Hypertext, navigation, and learning: a psychological perspective

Hypertext has the potential to revolutionise the way we organise and read texts. Indeed, hypertext’s non-linearity and enhanced learner control are regarded by many as being an enormous advantage over the traditional printed medium. However, there is evidence to suggest that users are unable to explore hypertext without experiencing navigational problems (Kim and Hirtle 1995).The research presented in this thesis examined some of the problems associated with navigation and learning in hypertext. As regards navigation, it was found that disorientation is a problem for hypertext users and that text structure affects navigation performance. Non-linear texts are a greater problem for users than hierarchical and mixed texts (hierarchical with a small number of cross referential links). It appears therefore, that although non-linear networks capture the real essence of hypertext, users are unable to manage the freedom they are given Disorientation also seems to be particularly marked for users who are unfamiliar with the subject matter of the text. However, the results show that the provision of localised spatial maps can minimise disorientation. As regards learning, the results showed that although non-linear texts create navigational problems and disrupt learning at acquisition, they can lead to good long-term retention. Indeed, the results suggest a dissociation between navigation and learning. That is, efficient navigation is not always a prerequisite of meaningful learning. Unfortunately, the results showed that subjects prefer linear text and believe that hypertext requires greater mental effort to understand largely because of the navigational problems it creates. One solution to this problem may be to provide some form of guidance such as a map. However, the structural information depicted in spatial maps does not appear to support learning. By contrast, a conceptual map can reduce (but not eradicate) disorientation and enhance learning at both acquisition and retention

The Coconut Tree and the Computer Tiger: Information Technology in Traditional Pacific Societies

This literature review explores the extent to which Information Technology (IT) has affected the cultures of small traditional Pacific societies, with the South Pacific region as the point of focus. The assumption is that the educational systems of Pacific nations are in the developmental stage with the associated sophisticated technological applications. The thesis asks what if any, cultural challenges of adopting information technology have arisen? The review finds that traditional culture and information technology are in competition in the power stakes of human consideration, reflected in South Pacific indigenous academics seeking independence as researchers and acceptance in their own right. The realisation that culture and technology need to function together requires attaining academic freedom in the aftermath of post-colonial restrictions placed on the indigenous sociological and anthropological imagination. The first part examines the history of information technology generally, and the significance of work already done, providing a perspective of how the subject has developed and become established, assisting in the development and acquisition of the appropriate vocabulary. The review explains and describes the occurrence of information technology in the South Pacific, the effect of globalisation and shared knowledge through ethno-methodology, every day culture in action, describing the ways in which people make the sense they do and through the ways they communicate. In the second part the focus is on the detail of the commonsense character of everyday life and the practices by which they make their actions understandable by others. Scrutiny of how people do what they do provides an explanation of what those people do and why they do it in the way they do. Western form of governance is a reality, with nation building based on Western models of development. National independence and sovereignty with a wave of neo-colonialism and aid dependency led to economic globalisation, with resentment against value systems that erode indigenous values, producing a wave of re-indigenisation facilitated by the revolution known as information technology . There is a coherent body of Pacific thought, with a shared philosophy and ethic on the public agenda. In the material covered, elements standing out are the awareness among growing numbers of Pacific academics of the need for a genuine and far-reaching contextualisation, acknowledging the relevance and applicability of indigenous cultural values in contemporary settings. Second is the success of communities whose initiatives have followed familiar traditional ways they know and understand, reaping rewards. The region has development and governance failures in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji to name a few; the national state of affairs in some countries is not encouraging. Where good development and governance are occurring, it is usually through the direct initiative of local communities using their knowledge base. The information upheaval is creating new opportunities in the lives of people from small traditional societies. Information Technology expands throughout the social structure of the Pacific in direct proportion to personal computer access literally at one's finger tips

On Random Sampling for Compliance Monitoring in Opportunistic Spectrum Access Networks

In the expanding spectrum marketplace, there has been a long term evolution towards more market€“oriented mechanisms, such as Opportunistic Spectrum Access (OSA), enabled through Cognitive Radio (CR) technology. However, the potential of CR technologies to revolutionize wireless communications, also introduces challenges based upon the potentially non€“deterministic CR behaviour in the Electrospace. While establishing and enforcing compliance to spectrum etiquette rules are essential to realization of successful OSA networks in the future, there has only been recent increased research activity into enforcement. This dissertation presents novel work on the spectrum monitoring aspect, which is crucial to effective enforcement of OSA. An overview of the challenges faced by current compliance monitoring methods is first presented. A framework is then proposed for the use of random spectral sampling techniques to reduce data collection complexity in wideband sensing scenarios. This approach is recommended as an alternative to Compressed Sensing (CS) techniques for wideband spectral occupancy estimation, which may be difficult to utilize in many practical congested scenarios where compliance monitoring is required. Next, a low€“cost computational approach to online randomized temporal sensing deployment is presented for characterization of temporal spectrum occupancy in cognitive radio scenarios. The random sensing approach is demonstrated and its performance is compared to CS€“based approach for occupancy estimation. A novel frame€“based sampling inversion technique is then presented for cases when it is necessary to track the temporal behaviour of individual CRs or CR networks. Parameters from randomly sampled Physical Layer Convergence Protocol (PLCP) data frames are used to reconstruct occupancy statistics, taking account of missed frames due to sampling design, sensor limitations and frame errors. Finally, investigations into the use of distributed and mobile spectrum sensing to collect spatial diversity to improve the above techniques are presented, for several common monitoring tasks in spectrum enforcement. Specifically, focus is upon techniques for achieving consensus in dynamic topologies such as in mobile sensing scenarios

Social cognitive consequences of differences in the emotional grounding of concepts: the role of embodiment

