Quality of the information

73 Manuel Eduardo Alb?n Gallo LA CALIDAD DE LA INFORMACI?N Y EL DEBATE POR LA ?VERDAD? EN MEDIOS P?BLICOS Y PRIVADOS EN ECUADOR The quality of the Information and Debate about the ?Truth? in the Publi[.]

crop growth, and natural fertility), and 2) land degradation (runoff and leaching potential, erosion resistance, subsoil compaction, workability, and pollutant absorption and mobility) (Figure 2). These empirical-based models were basically developed as sophisticated tools based on artificial intelligence techniques, using soil information and knowledge of the Mediterranean region. Input variables are physical/chemical soil parameters (e.g. useful depth, stoniness, texture, water retention, reaction, carbonate content, salinity, or cation exchange capacity) collected in standard soil surveys, monthly agro-climatic parameters for long-term period, and agricultural crop and management characteristics. Since the late 1980s, MicroLEIS DSS has evolved significantly towards a user-friendly agro-ecological decision support system for environmentally sustainable soil use and management. The design philosophy is a toolkit approach, integrating many software instruments: databases, statistics, expert systems, neural networks, Web and GIS applications, and other information technologies. Input data warehousing, land evaluation modelling, model application software and output result presentation are the main development modules of this system.

Thus, in spite of the theoretical concerns, no study has found evidence of a statistically significant association between loss to follow-up and the magnitude of treatment effect. There are a number of possible explanations for this apparent lack of association. The first possibility is that loss to follow-up does not bias trial results. However, this explanation is unlikely in the light of evidence that patients LTFU often have worse outcomes than those who are not LTFU [14,15]. The second possibility is that the association between loss to follow-up and treatment effect is confounded by the adequacy of reporting loss to follow- up. Schulz et al showed that trials reporting exclusions were generally of a higher methodological quality than those that did not. This suggests that exclusions may have been present but not reported in some trials of lower methodological quality [16]. A third possibility is that loss to follow-up does bias the treatment effect but the rates of loss to follow-up are low enough that the above mentioned studies lacked power to detect any association. A final possibility is that loss to follow-up leads to bias that varies in direction both between trials leading to an overall lack of association when considering a number of trials together.

We study a market in which the buyer has no information about product quality, while the seller has private probabilistic information about it. Buyers observe price and can procure an inspection, which provides valuable information about the good for sale. With costless in- spections, there is no separating equilibrium. We then show that when information acquisition is costly, there is a separating equilibrium that satises the intuitive criterion, in which high prices signal high quality and furthermore, the dynamic separating equilibrium showing higher separating prices than the static one. Finally we discuss the implications of time-on-the-market on separating equilibria. Specically, when there is only one asset on sale over both periods (therefore both price and time-on-the-market can signal quality) there is no separating equilib- rium even if single-crossing is satised. The key to this result is that the second-period buyer cannot observe why the asset did not sell in the rst period. Notably, the failure to sell can be attributed to overpricing or an unfavorable inspection outcome. Therefore the copycat behavior is more attractive to the poor-quality seller because he benets more from an increase in buyer beliefs than his high-quality counterpart. Allowing only the rst-period buyer to acquire infor- mation on quality, we show the existence of a separating equilibrium in which high prices and time-on-the-market signal high quality.

The term quality has many interpretations from a journalistic and media point of view. Quality is usually to as a set of factors that allow evaluating the content from the perspective of production, combined with studies of working routines, contents and audiences (Gómez Mompart, Gutiérrez Lozano & Palau Sampio, 2013; Pérez Curiel & Luque Ortiz, 2014). In this paper, however, we will build on the concept of news quality coined by authors such as Belt and Just (2008), Patterson (2000), or Reinemann, Stanyer, Scherr and Legnante (2011), to refer to a set of indicators used to evaluate the quality of a news programs considering only the broadcasted content. From this perspective, we propose to use a set of indicators to assess the quality of information, including aspects related to content (understood as news quality) and structural ones:

In a Peer to Peer information system (usually abbreviated into P2P), the traditional distinction, typical of distributed systems, between clients and servers is disappearing. Every node of the system plays the role of a client and a server. The node pays its participation in the global exchange community by providing access to its computing resources, without no obligation on the quality of its services, and data. A P2P system can be characterized by a number of properties: no central coordination, no central database, no peer has a global view of the system, global behavior emerges from local interactions, peers are autonomous, and peers and connections are unreliable. It is clear that P2P systems are extremely critical from the point of view of data quality, since no obligation exists for agents participating in the system, and it is costly and risky for a single agent to evaluate the reputation of other partners.

