Survey of users of earth resources remote sensing data

A user survey was conducted to determine current earth resources survey (ERS) data use/user status and recommendations for strengthening use. Only high-altitude aircraft and satellite (primarily LANDSAT) data were included. Emphasis was placed on the private sector/industrial user. Objectives of the survey included: who is using ERS data, how they are using the data, the relative value of current data use as well as obtaining user views as to possible ways of strengthening future ERS data use. The survey results are documented and should provide relevant decision making information for developing future programs of maximum benefit to all end users of satellite ERS data

Automating iterative tasks with programming by demonstration

Programming by demonstration is an end-user programming technique that allows people to create programs by showing the computer examples of what they want to do. Users do not need specialised programming skills. Instead, they instruct the computer by demonstrating examples, much as they might show another person how to do the task. Programming by demonstration empowers users to create programs that perform tedious and time-consuming computer chores. However, it is not in widespread use, and is instead confined to research applications that end users never see. This makes it difficult to evaluate programming by demonstration tools and techniques. This thesis claims that domain-independent programming by demonstration can be made available in existing applications and used to automate iterative tasks by end users. It is supported by Familiar, a domain-independent, AppleScript-based programming-by-demonstration tool embodying standard machine learning algorithms. Familiar is designed for end users, so works in the existing applications that they regularly use. The assertion that programming by demonstration can be made available in existing applications is validated by identifying the relevant platform requirements and a range of platforms that meet them. A detailed scrutiny of AppleScript highlights problems with the architecture and with many implementations, and yields a set of guidelines for designing applications that support programming-by-demonstration. An evaluation shows that end users are capable of using programming by demonstration to automate iterative tasks. However, the subjects tended to prefer other tools, choosing Familiar only when the alternatives were unsuitable or unavailable. Familiar's inferencing is evaluated on an extensive set of examples, highlighting the tasks it can perform and the functionality it requires

GALLAG Strip: A Mobile, Programming With Demonstration Environment for Sensor-Based Context-Aware Application Programming

abstract: The Game As Life - Life As Game (GALLAG) project investigates how people might change their lives if they think of and/or experience their life as a game. The GALLAG system aims to help people reach their personal goals through the use of context-aware computing, and tailored games and applications. To accomplish this, the GALLAG system uses a combination of sensing technologies, remote audio/video feedback, mobile devices and an application programming interface (API) to empower users to create their own context-aware applications. However, the API requires programming through source code, a task that is too complicated and abstract for many users. This thesis presents GALLAG Strip, a novel approach to programming sensor-based context-aware applications that combines the Programming With Demonstration technique and a mobile device to enable users to experience their applications as they program them. GALLAG Strip lets users create sensor-based context-aware applications in an intuitive and appealing way without the need of computer programming skills; instead, they program their applications by physically demonstrating their envisioned interactions within a space using the same interface that they will later use to interact with the system, that is, using GALLAG-compatible sensors and mobile devices. GALLAG Strip was evaluated through a study with end users in a real world setting, measuring their ability to program simple and complex applications accurately and in a timely manner. The evaluation also comprises a benchmark with expert GALLAG system programmers in creating the same applications. Data and feedback collected from the study show that GALLAG Strip successfully allows users to create sensor-based context-aware applications easily and accurately without the need of prior programming skills currently required by the GALLAG system and enables them to create almost all of their envisioned applications.Dissertation/ThesisM.S. Computer Science 201

Learning by building: A visual modelling language for psychology students

Cognitive modelling involves building computational models of psychological theories in order to learn more about them, and is a major research area allied to psychology and artificial intelligence. The main problem is that few psychology students have previous programming experience. The course lecturer can avoid the problem by presenting the area only in general terms. This leaves the process of building and testing models, which is central to the methodology, an unknown. Alternatively, students can be introduced to one of the existing cognitive modelling languages, though this can easily be overwhelming, hindering rather than helping their understanding. Our solution was to design and build a programming language for the intended population. The result is Hank, a visual cognitive modelling language for the psychologist. Our informal analyses have investigated the effectiveness of Hank in its intended context of use, both as a paper and pencil exercise for individuals, and as a computer based project to be carried out in groups. The findings largely support the Hank design decisions, and illuminate many of the challenges inherent in designing a programming language for an educational purpose

Generalizing abstractions in form-based visual programming languages : from direct manipulation to static representation

