Essays on the Issue of Piracy in the Market of Information Goods

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-06

Producing computer-generated tailored written information for stroke patients and their carers: System development and preliminary evaluation

Purpose: The aim of this project was to design and evaluate a system that would produce tailored information for stroke patients and their carers, customised according to their informational needs, and facilitate communication between the patient and, health professional. Method: A human factors development approach was used to develop a computer system, which dynamically compiles stroke education booklets for patients and carers. Patients and carers are able to select the topics about which they wish to receive information, the amount of information they want, and the font size of the printed booklet. The system is designed so that the health professional interacts with it, thereby providing opportunities for communication between the health professional and patient/carer at a number of points in time. Results: Preliminary evaluation of the system by health professionals, patients and carers was positive. A randomised controlled trial that examines the effect of the system on patient and carer outcomes is underway. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A longitudinal study of employee adaptation to organizational change: The role of change-related information and change-related self-efficacy

This study examined the role of information, efficacy, and 3 stressors in predicting adjustment to organizational change. Participants were 589 government employees undergoing an 18-month process of regionalization. To examine if the predictor variables had long-term effects on adjustment, the authors assessed psychological well-being, client engagement, and job satisfaction again at a 2-year follow-up. At Time 1, there was evidence to suggest that information was indirectly related to psychological well-being, client engagement, and job satisfaction, via its positive relationship to efficacy. There also was evidence to suggest that efficacy was related to reduced stress appraisals, thereby heightening client engagement. Last, there was consistent support for the stress-buffering role of Time I self-efficacy in the prediction of Time 2 job satisfaction.

An orthodontic information package designed to increase patient awareness

BACKGROUND: Most patients and their parents experience difficulty in fully appreciating the implications and demands of orthodontic treatment. This is largely because of inadequate understanding of the process of treatment or the commitment required. OBJECTIVES: To determine if a specifically developed video information package could significantly increase patient awareness of the implications of a full course of orthodontic treatment. Changes in attitude to orthodontic treatment after viewing the package were also measured. METHODS: Year 7 (12 year-old) students in two primary schools in the City of Gold Coast, Australia were randomly allocated to either a study group or a control group. Knowledge of and attitude to orthodontic treatment were measured with self-administered questionnaires before and after viewing the information package. RESULTS: The intervention group showed a 15 per cent gain in knowledge (p < 0.001). There was no gain in knowledge for the 45 students in the control group. There was no measured change in perception of need for orthodontic treatment in the study group. There was, however, an increase in potential compliance and positive attitude to the appearance of orthodontic appliances. There was a small increase in willingness to undertake treatment, but this was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: The information package developed for this study increased awareness of the implications and practical difficulties which may be encountered during a course of orthodontic treatment, and produced some changes in attitude to treatment.

Women, careers and information technology: An introduction

This special issue revisits the relationship between women, work and technology, focusing specifically on gender equity in information technology (IT) employment. Along with theoretical contestation over the broader relationship between gender and technology, arguments about the prospects for women in IT employment have ranged from optimistic to pessimistic extremes. On the one hand, optimists have envisaged a more gender-egalitarian workforce based on new occupations lacking traditional gender markers, and 'young' firms offering positive flexibilities and equal employment opportunity protections. On the other hand, pessimists anticipate that ongoing male dominance over tedmology and competitive pressures in the IT sector will ensure that the most prestigious and highly rewarded jobs remain concentrated in male hands, even as teclmologies and jobs are themselves transformed.

Information geometric measurements of generalisation

Neural networks can be regarded as statistical models, and can be analysed in a Bayesian framework. Generalisation is measured by the performance on independent test data drawn from the same distribution as the training data. Such performance can be quantified by the posterior average of the information divergence between the true and the model distributions. Averaging over the Bayesian posterior guarantees internal coherence; Using information divergence guarantees invariance with respect to representation. The theory generalises the least mean squares theory for linear Gaussian models to general problems of statistical estimation. The main results are: (1)~the ideal optimal estimate is always given by average over the posterior; (2)~the optimal estimate within a computational model is given by the projection of the ideal estimate to the model. This incidentally shows some currently popular methods dealing with hyperpriors are in general unnecessary and misleading. The extension of information divergence to positive normalisable measures reveals a remarkable relation between the dlt dual affine geometry of statistical manifolds and the geometry of the dual pair of Banach spaces Ld and Ldd. It therefore offers conceptual simplification to information geometry. The general conclusion on the issue of evaluating neural network learning rules and other statistical inference methods is that such evaluations are only meaningful under three assumptions: The prior P(p), describing the environment of all the problems; the divergence Dd, specifying the requirement of the task; and the model Q, specifying available computing resources.

