Integrating time forgetting mechanisms into topic-based user interest profiling

The rapid development of the World Wide Web has created massive information leading to the information overload problem. Under this circumstance, personalization techniques have been brought out to help users in finding content which meet their personalized interests or needs out of massively increasing information. User profiling techniques have performed the core role in this research. Traditionally, most user profiling techniques create user representations in a static way. However, changes of user interests may occur with time in real world applications. In this research we develop algorithms for mining user interests by integrating time decay mechanisms into topic-based user interest profiling. Time forgetting functions will be integrated into the calculation of topic interest measurements on in-depth level. The experimental study shows that, considering temporal effects of user interests by integrating time forgetting mechanisms shows better performance of recommendation.

Acquiring user information needs for recommender systems

Most recommender systems attempt to use collaborative filtering, content-based filtering or hybrid approach to recommend items to new users. Collaborative filtering recommends items to new users based on their similar neighbours, and content-based filtering approach tries to recommend items that are similar to new users' profiles. The fundamental issues include how to profile new users, and how to deal with the over-specialization in content-based recommender systems. Indeed, the terms used to describe items can be formed as a concept hierarchy. Therefore, we aim to describe user profiles or information needs by using concepts vectors. This paper presents a new method to acquire user information needs, which allows new users to describe their preferences on a concept hierarchy rather than rating items. It also develops a new ranking function to recommend items to new users based on their information needs. The proposed approach is evaluated on Amazon book datasets. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach can largely improve the effectiveness of recommender systems.

Ontology-based product's reputation model

Different reputation models are used in the web in order to generate reputation values for products using uses' review data. Most of the current reputation models use review ratings and neglect users' textual reviews, because it is more difficult to process. However, we argue that the overall reputation score for an item does not reflect the actual reputation for all of its features. And that's why the use of users' textual reviews is necessary. In our work we introduce a new reputation model that defines a new aggregation method for users' extracted opinions about products' features from users' text. Our model uses features ontology in order to define general features and sub-features of a product. It also reflects the frequencies of positive and negative opinions. We provide a case study to show how our results compare with other reputation models.

Rough set based approach to text classification

Textual document set has become an important and rapidly growing information source in the web. Text classification is one of the crucial technologies for information organisation and management. Text classification has become more and more important and attracted wide attention of researchers from different research fields. In this paper, many feature selection methods, the implement algorithms and applications of text classification are introduced firstly. However, because there are much noise in the knowledge extracted by current data-mining techniques for text classification, it leads to much uncertainty in the process of text classification which is produced from both the knowledge extraction and knowledge usage, therefore, more innovative techniques and methods are needed to improve the performance of text classification. It has been a critical step with great challenge to further improve the process of knowledge extraction and effectively utilization of the extracted knowledge. Rough Set decision making approach is proposed to use Rough Set decision techniques to more precisely classify the textual documents which are difficult to separate by the classic text classification methods. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview of existing text classification technologies, to demonstrate the Rough Set concepts and the decision making approach based on Rough Set theory for building more reliable and effective text classification framework with higher precision, to set up an innovative evaluation metric named CEI which is very effective for the performance assessment of the similar research, and to propose a promising research direction for addressing the challenging problems in text classification, text mining and other relative fields.

The impact of the built environment on health across the life course : design of a cross-sectional data linkage study

Introduction: The built environment is increasingly recognised as being associated with health outcomes. Relationships between the built environment and health differ among age groups, especially between children and adults, but also between younger, mid-age and older adults. Yet few address differences across life stage groups within a single population study. Moreover, existing research mostly focuses on physical activity behaviours, with few studying objective clinical and mental health outcomes. The Life Course Built Environment and Health (LCBEH) project explores the impact of the built environment on self-reported and objectively measured health outcomes in a random sample of people across the life course. Methods and analysis: This cross-sectional data linkage study involves 15 954 children (0–15 years), young adults (16–24 years), adults (25–64 years) and older adults (65+years) from the Perth metropolitan region who completed the Health and Wellbeing Surveillance System survey administered by the Department of Health of Western Australia from 2003 to 2009. Survey data were linked to Western Australia's (WA) Hospital Morbidity Database System (hospital admission) and Mental Health Information System (mental health system outpatient) data. Participants’ residential address was geocoded and features of their ‘neighbourhood’ were measured using Geographic Information Systems software. Associations between the built environment and self-reported and clinical health outcomes will be explored across varying geographic scales and life stages. Ethics and dissemination: The University of Western Australia's Human Research Ethics Committee and the Department of Health of Western Australia approved the study protocol (#2010/1). Findings will be published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at local, national and international conferences, thus contributing to the evidence base informing the design of healthy neighbourhoods for all residents.

