ppxscal/embedding_network huggingface dataset:
Predictors of success in a first programming course
Authors: Simon, Sally Fincher, Anthony Robins, Bob Baker, Ilona Box, Quintin Cutts, Michael de Raadt, Patricia Haden, John Hamer, Margaret Hamilton, Raymond Lister, Marian Petre, Ken Sutton, Denise Tolhurst, Jodi Tutty
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th Austalian conference on Computing education - Volume 52 (2006)

This paper describes a multi-national, multiinstitutional study that investigated introductory programming courses. Student participants were drawn from eleven institutions, mainly in Australasia, during the academic year of 2004. A number of diagnostic tasks were used to explore cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal factors such as spatial visualisation and reasoning, the ability to articulate strategies for commonplace search and design tasks, and attitudes to studying. The results indicate that a deep approach to learning was positively correlated with mark for the course, while a surface approach was negatively correlated; spatial visualisation skills are correlated with success; a progression of map drawing styles identified in the literature has a significant correlation with marks; and increasing measures of richness of articulation of a search strategy are also associated with higher marks. Finally, a qualitative analysis of short interviews identified the qualities that students themselves regarded as important to success in programming.
Probabilistic analysis for a multiple depot vehicle routing problem
Authors: Andreas Baltz, Devdatt Dubhashi, Anand Srivastav, Libertad Tansini, Sören Werth
Venue: Random Structures Algorithms (2007)

We give a probabilistic analysis of the Multiple Depot Vehicle Routing Problem (MDVRP) where k depots and n customers are given by i.i.d. random variables in [0,1]d, d &ge; 2. The tour length divided by n(d-1)/d tends to &alpha;&int; [0,1]df(x)(d-1)/ d dx, where f is the density of the absolutely continuous part of the law of the random variables giving the depots and customers and where the constant &alpha; depends on the number of depots. If k = o(n), &alpha; is the constant of the TSP problem. For k = &lambda;n, &lambda; > 0, we prove lower and upper bounds on &alpha;, which decrease as fast as (1 + &lambda;)-1/d.&copy; 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2007
Characterizing the nature of discourse in mathematics classrooms
Authors: Radha R. Kalathil
Venue: Proceedings of the 7th international conference on Learning sciences (2006)

A key idea in mathematics education reform today is the need to support discourse in classrooms. Despite the importance of this goal however, research has shown that realizing this vision of discourse can be hard to achieve. To address this issue, I introduce a framework that can be used to study and implement discourse in mathematics classrooms. Data come from two second-grade classrooms in which instruction was based on a reform-based curriculum. The study examines the character of the discourse that occurred in these two classrooms. I first identify six distinct discourse structures that were used as building blocks for talking about students' solutions to mathematical problems. I also identify three broad patterns in the ways these structures were used to define interactions in the classrooms. These patterns vary in the level of complexity from getting discourse started to increasingly complex patterns where students were engaging in mathematically complex discussions.
A scenario generation tool for DDF simulation testbeds
Authors: G. Srimathveeravalli, N. Subramanian, T. Kesavadas
Venue: Proceedings of the 36th conference on Winter simulation (2004)

An interactive tool has been developed for visualizing and creating scaled battlefield based scenarios for use in a simulation testbed to develop and test distributed data fusion and ad-hoc networking algorithms. This paper discuses the design requirements and implementation issues for developing such a tool. Two main design goals were to enable design of complex scenarios in an intuitive and easy fashion, and provide a complete set of decision support utilities. The tool, called SceneGen, supports 3D visualization for creating scenarios and overcoming challenges including geospatial (GIS and Terrain) data management, entity information management and waypoint/path specification. The scenario generator includes a number of sensor and target models and provides database support to manage different fusion and network algorithms. This tool was implemented and tested successfully with several sample scenarios.
On the rational difference equation yn+1=A+yn/yn-k
Authors: M. Saleh, M. Aloqeili
Venue: Applied Mathematics and Computation (2006)

We find conditions for the global asymptotic stability of the unique negative equilibrium y- = 1 + A of the equation yn+1 = A + yn/yn-k, where y-k, y-k+1,...,y0, A ∈ R, and k ∈ {1,2,3,4,...}.
GUESS: gossiping updates for efficient spectrum sensing
Authors: Nabeel Ahmed, David Hadaller, Srinivasan Keshav
Venue: Proceedings of the 1st international workshop on Decentralized resource sharing in mobile computing and networking (2006)

