Interactive Communication Platform Research Articles

Perceived instructor presence, interactive tools, student engagement, and satisfaction in hybrid education post-COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico

Interactive communication platforms have been widely used to support online teaching. However, during the Coronavirus Diseases 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic they gained unprecedented relevance since they allowed educational processes to continue. This study investigated the relationship among interactive communication technology tools, perceived instructor presence, student satisfaction and engagement in hybrid courses post-COVID-19 lockdown. An electronic questionnaire was administered to 1086 students from a public university in Mexico that implemented a hybrid class model using Microsoft Teams after the lockdown. Jamovi and WarpPLS were used to perform confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that interactive technological communication tools positively impact the instructor's perceived presence, student satisfaction and engagement. Similarly, commitment significantly positively impacted student satisfaction. The model demonstrated a good fit. The findings were consistent with studies before and during the lockdown. The instructor's perceived presence promotes student engagement and satisfaction, and Microsoft Teams effectively facilitates this presence. These findings suggest that interactive communication tools are and will be significant in educational contexts and modalities. This study provides useful insights for educators, course designers and educational administrators, emphasizing effective communication with students and implementing interactive technological communication tools to enhance hybrid learning in the post-pandemic era.

Retail investors matter: The value of corporate interactions

While the importance of corporate interactions with large or institutional investors has attracted much research attention, the value of such interactions with retail investors remains largely unexplored. In this study, we investigate the impact of corporate interactions with retail investors on the cost of equity capital, using a comprehensive dataset of dialogues extracted from online corporate interactive communication platforms launched by two major Chinese stock exchanges in the 2010 s. We find that firms that actively engage with retail investors have significantly lower costs of equity capital, and this effect is particularly pronounced when these investors hold a larger proportion of ownership. Our findings suggest that the interactions between firms and retail investors lead to a reduction in the cost of equity capital, primarily by mitigating the difficulties these investors face in processing information and enhancing their confidence in the firm.

Применение механизмов сетевой демократии в местных сообществах (на материалах города Сургута Ханты-Мансийского автономного округа)

The article analyzes the influence of the network community, social media and interactive-communication plat-forms on the development of democratic practices of citizen participation in local self-governance. The devel-opment of interactive communication technologies has predetermined the vector of movement of many social and political phenomena, from revolutions and removal of governments to platforms for self-organization of citizens to search for missing people. In the context of the development of interactive communication technolo-gies, the need to correctly adapt the tools of network or electronic democracy in the implementation of public political processes becomes even more important. At the same time, just as the origins of the classical under-standing of democratic processes should be sought among the people, so the origins of network democracy should be sought not only at the federal level, where its potential is recognized to be enormous, but also at the level of local communities. The processes of nation-building, symbols that construct regional and federal iden-tification find their manifestation in the basic desire of the population to participate in civic processes and join in building the construct of the future for the local community. The paper attempts to determine the role of network democracy in the formation of local communities by examining local examples in a large city in the Siberian region.

#clearaligners and social media: An in-depth analysis of clear aligners' content on Instagram.

Clear aligners-related posts are popularized on social media platforms to educate patients and peers and to market aligners in dental practices. This study aimed to characterize the account credentials and content of the top-performing posts to understand the spread of clear aligners-related information on Instagram. This cross-sectional web-based study analysed 13 Instagram clear aligners-related hashtags. Content analysis was performed for the "Top 10 posts" listed under the "Top" section for each hashtag within Instagram, as sorted by Instagram's algorithm. Data were analysed for the poster's background, credentials, role, post format, content, and engagement level ratio. Duplicate posts and those not relevant to clear aligners were excluded. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the collected data were conducted. A total of 29 192 596 posts mentioned the selected hashtags, of which 130 posts were screened in this study. Most posts were authored by dentists (n = 84), 79.8% of them were orthodontic specialists. Self-promotional posts comprised 90.2%, while educational posts accounted for only 8.9%. Interestingly, the number of likes and comments received on posts by patients (n = 19, median = 112, IQR = 340) was significantly higher than those posted by dentists (n = 84, median = 93, IQR = 81.75) (P = .004). More than 29 million posts about clear aligners were identified on Instagram. Orthodontists are the leading authors of aligners hashtags. However, the majority of the posts are self-promotional and have nonfactual information. Social media awareness among orthodontic specialists may help provide more evidence-based content about clear aligners and can act as an interactive networking and health communication platform.

