Information-gathering Ability Research Articles

A time series model adapted to multiple environments for recirculating aquaculture systems

SummaryEnvironmental time series modeling of recirculating aquaculture systems provides the basis for the design of intelligent and foreseeable agricultural facilities. The modeling accuracy of environmental factors plays an important role, which could help grasp the environmental situation and change trend of the recirculating aquaculture system, assist in early warning when the environment factor level exceeds the normal data range, and combine with the control method to improve the accuracy of environmental control. The traditional time series model is difficult to predict complex situations, which is mainly due to the effective integration of multi-dimensional data. Our goal is to make improvements to the traditional time series model. The proposed multiple graph fusion network (GraphTS) fuses multi-sensor Spatio-temporal information using a multi-graph fusion method based on Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and graph attention neural network. We collected two recirculating aquaculture datasets with various features and applications to test GraphTS’s performance. Comparing the average metrics of predictor outcomes of proposed GraphTS with the standard model LSTM, the average margin of error (AME) is reduced by 37% and 13%, and the Pearson correlation Coefficient (PCC) is improved to 97% and 96% for two datasets, respectively. The best results are also achieved on the discrete traffic prediction dataset. It shows the adaptability and multi-dimensional information gathering ability of GraphTS.

Consumer financial information processing: An integrated approach to examine individual differences

AbstractThis study applied an integrated approach to construct a hierarchical framework for consumer financial information processing. Individual differences in customers' psychological, cognitive and motivational characteristics were examined as antecedents. Using data collected from a sample of 613 U.S. adults, this study used the structural equation modeling method to identify significant direct and indirect relationships amongst personality traits, financial self‐efficacy, financial information‐gathering ability, search motivation, financial information sufficiency and the utilization of heuristics and systematic financial information‐processing modes. The results showed that consumers' information sufficiency (+) directly explained the application of the heuristic mode, whereas consumers' information gathering ability (+), motivation to search (+) and information sufficiency (+) directly explained the use of the systematic mode. Financial self‐efficacy demonstrated positive indirect associations with both heuristic and systematic modes. The results also revealed that personality traits including agreeableness, emotional stability and extraversion indirectly explained the use of information‐processing modes. Agreeableness (−) and emotional stability (+) were indirectly associated with both heuristic and systematic information processing modes, whilst extraversion (+) was only indirectly associated with the heuristic mode. Openness (+) was the only trait that was directly associated with the systematic mode. This study contributes to the literature on consumer financial information processing by connecting individuals' psychological, cognitive and motivational characteristics. The findings of this study provide valuable insights and policy and practical implications within the industry.

온라인 교양수업에서 대학생의 학업적 자기효능감, 문제해결능력, 자기주도적 학습능력 비교 분석

This study investigated Korean university students" academic self-efficacy, problem solving and self-directed learning abilities by pre & post self-evaluation questionnaires in an online general education class. At the beginning of the class, 261 students participated in the pre-survey and at the end of the class, 230 students participated in the post-survey. Pearson correlation and visualization of a correlation matrix of “corrplot” show that problem solving and self-directed learning abilities are very significantly (p=0) correlated to each other and that self-confidence and self-regulation efficacy in academic self-efficacy are significantly (p<0.05) correlated with both problem solving and self-directed learning abilities. Also, the study results show that the students have slightly improved their abilities in all the three variables at the end of the class: in particular, planning power in problem solving ability and 6 items in academic self-efficacy, e.g., challenging power, connecting old and new knowledges, etc. significantly increased. However, the students still need to increase divergent thinking, information gathering ability and challenge spirit against difficulties. Thus, it is necessary to develop teaching methods which can help students to solve their shortage in online general education classes.

Enhanced ability of information gathering may intensify disagreement among groups

Today's society faces widening disagreement and conflicts among constituents with incompatible views. Escalated views and opinions are seen not only in radical ideology or extremism but also in many other scenes of our everyday life. Here we show that widening disagreement among groups may be linked to the advancement of information communication technology by analyzing a mathematical model of population dynamics in a continuous opinion space. We adopted the interaction kernel approach to model enhancement of people's information-gathering ability and introduced a generalized nonlocal gradient as individuals' perception kernel. We found that the characteristic distance between population peaks becomes greater as the wider range of opinions becomes available to individuals or the more attention is attracted to opinions distant from theirs. These findings may provide a possible explanation for why disagreement is growing in today's increasingly interconnected society, without attributing its cause only to specific individuals or events.

