Project Final Report Final Publishable Summary Report

This document is the final publishable summary report, part of the CONNECT final report

Evolution of security engineering artifacts: a state of the art survey

Security is an important quality aspect of modern open software systems. However, it is challenging to keep such systems secure because of evolution. Security evolution can only be managed adequately if it is considered for all artifacts throughout the software development lifecycle. This article provides state of the art on the evolution of security engineering artifacts. The article covers the state of the art on evolution of security requirements, security architectures, secure code, security tests, security models, and security risks as well as security monitoring. For each of these artifacts the authors give an overview of evolution and security aspects and discuss the state of the art on its security evolution in detail. Based on this comprehensive survey, they summarize key issues and discuss directions of future research

Designing emergent business process: the case of the foreign procurement process of Kuwait ministry of defence

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonBusiness processes can be divided into standardisable and non-standardisable processes. Such processes are characterised by their activities, events, states and time-points. The conditions in which process activities, events, states and time-points occur determines how they are observed, recorded and acted upon. Under predictable and stable conditions an observer can record them by predetermining them and this can be done using existing process design approaches and methodologies. Such processes are termed standardisable processes; for example a process for manufacturing cars. However, under unpredictable and unstable conditions an observer cannot record them by predetermining all the possible events, because uncertainty leads to unpredictable events occurring. Such processes are termed non-standardisable processes and in this thesis as emergent processes; for example special engineering projects like building the Channel Tunnel. Therefore, a new approach is required for designing non-standardisable processes. Process events are significant because the observer notices and records them. Significantly, the observer of events also has to act on them. Whether process events occur in predictable and stable conditions or unpredictable and unstable conditions, makes a difference to how an observer notices, records and acts on them. This is highly significant for this thesis argument, because as non-standardisable process events can be unexpected and unpredictable or emergent a new approach is required to design them. This thesis advances knowledge of designing non-standardisable processes by conceptualising them as emergent business processes (EBP) and contributing a new approach for designing them using action research and the deferred design approach as a process design methodology. Uncertain and unpredictable conditions is characterised here as emergence. The observer cannot predetermine all the possible process events for processes that operate in emergent conditions and cannot determine how to act upon unpredictable process events, because some events will be predictable and others unpredictable. The pragmatist research methodology was used to research to identify and resolve the problem with EBP in the Foreign Procurement Division (FPD) of the Kuwait Ministry of Defence. It was also used an approach for designing EBP. The research contributes the new understanding of non-standardisable processes as emergent business processes. This is a significant contribution because it is conceptualisation that is not found in the literature. This conceptualisation recognises the need to find new approaches for designing and implementing EBP. Therefore, the research also contributes a new approach for designing EBP using the action research methodology as a process design methodology

