Marconi ECT Project: phase 1 evaluation

Imagine a world without the use and application of electronics, and then consider a compulsory education system that does not offer courses in more than 18 percent of our secondary schools. This major shortfall in our education systems lies at the heart of much of the work carried out over the past four years related to finding training models for teachers in this very demanding area of work. This paper reflects the work carried out in theacademic year 2000/200 I in piloting a revised training model from the original 'Marconi Days' training programme. The original twoyeartrial programme used a 10-day training model. Sadly, this was considered too expensive, so this evaluation focused on two models, a 2-day course and a 4-day course, with support from a comprehensive web site and advisory support in school on the 2-day model. As the pilot has been established, much work has taken place to c

The AXIOM software layers

AXIOM project aims at developing a heterogeneous computing board (SMP-FPGA).The Software Layers developed at the AXIOM project are explained.OmpSs provides an easy way to execute heterogeneous codes in multiple cores. People and objects will soon share the same digital network for information exchange in a world named as the age of the cyber-physical systems. The general expectation is that people and systems will interact in real-time. This poses pressure onto systems design to support increasing demands on computational power, while keeping a low power envelop. Additionally, modular scaling and easy programmability are also important to ensure these systems to become widespread. The whole set of expectations impose scientific and technological challenges that need to be properly addressed.The AXIOM project (Agile, eXtensible, fast I/O Module) will research new hardware/software architectures for cyber-physical systems to meet such expectations. The technical approach aims at solving fundamental problems to enable easy programmability of heterogeneous multi-core multi-board systems. AXIOM proposes the use of the task-based OmpSs programming model, leveraging low-level communication interfaces provided by the hardware. Modular scalability will be possible thanks to a fast interconnect embedded into each module. To this aim, an innovative ARM and FPGA-based board will be designed, with enhanced capabilities for interfacing with the physical world. Its effectiveness will be demonstrated with key scenarios such as Smart Video-Surveillance and Smart Living/Home (domotics).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Teaching microprocessors design using FPGAs

Microprocessors is a typical subject within the Computer Architecture field of scope. It is quite common to use simulators in practical sessions, due to the complexity of its contents. In this paper a new methodology based on practical sessions with real devices and chips is proposed. Simple designs of microprocessors are exposed to the students at the beginning, rising the complexity gradually toward a final design with a multiprocessor integrated in a single FPGA chip. Finally, assessment results are shown

E-Learning

E-learning enables students to pace their studies according to their needs, making learning accessible to (1) people who do not have enough free time for studying - they can program their lessons according to their available schedule; (2) those far from a school (geographical issues), or the ones unable to attend classes due to some physical or medical restriction. Therefore, cultural, geographical and physical obstructions can be removed, making it possible for students to select their path and time for the learning course. Students are then allowed to choose the main objectives they are suitable to fulfill. This book regards E-learning challenges, opening a way to understand and discuss questions related to long-distance and lifelong learning, E-learning for people with special needs and, lastly, presenting case study about the relationship between the quality of interaction and the quality of learning achieved in experiences of E-learning formation

L'intertextualité dans les publications scientifiques

La base de données bibliographiques de l'IEEE contient un certain nombre de duplications avérées avec indication des originaux copiés. Ce corpus est utilisé pour tester une méthode d'attribution d'auteur. La combinaison de la distance intertextuelle avec la fenêtre glissante et diverses techniques de classification permet d'identifier ces duplications avec un risque d'erreur très faible. Cette expérience montre également que plusieurs facteurs brouillent l'identité de l'auteur scientifique, notamment des collectifs de chercheurs à géométrie variable et une forte dose d'intertextualité acceptée voire recherchée

Development test suite for FPGA TekBot learning platform

As the Tekbots program expands into senior and graduate level classes at Oregon State University, so does the need arise for more complex learning platforms. These complex hardware platforms cannot be adequately tested in a manufacturing environment as we have done previously. Also, due to their complexity, these platforms require substantial collateral documentation to allow first-time users to quickly become productive learners. This thesis details the development of a post-manufacturing test suite, known as OMICRON, to comprehensively test an FPGA learning platform. It also documents the development of a user guide for the board that explains user accessible features as well as providing the necessary startup information so students can quickly become acquainted with the new learning platform. While developing OMICRON, a new feature surfaced that provides a cycle-accurate hardware testbench debugger for testing student component modules that are implemented within the FPGA. This functionality serves a practical as well as an educational use by enabling test generation for detecting logic errors at a hardware level. Students can probe their own designs from an intuitive low-level command line interface once the designs have been loaded into the FPGA. The debugger can also be used to probe external circuits connected to the FPGA. In addition to simple probes, the hardware debugger is able to output testbench bit vectors in a continuous flow, and simultaneously receive cycle-accurate vector results. These test vectors can either be manually constructed, or extracted from simulation software. This thesis shall also demonstrate this unique test flow

Seeds of Solutions™: An economical & efficient approach towards power engineering education

Power demands are set to increase over the next twenty years; however, research shows that there may be a shortage of power engineers due to an appreciable percentage of the current power engineer workforce retiring, insufficient enrollment in power engineering programs and a lack of emphasis in power engineering at the university level. This thesis provides supporting research for future power demands, workforce and faculty shortages. Using temporary research in modern learning / teaching styles, student / teacher perceptions, educational trends and regional course offerings, this thesis describes a learning approach towards power engineering education. Designed specifically for universities with little to no power engineering course offerings and universities that wish to augment their existing approach, the approach incorporates an emphasis in fundamentals and engineering design making it economical and easy to implement. This thesis also includes three (3) video laboratory examples incorporating all elements of the approach

Practical, appropriate, empirically-validated guidelines for designing educational games

There has recently been a great deal of interest in the potential of computer games to function as innovative educational tools. However, there is very little evidence of games fulfilling that potential. Indeed, the process of merging the disparate goals of education and games design appears problematic, and there are currently no practical guidelines for how to do so in a coherent manner. In this paper, we describe the successful, empirically validated teaching methods developed by behavioural psychologists and point out how they are uniquely suited to take advantage of the benefits that games offer to education. We conclude by proposing some practical steps for designing educational games, based on the techniques of Applied Behaviour Analysis. It is intended that this paper can both focus educational games designers on the features of games that are genuinely useful for education, and also introduce a successful form of teaching that this audience may not yet be familiar with

Who wrote this scientific text?

The IEEE bibliographic database contains a number of proven duplications with indication of the original paper(s) copied. This corpus is used to test a method for the detection of hidden intertextuality (commonly named "plagiarism"). The intertextual distance, combined with the sliding window and with various classification techniques, identifies these duplications with a very low risk of error. These experiments also show that several factors blur the identity of the scientific author, including variable group authorship and the high levels of intertextuality accepted, and sometimes desired, in scientific papers on the same topic