Personal privacy as a positive experience of shopping:an illustration through the case of online grocery shopping

Purpose - This paper aims to demonstrate the need for an improved understanding of the opportunities offered by privacy online. This is contextualized in the case of supermarket purchases of food in particular, often described as an intimate and personal choice. In the case of grocery shopping, the "intimacy" may be at the household level between members or/and between e-grocers' food offerings, and their other "non-food" related services Design/methodology/approach - This paper draws upon social practice theory research, retailing and consumer behaviour in order to develop a conceptual framework for understanding the value of positive privacy. The research uses 39 in-depth interviews of e-grocery shoppers in the area of Portsmouth (UK). Findings - This paper suggests a framework for embedded elements of positive privacy into retailing strategy as a driver for growth in the e-grocery sector. Three meta-themes requiring different approaches to privacy are uncovered. Positive privacy is dynamic and contextual at the consumer/household levels as well as for product/e-grocery brands. Research limitations/implications - This paper advocates the building of long-term sustainable relationship through sharing, offering, and exchange of information rather than pure technological chasing of data. Originality/value - A consumer centred bottom-up approach is employed demonstrating the value of two-way dialogues with consumers on sensitive issues. E-grocery is used as an illustration that involves regular re-purchase of a basket of staple goods over a long period of time where privacy becomes a latent long-term concern. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

The relationship between market share and information in a high-tech industry

The role of information in high-technology markets is critical (Dutta, Narasimhan and Rajiv 1999; Farrell and Saloner 1986; Weiss and Heide 1993). In these markets, the volatility and volume of information present managers and researchers with the considerable challenge of monitoring such information and examining how potential customers may respond to it. This article examines the effects of the type and volume of information on the market share of different technological standards in the Local Area Networks (LAN) industry. We identify three different types of information: technological, availability and adoption. Our empirical application suggests that all three types of information have significant effects on the market share of a technological standard, but their direction and magnitude differ. More specifically, technology-related information is negatively related to market share as it demonstrates that the underlying technology is immature and still evolving. Both availability and adoption-related information have a positive effect on market share, but the former is larger than the latter. We conclude that high-tech firms should emphasize the dissemination of information, especially availability-related, as part of their promotional strategy for a new technology. Otherwise, they may risk missing an opportunity to achieve a higher share and establish their market presence.

Multi-topic information filtering with a single user profile

In Information Filtering (IF) a user may be interested in several topics in parallel. But IF systems have been built on representational models derived from Information Retrieval and Text Categorization, which assume independence between terms. The linearity of these models results in user profiles that can only represent one topic of interest. We present a methodology that takes into account term dependencies to construct a single profile representation for multiple topics, in the form of a hierarchical term network. We also introduce a series of non-linear functions for evaluating documents against the profile. Initial experiments produced positive results.

Information management and the holistic, process-oriented enterprise

This research examines the role of the information management process within a process-oriented enterprise, Xerox Ltd. The research approach is based on a post-positive paradigm and has resulted in thirty-five idiographic statements. The three major outcomes are: 1. The process-oriented holistic enterprise is an organisation that requires a long-term management commitment to its development. It depends on the careful management of people, tasks, information and technology. A complex integration of business processes is required and this can be managed through the use of consistent documentation techniques, clarity in the definition of process responsibilities and management attention to the global metrics and the centralisation of the management of the process model are critical to its success. 2. The role of the information management process within the context of a process-oriented enterprise is to provide flexible and cost-effective applications, technological, and process support to the business. This is best achieved through a centralisation of the management of information management and of the process model. A business-led approach combined with the consolidation of applications, information, process, and data architectures is central to providing effective business and process-focused support. 3. In a process oriented holistic enterprise, process and information management are inextricably linked. The model of process management depends heavily on information management, whilst the model of information management is totally focused around supporting and creating the process model. The two models are mutually creating - one cannot exist without the other. There is a duality concept of process and information management.