Manifestations of preoperational reasoning on similar programming tasks

In this research paper, we study a simple programming problem that only requires knowledge of variables and assignment statements, and yet we found that some early novice programmers had difficulty solving the problem. We also present data from think aloud studies which demonstrate the nature of those difficulties. We interpret our data within a neo-Piagetian framework which describes cognitive developmental stages through which students pass as they learn to program. We describe in detail think aloud sessions with novices who reason at the neo-Piagetian preoperational level. Those students exhibit two problems. First, they focus on very small parts of the code and lose sight of the "big picture". Second, they are prone to focus on superficial aspects of the task that are not functionally central to the solution. It is not until the transition into the concrete operational stage that decentration of focus occurs, and they have the cognitive ability to reason about abstract quantities that are conserved, and are equipped to adapt skills to closely related tasks. Our results, and the neo-Piagetian framework on which they are based, suggest that changes are necessary in teaching practice to better support novices who have not reached the concrete operational stage.

Longitudinal think aloud study of a novice programmer

Recent research from within a neo-Piagetian perspective proposes that novice programmers pass through the sensorimotor and preoperational stages before being able to reason at the concrete operational stage. However, academics traditionally teach and assess introductory programming as if students commence at the concrete operational stage. In this paper, we present results from a series of think aloud sessions with a single student, known by the pseudonym “Donald”. We conducted the sessions mainly over one semester, with an additional session three semesters later. Donald first manifested predominately sensorimotor reasoning, followed by preoperational reasoning, and finally concrete operational reasoning. This longitudinal think aloud study of Donald is the first direct observational evidence of a novice programmer progressing through the neo-Piagetian stages.

Theatre, social media and spectatorship : translating commentary, critique and controversy across media

The occasional ArtsHub article asking spectators to show respect for stage by switching all devices off notwithstanding, in the last few years we have witnessed an clear push to make more use of social media as a means by which spectators might respond to a performance across most theatre companies. Mainstage companies, as well as contemporary companies are asking us to turn on, tune in and tweet our impressions of a show to them, to each other, and to the masses – sometimes during the show, sometimes after the show, and sometimes without having seen the show. In this paper, I investigate the relationship between theatre, spectatorship and social media, tracing the transition from print platforms in which expert critics were responsible for determining audience response to today’s online platforms in which everybody is responsible for debating responses. Is the tendency to invite spectators to comment via social media before, during, or after a show the advance in audience engagement, entertainment and empowerment many hail it to be? Is it a return to a more democratised past in which theatres were active, interactive and at times downright rowdy, and the word of the published critic had yet to take over from the word of the average punter? Is it delivering distinctive shifts in theatre and theatrical meaning making? Or is it simply a good way to get spectators to write about a work they are no longer watching? An advance in the marketing of the work rather than an advance in the active, interactive aesthetic of the work? In this paper, I consider what the performance of spectatorship on social media tells us about theatre, spectatorship and meaning-making. I use initial findings about the distinctive dramaturgies, conflicts and powerplays that characterise debates about performance and performance culture on social media to reflect on the potentially productive relationship between theatre, social media, spectatorship, and meaning making. I suggest that the distinctive patterns of engagement displayed on social media platforms – including, in many cases, remediation rather than translation, adaptation or transformation of prior engagement practices – have a lot to tell us about how spectators and spectator groups negotiate for the power to provide the dominant interpretation of a work.

The Church of England : Charity Law and Human Rights

This book examines the interface between religion, charity law and human rights. It does so by treating the Church of England and its current circumstances as a timely case study providing an opportunity to examine the tensions that have now become such a characteristic feature of that interface. Firstly, it suggests that the Church is the primary source of canon law principles that have played a formative role in shaping civic morality throughout the common law jurisdictions: the history of their emergence and enforcement by the State in post-Reformation England is recorded and assessed. Secondly, it reveals that of such principles those of greatest weight were associated with matters of sexuality: in particular, for centuries, family law was formulated and applied with regard for the sanctity of the heterosexual marital family which provided the only legally permissible context for any form of sexual relationship. Thirdly, given that history, it identifies and assesses the particular implications that now arise for the Church as a consequence of recent charity law reform outcomes and human rights case law developments: a comparative analysis of religion related case law is provided. Finally, following an outline of the structure and organizational functions of the Church, a detailed analysis is undertaken of its success in engaging with these issues in the context of the Lambeth Conferences, the wider Anglican Communion and in the ill-fated Covenant initiative. From the perspective of the dilemmas currently challenging the moral authority of the Church of England, this book identifies and explores the contemporary ‘moral imperatives’ or red line issues that now threaten the coherence of Christian religions in most leading common law nations. Gay marriage and abortion are among the host of morally charged and deeply divisive topics demanding a reasoned response and leadership from religious bodies. Attention is given to the judicial interpretation and evaluation of these and other issues that now undermine the traditional role of the Church of England. As the interface between religion, charity law and human rights becomes steadily more fractious, with religious fundamentalism and discrimination acquiring a higher profile, there is now a pressing need for a more balanced relationship between those with and those without religious beliefs. This book will be an invaluable aid in starting the process of achieving a triangulated relationship between the principles of canon law, charity law and human rights law.

