Psychological tools for knowledge acquisition

Knowledge acquisition is said to be the biggest bottleneck in the development of expert systems. The problem is getting the knowledge out of the expert's head and into a computer. In cognitive psychology, characterizing metal structures and why experts are good at what they do is an important research area. Is there some way that the tools that psychologists have developed to uncover mental structure can be used to benefit knowledge engineers? We think that the way to find out is to browse through the psychologist's toolbox to see what there is in it that might be of use to knowledge engineers. Expert system developers have relied on two standard methods for extracting knowledge from the expert: (1) the knowledge engineer engages in an intense bout of interviews with the expert or experts, or (2) the knowledge engineer becomes an expert himself, relying on introspection to uncover the basis of his own expertise. Unfortunately, these techniques have the difficulty that often the expert himself isn't consciously aware of the basis of his expertise. If the expert himself isn't conscious of how he solves problems, introspection is useless. Cognitive psychology has faced similar problems for many years and has developed exploratory methods that can be used to discover cognitive structure from simple data

Multiculturalism and feminism

The popular perception of feminism and multiculturalism as incompatible is strongly rejected; in addition, the position that feminism and multiculturalism are always compatible is challenged. An overview of contemporary definitions of feminism and multiculturalism is presented, demonstrating that neither theoretical perspective should be outright rejected. Nevertheless, it is stressed that feminists should resist efforts to balance feminism and multiculturalism since the latter frequently supports the preservation of patriarchal structures within minority cultures; indeed, specific problems with Will Kymlicka's (nd) and Ayelet Shachar's (nd) respective attempts to achieve a feminist-multiculturalist balance with regard to minority interests and rights are highlighted. Consequently, a synonymous understanding of the connection between feminism and multiculturalism, one that stresses feminist principles when dealing with minority patriarchies and attempts to reconfigure prevailing notions of feminism and multiculturalism, is advanced; potential objections to the proposed feminist-multiculturalist paradigm are also addressed

Production Relations and Politics in the American Mining Industries

Also PCMA Working Paper #30.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/51222/1/456.pd

Uncovering the white place: whitewashing at work

Recent work exploring the racialization of place tends to focus on the racialization of marginalized group space. This paper shifts attention toward the racialization of dominant group space, namely, the creation and maintenance of white places. Using the case study of the software workplace, I argue that white places are formed through a process of whitewashing, which simultaneously denies race and superimposes white culture. Whitewashing wields language and invisibility to deny race and promote a particular kind of multiculturalism, while cloaking the workplace in a culture of informality and business politics. The whitewashed workplace, like a whitewashed wall, is seen as colorless rather than white as white culture becomes universalized as high-tech culture. I draw my findings from in-depth interviews on workplace satisfaction, relationships, culture and diversity with black, Asian and white employees in Seattle-area software firms

Variation in soil-mediated drought response traits between sympatric species of Mimulus

The ‘time limitation hypothesis’ is an evolutionary theory regarding evolution in angiosperms. The theory attributes ephemeral drought stress to transitions from a perennial to annual life history and an animal- to self-pollinating mating style. The most influential edaphic parameter on water availability is soil texture (i.e. grain size) due to its controls on porosity. Adhesion weakens with coarseness allowing for expedited rates of water loss via evaporation and percolation. The potential implications of coarse soil textures on major transitions in angiosperms due to drought mediation as the ‘time-limitation hypothesis’ proposes has yet to be thoroughly examined. Here, we grew two sympatric species of Mimulus with distinct mating styles on varying sand textures with equal water inputs and measured their response to increasing texture-mediated drought. Texture was shown to moderate both water retention in the soils and the felt effects of drought by overlying plants. In terms of species response to intermittent droughts, the selfing species was more drought resilient and enacted drought escape behaviors where the animal-pollinator appeared to be more drought avoidant. These findings suggest a potential underlying causal link between soil texture and mating style transitions in angiosperms which is of interest given that historic drought events are expected to occur more frequently under climate change