Recognition on trigger condition of autonomous emergency braking system

Introduction: Automobiles carrying an autonomous emergency braking system (AEBS) are currently prevailing. While the reduction of traffic accidents is expected because of the widespread use of the system, concerns as regards many drivers using the system without proper understanding of the trigger conditions (TCs) have arisen. This research aims to grasp the degree of recognition of the AEBS TCs by a driver with a vehicle equipped with the system. Method: Using a web research company, we sent a survey sheet for screening to 9999 monitors randomly selected by gender and age group and confirmed own vehicle with an autonomous braking system ownership status. The number of answer targets was 200 for each of the four groups divided by age and gender. In this research, we developed a multivariate analysis model with the degree of understanding the AEBS TCs as the objective variable. The explanatory variables of this model were “Driver characteristics” and “Contact opportunities of information on the AEBS.” Results: Using PCA’s main component scores as the objective variable, two types of multiple regression models were constructed according to the AEBS TCs (do not work properly and work accidentally). The model analysis showed that gender, age, confidence in driving skill, and experience of the AEBS before purchasing are significant variables in both models. The recognition of the conditions of the “AEBS does not work properly” was influenced by the information-gathering ability and the degree of reference to various information. In contrast, the recognition of the conditions of the “AEBS work accidentally” was influenced by the interest of automobiles, such as the importance of automobile for self-expression and explanation taken up in a car magazine. Conclusions: This study clarified the driver characteristics and contact opportunities of information that have problems in recognizing the AEBS TCs. Practical Applications: Considering measures, such as public relations, utilizing this result will be meaningful in terms of road safety in the current stage, which is the transitional period of the AEBS.

Distracted decision makers: ship noise and predation risk change shell choice in hermit crabs

Abstract Human-induced rapid environmental change such as noise pollution alters the ability of animals to integrate information cues. Many studies focus on how noise impacts single sensory channels but in reality animals rely on multimodal sources of information. In this study, we investigated the effect of anthropogenic noise and the visual presence of a predator on tactile information gathering during gastropod shell assessment in the European hermit crab Pagurus bernhardus. For hermit crabs, empty gastropod shells are a crucial resource affecting growth, reproduction, and survival. We measured shell assessment behavior and manipulated 1) the shell size (50% or 80% of the optimal), 2) sound condition (ship or ambient), and 3) visual predator cue (absence/presence). Overall we found that crabs were less likely to accept an optimal shell in the presence of ship noise, suggesting that exposure to ship noise disrupted the information gathering ability of the crabs. We also found a significant interaction between noise, predator presence, and shell size on the mean duration for the final decision to accept or reject the optimal shell. Hermit crabs in 50% shells took less time for their final decision when exposed to both ship noise and predator cue while crabs in 80% shells showed shorter decision time only when the predator cue was absent. Our results indicate that anthropogenic noise can interact with predation threat and resource quality to change resource acquisition, suggesting that noise pollution can disrupt behavior in a nonadditive way, by disrupting information use across multiple sensory channels.

Electronic medical record systems-based simulation for practicum in critical care nursing

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are increasingly used in medical facilities. This study focused on nursing students’ information-gathering ability, an important skill in emergency nursing where patients’ conditions can change rapidly. A simulation exercise was developed based on an educational EMR system and conducted as part of the nursing process exercises that prepare students for on-site practical emergency nursing training. The utility of the EMR system and the educational effectiveness of the simulation exercise were evaluated. To this end, 106 third-year nursing students were surveyed twice: once after they participated in the simulation exercise and once after they undertook their practical training. The results showed that the students evaluated the EMR system’s operability favorably, suggesting that the system has potential as a prototype. Regarding the conditions of the simulation exercise, the results suggested that designing the learning environment so that it features a scenario encountered in practical training settings was effective for helping the students envisage the conditions of practical training.

Decision Making for Individual Investors: A Measurement of Latent Difficulties

This study identifies how investors’ confidence and information gathering ability affect their decision making by using the investment theory on crystallized and fluid intelligences. We adopt the Rasch model to analyze latent and unobservable factors that cause difficulties in investment participation for investors in Taiwan. These investors are more confident in technical analysis but less confident in trading regulations. Further, they find media and professional sources difficult to trust, but professional advice is very accessible. Lower income significantly influences investors’ confidence and their information-gathering ability just as youth significantly contributes to more confidence. But gender and maturity significantly contribute to factors that concern their information gathering ability. Regional demographic differences show variations in decision making regarding investment preferences, while increasing income encourages investment diversification through multiple decisions. This study identifies a strong correlation between investors’ confidence and their information gathering ability, thus indicating that investors’ confidence enhances the development of the ability to gather investment information.

