A cross-discipline and collaborative approach to identifying the predictors of environmentally friendly and health protective behaviour

Background. As a society, our interaction with the environment is having a negative impact on human health. For example, an increase in car use for short trips, over walking or cycling, has contributed to an increase in obesity, diabetes and poor heart health and also contributes to pollution, which is associated with asthma and other respiratory diseases. In order to change the nature of that interaction, to be more positive and healthy, it is recommended that individuals adopt a range of environmentally friendly behaviours (such as walking for transport and reducing the use of plastics). Effective interventions aimed at increasing such behaviours will need to be evidence based and there is a need for the rapid communication of information from the point of research, into policy and practice. Further, a number of health disciplines, including psychology and public health, share a common mission to promote health and well-being. Therefore, the objective of this project is to take a cross-discipline and collaborative approach to reveal psychological mechanisms driving environmentally friendly behaviour. This objective is further divided into three broad aims, the first of which is to take a cross-discipline and collaborative approach to research. The second aim is to explore and identify the salient beliefs which most strongly predict environmentally friendly behaviour. The third aim is to build an augmented model to explain environmentally friendly behaviour. The thesis builds on the understanding that an interdisciplinary collaborative approach will facilitate the rapid transfer of knowledge to inform behaviour change interventions. Methods. The application of this approach involved two surveys which explored the psycho-social predictors of environmentally friendly behaviour. Following a qualitative pilot study, and in collaboration with an expert panel comprising academics, industry professionals and government representatives, a self-administered, Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) based, mail survey was distributed to a random sample of 3000 residents of Brisbane and Moreton Bay Region (Queensland, Australia). This survey explored specific beliefs including attitudes, norms, perceived control, intention and behaviour, as well as environmental altruism and green identity, in relation to walking for transport and switching off lights when not in use. Following analysis of the mail survey data and based on feedback from participants and key stakeholders, an internet survey was employed (N=451) to explore two additional behaviours, switching off appliances at the wall when not in use, and shopping with reusable bags. This work is presented as a series of interrelated publications which address each of the research aims. Presentation of Findings. Chapter five of this thesis consists of a published paper which addresses the first aim of the research and outlines the collaborative and multidisciplinary approach employed in the mail survey. The paper argued that forging alliances with those who are in a position to immediately utilise the findings of research has the potential to improve the quality and timely communication of research. Illustrating this timely communication, Chapter six comprises a report presented to Moreton Bay Regional Council (MBRC). This report addresses aim's one and two. The report contains a summary of participation in a range of environmentally friendly behaviours and identifies the beliefs which most strongly predicted walking for transport and switching off lights (from the mail survey). These salient beliefs were then recommended as targets for interventions and included: participants believing that they might save money; that their neighbours also switch off lights; that it would be inconvenient to walk for transport and that their closest friend also walks for transport. Chapter seven also addresses the second aim and presents a published conference paper in which the salient beliefs predicting the four specified behaviours (from both surveys) are identified and potential applications for intervention are discussed. Again, a range of TPB based beliefs, including descriptive normative beliefs, were predictive of environmentally friendly behaviour. This paper was also provided to MBRC, along with recommendations for applying the findings. For example, as descriptive normative beliefs were consistently correlated with environmentally friendly behaviour, local councils could engage in marketing and interventions (workshops, letter box drops, internet promotions) which encourage parents and friends to model, rather than simply encourage, environmentally friendly behaviour. The final two papers, presented in Chapters eight and nine, addresses the third aim of the project. These papers each present two behaviours together to inform a TPB based theoretical model with which to predict environmentally friendly behaviour. A generalised model is presented, which is found to predict the four specific behaviours under investigation. The role of demographics was explored across each of the behaviour specific models. It was found that some behaviour's differ by age, gender, income or education. In particular, adjusted models predicted more of the variance in walking for transport amongst younger participants and females. Adjusted models predicted more variance in switching off lights amongst those with a bachelor degree or higher and predicted more variance in switching off appliances amongst those on a higher income. Adjusted models predicted more variance in shopping with reusable bags for males, people 40 years or older, those on a higher income and those with a bachelor degree or higher. However, model structure and general predictability was relatively consistent overall. The models provide a general theoretical framework from which to better understand the motives and predictors of environmentally friendly behaviour. Conclusion. This research has provided an example of the benefits of a collaborative interdisciplinary approach. It has identified a number of salient beliefs which can be targeted for social marketing campaigns and educational initiatives; and these findings, along with recommendations, have been passed on to a local council to be used as part of their ongoing community engagement programs. Finally, the research has informed a practical model, as well as behaviour specific models, for predicting sustainable living behaviours. Such models can highlight important core constructs from which targeted interventions can be designed. Therefore, this research represents an important step in undertaking collaborative approaches to improving population health through human-environment interactions.

