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A systematic mapping study on teaching and learning Computational Thinking through programming in higher education
No full textComputational Thinking (CT) through programming in higher education is considered an important skill for students to become problem solvers and thrive in the new digital workplace. Despite the wide interest, a systematic map of CT through programming in higher education is still missing. The aim of this study is twofold. First, we aim to provide a systematic map of the relevant research by identifying the areas and sub-areas of CT through programming teaching and learning in higher education. Second, we aim to investigate these areas based on two dimensions: their evolution over the years and the branches to which CT is applied. For this purpose, we apply a systematic mapping methodology. Main results include the identification of the CT areas of Knowledge Base, Assessment, Learning Strategies, Tools, Factors and Capacity Building. Of these, Knowledge Base, Assessment and Tools have significantly evolved throughout the years, while Capacity Building has only recently emerged. In addition, the introduction of CT to undergraduate students and preservice teachers differs mainly in the tools used and the CT elements that are assessed. The study contributes to the field by providing a structured type of research conducted and identifying gaps and opportunities for future research.4110084
An empirical study of COVID-19 related posts on Stack Overflow: Topics and technologies
No full textThe COVID-19 outbreak, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, has left its mark on every aspect of our lives and at the time of this writing is still an ongoing battle. Beyond the immediate global-wide health response, the pandemic has triggered a significant number of IT initiatives to track, visualize, analyze and potentially mitigate the phenomenon. For individuals or organizations interested in developing COVID-19 related software, knowledge-sharing communities such as Stack Overflow proved to be an effective source of information for tackling commonly encountered problems. As an additional contribution to the investigation of this unprecedented health crisis and to assess how fast and how well the community of developers has responded, we performed a study on COVID-19 related posts in Stack Overflow. In particular, we profiled relevant questions based on key post features and their evolution, identified the most prominent technologies adopted for developing COVID-19 software and their interrelations and focused on the most persevering problems faced by developers. For the analysis of posts we employed descriptive statistics, Association Rule Graphs, Survival Analysis and Latent Dirichlet Allocation. The results reveal that the response of the developers' community to the pandemic was immediate and that the interest of developers on COVID-19 related challenges was sustained after its initial peak. In terms of the problems addressed, the results show a clear focus on COVID-19 data collection, analysis and visualization from/to the web, in line with the general needs for monitoring the pandemic.18211108
An example on the use and limitations of MCDA: The case of fuzzy VIKOR
No full textVIKOR is one of the well known Multiple Criteria Decision Aid methods, used frequently and considered to produce robust results. However, it seems that it is not immune to the rank reversal phenomenon. The latter is a well studied phenomenon that occurs sometimes in many such methods and is the cause of often severe criticism. This short paper provides such an example (and a counter-example) in the case of a fuzzy version of VIKOR.110000
Cytoarchitectonics of the Rolandic operculum: morphofunctional ponderings
No full textConstantin von Economo (1876-1931) had a long-standing interest in the cellular structure of the human cerebral cortex. In the present article I highlight a historical paper that von Economo published in 1930 on the cytoarchitectonics of the Rolandic operculum, an English translation of which I provide as supplementary material. I further discuss some morphofunctional aspects of the human opercular cortex from a modern perspective, as well as the clinical relevance to language dysfunctions, the operculum syndrome, and epilepsy.226494195
Digital Entrepreneurship Services Evolution: Analysis of Quadruple and Quintuple Helix Innovation Models for Open Data Ecosystems
No full textOpen data hackathons are events where the actors from an ecosystem collaborate to build platforms that will benefit the public, creating a win–win scenario for all of them. Sadly, many digital services produced in hackathons are discarded only by providing access to open data that cannot boost economic benefits. Therefore, it is necessary to create a model that fosters value and entrepreneurship for the open data ecosystem, aiming to develop an economically self-sustained ecosystem. The purpose of this paper is to identify the challenges participants of open data hackathons can face to present a model that will support the improvement of these contests. This paper uses the quadruple/quintuple helix innovation model to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in Thessaloniki’s open data ecosystem to develop applications using open data. The results indicate that, although actors are aware of open data use, a new type of open data ecosystem that creates a win–win scenario between the entities in the open data ecosystem is required. The proposed model implies a full effect that promotes cooperation and networking among the entities in the city’s ecosystem towards achieving the aim of increasing citizens’ quality of life.13211218
