Content Analysis Of Information Research Articles

Global information literacy: a content analysis of three journals

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to perform a content analysis of information literacy specific journals to determine what contributing countries and predominant themes are represented in the field leading to a global understanding of information literacy.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected through a content analysis of journal article publication information, titles, abstracts and keywords in three journals: Communications in Information Literacy (the USA), Journal of Information Literacy (the UK) and Nordic Journal of Information Literacy in Higher Education (Norway) from 2012 to 2017.FindingsThe USA contributed the most to the literature, though the top information literacy themes were addressed by each of the 18 countries that contributed articles to the journals under study. Some themes emerged that suggest the existence of a common global discourse around shared information literacy concepts, including themes related to information literacy theory and practice.Practical implicationsThe shared information literacy themes can be used to help solidify a global understanding of information literacy.Originality/valueThis study fills a gap in the content analysis of information literacy journals by identifying themes that demonstrate a shared global understanding of information literacy.

U.S. charter schools neglect promoting physical activity: Content analysis of nationally representative elementary charter school websites.

Most youths fail to meet recommended public health recommendations for physical activity (PA) and schools have been assigned a key role in mitigating this problem. Charter school growth exploded recently, but little is known about these schools' support of PA. School websites offer public windows through which they can share information about their programs, policies, and values. Thus, during spring 2018, we completed a quantitative content analysis of specific information about PA on the websites of a representative sample of U.S. charter elementary schools (n = 759). Nearly all schools (97%) had a functioning website, but most (52%) did not mention even one of five PA programs frequently offered at schools: physical education (PE), recess, intramurals, interscholastics, and PA clubs. PE, a standard part of school curricula, was mentioned on only 34% of the sites. Although public health proponents identify schools as ideal locations for promoting PA, school websites are neglected both as a means for identifying the importance of PE and PA and as a vehicle for informing students about how and when to be active during the school day.

Personal genomic testing for nutrition and wellness in Australia: A content analysis of online information

Personal genomic testing for nutrition and wellness (PGT-NG) offers a new service delivery model to nutritionists and dietitians. However, research indicates that this type of testing currently lacks sufficient clinical validity and utility to be commercially available. Despite Australian guidelines to the contrary, healthcare professionals are currently offering testing to clients, and promoting these services online. Thus, it is important to understand how PGT-NG is currently framed online to the public. A mixed methods content analysis was conducted to assess the content, quality and marketing approaches of websites offering PGT-NG to Australians. Websites were identified using popular search engines to mimic the behaviour of a consumer. A novel framework was developed for the purposes of the analysis. Thirty-nine websites were analysed, comprising four nutritional genomic testing company websites and 35 healthcare provider websites. Healthcare providers relied on information from the testing companies. The content was emotive, and little attention was given to the scientific and ethical aspects of personal genomic testing. Websites appealed to consumer empowerment and framed testing as an essential and superior tool for optimising health. Websites lacked the transparency necessary for informed consent. A basic checklist of key information was developed to aid healthcare providers when informing potential clients of PGT-NG online.

AIS-INMACA: A Novel Integrated MACA Based Clonal Classifier for Protein Coding and Promoter Region Prediction

Most of the problems in bioinformatics are now the challenges in computing. This paper aims at building a classifier based on Multiple Attractor Cellular Automata (MACA) which uses fuzzy logic. It is strengthened with an artificial Immune System Technique (AIS), Clonal algorithm for identifying a protein coding and promoter region in a given DNA sequence. The proposed classifier is named as AIS-INMACA introduces a novel concept to combine CA with artificial immune system to produce a better classifier which can address major problems in bioinformatics. This will be the first integrated algorithm which can predict both promoter and protein coding regions. To obtain good fitness rules the basic concept of Clonal selection algorithm was used. The proposed classifier can handle DNA sequences of lengths 54,108,162,252,354. This classifier gives the exact boundaries of both protein and promoter regions with an average accuracy of 89.6%. This classifier was tested with 97,000 data components which were taken from Fickett & Toung , MPromDb, and other sequences from a renowned medical university. This proposed classifier can handle huge data sets and can find protein and promoter regions even in mixed and overlapped DNA sequences. This work also aims at identifying the logicality between the major problems in bioinformatics and tries to obtaining a common frame work for addressing major problems in bioinformatics like protein structure prediction, RNA structure prediction, predicting the splicing pattern of any primary transcript and analysis of information content in DNA, RNA, protein sequences and structure. This work will attract more researchers towards application of CA as a potential pattern classifier to many important problems in bioinformatics.

