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Trump says Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency - The Globe and Mail

  1. Trump says Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy will lead the Department of Government Efficiency  The Globe and Mail
  2. Why is Elon Musk becoming Donald Trump's efficiency adviser?  BBC.com
  3. Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy will lead new 'Department of Government Efficiency' in Trump administration  CTV News
  4. George Conway: Musk, Ramaswamy to lead ‘nonexistent department’  The Hill




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Des découvertes archéologiques de l'époque romaine et du Moyen-Âge à Roulers

(Belga) Les archéologues ont fait plusieurs découvertes archéologiques datant de la période romaine et du Moyen Âge à Roulers, communique la province de Flandre occidentale ce lundi. Les excavations se sont déroulées dans le cadre de travaux liées à l'aménagement d'un bassin tampon. Celui-ci sera construit au bout de la Wagenweg dans le quartier De Ruiter à Roulers dans le courant du printemps.

C'est pourquoi une étude archéologique est en cours. Elle a mis au jour des vestiges de l'époque romaine et du Moyen Âge. Un certain nombre de traces de fondations, un fossé, un four à charbon de bois et un tombeau contenant des restes brûlés avec des jarres en céramique ont été retrouvés. Ils prouvent l'existence d'activités et d'habitations qui remontent à l'époque romaine. Plusieurs fossés et fosses peuvent aussi être associés au Moyen Âge, entre le Xe et le XIIe siècle. "Ensemble, ils nous donnent un meilleur aperçu de l'histoire des habitations et de l'implantation paysagère des activités qui ont eu lieu sur le hameau de De Ruiter dans le passé. Dans une perspective plus large, ils contribuent à une meilleure compréhension de l'évolution de la vallée du Mandel vers ce qu'elle est devenue aujourd'hui", affirment les archéologues. Mercredi prochain, les personnes intéressées auront l'occasion de voir les fouilles de plus près et de participer à une visite guidée. L'archéologue Willem Hantson, du service du patrimoine archéologique et architectural RADAR, emmènera les visiteurs pour une visite de 40 minutes. Toutes les informations sont disponibles sur www.midwest.be/opgraving-roeselare-collievijverbeek. La province de Flandre occidentale prévoit de commencer au printemps la construction de la zone d'inondation contrôlée (ZIC) et du bassin de rétention d'eau pour l'agriculture. (Belga)




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Cette espèce marine serait capable de... faire repousser des parties de son anatomie

Les pycnogonides, une espèce marine apparentée aux araignées, peuvent faire repousser des parties du corps après amputation, et pas seulement de simples membres, selon une étude publiée lundi, ouvrant la voie à de nouvelles découvertes sur la régénération.

"Personne ne s'attendait à cela", a déclaré Gerhard Scholtz de la prestigieuse université Humboldt à Berlin, et l'un des auteurs principaux de cette étude parue dans la revue Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "Nous avons été les premiers à démontrer que c'était possible", a-t-il ajouté. Il est connu qu'une multitude d'espèces d'arthropodes tels que les mille-pattes, les araignées ou d'autres insectes peuvent faire repousser une patte après l'avoir perdue.

"Les crabes peuvent même se débarrasser automatiquement de leurs membres s'ils sont attaqués", a déclaré Gerhard Scholtz, précisant: "ils les remplacent par un nouveau membre". Ce que les chercheurs ont découvert à travers leurs expériences avec ces minuscules créatures à huit pattes, est qu'elles sont capables de régénérer même d'autres parties du corps. Pour l'étude, ils ont amputé différents membres et parties postérieures du corps de 23 pycnogonides juvéniles et adultes, et ont observé les résultats.

Repousse d'un corps à partir de seulement quelques cellules

Aucune régénération de parties du corps n'a été constatée dans les spécimens adultes, mais certains étaient toujours en vie après deux ans. Les spécimens juvéniles, en revanche, ont connu une régénération complète ou quasi-complète des parties du corps manquantes, y compris l'intestin postérieur, l'anus, la musculature, et certaines parties d'organes génitaux.

A long terme, 90% des pycnogonides ont survécu, et 16 spécimens juvéniles ont effectué leur mue par la suite au moins une fois. La régénération postérieure a ainsi été constatée chez 14 des spécimens juvéniles tandis qu'aucun des spécimens adultes n'a mué ou ne s'est régénéré. Les capacités de régénération varient à travers le règne animal.

