Designing mobile technology to promote sustainable food choices

This paper is an experience report based on challenges encountered when designing scalable mobile persuasive HCI applications to help users make informed choices over their food consumption. We recently developed Tagliatelle, a social tagging system to help users to accurately monitor and assess their dietary behaviour and to promote healthier food choices. In this paper we propose a similar system in order to help users understand the sustainability of their food choices. We discuss the challenges inherent in doing so, and extrapolate some important issues that need to be addressed by technological developments that aim to persuade users to adopt more sustainable behaviours

Support for post start-up small business growth

The objective of this thesis is to determine how small firm support provision might be improved in order to help post start-up businesses in Devon and Cornwall to grow. Interest in this issue stems from (a) previous research carried out in the region highlighting a possible need for continued business support after the initial 12 month start-up period and (b) the increasing emphasis upon stimulating business growth apparent in recent small firm policy. An examination of relevant literature demonstrates that current understanding of the critical influences upon young post start-up business growth and the extent to which existing support adequately addresses such factors is limited. To address these gaps in existing knowledge, two questionnaire surveys are conducted. In both, emphasis is placed upon owner-manager perceptions in recognition of an identified need for support to be client-led and because of the role played by owner-manager perceptions in influencing growth motivation and actual growth. In-depth interviews are also carried out with ownermanagers and staff from start-up support providing organisations. A variety of techniques are employed to analyse questionnaire responses. Overall, results indicate that owner-managers view the critical influences upon the growth of their firms to be highly individual in nature. Other findings show employment growth and growth intentions amongst responding businesses to be limited. However, some variations are shown to exist between firms. Discriminant analysis is employed to determine the effectiveness of those company characteristics associated with variations in predicting business growth, owner-manager growth intentions and owner-manager perceptions of the importance of different factors influencing growth. Results suggest that in providing support for young post start-up firms, the targeting of businesses on the basis of easily measured characteristics is not likely to be effective. Results from the second survey show that whilst start-up support is perceived to be adequate in addressing some growth-relevant factors, for many other factors a 'negative support gap' exists. These gaps relate to areas such as strategic product-market development, access to tangible and non-tangible resources, owner-manager personal development, marketing and financial management. An analysis of owner-manager's awareness, use and perceptions of non-start-up assistance suggests that the identified gaps are not being adequately addressed by other schemes and initiatives. Interview evidence suggests that the limited scale of support available to young micro businesses is perceived to be a particular constraint upon the growth opportunities available to post start-up firms. Drawing on quantitative results and evidence from in-depth interviews, a possible framework for providing effective support for young post start-up businesses in Devon and Cornwall is developed. This proposes the use of a network based approach to both the evaluation of support needs and the provision of assistance. Recognising the varying growth needs, capabilities and ambitions of the owner-managers studied, emphasis is placed upon close cooperation between interested bodies in evaluating the prospects of firms and an individual approach to support delivery. However, it is concluded that in providing assistance for young post start-up firms, a broadly inclusive approach should be adopted. In making recommendations for further research, the limited employment growth experienced by most of the firms studied for this research is recognised as a weakness. A number of methodological improvements are suggested, particularly in relation to the measure of growth used

Familiars: representing Facebook users’ social behaviour through a reflective playful experience

In this paper, we describe the design and development of a social game called Familiars. Inspired by the daemons in Pullman’s “Dark Material” trilogy, Familiars are animal companions that sit on your Facebook profile and change into different animal forms based on your social activity within the social network of Facebook. . Familiars takes advantage of the powerful capabilities of the developers platform of Facebook to build a multi-dimensional picture of a player’s state based on social activity, facial expression analysis on photographs and suggestions from friends. This rich information is then distilled and presented to the player in the form of animal that the familiar chooses to take. We show how the types of animals and personalities were associated in a cross-cultural user study, and present quantitative results from the social behaviours of the players within the game in addition to qualitative data gathered from questionnaire responses

Social architecture and the emergence of power laws in online social games

This paper explores the concept of the “social architecture” of games, and tests the theory that it is possible to analyse game mechanics based on the effect they have on the social behaviour of the players. Using tools from Social Network Analysis, these studies confirm that social activity in games reliably follows a power distribution: a few players are responsible for a disproportionate amount of social interactions. Based on this, the scaling exponent is highlighted as a simple measure of sociability that is constant for a game design. This allows for the direct comparison of social activity in very different games. In addition, it can act as a powerful analytical tool for highlighting anomalies in game designs that detrimentally affect players’ ability to interact socially. Although the social architectures of games are complicated systems, SNA allows for quantitative analysis of social behaviours of players in meaningful ways, which are to the benefit of game designers

