500 research outputs found
Sort by
The Role of Average Health Status - Health Inequalities Matrix for Assessing Impacts on Population Health in Health in All Policies
No full textEconomic, social and environmental policies, programs and projects have impact on health. Health in All Policies (HiAP) aims to improve population health by taking into account these impacts. HiAP needs appropriate tools for assessing impacts on population health. When making choices between policy options, decision-makers rely on predictions from Health Impact Assessment. Currently there is no gold standard for establishing and assessing validity of predictions. This paper distinguishes between two levels of causal pathways regarding health impacts – specific and conditional, and proposes the Average Health Status – Health Inequalities Matrix as gold standard. The Matrix facilitates making the right choices at any level and local context, thus is useful for researchers, policy-makers and practitioners for designing, analysing and evaluating all kinds of policies. By allowing quick, reliable and inexpensive appraisal of different policy options the matrix makes feasible taking into account the impacts on population health and paves the way for institutionalizing of HiAP
Dream Lucidity: Yume Nikki and Learning the Empathy Dreamscape
No full textIn this paper, the authors examine digital environments as a learning spaces and site of extended cognition by demonstrating the presence of active learning in both video games and their linked online collaborative communities. The authors use Shaun Gallagher's theory of extended mind to posit the notion that the shared cognitive space created in the game between creator and player can be extend to include many others through the digital communities of those players though gaming literacy. The authors conducted a think-aloud protocol with participants playing Yume Nikki, a minimalist Japanese indie game, then reading materials on hikikomori, a condition the creator is believed to have. They conclude from their results that active and creative learning of human communities should not be undervalued when designing virtual environments even when the environment is single-player
Chinese Students' Perceptions of Using Mobile Devices for English Learning
No full textThe advance of mobile technology has turned portable, handheld devices into an integral part of students' daily life, and also paved the way for the rise of mobile assisted language learning. This study focused on how Chinese students perceive the use of using mobile devices for English practice in and out of class, in order to see whether they are interested in mobile-assisted language learning (MALL) and how they construct the technology with regard to English learning. One hundred and one students from eighteen universities in mainland China participated in this study. All of them completed an anonymous questionnaire and 20 randomly selected students were interviewed. The results illuminate a strong motivation among students for learning English via mobiles, and diverse types of m-learning activities were discovered. The results also revealed that students' attitudes toward mobile learning can be impacted by their regions or more specifically their surroundings
Comparison of Tied-Mixture and State-Clustered HMMs with Respect to Recognition Performance and Training Method
No full textTied-mixture HMMs have been proposed as the acoustic model for large-vocabulary continuous speech recognition and have yielded promising results. They share base-distribution and provide more flexibility in choosing the degree of tying than state-clustered HMMs. However, it is unclear which acoustic models to superior to the other under the same training data. Moreover, LBG algorithm and EM algorithm, which are the usual training methods for HMMs, have not been compared. Therefore in this paper, the recognition performance of the respective HMMs and the respective training methods are compared under the same condition. It was found that the number of parameters and the word error rate for both HMMs are equivalent when the number of codebooks is sufficiently large. It was also found that training method using the LBG algorithm achieves a 90% reduction in training time compared to training method using the EM algorithm, without degradation of recognition accuracy
Leveraging Multitasking Opportunities to Increase Motivation and Engagement in Online Classrooms: An Action Research Case Study
No full textNewer social media have brought about attention deficits brought on by a flood of distractions, such as text messaging, blogging, and browsing on mobile devices and laptops brought into the classroom. It appears that online learning places the same demands on learners' ability to remain on-task and focused. While following up on assessing the benefits of live satellite broadcasts from remote areas of the world, the researchers made several interesting discoveries about the nature of the design of the content management system that delivered the classroom experience. The interface included a means by which students could synchronously chat during the live broadcasts. The ability to multitask appeared to increase participants' engagement in the class and their sense of social presence. The researchers present their results based on the results of a pre and post participant questionnaire to determine how best to sustain student engagement and interaction in a distance-learning environment
Online Teaching: Perceptions of Faculty at a Research University
No full textThis chapter includes a report of a study conducted to investigate the perceptions of faculty teaching online at a doctoral research university in the southeast United States. Research literature regarding faculty satisfaction with online learning is summarized. Quantitative and qualitative methods were used to analyze the results of an online survey administered in the Spring of 2010. Major findings are that faculty enjoy the convenience and flexible scheduling that teaching online offers them and their students but consider teaching online to more labor-intensive compared to teaching face-to-face courses. Faculty expressed the need for reliable and current technology for online teaching, improved technical support and training, and clear institutional policies regarding online teaching and developing online courses. Methods for improving faculty satisfaction with online teaching are suggested, which include collaborating with academic librarians to enhance the online teaching and learning experience
Using Word Trees, Word Networks, and Tag Clouds to Provide Meaningful Insights: A Case Study of Electronic Word of Mouth for Hotel Service Delivery
No full textThe combined use of data mining techniques and qualitative consumer reports can provide meaningful insights into service performance and relevant decision making. In several case studies, the authors combine qualitative comments from an online hotel feedback website about popular travel destinations, as reported by business, pleasure, and mixed-use travelers. After extracting 1,893 useable customer comments, using a web spider application, the study software produced summaries of qualitative comments in the form of tag clouds, word networks, and word tree images. This technologically enabled analysis of consumer-reported information provides consumer researchers with more objective ratings of qualitative consumer assessments of their experience across various units of analysis, with several applications for corporate and operational management. Furthermore, several implications inform consumer researchers and corporate consumer research departments about effective ways to investigate and serve industry. This study also has several limitations that suggest routes for further research
Future Sustainability of the Florida Health Information Exchange
No full textFlorida began the journey to health information connectivity in 2004 under Governor Jeb Bush. Initially these efforts were funded by grants, but due to the downturn in the economy, the state was unable to support growth in 2008. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 provided funding to further expand health information exchange efforts across the country. As a result, Florida was now able to move forward and make progress in information sharing. Harris Corporation was contracted to provide some basic services to the health care industry in 2011. Since then, the Florida HIE has begun to take shape and information sharing is occurring. The ARRA funding will end in 2014 and the Florida HIE must have a plan to survive into the future. This plan must address challenges such as the recruitment of new users, integration of new services, and ultimately long term sustainability
Utilizing Volunteered Information for Infectious Disease Surveillance
No full textWith the advent of Web 2.0, the public is becoming increasingly interested in spatial data exploration. The potential for Volunteered Geographic Information (VGI) to be adopted for passive disease surveillance and mediated through an enhanced relationship between researchers and non-scientists is of special interest to the authors. In particular, mobile devices and wireless communication permit the public to be more involved in research to a greater degree. Furthermore, the accuracy of these devices is rapidly improving, allowing the authors to address questions of uncertainty and error in data collections. Cooperation between researchers and the public integrates themes common to VGI and PGIS (Participatory Geographic Information), to bring about a new paradigm in GIScience. This paper outlines the prototype for a VGI system that incorporates the traditional role of researchers in spatial data analysis and exploration and the willingness of the public, through traditional PGIS, to be engaged in data collection for the purpose of surveillance of tsetse flies, the primary vector of African Trypanosomiasis. This system allows for two-way communication between researchers and the public for data collection, analysis, and the ultimate dissemination of results. Enhancing the role of the public to participate in these types of projects can improve both the efficacy of disease surveillance as well as stimulating greater interest in science