CorkCitiEngage Identifying key factors for effective citizens engagement in Smart City initiatives

1. Online Communities: a new opportunity - 3. Key factors for a successful online community - page 1 Information Management Resource Kit Module on Building Electronic Communities and Networks UNIT 1. ONLINE COMMUNITIES: A NEW OPPORTUNITY LESSON 3. KEY FACTORS FOR A SUCCESSFUL ONLINE COMMUNITY © FAO, 2006 NOTE Please note that this PDF version does not have the interactive features offered through the IMARK courseware such as exercises with feedback, pop-ups, animations etc. We recommend that you take the lesson using the interactive courseware environment, and use the PDF version for printing the lesson and to use as a reference after you have completed the course. 1. Online Communities: a new opportunity - 3. Key factors for a successful online community - page 2 At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: • identify the critical social, cultural, technical, environmental and organizational factors that influence the success of the online community building process. Objectives The Online Interaction Iceberg The Online Interaction Iceberg Introduction Think of an iceberg. Only a small part shows above the water. In online communities: •the tools and technology are the top of the iceberg; and •the social/cultural, and organizational/environmental factors are the bigger, unseen piece “below the visible water line!” In this lesson you will explore these factors, starting with social and cultural. It is easy to think about online community from the technical point of view. Of course Internet access and the appropriate software are critical. But there are many more factors that influence the success of an online community. Most of them are non-technical, but often less apparent. 1. Online Communities: a new opportunity - 3. Key factors for a successful online community - page 3 Social and cultural factors Community is a social interaction between people. That is why it is profoundly influenced by the social and cultural factors within the community. These factors focus on the interactions between individuals. Let’s take a look at some of these factors such as the following… • Identity • Membership • Culture • Language • Attention • Power and Control Social and cultural factors • Identity • Membership • Culture • Language • Attention • Power and Control In the online world, our identity is less visible. How we “show up” to others depends on how the community is designed. The most obvious way someone’s identity shows up is by their e-mail address or login name for a Web site. But these may not always be the person’s real name and people can hide their names. What does it mean in terms of communication and trust building? Sometimes people’s identities are based just on the words they share on an e-mail list. This can be good for focusing on content, but challenging for forming relationships. Some communities develop practices around telling more about themselves or creating online directories where pictures and biographies are posted. How much time you spend supporting identity and the development of relationships depends on the purpose of your community. Identity and relationships are important: • more in long-term communities; and • less for short-term events. 1. Online Communities: a new opportunity - 3. Key factors for a successful online community - page 4 Social and cultural factors Key Factors for Effective Citizens Engagement in Smart City: The Case of Cork City Submission Type: Completed Research Paper Long Pham Tai Tan Mai International Energy Research Centre Management Information Systems faculty Tyndall National Institute, Banking Academy of Vietnam, Dyde Parade, Cork City, Ireland 12 Chua Boc str, Hanoi, Vietnam long.pham@ierc.ie taimt@bav.edu.vn Beth Massey International Energy Research Centre Tyndall National Institute, Dyde Parade, Cork City, Ireland beth.massey@ierc.ie Abstract Citizens, residents and other stakeholders are not always fully empowered to engage in the development of their cities, particularly in smart city initiatives While greater engagement could be achieved with timely input from citizens, the development of more efficient and effective mechanisms for the collection and analysis of stakeholder feedback is required This paper reports results of the CorkCitiEngage project as an effort to provide relevant information for local authorities and stakeholders to map out areas of impact for investment, policy implications, and deployment programmes We also presented key factors that could stimulate and maintain the citizens’ engagement in smart city initiatives including volunteering practice; channels for participation; generation