FY 1998 Scientific and Technical Reports, Articles, Papers, and Presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waits, J. E. Turner (Compiler)

1999-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC (Marshall Space Flight Center) personnel in FY98. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY 1988 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1988-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY 88. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the NationaL Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY87 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1987-01-01

The document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY87. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, Va. 22161. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY 1991 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1991-01-01

Formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY 1991 are presented. Papers of MSFC contractors are also included. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY 1994 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1994-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by Marshall Space Flight Center personnel in FY94. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors and author indexes. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 41: Technical communication practices of Dutch and US aerospace engineers and scientists: International perspective on aerospace

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barclay, Rebecca O.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Kennedy, John M.

1994-01-01

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, studies were conducted that investigated the technical communications practices of Dutch and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. The studies had the following objectives: (1) to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communication to their professions, (2) to determine the use and production of technical communication by aerospace engineers and scientists, (3) to investigate their use of libraries and technical information centers, (4) to investigate their use of and the importance to them of computer and information technology, (5) to examine their use of electronic networks, and (6) to determine their use of foreign and domestically produced technical reports. Self-administered (mail) questionnaires were distributed to Dutch aerospace engineers and scientists at the National Aerospace Laboratory (NLR) in the Netherlands, the NASA Ames Research Center in the U.S., and the NASA Langley Research Center in the U.S. Responses of the Dutch and U.S. participants to selected questions are presented in this paper.

Fiscal year 1979 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, O. L. (Compiler)

1979-01-01

This bibliography lists approximately 590 formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, presentations by MSFC personnel, and reports of MSFC contractors introduced into the NASA scientific and technical information system in 1979.

Freight Transportation : A Digest of Technical Papers. Volume 1.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1976-10-28

This volume contains a number of technical papers dealing with intercity freight transportation. Collectively, these systems-oriented papers consider a wide range of subject matter including transportation facilitation, commodity flow, regulation, au...

FY 1990 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1990-01-01

Formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY 90 are presented. Also included are papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from NTIS. The information may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

Modelling the public opinion transmission on social networks under opinion leaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Zuozhi; Li, Meng; Ji, Wanwan

2017-06-01

In this paper, based on Social Network Analysis (SNA), the social network model of opinion leaders influencing the public opinion transmission is explored. The hot event, A Female Driver Was Beaten Due To Lane Change, has characteristics of individual short-term and non-government intervention, which is used to data extraction, and formed of the network structure on opinion leaders influencing the public opinion transmission. And the evolution mechanism are analyzed in the three evolutionary situations. Opinion leaders influence micro-blogging public opinion on social network evolution model shows that this type of network public opinion transmission is largely constrained by opinion leaders, so the opinion leaders behavior supervising on the spread of this public opinion is pivotal, and which has a guiding significance.

Practical problems in aggregating expert opinions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Booker, J.M.; Picard, R.R.; Meyer, M.A.

1993-11-01

Expert opinion is data given by a qualified person in response to a technical question. In these analyses, expert opinion provides information where other data are either sparse or non-existent. Improvements in forecasting result from the advantageous addition of expert opinion to observed data in many areas, such as meteorology and econometrics. More generally, analyses of large, complex systems often involve experts on various components of the system supplying input to a decision process; applications include such wide-ranging areas as nuclear reactor safety, management science, and seismology. For large or complex applications, no single expert may be knowledgeable enough aboutmore » the entire application. In other problems, decision makers may find it comforting that a consensus or aggregation of opinions is usually better than a single opinion. Many risk and reliability studies require a single estimate for modeling, analysis, reporting, and decision making purposes. For problems with large uncertainties, the strategy of combining as diverse a set of experts as possible hedges against underestimation of that uncertainty. Decision makers are frequently faced with the task of selecting the experts and combining their opinions. However, the aggregation is often the responsibility of an analyst. Whether the decision maker or the analyst does the aggregation, the input for it, such as providing weights for experts or estimating other parameters, is imperfect owing to a lack of omniscience. Aggregation methods for expert opinions have existed for over thirty years; yet many of the difficulties with their use remain unresolved. The bulk of these problem areas are summarized in the sections that follow: sensitivities of results to assumptions, weights for experts, correlation of experts, and handling uncertainties. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the sources of these problems and describe their effects on aggregation.« less

The FY 1992 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1992-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY92. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

Fiscal year 1993 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1993-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY93. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

OpinionFlow: Visual Analysis of Opinion Diffusion on Social Media.

PubMed

Wu, Yingcai; Liu, Shixia; Yan, Kai; Liu, Mengchen; Wu, Fangzhao

2014-12-01

It is important for many different applications such as government and business intelligence to analyze and explore the diffusion of public opinions on social media. However, the rapid propagation and great diversity of public opinions on social media pose great challenges to effective analysis of opinion diffusion. In this paper, we introduce a visual analysis system called OpinionFlow to empower analysts to detect opinion propagation patterns and glean insights. Inspired by the information diffusion model and the theory of selective exposure, we develop an opinion diffusion model to approximate opinion propagation among Twitter users. Accordingly, we design an opinion flow visualization that combines a Sankey graph with a tailored density map in one view to visually convey diffusion of opinions among many users. A stacked tree is used to allow analysts to select topics of interest at different levels. The stacked tree is synchronized with the opinion flow visualization to help users examine and compare diffusion patterns across topics. Experiments and case studies on Twitter data demonstrate the effectiveness and usability of OpinionFlow.

Conversion of paper-based technical manuals to interactive electronic technical manuals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuo, Mu-Hsing

1999-12-01

An IETM is intended to be the functional equivalent of a paper-based Technical Manual (TM), and in most cases a total replacement for paper manual. In this paper, we will describe some of document image understanding technologies applied to the conversion of paper-based TMs to IETMs. Using these advanced technologies allow us to convert paper-based TMs to class 1/2 IETMs. However, these were not sufficient for an automated integrated logistics support system in the ROC Department of Defense. An advanced IETM system is therefore required. Such class 4/5 like IETM system could provide intelligent display of information and other user applications such as diagnostics, intelligent design and manufacturing, or computer-managed training. The author has developed some of the advanced functions, and examples will be shown to demonstrate the new aspect of IETMs.

FY 1999 Scientific and Technical Reports, Articles, Papers, and Presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waits, J.oyce E.Turner

2000-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY99. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. All of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), 7121 Standard Drive, Hanover, MD 21076-1320 The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY 1997 Scientific and Technical Reports, Articles, Papers, and Presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waits, J. E. Turner (Compiler)

1998-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY97. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 14: An analysis of the technical communications practices reported by Israeli and US aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barclay, Rebecca O.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Elazar, David; Kennedy, John M.

1991-01-01

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, two pilot studies were conducted that investigated the technical communications practices of Israeli and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. Both studies had the same five objectives: first, to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; second, to determine the use and production of technical communications by aerospace engineers and scientists; third, to seek their view about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications; fourth, to determine aerospace engineers' and scientists' use of libraries, technical information centers, and on-line databases; and fifth, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. A self-administered questionnaire was mailed to randomly selected U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists who are working in cryogenics, adaptive walls, and magnetic suspension. A slightly modified version was sent to Israeli aerospace engineers and scientists working at Israel Aircraft Industries, LTD. Responses of the Israeli and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists to selected questions are presented in this paper.

FY 1996 Scientific and Technical Reports, Articles, Papers, and Presentations. Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner-Waits, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1996-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY96. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. After being announced in STAR, all of the NASA series reports may be obtained from the National Technical Information Service, 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

FY 1995 Scientific and Technical Reports, Articles, Papers, and Presentations, Volume 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Turner, Joyce E. (Compiler)

1995-01-01

This document presents formal NASA technical reports, papers published in technical journals, and presentations by MSFC personnel in FY95. It also includes papers of MSFC contractors. The information in this report may be of value to the scientific and engineering community in determining what information has been published and what is available.

Fiscal year 1977 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, O. L. (Compiler)

1977-01-01

This bibliography lists 78 NASA technical memoranda, notes, papers, and reports presented by Marshall Space Flight Center personnel in FY 1977. In addition, 525 papers by contractors to that facility are cited along with 129 papers cleared for presentation.

Bibliography of Technical Publications and Papers, October 1978 - September 1979

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-11-01

overnutrition. Symposium on Psychosocial Factors in Nutritional Problems, llth International Congress of Nutrition, Rio de Janeiro , Brazil, September...VBIOGRAPHY OF-TZHNICAL BLICATIONS AND An T7 Octber118 -Seu~imb~ 199k6. PERFORMNING OR0. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTMOR( e ) S. CONTRACT -OR G ANT HNDMER~a) 9...Officer Advanced Class 79-2, US Army Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, VA, 14 August 1979. 6 OFFICE OF TECHNICAL DIRECTOR Technical Papers 12. ROSS, E . W

FY 1978 scientific and technical reports, articles, papers, and presentations. [bibliography

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

White, O. L. (Compiler)

1978-01-01

Abstracts of 73 technical papers published or presented by MSFC personnel in FY-78 are presented. In addition, over 400 papers by contractors to that facility are listed along with the STAR document number for each report. Titles of 208 additional papers already cleared for publication are included.

2015-2016 Florida Adult Education Assessment Technical Assistance Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida Department of Education, 2016

2016-01-01

This technical assistance paper provides guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. These policies apply to the approved assessments that programs may use to report educational gains in compliance with the National Reporting System (NRS) requirements. The NRS is the accountability system for the…

2016-2017 Florida Adult Education Assessment Technical Assistance Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida Department of Education, 2017

2017-01-01

This technical assistance paper provides guidance to individuals with test administration responsibilities in adult education programs. These policies apply to the approved assessments that programs may use to report educational gains in compliance with the National Reporting System (NRS) requirements. The NRS is the accountability system for the…

Engineering Forum Issue Paper: Online Hazardous Waste Cleanup Technical Resources

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This issue paper is intended to give the reader examples of some online technical resources that can assist with hazardous waste cleanups in the Superfund, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and Brownfields programs.

NASA scientific and technical publications: A catalog of special publications, reference publications, conference publications, and technical papers, 1989

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1990-01-01

This catalog lists 190 citations of all NASA Special Publications, NASA Reference Publications, NASA Conference Publications, and NASA Technical Papers that were entered into the NASA scientific and technical information database during accession year 1989. The entries are grouped by subject category. Indexes of subject terms, personal authors, and NASA report numbers are provided.

NASA scientific and technical publications: A catalog of Special Publications, Reference Publications, Conference Publications, and Technical Papers, 1987

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

This catalog lists 239 citations of all NASA Special Publications, NASA Reference Publications, NASA Conference Publications, and NASA Technical Papers that were entered in the NASA scientific and technical information database during accession year 1987. The entries are grouped by subject category. Indexes of subject terms, personal authors, and NASA report numbers are provided.

Physically Healthy and Ready to Learn. Technical Assistance Paper No. 1

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Health and Human Services, Head Start Bureau, 2006

2006-01-01

This Technical Assistance Paper offers guidance to programs regarding the implementation of the "Head Start Program Performance Standards" on child health and developmental services, child health and safety, and child nutrition. The paper examines how physical health influences children's development and how child health and development…

The 1989 JSC bibliography of scientific and technical papers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hutchins, Nancy (Compiler)

1991-01-01

This document is a compilation of Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center contributions to the scientific and technical literature in aerospace and life sciences made during calendar year 1989. Citations include NASA formal series reports, journal articles, conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, and seminar and workshop results.

Technical Papers Presented at the 1971 NAB Engineering Conference. First Edition.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

1971

This collection of 25 papers and panels presented at the 1971 Engineering Conference of the National Association of Broadcasters surveys recent technical developments in the field. At least four of these papers are relevant to education. "Everything You Wanted to Know About Cartridge Machines--But Were Afraid to Ask" describes improvements in…

NASA scientific and technical publications: A catalog of special publications, reference publications, conference publications, and technical papers, 1987-1990

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This catalog lists 783 citations of all NASA Special Publications, NASA Reference Publications, NASA Conference Publications, and NASA Technical Papers that were entered into NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database during the year's 1987 through 1990. The entries are grouped by subject category. Indexes of subject terms, personal authors, and NASA report numbers are provided.

NASA scientific and technical publications: A catalog of special publications, reference publications, conference publications, and technical papers, 1991-1992

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This catalog lists 458 citations of all NASA Special Publications, NASA Reference Publications, NASA Conference Publications, and NASA Technical Papers that were entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information database during accession year 1991 through 1992. The entries are grouped by subject category. Indexes of subject terms, personal authors, and NASA report numbers are provided.

Technical paper contest for women 1992. Space challenges: Earth and beyond

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orans, Robin (Editor)

1993-01-01

Two of the major concerns of the NASA Ames Research Center (NASA ARC) Advisory Committee for Women (ACW) are that recruitment of women scientists, engineers, and technicians needs to increase and that barriers to advancement need to be removed for improved representation of women in middle and upper management and scientific positions. One strategy that addressed this concern was the ACW sponsorship of a Technical Paper Contest for Women at Ames Research Center. Other sponsors of the Contest were the Ames Equal Opportunity Council and the Ames Contractor Council. The Technical Paper Contest for Women greatly increased the visibility of both the civil service women and the women who work for contractors at Ames. The women had the opportunity to hone their written and oral presentation skills. Networking among Ames women increased.

Opinion Summarizationof CustomerComments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Miao; Wu, Guoshi

Web 2.0 technologies have enabled more and more customers to freely comment on different kinds of entities, such as sellers, products and services. The large scale of information poses the need and challenge of automatic summarization. In many cases, each of the user-generated short comments implies the opinions which rate the target entity. In this paper, we aim to mine and to summarize all the customer comments of a product. The algorithm proposed in this researchis more reliable on opinion identification because it is unsupervised and the accuracy of the result improves as the number of comments increases. Our research is performed in four steps: (1) mining the frequent aspects of a product that have been commented on by customers; (2) mining the infrequent aspects of a product which have been commented by customers (3) identifying opinion words in each comment and deciding whether each opinion word is positive, negative or neutral; (4) summarizing the comments. This paper proposes several novel techniques to perform these tasks. Our experimental results using comments of a number of products sold online demonstrate the effectiveness of the techniques.

The 1990 Johnson Space Center bibliography of scientific and technical papers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

Abstracts are presented of scientific and technical papers written and/or presented by L. B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) authors, including civil servants, contractors, and grantees, during the calendar year of 1990. Citations include conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, seminars, and workshop results, NASA formal report series (including contractually required final reports), and articles published in professional journals.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 58; Survey of Reader Preferences Concerning the Format of NASA Langley-Authored Technical Reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.

1996-01-01

The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development (R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded R&D. Little is also known about the intermediary-based system that is used to transfer the results of federally funded R&D to the U.S. aerospace industry. To help establish a body of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this paper, we summarize the literature on the U.S. government technical report and present the results of a survey of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that solicited their opinions concerning the format of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)-authored technical reports. To learn more about the preferences of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the format of NASA LaRC-authored technical reports, we surveyed 133 report producers (i.e., authors) and 137 report users in March-April 1996. Questions covered such topics as (1) the order in which report components are read, (2) components used to determine if a report would be read, (3) those components that could be deleted, (4) the placement of such components as the symbols list, (e) the de-sirability of a table of contents, (5) the format of reference citations, (6) column layout and right margin treatment, and (7) and person and voice. Mail (self-reported) surveys were used to collect the data. The response rates for report producers (i.e., authors) was 68% and for users was 62%.

Vocational Qualifications, Employment Status and Income: 2006 Census Analysis. Technical Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Daly, Anne

2011-01-01

Two features of the labour market for vocationally qualified workers are explored in this technical paper: the likelihood of self-employment versus wage employment and the determinants of income. The analysis showed that demographic, occupational and local labour market characteristics all influence the likelihood of self-employment. Self-employed…

Opinion evolution in different social acquaintance networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiao; Wu, Zhan; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Guohua; Li, Wei

2017-11-01

Social acquaintance networks influenced by social culture and social policy have a great impact on public opinion evolution in daily life. Based on the differences between socio-culture and social policy, three different social acquaintance networks (kinship-priority acquaintance network, independence-priority acquaintance network, and hybrid acquaintance network) incorporating heredity proportion ph and variation proportion pv are proposed in this paper. Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate network topology and different phenomena during opinion evolution, using the Deffuant model. We found that in kinship-priority acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese traditional acquaintance networks, opinions always achieve fragmentation, resulting in the formation of multiple large clusters and many small clusters due to the fact that individuals believe more in their relatives and live in a relatively closed environment. In independence-priority acquaintance networks, similar to Western acquaintance networks, the results are similar to those in the kinship-priority acquaintance network. In hybrid acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese modern acquaintance networks, only a few clusters are formed indicating that in modern China, opinions are more likely to reach consensus on a large scale. These results are similar to the opinion evolution phenomena in modern society, proving the rationality and applicability of network models combined with social culture and policy. We also found a threshold curve pv+2 ph=2.05 in the results for the final opinion clusters and evolution time. Above the threshold curve, opinions could easily reach consensus. Based on the above experimental results, a culture-policy-driven mechanism for the opinion dynamic is worth promoting in this paper, that is, opinion dynamics can be driven by different social cultures and policies through the influence of heredity and variation in interpersonal relationship networks. This

Topological evolution of the internet public opinion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lian, Ying; Dong, Xuefan; Liu, Yijun

2017-11-01

The Internet forms a platform featured with high liquidity, accessibility and concealment for the public to express their respective views on certain events, thus leading to a large network graph. Due to such environmental features, the public opinions formed on the Internet are different from those on traditional media. Studies focusing on the former area are relatively fewer. In addition, the majority of existing methods proposed for constructing the Internet public opinion topological structure are based on the classic BA model, thus resulting in drawbacks in the range of simplicity and a lack of strict deduction. Therefore, based on the complex networks theory, a model applied to describe the topology of the Internet public opinion is deduced with rigorous derivation in the present paper. Results show that the proposed expression could well reflect the degree distribution of Internet public opinion which follows an analogous power law distribution, and that the peak value and the degree distribution are not correlative to each other. Moreover, it has been also proved that compared to the classic BA model, the proposed model has better accuracy performance in the description of the degree distribution of the Internet public opinion, which contributes to future studies focusing on this area. Thus, an attempt has been made to give the first theoretical description of the Internet public opinion topology in the present paper. In addition, it is also the first paper focusing on the solution of networks degree distribution with an exponential growth form.

Technical Communications in Aeronautics: Results of an Exploratory Study. NASA Technical Memorandum 101534, Parts 1 and 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinelli, Thomas E.; And Others

An exploratory study investigated technical communications in aeronautics by surveying aeronautical engineers and scientists. The study had five specific objectives: to solicit the opinions of aeronautical engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; to determine their use and production of…

Technical and operational users' opinions of a handheld device to detect directed energy.

PubMed

Boyd, Andrew D; Naiman, Melissa; Stevenson, Greer W; Preston, Richard; Valenta, Annette L

2013-05-01

Lasers, a form of directed energy (DE), are a threat to pilots and Air Force personnel. In light of this threat, a handheld medical device called the "Tricorder" is under development to improve situational awareness of DE. Current operational procedures do not include methods for recording or handling new information regarding DE. The purpose of this study was to understand Air Force personnel opinions and beliefs about desired features and operational use to enhance user acceptance of the Tricorder. Q-methodology was implemented to study opinions and beliefs related to DE. Two groups were approached, medical personnel in the Illinois Air National Guard and four active duty members of an Air Force Rescue Squadron. Both groups completed the same Q-sort of both operational and equipment concerns. Six opinion sets regarding operational concerns described 61% of the total variation in perceptions among participants. The factors were: concern over health effects, implications to individuals, combat/tactical concerns, force health protection, and theater/tactical concerns. Five opinion sets described 68% of the variation in the equipment functions perceived as most important. The participants indicated that ideally the device should measure exposure, enhance laser detection/response, support night vision and ease of use, detect threats, and enhance combat medicine. This survey revealed the complexity of equipment and the operational implications of detecting DE. Q-methodology is a unique strategy to both evaluate technology and explore users' concerns.

Rehabilitation of degraded forests in Asia. World Bank technical paper

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Banerjee, A.K.

The degraded forests discussed in this paper are those that have been so badly damaged they have completely lost their protective or productive functions--but still retain their potential revive. The paper focusses on the major areas in Asia fitting this description: swidden agriculture areas in moist forests; human-induced extensive Imperata grasslands; repeatedly hacked, low-profile hardwood forests; and overlogged forests. The areas are defined carefully to determine their extent in Asia; key characteristics are described; their impacts on the local ecology are evaluated; the social and economic pressures that prolong the degradation are analyzed; and technical methods for rehabilitating the damagedmore » areas are proposed.« less

Metric Education; A Position Paper for Vocational, Technical and Adult Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cooper, Gloria S.; And Others

Part of an Office of Education three-year project on metric education, the position paper is intended to alert and prepare teachers, curriculum developers, and administrators in vocational, technical, and adult education to the change over to the metric system. The five chapters cover issues in metric education, what the metric system is all…

1993 Technical Paper Contest for Women. Gear Up 2000: Women in Motion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orans, Robin (Editor); Duckett, Sophie (Editor); White, Susan (Editor)

1994-01-01

The NASA Ames Research Center Advisory Committee for Women (ACW) sponsored the second ACW Technical paper Contest for Ames women in order to increase the visibility of, and to encourage writing for publication by Ames women scientists, engineers, and technicians. The topics of the contest paper mirrored in the topics of the 1993 Society for Women Engineers (SWE) National Convention, which included technological, workplace, global, and family issues.

OpinionSeer: interactive visualization of hotel customer feedback.

PubMed

Wu, Yingcai; Wei, Furu; Liu, Shixia; Au, Norman; Cui, Weiwei; Zhou, Hong; Qu, Huamin

2010-01-01

The rapid development of Web technology has resulted in an increasing number of hotel customers sharing their opinions on the hotel services. Effective visual analysis of online customer opinions is needed, as it has a significant impact on building a successful business. In this paper, we present OpinionSeer, an interactive visualization system that could visually analyze a large collection of online hotel customer reviews. The system is built on a new visualization-centric opinion mining technique that considers uncertainty for faithfully modeling and analyzing customer opinions. A new visual representation is developed to convey customer opinions by augmenting well-established scatterplots and radial visualization. To provide multiple-level exploration, we introduce subjective logic to handle and organize subjective opinions with degrees of uncertainty. Several case studies illustrate the effectiveness and usefulness of OpinionSeer on analyzing relationships among multiple data dimensions and comparing opinions of different groups. Aside from data on hotel customer feedback, OpinionSeer could also be applied to visually analyze customer opinions on other products or services.

Opinion evolution in different social acquaintance networks.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Zhang, Xiao; Wu, Zhan; Wang, Hongwei; Wang, Guohua; Li, Wei

2017-11-01

Social acquaintance networks influenced by social culture and social policy have a great impact on public opinion evolution in daily life. Based on the differences between socio-culture and social policy, three different social acquaintance networks (kinship-priority acquaintance network, independence-priority acquaintance network, and hybrid acquaintance network) incorporating heredity proportion p h and variation proportion p v are proposed in this paper. Numerical experiments are conducted to investigate network topology and different phenomena during opinion evolution, using the Deffuant model. We found that in kinship-priority acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese traditional acquaintance networks, opinions always achieve fragmentation, resulting in the formation of multiple large clusters and many small clusters due to the fact that individuals believe more in their relatives and live in a relatively closed environment. In independence-priority acquaintance networks, similar to Western acquaintance networks, the results are similar to those in the kinship-priority acquaintance network. In hybrid acquaintance networks, similar to the Chinese modern acquaintance networks, only a few clusters are formed indicating that in modern China, opinions are more likely to reach consensus on a large scale. These results are similar to the opinion evolution phenomena in modern society, proving the rationality and applicability of network models combined with social culture and policy. We also found a threshold curve p v +2p h =2.05 in the results for the final opinion clusters and evolution time. Above the threshold curve, opinions could easily reach consensus. Based on the above experimental results, a culture-policy-driven mechanism for the opinion dynamic is worth promoting in this paper, that is, opinion dynamics can be driven by different social cultures and policies through the influence of heredity and variation in interpersonal relationship networks. This

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 16: A comparison of the technical communications practices of Russian and US aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Kennedy, John M.; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1993-01-01

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Project, two studies were conducted that investigated the technical communications practices of Russian and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. Both studies have the same five objectives: first, to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; second, to determine the use and production of technical communications by aerospace engineers and scientists; third, to seek their views about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications; fourth, to determine aerospace engineers' and scientists' use of libraries, technical information centers, and on-line data bases; and fifth, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to aerospace engineers and scientists at the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI), NASA ARC, and NASA LaRC. The completion rates for the Russian and U.S. surveys were 64 and 61 percent, respectively. The responses of the Russian and U.S. participants, to selected questions, are presented in this report.

Explaining opinion polarisation with opinion copulas.

PubMed

Askitas, Nikolaos

2017-01-01

An empirically founded and widely established driving force in opinion dynamics is homophily i.e. the tendency of "birds of a feather" to "flock together". The closer our opinions are the more likely it is that we will interact and converge. Models using these assumptions are called bounded confidence models (BCM) as they assume a tolerance threshold after which interaction is unlikely. They are known to produce one or more clusters, depending on the size of the bound, with more than one cluster being possible only in the deterministic case. Introducing noise, as is likely to happen in a stochastic world, causes BCM to produce consensus which leaves us with the open problem of explaining the emergence and sustainance of opinion clusters and polarisation. We investigate the role of heterogeneous priors in opinion formation, introduce the concept of opinion copulas, argue that it is well supported by findings in Social Psychology and use it to show that the stochastic BCM does indeed produce opinion clustering without the need for extra assumptions.

Explaining opinion polarisation with opinion copulas

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

An empirically founded and widely established driving force in opinion dynamics is homophily i.e. the tendency of “birds of a feather” to “flock together”. The closer our opinions are the more likely it is that we will interact and converge. Models using these assumptions are called bounded confidence models (BCM) as they assume a tolerance threshold after which interaction is unlikely. They are known to produce one or more clusters, depending on the size of the bound, with more than one cluster being possible only in the deterministic case. Introducing noise, as is likely to happen in a stochastic world, causes BCM to produce consensus which leaves us with the open problem of explaining the emergence and sustainance of opinion clusters and polarisation. We investigate the role of heterogeneous priors in opinion formation, introduce the concept of opinion copulas, argue that it is well supported by findings in Social Psychology and use it to show that the stochastic BCM does indeed produce opinion clustering without the need for extra assumptions. PMID:28829802

MindDigger: Feature Identification and Opinion Association for Chinese Movie Reviews

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Lili; Li, Chunping

In this paper, we present a prototype system called MindDigger, which can be used to analyze the opinions in Chinese movie reviews. Different from previous research that employed techniques on product reviews, we focus on Chinese movie reviews, in which opinions are expressed in subtle and varied ways. The system designed in this work aims to extract the opinion expressions and assign them to the corresponding features. The core tasks include feature and opinion extraction, and feature-opinion association. To deal with Chinese effectively, several novel approaches based on syntactic analysis are proposed in this paper. Running results show the performance is satisfactory.

Public Opinion Poll Question Databases: An Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Woods, Stephen

2007-01-01

This paper evaluates five polling resource: iPOLL, Polling the Nations, Gallup Brain, Public Opinion Poll Question Database, and Polls and Surveys. Content was evaluated on disclosure standards from major polling organizations, scope on a model for public opinion polls, and presentation on a flow chart discussing search limitations and usability.

Internet Censorship in Turkey: University Students' Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ozkan, Hasan; Arikan, Arda

2009-01-01

The aim of this paper is to study university students' opinions toward online censorship with references to their socio-political and economic variables. Considering the upwards trend and the increasing number of online restrictions in Turkey, the opinions of university students (n=138) are thought to give significant findings. The questionnaire…

Opinion dynamics in a group-based society

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gargiulo, F.; Huet, S.

2010-09-01

Many models have been proposed to analyze the evolution of opinion structure due to the interaction of individuals in their social environment. Such models analyze the spreading of ideas both in completely interacting backgrounds and on social networks, where each person has a finite set of interlocutors. In this paper we analyze the reciprocal feedback between the opinions of the individuals and the structure of the interpersonal relationships at the level of community structures. For this purpose we define a group-based random network and we study how this structure co-evolves with opinion dynamics processes. We observe that the adaptive network structure affects the opinion dynamics process helping the consensus formation. The results also show interesting behaviors in regards to the size distribution of the groups and their correlation with opinion structure.

Scientific and technical papers presented or published by JSC authors in 1985

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1986-01-01

The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center contributions to the scientific and technical literature in aerospace and life sciences made during calendar year 1985 are described. Citations include NASA formal series reports, journal articles, conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, and seminar and workshop results.

The impact of competing zealots on opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verma, Gunjan; Swami, Ananthram; Chan, Kevin

2014-02-01

An individual’s opinion on an issue is greatly impacted by others in his or her social network. Most people are open-minded and ready to change their opinion when presented evidence; however, some are zealots or inflexibles, that is, individuals who refuse to change their opinion while staunchly advocating an opinion in hopes of convincing others. Zealotry is present in opinions of significant personal investment, such as political, religious or corporate affiliation; it tends to be less commonplace in opinions involving rumors or fashion trends. In this paper, we examine the effect that zealots have in a population whose opinion dynamics obey the naming game model. We present numerical and analytical results about the number and nature of steady state solutions, demonstrating the existence of a bifurcation in the space of zealot fractions. Our analysis indicates conditions under which a minority zealot opinion ultimately prevails, and conditions under which neither opinion attains a majority. We also present numerical and simulation analysis of finite populations and on networks with partial connectivity.

Report of the United Nations Interregional Seminar on the Employment, Development and Role of Scientists and Technical Personnel in the Public Service of Developing Countries, Volume III: Technical Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations, New York, NY. Dept. of Economic and Social Affairs.

This collection of papers is the third of three volumes presenting the proceedings of the United Nations Interregional Seminar on the Employment, Development and Role of Scientists and Technical Personnel in the Public Service of Developing Countries (Volume I, Report of the Seminar; Volume II, Country Papers; and Volume III, Technical Papers).…

10th international conference on high-occupancy vehicle systems : compendium of technical papers

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-08-01

This report provides the technical papers submitted as part of the 10th International High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Systems Conference held in Dallas, Texas on August 27-30, 2000. The Conference was sponsored by the Transportation Research Board (TRB)...

Scientific and technical papers presented or published by JSC authors in 1986

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1987-01-01

A compilation of Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center contributions to the scientific and technical literature in aerospace and life sciences made during calender year 1985 is presented. Citations include NASA formal series reports, journal articles, conference and symposium presentations, papers published in proceedings or other collective works, and seminar and workshop results.

Opinion strength influences the spatial dynamics of opinion formation

PubMed Central

Baumgaertner, Bert O.; Tyson, Rebecca T.; Krone, Stephen M.

2016-01-01

Opinions are rarely binary; they can be held with different degrees of conviction, and this expanded attitude spectrum can affect the influence one opinion has on others. Our goal is to understand how different aspects of influence lead to recognizable spatio-temporal patterns of opinions and their strengths. To do this, we introduce a stochastic spatial agent-based model of opinion dynamics that includes a spectrum of opinion strengths and various possible rules for how the opinion strength of one individual affects the influence that this individual has on others. Through simulations, we find that even a small amount of amplification of opinion strength through interaction with like-minded neighbors can tip the scales in favor of polarization and deadlock. PMID:28529381

Competing opinions and stubborness: Connecting models to data.

PubMed

Burghardt, Keith; Rand, William; Girvan, Michelle

2016-03-01

We introduce a general contagionlike model for competing opinions that includes dynamic resistance to alternative opinions. We show that this model can describe candidate vote distributions, spatial vote correlations, and a slow approach to opinion consensus with sensible parameter values. These empirical properties of large group dynamics, previously understood using distinct models, may be different aspects of human behavior that can be captured by a more unified model, such as the one introduced in this paper.

Kinetic model for multidimensional opinion formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boudin, Laurent; Monaco, Roberto; Salvarani, Francesco

2010-03-01

In this paper, we deal with a kinetic model to describe the evolution of the opinion in a closed group with respect to a choice between multiple options (e.g., political parties), which takes into account two main mechanisms of opinion formation, namely, the interaction between individuals and the effect of the mass media. We numerically test the model in some relevant cases and eventually provide an existence and a uniqueness result for it.

A hybrid model for opinion formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Borra, Domenica; Lorenzi, Tommaso

2013-06-01

This paper presents a hybrid model for opinion formation in a large group of agents exposed to the persuasive action of a small number of strong opinion leaders. The model is defined by coupling a finite difference equation for the dynamics of leaders opinion with a continuous integro-differential equation for the dynamics of the others. Such a definition stems from the idea that the leaders are few and tend to retain original opinions, so that their dynamics occur on a longer time scale with respect to the one of the other agents. A general well-posedness result is established for the initial value problem linked to the model. The asymptotic behavior in time of the related solution is characterized for some general parameter settings, which mimic distinct social scenarios, where different emerging behaviors can be observed. Analytical results are illustrated and extended through numerical simulations.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 21: Technological innovation and technical communications: Their place in aerospace engineering curricula. A survey of European, Japanese, and US Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Holland, Maurita Peterson; Keene, Michael L.; Kennedy, John M.

1991-01-01

Aerospace engineers and scientists from Western Europe, Japan, and the United States were surveyed as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Questionnaires were used to solicit their opinions regarding the following: (1) the importance of technical communications to their profession; (2) the use and production of technical communications; and (3) their views about the appropriate content of an undergraduate course in technical communications. The ability to communicate technical information effectively was very important to the aerospace engineers and scientists who participated in the study. A considerable portion of their working week is devoted to using and producing technical information. The types of technical communications used and produced varied within and among the three groups. The type of technical communication product used and produced appears to be related to respondents' professional duties. Respondents from the three groups made similar recommendations regarding the principles, mechanics, and on-the-job communications to be included in an undergraduate technical communications course for aerospace majors.

Contracting Officer's Technical Representatives

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brisbin, Steve

1997-01-01

The Breakout Session is a traditional conference instrument used by the NASA Occupational Health Program (OHP) as a method to convene people with common interests. Typically these sessions provide discussion of current topics of high priority and currency and allow multiple views and opinions to be shared and evaluated by all participants. Since the Contracting Officer's Technical Representatives (COTRs) occupy the technical focus of support contract management, this particular group, attended by 20 representatives, addressed issues and topics at the forefront of operational concerns.

Functional Vision Observation. Technical Assistance Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee. Bureau of Education for Exceptional Students.

Technical assistance is provided concerning documentation of functional vision loss for Florida students with visual impairments. The functional vision observation should obtain enough information for determination of special service eligibility. The observation is designed to supplement information on the medical eye examination, and is conducted…

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and Citizenship Programs. Technical Assistance Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee. Div. of Workforce Development.

This technical assistance paper is designed to help local adult education administrators and teachers in Florida as they implement changes in the Adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) Program Curriculum Framework, which provides the state with a minimum set of standards to be used by all facilities delivering ESOL citizenship…

Opinion data mining based on DNA method and ORA software

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Ru-Ya; Wu, Lei; Liang, Xiao-He; Zhang, Xue-Fu

2018-01-01

Public opinion, especially the online public opinion is a critical issue when it comes to mining its characteristics. Because it can be formed directly and intensely in a short time, and may lead to the outbreak of online group events, and the formation of online public opinion crisis. This may become the pushing hand of a public crisis event, or even have negative social impacts, which brings great challenges to the government management. Data from the mass media which reveal implicit, previously unknown, and potentially valuable information, can effectively help us to understand the evolution law of public opinion, and provide a useful reference for rumor intervention. Based on the Dynamic Network Analysis method, this paper uses ORA software to mine characteristics of public opinion information, opinion topics, and public opinion agents through a series of indicators, and quantitatively analyzed the relationships between them. The results show that through the analysis of the 8 indexes associating with opinion data mining, we can have a basic understanding of the public opinion characteristics of an opinion event, such as who is important in the opinion spreading process, the information grasping condition, and the opinion topics release situation.

NASA Scientific and Technical Publications: A Catalog of Special Publications, Reference Publications, Conference Publications, and Technical Papers 1987-1990

DTIC Science & Technology

1991-02-01

Technical Papers present the results of significant research conducted by NASA scientists and engineers. Presented here are citations for reports from each...CSCL contains photographs of 322 galaxies including the majority of all 03A Shapley-Ames bright galaxies, plus cluster members in the Virgo A...Catalog of Open Clusters and Associated Interstellar Matter Research Council, London, United Kingdom Sponsored by NASA, summarizes observations of 128 open

Collected Papers Prepared Under Work Unit TEXTRUCT: Methods of Instruction in Technical Training.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Human Resources Research Organization, Alexandria, VA.

Although the concept of automated instruction is not new, it has gained major support only in the past 3 years. These 12 papers describe research in the area of instructional methods for technical training. The scientific principles of learning and their applicability to automated instruction are discussed, with emphasis on the role of automated…

Opinion dynamics on interacting networks: media competition and social influence.

PubMed

Quattrociocchi, Walter; Caldarelli, Guido; Scala, Antonio

2014-05-27

The inner dynamics of the multiple actors of the informations systems - i.e, T.V., newspapers, blogs, social network platforms, - play a fundamental role on the evolution of the public opinion. Coherently with the recent history of the information system (from few main stream media to the massive diffusion of socio-technical system), in this work we investigate how main stream media signed interaction might shape the opinion space. In particular we focus on how different size (in the number of media) and interaction patterns of the information system may affect collective debates and thus the opinions' distribution. We introduce a sophisticated computational model of opinion dynamics which accounts for the coexistence of media and gossip as separated mechanisms and for their feedback loops. The model accounts also for the effect of the media communication patterns by considering both the simple case where each medium mimics the behavior of the most successful one (to maximize the audience) and the case where there is polarization and thus competition among media memes. We show that plurality and competition within information sources lead to stable configurations where several and distant cultures coexist.

Opinion dynamics on interacting networks: media competition and social influence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quattrociocchi, Walter; Caldarelli, Guido; Scala, Antonio

2014-05-01

The inner dynamics of the multiple actors of the informations systems - i.e, T.V., newspapers, blogs, social network platforms, - play a fundamental role on the evolution of the public opinion. Coherently with the recent history of the information system (from few main stream media to the massive diffusion of socio-technical system), in this work we investigate how main stream media signed interaction might shape the opinion space. In particular we focus on how different size (in the number of media) and interaction patterns of the information system may affect collective debates and thus the opinions' distribution. We introduce a sophisticated computational model of opinion dynamics which accounts for the coexistence of media and gossip as separated mechanisms and for their feedback loops. The model accounts also for the effect of the media communication patterns by considering both the simple case where each medium mimics the behavior of the most successful one (to maximize the audience) and the case where there is polarization and thus competition among media memes. We show that plurality and competition within information sources lead to stable configurations where several and distant cultures coexist.

