decision-maker 1/14/2003 ONR David Kirsh

Knowledge Management in Pursuit of Performance: The Challenge of Context.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Degler, Duane; Battle, Lisa

2000-01-01

Discusses the integration of knowledge management into business applications. Topics include the difference between knowledge and information; performance-centered design (PCD); applying knowledge to support business outcomes, including context, experience, and information quality; techniques for merging PCD and knowledge management, including…

The impact of team characteristics and context on team communication: An integrative literature review.

PubMed

Tiferes, Judith; Bisantz, Ann M

2018-04-01

Many studies on teams report measures of team communication; however, these studies vary widely in terms of the team characteristics, situations, and tasks studied making it difficult to understand impacts on team communication more generally. The objective of this review is systematically summarize relationships between measures of team communication and team characteristics and situational contexts. A literature review was conducted searching in four electronic databases (PsycINFO, MEDLINE, Ergonomics Abstracts, and SocINDEX). Additional studies were identified by cross-referencing. Articles included for final review had reported at least one team communication measure associated with some team and/or context dimension. Ninety-nine of 727 articles met the inclusion criteria. Data extracted from articles included characteristics of the studies and teams and the nature of each of the reported team and/or context dimensions-team communication properties relationships. Some dimensions (job role, situational stressors, training strategies, cognitive artifacts, and communication media) were found to be consistently linked to changes in team communication. A synthesized diagram that describes the possible associations between eleven team and context dimensions and nine team communication measures is provided along with research needs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Qualitative Analysis of the Interdisciplinary Interaction between Data Analysis Specialists and Novice Clinical Researchers

PubMed Central

Zammar, Guilherme Roberto; Shah, Jatin; Bonilauri Ferreira, Ana Paula; Cofiel, Luciana; Lyles, Kenneth W.; Pietrobon, Ricardo

2010-01-01

Background The inherent complexity of statistical methods and clinical phenomena compel researchers with diverse domains of expertise to work in interdisciplinary teams, where none of them have a complete knowledge in their counterpart's field. As a result, knowledge exchange may often be characterized by miscommunication leading to misinterpretation, ultimately resulting in errors in research and even clinical practice. Though communication has a central role in interdisciplinary collaboration and since miscommunication can have a negative impact on research processes, to the best of our knowledge, no study has yet explored how data analysis specialists and clinical researchers communicate over time. Methods/Principal Findings We conducted qualitative analysis of encounters between clinical researchers and data analysis specialists (epidemiologist, clinical epidemiologist, and data mining specialist). These encounters were recorded and systematically analyzed using a grounded theory methodology for extraction of emerging themes, followed by data triangulation and analysis of negative cases for validation. A policy analysis was then performed using a system dynamics methodology looking for potential interventions to improve this process. Four major emerging themes were found. Definitions using lay language were frequently employed as a way to bridge the language gap between the specialties. Thought experiments presented a series of “what if” situations that helped clarify how the method or information from the other field would behave, if exposed to alternative situations, ultimately aiding in explaining their main objective. Metaphors and analogies were used to translate concepts across fields, from the unfamiliar to the familiar. Prolepsis was used to anticipate study outcomes, thus helping specialists understand the current context based on an understanding of their final goal. Conclusion/Significance The communication between clinical researchers and data analysis specialists presents multiple challenges that can lead to errors. PMID:20195374

A framework for extracting and representing project knowledge contexts using topic models and dynamic knowledge maps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Jin; Li, Zheng; Li, Shuliang; Zhang, Yanyan

2015-07-01

There is still a lack of effective paradigms and tools for analysing and discovering the contents and relationships of project knowledge contexts in the field of project management. In this paper, a new framework for extracting and representing project knowledge contexts using topic models and dynamic knowledge maps under big data environments is proposed and developed. The conceptual paradigm, theoretical underpinning, extended topic model, and illustration examples of the ontology model for project knowledge maps are presented, with further research work envisaged.

Not all memories are the same: Situational context influences spatial recall within one's city of residency.

PubMed

Meilinger, Tobias; Frankenstein, Julia; Simon, Nadine; Bülthoff, Heinrich H; Bresciani, Jean-Pierre

2016-02-01

Reference frames in spatial memory encoding have been examined intensively in recent years. However, their importance for recall has received considerably less attention. In the present study, passersby used tags to arrange a configuration map of prominent city center landmarks. It has been shown that such configurational knowledge is memorized within a north-up reference frame. However, participants adjusted their maps according to their body orientations. For example, when participants faced south, the maps were likely to face south-up. Participants also constructed maps along their location perspective-that is, the self-target direction. If, for instance, they were east of the represented area, their maps were oriented west-up. If the location perspective and body orientation were in opposite directions (i.e., if participants faced away from the city center), participants relied on location perspective. The results indicate that reference frames in spatial recall depend on the current situation rather than on the organization in long-term memory. These results cannot be explained by activation spread within a view graph, which had been used to explain similar results in the recall of city plazas. However, the results are consistent with forming and transforming a spatial image of nonvisible city locations from the current location. Furthermore, prior research has almost exclusively focused on body- and environment-based reference frames. The strong influence of location perspective in an everyday navigational context indicates that such a reference frame should be considered more often when examining human spatial cognition.

Effect of maternal predator exposure on the ability of stickleback offspring to generalize a learned colour–reward association

PubMed Central

Feng, Sally; McGhee, Katie E.; Bell, Alison M.

2017-01-01

Maternal stress can have long-term negative consequences for offspring learning performance. However, it is unknown whether these maternal effects extend to the ability of offspring to apply previously learned information to new situations. In this study, we first demonstrate that juvenile threespine sticklebacks, Gasterosteus aculeatus, are indeed capable of generalizing an association between a colour and a food reward learned in one foraging context to a new foraging context (i.e. they can apply previously learned knowledge to a new situation). Next, we examined whether this ability to generalize was affected by maternal predator stress. We manipulated whether mothers were repeatedly chased by a model predator while yolking eggs (i.e. before spawning) and then assessed the learning performance of their juvenile offspring in groups and pairs using a colour discrimination task that associated a colour with a food reward. We found that maternal predator exposure affected the tendency of offspring to use social cues: offspring of predator-exposed mothers were faster at copying a leader’s behaviour towards the rewarded colour than offspring of unexposed mothers. However, once the colour–reward association had been learned, offspring of predator-exposed and unexposed mothers were equally able to generalize their learned association to a new foraging task. These results suggest that offspring of predator-exposed mothers might be able to overcome learning deficits caused by maternal stress by relying more on social cues. PMID:29046591

Social controversy belongs in the climate science classroom

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Walsh, Elizabeth M.; Tsurusaki, Blakely K.

2014-04-01

Scientists, educators and stakeholders are grappling with how to best approach climate change education for diverse audiences, a task made difficult due to persistent social controversy. This Perspective examines how sociocultural learning theories can inform the design and implementation of climate change education experiences for learners with varied understandings of and attitudes towards climate change. The literature demonstrates that explicitly addressing learners' social and community experiences, values and knowledge supports understandings of and increased concern about climate change. Science learning environments that situate climate change in its social context can support conceptual understandings, shift attitudes and increase the participation of diverse communities in responding to climate change. Examples are provided of successful programmes that attend to social dimensions and learners' previous experiences, including experiences of social controversy.

Precision Pointing Control to and Accurate Target Estimation of a Non-Cooperative Vehicle

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

VanEepoel, John; Thienel, Julie; Sanner, Robert M.

2006-01-01

In 2004, NASA began investigating a robotic servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Such a mission would not only require estimates of the HST attitude and rates in order to achieve capture by the proposed Hubble Robotic Vehicle (HRV), but also precision control to achieve the desired rate and maintain the orientation to successfully dock with HST. To generalize the situation, HST is the target vehicle and HRV is the chaser. This work presents a nonlinear approach for estimating the body rates of a non-cooperative target vehicle, and coupling this estimation to a control scheme. Non-cooperative in this context relates to the target vehicle no longer having the ability to maintain attitude control or transmit attitude knowledge.

Deaf pupils' reasoning about scientific phenomena: school science as a framework for understanding or as fragments of factual knowledge.

PubMed

Molander, B O; Pedersen, S; Norell, K

2001-01-01

Many studies have been conducted on hearing pupils' understanding of science. Findings from these studies have been used as grounds for planning instruction in school science. This article reports findings from an interview study of how deaf pupils in compulsory school reason about phenomena in a science context. The results reveal that there is variation in the extent to which pupils use scientific principles for reasoning about science phenomena. For some pupils, school science seems to have little to offer as a framework for reasoning. The results also generate questions about the need in school instruction of deaf and hard-of-hearing pupils to consider the specific teaching and learning situations in a deaf environment.

Integrated human-machine intelligence in space systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Boy, Guy A.

1992-01-01

The integration of human and machine intelligence in space systems is outlined with respect to the contributions of artificial intelligence. The current state-of-the-art in intelligent assistant systems (IASs) is reviewed, and the requirements of some real-world applications of the technologies are discussed. A concept of integrated human-machine intelligence is examined in the contexts of: (1) interactive systems that tolerate human errors; (2) systems for the relief of workloads; and (3) interactive systems for solving problems in abnormal situations. Key issues in the development of IASs include the compatibility of the systems with astronauts in terms of inputs/outputs, processing, real-time AI, and knowledge-based system validation. Real-world applications are suggested such as the diagnosis, planning, and control of enginnered systems.

[E-learning : an effective and necessary complement to the postgraduate training].

PubMed

Galland-Decker, Coralie; Gachoud, David; Monti, Matteo

2016-11-23

The evolution of modern medicine largely influenced the development of new postgraduate training programs, which requirements are more engaging and constraining. Time dedicated to education more and more often comes into competition with the resident's clinical and administrative activities. In this context, E-learning could be an interesting solution, if used complementary to the classical training which does not further overload the clinical activity. By focusing on the recognition of clinical images, and interpretation of functional tests, we target some well known knowledge gaps of our trainees. Our program allows every participant to be exposed to some important, prototypical or rare situations, independent of the clinical exposure. The quality of our program is ensured by the collaboration with several specialty departments of our hospital.

[Development of a program of prevention of drug dependence in school children].

PubMed

García Lerín, A; Calvo Trujillo, S; Sánchez-Porro Valadés, P

1997-03-15

To promote healthy habits of behaviour among school-children so that they reject drug-taking and learn to identify high-risk situations. Quasi-experimental study. The Amorós private school in Carabanchel, in Madrid's Health District XI. 45 pupils from the eighth year of basic, aged between 13 and 14. Quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative indicators were: number of students who attended the activities organised, their level of participation, the number of new terms, increase in knowledge. Qualitative indicators were the oral poll of class leaders, attainment of objectives, later evaluation of changes in attitude towards drug-takers and collages among the initiatives after the course. Drug-taking usually starts in the family context, leisure situations and peers. In this study isolated consumption was also detected. Most commonly consumed drugs were: caffeine, tobacco (mainly Virginia), alcohol occasionally, and cannabis. The type and form of drug-taking found is very similar to that of other, Spaniards of the same age. We found children who were not drug-takers, but were anxious about this because they "wanted to try out drugs".

Lesbian women's experiences with healthcare providers in the birthing context: a meta-ethnography.

PubMed

Dahl, Bente; Fylkesnes, Anne Margrethe; Sørlie, Venke; Malterud, Kirsti

2013-06-01

to explore research knowledge about lesbian women's experiences with health-care providers in the birthing context. a systematic search for relevant qualitative studies in selected databases identified 13 articles of sufficient quality. The findings were synthesized using a meta-ethnographic approach as described by Noblit and Hare. SYNTHESIS AND FINDINGS: issues related to covert or overt homophobia and prejudice were demonstrated and were sometimes mediated by subtle mechanisms that were difficult to understand and to manage. On the other hand, small gestures of support were described to make a huge difference. A lack of knowledge was demonstrated, contrasted by staff showing a positive and informed attitude. Disclosure was an important issue, but due to the risk involved the women demonstrated a need to be in control. Finally, being acknowledged, both as individuals and as family were considered vital. In this regard, it was essential to recognize and include co-mother as equal parent and to look upon lesbian sexuality as normal and natural. midwives' emotional involvement in the situation is significant for moral perception of the women's intimate citizenship, even when they are distressed by lesbian sexuality. our findings reveal the importance of including sexuality as an issue deserving reflection in maternity wards, whether or not this might cause unrest in midwives who do not feel comfortable with intimate citizenships beyond mainstream. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Working together. An interdisciplinary approach to dying patients in a palliative care unit.

PubMed

Minetti, Aurora

2011-12-01

Multiprofessional teams have become in recent years one of the distinguishing features of services, where professionals with different competences work together. The core of our interest is addressed to the équipe of a palliative care ward; in particular, to that series of working activities that consists of communicative acts, as équipe meetings, for instance. Our research focuses on the analysis of the process by which the development of knowledge in multiprofessional practice is built to establish more information on recurrent patterns in the interaction and connect them to the specific context that these are shaped by. In this sense we will underline how components of knowing are shared among team members in constructing medical prognosis and we will analyse the connection among language processes, cognitive activities and social structures. More specifically, we will study the role of language and the context in the definition of linguistic acts in cognitive activities and in hierarchies involved in decision-making processes by exploring and pointing out how it is organised and structured. In particular through the study of talk-in-interaction where interchange of information is realised, we will emphasise how, in the multiprofessional équipe meeting, the realisation of practices and the knowledge useful to collaborative management of ward working life are established. To reach this aim, we adopted an ethnographic approach connected to the analysis of the situated interaction.

A mandala of faculty development: using theory-based evaluation to explore contexts, mechanisms and outcomes.

PubMed

Onyura, Betty; Ng, Stella L; Baker, Lindsay R; Lieff, Susan; Millar, Barbara-Ann; Mori, Brenda

2017-03-01

Demonstrating the impact of faculty development, is an increasingly mandated and ever elusive goal. Questions have been raised about the adequacy of current approaches. Here, we integrate realist and theory-driven evaluation approaches, to evaluate an intensive longitudinal program. Our aim is to elucidate how faculty development can work to support a range of outcomes among individuals and sub-systems in the academic health sciences. We conducted retrospective framework analysis of qualitative focus group data gathered from 79 program participants (5 cohorts) over a 10-year period. Additionally, we conducted follow-up interviews with 15 alumni. We represent the interactive relationships among contexts, mechanisms, and outcomes as a "mandala" of faculty development. The mandala illustrates the relationship between the immediate program context, and the broader institutional context of academic health sciences, and identifies relevant change mechanisms. Four primary mechanisms were collaborative-reflection, self-reflection and self-regulation, relationship building, and pedagogical knowledge acquisition. Individual outcomes, including changed teaching practices, are described. Perhaps most interestingly, secondary mechanisms-psychological and structural empowerment-contributed to institutional outcomes through participants' engagement in change leadership in their local contexts. Our theoretically informed evaluation approach models how faculty development, situated in appropriate institutional contexts, can trigger mechanisms that yield a range of benefits for faculty and their institutions. The adopted methods hold potential as a way to demonstrate the often difficult-to-measure outcomes of educational programs, and allow for critical examination as to how and whether faculty development programs can accomplish their espoused goals.

