User-centred versus system-centred evaluation of a personalization system

Some of the most popular measures to evaluate information filtering systems are usually independent of the users because they are based in relevance judgments obtained from experts. On the other hand, the user-centred evaluation allows showing the different impressions that the users have perceived about the system running. This work is focused on discussing the problem of user-centred versus system-centred evaluation of a Web content personalization system where the personalization is based on a user model that stores long term (section, categories and keywords) and short term interests (adapted from user provided feedback). The user-centred evaluation is based on questionnaires filled in by the users before and after using the system and the system-centred evaluation is based on the comparison between ranking of documents, obtained from the application of a multi-tier selection process, and binary relevance judgments collected previously from real users. The user-centred and system-centred evaluations performed with 106 users during 14 working days have provided valuable data concerning the behaviour of the users with respect to issues such as document relevance or the relative importance attributed to different ways of personalization. The results obtained shows general satisfaction on both the personalization processes (selection, adaptation and presentation) and the system as a whole.     

12 Scientists on the 21st Century前言

2009年5月7日,匈牙利国家广播电台(the Hungarian Radio)驻中国记者切尔文卡·费伦茨在北京采访了中国科学院路甬祥院长。随后,这篇标题为《追求真理与创新》的访谈录被收入匈牙利科学院出版的专辑12 Scientists on the 21st Century,并于2009年11月在布达佩斯召开的第四届"世界科学论坛"上,作为礼物赠送给与会代表。在此,我们全文收录了路甬祥院长的这篇访谈录,以及匈牙利科学院院长帕林卡什·尤塞夫为12 Scientists on the 21st Century一书撰写的前言。     

Public selection and financing of R&D cooperative projects: Credit versus subsidy funding

In this article we develop an analytical model of the selection process for R&D cooperative projects, to study the factors that motivate public project selection and corresponding funding, using two different financial instruments: subsidies and credits. For this purpose, we propose a three stage empirical strategy to analyse the differential individual effects of several factors on the decisions taken by the public agency. This analysis is based on project level data from cooperative R&D project calls under the Spanish PROFIT initiative, for the period 2000-2003. The main results show that the public agency uses the two financial instruments to address different objectives. First, some projects close to the market are well supported through credits, while basic research projects receive only selective support in the form of subsidies. Second, there is significant diversity in the selection and funding of technological areas. Third, regarding the explicit goal of fostering cooperation, the public agency selectively favours partnerships with universities and technology institutes through the award of subsidies. However, there seems to be less incentive for large consortia. Fourth, there are significant regional differences among financed projects and, also, our data show sharp yearly fluctuations.     

Robust stability analysis of formation control in local frames under time-varying delays and actuator faults

This paper investigates the robust stability of a multiagent system moving to a desired rigid formation in presence of unknown time-varying communication delays and actuator faults. Each agent uses relative position measurements to implement the proposed control method, which does not require common coordinate references. However, the presence of time delays in the measurements, which is inherent to the communication links between agents, has a negative impact in the control system performance leading, in some cases, to instability. Furthermore, the robust stability analysis becomes more complex if failures on actuators are taken into account. In addition, delays may be subject to time variations, depending on network load, availability of communication resources, dynamic routing protocols, or other environmental conditions. To cope with these problems, a sufficient condition based on Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMI) is provided to ensure the robust asymptotic convergence of the agents to the desired formation. This condition is valid for any arbitrarily fast time-varying delays and actuator faults, given a worst-case point-to-point delay. Finally, simulation results show the performance of the proposed approach.     

Towards system oriented innovation policy evaluation? Evidence from EU28 member states

Many years after the introduction of the innovation system concept in innovation policy design, it is still not clear whether innovation policy evaluation practices follow a system approach. Building on evaluation and innovation studies, this article develops the concept ‘system oriented innovation policy evaluation’ based on four attributes (coverage, perspective, temporality and expertise). The attributes are used as analytical devices for gathering extensive empirical evidence on the actual practices of EU28 member states. The findings show that few countries have developed a type of innovation policy evaluation that is system oriented. The advent of a system approach to innovation policy evaluation offers the opportunity of comprehensive, contextualized and evidence-based innovation policy-making. However, there are still serious obstacles as such an approach requires important knowledge and organisational capacities. Overcoming these obstacles would need more decided evaluation capacity-building at the national level.     

Do teaching innovation projects make a difference? Assessing the impact of small-scale funding

Tertiary Education and Management - This article presents the outcomes of a research study carried out during 2015–2016 at the University of Valencia (Spain) to understand the factors...     

The association of major patterns of physical activity,sedentary behavior and sleeping with mortality in older adults

Objective: To identify major patterns of physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB) and sleeping (all self-reported), and their association with long-term mortality.

Methods: Cohort of 2,851 individuals aged ≥ 60 from Spain. Mortality was ascertain from 2003 up to July 2013. Patterns of PA, SB and sleeping were identified by factor analysis.

Results: During follow-up, 1,145 deaths occurred. The first pattern, named “sedentary and non-active pattern”, was characterized by long sleeping or lying time, and not doing even light PA (household chores or walking). The second pattern was named “active and non-sedentary pattern”, and was characterized long time devoted to vigorous activities, long walking time, and short seating time. Compared to those in the first quartile of the “sedentary and non-active pattern”, those in the highest quartile showed a 71% higher mortality (HR: 1.71; 95%CI: 1.42–2.07; p-trend:<0.001); it corresponds to being 6-year older. By contrast, being in the highest versus the lowest quartile of the “active and non-sedentary pattern” was associated with a 32% lower mortality (HR: 0.68: 0.57–0.82; p-trend:<0.001); it corresponds to being 4-year younger.

Conclusion: The “sedentary and non-active” pattern had a large impact on mortality. The “active and non-sedentary” pattern showed an opposite and slightly lower association.