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[ES] La presente tesis doctoral se enmarca en un conjunto de investigaciones centradas en el empleo de metodologías activas en el ámbito de las matemáticas, con el propósito de incrementar tanto los logros de aprendizaje como la motivación de los estudiantes en los niveles de educación secundaria y universitaria. En un contexto en el que se observa una disminución en el interés de los alumnos hacia las matemáticas, disciplina que perciben como desafiante y abstracta, se reconoce la necesidad apremiante de que los docentes proporcionen herramientas innovadoras y adopten enfoques pedagógicos que revitalicen el interés de los estudiantes en esta materia. La profunda comprensión de los conceptos matemáticos se revela como un componente crucial para un aprendizaje significativo y requiere de una diversidad de enfoques y estrategias educativas que puedan aplicarse para fortalecer la formación de los alumnos, promoviendo el desarrollo integrado de competencias matemáticas y tecnológicas. A través de metodologías activas, como flipped classroom, aprendizaje cooperativo, aprendizaje basado en juegos o gamificación, que poseen un gran potencial didáctico, los alumnos tienen la oportunidad de alcanzar un aprendizaje efectivo, lo que implica que pueden comprender de manera efectiva y eficiente los conceptos matemáticos, al mismo tiempo que se mejora el potencial del grupo clase Las experiencias recopiladas en esta investigación, que incluyen la implementación de la metodología flip, el uso de vídeos didácticos enriquecidos, la gamificación, materiales manipulativos, herramientas tecnológicas y la promoción del pensamiento computacional, entre otras, abarcan tanto la educación preuniversitaria, que engloba secundaria y bachillerato, como la universitaria. La metodología de investigación se fundamenta en un enfoque exploratorio, pre-experimental y cuasi-experimental de naturaleza transversal. En todos los casos, se incorporan fundamentos teóricos que respaldan las experiencias realizadas, así como análisis cuantitativos y cualitativos de los datos recopilados. Los resultados obtenidos en estos estudios reflejan un notorio aumento en los logros de aprendizaje y la motivación de los estudiantes como consecuencia de la implementación de estas metodologías. En resumen, esta tesis doctoral se erige como un compendio de investigaciones que subrayan la importancia de las metodologías activas en la enseñanza de las matemáticas en los niveles de educación secundaria y universitaria. Los hallazgos respaldan la efectividad de estas metodologías para reavivar el interés de los estudiantes en las matemáticas y promover un aprendizaje más profundo y motivador en estas áreas. Con ello, se sientan las bases para una mejora continua en la enseñanza de las matemáticas en todos los niveles educativos. / [CA] La present tesi doctoral s'emmarca en un conjunt d'investigacions centrades en l'ús de metodologies actives en l'àmbit de les matemàtiques, amb el propòsit d'incrementar tant els assoliments d'aprenentatge com la motivació dels estudiants en els nivells d'educació secundària i universitària. En un context en el qual s'observa una disminució en l'interés dels alumnes cap a les matemàtiques, disciplina que perceben com a desafiadora i abstracta, es reconeix la necessitat urgent que els docents proporcionen eines innovadores i adopten enfocaments pedagògics que revitalitzen l'interés dels estudiants en esta matèria. La profunda comprensió dels conceptes matemàtics es revela com un component crucial per a un aprenentatge significatiu i requereix d'una diversitat d'enfocaments i estratègies educatives que puguen aplicar-se per a enfortir la formació dels alumnes, promovent el desenvolupament integrat de competències matemàtiques i tecnològiques. A través de metodologies actives, com flipped classroom, aprenentatge cooperatiu, aprenentatge basat en jocs o ludificació, que posseeixen un gran potencial didàctic, els alumnes tenen l'oportunitat d'aconseguir un aprenentatge efectiu, la qual cosa implica que poden comprendre de manera efectiva i eficient els conceptes matemàtics, al mateix temps que es millora el potencial del grup classe Les experiències recopilades en esta investigació, que inclouen la implementació de la metodologia flip, l'ús de vídeos didàctics enriquits, la ludificació, materials manipulatius, eines tecnològiques i la promoció del pensament computacional, entre altres, abasten tant l'educació preuniversitària, que engloba secundària i batxillerat, com la universitària. La metodologia d'investigació es fonamenta en un enfocament exploratori, pre-experimental i quasiexperimental de naturalesa transversal. En tots els casos, s'incorporen fonaments teòrics que recolzen les experiències realitzades, així com anàlisis quantitatives i qualitatives de les dades recopilades. Els resultats obtinguts en estos estudis reflecteixen un notori augment en els assoliments d'aprenentatge i la motivació dels estudiants a conseqüència de la implementació d'estes metodologies. En resum, esta tesi doctoral s'erigeix com un compendi d'investigacions que subratllen la importància de les metodologies actives en l'ensenyament de les matemàtiques en els nivells d'educació secundària i universitària. Les troballes recolzen l'efectivitat d'estes metodologies per a reavivar l'interés dels estudiants en les matemàtiques i promoure un aprenentatge més profund i motivador en estes àrees. Amb això, s'estableixen les bases per a una millora contínua en l'ensenyament de les matemàtiques en tots els nivells educatius. / [EN] This doctoral thesis is part of a set of research projects focused on the use of active methodologies in the field of mathematics, with the aim of increasing both learning achievements and student motivation in secondary and university levels. In a context where there is a decline in students' interest in mathematics, a discipline perceived as challenging and abstract, it is recognized the pressing need for teachers to provide innovative tools and adopt pedagogical approaches that revitalise students' interest in this subject. A deep understanding of mathematical concepts emerges as a crucial component for meaningful learning and requires a diversity of approaches and educational strategies that can be applied to strengthen students' education, promoting the integrated development of mathematical and technological competencies. Through active methodologies such as flipped classroom, cooperative learning, game-based learning, or gamification, which have great didactic