Rede social académica

O processo de Bolonha apresenta directivas para a construção de um espaço europeu de ensino superior. A adopção destas directivas requer uma abordagem que favoreça, na prática, a mobilidade dos estudantes que têm dificuldades em compreenderem as oportunidades que lhes são oferecidas. Neste contexto, esta dissertação explora a hipótese de utilização de uma rede social para apoiar a mobilidade de estudantes no espaço europeu. No âmbito desta dissertação propõe-se um modelo de conhecimento para representar os membros de uma rede social vocacionada para apoiar cenários de mobilidade, designada por rede social académica. Este modelo foi obtido pela fusão da ontologia Academic Ontology to Support the Bologna Mobility Process com a ontologia Friend of a Friend Ontology. Para efeitos de avaliação experimental, foi criado um demonstrador numa rede social disponível publicamente na Internet que utiliza uma versão simplificada do modelo proposto. Os cenários usados nas experiências representam situações reais às quais foi aplicado um processo rudimentar de descoberta de conhecimento

Mobile E-commerce business model – A value web based approach to business models in mobile gaming industry

Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tutkia langattomien internet palveluiden arvoverkkoa ja liiketoimintamalleja. Tutkimus oli luonteeltaan kvalitatiivinen ja siinä käytettiin strategiana konstruktiivista case-tutkimusta. Esimerkkipalveluna oli Treasure Hunters matkapuhelinpeli. Tutkimus muodostui teoreettisesta ja empiirisestä osasta. Teoriaosassa liitettiin innovaatio, liiketoimintamallit ja arvoverkko käsitteellisesti toisiinsa, sekä luotiin perusta liiketoimintamallien kehittämiselle. Empiirisessä osassa keskityttiin ensin liiketoimintamallien luomiseen kehitettyjen innovaatioiden pohjalta. Lopuksi pyrittiin määrittämään arvoverkko palvelun toteuttamiseksi. Tutkimusmenetelminä käytettiin innovaatiosessiota, haastatteluja ja lomakekyselyä. Tulosten pohjalta muodostettiin useita liiketoimintakonsepteja sekä kuvaus arvoverkon perusmallista langattomille peleille. Loppupäätelmänä todettiin että langattomat palvelut vaativat toteutuakseen useista toimijoista koostuvan arvoverkon.

Semantic organization to enhance active learning based on distributed multimedia educational resources

In order to organize distributed educational resources efficiently, to provide active learners an integrated, extendible and cohesive interface to share the dynamically growing multimedia learning materials on the Internet, this paper proposes a generic resource organization model with semantic structures to improve expressiveness, scalability and cohesiveness. We developed an active learning system with semantic support for learners to access and navigate through efficient and flexible manner. We learning resources in an efficient and flexible manner. We provide facilities for instructors to manipulate the structured educational resources via a convenient visual interface. We also developed a resource discovering and gathering engine based on complex semantic associations for several specific topics.

