The role of working memory in spatial text processing: What benefit of imagery strategy and visuospatial abilities?     

Valérie Gyselinck  Chiara Meneghetti  Rossana De Beni  Francesca Pazzaglia 《Learning and individual differences》2009,19(1):12-20

This study investigated the construction of a spatial model in relation to working memory (WM) and visuospatial abilities. Participants were trained to use either imagery or verbal strategies to process route spatial texts. Results obtained on a free recall task, a verification test and a graphic representation task showed the beneficial effect of using a strategy based on mental images. When imagery strategies were used, a concurrent articulatory task produced interference effects on recall performance, and a spatial tapping task also impaired performance as compared to the control condition. These interference effects suggest that both visuospatial and verbal WM were involved in construction of the spatial model. When repetition strategies were used, however, only the articulatory task produced interference effects, highlighting the role of the verbal WM. To elucidate how the involvement of the visuospatial component may differ in relation to visuospatial abilities, participants with good or poor ability in generation of visual images and spatial manipulation of objects were compared. The benefit of the imagery strategy was found in both groups, but whereas low-visuospatial imagery participants were sensitive to spatial interference, their high ability counterparts were not. These results question the role of imagery processes in the construction of spatial models and their relation to the visuospatial WM.  相似文献   

Assessing statistics attitudes among college students: Psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics (SATS)     

Francesca Chiesi  Caterina Primi 《Learning and individual differences》2009,19(2):309-313

The aim of the present research was to test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics (SATS) in order to acquire a valid instrument to measure attitudes inside the Italian educational context. The SATS was administered to Italian-speaking undergraduate students enrolled in introductory statistics courses. A confirmatory factor analysis validated the four-factor structure of the scale, and good indices for both reliability and validity were obtained. A multi-group analysis confirmed the time invariance (beginning vs. end of the course) of the SATS, with a minor exception. Given the invariance across time, latent mean structures analysis revealed small to large significant changes in the four attitude dimensions. The present study provided evidence for the validity and reliability of the SATS when applied to the Italian learning framework.  相似文献   

Spectroscopic analyses of Hellenistic painted plasters from 2nd century B.C., Sicily (South Italy)     

Erica Aquilia  Germana Barone  Vincenza Crupi  Francesca Longo  Domenico Majolino  Paolo Mazzoleni  Valentina Venuti 《Journal of Cultural Heritage》2012,13(2):229-233

In the present work, an analytical characterization of painted plaster samples coming from ancient buildings dated back to 2nd cent. B.C., located in Licata (Sicily, Southern Italy), has been carried out. The investigation has been performed through different spectroscopic techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF) using an handheld energy-dispersive XRF analyzer, scanning electron microscopy equipped with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometry microanalysis detector (SEM-EDS) and Fourier transform infrared absorbance spectroscopy (FT-IR). The main goal is to identify the plaster and pigments material. In particular, the XRF investigation of surfaces is the first step for a preliminary elemental characterization. Then, through SEM-EDS measurements, a quantitative analysis of the chemical composition of the plaster and the pigmenting agents along with eventual components related to deterioration processes has been obtained. Finally, FT-IR absorbance spectra have proven to be a useful tool to investigate the molecular nature of the used materials.  相似文献   

The effects and side-effects of statistics education: Psychology students’ (mis-)conceptions of probability     

Kinga Morsanyi  Caterina Primi  Francesca Chiesi  Simon Handley 《Contemporary educational psychology》2009

In three studies we looked at two typical misconceptions of probability: the representativeness heuristic, and the equiprobability bias. The literature on statistics education predicts that some typical errors and biases (e.g., the equiprobability bias) increase with education, whereas others decrease. This is in contrast with reasoning theorists’ prediction who propose that education reduces misconceptions in general. They also predict that students with higher cognitive ability and higher need for cognition are less susceptible to biases. In Experiments 1 and 2 we found that the equiprobability bias increased with statistics education, and it was negatively correlated with students’ cognitive abilities. The representativeness heuristic was mostly unaffected by education, and it was also unrelated to cognitive abilities. In Experiment 3 we demonstrated through an instruction manipulation (by asking participants to think logically vs. rely on their intuitions) that the reason for these differences was that these biases originated in different cognitive processes.  相似文献   

Decentralized state estimation for the control of network systems     

Francesca Boem  Lorenzo Sabattini  Cristian Secchi 《Journal of The Franklin Institute》2019,356(2):860-882

