Information or context : what accounts for positional proximity between the European Commission and lobbyists?

Peer reviewed

The effects of mobile real-time information on rural passengers

The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Research Hub; award reference: EP/G066051/1/.

Understanding the Diversity of User Requirements for Interactive Online Health Services

Peer reviewed

Young students' use of the internet for mental health information and support

It is recognized that young people experience difficulties in accessing mainstream mental health services particularly because of the stigma that remains associated with mental health problems. One potential solution is to use the many websites available offering information and support for mental health problems, such support and information could be offered by Psychiatric Nurses. However, young peoples' usage and views on using the Internet for this purpose has yet to be examined. This quantitative descriptive study aimed to elicit the views of 922 University students, aged between 18 and 24 years, on using the Internet for mental health information and support. Data were collected using a 30-item self-designed questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics. The findings indicated that 72.4% of participants used the Internet several times a day. In addition, 30.8% had previously searched for mental health information online, predominantly on depression. While it was found that 68% of participants indicated that they would use the Internet for mental health support if they needed to, 79.4% would still prefer face to face support. It is concluded that young people are willing to use the Internet for mental health information and that it represents a viable source of support for this age group.

Mining the Online Social Network Data: Influence, Summarization, and Organization

Online Social Network (OSN) services provided by Internet companies bring people together to chat, share the information, and enjoy the information. Meanwhile, huge amounts of data are generated by those services (they can be regarded as the social media ) every day, every hour, even every minute, and every second. Currently, researchers are interested in analyzing the OSN data, extracting interesting patterns from it, and applying those patterns to real-world applications. However, due to the large-scale property of the OSN data, it is difficult to effectively analyze it. This dissertation focuses on applying data mining and information retrieval techniques to mine two key components in the social media data — users and user-generated contents. Specifically, it aims at addressing three problems related to the social media users and contents: (1) how does one organize the users and the contents? (2) how does one summarize the textual contents so that users do not have to go over every post to capture the general idea? (3) how does one identify the influential users in the social media to benefit other applications, e.g., Marketing Campaign? The contribution of this dissertation is briefly summarized as follows. (1) It provides a comprehensive and versatile data mining framework to analyze the users and user-generated contents from the social media. (2) It designs a hierarchical co-clustering algorithm to organize the users and contents. (3) It proposes multi-document summarization methods to extract core information from the social network contents. (4) It introduces three important dimensions of social influence, and a dynamic influence model for identifying influential users.

WHEN INTERACTING ONLINE LEADS TO TAKING ACTION OFFLINE: EXAMINING THE EFFECTS OF ONLINE PERSUASION ON IS USERS’ PRO-ENVIRONMENTAL BEHAVIOURS

With the increasing attention towards the role of information systems (IS) as a vehicle to address environmental issues, IS researchers and practitioners have strived to leverage advanced Green IS innovations to persuade people to engage in environmentally responsible practices and support pro-environmental initiatives. Yet, existing research reveals that the persuasion effects of Green IS designs remain equivocal. In particular, many design characteristics advocated in Green IS research can produce bi-directional changes in IS users’ attitudes and behaviours. To address this issue, this thesis drew upon the circumplex model of social values (S.H. Schwartz, 1992) to explain when and how online persuasion designs come to affect people’s judgements on resource conservation and environmental protection. Three sets of working propositions and specific hypotheses were developed. Specifically, this research suggests that the use of an IS application can elicit different value primes and draw IS users’ attentions to different motivational functions of engaging in suggested behavioural changes. It is expected that matching online persuasion appeals with IS users’ personal value priorities can increase users’ acceptance of online behavioural suggestions. Second, it is hypothesized that the persuasion effect tends to be weakened, as the system users become aware of the valuematching design in a given IS application. Third, it is proposed that different value primes presented in an IS application can result in different unintended effects on IS users’ global pro-environmental attitudes and motivations. The hypotheses were tested in the two pilot studies and two full-scale online experiments. The study findings generally support the main predictions of the hypotheses. On the one hand, this thesis providesiii empirical evidence that IS design for online persuasion can be instrumental in influencing IS users’ judgements on a range of resource conservation practices. On the other hand, this work explains why the effectiveness of IS-enabled online persuasion attempts needs to be measured not only in terms of the intended changes in a target behavioural domain but also in terms of unintended changes in people’s general environmental orientations. Findings in this research may bring a different perspective on understanding and assessing the influence of Green IS applications on IS users’ judgements and behaviou

El impacto de la presencia online en las cuentas de Twitter de las universidades vascas y navarras