Using the Euclidean Distance as a Mechanism Distance between Signatures to the Detect Spam and Phishing Scams

Spams and Phishing Scams are some of the abuse forms on the Internet that have grown up now. These abuses influence in user's routine of electronic mail and in the infrastructure of Internet communication. So, this paper proposes a new model messages filter based in Euclidian distance, beyond show the containment's methodologies currently more used. A new model messages filter, based in frequency's distribution of character present in your content and in signature generation is described. An architecture to combat Phishing Scam and spam is proposed in order to contribute to the containment of attempted fraud by mail.

A Personal Agent Architecture for Task Automation in the Web of Data. Bringing intelligence to everyday tasks

Internet está evolucionando hacia la conocida como Live Web. En esta nueva etapa en la evolución de Internet, se pone al servicio de los usuarios multitud de streams de datos sociales. Gracias a estas fuentes de datos, los usuarios han pasado de navegar por páginas web estáticas a interacturar con aplicaciones que ofrecen contenido personalizado, basada en sus preferencias. Cada usuario interactúa a diario con multiples aplicaciones que ofrecen notificaciones y alertas, en este sentido cada usuario es una fuente de eventos, y a menudo los usuarios se sienten desbordados y no son capaces de procesar toda esa información a la carta. Para lidiar con esta sobresaturación, han aparecido múltiples herramientas que automatizan las tareas más habituales, desde gestores de bandeja de entrada, gestores de alertas en redes sociales, a complejos CRMs o smart-home hubs. La contrapartida es que aunque ofrecen una solución a problemas comunes, no pueden adaptarse a las necesidades de cada usuario ofreciendo una solucion personalizada. Los Servicios de Automatización de Tareas (TAS de sus siglas en inglés) entraron en escena a partir de 2012 para dar solución a esta liminación. Dada su semejanza, estos servicios también son considerados como un nuevo enfoque en la tecnología de mash-ups pero centra en el usuarios. Los usuarios de estas plataformas tienen la capacidad de interconectar servicios, sensores y otros aparatos con connexión a internet diseñando las automatizaciones que se ajustan a sus necesidades. La propuesta ha sido ámpliamante aceptada por los usuarios. Este hecho ha propiciado multitud de plataformas que ofrecen servicios TAS entren en escena. Al ser un nuevo campo de investigación, esta tesis presenta las principales características de los TAS, describe sus componentes, e identifica las dimensiones fundamentales que los defines y permiten su clasificación. En este trabajo se acuña el termino Servicio de Automatización de Tareas (TAS) dando una descripción formal para estos servicios y sus componentes (llamados canales), y proporciona una arquitectura de referencia. De igual forma, existe una falta de herramientas para describir servicios de automatización, y las reglas de automatización. A este respecto, esta tesis propone un modelo común que se concreta en la ontología EWE (Evented WEb Ontology). Este modelo permite com parar y equiparar canales y automatizaciones de distintos TASs, constituyendo un aporte considerable paraa la portabilidad de automatizaciones de usuarios entre plataformas. De igual manera, dado el carácter semántico del modelo, permite incluir en las automatizaciones elementos de fuentes externas sobre los que razonar, como es el caso de Linked Open Data. Utilizando este modelo, se ha generado un dataset de canales y automatizaciones, con los datos obtenidos de algunos de los TAS existentes en el mercado. Como último paso hacia el lograr un modelo común para describir TAS, se ha desarrollado un algoritmo para aprender ontologías de forma automática a partir de los datos del dataset. De esta forma, se favorece el descubrimiento de nuevos canales, y se reduce el coste de mantenimiento del modelo, el cual se actualiza de forma semi-automática. En conclusión, las principales contribuciones de esta tesis son: i) describir el estado del arte en automatización de tareas y acuñar el término Servicio de Automatización de Tareas, ii) desarrollar una ontología para el modelado de los componentes de TASs y automatizaciones, iii) poblar un dataset de datos de canales y automatizaciones, usado para desarrollar un algoritmo de aprendizaje automatico de ontologías, y iv) diseñar una arquitectura de agentes para la asistencia a usuarios en la creación de automatizaciones. ABSTRACT The new stage in the evolution of the Web (the Live Web or Evented Web) puts lots of social data-streams at the service of users, who no longer browse static web pages but interact with applications that present them contextual and relevant experiences. Given that each user is a potential source of events, a typical user often gets overwhelmed. To deal with that huge amount of data, multiple automation tools have emerged, covering from simple social media managers or notification aggregators to complex CRMs or smart-home Hub/Apps. As a downside, they cannot tailor to the needs of every single user. As a natural response to this downside, Task Automation Services broke in the Internet. They may be seen as a new model of mash-up technology for combining social streams, services and connected devices from an end-user perspective: end-users are empowered to connect those stream however they want, designing the automations they need. The numbers of those platforms that appeared early on shot up, and as a consequence the amount of platforms following this approach is growing fast. Being a novel field, this thesis aims to shed light on it, presenting and exemplifying the main characteristics of Task Automation Services, describing their components, and identifying several dimensions to classify them. This thesis coins the term Task Automation Services (TAS) by providing a formal definition of them, their components (called channels), as well a TAS reference architecture. There is also a lack of tools for describing automation services and automations rules. In this regard, this thesis proposes a theoretical common model of TAS and formalizes it as the EWE ontology This model enables to compare channels and automations from different TASs, which has a high impact in interoperability; and enhances automations providing a mechanism to reason over external sources such as Linked Open Data. Based on this model, a dataset of components of TAS was built, harvesting data from the web sites of actual TASs. Going a step further towards this common model, an algorithm for categorizing them was designed, enabling their discovery across different TAS. Thus, the main contributions of the thesis are: i) surveying the state of the art on task automation and coining the term Task Automation Service; ii) providing a semantic common model for describing TAS components and automations; iii) populating a categorized dataset of TAS components, used to learn ontologies of particular domains from the TAS perspective; and iv) designing an agent architecture for assisting users in setting up automations, that is aware of their context and acts in consequence.

