The impact of learning in the workplace policy on differing ICT degrees

At Victoria University, the release of a new Learning in the Workplace and Community (LiWC) policy has been introduced to ensure that graduates are job and career ready. The policy underlines the importance of workplace contextual learning in all course deliveries and is scheduled for progressive implementation by 2010. For each degree, the policy mandates that a minimum of 25% of program content and assessment must be related to work integrated learning.Compliance with the 25% shift poses significant challenges for its implementation upon all undergraduate programs since the policy is expected to impact upon program structures, unit deliveries, assessment practices, and course administrations. In particular, there has been an extensive review of existing approaches to learning and teaching in the programs that deliver information and communications technology (ICT) degrees across business and science faculties. This paper describes the current Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Bachelor of Business in Information Systems programs identifying similarities and differences between the two offerings with respect to their learning in workplace components. It explores possible synergies between the two programs that could be capitalized upon to implement the LiWC policy and details the challenges to both faculties in mounting a coordinated response.<br /

Investigating the effectiveness of using MOOCs and webinars in enhancing teaching and learning in a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFLA) course in a distance education environment : a case study of a Short Learning Programme

Distance education is, by its very nature, a response to the development of communications technology in the Industrial Era, coupled with the societal changes initiated by these developments (Garrison and Cleveland-Innes, 2010: 14). The current distance learning landscape is thus shaped by changing social needs brought about by the impact of advancements in technology. This case study investigates the effectiveness of new aspects of digital learning tools as additional resources in the TEFLA course, a Short Learning Programme (SLP), offered by UNISA. These aspects of digital course delivery introduce e-learning by incorporating synchronous and asynchronous digital teaching and learning tools, in the shape of MOOCs (asynchronous learning), as well as webinars (synchronous learning). This study reviews the effectiveness of these online tools in enhancing the learning experience of TEFLA students. The theoretical framework that informs this study is based on the connectivism and socio-cultural theories of knowledge acquisition.English StudiesM.A. (English

Beaconing Approaches in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: A Survey

A Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is a type of wireless ad hoc network that facilitates ubiquitous connectivity between vehicles in the absence of fixed infrastructure. Beaconing approaches is an important research challenge in high mobility vehicular networks with enabling safety applications. In this article, we perform a survey and a comparative study of state-of-the-art adaptive beaconing approaches in VANET, that explores the main advantages and drawbacks behind their design. The survey part of the paper presents a review of existing adaptive beaconing approaches such as adaptive beacon transmission power, beacon rate adaptation, contention window size adjustment and Hybrid adaptation beaconing techniques. The comparative study of the paper compares the representatives of adaptive beaconing approaches in terms of their objective of study, summary of their study, the utilized simulator and the type of vehicular scenario. Finally, we discussed the open issues and research directions related to VANET adaptive beaconing approaches.Ghafoor, KZ.; Lloret, J.; Abu Bakar, K.; Sadiq, AS.; Ben Mussa, SA. (2013). Beaconing Approaches in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks: A Survey. Wireless Personal Communications. 73(3):885-912. doi:10.1007/s11277-013-1222-9S885912733ITS-Standards (1996) Intelligent transportation systems, U.S. Department of Transportation, http://www.standards.its.dot.gov/about.aspCheng, L., Henty, B., Stancil, D., Bai, F., & Mudalige, P. (2005). Mobile vehicle-to-vehicle narrow-band channel measurement and characterization of the 5.9 Ghz dedicated short range communication (DSRC) frequency band. IEEE Transactions on Selected Areas in Communications, 25(8), 1501–1516.van Eenennaam, E., Wolterink, K., Karagiannis, G., & Heijenk, G. (2009). Exploring the solution space of beaconing in vanets. In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE international vehicular networking conference, Tokyo (pp. 1–8).Torrent-Moreno, M. (2007). Inter-vehicle communications: Assessing information dissemination under safety constraints. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE conference wireless on demand network systems and services, Austria (pp. 59–64).Lloret, J., Canovas, A., Catalá, A., & Garcia, M. (2012). Group-based protocol and mobility model for vanets to offer internet access. Journal of Network and Computer Applications 2224–2245 doi: 10.1016j.jnca.2012.02.009 .Nzouonta, J., Rajgure, N., Wang, G., & Borcea, C. (2009). Vanet routing on city roads using real-time vehicular traffic information. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 58(7), 3609–3626.Fukui, R., Koike, H., & Okada, H. (2002). Dynamic integrated transmission control(ditrac) over inter-vehicle communications. In Proceedings of the 2002 IEEE vehicular technology conference, Birmingham (pp. 483–487).Schmidt, R., Leinmuller, T., Schoch, E., Kargl, F., & Schafer, G. (2010). Exploration of adaptive beaconing for efficient intervehicle safety communication. IEEE Network, 24(1), 14–19.Ghafoor, K., Bakar, K., van Eenennaam, E., Khokhar, R., Gonzalez, A. A fuzzy logic approach to beaconing for vehicular ad hoc networks, Accepted for publication in Telecommunication Systems Journal.Ghafoor, K., & Bakar, K. (2010). A novel delay and reliability aware inter vehicle routing protocol. Network Protocols and Algorithms, 2(2), 66–88.Mittag, J., Thomas, F., Härri, J., & Hartenstein, H. (2009). A comparison of single-and multi-hop beaconing in vanets. In Proceedings of the 2009 ACM international workshop on vehicular internetworking, Beijing (pp. 69–78).Sommer, C., Tonguz, O., & Dressler, F. (2010). Adaptive beaconing for delay-sensitive and congestion-aware traffic information systems. In Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE international vehicular networking conference (VNC), New Jersey (pp. 1–8).Guan, X., Sengupta, R., Krishnan, H., & Bai, F. (2007). A feedback-based power control algorithm design for vanet. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE international conference on mobile networking for vehicular environments, USA (pp. 67–72).AL-Hashimi, H., Bakar, K., & Ghafoor, K. (2011). Inter-domain proxy mobile ipv6 based vehicular network. Network Protocols and Algorithms, 2(4), 1–15.Rawat, D., Popescu, D., Yan, G., & Olariu, S. (2011). Enhancing vanet performance by joint adaptation of transmission power and contention window size. Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 22(9), 1528–1535.European-ITS (2009) Eits-technical report 102 638 v1.1.1, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), http://www.etsi.org/WebSite/homepage.aspxNHTSA, I. Joint program office”, report to congress on the national highway traffic safety administration its program, program progress during 1992–1996 and strategic plan for 1997–2002, US Department of Transportation, Washington, DC.Godbole, D., Sengupta, R., Misener, J., Kourjanskaia, N., & Michael, J. (1998). Benefit evaluation of crash avoidance systems. Transportation Research, 1621(1), 1–9.Reinders, R., van Eenennaam, M., Karagiannis, G., & Heijenk, G. (2004). Contention window analysis for beaconing in vanets. In Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE international conference on wireless communications and mobile computing (IWCMC), Istanbul (pp. 1481–1487).Yang, L., Guo, J., & Wu, Y. (2008). Channel adaptive one hop broadcasting for vanets. In Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE international conference on intelligent transportation systems, Beijing (pp. 369–374).Tseng, Y., Ni, S., Chen, Y., & Sheu, J. (2002). The broadcast storm problem in a mobile ad hoc network. Wireless Networks, 8(2), 153–167.van Eenennaam, E. M., Karagiannis, G., & Heijenk, G. (2010). Towards scalable beaconing in vanets. In Proceedings of the 2010 ERCIM workshop on eMobility, Lulea (pp. 103–108).Ros, F., Ruiz, P., & Stojmenovic, I. (2012). Acknowledgment-based broadcast protocol for reliable and efficient data dissemination in vehicular ad-hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, 11(1), 33–46.Torrent-Moreno, M., Santi, P., & Hartenstein, H. (2006). Distributed fair transmit power adjustment for vehicular ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE international conference on sensor and ad hoc communications and networks, Reston, VA (pp. 479–488).Artimy, M. (2007). Local density estimation and dynamic transmission-range assignment in vehicular ad hoc networks. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 8(3), 400–412.Caizzone, G., Giacomazzi, P., Musumeci, L., & Verticale, G. (2005). A power control algorithm with high channel availability for vehicular ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE international conference on communications, Seoul (pp. 3171–3176).Torrent-Moreno, M., Santi, P., & Hartenstein, H. (2009). Vehicle-to-vehicle communication: Fair transmit power control for safety critical information. IEEE Transaction for Vehicular Technology, 58(7), 3684–3703.Torrent-Moreno, M., Schmidt-Eisenlohr, F., Fubler, H., & Hartenstein, H. (2006). Effects of a realistic channel model on packet forwarding in vehicular ad hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE conference on wireless communications and networking, USA (pp. 385–391).NS, Network simulator (June 2011). http://nsnam.isi.edu/nsnam/index.php/MainPageNakagami, M. (1960). The m-distribution: A general formula of intensity distribution of rapid fadinge. In W. C. Hoffman (Ed.), Statistical method of radio propagation. New York: Pergamon Press.Narayanaswamy, S., Kawadia, V., Sreenivas, R., & Kumar, P. (2002). Power control in ad-hoc networks: Theory, architecture, algorithm and implementation of the compow protocol. In Proceedings of the 2002 European wireless conference next generation wireless networks: technologies, protocols, Italy (pp. 1–6).Cheng, P., Lee, K., Gerla, M., & Harri, J. (2010). Geodtn+ nav: Geographic dtn routing with navigator prediction for urban vehicular environments. Mobile Networks and Applications, 15(1), 61–82.Gomez, J., & Campbell, A. (2004). A case for variable-range transmission power control in wireless multihop networks. In Proceedings twenty-third annual joint conference of the IEEE computer and communications societies, Hong kong (pp. 1425–1436).Ramanathan, R., & Rosales-Hain, R. (2000). Topology control of multihop wireless networks using transmit power adjustment. In Proceedings nineteenth annual joint conference of the IEEE computer and communications societies, Hong kong (pp. 404–413).Artimy, M., Robertson, W., & Phillips, W. (2005). Assignment of dynamic transmission range based on estimation of vehicle density. In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM international workshop on vehicular ad hoc networks, Germany (pp. 40–48).Samara, G., Ramadas, S., & Al-Salihy, W. (2010). Safety message power transmission control for vehicular ad hoc networks. Computer Science, 6(10), 1027–1032.Rezaei, S., Sengupta, R., Krishnan, H., Guan, X., & Student, P. (2008). Adaptive communication scheme for cooperative active safety system.Rezaei, S., Sengupta, R., Krishnan, H., & Guan, X. (2007). Reducing the communication required by dsrc-based vehicle safety systems. In Proceedings of the 2007 IEEE international conference on intelligent transportation systems, Bellevue, WA (pp. 361–366).Sommer, C., Tonguz, O., & Dressler, F. (2011). Traffic information systems: Efficient message dissemination via adaptive beaconing. IEEE Communications Magazine, 49(5), 173–179.Thaina, C., Nakorn, K., & Rojviboonchai, K. (2011). A study of adaptive beacon transmission on vehicular ad-hoc networks. In Proceeding of the 2011 IEEE 13th international conference on communication technology (ICCT), Vancouver (pp. 597–602).Boukerche, A., Rezende, C., & Pazzi, R. (2009). Improving neighbor localization in vehicular ad hoc networks to avoid overhead from periodic messages. In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE global telecommunications conference, USA (pp. 1–6).Bai, F., Sadagopan, N., & Helmy, A. (2008). Important: A framework to systematically analyze the impact of mobility on performance of routing protocols for adhoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2003 22th annual joint conference of the IEEE computer and communications, USA (pp. 825–835).Nguyen, H., Bhawiyuga, A., & Jeong, H. (2012). A comprehensive analysis of beacon dissemination in vehicular networks. In Proceedings of the 75th IEEE vehicular technology conference, Korea (pp. 1–5).Djahel, S., & Ghamri-Doudane, Y. (2012). A robust congestion control scheme for fast and reliable dissemination of safety messages in vanets. In Proceeding of the 2012 IEEE conference wireless communications and networking, Paris, France (pp. 2264–2269).O. Technologies (Augast 2012) Opnet modeler, http://www.opnet.com/Huang, C., Fallah, Y., Sengupta, R., & Krishnan, H. (2010). Adaptive intervehicle communication control for cooperative safety systems. IEEE Network, 24(1), 6–13.OPNET (June 2012) Opnet modeler, http://www.opnet.com/Kerner, B. (2004). The physics of traffic: Empirical freeway pattern features, engineering applications, and theory. Berlin: Springer.Vinel, A., Vishnevsky, V., & Koucheryavy, Y. (2008). A simple analytical model for the periodic broadcasting in vehicular ad-hoc networks. In Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE international GLOBECOM workshops, Philadelphia, PA (pp. 1–5).Mariyasagayam, N., Menouar, H., & Lenardi, M. (2009). An adaptive forwarding mechanism for data dissemination in vehicular networks. In Proceedings of the 2009 IEEE Vehicular Networking Conference, Boston (pp. 1–5).Hung, C., Chan, H., & Wu, E. (2008). Mobility pattern aware routing for heterogeneous vehicular networks. In Proceedings of the 2008 international conference on wireless communications and networking, Las Vegas (pp. 2200–2205).Yang, K., Ou, S., Chen, H., & He, J. (2007). A multihop peer-communication protocol with fairness guarantee for ieee 802.16-based vehicular networks. IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, 56(6), 3358–3370.Lequerica, I., Ruiz, P., & Cabrera, V. (2010). Improvement of vehicular communications by using 3G capabilities to disseminate control information. IEEE Network Magazine, 24(1), 32–38.Oh, D., Kim, P., Song, J., Jeon, S., & Lee, H. (2005). Design considerations of satellite-based vehicular broadband networks. IEEE Wireless Communications Magazine, 12(5), 91–97.Ko, Y., Sim, M., & Nekovee, M. (2006). Wi-fi based broadband wireless access for users on the road. BT Technology Journal, 24(2), 123–129.Choffnes, D., & Bustamante, F. (2005). An integrated mobility and traffic model for vehicular wireless networks. In Proceedings of the 2005 ACM international workshop on vehicular ad hoc networks, Cologne (pp. 69–78).TIGER (October 2010) Topologically integrated geographic encoding and referencing system, http://www.census.gov/geo/www/tiger/Mittag, J., Thomas, F., Harri, J., & Hartenstein, H. (2009). A comparison of single and multi-hop beaconing in vanets. In Proceedings of the 2009 ACM international workshop on vehiculaar internetworking, Beijing (pp. 69–78).Rappaport, T. (1996). Wireless communications: Principles and practice (2nd ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall PTR

