智慧型決策支援系統(Intellignet Decision Support Systems)的特點是可以同時處理定性和定量資料於同一個系統中，以同時執行各種知識推論及數量模式之運算。黑板架構(Blackboard Architecture)的做法是將決策支援求解過程的資料、模式和知識運用情形記錄於一共同工作區─稱之為黑板(Blackboard)，將模式及知識記錄在所謂的知識源(Knowledge Sources)中，並提供較有彈性之控制機制，應可提供較佳的解釋功能。以黑板架構為基礎的智慧型系統多應用在科學及工程方面，在管理方面卻寥寥無幾；管理問題多半屬於半結構性或非結構性，良好的解釋應為智慧型決策系統之重要功能。本研究擬就銀行業之授信審查做為本系統之專業領域知識(Domain Knowledge)，運用黑板架構中的階層化問題表現方式及模組化知識源分類之特性，建立提供完善解釋功能之智慧型授信決策支援系統。 / Incorporating artificial intelligence (AI) technique is critical to improve the functionality of decision support systems. Explanation function for consultation-based systems has been emphasized in the literature and should be considered important in developing intelligent decision support systems. Blackboard architecture can support a well-organized explanation facility due to its structurization of problem solving space, modularization of domain knowledge, and flexibility of reasoning control. Applying blackboard systems to managerial domain gets attention recently. Since most managerial consultation problems are unstructured or semi-structured, good explanation facility should be able to enhance the consultation effectiveness. The thesis investigates the potential of developing an explanation facility on the blackboard architecture using the loan evaluation as an example. During the interactive consultation process, the system can answer questions such as "What?", "Why?", "How?", and "Where?" with a friendly user interface. In terms of contribution, the inclusion of explanation facility can potentially increase the willingness and confidence of decision makers in using intelligent decision support systems. On the other hand, applying the graphic user interface to the development of explanation facility based on the blackboard architecture can make the reasoning process transparent and enhance the acceptance of this AI technique to managerial problem solving.

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Digitalization has spread into all parts of our lives including shopping, staying in touch with friends and watching cat videos from the cat island in Japan. Studies have shown that digitalization can also have a huge benefit for educational purposes via Learning Management Systems (LMS). The purpose of the study is to describe and create an understanding how learning institutions all across the globe can further improve the usability of their LMS, with a specific focus on the students perspective on the systems usability. Quantitative and qualitative material from a case study was analyzed and compared with previous related studies and to theories from the literature study. The results of the study showed that there is great potential for learning institutions to improve the usability of their LMS by relatively simple means, in many cases using their own students as a resource for improving their education. The study also showed there can be major differences in how students perceive the usability of an LMS, which can have disruptive effects if not addressed properly. / Digitaliseringen har spridit sig till alla delar i våra liv: Shopping, hålla kontakt med vänner och att titta på kattvideos från kattön i Japan. Studier har visat att digitaliseringen också kan ha stora fördelar i utbildningssyfte med hjälp av Learning Management Systems (LMS). Syftet med studien är att beskriva och skapa en förståelse för hur lärosäten över hela världen kan förbättra användbarheten i deras LMS, med specifikt fokus på studentperspektivet i användbarhet. Kvantitativt och kvalitativt material från fallstudien analyserades och jämfördes med tidigare relaterade studier och teorier från litteraturstudien. Resultatet av studien visade att det fanns en stor potential för lärosäten att förbättra användbarheten i deras LMS med relativt enkla medel, i många fall genom att använda sina egna studenter som en resurs för att förbättra deras utbildning. Studien visade också att det kan finnas stora skillnader i hur studenten uppfattar användbarheten i ett LMS, vilket kan ha negativa effekter om det inte adresseras på rätt sätt.

We present a partial implementation of King and Saia 2016’s expected polyno- mial time byzantine agreement algorithm, which which greatly speeds up Bracha’s Byzantine agreement algorithm by introducing a shared coin flip subroutine and a method for detecting adversarially controlled nodes. In addition to implementing the King-Saia algorithm, we detail a new version of the “blackboard” abstraction used to implement the shared coin flip, which improves the subroutine’s resilience from t < n/4 to t < n/3 and leads to an improvement of the resilience of the King-Saia Byzantine agreement algorithm overall. We test the King-Saia algorithm, and detail a series of adversarial attacks against it; we also create a Monte Carlo simulation to further test one particular attack’s level of success at biasing the shared coin flip / Graduate

This thesis analyzes two popular computer assisted instruction teaching platforms: Daedalus Integrated Writing Environment (DIWE) and Blackboard (BB). The major focus of the exploration is to find out whether or not these programs are really a "natural fit" with the high expectations of new rhetoric compositionists.