We believe concreteness, direct manipulation and responsiveness in a visual programming language increase its usefulness. However, these characteristics present a challenge in generalizing programs for reuse, especially when concrete examples are used as one way of achieving concreteness. In this thesis, we present a technique to solve this problem by deriving generality automatically through the analysis of logical relationships among concrete program entities from the perspective of a particular computational goal. Use of this technique allows a fully general form-based program with reusable abstractions to be derived from one that was specified in terms of concrete examples and direct manipulation. Also addressed in this thesis is how to statically represent the generalized programs. In general, we address how to design better static representations. A weakness of many interactive visual programming languages is their static representations. Lack of an adequate static representation places a heavy cognitive burden on a VPL's programmers, because they must remember potentially long dynamic sequences of screen displays in order to understand a previously-written program. However, although this problem is widely acknowledged, research on how to design better static representations for interactive VPLs is still in its infancy. Building upon the cognitive dimensions developed for programming languages by cognitive psychologists Green and others, we have developed a set of concrete benchmarks for VPL designers to use when designing new static representations. These benchmarks provide design-time information that can be used to improve a VPL's static representation

Riadenie autonómnych robotov založené na chovaní

Ciel'om bakalárskej práce bola implementácia frameworku v jazyku C++, ktorý bude slúžit' na kompaktnejší vývoj umelej inteligencie (UI) autonómnych robotov založenej na chovaní (behaviour-based robotics). Táto UI je založená na pravidlách, parametroch a roznych "chovaniach" robota, v našom prípade vopred definovaných heuristicky. Platforma umožňuje posunút' t'ažisko vývoja takejto UI na definovanie týchto chovaní a pravidiel namiesto programovania. Súčast'ou platformy sú taktiež genetické algoritmy, ktoré umožňujú optimalizáciu parametrov heuristického riešenia. Funkčnost' konceptu bola overená na konkrétnom simulovanom pokuse s viacerými robotmi, ktorým bola zadaná jednoduchá konštrukčná úloha. Všetky simulácie boli uskutočnené pomocou simulačného softvéru Player/Stage.The aim of this bachelor's thesis was an implementation of a library, which should enable to develop controllers for autonomous mobile robots. The controllers are based on ideas of Behaviour-based robotics. This means that such a robot has a set of elementary behaviours and its control system consists of a set of parametrized rules, which decide according to the state of its sensors which one of the pre-defined elementary behaviours the robot has to use. This program shifts the substantial part of a robot control development from programming to defining such elementary behaviours and sets of rules. It includes a genetic algorithm that can help to optimize parameters of the rules used and/or the behaviours used in a controller. As a proof-of-concept a simulated experiment with multiple agents was conducted, in which the robots were assigned a simple construction task. All simulations were done in the Player/Stage simulator.Department of Software and Computer Science EducationKatedra softwaru a výuky informatikyFaculty of Mathematics and PhysicsMatematicko-fyzikální fakult

A methodology for the interpretation of ground conditions from borehole information.

Geotechnical design requires the interpretation of the information obtained from a site investigation. One aspect of the interpretation is the identification of the ground conditions across the site, based on observations at discrete points, such as boreholes. If a computer system is to assist in this process it must be able to compare soils observed at two or more locations, in order to identify whether the soils observed belong to the same horizon. A methodology has been developed whereby the similarity of two soils can be calculated, based on engineering soil descriptions. The qualitative terms are converted into quantitative representations from which a Similarity Number can be derived. Individual Similarity Numbers can be calculated with respect to soil type, consistency, structure and colour. These are normalised to give values between 0 and 100 (with 100 indicating identical features) and combined using appropriate weighting factors to give an Overall Similarity Number which represents a comparison based on these features. Using die quantitative representation of the soil descriptions, a preliminary assessment of the ground conditions can be made. The correlation of the borehole information is approached at two levels. At the site-wide level, an attempt is made to identify marker beds, that is soil layers which 'stand out' from the general ground conditions. A search for possible marker beds is first made at each borehole. The search is then extended to pairs of boreholes and further, the continuity of marker beds is established inside triangles which are formed having the boreholes as vertices. Where continuous layers are observed within triangles, the dip angle and dip orientation are calculated, to form the geometrical parameters on which preliminary conclusions are based. Compatibility (or not) of these parameters between neighbouring triangles is the key factor for assessing continuity of the marker beds. Finally, the detailed ground conditions are examined on a borehole-to-borehole level. At this level, a set of hypotheses about the ground conditions is constructed by looking at pairs of adjacent boreholes. Hence, a set of hypotheses is produced, even for areas for which the site-wide level approach is unable to establish trends