Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country Survey

Problem statement: Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. Research questions: Where do you usually find information about dietary fibre? What means of communication do you consider the most appropriate to encourage the consumption of dietary fibre? Purpose of the study: This work aimed at studying the sources of information about dietary fibre, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences.   Research Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. Findings: Mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but television is recognized as suitable. Differences were found between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet (preferred source), got highest scores for Hungary, urban areas, university education and female gender. The radio (least scored source) was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). Conclusions: People get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centres and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

Collecting valuable consumer data: Motivating consumers to disclose personal information

Collecting and analyzing consumer data is essential in today’s data-driven business environment. However, consumers are becoming more aware of the value of the information they can provide to companies, thereby being more reluctant to share it for free. Therefore, companies need to find ways to motivate consumers to disclose personal information. The main research question of the study was formed as “How can companies motivate consumers to disclose personal information?” and it was further divided into two subquestions: 1) What types of benefits motivate consumers to disclose personal information? 2) How does the disclosure context affect the consumers’ information disclosure behavior? The conceptual framework consisted of a classification of extrinsic and intrinsic benefits, and moderating factors, which were recognized on the basis of prior research in the field. The study was conducted by using qualitative research methods. The primary data was collected by interviewing ten representatives from eight companies. The data was analyzed and reported according to predetermined themes. The findings of the study confirm that consumers can be motivated to disclose personal information by offering different types of extrinsic (monetary saving, time saving, self-enhancement, and social adjustment) and intrinsic (novelty, pleasure, and altruism) benefits. However, not all the benefits are equally useful ways to convince the customer to disclose information. Moreover, different factors in the disclosure context can either alleviate or increase the effectiveness of the benefits and the consumers’ motivation to disclose personal information. Such factors include the consumer’s privacy concerns, perceived trust towards the company, the relevancy of the requested information, personalization, website elements (especially security, usability, and aesthetics of a website), and the consumer’s shopping motivation. This study has several contributions. It is essential that companies recognize the most attractive benefits regarding their business and their customers, and that they understand how the disclosure context affects the consumer’s information disclosure behavior. The likelihood of information disclosure can be increased, for example, by offering benefits that meet the consumers’ needs and preferences, improving the relevancy of the asked information, stating the reasons for data collection, creating and maintaining a trustworthy image of the company, and enhancing the quality of the company’s website.

Brief report: preliminary proposal of a conceptual model of a digital environment for developing mathematical reasoning in students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

There is clear evidence that in typically developing children reasoning and sense-making are essential in all mathematical learning and understanding processes. In children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), however, these become much more significant, considering their importance to successful independent living. This paper presents a preliminary proposal of a digital environment, specifically targeted to promote the development of mathematical reasoning in students with ASD. Given the diversity of ASD, the prototyping of this environment requires the study of dynamic adaptation processes and the development of activities adjusted to each user’s profile. We present the results obtained during the first phase of this ongoing research, describing a conceptual model of the proposed digital environment. Guidelines for future research are also discussed.

Essays on Uncertainty, Imperfect Information, and Investment Dynamics

Understanding how imperfect information affects firms' investment decision helps answer important questions in economics, such as how we may better measure economic uncertainty; how firms' forecasts would affect their decision-making when their beliefs are not backed by economic fundamentals; and how important are the business cycle impacts of changes in firms' productivity uncertainty in an environment of incomplete information. This dissertation provides a synthetic answer to all these questions, both empirically and theoretically. The first chapter, provides empirical evidence to demonstrate that survey-based forecast dispersion identifies a distinctive type of second moment shocks different from the canonical volatility shocks to productivity, i.e. uncertainty shocks. Such forecast disagreement disturbances can affect the distribution of firm-level beliefs regardless of whether or not belief changes are backed by changes in economic fundamentals. At the aggregate level, innovations that increase the dispersion of firms' forecasts lead to persistent declines in aggregate investment and output, which are followed by a slow recovery. On the contrary, the larger dispersion of future firm-specific productivity innovations, the standard way to measure economic uncertainty, delivers the ``wait and see" effect, such that aggregate investment experiences a sharp decline, followed by a quick rebound, and then overshoots. At the firm level, data uncovers that more productive firms increase investments given rises in productivity dispersion for the future, whereas investments drop when firms disagree more about the well-being of their future business conditions. These findings challenge the view that the dispersion of the firms' heterogeneous beliefs captures the concept of economic uncertainty, defined by a model of uncertainty shocks. The second chapter presents a general equilibrium model of heterogeneous firms subject to the real productivity uncertainty shocks and informational disagreement shocks. As firms cannot perfectly disentangle aggregate from idiosyncratic productivity because of imperfect information, information quality thus drives the wedge of difference between the unobserved productivity fundamentals, and the firms' beliefs about how productive they are. Distribution of the firms' beliefs is no longer perfectly aligned with the distribution of firm-level productivity across firms. This model not only explains why, at the macro and micro level, disagreement shocks are different from uncertainty shocks, as documented in Chapter 1, but helps reconcile a key challenge faced by the standard framework to study economic uncertainty: a trade-off between sizable business cycle effects due to changes in uncertainty, and the right amount of pro-cyclicality of firm-level investment rate dispersion, as measured by its correlation with the output cycles.

