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Fragmented connectivity in South Africa is the dominant barrier for digitising initiatives. New insights surfaced when a university-based nursing programme introduced tablets within a supportive network learning environment. A qualitative, explorative design investigated adult nurses' experiences of the realities when moving from paper-based learning towards using tablets within a blended learning environment. Purposive sampling was applied. 45 (N) participants were included, each receiving a preloaded tablet (15 running on iOS, 15 on Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and 15 on Windows® 8 operating systems), being WiFi-dependent, integrated into a supportive learning network. Participants completed eleven compulsory Internet-based activities. Three reflective focus groups with 18 (n) participants concluded the project. Through self-empowerment and supportive environment, students adopted seamlessly, overcame network and resource-related challenges. Valuable lessons were learned within the digital divide, integrate tablets into distance learning from a resilient and pragmatic approach.

This paper investigates the integration of blockchain technology into core systems within institutions of higher education, utilizing the National Institute of Standards and Technology's (NIST) Cybersecurity Framework as a guiding framework. It supplies definitions of key terminology including blockchain, consensus mechanisms, decentralized identity, and smart contracts, and examines the application of secure blockchain across various educational functions such as enrollment management, degree auditing, and award processing. Each facet of the NIST Framework is utilized to explore the integration of blockchain technology and address persistent security concerns. The paper contributes to the literature by defining blockchain technology applications and opportunities within the education sector.

While computational biology and bioinformatics became an inherent part of most life science degrees, it remains challenging to encourage students to employ these diverse skills in a practical research context. In this education paper, we present a method to enable students to acquire hands-on skills by the data-driven study of complex biomolecular datasets. The course starts with a series of introductory lectures, including a practical session on Cytoscape and associated computational network biology techniques. As we believe that enabling students to work on their own research questions will increase their motivation and interest, we introduced a recent hallmark virus-host protein-protein interaction article from which the database served as a starting point for the students to develop their research goal, which was presented and discussed in a first informal meeting. Over the next two months, about four interactive sessions were held, where students presented their problems, progress and challenges and exchanged ideas to help each other reach their goals. The role of the lecturers was to assist the students with independently collecting data and exploring new software tools for their research question. We present this concept and methods, and we share our experiences from an evaluation of the student learning outcomes.

Purpose: Inclusive growth in the education sector is still a major challenge in some countries because of limited access to technologies and internet connectivity, among other reasons. However, as a technology, augmented reality (AR) is expected to be widely used in the field of education in the future. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the use of AR for inclusive growth in education as well as identify the challenges, particularly in countries like India and Tanzania. Design/methodology/approach: This paper applies a systematic literature review by analysing and synthesising relevant documents, mainly journal articles, books and conference papers. Descriptive statistics and cross-tabulation were used for the analysis. Content analysis was used to evaluate the contents of the reviewed literature. Findings: For the use of AR, it is important to have adequate digital infrastructure, access to universal internet or broadband facilities and the digital empowerment of citizens. Major challenges to inclusive growth in education include the lack of trained teacher educators and students' preference for practical or project-based curriculum. Practical implications: Practitioners in both countries may consider the use of AR for inclusive growth in education. Originality/value: This paper specifically examines the use of AR in higher education and the related challenges based on a review of two countries, namely India and Tanzania.

Purpose: This paper evaluated the effectiveness of blended learning of business courses in higher learning institutions (HEIs) in developing economies. Design/methodology/approach: A survey, involving 215 learners, was used to collect data. A stratified sampling technique was used in this study. The data were analyzed using the PROCESS macro in SPSS. Findings: In the blended learning approach, student attitudes, social presence, IT infrastructure and flexible learning are all favorable predictors of learner satisfaction. The impact of blended learning on learner satisfaction is further mediated by IT infrastructure, social presence and learner attitude. Practical implications: HEIs need to invest in planning and resource mobilization in order to realize several benefits derived from the use of blended learning. For optimal learning outcomes, this should be combined with training on IT infrastructure usage for both facilitators and learners. In order to assist learners in developing competencies through consistent use, institutions should also invest in tailored blended learning technologies. In addition, emphasis should be placed on training all actors in order to better manage change. Originality/value: This paper presents and ranks several dimensions for blended learning success in low-budget universities. In addition, the study contributes to the understanding of intervening variables necessary for enhancing the potential of pedagogy in maximizing learner satisfaction.

