User Information Requirements Research Articles

Using collective intelligence methods to improve government data infrastructures and promote the use of complex data: The example of the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study

BackgroundThis paper discusses how collective intelligence (CI) methods can be implemented to improve government data infrastructures, not only to support understanding and primary use of complex national data but also to increase the dissemination and secondary impact of research based on these data. The case study uses the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (NILS), a member of the UK family of census/administrative data longitudinal studies (UKLS).MethodsA stakeholder-engaged CI approach was applied to inform the transformation of the NILS Research Support Unit (RSU) infrastructure to support researchers in their use of government data, including collaborative decision-making and better dissemination of research outputs.ResultsWe provide an overview of NILS RSU infrastructure design changes that have been implemented to date, focusing on a website redesign to meet user information requirements and the formation of better working partnerships between data users and providers within the Northern Ireland data landscape. We also discuss the key challenges faced by the design team during this project of transformation.ConclusionOur primary objective to improve government data infrastructure and to increase dissemination and the impact of research based on data was a complex and multifaceted challenge due to the number of stakeholders involved and their often conflicting perspectives. Results from this CI approach have been pivotal in highlighting how NILS RSU can work collaboratively with users to maximize the potential of this data, in terms of forming multidisciplinary networks to ensure the research is utilized in policy and in the literature and providing academic support and resources to attract new researchers.

ENVIRONMENTAL, SOCIAL, AND GOVERNANCE (ESG) RELATED PROCESSES AND INTERNAL CONTROL

Purpose- With the increase and change in the information requirements of information users, ESG reporting has become a very important component of corporate reporting. The increasing interest in ESG fields requires effective process management and the preparation of high-quality reports in these areas. In this context, providing assurance in ESG reporting and establishing effective internal controls in ESG-related processes have become important issues. There are a limited number of studies in the literature on the relationship between ESG fields and internal control. Following the contributions of these important studies to the literature, the Committee of Sponsoring Organisations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) issued a guidance in March 2023 entitled "Achieving Effective Internal Control over Sustainability Reporting (ICSR): Building Trust and Confidence with the COSO Internal Control Integrated Framework" in March 2023. As is known, the COSO Internal Control Integrated Framework (ICIF-2013) is the globally recognized internal control framework. The guideline, which is prepared on the basis of this framework, contains guiding information for the establishment of an effective internal control structure in ESG fields on the way to the formation of sustainable businesses. The aim of this study is to emphasise the importance of internal control in ESG-related processes and to contribute to the development of the literature by explaining the perspective created by the ICSR guidance and examining the existing literature. Methodology- The study employs a literature review to analyse the ICSR guidance on establishing an effective internal control structure over ESG-related processes and academic studies on this subject and to emphasise the importance of the subject. Conceptual discussions and developments are important in increasing the effectiveness of internal control over ESG-related processes. Therefore, this study analyses the conceptual framework of effective internal control over ESG-related processes. Findings- ICSR guidance published by COSO explains the establishment of internal control structure in ESG-related processes with an integrated perspective. Guidance also includes illustrative cases that can guide practitioners, while also addressing the roles in governance processes. There are a limited number of studies on this subject in the academic literature. Conclusion- With the findings obtained from the study, the importance of an effective internal control structure in ESG-related processes is emphasized. It is thought that the new ICSR guideline will create significant values in the formation and adoption of an integrated understanding on this issue. As it is known, an effective internal control structure is expected to provide reasonable assurance in the realization of the objectives of businesses and organizations in relation to all processes related to operations, compliance, and reporting. In order to achieve the desired objectives in the processes related to ESG fields, it is necessary to identify and eliminate the possible weaknesses of the internal control structure in ensuring the realization of these objectives and to transform it into a more effective structure. It is thought that the studies to be carried out for this purpose will create value by increasing awareness in terms of creating the expected benefit from ESG-related processes and creating more effective ESG reports. Keywords: Internal contol, COSO, environmental social ang governance, sustainability, sustainable business JEL Codes: M10, M40, M48

A Study on Online Health Community Users' Information Demands Based on the BERT-LDA Model.

