The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of autobiographical memories to support the improvement of episodic memory (i.e., word recall) in patients with mild- stage Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) and healthy older adults. Participants included 20 healthy young-old adults (M Age = 70.90; M MMSE = 28.70), 20 healthy old-old adults (M Age = 79.75; M MMSE = 28.05), and 15 patients with mild-stage AD or mixed dementia (M Age = 74.73; M MMSE = 22.47). Participants were presented with three lists of 30 words, each administered under a different support condition: (1) no cognitive support,(2) autobiographical memory support, and (3) semantic support. In the autobiographical memory support condition, participants associated each to-be- remembered word with a personal memory that was then shortened to a word cue for use in subsequent memory testing. In the semantic support condition, participants associated each to-be-remembered word with a one-word descriptor. Memory was assessed with three recall conditions: immediate free recall, cued recall, and recognition. It was expected that autobiographical memory cues would be more effective than general semantic cues in improving number of words recalled in patients with mild-stage AD and healthy older adults. The results indicated that healthy older adults and patients with mild- stage AD benefited from both forms of cognitive support. Although the young-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition across the three recall conditions, the differences were not significant. The old-old group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of immediate free recall. In contrast, the mild AD group recalled more words in the autobiographical than in the semantic support condition on tests of cued recall and recognition. A limitation was the ceiling effect for recognition performance in the young- old and old-old group. Consistent with previous studies, the results indicate that patients with mild-stage AD can benefit from cognitive support to improve episodic memory if support is provided at encoding and retrieval. The results suggest that autobiographical memory cues may be effective for improving everyday memory performance in healthy older adults and patients with mild-stage AD. / Counselling Psychology

No description available.

Software reconnaissance is a very useful technique for locating features in software systems that are unfamiliar to a developer. The technique was, however, limited by the need to execute multiple test cases and record the components used in each one. Tools that recorded the execution traces of a program made it more practical to use the software reconnaissance technique. Diver was developed as an execution trace visualization tool using sequence diagrams to display the dynamic behaviour of a program. The addition of software reconnaissance to Diver and its trace-focused user interface feature improved the filtering of the Eclipse environment based on the contents of execution traces and led to a very powerful program comprehension tool. Myers' work on Diver was grounded in cognitive support theory research into how to build tools. He conducted a user study to validate the work done on Diver, but the study's findings were limited due to a number of issues. In this thesis, we expand on the study run by Myers, improve on its design, and investigate if software reconnaissance improves Diver's effectiveness and efficiency for program comprehension tasks. We also analyze the influence of software reconnaissance on the interactions of Diver's users, which allows us to identify successful usage patterns for completing program comprehension and feature location tasks. We research the connection between cognitive support theory and the design of Diver and use the study to attempt to validate the cognitive support offered by Diver. Finally, we present the results of a survey of the study participants to determine the usefulness, ease of use, and ease of learning of the tool. / Graduate / 0984

The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to the knowledge on how formal education gives cognitive support to informal learning at work. The ambition is to combine different theoretical perspectives on learning. Formal learning, mostly within institutions for education, is usually seen from a cognitive or constructivist perspective, and informal learning from situational or socio-cultural perspectives. Combining these perspectives, this thesis is based on a case study of how a formal training program for Swedish military personnel, going on a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo, gives cognitive support to their informal, experiential learning during the mission. The case study has an ethnographic research design where 17 military leaders at different levels are interviewed, observed and “shadowed” during three field periods during training in Sweden and during work in Kosovo. The empirical material and the different theoretical perspectives on learning are used to construct a perspective-integrating conceptual model of how the formal training, through different learning resources, helps the leaders to develop a subjective understanding of their coming work. This understanding is then used by the leaders to mentally frame the specific experiences and actions they encounter at work. This mental framing is also prevalent in their reflections in and on their work, and their informal learning at work can be shown to be heavily influenced by the understanding the leaders developed during formal training. However, most of this understanding cannot be related to formal learning resources, but to learning resources the military leaders themselves bring to the training in the way of their earlier experiences, their military professional orientation, and their internal discussions in free time. The main conclusions are that 1) contrary to prevailing dogma, different perspectives on learning can be brought together, and 2) if formal education is going to give cognitive support to learning at work, it needs to address the question of how the conceptual structure of the training content can be integrated with the often private concepts the workers themselves have of their work.