Opinion dynamics on interacting networks: media competition and social influence

PubMed Central

Quattrociocchi, Walter; Caldarelli, Guido; Scala, Antonio

2014-01-01

The inner dynamics of the multiple actors of the informations systems – i.e, T.V., newspapers, blogs, social network platforms, – play a fundamental role on the evolution of the public opinion. Coherently with the recent history of the information system (from few main stream media to the massive diffusion of socio-technical system), in this work we investigate how main stream media signed interaction might shape the opinion space. In particular we focus on how different size (in the number of media) and interaction patterns of the information system may affect collective debates and thus the opinions' distribution. We introduce a sophisticated computational model of opinion dynamics which accounts for the coexistence of media and gossip as separated mechanisms and for their feedback loops. The model accounts also for the effect of the media communication patterns by considering both the simple case where each medium mimics the behavior of the most successful one (to maximize the audience) and the case where there is polarization and thus competition among media memes. We show that plurality and competition within information sources lead to stable configurations where several and distant cultures coexist. PMID:24861995

Development of research paper writing skills of poultry science undergraduate students studying food microbiology.

PubMed

Howard, Z R; Donalson, L M; Kim, W K; Li, X; Zabala Díaz, I; Landers, K L; Maciorowski, K G; Ricke, S C

2006-02-01

Because food and poultry industries are demanding an improvement in written communication skills among graduates, research paper writing should be an integral part of a senior undergraduate class. However, scientific writing assignments are often treated as secondary to developing the technical skills of the students. Scientific research paper writing has been emphasized in an undergraduate course on advanced food microbiology taught in the Poultry Science Department at Texas A& M University (College Station, TX). Students' opinions suggest that research paper writing as part of a senior course in Poultry Science provides students with scientific communication skills and useful training for their career, but more emphasis on reading and understanding scientific literature may be required.

Technical Challenges of Enterprise Imaging: HIMSS-SIIM Collaborative White Paper.

PubMed

Clunie, David A; Dennison, Don K; Cram, Dawn; Persons, Kenneth R; Bronkalla, Mark D; Primo, Henri Rik

2016-10-01

This white paper explores the technical challenges and solutions for acquiring (capturing) and managing enterprise images, particularly those involving visible light applications. The types of acquisition devices used for various general-purpose photography and specialized applications including dermatology, endoscopy, and anatomic pathology are reviewed. The formats and standards used, and the associated metadata requirements and communication protocols for transfer and workflow are considered. Particular emphasis is placed on the importance of metadata capture in both order- and encounter-based workflow. The benefits of using DICOM to provide a standard means of recording and accessing both metadata and image and video data are considered, as is the role of IHE and FHIR.

Bifurcation Phenomena of Opinion Dynamics in Complex Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Long; Cai, Xu

In this paper, we study the opinion dynamics of Improved Deffuant model (IDM), where the convergence parameter μ is a function of the opposite’s degree K according to the celebrity effect, in small-world network (SWN) and scale-free network (SFN). Generically, the system undergoes a phase transition from the plurality state to the polarization state and to the consensus state as the confidence parameter ɛ increasing. Furthermore, the evolution of the steady opinion s * as a function of ɛ, and the relation between the minority steady opinion s_{*}^{min} and the individual connectivity k also have been analyzed. Our present work shows the crucial role of the confidence parameter and the complex system topology in the opinion dynamics of IDM.

Extracting Product Features and Opinion Words Using Pattern Knowledge in Customer Reviews

PubMed Central

Lynn, Khin Thidar

2013-01-01

Due to the development of e-commerce and web technology, most of online Merchant sites are able to write comments about purchasing products for customer. Customer reviews expressed opinion about products or services which are collectively referred to as customer feedback data. Opinion extraction about products from customer reviews is becoming an interesting area of research and it is motivated to develop an automatic opinion mining application for users. Therefore, efficient method and techniques are needed to extract opinions from reviews. In this paper, we proposed a novel idea to find opinion words or phrases for each feature from customer reviews in an efficient way. Our focus in this paper is to get the patterns of opinion words/phrases about the feature of product from the review text through adjective, adverb, verb, and noun. The extracted features and opinions are useful for generating a meaningful summary that can provide significant informative resource to help the user as well as merchants to track the most suitable choice of product. PMID:24459430

Extracting product features and opinion words using pattern knowledge in customer reviews.

PubMed

Htay, Su Su; Lynn, Khin Thidar

2013-01-01

Due to the development of e-commerce and web technology, most of online Merchant sites are able to write comments about purchasing products for customer. Customer reviews expressed opinion about products or services which are collectively referred to as customer feedback data. Opinion extraction about products from customer reviews is becoming an interesting area of research and it is motivated to develop an automatic opinion mining application for users. Therefore, efficient method and techniques are needed to extract opinions from reviews. In this paper, we proposed a novel idea to find opinion words or phrases for each feature from customer reviews in an efficient way. Our focus in this paper is to get the patterns of opinion words/phrases about the feature of product from the review text through adjective, adverb, verb, and noun. The extracted features and opinions are useful for generating a meaningful summary that can provide significant informative resource to help the user as well as merchants to track the most suitable choice of product.

Designed a web crawler which oriented network public opinion data acquisition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, Shan; Ma, Hui; Gao, Ying

2015-12-01

The paper describes the meaning of network public opinion and the network public opinion research of data acquisition technique. Designed and implemented a web crawler which oriented network public opinion data acquisition. Insufficient analysis of the generic web crawler, using asynchronous Socket, DNS cache, and queue downloads to improve its bottom story frame, increase the speed of collecting.

Opinion Analysis on Rohingya using Twitter Data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rochmawati, N.; Wibawa, S. C.

2018-04-01

Rohingya is an ethnicity in Myanmar. Recently there was a conflict in the area between the Rakhine population and the Myanmar army. Many opinions are pro and contra in addressing this issue. There is a critic, there is a support and there is a neutral. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the world public opinion about the case of Rohingya. The opinion data to be processed is taken from twitter. the reason for using twitter is because twitter has become one of the popular social media and includes the most frequently visited social media. Therefore, it would be a lot of data that can be taken from twitter to be processed in the process of sentiment analysis. The grouping of opinions will be divided into 3 parts of positive, negative and neutral. the method used in grouping is the naïve Bayes method.

Analysis and application of opinion model with multiple topic interactions.

PubMed

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Wang, Liang; Wang, Ximeng

2017-08-01

To reveal heterogeneous behaviors of opinion evolution in different scenarios, we propose an opinion model with topic interactions. Individual opinions and topic features are represented by a multidimensional vector. We measure an agent's action towards a specific topic by the product of opinion and topic feature. When pairs of agents interact for a topic, their actions are introduced to opinion updates with bounded confidence. Simulation results show that a transition from a disordered state to a consensus state occurs at a critical point of the tolerance threshold, which depends on the opinion dimension. The critical point increases as the dimension of opinions increases. Multiple topics promote opinion interactions and lead to the formation of macroscopic opinion clusters. In addition, more topics accelerate the evolutionary process and weaken the effect of network topology. We use two sets of large-scale real data to evaluate the model, and the results prove its effectiveness in characterizing a real evolutionary process. Our model achieves high performance in individual action prediction and even outperforms state-of-the-art methods. Meanwhile, our model has much smaller computational complexity. This paper provides a demonstration for possible practical applications of theoretical opinion dynamics.

Opinion paper: scientific, philosophical and legal consideration of doping in sports.

PubMed

Negro, Massimo; Marzullo, Natale; Caso, Francesca; Calanni, Luca; D'Antona, Giuseppe

2018-04-01

The term doping is generally used to indicate practices based on the use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) or the abuse of medical therapies. Mostly analysed by doctors and officials, doping nevertheless also requires a philosophical consideration to avoid being simplistically portrayed as an isolated practice. To do this, we need to pay attention to the contradictions and paradoxes in the modern approach to doping in sport. In this context, doping is not only relevant to the health of an individual involved in the violation of World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) criteria, but it actually represents a double-edged phenomenon containing ethical and legal points of view. Several philosophical items affect the ethics of doping. While, indeed, through a deontological vision it is easy to morally condemn an athlete who takes the decision to turn to doping, the same condemnation becomes difficult when the practice of doping is compared with the strong social demand of winners in every field of life. This point must be considered to prevent doping from becoming accepted as a daily practice to excel at all costs and regarded not only as normal but as a necessity for those participating in sport at both an amateur and professional level. Furthermore, a complete discussion on doping has to consider not only the philosophy of performance-enhancing drug abuse, but also the widespread practice of an inappropriate and excessive intake of certain dietary supplements with the unique and obsessive purpose (similar to doping) of increasing physical or mental performance. Based on the above, the aim of this paper is to provide a critical opinion of the doping problem and its related practices and analyze possible solutions considering issues that go beyond the impact of doping on health and reflect on whether it is right or not that an athlete does all he can to improve his performance.

Public authority control strategy for opinion evolution in social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xi; Xiong, Xi; Zhang, Minghong; Li, Wei

2016-08-01

This paper addresses the need to deal with and control public opinion and rumors. Existing strategies to control public opinion include degree, random, and adaptive bridge control strategies. In this paper, we use the HK model to present a public opinion control strategy based on public authority (PA). This means utilizing the influence of expert or high authority individuals whose opinions we control to obtain the optimum effect in the shortest time possible and thus reach a consensus of public opinion. Public authority (PA) is only influenced by individuals' attributes (age, economic status, and education level) and not their degree distribution; hence, in this paper, we assume that PA complies with two types of public authority distribution (normal and power-law). According to the proposed control strategy, our experiment is based on random, degree, and public authority control strategies in three different social networks (small-world, scale-free, and random) and we compare and analyze the strategies in terms of convergence time (T), final number of controlled agents (C), and comprehensive efficiency (E). We find that different network topologies and the distribution of the PA in the network can influence the final controlling effect. While the effect of PA strategy differs in different network topology structures, all structures achieve comprehensive efficiency with any kind of public authority distribution in any network. Our findings are consistent with several current sociological phenomena and show that in the process of public opinion/rumor control, considerable attention should be paid to high authority individuals.

Public authority control strategy for opinion evolution in social networks.

PubMed

Chen, Xi; Xiong, Xi; Zhang, Minghong; Li, Wei

2016-08-01

This paper addresses the need to deal with and control public opinion and rumors. Existing strategies to control public opinion include degree, random, and adaptive bridge control strategies. In this paper, we use the HK model to present a public opinion control strategy based on public authority (PA). This means utilizing the influence of expert or high authority individuals whose opinions we control to obtain the optimum effect in the shortest time possible and thus reach a consensus of public opinion. Public authority (PA) is only influenced by individuals' attributes (age, economic status, and education level) and not their degree distribution; hence, in this paper, we assume that PA complies with two types of public authority distribution (normal and power-law). According to the proposed control strategy, our experiment is based on random, degree, and public authority control strategies in three different social networks (small-world, scale-free, and random) and we compare and analyze the strategies in terms of convergence time (T), final number of controlled agents (C), and comprehensive efficiency (E). We find that different network topologies and the distribution of the PA in the network can influence the final controlling effect. While the effect of PA strategy differs in different network topology structures, all structures achieve comprehensive efficiency with any kind of public authority distribution in any network. Our findings are consistent with several current sociological phenomena and show that in the process of public opinion/rumor control, considerable attention should be paid to high authority individuals.

NHSA Position Paper: The Design of a Head Start Training and Technical Assistance System.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

NHSA Journal, 1994

1994-01-01

This position paper examines the current Head Start training and technical assistance (TTA) system and proposes specific improvements. These include the creation of regional TTA offices, the use of satellite and interactive communications technology, and a reevaluation of the role of teaching centers, national training contracts, and Head Start…

Substance Abuse and the Law: A Technical Assistance Paper for the Street Law Substance Abuse Lessons.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

National Inst. for Citizen Education in the Law, Washington, DC.

This technical assistance paper is designed to give trainers guidance on teaching the development and use of substance-abuse lessons found in "Street Law: A Course in Practical Law." The paper provides background on the lessons, a rationale for using the lessons, and sample agendas to use in training. "Street Law" contains…

The Treatment of Assets and Income From Assets in Income-Conditioned Government Benefit Programs; Technical Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wisconsin Univ., Madison. Inst. for Research on Poverty.

These technical papers were presented at the Conference on Treatment of Assets and Income from Assets in Income Conditioned Programs. Six papers dealing with current and alternative treatments of assets and income from assets in programs that offer both cash and noncash benefits were presented. The first three authors reviewed the network of rules…

Lifelong-RL: Lifelong Relaxation Labeling for Separating Entities and Aspects in Opinion Targets.

PubMed

Shu, Lei; Liu, Bing; Xu, Hu; Kim, Annice

2016-11-01

It is well-known that opinions have targets. Extracting such targets is an important problem of opinion mining because without knowing the target of an opinion, the opinion is of limited use. So far many algorithms have been proposed to extract opinion targets. However, an opinion target can be an entity or an aspect (part or attribute) of an entity. An opinion about an entity is an opinion about the entity as a whole, while an opinion about an aspect is just an opinion about that specific attribute or aspect of an entity. Thus, opinion targets should be separated into entities and aspects before use because they represent very different things about opinions. This paper proposes a novel algorithm, called Lifelong-RL , to solve the problem based on lifelong machine learning and relaxation labeling . Extensive experiments show that the proposed algorithm Lifelong-RL outperforms baseline methods markedly.

Towards understanding what contributes to forming an opinion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Peng; Song, Jia; Huo, Jie; Hao, Rui; Wang, Xu-Ming

Opinion evolution mechanism can be captured by physical modeling. In this paper, a kinetic equation is established by defining a generalized displacement(cognitive level), a driving force and the related factors such as generalized potential, information quantity and attitude. It has been shown that the details of opinion evolution depend on the type of the driving force, self-dominated driving or environment-dominated driving. In the former case, the participants can have their attitudes changed in the process of competition between the self-driving force and environment-driving force. In the latter case, all of the participants are pulled by the environment. Some regularities behind the dynamics of opinion are also revealed, for instance, the information entropy decays with time in a special way, etc. The results may help us to get some deep understanding for the formation of a public opinion.

Correlation between information diffusion and opinion evolution on social media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun; Zhang, Zhenjiang

2014-12-01

Information diffusion and opinion evolution are often treated as two independent processes. Opinion models assume the topic reaches each agent and agents initially have their own ideas. In fact, the processes of information diffusion and opinion evolution often intertwine with each other. Whether the influence between these two processes plays a role in the system state is unclear. In this paper, we collected more than one million real data from a well-known social platform, and analysed large-scale user diffusion behaviour and opinion formation. We found that user inter-event time follows a two-scaling power-law distribution with two different power exponents. Public opinion stabilizes quickly and evolves toward the direction of convergence, but the consensus state is prevented by a few opponents. We propose a three-state opinion model accompanied by information diffusion. Agents form and exchange their opinions during information diffusion. Conversely, agents' opinions also influence their diffusion actions. Simulations show that the model with a correlation of the two processes produces similar statistical characteristics as empirical results. A fast epidemic process drives individual opinions to converge more obviously. Unlike previous epidemic models, the number of infected agents does not always increase with the update rate, but has a peak with an intermediate value of the rate.

Method for Atypical Opinion Extraction from Ungrammatical Answers in Open-ended Questions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiramatsu, Ayako; Tamura, Shingo; Oiso, Hiroaki; Komoda, Norihisa

This paper presents a method for atypical opinion extraction from ungrammatical answers to open-ended questions supplied through cellular phones. The proposed system excludes typical opinions and extracts only atypical opinions. To cope with incomplete syntax of texts due to the input by cellular phones, the system treats the opinions as the sets of keywords. The combinations of words are established beforehand in a typical word database. Based on the ratio of typical word combinations in sentences of an opinion, the system classifies the opinion typical or atypical. When typical word combinations are sought in an opinion, the system considers the word order and the distance of difference between the positions of words to exclude unnecessary combinations. Furthermore, when an opinion includes meanings the system divides the opinion into phrases at each typical word combination. By applying questionnaire data supplied by users of a mobile game content when they cancel their account, the extraction accuracy of the proposed system was confirmed.

ETI, SETI and today's public opinion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinotti, Roberto

During the last three decades the general public's initial opinions about ETI and SETI changed, turning ignorance, fear and superficiality into a gradual understanding of the importance of these concepts. After a brief analysis of this changing psycho-sociological attitude, the paper provides an "estimate of the situation" about general interest for ETI and SETI, suggesting a growing awareness in today's public opinion. Science fiction movies like Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and popular interest in UFOs as visitors from outer space played a major role in the average man's acceptance of the reality of extra-terrestrial life and its meaning for mankind.

Political opinion formation: Initial opinion distribution and individual heterogeneity of tolerance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Cheng; Li, Yifu; Jin, Xiaogang

2017-02-01

Opinion dynamics on networks have received serious attention for its profound prospects in social behaviours and self-organized systems. However, political opinion formation, as one typical and significant case, remains lacking in discussion. Previous agent-based simulations propose various models that are based on different mechanisms like the coevolution between network topology and status transition. Nonetheless, even under the same network topology and with the same simple mechanism, forming opinions can still be uncertain. In this work, we propose two features, the initial distribution of opinions and the individual heterogeneity of tolerances on opinion changing, in political opinion formation. These two features are imbedded in the network construction phase of a classical model. By comparing multi simple-party systems, along with a detailed analysis on the two-party system, we capture the critical phenomenon of fragmentation, polarization and consensus both in the persistent stable stage and in-process. We further introduce the average ratio of nearest neighbours to characterize the stage of opinion formation. The results show that the initial distribution of opinions leads to different evolution results on similar random networks. In addition, the existence of stubborn nodes plays a special role: only nodes that are extremely stubborn can cause the change of final opinion distribution while in other cases they only delay the time to reach stability. If stubborn nodes are small in number, their effects are confined within a small range. This theoretical work goes deeper on an existing model, it is an early exploration on qualitative and quantitative simulation of party competition.

Leader's opinion priority bounded confidence model for network opinion evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Meixia; Xie, Guangqiang

2017-08-01

Aiming at the weight of trust someone given to participate in the interaction in Hegselmann-Krause's type consensus model is the same and virtual social networks among individuals with different level of education, personal influence, etc. For differences between agents, a novelty bounded confidence model was proposed with leader's opinion considered priority. Interaction neighbors can be divided into two kinds. The first kind is made up of "opinion leaders" group, another kind is made up of ordinary people. For different groups to give different weights of trust. We also analyzed the related characteristics of the new model under the symmetrical bounded confidence parameters and combined with the classical HK model were analyzed. Simulation experiment results show that no matter the network size and initial view is subject to uniform distribution or discrete distribution. We can control the "opinion-leader" good change the number of views and values, and even improve the convergence speed. Experiment also found that the choice of "opinion leaders" is not the more the better, the model well explain how the "opinion leader" in the process of the evolution of the public opinion play the role of the leader.

Defining Sustainable Universities Following Public Opinion Formation Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zaptcioglu Celikdemir, Deniz; Gunay, Gonca; Katrinli, Alev; Penbek Alpbaz, Sebnem

2017-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to define the sustainable university in Turkey, by considering perspectives of various stakeholders such as experts, intellectual, public, political parties and media using public opinion formation analysis. The paper aims to re-define the "sustainable university" with all dimensions including…

Bibliography of Technical Publications, Papers, and List of Patents, October 1985-September 1986

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-11-01

NOTICE For classified documents, follow the procedures in DoD 5200.1-R, Chapter IX or DoD 5220.22-M, " Industrial Security Manual," paragraph 19. For... Industries , Inc. Contract No. DAAK60-83-C-0040. NATICK/TR-85/064L, September 1985 (AD B107 724L). •_ CHEMCAS Volume II: User’s Manual. AMAF Industries ...the food industry . National Food Processors Association Meeting, Washington, DC, May 14, 1986. ... rib FOOD ENGINEERING DIRECTORATE Technical Papers

The spreading of opposite opinions on online social networks with authoritative nodes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Shu; Tang, Shaoting; Pei, Sen; Jiang, Shijin; Zhang, Xiao; Ding, Wenrui; Zheng, Zhiming

2013-09-01

The study of opinion dynamics, such as spreading and controlling of rumors, has become an important issue on social networks. Numerous models have been devised to describe this process, including epidemic models and spin models, which mainly focus on how opinions spread and interact with each other, respectively. In this paper, we propose a model that combines the spreading stage and the interaction stage for opinions to illustrate the process of dispelling a rumor. Moreover, we set up authoritative nodes, which disseminate positive opinion to counterbalance the negative opinion prevailing on online social networking sites. With analysis of the relationship among positive opinion proportion, opinion strength and the density of authoritative nodes in networks with different topologies, we demonstrate that the positive opinion proportion grows with the density of authoritative nodes until the positive opinion prevails in the entire network. In particular, the relationship is linear in homogeneous topologies. Besides, it is also noteworthy that initial locations of the negative opinion source and authoritative nodes do not influence positive opinion proportion in homogeneous networks but have a significant impact on heterogeneous networks. The results are verified by numerical simulations and are helpful to understand the mechanism of two different opinions interacting with each other on online social networking sites.

State Leadership for Career Technical Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kister, Joanna

This document is comprised of two main parts: (1) Role and Nature of State Leadership; and (2) Developing Leaders. Issues related to state leadership for career and technical education (CTE) were studied. CTE-related research, policy, and practice were reviewed. State directors of CTE were surveyed, and 39 individuals considered opinion leaders in…

PISA for Development Technical Strand A: Enhancement of PISA Cognitive Instruments. OECD Education Working Papers, No. 126

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Adams, Ray; Cresswell, John

2016-01-01

The OECD is planning to enhance existing PISA assessment instruments in reading, mathematics and science so that they will be more suitable to the context of developing countries. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the main technical issues associated with this aim. The paper reports detailed analysis of the existing PISA item pool and…

An opinion formation based binary optimization approach for feature selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamedmoghadam, Homayoun; Jalili, Mahdi; Yu, Xinghuo

2018-02-01

This paper proposed a novel optimization method based on opinion formation in complex network systems. The proposed optimization technique mimics human-human interaction mechanism based on a mathematical model derived from social sciences. Our method encodes a subset of selected features to the opinion of an artificial agent and simulates the opinion formation process among a population of agents to solve the feature selection problem. The agents interact using an underlying interaction network structure and get into consensus in their opinions, while finding better solutions to the problem. A number of mechanisms are employed to avoid getting trapped in local minima. We compare the performance of the proposed method with a number of classical population-based optimization methods and a state-of-the-art opinion formation based method. Our experiments on a number of high dimensional datasets reveal outperformance of the proposed algorithm over others.

Survival of extreme opinions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hsu, Jiann-wien; Huang, Ding-wei

2009-12-01

We study the survival of extreme opinions in various processes of consensus formation. All the opinions are treated equally and subjected to the same rules of changing. We investigate three typical models to reach a consensus in each case: (A) personal influence, (B) influence from surroundings, and (C) influence to surroundings. Starting with uniformly distributed random opinions, our calculated results show that the extreme opinions can survive in both models (A) and (B), but not in model (C). We obtain a conclusion that both personal influence and passive adaptation to the environment are not sufficient enough to eradicate all the extreme opinions. Only the active persuasion to change the surroundings eliminates the extreme opinions completely.

The technical communication practices of Russian and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Keene, Michael L.; Flammia, Madelyn; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, two studies were conducted that investigated the technical communication practices of Russian and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. Both studies had the same five objectives: first, to solicit the opinions of aerospace engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communication to their professions; second, to determine the use and production of technical communication by aerospace engineers and scientists; third, to seek their views about the appropriate content of the undergraduate course in technical communication; fourth, to determine aerospace engineers' and scientists' use of libraries, technical information centers, and on-line databases; and fifth, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. A self administered questionnaire was distributed to Russian aerospace engineers and scientists at the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) and to their U.S. counterparts at the NASA Ames Research Center and the NASA Langley Research Center. The completion rates for the Russian and U.S. surveys were 64 and 61 percent, respectively. Responses of the Russian and U.S. participants to selected questions are presented in this paper.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 65: Survey of Reader Preferences Concerning the Format of NASA Langley-Authored Technical Reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.

1997-01-01

The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development (R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded R&D. Little is also known about the intermediary-based system that is used to transfer the results of federally funded R&D to the U.S. aerospace industry. To help establish a body of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this article, we summarize the literature on the U.S. government technical report and present the results of a survey of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that solicited their opinions concerning the format of NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC)-authored technical reports. To learn more about the preferences of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the format of NASA LaRC-authored technical reports, we surveyed 133 report producers (i.e., authors) and 137 report users in March-April 1996. Questions covered such topics as: (a) the order in which report components are read; (b) components used to determine if a report would be read; (c) those components that could be deleted; (d) the placement of such components as the symbols list; (e) the desirability of a table of contents; (f) the format of reference citations; (g) column layout and right margin treatment; and (h) writing style in terms of person and voice. Mail (self-reported) surveys were used to collect the data. The response rates for report producers (i.e., authors) was 68% and for users was 62%.

The Distribution of Climate Change Public Opinion in Canada.

PubMed

Mildenberger, Matto; Howe, Peter; Lachapelle, Erick; Stokes, Leah; Marlon, Jennifer; Gravelle, Timothy

2016-01-01

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change's causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels.

The Distribution of Climate Change Public Opinion in Canada

PubMed Central

Gravelle, Timothy

2016-01-01

While climate scientists have developed high resolution data sets on the distribution of climate risks, we still lack comparable data on the local distribution of public climate change opinions. This paper provides the first effort to estimate local climate and energy opinion variability outside the United States. Using a multi-level regression and post-stratification (MRP) approach, we estimate opinion in federal electoral districts and provinces. We demonstrate that a majority of the Canadian public consistently believes that climate change is happening. Belief in climate change’s causes varies geographically, with more people attributing it to human activity in urban as opposed to rural areas. Most prominently, we find majority support for carbon cap and trade policy in every province and district. By contrast, support for carbon taxation is more heterogeneous. Compared to the distribution of US climate opinions, Canadians believe climate change is happening at higher levels. This new opinion data set will support climate policy analysis and climate policy decision making at national, provincial and local levels. PMID:27486659

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 46: Technical communications in aerospace: A comparison across four countries

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kennedy, John M.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Hecht, Laura Frye; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1995-01-01

In this paper we describe the preliminary analysis of four groups of aerospace engineering and science students -- student members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and students from universities in Japan, Russia, and Great Britain. We compare: (1) the demographic characteristics of the students; (2) factors that affected their career decision; (3) their career goals and aspirations; (4) their training in technical communication; and (5) their training in techniques for finding and using aerospace scientific and technical information (STI). Many employers in the US aerospace industry think there is a need for increased training of engineering students in technical communication. Engineers in the US and other countries believe that technical communication skills are critical for engineers' professional success. All students in our study agree about the importance of technical communication training for professional success, yet relatively few are happy with the instruction they receive. Overall, we conclude that additional instruction in technical communication and accessing STI would make it easier for students to achieve their career goals.

Opinion Formation by Social Influence: From Experiments to Modeling

PubMed Central

Chacoma, Andrés; Zanette, Damián H.

2015-01-01

Predicting different forms of collective behavior in human populations, as the outcome of individual attitudes and their mutual influence, is a question of major interest in social sciences. In particular, processes of opinion formation have been theoretically modeled on the basis of a formal similarity with the dynamics of certain physical systems, giving rise to an extensive collection of mathematical models amenable to numerical simulation or even to exact solution. Empirical ground for these models is however largely missing, which confine them to the level of mere metaphors of the real phenomena they aim at explaining. In this paper we present results of an experiment which quantifies the change in the opinions given by a subject on a set of specific matters under the influence of others. The setup is a variant of a recently proposed experiment, where the subject’s confidence on his or her opinion was evaluated as well. In our realization, which records the quantitative answers of 85 subjects to 20 questions before and after an influence event, the focus is put on characterizing the change in answers and confidence induced by such influence. Similarities and differences with the previous version of the experiment are highlighted. We find that confidence changes are to a large extent independent of any other recorded quantity, while opinion changes are strongly modulated by the original confidence. On the other hand, opinion changes are not influenced by the initial difference with the reference opinion. The typical time scales on which opinion varies are moreover substantially longer than those of confidence change. Experimental results are then used to estimate parameters for a dynamical agent-based model of opinion formation in a large population. In the context of the model, we study the convergence to full consensus and the effect of opinion leaders on the collective distribution of opinions. PMID:26517825

The Financing of Graduate and Professional Education in Minnesota with Coordinating Board Recommendations. Staff Technical Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Minnesota Higher Education Coordinating Board, St. Paul.

This report provides the technical documentation and detail supporting the policy paper of the same title. The study reported here examined the relationship between various state financing policies for postsecondary education to graduate and professional education in Minnesota. Following an overview of the Coordinating Board recommendations,…

75 FR 71526 - Corporate Credit Unions, Technical Corrections

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-24

... NATIONAL CREDIT UNION ADMINISTRATION 12 CFR Part 704 RIN 3133-AD58 Corporate Credit Unions... request for comments. SUMMARY: NCUA is issuing technical corrections to its corporate credit union rule... for submitting comments. NCUA Web site: http://www.ncua.gov/Resources/RegulationsOpinionsLaws/Proposed...

A System for Teaching College Freshmen to Write a Research Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marshall, Colleen

Students in college composition courses often have great difficulty learning to write research papers. They can learn to write better research papers through a series of steps: learning to read for the main point, writing opinion papers on topics that are personally meaningful to them, preparing lists of questions implicit in the opinion papers in…

Opinion dynamics in activity-driven networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Dandan; Han, Dun; Ma, Jing; Sun, Mei; Tian, Lixin; Khouw, Timothy; Stanley, H. Eugene

2017-10-01

Social interaction between individuals constantly affects the development of their personal opinions. Previous models such as the Deffuant model and the Hegselmann-Krause (HK) model have assumed that individuals only update their opinions after interacting with neighbors whose opinions are similar to their own. However, people are capable of communicating widely with all of their neighbors to gather their ideas and opinions, even if they encounter a number of opposing attitudes. We propose a model in which agents listen to the opinions of all their neighbors. Continuous opinion dynamics are investigated in activity-driven networks with a tolerance threshold. We study how the initial opinion distribution, tolerance threshold, opinion-updating speed, and activity rate affect the evolution of opinion. We find that when the initial fraction of positive opinion is small, all opinions become negative by the end of the simulation. As the initial fraction of positive opinions rises above a certain value —about 0.45— the final fraction of positive opinions sharply increases and eventually equals 1. Increased tolerance threshold δ is found to lead to a more varied final opinion distribution. We also find that if the negative opinion has an initial advantage, the final fraction of negative opinion increases and reaches its peak as the updating speed λ approaches 0.5. Finally we show that the lower the activity rate of individuals, the greater the fluctuation range of their opinions.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 40: Technical communications in aerospace education: A study of AIAA student members

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kennedy, John M.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1994-01-01

This paper describes the preliminary analysis of a survey of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) student members. In the paper we examine (1) the demographic characteristics of the students, (2) factors that affected their career decisions, (3) their career goals and aspirations, and (4) their training in technical communication and techniques for finding and using aerospace scientific and technical information (STI). We determine that aerospace engineering students receive training in technical communication skills and the use of STI. While those in the aerospace industry think that more training is needed, we believe the students receive the appropriate amount of training. We think that the differences between the amount of training students receive and the perception of training needs is related partially to the characteristics of the students and partially to the structure of the aerospace STI dissemination system. Overall, we conclude that the students' technical communication training and knowledge of STI, while limited by external forces, makes it difficult for students to achieve their career goals.

Cross-correlation patterns in social opinion formation with sequential data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakrabarti, Anindya S.

2016-11-01

Recent research on large-scale internet data suggests existence of patterns in the collective behavior of billions of people even though each of them may pursue own activities. In this paper, we interpret online rating activity as a process of forming social opinion about individual items, where people sequentially choose a rating based on the current information set comprising all previous ratings and own preferences. We construct an opinion index from the sequence of ratings and we show that (1) movie-specific opinion converges much slower than an independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) sequence of ratings, (2) rating sequence for individual movies shows lesser variation compared to an i.i.d. sequence of ratings, (3) the probability density function of the asymptotic opinions has more spread than that defined over opinion arising from i.i.d. sequence of ratings, (4) opinion sequences across movies are correlated with significantly higher and lower correlation compared to opinion constructed from i.i.d. sequence of ratings, creating a bimodal cross-correlation structure. By decomposing the temporal correlation structures from panel data of movie ratings, we show that the social effects are very prominent whereas group effects cannot be differentiated from those of surrogate data and individual effects are quite small. The former explains a large part of extreme positive or negative correlations between sequences of opinions. In general, this method can be applied to any rating data to extract social or group-specific effects in correlation structures. We conclude that in this particular case, social effects are important in opinion formation process.

Public Opinion as Collective Coorientation.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tipton, Leonard; And Others

To conceptualize public opinion as something other than "mere aggregation" of individual opinions requires systemic models that identify component parts of public opinion and their structural/functional relationships. Operationalization requires asking respondents not only their individual opinion, but also their perception of public…

Method of identification of patent trends based on descriptions of technical functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Korobkin, D. M.; Fomenkov, S. A.; Golovanchikov, A. B.

2018-05-01

The use of the global patent space to determine the scientific and technological priorities for the technical systems development (identifying patent trends) allows one to forecast the direction of the technical systems development and, accordingly, select patents of priority technical subjects as a source for updating the technical functions database and physical effects database. The authors propose an original method that uses as trend terms not individual unigrams or n-gram (usually for existing methods and systems), but structured descriptions of technical functions in the form “Subject-Action-Object” (SAO), which in the authors’ opinion are the basis of the invention.

EDUCATIONAL STABILITY IN AN UNSTABLE TECHNICAL SOCIETY.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

LESSINGER, LEON

CURRENT OPINION REGARDING THE ROLE OF THE HIGH SCHOOL IN PROFESSIONAL, TECHNICAL, AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION IS THAT CHANGES IN TECHNOLOGY MAKE IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR SCHOOLS TO DO ANY TRAINING OTHER THAN GENERAL EDUCATION, OR THAT YOUTH SHOULD BE TRAINED WITH ONLY IMMEDIATE SALEABLE SKILLS BECAUSE THEY WILL HAVE SEVERAL CAREERS BEFORE RETIRING AND WILL…

Opinion evolution influenced by informed agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Kangqi; Pedrycz, Witold

2016-11-01

Guiding public opinions toward a pre-set target by informed agents can be a strategy adopted in some practical applications. The informed agents are common agents who are employed or chosen to spread the pre-set opinion. In this work, we propose a social judgment based opinion (SJBO) dynamics model to explore the opinion evolution under the influence of informed agents. The SJBO model distinguishes between inner opinions and observable choices, and incorporates both the compromise between similar opinions and the repulsion between dissimilar opinions. Three choices (support, opposition, and remaining undecided) are considered in the SJBO model. Using the SJBO model, both the inner opinions and the observable choices can be tracked during the opinion evolution process. The simulation results indicate that if the exchanges of inner opinions among agents are not available, the effect of informed agents is mainly dependent on the characteristics of regular agents, including the assimilation threshold, decay threshold, and initial opinions. Increasing the assimilation threshold and decay threshold can improve the guiding effectiveness of informed agents. Moreover, if the initial opinions of regular agents are close to null, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion can be realized, indicating that, to maximize the influence of informed agents, the guidance should be started when regular agents have little knowledge about a subject under consideration. If the regular agents have had clear opinions, the full and unanimous consensus at the pre-set opinion cannot be achieved. However, the introduction of informed agents can make the majority of agents choose the pre-set opinion.

Nursing opinion leadership: a preliminary model derived from philosophic theories of rational belief.

PubMed

Anderson, Christine A; Whall, Ann L

2013-10-01

Opinion leaders are informal leaders who have the ability to influence others' decisions about adopting new products, practices or ideas. In the healthcare setting, the importance of translating new research evidence into practice has led to interest in understanding how opinion leaders could be used to speed this process. Despite continued interest, gaps in understanding opinion leadership remain. Agent-based models are computer models that have proven to be useful for representing dynamic and contextual phenomena such as opinion leadership. The purpose of this paper is to describe the work conducted in preparation for the development of an agent-based model of nursing opinion leadership. The aim of this phase of the model development project was to clarify basic assumptions about opinions, the individual attributes of opinion leaders and characteristics of the context in which they are effective. The process used to clarify these assumptions was the construction of a preliminary nursing opinion leader model, derived from philosophical theories about belief formation. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Opinions of researchers based in the UK on recruiting subjects from developing countries into randomized controlled trials.

PubMed

Newton, Sam K; Appiah-Poku, John

2007-12-01

Explaining technical terms in consent forms prior to seeking informed consent to recruit into trials can be challenging in developing countries, and more so when the studies are randomized controlled trials. This study was carried out to examine the opinions of researchers on ways of dealing with these challenges in developing countries. Recorded in-depth interviews with 12 lecturers and five doctoral students, who had carried out research in developing countries, at a leading school of public health in the United Kingdom. A purposive, snowballing approach was used to identify interviewees. Researchers were divided on the feasibility of explaining technical trials in illiterate populations; the majority of them held the view that local analogies could be used to explain these technical terms. Others were of the opinion that this could not be done since it was too difficult to explain technical trials, such as randomized controlled trials, even to people in developed countries. Researchers acknowledged the difficulty in explaining randomized controlled trials but it was also their perception that this was an important part of the ethics of the work of scientific research involving human subjects. These difficulties notwithstanding, efforts should be made to ensure that subjects have sufficient understanding to consent, taking into account the fact that peculiar situations in developing countries might compound this difficulty.

Opinion Integration and Summarization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lu, Yue

2011-01-01

As Web 2.0 applications become increasingly popular, more and more people express their opinions on the Web in various ways in real time. Such wide coverage of topics and abundance of users make the Web an extremely valuable source for mining people's opinions about all kinds of topics. However, since the opinions are usually expressed as…

[Second opinion clinic: is the Web Babel Syndrome treatable?].

PubMed

Palmieri, B; Iannitti, T; Capone, S; Fistetto, G; Arisi, E

2011-01-01

The term "second opinion" has been widely used, since the 70's in the American hospitals with the aim of reducing the skyrocketing costs of the patients' healthcare, improving their diagnosis, the patient's care and his healing process at the same time. In this paper, after a short review of the "second opinion" impact on different medical fields, we give the reasons why, nowadays, patients are strongly addressed towards a second opinion seeking behaviour. In fact, due to the spreading of the world wide web, the patient can obtain any kind of medical information, even if it is an unqualified one. This fact leads the patient to carry out an obsessive search that can result in confusion and disorientation. We have defined this psychological distress the "Web Babel Syndrome". Building upon these foundations, we strongly support a "second opinion medical clinic" that can face the patient's needs and help those patients with impending single or multiple unresolved illnesses. They need a multispecialty diagnostic or therapeutic medical or surgical approach in order to heal properly or achieve a better quality of life.

