Activity-partner recommendation

LNCS v. 9077 entitled: Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining: 19th Pacific-Asia Conference, PAKDD 2015 ... Proceedings, Part 1In many activities, such as watching movies or having dinner, people prefer to find partners before participation. Therefore, when recommending activity items (e.g., movie tickets) to users, it makes sense to also recommend suitable activity partners. This way, (i) the users save time for finding activity partners, (ii) the effectiveness of the item recommendation is increased (users may prefer activity items more if they can find suitable activity partners), (iii) recommender systems become more interesting and enkindle users' social enthusiasm. In this paper, we identify the usefulness of suggesting activity partners together with items in recommender systems. In addition, we propose and compare several methods for activity-partner recommendation. Our study includes experiments that test the practical value of activity-partner recommendation and evaluate the effectiveness of all suggested methods as well as some alternative strategies.postprin

What's the best way to motivate patients to exercise?

There is no single best strategy to motivate patients to exercise, given the lack of data from rigorous comparison studies. There are, however, several interventions for adults that are effective. They include: writing a patient-specific behavioral health ���green�۝ prescription, encouraging patients to join forces with accountability partners or support groups, recommending the use of pedometers (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, meta-analyses). In children and adolescents, multi-component strategies that include school-based interventions combined with either family or community involvement increase physical activity (SOR: A, systematic review)

Education for sustainable development and global citizenship: analysis of self-assessment reports for work-based learning (information document)

Under the Quality and Effectiveness Framework for post-16 learning in Wales, Work Based Learning (WBL) providers are required to submit an education for sustainable development and global citizenship (ESDGC) self-assessment report and action plan to DCELLS. This report provides an analysis of these reports and highlights emerging themes and developmental needs at a sector level, and identifies good and innovative practice to help providers continue to embed ESDGC

Outcomes from collaborative provision audit: frameworks, guidance and formal agreements

The reports on Collaborative provision audits conducted between 2005 and 2007 indicate that, in general, the frameworks established by institutions for the management of quality and academic standards in their collaborative provision are sound and effective. Nevertheless, most reports provided advice on how particular aspects of the frameworks might be improved. The reports describe the various models or types of collaboration undertaken by institutions, and the relationships between these and the quality management arrangements employed. Recommendations in this context focused on the need for clarity in the use of terms and their procedural implications. Particular difficulties were associated with accreditation agreements in a number of institutions. The reports' consideration of formal agreements between awarding and partner institutions suggests several recurring themes, including: the relationship between types of collaboration and the contracted arrangements and responsibilities; the relationship between institutional and programme elements in agreements; arrangements for the review and renewal of agreements; and the need for ratification of agreements prior to the operation of programmes. The guidance provided on frameworks and processes for managing quality and standards in collaborative provision emerged as a widespread strength in awarding institutions and was linked with numerous features of good practice

Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry: young black people and the criminal justice system. Second annual report, December 2009

This is the second annual report to the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee (the Committee) setting out progress on the range of commitments made in the Government’s response to the report and recommendations of the Committee’s Inquiry on 'Young Black People and the Criminal Justice System (CJS)

Student-Centered Learning: Functional Requirements for Integrated Systems to Optimize Learning

The realities of the 21st-century learner require that schools and educators fundamentally change their practice. "Educators must produce college- and career-ready graduates that reflect the future these students will face. And, they must facilitate learning through means that align with the defining attributes of this generation of learners."Today, we know more than ever about how students learn, acknowledging that the process isn't the same for every student and doesn't remain the same for each individual, depending upon maturation and the content being learned. We know that students want to progress at a pace that allows them to master new concepts and skills, to access a variety of resources, to receive timely feedback on their progress, to demonstrate their knowledge in multiple ways and to get direction, support and feedback from—as well as collaborate with—experts, teachers, tutors and other students.The result is a growing demand for student-centered, transformative digital learning using competency education as an underpinning.iNACOL released this paper to illustrate the technical requirements and functionalities that learning management systems need to shift toward student-centered instructional models. This comprehensive framework will help districts and schools determine what systems to use and integrate as they being their journey toward student-centered learning, as well as how systems integration aligns with their organizational vision, educational goals and strategic plans.Educators can use this report to optimize student learning and promote innovation in their own student-centered learning environments. The report will help school leaders understand the complex technologies needed to optimize personalized learning and how to use data and analytics to improve practices, and can assist technology leaders in re-engineering systems to support the key nuances of student-centered learning

Achieving Green and Healthy Homes and Communities in America

In the Fall of 2010, the National Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisioning contracted with the National Academy to develop and execute an online dialogue that would examine ways to increase the health, safety, and energy efficiency of low- to moderate-income homes. Since 1999, the National Coalition had worked to improve low- to moderate-income housing through the support and execution of home interventions that addressed multiple issues within a home at one time; an approach that often did not align with other traditional, single-issue housing assistance programs. By 2010, the National Coalition had taken on the leadership of the Green and Healthy Homes Initiative, a public-private partnership focused on integrating funding streams to improve low- to middle-income homes across the country.With plans to expand the GHHI's operations, the National Coalition partnered with the National Academy to conduct the National Dialogue on Green and Healthy Homes, a collaborative online dailogue in which participants were asked to identify challenges to, and innovative practices for, improving the health, safety and energy-efficiency of low- to moderate- income homes. The Dialogue was live from November 4-November 22, 2010, and collected 100 hundred ideas and 362 comments from 320 registered users. Over the course of its two and a half week duration, the Dialogue received more than 2,500 visits from over 1,100 people in 48 states and territories. Key FindingsBy reviewing the feedback received in the Dialogue, the Panel was able to make a number of recommendations on how the green and healthy homes community of practice could increase the health, safety and energy efficiency of homes across the country. These recommendations included: Conduct an evaluation of current housing standards to determine if they meet the Nation's health, safety, and energy efficiency needs; Develop a tiered performance standard for healthy, safe and energy efficient homes; Group government funding streams to better align programs with the comprehensive intervention approach; Develop a long-term funding strategy to support efforts after Recovery Act funding ends; and Educate government decisionmakers and the public on the importance of developing green and healthy homes and communities, and the work that supports that development