Person, Situational, and Interactional Influences on Assertive Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kirschner, Stuart M.; Galassi, John P.

1983-01-01

Explored the validity of the College Self-Expression Scale (CSES) for 144 students in the context of three alternative models of behavior--personism, situationalism, and interactionalism. Results supported the concurrent validity of the CSES and the role of both person and situational, but not interactional, influences on assertion. (WAS)

Maya medicine in the biological gaze: bioprospecting research as herbal fetishism.

PubMed

Nigh, Ronald

2002-06-01

The relationship of human societies to territory and natural resources is being drastically altered by a series of global agreements concerning trade, intellectual property, and the conservation and use of genetic resources. Through a characteristic style of collective appropriation of their tropical ecosystems, Maya societies have created local institutions for governing access to their common resources. However, new mechanisms of global governance require access to Maya biodiversity for world commercial interests. The Chiapas Highland Maya already face this prospect in the International Cooperative Biodiversity Group drug discovery project, which proposes to use Maya medical knowledge to screen plants for potential pharmaceuticals. The ethnobiological focus of the project emphasizes the naturalistic aspects of Maya medicine, primarily the use of herbal remedies. This biological gaze decontextualizes the situated knowledge of Maya healers, ignoring the cultural context in which they create and apply that knowledge. The search for raw materials for the production of universal medical technology results in symbolic violence to the cultural logic of Maya peoples. Only the full recognition of Maya peoples' collective rights to territory and respect for their local common-resource institutions will provide ultimate protection for their cultural and natural patrimony.

Design of Urban Public Spaces: Intent vs. Reality

PubMed Central

Martin, W. Mike; Stewart, Tom; Troelsen, Jens

2018-01-01

This study investigated how two public spaces for sport and recreation were utilized by different user groups, and how this aligned with the initial design objectives for these spaces. Two newly built urban spaces situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, provided the context for this investigation. The System for Observing Play and Recreation in Communities (SOPARC) was used to examine the physical activity of users in these two urban spaces. The architects responsible for designing each space were interviewed to ascertain the intended target group of each space and to unravel the reasons behind the design decisions. The SOPARC observations revealed that males were more vigorously active than females when using the recreation facilities, and the observed users did not align with the intended target groups. The interviews suggested that design decisions were based on minimal interdisciplinary knowledge, and that expert knowledge was chosen randomly. These findings point to a systematic lack of evidence-based practice when designing sport and recreational facilities. This article has implications for landscape architects and urban planners; a new method must be developed to embed interdisciplinary knowledge in the planning process of future sport and recreation projects. This must be done in a systematic way to make the design process transparent. PMID:29690509

To include or not to include: Evaluations and reasoning about the failure to include peers with autism spectrum disorder in elementary students.

PubMed

Bottema-Beutel, Kristen; Turiel, Elliot; DeWitt, Mila N; Wolfberg, Pamela J

2017-01-01

Given the significant role that typically developing children play in the social lives of children with autism spectrum disorder, it is important to understand how they evaluate and reason about the inclusion/exclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder in social situations. The objective of this study is to determine elementary students' evaluations, reasoning patterns, and reasoning complexity regarding the failure to include children with autism spectrum disorder in social activities. Forty-four elementary-aged students participated in interviews, which included vignettes describing four contexts in which a child with autism spectrum disorder is not invited to a social event. Responses were analyzed according to social domain theory, an approach emphasizing that children identify and coordinate different domains of social knowledge, including the moral, personal, societal, and prudential. Results showed that regardless of grade and context, most children judge that failure to include on the basis of disability status is not acceptable. However, the complexity of children's reasoning (i.e. the extent to which they drew upon and coordinated multiple domains) was higher in older children. Mean complexity scores were also higher in a birthday party context as compared to a playdate context. We offer implications for future research and practice regarding the social inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorder. © The Author(s) 2016.

Three experimental approaches to measure the social context dependence of prejudice communication and discriminatory behavior.

PubMed

Beyer, Heiko; Liebe, Ulf

2015-01-01

Empirical research on discrimination is faced with crucial problems stemming from the specific character of its object of study. In democratic societies the communication of prejudices and other forms of discriminatory behavior is considered socially undesirable and depends on situational factors such as whether a situation is considered private or whether a discriminatory consensus can be assumed. Regular surveys thus can only offer a blurred picture of the phenomenon. But also survey experiments intended to decrease the social desirability bias (SDB) so far failed in systematically implementing situational variables. This paper introduces three experimental approaches to improve the study of discrimination and other topics of social (un-)desirability. First, we argue in favor of cognitive context framing in surveys in order to operationalize the salience of situational norms. Second, factorial surveys offer a way to take situational contexts and substitute behavior into account. And third, choice experiments - a rather new method in sociology - offer a more valid method of measuring behavioral characteristics compared to simple items in surveys. All three approaches - which may be combined - are easy to implement in large-scale surveys. Results of empirical studies demonstrate the fruitfulness of each of these approaches. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Development of Scientific Knowledge in Elementary School Children: A Context of Meaning Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bloom, J. W.

1992-01-01

Children in grade one (n=8) and grade five (n=9) were interviewed to determine the influence of contexts of meaning on their knowledge of earthworms. Four components of contexts of meaning were identified and discussed: episodic knowledge, metaphors, interpretive frameworks, and emotions-values-aesthetics. (Contains 20 references.) (MDH)

Adaptive scenarios: a training model for today's public health workforce.

PubMed

Uden-Holman, Tanya; Bedet, Jennifer; Walkner, Laurie; Abd-Hamid, Nor Hashidah

2014-01-01

With the current economic climate, money for training is scarce. In addition, time is a major barrier to participation in trainings. To meet the public health workforce's rising demand for training, while struggling with less time and fewer resources, the Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center has developed a model of online training that provides the public health workforce with individually customized, needs-based training experiences. Adaptive scenarios are rooted in case-based reasoning, a learning approach that focuses on the specific knowledge needed to solve a problem. Proponents of case-based reasoning argue that learners benefit from being able to remember previous similar situations and reusing information and knowledge from that situation. Adaptive scenarios based on true-to-life job performance provide an opportunity to assess skills by presenting the user with choices to make in a problem-solving context. A team approach was used to develop the adaptive scenarios. Storylines were developed that incorporated situations aligning with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes outlined in the Public Health Preparedness and Response Core Competency Model. This article examines 2 adaptive scenarios: "Ready or Not? A Family Preparedness Scenario" and "Responding to a Crisis: Managing Emotions and Stress Scenario." The scenarios are available on Upper Midwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Center's Learning Management System, the Training Source (http://training-source.org). Evaluation data indicate that users' experiences have been positive. Integrating the assessment and training elements of the scenarios so that the training experience is uniquely adaptive to each user is one of the most efficient ways to provide training. The opportunity to provide individualized, needs-based training without having to administer separate assessments has the potential to save time and resources. These adaptive scenarios continue to be marketed to target audiences through partner organizations, various Web sites, electronic newsletters, and social media. Next steps include the implementation of a 6-month follow-up evaluation, using Kirkpatrick level III. Kirkpatrick level III evaluation measures whether there was actual transfer of learning to the work setting.

The Situations Bank, a Tool for Curriculum Design Focused on Daily Realities: The Case of the Reform in Niger

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charland, Patrick; Cyr, Stéphane

2013-01-01

In the context of the curriculum reform in Niger, the authors describe the process of developing a situations bank which focusses on everyday life situations in Niger. The bank plays a central role in the formulation of new study programmes guided by the so-called "situated" approach. The authors also describe various issues that arose…

Uses and Meanings of "Context" in Studies on Children's Knowledge: A Viewpoint from Anthropology and Constructivist Psychology.

PubMed

García Palacios, Mariana; Shabel, Paula; Horn, Axel; Castorina, José Antonio

2018-06-01

Though context has yet to receive an unequivocal definition, it is a concept that frequently appears in research in children's knowledge and its construction. This article examines the scope and meaning of context in genetic psychology and social anthropology in order to better understand the relationship between children's construction of knowledge and the context in which it occurs. Meta-theoretical, theoretical and methodological complexities arise when the concept is analyzed in the two disciplines, and these will also be addressed herein. The fields of anthropology and constructive psychology are both affected by the relationship between the building of knowledge and the social practices surrounding this process. Finally, based on these empirical examinations, the article explores how research methodologies could incorporate the notion of context in research focused on the construction of knowledge.

Assessment of Genetics Understanding. Under What Conditions Do Situational Features Have an Impact on Measures?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmiemann, Philipp; Nehm, Ross H.; Tornabene, Robyn E.

2017-12-01

Understanding how situational features of assessment tasks impact reasoning is important for many educational pursuits, notably the selection of curricular examples to illustrate phenomena, the design of formative and summative assessment items, and determination of whether instruction has fostered the development of abstract schemas divorced from particular instances. The goal of our study was to employ an experimental research design to quantify the degree to which situational features impact inferences about participants' understanding of Mendelian genetics. Two participant samples from different educational levels and cultural backgrounds (high school, n = 480; university, n = 444; Germany and USA) were used to test for context effects. A multi-matrix test design was employed, and item packets differing in situational features (e.g., plant, animal, human, fictitious) were randomly distributed to participants in the two samples. Rasch analyses of participant scores from both samples produced good item fit, person reliability, and item reliability and indicated that the university sample displayed stronger performance on the items compared to the high school sample. We found, surprisingly, that in both samples, no significant differences in performance occurred among the animal, plant, and human item contexts, or between the fictitious and "real" item contexts. In the university sample, we were also able to test for differences in performance between genders, among ethnic groups, and by prior biology coursework. None of these factors had a meaningful impact upon performance or context effects. Thus some, but not all, types of genetics problem solving or item formats are impacted by situational features.

Is eating science or common sense? Knowledge about "natural foods" among self-identified "natural food" consumers, vendors and producers in rural and urban Mexico.

PubMed

Kooijmans, Anneke; Flores-Palacios, Fátima

2014-10-01

To explore the common sense knowledge that consumers, vendors and producers hold of "natural foods". The focus was on common knowledge because this is infrequently explored in social psychology where most studies focus on the implementation of scientific knowledge. The focus was on natural foods because the naturalness of foods seems to be one of the particular concerns that current consumers have about today's food market and because a specific natural food preference was observed in the contexts of study. Fifty-seven informants in a rural context and 58 informants in an urban context participated in either a free association study or an interview study. Data content were analyzed. In the urban context natural foods obtain their significance in the relationship between food and the self-concept; eating natural (or good) food is a task that requires effort and attitude, and foods obtain a moral value. In the rural context natural foods obtain their significance as an expression of a social and cultural system of interdependence that establishes practices and customs that have a long history in the community. It is suggested that these common knowledge systems are related to practical challenges that are particular to the informants' context and that the structure of their common sense knowledge systems depend on the mediation of the flow of scientific knowledge and technological knowledge in each context. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Personal and Situational Predictors of Test Anxiety of Students in Post-Compulsory Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Putwain, David W.; Woods, Kevin A.; Symes, Wendy

2010-01-01

Background: Recent models of evaluation anxiety emphasize the importance of personal knowledge and self-regulatory processes in the development of test anxiety, but do not theorize a route for situational influences. Aim: To investigate the relationship between test anxiety and personal knowledge beliefs (achievement goals and perceived academic…

Information Fusion for Situational Awareness

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

UNCLASSIFIED Defense Technical Information Center Compilation Part Notice ADP021704 TITLE: Information Fusion for Situational Awareness DISTRIBUTION...component part numbers comprise the compilation report: ADP021634 thru ADP021736 UNCLASSIFIED Information Fusion for Situational Awareness Dr. John...Situation Assessment, or level 2 be applied to address Situational Awareness - the processing, the knowledge of objects, their goal of this paper

Developing an analytic lens for investigating identity as an embedder-of-numeracy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bennison, Anne

2015-03-01

One of the capabilities needed for effective participation in modern society is numeracy, which is the ability to cope effectively with the mathematical demands of life. While the development of numeracy continues beyond the school years, schools nevertheless have a responsibility to provide opportunities for students to expand their numeracy expertise. In Australian schools, there is a renewed emphasis on numeracy brought about by the introduction of a new curriculum, teacher professional standards and measures of accountability. The first two of these developments provide an opportunity for teachers of all disciplines to increase their capacity to promote growth in the numeracy capabilities of their students. However, they will be unable to do this unless they see themselves as teachers of numeracy and have the capacity to embed numeracy into the subjects they teach. This theoretical paper extends existing knowledge on teacher identity by developing a conceptual framework for identity as an embedder-of-numeracy that recognises the complexity of teacher identity while at the same time is amenable to empirical studies. The framework is organised around five domains of influence (knowledge, affective, social, life history and context) and includes characteristics that evidence from the literature suggests greatly impact on this particular situated identity. Studies using this framework could inform the design of professional development to support teachers to develop an identity as an embedder-of-numeracy. The mechanism for developing the framework described in this paper could also be used to create frameworks to investigate teachers' other situated identities.

Parent-healthcare provider interaction during peripheral vein cannulation with resistive preschool children.

PubMed

Svendsen, Edel Jannecke; Moen, Anne; Pedersen, Reidar; Bjørk, Ida Torunn

2016-03-01

The aim of this study was to increase understanding of parent-healthcare provider interaction in situations where newly admitted preschool children resist peripheral vein cannulation. Parent-healthcare provider interaction represents an important context for understanding children's resistance to medical procedures. Knowledge about this interaction can provide a better understanding of how restraint is used and talked about. Symbolic interactionism informed the understanding of interaction. An exploratory, qualitative study was chosen because little is known about these interactions. During 2012-2013, 14 naturalistic peripheral vein cannulation -attempts with six newly hospitalized preschool children were video recorded. Eight parents/relatives, seven physicians and eight nurses participated in this study. The analytical foci of turn-taking and participant structure were used. The results comprised three patterns of interactions. The first pattern, 'parents supported the interaction initiated by healthcare providers', was a response to the children's expressed resistance and they performed firm restraint together. The second pattern, 'parents create distance in interaction with healthcare providers', appeared after failed attempts and had a short time span. Parents stopped following up on the healthcare providers' interaction and their restraint became less firm. In the third pattern, 'healthcare providers reorient in interaction', healthcare providers took over more of the restraint and either helped each other to continue the interaction or they stopped it. Knowledge about the identified patterns of interactions can help healthcare providers to better understand and thereby prepare both parents and themselves for situations with potential use of restraint. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Contextual Social Cognition Impairments in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

PubMed Central

Villarin, Lilian; Theil, Donna; Gonzalez-Gadea, María Luz; Gomez, Pedro; Mosquera, Marcela; Huepe, David; Strejilevich, Sergio; Vigliecca, Nora Silvana; Matthäus, Franziska; Decety, Jean; Manes, Facundo; Ibañez, Agustín M.