An analysis of the automobile market: modeling of the long-run determinants of the demand for automobiles. Volume III: appendices to the Wharton E.F.A. Automobile Demand Model. Final report.

Transportation Department, Washington, D.C.

ADVERTISEMENT ALLOCATION AND TRUST MECHANISMS DESIGN IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social network sites (SNS), such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter, have attracted hundreds of millions of users daily since their appearance. Within SNS, users connect to each other, express their identity, disseminate information and form cooperation by interacting with their connected peers. The increasing popularity and ubiquity of SNS usage and the invaluable user behaviors and connections give birth to many applications and business models. We look into several important problems within the social network ecosystem. The first one is the SNS advertisement allocation problem. The other two are related to trust mechanisms design in social network setting, including local trust inference and global trust evaluation. In SNS advertising, we study the problem of advertisement allocation from the ad platform's angle, and discuss its differences with the advertising model in the search engine setting. By leveraging the connection between social networks and hyperbolic geometry, we propose to solve the problem via approximation using hyperbolic embedding and convex optimization. A hyperbolic embedding method, \hcm, is designed for the SNS ad allocation problem, and several components are introduced to realize the optimization formulation. We show the advantages of our new approach in solving the problem compared to the baseline integer programming (IP) formulation. In studying the problem of trust mechanisms in social networks, we consider the existence of distrust (i.e. negative trust) relationships, and differentiate between the concept of local trust and global trust in social network setting. In the problem of local trust inference, we propose a 2-D trust model. Based on the model, we develop a semiring-based trust inference framework. In global trust evaluation, we consider a general setting with conflicting opinions, and propose a consensus-based approach to solve the complex problem in signed trust networks.