MUVE-ing pre-service teachers into the future

This paper discusses our experiences of integrating a Multi-User Virtual Environment (MUVE) called Quest Atlantis into a pre-service secondary science education unit. The use of educational MUVEs as teaching tools is accelerating, so it is crucial that pre-service teachers develop some expertise with these and related technologies. We outline the processes we followed in embedding Quest Atlantis into the content and assessment of the unit, the results of this initiative and its implications for integrating MUVEs and other ICTs into teacher education programs. Challenges such as limited time and expertise, demands of a busy teaching program, and the need for continuous specialist support need to be overcome for sustainable integration of MUVEs and related technologies into preservice teacher education. This is particularly important given the potential of preservice teachers as change agents in schools, and the imperatives of the ICT-related National Professional Standards for Teachers and the Australian Curriculum.

A novel process of group-oriented question reduction for rule-based recommendation websites

Several websites utilise a rule-base recommendation system, which generates choices based on a series of questionnaires, for recommending products to users. This approach has a high risk of customer attrition and the bottleneck is the questionnaire set. If the questioning process is too long, complex or tedious; users are most likely to quit the questionnaire before a product is recommended to them. If the questioning process is short; the user intensions cannot be gathered. The commonly used feature selection methods do not provide a satisfactory solution. We propose a novel process combining clustering, decisions tree and association rule mining for a group-oriented question reduction process. The question set is reduced according to common properties that are shared by a specific group of users. When applied on a real-world website, the proposed combined method outperforms the methods where the reduction of question is done only by using association rule mining or only by observing distribution within the group.

Standards and Research in Geographical Education: Current Trends and International Issues

What is the state of geographical education in the second decade of the 21st century? This volume presents a selection of peer reviewed papers presented at the 2012 Cologne Congress of the International Geographical Union (IGU) sessions on Geographical Education as representative of current thinking in the area. It then presents (perhaps for the first time) a cross-case analysis of the common factors of all these papers as a current summary of the “state of the art” of geographical education today. The primary aim of the individual authors as well as the editors is not only to record the current state of the art of geographical education but also to promote ongoing discussions of the longer term health and future prospects of international geographical education. We wish to encourage ongoing debate and discussion amongst local, national, regional and international education journals, conferences and discussion groups as part of the international mission of the Commission on Geographical Eduction. While the currency of these chapters in terms of their foci, breadth and recency of the theoretical literature on which they are based and the new research findings they present justifies considerable confidence in the current health of geographical education as an educational and research endeavour, each new publication should only be the start of new scholarly inquiry. Where should we, as a scholarly community, place our energies for the future? If readers are left with a new sense of direction, then the aims of the authors and editors will have been amply met.

Exploring community building with an awareness display

In this paper, we present a field trial of a pervasive system called Panorama that is aimed at supporting social awareness in work environments. Panorama is an intelligent situated display in the staff room of an academic department. It artistically represents non-critical user generated content such as images from holidays, conferences and other social gatherings, as well as textual messages on its display. It also captures images and videos from different public spaces of the department and streams them onto the Panorama screen, using appropriate abstraction techniques. We studied the use of Panorama for two weeks and observed how Panorama affected staff members' social awareness and community building. We report that Panorama simulated curiosity and learning, initiated new interactions and provided a mechanism for cherishing old memories.

Polycarbonate based non-chemically amplified photoresists for extreme ultraviolet lithography

Some initial EUVL patterning results for polycarbonate based non-chemically amplified resists are presented. Without full optimization the developer a resolution of 60 nm line spaces could be obtained. With slight overexposure (1.4 × E0) 43.5 nm lines at a half pitch of 50 nm could be printed. At 2x E0 a 28.6 nm lines at a half pitch of 50 nm could be obtained with a LER that was just above expected for mask roughness. Upon being irradiated with EUV photons, these polymers undergo chain scission with the loss of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The remaining photoproducts appear to be non-volatile under standard EUV irradiation conditions, but do exhibit increased solubility in developer compared to the unirradiated polymer. The sensitivity of the polymers to EUV light is related to their oxygen content and ways to increase the sensitivity of the polymers to 10 mJ cm-2 is discussed.

Development of polymers for Non-CAR resists for EUV lithography

Three strategies for approaching the design and synthesis of non-chemically amplified resists (non-CARs) are presented. These are linear polycarbonates, star polyester-blk-poly(methyl methacrylate) and comb polymers with polysulfone backbones. The linear polycarbonates were designed to cleave when irradiated with 92 eV photons and high Tg alicyclic groups were incorporated into the backbone to increase Tg and etch resistance. The star block copolymers were designed to have a core that is sensitive to 92 eV photons and arms that have the potential to provide properties such as high Tg and etch resistance. Similarly the polysulfone comb polymers were designed to have an easily degradable polymer backbone and comb-arms that impart favorable physical properties. Initial patterning results are presented for a number of the systems.