General relativity in upper secondary school: Design and evaluation of an online learning environment using the model of educational reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Kersting, Magdalena; Henriksen, Ellen Karoline; Bøe, Maria Vetleseter; Angell, Carl

2018-06-01

Because of its abstract nature, Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity is rarely present in school physics curricula. Although the educational community has started to investigate ways of bringing general relativity to classrooms, field-tested educational material is rare. Employing the model of educational reconstruction, we present a collaborative online learning environment that was introduced to final year students (18-19 years old) in six Norwegian upper secondary physics classrooms. Design-based research methods guided the development of the learning resources, which were based on a sociocultural view of learning and a historical-philosophical approach to teaching general relativity. To characterize students' learning from and interaction with the learning environment we analyzed focus group interviews and students' oral and written responses to assigned problems and discussion tasks. Our findings show how design choices on different levels can support or hinder understanding of general relativity, leading to the formulation of design principles that help to foster qualitative understanding and encourage collaborative learning. The results indicate that upper secondary students can obtain a qualitative understanding of general relativity when provided with appropriately designed learning resources and sufficient scaffolding of learning through interaction with teacher and peers.

Understanding Online (Game)worlds

Science.gov (United States)

Klastrup, Lisbeth

With gameworlds as the prime example, this article discusses online worlds as new forms of cultural entertainment systems and presents a framework with which to analyse them. The framework takes its point of departure in a discussion of what online gameworlds are, which genres of worlds exist and how they can be understood as a new form of engaging experience similar to the type of experience we have when we are captivated by the fictional universes of novels, films and tabletop roleplaying games. The proposed framework is grounded in an aesthetic, communicative and sociological approach to online worlds as digital phenomena, with the primary objective of describing how online gameworlds are systems that create meaning through the production of the experience of “worldness”.

Understanding Cognitive Load Using On-line Dictionaries

OpenAIRE

Robert F. , Dilenschneider

2017-01-01

Cognitive Load Theory may useful for language instructors to understand how the look up conditions ofusing an on-line dictionary might influence learning. This paper first reviews previous studies that haveinvestigated dictionary use for vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension Second, it explainsthe various elements of Cognitive Load Theory. Third, it describes how Cognitive Load Theory appliesto language learners' to learn unknown words and comprehend texts Last, it discusses the pe...

Towards a deep understanding of malware propagation in online social networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yan, Guanhua [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Eidenbenz, Stephan [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Chen, Guanling [U OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL; Li, Nan [U OF MASSACHUSETTS LOWELL

2009-01-01

Online social networks, which have been expanding at a blistering speed in the recent years, have emerged as a popular communication infrastructure for Internet users. Meanwhile, malware that specifically targets these online social networks are also on the rise. In this work, we aim to investigate the characteristics of malware propagation in online social networks. Our study is based on a dataset collected from a real-world location-based online social network. We analyze the social structure and user activity patterns of this network. We further use extensive trace-driven simulation to study the impact of initial infection, user click probability, social structure, and activity patterns on malware propagation in online social networks. The results from this work has greatly deepened our understanding of the nature of online social network malware and also shed light on how to defend against them effectively.

Using Online Tools for Communication and Collaboration: Understanding Educators' Experiences in an Online Course

Science.gov (United States)

Boling, Erica C.; Holan, Erica; Horbatt, Brent; Hough, Mary; Jean-Louis, Jennifer; Khurana, Chesta; Krinsky, Hindi; Spiezio, Christina

2011-01-01

This designed-based research study explored educators' experiences in an online course to better understand how course design and pedagogical delivery can best support student learning. Using the Cognitive Apprenticeship Model (Collins et al., 1987) as a theoretical lens, researchers investigated the following: 1) What methods of instruction, as…

A Qualitative Approach to Understanding Audience's Perceptions of Creativity in Online Advertising

Science.gov (United States)

McStay, Andrew

2010-01-01

In this paper I seek to inquire upon audience's perceptions of creativity in online advertising--a heretofore poorly understood area. This paper initially outlines current academic understanding of creativity in online advertising, mainly derived from quantitative assessments. It then advances a qualitative methodology including diary-interviews…

Students’ online purchasing behavior in Malaysia: Understanding online shopping attitude

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marzieh Zendehdel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Studies examining the factors that affect the online purchasing behavior of consumers are rare, despite the prospective advance of e-commerce in Malaysia. The present study examines particular factors that influence the attitude of potential consumers to purchase online by using the attributes from the diffusion of innovations theory of Rogers, the attribute of perception of risk, and the subjective norms toward online purchasing. Consumers’ perceived risks of online shopping have become a vital subject in research because they directly influence users’ attitude toward online purchasing. The structural equation modeling method was used to analyze the data gathered on students using e-commerce, and, thus, to validate the model. According to the results, consumers’ attitude toward online purchasing affects the intention toward online purchasing. The other influential factors are compatibility, relative advantage, and subjective norm.

Using the Artistic Pedagogical Technology of Photovoice to Promote Interaction in the Online Post-Secondary Classroom: The Students' Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Edwards, Margaret; Perry, Beth; Janzen, Katherine; Menzies, Cynthia

2012-01-01

This study explores the effect of the artistic pedagogical technology (APT) called photovoice (PV) on interaction in the online post-secondary classroom. More specifically, this paper focuses on students' perspectives regarding the effect of PV on student to student and student to instructor interactions in online courses. Artistic pedagogical…

A Template Based System for Automatic Construction of Online Courseware for Secondary Educational Institutes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fotis Lazarinis

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Many educational sites are static and rarely updated, diminishing the dynamism of the Web. An online learning system should be adjustable, expandable and regularly updated, preferably by educational staff without the direct intervention of computer experts, reflecting the dynamic character of education. Το achieve this aim, we propose a system based on three roles: Administrator, Educator and Learner. Each role has a different set of responsibilities and permissions to the system. The model is built around a repository of educational material, vital for its expandability and its dynamism. The repository contains a set of customizable templates, dynamically filled with the educational material, assembling the online course. This paper discusses current difficulties in developing online courses and then presents the development progress of such a system and its anticipated advantages to Secondary Educational Institutes.

Students’ online purchasing behavior in Malaysia: Understanding online shopping attitude

OpenAIRE

Marzieh Zendehdel; Laily Hj Paim; Syuhaily Bint Osman

2015-01-01

Studies examining the factors that affect the online purchasing behavior of consumers are rare, despite the prospective advance of e-commerce in Malaysia. The present study examines particular factors that influence the attitude of potential consumers to purchase online by using the attributes from the diffusion of innovations theory of Rogers, the attribute of perception of risk, and the subjective norms toward online purchasing. Consumers’ perceived risks of online shopping have become a vi...

A new online secondary path modeling method for adaptive active structure vibration control

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pu, Yuxue; Zhang, Fang; Jiang, Jinhui

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a new variable step size FXLMS algorithm with an auxiliary noise power scheduling strategy for online secondary path modeling. The step size for the secondary path modeling filter and the gain of auxiliary noise are varied in accordance with the parameters available directly. The proposed method has a low computational complexity. Computer simulations show that an active vibration control system with the proposed method gives much better vibration attenuation and modeling accuracy at a faster convergence rate than existing methods. National Instruments’ CompactRIO is used as an embedded processor to control simply supported beam vibration. Experimental results indicate that the vibration of the beam has been effectively attenuated. (papers)

Framework for Structural Online Health Monitoring of Aging and Degradation of Secondary Systems due to some Aspects of Erosion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gribok, Andrei [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Patnaik, Sobhan [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Williams, Christian [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Pattanaik, Marut [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Kanakala, Raghunath [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2016-09-01

This report describes the current state of research related to critical aspects of erosion and selected aspects of degradation of secondary components in nuclear power plants. The report also proposes a framework for online health monitoring of aging and degradation of secondary components. The framework consists of an integrated multi-sensor modality system which can be used to monitor different piping configurations under different degradation conditions. The report analyses the currently known degradation mechanisms and available predictive models. Based on this analysis, the structural health monitoring framework is proposed. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program began to evaluate technologies that could be used to perform online monitoring of piping and other secondary system structural components in commercial NPPs. These online monitoring systems have the potential to identify when a more detailed inspection is needed using real-time measurements, rather than at a pre-determined inspection interval. This transition to condition-based, risk informed automated maintenance will contribute to a significant reduction of operations and maintenance costs that account for the majority of nuclear power generation costs. There is unanimous agreement between industry experts and academic researchers that identifying and prioritizing inspection locations in secondary piping systems (for example, in raw water piping or diesel piping) would eliminate many excessive in-service inspections. The proposed structural health monitoring framework takes aim at answering this challenge by combining long-range guided wave technologies with other monitoring techniques, which can significantly increase the inspection length and pinpoint the locations that degraded the most. More widely, the report suggests research efforts aimed at developing, validating, and deploying online corrosion monitoring techniques for complex geometries, which are pervasive in NPPs.

Framework for Structural Online Health Monitoring of Aging and Degradation of Secondary Systems due to some Aspects of Erosion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gribok, Andrei; Patnaik, Sobhan; Williams, Christian; Pattanaik, Marut; Kanakala, Raghunath

2016-01-01

This report describes the current state of research related to critical aspects of erosion and selected aspects of degradation of secondary components in nuclear power plants. The report also proposes a framework for online health monitoring of aging and degradation of secondary components. The framework consists of an integrated multi-sensor modality system which can be used to monitor different piping configurations under different degradation conditions. The report analyses the currently known degradation mechanisms and available predictive models. Based on this analysis, the structural health monitoring framework is proposed. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program began to evaluate technologies that could be used to perform online monitoring of piping and other secondary system structural components in commercial NPPs. These online monitoring systems have the potential to identify when a more detailed inspection is needed using real-time measurements, rather than at a pre-determined inspection interval. This transition to condition-based, risk informed automated maintenance will contribute to a significant reduction of operations and maintenance costs that account for the majority of nuclear power generation costs. There is unanimous agreement between industry experts and academic researchers that identifying and prioritizing inspection locations in secondary piping systems (for example, in raw water piping or diesel piping) would eliminate many excessive in-service inspections. The proposed structural health monitoring framework takes aim at answering this challenge by combining long-range guided wave technologies with other monitoring techniques, which can significantly increase the inspection length and pinpoint the locations that degraded the most. More widely, the report suggests research efforts aimed at developing, validating, and deploying online corrosion monitoring techniques for complex geometries, which are pervasive in NPPs.

Understanding the Role of Online Reviews on Customers' Risk Perception

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jing

2013-01-01

Customer reviews play an important role in today's online shopping environment. Research into customer reviews has largely focused on the predictive effect of review characteristics on variables such as product sales. However, relatively little attention has been directed towards understanding how reviews impact a customer's decision to purchase a…

The Online Bingo Boom in the UK: A Qualitative Examination of Its Appeal

OpenAIRE

Stead, Martine; Dobbie, Fiona; Angus, Kathryn; Purves, Richard I.; Reith, Gerda; Macdonald, Laura

2016-01-01

Online bingo has seen significant growth in recent years. This study sought to increase understanding of this growth by exploring the appeal of online bingo. Our aim was to examine the content of ten online bingo websites in the UK and analyse a qualitative secondary dataset of 12 female bingo players to investigate the appeal of online bingo. Using two distinct data sources allowed us to assess how the key messages online websites are trying to convey compare with actual players’ motivation ...

The impact of problem solving strategy with online feedback on students’ conceptual understanding

Science.gov (United States)

Pratiwi, H. Y.; Winarko, W.; Ayu, H. D.

2018-04-01

The study aimed to determine the impact of the implementation of problem solving strategy with online feedback towards the students’ concept understanding. This study used quasi experimental design with post-test only control design. The participants were all Physics Education students of Kanjuruhan University year 2015. Then, they were divided into two different groups; 30 students belong to experiment class and the remaining 30 students belong to class of control. The students’ concept understanding was measured by the concept understanding test on multiple integral lesson. The result of the concept understanding test was analyzed by prerequisite test and stated to be normal and homogenic distributed, then the hypothesis was examined by T-test. The result of the study shows that there is difference in the concept understanding between experiment class and control class. Next, the result also shows that the students’ concept understanding which was taught using problem solving strategy with online feedback was higher than those using conventional learning; with average score of 72,10 for experiment class and 52,27 for control class.

Understanding Disabilities & Online Student Success

Science.gov (United States)

Betts, Kristen; Welsh, Bill; Pruitt, Cheryl; Hermann, Kelly; Dietrich, Gaeir; Trevino, Jorge G.; Watson, Terry L.; Brooks, Michael L.; Cohen, Alex H.; Coombs, Norman

2013-01-01

Online learning has been growing at an exponential rate over the past decade, providing new opportunities for students seeking quality courses and programs offered through flexible formats. However, as higher education continues to expand online offerings, services must be expanded simultaneously to support all students. This article focuses on…

A PIRLS approach to literary understanding in secondary education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broeder, Peter; van Wijk, C.H.

2015-01-01

This study explores the reading behaviour of secondary school students at about 16 years of age. Their actual performance was assessed with a specially compiled comprehension test covering four levels of text understanding. The test consisted of a set multiple choice items about a one-page passage

An Investigation into Post-Secondary Students' Understanding of Combinatorial Questions

Science.gov (United States)

Bulone, Vincent William

2017-01-01

The purpose of this dissertation was to study aspects of how post-secondary students understand combinatorial problems. Within this dissertation, I considered understanding through two different lenses: i) student connections to previous problems; and ii) common combinatorial distinctions such as ordered versus unordered and repetitive versus…

Understanding Incivility in Online Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Galbraith, Michael W.; Jones, Melanie S.

2010-01-01

This article addresses the issue of incivility in online teaching and learning. Incivility is defined within the context of face-to-face and online learning environments. Certain acts of incivility are explored as well as methods for prevention and reduction. Because academic dishonesty is becoming more prevalent, cheating and plagiarism are…

Clinical Validity, Understandability, and Actionability of Online Cardiovascular Disease Risk Calculators: Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonner, Carissa; Fajardo, Michael Anthony; Hui, Samuel; Stubbs, Renee; Trevena, Lyndal

2018-02-01

Online health information is particularly important for cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention, where lifestyle changes are recommended until risk becomes high enough to warrant pharmacological intervention. Online information is abundant, but the quality is often poor and many people do not have adequate health literacy to access, understand, and use it effectively. This project aimed to review and evaluate the suitability of online CVD risk calculators for use by low health literate consumers in terms of clinical validity, understandability, and actionability. This systematic review of public websites from August to November 2016 used evaluation of clinical validity based on a high-risk patient profile and assessment of understandability and actionability using Patient Education Material Evaluation Tool for Print Materials. A total of 67 unique webpages and 73 unique CVD risk calculators were identified. The same high-risk patient profile produced widely variable CVD risk estimates, ranging from as little as 3% to as high as a 43% risk of a CVD event over the next 10 years. One-quarter (25%) of risk calculators did not specify what model these estimates were based on. The most common clinical model was Framingham (44%), and most calculators (77%) provided a 10-year CVD risk estimate. The calculators scored moderately on understandability (mean score 64%) and poorly on actionability (mean score 19%). The absolute percentage risk was stated in most (but not all) calculators (79%), and only 18% included graphical formats consistent with recommended risk communication guidelines. There is a plethora of online CVD risk calculators available, but they are not readily understandable and their actionability is poor. Entering the same clinical information produces widely varying results with little explanation. Developers need to address actionability as well as clinical validity and understandability to improve usefulness to consumers with low health literacy. �

Understanding the online channel extension of traditional retailers: Online-offline and online-prototypical congruence

OpenAIRE

Wu Jinfeng; Li Yilong

2016-01-01

Many Chinese traditional retailers have turned to the multichannel forms by establishing their own online stores. When doing so, retail managers face a difficult choice between two online marketing orientations: “pursuit of ideal” (i.e. online-prototypical congruence orientation) and “retention of tradition” (i.e. online-offline congruence orientation). To help managers make this choice, this study proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate how these two orientations affect retail store at...

Developing Understanding of Mathematical Modeling in Secondary Teacher Preparation

Science.gov (United States)

Anhalt, Cynthia Oropesa; Cortez, Ricardo

2016-01-01

This study examines the evolution of 11 prospective teachers' understanding of mathematical modeling through the implementation of a modeling module within a curriculum course in a secondary teacher preparation program. While the prospective teachers had not previously taken a course on mathematical modeling, they will be expected to include…

Post-Secondary Students' Views on Health: Support for Individual and Social Health Determinants

Science.gov (United States)

Shyleyko, Robert; Godley, Jenny

2012-01-01

This paper examines how post-secondary students understand health, and whether opinions about health are correlated with area of study. We present results from an online survey administered in 2011 to 287 students at one post-secondary institution in Western Canada. Overall, the survey students are more likely to adopt an individualistic, rather…

Learning to teach secondary mathematics using an online learning system

Science.gov (United States)

Cavanagh, Michael; Mitchelmore, Michael

2011-12-01

We report the results of a classroom study of three secondary mathematics teachers who had no prior experience teaching with technology as they began to use an online mathematics learning system in their lessons. We gave the teachers only basic instruction on how to operate the system and then observed them intensively over four school terms as they taught using it. We documented changes in the teachers' Pedagogical Technology Knowledge and subsequently classified their various roles as technology bystanders, adopters, adaptors and innovators. Results show that all teachers made some progress toward using the system in more sophisticated ways, but the improvements were not uniform across the teachers. We suggest possible reasons to explain the variation and discuss some implications for teacher professional development.

Understanding user intents in online health forums.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Thomas; Cho, Jason H D; Zhai, Chengxiang

2015-07-01

Online health forums provide a convenient way for patients to obtain medical information and connect with physicians and peers outside of clinical settings. However, large quantities of unstructured and diversified content generated on these forums make it difficult for users to digest and extract useful information. Understanding user intents would enable forums to find and recommend relevant information to users by filtering out threads that do not match particular intents. In this paper, we derive a taxonomy of intents to capture user information needs in online health forums and propose novel pattern-based features for use with a multiclass support vector machine (SVM) classifier to classify original thread posts according to their underlying intents. Since no dataset existed for this task, we employ three annotators to manually label a dataset of 1192 HealthBoards posts spanning four forum topics. Experimental results show that a SVM using pattern-based features is highly capable of identifying user intents in forum posts, reaching a maximum precision of 75%, and that a SVM-based hierarchical classifier using both pattern and word features outperforms its SVM counterpart that uses only word features. Furthermore, comparable classification performance can be achieved by training and testing on posts from different forum topics.

Understanding radiation and risk: the importance of primary and secondary education

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tada, Junichiro

1999-01-01

In Japan's primary and secondary schools, radiation and radioactivity are taught as part of the curriculum dealing with social science subjects. Students learn much about the hazardous features of radiation, but lack the scientific understanding necessary to build a more balanced picture. Although the same point applies to education covering the harmful effects of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, electrical storms and so on, public understanding of these events is relatively high and students are generally able to make informed judgments about the risks involved. By contrast, their limited understanding of radiation often contributes to fears that it is evil or even supernatural. To correct this distortion, it is important that primary and secondary education includes a scientific explanation of radiation. Like heat and light, radiation is fundamental to the history of the universe; and scientific education programs should give appropriate emphasis to this important subject. Students would then be able to make more objective judgments about the useful and hazardous aspects of radiation. (author)

Understanding radiation and risk: the importance of primary and secondary education

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tada, Junichiro [Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (SPring-8), Mikaduki, Hyogo (Japan)

1999-09-01

In Japan's primary and secondary schools, radiation and radioactivity are taught as part of the curriculum dealing with social science subjects. Students learn much about the hazardous features of radiation, but lack the scientific understanding necessary to build a more balanced picture. Although the same point applies to education covering the harmful effects of volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, electrical storms and so on, public understanding of these events is relatively high and students are generally able to make informed judgments about the risks involved. By contrast, their limited understanding of radiation often contributes to fears that it is evil or even supernatural. To correct this distortion, it is important that primary and secondary education includes a scientific explanation of radiation. Like heat and light, radiation is fundamental to the history of the universe; and scientific education programs should give appropriate emphasis to this important subject. Students would then be able to make more objective judgments about the useful and hazardous aspects of radiation. (author)

Understanding the online channel extension of traditional retailers: Online-offline and online-prototypical congruence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wu Jinfeng

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Many Chinese traditional retailers have turned to the multichannel forms by establishing their own online stores. When doing so, retail managers face a difficult choice between two online marketing orientations: “pursuit of ideal” (i.e. online-prototypical congruence orientation and “retention of tradition” (i.e. online-offline congruence orientation. To help managers make this choice, this study proposes a conceptual framework to illustrate how these two orientations affect retail store attitude when retail brand familiarity differs. The results indicate that both orientations can improve consumers’ retail store attitudes. When retail brand familiarity is low, the online stores of traditional retailers should balance both orientations in product selections and adopt “pursuit of ideal” in prices. When retail brand familiarity is high, “retention of tradition” should be applied in product selections and both orientations should be integrated in prices for gaining more positive change in retail store attitude.

Preparing Preservice English Teachers to Design and Teach Social Justice-Oriented Literacy Lessons Online

Science.gov (United States)

Herrmann, Bailey

2013-01-01

This dissertation investigates how future secondary English teachers construct an understanding of teaching literacy for social justice and how they enact that understanding, particularly with regard for constructing curriculum for and teaching young adult novels online. This research suggests three recommendations for creating strong…

Understanding the Context of Learning in an Online Social Network for Health Professionals' Informal Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Xin; Gray, Kathleen; Verspoor, Karin; Barnett, Stephen

2017-01-01

Online social networks (OSN) enable health professionals to learn informally, for example by sharing medical knowledge, or discussing practice management challenges and clinical issues. Understanding the learning context in OSN is necessary to get a complete picture of the learning process, in order to better support this type of learning. This study proposes critical contextual factors for understanding the learning context in OSN for health professionals, and demonstrates how these contextual factors can be used to analyse the learning context in a designated online learning environment for health professionals.

Secondary Students' Understanding of Basic Ideas of Special Relativity

Science.gov (United States)

Dimitriadi, Kyriaki; Halkia, Krystallia

2012-01-01

A major topic that has marked "modern physics" is the theory of special relativity (TSR). The present work focuses on the possibility of teaching the basic ideas of the TSR to students at the upper secondary level in such a way that they are able to understand and learn the ideas. Its aim is to investigate students' learning processes towards the…

Understanding human quality judgment in assessing online forum contents for thread retrieval purpose

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Zuriati; Salim, Naomie; Huspi, Sharin Hazlin

2017-10-01

Compared to traditional materials or journals, user-generated contents are not peer-reviewed. Lack of quality control and the explosive growth of web contents make the task of finding quality information on the web especially critical. The existence of new facilities for producing web contents such as forum makes this issue more significant. This study focuses on online forums threads or discussion, where the forums contain valuable human-generated information in a form of discussions. Due to the unique structure of the online forum pages, special techniques are required to organize and search for information in these forums. Quality biased retrieval is a retrieval approach that search for relevant document and prioritized higher quality documents. Despite major concern of quality content and recent development of quality biased retrieval, there is an urgent need to understand how quality content is being judged, for retrieval and performance evaluation purposes. Furthermore, even though there are various studies on the quality of information, there is no standard framework that has been established. The primary aim of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of human quality judgment in assessing online forum contents. The foundation of this study is to compare and evaluate different frameworks (for quality biased retrieval and information quality). This led to the finding that many quality dimensions are redundant and some dimensions are understood differently between different studies. We conducted a survey on crowdsourcing community to measure the importance of each quality dimensions found in various frameworks. Accuracy and ease of understanding are among top important dimensions while threads popularity and contents manipulability are among least important dimensions. This finding is beneficial in evaluating contents of online forum.

From Confrontation to Understanding: In/exclusion of Alternative Voices in Online Discussion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tamara Witschge

2011-05-01

Full Text Available This article examines the potential and limitations of the internet’s use for democratic debate. Academic literature on the potential uses of the internet to enhance democratic discussion in Western democracies almost always falls exclusively on one side of the optimist/pessimist divide. This article responds to the need for more situated knowledge, using an in-depth critical discourse analysis of the public debate on immigration in the Netherlands. The Dutch public debate on immigration and integration has been dominated in the past decade by a sense of deep ideological differences. The analysis conducted in this article reveals the power relations between the dominant and alternative discourses on immigration. It shows the ways in which online alternative voices deemed too radical by the mainstream public are excluded from participation in the public debate. The paper furthermore addresses the potential for understanding and for meaningful interaction across difference and illustrates the role of alternative styles of communication in online discussions. As such it contributes to our understanding of cross-cultural communication as well as that of online interaction. The study, though limited to case studies in the Netherlands, addresses a question relevant beyond the specific case and national context examined: how to establish meaningful interaction in light of difference?

Using online pedagogy to explore student experiences of Science-Technology-Society-Environment (STSE) issues in a secondary science classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Ayyavoo, Gabriel Roman

With the proliferation of 21st century educational technologies, science teaching and learning with digitally acclimatized learners in secondary science education can be realized through an online Science-Technology-Society-Environment (STSE)-based issues approach. STSE-based programs can be interpreted as the exploration of socially-embedded initiatives in science (e.g., use of genetically modified foods) to promote the development of critical cognitive processes and to empower learners with responsible decision-making skills. This dissertation presents a case study examining the online environment of a grade 11 physics class in an all-girls' school, and the outcomes from those online discursive opportunities with STSE materials. The limited in-class discussion opportunities are often perceived as low-quality discussions in traditional classrooms because they originate from an inadequate introduction and facilitation of socially relevant issues in science programs. Hence, this research suggests that the science curriculum should be inclusive of STSE-based issue discussions. This study also examines the nature of students' online discourse and, their perceived benefits and challenges of learning about STSE-based issues through an online environment. Analysis of interviews, offline classroom events and online threaded discussion transcripts draws from the theoretical foundations of critical reflective thinking delineated in the Practical Inquiry (P.I.) Model. The PI model of Cognitive Presence is situated within the Community of Inquiry framework, encompassing two other core elements, Teacher Presence and Social Presence. In studying Cognitive Presence, the online STSE-based discourses were examined according to the four phases of the P.I. Model. The online discussions were measured at macro-levels to reveal patterns in student STSE-based discussions and content analysis of threaded discussions. These analyses indicated that 87% of the students participated in

Understanding consumer motivations for interacting in online food communities – potential for innovation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Lina; Sørensen, Bjarne Taulo; Tudoran, Ana Alina

This study contributes to the understanding of online user communities as a potential source of innovation. That would require an interest from users in interacting in such communities. In order to establish interaction, users must provide as well as consume information. However, depending...... on the innovation task, one may be more important than the other. It is therefore important to understand, how companies can increase user willingness to engage in these different interaction forms. This study investigates the influence of various motivation factors and user interests on intention to provide...... or consume information in online food communities. A survey was conducted among 1009 respondents followed by analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling. Results revealed the effect of motivation factors to be stronger than basic consumer interests indicating that companies can influence the intended...

FRAMEWORK FOR STRUCTURAL ONLINE HEALTH MONITORING OF AGING AND DEGRADATION OF SECONDARY PIPING SYSTEMS DUE TO SOME ASPECTS OF EROSION

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gribok, Andrei V.; Agarwal, Vivek

2017-06-01

This paper describes the current state of research related to critical aspects of erosion and selected aspects of degradation of secondary components in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The paper also proposes a framework for online health monitoring of aging and degradation of secondary components. The framework consists of an integrated multi-sensor modality system, which can be used to monitor different piping configurations under different degradation conditions. The report analyses the currently known degradation mechanisms and available predictive models. Based on this analysis, the structural health monitoring framework is proposed. The Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program began to evaluate technologies that could be used to perform online monitoring of piping and other secondary system structural components in commercial NPPs. These online monitoring systems have the potential to identify when a more detailed inspection is needed using real time measurements, rather than at a pre-determined inspection interval. This transition to condition-based, risk-informed automated maintenance will contribute to a significant reduction of operations and maintenance costs that account for the majority of nuclear power generation costs. Furthermore, of the operations and maintenance costs in U.S. plants, approximately 80% are labor costs. To address the issue of rising operating costs and economic viability, in 2017, companies that operate the national nuclear energy fleet started the Delivering the Nuclear Promise Initiative, which is a 3 year program aimed at maintaining operational focus, increasing value, and improving efficiency. There is unanimous agreement between industry experts and academic researchers that identifying and prioritizing inspection locations in secondary piping systems (for example, in raw water piping or diesel piping) would eliminate many excessive in-service inspections. The proposed structural health monitoring framework takes aim at

Understanding the process of social network evolution: Online-offline integrated analysis of social tie formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kwak, Doyeon; Kim, Wonjoon

2017-01-01

It is important to consider the interweaving nature of online and offline social networks when we examine social network evolution. However, it is difficult to find any research that examines the process of social tie formation from an integrated perspective. In our study, we quantitatively measure offline interactions and examine the corresponding evolution of online social network in order to understand the significance of interrelationship between online and offline social factors in generating social ties. We analyze the radio signal strength indicator sensor data from a series of social events to understand offline interactions among the participants and measure the structural attributes of their existing online Facebook social networks. By monitoring the changes in their online social networks before and after offline interactions in a series of social events, we verify that the ability to develop an offline interaction into an online friendship is tied to the number of social connections that participants previously had, while the presence of shared mutual friends between a pair of participants disrupts potential new connections within the pre-designed offline social events. Thus, while our integrative approach enables us to confirm the theory of preferential attachment in the process of network formation, the common neighbor theory is not supported. Our dual-dimensional network analysis allows us to observe the actual process of social network evolution rather than to make predictions based on the assumption of self-organizing networks.

Understanding the process of social network evolution: Online-offline integrated analysis of social tie formation.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Doyeon Kwak

Full Text Available It is important to consider the interweaving nature of online and offline social networks when we examine social network evolution. However, it is difficult to find any research that examines the process of social tie formation from an integrated perspective. In our study, we quantitatively measure offline interactions and examine the corresponding evolution of online social network in order to understand the significance of interrelationship between online and offline social factors in generating social ties. We analyze the radio signal strength indicator sensor data from a series of social events to understand offline interactions among the participants and measure the structural attributes of their existing online Facebook social networks. By monitoring the changes in their online social networks before and after offline interactions in a series of social events, we verify that the ability to develop an offline interaction into an online friendship is tied to the number of social connections that participants previously had, while the presence of shared mutual friends between a pair of participants disrupts potential new connections within the pre-designed offline social events. Thus, while our integrative approach enables us to confirm the theory of preferential attachment in the process of network formation, the common neighbor theory is not supported. Our dual-dimensional network analysis allows us to observe the actual process of social network evolution rather than to make predictions based on the assumption of self-organizing networks.

An online intervention for reducing depressive symptoms: secondary benefits for self-esteem, empowerment and quality of life.

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Crisp, Dimity; Griffiths, Kathleen; Mackinnon, Andrew; Bennett, Kylie; Christensen, Helen

2014-04-30

Internet-based interventions are increasingly recognized as effective for the treatment and prevention of depression; however, there is a paucity of research investigating potential secondary benefits. From a consumer perspective, improvements in indicators of wellbeing such as perceived quality of life may represent the most important outcomes for evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention. This study investigated the 'secondary' benefits for self-esteem, empowerment, quality of life and perceived social support of two 12-week online depression interventions when delivered alone and in combination. Participants comprised 298 adults displaying elevated psychological distress. Participants were randomised to receive: an Internet Support Group (ISG); an automated Internet psycho-educational training program for depression; a combination of these conditions; or a control website. Analyses were performed on an intent-to-treat basis. Following the automated training program immediate improvements were shown in participants׳ self-esteem and empowerment relative to control participants. Improvements in perceived quality of life were reported 6-months following the completion of the intervention when combined with an ISG. These findings provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of this online intervention for improving individual wellbeing beyond the primary aim of the treatment. However, further research is required to investigate the mechanisms underlying improvement in these secondary outcomes. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Teaching secondary science constructing meaning and developing understanding

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Ross, Keith; McKechnie, Janet

2010-01-01

Now fully updated in its third edition Teaching Secondary Science is a comprehensive guide to all aspects of science teaching, providing a wealth of information and ideas about different approaches. With guidance on how children understand scientific ideas and the implications this has on teaching, teachers are encouraged to construct their own meanings and become reflective in their practice. Relating science to government agendas, such as the National Strategies, Assessment for Learning and Every Child Matters, this new edition reflects and maps to changes in national standards. Ke

The Means-End Approach to Understanding Customer Values of a On-Line Newspaper

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André Luiz Maranhão de Souza Leão

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Customer value is understood as one of the constructs that best explains consumer decision making. Its proposal is to understand how consumers translate product or service characteristics and consequences of use into personal self-relevant values. The means-end theory is a way of systematically thinking in this hierarchicalrepresentation. The most commonly used method to achieve means-end chains is laddering. This theory and method were used to understand customer values of an important on-line Brazilian newspaper, which is an innovative approach, since on-line laddering is uncommon. The findings indicate that values related to goals of a personal nature are the most important ones. However, other values indicate the increase of the public man pointing to an alternative vision of what is commonly thought of as the contemporary isolated and selfish human. Academic research could benefit from a broader understanding and use of the means-end theory and laddering on the Web. Future research for managerial practices is warranted in areas such as segmentation, satisfaction measuring and customer value reevaluation, in addition to copy tests.

Understanding Motivations and User Interests as Antecedents for Different Interaction Forms in Online Communities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jacobsen, Lina; Sørensen, Bjarne Taulo; Tudoran, Ana Alina

This study contributes to the understanding of online user communities as a potential source of innovation. That would require an interest from users in interacting in such communities. In order to establish interaction, users must provide as well as consume information. However, depending...... on the innovation task, one may be more important than the other. It is therefore important to understand, how companies can increase user willingness to engage in these different interaction forms. This study investigates the influence of various motivation factors and user interests on intention to provide...... or consume information in online food communities. A survey was conducted among 1009 respondents followed by analysis based on Structural Equation Modelling. Results revealed the effect of motivation factors to be stronger than basic consumer interests indicating that companies can influence the intended...

Toward understanding online sentiment expression: an interdisciplinary approach with subgroup comparison and visualization

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Gao, B.; Berendt, B.; Vanschoren, J.

2016-01-01

Understanding users’ sentiment expression in social media is important in many domains, such as marketing and online applications. Is one demographic group inherently different from another? Does a group express the same sentiment both in private and public? How can we compare the sentiments of

Talking about your health to strangers: understanding the use of online social networks by patients

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Colineau, Nathalie; Paris, Cécile

2010-04-01

The internet has become a participatory place where everyone can contribute and interact with others. In health in particular, social media have changed traditional patient-physician relationships. Patients are organising themselves in groups, sharing observations and helping each other, although there is still little evidence of the effectiveness of these online communities on people's health. To understand why and how people use health-related sites, we studied these sites and identified three dimensions characterising most of them: informational/supportive; general/focused; and new relationships/existing ones. We conducted an online survey about the use of health-related social networking (SN) sites and learnt that, consistent with previous research, most patients were seeking information about their medical condition online, while, at the same time, still interacting with health professionals to talk about sensitive information and complex issues. We also found that, while people's natural social network played an important role for emotional support, sometimes, people chose to not involve their family, but instead interact with peers online because of their perceived support and ability to understand someone's experience, and also to maintain a comfortable emotional distance. Finally, our results show that people using general SN sites do not necessarily use health-related sites and vice versa.

The Logic, Affectivity and Ethics of Electronic Conferencing Teaching Strategies in Post-Secondary Mixed-Mode Courses

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Campos, Milton

2004-01-01

This paper aims to identify and to understand the role of the logical, the affective and the ethical dimensions of knowledge in the online interactions of post-secondary teachers and students. By understanding how these dimensions are interwoven, I intend to demonstrate that the instructor?s course design and teaching strategies must take them…

How do stroke survivors and their carers use practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medications? Qualitative study of an online forum.

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Izuka, Nkeonye J; Alexander, Matthew A W; Balasooriya-Smeekens, Chantal; Mant, Jonathan; De Simoni, Anna

2017-09-01

Secondary prevention medications reduce risk of stroke recurrence, yet many people do not receive recommended treatment, nor take medications optimally. Exploring how patients report making use of practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medicines on an online forum and what feedback was received from other participants. Thematic analysis of the archive of Talkstroke (2004-2011), UK. Posts including any secondary prevention medication terms, General Practitioner (GP) and their replies were identified. Fifity participants talked about practitioners' advice on secondary prevention medications in 43 discussion threads. Patients consulted practitioners for reassurance and dealing with side effects. Practitioners' advice varied from altering to maintaining current treatment. Three main themes emerged from the use of practitioners' advice: patients following advice (reassured, happy when side effects made tolerable, or still retaining anxiety about treatment); patients not following advice (admitting adherence on-off or stopping medications as side effects still not tolerable); asking other participants for feedback on advice received. Practitioners' advice was disregarded mainly when related to dealing with statin side effects, after one or two consultations. Themes for feedback involved sharing experience, directing back to practitioners, or to external evidence. Side effects of secondary prevention medications and statins in particular, cause anxiety and resentment in some patients, and their concerns are not always addressed by practitioners. Practitioners could consider more proactive strategies to manage such side effects. Forum feedback was appropriate and supportive of the practitioners' advice received. Our findings from peer-to-peer online conversations confirm and widen previous research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Narrative Construction of Sexual Violence and Rape Online

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Victoria Nagy

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The increased active participation of individuals in the creation of sexual violence narratives online, as opposed to the previously passive consumption of news stories offline, could prove problematic in ensuring justice is served. Social media allows for circumvention of the criminal justice system in response to its perceived inadequacies. With the 24-hour news cycle, the ease with which media consumers can interact with the story as it breaks online, and the manner in which social media has been used by laypersons and secondary bystanders to target victims or perpetrators before a case ever makes it to court, raises questions about how narrative construction online possibly influences people’s beliefs and understandings about sexual violence and the effect this may have for the justice system.

Virtualized healthcare delivery: understanding users and their usage patterns of online medical consultations.

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Jung, Changmi; Padman, Rema

2014-12-01

Virtualization of healthcare delivery via patient portals has facilitated the increasing interest in online medical consultations due to its benefits such as improved convenience and flexibility, lower cost, and time savings. Despite this growing interest, adoption by both consumers and providers has been slow, and little is known about users and their usage and adoption patterns. To learn characteristics of online healthcare consumers and understand their patterns of adoption and usage of online clinical consultation services (or eVisits delivered via the portal) such as adoption time for portal users, whether adoption hazard changes over time, and what factors influence patients to become early/late adopters. Using online medical consultation records between April 1, 2009 and May 31, 2010 from four ambulatory practices affiliated with a major healthcare provider, we conduct simple descriptive analysis to understand the users of online clinical consults and their usage patterns. Multilevel Logit regression is employed to measure the effect of patient and primary care provider characteristics on the likelihood of eVisit adoption by the patient, and survival analysis and Ordered Logit regression are applied to study eVisit adoption patterns that delineate elements describing early or late adopters. On average, eVisit adopters are younger and predominantly female. Their primary care providers participate in the eVisit service, highlighting the importance of physician's role in encouraging patients to utilize the service. Patients who are familiar with the patient portal are more likely to use the service, as are patients with more complex health issues. Younger and female patients have higher adoption hazard, but gender does not affect the decision of adopting early vs. late. These adopters also access the patient portal more frequently before adoption, indicating that they are potentially more involved in managing their health. The majority of eVisits are submitted

Understanding the Cranial Nerves: Evaluation of a Self-Paced Online Module in Optometric Education

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Taylor, Daniel Arnett

2016-01-01

Among the faculty of Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tennessee, it is perceived that optometry students often enter their clinical assignments with poor clinical judgment. To address this, "Understanding the Cranial Nerves"--an online-self paced instructional intervention of approximately two hours' duration--was developed. In…

Analysis of Online Social Networks to Understand Information Sharing Behaviors Through Social Cognitive Theory.

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Yoon, Hong-Jun; Tourassi, Georgia

2014-05-01

Analyzing the contents of online social networks is an effective process for monitoring and understanding peoples' behaviors. Since the nature of conversation and information propagation is similar to traditional conversation and learning, one of the popular socio-cognitive methods, social cognitive theory was applied to online social networks to. Two major news topics about colon cancer were chosen to monitor traffic of Twitter messages. The activity of "leaders" on the issue (i.e., news companies or people will prior Twitter activity on topics related to colon cancer) was monitored. In addition, the activity of "followers", people who never discussed the topics before, but replied to the discussions was also monitored. Topics that produce tangible benefits such as positive outcomes from appropriate preventive actions received dramatically more attention and online social media traffic. Such characteristics can be explained with social cognitive theory and thus present opportunities for effective health campaigns.

The mediating role of secondary beliefs: enhancing the understanding of emotional responses and illness perceptions in arthritis.

