Soliciting and Providing Social Support Over the Internet: An Investigation of Online Eating Disorder Support Groups

Using a longitudinal, systematic random sample of 490 postings, this study analyzed the type of social support provided, the strategies used to solicit social support, and the themes on the top 5 Yahoo! eating disorder discussion boards. Optimal match theory was used as the theoretical framework for the study. Results suggest that messages providing informational support were more prevalent than those providing instrumental support. Also, the findings revealed that the most frequent strategy for soliciting support was sharing experiences and the most frequent theme was positive affect. The results of the study highlight the significance of prosocial communication exchanges on these discussion boards.     

Local Groups Online: Political Learning and Participation

Voluntary associations serve crucial roles in local communities and within our larger democratic society. They aggregate shared interests, collective will, and cultivate civic competencies that nurture democratic participation. People active in multiple local groups frequently act as opinion leaders and create “weak” social ties across groups. In Blacksburg and surrounding Montgomery County, Virginia, the Blacksburg Electronic Village (BEV) community computer network has helped to foster nearly universal Internet penetration. Set in this dense Internet context, the present study investigated if and how personal affiliation with local groups enhanced political participation in this high information and communication technology environment. This paper presents findings from longitudinal survey data that indicate as individuals’ uses of information technology within local formal groups increases over time, so do their levels and types of involvement in the group. Furthermore, these increases most often appear among people who serve as opinion leaders and maintain weak social ties in their communities. Individuals’ changes in community participation, interests and activities, and Internet use suggest ways in which group members act upon political motivations and interests across various group types.      

Toolkit Support for Integrating Physical and Digital Interactions

ABSTRACT

There is great potential in enabling users to interact with digital information by integrating it with everyday physical objects. However, developing these interfaces requires programmers to acquire and abstract physical input. This is difficult, is time-consuming, and requires a high level of technical expertise in fields very different from user interface development—especially in the case of computer vision. Based on structured interviews with researchers, a literature review, and our own experience building physical interfaces, we created Papier-Mâché, a toolkit for integrating physical and digital interactions. Its library supports computer vision, electronic tags, and barcodes. Papier-Mâché introduces high-level abstractions for working with these input technologies that facilitate technology portability. We evaluated this toolkit through a laboratory study and longitudinal use in course and research projects, finding the input abstractions, technology portability, and monitoring facilities to be highly effective.     

Organizational Virtual Communities:Exploring Motivations Behind Online Panel Participation

This special thematic section of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication brings together nine articles that provide a rich composite of the current research in online communities. The articles cover a range of topics, methodologies, theories and practices. Indirectly they all speak to design since they aim to extend our understanding of the field. The variety shown in these articles illustrates how broad the definition is of this rapidly growing field known as 'online communities.'     

食品集团对网络营销的拓展

我们上海食品集团是集肉、禽、蛋、冷冻食品生产、销售、科技和内外贸于一体的,超市网点、置业房产、酒店餐旅多元发展的跨省市、跨行业的大型企业集团 .集团1998年实现销售收入33亿元,资产总额30亿元,净资产9.6亿元.伴随着市场经济和网络经济的到来,上食集团量力而行,积极拓展网络营销,以丰富上食的整体营销内涵.     

Social Roles in an Online Support Community for Older People

In this article, an online support community for older people is studied, with the aim of developing a taxonomy of social roles based on content analysis and social network analysis. Four hundred messages (posted between August 9, 2007, and February 5, 2008) in an online support community for older people (http://www.seniornet.org) were investigated. The data were analyzed to identify and shed light on patterns of the online functional behavior as well as the social structure of active members. Drawing on the findings, a set of six social roles were identified, defined, and described in depth. The findings showed that the structural positions of online community members were associated with the kind of content these members tended to post. For example, it was found that central members were very likely to give support, whereas members not very well connected were more inclined to post self-disclosing messages.     