Engineering Self-Adaptive Collective Processes for Cyber-Physical Ecosystems

The pervasiveness of computing and networking is creating significant opportunities for building valuable socio-technical systems. However, the scale, density, heterogeneity, interdependence, and QoS constraints of many target systems pose severe operational and engineering challenges. Beyond individual smart devices, cyber-physical collectives can provide services or solve complex problems by leveraging a “system effect” while coordinating and adapting to context or environment change. Understanding and building systems exhibiting collective intelligence and autonomic capabilities represent a prominent research goal, partly covered, e.g., by the field of collective adaptive systems. Therefore, drawing inspiration from and building on the long-time research activity on coordination, multi-agent systems, autonomic/self-* systems, spatial computing, and especially on the recent aggregate computing paradigm, this thesis investigates concepts, methods, and tools for the engineering of possibly large-scale, heterogeneous ensembles of situated components that should be able to operate, adapt and self-organise in a decentralised fashion. The primary contribution of this thesis consists of four main parts. First, we define and implement an aggregate programming language (ScaFi), internal to the mainstream Scala programming language, for describing collective adaptive behaviour, based on field calculi. Second, we conceive of a “dynamic collective computation” abstraction, also called aggregate process, formalised by an extension to the field calculus, and implemented in ScaFi. Third, we characterise and provide a proof-of-concept implementation of a middleware for aggregate computing that enables the development of aggregate systems according to multiple architectural styles. Fourth, we apply and evaluate aggregate computing techniques to edge computing scenarios, and characterise a design pattern, called Self-organising Coordination Regions (SCR), that supports adjustable, decentralised decision-making and activity in dynamic environments.Con lo sviluppo di informatica e intelligenza artificiale, la diffusione pervasiva di device computazionali e la crescente interconnessione tra elementi fisici e digitali, emergono innumerevoli opportunità per la costruzione di sistemi socio-tecnici di nuova generazione. Tuttavia, l'ingegneria di tali sistemi presenta notevoli sfide, data la loro complessità—si pensi ai livelli, scale, eterogeneità, e interdipendenze coinvolti. Oltre a dispositivi smart individuali, collettivi cyber-fisici possono fornire servizi o risolvere problemi complessi con un “effetto sistema” che emerge dalla coordinazione e l'adattamento di componenti fra loro, l'ambiente e il contesto. Comprendere e costruire sistemi in grado di esibire intelligenza collettiva e capacità autonomiche è un importante problema di ricerca studiato, ad esempio, nel campo dei sistemi collettivi adattativi. Perciò, traendo ispirazione e partendo dall'attività di ricerca su coordinazione, sistemi multiagente e self-*, modelli di computazione spazio-temporali e, specialmente, sul recente paradigma di programmazione aggregata, questa tesi tratta concetti, metodi, e strumenti per l'ingegneria di ensemble di elementi situati eterogenei che devono essere in grado di lavorare, adattarsi, e auto-organizzarsi in modo decentralizzato. Il contributo di questa tesi consiste in quattro parti principali. In primo luogo, viene definito e implementato un linguaggio di programmazione aggregata (ScaFi), interno al linguaggio Scala, per descrivere comportamenti collettivi e adattativi secondo l'approccio dei campi computazionali. In secondo luogo, si propone e caratterizza l'astrazione di processo aggregato per rappresentare computazioni collettive dinamiche concorrenti, formalizzata come estensione al field calculus e implementata in ScaFi. Inoltre, si analizza e implementa un prototipo di middleware per sistemi aggregati, in grado di supportare più stili architetturali. Infine, si applicano e valutano tecniche di programmazione aggregata in scenari di edge computing, e si propone un pattern, Self-Organising Coordination Regions, per supportare, in modo decentralizzato, attività decisionali e di regolazione in ambienti dinamici

Human Practice. Digital Ecologies. Our Future. : 14. Internationale Tagung Wirtschaftsinformatik (WI 2019) : Tagungsband