Globalization: In Terms of Teachers' Opinion and Metaphorical Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Çayak, Semih; Eskici, Menekse

2018-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to investigate teachers' opinion and metaphorical perceptions about globalization. In this paper, phenomenology one of the qualitative research type was used. 61 teachers' metaphorical perceptions about globalization were collected and interviewed with 12 teachers about globalization in education. Teachers'…

Presenting Papers at ABCA Conferences: Opinions and Recommendations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mier, Denise; Myers, Robert

1981-01-01

Offers guidelines for preparing and presenting papers at American Business Communication Association (ABCA) conferences. Topics covered include: (1) types of delivery, (2) extemporaneous speaking, and (3) manuscript speaking. (FL)

What Satisfies Students? Mining Student-Opinion Data with Regression and Decision-Tree Analysis. AIR 2002 Forum Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Emily H.; Galambos, Nora

To investigate how students' characteristics and experiences affect satisfaction, this study used regression and decision-tree analysis with the CHAID algorithm to analyze student opinion data from a sample of 1,783 college students. A data-mining approach identifies the specific aspects of students' university experience that most influence three…

An Old Chestnut Revisited: Teachers' Opinions and Attitudes toward Grading within a Competency Based Training Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Richards, James

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to explore teachers' opinions with regard to the value and process of grading within a competency based training (CBT) framework, following the introduction of a formalised grading system at a specialist Technical and Further Education centre for hospitality and tourism training The data were gathered using a 16-item…

Opinion Building on a Socio-Scientific Issue: The Case of Genetically Modified Plants

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ekborg, Margareta

2008-01-01

This paper presents results from a study with the following research questions: (a) are pupils' opinions on genetically modified organisms (GMOs) influenced by biology teaching; and (b) what is important for the opinion pupils hold and how does knowledge work together with other parameters such as values? 64 pupils in an upper secondary school…

Expert opinion vs. empirical evidence

PubMed Central

Herman, Rod A; Raybould, Alan

2014-01-01

Expert opinion is often sought by government regulatory agencies when there is insufficient empirical evidence to judge the safety implications of a course of action. However, it can be reckless to continue following expert opinion when a preponderance of evidence is amassed that conflicts with this opinion. Factual evidence should always trump opinion in prioritizing the information that is used to guide regulatory policy. Evidence-based medicine has seen a dramatic upturn in recent years spurred by examples where evidence indicated that certain treatments recommended by expert opinions increased death rates. We suggest that scientific evidence should also take priority over expert opinion in the regulation of genetically modified crops (GM). Examples of regulatory data requirements that are not justified based on the mass of evidence are described, and it is suggested that expertise in risk assessment should guide evidence-based regulation of GM crops. PMID:24637724

Emergence of Opinion Leaders Based on Agent Model and Its Impact to Stock Prices

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Misawa, Tadanobu; Suzuki, Kyoko; Okano, Yoshitaka; Shimokawa, Tetsuya

Recently, we can be able to get a lot of information easily because information technology has been developed. Therefore, it is thought that the impact to a society by communication of information such as word of mouth has been growing. In this paper, we propose a model of emergence of opinion leader based on word of mouth in artificial stock market. Moreover, the process of emergence of opinion leader and impact to stock prices by opinion leader are verified by simulation.

Technological Innovation and Technical Communications: Their Place in Aerospace Engineering Curricula. A Survey of European, Japanese and US Aerospace Engineers and Scientists.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pinelli, Thomas E.; And Others

1991-01-01

Reports on results from 260 aerospace engineers and scientists in United States, Europe, and Japan regarding their opinions about professional importance of technical communications; generation and utilization of technical communications; and relevant content of an undergraduate course in technical communications. The fields of cryogenics,…

A teledentistry system for the second opinion.

PubMed

Gambino, Orazio; Lima, Fausto; Pirrone, Roberto; Ardizzone, Edoardo; Campisi, Giuseppina; di Fede, Olga

2014-01-01

In this paper we present a Teledentistry system aimed to the Second Opinion task. It make use of a particular camera called intra-oral camera, also called dental camera, in order to perform the photo shooting and real-time video of the inner part of the mouth. The pictures acquired by the Operator with such a device are sent to the Oral Medicine Expert (OME) by means of a current File Transfer Protocol (FTP) service and the real-time video is channeled into a video streaming thanks to the VideoLan client/server (VLC) application. It is composed by a HTML5 web-pages generated by PHP and allows to perform the Second Opinion both when Operator and OME are logged and when one of them is offline.

Competing opinion diffusion on social networks.

PubMed

Hu, Haibo

2017-11-01

Opinion competition is a common phenomenon in real life, such as with opinions on controversial issues or political candidates; however, modelling this competition remains largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, we propose a model of competing opinion diffusion on social networks taking into account degree-dependent fitness or persuasiveness. We study the combined influence of social networks, individual fitnesses and attributes, as well as mass media on people's opinions, and find that both social networks and mass media act as amplifiers in opinion diffusion, the amplifying effect of which can be quantitatively characterized. We analytically obtain the probability that each opinion will ultimately pervade the whole society when there are no committed people in networks, and the final proportion of each opinion at the steady state when there are committed people in networks. The results of numerical simulations show good agreement with those obtained through an analytical approach. This study provides insight into the collective influence of individual attributes, local social networks and global media on opinion diffusion, and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of competing diffusion behaviours in the real world.

Opinion competition dynamics on multiplex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amato, R.; Kouvaris, N. E.; San Miguel, M.; Díaz-Guilera, A.

2017-12-01

Multilayer and multiplex networks represent a good proxy for the description of social phenomena where social structure is important and can have different origins. Here, we propose a model of opinion competition where individuals are organized according to two different structures in two layers. Agents exchange opinions according to the Abrams-Strogatz model in each layer separately and opinions can be copied across layers by the same individual. In each layer a different opinion is dominant, so each layer has a different absorbing state. Consensus in one opinion is not the only possible stable solution because of the interaction between the two layers. A new mean field solution has been found where both opinions coexist. In a finite system there is a long transient time for the dynamical coexistence of both opinions. However, the system ends in a consensus state due to finite size effects. We analyze sparse topologies in the two layers and the existence of positive correlations between them, which enables the coexistence of inter-layer groups of agents sharing the same opinion.

Non-consensus Opinion Models on Complex Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qian; Braunstein, Lidia A.; Wang, Huijuan; Shao, Jia; Stanley, H. Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo

2013-04-01

Social dynamic opinion models have been widely studied to understand how interactions among individuals cause opinions to evolve. Most opinion models that utilize spin interaction models usually produce a consensus steady state in which only one opinion exists. Because in reality different opinions usually coexist, we focus on non-consensus opinion models in which above a certain threshold two opinions coexist in a stable relationship. We revisit and extend the non-consensus opinion (NCO) model introduced by Shao et al. (Phys. Rev. Lett. 103:01870, 2009). The NCO model in random networks displays a second order phase transition that belongs to regular mean field percolation and is characterized by the appearance (above a certain threshold) of a large spanning cluster of the minority opinion. We generalize the NCO model by adding a weight factor W to each individual's original opinion when determining their future opinion (NCO W model). We find that as W increases the minority opinion holders tend to form stable clusters with a smaller initial minority fraction than in the NCO model. We also revisit another non-consensus opinion model based on the NCO model, the inflexible contrarian opinion (ICO) model (Li et al. in Phys. Rev. E 84:066101, 2011), which introduces inflexible contrarians to model the competition between two opinions in a steady state. Inflexible contrarians are individuals that never change their original opinion but may influence the opinions of others. To place the inflexible contrarians in the ICO model we use two different strategies, random placement and one in which high-degree nodes are targeted. The inflexible contrarians effectively decrease the size of the largest rival-opinion cluster in both strategies, but the effect is more pronounced under the targeted method. All of the above models have previously been explored in terms of a single network, but human communities are usually interconnected, not isolated. Because opinions propagate not

Dynamics of Opinion Forming in Structurally Balanced Social Networks

PubMed Central

Altafini, Claudio

2012-01-01

A structurally balanced social network is a social community that splits into two antagonistic factions (typical example being a two-party political system). The process of opinion forming on such a community is most often highly predictable, with polarized opinions reflecting the bipartition of the network. The aim of this paper is to suggest a class of dynamical systems, called monotone systems, as natural models for the dynamics of opinion forming on structurally balanced social networks. The high predictability of the outcome of a decision process is explained in terms of the order-preserving character of the solutions of this class of dynamical systems. If we represent a social network as a signed graph in which individuals are the nodes and the signs of the edges represent friendly or hostile relationships, then the property of structural balance corresponds to the social community being splittable into two antagonistic factions, each containing only friends. PMID:22761667

Designing the Holographic Whole Language Program. Opinion Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fluellen, Jerry

A paper describes how David Bohm's holographic world view can be used to design a whole language program. Characterized by interconnectedness and multidimensionality, Bohm's holographic paradigm joins Eastern and Western belief systems in an old fashion pursuit of wisdom, on the one hand, and a new fashion pursuit of solutions to nonlinear…

Competing opinion diffusion on social networks

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Opinion competition is a common phenomenon in real life, such as with opinions on controversial issues or political candidates; however, modelling this competition remains largely unexplored. To bridge this gap, we propose a model of competing opinion diffusion on social networks taking into account degree-dependent fitness or persuasiveness. We study the combined influence of social networks, individual fitnesses and attributes, as well as mass media on people’s opinions, and find that both social networks and mass media act as amplifiers in opinion diffusion, the amplifying effect of which can be quantitatively characterized. We analytically obtain the probability that each opinion will ultimately pervade the whole society when there are no committed people in networks, and the final proportion of each opinion at the steady state when there are committed people in networks. The results of numerical simulations show good agreement with those obtained through an analytical approach. This study provides insight into the collective influence of individual attributes, local social networks and global media on opinion diffusion, and contributes to a comprehensive understanding of competing diffusion behaviours in the real world. PMID:29291101

The function of report components in the screening and reading of technical reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, T. E.; Cordle, V. M.; Vondran, R. F.

1984-01-01

A reader preference survey of engineers and scientists at the NASA Langley Research Center and in three professional/technical societies was conducted to determine the opinions of report users and producers concerning the format (organization) of NASA technical reports and the usage of technical report components. The survey questionnaire contained fourteen questions covering twelve survey topics. This article reports the findings of two survey topics: the components initially reviewed or read to determine whether to read a report in its entirety and the order in which report components are read.

Chaotic Modes in Scale Free Opinion Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusmartsev, Feo V.; Kürten, Karl E.

In this paper, we investigate processes associated with formation of public opinion in varies directed random, scale free and small-world social networks. The important factor of the opinion formation is the existence of contrarians which were discovered by Granovetter in various social psychology experiments1,2,3 long ago and later introduced in sociophysics by Galam.4 When the density of contrarians increases the system behavior drastically changes at some critical value. At high density of contrarians the system can never arrive to a consensus state and periodically oscillates with different periods depending on specific structure of the network. At small density of the contrarians the behavior is manifold. It depends primary on the initial state of the system. If initially the majority of the population agrees with each other a state of stable majority may be easily reached. However when originally the population is divided in nearly equal parts consensus can never be reached. We model the emergence of collective decision making by considering N interacting agents, whose opinions are described by two state Ising spin variable associated with YES and NO. We show that the dynamical behaviors are very sensitive not only to the density of the contrarians but also to the network topology. We find that a phase of social chaos may arise in various dynamical processes of opinion formation in many realistic models. We compare the prediction of the theory with data describing the dynamics of the average opinion of the USA population collected on a day-by-day basis by varies media sources during the last six month before the final Obama-McCain election. The qualitative ouctome is in reasonable agreement with the prediction of our theory. In fact, the analyses of these data made within the paradigm of our theory indicates that even in this campaign there were chaotic elements where the public opinion migrated in an unpredictable chaotic way. The existence of such a phase

Chaotic Modes in Scale Free Opinion Networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kusmartsev, Feo V.; Kürten, Karl E.

2010-12-01

In this paper, we investigate processes associated with formation of public opinion in varies directed random, scale free and small-world social networks. The important factor of the opinion formation is the existence of contrarians which were discovered by Granovetter in various social psychology experiments1,2,3 long ago and later introduced in sociophysics by Galam.4 When the density of contrarians increases the system behavior drastically changes at some critical value. At high density of contrarians the system can never arrive to a consensus state and periodically oscillates with different periods depending on specific structure of the network. At small density of the contrarians the behavior is manifold. It depends primary on the initial state of the system. If initially the majority of the population agrees with each other a state of stable majority may be easily reached. However when originally the population is divided in nearly equal parts consensus can never be reached. We model the emergence of collective decision making by considering N interacting agents, whose opinions are described by two state Ising spin variable associated with YES and NO. We show that the dynamical behaviors are very sensitive not only to the density of the contrarians but also to the network topology. We find that a phase of social chaos may arise in various dynamical processes of opinion formation in many realistic models. We compare the prediction of the theory with data describing the dynamics of the average opinion of the USA population collected on a day-by-day basis by varies media sources during the last six month before the final Obama-McCain election. The qualitative ouctome is in reasonable agreement with the prediction of our theory. In fact, the analyses of these data made within the paradigm of our theory indicates that even in this campaign there were chaotic elements where the public opinion migrated in an unpredictable chaotic way. The existence of such a phase

Controllable uncertain opinion diffusion under confidence bound and unpredicted diffusion probability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, Fuhan; Li, Zhaofeng; Jiang, Yichuan

2016-05-01

The issues of modeling and analyzing diffusion in social networks have been extensively studied in the last few decades. Recently, many studies focus on uncertain diffusion process. The uncertainty of diffusion process means that the diffusion probability is unpredicted because of some complex factors. For instance, the variety of individuals' opinions is an important factor that can cause uncertainty of diffusion probability. In detail, the difference between opinions can influence the diffusion probability, and then the evolution of opinions will cause the uncertainty of diffusion probability. It is known that controlling the diffusion process is important in the context of viral marketing and political propaganda. However, previous methods are hardly feasible to control the uncertain diffusion process of individual opinion. In this paper, we present suitable strategy to control this diffusion process based on the approximate estimation of the uncertain factors. We formulate a model in which the diffusion probability is influenced by the distance between opinions, and briefly discuss the properties of the diffusion model. Then, we present an optimization problem at the background of voting to show how to control this uncertain diffusion process. In detail, it is assumed that each individual can choose one of the two candidates or abstention based on his/her opinion. Then, we present strategy to set suitable initiators and their opinions so that the advantage of one candidate will be maximized at the end of diffusion. The results show that traditional influence maximization algorithms are not applicable to this problem, and our algorithm can achieve expected performance.

Technical Subjects in Secondary Schools

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howard, A. E.

2008-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to examine technical education in various types of secondary schools, and suggests three levels of technical courses to be taught in secondary schools. Design/methodology/approach: The paper discusses the differences between technical schools and colleges, and vocational technical courses taught in "academic"…

Modelling opinion formation driven communities in social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iñiguez, Gerardo; Barrio, Rafael A.; Kertész, János; Kaski, Kimmo K.

2011-09-01

In a previous paper we proposed a model to study the dynamics of opinion formation in human societies by a co-evolution process involving two distinct time scales of fast transaction and slower network evolution dynamics. In the transaction dynamics we take into account short range interactions as discussions between individuals and long range interactions to describe the attitude to the overall mood of society. The latter is handled by a uniformly distributed parameter α, assigned randomly to each individual, as quenched personal bias. The network evolution dynamics is realised by rewiring the societal network due to state variable changes as a result of transaction dynamics. The main consequence of this complex dynamics is that communities emerge in the social network for a range of values in the ratio between time scales. In this paper we focus our attention on the attitude parameter α and its influence on the conformation of opinion and the size of the resulting communities. We present numerical studies and extract interesting features of the model that can be interpreted in terms of social behaviour.

Students' Opinions about Ubiquitous Delivery of Standardized English Exams

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Litzler Jerman, Mary Frances; Garcia Laborda, Jesus

2016-01-01

This paper discusses the results of a study conducted with 218 students in the final year of high school to determine their opinions about the feasibility of using a tablet PC for delivery of a standardized English language test. One such test could be the English paper of the exam given to students upon completion of the Baccalaureate program in…

Co-Evolution of Opinion and Strategy in Persuasion Dynamics:. AN Evolutionary Game Theoretical Approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ding, Fei; Liu, Yun; Li, Yong

In this paper, a new model of opinion formation within the framework of evolutionary game theory is presented. The model simulates strategic situations when people are in opinion discussion. Heterogeneous agents adjust their behaviors to the environment during discussions, and their interacting strategies evolve together with opinions. In the proposed game, we take into account payoff discount to join a discussion, and the situation that people might drop out of an unpromising game. Analytical and emulational results show that evolution of opinion and strategy always tend to converge, with utility threshold, memory length, and decision uncertainty parameters influencing the convergence time. The model displays different dynamical regimes when we set differently the rule when people are at a loss in strategy.

Dynamics of public opinion under the influence of epidemic spreading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Junhui; Ni, Shunjiang; Shen, Shifei

2016-02-01

In this paper, we propose a novel model with dynamically adjusted confidence level of others to investigate the propagation of public opinion on whether to buy chicken in the case of avian influenza infection in humans. We study how people adjust their confidence level in other people’s opinions according to their perceived infection risk and how the opinion evolution and epidemic spreading affect each other on different complex networks by taking into account the spreading feature of avian influenza, that is, only people who buy chicken are possible to be infected. The simulation results show that in a closed system, people who support buying chicken and people who are infected can achieve a dynamic balance after a few time-steps, and the final stable state is mainly dependent on the level of people’s risk perception, rather than the initial distribution of the different opinions. Our results imply that in the course of the epidemic spread, transparent and timely announcement of the number of infections and the risk of infection can help people take the right self-protection actions, and thus help control the spread of avian influenza.

A survey of student opinions on ethical design standards in Taiwan.

PubMed

Lee, Yingying; You, Manlai; Yang, Ming-Ying

2015-04-01

Design ethics has been offered as a course in undergraduate design programs in Taiwan for over a decade, but research on teaching design ethics and the results of teaching these courses is scant. We conducted two tests to examine (1) the effect of an ethics course, and (2) the differences among the effects of design department, gender, and study year on student opinions regarding ethical design standards (EDSs) at the National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (YunTech) in Taiwan. The participants comprised 934 undergraduates (660 women and 274 men) from the five design departments at YunTech's College of Design from Years 1-4. The results confirmed the effect of an ethics course on student EDS opinions. In addition, we observed significant variations among students according to design departments, suggesting that the characteristics of the design departments also affected students' EDS opinions. The results indicated that gender did not significantly affect design students' EDS opinions; however, students in their early years of study produced higher scores than those in their advanced years of study did, based on the six EDS opinions. The implications of these results for teaching design ethics and future research are discussed in this paper.

The Development of Technical Services Training. Historical Paper 3

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunkin, Paul S.

2015-01-01

In this article the author discusses the evolution of the profession of librarianship and the compromise of educating librarians in schools instead of by apprenticeship. He poses a series of questions, some more rhetorical than others: (1) Is Technical Services an intellectual concept or an administrative device?; (2) Can the routines and rules of…

5 CFR 2638.313 - Agency opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

....313 Administrative Personnel OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS GOVERNMENT ETHICS OFFICE OF GOVERNMENT ETHICS AND EXECUTIVE AGENCY ETHICS PROGRAM RESPONSIBILITIES Formal Advisory Opinion Service § 2638.313 Agency opinions. If the designated agency ethics official issues a written opinion concerning the application of...

Expanding Access to Vocational-Technical Education in Massachusetts. White Paper No. 136

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ardon, Ken; Fraser, Alison L.

2015-01-01

It is clear from assessment, graduation, and follow-up data that career-vocational technical education (CVTE), as it is practiced in Massachusetts, is a success. CVTE is becoming so popular that there are up to 5,000 more applicants for places in Massachusetts' vocational technical schools than there are openings, creating waiting lists. This…

Feature-opinion pair identification of product reviews in Chinese: a domain ontology modeling method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yin, Pei; Wang, Hongwei; Guo, Kaiqiang

2013-03-01

With the emergence of the new economy based on social media, a great amount of consumer feedback on particular products are conveyed through wide-spreading product online reviews, making opinion mining a growing interest for both academia and industry. According to the characteristic mode of expression in Chinese, this research proposes an ontology-based linguistic model to identify the basic appraisal expression in Chinese product reviews-"feature-opinion pair (FOP)." The product-oriented domain ontology is constructed automatically at first, then algorithms to identify FOP are designed by mapping product features and opinions to the conceptual space of the domain ontology, and finally comparative experiments are conducted to evaluate the model. Experimental results indicate that the performance of the proposed approach in this paper is efficient in obtaining a more accurate result compared to the state-of-art algorithms. Furthermore, through identifying and analyzing FOPs, the unstructured product reviews are converted into structured and machine-sensible expression, which provides valuable information for business application. This paper contributes to the related research in opinion mining by developing a solid foundation for further sentiment analysis at a fine-grained level and proposing a general way for automatic ontology construction.

Choice Shift in Opinion Network Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gabbay, Michael

Choice shift is a phenomenon associated with small group dynamics whereby group discussion causes group members to shift their opinions in a more extreme direction so that the mean post-discussion opinion exceeds the mean pre-discussion opinion. Also known as group polarization, choice shift is a robust experimental phenomenon and has been well-studied within social psychology. In opinion network models, shifts toward extremism are typically produced by the presence of stubborn agents at the extremes of the opinion axis, whose opinions are much more resistant to change than moderate agents. However, we present a model in which choice shift can arise without the assumption of stubborn agents; the model evolves member opinions and uncertainties using coupled nonlinear differential equations. In addition, we briefly describe the results of a recent experiment conducted involving online group discussion concerning the outcome of National Football League games are described. The model predictions concerning the effects of network structure, disagreement level, and team choice (favorite or underdog) are in accord with the experimental results. This research was funded by the Office of Naval Research and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Opinion Dynamics with Confirmation Bias

PubMed Central

Allahverdyan, Armen E.; Galstyan, Aram

2014-01-01

Background Confirmation bias is the tendency to acquire or evaluate new information in a way that is consistent with one's preexisting beliefs. It is omnipresent in psychology, economics, and even scientific practices. Prior theoretical research of this phenomenon has mainly focused on its economic implications possibly missing its potential connections with broader notions of cognitive science. Methodology/Principal Findings We formulate a (non-Bayesian) model for revising subjective probabilistic opinion of a confirmationally-biased agent in the light of a persuasive opinion. The revision rule ensures that the agent does not react to persuasion that is either far from his current opinion or coincides with it. We demonstrate that the model accounts for the basic phenomenology of the social judgment theory, and allows to study various phenomena such as cognitive dissonance and boomerang effect. The model also displays the order of presentation effect–when consecutively exposed to two opinions, the preference is given to the last opinion (recency) or the first opinion (primacy) –and relates recency to confirmation bias. Finally, we study the model in the case of repeated persuasion and analyze its convergence properties. Conclusions The standard Bayesian approach to probabilistic opinion revision is inadequate for describing the observed phenomenology of persuasion process. The simple non-Bayesian model proposed here does agree with this phenomenology and is capable of reproducing a spectrum of effects observed in psychology: primacy-recency phenomenon, boomerang effect and cognitive dissonance. We point out several limitations of the model that should motivate its future development. PMID:25007078

Social power and opinion formation in complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalili, Mahdi

2013-02-01

In this paper we investigate the effects of social power on the evolution of opinions in model networks as well as in a number of real social networks. A continuous opinion formation model is considered and the analysis is performed through numerical simulation. Social power is given to a proportion of agents selected either randomly or based on their degrees. As artificial network structures, we consider scale-free networks constructed through preferential attachment and Watts-Strogatz networks. Numerical simulations show that scale-free networks with degree-based social power on the hub nodes have an optimal case where the largest number of the nodes reaches a consensus. However, given power to a random selection of nodes could not improve consensus properties. Introducing social power in Watts-Strogatz networks could not significantly change the consensus profile.

Impacts of opinion leaders on social contagions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Quan-Hui; Lü, Feng-Mao; Zhang, Qian; Tang, Ming; Zhou, Tao

2018-05-01

Opinion leaders are ubiquitous in both online and offline social networks, but the impacts of opinion leaders on social behavior contagions are still not fully understood, especially by using a mathematical model. Here, we generalize the classical Watts threshold model and address the influences of the opinion leaders, where an individual adopts a new behavior if one of his/her opinion leaders adopts the behavior. First, we choose the opinion leaders randomly from all individuals in the network and find that the impacts of opinion leaders make other individuals adopt the behavior more easily. Specifically, the existence of opinion leaders reduces the lowest mean degree of the network required for the global behavior adoption and increases the highest mean degree of the network that the global behavior adoption can occur. Besides, the introduction of opinion leaders accelerates the behavior adoption but does not change the adoption order of individuals. The developed theoretical predictions agree with the simulation results. Second, we randomly choose the opinion leaders from the top h % of the highest degree individuals and find an optimal h % for the network with the lowest mean degree that the global behavior adoption can occur. Meanwhile, the influences of opinion leaders on accelerating the adoption of behaviors become less significant and can even be ignored when reducing the value of h % .

Opinion formation on social media: An empirical approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiong, Fei; Liu, Yun

2014-03-01

Opinion exchange models aim to describe the process of public opinion formation, seeking to uncover the intrinsic mechanism in social systems; however, the model results are seldom empirically justified using large-scale actual data. Online social media provide an abundance of data on opinion interaction, but the question of whether opinion models are suitable for characterizing opinion formation on social media still requires exploration. We collect a large amount of user interaction information from an actual social network, i.e., Twitter, and analyze the dynamic sentiments of users about different topics to investigate realistic opinion evolution. We find two nontrivial results from these data. First, public opinion often evolves to an ordered state in which one opinion predominates, but not to complete consensus. Second, agents are reluctant to change their opinions, and the distribution of the number of individual opinion changes follows a power law. Then, we suggest a model in which agents take external actions to express their internal opinions according to their activity. Conversely, individual actions can influence the activity and opinions of neighbors. The probability that an agent changes its opinion depends nonlinearly on the fraction of opponents who have taken an action. Simulation results show user action patterns and the evolution of public opinion in the model coincide with the empirical data. For different nonlinear parameters, the system may approach different regimes. A large decay in individual activity slows down the dynamics, but causes more ordering in the system.

Opinion Formation Models on a Gradient

PubMed Central

Gastner, Michael T.; Markou, Nikolitsa; Pruessner, Gunnar; Draief, Moez

2014-01-01

Statistical physicists have become interested in models of collective social behavior such as opinion formation, where individuals change their inherently preferred opinion if their friends disagree. Real preferences often depend on regional cultural differences, which we model here as a spatial gradient g in the initial opinion. The gradient does not only add reality to the model. It can also reveal that opinion clusters in two dimensions are typically in the standard (i.e., independent) percolation universality class, thus settling a recent controversy about a non-consensus model. However, using analytical and numerical tools, we also present a model where the width of the transition between opinions scales , not as in independent percolation, and the cluster size distribution is consistent with first-order percolation. PMID:25474528

Why Do the Growth Rates of Students, Enrollments and Hours Differ So Much between 2006 and 2007? Technical Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karmel, Tom; Mark, Kevin; Mlotkowski, Peter

2009-01-01

This technical paper examines some large and unusual movements for data in the 2007 VET (Vocational Education Training) Provider Collection by comparison with 2006. Changes in the patterns of courses undertaken explain most of the divergence between students, enrolments and hours. Appendices include: (1) Derivation of the decomposition; (2) Tables…

An algorithm of opinion leaders mining based on signed network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Linlin; Zheng, Mingchun; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Zhang, Fuming

2018-04-01

With the rapid development of mobile Internet, user gradually become the leader of social media, the abruptly rise of new media has changed the traditional information's dissemination pattern and regularity. There is new era significance of opinion leaders, gatekeepers in the classical theory of mass communication, and it has further expansion and extension to a certain extent. In the existing mining of opinion leaders, it is mainly from the research of network structure and user behavior without considering an important attribute: whether the user has a real impact. In this paper, we take the symbolic network as the research tool, by giving symbol which correspondingly represents support or oppose to the link about point of view relationship between users and combining traditional algorithms of mining with symbolism which can describe the change of view between users, we will get the opinion leader who has real impact on users, then the result is more accurate and effective.

Opinion Expression as a Rational Behavior.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kim, Sei-Hill

This study looks at individuals' opinion expressions as a rational behavior based on a conscious calculus of expected benefits and costs (economic analysis). The influences of "issue benefit,""opinion congruence," and "issue knowledge," as sources of benefits and costs on opinion expression were hypothesized and tested. The study also examined the…

Support Materials for the Software Technical Review Process

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-04-01

the Software Technical Review Process Softwar-e reviewing is a general term applied to techniques for the use of human hitellectual power to detect...more systematic than random. It utilizes data supplied by students, rather than relying solely on the subjective opinions of the instructor. The...The experience of other users is now essential.) "• Are the resulting grades accurate? (Thus far, they appear to correlate with student grades on

Opinion Paper: On the Diagnosis/Classification of Sexual Arousal Concerns in Women.

PubMed

Althof, Stanley E; Meston, Cindy M; Perelman, Michael A; Handy, Ariel B; Kilimnik, Chelsea D; Stanton, Amelia M

2017-11-01

, then one would expect to see evidence of low subjective arousal in women with low sexual desire. Optimized treatment efficacy requires differentiating mental and physical factors that contribute to female sexual dysfunction. Support for our conclusion is based on clinical qualitative evidence and quantitative evidence. However, the quantitative support is from only one laboratory at this time. These findings strongly support the view that female sexual arousal disorder includes a subjective arousal subtype and that subjective arousal and desire are related but not similar constructs. We advocate for the relevance of maintaining subjective arousal disorder in the diagnostic nomenclature and present several lines of evidence to support this contention. Althof SE, Meston CM, Perelman M, et al. Opinion Paper: On the Diagnosis/Classification of Sexual Arousal Concerns in Women. J Sex Med 2017;14:1365-1371. Copyright © 2017 International Society for Sexual Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Opinion Polls and the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977: A Critical Analysis.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Ted J., III; Hogan, J. Michael

Noting that 1977 public opinion polls concerning the new Panama Canal treaties were interpreted as showing increased support for the treaties, this paper contends that this interpretation was erroneous and that the major outcome of the extensive polling was misleading data. The paper is divided into three major analytical sections. The first…

[Medical data security in medico-legal opinioning].

PubMed

Susło, Robert; Swiatek, Barbara

2005-01-01

Medical data security can be approached in medico-legal opinioning in three main situations: security of medical data, on which the opinion should be based, opinioning itself and whether the medical data security was properly ensured and ensuring medical data security during medico-legal opinion giving. The importance of medical data security, during collecting, processing and storing, as well in medical as in legal institutions, is of major importance for the possibility of providing a proper medico-legal opinion. Theoretically speeking, it is possible to give a proper medico-legal opinion using incorrect data, but the possibility is low. When the expert is given improper, unreadable, incomplete or even bogus in part or in the whole medical data it is extremely possible, that he fails in giving his opinion. The term "medical data" was defined and subsequently there was a brief review of medical data storing methods made and specific threats bound with them, based on modern literature. The authors also pointed out possible methods of preventing the threats. They listed Polish as well as international regulations and laws concerning the problem, accenting the importance of preserving medical data for the purposes of medico-legal opinioning.

An English Language Curriculum for Technical Students. Practical Papers in English Education, Volume 2.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hutchinson, Tom; And Others

This curriculum for technical students aims at linking the identity of the learner, his initial linguistic and technical competence, and his expectations with the competence expected of him on entering the technical college. The materials of the curriculum make use of a wide variety of information and data sources such as school-level science…

75 FR 49408 - Navigation and Navigable Waters; Technical, Organizational, and Conforming Amendments, Bridges

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-08-13

... Conforming Amendments, Bridges AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS. ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: This rule makes non... technical corrections to Coast Guard bridge and navigable waters regulations. This rule will have no... announces or gathers public opinion or other information regarding bridge matters, nor will it change the...

The National Shipbuilding Research Program. Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium. Paper No. 20: Application of the GIFTS-5 Minibased Graphics System for Ship Design and Analysis

DTIC Science & Technology

1979-09-01

Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium Paper No. 20: Application of the GIFTS -5 Minibased Graphics System for Ship Design and Analysis U.S...The National Shipbuilding Research Program Proceedings of the REAPS Technical Symposium Paper No. 20: Application of the GIFTS -5 Minibased Graphics...MERCHANTABILITY AND/OR FITNESS FOR PURPOSE ARE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMED. APPLICATION OF THE GIFTS -5 MINIBASED GRAPHICS SYSTEM FOR SHIP DESIGN AND ANALYSIS Dr

Phase transitions in Nowak Sznajd opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wołoszyn, Maciej; Stauffer, Dietrich; Kułakowski, Krzysztof

2007-05-01

The Nowak modification of the Sznajd opinion dynamics model on the square lattice assumes that with probability β the opinions flip due to mass-media advertising from down to up, and vice versa. Besides, with probability α the Sznajd rule applies that a neighbour pair agreeing in its two opinions convinces all its six neighbours of that opinion. Our Monte Carlo simulations and mean-field theory find sharp phase transitions in the parameter space.

A Self-Categorization Explanation for Opinion Consensus Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jinguang; Reid, Scott A.

2013-01-01

The public expression of opinions (and related communicative activities) hinges upon the perception of opinion consensus. Current explanations for opinion consensus perceptions typically focus on egocentric and other biases, rather than functional cognitions. Using self-categorization theory we showed that opinion consensus perceptions flow from…

Nonconsensus opinion model on directed networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qu, Bo; Li, Qian; Havlin, Shlomo; Stanley, H. Eugene; Wang, Huijuan

2014-11-01

Dynamic social opinion models have been widely studied on undirected networks, and most of them are based on spin interaction models that produce a consensus. In reality, however, many networks such as Twitter and the World Wide Web are directed and are composed of both unidirectional and bidirectional links. Moreover, from choosing a coffee brand to deciding who to vote for in an election, two or more competing opinions often coexist. In response to this ubiquity of directed networks and the coexistence of two or more opinions in decision-making situations, we study a nonconsensus opinion model introduced by Shao et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 018701 (2009), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.018701] on directed networks. We define directionality ξ as the percentage of unidirectional links in a network, and we use the linear correlation coefficient ρ between the in-degree and out-degree of a node to quantify the relation between the in-degree and out-degree. We introduce two degree-preserving rewiring approaches which allow us to construct directed networks that can have a broad range of possible combinations of directionality ξ and linear correlation coefficient ρ and to study how ξ and ρ impact opinion competitions. We find that, as the directionality ξ or the in-degree and out-degree correlation ρ increases, the majority opinion becomes more dominant and the minority opinion's ability to survive is lowered.

Predicting online ratings based on the opinion spreading process

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xing-Sheng; Zhou, Ming-Yang; Zhuo, Zhao; Fu, Zhong-Qian; Liu, Jian-Guo

2015-10-01

Predicting users' online ratings is always a challenge issue and has drawn lots of attention. In this paper, we present a rating prediction method by combining the user opinion spreading process with the collaborative filtering algorithm, where user similarity is defined by measuring the amount of opinion a user transfers to another based on the primitive user-item rating matrix. The proposed method could produce a more precise rating prediction for each unrated user-item pair. In addition, we introduce a tunable parameter λ to regulate the preferential diffusion relevant to the degree of both opinion sender and receiver. The numerical results for Movielens and Netflix data sets show that this algorithm has a better accuracy than the standard user-based collaborative filtering algorithm using Cosine and Pearson correlation without increasing computational complexity. By tuning λ, our method could further boost the prediction accuracy when using Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) as measurements. In the optimal cases, on Movielens and Netflix data sets, the corresponding algorithmic accuracy (MAE and RMSE) are improved 11.26% and 8.84%, 13.49% and 10.52% compared to the item average method, respectively.

38 CFR 14.507 - Opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... involving veterans' benefits under laws administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs shall be... been a material change in controlling statute or regulation, a superseding written legal opinion by the... in the Office of the General Counsel. Written legal opinions involving veterans' benefits under laws...

Anisotropic opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neirotti, Juan

2016-07-01

We consider the process of opinion formation in a society of interacting agents, where there is a set B of socially accepted rules. In this scenario, we observed that agents, represented by simple feed-forward, adaptive neural networks, may have a conservative attitude (mostly in agreement with B ) or liberal attitude (mostly in agreement with neighboring agents) depending on how much their opinions are influenced by their peers. The topology of the network representing the interaction of the society's members is determined by a graph, where the agents' properties are defined over the vertexes and the interagent interactions are defined over the bonds. The adaptability of the agents allows us to model the formation of opinions as an online learning process, where agents learn continuously as new information becomes available to the whole society (online learning). Through the application of statistical mechanics techniques we deduced a set of differential equations describing the dynamics of the system. We observed that by slowly varying the average peer influence in such a way that the agents attitude changes from conservative to liberal and back, the average social opinion develops a hysteresis cycle. Such hysteretic behavior disappears when the variance of the social influence distribution is large enough. In all the cases studied, the change from conservative to liberal behavior is characterized by the emergence of conservative clusters, i.e., a closed knitted set of society members that follow a leader who agrees with the social status quo when the rule B is challenged.

Quantifying discrepancies in opinion spectra from online and offline networks.

PubMed

Lee, Deokjae; Hahn, Kyu S; Yook, Soon-Hyung; Park, Juyong

2015-01-01

Online social media such as Twitter are widely used for mining public opinions and sentiments on various issues and topics. The sheer volume of the data generated and the eager adoption by the online-savvy public are helping to raise the profile of online media as a convenient source of news and public opinions on social and political issues as well. Due to the uncontrollable biases in the population who heavily use the media, however, it is often difficult to measure how accurately the online sphere reflects the offline world at large, undermining the usefulness of online media. One way of identifying and overcoming the online-offline discrepancies is to apply a common analytical and modeling framework to comparable data sets from online and offline sources and cross-analyzing the patterns found therein. In this paper we study the political spectra constructed from Twitter and from legislators' voting records as an example to demonstrate the potential limits of online media as the source for accurate public opinion mining, and how to overcome the limits by using offline data simultaneously.