As the economy and society develop and the standard of living improves, people's health awareness increases and the demand for health information grows. This study introduces an advanced BERT-LDA model to conduct topic-sentiment analysis within online health communities. It examines nine primary categories of user information requirements: causes, symptoms and manifestations, examination and diagnosis, treatment, self-management and regulation, impact, prevention, social life, and knowledge acquisition. By analyzing the distribution of positive and negative sentiments across each topic, the correlation between various health information demands and emotional expressions is investigated. The model established in this paper integrates BERT's semantic comprehension with LDA's topic modeling capabilities, enhancing the accuracy of topic identification and sentiment analysis while providing a more comprehensive evaluation of user information demands. This research furthers our understanding of users' emotional reactions and presents valuable insights for delivering personalized health information in online communities.

Efficiency-Boosting Federated Learning in Wireless Networks: A Long-Term Perspective

Federated learning (FL) can train a global model from clients' local dataset, which can make full use of the computing resources of clients and performs more extensive and efficient machine learning applications on clients with protecting user information requirements. Many existing works have focused on optimizing FL accuracy within the resource constrained in each individual round. However there are few works comprehensively consider the optimization for latency, accuracy and energy consumption from a long-term perspective in wireless federated learning. Inspired by this, in this paper, we investigate FL in wireless networks where client selection and bandwidth allocation are two crucial factors for improving the FL accuracy as well as reducing latency and energy consumption. We formulate the optimization problem as a mixed-integer problem, which minimizes the cost function over finite rounds while satisfying energy budget constraints of each client from a long-term perspective. To address this optimization problem, we propose the Per-round Energy Drift Plus Cost (PEDPC) algorithm in an online manner, including two parts: client selection and bandwidth allocation, which can be addressed by Increasing Time-Maximum Client Selection (ITMCS) algorithm and Barrier Method, respectively. Finally, the performance of the PEDPC algorithm is verified by extensive simulations in terms of latency, accuracy and energy consumption in IID and NON-IID data distributions.

Spatial Information Gaps on Deprived Urban Areas (Slums) in Low-and-Middle-Income-Countries: A User-Centered Approach

Routine and accurate data on deprivation are needed for urban planning and decision support at various scales (i.e., from community to international). However, analyzing information requirements of diverse users on urban deprivation, we found that data are often not available or inaccessible. To bridge this data gap, Earth Observation (EO) data can support access to frequently updated spatial information. However, a user-centered approach is urgently required for the production of EO-based mapping products. Combining an online survey and several forms of user interactions, we defined five system specifications (derived from user requirements) for designing an open-access spatial information system for deprived urban areas. First, gridded maps represent the optimal spatial granularity to deal with high uncertainties of boundaries of deprived areas and to protect privacy. Second, a high temporal granularity of 1–2 years is important to respond to the high spatial dynamics of urban areas. Third, detailed local-scale information should be part of a city-to-global information system. Fourth, both aspects, community assets and risks, need to be part of an information system, and such data need to be combined with local community-based information. Fifth, in particular, civil society and government users should have fair access to data that bridges the digital barriers. A data ecosystem on urban deprivation meeting these requirements will be able to support community-level action for improving living conditions in deprived areas, local science-based policymaking, and tracking progress towards global targets such as the SDGs.

