This paper identifies areas in the design science research (DSR) subfield of the information systems (IS) discipline where a more detailed consideration of practitioner audiences of socio-technical design artifacts could improve current IS DSR research practice and proposes an initial conceptualization of these audiences. The consequences of not considering artifact audiences are identified through a critical appraisal of the current informing science lenses in the IS DSR literature. There are specific shortcomings in four areas: 1) treating practice stakeholders as a too homogeneous group, 2) not explicitly distinguishing between social and technical parts of socio-technical artifacts, 3) neglecting implications of the artifact abstraction level, and 4) a lack of explicit consideration of a dynamic or evolutionary fitness perspective of socio-technical artifacts. The findings not only pave the way for future research to further improve the conceptualization of artifact audiences, in order to improve the informing power – and thus, impact on practice and research relevance – of IS DSR projects; they can also help to bridge the theory-practice gap in other disciplines (e.g. computer science, engineering, or policy-oriented sociology) that seek to produce social and/or technical artifacts of practical relevance.

Web portals have been used as information products to deliver personalized, feature-rich, and flexible information needs to Internet users. However, all portals are not equal. Most of them have relatively a small number of visitors, while a few capture the majority of surfers. This study seeks to uncover the factors that contribute the perceived quality of a general portal. Based on 21 factors derived from an extensive literature review on Information Product Quality (IPQ), web usage, and media use, an experimental study was conducted to identify the factors that are perceived by web portal users as most relevant. The literature categorizes quality factors of an information product in three dimensions: information, physical, and service. This experiment suggests a different clustering of factors: Content relevancy, Communication interactiveness, Information currency, and Instant gratification. The findings in this study will help developers find a more customer-oriented approach to developing high-traffic portals.

The privacy of personal information is an important area of focus in today’s electronic world, where information can so easily be captured, stored, and shared. In recent years it has regularly featured as a topic in news media and has become the target of legislation around the world. Multidisciplinary privacy research has been conducted for decades, yet privacy remains a complex subject that still provides fertile ground for further investigation. This article provides a narrative overview of the nature of information privacy, describing the complexities and challenges that consumers and organizations face when making decisions about it, in order to demonstrate its importance to both groups. Based on this work, we present a transdisciplinary view of information privacy research linking the consumer and organization. It illustrates areas of concern for consumers and organizations together with the factors that influence the decisions they make about information privacy. By providing such a view we hope to encourage further cross-disciplinary research into this highly pertinent area.

In his “Theses on the Philosophy of History”, Walter Benjamin suggests that all cultural treasures “owe their existence not only to the efforts of the great minds and talents who have created them, but also to the anonymous toil of their contemporaries. There is no document of civilization which is not at the same time a document of barbarism”. The most obvious and prominent examples of cultural treasures in Benjamin’s discourses can be found in monumental architectural works, and history has shown that rulers have really been interested in such splendor stone statements. Benjamin’s discourse challenges a dominant idea that seeks to give an ambitious image of these architectural works with the purpose of confirming and endorsing a splendid cultural past so that it can give shape to an integrated and arbitrary cultural geography. This theoretical study, which has been conducted using library resources, employing the discourse and method of “cinematic thinking”, attempts to review the role of these monumental architectural works in estab-lishing and shaping national cultural geography. This process is an effort to open boundaries of theorization in area of art and architecture, with the help of ideas that moving cinematic images leave in place.

Aim/Purpose: Professional companies selling persuasive-communication services via the World Wide Web need to be exemplars of effective informing practices. Their credibility is at risk if their websites do not excel in marketing message and use of medium. Their unique brands need to be expressed through website technology and content, or they cannot compete successfully. Background: Compares marketing communication consultants’ websites with expert criteria. Methodology: Content analysis of 40 advertising agency websites. Contribution: Links an evaluation of advertising agency compliance with expert website criteria to established branding constructs. Findings: Most small advertising agencies could improve their brand reputations through better compliance with experts’ recommended website design and content criteria. Recommendations for Practitioners: A hierarchy of recommendations for practitioners is offered, addressing ease and importance. Impact on Society: Clarity and credibility of message and medium improve our ability to practice effective informing. Future Research: Explore online communications of specialized populations such as digital marketing experts.

