Cyberspace vs. Electronic Environment: The Case of Europe

Elina GAILE-SARKANE and Deniss ŠČEULOVS

ABSTRACT

The authors of the article analyze the concept “electronic environment”. Having studied a range of academic literature sources and other sources, the authors of the article have drawn a conclusion that the academic writings do not provide a definition of “electronic environment”. Furthermore, the various opinions among specialists regarding this concept often differ. Meanwhile, there are several explanations of the term “cyberspace” overlapping the concept of “electronic environment”, and these terms are often believed to be synonyms. To understand what the term “electronic environment” means and to properly and correctly employ this concept in entrepreneurship, the authors have performed a lexicographic analysis of this concept by comparing reciprocal concepts. As a result of the research, the authors propose their view on what, in their opinion, “electronic environment” is and what its connection to the concept “cyberspace” is. The topicality of the article lies in the fact that often entrepreneurs and specialists of public and other institutions, when using these terms, imply completely different concepts. It can lead to misunderstanding and misinterpreting the information, as well as to encumbering the understanding of tasks, problems, etc.

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Fully Distributed Authority-Based Key Management for Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Dawoud S. Dawoud and Johann van der Merwe

ABSTRACT

Securing wireless mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) is challenging due to the lack of centralized authority and poor onnectivity. Key management forms the basis for achieving many security objectives such as protecting routing protocols and private communications. We propose a novel key management scheme for MANETs that exploits mobility and the routing infrastructure to effectively manage security associations. Keying material propagates along virtual chains via a message relaying mechanism. We show that the proposed scheme results in a key management with low implementation complexity, ideally suited for stationary ad hoc networks and MANETs with low to high mobility. The proposed scheme uses mobility as an aid to fuel the rate of bootstrapping the routing security, but in contrast to existing schemes does not become dependent on mobility. The key dissemination occurs completely on-demand; security associations are only established, renewed or revoked as needed by the routing protocol and intrusion detection system. We show through simulations that the scheme‘s communication and computational overhead has negligible impact on network performance.

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The “Learning Factory”: An immersive learning environment for comprehensive and lasting education in industrial engineering

Andreas Jaeger, Walter Mayrhofer, Peter Kuhlang, Kurt Matyas, Wilfried Sihn

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the ”Learning and Innovation Factory for Integrative Production Education“ as a case study for a modern didactic approach at the Vienna University of Technology (VUT). The developed teaching methodology is combining the advantages of an interdisciplinary, experiences-based and applied approach to knowledge transfer, aiming to enhance the key competences of future industrial engineers. The goal of this program is to teach the entire genesis of a product from product conception to serial production, which is also known as the Product Development Process [1] or more comprehensively the Product Emergence Process (PEP) [2]. Hence, the pilot course was titled “integrative Product Emergence Process“ (i-PEP).

This paper illustrates how the potential of problem-based and action oriented learning can be transferred to higher education in industrial engineering by means of an immersive learning environment that was dubbed “Learning Factory”. In this context, the case study deals with competence development for industrial engineers and presents the current approach of the VUT-Learning Factory and of its intended future direction.

 

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Structures and Processes in Didactic Design

Niels Henrik Helms, Simon B. Heilesen

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a user-driven approach to designing new educational formats including new media for learning. Focus will be on didactic design involving the use of information technology as a means of mediating, augmenting or even fundamentally changing teaching and learning practices. The two key points in the article are the introduction of a Quadrant-Model, and the understanding of the user as a construction.

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Socially Responsible Design; Graduate Course in Research and Application, A Case Study

Sanda Katila, Jason Goupil

ABSTRACT

In the fall of 2010, a class of eleven visual design graduate students at Kent State University were challenged to secure 25 new employers for Cleveland Sight Center clients who were blind or visually impaired (BVI). The problem, unframed and atypical for most visual design students, unfolded into a much broader set of issues in challenges over the 15-week course. Our mission goal expanded to finding innovative and sustainable solutions using design thinking, a design protocol for solving problems using exploratory design processes and experimentation. This protocol examines problems in a holistic way and from multiple perspectives, recognizing creative opportunities and devising multiple solutions, using multi-disciplinary teamwork.

The yearlong project is significant for a number of reasons as it raises important questions for visual designers: How can graduate courses be designed to affect social policies? How can our research be applied to other sight centers in the country? How can similar research begin constructing models for affecting change at national, state or local levels? How can our specific research be used to initiate new policies for blind and visually impaired persons? How can similar courses be designed to affect social changes in local communities?

