DESIGN AND EXPLORATION OF NEW MODELS FOR SECURITY AND PRIVACY-SENSITIVE COLLABORATION SYSTEMS

Collaboration has been an area of interest in many domains including education, research, healthcare supply chain, Internet of things, and music etc. It enhances problem solving through expertise sharing, ideas sharing, learning and resource sharing, and improved decision making. To address the limitations in the existing literature, this dissertation presents a design science artifact and a conceptual model for collaborative environment. The first artifact is a blockchain based collaborative information exchange system that utilizes blockchain technology and semi-automated ontology mappings to enable secure and interoperable health information exchange among different health care institutions. The conceptual model proposed in this dissertation explores the factors that influences professionals continued use of video- conferencing applications. The conceptual model investigates the role the perceived risks and benefits play in influencing professionals’ attitude towards VC apps and consequently its active and automatic use

Spatial Aspects of Metaphors for Information: Implications for Polycentric System Design

This dissertation presents three innovations that suggest an alternative approach to structuring information systems: a multidimensional heuristic workspace, a resonance metaphor for information, and a question-centered approach to structuring information relations. Motivated by the need for space to establish a question-centered learning environment, a heuristic workspace has been designed. Both the question-centered approach to information system design and the workspace have been conceived with the resonance metaphor in mind. This research stemmed from a set of questions aimed at learning how spatial concepts and related factors including geography may play a role in information sharing and public information access. In early stages of this work these concepts and relationships were explored through qualitative analysis of interviews centered on local small group and community users of geospatial data. Evaluation of the interviews led to the conclusion that spatial concepts are pervasive in our language, and they apply equally to phenomena that would be considered physical and geographic as they do to cognitive and social domains. Rather than deriving metaphorically from the physical world to the human, spatial concepts are native to all dimensions of human life. This revised view of the metaphors of space was accompanied by a critical evaluation of the prevailing metaphors for information processes, the conduit and pathway metaphors, which led to the emergence of an alternative, resonance metaphor. Whereas the dominant metaphors emphasized information as object and the movement of objects and people through networks and other limitless information spaces, the resonance metaphor suggests the existence of multiple centers in dynamic proximity relationships. This pointed toward the creation of a space for autonomous problem solving that might be related to other spaces through proximity relationships. It is suggested that a spatial approach involving discrete, discontinuous structures may serve as an alternative to approaches involving movement and transportation. The federation of multiple autonomous problem-solving spaces, toward goals such as establishing communities of questioners, has become an objective of this work. Future work will aim at accomplishing this federation, most likely by means of the IS0 Topic Maps standard or similar semantic networking strategies

Interpretation: from audiences to user

In this thesis I primarily address those within media and communications studies who research mass media audiences and their engagement with a diverse range of texts. I ask in what ways our knowledge about the interpretation of genres, emergent from many decades of empirical research with mass media audiences, is useful in understanding engagement with new media. This conceptual task is pursued empirically by applying a conceptual repertoire derived from reception analysis to interviews with youthful users of the online genre of social networking sites (SNSs). The thesis presents findings on the heterogeneity of children’s experiences in using SNSs following their perceptions of authorial presence, their notions of others using the text, their expertise with the interface and pushing textual boundaries. I explore four tasks involved in the act of interpretation – those being intertextual, critical, collaborative and problem-resolving. In analysis, I also reflect on a selection of the core conceptual tools that have been animated in this thesis, in research design as well as analysis and interpretation. It is concluded that inherited concepts - text and interpretation, continue to be useful in extension from the world of television audiences to the world of the internet. Second, inherited priorities from audience reception research which connect clearly to the conversation on media and digital literacies prove to be important by connecting resistance and the broader task of critique to the demands of being analytical, evaluative and critical users of new media. Third, the notion of interpretation as work is useful overall, to retain in research with new media use, for there is a range of tasks and responsibilities involved in making sense of new media

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Playing the Field: An Australian Case Study of Student Popular Musicians’ Informal Learning in Senior Secondary Classroom Music Education