Aim/Purpose: The main aim of the research is to examine the performance of second language English speaking students enrolled in the Business Statistics course and to investigate the academic performance of students when taught under the constructivist and non-constructivist approaches in a classroom environment. Background: There are different learning theories that are established based on how students learn. Each of these theories has its own benefits based on the different type of learners and context of the environment. The students in this research are new to the University environment and to a challenging technical course like Business Statistics. This research has been carried out to see the effectiveness of the constructivist approach in motivating and increasing the student engagement and their academic performance. Methodology : A total of 1373 students were involved in the quasi-experiment method using Stratified Sampling Method from the year 2015 until 2016. Contribution: To consider curriculum adjustments for first year programs and implications for teacher education. Findings: The t-test for unequal variances was used to understand the mean score. Results indicate students have high motivation level and achieve higher mean scores when they are taught using the constructivist teaching approach compared to the non-constructivist teaching approach. Recommendations for Practitioners: To consider the challenges faced by first year students and create a teaching approach that fits their needs. Recommendation for Researchers: To explore in depth other teaching approaches of the Business Statistics course in improving students’ academic performance. Impact on Society : The constructivist approach will enable learning to be enjoyable and students to be more confident. Future Research: The research will assist other lectures teaching Business Statistics in creating a more conducive environment to encourage second language English speaking students to overcome their shyness and be more engaged.

Table of contents for Volume 20 of Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2017.

Aim/Purpose: This paper describes an empirical examination of how users’ willingness to disclose personal data is influenced by the amount of information provided on landing pages – standalone web pages created explicitly for marketing or advertising campaigns. Background: Provision of information is a central construct in the IS discipline. Content is a term commonly used to describe the information made available by a website or other electronic medium. A pertinent debate among scholars and practitioners relate to the behavioral impact of content volume: Specifically, does a greater amount of information elicit engagement and compliance, or the other way around? Methodology: A series of large-scale web experiments (n= 535 and n= 27,900) were conducted employing a between-subjects design and A/B testing. Two variants of landing pages, long and short, were created based on relevant behavioral theories. Both variants included an identical form to collect users’ information, but different amounts of provided content. User traffic was generated using Google AdWords and randomized between the page using Unbounce.com. Relevant usage metrics, such as response rate (called “conversion rate”), location, and visit time were recorded. Contribution: This research contributes to the body of knowledge on information provision and its effectiveness and carries practical and theoretical implications to practitioners and scholars in Information Systems, Informing Science, Communications, Digital Marketing, and related fields. Findings: Analyses of results show that the shorter landing pages had significantly higher conversion rates across all locations and times. Findings demonstrate a negative correlation between the content amount and consumer behavior, suggesting that users who had less information were more inclined to provide their data. Recommendations for Practitioners: At a practical level, results can empirically support business practices, design considerations, and content strategy by informing practitioners on the role of content in online commerce. Recommendation for Researchers: Findings suggest that the amount of content plays a significant role in online decision making and effective informing. They also contradict prior research on trust, persuasion, and security. This study advances research on the paradoxical relationship between the increased level of information and online decision-making and indicates that contrary to earlier work, not all persuasion theories‎ are ‎effective online. Impact on Society: Understanding how information drives behavior has implications in many domains (civic engagement, health, education, and more). This has relevance to system design and public communication in both online and offline contexts. Future Research: Using this research as a starting point, future research can examine the impact of content in other contexts, as well as other behavioral drivers (such as demographic data). This can lead to theoretical, methodological, and practical recommendations.

Table of contents for Volume 21 of Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2018.

