Donald R. Moscato

An Empirical Study of the Learning Aspects of Experimental Business Game Playing

Abstract This empirical study tests the hypothesis that the presence of information, experience, and time pressure on three different groups of subjects has no significant effect on the decisions made in a specialized business simulation. F-tests and analyses of variance are used to analyze decisions made by 140 individuals. It was found that no discernible difference existed in the decisions of the groups that were segregated into specialists and non-specialists as well as informed and uninformed. It was also found that the elimination of briefing and debriefing sessions, the reduction of decision-making time, and the increase in the frequency of decisions in no way increased the variability of the decisions.

DATABASE GATEWAY PROCESSOR RISK ANALYSIS USING FUZZY LOGIC

Many large organizations maintain a significant amount of their data in what are currently referred to as legacy systems. In order to provide end users access to the firm’s legacy applications many organizations have opted to provide what is referred to as a database gateway system. An organization must be able to calculate its exposure in the event of a disaster occurring. Performance, recovery and monitoring considerations of the database gateway system have to be included in the risk analysis. The traditional approach to performing a risk analysis adheres to the procedure: identify the exposures or threats to the system; identify the assets at risk; determine the probability of the exposures happening; compute the expected loss for each asset and threat; consider the impact of existing controls; run a high/low analysis to determine the domain of risk exposure. Explains, in non‐technical terms, the basic concepts of the application of fuzzy logic modelling to risk analysis.

Tapping the Potential of Virtual World-Based Simulations in Higher Education

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the pedagogical possibilities of employing virtual world simulations across many disciplines of higher education. We first present a discussion of the varied approaches to pedagogy along with the identification of the pros and cons for each one. Next, we present an introduction to virtual world concepts and key issues surrounding their use for educational purposes. A specific discussion of the virtual world Second Life is presented. Following these preliminary sections, we present by subject areas, the many potential and actual implementations of virtual world simulations in higher education.

Effects of Awareness of Individual Group Membership on Group Problem-Solving under Constrained Communication

This study investigated the influence of group awareness among individual members engaged in group problem-solving in an environment of constrained communication. A total of 243 graduate students in business were organized into groups of three based upon numerical ability and personality characteristics. An analysis of variance indicated that groups of individuals with high-group awareness tended to be less successful in problem-solving in an ad hoc problem-solving environment than groups of individuals with low-group awareness.