Recent findings on intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy in social psychology indicate that enjoyment plays important roles in determining a person’s behavior. Davis et al [11] put enjoyment followed the construct of perceived ease to use. As staff has to sacrifice their personal time to learn at home, the user will look for more pleasure on using the e-learning course based on the opportunity cost concept. Hence, it is proposed that enjoyment should be the precedent construct to perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of the model and should have more coverage than the construct of confirmation as suggested by Bhattacherjee [2] in this case. According to DeLone and Mclean [12] and Seddon [3] on IS Success Model, the construct of system quality, information quality and service quality would affect user satisfaction. In combining the recent theoretical developments, the following framework is proposed to understand how individuals will continue to use the business and management e-learning courses:

Not only queries are different, but also query results are obtained in different manners, due to the differences in the information models of each service. The result of a BDII query is a set of LDAP entries, of an RGMA query a set of table rows, and of an ActOn-based query a set of RDF triples. Figure 4 shows three different ways to show the same Grid resource in the three services evaluated (i.e., ce02.tier2.hep.manchester.ac.uk, an EGEE Computing Element). Even if they have different syntax and size, in our experiment we count them as one piece of information each. That is, we use each “Grid resource” obtained from a query as the basic unit for counting information, which will be used to calculate precision and recall, as described in Section 3.3.

Other likely benefits of the RTPI systems are as follows: increased willingness to pay; more efficient travelling through better use of waiting time; positive psychological effects such as reduced uncertainty, increased feeling of personal security, creation of a general sense of trust in the PT system, increased easiness of use; better overall image of the system; and greater passenger satisfaction. Several studies have dealt with these issues coming to similar conclusions that RTPI systems offer several benefits to PT users and that the majority of users are quite satisfied with them [Lappin, 2002; Tang & Thakuriah, 2012]. Researches in this field have examined the potential effect of the introduction of RTPI systems on the perceived quality of service and bus services performance. Politis et al. (2010) evaluated a bus passenger information system from the users’ point of view in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece. The analysis performed on the data collected from the survey of both regular and circumstantial PT users in the city showed that the existing RTPI system is generally evaluated positively. Satisfaction levels were quite high, over 80% for both – the content and the reliability of the information given [Politis et al., 2010]. Although extensive studies have been conducted on travel behaviour changes as a result of Information and Communications Technology (ICT), in general, studies of the nature in the case of real-time transit information systems are relatively few [Tang & Thakuriah, 2012].

These factors define an efficient transport interchange (i.e. an interchange competitive and, at the same time, attractive for users), considering them not only ‘as nodes’ within the transport network, but also ‘as places’ (see Figure 4). Factors that better define an interchange ‘as a transport node’ are aspects related to information provision - travel information and signposting - and transfer conditions - distances and coordination between operators. In contrast, design & image, indoor environmental quality, services & facilities and elements addressed to improve the comfort of waiting time are directly linked the quality of the interchange ‘as a place’. Finally, safety & security is of vital importance for users in both approaches. Finally, as concluded by Hernandez and Monzon (2015), improving aspects such as ‘Safety and Security’, ‘Emergency situations’ and ‘Comfort’ would lead to a reduction in the perceived waiting time. Moreover, improving aspects such as ‘Information provision’ - before trip and at the interchange - and 'transfer conditions' - particularly, distances and co-ordination between operators – would lead to a reduction in the perceived walking time.

The combination of information on benthic habitat, fish movement, fishing quality and angler behaviour provided the basis for estimating recreational fishing effort and harvest using an [r]

An SME can innovate in their manufacturing processes integrating its machines and decision processes with the help of TCP/IP networking and web based open source information technologies and compete with the big companies that easily can pay more manpower in low man power wages countries, that in fact due to the rhythm of change and level of quality that the actual market demand, constantly the companies have some difficulties because the worker suffer from lack interest because of never ending task that add a little value at the end of the day.

About this process, Brüggemann et al. (2013) indicate that research on the potential impact of the adoption of the IFRS in the EU is still in its early stages and requires closer scrutiny in order to assess its costs and benefits. Likewise, these authors stress that there are two types of consequences for the EU economy derived from this regulation: the expected and unexpected effects. With reference to the expected effects, other studies have focused on the impact that the IFRS have had (not only in Europe, but also in other parts of the world) on the quality of financial information, using “earnings management” (EM) as a proxy in this regard (Barth, Landsman & Lang, 2008; Callao & Jarne, 2010; Cang, Chu & Lin, 2014; Doukakis, 2014; Jeanjean & Stolowy, 2008; Pelucio-Grecco, Geron, Grecco & Lima, 2014; Soderstrom & Sun, 2007; Van Tendeloo & Vanstraelen, 2005; Zéghal, Chtourou & Sellami, 2011). The concept of EM, or earnings management, assumes that there is a certain amount of discretion on the part of management when it comes to preparing financial information, which enables them to alter the perception that external users of the financial reports, investors or creditors, have about a company’s results (Healy & Wahlen, 1999). A priori, for this research it is not clear whether the IFRS can boost or hamper EM, given that the effects generated against earnings management by high- quality financial reporting standards, such as the IFRS, can be undermined by the use of fair value and greater flexibility that are permitted by these standards (based on principles) (Aisbitt, 2006; Callao & Jarne, 2010; Cang et al., 2014; Doukakis, 2014; Soderstrom & Sun, 2007). In this regard, different empirical studies on the topic offer different conclusions, and therefore there is no unanimity as to whether the IFRS have a positive or negative impact on EM, and consequently on the quality and transparency of financial information. In this regard, as Brüggemann et al. (2013) explain, the contradictory results in this literature can be conditioned by factors that emanate from the research methodology design.

