Web-based and traditional public participation in comprehensive planning : a comparative study

The present paper examines whether the potential advantages of the expanding practice of web-based public participation only complement the benefits of the traditional techniques, or are empowering enough to replace them. The question is examined in a real-world case of neighbourhood revitalization, in which both techniques were practiced simultaneously. Comparisons are made at four major planning junctions, in order to study the contributions of each technique to the qualities of involvement, trust, and empowerment. The results show that web-based participants not only differ from the participants of traditional practices, but they also differ from each other on the basis of their type of web participation. The results indicate that web-based participation is an effective and affective complementary means of public participation, but it cannot replace the traditional unmediated techniques.

Digitualisation

The artwork was created to respond to the exhibition theme, "DIGILOG+IN". It aimed to express the beauty when digital and analogue materials are combined. It visualised an organic harmony between digital and natural objects through digitalisation and builded a fantasy of digital world. However, there was a conceptual dilemma that a “digitalisation” of natural objects into a digital format should merely become a digital work. In other words, a harmony between digital and analogue (natural) can be only achieved through a digitalising process by removing intrinsic nature of analogues. Therefore, the substance of analogues no longer exists in a digitally visualised form, but is virtually represented. The title of art work “digitualisation” is a combined word with “digi-tal” and vir-tualisation”. It refers to a digitally virtualising the substance of natural objects. The artwork visualised the concept of digitualisation by using natural objects (flowers) that are merged within a virtual space (a building entrance foyer).

Elements pour adapter les systemes de recherche d'information aux dyslexiques [Elements to adapt information retrieval systems to dyslexic users]

RÉSUMÉ. La prise en compte des troubles de la communication dans l’utilisation des systèmes de recherche d’information tels qu’on peut en trouver sur le Web est généralement réalisée par des interfaces utilisant des modalités n’impliquant pas la lecture et l’écriture. Peu d’applications existent pour aider l’utilisateur en difficulté dans la modalité textuelle. Nous proposons la prise en compte de la conscience phonologique pour assister l’utilisateur en difficulté d’écriture de requêtes (dysorthographie) ou de lecture de documents (dyslexie). En premier lieu un système de réécriture et d’interprétation des requêtes entrées au clavier par l’utilisateur est proposé : en s’appuyant sur les causes de la dysorthographie et sur les exemples à notre disposition, il est apparu qu’un système combinant une approche éditoriale (type correcteur orthographique) et une approche orale (système de transcription automatique) était plus approprié. En second lieu une méthode d’apprentissage automatique utilise des critères spécifiques , tels que la cohésion grapho-phonémique, pour estimer la lisibilité d’une phrase, puis d’un texte. ABSTRACT. Most applications intend to help disabled users in the information retrieval process by proposing non-textual modalities. This paper introduces specific parameters linked to phonological awareness in the textual modality. This will enhance the ability of systems to deal with orthographic issues and with the adaptation of results to the reader when for example the reader is dyslexic. We propose a phonology based sentence level rewriting system that combines spelling correction, speech synthesis and automatic speech recognition. This has been evaluated on a corpus of questions we get from dyslexic children. We propose a specific sentence readability measure that involves phonetic parameters such as grapho-phonemic cohesion. This has been learned on a corpus of reading time of sentences read by dyslexic children.

An ontology-based mining approach for user search intent discovery

Discovering proper search intents is a vi- tal process to return desired results. It is constantly a hot research topic regarding information retrieval in recent years. Existing methods are mainly limited by utilizing context-based mining, query expansion, and user profiling techniques, which are still suffering from the issue of ambiguity in search queries. In this pa- per, we introduce a novel ontology-based approach in terms of a world knowledge base in order to construct personalized ontologies for identifying adequate con- cept levels for matching user search intents. An iter- ative mining algorithm is designed for evaluating po- tential intents level by level until meeting the best re- sult. The propose-to-attempt approach is evaluated in a large volume RCV1 data set, and experimental results indicate a distinct improvement on top precision after compared with baseline models.

