Document annotation and version control for the Internet

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1997.Inverted exclamation point precedes the workd Share in title on t.p.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-53).by Jason Bryce Thomas.M.Eng

How do teachers exercise relational agency for supporting migrant students within social networks in schools from Scotland, Finland, and Sweden?

This study examines how teachers exercise relational agency - working flexibly with other actors in their social networks to support migrant students. Teachers and other staff members from 7 schools in Scotland, Finland and Sweden participated in social network surveys (n = 1116), online logs (n = 275) and interviews (n = 82). A mixed-method social network analysis shows how networks facilitate relational agency as teachers reach out to others to mobilise resources and tacit knowledge within their school communities. The findings point to the critical role of professional collaboration and suggest that social networks shape how teachers work with specialists to support migrant students.</p

Evaluating Attitudes toward Women\u27s Sports: A scale development and validation study

The purpose of this study was to develop a survey instrument Attitude toward Women\u27s Sports (ATWS) Scale\u27 to measure attitude toward women\u27s sports, and seek various validity and reliability evidences for the instrument. First, item pool of ATWS scale was reviewed by subject matter experts to collect evidence on content validity of the instrument and to refine the instrument. Second, items were tested with two pilot studies to assess effectiveness of the items within the ATWS scale by performing item analyses. Total of 49 items were deleted in two pilot studies as a result of item analyses. The remaining items were used to create the ATWS scale, and tested with women\u27s sport fans (n = 230). Exploratory Factor Analysis was performed to examine internal structure of the ATWS scale, and eight factors accounted for 68 percent of the variance in the items. Furthermore, relationship between attitude toward women\u27s sports and consumption intentions was investigated by a multiple linear regression analysis as evidence based on relationship to other variables. The regression analysis reported excitement, affect and drama as statistically significant predictors of consumption intentions. Finally, the scores derived from the final eight factors had adequate reliability (Excitement α = .857, Opportunity for Women α = .832, Accessibility α = .807, Aesthetic α = .858, Affect α = .736, Drama α = .831, Entertainment Value α = .739, Athlete Quality α = .863). The results of the present study provided evidence for content validity, internal structure, relationship to other variables, and reliability for the final eight subscales and their respective 34 items representing domains of attitude toward women\u27s sports.\u2

