Development of a mechanical maintenance training simulator in OpenSimulator for F-16 aircraft engines

Mechanical maintenance of F-16 engines is carried out as a team effort involving 3–4 skilled engine technicians, but the details of its procedures and requisites change constantly, to improve safety, optimize resources, and respond to knowledge learned from field outcomes. This provides a challenge for development of training simulators, since simulated actions risk becoming obsolete rapidly and require costly reimplementation. This paper presents the development of a 3D mechanical maintenance training simulator for this context, using a low-cost simulation platform and a software architecture that separates simulation control from simulation visualization, in view of enabling more agile adaptation of simulators. This specific simulator aims to enable technician training to be enhanced with cooperation and context prior to the training phase with actual physical engines. We provide data in support of the feasibility of this approach, describing the requirements that were identified with the Portuguese Air Force, the overall software architecture of the system, the current stage of the prototype, and the outcomes of the first field tests with users

Research on educational media and resources in the field of French vocational education. The case of automobile maintenance

In France, vocational educational has a long history. It was institutionalised by the Ministry of Education in the 19th century, separate from private enterprise. Since the 1980s, a new process of convergence between general and vocational education has been engaged in order to propose an initial training and a general education to vocational students and apprentices. To this end, vocational teachers are strongly invited to use professional resources, such as those used in the commercial sector, as references.Our paper investigates the issue of resource usage by teachers in a specific field: automobile maintenance. This field is particularly interesting because, in recent decades, the knowledge and competencies to be transmitted have widely evolved. After a thorough literature review, we found only a few scientific references about research on these issues, which have mainly been undertaken by ergonomists, sociologists and didacticians in this domain. However, many resources have been developed, in particular on the Internet, and these constitute an interesting field to investigate. So the situation might be changin

Fire safety and emergency evacuation training for occupants of building using 3D virtual simulation

With advancement in technology, building structures are becoming bigger and more complex. Incidences of horrifying fires that occur in such complex structures resulting in loss of property as well as lives are recorded worldwide. Emergency evacuation training can play a crucial role in mitigating damage not only in cases of fire, explosion or chemical spill but also in cases of natural calamities like floods and hurricanes. Conventional safety training provided in industries mostly comprises of unidirectional flow of information. Due to this passive learning style, response of employees in real life emergency situations is known to be ineffective. The proposed research focuses on the development of virtual emergency evacuation safety training for residents, workers and employees. This research developed a 3 dimensional (3D) virtual fire safety and emergency evacuation training for building occupants. A 3D model of a real engineering college building in the University of Central Florida (UCF) was developed in a virtual world and participants could interact with various objects and scenarios in this virtual building on a standard desktop computer using keyboard and mouse. Expert interviews and literature review were utilized to develop contents of fire safety and emergency evacuation training. Also, a slide based fire safety and emergency evacuation training was developed based on same contents and made available through a website. An effort was made to develop both trainings- virtual and slide based to be comparable in terms of contents. A case study with two sets of experiments comprising of 143 participants from UCF community was conducted to understand factors such as fidelity, simulation sickness, engagement and effectiveness of 3D virtual and slide based fire safety and emergency evacuation training. Results of fidelity and simulation sickness validated use of 3D virtual training for training building residents on fire safety and emergency evacuation. Data analysis of knowledge tests allowed to compare short terms and long term effectiveness of 3D virtual training and slide based training. To further understand engagement, physiological measure- electroencephalograph (EEG) of 40 healthy participants was recorded in second set of experiments. Ratio of Beta and Alpha frequency bands was studied to understand attention paid by trainees in 3D virtual and slide based training