Aim/Purpose: The growing complexity of the business environment and business processes as well as the Big Data phenomenon has an impact on every area of human activity nowadays. This new reality challenges the effectiveness of traditional narrowly oriented professional education. New areas of competences emerged as a synergy of multiple knowledge areas – transdisciplines. Informing Science and Data Science are just the first two such new areas we may identify as transdisciplines. Universities are facing the challenge to educate students for those new realities. Background: The purpose of the paper is to share the authors’ experience in designing curriculum for training bachelor students in Informing Science as a concentration within an Information Brokerage major, and a master program on Data Science. Methodology: Designing curriculum for transdisciplines requires diverse expertise obtained by both academia and industries and passed through several stages - identifying objectives, conceptualizing curriculum models, identifying content, and development pedagogical priorities. Contribution: Sharing our experience acquired in designing transdiscipline programs will contribute to a transition from a narrow professional education towards addressing 21st-century challenges. Findings: Analytical skills, combined with training in all categories of so-called “soft skills”, are essential in preparing students for a successful career in a transdiciplinary area of activities. Recommendations for Practitioners: Establishing a working environment encouraging not only sharing but close cooperation is essential nowadays. Recommendations for Researchers: There are two aspects of training professionals capable of succeeding in a transdisciplinary environment: encouraging mutual respect and developing out-of-box thinking. Impact on Society: The transition of higher education in a way to meet current challenges. Future Research The next steps in this research are to collect feedback regarding the professional careers of students graduating in these two programs and to adjust the curriculum accordingly.

Table of Contents for Volume 22 of Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2019

Aim/Purpose: As traditional Knowledge Management (KM) struggles to support the personal needs of knowledge workers in a new era of accelerating information abundance, we examine the shortcomings and put forward alternative scenarios and architectures for developing a novel Personal KM System (PKMS). Background: While prior publications focused on the complementing features compared to conventional dynamic KM models, our emphasis shifts to instantiating a flourishing PKMS community supported by a Digital Platform Ecosystem. Methodology: Design science research focusing on conceptual analysis and prototyping. Contribution: The PKMS concept advances the understanding of how digital platform communities may serve members with highly diverse skills and ambitions better to gainfully utilize the platform’s resources and generative potential in their personal and local settings. Findings: We demonstrate how the needs to tackle attention-consuming rising entropy and to benefit from generative innovation potentials can be addressed. Future Research: As this article has iteratively co-evolved with the preparing of a PKMS implementation, business, and roll-out plan, the prototype’s testing, completion, and subsequent migration to a viable system is of primary concern.

Table of Contents for Volume 23 of Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2020.

Aim/Purpose: This study seeks to uncover the perceived quality factors of computer-mediated communication in business planning in which communication among teammates is crucial for collaboration. Background: Computer-mediated communication has made communicating with teammates easier and more affordable than ever. What motivates people to use a particular CMC technology during business planning is a major concern in this research. Methodology: This study seeks to address the issues by applying the concept of Information Product Quality (IPQ). Based on 21 factors derived from an extensive literature review on Information Product Quality (IPQ), an experimental study was conducted to identify the factors that are perceived as most relevant. Contribution: The findings in this study will help developers find a more customer-oriented approach to developing CMC technology design, specifically useful in collaborative work, such as business planning. Findings: This study extracted the three specific quality factors to use CMC technology in business planning: informational, physical, and service. Future Research: Future research will shed more light on the generality of these findings. Future studies should be extended to other population and contextual situations in the use of CMC.

Aim/Purpose. This paper, although conceived earlier than the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, addresses the problem of informing agility as part of organizational agility that has become a rather important issue for business survival. Background. While the general issues of business informing, and business intelligence (BI) in particular, have been widely researched, the dynamics of informing, their ability to act in accord with changes in business and preserve the key competencies has not been widely researched. In particular, the research on BI agility is rather scattered, and many issues need to be clarified. Methodology. A series of in-depth interviews with BI professionals to determine relations between organizational agility and BI agility, and to round up a set of key factors of BI agility. Contribution. The paper clarifies a candidate set of key factors of BI agility and gives ground for future research in relations with areas like corporate and BI resilience and culture. Findings. The interview results show the relations between organizational changes, and changes in BI activities. BI has limited potential in recognizing important external changes but can be rather helpful in making decision choices and detecting internal problems. Lack of communication between business and IT people, existence of data silos and shadow BI, and general inadequacy of organizational and BI culture are the key factors impairing BI agility. Recommendations for Practitioners. There are practical issues around BI agility that need solving, like the reason-able coverage of standards or creation of a dedicated unit to care about BI potential. Recommendations for Researchers. The research is still in its starting phase, but additional interesting directions start to emerge, like relations between BI agility, resilience and corporate agility, or the role of informing culture and BI culture for BI agility issues. Impact on Society. Agile business, especially in times of global shocks like COVID-19, loses less value and has more chances to survive. Future Research. Most likely this will be focused on the relations between BI agility, resilience, and corporate agility, and the role of informing culture and BI culture for BI agility issues.