potential, students can achieve effective learning, implying that they can understand mathematical concepts effectively and efficiently while enhancing the potential of the class group. The experiences gathered in this research, including the implementation of the flip methodology, the use of enriched educational videos, gamification, manipulative materials, technological tools, and the promotion of computational thinking, among others, span both pre-university education, including secondary and high school, and university education. The research methodology is based on an exploratory, pre-experimental, and quasi-experimental cross-sectional approach. In all cases, theoretical foundations supporting the experiences are incorporated, along with quantitative and qualitative analysis of the collected data. The results obtained in these studies reflect a noticeable increase in learning achievements and student motivation because of the implementation of these methodologies. In summary, this doctoral thesis stands as a compendium of research highlighting the importance of active methodologies in the teaching of mathematics at the secondary and university levels. The findings support the effectiveness of these methodologies in reigniting students' interest in mathematics and promoting deeper and more motivating learning in these areas. With this, it lays the groundwork for continuous improvement in the teaching of mathematics at all educational levels. / Jiménez Hernández, C. (2024). Diseño, implementación y análisis de diferentes metodologías activas en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de matemáticas [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/203650

The objectives of the research study are to review existing subnational credit rating methodologies and their applicability in the South African context, to develop the quantitative parts of credit rating methodologies for two provincial departments (Department of Health and Department of Education) that best predict future payment behaviour, to test the appropriateness of the proposed methodologies and to construct the datasets needed. The literature study includes background information regarding the uniqueness of South Africa’s provinces and credit rating methodologies in general. This is followed by information on subnational credit rating methodologies, including a review of existing subnational credit rating methodologies and an assessment of the applicability of the information provided in the South African context. Lastly, the applicable laws and regulations within the South African regulatory framework are provided. The knowledge gained from the literature study is applied to the data that have been collected to predict the two departments’ future payment behaviour. Linear regression modelling is used to identify the factors that best predict future payment behaviour and to assign weights to the identified factors in a scientific manner. The resulting payment behaviour models can be viewed as the quantitative part of the credit ratings. This is followed by a discussion on further investigations to improve the models. The developed models (both the simple and the advanced models) are tested with regard to prediction accuracies using RAG (Red, Amber or Green) statuses. This is followed by recommendations regarding future model usage that conclude that the department-specific models outperform the generic models in terms of prediction accuracies. / PhD (Risk analysis), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

The objectives of the research study are to review existing subnational credit rating methodologies and their applicability in the South African context, to develop the quantitative parts of credit rating methodologies for two provincial departments (Department of Health and Department of Education) that best predict future payment behaviour, to test the appropriateness of the proposed methodologies and to construct the datasets needed. The literature study includes background information regarding the uniqueness of South Africa’s provinces and credit rating methodologies in general. This is followed by information on subnational credit rating methodologies, including a review of existing subnational credit rating methodologies and an assessment of the applicability of the information provided in the South African context. Lastly, the applicable laws and regulations within the South African regulatory framework are provided. The knowledge gained from the literature study is applied to the data that have been collected to predict the two departments’ future payment behaviour. Linear regression modelling is used to identify the factors that best predict future payment behaviour and to assign weights to the identified factors in a scientific manner. The resulting payment behaviour models can be viewed as the quantitative part of the credit ratings. This is followed by a discussion on further investigations to improve the models. The developed models (both the simple and the advanced models) are tested with regard to prediction accuracies using RAG (Red, Amber or Green) statuses. This is followed by recommendations regarding future model usage that conclude that the department-specific models outperform the generic models in terms of prediction accuracies. / PhD (Risk analysis), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Although empirical research has shown that a clearly defined information system (IS) strategy has a positive impact to a firm’s performance and a poorly defined IS strategy has a negative impact to a firms’ performance, firms still develop poorly defined IS strategies. Further compounding the problem, research has revealed that 87% of the business executives believe information systems are a critical enabler to their firms' strategic realization, yet only 33% of business executives involve the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in their firm’s business strategy development. The main goal of this research study is to empirically identify factors which impact development of an IS strategy. This research analyzed the relationship of factors which included organizational mindfulness, CIO and senior management team relationship, and CIO capability to the firm’s level of IS strategy definition. A total of 80 senior leaders completed a web-based survey instrument containing previously validated and refined questions. The questions were answered using a five-point Likert scale. The survey results were analyzed using statistical methods including Pearson’s