Quantum Theory and Conceptuality: Matter, Stories, Semantics and Space-Time

We elaborate the new interpretation of quantum theory that we recently proposed, according to which quantum particles are considered conceptual entities mediating between pieces of ordinary matter which are considered to act as memory structures for them. Our aim is to identify what is the equivalent for the human cognitive realm of what physical space-time is for the realm of quantum particles and ordinary matter. For this purpose, we identify the notion of 'story' as the equivalent within the human cognitive realm of what ordinary matter is in the physical quantum realm, and analyze the role played by the logical connectives of disjunction and conjunction with respect to the notion of locality. Similarly to what we have done in earlier investigations on this new quantum interpretation, we use the specific cognitive environment of the World-Wide Web to elucidate the comparisons we make between the human cognitive realm and the physical quantum realm.Comment: 14 page

Categorical invariance and structural complexity in human concept learning

An alternative account of human concept learning based on an invariance measure of the categorical\ud stimulus is proposed. The categorical invariance model (CIM) characterizes the degree of structural\ud complexity of a Boolean category as a function of its inherent degree of invariance and its cardinality or\ud size. To do this we introduce a mathematical framework based on the notion of a Boolean differential\ud operator on Boolean categories that generates the degrees of invariance (i.e., logical manifold) of the\ud category in respect to its dimensions. Using this framework, we propose that the structural complexity\ud of a Boolean category is indirectly proportional to its degree of categorical invariance and directly\ud proportional to its cardinality or size. Consequently, complexity and invariance notions are formally\ud unified to account for concept learning difficulty. Beyond developing the above unifying mathematical\ud framework, the CIM is significant in that: (1) it precisely predicts the key learning difficulty ordering of\ud the SHJ [Shepard, R. N., Hovland, C. L.,&Jenkins, H. M. (1961). Learning and memorization of classifications.\ud Psychological Monographs: General and Applied, 75(13), 1-42] Boolean category types consisting of three\ud binary dimensions and four positive examples; (2) it is, in general, a good quantitative predictor of the\ud degree of learning difficulty of a large class of categories (in particular, the 41 category types studied\ud by Feldman [Feldman, J. (2000). Minimization of Boolean complexity in human concept learning. Nature,\ud 407, 630-633]); (3) it is, in general, a good quantitative predictor of parity effects for this large class of\ud categories; (4) it does all of the above without free parameters; and (5) it is cognitively plausible (e.g.,\ud cognitively tractable)

Conveying User Experience in Business-to-Business Environment

Tässä työssä käsittelen käyttäjäkokemuslähtöisen tuotesuunnittelun mahdollisuuksia vaikuttaa erottautumistekijöihin teollisissa yrityksissä, jotka toimivat B2B ympäristössä. Työn tavoitteena on tarkastella kokemuspohjaisen suunnittelun teoreettisia lähtökohtia, ottaen huomioon muotoilun, kognitiotieteiden ja kauppatieteiden alojen tutkimuspohja. B2B ympäristön tarkastelu on tämän työn yksi painopisteistä, koska siinä tuotteen omistus ja käyttö jakautuvat asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien kesken. Tämä toisaalta vaikuttaa tuotteen suunnittelun lähtökohtiin, sen markkinointiin, myyntiin ja vastaavasti asiakas- ja käyttäjäkokemukseen. Työ on tehty FIMECC:in aloittaman UXUS projektin yhteydessä. Projektin tarkoitus on tutkia ja soveltaa käyttäjäkokemuksen lähtökohtia teollisessa ympäristössä. Työssäni pyrin kehittämään teoreettisen ajatusmallin, jolla asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien kokemuksia voidaan tarkastella eri tasoilla ja ottaa huomioon suunnitteluprosessin varhaisissa vaiheissa. Tämä malli pohjautuu osittain psykologisiin teorioihin, jotka tulevat esille aikaisemmissa tutkimuksissa mm. Carver ja Scheier (1998); Sheldon, K.M., Elliot, A.J., Kim, Y. ja Kasser, T. (2001). Ajatusmallin ensisijainen tarkoitus on toimia tukityökaluna tuottajayrityksen tuotekehityksen ja markkinoinnin yksiköille kun halutaan soveltaa kokemuslähtöisen suunnittelun periaatteita yrityksen toiminnassa. Mallin toinen tarkoitus on toimia perustana teolliseen ympäristöön soveltuvien kokemusmittareiden kehitykselle. Työn toinen osio keskittyy yheden UXUS projektin yrityskumppanin toiminnan tutkimiseen (Rocla). Tässä osiossa pyrin kehittämään kokemusmittariston, jonka tarkoituksena on huomioida tuottajayrityksen, tuotevälittäjien, asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien näkemyksiä tuotteiden ominaisuuksista ja kokemuksista sekä mahdollistaa vertailu näiden osapuolten välillä. Kerätyn aineiston ja vertailun tarkoitus on auttaa tuotekehitys- ja markkinointitiimien työtä kun määritetään uusien tuotteiden kehityskriteerit ja myyntiargumentit. Kokemusmittariston sunnittelussa käytän sekä teoreettisia lähtökohtia, jotka käydään läpi työn alussa, että kymmentä johtajatason henkilön haastattelutulosta Roclan tuotekehityksen, markkinoinnin ja myynnin yksiköistä. Tämän lisäksi sovellan ajatuksia keskusteluista, joita käytiin läpi lukuisissa tutkijatapaamisissa, kenttä- ja yritysvierailuilla. Ehdotetun kokemusmittariston avulla kerään aineistoa 57:ltä kokeneelta varastotuotevälittäjältä. Välittäjät vertasivat kahta erityyppistä varastokonetta heidän kokemuksiensa perusteella ja myös osoittivat näkemyksensä psykologisten tarpeiden tärkeydestä asiakkaiden ja käyttäjien näkökulmasta. Aineiston analyysi osoittaa, että vaikka välittäjät kokivat selkeitä eroja tuotteiden visuaalisen ulkonön viehättävyydessä, tämä tekijän tärkeys oli yleisesti vähäinen (mm. osittain linjassa Diefenbach, S. ja Hassenzahl, M. (2011) tulosten kanssa). Tämä tulos tukee ajatusta siitä, jos kokemuspohjaisia lähtökohtia halutaan soveltaa erottautumistekijöinä B2B ympäristössä, niiden pitää olla vahvasti ja selkeästi yhdistettynä taloudellisiin mittareihin.The main goal of this study is to investigate theoretical background behind user experience (UX) paradigm and its possible implementation in industrial product development within business-to-business (B-to-B) environment. This work is conducted in the realm of UXUS project (User Experience and Usability in complex Systems), which was initiated by FIMECC (Finnish Metals and Engineering Competence Cluster) in 2010. In contrast to business-to-consumer environment, B-to-B setting separates ownership and actual use of the product. My aim lies in elaborating on various impacts of this separation on user and customer experiences and possible ways to communicate benefits of better UX to customers and equipment distributors. In the content of this paper, I introduce a theoretical thinking model for approaching experiences in industrial product development and an experimental questionnaire set, which is meant to capture different aspects of product and operating environment experiences. I test the proposed questionnaire set with 57 experienced warehouse equipment distributors who evaluate two separate industrial products. Results indicate that distributors are able to appreciate differences in hedonic qualities of industrial equipment and that visual appearance is a major factor in indicated product perceptions. However, overall hedonic qualities were perceived as less important compared to utilitarian qualities, which is partially in line with consumer product findings by DIEFENBACH, et al. (2011). I also find that distributors were unable to appreciate the importance of three major psychological needs (relatedness, autonomy and competence as indicated by SHELDON, et al., 2001) in industrial product development. I also analyze interviews of ten managers from warehouse equipment manufacturing company Rocla to investigate whether individuals working in separate departments perceive implications of UX paradigm differently. Findings indicate that individuals dealing with R&D activities stress the importance of end-users in deriving criteria for product development whereas individuals dealing with marketing and sales activities emphasize the role of personal relationships with customers. The longrun aim of this research direction is to assess strategic potential of UX paradigm for industrial product manufacturers