The library of the Institute of Alajuela address the information and communication technologies: User training and information literacy

The Library of the Institute of Alajuela made an induction experience and training of users and ventured into the information literacy and engaged in the work of the teaching-learning as an integral part of the curriculum. The actions of the library in developing search strategies, location, selection and use of information brought inthe health service, changes to the role of the library, the librarian, the book and the information in the educational environment.By sharing this experience is intended to provide information that can motivate staff of educational institutions that wish toenter the field of information literacy as a strategy to support the development oflifelong independent learning skills and meaningful learning. Currently, the library should be a proactive part in the education of students but also teachers, administrative and family.This will result in a benefit to Costa Rica: the development of youth and their proper integration into the workplace.

Bioqueries: a collaborative environment to create, explore and share SPARQL queries in Life Sciences

Bioqueries provides a collaborative environment to create, explore, execute, clone and share SPARQL queries (including Federated Queries). Federated SPARQL queries can retrieve information from more than one data source.

Correlations among behavior, performance and environment in broiler breeders using multivariate analysis

Animal welfare issues have received much attention not only to supply farmed animal requirements, but also to ethical and cultural public concerns. Daily collected information, as well as the systematic follow-up of production stages, produces important statistical data for production assessment and control, as well as for improvement possibilities. In this scenario, this research study analyzed behavioral, production, and environmental data using Main Component Multivariable Analysis, which correlated observed behaviors, recorded using video cameras and electronic identification, with performance parameters of female broiler breeders. The aim was to start building a system to support decision-making in broiler breeder housing, based on bird behavioral parameters. Birds were housed in an environmental chamber, with three pens with different controlled environments. Bird sensitivity to environmental conditions were indicated by their behaviors, stressing the importance of behavioral observations for modern poultry management. A strong association between performance parameters and the behavior at the nest, suggesting that this behavior may be used to predict productivity. The behaviors of ruffling feathers, opening wings, preening, and at the drinker were negatively correlated with environmental temperature, suggesting that the increase of in the frequency of these behaviors indicate improvement of thermal welfare.

Bioqueries: a collaborative environment to create, explore and share SPARQL queries in Life Sciences

Bioqueries provides a collaborative environment to create, explore, execute, clone and share SPARQL queries (including Federated Queries). Federated SPARQL queries can retrieve information from more than one data source.

Sources of Information about Dietary Fibre: A Cross-Country Survey

Dietary fibre (DF) has been recognized as a major determinant for improvement of health. Hence the means of information through which people become aware of its benefits are crucial. This work aimed at studying the sources of information about DF, as a means to educate people about aspects related to healthy eating. Factors such as gender, level of education, living environment or country were evaluated as to their effect on the selection of sources and preferences. For this, a descriptive cross-sectional study by means of a questionnaire, applied to a non-probabilistic sample of 6010 participants from 10 countries in different continents (Europe, Africa and America), answered after informed consent by all participants. For the analysis were used several descriptive statistics tools, crosstabs and chi square test to assess the relations between some of the variables under study. The results showed that mostly the information about DF comes from the internet, but the participants recognize that television might be a most suitable way to disseminate information about DF. The results also indicated differences between genders, levels of education, living environments and countries. The internet, the preferred source of information, got highest scores for Hungary, for urban areas, for university level of education and for female gender. The radio, the least scored source of information, was preferred in Egypt, for men and with lower education (primary school). As a conclusion, people get information through the internet due to easy access. However, it is to some extent a risk given the impossibility to control de information made public on the internet. The role of health centers and hospitals as well as schools should definitely be increased, as a responsible way to ensure correct information.

The quality of the physical environment and its association with activities and well-being among older people in residential care facilities

