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The technology base upon which democratic societies have relied has transformed rapidly in recent years, with precipitous breakthroughs in telecommunications, data storage, and processing power yielding a new media ecosystem dominated by a select few digital platforms. Empowered by capacities to collect data on a near-uninhibited basis, process that data to generate fine-grained behavioral profiles, and wield those profiles to algorithmically manipulate the individual's media experience, the dominant internet platforms possess overbearing economic power over the consumer, the harms of which cannot be addressed merely by Fukuyama's proposed policy requirements for sourcing of content moderation to middleware providers. The purpose of this essay is to clarify the connection between the business model of the digital platforms and the negative externalities they instigate. We conclude by proposing a more holistic view of the policy intervention required to renegotiate the balance of power between corporate and consumer—one framed by consumer privacy, algorithmic transparency, and digital competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This article takes a transdisciplinary view of the media sensorium by applying humanities, social science, and engineering perspectives to the relationships among sensory perception, cognition, and how people come to understand their worlds through the senses. Analysis The goal of this article is to engage with the provocation that the sensorium, a concept that Marshall McLuhan brought to media studies in the 1960s, provides the lens through which we observe that communication is the expression of cognition via the combined potentiality of physiology and technology. "Sensory technologies" are used as analytical vehicles in a technological journey from the Walkman to 21st-century telecommunications. Conclusion and implications The reader is given a call to action to use the full spectrum of the sensorium to locate and act on transformative contemporary processes underway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1970s and 1980s, Citizen Band (CB) radio users explored novel mobile, fluid and network-based forms of wireless communication. This article describes the case of West Germany and places the appropriation of CB radio in its inter-medial and inter-technological contexts. Many CB radio users invented creative uses for the medium, and an engaged and predominantly male subgroup of CB radio amateurs even defined CB as participatory 'civic radio'. In an increasingly mobile society, CB radio helped people to stay in touch with each other and to micro-coordinate their everyday lives with friends and family. This multi-dimensional analysis of CB radio use also provides a corrective to the standard narrative of a 'mobile' revolution that took place around the turn of the millennium, triggered by cell phones and social media applications. Mobile communication culture has a longer history, and CB radio constitutes an essential part of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With recent technological advances, cyber partner abuse has become increasingly problematic. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the existing literature on cyber partner abuse. This systematic review examines the characteristics and conceptualizations in the cyber partner abuse literature as well as the major topics the research has explored. Literature searches used keywords related to cyber partner abuse. In total, 37 articles were included in this review. Inductive qualitative content analysis methods were used to generate codes and themes from the identified articles. Results detail the study characteristics and conceptualizations in the cyber partner abuse research. Additionally, common thematic patterns reported by researchers in the literature are discussed. Specific recommendations for future research and practice stem from this review and are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study presents novel evidence regarding the role of regional internet infrastructure in reducing regional per capita income disparities. We base our study on the assumptions that (1) the diffusion of information homogenizes regional economies through reducing the dissimilarities in institutions and culture, and (2) the telecommunication capacity, represented by the internet infrastructure of a region, facilitates this flow of information. Using the data from the 26 statistical NUTS‐2 regions of Turkey for the period 1999–2011, we find evidence that internet infrastructure increases the speed of regional convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological change in communications and media has been substantial and dramatic in recent years, particularly arising from the growth of the internet and “social media.” This can lead analysis to give undue emphasis to technological innovation at the expense of the enduring patterns of social structure which lie behind them. This article stresses the importance of such continuities by briefly illustrating the importance of power, inequality, identity and social change in relation to communications processes and institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The intent was to evaluate time to match initial investment of a new, statewide correctional system telehealth program based upon cumulative savings by avoidance of transportation and custody-related costs. Materials and Methods: The setting was a statewide correctional system where prisoners received medical care through enhanced telemedicine technology supported by newly recruited specialty providers delivered through an open architecture system. The patients were incarcerated persons requiring nonemergent consultations in 10 specialties. A financial model was created to estimate transportation expenses, including vehicular use and custody staff, during the out of prison travel for traditional face-to-face care. Cost savings were then estimated by multiplying transportation expenses by the number of telehealth encounters (avoided cost) and summed cumulatively. Savings were mapped monthly. Private sector specialists were recruited, provided security clearance, trained in the use of the technology, and provided a secure site to provide services. Measurements and Main Results: Based on the financial model, 1.2 million dollars in savings, equaling the initial capital investment, were achieved at 32 months. The total number of patient telemedicine encounters increased from 2,365 (±98/month) to 3,748 during the first 32 months of operation (July 2013 through January 2016: ±117/month) with 89% of the established specialties performed by telemedicine technologies. Discussion: It was initially estimated to require 48 months to achieve the