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Methods for observing policy networks have not kept up with the development of new network analytic techniques required to understand governance in complex settings. We compare three unobtrusive methods for observing policy networks based on hyperlinks between policy actor web sites, on media reports, and on public policy partnerships. Observations of one complex local water policy arena with all three methods provide a comparison of the general as well as actor-specific network characteristics in the three observed networks. The core network of actors observed by all methods has similar network level statistics, highly correlated relationships measured by Quadratic Assignment Procedures models, and the same significant network microstructures as measured by Exponential Random Graph Models. The full networks including actors observed by any method also exhibit similar actor-level characteristics, although the correlations across networks are stronger for bridging capital measures than for bonding capital measures, and each method has different apparent biases. Once biases are accounted for, similarities suggest that these methods may provide useful proxies for each other and for other relationships that are more difficult or impossible to measure, particularly when combined to offset each method's biases. If so, they can extend the range of policy networks observable with limited resources across space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study which reviewed the advice given to patients and families about water precautions after ventilation tube (VT) insertion by clinicians, websites and hospital information leaflets. The study evaluated clinician experience level, specific advice given and whether advice agreed with published guidelines. It concluded that the advice is rarely in agreement with the guidelines.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of an eHealth intervention (interactive website) on pregnant women's ability to make an informed choice about Down syndrome screening.Material and Methods: The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial with allocation to an intervention group and a control group in a ratio of 1:1. Subsequent subgroup analysis was conducted. Participants were recruited from 5 August 2013 to 25 April 2014 at Odense University Hospital, Denmark. Inclusion criteria were: pregnant women aged ≥18 years who were invited to participate in Down syndrome screening. Exclusion criteria were: high risk of abortion, psycho-socially vulnerable women, late referral, inability to speak Danish and women declining to participate. The primary outcome was informed choice about Down syndrome screening. The Multidimensional Measure of Informed Choice was used to assess whether the choice was informed or uninformed.Results: A total of 1150 participants were included in the study, of which 910 (79%) completed the questionnaire. Only a minority (30% of the women in the intervention group) actually used the website. There was no significant difference in the groups with respect to making an informed choice. The mean knowledge scores were significantly higher for those in the intervention group who used the intervention.Conclusions: An interactive website with information about Down syndrome screening had no direct effect on making an informed choice. However, the majority of the pregnant women who used the website were satisfied with the website and would recommend it to others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from an exclusive file-sharing Web site that allows users to share music files using the BitTorrent protocol, I exploit exogenous variation in the availability of sound recordings in file-sharing networks to isolate the causal effect of file sharing of an album on its sales. Using within-album variation in illegal downloads and sales, I find that the effect is essentially zero: The elasticity of sales with respect to illegal downloads is one-tenth of one percentage point. However, the finding that file sharing is not harmful to individual artists is not inconsistent with the well-documented fact that file sharing is harmful to the music industry (the fallacy of composition). More important, I find that file sharing benefits more established and popular artists who are signed to major labels, which is consistent with recent industry trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Issue addressed: Mass media campaigns have used a range of traditional media (television, radio and print) to communicate health messages. In the past decade the Internet has added to these traditional methods with Web 2.0, smart phone technology and interactive media. 'Find Thirty every day®', a Western Australia population-wide mass media campaign delivered over 2 years, used a combination of traditional mass media, a website, online resources and banner advertising. The aim of the present study is to describe the use of the Find Thirty every day® website during the campaign media activities of May 2008--June 2010. Methods: Cross-sectional self-reported survey data were collected from a random sample of adults using a computer-assisted telephone interview over the period February--March 2010. Objective online analytical measures of unique visits to the Find Thirty every day website were collected between June 2008 and June 2010. Results: Monthly visitors to the Find Thirty every day® website increased from 3193 in 2009 to 4374 in 2010. During the last two media waves (October 2009 and February 2010), site visits were 5388 and 5272 per month, respectively. Conclusion: The impact of the Find Thirty every day® website was a positive outcome, considering the minimal online presence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small-screen mobile terminals have difficulty accessing existing Web resources designed for large-screen devices. This paper presents an adaptive transformation method based on webpage semantic features to solve this problem. According to the text density and link density features of the webpages, the webpages are divided into two types: index and content. Our method uses an index-based webpage transformation algorithm and a content-based webpage transformation algorithm. Experiment results demonstrate that our adaptive transformation method is not dependent on specific software and webpage templates, and it is capable of enhancing Web content adaptation on small-screen terminals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides a benchmark analysis of how over 500 environmental international nonprofit and nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) used websites to communicate with the general public around the world and build virtual relationships with their strategic allies. Using social network analysis and data mining, this study found that INGOs were able to attract a considerable number of visitors from multiple countries. In addition, INGOs used their hyperlinks to build a globally connected network. Shared mission was an important consideration in INGOs' relationship building strategy. Further, many INGOs built reciprocal hyperlinks with other INGOs. A large number of INGOs were well embedded in in-groups but developed less connection with out-group organizations. Implications for practice, future research and theory building are discussed. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Websites are an important and efficient means of communication for companies wishing to interact with their clients. Therefore, research has focused on evaluating how websites should be structured to ensure their quality. The majority of this research has focused on evaluating the quality of individual pages or that of a site as a whole. In this article, we propose the use of two-level models that combine evaluations at the page level with evaluations at the site level, and applied them to the problem of evaluating the navigability of websites. To test our models, we conducted a study with 21 subjects who had to complete navigation tasks on several websites, and compared their quality judgments to those produced by single and two-level quality models. We found that two-level models are better predictors of navigability. Finally, we show how two-level models are able to suggest modifications to improve site navigability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was twofold: I) to examine website content provided by U.S. and Canadian pediatric dentistry residency programs, and 2) to understand aspects of program websites that dental students report to be related to their interests. Sixty–eight program websites were reviewed by five interprofessional evaluators. A thirty–six–item evaluation form was organized into I) program descriptive items listed on the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) website (n=2 1); 2) additional program descriptive items not listed on the AAPD website but of interest (n=9); and 3) items related to website interface design (n5). We also surveyed fifty–four dental students regarding their interest in various aspects of program descriptions. The results of this study suggest that pediatric dentistry residency programs in general tend to provide identical or less information than what is listed on the AAPD website. The majority of respondents (76 percent) reported that residency program websites would be their first source of information about advanced programs. The greatest gap between the available website information and students' interests exists in these areas: stipend and tuition information, state licensure, and program strengths. Pediatric dentistry residency programs underutilize websites as a marketing and recruitment tool and should incorporate more information in areas of students' priority interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do Latino representatives enhance or "enlarge" Latino representation (Walsh 2002)? I examined the content of websites posted by members of the 110th Congress and found that the websites of Latino representatives are not more accessible to Spanish-speaking users than the websites of non-Latino representatives, nor are the sites more likely to exhibit pro-immigrant positions or offer immigration assistance. The websites of Latino representatives are, however, more likely to present Latino perspectives. Latino representatives enhance Latino representation in this forum by enlarging or broadening the presence of a Latino voice in policy discussion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is desirable for a prefilter used for low-bitrate video coding to have a nonlinear characteristic achieving reduction in the amount of data by smoothing, as well as preserving as much as possible of edges that are visually important. Thus, we conducted a basic study for formulating an edge-preserving smoothing filter using anisotropic diffusion. It is known that if the conventional anisotropic diffusion Perona–Malik (PMD) diffusion is used as a smoothing filter, there will be problems such as noise with large gradients remaining and excessive edge enhancement. In this paper, we determine the conditions that the edge-stopping function must satisfy to solve these problems and derive a concrete function according to those conditions. Also, we verify by numerical experiments that the above problems are solved by anisotropic diffusion with our proposed edge-stopping functions. Further, targeting application to a prefilter for low-bitrate video coding, bit count reduction effect of our proposed filter was tested to verify its effectiveness. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 38(10): 34–45, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.20566 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Destination marketing organisations (DMOs) are facing intriguing challenges to provide quality information online in an era of information overload. Insufficient knowledge of tourist's online information preferences and search behaviour has hindered them from effective information management. This research aimed to examine consumers' perspectives of the information role of the DMOs and their preferences and attitudes towards what constitute engaging and relevant Web contents and functionalities for a DMO website. The results suggested that tourists' preference of information content varied across the different levels of DMO websites (country, state/province and city). In addition, the study revealed that travellers' information needs and behaviour change over the entire information consumption process, which include the before, during and post-trip period. Implications for DMOs were discussed at the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the internet Web site YouTube. Article topics include hot and cold media, satellite radio, iTunes, interactive and participatory media, online journals, the wiki principle, and podcasting. The author analyzes the importance of videocasting, its academic potential for both teachers and students, and how YouTube has emerged as the leader in internet videocasting. Additional article topics include a detailed explanation of videocasting, the significance of YouTube, statistics on videocasting viewership and participation, and the impact of YouTube on American society.