Truth Discovery in Crowdsourced Detection of Spatial Events

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This research is based upon work supported in part by the US ARL and UK Ministry of Defense under Agreement Number W911NF-06-3-0001, and by the NSF under award CNS-1213140. Any opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or represent the official policies of the NSF, the US ARL, the US Government, the UK Ministry of Defense or the UK Government. The US and UK Governments are authorized to reproduce and distribute reprints for Government purposes notwithstanding any copyright notation hereon.Peer reviewedPostprin

Social Relations and Methods in Recommender Systems: A Systematic Review

With the constant growth of information, data sparsity problems, and cold start have become a complex problem in obtaining accurate recommendations. Currently, authors consider the user's historical behavior and find contextual information about the user, such as social relationships, time information, and location. In this work, a systematic review of the literature on recommender systems that use the information on social relationships between users was carried out. As the main findings, social relations were classified into three groups: trust, friend activities, and user interactions. Likewise, the collaborative filtering approach was the most used, and with the best results, considering the methods based on memory and model. The most used metrics that we found, and the recommendation methods studied in mobile applications are presented. The information provided by this study can be valuable to increase the precision of the recommendations

Information-seeking on the Web with Trusted Social Networks - from Theory to Systems

This research investigates how synergies between the Web and social networks can enhance the process of obtaining relevant and trustworthy information. A review of literature on personalised search, social search, recommender systems, social networks and trust propagation reveals limitations of existing technology in areas such as relevance, collaboration, task-adaptivity and trust. In response to these limitations I present a Web-based approach to information-seeking using social networks. This approach takes a source-centric perspective on the information-seeking process, aiming to identify trustworthy sources of relevant information from within the user's social network. An empirical study of source-selection decisions in information- and recommendation-seeking identified five factors that influence the choice of source, and its perceived trustworthiness. The priority given to each of these factors was found to vary according to the criticality and subjectivity of the task. A series of algorithms have been developed that operationalise three of these factors (expertise, experience, affinity) and generate from various data sources a number of trust metrics for use in social network-based information seeking. The most significant of these data sources is Revyu.com, a reviewing and rating Web site implemented as part of this research, that takes input from regular users and makes it available on the Semantic Web for easy re-use by the implemented algorithms. Output of the algorithms is used in Hoonoh.com, a Semantic Web-based system that has been developed to support users in identifying relevant and trustworthy information sources within their social networks. Evaluation of this system's ability to predict source selections showed more promising results for the experience factor than for expertise or affinity. This may be attributed to the greater demands these two factors place in terms of input data. Limitations of the work and opportunities for future research are discussed

Learning Disability as an Influence on Entrepreneurial Calling and Success

The phenomena identified as the relationship between learning disabilities, entrepreneurial calling, and entrepreneurial success or failure is a timely and relevant topic that necessitated exploration. To build upon this research, this qualitative case study was conducted. The goal of this case study research is to understand how learning disabilities affect the success or failure of entrepreneurs, while also exploring how the entrepreneur was called to be an entrepreneur. The first theme identified in this research study was individual entrepreneurial resilience. Entrepreneurial resilience, hardiness, and optimism were commonly found personality traits amongst research study participants. The second theme to emerge from this study is that individual characteristics, traits, and symptoms of those afflicted with learning disabilities have consequences and advantages. Some of the specific personal characteristics appear to be caused by the disability condition, whereas other personality traits arise due to the individual’s ability to adapt to challenging situations. The descriptors of adaptation, compensation, flexibility, and delegation were found to be a commonality among the majority of research participants, In contrast, many participants spoke directly about their originality, positive affect, innovativeness, ability to multi-task, a propensity for risk-taking, an inclination towards creative thinking, and high energy. The third theme to arise from this research study involves the manner in which how those approach risk and risk mitigation with learning disabilities. Participants noted that elements of risk and hard work are behind almost every great success. However, many entrepreneurs worked very hard to minimize and diminish risk. The fourth and final theme to develop from this study surrounded the way that the learning-disabled entrepreneur found entrepreneurship. Many of the participants felt that entrepreneurship was truly a calling rather than a job and could identify an exact moment when they felt they became an entrepreneur

Sustainability Strategies for Nonprofit Organizations During General Economic Downturns

Many leaders of nonprofit organizations (NPOs) lack strategies to build and maintain a financially sustainable organization to continue providing vital social services. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the financial strategies some NPO leaders used to maintain financial sustainability during general economic downturns. Five purposively selected leaders of an NPO in northwestern Indiana participated in the study. The resource dependency theory and the change management theory were the conceptual frameworks that guided the study. Data were collected from face-to-face and telephone interviews and a review of company documentation. Member checking was conducted with participants and data triangulation occurred with an analysis of organization documents that reinforced the validity of the findings. Data were analyzed using Yin\u27s 5-step process of coding of participants\u27 responses, including examining, categorizing, tabulating, creating a data display, and testing the data. Data analysis of organizational documents, interview transcripts, and the organization\u27s social media sites revealed 3 themes: partnerships, fundraising, and diversification as the strategies used to maintain financial sustainability during periods of economic downturns. The findings of this study might contribute to positive social change by providing information to NPO leaders to help improve financial strategies and sustainability for community service organizations during general economic downturns and maintain social services

Better Together

Calls for a nationwide campaign to overcome civic apathy and outlines the framework for sustained, broad-based social change to restore America's civic virtue

