WVRHC Newsletter, Spring 1987

Moreland Papers Chronicle Leading Family\u27s Role in Area Histor

Supporting strategic design of workplace environments with case-based reasoning

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Automatic summarization of narrative video

The amount of digital video content available to users is rapidly increasing. Developments in computer, digital network, and storage technologies all contribute to broaden the offer of digital video. Only users’ attention and time remain scarce resources. Users face the problem of choosing the right content to watch among hundreds of potentially interesting offers. Video and audio have a dynamic nature: they cannot be properly perceived without considering their temporal dimension. This property makes it difficult to get a good idea of what a video item is about without watching it. Video previews aim at solving this issue by providing compact representations of video items that can help users making choices in massive content collections. This thesis is concerned with solving the problem of automatic creation of video previews. To allow fast and convenient content selection, a video preview should take into consideration more than thirty requirements that we have collected by analyzing related literature on video summarization and film production. The list has been completed with additional requirements elicited by interviewing end-users, experts and practitioners in the field of video editing and multimedia. This list represents our collection of user needs with respect to video previews. The requirements, presented from the point of view of the end-users, can be divided into seven categories: duration, continuity, priority, uniqueness, exclusion, structural, and temporal order. Duration requirements deal with the durations of the preview and its subparts. Continuity requirements request video previews to be as continuous as possible. Priority requirements indicate which content should be included in the preview to convey as much information as possible in the shortest time. Uniqueness requirements aim at maximizing the efficiency of the preview by minimizing redundancy. Exclusion requirements indicate which content should not be included in the preview. Structural requirements are concerned with the structural properties of video, while temporal order requirements set the order of the sequences included in the preview. Based on these requirements, we have introduced a formal model of video summarization specialized for the generation of video previews. The basic idea is to translate the requirements into score functions. Each score function is defined to have a non-positive value if a requirement is not met, and to increase depending on the degree of fulfillment of the requirement. A global objective function is then defined that combines all the score functions and the problem of generating a preview is translated into the problem of finding the parts of the initial content that maximize the objective function. Our solution approach is based on two main steps: preparation and selection. In the preparation step, the raw audiovisual data is analyzed and segmented into basic elements that are suitable for being included in a preview. The segmentation of the raw data is based on a shot-cut detection algorithm. In the selection step various content analysis algorithms are used to perform scene segmentation, advertisements detection and to extract numerical descriptors of the content that, introduced in the objective function, allow to estimate the quality of a video preview. The core part of the selection step is the optimization step that consists in searching the set of segments that maximizes the objective function in the space of all possible previews. Instead of solving the optimization problem exactly, an approximate solution is found by means of a local search algorithm using simulated annealing. We have performed a numerical evaluation of the quality of the solutions generated by our algorithm with respect to previews generated randomly or by selecting segments uniformly in time. The results on thirty content items have shown that the local search approach outperforms the other methods. However, based on this evaluation, we cannot conclude that the degree of fulfillment of the requirements achieved by our method satisfies the end-user needs completely. To validate our approach and assess end-user satisfaction, we conducted a user evaluation study in which we compared six aspects of previews generated using our algorithm to human-made previews and to previews generated by subsampling. The results have shown that previews generated using our optimization-based approach are not as good as manually made previews, but have higher quality than previews created using subsample. The differences between the previews are statistically significant