This thesis explores the field of classroom music education in order to foreground the learning experiences of student popular musicians. The Australian, New South Wales (NSW) context is well able to contribute to the global discussion that is underway in popular music education, as senior secondary curriculum here acknowledges the inclusion of students with “informal learning” backgrounds. Over the past decade, research globally has sought to qualify the nature of informal learning, and develop classroom pedagogies relevant to the study of popular music. Utilising these as a starting point, this thesis examines the relationship between these students’ informal learning and the dynamics of the formal classroom. Research was undertaken on three levels: historical, through an investigation of curriculum documents, reforms and matriculation trends; empirical, through a classroom research project exploring a range of informal and formal tasks; and theoretical, via an overarching explanatory tool known as Legitimation Code Theory (LCT). The research revealed that NSW curricular pathways and classroom pedagogies employed result in the maintenance of a ‘code’ distinction: cultivating traditional knowledge and skills for WAM, but not providing adequate knowledge-building opportunities for student popular musicians. Considering the range of cross-genre music-making evident in the study, and the delineation of a spectrum of knowledge and skills spanning code distinctions, findings highlight the need for a re-evaluation of NSW curriculum and pedagogy, with implications beyond the specificities of the case. A recognition and theorisation of the relationship between different forms of musical knowledge across the informal-formal range is believed to be key to providing both socially relevant, and epistemically challenging classroom music education inclusive of all students in the future

Persistoivan kognitiivisen dissonanssin ja ensimmäisen ohjelmointikurssin keskeytysmäärien vähentäminen käyttäen visuaalista debuggausassistenttia

Constructivism provides an excellent learning model but its methods are associated with high cognitive load, which is further increased by the inherent cognitive complexity of introductory computing courses (CS1). On the other hand, the introductory nature of CS1 means high variation in existing skills. This variation combined with external limitations and poor metacognitive skills can lead to unresolved conflicts and persisting cognitive dissonance. Persisting cognitive dissonance harmfully interacts with high cognitive load by further taxing working memory, preventing conflict resolution and leading into a vicious circle of accumulating cognitive dissonance. This work identifies three harmful interactions through which persisting dissonance damages learning in CS1 and further escalates the dissonance: resource depletion, excessive cognitive load and avoidance failure. The resulting accumulation of dissonance is destructive and inevitably leads to avoidance behavior that can culminate in the abandonment of the studies. Fortunately cognitive dissonance can be reduced by several techniques including positive framing and improving metacognitive skills. To demonstrate that many of these measures could be mediated by supporting scaffolds in the learning environment, this work proposes a prototype scaffold Eclipse DAPS (Debugging Assistant for Programming Students using Eclipse Python). DAPS provides assistance in debugging, one of the most difficult tasks a novice programmer must face. DAPS is a proof of concept intelligent tutoring system for teaching CS1 Python and aims to maintain student motivation by providing visualizations, metacognitive support and an integrated debugger. In addition, memorization techniques and easy repetition are used to improve knowledge encoding.Konstruktivismi tarjoaa erinomaisen oppimismallin, mutta sen metodit liitetään korkeaan kognitiiviseen taakkaan, jota lisää myös ohjelmoinnin alkeiskurssien korkea kognitiivinen monimutkaisuus. Toisaalta ohjelmoinnin alkeiskursseilla opiskelijoiden taidot vaihtelevat huomattavasti. Yhdistettynä sopeutumisrajoituksiin ja heikkoihin metakognitiivisiin taitoihin tämä variaatio voi johtaa sevittämättömiin konflikteihin ja siten myös persistoivaan kognitiiviseen dissonanssiin. Persistoiva kognitiivinen dissonanssi vuorovaikuttaa vahingollisesti kognitiivisen taakan kanssa kuluttamalla työmuistia ja estäen konfliktien ratkaisua ja johtaa lisääntyvän dissonanssin noidankehään. Tämä työ tunnistaa kolme vahingollista vuorovaikutusta, joiden kautta persistoiva dissonanssi heikentää aloittelevien ohjelmoijien oppimista ja edelleen lisää heidän dissonanssiaan: resurssien loppuminen, liiallinen kognitiivinen taakka ja välttämisen epäonnistuminen. Lopputuloksena syntyvä dissonanssin kertyminen on tuhoisaa ja johtaa väistämättä välttämiskäyttäytymiseen, joka voi huipentua kurssin keskeyttämiseen. Onneksi kognitiivista dissonanssia voidaan vähentää useilla tekniikoilla mukaan lukien positiivinen kehystäminen ja metakognitiivisten taitojen kehittäminen. DAPS (Debugging Assistant for Programming Students, debuggausassistentti ohjelmoinnin opiskelijoille) on älykkään opastusjärjestelmän prototyyppi, joka pyrkii tarjoamaan demonstraation kyseisten tekniikoiden ohjelmallisesta implementaatiosta. DAPS auttaa aloittelevia ohjelmoijia Python-kielisten ohjelmien debuggauksessa ja ylläpitää motivaatiota visualisaatioilla ja metakognitiivisella tuella. Lisäksi muistinnustekniikoita ja helppoa toistoa käytetään tehostamaan informaation muistiin koodamista