Many studies have recently focused on the importance of the effective integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools in science education and the need for science teachers to receive adequate training and support to use them effectively. This paper aims to explore the Albanian science teachers' perceptions and use of ICTs in teaching processes. The study provides an interpretative analysis of the opinions of science teachers teaching in the middle and high schools of several Albanian regions expressed in an online survey. Overall, the results suggest that the use of ICT by science teachers in Albania is limited by a lack of proper infrastructure, limited access to technology, and training of teachers on integrating technology. However, there are indications that the adoption of ICT in science education may increase in the future, particularly after the boost from the COVID-19 pandemic emergency.

There is a growing realization on the part of lawmakers, policy experts and practitioners that cyber risks and threat vectors constitute a critical and strategic challenge for all outer space operations. Stakeholders' professional attention and resources are beginning to focus on measures for mitigating these risks and threats. Space-based activities depend on the reliable functionality of computer systems and the wireless communications connecting them through use of the electromagnetic spectrum resource – all of which constitute parts of the infrastructure of cyberspace both on Earth and in space. Thus, cyber risks and vulnerabilities arise in all aspects of outer space operations: satellite launches and their orbital telemetry, tracking, and control (TTC); operational communications (space-to-space, earth-to-space and space-to-earth); and other spectrum-dependent space transmissions. Additional cyber vulnerabilities are present in the terrestrial systems supporting space operations, including launch systems and supply chains for dedicated equipment and services. The mitigation of such cyber threats and vulnerabilities in the more traditional terrestrial context is a rapidly developing area of law and policy aiming to counter the activities of malicious cyber actors whether they are criminals, States or hostile ideological groups. On the one hand, the threat mitigation aspects of cybersecurity have by no means been resolved, as hostile actors use increasingly sophisticated means to achieve their ends. On the other, progress has been made with respect to measures and best practices recognized as critical to boosting cybersecurity for space activities. This article focuses on one of these: information sharing (IS) among trusted participants in a secure platform designed for sharing actionable cybersecurity data. The primary goal of such sharing is to reduce the informational asymmetry between the attacker and the target, whether the latter is a State, private company, or other entity. Cyber attackers leverage their knowledge of the target's vulnerabilities, and only need to be right on one occasion to cause operational, financial, and/or reputational damage that may impair the long-term functionality of the targeted entity. Yet when a group of potential targets can reliably share data on cyber risks and measures to counter them, the informational asymmetry is reduced, and cybersecurity improved. Several conditions exist for optimizing IS which provides actionable information, and for ensuring that trust is developed and maintained among IS participants. Finally, in the context of outer space-related cybersecurity threats, the paper argues that IS proves critical because of two elements: the aggravated asymmetry of cyber threat vectors in outer space, and their distinctive space-related characteristics. • There is a growing realization that cyber risks and threat vectors constitute a critical and strategic challenge for all outer space operations. • Stakeholders' professional attention and resources are focusing on measures for mitigating these risks and threats. • Space-based activities depend on the reliability of computer systems and their wireless connection, – which constitute the infrastructure of cyberspaceon Earth and in space. • Cyber risks and vulnerabilities arise in all aspects of outer space operations, andadditional. • Cyber vulnerabilities are present in the terrestrial systems supporting them. • Several conditions exist for optimizing IS which is actionable, and for ensuring that trust is maintained among IS participants. • Several conditions exist for optimizing IS which is actionable, and for ensuring that trust is maintained among IS participants. • Information sharing for outer space cybersecurity is critical because of the aggravated asymmetry of cyber threat vectors in space and their distinctive space-related characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Computers and other digital communication media have replaced paper and pencil from the writer's desk. This development has confronted special collections with a problem, as digital papers are difficult to process using established digital preservation strategies, because of their individual and unique nature. According to the proposal suggested in this paper, the creators should instead be involved in the preservation process, and special collections should integrate pre-custodial forms of curation within their range of tasks. The article outlines the use of a cloud architecture as a suitable instrument for accomplishing this task. The benefits and the prospects for such a collection cloud are exposed and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the changes resulting from the Texas A&M Journalism Department's switch to Macintosh-equipped writing labs, serving beginning and advanced writing classes, and classes in graphics and design. Discusses factors involved in choosing a microcomputer system for use in a journalism department. (SR)

