Interactive Calculus in a Virtual Learning Environment

The teaching of higher level mathematics for technical students in a virtual learningenvironment poses some difficulties, but also opportunities, now specific to that virtuality.On the other hand, resources and ways to do now manly available in VLEs might soon extend to all kinds of environments.In this short presentation we will discuss anexperience carried at Universitat Oberta deCatalunya (UOC) involving (an on line university), first, the translation of LaTeX written existent materials to a web based format(specifically, a combination of XHTML andMathML), and then the integration of a symbolic calculator software (WIRIS) running as a Java applet embedded in the materials, intending to achieve an evolution from memorising concepts and repetitive algorithms to understanding and experiment concepts and the use of those algorithms.

Simulation of a Virtual Campus at the Open University of Catalonia

Peer-reviewed

Combining Generic Programming and Service-Oriented Architectures for the Effective and Timely Development of Complex e-Learning Systems

Peer-reviewed

A Co-Processor Approach for Efficient Java Execution in Embedded Systems

This thesis deals with a hardware accelerated Java virtual machine, named REALJava. The REALJava virtual machine is targeted for resource constrained embedded systems. The goal is to attain increased computational performance with reduced power consumption. While these objectives are often seen as trade-offs, in this context both of them can be attained simultaneously by using dedicated hardware. The target level of the computational performance of the REALJava virtual machine is initially set to be as fast as the currently available full custom ASIC Java processors. As a secondary goal all of the components of the virtual machine are designed so that the resulting system can be scaled to support multiple co-processor cores. The virtual machine is designed using the hardware/software co-design paradigm. The partitioning between the two domains is flexible, allowing customizations to the resulting system, for instance the floating point support can be omitted from the hardware in order to decrease the size of the co-processor core. The communication between the hardware and the software domains is encapsulated into modules. This allows the REALJava virtual machine to be easily integrated into any system, simply by redesigning the communication modules. Besides the virtual machine and the related co-processor architecture, several performance enhancing techniques are presented. These include techniques related to instruction folding, stack handling, method invocation, constant loading and control in time domain. The REALJava virtual machine is prototyped using three different FPGA platforms. The original pipeline structure is modified to suit the FPGA environment. The performance of the resulting Java virtual machine is evaluated against existing Java solutions in the embedded systems field. The results show that the goals are attained, both in terms of computational performance and power consumption. Especially the computational performance is evaluated thoroughly, and the results show that the REALJava is more than twice as fast as the fastest full custom ASIC Java processor. In addition to standard Java virtual machine benchmarks, several new Java applications are designed to both verify the results and broaden the spectrum of the tests.

Managing virtual project teams

The purpose of the Master’s Thesis is to study the best practices to virtual project management from the project manager’ point of view. The best practices are divided according to a five-phase virtual project life cycle model. Each phase include concrete suggestions for actions. Research’s theoretical background is wide because of the broad subject matter. In the theoretical part topics such as virtual working, virtual project management challenges are examined and some concrete actions to tackle these challenges are introduced. Thesis’ approach is constructive, where a known problem is solved piece by piece after creating a pre-understanding of the topic. Existing research work is utilized when creating a model for virtual project team management. The basis of the model comes from various best practices read from literature and from the interviews conducted on experienced virtual project managers in the case organization. As a result the model combines both previous research and the organizations empirical experience. As an output of the thesis a model for virtual project team management is developed, which can be used as a guideline by the virtual project managers in their work. The model includes actions and practices what can be used to overcome the challenges of virtual project management.

Vacancy-assisted domain-growth in asymmetric binary alloys: A Monte Carlo Study

A Monte Carlo simulation study of the vacancy-assisted domain growth in asymmetric binary alloys is presented. The system is modeled using a three-state ABV Hamiltonian which includes an asymmetry term. Our simulated system is a stoichiometric two-dimensional binary alloy with a single vacancy which evolves according to the vacancy-atom exchange mechanism. We obtain that, compared to the symmetric case, the ordering process slows down dramatically. Concerning the asymptotic behavior it is algebraic and characterized by the Allen-Cahn growth exponent x51/2. The late stages of the evolution are preceded by a transient regime strongly affected by both the temperature and the degree of asymmetry of the alloy. The results are discussed and compared to those obtained for the symmetric case.