Spatially structured cognitve models of semantic information:the implications for computerised databases

Existing theories of semantic cognition propose models of cognitive processing occurring in a conceptual space, where ‘meaning’ is derived from the spatial relationships between concepts’ mapped locations within the space. Information visualisation is a growing area of research within the field of information retrieval, and methods for presenting database contents visually in the form of spatial data management systems (SDMSs) are being developed. This thesis combined these two areas of research to investigate the benefits associated with employing spatial-semantic mapping (documents represented as objects in two- and three-dimensional virtual environments are proximally mapped dependent on the semantic similarity of their content) as a tool for improving retrieval performance and navigational efficiency when browsing for information within such systems. Positive effects associated with the quality of document mapping were observed; improved retrieval performance and browsing behaviour were witnessed when mapping was optimal. It was also shown using a third dimension for virtual environment (VE) presentation provides sufficient additional information regarding the semantic structure of the environment that performance is increased in comparison to using two-dimensions for mapping. A model that describes the relationship between retrieval performance and browsing behaviour was proposed on the basis of findings. Individual differences were not found to have any observable influence on retrieval performance or browsing behaviour when mapping quality was good. The findings from this work have implications for both cognitive modelling of semantic information, and for designing and testing information visualisation systems. These implications are discussed in the conclusions of this work.

Brain ictal state characterisation through multimodal information integration

This Thesis addresses the problem of automated false-positive free detection of epileptic events by the fusion of information extracted from simultaneously recorded electro-encephalographic (EEG) and the electrocardiographic (ECG) time-series. The approach relies on a biomedical case for the coupling of the Brain and Heart systems through the central autonomic network during temporal lobe epileptic events: neurovegetative manifestations associated with temporal lobe epileptic events consist of alterations to the cardiac rhythm. From a neurophysiological perspective, epileptic episodes are characterised by a loss of complexity of the state of the brain. The description of arrhythmias, from a probabilistic perspective, observed during temporal lobe epileptic events and the description of the complexity of the state of the brain, from an information theory perspective, are integrated in a fusion-of-information framework towards temporal lobe epileptic seizure detection. The main contributions of the Thesis include the introduction of a biomedical case for the coupling of the Brain and Heart systems during temporal lobe epileptic seizures, partially reported in the clinical literature; the investigation of measures for the characterisation of ictal events from the EEG time series towards their integration in a fusion-of-knowledge framework; the probabilistic description of arrhythmias observed during temporal lobe epileptic events towards their integration in a fusion-of-knowledge framework; and the investigation of the different levels of the fusion-of-information architecture at which to perform the combination of information extracted from the EEG and ECG time-series. The performance of the method designed in the Thesis for the false-positive free automated detection of epileptic events achieved a false-positives rate of zero on the dataset of long-term recordings used in the Thesis.

Information and behavioural instruction along the health-care pathway:the perspective of people undergoing hernia repair surgery and the role of formal and informal information sources

Provision of information and behavioural instruction has been demonstrated to improve recovery after surgery. However, patients draw on a range of information sources and it is important to establish which sources patients use and how this influences perceptions and behaviour as they progress along the surgical pathway. In this qualitative, exploratory and longitudinal study, the use of information and instruction were explored from the perspective of people undergoing inguinal hernia repair surgery. Seven participants undergoing inguinal hernia repair surgery were interviewed using semi-structured interviews 2 weeks before surgery and 2 weeks and 4 months post-surgery. Nineteen interviews were conducted in total. Topic guides included sources of knowledge, reasons for help-seeking and opting for surgery and factors influencing return to activity. Data were analysed thematically according to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Participants sought information from a range of sources, focusing on informal information sources before surgery and using information and instruction from health-care professionals post-surgery. This information influenced behaviours including deciding to undergo surgery, use of pain medication and returning to usual activity. Anxiety and help-seeking resulted when unexpected post-surgical events occurred such as extensive bruising. Findings were consistent with psychological and sociological theories. Overall, participants were positive about the information and instruction they received but expressed a desire for more timely information on post-operative adverse events.

The role of risk assessment in supporting a positive organisational safety culture

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Music as the Source of Information Influence and Soul Education

Unlike other works of art (painting, sculpture, etc.) a musical composition should be performed, it should sound to become accessible. Therefore, the role of the musical masterly performance is extremely important. But presently it has increased in importance when music through mass communication media i.e. radio, television, sound recording becomes in the full sense of the word the property of millions. Art in all its genres as a means of information helps to recreate a picture of one or other epoch as a whole. Moreover, art has a profound impact on education: it can be positive or negative, creative or destructive. Let us dwell on such aspect of music as means of information and the value of musical mastery activity for brining information to hearers of the alternating generations. Unlike other works of art (painting, sculpture etc.) a musical composition should be performed, it should sound to become intelligible. Therefore, the role of the musical masterly performance is extremely important. But presently it becomes particularly great in the XXI century when music becomes a true property of the masses due to mass media – radio, television, sound recording.