Effects of Information Seeking Behaviour on Accessibility of Library Services by Students With Visual Impairment in Uganda Christian University, Mukono

The major aim of the study was to investigate the effects of information seeking behaviour on accessibility of library services by students with visual impairment. The study was carried out at Hamu Mukasa Library of Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda. The study objectives were to weigh the needs of information to Students with Visual Impairment (SWVI) in UCU library, assess information seeking behaviors of SWVI at UCU library, to evaluate the library facilities and services currently available for SWVI, to interrogate the sources of information for SWVI and to analyze the challenges encountered by SWVI while seeking for information at UCU library. The researcher used a descriptive design confirming about the truthfulness of the matter of fact to give wright answers to the research questions in an understandable manner giving the exact picture of what transpires amidst the SWVI while seeking for information from the Library. The study applied the qualitative together with quantitative research methods venturing into and making use of questionnaires and extracting information from the documents. The target population in the study included SWVI and staff at Uganda Christian University (UCU) Hamu Mukasa library. The study targeted the visually impaired students plus library staff members who serve or train information search skills to the students. A sample size of 100 participants was chosen from the total population of 150 whereby sample size of library staff was 60 and a sample of 40 students with visual impairment. The findings revealed that the library staff have inadequacy skills to allow them understand the needs of SWVI and their information seeking behaviours, thus failure to serve SWVI diligently. In regard to this, the study is mandated to air out the services provided, the facilities available and showing how they are insignificant to suite the information requirements of these particular users of the library. The study was well-timed to handle the assessment on effects of information seeking behaviour while accessing library services by (SWVI) at Uganda Christian University. The study recommended to the government, academic libraries, Non-Government Organisations and other agencies serving visually impaired people; to work together on the strategies to improve library facilities and information services for the visually impaired students.

Changing Scenario of Information Use Pattern in the Engineering Colleges in Tamil Nadu

This paper analyses the changing scenario of information use pattern in the academic libraries of Tamilnadu. Libraries play a vital role in higher education and research. In fact, it collects a number of printed documents such as books, journals, magazines, encyclopedia, dictionaries, yearbooks, news papers and non-printed materials like CDs, Microfiche, Microfilms, Databases, e-learning resources related to the courses offered in the college/university in order to meet the various information requirements of users at graduate, post graduate and research levels. The ancient libraries preserved and circulated the information sources in the printed or written forms. But, the development of science and technology have modernized the form of documents and changed the information use pattern of users. It is seen that the present users prefer non-printed materials to printed one. In other words, the demand for non-printed materials is more than the printed one and the time utilized in the information communication technological based information sources and services is more than that in printed documents circulation section. It shows that there is a change in the information use pattern of users in higher educational libraries. Hence an attempt is made to find out the changing scenario of information use pattern and factors motivating it in the higher educational libraries of Tamilnadu.

Location based Web Object Search using Probabilistic Classification Model.

The classical Web search engines focus on satisfying the information need of the users by retrieving relevant Web documents corresponding to the user query. The Web document contains the information on different Web objects such as authors, automobiles, political parties e.t.c. The user might be accessing the Web document to procure information about a specific Web object, the remaining information in the Web object [2-6] becomes redundant specific to the user. If the size of Web documents is significantly large and the user information requirement is small fraction of the document, the user has to invest effort in locating the required information inside the document. It would be much more convenient if the user is provided with only the required Web object information located inside the Web documents. Web object search engines provide Web search facility through vertical search on Web objects. In this paper the main goal we considered is the objective information present in different documents is extracted and integrated into an object repository over which the Web object search facility is built.

Research on User Information Requirement in Chinese Network Health Community: Taking Tumor-forum Data of Qiuyi as an Example

Research on User Information Requirement in Chinese Network Health Community: Taking Tumor-forum Data of Qiuyi as an Example

МОНИТОРИНГ ВОСТРЕБОВАННОСТИ БАЗЫ ДАННЫХ «АГРОС»

