Information Need

Nowadays, the amount of available information, especially on the Web, is increasing. In this field, the role of user modeling and personalized information access is obviously vital. The traditional techniques like BOW (Bags of words) limit recommendations to the words which have been stored in the profile. In other words, the news items, which semantically relate to the users interests, can't be recognized and recommended to the users. Besides, BOW technique suffers from the curse of dimensionality, thus computational burden reduction is an essential task to efficiently handle a large number of terms in practical applications. This study focuses on the problem of choosing a representation of documents that can be suitable to induce concept-based user profiles as well as to support a content-based retrieval process. In this study, a new approach has been proposed to construct a ranked semantic user profile through extracting the related subjects. The new items can be recommended ...

Users' preferences have traditionally been exploited in query personalization to better serve their information needs. Most of the time, user preferences depend on context, that is, they may have different values depending on the situation of the user. In this paper, we propose a fuzzy-rule-based model for the representation of contextual preferences in a database querying framework. We discuss the augmentation of a query with preferences deduced from information regarding the current context of the user. To this end, we make use of an appropriate inference pattern, called generalized modus ponens, able to deal with data and knowledge when they are described in a fuzzy way.

Queries submitted to search engines are ambiguous in nature due to users’ irrelevant input which poses real challenges to web search engines both towards understanding a query and giving results. A lot of irrelevant and ambiguous information creates disappointment among users. Thus, this research proposes an ambiguity evolvement process followed by an integrated use of spatial and temporal features to alleviate the search results imprecision. To enhance the effectiveness of web information retrieval the study develops an enhanced Adaptive Disambiguation Approach for web search queries to overcome the problems caused by ambiguous queries. A query classification method was used to filter search results to overcome the imprecision. An algorithm was utilized for finding the similarity of the search results based on spatial and temporal features. Users’ selection based on web results facilitated recording of implicit feedback which was then utilized for web search improvement. Performanc...

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Free Flight Program successfully deployed the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET), Traffic Management Advisor (TMA), and Controller-Pilot Data Link Communications (CPDLC) to a limited number of Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs). As deployment expands nationwide, several facilities may eventually receive all three tools. Before this occurs, it is important to identify any potential human factors issues that may arise due to the collocation of these tools at the controller's workstation. In this report, we present the first of three high fidelity human-in-the-loop simulation experiments we conducted to evaluate the impact of URET, TMA, and CPDLC collocation on controller workload, situational awareness, and teamwork. We examined collocation issues with a "stovepipe" independent configuration where none of the tools were integrated or directly communicated with each other. In this first experiment, twelve Air Traffic Control Specialists (ATCSs) participated as Rside/D-side controller teams operating a high altitude generic sector using all combinations of the three tools. The most important collocation issue identified was that controllers had difficulty accessing important information on the D-side display when URET and CPDLC were both operational (i.e., display clutter). Although neither tool alone caused display clutter, both tools in combination made it difficult for D-side controllers to find the information they needed quickly. This was especially true for accessing CPDLC windows, which became covered when controllers used URET. Another collocation issue was that D-side controllers had to access TMA delay time information from the R-side display. Controllers thought it was important to have TMA information available on the D-side display where it could be easily accessed by D-side controllers. However, controllers were concerned that simply showing the TMA List on the D-side might add to the D-side display clutter. Good human factors design principles prescribe that users must have immediate access to important information and that critical information should never be covered. A "stovepipe" independent deployment of these tools will result in impaired access to timely information. The results of this study indicated that better efforts should be made towards integrating the information from URET, TMA, and CPDLC on the D-side monitor prior to deployment.

The U.S. Geological Survey is evaluating potentially useful surrogate instruments and methods for inferring the physical characteristics of suspended sediments. Instruments operating on bulk acoustic, bulk and digital optic, laser, and pressure-differential technologies are being tested in riverine and laboratory settings for their usefulness to Federal agencies toward providing quantifiably reliable information on bed-material and bed-topography characteristics, and on concentrations, size distributions and transport rates of sediments in suspension and as bedload. The efficacy of four suspended-sediment surrogate technologies has been demonstrated to varying degrees of success in Kansas,

