Adversarial Cross-domain Community Question Retrieval

Community Q&A forum is a special type of social media that provides a platform to raise questions and to answer them (both by forum participants), to facilitate online information sharing. Currently, community Q&A forums in professional domains have attracted a large number of users by offering professional knowledge. To support information access and save users’ efforts of raising new questions, they usually come with a question retrieval function, which retrieves similar existing questions (and their answers) to a user’s query. However, it can be difficult for community Q&A forums to cover all domains, especially those emerging lately with little labeled data but great discrepancy from existing domains. We refer to this scenario as cross-domain question retrieval. To handle the unique challenges of cross-domain question retrieval, we design a model based on adversarial training, namely, X-QR , which consists of two modules—a domain discriminator and a sentence matcher. The domain discriminator aims at aligning the source and target data distributions and unifying the feature space by domain-adversarial training. With the assistance of the domain discriminator, the sentence matcher is able to learn domain-consistent knowledge for the final matching prediction. To the best of our knowledge, this work is among the first to investigate the domain adaption problem of sentence matching for community Q&A forums question retrieval. The experiment results suggest that the proposed X-QR model offers better performance than conventional sentence matching methods in accomplishing cross-domain community Q&A tasks.

Information systems flexibility and robustness of manufacturing firms in Nigeria

This study examined the nexus between Information systems flexibility and Robustness of manufacturing firms in South-South, Nigeria. Nine objectives and hypotheses were postulated to examine the relationship between the dimensions (IT flexibility, Process flexibility and Data flexibility) and the measures (Persistence, Structural stability and Superposition). A structured questionnaire was prepared, while Google forms was used to gather the data from the 210 respondents. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) with the aid of Smart PLS 3.3.3, was used to examine the relationship between the dimensions of Information systems flexibility and the measures of Robustness. A total of 185 responses were collected and used for the analysis. The results show that all three dimensions of Information systems flexibility improved Robustness. The study recommends amongst others, that Management of manufacturing firms should adopt flexible information systems through strengthening of networks, relationships with stakeholders and the emphasis on information technology. This will advance the organisations options and provide the firm with various advantages in terms of information access and knowledge sharing needed for their agility within the business environment.

Student usage of open educational resources and social media at a Sri Lanka Medical School

Background The use of Open Educational Resources (OER) and Social Media (SM) for academic information seeking is common among undergraduates nowadays. There is limited data on OER and SM use for education in Sri Lanka. This study was aimed at evaluating the OER and SM use for education among the medical students at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya. Stratified random sampling was used to select students from the first year to the final year. A self-administrated questionnaire was used to collect data. Results The study included 257 responses (response rate: 89.5%), of which 185 (72.0%) were females. The OER and SM use for educational purposes at least once a month among students was 96.1% (95%CI: 93.7–98.5%) and 88.3% (95%CI: 84.4–92.3%) respectively. There was no gender difference in OER and SM use. The main reasons for accessing OER were the availability of information at any time (36.1%) and ease of information access (31.5%). Wiki sites (84.4%) and Facebook (79.8%) were the highest accessed OER and SM platforms. The majority of students were in view that the information on wiki sites (51.4%) and results of general non-specific web searches (56.0%) were reliable. Only 33.9% of students searched information from educational and government-related sources and 18.7% had accessed e-journals. Through SM, 79.0% joined educational groups and 77.0% followed the medical-related sites, pages and people. More than one-third of students (35.8%) could not find academic information from SM due to the information overload and 31.1% mentioned that SM distracted their education. Conclusion The majority of the students used OER and SM for education; however, only a minority accessed reliable information. Students accepted information available in wiki sites and general non-specific web searchers without considering the credibility of sources. The majority of the students did not refer to e-journals. Distractions to academic work and the difficulty to access accurate information were major concerns of using SM. This study highlights the importance of improving information literacy among medical students.