The purpose of the research was to study the structure and peculiarities of using the CSAL electronic information resources on agrarian subjects. The modern users of the CSAL electronic information resource - the database (BD) “AGROS” and methods for studying them were identified. Statistical reports to carry out an analysis were formed on the basis of an own (CSAL) development. The development involved the technologies Microsoft IIS, Active Server Pages and SQL Server. The information requirements of users were studied, the structure and dynamics of their retrievals in the BD “AGROS” were revealed. A user request to the BD “AGROS” is defined as the main indicator of the demand for the electronic information resource. The monitoring study has been carried out on the basis of requests of 55 thousand users enquired with the BD “AGROS” in the period of 2015-2017. The main group of users - the Internet users (95.7%) has been revealed. Based on 639 thousand requests it has been found out that the users prefer working with the BD “AGROS” in a distal mode (85% of all requests). Requests from the CSAL home page through the search engine box were 37%. More than 1.1 million documents have been selected for revision. Articles of collections of research papers and serials are most highly sought (38.2%), books occupy 22.5%. Among the reviewed documents 11% have abstracts and their share is growing. Most of selected documents with abstracts are research reports (48.9%) and articles (33.2%). The selected documents are mainly viewed in a distal mode (77%). It has been found that a modern user of the BD “AGROS” is an individual who prefers to work with electronic resources remotely, has skills of self-guided work for searching information in the web electronic resources, when choosing information gives pride of place to articles of collections of research papers and serials. The conclusion is made that the obtained statistics allow evaluating the creation the BD “AGRIS” as a promising area for satisfying information requirements of the CSAL users.

A Web Search Personalization Based on Probability of Semantic Similarity between User Log and Query with Web Page

Web search personalization is recognized as a competent solution to address the problem of query-relevant search as per the user interest, while it able to present dissimilar search results based upon the preferences and information requirements of users. The popular search engines provide their search results interpreting the user query only, which mostly have unrelated results due to the keywords ambiguity problem. In order to have satisfied and user interesting result, it is important to personalize the results according to their relevancies. In this paper, we propose a Web search Personalization based on a Probability of Semantic Similarity (WP-PSS) between user log and query with search result webpage. It performs a probability of semantic similarities computation between the user query and search result webpage snippet, and compute the frequency of link associated with the log data. Based on these two computed factors a probability of similarities association is computed to group and re-rank the search results for the personalization. Experiment evaluation over a set of multi-domain web searched data collection shows an accuracy improvisation.

A Big Data and Time Series Analysis Technology-Based Multi-Agent System for Smart Tourism

This study focuses on presenting a development trend from the perspective of data-oriented evidence, especially open data and technologies, as those numbers can verify and prove current technology trends and user information requirements. According to the practical progress of Dr. What-Info I and II, this paper continues to develop Dr. What-Info III. Moreover, big data technology, the MapReduce paralleled decrement mechanism of the cloud information agent CEOntoIAS, which is supported by a Hadoop-like framework, Software R, and time series analysis are adopted to enhance the precision, reliability, and integrity of cloud information. Furthermore, the proposed system app receives a collective satisfaction score of 80% in terms of Quesenbery’s 5Es and Nielsen ratings. In addition, the verification results of the interface design show that the human-machine interface of our proposed system can meet important design preferences and provide approximately optimal balance. The top-n experiment shows that the top-5 recommendations would be better for solving the traditional tradeoff between output quality and processing time. Finally, the system effectiveness experiments indicate that the proposed system receives an overall up-to-standard function rate of 87.5%, and such recommendations provide this system with high information correctness and user satisfaction. Although there is plenty of room for improvement in experience, the feasibility of this service architecture has been proven.

