9,559 research outputs found

    Are chimpanzees really so poor at understanding imperative pointing? Some new data and an alternative view of canine and ape social cognition

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    There is considerable interest in comparative research on different species’ abilities to respond to human communicative cues such as gaze and pointing. It has been reported that some canines perform significantly better than monkeys and apes on tasks requiring the comprehension of either declarative or imperative pointing and these differences have been attributed to domestication in dogs. Here we tested a sample of chimpanzees on a task requiring comprehension of an imperative request and show that, though there are considerable individual differences, the performance by the apes rival those reported in pet dogs. We suggest that small differences in methodology can have a pronounced influence on performance on these types of tasks. We further suggest that basic differences in subject sampling, subject recruitment and rearing experiences have resulted in a skewed representation of canine abilities compared to those of monkeys and apes

    Interdisciplinary perspectives on the development, integration and application of cognitive ontologies

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    We discuss recent progress in the development of cognitive ontologies and summarize three challenges in the coordinated development and application of these resources. Challenge 1 is to adopt a standardized definition for cognitive processes. We describe three possibilities and recommend one that is consistent with the standard view in cognitive and biomedical sciences. Challenge 2 is harmonization. Gaps and conflicts in representation must be resolved so that these resources can be combined for mark-up and interpretation of multi-modal data. Finally, Challenge 3 is to test the utility of these resources for large-scale annotation of data, search and query, and knowledge discovery and integration. As term definitions are tested and revised, harmonization should enable coordinated updates across ontologies. However, the true test of these definitions will be in their community-wide adoption which will test whether they support valid inferences about psychological and neuroscientific data

    Implementing a Scholarly Impact Outreach Program for Faculty and Graduate Students

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    There are two intersecting realities in research and academia today: There are greater expectations for individual faculty and academic departments to substantively demonstrate evidence of research productivity and impact for such applications as promotion and tenure, annual reporting, and benchmarking. Graduate students require knowledge of top articles and researchers in their discipline and those pursuing a career as faculty need to know how to determine their impact towards promotion and tenure. Database vendors and other content providers are regularly developing and offering robust, yet user-friendly, bibliometric and altmetric tools within current as well as new products. Many of the tools are interdisciplinary or generalist in scope, while some are optimal for certain subject clusters. In response to these realities, academic librarians are increasingly offering new or expanded scholarly impact services for faculty and graduate students in the form of activities such as library workshops, research guides, and individual consultations to promote and demonstrate the range of available bibliometric and altmetric tools. This poster will outline the components of developing and implementing a scholarly impact outreach program including challenges, assessment, and suggested readings from the library literature on this topic. Poster content is based on the article below: Helmstutler, B. (2015). Taking research services to the next level: A case study of implementing a scholarly impact outreach program for faculty and graduate students. Journal of Library Innovation, 6(2), 96-104. http://scholarworks.gsu.edu/univ_lib_facpub/119/

    The Proliferation of Theoretical Paradigms Quandary: How One Novice Researcher Used Eclecticism as a Solution

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    When a doctoral student plans to conduct qualitative education research, the aspect of the dissertation that often becomes problematic is determining which theoretical paradigm(s) might frame the study. In this article, the author discusses how he resolved the quandary through eclecticism. The author begins by describing briefly the purpose of his dissertation study, providing a justification for eclecticism in the selection of theories. He follows with a description of the three theories-poststructural theory, critical race theory, and critical theory-that framed his study and discusses briefly the methodology employed. The author concludes with a discussion of likely objections of his study and with an explanation of why his study was positioned within a critical postmodern paradigm

    Blood Donation Fast Facts

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    Managing Technical Debt in Agile Software Development Projects

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    One of the key reasons that agile software development methods have gained popularity in recent years is because they enable organizations to produce software quickly to meet the needs of various stakeholders. However, this focus on delivering software quickly often encourages practitioners to incur technical debt – design or implementation constructs that are expedient in the short term but set up a technical context that can make future changes more costly or impossible. Worldwide, technical debt is estimated to be a trillion-dollar problem. This has prompted significant interest from both researchers and practitioners. In this dissertation, I present two essays that advance our knowledge of the causes of technical debt in agile software development projects and that offer potential solutions to manage the most important of these causes of technical debt. In my first essay, I conduct a ranking-type Delphi study of information technology (IT) project managers and software developers to identify and prioritize the most important causes of technical debt in agile software development projects. The findings from this study provide a verified list of 55 causes of technical debt in agile software development projects and offer 13 potential techniques to manage the causes of technical debt that were most important to the IT project managers and software developers in this study. In my second essay, I conduct a randomized experiment to examine the impact of software developers’ construal level, a cognitive process, on the unintentional accumulation of technical debt in software development projects. The findings from this experiment suggest that software developers at a high construal level are more likely to focus on developing the architecture or design than software developers at a low construal level. Collectively, the findings from these two essays deepen our understanding of the intentional and unintentional causes of technical debt in agile software development projects. Further, the findings offer potential techniques to manage the most important causes of technical debt for IT project managers and software developers