Automatic mashup generation of multiple-camera videos

The amount of user generated video content is growing enormously with the increase in availability and affordability of technologies for video capturing (e.g. camcorders, mobile-phones), storing (e.g. magnetic and optical devices, online storage services), and sharing (e.g. broadband internet, social networks). It has become a common sight at social occasions like parties, concerts, weddings, vacations that many people are shooting videos at approximately the same time. Such concurrent recordings provide multiple views of the same event. In professional video production, the use of multiple cameras is very common. In order to compose an interesting video to watch, audio and video segments from different recordings are mixed into a single video stream. However, in case of non-professional recordings, mixing different camera recordings is not common as the process is considered very time consuming and requires expertise to do. In this thesis, we research on how to automatically combine multiple-camera recordings in a single video stream, called as a mashup. Since non-professional recordings, in general, are characterized by low signal quality and lack of artistic appeal, our objective is to use mashups to enrich the viewing experience of such recordings. In order to define a target application and collect requirements for a mashup, we conducted a study by involving experts on video editing and general camera users by means of interviews and focus groups. Based on the study results, we decided to work on the domain of concert video. We listed the requirements for concert video mashups such as image quality, diversity, and synchronization. According to the requirements, we proposed a solution approach for mashup generation and introduced a formal model consisting of pre-processing, mashupcomposition and post-processing steps. This thesis describes the pre-processing and mashup-composition steps, which result in the automatic generation of a mashup satisfying a set of the elicited requirements. At the pre-processing step, we synchronized multiple-camera recordings to be represented in a common time-line. We proposed and developed synchronization methods based on detecting and matching audio and video features extracted from the recorded content. We developed three realizations of the approach using different features: still-camera flashes in video, audio-fingerprints and audio-onsets. The realizations are independent of the frame rate of the recordings, the number of cameras and provide the synchronization offset accuracy at frame level. Based on their performance in a common data-set, audio-fingerprint and audio-onset were found as the most suitable to apply in generating mashups of concert videos. In the mashup-composition step, we proposed an optimization based solution to compose a mashup from the synchronized recordings. The solution is based on maximizing an objective function containing a number of parameters, which represent the requirements that influence the mashup quality. The function is subjected to a number of constraints, which represent the requirements that must be fulfilled in a mashup. Different audio-visual feature extraction and analysis techniques were employed to measure the degree of fulfillment of the requirements represented in the objective function. We developed an algorithm, first-fit, to compose a mashup satisfying the constraints and maximizing the objective function. Finally, to validate our solution approach, we evaluated the mashups generated by the first-fit algorithm with the ones generated by two other methods. In the first method, naive, a mashup was generated by satisfying only the requirements given as constraints and in the second method, manual, a mashup was created by a professional. In the objective evaluation, first-fit mashups scored higher than both the manual and naive mashups. To assess the end-user satisfaction, we also conducted a user study where we measured user preferences on the mashups generated by the three methods on different aspects of mashup quality. In all the aspects, the naive mashup scored significantly low, while the manual and first-fit mashups scored similarly. We can conclude that the perceived quality of a mashup generated by the naive method is lower than first-fit and manual while the perceived quality of the mashups generated by first-fit and manual methods are similar

“Students’ perceptions about the use of lyrics training to enhance listening comprehension”