2013-01-01

Background The ability to integrate contextual information with social cues to generate social meaning is a key aspect of social cognition. It is widely accepted that patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders have deficits in social cognition; however, previous studies on these disorders did not use tasks that replicate everyday situations. Methodology/Principal Findings This study evaluates the performance of patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders on social cognition tasks (emotional processing, empathy, and social norms knowledge) that incorporate different levels of contextual dependence and involvement of real-life scenarios. Furthermore, we explored the association between social cognition measures, clinical symptoms and executive functions. Using a logistic regression analysis, we explored whether the involvement of more basic skills in emotional processing predicted performance on empathy tasks. The results showed that both patient groups exhibited deficits in social cognition tasks with greater context sensitivity and involvement of real-life scenarios. These deficits were more severe in schizophrenic than in bipolar patients. Patients did not differ from controls in tasks involving explicit knowledge. Moreover, schizophrenic patients’ depression levels were negatively correlated with performance on empathy tasks. Conclusions/Significance Overall performance on emotion recognition predicted performance on intentionality attribution during the more ambiguous situations of the empathy task. These results suggest that social cognition deficits could be related to a general impairment in the capacity to implicitly integrate contextual cues. Important implications for the assessment and treatment of individuals with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders, as well as for neurocognitive models of these pathologies are discussed. PMID:23520477

Reusable Autonomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Truszkowski, Walt; Obenschain, Arthur F. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Currently, spacecraft ground systems have a well defined and somewhat standard architecture and operations concept. Based on domain analysis studies of various control centers conducted over the years it is clear that ground systems have core capabilities and functionality that are common across all ground systems. This observation alone supports the realization of reuse. Additionally, spacecraft ground systems are increasing in their ability to do things autonomously. They are being engineered using advanced expert systems technology to provide automated support for operators. A clearer understanding of the possible roles of agent technology is advancing the prospects of greater autonomy for these systems. Many of their functional and management tasks are or could be supported by applied agent technology, the dynamics of the ground system's infrastructure could be monitored by agents, there are intelligent agent-based approaches to user-interfaces, etc. The premise of this paper is that the concepts associated with software reuse, applicable in consideration of classically-engineered ground systems, can be updated to address their application in highly agent-based realizations of future ground systems. As a somewhat simplified example consider the following situation, involving human agents in a ground system context. Let Group A of controllers be working on Mission X. They are responsible for the command, control and health and safety of the Mission X spacecraft. Let us suppose that mission X successfully completes it mission and is turned off. Group A could be dispersed or perhaps move to another Mission Y. In this case there would be reuse of the human agents from Mission X to Mission Y. The Group A agents perform their well-understood functions in a somewhat but related context. There will be a learning or familiarization process that the group A agents go through to make the new context, determined by the new Mission Y, understood. This simplified scenario highlights some of the major issues that need to be addressed when considering the situation where Group A is composed of software-based agents (not their human counterparts) and they migrate from one mission support system to another. This paper will address: - definition of an agent architecture appropriate to support reuse; - identification of non-mission-specific agent capabilities required; - appropriate knowledge representation schemes for mission-specific knowledge; - agent interface with mission-specific knowledge (a type of Learning); development of a fully-operational group of cooperative software agents for ground system support; architecture and operation of a repository of reusable agents that could be the source of intelligent components for realizing an autonomous (or nearly autonomous) agent-based ground system, and an agent-based approach to repository management and operation (an intelligent interface for human use of the repository in a ground-system development activity).

Self-report measures, facial feedback, and personality differences (BEES) in cooperative vs. noncooperative situations: contribution of the mimic system to the sense of empathy.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Bortolotti, Adriana; Crivelli, Davide

2013-01-01

The present study integrated three different measures of emotional empathic behavior in a social context: verbal self-report measures (empathic response, emotional involvement, emotional significance, and valence), facial mimicry (activity of corrugator and zygomaticus muscles), and personal response to the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale (BEES). Participants were presented with different interpersonal scene types (cooperation, noncooperation, conflict, indifference). Firstly, self-rating on empathy, emotional involvement, and valence varied as a function of interpersonal context. Secondly, corrugator activity increased in response to conflictual and noncooperative situations; zygomatic activity increased in response to cooperative situations. Third, high- and low-BEES subjects showed different empathic behavior: High-empathic subjects were more responsive to empathy-related situations than low-empathic subjects. The convergence and divergence of these multidimensional measures was discussed.

What’s so critical about Critical Neuroscience? Rethinking experiment, enacting critique

PubMed Central

Fitzgerald, Des; Matusall, Svenja; Skewes, Joshua; Roepstorff, Andreas

2014-01-01

In the midst of on-going hype about the power and potency of the new brain sciences, scholars within “Critical Neuroscience” have called for a more nuanced and sceptical neuroscientific knowledge-practice. Drawing especially on the Frankfurt School, they urge neuroscientists towards a more critical approach—one that re-inscribes the objects and practices of neuroscientific knowledge within webs of social, cultural, historical and political-economic contingency. This paper is an attempt to open up the black-box of “critique” within Critical Neuroscience itself. Specifically, we argue that limiting enactments of critique to the invocation of context misses the force of what a highly-stylized and tightly-bound neuroscientific experiment can actually do. We show that, within the neuroscientific experiment itself, the world-excluding and context-denying “rules of the game” may also enact critique, in novel and surprising forms, while remaining formally independent of the workings of society, and culture, and history. To demonstrate this possibility, we analyze the Optimally Interacting Minds (OIM) paradigm, a neuroscientific experiment that used classical psychophysical methods to show that, in some situations, people worked better as a collective, and not as individuals—a claim that works precisely against reactionary tendencies that prioritize individual over collective agency, but that was generated and legitimized entirely within the formal, context-denying conventions of neuroscientific experimentation. At the heart of this paper is a claim that it was precisely the rigors and rules of the experimental game that allowed these scientists to enact some surprisingly critical, and even radical, gestures. We conclude by suggesting that, in the midst of large-scale neuroscientific initiatives, it may be “experiment”, and not “context”, that forms the meeting-ground between neuro-biological and socio-political research practices. PMID:24910605

Correlates of hepatitis B virus health-related behaviors of Korean Americans: a situation-specific nursing theory.

PubMed

Lee, Haeok; Fawcett, Jacqueline; Yang, Jin Hyang; Hann, Hie-Won

2012-12-01

The purpose of this article is to explain the evolution of a situation-specific theory developed to enhance understanding of health-related behaviors of Korean Americans (KAs) who have or are at risk for a chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The situation-specific theory evolved from an integration of the Network Episode Model, studies of health-related behaviors of people with HBV infection, and our studies of and practice experiences with Asian American individuals with HBV infection. The major concepts of the theory are sociocultural context, social network, individual-level factors, illness experience, and health-related behaviors. The major propositions of the theory are that sociocultural context, social network, and individual-level factors influence the illness experience, and that sociocultural context, social network, individual-level factors, and the illness experience influence health-related behaviors of KAs who have or are at risk for HBV infection. This situation-specific theory represents a translation of abstract concepts into clinical reality. The theory is an explanation of correlates of health-related HBV behaviors of KAs. The next step is to develop and test the effectiveness of a nursing intervention designed to promote behaviors that will enhance the health of KAs who have or are at risk for HBV infection, and that takes into account sociocultural context, social network, individual-level factors, and illness experience. © 2012 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Cultural intelligence support for military operations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Guthormsen, Amy M.; MacKerrow, Edward P; Merritt, Terence M

It has long been recognized that military success relies on knowledge of the enemy. In the context of standard warfare, adequate knowledge of the enemy may be gained by analyzing observable, measurable data. In the context of modern counterinsurgency operations and the global war on terror, the task of predicting the behavior of the enemy is vastly more complex and difficult. Without an understanding of the ways individuals in the host nation interpret and react to events, no amount of objective information can provide the insight required to accurately predict behavior. US military doctrine has begun to recognize the importancemore » of the many ways that local culture can affect operation success. Increasingly military decision makers use cultural information in the service of operation planning, and troops are provided with pre-deployment cultural training. However, no amount of training can cover the breadth and depth of potentially useful cultural information, and no amount of careful planning can avoid the need to adapt as situations develop. Therefore, a critical challenge is to provide useful tools to US personnel in their efforts to collect, analyze, and utilize cultural information. Essential functions for cultural support tools include the following: (1) to narrow down a broad range of available data and focus the user's attention on context-relevant information, (2) to present cultural information in an easily understood form, (3) to prompt the user to seek relevant information in the environment, (4) to synthesize information, and (5) to predict outcomes based on possible courses of operation. In this paper, we begin by reviewing the ways in which military operations can benefit from cultural intelligence. We then discuss frameworks for analyzing cultural information in the context of a military operation. We conclude with a demonstration of our current efforts to develop a tool that meets the aforementioned functional challenges.« less

Sustainability as a Design Principle for Composition: Situational Creativity as a Habit of Mind

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Newcomb, Matthew

2012-01-01

Design is a rhetorical activity that requires creative thinking in response to difficult situations. That creative work ultimately builds new relationships and new contexts. Sustainable design can become an approach to composition that alters ways of thinking about writing situations, keeping ethical and contextual factors in focus, and…

Sex Offender Situational Competency Test (SOSCT) Pretreatment and Posttreatment Effects for Inpatient Sex Offenders in Hypothetical High-Risk Situations

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddon, John R.; Takacs, Shelly; Hogan, Stephen

2013-01-01

The purpose of the study was to evaluate relapse prevention skill acquisition within the context of a comprehensive treatment program involving group psychotherapy, relapse prevention programming, and other essential psychoeducational components. The Sex Offender Situational Competency Test (SOSCT) was administered pretreatment and posttreatment…

Gavagai Is as Gavagai Does: Learning Nouns and Verbs from Cross-Situational Statistics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Monaghan, Padraic; Mattock, Karen; Davies, Robert A. I.; Smith, Alastair C.

2015-01-01

Learning to map words onto their referents is difficult, because there are multiple possibilities for forming these mappings. Cross-situational learning studies have shown that word-object mappings can be learned across multiple situations, as can verbs when presented in a syntactic context. However, these previous studies have presented either…

Problematic Situations in the Lives of Urban African American Middle School Students: A Qualitative Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrell, Albert D.; Erwin, Elizabeth H.; Allison, Kevin W.; Meyer, Aleta; Sullivan, Terri; Camou, Suzanne; Kliewer, Wendy; Esposito, Layla

2007-01-01

Qualitative methods were used to identify problem situations encountered by adolescents in urban middle schools serving a predominantly African American student population. Interviews focusing on identifying problem situations and the context in which they occur were conducted with 60 adolescents including students and peer mediators at middle…

SU-F-E-16: A Specific Training Package for Medical Physicists in Support to Nuclear and Radiological Emergency Situations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Meghzifene, A; Berris, T

Purpose: To provide the professional medical physicists with adequate competencies and skills in order to help them get prepared to support Nuclear or Radiological Emergency (NRE) situations. Methods: Although clinical medical physicists working have in-depth knowledge in radiation dosimetry, including dose reconstruction and dose measurements, they are usually not involved in NRE situations. However, in a few instances where medical physicists were involved in NREs, it appeared that many lacked specific knowledge and skills that are required in such situations. This lack of specific knowledge and skills is probably due to the fact that most current medical physics curricula domore » not include a specific module on this topic. As a response to this finding, the IAEA decided to initiate a project to develop a specific training package to help prepare medical physicists to support NRE situations. The training package was developed with the kind support of the Government of Japan and in collaboration with Fukushima Medical University (FMU) and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS). Results: The first International Workshop to test the training package was held in Fukushima, Japan in June 2015. It consisted of lectures, demonstrations, simulation, role play, and practical sessions followed by discussions. The training was delivered through 14 modules which were prepared with the support of 12 lecturers. A knowledge assessment test was done before the workshop, followed by the same test done at the end of the Workshop, to assess the knowledge acquired during the training. Conclusion: The Workshop was successfully implemented. The overall rating of the workshop by the participants was excellent and all participants reported that they acquired a good understanding of the main issues that are relevant to medical physics support in case of NRE situations. They are expected to disseminate the knowledge to other medical physicists in their countries.« less

Context aware adaptive security service model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tunia, Marcin A.

2015-09-01

Present systems and devices are usually protected against different threats concerning digital data processing. The protection mechanisms consume resources, which are either highly limited or intensively utilized by many entities. The optimization of these resources usage is advantageous. The resources that are saved performing optimization may be utilized by other mechanisms or may be sufficient for longer time. It is usually assumed that protection has to provide specific quality and attack resistance. By interpreting context situation of business services - users and services themselves, it is possible to adapt security services parameters to countermeasure threats associated with current situation. This approach leads to optimization of used resources and maintains sufficient security level. This paper presents architecture of adaptive security service, which is context-aware and exploits quality of context data issue.

Investigating the Measurement of Grammatical Knowledge and Civics Content Knowledge in the Context of an English-for Specific-Purposes Program Designed for Adult Learners with Low English Proficiency

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dakin, Jee Wha

2010-01-01

In the context of adult learners with low English proficiency enrolled in an organization offering instruction in both language and civics content, the purpose of the study was to determine. (1) the nature of grammatical knowledge in the context in the learners' second language (L2) and the nature of civics content knowledge in the learners' first…

Relations among measures of trait empathy, empathetic response, and willingness to get involved in customer-contact situations.

PubMed

Su, Hung-Jen; Lee, Sanghyun; Ding, Jing; Comer, Lucette B

2005-10-01

This study examined anticipated reactions to nonroutine occurrences in the context of emotionally laden customer-contact situations in retail stores. Correlations between measures of the dimensions of trait empathy, anticipated emotional responses to the situations, and self-rated willingness to be involved were examined. Anticipated Compassion mediated the relation of Empathetic Concern on Involvement Willingness in 3 of 4 imaginary compassion-evoking situations. No corresponding effect was observed for Anticipated Distress in the imaginary distress-evoking situations.

How Knowledge Is Constructed and Exchanged in Virtual Communities of Physicians: Qualitative Study of Mindlines Online.

