Expertise effects in memory recall: A reply to Vicente and Wang

This article may not exactly replicate the final version published in the APA journal. It is not the copy of record.In the January 1998 Psychological Review, Vicente and Wang propose a "constraint attunement hypothesis" to explain the large effects of domain expertise upon memory recall observed in a number of task domains. They claim to find serious defects in alternative explanations of these effects which their theory overcomes. Re-examination of the evidence shows that their theory is not novel, but has been anticipated by those they criticize, and that other current published theories of the phenomena do not have the defects Vicente and Wang attribute to them. Vicente and Wang's views reflect underlying differences (a) about emphasis upon performance versus process in psychology, and (b) about how theories and empirical knowledge interact and progress with the development of a science

Pattern recognition makes search possible: Comments on Holding (1992)

Chase and Simon’s (1973) chunking theory of expert memory, which emphasizes the role of pattern recognition in problem solving, has attracted much attention in cognitive psychology. Holding (1992) advanced a series of criticisms that, taken together, purported to refute the theory. Two valid criticisms—that chunk size and LTM encoding were underestimated—are dealt with by a simple extension of the theory (Gobet & Simon, 1996a). The remainder of Holding’s criticisms either are not empirically founded or are based on a misunderstanding of the chunking theory and its role in a comprehensive theory of skill. Holding’s alternative SEEK theory, which emphasizes the role of search, lacks key mechanisms that could be implemented by the type of pattern recognition proposed by Chase and Simon (1973)

Templates in chess memory: A mechanism for recalling several boards

This paper addresses empirically and theoretically a question derived from the chunking theory of memory (Chase & Simon, 1973): To what extent is skilled chess memory limited by the size of short-term memory (about 7 chunks)? This question is addressed first with an experiment where subjects, ranking from class A players to grandmasters, are asked to recall up to 5 positions presented during 5 seconds each. Results show a decline of percentage of recall with additional boards, but also show that expert players recall more pieces than is predicted by the chunking theory in its original form. A second experiment shows that longer latencies between the presentation of boards facilitate recall. In a third experiment, a Chessmaster gradually increases the number of boards he can reproduce with higher than 70% average accuracy to nine, replacing as many as 160 pieces correctly. To account for the results of these experiments, a revision of the Chase-Simon theory is proposed. It is suggested that chess players, like experts in other recall tasks, use long-term memory retrieval structures (Chase & Ericsson, 1982) or templates in addition to chunks in STM, to store information rapidly

Learning from openness : the dynamics of breadth in external innovation linkages

We explore how openness in terms of external linkages generates learning effects, which enable firms to generate more innovation outputs from any given breadth of external linkages. Openness to external knowledge sources, whether through search activity or linkages to external partners in new product development, involves a process of interaction and information processing. Such activities are likely to be subject to a learning process, as firms learn which knowledge sources and collaborative linkages are most useful to their particular needs, and which partnerships are most effective in delivering innovation performance. Using panel data from Irish manufacturing plants, we find evidence of such learning effects: establishments with substantial experience of external collaborations in previous periods derive more innovation output from openness in the current period

Random Surfing Without Teleportation

In the standard Random Surfer Model, the teleportation matrix is necessary to ensure that the final PageRank vector is well-defined. The introduction of this matrix, however, results in serious problems and imposes fundamental limitations to the quality of the ranking vectors. In this work, building on the recently proposed NCDawareRank framework, we exploit the decomposition of the underlying space into blocks, and we derive easy to check necessary and sufficient conditions for random surfing without teleportation.Comment: 13 pages. Published in the Volume: "Algorithms, Probability, Networks and Games, Springer-Verlag, 2015". (The updated version corrects small typos/errors

Noncovalent complexation of amphotericin-B with Poly(α-glutamic acid).

A noncovalent complex of amphotericin B (AmB) and poly(α-glutamic acid) (PGA) was prepared to develop a safe and stable formulation for the treatment of leishmaniasis. The loading of AmB in the complex was in the range of ∼20-50%. AmB was in a highly aggregated state with an aggregation ratio often above 2.0. This complex (AmB-PGA) was shown to be stable and to have reduced toxicity to human red blood cells and KB cells compared to the parent compound; cell viability was not affected at an AmB concentration as high as 50 and 200 μg/mL respectively. This AmB-PGA complex retained AmB activity against intracellular Leishmania major amastigotes in the differentiated THP-1 cells with an EC50 of 0.07 ± 0.03-0.08 ± 0.01 μg/mL, which is similar to Fungizone (EC50 of 0.06 ± 0.01 μg/mL). The in vitro antileishmanial activity of the complex against Leishmania donovani was retained after storage at 37 °C for 7 days in the form of a solution (EC50 of 0.27 ± 0.03 to 0.35 ± 0.04 μg/mL) and for 30 days as a solid (EC50 of 0.41 ± 0.07 to 0.63 ± 0.25 μg/mL). These encouraging results indicate that the AmB-PGA complex has the potential for further development

