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

The Impact of Tourette\u27s Syndrome on Families: Perceptions of Fathers, Mothers, and Children with Tourette\u27s Syndrome

The purpose of this study was to discover the impact Tourette\u27s syndrome has on families; specifically, fathers, mothers, and children diagnosed with Tourette\u27s syndrome. More specifically, what is the impact of Tourette\u27s syndrome on fathers who have a child with Tourette\u27s syndrome7 What is the impact of Tourette\u27s syndrome on mothers who have a child with Tourette\u27s syndrome7 What is the impact of Tourette\u27s syndrome on a child with Tourette\u27s syndrome? Three families were selected as participants. All families had at least one child, ages 10-21 medically diagnosed with Tourette\u27s syndrome. Qualitative research methods included initial visits and interviews, followup interviews, and observations. These methods were used to investigate family perceptions on the impact of having a child with Tourette\u27s syndrome in the family and included the perspectives of fathers, mothers and children diagnosed with Tourette\u27s syndrome. The overall assertion was that families who have a child with Tourette\u27s syndrome want to be accepted and supported in their communities and are willing to share their experiences to help other families with Tourette\u27s syndrome. Fathers identified with their families and were strong supporters of their families They appreciated support from the community and viewed themselves as advocates for their families. Fathers acknowledged that because of Tourette\u27s syndrome, their families have been viewed differently within their communities than other families, but this made them a stronger family. Mothers identified with their emotions and took pride in their nurturing role as a mother. They openly expressed their feelings and the impact that Tourette\u27s syndrome has had on their families. Mothers continued *o identify with their role as caregiver. The children in the study identified with their parents. They felt that each parent was supportive, however, fathers and mothers had different ways of relating to their child. They felt accepted in their communities when the public was familiar with Tourette\u27s syndrome, although they think Tourette\u27s syndrome can be a problem in certain settings when the public misinterprets symptoms. In the children’s eyes, Tourette\u27s is not a disability, ami they took pnde in themselves, probably due to the support they received from their familie

Effects of Information Presentation on Perceived Reputation in Virtual Communities: A Controlled Experiment

Reputation systems have become increasingly popular in virtual communities as a way to record and communicate the reputation information of the members. However, different reputation systems use different presentation formats and their effects on decisions in terms of evaluating positive and negative ratings remain unclear. A controlled experiment is proposed using the preference ladder procedure to elicit subjective preferences in three commonly used presentation formats. One format presents the negative and positive ratings side by side; one presents the information as a percentage of total ratings that are positive; the third presents the difference between the positive and negative ratings, the format used by eBay. Results of the preliminary data analysis suggest that people weigh the positive and negative information to different extents in the three formats. Presenting reputation in the difference format tends to make a person weigh the negative information less, making the person more forgivable. The finding is possibly due to the salience of the negative ratings in the various presentations

Extracting expertise from experts: Methods for knowledge acquisition

Knowledge acquisition is the biggest bottleneck in the development of expert systems. Fortunately, the process of translating expert knowledge to a form suitable for expert system development can benefit from methods developed by cognitive science to reveal human knowledge structures. There are two classes of these investigative methods, direct and indirect. We provide reviews, criteria for use, and literature sources for all principal methods. Direct methods discussed are: interviews, questionnaires, observation of task performance, protocol analysis, interruption analysis, closed curves, and inferential flow analysis. Indirect methods include: multidimensional scaling, hierarchical clustering, general weighted networks, ordered trees, and repertory grid analysis.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73498/1/j.1468-0394.1987.tb00139.x.pd

Ramsey-Bordé Matter-Wave Interferometry With A Thermal Calcium Beam For Optical Frequency Stabilization ≤ 10−1

This dissertation details the developments of a calcium thermal beam atom interferometer designed to act as an ultra-stable frequency reference over a broad range of timescales. The obtained fractional frequency instabilities of the final apparatus reached &le; 10&minus;16 after 10's of seconds of averaging without the aid of vibration isolation or significant apparatus temperature stabilization. The vastly superior stability performance of this calcium system compared to other thermal atomic references was facilitated by the enormous atom numbers from the thermal beam, which can be efficiently addressed with Bord\'e-Ramsey spectroscopy on the well-studied (4s2)1S0-(4s4p)3P1 (m=0) clock transition in neutral 40Ca. This method yields interrogation laser frequency dependent interference fringes with a linewidth of 1.6 kHz. This measurement is further enhanced with an electron-shelving detection scheme used for state detection after the interferometry process, causing each excited state atom to emit many hundreds of photons in the detection region. The exceptional instability results from this atom interferometer highlight an underutilized realm of precision measurement science based on relatively simple thermal ensembles. An intuitive understanding of the Bord&eacute;-Ramsey process is presented and relevant experimental techniques explained such that this dissertation should prove useful to a broad readership.</p

État de la situation québécoise des titulaires de doctorat voulant s’insérer dans les milieux de travail non académiques

Dans un contexte où l’économie du savoir prend de l’ampleur pour répondre à des performances économiques, l’innovation et la recherche et le développement sont des pistes mises de l’avant dans plusieurs entreprises. Toutefois, la réalité ne semble pas évidente pour certains titulaires de doctorat voulant œuvrer hors du monde académique. Cet essai a pour but de dresser un bilan des connaissances sur les trajectoires professionnelles et sur les enjeux des doctorantes et doctorants considérant œuvrer hors des milieux académiques

Developing literacy programs for the gifted reader in first grade

Early primary children present a unique challenge to educators. They are eager to learn, to find out, to do, to shape, and to create. Children are learning information through eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and fingers. They are assimilating knowledge, perceiving patterns, and acquiring a language, probably at a rate they will never equal again (Rogers, 1969). It is the responsibility of the classroom teacher to provide the atmosphere and academic challenges which will nurture these young learners. Many young children have the ability to transfer knowledge from one area to another, and it is important to begin early to develop the gifts and talents of these children (White, 1985)