An approach to web-based Personal Health Records filtering using fuzzy prototypes and data quality criteria

Nowadays, new ways of managing and accessing to health-care information are continuously appearing. Web-based Personal Health Records (web PHRs) have the potential to make data about health-care available to clinicians, researchers and students in different medical contexts and applications. Therefore, the amount of web PHRs accessible through Internet has grown enormously and as a result health-care professionals are currently burdened with more and more data. It’s probable that these data, unfortunately, have not always the adequate levels of quality, making that their work cannot always be as successful as expected. As a way of alleviating this fact, the present work is focused on improving the document filtering results in the context of web PHRs management. To achieve this goal, a new kind of document filtering model is proposed. This model is based on fuzzy prototypes which are defined by means of conceptual prototypes. These prototypes are obtained by using a data quality analysis of documents. This analysis guarantees that filtered information will be relevant enough for the information user. The complete model provides an efficient strategy of document filtering that can be very useful when it is necessary to deal with a constant flow of new information.     

Soft approaches to information access on the Web: An introduction to the special issue

Soft Computing (SC) tools present a great potential in real-life problems related with engineering, industrial applications, medicine, finances, etc. In this special issue we present a set of seven papers that report original research about the use of SC techniques to solve the problems in the field of information access on the Web.     

Activity Theory to Investigate the Implementation of ICTE

The purpose of this pilot study was to examine how one primary school implements Information and Communication Technologies in Education (ICTE). The principal, IT coordinator and two class teachers were interviewed to determine their views of how ICTE was being implemented. Activity theory was used as a means of analysing the data. The findings suggest a range of views about ICTE existed within the school. The implications suggest it is important for schools to recognise the different views of ICTE existing in their communities and to take cognisance of this when, for example, planning professional development. The study also suggests that more sensitive analytical approaches need to be developed to enable more critical evaluations of ICTE's implementation within schools to be made.     

Touching the screen: issues related to the use of touchscreen technology in early childhood education

This paper reports on a research project that investigated the use of touchscreens by children in early childhood and junior primary settings by introducing touchscreens in five classrooms in Melbourne. Several methods to obtain information about how children interacted with the touchscreens were used including observation, journals and field notes, and interviews. The research identified five key themes, relating to developmental issues, input device preference, technical issues, individual differences in children's use of the touchscreen and issues of collaboration.     

CHILDREN'S ATTITUDES TOWARD THE ELDERLY AND AGING

This article describes the attitudes of children aged 3 to 11 toward the elderly and what they think about the aging process. It examines the development of the ability to discriminate aging in people as defined in Piaget's theory. Education must reach children long before 6 years of age if it is to modify their perceptions of older people and to create positive images of aging.     

An Initial Evaluation of the Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale‐‐Intellectual Disability

This paper introduces a new scale to measure the life quality of people with an intellectual disability. The Comprehensive Quality of Life Scale‐‐Intellectual Disability incorporates features that reflect contemporary understanding of the quality of life construct and exists in a parallel form for the general population. Psychometric data are presented and comparisons are made between data collected from 59 people with an intellectual disability, the vicarious responses of each respondent's primary caregiver, and 69 university students. It is concluded that the scale represents a useful instrument to measure comparative life quality.     

Strategic Innovation: Conception of Innovation among Social Sciences Researchers in Higher Education in Northwestern México

Innovative Higher Education - Researchers in universities are encouraged to produce innovative scientific research and participate in the international scientific community. In Mexico, public...     

Adolescents’ judgments of homophobic harassment toward male and female victims: The role of gender stereotypes

One hundred and fifty-six adolescents, drawn from a high school in a Midwestern suburb, provided judgments of a hypothetical incident of homophobic harassment with either a male or female victim. Participants also completed a revised version of the Macho Scale, measuring their endorsement of gender stereotypes (α = .75). Without the interaction term, victim gender was not predictive of judgments of the harassment, however, endorsement of gender stereotypes decreased the odds of believing the behavior was completely wrong (χ² (1) = 9.18, p = .00). Once added, the interaction term was the only significant variable in the model, demonstrating that endorsement of gender stereotypes has an effect on judgments of homophobic harassment of male victims, but not female victims (χ² (1) = 4.78, p = .03). As more schools invest resources in anti-harassment initiatives, our findings suggest that discussion of gender and gender stereotypes is essential.     

Faculty attitudes toward industrial research on campus

To gauge the attitudes of university faculty concerning the effect of corporate funding on campus research norms, we conducted a study of research faculty in Texas, employing the theoretical framework proposed by Alvin Gouldner. Gouldner theorized that the most privileged academics hold the most conservative social and academic views. In his view, the most highly research-oriented faculty—those who are senior, engaged in professional activities, and in important and secure positions—have careerist values that influence the reward system for other sociologists. These gatekeepers control professional dogma, and by means of editorships, board memberships, and other professional peer judgments establish normative behavior for the discipline. By analogy, natural scientists who compete successfully for research grants are in a position of having the most to gain by the status quo, and hence are very conservative; their own success convinces this elite tier of faculty that a meritocracy is at work. Several of our findings corroborated Gouldner's thesis, particularly in the convergence of ideologies between junior and senior faculty, and the higher propensity of scientists to support applied research. Finally, the impact of disciplinary orientation, as opposed to faculty rank or appointment, is discussed with a view to subsequent research.