Minority influence and optimal problem-solving

An analogous thinking task was used to test Nemeth's Convergent–Divergent theory of majority and minority influence. Participants read a (base) problem and one of three solutions (one of which is considered the ‘best' solution). They then generated solutions to a second (target) problem which shared similar structural features to the first problem. Due to the similarities between problems, the solution given to the first problem can be used as an analogy in solving the second. In contrast to Nemeth's theory, when the solution to the base problem was endorsed by a numerical majority there was not an increase in analogy-transfer in solving the target problem. However, in support of Nemeth's theory, when the base solution was supported by a numerical minority then the participants were more likely to generate the ‘best' solution to the target problem regardless of which base solution they were given. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Towards a web-based progressive handwriting recognition environment for mathematical problem solving

The emergence of pen-based mobile devices such as PDAs and tablet PCs provides a new way to input mathematical expressions to computer by using handwriting which is much more natural and efficient for entering mathematics. This paper proposes a web-based handwriting mathematics system, called WebMath, for supporting mathematical problem solving. The proposed WebMath system is based on client-server architecture. It comprises four major components: a standard web server, handwriting mathematical expression editor, computation engine and web browser with Ajax-based communicator. The handwriting mathematical expression editor adopts a progressive recognition approach for dynamic recognition of handwritten mathematical expressions. The computation engine supports mathematical functions such as algebraic simplification and factorization, and integration and differentiation. The web browser provides a user-friendly interface for accessing the system using advanced Ajax-based communication. In this paper, we describe the different components of the WebMath system and its performance analysis.

Application of a problem-solving methodology to software usability

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Conceptual Idea of Identification of Patterns and Problem Solving in the Human’s Memory and the Possibilities to Use it in Artificial Intelligent

Given cybernetic idea is formed on the basis of neurophysiologic, neuropsychological, neurocybernetic data and verisimilar hypotheses, which fill gaps of formers, of the author as well. First of all attention is focused on general principles of a Memory organization in the brain and processes which take part in it that realize such psychical functions as perception and identification of input information about patterns and a problem solving, which is specified by the input and output conditions, as well. Realization of the second function, essentially cogitative, is discussed in the aspects of figurative and lingual thinking on the levels of intuition and understanding. The reasons of advisability and principles of bionic approach to creation of appropriate tools of artificial intelligent are proposed.

Parallel Problem Solving from Nature – PPSN XIV:14th International Conference, Edinburgh, UK, September 17-21, 2016, Proceedings

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Parallel Problem Solving from Nature, PPSN 2016, held in Edinburgh, UK, in September 2016. The total of 93 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 224 submissions. The meeting began with four workshops which offered an ideal opportunity to explore specific topics in intelligent transportation Workshop, landscape-aware heuristic search, natural computing in scheduling and timetabling, and advances in multi-modal optimization. PPSN XIV also included sixteen free tutorials to give us all the opportunity to learn about new aspects: gray box optimization in theory; theory of evolutionary computation; graph-based and cartesian genetic programming; theory of parallel evolutionary algorithms; promoting diversity in evolutionary optimization: why and how; evolutionary multi-objective optimization; intelligent systems for smart cities; advances on multi-modal optimization; evolutionary computation in cryptography; evolutionary robotics - a practical guide to experiment with real hardware; evolutionary algorithms and hyper-heuristics; a bridge between optimization over manifolds and evolutionary computation; implementing evolutionary algorithms in the cloud; the attainment function approach to performance evaluation in EMO; runtime analysis of evolutionary algorithms: basic introduction; meta-model assisted (evolutionary) optimization. The papers are organized in topical sections on adaption, self-adaption and parameter tuning; differential evolution and swarm intelligence; dynamic, uncertain and constrained environments; genetic programming; multi-objective, many-objective and multi-level optimization; parallel algorithms and hardware issues; real-word applications and modeling; theory; diversity and landscape analysis.

Group problem-solving skills training for self-harm: randomised controlled trial

Background: Rates of self-harm are high and have recently increased. This trend and the repetitive nature of self-harm pose a significant challenge to mental health services. Aims: To determine the efficacy of a structured group problem-solving skills training (PST) programme as an intervention approach for self-harm in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) as offered by mental health services. Method: A total of 433 participants (aged 18-64 years) were randomly assigned to TAU plus PST or TAU alone. Assessments were carried out at baseline and at 6-week and 6-month follow-up and repeated hospital-treated self-harm was ascertained at 12-month follow-up. Results: The treatment groups did not differ in rates of repeated self-harm at 6-week, 6-month and 12-month follow-up. Both treatment groups showed significant improvements in psychological and social functioning at follow-up. Only one measure (needing and receiving practical help from those closest to them) showed a positive treatment effect at 6-week (P = 0.004) and 6-month (P = 0.01) follow-up. Repetition was not associated with waiting time in the PST group. Conclusions: This brief intervention for self-harm is no more effective than treatment as usual. Further work is required to establish whether a modified, more intensive programme delivered sooner after the index episode would be effective.