Les vers plats, par exemple, peuvent faire repousser leur corps à partir de seulement quelques cellules. Les vertébrés, dont les hommes, n'ont quasiment aucune capacité de régénération à l'exception de quelques espèces comme les lézards, qui peuvent faire repousser leurs queues.

Selon Gerhard Scholz, les résultats de l'étude ouvrent de nouvelles voies de recherche dans le domaine. "Une multitude d'espèces différentes peuvent être testées de cette manière", dit-il, ce qui pourrait permettre de comparer les mécanismes de régénération. "Au bout du compte, peut-être que les mécanismes que nous découvrons chez les arthropodes nous aiderons dans les traitements médicaux après la perte d'un membre, d'un doigt, etc... chez les humains", espère le chercheur.




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Sept morts dans une double fusillade en Californie, selon des médias américains

(Belga) Sept personnes ont été tuées lundi lors d'une double fusillade près de San Francisco, en Californie, ont indiqué les médias américains sur la base des déclarations de la police locale.

Le suspect a été arrêté, a annoncé sur Twitter le bureau du shérif du comté de San Mateo, qui comprend la ville de Half Moon Bay où ont eu lieu les drames. "Il n'y a plus de danger pour la population à cette heure", a-t-il assuré. Les deux fusillades sont intervenues dans des exploitations agricoles proches l'une de l'autre, ont précisé les médias. Cette nouvelle tuerie intervient moins de 48 heures après qu'un tireur a tué 11 personnes dans un club de danse près de Los Angeles. (Belga)




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0 800 : le numï¿œro vert sur le covid rapporte gros et informe peu (certains tï¿œlï¿œopï¿œrateurs sont des intï¿œrimaires formï¿œs en 30 minutes)

Inquiet par le coronavirus ? Vous pouvez appeler le numï¿œro vert 0 800 130 000. C'est Emmanuel Macron lui-mï¿œme qui en a fait la promotion dans un tweet en avril 2020, en plein confinement. Ce 0 800 fait partie de la longue liste...




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Crï¿œation de 3000 postes de "gendarmes verts" : la fausse promesse de Darmanin

A chaque jour, une nouvelle annonce. Cet ᅵtᅵ, le ministre de l'Intᅵrieur, Gᅵrald Darmanin, a multipliᅵ les dᅵplacements sur le terrain et les annonces. Pour lutter contre les pyromanes ᅵ...




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Research on Weibo marketing advertising push method based on social network data mining

The current advertising push methods have low accuracy and poor advertising conversion effects. Therefore, a Weibo marketing advertising push method based on social network data mining is studied. Firstly, establish a social network graph and use graph clustering algorithm to mine the association relationships of users in the network. Secondly, through sparsisation processing, the association between nodes in the social network graph is excavated. Then, evaluate the tightness between user preferences and other nodes in the social network, and use the TF-IDF algorithm to extract user interest features. Finally, an attention mechanism is introduced to improve the deep learning model, which matches user interests with advertising domain features and outputs push results. The experimental results show that the push accuracy of this method is higher than 95%, with a maximum advertising click through rate of 82.7% and a maximum advertising conversion rate of 60.7%.




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A method for selecting multiple logistics sites in cross-border e-commerce based on return uncertainty

To reduce the location cost of cross-border e-commerce logistics sites, this article proposes a multi-logistics site location method based on return uncertainty. Firstly, a site selection model is established with the objective function of minimising site construction costs, transportation costs, return costs, and operating costs, and the constraint conditions of return recovery costs and delayed pick-up time; Then, using the Monte Carlo method to simulate the number of returned items, and using an improved chicken swarm algorithm based on simulated annealing, the cross-border e-commerce multi-logistics site location model is solved to complete the location selection. Experimental results show that this method can effectively reduce the related costs of cross-border e-commerce multi-logistics site selection. After applying this method, the total cost of multi-logistics site selection is 19.4 million yuan, while the total cost of the five comparative methods exceeds 20 million yuan.




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Des morts, et des indignes

De nouveau, des personnes meurent aux urgences dans des conditions déplorables, après de longues heures d'attente sans soins, malgré les promesses gouvernementales. Où est l'indignité, sinon dans le fait de donner l'illusion de l'action publique et de n'être capable que d'agiter des hochets sociétaux ?