American Psychological Association (PsycINFO Classification Categories and Codes): 2300 Human Experimental Psychology; 2340 Cognitive Processes; 2560 Psychophysiology; 2720 Linguistics & Language & Speech; 3000 Social PsychologyThe present work examines the affective grounding of first-native (L1) and secondlearned (L2) languages, and how they differently impact intra-individual, inter-individual and intergroup processes. In the first chapter we framed our work in the Socially Situated Cognition approach, and proposed the application of its assumptions to linguistic communication. In the second chapter we reviewed literature showing the differences in processing L1-L2, and concluded that these languages are not likely to be grounded in the same way. In the first empirical chapter we examined this assumption in two affective priming experiments. Congruency effects were observed only in L1 for prime/target word pairs, and in L1-L2 for pairs of word/photos (facial expressions). These results suggest different groundings of L1-L2, and that the presence of facial expressions, that facilitate affective simulation processes, may overrule L2 constraints. The second set of three experiments revealed that L2 induces social distance and a more abstract type of processing. Moreover, the social distance induced by L2 was mediated by a more abstract construal-level that is consistent with the disembodied nature of L2. The last set of two experiments indicates that the evaluation of sentences with affective content, presented in L1-L2, depends on their valence and on the group membership of the described targets. Affective simulation (measured with EMG) was more intense in L1, and for the in-group, and differences in simulation of in-group/out-group sentences were enhanced in L2. The last chapter presents a summary of the main findings, their contributions and limitations, and suggests future research directions.O presente trabalho examina a ancoragem afectiva da língua-nativa (L1) e da segunda-língua (L2), e como estas influenciam de forma diferente processos intraindividuais, inter-individuais e intergrupais. No primeiro capítulo enquadramos o trabalho na abordagem da Cognição Social Situada propondo a aplicação das suas premissas à comunicação linguística. No segundo capítulo revemos estudos que mostram diferenças no processamento de L1-L2 concluíndo que, provavelmente, estas línguas não são corporalizadas da mesma maneira. No primeiro capítulo empírico examinamos esta premissa em dois experimentos de primação afectiva. Observámos efeitos de congruência apenas em L1 para pares de palavras primo-alvo, e em L1-L2 para pares de palavras/fotos (expressões faciais). Estes resultados sugerem diferenças na ancoragem afectiva de L1-L2 e que a presença de expressões faciais, facilitadoras de processos de simulação afectiva, anula os constrangimentos impostos por L2. O segundo conjunto de três experimentos revelou que L2 induz distância social e um processamento mais abstracto. Para além disso, a distância social induzida por L2 foi mediada por um construal-level mais abstracto, o que é consistente com a natureza descorporalizada de L2. No último conjunto de dois experimentos observou-se que a avaliação de frases de conteúdo afectivo, apresentadas em L1-L2, depende da sua valência e da pertença grupal dos alvos descritos. A simulação afectiva (medida com EMG) foi mais intensa em L1, e para o in-group, e as diferenças na simulação de frases do in-group/outgroup foram realçadas em L2. O último capítulo apresenta os resultados principais, seus contributos e limitações, e sugestões para investigação futura

Information journeys in digital archives

Archival collections have particular properties that make physical and intellectual access difficult for researchers. This generates feelings of uncertainty in the researchers leading to a large burden of enquiries to the archive, many routine. In this thesis I investigate the information seeking behaviours of archival researchers and the distinct properties of the archive first through the respective literatures and then through a series of five studies. Using systems, data and researchers from the National Archives, these studies examine the nature of the enquiries archives receive across many channels, the in-person interactions between archivists and researchers in the reading rooms and the unmediated search behaviours of archival researchers. I proceed to outline the barriers inhibiting research progress and the techniques or 'regulators' used by researchers to surmount or mitigate these barriers. In the final two studies I develop and attempt to validate an instrument for measuring uncertainty in information seeking in large digital collections. This three factor (disorientation, prospect and preparedness) scale of archival uncertainty allows improvements to online archival systems to be effectively tested before implementation. I also propose system properties which seem likely to assist researchers to make progress given these factors and which could be tested using this instrument

A Social Dimension for Digital Architectural Practice

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/1296 on 14.03.2017 by CS (TIS)This thesis proceeds from an analysis of practice and critical commentary to claim that the opportunities presented to some architectural practices by the advent of ubiquitous digital technology have not been properly exploited. The missed opportunities, it claims, can be attributed largely to the retention of a model of time and spaces as discrete design parameters, which is inappropriate in the context of the widening awareness of social interconnectedness that digital technology has also facilitated. As a remedy, the thesis shows that some social considerations essential to good architecture - which could have been more fully integrated in practice and theory more than a decade ago - can now be usefully revisited through a systematic reflection on an emerging use of web technologies that support social navigation. The thesis argues through its text and a number of practical projects that the increasing confidence and sophistication of interdisciplinary studies in geography, most notably in human geography, combined with the technological opportunities of social navigation, provide a useful model of time and space as a unified design parameter. In so doing the thesis suggests new possibilities for architectural practices involving social interaction. Through a literature review of the introduction and development of digital technologies to architectural practice, the thesis identifies the inappropriate persistence of a number of overarching concepts informing architectural practice. In a review of the emergence and growth of 'human geography' it elaborates on the concept of the social production of space, which it relates to an analysis of emerging social navigation technologies. In so doing the thesis prepares the way for an integration of socially aware architecture with the opportunities offered by social computing. To substantiate its claim the thesis includes a number of practical public projects that have been specifically designed to extend and amplify certain concepts, along with a large-scale design project and systematic analysis which is intended to illustrate the theoretical claim and provide a model for further practical exploitation

Formen der Adaption in einem computergestützten Lehrsystem: Entwicklung und Evaluation eines partiell adaptiven Programms für Reha-Patienten

keine Zusammenfassung vorhande

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen