88 research outputs found

    An information states blackboard as an intelligent querying interface for snow and avalanche data

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    We present the graph-based querying paradigm used in the Regional Avalanche Information and Forecasting System (RAIFoS) for the collection and analysis of snow and weather related physical parameters in the Swiss Alps. The querying paradigm relies upon the issue of interactively constructing a semantically valid query graph on an Information States Blackboard as guided by meta-data elements standing for interpretations of conceptual model, data values and/or operations. The meta-data elements constitute the terms of a meta-data-driven query language (MDDQL) the interpretation of which is done interactively relying on a kind of finite state automaton

    Towards a framework for multiparadigm multimethodologies in systems thinking and practice

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    Burrell and Morgan (2000) claimed that knowledge is paradigmatic, encompassing a distinct worldview and rationality governing research strategies and methods for which they identified four sociological paradigms to locate them based on “metatheoretical assumptions about the nature of reality, knowledge, and human behavior” (Cunliffe, 2010). They regard the competing theories developed from different paradigms as incommensurable—those working in one paradigm are not understood by those committed to another. Moreover, “there can be no measure, outside of the paradigms, which can be used as a basis for comparing and adjudicating between the claims toknowledge of theories produced from within different paradigms” (Jackson, 2000).This new theory states that because the problem of paradigm incommensurability begins at the level of ontology the solution lies there as well. Rather than supporting just one or a few paradigms, a different type of ontology is needed to explain ontological variety. It is argued that we can only perceive reality as meaningful paradigmatically, just as in the metaphor of the blind men and the elephant (Saxe, ca. 1850) where each comes upon a different part of an elephant andgeneralises that the whole is like their one piece. Furthermore, they cannot understand what they have found by comparing experiences.Solving the incommensurability issue is the theoretical key needed to properly underpin pluralist approaches to systems theory, design and intervention. But to do so, this new ontology is placed so that it operates within a suitable and otherwise complete theoretical framework which does not circumscribe, subsume, or in any way alter existing approaches, paradigms and theories—it purpose is only to sanction their use in a pluralist systemic approach. Such a framework, calledP–S Multiparadigm Perspectivity is described in this thesis.Ten interviews with systemists were conducted with mixed results. The tests mistakenly assumed that systemists were generally aware of paradigms and incommensurability—instead, an aversion to theory was discovered. Surprisingly, though, two methods to address the issue were also found in the data. One of the interviewees teaches theory through storytelling; another demonstrates methods first, to pique the learner’s interest and evoke their questions. It was learned that the adoption of this theory depends upon an improved awareness of the concepts of critical systems paradigms within the systemist community

    Dissemination of social accounting information: a bibliometric review

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    The discussion in recent decades about sustainable development issues has given rise to a new accounting dimension: social accounting. Currently, this issue remains an emerging theme. Although there are some studies and literature reviews, none include disclosure of social accounting information or the analysis of research paradigms. This article reviews the research on social accounting disclosure and tries to answer the following research questions: What research streams have been followed? Which theories and research paradigms have been used? The search for articles to be included in the literature review was performed through the Web of Science. The 126 articles obtained were later analyzed using Bibliometrix software. Results expose the growing interest in this theme and identify three distinct research lines (three clusters): Cluster 1—Social accounting disclosures, Cluster 2—Legitimacy vs. disclosure of social accounting, and Cluster 3—Motivations for disclosure of social accounting. The main contribute of this article resides, on the one hand, in the fact that no literature review articles have been found that include the theme of the disclosure of information on social accounting and, on the other hand, the treatment of data has been done with innovative software, an R package for bibliometric and co-citation analysis called Bibliometrix. As well as mapping the literature, another theoretical contribution of this study was identifying the main research approaches used in the studies. Within the paradigmatic plurality of social accounting research, the results suggest that social accounting research can also be critically addressed when addressing the sustainability challenges posed by climate change or carbon emissions, among many other aspects. This study is, to our knowledge, the first bibliometric review done about social accounting information disclosure.The work of the author Rui Silva is supported by national funds, through the FCT— Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under the project UIDB/04011/2020. The work of the author Cidália Oliveira is financed by NIPE (Center for Research in Economics and Management), University of Minho, Braga, Portugal

