A Paradigm Shift from Optimal Play to Mental Comfort: A Perspective from the Game Refinement Theory

The game refinement theory focuses on the game designer perspective, where its application in various types of games provides evidence of the occurring paradigm shift. Utilizing the logistical model of game outcome uncertainty, it provides a platform for incorporating gamified experience observed in games to be adopted in domains outside of game while retaining the context of the game. Making games as a testbed, the implications of the game refinement theory have been observed in the educational and business perspective, while further explored its utility in interpreting some states of the human mind. In addition, a holistic view of design in games and in the real-world environments was discussed, where the prospects of the game refinement theory were also highlighted

Innovation Heuristics: Experiments on Sequential Creativity in Intellectual Property

All creativity and innovation build on existing ideas. Authors and inventors copy, adapt, improve, interpret, and refine the ideas that have come before them. The central task of intellectual property (IP) law is regulating this sequential innovation to ensure that initial creators and subsequent creators receive the appropriate sets of incentives. Although many scholars have applied the tools of economic analysis to consider whether IP law is successful in encouraging cumulative innovation, that work has rested on a set of untested assumptions about creators’ behavior. This Article reports four novel creativity experiments that begin to test those assumptions. In particular, we study how creators decide whether to copy, or “borrow,” from existing ideas or to innovate around them

Automated iterative game design

Computational systems to model aspects of iterative game design were proposed, encompassing: game generation, sampling behaviors in a game, analyzing game behaviors for patterns, and iteratively altering a game design. Explicit models of the actions in games as planning operators allowed an intelligent system to reason about how actions and action sequences affect gameplay and to create new mechanics. Metrics to analyze differences in player strategies were presented and were able to identify flaws in game designs. An intelligent system learned design knowledge about gameplay and was able to reduce the number of design iterations needed during playtesting a game to achieve a design goal. Implications for how intelligent systems augment and automate human game design practices are discussed.Ph.D

Feature Repurposing and Cognitive Efficiency in Financial Trading Systems

Many IS research domains such as cognitive fit and information overload assume that the user selects from a fixed menu of IS features to accomplish goals. IS pliability researchers offer a new perspective by recognizing the users’ discretion in altering or creating new features. While this IS pliability research has important implications, it is currently descriptive rather than explanatory. To explore IS pliability in the form of causal propositions, we examine data from a Fortune 1000 brokerage firm where some traders created what the IS developers considered superfluous “extra” accounts. Levering insights from the referent theory of cognitive niche construction, we propose that these multiple accounts align the representation of information presented with the users’ conceptual trading strategies. This alignment in turn facilitates trading research through the reduction of task switching and the learning benefits supported by category labels. The empirical analysis is consistent with these propositions

\u3ci\u3eModels in Scientific Inquiry\u3c/i\u3e

This dissertation studies how models become useful for scientific inquiry. Towards this study, I develop a theory on the cross-discipline transfer of mathematical models. The first part of this theory characterizes the way in which scientists must respond to the constraints in making a transferable model useable in their discipline. I invent the notion of a landing zone to identify the aspects of their domain that scientists prepare for the use of a transferrable model. The second part connects this response-to-constraints to cases of conceptual progress resulting from model transfer in biology and chemistry. The last part of this dissertation characterizes scientific inquiry as problem solving, where I invent a framework for identifying how scientists use models to frame problems so that they are easier to solve

Childhood onset conduct problems : The role of mothers' interpersonal schemas and their relationship to parenting behaviour

This study examines the relationship between mothers' interpersonal schemas and parenting behaviour in two groups of mother-son dyads, those with conduct problems and those without. Research has shown that implementation of, and parental engagement with, current interventions of choice for childhood onset conduct problems may be improved by the addition of a component that addresses parents’ thoughts or beliefs (White, McNally & Cartwright-Hatton, 2003). However, little research has yet explored the nature and content of these beliefs and their relationship to parenting behaviours. Based on interpersonal schema theory (Safran, 1990a, 1990b; Safran & Segal, 1990) and findings from behavioural, attachment and cognitive research, this cross-sectional study investigates the role of mothers’ interpersonal schemas in childhood onset conduct problems. A sample of 32 mothers and their 7 to 11 year old sons were recruited from primary schools on the basis of their responses to two screening questionnaires. Mothers were assessed by self-report questionnaire regarding their current mood state, level of parenting stress and interpersonal schemas, and mother-son dyads were observed engaging in two structured parent-child interaction tasks. Differences were found between the two groups in parenting warmth and negativity and in child-related interpersonal schemas. However, no relationship was found between schemas and parenting. The results are discussed in relation to the relevant literatures concerning interpersonal schemas, parent-child interaction, attachment and parental cognitions. Clinical and research implications of the findings are also discussed

An Exploratory Study of Attributes, Affordances, Abilities, and Distance in Children\u27s Use of Mathematics Virtual Manipulative iPad Apps

This exploratory qualitative study investigated the presence of and relationships among constructs that contribute to children\u27s interactions with educational technology, leading to the development of the modification of attributes, affordances, abilities, and distance (MAAAD) for Learning framework. For this study, each of 10 fifth-grade children participated in one individual video-recorded semistructured interview session, during which they interacted with two mathematics virtual manipulative iPad apps and responded to follow-up questions. Video recordings and observation field notes were analyzed for evidence of attributes, affordance-ability relationships, distance, and relationships among these constructs. Constant comparative data analysis using memoing and eclectic coding provided evidence of the presence of each focus construct. Further analysis and interpretation, including quantization of qualitative data for visualization using novel rhombus plots, also led to the identification of emergent themes related to each construct and revealed relationships among the constructs. Emergent themes included categorization, alignment, and modification of attributes, variations and interrelationships among affordance-ability relationships, and the identification of and interactions among mathematical and technological distance. Furthermore, each construct related to each other construct. The evidence and interpretations led to the development of the MAAAD for Learning framework. The results of the study suggest that the MAAAD for Learning framework models relationships among attributes, affordance-ability relationships, and distance in the context of user-app interactions. the framework could serve as a tool for app developers designing apps, educators using apps to support children\u27s learning, and researchers characterizing user-app interactions and the outcomes of those interactions. The constructs, relationships, and framework identified in this study advance the literature on children\u27s interactions with educational technology tools, in particular literature concerning children\u27s interactions with mathematics virtual manipulative iPad apps