A content analysis of online physician information

A content analysis of online physician information

Fractal analysis of information content of multispectral images in problems of ecological monitoring

Fractal analysis of information content of multispectral images in problems of ecological monitoring

Household hygiene advice for patients with Clostridium difficile: Summary of hospital practice in Ontario, Canada

Background: While Clostridium difficile infection is a significant concern in healthcare settings, there is increasing evidence that transmission does not solely occur in hospitals and long-term care homes. Hospital patients are regularly discharged home following or during treatment, and it is likely that many excrete spores into their household environment, posing risks of reinfection to themselves and transmission of spores to others. Hence, recommendations on household hygiene might be important for control of C. difficile. The objective of this study was to investigate the information provided by Ontario hospitals to patients who have laboratory-confirmed symptomatic C. difficile infection with respect to household hygiene advice once they are discharged from hospital. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted between January and August 2018 and included an anonymous online survey, a website scan of Ontario hospitals, and a content analysis of information provided to patients on discharge. The survey was distributed to practicing infection control professionals in Ontario hospitals through the IPAC Canada listserv. One response per hospital corporation was accepted. Results: Responses were obtained from 46/145 (32%) Ontario hospital corporations. The majority (30/46; 65%) of respondents indicated they personally believed the household environment was important or very important in the transmission of C. difficile. Almost half (22/46; 48%) of respondents reported that their hospital had a policy to provide household hygiene advice to patients when discharged home. However, analysis of 31 hospital information sheets from the website scan identified that 27/31 (88%) contained a statement that suggested there is little risk of transmission in households, and only 2/31 (6.5%) provided the specific dilution of bleach that is known to be sporicidal. Conclusion: The household hygiene advice provided by Ontario hospitals downplayed the likelihood of transmission of C. difficile spores in household environments and described a level of hygiene that is likely inadequate to prevent transmission of C. difficile spores in the home. This may contribute to recurrent infection and colonization of household contacts.

Generalized Information Content based on Variability Map for Exploratory Landscape Analysis of Global Optimization Problems

Exploratory Landscape Analysis methods were developed to assess a variety of characteristic features of optimization problems, namely objective function features. These methods are widely used to distinguish and classify problems with respect to calculated vector of features in order to deeply explore optimization algorithm’s behavior. Results of the most landscape analysis methods depend on a sample of design points and corresponding objective values representing a discretized landscape of objective function. The Information Content of Fitness Sequences method being relatively stable to sampling methods variations additionally requires sample ordering. The paper introduces a new generalized approach to information content analysis based on aggregated variability map of function’s landscape. It gives more accurate and robust results without any ordering algorithm needed based on points generated by a chosen sampling method.

A multi-layer approach to opinion polarity classification using augmented semantic tree kernels

ABSTRACTTremendous increase in user-generated content (UGC) published over the web in the form of natural language has posed a formidable challenge to automated information extraction (IE) and content analysis (CA). Techniques based on tree kernels (TK) have been successfully used for modelling semantic compositionality in many natural language processing (NLP) applications. Essentially, these techniques obtain the similarity of two production rules based on exact string comparison between the peer nodes. However, semantically identical tree fragments are forbidden even though they can contribute to the similarity of two trees. A mechanism needs to be addressed that accounts for the similarity of rules with varied syntax and vocabulary holding knowledge that are relatively analogous. In this paper, a hierarchical framework based on document object model (DOM) tree and linguistic kernels that jointly address subjectivity detection, opinion extraction and polarity classification is addressed. The model proceeds in three stages: during first stage, the contents of each DOM tree node is analysed to estimate the complexity of vocabulary and syntax using readability test. In second stage, the semantic tree kernels extended with word embeddings are used to classify nodes containing subjective and objective content. Finally, the content returned to be subjective is further examined for opinion polarity classification using fine-grained linguistic kernels. The efficiency of the proposed model is demonstrated through a series of experiments being conducted. The results reveal that the proposed polarity-enriched tree kernel (PETK) results in better prediction performance compared to the conventional tree kernels.

