205 research outputs found
Interactive user modeling for personalized access to museum collections : the Rijksmuseum case study
In this paper we present an approach for personalized access to museum collections. We use a RDF/OWL specification of the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam collections as a driver for an interactive dialog. The user gives his/her judgment on the artefacts, indicating likes or dislikes. The elicited user model is further used for generating recommendations of artefacts and topics. In this way we support exploration and discovery of information in museum collections. A user study provided insights in characteristics of our target user group, and showed how novice and expert users employ their background knowledge and implicit interest in order to elicit their art preference in the museum collections
Towards Evaluating User Profiling Methods Based on Explicit Ratings on Item Features
In order to improve the accuracy of recommendations, many recommender systems
nowadays use side information beyond the user rating matrix, such as item
content. These systems build user profiles as estimates of users' interest on
content (e.g., movie genre, director or cast) and then evaluate the performance
of the recommender system as a whole e.g., by their ability to recommend
relevant and novel items to the target user. The user profile modelling stage,
which is a key stage in content-driven RS is barely properly evaluated due to
the lack of publicly available datasets that contain user preferences on
content features of items.
To raise awareness of this fact, we investigate differences between explicit
user preferences and implicit user profiles. We create a dataset of explicit
preferences towards content features of movies, which we release publicly. We
then compare the collected explicit user feature preferences and implicit user
profiles built via state-of-the-art user profiling models. Our results show a
maximum average pairwise cosine similarity of 58.07\% between the explicit
feature preferences and the implicit user profiles modelled by the best
investigated profiling method and considering movies' genres only. For actors
and directors, this maximum similarity is only 9.13\% and 17.24\%,
respectively. This low similarity between explicit and implicit preference
models encourages a more in-depth study to investigate and improve this
important user profile modelling step, which will eventually translate into
better recommendations
A service-orientated architecture for adaptive and collaborative e-learning systems
This research proposes a new architecture for Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHS). Architectures in the context of this thesis refer to the components of the system and their communications and interactions. The architecture addresses the limitations of AEHS regarding interoperability, reusability, openness, flexibility, and limited tools for collaborative and social learning. It presents an integrated adaptive and collaborative Web-based learning environment.
The new e-learning environment is implemented as a set of independent Web services within a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Moreover, it uses a modern Learning Management System (LMS) as the delivery service and the user interface for this environment. This is a two-way solution, whereby adaptive learning is introduced via a widely adopted LMS, and the LMS itself is enriched with an external - yet integrated - adaptation layer.
To test the relevance of the new architecture, practical experiments were undertaken. The interoperability, reusability and openness test revealed that the user could easily switch between various LMS to access the personalised lessons. In addition, the system was tested by students at the University of Nottingham as a revision guide to a Software Engineering module. This test showed that the system was robust; it automatically handled a large number of students and produced the desired adaptive content. However, regarding the use of the collaborative learning tools, the test showed low levels of such usage
A service-orientated architecture for adaptive and collaborative e-learning systems
This research proposes a new architecture for Adaptive Educational Hypermedia Systems (AEHS). Architectures in the context of this thesis refer to the components of the system and their communications and interactions. The architecture addresses the limitations of AEHS regarding interoperability, reusability, openness, flexibility, and limited tools for collaborative and social learning. It presents an integrated adaptive and collaborative Web-based learning environment.
The new e-learning environment is implemented as a set of independent Web services within a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Moreover, it uses a modern Learning Management System (LMS) as the delivery service and the user interface for this environment. This is a two-way solution, whereby adaptive learning is introduced via a widely adopted LMS, and the LMS itself is enriched with an external - yet integrated - adaptation layer.
To test the relevance of the new architecture, practical experiments were undertaken. The interoperability, reusability and openness test revealed that the user could easily switch between various LMS to access the personalised lessons. In addition, the system was tested by students at the University of Nottingham as a revision guide to a Software Engineering module. This test showed that the system was robust; it automatically handled a large number of students and produced the desired adaptive content. However, regarding the use of the collaborative learning tools, the test showed low levels of such usage
The segmentation of the demand for ferry travel – a case study of Stena Line
In an era of fierce competitive struggle about clients, enterprises
seek information on characteristics of the main customer segments
purchasing their services and goods. This knowledge is crucial to
the marketing efforts of enterprises. The purpose of this research is
to understand the changes in demand due to the diversity of travel
motives. The study identifies distinct segments of travellers due to
their motives of ferry travel, i.e., tourism, visiting relatives, work-/
business-related and also three other segments with a mixture of
these motives. It is also shown that each of these segments has a
different profile in terms of their behavioural and socio-demographic
characteristics. This article presents the results of surveys carried
out among passengers travelling by Stena Line ferries on the route
from Gdynia (Poland) to Karlskrona (Sweden), as well as the results
of a literature review and ‘desk research’ of available statistics. The
method of realisation of representative study can be useful for other
researchers and the results of the study can be an interesting source
of information both for ferry carriers and other entities in the tourist
sector in the Baltic Sea region
Design of interactive visualization of models and students data
This document reports the design of the interactive visualizations of open student models that will
be performed in GRAPPLE. The visualizations will be based on data stored in the domain model and student model, and aim at supporting learners to be more engaged in the learning process, and instructors in assisting the learners
Self-Evaluation Applied Mathematics 2003-2008 University of Twente
This report contains the self-study for the research assessment of the Department of Applied Mathematics (AM) of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science (EEMCS) at the University of Twente (UT). The report provides the information for the Research Assessment Committee for Applied Mathematics, dealing with mathematical sciences at the three universities of technology in the Netherlands. It describes the state of affairs pertaining to the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2008
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