A trend study on the impact of social media in decision making

Social media has grown steadily during the last decade and it is now considered as a new opportunity to use for different purposes such as decision making. The primary objective of this paper is to review articles related to social media and decision making using manual and bibliometrics anal-ysis methods, and to identify top themes in these articles. We have reviewed the papers published between 2008 and the first month of 2019 in Scopus where 1,159 articles were published in this period. These articles come from 733 sources and 3,459 authors. According to our survey, United States is the most productive country. Moreover, most collaborations occurred between two coun-tries of United States and United Kingdom as well as between United States and China. The bibliometrics analysis examines global research in this field from the different point of views

A Methodology with Distributed Algorithms for Large-Scale Human Mobility Prediction

In today’s era of big data, huge amounts of spatial-temporal data related to human mobility, e.g., vehicle trajectories, are generated daily from all kinds of city-wide infrastructures. Understanding and accurately predicting such a large amount of spatial-temporal data could benefit many real-world applications, e.g., efficient transportation resource relocation. However, the mix of spatial and temporal patterns among these activities and the scale of the data (in a city level) pose great challenges for accurate predictions under real-time constraints. To bridge the gap, this dissertation proposes a methodology for the prediction of large-scale human mobility, especially a city level’s vehicle trajectory distribution across the road network. The thesis has several major components: (1) a novel model for the prediction of spatial-temporal activities such as people’s outflow/inflow movements combining the latent and explicit features; (2) different models for the simulation of corresponding flow trajectory distributions in the road network, from which hot road segments and their formation can be predicted and identified in advance; (3) different MapReduce-based distributed algorithms for the simulation and analysis of large-scale trajectory distributions under real-time constraints. First, our proposed methodology quantifies the latent features of spatial environments and temporal factors through tensor factorization, given existing mobility datasets. We model the relationship between spatial-temporal activities and the latent and other explicit features as a Gaussian process, which can be viewed as a distribution over the possible functions to predict human mobility. After the prediction of overall inflow/outflow, we further model these movements’ trajectory distributions in the road network, from which the corresponding hot road segments and its possible causes, among other things, can be predicted in advance. For example, based on our prediction, in the next half hour, a high percentage of vehicles that travel from region A/B toward region C/D might pass through the same road segment, which indicates that a possible traffic jam or bottleneck could form there later. This process is computationally intensive and would require efficient algorithms for real-time response because the scale of a city’s road network and the possible number of trajectories that people might choose to take during certain time periods could be very large. Efficient distributed algorithms are proposed and validated