Quantifying Discrepancies in Opinion Spectra from Online and Offline Networks

PubMed Central

Lee, Deokjae; Hahn, Kyu S.; Yook, Soon-Hyung; Park, Juyong

2015-01-01

Online social media such as Twitter are widely used for mining public opinions and sentiments on various issues and topics. The sheer volume of the data generated and the eager adoption by the online-savvy public are helping to raise the profile of online media as a convenient source of news and public opinions on social and political issues as well. Due to the uncontrollable biases in the population who heavily use the media, however, it is often difficult to measure how accurately the online sphere reflects the offline world at large, undermining the usefulness of online media. One way of identifying and overcoming the online–offline discrepancies is to apply a common analytical and modeling framework to comparable data sets from online and offline sources and cross-analyzing the patterns found therein. In this paper we study the political spectra constructed from Twitter and from legislators' voting records as an example to demonstrate the potential limits of online media as the source for accurate public opinion mining, and how to overcome the limits by using offline data simultaneously. PMID:25915931

Opinion Dynamics with Disagreement and Modulated Information

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sîrbu, Alina; Loreto, Vittorio; Servedio, Vito D. P.; Tria, Francesca

2013-04-01

Opinion dynamics concerns social processes through which populations or groups of individuals agree or disagree on specific issues. As such, modelling opinion dynamics represents an important research area that has been progressively acquiring relevance in many different domains. Existing approaches have mostly represented opinions through discrete binary or continuous variables by exploring a whole panoply of cases: e.g. independence, noise, external effects, multiple issues. In most of these cases the crucial ingredient is an attractive dynamics through which similar or similar enough agents get closer. Only rarely the possibility of explicit disagreement has been taken into account (i.e., the possibility for a repulsive interaction among individuals' opinions), and mostly for discrete or 1-dimensional opinions, through the introduction of additional model parameters. Here we introduce a new model of opinion formation, which focuses on the interplay between the possibility of explicit disagreement, modulated in a self-consistent way by the existing opinions' overlaps between the interacting individuals, and the effect of external information on the system. Opinions are modelled as a vector of continuous variables related to multiple possible choices for an issue. Information can be modulated to account for promoting multiple possible choices. Numerical results show that extreme information results in segregation and has a limited effect on the population, while milder messages have better success and a cohesion effect. Additionally, the initial condition plays an important role, with the population forming one or multiple clusters based on the initial average similarity between individuals, with a transition point depending on the number of opinion choices.

Identifying opinion leaders to promote behavior change.

PubMed

Valente, Thomas W; Pumpuang, Patchareeya

2007-12-01

This article reviews 10 techniques used to identify opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Opinion leaders can act as gatekeepers for interventions, help change social norms, and accelerate behavior change. Few studies document the manner in which opinion leaders are identified, recruited, and trained to promote health. The authors categorize close to 200 studies that have studied or used opinion leaders to promote behavior change into 10 different methods. They present the advantages and disadvantages of the 10 opinion leader identification methods and provide sample instruments for each. Factors that might influence programs to select one or another method are then discussed, and the article closes with a discussion of combining and comparing methods.

How Public Opinion is Formed

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Block, Edward M.

1977-01-01

Investigates the evolution of the definition of public relations by examining cultural and personal determinants of public opinion. Outlines functions of communicators and opinionmakers in forming and influencing public opinion. Available from: Public Relations Review, Ray Hiebert, Dean, College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park,…

Time to Terminate Toilet Papering

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Moscinski, David

2008-01-01

Each September in Wisconsin students return to school, football games draw enthusiastic crowds, and homecoming week is celebrated. Trees lose their leaves only to be re-adorned in white in that generation bridging tradition known as toilet papering. Community residents have differing opinions on "tp"ing, in large part determined by whether they…

28 CFR 80.11 - Effect of FCPA Opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Effect of FCPA Opinion. 80.11 Section 80.11 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT OPINION PROCEDURE § 80.11 Effect of FCPA Opinion. Except as specified in § 80.10, an FCPA Opinion will not bind or...

Preferences on technical report format - Results of a survey

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, T. E.; Cordle, V. M.; Glassman, M.; Vondran, R. F.

1984-01-01

A survey of 513 engineers and scientists employed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Langley Research Center and 600 engineers and scientists from three professional/technical societies solicited the opinions of report users concerning the format of NASA technical reports. The results indicate that a summary as well as an abstract should be included, that the definitions of symbols and glossary of terms should be located in the front of the report, and that the illustrative material should be integrated with the text rather than grouped at the end of the report. Citation of references by number, one-column, ragged-right-margin layout, and third-person writing style are also preferred by a majority of the respondents.

Technical tips: Electrode application and preventing skin breakdown techniques.

PubMed

Berlin, Fira; Carlile, Jennifer A; de Burgo, Maria I; Rochon, Adrienne; Wagner, Esperanza E; Sellers, Martha C; Worrell, Amanda R; Andal, E Lauren C; Woods, Latina R

2011-09-01

The recording electrodes including their precise location, their ability to record during movements that can be intense during a convulsive seizure, and their capability to record for several days without causing skin breakdown are an integral part of long-term EEG recording. Many of the facets of EEG technology have changed dramatically with the introduction of digital EEG. But the electrode and the electrode/skin interface have not had many dramatic changes. The technologist still looks for ways to ensure correct electrode placement, good recording capabilities, and a patient with healthy skin when the electrodes are removed. This Technical Tips features ideas and experiences from several technologists. These technologists express suggestions and opinions which are accepted in Technical Tips.

28 CFR 80.8 - Attorney General opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Attorney General opinion. 80.8 Section 80.8 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (CONTINUED) FOREIGN CORRUPT PRACTICES ACT OPINION PROCEDURE § 80.8 Attorney General opinion. The Attorney General or his designee shall, within 30 days after...

A Research Program in Computer Technology. 1987 Annual Technical Report

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-07-01

TITLE (Indcle Security Clanificstion) 1987 Annual Technical Report: *A Research Program in Computer Technology (Unclassified) 12. PERSONAL AUTHOR(S) IS...distributed processing, survivable networks 17. NCE: distributed processing, local networks, personal computers, workstation environment 18. SC Dev...are the auw’iors and should not be Interpreted as representIng the official opinion or policy of DARPA, the U.S. Government, or any person or agency

Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Organ Donation on Social Media: Network Study

PubMed Central

Salmon, Charles T

2018-01-01

Background In the recent years, social networking sites (SNSs, also called social media) have been adopted in organ donation campaigns, and recruiting opinion leaders for such campaigns has been found effective in promoting behavioral changes. Objective The aim of this paper was to focus on the dissemination of organ donation tweets on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and to examine the opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages using social network analysis. It also aimed to investigate how personal and social attributes contribute to a user’s opinion leadership on the topic of organ donation. Methods All messages about organ donation posted on Weibo from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 were extracted using Python Web crawler. A retweet network with 505,047 nodes and 545,312 edges of the popular messages (n=206) was constructed and analyzed. The local and global opinion leaderships were measured using network metrics, and the roles of personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions in obtaining the opinion leadership were examined using general linear model. Results The findings revealed that personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions predicted individual’s local opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages. Alternatively, personal attributes and social positions, but not professional knowledge, were significantly associated with global opinion leadership. Conclusions The findings of this study indicate that health campaign designers may recruit peer leaders in SNS organ donation promotions to facilitate information sharing among the target audience. Users who are unverified, active, well connected, and experienced with information and communications technology (ICT) will accelerate the sharing of organ donation messages in the global environment. Medical professionals such as organ transplant surgeons who can wield a great amount of

Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Behavior Change

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Valente, Thomas W.; Pumpuang, Patchareeya

2007-01-01

This article reviews 10 techniques used to identify opinion leaders to promote behavior change. Opinion leaders can act as gatekeepers for interventions, help change social norms, and accelerate behavior change. Few studies document the manner in which opinion leaders are identified, recruited, and trained to promote health. The authors categorize…

[First results of a German second opinion program show high patient satisfaction and large discrepancies between initial therapy recommendations and second opinion].

PubMed

Weyerstraß, Jan; Prediger, Barbara; Neugebauer, Edmund; Pieper, Dawid

2018-02-23

Although legally anchored, there are no empirical results from German second opinion programs. In this study, various aspects within a population of a second opinion program are examined. In this study patients were analyzed who sought a second opinion in the period from August 2011 to December 2016. Differences in patient characteristics, differentiated by agreement of first and second opinion, were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Patients' satisfaction and quality of life were examined one, three and six months after obtaining the second opinion. In total, 1,414 patients sought a second opinion. Most frequent medical indications were the knee (38.7 %), the back (26.8 %), the hip (11.7 %), and the shoulder (10.2 %). Except for the indication (p=0.035), no patient characteristic had influence on the conformation of the second opinion. Approximately two out of three initial recommendations were not confirmed by the specialists. 89 % of the patients were satisfied or very satisfied with the second opinion and the service offered. The second opinion offers patients the opportunity to seek an additional independent medical opinion and thus provide support for decision making. Further research is needed to examine the reasons for the high discrepancies between the first and second opinions. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier GmbH.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 35: The US government technical report and aerospace knowledge diffusion: Results of an on-going investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Khan, A. Rahman; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

The U.S. government technical report is a primary means by which the results of federally funded research and development (R&D) are transferred to the U.S. aerospace industry. However, little is known about this information product in terms of its actual use, importance, and value in the transfer of federally funded (U.S.) R&D. To help establish a body of knowledge, the U.S. government technical report is being investigated as part of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. In this paper, we summarize the literature on technical reports and provide a model that depicts the transfer of federally funded aerospace R&D via the U.S. government technical report. We present results from two surveys (one of five studies) of our investigation of aerospace knowledge diffusion vis-a-vis the U.S. government technical report and close with a brief overview of on-going research into the use of the U.S. government technical report as a rhetorical device for transferring federally funded aerospace R&D.

Opinion paper on innovative approach of biomarkers for infectious diseases and sepsis management in the emergency department.

PubMed

Di Somma, Salvatore; Magrini, Laura; Travaglino, Francesco; Lalle, Irene; Fiotti, Nicola; Cervellin, Grianfranco; Avanzi, Gian Carlo; Lupia, Enrico; Maisel, Alan; Hein, Frauke; Wagner, Florian; Lippi, Giuseppe

2013-06-01

Sepsis is a leading healthcare problem, accounting for the vast majority of fatal events in critically ill patients. Beyond early diagnosis and appropriate treatment, this condition requires a multifaceted approach for monitoring the severity, the potential organ failure as well as the risk of death. Monitoring of the efficacy of treatment is also a major issue in the emergency department (ED). The assessment of critically ill conditions and the prognosis of patients with sepsis is currently based on some scoring systems, which are, however, inefficient to provide definite clues about organ failure and prognosis in general. The discretionary and appropriate use of some selected biomarkers such as procalcitonin, inducible protein 10 (IP10), Group IV phospholipase A2 type II (PLA2 II), neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL), natriuretic peptides, mature adrenomedullin (ADM), mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM), copeptin, thrombopoietin, Mer receptor and even red blood cell distribution width (RDW) represent thereby an appealing perspective in the diagnosis and management of patients with sepsis. Nevertheless, at the moment, it is not still clear if it is better to use a multimarkers approach or if a single, most appropriate, biomarker exists. This collective opinion paper is aimed at providing an overview about the potential clinical usefulness of some innovative biomarkers of sepsis in its diagnosis and prognosis, but also in the treatment management of the disease. This manuscript represents a synopsis of the lectures of Third Italian GREAT Network Congress, that was hold in Rome, 15-19 October 2012.

Modelling the Reasons for Training Choices: Technical Paper. Support Document

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Smith, Andrew; Oczkowski, Eddie; Hill, Mark

2009-01-01

This report provides the technical details on the modelling aspects of identifying significant drivers for the reasons for using certain types of training and for the choice of training types. The employed data is from the 2005 Survey of Employer Use and Views of the VET system (SEUV). The data has previously been analysed in NCVER (2006). This…

Automatic Annotation Method on Learners' Opinions in Case Method Discussion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Samejima, Masaki; Hisakane, Daichi; Komoda, Norihisa

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to annotate an attribute of a problem, a solution or no annotation on learners' opinions automatically for supporting the learners' discussion without a facilitator. The case method aims at discussing problems and solutions in a target case. However, the learners miss discussing some of problems and solutions.…

Urology technical and non-technical skills development: the emerging role of simulation.

PubMed

Rashid, Prem; Gianduzzo, Troy R J

2016-04-01

To review the emerging role of technical and non-technical simulation in urological education and training. A review was conducted to examine the current role of simulation in urology training. A PUBMED search of the terms 'urology training', 'urology simulation' and 'urology education' revealed 11,504 titles. Three hundred and fifty-seven abstracts were identified as English language, peer reviewed papers pertaining to the role of simulation in urology and related topics. Key papers were used to explore themes. Some cross-referenced papers were also included. There is an ongoing need to ensure that training time is efficiently utilised while ensuring that optimal technical and non-technical skills are achieved. Changing working conditions and the need to minimise patient harm by inadvertent errors must be taken into account. Simulation models for specific technical aspects have been the mainstay of graduated step-wise low and high fidelity training. Whole scenario environments as well as non-technical aspects can be slowly incorporated into the curriculum. Doing so should also help define what have been challenging competencies to teach and evaluate. Dedicated time, resources and trainer up-skilling are important. Concurrent studies are needed to help evaluate the effectiveness of introducing step-wise simulation for technical and non-technical competencies. Simulation based learning remains the best avenue of progressing surgical education. Technical and non-technical simulation could be used in the selection process. There are good economic, logistic and safety reasons to pursue the process of ongoing development of simulation co-curricula. While the role of simulation is assured, its progress will depend on a structured program that takes advantage of what can be delivered via this medium. Overall, simulation can be developed further for urological training programs to encompass technical and non-technical skill development at all stages, including

Applications of flow-networks to opinion-dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tupikina, Liubov; Kurths, Jürgen

2015-04-01

Networks were successfully applied to describe complex systems, such as brain, climate, processes in society. Recently a socio-physical problem of opinion-dynamics was studied using network techniques. We present the toy-model of opinion-formation based on the physical model of advection-diffusion. We consider spreading of the opinion on the fixed subject, assuming that opinion on society is binary: if person has opinion then the state of the node in the society-network equals 1, if the person doesn't have opinion state of the node equals 0. Opinion can be spread from one person to another if they know each other, or in the network-terminology, if the nodes are connected. We include into the system governed by advection-diffusion equation the external field to model such effects as for instance influence from media. The assumptions for our model can be formulated as the following: 1.the node-states are influenced by the network structure in such a way, that opinion can be spread only between adjacent nodes (the advective term of the opinion-dynamics), 2.the network evolution can have two scenarios: -network topology is not changing with time; -additional links can appear or disappear each time-step with fixed probability which requires adaptive networks properties. Considering these assumptions for our system we obtain the system of equations describing our model-dynamics which corresponds well to other socio-physics models, for instance, the model of the social cohesion and the famous voter-model. We investigate the behavior of the suggested model studying "waiting time" of the system, time to get to the stable state, stability of the model regimes for different values of model parameters and network topology.

Critical product features' identification using an opinion analyzer.

PubMed

Shamim, Azra; Balakrishnan, Vimala; Tahir, Muhammad; Shiraz, Muhammad

2014-01-01

The increasing use and ubiquity of the Internet facilitate dissemination of word-of-mouth through blogs, online forums, newsgroups, and consumer's reviews. Online consumer's reviews present tremendous opportunities and challenges for consumers and marketers. One of the challenges is to develop interactive marketing practices for making connections with target consumers that capitalize consumer-to-consumer communications for generating product adoption. Opinion mining is employed in marketing to help consumers and enterprises in the analysis of online consumers' reviews by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the products. This paper describes an opinion mining system based on novel review and feature ranking methods to empower consumers and enterprises for identifying critical product features from enormous consumers' reviews. Consumers and business analysts are the main target group for the proposed system who want to explore consumers' feedback for determining purchase decisions and enterprise strategies. We evaluate the proposed system on real dataset. Results show that integration of review and feature-ranking methods improves the decision making processes significantly.

Technical Writing: Past, Present, and Future.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mathes, J. C., Comp.; Pinelli, Thomas E., Comp.

This compilation of papers addresses the history, present status, and trends of technical and related writing. The first of the eight papers surveys the present environment of the technical report and assesses the effectiveness of the technical report format of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in transmitting information.…

Students' Opinions of Instructional Strategies in a Graduate-Level Creativity Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knowlton, Dave S.; Sharp, David C.

2015-01-01

This paper empirically examines a variety of instructional strategies as impetus for creative thinking and achievement in a graduate-level university course. This empiricism considers students' opinions about the strategies used and the resulting effect of the class more holistically. Results indicate that reading the textbook and writing…

Discrepancy and Disliking Do Not Induce Negative Opinion Shifts

PubMed Central

Flache, Andreas; Mäs, Michael

2016-01-01

Both classical social psychological theories and recent formal models of opinion differentiation and bi-polarization assign a prominent role to negative social influence. Negative influence is defined as shifts away from the opinion of others and hypothesized to be induced by discrepancy with or disliking of the source of influence. There is strong empirical support for the presence of positive social influence (a shift towards the opinion of others), but evidence that large opinion differences or disliking could trigger negative shifts is mixed. We examine positive and negative influence with controlled exposure to opinions of other individuals in one experiment and with opinion exchange in another study. Results confirm that similarities induce attraction, but results do not support that discrepancy or disliking entails negative influence. Instead, our findings suggest a robust positive linear relationship between opinion distance and opinion shifts. PMID:27333160

Opinion Polling and the Measurement of Americans' Attitudes Regarding Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Billingham, Chase M.; Kimelberg, Shelley McDonough

2016-01-01

The meaning, measurement, and implications of "public opinion" have long been a source of debate. In this paper, we examine the extent to which the educational priorities of elites in the US reflect the educational priorities of the American public. To do so, we focus on one particular segment of the education policy-making elite --…

17 CFR 200.63 - Commission opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... AND ETHICS; AND INFORMATION AND REQUESTS Canons of Ethics § 200.63 Commission opinions. The opinions... guided in his decisions by a deep regard for the integrity of the system of law which he administers. He...

32 CFR 1698.2 - Requests for advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... ADVISORY OPINIONS § 1698.2 Requests for advisory opinions. (a) Any male born after December 31, 1959 who... advisory opinion as to the liability of any male person born after December 31, 1959 who has attained 18...

32 CFR 1698.2 - Requests for advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ADVISORY OPINIONS § 1698.2 Requests for advisory opinions. (a) Any male born after December 31, 1959 who... advisory opinion as to the liability of any male person born after December 31, 1959 who has attained 18...

A Collection of Technical Papers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1995-01-01

Papers presented at the 6th Space Logistics Symposium covered such areas as: The International Space Station; The Hubble Space Telescope; Launch site computer simulation; Integrated logistics support; The Baikonur Cosmodrome; Probabalistic tools for high confidence repair; A simple space station rescue vehicle; Integrated Traffic Model for the International Space Station; Packaging the maintenance shop; Leading edge software support; Storage information management system; Consolidated maintenance inventory logistics planning; Operation concepts for a single stage to orbit vehicle; Mission architecture for human lunar exploration; Logistics of a lunar based solar power satellite scenario; Just in time in space; NASA acquisitions/logistics; Effective transition management; Shuttle logistics; and Revitalized space operations through total quality control management.

Are opinions based on science: modelling social response to scientific facts.

PubMed

Iñiguez, Gerardo; Tagüeña-Martínez, Julia; Kaski, Kimmo K; Barrio, Rafael A

2012-01-01

As scientists we like to think that modern societies and their members base their views, opinions and behaviour on scientific facts. This is not necessarily the case, even though we are all (over-) exposed to information flow through various channels of media, i.e. newspapers, television, radio, internet, and web. It is thought that this is mainly due to the conflicting information on the mass media and to the individual attitude (formed by cultural, educational and environmental factors), that is, one external factor and another personal factor. In this paper we will investigate the dynamical development of opinion in a small population of agents by means of a computational model of opinion formation in a co-evolving network of socially linked agents. The personal and external factors are taken into account by assigning an individual attitude parameter to each agent, and by subjecting all to an external but homogeneous field to simulate the effect of the media. We then adjust the field strength in the model by using actual data on scientific perception surveys carried out in two different populations, which allow us to compare two different societies. We interpret the model findings with the aid of simple mean field calculations. Our results suggest that scientifically sound concepts are more difficult to acquire than concepts not validated by science, since opposing individuals organize themselves in close communities that prevent opinion consensus.

Mass Media and Public Opinion: Report of the Soviet-Finnish Seminar (5th, Moscow, USSR, May 18-22, 1987). Publications Series B, Number 24.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jyrkiainen, Jyrki, Comp.

A compilation of papers from a joint Finnish-Russian seminar on problems of communication research, this collection presents diverse opinions and results from researchers and observers in both countries. The titles of the papers and their authors are as follows: (1) "Role of Research and Training in Mass Communication and Public Opinion"…

Community Size, Perceptions of Majority Opinion and Opinion Expression.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Salmon, Charles T.; Oshagan, Hayg

A study examined structural determinants of opinion expression by merging two theoretical perspectives: the "spiral of silence" model advanced by Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, and the structural approach to communication research offered by Phillip Tichenor, George Donohue, and Clarice Olien. The study also distinguished between different…

2001 traffic safety issues opinion survey.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-02-01

As a means of determining public opinion on specific traffic safety issues, a public opinion survey was conducted. A total of 4,500 mail surveys were sent to a stratified sample of drivers selected from the drivers license file. The state was divided...

Social opinion dynamics is not chaotic

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lim, Chjan; Zhang, Weituo

2016-08-01

Motivated by the research on social opinion dynamics over large and dense networks, a general framework for verifying the monotonicity property of multi-agent dynamics is introduced. This allows a derivation of sociologically meaningful sufficient conditions for monotonicity that are tailor-made for social opinion dynamics, which typically have high nonlinearity. A direct consequence of monotonicity is that social opinion dynamics is nonchaotic. A key part of this framework is the definition of a partial order relation that is suitable for a large class of social opinion dynamics such as the generalized naming games. Comparisons are made to previous techniques to verify monotonicity. Using the results obtained, we extend many of the consequences of monotonicity to this class of social dynamics, including several corollaries on their asymptotic behavior, such as global convergence to consensus and tipping points of a minority fraction of zealots or leaders.

Consensus Emerging from the Bottom-up: the Role of Cognitive Variables in Opinion Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Giardini, Francesca; Vilone, Daniele; Conte, Rosaria

2015-09-01

The study of opinions - e.g., their formation and change, and their effects on our society - by means of theoretical and numerical models has been one of the main goals of sociophysics until now, but it is one of the defining topics addressed by social psychology and complexity science. Despite the flourishing of different models and theories, several key questions still remain unanswered. The aim of this paper is to provide a cognitively grounded computational model of opinions in which they are described as mental representations and defined in terms of distinctive mental features. We also define how these representations change dynamically through different processes, describing the interplay between mental and social dynamics of opinions. We present two versions of the model, one with discrete opinions (voter model-like), and one with continuous ones (Deffuant-like). By means of numerical simulations, we compare the behaviour of our cognitive model with the classical sociophysical models, and we identify interesting differences in the dynamics of consensus for each of the models considered.

Phase Transition in Opinion Diffusion in Social Networks

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-05-01

the opinions of social agents diffuse in a network under a so-called hard-interaction model, in which the agents inter- act more strongly with...gent behavior. Index Terms— opinion diffusion , opinion dynamics, social net- works, phase transition, herding. 1. INTRODUCTION The study of the

A lexicon based method to search for extreme opinions.

PubMed

Almatarneh, Sattam; Gamallo, Pablo

2018-01-01

Studies in sentiment analysis and opinion mining have been focused on many aspects related to opinions, namely polarity classification by making use of positive, negative or neutral values. However, most studies have overlooked the identification of extreme opinions (most negative and most positive opinions) in spite of their vast significance in many applications. We use an unsupervised approach to search for extreme opinions, which is based on the automatic construction of a new lexicon containing the most negative and most positive words.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 34: Users and uses of DOD technical reports: A report from the field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

The NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project attempts to understand the information environment in which U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists work, the information-seeking behavior of U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists, and the factors that influence the use of scientific and technical information (STI) (Pinelli, Barclay, and Kennedy, 1991). Such an understanding could (1) lead to the development of practical theory, (2) contribute to the design and development of aerospace information systems, and (3) have practical implications for transferring the results of federally funded aerospace research and development (R&D) to the U.S. aerospace community. This paper presents data from two information-seeking behavior studies involving U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that were undertaken as Phase 1 activities of the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Responses from three groups of respondents - DoD, other government, and industry - are presented for two sets of selected questions. One set focuses on DoD technical reports: their use and importance, reasons for non-use, the factors affecting their use, the sources used to find out about them and the sources used to physically obtain them, and the quality of DoD technical reports. The second set focuses on information sources used in problem solving: the use of U.S. government technical reports in problem solving and the information sources used to find out about U.S. government technical reports.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 36: Technical uncertainty as a correlate of information use by US industry-affiliated aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Glassman, Nanci A.; Affelder, Linda O.; Hecht, Laura M.; Kennedy, John M.; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1994-01-01

This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that investigated the influence of technical uncertainty on the use of information and information sources by U.S. industry-affiliated aerospace engineers and scientists in completing or solving a project, task, or problem. Data were collected through a self-administered questionnaire. Survey participants were U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists whose names appeared on the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) mailing list. The results support the findings of previous research and the following study assumptions. Information and information-source use differ for projects, problems, and tasks with high and low technical uncertainty. As technical uncertainty increases, information-source use changes from internal to external and from informal to formal sources. As technical uncertainty increases, so too does the use of federally funded aerospace research and development (R&D). The use of formal information sources to learn about federally funded aerospace R&D differs for projects, problems, and tasks with high and low technical uncertainty.

Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Organ Donation on Social Media: Network Study.

PubMed

Shi, Jingyuan; Salmon, Charles T

2018-01-09

In the recent years, social networking sites (SNSs, also called social media) have been adopted in organ donation campaigns, and recruiting opinion leaders for such campaigns has been found effective in promoting behavioral changes. The aim of this paper was to focus on the dissemination of organ donation tweets on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, and to examine the opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages using social network analysis. It also aimed to investigate how personal and social attributes contribute to a user's opinion leadership on the topic of organ donation. All messages about organ donation posted on Weibo from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015 were extracted using Python Web crawler. A retweet network with 505,047 nodes and 545,312 edges of the popular messages (n=206) was constructed and analyzed. The local and global opinion leaderships were measured using network metrics, and the roles of personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions in obtaining the opinion leadership were examined using general linear model. The findings revealed that personal attributes, professional knowledge, and social positions predicted individual's local opinion leadership in the retweet network of popular organ donation messages. Alternatively, personal attributes and social positions, but not professional knowledge, were significantly associated with global opinion leadership. The findings of this study indicate that health campaign designers may recruit peer leaders in SNS organ donation promotions to facilitate information sharing among the target audience. Users who are unverified, active, well connected, and experienced with information and communications technology (ICT) will accelerate the sharing of organ donation messages in the global environment. Medical professionals such as organ transplant surgeons who can wield a great amount of influence on their direct connections could also effectively

A lexicon based method to search for extreme opinions

PubMed Central

Gamallo, Pablo

2018-01-01

Studies in sentiment analysis and opinion mining have been focused on many aspects related to opinions, namely polarity classification by making use of positive, negative or neutral values. However, most studies have overlooked the identification of extreme opinions (most negative and most positive opinions) in spite of their vast significance in many applications. We use an unsupervised approach to search for extreme opinions, which is based on the automatic construction of a new lexicon containing the most negative and most positive words. PMID:29799867

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 17: The relationship between seven variables and the use of US government technical reports by US aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.; Glassman, Nanci; Demerath, Loren

1991-01-01

A study was undertaken to investigate the relationship between the use of U.S. government technical reports by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists and seven selected sociometric variables. Data were collected by means of a self-administered mail survey which was distributed to a randomly drawn sample of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) members. Two research questions concerning the use of conference meeting papers, journal articles, in-house technical reports, and U.S. government technical reports were investigated. Relevance, technical quality, and accessibility were found to be more important determinants of the overall extent to which U.S. government technical reports and three other information products were used by U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists.

Bibliography of Technical Publications and Papers July 1976 - September 1977

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-10-01

Lightweight Body Armor Medical Technical Symposium, Colorado Springs, CO, 18 August 1977. 67. BENSEL, C. Human factors consideration in the use of CW...HEISELMAN. Human factors in food service operations. Activities Report, 29(2): 54-60 (1977). 110. TAUB, I. A., P. ANGELINI, and C. MERRITT, JR...rat: Electrophysiological and behavioral studies. Amer. J. Physiol., 231(4): 1043-1049 (1976). 205. ANDERSON, W. G., C. Y. BYON, H. GUT , and F. H

Emergence of Vocational, Technical, and Occupational Education (VTO-E). Synthesis Paper.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cupples, Michael Wayne; Tamburello, Gaspare B.

Significant concepts and emerging implications of technology, development of human capital, and visionary leadership can be applied to the design of vocational, technical, and occupational education to enable such education to meet the needs of today's information and service society. People without functional skills will be the technology…

10 CFR 590.404 - Final opinions and orders.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Final opinions and orders. 590.404 Section 590.404 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) NATURAL GAS (ECONOMIC REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF NATURAL GAS Opinions and Orders § 590.404 Final opinions and...

Environment and Public Opinion in Minnesota.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tichenor, P. J.; And Others

Surveys conducted in Minnesota in 1969 and 1970 to obtain public opinion regarding environmental issues are discussed. Several generalizations are made about the state of public opinion about the environmental issue, as follows: (1) The environmental issue has reached public prominence through a sequence from professional and interest-group…

Classification of Word Levels with Usage Frequency, Expert Opinions and Machine Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sohsah, Gihad N.; Ünal, Muhammed Esad; Güzey, Onur

2015-01-01

Educational applications for language teaching can utilize the language levels of words to target proficiency levels of students. This paper and the accompanying data provide a methodology for making educational standard-aligned language-level predictions for all English words. The methodology involves expert opinions on language levels and…

Interpersonal Forgiveness within the Helping Professions: An Attempt to Resolve Differences of Opinion.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Enright, Robert D.; And Others

1992-01-01

Uses Lakatos's philosophy of science as guide for resolving published authors' differences of opinion about interpersonal forgiveness. Reviews ancient writings and current philosophical writings on interpersonal forgiveness. Critiques papers on forgiveness which have counseling implications. Describes process model of interpersonal forgiveness.…

Critical Product Features' Identification Using an Opinion Analyzer

PubMed Central

Shamim, Azra; Balakrishnan, Vimala

2014-01-01

The increasing use and ubiquity of the Internet facilitate dissemination of word-of-mouth through blogs, online forums, newsgroups, and consumer's reviews. Online consumer's reviews present tremendous opportunities and challenges for consumers and marketers. One of the challenges is to develop interactive marketing practices for making connections with target consumers that capitalize consumer-to-consumer communications for generating product adoption. Opinion mining is employed in marketing to help consumers and enterprises in the analysis of online consumers' reviews by highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the products. This paper describes an opinion mining system based on novel review and feature ranking methods to empower consumers and enterprises for identifying critical product features from enormous consumers' reviews. Consumers and business analysts are the main target group for the proposed system who want to explore consumers' feedback for determining purchase decisions and enterprise strategies. We evaluate the proposed system on real dataset. Results show that integration of review and feature-ranking methods improves the decision making processes significantly. PMID:25506612

Continuous Opinion Dynamics Under Bounded Confidence:. a Survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lorenz, Jan

Models of continuous opinion dynamics under bounded confidence have been presented independently by Krause and Hegselmann and by Deffuant et al. in 2000. They have raised a fair amount of attention in the communities of social simulation, sociophysics and complexity science. The researchers working on it come from disciplines such as physics, mathematics, computer science, social psychology and philosophy. In these models agents hold continuous opinions which they can gradually adjust if they hear the opinions of others. The idea of bounded confidence is that agents only interact if they are close in opinion to each other. Usually, the models are analyzed with agent-based simulations in a Monte Carlo style, but they can also be reformulated on the agent's density in the opinion space in a master equation style. The contribution of this survey is fourfold. First, it will present the agent-based and density-based modeling frameworks including the cases of multidimensional opinions and heterogeneous bounds of confidence. Second, it will give the bifurcation diagrams of cluster configuration in the homogeneous model with uniformly distributed initial opinions. Third, it will review the several extensions and the evolving phenomena which have been studied so far, and fourth it will state some open questions.

Opinion Dynamics with Heterogeneous Interactions and Information Assimilation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mir Tabatabaei, Seydeh Anahita

2013-01-01

In any modern society, individuals interact to form opinions on various topics, including economic, political, and social aspects. Opinions evolve as the result of the continuous exchange of information among individuals and of the assimilation of information distributed by media. The impact of individuals' opinions on each other forms a network,…

History, Philosophy, and Public Opinion Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Herbst, Susan

1993-01-01

Argues for the importance of the classical tradition (broad, speculative, and historically informed writing and research) in public opinion research. Argues that asking large, normative questions about public opinion processes, trying to build grand theory, and taking history seriously will enrich the field and command the attention of scholars in…

Opinion formation of free speech on the directed social network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Jiongming; Ma, Hongxu; Liu, Baohong; Li, Qi

2014-12-01

A dynamical model with continuous opinion is proposed to study how the speech order and the topology of directed social network affect the opinion formation of free speech. In the model, agents express their opinions one by one with random order (RO) or probability order (PO), other agents paying attentions to the speaking agent, receive provider's opinion, update their opinions and then express their new opinions in their turns. It is proved that with the same agent j repeats its opinion more, other agents who pay their attentions to j and include j's opinion in their confidence level at initial time, will continue approaching j's opinion. Simulation results reveal that on directed scale-free network: (1) the model for PO forms fewer opinion clusters, larger maximum cluster (MC), smaller standard deviation (SD), and needs less waiting time to reach a middle level of consensus than RO; (2) as the parameter of scale-free degree distribution decreases or the confidence level increases, the results often get better for both speech orders; (3) the differences between PO and RO get smaller as the size of network decreases.

29 CFR 18.610 - Religious beliefs or opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Religious beliefs or opinions. 18.610 Section 18.610 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.610 Religious beliefs or opinions. Evidence of the beliefs or opinions of a witness on matters of religion is not admissible for the purpose...

29 CFR 18.610 - Religious beliefs or opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Religious beliefs or opinions. 18.610 Section 18.610 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.610 Religious beliefs or opinions. Evidence of the beliefs or opinions of a witness on matters of religion is not admissible for the purpose...

42 CFR 57.1511 - Opinion of legal counsel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Opinion of legal counsel. 57.1511 Section 57.1511... Personnel § 57.1511 Opinion of legal counsel. At appropriate stages in the application and approval... memorandum or opinion of legal counsel with respect to the legality of any proposed note issue, the legal...

42 CFR 57.1511 - Opinion of legal counsel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 42 Public Health 1 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Opinion of legal counsel. 57.1511 Section 57.1511... Personnel § 57.1511 Opinion of legal counsel. At appropriate stages in the application and approval... memorandum or opinion of legal counsel with respect to the legality of any proposed note issue, the legal...

29 CFR 18.610 - Religious beliefs or opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Religious beliefs or opinions. 18.610 Section 18.610 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.610 Religious beliefs or opinions. Evidence of the beliefs or opinions of a witness on matters of religion is not admissible for the purpose...

29 CFR 18.610 - Religious beliefs or opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Religious beliefs or opinions. 18.610 Section 18.610 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.610 Religious beliefs or opinions. Evidence of the beliefs or opinions of a witness on matters of religion is not admissible for the purpose...

29 CFR 18.610 - Religious beliefs or opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Religious beliefs or opinions. 18.610 Section 18.610 Labor... OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES Rules of Evidence Witnesses § 18.610 Religious beliefs or opinions. Evidence of the beliefs or opinions of a witness on matters of religion is not admissible for the purpose...

Forecasting the Future Food Service World of Work. Final Report. Volume III. Technical Papers on the Future of the Food Service Industry. Service Management Reports.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Powers, Thomas F., Ed.; Swinton, John R., Ed.

This third and final volume of a study on the future of the food service industry contains the technical papers on which the information in the previous two volumes was based. The papers were written by various members of the Pennsylvania State University departments of economics, food science, nutrition, social psychology, and engineering and by…

Rise of an alternative majority against opinion leaders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tucci, K.; González-Avella, J. C.; Cosenza, M. G.

2016-03-01

We investigate the role of opinion leaders or influentials in the collective behavior of a social system. Opinion leaders are characterized by their unidirectional influence on other agents. We employ a model based on Axelrod's dynamics for cultural interaction among social agents that allows for non-interacting states. We find three collective phases in the space of parameters of the system, given by the fraction of opinion leaders and a quantity representing the number of available states: one ordered phase having the state imposed by the leaders; another nontrivial ordered phase consisting of a majority group in a state orthogonal or alternative to that of the opinion leaders, and a disordered phase, where many small groups coexist. We show that the spontaneous rise of an alternative group in the presence of opinion leaders depends on the existence of a minimum number of long-range connections in the underlying network. This phenomenon challenges the common idea that influentials are fundamental to propagation processes in society, such as the formation of public opinion.

Opinion diversity and community formation in adaptive networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Y.; Xiao, G.; Li, G.; Tay, W. P.; Teoh, H. F.

2017-10-01

It is interesting and of significant importance to investigate how network structures co-evolve with opinions. In this article, we show that, a simple model integrating consensus formation, link rewiring, and opinion change allows complex system dynamics to emerge, driving the system into a dynamic equilibrium with the co-existence of diversified opinions. Specifically, similar opinion holders may form into communities yet with no strict community consensus; and rather than being separated into disconnected communities, different communities are connected by a non-trivial proportion of inter-community links. More importantly, we show that the complex dynamics may lead to different numbers of communities at the steady state with a given tolerance between different opinion holders. We construct a framework for theoretically analyzing the co-evolution process. Theoretical analysis and extensive simulation results reveal some useful insights into the complex co-evolution process, including the formation of dynamic equilibrium, the transition between different steady states with different numbers of communities, and the dynamics between opinion distribution and network modularity.

Are Opinions Based on Science: Modelling Social Response to Scientific Facts

PubMed Central

Iñiguez, Gerardo; Tagüeña-Martínez, Julia; Kaski, Kimmo K.; Barrio, Rafael A.

2012-01-01

As scientists we like to think that modern societies and their members base their views, opinions and behaviour on scientific facts. This is not necessarily the case, even though we are all (over-) exposed to information flow through various channels of media, i.e. newspapers, television, radio, internet, and web. It is thought that this is mainly due to the conflicting information on the mass media and to the individual attitude (formed by cultural, educational and environmental factors), that is, one external factor and another personal factor. In this paper we will investigate the dynamical development of opinion in a small population of agents by means of a computational model of opinion formation in a co-evolving network of socially linked agents. The personal and external factors are taken into account by assigning an individual attitude parameter to each agent, and by subjecting all to an external but homogeneous field to simulate the effect of the media. We then adjust the field strength in the model by using actual data on scientific perception surveys carried out in two different populations, which allow us to compare two different societies. We interpret the model findings with the aid of simple mean field calculations. Our results suggest that scientifically sound concepts are more difficult to acquire than concepts not validated by science, since opposing individuals organize themselves in close communities that prevent opinion consensus. PMID:22905117

Johnson Space Center Health and Medical Technical Authority

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fogarty, Jennifer A.