Ma aî ît tr re e d de e c co on nf fé ér re en nc ce e à à l l' 'E EJ JC CM M, , U Un ni iv ve er rs si it té é d de e l la a M Mé éd di it te er rr ra an né ée e F FC CS S à à l l' 'i in nt té ég gr ra at ti io on n d d' 'u un ne e d dé ém ma ar rc ch he e d de e v ve ei il ll le e e et t d d' 'I IE E d da an ns s l le es s P PM ME E e et t T TP PE E © © D Dj ji ib br ri il l D DI IA AK KH HA AT TE E --M M2 2R R S ST TI IC C e et t M Mé éd di ia at ti io on n d de es s c co on nn na ai is ss sa an nc ce es s : : M Mé ém mo oi ir re e d de es s o or rg ga an ni is sa at ti io on ns s e et t S Sy ys st tè èm me es s d d' 'i in nf fo or rm ma at ti io on n F FC CS S à à l l' 'i in nt té ég gr ra at ti io on n d d' 'u un ne e d dé ém ma ar rc ch he e d de e v ve ei il ll le e e et t d d' 'I IE E d da an ns s l le es s P PM ME E e et t T TP PE E © © D Dj ji ib br ri il l D DI IA AK KH HA AT TE E --M M2 2R R S ST TI IC C e et t M Mé éd di ia at ti io on n d de es s c co on nn na ai is ss sa an nc ce es s : : M Mé ém mo oi ir re e d de es s o or rg ga an ni is sa at ti io on ns s e et t S Sy ys st tè èm me es s d d' 'i in nf fo or rm ma at ti io on n F FC CS S à à l l' 'i in nt té ég gr ra at ti io on n d d' 'u un ne e d dé ém ma ar rc ch he e d de e v ve ei il ll le e e et t d d' 'I IE E p po ou ur r l le es s P

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to determine how the caregivers of orphans and vulnerable children in Namibia seek information to ensure their own and the children's survival.Design/methodology/approachThe research was conducted through focus group discussions in the Ohangwena (rural) and Khomas regions (urban). Purposive sampling was used to identify key informants with the assistance of social workers and community leaders.FindingsDisparities between rural and urban areas in terms of information access and use were found. For example, the rural dwellers expressed need for information on educational support, psychological and counselling services, childcare, and job opportunities. In urban areas, educational support and the establishment of small businesses featured as prominent needs. Radio, traditional leaders, regional councillors, friends and relatives were identified as channels of information in Ohangwena, while in Khomas, friends and relatives, community leaders, and...

Grid computing involves the close coordination of many different sites which offer distinct computational and storage resources to the Grid user community. The resources at each site need to be monitored continuously. Static and dynamic site information needs to be presented to the user community in a simple and efficient manner. This paper will present both the design and implementation of the Grid3 monitoring infrastructure and the design details and the functionalities of a new application called the GridCat. The Grid3 monitoring architecture follows a useroriented design that specifies standard metrics and utilizes underlying monitoring tools to collect them into a diversified framework. Then existing tools can be integrated, their functionality extended and new tools developed. The primary tools used include the ACDC Job Monitoring system from University at Buffalo, Ganglia, a preliminary version of GridCat, Globus MDS, the University of Chicago Grid telemetry MDViewer, and US ...

Modern Web search engines index hundreds of millions of images. To search these images is a daunting task for the user who can, realistically, only visually inspect a handful. In general, the way the user responds to an information need depends on the task at hand. Further, some tasks will require browsing, while others are targeted and require a more directed approach. In this paper, we present the preliminary results of research to develop a framework for applying semantics to enhance image retrieval. We consider this problem on two separate levels. First, we consider the application of an Ontology to define the semantic query space for image search and navigation, as well as to approximate the users context for the search. Secondly, in order to further improve upon the search results we apply the Relevance model, using data from the web to train the model. The role of the Relevance Model is to rank images from the search engine. The study also investigates how application of an ontology affects the quantity and quality the retrieved images and also the effects to the exp erience of the user in image search. We then contrast the results with those obtained by the Relevance Model for exactly similar search terms. The Relevance Model is based on a probabilistic model, which applies user definable language models to the text linking to the image. In our Relevance Model, the relevance of a HTML document linking to an image is evaluated and assigned with respect to highly ranked textual documents from the web. The ranking of the HTML document, is also assigned to ranking of the respective image. The main advantage here is that the Relevance Model can be learnt from the Web without any preparation of training data and is independent of the underlying algorithm of the image search engines. We show that navigation is indeed a very powerful tool for image browsing and that using the ontology dramatically enhances recall for specialized terms. Relevance feedback mainly improves precision by effective re-ranking.