Happenings and sensational journalism [O acontecimento e o sensacional no jornalismo]

EM artigo anteriormente publicado (AGUIAR, 2008a), concluímos que as críticas elaboradas por certos autores (SOUSA, 2000; KURTZ, 1993; MARSHALL, 2003; MARCONDES FILHO, 1988), ao classificarem um determinado modo de jornalismo como sensacionalista, parecem querer opor uma imaginária constituição democrática do espaço público e da cultura legítima a uma suposta disfunção narcotizante do entretenimento, que promoveria o conformismo social e reforçaria as normas sociais. O jornalismo sensacionalista, nesse entendimento, veicularia apenas a ampla trivialidade e o excesso de diversão estaria “matando” os ideais iluministas da sociedade moderna, tal como aposta Postman (1986). Entretanto, pode-se ver nestas críticas aquilo que Edgar Morin define, ao estudar cultura de lazer, como a má impressão causada pelo divertimento e pela evasão aos “moralistas dessa confederação helvética do espírito que são as letras e a universidade” (MORIN, 2002).

Migrant worker empowerment in online communities

Our literature review shows that several scholars have conceptualized empowerment in online communities according to context and setting. In general, empowerment by the Internet can be described as the capacity of the Internet to provide information, interactions and collaborations (Amichai-Hamburger, McKenna, & Tal, 2008). Interactions within a social networking site enable people to construct their online identity which potentially empowers them (Zhao, Grasmuck, & Martin, 2008). From a consumer orientation, consumers feel empowered through accessing information which potentially improves their understanding and knowledge in decision making processes (Tina, Kathryn, & Gary, 2006). In health contexts, participation in online communities is seen to empower individuals in coping with health issues (Høybye, Johansen, & Tjørnhøj-Thomsen, 2005; Pitts, 2004; Sharf, 1997; Cornelia F. van Uden-Kraan et al., 2008). In educational contexts, online collaboration processes can empower lecturers and students (Ravid, Kalman, & Rafaeli, 2008). The literature shows that studies of empowerment in online communities are an emerging concept

Developing an international survey of bicycle and helmet usage

The European Union‐funded collaborative network, COST Action TU1101: Towards safer bicycling through optimization of bicycle helmets and usage, aims to increase scientific knowledge about bicycle helmets in regards to traffic safety and to disseminate this knowledge to stakeholders, including cyclists, legislators, manufacturers, and the scientific community. The COST research team has developed a uniform international survey to better understand attitudinal and other factors that may influence bicycle and helmet usage, as well as crash risk. The online survey is being distributed by project partners in Europe, Israel, Australia, and potentially the US and Canada. The survey contains four types of questions: (1) biographical data, (2) frequency of cycling and amount of cycling for different purposes (e.g., commuting, health, recreation) and in different environments (e.g., bicycle trails, bike lanes, on sidewalks, in traffic), (3) frequency and circumstances for use and non‐use of helmets, attitudes and reasons for it, and; (4) crash involvement and level of reporting to the police. While the potential value of comparative data across countries with very different cycling cultures and safety levels is substantial, there are numerous challenges in developing, conducting, and analyzing the results of the survey. This presentation will focus on the scope of the international study, methodological issues and pitfalls of such a collaborative effort, and on initial results from one country (Israel). To illustrate, two findings from the preliminary Israeli survey indicate that: (1) none of the crashes were reported to the police including the ones involving hospital admission. Although underreporting of bicycle crashes by police is well documented in all countries the extent is unknown, and can be extreme. (2) Older riders tend to ride more for health/exercise reasons, while younger riders tend to ride more for commuting. Thus there is an interaction between riders’ age and the place and times of riding.

A Literary Turn : Rethinking the Roles of Generalization and Theory in Anglo-American Moral Philosophy

This work investigates the role of narrative literature in late-20th century and contemporary Anglo-American moral philosophy. It aims to show the trend of reading narrative literature for purposes of moral philosophy from the 1970 s and early 80 s to the present day as a part of a larger movement in Anglo-American moral philosophy, and to present a view of its significance for moral philosophy overall. Chapter 1 provides some preliminaries concerning the view of narrative literature which my discussion builds on. In chapter 2 I give an outline of how narrative literature is considered in contemporary Anglo-American moral philosophy, and connect this use to the broad trend of neo-Aristotelian ethics in this context. In chapter 3 I connect the use of literature to the idea of the non-generalizability of moral perception and judgment, which is central to the neo-Aristotelian trend, as well as to a range of moral particularisms and anti-theoretical positions of late 20th century and contemporary ethics. The joint task of chapters 2 and 3 is to situate the trend of reading narrative literature for the purposes of moral philosophy in the present context of moral philosophy. In the following two chapters, 4 and 5, I move on from the particularizing power of narrative literature, which is emphasized by neo-Aristotelians and particularists alike, to a broader under-standing of the intellectual potential of narrative literature. In chapter 4 I argue that narrative literature has its own forms of generalization which are enriching for our understanding of the workings of ethical generalizations in philosophy. In chapter 5 I discuss Iris Murdoch s and Martha Nussbaum s respective ways of combining ethical generality and particularity in a philosophical framework where both systematic moral theory and narrative literature are taken seriously. In chapter 6 I analyse the controversy between contemporary anti-theoretical conceptions of ethics and Nussbaum s refutation of these. I present my suggestion for how the significance of the ethics/literature discussion for moral philosophy can be understood if one wants to overcome the limitations of both Nussbaum s theory-centred, equilibrium-seeking perspective, and the anti-theorists repudiation of theory. I call my position the inclusive approach .