2010-01-01

1.HMTA responsibilities: a) Assure program/project compliance with Agency health and medical requirements at identified key decision points. b) Certify that programs/projects comply with Agency health and medical requirements prior to spaceflight missions. c) Assure technical excellence. 2. Designation of applicable NASA Centers for HMTA implementation and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) appointment. 3. Center CMO responsible for HMTA implementation for programs and projects at the center. JSC HMTA captured in "JSC HMTA Implementation Plan". 4. Establishes specifics of dissenting opinion process consistent with NASA procedural requirements.

The SAPO Campus Recommender System: A Study about Students' and Teachers' Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pedro, Luís; Santos, Carlos; Almeida, Sara Filipa; Ramos, Fernando; Moreira, António; Almeida, Margarida; Antunes, Maria João

2014-01-01

This paper aims to assess the relevance and usefulness of the SAPO Campus recommender system, through the analysis of students' and teachers' opinions. Recommender systems, assuming a "technology-driven" approach, have been designed with the primary goal of predicting user interests based on the implicit analysis of their actions and…

Opinion Leadership, Poverty, and Information Sharing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chatman, Elfreda A.

1987-01-01

This test of theory of opinion leadership in a low-income environment addressed three questions: (1) whether opinion leaders exist, their characteristics, and their role in information dissemination; (2) what the information world of this population is; and (3) whether this population views the library as a source of useful information. (EM)

The Impact of Using Mobile-Supported Learning Management Systems in Teaching Web Design on the Academic Success of Students and Their Opinions on the Course

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tezer, Murat; Çimsir, Burcu Turan

2018-01-01

This research aimed to examine the impact of using mobile-supported learning management systems (LMS) in teaching web design on the academic success of students and their opinion on the course; and it was conducted on 70 volunteer students (35 experimental, 35 control) enrolled at Giresun University, Technical Sciences Vocational School, Computer…

49 CFR 1503.645 - Expert or opinion witnesses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... PROCEDURES Rules of Practice in TSA Civil Penalty Actions § 1503.645 Expert or opinion witnesses. An employee of the agency may not be called as an expert or opinion witness, for any party other than TSA, in any... an expert or opinion witness for TSA in any proceeding governed by this subpart to which the...

Some opinions on the review process of research papers destined for publication.

PubMed

Roohi, Ehsan; Mahian, Omid

2015-06-01

The current paper discusses the peer review process in journals that publish research papers purveying new science and understandings (scientific journals). Different aspects of peer review including the selection of reviewers, the review process and the decision policy of editor are discussed in details. Here, the pros and cons of different conventional methods of review processes are mentioned. Finally, a suggestion is presented for the review process of scientific papers.

HESS Opinions "On forecast (in)consistency in a hydro-meteorological chain: curse or blessing?"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pappenberger, F.; Cloke, H. L.; Persson, A.; Demeritt, D.

2011-07-01

Flood forecasting increasingly relies on numerical weather prediction forecasts to achieve longer lead times. One of the key difficulties that is emerging in constructing a decision framework for these flood forecasts is what to dowhen consecutive forecasts are so different that they lead to different conclusions regarding the issuing of warnings or triggering other action. In this opinion paper we explore some of the issues surrounding such forecast inconsistency (also known as "Jumpiness", "Turning points", "Continuity" or number of "Swings"). In thsi opinion paper we define forecast inconsistency; discuss the reasons why forecasts might be inconsistent; how we should analyse inconsistency; and what we should do about it; how we should communicate it and whether it is a totally undesirable property. The property of consistency is increasingly emerging as a hot topic in many forecasting environments.

Range of interaction in an opinion evolution model of ideological self-positioning: Contagion, hesitance and polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gimenez, M. Cecilia; Paz García, Ana Pamela; Burgos Paci, Maxi A.; Reinaudi, Luis

2016-04-01

The evolution of public opinion using tools and concepts borrowed from Statistical Physics is an emerging area within the field of Sociophysics. In the present paper, a Statistical Physics model was developed to study the evolution of the ideological self-positioning of an ensemble of agents. The model consists of an array of L components, each one of which represents the ideology of an agent. The proposed mechanism is based on the ;voter model;, in which one agent can adopt the opinion of another one if the difference of their opinions lies within a certain range. The existence of ;undecided; agents (i.e. agents with no definite opinion) was implemented in the model. The possibility of radicalization of an agent's opinion upon interaction with another one was also implemented. The results of our simulations are compared to statistical data taken from the Latinobarómetro databank for the cases of Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay in the last decade. Among other results, the effect of taking into account the undecided agents is the formation of a single peak at the middle of the ideological spectrum (which corresponds to a centrist ideological position), in agreement with the real cases studied.

Annotated Bibliography; Freedom of Information Center Reports and Summary Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freedom of Information Center, Columbia, MO.

This bibliography lists and annotates almost 400 information reports, opinion papers, and summary papers dealing with freedom of information. Topics covered include the nature of press freedom and increased press efforts toward more open access to information; the press situation in many foreign countries, including France, Sweden, Communist…

A user opinion and metadata mining scheme for predicting box office performance of movies in the social network environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Daehoon; Kim, Daeyong; Hwang, Eenjun; Choi, Hong-Gu

2013-12-01

With the rapid proliferation of social network services (SNS), it has become common for people to express their thoughts or opinions on various subjects, such as political events, movies, or commercial products, using short comments. Though the comments reflect personal opinion or preferences, collectively, these represent public opinion or trends. Mining public opinion or trends from a collection of user comments made on SNS could be very useful for many applications. One interesting application is to predict the box office performance of a new movie from user comments made on the movie's trailer. Such a prediction is, nevertheless, a very complicated task because many factors can have an influence on it. In this paper, we propose a scheme for mining public opinion from a collection of user comments, easily available on social networks, on the trailer of a new movie. Next, we predict whether the movie will be a box office hit, based on public opinion and other properties such as the leading actors, director, and their past works. Through various experiments, we show that our scheme can produce satisfactory results.

"We Don't Want Your Opinion": Knowledge Construction and the Discourse of Opinion in the Equity Classroom

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Diangelo, Robin; Sensoy, Ozlem

2009-01-01

As educators who teach courses that examine social power, we often struggle with a specific form of resistance in the equity-oriented classroom: "That's just [the author]'s opinion." This "opinion discourse" emerges when students study scholarship that unsettles dominant knowledge claims and methods or when students are themselves asked to situate…

Examining Individual Differences in Interpersonal Influence: On the Psychometric Properties of the Generalized Opinion Leadership Scale (GOLS).

PubMed

Batinic, Bernad; Appel, Markus; Gnambs, Timo

2016-01-01

Opinion leadership describes an individual's tendency to informally influence others' attitudes and overt behaviors. In contrast to contemporary views of opinion leadership as a highly domain-specific trait, this paper introduces a multi-faceted personality trait, generalized opinion leadership (GOL) that characterizes exceptionally influential individuals independent of a specific subject area. Two studies report on the psychometric properties of a scale to assess GOL. Study 1 is based on three independent samples (N = 1,575, N = 1,275, and N = 231) and demonstrates the factorial structure of the instrument and its measurement invariance across sex, age, and educational levels. Study 2 (N = 310) analyzes multitrait-multiinformant data to highlight the scale's discriminant validity with regard to innovativeness and trendsetting.

TRICHLOROETHYLENE (TCE) ISSUE PAPERS

EPA Science Inventory

These issue papers are a part of EPA's effort to develop a trichloroethylene (TCE) human health risk assessment. These issue papers were developed by EPA to provide scientific and technical information to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) for use in developing their advice ...

Boltzmann-type control of opinion consensus through leaders

PubMed Central

Albi, G.; Pareschi, L.; Zanella, M.

2014-01-01

The study of formations and dynamics of opinions leading to the so-called opinion consensus is one of the most important areas in mathematical modelling of social sciences. Following the Boltzmann-type control approach recently introduced by the first two authors, we consider a group of opinion leaders who modify their strategy accordingly to an objective functional with the aim of achieving opinion consensus. The main feature of the Boltzmann-type control is that, owing to an instantaneous binary control formulation, it permits the minimization of the cost functional to be embedded into the microscopic leaders’ interactions of the corresponding Boltzmann equation. The related Fokker–Planck asymptotic limits are also derived, which allow one to give explicit expressions of stationary solutions. The results demonstrate the validity of the Boltzmann-type control approach and the capability of the leaders’ control to strategically lead the followers’ opinion. PMID:25288820

Sznajd Opinion Dynamics with Global and Local Neighborhood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schulze, Christian

In this modification of the Sznajd consensus model on the square lattice, two people of arbitrary distance who agree in their opinions convince their nearest neighbors of this opinion. Similarly to the mean field theory of Slanina and Lavicka, the times needed to reach consensus are distributed exponentially and are quite small. The width of the phase transition vanishes reciprocally to the linear lattice dimension. Advertising has effects independent of the system size. For more than two opinions, three opinions reach a consensus in roughly half of the samples, and four only rarely and only for small lattices. Up to 109 agents were simulated.

[Factors forming opnion on marijuana legalization in Poland among group of students from medical and technical college faculty].

PubMed

Suwała, Małgorzata; Gerstenkorn, Andrzej; Szewczyk, Anna

2015-01-01

Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the world. In 2010 17.6% of polish adult population (age 15-64) and 37.3% of youth (age 17-18) declared use of marijuana at least once in their lifetime. Recent years in Poland brought back public discussion regarding decriminalization and legalization of marijuana. The main goal of the study was to reveal the opinion about legalization of marijuana in Poland among students of medical and technical faculty in correlation with chosen socio-demographic factors, college major, attitude to tobacco smoking, use of drugs and religious practice. Study included 230 students (110 from Medical University of Lodz and 120 from Technical University of Lodz). Women consisted on 56.1% of surveyed and men on 43.9%. Study used audit survey as a research method. Results. 40.4% of students considered marijuana as "soft" drug and in majority (65.7%) are convinced that it is not addictive. The main part of studied group (83%) claimed that marijuana is easily accessible in Poland. The majority of the group (38.75%) was against marijuana legalization, a little bit less (35.2%) approved its legalization in Poland and 26.1% had no opinion. Type of college faculty had not been detected as a factor influencing support for legalization. Important factors influencing positive opinion on legalization was: living in the city, tobacco smoking, socializing with legalization supporters, lack of regular religious practice, drug use. CONCLUSION. Young people's diversified opinion regarding legalization of marijuana in Poland should encourage further discussion. Educational and preventive activities within different social groups are necessary to form a conscious opinion on legalization of marijuana in Poland based on the knowledge of actual scientific facts.

Modeling Expert Opinion: Likelihoods under Incomplete Probabilistic Specification

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-12-09

regarding points per game for participants in the 1991 NBA championship basketball series. 2 1. Introduction Expert opinion is often sought with regard to...for the participants in the 1991 NBA championship basketball series. We present a synthesis of this opinion. The key features of our approach are...applied to opinion collected regarding points per game for participants in the 1991 NBA championship basketball series.

Technical Writing across the Curriculum: Epics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olds, Barbara M.

Noting that technically competent graduates of professional schools need additional skills to function effectively in an increasingly complex and global society, this paper describes an innovative program in technical writing developed for undergraduate engineering students at the Colorado School of Mines. The paper first provides background…

Structure in Community College Career-Technical Programs: A Qualitative Analysis. CCRC Working Paper No. 50

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Van Noy, Michelle; Weiss, Madeline Joy; Jenkins, Davis; Barnett, Elisabeth A.; Wachen, John

2012-01-01

Using data obtained from interviews and program websites at Washington community and technical colleges, the authors of this study examine the structure of community college career-technical programs in allied health, business and marketing, computer and information studies, and mechanics and repair. A framework for structure with four…

The perfuming of paper - technical and safety problems.

PubMed

Lawton, P D; Forbes, D M

1980-12-01

Synopsis This paper describes the rapid growth and diversity of consumer products based on cellulose fibres since the second world war, paying particular attention to soft tissue. The early use of perfumes as reodorants, based on traditional reodorisation knowledge, quickly gave way to the more sophisticated use of perfumes in their own right as a valuable and sometimes indispensable aid to the marketer of soft tissue. Special attention is devoted to the problem of selecting from the very wide range of perfumery ingredients available to perfumers, those which may be suitable for paper perfumery. The tests to evaluate their suitability are described and some of the results presented. The importance of the phenomena of fixation is examined in view of the nature of the product to be perfumed and its unusually long shelf life. The limitations of odour types available for paper products is discussed and a typical paper perfume formula studied. The paper concludes with an illustrated description of the general methods used today for the manufacture of soft tissue. An appraisal of the various methods that have been tried, and are used today to incorporate perfume into the products is also described. During this latter part of the presentation attention will be focused on the advantages and disadvantages of the methods selected with regard to their efficiency, installation, maintenance commitment and safety considerations.

22 CFR 126.9 - Advisory opinions and related authorizations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Advisory opinions and related authorizations. 126.9 Section 126.9 Foreign Relations DEPARTMENT OF STATE INTERNATIONAL TRAFFIC IN ARMS REGULATIONS GENERAL POLICIES AND PROVISIONS § 126.9 Advisory opinions and related authorizations. (a) Advisory opinion...

An overview of structurally complex network-based modeling of public opinion in the “We the Media” era

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Guanghui; Wang, Yufei; Liu, Yijun; Chi, Yuxue

2018-05-01

As the transmission of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era tends to be supraterritorial, concealed and complex, the traditional “point-to-surface” transmission of information has been transformed into “point-to-point” reciprocal transmission. A foundation for studies of the evolution of public opinion and its transmission on the Internet in the “We the Media” era can be laid by converting the massive amounts of fragmented information on public opinion that exists on “We the Media” platforms into structurally complex networks of information. This paper describes studies of structurally complex network-based modeling of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era from the perspective of the development and evolution of complex networks. The progress that has been made in research projects relevant to the structural modeling of public opinion on the Internet is comprehensively summarized. The review considers aspects such as regular grid-based modeling of the rules that describe the propagation of public opinion on the Internet in the “We the Media” era, social network modeling, dynamic network modeling, and supernetwork modeling. Moreover, an outlook for future studies that address complex network-based modeling of public opinion on the Internet is put forward as a summary from the perspective of modeling conducted using the techniques mentioned above.

The role of simulation in urological training - A quantitative study of practice and opinions.

PubMed

Aydin, Abdullatif; Ahmed, Kamran; Shafi, Ahmed M A; Khan, Muhammad Shamim; Dasgupta, Prokar

2016-12-01

Over the past few decades, simulation-based training has rapidly been adopted by many centres for effective technical and non-technical skills training, as a supplementary method to traditional operating room experience. The aim of this study is to assess the current practice in training and seek opinion regarding the future role of simulation in urological training. A cross sectional survey was designed and distributed amongst expert and trainee urological surgeons. The survey consisted of twenty-two questions that were split into three sections; Introduction (6), Technical Skills training in urology (10) and Non-technical skills training in urology (6). A total of 91 residents and 172 specialists completed the survey. In both groups, there was an agreed consensus that laparoscopic training and exposure was insufficient as only 21% of trainees and 23% of specialists believed that they had sufficient training in this area. Furthermore, both groups lacked simulation-based training in common urological procedures including nephrectomy (62%), cystoscopy (69-74%), ureteroscopy (47-59%), transurethral resection of the prostate (56-65%) and percutaneous renal surgery (76-73%). 90% of trainees and 70% of specialists believed (agreed and strongly agreed) that there is a role for non-technical skills simulation in urological training. Simulation training has been under-used thus far and trainees face an uphill challenge to enhance their skills and technical abilities in the operating room. Simulation is recommended by both trainees and specialists and may represent one of the solutions to the challenges of safe and effective urology procedural training. Copyright © 2015 Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (Scottish charity number SC005317) and Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 33: Technical communications practices and the use of information technologies as reported by Dutch and US aerospace engineers

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barclay, Rebecca O.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Tan, Axel S. T.; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

As part of Phase 4 of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, two studies were conducted that investigated the technical communications practices of Dutch and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to aerospace engineers and scientists at the National Aerospace Laboratory (The Netherlands), and NASA ARC (U.S.), and NASA LaRC (U.S.). This paper presents responses of the Dutch and U.S. participants to selected questions concerning four of the seven project objectives: determining the importance of technical communications to aerospace engineering professionals, investigating the production of technical communications, examining the use and importance of computer and information technology, and exploring the use of electronic networks.

Owning the program technical baseline for future space systems acquisition: program technical baseline tracking tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Tien M.; Guillen, Andy T.; Hant, James J.; Kizer, Justin R.; Min, Inki A.; Siedlak, Dennis J. L.; Yoh, James

2017-05-01

The U.S. Air Force (USAF) has recognized the needs for owning the program and technical knowledge within the Air Force concerning the systems being acquired to ensure success. This paper extends the previous work done by the authors [1-2] on the "Resilient Program Technical Baseline Framework for Future Space Systems" and "Portfolio Decision Support Tool (PDST)" to the development and implementation of the Program and Technical Baseline (PTB) Tracking Tool (PTBTL) for the DOD acquisition life cycle. The paper describes the "simplified" PTB tracking model with a focus on the preaward phases and discusses how to implement this model in PDST.

12 CFR 211.11 - Advisory opinions under Regulation K.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 2 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Advisory opinions under Regulation K. 211.11... INTERNATIONAL BANKING OPERATIONS (REGULATION K) International Operations of U.S. Banking Organizations § 211.11 Advisory opinions under Regulation K. (a) Request for advisory opinion. Any person may submit a request to...

12 CFR 211.11 - Advisory opinions under Regulation K.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Advisory opinions under Regulation K. 211.11... INTERNATIONAL BANKING OPERATIONS (REGULATION K) International Operations of U.S. Banking Organizations § 211.11 Advisory opinions under Regulation K. (a) Request for advisory opinion. Any person may submit a request to...

12 CFR 211.11 - Advisory opinions under Regulation K.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 2 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Advisory opinions under Regulation K. 211.11... INTERNATIONAL BANKING OPERATIONS (REGULATION K) International Operations of U.S. Banking Organizations § 211.11 Advisory opinions under Regulation K. (a) Request for advisory opinion. Any person may submit a request to...

12 CFR 211.11 - Advisory opinions under Regulation K.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Advisory opinions under Regulation K. 211.11... INTERNATIONAL BANKING OPERATIONS (REGULATION K) International Operations of U.S. Banking Organizations § 211.11 Advisory opinions under Regulation K. (a) Request for advisory opinion. Any person may submit a request to...

12 CFR 211.11 - Advisory opinions under Regulation K.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 2 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Advisory opinions under Regulation K. 211.11... INTERNATIONAL BANKING OPERATIONS (REGULATION K) International Operations of U.S. Banking Organizations § 211.11 Advisory opinions under Regulation K. (a) Request for advisory opinion. Any person may submit a request to...

Opinion evolution in open community

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pan, Qiuhui; Qin, Yao; Xu, Yiqun; Tong, Mengfei; He, Mingfeng

We consider a dynamic group composed with a constant number of people and the people will change periodically. Every member in the community owns a value of confidence — a mechanism that measures the agent’s coherence to his or her own attitude. Based on Cellular Automata, the opinions of all agents are synchronously updated. As long as the updating frequency and updating proportion are appropriate, the open system can reach a democracy-like steady state. The majority of agents in the community will hold the same opinion.

Non-consensus opinion model with a neutral view on complex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tian, Zihao; Dong, Gaogao; Du, Ruijin; Ma, Jing

2016-05-01

A nonconsensus opinion (NCO) model was introduced recently, which allows the stable coexistence of minority and majority opinions. However, due ​to disparities in the knowledge, experiences, and personality or self-protection of agents, they often remain ​neutral when faced with some opinions in real scenarios. ​To address this issue, we propose a general non-consensus opinion model with neutral view (NCON) ​and we define the dynamic opinion ​change process. We applied the NCON model to different topological networks and studied the formation of opinion clusters. In the case of random graphs, random regular networks, and scale-free (SF) networks, we found that the system moved from a continuous phase transition to a discontinuous phase transition as the connectivity density and exponent of the SF network λ ​decreased and increased in the steady state, respectively. Moreover, the initial proportions of neutral opinions were found to have little effect on the proportional structure of opinions at the steady state. These results suggest that the majority choice between positive and negative opinions depends on the initial proportion of each opinion. The NCON model may have potential applications for decision makers.

Towards technical interoperability in telemedicine.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Craft, Richard Layne, II

2004-05-01

For telemedicine to realize the vision of anywhere, anytime access to care, the question of how to create a fully interoperable technical infrastructure must be addressed. After briefly discussing how 'technical interoperability' compares with other types of interoperability being addressed in the telemedicine community today, this paper describes reasons for pursuing technical interoperability, presents a proposed framework for realizing technical interoperability, identifies key issues that will need to be addressed if technical interoperability is to be achieved, and suggests a course of action that the telemedicine community might follow to accomplish this goal.

38 CFR 3.328 - lndependent medical opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false lndependent medical... Connection § 3.328 lndependent medical opinions. (a) General. When warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in a pending claim, an advisory medical opinion may be obtained from one or more medical...

38 CFR 3.328 - lndependent medical opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false lndependent medical... Connection § 3.328 lndependent medical opinions. (a) General. When warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in a pending claim, an advisory medical opinion may be obtained from one or more medical...

38 CFR 3.328 - lndependent medical opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 38 Pensions, Bonuses, and Veterans' Relief 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false lndependent medical... Connection § 3.328 lndependent medical opinions. (a) General. When warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in a pending claim, an advisory medical opinion may be obtained from one or more medical...

Collected software engineering papers, volume 12

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1994-01-01

This document is a collection of selected technical papers produced by participants in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) from November 1993 through October 1994. The purpose of the document is to make available, in one reference, some results of SEL research that originally appeared in a number of different forums. This is the 12th such volume of technical papers produced by the SEL. Although these papers cover several topics related to software engineering, they do not encompass the entire scope of SEL activities and interests. Additional information about the SEL and its research efforts may be obtained from the sources listed in the bibliography at the end of this document.

Collected software engineering papers, volume 11

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1993-01-01

This document is a collection of selected technical papers produced by participants in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) from November 1992 through November 1993. The purpose of the document is to make available, in one reference, some results of SEL research that originally appeared in a number of different forums. This is the 11th such volume of technical papers produced by the SEL. Although these papers cover several topics related to software engineering, they do not encompass the entire scope of SEL activities and interests. Additional information about the SEL and its research efforts may be obtained from the sources listed in the bibliography at the end of this document.

Information Filtering Based on Users' Negative Opinions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, Qiang; Li, Yang; Liu, Jian-Guo

2013-05-01

The process of heat conduction (HC) has recently found application in the information filtering [Zhang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.99, 154301 (2007)], which is of high diversity but low accuracy. The classical HC model predicts users' potential interested objects based on their interesting objects regardless to the negative opinions. In terms of the users' rating scores, we present an improved user-based HC (UHC) information model by taking into account users' positive and negative opinions. Firstly, the objects rated by users are divided into positive and negative categories, then the predicted interesting and dislike object lists are generated by the UHC model. Finally, the recommendation lists are constructed by filtering out the dislike objects from the interesting lists. By implementing the new model based on nine similarity measures, the experimental results for MovieLens and Netflix datasets show that the new model considering negative opinions could greatly enhance the accuracy, measured by the average ranking score, from 0.049 to 0.036 for Netflix and from 0.1025 to 0.0570 for Movielens dataset, reduced by 26.53% and 44.39%, respectively. Since users prefer to give positive ratings rather than negative ones, the negative opinions contain much more information than the positive ones, the negative opinions, therefore, are very important for understanding users' online collective behaviors and improving the performance of HC model.

Social judgment theory based model on opinion formation, polarization and evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chau, H. F.; Wong, C. Y.; Chow, F. K.; Fung, Chi-Hang Fred

2014-12-01

The dynamical origin of opinion polarization in the real world is an interesting topic that physical scientists may help to understand. To properly model the dynamics, the theory must be fully compatible with findings by social psychologists on microscopic opinion change. Here we introduce a generic model of opinion formation with homogeneous agents based on the well-known social judgment theory in social psychology by extending a similar model proposed by Jager and Amblard. The agents’ opinions will eventually cluster around extreme and/or moderate opinions forming three phases in a two-dimensional parameter space that describes the microscopic opinion response of the agents. The dynamics of this model can be qualitatively understood by mean-field analysis. More importantly, first-order phase transition in opinion distribution is observed by evolving the system under a slow change in the system parameters, showing that punctuated equilibria in public opinion can occur even in a fully connected social network.

Harry and Louise and health care reform: romancing public opinion.

PubMed

Goldsteen, R L; Goldsteen, K; Swan, J H; Clemeña, W

2001-12-01

The question whether the "Harry and Louise" campaign ads, sponsored by the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA) during the 1993-1994 health care reform debate, influenced public opinion has particular relevance today since interest groups are increasingly choosing commercial-style mass media campaigns to sway public opinion about health policy issues. Our study revisits the issue of the Harry and Louise campaign's influence on public opinion, comparing the ad campaign's messages to changes in opinion about health care reform over a twenty-six-month period in Oklahoma. Looking at the overall trends just prior to the introduction of the Harry and Louise campaign, public opinion was going in the "wrong" direction, from the HIAA perspective. Moreover, public opinion continued in the wrong direction until the mid-point of the campaign. However, in either the turning point of the campaign in terms of message content and tone or in the lag period following it, public opinion reversed on each health reform issue and returned to pre-campaign levels. It appears from these findings that the campaign captured public opinion when support for issues that were unfavorable to HIAA members was increasing and turned public opinion back to pre-campaign levels. The campaign may result in many more such marriages of political interest groups and commercial advertisers for the purpose of demobilizing public support for health policy initiatives that are unfavorable to special interests.

Stable target opinion through power-law bias in information exchange

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, Amitava

2018-04-01

We study a model of binary decision making when a certain population of agents is initially seeded with two different opinions, "+" and "-," with fractions p1 and p2, respectively, p1+p2=1 . Individuals can reverse their initial opinion only once based on this information exchange. We study this model on a completely connected network, where any pair of agents can exchange information, and a two-dimensional square lattice with periodic boundary conditions, where information exchange is possible only between the nearest neighbors. We propose a model in which each agent maintains two counters of opposite opinions and accepts opinions of other agents with a power-law bias until a threshold is reached, when they fix their final opinion. Our model is inspired by the study of negativity bias and positive-negative asymmetry, which has been known in the psychology literature for a long time. Our model can achieve a stable intermediate mix of positive and negative opinions in a population. In particular, we show that it is possible to achieve close to any fraction p3, 0 ≤p3≤1 , of "-" opinion starting from an initial fraction p1 of "-" opinion by applying a bias through adjusting the power-law exponent of p3.

Stable target opinion through power-law bias in information exchange.

PubMed

Datta, Amitava

2018-04-01

We study a model of binary decision making when a certain population of agents is initially seeded with two different opinions, "+" and "-," with fractions p_{1} and p_{2}, respectively, p_{1}+p_{2}=1. Individuals can reverse their initial opinion only once based on this information exchange. We study this model on a completely connected network, where any pair of agents can exchange information, and a two-dimensional square lattice with periodic boundary conditions, where information exchange is possible only between the nearest neighbors. We propose a model in which each agent maintains two counters of opposite opinions and accepts opinions of other agents with a power-law bias until a threshold is reached, when they fix their final opinion. Our model is inspired by the study of negativity bias and positive-negative asymmetry, which has been known in the psychology literature for a long time. Our model can achieve a stable intermediate mix of positive and negative opinions in a population. In particular, we show that it is possible to achieve close to any fraction p_{3}, 0≤p_{3}≤1, of "-" opinion starting from an initial fraction p_{1} of "-" opinion by applying a bias through adjusting the power-law exponent of p_{3}.

Public School Principals: Opinions and Status. ERS Educator Opinion Poll.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Educational Research Service, Arlington, VA.

The opinion poll of public school administrators reported in this document is part of a series designed to report scientifically collected data that accurately reflects the views and experiences of specific groups of educators. For this study, a total of 3,300 principals were included in the random sample and 1,502 (46 percent) responded. Tables…

[Consent to smoking in public places and at home the opinions of smokers and nonsmokers girls].

PubMed

Kowalewska, Anna

2010-01-01

The aim of this study was researching of dependence between current status of smoking and opinions about smoking tobacco in public places and at home of girls at the age 18. We examined 2246 girls who graduated junior high schools and were continuing their education in four types of schools: high schools, profiled high schools, technical secondary schools and vocational schools. Two-stage sampling method was used, with the team stratification by type of school. The study was conducted in November and December 2008, the auditorium method. The results show that although more than half of the girls, do not agree with smoking in various public places and by parents at home, about one quarter of them accept smoking in cafes, restaurants, pubs and bus stops, and less than 1/5 have no opinion on the subject. Applied analysis using logistic regression analysis indicate a close relationship between smoking trials undertaken by the girls examined, and their opinion about the approval for smoking by students at the school. The model attempts to smoking was a significant predictor of acceptance of smoking in cafes and pubs, and the model of the current consensus on tobacco smoking at bus stops. The presented results indicate the need for prevention activities among children and adolescents, which will contribute to the education of attitudes and skills necessary to take measures aimed at creating environments free from tobacco smoke.

Public Opinion Poll on Community Priorities: Sacramento

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sierra Health Foundation, 2009

2009-01-01

The primary goal of this study was to measure public perceptions, opinions and priorities as they pertain to youth issues in Sacramento for the purposes of further developing public and private youth programming and public policy in the Sacramento region. By presenting a "statistically reliable" profile of public opinion on youth issues,…

Comparison of Tennessee Opinions with U.S. and Other States' Opinions. 1974 Statewide Opinion Survey. Preliminary Report No. 3.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haskins, Jack B.

Information gathered in the 1974 statewide survey of Tennesseeans' opinions on higher education is compared with similar information gathered in other states. Questions asked concerned confidence in institutions, freedom to teach, quality of education and college type, favorability to increased spending, favorability to institutional expansion,…

How to Read a U.S. Supreme Court Opinion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Middleton, Tiffany

2013-01-01

Reading U.S. Supreme Court opinions can be intimidating. Yet, in the digital age, it has never been easier to access them. The average opinion is about 4,750 words, and is one of approximately 75 issued by the Court each year. It might be reassuring to know that opinions contain similar parts and tend to follow a similar format. There are also…

Decentralization of Sports Services Opinions of Youth Services and Provincial Directors of Sports

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydogan, Hayri

2016-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to make a study on opinions of Youth Services and Provincial Directors of Sports related to decentralization of sports services according to demographical variables like educational background, age, total professional working period, and working period as a director. While the population of the study consists of 81…

World Wide Comparism of Technical and Vocational Education: Lessons for Nigerian Technical and Vocational Education Sector (I)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayeni, Abiodun Olumide

2015-01-01

This paper compared technical/vocational education in: Germany, Australia, Finland, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, and Nigeria, and found that technical/vocational education was given proper attention in countries considered except Nigeria, where it was handled with laissez faire attitude. Set-Up of Technical/Vocational…

A consensus opinion model based on the evolutionary game

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Han-Xin

2016-08-01

We propose a consensus opinion model based on the evolutionary game. In our model, both of the two connected agents receive a benefit if they have the same opinion, otherwise they both pay a cost. Agents update their opinions by comparing payoffs with neighbors. The opinion of an agent with higher payoff is more likely to be imitated. We apply this model in scale-free networks with tunable degree distribution. Interestingly, we find that there exists an optimal ratio of cost to benefit, leading to the shortest consensus time. Qualitative analysis is obtained by examining the evolution of the opinion clusters. Moreover, we find that the consensus time decreases as the average degree of the network increases, but increases with the noise introduced to permit irrational choices. The dependence of the consensus time on the network size is found to be a power-law form. For small or larger ratio of cost to benefit, the consensus time decreases as the degree exponent increases. However, for moderate ratio of cost to benefit, the consensus time increases with the degree exponent. Our results may provide new insights into opinion dynamics driven by the evolutionary game theory.

Museum Personnel's Opinions on Mobile Guidance Systems

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yoshimura, Hirokazu; Sekiguchi, Hiromi; Yabumoto, Yoshitaka

2007-01-01

While opinions from the general public are certainly important, opinions from the museum staff are also necessary to improve user service systems. this article introduces two groups of museum staff who have evaluated the usability of mobile guidance systems in Japanese museums. One group is the research team who used the PDA system in the National…

The CHESS method of forensic opinion formulation: striving to checkmate bias.

PubMed

Wills, Cheryl D

2008-01-01

Expert witnesses use various methods to render dispassionate opinions. Some forensic psychiatrists acknowledge bias up front; other experts use principles endorsed by the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law or other professional organizations. This article introduces CHESS, a systematic method for reducing bias in expert opinions. The CHESS method involves identifying a Claim or preliminary opinion; developing a Hierarchy of supporting evidence; examining the evidence for weaknesses or areas of Exposure; Studying and revising the claim and supporting evidence; and Synthesizing a revised opinion. Case examples illustrate how the CHESS method may help experts reduce bias while strengthening opinions. The method also helps experts prepare for court by reminding them to anticipate questions that may be asked during cross-examination. The CHESS method provides a framework for formulating, revising, and identifying limitations of opinions, which allows experts to incorporate neutrality into forensic opinions.

Understanding public opinion regarding transit in southeast Michigan.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2015-04-01

This report presents findings from a study on public opinion regarding transit in Southeast Michigan. The overall goals of this : study were to assess the nature of public opinion regarding regional transit and to understand its relation to socio-dem...

Overview of Selection Process for Most Influential Paper of the 1970's

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hayes, Peggy S.; Moser, Kelsey M.

2011-01-01

Slides are for a presentation at the AIAA AFM conference invited session titled, 'AFM Most Influential Papers of the 1970's'. The slides describe the selection process used by the members of the technical committee to select the finalists and winning paper. The slides refer to technical papers published in the past, but have no technical data contained within them.

Working Papers: Astronomy and Astrophysics Panel Reports

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bahcall, John N.; Beichman, Charles A.; Canizares, Claude; Cronin, James; Heeschen, David; Houck, James; Hunten, Donald; Mckee, Christopher F.; Noyes, Robert; Ostriker, Jeremiah P.

1991-01-01

The papers of the panels appointed by the Astronomy and Astrophysics survey Committee are compiled. These papers were advisory to the survey committee and represent the opinions of the members of each panel in the context of their individual charges. The following subject areas are covered: radio astronomy, infrared astronomy, optical/IR from ground, UV-optical from space, interferometry, high energy from space, particle astrophysics, theory and laboratory astrophysics, solar astronomy, planetary astronomy, computing and data processing, policy opportunities, benefits to the nation from astronomy and astrophysics, status of the profession, and science opportunities.

Surveying Colorado Band Directors' Opinions of Skills and Characteristics Important to Successful Music Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miksza, Peter; Roeder, Matthew; Biggs, Dana

2010-01-01

This study was designed to (a) gather band directors' opinions of skills and characteristics important to teaching and (b) examine the relative effectiveness of electronic versus paper survey methods. Survey respondents ranked lists of music, teaching, and personal skills or characteristics in order of importance and answered open-ended items…

Survey of Expert Opinion on Intelligence: Causes of International Differences in Cognitive Ability Tests

PubMed Central

Rindermann, Heiner; Becker, David; Coyle, Thomas R.

2016-01-01

Following Snyderman and Rothman (1987, 1988), we surveyed expert opinions on the current state of intelligence research. This report examines expert opinions on causes of international differences in student assessment and psychometric IQ test results. Experts were surveyed about the importance of culture, genes, education (quantity and quality), wealth, health, geography, climate, politics, modernization, sampling error, test knowledge, discrimination, test bias, and migration. The importance of these factors was evaluated for diverse countries, regions, and groups including Finland, East Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Europe, the Arabian-Muslim world, Latin America, Israel, Jews in the West, Roma (gypsies), and Muslim immigrants. Education was rated by N = 71 experts as the most important cause of international ability differences. Genes were rated as the second most relevant factor but also had the highest variability in ratings. Culture, health, wealth, modernization, and politics were the next most important factors, whereas other factors such as geography, climate, test bias, and sampling error were less important. The paper concludes with a discussion of limitations of the survey (e.g., response rates and validity of expert opinions). PMID:27047425

Vocational Opinion Index.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Benson, Stephen D.; Whittington, Marna C.

The Vocational Opinion Index (VOI) is an instrument used to measure an individual's job readiness posture (JRP). JRP is a term used to define an individual's attitudes, perceptions, and motivations as they reflect on his ability to obtain and maintain a job. The VOI determines an individual's JRP by assessing three psychological diminsions:…

Research in Technical Colleges

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

MacLennan, A.

2008-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to list and demonstrate areas in which research needs to be carried out, or questions answered, in order to raise the quality of technical education. Design/methodology/approach: The area of technical education expanded very rapidly in the late 1950s, and there was little comprehensive knowledge regarding the…

Does the weather influence public opinion about climate change?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Donner, S. D.; McDaniel, J.

2010-12-01

Public opinion in North America about the science of anthropogenic climate change and the motivation for policy action has been variable over the past twenty years. The trends in public opinion over time have been attributed the general lack of pressing public concern about climate change to a range of political, economic and psychological factors. One driving force behind the variability in polling data from year to year may be the weather itself. The difference between what we “expect” - the climate - and what we “get” - the weather - can be a major source of confusion and obfuscation in the public discourse about climate change. For example, reaction to moderate global temperatures in 2007 and 2008 may have helped prompt the spread of a “global cooling” meme in the public and the news media. At the same time, a decrease in the belief in the science of climate change and the need for action has been noted in opinion polls. This study analyzes the relationship between public opinion about climate change and the weather in the U.S. since the mid-1980s using historical polling data from several major organizations (e.g. Gallup, Pew, Harris Interactive, ABC News), historical monthly air temperature (NCDC) and a survey of opinion articles from major U.S. newspapers (Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Houston Chronicle, USA Today). Seasonal and annual monthly temperature anomalies for the northeastern U.S and the continental U.S are compared with available national opinion data for three general categories of questions: i) Is the climate warming?, ii) Is the observed warming due to human activity?, and iii) Are you concerned about climate change? The variability in temperature and public opinion over time is also compared with the variability in the fraction of opinion articles in the newspapers (n ~ 7000) which express general agreement or disagreement with IPCC Summary for Policymakers consensus statements on climate change (“most of

Gathering Opinions on Depression Information Needs and Preferences: Samples and Opinions in Clinic Versus Web-Based Surveys

PubMed Central

Bernstein, Matthew T; Sexton, Kathryn A; Katz, Alan; Beatie, Brooke E

2017-01-01

Background There has been limited research on the information needs and preferences of the public concerning treatment for depression. Very little research is available comparing samples and opinions when recruitment for surveys is done over the Web as opposed to a personal invitation to complete a paper survey. Objective This study aimed to (1) to explore information needs and preferences among members of the public and (2) compare Clinic and Web samples on sample characteristics and survey findings. Methods Web survey participants were recruited with a notice on three self-help association websites (N=280). Clinic survey participants were recruited by a research assistant in the waiting rooms of a family medicine clinic and a walk-in medical clinic (N=238) and completed a paper version of the survey. Results The Clinic and Web samples were similar in age (39.0 years, SD 13.9 vs 40.2 years, SD 12.5, respectively), education, and proportion in full time employment. The Clinic sample was more diverse in demographic characteristics and closer to the demographic characteristics of the region (Winnipeg, Canada) with a higher proportion of males (102/238 [42.9%] vs 45/280 [16.1%]) and nonwhites (Aboriginal, Asian, and black) (69/238 [29.0%] vs 39/280 [13.9%]). The Web sample reported a higher level of emotional distress and had more previous psychological (224/280 [80.0%] vs 83/238 [34.9%]) and pharmacological (202/280 [72.1%] vs 57/238 [23.9%]) treatment. In terms of opinions, most respondents in both settings saw information on a wide range of topics around depression treatment as very important including information about treatment choices, effectiveness of treatment, how long it takes treatment to work, how long treatment continues, what happens when treatment stops, advantages and disadvantages of treatments, and potential side effects. Females, respondents with a white background, and those who had received or felt they would have benefited from therapy in the

Opinions of University Music Teachers on the Musical Competencies Necessary for Primary Education Teachers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Begic, Jasna Šulentic; Begic, Amir; Škojo, Tihana

2017-01-01

This paper describes the research conducted in the Republic of Croatia during the 2012/13 academic year. We have gathered opinions from experts, i.e. teaching methods teachers from seven faculties of teacher education, regarding the music teaching competencies necessary for primary education teachers teaching music in the first several grades of…

Peer-to-peer and mass communication effect on opinion shifts

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kindler, A.; Solomon, S.; Stauffer, D.