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McCracken, James; Lindner, Helen; Sciacchitano, Laura

2008-01-01

Chronic illnesses are a significant issue across many health professional domains, becoming an increasing burden on limited and costly resources. The current study investigated the relationship between secondary beliefs and emotional responses, beyond the relationship accounted for by illness perceptions, using the framework of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Sixty-five adults with arthritis participated in the questionnaire-based study. Multivariate analysis found that different emotional representations of the illness were significantly predicted by the individual's secondary belief, above and beyond that predicted by the cognitive representation of their illness alone. The study found that individuals who utilized an achievement secondary belief experienced feelings of worry, whereas individuals who used an approval orientation to understand their arthritis experienced emotions such as depression, being upset, anger, anxiety, and fear. No significant pattern emerged for individuals who used a comfort secondary belief to understand their arthritis. These findings are in line with the theory of secondary beliefs, as articulated by Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy.

How online learning modules can improve the representational fluency and conceptual understanding of university physics students

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Hill, M.; Sharma, M. D.; Johnston, H.

2015-07-01

The use of online learning resources as core components of university science courses is increasing. Learning resources range from summaries, videos, and simulations, to question banks. Our study set out to develop, implement, and evaluate research-based online learning resources in the form of pre-lecture online learning modules (OLMs). The aim of this paper is to share our experiences with those using, or considering implementing, online learning resources. Our first task was to identify student learning issues in physics to base the learning resources on. One issue with substantial research is conceptual understanding, the other with comparatively less research is scientific representations (graphs, words, equations, and diagrams). We developed learning resources on both these issues and measured their impact. We created weekly OLMs which were delivered to first year physics students at The University of Sydney prior to their first lecture of the week. Students were randomly allocated to either a concepts stream or a representations stream of online modules. The programme was first implemented in 2013 to trial module content, gain experience and process logistical matters and repeated in 2014 with approximately 400 students. Two validated surveys, the Force and Motion Concept Evaluation (FMCE) and the Representational Fluency Survey (RFS) were used as pre-tests and post-tests to measure learning gains while surveys and interviews provided further insights. While both streams of OLMs produced similar positive learning gains on the FMCE, the representations-focussed OLMs produced higher gains on the RFS. Conclusions were triangulated with student responses which indicated that they have recognized the benefit of the OLMs for their learning of physics. Our study shows that carefully designed online resources used as pre-instruction can make a difference in students’ conceptual understanding and representational fluency in physics, as well as make them more aware

Two secondary teachers’ understanding and classroom practice of dialogic teaching: a case study

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Van De Pol, Janneke; Brindley, Sue; Higham, Rupert John Edward

2017-01-01

Dialogic Teaching (DT) is effective in fostering student learning; yet, it is hard to implement. Little research focused on secondary teachers’ learning of DT and on the link between teachers’ understanding and practices, although these two are usually strongly intertwined. Using a wide range of

Understanding Crowdsourcing: Effects of motivation and rewards on participation and performance in voluntary online activities

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W.A.M. Borst (Irma)

2010-01-01

textabstractCompanies increasingly outsource activities to volunteers that they approach via an open call on the internet. The phenomenon is called ‘crowdsourcing’. For an effective use of crowdsourcing it is important to understand what motivated these online volunteers and what is the influence of

Physical Education Teacher Educator's Perceptions toward and Understanding of K-12 Online Physical Education

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Daum, David N.; Woods, Amelia M.

2015-01-01

K-12 online physical education (OLPE) is as an educational opportunity in at least 30 states in the US (NASPE, 2006; 2010; 2012). The purpose of this study was to examine physical education teacher educators' perceptions toward and understanding of K-12 OLPE. Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (1986) served as the theoretical framework for this…

How Well Do Students in Secondary School Understand Temporal Development of Dynamical Systems?

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Forjan, Matej; Grubelnik, Vladimir

2015-01-01

Despite difficulties understanding the dynamics of complex systems only simple dynamical systems without feedback connections have been taught in secondary school physics. Consequently, students do not have opportunities to develop intuition of temporal development of systems, whose dynamics are conditioned by the influence of feedback processes.…

What Science Is about--Development of the Scientific Understanding of Secondary School Students

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Cincera, Jan; Medek, Michal; Cincera, Pavel; Lupac, Miroslav; Tichá, Irena

2017-01-01

Background: Development of scientific understanding of secondary school students is considered to be one of the goals of environmental education. However, it is not quite clear what instructional strategies and what other factors contribute to the effectiveness of environmental education programs promoting this goal. Purpose: The aim was to…

Are Norms of Disclosure of Online and Offline Personal Information Associated with the Disclosure of Personal Information Online?

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Mesch, Gustavo S.; Beker, Guy

2010-01-01

This study investigated whether norms of self-disclosure of one's online and offline identity are linked to online disclosure of personal and intimate information. We expected online disclosure of personal and intimate information to be associated with norms of online disclosure. Secondary analysis of the 2006 Pew and American Life Survey of…

Development of a framework for understanding online consumer behaviour

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Clark, Lillian; Wright, P.

2007-01-01

Developing conceptual models of user behaviour is a prerequisite of interaction design, however methodologies such as task analysis or participatory design are often inadequate when designing online shopping sites due to the complexity and diversity of online consumer behaviour. To address this shortcoming a framework for conceptual modelling is needed that facilitates comprehension of online consumer behaviour within interaction design. To develop this framework, interviews and observations ...

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Online Learning at the High School Level

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Haley, Robert

2013-01-01

United States high schools are increasingly using online learning to complement traditional classroom learning. Previous researchers of post secondary online learning have shown no significant differences between traditional and online learning. However, there has been little research at the secondary level about the effectiveness of online…

RNA STRAND: The RNA Secondary Structure and Statistical Analysis Database

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Andronescu Mirela

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The ability to access, search and analyse secondary structures of a large set of known RNA molecules is very important for deriving improved RNA energy models, for evaluating computational predictions of RNA secondary structures and for a better understanding of RNA folding. Currently there is no database that can easily provide these capabilities for almost all RNA molecules with known secondary structures. Results In this paper we describe RNA STRAND – the RNA secondary STRucture and statistical ANalysis Database, a curated database containing known secondary structures of any type and organism. Our new database provides a wide collection of known RNA secondary structures drawn from public databases, searchable and downloadable in a common format. Comprehensive statistical information on the secondary structures in our database is provided using the RNA Secondary Structure Analyser, a new tool we have developed to analyse RNA secondary structures. The information thus obtained is valuable for understanding to which extent and with which probability certain structural motifs can appear. We outline several ways in which the data provided in RNA STRAND can facilitate research on RNA structure, including the improvement of RNA energy models and evaluation of secondary structure prediction programs. In order to keep up-to-date with new RNA secondary structure experiments, we offer the necessary tools to add solved RNA secondary structures to our database and invite researchers to contribute to RNA STRAND. Conclusion RNA STRAND is a carefully assembled database of trusted RNA secondary structures, with easy on-line tools for searching, analyzing and downloading user selected entries, and is publicly available at http://www.rnasoft.ca/strand.

Longitudinal Changes in Psychological States in Online Health Community Members: Understanding the Long-Term Effects of Participating in an Online Depression Community.

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Park, Albert; Conway, Mike

2017-03-20

significantly or at least as much as members of other online communities. On the basis of these findings, we contribute practical suggestions for designing online depression communities to enhance psychosocial benefit gains for members. We consider these results to be an important step toward a better understanding of the impact of prolonged participation in an online depression community, in addition to providing insights into the long-term psychosocial well-being of members. ©Albert Park, Mike Conway. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 20.03.2017.

Understanding Online Health Groups for Depression: Social Network and Linguistic Perspectives.

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Xu, Ronghua; Zhang, Qingpeng

2016-03-10

Mental health problems have become increasingly prevalent in the past decade. With the advance of Web 2.0 technologies, social media present a novel platform for Web users to form online health groups. Members of online health groups discuss health-related issues and mutually help one another by anonymously revealing their mental conditions, sharing personal experiences, exchanging health information, and providing suggestions and support. The conversations in online health groups contain valuable information to facilitate the understanding of their mutual help behaviors and their mental health problems. We aimed to characterize the conversations in a major online health group for major depressive disorder (MDD) patients in a popular Chinese social media platform. In particular, we intended to explain how Web users discuss depression-related issues from the perspective of the social networks and linguistic patterns revealed by the members' conversations. Social network analysis and linguistic analysis were employed to characterize the social structure and linguistic patterns, respectively. Furthermore, we integrated both perspectives to exploit the hidden relations between them. We found an intensive use of self-focus words and negative affect words. In general, group members used a higher proportion of negative affect words than positive affect words. The social network of the MDD group for depression possessed small-world and scale-free properties, with a much higher reciprocity ratio and clustering coefficient value as compared to the networks of other social media platforms and classic network models. We observed a number of interesting relationships, either strong correlations or convergent trends, between the topological properties and linguistic properties of the MDD group members. (1) The MDD group members have the characteristics of self-preoccupation and negative thought content, according to Beck's cognitive theory of depression; (2) the social structure

Understanding online behavioural advertising: user knowledge, privacy concerns and online coping behaviour in Europe

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Smit, E.G.; van Noort, G.; Voorveld, H.A.M.

2014-01-01

Online behavioural advertising (OBA) is a special form of targeted advertising. For OBA, it is necessary to collect data about online surfing behaviour, which is usually undertaken by installing ‘cookies’. The use of cookies is heavily debated by policy makers in the US and Europe. Central to this

A Pilot Study: Facilitating Cross-Cultural Understanding with Project-Based Collaborative Learning in an Online Environment

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Shadiev, Rustam; Hwang, Wu-Yuin; Huang, Yueh-Min

2015-01-01

This study investigated three aspects: how project-based collaborative learning facilitates cross-cultural understanding; how students perceive project-based collaborative learning implementation in a collaborative cyber community (3C) online environment; and what types of communication among students are used. A qualitative case study approach…

Online education improves pediatric residents' understanding of atopic dermatitis.

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Craddock, Megan F; Blondin, Heather M; Youssef, Molly J; Tollefson, Megha M; Hill, Lauren F; Hanson, Janice L; Bruckner, Anna L

2018-01-01

Pediatricians manage skin conditions such as atopic dermatitis (AD) but report that their dermatologic training is inadequate. Online modules may enhance medical education when sufficient didactic or clinical teaching experiences are lacking. We assessed whether an online module about AD improved pediatric residents' knowledge and changed their clinical management of AD. Target and control cohorts of pediatric residents from two institutions were recruited. Target subjects took a 30-question test about AD early in their residency, reviewed the online module, and repeated the test 6 months and 1 year later. The control subjects, who had 1 year of clinical experience but had not reviewed the online module, also took the test. The mean percentage of correct answers was calculated and compared using two-sided, two-sample independent t tests and repeated-measures analysis of variance. For a subset of participants, clinical documentation from AD encounters was reviewed and 13 practice behaviors were compared using the Fisher exact test. Twenty-five subjects in the target cohort and 29 subjects in the control cohort completed the study. The target cohort improved from 18.0 ± 3.2 to 23.4 ± 3.4 correctly answered questions over 1 year (P online module about AD demonstrated statistically significant improvement in disease-specific knowledge over time and had statistically significantly higher scores than controls. Online dermatology education may effectively supplement traditional clinical teaching. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Understanding patient e-loyalty toward online health care services.

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Martínez-Caro, Eva; Cegarra-Navarro, Juan Gabriel; Solano-Lorente, Marcelina

2013-01-01

Public health institutions are making a great effort to develop patient-targeted online services in an attempt to enhance their effectiveness and reduce expenses. However, if patients do not use those services regularly, public health institutions will have wasted their limited resources. Hence, patients' electronic loyalty (e-loyalty) is essential for the success of online health care services. In this research, an extended Technology Acceptance Model was developed to test e-loyalty intent toward online health care services offered by public health institutions. Data from a survey of 256 users of online health care services provided by the public sanitary system of a region in Spain were analyzed. The research model was tested by using the structural equation modeling approach. The results obtained suggest that the core constructs of the Technology Acceptance Model (perceived usefulness, ease of use, and attitude) significantly affected users' behavioral intentions (i.e., e-loyalty intent), with perceived usefulness being the most decisive antecedent of affective variables (i.e., attitude and satisfaction). This study also reveals a general support for patient satisfaction as a determinant of e-loyalty intent in online health care services. Policy makers should focus on striving to get the highest positive attitude in users by enhancing easiness of use and, mainly, perceived usefulness. Because through satisfaction of patients, public hospitals will enlarge their patient e-loyalty intent, health care providers must always work at obtaining satisfied users and to encourage them to continue using the online services.

Demonstrating the use of web analytics and an online survey to understand user groups of a national network of river level data

Science.gov (United States)

Macleod, Christopher Kit; Braga, Joao; Arts, Koen; Ioris, Antonio; Han, Xiwu; Sripada, Yaji; van der Wal, Rene

2016-04-01

The number of local, national and international networks of online environmental sensors are rapidly increasing. Where environmental data are made available online for public consumption, there is a need to advance our understanding of the relationships between the supply of and the different demands for such information. Understanding how individuals and groups of users are using online information resources may provide valuable insights into their activities and decision making. As part of the 'dot.rural wikiRivers' project we investigated the potential of web analytics and an online survey to generate insights into the use of a national network of river level data from across Scotland. These sources of online information were collected alongside phone interviews with volunteers sampled from the online survey, and interviews with providers of online river level data; as part of a larger project that set out to help improve the communication of Scotland's online river data. Our web analytics analysis was based on over 100 online sensors which are maintained by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). Through use of Google Analytics data accessed via the R Ganalytics package we assessed: if the quality of data provided by Google Analytics free service is good enough for research purposes; if we could demonstrate what sensors were being used, when and where; how the nature and pattern of sensor data may affect web traffic; and whether we can identify and profile these users based on information from traffic sources. Web analytics data consists of a series of quantitative metrics which capture and summarize various dimensions of the traffic to a certain web page or set of pages. Examples of commonly used metrics include the number of total visits to a site and the number of total page views. Our analyses of the traffic sources from 2009 to 2011 identified several different major user groups. To improve our understanding of how the use of this national

Understanding on-line community: the affordances of virtual space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Ruhleder

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Increasing numbers of on-line venues for learning are emerging as virtual communities become more accessible and commonplace. This paper looks at one particular virtual community, an on-line degree programme at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, which offers an M.S. in Library and Information Science (called LEEP. It draws on a framework presented by Mynatt, et al. (1998, which provides a lens for talking about on-line community as a set of affordances. This framework is applied to illustrate the interactions, artefacts, and expectations that shape this community.

The Online Bingo Boom in the UK: A Qualitative Examination of Its Appeal.

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Stead, Martine; Dobbie, Fiona; Angus, Kathryn; Purves, Richard I; Reith, Gerda; Macdonald, Laura

2016-01-01

Online bingo has seen significant growth in recent years. This study sought to increase understanding of this growth by exploring the appeal of online bingo. Our aim was to examine the content of ten online bingo websites in the UK and analyse a qualitative secondary dataset of 12 female bingo players to investigate the appeal of online bingo. Using two distinct data sources allowed us to assess how the key messages online websites are trying to convey compare with actual players' motivation to play bingo. Our analysis of bingo websites found a common theme where websites were easy to navigate and structured to present a light-hearted, fun, reassuring, social image of gambling. In addition, the design decisions reflected in the bingo sites had the effect of positioning online bingo as a benign, child-like, homely, women-friendly, social activity. Comparison of the website content with our participants' reasons to play bingo showed congruence between the strategies used by the bingo websites and the motivations of bingo players themselves and the benefits which they seek; suggesting that bingo websites strive to replicate and update the sociability of traditional bingo halls. Online bingo differs from traditional forms of bingo in its ability to be played anywhere and at any time, and its capacity to offer a deeply immersive experience. The potential for this type of online immersion in gambling to lead to harm is only just being investigated and further research is required to understand how the industry is regulated, as well as the effects of online bingo on individual gambling 'careers.'

Exploring the Written Dialogues of Two First-Year Secondary Science Teachers in an Online Mentoring Program

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Bang, EunJin; Luft, Julie A.

2014-02-01

This study explored the yearlong learning processes of two first-year secondary science teachers participating in an online mentoring program, through examination of their written dialogues within the program and other data. Using a case study method, this study (a) explored the patterns of written dialogues between the two new teachers and their mentors over the course of a year, (b) documented pertinent topics of importance, and finally (c) illustrated the new realities created in the mentees' classrooms as a result of the online mentoring process. Penelope and Bradley, who taught at an urban school and at a suburban school respectively, were selected as subjects. Our analysis revealed that the two pairs of mentee-mentors showed different participation patterns that affected the intensity of the creation of new realities, and affected whether the mentees tried/vetted new teaching practices suggested by their mentors. Yet, analysis also revealed that certain elements in the written dialogues between pairs were found to be similar, in that construction of knowledge was evident between both pairs when friction developed and appropriate teamwork emerged to deal with it. The topics of greatest interest and importance within the dialogues were those related to the logistics of the school system and the processes and methodologies of teaching. These results suggest that online mentoring programs are an effective dialogical tool for transferring the knowledge of experts to novices, and for thus expediting the professional induction and growth of new science teachers.

All for one and one for all: understanding health professionals' experience in individual versus collaborative online learning.

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MacNeill, Heather; Telner, Deanna; Sparaggis-Agaliotis, Alexandra; Hanna, Elizabeth

2014-01-01

Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) may facilitate continuing interprofessional education while overcoming barriers of time and place for busy health care professionals. The purpose of this study was to understand the experiences, advantages, and challenges of group versus individual online learning. Fifteen multidisciplinary health professionals participated in a 12-week online course on either diabetes or traumatic brain injury. This consisted of background e-modules and a longitudinal build-a-case exercise, done either individually or as a group. Focus group sessions exploring participants' experiences after course completion and at 4 months were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed for recurring themes. Participant reflection homework and video-recorded group sessions were used for triangulation of results. Individual learners appreciated the flexibility and control, but experienced decreased motivation. Group learners appreciated the immediate feedback from their co-learners and felt social pressure to come to the weekly sessions prepared but expressed challenges in determining group goal-setting for the session. Both groups felt they learned about interprofessional roles; however, group learners described a richer learning experience and understanding of interprofessional roles through the online collaboration exercise. The intense resources necessary for interprofessional CSCL, including time, faculty development, and technological issues, are described. CSCL is a valuable educational strategy in online learning. While individual online learning may be better suited for short and simple educational interventions such as knowledge acquisition, CSCL seems to allow for richer and deeper learning in complex and interprofessional educational experiences. However, strategies, resources, and faculty development required to enhance CSCL need to be addressed carefully. © 2014 The Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, the Society

UNDERSTANDING STUDENTS NEEDS FOR A MORE EFFECTIVE ONLINE MARKETING IN THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Popa Adela Laura

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Considering that the results of previously conducted research revealed that higher education institutions (HEIs of Romania consider their own websites as rather a communication tool with current students than a marketing tool by which to communicate and attract potential students, the aim of the research presented in this paper is to analyze and verify whether the approach of higher education institutions is consistent with the expectations of potential students. Moreover, it is trying to evaluate whether they expect that the information from the official websites of these institutions address them. The research also seeks to capture which were the different search methods and the importance of online information sources for admission to university/faculty, which are the devices used in the search, what information the students consider that would be needed to make the right choice on university, faculty and specialization, the importance given to activities ranging from email marketing and search engine marketing etc. Finally, based on primary data resulted from research conducted and the analysis of secondary data resulted from other research, we identify the main pillars that the online marketing strategy of a higher education institution should be built on according to the needs of potential students: the official Internet pages designed so as to meet the needs of the prospective students (and even parents thereof, activities specific to email marketing and Pay Per Click campaigns meant to attract the prospective students to the pages that have a potential interest to them. The results of the study confirm the results of previous research according to which higher education institutions should attach great importance to the way they think their online presence.

Crisis Communication Online

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Utz, Sonja; Schultz, Friederike; Glocka, Sandra

2013-01-01

Social media play in today's societies a fundamental role for the negotiation and dynamics of crises. However, classical crisis communication theories neglect the role of the medium and focus mainly on the interplay between crisis type and crisis communication strategy. Building on the recently...... developed “networked crisis communication model” we contrast effects of medium (Facebook vs. Twitter vs. online newspaper) and crisis type (intentional vs. victim) in an online experiment. Using the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster as crisis scenario, we show that medium effects are stronger than...... the effects of crisis type. Crisis communication via social media resulted in a higher reputation and less secondary crisis reactions such as boycotting the company than crisis communication in the newspaper. However, secondary crisis communication, e.g. talking about the crisis communication, was higher...

Predictive modelling: parents’ decision making to use online child health information to increase their understanding and/or diagnose or treat their child’s health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Walsh Anne M

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The quantum increases in home Internet access and available online health information with limited control over information quality highlight the necessity of exploring decision making processes in accessing and using online information, specifically in relation to children who do not make their health decisions. The aim of this study was to understand the processes explaining parents’ decisions to use online health information for child health care. Methods Parents (N = 391 completed an initial questionnaire assessing the theory of planned behaviour constructs of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioural control, as well as perceived risk, group norm, and additional demographic factors. Two months later, 187 parents completed a follow-up questionnaire assessing their decisions to use online information for their child’s health care, specifically to 1 diagnose and/or treat their child’s suspected medical condition/illness and 2 increase understanding about a diagnosis or treatment recommended by a health professional. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that, for both behaviours, attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, (less perceived risk, group norm, and (non medical background were the significant predictors of intention. For parents’ use of online child health information, for both behaviours, intention was the sole significant predictor of behaviour. The findings explain 77% of the variance in parents’ intention to treat/diagnose a child health problem and 74% of the variance in their intentions to increase their understanding about child health concerns. Conclusions Understanding parents’ socio-cognitive processes that guide their use of online information for child health care is important given the increase in Internet usage and the sometimes-questionable quality of health information provided online. Findings highlight parents’ thirst for information; there is an

Patients’ online access to their electronic health records and linked online services: a systematic interpretative review

Science.gov (United States)

de Lusignan, Simon; Mold, Freda; Sheikh, Aziz; Majeed, Azeem; Wyatt, Jeremy C; Quinn, Tom; Cavill, Mary; Gronlund, Toto Anne; Franco, Christina; Chauhan, Umesh; Blakey, Hannah; Kataria, Neha; Barker, Fiona; Ellis, Beverley; Koczan, Phil; Arvanitis, Theodoros N; McCarthy, Mary; Jones, Simon; Rafi, Imran

2014-01-01

Objectives To investigate the effect of providing patients online access to their electronic health record (EHR) and linked transactional services on the provision, quality and safety of healthcare. The objectives are also to identify and understand: barriers and facilitators for providing online access to their records and services for primary care workers; and their association with organisational/IT system issues. Setting Primary care. Participants A total of 143 studies were included. 17 were experimental in design and subject to risk of bias assessment, which is reported in a separate paper. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria have also been published elsewhere in the protocol. Primary and secondary outcome measures Our primary outcome measure was change in quality or safety as a result of implementation or utilisation of online records/transactional services. Results No studies reported changes in health outcomes; though eight detected medication errors and seven reported improved uptake of preventative care. Professional concerns over privacy were reported in 14 studies. 18 studies reported concern over potential increased workload; with some showing an increase workload in email or online messaging; telephone contact remaining unchanged, and face-to face contact staying the same or falling. Owing to heterogeneity in reporting overall workload change was hard to predict. 10 studies reported how online access offered convenience, primarily for more advantaged patients, who were largely highly satisfied with the process when clinician responses were prompt. Conclusions Patient online access and services offer increased convenience and satisfaction. However, professionals were concerned about impact on workload and risk to privacy. Studies correcting medication errors may improve patient safety. There may need to be a redesign of the business process to engage health professionals in online access and of the EHR to make it friendlier and provide equity of

The Online Bingo Boom in the UK: A Qualitative Examination of Its Appeal.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martine Stead

Full Text Available Online bingo has seen significant growth in recent years. This study sought to increase understanding of this growth by exploring the appeal of online bingo. Our aim was to examine the content of ten online bingo websites in the UK and analyse a qualitative secondary dataset of 12 female bingo players to investigate the appeal of online bingo. Using two distinct data sources allowed us to assess how the key messages online websites are trying to convey compare with actual players' motivation to play bingo. Our analysis of bingo websites found a common theme where websites were easy to navigate and structured to present a light-hearted, fun, reassuring, social image of gambling. In addition, the design decisions reflected in the bingo sites had the effect of positioning online bingo as a benign, child-like, homely, women-friendly, social activity. Comparison of the website content with our participants' reasons to play bingo showed congruence between the strategies used by the bingo websites and the motivations of bingo players themselves and the benefits which they seek; suggesting that bingo websites strive to replicate and update the sociability of traditional bingo halls. Online bingo differs from traditional forms of bingo in its ability to be played anywhere and at any time, and its capacity to offer a deeply immersive experience. The potential for this type of online immersion in gambling to lead to harm is only just being investigated and further research is required to understand how the industry is regulated, as well as the effects of online bingo on individual gambling 'careers.'

Application of online chemistry monitoring programs and technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Perkins, D.; Choi, S.; Haas, C.

2010-01-01

To fully understand the impact of chemistry changes, several plant parameters must be considered and reviewed with actual chemistry analyses and compared to plant operating parameters. In some cases, this requires the ability to rapidly correlate plant operational data with laboratory and chemistry data. An effective online monitoring system should be able to: Integrate and extract online data from the plant laboratory and operating information from various plant data sources continuously; Interrogate and extract laboratory data from manually entered data on predefined frequencies; Interact with multiple laboratories in multiple locations; Evaluate data against plant limits (calculated or static) and provide personnel with action level or notification of plant exceeding limits; and, Provide the ability to evaluate against a standard and site specific set of calculations. The nuclear power industry continues to refine and apply new technologies in an effort to notify operators of changes in chemical conditions, calculate complex high temperature results, and monitor system performance. EPRI developed software specifically focused on plant chemistry program optimization using power operation and shutdown data applied with plant equipment. This software evolved into the family of software referred to as EPRI ChemWorks™ applications. As technology changed and improved, the application of online monitoring was essential for plant personnel working offsite. These changes in technology prompted EPRI to the development of SMART ChemWorks™ using the EPRI ChemWorks™ plant chemistry simulator and MULTEQ applications as the backbone for these simulations and calculations. SMART ChemWorks™ is an online monitoring system that queries plant databases and continuously monitors plant and chemistry parameters. The system uses a real-time intelligence engine to perform virtual sensing, identify normal and off-normal conditions and compare in-line instrument output to grab

Online Education: Panacea or Plateau

Science.gov (United States)

Seirup, Holly J.; Tirotta, Rose; Blue, Elfreda

2016-01-01

As online education continues to grow, understanding faculty and student perceptions seems to be an imperative piece of the decision to continue to expand online offerings. The purpose of this study was to review faculty and students perceptions of online learning and to gain an understanding of the current status of distance education. This study…

Understanding online purchase intentions: contributions from technology and trust perspectives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Heijden, J.G.M.; Verhagen, T.

2003-01-01

This paper explores factors that influence consumer's intentions to purchase online at an electronic commerce website. Specifically, we investigate online purchase intention using two different perspectives: a technology-oriented perspective and a trust-oriented perspective. We summarise and review

Secondary School Students' Understanding of Science and Their Socioscientific Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Karahan, Engin; Roehrig, Gillian

2017-08-01

Research in socioscientific issue (SSI)-based interventions is relatively new (Sadler in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 41:513-536, 2004; Zeidler et al. in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 46:74-101, 2009), and there is a need for understanding more about the effects of SSI-based learning environments (Sadler in Journal of Research in Science Teaching 41:513-536, 2004). Lee and Witz (International Journal of Science Education 31:931-960, 2009) highlighted the need for detailed case studies that would focus on how students respond to teachers' practices of teaching SSI. This study presents case studies that investigated the development of secondary school students' science understanding and their socioscientific reasoning within SSI-based learning environments. A multiple case study with embedded units of analysis was implemented for this research because of the contextual differences for each case. The findings of the study revealed that students' understanding of science, including scientific method, social and cultural influences on science, and scientific bias, was strongly influenced by their experiences in SSI-based learning environments. Furthermore, multidimensional SSI-based science classes resulted in students having multiple reasoning modes, such as ethical and economic reasoning, compared to data-driven SSI-based science classes. In addition to portraying how participants presented complexity, perspectives, inquiry, and skepticism as aspects of socioscientific reasoning (Sadler et al. in Research in Science Education 37:371-391, 2007), this study proposes the inclusion of three additional aspects for the socioscientific reasoning theoretical construct: (1) identification of social domains affecting the SSI, (2) using cost and benefit analysis for evaluation of claims, and (3) understanding that SSIs and scientific studies around them are context-bound.

Using Multilevel Analysis to Examine the Relationship between Upper Secondary Students Internet Safety Awareness, Social Background and Academic Aspirations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ove Edvard Hatlevik

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Since 2009, most Norwegian students in upper secondary have had access to their own personal computer at school. Hence, with the increased access to technology, the importance of online connectedness has increased for adolescents’ social interaction and communication. It is, therefore, important to identify and understand the concept of Internet safety among upper secondary school students. A total of 4216 students from 238 classrooms in 23 upper secondary schools completed an Internet safety assessment. The aim of the study was to operationalize and measure Internet safety in a school context, and to further examine the factors predicting students’ Internet safety awareness and responsibility. Our analysis revealed substantial variation in Internet safety awareness between schools, classrooms and students. Overall, the findings indicate that students’ social backgrounds are determining for their development and understanding of Internet safety awareness.

Making Sense of Abstract Algebra: Exploring Secondary Teachers' Understandings of Inverse Functions in Relation to Its Group Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Wasserman, Nicholas H.

2017-01-01

This article draws on semi-structured, task-based interviews to explore secondary teachers' (N = 7) understandings of inverse functions in relation to abstract algebra. In particular, a concept map task is used to understand the degree to which participants, having recently taken an abstract algebra course, situated inverse functions within its…

Finding Reliable Health Information Online

Science.gov (United States)

... online resources. Online Medical Dictionaries and Encyclopedias Complex medical terminology can be difficult to understand. The Web provides some excellent resources to aid in our understanding of these terms and medical jargon. NHGRI Talking Glossary of Genetic Terms www. ...

Understanding the school 'climate': secondary school children and climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kovacs, Susan; Bernier, Sandrine; Blanchet, Aymeric; Derkenne, Chantal; Clement, Florence; Petitjean, Leslie

2012-01-01

This interdisciplinary study analyzes the production, circulation and reception of messages on climate change in secondary schools in France. The objective is to understand how political and educational policy initiatives influence the ways in which schools contribute to creating youngsters' perceptions and opinions about climate change. In order to study the conditions of production and reception of information about climate change, a survey was conducted in four French secondary schools, in the 'Bas Rhin' and 'Nord' departments, and local political actors in each department were interviewed. The cross disciplinary analytical and methodological approach uses the tools of sociological inquiry, information science, and political science: questionnaires and interviews were conducted with members of the educational and governmental communities of each school and department, semiotic and discursive analyses of corpuses of documents were carried out, in order to characterize documents used by students and teachers at school or in more informal contexts; the nature and extent of the relations between the political contexts and school directives and programs were also discussed. This interdisciplinary approach, combining sociological, communicational, and political methods, was chosen in response to the hypothesis that three types of variables (social, communicational and political) contribute to the structuring and production of messages about climate change in schools. This report offers a contextualized overview of activities developed within the four secondary schools to help sensitize children to the risks associated with climate change. A study of the networks of individuals (teachers, staff, members of associations, etc.) created in and around the school environment is presented. The degree of involvement of these actors in climate change programs is analyzed, as it is related to their motives and objectives, to the school discipline taught, and to the position

Assessing the Impact of Computer Programming in Understanding Limits and Derivatives in a Secondary Mathematics Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

de Castro, Christopher H.

2011-01-01

This study explored the development of student's conceptual understandings of limit and derivative when utilizing specifically designed computational tools. Fourteen students from a secondary Advanced Placement Calculus AB course learned and explored the limit and derivative concepts from differential calculus using visualization tools in the…

Research on dragons: a teaching sequence to promote the understanding of Nature of Science at Secondary School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Romero Ariza, Marta

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a teaching sequence explicitly designed to improve the understanding of Nature of Science and support Secondary School students to acquire adequate understanding about scientific hypothesis, theories and laws. The instructional intervention engages students in an inquiry process where they have to formulate hypothesis, analyse data and draw conclusions based on evidence. It is a student-centred methodology where teachers act as facilitators and guides, promoting the development of scientific competences and the meaningful understanding of the terms hypothesis, law and theory.

Information-seeking strategies and science content understandings of sixth-grade students using on-line learning environments

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffman, Joseph Loris

1999-11-01

This study examined the information-seeking strategies and science content understandings learners developed as a result of using on-line resources in the University of Michigan Digital Library and on the World Wide Web. Eight pairs of sixth grade students from two teachers' classrooms were observed during inquiries for astronomy, ecology, geology, and weather, and a final transfer task assessed learners' capabilities at the end of the school year. Data included video recordings of students' screen activity and conversations, journals and completed activity sheets, final artifacts, and semi-structured interviews. Learners' information-seeking strategies included activities related to asking, planning, tool usage, searching, assessing, synthesizing, writing, and creating. Analysis of data found a majority of learners posed meaningful, openended questions, used technological tools appropriately, developed pertinent search topics, were thoughtful in queries to the digital library, browsed sites purposefully to locate information, and constructed artifacts with novel formats. Students faced challenges when planning activities, assessing resources, and synthesizing information. Possible explanations were posed linking pedagogical practices with learners' growth and use of inquiry strategies. Data from classroom-lab video and teacher interviews showed varying degrees of student scaffolding: development and critique of initial questions, utilization of search tools, use of journals for reflection on activities, and requirements for final artifacts. Science content understandings included recalling information, offering explanations, articulating relationships, and extending explanations. A majority of learners constructed partial understandings limited to information recall and simple explanations, and these occasionally contained inaccurate conceptualizations. Web site design features had some influence on the construction of learners' content understandings. Analysis of

Online Experimentation in Education and Training

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Teresa Restivo

2014-03-01

Full Text Available The increasing use of emergent technologies in industry, medicine, research, training and education attests to the relevance of their integration in teaching/learning approaches. Online experimentation comprises remote and virtual experimentation also supported and complemented by other online tools that incorporate necessarily the use of emergent technologies. The present work synthesizes the final outcomes of a project aiming to develop, use and disseminate Online Experimentation, funded by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. Some application examples are given to illustrate the use of online experimentation on different contexts, such as secondary and higher education (STEM, lifelong learning or industrial training.

Online Gamers' Preferences for Online Game Charging Mechanisms: The Effect of Exploration Motivation

OpenAIRE

Fan-Chen Tseng; Ching-I Teng

2015-01-01

Online games construct a virtual world where gamers can explore and experience various exciting environments. However, studies on gamer behavior rarely investigated the relationships between motivations and spending for online games. Understanding these relationships helps online game service providers manage gamers' motivations and develop better revenue models. This study investigated the relationships between one core motivation for playing online games—exploration motivation—and onlin...

Understanding fuel magnetization and mix using secondary nuclear reactions in magneto-inertial fusion.

Science.gov (United States)

Schmit, P F; Knapp, P F; Hansen, S B; Gomez, M R; Hahn, K D; Sinars, D B; Peterson, K J; Slutz, S A; Sefkow, A B; Awe, T J; Harding, E; Jennings, C A; Chandler, G A; Cooper, G W; Cuneo, M E; Geissel, M; Harvey-Thompson, A J; Herrmann, M C; Hess, M H; Johns, O; Lamppa, D C; Martin, M R; McBride, R D; Porter, J L; Robertson, G K; Rochau, G A; Rovang, D C; Ruiz, C L; Savage, M E; Smith, I C; Stygar, W A; Vesey, R A

2014-10-10

Magnetizing the fuel in inertial confinement fusion relaxes ignition requirements by reducing thermal conductivity and changing the physics of burn product confinement. Diagnosing the level of fuel magnetization during burn is critical to understanding target performance in magneto-inertial fusion (MIF) implosions. In pure deuterium fusion plasma, 1.01 MeV tritons are emitted during deuterium-deuterium fusion and can undergo secondary deuterium-tritium reactions before exiting the fuel. Increasing the fuel magnetization elongates the path lengths through the fuel of some of the tritons, enhancing their probability of reaction. Based on this feature, a method to diagnose fuel magnetization using the ratio of overall deuterium-tritium to deuterium-deuterium neutron yields is developed. Analysis of anisotropies in the secondary neutron energy spectra further constrain the measurement. Secondary reactions also are shown to provide an upper bound for the volumetric fuel-pusher mix in MIF. The analysis is applied to recent MIF experiments [M. R. Gomez et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 155003 (2014)] on the Z Pulsed Power Facility, indicating that significant magnetic confinement of charged burn products was achieved and suggesting a relatively low-mix environment. Both of these are essential features of future ignition-scale MIF designs.

Marketing plan for online surfing magazine

OpenAIRE

Michna, Jakub

2017-01-01

Název: Marketing plan for online surfing magazine Cíle: The main aim of this thesis is to design a marketing plan for launching new online surfing magazine. This project would emerge from present online media Freeride.cz/Water, which adverse situation is going to be analyzed. Metody: Author used interviewing and personal survey as methods. Secondary data collection, PEST analysis and Google Analytics tool served as framework for resulting SWOT analysis. Výsledky: The marketing plan for one ye...

The Online Reading Habits of Malaysian Students

Science.gov (United States)

Abidin, Mohammad Jafre Bin Zainol; Pourmohammadi, Majid; Varasingam, Nalini A/P; Lean, Ooi Choon

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study is to ascertain the differences in online reading habits between genders and investigate the relationship between socio-economic status and online reading habits. Using a questionnaire, a quantitative approach was administered to 240 Form-Four students from four secondary schools in Penang Island, Malaysia. Findings…

Design of a secondary-vertex trigger system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Husby, D.; Chew, P.; Sterner, K.; Selove, W.

1995-06-01

For the selection of beauty and charm events with high efficiency at the Tevatron, a secondary-vertex trigger system is under design. It would operate on forward-geometry events. The system would use on-line tracking of all tracks in the vertex detector, to identify events with clearly detached secondary vertices

Socially Challenged Collaborative Learning of Secondary School Students in Singapore

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Pang

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Using a grounded theory research design, this paper examined the collaborative learning experiences of secondary school students in Singapore. The core phenomenon that emerged was the need for social interactions in collaborative learning, both in classroom and online settings. Educators often take for granted that effective collaborative learning will occur naturally once students are assigned to work in groups. In examining students’ dissatisfaction when working in groups, this study highlighted the importance of surfacing these hidden assumptions for careful scrutiny. The key factors identified were centered on the need to address social challenges within collaborative learning. These included a pragmatic, results-oriented approach with limited interpersonal engagement used by students that can compromise collaborative learning outcomes. Having a deeper understanding of the challenges that resulted from limited social interactions provides educators with insights when designing classroom and online learning activities. This paper contributes to the understanding of groups’ active learning to inform pedagogical practices for educators engaged in designing better collaborative learning experiences. Educators and curriculum designers need to be aware of the social drawbacks in collaborative learning in order to design a more socially engaging learning environment.

High Performance Work Systems for Online Education

Science.gov (United States)

Contacos-Sawyer, Jonna; Revels, Mark; Ciampa, Mark

2010-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key elements of a High Performance Work System (HPWS) and explore the possibility of implementation in an online institution of higher learning. With the projected rapid growth of the demand for online education and its importance in post-secondary education, providing high quality curriculum, excellent…

Online shopping hesitation.

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Chang-Hoan; Kang, Jaewon; Cheon, Hongsik John

2006-06-01

This study was designed to understand which factors influence consumer hesitation or delay in online product purchases. The study examined four groups of variables (i.e., consumer characteristics, contextual factors perceived uncertainty factors, and medium/channel innovation factors) that predict three types of online shopping hesitation (i.e., overall hesitation, shopping cart abandonment, and hesitation at the final payment stage). We found that different sets of delay factors are related to different aspects of online shopping hesitation. The study concludes with suggestion for various delay-reduction devices to help consumers close their online decision hesitation.

Understanding channel purchase intentions : Measuring online and offline shopping value perceptions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broekhuizen, T.L.J.

2006-01-01

This dissertation investigates consumers’ prepurchase evaluations of buying books offline and online. It synthesizes the E-Commerce and perceived value literature to develop a conceptual model that explains online and offline purchase intentions. Based on this literature review, it is proposed that

Understanding the Development Implications of Online Outsourcing

OpenAIRE

Malik , Fareesa; Nicholson , Brian; Heeks , Richard

2017-01-01

Part 10: Global Sourcing and Development; International audience; Online outsourcing (OO) involves global outsourcing of tasks from clients to freelancers via platforms such as Upwork, Guru, Freelancer and Fiverr. Governments and donor agencies in several developing countries are currently starting OO training initiatives to enable access to digital livelihoods for marginalised groups such as youth and women. However, little is known about the impact of these initiatives and in response this ...