These results will provide important information for future studies involving the standard- ization and quality control of E. giganteum raw material and products.[r]

A model for the estimation of quality as perceived by the users (i.e., the user Quality of Experience, QoE) in Triple- Play (3P) and Quadruple-Play (4P) services has been presented. The model is based on a matrix framework defined in terms of user types, service components, and user perceptions on the user side, and agents, agent capabilities, and performance indicators on the network side. A Global Quality Evaluation process, based on several layers of evaluation functions, has been described, that allows to estimate the overall quality of a set of convergent services, as perceived by the users, from a set of performance and/or Quality of Service (QoS) parameters of the convergent IP transport network. The model has been refined for the particular case of residential (domestic) users with a specific information flow where the content server is external to the ISP and there is no content caching outside the content provider. The full sets of services, user perceptions, valuation factors, agents and agent capabilities have been provided, as well as the full matrix of matching points between agent capabilities and user perceptions. Performance indicators, as well as valuation and parameterization functions for some representative services (Digital Video Broadcast in IPTV, Voice Call in IP Telephony, and Web Browsing in Internet Access) have been provided. For Global Service Quality evaluation, weights for

The introduction of new standards, however, has implications for the banking sector (Adzis, Tripe, Dunmore, 2016), predominantly for the recognition of losses or gains related to the application of fair value to financial instruments in accordance with the Technical Pronouncement CPC 46 - Measurement of Fair Value. The positive implication of this approach, according to the CPC 46, is that it can make it possible to increase the quality of bank information to measure financial instruments so that they may reflect the economic reality of such assets. In contrast, the negative implication, due to professional judgment, is that the application of the pronouncement may enable the manager to be more open to opportunistic practices and to manage results. Along the same lines, the pro-cyclical behavior of provisioning of losses causes provisions to increase during economic recessions. Consequently, in bad times, an increase in losses could affect the bank's profit, weaken the bank's capital, reduce its lending activities to solvent borrowers, and

to questions such as “What does the test measure?” and “Does the test measure the intended concept or does it partly or mainly measure something else?” By means of a great diversity of research designs, evidence for construct validity can be gathered. In the fi rst item in this section, the reviewer has to mark which of the nine most common designs are used (a category ‘other’ is also included). These designs are: Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confi rmatory Factor Analysis, (corrected) item-test correlations, testing for invariance of structure and differential item functioning across groups, differences between groups, correlations with other instruments and performance criteria (this may be research on criterion validity that is also relevant for construct validity), multi-trait-multi-method correlations, IRT methodology, or (quasi-) experimental designs. For each type of research, a separate question is formulated that asks for the adequacy of the results. In addition, but similar to the original version of the model, the sample sizes and the quality of the instruments used as criteria or markers have to be rated. Added to the model is an item in which the age of the research has to be fi lled in. Because ageing of research in one area may go faster than in another (depending on theoretical developments in that particular area), no general rule is formulated for taking the age of the research into account. It is left to the expertise of the reviewer to incorporate this information, like the methodological adequacy of the research, in his overall judgment about construct validity.

A second line of research is based on the contribution that disclosure makes towards reducing transaction costs (Amihud and Mendelson, 1986). Investors pla‑ ce a lower valuation on securities subject to higher transaction costs and so the cost of equity for these securities is higher. Usually, higher transaction costs are asso‑ ciated with greater information asymmetry (Diamond and Verrecchia, 1991 and Verrecchia, 2001) and lower liquidity (Diamond and Verrecchia, 1991 and Kim and Verrecchia, 1994). This is the reason why studies in this line of research resort to proxies or indicators for these magnitudes like relative spread, trading turnover or standard deviation of yields. In this line, Greenstein and Sami (1994), who also focus their analysis on SEC’s promulgation of the obligation to publish segmented information, show that relative spreads reduce in companies that begin to publish this type of information. Welker (1995) and Healy et al. (1999) obtain similar re‑ sults after analysing the disclosure quality ratings published by the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR). Healy et al. find increases in sha‑ re prices, monitoring by analysts and public funding for companies that improve

Finally, if individuals are more willing to give some of their incomes to protect the environment, showing some sort of altruistic preferences, the effect is to significantly increase participation in voluntary organizations. This effect seems to support the argument of the positive relation between altruism and participation. This argument is not supported when we look at the other measure of altruism, which relates to how individuals regard certain negative social activities such as illegally claiming government benefits, accepting or giving bribes and avoiding paying taxes (see Table 9a below).. Although individuals view these activities as unacceptable and leading to higher rates of participation, the effect is not statistically significant. One could argue about which of these variables effectively measures altruistic preferences. To my knowledge, there is no evidence that supports the selection of either as a true measure of altruism. If I define altruism as the “quality of unselfish concern for the welfare of others” 13

"Rationale. The rationale of the model is based on three basic premises. First, all organisms are data, information, knowledge systems. They could not deal with the external world without them. Second, information is a state of consciousness (i.e., awareness). Thus, information is a cognitive/affective process and the products of that process (Miller, 1978). The focus is on the product and management of these processes (Drucker, 2001). Third, technology augments the human capacities and the products there from. (Englebart,1962).