Developing Online Support for Clinical Information System Developers: The FAQ Approach

Objective:We investigate a knowledge-based help system for developers of an integrated clinical information system (CIS). The first objective in the study was to determine the system's ability to answer users' questions effectively. User performance and behavior were studied. The second objective was to evaluate the effect of using questions and answers to augment or replace traditional program documentation.Design:A comparative study of user and system effectiveness using a collection of 47 veritable questions regarding the CIS, solicited from various CIS developers, is conducted. Most questions were concerning the clinical data model and acquiring the data.Measurements:Answers using current documentation known by users were compared to answers found using the help system. Answers existing within traditional documentation were compared to answers existing within question–answer exchanges (Q-A's).Results:The support system augmented 39% of users' answers to test questions. Though the Q-A's were less than 5% of the total documentation collected, these files contained answers to nearly 50% of the questions in the test group. The rest of the documentation contained about 75% of the answers.Conclusions:A knowledge-based help system built by collecting questions and answers can be a viable alternative to large documentation files, providing the questions and answers can be collected effectively.     

Use of Health‐Related Online Support Groups: Population Data from the California Health Interview Survey Complementary and Alternative Medicine Study

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of online support group (OSG) use by those with chronic health problems and to identify characteristics associated with use of OSGs and face‐to‐face groups. METHODS: 6, 795 Californians living with chronic health problems were asked to describe OSG use, face‐to‐face support group use, and frequency/perceived benefit of support group use. RESULTS: 16% had used a face‐to‐face group for health, and 1.8% reported having used an OSG. OSG use was associated with depression/anxiety (OR = 3.51), stroke (OR = 3.03), diabetes (OR = 2.96), cancer (OR = 2.86), and arthritis (OR = 2.52). Use of OSGs was also associated with greater education (OR = 12.2), higher income (OR = 3.1), use of complementary/alternative therapies (OR = 5.2), and worse health status (OR = 3.1). Those with asthma (OR = 0.4), over age 65 (OR = 0.2), and Latinos (OR = 0.2) were less likely to use OSGs. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of use of OSGs for those with chronic health conditions is low, but internet‐based health‐related services have potential to increase the reach of support services for those living with chronic conditions.     

支持向量机及其在草图编辑手势识别中的应用

支持向量机(SVM)是一种基于统计学习理论的机器学习与模式识别方法。它通过结构风险最小化准则和核函数方法,较好地解决了小样本、非线性及高维模式识别问题。本文主要从联机手绘草图编辑的角度出发,谈谈支持向量机在草绘手势笔划识别中的具体应用。     

支持向量机及其在草图编辑手势识别中的应用

支持向量机（SVM）是一种基于统计学习理论的机器学习与模式识别方法。它通过结构风险最小化准则和核函数方法．较好地解决了小样本、非线性及高维模式识别问题。本文主要从联机手绘草图编辑的角度出发，谈谈支持向量机在草绘手势笔划识别中的具体应用。     

基于 SCORM 的在线试题开发工具的研究

在线练习和测试是网络学习的重要组成部分。但是，目前多数开发工具实现的在线试题课程，学习管理系统很难标 准化地记录测试结果、学习者反馈等重要学习数据。通过探索 SCORM RTE API、SCORM Data Model Elements 以及 SCO 和 LMS 之间的通信机制，最后给出了一个符合 SCORM 的 Dreamweaver 试题开发插件作为范例，实现了标准化的数据跟踪和记录．     

基于SCORM的在线试题开发工具的研究

在线练习和测试是网络学习的重要组成部分。但是，目前多数开发工具实现的在线试题课程，学习管理系统很难标准化地记录测试结果、学习者反馈等重要学习数据。通过探索SCORM RTE API、SCORM Data Model Elements以及SCO和LMS之间的通信机制，最后给出了一个符合SCORM的Dreamweaver试题开发插件作为范例，实现了标准化的数据跟踪和记录。     