2013-02-01

Opinion dynamics is studied through a minimal Ising model with three main influences (fields): personal conservatism (power-law distributed), inter-personal and group pressure, and a global field incorporating peer-to-peer and mass communications, which is generated bottom-up from the faction supporting the new opinion. A rich phase diagram appears separating possible terminal stages of the opinion diffusion, characterizing failure phases by the features of the individuals who had changed their opinion. An exhaustive solution of the model is produced, allowing predictions to be made on the opinion’s assimilation in the society.

Opinion formation driven by PageRank node influence on directed networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eom, Young-Ho; Shepelyansky, Dima L.

2015-10-01

We study a two states opinion formation model driven by PageRank node influence and report an extensive numerical study on how PageRank affects collective opinion formations in large-scale empirical directed networks. In our model the opinion of a node can be updated by the sum of its neighbor nodes' opinions weighted by the node influence of the neighbor nodes at each step. We consider PageRank probability and its sublinear power as node influence measures and investigate evolution of opinion under various conditions. First, we observe that all networks reach steady state opinion after a certain relaxation time. This time scale is decreasing with the heterogeneity of node influence in the networks. Second, we find that our model shows consensus and non-consensus behavior in steady state depending on types of networks: Web graph, citation network of physics articles, and LiveJournal social network show non-consensus behavior while Wikipedia article network shows consensus behavior. Third, we find that a more heterogeneous influence distribution leads to a more uniform opinion state in the cases of Web graph, Wikipedia, and Livejournal. However, the opposite behavior is observed in the citation network. Finally we identify that a small number of influential nodes can impose their own opinion on significant fraction of other nodes in all considered networks. Our study shows that the effects of heterogeneity of node influence on opinion formation can be significant and suggests further investigations on the interplay between node influence and collective opinion in networks.

Abbott Opinions #1-5.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Education Law Center, Inc., Newark, NJ.

This document contains the following "Abbott Opinions": (1) "Early Childhood Education"; (2) "Adequate School Facilities"; (3) "Supplemental Programs and Whole School Reform in Elementary Schools"; (4) "Supplemental Programs in Middle and High Schools"; and (5) "Planning Programs and Budgets…

Opinion formation on multiplex scale-free networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nguyen, Vu Xuan; Xiao, Gaoxi; Xu, Xin-Jian; Li, Guoqi; Wang, Zhen

2018-01-01

Most individuals, if not all, live in various social networks. The formation of opinion systems is an outcome of social interactions and information propagation occurring in such networks. We study the opinion formation with a new rule of pairwise interactions in the novel version of the well-known Deffuant model on multiplex networks composed of two layers, each of which is a scale-free network. It is found that in a duplex network composed of two identical layers, the presence of the multiplexity helps either diminish or enhance opinion diversity depending on the relative magnitudes of tolerance ranges characterizing the degree of openness/tolerance on both layers: there is a steady separation between different regions of tolerance range values on two network layers where multiplexity plays two different roles, respectively. Additionally, the two critical tolerance ranges follow a one-sum rule; that is, each of the layers reaches a complete consensus only if the sum of the tolerance ranges on the two layers is greater than a constant approximately equaling 1, the double of the critical bound on a corresponding isolated network. A further investigation of the coupling between constituent layers quantified by a link overlap parameter reveals that as the layers are loosely coupled, the two opinion systems co-evolve independently, but when the inter-layer coupling is sufficiently strong, a monotonic behavior is observed: an increase in the tolerance range of a layer causes a decline in the opinion diversity on the other layer regardless of the magnitudes of tolerance ranges associated with the layers in question.

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the... the Food Additives Amendment of 1958 (Pub. L. 85-929; Sept. 6, 1958), these opinions were given...

Collating science-based evidence to inform public opinion on the environmental effects of marine drilling platforms in the Mediterranean Sea.

PubMed

Mangano, M C; Sarà, G

2017-03-01

The use of rigorous methodologies to assess environmental, social and health impacts of specific interventions is crucial to disentangle the various components of environmental questions and to inform public opinion. The power of systematic maps relies on the capacity to summarise and organise the areas or relationships most studied, and to highlight key gaps in the evidence base. The recent Italian technical referendum (2016) - a public consultation inviting people to express their opinion by voting to change the rules on the length of licence duration and the decommissioning of offshore oil and gas platform drilling licences - inspired the creation of a systematic map of evidence to scope and quantify the effects of off-shore extraction platforms on Mediterranean marine ecosystems. The map was aimed as a useful model to standardise a "minimal informational threshold", which can inform public opinion at the beginning of any public consultation. Produced by synthesising scientific information, the map represents a reliable layer for any future sustainable strategy in the Mediterranean basin by: (i) providing a summary of the effects of marine gas and oil platforms on the Mediterranean marine ecosystem, (ii) describing the best known affected components on which the biggest monitoring efforts have been focused, and (iii) strengthening the science-policy nexus by offering a credible, salient and legitimate knowledge baseline to both public opinion and decision-makers. The map exercise highlights the knowledge gaps that need filling and taking into due consideration before future transnational and cross-border monitoring and management plans and activities can be addressed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Pattern Selection and Super-Patterns in Opinion Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ben-Naim, Eli; Scheel, Arnd

We study pattern formation in the bounded confidence model of opinion dynamics. In this random process, opinion is quantified by a single variable. Two agents may interact and reach a fair compromise, but only if their difference of opinion falls below a fixed threshold. Starting from a uniform distribution of opinions with compact support, a traveling wave forms and it propagates from the domain boundary into the unstable uniform state. Consequently, the system reaches a steady state with isolated clusters that are separated by distance larger than the interaction range. These clusters form a quasi-periodic pattern where the sizes of the clusters and the separations between them are nearly constant. We obtain analytically the average separation between clusters L. Interestingly, there are also very small quasi-periodic modulations in the size of the clusters. The spatial periods of these modulations are a series of integers that follow from the continued-fraction representation of the irrational average separation L.

Effect of users' opinion evolution on information diffusion in online social networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Hengmin; Kong, Yuehan; Wei, Jing; Ma, Jing

2018-02-01

The process of topic propagation always interweaves information diffusion and opinion evolution, but most previous works studied the models of information diffusion and opinion evolution separately, and seldom focused on their interaction of each other. To shed light on the effect of users' opinion evolution on information diffusion in online social networks, we proposed a model which incorporates opinion evolution into the process of topic propagation. Several real topics propagating on Sina Microblog were collected to analyze individuals' propagation intentions, and different propagation intentions were considered in the model. The topic propagation was simulated to explore the impact of different opinion distributions and intervention with opposite opinion on information diffusion. Results show that the topic with one-sided opinions can spread faster and more widely, and intervention with opposite opinion is an effective measure to guide the topic propagation. The earlier to intervene, the more effectively the topic propagation would be guided.

Attitudes and Opinions of Preservice Professionals: Withholding Life-Sustaining Treatment from Infants with Severe Disabilities.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Coon, Stephanie M.; Keyes, Denis W.

This study compares attitudes and opinions of premedical, nursing, regular education, and special education undergraduate students regarding whether life-sustaining treatment should be withheld from newborns with severe disabilities. The paper begins with a review of the literature, which reveals that the amount of experience an individual has…

29 CFR 18.703 - Bases of opinion testimony by experts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Bases of opinion testimony by experts. The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Bases of opinion testimony by experts. 18.703 Section 18.703...

29 CFR 18.703 - Bases of opinion testimony by experts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Bases of opinion testimony by experts. 18.703 Section 18... Bases of opinion testimony by experts. The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the...

29 CFR 18.703 - Bases of opinion testimony by experts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Bases of opinion testimony by experts. 18.703 Section 18... Bases of opinion testimony by experts. The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the...

29 CFR 18.703 - Bases of opinion testimony by experts.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Bases of opinion testimony by experts. 18.703 Section 18... Bases of opinion testimony by experts. The facts or data in the particular case upon which an expert bases an opinion or inference may be those perceived by or made known to the expert at or before the...

Teachers' Opinions on the Incorporation of Environmental Education in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jekayinfa, Alice Arinlade; Yusuf, Abdul Raheem

2008-01-01

This paper presents the report of a research carried out in Kwara Sate of Nigeria to seek the opinions of teachers on the incorporation of Environmental Education (EE) in the Nigerian Primary School Curriculum. The descriptive survey method was employed for the study. 200 teachers were selected through stratified random sampling technique to cater…

NASA Technical Standards Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gill, Paul S.; Vaughan, William W.; Parker, Nelson C. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

The NASA Technical Standards Program was officially established in 1997 as result of a directive issued by the Administrator. It is responsible for Agency wide technical standards development, adoption (endorsement), and conversion of Center-unique standards for Agency wide use. One major element of the Program is the review of NSA technical standards products and replacement with non-Government Voluntary Consensus Standards in accordance with directions issued by the Office of Management and Budget. As part of the Program's function, it developed a NASA Integrated Technical Standards Initiative that consists of and Agency wide full-text system, standards update notification system, and lessons learned-standards integration system. The Program maintains a 'one stop-shop' Website for technical standards ad related information on aerospace materials, etc. This paper provides information on the development, current status, and plans for the NAS Technical Standards Program along with metrics on the utility of the products provided to both users within the nasa.gov Domain and the Public Domain.

NASA Technical Standards Program

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gill, Paul S.; Vaughan, WIlliam W.

2003-01-01

The NASA Technical Standards Program was officially established in 1997 as result of a directive issued by the Administrator. It is responsible for Agency wide technical standards development, adoption (endorsement), and conversion of Center-unique standards for Agency wide use. One major element of the Program is the review of NSA technical standards products and replacement with non-Government Voluntary Consensus Standards in accordance with directions issued by the Office of Management and Budget. As part of the Program s function, it developed a NASA Integrated Technical Standards Initiative that consists of and Agency wide full-text system, standards update notification system, and lessons learned - standards integration system. The Program maintains a "one stop-shop" Website for technical standards ad related information on aerospace materials, etc. This paper provides information on the development, current status, and plans for the NAS Technical Standards Program along with metrics on the utility of the products provided to both users within the nasa.gov Domain and the Public Domain.

Florida Employer Opinion Survey. Annual Report, August 1991.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Florida State Dept. of Education, Tallahassee.

The third in a series of annual employer opinion reports from the Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP), this 1991 report summarizes the results of three surveys of Florida employers known to have hired former vocational education program participants. One survey solicited employers' general opinions about…

The News Media PRISM: Shaping America’s Opinion of Congress

DTIC Science & Technology

2003-01-01

public gleans much of its knowledge of the political process. Accordingly, the tone of media coverage has a remarkable impact as people form their opinions...conditions in sweatshops and the corruption of public officials. This activist journalism, dubbed "muckraking" by President Theodore Roosevelt, led to...then rush to buy a paper and read all the shocking details." 1 9 Both Hearst and Pulitzer, along with E.W. Scripps, covered social and political issues

The influence of expert opinions on the selection of wastewater treatment alternatives: a group decision-making approach.

PubMed

Kalbar, Pradip P; Karmakar, Subhankar; Asolekar, Shyam R

2013-10-15

The application of multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) to real life decision problems suggests that avoiding the loss of information through scenario-based approaches and including expert opinions in the decision-making process are two major challenges that require more research efforts. Recently, a wastewater treatment technology selection effort has been made with a 'scenario-based' method of MADM. This paper focuses on a novel approach to incorporate expert opinions into the scenario-based decision-making process, as expert opinions play a major role in the selection of treatment technologies. The sets of criteria and the indicators that are used consist of both qualitative and quantitative criteria. The group decision-making (GDM) approach that is implemented for aggregating expert opinions is based on an analytical hierarchy process (AHP), which is the most widely used MADM method. The pairwise comparison matrices (PCMs) for qualitative criteria are formed based on expert opinions, whereas, a novel approach is proposed for generating PCMs for quantitative criteria. It has been determined that the experts largely prefer natural treatment systems because they are more sustainable in any scenario. However, PCMs based on expert opinions suggest that advanced technologies such as the sequencing batch reactor (SBR) can also be appropriate for a given decision scenario. The proposed GDM approach is a rationalized process that will be more appropriate in realistic scenarios where multiple stakeholders with local and regional societal priorities are involved in the selection of treatment technology. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Assessment of online public opinions on large infrastructure projects: A case study of the Three Gorges Project in China

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jiang, Hanchen, E-mail: jhc13@mails.tsinghua.edu.cn; Qiang, Maoshan, E-mail: qiangms@tsinghua.edu.cn; Lin, Peng, E-mail: celinpe@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

Public opinion becomes increasingly salient in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects which have significant impacts to the environment and the society. However, traditional survey methods are inefficient in collection and assessment of the public opinion due to its large quantity and diversity. Recently, Social media platforms provide a rich data source for monitoring and assessing the public opinion on controversial infrastructure projects. This paper proposes an assessment framework to transform unstructured online public opinions on large infrastructure projects into sentimental and topical indicators for enhancing practices of ex post evaluation and public participation. The framework usesmore » web crawlers to collect online comments related to a large infrastructure project and employs two natural language processing technologies, including sentiment analysis and topic modeling, with spatio-temporal analysis, to transform these comments into indicators for assessing online public opinion on the project. Based on the framework, we investigate the online public opinion of the Three Gorges Project on China's largest microblogging site, namely, Weibo. Assessment results present spatial-temporal distributions of post intensity and sentiment polarity, reveals major topics with different sentiments and summarizes managerial implications, for ex post evaluation of the world's largest hydropower project. The proposed assessment framework is expected to be widely applied as a methodological strategy to assess public opinion in the ex post evaluation stage of large infrastructure projects. - Highlights: • We developed a framework to assess online public opinion on large infrastructure projects with environmental impacts. • Indicators were built to assess post intensity, sentiment polarity and major topics of the public opinion. • We took the Three Gorges Project (TGP) as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness proposed framework. �

Zealotry effects on opinion dynamics in the adaptive voter model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klamser, Pascal P.; Wiedermann, Marc; Donges, Jonathan F.; Donner, Reik V.

2017-11-01

The adaptive voter model has been widely studied as a conceptual model for opinion formation processes on time-evolving social networks. Past studies on the effect of zealots, i.e., nodes aiming to spread their fixed opinion throughout the system, only considered the voter model on a static network. Here we extend the study of zealotry to the case of an adaptive network topology co-evolving with the state of the nodes and investigate opinion spreading induced by zealots depending on their initial density and connectedness. Numerical simulations reveal that below the fragmentation threshold a low density of zealots is sufficient to spread their opinion to the whole network. Beyond the transition point, zealots must exhibit an increased degree as compared to ordinary nodes for an efficient spreading of their opinion. We verify the numerical findings using a mean-field approximation of the model yielding a low-dimensional set of coupled ordinary differential equations. Our results imply that the spreading of the zealots' opinion in the adaptive voter model is strongly dependent on the link rewiring probability and the average degree of normal nodes in comparison with that of the zealots. In order to avoid a complete dominance of the zealots' opinion, there are two possible strategies for the remaining nodes: adjusting the probability of rewiring and/or the number of connections with other nodes, respectively.

Characteristics associated with requests by pathologists for second opinions on breast biopsies

PubMed Central

Geller, Berta M; Nelson, Heidi D; Weaver, Donald L; Frederick, Paul D; Allison, Kimberly H; Onega, Tracy; Carney, Patricia A; Tosteson, Anna N A; Elmore, Joann G

2018-01-01

Aims Second opinions in pathology improve patient safety by reducing diagnostic errors, leading to more appropriate clinical treatment decisions. Little objective data are available regarding the factors triggering a request for second opinion despite second opinion consultations being part of the diagnostic system of pathology. Therefore we sought to assess breast biopsy cases and interpreting pathologists characteristics associated with second opinion requests. Methods Collected pathologist surveys and their interpretations of 60 test set cases were used to explore the relationships between case characteristics, pathologist characteristics and case perceptions, and requests for second opinions. Data were evaluated by logistic regression and generalised estimating equations. Results 115 pathologists provided 6900 assessments; pathologists requested second opinions on 70% (4827/6900) of their assessments 36% (1731/4827) of these would not have been required by policy. All associations between case characteristics and requesting second opinions were statistically significant, including diagnostic category, breast density, biopsy type, and number of diagnoses noted per case. Exclusive of institutional policies, pathologists wanted second opinions most frequently for atypia (66%) and least frequently for invasive cancer (20%). Second opinion rates were higher when the pathologist had lower assessment confidence, in cases with higher perceived difficulty, and cases with borderline diagnoses. Conclusions Pathologists request second opinions for challenging cases, particularly those with atypia, high breast density, core needle biopsies, or many co-existing diagnoses. Further studies should evaluate whether the case characteristics identified in this study could be used as clinical criteria to prompt system-level strategies for mandating second opinions. PMID:28465449

Introducing Development Education in Technical Universities: Successful Experiences in Spain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Boni, A.; Perez-Foguet, A.

2008-01-01

This paper presents and analyses the main characteristics of successful experiences of Development Education (DE) introduced in two major Spanish Technical Universities (Technical University of Catalonia, TUC, and Technical University of Valencia, TUV) during the nineties and the beginning of the twenty-first century. In this paper, after a brief…

Teachers' Opinion Survey on the Use of ICT Tools to Support Attendance-Based Teaching

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castro Sanchez, Jose Juan; Aleman, Elena Chirino

2011-01-01

The present paper reports on the results obtained from a teachers' opinion survey on the use of ICT tools to support of attendance-based teaching. In order to carry out this study, it was necessary to design a questionnaire to collect data among all in-service teachers with access to the university virtual campus. The findings show that…

Detecting opinion spams through supervised boosting approach.

PubMed

Hazim, Mohamad; Anuar, Nor Badrul; Ab Razak, Mohd Faizal; Abdullah, Nor Aniza

2018-01-01

Product reviews are the individual's opinions, judgement or belief about a certain product or service provided by certain companies. Such reviews serve as guides for these companies to plan and monitor their business ventures in terms of increasing productivity or enhancing their product/service qualities. Product reviews can also increase business profits by convincing future customers about the products which they have interest in. In the mobile application marketplace such as Google Playstore, reviews and star ratings are used as indicators of the application quality. However, among all these reviews, hereby also known as opinions, spams also exist, to disrupt the online business balance. Previous studies used the time series and neural network approach (which require a lot of computational power) to detect these opinion spams. However, the detection performance can be restricted in terms of accuracy because the approach focusses on basic, discrete and document level features only thereby, projecting little statistical relationships. Aiming to improve the detection of opinion spams in mobile application marketplace, this study proposes using statistical based features that are modelled through the supervised boosting approach such as the Extreme Gradient Boost (XGBoost) and the Generalized Boosted Regression Model (GBM) to evaluate two multilingual datasets (i.e. English and Malay language). From the evaluation done, it was found that the XGBoost is most suitable for detecting opinion spams in the English dataset while the GBM Gaussian is most suitable for the Malay dataset. The comparative analysis also indicates that the implementation of the proposed statistical based features had achieved a detection accuracy rate of 87.43 per cent on the English dataset and 86.13 per cent on the Malay dataset.

42 CFR 1008.31 - OIG fees for the cost of advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false OIG fees for the cost of advisory opinions. 1008.31... SERVICES OIG AUTHORITIES ADVISORY OPINIONS BY THE OIG Advisory Opinion Fees § 1008.31 OIG fees for the cost of advisory opinions. (a) Responsibility for fees. The requestor is responsible for paying a fee...

Using irreversible compression in digital radiology: a preliminary study of the opinions of radiologists

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seeram, Euclid

2006-03-01

The large volumes of digital images produced by digital imaging modalities in Radiology have provided the motivation for the development of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) in an effort to provide an organized mechanism for digital image management. The development of more sophisticated methods of digital image acquisition (Multislice CT and Digital Mammography, for example), as well as the implementation and performance of PACS and Teleradiology systems in a health care environment, have created challenges in the area of image compression with respect to storing and transmitting digital images. Image compression can be reversible (lossless) or irreversible (lossy). While in the former, there is no loss of information, the latter presents concerns since there is a loss of information. This loss of information from diagnostic medical images is of primary concern not only to radiologists, but also to patients and their physicians. In 1997, Goldberg pointed out that "there is growing evidence that lossy compression can be applied without significantly affecting the diagnostic content of images... there is growing consensus in the radiologic community that some forms of lossy compression are acceptable". The purpose of this study was to explore the opinions of expert radiologists, and related professional organizations on the use of irreversible compression in routine practice The opinions of notable radiologists in the US and Canada are varied indicating no consensus of opinion on the use of irreversible compression in primary diagnosis, however, they are generally positive on the notion of the image storage and transmission advantages. Almost all radiologists are concerned with the litigation potential of an incorrect diagnosis based on irreversible compressed images. The survey of several radiology professional and related organizations reveals that no professional practice standards exist for the use of irreversible compression. Currently, the

Arms and alliance in Japanese public opinion

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Umemoto, T.

1985-01-01

This thesis analyzes the transformation of Japanese public opinion concerning the nation's security posture during the past decade. Until the early 1970s, the peculiar strength of a neutralist-pacifist outlook among the Japanese people, which arose in large part from the absence of a serious external threat severely encumbered Tokyo's defense efforts in the context of the alliance with the United States. In particular, such state of domestic opinion gave rise to what the author has elected to call the institutionalized constraints - limitations deriving from constitutional interpretation, the Three Non-Nuclear Principles, and the Three Principles on Weapons Exports - onmore » the scope of such endeavors. It moreover prepared the condition for the Government's adoption of restrictive military buildup policies in the National Defense Program Outline. Over the past decade, however, as Japan's security environment has deteriorated with the growth of the putative Soviet threat, and as the United States and China have come to expect greater Japanese defense efforts, the climate of opinion within Japan has gradually shifted in favor of a security posture based on the Mutual Security Treaty (MST) and the Self-Defense Forces (SDFs). Opinion polls have come to indicate solid popular approval of maintenance of armament and participation in alliance.« less

29 CFR 18.704 - Opinion on ultimate issue.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Opinion on ultimate issue. 18.704 Section 18.704 Labor... ultimate issue. Testimony in the form of an opinion or inference otherwise admissible is not objectionable because it embraces an ultimate issue to be decided by the judge as trier of fact. ...

29 CFR 1608.2 - Written interpretation and opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 4 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Written interpretation and opinion. 1608.2 Section 1608.2... ACTION APPROPRIATE UNDER TITLE VII OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, AS AMENDED § 1608.2 Written interpretation and opinion. These Guidelines constitute “a written interpretation and opinion” of the Equal...

Unresolved Technical Issues in Fair Interest Measurement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cole, Nancy S.

The problem of sex differences in interest measurement involves many technical issues and procedures. The purpose of this paper is to provide a description of the technical problems involved in construction, scoring, and interpretation of interest measures as related to sex differences and to suggest guidelines within these technical issues which…

The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change.

PubMed

Mallinson, Daniel J; Hatemi, Peter K

2018-01-01

Extant research shows that social pressures influence acts of political participation, such as turning out to vote. However, we know less about how conformity pressures affect one's deeply held political values and opinions. Using a discussion-based experiment, we untangle the unique and combined effects of information and social pressure on a political opinion that is highly salient, politically charged, and part of one's identity. We find that while information plays a role in changing a person's opinion, the social delivery of that information has the greatest effect. Thirty three percent of individuals in our treatment condition change their opinion due to the social delivery of information, while ten percent respond only to social pressure and ten percent respond only to information. Participants that change their opinion due to social pressure in our experiment are more conservative politically, conscientious, and neurotic than those that did not.

The effects of information and social conformity on opinion change

PubMed Central

Hatemi, Peter K.

2018-01-01

Extant research shows that social pressures influence acts of political participation, such as turning out to vote. However, we know less about how conformity pressures affect one’s deeply held political values and opinions. Using a discussion-based experiment, we untangle the unique and combined effects of information and social pressure on a political opinion that is highly salient, politically charged, and part of one’s identity. We find that while information plays a role in changing a person’s opinion, the social delivery of that information has the greatest effect. Thirty three percent of individuals in our treatment condition change their opinion due to the social delivery of information, while ten percent respond only to social pressure and ten percent respond only to information. Participants that change their opinion due to social pressure in our experiment are more conservative politically, conscientious, and neurotic than those that did not. PMID:29718958

Studies of Opinion Stability for Small Dynamic Networks with Opportunistic Agents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sobkowicz, Pawel

There are numerous examples of societies with extremely stable mix of contrasting opinions. We argue that this stability is a result of an interplay between society network topology adjustment and opinion changing processes. To support this position we present a computer model of opinion formation based on some novel assumptions, designed to bring the model closer to social reality. In our model, the agents, in addition to changing their opinions due to influence of the rest of society and external propaganda, have the ability to modify their social network, forming links with agents sharing the same opinions and cutting the links with those they disagree with. To improve the model further we divide the agents into "fanatics" and "opportunists," depending on how easy it is to change their opinions. The simulations show significant differences compared to traditional models, where network links are static. In particular, for the dynamical model where inter-agent links are adjustable, the final network structure and opinion distribution is shown to resemble real world observations, such as social structures and persistence of minority groups even when most of the society is against them and the propaganda is strong.

A Framework for Evidence-Based Licensure of Adaptive Autonomous Systems: Technical Areas

DTIC Science & Technology

2016-03-01

subjective judgments by human experts . They are design dependent, but address questions of whether the system is performing as needed, as opposed...I N S T I T U T E F O R D E F E N S E A N A L Y S E S A Framework for Evidence-Based Licensure of Adaptive Autonomous Systems : Technical Areas...and Licensure of Autonomous Systems ,” for the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The views, opinions, and findings should not be construed as

Characteristics associated with requests by pathologists for second opinions on breast biopsies.

PubMed

Geller, Berta M; Nelson, Heidi D; Weaver, Donald L; Frederick, Paul D; Allison, Kimberly H; Onega, Tracy; Carney, Patricia A; Tosteson, Anna N A; Elmore, Joann G

2017-11-01

Second opinions in pathology improve patient safety by reducing diagnostic errors, leading to more appropriate clinical treatment decisions. Little objective data are available regarding the factors triggering a request for second opinion despite second opinion consultations being part of the diagnostic system of pathology. Therefore we sought to assess breast biopsy cases and interpreting pathologists characteristics associated with second opinion requests. Collected pathologist surveys and their interpretations of 60 test set cases were used to explore the relationships between case characteristics, pathologist characteristics and case perceptions, and requests for second opinions. Data were evaluated by logistic regression and generalised estimating equations. 115 pathologists provided 6900 assessments; pathologists requested second opinions on 70% (4827/6900) of their assessments 36% (1731/4827) of these would not have been required by policy. All associations between case characteristics and requesting second opinions were statistically significant, including diagnostic category, breast density, biopsy type, and number of diagnoses noted per case. Exclusive of institutional policies, pathologists wanted second opinions most frequently for atypia (66%) and least frequently for invasive cancer (20%). Second opinion rates were higher when the pathologist had lower assessment confidence, in cases with higher perceived difficulty, and cases with borderline diagnoses. Pathologists request second opinions for challenging cases, particularly those with atypia, high breast density, core needle biopsies, or many co-existing diagnoses. Further studies should evaluate whether the case characteristics identified in this study could be used as clinical criteria to prompt system-level strategies for mandating second opinions. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Information Services. Miscellaneous Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

International Federation of Library Associations, The Hague (Netherlands).

Papers on audiovisual information resources, the history of technical libraries, online legal information, and information technology for schoolchildren, which were presented at the 1983 International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) conference, include: (1) "Continuing Issues in the Provision of Audiovisual Information Resources -…

Tuition and Finance Issues for Public Institutions. AGB Occasional Paper No. 15.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wallace, Thomas P.; Greer, Darryl G.; Mingle, James R.; Novak, Richard J.

1992-01-01

This paper contains three articles which present the opinions of the authors on public college tuition and state finance. The problem addressed is the large increase in tuition charged by public sector, four-year colleges coupled with the effects of fiscal constraints facing the states. After an introduction by Richard J. Novak, the papers are:…

Sex differences in opinion towards mental illness of secondary school students in Hong Kong.

PubMed

Ng, P; Chan, K F

2000-01-01

Sex differences in social attitudes have been well documented. Women hold more positive attitudes toward mental illness than men do. This paper reports on the effect of sex differences in a study of secondary school students' opinions about mental illness in Hong Kong. A total of 2,223 secondary school students, drawn by random sample, completed a 45-item questionnaire on Opinion about Mental Illness in Chinese Community (OMICC) with a six-point Likert Scale. Individual items with weak correlations were eliminated, leaving 33 items for analysis (Cronbach's Alpha = .866). Using factor analysis six factors were identified. These include: Benevolence, Separatism, Stereotyping, Restrictiveness, Pessimistic Prediction and Stigmatization. Results showed that girls scored higher regarding benevolence. Boys were found to have more stereotyping, restrictive, pessimistic and stigmatizing attitudes towards mental illness.

[State school children's opinions regarding violence in the media].

PubMed

Piedrahita S, Laura E

2009-01-01

To describe the opinion of schoolage children, from a public school, regarding the violence they perceive in the media. Descriptive-exploratory research with a sample, selected according to the child's age in a public school. Quantitative data were collected. There were found common issues related to the child's opinion about the violence present in the media such as frequent exposure to the media violence and lack of parental supervision. Social context and constant exposure to the media violence affect the children's opinion about the violence phenomenon and their predisposition to it.

Editorial opinion: public dissemination of raw turbulence data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sillero, Juan A.; Jiménez, Javier

2016-04-01

Many of the papers in this issue deal with processing of pre-existing large-scale turbulence data. We argue here that there is a certain urgency to the discussion of whether raw data should be made publicly available within the turbulence community, and of which are the best procedures, technology and rules for possible dissemination. Besides expressing the personal opinion that such sharing would be advantageous for the field, the urgency mostly arises from the danger that funding agencies and other institutions would otherwise set standards without proper community input. The experience of the Madrid School of Aeronautics with the dissemination of numerical simulation results is briefly reviewed, including the present technological solutions and usage statistics.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 32: A new era in international technical communication: American-Russian collaboration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Flammia, Madelyn; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Keene, Michael L.; Burger, Robert H.; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

Until the recent dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Communist Party exerted a strict control of access to and dissemination of scientific and technical information (STI). This article presents models of the Soviet-style information society and the Western-style information society and discusses the effects of centralized governmental control of information on Russian technical communication practices. The effects of political control on technical communication are then used to interpret the results of a survey of Russian and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the time devoted to technical communication, their collaborative writing practices and their attitudes toward collaboration, the kinds of technical documents they produce and use, their views regarding the appropriate content for an undergraduate technical communication course, and their use of computer technology. Finally, the implications of these findings for future collaboration between Russian and U.S. engineers and scientists are examined.

Scientific Opinion on Risk Assessment of Synthetic Biology.

PubMed

Epstein, Michelle M; Vermeire, Theo

2016-08-01

In 2013, three Scientific Committees of the European Commission (EC) drafted Scientific Opinions on synthetic biology that provide an operational definition and address risk assessment methodology, safety aspects, environmental risks, knowledge gaps, and research priorities. These Opinions contribute to the international discussions on the risk governance for synthetic biology developments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Collective opinion formation model under Bayesian updating and confirmation bias

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishi, Ryosuke; Masuda, Naoki

2013-06-01

We propose a collective opinion formation model with a so-called confirmation bias. The confirmation bias is a psychological effect with which, in the context of opinion formation, an individual in favor of an opinion is prone to misperceive new incoming information as supporting the current belief of the individual. Our model modifies a Bayesian decision-making model for single individuals [M. Rabin and J. L. Schrag, Q. J. Econ.0033-553310.1162/003355399555945 114, 37 (1999)] for the case of a well-mixed population of interacting individuals in the absence of the external input. We numerically simulate the model to show that all the agents eventually agree on one of the two opinions only when the confirmation bias is weak. Otherwise, the stochastic population dynamics ends up creating a disagreement configuration (also called polarization), particularly for large system sizes. A strong confirmation bias allows various final disagreement configurations with different fractions of the individuals in favor of the opposite opinions.

NASA Scientific and Technical Publications: A Catalog of Special Publications, Reference Publications, Conference Publications, and Technical Papers 1991-1992

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-02-01

Scientific and Technical Information EXOBIOLOGY. HEALTH. MICROBIOLOGY . MICROOR- System during September 1990. Subject coverage includes: GANISMS...Houston. TX N91-24731 National Aeronautics and Space Administration. MICROBIOLOGY ON SPACE STATION FREEDOM Washington, DCr DUANE L. PIERSON, ed...and solution INASA-SP-7011(345)) p 37 N91-16547 Beyond the Baseline 1991ý Proceedings of the Space [NASA-TP-3242) p 43 N92-33483 Microbiology on Space

Developing technical expertise in emergency medicine--the role of simulation in procedural skill acquisition.

PubMed

Wang, Ernest E; Quinones, Joshua; Fitch, Michael T; Dooley-Hash, Suzanne; Griswold-Theodorson, Sharon; Medzon, Ron; Korley, Frederick; Laack, Torrey; Robinett, Adam; Clay, Lamont

2008-11-01

Developing technical expertise in medical procedures is an integral component of emergency medicine (EM) practice and training. This article is the work of an expert panel composed of members from the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) Interest Group, the SAEM Technology in Medical Education Committee, and opinions derived from the May 2008 Academic Emergency Medicine Consensus Conference, "The Science of Simulation in Healthcare." The writing group reviewed the simulation literature on procedures germane to EM training, virtual reality training, and instructional learning theory as it pertains to skill acquisition and procedural skills decay. The authors discuss the role of simulation in teaching technical expertise, identify training conditions that lead to effective learning, and provide recommendations for future foci of research.

Opinions of Inservice Experts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Vera R.; Hahn, Margaret

Two hundred and twenty-five inservice experts (administrators, counselors, teachers, and curriculum specialists) from 15 school districts were surveyed, and their opinions used in planning an improved mathematics education teacher preparation program at a Texas university. Results of the survey indicate that although most of the parties felt…

Breast Imaging Second Opinions Impact Surgical Management.

PubMed

Spivey, Tara Lynn; Carlson, Kjirsten Ayn; Janssen, Imke; Witt, Thomas R; Jokich, Peter; Madrigrano, Andrea

2015-07-01

Breast surgeons often see women for second opinions for abnormalities found on breast imaging. For second opinions, these images are submitted for review and interpretation by dedicated breast imagers. This study evaluated the conformity of results among interpretation of imaging submitted from outside hospitals both from tertiary care centers, as well as community programs, in an attempt to evaluate the utility of this practice for the sake of clinical management and resource utilization. A retrospective chart review was conducted on all breast patients that submitted outside imaging films for the years 2011 to 2013 at Rush University Medical Center (RUMC). The radiologic diagnosis and each patient's proposed management plan was collected and evaluated for concordance between the outside institutions and RUMC. A total of 380 patients who presented for second opinions with an interpretation of outside exams were evaluated. In 47.4 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 42.4-52.4] of cases there was distinct variance in radiologic impression. For 53.5 % (95 % CI 48.4-58.5) of patients, there was a change in recommended management plan, which included recommendations for either additional imaging or need for additional biopsy. In total, this changed the overall surgical management in 27.1 % (95 % CI 22.8-31.9) of cases. In six patients, the reinterpretation of outside imaging detected new malignancies not previously identified. Overall, 83.7 % (95 % CI 79.7-87.1) of patients who submitted imaging from outside institutions chose to complete the remainder of their treatment at RUMC. The practice of second opinion review changed overall definitive management at our specialty center in more than one in four cases. In addition, the review identified six previously unrecognized malignancies. Given this data, the practice of second opinions and interpretation of outside exams should continue despite the additional resources required.

Changes in alcohol policies and public opinions in Finland 2003-2013.

PubMed

Österberg, Esa; Lindeman, Mikaela; Karlsson, Thomas

2014-05-01

There is a constant and ongoing interplay between public opinions and public policies, alcohol policies being no exception. This article describes the development of public opinions regarding alcohol policy in Finland during a 10-year period between 2003 and 2013. Fluctuations in the alcohol policy opinion climate are put in context by looking at concurrent changes in alcohol policies and in total alcohol consumption. The study is based on data from opinion surveys on alcohol policies commissioned by the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Finnish Social and Health Association. The opinion polls include questions about the general acceptance of prevailing alcohol policies, appropriate sales channels of different alcoholic beverage categories and opinions about the legal age limits and prices of alcoholic beverages. In the study, changes in alcohol policy during 2003-2013 are surveyed, and their relationship with changes in alcohol policy opinion is examined. There seem to be a strong positive correlation during the study period between the level of alcohol consumption and the share of those wanting a more restrictive alcohol policy in Finland. It seems that an increased level of awareness of alcohol-related issues among the general public created a more restrictive opinion climate on alcohol policy issues after the big alcohol excise duty decrease in 2004. The reverse seems to happen but in a lesser degree when alcohol excise duties has been increased after the year 2007. © 2014 Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs.

Gathering Opinions on Depression Information Needs and Preferences: Samples and Opinions in Clinic Versus Web-Based Surveys.

