Syftet med detta examensarbete var att undersöka, utifrån en etnografisk och kvalitativ ståndpunkt, möjligheten till att utöka kunskapen om Situation Awareness (SA). Forskning inom området har länge präglats av ett kvantitativt förhållningssätt vilket anses ha missgynnat och till en viss del hindrat alternativa kvalitativa forsningsansatser för att studera detta intressanta fenomen. Detta arbete försöker, i form av två studier (en litteraturstudie och en fallstudie), bryta trenden av kvalitativ forskning och presentera en annan infallsvinkel för hur SA kan vara organiserat och ett annat förhållningssätt för hur forskning kring SA kan bedrivas. Utgångspunkten för detta försök är teorierna bakom Distributed Cognition (DC), vilka föreslår studien av mänsklig kognition i ett större sammanhang där hjärna, kropp och omgivning bildar ett kognitivt system. Resultatet från litteraturstudien visar på att det finns stöd för användningen av DC då utifrån dessa teorier uppstår möjligheten till att studera andra aspekter och förhållanden kring SA. Resultatet från fallstudien i sin tur ger indikationer på att inom forskningsområdet finns ett dominerat kvantitativt förhållningssätt samt går det att identifiera ett behov av kvalitativa ansatser som ett sätt att komplettera den nuvarande forskningen. Sammanfattningsvis uppvisar detta arbete indicier som tyder på att DC och kvalitativa ansatser erbjuder andra användbara utgångspunkter och forskningsmöjligheter för studier av SA.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-02-17T12:40:15Z No. of bitstreams: 1 adrianoviniciodasilvadocarmo.pdf: 2816680 bytes, checksum: 29d44c65450304afd000d3902ab824a0 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-02-26T13:03:31Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 adrianoviniciodasilvadocarmo.pdf: 2816680 bytes, checksum: 29d44c65450304afd000d3902ab824a0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-26T13:03:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 adrianoviniciodasilvadocarmo.pdf: 2816680 bytes, checksum: 29d44c65450304afd000d3902ab824a0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-03-17 / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Esta é uma pesquisa descritiva que investiga a estrutura e o funcionamento do website educacional Portal do Professor, seção Espaço da Aula, tomando como unidades de análise sua ferramenta de criação de planos de aula (Criar Aula) e as páginas resultantes do trabalho de criação de aulas (disponíveis em Sugestões de Aula). Para isso, considera-se que: 1) websites (e suas páginas) podem ser caracterizados pelos meios de representação que utilizam (texto, imagem, animação, som, vídeo etc.) e pelas conexões/interligações que realizam com suas páginas internas ou com outras páginas na Web e 2) websites podem ser entendidos como Nichos Cognitivos, que são constituídos por diversos artefatos, que, além de cognitivos, apresentam propriedades semióticas específicas, concebidas ou oportunisticamente usadas para melhorar, ou simplesmente alterar, certas competências cognitivas. Durante a pesquisa, foi definida uma amostra aleatória de 70 aulas para aplicação de um instrumento quantitativo. Após isso, analisando o mapeamento resultante, foram listadas 7 aulas para a análise qualitativa. A discussão dos resultados levou a algumas afirmações: 1) a criação de uma aula online é um processo educacional, cognitivamente desenvolvido e apoiado por um nicho já construído (o Criar Aula); 2) as aulas já prontas são produtos educacionais que são publicadas no Sugestões de Aula, compondo um repositório que opera como um nicho cognitivo à medida que oferece possibilidades de ação (escolha de aulas diversas) mediante determinadas contingências educacionais; 3) a colaboração docente em um website, como um processo de cognição distribuída, é (ou possui condições de ser) potencializada, visto a facilidade de interconexão entre diversos artefatos e pessoas, formando nichos cognitivos específicos. / This is a descriptive study that investigates the structure and functioning of the educational website Portal do Professor section Espaço da Aula, taking as their units of analysis the tool for creating lesson plans (Criar Aula) and the resulting pages of the work of creating lesson plans (available at Sugestões de Aula). For this, it is considered that: 1) websites (and its pages) can be characterized by means of representation used (text, image, animation, sound, video, etc.) and the connections/interconnections that carry out with your internal pages or with other Web pages and 2) websites can be understood as Cognitive Niche, which consist of various artifacts, which, in addition to cognitive, have specific, designed or used opportunistically semiotic properties to improve, or simply change certain cognitive skills. During the research, was set a random sample of 70 lesson plans to application of a quantitative instrument. After that, analyzing the resulting mapping, 7 lesson plans were listed for qualitative analysis. The discussion led to some statements: 1) the creation of an online lesson plan is an educational process, cognitively developed and supported by a niche already built (the Criar Aula), 2) the ready lesson plans are educational products that are published in Sugestões de Aulas, composing a repository that operates as a cognitive niche as offering possibilities for action (choice of several lesson plans) under certain educational contingencies, 3) teacher collaboration on a website as a process of distributed cognition, is (or is able to be) potentiated, because facilitates the interconnection between various artifacts and people forming specific cognitive niches.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-09-05T20:31:13Z No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-06T14:48:47Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-09-06T14:48:54Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-06T14:48:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 patriciagoncalvesdaconceicaorossini.pdf: 1778528 bytes, checksum: 023dd2c1a7348f3d7c8bf5c04b8de944 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-02-05 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Esta dissertação investiga de que forma as relações sociais mediadas pelo Facebook podem influenciar a decisão eleitoral de seus usuários, a partir do estudo do caso específico das eleições 2012 em Juiz de Fora. Apresentamos uma abordagem das redes sociais sob a ótica das tecnologias cognitivas, que sugere que tais ferramentas podem ser descritas como nichos cognitivos dotados de artefatos cujo acoplamento provê o cidadão de competências sociais inéditas ou ampliadas. Considerando-se que as relações sociais e o acesso à informação são variáveis que influenciam a decisão do voto, o objetivo é compreender de que maneira a exposição à informação e a interação nesses ambientes podem afetar a escolha eleitoral dos cidadãos juizforanos. A pesquisa permite concluir que o uso de redes sociais digitais afeta substancialmente a maneira como os cidadãos acessam e são expostos à informação política por meio de seus laços sociais, motivo pelo qual acreditamos que o acoplamento cotidiano dessas ferramentas cognitivas – seja para fins de busca de informação política ou não - poderá influenciar processos de tomada de decisão eleitoral. / This thesis seeks to understand how relationships mediated by Facebook can influence the electoral decision-making processes of its users, based on a case study of the 2012’ elections in Juiz de Fora. We present an approach of social network sites as cognitive niches, which implies that they are structured spaces filled with artifacts that provide the citizen with amplified social habilities. Given that social networks and information are influential variables for political decision making, our goal is to understand in which ways the exposure to information and interaction in these digital environments can affect the electoral preference formation of the citizens from Juiz de Fora. This research leads to the conclusion that the use of social network sites dramatically affects the way citizens access and are exposed to political information through their social ties. We conclude that the habit of coupling these tools for everyday cognitive processes – related or not to political information gathering - may influence political decision making.