This paper introduces a Patron Counting and Analysis (PCA) system that leverages Wi-Fi-connection data to monitor space utilization and analyze visitor patterns in academic libraries. The PCA system offers real-time crowding information to the public and a comprehensive visitor analysis dashboard for library administrators. The system's development was driven by the need for occupancy restrictions during the pandemic, ensuring a spacious environment for library visitors as well as balancing between efficient utilization and adhering to social distancing regulations. Traditional methods of patron behavior performance and library spatial analysis, such as manual head counting or card-swiping systems, often incur additional costs for labor, hardware installation, or software subscription. The PCA system, however, utilizes existing Wi-Fi-connection data, providing a cost-effective solution to represent patron demographics and spatial usage. Limitations may arise when patrons do not carry Wi-Fi-enabled devices or during periods of low Wi-Fi service functionality. Implemented in Node.js and integrated with Python Flask framework and related libraries, the PCA system was piloted at the King Library in Miami University, successfully demonstrating a high validity compared to manually collected data. It filters out noise and redundancy, visualizes the occupancy index meter in real time, and generates statistical reports by linking user IDs with demographic information. The PCA system's reliability was validated through manually head counting data collected at the King Library in Miami University, establishing it as a reliable tool for library space management and patron analysis.

Abstract: In this paper, we address some computational challenges arising in complex simulation-based design optimization problems. High computational cost, black-box formulation and stochasticity are some of the challenges related to optimization of design problems involving the simulation of complex mathematical models. Solving becomes even more challenging in case of multiple conflicting objectives that must be optimized simultaneously. In such cases, application of multiobjective optimization methods is necessary in order to gain an understanding of which design offers the best possible trade-off. We apply a three-stage solution process to meet the challenges mentioned above. As our case study, we consider the integrated design and control problem in paper mill design where the aim is to decrease the investment cost and enhance the quality of paper on the design level and, at the same time, guarantee the smooth performance of the production system on the operational level. In the first stage of the three-stage solution process, a set of solutions involving different trade-offs is generated with a method suited for computationally expensive multiobjective optimization problems using parallel computing. Then, based on the generated solutions an approximation method is applied to create a computationally inexpensive surrogate problem for the design problem and the surrogate problem is solved in the second stage with an interactive multiobjective optimization method. This stage involves a decision maker and her/his preferences to find the most preferred solution to the surrogate problem. In the third stage, the solution best corresponding that of stage two is found for the original problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Hardware security is one of the most researched areas in the field of security. It focuses on discovering and understanding attacks and countermeasures for electronic hardware that provides the "root-of-trust" for modern computing systems upon which the software stack is built. The increasing reliance on electronic devices in our everyday life has also escalated the risks of experiencing security threats on these technologies. Students today are exposed to these devices and thus require a hands-on learning experience to be aware of the threats, solutions, and future research challenges in hardware security. Currently, there are limited opportunities for students to learn and understand hardware security. A significant factor limiting exposure to these topics is the lack of an accessible, low-cost, flexible, and ready-made platform for training students on the innards of a computing system and the spectrum of security issues/solutions at the hardware-level. In this paper, we introduce the motivation and efforts behind a course named "Hands-on Hardware Security." The Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Florida has been offering this course for the past three years in providing experiential learning of hardware security through a set of well-designed experiments performed on a custom hardware module. We also present, in detail, the idea of a custom-designed, easy-to-understand, flexible hardware module with fundamental building blocks that can emulate a computer system and create a network of connected devices. We refer to the module as "HaHa SEP" (Hardware Hacking Security Education Platform), and it encourages students to learn and exercise "ethical hacking," a critical concept in the hardware security field. It is the first and only known lab course offered online, where students can perform ethical hacking of a computing system using a dedicated hardware module. This paper also provides a brief introduction to the experiments performed using this module, highlighting their significance in the field of Hardware Security. Finally, it concludes with a compilation of course evaluation survey results discussing the success of this course in engaging students' interest in the subject matter and determining the accomplishment of maintaining a balance between their expectation and the effort required towards the course.

