Cosine similarity-based algorithm for social networking recommendation

Social media have become a discussion platform for individuals and groups. Hence, users belonging to different groups can communicate together. Positive and negative messages as well as media are circulated between those users. Users can form special groups with people who they already know in real life or meet through social networking after being suggested by the system. In this article, we propose a framework for recommending communities to users based on their preferences; for example, a community for people who are interested in certain sports, art, hobbies, diseases, age, case, and so on. The framework is based on a feature extraction algorithm that utilizes user profiling and combines the cosine similarity measure with term frequency to recommend groups or communities. Once the data is received from the user, the system tracks their behavior, the relationships are identified, and then the system recommends one or more communities based on their preferences. Finally, experimental studies are conducted using a prototype developed to test the proposed framework, and results show the importance of our framework in recommending people to communities.

Resolving the Do/Do Not Debate: Communication Perspective to Enhance Sustainable Lifestyles

Clear and memorable environmental messaging has been scarce. Recycling contamination is an urgent environmental concern because the public is confused about which items can and cannot be recycled. Environmental campaigns utilizing message framing, a method used to emphasize either the benefits of performing or loss of avoiding an action, may help combat this problem. We conducted an online study (n = 1199) and randomly assigned participants to view positively or negatively framed (do vs. do not) messages. Results revealed that participants who viewed negative messages with do not descriptors increased recycling intention, mediated by increased recycling contamination knowledge and recycling efficacy (95% CI: 0.03, 0.08). The findings suggest that recycling instructions may be more effective when messages are framed negatively using inhibitive descriptors. Results of this study can inform development of environmental campaigns to improve sustainable lifestyles.

Quantifying Nature Positive

To become mainstream, Nature Positive development needs positive messaging, measures and metrics to guide, plan and assess urban outcomes. With accelerating climate crisis and negative messages getting the upper-hand, it is important to avoid paralysis by bad news. Whilst striving for a nature positive world, more effort should be on moving beyond zero to qualify and quantify benefits, gains and regenerative outcomes instead of around damage and loss sticking points. Life Cycle Benefit Assessment (LCBA) methods measure gains in accelerating regeneration and climate security that enables a good news focus. Its reach beyond negative quantifies and shows positive gain beyond zero loss outcomes. The aims are to clarify concepts, challenges and quantitative methods then review real-world 3rd party Certified nature positive case studies. Climate security, human wellness and resource viability gains inside safe operating space within planetary boundaries are quantified as positive benefits. contrary to conventional Life Impact Cycle Impact Assessment LCBA assigns damage losses as negatives debts and benefit gains as positive savings. It concludes that LCBA remains under development with more research needed to model economic outcomes.

Communicating to Tourists During and Post-Covid-19: What Do They Want (Need) to Hear?

Swiss tourism relies heavily on international clientele to book rooms and purchase goods and services. However, from March to June 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, travel and subsequent bookings slowed and, in some cases, stopped altogether. Based predominantly on Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT), this paper investigates Swiss hotels’ messages on their official Facebook pages and the SCCT strategies they employed during this crisis. The findings from 48 independent four- and five-star hotels show that the Victimage strategy was the most often employed when communicating about the COVID-19 pandemic in general. Further, most hotels published positive messages during this period (68%) and strongly emphasized their roles as victims at this time. Only 5% of the messages posted were negative messages. Hotels ‘blamed’ the government and the sanitary measures for their closing or reduced services. The findings presented here contribute to the literature by offering a pattern of crisis responses from Swiss hotels in the early period of the pandemic. These results are currently being updated with the messages communicated in the 12 months since the beginning of this study. The findings of this crisis communication during an early stage of the pandemic will be used to make concrete recommendations for the strategies that should be implemented in the future if the COVID-19 crisis continues or when faced with other crises.

An Expressivist Disability Critique of the Expansion of Prenatal Genomics

Prenatal genomics appears to be on an expansive trajectory toward universally-available, routine, whole-genome prenatal sequencing. But for people living with disabilities, this expansion of prenatal genomics may not be a welcome development. This chapter explores some of the objections arising from the community of people with disabilities, and articulates a defense of one particular form of objection: the claim that the expansion of prenatal genomics expresses negative messages about people with disabilities.

Cobertura de diarios en Twitter de las elecciones autonómicas de Madrid 2021. Procesamiento de lenguaje natural y algoritmos de aprendizaje automático

