41 research outputs found
A generic, collaborative framework for internal constraint solving
Esta tesis propone un esquema genérico y cooperativo para CLP(Interval(X)) donde X es cualquier dominio de computación con estructura de retículo. El esquema, que está basado en la teoría de retículos, es un enfoque general para la satisfacción y op-timización de restricciones de intervalo así como para la cooperación de resolutores de intervalo definidos sobre dominios de computación con estructura de retículos, independientemente de la cardinalidad de estos. Nuestra propuesta asegura un enfoque transparente sobre el cual las restricciones, los dominios de computación y los mecanismos de propagación y cooperación, definidos entre las variables restringidas, pueden ser fácilmente especificados a nivel del usuario. La parte principal de la tesis presenta una especificación formal de este esquema.Los principales resultados conseguidos en esta tesis son los siguientes:Una comparativa global de la eficiencia y algunos aspectos de la expresividad de ocho sistemas de restricciones. Esta comparativa, realizada sobre el dominio finito y el dominio Booleano, muestra diferencias principales entre los sistemas de restricciones existentes.Para formalizar el marco de satisfacción de restricciones para CLP(Interval(X))hemos descrito el proceso global de resolución de restricciones de intervalo sobre cualquier retículo, separando claramente los procesos de propagación y división (ramificación) de intervalos. Una de las ventajas de nuestra propuesta es que la monótona de las restricciones esta implícitamente definida en la teoría. Además, declaramos un conjunto de propiedades interesantes que, bajo ciertas condiciones, son satisfechas por cualquier instancia del esquema genérico. Mas aún, mostramos que muchos sistemas de restricciones actualmente existentes satisfacen estas condiciones y, además, proporcionamos indicaciones sobre como extender el sistema mediante la especificación de otras instancias interesantes y novedosas. Nuestro esquema para CLP(Interval(X)) permite la cooperación de resolutores de manera que la información puede ⁰uir entre diferentes dominios de computación.Además, es posible combinar distintas instancias del esquema: por ejemplo, instancias bien conocidas tales como CLP(Interval(<)), CLP(Interval(Integer)),CLP(Interval(Set)), CLP(Interval(Bool)), y otras novedosas que son el resultado de la generación de nuevos dominios de computación definidos por el usuario, o incluso que surgen de la combinación de dominios ya existentes como puede ser CLP(Interval(X1 £ : : : £ Xn)). Por lo tanto, X puede ser instanciado a cualquier conjunto de dominios de computación con estructura de retículo de forma que su correspondiente instancia CLP(Interval(X)) permite una amplia flexibilidad en la definición de dominios en X (probablemente definidos por el usuario) y en la interaccion entre estos dominios.Mediante la implementacion de un prototipo, demostramos que un unico sistema,que este basado en nuestro esquema para CLP(Interval(X)), puede proporcionarsoporte para la satisfaccion y la optimizacion de restricciones as como para la cooperacion de resolutores sobre un conjunto conteniendo multiples dominios decomputacion. Ademas, el sistema sigue un novedoso enfoque transparente sujeto a una doble perspectiva ya que el usuario puede definir no solo nuevas restricciones y su mecanismo de propagacion, sino tambien nuevos dominios sobre los cuales nuevas restricciones pueden ser resueltas as como el mecanismo de cooperacion entre todos los dominios de computación (ya sean definidos por el usuario o predefinidos por el sistema).En nuestra opinión, esta tesis apunta nuevas y potenciales direcciones de investigación dentro de la comunidad de las restricciones de intervalo.Para alcanzar los resultados expuestos, hemos seguido los siguientes pasos (1) la elección de un enfoque adecuado sobre el cual construir los fundamentos teóricos de nuestro esquema genérico; (2) la construcción de un marco teórico genérico (que llamaremos el marco básico) para la propagación de restricciones de intervalo sobre cualquier retículo; (3) la integración, en el marco básico, de una técnica novedosa que facilita la cooperación de resolutores y que surge de la definición, sobre múltiples dominios, de operadores de restricciones y (4) la extensión del marco resultante para la resolución y optimización completa de las restricciones de intervalo.Finalmente presentamos clp(L), un lenguaje de programación lógica de restricciones de intervalo que posibilita la resolución de restricciones sobre cualquier conjunto de retículos y que esta implementado a partir de las ideas formalizadas en el marco teórico. Describimos una primera implementación de este lenguaje y desarrollamos algunos ejemplos de como usarla. Este prototipo demuestra que nuestro esquema para CLP(Interval(X)) puede ser implementado en un sistema único que, como consecuencia, proporciona, bajo un enfoque transparente sobre dominios y restricciones, cooperación de resolutores así como satisfacción y optimización completa de restricciones sobre diferentes dominios de computación
Gamification as a Service: Conceptualization of a Generic Enterprise Gamification Platform
Gamification is a novel method to improve engagement, motivation, or participation in non-game contexts using game mechanics. To a large extent, gamification is a psychological- and design-oriented discipline, i.e., a lot of effort has to be spent already in the design phase of a gamification project. Subsequently, the design is implemented in information systems such as portals or enterprise resource planning applications. These systems act as mediators to transport a gameful design to its users.
