Prozess-Familien-Punkte

Zusammenfassung Software-Entwicklung auf Grundlage von Software-System-Familien ist durch eine organisierte Wiederverwendung und Variabilit?t auf Basis einer gemeinsamen Plattform gekennzeichnet. Zus?tzliche Effizienzsteigerungen werden bei Software-System-Familien in prozessgetriebenen Anwendungsdom?nen durch die explizite Berücksichtigung von softwareinternen Prozessabl?ufen erm?glicht. Ausgehend von diesem Potenzial skizziert der vorliegende Beitrag eine Methodik zur Umfangsmessung und Aufwandsprognose für Prozess-Familien. Die hierbei beschriebenen Softwaremetriken wurden in empirischen Fallstudien validiert und erm?glichen eine Bewertung der Effizienzvorteile dieses neuen Entwicklungsansatzes.

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Software system families are characterized through a structured reuse of components and a high degree of automation based on a common infrastructure. It is possible to increase the efficiency of software system families by an explicit consideration of process flows in application domains which are driven by processes. Based on that fact this article briefly describes the approach of process family engineering. Afterwards the metrics of Process-Family-Points are explained in detail. These are the only framework to measure the size and estimate the effort of process families. Subsequently this paper shows the first results from a validation of the Process-Family-Points in the application domains of Electronic Business and Automotive.

     

The Role of Motor Competences in Predicting Working Memory Maintenance and Preparatory Processing

The purpose of the study was the examination of the longitudinal association between motor competences and changes in preparatory processing during a task requiring working memory maintenance. At baseline, 52 Caucasian children aged 10–12 years completed the MOBAK-5 test battery and a Sternberg task, whereas the cue-P300 and the initial contingent negative variation (iCNV) were recorded via electroencephalography. After 9 months, the Sternberg task was administered again to assess changes in these neurophysiological indices and behavioral performance. Path analyses revealed that motor competences predicted the change in cue-P300 and iCNV from baseline to follow-up. The present findings indicate that the cognitive control strategy during a task demanding working memory maintenance changes as a function of children's baseline motor competences.     

Reducing the Bias: How Perspective Taking Affects First- and Third-Person Perceptions of Media Influence

Third- and first-person perceptions (TPPs/FPPs) are considered to be biased judgments of media influence on self and others. Research suggests that perspective taking, i.e., thinking from another person’s position, decreases perceptual gaps between self and others via assimilation. In a two-factorial experiment (n = 431), we test whether this effect of perspective taking (Factor 1) holds true for the presumed influence of desirable and undesirable messages (Factor 2). Results indicate that perspective taking significantly reduces TPPs in the case of an undesirable message but not FPPs that are provoked by the desirable message. The observable effect traces back to a change in presumed message influence on the self. Presumed influence on others was independent of both factors, desirability of message influence and perspective taking. These findings are discussed in the light of cognitive and motivational explanations for FPPs/TPPs.     

The Development of Clustering in Episodic Memory: A Cognitive-Modeling Approach

Younger children’s free recall from episodic memory is typically less organized than recall by older children. To investigate if and how repeated learning opportunities help children use organizational strategies that improve recall, the authors analyzed category clustering across four study-test cycles. Seven-year-olds, 10-year-olds, and young adults (N = 150) studied categorically related words for a free-recall task. The cognitive processes underlying recall and clustering were measured with a multinomial model. The modeling revealed that developmental differences emerged particularly in the rate of learning to encode words as categorical clusters. The learning curves showed a common pattern across age groups, indicating developmental invariance. Memory for individual items also contributed to developmental differences and was the only factor driving 7-year-olds’ moderate improvements in recall.     

Comprehending animations: Effects of spatial cueing versus temporal scaling

In the present experiment the animation of the operating mechanism of a pendulum clock was used in order to compare the effects of spatial cueing with those of temporal scaling on the comprehension of the animation. The presentation speed of the clock mechanism (normal vs. fast) and signalling cues to three different parts of the mechanism (weight, pendulum, and an irrelevant gear as blinking elements) were used in a 2 × 3 between subjects design with 144 participants. It was found that compared to normal speed condition, understanding was improved in the fast speed condition, but was unaffected by any of the cueing conditions. The results indicate that, although guidance of attention to relevant parts of an animation is often seen as a key to effective instructional design, the way temporal manipulations affect understanding is independent from local attention guiding.     

Measuring Teaching Effectiveness: Correspondence Between Students’ Evaluations of Teaching and Different Measures of Student Learning

Relating students?? evaluations of teaching (SETs) to student learning as an approach to validate SETs has produced inconsistent results. The present study tested the hypothesis that the strength of association of SETs and student learning varies with the criteria used to indicate student learning. A multisection validity approach was employed to investigate the association of SETs and two different criteria of student learning, a multiple-choice test and a practical examination. Participants were N?=?883 medical students, enrolled in k?=?32 sections of the same course. As expected, results showed a strong positive association between SETs and the practical examination but no significant correlation between SETs and multiple-choice test scores. Furthermore, students?? subjective perception of learning significantly correlated with the practical examination score whereas no relation was found for subjective learning and the multiple choice test. It is discussed whether these results might be due to different measures of student learning varying in the degree to which they reflect teaching effectiveness.     

Distance Education in Physics via the Internet

Abstract

This article describes three connected projects in physics: (1) a very successful course at the university level; (2) a collection of several thousand multimedia materials, its status and evaluation, and its dissemination; and (3) Web experiments—experiments that can be operated remotely from a distance via the Internet.     

Selective Exposure to Cable News and Immigration in the U.S.: The Relationship Between FOX News,CNN, and Attitudes Toward Mexican Immigrants

In the past 2 decades, cable television and the Internet have greatly increased the availability of media content. The phenomenon has reinvigorated a longstanding debate about the effects of this media landscape, as people selectively get exposed to specific content. Based on U.S. national survey data, this article advances research in this area by analyzing the interplay between individuals' ideological predispositions, their selective exposure to cable news, and the relationship between selective exposure and their attitudes toward an issue with key policy-making implications: Mexican immigration. Results indicate conservative Republicans are more likely to watch FOX News, which is associated with negative perceptions of Mexican immigrants and higher support for restrictive immigration policies. Findings also suggest that liberals who get exposed to FOX News also show less support for Mexican immigration.