The aim of this work is to study the news coverage by the main Spanish generalist newspapers on Twitter during the campaign for the Community of Madrid elections in 2021 (n = 2,709). Natural language processing techniques and machine learning algorithms are applied to identify the predominant topic related to the elections and the mentions of candidates and political parties by each media, and to calibrate the emotional value of the messages published by El país, El mundo, Eldiario.es, and El confidencial. Among other findings, the results reveal how the media coverage focused mainly on campaign events and electoral debates. Despite the detection of minor differences between the newspapers, a general pattern emerges through this content, with a notable dominance of Isabel Díaz Ayuso but little influence of Rocío Monasterio as the lead candidates for their party. The sentiment analysis reveals the political alignment of each newspaper, using mainly negative messages with the aim of reducing the importance of a candidate or political party. While El país and Eldiario.es focused their criticism on Vox and the Partido Popular, El mundo and El confidencial criticized the actions of the national government, the PSOE’s proposal to join forces with Unidas Podemos, and Vox’s position, as well as emphasizing the disaster faced by Ciudadanos. It can be deduced that the media contributed to Ayuso’s success and to the consolidation of her image as an individual distinct from her own party. Resumen Se examina la cobertura informativa en las principales cabeceras generalistas españolas en Twitter durante la campaña de las elecciones a la Comunidad de Madrid en 2021 (n=2.709). Mediante técnicas de procesamiento de lenguaje natural y algoritmos de aprendizaje automático se identifica el tema preponderante vinculado a los comicios, se señala la incidencia de los candidatos y los partidos en cada medio y se calibra el valor emocional de los mensajes publicados por El país, El mundo, Eldiario.es y El confidencial. Entre otras pesquisas, los resultados evidencian cómo la cobertura mediática se centra, principalmente, en los actos de campaña y en los debates electorales. Pese a detectar pequeñas disimilitudes entre los diarios, se intuye un patrón generalizado: la notable incidencia de Isabel Díaz Ayuso y la escasa influencia de Rocío Monasterio como cabeza de lista en el contenido. A partir del análisis de sentimientos se constata la alineación partidista de las cabeceras, exponiendo, sobre todo, mensajes en tono negativo con la intención de mermar la relevancia de algún candidato o formación política. Mientras El país y Eldiario.es situaron en el centro de sus críticas a Vox y al Partido Popular, El mundo y El confidencial recriminaron la actuación del gobierno central, menospreciaron la proposición del PSOE a Unidas Podemos en aras de aunar votos, censuraron la postura de Vox e, incluso, insistieron en la debacle de Ciudadanos. Se deduce que los propios medios han contribuido al modelo de éxito de Ayuso y a la consolidación de su figura, propiciando ese individualismo y el distanciamiento de las siglas de su propio partido.

The Role of Faith-Based Organizations in Counter-Radicalization in Nigeria: The Case of Boko Haram

This article examines the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) in counter-radicalization in Nigeria, with emphasis on the Boko Haram terrorist group operating in northeast Nigeria and the greater Lake Chad region. A qualitative methodological approach is employed that makes use of primary and secondary documents, key informant and stakeholder interviews, and focus group discussions with critical religious actors and organizations. The findings of the article suggest that FBOs play a critical role in the disengagement and deradicalization process of countering the ideological and radical messages of Boko Haram. However, challenges such as the lack of effective stakeholder involvement in the various initiatives by the state in counterterrorism, fear of reprisal and attacks, lack of unison by various FBOs and clerics in countering these negative messages, and the inability of relevant stakeholders in addressing structural factors such as poverty, social and economic exclusion, and unemployment that give rise to radicalization amongst other challenges, have impeded the effectiveness of the FBO sector in its counter-radicalization efforts in Nigeria. To address these challenges, the article proposes a bottom-up approach to counterterrorism that provides room for the multi-sectoral involvement of major stakeholders, especially FBOs, to complement pre-existing initiatives and other measures to counter the negative weaponization of religion by radical and rogue clerics, and also to prevent Boko Haram from expanding its frontiers.

How Negative Is Negative Information

Daily, we face a plenty of negative information that can profoundly affect our perception and behavior. During devastating events such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, negative messages may hinder reasoning at individual level and social decisions in the society at large. These effects vary across genders in neurotypical populations (being more evident in women) and may be even more pronounced in individuals with neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression. Here, we examine how negative information impacts reasoning on a social perception task in females with breast cancer, a life-threatening disease. Two groups of patients and two groups of matched controls (NTOTAL = 80; median age, 50 years) accomplished a psychometrically standardized social cognition and reasoning task receiving either the standard instruction solely or additional negative information. Performance substantially dropped in patients and matched controls who received negative information compared to those who did not. Moreover, patients with negative information scored much lower not only compared with controls but also with patients without negative information. We suggest the effects of negative information are mediated by the distributed brain networks involved in affective processing and emotional memory. The findings offer novel insights on the impact of negative information on social perception and decision making during life-threatening events, fostering better understanding of its neurobiological underpinnings.

Effects of diet and fitness apps on eating disorder behaviours: qualitative study

Background Diet and fitness apps are often promoted in university and college settings and touted as a means to improve health with little attention given to unanticipated negative effects, especially among those at risk for or with eating disorders. Aims Few researchers have studied how these apps affect women with eating disorders in university and college settings. This research investigates the unintended negative consequences of engaging with these tools. Method Data collection sessions comprised three components conducted with 24 participants: survey (demographic and eating disorder symptoms), think-aloud exercise and semi-structured interview. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data. Results Participants reported that diet and fitness apps trigger and exacerbate symptoms by focusing heavily on quantification, promoting overuse and providing certain types of feedback. Eight themes of negative consequences emerged: fixation on numbers, rigid diet, obsession, app dependency, high sense of achievement, extreme negative emotions, motivation from ‘negative’ messages, and excess competition. Although these themes were common when users’ focus was to lose weight or eat less, they were also prevalent when users wanted to focus explicitly on eating disorder recovery. Conclusions Unintended negative consequences are linked to the quantified self movement, conception of appropriate usage, and visual cues and feedback. This paper critically examines diet and fitness app design and discusses implications for designers, educators and clinicians. Ultimately, this research emphasises the need for a fundamental shift in how diet and fitness apps promote health, with mental health at the forefront.