Correlation, Cronbach’s alpha and linear regression. The statistical results revealed that the factors accounted for 50% of the variance in the level of information system strategy definition. Further, this research study identified five variables which include CIO knowledge of the business, communication ability, informal interaction, trust, and top management support that potentially predict the levels of IS strategy definition. Six variables which include openness, extraversion, political savvy, Top Management Team (TMT) knowledge of IS, formal interaction and reluctance to simplify interpretations were not identified as potential predictors of levels of IS strategy definition. This research study discusses the methodology; data collection and analysis; results of the three research questions and overarching question; and the conclusions, implications, and recommendations. Several future studies are required to provide additional qualitative and quantities findings to better understand the results of this study.

Leveraging technology may be a viable solution in the higher education industry as enrollments decline and institutions have a hard time meeting their projected budgets. One innovative approach to mitigating this problem was approved in March of 2013 by the Board of Trustees of the State University of New York (SUNY). It is called Open SUNY. Open SUNY consists of nine components: the creation and expansion of online programs to meet workforce development needs, the development of online credit-bearing experiential learning experiences, support for training of faculty who opt to use emerging technologies, support for student access to online courses, the availability of prior learning assessment system-wide, the development of a research initiative to identify best practices and offer professional development, exploration of open education resources to bring down costs for students, support for expansion of online program development, and the creation and promotion of learning commons to facilitate communication and house content. The purpose of this qualitative bounded case study was to observe the rollout of Open SUNY from the fall of 2014 through spring of 2015 in order to describe the experience of stakeholders at SUNY’s various campuses. To triangulate the data, multiple sources were used to observe the phenomenon such as interviews, documents and surveys. Purposeful sampling allowed for all institution types and geographic areas to be included in the population sample. Data were coded and analyzed using the constant comparative method. Three themes that arose from the data interpretation were: inclusiveness, systemness, and openness. An organizational structure model was used as a framework for making recommendations based on the research conclusions.

The benefits of using electronic medical records (EMRs) have been well documented; however, despite numerous financial benefits and cost reductions being offered by the federal government, some healthcare professionals have been reluctant to implement EMR systems. In fact, prior research provides evidence of failed EMR implementations due to resistance on the part of physicians, nurses, and clinical administrators. In 2010, only 25% of office-based physicians have basic EMR systems and only 10% have fully functional systems. One of the hindrances believed to be responsible for the slow implementation rates of EMR systems is resistance from healthcare professionals not truly convinced that the system could be of substantive use to them. This study used quantitative methods to measure the relationships between six constructs, namely computer self-efficacy (CSE), perceived complexity (PC), attitude toward EMR (ATE), peer pressure (PP), anxiety (AXY), and resistance to use of technology (RES), are predominantly found in the literature with mixed results. Moreover, they may play a significant role in exposing the source of resistance that exists amongst American healthcare professionals when using Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Systems. This study also measured four covariates: age, role in healthcare, years in healthcare, gender, and years of computer use. This study used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and an analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) to address the research hypotheses proposed. The survey instrument was based on existing construct measures that have been previously validated in literature, however, not in a single model. Thus, construct validity and reliability was done with the help of subject matter experts (SMEs) using the Delphi method. Moreover, a pilot study of 20 participants was conducted before the full data collection was done, where some minor adjustments to the instrument were made. The analysis consisted of SEM using the R software and programming language. A Web-based survey instrument consisting of 45 items was used to assess the six constructs and demographics data. The data was collected from healthcare professionals across the United States. After data cleaning, 258 responses were found to be viable for further analysis. Resistance to EMR Systems amongst healthcare professionals was examined through the utilization of a quantitative methodology and a cross-sectional research measuring the self-report survey responses of medical professionals. The analysis found that the overall R2 after the SEM was performed, the model had an overall R2 of 0.78, which indicated that 78% variability in RES could be accounted by CSE, PC, ATE, PP, and AXY. The SEM analysis of AXY and RES illustrated a path that was highly significant (β= 0.87, p < .001), while the other constructs impact on RES were not significant. No covariates, besides years of computer use, were found to show any significance differences. This research study has numerous implications for practice and research. The identification of significant predictors of resistance can assist healthcare administrators and EMR system vendors to develop ways to improve the design of the system. This study results also help identify other aspects of EMR system implementation and use that will reduce resistance by healthcare professionals. From a research perspective, the identification of specific attitudinal, demographic, professional, or knowledge-related predictors of reference through the SEM and ANCOVA could provide future researchers with an indication of where to focus additional research attention in order to obtain more precise knowledge about the roots of physician resistance to using EMR systems.