Understanding Trail Runners' Activity on Online Community Forums: An Inductive Analysis of Discussion Topics.

Science.gov (United States)

Rochat, Nadège; Hauw, Denis; Gür, Gaëlle; Seifert, Ludovic

2018-03-01

Recreational trail runners often participate in online community forums where they can freely read posted messages, join discussions and/or introduce new discussion topics. This tool can enhance learning as runners connect with other trail runners and reflect on how they can better organize their own practice. Studying forum activity would provide greater insight into the relationship between field practice and dedicated forums. The aim of this study was therefore to detect the topics discussed online by trail runners in order to understand how they collectively look for solutions that help them adapt to issues that emerge during actual practice. The discussion topics (n = 171) on the forum hosted by the Raidlight brand were examined using inductive content analysis, which distinguished two general dimensions. The first dimension was training and had four first-order themes (i.e., "specific trail running sessions", "complementary trail running sessions". "training plans" and "specific questions about races") grouped into two second-order themes (i.e., "training session contents" and "structure and schedule"). The second dimension was health and had seven first-order themes (i.e., "tendinitis", "muscle issues", "foot issues", "sprains and fractures", "pain", "physiology" and "substances and practitioners") grouped into two second-order themes (i.e., "pain and injury" and "prevention"). The results indicate that the issues that trail runners discuss on forums are significant and that the successions of questions and solutions are a fruitful means for building, enriching and adjusting their activity as they cope with constraints. As a practical consequence, suggestions for improving such online platforms are made.

Examining Secondary Special Education Teachers' Literacy Instructional Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Leko, Melinda M.; Handy, Tamara; Roberts, Carly A.

2017-01-01

This study presents findings from a survey of secondary special education teachers who teach reading. Respondents were 577 special education teachers from a large Midwestern state who completed an online or mail survey. Results based on quantitative and qualitative analyses indicate predominant foci of secondary special education teachers' reading…

Secondary Amenorrhea among Female Athletes. Current Understandings.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasiene, Gwen Hagenbuch

1983-01-01

Research pertaining to female athletes' problems with secondary amenorrhea is reviewed. Studies point to stress, weight loss, anorexia nervosa, obesity, arduous athletic training, and age of onset of training as factors which may contribute to this disorder. (PP)

An Investigation of Secondary Teachers’ Understanding and Belief on Mathematical Problem Solving

Science.gov (United States)

Yuli Eko Siswono, Tatag; Wachidul Kohar, Ahmad; Kurniasari, Ika; Puji Astuti, Yuliani

2016-02-01

Weaknesses on problem solving of Indonesian students as reported by recent international surveys give rise to questions on how Indonesian teachers bring out idea of problem solving in mathematics lesson. An explorative study was undertaken to investigate how secondary teachers who teach mathematics at junior high school level understand and show belief toward mathematical problem solving. Participants were teachers from four cities in East Java province comprising 45 state teachers and 25 private teachers. Data was obtained through questionnaires and written test. The results of this study point out that the teachers understand pedagogical problem solving knowledge well as indicated by high score of observed teachers‘ responses showing understanding on problem solving as instruction as well as implementation of problem solving in teaching practice. However, they less understand on problem solving content knowledge such as problem solving strategies and meaning of problem itself. Regarding teacher's difficulties, teachers admitted to most frequently fail in (1) determining a precise mathematical model or strategies when carrying out problem solving steps which is supported by data of test result that revealed transformation error as the most frequently observed errors in teachers’ work and (2) choosing suitable real situation when designing context-based problem solving task. Meanwhile, analysis of teacher's beliefs on problem solving shows that teachers tend to view both mathematics and how students should learn mathematics as body static perspective, while they tend to believe to apply idea of problem solving as dynamic approach when teaching mathematics.

Employment relations: A data driven analysis of job markets using online job boards and online professional networks

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Marivate, Vukosi N

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Data from online job boards and online professional networks present an opportunity to understand job markets as well as how professionals transition from one job/career to another. We propose a data driven approach to begin to understand a slice...

Web 3.0: Implications for Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Robin D.

2010-01-01

The impact of Web 3.0, also known as the Semantic Web, on online learning is yet to be determined as the Semantic Web and its technologies continue to develop. Online instructors must have a rudimentary understanding of Web 3.0 to prepare for the next phase of online learning. This paper provides an understandable definition of the Semantic Web…

Quit playing games with my heart: Understanding online dating scams

OpenAIRE

Huang, J. M.; Stringhini, G.; Yong, P.

2015-01-01

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. Online dating sites are experiencing a rise in popularity, with one in five relationships in the United States starting on one of these sites. Online dating sites provide a valuable platform not only for single people trying to meet a life partner, but also for cybercriminals, who see in people looking for love easy victims for scams. Such scams span from schemes similar to traditional advertisement of illicit services or goods (i.e., spam...

Understanding behavioural intention to play online game: The case of VocBlast

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, Z.

2018-04-01

Research has shown that mobile learning enables its users to learn at any time and place. The current study investigates the use of VocBlast; an app that integrates technical and engineering vocabulary, in terms of understanding the behavioural intention of its players. The study employs 129 engineering and technical students from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP). Online survey was used to collect their opinions; in particular male and female students’ opinions on the use of the app in the future. The results of the study indicated that there was no significant difference pertaining to their behavioural intention using VocBlast in the course of time. The study implies that more time needs to be given to the students in playing VocBlast as it is believed that playing the game repetitively would promote positive perceptions among its players.

Understanding the Online : Jewellery Retail Market : an integrated model to conduct SEM

OpenAIRE

Wu, Yihong

2013-01-01

Research into e-commerce is becoming more and more popular; however the jewellery industry is somewhat special. There are very few studies having adapted a strategic marketing perspective on the online jewellery retail market. This study suggested an integrated online marketing strategy which focuses on the search engine marketing (SEM) approach. A detailed procedure of conducting search engine marketing (SEM) is introduced. Through the method of online questionnaires, with the help of soc...

Understanding Trail Runners’ Activity on Online Community Forums: An Inductive Analysis of Discussion Topics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rochat Nadège

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Recreational trail runners often participate in online community forums where they can freely read posted messages, join discussions and/or introduce new discussion topics. This tool can enhance learning as runners connect with other trail runners and reflect on how they can better organize their own practice. Studying forum activity would provide greater insight into the relationship between field practice and dedicated forums. The aim of this study was therefore to detect the topics discussed online by trail runners in order to understand how they collectively look for solutions that help them adapt to issues that emerge during actual practice. The discussion topics (n = 171 on the forum hosted by the Raidlight brand were examined using inductive content analysis, which distinguished two general dimensions. The first dimension was training and had four first-order themes (i.e., “specific trail running sessions”, “complementary trail running sessions”. “training plans” and “specific questions about races” grouped into two second-order themes (i.e., “training session contents” and “structure and schedule”. The second dimension was health and had seven first-order themes (i.e., “tendinitis”, “muscle issues”, “foot issues”, “sprains and fractures”, “pain”, “physiology” and “substances and practitioners” grouped into two second-order themes (i.e., “pain and injury” and “prevention”. The results indicate that the issues that trail runners discuss on forums are significant and that the successions of questions and solutions are a fruitful means for building, enriching and adjusting their activity as they cope with constraints. As a practical consequence, suggestions for improving such online platforms are made.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing: Advances in Secondary Organic Aerosol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shrivastava, Manish [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Cappa, Christopher D. [Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Davis California USA; Fan, Jiwen [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Goldstein, Allen H. [Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management and Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley California USA; Guenther, Alex B. [Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine California USA; Jimenez, Jose L. [Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder Colorado USA; Kuang, Chongai [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton New York USA; Laskin, Alexander [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Martin, Scot T. [School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge Massachusetts USA; Ng, Nga Lee [School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia USA; Petaja, Tuukka [Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, Helsinki Finland; Pierce, Jeffrey R. [Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins Colorado USA; Rasch, Philip J. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Roldin, Pontus [Department of Physics, Lund University, Lund Sweden; Seinfeld, John H. [Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena California USA; Shilling, John [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Smith, James N. [Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine California USA; Thornton, Joel A. [Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle Washington USA; Volkamer, Rainer [Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder Colorado USA; Wang, Jian [Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton New York USA; Worsnop, Douglas R. [Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica Massachusetts USA; Zaveri, Rahul A. [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Zelenyuk, Alla [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Zhang, Qi [Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California, Davis California USA

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land-use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding pre-industrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features 1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and 2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases (e.g. the ‘climate sensitivity’). Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through a combination of laboratory and field measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important SOA-relevant processes. Therefore, major gaps exist at present between current measurement-based knowledge on the one hand and model implementation of organic aerosols on the other. The critical review herein summarizes some of the important developments in understanding SOA formation that could potentially have large impacts on our understanding of aerosol radiative forcing and climate. We highlight the importance of some recently discovered processes and properties that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including: formation of extremely low-volatility organics in the gas-phase; isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) multi-phase chemistry; particle-phase oligomerization; and physical properties such as viscosity. In addition, this review also highlights some of the important processes that involve interactions between natural biogenic emissions and anthropogenic emissions, such as the role of sulfate and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) on SOA formation from biogenic volatile organic compounds. Studies that relate the observed evolution of organic aerosol

The Lie of Online Learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Zielinski, Dave

2000-01-01

Managers look at online training as an activity that should be done "off time" whereas employees still think of it as something to be done during working hours. No valid study has shown that online delivery reduces learning time. A better understanding of learning needs must be considered before requiring online training. (JOW)

Understanding reading problems in secondary schools: Some ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... factors are discussed based on the evidence obtained by observations and research findings. The importance of teaching reading 'as a subject in the secondary school is hinted. Recommendations are made to ensure that reading as a tool to learning is given a prominent place in schools and libraries throughout Nigeria ...

Analogy for Drude's Free Electron Model to Promote Students' Understanding of Electric Circuits in Lower Secondary School

Science.gov (United States)

de Almeida, Maria José B. M.; Salvador, Andreia; Costa, Maria Margarida R. R.

2014-01-01

Aiming at a deep understanding of some basic concepts of electric circuits in lower secondary schools, this work introduces an analogy between the behavior of children playing in a school yard with a central lake, subject to different conditions, rules, and stimuli, and Drude's free electron model of metals. Using this analogy from the first…

Management and Operations of Online Programs: Ensuring Quality and Accountability. Promising Practices in Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Watson, John; Gemin, Butch

2009-01-01

Online learning is growing rapidly as states and districts are creating new online schools, and existing programs are adding new courses and students. The growth reflects the spreading understanding that online courses and programs can serve a wide variety of students and needs. These include: (1) Creating opportunities for small and rural school…

Buying Imported Products Online : A quantitative study about Chinese Online consumer behavior towards imported products

OpenAIRE

Chen, Qianqian; Wang, Yuren

2015-01-01

With the fast growing Chinese online marketplace and the increasing popularity of shopping imported products online in China, more and more practitioners and researchers are interested in understanding the cues that Chinese consumers use to evaluate imported products consumption online. Our quantitative study aims to identify what factors affect the behavior of Chinese online consumers towards imported products and the relationships between the identified factors and purchase intention, and t...

A study on the computerization of secondary side on-line chemistry monitoring system of PWR

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Kyung Lin; Lee, Eun Heui [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1994-12-01

A computer system for on-line chemistry monitoring system located in secondary side of PWR plant is under developing. Keithley 500 A mainframe and AMM1A and AIM3A modules are used for data acquisition and scientific and engineering software package of ASYST is used for developing software program. The contents are as follows: (1) Data acquisition and real-time display. The output signals of monitoring chemical sensors are stored in PC showing real-time data display as true values and graphics. (2) Data management and trending graphs. The data stored in PC are outcoming in various graphic mode for data management such as simple trending graphs screen display, time duration plot and histogram plot. (3) Daily basis data manual input. The chemical analysis data of grab sample are stored in PC by manual input for supplement data. (4) Tabular data report preparation. Summarized daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reports are prepared with various mode of graphic display. 6 figs, 9 tabs, 8 refs. (Author).

A study on the computerization of secondary side on-line chemistry monitoring system of PWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Kyung Lin; Lee, Eun Heui

1994-12-01

A computer system for on-line chemistry monitoring system located in secondary side of PWR plant is under developing. Keithley 500 A mainframe and AMM1A and AIM3A modules are used for data acquisition and scientific and engineering software package of ASYST is used for developing software program. The contents are as follows: 1) Data acquisition and real-time display. The output signals of monitoring chemical sensors are stored in PC showing real-time data display as true values and graphics. 2) Data management and trending graphs. The data stored in PC are outcoming in various graphic mode for data management such as simple trending graphs screen display, time duration plot and histogram plot. 3) Daily basis data manual input. The chemical analysis data of grab sample are stored in PC by manual input for supplement data. 4) Tabular data report preparation. Summarized daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly reports are prepared with various mode of graphic display. 6 figs, 9 tabs, 8 refs. (Author)

EBT Payment for Online Grocery Orders: a Mixed-Methods Study to Understand Its Uptake among SNAP Recipients and the Barriers to and Motivators for Its Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Martinez, Olivia; Tagliaferro, Barbara; Rodriguez, Noemi; Athens, Jessica; Abrams, Courtney; Elbel, Brian

2018-04-01

To examine Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients' use of the first online supermarket accepting Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) payment. In this mixed-methods study, the authors collected EBT purchase data from an online grocer and attempted a randomized controlled trial in the South Bronx, New York City, followed by focus groups with SNAP beneficiaries aged ≥18 years. Participants were randomized to shop at their usual grocery store or an online supermarket for 3 months. Focus groups explored barriers and motivators to online EBT redemption. Few participants made online purchases, even when incentivized in the randomized controlled trial. Qualitative findings highlighted a lack of perceived control over the online food selection process as a key barrier to purchasing food online. Motivators included fast, free shipping and discounts. Electronic Benefit Transfer for online grocery purchases has the potential to increase food access among SNAP beneficiaries, but challenges exist to this new food buying option. Understanding online food shopping barriers and motivators is critical to the success of policies targeting the online expansion of SNAP benefits. Copyright © 2017 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Suicidal and online: how do online behaviors inform us of this high-risk population?

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Keith M; McLean, John P; Sheffield, Jeanie

2014-01-01

To assist suicide prevention we need a better understanding of how suicidal individuals act in their environment, and the online world offers an ideal opportunity to examine daily behaviors. This anonymous survey (N = 1,016) provides first-of-its-kind empirical evidence demonstrating suicide-risk people (n = 290) are unique in their online behaviors. Suicidal users reported more time online, greater likelihood of developing online personal relationships, and greater use of online forums. In addition, suicide-risk women reported more time browsing/surfing and social networking. The authors conclude that suicide prevention efforts should respond to suicide-risk users' greater demands for online interpersonal communications.

Understanding how adolescents and young adults with cancer talk about needs in online and face-to-face support groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Charee M; Crook, Brittani; Love, Brad; Macpherson, Catherine Fiona; Johnson, Rebecca

2015-04-27

We compared adolescent and young adult cancer patient and survivor language between mediated and face-to-face support communities in order to understand how the use of certain words frame conversations about family, friends, health, work, achievement, and leisure. We analyzed transcripts from an online discussion board (N = 360) and face-to-face support group (N = 569) for adolescent and young adults using Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count, a word-based computerized text analysis software that counts the frequency of words and word stems. There were significant differences between the online and face-to-face support groups in terms of content (e.g. friends, health) and style words (e.g. verb tense, negative emotion, and cognitive process). © The Author(s) 2015.

Understanding of photosynthesis among pupils of technical secondary schools

OpenAIRE

Pavić, Petra

2014-01-01

The goal of our research was to examine the knowledge on photosynthesis of the students of the Secondary Technical schools, and their attitude towards it, and whether they have misconceptions about it. The research was conducted on a sample of 466 students in Vegova Secondary Technical and Grammar School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in Ljubljana in the first, second and third year of electrical engineering and computer science programme. The test contained 27 closed-ended qu...

Reading Actively Online: An Exploratory Investigation of Online Annotation Tools for Inquiry Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Jingyan; Deng, Liping

2012-01-01

This study seeks to design and facilitate active reading among secondary school students with an online annotation tool--Diigo. Two classes of different academic performance levels were recruited to examine their annotation behavior and perceptions of Diigo. We wanted to determine whether the two classes differed in how they used Diigo; how they…

Online Public Deliberation in China

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Medaglia, Rony; Yang, Yang

2017-01-01

Internet discussion platforms in China provide a hugely interesting and relevant source for understanding dynamics of online discussions in a unique context. Adopting the theoretical lens of public deliberation, this paper investigates the evolution of patterns of similar-minded and different......-minded interactions over time on a Chinese online discussion forum. We analyse the content and reply networks of 18,000+ messages on four highly debated topics on the Bulletin Board System (BBS) platform Tianya. Findings provide nuanced evidence to the phenomenon of increased network homophily over time, mitigated...... investigation on independent variables for understanding dynamics of online discussions, and for studies comparing cases across different contexts....

Online supervision at the university - A comparative study of supervision on student assignments face-to-face and online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Søren Smedegaard Bengtsen

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Through an empirical study of supervision on student assignments at the university across face-to-face and online settings, we show firstly the limiting implications of traditional dichotomies between face-to-face and online supervision. Secondly we show that more attention must be given to the way different digital tools influence the supervisory dialogue. These findings illustrate a form of ‘torn pedagogy’; that online tools and platforms destabilize and tear traditional understandings of supervision pedagogy apart. Also we forge a new concept of “format supervision” that enables supervisors to understand and reflect their supervision practice as a deliberate choice between face-to-face and online formats.

Online supervision at the university - A comparative study of supervision on student assignments face-to-face and online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Søren Smedegaard Bengtsen

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Through an empirical study of supervision on student assignments at the university across face-to-face and online settings, we show firstly the limiting implications of traditional dichotomies between face-to-face and online supervision. Secondly we show that more attention must be given to the way different digital tools influence the supervisory dialogue. These findings illustrate a form of ‘torn pedagogy’; that online tools and platforms destabilize and tear traditional understandings of supervision pedagogy apart. Also we forge a new concept of “format supervision” that enables supervisors to understand and reflect their supervision practice as a deliberate choice between face-to-face and online formats.

Further Classification and Methodological Considerations of Evaluations for Online Discussion in Instructional Settings

Science.gov (United States)

Spatariu, Alexandru; Winsor, Denise L.; Simpson, Cynthia; Hosman, Eric

2016-01-01

With the rapid advancements of technology, online communication in both K-12 and post-secondary instruction has been widely implemented. Instructors as well as researchers have used various frameworks to evaluate different aspects of online discussions' quality. The online discussions take place synchronously or asynchronously in chat rooms,…

Online Collaboration and Communication in Contemporary Organizations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

for leaders in global organizations who lead and collaborate online and face challenges that are sometimes hard to understand and overcome. This book should be published in order to meet the needs for understanding the challenges in leading and collaborating online; and to meet the needs for suggestions...

Applying social network analysis to understand the knowledge sharing behaviour of practitioners in a clinical online discussion forum.

Science.gov (United States)

Stewart, Samuel Alan; Abidi, Syed Sibte Raza

2012-12-04

Knowledge Translation (KT) plays a vital role in the modern health care community, facilitating the incorporation of new evidence into practice. Web 2.0 tools provide a useful mechanism for establishing an online KT environment in which health practitioners share their practice-related knowledge and experiences with an online community of practice. We have implemented a Web 2.0 based KT environment--an online discussion forum--for pediatric pain practitioners across seven different hospitals in Thailand. The online discussion forum enabled the pediatric pain practitioners to share and translate their experiential knowledge to help improve the management of pediatric pain in hospitals. The goal of this research is to investigate the knowledge sharing dynamics of a community of practice through an online discussion forum. We evaluated the communication patterns of the community members using statistical and social network analysis methods in order to better understand how the online community engages to share experiential knowledge. Statistical analyses and visualizations provide a broad overview of the communication patterns within the discussion forum. Social network analysis provides the tools to delve deeper into the social network, identifying the most active members of the community, reporting the overall health of the social network, isolating the potential core members of the social network, and exploring the inter-group relationships that exist across institutions and professions. The statistical analyses revealed a network dominated by a single institution and a single profession, and found a varied relationship between reading and posting content to the discussion forum. The social network analysis discovered a healthy network with strong communication patterns, while identifying which users are at the center of the community in terms of facilitating communication. The group-level analysis suggests that there is strong interprofessional and interregional

Romanian youth’s online behavior and preferences

OpenAIRE

Vera ULARU

2013-01-01

The following material is a structural approach of Romanian youth online audiences, which will apply the uses and gratification theoretical model, proposed by Katz and Lazarsfeld. It’s a secondary data analysis, of the researches’ results realized by Audience Audit Institute of Romania and “Daedalus Consulting” of Romania. It presents data regarding Romanian youth, between 16 - 24 years old, internet uses and gratification, a two years comparative data (2010 - 2011) regarding youth online int...

Assessing Blackboard: Improving Online Instructional Delivery

Science.gov (United States)

Chawdhry, Adnan A.; Paullet, Karen; Benjamin, Daniel

2011-01-01

Universities and colleges have been offering online classes without assessing the tools used for online learning management to determine student perceptions. An understanding of the benefits and concerns as perceived by the student population is essential to implementing an online education environment that is conducive to a student's learning.…

Nudging Online Security Behaviour with Warning Messages: Results from an online experiment

OpenAIRE

VAN BAVEL RENE; RODRIGUEZ PRIEGO NURIA

2016-01-01

This study is part of a larger effort to better understand online behaviour. We tested the effect on people’s security behaviour of different ways of warning them about cybersecurity threats with an online experiment (n=5,065) in Germany, Sweden, Poland, the UK and Spain. Participants had to make a purchase in a mock online store, and their behaviour was observed through four behavioural measures. Results show that making users aware of the steps they can take to minimise their exposure to ri...

Understanding science teaching effectiveness: examining how science-specific and generic instructional practices relate to student achievement in secondary science classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Mikeska, Jamie N.; Shattuck, Tamara; Holtzman, Steven; McCaffrey, Daniel F.; Duchesneau, Nancy; Qi, Yi; Stickler, Leslie

2017-12-01

In order to create conditions for students' meaningful and rigorous intellectual engagement in science classrooms, it is critically important to help science teachers learn which strategies and approaches can be used best to develop students' scientific literacy. Better understanding how science teachers' instructional practices relate to student achievement can provide teachers with beneficial information about how to best engage their students in meaningful science learning. To address this need, this study examined the instructional practices that 99 secondary biology teachers used in their classrooms and employed regression to determine which instructional practices are predictive of students' science achievement. Results revealed that the secondary science teachers who had well-managed classroom environments and who provided opportunities for their students to engage in student-directed investigation-related experiences were more likely to have increased student outcomes, as determined by teachers' value-added measures. These findings suggest that attending to both generic and subject-specific aspects of science teachers' instructional practice is important for understanding the underlying mechanisms that result in more effective science instruction in secondary classrooms. Implications about the use of these observational measures within teacher evaluation systems are discussed.

The Online Journalist between Ideals and Audience

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hartley, Jannie Møller

2013-01-01

How do online journalists define themselves? Journalistic self-perception plays a big part in understanding developments in the practice of online journalism in newsrooms. This article presents an analysis of the self-perceptions of online journalists using the theoretical framework of Pierre...

Understanding ’Price’ and the Environment: Exploring Upper Secondary Students’ Conceptual Development

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Caroline Ignell

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Purpose: To explore changes in upper secondary students´ conceptions of environmental issues in how prices are determined and how they should be determined. Design: The study uses an ’alternative frameworks’ conceptual change approach to examine change in the conceptions of fifteen business and economic students. Students were asked about the prices of familiar products and asked to explain prices for eco-friendly and eco-unfriendly products. A first interview was conducted in the second year of education and the second interview a year later when students were 18 years old and in the final year of schooling. Interviews were carried out out by a researcher independent from the schools and carried out in schools. Findings: Identifies the fragmentary nature of students´ every-day thinking in relation to productivity, consumer preference and negative externalities. Results show characteristics of partial conceptions, which are considered as students´ conceptions in a process of change towards a more scientific understanding of relationships between price and environmental impacts. Practical implications: The study clarifies conceptions, which students bring to the classroom and the directions that development in understanding may take. The study should help teachers to design effective strategies to support students’ learning.

Recent advances in understanding secondary organic aerosol: Implications for global climate forcing

Science.gov (United States)

Shrivastava, Manish; Cappa, Christopher D.; Fan, Jiwen; Goldstein, Allen H.; Guenther, Alex B.; Jimenez, Jose L.; Kuang, Chongai; Laskin, Alexander; Martin, Scot T.; Ng, Nga Lee; Petaja, Tuukka; Pierce, Jeffrey R.; Rasch, Philip J.; Roldin, Pontus; Seinfeld, John H.; Shilling, John; Smith, James N.; Thornton, Joel A.; Volkamer, Rainer; Wang, Jian; Worsnop, Douglas R.; Zaveri, Rahul A.; Zelenyuk, Alla; Zhang, Qi

2017-06-01

Anthropogenic emissions and land use changes have modified atmospheric aerosol concentrations and size distributions over time. Understanding preindustrial conditions and changes in organic aerosol due to anthropogenic activities is important because these features (1) influence estimates of aerosol radiative forcing and (2) can confound estimates of the historical response of climate to increases in greenhouse gases. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA), formed in the atmosphere by oxidation of organic gases, represents a major fraction of global submicron-sized atmospheric organic aerosol. Over the past decade, significant advances in understanding SOA properties and formation mechanisms have occurred through measurements, yet current climate models typically do not comprehensively include all important processes. This review summarizes some of the important developments during the past decade in understanding SOA formation. We highlight the importance of some processes that influence the growth of SOA particles to sizes relevant for clouds and radiative forcing, including formation of extremely low volatility organics in the gas phase, acid-catalyzed multiphase chemistry of isoprene epoxydiols, particle-phase oligomerization, and physical properties such as volatility and viscosity. Several SOA processes highlighted in this review are complex and interdependent and have nonlinear effects on the properties, formation, and evolution of SOA. Current global models neglect this complexity and nonlinearity and thus are less likely to accurately predict the climate forcing of SOA and project future climate sensitivity to greenhouse gases. Efforts are also needed to rank the most influential processes and nonlinear process-related interactions, so that these processes can be accurately represented in atmospheric chemistry-climate models.

The Psychology of Online Sociability

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Clemmensen, Torkil

2006-01-01

In this chapter, I will review current approaches to online sociability and present and exemplify a psychological theory, the Social Reality theory, of online sociability. By analyzing sociability in a virtual world based university course, I will present and analyze examples on how to understand...

Evolution of Secondary Software Businesses: Understanding Industry Dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Tyrväinen, Pasi; Warsta, Juhani; Seppänen, Veikko

Primary software industry originates from IBM's decision to unbundle software-related computer system development activities to external partners. This kind of outsourcing from an enterprise internal software development activity is a common means to start a new software business serving a vertical software market. It combines knowledge of the vertical market process with competence in software development. In this research, we present and analyze the key figures of the Finnish secondary software industry, in order to quantify its interaction with the primary software industry during the period of 2000-2003. On the basis of the empirical data, we present a model for evolution of a secondary software business, which makes explicit the industry dynamics. It represents the shift from internal software developed for competitive advantage to development of products supporting standard business processes on top of standardized technologies. We also discuss the implications for software business strategies in each phase.

Factors for Creating Online Customer Loyalty

OpenAIRE

Anamaria Baranov; Liliana-Aurora Constantinescu

2012-01-01

Only those companies which succeed in building lasting relationships with online customers are those who customers are confident in and transact online securely. Furthermore, successful companies are those who pay attention to customer satisfaction, who are trying to understand customer needs and expectations and to fulfill them properly. Only those online store managers that focus more on gaining customer loyalty, than to customer acquisition succeed in the online business medium. Customer l...

[Secondary thrombotic microangiopathies].

Science.gov (United States)

Coppo, P

2017-11-01

Thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA) are termed secondary when associated to a specific context favouring their occurrence. They encompass mainly TMA associated with pregnancy, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cancer, drugs, or HIV infection. Secondary TMA represent a heterogeneous group of diseases which clinical presentation largely depends on the associated context. It is therefore mandatory to recognize these conditions since they have a significant impact in TMA management and prognosis. A successful management still represents a challenge in secondary TMA. Significant progresses have been made in the understanding of pregnancy-associated TMA, allowing an improvement of prognosis; on the opposite, other forms of secondary TMA such as hematopoietic stem cell transplantation-associated TMA or TMA associated with chemotherapy remain of dismal prognosis. A better understanding of pathophysiology in these forms of TMA, in association with a more empirical approach through the use of new therapeutic agents that can also help in the understanding on new mechanisms a posteriori, should improve their prognosis. The preliminary encouraging results reported with complement blockers in this field could represent a convincing example. Copyright © 2017 Société Nationale Française de Médecine Interne (SNFMI). Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

ROMANIAN INVESTORS PORTFOLIO. ONLINE VERSUS ASSISTED TRADING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioana Ancuţa IANCU

2017-05-01

Full Text Available One of the most important aspects in deciding to trade online, alone, without the help of a broker, is the portfolio profitability. In this study, using the personal experience, survey data and secondary sources, we identify some factors that may influence the gain and the loss of investors which trade online. Our study contradicts other results from literature that claim that the transition from assisted to online trading is a big drawback in terms of portfolio profitability. By analyzing the performance of the portfolio when passing from assisted to online trading, we observe that half of the investors achieved identical profitability. We also observed that the efficiency of the portfolios belonging to the online investors that were assisted in the past by a broker for a short period, is lower compared to the ones assisted (in the past for a longer period.

Pedagogical Practices of NetNZ Teachers for Supporting Online Distance Learners

Science.gov (United States)

Lai, Kwok-Wing

2017-01-01

A supportive online learning environment entails teachers using effective pedagogical practices to meet the needs of their students and developing a positive teacher-student relationship to foster learner motivation and engagement. This paper reports a study investigating how 32 secondary teachers in New Zealand taught their online distance…

Student-Teacher Interaction in Online Learning Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Robert D., Ed.

2015-01-01

As face-to-face interaction between student and instructor is not present in online learning environments, it is increasingly important to understand how to establish and maintain social presence in online learning. "Student-Teacher Interaction in Online Learning Environments" provides successful strategies and procedures for developing…

Engaging Students in Online Activities

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Egendal, Jeppe Michael

This study investegates how the educational design of online study activities affects students’ social and academic engagement in connection to their study? The study uses a hermenutical approach, using recordings of online sessions of student collaborations and interviews with students as methods...... for understanding student engagement...

Advanced Mathematics Online: Assessing Particularities in the Online Delivery of a Second Linear Algebra Course

Science.gov (United States)

Montiel, Mariana; Bhatti, Uzma

2010-01-01

This article presents an overview of some issues that were confronted when delivering an online second Linear Algebra course (assuming a previous Introductory Linear Algebra course) to graduate students enrolled in a Secondary Mathematics Education program. The focus is on performance in one particular aspect of the course: "change of basis" and…

Implementing Online Counselling in Australian Secondary Schools: What Principals Think

Science.gov (United States)

Glasheen, Kevin; McMahon, Mary; Campbell, Marilyn; Rickwood, Debra; Shochet, Ian

2018-01-01

Today's young people have integrated the online world into their everyday reality and schools have generally accepted the importance of technology in the education process. However, there has been limited use in schools of technology to counsel young people, although early indications suggest that school counsellors may be prepared to offer…

Consumer Behaviour in Online Shopping

OpenAIRE

Hasslinger, Anders; Hodzic, Selma; Opazo, Claudio

2008-01-01

The Internet has developed into a new distribution channel and online transactions are rapidly increasing. This has created a need to understand how the consumer perceives online purchases. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine if there are any particular factors that influence the online consumer. Primary data was collected through a survey that was conducted on students at the University of Kristianstad. Price, Trust and Convenience were identified as important factors. Price was ...

Online safety

CERN Document Server

Healey, Justin

2015-01-01

Australians are increasingly connecting online through computers, mobile phones and other electronic devices to access the internet and social media. In the process, young people in particular are becoming more at risk of being exposed to fraud, identity theft, unauthorised access to personal information, stalking, harassment and exposure to illicit or offensive materials. This book presents a range of cybersafety tips to arm readers with an informed awareness of the risks online and offer advice on how to stay protected. A chapter in the book is specifically dedicated to understanding and dea

Understanding avoidant leadership in health care: findings from a secondary analysis of two qualitative studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Debra; Hutchinson, Marie; Peters, Kath; Luck, Lauretta; Saltman, Deborah

2013-04-01

To illuminate ways that avoidant leadership can be enacted in contemporary clinical settings. Avoidance is identified in relation to laissez-faire leadership and passive avoidant leadership. However, the nature and characteristics of avoidance and how it can be enacted in a clinical environment are not detailed. This paper applied secondary analysis to data from two qualitative studies. We have identified three forms of avoidant leader response: placating avoidance, where leaders affirmed concerns but abstained from action; equivocal avoidance, where leaders were ambivalent in their response; and hostile avoidance, where the failure of leaders to address concerns escalated hostility towards the complainant. Through secondary analysis of two existing sets of data, we have shed new light on avoidant leaderships and how it can be enacted in contemporary clinical settings. Further work needs to be undertaken to better understand this leadership style. We recommend that organizations ensure that all nurse leaders are aware of how best to respond to concerns of wrongdoing and that mechanisms are created to ensure timely feedback is provided about the actions taken. © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Non-professional user`s understanding of Geographic Information

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Arleth, Mette

2003-01-01

of digital media, including online access to a variety of GI-based services; maps, online Geographic information systems, interactive 3D models etc. However, can we expect that a citizen, who has no relevant professional basis for understanding the concept geographic information, be able to use GI......-based online services and comprehend the information contents? Using the Gi-based online services qualitatively in the participatory process obviously requires knowledge of the non-professional user`s understanding and use of GI. This paper discusses the needs for research into this field as well as relevant...

Cyber Dating Abuse Victimization Among Secondary School Students From a Lifestyle-Routine Activities Theory Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Ouytsel, Joris; Ponnet, Koen; Walrave, Michel

2016-02-12

Controlling one's romantic partner through digital media is a form of cyber dating abuse. To design effective educational campaigns, a deeper understanding of how some young people become victim of this type of abuse within their romantic relationships is warranted. This study is the first to adopt a lifestyle-routine activities theory perspective toward online romantic partner monitoring, by looking at whether secondary school students' risky digital lifestyle and their digital media use are linked to a higher chance of being controlled by a romantic partner, taking into account gender, age, and the length of the romantic relationship. The data of 466 secondary school students (71.0% girls, n = 331) between 16 and 22 years old (M = 17.99 years; SD = 0.92) who were in a romantic relationship are analyzed. Linear regression analysis suggests that engagement in online risk behavior, the length of the romantic relationship, engagement in sexting with the romantic partner, and the amount of social networking site use were significantly linked to victimization of digital controlling behavior. The results are important to practitioners, as they indicate that messages about safe Internet use should be incorporated in prevention and educational campaigns with regard to cyber dating abuse. Suggestions for future research are discussed. © The Author(s) 2016.

Acceptance as a Normative Aspect of the Process of Coming to Understand Emotionally Charged Concepts: Upper-Secondary School Students Make Meaning of Gender

Science.gov (United States)

Trostek, Jonas R.

2016-01-01

Previous research on how students' acceptance of emotionally charged theories relates to their understanding is based on the measurement of acceptance and understanding as two separate variables. As an alternative, the present study takes a qualitative approach with the aim of exploring what 24 upper-secondary school students accept when they come…

Efficacy of the Fun For Wellness Online Intervention to Promote Well-Being Actions: A Secondary Data Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Nicholas D; Dietz, Samantha; Prilleltensky, Isaac; Prilleltensky, Ora; McMahon, Adam; Rubenstein, Carolyn L; Lee, Seungmin

2018-04-30

Fun For Wellness (FFW) is a new online intervention designed to promote growth in well-being by providing capability-enhancing learning opportunities (e.g., play an interactive game) to participants. The purpose of this study was to provide an initial evaluation of the efficacy of the FFW intervention to increase well-being actions. The study design was a secondary data analysis of a large-scale prospective, double-blind, parallel-group randomized controlled trial. Data were collected at baseline and 30 and 60 days postbaseline. A total of 479 adult employees at a major university in the southeast of the United States of America were enrolled. Participants who were randomly assigned to the FFW group were provided with 30 days of 24-hour access to the intervention. A two-class linear regression model with complier average causal effect estimation was fitted to well-being actions scores at 30 and 60 days. Intent-to-treat analysis provided evidence that the effect of being assigned to the FFW intervention, without considering actual participation in the FFW intervention, had a null effect on each dimension of well-being actions at 30 and 60 days. Participants who complied with the FFW intervention, however, had significantly higher well-being actions scores, compared to potential compliers in the Usual Care group, in the interpersonal dimension at 60 days, and the physical dimension at 30 days. Results from this secondary data analysis provide some supportive evidence for both the efficacy of and possible revisions to the FFW intervention in regard to promoting well-being actions.

Investigating Declining Enrolments in Secondary Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Hine, Gregory

2016-01-01

This research paper examines the perspective of the Heads of Learning Area: Mathematics (HOLAMs) within all Western Australian secondary schools as to why they felt capable students were not enrolling in the two higher-level mathematics courses of study. All HOLAMs were invited to participate in a single, anonymous online survey comprising…

Conflict management in online relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishii, Kumi

2010-08-01

With the diffusion of networked technology, personal relationships can be easily formed and maintained online today. Similar to a face-to-face situation, conflict is also seen in these online relationships. Early theories suggested that computer-mediated communication (CMC) tends to increase conflicts because of the lack of social-context cues, and CMC is not rich enough to manage conflict. As CMC has become part of our daily life, we often face conflict online, and thus we need to understand how people manage conflict online. This study explored how online users manage interpersonal conflict. Self-report survey data from 159 university students were analyzed to examine their conflict-management styles in association with the perceived closeness of the online relationship and a future intention toward the relationship. The results indicated that online users select cooperative management styles to handle conflict in their close relationships. In addition, online users avoid less cooperative styles when they want to continue the relationship.

DEVELOPING AND PROPOSING A CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF THE FLOW EXPERIENCE DURING ONLINE INFORMATION SEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lazoc Alina

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Information search is an essential part of the consumer`s decision making process. The online medium offers new opportunities and challenges for information search activities (in and outside the marketing context. We are interested in the way human information experiences and behaviors are affected by this. Very often online games and social web activities are perceived as challenging, engaging and enjoyable, while online information search is far below this evaluation. Our research proposal implies that using the online medium for information search may provoke enjoyable experiences through the flow state, which may in turn positively influence an individual`s exploratory information behavior and encourage his/her pro-active market behavior. The present study sets out to improve the understanding of the online medium`s impact on human`s exploratory behavior. We hypothesize that the inclusion of the online flow experience in our research model will better explain exploratory information search behaviors. A 11-component conceptual framework is proposed to explain the manifestations of flow, its personal and technological determinants and its behavioral consequence in the context of online information search. Our research has the primary purpose to present an integrated online flow model. Its secondary objective is to stimulate extended research in the area of informational behaviors in the digital age. The paper is organized in three sections. In the first section we briefly report the analysis results of the most relevant online flow theory literature and, drawing on it, we are trying to identify variables and relationships among these. In the second part we propose a research model and use prior flow models to specify a range of testable hypothesis. Drawing on the conceptual model developed, the last section of our study presents the final conclusions and proposes further steps in evaluating the model`s validity. Future research directions

Online interprofessional education facilitation: A scoping review.

Science.gov (United States)

Evans, Sherryn Maree; Ward, Catherine; Reeves, Scott

2018-04-22

The use of online media to deliver interprofessional education (IPE) is becoming more prevalent across health professions education settings. Facilitation of IPE activities is known to be critical to the effective delivery of IPE, however, specifics about the nature of online IPE facilitation remains unclear. To explore the health professions education literature to understand the extent, range and nature of research on online IPE facilitation. Scoping review methodology was used to guide a search of four electronic databases for relevant papers. Of the 2095 abstracts initially identified, after screening of both abstracts and full-text papers, 10 studies were selected for inclusion in this review. Following abstraction of key information from each study, a thematic analysis was undertaken. Three key themes emerged to describe the nature of the IPE facilitation literature: (1) types of online IPE facilitation contributions, (2) the experience of online IPE facilitation and (3) personal outcomes of online IPE facilitation. These IPE facilitation themes were particularly focused on facilitation of interprofessional student teams on an asynchronous basis. While the included studies provide some insight into the nature of online IPE facilitation, future research is needed to better understand facilitator contributions, and the facilitation experience and associated outcomes, both relating to synchronous and asynchronous online environments.

