Communication of Enterprise Architectures

From a theoretical perspective, this article examines the role of embodiment in K-12 computer science education through three distinct perspectives: virtual embodiment for cognitive understanding, physical embodiment for emotional engagement, and social embodiment for collaborative learning. The research introduces proxy-based programming as a novel programming paradigm that helps novice programmers overcome pragmatic programming challenges by providing a visual proxy that serves as an embodiment of the object being programmed. This proxy features dual temporal representation that simultaneously shows both the present and future situations resulting from programming actions. Unlike programming approaches that primarily address syntactic challenges, proxy-based programming also mitigates semantic and pragmatic aspects of computational thinking. RULER.game, a Collaborative Computational Thinking Tool, implements four core principles of proxy-based programming, enabling safe programming experimentation while proactively preventing errors. Initial studies comparing proxy-based programming with block-based programming show significant reductions in error rates. The article explores how embodiment plays a role in making programming more accessible from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Additionally, the article explores the motivational benefits of physical embodiment, where students create games by first drawing objects on paper before importing them digitally, as well as social embodiment through awareness interfaces that make collaborators’ actions and intentions visible in real-time. This comprehensive approach to embodiment presents a novel framework for making programming more accessible and engaging for K-12 students.

Art Therapy, Trauma, and Neuroscience: Theoretical and Practical Perspectives, edited by Juliet L. King, provides a thorough, yet succinct overview of the enormous potential for the applications of...

Throughout the entire history of computer architecture, the von Neumann model has been the most mainstream model for computer systems architecture. Data flow computer systems are undoubtedly the most well-studied type of non-von Neumann computer architecture. In this paper, from the perspective of the computer architecture development, we analyze the important role that data flow computing thinking has played in both innovation in computer architecture and in the development of computer architecture over time. We first review the thinking behind data flow computing and analyze the limitations it faced in its early stages. Then we analyze two important technologies used in modern CPUs-out-of-order execution and multi-threading technology-that were both developed using data flow computing thinking. We continue to view streaming computing, streaming processor architecture, and modern GPUs through the lens of data flow computing thinking. Further, we analyze how to apply data flow computing thinking to the development of computer systems in the era of big data intelligence. Finally, we summarize the rules of data flow computing thinking and forecast future development trends.

Correctly identifying the role of students is important for education providers to serve high-quality education. This paper presents a novel notion of value co-creator for describing the role of older learners in older adult education (OAE) from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Theoretically, we propose eight foundational premises and analyse their rationale of perceiving older learner as value co-creator from service science perspective. Practically, we conduct a comprehensive survey of four Chinese OAE universities. The findings learned from the survey validate the proposed foundational premises and the perception of learner as value co-creator. Identification of the value co-creator role of older learners would improve the quality of education services and achieve their maximal values by effectively collaborating with older learners.

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the mediating role of lean management on the relationship between workforce management and value-added time in private hospitals. This study also investigates the direct influences of workforce management and lean management on the value-added time of the hospitals.Design/methodology/approachThis study applied a quantitative approach to obtain data from the private hospitals’ staff in Peninsular Malaysia. A self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 287 hospital staff using a stratified random sampling method. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was used to determine the internal consistency, reliability, validity of the constructs. The PLS-SEM method was also used to test the hypothesised research model via SmartPLS 3.3.4 version.FindingsThe findings of the study indicate that lean management has a direct and significant effect on the value-added time of private hospitals. The findings also revealed that lean management significantly mediates the relationship between workforce management and value-added time in private hospitals. The analysis of the results indicates that both workforce and lean management have a significant impact on the value-added time of the hospitals.Practical implicationsThis study provides empirical contributions to enhance the quality of workforce management, lean management and value-added time. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into how effectively managing the workforce and providing guidelines to augment the lean management practices can ensure value-added time in Malaysian hospitals and the overall health-care industry. The lean management framework provides useful insights for the policymakers to understand the significance of workforce management, lean management on ensuring value-added time through reducing waiting times, unnecessary delays, generating a higher degree of patient safety, satisfaction and loyalty.Originality/valueThe research findings provide some essential indications for the health-care service providers to understand how the lean management approach can be implemented to enhance value-added time and how lean management can play a mediating role in creating a link between workforce management and value-added time in hospitals. This study also contributes to the theoretical and practical perspectives. The present study contributes to a better understanding of workforce management and lean management in health-care sectors from theoretical and practical perspectives.

The Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19): Theoretical and Practical Perspectives on Children, Women and Sex Trafficking

Recently a discussion has been initiated on what is cool and how HCI can use the concept in practice and design for it. This paper aims to provide a better understanding on cool as a concept from a theoretical and a practical perspective. From the theoretical perspective, we selected the HCI papers that focus on cool and we present their core findings. Then we performed a literature review on the concept of cool and we have identified its fundamental characteristics, through cool personalities and cool styles. From a practical perspective, we have studied how other domains have managed to successfully produce cool objects and we provide four suggestions on how to design cool digital artifacts. Finally, in this paper we also identify possible research directions in relation to cool, which if we manage to address we can increase our understanding on what is user experience and this can lead to the creation of better digital artifacts. Overall, this paper is a contribution towards researching and designing for cool, a research topic, which we believe it will initiate fruitful discussions in the HCI field.

