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

Local box-counting dimensions of discrete quantum eigenvalue spectra: Analytical connection to quantum spectral statistics

Two decades ago, Wang and Ong [Phys. Rev. A 55, 1522 (1997)] hypothesized that the local box-counting dimension of a discrete quantum spectrum should depend exclusively on the nearest-neighbor spacing distribution (NNSD) of the spectrum. In this paper, we validate their hypothesis by deriving an explicit formula for the local box-counting dimension of a countably-infinite discrete quantum spectrum. This formula expresses the local box-counting dimension of a spectrum in terms of single and double integrals of the NNSD of the spectrum. As applications, we derive an analytical formula for Poisson spectra and closed-form approximations to the local box-counting dimension for spectra having Gaussian orthogonal ensemble (GOE), Gaussian unitary ensemble (GUE), and Gaussian symplectic ensemble (GSE) spacing statistics. In the Poisson and GOE cases, we compare our theoretical formulas with the published numerical data of Wang and Ong and observe excellent agreement between their data and our theory. We also study numerically the local box-counting dimensions of the Riemann zeta function zeros and the alternate levels of GOE spectra, which are often used as numerical models of spectra possessing GUE and GSE spacing statistics, respectively. In each case, the corresponding theoretical formula is found to accurately describe the numerically-computed local box-counting dimension

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

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

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

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

ANALISIS TINGKAT KAPASITAS DAN KERENTANAN PEREMPUAN DALAM UPAYA PENGURANGAN RISIKO BENCANA TSUNAMI DI WILAYAH PESISI KECAMATAN PEUKAN BADA KABUPATEN ACEH BESAR

ABSTRAKKecamatan Peukan Bada merupakan salah satu kecamatan di Kabupaten AcehBesar yang terkena dampak bencana tsunami 2004 sangat parah, terutama diGampong Lamteh, Gampong Baro dan Gampong Lamteungoh yang menjadilokasi penelitian ini. Secara geografis, ketiga lokasi penelitian ini berada padawilayah pesisir yang berpotensi terkena dampak bencana tsunami di masa yangakan datang. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis tingkat kapasitasdan kerentanan perempuan, menganalisis pengaruh faktor demografi terhadapkapasitas dan kerentanan serta menganalisis strategi untuk meningkatkankapasitas serta mengurangi kerentanan perempuan dalam upaya penguranganrisiko bencana tsunami di wilayah pesisir Kecamatan Peukan Bada Aceh Besar.Penelitian ini menggunakan metode penelitian kombinasi (mixed methods) yaitudenganmenggunakan pendekatan data gabungan kuantitatif dan kualitatif. Sampelpenelitian terdiri dari 81 orang perempuan yang ditentukan denganmenggunakanmetode survey dengan teknik Quota Sampling. Data primer diperoleh melaluikuesioner kepada responden dan wawancara terstruktur dengan 6 orang informanyang bermukim di tiga gampong lokasi penelitian. Data sekunder diperoleh daridokumentasi Keuchik dan data dari Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) Aceh Besar.Kuesioner disusun dengan menggunakan metode ORID (Objective, Reflective,Interpretative dan Decision) dengan tiga alternatif jawaban yaitu setuju, ragu-ragudan tidak setuju. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa (1) Tingkat kapasitasperempuan berada pada kategori kurang siap dengan indeks 54 dan tingkatkerentanan perempuan berada pada kategori rendah dengan indeks 53, (2)Pengaruh faktor demografi terhadap kapasitas secara signifikan pada faktor umur,sementara faktor pendidikan, pekerjaan, pendapatan dan status perkawinan tidakberpengaruh secara signifikan. Sedangkan faktor demografi umur, pendidikan,pekerjaan, pendapatan dan status perkawinan tidak berpengaruh secara signifikanterhadap kerentanan. (3) Strategi untuk meningkatkan kapasitas denganmemperhatikan faktor informasi, jejaring, pengetahuan dan sarana, sedangkanuntuk mengurangi kerentanan dengan memperhatikan faktor fisik, faktorlingkungan, faktor sosial serta faktor sikap dan motivasi perempuan.Kata kunci : Kapasitas, Kerentanan, Demografi, ORID, Quota Sampling,Strategi Pengurangan Risiko BencanaTsunami.viABSTRACTSubdistrict Peukan Bada was one of the districts in Aceh Besar district whichaffected by the 2004 tsunami very severely, especially in the Village Lamteh,Baro and Lamteungoh had being the location of this research. Geographically, thethree locations researchwere in coastal areas potentially affected by the tsunamidisaster in the future. The purpose of this research was to analyze the level ofcapacity and vulnerability of women, to analyze the influence of demographicfactors on the capacities and vulnerabilities and analyzied the strategies toincrease capacity and reduce the vulnerability of women in the effort of tsunamidisaster risk reduction in the coastal areas of Peukan Bada District in Aceh Besar.This research used combination methods (mixed methods) by using quantitativeand qualitativedata approach. The sample in this research consisted of 81 womenwho were determined using the survey method with Quota sampling techniques.The primary data obtained through questionnaires to respondents and structuredinterviews with 6 informants who live in the three villages research. Secondarydata were obtained from Keuchik documentation and the data from StatisticCentre Agency (BPS). The questionnaire prepared using ORID methods(Objective, Reflective, Interpretative and Decision) with three alternative answerswere agree, undicided and disagree. The results showed that (1) The level ofwomen capacitywerein the less ready category with the index 54 and the level ofwomen vulnerability were in the low category with the index 53, (2) Theinfluence of demographic factors on the capacity, significantly on the age, whileeducation factor, employment, income and marital status did not havesignificantly influences. Exactly, demographic factors of age, education,occupation, income and marital status did not have significantly influences to thevulnerability. (3) The strategies to increase capacity by making improvements ininformation, networking, knowledge and facilities, and to reducing vulnerabilitybymaking improvements in physical factors, environmental factors, social factorsand the factors ofwomen attitude and motivation.Keywords :Capacity, Vulnerability, Demographics, ORID, Quota Sampling,Strategy for Disaster RiskReduction of Tsunami

