Extended RBAC with role attributes

Though RBAC has been researched for many years as a current dominant access control technology, there are few researches to be done to address the further extension of the role which is the fundamental entity of RBAC. This paper tries to extend the role to a further level, the role attributes. Through the attributes, the function and operation on the role can be enhanced and extended. Through the attributes, ANSI RBAC is significantly extended. In the inheritance of hierarchical role, the privacy of its parental role can be kept by using HA (Hidden Attribute)

Connecting with the Y Generation: an analysis of factors associated with the academic performance of foundation IS students

[Abstract]: A strategy to overcome challenges associated with teaching a foundation Information Systems (IS) course to large cohorts of Business students has been highly successful. To further refine the strategy, a survey was conducted to better understand attitudes and computer experience of the students. This study revealed that factors such as gender, age, study mode, type of secondary school attended, level of previous computing studies, perceived knowledge, frequency of use and attitudes towards using computers did not predict academic performance. Academic performance and characteristics of students belonging to the Y Generation were also compared with those of the Older Generation. Differences between these generations were found to exist in relation to perceived knowledge, level of previous computing studies, and experience of formal computing studies. It is imperative that educators be aware of the characteristics of the growing Y Generation students. This research has raised critical curriculum issues for the development of foundation IS pedagogy

ViBRANT—Virtual Biodiversity Research and Access Network for Taxonomy

Biodiversity science brings information science and technologies to bear on the data and information generated by the study of organisms, their genes, and their interactions. ViBRANT will help focus the collective output of biodiversity science, making it more transparent, accountable, and accessible. Mobilising these data will address global environmental challenges, contribute to sustainable development, and promote the conservation of biological diversity. Through a platform of web based informatics tools and services we have built a successful data-publishing framework (Scratchpads) that allows distributed groups of scientists to create their own virtual research communities supporting biodiversity science. The infrastructure is highly user-oriented, focusing on the needs of research networks through a flexible and scalable system architecture, offering adaptable user interfaces for the development of various services. In just 28 months the Scratchpads have been adopted by over 120 communities in more than 60 countries, embracing over 1,500 users. ViBRANT will distribute the management, hardware infrastructure and software development of this system and connect with the broader landscape of biodiversity initiatives including PESI, Biodiversity Heritage Library (Europe), GBIF and EoL. The system will also inform the design of the LifeWatch Service Centre and is aligned with the ELIXIR and EMBRC objectives, all part of the ESFRI roadmap. ViBRANT will extend the userbase, reaching out to new multidisciplinary communities including citizen scientists by offering an enhanced suite of services and functionality

Laying the groundwork for socialisation and knowledge construction within 3D virtual worlds

The paper reports the theoretical underpinnings for the pedagogical role and rationale for adopting 3D virtual worlds for socialisation and knowledge creation in distance education. Socialisation or 'knowing one another' in remote distributed environments can be achieved through synchronous technologies such as instant messaging, audio and video-conferencing. However, a 3D virtual world can provide an immersive experience where there is a visual presence and virtual proximity of the group members in terms of their 3D selves (avatars). We discuss the affordances of a 3D virtual world and its role in providing a platform for pedagogical design that engenders socialisation, synchronous communication and collaboration. We propose the use of a knowledge construction model as a framework for guiding the design of collaborative activities in a 3D virtual world for blended learning environments. We believe that this framework will also be useful for integrating 2D environments such as blogs, wikis and forums with a 3D learning environment. We consider the implications of this in the context of blended learning in distance education. This paper would be of interest to course designers, researchers, teachers, staff developers and policy-makers who are involved in integrating 3D virtual worlds within the curriculum of their programmes and institutions

A Preliminary Study to Determine Attitudes towards Plagiarism in Information Systems

Plagiarism, a component of academic misconduct has captured the headlines of many Australian media reports in recent months. While many articles have been written in the education domain about plagiarism, limited empirical evidence was found on the factors leading to the attitudes of plagiarism and students opinion on these attitudes. This is because many prior studies have focused their findings arising from the institutional data available on plagiarism and compiling these into a form of findings, without actually consulting either students or lecturers involved in teaching. This study, to alleviate such criticism, followed a qualitative method to develop a theme to identify factors that can contribute to plagiarism in the opinion of lecturers and tutors. This theme was then followed up by a quantitative method to extract perceptions towards these attitudes from students based on an adapted instrument. The outcomes of the theme development and perception measurement are reported in this study with a hope that academics in educational setting can produce fair and more reliable assessment methods

Impacting IT enrolments: what factors most influence student career decisions

This paper reports preliminary data on factors influencing student perceptions affecting their decision to study information technology in later years of high school and at university. Factors from the literature mainly align as social or structural. This research has found that structural factors (curriculum and teachers) have the most influence on student decision making about course selection related to IT subjects. Subsequent research will experimentally examine curriculum changes and teacher preparation for improvements of student perception about IT subject selection and IT careers

Extended RBAC with Role Attributes

Though RBAC has been researched for many years as a current dominant access control technology, there are few researches to be done to address the further extension of the role which is the fundamental entity of RBAC. This paper tries to extend the role to a further level, the role attributes. Through the attributes, the function and operation on the role can be enhanced and extended. Through the attributes, ANSI RBAC is significantly extended. In the inheritance of hierarchical role, the privacy of its parental role can be kept by using HA (Hidden Attribute)

Investigating non-technical skills in Scottish and English aircraft maintenance teams using a mixed methodology of interviews and a questionnaire

The authors would like to thank all of the aircraft maintenance participants for giving up their time to take part in this study. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.Peer reviewedPostprin

Outdoor learning: Scottish primary teachers’ perceptions of training and professional development

Outdoor learning has long been an important feature of Scottish education, but the non-prescriptive nature of the curriculum has contributed to wide variations in schools’ provision of outdoor educational experiences (Ross et al., 2007). Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) further encourages the use of the outdoors as a context for learning, but still does not make this mandatory (Beames et al., 2009). However, changes to the Standards for Teacher Registration require all teachers to demonstrate use of the outdoors in their teaching (GTCS, 2012).<p></p> As part of research exploring educational farm visits for primary school children, a survey of teachers in May 2013 included questions on teachers’ perceptions of knowledge and training on outdoor learning. The survey results informed a series of teacher interviews, during which these topics were also discussed.<p></p> The survey results indicate that primary teachers’ perceptions of their own training vary widely, while they tend to feel that probationer teachers are not well informed on outdoor learning. The need for further training and CPD was a clear theme in the qualitative elements of the survey, and early interview findings suggest that learning informally, from colleagues sharing their own experiences, is an important feature of teachers’ professional development.<p></p> Although “prospects for learning outdoors have rarely been better” than under CfE (Thorburn & Allison, 2013), survey findings indicate that previously identified issues around training and CPD (e.g. Nicol et al., 2007) seem to persist. Whether the views of teachers taking part in interviews support these early indications will be known by summer 2014