Erschienen bei: universi - Universitätsverlag Siegen. - ISBN: 978-3-96182-063-4Aus dem Inhalt: Track 1: Produktion & Cyber-Physische Systeme Requirements and a Meta Model for Exchanging Additive Manufacturing Capacities Service Systems, Smart Service Systems and Cyber- Physical Systems—What’s the difference? Towards a Unified Terminology Developing an Industrial IoT Platform – Trade-off between Horizontal and Vertical Approaches Machine Learning und Complex Event Processing: Effiziente Echtzeitauswertung am Beispiel Smart Factory Sensor retrofit for a coffee machine as condition monitoring and predictive maintenance use case Stakeholder-Analyse zum Einsatz IIoT-basierter Frischeinformationen in der Lebensmittelindustrie Towards a Framework for Predictive Maintenance Strategies in Mechanical Engineering - A Method-Oriented Literature Analysis Development of a matching platform for the requirement-oriented selection of cyber physical systems for SMEs Track 2: Logistic Analytics An Empirical Study of Customers’ Behavioral Intention to Use Ridepooling Services – An Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model Modeling Delay Propagation and Transmission in Railway Networks What is the impact of company specific adjustments on the acceptance and diffusion of logistic standards? Robust Route Planning in Intermodal Urban Traffic Track 3: Unternehmensmodellierung & Informationssystemgestaltung (Enterprise Modelling & Information Systems Design) Work System Modeling Method with Different Levels of Specificity and Rigor for Different Stakeholder Purposes Resolving Inconsistencies in Declarative Process Models based on Culpability Measurement Strategic Analysis in the Realm of Enterprise Modeling – On the Example of Blockchain-Based Initiatives for the Electricity Sector Zwischenbetriebliche Integration in der Möbelbranche: Konfigurationen und Einflussfaktoren Novices’ Quality Perceptions and the Acceptance of Process Modeling Grammars Entwicklung einer Definition für Social Business Objects (SBO) zur Modellierung von Unternehmensinformationen Designing a Reference Model for Digital Product Configurators Terminology for Evolving Design Artifacts Business Role-Object Specification: A Language for Behavior-aware Structural Modeling of Business Objects Generating Smart Glasses-based Information Systems with BPMN4SGA: A BPMN Extension for Smart Glasses Applications Using Blockchain in Peer-to-Peer Carsharing to Build Trust in the Sharing Economy Testing in Big Data: An Architecture Pattern for a Development Environment for Innovative, Integrated and Robust Applications Track 4: Lern- und Wissensmanagement (e-Learning and Knowledge Management) eGovernment Competences revisited – A Literature Review on necessary Competences in a Digitalized Public Sector Say Hello to Your New Automated Tutor – A Structured Literature Review on Pedagogical Conversational Agents Teaching the Digital Transformation of Business Processes: Design of a Simulation Game for Information Systems Education Conceptualizing Immersion for Individual Learning in Virtual Reality Designing a Flipped Classroom Course – a Process Model The Influence of Risk-Taking on Knowledge Exchange and Combination Gamified Feedback durch Avatare im Mobile Learning Alexa, Can You Help Me Solve That Problem? - Understanding the Value of Smart Personal Assistants as Tutors for Complex Problem Tasks Track 5: Data Science & Business Analytics Matching with Bundle Preferences: Tradeoff between Fairness and Truthfulness Applied image recognition: guidelines for using deep learning models in practice Yield Prognosis for the Agrarian Management of Vineyards using Deep Learning for Object Counting Reading Between the Lines of Qualitative Data – How to Detect Hidden Structure Based on Codes Online Auctions with Dual-Threshold Algorithms: An Experimental Study and Practical Evaluation Design Features of Non-Financial Reward Programs for Online Reviews: Evaluation based on Google Maps Data Topic Embeddings – A New Approach to Classify Very Short Documents Based on Predefined Topics Leveraging Unstructured Image Data for Product Quality Improvement Decision Support for Real Estate Investors: Improving Real Estate Valuation with 3D City Models and Points of Interest Knowledge Discovery from CVs: A Topic Modeling Procedure Online Product Descriptions – Boost for your Sales? Entscheidungsunterstützung durch historienbasierte Dienstreihenfolgeplanung mit Pattern A Semi-Automated Approach for Generating Online Review Templates Machine Learning goes Measure Management: Leveraging Anomaly Detection and Parts Search to Improve Product-Cost Optimization Bedeutung von Predictive Analytics für den theoretischen Erkenntnisgewinn in der IS-Forschung Track 6: Digitale Transformation und Dienstleistungen Heuristic Theorizing in Software Development: Deriving Design Principles for Smart Glasses-based Systems Mirroring E-service for Brick and Mortar Retail: An Assessment and Survey Taxonomy of Digital Platforms: A Platform Architecture Perspective Value of Star Players in the Digital Age Local Shopping Platforms – Harnessing Locational Advantages for the Digital Transformation of Local Retail Outlets: A Content Analysis A Socio-Technical Approach to Manage Analytics-as-a-Service – Results of an Action Design Research Project Characterizing Approaches to Digital Transformation: Development of a Taxonomy of Digital Units Expectations vs. Reality – Benefits of Smart Services in the Field of Tension between Industry and Science Innovation Networks and Digital Innovation: How Organizations Use Innovation Networks in a Digitized Environment Characterising