Potential Students' Perceptions on Online Learning as Innovation ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study was conducted in consideration of increasing African education institutions' interest to offer online learning. The interest has been triggered by the great opportunities available with online education provision and contemporary global trends in such provision. An understanding of potential online students' ...

A systematic review of post-secondary transition interventions for youth with disabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, Sally; Lamptey, De-Lawrence; Cagliostro, Elaine; Srikanthan, Dilakshan; Mortaji, Neda; Karon, Leora

2018-05-04

Youth with disabilities have lower rates of enrollment and completion of post-secondary education compared with youth without disabilities. The objective of this systematic review is to understand the best practices and components of post-secondary transition programs for youth with disabilities. Systematic searches of six international databases identified 18 studies meeting our inclusion criteria (youth with a disability, aged 15-30; focusing on post-secondary education program or intervention, published from 1997 to 2017). These studies were analyzed with respect to the characteristics of the participants, methodology, results, and quality of the evidence. Among the 18 studies, 2385 participants (aged 13-28, mean 17.7 years) were represented across three countries (US, Canada, and Australia). Although the outcomes of the post-secondary transition programs varied across the studies, all of them reported an improvement in at least one of the following: college enrollment, self-determination, self-confidence, social and vocational self-efficacy, autonomy, social support, career exploration, and transition skills. The post-secondary transition programs varied in duration, length, number of sessions, and delivery format which included curriculum-based, online, immersive residential experience, mentoring, simulation, self-directed, technology-based, and multi-component. Our findings highlight that post-secondary transition programs have the potential to improve self-determination, transition skills, and post-secondary outcomes among youth with disabilities. Implications for rehabilitation Post-secondary education interventions have a beneficial influence on post-secondary and related transition outcomes in youth with disabilities. Clinicians and educators should consider having multiple components, involving several sessions that include a curriculum, immersive college residential experience, mentoring, and/or simulations in their interventions for optimum program

Exploring problematic online gaming: A qualitative approach

OpenAIRE

Waters, Joseph M

2016-01-01

Online gaming, specifically Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), has become a very popular pastime and often is the subject of scrutiny in the literature regarding problematic play. This study aimed to develop a better understanding of problematic online gaming by recruiting and interviewing MMORPG players who potentially played at problematic levels. Ten participants (9 males, 1 female) from a Mid-Western university were screened and interviewed regarding their online g...

Internet surveillance, regulation, and chilling effects online: a comparative case study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathon W. Penney

2017-05-01

Full Text Available With internet regulation and censorship on the rise, states increasingly engaging in online surveillance, and state cyber-policing capabilities rapidly evolving globally, concerns about regulatory “chilling effects” online—the idea that laws, regulations, or state surveillance can deter people from exercising their freedoms or engaging in legal activities on the internet have taken on greater urgency and public importance. But just as notions of “chilling effects” are not new, neither is skepticism about their legal, theoretical, and empirical basis; in fact, the concept remains largely un-interrogated with significant gaps in understanding, particularly with respect to chilling effects online. This work helps fill this void with a first-of-its-kind online survey that examines multiple dimensions of chilling effects online by comparing and analyzing responses to hypothetical scenarios involving different kinds of regulatory actions—including an anti-cyberbullying law, public/private sector surveillance, and an online regulatory scheme, based on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA, enforced through personally received legal threats/notices. The results suggest not only the existence and significance of regulatory chilling effects online across these different scenarios but also evidence a differential impact—with personally received legal notices and government surveillance online consistently having the greatest chilling effect on people’s activities online—and certain online activities like speech, search, and personal sharing also impacted differently. The results also offer, for the first time, insights based on demographics and other similar factors about how certain people and groups may be more affected than others, including findings that younger people and women are more likely to be chilled; younger people and women are less likely to take steps to resist regulatory actions and defend themselves; and anti

Building online brand perceptual map.

Science.gov (United States)

Chiang, I-Ping; Lin, Chih-Ying; Wang, Kaisheng M

2008-10-01

Many companies have launched their products or services online as a new business focus, but only a few of them have survived the competition and made profits. The most important key to an online business's success is to create "brand value" for the customers. Although the concept of online brand has been discussed in previous studies, there is no empirical study on the measurement of online branding. As Web 2.0 emerges to be critical to online branding, the purpose of this study was to measure Taiwan's major Web sites with a number of personality traits to build a perceptual map for online brands. A pretest identified 10 most representative online brand perceptions. The results of the correspondence analysis showed five groups in the perceptual map. This study provided a practical view of the associations and similarities among online brands for potential alliance or branding strategies. The findings also suggested that brand perceptions can be used with identified consumer needs and behaviors to better position online services. The brand perception map in the study also contributed to a better understanding of the online brands in Taiwan.

An Online Survey on Consumer Knowledge and Understanding of Added Sugars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary Tierney

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Evidence of an association between added sugars (AS and the risk of obesity has triggered public health bodies to develop strategies enabling consumers to manage their AS intake. The World Health Organisation (WHO has strongly recommended a reduction of free sugars to 10% of total dietary energy (TE and conditionally recommended a reduction to 5% TE to achieve health benefits. Despite food labelling being a policy tool of choice in many countries, there is no consensus on the mandatory addition of AS to the nutrition panel of food labels. An online survey was conducted to explore consumer ability to identify AS on food labels and to investigate consumer awareness of the WHO guidelines in relation to sugar intakes. The questionnaire was tested for participant comprehension using face-to-face interviews prior to conducting the online study. The online survey was conducted in Northern Ireland during May 2015 and was completed by a convenient sample of 445 subjects. Results showed that just 4% of respondents correctly classified 10 or more ingredients from a presented list of 13 items, while 65% of participants were unaware of the WHO guidelines for sugar intake. It may be timely to reopen dialogue on inclusion of AS on food product nutrition panels.

Online supervision at the university

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bengtsen, Søren Smedegaard; Jensen, Gry Sandholm

2015-01-01

supervision proves unhelpful when trying to understand how online supervision and feedback is a pedagogical phenomenon in its own right, and irreducible to the face-to-face context. Secondly we show that not enough attention has been given to the way different digital tools and platforms influence...... pedagogy we forge a new concept of “format supervision” that enables supervisors to understand and reflect their supervision practice, not as caught in the physical-virtual divide, but as a choice between face-to-face and online formats that each conditions the supervisory dialogue in their own particular...

Getting Business Insights through Clustering Online Behaviors

OpenAIRE

Jounghae Bang; Yoonho Cho; Min Sun Kim

2015-01-01

This study aimed to explore the online users’ behaviors. Since the Internet was introduced to the market, the various and frequent online activities have increased, and it becomes more important for the businesses to understand the online users. Therefore this study analyzed the online users’ behaviors and segmented the users by using K-means clustering method using actual clickstream data. There were four different research questions and, thus, four different sets of segmentations. It was fo...

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR TOWARDS ONLINE SHOPPING

OpenAIRE

Lakshmi. S

2016-01-01

With the increasing internet literacy, the prospect of online marketing is increasing. There are millions of people online any time and they all are a potential consumer in the online market. Since there are so many providers, the most important thing for organizations is to understand what are consumer wants and needs in this competitive business environment. Customer buying behaviors are influenced by different factors such as culture, social class, references group relation, family, salary...

Digital Communication Applications in the Online Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Lambeth, Krista Jill

2011-01-01

Scope and method of study. The purpose of this study was for the researcher to obtain a better understanding of the online learning environment, to explore the various ways online class instructors have incorporated digital communication applications to try and provide learner-centered online learning environments, and to examine students'…

Getting Business Insights through Clustering Online Behaviors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jounghae Bang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to explore the online users’ behaviors. Since the Internet was introduced to the market, the various and frequent online activities have increased, and it becomes more important for the businesses to understand the online users. Therefore this study analyzed the online users’ behaviors and segmented the users by using K-means clustering method using actual clickstream data. There were four different research questions and, thus, four different sets of segmentations. It was found that many people find much of entertaining from online using SNS, games, and so on. In addition, some people only have access to a few specific websites. Some use the online service regularly every day while others use it in a very irregular pattern. People were divided into two groups, weekday group and weekend group. People are likely to be using the Internet either on weekdays or at weekend. Teenagers and people in their 50s are more likely to use it during weekend. In addition, teenagers also show different time zone (e.g., overnight to use the Internet from other age groups. These results can shed light on understanding what consumers do online and what they are interested in currently and on decision making in marketing strategy.

Comparing Risks and Benefits for Value Enhancement of Online Purchase

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Priyanka Sinha

2018-12-01

Full Text Available In a developing economy, the acceptability of e–retailing is not very new, but the potential of online marketing in market research and analysis is still largely unexplored. This article is an attempt to understand the psyche of Indian online consumers. As consumers have their own preconceived notions toward this growing purchasing environment, it becomes important for e-retailers to understand the consumers’ perceptions and attitudes toward online purchases. This paper integrates the dimensions of the risks and benefits with the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB to understand how consumers adopt their online purchase processes. Four hundred and sixty-eight valid responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling on AMOS 21 to identify the relationship between the different factors and the intention to purchase online. The paper concludes that consumers’ purchase intentions are jointly determined by their attitude towards online purchases and the subjective norm. Furthermore, their attitude is determined by the sub-dimensions of perceived benefits (hedonic benefit, convenience benefit, economic benefit and variety and the sub-dimensions of perceived risk (product risk and financial risk.

Understanding the impact of online social networks on disruptive innovation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cizel, A; Boonstra, A.; Langley, D.J.; Tan, C.W.

2013-01-01

In this paper we explore the state of current knowledge about online social networks (OSNs), and their role in precipitating changes in existing market structures. We do so by reviewing more than 30 recent papers from top-ranked journals in the relevant fields of study. We begin by providing a

Understanding and Accommodating Online Social Communities: A Common Sense Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Lennon, Sean M.

2013-01-01

Online social networks such as Facebook have changed the context and definitions of socialization. Focusing on teacher use, this article considers the size and impact of these forums and the importance many young professionals feel toward them. Themed as a common sense approach, the author uses anecdotal points and discussions with…

At the intersection of culture and religion: a cultural analysis of religion's implications for secondary control and social affiliation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Joni Y; Kim, Heejung S

2011-08-01

Religion helps people maintain a sense of control, particularly secondary control-acceptance of and adjustment to difficult situations--and contributes to strengthening social relationships in a religious community. However, little is known about how culture may influence these effects. The current research examined the interaction of culture and religion on secondary control and social affiliation, comparing people from individualistic cultures (e.g., European Americans), who tend to be more motivated toward personal agency, and people from collectivistic cultures (e.g., East Asians), who tend to be more motivated to maintain social relationships. In Study 1, an analysis of online church mission statements showed that U.S. websites contained more themes of secondary control than did Korean websites, whereas Korean websites contained more themes of social affiliation than did U.S. websites. Study 2 showed that experimental priming of religion led to acts of secondary control for European Americans but not Asian Americans. Using daily diary methodology, Study 3 showed that religious coping predicted more secondary control for European Americans but not Koreans, and religious coping predicted more social affiliation for Koreans and European Americans. These findings suggest the importance of understanding sociocultural moderators for the effects of religion.

The use of online word of mouth opinion in online learning: a questionnaire survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Sandars, John; Walsh, Kieran

2009-04-01

There is increasing use of online word of mouth opinion (user feedback) systems for general services but its use in online learning has not been previously investigated. To understand why users of BMJ Learning provide and read word of mouth feedback, and whether this feedback influences uptake of modules by prospective users. Online questionnaire of users of BMJ Learning who had completed online user feedback. 109 questionnaires were completed (response rate 25%). The main motivation to contribute was to influence the authors of the module (66%), and 43% stated that they wanted to help other users to make an informed choice. 16% stated that they wanted to develop an online community of learners. The main motivation to read the user feedback was to see if they agreed with the comments (56%). Online word of mouth opinion (user feedback) appears to be useful for online learners. There are also system design considerations since the attempt to create an online community of learners that is desired by some users will not be appreciated by others. Further research with a larger number of users is recommended to confirm the findings.

Online Ethics: What's a Teacher to Do?

Science.gov (United States)

Carpenter, Cal

1996-01-01

Considers ethics issues involved with using online resources like the Internet in elementary and secondary education and suggests that educators initiate and model a standardized role of ethical behavior for Internet users. Topics include hackers; privacy, piracy, and security; screening electronic sites; ethics education; and an ethics model.…

Building online worlds

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toft-Nielsen, Claus

2013-01-01

The fantasy genre has proven to be extremely durable in creating blockbuster successes across multiple media platforms, such as books, films, tabletop and especially online computer games. Currently 85 % of all Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) are situated in fantasy...... universes (Van Geel, 2012). This paper will focus on the far most popular fantasy-MMORPG to date, namely World of Warcraft (Blizzard, 2004) as a lens to examine the different potentials of the fantasy genre spanning across various media platforms. Using the concept of “worldness”, traditionally understood...... as a specific textual quality (Klastrup, 2009; Krzywinska, 2008; Pearce, 2009), I argue that understanding it as an experiential quality of the engagement with and reception of a fantasy media text, opens up for a boarder understanding of the fantasy function as a blockbuster genre: The fantasy media matrix...

MO-E-BRC-03: Fast Online Replanning Techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, X.

2016-01-01

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

MO-E-BRC-03: Fast Online Replanning Techniques

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, X. [Medical College of Wisconsin (United States)

2016-06-15

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

Designing for Enhanced Conceptual Understanding in an Online Physics Course

Science.gov (United States)

Dunlap, Joanna C.; Furtak, Thomas E.; Tucker, Susan A.

2009-01-01

The calculus-based, introductory physics course is the port of entry for any student interested in pursuing a college degree in the sciences, mathematics, or engineering. There is increasing demand for online delivery options that make the course more widely available, especially those that use best practices in student engagement. However,…

Essays on Online Reviews: Reviewers' Strategic Behaviors and Contributions over Time

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Wenqi

2010-01-01

Online reviews play an important role in consumers' purchasing decisions. Researchers are increasingly interested in studying the dynamic impact of online reviews on product sales. However, the antecedent of online reviews, online reviewers' behaviors, has not been fully explored. Understanding how online reviewers make review decisions can assist…

Information diffusion in structured online social networks

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Pei; Zhang, Yini; Qiao, Fengcai; Wang, Hui

2015-05-01

Nowadays, due to the word-of-mouth effect, online social networks have been considered to be efficient approaches to conduct viral marketing, which makes it of great importance to understand the diffusion dynamics in online social networks. However, most research on diffusion dynamics in epidemiology and existing social networks cannot be applied directly to characterize online social networks. In this paper, we propose models to characterize the information diffusion in structured online social networks with push-based forwarding mechanism. We introduce the term user influence to characterize the average number of times that messages are browsed which is incurred by a given type user generating a message, and study the diffusion threshold, above which the user influence of generating a message will approach infinity. We conduct simulations and provide the simulation results, which are consistent with the theoretical analysis results perfectly. These results are of use in understanding the diffusion dynamics in online social networks and also critical for advertisers in viral marketing who want to estimate the user influence before posting an advertisement.

Understanding a Nonlinear Causal Relationship Between Rewards and Physicians’ Contributions in Online Health Care Communities: Longitudinal Study

Science.gov (United States)

2017-01-01

Background The online health care community is not just a place for the public to share physician reviews or medical knowledge, but also a physician-patient communication platform. The medical resources of developing countries are relatively inadequate, and the online health care community is a potential solution to alleviate the phenomenon of long hospital queues and the lack of medical resources in rural areas. However, the success of the online health care community depends on online contributions by physicians. Objective The aim of this study is to examine the effect of incentive mechanisms on physician’s online contribution behavior in the online health community. We addressed the following questions: (1) from which specialty area are physicians more likely to participate in online health care community activities, (2) what are the factors affecting physician online contributions, and (3) do incentive mechanisms, including psychological and material rewards, result in differences of physician online contributions? Methods We designed a longitudinal study involving a data sample in three waves. All data were collected from the Good Doctor website, which is the largest online health care community in China. We first used descriptive statistics to investigate the physician online contribution behavior in its entirety. Then multiple linear and quadratic regression models were applied to verify the causal relationship between rewards and physician online contribution. Results Our sample included 40,300 physicians from 3607 different hospitals, 10 different major specialty areas, and 31 different provinces or municipalities. Based on the multiple quadratic regression model, we found that the coefficients of the control variables, past physician online contributions, doctor review rating, clinic title, hospital level, and city level, were .415, .189, –.099, –.106, and –.143, respectively. For the psychological (or material) rewards, the standardized

Analogy for Drude’s free electron model to promote students’ understanding of electric circuits in lower secondary school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria José BM de Almeida

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Aiming at a deep understanding of some basic concepts of electric circuits in lower secondary schools, this work introduces an analogy between the behavior of children playing in a school yard with a central lake, subject to different conditions, rules, and stimuli, and Drude’s free electron model of metals. Using this analogy from the first school contacts with electric phenomena, one can promote students’ understanding of concepts such as electric current, the role of generators, potential difference effects, energy transfer, open and closed circuits, resistances, and their combinations in series and parallel. One believes that through this analogy well-known previous misconceptions of young students about electric circuit behaviors can be overcome. Furthermore, students’ understanding will enable them to predict, and justify with self-constructed arguments, the behavior of different elementary circuits. The students’ predictions can be verified—as a challenge of self-produced understanding schemes—using laboratory experiments. At a preliminary stage, our previsions were confirmed through a pilot study with three classrooms of 9th level Portuguese students.

Online-offline activities and game-playing behaviors of avatars in a massive multiplayer online role-playing game

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Zhi-Qiang; Zhou, Wei-Xing; Tan, Qun-Zhao

2009-11-01

Massive multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) are very popular in China, which provides a potential platform for scientific research. We study the online-offline activities of avatars in an MMORPG to understand their game-playing behavior. The statistical analysis unveils that the active avatars can be classified into three types. The avatars of the first type are owned by game cheaters who go online and offline in preset time intervals with the online duration distributions dominated by pulses. The second type of avatars is characterized by a Weibull distribution in the online durations, which is confirmed by statistical tests. The distributions of online durations of the remaining individual avatars differ from the above two types and cannot be described by a simple form. These findings have potential applications in the game industry.

Understanding Citizenship, Understanding Social Media? The effects of digital media on citizenship understanding and political participation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ohme, Jakob; Albæk, Erik

Is there a connection between increased use of digital media and changing patterns of political participation? This study tests how use of online media for different purposes (social interaction, creative expression, online news use, social media news use) is related to three types of political...... participation. It examines whether mobilizing effects are partly indirect due to different understandings of citizenship (dutiful, optional, individual, collective) that may be fostered by digital media use. The study is based on a survey of a sample of the Danish population (n=1322), including data from two...... online survey waves and a smartphone-based media diary that documents respondents’ social media use. Results indicate support for a new pathway to participation, but the relationship depends on whether citizens are socialized in a digital media environment....

Comparing Efficacy of Online and In-person Versions of a Training on U.S. Federal Wage and Hour, Child Labor Laws and Hazardous Occupations Orders for Secondary School Professionals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Derek G. Shendell

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The New Jersey Safe Schools Program (NJSS offers courses required for secondary school vocational-career-technical education teachers to become school-sponsored structured learning experience supervisors. The Federal Wage and Hour and Child Labor Laws, Regulations and Hazardous Order Course (FWH was originally conducted in-person by U.S. Department of Labor-Wage and Hour Division from 2005-summer 2013, at which time NJSS began conducting this course in-person (October 2013-April 2015. Beginning March 2015, this course was conducted online; beta-/pilot tests were conducted winter 2014-15. Starting in May 2015, this course was offered exclusively online. This paper analyzes data from the in-person and online versions of the FWH, including overall course evaluation data comparing two versions with similar questions/constructs.Methods: NJSS modifications to FWH included adding information regarding the Fair Labor Standards Act’s Section 14(c and supplemental case studies. The online version included information/resources provided during the in-person training plus assessments to supplement each module; the online version was split into modules to allow participants scheduling flexibility. Participants were allowed multiple possible attempts to achieve a minimum passing grade of 70%, excluding two ungraded activities (crossword puzzles simply completed. Descriptive statistics evaluated user satisfaction with the online compared to the in-person version of FWH, and performance on aforementioned online assessments replacing in-person discussions/interactions.Results: Between October 2013-April 2015, 160 participants completed the training in-person; 156 had complete data. Between April-November 2015, 78 participants completed the training online; 74 participants had complete data. Other enrolled participants were in progress (not done as of 12/23/2015. Overall satisfaction was similarly high for in-person and online versions of FWH; over

CRITICAL COMPONENTS OF ONLINE LEARNING READINESS AND THEIR RELATIONSHIPS WITH LEARNER ACHIEVEMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harun CIGDEM

2016-04-01

Full Text Available This study aimed to examine the relationship between certain factors of online learning readiness and learners’ end-of-course achievements. The study was conducted at a two-year post-secondary Turkish military school within the scope of the course titled Computer Literacy, which was designed and implemented in a blended way. The data were collected from 155 post-secondary military students through an online questionnaire. Three sub-scales of Hung et al.’s Online Learning Readiness Scale were used to collect the data during the first two weeks of the course. Descriptive and inferential statistics, such as Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression analyses were performed to analyze the data. The descriptive results of the study indicated that students’ motivation for online learning was higher than both their computer/Internet self-efficacy and their orientations to self-directed learning. The inferential results revealed that the students’ end-of-course grades had significantly positive relationships with their computer/Internet self-efficacy and self-directed learning orientations. Finally, the students’ self-direction towards online learning appeared to be the strongest predictor of their achievements within the course; whereas computer/Internet self-efficacy and motivation for learning did not predict the learner achievement significantly.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ONLINE BANKING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

OpenAIRE

BUCUR Luiza Emanuela

2015-01-01

Online banking is the newest and least understood delivery channel for retail banking services. This article show how customers perceive Online Banking Services. Focuses on the issues associated with internet banking service quality. For customer service quality, focus is on access, credibility, communication, understanding the costumer and collaboration. For online banking services focus is on: ease of use, accuracy, timelines, aesthetics and security. For banking service product quality foc...

Understanding a Nonlinear Causal Relationship Between Rewards and Physicians' Contributions in Online Health Care Communities: Longitudinal Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jying-Nan; Chiu, Ya-Ling; Yu, Haiyan; Hsu, Yuan-Teng

2017-12-21

The online health care community is not just a place for the public to share physician reviews or medical knowledge, but also a physician-patient communication platform. The medical resources of developing countries are relatively inadequate, and the online health care community is a potential solution to alleviate the phenomenon of long hospital queues and the lack of medical resources in rural areas. However, the success of the online health care community depends on online contributions by physicians. The aim of this study is to examine the effect of incentive mechanisms on physician's online contribution behavior in the online health community. We addressed the following questions: (1) from which specialty area are physicians more likely to participate in online health care community activities, (2) what are the factors affecting physician online contributions, and (3) do incentive mechanisms, including psychological and material rewards, result in differences of physician online contributions? We designed a longitudinal study involving a data sample in three waves. All data were collected from the Good Doctor website, which is the largest online health care community in China. We first used descriptive statistics to investigate the physician online contribution behavior in its entirety. Then multiple linear and quadratic regression models were applied to verify the causal relationship between rewards and physician online contribution. Our sample included 40,300 physicians from 3607 different hospitals, 10 different major specialty areas, and 31 different provinces or municipalities. Based on the multiple quadratic regression model, we found that the coefficients of the control variables, past physician online contributions, doctor review rating, clinic title, hospital level, and city level, were .415, .189, -.099, -.106, and -.143, respectively. For the psychological (or material) rewards, the standardized coefficient of the main effect was 0.261 (or 0

Maternal Knowing and Social Networks: Understanding First-Time Mothers' Search for Information and Support Through Online and Offline Social Networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Price, Sheri Lynn; Aston, Megan; Monaghan, Joelle; Sim, Meaghan; Tomblin Murphy, Gail; Etowa, Josephine; Pickles, Michelle; Hunter, Andrea; Little, Victoria

2017-12-01

The postpartum period is an exciting yet stressful time for first-time mothers, and although the experience may vary, all mothers need support during this crucial period. In Canada, there has been a shift for universal postpartum services to be offered predominantly online. However, due to a paucity of literature, it is difficult to determine the degree to which mothers' needs are being effectively addressed. The aim of this study was to examine and understand how first-time mothers accessed support and information (online and offline) during the first 6 months of their postpartum period. Using feminist poststructuralism methodology, data were collected from focus groups and e-interviews, and analyzed using discourse analysis. Findings indicate that peer support is greatly valued, and mothers often use social media to make in-person social connections. Findings highlight how accessing support and information is socially and institutionally constructed and provide direction for health professionals to provide accessible postpartum care.

Subcutaneous face and neck surgical emphysema secondary to ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Subcutaneous face and neck surgical emphysema secondary to presumed spider bite. W Mulwafu. Abstract. No Abstract. Full Text: EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT EMAIL FREE FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT · AJOL African Journals Online. HOW TO USE AJOL... for Researchers · for Librarians ...

Online gaming dependency: a preliminary study in China.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Wei; Liu, Ming

2010-06-01

Based on theories and previous studies on problematic Internet use, we propose a model to better understand the contributors to and consequences of online gaming dependency. A preliminary study was conducted through a survey of online gamers in China. The results of path analysis found that maladaptive cognitions, shyness, and depression are positively related to online gaming dependency. Online gaming dependency was also positively related to different types of negative life outcomes. The findings of this study have implications for the prevention and treatment of addictive online gaming.

Function-related Secondary User Needs and Secondary Data

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Riette Ruthven

basis of both a critical analysis of the theory and an examination of selected data types .... (2) "Secondary needs related to the user's linguistic and subject-specific ... understand the Afrikaans word skepe needs to know that skepe is the plural.

De-Virtualizing Social Events: Understanding the Gap between Online and Offline Participation for Event Invitations

OpenAIRE

Huang, Ai-Ju; Wang, Hao-Chuan; Yuan, Chien Wen

2013-01-01

One growing use of computer-based communication media is for gathering people to initiate or sustain social events. Although the use of computer-mediated communication and social network sites such as Facebook for event promotion is becoming popular, online participation in an event does not always translate to offline attendance. In this paper, we report on an interview study of 31 participants that examines how people handle online event invitations and what influences their online and offl...

Gendered Harassment in Secondary Schools: Understanding Teachers' (Non) Interventions

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Elizabeth J.

2008-01-01

This article provides an analysis of teachers' perceptions of and responses to gendered harassment in Canadian secondary schools based on in-depth interviews with six teachers in one urban school district. Gendered harassment includes any behaviour that polices and reinforces traditional heterosexual gender norms such as (hetero)sexual harassment,…

B2B on-line v cestovní kanceláři

OpenAIRE

KUDRLIČKOVÁ, Kateřina

2017-01-01

A topic of this thesis is B2B online in a travel agency. The aim of this thesis is based on an analysis of trade relations between a travel agency and tour operators in the online environment to evaluate their functionality and to suggest possible improvements. The secondary aim is to see how the cooperation between the travel agency and suppliers works.

A contribution to understanding the structure of amphivasal secondary bundles in monocotyledons

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joanna Jura-Morawiec

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Secondary growth of monocotyledonous plants is connected with the activity of the monocot cambium that accumulates most of the derivatives inner to the cambial cylinder. These derivatives differentiate into (a secondary bundles with the amphivasal arrangement, i.e. xylem composed of tracheids surrounds the phloem cells and (b the parenchymatous secondary conjunctive tissue in which the bundles are embedded. The amphivasal secondary bundles differ in the arrangement of xylem cells as visible on single cross sections through the secondary body of the monocots. Apart from the bundles with typical ring of tracheids also the bundles where tracheids do not quite surround the phloem are present. We aimed to elucidate the cross sectional anatomy of the amphivasal secondary bundles with the use of the serial sectioning method which allowed us to follow very precisely the bundle structure along its length. The studies were carried out with the samples of secondary tissues collected from the stem of Dracaena draco L. growing in the greenhouses of the Polish Academy of Sciences Botanical Garden – CBDC in Powsin and the Adam Mickiewicz University Botanical Garden. The material was fixed in a mixture of glycerol and ethanol (1:1; v/v, dehydrated stepwise with graded ethanol series and finally embedded in epon resin. Afterwards, the material was sectioned with microtome into continuous series of thin (3 μm sections, stained with PAS/toluidine blue and examined under the light microscope. The results, described in details in Jura‑Morawiec & Wiland-Szymańska (2014, revealed novel facts about tracheids arrangement. Each amphivasal bundle is composed of sectors where tracheids form a ring as well as of such where tracheids are separated by vascular parenchyma cells. We hypothesize that strands of vascular parenchyma cells locally separating the tracheids enable radial transport of assimilates from sieve elements of the bundle towards the sink tissues, e

Online Video Game Addiction: Identification of Addicted Adolescent Gamers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rooij, A.J. van; Schoenmakers, T.M.; Vermulst, A.A.; Eijnden, R.J.J.M. van den; Mheen, H. van de

2011-01-01

Aims To provide empirical data-driven identification of a group of addicted online gamers. Design Repeated cross-sectional survey study, comprising a longitudinal cohort, conducted in 2008 and 2009. Setting Secondary schools in the Netherlands. Participants Two large samples of Dutch

Online information seeking by patients with bipolar disorder

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Conell, Jörn; Bauer, Rita; Glenn, Tasha

2016-01-01

alternative information sources remain important. Most patients do not discuss Internet findings with their doctor, and concern remains about the quality of online information especially related to prescription drugs. Patients may not rate search skills accurately, and may not understand limitations of online...... privacy. More patient education about online information searching is needed and physicians should recommend a few high quality websites....

Exploring the learning context in shifts between online and offline learning

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karen Borgnakke

2015-11-01

, of The University of Copenhagen, presents her article “Coming Back to Basic Concepts of the Context”, in which she explores how traditional ethnography meets the online-learning contexts in various areas.Shifts between online- and off-line contexts presents a challenge for ethnographic methodology and analysis, and she explores how these could be met in scholastic, professional and academic learning contexts.(Non-refereed papersCamilla Kirketerp Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen contributes with a shortpaper called “Ethnography in the Danish Veterinary Learning Environment”. Her project deals with an experiment on game-based profession-oriented learning. In the games the students are offered a training context in which they can practise interdisciplinary clinical skills in an interactive setting.Janus Aaen of the Aarhus University, Denmark, presents his paper “Making Sense of Facebook: A Mixed Methods Approach to Analysing Online Student Groups”. In the paper he suggests that research on such fluid entities needs a more holistic understanding on how Facebook interacts with other media, as well as how students could be engaged as co-researchers in order to capture their voice.Juana Maria Sancho-Gil,Fernando Hernández-Hernández and Rachel Fendler, all from theUniversity of Barcelona have written the article “Envisioning DIY learning in primary and secondary schools”. TheDIYLab (Do it yourself project seeks to explore the changes occurring in the last decade regarding digital competencies. The paper focuses in the Spanish primary and secondary school participating in the project.Barcelona 2012:Hernández Hernández, F., Fendler, R., & Sancho Gil, J. M. (Eds.. (2013.Rethinking Educational Ethnography: Researching on-line communities and interactions. Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona - Dipòsit Digital. http://hdl.handle.net/2445/44009Napoli 2013:Rethinking Educational Ethnography: Researching on-line communities and interactions. Networked

Online video game addiction: identification of addicted adolescent gamers.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Rooij, Antonius J; Schoenmakers, Tim M; Vermulst, Ad A; Van den Eijnden, Regina J J M; Van de Mheen, Dike

2011-01-01

To provide empirical data-driven identification of a group of addicted online gamers. Repeated cross-sectional survey study, comprising a longitudinal cohort, conducted in 2008 and 2009. Secondary schools in the Netherlands.   Two large samples of Dutch schoolchildren (aged 13-16 years). Compulsive internet use scale, weekly hours of online gaming and psychosocial variables. This study confirms the existence of a small group of addicted online gamers (3%), representing about 1.5% of all children aged 13-16 years in the Netherlands. Although these gamers report addiction-like problems, relationships with decreased psychosocial health were less evident. The identification of a small group of addicted online gamers supports efforts to develop and validate questionnaire scales aimed at measuring the phenomenon of online video game addiction. The findings contribute to the discussion on the inclusion of non-substance addictions in the proposed unified concept of 'Addiction and Related Disorders' for the DSM-V by providing indirect identification and validation of a group of suspected online video game addicts. © 2010 The Authors, Addiction © 2010 Society for the Study of Addiction.

An Exploration of Teachers' Efforts to Understand Identity Work and its Relevance to Science Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, M. Cecil; Darfler, Anne

2012-06-01

US educators express concern that students are turning away from the study of science and have little interest in pursuing science careers. Nationally, science achievement scores for 8th graders are unchanged since 1996, but 12th graders' scores have significantly decreased. A shortcoming of education reform efforts is lack of attention to students' developmental needs. Science study should enable students to learn about themselves—to develop and refine their skills, define their values, explore personal interests, and understand the importance of science to themselves and others. Effective secondary science instruction requires attention to students' identity development—the key developmental task of adolescence. Secondary science teachers participated in an 8-week course focused on understanding adolescent identity development and methods for addressing identity. Transcripts of the teachers' online discussions of salient issues were analyzed to determine their perceptions regarding classroom identity work. Teachers identified several assets and obstacles to identity work that were organized into two broad categories: teacher knowledge, training opportunities, and administrative support, or lack of these; and, presence of inflexible curricula, standardized testing regimes, and increased teacher accountability. Implications for student growth and science teacher professional development are discussed.

Work-family conflict among athletic trainers in the secondary school setting.

Science.gov (United States)

Pitney, William A; Mazerolle, Stephanie M; Pagnotta, Kelly D

2011-01-01

Work-family conflict (WFC) negatively affects a professional's ability to function at work or home. To examine perceptions of and contributing factors to WFC among secondary school athletic trainers. Sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. Secondary school. From a random sample of 1325 individuals selected from the National Athletic Trainers' Association Member Services database, 415 individuals (203 women, 212 men; age = 36.8 ± 9.3 years) provided usable online survey data. Fourteen individuals participated in follow-up interviews. Online WFC questionnaire followed by in-depth phone interviews. Descriptive statistics were obtained to examine perceived WFC. Pearson product moment correlations were calculated to examine the relationship between work hours, total athletic training staff, and number of children and WFC score. We performed analysis of variance to examine differences between the independent variables of sex and control over work schedule and the dependent variable of WFC score. The a priori α was set at P ≤ .05. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Multiple-analyst triangulation and member checks established trustworthiness of the qualitative data. Mean WFC scores were 23.97 ± 7.78 for scale 1 (family defined as having a partner or spouse with or without children) and 23.17 ± 7.69 for scale 2 (family defined as individuals, including parents, siblings, grandparents, and any other close relatives, involved in one's life), indicating moderate perceived WFC. A significant relationship was found between the average hours of work per week and WFC scores: those with less scheduling control experienced more WFC. Two dimensions emerged from the qualitative methods that relate to how WFC is mitigated in the secondary school environment: (1) organizational-having colleagues and administration that understood the role demands and allowed for modifications in schedule and personal time and (2) personal-taking time for oneself

Understanding perceptions of genital herpes disclosure through analysis of an online video contest.

Science.gov (United States)

Catallozzi, Marina; Ebel, Sophia C; Chávez, Noé R; Shearer, Lee S; Mindel, Adrian; Rosenthal, Susan L

2013-12-01

The aims of this study were to examine pre-existing videos in order to explore the motivation for, possible approaches to, and timing and context of disclosure of genital herpes infection as described by the lay public. A thematic content analysis was performed on 63 videos submitted to an Australian online contest sponsored by the Australian Herpes Management Forum and Novartis Pharmaceuticals designed to promote disclosure of genital herpes. Videos either provided a motivation for disclosure of genital herpes or directed disclosure without an explicit rationale. Motivations included manageability of the disease or consistency with important values. Evaluation of strategies and logistics of disclosure revealed a variety of communication styles including direct and indirect. Disclosure settings included those that were private, semiprivate and public. Disclosure was portrayed in a variety of relationship types, and at different times within those relationships, with many videos demonstrating disclosure in connection with a romantic setting. Individuals with genital herpes are expected to disclose to susceptible partners. This analysis suggests that understanding lay perspectives on herpes disclosure to a partner may help healthcare providers develop counselling messages that decrease anxiety and foster disclosure to prevent transmission.

The reclaiming of online media by civil society

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Galis, Vasilis; Neumayer, Christina

as the oxymoron of radical activists on the left using capitalist media platforms and how this influences their political identity. Therefore, there is a need to understand the cyber-material impact of online media on collective action initiated by civil society as well as the relationship between ideological......In light of the financial crisis and harsher migration policies, actions initiated by radical civil society groups are on the rise. This project argues that in this time it is important to understand the reclaiming of online media by civil society. To reach this understanding we will explore how...... activists of the radical left have mobilized protests and solidarity actions through online media. We have chosen to locate our study in Sweden and Greece. Greece has found itself in the eye of the global financial storm whereas Sweden is coming out of the recession more favorably. In general...

Trust and Online Reputation Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Kwan, Ming; Ramachandran, Deepak

Web 2.0 technologies provide organizations with unprecedented opportunities to expand and solidify relationships with their customers, partners, and employees—while empowering firms to define entirely new business models focused on sharing information in online collaborative environments. Yet, in and of themselves, these technologies cannot ensure productive online interactions. Leading enterprises that are experimenting with social networks and online communities are already discovering this fact and along with it, the importance of establishing trust as the foundation for online collaboration and transactions. Just as today's consumers must feel secure to bank, exchange personal information and purchase products and services online; participants in Web 2.0 initiatives will only accept the higher levels of risk and exposure inherent in e-commerce and Web collaboration in an environment of trust. Indeed, only by attending to the need to cultivate online trust with customers, partners and employees will enterprises ever fully exploit the expanded business potential posed by Web 2.0. But developing online trust is no easy feat. While various preliminary attempts have occurred, no definitive model for establishing or measuring it has yet been established. To that end, nGenera has identified three, distinct dimensions of online trust: reputation (quantitative-based); relationship (qualitative-based) and process (system-based). When considered together, they form a valuable model for understanding online trust and a toolbox for cultivating it to support Web 2.0 initiatives.

Innovative Educational Practice: Using Virtual Labs in the Secondary Classroom

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel Satsky Kerr, PhD

2004-07-01

Full Text Available Two studies investigated the effectiveness of teaching science labs online to secondary students. Study 1 compared achievement among students instructed using hands-on Chemistry labs versus those instructed using virtual Chemistry labs (eLabs. Study 2 compared the same groups of students again while both teachers instructed using hands-on Chemistry labs to determine whether teacher or student characteristics may have affected Study 1’s findings. Participants were high school Chemistry students from a Central Texas Independent School District. Results indicated that: students learn science effectively online, schools may experience cost savings from delivering labs online, and students gain valuable technology skills needed later in college and in the workplace.

A Model for Teaching Critical Thinking through Online Searching.

Science.gov (United States)

Crane, Beverley; Markowitz, Nancy Lourie

1994-01-01

Presents a model that uses online searching to teach critical thinking skills in elementary and secondary education based on Bloom's taxonomy. Three levels of activity are described: analyzing a search statement; defining and clarifying a problem; and focusing an information need. (Contains 13 references.) (LRW)

Transcriptome Profiling Using Single-Molecule Direct RNA Sequencing Approach for In-depth Understanding of Genes in Secondary Metabolism Pathways of Camellia sinensis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qingshan Xu

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Characteristic secondary metabolites, including flavonoids, theanine and caffeine, are important components of Camellia sinensis, and their biosynthesis has attracted widespread interest. Previous studies on the biosynthesis of these major secondary metabolites using next-generation sequencing technologies limited the accurately prediction of full-length (FL splice isoforms. Herein, we applied single-molecule sequencing to pooled tea plant tissues, to provide a more complete transcriptome of C. sinensis. Moreover, we identified 94 FL transcripts and four alternative splicing events for enzyme-coding genes involved in the biosynthesis of flavonoids, theanine and caffeine. According to the comparison between long-read isoforms and assemble transcripts, we improved the quality and accuracy of genes sequenced by short-read next-generation sequencing technology. The resulting FL transcripts, together with the improved assembled transcripts and identified alternative splicing events, enhance our understanding of genes involved in the biosynthesis of characteristic secondary metabolites in C. sinensis.

Portrait of an Online Shopper: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior

OpenAIRE

Kooti, Farshad; Lerman, Kristina; Aiello, Luca Maria; Grbovic, Mihajlo; Djuric, Nemanja; Radosavljevic, Vladan

2015-01-01

Consumer spending accounts for a large fraction of the US economic activity. Increasingly, consumer activity is moving to the web, where digital traces of shopping and purchases provide valuable data about consumer behavior. We analyze these data extracted from emails and combine them with demographic information to characterize, model, and predict consumer behavior. Breaking down purchasing by age and gender, we find that the amount of money spent on online purchases grows sharply with age, ...

