Emily Hund. The influencer industry: The quest for authenticity on social media

The Influencer Industry: The Quest for Authenticity on Social Media, written by American media researcher Emily Hund, takes the reader on a scouting expedition into the U. S. influencer industry. Hund is a well-established author in social media influencer research, where her works on gender dynamics in the influencer industry have been particularly notable (e. g., Duffy & Hund, 2015, 2019). These works look at social media influence from a creative industry’s angle, and The Influencer Industry also stands in this lineage. Although the title does not make it clear, the book offers, first and foremost, a chronological history of the influencer industry in the United States. Beginning with the advent of political bloggers in the late 1990s, each chapter focuses on a specific period and the overarching developmental milestones Hund identifies as constituting the period. This way, Hund provides a much-needed historical perspective on the influencer industry. However, the book wants to be more than that – and it definitely is – in that it also reflects on how the influencer industry impacts contemporary forms of sociation

Joseph Turow. The voice catchers: How marketers listen in to exploit your feelings, your privacy, and your wallet

“Voice profiling is a gateway drug to a new era of hyper-personalized targeting,” (p. 227) Joseph Turow concludes in his book The Voice Catchers: How Marketers Listen in to Exploit Your Feelings, Your Privacy, and Your Wallet. This crucial function of what Turow calls the “voice intelligence industry” explains the urgency of Turow’s most recent endeavor: a thorough examination of this industry which consists of different players, most centrally call center firms and the developers of voice assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, the Google Assistant, Apple’s Siri, and Samsung’s Bixby. The industry is united by its interest in using voice as another source for collecting biometrical data. Such voiceprints, as Turow figuratively puts it, are the “gold in people’s speech” (p. 192). In contrast to the face as another source for biometrical data, voice has received comparatively little public attention

Set Membership Parameter Estimation and Design of Experiments Using Homothety

In this note we address the problems of obtaining guaranteed and as good as possible estimates of system parameters for linear discrete–time systems subject to bounded disturbances. Some existing results relevant for the set–membership parameter identification and outer–bounding are first reviewed. Then, a novel method for characterizing the consistent parameter set based on homothety is offered; the proposed method allows for the utilization of general compact and convex sets for outer–bounding. Based on these results, we consider the one–step input design and identifiability problems in set–membership setting. We provide a guaranteed approach for the one–step input design problem, by selecting optimal inputs for the purpose of parameter estimation. As optimality criterion, the dimension and the outer– bounding volume of the “anticipated ” consistent parameter set is considered. We furthermore derive a sufficient criterion for (one–step) parameter identifiability, i.e. when a point estimate for a parameter can be guaranteed for all possible measurements

A Roadmap to Evaluate Lean Six Sigma E-Health Reference Architectures Using a Fuzzy Group Bi-Objective LINMAP

Purpose: In recent years, although several studies have focused on Lean Six Sigma project selection, none of them have provided Lean Six Sigma approach to e-health reference architectures. Therefore, there is a significant gap of the application of the Lean Six Sigma in e-Health architectures in e-Health care quality improvement literature. In this paper, we present a Lean Six Sigma approach to e-health reference architectures to have high-quality healthcare in modern medicine. The purpose of this paper is to present a novel framework to present a roadmap to evaluate e-Health architectures from Lean and Six Sigma perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: At first, a novel model is presented to evaluate core e-Health modules and layers of e-Health reference architectures from a Six Sigma perspective. Then, the proposed model is used to evaluate core e-Health modules and layers of e-Health reference architectures from a Lean perspective. In order to overcome issues related to imprecise or vague judgments in, the proposed e-Health decision making model is presented in the fuzzy environment. Findings: Findings from this paper develop the LINMAP model to a Fuzzy Group bi-objective LINMAP to integrate Lean and Six Sigma perspectives and select the best practice Lean Six Sigma e-Health reference architecture

An Algebraic Jost-Schroer Theorem for Massive Theories

We consider a purely massive local relativistic quantum theory specified by a family of von Neumann algebras indexed by the space-time regions. We assume that, affiliated with the algebras associated to wedge regions, there are operators which create only single particle states from the vacuum (so-called polarization-free generators) and are well-behaved under the space-time translations. Strengthening a result of Borchers, Buchholz and Schroer, we show that then the theory is unitarily equivalent to that of a free field for the corresponding particle type. We admit particles with any spin and localization of the charge in space-like cones, thereby covering the case of string-localized covariant quantum fields.Comment: 21 pages. The second (and crucial) hypothesis of the theorem has been relaxed and clarified, thanks to the stimulus of an anonymous referee. (The polarization-free generators associated with wedge regions, which always exist, are assumed to be temperate.

First report of multinodular pulmonary fibrosis associated with equine herpesvirus 5 in Belgium

A 20-year-old horse was evaluated for symptoms of weight loss, anorexia, fever and lethargy. Clinical examination revealed tachypnea, poor body condition and increased breath sounds on auscultation. Ultrasound showed multiple consolidations on the lungs. Thoracic radiography revealed a severe nodular pattern. The horse was treated with antibiotics, corticoids and supportive medication. Since no improvement was observed, the horse was euthanized. At necropsy, numerous coalescing fibrous nodules were present in the lungs. Histology revealed diffuse interstitial fibrosis and macrophages containing abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm and oval eosinophilic to amphophilic intranuclear inclusion bodies. Tissue samples tested positive for the presence of equine herpes virus 5 (EHV 5) on the basis of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. A diagnosis of equine multinodular pulmonary fibrosis (EMPF) was made. This is the first report of EMPF in Belgium. EMPF can be suspected based on the ultrasonographic, radiographic and histological changes. EMPF is associated with EHV 5, but the etiological role of EHV 5 still remains to be proven

A Novel Fuzzy Group ANP Model for Global E-government Readiness Assessment from an e-Citizen Relationship Management Perspective

E-government readiness assessment is a significant indicator in measuring citizen satisfaction levels in using E-governmentservices. It provides an opportunity to learn about the government\u27s strengths and weakness on the journey to excellence.Simultaneously, the main goal of E-government is to create an optimized relationship with its citizens. This paper presents anE-Government readiness assessment framework for assessing services from an e-Citizen Relationship Management (e-CiRM)perspective using fuzzy Group Analytic Network Process (FGANP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity toIdeal Solution (TOPSIS) approaches. The proposed framework is applicable to assess E-government readiness as the processof government assessment irrespective of size and structure, and sector. The results of this Global assessment allowgovernments to discern clearly its strengths and areas in which improvement can be made regarding citizen\u27s needs