In the era of the Internet-of-everything, learning the principles of data communications and networking is inevitable for many electrical engineering disciplines. The paper addresses the effectiveness of teaching the fundamentals of data communications and networking using a dedicated lab course as a co-requisite to a classic lecture-based course. In the introduced lab course, the students are asked to do a variety of tasks using real hardware and a network simulator. The paper introduces quantitative measures of an outcome-based learning approach applied to both courses. Based on students' achievements, the role of the lab course in the attainment of both the course learning outcomes and the electrical engineering program learning outcomes is measured in comparison with the case where the lab course is not taken. Our findings reveal a general enhancement trend in attaining the course and program learning outcomes with a significant increase in the program outcome related to solving engineering problems. Also, a slight increase is noticed in meeting the lab course outcomes for the students who attended the lab with the course in the same semester, which indicates an improvement in gaining practical knowledge.

Multimedia network technology refers to multimedia network teaching based on text data communication, which can make better use of sports resources in college physical education teaching. Multimedia technology combines computer and video technology. It refers to the combination of two or more sounds and images to form a system that can transmit information. When the initial key changes slightly, the hash bit change rate of the scheme is greater than the threshold value of 0.451, which shows that the hash algorithm in this paper has good key sensitivity. The more sensitive the perceived hash is to the change of the key, the more difficult it is for the attacker to estimate the key, and the better the security of the hash key. Therefore, the above experiments can prove that the hash algorithm in this paper is safe. The appearance of sports network distance education in this paper provides a broader stage for schools and makes greater contributions to the improvement of the overall physical quality of citizens in the whole society.

Over four semesters of a large introductory statistics course the authors found students were engaging in contract cheating on Chegg.com during multiple choice examinations. In this paper we describe our methodology for identifying, addressing and eventually eliminating cheating. We successfully identified 23 out of 25 students using a combination of unique academic and digital fingerprints, and identified students who used virtual private networks (VPNs) to protect their online identity. There were two forms of cheating - posting questions and waiting for responses from tutors, and looking for questions that had already been solved. We found that 165 questions from these examinations were posted by 10 different students, but that the most common form of cheating was searching for answers that had already been posted. This paper discusses these patterns of Chegg usage, the consequences of not catching cheating early on, and how students reacted to being caught. Also provided are R and Python code that readers may use to identify cheating students in their own courses.

The COVID-19 pandemic sparked an unprecedented expansion of educational technologies and digitisation of the university sector, and also amplified existing inequalities and crises. In this paper, we introduce the 'socio-technically just pedagogies framework' to systemically explore curriculum-making, student-staff partnerships, knowledge production, and networked capabilities in higher education. This conceptual innovation seeks to (re)articulate pedagogy across four aspects: (i) a commitment to curriculum-making as a form of everyday activism; (ii) a nurturing of student-staff coalitions to expand student-staff partnerships; (iii) development of generative spaces for transdisciplinary co-creation; and (iv) the deliberation of networked capabilities. This framework emerged from a partnership with students at an Australian university that sought to experiment with pedagogical practices and possibilities. Our coalition then responded to the framework to illicit collective insights about the curriculum-making phenomenon. The framework seeks to articulate curriculum-making initiatives that collectively enact socio-technically just pedagogies.

Qualitative research has been strongly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, highlighting the possibilities that Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technologies such as Skype, WhatsApp, and Zoom offer to qualitative scholars. Based on the experience of using such technologies to collect qualitative data for our PhD studies, we present how we dealt with the challenges of this interview mode. Precisely, we discuss problems related to rapport, technology, digital exclusion, and ethics frequently pointed out in the methodological literature on online interviews. Thereby we put forward strategies and techniques that helped us to 1) build a rapport, 2) manage technical difficulties, 3) reflect on risks of digital exclusion, and 4) comply with the ethical standards of our institution. In doing so, we draw on our qualitative data to support the arguments. The aim of this paper is, thus, to deepen the methodological debate on online interviews in social sciences.

Technology is advancing and metaverse is gaining popularity. The magic of metaverse is beyond our imagination. In simple terms, the metaverse refers to a virtual shared space that exists online, where people can interact, socialise, work, and play using digital avatars, just like they do in the real world. It is a combination of virtual reality, augmented reality, and the internet, all rolled into one immersive environment. Virtual reality (VR) immerses users in entirely computer-generated environments through headsets, while augmented reality (AR) overlays digital information onto the real world, enhancing the user's perception. This paper introduces new strategies to bring healthcare into the metaverse by providing solutions to the hurdles that have kept us from exploring this idea. These include reducing data transfer delays in the metaverse, making VR headsets more affordable, accurately predicting diseases by studying symptoms, and creating a platform for medical professionals to practice procedures on avatars before performing them on real patients. Metaverse has immense scope of revolutionising the healthcare and we are yet to unfold its complete usefulness.