Lyrics Training is a technological tool used in the educational field that will provide benefits in the motivation of the learning process and in the improvement of the student's skills, especially listening comprehension, which is a fundamental skill in the acquisition of a foreign language. This qualitative study aims to analyze the students’ perception of the use of Lyrics Training to enhance listening comprehension. Data was collected by means of a survey with eight questions and analyzed through the thematic analysis process. Participants were eighteen students from the eighth semester of English at the Technical University of Cotopaxi during April - August 2022 academic term. The main findings show the positive influence based on the participants' opinions through the use of Lyrics Training which enabled them to develop their listening comprehension. As for the benefits, they highlighted the accessibility of the website, which helped to improve spelling and pronunciation, as well as the enjoyment of learning, which allowed them to feel motivated and increase their vocabulary knowledge. On the other hand, they also faced some difficulties due to their lack of understanding of the colloquial words in the songs and technological problems that impeded the listening process. Finally, the application of Lyrics Training is considered a useful technological tool to learn and develop skills in a foreign language such as English. Based on these findings, it is suggested that teachers can adapt Lyrics Training in their classroom lessons to develop listening comprehension activities that will help them to achieve satisfactory performance in their students.Lyrics Training es una herramienta tecnológica utilizada en el ámbito educativo que aportará beneficios en la motivación del proceso de aprendizaje y en la mejora de las habilidades del alumno, especialmente la comprensión auditiva, la cual es una habilidad fundamental en la adquisición de una lengua extranjera. Este estudio cualitativo pretende analizar la percepción de los alumnos sobre el uso del Lyrics Training para mejorar la comprensión auditiva. Los datos se recogieron mediante una encuesta con ocho preguntas y se analizaron mediante el proceso de análisis temático. Los participantes fueron dieciocho estudiantes del octavo semestre de inglés de la Universidad Técnica de Cotopaxi durante el período académico abril - agosto 2022. Los principales hallazgos muestran la influencia positiva basada en las opiniones de los participantes a través del uso del Lyrics Training que les permitió desarrollar su comprensión auditiva. En cuanto a los beneficios, destacaron la accesibilidad del sitio web, que ayudó a mejorar la ortografía y la pronunciación, así como disfrutaron del aprendizaje, lo cual les permitió sentirse motivados y aumentar sus conocimientos de vocabulario. Por otro lado, también se enfrentaron a algunas dificultades debido a su falta de comprensión de las palabras coloquiales de las canciones y a problemas tecnológicos que impidieron el proceso de escucha. Por último, se considera que la aplicación del Lyrics Training es una herramienta tecnológica útil para aprender y desarrollar habilidades en una lengua extranjera como el Inglés. A partir de estos resultados, se sugiere que los profesores puedan adaptar Lyrics Training en sus lecciones de clase para desarrollar actividades de comprensión auditiva que les ayude a obtener un rendimiento satisfactorio en sus estudiante

Pengembangan Model Komunikasi Berbasis Integrasi Sosial Antar Mahasiswa Dari Latar Belakang Budaya Yang Berbeda Pada Perkuliahan Public Communication

Ringkasan: Pembelajaran mata kuliah Public Communication merupakan salah satu mata kuliah pilihan pada Program Studi Sastra Inggris Fakultas Bahasa dan Sastra Universitas Negeri Makassar (UNM), dan merupakan kelanjutan dari mata kuliah Introduction to Communication. Sebagai salah satu mata kuliah pilihan yang diminati oleh mahasiswa, menjadi menarik untuk diteliti dengan maksud mengembangkan model komunikasi berbasis integrasi sosial antar mahasiswa dari latar belakang budaya yang berbeda pada mata kuliah public communication. Penelitian kemudian dilakukan dan menghasilkan temuan, antara lain tentang topik-topik yang diharapkan oleh mahasiswa yang memperogramkan mata kuliah tersebut, dan topik-topik itu dibahas secara sistemaatis dalam buku bertajuk “Public Communication: Social Integration – Based Communication in Indonesia” (Komunikasi Publik: Komunikasi Berbasis Integrasi Sosial di Indonesia). Disamping itu juga ditemukan sejumlah stereotipe positif yang dapat diimplementasikan untuk mempertahankan toleransi dan harmoni dari kelompok etnik yang berbeda

Analisa tentang gambit dalam komunikasi Bahasa Inggris yang dilakukan oleh Mahasiswa didalam Kelas Bahasa Inggris sebagai Bahasa Asing

