7,489 research outputs found

    Graduate Catalog of Studies, 2023-2024

    Get PDF

    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume

    Get PDF
    LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum

    A Critical Review Of Post-Secondary Education Writing During A 21st Century Education Revolution

    Get PDF
    Educational materials are effective instruments which provide information and report new discoveries uncovered by researchers in specific areas of academia. Higher education, like other education institutions, rely on instructional materials to inform its practice of educating adult learners. In post-secondary education, developmental English programs are tasked with meeting the needs of dynamic populations, thus there is a continuous need for research in this area to support its changing landscape. However, the majority of scholarly thought in this area centers on K-12 reading and writing. This paucity presents a phenomenon to the post-secondary community. This research study uses a qualitative content analysis to examine peer-reviewed journals from 2003-2017, developmental online websites, and a government issued document directed toward reforming post-secondary developmental education programs. These highly relevant sources aid educators in discovering informational support to apply best practices for student success. Developmental education serves the purpose of addressing literacy gaps for students transitioning to college-level work. The findings here illuminate the dearth of material offered to developmental educators. This study suggests the field of literacy research is fragmented and highlights an apparent blind spot in scholarly literature with regard to English writing instruction. This poses a quandary for post-secondary literacy researchers in the 21st century and establishes the necessity for the literacy research community to commit future scholarship toward equipping college educators teaching writing instruction to underprepared adult learners

    Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea

    Get PDF
    ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK

    “Have patients with chronic skin diseases needs been met?”:A thesis on psoriasis and eczema patient care in dermatology service

    Get PDF
    Background: Common chronic skin diseases such as eczema and psoriasis usually require long term medical care. They are often associated with psychological and metabolic comorbidities, which can impact on patient quality of life (QOL) and on the self-management of these diseases. Regular assessment of patient needs, comorbidities and feedback is a critical step in the development of decision-analytic models. Currently, no intervention is available to regularly assess such patients’ needs and comorbidities and support their involvement in the decision-making and self-management of their morbidity and comorbidities. The aim of this research is to involve the patients in decision making of their care and to support their self-management by the use of a paper questionnaire (study tool) at each consultation. Objective: To explore the acceptability and potential of a self-developed paper questionnaire that constituted a study tool for addressing the needs, comorbidities, and feedback of patients with psoriasis and eczema and supporting their involvement in decision making and self-management of their chronic conditions. Method: A mixed method study was conducted and included a postal survey on adult male and female patients with psoriasis and eczema, using the study tool, which is a paper questionnaire and contains the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and seven supplementary open-ended questions to capture patients’ views, feedback, comorbidities, coping status and needs. The survey was followed by semi-structured face-to-face interviews with a sample of the patients who had participated in the survey. The aims of the interviews were two-fold: 1. to gain a deeper understanding of their experience of living with and managing their skin disease; and 2. to gather patient feedback on the service they received as well as their views on using the new study tool or any alternative intervention to address and support their self-management. The final study was a pilot which involved presenting a proposal of an online version of the study tool to a group of healthcare experts asking them to critically review the extent to which the online model responded to patients expressed needs. Results: Of the 114 patients who participated in the postal survey 108 (94.7%) of them expressed physical, metabolic and psychological comorbidities. Stress was identified as the dominant disease-triggering factor in 72 (63%) participants. Thirty-three (28.9%) of participants reported that they could not cope with their chronic illness. Eighteen (15.7%) participants suffered from anxiety, and 12 (10.5%) had depression and suicidal thoughts. Twenty-nine (25%) participants addressed their needs for support at home, and 16 (14%) of them asked for support at work. In the patient feedback section, 21 (18.4%) and 9 (7.8%) participants rated the service they received from their general practitioner (GP) and dermatologist as poor, respectively. In the interviews, all the participants 22 (100%) welcomed the use of the study tool on a regular basis to address their needs, comorbidities and feedback. Nineteen (86.3%) of them suggested that they would prefer using an online version of the tool or patient portal system as a convenient way of remote and interactive communication with the healthcare provider, particularly during the worsening of their skin condition. In the final pilot study, the healthcare experts agreed that the proposed online version of the study tool could be a convenient platform for such patients to support their self-management. They discussed the potential importance of such a tool if it provided them with access to supportive services such as patient information on skin diseases and self-management, access to local mental health service and other relevant psoriasis and eczema patients’ support groups and charities. Conclusion: This novel mixed method research identified knowledge gaps in managing patients with psoriasis and eczema. It provided a new tool that has the potential to regularly engage and assess patients’ unmet needs, comorbidities and feedback. The tool can involve patients in decision-making and offers them the autonomy to disclose heterogeneous needs that may support their self-management. All the interviewees welcomed regular use of the study tool and the majority of them suggested that they would prefer using an online version of the tool if it was available. Future research is needed to assess the impact of the study tool in filling important gaps in patient self-management and in health service improvement