Model driven design and data integration in semantic web information systems

The Web is quickly evolving in many ways. It has evolved from a Web of documents into a Web of applications in which a growing number of designers offer new and interactive Web applications with people all over the world. However, application design and implementation remain complex, error-prone and laborious. In parallel there is also an evolution from a Web of documents into a Web of `knowledge' as a growing number of data owners are sharing their data sources with a growing audience. This brings the potential new applications for these data sources, including scenarios in which these datasets are reused and integrated with other existing and new data sources. However, the heterogeneity of these data sources in syntax, semantics and structure represents a great challenge for application designers. The Semantic Web is a collection of standards and technologies that offer solutions for at least the syntactic and some structural issues. If offers semantic freedom and flexibility, but this leaves the issue of semantic interoperability. In this thesis we present Hera-S, an evolution of the Model Driven Web Engineering (MDWE) method Hera. MDWEs allow designers to create data centric applications using models instead of programming. Hera-S especially targets Semantic Web sources and provides a flexible method for designing personalized adaptive Web applications. Hera-S defines several models that together define the target Web application. Moreover we implemented a framework called Hydragen, which is able to execute the Hera-S models to run the desired Web application. Hera-S' core is the Application Model (AM) in which the main logic of the application is defined, i.e. defining the groups of data elements that form logical units or subunits, the personalization conditions, and the relationships between the units. Hera-S also uses a so-called Domain Model (DM) that describes the content and its structure. However, this DM is not Hera-S specific, but instead allows any Semantic Web source representation as its DM, as long as its content can be queried by the standardized Semantic Web query language SPARQL. The same holds for the User Model (UM). The UM can be used for personalization conditions, but also as a source of user-related content if necessary. In fact, the difference between DM and UM is conceptual as their implementation within Hydragen is the same. Hera-S also defines a presentation model (PM) which defines presentation details of elements like order and style. In order to help designers with building their Web applications we have introduced a toolset, Hera Studio, which allows to build the different models graphically. Hera Studio also provides some additional functionality like model checking and deployment of the models in Hydragen. Both Hera-S and its implementation Hydragen are designed to be flexible regarding the user of models. In order to achieve this Hydragen is a stateless engine that queries for relevant information from the models at every page request. This allows the models and data to be changed in the datastore during runtime. We show that one way to exploit this flexibility is by applying aspect-orientation to the AM. Aspect-orientation allows us to dynamically inject functionality that pervades the entire application. Another way to exploit Hera-S' flexibility is in reusing specialized components, e.g. for presentation generation. We present a configuration of Hydragen in which we replace our native presentation generation functionality by the AMACONT engine. AMACONT provides more extensive multi-level presentation generation and adaptation capabilities as well aspect-orientation and a form of semantic based adaptation. Hera-S was designed to allow the (re-)use of any (Semantic) Web datasource. It even opens up the possibility for data integration at the back end, by using an extendible storage layer in our database of choice Sesame. However, even though theoretically possible it still leaves much of the actual data integration issue. As this is a recurring issue in many domains, a broader challenge than for Hera-S design only, we decided to look at this issue in isolation. We present a framework called Relco which provides a language to express data transformation operations as well as a collection of techniques that can be used to (semi-)automatically find relationships between concepts in different ontologies. This is done with a combination of syntactic, semantic and collaboration techniques, which together provide strong clues for which concepts are most likely related. In order to prove the applicability of Relco we explore five application scenarios in different domains for which data integration is a central aspect. This includes a cultural heritage portal, Explorer, for which data from several datasources was integrated and was made available by a mapview, a timeline and a graph view. Explorer also allows users to provide metadata for objects via a tagging mechanism. Another application is SenSee: an electronic TV-guide and recommender. TV-guide data was integrated and enriched with semantically structured data from several sources. Recommendations are computed by exploiting the underlying semantic structure. ViTa was a project in which several techniques for tagging and searching educational videos were evaluated. This includes scenarios in which user tags are related with an ontology, or other tags, using the Relco framework. The MobiLife project targeted the facilitation of a new generation of mobile applications that would use context-based personalization. This can be done using a context-based user profiling platform that can also be used for user model data exchange between mobile applications using technologies like Relco. The final application scenario that is shown is from the GRAPPLE project which targeted the integration of adaptive technology into current learning management systems. A large part of this integration is achieved by using a user modeling component framework in which any application can store user model information, but which can also be used for the exchange of user model data

Retracing the 1910 Carruthers Royal Geographical Society Expedition to the Turgen Mountains of Mongolia – Reconstruction of a Century of Glacial Change

The Turgen Mountains lie in northwestern Mongolia, roughly 80 kilometers south of the Russian border. The area was visited in 1910 by a Royal Geographical Society (RGS) expedition led by Douglas Carruthers. They undertook an extensive survey of the range and produced a detailed topographic map. They also documented the extent of the glaciers with photographs. This modern study consisted of three phases. The first step was to procure the historical documents from the RGS in London, including copies of the photos, journal entries, and the map. Field work in Mongolia entailed traveling to the remote study site and retracing portions the 1910 expedition. Camera locations were matched to the historical photographs and repeat images taken. In addition, the termini of the two main glacial lobes were surveyed by GPS. Finally, spatial analysis was conducted in the computer laboratory using a GIS to generate a „historic‟ elevation model from the 1910 map and compare it to a modern DEM generated from SRTM data. Map analysis software was employed to evaluate cartometric accuracy of the 1910 map against modern Russian topographic sheets. The results of the DEM and map analysis were then validated using the field GPS data and remotely sensed imagery to quantitatively describe the changes in the glacial system. The repeat photography was analyzed using photogrammetric techniques to measure glacier changes. Also, a custom cartographic product was produced in the style of the 1910 Carruthers map. It displays the extent of the glaciers in 2010 and the locations of repeat photography stations for future expeditions. Placing the results of this study alongside previous work paints a clear picture of the Turgen glacial regime over the last century. The results suggest that while the snow and ice volume on the summits appears to be intact, lower elevation glaciers show significant ablation. This study successively demonstrates the utility of using historic expedition documents to extend the modern record of glacial change

Understanding changes to perceived socioeconomic and psychosocial adversities during COVID-19 for UK freelance cultural workers