The Veterans Affairs Neuropathy Scale: A Reliable, Remote Polyneuropathy Exam.

Introduction: Polyneuropathy (PN) complaints are common, prompting many referrals for neurologic evaluation. To improve access of PN care in distant community clinics, we developed a telemedicine service (patient-clinician interactions using real-time videoconference technology) for PN. The primary goal of this study was to construct a remote exam for PN that is feasible, reliable, and concordant with in-person assessments for use in our tele-PN clinics. Methods: To construct the VA Neuropathy Scale (VANS), we searched the literature for existing, validated PN assessments. From these assessments, we selected a parsimonious set of exam elements based on literature-reported sensitivity and specificity of PN detection, with modifications as necessary for our teleneurology setting (i.e., a technician examination under the direction of a neurologist). We recruited 28 participants with varying degrees of PN to undergo VANS testing under 5 scenarios. The 5 scenarios differed by mode of VANS grading (in-person vs. telemedicine) and by the in-person examiner type (neurologist vs. technician) in telemedicine scenarios. We analyzed concordance between the VANS and a person's medical chart-derived PN status by modeling the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. We analyzed reliability of the VANS by mixed effects regression and computing the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) of scores across the 5 scenarios. Results: The VA Neuropathy Scale (VANS) tests balance, gait, reflexes, foot inspection, vibration, and pinprick. Possible scores range from 0 to 50 (worst). From the ROC curve, a cutoff of >2 points on the VANS sets the sensitivity and specificity of detecting PN at 98 and 91%, respectively. There is a small (1.3 points) but statistically significant difference in VANS scoring between in-person and telemedicine grading scenarios. For telemedicine grading scenarios, there is no difference in VANS scores between neurologist and technician examinations. The ICC is 0.89 across all scenarios. Discussion: The VANS, informed by existing PN instruments, is a promising clinical assessment tool for diagnosing and monitoring the severity of PN in telemedicine settings. This pilot study indicates acceptable concordance and reliability of the VANS with in-person examinations