Gender Differences in the Perception and Acceptance of Online Games

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Hsiu-Yuan; Wang, Yi-Shun

2008-01-01

With the proliferation of online games, understanding users' intention to play online games has become a new issue for academics and practitioners. Prior studies have investigated the factors affecting behavioural intention to play online games. However, little research has been conducted to investigate the gender differences in the acceptance of…

Understanding chemistry behind secondary aerosol production from nitrogen and sulfur compounds from agriculture

Science.gov (United States)

Agricultural emissions impact particulate mass concentrations through both primary and secondary processes. Evidence from laboratory and field work suggest that not only does ammonia produce secondary particulate matter, but nitrogen and sulfur containing volatile organic compounds also contribute. ...

Massive Open Online Courses for Africa by Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Oyo, Benedict; Kalema, Billy Mathias

2014-01-01

Africa is known for inadequate access to all sorts of human needs including health, education, food, shelter, transport, security, and energy. Before the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs), open access to higher education (HE) was exclusive of Africa. However, as a generally affordable method of post-secondary education delivery,…

Online marketing and advertising research : Traditional Theories Revisited

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yudhistira, Titah

2016-01-01

Online marketing and advertising instruments—and the ways in which consumers react to them—are always evolving, which results in ongoing gaps in knowledge. This dissertation aims to fill some of these gaps by providing a greater understanding of how the Internet impacts online marketing and

Understanding Online Teacher Best Practices: A Thematic Analysis to Improve Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Corry, Michael; Ianacone, Robert; Stella, Julie

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine brick-and-mortar and online teacher best practice themes using thematic analysis and a newly developed theory-based analytic process entitled Synthesized Thematic Analysis Criteria (STAC). The STAC was developed to facilitate the meaningful thematic analysis of research based best practices of K-12…

Website Sharing in Online Health Communities: A Descriptive Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Nath, Chinmoy; Huh, Jina; Adupa, Abhishek Kalyan; Jonnalagadda, Siddhartha R

2016-01-13

An increasing number of people visit online health communities to seek health information. In these communities, people share experiences and information with others, often complemented with links to different websites. Understanding how people share websites can help us understand patients' needs in online health communities and improve how peer patients share health information online. Our goal was to understand (1) what kinds of websites are shared, (2) information quality of the shared websites, (3) who shares websites, (4) community differences in website-sharing behavior, and (5) the contexts in which patients share websites. We aimed to find practical applications and implications of website-sharing practices in online health communities. We used regular expressions to extract URLs from 10 WebMD online health communities. We then categorized the URLs based on their top-level domains. We counted the number of trust codes (eg, accredited agencies' formal evaluation and PubMed authors' institutions) for each website to assess information quality. We used descriptive statistics to determine website-sharing activities. To understand the context of the URL being discussed, we conducted a simple random selection of 5 threads that contained at least one post with URLs from each community. Gathering all other posts in these threads resulted in 387 posts for open coding analysis with the goal of understanding motivations and situations in which website sharing occurred. We extracted a total of 25,448 websites. The majority of the shared websites were .com (59.16%, 15,056/25,448) and WebMD internal (23.2%, 5905/25,448) websites; the least shared websites were social media websites (0.15%, 39/25,448). High-posting community members and moderators posted more websites with trust codes than low-posting community members did. The heart disease community had the highest percentage of websites containing trust codes compared to other communities. Members used websites to

'Online Shopping’ Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Norway

OpenAIRE

Sankaran, Pervaiz Ali and Sudha

2010-01-01

The primary goal of this research is to analyze the customer satisfaction and loyalty of the online customers in Norway. The theoretical framework discusses in brief about the effects of customer loyalty and retention on customer satisfaction. The study on customer satisfaction and loyalty has been done from the perspective of a firm performing online business. To understand the customer satisfaction and loyalty level of online Norwegian shoppers, we pursued with the collection of quantitativ...

Understanding the Setting of a MOOC: A Journey into Coursera

Science.gov (United States)

Saadatdoost, Robab; Sim, Alex Tze Hiang; Jafarkarimi, Hosein; Hee, Jee Mei

2016-01-01

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore in online education. Recent developments in MOOC have heightened the need for understanding the MOOC. The issue of an in-depth understanding of the MOOC setting has been a key subject within the field of qualitative research. However, far too little attention has been…

Polysynchronous: Dialogic Construction of Time in Online Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Oztok, Murat; Wilton, Lesley; Zingaro, Daniel; Mackinnon, Kim; Makos, Alexandra; Phirangee, Krystle; Brett, Clare; Hewitt, Jim

2014-01-01

Online learning has been conceptualized for decades as being delivered in one of two modes: synchronous or asynchronous. Technological determinism falls short in describing the role that the individuals' psychological, social and pedagogical factors play in their perception, experience and understanding of time online. This article explores…

FAULT PROPAGATION AND EFFECTS ANALYSIS FOR DESIGNING AN ONLINE MONITORING SYSTEM FOR THE SECONDARY LOOP OF A NUCLEAR POWER PLANT PART OF A HYBRID ENERGY SYSTEM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Huijuan; Diao, Xiaoxu; Li, Boyuan; Smidts, Carol; Bragg-Sitton, Shannon

2017-03-01

This paper studies the propagation and effects of faults of critical components that pertain to the secondary loop of a nuclear power plant found in Nuclear Hybrid Energy Systems (NHES). This information is used to design an on-line monitoring (OLM) system which is capable of detecting and forecasting faults that are likely to occur during NHES operation. In this research, the causes, features, and effects of possible faults are investigated by simulating the propagation of faults in the secondary loop. The simulation is accomplished by using the Integrated System Failure Analysis (ISFA). ISFA is used for analyzing hardware and software faults during the conceptual design phase. In this paper, the models of system components required by ISFA are initially constructed. Then, the fault propagation analysis is implemented, which is conducted under the bounds set by acceptance criteria derived from the design of an OLM system. The result of the fault simulation is utilized to build a database for fault detection and diagnosis, provide preventive measures, and propose an optimization plan for the OLM system.

Project SOL: Shining Light on Teaching Secondary Level, Spanish-Dominant English Learners Using "Colegio De Bachilleres" Content

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero, Lourdes R.

2009-01-01

This qualitative research study focused on the eight bilingual, content area high school teachers implementing Project SOL (Secondary Online Learning) in Southern California during the 2008-2009 school year. It documents their effort to integrate an online curriculum from the "Colegio de Bachilleres" in Mexico obtained through the UCLA…

Using an Online Remote Laboratory for Electrical Experiments in Upper Secondary Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars Håkansson

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The use of remote laboratories in courses at university level has been reported in literature numerous times since the mid 90’s. In this article focus is on activities carried out by teachers and students, at the Upper Secondary School Level, using the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality. The Upper Secondary School, Katedralskolan in Lund, Sweden, cooperate with Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, in a project that concerns the introduction of remote laboratory environment suitable for Upper Secondary School science courses. A remote laboratory in electronics has been introduced and is used as a complement to the traditional workbench in the hands-on laboratory. Significant results from the project are; 1 the great interest shown by the students for the remote experiments, 2 the students appreciation for the fact that it was not simulations but actual real experiments, 3 the remote laboratory is easy to implement for use by both teachers and students and 4 it can be used simultaneously by many students.

Comparison between the Understanding Levels of Boys and Girls on the Concepts of Environmental Degradation, Meteorology and Climate Change in Tanzanian Secondary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Kira, Ernest S.; Komba, Sotco C.

2015-01-01

The study aimed to determine whether there was any significant difference in understanding levels between secondary school boys and girls on the concepts of environmental degradation, meteorology and climate change. Both structured survey and focus group discussions were used to collect information from 480 students, sampled randomly from 12…

Development of an on-line radon monitoring apparatus and design of the on-line radon monitoring platform based on CAN bus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo Huiping; Lu Ning; Shang Aiguo; Zhou Chunlin; Chen Yingfen; Yu Hongwei

2004-12-01

For actual demand, an idea of 'on-line monitoring' is put forward as a way of radon monitoring, instead of traditional so called 'off-line monitoring'. In this way, the apparatus has some automatic functions such as continuous monitoring, real-time alarm; thereby, there is no need for operators' intervention in each monitoring process. With technique of hardware and software design in automation's field, the authors have successfully developed the prototype and finished the scale of it in a standard radon-chamber. This apparatus is composed of detector part and secondary-instrument. The detector part is made up of a passive diffusion collecting chamber, high voltage static electricity, semiconductor detector, charge-sensitive preamplifier and forming circuit. The secondary-instrument is actually a micro-controller system, which consists of a single-chip micro-controller cored measure-controlling unit, display unit, printing unit and alarming unit. Taking this apparatus as a cell, a 'on-line Radon Monitoring Platform' based on CAN bus has been put forward, which can realize multi-points environmental radioactivity real-time monitoring radioactivity and data process. (authors)

A Coordinated Decentralized Approach to Online Project Development

Science.gov (United States)

Mykota, David

2013-01-01

With the growth rate of online learning outpacing traditional face-to-face instruction, universities are beginning to recognize the importance of strategic planning in its development. Making the case for online learning requires sound project management practices and an understanding of the business models on which it is predicated. The objective…

Upper High School Students' Understanding of Electromagnetism

Science.gov (United States)

Saglam, Murat; Millar, Robin

2006-01-01

Although electromagnetism is an important component of upper secondary school physics syllabuses in many countries, there has been relatively little research on students' understanding of the topic. A written test consisting of 16 diagnostic questions was developed and used to survey the understanding of electromagnetism of upper secondary school…

Understanding statements now a virtual cinch.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Danielle B; Talaga, John

2005-04-01

With a click of the mouse, some patients are accessing and paying their hospital bills online. Novant Health revamped its patient billing process so it's easier to understand and use. Developing a clear, concise billing statement and then implementing an online bill presentment and payment system resulted in improved customer relations, fewer payment processing errors, and faster receipt of payment.

College Students' Choice Modeling of Taking On-Line International Business Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Yeh, Robert S.

2006-01-01

To understand students' choice behavior of taking on-line international business courses, a survey study is conducted to collect information regarding students' actual choices of taking on-line courses and potential factors that may have impacts on students' choices of online learning. Potential factors such as enrollment status, demographic…

The Self-help Online against Suicidal thoughts (SOS) trial

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mühlmann, Charlotte; Madsen, Trine; Hjorthøj, Carsten Rygaard

2017-01-01

-list assignment for 32 weeks. The primary outcomes are frequency and intensity of suicidal thoughts. Secondary outcome measures include depressive symptoms, hopelessness, worrying, quality of life, costs related to health care utilization and production loss. Number of deliberate self-harm episodes, suicides......BACKGROUND: Suicidal thoughts are common, causing distress for millions of people all over the world. However, people with suicidal thoughts might not access support due to financial restraints, stigma or a lack of available treatment offers. Self-help programs provided online could overcome...... these barriers, and previous efforts show promising results in terms of reducing suicidal thoughts. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of an online self-help intervention in reducing suicidal thoughts among people at risk of suicide. The Danish Self-help Online against Suicidal thoughts (SOS) trial...

Kenya's Constituency Development Fund, Free Secondary Education Policy, and Access to Secondary Education

Science.gov (United States)

Nzuki, Charles Kyalo

2018-01-01

The effects of the Constituency Development Fund (CDF) and the Free Secondary Education Policy (FSEP) on access to secondary school education in Kenya's Yatta sub-county have not been adequately explored in available public policy literature. Hence, this qualitative multiple-case study was designed to understand the effects of the 2 policies on…

Effectiveness of an Asynchronous Online Module on University Students' Understanding of the Bohr Model of the Hydrogen Atom

Science.gov (United States)

Farina, William J.; Bodzin, Alec M.

2017-12-01

Web-based learning is a growing field in education, yet empirical research into the design of high quality Web-based university science instruction is scarce. A one-week asynchronous online module on the Bohr Model of the atom was developed and implemented guided by the knowledge integration framework. The unit design aligned with three identified metaprinciples of science learning: making science accessible, making thinking visible, and promoting autonomy. Students in an introductory chemistry course at a large east coast university completed either an online module or traditional classroom instruction. Data from 99 students were analyzed and results showed significant knowledge growth in both online and traditional formats. For the online learning group, findings revealed positive student perceptions of their learning experiences, highly positive feedback for online science learning, and an interest amongst students to learn chemistry within an online environment.

E-COMMERCE FACTORS INFLUENCING CONSUMERS‘ ONLINE SHOPPING DECISION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Živilė Baubonienė

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving online shopping and to develop an understanding of the factors influencing the online shopping by the consumers. This is done by exploring the factors that encourage consumers to shop online through analysis of such advantages as security, fast delivery, comparable price, convenience, cheaper prices and a wider choice. At the same time, the research project reveals the factors that are discouraging for consumers and the benefits received by buyers making purchases online. Specifically, the research explores how online shopping can be affected by such factors as age, gender or occupation. Design/methodology/approach – The factors that affect the consumer online shopping have been disclosed through quantitative research by analysing data collected via a web‐based questionnaire survey. The sample consisted of 183 Lithuanian consumers who were purchasing online. Findings –The empirical findings of this study indicate that the main factors influencing consumers to shop online are convenience, simplicity and better price. Analysis of socio-demographical characteristics such as gender has shown that men shop more often online because of the lower price. Respondents of the 25–35 year age group more often choose shopping online for such reasons as lack of time and a wide range of products. The most beneficial factor of shopping online was identified as a possibility to compare prices and buy at a lower price. Research limitations/implications – This study was done regarding only general conditions and the findings may not necessarily be applicable to a particular e-business. Therefore, in the future it would be highly encouraged to examine consumers’ attitudes towards specialized online shopping websites to look for differences by kind of products or services.Practical implications – Attributes identified by this study could help e-business developers to forme their

Socially Challenged Collaborative Learning of Secondary School Students in Singapore

Science.gov (United States)

Pang, Christopher; Lau, Jesslyn; Seah, Chong Poh; Cheong, Linda; Low, Audrey

2018-01-01

Using a grounded theory research design, this paper examined the collaborative learning experiences of secondary school students in Singapore. The core phenomenon that emerged was the need for social interactions in collaborative learning, both in classroom and online settings. Educators often take for granted that effective collaborative learning…

E-commerce factors influencing consumers‘ online shopping decision

OpenAIRE

Baubonienė, Živilė; Gulevičiūtė, Gintarė

2015-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to look at the factors driving online shopping and to develop an understanding of the factors influencing the online shopping by the consumers. This is done by exploring the factors that encourage consumers to shop online through analysis of such advantages as security, fast delivery, comparable price, convenience, cheaper prices and a wider choice. At the same time, the research project reveals the factors that are discouraging for consumers and the ben...

Personality traits and life satisfaction among online game players.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Lily Shui-Lien; Tu, Hill Hung-Jen; Wang, Edward Shih-Tse

2008-04-01

The DFC Intelligence predicts worldwide online game revenues will reach $9.8 billion by 2009, making online gaming a mainstream recreational activity. Understanding online game player personality traits is therefore important. This study researches the relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction in online game players. Taipei, Taiwan, is the study location, with questionnaire surveys conducted in cyber cafe shops. Multiple regression analysis studies the causal relationship between personality traits and life satisfaction in online game players. The result shows that neuroticism has significant negative influence on life satisfaction. Both openness and conscientiousness have significant positive influence on life satisfaction. Finally, implications for leisure practice and further research are discussed.

Online kinship

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andreassen, Rikke

2016-01-01

The article shows how the technology of social media sites facilitates new kinds of kinship. It ana-lyzes how ‘donor families’ – i.e., families in which the children are conceived via sperm and/or egg donations – negotiate kinship, family formations and gender when connecting with each other online...... families as well as interviews with users of this Facebook group, the article shows how the affordances of social media, especially the Facebook application for smart phones, are central to the formation and maintenance of new kinship relations. Furthermore, the article illustrates how conventional....... Family formation and parenting are closely connected with gender and gender norms, and online donor families, therefore, offer an opportunity for understanding gender and gender for-mations in contemporary times and contemporary media. By analyzing commentary threads of a Facebook group connecting donor...

Exploring the Interactions on an Online Narrative Writing Platform

Science.gov (United States)

Annamalai, Nagaletchimee; Eng, Tan Kok; Abdullah, Amelia; Sivagurunathan, Sorojini

2015-01-01

Purpose: This paper reports a study that investigated the interactions of six students learning to write narrative essays on an online narrative writing platform (ONWP). Participants were six students and a teacher from an urban Chinese Secondary School in the northern region of Malaysia. Methodology: The qualitative data used in this study were…

Designing and Implementing an Online GIS Tool for Schools: The Finnish Case of the PaikkaOppi Project

Science.gov (United States)

Riihelä, Juha; Mäki, Sanna

2015-01-01

This article describes initiatives implemented in Finland to create an online learning environment for studying geographic information systems (GIS). A development project produced an online GIS tool called PaikkaOppi, aimed at promoting GIS studies and spatial thinking skills in upper secondary schools. The project is reviewed through analysis of…

Development and outlook of online grocery retail in the Czech Republic and beyond

OpenAIRE

Biznár, Filip

2015-01-01

The aim of this thesis is to provide a comprehensive understanding of successful strategies in retail trade, overview of the Czech online grocery retail market and provide recommendations how to succeed in this market. This diploma thesis is intended to help established big grocery retailers, start-ups venturing into the online grocery retail and prospective investors into such start-ups understand the Czech online grocery market. First, we provide a summary of the major developments in the h...

Using Online Lectures to Make Time for Active Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Prunuske, Amy J.; Batzli, Janet; Howell, Evelyn; Miller, Sarah

2012-01-01

To make time in class for group activities devoted to critical thinking, we integrated a series of short online lectures into the homework assignments of a large, introductory biology course at a research university. The majority of students viewed the online lectures before coming to class and reported that the online lectures helped them to complete the in-class activity and did not increase the amount of time they devoted to the course. In addition, students who viewed the online lecture performed better on clicker questions designed to test lower-order cognitive skills. The in-class activities then gave the students practice analyzing the information in groups and provided the instructor with feedback about the students’ understanding of the material. On the basis of the results of this study, we support creating hybrid course models that allow students to learn the fundamental information outside of class time, thereby creating time during the class period to be dedicated toward the conceptual understanding of the material. PMID:22714412

Student Interactions in Online Discussion Forum: Empirical Research from "Media Richness Theory" Perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Balaji, M. S.; Chakrabarti, Diganta

2010-01-01

The present study contributes to the understanding of the effectiveness of online discussion forum in student learning. A conceptual model based on "theory of online learning" and "media richness theory" was proposed and empirically tested. We extend the current understanding of media richness theory to suggest that use of…

Validation of a questionnaire to measure sexual health knowledge and understanding (Sexual Health Questionnaire) in Nepalese secondary school: A psychometric process.

Science.gov (United States)

Acharya, Dev Raj; Thomas, Malcolm; Cann, Rosemary

2016-01-01

School-based sex education has the potential to prevent unwanted pregnancy and to promote positive sexual health at the individual, family and community level. To develop and validate a sexual health questionnaire to measure young peoples' sexual health knowledge and understanding (SHQ) in Nepalese secondary school. Secondary school students (n = 259, male = 43.63%, female = 56.37%) and local experts (n = 9, male = 90%, female = 10%) were participated in this study. Evaluation processes were; content validity (>0.89), plausibility check (>95), item-total correlation (>0.3), factor loading (>0.4), principal component analysis (4 factors Kaiser's criterion), Chronbach's alpha (>0.65), face validity and internal consistency using test-retest reliability (P > 0.05). The principal component analysis revealed four factors to be extracted; sexual health norms and beliefs, source of sexual health information, sexual health knowledge and understanding, and level of sexual awareness. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy demonstrated that the patterns of correlations are relatively compact (>0.80). Chronbach's alpha for each factors were above the cut-off point (0.65). Face validity indicated that the questions were clear to the majority of the respondent. Moreover, there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) in the responses to the items at two time points at seven weeks later. The finding suggests that SHQ is a valid and reliable instrument to be used in schools to measure sexual health knowledge and understanding. Further analysis such as structured equation modelling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis could make the questionnaire more robust and applicable to the wider school population.

How online sexual health services could work; generating theory to support development.

Science.gov (United States)

Baraitser, Paula; Syred, Jonathan; Spencer-Hughes, Vicki; Howroyd, Chris; Free, Caroline; Holdsworth, Gillian

2015-12-05

Online sexual health services are an emerging area of service delivery. Theory of change critically analyses programmes by specifying planned inputs and articulating the causal pathways that link these to anticipated outcomes. It acknowledges the changing and contested nature of these relationships. We developed two versions of a theory of change for an online sexual health service. The first articulated the theory presented in the original programme proposal and the second documented its development in the early stages of implementation through interviews with key programme stakeholders. The programme proposal described an autonomous and empowered user completing a sexual health check using a more convenient, accessible and discreet online service and a shift from clinic based to online care. The stakeholder interviews confirmed this and described new and more complex patterns of service use as the online service creates opportunities for providers to contact users outside of the traditional clinic visit and users move between online and clinic based care. They described new types of user/provider relationships which we categorised as: those influenced by an online retail culture; those influenced by health promotion outreach and surveillance and those acknowledging the need for supported access. This analysis of stakeholder views on the likely the impacts of online sexual health services suggests three areas for further thinking and research. 1. Co-development of clinic and online services to support complex patterns of service use. 2. Developing access to online services for those who could use them with support. 3. Understanding user experience of sexual health services as increasing user autonomy and choice in some situations; creating exclusion and a need for support in others and intrusiveness and a lack of control in still others. This work has influenced the evaluation of this programme which will focus on; mapping patterns of use to understand how users

Searching for Socrates: How to Engage Online Students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William Swart

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Our university enrolls over 500 students in its online Master of Business Administration (MBA program. In this paper we present tools that were developed to better engage students with their online learning environment. Over 85% of our students reported that individually and collectively these tools were more effective in helping them to understand the material.

College Student Academic Online Reading: A Review of the Current Literature

Science.gov (United States)

Sandberg, Kate

2011-01-01

Teaching college students how to read online effectively is an important area of concern. Libraries have become digitized with online articles and e-books; e-textbooks are available and used; and instructors routinely assign online articles of some length. It is critical that instructors who teach reading at the college level understand the theory…

Why do young adults gamble online? A qualitative study of motivations to transition from social casino games to online gambling.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Hyoun S; Wohl, Michael J A; Gupta, Rina; Derevensky, Jeffrey L

2017-01-01

The present research examined the mechanisms of initiating online gambling among young adults. Of particular interest was whether social casino gaming was noted as part of young adults' experience with online gambling. This is because there is growing concern that social casino gaming may be a 'gateway' to online gambling. Three focus groups ( N  = 21) were conducted with young adult online gamblers from two large Canadian Universities. Participants noted the role of peer influence as well as incentives (e.g., sign up bonuses) as important factors that motivated them to start engaging in online gambling. Participants also noted a link between social casino games and online gambling. Specifically, several young adults reported migrating to online gambling within a relatively short period after engaging with social casino games. Potential mechanisms that may lead to the migration from social casino games to online gambling included the role of advertisements and the inflated pay out rates on these free to play gambling like games. The results suggest initiatives to prevent the development of disordered gambling should understand the potential of social casino gaming to act as a gateway to online gambling, especially amongst this vulnerable population.

Why do young adults gamble online? A qualitative study of motivations to transition from social casino games to online gambling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hyoun S. Kim

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract The present research examined the mechanisms of initiating online gambling among young adults. Of particular interest was whether social casino gaming was noted as part of young adults’ experience with online gambling. This is because there is growing concern that social casino gaming may be a ‘gateway’ to online gambling. Three focus groups (N = 21 were conducted with young adult online gamblers from two large Canadian Universities. Participants noted the role of peer influence as well as incentives (e.g., sign up bonuses as important factors that motivated them to start engaging in online gambling. Participants also noted a link between social casino games and online gambling. Specifically, several young adults reported migrating to online gambling within a relatively short period after engaging with social casino games. Potential mechanisms that may lead to the migration from social casino games to online gambling included the role of advertisements and the inflated pay out rates on these free to play gambling like games. The results suggest initiatives to prevent the development of disordered gambling should understand the potential of social casino gaming to act as a gateway to online gambling, especially amongst this vulnerable population.

Work–Family Conflict Among Athletic Trainers in the Secondary School Setting

Science.gov (United States)

Pitney, William A.; Mazerolle, Stephanie M.; Pagnotta, Kelly D.

2011-01-01

Abstract Context: Work–family conflict (WFC) negatively affects a professional's ability to function at work or home. Objective: To examine perceptions of and contributing factors to WFC among secondary school athletic trainers. Design: Sequential explanatory mixed-methods study. Setting: Secondary school. Patients or Other Participants: From a random sample of 1325 individuals selected from the National Athletic Trainers' Association Member Services database, 415 individuals (203 women, 212 men; age = 36.8 ± 9.3 years) provided usable online survey data. Fourteen individuals participated in follow-up interviews. Intervention(s): Online WFC questionnaire followed by in-depth phone interviews. Main Outcome Measure(s): Descriptive statistics were obtained to examine perceived WFC. Pearson product moment correlations were calculated to examine the relationship between work hours, total athletic training staff, and number of children and WFC score. We performed analysis of variance to examine differences between the independent variables of sex and control over work schedule and the dependent variable of WFC score. The a priori α was set at P ≤ .05. Qualitative data were analyzed using inductive content analysis. Multiple-analyst triangulation and member checks established trustworthiness of the qualitative data. Results: Mean WFC scores were 23.97 ± 7.78 for scale 1 (family defined as having a partner or spouse with or without children) and 23.17 ± 7.69 for scale 2 (family defined as individuals, including parents, siblings, grandparents, and any other close relatives, involved in one's life), indicating moderate perceived WFC. A significant relationship was found between the average hours of work per week and WFC scores: those with less scheduling control experienced more WFC. Two dimensions emerged from the qualitative methods that relate to how WFC is mitigated in the secondary school environment: (1) organizational—having colleagues and administration

USING ONLINE TOOLS FOR EVALUATION THE DIGITAL COMPETENCE OF TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS IN NORWAY

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Iryna V. Ivanyuk

2015-05-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the problems of digital competence evaluation in general secondary education in Norway. Attention is drawn to the fact that the monitoring and evaluation of digital competence of the participants of the educational process in secondary schools at the national level, specially created Norwegian Centre for ICT in education. The content and process using online tools for self-evaluation of digital competence of teachers and principals are described. The examples of estimation of digital competence through online tools «School Mentor» and «Teacher Mentor» on levels and proposed activities to improve are presented. The main approaches used in the formation of scale evaluation of the level of digital competence of the teacher are found out.

Lost in Translation: Understanding Students' Use of Social Networking and Online Resources to Support Early Clinical Practices. A National Survey of Graduate Speech-Language Pathology Students

Science.gov (United States)

Boster, Jamie B.; McCarthy, John W.

2018-01-01

The Internet is a source of many resources for graduate speech-language pathology (SLP) students. It is important to understand the resources students are aware of, which they use, and why they are being chosen as sources of information for therapy activities. A national online survey of graduate SLP students was conducted to assess their…

Supporting second grade lower secondary school students’ understanding of linear equation system in two variables using ethnomathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Nursyahidah, F.; Saputro, B. A.; Rubowo, M. R.

2018-03-01

The aim of this research is to know the students’ understanding of linear equation system in two variables using Ethnomathematics and to acquire learning trajectory of linear equation system in two variables for the second grade of lower secondary school students. This research used methodology of design research that consists of three phases, there are preliminary design, teaching experiment, and retrospective analysis. Subject of this study is 28 second grade students of Sekolah Menengah Pertama (SMP) 37 Semarang. The result of this research shows that the students’ understanding in linear equation system in two variables can be stimulated by using Ethnomathematics in selling buying tradition in Peterongan traditional market in Central Java as a context. All of strategies and model that was applied by students and also their result discussion shows how construction and contribution of students can help them to understand concept of linear equation system in two variables. All the activities that were done by students produce learning trajectory to gain the goal of learning. Each steps of learning trajectory of students have an important role in understanding the concept from informal to the formal level. Learning trajectory using Ethnomathematics that is produced consist of watching video of selling buying activity in Peterongan traditional market to construct linear equation in two variables, determine the solution of linear equation in two variables, construct model of linear equation system in two variables from contextual problem, and solving a contextual problem related to linear equation system in two variables.

Cancer patients' attitudes and experiences of online access to their electronic medical records: A qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rexhepi, Hanife; Åhlfeldt, Rose-Mharie; Cajander, Åsa; Huvila, Isto

2018-06-01

Patients' access to their online medical records serves as one of the cornerstones in the efforts to increase patient engagement and improve healthcare outcomes. The aim of this article is to provide in-depth understanding of cancer patients' attitudes and experiences of online medical records, as well as an increased understanding of the complexities of developing and launching e-Health services. The study result confirms that online access can help patients prepare for doctor visits and to understand their medical issues. In contrast to the fears of many physicians, the study shows that online access to medical records did not generate substantial anxiety, concerns or increased phone calls to the hospital.

Factors Influencing Part-time Faculty Engagement With Online Nursing Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Reneau, Margaret; Wallace, Cara; Claywell, Lora; Price, Jill; Burdi, Melissa; Trybulski, Joanne

2018-03-28

This research investigated factors that influenced the engagement of part-time faculty teaching in online nursing programs with their institutions. Of the 257 part-time faculty surveyed, the most significant factor was being supported in decisions regarding student issues, followed by institutional commitment to quality online education. Compensation was moderately influential; a negative factor was requiring too frequent meetings. Understanding factors that influence the engagement of part-time faculty teaching in online nursing programs can help leaders of online programs attract and retain experienced, highly skilled faculty.

PEER-FEEDBACK AND ONLINE INTERACTION: A CASE STUDY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martha Isabel Espitia

2013-08-01

Full Text Available The implementation of information and communication technologies (ICTs in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL classroom has led to different practices and types of interaction. Online interaction allows teachers and students to use the target language beyond the classroom and provides students with more time to be exposed to and use the language. This case study aimed at understanding how a group of twelve students at Universidad de la Sabana, who participated in online forums as part of the requirements of a blended EFL course, interacted online to provide peer-feedback on written compositions. It also analyzed how online interaction was undertaken when using online forums. Findings suggest that participants raised awareness about the relevance of editing to avoid possible language problems by reviewing their peers' products and that the implementation of online peer feedback as an assessment strategy reveals students' beliefs towards language assessment.

Demographic Composition of the Online Buyers in Turkey

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Sinan NARDALI

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Demographic variables may have an impact on Internet usage patterns. Online buyers’ characteristics keeps changing time along with the shifting dynamics of Turkish consumers’ demographic profile and day by day online shopping becomes a safe and popular option in Turkey. Current study investigates demographic composition of the online buyers that influence consumer attitudes towards online shopping behavior in Izmir, the third largest city in Turkey. This study examines attitudes toward online shopping and provides a better understanding of the potential of online buyers for both researchers and practitioners. The study is based on an empirical research work, and a convenience sample of 400. Frequencies, descriptive statistics, and One-Way ANOVA tests were used in the analysis of data. The study shows that Turkish Internet consumer segment is relatively young, well educated, in mid economic status and professions associated with Internet more than five years.

Aplikasi Penjualan Online Web Menggunakan Php Pada Toko Medan

OpenAIRE

Prabowo, Andika

2016-01-01

This study aims to build an online sales website in Medan store advertising, Website is developed using software Apache, PHP and MySQL. This website serves to conduct advertising and selling goods which included a variety of Categories and assorted advertising items for visitors, and besides, this website serves mengiklanan field stores the product in this website. The purpose peranjangan online sales website is to understand the system of sales and online sales strategies to increase profits...

Using a Comprehensive Model to Test and Predict the Factors of Online Learning Effectiveness

Science.gov (United States)

He, Minyan

2013-01-01

As online learning is an important part of higher education, the effectiveness of online learning has been tested with different methods. Although the literature regarding online learning effectiveness has been related to various factors, a more comprehensive review of the factors may result in broader understanding of online learning…

Understanding and Targeting Indonesian Young Adult Internet Users

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Andreas Chang

2010-11-01

Full Text Available As the number of global internet users increases, companies’ online advertisement expenditure also grows rapidly. Companies face challenges in targeting the right customers. Understanding which websites are often visited by target users and what they do on the internet will help companies direct their online advertisement to the right target. Using questionnaires, this study examines which sites are most often visited by Indonesian young adult internet users and what they do on the internet. It aims to understand the patterns of behavior of these users. The findings of this study provide some understanding to the marketers. Of consequence, such understanding would help them to select where and what to do with their advertisements when they are targeting the young adult internet users in Indonesia. 

The Interplay Between Online and Offline Community Culture

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kornum, Niels; Gyrd-Jones, Richard; Al Zagir, Nadia

This study examines the interplay between online and offline community cultures based on identifying the distinct features of both. Studying this interaction explicitly and in empirical analysis is new to community literature and brands can through this better know the communities to which...... they relate. The findings reveal that without a thorough understanding of both online and offline cultures and their interaction, companies or brands may get a misleading picture of these cultures. For instance, if only looking at the culture online and not core values offline, the company might intervene...

Fostering High-School Students' Self-Regulated Learning Online and across Academic Domains

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Jeffrey Alan; Bolick, Cheryl Mason; Caprino, A. Michael; Deekens, Victor M.; McVea, Megan; Yu, Seung; Jackson, William P.

2015-01-01

The proliferation of online information has not come with a commensurate growth in students' ability to learn from that information. Today's students may be digitally native online communicators, but many lack the knowledge and skills necessary to navigate, find, and integrate online information into coherent understanding. Students who are able…

Facing regulatory challenges of on-line hemodiafiltration.

Science.gov (United States)

Kümmerle, Wolfgang

2011-01-01

On-line hemodiafiltration (on-line HDF) is the result of a vision that triggered multifarious changes in very different areas. Driven by the idea to offer better medical treatment for renal patients, technological innovations were developed and established that also constituted new challenges in the field of regulatory affairs. The existing regulations predominantly addressed the quality and safety of those products needed to perform dialysis treatment which were supplied by industrial manufacturers. However, the complexity of treatment system required for the provision of on-line fluids demanded a holistic approach encompassing all components involved. Hence, focus was placed not only on single products, but much more on their interfacing, and the clinical infrastructure, in particular, had to undergo substantial changes. The overall understanding of the interaction between such factors, quite different in their nature, was crucial to overcome the arising regulatory obstacles. This essay describes the evolution of the on-line HDF procedure from the regulatory point of view. A simplified diagram demonstrates the path taken from the former regulatory understanding to the realization of necessary changes. That achievement was only possible through 'management of preview' and consequent promotion of technical and medical innovations as well as regulatory re-evaluations. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel.

I always feel like somebody's watching me measuring online behavioural advertising

OpenAIRE

Carrascosa, Juan Miguel; Mikians, Jakub; Cuevas, Ruben; Erramilli, Vijay; Laoutaris, Nikolaos

2015-01-01

Online Behavioural targeted Advertising (OBA) has risen in prominence as a method to increase the effectiveness of online advertising. OBA operates by associating tags or labels to users based on their online activity and then using these labels to target them. This rise has been accompanied by privacy concerns from researchers, regulators and the press. In this paper, we present a novel methodology for measuring and understanding OBA in the online advertising market. We rely on training arti...

A conceptual framework to understand teachers’ Professional Dispositions and Orientation towards tablet technology in secondary schools

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Suzanne Sackstein

2017-10-01

Full Text Available While recent technological innovations have resulted in calls to incorporate tablets into the classroom, schools have been criticised for not taking advantage of what the technology has to offer. Past research has shown that teachers do not automatically choose to adopt technology in the classroom. A number of concerns exist in relation to the research being conducted within this area. Firstly, the majority of research studies have not been based on sound conceptual frameworks. Secondly, for the most part, these research studies have tended to focus on the technology itself rather than the resulting changes in teaching and learning. Finally, much of the literature is premised on constructivist pedagogic practices which offer promissories of radical pedagogic change. An understanding of technology teachers’ orientations to the new technology, coupled with an understanding of the reasons behind teachers’ choices to adopt or not adopt technology has not yet been fully explored. From a review of the literature in relation to teachers’ Professional Dispositions, derived from the work of Bernstein on the pedagogic discourse, alongside Hooper and Rieber’s model on educational technology adoption a conceptual framework has been developed to will shed light on secondary school teachers’ differential adoption of tablet technology.

Digital Social Norm Enforcement: Online Firestorms in Social Media.

Science.gov (United States)

Rost, Katja; Stahel, Lea; Frey, Bruno S

2016-01-01

Actors of public interest today have to fear the adverse impact that stems from social media platforms. Any controversial behavior may promptly trigger temporal, but potentially devastating storms of emotional and aggressive outrage, so called online firestorms. Popular targets of online firestorms are companies, politicians, celebrities, media, academics and many more. This article introduces social norm theory to understand online aggression in a social-political online setting, challenging the popular assumption that online anonymity is one of the principle factors that promotes aggression. We underpin this social norm view by analyzing a major social media platform concerned with public affairs over a period of three years entailing 532,197 comments on 1,612 online petitions. Results show that in the context of online firestorms, non-anonymous individuals are more aggressive compared to anonymous individuals. This effect is reinforced if selective incentives are present and if aggressors are intrinsically motivated.

Understanding Korean experiences of online game hype, identity, and the menace of the "Wang-tta".

OpenAIRE

Chee, Florence

2005-01-01

THEME: Internationalism: Worlds at Play The context South Korea continues to set the pace in the world of online games. The nation is a world leader in broadband penetration rates and has a very high level of online game playing. This study reports on the intricate relationship between the sociocultural factors at work in Korean game communities and the context of how games are received. The original field research reported here adds to current knowledge of the interplay between science, tech...

Perceptions and behaviours towards online travel reviews

OpenAIRE

Lopes, Romeu; Abrantes, José Luís; Kastenholz, Elisabeth

2015-01-01

Online recommendations, comments and reviews are becoming important information sources for tourists, which are increasingly informed and demanding. The credibility and importance given to these reviews has triggered new dynamics in tourism. The main purpose of this research is to explore some of this trends, in order to contribute to a better understanding of consumer behaviour in the online context. This exploratory study follows a quantitative approach, using a web survey targeted to i...

Essays on Online and Multi-Channel Marketing

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Lingling

2016-01-01

Firms increasingly adopt online and multi-channel marketing strategies to reach and persuade consumers. Therefore, designing an effective marketing mix is critical to their success. The aim of my dissertation is to understand the strategy behind firms’ channel choices and assess marketing effectiveness. It consists of three large-scale empirical studies examining several important aspects of online and multi-channel marketing. My first essay focuses on the business-to-business (B2B) inte...

Risky internet behaviors of middle-school students: communication with online strangers and offline contact.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess Dowdell, Elizabeth

2011-06-01

In today's world, more adolescents are using the Internet as an avenue for social communication and a source of information and to experiment with risky online behaviors. To better understand how early adolescents are using the Internet, a study was undertaken to more clearly identify online use and online risky behaviors and to describe any online relationships with strangers middle-school students may be participating in. This exploratory study adapted the Youth Internet Safety Survey of Finkelhor et al to identify the usage and characteristics of online youth, solicitation of youth, and risky behaviors. Four hundred and four students, with a mean age of 12 years, were recruited from public and parochial schools located in the Northeast. Findings from this study indicate that of a total sample of 404 middle-school students, a small grouping (n = 59; 14.6%) are beginning risky online communication behaviors with strangers. Students who communicated online with strangers were older and had higher rates of posting personal information, risky online behaviors, and stealing. The majority of this group (84%) met offline with the online stranger, and three students reported having been assaulted. Findings suggest that early adolescents are beginning risky online and offline behaviors. Understanding their experiences is important since they highlight how middle-school students are undertaking risks in a new environment that many adults and parents do not fully understand. Clinicians, educators, healthcare providers, and other professionals need to be informed of Internet behaviors in order to assess for risk, to make referrals, to intervene, and to educate.

Universality and correlations in individuals wandering through an online extremist space

Science.gov (United States)

Cao, Z.; Zheng, M.; Vorobyeva, Y.; Song, C.; Johnson, N. F.

2018-03-01

The "out of the blue" nature of recent terror attacks and the diversity of apparent motives highlight the importance of understanding the online trajectories that individuals follow prior to developing high levels of extremist support. Here we show that the physics of stochastic walks, with and without temporal correlation, provides a unifying description of these online trajectories. Our unique data set comprising all users of a global social media site reveals universal characteristics in individuals' online lifetimes. Our accompanying theory generates analytical and numerical solutions that describe the characteristics shown by individuals that go on to develop high levels of extremist support and those that do not. Going forward, it is conceivable that a deeper understanding of these temporal and many-body correlations may eventually contribute to the important task of better countering the spread of radical propaganda online.