Towards more realistic hypotheses for the information content analysis of cloudy/precipitating situations – Application to a hyperspectral instrument in the microwave

Information Content (IC) analysis can be used before an instrument is built to estimate its retrieval uncertainties and analyse their sensitivity to several factors. It is a very useful method to define/optimize satellite instruments. IC has shown its potential to compare instrument concepts in the infrared or the microwave. IC is based on some hypotheses such as the the Gaussian character of the radiative transfer (RT) and instrument errors, the first‐guess errors (Gaussian character, std and correlation structure), or the linearization of the RT around a first guess. These hypotheses are easier to define for simple atmospheric situations. However, even in the clear‐sky case, their complexity has never ceased to increase towards more realism, to optimize the assimilation of satellite measurements in numerical weather prediction (NWP) systems. In the cloudy/precipitating case, these hypotheses are even more difficult to define in a realistic way as many factors are still very difficult to quantify. In this study, several tools are introduced to specify more realistic IC hypotheses than the current practice. We focus on microwave observations as they are more pertinent for clouds and precipitation. Although not perfect, the proposed solutions are a new step towards more realistic IC assumptions of cloudy/precipitating scenes. A state‐dependence of the RT errors is introduced, the first‐guess errors have a more complex vertical structure, the IC is performed simultaneously on all the hydrometeors to take into account the contamination effect of the RT input uncertainties, and the IC is performed on a diversified set of cloudy/precipitating scenes with well‐defined hydrometeor assumptions. The method presented in this study is illustrated using the HYperspectral Microwave Sensor (HYMS) instrument concept with channels between 6.9 and 874 GHz (millimetre and sub‐millimetre regions). HYMS is considered as a potential next generation microwave sounder.

Expected Performances of the Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) for an All‐Weather and High Spatial Resolution Estimation of Ocean and Sea Ice Parameters

AbstractClimate change resulting in ocean warming, sea level rise, and sea ice melting has consequences for the global economy, navigation, and security. The Copernicus Imaging Microwave Radiometer (CIMR) mission is a high priority candidate mission within the European Copernicus Expansion program. CIMR is designed to observe the ocean and sea ice and more particularly the Arctic environment. Sea surface temperature (SST), ocean wind speed, sea surface salinity (SSS), and sea ice concentration (SIC) are fundamental variables for understanding, monitoring, and predicting the state of the ocean and sea ice. CIMR is a conically scanning microwave radiometer imager that includes channels at 1.4, 6.9, 10.65, 18.7, and 36.5 GHz, in a Sun‐synchronous polar orbit, to provide SST, ocean wind speed, SSS, and SIC with an increased accuracy and/or spatial resolution. Here we analyze the performances of the CIMR mission in terms of theoretical retrieval precision and spatial resolution on the SST, SSS, and SIC products. A careful information content analysis is conducted. The CIMR performances are compared with the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer 2 and the Soil Moisture Active Passive current missions. Maps of the retrieval precision based on realistic conditions are computed. CIMR will provide SST, SSS, and SIC with a spatial resolution of 15, 55, and 5 km and a precision of 0.2 K, 0.3 psu, and 5%, respectively. The SST and SIC will be retrieved at better than 30 km from the coast. CIMR is currently in preparatory phase, and if selected, it is for a launch in the 2025+ time frame.

Isomorphism and Corporate Social Responsibility of Companies in the Sustainability Index of BM&FBovespa

Objective: Our objective was to verify the existence of isomorphism within actions aimed at Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of companies in the Sustainability Index (ISE) of BM FBovespa. Method: In this qualitative research study, we completed a content analysis of sustainability reports and information from the official websites of ISE companies. Originality / Relevance: Past studies related corporate social responsibility and isomorphism and analyzed them as the motivation and influence for the presentation of sustainability reports. However, these studies have failed to identify whether there is isomorphism in Corporate Social Responsibility actions. Results: When reviewing all private Brazilian companies, the financial institutions sector was the one that presented the most isomorphic processes. We also verified that multinational companies suffer limited isomorphic pressures; additionally, no isomorphism was verified in companies that have the state as the majority partner. Theoretical / methodological contributions: This research contributes to the study of the process of isomorphism in relation to Corporate Social Responsibility, by analyzing data divulged by the companies (verifying similarities of the adopted actions).