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui jenis gambit yang diucapkan oleh mahasiswa untuk berkomunikasi didalam kelas bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing dan untuk mengetahui fungsi gambit yang diucapkan oleh mahasiswa untuk berkomunikasi yang dilakukan didalam kelas bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Subjek penelitian ini adalah mahasiswa semester 5 program studi bahasa Inggris di Universitas Sembilanbelas November Kolaka. Data penelitian ini dikumpulkan dengan menggunakan rekaman video dan trankripsi. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis dalam tiga fase utama yaitu pemilihan data, pengelompokkan data, dan menyimpulkan data. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa (1) ada tiga jenis gambit yang diucapkan oleh mahasiswa pada proses perkuliahan didalam kelas bahasa Inggris sebagai bahasa asing, yaitu gambit pembukaan, gambit penghubung, dan gambit perespon. (2) setiap jenis dari gambit tersebut memiliki fungsi yang berbeda - beda. Pertama, gambit pembukaan terdiri dari beberapa fungsi yaitu untuk menyanggah, menanyakan tentang informasi, menyela, memberi tindakan, bercerita, hal yang utama, fakta yang muncul, dan memberikan pendapat pribadi. Semua fungsi tersebut diucapkan oleh mahasiswa dalam dua bentuk yaitu untuk pertanyaan dan pernyataan. Kedua, Gambit penghubung yang terdiri dari beberapa fungsi yang berbeda yaitu untuk memikirkan tentang masalah yang timbul, menegaskan pada masalah, memberikan alasan, berpikir, memperbaiki, menuntut penjelasan, argumen dan kontra argumen, melihat sisi baik, mengilustrasikan, keragu-raguan dan bercerita. Semua fungsi tersebut diucapkan oleh mahasiswa dalam bentuk pernyataan dan pertanyaan. Ketiga, Gambit perespon yang terdiri dari beberapa fungsi yang berbeda yaitu untuk menyatakan benar atau salah, reaksi yang gemuruh, menunjukkan kekaguman, masalah dalam berkomunikasi, dan menerima komplain. Semua fungsi tersebut diucapkan oleh mahasiswa dalam bentuk pernyataan. Dapat disimpulkan bahwa, ada tiga jenis gambits dalam percakapan yang ditemukan. Ini berarti bahwa gambit benar-benar dibutuhkan dalam percakapan. Selanjutnya, saran-saran yang dapat dberikan kepada mahasiswa seperti rekomendasi menggunakan percakapan gambit di kelas dan juga meminta mahasiswa untuk ikut aktif dalam kelas dengan menggunakan gambit

INTERNAL CONTROL SYSTEMS ON FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY IN NATIONAL PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KENYA

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of internal control systems on financial accountability in national public secondary school in Kenya. The specific objectives were; to evaluate the effect of control environment on financial accountability, to determine the effect of control activities on financial accountability, to ascertain the effect of risk assessment on financial accountability to examine the effect of information and communication on financial accountability and to assess the effect of monitoring on financial accountability in national public secondary schools in Kenya. However, accountability is still wanting in some public secondary schools. The study was carried out in 103 national public secondary schools in Kenya. Survey research design was used on a population of 309 consisting of; 103 principals, 103 bursars, 103 BOM chairs. Purposive and simple random sampling were used to select principals, bursars and BOM chair. Primary data was collected by use of questionnaires, while secondary data was collected through audited financial statements. Reliability of the research instruments was tested through Cronbach’s Alpha. Descriptive statistics comprised of frequencies; means, standard deviation and variance. Inferential statistics comprised of; Correlation analysis, ANOVA, regression analysis, testing for normality, autocorrelation and multicollinearity. The dimensions of internal control systems were found to have a significant joint effect on financial accountability. It was therefore recommended that the government should ensure that BOM have accounting knowledge and should be appointed based on integrity and ethical values. Segregation of duties should be strengthened with clear roles of the principal, bursar, other BOM members, storekeeper and other employees. Authorization of activities should be mandatory. Impromptu checks of ongoing projects and approved expenditure should be frequently done. The government should employ all principals and bursars on contract basis renewable only based on financial accountability. The government should interlink the schools bank accounts to a central accounting information system. The government should ensure through independent checks that the budgets and other financial statements are complete, reliable and correct. There should be frequent external audits by county auditors. JEL: H52; H75; I10 Article visualizations

The Use of Social Media Interactivity Between Nevada E-Government Agencies and The Public: An Analysis of The Role and Impact of Twitter Accounts