Toward Universal Broadband in Rural Alaska

The TERRA-Southwest project is extending broadband service to 65 communities in the Bristol Bay, Bethel and Yukon-Kuskokwim regions. A stimulus project funded by a combination of grants and loans from the Rural Utilities Service (RUS), TERRA-Southwest has installed a middle-mile network using optical fiber and terrestrial microwave. Last-mile service will be through fixed wireless or interconnection with local telephone networks. The State of Alaska, through its designee Connect Alaska, also received federal stimulus funding from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) for tasks that include support for an Alaska Broadband Task Force “to both formalize a strategic broadband plan for the state of Alaska and coordinate broadband activities across relevant agencies and organizations.” Thus, a study of the impact of the TERRA project in southwest Alaska is both relevant and timely. This first phase provides baseline data on current access to and use of ICTs and Internet connectivity in rural Alaska, and some insights about perceived benefits and potential barriers to adoption of broadband. It is also intended to provide guidance to the State Broadband Task Force in determining how the extension of broadband throughout the state could contribute to education, social services, and economic activities that would enhance Alaska’s future. Results of the research could also be used proactively to develop strategies to encourage broadband adoption, and to identify applications and support needed by users with limited ICT skills.Connect Alaska. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration. General Communications Incorporated.Part 1: An Analysis of Internet Use in Southwest Alaska / Introduction / Previous Studies / Current Connectivity / Analytical Framework and Research Methodology / Demographics / Mobile Phones: Access and Use / Access to the Internet / Internet Useage / Considerations about Internet Service / Interest in Broadband / Sources of News / Comparison with National Data / Internet Use by Businesses and Organizations / What Difference may Broadband make in the Region? / Conclusiongs / Part 2 Literature Review / Reference

Aggregate Interference Modeling in Cognitive Radio Networks with Power and Contention Control