Indigenous African Education for Socio- Economic Development

Education in Africa has been in existence since time immemorial. This study sought to examine the activities of Lantana in Benin on their specialised training, Dogon of Mali in their world view, Futo Toro of Senegal in their various trades, Poro of Sierra Leone in the training of the youth, Takensi of Ghana in their social order and the Akan of Ghana. Also examined are the activities of the Chamba and Yoruba of Nigeria in their adult centred training and forecasting of the future respectively. The Chagga of Tanzania and the Abakwayaare were also examined on their initiative plays and economic activities. The paper also studied the Ndembu of Zambia on the past analysis and the activities of the Mijikenda of Kenya among other Kenyan tribes. The study used the theoretical framework of Emile Durkheim on the social and moral order, while the design of the study was on content analysis of available information and expectations. The study recommends positive approaches in the indigenouseducation that can be adapted, mainly for Kenya in its desire to achieve Vision 2030. However, further research should be done on specific values, foods, attitudes and the rule of law, how achieve social, political and economic progress in African nations and especially how the current economic integration blocks have followed the same pattern of the communities and their values.

Content Analysis of Agricultural Information in Selected Nigerian Dailies: 2010 – 2014

Content Analysis of Agricultural Information in Selected Nigerian Dailies: 2010 – 2014

All-sky information content analysis for novel passive microwave instruments in the range from 23.8 to 874.4 GHz

Abstract. We perform an all-sky information content analysis for channels in the millimetre and sub-millimetre wavelength with 24 channels in the region from 23.8 to 874.4 GHz. The employed set of channels corresponds to the instruments ISMAR and MARSS, which are available on the British FAAM research aircraft, and it is complemented by two precipitation channels at low frequencies from Deimos. The channels also cover ICI, which will be part of the MetOp-SG mission. We use simulated atmospheres from the ICON model as basis for the study and quantify the information content with the reduction of degrees of freedom (ΔDOF). The required Jacobians are calculated with the radiative transfer model ARTS. Specifically we focus on the dependence of the information content on the atmospheric composition. In general we find a high information content for the frozen hydrometeors, which mainly comes from the higher frequency channels beyond 183.31 GHz (on average 3.10 for cloud ice and 2.57 for snow). Considerable information about the microphysical properties, especially for cloud ice, can be gained. The information content about the liquid hydrometeors comes from the lower frequency channels. It is 1.69 for liquid cloud water and 1.08 for rain using the full set of channels. The Jacobians for a specific cloud hydrometeor strongly depend on the atmospheric composition. Especially for the liquid hydrometeors the Jacobians even change sign in some cases. However, the information content is robust across different atmospheric compositions. For liquid hydrometeors the information content decreases in the presence of any frozen hydrometeor, for the frozen hydrometeors it decreases slightly in the presence of the respective other frozen hydrometeor. Due to the lack of channels below 183 GHz liquid hydrometeors are hardly seen by ICI. However, the overall results with regard to the frozen hydrometeors also hold for the ICI sensor. This points to ICI's great ability to observe ice clouds from space on a global scale with a good spatial coverage in unprecedented detail.

Optimal estimation for imaging spectrometer atmospheric correction

We present a new method for atmospheric correction of remote Visible Shortwave Infrared (VSWIR) imaging spectroscopy. Our approach fits a combined model of atmospheric scattering, absorption, and surface reflectance across the solar reflected interval from 380 to 2500 nm. This can estimate spectrally-broad atmospheric perturbations such as aerosol effects that are difficult to retrieve with narrow spectral windows. A probabilistic formulation from Optimal Estimation inversion theory accounts for uncertainties in model parameters and measurement noise. This paper presents a field experiment using NASA's Next Generation Visible/Near Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS-NG) with analysis of retrieval accuracy and information content. The inversion outperforms traditional approaches, achieving mean reflectance accuracy of 1.0% on diverse validation surfaces. Predicted posterior distributions fully explain the observed discrepancies, demonstrating the first closed uncertainty budget for VSWIR imaging spectrometer atmospheric correction. This shows the potential of combined surface/atmosphere fitting to advance the accuracy and statistical rigor of remote reflectance measurements.

