Rethinking privacy in social networks: A case study of beacon

Popular online social network sites (SNS) such as Facebook and Bebo are technological platforms that are posing questions about personal privacy. This paper contributes to our understanding of the nature and form of online privacy by critically analysing the issues surrounding the failed launch of Facebook’s advertising tool Beacon. Beacon is an interesting case study because it highlighted the complexity of information ownership in an online social network. Qualitative data was gathered from 29 weblogs (blogs) representing user opinions published between 6th November 2007(when Beacon was launched) and 28th February 2008 (when commentary had dwindled). A thematic analysis of the blogs suggest that concerns such as commercialism, terms of service (TOS), lack of user control, lack of user awareness and data protection are factors that influence user perceptions of information ownership as a subset of online privacy

A heuristic evaluation of the Facebook's advertising tool beacon

Interface usability is critical to the successful adoption of information systems. The aim of this study is to evaluate interface of Facebook's advertising tool Beacon by using privacy heuristics [4]. Beacon represents an interesting case study because of the negative media and user backlash it received. The findings of heuristic evaluation suggest violation of privacy heuristics [4]. Here, analysis identified concerns about user choice and consent, integrity and security of data, and awareness and notice. Beacon was an innovative tool, therefore, its systematic evaluation was needed in order to identify privacy problems, their causes and subsequent consequences. The study provides useful insights to human computer interaction (HCI) designers of online social networks

The Demand for Money in a Simultaneous-Equation Framework

This paper estimates the demand for money in the U.S. within a model where the money supply function is also considered simultaneously. The explanatory variables for the money demand function include a measure of the interest rate, real income and the exchange rate. The explanatory variables for the money supply function include the output gap and the inflation gap in addition to an interest rate. The parameters estimated for the two equations avoid being biased or inconsistent. The results should be useful to both macroeconomic researchers and policy makers.Money demand, money supply, simultaneous-equation model, output gap, inflation gap, three stage least squares

Mining social network data for personalisation and privacy concerns: A case study of Facebook’s Beacon

This is the post-print version of the final published paper that is available from the link below.The popular success of online social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook is a hugely tempting resource of data mining for businesses engaged in personalised marketing. The use of personal information, willingly shared between online friends' networks intuitively appears to be a natural extension of current advertising strategies such as word-of-mouth and viral marketing. However, the use of SNS data for personalised marketing has provoked outrage amongst SNS users and radically highlighted the issue of privacy concern. This paper inverts the traditional approach to personalisation by conceptualising the limits of data mining in social networks using privacy concern as the guide. A qualitative investigation of 95 blogs containing 568 comments was collected during the failed launch of Beacon, a third party marketing initiative by Facebook. Thematic analysis resulted in the development of taxonomy of privacy concerns which offers a concrete means for online businesses to better understand SNS business landscape - especially with regard to the limits of the use and acceptance of personalised marketing in social networks

Improving route discovery in on-demand routing protocols using local topology information in MANETs

Most existing routing protocols proposed for MANETs use flooding as a broadcast technique for the propagation of network control packets; a particular example of this is the dissemination of route requests (RREQs), which facilitate route discovery. In flooding, each mobile node rebroadcasts received packets, which, in this manner, are propagated network-wide with considerable overhead. This paper improves on the performance of existing routing protocols by reducing the communication overhead incurred during the route discovery process by implementing a new broadcast algorithm called the adjusted probabilistic flooding on the Ad-Hoc on Demand Distance Vector (AODV) protocol. AODV [3] is a well-known and widely studied algorithm which has been shown over the past few years to maintain an overall lower routing overhead compared to traditional proactive schemes, even though it uses flooding to propagate RREQs. Our results, as presented in this paper, reveal that equipping AODV with fixed and adjusted probabilistic flooding, instead, helps reduce the overhead of the route discovery process whilst maintaining comparable performance levels in terms of saved rebroadcasts and reachability as achieved by conventional AODV\@. Moreover, the results indicate that the adjusted probabilistic technique results in better performance compared to the fixed one for both of these metrics

