A Logical Framework for Identifying and Explaining Unexpected News

The number of news reports published online is too large for any person to read all of them. Not all of these reports are equally interesting. Automating the identification and evaluation of interest in news is therefore a valuable goal. This paper presents a framework that permits the identification of interesting news by means of violated expectations. Facts derived from news reports, expectations and related background knowledge can be used to (i) justify the decision to rate news as interesting, (ii) explain why the information in the report is unexpected and, (iii) explain the context in which the report appears. Explanations supported by this framework are general purpose explanations based on the data in the system. The explanations are natural language renditions of first order logic facts and rules

THE role of the technology acceptance model in information systems research: a case study

Explaining the factors that lead to use and acceptance of information technology (IT), both at individual and organizational levels, has been the focus of information systems (IS) researchers since 1970s. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is known as such an explanatory model and has increasingly gained recognition due to its focus on theories of human behaviour. Although this model has faced with some criticism in terms of not being able to fully explain the social-technical acceptance of technology, it is still known as one of the best IS methodologies that contributes greatly to explaining it. This paper discusses, describes and explains TAM as one of the well-known information system research methodologies and attempts to demonstrate how this model can be applied in practice in IS research projects. TAM is widely used in different areas of IS studies such as e-commerce, e-business, multimedia and mobile commerce. This paper shows how TAM can be applied in an IS research project by referring to a case study conducted in the area of mobile banking in the UK. This paper aims to contribute to IS research by providing an informed criticism of TAM as well as a clear proposal on how to use it

A systems approach to evaluate One Health initiatives

Challenges calling for integrated approaches to health, such as the One Health (OH) approach, typically arise from the intertwined spheres of humans, animals, and ecosystems constituting their environment. Initiatives addressing such wicked problems commonly consist of complex structures and dynamics. As a result of the EU COST Action (TD 1404) “Network for Evaluation of One Health” (NEOH), we propose an evaluation framework anchored in systems theory to address the intrinsic complexity of OH initiatives and regard them as subsystems of the context within which they operate. Typically, they intend to influence a system with a view to improve human, animal, and environmental health. The NEOH evaluation framework consists of four overarching elements, namely: (1) the definition of the initiative and its context, (2) the description of the theory of change with an assessment of expected and unexpected outcomes, (3) the process evaluation of operational and supporting infrastructures (the “OH-ness”), and (4) an assessment of the association(s) between the process evaluation and the outcomes produced. It relies on a mixed methods approach by combining a descriptive and qualitative assessment with a semi-quantitative scoring for the evaluation of the degree and structural balance of “OH-ness” (summarised in an OH-index and OH-ratio, respectively) and conventional metrics for different outcomes in a multi-criteria-decision-analysis. Here, we focus on the methodology for Elements (1) and (3) including ready-to-use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets for the assessment of the “OH-ness”. We also provide an overview of Element (2), and refer to the NEOH handbook for further details, also regarding Element (4) (http://neoh.onehealthglobal.net). The presented approach helps researchers, practitioners, and evaluators to conceptualise and conduct evaluations of integrated approaches to health and facilitates comparison and learning across different OH activities thereby facilitating decisions on resource allocation. The application of the framework has been described in eight case studies in the same Frontiers research topic and provides first data on OH-index and OH-ratio, which is an important step towards their validation and the creation of a dataset for future benchmarking, and to demonstrate under which circumstances OH initiatives provide added value compared to disciplinary or conventional health initiatives

#Bigbirds never die: Understanding social dynamics of emergent hashtag

We examine the growth, survival, and context of 256 novel hashtags during the 2012 U.S. presidential debates. Our analysis reveals the trajectories of hashtag use fall into two distinct classes: “winners” that emerge more quickly and are sustained for longer periods of time than other “also-rans” hashtags. We propose a “conversational vibrancy” framework to capture dynamics of hashtags based on their topicality, interactivity, diversity, and prominence. Statistical analyses of the growth and persistence of hashtags reveal novel relationships between features of this framework and the relative success of hashtags. Specifically, retweets always contribute to faster hashtag adoption, replies extend the life of “winners” while having no effect on “also-rans.” This is the first study on the lifecycle of hashtag adoption and use in response to purely exogenous shocks. We draw on theories of uses and gratification, organizational ecology, and language evolution to discuss these findings and their implications for understanding social influence and collective action in social media more generally

Econophysics: Still fringe after 30 years?

Some personal reflections on the past and future of "econophysics", to appear in Europhysics NewsComment: 5 pages + references, 1 figur

The QuaSARS method for conducting useful literature surveys in social media research: a step-by-step approach

The literature survey captures influential authors or works, developments, discourses, key concepts, controversies, or comparisons and trends on any social media research topic. This tutorial provides a step-by-step approach to conduct a literature survey on social media research and the critical quality issues needed. The section discusses: (a) why a literature survey is necessary for social media research, (b) recognizes various types of literature reviews and how they differ from the literature survey, (c) introduces the QuASARS conceptual framework (Question, Approach, Search, Administer, Report, Synthesis, and Share) as a method for literature surveys, (d) identifies literature sources on social media research and, (e) guides readers on techniques to synthesize the literature. A hypothetical study concerning the recent spate of fake news circulating on social media during the novel COVID-19 (coronavirus) is used to illustrate the concepts in the tutorial. This theoretical study shows how to focus the literature survey questions, techniques for managing the relevant literature. For example, how to build and apply literature matrix tables, concept maps, and the use of electronic reference managers. This work makes a detailed discussion on frameworks for gap-spotting and problematizing the literature to tease themes from the symbiotic relationship between the research questions and the argument. The tutorial applies some common social media research questions to illustrate the gap-spotting and problematization modes. Finally, a discussion is given on how to synthesize the literature review, i.e., the application of complex reasoning (different mapping and comparative thinking) to create a dialectic argument. The steps in this literature survey research design may not be followed rigidly as some steps may overlap with others or depend on another level or conducted before others

Looking back to see the future: building nuclear power plants in Europe

The so-called ‘nuclear renaissance’ in Europe is promulgated by the execution of two large engineering projects involving the construction of two European Pressurized Reactors (EPRs) in Flamanville, France and Olkiluoto in Finland. As both projects have faced budget overruns and delays, this paper analyses their governance and history to derive lessons useful for the construction of future projects. Analysis indicates that the reasons for these poor outcomes are: overoptimistic estimations, first-of-a-kind (FOAK) issues and undervaluation of regulation requirements. These pitfalls have the potential to impact on many other engineering construction projects and highlight fruitful areas of further research into project performance

Using Case Work as a Pretest to Measure Crisis Leadership Preparedness

Today’s leaders must thrive in a world of turbulence and constant change. Unstable conditions frequently generate crises, emphasizing the need for crisis leadership preparedness, which is missing from many business curricula. Thus, the purpose of this work was to develop a learning module in crisis leadership preparedness. As a baseline measure or pretest, 217 graduate students were asked to analyze two crisis leadership cases during the first week of an entry leadership class. Content analysis provided the method to identify where student analyses fell short. These gaps in learning then informed the creation of student learning objectives. Applying inquiry-based learning, I then suggest instructional methods that I incorporated into an active learning module to better prepare today’s leaders for crisis leadership