Aim/Purpose: The article is designed to contradict the existing opinion that “transdisciplinarity is a marginal direction of contemporary science.” Background: The difficulties of implementing transdisciplinarity into science and education are connected with the fact that its generally accepted definition, identification characteristics, and methodological features are still missing. In order to eliminate these disadvantages of transdisciplinarity, its prime cause and initial idea had to be detected. Then an attempt was made to analyze correspondence of the existing opinions about transdisciplinarity with the content of its prime cause and initial ideas. Methodology: The bibliometric content analysis of the literature reviews on the subject of transdisciplinary was used in order to determine correspondence of the opinions about transdisciplinarity with the meaning of its prime cause and initial ideas, as well as to generalize these opinions. This method allowed detecting and classifying opinions into 11 groups including 39 stereotypes of transdisciplinarity. For substantiation of transdisciplinary approaches consistency with the approaches of the contemporary science C.F. Gauss random variables normal distribution was used. The “Gauss curve” helped to show the place of transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches in the structure of academic and systems approaches. The “Gauss curve” demonstrated the step-by-step broadening of the scientific worldview horizon due to sequential intensification of synthesis, integration, unification, and generalization of the disciplinary knowledge. Contribution: Based on rethinking the results from bibliometric content analysis of the literature reviews, the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity could be formulated, as well as the definition for the transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches could be given. It was shown that transdisciplinarity is a natural stage for development of contemporary science and education, and the transdisciplinary approaches were capable to suggest the methods and tools to solve the complex and poorly structured problems of science and society. Findings: Many existing stereotypes of transdisciplinarity do not meet its prime cause and initial ideas. Such stereotypes do not have deep philosophic and theoretical substantiation, as well as not suggesting the transdisciplinary methods and tools. Thus, the authors of such stereotypes often claim them to be transdisciplinary or suggest perceiving them as transdisciplinarity. This circumstance contributed to the fact that many disciplinary scientists, practitioners, and initiators of higher education view transdisciplinarity as a marginal direction of contemporary science. Based on the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity, as well as its prime cause and initial ideas, we managed to show that transdisciplinarity is presented in contemporary science in the form of two different approaches: the transdisciplinary approach and the systems transdisciplinary approaches. The objective of the transdisciplinary approach is ensuring science development at the stage of synthesis and integration of disciplinary knowledge. The objective of the systems transdisciplinary approach is ensuring solving of modern society problems using unification and generalization of disciplinary knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers: The researchers should consider that within the limits of the transdisciplinary approach the disciplinary specialists are managed. Within the limits of the systems transdisciplinary approach the disciplinary knowledge is managed. Thus, the transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and research with participation of the scientists of complementary disciplines. An example for such research can be a team of researchers of medical disciplines and complimentary disciplines from chemistry, physics, and engineering. The systems transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and performance of research with participation of scientists of non-complementary disciplines, for example, economics, physics, meteorology, chemistry, ecology, geology, and sociology. Future Research: In terms of the main initial idea, transdisciplinarity is formed as a global approach. The global approach should have a traditional institutional form: it should be a science discipline (meta-discipline) and have carriers with the transdisciplinary worldview. Training for such carriers can be organized by the universities within the limits of the systems transdisciplinarity departments and Centers of Systems Transdisciplinary Retraining for Disciplinary Specialists. Thus, it is reasonable to initiate discussion for the idea to reform the disciplinary structure of the universities considering creation of such departments and centers.