本研究旨在探究兩個不同電腦支援合作學習環境，知識論壇平台（Knowledge Forum, KF）與黑板數位學習平台（Blackboard, BB），在支援師培生學習教育理論、教師專業與教學實務等概念過程中之影響。BB的設計主要以一般的學習理論為基礎，KF的設計則是以知識建構（knowledge building）理論為中心。研究設計採混合研究法之橫斷取向策略，研究對象為某國立大學修習一師培必修課程「教育理念與實際之整合」之49位學生。於學期初將研究對象分成二組，其中BB組25人，KF組24人。課程目標主要希望學生在修課後能對自己即將投入之事業，以及對於教學理論、教師專業與教學實務間的關係，能有更深入的瞭解，並進一步反思自己在未來實習階段需要加強之處。 研究資料主要來自兩個數位學習平台上自動存取的紀錄(例如：建立文章次數、對他人文章回覆次數等)、以及學生於兩平台上所發表的文章內容。資料分析主要為推論統計之單因子變異數分析及質性的內容分析法。根據分析結果，本研究提出以下三點結論： 一、兩組學生在相同教師及相同課程設計下，在兩個學習平台上的活動量大致相同，但是於KF環境下學習的學生則表現出較多的成員互動。根據本研究結果推論，會產生此現象是因為BB的平台設計僅提供單一回文機制，供學生對他人的文章做回饋。而KF平台的設計則提供較多元的互動機制，除了可以對他人文章做回應(build-on)外，還可以對別人的文章做註解(annotation)、引用他人文章(reference)、以及統整文章(rise-above)等功能。 二、在學生於教育理論與教學實務間關係概念的理解上，首先，於低層次的理解面向上（主要包含教師要能「知道且理解教學理論」和「應用教學理論」）兩組學生沒有顯著差異。但是，在高層次的理解上（主要為教師要能「分析理論和實務上的關係」），KF組則比BB組表現好。根據本研究結果推論，KF的學習環境可以幫助學生發展更高層次的思考。 三、在學生對教師專業與教學實務間關係概念的理解上，首先，在低層次的理解面向上（主要包含教師要「理解並應用專業於實務」和「從實務中歸納專業為多面向的整合」），兩組學生沒有顯著差異。然而，在較高層次的理解上（主要包含教師要能「分析專業和實務上的關係」和「評鑑、反思自己在專業上的表現」），KF組的表現比BB組好。研究推論KF環境較能幫助提昇學生的概念學習至較成熟的理解層次。 根據上述結論，本研究提出下列四點建議：（1）電腦支援合作式學習環境應發展更多元的文章互動機制；（2）師培教育應更重視師培生對教學理論、教師專業與教學實務間關係的理解；（3）教師選擇使用電腦支援合作式學習環境時，應將是否能幫助學生產生深層理解做為其中考量；以及（4）教師應幫助學生發展知識創新概念。 / This study investigated the effects of two different computer-supported collaborative learning environments, Knowledge Forum (KF) and Blackboard (BB), on teacher-education students’ conceptual understanding of theories, expertise, and practices in teaching. Blackboard is designed generally based on conventional learning theories. In contrast, Knowledge Forum is designed particularly based on knowledge building theory and pedagogy. Participants were 49 students who took a course titled “Integrating Instructional Theory and Practice,” which was offered by a teacher-education program in a national university, Taiwan. The study employed a mixed-method design, with the participants being divided into a BB group (N=25) and a KF group (N=24), with the later serving as an experimental group. The main instructional goal was to help students deepen their understanding of the relationships between theories, expertise and practices in teaching and to become more reflective on their future teaching practice. Data primarily came from students’ online discourse posted in the form of notes and were recorded in the aforementioned two BB and KF databases. To analyze, one-way ANOVA was employed to describe students’ online activities (e.g., number of notes posted) and an open-coding procedure were adapted to content-analyze student notes. There were three main findings as follows: (1) It was found there was no significant difference observed between the two groups in terms of the number of notes posted online in each database. But in terms of interactivity, there were more note linking actives in the KF group than in the BB group. It is suggested that this might be due to the design mechanism of the BB environment being less supportive for discourse interaction among students. In contrast, the KF environment has more design features such as annotations, references, and rise-above to support student interactions. (2) In terms of students’ conceptual understanding of the relationships between theories and practices in teaching, it was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups at the two lower conceptual levels (including teachers should “know and understand most teaching theories” and “be able to put theories into practices”.) But in contrast, it was found that there was a significant difference between the two groups at a higher level of understanding (i.e., teachers should be able to “analyze the relationship between theory and practice”). The findings suggest that as compared with Blackboard, Knowledge Forum seemed to be a more supportive environment that tended to help students achieve a deeper conceptual understanding of the relationships between theories and practices in teaching. (3) In terms of students’ conceptual understanding of the relationships between expertise and practices in teaching, it was found that there were no significant differences between the two groups at the two lower levels (including teachers should “understand the practice and the application of teacher expertise” and be able to “integrate practice into the multifaceted teaching expertise.”) But in contrast, it was found that there was a significant difference between the two groups at a higher level (i.e., teachers should be able to “analyze the relationships between teacher expertise and teaching practice” and “evaluate, reflect on their own professional performance.”) The findings suggest that Knowledge Forum seemed to be a more supportive environment capable of helping students achieve a higher level of conceptual understanding of the relationships between teacher expertise and practices in teaching. Building on the above results, this study made the following four suggestions: (1) a good computer-supported collaborative learning environment should include necessary design features that support multiple interactive mechanisms; (2) teacher education program should help its students develop deeper conceptual understanding of educational theories, teacher expertise, and teaching practices; (3) teachers should be equipped with the necessary knowledge in order to choose a good computer-supported collaborative learning environment to support teaching; and (4) Teacher education program should help its students develop more knowledge building oriented concepts towards teaching and learning.

An important characteristic of Service-Oriented Architectures is that clients do not depend on the service implementation's internal assignment of methods to objects. It is perhaps the most important technical characteristic that differentiates them from more common object-oriented solutions. This characteristic makes clients and services malleable, allowing them to be rearranged at run-time as circumstances change. That improvement in malleability is impaired by requiring clients to direct service requests to particular services. Ideally, the clients are totally oblivious to the service structure, as they are to aspect structure in aspect-oriented software. Removing knowledge of a method implementation's location, whether in object or service, requires re-defining the boundary line between programming language and middleware, making clearer specification of dependence on protocols, and bringing the transaction-like concept of failure scopes into language semantics as well. This paper explores consequences and advantages of a transition from object-request brokering to service-request brokering, including the potential to improve our ability to write more parallel software.