The physical environment can influence older people’s health and well-being, and is often mentioned as being an important factor for person-centred care. Due to high levels of frail health, many older people spend a majority of their time within care facilities and depend on the physical environment for support in their daily life. However, the quality of the physical environment is rarely evaluated, and knowledge is sparse in terms of how well the environment meets the needs of older people. This is partly due to the lack of valid and reliable instruments that could provide important information on environmental quality. Aim: The aim of this thesis was to study the quality of the physical environment in Swedish care facilities for older people, and how it relates to residents’ activities and well-being. Methods: The thesis comprises four papers where both qualitative and quantitative methods were used. Study I involved the translation and adaptation of the Sheffield Care Environment Assessment Matrix (SCEAM) into a Swedish version (S-SCEAM). Several methods were used including forward and backward translation, test of validity via expert consultation and reliability tests. In Study II, S-SCEAM was used to assess the quality of the environment, and descriptive data were collected from 20 purposively sampled residential care facilities (RCFs). Study III was a comparative case study conducted at two RCFs using observations, interviews and S-SCEAM to examine how the physical environment relates to older people’s activities and interactions. In study IV, multilevel modeling was used to determine the association between the quality of the physical environment and the psychological and social well-being of older people living in RCFs. The data in the thesis were analysed using qualitative content analysis, and descriptive, bivariate and multilevel statistics. Results: A specific result was the production of the Swedish version of SCEAM. The instrument contains 210 items structured into eight domains reflecting the needs of older people. When using S-SCEAM, the results showed a substantial variation in the quality of the physical environment between and within RCFs. In general, private apartments and dining areas had high quality, whereas overall building layout and outdoor areas had lower quality. Also, older people’s safety was supported in the majority of facilities, whereas cognitive support and privacy had lower quality. Further, the results showed that environmental quality in terms of cognitive support was associated with residents’ social well-being. Specific environmental features, such as building design and space size, were also noted, through observation, as influencing residents’ activities, and several barriers were found that seemed to restrict residents’ full use of the environment. Conclusions: This thesis contributes to the growing evidence-based design field. The S-SCEAM can be used in future research on the association between the environment and people’s health and well-being. The instrument could also serve as a guide in the planning and design process of new RCFs.

Audio-Visual Information Processing across different age groups

People possess different sensory modalities to detect, interpret, and efficiently act upon various events in a complex and dynamic environment (Fetsch, DeAngelis, & Angelaki, 2013). Much empirical work has been done to understand the interplay of modalities (e.g. audio-visual interactions, see Calvert, Spence, & Stein, 2004). On the one hand, integration of multimodal input as a functional principle of the brain enables the versatile and coherent perception of the environment (Lewkowicz & Ghazanfar, 2009). On the other hand, sensory integration does not necessarily mean that input from modalities is always weighted equally (Ernst, 2008). Rather, when two or more modalities are stimulated concurrently, one often finds one modality dominating over another. Study 1 and 2 of the dissertation addressed the developmental trajectory of sensory dominance. In both studies, 6-year-olds, 9-year-olds, and adults were tested in order to examine sensory (audio-visual) dominance across different age groups. In Study 3, sensory dominance was put into an applied context by examining verbal and visual overshadowing effects among 4- to 6-year olds performing a face recognition task. The results of Study 1 and Study 2 support default auditory dominance in young children as proposed by Napolitano and Sloutsky (2004) that persists up to 6 years of age. For 9-year-olds, results on privileged modality processing were inconsistent. Whereas visual dominance was revealed in Study 1, privileged auditory processing was revealed in Study 2. Among adults, a visual dominance was observed in Study 1, which has also been demonstrated in preceding studies (see Spence, Parise, & Chen, 2012). No sensory dominance was revealed in Study 2 for adults. Potential explanations are discussed. Study 3 referred to verbal and visual overshadowing effects in 4- to 6-year-olds. The aim was to examine whether verbalization (i.e., verbally describing a previously seen face), or visualization (i.e., drawing the seen face) might affect later face recognition. No effect of visualization on recognition accuracy was revealed. As opposed to a verbal overshadowing effect, a verbal facilitation effect occurred. Moreover, verbal intelligence was a significant predictor for recognition accuracy in the verbalization group but not in the control group. This suggests that strengthening verbal intelligence in children can pay off in non-verbal domains as well, which might have educational implications.

Integration of process planning and scheduling using mobile-agent based approach in a networked manufacturing environment

Effective and efficient implementation of intelligent and/or recently emerged networked manufacturing systems require an enterprise level integration. The networked manufacturing offers several advantages in the current competitive atmosphere by way to reduce, by shortening manufacturing cycle time and maintaining the production flexibility thereby achieving several feasible process plans. The first step in this direction is to integrate manufacturing functions such as process planning and scheduling for multi-jobs in a network based manufacturing system. It is difficult to determine a proper plan that meets conflicting objectives simultaneously. This paper describes a mobile-agent based negotiation approach to integrate manufacturing functions in a distributed manner; and its fundamental framework and functions are presented. Moreover, ontology has been constructed by using the Protégé software which possesses the flexibility to convert knowledge into Extensible Markup Language (XML) schema of Web Ontology Language (OWL) documents. The generated XML schemas have been used to transfer information throughout the manufacturing network for the intelligent interoperable integration of product data models and manufacturing resources. To validate the feasibility of the proposed approach, an illustrative example along with varied production environments that includes production demand fluctuations is presented and compared the proposed approach performance and its effectiveness with evolutionary algorithm based Hybrid Dynamic-DNA (HD-DNA) algorithm. The results show that the proposed scheme is very effective and reasonably acceptable for integration of manufacturing functions.

