The other art of computer programming: A visual alternative to communicate computational thinking

The thesis will explore the implications of teaching computer science through visual communication. This study aims to define a framework for using pictures within learning computer science. Visual communication materials for teaching computer science were created and tested with Year 8 students. Along with a recent commercial and political focus on the introduction of coding to adolescents, it appears that the computer industry has a large shortfall of programmers. Accompanying this shortfall is a rise among adolescents in the preference for visual communication (Brumberger, 2011; Coats, 2006; Oblinger et al., 2005; Prensky, 2001; Tapscott, 1998) while textual communication currently dominates the teaching materials in the computing discipline. This study looks at the learning process and utilises the ideas of Gibson, Dewey and Piaget to consider the role of visual design in teaching programming. According to Piagetian theory Year 8 is the time a child begins to understand abstract thought. This research investigated through co-creation and prototyping how to creatively support cognition within the learning process. Visual communication theories, comprising the fields of graphic and information design, were employed to communicate computer science to approximately 60 junior high school students across eight schools. Literature in a range of visual communication fields is reviewed along with the psychology of perception and cognition to help create a prototype lesson plan for the target audience of Year 8 students. The history of computer science is reviewed to illustrate the mental imagery within the discipline and also to explore computational thinking concepts. These concepts are . . . the metaphors and structures that underlie all areas of science and engineering (Guzdial, 2008). The participants’ attitudes increased toward learning programming through visual communication. Quantitative questionnaires were used to gather data on cognition and measure the effectiveness of the learning process. Thirteen hypotheses were established concerning learning programming through pictures from the quantitative data. Focus groups further triangulated data gathered in the quantitative stage. Approximately seventy percent of the participants understood seventy percent of the information within the instrumentation. Models of intent to learn programming through pictures were established using structural equation modelling (SEM). Outcomes of the exegesis are a framework for using pictures that demonstrates computational thinking and explains the research

Toward a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems : enterprise architectures, competitive dynamics, firm performance & industrial co-evolution

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Vita.Includes bibliographical references (v. 4, p. 698-745).This dissertation contributes toward the building of a theory of the evolution of business ecosystems. In the process, it addresses a question that has been posed by evolutionary theorists in the economics and sociology literatures for decades: "Why do firms in the same industry vary systematically in performance over time?" Seeking a systematic explanation of a longitudinal phenomenon inevitably requires characterizing the evolution of the industrial ecosystem, as both the organization (firm) and its environment (industry, markets and institutions) are co-evolving. This question is therefore explored via a theoretical sample in three industrial ecosystems covering manufacturing and service sectors, with competitors from the US, Europe and Japan: commercial airplanes, motor vehicles and airlines. The research is based primarily on an in depth seven-year, multi-level, multi-method, field-based case study of both firms in the large commercial airplanes industry mixed duopoly as well as the key stakeholders in their extended enterprises (i.e. customers, suppliers, investors and employees). This field work is supplemented with historical comparative analysis in all three industries, as well as nonlinear dynamic simulation models developed to capture the essential mechanisms governing the evolution of business ecosystems.(cont.) A theoretical framework is developed which endogenously traces the co-evolution of firms and their industrial environments using their highest-level system properties of form, function and fitness (as reflected in the system sciences of morphology, physiology and ecology), and which embraces the evolutionary processes of variation, selection and retention. The framework captures the path-dependent evolution of heterogeneous populations of enterprise architectures engaged in symbiotic inter-species competition and posits the evolution of dominant designs in enterprise architectures that oscillate deterministically and chaotically between modular and integral states throughout an industry's life-cycle. Architectural innovation - at the extended enterprise level - is demonstrated to contribute to the failure of established firms, with causal mechanisms developed to explain tipping points.by Theodore F. Piepenbrock.Ph.D

Lysosomal Storage Disorders: Molecular Basis and Therapeutic Approaches

Lysosomal storage disorders are a heterogenoeus group of rare genetic conditions affecting worldwide population and often exhibiting severe clinical manifestations. During the last two decades, the joined collaboration between scientists and clinicians has allowed to offer valuable therapeutic options to affected patients. Therefore, the tight connection between basic science and clinical medicine represents the gold standard approach to these disorders. In this context, the present book collects a piece of current scientific advances in the knowledge of disease pathogenesis and in the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for some of these diseases. Altogether, these articles define and recapitulate which essential steps are required during the clinical management of a rare inherited disorder and describe forthcoming advances and a breakthrough in the field of lysosomal diseases