Ethics and Internet Measurements

Over the past decade the Internet has changed from a helpful tool to an important part of our daily lives for most of the world’s population. Where in the past the Internet mostly served to look up and exchange information, it is now used to stay in touch with friends, perform financial transactions or exchange other kinds of sensitive information. This development impacts researchers performing Internet measurements, as the data traffic they collect is now much more likely to have some impact on users. Traditional institutions such as Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) or Ethics Committees are not always equipped to perform a thorough review or gauge the impact of Internet measurement studies. This paper examines the impact of this development for Internet measurements and analyses previous cases where Internet measurements have touched upon ethical issues. The paper proposes an early framework to help researchers identify stakeholders and how a network study may impact them. In addition to this, the paper provides advice on creating measurement practices that incorporate ethics by design, and also considers the role of third-party data suppliers in ethical measurement practices

ผลการประเมินคุณลักษณะที่พึงประสงค์ด้านคุณธรรม จริยธรรม ของนักศึกษามหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏในยุควิถีใหม่ An Analysis of Changes in Morality and Ethics of Rajabhat University’s Students in New Normal Era

การวิจัยครั้งนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อประเมินคุณลักษณะที่พึงประสงค์ด้านคุณธรรม จริยธรรมของนักศึกษา เพื่อศึกษาการเปลี่ยนแปลงระยะยาวของระดับคุณธรรม จริยธรรมของนักศึกษา และเพื่อศึกษาบทบาทในการพัฒนาด้านคุณธรรม จริยธรรมของนักศึกษา กลุ่มตัวอย่างคือ นักศึกษา จำนวน 573 คน โดยการเลือกกลุ่มตัวอย่างแบบหลายขั้นตอน เครื่องมือในการเก็บรวบรวมข้อมูลได้แก่ แบบสอบถามแบ่งออกเป็น 3 ตอนคือ สอบถามข้อมูลทั่วไป สอบถามสำหรับวัดระดับคุณธรรม จริยธรรมที่ควรเฝ้าระวัง และสอบถามเกี่ยวกับการพัฒนาคุณธรรม จริยธรรม วิเคราะห์ข้อมูลโดยการหาค่าความถี่ ร้อยละ การวิเคราะห์ความแปรปรวนแบบวัดซ้ำ และการวิเคราะห์ล้อมกรอบข้อมูล สรุปผลการวิจัยปรากฏผลดังนี้ 1. ผลการวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลระดับคุณธรรม จริยธรรมของนักศึกษามหาวิทยาลัยราชภัฏช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และเดือนตุลาคม 2563 พบว่า 1.1 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความซื่อสัตย์สุจริตมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.25 และ 3.25 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนเท่ากันทั้ง 2 ครั้ง (C.V.(%) = .17) 1.2 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความมีสติสัมปชัญญะมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.00 และ 2.99 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนเท่ากันทั้ง 2 ครั้งมีค่าใกล้เคียงกัน (C.V.(%) = .13, .14) 1.3 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความรับผิดชอบมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.38 และ 3.38 คะแนน ตามลำดับ จากการวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งใกล้เคียงกัน (C.V.(%) = .45, .47) 1.4 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้วัดความยุติธรรมมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.41 และ 3.41 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนเท่ากันทั้ง 2 ครั้งใกล้เคียงกัน (C.V.(%) = .17, .18) 1.5 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความขยันหมั่นเพียรมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.12 และ 3.12 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนเท่ากัน (C.V.(%) = .47)1.6 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความมีวินัยมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.34 และ 3.36 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้ง พบว่าการวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนใกล้เคียงกัน (C.V.(%) = .44, .45) 1.7 ค่าเฉลี่ยของตัวบ่งชี้ความอดทนมีค่าเท่ากับ 3.15 และ 3.14 คะแนน ตามลำดับ การวัดความแปรปรวนทั้ง 2 ครั้งพบว่า การวัดในช่วงเดือนกรกฎาคม 2563 และตุลาคม 2563 มีความแปรปรวนสูงสุดใกล้เคียงกันคือ (C.V.