Data triangulation in a user evaluation of the sealife semantic web browsers

There is a need for greater attention to triangulation of data in user-centred evaluation of Semantic Web Browsers. This paper discusses triangulation of data gathered during development of a novel framework for user-centred evaluation of Semantic Web Browsers. The data was triangulated from three sources: quantitative data from web server logs and questionnaire results, and qualitative data from semi-structured interviews. This paper shows how triangulation was essential in validation and completeness of the results, and was indispensable in ensuring accurate interpretation of the results in determining user satisfaction

Impact of nutrition on social decision making

Food intake is essential for maintaining homeostasis, which is necessary for survival in all species. However, food intake also impacts multiple biochemical processes that influence our behavior. Here, we investigate the causal relationship between macronutrient composition, its bodily biochemical impact, and a modulation of human social decision making. Across two studies, we show that breakfasts with different macronutrient compositions modulated human social behavior. Breakfasts with a high-carbohydrate/protein ratio increased social punishment behavior in response to norm violations compared with that in response to a low carbohydrate/protein meal. We show that these macronutrient-induced behavioral changes in social decision making are causally related to a lowering of plasma tyrosine levels. The findings indicate that, in a limited sense, “we are what we eat” and provide a perspective on a nutrition-driven modulation of cognition. The findings have implications for education, economics, and public policy, and emphasize that the importance of a balanced diet may extend beyond the mere physical benefits of adequate nutrition

Sea quark effects in B Spectroscopy and Decay Constants

We present comprehensive results for the spectrum and decay constants of hadrons containing a single b quark. The heavy quark is simulated using an $O(1/M)$ NRQCD action and the light quark using the $O(a)$ tadpole-improved clover action on gauge configurations containing two degenerate flavours of sea quarks at $\beta^{n_f=2}=5.6$ provided by the HEMCGC collaboration. We present detailed results for the lower lying $S$ and $P$ wave $B$ meson states and the $\Lambda_b$ baryon. We find broad agreement with experiment. In addition, we present results for the pseudoscalar and, for the first time, the vector decay constants fully consistent to $O(\alpha/M): f_B = 186(5)(stat)(19)(pert)(9)(disc)(13)(NRQCD)(+50)(a^{-1})MeV, f_B^* = 181(6) (stat)(18)(pert)(9)(disc)(13)(NRQCD)(+55)(a^{-1})MeV$ and $f_{B_s}/f_B = 1.14(2)(stat)(-2)(\kappa_s)$. We present an investigation of sea quark effects in the $B$ spectrum and decay constants. We compare our results with those from similar quenched simulations at $\beta^{n_f=0}=6.0$. For the spectrum, the quenched results reproduce the experimental spectrum well and there is no significant difference between the quenched and $n_f=2$ results. For the decay constants, our results suggest that sea quark effects may be large. We find that $f_B$ increases by approximately 25% between $n_f=0$ and $n_f=2$.Comment: 49 pages, 16 figures, revtex, the discussion of systematic errors and the comparison of the pseudoscalar decay constant at nf=0 and nf=2 has been expande

Report on the Second Workshop on Supporting Complex Search Tasks

There is broad consensus in the field of IR that search is complex in many use cases and applications, both on the Web and in domain-specific collections, and both in our professional and in our daily life. Yet our understanding of complex search tasks, in comparison to simple look up tasks, is fragmented at best. The workshop addressed many open research questions: What are the obvious use cases and applications of complex search? What are essential features of work tasks and search tasks to take into account? And how do these evolve over time? With a multitude of information, varying from introductory to specialized, and from authoritative to speculative or opinionated, when should which sources of information be shown? How does the information seeking process evolve and what are relevant differences between different stages? With complex task and search process management, blending searching, browsing, and recommendations, and supporting exploratory search to sensemaking and analytics, UI and UX design pose an overconstrained challenge. How do we know that our approach is any good? Supporting complex search tasks requires new collaborations across the whole field of IR, and the proposed workshop brought together a diverse group of researchers to work together on one of the greatest challenges of our field. The workshop featured three main elements. First, two keynotes, one on the complexity of meaningful interactive IR evaluation by Mark Hall and one on the types of search complexity encountered in real-world applications by Jussi Karlgren. Second, a lively boaster and poster session in which seven contributed papers were presented. Third, three breakout groups discussed concrete ideas on: (1) search context and tasks, (2) search process, and (3) evaluation of complex search tasks. There was an general feeling that the discussion made progress, and built new connections between related strands of research in IR

Isolation in Globalizing Academic Fields: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Early Career Researchers

