Most neural network learning algorithms cannot use knowledge other than what is provided in the training data. Initialized using random weights, they cannot use prior knowledge such as knowledge stored in previously trained networks. This manuscript thesis addresses this problem.…

This study explored the relationship between vocabulary size (i.e., breadth of knowledge), depth of vocabulary knowledge, and reading comprehension of Chinese-speaking ESL (English as a second language) university students in Canada. Both aspects of vocabulary knowledge, breadth and depth, continue…

Cultural resources like traditional medicinal knowledge need to be recognized in their role tied to important regional practices in Zimbabwe. This is especially as a nexus of legal definitions for biological, intellectual and cultural resources will inform a National Sui…

This dissertation addresses the issues pertaining to composite products (CPs). CPs are defined as products formed by combining knowledge from two distinct domains, for example, digital cameras, which combine knowledge from digital products and cameras. The three research questions addressed…

Increasingly, knowledge-based tasks such as new product development and market research are being conducted by geographically dispersed teams. Early evidence from knowledge-based view of the firm and geographically dispersed work literatures suggests that at least four kinds of knowledge gaps---transactive…

The purpose of this study was to identify how coaches who have surpassed their athletic achievements acquired their coaching knowledge. Six University coaches from basketball, volleyball, and hockey, with a combined total of fourteen coach of the year awards were…

This thesis is a theoretical and practical investigation of the role played by informal learning and teaching in the development of identity and applied knowledge. With the advent of mass schooling, there came to be a distinction between formal and…

Children's speech sound errors may reflect deficits in acoustic-phonetic, articulatory-phonetic, or phonological knowledge of those sounds. The purpose of the current study was to explore the factors believed to contribute to accurate articulation of /s/ in children with typically developing…

Knowledge-based Cascade-correlation is a neural network algorithm that combines inductive learning and knowledge transfer (Shultz & Rivest, 2001). In the present thesis, this algorithm is tested on several real-world and artificial problems, and extended in several ways. The first extension…

Searching for information pervades a wide spectrum of human activity, including learning and problem solving. With recent changes in the amount of information available and the variety of means of retrieval, there is even more need to understand why some…