`A Reporter's Paper': The National Thrift News, Journalistic Autonomy and the Savings and Loan Crisis

Business journalism comes under persistent criticism for serving its historic readership of brokers and business people while lacking sufficient autonomy and failing to sufficiently question or challenge powerful corporate and economic interests. This is a dominant theme in media criticism of the savings and loan crisis⁠ and 2008 financial crisis.⁠ Against this backdrop, this dissertation asks: Is this critique valid, and if so, how can business journalism improve? To engage these questions, this dissertation examines the question of autonomy in business journalism in an unlikely place: the trade press. The central case study is coverage of the savings and loan crisis by the National Thrift News, a small financial services newspaper that won a George Polk award for its reporting in 1988. How could a small trade newspaper succeed in some instances when larger news organizations failed to connect the dots? The National Thrift News created a newsroom environment that celebrated reporter autonomy and independence. In some cases, it used its insider knowledge and consistent beat reporting to serve both its core readers and the broader society by uncovering savings and loan corruption. This study will highlight a long-running debate among theorists of journalistic professionalism by arguing that the commercial and advertising model in journalism does not inevitably compromise journalistic independence⁠ but rather can help pave a way forward for a more independent press. It therefore challenges the political economy critique of journalism, which holds that external forces such as capitalism harm press independence. This case suggests journalistic independence and individual agency remain powerful forces in newsrooms. Lastly, the dissertation argues that in an era of media downsizing, the trade press can perform an even more useful watchdog role over industry if the mainstream news media acknowledges and pursues some of the innovative trade reporting.

Internet share of advertising expenditure : growth drivers and inhibitors in the brazilian market

Os investimentos com publicidade na Internet como uma percentagem das despesas totais de publicidade variam significativamente de um país para outro. O número é tão baixo quanto 4,7% no mercado brasileiro e tão alto como 28,5% no mercado britânico (ZenithOptimedia, 2011b). Algumas razões explicam tal disparidade. No nível macro, a participação dos gastos com publicidade na Internet está fortemente ligada a variáveis como o produto interno bruto per capita e à penetração da Internet na população. No nível micro, uma pesquisa qualitativa foi feita para identificar os fatores que contribuem e inibem o crescimento da participação da publicidade online no mercado brasileiro. A vasta lista de inibidores parece ter profundo impacto sobre como os profissionais de mercado tomar decisões de alocação de investimento em publicidade por tipo de mídia. Devido à legislação, à auto-regulamentação e às dinâmicas da indústria, grande parte da tomada de decisão é realizada por agências de publicidade. Estas parecem ter fortes incentivos econômicos para selecionar outros tipos de mídia e não a Internet ao definir planos de mídia. Ao mesmo tempo, a legislação e a auto-regulamentação fornecem desincentivos para corretores de mídia a operar no mercado local. A falta de profissionais qualificados e a padronização limitada também desempenham papéis importante para inibir uma maior participação da Internet nos gastos com publicidade no Brasil. A convergência dos resultados quantitativos com os qualitativos indica possíveis motivos pelos quais a participação da publicidade online no Brasil é tão baixa. Em primeiro lugar, a participação é explicada pelo estágio de desenvolvimento dos países. Quanto mais rico e mais desenvolvido um país, maior a proporção de gastos com publicidade online tende a ser. Em segundo lugar, o estágio econômico emergente do Brasil potencialmente dá espaço para o aumento do ineficiências do mercado, tais como programas de descontos oferecidos de forma desproporcional para os principais decisores de alocação de investimentos de mídia. Este fato aparentemente produz um feedback negativo, contribuindo para manter a baixa participação da publicidade online no total dos investimentos publicitários.

Advergaming e In-game advertising: Attori e contesti di una forma emergente di Internet marketing