Approaching Cognitive-Behavioral & Existential Therapy through Neo-Confucianism

ABSTRACT Approaching Cognitive-Behavioral and Existential Therapy Through Neo-Confucianism (December 1984). Joffre Denis Meyer, B. A. Texas A&M University Chairman of Graduate Committee: Dr. William R. Nash The thesis is an effort to bring Neo-Confucian insights to modern cognitive- behavioral and existential therapy. The adaptability of Neo-Confucianism is illustrated through the growth-system inherent in its concepts. Frequently, Neo-Confucian sages and modern psychologists used virtually identical statements. Moreover, humanity faces the same basic issues while the particularizations vary. The importance of reason, manners, appropriate behavior and self-actualization remains constant. However, the methods of their attainment change with time. The history of the Confucian/Neo-Confucian tradition is filled with such conceptual modifications. Neo-Confucianism is a syncretic philosophy that utilized elements of Zen, Taoism, and Legalism within Confucian teachings. This adaptation increased the sages' ability to communicate with a wider range of people. In effect, the Neo-Confucian movement was perhaps the earliest practice of eclectic counseling. Neo-Confucianism itself has undergone development from its eleventh-century origins to the present-day scholarly journals. The researcher does not believe the key issue in inter- disciplinary studies is whether psychology is being applied to philosophy or vice-versa. Neo-Confucianism pragmatically asserts that the true test of a philosophy rests in its ability to help the individual. Mere intellectual exercise contradicts the unity of knowledge and action. The thesis has five chapters. The existential therapy chapter uses a predominantly Western psychology format while the cognitive-behavioral therapy chapter uses Wang Yang-ming's Four Axiom Teaching as an outline. The thesis also includes Neo-Confucian cognitive-moral development observations reminiscent of Lawrence Kohlberg's stage theories. Neo-Confucianism could be described as an education in evolving from preconventional to principled reasoning. Occasional parallels are drawn between process philosophy and Neo-Confucianism as well. There is also a chapter in which Confucian commentaries are provided to actual case studies faced by Albert Ellis and Maxie Maultsby. A Chinese glossary is provided at the end of the introduction. There are five figures in the text, two of which are summarizing models in the conclusion

An innovative practice assessment in nursing: exploring the contested relationship between assessment and learning in practice

This professional doctorate addresses a protracted challenge that is fundamental to ‘learning to nurse’, that of learning, and the assessment of that learning, in the practice environment. This project was inspired by the obligation to implement a Pan London practice assessment document for nursing students as mandated by the National Health Service (NHS) London office in 2013. As a member of the pan London practice learning group (PLPLG) I had a participatory role in its development. As ‘Head of Practice-based Learning’ within the School of Health and Education my ‘inward’ facing role in this project was to positively influence the practice learning curriculum development institutionally. Collaborating within my institutional community of practice to achieve their understanding and ownership of this externally produced assessment tool, and lay the foundations for their adoption and implementation of this tool across a variety of placements was key to this project. A critical consideration for Middlesex University was the specific requirement pertaining to the our curriculum validated in 2011, being that the assessment of practice must be both graded and awarded credits and the timing of this implementation afforded me with the opportunities to explore views and perceptions related to this integral part of our learning and assessment strategy. My approach to this inquiry reflects an action research methodology due to its critical and transformative nature and the integration of action and reflection. The action cycles adopted a range of activities including a critical discussion using an appreciative inquiry approach, focus groups involving academics, practice education staff and students as well as an analysis of the text provided by student assessment documentation. A number of important insights have been developed along the journey of this project and significant learning gains for myself and participants. The challenges that students face, whether their practice is graded or not, are illuminated against a background of traditional and controlling assessment practices and complex environments influenced by historical and socio-political factors. The significance of these findings within the changing context of nurse education with the planned implementation of new Nursing and Midwifery Council standards for education in Sept 2019 will also be elucidated. This project has led to the enhancement of a community of practice for practice learning within the school, involving both academic and practice colleagues; a fuller appreciation of the student experience with a decision not to grade practice in our new curriculum; actions that aim to empower students to engage more actively in their learning; and the promotion of an enhanced team based approach to learning in practice