investment savings, but savings were achieved in 32 months, demonstrating greater adoption than expected. While finances were quantifiable, enhanced public safety by avoidance of out of prison time is unquantifiable, but judged to be significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E -communication represents a major threat to users who are exposed to a number of risks and potential attacks. Detecting these risks with as much anticipation as possible is crucial for prevention. However, much research so far has focused on forensic tools that can be applied only when an attack has been performed. This paper proposes a novel and effective methodology for the early detection of threats in written social media. The goal is to recognize a potential attack before it is consummated, and using a minimum amount of information. The proposed approach considers the use of profile-based representations (PBRs) for this goal. PBRs have multiple benefits, including non-sparsity, low dimensionality, and a proved discriminative power. Moreover, representations for partial documents can be derived naturally with PBRs, which makes them suitable for the addressed problem. Results include empirical evidence on the usefulness of PBRs in the early recognition setting for two tasks in which anticipation is critical: sexual predator detection and aggressive text identification. These results reveal, on the one hand, that PBRs achieve state of the art performance when using full-length documents (i.e., the classical task), and, on the other hand, that the proposed methodology outperforms previous work on early recognition of sexual predators by a considerable margin, while obtaining state of the art performance in aggressive text identification. To the best of our knowledge, these are the best results reported on early recognition for the approached problems. We foresee this work will pave the way for the development of novel methodologies for the problem and will motivate further research from the intelligent systems and text mining communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family kinkeepers enact an important role centered on interaction and maintaining family relationships. The researchers studied kinkeeping communication in light of mediated communication, topics engaged, and kinkeepers’ assessments. Thirty-four self-identified kinkeepers kept an interaction diary over 2 weeks. Their 275 reports represented 1,487 interactions using largely mediated communication channels (text, telephone, e-mail, social media), centered on everyday activities, rituals, and health and safety. Despite potential complications of the role, kinkeepers reported high agreement and openness with family members, little conflict, and overall satisfaction with their interactions. Implications of these findings, new directions for researchers, and the important mediated role of family kinkeeping are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Smart city has been becoming nowadays a very popular topic that not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. There are variety of definitions for smart city in different fields and regions. Generally, it aims for a sustainable city development through the optimal management of the resources and potential, offering a comprehensively higher quality life to the citizens. The planning of area energy system is one of the most important issues, which is related to the energy generation, the energy consumption by facilities, transportation system, and any other city infrastructures. Especially for Japan, one of the countries facing the complex issues of an aging society, disaster management and energy dependency need a new methodologies for optimal urban energy planning that integrates all information from these sectors. Smart city with highly developed information and communications technology (ICT) is considered as such an important approach. To encourage the smart city concept in Japan, this paper proposes a “GIS-BIM” based urban energy planning system to access the optimal technical and policy solution for readjust city infrastructure beyond the integrated analysis. Firstly, it introduces the concept of Japanese smart city which covers from urban planning to infrastructure. Secondly, the research proposes a GIS-BIM based urban energy planning system including the database construction and analysis by GIS, the optimal energy system design aided by BIM and 3D visualization with user-friendly interface. Finally, center of Tokyo is adopted as a case study, suggesting the potential to access the optimal technical and policy solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes to integrate two entities, the Internet of Things and a cognitive dynamic system (CDS), and studies a smart home scenario as the application of interest. As a people-centric IoT, the smart home aims to enhance the intelligence level of the living environment and improve the quality of human life. Cognition, the distinct principles of which are perception?action cycle, memory, attention, intelligence, and language, can play a key role to pave the way for building truly smart homes. With cognition as its foundation, the engineering paradigm of CDS provides step-by-step guidelines for systematic development of smart homes. Hence, CDS can significantly contribute to the interactive IoT ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the ways in which information communication technologies (ICTs) are embedded in foreign domestic workers’ migration experiences in Singapore. Due to Singapore’s stringent migration regime, whereby foreign domestic workers are required to live-in with their employers, domestic workers often find their access and use of ICTs subject to a high degree of surveillance and regulation by their employers. Using Massey’s notion of power geometry, we consider how increasing reliance upon communications technology by both domestic workers and their employers necessitates a renegotiation of social relations in the household. In doing so, this article demonstrates that foreign domestic workers’ negotiations of ICTs are ‘always ongoing’, creating fluid possibilities for these women to exercise a greater sense of agency within the realm of their daily lives. Yet, we highlight that gaining access to ICTs also requires women to negotiate the inequalities inscribed upon their position as a foreign domestic worker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As migrant students cope with relocation challenges, communication with left-behind family and friends can enhance their well-being, while interactions with co-national and local students can facilitate their acculturation to the host country. This article studies Indonesian and Vietnamese university students in Singapore to understand the role that technologically