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Enabling smart city technologies: impact of smart city-ICTs on e-Govt. services and society welfare using UTAUT model

Smart cities research is growing all over the world seeking to understand the effect of smart cities from different angles, domains and countries. The aim of this study is to analyse how the smart city ICTs (e.g., big data analytics, AI, IoT, cloud computing, smart grids, wireless communication, intelligent transportation system, smart building, e-governance, smart health, smart education and cyber security) are related to government. services and society welfare from the perspective of China. This research confirmed a positive correlation of smart city ICTs to e-Govt. Services (e-GS). On the other hand, the research showed a positive influence of smart city ICTs on society's welfare. These findings about smart cities and ICTs inform us how the thought paradigm to smart technologies can cause the improvement of e-GS through economic development, job creation and social welfare. The study offers different applications of the theoretical perspectives and the management perspective which are significant to building a society during recent technologised era.




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Machine learning and deep learning techniques for detecting and mitigating cyber threats in IoT-enabled smart grids: a comprehensive review

The confluence of the internet of things (IoT) with smart grids has ushered in a paradigm shift in energy management, promising unparalleled efficiency, economic robustness and unwavering reliability. However, this integrative evolution has concurrently amplified the grid's susceptibility to cyber intrusions, casting shadows on its foundational security and structural integrity. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) emerge as beacons in this landscape, offering robust methodologies to navigate the intricate cybersecurity labyrinth of IoT-infused smart grids. While ML excels at sifting through voluminous data to identify and classify looming threats, DL delves deeper, crafting sophisticated models equipped to counteract avant-garde cyber offensives. Both of these techniques are united in their objective of leveraging intricate data patterns to provide real-time, actionable security intelligence. Yet, despite the revolutionary potential of ML and DL, the battle against the ceaselessly morphing cyber threat landscape is relentless. The pursuit of an impervious smart grid continues to be a collective odyssey. In this review, we embark on a scholarly exploration of ML and DL's indispensable contributions to enhancing cybersecurity in IoT-centric smart grids. We meticulously dissect predominant cyber threats, critically assess extant security paradigms, and spotlight research frontiers yearning for deeper inquiry and innovation.




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Secure digital academic certificate verification system using blockchain

At present, there is a need for an authentic and fast approach to certificate verification. Which verifies and authenticates the certificates to reduce the extent of duplicity and time. An academic certificate is significant for students, the government, universities, and employers. Academic credentials play a vital role in the career of students. A few people manipulate academic documents for their benefit. There are cases identified where people produced fake academic certificates for jobs or higher education admission. Various research works are developing a secure model to verify genuine academic credentials. This research article proposed a new security model which contains several security algorithms such as timestamps, hash function, digital signature, steganography, and blockchain. The proposed model issues secure digital academic certificates. It enhanced security measures and automated educational certificate verification using blockchain technology. The advantages of the proposed model are automated, cost-effective, secured, traceable, accurate, and time-saving.




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Undertaking a bibliometric analysis to investigate the framework and dynamics of slow fashion in the context of sustainability

The current study has outlined slow fashion (SF) research trends and created a future research agenda for this field. It is a thorough analysis of the literature on slow fashion. Numerous bibliometric features of slow fashion have been discussed in the paper. This study comprises 182 research articles from the Scopus database. The database was utilised for bibliometric analysis. To identify certain trends in the area of slow fashion, a bibliometric study is done. For bibliometric analysis, the study employed R-software (the Biblioshiny package). Here, VOSviewer software is used to determine the co-occurrence of authors, countries, sources, etc. The study has outlined the gap that still exists in the field of slow fashion. Here, the research outcome strengthens the domain of slow fashion for sustainable consumption. The study findings will be useful for policymakers, industry professionals, and researchers.




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Nexus between artificial intelligence and marketing: a systematic review and bibliometric analysis

Although artificial intelligence provides a new method to gather, process, analyse data, generate insights, and offer customised solutions, such methods could change how marketers deal with customers, and there is a lack of literature to portray the application of artificial intelligence in marketing. This study aims to recognise and portray the use of artificial intelligence from a marketing standpoint, as well as to provide a conceptual framework for the application of artificial intelligence in marketing. This study uses a systematic literature review analysis as a research method to achieve the aims. Data from 142 articles were extracted from the Scopus database using relevant search terms for artificial intelligence and marketing. The systematic review identified significant usage of artificial intelligence in conversational artificial intelligence, content creation, audience segmentation, predictive analytics, personalisation, paid ads, sales forecasting, dynamic pricing, and recommendation engines and the bibliometric analysis produced the trend in co-authorship, citation, bibliographic coupling, and co-citation analysis. Practitioners and academics may use this study to decide on the marketing area in which artificial intelligence can be invested and used.