Determinants of social organizational credibility: Towards a formal conceptualization

Organizational credibility is an important component of organizational survival. The need to build and maintain organizational credibility in the social media context is specifically significant, largely due to the popularity of the medium in the current interactive communication environment. Social media, however, create a challenging environment for accurate information consumption, because it excludes the journalistic gatekeeper, are subject to misinformation and allow for information proliferation by both official and nonofficial users. For organizations to enhance their credibility in the social media context, it is important, firstly, to determine what constitutes social organization credibility. To establish an enhanced understanding of social organizational credibility and to build towards a formal conceptualization, this article quantitatively explored the preliminary identified determinants of social organizational credibility among active social media users. An exploratory factor analysis indicated that social organizational credibility consists of the determinants of trustworthiness, qualified resonance, homophily, personable interaction, informed conversation, and apt social word-of-mouth. Furthermore, the results also highlighted that an organization’s connections (including social media influencers and experts) are also a key determinant of social organizational credibility. This research provides guidance as to how social media users assess an organization’s credibility in the social media context, which could help alleviate the misinformation stigma that is associated with social media as an interactive communication platform. The identified determinants and the conceptualization of social organizational credibility extend existing organizational credibility literature and provide organizations with much needed guidelines to enhance their credibility in the social media context.

Machine-Learning Methods for Speech and Handwriting Detection Using Neural Signals: A Review

Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have become increasingly popular in recent years due to their potential applications in diverse fields, ranging from the medical sector (people with motor and/or communication disabilities), cognitive training, gaming, and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR), among other areas. BCI which can decode and recognize neural signals involved in speech and handwriting has the potential to greatly assist individuals with severe motor impairments in their communication and interaction needs. Innovative and cutting-edge advancements in this field have the potential to develop a highly accessible and interactive communication platform for these people. The purpose of this review paper is to analyze the existing research on handwriting and speech recognition from neural signals. So that the new researchers who are interested in this field can gain thorough knowledge in this research area. The current research on neural signal-based recognition of handwriting and speech has been categorized into two main types: invasive and non-invasive studies. We have examined the latest papers on converting speech-activity-based neural signals and handwriting-activity-based neural signals into text data. The methods of extracting data from the brain have also been discussed in this review. Additionally, this review includes a brief summary of the datasets, preprocessing techniques, and methods used in these studies, which were published between 2014 and 2022. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the methodologies used in the current literature on neural signal-based recognition of handwriting and speech. In essence, this article is intended to serve as a valuable resource for future researchers who wish to investigate neural signal-based machine-learning methods in their work.

Interactive Communication and Marketing Performance of Micro and Small Enterprises within Nyanza Region, Kenya

To address the ever-changing needs of the clients, MSEs have to potentiate their one-to-one interaction with their customers as a cornerstone for their marketing performance. This is because interactive marketing courtesy of interactive communication makes a real effort to reach customers and understand their needs and preferences leading to high levels of marketing performance. However, the use of collaborative technologies for interactive communication amongst MSEs in Kenya remains a challenge. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to establish the influence of interactive communication on the marketing performance of micro and small enterprises within Nyanza region, Kenya. Theory of relational market behaviour and a cross-sectional survey research design was adopted with a target population of 3,211 registered MSE owners in the Nyanza out of which sample size of 356 was selected using Yamanes (1967) formula. Data was collected using questionnaires and analyzed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics using SPSS version 25.0. From findings intercreative communication explained 30.7 percent variation on marketing performance. A coefficient of .319 indicated that a unit change in interactive communication leads to .319 units of positive change in marketing performance. In conclusion interactive communication significantly predicts marketing performance at thus the rejection of the null hypothesis. There is need for MSEs to strengthen their interactive communication platforms for consumers to voice their requirements, perspectives, or opinions and support information exchange. They should also develop methods for collecting input from customers. The report also suggests that when dealing with consumers, MSEs should use positive language, be concise and clear, and personalize their interactions. Thus, it mandates the MSEs to scan the marketing environment for opportunities and align their capabilities of interactive marketing communications with the changes in the customer preferences for maximal output. The finding of this study can help major stakeholders in the MSE sector to strengthen interactive marketing communications for marketing performance.