PubMed

Wieringa, Sietse; Engebretsen, Eivind; Heggen, Kristin; Greenhalgh, Trisha

2018-02-02

As a response to the criticisms evidence-based practice currently faces, groups of health care researchers and guideline makers have started to call for the appraisal and inclusion of different kinds of knowledge in guideline production (other than randomized controlled trials [RCTs]) to better link with the informal knowledge used in clinical practice. In an ethnographic study, Gabbay and Le May showed that clinicians in everyday practice situations do not explicitly or consciously use guidelines. Instead, they use mindlines: collectively shared, mostly tacit knowledge that is shaped by many sources, including accumulated personal experiences, education (formal and informal), guidance, and the narratives about patients that are shared among colleagues. In this study on informal knowledge, we consider virtual networks of clinicians as representative of the mindlines in the wider medical community, as holders of knowledge, as well as catalysts of knowing. The aim of this study was to explore how informal knowledge and its creation in communities of clinicians can be characterized as opposed to the more structured knowledge produced in guideline development. This study included a qualitative study of postings on three large virtual networks for physicians in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Norway, taking the topic of statins as a case study and covering more than 1400 posts. Data were analyzed thematically with reference to theories of collaborative knowledge construction and communities of practice. The dataset showed very few postings referring to, or seeking to adhere to, explicit guidance and recommendations. Participants presented many instances of individual case narratives that highlighted quantitative test results and clinical examination findings. There was an emphasis on outliers and the material, regulatory, and practical constraints on knowledge use by clinicians. Participants conveyed not-so-explicit knowledge as tacit and practical knowledge and used a prevailing style of pragmatic reasoning focusing on what was likely to work in a particular case. Throughout the discussions, a collective conceptualization of statins was generated and reinforced in many contexts through stories, jokes, and imagery. Informal knowledge and knowing in clinical communities entail an inherently collective dynamic practice that includes explicit and nonexplicit components. It can be characterized as knowledge-in-context in practice, with a strong focus on casuistry. Validity of knowledge appears not to be based on criteria of consensus, coherence, or correspondence but on a more polyphonic understanding of truth. We contend that our findings give enough ground for further research on how exploring mindlines of clinicians online could help improve guideline development processes. ©Sietse Wieringa, Eivind Engebretsen, Kristin Heggen, Trisha Greenhalgh. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 02.02.2018.

The Importance of Context in Task Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Weiland, Travis

2017-01-01

Context is at the core of any statistical investigation, yet many statistics tasks barely require students to go beyond superficial consideration of the contexts the tasks are situated in. In this article, I discuss a framework for evaluating the level of interaction with context a task requires of students and how to modify tasks to increase the…

A Social Approach to High-Level Context Generation for Supporting Context-Aware M-Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pan, Xu-Wei; Ding, Ling; Zhu, Xi-Yong; Yang, Zhao-Xiang

2017-01-01

In m-learning environments, context-awareness is for wide use where learners' situations are varied, dynamic and unpredictable. We are facing the challenge of requirements of both generality and depth in generating and processing high-level context. In this paper, we present a social approach which exploits social dynamics and social computing for…

Impact of knowledge of leprosy on the attitude towards leprosy patients: a community study.

PubMed

Raju, M S; Kopparty, S N

1995-01-01

NLEP, through its survey-education-treatment (SET) pattern, attempts to educate the community members about the scientific facts of leprosy with the view to improve their knowledge leading to a more positive attitude towards the leprosy afflicted. This paper explores the impact of knowledge on the attitudes of 1199 community members drawn from two States, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, towards leprosy. The results show that, overall, a high knowledge level did not necessarily generate positive attitudes. There was a general negative attitude despite 35% to 50% of the respondents having high knowledge level. There were, however, situations in which a high level of knowledge helps to have positive attitudes. These situations differ in the two states studied.

Adaptive Semantic and Social Web-based learning and assessment environment for the STEM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babaie, Hassan; Atchison, Chris; Sunderraman, Rajshekhar

2014-05-01

We are building a cloud- and Semantic Web-based personalized, adaptive learning environment for the STEM fields that integrates and leverages Social Web technologies to allow instructors and authors of learning material to collaborate in semi-automatic development and update of their common domain and task ontologies and building their learning resources. The semi-automatic ontology learning and development minimize issues related to the design and maintenance of domain ontologies by knowledge engineers who do not have any knowledge of the domain. The social web component of the personal adaptive system will allow individual and group learners to interact with each other and discuss their own learning experience and understanding of course material, and resolve issues related to their class assignments. The adaptive system will be capable of representing key knowledge concepts in different ways and difficulty levels based on learners' differences, and lead to different understanding of the same STEM content by different learners. It will adapt specific pedagogical strategies to individual learners based on their characteristics, cognition, and preferences, allow authors to assemble remotely accessed learning material into courses, and provide facilities for instructors to assess (in real time) the perception of students of course material, monitor their progress in the learning process, and generate timely feedback based on their understanding or misconceptions. The system applies a set of ontologies that structure the learning process, with multiple user friendly Web interfaces. These include the learning ontology (models learning objects, educational resources, and learning goal); context ontology (supports adaptive strategy by detecting student situation), domain ontology (structures concepts and context), learner ontology (models student profile, preferences, and behavior), task ontologies, technological ontology (defines devices and places that surround the student), pedagogy ontology, and learner ontology (defines time constraint, comment, profile).

Emotion Situation Knowledge and Autobiographical Memory in Chinese, Immigrant Chinese, and European American 3-Year-Olds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Qi; Hutt, Rachel; Kulkofsky, Sarah; McDermott, Melissa; Wei, Ruohong

2006-01-01

This study examined the influence of children's emotion situation knowledge (EK) on their autobiographical memory ability at both group and individual levels. Native Chinese, Chinese immigrant, and European American 3-year-old children participated (N = 189). During a home visit, children recounted 2 personal memories of recent, 1-time events with…

Observing the Loss of Situational Awareness and Tacit Knowledge during Personnel Change-Over in a U.S. Coast Guard Command and Control Environment

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

meaning. Information (Know-what): The interpretation of a sequence of elements or in this example, ingredients such as flour , water, sugar, spices, and...the current situation. In addition, obtaining expertise from external specialty sources enriches knowledge and enhances the ability to take action

Knowledge Transfer: What, How, and Why

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chin, Si-Chi

2013-01-01

People learn from prior experiences. We first learn how to use a spoon and then know how to use a different size of spoon. We first learn how to sew and then learn how to embroider. Transferring knowledge from one situation to another related situation often increases the speed of learning. This observation is relevant to human learning, as well…

Development and Construct Validation of a Situational Judgment Test of Strategic Knowledge of Classroom Management in Elementary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gold, Bernadette; Holodynski, Manfred

2015-01-01

The current study describes the development and construct validation of a situational judgment test for assessing the strategic knowledge of classroom management in elementary schools. Classroom scenarios and accompanying courses of action were constructed, of which 17 experts confirmed the content validity. A pilot study and a cross-validation…

Work-Centered Approach to Insurgency Campaign Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-06-01

a constructivist or sensemaking philosophy by defining data, information , situation awareness , and situation understanding in the following manner...present paper explores a new approach to understanding transnational insurgency movements –an approach based on a fundamental analysis of the knowledge ...country or region. By focusing at the fundamental level of knowledge creation, the resulting framework allows an understanding of insurgency

Effect of Video-Cases on the Acquisition of Situated Knowledge of Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geerts, Walter M.; Steenbeek, Henderien W.; van Geert, Paul L. C.

2018-01-01

Video footage is frequently used at teacher education. According to Sherin and Dyer (2017), this is often done in a way that contradicts recent studies. According to them, video is suitable for observing and interpreting interactions in the classroom. This contributes to their situated knowledge, which allows expert teachers to act intuitively,…

Knowledge Structure Measures of Reader's Situation Models across Languages: Translation Engenders Richer Structure

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Kyung; Clariana, Roy B.

2015-01-01

In order to further validate and extend the application of recent knowledge structure (KS) measures to second language settings, this investigation explores how second language (L2, English) situation models are influenced by first language (L1, Korean) translation tasks. Fifty Korean low proficient English language learners were asked to read an…

Conversational sensemaking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preece, Alun; Webberley, Will; Braines, Dave

2015-05-01

Recent advances in natural language question-answering systems and context-aware mobile apps create opportunities for improved sensemaking in a tactical setting. Users equipped with mobile devices act as both sensors (able to acquire information) and effectors (able to act in situ), operating alone or in collectives. The currently- dominant technical approaches follow either a pull model (e.g. Apple's Siri or IBM's Watson which respond to users' natural language queries) or a push model (e.g. Google's Now which sends notifications to a user based on their context). There is growing recognition that users need more flexible styles of conversational interaction, where they are able to freely ask or tell, be asked or told, seek explanations and clarifications. Ideally such conversations should involve a mix of human and machine agents, able to collaborate in collective sensemaking activities with as few barriers as possible. Desirable capabilities include adding new knowledge, collaboratively building models, invoking specific services, and drawing inferences. As a step towards this goal, we collect evidence from a number of recent pilot studies including natural experiments (e.g. situation awareness in the context of organised protests) and synthetic experiments (e.g. human and machine agents collaborating in information seeking and spot reporting). We identify some principles and areas of future research for "conversational sensemaking".

To Learn and to Construct Knowledge in the Context of Work with Adult Education: A Portuguese Case Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loureiro, Armando; Caria, Telmo H.

2013-01-01

Work contexts are frequently referred to as spaces of learning and production of individual and/or collective knowledge. In such contexts specific dynamics are developed which cause the processes of learning and of knowledge production to have particularities. This paper aims at accounting for some dynamics that are associated with those…

Epistemological beliefs of physics undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the context of a well-structured and an ill-structured problem

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mercan, Fatih C.

This study examines epistemological beliefs of physics undergraduate and graduate students and faculty in the context of solving a well-structured and an ill-structured problem. The data collection consisted of a think aloud problem solving session followed by a semi-structured interview conducted with 50 participants, 10 participants at freshmen, seniors, masters, PhD, and faculty levels. The data analysis involved (a) identification of the range of beliefs about knowledge in the context of the well-structured and the ill-structured problem solving, (b) construction of a framework that unites the individual beliefs identified in each problem context under the same conceptual base, and (c) comparisons of the problem contexts and expertise level groups using the framework. The results of the comparison of the contexts of the well-structured and the ill-structured problem showed that (a) authoritative beliefs about knowledge were expressed in the well-structured problem context, (b) relativistic and religious beliefs about knowledge were expressed in the ill-structured problem context, and (c) rational, empirical, modeling beliefs about knowledge were expressed in both problem contexts. The results of the comparison of the expertise level groups showed that (a) undergraduates expressed authoritative beliefs about knowledge more than graduate students and faculty did not express authoritative beliefs, (b) faculty expressed modeling beliefs about knowledge more than graduate students and undergraduates did not express modeling beliefs, and (c) there were no differences in rational, empirical, experiential, relativistic, and religious beliefs about knowledge among the expertise level groups. As the expertise level increased the number of participants who expressed authoritative beliefs about knowledge decreased and the number of participants who expressed modeling based beliefs about knowledge increased. The results of this study implied that existing developmental and cognitive models of personal epistemology can explain personal epistemology in physics to a limited extent, however, these models cannot adequately account for the variation of epistemological beliefs across problem contexts. Modeling beliefs about knowledge emerged as a part of personal epistemology and an indicator of epistemological sophistication, which do not develop until extensive experience in the field. Based on these findings, the researcher recommended providing opportunities for practicing model construction for students.

Reference Production in Young Speakers with and without Autism: Effects of Discourse Status and Processing Constraints

PubMed Central

Arnold, Jennifer E.; Bennetto, Loisa; Diehl, Joshua J.

2008-01-01

We examine the referential choices (pronouns/zeros vs. names/descriptions) made during a narrative by high-functioning children and adolescents with autism and a well-matched typically developing control group. The process of choosing appropriate referring expressions has been proposed to depend on two areas of cognitive functioning: a) judging the attention and knowledge of one’s interlocutor, and b) the use of memory and attention mechanisms to represent the discourse situation. We predicted possible group differences, since autism is often associated with deficits in a) mentalizing and b) memory and attention, as well as a more general tendency to have difficulty with the pragmatic aspects of language use. Results revealed that some of the participants with autism were significantly less likely to produce pronouns or zeros in some discourse contexts. However, the difference was only one of degree. Overall, all participants in our analysis exhibited fine-grained sensitivity to the discourse context. Furthermore, referential choices for all participants were modulated by factors related to the cognitive effort of language production. PMID:19111285

Neuro-cognitive mechanisms of decision making in joint action: a human-robot interaction study.

PubMed

Bicho, Estela; Erlhagen, Wolfram; Louro, Luis; e Silva, Eliana Costa

2011-10-01

In this paper we present a model for action preparation and decision making in cooperative tasks that is inspired by recent experimental findings about the neuro-cognitive mechanisms supporting joint action in humans. It implements the coordination of actions and goals among the partners as a dynamic process that integrates contextual cues, shared task knowledge and predicted outcome of others' motor behavior. The control architecture is formalized by a system of coupled dynamic neural fields representing a distributed network of local but connected neural populations. Different pools of neurons encode task-relevant information about action means, task goals and context in the form of self-sustained activation patterns. These patterns are triggered by input from connected populations and evolve continuously in time under the influence of recurrent interactions. The dynamic model of joint action is evaluated in a task in which a robot and a human jointly construct a toy object. We show that the highly context sensitive mapping from action observation onto appropriate complementary actions allows coping with dynamically changing joint action situations. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An Improved BLE Indoor Localization with Kalman-Based Fusion: An Experimental Study

PubMed Central

Röbesaat, Jenny; Zhang, Peilin; Abdelaal, Mohamed; Theel, Oliver

2017-01-01

Indoor positioning has grasped great attention in recent years. A number of efforts have been exerted to achieve high positioning accuracy. However, there exists no technology that proves its efficacy in various situations. In this paper, we propose a novel positioning method based on fusing trilateration and dead reckoning. We employ Kalman filtering as a position fusion algorithm. Moreover, we adopt an Android device with Bluetooth Low Energy modules as the communication platform to avoid excessive energy consumption and to improve the stability of the received signal strength. To further improve the positioning accuracy, we take the environmental context information into account while generating the position fixes. Extensive experiments in a testbed are conducted to examine the performance of three approaches: trilateration, dead reckoning and the fusion method. Additionally, the influence of the knowledge of the environmental context is also examined. Finally, our proposed fusion method outperforms both trilateration and dead reckoning in terms of accuracy: experimental results show that the Kalman-based fusion, for our settings, achieves a positioning accuracy of less than one meter. PMID:28445421

[How to decide with precision, justice, and equity? Reflections on decision-making in the context of extreme prematurity. Part two: moving toward making the best possible decision: defining conditions for putting decisions into practice].

PubMed

Azria, E; Tsatsaris, V; Moriette, G; Hirsch, E; Schmitz, T; Cabrol, D; Goffinet, F

2007-05-01

Extreme premature child's long-term prognostic is getting better and better known, and if a resuscitation procedure is possible at birth, it won't guarantee survival or a survival free of disability. Incertitude toward individual prognosis and outcome for those children remains considerable. In this field, we are at the frontier of medical knowledge and the answer to the question, "how to decide the ante and postnatal care" is crucial. This work is focused on this problematic of decision-making in the context of extreme prematurity. It attempts to deconstruct this concept and to explicit its stakes. Thus, with the support of the medical sources and of philosophical debates, we tried to build a decision-making procedure that complies with the ethical requirements of medical care, accuracy, justice and equity. This decision-making procedure is primarily concerned with the singularity of each decision situation and it intends to link it closely to the notions of rationality and responsibility.