Table of Contents for Volume 24 of Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2021

Aim/Purpose: The integration of knowledge through the transdisciplinary method with the three concepts civilization, ideology, and geopolitics (CIG) enables the analysis of international relations in a new perspective and the informing strategists of countries, organizations, analysts, clients, etc. These three concepts express the transdisciplinarity that offers a new theoretical explanation and the informing science approach. Background: The integration of knowledge using the three concepts for the analysis of international relations has found adequate explanations from 1890 until the withdrawal of the United States from Afghanistan. Therefore, the CIG model theoretically and practically finds support for more than a century, as argued in the paper. Methodology: The present paper uses a mixed theory based on transdisciplinary methodology and informing science. The literature was reviewed to find and build the theoretical basis and provide appropriate examples. The theory is also based on the model used by Francis Fukuyama in his books on building and dissolution of states (middle-range theory). Contribution: This paper enables the rethinking of the limitations of research on a theoretical and practical basis that is done in many scientific circles, not to eliminate others but to enrich science even more. Findings: In the paper, the main findings are the following: Integrating the three CIG concepts according to the transdisciplinary method offers a new perspective to explain international relations using the IS method; The integration of the three concepts is worthwhile after 1980, when the model of cabinet governments falls, Bismarck falls, and public opinion starts to emerge; It was after 1980 that theories of civilization and geopolitics began to emerge along with ideologies to apply in practice; These three concepts offer explanations based on a CIG zone and in the periphery of the CIG zone. In the CIG zone the security sphere is more stable and long-term, while in periphery the cooperation is temporary and not long termed; The paper shows that the Cold War period is divided into two periods; The paper also finds that CIG explains with examples the events that happened after the Cold War and until present days; The paper also shows, based on the strategies of the superpowers, how they are extending their influence based on the CIG concepts. The paper also shows new patterns of cooperation and clashes between the superpowers’ security zones, which also provide an explanatory perspective for the USA withdrawal from Afghanistan. (We do not talk in the paper about the Afghanistan issue and USA withdrawal). Recommendation for Researchers: Scientific attributes in the integration of knowledge give researchers a more open and comprehensive perspective to make more accurate and practical analyses of international relations. According to this model, other theories are enriched that use the transdisciplinary method, IS, and the CIG as a model for the integration of knowledge. Future Research: Researchers and practitioners of this CIG model can find answers such as “Why did the USA fail in Afghanistan and why was it successful in Kosovo?” as well as other questions about finding a solution for Iraq, cooperation with China, etc.

Table of Contents for Volume 25 of Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2022

Aim/Purpose: The focus on human well-being has attracted the attention of consumers, organizations, and marketers to understand the various facets of Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL). This study examines the overall research trends in the FPONL domain and identifies the new research areas. Background: FOPNL is becoming increasingly popular and its influence has been widely examined. Different label schemes have been introduced across different regions in the world. Nevertheless, such interventions are limited in developing economies. Methodology: This study uses bibliometric analysis methods to explore Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling (FOPNL) trends using 602 articles published in selected business journals. Contribution: The paper identifies the new FOPNL research avenues. The study indicates that FOPNL has become a crucial research area, and more research is needed at the organization, managerial, and policy levels. Findings: The study identifies four themes. The first theme identified is the effect of harmful nutrients on health and the role of FOPNL nutrition in changing eating habits. The second theme focused on the government's policy and implementation of FOPNL nutrition labeling regulations. The third theme is dedicated to the work on attention, perception, understanding, and influence of multiple traffic light schemes. The fourth theme relates to the Health Star Rating, Nutri Score, and Healthier Choice FOPNL nutrition labeling schemes. Overall, the paper informs consumers, manufacturers, and regulators about the recent trends in the FOPNL research. Recommendation for Researchers: Though FOPNL has been widely examined in the health and nutrition domain, however, limited research has been done in the marketing domain. Research using neuroscientific methods (e.g. eye tracking) should provide more robust findings. Future Research: There is limited research on FOPNL from emerging economies. Future research can examine how FOPNL may influence people, policy, and private entities.