Personalised learning model for academic leveling and improvement in higher education

This study's innovative objective was to develop a personalised learning model to equate students' entry level knowledge as they entered the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at Tecnologico de Monterrey in Mexico in 2019. This was necessitated by a difference in the depth and approach to preparatory content. The methodology focused on adapting the learning process to the students' specific knowledge requirements in cell biology and chemistry courses to enrich knowledge and improve academic performance. We implemented a diagnostic test at the start of the course to determine the students' level of mastery in these subjects. The students were allowed to learn at their own pace and were expected to improve their low initial scores by constructing their learning paths. The professor served as an advisor. At the end of the course the students retook the exam to measured the difference between the diagnostic test results and the terminal level of knowledge. The research design was non-experimental, observing the phenomenon as it occurred in the natural context, using an interval-type scale (quantitative) questionnaire. The analysis of the learning model's results showed an increase in the students' knowledge and satisfaction and demonstrated the model's usefulness for understanding educational content. Implications for practice or policy: This study presents a personalised learning model that emulates adaptive learning and provides flexibility and autonomy to students for acquiring knowledge. The participating students self-assessed their entry level of knowledge in chemistry and biology via the online diagnostic test using Canvas, the learning management system (LMS) of Tecnologico de Monterrey. The ability to asking questions to the professors, in synchronous feedback sessions, was facilitated by the interactive communication platform, to enrich the learning experience.

Effects of Online Social Interaction and Social Capital on Brand Relationship Quality in Medical Tourism Industry

The emergence of Internet media allows brands breaking through the one-way communication model of mass media in the past and reinforces the circular dialogue mechanism through the interaction of Internet media to precede one-to-one communication through text dialogue, where the affective connection generates in the interaction process. Many enterprise brands start to utilize social media as the new interactive communication platform for consumers selecting the required message communication needs. The two-way communication with brands is enhanced through social interaction to build and maintain the relationship, sustain existing consumers’ loyalty to create the maximal profits of each consumer, and more efficiently contact new consumers in the constantly expanding relationship network to achieve relationship marketing. Aiming at the members of Internet fan pages of medical tourism industry, as the research objects, random sampling is applied to distribute 500 copies of questionnaire in this study. Total 392 valid copies are retrieved, with the retrieval rate 78%. The research results show significant correlations between online social interaction and social capital, social capital and brand relationship quality, and online social interaction and brand relationship quality. According to the results to propose suggestions, it is expected to provide practical strategies and development reference for future medical tourism industry brands managing and sustaining the exclusive pages on social network site in the constantly emerging marketing channels.

A Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training Approach for Enhancing Higher Order Cognitive Functioning Following Sports- and Recreation-Related Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Youth Using Telepractice

Purpose There is currently a large scope of unmet need in addressing persistent cognitive difficulties after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) affecting higher order aspects such as reasoning, strategic learning, and other executive functions (EFs), with potential lasting impacts on academic and everyday life functioning. This study sought to explore the potential for cognitive training delivered via telepractice to enhance cognitive performance after mTBI in adolescence, a critical stage for frontal lobe maturation and EF development. Method This nonrandomized pilot intervention study explored the effects of telepractice delivery of a top-down, strategy-based cognitive training approach, namely, Strategic Memory Advanced Reasoning Training, on higher order strategic learning skills, along with related executive processes and real-life EF behaviors. Twelve adolescents (ages 12–18 years) who were at least 3 months post-mTBI completed 10 individual sessions over 4–6 weeks, delivered using Skype. Results After training, participants exhibited significant improvements in their ability to abstract meanings and recall facts from complex information. They also demonstrated generalized gains in untrained EFs of working memory and cognitive flexibility as well as potential gains in real-life EF behaviors, per parent report. Conclusions Whereas the findings need to be replicated in a larger, randomized study, the preliminary data suggest the clinical utility of training metacognitive strategies to improve top-down cognitive control functions after mTBI that are adaptable and adoptable across academic and real-life domains. Furthermore, leveraging an interactive telepractice communication platform has the potential to maximize the reach of cognitive training/intervention delivery while minimizing costs as well as time and travel demands.

