A survey on automatic recommenders in the context of institutional repositories

Peer-reviewed

Gestão de operações em serviços de check-in em aeroportos : um estudo de caso sobre o impacto do uso de componentes de TI no Aeroporto Internacional de São Paulo-Guarulhos

Este trabalho tem por objetivo analisar como a adoção de três componentes tecnológicos pode aumentar a integração, eficiência e qualidade do processo de check-in de passageiros no aeroporto internacional de Guarulhos, que atende a cidade de São Paulo. Após uma introdução sobre a relevância do tema, e tendo por base os casos de Las Vegas McCarran e Londres Heathrow – Terminal 5, foi feita uma revisão do referencial teórico para explicitar as características identificadas. A abordagem metodológica eleita foi o estudo de caso-único, resultando na definição de quatro categorias de pesquisa: modularidade, customização massificada, o redesenho da cadeia de negócios através quarto nível de integração por meio de TI, e aceitação dos serviços de auto-atendimento pelos passageiros. Em seguida, foi feito um contraponto entre dados secundários globais para as categorias de pesquisa definidas e dados relativos ao aeroporto internacional de Guarulhos. Na conclusão é feita uma análise para cada categoria de pesquisa, bem como sugeridos novos itens para pesquisas futuras.

Modified value stream mapping of airport check-in procedures

In June 2014 Brazil hosted the FIFA World Cup and in August 2016 Rio de Janeiro hosts the Summer Olympics. These two seminal sporting events will draw tens of thousands of air travelers through Brazil’s airports, airports that are currently in the midst of a national modernization program to address years of infrastructure neglect and insufficient capacity. Raising Brazil’s major airports up to the standards air travelers experience at major airports elsewhere in the world is more than just a case of building or remodeling facilities, processes must also be examined and reworked to enhance traveler experience and satisfaction. This research paper examines the key interface between airports and airline passengers—airport check-in procedures—according to how much value and waste there is associated with them. In particular, the paper makes use of a value stream mapping construct for services proposed by Martins, Cantanhede, and Jardim (2010). The uniqueness of this construct is that it attributes each activity with a certain percentage and magnitude of value or waste which can then be ordered and prioritized for improvement. Working against a fairly commonly expressed notion in Brazil that Brazil’s airports are inferior to the airports of economically advanced countries, the paper examines Rio’s two major airports, Galeão International and Santos Dumont in comparison to Washington D.C.’s Washington National and Dulles International airports. The paper seeks to accomplish three goals: - Determine whether there are differences in airport passenger check-in procedures between U.S. and Brazilian airports in terms of passenger value - Present options for Brazilian government or private sector authorities to consider adopting or implementing at Brazilian airports to maximize passenger value - Validate the Martins et al. construct for use in evaluating the airport check-in procedures Observations and analysis proved surprising in that all airports and service providers follow essentially the same check-in processes but execute them differently yet still result in similar overall performance in terms of value and waste. Although only a few activities are categorized as completely wasteful (and therefore removed in the revised value stream map of check-in activities), the weighting and categorization of individual activities according to their value (or waste) presents decision-makers a means to prioritize possible corrective actions. Various overall recommendations are presented based on this analysis. Most importantly, this paper demonstrates the viability of using the construct developed by Martins et al to examine airport operations, as well as its applicability to the study of other service industry processes.

Teaching automatic control in non-specialist engineering schools

Automatic Control Teaching in the new degree syllabus has reduced both, its contents and its implementation course, with regard to traditional engineering careers. On the other hand, where the qualification is not considered as automatic control specialist, it is required an adapted methodology to provide the minimum contents that the student needs to assimilate, even in the case that students do not perceive these contents as the most important in their future career. In this paper we present the contents of a small automatic course taught Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering Degrees at the School of Naval Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. We have included the contents covered using the proposed methodology which is based on practical work after lectures. Firstly, the students performed exercises by hand. Secondly, they solve the exercises using informatics support tools, and finally, they validate their previous results and their knowledge in the laboratory platforms.

Psychometric Investigation of the Check-In, Check-Out Fidelity of Implementation Measure

Suspension and expulsion are utilized frequently and disproportionality in schools in the United States. Many schools utilize Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), a tiered framework to prevent problem behavior and reduce the use of discipline practices (Sugai et al., 2000). Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) is a targeted group behavioral intervention that is utilized within this framework in schools to prevent severe problem behavior in students that are beginning to exhibit externalizing and/or internalizing behavioral needs; thus, preventing the use of exclusionary discipline practices (Crone et al., 2010; Hawken & Horner, 2003). As the use of CICO in schools continues to grow, so too does the need for an instrument measuring its fidelity of implementation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability and validity of the Check-In, Check-Out Fidelity of Implementation Measure (Crone et al., 2010), an instrument created to measure the fidelity of implementation of CICO intervention. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the instrument utilizing an archival data set collected by the statewide PBIS initiative in a western state in the U.S. The results demonstrated promising content validity, construct validity, internal consistency, and interrater reliability. A unidimensional structure was determined to be the best structure for the instrument based on parsimony and the strong results obtained from the item loadings, internal consistency, and interrater reliability. Implications for use and future research are discussed.