Convergence and translation: attitudes to inter-professional learning and teaching of creative problem-solving among medical and engineering students and staff

Background: Healthcare worldwide needs translation of basic ideas from engineering into the clinic. Consequently, there is increasing demand for graduates equipped with the knowledge and skills to apply interdisciplinary medicine/engineering approaches to the development of novel solutions for healthcare. The literature provides little guidance regarding barriers to, and facilitators of, effective interdisciplinary learning for engineering and medical students in a team-based project context. Methods: A quantitative survey was distributed to engineering and medical students and staff in two universities, one in Ireland and one in Belgium, to chart knowledge and practice in interdisciplinary learning and teaching, and of the teaching of innovation. Results: We report important differences for staff and students between the disciplines regarding attitudes towards, and perceptions of, the relevance of interdisciplinary learning opportunities, and the role of creativity and innovation. There was agreement across groups concerning preferred learning, instructional styles, and module content. Medical students showed greater resistance to the use of structured creativity tools and interdisciplinary teams. Conclusions: The results of this international survey will help to define the optimal learning conditions under which undergraduate engineering and medicine students can learn to consider the diverse factors which determine the success or failure of a healthcare engineering solution.

Testing After Worked Example Study Does Not Enhance Delayed Problem-Solving Performance Compared to Restudy

Four experiments investigated whether the testing effect also applies to the acquisition of problem-solving skills from worked examples. Experiment 1 (n=120) showed no beneficial effects of testing consisting of isomorphic problem solving or example recall on final test performance, which consisted of isomorphic problem solving, compared to continued study of isomorphic examples. Experiment 2 (n=124) showed no beneficial effects of testing consisting of identical problem solving compared to restudying an identical example. Interestingly, participants who took both an immediate and a delayed final test outperformed those taking only a delayed test. This finding suggested that testing might become beneficial for retention but only after a certain level of schema acquisition has taken place through restudying several examples. However, experiment 2 had no control condition restudying examples instead of taking the immediate test. Experiment 3 (n=129) included such a restudy condition, and there was no evidence that testing after studying four examples was more effective for final delayed test performance than restudying, regardless of whether restudied/tested problems were isomorphic or identical. Experiment 4 (n=75) used a similar design as experiment 3 (i.e., testing/restudy after four examples), but with examples on a different topic and with a different participant population. Again, no evidence of a testing effect was found. Thus, across four experiments, with different types of initial tests, different problem-solving domains, and different participant populations, we found no evidence that testing enhanced delayed test performance compared to restudy. These findings suggest that the testing effect might not apply to acquiring problem-solving skills from worked examples

Evaluation of creative problem solving abilities in undergraduate structural engineers through interdisciplinary problem based learning

For a structural engineer, effective communication and interaction with architects cannot be underestimated as a key skill to success throughout their professional career. Structural engineers and architects have to share a common language and understanding of each other in order to achieve the most desirable architectural and structural designs. This interaction and engagement develops during their professional career but needs to be nurtured during their undergraduate studies. The objective of this paper is to present the strategies employed to engage higher order thinking in structural engineering students in order to help them solve complex problem-based learning (PBL) design scenarios presented by architecture students. The strategies employed were applied in the experimental setting of an undergraduate module in structural engineering at Queen’s University Belfast in the UK. The strategies employed were active learning to engage with content knowledge, the use of physical conceptual structural models to reinforce key concepts and finally, reinforcing the need for hand sketching of ideas to promote higher order problem-solving. The strategies employed were evaluated through student survey, student feedback and module facilitator (this author) reflection. The strategies were qualitatively perceived by the tutor and quantitatively evaluated by students in a cross-sectional study to help interaction with the architecture students, aid interdisciplinary learning and help students creatively solve problems (through higher order thinking). The students clearly enjoyed this module and in particular interacting with structural engineering tutors and students from another discipline

Empowering single mothers in Iran : Applying a problem-solving model in learning groups to develop participants' capacities to improve their lives

Since 2000, a problem-solving model has been taught to the Society for Protecting the Rights of the Child, and teachers and  students of social work in two universities in Iran. Since 2006, with the initiation of UNICEF, social workers, psychologists  and even some psychiatrists in Iran have been learning this model. In 2008, a group of researchers created an empowerment-oriented  psycho-social group and private intervention project to assess whether a group of Iranian single mothers could use this model, which was traditionally used by professionals only, to effectively and independently meet challenges in their own lives. Our results show that all women used the model effectively and, consequently, made more deliberate decisions to improve their life situations. Some of the women succeeded in finding a job and many improved their family relationships. This study suggests that empowerment-oriented social work can help many clients to achieve their goals, and that this psycho-social intervention project can be a useful model for social work in Iran and many other societies.