Aim/Purpose: This study builds upon existing research by investigating the elements contributing to or buffering the onset of burnout symptoms. We examine the relationship between empowering leadership and burnout, considering the concurrent mediation effects of interpersonal workplace conflict, work-home conflict, and support from coworkers. Background: Burnout is a phenomenon that has been widely considered in the scientific literature due to its negative effect on individual and organizational well-being, as well as implications for leadership, coworker support, and conflict resolution. A deeper understanding of burnout prevention strategies across various professional contexts is paramount for enhancing productivity and job satisfaction. Methodology: Using a survey-based cross-sectional design, we employed a combination of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to investigate the direct and indirect influences of empowering leadership on four dimensions of employee burnout, mediated by coworker support, interpersonal conflict at work, and work-home conflict. Contribution: This study provides initial insights into the direct and indirect influences of empowering leadership on various dimensions of burnout, highlighting the complex interplay with coworker support, work-home conflict, and workplace interpersonal conflicts. Ultimately, the study provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and mitigating burnout. Findings: Empowering leadership and coworker support can significantly reduce burnout symptoms, while high levels of work-home conflict and interpersonal conflict at work can exacerbate them. Our findings underscore the paramount role of interpersonal conflict in predicting burnout, urging organizations to prioritize resolving such issues for burnout prevention. Recommendation for Researchers: Following our findings, organizations should (a) promote empowering leadership styles, (b) foster coworker support and work-life balance, and (c) address interpersonal conflicts to reduce the likelihood of employee burnout while ensuring that these strategies are tailored to the specific context and culture of the workplace. Future Research: Future research should broaden the exploration of leadership styles’ effects on burnout, identify additional mediators and moderators, expand studies across sectors and cultures, examine differential impacts on burnout dimensions, leverage advanced analytical models, and investigate the nuanced relationship between work contract types and burnout.

Aim/Purpose: The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of pre-listening activities on Arabic-speaking EFL learners’ comprehension of spoken texts. Background: This study aims to contribute to the current research and to increase our understanding about the effectiveness of pre-listening activities. Specifically, this study seeks to clarify some of the research in this area that seems to be incongruent. Methodology: The study investigates two widely implemented activities in second language (L2) classrooms: vocabulary preteaching and content previewing. Ninety-three native-Arabic speaking EFL learners, whose proficiently levels were beginner, intermediate, or advanced, were randomly assigned to a control group or one of three experimental groups: the vocabulary-only (VO) group, content-only (CO) group, or vocabulary + content (VC) group. Each of the experimental groups received one of the treatments to determine which pre-listening activity was more effective and whether additional pre-listening activities yield additional comprehension. Listening comprehension of the aural text was measured by a test comprising 13 multiple-choice and true-false questions. Contribution: The present study provided additional explanations regarding the long-standing contradicting results about vocabulary preteaching and content previewing. Findings: The results showed that pre-listening activities had a positive impact on Arabic-speaking EFL learners’ listening comprehension, with the VO group significantly increasing their scores on the posttest compared to those of the control or other groups. Vocabulary preteaching was particularly beneficial for more advanced learners. With regard to which pre-listening activity contributed the most to better listening comprehension, vocabulary preteaching was the most effective. Content previewing did not increase comprehension for the CO group and had no additional benefit for the VC group. Recommendation for Researchers: This paper recommends that researchers explore new pre-listening activities that have never studied. Future research should be extended to include other nations and contextual situations to extend our knowledge about the effect of pre-listening activities. As far as listening comprehension can only be achieved when listeners are attentive and engaged, the listening text should be interesting and the lexical coverage of the listening text should be appropriate for all participants. Future Research: The results are to be interpreted carefully because they are limited by the students’ L2 proficiency, demographic, and cultural backgrounds (i.e., first language (L1) proficiency, age, gender, Middle Eastern culture). Results might be quite different if the study was conducted with different populations who have different life and language learning experiences (Vandergrift & Baker, 2015). Therefore, the results of this study indicate there is much room for improvement and a need for further research.