MO-E-BRC-00: Online Adaptive Radiotherapy - Considerations for Practical Clinical Implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2016-01-01

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

MO-E-BRC-00: Online Adaptive Radiotherapy - Considerations for Practical Clinical Implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2016-06-15

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

Social support and social interaction ties on internet addiction: integrating online and offline contexts.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Edward Shih-Tse; Wang, Michael Chih-Hung

2013-11-01

This study explores the relationship between social support and social interaction ties on Internet addiction by integrating both online and offline social encounters. A total of 1,642 members of online social communities participated in this research, for which structural equation modeling was used for analysis. The findings show that social support is positively associated with social interaction ties in both online and offline contexts. In addition, online social support and online social interaction ties are positively associated with Internet addiction, whereas offline social support and social interaction ties on Internet addiction are negatively associated. This finding has important implications not only for understanding the cause of Internet addiction but also for understanding the diminishing Internet addiction due to social support and social interaction ties.

Online marketing and advertising research : Traditional Theories Revisited

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yudhistira, Titah

2016-01-01

Online marketing and advertising instruments—and the ways in which consumers react to them—are always evolving, which results in ongoing gaps in knowledge. This dissertation aims to fill some of these gaps by providing a greater understanding of how the Internet impacts online marketing and

Online ecological and environmental data

CERN Document Server

Baldwin, Virginia Ann

2014-01-01

Discover important Internet resources for research data made public individually and collectively by researchers from a variety of entities in the fields of environmental studies and ecology Online Ecological and Environmental Data explores innovative projects from a diverse array of institutions that have made environmental and ecological research information freely available online. You will find a wealth of Web site listings with URLs and complete descriptions, data field descriptions, controlled vocabulary examples, and Web screen shots that demonstrate how to use a specific site. The book will help you locate the data, procedures, instruments, notes, and other descriptive information that scientists and engineers need for replicating and building on the research of others. With Online Ecological and Environmental Data, you''ll gain a better understanding of: * the cooperative design, development, and management of interdisciplinary data * cataloging multidisciplinary environmental data * data netw...

How Online Journalists Learn within a Non-Formal Context

Science.gov (United States)

Kronstad, Morten; Eide, Martin

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of workplace learning, with a focus on the non-formal learning that takes place among online journalists. The focus of this article is journalists working in an online newspaper and their experiences with workplace and non-formal learning, centering on framework conditions…

The Experience of Teaching Online in Nursing Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Gazza, Elizabeth A

2017-06-01

Online education has become a key instructional delivery method in nursing education; however, limited understanding exists about what it is like to teach online. The aim of this study was to uncover the experience of teaching online in nursing education. The sample for this phenomenological study included 14 nursing faculty who completed at least 50% of their teaching workload assignment in fully online courses in baccalaureate, master's, or doctoral nursing programs. Data were collected through the use of a demographic questionnaire and personal interviews. Four themes emerged from the data: (a) Looking at a Lot of Moving Parts, (b) Always Learning New Things, (c) Going Back and Forth, and (d) Time Is a Blessing and a Curse. Online teaching in nursing education differs from traditional classroom teaching in a variety of ways. Policies and guidelines that govern faculty teaching should encompass the identified intricacies of online teaching. [J Nurs Educ. 2017;56(6):343-349.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Online cognitive-behavioural treatment of bulimic symptoms: a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruwaard, Jeroen; Lange, Alfred; Broeksteeg, Janneke; Renteria-Agirre, Aitziber; Schrieken, Bart; Dolan, Conor V; Emmelkamp, Paul

2013-01-01

Manualized cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) is underutilized in the treatment of bulimic symptoms. Internet-delivered treatment may reduce current barriers. This study aimed to assess the efficacy of a new online CBT of bulimic symptoms. Participants with bulimic symptoms (n = 105) were randomly allocated to online CBT, bibliotherapy or waiting list/delayed treatment condition. Data were gathered at pre-treatment, post-treatment and 1-year follow-up. The primary outcome measures were the Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the frequency of binge eating and purging episodes. The secondary outcome measure was the Body Attitude Test. Dropout from Internet treatment was 26%. Intention-to-treat ANCOVAs of post-test data revealed that the EDE-Q scores and the frequency of binging and purging reduced more in the online CBT group compared with the bibliotherapy and waiting list groups (pooled between-group effect size: d = 0.9). At 1-year follow-up, improvements in the online CBT group had sustained. This study identifies online CBT as a viable alternative in the treatment of bulimic symptoms. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Online Community and User-Generated Content: Understanding the Role of Social Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Oh, Jeong Ha

2010-01-01

Models of user generated content (UGC) creation such as Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube are facing robust growth accelerated by the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies and standards. These business models offer a fascinating avenue for exploring the role of social influence online. This dissertation is motivated by the success of YouTube, which is…

Assessment of secondary aluminum reserves of nations

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maung, Kyaw Nyunt; Yoshida, Tomoharu; Liu, Gang

2017-01-01

aluminum resources are accumulated in landfill sites. Understanding the sizes of primary and secondary aluminum reserves enables us to extend knowledge of efficient raw material sourcing from a narrow perspective of primary reserves alone to a broader perspective of both primary and secondary reserves...

The Necessary Components of a Staff Development Program to Prepare Teachers to Teach Secondary Online Classes: a Delphi Study

OpenAIRE

Davidson, John Wesley

2005-01-01

Educators are faced with the rapid influx of online courses in the K-12 educational setting. The majority of research conducted to date has been in the area of higher education. Research and publications suggest that many factors control the success or failure of students enrolled in online courses. These factors include student characteristics, mentoring, and teacher/student interaction. Other factors affect the implementation of successful online courses and virtual schools. These factors i...

Adult Student Expectations and Experiences in an Online Learning Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Bourdeaux, Renee; Schoenack, Lindsie

2016-01-01

This study investigated adult student experiences with instructors in online classes. Using expectancy violations theory as a lens, we conducted 22 interviews to understand reasons students enroll in online classes, expectations for instructors, and behaviors instructors employed that may or may not meet expectations. We conducted a thematic…

Faculty Professional Development and Student Satisfaction in Online Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Kane, Robert Todd; Shaw, Melanie; Pang, Sangho; Salley, Witt; Snider, J. Blake

2016-01-01

With the ever-increasing availability of online education opportunities, understanding the factors that influence online student satisfaction and success is vital to enable administrators to engage and retain this important stakeholder group. The purpose of this ex-post-facto, nonexperimental quantitative study was to investigate the impact of…

Bereaved parents’ online grief communities: de-tabooing practices or relationbuilding grief-ghettos?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sandvik, Kjetil; Christensen, Dorthe Refslund; Hård af Segerstad, Ylva

their loss as well as their ability to establish and continue their role as parents. However, with new practices on children’s graves, the growing use of memory tattoos and especially the use of online media as platform for various communities for bereaved parents, this seem to be changing and strengthen...... both the interpersonal communication and social interactions about and with the deceased child. This study presents results from case studies of both open and closed online grief communities for bereaved parents in Denmark and Sweden (Refslund Christensen & Sandvik 2013, Hård af Segerstad & Kasperowski...... media, casting online communities for bereaved parents as grief-ghettos? Studying bereaved parents’ grief work in dynamic communities online enhances our understanding of contemporary and contributes to a nuancing of theoretical understanding of parental grief. References Christensen, D. R., & Sandvik...

Argument Graph as a Tool for Promoting Collaborative Online Reading

Science.gov (United States)

Kiili, Carita

2013-01-01

This study explored how the construction of an argument graph promotes students' collaborative online reading compared to note-taking. Upper secondary school students ("n"?=?76) worked in pairs. The pairs were asked to search for and read source material on the Web for a joint essay and either construct an argument graph or take notes…

Planck CMB Anomalies: Astrophysical and Cosmological Secondary Effects and the Curse of Masking

Science.gov (United States)

Rassat, Anais

2016-07-01

Large-scale anomalies have been reported in CMB data with both WMAP and Planck data. These could be due to foreground residuals and or systematic effects, though their confirmation with Planck data suggests they are not due to a problem in the WMAP or Planck pipelines. If these anomalies are in fact primordial, then understanding their origin is fundamental to either validate the standard model of cosmology or to explore new physics. We investigate three other possible issues: 1) the trade-off between minimising systematics due to foreground contamination (with a conservative mask) and minimising systematics due to masking, 2) astrophysical secondary effects (the kinetic Doppler quadrupole and kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect), and 3) secondary cosmological signals (the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect). We address the masking issue by considering new procedures that use both WMAP and Planck to produce higher quality full-sky maps using the sparsity methodology (LGMCA maps). We show the impact of masking is dominant over that of residual foregrounds, and the LGMCA full-sky maps can be used without further processing to study anomalies. We consider four official Planck PR1 and two LGMCA CMB maps. Analysis of the observed CMB maps shows that only the low quadrupole and quadrupole-octopole alignment seem significant, but that the planar octopole, Axis of Evil, mirror parity and cold spot are not significant in nearly all maps considered. After subtraction of astrophysical and cosmological secondary effects, only the low quadrupole may still be considered anomalous, meaning the significance of only one anomaly is affected by secondary effect subtraction out of six anomalies considered. In the spirit of reproducible research all reconstructed maps and codes are available online.

Psychometric properties of the problematic online gaming questionnaire short-form and prevalence of problematic online gaming in a national sample of adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Pápay, Orsolya; Urbán, Róbert; Griffiths, Mark D; Nagygyörgy, Katalin; Farkas, Judit; Kökönyei, Gyöngyi; Felvinczi, Katalin; Oláh, Attila; Elekes, Zsuzsanna; Demetrovics, Zsolt

2013-05-01

The rise and growing popularity of online games has led to the appearance of excessive gaming that in some cases can lead to physical and psychological problems. Several measures have been developed to explore the nature and the scale of the phenomenon. However, few measures have been validated psychometrically. The aim of the present study was to test the psychometric properties of the 12-item Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire Short-Form (POGQ-SF) and to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming. Data collection was carried out to assess the prevalence of problematic online gaming in a national representative adolescent sample by using an offline (pen and pencil) method. A total of 5,045 secondary school students were assessed (51% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years) of which 2,804 were gamers (65.4% male, mean age 16.4 years, SD=0.9 years). Confirmatory factor analysis was applied to test the measurement model of problematic online gaming, and latent profile analysis was used to identify the proportion of gamers whose online game use can be considered problematic. Results showed that the original six-factor model yielded appropriate fit to the data, and thus the POGQ-SF has appropriate psychometric properties. Latent profile analysis revealed that 4.6% of the adolescents belong to a high risk group and an additional 13.3% to a low risk group. Due to its satisfactory psychometric characteristics, the 12-item POGQ-SF appears to be an adequate tool for the assessment of problematic online gaming.

Message Received: Virtual Ethnography in Online Message Boards

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kevin F. Steinmetz

2012-02-01

Full Text Available As the Internet begins to encapsulate more people within online communities, it is important that the social researcher have well-rounded ethnographic methodologies for observing these phenomena. This article seeks to contribute to methodology by detailing and providing insights into three specific facets of virtual ethnography that need attention: space and time, identity and authenticity, and ethics. Because the Internet is a globalized and instantaneous medium where space and time collapse, identity becomes more playful, and ethics become more tenuous; understanding these aspects is crucial to the study of online social groups. A second focus of this article is to apply these notions to the study of online message boards—a frequently used medium for online communication that is frequently overlooked by methodologists.

Understanding the Information Research Process of Experienced Online Information Researchers to Inform Development of a Scholars Portal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Martha Whitehead

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Objective - The main purpose of this study was to understand the information research process of experienced online information researchers in a variety of disciplines, gather their ideas for improvement and as part of this to validate a proposed research framework for use in future development of Ontario’s Scholars Portal.Methods - This was a qualitative research study in which sixty experienced online information researchers participated in face-to-face workshops that included a collaborative design component. The sessions were conducted and recorded by usability specialists who subsequently analyzed the data and identified patterns and themes.Results - Key themes included the similarities of the information research process across all disciplines, the impact of interdisciplinarity, the social aspect of research and opportunities for process improvement. There were many specific observations regarding current and ideal processes. Implications for portal development and further research included: supporting a common process while accommodating user-defined differences; supporting citation chaining practices with new opportunities for data linkage and granularity; enhancing keyword searching with various types of intervention; exploring trusted social networks; exploring new mental models for data manipulation while retaining traditional objects; improving citation and document management. Conclusion – The majority of researchers in the study had almost no routine in their information research processes, had developed few techniques to assist themselves and had very little awareness of the tools available to help them. There are many opportunities to aid researchers in the research process that can be explored when developing scholarly research portals. That development will be well guided by the framework ‘discover, gather, synthesize, create, share.’

An Online Approach to Teaching International Outsourcing in Technical Communication Classes

Science.gov (United States)

St. Amant, Kirk

2005-01-01

The growth of international online access has given rise to a new production method--international outsourcing--that has important implications for technical communication practices. Successful interactions within international outsourcing require individuals to understand how cultural factors could affect online interactions. Today's technical…

Qualitative Secondary Analysis: A Case Exemplar.

Science.gov (United States)

Tate, Judith Ann; Happ, Mary Beth

Qualitative secondary analysis (QSA) is the use of qualitative data that was collected by someone else or was collected to answer a different research question. Secondary analysis of qualitative data provides an opportunity to maximize data utility, particularly with difficult-to-reach patient populations. However, qualitative secondary analysis methods require careful consideration and explicit description to best understand, contextualize, and evaluate the research results. In this article, we describe methodologic considerations using a case exemplar to illustrate challenges specific to qualitative secondary analysis and strategies to overcome them. Copyright © 2017 National Association of Pediatric Nurse Practitioners. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

ODI launches RAPID Outcome Mapping Approach online guide ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

17 juin 2014 ... The UK-based Overseas Development Institute has released its online guide to understanding, engaging with, and influencing policy. ROMA: A guide to policy engagement and influence contains a suite of tools that can be used to unpack complex problems, analyze stakeholder influence, and understand ...

Nacherzeugung, Nachverstehen: A phenomenological perspective on how public understanding of science changes by engaging with online media.

Science.gov (United States)

Roth, Wolff-Michael; Friesen, Norm

2014-10-01

It is widely acknowledged in science education that everyday understandings and evidence are generally inconsistent with the scientific view of the matter: "heartache" has little to do with matters cardiopulmonary, and a rising or setting sun actually reflects the movements of the earth. How then does a member of the general public, which in many areas of science is characterized as "illiterate" and "non-scientific," come to regard something scientifically? Moreover, how do traditional unscientific (e.g., Ptolemaic) views continue their lives, even many centuries after scientists have overthrown them in what are termed scientific (e.g., Copernican) revolutions? In this study, we develop a phenomenological perspective, using Edmund Husserl's categories of Nacherzeugung and Nachverstehen, which provide descriptive explanations for our observations. These observations are contextualized in a case study using online video and historical materials concerning the motions of the heart and blood to exemplify our explanations. © The Author(s) 2013.

Emotional Presence in Online Learning Scale: A Scale Development Study

Science.gov (United States)

Sarsar, Firat; Kisla, Tarik

2016-01-01

Although emotions are not a new topic in learning environments, the emerging technologies have changed not only the type of learning environments but also the perspectives of emotions in learning environments. This study designed to develop a survey to assist online instructors to understand students' emotional statement in online learning…

How Do Freshman Engineering Students Reflect an Online Calculus Course?

Science.gov (United States)

Boz, Burcak; Adnan, Muge

2017-01-01

Improved access to technology has led to an increase in the number of online courses and degree programs in higher education. Despite continuous progress, little attention is paid to "understanding" students prior to implementation of learning and teaching processes. Being a valuable input for design of online learning environments and…

[Training, the key to improving eHealth literacy of upper secondary school students].

Science.gov (United States)

Hernández-Rabanal, Carme; Vall, Aurora; Boter, Clara

To explore whether training on strategies to identify and assess health-related information online has a positive impact on students' perception of their own eHealth literacy. The validated eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) was administered to a sample of upper secondary school students, aged 15-18. One week later, they attended a training session on how to search and identify reliable health-related information and resources online. The eHEALS was administered again at the end of this session. Information about gender and school year was collected in both sessions. Perceived eHealth literacy was assessed by comparing the scores obtained before and after the session. Bivariate and multiple linear regressions were completed. Of the 298 students enrolled in upper secondary school (Bachillerato), 285 were included in the study. Approximately 52.28% (149) were female, and 47.72% (136) were male. The mean eHEALS score before the session was 24.19 (range: 8-40), and was 28.54 after it. The training was associated with higher perceived eHealth literacy scores (p <0,0001). Health literacy was positively associated with the usefulness and importance students give the Internet. Attendance at a training session on strategies to identify and assess health-related resources online is associated with higher levels of perceived eHealth literacy. Implementing specific training sessions on eHealth literacy in upper secondary school is a promising approach for enhancing students' eHealth literacy. Copyright © 2017 SESPAS. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Positives and negatives of online dating according to women 50.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandeweerd, Carla; Myers, Jaime; Coulter, Martha; Yalcin, Ali; Corvin, Jaime

2016-01-01

To understand the positives and negatives of online dating according to the lived experience of older women, telephone interviews were conducted with 45 women ages 50+ who date online. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and thematically team coded. The opportunity to expand one's social network for both friendships and romantic partners, the ability to control dating risks and pace of relationship formation, and knowing more about one's partner were significant reported benefits of online dating. Dating online also includes unique risks, such as pervasive lying, attempted financial exploitation in the form of scammers, and unwanted electronic sexual aggression.

Antecedents of loyalty in an online retailing business

OpenAIRE

Hashemi, Roshanak

2013-01-01

Retailing industry is challenged by empowered customers, scattered markets and intensified competition. Online retailing has a unique opportunity to take a leading role in the global marketplace by providing location free, customer controlled, and information rich retail service. Customer experience with an online retailer includes multiple factors. It is crucial to determine what website functions and features should be emphasized to create a satisfactory experience. Understanding an effecti...

Structural Changes in Online Discussion Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Yang, Yang; Medaglia, Rony

2014-01-01

Social networking platforms in China provide a hugely interesting and relevant source for understanding dynamics of online discussions in a unique socio-cultural and institutional environment. This paper investigates the evolution of patterns of similar-minded and different-minded interactions ov...

Asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy and self-regulated learning as predictors of academic achievement in an online class

Science.gov (United States)

McGhee, Rosie M. Hector

This research is a correlational study of the relationship among the independent variables: asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy, and self-regulated learning, and the dependent variable; academic achievement. This study involves an online computer literacy course at a local community college. Very little research exists on the relationship among asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy and self-regulated learning on predicting academic achievement in an online class. Liu (2008), in his study on student interaction in online courses, concluded that student interaction is a complex issue that needs more research to increase our understanding as it relates to distance education. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between asynchronous interaction, online technologies self-efficacy, self-regulated learning and academic achievement in an online computer literacy class at a community college. The researcher used quantitative methods to obtain and analyze data on the relationships among the variables during the summer 2010 semester. Forty-five community college students completed three web-based self-reporting instruments: (a) the GVU 10th WWW User Survey Questionnaire, (b) the Online Technologies Self-Efficacy Survey, and (c) selected items from the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire. Additional data was obtained from asynchronous discussions posted on Blackboard(TM) Learning Management System. The results of this study found that there were statistically significant relationships between asynchronous interaction and academic achievement (r = .55, p online technologies self-efficacy and academic achievement (r = .50, p online instructors, online course designers, faculty, students and others who are concerned about predictors for online students' success. Also, it serves as a foundation for future research and provides valuable information for educators interested in taking online teaching and

Understanding the adoption of third-party online payment : An empirical study of user acceptance of Alipay in China

OpenAIRE

Lin, Rui; Xie, Junsheng

2014-01-01

With the development of online shopping, the number of third-party online payment systems increases. Alipay is a commonly used third-party online payment system among Chinese consumers. The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that affect the users’ acceptance of Alipay among Chinese B2C customers. This study adopts a deductive, theory testing approach. Based on the model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), a research model and hypotheses were proposed. ...

Argumentative Knowledge Construction in an Online Graduate Mathematics Course: A Case Study

Science.gov (United States)

Bayazit, Nermin; Clarke, Pier Angeli Junor; Vidakovic, Draga

2018-01-01

The authors report on three students' argumentative knowledge construction in an asynchronous online graduate level geometry course designed for in-service secondary mathematics (ISM) teachers. Using Weinberger and Fischer's framework, they analyzed the ISM teachers' (a) geometry autobiography and (b) discussion board posts (both comments and…

Learning styles of registered nurses enrolled in an online nursing program.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Anita

2010-01-01

Technological advances assist in the proliferation of online nursing programs which meet the needs of the working nurse. Understanding online learning styles permits universities to adequately address the educational needs of the professional nurse returning for an advanced degree. The purpose of this study was to describe the learning styles of registered nurses (RNs) enrolled in an online master's nursing program or RN-bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. Kolb's learning style inventory (Version 3.1) was completed by 217 RNs enrolled in online courses at a Southeastern university. Descriptive statistical procedures were used for analysis. Thirty-one percent of the nurses were accommodators, 20% were assimilators, 19% were convergers, and 20% were divergers. Accommodators desire hand-on experiences, carrying out plans and tasks and using an intuitive trial-and-error approach to problem solving. The learning styles of the RNs were similar to the BSN students in traditional classroom settings. Despite their learning style, nurses felt that the online program met their needs. Implementing the technological innovations in nursing education requires the understanding of the hands-on learning of the RN so that the development of the online courses will satisfactorily meet the needs of the nurses who have chosen an online program. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Continued Use of a Chinese Online Portal: An Empirical Study

Science.gov (United States)

Shih, Hung-Pin

2008-01-01

The evolution of the internet has made online portals a popular means of surfing the internet. In internet commerce, understanding the post-adoption behaviour of users of online portals can help enterprises to attract new users and retain existing customers. For predicting continued use intentions, this empirical study focused on applying and…

Evaluating Technology to Prevent Academic Integrity Violations in Online Environments

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Victoria

2018-01-01

Protection of academic integrity in online environments can be challenging. Understanding how the technology works and concerns about each of the methods for monitoring online interactions can assist in the selection of the best proctoring tools. Depending on the content, the type of assessment and the comfort level with the technology, a…

MO-E-BRC-01: Online Adaptive MR-Guided RT: Workflow and Clinical Implementation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kashani, R.

2016-01-01

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

MO-E-BRC-01: Online Adaptive MR-Guided RT: Workflow and Clinical Implementation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kashani, R. [Washington University School of Medicine (United States)

2016-06-15

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

Radiation exposure control by estimation of multiplication factors for online remote radiation monitoring systems at vitrification plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deokar, U.V.; Kulkarni, V.V.; Khot, A.R.; Mathew, P.; Kamlesh; Purohit, R.G.; Sarkar, P.K.

2012-01-01

Vitrification Plant is commissioned for vitrification of high level liquid waste (HLW) generated in nuclear fuel cycle operations by using Joule Heated Ceramic Melter first time in India. Exposure control is a major concern in operating plant. Therefore in addition to installed monitors, we have developed online remote radiation monitoring system to minimize number of entries in amber areas and to reduce the exposure to the surveyor and operator. This also helped in volume reduction of secondary waste. The reliability and accuracy of the online monitoring system is confirmed with actual measurements and by theoretical shielding calculations. The multiplication factors were estimated for remote on line monitoring of Melter Off Gas (MOG) filter, Hood filter, three exhaust filter banks, and over-pack monitoring. This paper summarizes - how the online remote monitoring system helped in saving of 128.52 person-mSv collective dose (14.28% of budgeted dose). The system also helped in the reduction of 2.6 m 3 of Cat-I waste. Our online remote monitoring system has helped the plant management to plan in advance for replacement of these filters, which resulted in considerable saving in collective dose and secondary waste

Bisexual Safe Space(s) on the Internet: Analysis of an Online Forum for Bisexuals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maliepaard, E.M.

2017-01-01

Discussions on bisexual safe space(s) and online bisexual spaces are limited. This paper explores the potential of an online forum for bisexuals, their partners, and people who are interested in bisexuality to function as an online safe space. To understand whether the analysed forum is successful

Effects of Likeability Dynamics on Consumers' Intention to Share Online Video Advertisements

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Shehu, Edlira; Bijmolt, Tammo H. A.; Clement, Michel

Understanding how consumer evaluations of online advertisements affect their intention to share advertising content online is essential for successful viral advertising. This article examines consumer decisions whether or not to share video advertisements, in particular the role of their

Benefits of online health education: perception from consumers and health professionals.

Science.gov (United States)

Win, Khin Than; Hassan, Naffisah Mohd; Bonney, Andrew; Iverson, Don

2015-03-01

With the advancement in technology and availability of the Internet, online health education could become one of the media for health education. As health education is to persuade patients on health behavioural change, understanding perceived benefits of online health education is an important aspect to explore. The aim of this study is to explore consumers and health professionals opinion on online health education. Literature review was conducted and identified the benefits of online health education (OHE). Survey was conducted to health consumers and health professionals. Descriptive analyses were performed using SPSS Version 19.0. The analysis of the literature has identified a set of 12 potential benefits of OHE which had been used to understand the perceptions of the effectiveness of OPE sites and these have been validated in the study. This study has the practical implication as the study identified OHE effectiveness, which definitely can assist health practitioners on health education, which can lead to better health outcome.

Online Resources

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Journal of Genetics; Online Resources. Journal of Genetics. Online Resources. Volume 97. 2018 | Online resources. Volume 96. 2017 | Online resources. Volume 95. 2016 | Online resources. Volume 94. 2015 | Online resources. Volume 93. 2014 | Online resources. Volume 92. 2013 | Online resources ...

Overcoming Barriers: Engaging Younger Students in an Online Intercultural Exchange

Science.gov (United States)

Peiser, Gillian

2015-01-01

This paper reports on a small-scale project involving an online school exchange between two classes of 12-/13-year olds located in the North of England and the Ruhr area of Germany. The overarching aim of the project was to develop intercultural understanding in foreign language learning through communication in an online environment. Analysing…

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks

Science.gov (United States)

Gibson, David; Aldrich, Clark; Prensky, Marc

2007-01-01

Games and Simulations in Online Learning: Research and Development Frameworks examines the potential of games and simulations in online learning, and how the future could look as developers learn to use the emerging capabilities of the Semantic Web. It presents a general understanding of how the Semantic Web will impact education and how games and…

Factors that Influence Students' Decision to Dropout of Online Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Willging, Pedro A.; Johnson, Scott D.

2009-01-01

Although there are many reasons why students dropout of college courses, those reasons may be unique for students who are enrolled in an online program. Issues of isolation, disconnectedness, and technological problems may be factors that influence a student to leave a course. To understand these factors, an online survey was developed to collect…

Parental mediation, online activities, and cyberbullying.

Science.gov (United States)

Mesch, Gustavo S

2009-08-01

Cyberbullying, the use of information and communication technologies to intentionally harm others, has become an important area of research. Studies have begun to investigate the extent of cyberbullying and its victims' personality characteristics. Less is known about the effect of specific online activities and the role of parental mediation on the likelihood of being bullied. This study attempts to fill this gap in the literature conducting a secondary analysis of a representative sample of the U.S. youth population, the Teens and Parents survey conducted by the Pew and American Life Project (n = 935). The results indicate that the risk of youth being bullied is higher for adolescents who have an active profile on social networking sites and participate in chat rooms but not in playing games online. Gender differences emerge in risk factors. A few parental mediation techniques are protective, but most are not. The results indicate the need for more parental participation to reduce risks to youth arising from Internet use for interpersonal communication.

Ophthalmology patients' interest in online access to clinic notes at three US clinics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Bryan S; Oster, Natalia V; Chen, Galen Y; Ding, Leona L; Walker, Janice D; Elmore, Joann G

2017-07-01

This study aimed to understand patients' perceptions about potential benefits and harms of accessing their own ophthalmology clinic notes via an electronic patient portal as part of the OpenNotes initiative. The authors conducted a cross-sectional, in-person survey of ophthalmology patients at three US eye clinics. The paper survey was self-administered or administered with assistance from study staff before or after patients' clinical visits. The authors used descriptive statistics to summarise patient characteristics and patient attitudes about accessing their ophthalmology notes online. Chi-square and t-tests were performed to assess differences in patient responses between clinic locations. Four hundred and fifty-one patients responded (response rate 65%). Most patients thought that accessing doctors' notes online was a good idea (95%), wanted to view their clinic notes online (94%), and agreed online access would increase their understanding of their eye problems (95%) and help them better remember their care plan (94%); 14% said online access would increase their worry; 43% had privacy concerns; and 96% indicated they would show or discuss their notes with at least one other person. Non-white patients were more likely than white patients to perceive online clinic notes as a useful tool, but they were also more likely to worry and to express greater privacy concerns. Patients at three US eye clinics were strongly in favour of online access to ophthalmology notes and were optimistic this access would improve their understanding and self-care. Ophthalmologists should consider offering online access to their notes to enhance doctor-patient communication and improve clinical outcomes. © 2017 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2017 The College of Optometrists.

Learning Groups in MOOCs: Lessons for Online Learning in Higher Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Godfrey Mayende

2017-06-01

Full Text Available when there is interaction within online learning groups, meaningful learning is achieved. Motivating and sustaining effective student interactions requires planning, coordination and implementation of curriculum, pedagogy and technology. For our aim to understand online learning group processes to identify effective online learning group mechanisms, comparative analysis was used on a massive open online course (MOOC run in 2015 and 2016. Qualitative (interaction on the platform and quantitative (survey methods were used. The findings revealed several possible ways to improve online learning group processes. This paper concludes that course organization helped in increasing individual participation in the groups. Motivation by peers helped to increase sustainability of interaction in the learning groups. Applying these mechanisms in higher education can make online learning groups more effective.

A cognitive-behavioral model of problematic online gaming in adolescents aged 12-22 years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haagsma, M.C.; Caplan, S.E.; Peters, O.; Pieterse, M.E.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to apply the cognitive behavioral model of problematic Internet use to the context of online game use to obtain a better understanding of problematic use of online games and its negative consequences. In total, 597 online game playing adolescents aged 12-22 years

Toward an Understanding of Online Word-of-Mouth Message Content and the Booking Intentions of Lodging Consumers

Science.gov (United States)

Van Loon, Gerald

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influences the booking intentions of lodging consumers. The objectives were (1) determine what elements of the message structure of an online word-of-mouth referral influenced the booking intention of lodging consumers and (2)…

Artistic Understanding and Motivational Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Lekue, Pablo

2015-01-01

This study aims to analyse artistic understanding in primary and secondary education and the relationship between this understanding and motivational characteristics such as goal orientation, engagement in art activities and attitude to art education at school, which determine (according to prior research) learners' academic achievement, in…

Recruitment to Online Therapies for Depression: Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial

OpenAIRE

Jones, Ray B; Goldsmith, Lesley; Hewson, Paul; Williams, Christopher J

2013-01-01

Background Raising awareness of online cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) could benefit many people with depression, but we do not know how purchasing online advertising compares to placing free links from relevant local websites in increasing uptake. Objective To pilot a cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) comparing purchase of Google AdWords with placing free website links in raising awareness of online CBT resources for depression in order to better understand research design issues....

Driving online and offline sales : The cross-channel effects of traditional, online display, and paid search advertising

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dinner, I.M.; van Heerde, H.J.; Neslin, S.A.

2014-01-01

The current marketing environment is characterized by a surge in multichannel shopping and increasing choice of advertising channels. This situation requires firms to understand how advertising in one channel (e.g., online) influences sales in another channel (e.g., offline). This article studies

Self-control in Online Discussions: Disinhibited Online Behavior as a Failure to Recognize Social Cues.

Science.gov (United States)

Voggeser, Birgit J; Singh, Ranjit K; Göritz, Anja S

2017-01-01

In an online experiment we examined the role of self-control in recognizing social cues in the context of disinhibited online behavior (e.g., flaming and trolling). We temporarily lowered participants' self-control capacity with an ego depletion paradigm (i.e., color Stroop task). Next, we measured participants' sensitivity to social cues with an emotional Stroop task containing neutral, negative, and taboo words. Sensitivity to social cues is represented by the increase in reaction time to negative and especially taboo words compared to neutral words. As expected, undepleted participants were slower to process the color of negative and taboo words. By contrast, depleted participants (i.e., those with lowered self-control capacity) did not react differently to taboo or negative words than they did to neutral words. The experiment illustrates that self-control failure may manifest itself in a failure to recognize social cues. The finding underlines the importance of self-control in understanding disinhibited online behavior: Many instances of disinhibited online behavior may occur not because people are unable to control themselves, but because they do not realize that a situation calls for self-control in the first place.

Self-control in Online Discussions: Disinhibited Online Behavior as a Failure to Recognize Social Cues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Birgit J. Voggeser

2018-01-01

Full Text Available In an online experiment we examined the role of self-control in recognizing social cues in the context of disinhibited online behavior (e.g., flaming and trolling. We temporarily lowered participants' self-control capacity with an ego depletion paradigm (i.e., color Stroop task. Next, we measured participants' sensitivity to social cues with an emotional Stroop task containing neutral, negative, and taboo words. Sensitivity to social cues is represented by the increase in reaction time to negative and especially taboo words compared to neutral words. As expected, undepleted participants were slower to process the color of negative and taboo words. By contrast, depleted participants (i.e., those with lowered self-control capacity did not react differently to taboo or negative words than they did to neutral words. The experiment illustrates that self-control failure may manifest itself in a failure to recognize social cues. The finding underlines the importance of self-control in understanding disinhibited online behavior: Many instances of disinhibited online behavior may occur not because people are unable to control themselves, but because they do not realize that a situation calls for self-control in the first place.

The impact of perceived risk on on-line purchase behaviour

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Charlene Gerber

2014-12-01

Full Text Available To avoid risks, consumers tend to be failry thoughtful decision makers. Research has shown that consumers perceive risks associated with purchasing online and as a result online purchasing has not yet reached the numbers that were projected. In order for e-commerce to live up to its full potential, online retailers should gain an understanding of which perceived risks online purchasing consumers are most concerned with. This study aimed to assess the impact of perceived risk on online buying behaviour. Personal interview surveys were conducted in an emerging market whereby 200 respondents that have access to the internet were interviewed in selected malls with regards to their perceived risks when buying online. The results showed that perceived risk does have an impact on online buying behaviour, and that consumers that have not bought online in the past are likely not to do so in the future. The results show that characteristics of emerging markets are sufficiently distinct from developed markets in that consumers in developed markets seem to be more conservative when buying online. Marketers should therefore developed alternative marketing programs when communicating to these markets in an attempt to persuade consumers to buy online

Self-Assessment Quiz Taking Behaviour Analysis in an Online Course

Science.gov (United States)

Ozarslan, Yasin; Ozan, Ozlem

2016-01-01

Self-assessment is vital for online learning since it is one of the most essential skills of distance learners. In this respect, the purpose of this study was to understand learners' self-assessment quiz taking behaviours in an undergraduate level online course. We tried to figure out whether there is a relation between self-assessment quiz taking…

Actual versus perceived peer sexual risk behavior in online youth social networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Black, Sandra R; Schmiege, Sarah; Bull, Sheana

2013-09-01

Perception of peer behaviors is an important predictor of actual risk behaviors among youth. However, we lack understanding of peer influence through social media and of actual and perceived peer behavior concordance. The purpose of this research is to document the relationship between individual perception of and actual peer sexual risk behavior using online social networks. The data are a result of a secondary analysis of baseline self-reported and peer-reported sexual risk behavior from a cluster randomized trial including 1,029 persons from 162 virtual networks. Individuals (seeds) recruited up to three friends who then recruited additional friends, extending three waves from the seed. ANOVA models compared network means of actual participant behavior across categories of perceived behavior. Concordance varied between reported and perceived behavior, with higher concordance between perceived and reported condom use, multiple partners, concurrent partners, sexual pressure, and drug and alcohol use during sex. Individuals significantly over-reported risk and under-reported protective peer behaviors related to sex.

Online maritime health information: an overview of the situation.

Science.gov (United States)

Guitton, Matthieu J

2015-01-01

Due to their working conditions, seafarers often don't benefit from the same medical coverage than the onshore population. Therefore, seafarers and their relatives often need to locate health information by themselves. While the rise of the Internet has drastically transformed the way people can gather information, the availability of specific maritime health information online still need to be evaluated scientifically. We aim here to document of the characteristic of maritime health-related online information. A web survey was performed, articulated on two complementary analyses. First, an overall analysis of websites related to maritime health compared to websites related to two other health areas relevant for the general population (dental health and otorhinolaryngology) used as control. Second, an analysis of the understandability and actionability of a series of Wikipedia articles related to pathologies relevant for seafarers using the Patient Education Materials Assessment Tool (PEMAT). Online resources associated with maritime health were sparse and difficult to locate. When compared to other medical fields, maritime health websites were extremely poor in displaying useful information for seafarers. Available online resources regarding specific diseases affecting seafarers were mainly not adapted for a general audience and scored poorly both in terms of understandability and of actionability. This study provides a general overview of the degree of adaption of online material related to maritime health to seafarers' potential needs. Considerably more efforts need to be made in order to provide controlled online materials to answer the health information needs of the seafarers and their relatives.

Words Left Unspoken: The External Forces Shaping Online Discourse

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Curd B. Knüpfer

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This article examines how various aspects of US politics and culture may define the boundaries of transnational online discourse. The argument presented focuses on two general categories by which these dynamics may emerge, namely systemic and agential factors. Systemic limitations include language, codes and protocols, algorithms, and parameters set by media specific terms of services. Agential factors are tied to specific sets of political and economic interests, legal frameworks or cultural norms, as well as individual forms of human agency involved in content moderation. As these examples show, the speech environments we encounter in our daily online interactions do not take place in an ephemeral (cyber-space devoid of power relations. In order to understand their boundaries, we must come to understand the forces that shape them. Doing so may illuminate how online content comes to reflect deep-seeded power dynamics within US culture, Western societies, as well as transnational politics.

The shifting temporalities of online news

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bødker, Henrik; Brügger, Niels

2018-01-01

websites (as well as other characteristics of online archives), the construction of the empirical base stands in a complex relation to the analytical framework applied. As much as the article is a historical analysis of the temporality of online news, it, thus, also offers a range of methodological......As much as news websites news can be characterised by speed and immediacy, they are also recognisable online periodicals, which accumulate preceding news items. This is, as with the constitution of time in general, linked to relations between change and continuity. This article aims to understand...... consequently employs a framework for webpage analysis that primarily focuses on the syntactical level where temporalities emerge as relations between textual elements that change at very different intervals. This framework is applied to examples from the different stages of The Guardian’s webpage from 1996...

Barriers to Providing Physical Education and Physical Activity in Victorian State Secondary Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkinson, Kate A.; Benson, Amanda C.

2010-01-01

An on-line questionnaire was completed by 115 physical education teachers to establish the barriers to their implementation of physical education in Victorian state secondary schools. In addition, the barriers perceived by teachers to impact on students' participation in school-based physical education and physical activity were examined. The…

Factors that Predict Full-Time Community College Faculty Engagement in Online Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Akroyd, Duane; Patton, Bess; Bracken, Susan

2013-01-01

This study is a secondary quantitative analysis of the 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF) data. It examines the ability of human capital, intrinsic rewards, extrinsic rewards, and gender/race demographics to predict full-time community college faculty teaching on-line courses. Findings indicate that those faculty with higher…

Luxury and Premium Fashion Brands Online Marketing : Case Study Kiosked Limited

OpenAIRE

Nuutinen, Susanna

2012-01-01

The online marketing of luxury fashion brands has traditionally been a slow-paced business. Consumers are spending an increasing amount of time online and the electronic market provides enormous marketing and sales potential for companies that wish to increase brand awareness or conduct other marketing activities. The aim of this study is to conduct an understanding of the world of luxury fashion brands and how they perform their online marketing. The scope of the research is narrowed in...

Online Identity and Communication as Narrative Practice

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Albrechtslund, Anne-Mette Bech

Digital technologies have offered not only new possibilities for communicating but also new challenges for the way we express and represent ourselves and our lives through this communication. This paper explores the forms of communication and self-expression observable online, and especially stud...... and literary studies in the study of online identity and communication can lead to new insights into the way social media influence our ways of representing and understanding ourselves.......Digital technologies have offered not only new possibilities for communicating but also new challenges for the way we express and represent ourselves and our lives through this communication. This paper explores the forms of communication and self-expression observable online, and especially...... studies the construction of identities through the narratives that emerge from the mediated communication through examples of user-created narrative texts on the Internet drawn from a case study on an online community of World of Warcraft players. Inspired by Paul Ricoeur’s thoughts on identity...