mediated communication plays in facilitating migrant students’ adaptation and acculturation. Through a media deprivation exercise, it finds that communication with left-behind family and friends offers support but can monopolise the students’ free time and impede their interaction with locals. Social media communication also exacerbates the development of cultural silos that comprise only co-nationals. On the positive side, migrant students used the online realm as an acculturative space to better understand the host country’s attitudes towards foreigners, thereby better equipping them for interactions with locals. Migrant students must strike a balance between exploiting mediated communication links to their home identities and exploring host cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology. Organization & Management / Zeszyty Naukowe Politechniki Slaskiej. Seria Organizacji i Zarzadzanie is the property of Silesian Technical University, Organisation & Management Faculty and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Objective: The use of technology to provide telemental healthcare continues to increase; however, little has been written about the legal and regulatory issues involved in providing this form of care to children and adolescents.Methods: This article reviews existing laws and regulations to summarize the risk management issues relevant to providing telemental healthcare to children and adolescents.Results: There are several legal and regulatory areas in which telemental health clinicians need to have awareness. These areas include: 1) Licensure, 2) malpractice liability, 3) credentialing and privileging, 4) informed consent, 5) security and privacy, and 6) emergency management.Conclusions: Although legal and regulatory challenges remain in providing telemental healthcare to children and adolescents, it is possible to overcome these challenges with knowledge of the issues and appropriate risk management strategies. We provide general knowledge of these key legal and regulatory issues, along with some risk management recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the lens of internet-based humor to examine how, amidst massive global flows of content, young Israelis articulate a sense of local-national affinity. We analyzed verbal and visual comic email forwards to trace: (a) the extent to which Israelis share local versus global content and (b) the means through which national affinity is conveyed. Results show that while Israelis' humorous diet is mainly non-local, a pervasive use of the Hebrew vernacular plays an important role in creating local affinity. Our analysis yielded five discursive frames that mark locality in humor: presumed locality, dramatized locality, ex(im)ported localization, clandestine localization, and conspicuous localization. We conclude by offering a typology that locates these frames along three analytical axes: origin, explicitness and diversity. The combination of these frames and axes suggests a nuanced map of comic global-local interplays and offers a model for future comparative research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property mapping through use of geographic information systems (GIS) and slum listing are practices of official knowledge production in government improvement schemes in Indian cities. Our comparative analysis of these two practices is in concert with recent amplifications of Scott's analytical scheme around the notion of legibility making. In both cases knowledge production in practice encounters an “amorphous state.” Government representatives and interests frequently intermingle with non-governmental representatives and interests. This influences knowledge production in practice with different implications for government scheme implementation and participation in urban governance. We find that slum listing supports scheme implementation better than GIS property mapping. The latter seeks to translate the notion of a clear delineation between state and non-state into organizational and technical design for legibility making. It stops short of reaching larger aims of the scheme and comes to focus on the problem of incomplete knowledge and mechanisms of self-referential monitoring. The more organic practice of slum listing involves dispersed paper and desktop technologies and relies on traditional sites of knowledge production in the city. It is adjusted to and enacted by an amorphous state. The official knowledge produced is temporary in nature, and as such allows for incremental and partially reversible scheme implementation. Slum listing retains channels of negotiation with city administration and politicians, which are vital for poorer sections of the urban populace. Our study is relevant to policy and future research, because as of 2012 the new national slum improvement scheme requires implementation of GIS also for slum data collection and management. The question is, whether the new scheme will run into similar problems as GIS property mapping or whether it puts at risk existing channels of negotiation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information and communication technology has been widely deployed in the provision of healthcare for decades. Teleconsultation, one of the new means of providing healthcare solutions, has been prevalently implemented in numerous countries. In principle, it is expected with great potential to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare service through wide accessibility and cost control. However, many teleconsultation systems have been installed but abandoned rapidly or used at a disappointing low level. This paper explores the antecedents of low usage in post-adoption of teleconsultation service in clinical practice. We identify specific theoretical attributes targeted on the research problem and extend the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) framework into a multi-dimensional analytical framework. We design a comparative case study and conduct deductive analysis to test our propositions using data from multiple sources. The proposed analytical framework and empirical findings not only provide theoretical contribution by articulating the TOE framework to reflect the specific and distinguished characteristics in teleconsultation services, but also provide implications for practitioners to develop better strategies for teleconsultation collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers a company profile of Mechelen, Belgium-based broadband cable services supplier Telenet Group Holding NV. Information about the company's leader in network technology, innovative applications and digital progress, is provided. Also emphasized is the company's dedication in providing technology technological possibilities and services for the Belgian customers.