Exploring European Heavy Goods Vehicle Crashes Using a Three-Level Analysis of Crash Data

Heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are involved in 4.5% of police-reported road crashes in Europe and 14.2% of fatal road crashes. Active and passive safety systems can help to prevent crashes or mitigate the consequences but need detailed scenarios based on analysis of region-specific data to be designed effectively; however, a sufficiently detailed overview focusing on long-haul trucks is not available for Europe. The aim of this paper is to give a comprehensive and up-to-date analysis of crashes in the European Union that involve HGVs weighing 16 tons or more (16 t+). The identification of the most critical scenarios and their characteristics is based on a three-level analysis, as follows. Crash statistics based on data from the Community Database on Accidents on the Roads in Europe (CARE) provide a general overview of crashes involving HGVs. These results are complemented by a more detailed characterization of crashes involving 16 t+ trucks based on national road crash data from Italy, Spain, and Sweden. This analysis is further refined by a detailed study of crashes involving 16 t+ trucks in the German In-Depth Accident Study (GIDAS), including a crash causation analysis. The results show that most European HGV crashes occur in clear weather, during daylight, on dry roads, outside city limits, and on nonhighway roads. Three main scenarios for 16 t+ trucks are characterized in-depth: rear-end crashes in which the truck is the striking partner, conflicts during right turn maneuvers of the truck with a cyclist riding alongside, and pedestrians crossing the road in front of the truck. Among truck-related crash causes, information admission failures (e.g., distraction) were the main crash causation factor in 72% of cases in the rear-end striking scenario while information access problems (e.g., blind spots) were present for 72% of cases in the cyclist scenario and 75% of cases in the pedestrian scenario. The three levels of data analysis used in this paper give a deeper understanding of European HGV crashes, in terms of the most common crash characteristics on EU level and very detailed descriptions of both kinematic parameters and crash causation factors for the above scenarios. The results thereby provide both a global overview and sufficient depth of analysis of the most relevant cases and aid safety system development.

What determines the progress of online information access to banking corporate governance practices? The case of Paraguay

This paper contributes to the lack of longitudinal studies concerning online information access to corporate governance (CG) practices in the banking sector of Latin American countries. In particular, this study aims to analyze the factors that influence information transparency, both mandatory and voluntary, related to CG practices of banks that operate in Paraguay via their websites from 2016 to 2019. Findings indicate the need to improve the level of information available on websites, with disclosure of voluntary information on CG practices being more prevalent than the disclosure of mandatory information. Likewise, banks that operate in Paraguay have made scant “progress” regarding online access to their governance information over the years analyzed. Moreover, the factors “Bank size” and “listed status” positively influence the information transparency regarding CG practices of Paraguayan banks. In contrast, “leverage,” “liquidity,” “size of the audit firm,” and “credit risk rating” are factors that have a negative relation with the extent of CG disclosure.

COVID-19: information access, trust and adherence to health advice among migrants in Norway

Background Migrants in Norway bear a higher burden of COVID-19 infections and hospitalization as compared to non-migrants. The aim of our study was to understand how migrants perceive their own health risk, how they access information regarding the preventive measures, the degree of trust in this information, in the Norwegian authorities and the news media, and migrants’ adherence to authorities’ recommendations regarding the pandemic. Methods An online survey was performed between May and July 2020 among 529 Polish, Arabic, Somali, Tamil, and Spanish-speaking migrants in Norway. For each outcome presented in the aims, unweighted and weighted descriptive analyses were performed for all migrants together and for each language group. Results Sixty-one percent of migrants perceived their health as excellent or very good, with the lowest value (42%) in the Tamil group and the highest among Somalians (85%). The majority of respondents (82%) felt they had received sufficient information. Press conferences from the government, health authorities’ websites, and Norwegian news media were the preferred channels of information for all groups. Most migrants reported a high level of adherence to preventive measures (88%) and trust in Norwegian authorities (79%). However, there were variations among groups regarding the importance of sources of information and level of trust, which was lowest for the Polish group. Conclusion Migrants in Norway reported receiving sufficient information about COVID-19 and high adherence to preventive measures. However, the levels of trust in the information sources, the services and the authorities varied among the groups. Understanding how migrants are dealing with this pandemic is crucial to improve the dissemination of information and trust in the health authorities for the different groups.