To reach for abstraction is a major but challenging goal in mathematics education: teachers struggle with finding ways how to foster abstraction in their classes. To shed light on this issue for the case of geometry education, we align theoretical perspectives on embodied learning and abstraction with practical perspectives from in-service teachers. We focus on the teaching and learning of realistic geometry, not only because this domain is apt for sensori-motor action investigations, but also because abstraction in realistic geometry is under-researched in relation to other domains of mathematics, and teachers’ knowledge of geometry and confidence in teaching it lag behind. The following research question will be addressed: how can a theoretical embodied perspective on abstraction in geometry education in the higher grades of primary school inform current teacher practices? To answer this question, we carried out a literature study and an interview study with in-service teachers (n = 6). As a result of the literature study, we consider embodied abstraction in geometry as a process of reflecting on, describing, explaining, and structuring of sensory-motor actions in the experienced world through developing and using mathematical artifacts. The results from the interview study show that teachers are potentially prepared for using aspects of embodied learning (e.g., manipulatives), but are not aware of the different aspects of enactment that may invite students’ abstraction. We conclude that theories on embodiment and abstraction do not suffice to foster students’ abstraction process in geometry. Instead, teachers’ knowledge of embodied abstraction in geometry and how to foster this grows with experience in enactment, and with the discovery that cognition emerges to serve action.

As the AI (Artificial Intelligence, AI) technology, especially the language model and the rapid development of intelligent learning system in the field of language education, contextualized input and output have gradually become an important path to promote Second Language Acquisition (SLA). Based on the theory of input hypothesis and output hypothesis and social culture and interactive approaches, this article system combed the AI drive learning environment, language input, output, and the change of the interactive mechanism and its influence on second language acquisition. Research suggests that AI can enhance the understandability and relevance of input through adaptive recommendation, multimodal presentation, and virtual situation simulation. At the output level, AI dialogue system, real-time error correction and scaffolding support for language learners provides a high frequency, low anxiety generated opportunities, complexity and accuracy in grammar, syntax and vocabulary, expression fluency and pragmatic appropriateness, etc, to promote the language output quality improvement. More importantly, AI integrates input, output and feedback into a dynamic loop process, thereby reshaping the occurrence conditions of traditional second language acquisition to a certain extent. In the affirmation of the potential of the AI in language learning at the same time, the paper also points out its authenticity, learner differences in interactive adaptation and technology rely on is still limited, and emphasizes on the importance of teachers' professional guidance to realize man-machine coordinated. This article aims to provide references for the research and instructional design of second language teaching supported by AI from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Open systems, through the use of public, consensus based specifications or standards, are focussed on achieving the interoperability between, and the portability of components. In accommodating standards, open systems promise the advantages of plug-n-play technology, rapid prototyping and component re-use, while at the same time preventing system integration misfits, short system lifespan and difficulty in maintenance. In the development of open systems, it has been recognised that the specification and standardisation of interfaces, nor components, is of critical importance to realising these advantages. Due to the critical role of interfaces in open systems, the quality of the interface specifications used to engineer the interfaces is fundamental to the fulfilment of the promises of open systems. The authors contend that since current specifications and standards are deficient, then open complex computer systems, built using these specifications and standards, will indeed be no silver bullet. The authors present several ways forward, based on the inter-relationships between components, so that in the future the promises of open complex computer systems may still be fulfilled.

With the continuous growth of IT application systems, the complexity of architecture modeling and development increases. Patterns document proven solutions for recurring problems in an abstract and human readable manner. Within the domain of IT architectures, they should support the architecture modeling and development process. Due to the documentation of patterns as text documents, they cannot be applied to an architecture automatically: patterns have to be read, understood, adapted to the corresponding use case, and realized manually over and over again. Consequently, architecture modeling considering the variety of documented patterns becomes even more complex and time-consuming. To tackle these issues, we introduce an approach and for an automated application and realization of patterns in architectural graphs using graph transformation techniques. This eases the architecture modeling process in which proven solutions for recurring problems can be selected as required and applied automatically. We present the concept, formalization, and validate our approach based on an application example.

To facilitate architecture development of largescale and complex systems, we have proposed an architecture engineering methodology and defined seven kernels of architecture engineering (i.e., opportunity, Stakeholder, Need, Architecture, Team, Work and Way-of-Working) which must be considered during the process of developing an architecture. Each kernel has five or six different states that can indicate the progress and health of architecture development. To further improve practicability of the defined seven kernels and their 36 states in architecture development, a reference guide is suggested based on our engineering experience in practice, which contains more than 100 items helping to check kernel states and move them forward. Using the reference guide, we conducted an application of architecture development of a complex business information system. Results show that the proposed guide can be effectively used to help architecture engineers to determine and push on the state of architecture development. Architecture development can be proceeded clearly, timely and smoothly. Moreover, all the team members can work well together.

