Assessing physiological complexity

Assessing physiological complexit

Effects of culture on computer-supported international collaborations

This paper discusses results of a case study from an on-going project to investigate how cultural factors, as identified by the Cultural Perspectives Questionnaire (CPQ), affect the performance of distributed collaborative learning teams. The results indicate that a team's cultural composition is a significant predictor of its performance on programming projects. Cultural attributes most strongly correlated to group performance included those related to attitudes about organizational hierarchy, organizational harmony, trade-offs between future and current needs, and beliefs about how much influence individuals have on their fate. Moreover, the type of programming task affected the strength of the relationship between individual cultural attributes and performance. Participants in the study included computer science students from the University of North Texas (Texas, USA) and students from the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Students were divided into culturally diverse work-teams and assigned programming projects to be completed using special collaborative software. The programming tasks ranged from simple design projects to more complicated programs that required extensive collaboration. Cultural distinctions between work-teams were based upon the students' responses to the CPQ. Project performance was evaluated with respect to programming accuracy, efficiency, completeness, and style. The results presented here have important implications for the formation of distributed collaborations and, in particular, to educational institutions offering distance-learning programs that require team projects

Bridging the Gaps between Design and Use: Developing Tools to Support Environmental Management and Policy

Sound decisions in environmental policy and management usually require the examination of alternative solutions, and may require the consideration of alternative problem fornlulations prior to option assessment. Constructing and considering the consequences of alternative problems (variables and relations) and policy options (norms and standards) is fundamental for processes of policy fornlulation (Vickers, 1965)

APPROVED: Toulouse School of Graduate Studies MEDIATED CHAMELEONS: AN INTEGRATION OF NONCONSCIOUS BEHAVIORAL MIMICRY AND THE PARALLEL PROCESS MODEL OF NONVERBAL

This study attempted to unite two divergent bodies of nonconscious behavioral mimicry research. Researchers have argued that mimicry is a direct perception-behavior link while other researchers have argued that contextual variables mediate nonconscious mimicry. In an effort to bridge the gap between disparate arguments, this study proposed the parallel process model of nonverbal communication as a framework to explain nonconscious behavioral mimicry. The social environment and cognitive-affective mediators sections of the process model were tested in a 2 (young adult vs. older adult) x 2 (simple task vs. complex task) experimental design. Participants engaged in a matching task with a confederate. Statistical analysis revealed that participants engaged in mimicry behavior during the experiment interaction task. Statistical analysis revealed no main effect for the age of the confederate and mimicry behavior, however, analysis revealed a main effect for task-complexity and mimicry behavior. The findings suggest that the cognitive resources of participants is a significant predictor of nonconscious behavioral Nonconscious behavioral mimicry researchers agree that mimicry serves an affiliative function Mimicry initiates a variety of positive feelings during interaction including increased liking Secondly, the application of the parallel process model to mimicry may clarify the theoretical debate among mimicry researchers. Traditionally, researchers from two disparate bodies of mimicry research argued to identify the mechanism that causes mimicry. I argue that both mimicry perspectives, mimicry as mediated and mimicry as a direct perception-behavior link, may fit into the parallel process model begin with an overarching research question to guide the project. RQ: How do nonconscious mimicry behaviors function within the framework of the parallel process model? Chapter 2 highlights relevant research to nonconscious behavioral mimicry and the parallel process model of communication. Chapter 3 establishes the method for the current study. Chapter 4 reports the results of the study. Lastly, Chapter 5 discusses the implications of the findings, provide conclusions, and suggestions for future research

Multi-Scale Integrated Assessment of Regional Conversion to Organic Farming (OF)

Is the regional conversion to Organic Farming (OF) possible? What could be the consequences at different scales in terms of social and economic development as well as nature conservation? Taking the heterogeneity of farms and farming systems in the region into account, are there farmers more prone to conversion and others that face greater obstacles? The objective of this paper is to shed light on some of these question by presenting the results of a scenario assessment carried out with regard to the extension of OF in the Camargue region in southern France. The application of different modelling approaches with great potential for the multi-scale and multi-criteria evaluation of the extension of OF is presented: bio-economic models, agent-based models and land-use/cover change models. According to our results, the most probable conversion in the near future in the Camargue would take place in fields with low salt pressure that belong to livestock breeders and diversified cereal producers. However, the regional conversion to OF is plausible since the region could maintain its economic productivity while decreasing potential harmful impacts on the environment. Finally, the possible conversion trajectories suggest that certain farmers (specialised in rice production) might need greater assistance to ensure such conversion to OF since their economic performance would be hampered during that period. The application of these three approaches to explore the same scenario in one region revealed their complementarity for tackling the complex issue of regional conversion to OF from different angles

Chapter three Bridging the gaps between design and use: Developing tools to support environmental management and policy

Integrated assessment models, decision support systems (DSS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are examples of a growing number of computer-based tools designed to provide decision and information support to people engaged in formulating and implementing environmental policy and management. It is recognised that environmental policy and management users are often not as receptive to using such tools as desired but that little research has been done to uncover and understand the reasons. There is a diverse range of environmental decision and information support tools (DISTs) with uses including organisational and participatory decision support, and scientific research. The different uses and users of DISTs each present particular needs and challenges to the tool developers. The lack of appreciation of the needs of end-users by developers has contributed to the lack of success of many DISTs. Therefore it is important to engage users and other stakeholders in the tool development process to help bridge the gap between design and use. Good practice recommendations for developers to involve users include being clear about the purpose of the tool, working collaboratively with other developers and stakeholders, and building social and scientific credibilit