P2P applications for searching and exchanging information over the Web have become increasingly popular. This has lead to a number of (usually thematically) focused communities, which allow efficient searching within such communities, and which use specific metadata sets to specify the resources stored within the P2P network. By concentrating on domain and application specific formats for metadata and query languages, however, current P2P networks appear to be fragmenting into non-interoperable niche markets. This contribution describes the open source project Edutella which builds upon metadata standards defined for the WWW and aims to provide an RDF-based metadata infrastructure for P2P applications, building on the recently announced JXTA Framework. We describe one basic service (query) and an Edutella application (annotation) within this network, both being built on a common query language exchange format, and specify the main architecture and APIs of the Edutella P2P network. The advantage of the WWW is that it constitutes a predominantly decentral paradigm storing information resources in hypertext like structures. Searching in the WWW, however, typically follows a client-server model, viz. browser vs. search engine , inheriting the corresponding benefits and pitfalls. To name some problems, search engines cover only a decreasing percentage of the information available on the Web and their content is often not up to date because of the time required for crawling of the Web.

The Project Halo has the long term objective of developing a Digital Aristotle, i.e. a knowledge system that is able to answer questions in a particular domain and give explanations for its answers. In this paper we report about the Ontoprise contribution to the Halo Pilot Project, in which various competing ontology engineering methodologies and knowledge system capabilities have been investigated. Concerning the first, we describe how we dealt with engineering a significant set of laws from chemistry that we had to let interact at different levels of generality and in varying orders. With regard to the latter, we report on the ability of our system to produce coherent and concise explanations of its reasoning. The importance of these two aspects can hardly be underestimated in the Semantic Web, as with future growth the interaction of large sets of laws will require dedicated management as well as the ability to let the user explore the trustworthiness of the ontology and the underlying data sources.

Semantic Annotation is a basic technology for intelligent content and is beneficial in a wide range of contentoriented intelligent applications. In this paper we present our work in ontology-based semantic annotation, which is embedded in a scenario of a knowledge portal application. Starting with seemingly good and bad manual semantic annotation, we describe our experiences made within the KA -initiative. The experiences gave us the starting point for developing an ergonomic and knowledge base-supported annotation tool. Furthermore, the annotation tool described are currently extended with mechanisms for semi-automatic information-extraction based annotation. Supporting the evolving nature of semantic content we additionally describe our idea of evolving ontologies supporting semantic annotation.

Ontologies now play an important role for enabling the semantic web. They provide a source of precisely defined terms e.g. for knowledge-intensive applications. The terms are used for concise communication across people and applications. Typically the development of ontologies involves collaborative efforts of multiple persons. OntoEdit is an ontology editor that integrates numerous aspects of ontology engineering. This paper focuses on collaborative development of ontologies with OntoEdit which is guided by a comprehensive methodology.

Efficient resource retrieval is a crucial issue, particularly in the context of Semantic Web, since forms of reasoning are used for answering requests. Resources are retrieved by performing a match test between each resource description and the query. This approach becomes inefficient with the increase of available resources. We propose a method for improving the retrieval process by constructing a tree index through a new conceptual clustering method for resources expressed in Web ontology languages. In the index, the available resource descriptions are located at the leaf nodes, while inner nodes represent intensional descriptions (generalizations) of their child nodes. The match process is executed by following the tree branches whose nodes satisfy the query. Query answering time may be strongly improved as the steps may be O(log n).

Community web portals serve as portals for the information needs of particular communities on the web. We here discuss how a comprehensive, ontology-based approach for building and maintaining a high-value community web portal has been conceived and implemented. The ontology serves as a semantic backbone for accessing knowledge on the portal, for contributing information, as well as for developing and maintaining the portal. In particular, the ontology allows for flexible querying and inferencing of knowledge. Actual usage of our technology is facilitated through a set of tools that are about to turn our research system into a portal for wide-spread usage right now. The development of these tools has greatly benefited from some first experiences we had with actual users of the community web portal of the knowledge acquisition community.

