Biblio

This work presents the design and implementation of a large curved display system in a virtual reality (VR) environment that supports visualization of 2D datasets (e.g., images, buttons and text). By using this system, users are allowed to interact with data in front of a wide field of view and gain a high level of perceived immersion. We exhibit two use cases of this system, including (1) a virtual image wall as the display component of a 3D user interface, and (2) an inventory interface for a VR-based educational game. The use cases demonstrate capability and flexibility of curved displays in supporting varied purposes of data interaction within virtual environments.

Mixed reality (MR) technologies are widely used in distributed collaborative learning scenarios and have made learning and training more flexible and intuitive. However, there are many challenges in the use of MR due to the difficulty in creating a physical presence, particularly when a physical task is being performed collaboratively. We therefore developed a novel MR system to overcomes these limitations and enhance the distributed collaboration user experience. The primary objective of this paper is to explore the potential of a MR-based hand gestures system to enhance the conceptual architecture of MR in terms of both visualization and interaction in distributed collaboration. We propose a synchronous prototype named MRCollab as an immersive collaborative approach that allows two or more users to communicate with a peer based on the integration of several technologies such as video, audio, and hand gestures.

This paper presents the effects of problem based learning project on a high-school student in Technology school “Electronic systems” associated with Technical University Sofia. The problem is creating an intrusion detection system for Apache HTTP Server with duration 6 months. The intrusion detection system is based on a recurrent neural network classifier namely long-short term memory units.

Verbal and non-verbal behaviors that we use in order to effectively communicate with other people are vital for our success in our daily lives. Despite the importance of social skills, creating standardized methods for training them and supporting their training is challenging. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) may have a good potential to support social and emotional learning (SEL) through virtual social demonstration games. This paper presents initial work involving the design of a pedagogical scenario to facilitate teaching of socially appropriate and inappropriate behaviors when entering and standing in a small group of people, a common occurrence in collaborative social situations. This is achieved through the use of virtual characters and, initially, virtual reality (VR) environments for supporting situated learning in multiple contexts. We describe work done thus far on the demonstrator scenario and anticipated potentials, pitfalls and challenges involved in the approach.

eAssessment uses technology to support online evaluation of students' knowledge and skills. However, challenging problems must be addressed such as trustworthiness among students and teachers in blended and online settings. The TeSLA system proposes an innovative solution to guarantee correct authentication of students and to prove the authorship of their assessment tasks. Technologically, the system is based on the integration of five instruments: face recognition, voice recognition, keystroke dynamics, forensic analysis, and plagiarism. The paper aims to analyze and compare the results achieved after the second pilot performed in an online and a blended university revealing the realization of trust-driven solutions for eAssessment.

Massively Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide a unique opportunity to reach out to students who would not normally be reached by alleviating the need to be physically present in the classroom. However, teaching software security coursework outside of a classroom setting can be challenging. What are the challenges when converting security material from an on-campus course to the MOOC format? The goal of this research is to assist educators in constructing software security coursework by providing a comparison of classroom courses and MOOCs. In this work, we compare demographic information, student motivations, and student results from an on-campus software security course and a MOOC version of the same course. We found that the two populations of students differed, with the MOOC reaching a more diverse set of students than the on-campus course. We found that students in the on-campus course had higher quiz scores, on average, than students in the MOOC. Finally, we document our experience running the courses and what we would do differently to assist future educators constructing similar MOOC's.

The explosive growth of IT infrastructures, cloud systems, and Internet of Things (IoT) have resulted in complex systems that are extremely difficult to secure and protect against cyberattacks which are growing exponentially in complexity and in number. Overcoming the cybersecurity challenges is even more complicated due to the lack of training and widely available cybersecurity environments to experiment with and evaluate new cybersecurity methods. The goal of our research is to address these challenges by exploiting cloud services. In this paper, we present the design, analysis, and evaluation of a cloud service that we refer to as Cybersecurity Lab as a Service (CLaaS) which offers virtual cybersecurity experiments that can be accessed from anywhere and from any device (desktop, laptop, tablet, smart mobile device, etc.) with Internet connectivity. In CLaaS, we exploit cloud computing systems and virtualization technologies to provide virtual cybersecurity experiments and hands-on experiences on how vulnerabilities are exploited to launch cyberattacks, how they can be removed, and how cyber resources and services can be hardened or better protected. We also present our experimental results and evaluation of CLaaS virtual cybersecurity experiments that have been used by graduate students taking our cybersecurity class as well as by high school students participating in GenCyber camps.

Todays' era of internet-of-things, cloud computing and big data centers calls for more fresh graduates with expertise in digital data processing techniques such as compression, encryption and error correcting codes. This paper describes a project-based elective that covers these three main digital data processing techniques and can be offered to three different undergraduate majors electrical and computer engineering and computer science. The course has been offered successfully for three years. Registration statistics show equal interest from the three different majors. Assessment data show that students have successfully completed the different course outcomes. Students' feedback show that students appreciate the knowledge they attain from this elective and suggest that the workload for this course in relation to other courses of equal credit is as expected.

Homeland Security (HS) is a growing field of study in the U.S. today, generally covering risk management, terrorism studies, policy development, and other topics related to the broad field. Information security threats to both the public and private sectors are growing in intensity, frequency, and severity, and are a very real threat to the security of the nation. While there are many models for information security education at all levels of higher education, these programs are invariably offered as a technical course of study, these curricula are generally not well suited to HS students. As a result, information systems and cyber security principles are under represented in the typical HS program. The authors propose a course of study in cyber security designed to capitalize on the intellectual strengths of students in this discipline and that are consistent with the broad suite of professional needs in this discipline.

Educational software systems have an increasingly significant presence in engineering sciences. They aim to improve students' attitudes and knowledge acquisition typically through visual representation and simulation of complex algorithms and mechanisms or hardware systems that are often not available to the educational institutions. This paper presents a novel software system for CryptOgraphic ALgorithm visuAl representation (COALA), which was developed to support a Data Security course at the School of Electrical Engineering, University of Belgrade. The system allows users to follow the execution of several complex algorithms (DES, AES, RSA, and Diffie-Hellman) on real world examples in a step by step detailed view with the possibility of forward and backward navigation. Benefits of the COALA system for students are observed through the increase of the percentage of students who passed the exam and the average grade on the exams during one school year.