Interval Temporal Logic in General-Purpose Situational Simulations

The need for contextually rich educational environments in construction engineering and management calls for the development of situational simulations. Situational simulations emulate real processes and provide temporally dynamic clinical exercises that expose participants to rapidly unfolding events and the pressures of decision making. A survey of simulations of construction management processes and construction operations shows that commonly used discrete event simulation paradigms are unsuitable for representing actions and events in interactive general purpose situational simulations for the construction domain. Instead, this paper argues that a definition of the situational environment using the semantics of constraint satisfaction and an interval representation of time is more appropriate for representing activities, events, actions, and situations relevant to the construction domain. This paper also illustrates how this new paradigm facilitates the implementation of a reasoning mechanism that can be used by a software agent to perceive present actions and predict the future evolution of a simulated environment.     

Multi-Agent Framework for General-Purpose Situational Simulations in the Construction Management Domain

The need for contextually rich education environments in construction management suggests the development of a general-purpose situational simulation framework that can be used by independent developers to build effective training environments. Design and implementation of such a framework involves an understanding of the reasoning processes underlying the construction management domain. These reasoning processes can be isolated using a conceptual classification of problems in the construction management domain into constraint satisfaction and planning. Such a classification allows us to distribute the different reasoning processes to autonomous agents that comprise the foundations of a multi-agent framework for building general-purpose situational simulations. The Virtual Coach is an implementation of the proposed framework. Experimental results from preliminary studies have shown the efficacy of the Virtual Coach as an educational tool.     

Frameworks for Interaction Support in Distributed Learning Environments

A framework for the development of distributed learning environments is presented. The necessary technological infrastructure and the appropriate methodology for interactive learning in a distributed environment are explored. The framework is a result of the research group's experience with a distributed engineering laboratory that was conducted jointly by MIT and by CICESE in Mexico. This is an initial experiment in distributed collaborative learning that will be extended to a larger-scale effort involving multiple universities and corporate centers around the world. Studies of student interaction within this distributed classroom, and personal interviews, have provided us with significant insight into the necessary structure and technological support for distributed learning. This insight is used to generate a set of guidelines for the development of distributed collaborative learning courses.     

Modeling the Construction Management Process to Support Situational Simulations

Construction managers are decision makers who administer nontrivial processes. The replacement of highly experienced construction managers and other construction professionals is a laborious process for the industry. This paper introduces a conceptual framework for the construction management practice that serves as the foundation for the development of situational simulations. Situational simulations are temporally dynamic clinical exercises with the objective of exposing participants to rapidly unfolding events and the pressure of decision making. The application of situational simulations provides construction managers and other decision makers the opportunity of experiencing and responding to risky events without endangering the success of real projects, further enhancing their decision-making skills. The construction management conceptual framework includes a process, a product, and an information model. The analysis of a basic mathematical representation of the process model is the focus of this paper.     

The silence of the library: Environment, situational norm, and social behavior.

On the basis of the idea that situational norms are mentally represented as associations between environments and normative behavior, it was proposed that an environment can automatically direct normative behavior. More specifically, when situational norms are well-established (e.g., when entering the library, one should be silent), an environment is capable of automatically activating mental representations of normative behavior and the behavior itself. In these experiments, participants were exposed to pictures of environments, and effects on accessibility of representations of normative behavior and on actual behavior were assessed. Results indicated that representations of behavior and actual behavior itself are activated automatically when (a) goals to visit the environment are active and (b) strong associations between environment and normative behavior are established. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Core self-evaluations and job performance: The role of the perceived work environment.

Using trait activation theory as a framework, the authors examined the moderating role of two situational variables—perceptions of organizational politics and perceptions of leader effectiveness—on the relationship between core self-evaluations and job performance. Results from two samples (N = 137 and N = 226) indicate that employee perceptions of their work environment moderated the relationship between their core self-evaluations and supervisor ratings of their performance. In particular, those with higher core self-evaluations received higher performance ratings in environments perceived as favorable than in environments perceived as unfavorable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gas-Phase Mass Transfer Processes in Landfill Microbiology

This report assesses gas-phase mass transfer processes in landfills with respect to their influence on waste biodegradation. Gas-phase transport must dominate in many regions of the waste because aqueous-phase transport is restricted, the environment is largely unsaturated, and substantial quantities of gas are produced. Analysis of landfill gas and landfill gas condensate at four municipal solid waste landfills in the eastern United States demonstrated that both volatile fatty acids and microorganisms are transported in the gas phase. The heterogeneity, mass transfer limitations, and significant thermal gradients in waste environments imply that gas-phase processes can play crucial roles in waste decomposition, for example by regulating local pH and distributing trace nutrients. A conceptual framework describing these processes is presented. Implications for waste management, landfill design, energy production, air emissions, and anaerobic microbiology are discussed.     