(%) = .45, .47) 2. แนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงตัวบ่งชี้คุณธรรม จริยธรรมทั้ง 7 ตัวเป็นเส้นตรง และมีแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงค่าเฉลี่ยเป็นดังนี้ 2.1 ตัวบ่งชี้ที่มีแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงเท่าเดิมคือ ความรับผิดชอบ 2.2 ตัวบ่งที่มีแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงเพิ่มขึ้นคือ ความซื่อสัตย์สุจริต ความขยันหมั่นเพียร และความมีวินัย 2.3 ตัวบ่งชี้ที่มีแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงลดลงจากเดิมคือ ความมีสติสัมปชัญญะ ความยุติธรรม และความอดทน 3. ผลการวิเคราะห์บทบาทในการพัฒนาคุณธรรม จริยธรรมในระดับตนเอง ระดับครอบครัวและระดับสังคมพบว่า ค่าความถี่และร้อยละเรียงตามลำดับความสำคัญของบทบาทในการพัฒนาคุณธรรม จริยธรรมในระดับตนเองมากที่สุดคือ การอบรมสั่งสอนจากพ่อแม่คิดเป็นร้อยละ 47.295 รองลงมาคือ การเข้าไปศึกษาในอินเทอร์เน็ต คิดเป็นร้อยละ 20.268   คำสำคัญ: คุณธรรม  จริยธรรม  นักศึกษา  ยุควิถีใหม่This research aims to assess the desirable characteristics of morality and ethics in students. This will enable us to understand long-term changes in the students’ moral and ethical levels. The sample consisted of 573 students through multi-stage random sampling. The questionnaire is divided into three parts: general inquiries, moral and ethics measurement, and moral and ethical development. The data analysis includes finding frequency, percentage, analysis of variance, repeating measure ANOVA, and data envelopment analysis. The research results are as follows: 1. The analysis of morality and ethics of Rajabhat University students during July 2020 and October 2020 found that 1.1 The mean of the Integrity Indicator was 3.25 and 3.25, respectively. Both measurements of the variance showed that the measurements between July 2020 and October 2020 had the same variance on both occasions (CV(%) = .17) 1.2 The mean values of the indicators of consciousness were 3.00 and 2.99, respectively. Both variance measurements found that the measurements during July 2020 and October 2020 had the same variance, both times with similar values (CV(%) = .13, .14). 1.3 The mean of responsibility indicators was 3.38 and 3.38, respectively. From both variance measurements, it was found that the two measurements from July 2020 and October 2020 had similar variations (CV(%) = .45, .47).1.4 The mean values of the fairness indicators were equal to 3.41 and 3.41, respectively. Both variance measurements found that the two measurements from July 2020 and October 2020 had similar variance (CV(%) = .17, .18). 1.5 The mean persistence indicators were 3.12 and 3.12, respectively. Both variance measurements showed that the measurements during July 2020 and October 2020 had the same variance (CV(%) = .47). 1.6 The mean of the Discipline Indicator was 3.34 and 3.36, respectively. Both variance measurements found that the measurements during July 2020 and October 2020 had similar variance (CV (%) = .44, .45). 1.7 The mean values of the tolerance indicators were 3.15 and 3.14, respectively. Both variance measurements found that the measurements during July 2020 and October 2020 had the same maximum variance (CV(%). = .45, .47). 2. Trends for changing the seven moral and ethical indicators in a straight line are likely to change the mean as follows: 2.1 Indicators with the same change trend are responsibility. 2.2 Indicators with an increasing trend are honesty, perseverance, and discipline. 2.3 Indicators with a downward trend are consciousness, justice, and patience. 3. The analysis of the role in moral development. Ethics at the self, family, and social levels frequency and percentage values are arranged in order of importance of moral development. Ethics at self-level is highest through parent teaching at 47.295 percent, followed by internet study, which accounted for 20.268 percent.   Keywords: Moral, Ethics, Student, New norma

Analyzing gender inequality through large-scale Facebook advertising data

Online social media are information resources that can have a transformative power in society. While the Web was envisioned as an equalizing force that allows everyone to access information, the digital divide prevents large amounts of people from being present online. Online social media in particular are prone to gender inequality, an important issue given the link between social media use and employment. Understanding gender inequality in social media is a challenging task due to the necessity of data sources that can provide large-scale measurements across multiple countries. Here we show how the Facebook Gender Divide (FGD), a metric based on aggregated statistics of more than 1.4 Billion users in 217 countries, explains various aspects of worldwide gender inequality. Our analysis shows that the FGD encodes gender equality indices in education, health, and economic opportunity. We find gender differences in network externalities that suggest that using social media has an added value for women. Furthermore, we find that low values of the FGD are associated with increases in economic gender equality. Our results suggest that online social networks, while suffering evident gender imbalance, may lower the barriers that women have to access informational resources and help to narrow the economic gender gap

