Teradata University Network: A No Cost Web-Portal for Teaching Database, Data Warehousing, and Data-Related Subjects

This paper describes the value that information systems faculty and students in classes dealing with database management, data warehousing, decision support systems, and related topics, could derive from the use of the Teradata University Network (TUN), a free comprehensive web-portal. A detailed overview of TUN functionalities and content is given. Freely available resources, such as software tools, large corporate data sets, case studies, and exercises are detailed. Various ways in which the TUN resources can facilitate teaching and learning processes are discussed. The zero-installation, zero-maintenance, zero-cost TUN paradigm is explained

UniverCity Connections: Report From the Stakeholders

Outlines the development, vision, and community initiatives of UniverCity Connections, a collaboration between Colorado State University, Fort Collins, and others convened by the foundation. Describes the task groups' focus areas, goals, and strategies

Bridging the Knowledge Gap between Transactional Databases and Data Warehouses

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE Data warehouse is widely recognized in the industry as the principal decision support system architecture and an integral part of the corporate information system.  However, the majority of academic institutions in the US and world-wide have been slow in developing curriculums that reflect this reality.  This paper examines the issues that have contributed to the lag in the coverage of data warehousing topics at universities.</p

Carbon Emission Policies in Key Economies

The Australian Government asked the Productivity Commission to undertake a study on the ‘effective’ carbon prices that result from emissions and energy reduction policies in Australia and other key economies (the UK, USA, Germany, New Zealand, China, India, Japan and South Korea). The Commissions research report, released 9 June 2011, provides a stocktake of the large number of policy measures in the electricity generation and road transport sectors of the countries studied. And it provides estimates of the burdens associated with these policies in each country and the abatement achieved. While the results are based on a robust methodology, data limitations have meant that some estimates could only be indicative. More than 1000 carbon policy measures were identified in the nine countries studied, ranging from (limited) emissions trading schemes to policies that support particular types of abatement technology. While these disparate measures cannot be expressed as an equivalent single price on greenhouse gas emissions, all policies impose costs that someone must pay. The Commission has interpreted ‘effective’ carbon prices broadly to mean the cost of reducing greenhouse gas emissions — the ‘price’ of abatement achieved by particular policies. The estimated cost per unit of abatement achieved varied widely, both across programs within each country and in aggregate across countries. The relative cost effectiveness of price-based approaches is illustrated for Australia by stylised modelling that suggests that the abatement from existing policies for electricity could have been achieved at a fraction of the cost. The estimated price effects of supply-side policies have generally been modest, other than for electricity in Germany and the UK. Such price uplifts are of some relevance to assessing carbon leakage and competitiveness impacts, but are very preliminary and substantially more information would be required.carbon pricing; cost abatement; greenhouse gas emissions; abatement technology; carbon policy; energy reduction policy; emissions trading scheme; carbon leakage

Development and pilot evaluation of an online retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners.

Many retrofit projects went wrong in the UK principally because of the application of inappropriate retrofit solutions, which resulted in damp issues, with some leaving houses in worse conditions than pre-retrofit. Various online tools were developed to inform homeowners about the benefits of retrofitting. Prior to this study, little was known about users' evaluation of these tools and the effects of calculator use. Furthermore, no retrofit tool aims to raise the awareness of homeowners about moisture risks in a retrofit project. The originality of this study is to develop and evaluate an online moisture-safe retrofit decision-making tool for homeowners. The adopted methodology consisted of two phases. Phase one aimed to develop the tool. In phase two, semi-structured interviews were conducted to evaluate the tool. The results indicate that the tool has been well received by homeowners. The tool significantly increased participants' awareness of moisture risks related to a retrofit project. Most participants considered the tool an eye-opener, while few of them found it scary. However, the tool did not result in an increased willingness to invest in energy efficiency measures. The discouragement was related to high investment costs and long payback periods of some retrofit measures. Based on our findings, we formulate a set of design recommendations to improve the proposed tool and help retrofit calculators, in general, overcome challenges

Building and Delivering the Virtual World: Commercializing Services for Internet Access

This study analyzes the service offerings of Internet Service Providers (ISPs), the commercial suppliers of Internet access in the United States. It presents data on the services of 2089 ISPs in the summer of 1998. By this time, the Internet access industry had undergone its first wave of entry and many ISPs had begun to offer services other than basic access. This paper develops an Internet access industry product code which classifies these services. Significant heterogeneity across ISPs is found in the propensity to offer these services, a pattern with an unconditional urban/rural difference. Most of the explained variance in behavior arises from firm-specific factors, with only weak evidence of location-specific factors for some services. These findings provide a window to the variety of approaches taken to build viable businesses organizations, a vital structural feature of this young market.

Virtualized Educational Lab Setup Project Plan and Supporting Project Documentation

The current infrastructure being used for IT courses at the University of Northwestern Ohio is not adequate for students. In addition, hands-on components of courses are difficult to test over, faculty administration of class resources was minimal, and students did not have access to enterprise level systems. The solution was to implement a lab environment to accomplish all of these concerns. This project closely mirrors how a real world project would function using the knowledge acquired during coursework completed at DSU. Documentation submitted for coursework at DSU was used as templates during this project. Not only was this project designed to outline how a project would be completed but also includes deliverables of analyzing virtualization solutions for a lab environment, an architectural diagram of the proposed virtualized lab environment, purchasing a solution, and finally implementing the proposed solution. The project deliverable entitled “Virtualized Educational Lab Setup Top Solutions and Recommendation” includes a comparison of several solutions for the proposed lab. Included in this documentation is the proposed architectural diagram which outlines how the lab should be setup. The project deliverable entitled “Virtualized Educational Lab Setup Implementation” outlines the systems used within the lab. This includes documentation of both hardware and software being used. Specific identifying information about some systems has been excluded to protect the integrity of the environment; however, revised information will be distributed to internal faculty and staff at UNOH so it can be maintained and managed

Challenges and Opportunities for Climate-Smart Stormwater Management in San Diego

The purpose of this Gap Analysis is to identify challenges and opportunities for agencies in San Diego to better manage stormwater with climate-smart strategies. In this report, ‘climate-smart’ refers to a stormwater tactic that increases a system’s resiliency to both extreme dry and wet season flows while also enhancing local communities, businesses, and/or natural resources.https://digital.sandiego.edu/npi-sdclimate/1008/thumbnail.jp