Directional Polarimetric Camera (DPC): Monitoring aerosol spectral optical properties over land from satellite observation

The Directional Polarimetric Camera (DPC) is the first Chinese multi-angle polarized earth observation satellite sensor, which will be launched onboard the GaoFen-5 Satellite in Chinese High-resolution Earth Observation Program. GaoFen-5 runs in a sun-synchronous orbit with an inclination angle of 98°, with the 13:30 PM local overpass time and the 2-days revisiting period. DPC employed a charge coupled device detection unit with 512 × 512 effective pixels from the 544 × 512 useful pixels, realizing spatial resolution of 3.3 km under a swath width of 1850 km. Meanwhile, DPC has 3 polarized channels (490, 670 and 865 nm) together with 5 non-polarized bands (443, 565, 763, 765 and 910 nm), and can obtain at least 9 viewing angles by continuously capturing series images over the same target on orbit. Based on the optimal estimation theory and improved bidirectional reflectance distribution function model, an inversion framework for the simultaneous retrieval of aerosol and surface parameters is presented by taking full advantage of available radiometric and polarimetric measurements. The retrieved wavelength-independent fine-mode and coarse-mode aerosol volumes are used to assess the DPC performance on the inversion capability of spectral aerosol optical depth (AOD), from which the Angstrom exponent and fine-mode fraction (FMF) could be further obtained. In addition, based on the synthetic DPC data for various observation geometries, aerosols and surface types, the aerosol inversion capabilities are systematically evaluated, and the information content analysis results show that the aerosol spectral optical properties can be well retrieved over various land surfaces.

Remote sensing of aerosols with small satellites in formation flight.

Determination of aerosol optical properties with orbital passive remote sensing is a difficult task, as observations often have limited information. Multi-angle instruments, such as the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the POlarization and Directionality of the Earth's Reflectances (POLDER), seek to address this by making information rich multi-angle observations, which can be used to better retrieve aerosol optical properties. The paradigm for such instruments is that each angle view is made from one platform, with, for example, a gimbaled sensor or multiple fixed view angle sensors. This restricts the observing geometry to a plane within the scene Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF ) observed at the top of the atmosphere (TOA). New technological developments, however, support sensors on small satellites flying in formation, which could be a beneficial alternative. Such sensors may have only one viewing direction each, but the agility of small satellites allows one to control this direction and change it over time. When such agile satellites are flown in formation and their sensors pointed to the same location at approximately the same time, they could sample a distributed set of geometries within the scene BRDF . In other words, observations from multiple satellites can take a variety of view zenith and azimuth angles, and are not restricted to one azimuth plane as is the case with a single multi-angle instrument. It is not known, however, if this is as potentially capable as a multi-angle platform for the purposes of aerosol remote sensing. Using a systems engineering tool coupled with an information content analysis technique, we investigate the feasibility of such an approach for the remote sensing of aerosols. These tools test the mean results of all geometries encountered in an orbit. We find that small satellites in formation are equally capable as multi-angle platforms for aerosol remote sensing, as long as their calibration accuracies and measurement uncertainties are equivalent. As long as the viewing geometries are dispersed throughout the BRDF , it appears the quantity of view angles determines the information content of the observations, not the specific observation geometry. Given the smoothly varying nature of BRDF 's observed at the TOA, this is reasonable, and supports the viability of aerosol remote sensing with small satellites flying in formation. The incremental improvement in information content that we found with number of view angles also supports the concept of a resilient mission comprised of multiple satellites that are continuously replaced as they age or fail.

Incorporation of Quality and Safety Principles in Maintenance of Certification: A Qualitative Analysis of American Board of Medical Specialties Member Boards.

Maintenance of Certification (MOC) is one way physicians demonstrate to the public that they are competent to deliver safe, high-quality medical care. The authors conducted a qualitative content analysis of information from 24 Member Boards of the American Board of Medical Specialties. A constant comparative approach was used to categorize themes of quality and safety and related concepts. All Boards (24/24) had public websites with formal documents and 23/24 had at least 1 representative respond to a survey. Sixty-three percent (15/24) of Boards had a patient safety requirement, and 96% (23/24) of Boards had a quality improvement requirement. Nearly all Boards incorporate quality improvement and most incorporate patient safety, but their assessment methods and level of inclusion on the topic vary. Sharing methods of incorporating quality and safety among certifying Boards will allow Member Boards to cater to the evolution of the MOC landscape and benefit from other Boards' experiences.

Evaluation of laser heterodyne radiometry for numerical weather prediction applications

This article reports the results of a preliminary mission study to assess the potential of space‐borne laser heterodyne radiometry (LHR) for the remote sensing of temperature for assimilation in a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model. The LHR instruments are low cost and small in size, lending themselves to a wide variety of satellite platforms. The impact of different configurations of an idealized LHR instrument is assessed against the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI), via single‐column linear information content analysis, using inputs consistent with the background errors of the Met Office 4D‐Var assimilation system. Multiplexed configurations give promising results, in particular for sounding of upper‐atmospheric temperatures.