An Integrative framework of the factors affecting process model understanding : a learning perspective

Process models are used by information professionals to convey semantics about the business operations in a real world domain intended to be supported by an information system. The understandability of these models is vital to them actually being used. After all, what is not understood cannot be acted upon. Yet until now, understandability has primarily been defined as an intrinsic quality of the models themselves. Moreover, those studies that looked at understandability from a user perspective have mainly conceptualized users through rather arbitrary sets of variables. In this paper we advance an integrative framework to understand the role of the user in the process of understanding process models. Building on cognitive psychology, goal-setting theory and multimedia learning theory, we identify three stages of learning required to realize model understanding, these being Presage, Process, and Product. We define eight relevant user characteristics in the Presage stage of learning, three knowledge construction variables in the Process stage and three potential learning outcomes in the Product stage. To illustrate the benefits of the framework, we review existing process modeling work to identify where our framework can complement and extend existing studies.

Analysis and detection of cognitive load and frustration in drivers' speech

Non-driving related cognitive load and variations of emotional state may impact a driver’s capability to control a vehicle and introduces driving errors. Availability of reliable cognitive load and emotion detection in drivers would benefit the design of active safety systems and other intelligent in-vehicle interfaces. In this study, speech produced by 68 subjects while driving in urban areas is analyzed. A particular focus is on speech production differences in two secondary cognitive tasks, interactions with a co-driver and calls to automated spoken dialog systems (SDS), and two emotional states during the SDS interactions - neutral/negative. A number of speech parameters are found to vary across the cognitive/emotion classes. Suitability of selected cepstral- and production-based features for automatic cognitive task/emotion classification is investigated. A fusion of GMM/SVM classifiers yields an accuracy of 94.3% in cognitive task and 81.3% in emotion classification.

Life in the 'real world': a profile of Queensland University of Technology Library and Information Science graduates.

A graduate destination survey can provide a snap shot in time of a graduate’s career progression and outcome. This paper will present the results of a Queensland University of Technology study exploring the employment outcomes of students who had completed a library and information science course from the Faculty of Information Technology between 2000 and 2008. Seventy-four graduates completed an online questionnaire administered in July 2009. The study found that 90% of the graduates surveyed were working and living in Queensland, with over three quarters living and working in Brisbane. Nearly 70% were working full-time, while only 1.4% indicating that they were unemployed and looking for work. Over 80% of the graduates identified themselves as working in “librarianship”. This study is the first step in understanding the progression and destination of QUT’s library and information science graduates. It is recommended that this survey becomes an ongoing initiative so that the results can be analysed and compared over time.

Psychosocial outcomes of Hong Kong Chinese diagnosed with acute coronary syndromes: a prospective repeated measures study.

BACKGROUND: Western studies have suggested that emotional stress and distress impacted on the morbidity and mortality in people following acute coronary events. Symptoms of anxiety and depression have been associated with re-infarction and death, prolonged recovery and disability and depression may precipitate the client's low self-esteem. This study examined perceived anxiety, depression and self-esteem of Hong Kong Chinese clients diagnosed with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) over a 6-month period following hospital admission. OBJECTIVES: To examine: DESIGN: A prospective, repeated measures design with measures taken on two occasions over a 6-month period; (1) within the 1st week of hospital admission following the onset of ACS and (2) at 6 months follow up. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Convenient sample of 182 voluntary consented clients admitted with ACS to a major public hospital in Hong Kong who could communicate in Chinese, complete questionnaires, cognitive intact, and were haemodynamically stable and free from acute chest pain at the time of interview. METHODS: Baseline data were obtained within 1 week after hospital admission. The follow-up data was collected 6 months after hospital discharge. The Chinese version of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), State Self-esteem Scale (SSES), and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) were used to assess anxiety and depression, state self-esteem, and trait self-esteem, respectively. RESULTS: Findings suggested gender differences in clients' perception in anxiety, depression and self-esteem. Improvements in clients' perception of these variables were evident over the 6-month period following their acute coronary events. CONCLUSION: The study confirmed the western notion that psychosocial problems are common among coronary clients and this also applies to Hong Kong Chinese diagnosed with ACS. Further studies to explore effective interventions to address these psychosocial issues are recommended.