    Illuminating Actionable Biology in Breast Cancer: Novel Predictive and Prognostic Biomarkers

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    Assessing hormone receptors (the estrogen and progesterone receptors) and the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) to guide clinical decision making revolutionized treatment for breast cancer patients. However, in the years since these biomarkers were first incorporated into routine clinical care, only a few others have been validated as clinically useful in guiding adjuvant chemotherapy decisions and are recommended by the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) for patients with hormone-positive breast cancer. For patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), which lacks hormone and HER2 receptors, not any of these biomarkers are recommended by ASCO due to insufficient evidence that they meaningfully improve clinical outcomes. Breast cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related death among women in the US, indicating an unmet need to improve treatments, which can be accomplished in part by identifying and validating novel predictive and prognostic biomarkers that yield actionable information about the clinical course of breast cancers, especially TNBCs. A major obstacle to improving outcomes for breast cancer patients is intratumor heterogeneity (ITH), which can be extensive in breast cancer and drives treatment resistance and relapse. I envision that assaying drivers of ITH can inform clinicians about which breast tumors may be intrinsically more aggressive and carry a greater risk of breast cancer-related morbidity and mortality. My research, presented here, primarily focuses on testing the impact of drivers of ITH (namely, centrosome amplification [CA], the clustering protein KIFC1, and mitotic propensity and its drivers) on clinical outcomes in breast cancer in multivariable models as well as the correlates of in vitro efficacy of centrosome declustering drugs (which can selectively eliminate cancer cells with CA). Collectively, these studies reveal gene signatures and immunohistochemical biomarkers that are independent predictors of aggressive breast cancer course and rational strategies to optimize targeted therapy to combat cancer cells exhibiting CA, thereby contributing to the literature on the development of precision medicine for breast cancer patients, including TNBC patients

    A Group-Based Approach to Reparations

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    This paper attempts to offer a group-based approach to reparations for slavery. I argue that by appealing to a group-based approach to reparations, one can avoid some of the significant problems associated with attempting to justify reparations on an individual level. I argue that, properly formulated, a group-based approach can avoid problems of identification, the non-identity problem, as well as misgivings about appealing to the notion that groups can have a moral standing that is not merely the aggregation of the moral standing of the individual group members. In order to show that a group-based approach is a viable solution to these issues, I appeal to Larry May’s account of groups

    Bicycling for Transportation at Georgia State University: Findings and Recommendations for the Georgia State University Bike Plan

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    INTRODUCTION: Bicycling is a form of physical activity that can be used for transportation as a motor vehicle alternative. Bicycling has become a popular transportation method on university campuses. AIM: The aim of this capstone is to illustrate student residential demographics and bike count trend data, evaluate the Georgia State University Touch the Earth Bike Share program, and generate recommendations for the Georgia State University Bicycle Plan. The overall goal is to increase bicycling at Georgia State University and improve the health of the Georgia State University population. METHODS: Multiple methods were used in this capstone. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) found the geographic location of student respondents’ residence. During the bike counts, data were collected on the age and gender of the bicyclists, and the total number of bikes at each intersection. The counts were conducted in two-hour increments on the same day during the morning and afternoon. Data was collected in the Fall 2009, Spring 2012, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, and Spring 2015 semesters. Lastly, during the Fall 2014 semester, an evaluation of the Touch the Earth Bike Share program was conducted using the Post Bike Rental Evaluation form to analyze the characteristics, use, and suggested improvements to the program. RESULTS: The results showed the geographic census tracts of the target student population, the age, gender, and total bike counts during the morning and afternoon bike counts by location over semesters. The Touch the Earth evaluation disclosed the participants’ demographics, use of the rental bikes, and suggested improvements for recommendations to enhance the Touch the Earth Bike Share program. DISCUSSION: Using the four components of the General Model of health program planning, an intervention was laid out with recommendations about alternative transportation, revitalizing Turner Field, and improvements and expansion suggestions to the Touch the Earth Bike Share program to increase bicycling on campus. CONCLUSION: The findings and recommendations found in this capstone provide empirical support vital to the Georgia State University Bike Plan and the creation of a superior bicycle friendly campus

    Marion Cumbo

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