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Pedagogies for Teaching Online

Cynthia Schmitt, Rhoda Baggs

ABSTRACT

After a total of 13 years experience teaching various courses for various programs online at the university level, the authors discovered that there are unique pedagogical approaches required by different disciplines. Couple this with a constant treadmill requirement of keeping up with the technology. This is further complicated by a constant need to monitor and risk mitigate against what can broadly be described as ‘technical difficulties’. The growth of the online teaching market and the tools that have the potential to facilitate this market, on a timeline, differs from traditional academic timelines associated with planning, scheduling, purchasing of software and hardware, deployment to faculty, students, and classrooms, along with training of all humans involved. This paper represents a set of best practices and lessons learned; along with some data representing how non-intuitive online teaching and the experience associated with it has been.

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Inquiry based Service-Learning and Business Education: A Case Study

Darshan DESAI & Rahul BEDI

ABSTRACT

Service-learning is an increasingly popular pedagogy designed to enrich academic learning with community service work. In the service-learning courses, generally, the students get opportunity to apply the acquired knowledge into real life situations through the community service projects. In this study, the authors argue that the service-learning pedagogy not only gives students the opportunities for knowledge application, but it can also provide students hands-on experiences in discovering new knowledge and deliver the professional consulting services. The authors use the case study research to explore effective use of inquiry based service-learning approach for business management courses, and how it can drive desired learning outcomes. The findings of this study provide important insights about how to effectively integrate inquiry based instruction with the service-learning pedagogy in the context of business education.

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Implementation of Health Promotion Programs in Hospitals, Long Term Care Facilities and Schools – A Comparative Case Study

Karin WALDHERR and Wolfgang DÜR

ABSTRACT

Many health promotion (HP) programs in organizations fail as compared to their initial goals. Thus deeper insights into implementation processes and the fate of HP projects are needed. Due to the complexity of HP case method research is the most suitable approach. Hospitals, long term care (LTC) facilities and schools are organizations of special interest since HP interventions often interfere in the interactions between professionals and clients and thus also concern communication and collaboration processes between the highly specialized professional staff from different disciplines. Therefore, in  implementing HP programs these very specific processes are seen as critical. The current study aims to generate insights which specific factors have to be considered in implementing HP programs in schools, hospitals and LTC facilities, and if there are differences between the three settings. The design of the study incorporates intensive within-case analyses in three organizations within each of the three settings, across-case comparisons within each setting as well as across-case comparisons between settings. The speciality of the current study is that it is the first comprehensive study comparing cases from different settings regarding specific communication and collaboration processes in implementing HP programs. Systems theory yields the theoretical foundation.

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Health and Support Services Access and Use by Persons with Parkinson Disease: An Alberta, Canada Case Study

Katharina KOVACS BURNS and Phyllis JENSEN

ABSTRACT

In Alberta, Canada, over 8500 people have Parkinson Disease (PD). While health and support services do not cure the disease, they help to maintain health status and quality of life, as well as delay or prevent costly institutionalization. In 2008, Alberta Health Services was created, shifting care to a more centralized delivery system. What is the impact? This Case Study explores this, utilizing a phased approach with mixed and multiple methods to survey and interview persons with PD, their caregivers, service providers and decision makers, and explore changes, if any, in the availability, accessibility and costs of health and support services. Survey, interview and focus group instruments were developed for each group. Participant recruitment was through various means. Limitations were noted in the study with sampling and access to participants across Alberta. Descriptive statistical analysis was used with quantitative data, and qualitative interview/focus group data was thematically analyzed. The results will be trinangulated to support identified satisfaction or challenges in services available and accessible by persons with PD and their caregivers as well as service providers. Recommendations are proposed from this case study. Knowledge Translation is far reaching including the application of this Case Study design and mixed methods approach.

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Genetic Case Studies and Causality

Hansjörg Rothe

ABSTRACT

Recent developments in genetics have lead to a variety of new methods in medicine. Over the last two decades some completely new methodological approaches have emerged and are by now established in daily research routine. This article is focussed on Mendelian randomization, a method which uses information from genetic case studies to clarify causal relations between parameters found to be associated in muliti-center epidemiological randomized trials. I argue that, with Mendelian randomization, multilevel analysis has in fact entered the stage of medicine: It could be referred to as “genetic multilevel analysis” in that it establishes causal relations by means of transition from the macro to the micro level and back. Features of multilevel analysis, as it was established in economics and sociology, and went to philosophy from there, are compared with Mendelian randomization, where at the micro level individual genetically defined polymorphic sub-populations are analyzed. Max Weber, who contributed to medical methodology himself and may be regarded as one of the founding fathers of sociology, is proposed as a major inspirator for multilevel analysis.

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