Citizens and Institutions as Information Prosumers. The Case Study of Italian Municipalities on Twitter

The aim of this paper is to address changes in public communication following the advent of Internet social networking tools and the emerging web 2.0 technologies which are providing new ways of sharing information and knowledge. In particular public administrations are called upon to reinvent the governance of public affairs and to update the means for interacting with their communities. The paper develops an analysis of the distribution, diffusion and performance of the official profiles on Twitter adopted by the Italian municipalities (comuni) up to November 2013. It aims to identify the patterns of spatial distribution and the drivers of the diffusion of Twitter profiles; the performance of the profiles through an aggregated index, called the Twitter performance index (Twiperindex), which evaluates the profiles' activity with reference to the gravitational areas of the municipalities in order to enable comparisons of the activity of municipalities with different demographic sizes and functional roles. The results show that only a small portion of innovative municipalities have adopted Twitter to enhance e-participation and e-governance and that the drivers of the diffusion seem to be related either to past experiences and existing conditions (i.e. civic networks, digital infrastructures) developed over time or to strong local community awareness. The better performances are achieved mainly by small and medium-sized municipalities. Of course, the phenomenon is very new and fluid, therefore this analysis should be considered as a first step in ongoing research which aims to grasp the dynamics of these new means of public communication

Interactive-engagement vs traditional methods: A six-thousand-student survey of mechanics test data for introductory physics courses

The complete report from Richard Hake's long-term study of interactive engagement (IE) techniques and their effect on the understanding of physics by non-physics majors. The study analyzed diverse student populations in high schools, colleges, and universities and used pre- and post-instruction testing to determine the gains in each group. IE techniques were shown to improve student's understanding at a significantly higher rate than traditional instruction. Additionally, these IE techniques are applicable to teaching a wide range of topics. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

D-Fussion: a semantic selective disssemination of information service for the research community in digital libraries

Introduction. In this paper we propose a multi-agent Selective Dissemination of Information service to improve the research community's access to digital library resources. The service also provides a new recommendation approach to satisfy researchers' specific information requirements. Method. The service model is developed by jointly applying Semantic Web technologies (used to define rich descriptions of resources and a concept scheme that helps in indexing and retrieving tasks), fuzzy linguistic modelling techniques (both ordinal and 2-tuple-based approaches, that allow us to flexibly represent and handle information that is subject to a certain degree of uncertainty), as well as content-based and collaborative filtering techniques. Analysis. An experiment has been carried out to test the performance of the proposed model using a prototype and several experts have been asked to assess the recommendations provided by the system. Results. The outcomes of the experiment reveal that the proposed model is feasible and efficient in terms of precision and recall. Conclusions. Semantic Web technologies and fuzzy linguistic modelling provide the means to develop value-added services for digital libraries, which improve users' access to resources of interest to them. Furthermore, the recommendation approach here proposed allows researchers to satisfy specific information needs not covered by traditional recommender systems.Introducción. En este artículo proponemos de un servicio de Diseminación Selectiva de Información multi-agente para mejorar el acceso de la comunidad investigadora a los recursos de bibliotecas digitales. El servicio también proporciona una nueva aproximación a la recomendación para satisfacer los requerimientos de información específicos de los investigadores. Método. El modelo del servicio se desarrolla aplicando conjuntamente las tecnologías de la Web Semántica (usadas para definir descripciones ricas de recursos y un esquema de concepto que ayuden en las tareas de indización y recuperación), las técnicas de modelado lingüístico difuso (tanto la aproximación ordinal y como la basada en 2-tuplas que nos permiten representar y manejar flexiblemente información sujeta a un cierto grado de incertidumbre), así como las técnicas de filtrado basadas en contenido y colaborativas. Análisis. Se realizó un experimento para probar el rendimiento del modelo propuesto usando un prototipo y se han pedido a varios expertos que valoren las recomendaciones proporcionadas por el sistema. Resultados. Los resultados del experimento revelan que el modelo propuesto es factible y eficaz en términos de precisión y relevancia. Conclusiones. Las tecnologías de Web semántica y el modelado lingüístico difuso proporcionan los medios para desarrollar servicios de valor agregado para bibliotecas digitales que mejoran el acceso de los usuarios a los recursos de interés. Además, la aproximación de la recomendación aquí propuesta permite a los investigadores satisfacer necesidades de información específicas no cubiertas por los sistemas de recomendación tradicionales.The research reported here was supported by the Consejería de Innovación, Ciencia y Empresa. Junta de Andalucía, Spain (project SAINFOWEB - 00602) and the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Spain (project FUZZYLING - TIN2007-61079)

Interoperable Exchange Of Surface Solar Irradiance Observations: A Challenge

International audienceWe present how implementations of the Sensor Web Enablement framework of the Open Geospatial Consortium are integrated into an existing spatial data infrastructure. The result is registered as a community portal for professionals in solar energy in the GEOSS Common Infrastructure, demonstrating the benefits of interoperable exchange of in-situ time-series observations of surface solar irradiation. Easy access to, and sharing of data improves the information base for planning and monitoring of solar power resources. Providing users with visualization and download functionality for in-situ measurements is a key aspect for engaging the energy community to share, release and integrate in-situ measurements

Special Libraries, July 1978

Volume 69, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_sl_1978/1005/thumbnail.jp

Influence of Teaching Style on Physical Education Adolescents’ Motivation and Health-Related Lifestyle

According to various WHO reports in 2018, a large number of adolescents worldwide are either overweight or obese. This situation is the result of not following a healthy and balanced diet, combined with a lack of practice of physical activity. In this sense, Physical Education classes could help to solve the problem. The present study seeks to analyze the relationship between the role of the teacher in relation to the structural dimensions of the PE teaching environment and the basic psychological needs and self-motivation of adolescents as determinants of their behaviors related to eating habits and the practice of physical activity. A total of 1127 secondary school adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 participated in this study. Questionnaires were used: Perceived Autonomy Support Scale, Psychologically Controlling Teaching Scale, Basic Psychological Needs in Physical Education, Frustration of Psychological Needs in PE context, Physical Activity Class Satisfaction Questionnaire, Perceived Locus of Causality Revised, and WHO’s Global school-based student health survey. A structural equations model was elaborated to explain the causal relationships between the variables. The results showed that autonomy support positively predicted the three structural dimensions of PE classes, while, in contrast, they were negatively predicted by psychological control. The three structural dimensions positively predicted the satisfaction of psychological needs and negatively predicted the thwarting of psychological needs. Self-determined motivation was positively predicted by the satisfaction of psychological needs and negatively predicted by the thwarting of psychological needs. Finally, self-determined motivation positively predicted healthy eating habits and the practice of physical activity and negatively predicted unhealthy eating habits. Certainly, the results obtained in this study support the postulates of the self-determination theory, demonstrating the predictability of PE class context towards the adoption of healthy lifestyle habits, such as a proper diet and the regular practice of physical activity

The Cowl - v.52 - n.5 - Oct 7, 1987

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Volume 52, Number 5 - October 7, 1987. 20 pages

The selective dissemination of information system (SDI system) of the Nuclear Information Centre of the National Commission for Nuclear Energy (CIN/CNEN) in Brazil

The economic importance of the contribution of information services of the Nuclear Information Centre of the National Commission of Nuclear Energy (CIN/CNEN) in Brazil is carefully analysed from the point of view of economic analysis. [Continues.