Interface changes causing accidents. An empirical study of negative transfer

International audienceWhen expert operators interact with a new device, they inevitably reuse former interaction modes and actions. This phenomenon is due to the human cognition seeking resources savings. Schemas support this strategy and are implemented in such a way that perfection is disregarded at the profit of an intuitive trade-off between performance and cognitive resources savings. As a consequence, humans have a strong inclination to fit well-known solution procedures into new problems. For this reason, changes in work environments can cause accidents when they allow operators to interact with a new device if the latter is erroneously perceived as familiar. This research issue originates from an industrial background. The suspected cause of a fatal error performed by an operator in a steelworks factory is replicated in an experiment. The results support the hypothesis according to which errors (and possible subsequent accidents) due to changes in the interface are more likely when the latter does not inhibit former modes of interaction modes. This main result is discussed under the angle of cognitive ergonomics and used as a basis to provide design guidelines

Minimum wages and their role in the process and incentives to bargain

The study is based on four sources of data: (a) a survey of over 11,500 non-public sector organisations, (b) quantitative analysis of over 25,000 enterprise agreements, (c) qualitative analysis of 91 strategically selected agreements; and (d) 20 workplace case studies. Key findings (indicative) Organisations commonly used a number of pay-setting arrangements for their employees, with individual arrangements (at 65 per cent of organisations) and award based arrangements (52 per cent) the most common. The quantitative analysis of enterprise agreements found that that there may be a positive association between wage increases in enterprise agreements and Annual Wage Review increases. This was particularly the case for industries with higher proportions of agreements paying low wage increases and with a large number of award-reliant employees. The qualitative analysis of agreements identified the importance of distinguishing between agreements that are ‘award-reliant’, ‘slightly above award’ (i.e. pay modest over-awards) and ‘over-award’ (i.e. pay substantial amounts more than the award).  External relativities (i.e. differences in pay for exemplar or reference classifications common across employers) were dispersed among all industries considered. Internal relativities within agreements were very similar to those in their related awards. The case studies found little direct impact of Annual Wage Review decisions on wage outcomes or pay-setting processes – they are best conceived as third order factors shaping both. Conclusion While the direct impact of Annual Wage Review decisions was perceived to be limited at the work sites studied, this is not the whole story. The analysis of agreements revealed that there may be positive significant associations between Annual Wage Review increases and agreement content. The workplace cases in general, and the relativities analysis in particular, revealed that awards profoundly shape wage outcomes and the wage determination process.  In particular, the agreement and case study findings highlighted the importance of not conceiving the different pay-setting arrangements in mutually exclusive terms. If the Annual Wage Review increases examined are conceived as being part of an ongoing evolution of the award system, then their impact is better understood as being very significant, primarily because such increases are an integral part of labour standard regime that conditions workplace behaviour and shapes wage outcomes. This appears to be especially the case in those parts of the labour market paying below median wages