Overconfidence and Information: The Differences between Individuals and Institutions

We study a financial market that consists of two types of investors, individual and institutional, whose overconfidence level and information-gathering ability are different. It is assumed that all investors are overconfident on their own private information and underestimate the other investor's private information, but the institutional investor is less serious on these kinds of psychological biases. Also we assume that the institutional investor is able to uncover a piece of relevant information earlier than the individual investor. Since institutions are under the control of more experienced managers and have a better information searching and analyzing system than the individual investor, the above assumptions seem to be not so restrictive. With these assumptions, this paper shows price continuation in the short run and price reversal in the long run under certain conditions. The Individual investor's underestimation of the institutional investor's information is the driving force for the momentum in the short run. Though the mean-reversion in the long run is caused by overconfidence of both investors, the influence of more overconfident individual investors is greater. Thus both the price continuation and price reversals are more conspicuous in stocks with a higher proportion of individual investors. These propositions can be easily tested with ownership data of firms. It also explains the well-known empirical results that there is a positive correlation between institutional investor's trades and subsequent price changes and a negative correlation between individual investor's trade and subsequent price changes. As the market wide overconfidence of investors increases, the price reversal becomes more severe. Also in the stocks where investors are easily subject to the behavioral biases, for example the stocks whose future cash flows are very ambiguous, we can find a prominent price reversal.

Bidder Participation and Information in Currency Auctions

This paper studies the participation and performance of sophisticated versus unsophisticated auction participants in an environment with numerous bidders, uncertainty, and asymmetric information. We examine multi-unit, pay-as-bid, currency auctions conducted by the Central Bank of Venezuela. We find that sophisticated bidders outperform their less sophisticated rivals during periods of high volatility, apparently as a result of their superior informationgathering ability. The result is consistent across both quantity (sophisticated bidders win more market share) and price (sophisticated bidders pay lower premiums). The result is consistent with the view that a pay-as-bid auction format may be detrimental to participation by less-informed bidders.

Bidder Participation and Information in Currency Auctions

This paper studies the participation and performance of sophisticated versus unsophisticated auction participants in an environment with numerous bidders, uncertainty, and asymmetric information. We examine multi-unit, pay-as-bid, currency auctions conducted by the Central Bank of Venezuela. We find that sophisticated bidders outperform their less sophisticated rivals during periods of high volatility, apparently as a result of their superior information-gathering ability. The result is consistent across both quantity (sophisticated bidders win more market share) and price (sophisticated bidders pay lower premiums). The result is consistent with the view that a pay-as-bid auction format may be detrimental to participation by less-informed bidders.

Small Business and the False Dichotomies of Contract Law

The article explores the classic consumer-merchant dichotomy from the vantage of small businesses. Using empirical data and the psychology, economics, and management literature, it shows that small businesses, treated like large businesses throughout most of contract and commercial law, in fact behave more like consumers. Small businesses lack the financial strength of large businesses. They generally lack the information gathering ability of large businesses. Finally, they generally are more prey to cognitive errors than are large businesses. As a result, small businesses lose in two ways. When they deal with consumers, they are presumed to have the power, information, and cognitive capacity of large firms. The law thus obliges them to grant protections based on asymmetries that may not exist. When they deal with large businesses, the law treats them as essentially equal, even though small businesses may suffer from the same disadvantages that require legal intervention for consumers. The article considers the ways in which the law can deal with this false dichotomy and suggests some solutions, particularly in the way the law treats risk allocation.

The Ontogeny of Social Information Gathering

When facing the unknown, humans tend to consult others for guidance. This propensity to treat others as information sources has wide-ranging implications, being in part responsible for the breadth and depth of our world knowledge. As yet, little is known concerning when and how young children acquire this important skill. Social referencing and communicative abilities in infancy have been interpreted by many as reflecting precocious social information-seeking ability, but the evidence is far from compelling and equally compatible with an attachment regulation interpretation. While the evidence indicates that infants as young as 12 months are good consumers of social information, it falls well short of demonstrating that they are active seekers of that information. Moreover, genuine social information seeking requires an implicit conception of the knowledge-ignorance distinction, and existing research on children's theories of mind suggests that such a conception is most likely not available in infancy. For these reasons, we argue for a developmental account of social information-gathering ability, one that is consistent with the larger body of evidence concerning sociocognitive abilities in infants and young children.