of concern-based engagement; improved hardware access and free Wi-Fi in libraries and public offices; up-skilling digital skills; and a localised city apps The project used these indicators to analyse potential correlations with respect to citizens’ engagement in smart city initiatives Keywords: Sustained Citizen Engagement, Crowdsourcing, Smart City, Learning City Introduction Smart city is an urban management idea that has gone from concept to mainstream within just a few years Cities around the world are ever increasingly piloting new technologies to improve the effectiveness and efficiencies of the physical infrastructures in the cities such as transport and traffic systems, waste management, water management, public lighting systems, and others Information and communication technologies (ICT), sensors, actuators, mobile phones, GPS and other technologies are providing data for new management platforms, informing authorities, businesses, and citizens with relevant information for informed daily decisions from travel planning to city parking, from new businesses to new services Cities also have other important structures of economic and social environments (Lynn, 1994) And at the heart of all these physical, economic, and social environments, citizens are the key stakeholders as endusers of the public services, interactive subjects of the physical systems, generators of data and information, contributors of ideas and policy-making processes There is currently untapped potential within citizens that has not been proactively pursued within the context of planning and developing smart city initiatives These gaps of involving the citizens in all the steps of smart city initiatives have been identified as key challenges in the successful scaling up of the smart city initiatives in the pioneering cities in America and Europe (Degbelo et al., 2016) Thereby, it is important to identify key factors for ensuring meaningful engagement and involvement in smart city projects of major sectors in society – public bodies, private business, academic institutions, and citizens – in consultation, feedback, decision-making, and implementing projects Based on reviews of current awareness of the inter-correlation between citizen engagement and smart cities issues and crowdsourcing methodologies, this research carried out a series of surveys which produced the largest sample collected in Ireland, 3599 respondents, at a city level These surveys were part of a project series conducted by Cork Smart Gateway and the International Energy Research Centre From these data, key factors for citizen engagement in the smart city were identified Cork Profile Cork is a half million population county, including the 123,000 residents of the Cork City, locating in the southern-most region of the Republic of Ireland Being the second largest county in Ireland, Cork has been a destination for investment by the world’s leading companies, generating jobs and demands for higher education and skills training provided mainly by the two world-class educational institutions: the University College Cork and Cork Institute of Technology While the economic growth is making Cork as a good place for investment, job opportunities, educational and training activities along with other urban amenities, these place enormous pressure on the infrastructure systems Cork County and Cork City recognise these infrastructure challenges and are working together in planning the sustainable development of the region the Cork Area Strategic Plan (CASP) While CASP is designed to provide a framework for the integration of land use, transportation, social, economic and environmental elements for the Cork ...This Provisional PDF corresponds to the article as it appeared upon acceptance. Fully formatted PDF and full text (HTML) versions will be made available soon. Risk factors for low birth weight in Botucatu city, SP state, Brazil: a study conducted in the Public Health System from 2004 to 2008 BMC Research Notes 2012, 5:60 doi:10.1186/1756-0500-5-60 Catia Regina Branco da Fonseca (catiafonseca@fmb.unesp.br) Maria Wany Louzada Strufaldi (mwany@uol.com.br) Lidia Raquel de Carvalho (lidiarc@ibb.unesp.br) Rosana Fiorini Puccini (rosanapuccini@gmail.com) ISSN 1756-0500 Article type Research article Submission date 31 August 2011 Acceptance date 23 January 2012 Publication date 23 January 2012 Article URL http://www.biomedcentral.com/1756-0500/5/60 This peer-reviewed article was published immediately upon acceptance. It can be downloaded, printed and distributed freely for any purposes (see copyright notice below). Articles in BMC Research Notes are listed in PubMed and archived at PubMed Central. For information about publishing your research