5,324 research outputs found
The role of problem-based learning in developing communication conflict resolving skills among selected non-government organisations in Pakistan
Communication conflicts among employees of the developing organisations in Pakistan have been one of the major issues over the years. The causes are numerous but the efforts to reduce and resolve these conflicts effectively are found to be rare. The objectives of this case study were to examine the nature of communication conflicts predominant among employees at the workplace, explore the role of culture in communication conflicts, identify the perceptions of employees of in-house training using Problem Based Learning (PBL) approach and finally propose a PBL-based training module for developing conflict resolving skills among employees at the work place in Pakistan. This study adopted a Case Study approach. Using purposeful sampling, it involved forty Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) employees from different parts of Pakistan. The data emerged from three instruments involving semi-structured interviews, surveys and observations to examine the nature of communication conflicts among employees and see the impact of PBL training on the soft skills of respondents. Interview and observation data were transcribed and analysed through thematic analysis while the data from the survey was computed through descriptive statistics using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings from this study show the existence of different type of communication conflicts among employees in the developing organisations. The result shows the substantial role of PBL in developing conflict resolving skills and other essential soft skills among employees as a whole. The finding concludes that PBL plays an instrumental and effective role towards improving the various soft skills and traits including among employees of an NGO sector
Cognitive dimensions of talim: evaluating weaving notation through cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifacts and is mediated by a weaving notation called talim. The script encodes entire design in practice-specific symbols. This encoded script is decoded and interpreted via design-specific conventions by weavers to weave the design embedded in it. The cognitive properties of this notational system are described in the paper employing cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework of Green (People and computers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989) and Blackwell et al. (Cognitive technology: instruments of mind—CT 2001, LNAI 2117, Springer, Berlin, 2001). After introduction to the practice, the design process is described in ‘The design process’ section which includes coding and decoding of talim. In ‘Cognitive dimensions of talim’ section, after briefly discussing CDs framework, the specific cognitive dimensions possessed by talim are described in detail
The effect of distributed time-delays on the synchronization of neuronal networks
Here we investigate the synchronization of networks of FitzHugh-Nagumo
neurons coupled in scale-free, small-world and random topologies, in the
presence of distributed time delays in the coupling of neurons. We explore how
the synchronization transition is affected when the time delays in the
interactions between pairs of interacting neurons are non-uniform. We find that
the presence of distributed time-delays does not change the behavior of the
synchronization transition significantly, vis-a-vis networks with constant
time-delay, where the value of the constant time-delay is the mean of the
distributed delays. We also notice that a normal distribution of delays gives
rise to a transition at marginally lower coupling strengths, vis-a-vis
uniformly distributed delays. These trends hold across classes of networks and
for varying standard deviations of the delay distribution, indicating the
generality of these results. So we conclude that distributed delays, which may
be typically expected in real-world situations, do not have a notable effect on
synchronization. This allows results obtained with constant delays to remain
relevant even in the case of randomly distributed delays.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
Situated and distributed cognition in artifact negotiation and trade-specific skills: A cognitive ethnography of Kashmiri carpet weaving practice
This article describes various ways actors in Kashmiri carpet weaving practice deploy a range of artifacts, from symbolic, to material, to hybrid, in order to achieve diverse cognitive accomplishments in their particular task domains: information representation, inter and intra-domain communication, distribution of cognitive labor across people and time, coordination of team activities, and carrying of cultural heritage. In this repertoire, some artifacts position themselves as naïve tools in the actors’ environment to the point of being ignored; however, their usage-in-context unfolds their cognitive involvement in the tasks. These usages-in-context are shown through artifact analysis of their routine, improvised, and opportunistic uses, where cognitive artifacts like talim—the central artifact of this practice—are shown to play not only multifunctional roles beyond representation, but are also complemented by trade-specific skills bearing strong cognitive implications in a task
The Design of Arbitrage-Free Data Pricing Schemes
Motivated by a growing market that involves buying and selling data over the
web, we study pricing schemes that assign value to queries issued over a
database. Previous work studied pricing mechanisms that compute the price of a
query by extending a data seller's explicit prices on certain queries, or
investigated the properties that a pricing function should exhibit without
detailing a generic construction. In this work, we present a formal framework
for pricing queries over data that allows the construction of general families
of pricing functions, with the main goal of avoiding arbitrage. We consider two
types of pricing schemes: instance-independent schemes, where the price depends
only on the structure of the query, and answer-dependent schemes, where the
price also depends on the query output. Our main result is a complete
characterization of the structure of pricing functions in both settings, by
relating it to properties of a function over a lattice. We use our
characterization, together with information-theoretic methods, to construct a
variety of arbitrage-free pricing functions. Finally, we discuss various
tradeoffs in the design space and present techniques for efficient computation
of the proposed pricing functions.Comment: full pape
The Foundation Payout Puzzle
This paper examines public policy toward American philanthropic foundations. We find that the major regulation bearing on foundations -- a mandated minimum endowment payout rate -- has had the effect of repressing foundation giving. Interviews with foundation trustees and presidents point to a number of significant obstacles to proper conceptualization of the payout decision in foundations. In the face of these obstacles, our survey of foundation payout behavior over 25 years reveals that most foundations simply pay out the mandated minimum amount each year, regardless of other relevant considerations. We argue that the minimum rate has gone from being a floor when it was enacted decades ago to a ceiling today. The paper concludes with an exploration of how the payout policy could usefully be reformed.This publication is Hauser Center Working Paper No. 9. The Hauser Center Working Paper Series was launched during the summer of 2000. The Series enables the Hauser Center to share with a broad audience important works-in-progress written by Hauser Center scholars and researchers
Multiplexing induced explosive synchronization in Kuramoto oscillators with inertia
Explosive synchronization (ES) of coupled oscillators on networks is shown to
be originated from existence of correlation between natural frequencies of
oscillators and degrees of corresponding nodes. Here, we demonstrate that ES is
a generic feature of multiplex network of second-order Kuramoto oscillators and
can exist in absence of a frequency-degree correlation. A monoplex network of
second-order Kuramoto oscillators bearing homogeneous (heterogeneous)
degree-distribution is known to display the first-order (second-order)
transition to synchronization. We report that multiplexing of two such networks
having homogeneous degree-distribution support the first-order transition in
both the layers thereby facilitating ES. More interesting is the multiplexing
of a layer bearing heterogeneous degree-distribution with another layer bearing
homogeneous degree-distribution, which induces a first-order (ES) transition in
the heterogeneous layer which was incapable of showing the same in the
isolation. Further, we report that such induced ES transition in the
heterogeneous layer of multiplex networks can be controlled by varying inter
and intra-layer coupling strengths. Our findings emphasize on importance of
multiplexing or impact of one layer on dynamical evolution of other layers of
systems having inherent multiplex or multilevel architecture.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure
A Lens Mapping Algorithm for Weak Lensing
We develop an algorithm for the reconstruction of the two-dimensional mass
distribution of a gravitational lens from the observable distortion of
background galaxies. From the measured reduced shear, the lens mapping is
obtained, from which a mass distribution is derived. This is unlike other
methods where the convergence ("kappa") is directly obtained. We show that this
method works best for sub-critical lenses, but can be applied to a critical
lens away from the critical lines. For finite fields the usual mass-sheet
degeneracy is shown to exist in this method as well. We show that the algorithm
reproduces the mass distribution within acceptable limits when applied to
simulated noisy data.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, uses emulateapj5.sty (included); substantially
revised; a slightly shorter version (fewer figures) will appear in
Ap.J.Letter
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