Trauma care is the treatment of patients with injuries caused by external forces, for instance car crashes, assaults or fall accidents. These urgent patients typically arrive at the hospital’s Emergency Department, where they are treated by an interdisciplinary team of physicians and nurses, who collaborate to identify and address life-threatening injuries. In this thesis, the urgent phase of trauma care has been explored through observations of trauma calls and interviews with trauma care professionals, with the purpose of mapping the workflow and providing a basis for a discussion of IT systems within trauma radiology. The professionals, procedures and tools involved are collectively described as the initial trauma care system. There has been a focus on interaction between the units of this system, as well as on how decisions regarding treatment are made, often with the help of medical imaging. The initial trauma care system functions under significant time pressure, striving towards the well-defined objective of saving the life of the patient. To a great extent the system relies on standardized procedures, aiming for screening life-threatening injuries. The trauma team features a clear hierarchy and distinct roles, where the team leader role is considered vital for the team’s performance. Experience is valued and important for everyone, especially since the team often makes decisions, that may affect the future of the patient, based on incomplete information about the situation. Therefore, CT (computed tomography) images offer valuable decision-making support. The respondents are fairly satisfied with the current tools for viewing and manipulating radiological images. Little support for the need of improved or novel IT systems in trauma radiology is found, as is the use for 3D visualization of radiological images in this domain. Informants recognize communication failures and lacking teamwork as the major problems in trauma care. Difficulties like this may be decreased by education and training regarding these issues.

Research on financial decision aids, systems designed to help people make financial decisions, is sparse. Previous research has often focused on the theoretical soundness of the advice that the systems provide.The original contribution of this doctoral thesis is a set of empirical studies of how non-expert people understand the advice provided by financial decision aids. Since every piece of advice must be interpreted by a receiver, the accuracy of the advice can be corrupted along the way if the receiver does not understand complicated terminology, probabilistic reasoning, or abstract concepts.The design concept resulting from the studies visualizes a unique combination of short-term and long-term variables that are usually treated as separate and not interacting with each other; loans and amortizations, insurance, retirement saving, and consumption. The aim is to visualize the consequences of different decisions and possible adverse events in terms of their effect on the user’s future consumption, rather than abstract numbers detached from the user’s lived experience.The design concept was tested and evaluated by personal finance experts and professional financial advisors, as well as students and people without financial education, who represented the target users of the system. Results indicate that the system has a learning curve, but that once users understand how to read the graph, they find it more informative than conventional financial planning tools. / <p>QC 20170809</p>

No description available.