in BMC Research Notes or any BioMed Central journal, go to http://www.biomedcentral.com/info/instructions/ BMC Research Notes © 2012 Fonseca et al. ; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Risk factors for low birth weight in Botucatu city, SP state, Brazil: a study conducted in the Public Health System from 2004 to 2008 ArticleCategory : Research Article ArticleHistory : Received: 31-Aug-2011; Revised: 28-Nov-2011; Accepted: 02-Dec- 2011 ArticleCopyright : © 2012 Fonseca et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cátia Regina Branco da Fonseca, Aff1 Corresponding Affiliation: Aff1 Email: catiafonseca@fmb.unesp.br Maria Wany Louzada Strufaldi, Aff2 Email: mwany@uol.com.br Lídia Raquel de Carvalho, Aff3 Email: lidiarc@ibb.unesp.br Rosana Fiorini Puccini, Aff2 Email: rosanapuccini@gmail.com Aff1 Department of Pediatrics, Julio de Mesquita Filho São Paulo State University, Botucatu Medical School, Botucatu, SP, Brasil Aff2 Department of Pediatrics, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil Aff3 Department of Biostatistics, Julio de Mesquita Filho São Paulo State University, Institute of Biosciences, Botucatu, SP, Brasil Abstract Background Low birth weight (LBW), defined as birth weight less than 2500 g, has a complex etiology and may be a result of premature interruption of pregnancy or intrauterine growth restriction. The objective of this study was to provide information on determinants of LBW and contribute to the understanding of the problem in Brazil. Methods A case–control study was conducted in Botucatu city, SP state, Brazil. The study population consisted of 2 groups with 860 newborns in each group as follows: low weight newborns (LWNB) and a control group (weight ≥ 2500 g). Abstract iii Abstract With an investigation into the reality of teaching and learning English speaking at SPHS, and an examination of the factors affecting motivation for 10 Graders’ engagement in English speaking classes (ESC), this research is aimed at (1) investigating types of motivation possessed by grade 10 students at SPHS, (2) finding out some factors affecting motivation for students’ engagement in ESC, (3) exploring teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards speaking skill and speaing activities in ESC, (4) surveying the activities and techniques applied by teachers and students’ preferences at this school and recommending some strategies for teachers and students to enhance grade 10 students of engagement in ESC. The research data collection instruments are questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. The result taken from the questionnaire, interview and observation reveals that the majority of students possess instrumental and extrinsic motivation, some of them integrately and intrinsically learn it, resultative motivation ranks the smallest number of participants. It also indicates that the factors affecting motivation and demotivation come from students, teachers and classroom learning environment. The activities and techniques teachers apply have the great influence on students’ engagement. Basing on the findings of the research, the study suggested some recommendations for both teachers and students to improve the teaching and learning speaking in the school. Table of Contents iv Table of Contents CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ix PART 1: INTRODUCTION ix 1. Rationale for the study 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Methods of the study 2 4. Scope of the study 3 5. Organization of the study 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1. An overview of speaking in L2 learning 4 1.1. Definition of speaking 4 1.2. Approaches to the teaching of speaking 4 The Grammar translation Method (GTM) 4 The Direct Method (DM) and Audiolingualism 5 Communicative Language Teaching 5 1.3. The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking 5 1.4. Motivation in speaking in classroom 6 1.4.1. Motivation 6 1.4.2. Motivation in the classroom setting 7 1.4.3. Factors affecting students unwilling to speak in classroom 8 1.4.4. Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking 8 1.4.5. Motivational macrostrategies 8 2. Concept of students’ engagement and factors affecting motivation for students’ engagement 9 2.1. Concept of students’ engagement 9 2.2. Factors affecting students’ engagement 10 2.2.1. Students’ learning styles 10 2.2.2. Students’ motivations 11 2.2.3. Teacher’s teaching techniques 11 Table of Contents v 2.2.4. Teachers’ personal qualities and characteristics 11 2.2.5. Effective classroom learning environment 13 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 15 1. Research setting 15 1.1. An overview of the research site 15 1.2. Description of the teachers of English and students 15 1.3. The materials of teaching and learning 16 2. Participants 17 2.1. Population 17 2.2. Sampling 17 3.3. Detailed description of participants 17 3.4. Data collection instruments 17 3.4.1. Questionnaires 18 3.4.2. Interviews 18 3.4.3. Classroom observations 19 3.5. Data Collection Procedures 19 CHAPTER THREE 20 DATA ANALYSIS, DISCUSSION OF MAJOR FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 20 1. Data analysis 20 1.1. Data analysis from Students’ Questionnaire 20 1.1.1. Students’ motivation in engaging in ESC 20 1.1.2. Factors affecting motivation for students’ engagement in ESC and students’ attitude towards activities and techniques applied by teachers 24 1.2. Data analysis from Teachers’ Questionnaire 27 2. Major findings and discussions 31 2.1. Research question 1 31 2.2. Research question 2 31 2.3. Research question 3 33 2.4. VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES *** NGUYỄN THỊ ÁNH DƯƠNG FACTORS AFFECTING MOTIVATION FOR 10 TH GRADERS’ ENGAGEMENT IN ENGLISH SPEAKING CLASSES: A SURVEY AT SAPA HIGH SCHOOL, LAO CAI (Các yếu tố ảnh hưởng đến động lực tham gia vào các hoạt động nói tiếng Anh trong giờ học nói của học sinh lớp 10 Trường T.H.P.T Sapa, Lào Cai) MA. MINOR THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60 14 10 Ha Noi, 2011 Abstract iii Abstract With an investigation into the reality of teaching and learning English speaking at SPHS, and an examination of the factors affecting motivation for 10 Graders’ engagement in English speaking classes (ESC), this research is aimed at (1) investigating types of motivation possessed by grade 10 students at SPHS, (2) finding out some factors affecting motivation for students’ engagement in ESC, (3) exploring teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards speaking skill and speaing activities in ESC, (4) surveying the activities and techniques applied by teachers and students’ preferences at this school and recommending some strategies for teachers and students to enhance grade 10 students of engagement in ESC. The research data collection instruments are questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. The result taken from the questionnaire, interview and observation reveals that the majority of students possess instrumental and extrinsic motivation, some of them integrately and intrinsically learn it, resultative motivation ranks the smallest number of participants. It also indicates that the factors affecting motivation and demotivation come from students, teachers and classroom learning environment. The activities and techniques teachers apply have the great influence on students’ engagement. Basing on the findings of the research, the study suggested some recommendations for both teachers and students to improve the teaching and learning speaking in the school. Table of Contents iv Table of Contents CANDIDATE’S STATEMENT i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES vii LIST OF FIGURES viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND CONVENTIONS ix PART 1: INTRODUCTION ix 1. Rationale for the study 1 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Methods of the study 2 4. Scope of the study 3 5. Organization of the study 3 PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 4 CHAPTER ONE: LITERATURE REVIEW 4 1. An overview of speaking in L2 learning 4 1.1. Definition of speaking 4 1.2. Approaches to the teaching of speaking 4 The Grammar translation Method (GTM) 4 The Direct Method (DM) and Audiolingualism 5 Communicative Language Teaching 5 1.3. The roles of the teacher in different stages of teaching speaking 5 1.4. Motivation in speaking in classroom 6 1.4.1. Motivation 6 1.4.2. Motivation in the classroom setting 7 1.4.3. Factors affecting students unwilling to speak in classroom 8 1.4.4. Some conditions for effective motivation in speaking 8 1.4.5. Motivational macrostrategies 8 2. Concept of students’ engagement and factors affecting motivation for students’ engagement 9 2.1. Concept of students’ engagement 9 2.2. Factors affecting students’ engagement 10 2.2.1. Students’ learning styles 10 2.2.2. Students’ motivations 11 2.2.3. Teacher’s teaching techniques 11 Table of Contents v 2.2.4. Teachers’ personal qualities and characteristics 11 2.2.5. Effective classroom learning environment 13 CHAPTER TWO: METHODOLOGY 15 1. Research setting 15 1.1. An overview of the research site 15 1.2. Description of the teachers of English and students 15 1.3. The materials of teaching and learning 16 2. Participants 17 2.1. Population 17 2.2. Sampling 17 3.3. Detailed description of participants 17 3.4. Data collection instruments 17 3.4.1. Questionnaires 18 3.4.2. Interviews 18 