Mundos virtuais no ensino superior

Doutoramento em Multimédia em EducaçãoMovidos pelo interesse na utilização dos mundos virtuais (MV) nas instituições de ensino superior (IES), propusemo-nos realizar esta investigação. Nela caracterizamos as motivações que levam as IES a estarem presentes nos MV e identificamos as formas de utilização e exploração que estas instituições dão aos espaços criados nestes mundos, bem como os benefícios que o uso dos MV pode aportar para o ensino na Real Life (RL). Desta forma procuramos compreender até que ponto a utilização destes mundos pode contribuir para uma nova abordagem à educação a distância (EaD) e/ou ao sistema de b-learning das IES e quais as mais-valias que a utilização dos MV aportam para as IES relativamente às mesmas atividades na RL. O presente estudo seguiu uma metodologia de investigação apoiada nas pesquisas bibliográfica, documental e descritiva, com o recurso a inquéritos, a entrevistas e centrado no estudo de caso das IES que se encontram nos MV e neles desenvolvem atividades educativas. Os resultados demonstram que são os docentes os impulsionadores da presença das IES nos MV, com o objetivo de potenciarem a EaD e de divulgarem a instituição à qual pertencem a um vasto público-alvo. A partir do momento em que as IES exploram os MV, a sua utilização passa a contribuir para uma nova abordagem à EaD e ao sistema de b-learning. Esta abordagem expressa-se na possibilidade de potenciar as atividades já realizadas na EaD e no b-learning, por exemplo aulas, tutorias ou a criação de comunidades de prática, na criação de novas áreas de pesquisas e de simulação e na oferta de ferramentas que permitem a realização de novas atividades virtuais, designadamente congressos, conferências, workshops e atividades lúdicas constituídas por eventos musicais, exposições e lançamentos de publicações. Quanto às mais-valias que a utilização dos MV aporta para as IES relativamente às mesmas atividades realizadas na RL, os resultados permitem-nos verificar que estes mundos reduzem os custos das atividades para os utilizadores e para as IES, facilitam a participação e a pontualidade dos elementos, possibilitam a criação de comunidades de prática e de simulações que são impossíveis de realizar na RL, complementam o ensino e desenvolvem novas competências. O estudo permitiu ainda avançar com sugestões para o sucesso da utilização dos MV nas IES. Há que ter em atenção a necessidade de aquisição de novas competências dos utilizadores, a inevitabilidade de algum investimento económico das IES e dos participantes, a apertada segurança das redes que impedem o funcionamento dos MV e a sobrecarga de dados que o 3D exige da rede e dos computadores dos participantes.Moved by interest in the use of virtual worlds (VW) in higher education institutions (HEI), we proposed to carry out this investigation where we characterize the motivations that take the HEI to be present in the VW and identify the different forms of use and exploration that these institutions offer to the spaces created in these worlds, as well as the benefits that they can provide in real life (RL) teaching. In this sense, we want to understand the extent to which the use of these worlds can contribute to a new approach to distance education and/or b-learning system of HEI. We also want to determine the added value brought to HEI by the use of VW, within the context of the same RL activities. The present study followed a research methodology based on bibliographic, documentary and descriptive inquiries, using surveys and interviews. It focused on the case study of HEI that can be found within VW where they develop their educational activities. Results show that teachers are the promoters of the presence of HEI in VW, aiming to potentiate distance education and disclose to a wide target audience the institution that they belong to. From the moment when HEI start exploring VW, a new approach to distance learning and b-learning system becomes possible, which is expressed by the creation of new areas of research and simulation, as well as the chance to potentiate previously carried out distance education and b-learning activities, e.g. lectures, tutorships or the creation of communities of practice, and by offering tools that allow the creation of new activities, including meetings, conferences, workshops and recreational activities consisting of musical events, exhibitions and publications release. As for the added value that the use of VW brings to HEI, considering those same activities in RL, the results allow us to confirm that these worlds reduce activity cost for both users and HEI, facilitate participation and punctuality of their members, enable the creation of communities of practice and simulations that are impossible to achieve in RL, complement the teaching and ease the development of new skills. We also attest that, for the successful use of VW in HEI, one must take into account the need for users to acquire new skills, the inevitability of some economic investment by HEI and participants, the security of networks where VW are used and the predictable data overload that 3D demands from the network and from the participants’ computers

Experimental Evaluation of Growing and Pruning Hyper Basis Function Neural Networks Trained with Extended Information Filter

In this paper we test Extended Information Filter (EIF) for sequential training of Hyper Basis Function Neural Networks with growing and pruning ability (HBF-GP). The HBF neuron allows different scaling of input dimensions to provide better generalization property when dealing with complex nonlinear problems in engineering practice. The main intuition behind HBF is in generalization of Gaussian type of neuron that applies Mahalanobis-like distance as a distance metrics between input training sample and prototype vector. We exploit concept of neuron’s significance and allow growing and pruning of HBF neurons during sequential learning process. From engineer’s perspective, EIF is attractive for training of neural networks because it allows a designer to have scarce initial knowledge of the system/problem. Extensive experimental study shows that HBF neural network trained with EIF achieves same prediction error and compactness of network topology when compared to EKF, but without the need to know initial state uncertainty, which is its main advantage over EKF