    Geographic Information Systems and Science

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    Geographic information science (GISc) has established itself as a collaborative information-processing scheme that is increasing in popularity. Yet, this interdisciplinary and/or transdisciplinary system is still somewhat misunderstood. This book talks about some of the GISc domains encompassing students, researchers, and common users. Chapters focus on important aspects of GISc, keeping in mind the processing capability of GIS along with the mathematics and formulae involved in getting each solution. The book has one introductory and eight main chapters divided into five sections. The first section is more general and focuses on what GISc is and its relation to GIS and Geography, the second is about location analytics and modeling, the third on remote sensing data analysis, the fourth on big data and augmented reality, and, finally, the fifth looks over volunteered geographic information.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

    A Framework for Improving Adaptive Data Visualization in Decision Support Systems

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    Adaptive approaches are used to improve user experience and satisfaction for web browsing, based on profiling information gathered from user interactions. In decision support systems, the need for personalization adaptation has increased in order to provide more immediate and relevant information to decision makers, using web based access to data. Using visualizations for rendering complex query results, in real-time is of particular importance in many application domains. In this thesis we propose an approach, and a framework, for measuring history, experiences and satisfaction of users of a healthcare decision support system. The focus is on user selections of visualizations, based on the nature of queries generated. The aim of this framework is intended to provide collection of individual user experiences and satisfaction, in order to obtain a user population profile for later studies. The model used is a weighting scheme, but is designed to support later extensions and enhancements using \u27AI reasoning techniques\u27. This model was implemented and a usability study was conducted to validate improvements compared to non adaptive data visualization systems. The outcome of this research may lead to increased accuracy and reduced time of selection of visualization, over repeated usage, and is therefore important as a productivity enhancement approach

    Easing access to relational databases:investigating access to relational databases in the context of both novice and would-be expert users

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    Relational databases are commonplace in a wide variety of applications and are used by a broad range of users with varying levels of technical understanding. Extracting information from relational databases can be difficult; novice users should be able to do so without any understanding of the database structure or query languages and those who wish to become experts can find it difficult to learn the skills required. Many applications designed for the novice user demand some understanding of the underlying database and/or are limited in their ability to translate keywords to appropriate results. Some educational applications often fail to provide assistance in key areas such as using joins, learning textual SQL and building queries from scratch. This thesis presents two applications: Context Aware Free Text ANalysis (CAFTAN) that aims to provide accurate keyword query interpretations for novices, and SQL in Steps (SiS) designed for students learning SQL. Both CAFTAN and SiS are subject to detailed evaluations; the former is shown to be capable of interpreting keyword queries in a way similar to humans; the latter was integrated into an undergraduate databases course and showed the potential benefits of introducing graphical aids into a student's learning process. The findings presented in this thesis have the potential to improve keyword search over relational databases in both a generic and customised context, as well as easing the process of learning SQL for new experts

    Introduction to the second international symposium of platial information science

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    People ‘live’ and constitute places every day through recurrent practices and experience. Our everyday lives, however, are complex, and so are places. In contrast to abstract space, the way people experience places includes a range of aspects like physical setting, meaning, and emotional attachment. This inherent complexity requires researchers to investigate the concept of place from a variety of viewpoints. The formal representation of place – a major goal in GIScience related to place – is no exception and can only be successfully addressed if we consider geographical, psychological, anthropological, sociological, cognitive, and other perspectives. This year’s symposium brings together place-based researchers from different disciplines to discuss the current state of platial research. Therefore, this volume contains contributions from a range of fields including geography, psychology, cognitive science, linguistics, and cartography

