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This article proposes an analytical framework to better understand the role that information and communication technology (ICT) skills play in improving employment opportunities for low-income groups. The paper draws upon research with over seventy non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provide ICT training and other employment services in 30 countries around the world. It explores the linkage between ICT skills and employability on three levels: NGO program design, characteristics of individual job seekers or trainees, and environmental dynamics that influence employment outcomes. The researchers argue that basic ICT skills are often important, but are usually insufficient for members of disadvantaged groups to improve their employment situation. The proposed multilevel framework identifies some of the common elements that help situate basic ICT skills in relation to other factors that can facilitate or impede employability.

Delta3D, the open source game and simulation engine built for military training, is continuing to be improved to meet the requirements of the military users. The most recent upgrades, available in versions 1.4 and later, include adding capability for After Action Review, integration with SCORM-compliant learning management systems (LMS's), and distributed interactive simulation (DIS) networking. Additionally, more applications, created by both government users and civilian companies, continue to be built using Delta3D and its expanding capabilities With these added features, Delta3D has become the engine of choice for several military simulations, including programs of record. The developers and program managers of these programs were attracted by its advanced technical features, its lack of proprietary vendor lock-in and licensing fees, and the ability to quickly produce sophisticated applications using Delta3D. This paper discusses the current state of Delta3D version 1.4 and how developers and program managers can use Delta3D to quickly and cheaply build complex training systems. It will also briefly touch upon the systems currently being built using Delta3D and how some of these have been proven to work in a training environment. It will also discuss what improvements to the engine will be added in the near future.

Introduction:Helicopter overland navigation is a cognitively complex task that requires continuous

In x-ray coherent scatter tomography, tomographic measurements of the forward scatter distribution are used to infer scatter densities within a volume. A radiopaque 2D pattern placed between the object and the detector array enables the disambiguation between different scatter events. The use of a fan beam source illumination to speed up data acquisition relative to a pencil beam presents computational challenges. To facilitate the use of iterative algorithms based on a penalized Poisson loglikelihood function, efficient computational implementation of the forward and backward models are needed. Our proposed implementation exploits physical symmetries and structural properties of the system and suggests a joint system-algorithm design, where the system design choices are influenced by computational considerations, and in turn lead to reduced reconstruction time. Computational-time speedups of approximately 146 and 32 are achieved in the computation of the forward and backward models, respectively. Results validating the forward model and reconstruction algorithm are presented on simulated analytic and Monte Carlo data.