Gustaf III inför sina undersåtar : Konsten att härska och politikens kulturhistoria

The dissertation analyses the political culture of Sweden during the reign of King Gustav III (1771-1792). This period commonly referred to as the Gustavian era followed the so-called Age of Liberty ending half a century of strong parliamentary rule in Sweden. The question at the heart of this study engages with the practice of monarchical rule under Gustav III, its ideological origins and power-political objectives as well as its symbolic expression. The study thereby addresses the very nature of kingship. In concrete terms, why did Gustav III, his court, and his civil service vigorously pursue projects that contemporaneous political opponents and, in particular, subsequent historiography have variously pictured as irrelevant, superficial, or as products of pure vanity? The answer, the study argues, is to be found in patterns of political practice as developed and exercised by Gustav III and his administration, which formed a significant part of the political culture of Gustavian Sweden. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first traces the use and development of royal graces chivalric orders, medals, titles, privileges, and other gifts issued by the king. The practice of royal reward is illustrated through two case studies: the 1772 coup d état that established Gustav III s rule, and the birth and baptism of the crown prince, Gustav Adolf, in 1778. The second part deals with the establishment of the Court of Appeal in Vasa in 1776. The formation of the Appeals Court was accompanied by a host of ceremonial, rhetorical, emblematic, and architectural features solidifying its importance as one of Gustav III s most symbolic administrative reform projects and hence portraying the king as an enlightened monarch par excellence. The third and final part of the thesis engages with war as a cultural phenomenon and focuses on the Russo-Swedish War of 1788-1790. In this study, the war against Russia is primarily seen as an arena for the king and other players to stage, create and re-create as well as articulate themselves through scenes and roles adhering to a particular cultural idiom. Its codes and symbolic forms, then, were communicated by means of theatre, literature, art, history, and classical mythology. The dissertation makes use of a host of sources: protocols, speeches, letters, diaries, newspapers, poetry, art, medals, architecture, inscriptions and registers. Traditional political source material and literary and art sources are studied as totalities, not as separate entities. Also it is argued that political and non-fictional sources cannot be understood properly without acknowledging the context of genre, literary conventions, and artistic modes. The study critically views the futile, but nonetheless almost habitual juxtaposition of the reality of images, ideas, and metaphors, and the reality of supposedly factual historical events. Significantly, the thesis presumes the symbolic dimension to be a constitutive element of reality, not its cooked up misrepresentation. This presumption is reflected in a discussion of the concept of role , which should not be anachronistically understood as roles in which the king cast himself at different times and in different situations. Neither Gustav III nor other European sovereigns of this period played the roles as rulers or majesties. Rather, they were monarchs both in their own eyes and in the eyes of their contemporaries as well as in all relations and contexts. Key words: Eighteenth-Century, Gustav III, Cultural History, Monarchs, Royal Graces, the Vasa Court of Appeal, the Russo-Swedish War 1788–1790.

