Maximizing misinformation restriction within time and budget constraints

Online social networks have become popular media worldwide. However, they also allow rapid dissemination of misinformation causing negative impacts to users. With a source of misinformation, the longer the misinformation spreads, the greater the number of affected users will be. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the spread of misinformation in a specific time period. In this paper, we propose maximizing misinformation restriction (\(\mathsf {MMR}\)) problem with the purpose of finding a set of nodes whose removal from a social network maximizes the influence reduction from the source of misinformation within time and budget constraints. We demonstrate that the \(\mathsf {MMR}\) problem is NP-hard even in the case where the network is a rooted tree at a single misinformation node and show that the calculating objective function is #P-hard. We also prove that objective function is monotone and submodular. Based on that, we propose an \(1{-}1/\sqrt{e}\)-approximation algorithm. We further design efficient heuristic algorithms, named \(\mathsf {PR}\)-\(\mathsf {DAG}\) to show \(\mathsf {MMR}\) in very large-scale networks.     

More Inclusive States,Less Poverty Among Immigrants? An Examination of Poverty,Citizenship Stratification,and State Immigrant Policies

Over the last 20 years, policymaking related to immigrant populations has increasingly been conducted at the state-level. State immigrant polices may influence immigrant poverty by determining immigrants’ level of access to social, economic, political, and health resources and by shaping the social environment. Further, these immigrant policies may shape the stratification between citizens and noncitizens, potentially contributing to distinct patterns of disparities in poverty by both citizenship and race/ethnicity. To assess the relationship between immigrant policy and socioeconomic stratification of immigrants across citizenship status and race/ethnicity in the U.S., we combined data from the 2014 American Community Survey and a measure of level of inclusion of state immigrant policies. We estimated fixed-effects logistic regressions to test the associations between poverty and the interaction of level of inclusiveness, citizenship, and race/ethnicity, controlling for state- and individual-level characteristics. Results showed that there are significant disparities in poverty by citizenship status and race/ethnicity. Asian/Pacific Islander (API) noncitizens experienced lower levels of poverty in states with higher levels of inclusion. Both Latino and API citizens experienced lower levels of poverty in states with higher versus lower levels of inclusion. Among Latinos, the gap in poverty rates between noncitizens and citizens is larger in more inclusive than less inclusive ones, suggesting that the potential positive impact of more inclusive environments does not necessarily translate to the most vulnerable Latino group. The level of inclusion was not associated with differences among Whites and Blacks. Findings suggest that states with more inclusive immigrant policies may foster environments that advance the economic well-being of API noncitizens, as well as API and Latino citizens.     

Beyond organization-centred public relations: Collective action through a civic crowdfunding campaign

Public relations scholars have called for a shift from organization-centred approaches and practices to community, – or collective-based ones. With the Internet, the latter have become more frequent although under-researched or not well understood. This article addresses those gaps by researching a community-based campaign in New Zealand and by underpinning the research with collective action theory. Methodologically, it combines netnography, thematic analysis, and interviews with major players, to analyze a civic crowdfunding campaign. It provides an account of how two amateur activists not only initiated and managed this campaign, but also raised US$1.5 million (NZ$2.27) within three weeks to buy a private beach and gift it back to the New Zealand public. The article seeks to add to both PR scholarship and practice. It adds to the former by analysing the campaign and identifying success factors for civic crowdfunding campaigns more generally; and to the latter by accounting for a different kind of activist and community-based PR that goes beyond organization-centred approaches to offer gratifying community-centered work that improves the reputation of PR for contributing to the common good.     

Cultural intermediaries and the circuit of culture: The Digital Ambassadors project in Johannesburg,South Africa

The question raised by Cheney and Christensen (2001) as to “what a non-Western, non-managerial and non-rationalist form of public relations will look like” (p.182), together with the call made by Gregory (2014) for public relations practitioners (PRPs) to be active social change agents, motivated this paper. The aim of this research is to follow a culture-centred approach and apply the circuit of culture (Curtin & Gaither, 2005) to investigate the meanings that young people (aged 18 to 34), as cultural intermediaries, ascribe to their participation in a digital empowerment project implemented by the City of Johannesburg, South Africa. This research forms part of a larger, ongoing multi-disciplinary research project.The research highlights the complexity of projects of this nature, the wide variety of stakeholders involved, the significance of structure, the importance of training of cultural intermediaries, and the benefits such intermediaries gain from their involvement. A key finding is that self-development and financial benefit contribute significantly to the success of cultural intermediaries. This paper contributes to the field of public relations by providing an analysis of cultural intermediaries’ contribution to the circuit of culture as influenced not only by production and consumption but also by identity and regulation as seen in the way they represented the meaning created during their experience.     