However, the efforts for the subsequent development and integration process are often underestimated. In fact, most conceptual gamification designs are never implemented due to the high development costs that arise from building the gamification solution from scratch, imprecise design or technical requirements, and communication conflicts between different stakeholders in the project.
This thesis addresses these problems by systematically defining the phases and stakeholders of the overall gamification process. Furthermore, the thesis rigorously defines the conceptual requirements of gamification based on a broad literature review. The identified conceptual requirements are mapped to a domain-specific language, called the Gamification Modeling Language. Moreover, this thesis analyzes 29 existing gamification solutions that aim to decrease the implementation efforts of gamification. However, using the different language elements, it is shown that none of the existing solutions suffices all requirements.
Therefore, a generic and reusable platform as runtime environment for gamification is proposed which fulfills all presented functional and non-functional requirements. As another benefit, it is shown how the Gamification Modeling Language can be automatically compiled into code for the gamification runtime environment and, thus, further reduces development efforts.
Based on the developed artifacts and five real gamified applications from industry, it is shown that the efforts for the implementation of the gamification can be significantly reduced from several months or weeks to a few days. Since the technology is designed as a reusable service, future projects benefit continuously with regards to time and efforts
Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Technology in Mathematics Teaching ICTMT 12
Innovation, inclusion, sharing and diversity are some of the words that briefly and suitably characterize the ICTMT series of biennial international conferences – the International Conference
on Technology in Mathematics Teaching. Being the twelfth of a series which began in Birmingham,
UK, in 1993, under the influential enterprise of Professor Bert Waits from Ohio State University,
this conference was held in Portugal for the first time. The 12th International Conference on
Technology in Mathematics Teaching was hosted by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the
University of Algarve, in the city of Faro, from 24 to 27 June 2015, and was guided by the original
spirit of its foundation.
The integration of digital technologies in mathematics education across school levels and countries,
from primary to tertiary education, together with the understanding of the phenomena involved in
the teaching and learning of mathematics in technological environments have always been driving
forces in the transformation of pedagogical practices. The possibility of joining at an international
conference a wide diversity of participants, including school mathematics teachers, lecturers,
mathematicians, mathematics educators and researchers, software designers, and curriculum
developers, is one facet that makes this conference rather unique. At the same time, it seeks to foster
the sharing of ideas, experiences, projects and studies while providing opportunities to try-out and
assess tools or didactical proposals during times of hands-on work. The ICTMT 12 had this same
ambition, when embracing and welcoming just over 120 delegates who actively and enthusiastically
contributed to a very packed program of scientific proposals and sessions on various topics
A study of novice programmer performance and programming pedagogy.
Identifying and mitigating the difficulties experienced by novice programmers is an active
area of research that has embraced a number of research areas. The aim of this research
was to perform a holistic study into the causes of poor performance in novice
programmers and to develop teaching approaches to mitigate them. A grounded action
methodology was adopted to enable the primary concepts of programming cognitive
psychology and their relationships to be established, in a systematic and formal manner.
To further investigate novice programmer behaviour, two sub-studies were conducted
into programming performance and ability.