Information seeking and processing behaviour of KVK's SMS for transfer of technology

The availability of information sources has drastically increased in all fields in various forms and formats during the last two decades. Information seeking behaviour is an essential component in designing and developing of need based information centers for meeting the information requirements of users. In order to serve agriculture scientists better and design and develop need based information systems and its surrogates. It is an urgent need to focus on the information seeking and processing behaviour of the agriculture scientists covering all facets of their information seeking and processing behaviour. It is necessary to have a clear understanding the various concepts related to information seeking and processing behaviour of agriculture scientists. The study revealed that more than half (57.52 %) of the Subject Matter Specialists had medium level of information seeking behaviour followed by low level (23.53 %). Most (84.31 %) of the respondents ‘always’ receive information on scientific agriculture by selfobservation method. More than three fourth of the SMS ‘always’ used group contact sources like discussion with colleagues(77.12 %) and discussion with farmers (79.13 %). About 86.27 per cent and 81.04 per cent of the SMS ‘always’ used the print media viz., extension publications and newspapers, respectively for information seeking for transfer of technology. Large majority of Subject Matter Specialists evaluated, stored and transformed agricultural information by discussion with fellow scientists and extension personnel, writing in notebooks, and preparation of research report. Majority (70.59 %) of participants exhibited medium level of information processing behaviour followed by 15.69 per cent who had low level of information processing behaviour. More than 90.00 per cent participants stored agricultural information by writing in general notebooks and transformed information by preparation of research report, writing of research/extension articles, folders and radio-talk.

Information quality in design process documentation of quality management systems

Information is the main constituent of documents that make up a quality management system. The main function of information found in process documents is to provide knowledge regarding how to executing a process and to standardize this process by providing a specific path of execution. However, it is not easy to determine a standard level of quality of process information optimal from the viewpoint of the owner and the process executor. Since there is no universal standard that would allow evaluation of the quality of process information, the purpose of the presented studies was to solve the aforementioned problems and to provide practical solutions for document makers to design proper process descriptions. To achieve the main purpose, a methodology for examination of influence characteristics of processes on information requirements of users of process documents was created. The paper presents findings carried out in processes at enterprises and is aimed at finding relation between attributes describing information and characteristics of processes. The paper proposes a set of guidelines developed by the authors for selection of appropriate document characteristics. These guidelines are based on findings collected from the conducted research.

Information Needs and Information-Seeking Behaviour of Post-Graduate and Doctoral Students

Information seeking behaviour is an essential component in the designing and developing of need based information centres for meeting the information requirements of users. The undertaken study describes the information needs and information-seeking behaviour of post-graduate students and research scholars of Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. The main objective of this research study is to analyse the information seeking pattern of students in the social sciences stream. The survey was conducted to look more closely at specific areas of the study for an in-depth examination of trends and patterns in seeking information. It is found that almost all students used to get information through Internet but they prefer print material over digital resources for study purpose. They face a lots of difficulties and obstacles to access those electronic and print resources. Therefore, orientation programs and users' education programs are imperative to give them information on library services and activities. This study can be helpful for students as well as for teachers, librarians and mentors who provide information to the students and researchers.

Комплексные исследования информационных потребностей ученых УрО РАН в печатных периодических изданиях

Статья содержит результаты анализа эффективности использования иностранных и отечественных периодических изданий учеными УрО РАН. Исследования проводились в целях изучения информационных потребностей пользователей в печатных периодических изданиях и оптимизации процесса комплектования. Результаты исследования позволили выявить приоритетные и новые направления комплектования, проанализировать потребность пользователей в печатных изданиях и уточнить тематико-типологический план ЦНБ УрО РАН в соответствии с актуальными информационными потребностями исследователей УрО РАН.