Students’ Self-Report of Motivational Orientation and Teacher Evaluation on Coping and Motivational Orientation Related to Elementary Students’ Mathematical Problem Solving and Reading Comprehension

The present study examined the correlations between motivational orientation and students’ academic performance in mathematical problem solving and reading comprehension. The main purpose is to see if students’ intrinsic motivation is related to their actual performance in different subject areas, math and reading. In addition, two different informants, students and teachers, were adopted to check whether the correlation is different by different informants. Pearson’s correlational analysis was a major method, coupled with regression analysis. The result confirmed the significant positive correlation between students’ academic performance and students’ self-report and teacher evaluation on their motivational orientation respectively. Teacher evaluation turned out with more predictive value for the academic achievement in math and reading. Between the subjects, mathematical problem solving showed higher correlation with most of the motivational subscales than reading comprehension did. The highest correlation was found between teacher evaluation on task orientation and students’ mathematical problem solving. The positive relationship between intrinsic motivation and academic achievement was proved. The disparity between students ’ self-report and teacher evaluation on motivational orientation was also addressed with the need of further examination.

A Case Based Methodology for Problem Solving aiming at Knee Osteoarthritis Detection

Knee osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis and a major cause of impaired mobility and disability for the ageing populations. Therefore, due to the increasing prevalence of the malady, it is expected that clinical and scientific practices had to be set in order to detect the problem in its early stages. Thus, this work will be focused on the improvement of methodologies for problem solving aiming at the development of Artificial Intelligence based decision support system to detect knee osteoarthritis. The framework is built on top of a Logic Programming approach to Knowledge Representation and Reasoning, complemented with a Case Based approach to computing that caters for the handling of incomplete, unknown, or even self-contradictory information.

Age Prediction through Pelvis X-Ray Images - A Case Based approach to Problem Solving

It is well known that the dimensions of the pelvic bones depend on the gender and vary with the age of the individual. Indeed, and as a matter of fact, this work will focus on the development of an intelligent decision support system to predict individual’s age based on pelvis’ dimensions criteria. On the one hand, some basic image processing technics were applied in order to extract the relevant features from pelvic X-rays. On the other hand, the computational framework presented here was built on top of a Logic Programming approach to knowledge representation and reasoning, that caters for the handling of incomplete, unknown, or even self-contradictory information, complemented with a Case Base approach to computing.

问题之间共性关系的意识水平对平面几何解题迁移的影响

Transfer of learning is one of the major concepts in educational psychology. As cognitive psychology develops, many researchers have found that transfer plays an important part in problem solving, and the awareness of the similarity of related problems is important in transfer. So they become more interested in researching the problem of transfer. But in the literature of transfer research, it has been found that many researchers do not hold identical conclusions about the influence of awareness of related problems during problem solving transfer. This dissertation is written on the basic of much of sub-research work, such as looking up literature concerning transfer of problem solving research, comparing the results of research work done recently and experimental researches. The author of this dissertation takes middle school students as subjects, geometry as materials, and adopts factorial design in his experiments. The influence of awareness of related problems on problem solving transfer is examined from three dimensions which are the degree of difficulty of transfer problems, the level of awareness of related problems and the characteristics of subjects themselves. Five conclusions have been made after the experimental research: (1) During the process of geometry problem solving, the level of awareness of related problems is one of the major factors that influence the effect of problem solving transfer. (2) Either more difficult or more easy of the transfer problems will hinder the influence of awareness of related problems during problem solving transfer, and the degree of difficulty of the transfer problems have interactions with the level of awareness of related problems in affecting transfer. (3) During geometry problems solving transfer, the level of awareness of related problems has interactions with the degree of student achievement. Compared with the students who have lower achievement, the influence of the level of the awareness is bigger in the students who have higher achievement. (4) There is positive correlation between geometry achievement and reasoning ability of the middle school students. The student who has higher reasoning ability has higher geometry achievement, while the level of awareness is raised, the transfer achievement of both can be raised significantly. (5) There is positive correlation between geometry achievement and cognitive style of the middle school students. The student who has independent field tendency of cognitive style has higher geometry achievement, while the level of awareness is raised, the transfer achievement of both can be raised significantly. At the end of the dissertation, the researcher offers two proposals concerning Geometry teaching on the basis of the research findings.