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Does brand association, brand attachment, and brand identification mediate the relationship between consumers' willingness to pay premium prices and social media marketing efforts?

This study investigates the effects of social media marketing efforts (SMME) on smartphone brand identification, attachment, association, and willingness to pay premium prices. A survey of 320 smartphone users who followed official social media handles managed by smartphone companies was conducted for this purpose. PLS-SEM was used to analyse the collected data. The findings demonstrated importance of SMME dimensions. According to the study's findings, the smartphone brand's SMMEs had significant impact on brand identification, brand association, and brand attachment. The results revealed that SMMEs had significant impact on willingness to pay the premium price. The findings also show that brand identification, attachment, and association mediated the relationship between SMMEs and willingness to pay a premium price. The findings of this study will be useful in developing social media marketing strategies for smartphones. This study demonstrates the use of social media marketing to promote mobile phones, particularly in emerging markets.




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Factors affecting the intention to continue to visit the virtual world metaverse

A metaverse is a virtual shared space connected to the real world, an alternative reality that enables economic activities, exchanges, and transactions as well as formation of relationships between user avatars and non-player characters (NPCs). Initial experiences of the metaverse were not very satisfactory; new virtual world metaverses may or may not survive as information services or platforms. The purpose of this empirical study is to identify the characteristics of a virtual world metaverse and their effects on intention to continue usage of the platform. Considering the metaverse as a new type of user experience and a powerful mode of communication, we examine the mediating role of these characteristics according to Pine and Gilmore's (1998) experience economy theory, which enriches our understanding of the factors affecting the success of a metaverse. In addition, since social interaction is important in metaverses, we extend Pine and Gilmore's experience economy model by including Schmitt's (2011) relate experience for better understanding.




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An effective differential privacy protection method of location data based on perturbation loss constraint

Differential privacy is usually applied to location privacy protection scenarios, which confuses real data by adding interference noise to location points to achieve the purpose of protecting privacy. However, this method can result in a significant amount of redundant noisy data and impact the accuracy of the location. Considering the security and practicability of location data, an effective differential privacy protection method of location data based on perturbation loss constraint is proposed. After applying the Laplace mechanism under the condition of differential privacy to perturb the location data, the Savitzky-Golay filtering technology is used to correct the data with noise, and the data with large deviation and low availability is optimised. The introduction of Savitzky-Golay filtering mechanism in differential privacy can reduce the error caused by noise data while protecting user privacy. The experiments results indicate that the scheme improves the practicability of location data and is feasible.




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Smart approach to constraint programming: intelligent backtracking using artificial intelligence

Constrained programming is the concept used to select possible alternatives from an incredibly diverse range of candidates. This paper proposes an AI-assisted Backtracking Scheme (AI-BS) by integrating the generic backtracking algorithm with Artificial Intelligence (AI). The detailed study observes that the extreme dual ray associated with the infeasible linear program can be automatically extracted from minimum unfeasible sets. Constraints are used in artificial intelligence to list all possible values for a group of variables in a given universe. To put it another way, a solution is a way of assigning a value to each variable that these values satisfy all constraints. Furthermore, this helps the study reach a decreased search area for smart backtracking without paying high costs. The evaluation results exhibit that the IB-BC algorithm-based smart electricity schedule controller performs better electricity bill during the scheduled periods than comparison approaches such as binary backtracking and binary particle swarm optimiser.




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Educational countermeasures of different learners in virtual learning community based on artificial intelligence

In order to reduce the challenges encountered by learners and educators in engaging in educational activities, this paper classifies learners' roles in virtual learning communities, and explores the role of behaviour characteristics and their positions in collaborative knowledge construction networks in promoting the process of knowledge construction. This study begins with an analysis of the relationship structure among learners in the virtual learning community and then applies the FCM algorithm to arrange learners into various dimensional combinations and create distinct learning communities. The test results demonstrate that the FCM method performs consistently during the clustering process, with less performance oscillations, and good node aggregation, the ARI value of the model is up to 0.90. It is found that they play an important role in the social interaction of learners' virtual learning community, which plays a certain role in promoting the development of artificial intelligence.