Education and Information Need for Emergency Physicians About Rare Diseases in China

Background: Rare diseases are serious and chronic disease that affect no more than 1 person in 2000. The patients suffering from RD may come to emergency department for life-threatening symptoms, such as acute aortic dissection, intracranial hemorrhage, and severe respiratory distress. Diagnostic delay of rare disease patients is common and often caused by low rare disease awareness among physicians. The main aim of this study was to investigate the Chinese emergency physicians’ basic knowledge, information access and educational needs regarding rare diseases. An online questionnaire was completed by Chinese emergency physicians during January and March 2021. Methods and Results: A total of 539 emergency physicians responded to the questionnaire-based study, including 200 females and 339 males. More than half of respondents were from Tertiary A hospital and had engaged in medical clinical work more than 10 years. Only 4.27% of respondents correctly estimated the prevalence of rare diseases. A few respondents knew the exact number of RD in the first official list of rare diseases in 2018. 98.5% of respondents rated their knowledge about rare diseases as rare or insufficient. Most of emergency physicians preferred to getting information by search engine instead of specialized websites of rare diseases. Lack of practice guidelines or consensus and were considered as the most important reason for diagnostic delay of RD. Practice guidelines or consensus and professional websites on rare diseases were urgently needed for emergency physicians.Conclusion: The investigation shows poor knowledge of emergency physicians regarding rare diseases. Practice guidelines and professional websites on rare diseases were the prominently urgent needs for emergency physicians. Specialized RD courses should also be added in medical education.

The Information Access Law as a Full Constitutional Citizenship Instrument

This chapter addresses the right of access to information, reinforced as a fundamental rule for citizens in the Brazilian constitutional norm of 1988, now regulated, more closely, from the enactment of the law on access to information in 2011. It represents an important legislative instrument of reinforcement of the principle of publicity, as well as the main infraconstitutional standard guaranteeing access to information. The requirement of a clear and transparent accountability environment by the public manager is a republican assumption of massive participation by society. This is because the right of access to information of a public nature provides a better control of public expenditures, while allowing, on the other hand, promotion of social control of a diffuse nature. It should be pointed out that, with greater knowledge of their own rights, the citizen goes through a faster inclusion process, either in the subjectivation of a minimal role of rights that he does not know, or in the clarification of his duties as a participant in the process of state maintenance.

An analysis of the causes and consequences of the information gap in IT projects. The client’s and the supplier’s perspective in Poland

The high IT project failure rate means that the stakeholders start recognizing the need to analyze the factors influencing project success, previously deemed irrelevant in the face of technology, including the agile approach, eliminating project documentation, effective prototyping, information asymmetry between project parties, while also perfecting communication and the methods of knowledge transfer between team members. Currently, IT projects are researched using a holistic approach, seeing an implementation project as a whole, subject to specific regularities, which may not be deduced based on the knowledge of their individual components. We would like to enrich the research perspective with the notion of the information gap. The article aims to evaluate and analyze the information gap in ERP and CRM project implementations. We have researched the information gap from the perspective of project managers on the supplier’s and the client’s sides. The study was conducted in Poland between 2014 and 2021 in a group of medium companies, using qualitative research methods: unstructured interview and direct observation. The study led to a qualitative characterization of the information gap and the identification of its causes and consequences. The presented research result can help achieve three goals, i.e. studying the information gap in the selected group of IT projects, indicating the nature of imperfection in information access by the project participants, and raising awareness amongst project managers regarding risk management issues, especially uncertainty. Reducing the information gap can be used by the transaction parties to implement a strategy of building the object’s resilience to uncertainty and its consequences. These results can help develop methodologies of IT project implementation, limiting the level of risk and uncertainty.