A review on antecedents of citizen's trust in government social media services

In recent years, social media has been accepted as a practice of e-government services across the world. Unlike static government websites, social media is an interactive communication platform that helps government organizations to improve their relationship with citizens through participation and engagement. However potential values of social media cannot be displayed without addressing citizen’s acceptance and their trust to participate in government social media services. Majority of previous studies on the relationship of trust between government and public are conducted on static government websites using general technological characteristics. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of the relevant articles to explore multiple antecedents or factors of citizen’s trust with a major consideration in using social media as a technology platform for e-government services. A model is proposed that identifies individual characteristics, government factors, risk factors and social media characteristics as multiple antecedents of citizen’s trust in government social media services.

Examining the role of social media in California’s drought risk management in 2014

Social media creates an interactive information communication platform for disaster preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. Recent research has analyzed the participation of social media in natural disasters, such as the Haiti Earthquake in 2010, Queensland floods from 2010 to 2011, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and Colorado flood in 2013, but little research has paid attention to drought risk management. In this study, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats analysis method is used to evaluate the social media sites of governmental agencies that were directly involved in California’s Drought Task Force in the historic drought in 2014. The results show that state governmental agencies have used the popular social media platforms (Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter) as communication channels with professional stakeholders and the general public. The major functions of social media in the California drought risk management process included one-way information sharing, two-way information sharing, situational awareness, rumor control, reconnection, and decision making. However, social media was not active in donation solicitation and volunteer management. The two-way communication still stayed in relatively surficial levels with limited comments and inadequate conversations. A gap existed to reconnect public social media domain and personal social networks, even though drought risk was closely related to everyone’s daily life. During the California drought in 2014, Facebook worked actively in two-way information sharing for drought risk information and water conservation strategies; YouTube was a robust platform that attracted large number of views on drought videos; and Twitter played an effective role in reconnection of social networks to expedite drought risk information dissemination.

SOSYAL MEDYANIN PAZARLAMA İLETİŞİMİNE ETKİLERİ

Corollary to the fast-developing communication and internet technologies, social media as “new media” products are interactive communication platforms constructed by individual and institutional relations. As to promotion and public relations, they are two important elements of marketing communications mix. Especially, firms, by using social networks, conduct advertising, public relation and news activities more efficiently and increase potentials of marketing and communication in their sectors considerably. The purpose of this article is to prove theoretically what the communication channels such as Facebook, Twitter, blogs and etc., which are called as social media, are and to prove the relationships between advertising, which is an element of marketing communications through social media, and public relations. To this end, an extensive literature review based on published or online articles and books and an exploratory study are conducted.

Communication Platforms Existing Among Researchers, Extension Workers, and Farmers in Eastern Nigeria

This study identified the communication platforms existing among researchers, extension workers, and farmers in Eastern Nigeria. Data were collected from 164 respondents using a questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results revealed that monthly review technology meetings and research-extension-farmer-input linkage system were major communication platforms used by researchers and extension workers. Communication platforms effective between extension workers and farmers were those that promote face-to-face interactions. The problems militating against effective communication among the stakeholders could be solved by considering the needs of the farmers, acquainting the policy makers with current research findings, and frequent use of more interactive communication platforms.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure for Distributed Generation Energy Cooperation Management

An AMI platform for DG energy management is proposed to provide service both utilities and customers in this paper. By enabling the interactive and efficient communication platform, the proposed AMI facilitates utilities to perform the energy management of DGs, economic dispatch and demand response effectively. Base on the CIM model, OSGi platform leads the AMI extendibility and Interoperability. The communication network includes several advanced communication technology which are used in distributed systems, if the AMI for DG can share the communication network and smart terminal even some advance application software in the utility information platform, it will work more powerfully and effectively.