Emotion recognition and cognitive empathy deficits in adolescent offenders revealed by context-sensitive tasks

PubMed Central

Gonzalez-Gadea, Maria Luz; Herrera, Eduar; Parra, Mario; Gomez Mendez, Pedro; Baez, Sandra; Manes, Facundo; Ibanez, Agustin

2014-01-01

Emotion recognition and empathy abilities require the integration of contextual information in real-life scenarios. Previous reports have explored these domains in adolescent offenders (AOs) but have not used tasks that replicate everyday situations. In this study we included ecological measures with different levels of contextual dependence to evaluate emotion recognition and empathy in AOs relative to non-offenders, controlling for the effect of demographic variables. We also explored the influence of fluid intelligence (FI) and executive functions (EFs) in the prediction of relevant deficits in these domains. Our results showed that AOs exhibit deficits in context-sensitive measures of emotion recognition and cognitive empathy. Difficulties in these tasks were neither explained by demographic variables nor predicted by FI or EFs. However, performance on measures that included simpler stimuli or could be solved by explicit knowledge was either only partially affected by demographic variables or preserved in AOs. These findings indicate that AOs show contextual social-cognition impairments which are relatively independent of basic cognitive functioning and demographic variables. PMID:25374529

Gender Difference in Teachers' Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching in the Context of Single-Sex Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haroun, Ramzi F.; Ng, Dicky; Abdelfattah, Faisal A.; AlSalouli, Misfer S.

2016-01-01

This study examines gender differences of teachers on their mathematical knowledge for teaching in the context of single-sex classrooms in Saudi Arabia. A translated version of the Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) instrument (Learning Mathematics for Teaching [LMT], 2008) in Number and Operation Content Knowledge (CK) and Knowledge of…

Attachment priming and avoidant personality features as predictors of social-evaluation biases.

PubMed

Bowles, David P; Meyer, Björn

2008-02-01

Personality research has shown that negativity in social situations (e.g., negative evaluations of others) can be reduced by the activation of participants' sense of attachment security. Individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD), however, are theoretically less responsive to context or situational cues because of the inflexible nature of their personality disposition. This idea of individual differences in context-responsiveness was tested in a sample of 169 undergraduates who were assessed for APD features and assigned to positive, negative, or neutral attachment priming conditions. More pronounced APD features were associated with more negative responses to vignettes describing potentially distressing social situations. A significant interaction showed that participants with more avoidant features consistently appraised the vignettes relatively more negatively, regardless of priming condition. Those without APD features, by contrast, did not exhibit negative appraisals/evaluations unless negatively primed (curvilinear effect). This effect could not be explained by depression, current mood, or attachment insecurity, all of which related to negative evaluative biases, but none of which related to situation inflexibility. These findings provide empirical support for the notion that negative information-processing is unusually inflexible and context-unresponsive among individuals with more pronounced features of APD.

Work situation of registered nurses in municipal elderly care in Sweden: a questionnaire survey.

PubMed

Josefsson, Karin; Sonde, Lars; Winblad, Bengt; Robins Wahlin, Tarja-Brita

2007-01-01

Organizational changes have occurred in municipal elderly care in Sweden during the past decades. The 'Adel' reform transferred responsibility for the care of older persons from the county councils to the municipalities. Furthermore, the specialisation in dementia care divided elderly care into two groups: dementia and general care. This change has had a significant impact on the work situation of registered nurses (RNs). The main focus was to describe RNs' work situation and their characteristics in municipal elderly care. Another aim was to compare RNs working solely in dementia care with those working in general care of older persons with diverse diagnoses. A non-experimental, descriptive design with a survey research approach was used. Sixty special housing units with underlying units including those offering daytime activities in a large city in the middle of Sweden. The number of participating RNs was a total of 213, with a response rate of 62.3%. Of the 213 RNs, 95 (44.6%) worked in dementia care, and 118 (55.4%) in general care. A questionnaire survey. The results indicated high levels of time pressure in both groups. Greater knowledge and greater emotional and conflicting demands were found in dementia care. The majority perceived a greater opportunity to plan and perform daily work tasks than to influence the work situation in a wider context. Support at work was perceived as generally high from management and fellow workers and higher in dementia care. It is important to decrease RNs' time pressure and increase their influence on decisions made at work.

Continuous Traumatic Situations in the Face of Ongoing Political Violence: The Relationship Between CTS and PTSD.

PubMed

Nuttman-Shwartz, Orit; Shoval-Zuckerman, Yael

2016-12-01

This article presents a literature review of the concept of continuous traumatic situations (CTS), which relates to residents living in ongoing situations of political violence and national security threats. The first aim of this review is to narrow the gap regarding knowledge about the concept of CTS by presenting findings from studies that have assessed the effects of CTS on civilian populations. The second aim is to describe CTS in a way that highlights the differences and similarities between posttraumatic stress disorder and responses to CTS. This distinction is a necessary precondition for examining CTS, as is a careful clinical analysis of the development and course of symptoms. This literature review also highlights the importance of adopting a supplementary perspective for understanding the psychological impact of ongoing exposure to real threats, which can be used as a basis for developing intervention strategies that are appropriate for coping with life in the context of persistent violence. CTS can be manifested as emotions, behaviors, and perceptions among individuals, families, communities, and societies. The nature of the proposed model of CTS is a circular one, combining past and future perceptions and emotional reactions that have resulted from continuous and repeated traumatic experiences over an extended period of time. This wider understanding reflects the complexity of the CTS phenomenon. Various micro and macro interventions relating to CTS as the result of political violence situations and national security threats are presented, and recommendations for practice, policy, and future research are offered. © The Author(s) 2015.

The explosion at institute: modeling and analyzing the situation awareness factor.

PubMed

Naderpour, Mohsen; Lu, Jie; Zhang, Guangquan

2014-12-01

In 2008 a runaway chemical reaction caused an explosion at a methomyl unit in West Virginia, USA, killing two employees, injuring eight people, evacuating more than 40,000 residents adjacent to the facility, disrupting traffic on a nearby highway and causing significant business loss and interruption. Although the accident was formally investigated, the role of the situation awareness (SA) factor, i.e., a correct understanding of the situation, and appropriate models to maintain SA, remain unexplained. This paper extracts details of abnormal situations within the methomyl unit and models them into a situational network using dynamic Bayesian networks. A fuzzy logic system is used to resemble the operator's thinking when confronted with these abnormal situations. The combined situational network and fuzzy logic system make it possible for the operator to assess such situations dynamically to achieve accurate SA. The findings show that the proposed structure provides a useful graphical model that facilitates the inclusion of prior background knowledge and the updating of this knowledge when new information is available from monitoring systems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Improving working equine welfare in 'hard-win' situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal.

PubMed

Pritchard, Joy; Upjohn, Melissa; Hirson, Tamsin

2018-01-01

Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify 'no-win' situations (subsequently reframed as 'hard-wins')-where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal-in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants. Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40-70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively. Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke's new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to streamline ways to approach hard-wins in the complex environments and socio-economic contexts in which working equids are found.

Improving working equine welfare in ‘hard-win’ situations, where gains are difficult, expensive or marginal

PubMed Central

Pritchard, Joy; Hirson, Tamsin

2018-01-01

Purpose Brooke is a non-government organisation with working equine welfare programmes across Africa, Asia and Latin America. In 2014, staff from ten country programmes were asked to identify ‘no-win’ situations (subsequently reframed as ‘hard-wins’)—where improving equine welfare is proving difficult, expensive and/or marginal—in order to inform strategic decisions on how to approach, manage and mitigate for such situations. Methods The Delphi-type consultation process had three phases. Round 1 posed five questions in the form of a workshop, survey and semi-structured interviews. Round 2 re-presented key themes and sense-checked initial conclusions. Round 3 reviewed the nature and prevalence of hard-win situations at an international meeting of all participants. Results Reasons given for hard-win situations included: no economic or social benefit from caring for working animals; poor resource availability; lack of empathy for working equids or their owners among wider stakeholders; deep-seated social issues, such as addiction or illegal working; areas with a high animal turnover or migratory human population; lack of community cooperation or cohesion; unsafe areas where welfare interventions cannot be adequately supported. Participants estimated the prevalence of hard-win situations as 40–70% of their work. They suggested some current ways of working that may be contributing to the problem, and opportunities to tackle hard-wins more effectively. Conclusion and animal welfare implications Respondents agreed that if equine welfare improvements are to span generations of animals, interventions cannot rely on relatively simple, technical knowledge-transfer strategies and quick-wins alone. Programmes need to be more flexible and iterative and less risk-averse in their approaches to embedding good equine welfare practices in all relevant actors. Consultation recommendations informed development of Brooke’s new global strategy, a revised organisational structure and redefinition of roles and responsibilities to streamline ways to approach hard-wins in the complex environments and socio-economic contexts in which working equids are found. PMID:29408887

Bystander motivation in bullying incidents: to intervene or not to intervene?

PubMed

Thornberg, Robert; Tenenbaum, Laura; Varjas, Kris; Meyers, Joel; Jungert, Tomas; Vanegas, Gina

2012-08-01

This research sought to extend knowledge about bystanders in bullying situations with a focus on the motivations that lead them to different responses. The 2 primary goals of this study were to investigate the reasons for children's decisions to help or not to help a victim when witnessing bullying, and to generate a grounded theory (or conceptual framework) of bystander motivation in bullying situations. Thirty students ranging in age from 9 to 15 years (M = 11.9; SD = 1.7) from an elementary and middle school in the southeastern United States participated in this study. Open- ended, semi-structured interviews were used, and sessions ranged from 30 to 45 minutes. We conducted qualitative methodology and analyses to gain an in-depth understanding of children's perspectives and concerns when witnessing bullying. A key finding was a conceptual framework of bystander motivation to intervene in bullying situations suggesting that deciding whether to help or not help the victim in a bullying situation depends on how bystanders define and evaluate the situation, the social context, and their own agency. Qualitative analysis revealed 5 themes related to bystander motives and included: interpretation of harm in the bullying situation, emotional reactions, social evaluating, moral evaluating, and intervention self-efficacy. Given the themes that emerged surrounding bystanders' motives to intervene or abstain from intervening, respondents reported 3 key elements that need to be confirmed in future research and that may have implications for future work on bullying prevention. These included: first, the potential importance of clear communication to children that adults expect bystanders to intervene when witnessing bullying; second, the potential of direct education about how bystanders can intervene to increase children's self-efficacy as defenders of those who are victims of bullying; and third, the assumption that it may be effective to encourage children's belief that bullying is morally wrong.

"The Sky's Things", |xam Bushman 'Astrological Mythology' as recorded in the Bleek and Lloyd Manuscripts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hollman, J. C.

2007-07-01

The Bleek and Lloyd Manuscripts are an extraordinary resource that comprises some 12 000 pages of |xam Bushman beliefs collected in the 1870s in Cape Town, South Africa. About 17% of the collection concerns beliefs and observations of celestial bodies. This paper summarises |xam knowledge about the origins of the celestial bodies as recorded in the manuscripts and situates this within the larger context of the |xam worldview. The stars and planets originate from a mythological past in which they lived as 'people' who hunted and gathered as the |xam did in the past, but who also had characteristics that were to make them the entities that we recognise today. Certain astronomical bodies have consciousness and supernatural potency. They exert an influence over people's everyday lives.

[Legal aspects of delegation and reorganisation of medical services in the psychiatric field].

PubMed

Jordan, Wolfgang; Adler, Lothar; Bleich, Stefan; Cohrs, Stefan; von Einsiedel, Regina; Falkai, Peter; Grosskopf, Volker; Hauth, Iris; Steiner, Johann

2011-11-01

Current psychiatric-psychotherapeutic in-patient care takes place in an area of tension between increasing treatment requirements and the persistent lack of qualified staff. The optimisation of the diagnostic-therapeutic procedures in a clinic helps to reduce existing care deficits or to generate resources for future developments. The subject of delegation and substitution of medical services is considered in this context. Inadequate knowledge of the legal situation on the part of the decision makers impairs the indispensable trustful cooperation among the professions and adds to the uncertainty of all those concerned. The present paper outlines the legal, organisational and health policy aspects of delegation and the reorganisation of medical activities in the field of psychiatry. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

[Health education trough the development of scientific skills in Chilean schools].

PubMed

Burgos, Soledad; Yohannessen, Karla; Álvarez, Andrea; Rebolledo, Alejandro; Valenzuela, María Teresa

2017-01-01

To describe the interests, preferred topics and learning in public health issues emerging from Chilean students with their participation in a science education experience. A qualitative exploratory study was conducted in 29 school research groups through the project Salud Con-Ciencia en tu Barrio, based on a content analysis of texts and narratives of students. Students prioritize the situation of abandoned animals, waste management, security and urban infrastructure, mainly. They view the role of social actors, the positive/negative impacts on the community, valuing the knowledge gained through observation neighborhoods and interaction with neighbors. Scientific inquiry school in the neighborhood context provides teaching strategies for the promotion of local health, develops basic notions of community health and motivation in students linked to the socio-environmental reality of their neighborhoods.

[Self-Determination in Medical Rehabilitation - Development of a Conceptual Model for Further Theoretical Discussion].

PubMed

Senin, Tatjana; Meyer, Thorsten

2018-01-22

Aim was to gather theoretical knowledge about self-determination and to develop a conceptual model for medical rehabilitation- which serves as a basis for discussion. We performed a literature research in electronic databases. Various theories and research results were adopted and transferred to the context of medical rehabilitation and into a conceptual model. The conceptual model of self-determination reflects on a continuum which forms of self-determination may be present in situations of medical rehabilitation treatments. The location on the continuum depends theoretically on the manifestation of certain internal and external factors that may influence each other. The model provides a first conceptualization of self-determination focusing on medical rehabilitation which should be further refined and tested empirically. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Practical choices for infobutton customization: experience from four sites.

PubMed

Cimino, James J; Overby, Casey L; Devine, Emily B; Hulse, Nathan C; Jing, Xia; Maviglia, Saverio M; Del Fiol, Guilherme

2013-01-01

Context-aware links between electronic health records (EHRs) and online knowledge resources, commonly called "infobuttons" are being used increasingly as part of EHR "meaningful use" requirements. While an HL7 standard exists for specifying how the links should be constructed, there is no guidance on what links to construct. Collectively, the authors manage four infobutton systems that serve 16 institutions. The purpose of this paper is to publish our experience with linking various resources and specifying particular criteria that can be used by infobutton managers to select resources that are most relevant for a given situation. This experience can be used directly by those wishing to customize their own EHRs, for example by using the OpenInfobutton infobutton manager and its configuration tool, the Librarian Infobutton Tailoring Environment.

Situation awareness - A critical but ill-defined phenomenon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sarter, Nadine B.; Woods, David D.

1991-01-01

The significance of the temporal dimension of situation awareness is examined. Its study requires the staging of complex dynamic situations and the development of less intrusive in-flight probing techniques to assess the pilot's ability to adequately and rapidly retrieve and integrate flight-related information. The cognitive basis of the concept is analyzed, embedding it in the context of related psychological concepts. Methodological approaches to the investigation of situation awareness are discussed on this basis.

