ANALYTICAL REASONING SKILLS: IMPROVING PERFORMANCE WITH NOTATIONS

In this study we explored the effect of notations that undergraduates produce on their reasoning abilities. Participants solved four analytical reasoning problems, making notes to solve two problems and solving two without notations. Most participants produced notes when given the opportunity. The production of higher quality notes did not aid performance when we compared the write and no write conditions and those producing poorer quality notes performed even worse in the write condition. The results suggest that students do not necessarily have adequate note‐taking skills and that they may need instruction in the production and use of external representations. Keywords: problem‐solving, notational quality, note‐taking, external representations Dans cette étude, les auteures ont exploré l’effet des notes prises par des étudiants de premier cycle sur leur capacité de raisonnement. Les participants ont résolu quatre problèmes de raisonnement analytique, prenant des notes en vue de résoudre deux problèmes sur quatre. La plupart des participants ont pris lorsqu’ils en avaient l’occasion. La prise de meilleures notes n’a pas contribué à l’obtention de meilleurs résultats si l’on compare les contextes avec ou sans notes ; les personnes qui ont pris de moins bonnes notes ont obtenu un rendement encore plus mauvais dans le contexte avec notes. Les résultats semblent indiquer que les étudiants ne savent pas nécessairement comment prendre de bonnes notes et qu’il faudrait peut‐être leur montrer comment prendre des notes et s’en servir. Mots clés : résolution de problèmes, prise de notes, qualité des notes

Inner product computational architectures using the double base number system.

Digital signal processing (DSP) permeates many of the products we see around us today. DSP systems manipulate signals as sequences of numbers, and require massive arithmetic computations to perform algorithmic processing such as filtering. Traditionally these systems are designed using the binary number system to perform the computations. This thesis presents an exploration into the construction of finite impulse response (FIR) filters using a recently introduced number system. The number system uses two orthogonal bases and has been referred to in literature as the Double-Base Number System (DBNS). We use an index calculus implementation of the DBNS to take advantage of the logarithmic-like properties of the associated arithmetic. This thesis investigates a recently disclosed architecture for inner product computations in the DBNS. This architecture is expanded from the initial single-digit DBNS form to a hybrid (mix of 1-digit and 2-digit forms) and finally a full 2-digit form, and we show the efficiencies obtained in using the full 2-digit form. We target the implementation of large tap length Finite Impulse Response (FIR) filters, and we examine both the problem of finite precision index coefficient design and the design and fabrication of a systolic architecture using DBNS processors. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis2001 .E85. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-03, page: 0753. Thesis (M.A.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2001

A Preliminary Investigation into Effects of Linguistic Abstraction on the Perception of Gender in Spoken Language

We investigated the role that linguistic abstraction may play in people's perceptions of gender in spoken language. In the first experiment, participants told stories about their best friend and romantic partner. Variations in linguistic abstraction and gender-linked adjectives for describing their close others were examined. Participants used significantly more abstract language to describe men compared to women, possibly reflecting a gender stereotype associated with the dispositionality factor of linguistic abstraction. In a second experiment, a new group of participants judged the gender of the protagonists from the stories generated in Experiment 1, after the explicit linguistic gender cues were removed. Consistent with the dispositionality factor, linguistic abstraction moderated the effects of the gender stereotypicality of the context (masculine, feminine, or neutral) on participants' gender judgments. Discussion focuses on the implications of the results for the communication of gender stereotypes and the effects of linguistic abstraction in more naturalistic language

Complex multidimensional logarithmic number system with DSP applications

Bibliography: p. 106-117Some pages are in colou

Eliciting emotion ratings for a set of film clips: A preliminary archive for research in emotion

Film clips are commonly used to elicit subjectively experienced emotional states for many research purposes, but film clips currently available in databases are out of date, include a limited set of emotions, and/or pertain to only one conceptualization of emotion. This work reports validation data from two studies aimed to elicit basic and complex emotions (amusement, anger, anxiety, compassion, contentment, disgust, fear, happiness/joy, irritation, neutrality, pride, relief, sadness, surprise), equally distributed according to valence (positive, negative) and intensity (high, low). Participants rated film clips according to the degree of experienced emotion, and for valence and arousal. Our findings initiate an iterative archive of film clips shown here to discretely elicit 11 different emotions. Although further validation of these film clips is needed, ratings provided here should assist researchers in selecting potential film clips to meet the aims of their work

The use of the multi-dimensional logarithmic

number system in DSP application