31,142 research outputs found
Quantifying the invisible audience in social networks
This paper combines survey and large-scale log data to examine how well users’ perceptions of their audience match their actual audience on Facebook.AbstractWhen you share content in an online social network, who is listening? Users have scarce information about who actually sees their content, making their audience seem invisible and difficult to estimate. However, understanding this invisible audience can impact both science and design, since perceived audiences influence content production and self-presentation online. In this paper, we combine survey and large-scale log data to examine how well users’ perceptions of their audience match their actual audience on Facebook. We find that social media users consistently underestimate their audience size for their posts, guessing that their audience is just 27% of its true size. Qualitative coding of survey responses reveals folk theories that attempt to reverse-engineer audience size using feedback and friend count, though none of these approaches are particularly accurate. We analyze audience logs for 222,000 Facebook users’ posts over the course of one month and find that publicly visible signals — friend count, likes, and comments — vary widely and do not strongly indicate the audience of a single post. Despite the variation, users typically reach 61% of their friends each month. Together, our results begin to reveal the invisible undercurrents of audience attention and behavior in online social networks.Authored by Michael S. Bernstein, Eytan Bakshy, Moira Burke and Brian Karrer
Centerscope
Centerscope, formerly Scope, was published by the Boston University Medical Center "to communicate the concern of the Medical Center for the development and maintenance of improved health care in contemporary society.
Satellite communication and navigation for mobile users
Efforts made to utilize space technology for solving communication and navigation problems faced by mobile users in earth orientated situations are outlined. Applications include transoceanic airline communications, reliable long range ship-shore communications, emergency communications in regions with rough terrain, and military operations
Scanning mirror for infrared sensors
A high resolution, long life angle-encoded scanning mirror, built for application in an infrared attitude sensor, is described. The mirror uses a Moire' fringe type optical encoder and unique torsion bar suspension together with a magnetic drive to meet stringent operational and environmental requirements at a minimum weight and with minimum power consumption. Details of the specifications, design, and construction are presented with an analysis of the mirror suspension that allows accurate prediction of performance. The emphasis is on mechanical design considerations, and brief discussions are included on the encoder and magnetic drive to provide a complete view of the mirror system and its capabilities
Dynamic Approximate All-Pairs Shortest Paths: Breaking the O(mn) Barrier and Derandomization
We study dynamic -approximation algorithms for the all-pairs
shortest paths problem in unweighted undirected -node -edge graphs under
edge deletions. The fastest algorithm for this problem is a randomized
algorithm with a total update time of and constant
query time by Roditty and Zwick [FOCS 2004]. The fastest deterministic
algorithm is from a 1981 paper by Even and Shiloach [JACM 1981]; it has a total
update time of and constant query time. We improve these results as
follows: (1) We present an algorithm with a total update time of and constant query time that has an additive error of
in addition to the multiplicative error. This beats the previous
time when . Note that the additive
error is unavoidable since, even in the static case, an -time
(a so-called truly subcubic) combinatorial algorithm with
multiplicative error cannot have an additive error less than ,
unless we make a major breakthrough for Boolean matrix multiplication [Dor et
al. FOCS 1996] and many other long-standing problems [Vassilevska Williams and
Williams FOCS 2010]. The algorithm can also be turned into a
-approximation algorithm (without an additive error) with the
same time guarantees, improving the recent -approximation
algorithm with running
time of Bernstein and Roditty [SODA 2011] in terms of both approximation and
time guarantees. (2) We present a deterministic algorithm with a total update
time of and a query time of . The
algorithm has a multiplicative error of and gives the first
improved deterministic algorithm since 1981. It also answers an open question
raised by Bernstein [STOC 2013].Comment: A preliminary version was presented at the 2013 IEEE 54th Annual
Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2013
Implementation of robust image artifact removal in SWarp through clipped mean stacking
We implement an algorithm for detecting and removing artifacts from
astronomical images by means of outlier rejection during stacking. Our method
is capable of addressing both small, highly significant artifacts such as
cosmic rays and, by applying a filtering technique to generate single frame
masks, larger area but lower surface brightness features such as secondary
(ghost) images of bright stars. In contrast to the common method of building a
median stack, the clipped or outlier-filtered mean stacked point-spread
function (PSF) is a linear combination of the single frame PSFs as long as the
latter are moderately homogeneous, a property of great importance for weak
lensing shape measurement or model fitting photometry. In addition, it has
superior noise properties, allowing a significant reduction in exposure time
compared to median stacking. We make publicly available a modified version of
SWarp that implements clipped mean stacking and software to generate single
frame masks from the list of outlier pixels.Comment: PASP accepted; software for download at
http://www.usm.uni-muenchen.de/~dgruen
Reduction of wind tunnel wall interference by controlled wall flow
An alternate method of testing was developed in which flow through the porous walls of the tunnel was actively controlled so as to approximate free air conditions in the neighborhood of the model during the test. The amount and distribution of the controlled flow through the walls is computed using a potential flow representation of the model based on the measured lift. Theoretical analysis is presented to prove the convergence of the method to free air conditions and to substantiate the general three-dimensional theory of operation when the normal flow distribution is continuous. A two-dimensional tunnel was constructed to evaluate the concept. Results show that substantial reduction of wall interference may be achieved with relatively low values of porosity of actively controlled walls
Designing and Deploying Online Field Experiments
Online experiments are widely used to compare specific design alternatives,
but they can also be used to produce generalizable knowledge and inform
strategic decision making. Doing so often requires sophisticated experimental
designs, iterative refinement, and careful logging and analysis. Few tools
exist that support these needs. We thus introduce a language for online field
experiments called PlanOut. PlanOut separates experimental design from
application code, allowing the experimenter to concisely describe experimental
designs, whether common "A/B tests" and factorial designs, or more complex
designs involving conditional logic or multiple experimental units. These
latter designs are often useful for understanding causal mechanisms involved in
user behaviors. We demonstrate how experiments from the literature can be
implemented in PlanOut, and describe two large field experiments conducted on
Facebook with PlanOut. For common scenarios in which experiments are run
iteratively and in parallel, we introduce a namespaced management system that
encourages sound experimental practice.Comment: Proceedings of the 23rd international conference on World wide web,
283-29
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