Audience tuning effects in the context of situated and embodied processes.

PubMed

Semin, Gün R

2018-03-05

This review provides an overview of the research on communication and the 'Saying is Believing' paradigm in the context of different perspectives on communication. The process of 'audience tuning' is shaped by a variety of situated factors in contexts that affect the communicators' confidence in their message. The overwhelming common denominator is that the combination of features that create ambiguity yields the optimal condition for the formation of shared realities. I conclude with an argument that the implied invariance of memory processes in shared reality work needs to be more attentive to the regulatory function of memories driving the expression of shared realities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Knowledge mobilized by a critical thinking process deployed by nursing students in practical care situations: a qualitative study.

PubMed

Lechasseur, Kathleen; Lazure, Ginette; Guilbert, Louise

2011-09-01

This paper is a report of a qualitative study of mobilization of knowledge within the critical thinking process deployed by female undergraduate nursing students in practical care situations. Holistic practice is based on variety of knowledge mobilized by a critical thinking process. Novices and, more specifically, students experience many difficulties in this regard. Therefore, a better understanding of the knowledge they mobilize in their practice is important for nurse educators. A qualitative study, guided by grounded theory, was carried out. Sixteen nursing students, registered in an undergraduate programme in an Eastern Canadian university, were recruited. Descriptions of practical care situations were obtained through explicitation interviews in 2007. A sociodemographic questionnaire, semi-structured interviews and field notes were also used. Data were analysed using an approach based on grounded theory. An additional stage of analysis involved data condensation. Various types of knowledge guide nursing students' practice. These include intrapersonal, interpersonal, perceptual, moral/ethical, experiential, practical, scientific and contextual knowledge. The mobilization of these types of knowledge is only possible when the process of critical thinking has attained a higher level, giving rise to a new knowledge that we have termed combinational constructive knowledge rather than aesthetic knowledge. Clarification of the types of knowledge guiding the practice of student nurses and of the role of critical thinking in their mobilization could lead to innovative educational strategies. The findings provide guidance for the revision and development of both academic and clinical training programmes. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Multimodal Discourse Analysis of the Movie "Argo"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bo, Xu

2018-01-01

Based on multimodal discourse theory, this paper makes a multimodal discourse analysis of some shots in the movie "Argo" from the perspective of context of culture, context of situation and meaning of image. Results show that this movie constructs multimodal discourse through particular context, language and image, and successfully…

The Feeling of "Face" in Confucian Society: From a Perspective of Psychosocial Equilibrium.

PubMed

Han, Kuei-Hsiang

2016-01-01

Previous research on the feeling of "face" has long described "face" as a complicated phenomenon in Confucian societies. Indeed, the feeling of face is highly context dependent. One may have very different (having or losing) face perception if the same face event occurs in a different context. To better capture the features of how face is felt, effects on possible responses need to be considered. Therefore, this article adopts a perspective of psychosocial equilibrium to elaborate people's feeling of face in Taiwan, a Confucian society. The first section illustrates the concept of psychosocial equilibrium and its psychodynamic effects on people's feeling of face. Then, the second section of this article takes positive social situations (having face events) as backdrop to exhibit how people balance their psychosocial equilibrium with different relationships. Following the positive social situations, the third section of this article then focuses on the negative situations (losing face events) to explain how losing face is felt due to unbalance of psychosocial equilibrium with one's relation in that specific context.

Teamwork situated in multiteam systems: Key lessons learned and future opportunities.

PubMed

Shuffler, Marissa L; Carter, Dorothy R

2018-01-01

Many important contexts requiring teamwork, including health care, space exploration, national defense, and scientific discovery, present important challenges that cannot be addressed by a single team working independently. Instead, the complex goals these contexts present often require effectively coordinated efforts of multiple specialized teams working together as a multiteam system (MTS). For almost 2 decades, researchers have endeavored to understand the novelties and nuances for teamwork and collaboration that ensue when teams operate together as "component teams" in these interdependent systems. In this special issue on the settings of teamwork, we aim to synthesize what is known thus far regarding teamwork situated in MTS contexts and offer new directions and considerations for developing, maintaining, and sustaining effective collaboration in MTSs. Our review of extant research on MTSs reveals 7 key lessons learned regarding teamwork situated in MTSs, but also reveals that much is left to learn about the science and practice of ensuring effective multiteam functioning. We elaborate these lessons and delineate 4 major opportunities for advancing the science of MTSs as a critical embedding context for collaboration and teamwork, now and in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Transfer of Knowledge in Technical Vocational Education: A Narrative Study in Swedish Upper Secondary School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kilbrink, Nina; Bjurulf, Veronica

2013-01-01

In vocational education, teaching and learning are expected to take place in the different learning arenas; schools and workplaces. In such a dual school system, the question of transfer is vital, i.e. how to use knowledge learned in previous situations in new situations. This article is an empirical contribution to research concerning transfer,…

Neural correlates of context-independent and context-dependent self-knowledge.

PubMed

Martial, Charlotte; Stawarczyk, David; D'Argembeau, Arnaud

2018-05-25

The self-concept consists of both a general (context-independent) self-representation and a set of context-dependent selves that represent personal attributes in particular contexts (e.g., as a student, as a daughter). To date, however, neuroimaging studies have focused on general self-representations, such that little is known about the neural correlates of context-dependent self-knowledge. The present study aimed at investigating this issue by examining the neural correlates of both kinds of self-knowledge. Participants judged the extent to which trait adjectives described their own personality or the personality of a close friend, either in a specific context (i.e., as a student) or in general. We found that both kinds of self-judgments were associated with common activation in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), as compared to judgments about others. Interestingly, however, there were also notable differences between self-judgments, with context-independent judgments being associated with higher activity in the MPFC, whereas context-dependent judgments were associated with greater activation in posterior brain regions (i.e., the posterior cingulate/retrosplenial cortex). These findings show that context-independent and context-dependent self-referential judgments recruit both common and distinct brain regions, thereby supporting the view that the self-concept is a multi-dimensional knowledge structure that includes a general self-representation and a set of context-specific selves. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Meanings and experiential outcomes of bodily care in a specialist palliative context.

PubMed

Håkanson, Cecilia; Öhlén, Joakim

2015-06-01

The objective of this study was to enhance the depth of existing knowledge about meanings and experiential outcomes of bodily care in the context of an inpatient specialist palliative setting. Interpretative phenomenology was chosen as the study sought to explore individuals' lived experiences related to bodily care. Nine participants (five women, four men) of various ages and with various metastasized cancers and bodily-care needs, all from one specialist palliative care ward, participated. Data were collected with repeated narrative interviews and supplementary participating observations. Analysis was informed by van Manen's approach. The following meanings and experiential outcomes of bodily care were revealed by our study: maintaining and losing body capability, breaching borders of bodily integrity, being comforted and relieved in bodily-care situations, and being left in distress with unmet needs. These meanings overlap and shape the nature of each other and involve comforting and distressing experiences related to what can be described as conditional dimensions: the particular situation, one's own experiences of the body, and healthcare professionals' approaches. The results, based on specialist palliative care patients' experiences, outline the meanings and outcomes that relate to the quintessence and complexity of palliative care, deriving from dying persons' blend of both basic and symptom-oriented bodily-care needs. Moreover, the results outline how these two dimensions of care equally influence whether comfort and well-being are facilitated or not. Considering this, specialist palliative care may consider how to best integrate and acknowledge the value of skilled basic nursing care as part of and complementary to expertise in symptom relief during the trajectories of illness and dying.

Pilot interaction with cockpit automation 2: An experimental study of pilots' model and awareness of the Flight Management System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sarter, Nadine B.; Woods, David D.

1994-01-01

Technological developments have made it possible to automate more and more functions on the commercial aviation flight deck and in other dynamic high-consequence domains. This increase in the degrees of freedom in design has shifted questions away from narrow technological feasibility. Many concerned groups, from designers and operators to regulators and researchers, have begun to ask questions about how we should use the possibilities afforded by technology skillfully to support and expand human performance. In this article, we report on an experimental study that addressed these questions by examining pilot interaction with the current generation of flight deck automation. Previous results on pilot-automation interaction derived from pilot surveys, incident reports, and training observations have produced a corpus of features and contexts in which human-machine coordination is likely to break down (e.g., automation surprises). We used these data to design a simulated flight scenario that contained a variety of probes designed to reveal pilots' mental model of one major component of flight deck automation: the Flight Management System (FMS). The events within the scenario were also designed to probe pilots' ability to apply their knowledge and understanding in specific flight contexts and to examine their ability to track the status and behavior of the automated system (mode awareness). Although pilots were able to 'make the system work' in standard situations, the results reveal a variety of latent problems in pilot-FMS interaction that can affect pilot performance in nonnormal time critical situations.

Perceived effects of setting attributes on visitor experiences in wilderness: variation with situational context and visitor characteristics.

PubMed

Cole, David N; Hall, Troy E

2009-07-01

Understanding how setting attributes influence the nature of the visitor experience is crucial to effective recreation management. Highly influential attributes are useful indicators to monitor within a planning framework, such as Limits of Acceptable Change. This study sought to identify the setting attributes perceived to have the most profound effect on the ability to have "a real wilderness experience" and to assess the degree to which attribute importance varied with situational context and visitor characteristics. To this end, exiting hikers were surveyed at moderate and very high use trailheads in Alpine Lakes Wilderness, WA (USA), and Three Sisters Wilderness, OR (USA). They were asked about the degree to which encountering varying levels of different setting attributes would add to or detract from their experience. Attributes with the largest range of effect on experience, based on evaluations of different levels, were considered most important. The most influential attributes were litter and several types of campsite interaction--people walking through camp and number of other groups camping close by. The perceived importance of setting attributes did not vary much between wilderness locations with substantially different use levels, suggesting that conclusions are robust and generalizable across wilderness areas. There also was little difference in the perceptions of day and overnight visitors. In contrast, we found substantial variation in the perceived importance of setting attributes with variation in wilderness experience, knowledge, attachment, and motivation. Our results validate the emphasis of many wilderness management plans on indicators of social interaction, such as number of encounters.

Formalization of treatment guidelines using Fuzzy Cognitive Maps and semantic web tools.

PubMed

Papageorgiou, Elpiniki I; Roo, Jos De; Huszka, Csaba; Colaert, Dirk

2012-02-01

Therapy decision making and support in medicine deals with uncertainty and needs to take into account the patient's clinical parameters, the context of illness and the medical knowledge of the physician and guidelines to recommend a treatment therapy. This research study is focused on the formalization of medical knowledge using a cognitive process, called Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) and semantic web approach. The FCM technique is capable of dealing with situations including uncertain descriptions using similar procedure such as human reasoning does. Thus, it was selected for the case of modeling and knowledge integration of clinical practice guidelines. The semantic web tools were established to implement the FCM approach. The knowledge base was constructed from the clinical guidelines as the form of if-then fuzzy rules. These fuzzy rules were transferred to FCM modeling technique and, through the semantic web tools, the whole formalization was accomplished. The problem of urinary tract infection (UTI) in adult community was examined for the proposed approach. Forty-seven clinical concepts and eight therapy concepts were identified for the antibiotic treatment therapy problem of UTIs. A preliminary pilot-evaluation study with 55 patient cases showed interesting findings; 91% of the antibiotic treatments proposed by the implemented approach were in fully agreement with the guidelines and physicians' opinions. The results have shown that the suggested approach formalizes medical knowledge efficiently and gives a front-end decision on antibiotics' suggestion for cystitis. Concluding, modeling medical knowledge/therapeutic guidelines using cognitive methods and web semantic tools is both reliable and useful. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Children's Typically-Perceived-Situations of Force and No Force in the Context of Australia and Korea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Joung, Yong Jae; Gunstone, Richard

2010-08-01

Typically-Perceived-Situation (TPS) refers to the situation rising spontaneously in an individual's mind when she/he first thinks of a phenomenon or concept. The purpose of this study is to go well beyond the many studies that describe conceptions of force and explore children's TPS of "force is acting on a thing" and "force is not acting on a thing", and to do this in the differing contexts of Australia and Korea. Data were collected by drawings and written explanations from 145 Grade 6 Australian children and 150 Grade 6 Korean children. These data showed some significant differences between the Australian children's and Korean children's TPSs. For example, considering the whole context of children's TPS, the contexts of "someone pushes or pulls something" and "someone/something is floating in the air or not moving because there is no gravity" were the most frequent ones, as a "force" and as a "no force" situation respectively, in the case of Australian children, while "a sort of energy is provided into someone/something and they can be active/working" and "a sort of energy is not provided into someone/something and they cannot be active/working", were most frequent in the case of Korean children. These differences are very likely the consequence of different everyday meanings for the word "force" in the two cultures. In addition, it appears that these children's TPS affect their judgement of "force" and "no force".

Situating Motivation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nolen, Susan Bobbitt; Horn, Ilana Seidel; Ward, Christopher J.

2015-01-01

This article describes a situative approach to studying motivation to learn in social contexts. We begin by contrasting this perspective to more prevalent psychological approaches to the study of motivation, describing epistemological and methodological differences that have constrained conversation between theoretical groups. We elaborate on…

Funds of Identity in Education: Acknowledging the Life Experiences of First Year Tertiary Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Charteris, Jennifer; Thomas, Eryn; Masters, Yvonne

2018-01-01

Teacher education students bring diverse funds of knowledge to formal education. These funds of knowledge are particularly important for the successful transition of first year tertiary students into higher education. In preservice teacher education contexts, students draw knowledge from varied life contexts and their funds of knowledge become…

[Behind the scenes of the didactic of nursing science knowledge: role play simulation filmed for learning through "problematic situations"].

PubMed

Gineyt, Christine

2015-12-01

clinical simulation to teach expertise to nursing students plays an important role in nursing schools (IFSI). as recommended in the training frame of reference, students must develop skills from real situations. The objective of this study was to determine the importance of role play simulation of 'problematic situations' to boost the process of appropriation of nursing science knowledge and initiate the task of conceptualization among first year students when putting up a drip. this contextual research used qualitative data collected from students who answered three open post-simulation questions in order to communicate how they felt faced with this learning technique. This data was compared with that of two executive tutors who used an observation grid during the simulation. the students' answers have shown that this learning technique offered the possibility to develop dexterity in problem solving skills, to construct new knowledge and to memorize knowledge gained from university science and nursing care. The executive tutors have observed the construction of a meta-cognitive attitude suited to the conceptualization of action. during a change in the relationship with knowledge, the executive tutors noted that students are happy to learn different types of knowledge.

Stereotype Threat Effects on Learning From a Cognitively Demanding Mathematics Lesson.