This paper examines the foundational role and enduring legacy of Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), the groundbreaking collective co-founded by engineer Billy Klüver and artists Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Whitman in 1966. It argues that E.A.T. established a revolutionary and highly relevant paradigm for interdisciplinary collaboration, fundamentally reshaping the relationship between artistic practice and technological innovation. Through an analysis of key projects-from the early performances of 9 Evenings: Theatre and Engineering and the seminal Some More Beginnings exhibition to the ambitious international endeavors like the Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 and the Anand Project in India-this paper demonstrates how E.A.T. operated as a service-oriented intermediary. It facilitated one-to-one partnerships where artists gained access to a "new palette" of technology, while engineers were stimulated to see their work through a new, creative lens. The study positions E.A.T. not merely as a historical moment in 1960s New York art but as a vital memorandum for the present. It concludes that the organization's core philosophy-advocating for the deep integration of art and technology within institutions, education, and collaborative practice-provides a critical framework for navigating contemporary digital culture. E.A.T.'s model remains a powerful exemplar of how interdisciplinary dialogue can expand the possibilities of both artistic creation and technological development.

The risks/benefits balance of hormone replacement therapy is controversial. Information can influence consumers' knowledge and behavior; research findings about hormone replacement therapy are uncertain and the messages provided by the media are of poor quality and incomplete, preventing a fully informed decision making process. We therefore felt that an explicit, rigorous and structured assessment of the information needs on this issue was urgent and we opted for the organisation of a national consensus conference (CC) to assess the current status of the quality of information on hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and re-visit recent research findings on its risks/benefits. We chose a structured approach based on the traditional CC method combined with a structured preparatory work supervised by an organising committee (OC) and a scientific board (SB). The OC and SB chose the members of the CC's jury and appointed three multidisciplinary working groups (MWG) which were asked to review clinical issues and different aspects of the quality of information. Before the CC, the three MWGs carried out: a literature review on the risk/benefit profile of HRT and two surveys on the quality of information on lay press and booklets targeted to women. A population survey on women's knowledge, attitude and practice was also carried out. The jury received the documents in advance, listened the presentations during the two-day meeting of the CCs, met immediately after in a closed-door meeting and prepared the final document. Participants were researchers, clinicians, journalists as well as consumers' representatives. Results: Key messages in the CC's deliberation were: a) women need to be fully informed about the transient nature of menopausal symptoms, about HRT risks and benefits and about the availability of non-pharmacological interventions; b) HRT is not recommended to prevent menopausal symptoms; c) the term "HRT" is misleading and "post menopausal hormone therapy" should be the preferred definition. This CC led to the identification of specific information drawbacks. Women are exposed to messages that are often partial, non evidence-based nor transparently developed. The structured and participative methodology of this CC allowed a multidisciplinary perspective and a substantial lay people input.

The authors conducted a set of focus groups and a public survey to assess awareness and potential acceptability of CCS in the context of national policy formulation in 2009-2010. In 2010, the authors also conducted focus groups to assess awareness of CCS and to identify information needs to form local opinion for CCS demonstration project in the context of local implementation in a potential project site. By comparing the results of those assessments, roles of focus groups and public survey are clarified. In national policy context, focus group assessment helps to design a public survey as well as provides an example of the public's thought on CCS, and shows some processes of opinion formulation through group dynamics. In local context, qualitative assessments through focus groups and other methodology such as interviews and local meeting would play important role to understand local public opinion. Meanwhile, the cautions that focus group would not provide comprehensive assessments on public opinion and might pick exaggerated opinions are drawn in using focus group data.