The paper proposes a decentralized state estimation method for the control of network systems, where a cooperative objective has to be achieved. The nodes of the network are partitioned into independent nodes, providing the control inputs, and dependent nodes, controlled by local interaction laws. The proposed state estimation algorithm allows the independent nodes to estimate the state of the dependent nodes in a completely decentralized way. To do that, it is necessary for each independent node of the network to estimate the control input components computed by the other independent nodes, without requiring communication among the independent nodes. The decentralized state estimator, including an input estimator, is developed and the convergence properties are studied. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.  相似文献   

In the making: constructing in-school pregnancy in Mozambique     

Francesca Salvi 《Gender and education》2018,30(4):494-512

This article examines current in-school pregnancy policy in Mozambique, Decree 39/GM/2003, discussing how it discursively constructs in-school pregnancy as a problem, thereby raising the need to regulate its occurrence. Decree 39/GM/2003 indicates that pregnant schoolgirls should be transferred to night courses in order to complete their education. Although progressive in some respects, as it allows pregnant girls to remain in education, the Decree reflects a global tendency to see education and pregnancy as oppositional. As a consequence, the practical implications of transferring pregnant girls to night courses have the perverse effect of encouraging dropout. Stimulated by this contradiction, I reflect on how the policy text produces a deficit view of the pregnant schoolgirl. This Foucauldian process of subjectification results in a strengthening of the opposition between pregnancy and education. As a result, pregnant schoolgirls are ‘thrown out’ of their education, defeating the inclusive aims of the national policy.  相似文献   

Origins of individual differences in imitation: links with language, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior in two-year-old twins     

McEwen F  Happé F  Bolton P  Rijsdijk F  Ronald A  Dworzynski K  Plomin R 《Child development》2007,78(2):474-492

Imitation, vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior were investigated in 5,206 same- and opposite-sex 2-year-old twin pairs in the United Kingdom. Individual differences in imitative ability were due to modest heritability (30%), while environmental factors shared between twins (42%) and unique to each twin (28%) also made significant contributions to the variance. Imitation correlated significantly, although modestly, with vocabulary, pretend play, and socially insightful behavior, and the strongest relationship was with vocabulary. A model that represented the covariance between the variables as being due to correlated latent genetic and environmental factors fitted the data well, with shared environmental factors influencing most of the covariance. Parents who encourage imitation may also tend to foster the development of language, pretence, and socially insightful behavior.  相似文献   

Bibliography,National Bibliography,and National Union Catalog in Italy*     

Francesca Nepori 《Cataloging & classification quarterly》2019,57(1):73-87

Abstract

This article analyzes the role of national bibliographies—with particular reference to the Italian National Bibliography—as relevant tools for national bibliographic control. In the first part of the article, the historical and scientific context of international standards is summarized. The second part describes the role played by the Central National Library of Florence (BNCF) in the realization of the bibliographic control of Italian publications. The limits and the potential of the Italian National Bibliography produced by BNCF are highlighted and compared with the Italian National Library Service (SBN), which is the most important national collective catalog among Italian libraries.  相似文献   

Touching epistemologies: meanings of average and variation in nursing practice     

Richard Noss  Stefano Pozzi  Celia Hoyles 《Educational Studies in Mathematics》1999,40(1):25-51

We present a study of the meanings of average and variation displayed by paediatric nurses. We trace how these meanings shape, and are shaped by, nurses' interpretations of trends in patient and population data. We suggest a theoretical framework for making sense of the data which compares and contrasts nurses' epistemology with that of official mathematics. Finally, we outline some provisional didactical implications.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.  相似文献   

The white colour in Etruscan polychromes on terracotta: Spectroscopic identification of kaolin     

Francesca Bordignon  Paolo Postorino  Alessandro Nucara  Paolo Dore  Giorgio Trojsi  Vincenzo Bellelli 《Journal of Cultural Heritage》2008,9(1):23

The present work reports on a spectroscopic study of white colour samples collected from Etruscan polychromes on terracotta from the Cerveteri area. In particular, both white-on-red potsherds of the Orientalising period and high-value polychromes of the Archaic period were considered. The white pigment, a fundamental element in this class of artworks, was not clearly identified in previous archaeological and analytical studies, although the use of kaolin was tentatively proposed. Therefore, samples from the Monte Sughereto kaolin quarry in the Cerveteri area were also studied. The results of detailed analyses carried out using micro-Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy first show that the quarry material is a high-purity kaolin containing quartz. Raman results strongly suggest that the same kind of kaolin was employed in the polychromes of the Archaic period. As to white-on red potsherds, infrared results have a key role in showing that the white pigment is a kaolin closely corresponding to the quarry material since a particular kaolin polytype (dickite) is dominant in both cases. The present work thus provides the first definitive identification of the white pigment used in Etruscan polychromes on terracotta from the Cerveteri area, and suggests that the source of kaolin might be the Monte Sughereto quarry.  相似文献