In this work, we present methods to estimate average daily origin–destination trips from triangulated mobile phone records of millions of anonymized users. These records are first converted into clustered locations at which users engage in activities for an observed duration. These locations are inferred to be home , work , or other depending on observation frequency, day of week, and time of day, and represent a user’s origins and destinations. Since the arrival time and duration at these locations reflect the observed (based on phone usage) rather than true arrival time and duration of a user, we probabilistically infer departure time using survey data on trips in major US cities. Trips are then constructed for each user between two consecutive observations in a day. These trips are multiplied by expansion factors based on the population of a user’s home Census Tract and divided by the number of days on which we observed the user, distilling average daily trips. Aggregating individuals’ daily trips by Census Tract pair, hour of the day, and trip purpose results in trip matrices that form the basis for much of the analysis and modeling that inform transportation planning and investments. The applicability of the proposed methodology is supported by validation against the temporal and spatial distributions of trips reported in local and national surveys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A common concern in relation to smart cities is how to turn the concept into reality. The aim of this research is to investigate the implementation process of smart cities based upon the experience of South Korea's U-City projects. The research shows that poorly-managed conflicts during implementation can diminish the potential of smart cities and discourage future improvements. The nature of smart cities is based on the concept of governance, while the planning practice is still in the notion of government. In order to facilitate the collaborative practice, the research has shown that collaborative institutional arrangements and joint fact-finding processes might secure an integrated service delivery for smart cities by overcoming operational difficulties in real-life contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the reactivation of dormant ties in Japan and the United States. Using the institutional approach to culture developed by Yamagishi et al., it is hypothesized that respondents living in Japan will be less likely to reconnect with dormant ties when prompted than respondents living in the United States. It is further hypothesized that interaction with kin and work ties will help to explain lower levels of reconnection in Japan than in the United States. To examine these hypotheses, we developed a field experiment in which 95 adults living in Japan and 68 adults living in the United States were prompted by a smartphone application to reconnect with dormant ties. The results of this study show strong support for the hypothesis that respondents living in Japan are less likely to reconnect with dormant ties than respondents living in the United States when prompted. There is also mixed support for the hypothesis that interaction with kin and work ties helps to explain lower levels of reconnection in Japan than in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses disruptive technologies, urban and economic development and foreign investment in Myanmar, or Burma, in the context of the democratization of the country's government. An overview of Yangon, Burma, including its population growth, infrastructure, public services and tourism to the city, is provided. An overview of the Qatari international communications company that offers Internet service Ooredoo Myanmar license to develop telecommunications and Internet infrastructure to Myanmar is also provided.