Wireless radios of the future will likely be frequency-agile, that is, supporting opportunistic and adaptive use of the RF spectrum. Such radios must coordinate with each other to build an accurate and consistent map of spectral utilization in their surroundings. We focus on the problem of sharing RF spectrum data among a collection of wireless devices. The inherent requirements of such data and the time-granularity at which it must be collected makes this problem both interesting and technically challenging. We propose GUESS, a novel incremental gossiping approach to coordinated spectral sensing. It (1) reduces protocol overhead by limiting the amount of information exchanged between participating nodes, (2) is resilient to network alterations, due to node movement or node failures, and (3) allows exponentially-fast information convergence. We outline an initial solution incorporating these ideas and also show how our approach reduces network overhead by up to a factor of 2.4 and results in up to 2.7 times faster information convergence than alternative approaches.
Using agent models and data farming to explore network centric operations
Authors: Henrik Friman, Gary E. Horne
Venue: Proceedings of the 37th conference on Winter simulation (2005)

Network Centric Operations are difficult to quantify in many respects with models or other methods. Data Farming is a methodology and capability that makes use of high performance computing to run models many times. In the case of agent-based models that are relatively small, many runs can be performed in a short period of time. This capability gives modelers and their clients the enhanced ability to discover trends and outliers in results in a variety of areas. In this paper the authors discuss some notional efforts to begin to explore questions in the area of network centric operations using the agent model MANA and Data Farming. By observing the network behaviors and the output for traditional and Information Age warfare, we have created comparisons that illustrate when networked forces outfight non-networked forces
I3E: A Novel Call Admission Control Scheme for W-CDMA Systems
Authors: Antonio Capone, Simone Redana
Venue: Wireless Personal Communications: An International Journal (2006)

Efficient Call Admission Control (CAC) techniques are of paramount importance to achieve a flexible radio resource utilization with W-CDMA systems like UMTS. In order to accept or reject a call, the CAC scheme should be able to estimate if the system can provide a Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR) high enough to the new call and to all the others. With symmetric traffic the more critical direction for the system capacity is the uplink and the CAC can consider this direction only. Received-Power based CAC (RP-CAC) are practical CAC schemes proposed for the uplink that estimate the system load measuring the total power received at the base stations (BSs). Simple RP-CAC schemes just compare the measured power at the BS where the call is initiated with a threshold (Single Cell RP-CAC) or also measure the power received by neighboring BSs (Multi Cell RP-CAC). More complex RP-CAC schemes try also to estimate the load increase due to the new call (Predictive RP-CAC). In this paper we compare the performance of these schemes and propose a new Predictive scheme, named Iterative Interference Increase Estimation (I3E). We show that the advantage of using multi-cell strategy with respect to the single-cell one is negligible and that previously proposed Predictive RP-CAC techniques are not able to improve the performance in a remarkable way. On the contrary, I3E CAC increases the accepted traffic while keeping the call dropping probability very low, and its performance approaches the upper bound obtained considering an ideal CAC.
Ontology Enabled Learning Resource Modeling and Management
Authors: Zongkai Yang, Tao Huang, Qingtang Liu, Xia Li, Bei Wu
Venue: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Semantics, Knowledge, and Grid (2006)

In this paper, we proposed the learning resource ontology(LRO) models to formally describe learning content and learning context, respectively. In addition to utilizing the models to formally describe content, we also derived ontological relation between the content and context at semantic level. Furthermore, we have built a semantic similarity algorithm to measure the similarity between ontologies. Based on the similarity measure, the process of LRO retrieval is presented.
Open Source Vision Library (OpenVL) Based Local Positioning System
Authors: Changsong Shen, Steve Oldridge, Sidney Fels
Venue: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Video and Signal Based Surveillance (2006)

This paper presents an Open Source Vision Library (OpenVL) for hardware acceleration of video-based surveillance systems and other computer vision applications to facilitate low latency, real-time response. Our approach is inspired by the success of OpenGL in promoting the development of hardware acceleration for computer graphics. Our goal is to create OpenVL as a standard interface for computer vision applications that can work seamlessly on different software and hardware platforms supporting distributed camera arrays. It allows users to easily recover useful information about real dynamic scenes quickly, and in a portable manner across various software and hardware platforms. Finally, we implement an example surveillance system, called a Local Positioning System (LPS), to validate the critical underlying concepts of OpenVL.
Design of Two-Dimensional Recursive Filters by Using Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization
Authors: Wei Fang, Jun Sun, Wenbo Xu
Venue: Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Intelligent Information Hiding and Multimedia (2006)