基于SCORM的在线试题开发工具的研究

在线练习和测试是网络学习的重要组成部分。但目前多数开发工具实现的在线试题课程、学习管理系统很难标准化地记录测试结果、学习者反馈等重要学习数据。通过探索SCORM RTE API,SCORM Data Model Elements以及SCO和LMS之间的通信机制,给出了一个符合SCORM的Dreamweaver试题开发插件的范例,实现了标准化的数据跟踪和记录。     

基于SCORM的在线试题开发工具的研究

在线练习和测试是网络学习的重要组成部分.但目前多数开发工具实现的在线试题课程、学习管理系统很难标准化地记录测试结果、学习者反馈等重要学习数据.通过探索SCORM RTE API,SCORM Data Model Elements以及SCO和LMS之间的通信机制,给出了一个符合SCORM的Dreamweaver试题开发插件的范例,实现了标准化的数据跟踪和记录.     

最小二乘双支持向量机的在线学习算法

针对具有两个非并行分类超平面的最小二乘双支持向量机,提出了一种在线学习算法。通过利用矩阵求逆分解引理,所提在线学习算法能充分利用历史的训练结果,避免了大型矩阵的求逆计算过程,从而降低了计算的复杂性。仿真结果验证了所提学习算法的有效性。     

回归最小二乘支持向量机的增量和在线式学习算法

首先给出回归最小二乘支持向量机的数学模型,并分析了它的性质,然后在此基础上根据分块矩阵计算公式和核函数矩阵本身的特点设计了支持向量机的增量式学习算法和在线学习算法．该算法能充分利用历史的训练结果,减少存储空间和计算时间．仿真实验表明了这两种学习方法的有效性．     

Evolution in Groups: A Genetic Algorithm Approach to Group Decision Support Systems

Certain tasks undertaken by groups using Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) can be viewed as search problems. These tasks involve arriving at a solution or decision where the problem is complex enough to warrant the use of computerized decision support tools. For these types of GDSS tasks, we propose to model the information exchange and convergence toward a solution by the group as a simple genetic algorithm. The simple genetic algorithm is a generalized search technique that is based on the principles of evolution and natural selection. Simply put, the best points in the current population are more likely to be selected and combined through genetic operators to determine new points. We propose that groups using GDSS to address certain tasks behave like a simple genetic algorithm in the manner in which possible solutions are generated, enhanced and altered in attempting to reach a decision or consensus.     

Online inter-provincial trade in China

There is a large disparity in terms of per capital e-commerce consumption between more developed east coastal provinces and less developed inner provinces in China, which reflects the disparities in economic development and income between these regions. E-commerce could integrate China’s domestic economy as it facilitates cross-region flow of goods, strengthens regional linkage, and becomes the channel through which economic growth in one region spills over to other regions. On the other hand, e-commerce could also make regions more divergent. With a reduced trading cost, regions with comparative advantages in certain industries could have even wider and farther reaches and enjoy increasing returns. In this study, we specifically examine the pattern of e-commerce activities in China over time. We find that the production and sales of agricultural and clothing products have become more concentrated over time. The trade pattern as measured by trade flows among different provinces is mixed. While the pattern is slightly more concentrated in B2C platform, the pattern is more diversified for C2C market. Our regression analysis indicates that GDPs in origin provinces positively affect the trade flows, but distances impede trade, consistent with the gravity model. Interestingly, GDPs of the destination provinces are not significant. Home market effect is also supported.     

在线群体交互的影响模型及其学习算法

在线群体交互有助于数字图书馆发挥其服务人类需求的潜力，但如何量化在线群体交互对个人信息访问方面的影响还有待进一步研究．该文用隐Markov模型(HMM)来建模交互用户的状态序列及其相应的信息搜索行为，并基于影响模型理论提出了一个在线群体交互影响模型来分析用户在从数字图书馆选择资料和搜索所需信息时的相互影响．为满足本应用问题中增量模型学习的需要，文章还从耦合隐Markov模型(CHMM)学习算法引申出基于梯度的方法来进行在线群体交互影响模型参数的训练．实验结果显示，本文所提出的模型和算法能较准确地刻画在线群体交互对个人信息访问行动的影响．