PubMed

Bernstein, Matthew T; Walker, John R; Sexton, Kathryn A; Katz, Alan; Beatie, Brooke E

2017-04-24

There has been limited research on the information needs and preferences of the public concerning treatment for depression. Very little research is available comparing samples and opinions when recruitment for surveys is done over the Web as opposed to a personal invitation to complete a paper survey. This study aimed to (1) to explore information needs and preferences among members of the public and (2) compare Clinic and Web samples on sample characteristics and survey findings. Web survey participants were recruited with a notice on three self-help association websites (N=280). Clinic survey participants were recruited by a research assistant in the waiting rooms of a family medicine clinic and a walk-in medical clinic (N=238) and completed a paper version of the survey. The Clinic and Web samples were similar in age (39.0 years, SD 13.9 vs 40.2 years, SD 12.5, respectively), education, and proportion in full time employment. The Clinic sample was more diverse in demographic characteristics and closer to the demographic characteristics of the region (Winnipeg, Canada) with a higher proportion of males (102/238 [42.9%] vs 45/280 [16.1%]) and nonwhites (Aboriginal, Asian, and black) (69/238 [29.0%] vs 39/280 [13.9%]). The Web sample reported a higher level of emotional distress and had more previous psychological (224/280 [80.0%] vs 83/238 [34.9%]) and pharmacological (202/280 [72.1%] vs 57/238 [23.9%]) treatment. In terms of opinions, most respondents in both settings saw information on a wide range of topics around depression treatment as very important including information about treatment choices, effectiveness of treatment, how long it takes treatment to work, how long treatment continues, what happens when treatment stops, advantages and disadvantages of treatments, and potential side effects. Females, respondents with a white background, and those who had received or felt they would have benefited from therapy in the past saw more information topics as very

Using Spatial, Economic, and Ecological Opinion Data to Inform Gray Wolf Conservation

PubMed Central

Berry, Meredith S.; Nickerson, Norma P.; Metcalf, Elizabeth Covelli

2018-01-01

Public opinion can be an influential factor in wildlife management decisions. Evaluating public opinions can help legitimize, or delegitimize, management and facilitate long-term conservation goals. This is especially true for the controversial issues surrounding the management of predators. We surveyed Montana, USA, residents during summer of 2013 to measure public opinion regarding economic and ecological impacts of the gray wolf (Canis lupus), and current management of this species. Although opinions were polarized in some areas, a greater percentage of Montanans think that wolves negatively affect the economy, but impact tourism (which contributes to the economy) positively. These differences may reflect the belief that rancher economic losses from wolf predation of cattle is greater than overall tourism gains related to wolves (e.g., wolf-watching), in addition to the perception of wolves negatively affecting big game (e.g., elk [Cervus canadensis]). Results also show that a slightly greater percentage of Montanans feel that wolves positively rather than negatively affect the ecosystem. Regarding specific practices, more Montanans than not have a positive opinion of maintaining wolves on the landscape and also support hunting of wolves. More Montanans hold negative rather than positive opinions, however, regarding wolf trapping. This result was most evident in western Montana as assessed by a spatial distribution of opinions by county and has implications for current wolf management and nontarget species. Results of ordinal regression analyses revealed that big game hunters, males, and those who held negative opinions of the effect of wolves on the Montana ecosystem and economy were significantly more likely to support both hunting and trapping practices. Living in western Montana predicted positive opinions of hunting, but alternatively, negative opinions of trapping. These results provide an understanding of public opinion of wolf management by county as

Using Spatial, Economic, and Ecological Opinion Data to Inform Gray Wolf Conservation.

PubMed

Berry, Meredith S; Nickerson, Norma P; Metcalf, Elizabeth Covelli

2016-09-01

Public opinion can be an influential factor in wildlife management decisions. Evaluating public opinions can help legitimize, or delegitimize, management and facilitate long-term conservation goals. This is especially true for the controversial issues surrounding the management of predators. We surveyed Montana, USA, residents during summer of 2013 to measure public opinion regarding economic and ecological impacts of the gray wolf ( Canis lupus ), and current management of this species. Although opinions were polarized in some areas, a greater percentage of Montanans think that wolves negatively affect the economy, but impact tourism (which contributes to the economy) positively. These differences may reflect the belief that rancher economic losses from wolf predation of cattle is greater than overall tourism gains related to wolves (e.g., wolf-watching), in addition to the perception of wolves negatively affecting big game (e.g., elk [ Cervus canadensis ]). Results also show that a slightly greater percentage of Montanans feel that wolves positively rather than negatively affect the ecosystem. Regarding specific practices, more Montanans than not have a positive opinion of maintaining wolves on the landscape and also support hunting of wolves. More Montanans hold negative rather than positive opinions, however, regarding wolf trapping. This result was most evident in western Montana as assessed by a spatial distribution of opinions by county and has implications for current wolf management and nontarget species. Results of ordinal regression analyses revealed that big game hunters, males, and those who held negative opinions of the effect of wolves on the Montana ecosystem and economy were significantly more likely to support both hunting and trapping practices. Living in western Montana predicted positive opinions of hunting, but alternatively, negative opinions of trapping. These results provide an understanding of public opinion of wolf management by county as

The Role of Social Context in Shaping Student-Athlete Opinions

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

How do student-athletes form opinions? This is a particularly important question given ongoing debates about whether student-athletes should be paid and/or allowed to unionize. These debates concern the rights and benefits accrued directly to student-athletes, and thus, understanding their attitudes is of obvious import. Yet, virtually no recent work has delved into how student-athletes form opinions on these issues. We fill this gap with a theoretical framework that predicts changes in social context alter opinions. This leads to the hypothesis that opinions will change once a student-athlete completes his/her career and finds him/herself in a distinct social network. We test the prediction with a survey, implemented in 2012, of one of the most notable athletic conferences in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): the Big Ten. We find that post-career student-athletes demonstrate higher levels of support for pay for play and unionization. Our results suggest that student-athletes' opinions seem to depend on their extant social contexts. While our data, from 2012, neither speak to current opinions – given the quickly evolving landscape of college athletics – nor demonstrate what reforms may be “best,” they do accentuate the power of social context in shaping student-athletes' attitudes. PMID:25522052

The role of social context in shaping student-athlete opinions.

PubMed

Druckman, James N; Gilli, Mauro; Klar, Samara; Robison, Joshua

2014-01-01

How do student-athletes form opinions? This is a particularly important question given ongoing debates about whether student-athletes should be paid and/or allowed to unionize. These debates concern the rights and benefits accrued directly to student-athletes, and thus, understanding their attitudes is of obvious import. Yet, virtually no recent work has delved into how student-athletes form opinions on these issues. We fill this gap with a theoretical framework that predicts changes in social context alter opinions. This leads to the hypothesis that opinions will change once a student-athlete completes his/her career and finds him/herself in a distinct social network. We test the prediction with a survey, implemented in 2012, of one of the most notable athletic conferences in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA): the Big Ten. We find that post-career student-athletes demonstrate higher levels of support for pay for play and unionization. Our results suggest that student-athletes' opinions seem to depend on their extant social contexts. While our data, from 2012, neither speak to current opinions - given the quickly evolving landscape of college athletics - nor demonstrate what reforms may be "best," they do accentuate the power of social context in shaping student-athletes' attitudes.

Essays of a peripheral mind: An opinion on policy

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Strengthening the connections between science and policy is critical if science is to have meaningful impacts. Policy is often primarily based on arrays of opinion and experience. Science typically shapes some of these opinions. This essay addresses characteristics of science and its communicatio...

[NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Report 1, part 1:] Technical communications in aeronautics: Results of an exploratory study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Glassman, Myron; Oliu, Walter E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.

1989-01-01

A study was undertaken that explored several aspects of technical communications in aeronautics. The study, which utilized survey research in the form of a self-administered questionnaire, was sent to 2,000 randomly selected members of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Six hundred and six usable questionnaires (30.3 percent) were received by the established cut off date. The study had five objectives. The first was to solicit the opinions of aeronautical engineers and scientists regarding the importance of technical communications to their profession; second, to determine their use and production of technical communications; third, to seek their views on the content of an undergraduate course in technical communications; fourth, to determine their use of libraries/technical information centers; and finally, to determine the use and importance of computer and information technology to them. The findings add considerable information to the knowledge of technical communications practices among aeronautical engineers and scientists and reinforce some of the conventional wisdom about technical communications and question other widely-held notions.

42 CFR 411.380 - When CMS issues a formal advisory opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 42 Public Health 2 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false When CMS issues a formal advisory opinion. 411.380... Relationships Between Physicians and Entities Furnishing Designated Health Services § 411.380 When CMS issues a formal advisory opinion. (a) CMS considers an advisory opinion to be issued once it has received payment...

Stochastic opinion formation in scale-free networks

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

M. Bartolozzi; D. B. Leinweber; A. W. Thomas

2005-10-01

The dynamics of opinion formation in large groups of people is a complex nonlinear phenomenon whose investigation is just beginning. Both collective behavior and personal views play an important role in this mechanism. In the present work we mimic the dynamics of opinion formation of a group of agents, represented by two states 1, as a stochastic response of each agent to the opinion of his/her neighbors in the social network and to feedback from the average opinion of the whole. In the light of recent studies, a scale-free Barabsi-Albert network has been selected to simulate the topology of themore » interactions. A turbulent-like dynamics, characterized by an intermittent behavior, is observed for a certain range of the model parameters. The problem of uncertainty in decision taking is also addressed both from a topological point of view, using random and targeted removal of agents from the network, and by implementing a three-state model, where the third state, zero, is related to the information available to each agent. Finally, the results of the model are tested against the best known network of social interactions: the stock market. A time series of daily closures of the Dow-Jones index has been used as an indicator of the possible applicability of our model in the financial context. Good qualitative agreement is found.« less

Accepted standards on how to give a Medical Research Presentation: a systematic review of expert opinion papers.

PubMed

Blome, Christine; Sondermann, Hanno; Augustin, Matthias

2017-01-01

Background: This systematic review aimed to extract recommendations from expert opinion articles on how to give a medical research presentation on a scientific conference and to determine whether the experts agree on what makes an effective or poor presentation. Methods: Presentation-related terms were searched within article titles listed in PubMed, restricting the search to English-language articles published from January 1975 to July 2015. Recommendations were extracted from the articles, grouped by content, and analyzed for frequency. Ninety-one articles were included. Among 679 different recommendations, 29 were given in more than 20% of articles each. The five most frequent recommendations were to keep slides simple, adjust the talk to the audience, rehearse, not read the talk from slides or a manuscript, and make eye contact. Results: No article gave advice that was the complete opposite of the 29 most frequent recommendations with the exception of whether a light or dark background should be used for slides. Conclusions: Researchers should comply with these widely accepted standards to be perceived as effective presenters.

Accepted standards on how to give a Medical Research Presentation: a systematic review of expert opinion papers

PubMed Central

Blome, Christine; Sondermann, Hanno; Augustin, Matthias

2017-01-01

Background: This systematic review aimed to extract recommendations from expert opinion articles on how to give a medical research presentation on a scientific conference and to determine whether the experts agree on what makes an effective or poor presentation. Methods: Presentation-related terms were searched within article titles listed in PubMed, restricting the search to English-language articles published from January 1975 to July 2015. Recommendations were extracted from the articles, grouped by content, and analyzed for frequency. Ninety-one articles were included. Among 679 different recommendations, 29 were given in more than 20% of articles each. The five most frequent recommendations were to keep slides simple, adjust the talk to the audience, rehearse, not read the talk from slides or a manuscript, and make eye contact. Results: No article gave advice that was the complete opposite of the 29 most frequent recommendations with the exception of whether a light or dark background should be used for slides. Conclusions: Researchers should comply with these widely accepted standards to be perceived as effective presenters. PMID:28293678

Alport syndrome: facts and opinions.

PubMed

Kashtan, Clifford

2017-01-01

In this commentary, I review recent advances in Alport syndrome genetics, diagnostics, and therapeutics. I also offer some opinions regarding strategies to optimize the early identification of affected individuals to promote early therapeutic intervention.

Dynamics of bounded confidence opinion in heterogeneous social networks: Concord against partial antagonism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurmyshev, Evguenii; Juárez, Héctor A.; González-Silva, Ricardo A.

2011-08-01

Bounded confidence models of opinion dynamics in social networks have been actively studied in recent years, in particular, opinion formation and extremism propagation along with other aspects of social dynamics. In this work, after an analysis of limitations of the Deffuant-Weisbuch (DW) bounded confidence, relative agreement model, we propose the mixed model that takes into account two psychological types of individuals. Concord agents (C-agents) are friendly people; they interact in a way that their opinions always get closer. Agents of the other psychological type show partial antagonism in their interaction (PA-agents). Opinion dynamics in heterogeneous social groups, consisting of agents of the two types, was studied on different social networks: Erdös-Rényi random graphs, small-world networks and complete graphs. Limit cases of the mixed model, pure C- and PA-societies, were also studied. We found that group opinion formation is, qualitatively, almost independent of the topology of networks used in this work. Opinion fragmentation, polarization and consensus are observed in the mixed model at different proportions of PA- and C-agents, depending on the value of initial opinion tolerance of agents. As for the opinion formation and arising of “dissidents”, the opinion dynamics of the C-agents society was found to be similar to that of the DW model, except for the rate of opinion convergence. Nevertheless, mixed societies showed dynamics and bifurcation patterns notably different to those of the DW model. The influence of biased initial conditions over opinion formation in heterogeneous social groups was also studied versus the initial value of opinion uncertainty, varying the proportion of the PA- to C-agents. Bifurcation diagrams showed an impressive evolution of collective opinion, in particular, radical changes of left to right consensus or vice versa at an opinion uncertainty value equal to 0.7 in the model with the PA/C mixture of population near 50/50.

49 CFR 604.21 - Special considerations for advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Desist Orders § 604.21 Special considerations for advisory opinions. Based on new facts involving significant financial considerations, the Chief Counsel may take appropriate enforcement action contrary to an... 49 Transportation 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Special considerations for advisory opinions. 604...

Media Consumption and Population Characteristics of Political Opinion Leaders.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Garrison, John P.; Andersen, Peter A.

This study examines the information sources and population characteristics that differentiate political opinion-leaders from nonleaders. A telephone poll of 339 subjects provided data indicating that political opinion leaders receive more information about candidates from all media, as well as through interpersonal communication, than do…

Interplay between media and social influence in the collective behavior of opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colaiori, Francesca; Castellano, Claudio

2015-10-01

Messages conveyed by media act as a major drive in shaping attitudes and inducing opinion shift. On the other hand, individuals are strongly affected by peer pressure while forming their own judgment. We solve a general model of opinion dynamics where individuals either hold one of two alternative opinions or are undecided and interact pairwise while exposed to an external influence. As media pressure increases, the system moves from pluralism to global consensus; four distinct classes of collective behavior emerge, crucially depending on the outcome of direct interactions among individuals holding opposite opinions. Observed nontrivial behaviors include hysteretic phenomena and resilience of minority opinions. Notably, consensus could be unachievable even when media and microscopic interactions are biased in favor of the same opinion: The unfavored opinion might even gain the support of the majority.

Interplay between media and social influence in the collective behavior of opinion dynamics.

PubMed

Colaiori, Francesca; Castellano, Claudio

2015-10-01

Messages conveyed by media act as a major drive in shaping attitudes and inducing opinion shift. On the other hand, individuals are strongly affected by peer pressure while forming their own judgment. We solve a general model of opinion dynamics where individuals either hold one of two alternative opinions or are undecided and interact pairwise while exposed to an external influence. As media pressure increases, the system moves from pluralism to global consensus; four distinct classes of collective behavior emerge, crucially depending on the outcome of direct interactions among individuals holding opposite opinions. Observed nontrivial behaviors include hysteretic phenomena and resilience of minority opinions. Notably, consensus could be unachievable even when media and microscopic interactions are biased in favor of the same opinion: The unfavored opinion might even gain the support of the majority.

Community pharmacists in England's opinions on skill mix and delegation.

PubMed

Barnes, Emma; Bullock, Alison; Allan, Margaret; Hodson, Karen

2017-12-06

Following the 2005 contractual framework amendment, the expanding role of community pharmacy team members required a shift in entrenched views on roles and duties. This study aimed to report on community pharmacists' opinions on skill mix and explore how they can be addressed so that skill mix may be optimised. An invitation to complete an online questionnaire was distributed via email, marked for the attention of the lead pharmacist. Following a low response, a paper-based questionnaire was sent to all community pharmacies in England (n = 11,816). Questions elicited data about the respondent, the pharmacy (including staffing profile) and opinions on skill mix. A total of 1154 returns were received, representing a 10% response rate. Of these, most were pharmacy chains (76%; n = 877), with 5-9 staff (54%; n = 600); commonly open 40-49 hours (42%; n = 487), dispensing <6000 prescriptions per week (41%, n = 533). From 26 statements on skill mix, three factors were identified by principal-components factor analysis: 'working well', 'feeling the pressure' and 'open to development'. Characteristics associated with 'working well': pharmacy owners, single businesses, with pharmacy technician(s), dispensing fewer prescriptions and open shorter hours. Characteristics associated with 'feeling the pressure': pharmacy chains, open longer hours, large numbers of prescriptions and relief pharmacists. Characteristics associated with 'open to development': recently qualified, second pharmacists, working longer hours, chains and dispensing lower numbers of prescriptions. Although limited by a low response, results suggest being in a position to influence (more experienced, business owners) may be associated with more positive opinions. Further training (including about legalities and leadership) could contribute to optimising skill mix in community pharmacies. © 2017 Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

The Technology of Technology Transfer. The Case of the Japan-Singapore Technical Institute. Discussion Paper No. 93.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Araujo e Oliveira, Joao Batista; Pillay, Gerald F.

The new economic and industrial policies of the 1980s called for a major restructuring of the industrial profile of Singapore. The government decided to set up three new technical institutes to prepare and supply skilled workers to new investors: French-, German-, and Japan-Singapore Technical Institutes with the collaboration of the government…

Sifting Through Chaos: Extracting Information from Unstructured Legal Opinions.

PubMed

Oliveira, Bruno Miguel; Guimarães, Rui Vasconcellos; Antunes, Luís; Rodrigues, Pedro Pereira

2018-01-01

Abiding to the law is, in some cases, a delicate balance between the rights of different players. Re-using health records is such a case. While the law grants reuse rights to public administration documents, in which health records produced in public health institutions are included, it also grants privacy to personal records. To safeguard a correct usage of data, public hospitals in Portugal employ jurists that are responsible for allowing or withholding access rights to health records. To help decision making, these jurists can consult the legal opinions issued by the national committee on public administration documents usage. While these legal opinions are of undeniable value, due to their doctrine contribution, they are only available in a format best suited from printing, forcing individual consultation of each document, with no option, whatsoever of clustered search, filtering or indexing, which are standard operations nowadays in a document management system. When having to decide on tens of data requests a day, it becomes unfeasible to consult the hundreds of legal opinions already available. With the objective to create a modern document management system, we devised an open, platform agnostic system that extracts and compiles the legal opinions, ex-tracts its contents and produces metadata, allowing for a fast searching and filtering of said legal opinions.

CPOE in Iran--a viable prospect? Physicians' opinions on using CPOE in an Iranian teaching hospital.

PubMed

Kazemi, Alireza; Ellenius, Johan; Tofighi, Shahram; Salehi, Aref; Eghbalian, Fatemeh; Fors, Uno G

2009-03-01

In recent years, the theory that on-line clinical decision support systems can improve patients' safety among hospitalised individuals has gained greater acceptance. However, the feasibility of implementing such a system in a middle or low-income country has rarely been studied. Understanding the current prescription process and a proper needs assessment of prescribers can act as the key to successful implementation. The aim of this study was to explore physicians' opinions on the current prescription process, and the expected benefits and perceived obstacles to employ Computerised Physician Order Entry in an Iranian teaching hospital. Initially, the interview guideline was developed through focus group discussions with eight experts. Then semi-structured interviews were held with 19 prescribers. After verbatim transcription, inductive thematic analysis was performed on empirical data. Forty hours of on-looker observations were performed in different wards to explore the current prescription process. The current prescription process was identified as a physician-centred, top-down, model, where prescribers were found to mostly rely on their memories as well as being overconfident. Some errors may occur during different paper-based registrations, transcriptions and transfers. Physician opinions on Computerised Physician Order Entry were categorised into expected benefits and perceived obstacles. Confidentiality issues, reduction of medication errors and educational benefits were identified as three themes in the expected benefits category. High cost, social and cultural barriers, data entry time and problems with technical support emerged as four themes in the perceived obstacles category. The current prescription process has a high possibility of medication errors. Although there are different barriers confronting the implementation and continuation of Computerised Physician Order Entry in Iranian hospitals, physicians have a willingness to use them if these systems

High School Students' Perception of Career Technical Education and Factors that Influence Enrollment in Programs at a Regional Occupational Center

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

St. Gean, Laurie M.

2010-01-01

The purpose of this study was to learn about the demographic profile of South Bay-area high school Career Technical Education (CTE) students (those who enroll in CTE courses outside the school day), their perceptions related to CTE, the people and other factors that influence them to enroll in CTE courses, and students' opinions on which…

Alport syndrome: facts and opinions

PubMed Central

Kashtan, Clifford

2017-01-01

In this commentary, I review recent advances in Alport syndrome genetics, diagnostics, and therapeutics. I also offer some opinions regarding strategies to optimize the early identification of affected individuals to promote early therapeutic intervention. PMID:28163907

The influence of persuasion in opinion formation and polarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

La Rocca, C. E.; Braunstein, L. A.; Vazquez, F.

2014-05-01

We present a model that explores the influence of persuasion in a population of agents with positive and negative opinion orientations. The opinion of each agent is represented by an integer number k that expresses its level of agreement on a given issue, from totally against k=-M to totally in favor k = M. Same-orientation agents persuade each other with probability p, becoming more extreme, while opposite-orientation agents become more moderate as they reach a compromise with probability q. The population initially evolves to (a) a polarized state for r=p/q\\gt 1 , where opinions' distribution is peaked at the extreme values k=+/- M , or (b) a centralized state for r < 1, with most opinions around k=+/- 1 . When r \\gg 1 , polarization lasts for a time that diverges as r^M \\ln N , where N is the population's size. Finally, an extremist consensus (k = M or -M ) is reached in a time that scales as r^{-1} for r \\ll 1 .

Symmetry breaking by heating in a continuous opinion model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anteneodo, Celia; Crokidakis, Nuno

2017-04-01

We study the critical behavior of a continuous opinion model, driven by kinetic exchanges in a fully connected population. Opinions range in the real interval [-1 ,1 ] , representing the different shades of opinions against and for an issue under debate. Individuals' opinions evolve through pairwise interactions, with couplings that are typically positive, but a fraction p of negative ones is allowed. Moreover, a social temperature parameter T controls the tendency of the individual responses toward neutrality. Depending on p and T , different collective states emerge: symmetry broken (one side wins), symmetric (tie of opposite sides), and absorbing neutral (indecision wins). We find the critical points and exponents that characterize the phase transitions between them. The symmetry breaking transition belongs to the usual Ising mean-field universality class, but the absorbing-phase transitions, with β =0.5 , are out of the paradigmatic directed percolation class. Moreover, ordered phases can emerge by increasing social temperature.

Collected Papers in Structural Mechanics Honoring Dr. James H. Starnes, Jr.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Knight, Norman F., Jr. (Compiler); Nemeth, Michael P. (Compiler); Malone, John B. (Compiler)

2006-01-01

This special publication contains a collection of structural mechanics papers honoring Dr. James H. Starnes, Jr. presented at the 46th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference held in Austin, Texas, April 18-21, 2005. Contributors to this publication represent a small number of those influenced by Dr. Starnes' technical leadership, his technical prowess and diversity, and his technical breath and depth in engineering mechanics. These papers cover some of the research areas Dr. Starnes investigated, which included buckling, postbuckling, and collapse of structures; composite structural mechanics, residual strength and damage tolerance of metallic and composite structures; and aircraft structural design, certification and verification. He actively pursued technical understanding and clarity, championed technical excellence, and modeled humility and perseverance.

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 66: Emerging Trends in the Globalization of Knowledge: The Role of the Technical Report in Aerospace Research and Development

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli,Thomas E.; Golich, Vicki L.

1997-01-01

Economists, management theorists, business strategists, and governments alike recognize knowledge as the single most important resource in today's global economy. Because of its relationship to technological progress and economic growth, many governments have taken a keen interest in knowledge; specifically its production, transfer, and use. This paper focuses on the technical report as a product for disseminating the results of aerospace research and development (R&D) and its use and importance to aerospace engineers and scientists. The emergence of knowledge as an intellectual asset, its relationship to innovation, and its importance in a global economy provides the context for the paper. The relationships between government and knowledge and government and innovation are used to place knowledge within the context of publicly-funded R&D. Data, including the reader preferences of NASA technical reports, are derived from the NASA/DoD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project, a ten-year study of knowledge diffusion in the U.S. aerospace industry.

Reproducible research: a minority opinion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drummond, Chris

2018-01-01

Reproducible research, a growing movement within many scientific fields, including machine learning, would require the code, used to generate the experimental results, be published along with any paper. Probably the most compelling argument for this is that it is simply following good scientific practice, established over the years by the greats of science. The implication is that failure to follow such a practice is unscientific, not a label any machine learning researchers would like to carry. It is further claimed that misconduct is causing a growing crisis of confidence in science. That, without this practice being enforced, science would inevitably fall into disrepute. This viewpoint is becoming ubiquitous but here I offer a differing opinion. I argue that far from being central to science, what is being promulgated is a narrow interpretation of how science works. I contend that the consequences are somewhat overstated. I would also contend that the effort necessary to meet the movement's aims, and the general attitude it engenders would not serve well any of the research disciplines, including our own.

Individual-Based Completion Rates for Apprentices. Technical Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Karmel, Tom

2011-01-01

Low completion rates for apprentices and trainees have received considerable attention recently and it has been argued that NCVER seriously understates completion rates. In this paper Tom Karmel uses NCVER data on recommencements to estimate individual-based completion rates. It is estimated that around one-quarter of trade apprentices swap…

Sudden transitions in coupled opinion and epidemic dynamics with vaccination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pires, Marcelo A.; Oestereich, André L.; Crokidakis, Nuno

2018-05-01

This work consists of an epidemic model with vaccination coupled with an opinion dynamics. Our objective was to study how disease risk perception can influence opinions about vaccination and therefore the spreading of the disease. Differently from previous works we have considered continuous opinions. The epidemic spreading is governed by an SIS-like model with an extra vaccinated state. In our model individuals vaccinate with a probability proportional to their opinions. The opinions change due to peer influence in pairwise interactions. The epidemic feedback to the opinion dynamics acts as an external field increasing the vaccination probability. We performed Monte Carlo simulations in fully-connected populations. Interestingly we observed the emergence of a first-order phase transition, besides the usual active-absorbing phase transition presented in the SIS model. Our simulations also show that with a certain combination of parameters, an increment in the initial fraction of the population that is pro-vaccine has a twofold effect: it can lead to smaller epidemic outbreaks in the short term, but it also contributes to the survival of the chain of infections in the long term. Our results also suggest that it is possible that more effective vaccines can decrease the long-term vaccine coverage. This is a counterintuitive outcome, but it is in line with empirical observations that vaccines can become a victim of their own success.

Opinion-enhanced collaborative filtering for recommender systems through sentiment analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Wei; Wang, Hongwei

2015-10-01

The motivation of collaborative filtering (CF) comes from the idea that people often get the best recommendations from someone with similar tastes. With the growing popularity of opinion-rich resources such as online reviews, new opportunities arise as we can identify the preferences from user opinions. The main idea of our approach is to elicit user opinions from online reviews, and map such opinions into preferences that can be understood by CF-based recommender systems. We divide recommender systems into two types depending on the number of product category recommended: the multiple-category recommendation and the single-category recommendation. For the former, sentiment polarity in coarse-grained manner is identified while for the latter fine-grained sentiment analysis is conducted for each product aspect. If the evaluation frequency for an aspect by a user is greater than the average frequency by all users, it indicates that the user is more concerned with that aspect. If a user's rating for an aspect is lower than the average rating by all users, he or she is much pickier than others on that aspect. Through sentiment analysis, we then build an opinion-enhanced user preference model, where the higher the similarity between user opinions the more consistent preferences between users are. Experiment results show that the proposed CF algorithm outperforms baseline methods for product recommendation in terms of accuracy and recall.

10 CFR 590.503 - Opinion and order on rehearing.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 10 Energy 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Opinion and order on rehearing. 590.503 Section 590.503 Energy DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY (CONTINUED) NATURAL GAS (ECONOMIC REGULATORY ADMINISTRATION) ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES WITH RESPECT TO THE IMPORT AND EXPORT OF NATURAL GAS Applications for Rehearing § 590.503 Opinion...

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 25: The impact of language and culture on technical communication in Japan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kohl, John R.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Pinelli, Thomas E.; Keene, Michael L.; Kennedy, John M.

1993-01-01

One of the most significant developments in the field of technical communication during the 1980's and 1990's has been a growing interest in international technical communication, including technical communication in Japan. This article provides insights into aspects of the Japanese language and culture that affect Japanese technical communication practices. These insights are then used to interpret and report the results of a survey of Japanese aerospace engineers and scientists concerning the kinds of communication products they produce, the kinds they use, and the specific recommendation they would offer to designers of academic programs in technical communication.

Semi-automatic generation of medical tele-expert opinion for primary care physician.

PubMed

Biermann, E; Rihl, J; Schenker, M; Standl, E

2003-01-01

A computer-based system has been developed for the generation of medical expert opinions on the insulin-resistance syndrome, based on clinical data obtained from primary care physicians. An expert opinion for each patient was generated by using a decision tree for entering individual text modules and by adding optional free text. The expert opinions were returned by e-mail, telefax or by ordinary mail. 1389 primary care physician sent anonymous data sets and requested expert opinions for a total of 3768 patients. Through the set up of a rule-based system an automation of the generation of the expert opinions could be achieved and the generation time dropped from initially 40 minutes to less than 5 minutes at the end. By using predefined text modules and a rule based system, a large number of medical expert opinions can be generated with relatively few additional resources.

Expert opinion vs. empirical evidence: the precautionary principle applied to GM crops.

PubMed

Herman, Rod A; Raybould, Alan

2014-01-01

Expert opinion is often sought by government regulatory agencies when there is insufficient empirical evidence to judge the safety implications of a course of action. However, it can be reckless to continue following expert opinion when a preponderance of evidence is amassed that conflicts with this opinion. Factual evidence should always trump opinion in prioritizing the information that is used to guide regulatory policy. Evidence-based medicine has seen a dramatic upturn in recent years spurred by examples where evidence indicated that certain treatments recommended by expert opinions increased death rates. We suggest that scientific evidence should also take priority over expert opinion in the regulation of genetically modified crops (GM). Examples of regulatory data requirements that are not justified based on the mass of evidence are described, and it is suggested that expertise in risk assessment should guide evidence-based regulation of GM crops.

42 CFR 411.382 - CMS's right to rescind advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... rescind advisory opinions. Any advice CMS gives in an opinion does not prejudice its right to reconsider... faith reliance upon CMS's advice under this part, provided— (a) The requestor presented to CMS a full...

42 CFR 411.382 - CMS's right to rescind advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... rescind advisory opinions. Any advice CMS gives in an opinion does not prejudice its right to reconsider... faith reliance upon CMS's advice under this part, provided— (a) The requestor presented to CMS a full...

The public's opinions of physicians: do perceived choice and exercised choice matter?

PubMed

Tai-Seale, Ming; Pescosolido, Bernice

2003-09-01

To assess whether the public's opinions of physicians are affected by one's perceived ability to choose providers and by past experience with switching providers or health plans. Cross-sectional survey of the American general public in 1998. Multivariate quantitative analyses of opinions according to respondents' perceived ability to choose providers, history of exercising choice of providers or plans, and health status. Exploratory factor analyses resulted in 4 scales of opinions: trusting personal physician, positive opinions of physicians as a group, negative opinions of physicians as a group, and concerns about the influence of managed care on personal physicians' practice patterns. Although 75% (879/1172) of the sample perceived that they could use any physician they wanted, only 20% had ever switched health providers or plans owing to dissatisfaction. Perceived lack of choice is associated with lower levels of trust in personal physicians and with higher levels of concern about the influence of managed care on personal physicians. Individuals who have not switched in the past are more positive about physicians as a group and are less concerned about the influence of managed care. Health status affected opinions significantly. Educational attainment is negatively associated with opinions. The public's opinions of physicians are significantly associated with one's perceived ability to choose any provider, past experience with switching health providers or plans, health status, and education. Ensuring consumer choice of providers and targeting those who have switched in the past and the sick could potentially improve the public's opinions. Meaningful provider quality information is necessary to ensure choices that can enhance consumer welfare.

Bias, belief, and consensus: Collective opinion formation on fluctuating networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ngampruetikorn, Vudtiwat; Stephens, Greg J.

2016-11-01

With the advent of online networks, societies have become substantially more interconnected with individual members able to easily both maintain and modify their own social links. Here, we show that active network maintenance exposes agents to confirmation bias, the tendency to confirm one's beliefs, and we explore how this bias affects collective opinion formation. We introduce a model of binary opinion dynamics on a complex, fluctuating network with stochastic rewiring and we analyze these dynamics in the mean-field limit of large networks and fast link rewiring. We show that confirmation bias induces a segregation of individuals with different opinions and stabilizes the consensus state. We further show that bias can have an unusual, nonmonotonic effect on the time to consensus and this suggests a novel avenue for large-scale opinion manipulation.

Bias, belief, and consensus: Collective opinion formation on fluctuating networks.

PubMed

Ngampruetikorn, Vudtiwat; Stephens, Greg J

2016-11-01

With the advent of online networks, societies have become substantially more interconnected with individual members able to easily both maintain and modify their own social links. Here, we show that active network maintenance exposes agents to confirmation bias, the tendency to confirm one's beliefs, and we explore how this bias affects collective opinion formation. We introduce a model of binary opinion dynamics on a complex, fluctuating network with stochastic rewiring and we analyze these dynamics in the mean-field limit of large networks and fast link rewiring. We show that confirmation bias induces a segregation of individuals with different opinions and stabilizes the consensus state. We further show that bias can have an unusual, nonmonotonic effect on the time to consensus and this suggests a novel avenue for large-scale opinion manipulation.

42 CFR 1008.5 - Matters subject to advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 42 Public Health 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Matters subject to advisory opinions. 1008.5... SERVICES OIG AUTHORITIES ADVISORY OPINIONS BY THE OIG General Provisions § 1008.5 Matters subject to...) What constitutes prohibited remuneration within the meaning of section 1128B(b) of the Act; (2) Whether...

Analysing Customer Opinions with Text Mining Algorithms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Consoli, Domenico

2009-08-01

Knowing what the customer thinks of a particular product/service helps top management to introduce improvements in processes and products, thus differentiating the company from their competitors and gain competitive advantages. The customers, with their preferences, determine the success or failure of a company. In order to know opinions of the customers we can use technologies available from the web 2.0 (blog, wiki, forums, chat, social networking, social commerce). From these web sites, useful information must be extracted, for strategic purposes, using techniques of sentiment analysis or opinion mining.

A mixed methods investigation into the use of non-technical skills by community and hospital pharmacists.

PubMed

Irwin, A; Weidmann, A E

2015-01-01

Non-technical skills refer to the social and cognitive factors that may influence efficient and safe job performance. Non-technical skills are an important element of patient safety in a variety of health care disciplines, including surgery, anesthesia and nursing. However, the use of non-technical skills in pharmacy practice has not yet been fully assessed. To examine attitudes toward, and use of, non-technical skills by pharmacy personnel. A mixed methods approach was used: An attitude survey explored pharmacy personnel attitudes towards non-technical skills and inter-professional collaboration, with community and hospital pharmacy staff (n = 62). Qualitative interviews were then conducted using the critical incident technique, with community pharmacists (n = 11). The survey results demonstrated differences in the opinions of community and hospital pharmacists on three non-technical skill constructs: team structure, mutual support, and situation monitoring, with community pharmacists reporting significantly more positive attitudes about all three constructs. Both groups reported low levels of collaboration with primary care physicians. The interviews identified five non-technical skills as key elements of successful pharmacist performance from the interview transcripts: teamwork; leadership; task management; situation awareness; decision-making. The survey and interviews identified the non-technical skills that are important to pharmacists. This represents the first step towards the development of a behavioral rating system for training purposes that could potentially improve the non-technical skills of pharmacists and enhance patient safety. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Entropic determination of the phase transition in a coevolving opinion-formation model.

PubMed

Burgos, E; Hernández, Laura; Ceva, H; Perazzo, R P J

2015-03-01

We study an opinion formation model by the means of a coevolving complex network where the vertices represent the individuals, characterized by their evolving opinions, and the edges represent the interactions among them. The network adapts to the spreading of opinions in two ways: not only connected agents interact and eventually change their thinking but an agent may also rewire one of its links to a neighborhood holding the same opinion as his. The dynamics, based on a global majority rule, depends on an external parameter that controls the plasticity of the network. We show how the information entropy associated to the distribution of group sizes allows us to locate the phase transition between a phase of full consensus and another, where different opinions coexist. We also determine the minimum size of the most informative sampling. At the transition the distribution of the sizes of groups holding the same opinion is scale free.

SCMLA: Technical Writing. Proceedings (Houston, Texas, October 1987).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oklahoma State Univ., Stillwater.

In order to make information about technical writing more available, the South Central Modern Language Association (SCMLA) has collected the papers not subject to copyright restrictions that were presented at the technical writing section of its 1987 meeting. The essays cover a wide range of topics in technical writing pedagogy and research. The…

38 CFR 20.901 - Rule 901. Medical opinions and opinions of the General Counsel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Health Administration. The Board may obtain a medical opinion from an appropriate health care professional in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs on medical questions... warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in an appeal, the Board may obtain an advisory...

38 CFR 20.901 - Rule 901. Medical opinions and opinions of the General Counsel.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Health Administration. The Board may obtain a medical opinion from an appropriate health care professional in the Veterans Health Administration of the Department of Veterans Affairs on medical questions... warranted by the medical complexity or controversy involved in an appeal, the Board may obtain an advisory...

Development and verification of an agent-based model of opinion leadership.