Social Reading Platforms— A Taxonomy-Based Approach to Structure the Field Less Complex than Expected – What Really Drives IT Consulting Value Modularity Canvas – A Framework for Visualizing Potentials of Service Modularity Towards a Conceptualization of Capabilities for Innovating Business Models in the Industrial Internet of Things A Taxonomy of Barriers to Digital Transformation Ambidexterity in Service Innovation Research: A Systematic Literature Review Design and success factors of an online solution for cross-pillar pension information Track 7: IT-Management und -Strategie A Frugal Support Structure for New Software Implementations in SMEs How to Structure a Company-wide Adoption of Big Data Analytics The Changing Roles of Innovation Actors and Organizational Antecedents in the Digital Age Bewertung des Kundennutzens von Chatbots für den Einsatz im Servicedesk Understanding the Benefits of Agile Software Development in Regulated Environments Are Employees Following the Rules? On the Effectiveness of IT Consumerization Policies Agile and Attached: The Impact of Agile Practices on Agile Team Members’ Affective Organisational Commitment The Complexity Trap – Limits of IT Flexibility for Supporting Organizational Agility in Decentralized Organizations Platform Openness: A Systematic Literature Review and Avenues for Future Research Competence, Fashion and the Case of Blockchain The Digital Platform Otto.de: A Case Study of Growth, Complexity, and Generativity Track 8: eHealth & alternde Gesellschaft Security and Privacy of Personal Health Records in Cloud Computing Environments – An Experimental Exploration of the Impact of Storage Solutions and Data Breaches Patientenintegration durch Pfadsysteme Digitalisierung in der Stressprävention – eine qualitative Interviewstudie zu Nutzenpotenzialen User Dynamics in Mental Health Forums – A Sentiment Analysis Perspective Intent and the Use of Wearables in the Workplace – A Model Development Understanding Patient Pathways in the Context of Integrated Health Care Services - Implications from a Scoping Review Understanding the Habitual Use of Wearable Activity Trackers On the Fit in Fitness Apps: Studying the Interaction of Motivational Affordances and Users’ Goal Orientations in Affecting the Benefits Gained Gamification in Health Behavior Change Support Systems - A Synthesis of Unintended Side Effects Investigating the Influence of Information Incongruity on Trust-Relations within Trilateral Healthcare Settings Track 9: Krisen- und Kontinuitätsmanagement Potentiale von IKT beim Ausfall kritischer Infrastrukturen: Erwartungen, Informationsgewinnung und Mediennutzung der Zivilbevölkerung in Deutschland Fake News Perception in Germany: A Representative Study of People’s Attitudes and Approaches to Counteract Disinformation Analyzing the Potential of Graphical Building Information for Fire Emergency Responses: Findings from a Controlled Experiment Track 10: Human-Computer Interaction Towards a Taxonomy of Platforms for Conversational Agent Design Measuring Service Encounter Satisfaction with Customer Service Chatbots using Sentiment Analysis Self-Tracking and Gamification: Analyzing the Interplay of Motivations, Usage and Motivation Fulfillment Erfolgsfaktoren von Augmented-Reality-Applikationen: Analyse von Nutzerrezensionen mit dem Review-Mining-Verfahren Designing Dynamic Decision Support for Electronic Requirements Negotiations Who is Stressed by Using ICTs? A Qualitative Comparison Analysis with the Big Five Personality Traits to Understand Technostress Walking the Middle Path: How Medium Trade-Off Exposure Leads to Higher Consumer Satisfaction in Recommender Agents Theory-Based Affordances of Utilitarian, Hedonic and Dual-Purposed Technologies: A Literature Review Eliciting Customer Preferences for Shopping Companion Apps: A Service Quality Approach The Role of Early User Participation in Discovering Software – A Case Study from the Context of Smart Glasses The Fluidity of the Self-Concept as a Framework to Explain the Motivation to Play Video Games Heart over Heels? An Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Emotions and Review Helpfulness for Experience and Credence Goods Track 11: Information Security and Information Privacy Unfolding Concerns about Augmented Reality Technologies: A Qualitative Analysis of User Perceptions To (Psychologically) Own Data is to Protect Data: How Psychological Ownership Determines Protective Behavior in a Work and Private Context Understanding Data Protection Regulations from a Data Management Perspective: A Capability-Based Approach to EU-GDPR On the Difficulties of Incentivizing Online Privacy through Transparency: A Qualitative Survey of the German Health Insurance Market What is Your Selfie Worth? A Field Study on Individuals’ Valuation of Personal Data Justification of Mass Surveillance: A Quantitative Study An Exploratory Study of Risk Perception for Data Disclosure to a Network of Firms Track 12: Umweltinformatik und nachhaltiges Wirtschaften Kommunikationsfäden im Nadelöhr – Fachliche Prozessmodellierung der Nachhaltigkeitskommunikation am Kapitalmarkt Potentiale und Herausforderungen der Materialflusskostenrechnung Computing Incentives for User-Based Relocation in Carsharing Sustainability’s Coming Home: Preliminary Design Principles for the Sustainable Smart District Substitution of hazardous chemical substances using Deep Learning and t-SNE A Hierarchy of DSMLs in Support of Product Life-Cycle Assessment A Survey of Smart Energy Services for Private Households Door-to-Door Mobility Integrators as Keystone Organizations of Smart Ecosystems: Resources and Value