Design and evaluation of learning algorithms for dynamic resource management in virtual networks

Network virtualisation is considerably gaining attentionas a solution to ossification of the Internet. However, thesuccess of network virtualisation will depend in part on how efficientlythe virtual networks utilise substrate network resources.In this paper, we propose a machine learning-based approachto virtual network resource management. We propose to modelthe substrate network as a decentralised system and introducea learning algorithm in each substrate node and substrate link,providing self-organization capabilities. We propose a multiagentlearning algorithm that carries out the substrate network resourcemanagement in a coordinated and decentralised way. The taskof these agents is to use evaluative feedback to learn an optimalpolicy so as to dynamically allocate network resources to virtualnodes and links. The agents ensure that while the virtual networkshave the resources they need at any given time, only the requiredresources are reserved for this purpose. Simulations show thatour dynamic approach significantly improves the virtual networkacceptance ratio and the maximum number of accepted virtualnetwork requests at any time while ensuring that virtual networkquality of service requirements such as packet drop rate andvirtual link delay are not affected.

Museos y periodistas. Análisis de la sala de prensa virtual como espacio de relaciones públicas

Las rutinas de producción periodística se vieron alteradas con la aparición de Internet y la evolución de las fuentes 2.0. Se han extendido los espacios virtuales corporativos para los medios de comunicación, entendidos como herramienta básica de Relaciones Públicas. Los responsables de las organizaciones museísticas han entendido la necesidad de establecer un vínculo relacional con los periodistas en la red, a través de los sitios web oficiales de los museos. No obstante, concluimos que no facilitan los contenidos necesarios para transmitirlos de forma apropiada.

Implementació d'un sistema de gestió de cursos (Course Management) al Campus Virtual de la UdL

Aquest projecte pretén aconseguir un Campus Virtual més flexible i més obert, on el professorat pugui fer una gestió més acurada i específica dels seus espais de docència, a més de poder crear-se d’altres espais organitzant els grups de matrícula de la forma que més li convingui. La idea és canviar la manera com s’aprovisiona actualment el Campus Virtual amb les dades de gestió acadèmica per tal d’aconseguir un campus on el professorat tingui totes les eines i dades disponibles per a que les pugui utilitzar de la manera que cregui més adient, i no d’una manera predefinida i tancada com es feia fins ara, on el professorat es trobava un espai per cada assignatura que impartia, però no en podia modificar gairebé res. A banda d’aquest objectiu fonamental, aquest treball facilitarà en gran mesura les tasques realitzades per l’equip que gestiona el Campus Virtual en els processos de gestió d’espais de docència i del tractament dels seus participants en sincronització amb els sistemes origen.

Knowledge sharing in virtual communities

The Internet has transformed the scope, boundaries and dynamics of social and economic interactions. It is argued to have broadened the notion of the community from physical, colocated groups towards collectives that are able to transcend time and space, i.e. virtual communities. Even if virtual communities have been on the academic agenda for a couple of decades, there is still surprisingly little research on knowledge sharing within them. In addition, prior research has largely neglected the complex dynamics between Internet-based communication channels and the surrounding communities in which they are embedded. This thesis aims at building a better understanding of knowledge sharing supported by conversational technologies in intra-organisational virtual communities and external virtual communities supporting relationships with customers. The focus is thus on knowledge sharing in types of virtual communities that seem to be of relevance to business organisations. The study consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic and discusses the overall results. The second part comprises seven research publications. Qualitative research methods are used throughout the study. The results of the study indicate that investigation of the processes of knowledge sharing in virtual communities requires a socio-technical perspective, combining the individual, social and technological levels, and understanding the interplay between them. It is claimed that collective knowledge in virtual communities creates the enabling structure for knowledge sharing, and forms the invisible structure of the community on the basis of which it operates. It consists of a shared context, social capital and a unique community culture. The Internet does not inevitably erode social interaction: it seems that supporting social relationships by means of communication technology is a matter of quantity rather than quality. In order to provide access to external knowledge and expertise, firms need to open themselves up to an array of Internet-based conversations, and to consider the relevance of virtual communities to their businesses.

Evolución y retos de la educación virtual : construyendo el e-learning del siglo XXI

Las autoras y autores de este libro ofrecen una descripción de la evolución general del e-learning apuntando los elementos clave hacia los que debe ir evolucionando. Parten de la experiencia y la práctica contrastada con las investigaciones sobre el tema. A lo largo de los distintos capítulos nos muestran cómo vive un estudiante virtual, su papel y la manera en que plantea y organiza sus actividades; nos acercan al profesorado analizando su rol en el diseño de la formación y la comunicación con los estudiantes; hablan de la colaboración, analizando cómo diseñar actividades colaborativas y señalando sus ventajas y límites; describen los diferentes recursos de aprendizaje que podemos disponer en el diseño de los cursos y, por último, acompañan nuestra mirada hacia el futuro próximo analizando las tendencias y los retos a los que debemos hacer frente para construir el e-learning del siglo XXI.