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Application of digital twin virtual design and BIM technology in intelligent building image processing

Intelligent digital virtual technology has become an indispensable part of modern construction, but there are also some problems in its practical application. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the design of intelligent building image processing systems from many aspects. Starting from image digital processing methods, this paper studies the digital twin virtual design scene construction method and related algorithms, converts the original image into a colour digital image through a greyscale algorithm, and then combines morphological knowledge and feature point extraction methods to complete the construction of a three-dimensional virtual environment. Finally, through the comparison of traditional image processing effects with smart building images based on digital twins and BIM technology, the results show that the optimised image processing results have higher clarity, sharper contrast, and a sensitivity increased by 5.84%, presenting better visual effects and solving the risk of misjudgement caused by inaccurate image recognition.




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Design of data mining system for sports training biochemical indicators based on artificial intelligence and association rules

Physiological indicators are an important basis for reflecting the physiological health status of the human body and play an important role in medical practice. Association rules have also been one of the important research hotspots in recent years. This study aims to create a data mining system of association rules and artificial intelligence in biochemical indicators of sports training. This article uses Markov logic for network creation and system training, and tests whether the Markov logic network can be associated with the training system. The results show that the accuracy and recall rate obtained are about 90%, which shows that it is feasible to establish biochemical indicators of sports training based on Markov logic network, and the system has universal, guiding and constructive significance, ensuring that the construction of training system indicators will not go in the wrong direction.




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Trust in news accuracy on X and its impact on news seeking, democratic perceptions and political participation

Based on a survey of 2548 American adults conducted by Pew Research Center in 2021, this study finds that trust in the accuracy of news circulated on X (former Twitter) is positively correlated with following news sites on X, underscoring the crucial role of trust in news accuracy in shaping news-seeking behaviour. Trust in news accuracy also positively relates to political participation via X. Those who trust in news accuracy are more likely to perceive X as an effective tool for raising public awareness about political and social issues, as well as a positive force for democracy. However, exposure to misinformation weakens the connection between trust in news accuracy and users' perception about X as an effective tool for raising public awareness about political or social issues and as a positive driver for democracy.




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Ebullient supervision, employee engagement and employee commitment in a higher education institution: the partial least square approach

The study investigated the influence of ebullient supervision on employee commitment in a Ghanaian public university through the mediating role of employee engagement. The simple random sampling technique was used to draw 302 administrative staff of the university to respond to the self-administered questionnaire on the constructs. Furthermore, the partial least square structural equation technique was deployed to test the research hypotheses in the study. The results showed that ebullient supervision had a significant positive relationship with employee commitment and employee engagement. The findings further revealed that employee engagement positively correlated with employee commitment. Finally, the study's findings established that employee engagement partially mediated the link between ebullient supervision and employee commitment. The study emphasised that various supervisors in a university's administration should create an environment that favours fun where subordinates can form ties with one another.




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Towards a set of guidelines for software development in start-ups

Software start-ups generally use development practices that are adapted to their agile and innovative environment. However, these practices, although consolidated, may not be the best ones for a specific context. This paper aims to present a set of guidelines for software development in start-ups. It also aims to show the results of three studies to validate and refine the proposed guidelines: a confirmatory survey, a focus group, and an expert panel. The participants were actors from both the industry and the academia. The results revealed that the guidelines obtained a positive perception from the participants of both contexts. Based on their approval, we can infer that those guidelines can increase the quality of products generated by start-ups and the chances of success for these organisations. Besides, the need for some improvements has been identified, and they will be implemented in the next version of the guidelines.




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Artificial neural networks for demand forecasting of the Canadian forest products industry

The supply chains of the Canadian forest products industry are largely dependent on accurate demand forecasts. The USA is the major export market for the Canadian forest products industry, although some Canadian provinces are also exporting forest products to other global markets. However, it is very difficult for each province to develop accurate demand forecasts, given the number of factors determining the demand of the forest products in the global markets. We develop multi-layer feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) models for demand forecasting of the Canadian forest products industry. We find that the ANN models have lower prediction errors and higher threshold statistics as compared to that of the traditional models for predicting the demand of the Canadian forest products. Accurate future demand forecasts will not only help in improving the short-term profitability of the Canadian forest products industry, but also their long-term competitiveness in the global markets.




