Higher-Order Process Modeling: Product-Lining, Variability Modeling and Beyond

We present a graphical and dynamic framework for binding and execution of business) process models. It is tailored to integrate 1) ad hoc processes modeled graphically, 2) third party services discovered in the (Inter)net, and 3) (dynamically) synthesized process chains that solve situation-specific tasks, with the synthesis taking place not only at design time, but also at runtime. Key to our approach is the introduction of type-safe stacked second-order execution contexts that allow for higher-order process modeling. Tamed by our underlying strict service-oriented notion of abstraction, this approach is tailored also to be used by application experts with little technical knowledge: users can select, modify, construct and then pass (component) processes during process execution as if they were data. We illustrate the impact and essence of our framework along a concrete, realistic (business) process modeling scenario: the development of Springer's browser-based Online Conference Service (OCS). The most advanced feature of our new framework allows one to combine online synthesis with the integration of the synthesized process into the running application. This ability leads to a particularly flexible way of implementing self-adaption, and to a particularly concise and powerful way of achieving variability not only at design time, but also at runtime.Comment: In Proceedings Festschrift for Dave Schmidt, arXiv:1309.455

Composer-Computer-Interpreter: a three-way collaborative process to the creation of two new works for multipercussion

Last decades we see a redefinition in the way of interaction between the performer and the composer, an interaction that led to the discovery of new paths of creative collaboration between parts. This article is a study of this relationship as presented in the works “Solo I” for multipercussion and “Solo for Two”, a duo for two multipercussion sets by Dimitris Andrikopoulos. We address, firstly, the collaborative process between the composer and the interpreters from the early stages of the creation of the works up to the moment of performance and recording of the pieces and how this process and collaborative attitude influenced basic parameters of the composition. Further, we address issues related to the generation of compositional material through algorithmic processes, material that was used in the creation of the pieces, itself a type of collaboration between the composer and the computer inside a Computer Assisted Composition environment.publishe

Proficiency-Based Diploma System in Maine: Implementing District-Level High School Graduation Policies Phase III Report

In this Phase III of the study, examination of the application documents, practices, policies and standards of several case study districts provided insights into the development of local high school graduation policies aligned with Maine\u27s proficiency-based diploma legislation. In addition, high school administrators and district leaders in case study districts were asked in interviews to discuss how this state policy has continued to impact their local district and schools. The following material describes the work being done regarding high school graduation policies that have been proposed and passed in these seven case study districts. This study examines and describes the local implementation process of these districts but does not evaluate the work being conducted in these case study districts and schools. However, policy recommendations are provided at the conclusion of this report

A Phenomenological Study of Teachers’ Lived Experiences while Addressing Cultural Diversity in Middle Schools and High Schools

This transcendental phenomenological study sought to understand and describe teachers’ lived experiences with cultural diversity in middle school and high schools using cross-cultural dimensions as lenses. A social constructivist research paradigm derived from Lev Vygotsky’s social constructivism theory urged this study’s theoretical framework. The approach of cross-cultural dimension from Geert Hofstede was applied as a lens to investigate the participants’ views about their experience with cultural diversity. Teachers from middle school and high schools participated in the research. The participants were from different social backgrounds, races, lifestyles, countries, and organizations, which made each answer unique regarding cultural diversity and cross-cultural dimensions. The research includes 12 interviews. Interviews, transcriptions, questionnaires, memoing, and journaling produced the data that were thematically analyzed to reach a conclusion and create the findings. Purposeful, snowballing, and criterion sampling guided the selection process. The researcher applied epoché, phenomenological reduction, and imaginative variation while formulating textural and structural descriptions to analyze the participants’ interviews and capture their lived experiences without bias. The analysis produced seven themes focused on cultural diversity in the classroom. They are: 1) Cultural Diversity Implementation, 2) Teaching Methods and Practices facilitating Cultural Diversity, 3) Professional Development Ineffectiveness about Cultural Diversity, 4) Cross-Cultural Dimensions in the classroom, 5) Experience Level Importance in Cultural Diversity, 6) Fear of Reprisal and Being Incompetent, 7) Value of Parents’ Voices for Cultural Diversity Integration

A model for systematically investigating relationships between variables that affect the performance of novice programmers

This research was motivated by an interest in novices learning to program and a desire to understand the factors that affect their learning. The traditional approach to performing such an investigation has been to select factors which may be important and then perform statistical tests on a few potential relationships. A new research model is proposed and tested to ensure that a thorough and systematic investigation of the data is performed. This thesis describes the data, defines the model and explains the application and validation of the model. The research process is managed by a control algorithm that is the heart of the model. This algorithm is seeded by a hypothesis that connects two variables of interest and dictates the testing of a series of hypotheses; as it does this, it also delves deeper into the data to identify additional relationships. In this research the model was applied to investigate the relationships between: learning style and achievement; programming behaviour and achievement; and learning style and programming behaviour. Learning style was assessed using Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, achievement was based on exam score and programming behaviour was extracted from a log of student activities using a programming tool. The largest number of significant relationships was found between aspects of behaviour and achievement. The model was validated by classifying the significant hypotheses based on the research model’s tree structure, the section of the programming tool in use and the literature. These three classification schemes provided a structure to explore their similarities and differences. The model was thus demonstrated to be robust and repeatable by comparing the results with those from both using a programming tool, and expert opinion. This research has revealed several attributes of the learning behaviour that affected the students’ results within this group, including aspects of timeliness and overall volume of activity. These are suitable targets for future investigations. The research model could be applied to other data sets where an in-depth investigation into pairwise data is required.

Going with the grain : an experiment in people-sensitive preaching

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1085/thumbnail.jp

Inherently flexible software

Software evolution is an important and expensive consequence of software. As Lehman's First Law of Program Evolution states, software must be changed to satisfy new user requirements or become progressively less useful to the stakeholders of the software. Software evolution is difficult for a multitude of different reasons, most notably because of an inherent lack of evolveability of software, design decisions and existing requirements which are difficult to change and conflicts between new requirements and existing assumptions and requirements. Software engineering has traditionally focussed on improvements in software development techniques, with little conscious regard for their effects on software evolution. The thesis emphasises design for change, a philosophy that stems from ideas in preventive maintenance and places the ease of software evolution more at the centre of the design of software systems than it is at present. The approach involves exploring issues of evolveability, such as adaptability, flexibility and extensibility with respect to existing software languages, models and architectures. A software model, SEvEn, is proposed which improves on the evolveability of these existing software models by improving on their adaptability, flexibility and extensibility, and provides a way to determine the ripple effects of changes by providing a reflective model of a software system. The main conclusion is that, whilst software evolveability can be improved, complete adaptability, flexibility and extensibility of a software system is not possible, hi addition, ripple effects can't be completely eradicated because assumptions will always persist in a software system and new requirements may conflict with existing requirements. However, the proposed reflective model of software (which consists of a set of software entities, or abstractions, with the characteristic of increased evolveability) provides trace-ability of ripple effects because it explicitly models the dependencies that exist between software entities, determines how software entities can change, ascertains the adaptability of software entities to changes in other software entities on which they depend and determines how changes to software entities affect those software entities that depend on them

No train, no gain: Instituting an information literacy professional development program [slides]

Slides from a presentation given in June 2012 at the 7th Annual Metrolina Library Association Information Literacy Conference, Charlotte, NC

Facing Poetry

What is Literature? According to Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Literature is perfect sensate discourse. Based on this insight Baumgarten offers the first modern theory of literature. His uniquely holistic approach encompasses a methodology, epistemology, metaphysics, narratology, and ethics