J. L. Runebergs samlade skrifter i textkritisk belysning

The Collected Works of J. L. Runeberg from the Viewpoint of Textual Scholarship The theoretical framework of this dissertation builds on textual scholarship. The dissertation explores the history of Runeberg’s publications and his relations with his publishers, from his debut and the first editions, through the editions of collected works published during the course of his life, to the later commercial editions, including the critical edition, published in 1933–2005 by the Svenska Vitterhetssamfundet (The Swedish Society for Belles Lettres) and The Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland (The Society of Swedish Literature in Finland). The various editions of Runeberg’s collected works are situated in their respective critical traditions, from the 19th century German Ausgabe letzter Hand, to the influence of Anglo-American bibliography on Swedish textual criticism in the late 20th century. By making use of primary material previously not used for research purposes, the author is able to present a new view on Runebergian publishing history, including Runeberg’s fees and his relations with the censor authorities. There are indications that his Finnish publishers could not bear the cost of his sizable fees, that were in proportion neither with the book market in Finland nor with the numbers of copies sold. Apart from a certain body of editions the primary material is comprised of correspondences, publishing contracts, printing house invoices, as well as censor authority records. One of the conclusions drawn is that the early and detailed biography, Biografiska anteckningar om Johan Ludvig Runeberg (Biographical Notes on …) by J. E. Strömborg is not reliable in matters concerning publishing history, and that this work has been used far too uncritically. The history of the critical edition gets a chapter of its own, based on primary material in Swedish and Finnish archives. Finally, the author analyses the critical choices, made primarily in the critical edition, and uses examples from the commercial editions to study the editors’ interventions over time, from the 1850s to the 1920s. The changes to the text are usually small and subtle, but cumulative – and in some cases, crucial for the interpretation of the work. One objective of textual scholarship should be to examine the publishing history of a single work or of an author’s œuvre, and another to pay attention both to changes in a work as such and to the shifts of meaning they might entail.

Kaunhiista kauhniiseen, satheesta satteeseen : Jälkitavuissa säilyneen h:n variaatiosta Pellossa vuoden 1995 aineiston valossa

Tutkielmassa tarkastellaan jälkitavuissa säilyneen, alun perin vokaalienvälisen h:n nykyedustusta Tornionlaakson Pellossa sosiolingvistisen teorian valossa. Keskeisenä tutkimusongelmana on variaation jasen muuttumisen suunnan selvittäminen, mitä tutkitaan sekä näennäis- että reaaliajallisen metodin turvin. Lisäksi pohditaan, millaiset kielensisäiset tekijät muutoksia ohjaavat. Reaaliaikaisen vertailun mahdollistavat Kirsi Kunnarin vuonna 1983 valmistuneen pro gradu -työn jälkitavujen h:ta koskevat tulokset Pellosta (informantit syntyneet vuosina 1898-1967). Pääpaino on kuitenkin näennäisajallisessa vertailussa; variaatiota tarkastellaan yksityiskohtaisesti erityisesti kielelliseltä kannalta, mikä on vaatinut perusteellista aineiston käsittelyä. Näennäisajallisessa tarkastelussa verrataankahden haastatellun ikäryhmän kieltä: nuorten (syntyneet vuosina 1986-1977) ja keski-ikäisten (syntyneet vuosina 1964-1945). Nuoria informantteja, joita on 14, on haastateltu pääosin pareittan. Vertailuryhmä, keski-ikäiset, koostuu heidän vanhem mistaan (7 informanttia). Nauhatunteja on yhteensä n. 13. Tulokset osoittavat, että toisin kuin muualla Peräpohjolassa, yleiskielen mukainen katovariantti (kou-luun) ei ole merkittävästi yleistynyt pellolaisten puhekielessä viimeisten neljän sukupolven aikana. Vokaalienvälisessä asemassa (koulu-h-un) h:ta ei nykypellolaisilla enää tapaa, ja ns. sisäheittoinenvariantti (koul-huun) on nuorten ryhmässä selvästi vähemmän suosiossa kuin keski-ikäisillä. Tornionjoki­laaksolainen, metateettinen h-variantti (kouh-luun) on yhä elinvoimainen: sen käyttö on nuorillakin lisääntynyt. Metateesi ei ole kuitenkaan kvantitatiivisesti juurikaan yleistynyt niissä fonotaktisissa ympäristöissä, joissa se aiheesta tehdyn väitöskirjan (1992) mukaan on ollut aiemmilla sukupolvilla harvinainen. Tätä saattaa osittain selittää tiettyjen puhekielisyyksien yleistyvä käyttö, mikä vaikuttaa eniten juuri näissä fonotaktisissa ympäristöissä siten, ettei metateesin toteutumiselle ole edellytyksiä. Pellon nykyisessä jälkitavujen h:n variaatiossa on osallisena vielä yksi variantti: assimiloitunut h (talhoon > talloon; toisheen > toisseen; kauphaan > kauppaan). Aiemmin tutkituilla sukupolvilla assimilaatiomuutos on ollut harvinainen, mutta nyt se on yleistynyt erityisesti nuorilla tytöillä. h:n assimilaatiossa syntyvät muodot lankeavat usein yhteen alueella jokseenkin fonemaattisena esiintyvän yleisgeminaation kanssa, osa muodoista muistuttaa erikoisgeminaatiota ja pieni osa yleiskielisiä muotoja. Tutkielmassa kyseenalaistetaan kielellisten seikkojen nojalla kyseisten muotojen tulkitseminen h:n assimilaatiosta johtuvaksi: assimiloituneiksi tulkituissa h-tapauksissa sekä konsonantin että sitä seuraavan vokaalin pituusdistribuutiot tukevat ajatusta, että ainakin yleisgeminaatiokonteksteissa assimilaatiomuodot ovat puhujan kannalta "mentaalista geminaatiota". Assimilaatiomuodot rinnastetaan tutkielmassa katomuotoihin sikäli, että niissäkin h on tasoittunut. Merkittävä ero on tavujen kvantiteettisuhteissa: assimilaatiomuodoissa ne säilyvät ennallaan (tal-hoon > tal-loon), katomuodoissa muuttuvat (ta-loon). h:n assimilaatiolla ja metateesilla epäillään aineistonperusteella olevan yhteisen tehtävän: sisäheittoisten talhoon, satheen -muotojen karttaminen tavujen kavantiteettisuhteita rikkomatta. Esitetyn hypoteesin mukaan syynä ovat suomen fonotaksille vieraat konsonantin + h:n yhtymät, jotka aikoinaan syntyivät murteeseen vokaalin heityttyä h:n edeltä.

