scholarly journals Effective Coastal Climate Services—An End-User Perspective for Resilient Infrastructure

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Simm ◽  
Ben Gouldby ◽  
Darren Lumbroso ◽  
Tom Matthewson

This paper focusses on identifying the responses to coastal climate change that are of interest for decision-making by end users and the delivery and the necessary communication process for this information. The focus is on representation of climate (response) information in a form that provides sufficient clarity in the midst of uncertainty for end-users who are seeking to develop or maintain resilient infrastructure. The paper recommends that the use of the term climate services in situations unrelated to supporting adaptation to and mitigation of climate change should be avoided. Better investment decisions could be made if Bayesian frameworks were used to assign probabilities to RCP scenarios. Associated predictions need to cover all types of climate change influences not just sea level rise and ideally provide concurrent time series to allow evaluation of dependencies. Guidance on climate information published by official bodies needs to adopt a consistent approach, with a clear narrative that describes the transition from science to guidance. The form in which climate services information is needed for the required end user decisions needs careful thought, including appropriate communication of the associated uncertainties using good practices and experiences from related sectors.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisa Delpiazzo

<p>Due to the pervasive nature of climate change impacts, and their relevance for human welfare, climate services delivering advanced knowledge of climate change and variation are crucial. They aid informed decision-making at relevant spatial and timescale and to improve prevention, preparation, adaptation, and minimize residual damages. It is also imperative to evaluate the climate services with a view to quantify the economic value added of these services. Particularly crucial is to assess how the decision-making process of the service end users would unfold with and without the service to identify its differential impact on properly selected indicators of performance.</p><p>The co-generation (also called co-creation) in products and services was made popular by the business literature in the early 2000s and represents a conceptual shift from an emphasis on output to an emphasis on a mutually satisfying relational process between developers and users in service creation. It mainly consists of four stages, namely co-design, co-development, co-delivery, and co-evaluation. The stage of co-evaluation refers to the development and application of agreed upon criteria for the measurement of results. The criteria will touch upon both substantial and procedural issues. From a user perspective, it will be important to evaluate relevance, impact/benefits, utility, credibility, and costs (financial and human resources) in using climate services. These elements are important to assess the effectiveness and uptake of the service and possibly refine it towards these goals. From a developer perspective, important aspects to evaluate will include, for instance, the scientific quality of the service or its skill.</p><p>This presentation introduces the lessons learnt in the context of the H2020 project CLARA (Climate forecast enabled knowledge services) on how to effectively implement the interactions among researchers, end users and service developers to unveil the economic value added of climate services.</p>


Author(s):  
Robert Costello

Evaluating e-learning is an important measure for quality control, which aims to improve the whole e-learning environment through taking into consideration users’ perceptions and needs, as well as participants, stakeholders, and institutions. However, literature does indicate that institutions are only using e-learning as a repository for uploading academic materials, instead of taking into consideration of features and the learner. This chapter examines a variety of evaluation techniques adopted from e-learning, personalised learning, and User Modelling to suggest improvements within the industry to challenge the end users’ perceptions of on-line education.


The Dark Web ◽  
2018 ◽  
pp. 175-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Kaczmarek ◽  
Dawid Grzegorz Węckowski

Acquiring the data from the deep Web is a complex process, which requires understanding of Website navigation issues, data extraction, and integration techniques. Currently existing solutions to automate it are not ready to cover the whole deep Web and require skills and knowledge to be applied in practice. However, several systems were created, which approach the problem by involving end users who are able to bring the data from the deep Web to the surface while creating solutions for their own information needs. The authors study these systems in the chapter from the end user perspective, investigating their interfaces, languages that they expose to end users, and the platforms that accompany the systems to involve end users and allow them to share the results of their work.


Author(s):  
Robert Costello

Evaluating e-learning is an important measure for quality control, which aims to improve the whole e-learning environment through taking into consideration users' perceptions and needs, as well as participants, stakeholders, and institutions. However, literature does indicate that institutions are only using e-learning as a repository for uploading academic materials, instead of taking into consideration of features and the learner. This chapter examines a variety of evaluation techniques adopted from e-learning, personalised learning, and User Modelling to suggest improvements within the industry to challenge the end users' perceptions of on-line education.