The importance of updating, expanding and improving what is taught in cybersecurity curricula is increasing as the security threat landscape becomes more dangerous, breaches become more frequent, and the number of deployed Internet of Things (IoT) devices, known for their security challenges, grows exponentially. This paper argues that a profile of "T-shaped" skills, which is known to be desirable in many consulting and design professions, is being reflected in the latest manifestations of cybersecurity curriculum design and accreditation. A model of learning that yields "T-shaped" professionals combines the ability to apply knowledge across domains (breadth) with the ability to apply functional and disciplinary skills (depth). We present the design of a junior- or senior-level cybersecurity course in which the horizontal stroke of the "T" (representing breadth) spans knowledge areas that cut across the people, process and technology triad. The vertical stroke of the "T" (representing depth) is provided by two aspects of the course design: first, learning the foundational principles of cybersecurity, including practical examples from cryptography and network security; and second, applying the principles of cybersecurity to a semester project, allowing students to expand the core "T" of the course to satisfy their own passions and interests. Our paper concludes with student and instructor reflections on the implementation of this cybersecurity course, as well as broader implications of the lessons learned after the initial offering of this course.

With the rapid development of information technology, scientific social networks (SSNs) have become the fastest and most convenient way for researchers to communicate with each other. Many published papers are shared via SSNs every day, resulting in the problem of information overload. How to appropriately recommend personalized and highly valuable papers for researchers is becoming more urgent. However, when recommending papers in SSNs, only a small amount of positive instances are available, leaving a vast amount of unlabelled data, in which negative instances and potential unseen positive instances are mixed together, which naturally belongs to One-Class Collaborative Filtering (OCCF) problem. Therefore, considering the extreme data imbalance and data sparsity of this OCCF problem, a hybrid approach of Social and Content aware One-class Recommendation of Papers in SSNs, termed SCORP, is proposed in this study. Unlike previous approaches recommended to address the OCCF problem, social information, which has been proved playing a significant role in performing recommendations in many domains, is applied in both the profiling of content-based filtering and the collaborative filtering to achieve superior recommendations. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed SCORP approach, a real-life dataset from CiteULike was employed. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach is superior to all of the compared approaches, thus providing a more effective method for recommending papers in SSNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real-life room-escape games are ludic activities in which participants enter a room in order to get out of it only after solving some riddles. In this paper, we explain a Room Escape teaching experience developed in the Engineering School at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. The goal of this activity is to increase student's motivation and to improve their learning on two courses of the second year in the "Computer Engineering degree: Computer Networks and Information and Security". [Paper presented at the International Conference on University Teaching and Innovation (CIDUI): Learning and Teaching Innovation Impacts (9th, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain, Jul 5-7 2016.)]

Presents brief descriptions of 46 software programs designed to (1) help writers collaborate over a network; (2) help writers invent; (3) allow comment after critical reading; (4) help writers write research papers; (5) help writers analyze style/mechanics/usage; (6) offer on-line reference guides; (7) author multimedia courseware; and (8) assess writers. (RS)