Personality Factors that Influence Truthfulness and Deception

Identifying personality traits that coincide with everyday deception is crucial to understanding how individual differences relate to antisocial tendencies. The current study tested the hypothesis that sensation seeking and psychopathy can predict everyday deception. Seventy-nine undergraduate students participated in an online study to assess these personality traits. A linear regression analysis found disinhibition psychopathy to be a strong predictor of everyday deception, with impulsive sensation seeking as the only other significant predictor

Applying the Mandala of Health in the Anthropocene

Issue addressed: The Anthropocene is a new era in which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment. The negative impact humans have on the earth\u27s systems pose significant threats to human health. Health promotion is a discipline well placed to respond to planetary health challenges of the Anthropocene. The overarching aim of this paper is to describe the elements of 21st century socio‐ecological health and apply them in a revised socio‐ecological framework for health promotion.Methods: A qualitative description study design was employed to explore the significance of ecological and cultural determinants of health and review models in contemporary health promotion to inform the development of a revised Mandala of Health. Purposeful sampling was used to recruit ten experts from across Australia including academics and practitioners working at the nexus of health promotion, environmental management and sustainability. Data were analysed thematically, using deductive and inductive methods.Results: A revised Mandala of Health could address existing gaps in health promotion theory and practice. Ecological and cultural determinants of health were considered essential components of health promotion that is often lacking in socio‐ecological frameworks. Indigenous Knowledge Systems were considered immensely important when addressing ecological and cultural determinants of health.Conclusions: A revised Mandala of Health could encourage development of contemporary health models, assisting health promotion to evolve with the health and environmental issues of the Anthropocene. This study highlights the need for more theoretical development and empirical research regarding ecological and cultural determinants of health in a health promotion context.So what?: In the context of the Anthropocene, this study highlights the potential gaps in health promotion theory and practice in terms of the natural environment and health and emphasises the need of a paradigm shift to embed ecological and cultural determinants with other determinants of health

The Asian Studies Consortium: An Innovative Approach to Study in Japan

Japan\u27s dramatic re-emergence as a world power in the \u2780s led a num­ber of U.S. colleges and universities to incorporate courses on Japanese history, politics, culture, management practices and language into their curricula. Simultaneously, there has been a flurry of activity to develop study abroad experiences in Japan to expose American students to Japa­nese culture and language. Chambers and Cummings (1990) document ap­proximately 90 programs involving a U.S. school and a Japanese partner. For a variety of reasons a number of these ambitious ventures have not been entirely successful. One of the major impediments to launching a successful study abroad program in Japan has been the language barrier (Li, 1993). Most U.S. students do not speak Japanese and those who do may not speak it well. A second impediment has been incompatibility of curricula between U.S. and Japanese universities. A third stumbling block has been lack of faculty support and accompanying concern about the degree of academic rigor (Ll, 1993). Finally, financial concerns and constraints have prevented most small colleges and universities from developing programs in Japan

A qualitative interview study to determine barriers and facilitators of implementing automated decision support tools for genomic data access

Data access committees (DAC) gatekeep access to secured genomic and related health datasets yet are challenged to keep pace with the rising volume and complexity of data generation. Automated decision support (ADS) systems have been shown to support consistency, compliance, and coordination of data access review decisions. However, we lack understanding of how DAC members perceive the value add of ADS, if any, on the quality and effectiveness of their reviews. In this qualitative study, we report findings from 13 semi-structured interviews with DAC members from around the world to identify relevant barriers and facilitators to implementing ADS for genomic data access management. Participants generally supported pilot studies that test ADS performance, for example in cataloging data types, verifying user credentials and tagging datasets for use terms. Concerns related to over-automation, lack of human oversight, low prioritization, and misalignment with institutional missions tempered enthusiasm for ADS among the DAC members we engaged. Tensions for change in institutional settings within which DACs operated was a powerful motivator for why DAC members considered the implementation of ADS into their access workflows, as well as perceptions of the relative advantage of ADS over the status quo. Future research is needed to build the evidence base around the comparative effectiveness and decisional outcomes of institutions that do/not use ADS into their workflows.</p