    Copyright as a constraint on creating technological value

    Get PDF
    Defence date: 8 January 2019Examining Board: Giovanni Sartor, EUI; Peter Drahos, EUI; Jane C. Ginsburg, Columbia Law School; Raquel Xalabarder, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya.How do we legislate for the unknown? This work tackles the question from the perspective of copyright, analysing the judicial practice emerging from case law on new uses of intellectual property resulting from technological change. Starting off by comparing results of actual innovation-related cases decided in jurisdictions with and without the fair use defence available, it delves deeper into the pathways of judicial reasoning and doctrinal debate arising in the two copyright realities, describing the dark sides of legal flexibility, the attempts to ‘bring order into chaos’ on one side and, on the other, the effort of judges actively looking for ways not to close the door on valuable innovation where inflexible legislation was about to become an impassable choke point. The analysis then moves away from the high-budget, large-scale innovation projects financed by the giants of the Internet era. Instead, building upon the findings of Yochai Benkler on the subject of networked creativity, it brings forth a type of innovation that brings together networked individuals, sharing and building upon each other’s results instead of competing, while often working for non-economic motivations. It is seemingly the same type of innovation, deeply rooted in the so-called ‘nerd culture’, that powered the early years of the 20th century digital revolution. As this culture was put on trial when Oracle famously sued Google for reuse of Java in the Android mobile operating system, the commentary emerging from the surrounding debate allowed to draw more general conclusions about what powers the digital evolution in a networked environment. Lastly, analysing the current trends in European cases, the analysis concludes by offering a rationale as to why a transformative use exception would allow courts to openly engage in the types of reasoning that seem to have become a necessity in cases on the fringes of copyright

    Big Data Analytics in the Entertainment Industry: Audience Behavior Analysis, Content Recommendation, and Revenue Maximization

    Get PDF
    This research contributes to the understanding of the significant role of big data analytics in transforming the entertainment industry. In this study, we investigate the impact of big data analytics on the entertainment industry, focusing on three key aspects: audience behavior analysis, content recommendation, and revenue maximization. To understand audience behavior, entertainment companies leverage big data analytics to collect and analyze vast amounts of data from various sources, including social media platforms, streaming services, ticket sales, and website traffic. By analyzing viewer preferences, engagement metrics, and geographic information, companies gain valuable insights into audience behavior. These insights help in creating content that resonates with the target audience, optimizing future content creation, and tailoring marketing strategies based on geographical preferences. Furthermore, big data analytics plays a vital role in powering content recommendation systems. Through collaborative filtering and content-based filtering techniques, entertainment platforms personalize content recommendations based on user behavior, preferences, and historical data. This enhances user satisfaction and increases the likelihood of discovering relevant and appealing content. Hybrid approaches that combine collaborative and content-based filtering techniques are also explored to achieve more accurate and diverse recommendations. Moreover, big data analytics enables entertainment companies to optimize revenue generation strategies. By analyzing historical data, market trends, and consumer behavior, companies can implement dynamic pricing strategies, adjusting ticket prices, subscription fees, or content pricing based on demand and viewer preferences. Additionally, targeted advertising based on user data enhances advertising revenue by delivering personalized advertisements. Furthermore, analyzing market data and consumer behavior patterns helps optimize licensing agreements and content distribution strategies, maximizing revenue opportunities

    Equitable Ecosystem: A Two-Pronged Approach to Equity in Artificial Intelligence

    Get PDF
    Lawmakers, technologists, and thought leaders are facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build equity into the digital infrastructure that will power our lives; we argue for a two-pronged approach to seize that opportunity. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is poised to radically transform our world, but we are already seeing evidence that theoretical concerns about potential bias are now being borne out in the market. To change this trajectory and ensure that development teams are focused explicitly on creating equitable AI, we argue that we need to shift the flow of investment dollars. Venture Capital (VC) firms have an outsized impact in determining which innovations will scale, we argue that influencing how these firms allocate the capital in their funds can ensure that issues of equity are top of mind for development teams. To shift the flow of investment dollars, we propose a two-pronged approach that will address two core drivers of the flow of investment: intellectual property (IP) and diversity. Our current IP system incentivizes a lack of transparency in the AI space frustrating attempts by third parties to assess whether AI- powered products and services are inequitable. And the current demographic makeup of VC firms and companies within the AI investment environment are out of sync with the general population, which can have negative downstream effects in terms of bias in AI. To change the existing dynamic, we argue for 1. creating a fifth category of IP for data and AI that would exchange ownership for compliance with a human rights framework and 2. establishing a tax incentive for VC firms graded favorably on our commitment index. Our approach is designed to create an equitable ecosystem of sorts, one that both necessitates and encourages equitable AI from conception to implementation

    Ferramenta, retalho ou papel de parede: a música de catálogo na criação audiovisual online

