Aspect-oriented interaction in multi-organisational web-based systems

Separation of concerns has been presented as a promising tool to tackle the design of complex systems in which cross-cutting properties that do not fit into the scope of a class must be satisfied. Unfortunately, current proposals assume that objects interact by means of object-oriented method calls, which implies that they embed interactions with others into their functional code. This makes them dependent on this interaction model, and makes it difficult to reuse them in a context in which another interaction model is more suited, e.g., tuple spaces, multiparty meetings, ports, and so forth. In this paper, we show that functionality can be described separately from the interaction model used, which helps enhance reusability of functional code and coordination patterns. Our proposal is innovative in that it is the first that achieves a clear separation between functionality and interaction in an aspect-oriented manner. In order to show that it is feasible, we adapted the multiparty interaction model to the context of multiorganisational web-based systems and developed a class framework to build business objects whose performance rates comparably to handmade implementations; the development time, however, decreases significantly.Comisión Interministerial de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2000-1106-C02-0

Faculty attitudes toward technology -based distance education at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas

The purpose of this study was to survey the attitudes of the teaching faculty of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas toward technology-based distance education, and to determine if the reported attitudes fell into the six factors of the Attitudinal Differences Model; A survey of the teaching faculty was done in the fall of 1997, and again in the spring of 1998, resulting in a 28.7% response rate. Factor analysis extracted three uncorrelated factors (Vision, Effectiveness, Barriers) which accounted for 56% of the variance in faculty self-reported attitudes. The seven research questions guiding this study were addressed, when appropriate, in reference to these extracted attitude factors; Faculty responding (N = 188) to the survey hold a slightly positive attitude toward distance education (median score = 3.24) without regard to age, gender, number of years teaching or tenure. Membership in a particular college was significant, at .05 alpha, only with the \u27Barriers\u27 attitude factor. The College of Education (most positive attitude) was significantly different from the College of Liberal Arts (more negative attitude) and the College of Science (most negative attitude); Support (administrative and technical) and training were found to be important, yet lacKing Incentives focused on reward systems and student needs (especially in rural Nevada), while deterrents focused on lack of knowledge and questions of effectiveness. Peers were the greatest and most influential source of distance education information, and experience as a student or as an instructor was significantly related, at .05 alpha, only to the \u27Barriers\u27 attitude factor; The Attitudinal Differences Model combines six interrelated elements to explain attitude. This study supports ADM elements exposure, peer influence, incentives and opportunity, finding them to be part of the operating environment that shapes the attitude, rather than an integral aspect of attitude itself. Elements \u27Need\u27 and \u27Barriers\u27 were found to be the extracted factors \u27Vision\u27 and \u27Barriers\u27, integral aspects of attitude itself; Overall, there is faculty interest, as evidenced by 66% of respondents willing to teach a distance education class in the future; however, there is a lack of: (1) reliable information, (2) administrative and technical support, (3) faculty development opportunities or programs, and (4) both extrinsic and intrinsic rewards

Annual Report of Research and Creative Productions by Faculty and Staff, January to December, 2019

Annual Report of Research and Creative Productions by Faculty and Staff, January to December, 2019

New Cryptographic Algorithms for Enhancing Security of Voice Data

A real-time application Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is the technology that enables voice packets transmission over internet protocol (IP). Security is of concern whenever open networks are to be used. In general, the real-time applications suffer from packet latency and loss due to the nature of IP network. Cryptographic systems may be used to achieve VoIP security, but their impact on the Quality of Services (QoS) should be minimized. Most of the known encryption algorithms are computationally expensive resulting in a significant amount of time added to packet delay. VoIP is usually used by public users resulting in a key exchange problem and a trusted intermediate authority normally takes this responsibility. In this research, VoIP security was enhanced via a proposed cryptographic system. The proposed solution consists of a simple, but strong encryption/decryption algorithm as well as an embedded method to exchange the keys between the users. In this research, a new keys is generated in a random fashion and then used to encrypt each new voice packet to strengthen the security level. Key exchange is carried out by inserting the key with the ciphered voice packet that depends on the table of the key positions at the sender and receiver sides, and the target receiver is the only one who is able to extract the key. The encryption process in this research is divided into three main stages: key generation, encryption process, and key insertion process. The decryption process on the other hand is divided into two main stages: key extraction process, and decryption process. The proposed solution was implemented and tested and the results showed that the required time for the security processes is minimized compared to some known algorithms such as AES_Rijndael algorithm. Furthermore, the analysis has proved that the security level has a direct relationship to the key length and the voice packet size in that large packet size requires more processing time. Finally, the implementation result in this research shows the average time needed to encrypt and decrypt a voice packet size using a proposed algorithm with the long key of 1024-bits is much smaller than AES_Rijndael algorithm with a short key length of 128-bits

Welcome, fellow toastmasters : The history and membership of a public speaking phenomenon

Since 1905, Toastmasters International (TI) serves as the most recognized organization for voluntary oral communication practice in the world. Due to the dearth of scholarly communication research regarding TI, this thesis details the history, educational structure, and program dynamics of the organization. Literature review included the nature and extent of post-secondary communication education, as well as social affiliation and leisure theories. Finally, an Internet survey of 343 international TI members revealed the demographics of the typical TI member: a male or female college graduate between the ages of 36--50, who works in a wide range of professions. The study also indicated that participants mainly join TI for professional purposes or for self-fulfillment. Similarly, participants remain in the organization for personal fulfillment and friendships. The author concluded that TI remains a fertile research area for communication scholars, particularly communication professors\u27 perceptions of the organization, and longitudinal membership studies