Co-Creation – A Literature Review Ein Entscheidungsunterstützungssystem zur ökonomischen Bewertung von Mieterstrom auf Basis der Clusteranalyse Discovering Blockchain for Sustainable Product-Service Systems to enhance the Circular Economy Digitale Rückverfolgbarkeit von Lebensmitteln: Eine verbraucherinformatische Studie Umweltbewusstsein durch audiovisuelles Content Marketing? Eine experimentelle Untersuchung zur Konsumentenbewertung nachhaltiger Smartphones Towards Predictive Energy Management in Information Systems: A Research Proposal A Web Browser-Based Application for Processing and Analyzing Material Flow Models using the MFCA Methodology Track 13: Digital Work - Social, mobile, smart On Conversational Agents in Information Systems Research: Analyzing the Past to Guide Future Work The Potential of Augmented Reality for Improving Occupational First Aid Prevent a Vicious Circle! The Role of Organizational IT-Capability in Attracting IT-affine Applicants Good, Bad, or Both? Conceptualization and Measurement of Ambivalent User Attitudes Towards AI A Case Study on Cross-Hierarchical Communication in Digital Work Environments ‘Show Me Your People Skills’ - Employing CEO Branding for Corporate Reputation Management in Social Media A Multiorganisational Study of the Drivers and Barriers of Enterprise Collaboration Systems-Enabled Change The More the Merrier? The Effect of Size of Core Team Subgroups on Success of Open Source Projects The Impact of Anthropomorphic and Functional Chatbot Design Features in Enterprise Collaboration Systems on User Acceptance Digital Feedback for Digital Work? Affordances and Constraints of a Feedback App at InsurCorp The Effect of Marker-less Augmented Reality on Task and Learning Performance Antecedents for Cyberloafing – A Literature Review Internal Crowd Work as a Source of Empowerment - An Empirical Analysis of the Perception of Employees in a Crowdtesting Project Track 14: Geschäftsmodelle und digitales Unternehmertum Dividing the ICO Jungle: Extracting and Evaluating Design Archetypes Capturing Value from Data: Exploring Factors Influencing Revenue Model Design for Data-Driven Services Understanding the Role of Data for Innovating Business Models: A System Dynamics Perspective Business Model Innovation and Stakeholder: Exploring Mechanisms and Outcomes of Value Creation and Destruction Business Models for Internet of Things Platforms: Empirical Development of a Taxonomy and Archetypes Revitalizing established Industrial Companies: State of the Art and Success Principles of Digital Corporate Incubators When 1+1 is Greater than 2: Concurrence of Additional Digital and Established Business Models within Companies Special Track 1: Student Track Investigating Personalized Price Discrimination of Textile-, Electronics- and General Stores in German Online Retail From Facets to a Universal Definition – An Analysis of IoT Usage in Retail Is the Technostress Creators Inventory Still an Up-To-Date Measurement Instrument? Results of a Large-Scale Interview Study Application of Media Synchronicity Theory to Creative Tasks in Virtual Teams Using the Example of Design Thinking TrustyTweet: An Indicator-based Browser-Plugin to Assist Users in Dealing with Fake News on Twitter Application of Process Mining Techniques to Support Maintenance-Related Objectives How Voice Can Change Customer Satisfaction: A Comparative Analysis between E-Commerce and Voice Commerce Business Process Compliance and Blockchain: How Does the Ethereum Blockchain Address Challenges of Business Process Compliance? Improving Business Model Configuration through a Question-based Approach The Influence of Situational Factors and Gamification on Intrinsic Motivation and Learning Evaluation von ITSM-Tools für Integration und Management von Cloud-Diensten am Beispiel von ServiceNow How Software Promotes the Integration of Sustainability in Business Process Management Criteria Catalog for Industrial IoT Platforms from the Perspective of the Machine Tool Industry Special Track 3: Demos & Prototyping Privacy-friendly User Location Tracking with Smart Devices: The BeaT Prototype Application-oriented robotics in nursing homes Augmented Reality for Set-up Processe Mixed Reality for supporting Remote-Meetings Gamification zur Motivationssteigerung von Werkern bei der Betriebsdatenerfassung Automatically Extracting and Analyzing Customer Needs from Twitter: A “Needmining” Prototype GaNEsHA: Opportunities for Sustainable Transportation in Smart Cities TUCANA: A platform for using local processing power of edge devices for building data-driven services Demonstrator zur Beschreibung und Visualisierung einer kritischen Infrastruktur Entwicklung einer alltagsnahen persuasiven App zur Bewegungsmotivation für ältere Nutzerinnen und Nutzer A browser-based modeling tool for studying the learning of conceptual modeling based on a multi-modal data collection approach Exergames & Dementia: An interactive System for People with Dementia and their Care-Network Workshops Workshop Ethics and Morality in Business Informatics (Workshop Ethik und Moral in der Wirtschaftsinformatik – EMoWI’19) Model-Based Compliance in Information Systems - Foundations, Case Description and Data Set of the MobIS-Challenge for Students and Doctoral Candidates Report of the Workshop on Concepts and Methods of Identifying Digital Potentials in Information Management Control of Systemic Risks in Global Networks - A Grand Challenge to Information Systems Research Die Mitarbeiter von morgen - Kompetenzen künftiger Mitarbeiter im Bereich Business Analytics Digitaler Konsum: Herausforderungen und Chancen der Verbraucherinformati