Understanding persistence in the use of online fitness communities : comparing novice and experienced users

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Stragier, Jeroen; Vanden Abeele, Mariek; Mechant, Peter; De Marez, Lieven

2016-01-01

Mobile and wearable technologies facilitate physiological data collection for health and wellness purposes. Users typically access these data via Online Fitness Community (OFC) platforms (e.g., Fitbit, Strava, RunKeeper). These platforms present users with functionalities centered on

Online marketing and advertising research: Traditional Theories Revisited

OpenAIRE

Yudhistira, Titah

2016-01-01

Online marketing and advertising instruments—and the ways in which consumers react to them—are always evolving, which results in ongoing gaps in knowledge. This dissertation aims to fill some of these gaps by providing a greater understanding of how the Internet impacts online marketing and advertising research. The first study in this dissertation describes how banner exposure characteristics, such as the number of exposures, spacing, and delay, impact consumer memory. The findings of this s...

Negotiating the Mine Field: Strategies for Effective Online Education Administrative Leadership in Higher Education Institutions

Science.gov (United States)

Burnette, Diane M.

2015-01-01

As online learning becomes a strategic focus of colleges and universities, the effectiveness of online education administrative leaders assumes an increasingly critical role in achieving institutional goals. In this article, the author uses a critical theory lens to understand how online education administrative leaders in higher education…

Supporting Successful Transitions to Post-Secondary Education for Indigenous Students: Lessons from an Institutional Ethnography in Ontario, Canada

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean-Paul Restoule

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This study examines some of the ways institutional policies and practices can support or hinder the successful transition to post-secondary education for Indigenous people. Tracing the path from Indigenous high school student to post-secondary education applicant and utilizing knowledge gained from interviews, focus groups, and online surveys as part of an institutional ethnography approach, we offer recommendations for institutions and applicants to help increase enrollment and enhance the success of Indigenous post-secondary students. We share implications for institutions and post-secondary education applicants utilizing self-identification or cultural identity tracking.

The Think-Aloud Approach: A Promising Tool for Online Reading Comprehension

Science.gov (United States)

Carioli, Stefania; Peru, Andrea

2016-01-01

Despite its unquestionable interest from a theoretical and practical point of view, so far there has been little research on online reading and there is a lack of attention paid to this topic in most European educational institutions. In particular, primary and secondary school teachers are not adequately trained on how and when to intervene to…

Effects of Students' Characteristics on Online Learning Readiness: A Vocational College Example

Science.gov (United States)

Cigdam, Harun; Yildirim, Osman Gazi

2014-01-01

Educational institutions rapidly adopt concepts and practices of online learning systems for students. But many institutions' online learning programs face enormous difficulty in achieving successful strategies. It is essential to evaluate its different aspects and understand factors which influence its effectiveness. Readiness stands out among…

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants: Exploring Online Harassment Victimization by Generational Age

OpenAIRE

Logan Hans Stickel

2017-01-01

This exploratory study of online harassment in adult populations uses the sociological concept of generational age to examine theoretical contentions related to the formative effects of early life experiences with computer-mediation technologies on victimization. Utilizing an adaptive online survey, a total of 236 responses were collected through social networking sampling on Facebook and LinkedIn, measuring perceptions of reported incidents and routine online interactions to understand age-b...

Online counseling: a narrative and critical review of the literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Derek; Viganó, Noemi

2013-09-01

This article aimed to critically review the literature on online counseling. Database and hand-searches were made using search terms and eligibility criteria, yielding a total of 123 studies. The review begins with what characterizes online counseling. Outcome and process research in online counseling is reviewed. Features and cyberbehaviors of online counseling such as anonymity and disinhibition, convenience, time-delay, the loss of social signaling, and writing behavior in cyberspace are discussed. Ethical behavior, professional training, client suitability, and clients' and therapists' attitudes and experiences of online counseling are reviewed. A growing body of knowledge to date is positive in showing that online counseling can have a similar impact and is capable of replicating the facilitative conditions as face-to-face encounters. A need remains for stronger empirical evidence to establish efficacy and effectiveness and to understand better the unique mediating and facilitative variables. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

design and implementation of online examination administration

African Journals Online (AJOL)

oria

Online examination system is a web-based examination system where ... as chemistry, physics or economics employ a style ... model is easy to understand and reinforces the notion of ..... Logout enables the student to return to the login page ...

Preparing for Distance Learning: Designing An Online Student Orientation Course

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane D. Chapman

2004-01-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the analysis undertaken to design a 1-credit-hour online orientation course for students new to online learning. An instructional design team, as a part of an advanced instructional design course, worked with a university-based client. The client identified specific problem areas encountered by novice students of online courses and the team designed a comprehensive program to meet those needs. Analysis of the data revealed surprising differences in expectations between instructors of online courses and their students of what an orientation to online learning should include. The team also conducted a task analysis to aid in further identifying the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by students for success in online courses. Findings indicated that there is a need for online learners to understand the time commitment required of an online course and possess or develop strong time management skills. Because of small sample size, results cannot be generalized beyond the respondents. The authors found a mismatch in the perception of instructor technical skills versus student technical skill. Based on their findings, the paper provides recommendations on the appropriate design, development and implementation of an orientation to online learning.

Online Sellers’ Website Quality Influencing Online Buyers’ Purchase Intention

Science.gov (United States)

Shea Lee, Tan; Ariff, Mohd Shoki Md; Zakuan, Norhayati; Sulaiman, Zuraidah; Zameri Mat Saman, Muhamad

2016-05-01

The increase adoption of Internet among young users in Malaysia provides high prospect for online seller. Young users aged between 18 and 25 years old are important to online sellers because they are actively involved in online purchasing and this group of online buyers is expected to dominate future online market. Therefore, examining online sellers’ website quality and online buyers’ purchase intention is crucial. Based on the Theory of planned behavior (TPB), a conceptual model of online sellers’ website quality and purchase intention of online buyers was developed. E-tailQ instrument was adapted in this study which composed of website design, reliability/fulfillment, security, privacy & trust, and customer service. Using online questionnaire and convenience sampling procedure, primary data were obtained from 240 online buyers aged between 18 to 25 years old. It was discovered that website design, website reliability/fulfillment, website security, privacy & trust, and website customer service positively and significantly influence intention of online buyers to continuously purchase via online channels. This study concludes that online sellers’ website quality is important in predicting online buyers’ purchase intention. Recommendation and implication of this study were discussed focusing on how online sellers should improve their website quality to stay competitive in online business.

Marshaling Resources: A Classic Grounded Theory Study of Online Learners

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Barbara Yalof

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Classic grounded theory (CGT was used to identify a main concern of online students in higher education. One of the main impediments to studying online is a sense of isolation and lack of access to support systems as students navigate through complex requirements of their online programs. Hypothetical probability statements illustrate the imbalance between heightened needs of virtual learners and perceived inadequate support provided by educational institutions. The core variable, marshaling resources, explains how peer supports sustain motivation toward successful program completion. Understanding the critical contribution virtual interpersonal networks make towards maximizing resources by group problem solving is a significant aspect of this theory. Keywords: Online learning, e-learning, personal learning networks, peer networks

Nationalist Netizens in China: Online Historical Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ane Bislev

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The Chinese government is currently performing a delicate act of balance: attempting to foster a "healthy" nationalism among the young generation in China while, at the same time, having to deal with the at times rather loud and uncompromising expression of this nationalism online. By examining examples of online debates on issues of national interest; in this case the Spratly Islands and the animosity between a Chinese and a Japanese child, this article discusses the use of historical imagery in online historical debates and demonstrates a linkage between the version of Chinese history promulgated in the so-called patriotic education campaign and the rhetoric used online. Even though the viewpoints expressed in the two debates vary widely, the central theme of how to deal with China’s past plays a strong role in both debates. I argue that though the Chinese government has been rather successful in promoting this reliance on a certain historical perspective to understand present day China’s place in the world, the online nationalist expressions take on a life of their own partly due to China’s very special internet culture.

[Secondary Arterial Hypertension: Uncertainties in Diagnosis].

Science.gov (United States)

Dinis, Paulo Gomes; Cachulo, Maria Carmo; Fernandes, Andreia; Paiva, Luis; Gonçalves, Lino

2017-06-30

Arterial hypertension is regarded today as a global public health problem, and the prevalence rate in Portugal is 26.9%. According to the etiology, is classified into primary or secondary arterial hypertension. In about 90% of cases it is not possible to establish a cause, so is called primary arterial hypertension. In the remaining 5 to 10%, it can be identified secondary causes, which are potentially treatable. For secondary arterial hypertension study to be cost-effective, it is essential to understand which patients investigate, and evaluate the best strategy to adopt. The main causes identified as responsible for secondary arterial hypertension are: kidney disease; endocrine and vascular diseases and obstructive sleep apnea. Among these some are consensual, and others more controversial in the literature. In this regard we present two cases of arterial hypertension, which are potentially secondary in etiology, but still focus of debate.

Social Media Integration in Secondary Education in Pakistan

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Ahmed, Rida

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the adequacy of social media implementation in the context of secondary education in Pakistan and highlights the importance and necessity of social media in secondary education. This research has helped in understanding the pros and cons of social media implementation in classrooms and also facilitated in analyzing whether…

Characteristics of online compulsive buying in Parisian students.

Science.gov (United States)

Duroy, David; Gorse, Pauline; Lejoyeux, Michel

2014-12-01

Online compulsive buying is a little-studied behavioral disorder. To better understand its clinical aspects by focusing on (i) prevalence rate, (ii) correlation with other addictions, (iii) influence of means of access, (iv) motivations to shop to the internet and (v) financial and time-consuming consequences. Cross-sectional study. 200 students in two different centers of Paris Diderot University - Paris VII. Brief self-questionnaires, to screen online compulsive buying, internet addiction, alcohol and tobacco use disorders, to rate frequency of online purchase by private-sale websites, by advertising banners, by mobile phone or to avoid stores, to rate motivations like "more discreet", "lonelier", "larger variety of products", "more immediate positive feelings", and "cheaper" and to assess the largest amount of online purchasing and the average proportion of monthly earnings, and time spent, both day and night. Prevalence of online compulsive buying was 16.0%, while prevalence of internet addiction was 26.0%. We found no significant relationship with cyberdependence, alcohol or tobacco use disorders. Online compulsive buyers accessed more often shopping online by private-sale websites (56.2% vs 30.5%, pmobile phone (22.5% vs 7.9%, p=0.005) and preferred online shopping because of exhaustive offer (p<0.0001) and immediate positive feelings (p<0.0001). Online compulsive buyers spent significantly more money and more time in online shopping. Online compulsive buying seems to be a distinctive behavioral disorder with specific factors of loss of control and motivations, and overall financial and time-consuming impacts. More research is needed to better characterize it. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Online Outreach Services Among Men Who Use the Internet to Seek Sex With Other Men (MISM) in Ontario, Canada: An Online Survey

Science.gov (United States)

Lachowsky, Nathan J; Georgievski, Georgi; Rosser, Brian R Simon; MacLachlan, Duncan; Murray, James

2015-01-01

Background Men who use the Internet to seek sex with other men (MISM) are increasingly using the Internet to find sexual health information and to seek sexual partners, with some research suggesting HIV transmission is associated with sexual partnering online. Aiming to “meet men where they are at,” some AIDS service organizations (ASOs) deliver online outreach services via sociosexual Internet sites and mobile apps. Objective To investigate MISM's experiences and self-perceived impacts of online outreach. Methods From December 2013 to January 2014, MISM aged 16 years or older were recruited from Internet sites, mobile apps, and ASOs across Ontario to complete a 15-minute anonymous online questionnaire regarding their experience of online outreach. Demographic factors associated with encountering online outreach were assessed using backward-stepwise multivariable logistic regression (Ponline outreach services. Encountering online outreach was more likely for Aboriginal versus white MISM, MISM from Toronto compared with MISM from either Eastern or Southwestern Ontario, and MISM receiving any social assistance. MISM who experienced online outreach felt the service provider was friendly (130/141, 92.2%), easy to understand (122/140, 87.1%), helpful (115/139, 82.7%), prompt (107/143, 74.8%), and knowledgeable (92/134, 68.7%); half reported they received a useful referral (49/98, 50%). Few MISM felt the interaction was annoying (13/141, 9.2%) or confusing (18/142, 12.7%). As a result of their last online outreach encounter, MISM reported the following: better understanding of (88/147, 59.9%) and comfort with (75/147, 51.0%) their level of sexual risk; increased knowledge (71/147, 48.3%); and feeling less anxious (51/147, 34.7%), better connected (46/147, 31.3%), and more empowered (40/147, 27.2%). Behaviorally, they reported using condoms more frequently (48/147, 32.7%) and effectively (35/147, 23.8%); getting tested for HIV (43/125, 34.4%) or STIs (42/147, 28

A cognitive-behavioral model of problematic online gaming in adolescents aged 12–22 years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Haagsma, M.C.; Caplan, S.E.; Peters, O.; Pieterse, Marcel E.

2013-01-01

The aim of this study was to apply the cognitive behavioral model of problematic Internet use to the context of online game use to obtain a better understanding of problematic use of online games and its negative consequences. In total, 597 online game playing adolescents aged 12–22 years

One Method for Inhibiting the Copying of Online Homework

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Busch, Hauke

2017-10-01

Over the last several years online homework solutions have become ever more accessible to students. This is due in part to programs like Yahoo Answers, Chegg, publisher solution manuals, and other web resources that are readily available online. The student can easily search any physics homework problem posted on the web in a matter of seconds and have the solution. The results of this are an apparent increase in students copying the answers without solving the problem, which may lead to an increase in homework scores but a reduction in exam scores and an overall lower grade in the class. A secondary effect that may be observed is that tutoring centers, recitations, and supplemental instructor sessions have reduced student attendance. Some might say that the readily available solutions for homework systems such as MasteringPhysics (MP), WebAssign, etc. have greatly diminished them as a teaching tool, and for grading and assessing students' performance in a course. It is the purpose of this paper to offer a possible solution for preventing students from potentially copying online homework solutions.

The Role of Signals in Online Auction Purchase Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cypryjański Jacek

2015-06-01

Full Text Available There is a growing interest in behavioural economics contradicting the empirical prediction of rational choice theory once applied to online auctions. The issue is of particular relevance due to the large use of online auctions and the anticipated growth in the future. Online auctions combine the conventional auction model with information technology. However, information asymmetry within such auctions causes risks and uncertainties that influence consumer purchase intentions. The research investigates online consumers’ behaviour. The Authors suggest that due to the high perceived risk of the online buying process consumers are prompted to use cues of seller’ reputation. In a series of six experiments conducted via the auction site Allegro.pl in Poland a number of signals from auction web pages has been manipulated to influence purchase intention. The results suggest that several signals can be used to stimulate online customers’ behaviour. The results of these experiments indicate that buyers are more susceptible to the influence of “visual” signals than signals that require greater involvement of the buyer (to read information. The conducted experiments contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of online auction users’ behaviour. And finally it provides some managerial implications to increase online auction effectiveness from the seller’s perspective.

"'Microsoft' Bought 'Minecraft' … Who Knows What's Going to Happen?!": A Sociocultural Analysis of 8-9-Year-Olds' Understanding of Commercial Online Gaming Industries

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Willett, Rebekah

2018-01-01

This study investigates children's media literacy with a specific focus on socially situatedness of children's understanding of online gaming industries and related marketing. This article analyzes interviews with 8-9-year-olds and their parents in homes in the U.S.A. Rather than concentrating on developmental factors, the article uses a…

Virtual Communities in a Secondary School--Discovering the Internal Grammar of Video Games

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Méndez, Laura; García-Pernía, María Ruth; Cortés, Sara

2014-01-01

This study attempts to show how the creation of an innovative scenario, introducing video games and online communities as educational resources in the classroom, facilitates the development of new literacies in the context of participatory culture. The experience described was carried out during the 2010-2011 academic year in a secondary school…

Freemium strategies and tactics for online digital firms

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Holm, Anna B.

in an online digital business. The findings indicate that successful freemium business models derive from the execution of a ‘prospector’ strategy. The common denominator for all case companies is the constant build-up and maintenance of a user base that can in turn support further innovation and market......The freemium business model has recently become one of the most dominant business models in online markets. However, there is still a limited understanding of why some online digital companies are able to build sustainable freemium business models while others are not. The purpose of this article...... is explain the success of freemium firms from a strategic point of view. Four case studies of successful online digital firms were conducted. Based on the findings, the paper categorizes and describes the strategy and a set of common tactics that enable and support a freemium business model execution...

Individual and Contextual Factors Related to Secondary Special Education Teachers' Reading Instructional Practices

Science.gov (United States)

Leko, Melinda M.; Chiu, Ming Ming; Roberts, Carly A.

2018-01-01

This article reports findings from an initial investigation of the impact multiple individual and contextual factors have on secondary special educators' reading instructional practices. Data from 577 special educators from 221 school districts in a large Midwestern state were collected via an online and paper survey and analyzed using…

Conformity under uncertainty: reliance on gender stereotypes in online hiring decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Uhlmann, Eric Luis; Silberzahn, Raphael

2014-02-01

We apply Bentley et al.'s theoretical framework to better understand gender discrimination in online labor markets. Although such settings are designed to encourage employer behavior in the northwest corner of Homo economicus, actual online hiring decisions tend to drift southeast into a "confirmation bias plus weak feedback loops" pattern of discrimination based on inaccurate social stereotypes.

Collective iteration behavior for online social networks

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jian-Guo; Li, Ren-De; Guo, Qiang; Zhang, Yi-Cheng

2018-06-01

Understanding the patterns of collective behavior in online social network (OSNs) is critical to expanding the knowledge of human behavior and tie relationship. In this paper, we investigate a specific pattern called social signature in Facebook and Wiki users' online communication behaviors, capturing the distribution of frequency of interactions between different alters over time in the ego network. The empirical results show that there are robust social signatures of interactions no matter how friends change over time, which indicates that a stable commutation pattern exists in online communication. By comparing a random null model, we find the that commutation pattern is heterogeneous between ego and alters. Furthermore, in order to regenerate the pattern of the social signature, we present a preferential interaction model, which assumes that new users intend to look for the old users with strong ties while old users have tendency to interact with new friends. The experimental results show that the presented model can reproduce the heterogeneity of social signature by adjusting 2 parameters, the number of communicating targets m and the max number of interactions n, for Facebook users, m = n = 5, for Wiki users, m = 2 and n = 8. This work helps in deeply understanding the regularity of social signature.

MO-E-BRC-02: MRI-Guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy: The UCLA Approach to Quality Management

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lamb, J. [University of California, Los Angeles (United States)

2016-06-15

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

MO-E-BRC-02: MRI-Guided Online Adaptive Radiotherapy: The UCLA Approach to Quality Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lamb, J.

2016-01-01

Online adaptive radiation therapy has the potential to ensure delivery of optimal treatment to the patient by accounting for anatomical and potentially functional changes that occur from one fraction to the next and over the course of treatment. While on-line adaptive RT (ART) has been a topic of many publications, discussions, and research, it has until very recently remained largely a concept and not a practical implementation. However, recent advances in on-table imaging, use of deformable image registration for contour generation and dose tracking, faster and more efficient plan optimization, as well as fast quality assurance method has enabled the implementation of ART in the clinic in the past couple of years. The introduction of these tools into routine clinical use requires many considerations and progressive knowledge to understand how processes that have historically taken hours/days to complete can now be done in less than 30 minutes. This session will discuss considerations to perform real time contouring, planning and patient specific QA, as well as a practical workflow and the required resources. Learning Objectives: To understand the difficulties, challenges and available technologies for online adaptive RT. To understand how to implement online adaptive therapy in a clinical environment and to understand the workflow and resources required. To understand the limitations and sources of uncertainty in the online adaptive process I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; R. Kashani, I have research funding from ViewRay Inc. and Philips Medical Systems.; X. Li, Research supported by Elekta Inc.

Understanding the mobile internet to develop the next generation of online medical teaching tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Desai, Tejas; Christiano, Cynthia; Ferris, Maria

2011-01-01

Healthcare providers (HCPs) use online medical information for self-directed learning and patient care. Recently, the mobile internet has emerged as a new platform for accessing medical information as it allows mobile devices to access online information in a manner compatible with their restricted storage. We investigated mobile internet usage parameters to direct the future development of mobile internet teaching websites. Nephrology On-Demand Mobile (NOD(M)) (http://www.nephrologyondemand.org) was made accessible to all mobile devices. From February 1 to December 31, 2010, HCP use of NOD(M) was tracked using code inserted into the root files. Nephrology On-Demand received 15,258 visits, of which approximately 10% were made to NOD(M), with the majority coming from the USA. Most access to NOD(M) was through the Apple iOS family of devices and cellular connections were the most frequently used. These findings provide a basis for the future development of mobile nephrology and medical teaching tools.

Men's harassment behavior in online video games: Personality traits and game factors.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Wai Yen; Fox, Jesse

2016-11-01

Online video games afford co-play and social interaction, often anonymous, among players from around the world. As predicted by the social identity model of deindividuation effects, undesirable behavior is not uncommon in online gaming environments, and online harassment has become a pervasive issue in the gaming community. In this study, we sought to determine what personality traits and game-related variables predicted two types of online aggression in video games: general harassment (e.g., skill-based taunting, insulting others' intelligence) and sexual harassment (e.g., sexist comments, rape threats). Men who play online video games (N = 425) participated in an anonymous online survey. Social dominance orientation and hostile sexism predicted higher levels of both sexual harassment and general harassment in online games. Game involvement and hours of weekly gameplay were additional predictors of general harassment. We discuss implications of online social aggression and online sexual harassment for online gaming. We also apply our findings to the broader understanding of online harassment, cyberaggression, cyberbullying, and other forms of online hostility in computer-mediated communication contexts. Aggr. Behav. 42:513-521, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Online Outreach Services Among Men Who Use the Internet to Seek Sex With Other Men (MISM) in Ontario, Canada: An Online Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Brennan, David J; Lachowsky, Nathan J; Georgievski, Georgi; Rosser, Brian R Simon; MacLachlan, Duncan; Murray, James

2015-12-09

Men who use the Internet to seek sex with other men (MISM) are increasingly using the Internet to find sexual health information and to seek sexual partners, with some research suggesting HIV transmission is associated with sexual partnering online. Aiming to "meet men where they are at," some AIDS service organizations (ASOs) deliver online outreach services via sociosexual Internet sites and mobile apps. To investigate MISM's experiences and self-perceived impacts of online outreach. From December 2013 to January 2014, MISM aged 16 years or older were recruited from Internet sites, mobile apps, and ASOs across Ontario to complete a 15-minute anonymous online questionnaire regarding their experience of online outreach. Demographic factors associated with encountering online outreach were assessed using backward-stepwise multivariable logistic regression (P<.05 was considered significant). Of 1830 MISM who completed the survey, 8.25% (151/1830) reported direct experience with online outreach services. Encountering online outreach was more likely for Aboriginal versus white MISM, MISM from Toronto compared with MISM from either Eastern or Southwestern Ontario, and MISM receiving any social assistance. MISM who experienced online outreach felt the service provider was friendly (130/141, 92.2%), easy to understand (122/140, 87.1%), helpful (115/139, 82.7%), prompt (107/143, 74.8%), and knowledgeable (92/134, 68.7%); half reported they received a useful referral (49/98, 50%). Few MISM felt the interaction was annoying (13/141, 9.2%) or confusing (18/142, 12.7%). As a result of their last online outreach encounter, MISM reported the following: better understanding of (88/147, 59.9%) and comfort with (75/147, 51.0%) their level of sexual risk; increased knowledge (71/147, 48.3%); and feeling less anxious (51/147, 34.7%), better connected (46/147, 31.3%), and more empowered (40/147, 27.2%). Behaviorally, they reported using condoms more frequently (48/147, 32.7%) and

Variability in Predictions from Online Tools: A Demonstration Using Internet-Based Melanoma Predictors.

Science.gov (United States)

Zabor, Emily C; Coit, Daniel; Gershenwald, Jeffrey E; McMasters, Kelly M; Michaelson, James S; Stromberg, Arnold J; Panageas, Katherine S

2018-02-22

Prognostic models are increasingly being made available online, where they can be publicly accessed by both patients and clinicians. These online tools are an important resource for patients to better understand their prognosis and for clinicians to make informed decisions about treatment and follow-up. The goal of this analysis was to highlight the possible variability in multiple online prognostic tools in a single disease. To demonstrate the variability in survival predictions across online prognostic tools, we applied a single validation dataset to three online melanoma prognostic tools. Data on melanoma patients treated at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between 2000 and 2014 were retrospectively collected. Calibration was assessed using calibration plots and discrimination was assessed using the C-index. In this demonstration project, we found important differences across the three models that led to variability in individual patients' predicted survival across the tools, especially in the lower range of predictions. In a validation test using a single-institution data set, calibration and discrimination varied across the three models. This study underscores the potential variability both within and across online tools, and highlights the importance of using methodological rigor when developing a prognostic model that will be made publicly available online. The results also reinforce that careful development and thoughtful interpretation, including understanding a given tool's limitations, are required in order for online prognostic tools that provide survival predictions to be a useful resource for both patients and clinicians.

Understanding and Responding to Adolescent Girls' Online Cruelty

Science.gov (United States)

Sokal, Laura

2012-01-01

Many school counsellors have identified "cyber-bullying" among adolescent girls as a growing concern. In order to respond to this issue, this article begins with a new model of cyber-communications from the unique perspective of adolescent girls. Next, it explores the limitations of responding to this model, based on current understandings of…

Correlates of consumer trust in online health information: findings from the health information national trends survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Yinjiao

2011-01-01

The past few decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in consumers seeking health information online. However, the quality of such information remains questionable, and the trustworthiness of online health information has become a hot topic, whereas little attention has been paid to how consumers evaluate online health information credibility. This study builds on theoretical perspectives of trust such as personal-capital-based, social-capital-based, and transfer-based, and it examines various correlates of consumer trust in online health information. The author analyzed the 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey data (N = 7,674). Results showed that consumer trust in online health information did not correlate with personal capital such as income, education, and health status. Social capital indicated by visiting social networking Web sites was not associated with trust in online health information either. Nevertheless, trust in online health information transferred from traditional mass media and government health agencies to the Internet, and it varied by such information features as easiness to locate and to understand. Age appeared to be a key factor in understanding the correlates of trust in online health information. Theoretical and empirical implications of the results are discussed.

Online Lectures in Undergraduate Medical Education: Scoping Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Tang, Brandon; Coret, Alon; Qureshi, Aatif; Barron, Henry; Ayala, Ana Patricia; Law, Marcus

2018-04-10

The adoption of the flipped classroom in undergraduate medical education calls on students to learn from various self-paced tools-including online lectures-before attending in-class sessions. Hence, the design of online lectures merits special attention, given that applying multimedia design principles has been shown to enhance learning outcomes. The aim of this study was to understand how online lectures have been integrated into medical school curricula, and whether published literature employs well-accepted principles of multimedia design. This scoping review followed the methodology outlined by Arksey and O'Malley (2005). Databases, including MEDLINE, PsycINFO, Education Source, FRANCIS, ERIC, and ProQuest, were searched to find articles from 2006 to 2016 related to online lecture use in undergraduate medical education. In total, 45 articles met our inclusion criteria. Online lectures were used in preclinical and clinical years, covering basic sciences, clinical medicine, and clinical skills. The use of multimedia design principles was seldom reported. Almost all studies described high student satisfaction and improvement on knowledge tests following online lecture use. Integration of online lectures into undergraduate medical education is well-received by students and appears to improve learning outcomes. Future studies should apply established multimedia design principles to the development of online lectures to maximize their educational potential. ©Brandon Tang, Alon Coret, Aatif Qureshi, Henry Barron, Ana Patricia Ayala, Marcus Law. Originally published in JMIR Medical Education (http://mededu.jmir.org), 10.04.2018.

THE STUDY OF COMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR IN ONLINE SHOPPING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicoleta Cristache

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Despite the prevalence of Internet in our everyday life, little is known about consumer buying behavior in on-line purchases. Moreover, consumer buying disorder (CBD, one of the new addictions of the era, is poorly researched in the Romanian literature. This study aimed at identifying whether this disorder is present among Romanian students that purchase on-line through a questionnaire applied to 100 students attending the University „Dunarea de Jos” of Galati. An analysis of the responses yields that a 13% of the studied sample indeed presents characteristics of this disorder and confirms previous global studies that the compulsive buyers are majoritarian women. This work increases our understanding of on-line consumer buying behavior and will contribute to future research on similar topics.

Comparatively Assessing the Use of Blackboard versus Desire2Learn: Faculty Perceptions of the Online Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Chawdhry, Adnan A.; Paullet, Karen; Benjamin, Daniel

2012-01-01

Current trends indicate that an increasing number of Universities have been offering online classes without assessing the faculty perspective of the online learning management tools. When a University understands the faculty perception they can implement an online education environment that is both conducive to student learning and faculty…

Citizen Goals Online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catalin Vrabie

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to give to public institution Web designers a better understanding of the citizens’ objectives when accessing a Web page. Understanding citizen online goals is critical because it gets to the heart of what the public institution website should or could “do.” Approach: The challenge for e-marketers is that for most agencies/institutions, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” citizens could come to the website. For example, a national theatre website might be very effective for people who have already been there, they know effectively what place is the best, who are the actors, etc. Research limitations: The nature of a public institution activity almost dictates the different types of goals that consumers have when visiting the site. It is clear that a citizen has a different goal when accessing a theatre Web page or when he’s accessing a municipality Web page. This is the biggest impediment for drawing a good conceptual model for a public institution Web page. Practical implications: there are likely to be many other goals that could lead people to visit the site, like receiving customer service or leaving a remark. Value: Since citizen online goals represent the starting point for Web design efforts (for public institutions, this article has attempted to highlight the nature and types of goals that e-marketers might consider when planning what their website should do in order to create. Findings: The goal a site visitor has when arriving at a website tends to be very action oriented. If the visitor has never visited the site before, the goal may simply be to evaluate the website and figure out what the site is and if it will help him. On the other hand, if the visitor has reached the site as the result of a directed search or is a repeat visitor, the user goal is likely to be specific and functional. If important citizen goals are not supported by the website, the public

Citizen Goals Online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Catalin Vrabie

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper is to give to public institution Web designers a better understanding of the citizens’ objectives when accessing a Web page. Understanding citizen online goals is critical because it gets to the heart of what the public institution website should or could “do.”Approach: The challenge for e-marketers is that for most agencies/institutions, there are likely to be multiple goals that represent the “reason why” citizens could come to the website. For example, a national theatre website might be very effective for people who have already been there, they know effectively what place is the best, who are the actors, etc.Research limitations: The nature of a public institution activity almost dictates the different types of goals that consumers have when visiting the site. It is clear that a citizen has a different goal when accessing a theatre Web page or when he’s accessing a municipality Web page. This is the biggest impediment for drawing a good conceptual model for a public institution Web page.Practical implications: there are likely to be many other goals that could lead people to visit the site, like receiving customer service or leaving a remark.Value: Since citizen online goals represent the starting point for Web design efforts (for public institutions, this article has attempted to highlight the nature and types of goals that e-marketers might consider when planning what their website should do in order to create.Findings: The goal a site visitor has when arriving at a website tends to be very action oriented. If the visitor has never visited the site before, the goal may simply be to evaluate the website and figure out what the site is and if it will help him. On the other hand, if the visitor has reached the site as the result of a directed search or is a repeat visitor, the user goal is likely to be specific and functional. If important citizen goals are not supported by the website, the public

What it means to teach online

Science.gov (United States)

Hubbard, Abigail

1998-08-01

Teaching online has emerged as a growth area in higher education. Before rushing into this market, it is important to understand some of the implications for faculty, students, administrators, and the educational institutions themselves. New roles and responsibilities emerge for each stakeholder, and important institutional policy issues must be addressed and resolved.

Current concepts on burn wound conversion – a review of recent advances in understanding the secondary progressions of burns

Science.gov (United States)

Salibian, Ara A.; Del Rosario, Angelica Tan; De Almeida Moura Severo, Lucio; Nguyen, Long; Banyard, Derek A.; Toranto, Jason D.; Evans, Gregory R.D.; Widgerow, Alan D.

2016-01-01

Burn wound conversion describes the process by which superficial partial thickness burns convert into deeper burns necessitating surgical intervention. Fully understanding and thus controlling this phenomenon continues to defy burn surgeons. However, potentially guiding burn wound progression so as to obviate the need for surgery while still bringing about healing with limited scarring is the major unmet challenge. Comprehending the pathophysiologic background contributing to deeper progression of these burns is an essential prerequisite to planning any intervention. In this study, a review of articles examining burn wound progression over the last five years was conducted to analyze trends in recent burn progression research, determine changes in understanding of the pathogenesis of burn conversion, and subsequently examine the direction for future research in developing therapies. The majority of recent research focuses on applying therapies from other disease processes to common underlying pathogenic mechanisms in burn conversion. While ischemia, inflammation, and free oxygen radicals continue to demonstrate a critical role in secondary necrosis, novel mechanisms such as autophagy have also been shown to contribute affect significantly burn progression significantly. Further research will have to determine whether multiple mechanisms should be targeted when developing clinical therapies. PMID:26787127

Perceptions of Mental Health Concerns for Secondary Students with Disabilities during Transition to Adulthood

Science.gov (United States)

Poppen, Marcus; Sinclair, James; Hirano, Kara; Lindstrom, Lauren; Unruh, Deanne

2016-01-01

This study reports results from a national survey of education and community professionals regarding secondary level students with disabilities who were experiencing mental health concerns. A total of 648 professionals from 49 states completed the on-line survey. Respondents reported that almost half (48%) of their students with disabilities were…

Secondary beam line phase space measurement and modeling at LAMPF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Floyd, R.; Harrison, J.; Macek, R.; Sanders, G.

1979-01-01

Hardware and software have been developed for precision on-line measurement and fitting of secondary beam line phase space parameters. A system consisting of three MWPC planes for measuring particle trajectories, in coincidence with a time-of-flight telescope and a range telescope for particle identification, has been interfaced to a computer. Software has been developed for on-line track reconstruction, application of experimental cuts, and fitting of two-dimensional phase space ellipses for each particle species. The measured distributions have been found to agree well with the predictions of the Monte Carlo program DECAY TURTLE. The fitted phase space ellipses are a useful input to optimization routines, such as TRANSPORT, used to search for superior tunes. Application of this system to the LAMPF Stopped Muon Channel is described

Food label reading and understanding in parts of rural and urban ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Food label reading and understanding in parts of rural and urban Zimbabwe. ... The reading and understanding of nutrition information on food packages has been shown to improve food choices and instill ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Online worlds as media and communication format

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2009-01-01

Digital media and network communication technology have not changed this setup, but rather have opened the possibility for encountering and experiencing additional types of worlds and performing additional types of spatial practices. Being situated online and being globally networked with the pos......Digital media and network communication technology have not changed this setup, but rather have opened the possibility for encountering and experiencing additional types of worlds and performing additional types of spatial practices. Being situated online and being globally networked...... with the possibility of both synchronous and asynchronous communication, digitally mediated worlds provide possible interactions between users which are radically more independent of time and place than the ones facilitated by older media. From this perspective, the concept of online worlds both challenges...... and broadens our understanding of how media shape the world and how the media technology creates new social structures...

Pengaruh Online Reviews Terhadap Online Hotel Booking Intentions Pada Online Travel Agent Lokal

OpenAIRE

Widya Putra, Surya Aditya; Riorini, Sri Vandayuli

2016-01-01

Perkembangan penggunaan internet yang pesat saat ini, menunjukkan adanya pergesaran teknologi yang semakin maju mengarah ke media berbasis online. Konsumen cenderung untuk menelusuri (surfing) kelengkapan informasi produk dan jasa melalui internet dan melakukan pembelian secara online dikarenakan keterbatasan waktu serta kemudahan yang dirasakan. Penelitian yang dilakukan bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh online reviews beserta dimensi-nya, yaitu: usefullness of online review, reviewer ex...

Exploration of Online Culture Through Network Analysis of Wikipedia.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Sung Joo; Kim, Jong Woo; Lee, Hong Joo; Park, Hyunjung; Han, Deugcheon; Gloor, Peter

2015-11-01

Understanding online culture is becoming crucial in the global and connected world. Contrary to conventional attitudinal surveys used in cultural research, this study uses the approach of directly observing culture-specific behavior that emerges from online collaboration on the Internet. The editing data of Wikipedia were analyzed in 12 languages. Distinctive cultural dimensions were identified, including collectivism, extraversion, boldness, and egalitarianism. Using network analysis, the language-framed cultural factors were extracted as an emergent phenomenon in the virtual world.

Can understanding squid life-history strategies and recruitment ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Can understanding squid life-history strategies and recruitment improve management? ... range of potentially limiting conditions in different years, they store genetic diversity and stabilize recruitment in time. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

BOOK REVIEW STUDENT-TEACHER INTERACTION IN ONLINE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Harun SERPIL

2017-04-01

Full Text Available As online learning environments do not lend themselves to face-to-face interaction between teachers and students, it is essential to understand how to ensure healthy social presence in online learning. This book provides a useful selection of both commonly used and recently developed theories by discussing current research and giving examples of social presence in latest Online Learning Environments (OLEs. The book examines how the appropriate use of technological tools can relate instructors, peers, and course content. The reports on successful implementations are reinforced with research involving pre-service teachers. Both experienced and inexperienced educators will benefit by being informed about the effective use of many valuable tools exemplified here. The last six chapters present an array of new models that support social presence, and demonstrate how traditional paradigms can be used to create online social presence.

Nurses' online behaviour: lessons for the nursing profession.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Janet

2017-06-01

Social networking is popular online activity; however, like many activities on the internet, there are some privacy risks and concerns associated with its use. Recently, an increasing number of nurses have been censured or asked to appear before regulatory or registering authorities for unprofessional behaviour on social media sites. Problem behaviours identified include: inappropriate content and postings, crossing professional boundaries and breaching patient privacy and confidentiality. This discussion paper aims to give the nursing profession an understanding of how their online behaviour can impact on their professionalism, and how they can avoid problematic situations when using social media (Facebook). This exploratory discussion paper will inform a study researching nurses' online behaviour. Social media is here to stay and nurses need to navigate the complexities of the boundaries between the personal and the professional. Nurses need to learn to balance the growing usefulness of social media, with the legalities and etiquette of the online environment.

Collaborative distance learning: Developing an online learning community

Science.gov (United States)

Stoytcheva, Maria

2017-12-01

The method of collaborative distance learning has been applied for years in a number of distance learning courses, but they are relatively few in foreign language learning. The context of this research is a hybrid distance learning of French for specific purposes, delivered through the platform UNIV-RcT (Strasbourg University), which combines collaborative activities for the realization of a common problem-solving task online. The study focuses on a couple of aspects: on-line interactions carried out in small, tutored groups and the process of community building online. By analyzing the learner's perceptions of community and collaborative learning, we have tried to understand the process of building and maintenance of online learning community and to see to what extent the collaborative distance learning contribute to the development of the competence expectations at the end of the course. The analysis of the results allows us to distinguish the advantages and limitations of this type of e-learning and thus evaluate their pertinence.

Problematic Online Pornography Use: A Media Attendance Perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Sirianni, Joseph M; Vishwanath, Arun

2016-01-01

Since the rise of the popularity of the Internet, the accessibility of pornography has been a growing concern. One particular concern is the potential risk for addictive behaviors to occur as a result of the ease of viewing online pornographic material. The research presented herein explored online pornography addiction using a media attendance perspective, which allows media critics to examine the needs that people seek to fulfill from engaging with various media. Past studies that have used a media attendance perspective to explore media addiction, rephrased here as problematic media use, have done so using social cognitive theory and the concept of deficient self-regulation. Deficient self-regulation may be experienced by all media consumers and can range from normally impulsive media choices to pathological media choices which may result in detrimental life consequences. Borrowing from this, the current study reevaluated online pornography addiction using deficient self-regulation within a sociocognitive framework of media attendance. Results of our model show deficient self-regulation influences habitual online pornography consumption. Moreover, online pornography use motivated by social needs is perpetuated by deficient self-regulation and may lead to negative life consequences in some individuals. These findings contribute a new perspective and framework for understanding problematic online pornography use.

RNA-SSPT: RNA Secondary Structure Prediction Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Freed; Mahboob, Shahid; Gulzar, Tahsin; Din, Salah U; Hanif, Tanzeela; Ahmad, Hifza; Afzal, Muhammad

2013-01-01

The prediction of RNA structure is useful for understanding evolution for both in silico and in vitro studies. Physical methods like NMR studies to predict RNA secondary structure are expensive and difficult. Computational RNA secondary structure prediction is easier. Comparative sequence analysis provides the best solution. But secondary structure prediction of a single RNA sequence is challenging. RNA-SSPT is a tool that computationally predicts secondary structure of a single RNA sequence. Most of the RNA secondary structure prediction tools do not allow pseudoknots in the structure or are unable to locate them. Nussinov dynamic programming algorithm has been implemented in RNA-SSPT. The current studies shows only energetically most favorable secondary structure is required and the algorithm modification is also available that produces base pairs to lower the total free energy of the secondary structure. For visualization of RNA secondary structure, NAVIEW in C language is used and modified in C# for tool requirement. RNA-SSPT is built in C# using Dot Net 2.0 in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 Professional edition. The accuracy of RNA-SSPT is tested in terms of Sensitivity and Positive Predicted Value. It is a tool which serves both secondary structure prediction and secondary structure visualization purposes.