Team learning: Collectively connecting the dots.

This article tests the degree to which personal and situational variables impact the acquisition of knowledge and skill within interactive project teams. On the basis of the literature regarding attentional capacity, constructive controversy, and truth-supported wins, the authors examined the effects of cognitive ability, workload distribution, Agreeableness, Openness to Experience, and structure on team learning. Results from 109 four-person project teams working on an interdependent command and control simulator indicated that teams learned more when composed of individuals who were high in cognitive ability and when the workload was distributed evenly. Conversely, team learning was negatively affected when teams were composed of individuals who were high in Agreeableness. Finally, teams using a paired structure learned more than teams structured either functionally or divisionally. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed, as well as possible limitations and directions for future research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Testing a social-cognitive model of moral behavior: The interactive influence of situations and moral identity centrality.

This article proposes and tests a social-cognitive framework for examining the joint influence of situational factors and the centrality of moral identity on moral intentions and behaviors. The authors hypothesized that if a situational factor increases the current accessibility of moral identity within the working self-concept, then it strengthens the motivation to act morally. In contrast, if a situational factor decreases the current accessibility of moral identity, then it weakens the motivation to act morally. The authors also expected the influence of situational factors to vary depending on the extent to which moral identity was central to a person’s overall self-conception. Hypotheses derived from the framework were tested in 4 studies. The studies used recalling and reading a list of the Ten Commandments (Study 1), writing a story using morally laden terms (Study 4), and the presence of performance-based financial incentives (Studies 2 and 3) as situational factors. Participants’ willingness to initiate a cause-related marketing program (Study 1), lie to a job candidate during a salary negotiation (Studies 2 and 3), and contribute to a public good (Study 4) were examined. Results provide strong support for the proposed framework. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The adaptive advantage of phenotypic memory in changing environments

The adaptive value of carry-over effects, the persistence of induced phenotypes for several generations despite the change in the conditions that first induced these phenotypes, is studied in the framework of a simple model. Three different organismal strategies-non-inducible (genetic), completely inducible (plastic), and intermediate (carry-over)-are compared in fitness terms within three different environments. Analytical results and numerical simulations show that carry-over effects can have an advantage in stochastic environments even over organisms with high adaptive plasticity. We argue that carry-over effects represent an adaptive mechanism on the ecological timescale that fills the gap between short-term individual adaptations and long-term evolutionary adaptations. An extension of the concept of plasticity to incorporate the time dimension and include the stability of induced phenotypes through both clonal and sexual generations, is suggested.     

Self-esteem, academic self-concept, and achievement: How the learning environment moderates the dynamics of self-concept.

The authors examine the directionality of effects between global self-esteem, domain-specific academic self-concepts, and academic achievement. Special emphasis is placed on learning environments as potential moderators of the direction of these effects. According to the meritocracy principle presented here, so-called bottom-up effects (i.e., self-esteem is influenced by academic self-concept) are more pronounced in meritocratic learning environments than in ego-protective learning environments. This hypothesis was examined using a three-wave cross-lagged panel design with a large sample of 7th graders from East and West Germany, a total of 5,648 students who were tested shortly after German reunification. Reciprocal effects were found between self-esteem, academic self-concept, and academic achievement. In conformance with the meritocracy principle, support for bottom-up effects was stronger in the meritocratic learning environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality in the life course.

Using elements borrowed from psychology, sociology, and history, this article outlines a conceptual framework for the analysis of personality in the life course. It is proposed that the interactional framework toward which personality psychology aspires may be conceived of as a sequence of interactions of personality with age-graded roles and social transitions in historically changing environments. To the extent that one can (a) identify the age-graded role paths in the social structure, (b) select the age-relevant situations in which these roles are enacted, and (c) identify measures relevant to the culture pattern across these age-relevant situations, it should be possible to uncover the coherence of personality—ways of approaching and responding to the world—across time and in diverse situations. Each of these steps is delineated and then illustrated with a longitudinal study of explosive, undercontrolled children. This is not an effort to articulate a theory of personality development but to outline the parameters of social life—temporal and situational—to which personality research should attend. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development and testing of the Clinical Post-Conference Learning Environment Survey

Clinical postconference is an integral component of the required laboratory hours in undergraduate baccalaureate nursing education. Empirical evidence supporting the educational benefits of this activity are nearly nonexistent. This article describes the development and psychometric testing of a self-report instrument designed to measure clinical postconference learning environments as perceived by undergraduate nursing students and faculty. The Clinical Post-Conference Learning Environment Survey (CPCLES) consists of 54 items and has been tested with more than 500 participants in three schools of nursing in the Midwest. Based on theoretical support and comprehensive review of the literature, six components of the learning environment are measured in two forms of the instrument; an actual scale and an importance scale. Content validity, internal consistency, and test-retest reliability are discussed. Using the CPCLES, perceptions of undergraduate nursing students and faculty were measured. Significant differences between the actual components of the learning environment and the correlated ratings of the importance of these components were found. Faculty perceived a significantly greater amount of teacher support, task orientation, and innovation in the postconference learning environment than did undergraduate students. No differences were noted between faculty and students regarding the importance of the learning environment components. This study presents findings with the use of the first instrument developed to measure clinical postconference learning environments. The congruence and discrepancy among and between learning groups' perceptions carry implications for educational practices in this setting. Subseqent investigations using this tool may be able to link the perceived learning environment to valued cognitive, affective, and behavioral learning outcomes.     