Table of Contents for Volume 26 of Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2023

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this paper is to examine Gen Z students located in a representative region of the United States when it comes to technology use, news and information gathering behaviors, civic engagement, and social concerns and whether differences exist based on institutional type. The purpose is to report this information so that academics can better understand the behaviors, priorities, and interests of current American students. Background: This paper investigates the mindset of Generation Z students living in the United States during a period of heightened civic unrest. Through the lens of the Theory of Generations, Uses and Gratifications Theory, and Intersectional Theory, this study aims to examine the Gen Z group and compare findings across populations. Methodology: An electronic survey was administered to students from 2019 through 2022. The survey included a combination of multiple responses, Likert scaled, dichotomous, open-ended, and ordinal questions. It was developed in the Survey Monkey system and reviewed by content and methodological experts to examine bias, vagueness, or potential semantic problems. The survey was pilot-tested in 2018 before implementation in order to explore the efficacy of the research methodology. It was then modified accordingly before widespread distribution to potential participants. The surveys were administered to students enrolled in classes taught by the authors, all of whom are educators. Participation was voluntary, optional, and anonymous. Contribution: This paper provides insight into the mindset of Generation Z students living in the United States, which is helpful to members of academia who should be informed about the current generation of students in higher education. Studying Generation Z helps us understand the future and can provide insight into the shifting needs and expectations of society. Findings: According to the findings, Gen Z are heavy users of digital technologies who use social media as their primary source for gathering news about current events as well as information for schoolwork. The majority of respondents considered themselves to be social activists. When institutional type was considered, there were notable differences with the students at the Historically Black College or University (HBCU), noting the greatest concern with a number of pressing issues, including racial justice/Black Lives Matter, women’s rights, gun violence, immigration reform, and human trafficking. Less significance across groups was found when LGBTQIA+ rights and climate change were considered. Recommendation for Researchers: As social media continues to proliferate in daily life and become a vital means of news and information gathering, additional studies such as the one presented here are needed. In other countries facing similarly turbulent times, measuring student interest, awareness, and engagement is highly informative. Future Research: Future research will explore the role that influencers have in opinion formation and the information-gathering habits of Gen Z.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of the present study is to investigate how pre-game superstition and anxiety can drive the consumption and purchase of sports products and objects by triathletes. Methodology: We tested our hypotheses via a cross-sectional study on a sample of N=124 triathletes. Contribution: The originality of our work stands in the provision of empirical evidence on the role of superstition and anxiety in characterized consumer decision-making of triathletes. Theoretically and practically, our results can extend our knowledge of the role of cognitive factors in consumer behaviors among athletes. Findings: The results of the Structural Equation Modelling provided evidence of our hypothesized relationship between pre-game anxiety and superstition, and cognitive biases. Pre-game anxiety increases the level of incidence of specific cognitive biases characterized by intuitive and implicit thinking, while superstition leads to more rational and personal cognitive biases, which affect their purchasing of sports products before games and competitions.

Table of Contents for Volume 27 of Informing Science: The International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2024

This article is part of the 2024 BCLT-BTLJ-CMTL Symposium.  Leo Yu The national security concerns surrounding TikTok appear straightforward: it is China. To many policymakers and scholars, the mere connection to China warrants severe measures, including either divestment to an American firm or a complete shutdown. What renders China’s involvement ...

The post TikTok and the Control over the Means of Production in the Fourth Industrial Revolution appeared first on Berkeley Technology Law Journal.