Crowdsensing solutions for urban pollution monitoring using smartphones

La contaminación ambiental es uno de los principales problemas que afecta a nuestro planeta. El crecimiento industrial y los aglomerados urbanos, entre otros, están contribuyendo a que dicho problema se diversifique y se cronifique. La presencia de contaminantes ambientales en niveles elevados afecta la salud humana, siendo la calidad del aire y los niveles de ruido ejemplos de factores que pueden causar efectos negativos en las personas tanto psicológicamente como fisiológicamente. Sin embargo, la ubiquidad de los microcomputadores, y el aumento de los sensores incorporados en nuestros smartphones, han hecho posible la aparición de nuevas estrategias para medir dicha contaminación. Así, el Mobile Crowdsensing se ha convertido en un nuevo paradigma mediante el cual los teléfonos inteligentes emergen como tecnología habilitadora, y cuya adopción generalizada proporciona un enorme potencial para su crecimiento, permitiendo operar a gran escala, y con unos costes asumibles para la sociedad. A través del crowdsensing, los teléfonos inteligentes pueden convertirse en unidades de detección flexibles y multiuso que, a través de los sensores integrados en dichos dispositivos, o combinados con nuevos sensores, permiten monitorizar regiones de interés con una buena granularidad tanto espacial como temporal. En esta tesis nos centramos en el diseño de soluciones de crowdsensing usando smartphones donde abordamos problemas de contaminación ambiental, específicamente del ruido y de la contaminación del aire. Con este objetivo, se estudian, en primer lugar, las propuestas de crowdsensing que han surgido en los últimos años. Los resultados de nuestro estudio demuestran que todavía hay mucha heterogeneidad en términos de tecnologías utilizadas y métodos de implementación, aunque los diseños modulares en el cliente y en el servidor parecen ser dominantes. Con respecto a la contaminación del aire, proponemos una arquitectura que permita medir la contaminación del aire, concretamente del ozono, dentro de entornos urbanos. Nuestra propuesta utiliza smartphones como centro de la arquitectura, siendo estos dispositivos los encargados de leer los datos de un sensor móvil externo, y de luego enviar dichos datos a un servidor central para su procesamiento y tratamiento. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que la orientación del sensor y el período de muestreo, dentro de ciertos límites, tienen muy poca influencia en los datos capturados. Con respecto a la contaminación acústica, proponemos una arquitectura para medir los niveles de ruido en entornos urbanos basada en crowdsensing, y cuya característica principal es que no requiere intervención del usuario. En esta tesis detallamos aspectos tales como la calibración de los smartphones, la calidad de las medidas obtenidas, el instante de muestreo, el diseño del servidor, y la interacción cliente-servidor. Además, hemos validado nuestra solución en escenarios reales para demostrar el potencial de la solución alcanzada. Los resultados experimentales muestran que, con nuestra propuesta, es posible medir niveles de ruido en diferentes zonas urbanas o rurales con un grado de precisión comparable al de los dispositivos profesionales, todo ello sin requerir intervención del usuario, y con un consumo reducido en cuanto a recursos del sistema. En general, las diferentes contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral ofrecen un punto de partida para nuevos desarrollos, ofreciendo estrategias de calibración y algoritmos eficientes de cara a realizar medidas representativas. Además, una importante ventaja de nuestra propuesta es que puede ser implementada de forma directa tanto en instituciones públicas como no gubernamentales en poco tiempo, ya que utiliza tecnología accesible y soluciones basadas en código abierto.La contaminació ambiental és un dels principals problemes que afecten el nostre planeta. El creixement industrial i els aglomerats urbans, entre altres, estan contribuint al fet que aquest problema es diversifique i es cronifique. La presència de contaminants ambientals en nivells elevats afecta la salut humana, sent la qualitat de l'aire i els nivells de soroll exemples de factors que poden causar efectes negatius en les persones, tant psicològicament com fisiològicament. No obstant això, la ubiqüitat de les microcomputadores i l'augment dels sensors incorporats als nostres telèfons intel·ligents han fet possible l'aparició de noves estratègies per a mesurar aquesta contaminació. Així, el mobile crowdsensing s'ha convertit en un nou paradigma mitjançant el qual els telèfons intel·ligents emergeixen com a tecnologia habilitadora, i l'adopció generalitzada d'aquest proporciona un enorme potencial per al seu creixement, ja que permet operar a gran escala i amb uns costos assumibles per a la societat. A través del crowdsensing, els telèfons intel·ligents poden convertir-se en unitats de detecció flexibles i multiús que, a través dels sensors integrats en els esmentats dispositius, o combinats amb nous sensors, permeten monitoritzar regions d'interès amb una bona granularitat, tant espacial com temporal. En aquesta tesi ens centrem en el disseny de solucions de crowdsensing usant telèfons intel·ligents, on abordem problemes de contaminació ambiental, específicament del soroll i de la contaminació de l'aire. Amb aquest objectiu, s'estudien, en primer lloc, les propostes de crowdsensing que han sorgit en els últims anys. Els resultats del nostre estudi demostren que encara hi ha molta heterogeneïtat en termes de tecnologies utilitzades i mètodes d'implementació, encara que els dissenys modulars en el client i en el servidor semblen ser dominants. Pel que fa a la contaminació de l'aire, proposem una arquitectura que permeta mesurar la contaminació d'aquest, concretament