Disclosure of non-financial information, especially regarding corporate governance (CG), is an important element of companies’ communication with their stakeholders. This paper sets out to define—from a theoretical and practical perspective—the scope of CG reporting in Polish fuel, gas, and energy (“energy”) companies required under EU directives and national regulations. The paper presents the results of a study investigating whether and to what extent annual corporate governance statements (CGSs) prepared by energy companies, compared with other companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE-LCs), are consistent with “Best Practices for WSE-LCs 2016” (BPs for WSE-LCs). The study group consisted of energy companies submitting their 2017–2020 reports, as well as other companies listed on the WSE, as a comparative group (i.e., a total of 179 reports). We used a monographic method to study theoretical problems and annual CGSs and performed a critical review of the literature, as well as comparative, content, and descriptive analyses. The analysed CGSs helped answer the following question: to what extent do energy companies and other WSE-LCs pursue the CG rules specified in BPs for WSE-LCs? The results indicate that such companies follow various approaches to CG disclosures and reporting obligations. However, what truly matters is not the legal obligation itself, but rather the companies’ social responsibility for maintaining good relations with their stakeholders. The paper will contribute to CG studies, because no Polish theorist has so far analysed CG disclosures in annual non-financial reports. The paper fills a research gap in information on adherence to best practices in CG disclosures in CGSs of all WSE-LCs. The study presents conclusions of CG disclosures by energy companies, which can provide the basis for further research in other sectors.

As climate change intensifies, shifts in temperature and precipitation extremes raise concerns about increasing river flood risks. Understanding and quantifying how climate change influences floods is relevant from both theoretical and practical perspectives. From a research standpoint, although flood trend detection has been widely investigated, attributing observed changes to specific drivers remains challenging. From a practical perspective, reliable methods are needed to incorporate evolving climate conditions into flood predictions—particularly in ungauged basins—since traditional flood frequency analysis assumes stationarity.In this work, we present research conducted at Politecnico di Torino addressing these issues. The objectives are to investigate the relationship between floods and climate extremes at both local and large spatial scales, and to propose methods for linking changes in flood frequency curves to evolving precipitation and temperature patterns. The study area is the Great Alpine Region (GAR), including the Po River valley in Northern Italy. Both data-based and modelling approaches are employed.The data-based approach relies on the derived flood frequency framework and estimates flood sensitivity to changes in precipitation extremes by linking flood frequency curves and Intensity–Duration–Frequency curves through quantile–quantile relationships at the local scale. The modelling approach is based on the application of a regionally distributed rainfall–runoff model forced by climate model outputs, allowing changes in flood event characteristics to be investigated at the regional scale.This study is carried out within the Clim2FlEx project and the RETURN Extended Partnership and is funded by the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MUR, PRIN project 2022AX3882) and the European Union NextGenerationEU (National Recovery and Resilience Plan – NRRP, Mission 4, Component 2, Investment 1.3 – D.D. 1243 2/8/2022, PE0000005 – Spoke VS1).

UMTS Network Planning, Optimization, and Inter-Operation with GSM is an accessible, one-stop reference to help engineers effectively reduce the time and costs involved in UMTS deployment and optimization. Rahnema includes detailed coverage from both a theoretical and practical perspective on the planning and optimization aspects of UMTS, and a number of other new techniques to help operators get the most out of their networks. Provides an end-to-end perspective, from network design to optimization Incorporates the hands-on experiences of numerous researchers Single authorship allows for strong coherency and accessibility Details the complete iteration cycle of radio link budgeting for coverage planning and dimensioning Rahnema demonstrates detailed formulation of radio capacity and coverage in UMTS, and discusses the tradeoffs involved. He presents complete link budgeting and iterative simulations for capacity and coverage planning, along with practical guidelines. UMTS Network Planning contains seventeen cohesive and well-organized chapters which cover numerous topics, including: Radio channel structures, radio channel models, parameters, model tuning Techniques for capacity and coverage enhancements Complete treatment of power control, handoffs and radio resource practical management processes and parameters Detailed coverage of TCP protocol enhancement for operation over wireless links, particularly UMTS Application of GSM measurements to plan and re-engineer for UMTS radio sites Guidelines for site co-location with GSM, the QOS classes, parameters and inter-workings in UMTS AMR voice codecs and tradeoffs, core and access network design, architectural evolution, and protocols Comprehensive discussion and presentation of practical techniques for radio performance analysis, trending, and troubleshooting Perfect for professionals in the field and researchers specializing in network enhancement. Engineers working on other air interfaces and next generation technologies will find many of the techniques introduced helpful in designing and deploying future wireless networks as well. Students and professionals new to the wireless field will also find this book to be a good foundation in network planning, performance analysis, and optimization.