A novel algorithm, named Quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) proposed by us previously is introduced in the design of twodimensional (2-D) recursive digital filters. The design of the 2-D filters is reduced to a constrained minimization problem that is solved by QPSO, which is a global stochastic searching technique and be able to find out the global optima of the problem more efficiently than original particle swarm optimization (PSO). Experiment results show the superiority of the proposed method by comparing it with those of some previous designs.
Dynamic modelling of flexible payloads manipulated by a smart gripper in robotic assembly
Authors: E. J. Park, J. K. Mills
Venue: International Journal of Robotics and Automation (2006)

During robotic assembly of flexible payloads, gravity and inertial forces acting on these payloads may induce both static shape deformation and vibration of the thin-walled payloads. Static deformations, which arise from deformation of the part due to its own weight under the influence of gravity, lead to misalignment of mating points of the part. Unwanted vibrations, arising from inertial forces acting on the part as it is positioned for assembly, must be damped out before it can be mated with other parts. This paper investigates the development of dynamic models of arbitrarily shaped flexible thin-walled payloads grasped by a smart gripper, comprised of multiple linearly actuated fingers with non-contact proximity sensors. Such an actuated gripper allows both part-reshaping and active damping of unwanted vibrations of the part. Finite element modelling techniques are used to generate dynamic models of these arbitrarily shaped parts. Component mode synthesis methods are used to combine the dynamics of the actuated gripper with the dynamics of the thin-walled parts. The resultant dynamic model, developed with finite element modelling, is of high order, and hence model order reduction methods are employed to reduce the model order but retain the essential dynamics of the thin-walled payload gripper system. Using a two time-scale modelling technique, an integrated closed-loop modal truncation and control design procedure is used to design a shape and vibration controller for thin-walled payload. Simulation results modelling thin-walled sheet metal parts manipulated by an industrial robot confirm the validity of the proposed modelling approach.
Investigation of a New Artificial Immune System Model Applied to Pattern Recognition
Authors: Jose Lima Alexandrino, Edson Costa de Barros Carvalho Filho
Venue: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems (2006)

The discovery of new functionalities through the study of human physiology has contributed toward the evolution of Artificial Immune Systems. The present work investigates a new architecture through observations of natural immunological behavior, for which application to known algorithms contributed toward an improved performance. This paper considers a boarding where the antibodies are grouped in an organized way and from an evolutionary process the antibodies that belong to these groupings can improve the adaptive immune reply to a determined antigen. Thus, antibodies of the same class are in the same grouping. Others techniques were implemented such as Clonalg, MLP and K-NN to compare this new model.
Usability evaluation for mobile device: a comparison of laboratory and field tests
Authors: Henry Been-Lirn Duh, Gerald C. B. Tan, Vivian Hsueh-hua Chen
Venue: Proceedings of the 8th conference on Human-computer interaction with mobile devices and services (2006)

Usability testing of mobile devices is an emerging area of research in the field of Human-Computer Interaction. Guidelines had been established as to how usability tests should be conducted. However, there are limitations to the effectiveness of conventional usability tests, especially for mobile devices. Mobile devices typically are used in different situations, but current evaluation method cannot uncover problems in all type of situations. Hence, this study evaluates the effectiveness of conventional laboratory usability tests. It investigated the differences between usability tests on mobile phones conducted in laboratory and real life situation. Significant differences were found, including the frequency and severity of usability problems encountered, the users' behavior, and subjective responses to the device and the interaction.
The Appreciation of Beauty as a Motivation for Learning Computer Programming
Authors: Yasuhiro Takemura, Hideo Nagumo, Kenichi Matsumoto
Venue: Proceedings of the 19th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training Workshops (2006)

The purpose of this study is to analyze whether the appreciation of beauty can be a motivation for the students in the art design area to learn computer programming. For this study, Processing programming environment will be used because it can produce fine artworks with relatively simple codes. The teaching materials used in this study will be designed in accordance with the ARCS motivation model so that the appreciation of the artworks in the Processing windows would motivate the students to learn programming. These teaching materials will be used by the students in the art design area, and the motivation levels of the students will be evaluated using the SIEM assessment standard.
Light-Weight Evolutionary Computation for Complex Image-Processing Applications
Authors: Mario Koeppen
Venue: Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Hybrid Intelligent Systems (2006)