Vietnam research situation analysis on orphans and other vulnerable children

This item is archived in the repository for materials published for the USAID supported Orphans and Vulnerable Children Comprehensive Action Research Project (OVC-CARE) at the Boston University Center for Global Health and Development.Addressing the needs of orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and mitigating negative outcomes of the growing OVC population worldwide is a high priority for national governments and international stakeholders across the globe who recognize this as an issue with social, economic, and human rights dimensions. Assembling the relevant available data on OVC in one place, and acknowledging the gaps that still exist in our knowledge, will assist policy makers and program implementers to make evidence-based decisions about how best to direct funding and program activities and maximize positive outcomes for children and their caretakers. This Research Situation Analysis, Vietnam Country Brief presents a program-focused summary of available information on: • The number of orphans and vulnerable children in Vietnam. • Current policies, programs and interventions designed and implemented to assist them. • Gaps in these policies, programs and interventions. • OVC research conducted between 2004 -2008. • Gaps in the OVC evidence base. The Brief analyzes the available data for critical gaps in the national response and our understanding about whether current interventions are fulfilling the needs and improving the lives of vulnerable children. The report then recommends actions required to increase the knowledge base for improving the effectiveness and impact of OVC programs.The USAID | Project SEARCH, Orphans and Vulnerable Children Comprehensive Action Research (OVC-CARE) Task Order, is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development under Contract No. GHH-I-00-07-00023-00, beginning August 1, 2008. OVC-CARE Task Order is implemented by Boston University. The opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agency

Power laws, Pareto distributions and Zipf's law

When the probability of measuring a particular value of some quantity varies inversely as a power of that value, the quantity is said to follow a power law, also known variously as Zipf's law or the Pareto distribution. Power laws appear widely in physics, biology, earth and planetary sciences, economics and finance, computer science, demography and the social sciences. For instance, the distributions of the sizes of cities, earthquakes, solar flares, moon craters, wars and people's personal fortunes all appear to follow power laws. The origin of power-law behaviour has been a topic of debate in the scientific community for more than a century. Here we review some of the empirical evidence for the existence of power-law forms and the theories proposed to explain them.Comment: 28 pages, 16 figures, minor corrections and additions in this versio

A Teen-Centered Approach to Design Library Services - A Case Study of a Rural Public Library

To develop and sustain youth programs and services in public libraries, it is inevitably important to understand how teens perceive their libraries and how they would design their library services, programs, and spaces. Current research has mainly focused on teens’ uses of libraries in urban and suburban communities with little attention to teens in rural areas. Meanwhile, makerspaces have gained popularity in libraries within the past decade. While an increasing number of studies show teens’ interests in makerspaces, these studies tend to focus on active library users’ perspectives on makerspaces. It is unclear how teens who do not usually go to libraries perceive makerspaces. This paper reports a work-in-progress study that seeks to explore the opportunities, enablers, and barriers of library uses among teens in a rural area in the US, along with their perspectives on designing a makerspace in their local public library. This selected local library has had challenges in attracting teens to use the teens’ space and other library services and consequently placed a hold on teen events. With a goal to understand rural teens’ perspectives on public libraries and makerspaces, this study employs two-phase data collection. In the first phase, teens between 13 to 18 years old will be recruited through the snowball sampling method to participate in an online survey. In the second phase, the research team will host three makerspace programs in the selected rural library. Additional participants will be recruited to participate in semi-structured interviews. The researchers will also conduct field observations during the makerspace programs. Implications for the LIS research community, practitioners, and LIS education will also be discussed

A Value Chain Approach to Forest Landscape Restoration: Insights from Vietnam’s Production-Driven Forest Restoration

According to FAO figures, over 129 million hectares of forests have been lost globally since the 1990s, mainly in the tropical Global South, where agriculture acts as the main driver of forest conversion. International commitments, such as the Bonn Challenge, aim to reverse this trend through the application of forest landscape restoration (FLR) as an integrated and inclusive restoration approach. Beyond the discourse level, however, FLR implementation lags behind expectations due to insufficient funding and a disconnection with local implementation. We argue that, instead of relying on public resources for conservation-driven restoration, increased private sector engagement may point the way out of the funding impasse. However, this requires a shift towards production-driven FLR, which includes the livelihood needs of communities and smallholders as agents of landscape transition. For achieving the dual purpose of connecting landscapes with markets and promoting sustainable landscape restoration, we ascribe value chains and their economic, social and ecological configurations a key role in production-driven FLR. Drawing on Vietnam’s forest restoration pathway as an illustrative case, we examine how production-driven forest restoration, smallholder engagement and value chain upgrading can stimulate positive landscape transitions. We conclude that, depending on their configuration, value chains can have negative or positive social and ecological impacts at the landscape level. Furthermore, regulated, progressive and high-value commodity chains may perform better in the areas of integrated FLR objectives landscape integrity, ecological functionality and human well-being