Layered Information Modeling and a Knowledge Organization Paradigm: Inherent Classification and the Design of Interoperable Systems

In knowledge technology work, as expressed by the scope of this conference, there are a number of communities, each uncovering new methods, theories, and practices. The Library and Information Science (LIS) community is one such community. This community, through tradition and innovation, theories and practice, organizes knowledge and develops knowledge technologies formed by iterative research hewn to the values of equal access and discovery for all. The Information Modeling community is another contributor to knowledge technologies. It concerns itself with the construction of symbolic models that capture the meaning of information and organize it in ways that are computer-based, but human understandable. A recent paper that examines certain assumptions in information modeling builds a bridge between these two communities, offering a forum for a discussion on common aims from a common perspective. In a June 2000 article, Parsons and Wand separate classes from instances in information modeling in order to free instances from what they call the “tyranny” of classes. They attribute a number of problems in information modeling to inherent classification – or the disregard for the fact that instances can be conceptualized independent of any class assignment. By faceting instances from classes, Parsons and Wand strike a sonorous chord with classification theory as understood in LIS. In the practice community and in the publications of LIS, faceted classification has shifted the paradigm of knowledge organization theory in the twentieth century. Here, with the proposal of inherent classification and the resulting layered information modeling, a clear line joins both the LIS classification theory community and the information modeling community. Both communities have their eyes turned toward networked resource discovery, and with this conceptual conjunction a new paradigmatic conversation can take place. Parsons and Wand propose that the layered information model can facilitate schema integration, schema evolution, and interoperability. These three spheres in information modeling have their own connotation, but are not distant from the aims of classification research in LIS. In this new conceptual conjunction, established by Parsons and Ward, information modeling through the layered information model, can expand the horizons of classification theory beyond LIS, promoting a cross-fertilization of ideas on the interoperability of subject access tools like classification schemes, thesauri, taxonomies, and ontologies. This paper examines the common ground between the layered information model and faceted classification, establishing a vocabulary and outlining some common principles. It then turns to the issue of schema and the horizons of conventional classification and the differences between Information Modeling and Library and Information Science. Finally, a framework is proposed that deploys an interpretation of the layered information modeling approach in a knowledge technologies context. In order to design subject access systems that will integrate, evolve and interoperate in a networked environment, knowledge organization specialists must consider a semantic class independence like Parsons and Wand propose for information modeling.

Principles of knowledge organization: analysis and structures in the networked environment

Knowledge organization in the networked environment is guided by standards. Standards in knowledge organization are built on principles. For example, NISO Z39.19-1993 Guide to the Construction of Monolingual Thesauri (now undergoing revision) and NISO Z39.85- 2001 Dublin Core Metadata Element Set are two standards used in many implementations. Both of these standards were crafted with knowledge organization principles in mind. Therefore it is standards work guided by knowledge organization principles which can affect design of information services and technologies. This poster outlines five threads of thought that inform knowledge organization principles in the networked environment. An understanding of each of these five threads informs system evaluation. The evaluation of knowledge organization systems should be tightly linked to a rigorous understanding of the principles of construction. Thus some foundational evaluation questions grow from an understanding of stan dard s and pr inciples: on what pr inciples is this know ledge organization system built? How well does this implementation meet the ideal conceptualization of those principles? How does this tool compare to others built on the same principles?

Non-invasive methodology for the identification of plastic pieces in museum environment – a novel approach

The preservation of modern and contemporary art and costume collections in museums requires a complete understanding of their constituent materials which are often synthetic or semi-synthetic polymers. An extraordinary amount of quality information can be gained from instrumental techniques, but some of them have the disadvantage of being destructive. This paper presents a new totally integrated non-invasive methodology, for the identification of polymers and their additives, on plastic artefacts in museums. NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) and in-situ FTIR-ATR (attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy) combination allowed the full characterization of the structure of thesematerials and correct identification of each one. The NMR technique applied to leached surface exudates identified unequivocally a great number of additives, exceeding the Py–GC–MS analysis of micro-fragments in number and efficiency. Additionally, in-situ FTIR-ATR provided exactly the same information of the destructive μ-FTIR about the polymer structure and confirmed the presence of some additives. Eight costume pieces (cosmetic boxes and purses), dating to the beginning of the 20th century and belonging to the Portuguese National Museum of Costume and Fashion, were correctly identified with this new integrated methodology, as beingmade of plastics derived fromcellulose acetate or cellulose nitrate polymers, contradicting the initial information that these pieces were made of Bakelite. The identification of a surprisingly large number of different additives forms an added value of this methodology and opens a perspective of a quick and better characterization of plastic artefacts in museum environments.