Metacognitive experience on Raven’s matrices versus insight problems

Metacognition and Learning - Participants rated Intuition, Suddenness, Pleasure, and Certainty accompanying their solutions to items of a popular fluid intelligence test – Raven’s...     

Network embeddedness and the exploration of novel technologies: Technological distance, betweenness centrality and density

This paper aims to understand better the innovation potential of a firm’s alliance network. Here we analyze the role of an alliance network in terms of the technological distance between partners, a firm’s network position (centrality) and total network density. We study how these three elements of an alliance network, separately and in combination, affect the ‘twin tasks’ in exploration, namely novelty creation on the one hand and its efficient absorption on the other hand. For an empirical test, we study technology-based alliance networks in the pharmaceutical, chemical and automotive industries. Our findings indicate that successful exploration indeed seems to require a delicate balance between these two exploration tasks. A second conclusion is that different network positions yield different pay-offs in terms of the number of explorative patents. In other words, success rates for exploration are not spread equally across firms. However, position alone does not tell the full story. Our empirical findings clearly indicate that exploration success also depends on the other two dimensions of embeddedness, namely technological distance and network density. The three elements of network embeddedness need to be considered jointly in order to understand their complementary effects on both novelty creation and absorptive capacity.     

Low-dose exercise training does not influence cardiac autonomic control in healthy sedentary men aged 55-75 years

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a realistic, feasible, and commonly used fitness training programme on cardiac autonomic control in 14 sedentary men aged 62.0 +/- 6.1 years (mean +/- s). All participants performed a one-year fitness training programme in which training intensity and frequency were specifically chosen to be compliant for the majority of the participants (2-3 sessions per week at moderate intensity). At the same time, a reference group consisting of 15 sedentary age-matched men (age 64.2 +/- 6.5 years) did not change their habitual physical activity. Measurements were performed before and after the training intervention. Cardiac autonomic control was inferred from resting values (supine and standing) of heart rate variability (HRV) computed in the frequency domain over 10-min intervals. Endurance capacity was evaluated during a maximal incremental bicycle ergometer test. In spite of an increase in peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) by 6.4% after training, heart rate in the training group remained unchanged at rest and at the same metabolic demand. No changes in resting parameters of HRV were shown for either groups or positions. Results from this study provide no evidence of a clinically meaningful increase in the vagal modulation to the sinus node at rest after one year of low-volume and moderate-intensity fitness training in men aged 55-75 years.     

Learning relations of knowledge transfer (KT) and knowledge integration (KI) of doctoral students during online interdisciplinary training: an exploratory study

ABSTRACT

Interdisciplinary training for doctoral students is an emerging scenario in higher education. The learning relations of knowledge transfer (KT: transferring knowledge from one person to another) and knowledge integration (KI: integrating or synthesizing perspectives from different disciplines) built by doctoral students play an important role in the process of interdisciplinary training. This study explores how doctoral students from a wide range of disciplines build learning relations of KT and KI during online interdisciplinary training. A mixed-methods approach was applied. First, longitudinal social network analysis (SNA) was employed to investigate the patterns of KT and KI relations over a seven-month training period. Subsequently, interviews were conducted to triangulate the SNA findings. SNA results show that the establishment of KI relations is significantly less than that of KT. Qualitative results show three themes explaining the challenges of KI relations, including challenges of online settings, the design of the training modules, and student involvement. Practical implications are drawn for the improvement of online interdisciplinary training, such as suggestions to promote KI and strategies for group learning.     

The effects of imagery training on fast isometric knee extensor torque development

We hypothesized that imagery training would improve the fast onset of neuromuscular activation and thereby fast knee extensor isometric torque development. Forty young healthy participants, not involved in strength training, were assigned to one of four groups: physical training, imagery training, placebo training or control. The three training groups had three 15 min sessions per week for 4 weeks, with a 90 ° knee angle but were tested also at 120 °. At 90 ° knee angle, maximal torque increased (-8%) similarly in all three training groups. The torque-time integral (contractile impulse) over the first 40 ms after torque onset (TTI40) increased (P < 0.05) after physical training (by -100%), but only at 90 °. This increase was significantly different from the delta values (change pre to post) in the control and placebo groups, whereas delta values in the imagery group were similar to those in the placebo group. The increases in TTI40 following physical training were related (r (2) = 0.81, P < 0.05) to significant increases of knee extensor rectified surface EMG at torque onset (EMG40). In conclusion, only physical training led to a knee angle specific increase of contractile impulse that was significantly different from placebo and controls and that was related to improved onset of neuromuscular activation.     

Analysing the possible impact of landslides and avalanches on cultural heritage in Upper Svaneti,Georgia

In this paper, the threat posed to cultural heritage by landslides and avalanches is analysed for two communities (Ushguli and Mulakhi) in the Upper Svaneti region in Georgia. The vulnerability of 60 cultural heritage objects has been evaluated through a conservation calculation based on an existing methodology using a State of Conservation Index (SCIx), which served as an input in a Spatial Multicriteria Evaluation (SMCE). Factors that are considered important for the occurrence of landslides (slope, landcover, lithology and drainage density) and snow avalanches (slope, insolation, slope curvature and landcover) have been used to generate a susceptibility map. A qualitative risk assessment was carried out by combining susceptible areas and cultural heritage objects. As there were very limited historical data available on the occurrence of landslides and snow avalanches, a combination of local and expert knowledge has been used to extract information on both cultural heritage and natural hazards. Existing management plans were also analysed to evaluate how natural hazards could be incorporated. Finally, some recommendations are given related to the analysis of the impact of natural hazards on cultural heritage in Georgia.     

The effects of gender on the transition of transfer students into a new school

The present study describes a peer-tutoring program designed to utilize computerassisted instruction to help first through fourth graders who were entering a new school. Tutored girls increased their positive self-perceptions as a result of the tutoring program, whereas boys declined in positive self-perceptions, while exhibiting gains in reading scores. These findings suggest that prevention efforts need to consider the specific adaptation needs of transfer students by gender so as to insure a maximum fit between individual need and program scope.     

Optimal cognitive distance and absorptive capacity

In this paper we test the relation between cognitive distance and innovation performance of firms engaged in technology-based alliances. The key finding is that the hypothesis of an inverted U-shaped effect of cognitive distance on innovation performance of firms is confirmed. Moreover, as expected, we found that the positive effect for firms is much higher when engaging in more radical, exploratory alliances than in more exploitative alliances. The effect of cumulative R&D turns out to be mixed. It appears to increase absorptive capacity, as expected, but there is clear evidence that it also reduces the effect of cognitive distance on novelty value, making it increasingly difficult to find additional novelty.     

Conceptualizing impact in academic development: finding a way through

This paper explores the notion of impact in the context of academic development programs and considers how it can be described and understood. We argue that impact has a range of meanings and academic development programs such as graduate certificates have a broad group of stakeholders and hence the impact is different for each group depending on how the program aims and objectives are defined and understood. In finding a way through the difficulties of evaluating impact in academic development we point to the importance of clearly conceptualizing the notion of impact, a careful identification of the assumptions underpinning any program and an understanding of who academic development will benefit and how. We suggest that impact in academic development cannot be understood without taking account of the range of possible impacts and the difficulty of attributing simple cause and effect to a complex environment.