48,382 research outputs found
Current Challenges and Visions in Music Recommender Systems Research
Music recommender systems (MRS) have experienced a boom in recent years,
thanks to the emergence and success of online streaming services, which
nowadays make available almost all music in the world at the user's fingertip.
While today's MRS considerably help users to find interesting music in these
huge catalogs, MRS research is still facing substantial challenges. In
particular when it comes to build, incorporate, and evaluate recommendation
strategies that integrate information beyond simple user--item interactions or
content-based descriptors, but dig deep into the very essence of listener
needs, preferences, and intentions, MRS research becomes a big endeavor and
related publications quite sparse.
The purpose of this trends and survey article is twofold. We first identify
and shed light on what we believe are the most pressing challenges MRS research
is facing, from both academic and industry perspectives. We review the state of
the art towards solving these challenges and discuss its limitations. Second,
we detail possible future directions and visions we contemplate for the further
evolution of the field. The article should therefore serve two purposes: giving
the interested reader an overview of current challenges in MRS research and
providing guidance for young researchers by identifying interesting, yet
under-researched, directions in the field
Hazard and risk assessment for indirect potable reuse schemes: An approach for use in developing Water Safety Plans
This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Water Research. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2010 Elsevier B.V.This paper describes research undertaken to develop an approach for facilitating an initial hazard assessment and risk characterisation for a proposed indirect potable reuse scheme, as part of the water safety plan recommended by the World Health Organization. The process involved a description and evaluation of the catchment, which was the sewerage system supplying the sewage treatment works that would provide the effluent to supply the pilot scale indirect potable reuse water treatment plant. Hazards, sources and barriers throughout the proposed system were identified and evaluated. An initial assessment of the possible hazards, highlighted chemical hazards as predominating, and assessment of risks, using a heat map as output, categorised most hazards as medium or high risk. However, this outcome has been influenced by a precautionary approach which assigned a high likelihood to the occurrence of hazards where no data was available on their occurrence in the system. As more data becomes available, and the waster safety plan develops, it is anticipated that the risk heat map will become more specific. Additionally, high quality targets, to drinking water standards, have been set, although water from the potable reuse plant will be discharged to receiving waters where it will undergo natural attenuation prior to further treatment to potable standards before distribution. The assessment has demonstrated the usefulness of the approach where data is initially limited, in generating a heat map allowing for prioritisation of hazards to a practical level.Thames Water Utilities Ltd and Mexican Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologıa
The Impact of Market Advisory Service Recommendations on Producers' Marketing Decisions
A conceptual framework is developed which provides insight into the factors affecting the impact of market advisory service (MAS) recommendations on producer pricing decisions. Data from a survey of 656 U.S. producers reveal that the perceived performance of the MAS, the way in which MAS recommendations are delivered, as well as the match between MAS and producers' marketing philosophy, are important factors explaining the impact of MAS recommendations. Risk attitude does not affect the impact of MAS recommendations on producers' decisions, suggesting producers are more interested in the price-enhancing characteristics of MAS advice than in its risk-reducing features. Key words: market advisory services, ordered probit model, producers' marketing decisionsmarket advisory services, ordered probit model, producers' marketing decisions, Marketing,
Capturing in-situ Feelings and Experiences of Public Transit Riders Using Smartphones
High-density urban environments are susceptible to ever-growing traffic congestion issues, which speaks to the importance of implementing and maintaining effective and sustainable transportation networks. While transit oriented developments offer the potential to help mitigate traffic congestion issues, transit networks ought to be safe and reliable for ideal transit-user communities. As such, it is imperative to capture meaningful data regarding transit experiences, and deduce how transit networks can be enhanced or modified to continually maintain ideal transit experiences. Historically speaking, it has been relatively tricky to measure how people feel whilst using public transportation, without leaning on recall memory to explain such phenomena. Recall memory can be vague and is often less detailed than recording in-situ observations of the transit-user community. This thesis explores the feasibility of using smartphones to capture meaningful in-situ data to leverage the benefits of the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), while also addressing some limitations. Students travelled along Grand River Transit bus routes in Waterloo, Ontario from Wilfrid Laurier University to Conestoga Mall and back using alternate routes. The mobile survey captured qualitative and quantitative data from 145 students to explore variations in wellbeing, and the extent to which environmental variables can influence transit experiences. There were many findings to consider for future research, especially the overall role anxiety played on transit experiences. In addition, the results indicate that the methodology is appropriate for further research, and can be applied to a wide range of research topics. In particular, it is recommended that a similar study be applied to a much larger, and more representative sample of the transit-user community. Future considerations are discussed as key considerations to leverage the benefits of ESM research, and the promise it can bring towards the enhancement of transit experiences and the cohesion of transit-user communities
On Regulatory and Organizational Constraints in Visualization Design and Evaluation
Problem-based visualization research provides explicit guidance toward
identifying and designing for the needs of users, but absent is more concrete
guidance toward factors external to a user's needs that also have implications
for visualization design and evaluation. This lack of more explicit guidance
can leave visualization researchers and practitioners vulnerable to unforeseen
constraints beyond the user's needs that can affect the validity of
evaluations, or even lead to the premature termination of a project. Here we
explore two types of external constraints in depth, regulatory and
organizational constraints, and describe how these constraints impact
visualization design and evaluation. By borrowing from techniques in software
development, project management, and visualization research we recommend
strategies for identifying, mitigating, and evaluating these external
constraints through a design study methodology. Finally, we present an
application of those recommendations in a healthcare case study. We argue that
by explicitly incorporating external constraints into visualization design and
evaluation, researchers and practitioners can improve the utility and validity
of their visualization solution and improve the likelihood of successful
collaborations with industries where external constraints are more present.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, presented at BELIV workshop associated with IEEE
VIS 201
Multiple multimodal mobile devices: Lessons learned from engineering lifelog solutions
For lifelogging, or the recording of oneās life history through digital means, to be successful, a range of separate multimodal mobile devices must be employed. These include smartphones such as the N95, the Microsoft SenseCam ā a wearable passive photo capture device, or
wearable biometric devices. Each collects a facet of the bigger picture, through, for example, personal digital photos, mobile messages and documents access history, but unfortunately, they operate independently and unaware of each other. This creates significant challenges for the practical application of these devices, the use and integration of their data and their operation by a user. In this chapter we discuss the software engineering challenges and their implications for individuals working on integration of data from multiple ubiquitous mobile devices drawing on our experiences working with such technology over the past several years for the development of integrated personal lifelogs. The chapter serves as an engineering guide to those considering working in the domain of lifelogging and more generally to those working with multiple multimodal devices and integration of their data
The outlook for aeronautics, 1980 - 2000: Executive summary
For abstract, see N76-20062
- ā¦