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How context affects memory is the central focus of the six experiments making up this PhD thesis. In these experiments, pictures of faces were presented in an incidental encoding phase, paired with a variety of indoor and outdoor context scenes (e.g., park, supermarket, swimming pool), and a recognition memory test ensued in which faces were paired with either the same context (exact same context the face was paired with at encoding), switched context (a context that was presented at study, but not presented with that particular face), or new context (a context never before seen), relative to encoding. In Experiment 1, the importance of instructions at encoding was examined by manipulating instructions to either actively link or passively view the face and context at encoding. Maintaining the same context as at encoding reliably enhanced overall detection, and recollection, of studied faces relative to a new context, replicating the known context reinstatement (CR) effect. There was also a reliable memory benefit for faces paired at test with the same relative to a switched context, indicating a context specificity (CS) effect on memory. Encoding instructions to either actively link, or passively view, face-context pairs during encoding did not influence the presence or magnitude of the CR or CS effects, suggesting that linking of target + context may occur spontaneously. In Experiment 2, dividing attention did not influence CR, but did eliminate the CS effect on overall memory. Findings suggest that the general boost to memory from reinstating an old relative to a totally new context at test is robust, though linking specific contexts to targets is hampered when attention is limited during encoding. In Experiments 3 and 4, familiarity of the face to the observer interacted with context effects. In Experiment 3, face familiarity was manipulated by presenting famous versus non-famous faces during encoding and an attenuated CR effect was observed for famous relative to non-famous (unfamiliar) faces, though CS remained. In Experiment 4, degree of familiarity was controlled by pre-exposing the study faces 0, 1, 3, or 10 times prior to the study phase. After just one pre-exposure to an unfamiliar face, the CR effect was reduced. Experiment 5 examined whether distinctive faces were less susceptible to context effects relative to similarly familiar, but less distinctive, faces. CR and CS effects were predicted for out-group faces (Caucasian faces for Asian participants and Asian faces for Caucasian participants), and a reduction in both CR and CS for in-group faces (Caucasian faces for Caucasian participants and Asian faces for Asian participants). Results indicated no difference in CR or CS across the conditions, suggesting that distinctiveness may not be an important factor in mediating context effects. The final experiment examined how the expectancy of a face + context pairing influenced CR and CS effects, even when the target face was familiar. There were robust CR and CS effects for faces when these were repeatedly paired with a specific context during study, but a loss of both effects when faces were paired with varying contexts during study. Results extend our current knowledge regarding the role of context in memory and supports memory models that suggest context information presented at test acts as a cue that uniquely specifies a particular target.

The global mobile application market is booming in all directions and business giants, viz. Google and Apple, have acknowledged the huge expansion in their Application Market and App Store. There is a demand though for a system that can elevate the momentum of context-aware mobile applications, where an application’s behavior is customized according to context information. This thesis proposes a context-aware system that provides mobile Applications as a Service (AppaaS). AppaaS handles various context information including location information, user profile, device profile, user ratings, and current time to provision the best relevant mobile application to such a context. AppaaS also supports state preservation, where application-specific data that is relevant to a user is stored for future reference. Our prototype demonstrates a seamless system performance with respect to finding relevant applications to a specific context and controlling the applications functions according the users requirements and access privileges. We also demonstrate how AppaaS can preserve an applications state when a user is to reuse the same application again. / Thesis (Master, Computing) -- Queen's University, 2013-01-31 20:23:11.063

Abstract Dog phobia is a complex psychological phenomenon classified under the anxiety disorders. Twelve female students suffering from dog phobia participated in this qualitative study which included an initial screening, therapeutic intervention and eight-month follow-up. Initial screening was conducted by means of a Fear Survey Schedule and observational assessment of non-verbal behavior during a behavioral approach test (dog stimulus). Therapeutic intervention involved a combination of systematic desensitization and instructional learning. Qualitative data analysis followed a phenomenological approach. The results indicate that the onset age of dog phobia varied from early childhood to late adolescence. Twothirds of the participants reported a direct traumatic event as the onset context of their dog phobia, while 17% reported vicarious learning contexts and 17% an inability to recall the onset context. The most widely used sensory focal mode of perception during contact with dogs was visual cues, followed by auditory cues. Half of the participants reported “eye” aspects as the fear-evoking stimulus. A wide variety of anxieties and fears were found to co-occur with dog phobia, although some participants were still able to accommodate dogs and other companion animals in their lives. The poststudy follow-up indicated that the intervention yielded significant real life improvement in 75% of the cases. The implications of this study for therapeutic situations are discussed.

This study focused on teachers’ views on the role of context in Mathematical Literacy. The study falls within a constructivist framework. The research method used was a case study involving two teachers. The data for the study was collected from teachers through semi-structured interviews and was collected from learners through mathematical literacy tasks. In the analysis of the research data, five issues are identified and discussed: They are concerned with (a) the balance between content and context, (b) the relation between context and access to mathematics, (c) links between context and interest, (d) context and language and (e) context as a barrier in mathematics. The study concludes that real life context is very important and useful in teaching and learning mathematics. However, teachers need be careful in selecting context because inappropriate context can become a barrier to learning. The report concludes with recommendations for classroom practice, teacher education and further research.

