The effects of recommendations’ presentation on persuasion and satisfaction in a movie recommender system

The explosive growth of Internet applications and content, during the last decade, has revealed an increasing need for information filtering and recommendation. Most research in the area of recommendation systems has focused on designing and implementing efficient algorithms that provide accurate recommendations. However, the selection of appropriate recommendation content and the presentation of information are equally important in creating successful recommender applications. This paper addresses issues related to the presentation of recommendations in the movies domain. The current work reviews previous research approaches and popular recommender systems, and focuses on user persuasion and satisfaction. In our experiments, we compare different presentation methods in terms of recommendations’ organization in a list (i.e. top N-items list and structured overview) and recommendation modality (i.e. simple text, combination of text and image, and combination of text and video). The most efficient presentation methods, regarding user persuasion and satisfaction, proved to be the “structured overview” and the “text and video” interfaces, while a strong positive correlation was also found between user satisfaction and persuasion in all experimental conditions.     

How job demands affect partners' experience of exhaustion: Integrating work-family conflict and crossover theory.

This study among 168 couples of dual-earner parents uses insights from previous work-family conflict and crossover research to propose an integrative model delineating how job demands experienced by men and women carry over to the home domain. The authors hypothesized that for both men and women, job demands foster their own work-family conflict (WFC), which in turn contributes to their partners' home demands, family-work conflict (FWC), and exhaustion. In addition, they hypothesized that social undermining mediates the relationship between individuals' WFC and their partners' home demands. The results of structural equation modeling analyses provided strong support for the proposed model. The hypothesis that gender would moderate the model relationships was rejected. These findings integrate previous findings on work-family conflict and crossover theories and suggest fluid boundaries between the work and home domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Future Is Here： m-Learning in Higher Education

The way we learn has changed dramatically in the new millennium. The introduction of e-learning in higher education in the late 1990s has opened Pandora＇s Box, and brought radical changes in the way where undergraduate and postgraduate programs are designed and delivered. The rapid developments and popularity ofhandheld devices such as smart phones and tablet PCs using wireless networks and mobile Intemet have marked new developments in higher education, introducing the so-called mobile leaming （m-learning）. This means that university students can have access to their studies related content, anytime, anywhere in a personalized manner; this is what renders m-learning so popular and fashionable among university students globally. Nevertheless, instructors are now challenged as they have to adopt new pedagogies in learning and teaching. This paper discusses the concept of m-learning, as well as the current developments and challenges related to the major stakeholders （educators and students） in higher education.     

Opportunistically assisted parking service discovery: Now it helps,now it does not

In this paper, we explore the way the discovery of service can be facilitated or not by utilizing service location information that is opportunistically disseminated primarily by the service consumers themselves. We apply our study to the real-world case of parking service in busy city areas. As the vehicles drive around the area, they opportunistically collect and share with each other information on the location and status of each parking spot they encounter. This opportunistically assisted scenario is compared against one that implements a “blind” non-assisted search and a centralized approach, where the allocation of parking spots is managed by a central server with global knowledge about the parking space availability.Results obtained for both uniformly distributed travel destinations and a single hotspot destination reveal that the relative performance of the three solutions can vary significantly and not always inline with intuition. Under the hotspot scenario, the opportunistic system is consistently outperformed by the centralized system, which yields the minimum times and distances at the expense of more distant parking spot assignments; whereas, for uniformly distributed destinations, the relative performance of all three schemes changes with the vehicle volume, with the centralized approach gradually becoming the worst solution and the opportunistic one emerging as the best scheme. We discuss how each approach modulates the information dissemination process in space and time and resolves the competition for the parking resources. We also outline models providing analytical insights to the behaviour of the centralized approach.     

Physical and mechanical characteristics of TEOS-modified nanocomposites

Journal of Polymer Research - Sodium 2,2′-methylene-bis(4,6-di-tertbutylphenyl)-phosphate (NA11) is an α-type nucleating agent for improving the mechanical and crystallization...     

Natural ventilation of indoor spaces while minimizing heat losses: Theoretical and experimental investigation

Limiting heat losses during ventilation of indoor building spaces has become a basic aim for architects, particularly since the oil crisis of 1970. Much experience has been gained in terms of ventilation of indoor spaces. Nevertheless, due to the complex applications, attempts to create a theoretical base for solving the problems related to the issue are limited, especially determining the minimum ventilation period required within a designated space. In this paper we have approached this matter, both theoretically and experimentally. The conclusion we reached was that controlled ventilation of spaces through vent holes that successively open and close at regular time intervals can limit the excessive circulation of air masses, which in turn limits heat losses.     

Working in the sky: A diary study on work engagement among flight attendants.

This study aims to gain insight in the motivational process of the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model by examining whether daily fluctuations in colleague support (i.e., a typical job resource) predict day-levels of job performance through self-efficacy and work engagement. Forty-four flight attendants filled in a questionnaire and a diary booklet before and after consecutive flights to three intercontinental destinations. Results of multilevel analyses revealed that colleague support had unique positive effects on self-efficacy and work engagement. Self-efficacy did not mediate the relationship between support and engagement, but work engagement mediated the relationship between self-efficacy and (in-role and extra-role) performance. In addition, colleague support had an indirect effect on in-role performance through work engagement. These findings shed light on the motivational process as outlined in the JD-R model, and suggest that colleague support is an important job resource for flight attendants helping them reach their work-related goals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of grafting and modified atmosphere packaging on eggplant quality parameters during storage

The physico‐chemical parameters (pH, mechanical firmness and vitamin C) and sensory parameters of grafted and ungrafted eggplant plants were studied in relation to storage time (up to 17 days at 10 °C). Eggplant plants of cultivar ‘Tsakoniki’ were grafted on Solanum torvum and S. sisymbriifolium rootstocks in order to avoid the soil borne disease caused by Verticillium dahliae. The fruits were stored under modified atmosphere packaging (MAP). Vitamin C was negatively affected by grafting it storage, while MAP prolonged the shelf life. Although pH was not affected by grafting but was positively affected by MAP. Flesh firmness was negatively affected by grafting and reduced over storage, but positively affected by MAP. Sensory analysis showed higher ratings of fruits from ungrafted plants for sweetness, acceptance and hardness whereas no difference was detected for overall acceptance. Fruits stored under MAP were better maintained compared with those stored in air.     

Glucocorticoid Signaling and Epigenetic Alterations in Stress-Related Disorders

Stress is defined as a state of threatened or perceived as threatened homeostasis. The well-tuned coordination of the stress response system is necessary for an organism to respond to external or internal stressors and re-establish homeostasis. Glucocorticoid hormones are the main effectors of stress response and aberrant glucocorticoid signaling has been associated with an increased risk for psychiatric and mood disorders, including schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Emerging evidence suggests that life-stress experiences can alter the epigenetic landscape and impact the function of genes involved in the regulation of stress response. More importantly, epigenetic changes induced by stressors persist over time, leading to increased susceptibility for a number of stress-related disorders. In this review, we discuss the role of glucocorticoids in the regulation of stress response, the mechanism through which stressful experiences can become biologically embedded through epigenetic alterations, and we underline potential associations between epigenetic changes and the development of stress-related disorders.