Las Universidades han tenido que adaptarse a los nuevos modelos de comunicación surgidos en la época de Internet. Dentro de estos nuevos paradigmas las redes sociales han irrumpido y Twitter se ha establecido como una de las más importantes. El objetivo de esta investigación es demostrar que existe una relación entre la presencia online de una Universidad, definida por la cantidad de información disponible en Internet, y su cuenta en Twitter. Para ello se analizó la relación entre la presencia online y los perfiles oficiales de las cinco universidades del País Vasco y Navarra. Los resultados demostraron la existencia de una correlación significativa entre la presencia online de las instituciones y el número de seguidores de sus respectivas cuentas. En segundo lugar, esta investigación se planteó si Twitter puede servir para potenciar la presencia online de una Universidad. Es por eso que se formuló una segunda hipótesis que buscaba analizar si tener varias cuentas en Twitter aumentaría la presencia online de las Universidades. Los hallazgos para esta segunda hipótesis demostraron una correlación muy significativa entre tener varios perfiles en Twitter y la presencia online de las Universidades. Así queda demostrada la importancia de la presencia online para las cuentas de Twitter y la relevancia de Twitter a la hora de potenciar la presencia online de los centros.

The activity of the feminist online publications: challenges for the transmission of the feminist culture in Spain

Traditionally, big media corporations have contributed to hiding the women’s movement itself, as well as its main claims and topics of discussion (Marx, Myra y Hess, 1995; Rhode, 1995; Mendes, 2011). This has led the feminist movement to develop its own media generally print publications, usually, with a very specialized character and reduced audience. This is similar to what has occurred with quality main stream media, asthese publications have had to adapt themselves to a new communicatiion context, because of the financial crisis and  technological evolution. Feminist media has found in the Internet an excellent opportunity to access citizens and communicate their messages. , In view of this scene of change and renovation,  this article offers the results of a qualitative analysis focused on the experiences of four feminist online media sites edited in Spain: Pikaramagazine.com, Proyecto-kahlo.com, Mujeresenred.net and Laindependent.cat. Besides exploring the characteristics and content of these sites, the article pays attention to the virality of their contents spread through Facebook and Twitter. The onclusion estimates their social impact, insofar as they symbolize the specialization, diversification and dialogue promoted by the Web.

Completion strategy or emphasis manipulation? Task support for teaching information problem solving

While most students seem to solve information problems effortlessly, research shows that the cognitive skills for effective information problem solving are often underdeveloped. Students manage to find information and formulate solutions, but the quality of their process and product is questionable. It is therefore important to develop instruction for fostering these skills. In this research, a 2-h online intervention was presented to first-year university students with the goal to improve their information problem solving skills while investigating effects of different types of built-in task support. A training design containing completion tasks was compared to a design using emphasis manipulation. A third variant of the training combined both approaches. In two experiments, these conditions were compared to a control condition receiving conventional tasks without built-in task support. Results of both experiments show that students' information problem solving skills are underdeveloped, which underlines the necessity for formal training. While the intervention improved students’ skills, no differences were found between conditions. The authors hypothesize that the effective presentation of supportive information in the form of a modeling example at the start of the training caused a strong learning effect, which masked effects of task support. Limitations and directions for future research are presented.

Newcomer Integration in Online Knowledge Communities: Exploring the Role of Dialogic Textual Complexity

Using online knowledge communities (OKCs) as informal learning environments poses the question how likely these will integrate newcomers as peripheral participants. Previous research has identified surface characteristics of the OKC dialog as integrativity predictors. Yet, little is known about the role of dialogic textual complexity. This contribution proposes a comprehensive approach based on previously validated textual complexity indexes and applies it to predict OKC integrativity. The dialog analysis of N = 14 blogger communities with a total of 1937 participants identified three main components of textual complexity: dialog participation, structure and cohesion. From these, dialog cohesion was higher in integrative OKCs, thus significantly predicting OKC integrativity. This result adds to previous OKC research by uncovering the depth of OKC discourse. For educational practice, the study suggests a way of empowering learners by automatically assessing the integrativity of OKCs in which they may attempt to participate and access community knowledge.

ReaderBench goes Online: A Comprehension-Centered Framework for Educational Purposes

In this paper we introduce the online version of our ReaderBench framework, which includes multi-lingual comprehension-centered web services designed to address a wide range of individual and collaborative learning scenarios, as follows. First, students can be engaged in reading a course material, then eliciting their understanding of it; the reading strategies component provides an in-depth perspective of comprehension processes. Second, students can write an essay or a summary; the automated essay grading component provides them access to more than 200 textual complexity indices covering lexical, syntax, semantics and discourse structure measurements. Third, students can start discussing in a chat or a forum; the Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) component provides indepth conversation analysis in terms of evaluating each member’s involvement in the CSCL environments. Eventually, the sentiment analysis, as well as the semantic models and topic mining components enable a clearer perspective in terms of learner’s points of view and of underlying interests.