The Manifestation of Biblical Community Understanding in a Facebook Community: A Qualitative Study among Christian College Students

Science.gov (United States)

Perkins, Paul W.

2012-01-01

Applying theoretical studies of social capital, social presence, cognitive presence, and community helps researchers understand more fully the phenomenon of online social networks. The debate has moved from the positive and negative effects of online social networks to understanding how they fit into daily life. However, do biblical community…

The Lawless Frontier of Deep Space: Code as Law in EVE Online

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Melissa de Zwart

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article explores the concepts of player agency with respect to governance and regulation of online games. It considers the unique example of the Council of Stellar Management in EVE Online, and explores the multifaceted role performed by players involved in that Council. In particular, it considers the interaction between code, rules, contracts, and play with respect to EVE Online. This is used as a means to better understand the relations of power generated in game spaces.

On-line trust perception: what really matters

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Costante, E.; Hartog, den J.I.; Petkovic, M.

2011-01-01

Trust is an essential ingredient in our daily activities. The fact that these activities are increasingly carried out using the large number of available services on the Internet makes it necessary to understand how users perceive trust in the online environment. A wide body of literature concerning

Tailoring of feedback in online assessment: Lessons learnt

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vasilyeva, E.; De Bra, P.M.E.; Pechenizkiy, M.; Bonk, C.J.; et al., xx

2008-01-01

Feedback plays an important role in the learning process. Particularly, the functions of the elaborated feedback (EF) in online assessment may include assisting students in understanding their mistakes and misconceptions, motivating the student for further learning, suggesting directions for

Balancing Work, Family, and Student Roles: A Phenomenological Study of the Adult Female Graduate Online Learner

Science.gov (United States)

Rousseau, Charlene X.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain an understanding of the lived experiences of female adult learners pursuing graduate degrees online. As online graduate programs have become increasingly popular and more readily available in the last decade, more women than men are enrolling in online graduate programs in addition to…

Understanding young adult physical activity, alcohol and tobacco use in community colleges and 4-year post-secondary institutions: A cross-sectional analysis of epidemiological surveillance data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lust Katherine

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Young adults experience many adverse health behavior changes as they transition from adolescence into adulthood. A better understanding of the relationships between health promoting and risky health behaviors may aid in the development of health promotion interventions for various types of young adult post-secondary students. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine associations between alcohol and tobacco use and physical activity among 2-year and 4-year college students. Methods Cross-sectional analyses were conducted using 2007 survey data, collected as part of an on-going post-secondary health surveillance system in Minnesota. Students were randomly selected to participant from 14 Minnesota colleges and universities (six 2-year community and/or technical colleges, eight 4-year post-secondary institutions. The 2007 surveillance data included 9,931 respondents. Results The prevalence of demographic characteristics and health behaviors (e.g., physical activity, tobacco use differed between young adults attending 2-year and 4-year post-secondary institutions; in general, those attending 2-year institutions are representative of more at-risk populations. Overall, higher levels of moderate, vigorous and strengthening physical activity were associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption and lower levels of smoking. In general, despite the disparities in the prevalence of these risk behaviors, the associations between the behaviors did not differ substantially between 2-year and 4-year post-secondary populations. Conclusions These findings illustrate links between leading risk behaviors. Interventions targeting multiple risk behaviors among young adults may warrant further consideration. Overall, future research is needed to support and inform young adult health promotion efforts that may be implemented in a wide array of post-secondary institutions.

Interest in online interprofessional elective mind-body skills (MBS) training.

Science.gov (United States)

Gupta, Suman J; Kemper, Kathi J; Lynn, Joanne

2018-02-01

There is growing interest in mind-body skills (MBS) education and online interprofessional elective MBS training for health professionals. We conducted this study to understand a) the demand among different health professionals for an online MBS course; b) engagement with different MBS topics; and c) planned behavior changes. We examined registrations from May 1 through August 31, 2014 for a new online MBS elective, analyzing the percentage of registrants who engaged with one or more of 12 modules by September 30, 2014. We also reviewed written comments about planned behavior change. The 693 registrants included physicians, nurses, social workers, dietitians, psychologists, and others. The two most popular topics were "Introduction: to Stress, Resilience, and Relaxation Response" and "Autogenic Training". Half of registrants (57%) engaged with at least one module and 9% completed all 12 modules within the study period. Nearly all (90%) of those who completed evaluations planned to use the technique they learned for themselves, introduce it to patients, or both. Online elective MBS training attracts diverse health professionals and leads to plans for personal and professional behavior change. Additional research is necessary to understand the impact of different amounts and kinds of MBS training on professionals' resilience, burnout, and quality of care. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Suicidality, psychopathology, and the internet: Online time vs. online behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Harris, Keith M; Starcevic, Vladan; Ma, Jing; Zhang, Wei; Aboujaoude, Elias

2017-09-01

This study investigated whether several psychopathology variables, including suicidality, could predict the time people spend using the internet (hours online). Next, we examined a specific at-risk population (suicidal individuals) by their online behaviors, comparing suicidal individuals who went online for suicide-related purposes with suicidal individuals who did not go online for suicide-related purposes. An anonymous online sample of 713 (aged 18-71) reported hours online, psychiatric histories, and completed several standardized scales. After accounting for age and education, hierarchical regression modeling showed that the assessed psychopathology variables, including suicidality, did not explain significant variance in hours online. Hours online were better predicted by younger age, greater willingness to develop online relationships, higher perceived social support, higher curiosity, and lower extraversion. Suicidal participants, who did or did not go online for suicide-related purposes, did not differ on hours online. Multiple regression modeling showed that those who went online for suicide-related purposes were likely to be younger, more suicidal, and more willing to seek help from online mental health professionals. These findings revealed that hours online are not a valid indicator of psychopathology. However, studying online behaviors of specific at-risk groups could be informative and useful, including for suicide prevention efforts. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Antecedents of Online Word-of-Mouth and Memorable Experience Concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Iivi Riivits-Arkonsuo

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This study aims to examine the antecedents of brand-related online word-of-mouth (WOM communication from the memorable experience concept perspective. This paper considers the factors that are behind the willingness to participate in brand-consumer interaction when passing on messages, generating content, and sharing online communication. The study is built on complementary sources of information, employing a mixed methods approach. The results show that sharing and generating positive online communication involves reciprocal patterns, while a memorable experience, good brand experience, and interaction in value co-creation drive willingness to help the brand. The gratitude-related reciprocal online behaviour is a “virtual praise”. The findings provide insight into how meaningful experience, interaction in value co-creation, and reciprocity, which are the key concepts of experience marketing, cause and have an impact on sharing online communication. From a theoretical viewpoint, this study offers insights into the links between constructs of meaningful experience concepts and brand-related online communication. Understanding the experiential aspects of consumers' online behaviour, such as willingness to co-create value together with brands, offers an implication for marketing management.

Mapping online transportation service quality and multiclass classification problem solving priorities

Science.gov (United States)

Alamsyah, Andry; Rachmadiansyah, Imam

2018-03-01

Online transportation service is known for its accessibility, transparency, and tariff affordability. These points make online transportation have advantages over the existing conventional transportation service. Online transportation service is an example of disruptive technology that change the relationship between customers and companies. In Indonesia, there are high competition among online transportation provider, hence the companies must maintain and monitor their service level. To understand their position, we apply both sentiment analysis and multiclass classification to understand customer opinions. From negative sentiments, we can identify problems and establish problem-solving priorities. As a case study, we use the most popular online transportation provider in Indonesia: Gojek and Grab. Since many customers are actively give compliment and complain about company’s service level on Twitter, therefore we collect 61,721 tweets in Bahasa during one month observations. We apply Naive Bayes and Support Vector Machine methods to see which model perform best for our data. The result reveal Gojek has better service quality with 19.76% positive and 80.23% negative sentiments than Grab with 9.2% positive and 90.8% negative. The Gojek highest problem-solving priority is regarding application problems, while Grab is about unusable promos. The overall result shows general problems of both case study are related to accessibility dimension which indicate lack of capability to provide good digital access to the end users.

META-COMMUNICATION FOR REFLECTIVE ONLINE CONVERSATIONS: Models for Distance Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasin OZARSLAN

2012-01-01

Full Text Available “Meta Communication” is the process between message designers when they are talking about the learning process, as distinguished from their articulation of the “substantive” learning, itself. Therefore, it is important to understand how to design reflective online conversations and how to implement a diverse milieu for prospective online learners so that they are able to transfer their information, knowledge, and learning from theoretical forms to real life experiences. This book discusses meta-communication for reflective online conversations to provide digital people with models for distance education. This book brings together meta-communication, distance education, and models as well as reflective online conversations at the same time.The book is consisted of 321 pages covering 17 chapters. Topics covered in this book are divided into four sections: Meta-communicative knowledge building and online communications, dynamic models of meta-communication and reflective conversations, designing online messages for reflections, and meta-communicative assessments and reflective communication skills. The book's broader audience is anyone who is involved in e-learning.

Fostering Environmental Knowledge and Action through Online Learning Resources

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Maier, Carmen Daniela

2010-01-01

In order to secure correct understanding of environmental issues, to promote behavioral change and to encourage environmental action, more and more educational practices support and provide environmental programs. This article explores the design of online learning resources created for teachers...... and students by the GreenLearning environmental education program. The topic is approached from a social semiotic perspective. I conduct a multimodal analysis of the knowledge processes and the knowledge selection types that characterize the GreenLearning environmental education program and its online...

Developing Community and Building Knowledge Online Using a Virtual Reality Environment and Student-Created Videos

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, Eileen A.

2018-01-01

Within an online science teacher education course, an important although secondary goal was to prepare students for a high-stakes licensure portfolio at some time after course completion. Thus, various communication technologies including synchronous virtual reality meetings and asynchronous student self-created video commentaries were interwoven…

Online Scholarly Conversations in General Education Astronomy Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Qijie; Wong, Ka-Wah

2018-01-01

In general education astronomy courses, many students are struggling with understanding the foundational concepts and theories in astronomy. One of the possible reasons is that, due the large class size, many of the courses are taught using a lecture mode, where human interactions and active learning are limited (Freeman et al., 2014). To address this challenge, we have applied the knowledge building framework (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006) to design an online collaborative learning component, called Scholarly Conversations, to be integrated into a general education astronomy course at a public, comprehensive university.During Scholarly Conversations, students are treated as scholars to advance knowledge frontiers (Scardamalia & Bereiter, 2006). The whole process involves the creation of new ideas and requires discourse and collective work for the advancement and creation of artifacts, such as theories and models (van Aalst, 2009). Based on the knowledge building principles (Scardamalia, 2002; Zhang, Scardamalia, Reeve, & Messina, 2009), several features have been built into Scholarly Conversations so that students are guided to deepen understanding of the astronomy concepts through three phases: knowledge sharing, knowledge construction and knowledge building, and reflections on learning growth (van Aalst, 2009; Cai, 2017). The online Scholarly Conversation is an extension of the lecture component of the general education astronomy course. It promotes student interactions and collaborative learning, and provides scaffolds for students to construct meanings of the essential concepts in astronomy through social learning and online technology. In this presentation, we will explain the specific design principles of the online Scholarly Conversation, and share the artifacts created to facilitate the online conversations in an general education astronomy course.Note: This project has been supported by the College of Education Research Grant Program at Minnesota State

Wellbeing in the Secondary Music Classroom: Ideas from Hero's Journeys and Online Gaming

Science.gov (United States)

Countryman, June; Stewart Rose, Leslie

2017-01-01

This paper explores the idea that wellbeing and healthy development should be the central goal of school music programs. After establishing a framework of student wellbeing, the metaphor of rites of passage experiences is employed--through Joseph Campbell's hero's journey and Jane McGonigal's analysis of the benefits of online gaming--as one way…

Online Bioinformatics Tutorials | Office of Cancer Genomics

Science.gov (United States)

Bioinformatics is a scientific discipline that applies computer science and information technology to help understand biological processes. The NIH provides a list of free online bioinformatics tutorials, either generated by the NIH Library or other institutes, which includes introductory lectures and "how to" videos on using various tools.

The Effectiveness of an Online Fitness Course

Science.gov (United States)

Dennis, Karen Kae

2011-01-01

Given the current trends of physical inactivity, overweight and obesity rates, and chronic disease prevalence, understanding appropriate levels of physical activity, healthful nutrition, and risk reduction for chronic-disease is crucial. The purpose of this study was to identify perceptions of the effectiveness of an online personal health and…

Examining Culture's Impact on the Learning Behaviors of International Students from Confucius Culture Studying in Western Online Learning Context

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Haijun; Chang, Bo

2016-01-01

There is a lack of shared understanding of how culture impacts learning in online environment. Utilizing document analysis, the authors in this research study culture's impact on the learning behaviors of student sojourners from Confucius culture studying in Western online learning context. The shared understandings of Confucius culture and…

Implications of Online Learning for the Conceptual Development and Practice of Distance Education

Science.gov (United States)

Garrison, Randy

2009-01-01

The purpose of this article is to examine the foundational principles and practices of distance education for the purpose of understanding recent developments in the areas of online and blended learning. It is argued that mainstream distance education has not embraced the full collaborative potential of online learning. Distance education…

Exploring Teaching Programming Online through Web Conferencing System: The Lens of Activity Theory

Science.gov (United States)

Çakiroglu, Ünal; Kokoç, Mehmet; Kol, Elvan; Turan, Ebru

2016-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand activities and behaviors of learners and instructor in an online programming course. Adobe Connect web conferencing system was used as a delivery platform. A total of fifty-six sophomore students attending a computer education and instructional technology program (online) participated in this…

Predicting Successful Completion Using Student Delay Indicators in Undergraduate Self-Paced Online Courses

Science.gov (United States)

Lim, Janine M.

2016-01-01

Self-paced online courses meet flexibility and learning needs of many students, but skepticism persists regarding the quality and the tendency for students to procrastinate in self-paced courses. Research is needed to understand procrastination and delay patterns of students in online self-paced courses to predict successful completion and…

The Brains behind Brain-Based Research: The Tale of Two Postsecondary Online Learners

Science.gov (United States)

McGuckin, Dawn; Ladhani, Mubeen

2010-01-01

This paper is written from the perspective of two postsecondary students who realized the implications for brain-based learning in the online environment. This paper explores the relationship between online learning in regards to how the brain generates meaning and understanding, the role of emotions, the collaborative construction of knowledge,…

Influencing consumer engagement in online customer communities: The role of interactivity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mercy Mpinganjira

2016-08-01

Originality and value of research: Little research exists on consumer engagement, resulting in limited understanding of the concept as well as its antecedents. Focusing on online customer communities, this article contributes to addressing this gap in literature. Managers of online customer communities can use the findings to monitor levels of consumer engagement on their sites and find ways of enhancing it.

How Is Examination Stress Experienced by Secondary Students Preparing for Their General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations and How Can It Be Explained?

Science.gov (United States)

Putwain, David William

2011-01-01

High stakes examinations have been identified as a significant source of stress for secondary school students; however, there is little data accounting for, and explaining, the experiences of examination stress. This study aimed to further the understanding of examination stress in secondary school students by conducting interviews with 34…

78 FR 60303 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Online Survey of Web Services Employers; New...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-01

...-NEW] Agency Information Collection Activities: Online Survey of Web Services Employers; New... information collection. (2) Title of the Form/Collection: Online Survey of Web Services Employers. (3) Agency... USCIS obtains data on the E-Verify Program Web Services. Gaining an understanding of the Web Services...

Theatrically Digital: Education and Online Identity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nastaran Khoshsabk

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The dramaturgical aspects of using social media are applied in this study from a sociological perspective (Goffman, 1959 to describe the process of gaining a sense of self through learning in online-environments. The exploration of data in this qualitative case study sheds light on the theatrical dimension of virtual self-presentation which can encourage individuals to become engaged in interacting online and, in the process of doing so, learn actively though using social media via its unique audio-visual digital content. Social media tools provide a space for information sharing to fill the gaps when students are unwilling to communicate in face-to-face classrooms because of a particular socio-cultural context. The codes and themes from six months’ Facebook analysis of adult social media users were analysed based on the self-representation of the digital self with relation to their language and cultural background and its influence on the formation of identity. The ‘actual self’, as described in interviews, was being manipulated by individuals for different reasons such as its influence on their social/cultural identity and the development of the self-image. Increasingly, educators in all educational domains are using online social media platforms to support engagement in teaching and learning. It is hoped that this research, by offering increased understanding of the importance of online-communities, will have implications for learning from online contexts, particularly in contexts with socio-cultural boundaries.

Understanding Information Sharing Among Scientists Through a Professional Online Community: Analyses on Interaction Patterns and Contents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shin, Eun-Ja

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Even through many professional organizations increasingly use Q&A sites in their online communities for information sharing, there are few studies which examine what is really going on in the Q&A activities in professional online communities (POC. This study aims to examine the interaction patterns and contents posted in the Q&A site of a POC, KOSEN, a science and technology online community in South Korea, focusing on how actively scientific information and knowledge are shared. The interaction patterns among the participants were identified through social network analysis (SNA and the contents in the Q&As were examined by content analysis. The results show that the overall network indicated a moderate level of participation and connection and answerers especially tended to be active. Also, there are different interaction patterns depending on academic fields. Relatively few participants were posting leaders who seemed to steer the overall interactions. Furthermore, some content related to manipulation and explanation for experiments, which are in urgent need, seem to be posted in the sites more frequently with more amounts. Combining both SNA and content analysis, this study demonstrated how actively information and knowledge is shared and what types of contents are exchanged. The findings have practical implications for POC managers and practitioners.

Digital Citizenship with Social Media: Participatory Practices of Teaching and Learning in Secondary Education

Science.gov (United States)

Gleason, Benjamin; von Gillern, Sam

2018-01-01

This article explores how social media use in formal and informal learning spaces can support the development of digital citizenship for secondary school students. As students increasingly spend large amounts of time online (e.g., an average of six hours of screen time per day, excluding school and homework), it is critical that they are…

Teacher-Families Online Interactions and Gender Differences in Parental Involvement through School Data System: Do Mothers Want to Know More than Fathers about Their Children?

Science.gov (United States)

Blau, Ina; Hameiri, Mira

2012-01-01

The integration of School Systems in K-12, opens new possibilities for online interaction among teachers, students, and their parents. This paper examines three years of teacher-student and teacher-parent online interactions in seven Israeli secondary schools during the implementation of a school system called Mashov (meaning "feedback"…

Engineering online and in-person social networks to sustain physical activity: application of a conceptual model.

Science.gov (United States)

Rovniak, Liza S; Sallis, James F; Kraschnewski, Jennifer L; Sciamanna, Christopher N; Kiser, Elizabeth J; Ray, Chester A; Chinchilli, Vernon M; Ding, Ding; Matthews, Stephen A; Bopp, Melissa; George, Daniel R; Hovell, Melbourne F

2013-08-14

High rates of physical inactivity compromise the health status of populations globally. Social networks have been shown to influence physical activity (PA), but little is known about how best to engineer social networks to sustain PA. To improve procedures for building networks that shape PA as a normative behavior, there is a need for more specific hypotheses about how social variables influence PA. There is also a need to integrate concepts from network science with ecological concepts that often guide the design of in-person and electronically-mediated interventions. Therefore, this paper: (1) proposes a conceptual model that integrates principles from network science and ecology across in-person and electronically-mediated intervention modes; and (2) illustrates the application of this model to the design and evaluation of a social network intervention for PA. A conceptual model for engineering social networks was developed based on a scoping literature review of modifiable social influences on PA. The model guided the design of a cluster randomized controlled trial in which 308 sedentary adults were randomly assigned to three groups: WalkLink+: prompted and provided feedback on participants' online and in-person social-network interactions to expand networks for PA, plus provided evidence-based online walking program and weekly walking tips; WalkLink: evidence-based online walking program and weekly tips only; Minimal Treatment Control: weekly tips only. The effects of these treatment conditions were assessed at baseline, post-program, and 6-month follow-up. The primary outcome was accelerometer-measured PA. Secondary outcomes included objectively-measured aerobic fitness, body mass index, waist circumference, blood pressure, and neighborhood walkability; and self-reported measures of the physical environment, social network environment, and social network interactions. The differential effects of the three treatment conditions on primary and secondary

Preference Versus Choice in Online Dating.

Science.gov (United States)

Whyte, Stephen; Torgler, Benno

2017-03-01

This study explores factors that influence matches of online dating participants' stated preference for particular characteristics in a potential partner and compares these with the characteristics of the online daters actually contacted. The nature of online dating facilitates exploration of the differences between stated preference and actual choice by participants, as online daters willingly provide a range of demographics on their ideal partner. Using data from the Australian dating website RSVP, we analyze 219,013 contact decisions. We conduct a multivariate analysis using the number of matched variables between the participants' stated preference and the characteristics of the individuals contacted. We find that factors such as a person's age, their education level, and a more social personality all increase the number of factors they choose in a potential partner that match their original stated preference. Males (relative to females) appear to match fewer characteristics when contacting potential love interests. Conversely, age interaction effects demonstrate that males in their late 60's are increasingly more selective (than females) regarding who they contact. An understanding of how technology (the Internet) is impacting human mating patterns and the psychology behind the participants informs the wider social science of human behavior in large-scale decision settings.

ONLINE READING COMPREHENSION: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julie Coiro/

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper details a number of challenges and opportunities for today’s learners when reading for information on the Internet. After defining online reading comprehension from a new literacies perspective and how it appears to be different than offline reading comprehension, I highlight details about four of the biggest challenges for today’s learners. These include 1 understanding and becoming proficient with the new literacy skills and practices needed for online research; 2 developing a special kind of digital wisdom that focuses on learning how to learn with the Internet; 3 taking on new roles in a digital culture that expects learners to actively participate and contribute with new knowledge as a member of their community; and 4 developing positive attitudes toward using the Internet for academic work. The second part of the paper shares examples of how skilled online readers can use the steps of online inquiry to think more deeply about topics that interest them; develop a personal voice as they share ideas with others; and work collaboratively to build meaning and new digital products that enable them to make a difference in their world, or matter. You can explore the research and resources from this presentation in more depth at .

Understanding cohort differences in appraisals of reconstruction ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Understanding cohort differences in appraisals of reconstruction priorities of mental health systems in postconflict Liberia. ... Conclusion: This study provides additional support for the premise that the utilization of ... of Liberians and that there are differences in preferences across groups. ... AJOL African Journals Online.

Does Online Game-Based Learning Work in Formal Education at School? A Case Study of VISOLE

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Jong, Morris S. Y.

2015-01-01

VISOLE (Virtual Interactive Student-Oriented Environment) is a teacher-facilitated pedagogical approach to integrating constructivist online game-based learning into formal curriculum teaching in school education. This paper reports a case study on the implementation of VISOLE in secondary Geography education. We compared the pedagogical…

Massive Open Online Courses for Africa by Africa

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Benedict Oyo

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Africa is known for inadequate access to all sorts of human needs including health, education, food, shelter, transport, security, and energy. Before the emergence of massive open online courses (MOOCs, open access to higher education (HE was exclusive of Africa. However, as a generally affordable method of post-secondary education delivery, MOOCs place the developing countries at the centre of universal access to HE. This paper provides the strategy for MOOC implementation in the context of limited resources in Africa. The strategy is clustered under five baseline requirements: national accredited MOOC curriculum, electronic content development, development of an online and offline eLearning platform, establishment and funding of MOOC coordination units at public HEIs, and establishment of MOOC access hubs at strategic locations. Emerging from this paper is the insight that a new era of universal access to HE in Africa is achievable through MOOCs only if initial requirements are met by the respective governments.

Online Discussion about Sexuality Education in Schools

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Broadbear, James T.; Broadbear, Barbara C.

2012-01-01

Sexuality education in schools continues to be a controversial issue although public debate has seemingly calmed in recent years. Dialogue about the value and purpose of sexuality education for adolescents can provide health education specialists a better understanding of public opinion and online discussion may be a potentially ideal way to…

IN THE MAZE OF E-COMMERCE. ONLINE TRADE DEFINING VARIABLES IN ROMANIA

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Erika KULCSÁR

2017-05-01

Full Text Available The number of those articles dealing with the issue of online trade is significant both at international and national level. Among the main identified themes addressed in this present article are the following: (a. the characteristics that define the segment of those who purchase via the Internet, (b. the influencing factors which play a crucial role at purchases made online, (c. the identification of those variables through which online consumer behavior can be studied (d. the advantages offered by the Internet, and therefore by online trade. The purpose of this article is to understand and know the buying habits of online customers. The main variables included in the analysis are the following: (1 type of customer, (2 customers’ residency, (3 the day of the online order, (4 time interval/time frame when the order was placed (4 ordered brands, (5 the average value of orders.

In-person and online social participation and emotional health in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

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Sparling, Alica; Stutts, Lauren A; Sanner, Haley; Eijkholt, Marleen M

2017-11-01

Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) sometimes have barriers to social participation. The advent of the internet has created online support systems for social participation such as websites for individuals with MS. However, minimal research has been conducted about determinants of individuals' in-person and online social participation or how types of social participation contribute to emotional well-being. The present study aims are: (1) to assess the role of access to resources and other determinants as enabling in-person and online social participation, and (2) to analyze the association between social participation and emotional health of individuals with MS. The sample consisted of 508 individuals diagnosed with relapsing/remitting or secondary/progressive MS. Data from NARCOMS registry and data from original questionnaire on determinants of social participation and emotional health were merged. Logistic and linear regression analyses were performed. Individuals with access to the internet were more likely to participate online with friends (OR 5.47, p social participation with friends reported being happier (B = .38, p health and online social participation. Increasing access to in-person social participation with friends will likely have the most positive impact on emotional health. Future research should examine the aspects of online participation that are helpful or harmful.

The Gender of Secondary School Principals.

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Bonuso, Carl; Shakeshaft, Charol

1983-01-01

A study was conducted to understand why so few of the secondary school principals in New York State are women. Results suggest two possible causes: either sufficient women candidates do not apply for the positions, or sex discrimination still exists. (KH)

A grounded theory of faculty's use of humanization to create online course climate.

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Cox-Davenport, Rebecca A

2014-03-01

The purpose of this research was to study the way faculty establish course social presence in an online course. The community of inquiry model by Garrison, Anderson, and Archer distinguished the area of social presence as an important component of online learning, and this study sought to understand how faculty perceive and create social presence in their online classroom. By employing a grounded theory approach, a substantive theory was developed to explain the way in which faculty create and maintain an online course climate. The sample consisted of 10 nursing faculty teaching various master's in nursing courses. Through a rigorous qualitative process using nursing faculty interviews and online course analysis, humanization was found to be the core category in setting online course climate. Faculty's efforts to humanize the climate lead each member of the community to view the other members as real, thereby enabling the establishment of online social presence.

Social value of online information in the hotel industry

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Moraru Remus Christian

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Studies show that public information can create social value, which reflects on the purpose of this paper in identifying information on the online environment of the hotel industry which can directly or indirectly create social value and ultimately a competitive edge. Privately owned, small and mid-sized hotels in Romania find themselves in competitive online environment and, as such, many of them cannot compete or don’t possess the know-how to compete within the online environment. With identifying the information shared on the hotels online environment and the capability of the information in creating social value, hotels can reevaluate their online strategies. The immediate objective of this paper is to analyze the websites of a sample of 99 small and mid-sized hotels in Romania and to identify critical information that can directly or indirectly create social value. Part of the objective is to draw a conclusion of the main differences on the information shared on the hotels website, which in terms will show where small and mid-sized hotels can improve their online content strategy with socially valuable information. Key findings reflect that Romanian hotels have a clear pattern across the country when it come to their online environment. However, there are serious deficiencies that can influence both economical results and the possibility of creating socially valuable information online. This work increases our understanding of the information shared on the hotels websites in Romania and comes with suggestions that hoteliers can apply in the future to increase the competitiveness and the social value of their online environment.

CUSTOMER PERCEPTION ON ONLINE PURCHASE INTENTION: THE IMPACT OF ONLINE SHOPPING ORIENTATIONS ON ONLINE BUYING INTENTION

OpenAIRE

Ghouri, Arsalan Mujahid; Ul Haq, Mirza Amin; Khan, Naveed R

2017-01-01

This paper endeavorsto recognize the customer perception on online purchase intention among theyouth of Pakistan. Customer perception on online purchase intention, thus ourresearch variables are impulse purchase orientation, brand orientation,and quality orientation were considered along with online trust andprior online purchase experience. The results are focused 292 responses gotfrom the online study. The exploration made that impulse purchase orientation;prior o...

Implementation of an Online Climate Science Course at San Antonio College

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Reyes, R.; Strybos, J.

2016-12-01

San Antonio College (SAC) plans to incorporate an online climate science class into the curriculum with a focus on local weather conditions and data. SAC is part of a network of five community colleges based around San Antonio, Texas, has over 20,000 students enrolled, and its student population reflects the diversity in ethnicity, age and gender of the San Antonio community. The college understands the importance of educating San Antonio residents on climate science and its complexities. San Antonio residents are familiar with weather changes and extreme conditions. The region has experienced an extreme drought, including water rationing in the city. Then, this year's El Niño intensified expected annual rainfalls and flash floods. The proposed climate science course will uniquely prepare students to understand weather data and the evidence of climate change impacting San Antonio at a local level. This paper will discuss the importance and challenges of introducing the new climate science course into the curriculum, and the desired class format that will increase the course's success. Two of the most significant challenges are informing students about the value of this class and identifying the best teaching format. Additionally, measuring and monitoring enrollment will be essential to determine the course performance and success. At the same time, Alamo Colleges is modifying the process of teaching online classes and is officially working to establish an online college. Around 23% of students enrolled in SAC offered courses are currently enrolled in online courses only, representing an opportunity to incorporate the climate science class as an online course. Since the proposed course will be using electronic textbooks and online applications to access hyperlocal weather data, the class is uniquely suited for online students.

Succeeding at teaching secondary mathematics your first year

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Roddick, Cheryl D

2010-01-01

This practical resource helps beginning secondary mathematics teachers design a curriculum that is meaningful, differentiate instruction, engage students, meet standards, assess student understanding, and more.

Web vulnerability study of online pharmacy sites.

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Kuzma, Joanne

2011-01-01

Consumers are increasingly using online pharmacies, but these sites may not provide an adequate level of security with the consumers' personal data. There is a gap in this research addressing the problems of security vulnerabilities in this industry. The objective is to identify the level of web application security vulnerabilities in online pharmacies and the common types of flaws, thus expanding on prior studies. Technical, managerial and legal recommendations on how to mitigate security issues are presented. The proposed four-step method first consists of choosing an online testing tool. The next steps involve choosing a list of 60 online pharmacy sites to test, and then running the software analysis to compile a list of flaws. Finally, an in-depth analysis is performed on the types of web application vulnerabilities. The majority of sites had serious vulnerabilities, with the majority of flaws being cross-site scripting or old versions of software that have not been updated. A method is proposed for the securing of web pharmacy sites, using a multi-phased approach of technical and managerial techniques together with a thorough understanding of national legal requirements for securing systems.

Online Health Search Experience: Sentiments from South East Asia

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Anushia Inthiran

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Performing an online health search is a popular activity conducted on the Internet. Research studies from developed countries provide information on source used, type of search performed and devices used to perform the search. However, the same cannot be said about the online health information searching scene in South East Asia. Online health information searching is gaining popularity in South East Asia. Citizens in these countries are turning to the Internet to obtain health information quickly. Current research studies pertaining to online health information searching in South East Asian is limited, particularly relating to search experiences of South East Asian health searchers. Search experience is pertinent asit could deter or encourage the possibility of conducting future health searches. In this research study, a user study was conducted to describe the online search experience of South East Asian health searchers. A face to face interview with 50 participants was conducted. The interview was audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Results indicate participants have positive and negative search experiences. In some cases, post search outcomes influenced the search experience. Results of this research study contribute to the growing domain of knowledge in relation to online health information searching. Results of this study also provide an understanding pertaining to the search experience of South East Asian online health searchers.

Identifying and Addressing Themes of Job Dissatisfaction for Secondary Principals

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De Jong, David; Grundmeyer, Trent; Yankey, Julie

2017-01-01

Secondary principals serve in important roles that are complex, high-stress, and include demanding job responsibilities. Key stakeholders such as superintendents, school board members, and legislators must understand the challenges facing secondary principals in order to address the current themes of job dissatisfaction. Using new survey data…

Unwanted online sexual solicitation and online sexual risk behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baumgartner, S.E.; Valkenburg, P.M.; Peter, J.; Yan, Z.

2012-01-01

In recent years, there have been growing concerns about online sexual solicitations and online sexual risk behaviors. Recent studies suggest that only a minority of adolescents is confronted with online sexual solicitations or engages in online sexual risk behavior. Whereas more girls encounter

Patients' online access to their electronic health records and linked online services: a systematic interpretative review.

Science.gov (United States)

de Lusignan, Simon; Mold, Freda; Sheikh, Aziz; Majeed, Azeem; Wyatt, Jeremy C; Quinn, Tom; Cavill, Mary; Gronlund, Toto Anne; Franco, Christina; Chauhan, Umesh; Blakey, Hannah; Kataria, Neha; Barker, Fiona; Ellis, Beverley; Koczan, Phil; Arvanitis, Theodoros N; McCarthy, Mary; Jones, Simon; Rafi, Imran

2014-09-08

To investigate the effect of providing patients online access to their electronic health record (EHR) and linked transactional services on the provision, quality and safety of healthcare. The objectives are also to identify and understand: barriers and facilitators for providing online access to their records and services for primary care workers; and their association with organisational/IT system issues. Primary care. A total of 143 studies were included. 17 were experimental in design and subject to risk of bias assessment, which is reported in a separate paper. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria have also been published elsewhere in the protocol. Our primary outcome measure was change in quality or safety as a result of implementation or utilisation of online records/transactional services. No studies reported changes in health outcomes; though eight detected medication errors and seven reported improved uptake of preventative care. Professional concerns over privacy were reported in 14 studies. 18 studies reported concern over potential increased workload; with some showing an increase workload in email or online messaging; telephone contact remaining unchanged, and face-to face contact staying the same or falling. Owing to heterogeneity in reporting overall workload change was hard to predict. 10 studies reported how online access offered convenience, primarily for more advantaged patients, who were largely highly satisfied with the process when clinician responses were prompt. Patient online access and services offer increased convenience and satisfaction. However, professionals were concerned about impact on workload and risk to privacy. Studies correcting medication errors may improve patient safety. There may need to be a redesign of the business process to engage health professionals in online access and of the EHR to make it friendlier and provide equity of access to a wider group of patients. A1 SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO

Information Technology Strategies for Honor Society and Organization Membership Retention in Online Nursing Programs.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopkins, Emily E; Wasco, Jennifer J

Membership retention in an honor society or organization is of utmost importance for sustainability. However, retaining members in organizations that serve online education nursing students can be a challenging task. Understanding the importance of creating a sense of community to promote retention within an honor society chapter, nursing faculty at a small private university implemented different online approaches. This article highlights successful information technology strategies to promote membership retention in organizations for online nursing students.

Factors affecting customer satisfaction of online travel agencies in India

OpenAIRE

Dutta, Sabyasachi; Kumar Chauhan, Ram; Chauhan, Kavita

2017-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors affecting customer satisfaction for online travel agencies in India. It will help guide existing online travel agencies and future entrants to have an in-depth understanding of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in their domain. It will also help to improve their business operations and investment focus, which in turn will lead to greater customer satisfaction and loyalty. Design – This paper defines the concept of cust...

Balancing Passion and Priorities: An Investigation of Health and Wellness Practices of Secondary School Principals

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Beisser, Sally R.; Peters, Randal E.; Thacker, Valerie M.

2014-01-01

Given the increased attention on school-based programs to decrease obesity and emphasize fitness among children, there is an alarming lack of attention on health and wellness of school administrators. This study investigated the work-life balance, health, and nutrition status of secondary administrators in one Midwest state using an online survey.…

Eighth Grade In-Service Teachers' Knowledge of Proportional Reasoning and Functions: A Secondary Data Analysis

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Masters, Jessica

2012-01-01

A secondary data analysis was conducted using a large dataset from a study related to online professional development for eighth grade teachers of mathematics. Using this data, the paper provides a snapshot of the current state of teachers' knowledge related to proportional reasoning and functions. The paper also considers how teachers' knowledge…

Are we there yet? An examination of online tailored health communication.

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Suggs, L Suzanne; McIntyre, Chris

2009-04-01

Increasingly, the Internet is playing an important role in consumer health and patient-provider communication. Seventy-three percent of American adults are now online, and 79% have searched for health information on the Internet. This study provides a baseline understanding of the extent to which health consumers are able to find tailored communication online. It describes the current behavioral focus, the channels being used to deliver the tailored content, and the level of tailoring in online-tailored communication. A content analysis of 497 health Web sites found few examples of personalized, targeted, or tailored health sites freely available online. Tailored content was provided in 13 Web sites, although 15 collected individual data. More health risk assessment (HRA) sites included tailored feedback than other topics. The patterns that emerged from the analysis demonstrate that online health users can access a number of Web sites with communication tailored to their needs.

Does online harassment constitute bullying? An exploration of online harassment by known peers and online-only contacts.

Science.gov (United States)

Wolak, Janis; Mitchell, Kimberly J; Finkelhor, David

2007-12-01

To shed light on the nature of online harassment and the extent to which it may be bullying by examining differences in the characteristics of harassed youth, online harassment incidents, and distressing online harassment based on the identity of online harassers (known peer vs. online-only contact). A telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 1500 youth Internet users, ages 10 to 17, conducted between March and June 2005. Nine percent (n = 129) of youth were harassed online in the past year, 43% (n = 56) by known peers and 57% (n = 73) by people they met online and did not know in person (online-only contacts). Most online harassment incidents did not appear to meet the standard definition of bullying used in school-based research and requiring aggression, repetition, and power imbalance. Only 25% of incidents by known peers and 21% by online-only contacts involved both repeated incidents and either distress to targets or adult intervention. In many cases, the concept of "bullying" or "cyber-bullying" may be inappropriate for online interpersonal offenses. We suggest using "online harassment," with disclaimers that it does not constitute bullying unless it is part of or related to offline bullying. This would include incidents perpetrated by peers that occur entirely online, but arise from school-related events or relationships and have school-related consequences for targets. The Internet provides opportunities for the extension of conventional school bullying to new venues. Those who study conventional school bullying should include online forms of the behavior in research, prevention, and intervention paradigms.

Pengaruh Sistem Pembayaran Listrik Online (Payment Point Online Bank Terhadap Pengendalian Internal Kas Pada PT. PLN (Persero DJBB

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maulana Yusup

2012-04-01

Full Text Available The company has its own way in the benefit and boost profits from year to year. Gains usually obtained sourced from a network perusahaan.System activities related procedures in a comprehensive series to carry out an enterprise activity. Therefore, the service strategy very big influence on the activities of the company. With the waiters are good, it is expected there will be no diversion of the company The research objective was to determine the effect of electricity online payment system (payment points online bank to internal control of cash at PT.PLN (Persero Distribution West Java and Banten Distribution Office. Conventional payment systems that rely on physical cash as a payment instrument has been shifted due to advances in technology can replace conventional ways of containing the risk of endangering safety. Based on research data on the PT. PLN (Persero Distribution West Java and Banten and discussion based on the theory, it can be concluded that the system of online payment of electricity was instrumental in supporting the effectiveness of internal control of cash, it can be seen from (1 The presence of general controls and application controls are adequate. Customers make payment through bank online payment points, (2 Reconciliation of receipt of funds receipt and bookkeeping is done regularly and directed accordingly (2 Process Online Payment System Electrical PPOB (Payment Point Online Bank is an electricity bill payment service and other bills online real -Time. For it can be suggested that understanding is not uniform (the existence of different viewpoints of employees with regard to the value and effect of the application of the company's progress PPOB can be removed and can eliminate the old paradigm of doing business processes PLN and increased knowledge of the mechanism of action of the system so as to improve performance and ultimately increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Online Learning and the Education Encounter in a Neo-Liberal University: A Case Study

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Natalier, Kristin; Clarke, Robert

2015-01-01

Online education is an increasingly important element of contemporary higher education, but many argue its potential has not been fully realised. Attempts to analyse the limits on educators' uptake or effective implementation of online education emphasise individual and institutional adaptation to technology, at the expense of understanding the…

Online social support as a buffer against online and offline peer and sexual victimization among U.S. LGBT and non-LGBT youth.

Science.gov (United States)