Yes / The purpose of this article is To foster entrepreneurship among students and incubate more start-ups for economic prosperity, universities around the globe are required to play a key role in terms of developing an overall conducive eco-system for student fraternity. Some previous studies have analyzed student entrepreneurship and the effect of entrepreneurship courses. However, the role of university as provider and enabler of entrepreneurial environment and its impact on entrepreneurial intent among student has not studied in a cross-cultural context. Considering this, the present study seeks to examine the critical role played by university in fostering entrepreneurial intention among post-graduate students. For the said purpose, researcher has taken the broader framework suggested by Kraaijenbrink et al. (2010) to understand university environment and Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1975) to measure entrepreneurial intention and it’s antecedents among the sample of final year post-graduate management students of India, Malaysia and Singapore. The total sample size is 1097. The data has been analysed with the help of Exploratory Factor analysis, MANOVA and Structural Equation Modeling. Two factors that emerged out of analysis in relation to university environment and support were: a) Targeted cognitive and non-cognitive support and b) General educational support. With the help of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), an attempt was made to find the relationship between these two factors and entrepreneurial intention. It was found that university environment and support has significantly positive relationship with perceived behavioural control. With the help of MANOVA, it was found that there is statistically significant difference between perceived university environment and support factors among the students of India, Singapore and Malaysia. With this, it was also found that for both the factors, the highest mean score was found among the students of Malaysia, followed by the students of Singapore and India. The study has closely examined role played by University environment and support to foster entrepreneurship among young students. The findings of the study can be used by post-graduate educational institute to design pedagogy, create enabling entrepreneurship support system and work towards becoming an entrepreneurial university.

Originally devised as a notation to capture scenarios during analysis and design, sequence diagrams can also aid understanding of existing software through visualization of execution call traces. Reverse engineered sequence diagrams are typically huge and designing tools to help users cope with the size and complexity of such traces is a major problem. While preprocessing may be necessary to reduce the complexity of a sequence diagram, interactive tool support is critical to help the user explore and understand the resulting diagram. This thesis examines tool features necessary to effectively support sequence diagram exploration by reverse engineers. Features were derived from a literature survey and empirically evaluated using an exploratory user study. The tool features were further evaluated by situating them within theories of cognitive support.