de l'ozó, dins d'entorns urbans. La nostra proposta utilitza telèfons intel·ligents com a centre de l'arquitectura, sent aquests dispositius els encarregats de llegir les dades d'un sensor mòbil extern, i d'enviar després aquestes dades a un servidor central per al seu processament i tractament. Els resultats obtinguts demostren que l'orientació del sensor i el període de mostratge, dins de certs límits, tenen molt poca influència en les dades capturades. Pel que fa a la contaminació acústica, proposem una arquitectura per a mesurar els nivells de soroll en entorns urbans basada en crowdsensing, i la característica principal de la qual és que no requereix intervenció de la persona usuària. En aquesta tesi detallem aspectes com ara el calibratge dels telèfons intel·ligents, la qualitat de les mesures obtingudes, l'instant de mostratge, el disseny del servidor i la interacció client-servidor. A més, hem validat la nostra solució en escenaris reals per a demostrar el potencial de la solució assolida. Els resultats experimentals mostren que, amb la nostra proposta, és possible mesurar nivells de soroll en diferents zones urbanes o rurals amb un grau de precisió comparable al dels dispositius professionals, tot això sense requerir intervenció de l'usuari o usuària, i amb un consum reduït quant a recursos del sistema. En general, les diferents contribucions d'aquesta tesi doctoral ofereixen un punt de partida per a nous desenvolupaments, i ofereixen estratègies de calibratge i algorismes eficients amb vista a realitzar mesures representatives. A més, un important avantatge de la nostra proposta és que pot ser implementada de forma directa tant en institucions públiques com no governamentals en poc de temps, ja que utilitza tecnologia accessible i solucions basades en el codi obert.Environmental pollution is one of the main problems that affect our planet. Industrial growth and urban agglomerations, among others, are contributing to the diversification and chronification of this problem. The presence of environmental pollutants at high levels affect human health, with air quality and noise levels being examples of factors that can cause negative effects on people both psychologically and physiologically. Traditionally, environmental pollution is measured through monitoring centers, which are usually fixed and have a high cost. However, the ubiquity of microcomputers and the increase in the number of sensors embedded in our smartphones, have paved the way for the appearance of new strategies to measure such pollution. Thus, Mobile Crowdsensing has become a new paradigm through which smartphones emerge as an enabling technology, and whose widespread adoption provides enormous potential for growth, allowing large-scale operations, and with costs acceptable to our society. Through crowdsensing, smartphones can become flexible and multipurpose detection units that, through the sensors integrated into these devices, or combined with new sensors, allow monitoring regions of interest with good spatial and temporal granularity. In this thesis, we focus on the design of crowdsensing solutions using smartphones. We deal with environmental pollution problems, specifically noise and air pollution. With this objective, the crowdsensing proposals that have emerged in recent years are studied in the first place. The results of our study show that there is still a lot of heterogeneity in terms of technologies used and implementation methods, although modular designs at both client and server seem to be dominant. Concerning air pollution, we propose an architecture that allows measuring air pollution, specifically ozone, in urban environments. Our proposal uses smartphones as the center of the architecture, being these devices responsible for reading the data obtained by an external mobile sensor, and then sending such data to a central server for processing and analysis. In this proposal, several problems have been analyzed with regard to the orientation of the external sensor and the sampling time, and the proposed solution has been validated in real scenarios. The results obtained show that the orientation of the sensor and the sampling period, within certain limits, have very little influence on the captured data. Also, by comparing the heat maps generated by our solution with the data from the existing monitoring stations in the city of Valencia, we demonstrate that our approach is capable of providing greater data granularity. Concerning noise pollution, we propose an architecture to measure noise levels in urban environments based on crowdsensing, and whose main characteristic is that it does not require user intervention. In this thesis, we detail aspects such as the calibration of smartphones, the quality of the measurements obtained, the sampling instant, the server design, and the client-server interaction. Besides, we have validated our solution in real scenarios to demonstrate the potential of the proposed solution. Experimental results show that, with our proposal, it is possible to measure noise levels in different urban or rural areas with a degree of precision comparable to that of professional devices, all without requiring the intervention of the user, and with reduced consumption of system resources. In general, the different contributions of this doctoral thesis provide a starting point for new developments, offering efficient calibration strategies and algorithms to make representative measurements. Besides, a significant advantage of our proposal is that it can be implemented straightforwardly by both public and non-governmental institutions in a short time, as it relies on accessible technology and open source softwareZamora Mero, WJ. (2018). Crowdsensing solutions for urban pollution monitoring using smartphones [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/115483TESI

