59,601 research outputs found
Mapping web personal learning environments
A recent trend in web development is to build platforms which are carefully designed to host a plurality of software components (sometimes called widgets or plugins) which can be organized or combined (mashed-up) at user's convenience to create personalized environments. The same holds true for the web development of educational applications. The degree of personalization can depend on the role of users such as in traditional virtual learning environment, where the components are chosen by a teacher in the context of a course. Or, it can be more opened as in a so-called personalized learning environment (PLE). It now exists a wide array of available web platforms exhibiting different functionalities but all built on the same concept of aggregating components together to support different tasks and scenarios. There is now an overlap between the development of PLE and the more generic developments in web 2.0 applications such as social network sites. This article shows that 6 more or less independent dimensions allow to map the functionalities of these platforms: the screen dimensionmaps the visual integration, the data dimension maps the portability of data, the temporal dimension maps the coupling between participants, the social dimension maps the grouping of users, the activity dimension maps the structuring of end users–interactions with the environment, and the runtime dimensionmaps the flexibility in accessing the system from different end points. Finally these dimensions are used to compare 6 familiar Web platforms which could potentially be used in the construction of a PLE
De-ossifying the Internet Transport Layer : A Survey and Future Perspectives
ACKNOWLEDGMENT The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their useful suggestions and comments.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
A simplified activity-based costing approach for SMEs : the case study of an Italian small road company
Purpose: The paper proposes an original conceptual model for designing a simplified Activity-Based Costing (ABC) approach for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) by focusing on the transport sector. Design/Methodology/Approach: The model is designed starting from the distinctive characteristics of the SMEs’ collaborative culture. The approach is then tested in the case of an Italian small-road company. Findings: The simplified ABC, which was gradually introduced in the SME, allowed the firm to gain confidence with the costing system. Moreover, the discussion of the results led to identifying the main areas to improve. Practical Implications: Costing systems based on collaboration can lead to operational improvements in SMEs operating in dynamic and competitive sectors as transport. Moreover, advanced technologies may hold a crucial role for their development. Originality/Value: Not much research has considered collaboration as a driver for introducing ABC in SMEs. The paper contributes to the literature on simplified managerial approaches, suggesting trends for future research.peer-reviewe
Shortest Path versus Multi-Hub Routing in Networks with Uncertain Demand
We study a class of robust network design problems motivated by the need to
scale core networks to meet increasingly dynamic capacity demands. Past work
has focused on designing the network to support all hose matrices (all matrices
not exceeding marginal bounds at the nodes). This model may be too conservative
if additional information on traffic patterns is available. Another extreme is
the fixed demand model, where one designs the network to support peak
point-to-point demands. We introduce a capped hose model to explore a broader
range of traffic matrices which includes the above two as special cases. It is
known that optimal designs for the hose model are always determined by
single-hub routing, and for the fixed- demand model are based on shortest-path
routing. We shed light on the wider space of capped hose matrices in order to
see which traffic models are more shortest path-like as opposed to hub-like. To
address the space in between, we use hierarchical multi-hub routing templates,
a generalization of hub and tree routing. In particular, we show that by adding
peak capacities into the hose model, the single-hub tree-routing template is no
longer cost-effective. This initiates the study of a class of robust network
design (RND) problems restricted to these templates. Our empirical analysis is
based on a heuristic for this new hierarchical RND problem. We also propose
that it is possible to define a routing indicator that accounts for the
strengths of the marginals and peak demands and use this information to choose
the appropriate routing template. We benchmark our approach against other
well-known routing templates, using representative carrier networks and a
variety of different capped hose traffic demands, parameterized by the relative
importance of their marginals as opposed to their point-to-point peak demands
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