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Does smartphone usage affect academic performance during COVID outbreak?

Pandemic has compelled the entire world to change their way of life and work. To control the infection rate, academic institutes deliver education online similarly. At least one smartphone is available in every home, and students use their smartphones to attend class. The study investigates the link between smartphone usage (SU) and academic performance (AP) during the pandemic. 490 data were obtained from various institutions and undergraduate students using stratified random sampling. These components were identified using factor analysis and descriptive methods, while the relationship of SU and AP based on gender classification was tested using Smart-PLS-SEM. The findings show that SU has a substantial relationship with academic success, whether done in class or outside of it. Even yet, the study found that SU and AP significantly impact both male and female students. Furthermore, the research focuses on SU outside and within the classroom to improve students' AP.




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The Pentagonal E-Portfolio Model for Selecting, Adopting, Building, and Implementing an E-Portfolio




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Interviewing the Experts: Student Produced Podcast




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Virtual Computing Laboratories: A Case Study with Comparisons to Physical Computing Laboratories




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E-portfolio Assessment System for an Outcome-Based Information Technology Curriculum




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Academic Library Services in Virtual Worlds: An Examination of the Potential for Library Services in Immersive Environments




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Real World Project: Integrating the Classroom, External Business Partnerships and Professional Organizations




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Level of Student Effort Should Replace Contact Time in Course Design




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A Meta-ethnographic Synthesis of Support Services in Distance Learning Programs




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Virtual University: A Peer to Peer Open Education Network




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The Implementation of Hypertext-based Learning Media for a Local Cultural Based Learning




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Students’ Understanding of Advanced Properties of Java Exceptions




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Technology-based Participatory Learning for Indigenous Children in Chiapas Schools, Mexico




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Student Perceptions of Microblogging: Integrating Twitter with Blogging to Support Learning and Interaction




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A Cross-Case Analysis of the Use of Web-Based ePortfolios in Higher Education




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The Wheels on the Bot go Round and Round: Robotics Curriculum in Pre-Kindergarten




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Using Student e-Portfolios to Facilitate Learning Objective Achievements in an Outcome-Based University




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A Template-Based Short Course Concept on Android Application Development




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Cloud Computing: Short Term Impacts of 1:1 Computing in the Sixth Grade




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A Virtual Education: Guidelines for Using Games Technology




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Introducing E-portfolio Use to Primary School Pupils: Response, Benefits and Challenges

Electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) have a positive impact on the learning process in a broad range of educational sectors and on learners of all ages. Yet because most e-portfolio-related studies are about their implementation in higher education, this type of research is less usual in the early childhood context, and there is no available research for Greek schools. This study aims to investigate the impact of e-portfolios on learning in a Greek primary school and to provide a resource regarding the educational benefits of e-portfolio in primary education. To do that, it employs the qualitative naturalistic method to collect data, along with mixed methods which were used to achieve triangulation and strengthen confidence in the outcomes. Participants in the research were fourteen 8-year-old pupils, and one of the researchers was their regular teacher. Data evaluation revealed that the e-portfolio added value in pupils’ learning, acted as a medium to involve parents, promoted pupils’ self-esteem, and was acknowledged as a valuable assessment tool and a challenge for the school community. Based on the experience of the e-portfolio implementation, the authors provide some suggestions that would possibly help researchers and primary school teachers adopt and develop e-portfolio systems in their particular settings.




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Evaluating the Acceptability and Usability of EASEL: A Mobile Application that Supports Guided Reflection for Experiential Learning Activities