PubMed

Lyons, Emily McLaughlin; Simms, Nina; Begolli, Kreshnik N; Richland, Lindsey E

2018-03-01

Stereotype threat-a situational context in which individuals are concerned about confirming a negative stereotype-is often shown to impact test performance, with one hypothesized mechanism being that cognitive resources are temporarily co-opted by intrusive thoughts and worries, leading individuals to underperform despite high content knowledge and ability (see Schmader & Beilock, ). We test here whether stereotype threat may also impact initial student learning and knowledge formation when experienced prior to instruction. Predominantly African American fifth-grade students provided either their race or the date before a videotaped, conceptually demanding mathematics lesson. Students who gave their race retained less learning over time, enjoyed the lesson less, reported a diminished desire to learn more, and were less likely to choose to engage in an optional math activity. The detrimental impact was greatest among students with high baseline cognitive resources. While stereotype threat has been well documented to harm test performance, the finding that effects extend to initial learning suggests that stereotype threat's contribution to achievement gaps may be greatly underestimated. Copyright © 2017 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The knowledge of expert nurses and the practical-reflective rationality.

PubMed

Pina Queirós, Paulo Joaquim

2015-01-01

To identify the characteristics of an expert nurse. A group of 49 nurses starting their Master's degree was asked to answer the following question: ''Which characteristics and skills distinguish a novice from an expert nurse?'' The answers were analyzed and classified based on Bardin's content analysis. Through a three-stage classification process, the competences and skills assigned to expert nurses were divided into 17 categories. These nurses showed wide-ranging skills and acquired meta-competencies. Expert nurses are characterized by their leadership, supervision and ability to manage change, as well as their communication and relational skills. They have the ability to act reflectively, plan, systematize and consistently assess; they also show more dexterity. They have more adaptive skills, confidence and achieve a broader view. They are competent while managing conflicts and stress, as well as articulating theory and practice; they create knowledge, make use of research, respond to complex situations and are capable of making decisions. Expert nurses have anticipation skills, insight, use detailed observation, take immediate action and are able to define priorities; they keep context in mind and have a tendency for specialization.

Developing a program for enhancing youth HIV treatment adherence and risk reduction.

PubMed

Fongkaew, Warunee; Udomkhamsuk, Warawan; Viseskul, Nongkran; Guptaruk, Marisa

2017-12-01

Youth living with HIV face difficult and challenging situations that decrease their adherence to antiretroviral medications. In this study, we developed a pilot program to enhance HIV treatment adherence and risk reduction among youth living with HIV based on collaboration with a community hospital involving a multi-disciplinary healthcare team. Participants were 25 youth living with HIV/AIDS, 18 caregivers, and 12 healthcare providers. The action research process comprised a preliminary stage and four phases of assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation. This program used "edutainment", participatory learning, and multi-disciplinary collaboration to improve HIV treatment adherence and HIV risk behavior knowledge, motivation, and behavior. Education aimed to improve knowledge of antiretroviral drugs and HIV risk-taking behaviors. Motivation was directed at reframing beliefs and increasing positive attitudes of youth toward treatment adherence and raising awareness about safer sex behaviors. The behavioral skills focused on medication management in daily life activities, problem-solving, refusal and negotiation, and condom use. Findings provided preliminary evidence that the program was practical in a clinical context in a community hospital. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.

Linguistic Predictors of Cultural Identification in Bilinguals

PubMed Central

Schroeder, Scott R.; Lam, Tuan Q.; Marian, Viorica

2016-01-01

Most of the world's population has knowledge of at least two languages. Many of these bilinguals are also exposed to and identify with at least two cultures. Because language knowledge enables participation in cultural practices and expression of cultural beliefs, bilingual experience and cultural identity are interconnected. However, the specific links between bilingualism and cultural identity remain largely unidentified. The current study examined which aspects of bilingualism relate to identification with first- and second-language cultures. Two-hundred-and-nine bilinguals completed a questionnaire probing linguistic background and cultural affiliations. Regression analyses indicated that cultural identification was predicted by age of language acquisition, language proficiency, foreign-accentedness, and contexts of long-term language immersion and current language exposure. Follow-up analyses revealed that the language-culture relations were mediated by the age and manner in which the second language was acquired. These findings are situated within a proposed framework of bilingual cultural identity. By identifying features of bilingualism that are relevant for cultural identity, the current research increases our understanding of the relationship between language and culture. PMID:28936014

Comparing the cognitive differences resulting from modeling instruction: Using computer microworld and physical object instruction to model real world problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oursland, Mark David

This study compared the modeling achievement of students receiving mathematical modeling instruction using the computer microworld, Interactive Physics, and students receiving instruction using physical objects. Modeling instruction included activities where students applied the (a) linear model to a variety of situations, (b) linear model to two-rate situations with a constant rate, (c) quadratic model to familiar geometric figures. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze achievement differences between students (a) receiving different methods of modeling instruction, (b) with different levels of beginning modeling ability, or (c) with different levels of computer literacy. Student achievement was analyzed quantitatively through a three-factor analysis of variance where modeling instruction, beginning modeling ability, and computer literacy were used as the three independent factors. The SOLO (Structure of the Observed Learning Outcome) assessment framework was used to design written modeling assessment instruments to measure the students' modeling achievement. The same three independent factors were used to collect and analyze the interviews and observations of student behaviors. Both methods of modeling instruction used the data analysis approach to mathematical modeling. The instructional lessons presented problem situations where students were asked to collect data, analyze the data, write a symbolic mathematical equation, and use equation to solve the problem. The researcher recommends the following practice for modeling instruction based on the conclusions of this study. A variety of activities with a common structure are needed to make explicit the modeling process of applying a standard mathematical model. The modeling process is influenced strongly by prior knowledge of the problem context and previous modeling experiences. The conclusions of this study imply that knowledge of the properties about squares improved the students' ability to model a geometric problem more than instruction in data analysis modeling. The uses of computer microworlds such as Interactive Physics in conjunction with cooperative groups are a viable method of modeling instruction.

The role of experience in night work: Lessons from two ergonomic studies.

PubMed

Pueyo, Valérie; Toupin, Cathy; Volkoff, Serge

2011-01-01

The purpose of this article is to analyze some connections between experience, health and work, especially in the field of night work. As a result of the baby boom, the proportion of elderly workers is steadily increasing, while at the same time many workers are reaching retirement age and being replaced by younger people. And, in the same time, there is an overall gradual increase in shift work and night work. To our knowledge, worker experience has not been extensively studied in this context. This was our focus in studying work activity in two very different situations, in a hospital and in a steel industry. In these two studies we observed that the experienced workers endeavor to plan ahead, especially at night. They do this to limit fatigue and to avoid emergencies and ensure that work is stress-free and as far as possible under control. But experience not only brings workers to plan ahead, it also enables them to do so, thanks to the resources it confers: gaining familiarity with tasks and acquiring the ability to identify critical situations, gaining knowledge about themselves and awareness of situations that cause difficulty; and gaining a better overview of the collective aspects of their work and of ways to share tasks or obtain assistance. They are able to undertake these strategies thanks to specific skills and capacities they have built along their professional career, which notably leads them to find the best trade-off between several goals, possibly contradictory. Such experience is especially valuable at night, when the worker is tired, and when there are fewer supervisors present. This experience can only be gained, however, if the work environment fosters its acquisition and provides an opportunity to make use of it, especially during the night shift and especially with respect to planning tasks ahead of time. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Relations between Behavior Problems in Classroom Social and Learning Situations and Peer Social Competence in Head Start and Kindergarten

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bulotsky-Shearer, Rebecca J.; Dominguez, Ximena; Bell, Elizabeth R.; Rouse, Heather L.; Fantuzzo, John W.

2010-01-01

The relations between early emotional and behavioral problems in classroom situations and peer social competence were examined for a representative sample of urban Head Start children. Behavior problems were assessed within the context of routine peer, teacher, and structured learning classroom situations early in the preschool year. Two path…

Pronominal Address in German: Rules, Anarchy and Embarrassment Potential

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kretzenbacher, Heinz L.; Clyne, Michael; Schupbach, Doris

2006-01-01

Choice of address forms, a socially crucial feature in German communication, is context-dependent on situations (a) where the unmarked form of address is "du" (T), (b) where it is "Sie" (V), and (c) where the two systems (a and b) coexist. The first two situations are, apart from their fuzzy edges, rather clearcut. The third situation, however,…

Playing spades: The rich resources of African American young men

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schademan, Alfred R.

Research has shown that African American young men as a demographic group occupy the lowest levels of academic performance in both science and mathematics. In spite of this educational problem, little research has been conducted on the knowledge related to these disciplines that these young men learn and develop through everyday cultural practices. Such knowledge is needed in order to: (1) combat the deficit views that many teachers currently hold of African American young men, and (2) inform teachers interested in implementing pedagogies in their classrooms that draw upon the knowledge of African American young men. To add to our knowledge in this field, this study examines the resources that African American young men learn, use, and develop through a card game called Spades. Specifically, the study identifies and analyzes the models and model-based reasoning that the players use in order to win games. The study focuses upon modeling as it is central to both science and mathematics. To imbed player models and reasoning in context, the study employs a syncretic theoretical framework that examines how Spades has changed over time and how it is currently played in a high school setting. The qualitative study uses ethnographic methods combined with play-by-play analyses to reconstruct games and examine player strategies and reasoning that guide their decisions. The study found that the players operate from a number of different models while playing the game. Specifically, the players consider multiple variables and factors, as well as their mathematical relationships, to predict future occurrences and then play cards accordingly. Further, the players use a number of resources to win games including changing the game to maintain a competitive edge, counting cards, selectively memorizing cards played, assessing risk, bluffing, reading partners as well as opponents, reneging, estimating probabilities, and predicting outcomes. The player models and resources bear striking resemblance to what scientists and mathematicians do when modeling. Lastly, the study identifies eight features of Spades that make it a rich context for the learning and development of significant forms of reasoning. Most importantly, Spades is an empowering context through which the players both learn and display their resources and abilities in order to deal with complex situations. Consequently, the study provides evidence that many African American young men routinely employ types of reasoning in everyday practices that are robust and relevant to science and mathematics.

Expectations and boundaries for Big Data approaches in social medicine.

PubMed

Dimeglio, Chloé; Kelly-Irving, Michelle; Lang, Thierry; Delpierre, Cyrille

2018-07-01

It seems no longer possible to produce knowledge, even biological knowledge regardless of social, cultural and economic environments in which they were observed. Therefore never the term "social medicine" or more generally "social biology" has appeared more appropriate. This way of linking the social and the biological exceeds the sole social medicine by involving also other medical disciplines. As such, forensics, whose an important activity is represented by clinical forensics in charge of types of violence (physical, psychological, sexual, abuse) and persons held in custody could see its practice heavily modified through the use of various data describing both the clinical situation of patients but also their context of life. A better understanding of mechanisms of violence development and potentially a better prevention of these situations allow forensics not to be restricted (or seen as limited to) a "descriptive medicine", but to be seen also as a preventive and curative medicine. In this evolution, the potential contribution of Big Data appears significant insofar as information on a wide range of characteristics of the environment or context of life (social, economic, cultural) can be collected and be connected with health data, for example to develop models on social determinants of health. In the common thinking, the use of a larger amount of data and consequently a multiplicity of information via a multiplicity of databases would allow to access to a greater objectivity of a reality that we are approaching by fragmented viewpoints otherwise. In this light, the "bigger" and "more varied" would serve the "better" or at least the "more true". But to be able to consider together or to link different databases it will be necessary to know how to handle this diversity regarding hypotheses made to build databases and regarding their purposes (by whom, for what bases have been made). It will be equally important to question the representativeness of situations that led to the creation of a database and to question the validity of information and data according to the secondary or tertiary uses anticipated from their original purpose. This step of data validity control for the anticipated use is a sine qua non condition, particularly in the field of public health, to guarantee a sufficient level of quality and exploit in the best way the benefits of Big Data approaches. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd and Faculty of Forensic and Legal Medicine. All rights reserved.

Studying Scale-Up and Spread as Social Practice: Theoretical Introduction and Empirical Case Study

PubMed Central

Shaw, Sara; Wherton, Joseph; Hughes, Gemma; Greenhalgh, Trisha

2017-01-01

Background Health and care technologies often succeed on a small scale but fail to achieve widespread use (scale-up) or become routine practice in other settings (spread). One reason for this is under-theorization of the process of scale-up and spread, for which a potentially fruitful theoretical approach is to consider the adoption and use of technologies as social practices. Objective This study aimed to use an in-depth case study of assisted living to explore the feasibility and usefulness of a social practice approach to explaining the scale-up of an assisted-living technology across a local system of health and social care. Methods This was an individual case study of the implementation of a Global Positioning System (GPS) “geo-fence” for a person living with dementia, nested in a much wider program of ethnographic research and organizational case study of technology implementation across health and social care (Studies in Co-creating Assisted Living Solutions [SCALS] in the United Kingdom). A layered sociological analysis included micro-level data on the index case, meso-level data on the organization, and macro-level data on the wider social, technological, economic, and political context. Data (interviews, ethnographic notes, and documents) were analyzed and synthesized using structuration theory. Results A social practice lens enabled the uptake of the GPS technology to be studied in the context of what human actors found salient, meaningful, ethical, legal, materially possible, and professionally or culturally appropriate in particular social situations. Data extracts were used to illustrate three exemplar findings. First, professional practice is (and probably always will be) oriented not to “implementing technologies” but to providing excellent, ethical care to sick and vulnerable individuals. Second, in order to “work,” health and care technologies rely heavily on human relationships and situated knowledge. Third, such technologies do not just need to be adopted by individuals; they need to be incorporated into personal habits and collaborative routines (both lay and professional). Conclusions Health and care technologies need to be embedded within sociotechnical networks and made to work through situated knowledge, personal habits, and collaborative routines. A technology that “works” for one individual in a particular set of circumstances is unlikely to work in the same way for another in a different set of circumstances. We recommend the further study of social practices and the application of co-design principles. However, our findings suggest that even if this occurs, the scale-up and spread of many health and care technologies will be neither rapid nor smooth. PMID:28687532

Knowledge of practice: A multi-sited event ethnography of border security fairs in Europe and North America.

PubMed

Baird, Theodore

2017-06-01

This article takes the reader inside four border security fairs in Europe and North America to examine the knowledge practices of border security professionals. Building on the border security as practice research agenda, the analysis focuses on the production, circulation, and consumption of scarce forms of knowledge. To explore situated knowledge of border security practices, I develop an approach to multi-sited event ethnography to observe and interpret knowledge that may be hard to access at the security fairs. The analysis focuses on mechanisms for disseminating and distributing scarce forms of knowledge, technological materializations of situated knowledge, expressions of transversal knowledge of security problems, how masculinities structure knowledge in gendered ways, and how unease is expressed through imagined futures in order to anticipate emergent solutions to proposed security problems. The article concludes by reflecting on the contradictions at play at fairs and how to address such contradictions through alternative knowledges and practices.

