A Noise Based Medical Elites Silence Model and Public Health Opinion Distortion in Social Networks

Under the impact of internet populism, internet violence, and other noises on the internet, medical elites, who have a professional background, did not intend to share their opinions on the internet. Thus, misinformation about health is increasingly prevalent. We roughly divided the users in social networks into ordinary users, medical elites, and super-influencers. In this paper, we propose a communication model of health information based on the improved Hegselmann-Krause (H-K) model. By conducting MATLAB-based simulation, the experimental results showed that network noise was an important factor that interfered with opinion propagation regarding health. The louder the noise is, the harder it is for health opinions within a group to reach a consensus. But even in a noisy environment, super-influencers could influence the overall cognition on public health in the social network fundamentally. When the super-influencers held positive opinions in public health, the medical elite keeping silent had a noise-tolerant effect on opinion communication in public health, and vice versa. Thus, three factors concerning noise control, the free information release of medical elites, and the positive position of super-influence are very important to form a virtuous information environment for public health.

Inferential Communication: Bridging the Gap Between Intentional and Ostensive Communication in Non-human Primates

Communication, when defined as an act intended to affect the psychological state of another individual, demands the use of inference. Either the signaler, the recipient, or both must make leaps of understanding which surpass the semantic information available and draw from pragmatic clues to fully imbue and interpret meaning. While research into human communication and the evolution of language has long been comfortable with mentalistic interpretations of communicative exchanges, including rich attributions of mental state, research into animal communication has balked at theoretical models which describe mentalized cognitive mechanisms. We submit a new theoretical perspective on animal communication: the model of inferential communication. For use when existing proximate models of animal communication are not sufficient to fully explain the complex, flexible, and intentional communication documented in certain species, specifically non-human primates, we present our model as a bridge between shallower, less cognitive descriptions of communicative behavior and the perhaps otherwise inaccessible mentalistic interpretations of communication found in theoretical considerations of human language. Inferential communication is a framework that builds on existing evidence of referentiality, intentionality, and social inference in primates. It allows that they might be capable of applying social inferences to a communicative setting, which could explain some of the cognitive processes that enable the complexity and flexibility of primate communication systems. While historical models of animal communication focus on the means-ends process of behavior and apparent cognitive outcomes, inferential communication invites consideration of the mentalistic processes that must underlie those outcomes. We propose a mentalized approach to questions, investigations, and interpretations of non-human primate communication. We include an overview of both ultimate and proximate models of animal communication, which contextualize the role and utility of our inferential communication model, and provide a detailed breakdown of the possible levels of cognitive complexity which could be investigated using this framework. Finally, we present some possible applications of inferential communication in the field of non-human primate communication and highlight the role it could play in advancing progress toward an increasingly precise understanding of the cognitive capabilities of our closest living relatives.

Bureaucrats Communication Model Based on Local Wisdom of Silih Simbeuh

This study aims to develop a communication model based on local wisdom originating from Sundanese culture, namely Silih Simbeuh, which is carried out by bureaucrats to socialize their policies to the public. The method used is qualitative, with a survey approach – descriptive. Data were collected through interviews, observation, and documentation studies. 29 research informants were determined purposively. Data analysis was carried out through the stages of reduction, display, analysis, and concluding. The objects of research are three governors who actively use social media, namely Anis Baswedan (DKI Jakarta), Ridwan Kamil (West Java), and Ganjar Pranowo (Central Java). The results show that the use of social media can be an effective and efficient communication tool in disseminating policies, through increasing public participation. This is shown in the form of following social media accounts, comments, reposts, and other interactions. The results of other studies show that the communication model using social media based on the Silih Simbeuh concept has proven to be effective in minimizing potential conflicts between policymakers and citizens and between citizens. The research location is narrow, the respondents are limited, and the methods used do not allow for generalizations. Further research is needed with more comprehensive coverage of respondents and methods Silih Simbeuh's local wisdom values can minimize conflicts in the communication process between policymakers and the community

Mapping mental models of science communication: How academics in Germany, Austria and Switzerland understand and practice science communication