Core Curriculum Outcomes: Discrepant Beliefs about the Field

When disciplines perceived as to mission of their liberal arts college are reinforced and those regarded as non-central are eliminated, merged, or subsumed into a more contributing discipline, faculty in negatively targeted fields may be prompted to inform their university colleagues about importance of theories and skills of their discipline. As part of such an effort, they may point to knowledge that is special to their discipline and, at same time, crucial to other currently more favored disciplines. What knowledge, beyond technical skills, is special province of journalism and mass communication?(1) The present survey examined selected beliefs to probe whether a journalism and mass communication curriculum instilled a more sophisticated view of media reality in formal coursework for majors than for non-majors who learn about media from daily experience. The goal was to use this information to initiate a fruitful discussion, which might culminate in consensus(2) about core understandings that could distinguish a person who has received a mass communication education. Such a core could then be offered as a vital component of a comprehensive university to colleagues and administrators. Since 1984, national studies and gatherings (e.g., Oregon Report, 1987; Stark and Lowther, 1988; Wingspread Project, 1989; Blanchard and Christ, 1993; State of Field, 1994; What Makes a Great Journalism School, 1995) have explored domain of journalism and mass communication education. However, these books, reports, and conferences, while continuing to generate discussion about new paradigms for curricular development and role of mass communication education in changing university cultures, have failed to define current baseline. To establish a baseline, consensus about basic concepts of mass communication education is necessary. However, effort to reach consensus for even a modest list of belief statements for this exploratory study emphatically reinforced what Blanchard and Christ (1993, p.92) discovered in their 1990 national survey: Across country there is great diversity in number of required core courses in journalism and mass communication programs and no pattern. A review of core courses would have been another way to assess faculty philosophy and to demonstrate what a school believes is basic and fundamental to discipline (Blanchard and Christ, 1993, p. 92). However, after two years of surveys and discussion, even Oregon Report (1987) suggested only broad-based communication competencies--general literacy, visual literacy, computer literacy, information-gathering ability, media-writing capability--not specific outcomes. At University of Michigan, two-year Professional Preparation Network (Stark and Lowther, 1988) also recommended general competencies that overlap or expand Oregon Report. Scanning course titles in a curriculum, or examining syllabi for these courses, did not reveal outcomes of interest here, actual mass communication-related understandings of graduating seniors, and fit of these understandings to those of their instructors. The Professional Preparation Network (Stark and Lowther, 1988, p. 23) concluded that journalism educators should expect students to learn to identify, understand, and critique media's values in courses common to mass communication programs across country. Despite different emphases at different institutions, mass communication majors should learn media value systems in ethics courses, restrictions and regulation in law courses, impact of media in media and society courses, leadership in management, internship and capstone courses, and scholarly concern for improvement in research and communication theory courses (Christ and McCall, 1974). Mass communication programs have been admonished to distinguish themselves nationally, and to contribute to their local campuses through the promotion of media literacy and fostering of freedom of expression (Oregon Report, p. …

Assessment and validation of diagnostic interviewing skills for the mental health professions

A behavioral test was developed to assess the quality of diagnostic interviewing skills of (future) mental health professionals. Two aspects of diagnostic interviewing ability are distinguished: process skills, reflecting the interpersonal and communication skills; and content skills, referring to the information-gathering ability of the interviewer. It was found that diagnostic interviewing can be reliably measured with respect to interrater reliability. However, interviewer performance on one case proved to be a poor predictor of performance on other cases. It was concluded that a large number of cases is required to obtain reliable scores of general diagnostic interviewing ability. Validity was supported by the correlational analyses. Process skills were strongly related to patient satisfaction, whereas content skills were related to the amount of relevant information given by the patient and the accuracy of the diagnostic formulation and treatment plan.

Temperature determinations in the inductively coupled plasma using a Fourier transform spectrometer

A vertical profile of iron I excitation temperature in the inductively coupled plasma was determined using spectroscopic techniques based on the Einstein-Boltzmann expression for spectral line intensity and the powerful information gathering ability of a high resolution Fourier transform spectrometer. Calculated temperature values were found to be critically dependent on the oscillator strength values chosen from the literature; however, a qualitative picture of the vertical excitation temperature gradient in the plasma was well-defined and was found to reach a maximum value in the normal analytical zone of the plasma. Excitation temperatures for iron I, nickel I, cobalt I, and vanadium I and II in the normal analytical zone of the plasma were also determined by the same method.