Knowledge of practice: A multi-sited event ethnography of border security fairs in Europe and North America

PubMed Central

Baird, Theodore

2017-01-01

This article takes the reader inside four border security fairs in Europe and North America to examine the knowledge practices of border security professionals. Building on the border security as practice research agenda, the analysis focuses on the production, circulation, and consumption of scarce forms of knowledge. To explore situated knowledge of border security practices, I develop an approach to multi-sited event ethnography to observe and interpret knowledge that may be hard to access at the security fairs. The analysis focuses on mechanisms for disseminating and distributing scarce forms of knowledge, technological materializations of situated knowledge, expressions of transversal knowledge of security problems, how masculinities structure knowledge in gendered ways, and how unease is expressed through imagined futures in order to anticipate emergent solutions to proposed security problems. The article concludes by reflecting on the contradictions at play at fairs and how to address such contradictions through alternative knowledges and practices. PMID:29046601

Evidence-based policy-making: the implications of globally-applicable research for context-specific problem-solving in developing countries.

PubMed

Behague, Dominique; Tawiah, Charlotte; Rosato, Mikey; Some, Télésphore; Morrison, Joanna

2009-11-01

In the past 15 or so years, the "evidence-based medicine" (EBM) framework has become increasingly institutionalized, facilitating its transfer across the globe. In the late 1990s, the basic principles of EBM began to have a marked influence in a number of non-clinical public policy arenas. Policy-makers working in these areas are now being urged to move away from developing policies according to political ideologies to a more legitimate approach based on "scientific fact," a process termed "evidence-based policy-making" (EBPM). The conceptual diffusion of EBM to non-clinical arenas has exposed epistemologically destabilizing views regarding the definition of "science," particularly as it relates to the demands of global versus national/sub-national policy-making. Using the maternal and neonatal subfield as an ethnographic case-study, this paper explores the effects of these divergences on EBPM in 5 developing countries (Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Malawi and Nepal). In doing so, our analysis aims to explain why EBPM has thus far had a limited impact in the area of context-specific programmatic policy-development and implementation at the national and sub-national levels. Results highlight that the political contexts in which EBPM is played out promote uniformity of methodological and policy approaches, despite the fact that disciplinary diversity is being called for repeatedly in the public health literature. Even in situations where national EBPM diverges from international priorities, national evidence-based policies are found to hold little weight in countering global policy interests, which some informants claim are themselves legitimated, rather than informed, by evidence. Informants also highlight the way interpretations of research findings are shaped by the broader political context within which donors set priorities and distribute limited resources - contexts that are driven by the need to provide generalisable research recommendations based on scientifically replicable methods. Added to this are clear rifts between senior and junior-level experts within countries that constrain national and sub-national research agendas from serving as tools for empowered knowledge production and problem-solving. We conclude by arguing for diverse forms of research that can more effectively address context-specific problems. While such diversity may render EBPM more conflict-ridden, debate is by no means an undesirable characteristic in any evolving system of knowledge, for it has the potential to foster critical insight and localized change.

Dynamic replanning of 3D automated reconstruction using situation graph trees and illumination adjustment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kohler, Sophie; Far, Aïcha Beya; Hirsch, Ernest

2007-01-01

This paper presents an original approach for the optimal 3D reconstruction of manufactured workpieces based on a priori planification of the task, enhanced on-line through dynamic adjustment of the lighting conditions, and built around a cognitive intelligent sensory system using so-called Situation Graph Trees. The system takes explicitely structural knowledge related to image acquisition conditions, type of illumination sources, contents of the scene (e. g., CAD models and tolerance information), etc. into account. The principle of the approach relies on two steps. First, a socalled initialization phase, leading to the a priori task plan, collects this structural knowledge. This knowledge is conveniently encoded, as a sub-part, in the Situation Graph Tree building the backbone of the planning system specifying exhaustively the behavior of the application. Second, the image is iteratively evaluated under the control of this Situation Graph Tree. The information describing the quality of the piece to analyze is thus extracted and further exploited for, e. g., inspection tasks. Lastly, the approach enables dynamic adjustment of the Situation Graph Tree, enabling the system to adjust itself to the actual application run-time conditions, thus providing the system with a self-learning capability.

Knowledge Management within the Medical University.

PubMed

Rauzina, Svetlana Ye; Tikhonova, Tatiana A; Karpenko, Dmitriy S; Bogopolskiy, Gennady A; Zarubina, Tatiana V

2015-01-01

The aim of the work is studying the possibilities of ontological engineering in managing of medical knowledge. And also practical implementation of knowledge management system (KMS) in medical university. The educational process model is established that allows analyzing learning results within time scale. Glossary sub-system has been developed; ontologies of educational disciplines are constructed; environment for setup and solution of situational cases is established; ontological approach to assess competencies is developed. The possibilities of the system for solving situation tasks have been described. The approach to the evaluation of competence has been developed.

A distributed reasoning engine ecosystem for semantic context-management in smart environments.

PubMed

Almeida, Aitor; López-de-Ipiña, Diego

2012-01-01

To be able to react adequately a smart environment must be aware of the context and its changes. Modeling the context allows applications to better understand it and to adapt to its changes. In order to do this an appropriate formal representation method is needed. Ontologies have proven themselves to be one of the best tools to do it. Semantic inference provides a powerful framework to reason over the context data. But there are some problems with this approach. The inference over semantic context information can be cumbersome when working with a large amount of data. This situation has become more common in modern smart environments where there are a lot sensors and devices available. In order to tackle this problem we have developed a mechanism to distribute the context reasoning problem into smaller parts in order to reduce the inference time. In this paper we describe a distributed peer-to-peer agent architecture of context consumers and context providers. We explain how this inference sharing process works, partitioning the context information according to the interests of the agents, location and a certainty factor. We also discuss the system architecture, analyzing the negotiation process between the agents. Finally we compare the distributed reasoning with the centralized one, analyzing in which situations is more suitable each approach.

"Fab 13": The Learning Factory.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crooks, Steven M.; Eucker, Tom R.

2001-01-01

Describes how situated learning theory was employed in the design of Fab 13, a four-day simulation-based learning experience for manufacturing professionals at Intel Corporation. Presents a conceptual framework for understanding situated learning and discusses context, content, anchored instruction, facilitation, scaffolding, collaborating,…

Engineering Problem-Solving Knowledge: The Impact of Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wolff, Karin

2017-01-01

Employer complaints of engineering graduate inability to "apply knowledge" suggests a need to interrogate the complex theory-practice relationship in twenty-first century real world contexts. Focussing specifically on the application of mathematics, physics and logic-based disciplinary knowledge, the research examines engineering…

Transfer of knowledge from sound quality measurement to noise impact evaluation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Genuit, Klaus

2004-05-01

It is well known that the measurement and analysis of sound quality requires a complex procedure with consideration of the physical, psychoacoustical and psychological aspects of sound. Sound quality cannot be described only by a simple value based on A-weighted sound pressure level measurements. The A-weighted sound pressure level is sufficient to predict the probabilty that the human ear could be damaged by sound but the A-weighted level is not the correct descriptor for the annoyance of a complex sound situation given by several different sound events at different and especially moving positions (soundscape). On the one side, the consideration of the spectral distribution and the temporal pattern (psychoacoustics) is requested and, on the other side, the subjective attitude with respect to the sound situation, the expectation and experience of the people (psychology) have to be included in context with the complete noise impact evaluation. This paper describes applications of the newest methods of sound quality measurements-as it is well introduced at the car manufacturers-based on artifical head recordings and signal processing comparable to the human hearing used in noisy environments like community/traffic noise.

Attitudes and knowledge about preventive dental care in Chilean refugees in Sweden.

PubMed

Zimmerman, M; Bornstein, R; Martinsson, T

1993-12-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a simplified oral health programme on attitudes to and knowledge of preventive dentistry. The subjects were Chilean refugees and the programme was delivered at one or two sessions in the form of group information/discussion. Because of increasing immigration, Sweden has become a multicultural society. The number of non-Nordic immigrants has doubled in the past decade. The major refugee groups have come from Iran, Chile and Poland. The subjects comprised 193 Chilean refugees: 106 in a single-visit group and 87 in a two-visit group. The oral health programme was completed by 94 and 65 subjects respectively and was evaluated after 6 months. Positive effects were discernible in attitudes to and knowledge of preventive dentistry, particularly with respect to oral hygiene. A key to success may have been group discussion in which the refugees could relate oral health problems to their own ethnic group. This could have an important function in bridging cultural, linguistic and situational barriers. Different forms of outreach programmes for oral health via groups, organisations or authorities in close contact with refugees shortly after arrival in Sweden are proposed. This approach may be particularly effective in a multicultural society and also in the context of the turbulent conditions the newly-arrived refugee experiences.

Ayahuasca, psychedelic studies and health sciences: the politics of knowledge and inquiry into an Amazonian plant brew.

PubMed

Tupper, Kenneth W; Labate, Beatriz C

2014-01-01

This article offers critical sociological and philosophical reflections on ayahuasca and other psychedelics as objects of research in medicine, health and human sciences. It situates 21st century scientific inquiry on ayahuasca in the broader context of how early modern European social trends and intellectual pursuits translated into new forms of empiricism and experimental philosophy, but later evolved into a form of dogmatism that convenienced the political suppression of academic inquiry into psychedelics. Applying ideas from the field of science and technology studies, we consider how ayahuasca's myriad ontological representations in the 21st century--for example, plant teacher, traditional medicine, religious sacrament, material commodity, cognitive tool, illicit drug--influence our understanding of it as an object of inquiry. We then explore epistemological issues related to ayahuasca studies, including how the indigenous and mestizo concept of "plant teacher" or the more instrumental notion of psychedelics as "cognitive tools" may impact understanding of knowledge. This leads to questions about whether scientists engaged in ayahuasca research should be expected to have personal experiences with the brew, and how these may be perceived to help or hinder the objectivity of their pursuits. We conclude with some brief reflections on the politics of psychedelic research and impediments to academic knowledge production in the field of psychedelic studies.

Bioprospecting the African Renaissance: The new value of muthi in South Africa

PubMed Central

Reihling, Hanspeter CW

2008-01-01

This article gives an overview of anthropological research on bioprospecting in general and of available literature related to bioprospecting particularly in South Africa. It points out how new insights on value regimes concerning plant-based medicines may be gained through further research and is meant to contribute to a critical discussion about the ethics of Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS). In South Africa, traditional healers, plant gatherers, petty traders, researchers and private investors are assembled around the issues of standardization and commercialization of knowledge about plants. This coincides with a nation-building project which promotes the revitalization of local knowledge within the so called African Renaissance. A social science analysis of the transformation of so called Traditional Medicine (TM) may shed light onto this renaissance by tracing social arenas in which different regimes of value are brought into conflict. When medicinal plants turn into assets in a national and global economy, they seem to be manipulated and transformed in relation to their capacity to promote health, their market value, and their potential to construct new ethics of development. In this context, the translation of socially and culturally situated local knowledge about muthi into global pharmaceuticals creates new forms of agency as well as new power differentials between the different actors involved. PMID:18371221

Development of functional oral health literacy assessment instruments: application of literacy and cognitive theories.

PubMed

Bridges, Susan M; Parthasarathy, Divya S; Au, Terry K F; Wong, Hai Ming; Yiu, Cynthia K Y; McGrath, Colman P

2014-01-01

This paper describes the development of a new literacy assessment instrument, the Hong Kong Oral Health Literacy Assessment Task for Paediatric Dentistry (HKOHLAT-P). Its relationship to literacy theory is analyzed to establish content and face validity. Implications for construct validity are examined by analyzing cognitive demand to determine how "comprehension" is measured. Key influences from literacy assessment were identified to analyze item development. Cognitive demand was analyzed using an established taxonomy. The HKOHLAT-P focuses on the functional domain of health literacy assessment. Items had strong content and face validity reflecting established principles from modern literacy theory. Inclusion of new text types signified relevant developments in the area of new literacies. Analysis of cognitive demand indicated that this instrument assesses the "comprehension" domain, specifically the areas of factual and procedural knowledge, with some assessment of conceptual knowledge. Metacognitive knowledge was not assessed. Comprehension tasks assessing patient health literacy predominantly examine functional health literacy at the lower levels of comprehension. Item development is influenced by the fields of situated and authentic literacy. Inclusion of content regarding multiliteracies is suggested for further research. Development of functional health literacy assessment instruments requires careful consideration of the clinical context in determining construct validity. © 2013 American Association of Public Health Dentistry.

From open source communications to knowledge

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Preece, Alun; Roberts, Colin; Rogers, David; Webberley, Will; Innes, Martin; Braines, Dave

2016-05-01

Rapid processing and exploitation of open source information, including social media sources, in order to shorten decision-making cycles, has emerged as an important issue in intelligence analysis in recent years. Through a series of case studies and natural experiments, focussed primarily upon policing and counter-terrorism scenarios, we have developed an approach to information foraging and framing to inform decision making, drawing upon open source intelligence, in particular Twitter, due to its real-time focus and frequent use as a carrier for links to other media. Our work uses a combination of natural language (NL) and controlled natural language (CNL) processing to support information collection from human sensors, linking and schematising of collected information, and the framing of situational pictures. We illustrate the approach through a series of vignettes, highlighting (1) how relatively lightweight and reusable knowledge models (schemas) can rapidly be developed to add context to collected social media data, (2) how information from open sources can be combined with reports from trusted observers, for corroboration or to identify con icting information; and (3) how the approach supports users operating at or near the tactical edge, to rapidly task information collection and inform decision-making. The approach is supported by bespoke software tools for social media analytics and knowledge management.

Diagnosing Students' Understanding of Energy and Its Related Concepts in Biological Context

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chabalengula, Vivien Mweene; Sanders, Martie; Mumba, Frackson

2012-01-01

This study diagnosed the understanding about energy and biological-context energy concepts held by 90 first-year South African university biology students. In particular, students' explanations of energy in a biological context, how energy is involved in different biological situations and whether energy is present and what types of energy are…

Potential Perils of Changing Environmental Context on Examination Scores

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Der Wege, Mija; Barry, Leslie A.

2008-01-01

Environmental context can affect memory retrieval in a wide range of situations. The authors investigate the relationship between the location of a collegiate final examination and student performance. Although several other studies have looked at the impact of environmental context on test taking, this study does so in a real-world environment,…

Stochastic Estimation of Cost Frontier: Evidence from Bangladesh

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mamun, Shamsul Arifeen Khan

2012-01-01

In the literature of higher education cost function study, enough knowledge is created in the area of economy scale in the context of developed countries but the knowledge of input demand is lacking. On the other hand, empirical knowledge in the context of developing countries is very meagre. The paper fills up the knowledge gap, estimating a…

What Does "Playing Well" Mean to Elite Sports Coaches?: Implicit Thinking of Elite Spanish Soccer Coaches

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

González-Víllora, Sixto; Serra-Olivares, Jaime; González-Martí, Irene; Hernández-Martínez, Andrea

2012-01-01

People construct knowledge through a set of highly diverse experiences. Despite being personal, this knowledge is strongly influenced by the specific context where it occurs. Such experience-based knowledge is referred to as "implicit theories" because it does not fit in with a systematic and theoretical knowledge context like that of…