Interval Data Classification under Partial Information: A Chance-Constraint Approach

This paper presents a Chance-constraint Programming approach for constructing maximum-margin classifiers which are robust to interval-valued uncertainty in training examples. The methodology ensures that uncertain examples are classified correctly with high probability by employing chance-constraints. The main contribution of the paper is to pose the resultant optimization problem as a Second Order Cone Program by using large deviation inequalities, due to Bernstein. Apart from support and mean of the uncertain examples these Bernstein based relaxations make no further assumptions on the underlying uncertainty. Classifiers built using the proposed approach are less conservative, yield higher margins and hence are expected to generalize better than existing methods. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets show that the proposed classifiers are better equipped to handle interval-valued uncertainty than state-of-the-art.

Surveillance in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) is an inherited cancer predisposition syn-drome characterized by early onset colorectal cancer (CRC) and several other extra-colonic cancers, most commonly endometrial cancer (EC) and gastric cancer. Our aim was to evaluate the efficiency and results of the ongoing CRC and EC surveillance programs and to investigate the grounds for future gastric cancer screening by comparing the gastric biopsies of mutation positive and negative siblings in search for premalignant lesions. We also compared a new surveillance method, computerized tomographic colonoscopy (CTC) with optic colonoscopy. The patient material consisted of 579 family members from 111 Finnish HNPCC families al-most all harboring a known mismatch repair gene mutation. The efficacy of CRC and EC surveillance programs on HNPCC patients was evaluated by comparing the stage and survival of cancer cases detected with surveillance versus without. The performance of a new technique, CTC, was explored using a same-day colonoscopy as a reference standard. The use of intrauterine aspiration biopsies for EC surveillance was intro-duced for the first time in a HNPCC setting. Upper GI endoscopies were performed and biop-sies taken from mutation carriers and their mutation-negative siblings. The present surveillance program for CRC proved to be efficient. The CRC cases detected by surveillance were at a significantly more favorable stage than those in the non-surveilled group. This advantage was reflected in a significantly higher CRC-specific survival in the sur-veilled group. The performance of a new technique, CTC was found insufficient for polyp detection in this population in which every polyp, no matter the size, should be detected and removed. Colono-scopy was confirmed as a better surveillance modality than CTC. We could not observe any of the assumed differences in the gastric mucosa from mutation carriers and their mutation-negative siblings and no cases of gastric cancer were detected. The results gave no support for gastric surveillance. The EC surveillance program (transvaginal ultrasound and intra-uterine biopsy every 2-3 years) seemed to be efficient. It yielded several asymptomatic cancer cases and premalignant lesions. The stage distribution of the endometrial cancers in the group under surveillance tended to be more favorable than that of the mutation-positive, symptomatic EC patients who had no surveillance. None of the surveilled EC patients died of EC compared to six in the non-surveilled patients during the follow up. The improvement was, however, not statistically sig-nificant, thus far. Another observation was the good performance of endometrial aspiration biopsies used in this setting for the first time.