Air traffic controllers currently rely on structured routes and traffic organization for managing separation problems. However, even in today's structured air traffic control environment, human limitations in the rate and accuracy with which they can extrapolate aircraft positions can result in late or unnecessary ATC interventions to resolve conflicts. To meet the additional demands that will be placed on controllers operating in the unstructured routing environment introduced as part of Free Flight, the FAA and the MITRE Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) have been researching and developing a strategic conflict probe capability for the en route controller team called the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET). This paper presents results from (a) recent field evaluations of URET, (b) analysis activities using real traffic scenarios from Indianapolis Center, and (c) a controller-in-the-loop simulation study of the URET being used in a traffic environment with reduced structure relative to current practice. The paper analyzes these results to describe how Conflict Probe can help reduce the restrictions that are imposed on flights.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Next Generation Air-Ground Communications program plans to replace aging analog radio equipment with the Very High Frequency Digital Link Mode 3 (VDL3) system. VDL3 will implement both digital voice and data link communications and will include special features such as controller override, antiblocking, and a transmit status indicator. There are two human factors concerns with the VDL3 system: voice quality and voice throughput delay. Previous research has determined that digital voice technology is highly intelligible and acceptable for Air Traffic Control (ATC) operations. Researchers from the National Airspace System Human Factors Group (ACB-220) of the FAA William J. Hughes Technical Center conducted a high fidelity, human-in-the-loop simulation to examine the impact of voice throughput delay on ATC operations. The communications equipment simulated the VDL3 system with controller override, antiblocking, and transmit status indicator features. The researchers examined ground system delays of 250 ms (current specification), 350 ms (practical alternative), and 750 ms (to demonstrate the sensitivity of the simulation measures) each with their appropriate airborne system delays. Ten controllers from Level 11 and 12 Air Route Traffic Control Centers participated in the study. The results indicated that there were no significant differences between the 250 ms and 350 ms delay conditions. However, the 750 ms condition did produce a significant increase in controller overrides, and the controllers rated it as interfering with some aspects of their communication (e.g., providing optional services). The researchers concluded that the VDL3 system with controller override, antiblocking, and a transmit status indicator can be implemented with a 350 ms ground system delay without causing problems for controllers.

Air traffic controllers currently rely on structured routes and traffic organization for managing separation problems. However, even in today's structured air traffic control environment, human limitations in the rate and accuracy with which they can extrapolate aircraft positions can result in late or unnecessary ATC interventions to resolve conflicts. To meet the additional demands that will be placed on controllers operating in the unstructured routing environment introduced as part of Free Flight, the FAA and the MITRE Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) have been researching and developing a strategic conflict probe capability for the en route controller team called the User Request Evaluation Tool (URET). This paper presents results from (a) recent field evaluations of URET, (b) analysis activities using real traffic scenarios from Indianapolis Center, and (c) a controller-in-the-loop simulation study of the URET being used in a traffic environment with reduced structure relative to current practice. The paper analyzes these results to describe how Conflict Probe can help reduce the restrictions that are imposed on flights.

This is the copyright work of The MITRE Corporation, and was produced for the US Government under Contract Number DTFA01-93-C-00001, and is subject to Federal Acquisition Regulation Clause 52.227-14, Rights in Data— General, Alt. III (JUN 1987) and Alt. IV (JUN 1987). ...

Abstract: In this paper we compare the relevance of information obtained from" discriminative" media and from" non-discriminative" media. Discriminative media are the ones which accumulate and deliver information using a heuristic selection of it. This can be made by humans, or by artificial intelligent systems, exhibiting some form of" knowledge". Non-discriminative media just collect and return information without any distinction. This can also be made by humans or by artificial systems, but there is no" knowledge" involved in ...

In recent years, there has been a move toward supporting the human element of Web search beyond a simple query box and a ranked list of search results. In this paper, we present a prototype implementation of an approach to Web search based on fuzzy clustering and visualization. CubanSea presents the searcher with topics that are automatically discovered within the search space. A visual encoding of the cluster membership supports the searcher in understanding the relationship between the search results and the fuzzy clusters. Clusters can be selected for evaluation, and filtering operations allow the searcher to further manipulate and explore the search results set. The system is designed to support searchers when their information needs are ill-defined, vague, or ambiguous.

In today's competitive healthcare landscape, dental practices must focus not only on providing exceptional clinical care but also on creating a seamless and welcoming patient experience. One key factor that determines the success of a dental office is the presence of a skilled and professional dental receptionist. Often the first point of contact for patients, the dental receptionist plays a crucial role in shaping impressions, managing operations, and supporting the entire dental team. This article explores the many reasons why the dental receptionist is vital to any dental practice, the responsibilities they handle daily, and how their contributions directly affect both patient satisfaction and office efficiency.

In today's competitive healthcare landscape, dental practices must focus not only on providing exceptional clinical care but also on creating a seamless and welcoming patient experience. One key factor that determines the success of a dental office is the presence of a skilled and professional dental receptionist. Often the first point of contact for patients, the dental receptionist plays a crucial role in shaping impressions, managing operations, and supporting the entire dental team. This article explores the many reasons why the dental receptionist is vital to any dental practice, the responsibilities they handle daily, and how their contributions directly affect both patient satisfaction and office efficiency.

