Down the Rabbit Hole: Fostering Active Learning through Guided Exploration of a SCADA Cyber Range

Prior experience from the authors has shown that a heavily theoretical approach for cybersecurity training has multiple shortcomings, mostly due to the demanding and diversified nature of the prerequisites, often involving concepts about operating system design, networking and computer architecture, among others. In such circumstances, the quest for trainee engagement often turns into a delicate balancing act between managing their expectations and providing an adequate progression path. In this perspective, hands-on exercises and contact with high-fidelity environments play a vital part in fostering interest and promoting a rewarding learning experience. Making this possible requires having the ability to design and deploy different use case training scenarios in a flexible way, tailored to the specific needs of classroom-based, blended or e-learning teaching models. This paper presents a flexible framework for the creation of laboratory and cyber range environments for training purposes, detailing the development, implementation and exploration of a cyber range scenario, within the scope of a course on cyber-physical systems security. Moreover, the course structure, curricular aspects and teaching methods are also detailed, as well as the feedback obtained from the students.

Acute proptosis secondary to bilateral pansinus mucopyocele with orbital compartment syndrome: a rare presentation, its management and outcome

A 37-year-old Indian female presented with forward protrusion of left eye for one week, associated with progressive diminution of vision. The patient had undergone sinus surgery for nasal polyposis a year ago. On examination, there was severe proptosis and limitation of extraocular movements in all gazes. CT-scan revealed a heterogeneous expansile mass, arising from left fronto-ethmoidal sinus, infiltrating left orbit. MRI showed T2-hyperintense, peripherally enhancing areas in bilateral nasal cavity (right >left), bilateral ethmoidal sinuses and frontal, sphenoidal and maxillary sinuses. Otorhinolaryngology consultation was sought and in view of vision threatening proptosis — with likely orbital compartment syndrome — emergent endoscopic guided exploration and orbital decompression was undertaken. Rapid relief of signs and symptoms was achieved, with normal vision, extraocular movements and resolution of proptosis. Cytology and microbiology ruled out infectious or malignant aetiology and helped in resolving a diagnostic dilemma. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of mucopyocele and follow-up period was uneventful.

Functional caption literacy development through intra-formal L2 viewing

Drawing on the digital literacies framework developed by Pegrum et al. (2018), this article proposes that caption literacy, a form of multimodal literacy, enhances the learning experiences of language learners who engage in self-directed second-language viewing. It presents a pedagogical approach referred to as intra-formal learning, which enables students in educational settings to build on previous digital learning experiences, such as watching Netflix TV series in a foreign language. Prior knowledge is extended through guided exploration of learning options (including caption use) and interaction between students who are encouraged to reflect on and share their learning experiences. This study investigates the developmental processes during the seven-week-long intervention. The development of functional caption literacy, going beyond the mechanical ability of operating subtitles, represents a critical ability for learner-viewers as it enables them to optimise viewing options in accordance with their processing capacities and preferences within their social context.

The The Application of Virtual Reality to (Mechatronics Engineering) by Creating an Articulated Robotic Work Cell Using EON Reality V9.22.24.24477

Virtual reality, VR, offers many benefits to technical education, including the delivery of information through multiple active channels, the addressing of different learning styles, and experiential-based learning. This paper presents work performed by the authors to apply VR to engineering education, in three broad project areas: virtual robotic learning, virtual mechatronics laboratory, and a virtual manufacturing platform. The first area provides guided exploration of domains otherwise inaccessible, such as the robotic cell components, robotic kinematics and work envelope. The second promotes mechatronics learning and guidance for new mechatronics engineers when dealing with robots in a safe and interactive manner. And the third provides valuable guidance for industry and robotic based manufacturing, allowing a better view and simulating conditions otherwise inaccessible.

Guided Exploration

Many monitoring tools that help developers in analyzing the run-time behavior of their applications share a common shortcoming: they require their users to have a fair amount of experience in monitoring applications to understand the used terminology and the available analysis features. Consequently, novice users who lack this knowledge often struggle to use these tools efficiently. In this paper, we introduce the guided exploration (GE) method that aims to make interactive monitoring tools easier to use and learn. In general, tools that implement GE should provide four support operations on each analysis step: they should automatically (1) detect and (2) highlight the most important information on the screen, (3) explain why it is important, and (4) suggest which next steps are appropriate. This way, tools guide users through their analysis processes, helping them to explore the root cause of a problem. At the same time, users learn the capabilities of the tool and how to use them efficiently. We show how GE can be implemented in new monitoring tools as well as how it can be integrated into existing ones. To demonstrate GE's feasibility and usefulness, we present how we extended the memory monitoring tool AntTracks to provided guided exploration support during memory leak analysis and memory churn analysis. We use these guidances in two user scenarios to inspect and improve the memory behavior of the monitored applications. We hope that our contribution will help usability researchers and developers in making monitoring tools more novice-friendly by improving their usability and learnability.

Directed Evolution of Microbial Communities

Directed evolution is a form of artificial selection that has been used for decades to find biomolecules and organisms with new or enhanced functional traits. Directed evolution can be conceptualized as a guided exploration of the genotype–phenotype map, where genetic variants with desirable phenotypes are first selected and then mutagenized to search the genotype space for an even better mutant. In recent years, the idea of applying artificial selection to microbial communities has gained momentum. In this article, we review the main limitations of artificial selection when applied to large and diverse collectives of asexually dividing microbes and discuss how the tools of directed evolution may be deployed to engineer communities from the top down. We conceptualize directed evolution of microbial communities as a guided exploration of an ecological structure–function landscape and propose practical guidelines for navigating these ecological landscapes. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Biophysics, Volume 50 is May 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.