The 21st century is considered as the era of mass communication and electronic information exchange. There is a dramatic increase in electronic communications and e-transactions worldwide. However, this advancement results in the appearance of many security issues, especially when the exchanged information is sensitive and/or confidential. A significant aspect of security is authentication, which in most of the cases is provided through a cryptographic hash function. As happens for the majority of security primitives, software design and implementation of hash functions is becoming more prevalent today. However, hardware is the embodiment of choice for military and safety-critical commercial applications due to the physical protection and increased performance that they offer. Hence, similarly to general hardware designs, regarding cryptographic hash function ones, three crucial issues, among others, arise: performance, reliability, and flexibility. In this PhD dissertation, hardware solutions regarding cryptographic hash functions, addressing the aforementionted three crucial issues are proposed. Specifically, a design methodology for developing high-throughput and area-efficient sole hardware architectures of the most widely-used cryptographic hash families, i.e. the SHA-1 and SHA-2, is proposed. This methodology incorporates several algorithmic-, system-, and circuit-level techniques in an efficient, recursive way, exploiting the changes in the design’s graph dependencies that are resulted by a technique’s application. Additionally, high-throughput and area-efficient hardware designs for the above families as well as new ones (e.g. JH and Skein), are also proposed. These architectures outperform significantly all the similar ones existing in the literature. Furthermore, a design methodology for developing Totally Self-Checking (TSC) architectures of the most widely-used cryptographic hash families, namely the SHA-1 and SHA-2 ones is proposed for the first time. As any RTL architecture for the above hash families is composed by similar functional blocks, the proposed methodology is general and can be applied to any RTL architecture of the SHA-1 and SHA-2 families. Based on the above methodology, TSC architectures of the two representatice hash functions, i.e. SHA-1 and SHA-256, are provided, which are significantlty more efficient in terms of Throughput/Area, Area, and Power than the corresponding ones that are derived using only hardware redundancy. Moreover, a design methodology for developing hardware architectures that realize more than one cryptographic hash function (mutli-mode architectures) with reasonable throughput and area penalty is proposed. Due to the fact that any architecture for the above hash families is composed by similar functional blocks, the proposed methodology can be applied to any RTL architecture of the SHA-1 and SHA-2 families. The flow exploits specific features appeared in SHA-1 and SHA-2 families and for that reason it is tailored to produce optimized multi-mode architectures for them. Based on the above methodology, two multi-mode architectures, namely a SHA256/512 and a SHA1/256/512, are introduced. They achieve high throughput rates, outperforming all the existing similar ones in terms of throughput/area cost factor. At the same time, they are area-efficient. Specifically, they occupy less area compared to the