Due nuove mode che si stanno propagando sempre più tra gli innumerevoli tentativi di realizzare nuovi formati di pubblicità on-line sono la pubblicità che diventa videogame gratuito, giocabile on-line o scaricabile, chiamata advergame, e la collocazione di pubblicità, oramai nella stragrande maggioranza dinamiche, nei videogames sopratutto di grandi software house, chiamata in-game advertising. Infatti nella società odierna i pubblicitari devono camuffare i consigli per gli acquisti per fare in modo che non vengano rifiutati. L'advergame in passato è stato lodato per il suo metodo innovativo di fare pubblicità. La sua caratteristica è la capacità di divertire e intrattenere l'utente ottenendo una connotazione non intrusiva e un effetto fidelizzante, peculiarità che fa di questo mezzo uno strumento potenzialmente molto valido. Si tratta, in parole povere, di videogames spesso multiplayer, nei quali gli scenari, gli oggetti e i personaggi evocano determinati brand o prodotti. Per quello che invece riguarda l'in-game advertising, si tratta di una forma particolarmente efficace di pubblicità che permette di ottenere dei tassi di ricordo rilevanti e che consente un elevato coinvolgimento emotivo. E' a livello della creazione degli spazi pubblicitari che si scatena la fantasia degli sviluppatori: se nei giochi sportivi basta trasporre in 3D gli spazi pubblicitari presenti solitamente nella realtà, in altre tipologie di gioco è necessario sfruttare parti dell'ambientazione o creare degli intermezzi atti allo scopo. Esempio tipico è quello di manifesti pubblicitari inseriti in spazi di gioco come le locande, soprattutto nei giochi di ruolo e nelle avventure grafiche. Gli investimenti in queste particolari forme di comunicazione, crescono a tassi elevatissimi e il business è molto allettante, non a caso le principali agenzie specializzate in materia sono state acquisite da grandi colossi: AdScape Media da Google e Massive Inc. da Microsoft. L'advergame e l'in-game advertising possono essere usati per lanciare un nuovo prodotto sul mercato, per rafforzare l'immagine del brand e per ottenere un database di utenti disposti ad essere sollecitati per ottenere in modo facile e non dispendioso riscontri su future attività di marketing. Perciò mi sono proposto di analizzare la situazione odierna del marketing, in particolare la parte che riguarda la pubblicità, i vantaggi ottenuti da questa scienza dallo sviluppo tecnologico, fattore che ha determinato la nascita dei due formati pubblicitari in esame e analizzati in seguito. Inoltre effettuerò l'analisi del fenomeno che vede i grandi colossi dell'IT tentare l'inserimento come agenzie intermediarie fra le software house da una parte e le grandi multinazionali dall'altra, queste ultime alla ricerca di nuovi canali più profittevoli dove sponsorizzare le proprie attività. Cercherò infine di capire le scelte di tutti gli attori che girano attorno a questi formati pubblicitari e i benefici che ne traggono per ipotizzare quale sarà il contesto che si andrà a delineare.

Misure di audience nell'Internet Advertising: studio di caso della start-up "Taggalo"

L’avvento di Internet e delle innovazioni tecnologiche hanno determinato una rivoluzione nel panorama della comunicazione e dell’informazione soprattutto in quello pubblicitario. La pubblicità online (in inglese Advertising Online o Internet Advertising) è un fenomeno in continua crescita. Rispetto ai media tradizionali come la stampa e la televisione dove i contenuti sono trasmessi in modo generico e di massa, l’Advertising Online sfrutta la capacità del World Wide Web al fine di raggiungere una quantità notevole di persone permettendo di attuare campagne pubblicitarie verso un target mirato. In questo settore la facilità di misurare l'effetto nei confronti del pubblico permette alle aziende di investire in questo tipo di mercato rispetto a quello tradizionale poiché, in quest'ultimo l’assenza di strumenti di misurazione è basata su rilevanze teoriche. In riferimento a quanto citato, un’oggetto di studio e di analisi presentato in questa tesi riguarda la start-up TAGGALO un sistema ideato e sviluppato da un gruppo di ricercatori del CNR Puglia. Questa soluzione tecnologia è applicata nel campo pubblicitario del Digital out of Home e del Digital Signage dove la comunicazione del messaggio viene percepita dal potenziale cliente mentre è fuori casa mediante l’uso di schermi elettronici disposti nella maggior parte dei luoghi pubblici. Attraverso questa tecnologia è possibile rilevare il reale impatto della pubblicità online, rappresentando una soluzione efficace per misurare il reale ritorno per chi investe ovvero il ROI.