Imagination and Science in Romanticism

How did the idea of the imagination impact Romantic literature and science?2018 Winner, Jean-Pierre Barricelli Book Prize, The International Conference on RomanticismRichard C. Sha argues that scientific understandings of the imagination indelibly shaped literary Romanticism. Challenging the idea that the imagination found a home only on the side of the literary, as a mental vehicle for transcending the worldly materials of the sciences, Sha shows how imagination helped to operationalize both scientific and literary discovery. Essentially, the imagination forced writers to consider the difference between what was possible and impossible while thinking about how that difference could be known. Sha examines how the imagination functioned within physics and chemistry in Percy Bysshe Shelley's Prometheus Unbound, neurology in Blake's Vala, or The Four Zoas, physiology in Coleridge's Biographia Literaria, and obstetrics and embryology in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He also demonstrates how the imagination was called upon to do aesthetic and scientific work using primary examples taken from the work of scientists and philosophers Davy, Dalton, Faraday, Priestley, Kant, Mary Somerville, Oersted, Marcet, Smellie, Swedenborg, Blumenbach, Buffon, Erasmus Darwin, and Von Baer, among others. Sha concludes that both fields benefited from thinking about how imagination could cooperate with reason—but that this partnership was impossible unless imagination's penchant for fantasy could be contained