The expedience of today's image-processing applications is not any longer based on the performance of a single algorithm alone. These systems appear to be complex frameworks with a lot of subtasks that are solved by specific algorithms, adaptation procedures, data handling, scheduling, and parameter choices. The venture of using computational intelligence (CI) in such a context, thus, is not a matter of a single approach. Among the great choice of techniques to inject CI in an image-processing framework, the primary focus of this talk will be on the usage of so-called Tiny-GAs. This stands for an evolutionary procedure with low efforts, i.e. small population size (like 10 individuals), little number of generations, and a simple fitness. Obviously, this is not suitable for solving highly complex optimization tasks, but the primary interest here is not the best individuals' fitness, but the fortune of the algorithm and its population, which has just escaped the Monte-Carlo domain after random initialization. That this approach can work in practice will be demonstrated by means of selected image-processing applications, especially in the context of linear regression and line fitting; evolutionary post processing of various clustering results, in order to select a most suitable one by similarity; classification by the fitness values obtained after a few generations as well as segmentation of the main-color region.
Towards the Next Generation of E-Learning Standards: SCORM for Service-Oriented Environments
Authors: Gottfried Vossen, Peter Westerkamp
Venue: Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies (2006)

An important research topic in the field of e-Learning platform architectures focuses on service orientation. Although service-oriented architectures (SOAs) are well-understood in the field of software engineering, the e-Learning community has started only recently to discuss SOAs for e-Learning. This paper takes a closer look at the implications of service orientation on SCORM, because this new type of e-Learning platform architecture offers a different way of reusing content and functionalities. SCORM is widely accepted by e- Learning manufacturers to establish a distributed learning environment model that fosters the interoperability of learning tools and course content. It is near at hand to use the SCORM approach also for service-oriented e-Learning environments. However, as is shown in this paper, several improvements have to be executed to specify a SCORM version for a SOA.
Analysis of production authorization card schemes using simulation and neural network metamodels
Authors: Corinne MacDonald, Eldon A. Gunn
Venue: Proceedings of the 37th conference on Winter simulation (2005)

We have developed a framework to model and analyze the performance of complex manufacturing systems operating under a variety of production control strategies. This framework involves a production authorization card scheme, which enables emulation of many popular strategies such as kanban or Base Stock systems. A discrete-event simulation model of the manufacturing system produces estimates of the multiple system performance measures, such as average work-in-process inventory and customer service rates, for combinations of control parameters. Finally, neural network metamodels are trained to approximate the expected value of these system performance measures, using a subset of parameter combinations and the corresponding performance estimates generated by the simulation model. We will show that this framework provides a flexible means of conducting analysis of the impact of parameter settings on the performance of the system, and is a viable alternative to simulation optimization.
Recognition Memory for Emotional and Neutral Faces: An Event-Related Potential Study
Authors: Mikael Johansson, Axel Mecklinger, Anne-Cécile Treese
Venue: Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience (2004)

This study examined emotional influences on the hypothesized event-related potential (ERP) correlates of familiarity and recollection (Experiment 1) and the states of awareness (Experiment 2) accompanying recognition memory for faces differing in facial affect. Participants made gender judgments to positive, negative, and neutral faces at study and were in the test phase instructed to discriminate between studied and nonstudied faces. Whereas old&ndash;new discrimination was unaffected by facial expression, negative faces were recollected to a greater extent than both positive and neutral faces as reflected in the parietal ERP old&ndash;new effect and in the proportion of remember judgments. Moreover, emotion-specific modulations were observed in frontally recorded ERPs elicited by correctly rejected new faces that concurred with a more liberal response criterion for emotional as compared to neutral faces. Taken together, the results are consistent with the view that processes promoting recollection are facilitated for negative events and that emotion may affect recognition performance by influencing criterion setting mediated by the prefrontal cortex.
A case-study of scoring schemes for the PvS-index
Authors: Herwig Lejsek
Venue: Proceedings of the 2nd international workshop on Computer vision meets databases (2005)

Recently we have proposed a new indexing method for high-dimensional data, the PvS-index. It provides fast query processing in constant time and is well suited for doing similarity search in Image Retrieval Systems using local descriptors. It is based on projecting data points onto random lines and uses this information to segment them into appropriately sized buckets, which can be read in just one I/O operation. After this preprocessing step the search queries just three buckets per query descriptor and uses a recent rank aggregation method, OMEDRANK, in order to provide good approximate results for the nearest neighbour problem.We have recently shown that PvS-indexing works well for large collections of real image data. In that work, however, we used a simple scoring scheme and collected few nearest neighbours for each query descriptor. In this study we examine how much the actual number of nearest neighbours, gathered for each local descriptor, influences the final query result, when searching a PvS-index. Based on the results we propose two new alternative scoring schemes, which improve the retrieval quality and stabilise the results, making the search less affected by the actual number of nearest neighbours accumulated.