Abstract The development of embedded systems is becoming increasingly challenging; it is intellectually demanding knowledge work that requires collaboration among a wide range of skills. Software development is a largely cognitive activity, based on the worker’s internal mental processes rather than on physical labour. Developers face several individual and team cognition-related challenges in their work, including complex decision-making and problem-solving processes. Therefore, it is suggested that the software development process should be modelled as a set of problem-solving activities. This thesis proposes that supporting the cognitive work of collaborative development requires addressing the entire system’s life cycle with practical solutions. In this work, the above-mentioned challenges are addressed in terms of communication and collaboration practices, knowledge management and coordination, and transparent tools and processes. Moreover, these solutions are integrated into a workflow that structures and supports the development process. Finally, a development process is outlined that addresses the decision-oriented nature of software development in such a manner that the necessary data is provided for decision points that guide and coordinate the development efforts. A qualitative research approach has been chosen, and the work is based on interviewing industrial experts. Several cases were set up to define the state of the practice in industrial organisations developing embedded systems for different domains. Current challenges were identified and solutions were developed and validated in case companies. The main result of the dissertation is a set of solutions integrated into the organisational workflow to support collaborative development. The main principles are that the necessary information must be provided and work and its objectives must be justified and put into the correct context. The industrial cases indicate that utilising the suggested solutions can improve collaboration among organisations and teams by helping disseminate and use the required information. Mitigating the cognitive burden speeds up the development work and reduces the effort required from developers and decision makers. In this manner, organisations may achieve better results, primarily because the produced data and results will fulfil their purposes better and provide less waste. / Tiivistelmä Ohjelmistotuotanto nykymaailmassa muuttuu koko ajan haastavammaksi, kehitysprojektit ovat monimutkaisia ja hajautettuja sekä vaativat monialaista osaamista. Tiukat aikataulupaineet puolestaan tuovat mukaan oman problematiikkansa. Ohjelmistokehitys on suurelta osin kognitiivista työtä, jossa tarvitaan erilaisia taitoja ja eri alojen asiantuntijoita. Kognitiivinen työ tarkoittaa abstraktin tiedon käsittelyä ennemmin kuin fyysistä työtä. Ohjelmistojen kehittäjät törmäävät useisiin henkilökohtaiseen sekä ryhmätyöhön liittyviin haasteisiin, näistä esimerkkeinä monitahoinen tiedon käsittely, päätöksenteko ja ongelmanratkaisu. Onkin ehdotettu, että ohjelmistonkehitysprosessit ymmärrettäisiin ongelmanratkaisu- ja päätöspainotteisina prosesseina. Tässä työssä ehdotetaan, että tukeakseen ohjelmistonkehitysprosessia koko tuotteen tekemisen elinkaari on otettava huomioon ja työntekijöiden roolit ja vastuut on linkitettävä kehitysprosesseihin sekä kehitysprosessin eri vaiheisiin. Havaittuihin kognitiivisiin ongelmiin ja tarpeisiin vastataan yhteistyö- ja kommunikaatiokäytännöin, tiedonhallinnan, läpinäkyvyyden, työnkulun, ja päätöspainotteisten prosessien kautta. Tulokset kerättiin käyttäen menetelmänä laadullista tapaustutkimusta, ja työ perustuu useiden teollisten asiantuntijoiden haastatteluihin. Tutkimus toteutettiin useassa eri teollisuuden organisaatiossa. Aluksi määritettiin lähtötilanne organisaatioissa sekä kirjallisuuden perusteella, kartoitettiin ongelmat, jonka jälkeen kehitettiin tärkeimmiksi havaittuihin ongelmiin ratkaisuja. Työn tuloksena esitetään joukko ratkaisuja, jotka yhdistetään organisaation työnkulkuun. Lisäksi esitellään päätöksentekoon painottuva kehitysprosessi, jonka lähtökohtana on havainto, että vaadittavien tehtävien sekä työn tulosten on vastattava oikeaan tarpeeseen – työlle ja halutuille työn tuloksille on annettava riittävät tiedot, perustelut, päämäärä sekä oikea konteksti. Tapaustutkimukset osoittavat, että työn tulokset parantavat organisaatioiden välistä yhteistyötä helpottamalla oikean tiedon keräämistä, saamista ja käyttöä. Lisäksi ylimääräisen kognitiivisen taakan vähentäminen nopeuttaa kehitystyötä ja keventää kehittäjien ja päätöksentekijöiden työkuormaa. Täten organisaatiot voivat saavuttaa parempia työn tuloksia lähinnä siksi, että tuotettu tieto ja tulokset vastaavat paremmin tarpeisiin.

Submitted by Liliane Ferreira (ljuvencia30@gmail.com) on 2018-04-12T14:43:28Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Marllos Paiva Prado - 2018.pdf: 5172064 bytes, checksum: f0f497f5cd15e3d7e789fb5792aa6254 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-04-13T11:12:00Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Marllos Paiva Prado - 2018.pdf: 5172064 bytes, checksum: f0f497f5cd15e3d7e789fb5792aa6254 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-04-13T11:12:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Marllos Paiva Prado - 2018.pdf: 5172064 bytes, checksum: f0f497f5cd15e3d7e789fb5792aa6254 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-16 / Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Goiás - FAPEG / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Unit testing is an important activity for improving software quality. Over the years, numerous automated tools have been proposed by the testing research community to enhance this activity. However, this thesis' literature review revealed that several research efforts have not considered the human aspects in the proposal of such tools. Also, unit test practitioners are not having the support of the existing tools to solve some mental tasks associated with the activity. Motivated by this gap, this thesis describes a sequence of studies carried out with the purpose of understanding, characterizing and proposing improvements in the cognitive support provided by the test tools, considering a qualitative approach centered on the perspective of test professionals that work at the unit level. The results revealed some primary tasks that require cognitive support of the tools in unit test review practice, including monitoring of pending and executed unit test tasks and navigation between unit testing artifacts. A framework summarizes the results of this study. A research agenda is developed based on the framework and serves as an actionable instrument for the testing community. The contributions of this study include suggestions for practical improvements to current tools and describe new research opportunities in the topic. Also, the methods used in the research are explained in details. / O teste unitário é uma importante atividade para a melhoria da qualidade do software. Ao longo dos anos, inúmeras ferramentas automatizadas foram propostas pela comunidade de pesquisa de teste para melhorar esta atividade. Contudo, a revisão da literatura de testes atual permite observar que esses esforços de pesquisa não têm considerado os aspectos humanos na proposição dessas ferramentas. Observa-se ainda que os praticantes de teste unitário não têm suporte do ferramental existente para resolução de algumas tarefas mentais associadas à atividade. Considerando-se esta lacuna, esta tese descreve uma sequência de estudos realizados com o intuito de entender, caracterizar e propor melhorias no suporte cognitivo provido pelas ferramentas de teste unitário. Tendo em vista a falta de estudos sobre suporte cognitivo para teste de software, empregou-se uma abordagem qualitativa e centrada na perspectiva dos profissionais de teste que atuam no nível unitário. Os resultados revelaram algumas tarefas primárias que requerem suporte cognitivo das ferramentas na prática de revisão de testes unitário, incluindo o monitoramento de tarefas de teste unitário pendentes e executadas e a navegação entre os artefatos relacionados às unidades testadas. Os resultados são resumidos em um framework e, com base nisso, é desenvolvida uma agenda de pesquisa como instrumento acionável para a comunidade de teste. As contribuições desta tese incluem sugestões de melhorias práticas para as ferramentas atuais e descrevem novas oportunidades de pesquisa no tema. Além disso, são explicados em detalhes os métodos utilizados nesta pesquisa.