Automatic indexing in information retrieval

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

Be SMART:examining the experience of implementing the NHS Health Check in UK primary care

Background: The NHS Health Check was designed by UK Department of Health to address increased prevalence of cardiovascular disease by identifying risk levels and facilitating behaviour change. It constituted biomedical testing, personalised advice and lifestyle support. The objective of the study was to explore Health Care Professionals' (HCPs) and patients' experiences of delivering and receiving the NHS Health Check in an inner-city region of England. Methods: Patients and HCPs in primary care were interviewed using semi-structured schedules. Data were analysed using Thematic Analysis. Results: Four themes were identified. Firstly, Health Check as a test of 'roadworthiness' for people. The roadworthiness metaphor resonated with some patients but it signified a passive stance toward illness. Some patients described the check as useful in the theme, Health check as revelatory. HCPs found visual aids demonstrating levels of salt/fat/sugar in everyday foods and a 'traffic light' tape measure helpful in communicating such 'revelations' with patients. Being SMART and following the protocolrevealed that few HCPs used SMART goals and few patients spoke of them. HCPs require training to understand their rationale compared with traditional advice-giving. The need for further follow-up revealed disparity in follow-ups and patients were not systematically monitored over time. Conclusions: HCPs' training needs to include the use and evidence of the effectiveness of SMART goals in changing health behaviours. The significance of fidelity to protocol needs to be communicated to HCPs and commissioners to ensure consistency. Monitoring and measurement of follow-up, e.g., tracking of referrals, need to be resourced to provide evidence of the success of the NHS Health Check in terms of healthier lifestyles and reduced CVD risk.

It's the way you check-in:identifying users in location-based social networks

In recent years, the rapid spread of smartphones has led to the increasing popularity of Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs). Although a number of research studies and articles in the press have shown the dangers of exposing personal location data, the inherent nature of LBSNs encourages users to publish information about their current location (i.e., their check-ins). The same is true for the majority of the most popular social networking websites, which offer the possibility of associating the current location of users to their posts and photos. Moreover, some LBSNs, such as Foursquare, let users tag their friends in their check-ins, thus potentially releasing location information of individuals that have no control over the published data. This raises additional privacy concerns for the management of location information in LBSNs. In this paper we propose and evaluate a series of techniques for the identification of users from their check-in data. More specifically, we first present two strategies according to which users are characterized by the spatio-temporal trajectory emerging from their check-ins over time and the frequency of visit to specific locations, respectively. In addition to these approaches, we also propose a hybrid strategy that is able to exploit both types of information. It is worth noting that these techniques can be applied to a more general class of problems where locations and social links of individuals are available in a given dataset. We evaluate our techniques by means of three real-world LBSNs datasets, demonstrating that a very limited amount of data points is sufficient to identify a user with a high degree of accuracy. For instance, we show that in some datasets we are able to classify more than 80% of the users correctly.

GPs' perspectives on managing the NHS Health Check in primary care:a qualitative evaluation of implementation in one area of England

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the implementation of the National Health Service (NHS) Health Check programme in one area of England from the perspective of general practitioners (GPs). DESIGN: A qualitative exploratory study was conducted with GPs and other healthcare professionals involved in delivering the NHS Health Check and with patients. This paper reports the experience of GPs and focuses on the management of the Heath Check programme in primary care. SETTING: Primary care surgeries in the Heart of Birmingham region (now under the auspices of the Birmingham Cross City Clinical Commissioning Group) were invited to take part in the larger scale evaluation. This study focuses on a subset of those surgeries whose GPs were willing to participate. PARTICIPANTS: 9 GPs from different practices volunteered. GPs served an ethnically diverse region with areas of socioeconomic deprivation. Ethnicities of participant GPs included South Asian, South Asian British, white, black British and Chinese. METHODS: Individual semistructured interviews were conducted with GPs face to face or via telephone. Thematic analysis was used to analyse verbatim transcripts. RESULTS: Themes were generated which represent GPs' experiences of managing the NHS Health Check: primary care as a commercial enterprise; 'buy in' to concordance in preventive healthcare; following protocol and support provision. These themes represent the key issues raised by GPs. They reveal variability in the implementation of NHS Health Checks. GPs also need support in allocating resources to the Health Check including training on how to conduct checks in a concordant (or collaborative) way. CONCLUSIONS: The variability observed in this small-scale evaluation corroborates existing findings suggesting a need for more standardisation. Further large-scale research is needed to determine how that could be achieved. Work needs to be done to further develop a concordant approach to lifestyle advice which involves tailored individual goal setting rather than a paternalistic advice-giving model.

A segurança no terrorismo e na indústria dos eventos

Nowadays, safety and security regarding the tourism and events industries are a fundamental subject to society. Portugal’s tourism has significantly increased its number of visitors, whether due to the increasing number of cruisers docking in Lisbon, or due to visitors arriving by air, travelling the country from North to South and staying in the most varied accommodation units. Issues like human security and internal security of the different countries, even the security in the world, as development factors of a modern society, are discussed on a daily basis. On the contrary, few deal with tourism and major events security as being part of internal security, as well as the existing barriers tourism encounters to integrate the system for fighting terrorism. Although two distinct activities, they are complementary and may influence the country’s economy, provided that they can offer certainty to all actors involved. It is this substance that organised crime groups look for when planning terror acts. Therefore, as tourism can offer deception and shelter opportunities and events the theatre of a possible attack, those events assemble all the necessary conditions for an attack to achieve its goals.