Señal, Legitimidad y Stakeholders, este trabajo pretende identificar aquellas características corporativas de las empresas españolas cotizadas, incluidas en el índice de cotización bursátil del IBEX 35, que influyen en la política de divulgación de información voluntaria del Capital Intelectual durante el período 2004-2008.

The present study conducted to elucidate the constraints faced by rice growers in accessing agricultural information through smartphone. The study was conducted during May and June 2022. Thanjavur district was purposively selected for the study based on the maximum area under rice crop. Two blocks having maximum area under the crop were purposively selected. Orathanadu and Ammapettai blocks were selected from Thanjavur district. From each block, three villages having highest area were selected based on purposive sampling. From each block 30 respondents were selected using Proportionate Random Sampling method which constitutes the sample size of 60. The responses of the respondents were subjected to frequency and percentage analysis. The constrains were grouped into two categories viz., hardware constraints and software constraints. The suggestion was grouped in to three categories viz., hardware strategies, software strategies, and training needs. Most of the respondents reported that less knowledge and skill in using smartphone (3.82), high cost for repair and maintenance of smartphones (3.57), and high cost of data tariffs (3.45) were the major hardware related constraints, andless awareness on agriculture related mobile apps/web portals (3.73), and unavailability of updated information (3.57) were the major software related constraints. The major suggestion provided by the farmers were provision of assistance by the government to purchase high end smartphone, creating farmer friendly data packs, regular updating of information and adding voice recognition facility in mobile apps, developing the knowledge of farmers on downloading and operating different apps and portals related to agriculture through method demonstration and trainings.

Understanding Library Impacts" is a qualitative protocol designed to investigate the ways library services and resources contribute to undergraduate learning using interviews with librarians, faculty, and students. The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is used in the student interviews to identify aspects of library services and resources that are critical to student success. The Revised Taxonomy of Educational Objectives is used to classify faculty goals for student learning and student interpretations of these goals. An alignment process using these data is proposed to connect library contributions to institutional goals for student learning. This paper reports on a pilot study conducted in 2005 at a liberal arts college to evaluate the protocol. Results of the pilot study suggest the protocol can detect library contributions to institutional goals for student learning. Future studies should be carried out to evaluate the protocol in other post-secondary settings. The protocol should be of benefit to libraries seeking to improve library services and to communicate library contributions to institutional goals to stakeholders.

Many approaches and systems for recommending information, goods, or other kinds of objects have been developed in recent years. In these systems, machine learning methods are often used that need training input to acquire a user interest profile. Such methods typically need positive and negative evidence of the user's interests. To obtain both kinds of evidence, many systems make users rate relevant objects explicitly. Others merely observe the user's behavior, which yields positive evidence only; in order to be able to ...

Due to inadequate sanitation and practice of onsite sanitation like pit latrines and septic tanks in
Periurban areas, the contaminant levels are exceeding permissiblelevels in ground water drinking
sources resulting in water borne diseases, causing widespread morbidity and mortality.Contamination
of groundwater sources by pathogenic bacteria and nitrate are two major public health risks due to
onsite sanitation systems. A field study was carried out for two year in a peri urban area of Bangalore
rural district. During the study bore well water samples were collected at eleven sampling stations
near onsite sanitation systems.The collected bore well water samples were analysed for critical onsite
parameters and analysis of bore well water samples indicates that groundwateris unfit for drinking
purpose. Higher concentration of nitrates and chlorides in bore well water samples show that ground
water is getting contaminated with onsite sanitation. The regression graphs are plotted to study variation
of nitrate and total count, with depth, distance and years of usage. The regressiongraphs indicatethat
the 10m distance between public borewell and septic tank is sufficient to prevent groundwater
contamination for present days. Appropriate legislation on zoning, specification, siting, designing,
construction and maintenance of onsite sanitation system are necessary to protect groundwater
aquifers in future.

Marketing research and market research represent two distinct information support domains for corporate management, with well-defined theoretical and practical limits. Market research concerns, on the one hand, uncontrollable environmental phenomena (such as demographic and social composition and trends). On the other, it regards influenceable environmental phenomena (e.g. overall product consumption trends, degree of competition, distribution channels, etc.). On the contrary, marketing research tends to develop when increased competition obliges a company to perform analysis of market opportunities and threats. In general terms, marketing research can be defined as the systematic collection and analysis of relevant quantitative and qualitative data and information for a specific marketing situation that a company must face for product, price, place and promotion.