Standardization and omics science : technical and social dimensions are inseparable and demand symmetrical study

Standardization is critical to scientists and regulators to ensure the quality and interoperability of research processes, as well as the safety and efficacy of the attendant research products. This is perhaps most evident in the case of “omics science,” which is enabled by a host of diverse high-throughput technologies such as genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. But standards are of interest to (and shaped by) others far beyond the immediate realm of individual scientists, laboratories, scientific consortia, or governments that develop, apply, and regulate them. Indeed, scientific standards have consequences for the social, ethical, and legal environment in which innovative technologies are regulated, and thereby command the attention of policy makers and citizens. This article argues that standardization of omics science is both technical and social. A critical synthesis of the social science literature indicates that: (1) standardization requires a degree of flexibility to be practical at the level of scientific practice in disparate sites; (2) the manner in which standards are created, and by whom, will impact their perceived legitimacy and therefore their potential to be used; and (3) the process of standardization itself is important to establishing the legitimacy of an area of scientific research.

Exercise, appetite, and energy balance: The interactions between energy expenditure and intake, and the implications for weight management

This book disseminates current information pertaining to the modulatory effects of foods and other food substances on behavior and neurological pathways and, importantly, vice versa. This ranges from the neuroendocrine control of eating to the effects of life-threatening disease on eating behavior. The importance of this contribution to the scientific literature lies in the fact that food and eating are an essential component of cultural heritage but the effects of perturbations in the food/cognitive axis can be profound. The complex interrelationship between neuropsychological processing, diet, and behavioral outcome is explored within the context of the most contemporary psychobiological research in the area. This comprehensive psychobiology- and pathology-themed text examines the broad spectrum of diet, behavioral, and neuropsychological interactions from normative function to occurrences of severe and enduring psychopathological processes

Bayesian models for longitudinal data

Longitudinal data, where data are repeatedly observed or measured on a temporal basis of time or age provides the foundation of the analysis of processes which evolve over time, and these can be referred to as growth or trajectory models. One of the traditional ways of looking at growth models is to employ either linear or polynomial functional forms to model trajectory shape, and account for variation around an overall mean trend with the inclusion of random eects or individual variation on the functional shape parameters. The identification of distinct subgroups or sub-classes (latent classes) within these trajectory models which are not based on some pre-existing individual classification provides an important methodology with substantive implications. The identification of subgroups or classes has a wide application in the medical arena where responder/non-responder identification based on distinctly diering trajectories delivers further information for clinical processes. This thesis develops Bayesian statistical models and techniques for the identification of subgroups in the analysis of longitudinal data where the number of time intervals is limited. These models are then applied to a single case study which investigates the neuropsychological cognition for early stage breast cancer patients undergoing adjuvant chemotherapy treatment from the Cognition in Breast Cancer Study undertaken by the Wesley Research Institute of Brisbane, Queensland. Alternative formulations to the linear or polynomial approach are taken which use piecewise linear models with a single turning point, change-point or knot at a known time point and latent basis models for the non-linear trajectories found for the verbal memory domain of cognitive function before and after chemotherapy treatment. Hierarchical Bayesian random eects models are used as a starting point for the latent class modelling process and are extended with the incorporation of covariates in the trajectory profiles and as predictors of class membership. The Bayesian latent basis models enable the degree of recovery post-chemotherapy to be estimated for short and long-term followup occasions, and the distinct class trajectories assist in the identification of breast cancer patients who maybe at risk of long-term verbal memory impairment.

The potentials of student initiated netspeak in a middle primary science-inspired mutliliteracies project

There is no denying that the information technology revolution of the late twentieth century has arrived. Whilst not equitably accessible for many, others hold high expectations for the contributions online activity will make to student learning outcomes. Concurrently, and not necessarily consequentially, the number of science and technology secondary school and university graduates throughout the world has declined substantially, as has their motivation and engagement with school science (OECD, 2006). The aim of this research paper is to explore one aspect of online activity, that of forum-based netspeak (Crystal, 2006), in relation to the possibilities and challenges it provides for forms of scientific learning. This paper reports findings from a study investigating student initiated netspeak in a science inspired multiliteracies (New London Group, 2000) project in one middle primary (aged 7-10 years) multi-age Australian classroom. Drawing on the theoretical description of the Five phases of enquiry proposed by Bybee (1997), an analytic framework is proffered that allows identification of student engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration and evaluation of scientific enquiry. The findings provide insight into online forums for advancing learning in and motivation for science in the middle primary years.

Quantum Mechanics of Semantic Space

Presentation about information modelling and artificial intelligence, semantic structure, cognitive processing and quantum theory.