Can't get no satisfaction : commodity culture in fiction

Drawing on recent thinking in critical and cultural theory, this thesis examines the representation of commodity culture in a selected body of nineteenth and twentieth century fiction. In so doing, it explains how the commodity, as capitalism's representational agent, created and sustained a culture of its own in the nineteenth century, and how that culture, still with us today, has persisted and evolved over the course of the twentieth century. It follows the commodity and the cultural forms it generates through their historical development. And it considers how fiction, from realism through modernism and into postmodernism, accommodates and responds both to the commodity's increasingly loud cultural presence and to its colonization of the social imagination and its desires. The study begins by examining responses to the rise of commodity culture in Victorian social novels before moving on to explore how key issues raised in nineteenth century writing resurface and are reshaped in first early modernist and then postmodernist fiction. The chapters focus, in turn, on Gaskell and the casualties of industrialism, carnivals of consumption in Thackeray, Trollope's 'material girl,' decay in Conrad, and shopping with DeLillo. Together, they argue that the task of assessing commodity culture's impact on identity and agency represents a dominant concern in literary production from the mid-nineteenth century onwards; and that both the commodity and the consumer world through which it circulates find ambivalent expression in the narratives that represent them. Finally, and as its title suggests, the thesis finds that the commodity figures throughout the fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as a living object of consumer fetish that excites desire yet strangely denies satisfaction

Digesting modernity: Body, illness and medicine in Kolkata (Calcutta).

This Ph.D. thesis presents an anthropological perspective on popular and professional concepts of the body in Kolkata (Calcutta), with special reference to ideas about the stomach/belly and the digestive system. By altering the routines and practices of daily life, changes brought about by modernization, globalization and urbanization are often associated with a decline of mental and physical well-being. In this context, the aim of this study is to juxtapose popular practices of self-care with professional views on illness and medicine. How do people in Kolkata perceive their bodies. How do they speak about health problems linked to digestion. What are the perceptions of health and illness among different medical professionals. How does this discourse reflect anxieties about the consequences of modernity in Kolkata. The data of this study are drawn from ethnographic fieldwork carried out between July 1999 and December 2000. Interviews and participant observation were conducted with a cross-section of the Bengali Hindu population in a local area in South-West Kolkata, and in selected other areas of the city. Data collection focused on metaphors around stomach/belly (Bengali: pet), and on popular practices of self-care in relation to bodily well-being. For research on professional medicine, interviews and participant observation were carried out with healers from thee different medical systems: allopathy (biomedicine), homeopathy, and Ayurveda. From each of these systems, fifteen to twenty healers were interviewed on how they perceive their patients, and how these perceptions influence their medical practice

Interdependence and tension around cultural tourism in city destinations.