This study explores the concept of feedback from various perspectives in psychology and cognitive science. Specifically, the theories of ecological psychology, situated and Distributed Cognition, Cognitive Systems Engineering and Embodied cognition are investigated and compared. Cognitive Systems Engineering provides a model of feedback and related constructs, to understand human behavior in complex working environments. Earlier theories such as ecological psychology, considered feedback as direct perception. Situated cognition clearly inherits ideas from ecological psychology, whereas distributed cognition provides a deeper understanding of feedback through artifact use. Cognitive Systems Engineering provides a systematic view of feedback and control. This framework is a suitable perspective to understanding feedback in human-machine settings.

The pressure on the healthcare sector is increasing all over the world. The amount of treatable diseases increases and the time spent with each patient decreases. As a reaction towards the way the healthcare works today, patient-centred healthcare has become increasingly popular. Bringing the patient into the centre also needs changes in the staffs’ way of working. One way of making these changes is by implementing Lean healthcare. This thesis uses a systematic review approach to find out what organisational changes have been made at hospitals where they have implemented Lean healthcare and how the implementations were done. The results showed that the most important thing was to engage the staff at an early point. Those hospitals that had representatives from all the different categories of the staff were the ones who managed to make the modifications with less effort and they also had an easier way of maintaining them. The most obvious similarities in the organisational changes the hospitals had made were that they clearly defined who were supposed to do what and that they changed the work into multi-disciplinary teams. By that the hospitals saved a lot of time both for the staff and for the patients. Lean thinking has similarities theories of cognitive science, like distributed cognition and safety barriers and it could get inspiration from these areas to enhance the implementations. There are few articles concerning the organisational changes that have been made at hospitals when implementing Lean healthcare. However the results of this thesis was that the most important thing when implementing Lean healthcare is to involve everyone at an early stage and the only way to get Lean healthcare to really work is by changing the attitude and making people realise that improvement is a never ending process. The changes that were most common among the hospitals were to clearly define and document who was supposed to do what and to change the structure to multi-disciplinary teams working together.

The study was conducted with a qualitative design to explore dog handlers' experiences of the roles assumed by the dog when they work together in actual operations and to determine if there is an interaction that qualifies as socially distributed cognition. In the study, handlers working in the Swedish Police Authority, the Swedish Armed Forces, and the Swedish Customs were interviewed based on three research questions: how they perceive the dogs’ contributions, the dogs’ limitations, and the relationship with the dog. The interviews can be summarized that dog handlers experience a strong bond with the dog. The relationship is characterized by interaction and trust, but with different perceptions of how the dog should be guided. Handlers describe the dog as a tool but at the same time they see the dog capable to act independently. The results are compared against a theoretic framework of socially distributed cognition between humans and service dogs (Amon &amp; Favela, 2019). The results indicate that the handlers' experience of interaction with the dog may qualify as socially distributed cognition. The conclusion of the study is that dogs have diverse roles, shifting between being a tool and an independent actor. The results may challenge the criteria for social distributed cognition, indicating a need for supplementation, particularly concerning the significance of the relationship, communication, and how initiative shifts between the handler and the service dog. Therefore, the study suggests that further research is required to better comprehend the diversity of the dog's roles and the importance of the relationship. / Studien genomfördes med kvalitativ design för att förstå hundförares upplevelser av hundens roller när de arbetar tillsammans i en skarp insats och om det finns ett samspel som kan kvalificera för socialt distribuerad kognition. Datainsamling gjordes genom intervjuer med hundförare som arbetar i Polismyndigheten, Försvarsmakten och Tullverket utifrån tre frågeställningar: hur de upplever att hunden bidrar och begränsar dem i arbetet, och hur de upplever relationen med hunden. Intervjuerna kan sammanfattas med att hundförare upplever en stark relation med hunden. Relationen präglas av samspel och tillit, även om det fanns olika uppfattningar om hur hunden ska styras. Hundförarna beskrev hunden som ett verktyg, samtidigt som de upplever att den kan agera självständigt i arbetet. Hundförarnas upplevelser prövades mot ett analytiskt ramverk med en teori om socialt distribuerad kognition mellan människa och tjänstehund (Amon &amp; Favela, 2019). Resultatet visade att hundförarnas upplevelse av samspelet med hunden kan kvalificera för socialt distribuerad kognition. Studiens slutsats var att hundarna har varierande roller och växlar mellan att vara ett verktyg och en självständig aktör. Resultatet kan utmana kriterierna för socialt distribuerad kognition, och visa på behov av komplettering av, särskilt vad gäller relationens betydelse, kommunikation och hur initiativet växlar mellan hundförare och tjänstehund. Därför föreslår uppsatsen att mer forskning krävs för att bättre förstå mångfalden av hundens roller och relationens betydelse.

No description available.