Impact Of Urbanisation And Its Effect On Coastal Communities In Chennai Region

Impact of Urbanisation in India is the process resulting into increase in the proportion o furban population to the total population in an area. The coastline of India is characterised by several ecosystems and resources. The population in cities is generally increasing because they provide easy access to ocean, rivers beaches and other natural areas and are a good source for raw material and food. In India, Chennai is the fifth-largest city and 36th- largest urban area by population in the world. The Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest coastal city in India. As a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. The objective of the study is to identify the environmental pollution hotspots and preparing an environment management plan that includes rehabilitation and mitigation measures. The study draws the importance to maintain a balance between the ecology and economy in the region to ensure sustainable development. On the other hand, suggesting the measures to face the problems related to salinity ingress in land and water resources, depletion and degradation of coastal ecosystems and natural resources, pollution of resources like sewage intrusion, garbage disposal, etc, which have impacted on the life and livelihoods of people in multiple ways. Innovative approaches are needed to regulate the processes of salinisation and to manage to live with it since it cannot be eliminated.Keywords: Impact of Urbanisation, Coastal Environment, Sustainable Development

Community Knowledge, Perceptions, and Practices Associated with Urogenital Schistosomiasis among School-Aged Children in Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania

Background: On the Zanzibar islands, United Republic of Tanzania, elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis is strived for in the coming years. This qualitative study aimed to better understand community knowledge, perceptions, and practices associated with schistosomiasis among school-aged children on Unguja and Pemba islands, in order to inform the development of behavior change interventions contributing to eliminate urogenital schistosomiasis. Methodology: In 2011, we conducted 35 children’s discussion groups, 41 in-depth interviews with parents and teachers, and 5 focus group discussions with community members in Zanzibar. Using a modified-grounded theory approach, we transcribed and coded the narrative data followed by thematic analysis of the emergent themes. Principal Findings: Urogenital schistosomiasis is a common experience among children in Zanzibar and typically considered a boys’ disease. Children engage in multiple high-risk behaviors for acquiring schistosomiasis because of poor knowledge on disease transmission, lack of understanding on severity of disease-associated consequences, and lack of alternative options for water related activities of daily living and recreational play. Local primary school teachers had little to no training about the disease and no teaching tools or materials for students. Conclusions/Significance: Conducting activities in open natural freshwater contaminated by S. haematobium larvae compromises the health of school-aged children in Zanzibar. The perception of urogenital schistosomiasis as a minor illness rather than a serious threat to a child’s well-being contributes to the spread of disease. Understanding community perceptions of disease along with the barriers and facilitators to risk reduction behaviors among children can inform health promotion activities, campaigns, and programs for the prevention, control, and elimination of urogenital schistosomiasis in Zanzibar

Mathematical Problem Solving Strategies in Plain English

The mathematics word problem solving in EFL setting of Jordanian undergraduates were investigated through Polya’s (1957) adopted test as accompanied by self-report open questions procedures. In this study, mathematical problems content is used to assess their language and learning strategies. The results indicated that participating undergraduates were identified either as low problem solvers as well as limited English language proficiency students. Key words:problem solving strategies, EFL, math, Jordanian undergraduates

Determinants of IAS Disclosure Compliance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Exchangelisted Companies in Bangladesh

The study is an attempt to examine empirically the level of disclosure of financial information upon adoption of International Accounting Standards (IASs) in Bangladesh and the association between a number of corporate attributes and levels of disclosure in corporate annual reports in Bangladesh. An unweighted disclosure index comprising 411 items was prepared and applied to 188 corporate annual reports for years ending between January and December 2003. The association between the extent of disclosure and various corporate characteristics was examined using multiple linear regression models. It was found that corporate size, profitability, stock exchange security category (Zcategory or not), size and international link of company's auditor, and multinational subsidiary are all significantly associated with the extent of disclosure. The results were consistent with some previous studies while they contradict with the findings of some other studies