Interactions and Transformation in the Chemical Sciences Division. His research interests include theories of chemical reactions, with focus on the effects of molecular environment (liquids, solids, and interfaces) on chemical reaction rates, molecular theories of gas-to-particle nucleation, and molecular simulations of molecular processes at aqueous interfaces. He is an American Physical Society Fellow.

Research shows that African Americans tend to have poorer and less informative patient-physician communication than Whites. We analyzed survey data from 248 African American and 244 White cancer patients to examine whether this disadvantage could be explained by race variability on several other variables commonly reported to affect communication. These variables were organized into background, enabling, and predisposing factors, based on the Precede-Proceed Model. Multivariate regressions were used to test whether race differences on communication and information variables persisted after successively controlling for background, enabling and predisposing factors. African American patients had higher interpersonal communication barriers than Whites, but this difference did not persist after controlling for background factors. African Americans also had higher unmet information needs and were less likely to receive the name of a cancer expert. These differences persisted controlling for all other factors. Future research should focus on the informational disadvantages of African American patients and how such disadvantages may affect cancer treatment decisions.

Relevance feedback techniques are designed to automatically improve a system's representation of a query by using documents the user has marked as relevant. However, traditional relevance feedback models suffer from a number of limitations that restrict their potential in supporting information seeking. One of the major limitations of relevance feedback is that it does not incorporate behavioural aspects of information seeking -how and why users assess relevance. We propose that relevance feedback should be viewed as a process of explanation and demonstrate how this limitation of relevance feedback techniques can be overcome by a theory of relevance feedback based on abductive inference.

and by the California Natural Resources Agency. The views expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub-agencies. The National Sea Grant College Program is a national network of 32 programs dedicated to serving citizens in coastal communities throughout the Nation. Administered through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Sea Grant is the Agency's primary university-based program dedicated to helping citizens utilize scientific information to support a vibrant economy while ensuring ecological sustainability. The Center for Ocean Solutions is a collaboration among Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment and Hopkins Marine Station, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. Across these institutions, COS draws from about 80 scholars, researchers and educators who work on coastal and ocean ecosystems in the natural, physical and social sciences. COS also works with experienced cons...

The administrator of current IT environments is facing a continuous increase in the complexity that s/he needs to handle. S/he can be compared to a power jet pilot sitting in front of a console with a plenty of gouges, leds, counters, each of them measuring or showing a particular part of the overall aircraft status. The pilot looks to all these indications, correlate each other these data sources, provide them a context (the air craft is landing, is taking off, and so forth) and, on the light of his knowledge and experience, he can ...

This paper proposes an approach to the creation of design tools that address the real information needs of designers in the early stages of design of nonresidential buildings. Traditional simplified design tools are typically too limited to be of much use, even in conceptual design. The proposal is to provide access to the power of detailed simulation tools, at a stage in design when little is known about the final building, but at a stage also when the freedom to explore options is greatest.

The need to retrieve visual information from large image collections is shared by many application domains. This paper describes the main features of the multimedia information retrieval engine of Quicklook 2 . Quicklook 2 allows the user to query image and multimedia databases with the aid of sample images, or an impromptu sketch and/or textual descriptions, and progressively refine the system's response by indicating the relevance, or non-relevance of the retrieved items. The major innovation of the system is its relevance feedback mechanism that performs a statistical analysis of both the image and textual feature distributions of the retrieved items the user has judged relevant, or not relevant to identify what features the user has taken into account (and to what extent) in formulating this judgement, and then weigh their influence in the overall evaluation of similarity, as well as in the formulation of a new, single query that better expresses the user's multimedia information needs. Another important contribution is the design and integration with the relevance feedback mechanism of an indexing scheme based on triangle inequality to improve retrieval efficiency. The performance of the system is illustrated with examples from various application domains and for different types of queries (target search as well as similarity search).