Social media platforms have extended the information and communication technology (ICT) landscape in the public sector and have been used to increase e-government transparency, participation, and collaboration in the U.S. e-government. The use of social media platforms has improved a two-way communication for the interactivity with the public, which can provide insights to understand compliance with the Open Government initiative. However, many government agencies using social media have not thoroughly measured the impact of their digital interactions. Moreover, a lack of empirical studies of social media exist for improving the interactivity between governments and the public. Furthermore, scholars have not yet examined the interactivity of the social media between the Nevada’s e-government agencies and the public. Hence, public administrators should implement social media platforms for the potential innovative practices; thus, they must estimate how social media can support their task beyond the formal informing and educating goals (Mergel, 2016). With the analysis of Twitter accounts, this study examined the interactivity of social media between Nevada e-government agencies and the public and attempts to answer three fundamental questions: 1) How is the interactivity between the state of Nevada e-government agencies and the public measured? 2) What factors influence the interactivity of social media between Nevada’s e-government agencies and the public? 3) How can Nevada’s e-government agencies make use of social media to facilitate interactivity with the public? More specifically, this study proposed an analytical framework based on interactive theory and critical theory, which were used to develop an analytical framework for measuring social media contents as derived from Hao, Zheng, Zeng, and Fan’s (2016) study. Based on the research framework, the concept of interactivity was divided into two sub-dimensions that were the reflection of interactivity and transmission of interactivity (retweet). Based on the lack of limited measurement attempts by social media directors (Mergel, 2013a), a framework consisting of metrics, procedures, and outcomes is presented that aims to explore interactivity of social media between government agencies and the public. To investigate the government posts (structural features and content features), this study used mixed methods, which focused on collecting, analyzing, and mixing both quantitative and qualitative data. The benefits of mixed approaches provides a better understanding of research problems than either approach alone (Creswell & Clark, 2007). The results of this study demonstrated that the factors that could explain the degree of interactivity. The factor that influenced the interactivity were determined by two dimensions, which were structural features and content features. This study found that both structural features and content features affected dependent variables (reflection of interactivity and transmission of interactivity). The results of this study provided recommendations to improve the interactivity between Nevada e-government and citizens. Government posts should provide a variety of multimedia elements (e.g., video and pictures) and add more external links to facilitate information dissemination. Public administrations should offer valuable and beneficial original posts (tweets) to facilitate conversation from citizens, which make them more inclined to reply to the posts and express their opinions. The state of Nevada should continuously provide updated training with public administrators because technologies and the function of social media platforms are rapidly advancing in the contemporary era. Public administrations should accept the best business practices, namely, innovative ideas from domestic and international social media companies. By operating under such best practices, transaction costs might be reduced. In addition, Nevada state agencies should offer an outreach and education program to learn innovative functions of social media platforms. Public administrations should change from governing individuals and information to becoming a facilitator and moderator of discourse for implementation of social media platforms (Knox, 2016). This shift should involve releasing control of power and government posts (information) and should provide an incentive-centered design of social media platforms; then, citizens can choose how they want to participate in their communities, work together, and interact with their environment (Johnston, 2010). This study has applied Habermas’ critical theory and interactive theory to the use of social media platforms in public administration. These dual theories could promote the development of social media platforms in the public sector. However, public administrators have considered whether to use an alternative theoretical lens. Since power to the public for symmetric communication is related to cultures, rules, policies, and procedures, the legitimacy dilemma facing administrators will remain (Knox, 2016). Without changing organizational culture, procedures, or rules, the application of social media platforms will not be sufficient to expand the public sphere. Therefore, public administrators should implement social media platforms for potential innovative practices; thus, they should estimate how social media can support their task beyond the formal informing and educating goals (Mergel, 2016). Although this research was not designed to provide policy suggestions to the state of Nevada e-government, implications for policy should not be ignored because government policy is related to using social media platforms by agencies. The use of social media channels that offer innovative platforms provide bidirectional content for interaction with citizens. Obviously, one