Asian Journal of Andrology is advancing towards a bright future

As time quickly passes, we once again have the opportunity to wave goodbye to last year and welcome the New Year. This is also an ideal point at which to reflect on the past and envision a brighter future for Asian Journal of Andrology (AJA). Although we cannot find more time, we can maximize what fleeting time we have. We are proud to have succeeded in making the most of 2009, thanks in part to our distinguished Editorial Board members, reviewers, authors, readers and sponsors, whose efforts continue to contribute to the success of AJA. Last year was AJA's first year being published by Nature Publishing Group (NPG). The transition to NPG went smoothly, and we continue to make the most of this fruitful partnership. The first issue of 2009 was a Special Issue on Prostate Cancer organized by guest-editors Dr Roger Kirby and Dr Shu-Jie Xia, who presented a collection of review and research articles outlining the current basic and clinical understanding of prostate cancer. This issue was a great success, and we plan to publish more special issues on topics of intensive global research. Another notable event in 2009 was AJA's 2008 impact factor, released by Thomson Reuters in June. The journal's impact factor rose to 2.059 – a 28% increase over the 2007 impact factor of 1.609, and a substantial and encouraging increase since the journal's launch in 1999. More recently, the Third Asia-Pacific Forum on Andrology (3APFA) was held in conjunction with the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of AJA on 10–13 October in Nanjing, China. Approximately 600 meeting participants from every corner of the globe enjoyed a well-organized program of lectures encompassing a wide range of thought-provoking topics in basic and clinical andrology that centered on the theme of “Environment, Lifestyle and Genetic/Epigenetic Factors, and Men's Health”. The positive feedback we have received since the conference reflects the resounding success of this productive and constructive congress. As we face the New Year and its challenges and opportunities, obvious questions include how AJA envisions the future and what actions the journal has planned. Highly motivated by the wisdom and suggestions of our Editorial Board members worldwide, we have full confidence in shaping a vibrant and exciting new perspective for the journal. We will continue to welcome the help of the most qualified, enthusiastic and reputable scientists to achieve our aim of establishing an interactive communication platform for authors, Editorial Board members, readers and editors. We will also introduce new article types, Authoritative Commentary, Opinion Articles, and Debates on Hot Topics and organize more Special Issues to highlight important and upcoming topics in andrology. By keeping a close eye on the state-of-the-art in andrology, AJA's scientific quality will continue to improve. An example of this is the current Special Issue on Semen Analysis in 21st Century Medicine, which is the result of months of hard work of two esteemed guest-editors, Prof David J. Handelsman and Dr Trevor G. Cooper, as well as the many distinguished authors who kindly contributed their intuitive and insightful thoughts on the recommendations and guidelines for quality control and interpretation set down in the 5th edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Laboratory Manual for the Examination and Processing of Human Semen 1. The purpose of this collection is to discuss some of the 'behind the scenes' controversies – many of which persist – including the origins, utility and specific applications of population reference ranges for semen analysis, problems with modern morphological methodology, and the possibilities and limitations of using semen analysis in population or clinical research studies beyond its original use for male infertility evaluation. We anticipate more lively discussions among scientists and clinicians on this broad topic, which has animated the field of andrology. AJA began in 1999 with the aim of building an academic platform for the exchange of scientific information, to promote scientific communication and cooperation in Asia and throughout the world. Today, more than ten years later, we are proud to say that we have made enormous progress towards this goal. AJA is still young, but has great energy, great enthusiasm, great vision and great expectation. Facing the challenges the coming decades may bring, we resolutely reaffirm our aim to make AJA an international medical journal of the highest standard. The work ahead is still formidable, but with the solid foundation we have already built, with AJA's energy and enthusiasm, NPG's strengths, and with the efforts of our supporters, our aim can, should and will be attained! As we listen to the steps of the New Year approaching us, and hear the bells ringing out the old year and ringing in the new, we sincerely wish you a happy, healthy and harmonious life in this holiday season. Best wishes for the New Year!