PubMed

Anderson, Christine A; Titler, Marita G

2014-09-27

The use of opinion leaders is a strategy used to speed the process of translating research into practice. Much is still unknown about opinion leader attributes and activities and the context in which they are most effective. Agent-based modeling is a methodological tool that enables demonstration of the interactive and dynamic effects of individuals and their behaviors on other individuals in the environment. The purpose of this study was to develop and test an agent-based model of opinion leadership. The details of the design and verification of the model are presented. The agent-based model was developed by using a software development platform to translate an underlying conceptual model of opinion leadership into a computer model. Individual agent attributes (for example, motives and credibility) and behaviors (seeking or providing an opinion) were specified as variables in the model in the context of a fictitious patient care unit. The verification process was designed to test whether or not the agent-based model was capable of reproducing the conditions of the preliminary conceptual model. The verification methods included iterative programmatic testing ('debugging') and exploratory analysis of simulated data obtained from execution of the model. The simulation tests included a parameter sweep, in which the model input variables were adjusted systematically followed by an individual time series experiment. Statistical analysis of model output for the 288 possible simulation scenarios in the parameter sweep revealed that the agent-based model was performing, consistent with the posited relationships in the underlying model. Nurse opinion leaders act on the strength of their beliefs and as a result, become an opinion resource for their uncertain colleagues, depending on their perceived credibility. Over time, some nurses consistently act as this type of resource and have the potential to emerge as opinion leaders in a context where uncertainty exists. The

29 CFR 18.701 - Opinion testimony by lay witnesses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Opinion testimony by lay witnesses. 18.701 Section 18.701 Labor Office of the Secretary of Labor RULES OF PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS... Opinion testimony by lay witnesses. If the witness is not testifying as an expert, the witness' testimony...

Attitudes and Opinions of Classroom Teacher Candidates Regarding Multiculturalism

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Akar, Cuneyt; Ulu, Mustafa

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study is twofold. The first objective is to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for measuring the attitudes and opinions of classroom teachers regarding multiculturalism. The second one is to study the classroom teachers' attitudes and opinions towards multiculturalism in terms of gender, socio-economic and devoutness…

Assigned Positions for In-Class Debates Influence Student Opinions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lilly, Emily

2012-01-01

In-class debates are frequently used to encourage student engagement. Ideally, after researching both sides of the debate, students will form their own opinions based on what they have learned. However, in a large course of Environmental Science, opinions of students, when surveyed after the debate, were remarkably consistent with the position…

Students' Opinions on Facebook Supported Blended Learning Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erdem, Mukaddes; Kibar, Pinar Nuhoglu

2014-01-01

The first purpose of this study was to determine students' opinions on blended learning and its implementation. The other purpose was to explore the students' opinions on Facebook integration into blended learning environment. The participants of this study were 40 undergraduate students in their fourth semester of the program.…

Measurement of sustainability index among paper manufacturing plants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sharathkumar Reddy, V.; Jayakrishna, K.; Lal, Babu

2017-11-01

The paper manufacturing companies are facing challenges to implement sustainable manufacturing into their products and processes. Paper manufacturing has remarked as an intensive consumer of natural raw materials, energy and a major source of multiple pollutants. Thus, evaluating the sustainable manufacturing in these companies has become a necessity. This paper proposes a set of Performance Indicators (PIs) for evaluating the sustainable manufacturing appropriate to the paper manufacturing companies based on the triple bottom line of sustainability. The Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), a multi-criteria decision analysis method is applied to prioritize the performance indicators by summarizing the opinions of stakeholders. It is hoped that the proposed PIs enables and assists the paper manufacturing companies to achieve the higher performance in sustainable manufacturing and so as to increase their competitiveness.

Your opinion on climate change might not be as common as you think

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leviston, Z.; Walker, I.; Morwinski, S.

2013-04-01

Political and media debate on the existence and causes of climate change has become increasingly factious in several western countries, often resting on claims and counter-claims about what most citizens really think. There are several well-established phenomena in psychology about how people perceive the prevalence of opinions, including the false consensus effect (a tendency to overestimate how common one's `own' opinion is) and pluralistic ignorance (where most people privately reject an opinion, but assume incorrectly that most others accept it). We investigated these biases in people's opinions about the existence and causes of climate change. In two surveys conducted 12 months apart in Australia (n=5,036 n=5,030), respondents were asked their own opinion about the nature of climate change, and then asked to estimate levels of opinion among the general population. We demonstrate that opinions about climate change are subject to strong false consensus effects, that people grossly overestimate the numbers of people who reject the existence of climate change in the broader community, and that people with high false consensus bias are less likely to change their opinions.

Collected software engineering papers, volume 9

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1991-01-01

This document is a collection of selected technical papers produced by participants in the Software Engineering Laboratory (SEL) from November 1990 through October 1991. The purpose of the document is to make available, in one reference, some results of SEL research that originally appeared in a number of different forums. This is the ninth such volume of technical papers produced by the SEL. Although these papers cover several topics related to software engineering, they do not encompass the entire scope of SEL activities and interests. For the convenience of this presentation, the eight papers contained here are grouped into three major categories: (1) software models studies; (2) software measurement studies; and (3) Ada technology studies. The first category presents studies on reuse models, including a software reuse model applied to maintenance and a model for an organization to support software reuse. The second category includes experimental research methods and software measurement techniques. The third category presents object-oriented approaches using Ada and object-oriented features proposed for Ada. The SEL is actively working to understand and improve the software development process at GSFC.

Building, Maintaining, and Ending Relationships: An Urban School District and a Technical Assistance Team. Documentation and Technical Assistance in Urban Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Manford L.

This paper describes the nature of the relationships developed between the technical assistance team of the Documentation and Technical Assistance (DTA) Project and members of a Chicago (Illinois) school district staff with whom the DTA worked. First, the methodology with which the technical assistance work was studied is described, as is the…

[NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 4:] Technical communications in aerospace: An analysis of the practices reported by US and European aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.; Glassman, Myron

1990-01-01

Results are reported from pilot surveys on the use of scientific and technical information (STI) by U.S. and NATO-nation aerospace scientists and engineers, undertaken as part of the NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. The survey procedures and the demographic characteristics of the 67 scientists and engineers who responded to the survey are summarized, and the results are presented in a series of tables and discussed in detail. Findings emphasized include: (1) both U.S. and NATO respondents spend around 60 percent of their work week producing or using STI products; (2) NATO respondents are more likely than their U.S. counterparts to use 'formal' STI products (like technical reports and papers) and the services of librarians and online data bases; (3) most of the respondents use computers and information technology in preparing STI products; and (4) respondents who had taken courses in technical communication agreed on the value and ideal subject matter of such courses.

Relational Study of Technical Education in Scotland and Nigeria for Sustainable Skill Development

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Umunadi, E. Kennedy

2014-01-01

This paper was designed to look at technical education curriculum and mode of implementation in Scotland in order to adopt the advantageous attributes of the Scottish technical education in Nigeria. The paper x-rayed the staff perceptions of technical education and its roles in Scotland; history of technical education before the advent of British…

Contradictions and Consensus--Clusters of Opinions on E-Books

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Shrimplin, Aaron K.; Revelle, Andy; Hurst, Susan; Messner, Kevin

2011-01-01

Q methodology was used to determine attitudes and opinions about e-books among a group of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates at Miami University of Ohio. Oral interviews formed the basis for a collection of opinion statements concerning e-books versus print. These statements were then ranked by a second group of research participants.…

Surveying Older Adults' Opinions on Housing: Recommendations for Policy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wagner, Shannon L.; Shubair, Mamdouh M.; Michalos, Alex C.

2010-01-01

There is paucity of research investigating opinions and attitudes of seniors 55 years of age and older in relation to housing accommodation and services sensitive to the needs of the senior population. We describe the results of a cross-sectional survey soliciting opinions and attitudes of seniors with respect to a variety of housing issues…

Opinions of the Geography Teacher Candidates toward Mind Maps

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seyihoglu, Aysegul

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study is to reveal the opinions of the teacher candidates about mind mapping technique used in Geography education of undergraduate program. In this study, the qualitative research techniques were used. The study group consists of 55 teacher candidates. The teacher candidates have been asked for their opinions about the process…

Opinions and knowledge about climate change science in high school students.

PubMed

Harker-Schuch, Inez; Bugge-Henriksen, Christian

2013-10-01

This study investigates the influence of knowledge on opinions about climate change in the emerging adults' age group (16-17 years). Furthermore, the effects of a lecture in climate change science on knowledge and opinions were assessed. A survey was conducted in Austria and Denmark on 188 students in national and international schools before and after a lecture in climate change science. The results show that knowledge about climate change science significantly affects opinions about climate change. Students with a higher number of correct answers are more likely to have the opinion that humans are causing climate change and that both individuals and governments are responsible for addressing climate change. The lecture in climate change science significantly improved knowledge development but did not affect opinions. Knowledge was improved by 11 % after the lecture. However, the percentage of correct answers was still below 60 % indicating an urgent need for improving climate change science education.

Brazilian abortion law: the opinion of judges and prosecutors.

PubMed

Duarte, Graciana Alves; Osis, Maria José Duarte; Faúndes, Anibal; Sousa, Maria Helena de

2010-06-01

To analyze the opinion of judges and prosecutors concerning Brazilian abortion law and situations in which the abortion should be allowed. A cross-sectional study was performed with 1,493 judges and 2,614 prosecutors in Brazil between 2005 and 2006. Participants completed a structured questionnaire approaching sociodemographic characteristics, opinions about abortion law, and circumstances in which abortion is considered lawful. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of data were carried out through Poisson regression. The majority of participants (78%) found that the circumstances in which abortion is considered lawful should be broadened, or even that abortion should not be criminalized. The highest rates of pro-abortion opinions resulted from: risk to the life of the mother (84%), anencephaly (83%), severe congenital malformation of fetus (82%), and pregnancy resulting from rape (82%). Variables related to religion were strongly associated to the opinion of participants. There is a trend in considering the need of changing the current abortion law, in the sense of widening the circumstances in which abortion is considered lawful, or even toward decriminalizing abortion, regardless of the circumstances in which it takes place.

Opinion formation on adaptive networks with intensive average degree

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schmittmann, B.; Mukhopadhyay, Abhishek

2010-12-01

We study the evolution of binary opinions on a simple adaptive network of N nodes. At each time step, a randomly selected node updates its state (“opinion”) according to the majority opinion of the nodes that it is linked to; subsequently, all links are reassigned with probability p˜ (q˜) if they connect nodes with equal (opposite) opinions. In contrast to earlier work, we ensure that the average connectivity (“degree”) of each node is independent of the system size (“intensive”), by choosing p˜ and q˜ to be of O(1/N) . Using simulations and analytic arguments, we determine the final steady states and the relaxation into these states for different system sizes. We find two absorbing states, characterized by perfect consensus, and one metastable state, characterized by a population split evenly between the two opinions. The relaxation time of this state grows exponentially with the number of nodes, N . A second metastable state, found in the earlier studies, is no longer observed.

Interplay between consensus and coherence in a model of interacting opinions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battiston, Federico; Cairoli, Andrea; Nicosia, Vincenzo; Baule, Adrian; Latora, Vito

2016-06-01

The formation of agents' opinions in a social system is the result of an intricate equilibrium among several driving forces. On the one hand, the social pressure exerted by peers favors the emergence of local consensus. On the other hand, the concurrent participation of agents to discussions on different topics induces each agent to develop a coherent set of opinions across all the topics in which he/she is active. Moreover, the pervasive action of external stimuli, such as mass media, pulls the entire population towards a specific configuration of opinions on different topics. Here we propose a model in which agents with interrelated opinions, interacting on several layers representing different topics, tend to spread their own ideas to their neighborhood, strive to maintain internal coherence, due to the fact that each agent identifies meaningful relationships among its opinions on the different topics, and are at the same time subject to external fields, resembling the pressure of mass media. We show that the presence of heterogeneity in the internal coupling assigned by agents to their different opinions allows to obtain states with mixed levels of consensus, still ensuring that all the agents attain a coherent set of opinions. Furthermore, we show that all the observed features of the model are preserved in the presence of thermal noise up to a critical temperature, after which global consensus is no longer attainable. This suggests the relevance of our results for real social systems, where noise is inevitably present in the form of information uncertainty and misunderstandings. The model also demonstrates how mass media can be effectively used to favor the propagation of a chosen set of opinions, thus polarizing the consensus of an entire population.

Opinion formation and distribution in a bounded-confidence model on various networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meng, X. Flora; Van Gorder, Robert A.; Porter, Mason A.

2018-02-01

In the social, behavioral, and economic sciences, it is important to predict which individual opinions eventually dominate in a large population, whether there will be a consensus, and how long it takes for a consensus to form. Such ideas have been studied heavily both in physics and in other disciplines, and the answers depend strongly both on how one models opinions and on the network structure on which opinions evolve. One model that was created to study consensus formation quantitatively is the Deffuant model, in which the opinion distribution of a population evolves via sequential random pairwise encounters. To consider heterogeneity of interactions in a population along with social influence, we study the Deffuant model on various network structures (deterministic synthetic networks, random synthetic networks, and social networks constructed from Facebook data). We numerically simulate the Deffuant model and conduct regression analyses to investigate the dependence of the time to reach steady states on various model parameters, including a confidence bound for opinion updates, the number of participating entities, and their willingness to compromise. We find that network structure and parameter values both have important effects on the convergence time and the number of steady-state opinion groups. For some network architectures, we observe that the relationship between the convergence time and model parameters undergoes a transition at a critical value of the confidence bound. For some networks, the steady-state opinion distribution also changes from consensus to multiple opinion groups at this critical value.

An Effective Health and Medical Technical Authority

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fogarty, Jennifer A.

2009-01-01

The NASA Governance model directed the formation of three Technical Authorities, Engineering; Safety and Mission Assurance; and Health and Medical, to ensure that risks are identified and adjudicated efficiently and transparently in concert with the spaceflight programs and projects. The Health and Medical Technical Authority (HMTA) has been implemented at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and consists of the Chief Medical Office (CMO), the Deputy CMO, and HMTA Delegates. The JSC HMTA achieves the goals of risk identification and adjudication through the discharge of the appropriate technical expertise to human space flight programs and projects and the escalation of issues within program and technical authority boards. The JSC HMTA relies on subject matter experts (SMEs) in the Space Life Sciences Directorate at JSC as well as experts from other Centers to work crew health and performance issues at the technical level, develop requirements, oversee implementation and validation of requirements, and identify risks and non-compliances. Once a risk or potential noncompliance has been identified and reported to the programs or projects, the JSC HMTA begins to track it and closely monitor the program's or project's response. As a risk is developed or a non-compliance negotiated, positions from various levels of decision makers are sought at the program and project control boards. The HMTA may support a program or project position if it is satisfied with the decision making and vetting processes (ex. the subject matter expert voiced his/her concerns and all dissenting opinions were documented) and finds that the position both acknowledges the risk and cost of the mitigation and resolves the issue without changing NASA risk posture. The HMTA may disagree with a program or project position if the NASA risk posture has been elevated or obfuscated. If the HMTA does disagree with the program or project position, it will appeal to successively higher levels of authority so that

[Regulatory policies and public opinion: the case of smoking].

PubMed

Saltó, Esteve; Joan R, Villalbí; Valverde, Araceli; Baranda, Lucía; Plasencia, Antoni

2006-01-01

Collecting and disseminating information about the public opinion on a regulatory process gives visibility to the silent social support and facilitates the process, which often confronts resistance from interest groups. This paper presents a survey about a proposed legislation on tobacco in its final stages and its results, and some considerations on the use of this sort of information in change processes. Cross sectional descriptive study. In December 2005 a brief telephone survey was made to a population sample of 18 and more years of age (N=830) in Catalonia (Spain). The questionnaire explored opinions on the proposed regulations under discussion. We present the degree of support and the rating of nine regulatory measures, stratified by the respondents use of tobacco. Daily smokers are 26.3% of the surveyed population. Awareness and general support for tobacco regulation are very high. Aspects with wider support include bans on sales to minors (97.3%), smoking in enclosed public places (92.8%) and workplaces (89%), and publicity (90.8%). The aspect with less social support is banning smoking in bars and cafes (80.2%). The population supports widely tobacco regulation. This reinforces the process and weakens the arguments of those against it. Although smokers are less supportive, most of them accept the regulations, except for limitations in bars and cafes.

Artwork as Technics

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Mark

2016-01-01

"Artwork as technics" opens discussion on activating aesthetics in educational contexts by arguing that we require some fundamental revision in understanding relations between aesthetics and technology in contexts where education is primarily encountered instrumentally and technologically. The paper addresses this through the writing of…

Technical Preparation: Preparing Students for Success. A Position Paper Presented by the Wisconsin Association of Secondary Vocational Administrators 1991-1992.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Peterson, Charlene; And Others

Technical Preparation (Tech Prep) programs include basic skills and competencies to improve students' school-to-work transition. The following elements characterize Tech Prep: designed for grades 9-14, leading to an technical associate degree; parallels college preparatory program; offers technical program of study in business enterprise,…

A Multilevel Model of Minority Opinion Expression and Team Decision-Making Effectiveness

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Park, Guihyun; DeShon, Richard P.

2010-01-01

The consideration of minority opinions when making team decisions is an important factor that contributes to team effectiveness. A multilevel model of minority opinion influence in decision-making teams is developed to address the conditions that relate to adequate consideration of minority opinions. Using a sample of 57 teams working on a…

Evolution of public opinions in closed societies influenced by broadcast media

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Kangqi; Pedrycz, Witold

2017-04-01

Studies on opinion evolution in a closed society can help people design strategies to emancipate from the control of public opinions and prevent the diffusion of extremism. In this work, the social judgment based opinion (SJBO) dynamics model is extended to explore the collective debates in a closed system that consists of a social network and a broadcast network. The broadcast network is a group of channels through which the so-called broadcast media or mainstream media transmit the same opinion to social agents. Numerical experiments show that the broadcast media can assimilate most of the agents when contrarians are absent. Including agents' diverse attitudes toward the broadcast media, although downsizes the supporters of broadcast media, fails to make contrarians outnumber the supporters. The dominance of broadcast media in a closed system can be overturned by introducing a small number of inflexible contrarians. Influenced by the competition between contrarians and broadcast media, few centrists survive the collective debates. The scale of supporters is maximized when agents neither have their own initial opinions nor have access to the contrarians, whereas the development of contrarians can be boosted when agents start with non-zero opinions and the repulsion to broadcast media is taken into consideration.

Epidemic spreading in multiplex networks influenced by opinion exchanges on vaccination.

PubMed

Alvarez-Zuzek, Lucila G; La Rocca, Cristian E; Iglesias, José R; Braunstein, Lidia A

2017-01-01

Through years, the use of vaccines has always been a controversial issue. People in a society may have different opinions about how beneficial the vaccines are and as a consequence some of those individuals decide to vaccinate or not themselves and their relatives. This attitude in face of vaccines has clear consequences in the spread of diseases and their transformation in epidemics. Motivated by this scenario, we study, in a simultaneous way, the changes of opinions about vaccination together with the evolution of a disease. In our model we consider a multiplex network consisting of two layers. One of the layers corresponds to a social network where people share their opinions and influence others opinions. The social model that rules the dynamic is the M-model, which takes into account two different processes that occurs in a society: persuasion and compromise. This two processes are related through a parameter r, r < 1 describes a moderate and committed society, for r > 1 the society tends to have extremist opinions, while r = 1 represents a neutral society. This social network may be of real or virtual contacts. On the other hand, the second layer corresponds to a network of physical contacts where the disease spreading is described by the SIR-Model. In this model the individuals may be in one of the following four states: Susceptible (S), Infected(I), Recovered (R) or Vaccinated (V). A Susceptible individual can: i) get vaccinated, if his opinion in the other layer is totally in favor of the vaccine, ii) get infected, with probability β if he is in contact with an infected neighbor. Those I individuals recover after a certain period tr = 6. Vaccinated individuals have an extremist positive opinion that does not change. We consider that the vaccine has a certain effectiveness ω and as a consequence vaccinated nodes can be infected with probability β(1 - ω) if they are in contact with an infected neighbor. In this case, if the infection process is

Eliciting expert opinion for economic models: an applied example.

PubMed

Leal, José; Wordsworth, Sarah; Legood, Rosa; Blair, Edward

2007-01-01

Expert opinion is considered as a legitimate source of information for decision-analytic modeling where required data are unavailable. Our objective was to develop a practical computer-based tool for eliciting expert opinion about the shape of the uncertainty distribution around individual model parameters. We first developed a prepilot survey with departmental colleagues to test a number of alternative approaches to eliciting opinions on the shape of the uncertainty distribution around individual parameters. This information was used to develop a survey instrument for an applied clinical example. This involved eliciting opinions from experts to inform a number of parameters involving Bernoulli processes in an economic model evaluating DNA testing for families with a genetic disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The experts were cardiologists, clinical geneticists, and laboratory scientists working with cardiomyopathy patient populations and DNA testing. Our initial prepilot work suggested that the more complex elicitation techniques advocated in the literature were difficult to use in practice. In contrast, our approach achieved a reasonable response rate (50%), provided logical answers, and was generally rated as easy to use by respondents. The computer software user interface permitted graphical feedback throughout the elicitation process. The distributions obtained were incorporated into the model, enabling the use of probabilistic sensitivity analysis. There is clearly a gap in the literature between theoretical elicitation techniques and tools that can be used in applied decision-analytic models. The results of this methodological study are potentially valuable for other decision analysts deriving expert opinion.

29 CFR 18.705 - Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. 18... Testimony § 18.705 Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data...

29 CFR 18.705 - Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. 18... Testimony § 18.705 Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data...

29 CFR 18.705 - Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2014-07-01 2013-07-01 true Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. 18... Testimony § 18.705 Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data...

29 CFR 18.705 - Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 true Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. 18... Testimony § 18.705 Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data...

29 CFR 18.705 - Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. 18... Testimony § 18.705 Disclosure of facts or data underlying expert opinion. The expert may testify in terms of opinion or inference and give reasons therefor without prior disclosure of the underlying facts or data...

Technical writing versus technical writing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dillingham, J. W.

1981-01-01

Two terms, two job categories, 'technical writer' and 'technical author' are discussed in terms of industrial and business requirements and standards. A distinction between 'technical writing' and technical 'writing' is made. The term 'technical editor' is also considered. Problems inherent in the design of programs to prepare and train students for these jobs are discussed. A closer alliance between industry and academia is suggested as a means of preparing students with competent technical communication skills (especially writing and editing skills) and good technical skills.

29 CFR 1626.20 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 1626.20 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT § 1626.20 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity...

29 CFR 1626.20 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 1626.20 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT § 1626.20 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity...

29 CFR 1626.20 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 1626.20 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT § 1626.20 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity...

29 CFR 1626.20 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 1626.20 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-AGE DISCRIMINATION IN EMPLOYMENT ACT § 1626.20 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity...

Principals' Opinions of Organisational Justice in Elementary Schools in Turkey

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aydin, Inayet; Karaman-Kepenekci, Yasemin

2008-01-01

Purpose--This study aims to present the opinions of public elementary school principals in Turkey about the current organisational justice practices among teachers from the distributive, procedural, interactional, and rectificatory dimensions. Design/methodology/approach--The opinions of 11 public elementary school principals in Ankara about…

29 CFR 1621.3 - Procedure for requesting an opinion letter.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 1621.3 Labor Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY COMMISSION PROCEDURES-THE EQUAL PAY ACT § 1621.3 Procedure for requesting an opinion letter. (a) A request for an opinion letter should be submitted in writing to the Chairman, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission...

Deffuant model of opinion formation in one-dimensional multiplex networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shang, Yilun

2015-10-01

Complex systems in the real world often operate through multiple kinds of links connecting their constituents. In this paper we propose an opinion formation model under bounded confidence over multiplex networks, consisting of edges at different topological and temporal scales. We determine rigorously the critical confidence threshold by exploiting probability theory and network science when the nodes are arranged on the integers, {{Z}}, evolving in continuous time. It is found that the existence of ‘multiplexity’ impedes the convergence, and that working with the aggregated or summarized simplex network is inaccurate since it misses vital information. Analytical calculations are confirmed by extensive numerical simulations.

Second opinion oral pathology referrals in New Zealand.

PubMed

Seo, B; Hussaini, H M; Rich, A M

2017-04-01

Referral for a second opinion is an important aspect of pathology practice, which reduces the rate of diagnostic error and ensures consistency with diagnoses. The Oral Pathology Centre (OPC) is the only specialist oral diagnostic centre in New Zealand. OPC provides diagnostic services to dentists and dental specialists throughout New Zealand and acts as a referral centre for second opinions for oral pathology specimens that have been sent to anatomical pathologists. The aim of this study was to review second opinion referral cases sent to the OPC over a 15-year period and to assess the levels of concordance between the original and final diagnoses. The findings indicated that the majority of referred cases were odontogenic lesions, followed by connective tissue, epithelial and salivary lesions. The most prevalent diagnoses were ameloblastoma and keratocystic odontogenic tumour, followed by oral squamous cell carcinoma. Discordant diagnoses were recorded in 24% of cases. Diagnostic discrepancies were higher in odontogenic and salivary gland lesions, resulting in the change of diagnoses. Second opinion of oral pathology cases should be encouraged in view of the relative rarity of these lesions in general pathology laboratories and the rates of diagnostic discrepancy, particularly for odontogenic and salivary gland lesions. Copyright © 2017 Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

HESS Opinions "On forecast (in)consistency in a hydro-meteorological chain: curse or blessing?"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pappenberger, F.; Cloke, H. L.; Persson, A.; Demeritt, D.

2011-01-01

Flood forecasting increasingly relies on Numerical Weather Prediction (NWP) forecasts to achieve longer lead times (see Cloke et al., 2009; Cloke and Pappenberger, 2009). One of the key difficulties that is emerging in constructing a decision framework for these flood forecasts is when consecutive forecasts are different, leading to different conclusions regarding the issuing of forecasts, and hence inconsistent. In this opinion paper we explore some of the issues surrounding such forecast inconsistency (also known as "jumpiness", "turning points", "continuity" or number of "swings"; Zoster et al., 2009; Mills and Pepper, 1999; Lashley et al., 2008). We begin by defining what forecast inconsistency is; why forecasts might be inconsistent; how we should analyse it; what we should do about it; how we should communicate it and whether it is a totally undesirable property. The property of consistency is increasingly emerging as a hot topic in many forecasting environments (for a limited discussion on NWP inconsistency see Persson, 2011). However, in this opinion paper we restrict the discussion to a hydro-meteorological forecasting chain in which river discharge forecasts are produced using inputs from NWP. In this area of research (in)consistency is receiving recent interest and application (see e.g., Bartholmes et al., 2008; Pappenberger et al., 2011).

Effects of heterogeneous convergence rate on consensus in opinion dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Changwei; Dai, Qionglin; Han, Wenchen; Feng, Yuee; Cheng, Hongyan; Li, Haihong

2018-06-01

The Deffuant model has attracted much attention in the study of opinion dynamics. Here, we propose a modified version by introducing into the model a heterogeneous convergence rate which is dependent on the opinion difference between interacting agents and a tunable parameter κ. We study the effects of heterogeneous convergence rate on consensus by investigating the probability of complete consensus, the size of the largest opinion cluster, the number of opinion clusters, and the relaxation time. We find that the decrease of the convergence rate is favorable to decreasing the confidence threshold for the population to always reach complete consensus, and there exists optimal κ resulting in the minimal bounded confidence threshold. Moreover, we find that there exists a window before the threshold of confidence in which complete consensus may be reached with a nonzero probability when κ is not too large. We also find that, within a certain confidence range, decreasing the convergence rate will reduce the relaxation time, which is somewhat counterintuitive.

Expanding Opportunities: Postsecondary Career and Technical Education and Preparing Tomorrow's Workforce. A Position Paper

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Visger, Brett

2007-01-01

With nearly a third of all students in for-credit postsecondary education enrolled in career and technical education (CTE) programs, CTE is a valuable partner in moving reform efforts forward at the postsecondary level by providing leadership in pedagogy as well as systems-building and economic development. This enables CTE to play the role of…

NASA/DOD Aerospace Knowledge Diffusion Research Project. Paper 52: A comparison of the technical communications practices of Japanese and US aerospace engineers and scientists

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pinelli, Thomas E.; Holloway, Karen; Sato, Yuko; Barclay, Rebecca O.; Kennedy, John M.

1995-01-01

To understand the diffusion of aerospace knowledge, it is necessary to understand the communications practices and the information-seeking behaviors of those involved in the production, transfer, and use of aerospace knowledge at the individual, organizational, national, and international levels. In this paper, we report selected results from a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that focused on communications practices and information-seeking behaviors in the workplace. Data are presented for the following topics: importance of and time spent communicating information, collaborative writing, need for an undergraduate course in technical communications, use of libraries, the use and importance of electronic (computer) networks, and the use and importance of foreign and domestically produced technical reports. The responses of the survey respondents are placed within the context of the Japanese culture. We assume that differences in Japanese and U.S. cultures influence the communications practices and information-seeking behaviors of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists.

The dynamics of minority opinions in democratic debate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Galam, Serge

2004-05-01

A model for the dynamics of opinion forming in democratic public debate is presented. Using concepts and techniques from the physics of disorder the dynamics of social refusal spreading is studied within a perfect world, where the minority holds neither better arguments nor lobbying backing. The one-person-one-vote rule, together with local majority rules, are used to determine the outcome of local group discussions. In case of a local tie, the group decides on keeping the Status Quo. The geometry of social life shaped by offices, houses, bars, and restaurants is shown to determine the distribution size of these discussion groups. It is found to yield very asymmetric unstable thresholds to the total spreading of one opinion at the benefit of the refusal one. The associated dynamics is rather quick and completed within few days. This democratic paradox of public debate driven majority opinion reversal is discussed in light of some European construction issues. The model may apply to rumor and fear propagation.

Nurse opinions and pulse oximeter saturation target limits for preterm infants.

PubMed

Nghiem, Tuyet-Hang; Hagadorn, James I; Terrin, Norma; Syke, Sally; MacKinnon, Brenda; Cole, Cynthia H

2008-05-01

The objectives of this study were to compare pulse oximeter saturation limits targeted by nurses for extremely preterm infants during routine care with nurse opinions regarding appropriate pulse oximeter saturation limits and with policy-specified pulse oximeter saturation limits and to identify factors that influence pulse oximeter saturation limits targeted by nurses. We surveyed nurses in US NICUs with neonatal-perinatal fellowships in 2004. Data collected included pulse oximeter saturation limits targeted by nurses and by NICU policy when present, nurses' opinions about appropriate pulse oximeter saturation limits, and NICU and nurse characteristics. Factors associated with pulse oximeter saturation limits targeted by nurses were identified with hierarchical linear modeling. Among those eligible, 2805 (45%) nurses in 59 (60%) NICUs responded. Forty (68%) of 59 NICUs had a policy that specified a pulse oximeter saturation target range for extremely preterm infants. Among 1957 nurses at NICUs with policies, 540 (28%) accurately identified the upper and lower limits of their NICU's policy and also targeted these values in practice. NICU-specific SDs for individual nurse target limits were less at NICUs with versus without a policy for both upper and lower limits. Hierarchical linear modeling identified presence of pulse oximeter saturation policy, NICU-specific nurse group opinion, and individual nurse opinion as factors significantly associated with individual pulse oximeter saturation target limits. For each percentage point increase in individual opinion upper limit, the individual target upper limit increased by 0.41 percentage point at NICUs with a policy compared with 0.6 percentage point at NICUs with no policy. Presence of policy-specified pulse oximeter saturation limits, nurse group opinion, and individual nurse opinion were independently associated with individual nurse pulse oximeter saturation target limits during routine care of extremely preterm

2004 Traveler Opinion and Perception Survey

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2007-01-01

"In November 2004 the Federal Highway Administration conducted the Traveler Opinion & Perception Survey : (TOPS). This was a nationwide survey with the objective of understanding the needs and expectations of users of the : nations transportation ...

Getting a Second Opinion Before Surgery

MedlinePlus

... your care. Medicare Part B (Medical Insurance) helps pay for a second opinion before surgery. When your ... if you’ll have surgery. Medicare doesn’t pay for surgeries or procedures that aren’t medically ...

Opinion dynamics on an adaptive random network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benczik, I. J.; Benczik, S. Z.; Schmittmann, B.; Zia, R. K. P.

2009-04-01

We revisit the classical model for voter dynamics in a two-party system with two basic modifications. In contrast to the original voter model studied in regular lattices, we implement the opinion formation process in a random network of agents in which interactions are no longer restricted by geographical distance. In addition, we incorporate the rapidly changing nature of the interpersonal relations in the model. At each time step, agents can update their relationships. This update is determined by their own opinion, and by their preference to make connections with individuals sharing the same opinion, or rather with opponents. In this way, the network is built in an adaptive manner, in the sense that its structure is correlated and evolves with the dynamics of the agents. The simplicity of the model allows us to examine several issues analytically. We establish criteria to determine whether consensus or polarization will be the outcome of the dynamics and on what time scales these states will be reached. In finite systems consensus is typical, while in infinite systems a disordered metastable state can emerge and persist for infinitely long time before consensus is reached.

An Investigation of the Intellectual Structure of Opinion Mining Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhu, Yongjun; Kim, Meen Chul; Chen, Chaomei

2017-01-01

Introduction: Opinion mining has been receiving increasing attention from a broad range of scientific communities since early 2000s. The present study aims to systematically investigate the intellectual structure of opinion mining research. Method: Using topic search, citation expansion, and patent search, we collected 5,596 bibliographic records…

5 CFR 2638.311 - Copies of published formal advisory opinions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Copies of published formal advisory... Service § 2638.311 Copies of published formal advisory opinions. Each designated agency ethics official shall receive a copy of each published opinion. Copies will also be available to the public from the...

Symmetry breaking in the opinion dynamics of a multi-group project organization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Zhen-Tao; Zhou, Jing; Li, Ping; Chen, Xing-Guang

2012-10-01

A bounded confidence model of opinion dynamics in multi-group projects is presented in which each group's opinion evolution is driven by two types of forces: (i) the group's cohesive force which tends to restore the opinion back towards the initial status because of its company culture; and (ii) nonlinear coupling forces with other groups which attempt to bring opinions closer due to collaboration willingness. Bifurcation analysis for the case of a two-group project shows a cusp catastrophe phenomenon and three distinctive evolutionary regimes, i.e., a deadlock regime, a convergence regime, and a bifurcation regime in opinion dynamics. The critical value of initial discord between the two groups is derived to discriminate which regime the opinion evolution belongs to. In the case of a three-group project with a symmetric social network, both bifurcation analysis and simulation results demonstrate that if each pair has a high initial discord, instead of symmetrically converging to consensus with the increase of coupling scale as expected by Gabbay's result (Physica A 378 (2007) p. 125 Fig. 5), project organization (PO) may be split into two distinct clusters because of the symmetry breaking phenomenon caused by pitchfork bifurcations, which urges that apart from divergence in participants' interests, nonlinear interaction can also make conflict inevitable in the PO. The effects of two asymmetric level parameters are tested in order to explore the ways of inducing dominant opinion in the whole PO. It is found that the strong influence imposed by a leader group with firm faith on the flexible and open minded follower groups can promote the formation of a positive dominant opinion in the PO.

Nonconformity defines the self: the role of minority opinion status in self-concept clarity.

PubMed

Morrison, Kimberly Rios; Wheeler, S Christian

2010-03-01

Drawing on distinctiveness and social identity theories, the present studies tested whether minority opinion holders would have a more clearly defined sense of self than majority opinion holders. In Study 1, participants who were induced to believe that they held a minority opinion on a controversial issue had higher subsequent self-concept clarity scores than did those who were induced to believe that they held a majority opinion, controlling for self-esteem. Furthermore, the relationship between minority opinion status and self-concept clarity was strongest among participants whose opinions were highly expressive of their values (Studies 2 and 3), as well as among participants who identified strongly with the group in which they were a minority (Study 3). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.

Technical Excellence: A Requirement for Good Engineering

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gill, Paul S.; Vaughan, William W.

2008-01-01

Technical excellence is a requirement for good engineering. Technical excellence has many different ways of expressing itself within engineering. NASA has initiatives that address the enhancement of the Agency's technical excellence and thrust to maintain the associated high level of performance by the Agency on current programs/projects and as it moves into the Constellation Program and the return to the Moon with plans to visit Mars. This paper addresses some of the key initiatives associated with NASA's technical excellence thrust. Examples are provided to illustrate some results being achieved and plans to enhance these initiatives.

Technical structure of the global nanoscience and nanotechnology literature

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kostoff, Ronald N.; Koytcheff, Raymond G.; Lau, Clifford G. Y.

2007-10-01

Text mining was used to extract technical intelligence from the open source global nanotechnology and nanoscience research literature. An extensive nanotechnology/nanoscience-focused query was applied to the Science Citation Index/Social Science Citation Index (SCI/SSCI) databases. The nanotechnology/nanoscience research literature technical structure (taxonomy) was obtained using computational linguistics/document clustering and factor analysis. The infrastructure (prolific authors, key journals/institutions/countries, most cited authors/journals/documents) for each of the clusters generated by the document clustering algorithm was obtained using bibliometrics. Another novel addition was the use of phrase auto-correlation maps to show technical thrust areas based on phrase co-occurrence in Abstracts, and the use of phrase-phrase cross-correlation maps to show technical thrust areas based on phrase relations due to the sharing of common co-occurring phrases. The ˜400 most cited nanotechnology papers since 1991 were grouped, and their characteristics generated. Whereas the main analysis provided technical thrusts of all nanotechnology papers retrieved, analysis of the most cited papers allowed their characteristics to be displayed. Finally, most cited papers from selected time periods were extracted, along with all publications from those time periods, and the institutions and countries were compared based on their representation in the most cited documents list relative to their representation in the most publications list.

Damage spreading and opinion dynamics on scale-free networks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fortunato, Santo

2005-03-01

We study damage spreading among the opinions of a system of agents, subjected to the dynamics of the Krause-Hegselmann consensus model. The damage consists in a sharp change of the opinion of one or more agents in the initial random opinion configuration, supposedly due to some external factors and/or events. This may help to understand for instance under which conditions special shocking events or targeted propaganda are able to influence the results of elections. For agents lying on the nodes of a Barabási-Albert network, there is a damage spreading transition at a low value εd of the confidence bound parameter. Interestingly, we find as well that there is some critical value εs above which the initial perturbation manages to propagate to all other agents.

Implications of Public Opinion for Space Program Planning, 1980 - 2000

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Overholt, W.; Wiener, A. J.; Yokelson, D.

1975-01-01

The effect of public opinion on future space programs is discussed in terms of direct support, apathy, or opposition, and concern about the tax burden, budgetary pressures, and national priorities. Factors considered include: the salience and visibility of NASA as compared with other issues, the sources of general pressure on the federal budget which could affect NASA, the public's opinions regarding the size and priority of NASA'S budget, the degree to which the executive can exercise leverage over NASA's budget through influencing or disregarding public opinion, the effects of linkages to other issues on space programs, and the public's general attitudes toward the progress of science.

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2010-04-01 2009-04-01 true Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...

21 CFR 170.6 - Opinion letters on food additive status.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 3 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Opinion letters on food additive status. 170.6... (CONTINUED) FOOD FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION (CONTINUED) FOOD ADDITIVES General Provisions § 170.6 Opinion letters on food additive status. (a) Over the years the Food and Drug Administration has given informal...