Mobile Glaucoma Detection Application

Glaucoma is a debilitating optical degeneration disease that can lead to vision loss and eventually blindness. Given its asymptomatic nature, most people with Glaucoma aren’t even aware that they have the disease. As a result, the disease is often left untreated until it is too late. Detecting the presence of Glaucoma is one of the most important steps in treating Glaucoma, but is unfortunately also the most difficult to enforce. The Mobile Glaucoma Detection application aims to reduce the growing number of individuals who are unaware that they have Glaucoma by providing a simple detection mechanism to notify users if they are at risk. The system does this by enabling its users to independently conduct Tonometry exams through the application. Tonometry examinations allow doctors to determine if the intra-ocular pressure levels in a person’s eyes put them at risk for Glaucoma. The M.G.D.A(Mobile Glaucoma Detection Application) allows users to determine their intra-ocular pressure levels from the comfort of their own home via a special contact lens paired with a smartphone application. The system also offers users the opportunity to monitor, regulate, and track their use and progress through the system

Automated Discovery of Internet Censorship by Web Crawling

Censorship of the Internet is widespread around the world. As access to the web becomes increasingly ubiquitous, filtering of this resource becomes more pervasive. Transparency about specific content that citizens are denied access to is atypical. To counter this, numerous techniques for maintaining URL filter lists have been proposed by various individuals and organisations that aim to empirical data on censorship for benefit of the public and wider censorship research community. We present a new approach for discovering filtered domains in different countries. This method is fully automated and requires no human interaction. The system uses web crawling techniques to traverse between filtered sites and implements a robust method for determining if a domain is filtered. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach by running experiments to search for filtered content in four different censorship regimes. Our results show that we perform better than the current state of the art and have built domain filter lists an order of magnitude larger than the most widely available public lists as of Jan 2018. Further, we build a dataset mapping the interlinking nature of blocked content between domains and exhibit the tightly networked nature of censored web resources

Impact of a Web-Based Exercise and Nutritional Education Intervention in Patients Who Are Obese With Hypertension: Randomized Wait-List Controlled Trial

Background: Internet-based interventions are a promising strategy for promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors. These have a tremendous potential for delivering electronic health interventions in scalable and cost-effective ways. There is strong evidence that the use of these programs can lead to weight loss and can lower patients’ average blood pressure (BP) levels. So far, few studies have investigated the effects of internet-based programs on patients who are obese with hypertension (HTN). Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the short- and long-term efficacy, in terms of body composition and BP parameters, of a self-administered internet-based intervention involving different modules and learning techniques aimed at promoting lifestyle changes (both physical activity and healthy eating) in patients who are obese with HTN. Methods: A randomized wait-list controlled trial design was used. We recruited 105 adults with HTN who were overweight or obese and randomly assigned them to either a 3-month internet-based intervention group (n=55) or the wait-list control group (n=50). We assessed BMI (primary outcome), body fat mass (BFM), systolic (S)BP and diastolic (D)BP, blood glucose and insulin levels, physical activity levels, and functional capacity for aerobic exercise at Time 0 (preintervention) and Time 1 (postintervention). All the patients in the wait-list control group subsequently received the intervention, and a secondary within-group analysis, which also included these participants, was conducted at Time 2 (12-month follow-up). Results: A 2-way mixed analysis of covariance showed a significant decrease in BMI, BFM, and blood glucose at 3 months in the internet-based intervention group; the effect size for the BMI and BFM parameters was moderate to large, and there was also a borderline significant trend for DBP and insulin. These results were either maintained or improved upon at Time 2 and showed significant changes for BMI (mean difference −0.4, 95% CI −0.1 to −0.6; P=.005), BFM (mean difference −2.4, 95% CI −1.1 to −3.6; P<.001), DBP (mean difference −1.8, 95% CI −0.2 to −3.3; P=.03), and blood glucose (mean difference −2, 95% CI 0 to −4; P=.04). Conclusions: Implementation of our self-administered internet-based intervention, which involved different learning techniques aimed to promote lifestyle changes, resulted in positive short- and long-term health benefits in patients who are obese with HTN