Cultural tourism in cities involves cultural resources and the producers and consumers of those resources, with the integration of these elements resulting in different forms of cultural tourism and varied associated relationships. Culture and cultural heritage tourism often feature prominently in city-based tourist activities, and they can assist cities to achieve broad socio-economic and political objectives. Given the importance of urban cultural tourism, it is surprising that few studies have sought to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the processes and issues involved in its production and consumption. Instead, much relevant research focuses only on specific individual aspects or features of cultural tourism. The study responds to the need to understand urban cultural tourism through a holistic approach that also simplifies the relevant complex relationships.This research develops a holistic, relational and dialectical conceptual model in order to improve our critical understanding of urban cultural tourism. The model draws certain ideas from the circuit of culture conceptualisation of the assembly of contemporary material artefacts and from previous studies of cultural heritage tourism in cities. The central dialectic in the proposed model of urban cultural tourism concerns relationships of interdependence and tension. Urban cultural tourism involves much interdependence, such as between the production and consumption of tourism products, between culture and tourism departments, and between producers of cultural tourism products in the cultural and tourism sectors. Yet, there is also much tension involved in these relationships, such as between the preservation and commodification of cultural resources and between potentially different expectations of cultural tourism's producers and consumers. The model thus focuses on processes of interdependence and tension in urban cultural tourism.The applicability and value of the theoretical model is considered for the case of the city of Nanjing in China, a distinctive context for urban cultural tourism due to the city's rich cultural resources and the major changes in China's economy, society, politics and governance. The assessment is based on triangulation using a range of sources, including semi-structured in-depth interviews with industry officials and managers and tourists, observation, documents, photographic records, and social media.The research findings demonstrate the model's value, notably through its integrated approach, its focus on dialectical relationships of interdependence and tension, and the prominence given to four key relationships and their connections with each other and their context. It provided valuable new insights into the relationships in Nanjing between culture and tourism policies and between relevant government departments, between the public and private sectors, between the production and consumption of cultural tourism, and between the encoding and decoding of related messages. These relationships had to be seen as reflecting and affecting China's distinctive political, economic and socio-cultural context. Conclusions are also drawn about the wider applicability and value of the model for researchers interested in cultural tourism in other urban contexts

Catastrophe and control : how technological disasters enhance democracy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (p. 401-422).by Wade Edmund Roush.Ph.D

Interdependence and tension around cultural tourism in city destinations.

Cultural tourism in cities involves cultural resources and the producers and consumers of those resources, with the integration of these elements resulting in different forms of cultural tourism and varied associated relationships. Culture and cultural heritage tourism often feature prominently in city-based tourist activities, and they can assist cities to achieve broad socio-economic and political objectives. Given the importance of urban cultural tourism, it is surprising that few studies have sought to establish a more comprehensive understanding of the processes and issues involved in its production and consumption. Instead, much relevant research focuses only on specific individual aspects or features of cultural tourism. The study responds to the need to understand urban cultural tourism through a holistic approach that also simplifies the relevant complex relationships.This research develops a holistic, relational and dialectical conceptual model in order to improve our critical understanding of urban cultural tourism. The model draws certain ideas from the circuit of culture conceptualisation of the assembly of contemporary material artefacts and from previous studies of cultural heritage tourism in cities. The central dialectic in the proposed model of urban cultural tourism concerns relationships of interdependence and tension. Urban cultural tourism involves much interdependence, such as between the production and consumption of tourism products, between culture and tourism departments, and between producers of cultural tourism products in the cultural and tourism sectors. Yet, there is also much tension involved in these relationships, such as between the preservation and commodification of cultural resources and between potentially different expectations of cultural tourism's producers and consumers. The model thus focuses on processes of interdependence and tension in urban cultural tourism.The applicability and value of the theoretical model is considered for the case of the city of Nanjing in China, a distinctive context for urban cultural tourism due to the city's rich cultural resources and the major changes in China's economy, society, politics and governance. The assessment is based on triangulation using a range of sources, including semi-structured in-depth interviews with industry officials and managers and tourists, observation, documents, photographic records, and social media.The research findings demonstrate the model's value, notably through its integrated approach, its focus on dialectical relationships of interdependence and tension, and the prominence given to four key relationships and their connections with each other and their context. It provided valuable new insights into the relationships in Nanjing between culture and tourism policies and between relevant government departments, between the public and private sectors, between the production and consumption of cultural tourism, and between the encoding and decoding of related messages. These relationships had to be seen as reflecting and affecting China's distinctive political, economic and socio-cultural context. Conclusions are also drawn about the wider applicability and value of the model for researchers interested in cultural tourism in other urban contexts