Aim/Purpose: To examine the early perceptions (acceptability) and usability of EASEL (Education through Application-Supported Experiential Learning), a mobile platform that delivers reflection prompts and content before, during, and after an experiential learning activity. Background: Experiential learning is an active learning approach in which students learn by doing and by reflecting on the experience. This approach to teaching is often used in disciplines such as humanities, business, and medicine. Reflection before, during, and after an experience allows the student to analyze what they learn and why it is important, which is vital in helping them to understand the relevance of the experience. A just-in-time tool (EASEL) was needed to facilitate this. Methodology: To inform the development of a mobile application that facilitates real-time guided reflection and to determine the relevant feature set, we conducted a needs analysis with both students and faculty members. Data collected during this stage of the evaluation helped guide the creation of a prototype. The user experience of the prototype and interface interactions were evaluated during the usability phase of the evaluation study. Contribution: Both the needs analysis and usability assessment provided justification for continued development of EASEL as well as insight that guides current development. Findings: The interaction design of EASEL is understandable and usable. Both students and teachers value an application that facilitates real-time guided reflection. Recommendations for Practitioners: The use of a system such as EASEL can leverage time and location-based services to support students in field experiences. This technology aligns with evidence that guided reflection provides opportunities for metacognition. Recommendation for Researchers: Iterative prototyping, testing, and refinement can lead to a deliberate and effective app development process. Impact on Society: The EASEL platform leverages inherent functionality of mobile devices, such as GPS and persistent network connectivity, to adapt reflection tasks based on lo-cation or time. Students using EASEL will engage in guided reflection, which leads to metacognition and can help instructors scaffold learning Future Research: We will continue to advance the application through iterative testing and development. When ready, the application will be vetted in larger studies across varied disciplines and contexts.




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Advantages and Disadvantages of an Innovative Tablet Technology Learning Activity: A Ten Year Case Study in Small Tertiary Mathematics Classrooms

Aim/Purpose: To identify positive and negative aspects for learning of interactive tablet technology learning activities that promote student engagement and learning. Background: Engaging students in mathematics classes is an on-going challenge for teachers. In 2008 we were offered the opportunity to run interactive activities with a class set of tablet PCs that had just been released on to the market. Since then, we have run these interactive activities continuously with mathematics classes for computing students, albeit with two changes in hardware. Methodology: In the interactive activities, students submit full worked solutions to various problem types (classified as table, text, open or multi-choice) which can then be displayed to the class anonymously, discussed and annotated by the teacher. We surveyed student and staff perceptions and monitored academic performance. Contribution: We have over 10 years of results, observations, and experience from 2008, when tablet technologies were new and expensive, to the current time, when modern tablets with styli are now affordable. Findings: There was a significant increase in higher grades although pass rates did not increase significantly. Over the ten year period of the study, perceptions of students and staff about how this technology impacted on student learning were consistently positive. The majority of students found all problem types useful for learning even those they rated “too hard” or “too easy”. Benefits included increased feedback, peer learning and engagement. Recommendations for Practitioners: We recommend using tablet learning activities to engage students and teachers and to contribute to learning. Impact on Society: This study shows how using tablet technologies for interactive classroom activities can enable and enhance known pedagogies of feedback, peer instruction, and student engagement for mathematics classes. Future Research: We recommend extending this study to include larger classes, and other technical subjects that use symbols and diagrams. In addition, we suggest considering control groups.




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Activity Oriented Teaching Strategy for Software Engineering Course: An Experience Report

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents the findings of an Activity-Oriented Teaching Strategy (AOTS) conducted for a postgraduate level Software Engineering (SE) course with the aim of imparting meaningful software development experience for the students. The research question is framed as whether the activity-oriented teaching strategy helps students to acquire practical knowledge of Software Engineering and thus bridge the gap between academia and software industry. Background: Software Engineering Education (SEE) in India is mainly focused on teaching theoretical concepts rather than emphasizing on practical knowledge in software development process. It has been noticed that many students of CS/IT background are struggling when they start their career in the software industry due to inadequate familiarity with the software development process. In the current context of SE education, there is a knowledge gap between the theory learned in the classroom and the actual requirement demanded by the software industry. Methodology: The methodology opted for in this study was action research since the teachers are trying to solve the practical problems and deficiencies encountered while teaching SE. There are four pedagogies in AOTS for fulfilling the requirements of the desired teaching strategy. They are flipped classroom, project role-play for developing project artifacts, teaching by example, and student seminars. The study was conducted among a set of Postgraduate students of the Software Engineering programme at Cochin University of Science and Technology, India. Contribution: AOTS can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the learning process and thus helping them develop their professional skills. Findings: AOTS can be molded as a promising teaching strategy for learning Software Engineering. It focuses on the essential skill sets demanded by the software industry such as communication, problem-solving, teamwork, and understanding of the software development processes. Impact on Society: Activity-oriented teaching strategies can fulfil both academic and industrial requirements by actively engaging the students in the SE learning process and thus helping them in developing their professional skills. Future Research: AOTS can be refined by adding/modifying pedagogies and including different features like an online evaluation system, virtual classroom etc.