You Cannot Have Your Cake and Eat It, too: How Induced Goal Conflicts Affect Complex Problem Solving

Managing multiple and conflicting goals is a demand typical to both everyday life and complex coordination tasks. Two experiments (N = 111) investigated how goal conflicts affect motivation and cognition in a complex problem- solving paradigm. In Experiment 1, participants dealt with a game-like computer simulation involving a predefined goal relation: Parallel goals were independent, mutually facilitating, or interfering with one another. As expected, goal conflicts entailed lowered motivation and wellbeing. Participants’ understanding of causal effects within the simulation was im- paired, too. Behavioral measures of subjects’ interventions support the idea of adaptive, self-regulatory processes: reduced action with growing awareness of the goal conflict and balanced goal pursuit. Experiment 2 endorses the hypotheses of motivation loss and reduced acquisition of system-related knowledge in an extended problem-solving paradigm of four conflicting goals. Impairing effects of goal interference on motivation and wellbeing were found, although less distinct and robust as in Experiment 1. Participants undertook fewer interventions in case of a goal conflict and acquired less knowledge about the system. Formal complexity due to the interconnectedness among goals is discussed as a limiting influence on inferring the problem structure

The hypercluster: A parallel processing test-bed architecture for computational mechanics applications

The development of numerical methods and software tools for parallel processors can be aided through the use of a hardware test-bed. The test-bed architecture must be flexible enough to support investigations into architecture-algorithm interactions. One way to implement a test-bed is to use a commercial parallel processor. Unfortunately, most commercial parallel processors are fixed in their interconnection and/or processor architecture. In this paper, we describe a modified n cube architecture, called the hypercluster, which is a superset of many other processor and interconnection architectures. The hypercluster is intended to support research into parallel processing of computational fluid and structural mechanics problems which may require a number of different architectural configurations. An example of how a typical partial differential equation solution algorithm maps on to the hypercluster is given

Parallel Gaussian elimination of a block tridiagonal matrix using multiple microcomputers

The solution of a block tridiagonal matrix using parallel processing is demonstrated. The multiprocessor system on which results were obtained and the software environment used to program that system are described. Theoretical partitioning and resource allocation for the Gaussian elimination method used to solve the matrix are discussed. The results obtained from running 1, 2 and 3 processor versions of the block tridiagonal solver are presented. The PASCAL source code for these solvers is given in the appendix, and may be transportable to other shared memory parallel processors provided that the synchronization outlines are reproduced on the target system

BeSpaceD: Towards a Tool Framework and Methodology for the Specification and Verification of Spatial Behavior of Distributed Software Component Systems

In this report, we present work towards a framework for modeling and checking behavior of spatially distributed component systems. Design goals of our framework are the ability to model spatial behavior in a component oriented, simple and intuitive way, the possibility to automatically analyse and verify systems and integration possibilities with other modeling and verification tools. We present examples and the verification steps necessary to prove properties such as range coverage or the absence of collisions between components and technical details

An approach to real-time simulation using parallel processing

A preliminary simulator design that uses a parallel computer organization to provide accuracy, portability, and low cost is presented. The hardware and software for this prototype simulator are discussed. A detailed discussion of the inter-computer data transfer mechanism is also presented