The first sub-study was a novel application of the FP-Tree algorithm to determine if
novice programmers demonstrated predictable patterns of behaviour. This was the first
study to data mine programming behavioural characteristics rather than the learner’s
background information such as age and gender. Using the algorithm, patterns of
behaviour were generated and associated with the students’ ability. No patterns of
behaviour were identified and it was not possible to predict student results using this
method. This suggests that novice programmers demonstrate no set patterns of
programming behaviour that can be used determine their ability, although problem
solving was found to be an important characteristic. Therefore, there was no evidence
that performance could be improved by adopting pedagogies to promote simple changes
in programming behaviour beyond the provision of specific problem solving instruction.
A second sub-study was conducted using Raven’s Matrices which determined that
cognitive psychology, specifically working memory, played an important role in novice
programmer ability. The implication was that programming pedagogies must take into
consideration the cognitive psychology of programming and the cognitive load imposed
on learners.
Abstracted Construct Instruction was developed based on these findings and forms a new
pedagogy for teaching programming that promotes the recall of abstract patterns while
reducing the cognitive demands associated with developing code. Cognitive load is
determined by the student’s ability to ignore irrelevant surface features of the written
problem and to cross-reference between the problem domain and their mental program
model. The former is dealt with by producing tersely written exercises to eliminate
distractors, while for the latter the teaching of problem solving should be delayed until
the student’s program model is formed. While this does delay the development of
problem solving skills, the problem solving abilities of students taught using this pedagogy
were found to be comparable with students taught using a more traditional approach.
Furthermore, monitoring students’ understanding of these patterns enabled micromanagement of the learning process, and hence explanations were provided for novice
behaviour such as difficulties using arrays, inert knowledge and “code thrashing”.
For teaching more complex problem solving, scaffolding of practice was investigated
through a program framework that could be developed in stages by the students.
However, personalising the level of scaffolding required was complicated and found to be
difficult to achieve in practice.
In both cases, these new teaching approaches evolved as part of a grounded theory study
and a clear progression of teaching practice was demonstrated with appropriate
evaluation at each stage in accordance with action researc
Boolean and Finite Domain solvers compared using Self Referential Quizzes
Currently there appears to be no impartial set of guidelines for choosing an appropriate constraint language for solving a specific constraint satisfaction problem
Boolean and Finite Domain Solvers Compared using Self Referential Quizzes
Currently there appears to be no impartial set of guidelines for choosing an appropriate constraint language for solving a specific constraint satisfaction problem. A wrong choice can cause..
Proceedings of the Second Program Visualization Workshop, 2002
The Program Visualization Workshops aim to bring together researchers who design and construct program visualizations and, above all, educators who use and evaluate visualizations in their teaching. The first workshop took place in July 2000 at Porvoo, Finland. The second workshop was held in cooperation with ACM SIGCSE and took place at HornstrupCentret, Denmark in June 2002, immediately following the ITiCSE 2002 Conference in Aarhus, Denmark
Collaborative learning with affective artificial study companions in a virtual learning environment
This research has been carried out in conjunction with Chapeltown and Harehills
Assisted Learning Computer School (CHALCS) and local schools. CHALCS is an 'out-of-hours' school in a deprived inner-city community where unemployment is high and many children are failing to meet their educational potential. As the name implies CHALCS provides students with access to computers to support their learning. CHALCS relies on many volunteer tutors and specialist tutors are in short supply. This is especially true for subjects such as Advanced Level Physics with low numbers of students. This research aimed to investigate the feasibility of providing online study skills support to pupils at CHALCS and a local school. Research suggests that collaborative learning that prompts students to explain and justify their understanding can encourage deeper learning. As a potentially effective way of motivating deeper learning from hypertext course notes in a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), this research investigates the feasibility of designing an artificial Agent capable of collaborating with the learner to jointly construct summary notes. Hypertext course notes covering a portion of the Advanced Level Physics curriculum were designed and uploaded into a WebCT based VLE. A specialist tutor validated the content of the course notes before the ease of use of the VLE was tested with target students. A study was then conducted to develop a model of the kinds of help students required in writing summary notes from the course-notes. Based on the derived process model of summarisation and an analysis of the content structure of the course notes, strategies for summarising the text were devised. An Animated Pedagogical Agent was designed incorporating these strategies. Two versions of the agent with opposing 'Affectations' (giving the appearance of different characters) were evaluated with users. It was therefore possible to test which artificial 'character' students preferred. From the evaluation study some conclusions are made concerning the effect of the two opposite characterisations on student perceptions of the agent and the degree to which it was helpful as a learning companion. Some recommendations for future work are then made