Virtual communities have a potential to improve the community building process and care services through support for activities, participation and information needs. In this paper, we propose a mobile virtual community platform for elderly healthcare. The requirements for this platform are collected from interview sessions with clients and caregivers in a care institution, and a workshop with multiple stakeholders. We focus on the technical platform that fulfills the requirements gathered from this approach. The platform is an elaboration of our existing mobile virtual community platform and enables tailoring through an adaptable set of mobile and platform services. Reminder services, remote monitoring, video communication and (delegated) friend and service finding are discussed and exemplified through a case study.

The response to open-circuit interrupts of porous mixed iron-nickel cathodes operating in NaCl-buffered, molten NaAlCl 4 electrolyte has been characterized as a function of state of charge (SOC) for different iron loadings and different charge and discharge rates. After discharge, the open-circuit potential (OCP) can evolve in time from the iron plateau to the nickel plateau, and this behavior can be explained by galvanic interactions between iron metal and Ni 2+ . Characteristic times of the OCP transients depend on SOC and can be large. When the OCP has converged on a steady state during discharge, its value may provide an estimate of the mole fraction of NiCl 2 at the interface of the triclinic (Ni,Fe)Cl 2 film that resulted from metal oxidation. Detailed analyses of the experiment require modeling of the galvanic conversion rates, which depend on both charge-transfer and mass-transfer phenomena.

Objectives. This study aimed to explore situations where caregivers and patients are likely to collude, from the perspective of caregivers of advanced cancer patients in Bangladesh. Methods. This study took place in 2 different tertiary care hospitals in Bangladesh. The study design included both quantitative and qualitative components. In this study, we focused on situations in which caregivers choose not to disclose the truth, regardless of their patients' desire to know it. This may include instances of mutual withholding or cases of deliberate withholding by caregivers, even when patients express a desire to know the truth. While collusion may occur in some instances, not all situations qualify as collusion; nonetheless, all of these situations were broadly considered as collusion-prone. The intensity of enactment was assessed using the "Caregiver Collusion Questionnaire, " and in-depth exploration of collusion-prone situations was conducted through key person interviews with the caregivers. Results. The intensity of enactment was medium to high among two-thirds (83.1%) of caregivers. This intensity was significantly associated with the caregivers' relationship with the patients and their intention to disclose the truth (p < 0.01). Higher intensity of enactment has been observed among the children who are tending to their terminally ill parents. Four major themes regarding collusion-prone situation were generated by the qualitative analysis: (1) Reasons for nondisclosure; (2) Time of disclosure; (3) Selective disclosure; and (4) Discloser of truth. Significance of Results. The nature of collusion-prone situations is shaped by culture and social values. By gradually and indirectly addressing these situations, healthcare professionals can assist families in navigating through difficult conversations and ensure that the patient's wishes and values are respected.

Accurate cost estimation is crucial for the success of construction projects, yet developing countries often face challenges due to reliance on traditional methods, limited expertise, and inconsistent data. The integration of smart technologies such as Building Information Modeling (BIM), artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and big data analytics offers transformative potential for improving cost estimation accuracy, efficiency, and transparency. This paper examines the current state of cost estimating practices in developing countries, explores the benefits and barriers to smart technology adoption, and presents case studies demonstrating successful implementations. The findings suggest that while challenges such as high initial costs, skills gaps, and infrastructure limitations persist, strategic policy interventions, capacity building, and public-private partnerships can facilitate the transition toward smarter cost estimating practices.

Introduction: Mothers with preterm babies at the NICU are at a high risk of acquiring psychological distress as a result of unexpected and upsetting experiences. While there is a strong emphasis on the infant's health, the mother's well-being, particularly her mental health, is sometimes disregarded. A qualitative exploratory descriptive design was used to explore maternal social support and resilience in caring for preterm newborns at the NICU in Municipal hospital in Ghana from May to July 2022. Methods: A qualitative exploratory method was used, and a purposive sampling technique was used to select 15 postnatal women who had their preterm babies on admission to the NICU until data saturation. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The findings of the study showed that social support for their mothers as they care for their preterm infants contributed to their resilience. Three themes emerged from the analysis of the data: informational support, instrumental support and psychosocial support. Conclusion: There is a need for training in communication skills and counselling for healthcare professionals working in the NICU to be able to communicate effectively with mothers and also adopt a family-centered approach in the care of preterm infants. This will support mothers to strengthen their resilience when caring for their premature babies in the NICU. The role of instrumental support for mothers specifically financial and physical care support in building maternal resilience cannot be overemphasised.