The mental models that individual scholars have of science communication – how it works, what it is supposed to achieve and so on – shape the way these academics actually communicate to the public. But these mental models, and their prevalence among scholars, have rarely been analysed. Drawing on a large-scale, representative web survey of academics at universities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland ( n = 15,778) from 2020, we identify three mental models that are prevalent among scholars, and that correspond to conceptual models found in science communication theory: ‘Public Understanding of Science’, ‘Public Engagement with Science’ and ‘Strategic Science Communication’. The results suggest that the ‘Strategic Science Communication’ model is particularly prevalent among academics in precarious employment and female scholars. Extrinsically motivated academics, that is, those under pressure to win grants, also seem to use science communication more strategically. The ‘Public Engagement’ model is prevalent among older and female scholars, while ‘Public Understanding’ is particularly prevalent among scholars who find their work especially meaningful. Findings also reveal that academics’ mental models largely align with the way they practice science communication.

Importance of Medication Reconciliation as a Strategy for Health Literacy

Health literacy depends on communication skills of health professionals. Assertiveness, clarity, and positivity (ACP) are a communication model/technique very useful to improve the patient-health professional relationship, adherence to treatment, health literacy, and quality of life. This model can be used in medication reconciliation (MR) – the identification of the most precise list of medication that a patient has been taking and should take, which requires a multidisciplinary participation and a better communication between health professionals and between them and the patient. When the guidance from healthcare professionals is clear and effective, patients and caregivers are more compliant to the recommended drug regimen, resulting in better health outcomes.

An Information-Theoretic Measure of Cultural Success

I develop a simple but principled method for measuring the amount of culturally-transmitted information from a written target work that is actually retained in human minds and capable of influencing behavior. Using procedures inspired by Claude Shannon’s 1951 method for estimating the entropy of written English, I estimate the entropy of samples from the target work with a treatment group (those that have read a target work) and a control group (those who are of the same culture but who have not read the target work), using human minds as encoders-decoders in the communication model. KL divergence quantifies the information that the treatment group already knows relative to the control group. This method controls for shared cultural inheritance and does not require commitments to what information from the target work is important. The general technique can be profitably extended to a variety of domains, including evolutionary theory, methods of teaching, and the study of music.

Food and Health Literacy

Food literacy is a sub-field of health literacy with a concept under construction, but corresponds to the ability to read, understand, and judge the quality of information; to seek and exchange knowledge related to the topics of food and nutrition; to buy and prepare food; to critically reflect on factors which influence personal choices about food and understand the impact of these choices on society. In turn, the ACP model is a three-factor communication model (assertiveness, clarity, and positivity) that aims to optimize education based on health literacy. The aim of this chapter is to present a proposal for food guidance which combines the foundations of the ACP model and food literacy for the different life cycles. The guidelines for each cycle were adapted to the ACP model. In conclusion, the ACP model can be applied to food literacy actions in any life cycle. However, it is worth mentioning that the professional's communicational behavior needs to be aligned with the assertiveness competence so that such actions are in fact effective.

Enhancement of safety communication model

A fundamental measure of safety communication is the residual error probability, i. e., the probability of undetected errors. For the detection of data errors, typically a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is applied, and the resulting residual error probability is determined based on the Binary Symmetric Channel (BSC) model. The use of this model had been questioned since several error types cannot be sufficiently described. Especially the increasing introduction of security algorithms into underlying communication layers requires a more adequate channel model. This paper introduces an enhanced model that extends the list of considered data error types by combining the BSC model with a Uniformly Distributed Segments (UDS) model. Although models beyond BSC are applied, the hitherto method of the calculation of the residual error probability can be maintained.

Participation Sphere

In the context of Portuguese teacher unions, the adoption of information and communication technologies is nowadays a reality. This chapter presents a brief analysis of e-participation and e-democracy, proposes a conceptual communication model for digital mediation on teachers' trade unions, and addresses an initiative carried out by the most representative teacher's union of Portugal. This proposal is based on social media principles, designed to gather teachers and unions in a shared deliberative space. The Liberopinion platform enables effective participation in formal and informal decision-making processes via the Internet, with full integration into any Website. It is improved to support Participatory budgeting. The actors were chosen from the National Federation of Teachers due to its representativeness regarding associate teachers and provide an opportunity to assess the platform potential to support participation in a union context.