One sport – the future course: independent review of athletics in Australia

This review calls for major governance reform, an overhaul of Athletics Australia’s high performance practices and for the sport to be united under one structure. Executive summary Following the recent 2014 Commonwealth Games, the Board of Athletics Australia Limited, in partnership with the Australian Sports Commission, commissioned an independent review of the design, delivery and administration of Athletics in Australia to gather and evaluate evidence about their strengths and weaknesses and provide recommendations to AA on how best to address them.  Media release ONE SPORT – The Future Course; Independent Review of Athletics in Australia has called for major governance reform, an overhaul of Athletics Australia’s (AA) high performance practices and for the sport to be united under one structure.   The review, chaired by former Australian cricket coach John Buchanan, was released today and highlighted significant issues facing the sport.   These included a lack of accountability and transparency in decision making at AA, poor board management, poor organisational culture and poor high performance systems.   “The situation that the sport of athletics finds itself in is not new. It has been a fragmented sport historically,” Buchanan said.   “Poor governance procedures are central to this lack of an integrated and coordinated delivery of the sport.   “The physical skills that an athletic program provides are fundamental to the health and well-being of all Australians.   “The opportunities for the sport of athletics are enormous if it can get its act together, i.e. ONE SPORT, junior and senior, to provide the range of fundamental physical skills that benefit all people across most sports and activities, whether they are recreational athletes or have a desire to pursue a high performance pathway.” The panel also comprised Melinda Gainsford-Taylor, Lynne Williams, Mark Bartels and Matt Favier. The review received 51 submissions and conducted 136 interviews across all states and territories. It made 16 recommendations, the bulk relating to governance and high performance reforms.   “While the review was comprehensive in its information gathering and extensive in its reporting and recommendations, the key to ensuring reforms of the sport are made is the implementation plan,” Buchanan said.   The plan includes the establishment of an oversight committee comprising representatives from the ASC, AIS and AA to meet on a monthly basis and monitor the progress of reform until the committee is satisfied of AA’s progress for at least 18 months.   It also recommended the ASC guarantee only 60 per cent of total funding to AA for 2015-16 with the balance to be provided when the oversight committee is satisfied with the progress made in implementing the recommendations.   AA has also been asked to report quarterly to all key stakeholders identified by the oversight committee of its progress against the recommendations.   &nbsp

Healthcare Facility Location: A Breast Cancer Alliance Case Study

Community health is impacted by the location of a health advocacy agency. This commissioned report for the Breast Cancer Alliance of Greenwich, CT, consists of a location analysis to review potential cities in which they might locate expansion efforts. Such cities include Boston, MA, Chicago, IL, Greenwich, CT, Los Angeles, CA, San Francisco, CA, and Washington, D.C. This report will look at five ways (4 mathematical and one spatial) of conducting a location analysis that require specialized knowledge for interpretation. For this study, a Spatial Geographic Information System methodology is preferred because of the visualization component, which can ensure that all stakeholders understand proposed options. Using a spatial Weighted Linear Combination tool to account for BCA’s preferred location criteria, hospital location, competitor location, breast cancer incidence rates, education attainment and median household income, this investigation will identify the best new city in which BCA can locate another office and make the greatest impact on its contribution to breast cancer related healthcare. The analysis suggests that Los Angeles, CA is the best option given the criteria used. The final section of this report suggests several factors that BCA and its Board of Directors should take into consideration before making a decision to relocate to a new city

Entrepreneurial mindsets and innovation: an empirical study on behaviours, skills and opinions of Australian visual artists

This dissertation is an empirical exploration into the extent to which a group of Australian visual artists acts in an entrepreneurial manner. This research is a response to employment challenges facing artists in an environment where it could be argued that Australian creative industries courses do not address employability skills. While most arts practices are effectively small businesses, many professional artists lack the skills necessary to financially sustain a living from art. In the traditional business paradigm, entrepreneurial behaviours are considered good practice and contributing factors to success. However, rather than recognising and embracing entrepreneurship as a way of making and sustaining successful businesses, many artists reject it as not relevant to them and their practice. Reasons for this include a perception by artists, particularly within fine arts such as music, literature, visual art, performance and theatre that entrepreneurial values and behaviours conflict with personal and professional ethics, morals and ideologies. Although some empirical studies have examined attitudes to entrepreneurship in music and theatre, few researchers have explored the perspectives of visual artists, particularly in an arts practice context. Furthermore, there are few studies that explore if or how visual artists apply entrepreneurship as a means for success. An aim of this research is to improve understanding of how visual artists approach risk-taking in the pursuit of livelihood and profit. Using a mixed-method design, the study combines opinions from surveys of 160 Australian visual artists with an additional 12 in-depth interviews to inform the survey findings. Thematic analysis of the data collected in the interviews, triangulated with existing theories, deepens understanding of visual artists' entrepreneurial practices, and arts entrepreneurship in general. This thesis proposes that more support mechanisms are needed to assist artists to manage risk when making decisions about their businesses, while staying true to their individual morals, values and beliefs. Findings suggest that artists could benefit from adopting a charitable mindset when it comes to helping their peers develop business skills and sharing common goals, and that higher arts education curricula should include studies to build ethical strategies in arts entrepreneurship and social capital as arts-specific business skills. The researcher recommends that a potential focus for future study in the area of arts entrepreneurship should be innovation in arts marketing