distinct advantage is that social media platforms is highly interactive and self-updating, which allows for quick response about disseminated information. However, the current political environment using social media can engender a more provocative system for today’s social media users. A key concern would be the degree to which Nevada state e-government requires its social media to be professionally managed to facilitate political debates. As noted by Pew Research, some politically active social media users enjoy the political debate and discussion facilitated by such engagement; however, a larger amount of users express resignation and frustration over the tone and content of political interactions (Duggan & Smith, 2016). Nevertheless, the results of this study illustrated that the use of social media platforms would be more beneficial for public presidential debates. Therefore, agencies should frequently provide updated political information with their followers to participate in government policy and decision-making. Currently, the use of Facebook and Twitter is prevalent for political debates. Facebook has many followers and Twitter users tend to follow a broader variety of connections. Although each platform has different mix of people and viewpoints, users of each site are connected to their followers and may have reciprocal influence on a broad range of political issues. From different perspectives of government policy, agencies can proactively start communication, which facilitate informal exchanges and participation in the formal work of government. This study has several limitations. First, this study investigates only the use of Twitter in Nevada state agencies; thus, the generalization of the results is problematic. Second, Nevada state e-government agencies do not have many followers as compared to other states, which means that the lack of tweet activities (replies, likes, and retweets) influences the results of this study. Third, although total government post (tweet) were significant during collection data, the responses such as comments, likes, and retweets generated were relatively small. The sample data were collected for 17 days (from October 15 to 31, 2016). Because of the period data collection, most contents were related to events for the 2016 presidential debate and Halloween holiday. Fourth, although the sample data was easily extracted and automatically processed utilizing NVIVO software, it does not include likes and other independent variables such as mentions and hashtags; and it only shows original posts related to tweet type. To test hypotheses, the data was required the number of retweets, replies, and likes for calculating the average daily ratio. Furthermore, this study has to measure the ratio of average number of daily forwards, comments (replies), and likes to see the relationship between the dependent variables and independent variables. Therefore, this sample data was also additionally analyzed by using Excel manually. Finally, this study categorizes only two features (structural and content) related to social media posts. Accordingly, Twitter’s contents in this research needed to utilize more categorizing feature words. Since the generalization of the results affect this study, future study should examine Twitter accounts for Nevada counties and cities. Even future research should investigate the assessment between the state of Nevada and other states, as well as the counties and cities of Nevada and those of other states. Future research should examine a survey or interview of local government officials to assess if e-polls conducted on their social media platforms might lead to policy, management, and reforms. The length of data collection should be expanded for future research to examine a period that extends beyond a crucial and highly partisan presidential election to include a more typical timeframe. In doing so, the results ascertained may be informative of whether and to what degree the outcomes generated would be different. In addition, future studies should investigate motivational factors of social media users’ commenting practices in online communities. It could be of interest for future studies to examine user habits across social media channels. It would also be desirable to study other types of user behaviors and make a comparison among them. Further studies should examine different types of social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, as this study focused only Twitter. Additional research on the application, adoption, and implementation of social media platforms by administrators would be valuable. In particular, research on the complexity of politics-administrations dichotomy and legitimacy dilemmas is needed (Knox, 2016). Thus, it is vital to comprehend the use of social media platforms from the perspective of administrators. Future empirical research could attain the results on which social media platforms would trigger increased or decreased interactivity between administrations and the public as well as administrative legitimacy, transparency, collaboration, and participation. Scholars could apply the results to the citizens’ perspectives, and assess their emotions and sense of alienation from, or affinity for the use of social media platforms. Since this study utilizes two theories (interactivity and critical theory), future research should compare several different theories to social media platform capabilities. To further test of Habermas’ theory, future research should emphasize what types of communicative actions would be used when public administrators send, collect, and discuss information with citizens. Lastly, future research could inquire about how to validate the public’s claims, and how governments could utilize social media platforms for socialization and cultural reproduction