Promoting responsible gambling via prevention messages: insights from the evaluation of actual European messages

Prevention messages are short sentences supposed to broadcast preventive intentions. Three types of messages are noticeable: messages correcting erroneous beliefs, messages informing about the risks and messages promoting responsible gambling. While the results in the literature about messages promoting results are alerting, they are frequently used in European prevention campaigns. The present study relied on language and semantics models to evaluate the communicative and preventive values of 14 messages: 7 were actual European prevention messages and 7 messages were created for the study. Overall, 339 participants answered an online questionnaire in which they evaluated the communicative value of one of the messages and then ranked all the messages according to their preventive level. Results showed that messages informing about the risks and messages correcting erroneous beliefs have a higher level of communicative value than messages promoting responsible gambling. Indeed, the latter are judged as more ambiguous and as less preventive than the two other types of messages. As models of conversational pragmatics suggest that ambiguous messages convey at least two interpretations, the article discusses the possibility that individuals comprehend these messages as incentives to control their impulses (prevention) and incentives to control the game (promotion).     

A DSM-5-Based Online Mental Health Referral Inventory: A Large-Scale Validation Study

In 2007, a comprehensive mental health referral inventory based on the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) was posted online as an alternative to the informal tests the public now uses to self-diagnose mental health problems. A validation study was published in 2011 (Epstein &; Muzzatti, 2011 Epstein, R., &; Muzzatti, L. (2011). Preliminary validation of an online DSM-based mental health referral inventory. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 29, 284–295. doi:10.1080/15228835.2011.638421[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]). In 2013, a revision of that inventory that was consistent with the DSM-5 was posted. The present study evaluates the new inventory with a diverse sample of 201,625 people from 184 countries (mainly the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom). The 63-item inventory screens for 21 common problems and typically takes about 5?min to complete. Test scores proved to be good predictors of a variety of self-reported criterion measures, including happiness, personal and professional success, history of hospitalization, history of therapy, current participation in therapy, and employment. Females were found to have slightly more mental health problems than males, and effects were also found for education and race/ethnicity. The revised test is more accessible than the original, reducing the reading level from grade 10.2 to 6.6. It is not designed to diagnose; rather, its primary purpose is to refer people to mental health professionals for further evaluation. It can also be used in clinical settings for quick screening purposes.     

面向应用型网络人才培养的实践教学改革初探

随着我国经济和社会信息化的飞速发展,社会特别是各类企业对网络建设和应用的需求日益普遍,对网络工程师、网络管理员等工作岗位的需求量不断增加,然而一大批IT学子却因不具备实用的网络技能被企业拒之门外,应用性网络人才的需求和培养之间形成了巨大落差。为了解决网络应用型人才供求关系之间的矛盾,本文在调研目前企业所需网络人才的知识能力与素质构成需求和分析当前高校网络实践教学现状的基础上,设计出具有较高可行性、针对培养应用型网络人才的实践教学模式。     

生态文明背景下旅游地学与规划工程专业生态美育教学模式探索与实践

生态文明背景下对新工科旅游地学与规划工程专业开展系统生态美育教学具有重要意义,但目前相关教学实践和研究相对缺乏。在理论学习和实践调研的基础上,文章结合该专业学科特色和培养目标,对该专业学生进行了生态美育探索性教学,并调研了教学效果和不足之处,在此基础上构建了旅游地学与规划工程专业“理论教学—室内互动教学—室外实践教学”的三阶段式生态美育教学模式,可为该专业及相关专业的生态美育教学提供借鉴。     

提高员工工作满意度机制的系统分析:和谐管理理论的启示与价值

在企业经营管理实践中,如何提高员工的工作满意度是企业激励员工、进行有效的人力资源管理、保证企业长远发展的关键问题。针对这一问题,本文在回顾和分析现有关于工作满意度理论和实践的基础上,利用和谐管理理论提供的复杂管理问题的解决之道,即主题导向下的双规则互动耦合思路对于解决该问题的有益启示和帮助,结合某设计院提高员工工作满意度的实践,从优化完善相关制度与机制、营造能充分发挥员工能动性的工作氛围,以及围绕提高工作满意度这一主题的整合三个方面形成有机系统,从而构建了基于和谐管理理论的提高工作满意度的管理体系,为这一问题的解决提供了新的思路。