Realism, Storytelling and User Experience in HMD-based eXtended Reality for Holocaust Museum

Due to the COVID-19 lockdowns and travel restrictions, the demand for remote museum visiting experiences has increased. Fortunately, technologies like Head Mounted Display (HMD)-based Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have made HMD-based eXtended Reality Museum (HXRM) experiences possible. HXRMs can be one of or a combination of the following: an HMD-based AR museum for on-site experience, or an HMDbased VR museum and an HMD-based Augmented Virtuality (AV) museum for remote online access. HXRM is a new approach for museums to enhance user experience while increasing learning outcomes and accessibility. Though there has been some previous research for HXRM, gaps still exist in the interactive narrative and user experience of HXRM. Thus, this study proposes following three Research Questions (RQ): (1) What is the difference between the impact of NUI and GUI on user experience in the HMD-based AR museum? (2) What is the user experience difference between HMD VR and HMD AV as the medium for XR remotesite museums? (3) How is the user acceptance of HMD-based remote-site XR museums? Based the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and several user experience theories, the author proposed a user experience model for HXRM, an uncanny valley framework for realistic CG character, and an interactive narrative model. Then, in collaboration with National Holocaust Centre and Museum, The Extended Journey project was initiated. The project included an AR HoloLens application, The AR Journey, and a VR application, The Virtual Journey, that can be deployed on AR headsets like HoloLens and VR headsets like HTC Vive, respectively. The Extended Journey is an interactive narrative experience that presents the story of a fictional Jewish boy named Leo using virtual CG characters and environments, allowing the audience to participate in his story from the second-person-view. The audience can not only decide the direction of the storyline by helping Leo make choices, but they could also inspect the environments and objects within them to learn the stories behind them. Three experiments were then conducted using The Extended Journey, and a mixed approach of quantitative and qualitative methods were used for analysis. In experiment 1, a between-subjects design was conducted to answer RQ1, and the results showed that the influence of interaction mapping on presences and narrative engagement for an HMD-based AR museum experience is moderated by prior game experience. In experiments 2 and 3, a between-subjects design and a within-subjects design were performed together to answer RQ 2 and RQ 3. The results showed that HMD VR can produce better narrative immersion, presence, and enjoyment, while also increasing CG characters’ affinities compared to HMD AV in XR remote-site museums. The data analysis also showed narrative-based HXRM had high user acceptance, within which HMD VR demonstrated significantly higher user acceptance levels than HMD AV for remote-site HXRM. Experiments 2 and 3 verified all the hypotheses for the mechanism behind the extended TAM via regression analysis, confirming the influence of the four external factors of narrative engagement, presence, interactivity, and CG characters’ affinity. In addition, the analysis also revealed two other potential external factors with influence over the extended TAM: use environment and device ergonomics. Two independent variables, learning interest and prior game experience, were found to have an impact on these external factors. Finally, the author summarised the design guidelines for HXRM and provide an outlook on the limitations and potential future work of this study