There is a dearth of qualitative research exploring how freelancers working in the cultural industries have been affected during COVID-19. In particular, there is a lack of research exploring how socioeconomic and psychosocial adversities may have changed or evolved, and how these changes have been perceived and subjectively experienced by freelance cultural workers. This study builds on qualitative interviews carried out in July–November 2020 (n = 20) by exploring findings from follow-up interviews conducted in May–July 2021 (n = 16). It presents an inequality of experiences connected to a range of socioeconomic and psychosocial factors, showing how some freelancers experienced small changes (e.g. to the kind of work carried out), with others experiencing major changes (e.g. leaving the sector completely). It concludes with a call for highly bespoke financial and psychological support, as well as a need to rethink what cultural value is for this workforce in the “new normal”, considering changing valuing processes

An investigation into the perceptions of mental toughness of adventurers/explorers, elite athletes and elite coaches

An in-depth qualitative investigation into mental toughness combining phenomenological interview, interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and emergent grounded theory(EGT) was conducted, in order to understand how adventurers/explorers, elite coaches and elite athletes perceived the concept. Twenty-one adventurers/explorers, thirty-three elite coaches and thirty-seven elite athletes (total =91) were interviewed 'in depth' about their perceptions of mental toughness from which 3 discrete grounded theories emerged. Strict sampling criteria were applied and 86% of elite athletes and 88% of elite coaches had either won medals or coached medal-winning athletes at World, Olympic or Commonwealth level. The adventurer/explorer sample contained successful Everest Mountaineers and world renowned climbers (11), polar explorers (3), round-the-world yachtswomen and travelling adventurers (6). Phenomenological interviews were conducted, transcribed, member checked and returned by over 93% of the sample. Preliminary IPA analysis provided the resonant and meaningful data themes for the emergent grounded theory analysis (Glaser, 1989). The research approach was unique to the study of mental toughness from within the naturalistic paradigm and compliments existing research which has attempted to understand the phenomenon (Fourie and Potgietr., 2001; Jones et al., 2002; Middleton et al., 2004; Bull et al., 2005). The findings demonstrate evidence of huge individual diversity of meaning of what mental toughness means to participants within all samples. Such diversity was clouded when findings were assumed under collective conceptual headings which combined related themes. When conceptual and category data is considered the findings show support for previous work. However, findings show the real meaning attached to what mental toughness is to people lies beneath the broader category and conceptual frameworks. Such meaning is only understood when deeper levels of analysis are explored. These findings offer evidence that such diversification of personal meaning exists when alternative methodology is applied. As a result there will be no attempt to offer an all-encompassing operational definition of what mental toughness is from within each of the three discrete samples. Findings showed striking similarity in elite athletes and elite coach perceptions of mental toughness with major categories emerging in self confidence and belief, dealing with event pressure, effective mental application, physical coping ability, training and situational toughness and commitment and determination. Athletes perceived the additional category of self control and discipline to be centrally related to the concept, a category not strongly supported by elite coaches. The categories were supported by 20 and 24 inter-related concepts within the elite coach/ athlete samples and by 16 concepts within the adventure/explorer sample. Adventurer/explorers perceived mental toughness to be more related to safety and survival, coping with stress and anxiety, knowing oneself, coping with success and failure, having undivided attention and physical coping ability. Findings support preliminary work of Jones et al. (2002) Middleton et al. (2004)and Bull et al. (2005) which suggests mental toughness is strongly related to self belief, dealing with pressure and anxiety, focus and dealing with pain. The findings also show that mental toughness is perceived by all three samples to be a complex integration of psychological concepts that support the major categories and is contextually driven. It is a multi-dimensional psychological phenomenon. These findings provide a clearer conceptual understanding of mental toughness that may assist future research. Overall, this study has advanced existing research understanding in the provision of a well-grounded theoretical framework for mental toughness and provides evidence in the value of adopting a phenomenological approach which is unique in attempting to understand the concept. However, it also appeals for further qualitative studies which explore different methodologies within the naturalistic paradigm in an attempt to further explain mental toughness. The investigation was principally focused on establishing what mental toughness 'is' based on people's perceptions and 'lived experience'. Future research should focus on how it can possibly be developed and if mental toughness transfers across different contexts. The nature of the situation (i.e. adventure v elite sport) is thought to be an influential factor in differing perceptions and future research may also target more diverse populations attempting to provide more evidence that it is situational specific, contextually driven or indeed transferable