    Get PDF
    Esta tese aborda a música de catálogo (conhecida internacionalmente como stock ou library music): faixas musicais compostas especificamente para uma futura utilização em produções audiovisuais, e apresentadas em catálogos sob categorias relativas a géneros musicais, emoções, instrumentação, entre outras. Embora a clientela desta indústria musical se limitasse inicialmente a profissionais do audiovisual, com o desenvolvimento de tecnologias digitais e das plataformas de partilha de vídeo da Web 2.0 afirma-se um novo mercado composto por videógrafos amadores e semiprofissionais. A música de catálogo representa então hoje uma atividade remunerada à qual um número significativo de compositores se dedica, bem como um recurso musical presente numa quantidade importante de audiovisuais. Adotando uma perspetiva interdisciplinar que conta com a sociologia da música nos seus alicerces teórico-metodológicos, proponho identificar as especificidades definidoras da música de catálogo, procurando compreender os padrões e convenções que fazem dela um mundo artístico próprio. Para explorar esta questão, parto de uma amostra de catálogos europeus e norte-americanos ativos nos últimos vinte anos. Com base em entrevistas a compositores e utilizadores de música de catálogo, bem como na análise de materiais publicitários e didáticos online a eles dirigidos, coloco em diálogo os pontos de vista de diversos agentes que interagem com esta música ao longo da sua produção, categorização ou utilização. O cruzamento de testemunhos de compositores situados em diferentes pontos do espectro desta indústria musical revela uma experiência heterogénea e multifacetada, complexificando assim retratos simplistas que predominam sobre a música de catálogo. Destaco também a relevância de examinar a música de catálogo como resultado da ação conjunta de indivíduos que intervêm de forma decisiva nos potenciais significados de uma faixa, seja através da sua etiquetagem, da sua alteração ou da sua inserção em novos contextos audiovisuais. Atender às perspetivas destes agentes permite demonstrar a importância do propósito de funcionalidade na música de catálogo: o facto de ser desde a sua génese concebida como música funcional destinada a audiovisuais é uma particularidade que governa não só as suas características sonoras como todo o seu percurso, desde a sua composição, categorização e promoção à sua modificação e articulação com imagens. Esse estatuto assumidamente utilitário constitui uma das propriedades específicas mais centrais à música de catálogo a partir da sua emergência na primeira metade do século XX. Desde então, esta age como um repositório das tendências e estereótipos musicais que marcam a produção cinematográfica e televisiva em determinado momento. Nesse sentido, os catálogos refletem e simultaneamente reforçam associações tipificadas entre música, imagens e narrativas que integram um vocabulário cultural amplamente partilhado. Para além de discernir velhos hábitos que se mantêm na produção e uso desta música, realço também novas dinâmicas e critérios que surgiram neste mundo artístico com a expansão de formatos digitais e da Web 2.0. Salienta-se nomeadamente a procura por faixas que possam ser desmontadas e rearranjadas o mais possível. Identifico assim um entendimento crescente da música de catálogo como uma matéria-prima que se encontraria incompleta até ao momento da sua transformação por outros agentes que não os seus compositores.This thesis focuses on library music (also known as stock or production music): tracks that are specifically composed for future use in audiovisual media, and categorized in catalogues according to musical genre, mood, instrumentation, among other possibilities. Although the client base of this music industry was initially limited to professional audiovisual creators, the growth of digital technologies and of Web 2.0’s video sharing platforms fostered a new market of amateur and semiprofessional videographers. Today, library music represents a source of income for a significant number of composers, as well as a musical resource extensively used in audiovisual productions. Departing from an interdisciplinary angle that counts the sociology of music as one of its theoretical and methodological foundations, I identify the essential specificities of library music, seeking a deeper understanding of the patterns and conventions that define it as a distinct art world. To examine this question, I focus on a sample of European and North-American libraries active in the last twenty years. Drawing from interviews to library music composers and users, as well as from an analysis of online promotional and instructional materials that address them, I inquire into the perspectives of various agents who interact with library music during its production, categorisation or usage. Observing the activity of composers who engage in a wide range of practices in this industry reveals their heterogeneous and multifaceted experience, emphasizing the need to move beyond the overly simplistic image of library music that is still prevalent today. I also stress the relevance of understanding this music as resulting from the joint action of individuals who intervene decisively in the possible meanings of a track, be it with its tagging, editing or inclusion in new audiovisual contexts. Comparing the discourses and viewpoints of these agents allows us to demonstrate the vital importance of the functional purpose that underlies library music: the fact that it is from the start conceived as functional music for media governs its sonic characteristics and composition, as well as its categorisation, promotion, modification and synchronisation with images. Library music’s explicitly utilitarian status has been central to its definition since its beginnings in the first half of the twentieth century. Since then, library music has acted as a repository of musical formulas that were commonplace in film and television productions in given moments. In that respect, libraries both reflect and simultaneously reinforce stereotyped associations between music, visuals and narratives that are part of a widely shared cultural vocabulary. In addition to ascertaining old habits that endure to the present day in the production and use of library music, I also shed light on new dynamics and criteria that have emerged in this art world with the expansion of digital formats and Web 2.0. Among these, I highlight the demand for tracks that can be deconstructed and rearranged as much as possible. I thus identify a growing understanding of library music as a raw material that is considered incomplete until its transformation and use by agents other than its composers
    corecore