The research focus on the three problems after reading some papers in communication study circle. First of all, I think of the function of mess media in the national image construction. Second, populism becomes one of the features in public events, the government needs to have an effective Platform to talk with citizen. Third, citizen journalism becomes the "watchdog" of democracy, but some people doubt the identity of citizen journalist. I will talk about these three problems in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of the Internet has brought revolutionary changes to modern information technology. The development of electronic communication information storage technology facilitates people to access information anytime and anywhere, effectively achieving resource sharing. However, traditional methods scatter communication information to all nodes, but neglect the extraction of electronic communication information association features, resulting in low information storage efficiency. This article analyzes the efficiency management of electronic communication information storage in multi-threaded networks and sets up a control experiment. Comparing the method proposed in this article with traditional methods, this study focuses on five aspects: information redundancy storage, information space utilization, productivity, data accuracy, and data transmission efficiency. It is concluded that the average information redundancy storage capacity of traditional electronic information storage methods is 8.35 x 107 T which is 6 x 107 T higher than using multi wire network electronic communication information storage methods. It indicates that traditional redundant information occupies a large amount of storage space, and its storage value exceeds the upper limit of electronic communication information storage. This means that the stored information may be overwritten by redundant information, resulting in the loss of stored information. The experimental results show that using the method proposed in this paper for electronic communication information storage results in a high distribution density of storage space and a significant improvement in information storage efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Teknoloji is the property of Engineering Science & Technology, an International Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Employers want applicants with experience, even for entry-level cybersecurity roles. Universities traditionally help students gain cybersecurity experience by hiring them for on-campus jobs or by matching job seekers to employers for off-campus work. A third option is described in this paper in which universities bring external companies on campus. Recently, our institution partnered with Novacoast to open a security operations center on campus that employed university students as analysts. Novacoast develops NovaSOC--a security information and event management platform that captures and analyzes information gathered from server and client devices. Interns in our campus security operations center used NovaSOC to monitor security events for Novacoast customers who chose to outsource monitoring to Novacoast. While the security operations center has been a success, establishing it required that the institution address technical issues such as network connectivity and organizational changes like requiring background checks for student employees. Students reported that they would choose to work in the security operations center again but were generally underworked. Administrators reported that the security operations center was aligned with the university's mission but felt that few people at the university truly understood the work conducted in the security operations center. Institutions looking to bring external entities on campus for similar partnerships should engage risk management early, ensure that student staffing matches the expected workload, and develop plans for financial sustainability. This paper delves into the details of bringing a security operations center onto our campus and gives actionable advice for institutions seeking to establish similar partnerships.

Copyright of Teknoloji is the property of Engineering Science & Technology, an International Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

As a replacement for the lecture-driven teaching of the past, we are aiming to establish an individually initiated, efficient independent study environment using a computer network. This paper focuses in particular on the collection of Web information needed by researchers, based on efficient paper retrieval and collection Web sites using XML. XML can handle data on the Web more flexibly than the present HTML, and research into its practical applications is progressing rapidly. In the artificial intelligence field, ontology engineering for authoring tools to be used in creating teaching materials is under way. In this context, because XML has been defined by the W3C, it is an accessible standard, and application examples have appeared. However, few of them focus on retrieval. We describe a “paper retrieval system” for efficient retrieval, constructed only in HTML on the basis of XML, RDF, and XHTML. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Comp Jpn, 34(1): 21–28, 2003; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/scj.10014 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connectivism, a learning theory that reveals a new learning in the Internet environment, has become a popular academic topic at the forefront of online learning. The MOOC Research Team at the Distance Education Research Centre at Beijing Normal University designed and developed the first massive open online course in China, adapting a connectivist (cMOOC) approach. Using the data collected from six offerings of the cMOOC over 3 years, the big data paradigm was used for data analysis including complex network analysis, content analysis, text mining, behaviour sequence analysis, epistemic network analysis, and statistical and econometric models. This paper summarizes the findings of the patterns of connectivist learning, including a) the basic characteristics and evolutional patterns of complex networks, b) the characteristics and modes of knowledge production, c) the patterns of instructional interactions, and d) the relationships between "pipe" (connection) and content and between facilitators and learners. It is expected that the outcome of this study could make contributions to understanding the changes of online learning in depth and further promote the theoretical development and practical application of a connectivist approach.

The freshman student's perspective on the activities performed in a data center by the network analyst is complex and intricate. These activities include the configuration of equipment and the connection between network devices. There are several issues with these activities that demand technical knowledge. Questions such as: "what does this equipment do?"; "How is it connected to another?"; "How is it configured?" can be complicated for beginner students. Moreover, these technical questions are also associated with scalability, availability, security, portability, accounting, and costs. These resources require technical knowledge and also how to aggregate them into a network solution. We applied an abstraction set to mitigate these issues for first-year students and created the Network Analyst Board Game. This board game introduces students to the computer network field geared toward Data Center activities. The objective of this paper is to report this game. The students obtained essential theoretical and practical knowledge regarding computer networks after playing. A quasi-experiment was conducted with a set of students from the computing courses. After these experiments, more interactivity was noted among the students, resulting from the game mechanics applied. Therefore, in addition to increasing their interest in the area, the students elaborated more complex questions. The professors found that, after playing, the students presented more pertinent doubts during classes.

