Can low domain knowledge be compensated for when using the internet? /

Previous researchers have found that learners do not benefit fi-om using the Internet when domain knowledge is low. The purpose of the current study was to investigate possible methods to compensate for low domain knowledge. Specifically, the presence of notes, more time to search the Internet, and high levels of motivation to use the Internet were examined as possible compensating factors. Sixty Political Science and Kinesiology undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of three conditions. Students searched the Internet for an hour prior to vmting an essay with notes present, searched the Internet for an hour prior to writing an essay without notes present, or did not search the Internet prior to completing an essay. Each participant completed the same two essays, one corresponding to a high knowledge domain and another corresponding to a low knowledge domain. First, the presence of notes did not significantly improve essay scores in comparison to the absence of notes. Second, learners did benefit fi-om using the Internet for 1 hour in comparison to their peers who were not exposed to the Internet, regardless of level of domain knowledge. Third, high levels of motivation did not affect essay performance. A discussion of why time may have compensated for low domain knowledge while notes and motivation did not is included. In addition, methods that may compensate for low domain knowledge when time is restricted are suggested.

Nietzsche's will-to-power ontology : an interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil

Abstract: Nietzsche's Will-to-Power Ontology: An Interpretation of Beyond Good and Evil § 36 By: Mark Minuk Will-to-power is the central component of Nietzsche's philosophy, and passage 36 of Beyond Good and Evil is essential to coming to an understanding of it. 1 argue for and defend the thesis that will-to-power constitutes Nietzsche's ontology, and offer a new understanding of what that means. Nietzsche's ontology can be talked about as though it were a traditional substance ontology (i.e., a world made up of forces; a duality of conflicting forces described as 'towards which' and 'away from which'). However, 1 argue that what defines this ontology is an understanding of valuation as ontologically fundamental—^the basis of interpretation, and from which a substance ontology emerges. In the second chapter, I explain Nietzsche's ontology, as reflected in this passage, through a discussion of Heidegger's two ontological categories in Being and Time (readiness-to-hand, and present-at-hand). In a nutshell, it means that the world of our desires and passions (the most basic of which is for power) is ontologically more fundamental than the material world, or any other interpretation, which is to say, the material world emerges out of a world of our desires and passions. In the first chapter, I address the problematic form of the passage reflected in the first sentence. The passage is in a hypothetical style makes no claim to positive knowledge or truth, and, superficially, looks like Schopenhaurian position for the metaphysics of the will, which Nietzsche rejects. 1 argue that the hypothetical form of the passage is a matter of style, namely, the style of a free-spirit for whom the question of truth is reframed as a question of values. In the third and final chapter, 1 address the charge that Nietzsche's interpretation is a conscious anthropomorphic projection. 1 suggest that the charge rests on a distinction (between nature and man) that Nietzsche rejects. I also address the problem of the causality of the will for Nietzsche, by suggesting that an alternative, perspectival form of causality is possible.

Heterogeneity of photosystem II as it occurs in domain specific regions of the thylakoid membrane of spinach (spinacia oleracia L.)

Thylakoid membrane fractions were prepared from specific regions of thylakoid membranes of spinach (Spinacia oleracea). These fractions, which include grana (83), stroma (T3), grana core (8S), margins (Ma) and purified stroma (Y100) were prepared using a non-detergent method including a mild sonication and aqueous two-phase partitioning. The significance of PSlla and PSII~ centres have been described extensively in the literature. Previous work has characterized two types of PSII centres which are proposed to exist in different regions of the thylakoid membrane. a-centres are suggested to aggregate in stacked regions of grana whereas ~-centres are located in unstacked regions of stroma lamellae. The goal of this study is to characterize photosystem II from the isolated membrane vesicles representing different regions of the higher plant thylakoid membrane. The low temperature absorption spectra have been deconvoluted via Gaussian decomposition to estimate the relative sub-components that contribute to each fractions signature absorption spectrum. The relative sizes of the functional PSII antenna and the fluorescence induction kinetics were measured and used to determine the relative contributions of PSlla and PSII~ to each fraction. Picosecond chlorophyll fluorescence decay kinetics were collected for each fraction to characterize and gain insight into excitation energy transfer and primary electron transport in PSlla and PSII~ centres. The results presented here clearly illustrate the widely held notions of PSII/PS·I and PSlIa/PSII~ spatial separation. This study suggests that chlorophyll fluorescence decay lifetimes of PSII~ centres are shorter than those of PSlIa centres and, at FM, the longer lived of the two PSII components renders a larger yield in PSlIa-rich fractions, but smaller in PSIlr3-rich fractions.

Affect, ontology, and pedagogy: An autoethnographic study on student-teacher relationships

In studying affect within the realm of student-teacher relationships my thesis project use the concept of “affect” as composed by Baruch Spinoza (1992, 2007). I focus specifically on how Deleuze (1988) interprets and implements the term within his own philosophy, as well as on Antonio Negri’s (2011, 1991) work on Spinoza including his and Michael Hardt’s (2000, 2004, 2009) more recent works. This thesis will explore Spinoza’s affect within the discourse of Affective Pedagogy and Critical Pedagogy while remaining committed to a Spinoizist ontology as outlined by Deleuze (1988). I used artefacts from my past experiences as a student and teacher to produce evocative writing pieces which act as affective continuances of my past experiences as a student, student-teacher, and teacher, and the relationships of affect that composed them. This project used these artefacts and the writings they produced as sites of intensity that are carried through from traces, to evocative thresholds, to concepts, and finally into analysis.

A domain-general perspective on medial frontal brain activity during performance monitoring

Activity of the medial frontal cortex (MFC) has been implicated in attention regulation and performance monitoring. The MFC is thought to generate several event-related potential (ERPs) components, known as medial frontal negativities (MFNs), that are elicited when a behavioural response becomes difficult to control (e.g., following an error or shifting from a frequently executed response). The functional significance of MFNs has traditionally been interpreted in the context of the paradigm used to elicit a specific response, such as errors. In a series of studies, we consider the functional similarity of multiple MFC brain responses by designing novel performance monitoring tasks and exploiting advanced methods for electroencephalography (EEG) signal processing and robust estimation statistics for hypothesis testing. In study 1, we designed a response cueing task and used Independent Component Analysis (ICA) to show that the latent factors describing a MFN to stimuli that cued the potential need to inhibit a response on upcoming trials also accounted for medial frontal brain responses that occurred when individuals made a mistake or inhibited an incorrect response. It was also found that increases in theta occurred to each of these task events, and that the effects were evident at the group level and in single cases. In study 2, we replicated our method of classifying MFC activity to cues in our response task and showed again, using additional tasks, that error commission, response inhibition, and, to a lesser extent, the processing of performance feedback all elicited similar changes across MFNs and theta power. In the final study, we converted our response cueing paradigm into a saccade cueing task in order to examine the oscillatory dynamics of response preparation. We found that, compared to easy pro-saccades, successfully preparing a difficult anti-saccadic response was characterized by an increase in MFC theta and the suppression of posterior alpha power prior to executing the eye movement. These findings align with a large body of literature on performance monitoring and ERPs, and indicate that MFNs, along with their signature in theta power, reflects the general process of controlling attention and adapting behaviour without the need to induce error commission, the inhibition of responses, or the presentation of negative feedback.