3.4.3. Classroom observations 19 3.5. Data Collection Procedures OCT-3/4 AND SOX-2 ARE KEY FACTORS FOR SDIA NEUROGENESIS OF MOUSE EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS STEPHEN WEIHUNG CHEN (BSc.), Brown University A THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF BIOCHEMISTRY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE Acknowledgements This work is supported by funding provided by The Bioprocessing Technology Institute (BTI) and the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR) Thanks to Prof Wang Nai-Dy, Prof Miranda Yap, Prof Tan Bor Leung, Prof James Chen, and Dr Paul Robson for their guidance, in addition to Peng Zhong Ni, Yoong Lifoong, John Gan Wuoqiang, Theodosia Tan, and Tan Yew Chung for their technical and personal support The author would also like to express gratitude for the wonderful discussions and advice from Dr Valerie Ng and Dr Jason Kreisberg, the latter providing invaluable feedback on submitted manuscripts and thesis revisions Thanks to MSc supervisor, Dr Andre Choo, for his suggestions and insight as well as Dr Steve Oh for his patience and providing motivation to persevere and succeed In particular, thank you to Prof Too Heng-Phon for providing countless days of humor and inspiration, and providing invaluable thoughts on science and life, and all things in between Table of Contents Abstract Introduction Results Culturing of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells (mESC) a Culturing Conditions b Expression of Oct-3/4, Alkaline Phosphatase and SSEA-1 Neurogenesis Using PA6 Stromal-Derived Inducing Activity (SDIA) a PA6 Co-Culture Method b Heparin Neural-Inducing Factor (Hep-NIF) SDIA Feeder-Free Method Knockdown of Oct-3/4 and Sox-2 Transcription Factors in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells a Establishment of Efficient Transfection Method b Oct-3/4, Sox-2 Knockdown and Differentiation Into Trophectoderm Generation of Inducible Tet-Repressor (Tet-R) Short Hairpin RNA (shRNA) mESC a Stable Transfection of Tet-R Protein into mESC i pLenti6/TR Lentiviral Propagation and Packaging ii pcDNA6/TR Plasmid b Generation of Tetracycline Inducible Short, Hairpin RNA (shRNA) mESC Lines i Construction and Design of shRNA Vectors ii Stable Transfection and Selection into mESC Differentiation of mESC Following Oct-3/4 and Sox-2 Knockdown a SDIA Differentiation Following Oct-3/4 and Sox-2 Knockdown i Establishment of Precise Transcript Quantification Using Cloned Standards ii Quantification of Oct-3/4, Sox-2, Canonical Transactivation Targets Following Knockdown b Screening for Alternative Cellular Fates i Transcript Quantification of Lineage-Specific Differentiation Markers ii Appearance of Glial-Like Cells during SDIA Differentiation Discussion and Future Work Materials and Methods References Appendix Media Formulations Appendix Related Articles by Author Abstract Utilizing a stromal-derived inducing activity (SDIA) model of neurogenesis, we investigated the effects of the targeted knockdown of Oct-3/4 and Sox-2 by short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC) Quantitative real-time PCR showed a 40-90% knockdown of specific transcripts with cognate Oct3/4 or Sox-2 siRNA transfection compared to FAM-labelled negative control (FAM) siRNAs or mock transfection, and was confirmed at the protein level by Western blot analysis Using PA6 SDIA co-cultures, neurogenesis was significantly diminished in Oct-3/4 or Sox-2 targeted mESC upon differentiation We observed that 45±12%, 65±13% and 90±8% (Mean +/- SD) of the colonies were stained with neuron-specific β-tubulin III in Oct-3/4, Sox-2, and FAM siRNA transfected mESC respectively Similar results were observed when differentiating mESC with neural-inducing factors (Hep-NIF) collected from the surface of PA6 cells using heparin In addition, differentiation of mESC using Hep-NIF but not Oct-3/4 and Sox-2 knockdown led to the pronounced appearance of discrete, dark granular glial acidic fibrilary protein (GFAP)-positive cells which also expressed the glial cell marker Vimentin Taken together, these results extend the role of Oct-3/4 in SDIA, ... Pham, L and Linehan, C 2016 “Crowdsourcing: Tackling Challenges in the Engagement of Citizens with Smart City Initiatives, ” in Proceedings of the SEACHI 2016 on Smart Cities for Better Living with... – in print Schuurman, D., Baccarne, B., De Marez, L and Merchant, P 2012 Smart ideas for smart cities: investigating crowdsourcing for generating and selecting ideas for ICT innovation in a city. .. element in the key four functions, (i.e defining, guiding, monitoring, and enforcing), of the integrity management In addition, facing the budgeting drop, the local governments are looking into