Zhigang WU,Yaohui ZHU, Vol.E107-D, No.11, pp.1385-1395
This article focuses on improving the BiSeNet v2 bilateral branch image segmentation network structure, enhancing its learning ability for spatial details and overall image segmentation accuracy. A modified network called “BiconvNet” is proposed. Firstly, to extract shallow spatial details more effectively, a parallel concatenated strip and dilated (PCSD) convolution module is proposed and used to extract local features and surrounding contextual features in the detail branch. Continuing on, the semantic branch is reconstructed using the lightweight capability of depth separable convolution and high performance of ConvNet, in order to enable more efficient learning of deep advanced semantic features. Finally, fine-tuning is performed on the bilateral guidance aggregation layer of BiSeNet v2, enabling better fusion of the feature maps output by the detail branch and semantic branch. The experimental part discusses the contribution of stripe convolution and different sizes of empty convolution to image segmentation accuracy, and compares them with common convolutions such as Conv2d convolution, CG convolution and CCA convolution. The experiment proves that the PCSD convolution module proposed in this paper has the highest segmentation accuracy in all categories of the Cityscapes dataset compared with common convolutions. BiConvNet achieved a 9.39% accuracy improvement over the BiSeNet v2 network, with only a slight increase of 1.18M in model parameters. A mIoU accuracy of 68.75% was achieved on the validation set. Furthermore, through comparative experiments with commonly used autonomous driving image segmentation algorithms in recent years, BiConvNet demonstrates strong competitive advantages in segmentation accuracy on the Cityscapes and BDD100K datasets.
Publication Date: 2024/11/01

Product innovation has become a crucial part of the sustainability of the coconut agro-industry in Indonesia, covering upstream and downstream sides. To overcome this challenge, it is necessary to create several model stages using a hybrid method that combines machine learning based on multiple criteria decision making and mass balance analysis. The research case study was conducted in Tembilahan district, Riau province, Indonesia, one of the primary coconut producers in Indonesia. The analysis results showed that potential products for domestic customers included coconut milk, coconut cooking oil, coconut chips, coconut jelly, coconut sugar, and virgin coconut oil. Furthermore, considering the experts, the most potential product to be developed was coconut sugar with a weight of 0.26. Prediction of coconut sugar demand reached 13,996,607 tons/year, requiring coconut sap as a raw material up to 97,976,249.

Underpinned by stakeholder and agency theories, this study adopts a qualitative multiple-case study approach to explore and analyse various stakeholder interests and how they affect digitalisation in the health sector of a developing country (DC). The study's findings revealed that four key stakeholder interests - political, regulatory, leadership, and operational - affect digitalisation in the health sector of DCs. Further, the study found that operational and leadership interests were emergent and were triggered by some digitalisation initiatives, which included, inter alia, the use of new eHealth software and the COVID-19 vaccination exercise, which established new structures and worked better through digitalisation. Conversely, political and regulatory interests were found to be relatively enduring since they existed throughout the pre- and post-digitalisation eras. The study also unearthed principal-agent conflicts arising from technological, organisational and regulatory factors that contribute to the paradoxical outcomes of digitalisation in the health sector.

The PALS system captures physical context from sensed data, reasons about the context and associated context-driven policies to make access-control decisions and detect intrusions into smart home systems based on both network and behavioral data

The post paper: Context Sensitive Access Control in Smart Home Environments appeared first on UMBC ebiquity.

How Does Contextual Targeting in Programmatic Work? This article delves into contextual programmatic advertising, which strategically positions ads on web pages by analyzing the content to ensure that these advertisements are pertinent and considerate of privacy. Discover what this method entails and how it operates. Key Takeaways Contextual programmatic advertising combines the automation [...]

Best Connected TV Advertising Companies Curious about connected TV advertising companies? This article covers the top companies, their key features, and tips for choosing the best fit for your ad campaigns. Key Takeaways Connected TV (CTV) advertising allows personalized, data-driven ad delivery via internet-connected devices, significantly improving audience targeting compared to traditional TV. [...]

In this inductive study, we shift the focus of stigma research inside organizational boundaries by examining its relationship with organizational identity. To do so, we draw on the case of Keystone, a social enterprise in the East of England that became stigmatized after it initiated a program of support for a group of migrants in its community. Keystone's stigmatization precipitated a crisis of organizational identity. We examine how the identity crisis unfolded, focusing on the forms of identity work that Keystone's leaders enacted in response. Interestingly, we show not only that the internal effects of stigmatization on identity can be managed, but also that they may facilitate unexpected positive outcomes for organizations.