Fuzzy Group Decision Making for Influence-Aware Recommendations

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Group Recommender Systems are special kinds of Recommender Systems aimed at suggesting items to groups rather than individuals taking into account, at the same time, the preferences of all (or the majority of) members. Most existing models build recommendations for a group by aggregating the preferences for their members without taking into account social aspects like user personality and interpersonal trust, which are capable of affecting the item selection process during interactions. To consider such important factors, we propose in this paper a novel approach to group recommendations based on fuzzy influence-aware models for Group Decision Making. The proposed model calculates the influence strength between group members from the available information on their interpersonal trust and personality traits (possibly estimated from social networks). The estimated influence network is then used to complete and evolve the preferences of group members, initially calculated with standard recommendation algorithms, toward a shared set of group recommendations, simulating in this way the effects of influence on opinion change during social interactions. The proposed model has been experimented and compared with related works

Some Things Are Better Left Unseen: Toward More Effective Communication And Team Performance In Video-Mediated Interactions

By default, most video-mediated communication systems show the user his or her own video feed, yet there is no prior research to show if this helps or hinders communication. In general, virtual teams desire richer media to improve team interaction. However, in this case more information may not be helpful. Drawing on Objective Self Awareness theory in social psychology and theories of cognitive overload from communication, hypotheses are proposed concerning how viewing oneself influences virtual team interaction. It is argued that viewing oneself will lead to lower team performance and other negative outcomes. The hypotheses are tested in a laboratory experiment, manipulating whether participants were able to view their own feeds during video-mediated communication. The results suggest that viewing oneself leads to a reduction in team performance and individual satisfaction. The findings, in terms of several theoretical explanations, and implications for managers and systems designers are discussed in the paper

Adolescent Delinquent Girls: An Experimental Treatment

This research paper intends to investigate the problem of treatment of adolescent delinquent girls. It intends to explore the theoretical factors relevant to the treatment of this group and to incorporate them within an experimental design for treatment. This treatment design will be set up so that a comparison of relative effectiveness between it and the principal treatment method currently in use in the Children’s Aid Societies of Ontario can be made

Employers' experience of Higher Apprenticeships: benefits and barriers

This report explores employers’ experience and understanding of Higher Apprenticeships. It is based on a survey of almost 200 companies and follow-up interviews with eleven employers. The findings suggest that there is strong support for Higher Apprenticeships amongst employers although there are many employers who have yet to engage with this programme. Employers that have implemented Higher Apprenticeships report a range of business benefits, but they were also clear that appropriate funding has to be in place to support these programmes. Employers generally thought that the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships would improve employee retention, help them to train people in the way they thought necessary and would enhance their company’s skills base. Barriers that had mitigated against the introduction of Higher Apprenticeships included the cost of introducing a Higher Apprenticeship programme, the work needed in making the business ‘higher apprentice friendly’ and findings appropriate apprenticeship frameworks and training providers. Companies that had successfully embedded Higher Apprenticeships had typically developed an approach to recruitment which enabled them to identify and select the best apprentices. Companies also set up management processes to ensure that higher apprentices were well supported and able to progress and developed effective partnerships with training providers.Funded by the European Social Fund and the Skills Funding Agenc

Gender and participation in mathematics and further mathematics A-levels: a literature review for the Further Mathematics Support Programme

In preparing this report I have considered evidence from over 60 documents that relate to raising girls’ participation in mathematics. These include published research papers and reports compiled by expert bodies that present an evidence base. Although research specifically addressing Further Mathematics A-level is rare, the last ten years have seen considerable efforts to synthesise and update knowledge from different research perspectives about the relationship between gender and participation. For this reason, the review process started with papers from 2008 onwards

Sensation seeking among high- and low-risk sports participants : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the sensation seeking tendencies of select New Zealand athletes. A "sensation seeker" is thought to be a person who needs varied, complex, novel, and intense forms of stimulation and experience and who is thought to be capable of taking physical and social risks for such experiences (Zuckerman, 1994). According to Marvin Zuckerman (1994), 'Sensation Seeking' is integrated within a broader trait called Impulsive-Sensation Seeking (ImpSS). That is, the personality dimensions of 'impulsiveness' and 'sensation seeking' are thought to be interconnected. The main aim of the present study was to assess empirical support for Zuckerman's (1994) ImpSS theory and associated hypotheses, and to replicate and extend previous research findings in this area using high- and low-risk sport participants. The Sensation Seeking Scale-V (Zuckerman, Eysenck & Eysenck, 1978), the Impulsiveness Scale of the Impulsiveness- Ventureous-Empathy Scale (Eysenck & Eysenck, 1978), and a life span questionnaire of sports participation were administered to both male (n = 119), and female (n = 47) athletes currently engaged in one of eight sport disciplines - Hanggliding; Mountaineering; Sky-diving; Automobile racing; Swimming; Marathon running; Aerobics; and Golf. Results provided support for the main hypothesis of Zuckerman's ImpSS theory -- (a) that sensation seeking is integrated within a broader trait called Impulsive-Sensation Seeking; and (b) that total sensation seeking can differentiate between high- and low-risk sport participants. Results provided a mixed level support for some more specific hypotheses derived from Zuckerman's ImpSS theory. Findings are discussed with respect to Zuckerman's (1994) Impulsive-Sensation Seeking model. Limitations of the present study and suggestions for future research are also discussed