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Bayesian data fusion in environmental sciences : theory and applicationsFasbender, Dominique 17 November 2008 (has links)
During the last thirty years, new technologies have contributed to a
drastic increase of the amount of data in environmental sciences.
Monitoring networks, remote sensors, archived maps and large databases are
just few examples of the possible information sources responsible for this
growing amount of information. For obvious reasons, it might be
interesting to account for all these information when dealing with a
space-time prediction/estimation context.
In environmental sciences, measurements are very often sampled scarcely
over space and time. Geostatistics is the field that investigates
variables in a space-time context. It includes a large number of methods
and approaches that all aim at providing space-time predictions (or
interpolations) for variables scarcely known in space and in time by
accounting for space-time dependance between these variables. As a
consequence, geostatistics methods are relevant when dealing with the
processing and the analysis of environmental variables in which space and
time play an important role.
As direct consequence of the increasing amount of data, there is an
important diversity in the information (e.g. different nature, different
uncertainty). These issues have recently motivated the emergence of the
concept of data fusion. Broadly speaking, the main objective of data
fusion methods is to deal with various information sources in such a way
that the final result is a single prediction that accounts for all the
sources at once. This enables thus to conciliate several and potentially
contradictory sources instead of having to select only one of them because
of a lack of appropriate methodology.
For most of existing geostatistics methods, it is quite difficult to
account for a potentially large number of different information sources at
once. As a consequence, one has often to opt for only one information
source among all the available sources. This of course leads to a
dramatic loss of information. In order to avoid such choices, it is thus
relevant to get together the concepts of both data fusion and
geostatistics in the context of environmental sciences.
The objectives of this thesis are (i) to develop the theory of a Bayesian
data fusion (BDF) framework in a space-time prediction context and (ii) to
illustrate how the proposed BDF framework can account for a diversity of
information sources in a space-time context. The method will thus be
applied to a few environmental sciences applications for which (i) crucial
available information sources are typically difficult to account for or
(ii) the number of secondary information sources is a limitation when
using existing methods.
Reproduced by permission of Springer. P. Bogaert and D. Fasbender (2007). Bayesian data fusion in a spatial prediction context: a general formulation. Stoch. Env. Res. Risk. A., vol. 21, 695-709. (Chap. 1).
© 2008 IEEE. Reprinted, with permission, from D. Fasbender, J. Radoux and P. Bogaert (2008). Bayesian data fusion for adaptable image pansharpening. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Rem. Sens., vol. 46, 1847-1857. (Chap. 3).
© 2008 IEEE. Reprinted, with permission, from D. Fasbender, D. Tuia, P. Bogaert and M. Kanevski (2008). Support-based implementation of Bayesian data fusion for spatial enhancement: applications to ASTER thermal images. IEEE Geosci. Rem. Sens. Letters, vol. 6, 598-602. (Chap. 4).
Reproduced by permission of American Geophysical Union. D. Fasbender, L. Peeters, P. Bogaert and A. Dassargues (2008). Bayesian data fusion applied to water table spatial mapping. Accepted for publication in Water Resour. Res. (Chap. 5).
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Connecting Science Communication To Science Education: A Phenomenological Inquiry Into Multimodal Science Information Sources Among 4th And 5th GradersGelmez Burakgazi, Sevinc 01 November 2012 (has links) (PDF)
Science communication, as a multidisciplinary field, serves to transfer scientific information to individuals to promote interest and awareness in science. This process resembles science education. Rooted in science education and science communication studies, this study examines the 4th and 5th grade students` usage of prominent science information sources (SIS), the features of these sources, and their effective and ineffective uses and processes in communicating science to students. Guided by situated learning and uses and gratifications (U& / G) theories, this study is a phenomenological qualitative inquiry. Data were gathered through approximately 64 hours of classroom observations / focus group and individual interviews from four elementary schools (two public, two private schools) in Ankara, Tü / rkiye. Focus group interviews were conducted with 47 students, and individual interviews were carried out with 17 teachers and 10 parents. The data were analyzed manually and MAXQDA software respectively.
The results revealed that students used various SIS in school-based and beyond contexts to satisfy their cognitive, affective, personal, and social integrative needs. They used SIS for (a) science courses, (b) homework/project assignments, (c) exam/test preparations, and (d) individual science related research. Moreover, the results indicated that comprehensible, enjoyable, entertaining, interesting, credible, brief, updated, and visual aspects of content and content presentation of SIS were among the key drivers affecting students` use of SIS. The results revealed that accessibility of SIS was an important variable in students` use of these sources. Results further shed light on the connection between science education and science communication in terms of promoting science learning.
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Val av källor : En studie av de anställdas informationssökning inom företaget Viking Line / Information Source Selection : A Studie of the Employees Information Seeking at the Company Viking LineÖis, Kristiina January 2010 (has links)
Nine out of ten larger companies have an intranet today which is supposed to improve the communication withinthe company and save money. A great part of these intranets were established in the beginning of the 1990’swithout giving any thought to the users and their needs. How does the communication inside the corporationslook like when the intranets that are supposed to be the source for every information request, aren’t usable? Whatother sources do the users use and how much?The aim of this master thesis is to examine information source selection at a specific company. In addition,the aim is to study the companies intranet usability from the users’ perspective. Interviews with five employeesat Viking Line were carried out to analyze these questions. The empiric material also consists of a survey carriedout among 78 employees of the company. The principle of least effort and the cost/benefit model is introduced astwo possible theories that can explain the information source selection at the chosen company.The results show that the information source selection at the company cannot be explained by only onetheory or one model, in contrast to a great part of prior research. The selection of information source do dependon factors like perceived accessibility and perceived quality of the information but other factors are shown toaffect information seeking decisions as well. Therefore, the empiric material shows that time pressure affectsusers’ choice of source selection to more accessible information sources. Another factor that can have an effecton the user is how one employee treats another. When the employee has been negatively treated at the momenthe is seeking information, the employee is more likely to use impersonal sources.Furthermore, the intranet at Viking Line is the most used as well as the most reliable source according tothe users, even though the intranet does not satisfy all needs of the employees. The users are also highly accustomedwith the intranet which increases its perceived accessibility.The conclusion of this study is that the principle of least effort and the cost/benefit model do indeed explainthe users’ choice of information source, but only partly. The study was conducted at a specific company but theconclusions drawn could be applied to other similar companies where intranets are a great part of the employeesinformation seeking. Finally, I believe, that the effectiveness of the employee is directly connected to the effectivenessof the information sources available at the company. Moreover, if companies improved their intranetsthe companies would become more effective.This paper is a two years master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.
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就職に関する情報探索行動尺度の作成矢崎, 裕美子, 斎藤, 和志, 高井, 次郎, YAZAKI, Yumiko, SAITO, Kazushi, TAKAI, Jiro 28 December 2007 (has links)
No description available.
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Essays on participation dynamics and informational value of virtual communitiesPark, Jaehong, 1973- 03 December 2010 (has links)
In recent years, virtual communities have become increasingly popular among online users and businesses. Public press has shown a strong interest in virtual communities and announced their informational value. The explosive growth of virtual communities has aroused tremendous interest among academic researchers as well. Academic researchers have noticed that participation dynamics of virtual communities among online users create valuable information that influences subsequent economic outcome. However, relatively little research has explored the underlying motives of passive and active participation in virtual communities. In particular, research explicating how the information created by user participation influences users’ economic decisions has not been investigated. To investigate user participation dynamics and the resulting informational value of virtual communities, I explore three major issues in my dissertation. First, I investigate the determinants of passive and active users of virtual communities using survey data from 502 online investors. The results indicate that social, psychological, and community factors influence two different behavioral intentions – the intention to share and the intention to seek. For instance, social factors such as reputation seeking increase the intention to share in virtual communities, whereas psychological factors such as perceived knowledge deteriorate the intention to seek. Second, I explore how an online investor processes information posted on virtual communities and its subsequent economic outcomes by conducting a field experiment. I find that psychological bias (e.g., confirmation bias) influences investors’ information processing behaviors, which ultimately leads to a low return of investment as compared to economic rationales. Following this line of exploration, I empirically examine the relative informational impact of virtual communities on users’ decisions and market performance in the context of electronic markets. Using customer review data from a well-known online retailer and from three third-party customer review websites, I find that consumers obtain product information from external information sources during the information search stage for high involvement products and are thus less influenced by retailer-hosted information. All in all, my dissertation contributes to the understanding of user participation dynamics and informational value of virtual communities by investigating users’ information processing behavior and the subsequent economic outcomes and performance. / text
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Comparison of the Influence of Various Information Sources on the College Choice of Students Within a Variety of Postsecondary InstitutionsOlsen, Lynette January 2007 (has links)
This study examined the use of information sources in college choice processing of historically-under-represented students from four different types of colleges who traditionally have not been studied in previous research. Historically under-represented types of students included students who were older than 24 years of age, African-Americans, Latinos, and low SES. The four types of colleges included a traditional public university, public community college, proprietary university, and proprietary college. Students from similar college programs of study were surveyed regarding their demographics to determine their categorization as historically under-represented and their use of information sources. Administrators from the selected colleges were interviewed and surveyed. Five students from each college were then interviewed. While most college choice processing research and the development of models are based on traditional college students, this study demonstrated that historically under-represented students generally utilize information sources and perform their college choice processing differently from traditional college students. These differences question the applicability of college choice processing models, such as Hossler and Gallagher's three stage model, without revisions. These revisions include redefinition of the stages and how they are executed in order to embrace the lack of college choices of historically under-represented students due to their lack of college informational motivators. The use of alternate information sources by historically-under-represented students and their motivational impact that differ from those utilized by traditional college students demonstrated the need to employ these sources within traditional colleges in order to increase college access for historically-under-represented students. This includes the utilization of non-traditional college informational motivators, such as the media, spouses, employers, and children, access to college informational motivators for students and their parents at all levels of schooling, and greater college access for older adults/parents. This study provided evidence that historically-underrepresented students still experience deficiencies in their access to college due to their lack of access to traditional information sources and their resulting compensation by utilizing alternative sources which were motivational as well as informational.
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Die inligtingsbehoeftes van ingenieursdosente verbonde aan die Vaal Universiteit van Tegnologie / Karien du BruynDe Bruyn, Karien January 2004 (has links)
Information technology gradually started to play a major role in the service
rendering of academic libraries since 1994. Large amounts of money became
necessary to enable libraries to provide the latest formats of information sources, as
well as access to quality electronic databases. Prices of printed information sources
also increased dramatically over recent years, along with a high South African
inflation rate. Government subsidies for academic institutions also started to decline
annually (De Kock, 1997).
User needs, and information seeking patterns of library users also changed over
recent years because of major information technology developments. Many authors
performed studies on changing user needs in recent years, of which five were
chosen to form the basis of this study. It became of utmost importance for libraries
to monitor user needs regularly, to be able to identify changing needs and
expectations. This will enable academic libraries with tight budgets to render more
relevant and appropriate information services to specific user groups.
Research procedures and methodology:
A literature study was done in order to determine which information rendering
models currently exist, as well as to find prior research on the information needs of
engineers. This was followed by a qualitative study by means of semi-structured
interviews. Personal interviews is a flexible method. which enables the researcher to
ask follow-up questions, as well as to ask respondents to explain certain issues in
detail (Huysamen, 1993 :15 1).
The interview schedule contained thirty-three questions, based on eleven theoretical
hypotheses constructed throughout the study. The following engineering
departments were included in this study: Electronics, Applied Electronics &
Electronic communication, Process instrumentation and Control, Power,
Mechanical, Civil & Building, Metallurgy, Industrial & Production, and Computer
Systems engineering.
The aim of the study:
This study is aimed at determining the information needs of engineering lecturers in
particular, and also to determine if the Gold Fields library currently satisfies their
information needs. All engineering lecturers have access to electronic databases as
well as internet from their offices, and in many cases don't need to make use the
physical library building any more. This study aims at finding out what their current
information needs are, and which avenues they are currently being used to acquire
relevant subject related information. Lecturers will also be probed about the role of
the Gold Fields Library in their information needs.
Conclusion:
This study reveals that the information needs of engineering lecturers revolve
primarily around their personal research interests, as well as changing lecturing
methods. Printed and electronic information sources are currently complementing
each other, and in no way is one replacing the other. This study also showed that the
Gold Fields Library is currently not satisfying engineering lecturer's information
needs, with specific reference to the intranet; some printed and electronic resources;
training on electronic databases; packaging of information; personalized
information services, and the subject knowledge of information librarians.
Engineering lecturers were satisfied with the following: information interviews
conducted by information librarians; personal attributes of information librarians;
information technology competency of information librarians, and ethics. It became
evident that the Gold Fields Library should consider certain changes and expansions
to the information services currently rendered to engineering lecturers. / Thesis (M.Bibl.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.
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Exploring Minor Hockey Players' Knowledge About and Attitudes Toward Concussion: Implications for PreventionPerra, Andrea T Unknown Date
No description available.
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The Influence of Culture: A Comparison of White American and Hispanic American Teens Information Sources and Store Attribute PreferencesMurphy, Kelli H 01 January 2012 (has links)
The culture of America is changing now more than ever. With the Hispanic American population growing, it is important for retailers to understand how to market to these changing demographics. This study compares white Americans to Hispanic Americans in regard to store selection influences. Information sources and store attributes are analyzed as factors that influence store selection. It was found that acculturation of Hispanic American teens has created many commonalities between the two cultures. Future research could become be more in depth as to why these things occur or their effect on actual purchases.
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Die inligtingsbehoeftes van ingenieursdosente verbonde aan die Vaal Universiteit van Tegnologie / Karien du BruynDe Bruyn, Karien January 2004 (has links)
Information technology gradually started to play a major role in the service
rendering of academic libraries since 1994. Large amounts of money became
necessary to enable libraries to provide the latest formats of information sources, as
well as access to quality electronic databases. Prices of printed information sources
also increased dramatically over recent years, along with a high South African
inflation rate. Government subsidies for academic institutions also started to decline
annually (De Kock, 1997).
User needs, and information seeking patterns of library users also changed over
recent years because of major information technology developments. Many authors
performed studies on changing user needs in recent years, of which five were
chosen to form the basis of this study. It became of utmost importance for libraries
to monitor user needs regularly, to be able to identify changing needs and
expectations. This will enable academic libraries with tight budgets to render more
relevant and appropriate information services to specific user groups.
Research procedures and methodology:
A literature study was done in order to determine which information rendering
models currently exist, as well as to find prior research on the information needs of
engineers. This was followed by a qualitative study by means of semi-structured
interviews. Personal interviews is a flexible method. which enables the researcher to
ask follow-up questions, as well as to ask respondents to explain certain issues in
detail (Huysamen, 1993 :15 1).
The interview schedule contained thirty-three questions, based on eleven theoretical
hypotheses constructed throughout the study. The following engineering
departments were included in this study: Electronics, Applied Electronics &
Electronic communication, Process instrumentation and Control, Power,
Mechanical, Civil & Building, Metallurgy, Industrial & Production, and Computer
Systems engineering.
The aim of the study:
This study is aimed at determining the information needs of engineering lecturers in
particular, and also to determine if the Gold Fields library currently satisfies their
information needs. All engineering lecturers have access to electronic databases as
well as internet from their offices, and in many cases don't need to make use the
physical library building any more. This study aims at finding out what their current
information needs are, and which avenues they are currently being used to acquire
relevant subject related information. Lecturers will also be probed about the role of
the Gold Fields Library in their information needs.
Conclusion:
This study reveals that the information needs of engineering lecturers revolve
primarily around their personal research interests, as well as changing lecturing
methods. Printed and electronic information sources are currently complementing
each other, and in no way is one replacing the other. This study also showed that the
Gold Fields Library is currently not satisfying engineering lecturer's information
needs, with specific reference to the intranet; some printed and electronic resources;
training on electronic databases; packaging of information; personalized
information services, and the subject knowledge of information librarians.
Engineering lecturers were satisfied with the following: information interviews
conducted by information librarians; personal attributes of information librarians;
information technology competency of information librarians, and ethics. It became
evident that the Gold Fields Library should consider certain changes and expansions
to the information services currently rendered to engineering lecturers. / Thesis (M.Bibl.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2005.
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