Learn with surprize from a robot professor
No full textIn the years to come social robots will be extensively used in the teaching field. Consequently, it is important to determine how these robots can optimally interact with students. This paper specifically looks at the performance of social robots in place of university professors, in the field of engineering, measuring three outcomes, enjoyment (questionnaire), the acquisition of knowledge (academic test after class and final exam grades) and level of surprise (facial expressions monitored by cameras). Inspired by previous cognitive studies which have evidenced that feelings of surprise and familiarity affect the learning process, the hypothesis of this research is that robot-tutors will increase student's enjoyment. Leading the research to question whether higher levels of enjoyment strongly correlate with a higher acquisition of knowledge through a series of three experiments. Using the same subject material, three variables were tested: 1. one robot-tutor lecture, 2. one human-tutor lecture, 3. two robot-tutor lectures. Initial findings showed that students lectured by a human-tutor once, acquired a higher level of knowledge compared to those lectured by a robot-tutor once. However, those in the robot-tutor lecture shared higher levels of enjoyment as well as increased expressions of surprise. When students were lectured by a robot-tutor for the second time, results showed both a higher level of acquired knowledge and enjoyment and a drop in expressed surprise, compared to both, one human-tutor lecture and one robot-tutor lecture or one robot-tutor lecture. We conclude that high levels of surprise distracted students initially but once overcome, acted as motivation to study.17310427
Smart CV for lifelong qualifications certification based on Blockchain
No full textThere is a need for fast, automatic, and trusted verification of a person’s qualifications. This paperproposes the Smart CV (Curriculum Vita) that contains links to Blockchain-based certifications of theperson’s qualifications. Also, the paper proposes an architecture for the Blockchain-based Smart CVconsisting of five layers: 1) Trusted certificate Issuers; 2) Trusted Distributed Ledgers; 3) Trustedmanagement; 4) Smart CV; 5) Users. Educational institutes, accreditation organizations, publicauthorities, employers and others can cooperate to issue and accept these Blockchain-based certificatespresented on a person’s Smart CV.57858
Successful knowledge transfer in IJVs: the role of trust, partner compatibility and expected benefits
No full textThe purpose of this research is to investigate the influence of truston knowledge transfer and expected benefits from knowledge transfer, and theinfluence of partner compatibility on knowledge transfer, trust and expectedbenefits from knowledge transfer. Based on elements from the Resource BasedView and Social Exchange Theory, Greek IJVs operating in South East Europeare empirically examined. This research contributes to the literature in fourways: First, by showing a positive impact of the level of trust the foreignpartner has towards the local IJV partner on (a) successful knowledge transferto the IJV and (b) expected benefits from knowledge transfer to the IJV.Second, by revealing a positive impact of the degree of partner compatibilityon (a) successful knowledge transfer to the IJV and (b) the level of trust theforeign partner has towards the local IJV partner. Third, by providing empiricalevidence regarding the above impacts in new national environments. Finally, itcontributes by enhancing the understanding of knowledge transfer from theforeign partner to IJVs in emerging markets.15459561
Testing for exuberance in house prices using data sampled at different frequencies
No full textWe undertake Monte Carlo simulation experiments to examine the effect of changing the frequency of observations and the data span on the Phillips, P. C. B., S. Shi, and J. Yu. 2015. "Testing for Multiple Bubbles: Historical Episodes of Exuberance and Collapse in the S&P 500." International Economic Review 56 (4): 1043–78 generalised supremum ADF (GSADF) test for explosive behaviour via Monte Carlo simulations. We find that when a series is characterised by multiple bubbles (periodically collapsing), decreasing the frequency of observations is associated with profound power losses for the test. We illustrate the effects of temporal aggregation by examining two real house price data bases, namely the S&P Case–Shiller real house prices and the international real house price indices available at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.26567569
The advancement of development ethics
No full textAn advancement that includes the intellectual history of development ethics is examined in this paper. Relying upon contributions of distinguished scholars, this inquiry considers the intellectual history of the sub-field known as "development ethics". Special attention is paid to the pioneering development ethicist Denis Goulet, recognized as the founder of the field. The paper concentrates on individual contributions on a variety of issues, emphasizing linkages to Goulet’s conception of tasks, methods and normative principles. Students of international development can benefit from this distinctive perspective where ethics is integrated into economic development, disclosing an enlightened perspective of an ethical developing world. Overall, the goal is to establish development ethics as an important subcategory of development economics in regards with its ethical aspects and one which deserves greater attention from economists and development studies scholars.68444146