This study examines academic isolation – an involuntary perceived separation from the academic field to which one aspires to belong, associated with a perceived lack of agency in terms of one’s engagement with the field – as a key challenge for researchers in increasingly globalized academic careers. While prior research describes early career researchers’ isolation in their institutions, we theorize early career researchers’ isolation in their academic fields and reveal how they attempt to mitigate isolation to improve their career prospects. Using a collaborative autoethnographic approach, we generate and analyze a dataset focused on the experiences of ten early career researchers in a globalizing business academic field known as Consumer Culture Theory. We identify bricolage practices, polycentric governance practices, and integration mechanisms that work to enhance early career researchers’ perceptions of agency and consequently mitigate their academic isolation. Our findings extend discussions on isolation and its role in new academic careers. Early career researchers, in particular, can benefit from a deeper understanding of practices that can enable them to mitigate isolation and reclaim agency as they engage with global academic fields

What's interrupting your search? A diary study of everyday mobile search interruptions

Introduction: Web search is a common activity in a mobile context. However, the nature of performing tasks in a mobile environment means there is the risk interruption. While the effects of interruptions on mobile search have been studied in recent years, the nature of such interruptions occurring in real-world mobile settings have not. Methods: Using a diary study approach, we collected data from 20 participants on the everyday interruptions they faced conducting mobile web searches over a 10-day period. Analysis: We used inductive open coding to categorise the nature of the interruptions assigning each interruption to a category/sub-category combination. We then used a deductive coding approach to classify each interruption as being either internally or externally-induced; and mobile or non mobile-specific. Results: We found a broad range of interruptions, which we have organised into an extensive taxonomy. Further, a substantial proportion of the interruptions are externally-induced and more than half are unique to mobile contexts. Conclusion: The empirical evidence of the nature of mobile search interruptions in our findings provide insight into the complex environment of mobile search, information upon which to base future mobile search studies (e.g., surveys, controlled laboratory studies), and motivation for the study of search interface designs that can help mitigate the effects of such interruptions

The effects of simulated interruptions on mobile search tasks

While it is clear that using a mobile device can interrupt real-world activities such as walking or driving, the effects of interruptions on mobile device use have been under-studied. We are particularly interested in how the ambient distraction of walking while using a mobile device, combined with the occurrence of simulated interruptions of different levels of cognitive complexity, affect web search activities. We have established an experimental design to study how the degree of cognitive complexity of simulated interruptions influence both objective and subjective search task performance. In a controlled laboratory study (n=27), quantitative and qualitative data were collected on mobile search performance, perceptions of the interruptions, and how participants reacted to the interruptions, using a custom mobile eye-tracking app, a questionnaire, and observations. As expected, more cognitively complex interruptions resulted in increased overall task completion times and higher perceived impacts. Interestingly, the effect on the resumption lag or the actual search performance was not significant, showing the resiliency of people to resume their tasks after an interruption. Implications from this study enhance our understanding of how interruptions objectively and subjectively affect search task performance, motivating the need for providing explicit mobile search support to enable recovery from interruptions

Exploratory search in digital humanities: a study of visual keyword/result linking

While searching within digital humanities collections is an important aspect of digital humanities research, the search features provided are usually more suited to lookup search than exploratory search. This limits the ability of digital humanities scholars to undertake complex search tasks. Drawing upon recent studies on supporting exploratory search in academic digital libraries, we implemented two visual keyword/result linking approaches for searching within the Europeana collection; one that keeps the keywords linked to the search results and another that aggregates the keywords over the search result set. Using a controlled laboratory study, we assessed these approaches in comparison to the existing Europeana search mechanisms. We found that both visual keyword/result linking approaches were improvements over the baseline, with some differences between the new approaches that were dependent on the stage of the exploratory search process. This work illustrates the value of providing advanced search functionality within digital humanities collections to support exploratory search processes, and the need for further design and study of digital humanities search tools that support complex search task

Information Retrieval eXperience (IRX): Towards a Human-Centered Personalized Model of Relevance

We approach Information Retrieval (IR) from a User eXperience (UX) perspective. Through introducing a model for Information Retrieval eXperience (IRX), this paper operationalizes a perspective on IR that reaches beyond topicality. Based on a document's topicality, complexity, and emotional value, a model of relevance is proposed to influence user's IRX and, consequently, the synthesis and use of the retrieved information. Additionally, methods are discussed to assess UX through interaction and feedback mechanisms. As such, the proposed multi-dimensional IRX model is highly user-dependent and determines document's relevance from a non-traditional human-centered, personalized perspective on IR