    From \u27Quackery to Mainstream\u27: An Exploratory Study of News Media Framing During the Diffusion of Acupuncture, 1968-2002, using Bibliometric Counts and Computer-assisted Content Analysis

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    This exploratory study examines how the news media coverage of acupuncture changed during the first three and one-half decades of diffusion in the United States. It specifically looks at amount of coverage and framing. In doing so, this study is one f the few to date to examine framing during the diffusion process. This study compares changes in news media coverage to major milestones in diffusion in an attempt to determine if media lead or follow in the diffusion of an innovation at the societal level. Acupuncture was introduced to mainstream American culture in the 1970s. This study examines its diffusion at the macro, or societal, level of diffusion using a longitudinal approach over a 35-year period. The research methods used are bibliometric counts, computer-assisted content analysis, cluster analysis, and interpretative analysis. Research focuses on the national print news media with the bibliometric counts involving the New York Times, medical journals, and The Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature, and framing analysis involving The New York Times, Newsweek, and the Washington Post. This study concluded that both the amount of coverage and framing of acupuncture changed significantly over a 35-year period and that the media sometimes led and sometimes followed in the diffusion process. There were two significant peaks in amount of coverage over the 35 years. The first and largest occurred during the early 1970s and began with the “trigger event” of New York Times columnist James Reston receiving a successful postoperative acupuncture treatment while traveling in China with Kissinger. It appears that this “trigger event” set the media agenda in the 1970s, and that the media were instrumental in introducing acupuncture to the American public. It also appears that the media helped to set the policy for many states, which began taking regulatory and legislative action concerning acupuncture about one year after the peak in coverage began. The second peak in amount of coverage occurred in 1997 when a panel appointed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) endorsed acupuncture for some health conditions. In the 1990s, it appears that the media agenda followed the federal government’s policy agenda. Framing changes in news media coverage of acupuncture most often followed milestones of diffusion, and they almost always involved an increase in or sometimes the beginning of a particular frame. The most notable examples follow: The frame involving the study of acupuncture and the frame involving its regulation and legislation both began shortly after Reston’s treatment. The “Alternative Medicine” frame began with the establishment of an NIH office to study complementary and alternative medicine. A frame involving the safety, effectiveness, and usefulness of acupuncture increased incrementally after each of the three positive actions by the federal government in the 1990s. There was one notable case when frame changes occurred before a milestone. In the late 1980s and in 1990, the media focused on the use of acupuncture to treat drug addiction. This focus may gave possibly had an influence, by increasing acupuncture’s credibility with policy elites, on the passage of legislation in 1991, which mandated the establishment of an NIH office to study complementary and alternative medicine. This study also found that framing evolved in such a way that three phases of media coverages could be identified. The first, which occurred in the 1970s, is the “Introduction” phase. The stories contain themes that might result from the introduction of any innovation and include the subthemes “Uses,” “Regulation,” and “Caution and Skepticism.” The second phase, which occurred in the 1980s, is named “Unmet Need” because the stories involve experimentation with using the innovation, acupuncture, to treat drug addiction, a need that was not being satisfactorily met by Western medicine at the time. The third, the “Legitimacy” phase, occurred in the 1990s. In this phase, the media frame acupuncture with a legitimacy that they did not give to it before. This is attributed to the positive actions toward acupuncture taken by the federal government coupled with the media’s tendency toward supporting the ruling interests of society. Overall, it appears that the media led the way in introducing acupuncture to mainstream American culture in the 1970s. During this time, it focused on themes logical for any society trying to understand a new innovation: its uses, its regulation, and caution and skepticism toward an unknown. Although there was a small and possibly influential cluster of stories in the late 1980s and in 1990 that focused on the use of acupuncture in addressing the unmet need of treatment for drug addiction, acupuncture was not a significant topic again until 1997 when an NIH panel gave its endorsement. At this time, the media followed the federal government’s lead in the diffusion process. The amount of coverage increased by media framing became more positive in response to this legitimizing action by the federal government
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