A Two-Stage Online Approach for Collaborative Multi-Agent Planning under Uncertainty

In a team of multiple agents, the pursuance of a common goal is a defining characteristic. Since agents may have different capabilities, and effects of actions may be uncertain, a common goal can generally only be achieved through a careful cooperation between the different agents. In this work, we propose a novel two-stage planner that combines online planning at both team level and individual level through a subgoal delegation scheme. The proposal brings the advantages of online planning approaches to the multi-agent setting. A number of modifications are made to a classical UCT approximate algorithm to (i) adapt it to the application domains considered, (ii) reduce the branching factor in the underlying search process, and (iii) effectively manage uncertain information of action effects by using information fusion mechanisms. The proposed online multi-agent planner reduces the cost of planning and decreases the temporal cost of reaching a goal, while significantly increasing the chance of success of achieving the common goal. 

Suporte, Stress e Solidão: um estudo sobre o apoio offline e online percecionado pelas mães portuguesas

Uma “rede social” diz respeito a uma estrutura constituída por pessoas ou organizações que partilham interesses, motivações e valores comuns. Um ponto partilhado pelos diversos tipos de rede social é a troca de informações, conhecimentos, interesses e esforços na tentativa de atingir objectivos comuns, muitas vezes potencializando forças e recursos em situações de crise. Recentemente tem-se ouvido falar bastante deste conceito aplicado à internet. A maternidade constitui, por si só, um momento de crise na vida de cada família e de cada mulher, requerendo adaptações e mudanças. O estudo realizado teve o intuito de avaliar o suporte online e offline (denominando-se essas ligações de redes sociais), no caso específico de assuntos ligados à maternidade. Pretendeu-se verificar também se existia uma correlação entre estes tipos de suporte e os níveis de stress e solidão sentidos pelas mães. Por último, aferiu-se ainda a influência que a idade dos filhos teria nesta adesão a grupos de suporte à maternidade, no Facebook. Este estudo teve uma amostra constituída por 170 mulheres (mães), estando as suas idades compreendidas entre os 25 e os 62 anos. Os resultados revelaram que apesar de não haver diferenças estatisticamente significativas entre o apoio online e offline, as mulheres que pertencem a grupos do Facebook tendem a sentir mais suporte por parte das plataformas de suporte disponíveis. Constatou-se ainda que não existem diferenças significativas entre os níveis de solidão e stress, entre mães que pertencem a grupos e mães que não pertencem. Foi interessante verificar que as mulheres com filhos mais novos (faixa etária dos 0-4 anos) têm uma presença mais significativa em grupos de apoio à maternidade, no Facebook. Pensamos que isso se deve às dúvidas e ao stresse gerado por um primeiro filho ou pela introdução de mais um filho no núcleo familiar, nos primeiros anos em que tal ocorre, procurando por isso mais activamente grupos que ajudem como rede de suporte, para partilhas, apoio emocional e esclarecimento de dúvidas. / A “social network” refers to a structure formed by individuals or organisations that share interests, motivations and common values. A feature shared by several types of social network is the exchange of information, knowledge, interests and efforts, in an attempt to achieve common goals, often potentiating strengths and resources in crisis situations. Recently, we have heard of this concept applied to the internet. Motherhood is, by itself, a moment of crisis in the life of every family and every woman, requiring adaptations and changes. This study aimed to assess online and offline supports (being these connections themselves denominated social networks), in the specific case of motherhood-related issues. It was also intended to confirm whether there was a correlation between these types of support and stress and loneliness levels sensed by mothers. Finally, it was evaluated as well the influence that the children’s age would have on this adherence to motherhood support groups on Facebook. This study had a sample of 170 women (mothers), with ages between 25 and 62 years. The results showed that, although there are no statistically significant differences between the online and offline support, women who belong to Facebook groups tend to feel more support from the available support platforms. It was shown as well that there are no significant differences between loneliness and stress levels among mothers who belong to groups and mothers who do not belong to those groups. It was interesting to find that women with young children (aged 0-4 years old) have a more significant presence in motherhood support groups on Facebook. We think that this is due to the doubts and the stress generated by a first child or the introduction of another child in the household, therefore making sense that they seek, in the early years of the child’s life, groups that help as a support network, for shares, emotional support and answering questions.

Wasta in the Jordanian Culture: a Study in the Banking Sector

Due to globalisation, the emergence and expansion of new overseas markets, extensive use of information and communication technologies in global trade and growing competition between multinational companies, international Human Resource Management (HRM) is an increasingly attractive and popular area of study. However, much of our knowledge is built on an Anglo-Saxon/ European base and there is a paucity of research that considers the transfer of modern (western) principles of HRM to developing countries, particularly in the Middle East. Arguably, Jordan is one country that may benefit from the promise of quality, equality and profitability offered by the systemic approach to managing people. Thus, this paper introduces a PhD research project, currently in its first year, that considers the transfer of western recruitment and selection frameworks into Jordanian culture.

Optics-Based Quantum Information and Sensing Platforms Utilizing the Nitrogen-Vacancy Center in Diamond

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08