As Below So Above: Reconstructing the Neo-Babylonian Worldview

To add to our knowledge about a Near Eastern culture, this project examines through textual evidence how the early first millennium BCE Neo-Babylonians thought, reasoned, and wrote in order to partially reconstruct the shared, generally held worldview of the Neo-Babylonian people using the transdisciplinary approach of worldview analysis. Worldviews are what we use to think with, not what we think about. Underlying surficial cultural behaviors are deeper levels of cognition regarding how to reason, perceive the world, prioritize values, prescribe behavior, and explain all of life. Specifically, this work examines the language and logic reflected in the textual archive, believing that this is the foundational level of any worldview. I argue that one finds two related components: (1) that they were linguistically programmed to be attuned to the full context over particularities, verbal actions over agential subjects, the continuity of substances over discrete objects, the standard use of maleness over femaleness, and the affective power of spoken or written words, and (2) that they were logically programmed to prefer gradations over distinctions, functional properties over inherent attributes, radials and/or rhizomes over linearity, and relationships and/or comparisons over abstractions and algorithms. By addressing this underlying, implicit cognitive software the Neo-Babylonians used, one is better able to understand the society’s more observable and obvious religious, ethical, legal, political, and social features. This has the potential to present a more contextualized view of Neo-Babylonian civilization. Reconstructing the ancient Neo-Babylonian worldview allows scholars to compare and contrast the linguistic and logical features to other ancient nearby cultures in order to understand continuities and differences and what accounts for them. One can open a dialogue between these ancient societies at a deeper level. It demonstrates the uniqueness of Neo-Babylonia. And it provides a basis for understanding how Neo-Babylonians contributed to the roots of Western civilization and thought. Most current worldview analysis examines modern or postmodern worldviews. By examining an ancient worldview, one can begin to more clearly understand any common aspects which exist for all worldviews and any elements that exist in ancient ones which are missing from cataloging more modern worldviews. Thus, the cataloging of an ancient worldview helps to open new vistas within worldview studies. This study invites similar ones within ancient Near Eastern studies and within ancient studies in general

Exploring Accounting Students' Interaction with Their Assessment Feedback in a UK Post-92 University

This thesis offers a holistic insight into the expectations and experiences of university students in relation to academic feedback. The subjects are a diverse group of first year accounting and finance students in a post-92 university. What is identified and examined here is the lifeworld of a student studying within the current politicalised higher education environment. Many assumptions evident in the literature relating to students’ attitudes and feelings about feedback are challenged. The approach adopted to develop this research is based on Layder’s (1998) ‘adaptive theory’ combining existing social theory with my empirical data to identify and reconcile the impact of the observable social world on the lived experience of our students. A student’s habitus (Bourdieu, 1977) and prior educational experiences often means she is unprepared for university study which results in a difficult and often painful transition. Building strong relationships with peers and academics is one of the most important components of student success, but many academics are often unaware of the reality of these students’ lived experiences, neither are they aware of the possible impact the structures, regulations and overall power of the institution can have on students. This research establishes a link between students’ pre-conceived ideas and expectations and their transition into university. Failure on the part of the institution to respond and manage students’ expectations can lead to growing dissatisfaction with their academic experience which manifests itself in dissatisfaction with assessment, feedback and other aspects of their early experience. When a young, often disadvantaged student attends university she may already have overcome multiple obstacles: poor schooling; poor housing; limited financial resources; and a general lack of higher education knowledge. This research identifies the vast chasm in our understanding of students’ needs and expectations. This study challenges the reliability and usefulness of using a broad range of metrics as proxies for learning, student satisfaction and quality assurance during a period when 4 metrics and benchmarks are being used to shape education. The underpinning rhetoric and ideology which informs political decisions is flawed. The study challenges the current performative approach to providing feedback and measuring effectiveness. Contrary to the classical concept of rational economic man many people’s choices are restricted to a simple satisficing1 strategy because their academic ambition is bounded by cognitive limits because they have not had access to all the cultural and social capitals which might have shaped their decisions and prepared them for their university experiences differently. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological concepts of habitus, capital and disposition (Bourdieu, 1977a), I reposition assessment and feedback within the wider context of the students’ life experiences and identify the limitations imposed on these students, first by their past and then by universities’ failure to position their higher education provision within a framework in which these adolescents can develop and grow within a suitable supportive environment which recognises and accepts who they actually are. Such an approach to their higher education experiences will begin to redress the issue of feedback in accounting