corresponding architectures that are derived by simply designing the sole hash cores together and feeding them to a commercial FPGA synthesis/P&R/mapping tool. Finally, the extracted knowledge from the above research activities was exploited in three additional works that deal with: (a) a data locality methodology for matrix–matrix multiplication, (b) a methodology for Speeding-Up Fast Fourier Transform focusing on memory architecture utilization, and (c) a near-optimal microprocessor & accelerators co-design with latency & throughput constraints. / Ο 21ος αιώνας θεωρείται η εποχή της μαζικής επικοινωνίας και της ηλεκτρονικής πληροφορίας. Υπάρχει μία δραματική αύξηση των τηλεπικοινωνιών και των ηλεκτρονικών συναλλαγών σε όλο τον κόσμο. Αυτές οι ηλεκτρονικές επικοινωνίες και συναλλαγές ποικίλουν από αποστολή και λήψη πακέτων δεδομένων μέσω του Διαδικτύου ή αποθήκευση πολυμεσικών δεδομένων, έως και κρίσιμες οικονομικές ή/και στρατιωτικές υπηρεσίες. Όμως, αυτή η εξέλιξη αναδεικνύει την ανάγκη για περισσότερη ασφάλεια, ιδιαίτερα στις περιπτώσεις όπου οι πληροφορίες που ανταλλάσονται αφορούν ευαίσθητα ή/και εμπιστευτικά δεδομένα. Σε αυτές τις περιπτώσεις, η ασφάλεια θεωρείται αναπόσπαστο χαρακτηριστικό των εμπλεκομένων εφαρμογών και συστημάτων. Οι συναρτήσεις κατακερματισμού παίζουν έναν πολύ σημαντικό ρόλο στον τομέα της ασφάλειας και, όπως συμβαίνει στην πλειοψηφία των βασικών αλγορίθμων ασφαλείας, οι υλοποιήσεις σε λογισμικό (software) επικρατούν στις μέρες μας. Παρόλα αυτά, οι υλοποιήσεις σε υλικό (hardware) είναι η κύρια επιλογή οσον αφορά στρατιωτικές εφαρμογές και εμπορικές εφαρμογές κρίσιμης ασφάλειας. Η NSA, για παράδειγμα, εξουσιοδοτεί μόνο υλοποιήσεις σε υλικό. Αυτό γιατί οι υλοποιήσεις σε υλικό είναι πολύ γρηγορότερες από τις αντίστοιχες σε λογισμικό, ενώ προσφέρουν και υψηλά επίπεδα «φυσικής» ασφάλειας λόγω κατασκευής. Έτσι, όσον αφορά τις κρυπτογραφικές συναρτήσεις κατακερματισμού, όπως ίσχυει γενικά στις υλοποιήσεις υλικού, ανακύπτουν τρία (ανάμεσα σε άλλα) κύρια θέματα: Επιδόσεις, Αξιοπιστία, Ευελιξία. Σκοπός της παρούσας διατριβής είναι να παράσχει λύσεις υλοποίησης σε υλικό για κρυπτογραφικές συναρτήσεις κατακερματισμού, στοχεύοντας στα τρία κύρια ζητήματα που αφορούν υλοποιήσεις σε υλικό, τα οποία και προαναφέρθηκαν (Επιδόσεις, Αξιοπιστία, Ευελιξία). Συγκεκριμένα, προτείνονται μεθοδολογίες σχεδιασμού αρχιτεκτονικών υλικού (καθώς και οι αρχιτεκτονικές αυτές καθαυτές) για τις οικογένειες SHA-1 και SHA-2 οι οποίες επιτυγχάνουν υψηλή ρυθμαπόδοση με λογική αύξηση της επιφάνειας ολοκλήρωσης. Επίσης, προτείνονται αρχιτεκτονικές οι οποίες επιτυγχάνουν υψηλή ρυθμαπόδοση με λογική αύξηση της επιφάνειας ολοκλήρωσης για νέες κρυπτογραφικές συναρτήσεις, δηλαδή για τις JH και Skein. Ακόμα, προτείνονται μεθοδολογίες σχεδιασμού αρχιτεκτονικών υλικού (καθώς και οι αρχιτεκτονικές αυτές καθαυτές) για τις οικογένειες SHA-1 και SHA-2 οι οποίες έχουν τη δυνατότητα να ανιχνέυουν πιθανά λάθη κατά τη λειτουργία τους ενώ επιτυγχάνουν υψηλή ρυθμαπόδοση με λογική αύξηση της επιφάνειας ολοκλήρωσης. Τέλος, προτείνονται μεθοδολογίες σχεδιασμού πολύ-τροπων αρχιτεκτονικών υλικού (καθώς και οι αρχιτεκτονικές αυτές καθ’αυτές) για τις οικογένειες SHA-1 και SHA-2 οι οποίες έχουν τη δυνατότητα να υποστηρίξουν παραπάνω από μία συνάρτηση ενώ επιτυγχάνουν υψηλή ρυθμαπόδοση με λογική αύξηση της επιφάνειας ολοκλήρωσης.

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