Compared with other communication media such as cellphones and video chat, teleoperated robots have a physical existence which increases the feeling of copresence. However, the appearance of a teleoperated robot is always the same regardless of the characteristics of its operator. Since people can determine their partner's personality from his/her appearance, a teleoperated robot's appearance might construct a personality that confuses the user. Our research focuses on establishing what kind of appearance of the telecommunication media could prevent confusion and increase the feeling of copresence. In this study, we compare the appearance of three types of communication media (nonhuman-like robot, human-like robot, and video chat with a projection of the speaker). The result shows that, in the case of the human-like robot, the consistency of the personality judgment is better than in the case of the nonhuman-like robot. Also, we found that teleoperated robots transmit a more appropriate context-based atmosphere, while the video chat transmits more nonverbal information, such as facial expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the most frequently used communication media among other social networks, Facebook has become a social platform which-apart from individual use-many kinds of interest groups extensively use. As a very large community with 2.5 million students and a vast number of graduates, Anadolu University Open Education System has been noticed as a system whose name a great number of people and groups have used on Facebook. Who creates these pages? For what purposes these pages were created? What kind of content is provided for the users? What are the users feedbacks? What kind of distance learner needs these pages meet? Are there any points where pages with the similar names differentiate? In order to find the answers of these questions, this study examines the dimensions of the communication over "Open Education" on Facebook with the approach of uses and gratifications. Detailed content analysis of the pages selected as the sample has been done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Television has changed the way in which average citizens receive information. One clear difference since television introducing into the market is that it has made expressing opinions to a mass amount of people very quickly a possibility. The effects of television on voting are somewhat unknown, although some research into the topic has been performed (see Baum, 2005; Prior, 2005). If it is possible for hosts and characters of television shows to be a functioning part of an individual’s social network, the way in which television communicates opinions and attitudes to viewers would change dramatically, especially during election season. To investigate this, I have chosen to take a general approach and use the American National Election Study (ANES) to perform a multivariate logistic regression to test my theory. My findings were largely inconclusive and unable to contribute significantly to existing research. Neither of my hypotheses about airtime or type of shows were proven in my study. I still I choose to analyze finite regressions in order to guide future research into this subject. As stated, my results were inadequate, but another survey could change this finding. Further research into how television use influences and an individual’s social network in relation to voting should be performed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uniquely examined the effects on self, cognition, anxiety, and physiology when iPhone users are unable to answer their iPhone while performing cognitive tasks. A 2 x 2 within-subjects experiment was conducted. Participants (N = 40 iPhone users) completed 2 word search puzzles. Among the key findings from this study were that when iPhone users were unable to answer their ringing iPhone during a word search puzzle, heart rate and blood pressure increased, self-reported feelings of anxiety and unpleasantness increased, and self-reported extended self and cognition decreased. These findings suggest that negative psychological and physiological outcomes are associated with iPhone separation and the inability to answer one's ringing iPhone during cognitive tasks. Implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, there has been a growing recognition of the importance of collaboration and social interaction in the knowledge based society. Internet, related communications technologies, social computer applications or inclusive groupware software, assist greatly in reducing formal communication barriers, and open new possibilities for organizations to implement various types of collaboration practices and boost knowledge sharing. The paper aims to discuss how the knowledge sharing process can be intensify and enhanced by collaboration technologies and web 2.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental studies of dynamic decision making generally show poor performance. Most, however, lack market mechanisms, specifically price setting, while economic theory suggests markets should mitigate individual decision errors. We develop experimental markets to explore whether different price institutions improve performance in dynamic decision tasks. We find: (i) dynamic complexity degrades performance substantially relative to optimal despite the inclusion of different pricing mechanisms; and (ii) markets improve performance, though it remains significantly below optimal. We estimate decision rules for each actor; results reject the hypothesis of rationality at the individual level but support behavioral decision rules consistent with bounded rationality. Simulations using the estimated decision rules reproduce key features of market dynamics. Decision timing data and verbal protocols show that greater task complexity leads subjects to ignore important aspects of the environment, particularly strategic interactions among participants. Markets moderate but do not eliminate misperceptions of feedback. Copyright © 2014 System Dynamics Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The complex projective synchronization in drive-response stochastic coupled networks with complex-variable systems is considered. The impulsive pinning control scheme is adopted to achieve complex projective synchronization and several simple and practical sufficient conditions are obtained in a general drive-response network. In addition, the adaptive feedback algorithms are proposed to adjust the control strength. Several numerical simulations are provided to show the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Communication technologies have facilitated workers' ability to integrate the home and work domains; however, these tools have also allowed each domain to more frequently intrude into the other. We examined workplace policies and norms, individual preferences, and family norms and expectations as antecedents of connectivity behaviors that utilize communication technologies to bridge the boundaries between home and work. The control of interruptions from communication technology was examined as a moderator of the relationship between connectivity behavior and work-family conflict. Data were gathered from employees of two universities (n = 290). We found that being required to be connected after hours and role integration preference were associated with higher levels of connectivity behaviors. Connectivity behaviors were not associated with work-family conflict, nor was there support was for the proposed moderator. Job type and hours worked after hours were significantly associated with both connectivity behavior and work-family conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives theoretical founding of an e-learning system that uses principles of transactional analysis (TA). TA is both theory of personality and a practical approach to managing numerous problems that are arising from inadequate communication patterns. We believe that the key problem of low mathematical performance found in Serbian learners is not in mathematics but in promoting and maintaining non-functional communication patterns. Internet and e-learning are seen as good arena in which a new battle for better math knowledge should be lead and won. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]