Structured vocabularies are often used to annotate and classify data. These vocabularies represent a shared understanding about the terms used within a specific domain. People often rely on overlapping, but independently developed terminologies. This representational divergence becomes problematic when researchers wish to share, find, and compare their data with others. One approach to resolving this is to create a mapping across the vocabularies. Generating these mappings is a difficult, semi-automatic process, requiring human intervention. There has been little research investigating how to aid users with performing this task, despite the important role the user typically plays. Much of the research focus has been to explore techniques to automatically determine correspondences between terms. In this thesis, we explore the user-side of mapping, specifically investigating how to support the user's decision making process and exploration of mappings. We combine data gathered from theories of human inference and decision making, an observational case study, online survey, and interview study to propose a cognitive support framework for ontology mapping. The framework describes the user information needs and the process users follow during mapping. We also propose a number of design principles, which help guide the development of an ontology mapping tool called CogZ. We evaluate the tool and thus implicitly the framework through a case study and controlled user study. The work presented in this thesis also helps to draw attention to the importance of the user role during the mapping process. We must incorporate a "human in the loop", where the human is essential to the process of developing a mapping. Helping to establish and harness this symbiotic relationship between human processes and the tool's automated process will allow people to work more efficiently and effectively, and afford them the time to concentrate on difficult tasks that are not easily automated.

Abstract Context: Advancement in mobile technology is truth of this Century. Mobile phone is used mainly for calling and Short Message Service, but Smartphone are advanced form of mobile phone which have multiple features. Smartphone can have Global Positioning System, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and Near Field Communication like features. These Smartphone devices are designed considering general public and can be difficult to use by people with limited cognition. But proper use of Smartphone features while developing applications to support people with cognitive disabilities is vital. The interfaces and structure of information can have impact on the success of application. Although, some special systems exist to support these people but they create a distinction among functional and non-functional population. Smartphone with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology feature was considered in this research work as a cognitive support for independence in their daily life activities. Objectives: The objectives were the Identification of issues to be considered while providing cognitive support through technology for cognitive disabled persons. And if technology used to support them is Smartphone then to investigate the appropriate structure of information to be displayed on screen to make them able to perform their activities by following instruction provided by application. To know how NFC Smartphone feature can be helpful to start an application designed to provide cognitive support i.e. providing them information of weather and suggesting appropriate clothes to wear. Methods: The systematic literature review was conducted to find the issues which should be considered while supporting cognitive disabled. The survey was used to identify the needs, abilities and disabilities of cognitive disabled persons. Interviews with higher administration involved in support facilities to the cognitive disabled were conducted to get in-depth knowledge from their experience which can be helpful for developing the application. The Participatory design workshop was conducted by involving stakeholders. Appropriate structure of information for weather and clothes scenario was decided. The NFC enabled Smartphone application was implemented and tested in real environment. For validation focus group interviews were conducted. Conclusions: The NFC enabled Smartphone application to assist in deciding clothes to be worn according to outside weather condition was evaluated in real environment. The results of user testing and focus group interviews indicate that Smartphone application through NFC feature can support people with cognitive disabilities. Furthermore, for validation purpose ethnographic methods can be used for validation of proposed NFC enabled Smartphone application.