Abstract: We propose an intelligent sensor system based on a new sensing methodology, relying also on 3D map reconstruction techniques, for computing with high precision, in real-time and without human intervention the parameters needed for stream-flow computa- tion: water levels, morphology of the streams of all potentially flooded areas by each controlled stream. The collected data will be continuously transmitted, through a communication infrastructure, to software agents designed to compute the stream-flow and to quantify the spatial distribution of flood risk for each controlled watershed. The computed risks, together with other data coming from other sources (barometric sensors, camera operators of public organizations, emergency agencies, private citizens), will be analyzed by a diagnostic decision system implementing a risk-alert scheduling strategy. This system will be able to diagnose the health state of the controlled environment and to define specialized alarm levels for each potentially interested area that will be used to alert all citizens (ubiquity) locally present (alerting locality). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present the Lab Wiki, an executable paper platform primarily designed but not limited to networking experiment-based research. The LabWiki leverages the current state of the art tools for the orchestration of experiments in the networking community and propose a new approach to execute and reproduce experiments. We demonstrate the usability of the LabWiki through an example at the boundary between network and high performance computing researches. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Analog audio needs a separate physical circuit for each channel. Each microphone in a studio or on a stage, for example, must have its own circuit back to the mixer. Routing of the signals is inflexible. Digital audio is frequently wired in a similar way to analog. Although several channels can share a single physical circuit (e.g., up to 64 with AES 10), thus reducing the number of cores needed in a cable. Routing of signals is still inflexible and any change to the equipment in a location is liable to require new cabling. Networks allow much more flexibility. Any piece of equipment plugged into the network is able to communicate with any other. However, installers of audio networks need to be aware of a number of issues that affect audio signals but are not important for data networks and are not addressed by current IT networking technologies such as IP. This white paper examines these issues and provides guidance to installers and users that can help them build successful networked systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research paper recommenders emerged over the last decade to ease finding publications relating to researchers’ area of interest. The challenge was not just to provide researchers with very rich publications at any time, any place and in any form but to also offer the right publication to the right researcher in the right way. Several approaches exist in handling paper recommender systems. However, these approaches assumed the availability of the whole contents of the recommending papers to be freely accessible, which is not always true due to factors such as copyright restrictions. This paper presents a collaborative approach for research paper recommender system. By leveraging the advantages of collaborative filtering approach, we utilize the publicly available contextual metadata to infer the hidden associations that exist between research papers in order to personalize recommendations. The novelty of our proposed approach is that it provides personalized recommendations regardless of the research field and regardless of the user’s expertise. Using a publicly available dataset, our proposed approach has recorded a significant improvement over other baseline methods in measuring both the overall performance and the ability to return relevant and useful publications at the top of the recommendation list. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software defined network (SDN) made with basic concepts that are different from traditional networks in controlling the network, the separation between the control layer and forwarding layer on different devices allows the administrator to adjust the control plan for all devices centralized in one action, while in traditional network, the control and forwarding layers are located in the infrastructure making network administrator must manage devices one by one. Research using single board computers on network technology provides an opportunity to implement SDN architecture. Raspberry Pi has sufficient ability. QoS results meet the ITU-T G.1010 reference which indicates that Raspberry Pi can be used on designed networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academic conferences, the structure of the review process has always been considered a critical aspect of ensuring the quality of the conferences. Assigning reviews manually, by either the TPC chairs or Area Chairs, is time-consuming, and the process does not scale well to the number of submitted papers. Organizing a conference with multiple symposia (or tracks) helps its scalability, but predetermined boundaries between tracks may lead to inefficient use of reviewer expertise and suboptimal review assignment. Inspired by a rich literature on the problem of automated review assignment, we have designed and implemented a new review assignment system, called Erie, and successfully deployed it for IEEE INFOCOM 2015 and INFOCOM 2016. Implemented in Python, Erie is designed to use Latent Semantic Indexing to compute the suitability score between a submitted paper and a reviewer's representative papers, and to solve an optimization problem that maximizes the total suitability score across all submitted papers to the conference. Anecdotal evidence shows that Erie outperformed the accuracy of manual assignments by Area Chairs, and helped to improve the percentage of expert reviewers by a substantial margin. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]