Author(s):  
Tomasz Kaczmarek ◽  
Dawid Grzegorz Węckowski

Acquiring the data from the deep Web is a complex process, which requires understanding of Website navigation issues, data extraction, and integration techniques. Currently existing solutions to automate it are not ready to cover the whole deep Web and require skills and knowledge to be applied in practice. However, several systems were created, which approach the problem by involving end users who are able to bring the data from the deep Web to the surface while creating solutions for their own information needs. The authors study these systems in the chapter from the end user perspective, investigating their interfaces, languages that they expose to end users, and the platforms that accompany the systems to involve end users and allow them to share the results of their work.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. e22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caryn Kseniya Rubanovich ◽  
David C Mohr ◽  
Stephen M Schueller

Background Researchers have largely turned to commercial app stores, randomized trials, and systematic reviews to make sense of the mHealth landscape. Few studies have approached understanding by collecting information from target end users. The end user perspective is critical as end user interest in and use of mHealth technologies will ultimately drive the efficacy of these tools. Objective The purpose of this study was to obtain information from end users of mHealth technologies to better understand the physical and mental health apps people use and for what purposes. Methods People with depressive or anxious symptoms (N=176) seeking entry into a trial of mental health and well-being apps for Android devices completed online questionnaires assessing depression and anxiety (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7), past and current mental health treatment-seeking behavior, overall mobile device use, and use of mobile health apps. Participants reported the physical health and mental health apps on their devices and their reasons for using them. Data were extracted from the participant self-reports and apps and app purposes were coded in order to categorize them. Results Participants were largely white, middle-aged females from the Midwest region of the United States recruited via a health care organization and Web-based advertising (135 female, 41 male, mean age 38.64 years, age range 19-75 years.) Over three-quarters (137/176, 77.8%) of participants indicated having a health app on their device. The top 3 kinds of apps were exercise, fitness, and pedometers or heart rate monitoring apps (93/176, 52.8%); diet, food, or calorie counting apps (65/177, 36.9%); and mental health/wellness apps (46/177, 26.1%). The mean number of mobile physical and mental health apps on a participant’s phone was 2.15 (SD 3.195). Of 176 participants, 107 (60.8%) specifically reported the top 5 health apps that they used and their purposes. Across the 107 participants, a total of 285 apps were reported, with 139 being unique apps. The majority of these apps were free (129/139, 92.8%). Almost two-thirds of participants (67/107, 62.6%) reported using health apps at least on a daily basis. Conclusions Among those seeking support for their well-being via physical and mental health apps, people are using a variety of health apps. These people use health apps on a daily basis, especially free apps. The most common reason for using a health app is to track some health-related data; for mental health apps specifically, training or habit building was the most popular reason. Understanding the end user perspective is important because it allows us to build on the foundation of previously established mHealth research and may help guide future work in mHealth. Trial Registration Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02176226; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02176226 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6rGc1MGyM)


Author(s):  
Wang Yu-Jie ◽  
Chen Yu ◽  
Chris Hewitt ◽  
Ding Wei-Hua ◽  
Song Lian-Chun ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
S Houwaart

Abstract End-user (e.g. patients or the public) testing of information material is becoming more common in the German public health care system. However, including the end-user (in this case patients) in an optimisation process and thus enabling a close collaboration while developing PIMs is still rare. This is surprising, given the fact that patients provide the exact perspective one is trying to address. Within the isPO project, a patient organization is included as a legal project partner to act as the patient representative and provide the patient's perspective. As such, the patient organization was included in the PHR approach as part of the PIM-optimisation team. During the optimisation process, the patients gave practical insights into the procedures of diagnosing and treating different types of cancer as well as into the patient's changing priorities and challenges at different time points. This was crucial information for the envisioned application of the individual PIMs and their hierarchical overview. Moreover, the developed PIM-checklist enabled the patients to give detailed feedback to the PIMs. With their experience of being in the exact situation in which the PIMs will be applied, their recommendations, especially on the wording and layout of the materials, have been a valuable contribution to the PIM optimisation process. In this part of the seminar, we will take a closer look at the following skill building aspects: What is gained from including patients as end-users in the development and optimization of PIM?How can we reach patients to contribute to a PIM optimization process? Which requirements and prerequisites do patients have to provide to successfully work on an optimisation team?How to compromise and weigh opinions when different ideas occur? Altogether, this part will construct a structured path of productive patient involvement and help to overcome uncertainties regarding a collaboration with patient organizations.


2010 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Maraun ◽  
F. Wetterhall ◽  
A. M. Ireson ◽  
R. E. Chandler ◽  
E. J. Kendon ◽  
...  

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