Information sources in Kosovo – traditional media vs. new media

The information in the digital era has become diverse and redundant. The individual in society gets hundreds and thousands of messages in different ways and channels of communication, but at the end of the day, they remember the most important ones. In modern times, the Internet era, the spread of diverse information has become an easy job. Different editors often share information with no public value, but with private matter for the individual who shares it. Today, this is possible through the internet where individuals have their accounts of social networks. To possess a Facebook site today is like having a personal media or having a newspaper. There are newspapers, which do not sell more than 500 pieces a day, while on the other hand an overwhelming number of individuals have thousands of friends on Facebook, meaning that many individuals today manage personal media with a larger audience than a newspaper. Therefore, this means that the concept of media is transformed today. It is another matter if all relevant information that circulates presents importance and interest for the individual. Today the information spreads in the new media without any cost, without any delay and without any controlling filter for truthiness and ethics of that message. Another question that arises is from who are individuals informed today in our society in transition, what are they informed about and what is the role of the media in this regard? Precisely these are the goals of the study "Information sources in Kosovo - traditional media vs. new media." The study aims to address this untreated problem, although it has been a long time since individuals use the new media, while youth is the biggest consumer and spends a few hours a day there. The distinguish done in the traditional media and new media is more of a conventional distinguish, because these media in the Internet era find converging channel and day-to-day the traditional media adapt, transform, and survive, although individuals tend more after new media to a variety of reasons

A randomised feasibility study of serial magnetic resonance imaging to reduce treatment times in Charcot neuroarthropathy in people with diabetes (CADOM): A protocol

Background Charcot neuroarthropathy is a complication of peripheral neuropathy associated with diabetes which most frequently affects the lower limb. It can cause fractures and dislocations within the foot, which may progress to deformity and ulceration. Recommended treatment is immobilisation and offloading, with a below knee non-removable cast or boot. Duration of treatment varies from six months to more than one year. Small observational studies suggest that repeated assessment with Magnetic Resonance Imaging improves decision making about when to stop treatment, but this has not been tested in clinical trials. This study aims to explore the feasibility of using serial Magnetic Resonance Imaging without contrast in the monitoring of Charcot neuroarthropathy to reduce duration of immobilisation of the foot. A nested qualitative study aims to explore participants’ lived experience of Charcot neuroarthropathy and of taking part in the feasibility study. Methods We will undertake a two arm, open study, and randomise 60 people with a suspected or confirmed diagnosis of Charcot neuroarthropathy from five NHS, secondary care multidisciplinary Diabetic Foot Clinics across England. Participants will be randomised 1:1 to receive Magnetic Resonance Imaging at baseline and remission up to 12 months, with repeated foot temperature measurements and x-rays (standard care plus), or standard care plus with additional three-monthly Magnetic Resonance Imaging until remission up to 12 months (intervention). Time to confirmed remission of Charcot neuroarthropathy with off-loading treatment (days) and its variance will be used to inform sample size in a full-scale trial. We will look for opportunities to improve the protocols for monitoring techniques and the clinical, patient centred, and health economic measures used in a future study. For the nested qualitative study, we will invite a purposive sample of 10-14 people able to offer maximally varying experiences from the feasibility study to take part in semi-structured interviews to be analysed using thematic analysis. Discussion The study will inform the decision whether to proceed to a full-scale trial. It will also allow deeper understanding of the lived experience of Charcot neuroarthropathy, and factors that contribute to engagement in management and contribute to the development of more effective patient centred strategies. Trial registration ISRCTN, ISRCTN, 74101606. Registered on 6 November 2017, http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN74101606?q=CADom&filters=&sort=&offset=1&totalResults=1&page=1&pageSize=10&searchType=basic-searc

Volunteer Participation in the Health eHeart Study: A Comparison with the US Population.

Direct volunteer "eCohort" recruitment can be an efficient way of recruiting large numbers of participants, but there is potential for volunteer bias. We compared self-selected participants in the Health eHeart Study to participants in the National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-14, a cross-sectional survey of the US population. Compared with the US population (represented by 5,769 NHANES participants), the 12,280 Health eHeart participants with complete survey data were more likely to be female (adjusted odds ratio (ORadj) = 3.1; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.9-3.5); less likely to be Black, Hispanic, or Asian versus White/non-Hispanic (ORadj's = 0.4-0.6, p &lt; 0.01); more likely to be college-educated (ORadj = 15.8 (13-19) versus ≤high school); more likely to have cardiovascular diseases and risk factors (ORadj's = 1.1-2.8, p &lt; 0.05) except diabetes (ORadj = 0.8 (0.7-0.9); more likely to be in excellent general health (ORadj = 0.6 (0.5-0.8) for "Good" versus "Excellent"); and less likely to be current smokers (ORadj = 0.3 (0.3-0.4)). While most self-selection patterns held for Health eHeart users of Bluetooth blood pressure cuff technology, there were some striking differences; for example, the gender ratio was reversed (ORadj = 0.6 (0.4-0.7) for female gender). Volunteer participation in this cardiovascular health-focused eCohort was not uniform among US adults nor for different components of the study