Mobile LearningPlatform: a case study of introducing m-learning in Tertiary Education

This paper presents a study on a one year m-learning pilot project at Central University College in Ghana. This was done through a user trial, where the m-learning tool AD-CONNECT is introduced in 44 courses with a total of 500 students and 22 lecturers at the College. The paper reports on the first experiences gained by both teachers and students by asking the following questions: What are the perceptions of teachers on m-learning? What are the effects of m-learning on students? What does m-learning contribute to face-to-face teaching and learning? Questionnaires were administered to students and lecturers to gather quantitative data on their views on the use of m-learning, particularly after using the AD-CONNECT M-Learning system. Also, observations and interviews were used to collect data from users which provided us with some qualitative data

CUDA-Optimized GPU Acceleration of 3GPP 3D Channel Model Simulations for 5G Network Planning

Simulation of massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel models is becoming increasingly important for testing and validation of fifth-generation new radio (5G NR) wireless networks and beyond. However, simulation performance tends to be limited when modeling a large number of antenna elements combined with a complex and realistic representation of propagation conditions. In this paper, we propose an efficient implementation of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) three-dimensional (3D) channel model, specifically designed for graphics processing unit (GPU) platforms, with the goal of minimizing the computational time required for channel simulation. The channel model is highly parameterized to encompass a wide range of configurations required for real-world optimized 5G NR network deployments. We use several compute unified device architecture (CUDA)-based optimization techniques to exploit the parallelism and memory hierarchy of the GPU. Experimental data show that the developed system achieves an overall speedup of about 240× compared to the original C++ model executed on an Intel processor. Compared to a design previously accelerated on a datacenter-class field programmable gate array (FPGA), the GPU design has 33.3 % higher single precision performance, but for 7.5 % higher power consumption. The proposed GPU accelerator can provide fast and accurate channel simulations for 5G NR network planning and optimization

Critical Techno-dramaturgy: Mobilizing Embodied Perception in Intermedial Performance

This dissertation attends to the ways in which the deployment of technological devices in twenty-first-century intermedial performance might influence the audience members’ perception of the relationship between humans and technology. Drawing upon the work of scholars in the fields of new media, performance studies, and the philosophy of technology, I argue that intermedial performance artists reinvigorate the role of the human body in performance by mobilizing embodiment as a techno-dramaturgical strategy for shaping the audience members’ perception of human-machine interaction. Chapter One surveys the history of performance and technology from the ancient Greek theatre to twentieth-century performance, with particular emphasis on the conceptual significance of techne and poiesis in dramatic theatre. Chapter Two examines the theories of intermediality in performance as well as the co-evolutionary relationship between human beings and technicity in order to delineate the analytical and dramaturgical potential of an original conceptual framework known as critical techno-dramaturgy. Chapter Three explores the interplay between embodiment, technology, and space in intermedial performance and its effects on the audience members’ awareness of their embodied existence as they navigate the cityscape with bicycles, handheld computers, and mobile phones. Chapter Four investigates the intersection of performance and techno-anxiety by looking at how intelligent machines that appear to perform autonomously might affect the audience members’ perception of these anthropomorphic technological agents in relation to their own bodies. Chapter Five examines how the construction of the “cyborg” as both a conceptual metaphor for and a material instantiation of human-machine “fusion” could impact the prosthetic relations between persons with disabilities and the technological devices that they employ in intermedial performance. Finally, Chapter Six looks at my involvement in the production of an original creative project that uses critical techno-dramaturgy as a strategy for shaping the audience members’ perception of the complicity between digital media (particularly video technology) and the mediation of death