The future of schooling.

Distinction is drawn between research on learning processes among children in schools and the impact of schooling on students' academic and socioemotional development. Schooling and the learning environment are considered within an ecological/transactional framework. The research on school effectiveness and teacher effects is summarized. Interventions directed at the social regularities of the schooling environment are proposed as strategies to improve the learning environment of the school and optimize student outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Linguistic environment of 1- to 2-year-old twins.

Investigated differences in the language learning environments of singletons and twins, with special reference to pragmatic factors that might be expected to differ in dyadic and triadic interactive situations. Six twin pairs and 12 singleton children (all firstborn) were observed in natural interactions with their mothers, once at 15 mo of age and again at 21 mo of age. Findings reveal that twins were lower than singletons on all measures of language development and that their language learning environments were significantly different. Although twin mothers spoke and interacted with their children as much as singleton mothers when twins were analyzed together, when analyzed as individuals, twin children received less speech directed specifically to them, participated in fewer and shorter episodes of joint attentional focus, and had fewer and shorter conversations with their mothers. Twin mothers were also more directive in their interactional styles. Correlational analyses indicated that variation of these language learning environment factors for the sample as a whole, and variation for some of these factors within the twin group itself, were related to early language growth. It is proposed that both the quantitative and qualitative differences observed in the language learning environments of singletons and twins derive from the nature of the triadic situation and that these differences have important effects on the child's early language development. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evolutionary psychology: Controversies, questions, prospects, and limitations.

Evolutionary psychology has emerged over the past 15 years as a major theoretical perspective, generating an increasing volume of empirical studies and assuming a larger presence within psychological science. At the same time, it has generated critiques and remains controversial among some psychologists. Some of the controversy stems from hypotheses that go against traditional psychological theories; some from empirical findings that may have disturbing implications; some from misunderstandings about the logic of evolutionary psychology; and some from reasonable scientific concerns about its underlying framework. This article identifies some of the most common concerns and attempts to elucidate evolutionary psychology’s stance pertaining to them. These include issues of testability and falsifiability; the domain specificity versus domain generality of psychological mechanisms; the role of novel environments as they interact with evolved psychological circuits; the role of genes in the conceptual structure of evolutionary psychology; the roles of learning, socialization, and culture in evolutionary psychology; and the practical value of applied evolutionary psychology. The article concludes with a discussion of the limitations of current evolutionary psychology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Clinical supervision: Dialogues on diversity.

Integration of diversity issues into supervision training and research has been sorely neglected, in spite of the recognition that diversity is a core component of psychological training. Several barriers to this integration are described. The author suggests that these barriers can be surmounted by implementing pedagogy developed for diverse and underserved populations. The author suggests that the supervisor works within the supervisees’ zone of proximal development (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986), use mediated learning experiences that intentionally create collaborative learning environments (Feuerstein, 1979; Feuerstein, Rand, Hoffman, & Miller, 1980), and mentoring relationships (Huang & Lynch, 1995). Disguised case vignettes are presented to illustrate how diversity issues emerge and are discussed within the learning environment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Some effects of situational threat on group behavior.

It was found that situational threat affected behavior in three main areas of functioning: interpersonal relations, utilization of actors' and other group members' resources, and effectiveness of the group. An attempt was made to analyze and interpret these results within the framework of a competing response theory of anxiety. 20 references. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Allez jouer dehors! Contributions de l'environnement urbain au développement et au bien-être des enfants.

This article brings together knowledge from environmental, community, developmental and health psychology for two purposes: The first is to examine the influence of the urban environment on children's wellness and on how children benefit from their environment to play and develop. The second objective presents recommendations regarding intervention, research and social policy for psychologists to follow favouring children's development within the urban environment. We focus on two urban environments: Spaces adjoining their residence provide children with stimulation, opportunities to run around, play and explore the physical and social world, develop personal identity, self-esteem and enhance their ability to deal with stress. The second urban environment we focus on are playgrounds, which can also serve children's physical, cognitive and social developmental needs. Physical, cognitive and psychological limitations make children vulnerable to traffic accidents. The article continues with the presentation of an action plan. There are a number of ways to increase place attachment and sense of belonging within the neighborhood so that children can play safely. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)