In this paper, we present an interference model for cognitive radio (CR) networks employing power control, contention control or hybrid power/contention control schemes. For the first case, a power control scheme is proposed to govern the transmission power of a CR node. For the second one, a contention control scheme at the media access control (MAC) layer, based on carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA), is proposed to coordinate the operation of CR nodes with transmission requests. The probability density functions of the interference received at a primary receiver from a CR network are first derived numerically for these two cases. For the hybrid case, where power and contention controls are jointly adopted by a CR node to govern its transmission, the interference is analyzed and compared with that of the first two schemes by simulations. Then, the interference distributions under the first two control schemes are fitted by log-normal distributions with greatly reduced complexity. Moreover, the effect of a hidden primary receiver on the interference experienced at the receiver is investigated. It is demonstrated that both power and contention controls are effective approaches to alleviate the interference caused by CR networks. Some in-depth analysis of the impact of key parameters on the interference of CR networks is given via numerical studies as well.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, submitted to IEEE Trans. Communications in July 201

Net neutrality discourses: comparing advocacy and regulatory arguments in the United States and the United Kingdom

Telecommunications policy issues rarely make news, much less mobilize thousands of people. Yet this has been occurring in the United States around efforts to introduce "Net neutrality" regulation. A similar grassroots mobilization has not developed in the United Kingdom or elsewhere in Europe. We develop a comparative analysis of U.S. and UK Net neutrality debates with an eye toward identifying the arguments for and against regulation, how those arguments differ between the countries, and what the implications of those differences are for the Internet. Drawing on mass media, advocacy, and regulatory discourses, we find that local regulatory precedents as well as cultural factors contribute to both agenda setting and framing of Net neutrality. The differences between national discourses provide a way to understand both the structural differences between regulatory cultures and the substantive differences between policy interpretations, both of which must be reconciled for the Internet to continue to thrive as a global medium

Government Transparency: Six Strategies for More Open and Participatory Government

Offers strategies for realizing Knight's 2009 call for e-government and openness using Web 2.0 and 3.0 technologies, including public-private partnerships to develop applications, flexible procurement procedures, and better community broadband access

STEPS Centre research: our approach to impact

The ‘impact’ of research has seen a dramatic rise up the UK’s policy agenda in recent years. But what does ‘impact’ really mean? How do researchers and others respond to the new ‘impact agenda’ and how might we best plan, monitor and report on impact? This working paper attempts to provide answers to some of these questions by reviewing various understandings of ‘impact’ and describing the approach used by the ESRC STEPS Centre in its second five-year phase of funding. In particular, we draw on our experience of adapting and employing a down-scaled version of ‘participatory impact pathways analysis’ (PIPA) and reflect on its utility and potential as a tool for planning relatively small-scale social science/ interdisciplinary research projects conducted with partners in developing countries. In using PIPA, the STEPS Centre has adapted the idea of ‘impact pathways’ in line with its broader ‘pathways approach’, which focusses on complex and dynamic interactions between knowledge, politics and ‘social, technological and environmental pathways to sustainability’. In this way, PIPA has been useful in articulating and exploring the potential impact of STEPS Centre projects: it has helped to map out the networks known to the researchers, appreciate different perspectives held by the team members and generate an understanding of the narratives, networks and policy processes under study. Although the possibility for detailed ex ante prediction of impact pathways is limited, using PIPA has helped teams to be ready to maximise communication and engagement opportunities, and to link research across different STEPS Centre projects and beyond. The working paper also describes how PIPA may be used iteratively in a way that enables reflexive learning amongst research teams. Lastly, we speculate on the ways in which PIPA may be further developed and used in ex post impact monitoring and evaluation into the future

IMC customer-based perception: strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour

Last decades Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) have been mainly analysed from a managerial perspective, overlooking the customer opinion. Thus, this research studies IMC customer-based perception, its strategic antecedents and consequences on post-purchase customer behaviour (satisfaction, word-of-mouth recommendations, and repurchase intention), from a multi-country perspective. The structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis are based on the customers´ survey data in Belarus and Spain. The results suggest that technology orientation positively affects IMC, and, customer orientation does not. IMC positively affects customer satisfaction, which in turn positively impacts on WOM and repurchase intention. WOM does not influence on repurchase intention. IMC directly affects WOM and repurchase intention in Spain and does not in Belarus, which is the significant country difference