Thesis advisor: Sara Cordes / Thesis advisor: Sophie Savelkouls / Prior research indicates that Spontaneous Focusing On Number (SFON) measured in the preschool years is predictive of mathematical achievement as late as age 12 (Hannula & Lehtinen, 2005; Hannula-Sormunen, Lepola, & Lehtinen, 2010). Therefore, there is great need to examine how young children’s attention to number is affected by various contexts. This study investigated how heterogeneity vs. homogeneity of the arrays, and verbal labels for the quantities presented affected young children’s attention to number, compared to their attention to cumulative surface area. We found that participants preference for and attention to number was correlated with their number knowledge, but only when the items they were presented with were homogeneous, not heterogeneous. This suggests that homogeneous arrays are important for children’s attention to number and individuation and could be used as a tool to help children better hone in on mathematical concepts. / Thesis (BS) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Psychology.

<p>The purpose of the study is to explore the context, from the users’ perspective, in order to find relevant context parameters that can be useful in the development of the future context-aware technology. The goal is to find some of the context parameters relevant to the situated activity and investigate to what extent and in which way they influence the user in everyday planning activities.</p><p>The method used in the study was based on scenario descriptions. A total of 41 participants reported how they would have acted in the different situations and they also rated how important they believed the different context factors were in the situations. Analyses were made to reveal relationships between context factors and service properties used by the participants in the scenarios.</p><p>In the study several interesting relationships between context factors and the use of services were discovered. The level of urgency was in several situations considered to be important, and it was also found to have an impact on how the participants chose to communicate. The cost was introduced by the participants during the study. It seemed to be important; however, in situations with high urgency it became less important. The study revealed a potential relationship between the risk of disturbing the people in the vicinity and the effort to communicate quietly. Another interesting finding was the relationship between privacy and the choice of modality when communicating: voice-based services were avoided. Further, the importance of privacy and disturbance also appeared to have greater influence in non-anonymous situations than in anonymous.</p> / <p>Syftet med studien är att undersöka kontexten, utifrån användarens perspektiv, för att kunna hitta relevanta kontextfaktorer som kan vara användbara i utvecklingen av kontextmedveten teknologi. Målet är att finna kontextfaktorer som är relevanta för den pågående aktiviteten och undersöka i vilken utsträckning och på vilka sätt dessa faktorer påverkar användaren i de dagliga planeringsaktiviteterna.</p><p>Metoden som användes i studien baserades på scenariobeskrivningar. 41 stycken försöksdeltagare fick beskriva hur de skulle ha handlat i de olika situationerna och de fick också skatta hur viktiga de olika kontextfaktorerena var i situationerna. Analyser genomfördes för att finna samband mellan kontextfaktorer och egenskaper hos de tjänster som försöksdeltagarna använde sig av i scenarierna.</p><p>I studien upptäcktes en rad intressanta relationer mellan kontextfaktorer och användningen av tjänster. Exempelvis ansågs nivån av brådska vara betydelsefull i flera situationer och den verkade också ha inverkan på hur försöksdeltagarna valde att kommunicera. Försöksdeltagarna introducerade under studien kontextfaktorn kostnad. Kostnaden påverkade valet av tjänster men blev mindre betydande i situationer med stor brådska. Studien visade också på potentiella samband mellan risken att störa människor i sin omgivning och viljan att kommunicera tyst. En annan intressant upptäckt var sambandet mellan avskildhet och kommunikationssätt: röstbaserade tjänster undveks när andra människor fanns i närheten. Dessutom verkade det som om det var viktigare att värna om sin avskildhet och att inte störa andra i ickeanonyma situationer än i situationer där man var helt anonym.</p>

The underlying assumptions for interpreting the meaning of data often change over time, which further complicates the problem of semantic heterogeneities among autonomous data sources. As an extension to the COntext INterchange (COIN) framework, this paper introduces the notion of temporal context as a formalization of the problem. We represent temporal context as a multi-valued method in F-Logic; however, only one value is valid at any point in time, the determination of which is constrained by temporal relations. This representation is then mapped to an abductive constraint logic programming framework with temporal relations being treated as constraints. A mediation engine that implements the framework automatically detects and reconciles semantic differences at different times. We articulate that this extended COIN framework is suitable for reasoning on the Semantic Web. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The underlying assumptions for interpreting the meaning of data often change over time, which further complicates the problem of semantic heterogeneities among autonomous data sources. As an extension to the COntext INterchange (COIN) framework, this paper introduces the notion of temporal context as a formalization of the problem. We represent temporal context as a multi-valued method in F-Logic; however, only one value is valid at any point in time, the determination of which is constrained by temporal relations. This representation is then mapped to an abductive constraint logic programming framework with temporal relations being treated as constraints. A mediation engine that implements the framework automatically detects and reconciles semantic differences at different times. We articulate that this extended COIN framework is suitable for reasoning on the Semantic Web. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)

The underlying assumptions for interpreting the meaning of data often change over time, which further complicates the problem of semantic heterogeneities among autonomous data sources. As an extension to the COntext INterchange (COIN) framework, this paper introduces the notion of temporal context as a formalization of the problem. We represent temporal context as a multi-valued method in F-Logic; however, only one value is valid at any point in time, the determination of which is constrained by temporal relations. This representation is then mapped to an abductive constraint logic programming framework with temporal relations being treated as constraints. A mediation engine that implements the framework automatically detects and reconciles semantic differences at different times. We articulate that this extended COIN framework is suitable for reasoning on the Semantic Web. / Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA)