Social network data to alleviate cold-start in recommender system: A systematic review

Recommender Systems are currently highly relevant for helping users deal with the information overload they suffer from the large volume of data on the web, and automatically suggest the most appropriate items that meet users needs. However, in cases in which a user is new to Recommender System, the system cannot recommend items that are relevant to her/him because of lack of previous information about the user and/or the user-item rating history that helps to determine the users preferences. This problem is known as cold-start, which remains open because it does not have a final solution. Social networks have been employed as a good source of information to determine users preferences to mitigate the cold-start problem. This paper presents the results of a Systematic Literature Review on Collaborative Filtering-based Recommender System that uses social network data to mitigate the cold-start problem. This Systematic Literature Review compiled the papers published between 2011–2017, to select the most recent studies in the area. Each selected paper was evaluated and classified according to the depth which social networks used to mitigate the cold-start problem. The final results show that there are several publications that use the information of the social networks within the Recommender System; however, few research papers currently use this data to mitigate the cold-start problem.     

Due diligence: Recognizing the role of patent research in the start-up life cycle

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role that business librarians can play in conveying the importance of thorough patent research in the start-up life cycle. It provides a summary of the components of the start-up life cycle and due diligence research as it pertains to entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. An overview of patent research resources and locations is provided, with particular focus on PatentsView, a web-based patent data visualization and analysis tool.     

Secondary School Students’ Construction and Use of Mathematical Models in Solving Word Problems

This study focussed on how secondary school students construct and use mathematical models as conceptual tools when solving word problems. The participants were 511 secondary-school students who were in the final year of compulsory education (15–16 years old). Four levels of the development of constructing and using mathematical models were identified using a constant-comparative methodology to analyse the student’s problem-solving processes. Identifying the general in the particular and using the particular to endow the general with meaning were the key elements employed by students in the processes of construction and use of models in the different situations. In addition, attention was paid to the difficulties that students had in using their mathematical knowledge to solve these situations. Finally, implications are provided for drawing upon student’s use of mathematical models as conceptual tools to support the development of mathematical competence from socio-cultural perspectives of learning.     

Investigating Supervisory Relationships and Therapeutic Alliances Using Structural Equation Modeling

The authors used structural equation modeling to examine the contribution of supervisees' supervisory relationship levels to therapeutic alliance (TA) scores with their clients in practicum. Results showed that supervisory relationship scores positively contributed to the TA. Client and counselor ratings of the TA also differed.     

Access to higher education in South Africa: expanding capabilities in and through an undergraduate photovoice project

ABSTRACT

There is a gap in research on access to universities in South Africa. The research that exists focuses on quantitative methodologies, although some qualitative studies are now emerging. These research methodologies, although necessary and substantial for the development of equity measures and policies, might be less successful in their impact on the local context, on research participants and in expanding what counts as knowledge in the university. In this paper, participatory research, which has not been used to research access, is explored. The paper seeks to go beyond the instrumentalization of research participants – especially those from low-income households – highlighting the potential of using multi-strategy research, in which participatory elements are included as a way to foster both participants’ human development and local impact. Drawing on a research project on access to higher education in South Africa, the paper demonstrates that by including participatory elements (in this case photovoice) has the potential to operationalize Appadurai’s notion of the ‘right to research’ among undergraduates. Using data, including processes, observations, workshops, interviews, and visual narratives from a participatory photovoice project, the findings highlight how methodological plurality creates space for locally and relevant knowledge production, challenging epistemic barriers and fostering human development among the research participants.     

Accelerated degrees in education: a new profile,alternative access to teaching or part of a re-tooling process?

In the UK, the provision of accelerated undergraduate programmes is responding to the needs of an increasingly diverse and career-focused student body and a flexible, ever-changing labour market. These fast track degrees are particularly new in education where recent developments in school autonomy and teacher training have had consequences on the design and delivery of programmes, definition of professional profiles and implications for the future of education as a subject of study in universities. This article portrays a small-scale research study about the views of students undertaking a new two-year accelerated degree in one English university using surveys at the beginning and end of the first academic year. The great majority were not planning to attend the programme but have chosen it for its career options and for being a quicker and cheaper route to access a degree – with teaching as the career goal. After one year, students reported gains in knowledge and skills, recommended the programme and kept their intention to pursue a career in teaching. Overall, we address a gap in the literature and start the discussion about the (dis)association between the students’ career routes and goals, the provision of these programmes and the teacher training offers.     

The development of analogical reading in Spanish

The use and development of analogical processes in learning to read in Spanish are presented. In the first experiment, the results show that children of 6 years old show analogical effects in reading pseudowords and that the magnitude of this effect is the same as with 10 years old children. However, it is found that children of 10 years old make many lexicalizations when reading pseudowords (about 50% of the items). In experiment 2 this finding is further analyzed. The results show that 9 years old children make more lexicalizations than adult control subjects do. It is suggested that the development of analogical procedures is a fast process (6 years old children already have done it), but that the precise control of lexical information over perceptual one is a later process.     

The Use of Different Translation Devices to Analyze Knowledge-Building in a University Chemistry Classroom

Research in Science Education - This research draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand the epistemic dimension of the higher education classroom discourse of a professor who is well...