On the nature of models for time-sensitive remote sensing

Remote sensing employs a range of conceptual and mechanistic models. Several conceptual models have been proposed to explain remote sensing systems (RSSs) and either directly prescribe or elucidate the configuration of such systems based on scene conditions and information requirements. This study interrogates the utility of these models for the design and practical implementation of RSSs to address time-sensitive information requirements and proposes a novel conceptual model, the remote sensing communication model, that places remote sensing within a decision support context.Three pertinent remote sensing conceptual models are critically assessed based on their satisfaction of three basic requirements: (1) prescribe or explicate RSS configuration based on user information requirements, (2) elucidate dependencies between information type, accuracy, and timeliness, and (3) describe the effect of RSS configuration on the effectiveness of users’ decisions. The conceptual remote sensing models that are evaluated are not found to be appropriate for the design and configuration of time-sensitive RSSs (TSRSSs).The remote sensing communication model employs the (information theory) communication model developed by Shannon and Weaver to elucidate the acquisition, transmission, processing, interpretation, and effectiveness of information derived from a TSRSS. Weaver’s three levels of effective communication are used to explain the varying value of information as a function of time and user characteristics and to elucidate the effect of RSS configuration on the ability of remote sensing-derived information to inform decisions in a timely manner. The concept of communication channel capacity is used to estimate the timeliness of RSSs, and a brief example of its implementation is presented.

The upgrade of the J-TEXT experimental data access and management system

The experimental data of J-TEXT tokamak are stored in the MDSplus database. The old J-TEXT data access system is based on the tools provided by MDSplus. Since the number of signals is huge, the data retrieval for an experiment is difficult. To solve this problem, the J-TEXT experimental data access and management system (DAMS) based on MDSplus has been developed. The DAMS left the old MDSplus system unchanged providing new tools, which can help users to handle all signals as well as to retrieve signals they need thanks to the user information requirements. The DAMS also offers users a way to create their jScope configuration files which can be downloaded to the local computer. In addition, the DAMS provides a JWeb-Scope tool to visualize the signal in a browser. JWeb-Scope adopts segment strategy to read massive data efficiently. Users can plot one or more signals on their own choice and zoom-in, zoom-out smoothly. The whole system is based on B/S model, so that the users only need of the browsers to access the DAMS. The DAMS has been tested and it has a better user experience. It will be integrated into the J-TEXT remote participation system later.

Towards a B2B E-Commerce Evaluation Management Model to Assess Organizational Drivers in Hospitals

Effective utilization of business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce (e-commerce) in hospitals may lead to many benefits such as increased accessibility to healthcare providers, improved process efficiency, enhanced quality of healthcare services, increased responses to changes, decreased scheduling conflicts, and reduction in administrative costs. However, many hospitals have found that they have not yet fully reaped the expected benefits from their B2B e-commerce investments. Despite this, there has not been much discussion in the literature with respect to the relationship between the organizational drivers on B2B e-commerce benefits for hospitals. Hence, a mixed-method of case study and survey was conducted to examine the relationships between B2B e-commerce benefits, IT evaluation resources allocation, IT investment evaluation methodologies, IT maturity, and user information requirements determination process. A B2B e-commerce evaluation management model was developed to test these relationships. The results provided empirical evidence in support of our proposed model and revealed that hospitals’ IT evaluation resources allocation practices mediated the relationship of IT investment evaluation methodologies, IT maturity, and user information requirements determination process with B2B e-commerce benefits. The results also showed that the level of IT maturity had a significant impact on the adoption of IT investment evaluation methodologies.

ActCPG framework to learn about information user requirements of a clinical practice guideline

A clinical practice guideline is a knowledge uptake instrument that supports evidence-based decision making by clinicians. It represents a model of a clinical process that describes the sequence of actions, decisions and their outcomes, and the interface with other processes beyond the scope of a guideline. In domains outside healthcare, the computerization of business processes via information systems follows a very rigorous design labeled as the system development life cycle. Our argument is that the computerization of a clinical practice guideline is the equivalent of building an information system for a clinical process and therefore should follow a similarly rigorous design method. One of the first and also one of the most important steps in the system development life cycle is learning about user information requirements. This paper is about a user requirements elicitation and definition process customized to clinical practice guideline. We propose the novel ActCPG conceptual framework for elicitation of basic user requirements for developing computer-interpreted guidelines. This framework relies on Activity Theory to structure and decompose information coming from a clinical practice guideline and associated narrative. We illustrate operation of the ActCPG framework with an example of a practice guideline for a management of clinically obese children enrolled in the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario obesity program.