Proceedings, MSVSCC 2015

The Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) of Old Dominion University hosted the 2015 Modeling, Simulation, & Visualization Student capstone Conference on April 16th. The Capstone Conference features students in Modeling and Simulation, undergraduates and graduate degree programs, and fields from many colleges and/or universities. Students present their research to an audience of fellow students, faculty, judges, and other distinguished guests. For the students, these presentations afford them the opportunity to impart their innovative research to members of the M&S community from academic, industry, and government backgrounds. Also participating in the conference are faculty and judges who have volunteered their time to impart direct support to their students’ research, facilitate the various conference tracks, serve as judges for each of the tracks, and provide overall assistance to this conference. 2015 marks the ninth year of the VMASC Capstone Conference for Modeling, Simulation and Visualization. This year our conference attracted a number of fine student written papers and presentations, resulting in a total of 51 research works that were presented. This year’s conference had record attendance thanks to the support from the various different departments at Old Dominion University, other local Universities, and the United States Military Academy, at West Point. We greatly appreciated all of the work and energy that has gone into this year’s conference, it truly was a highly collaborative effort that has resulted in a very successful symposium for the M&S community and all of those involved. Below you will find a brief summary of the best papers and best presentations with some simple statistics of the overall conference contribution. Followed by that is a table of contents that breaks down by conference track category with a copy of each included body of work. Thank you again for your time and your contribution as this conference is designed to continuously evolve and adapt to better suit the authors and M&S supporters. Dr.Yuzhong Shen Graduate Program Director, MSVE Capstone Conference Chair John ShullGraduate Student, MSVE Capstone Conference Student Chai

The Role of Computers in Research and Development at Langley Research Center

This document is a compilation of presentations given at a workshop on the role cf computers in research and development at the Langley Research Center. The objectives of the workshop were to inform the Langley Research Center community of the current software systems and software practices in use at Langley. The workshop was organized in 10 sessions: Software Engineering; Software Engineering Standards, methods, and CASE tools; Solutions of Equations; Automatic Differentiation; Mosaic and the World Wide Web; Graphics and Image Processing; System Design Integration; CAE Tools; Languages; and Advanced Topics

Cumulative and Combinatorial Knowledge Dynamics: Their Role for Continuity and Change in Regional Path Development

This thesis addresses the question of how regions can adapt to technological and social changes. In the face of recent economic rises, disruptive digitalization, and the need to transition towards sustainability, processes of diversification, transformation, and renewal have become increasingly important to strengthen the dynamics development of regions. While the creation or the lock-in of regional development paths has received a lot of attention by economic geographers, studies on the transformation of existing paths are relatively scarce. Instead, in recent decades scientific, political, and economic actors alike have promoted a logic of specialization to support regional competitiveness. Yet the processes outlined above require that these specializations are combined with novel, external knowledge inputs. In order to capture these processes of the accumulation and combination of knowledge, this thesis introduces and applies the concept of knowledge dynamics. It differentiates interaction processes by the degree of institutional and cognitive distance that actors have to bridge. In the theoretical framework of this thesis, these knowledge dynamics are brought together with path development research of the Evolutionary Economic Geography and Innovation Systems literature strands. At the center of this thesis stand the questions of how different knowledge dynamics influence, and are influenced by, the elements and institutions of regional economic landscapes. In four papers based on empirical material from different contexts, these interfaces are explored. Thereby the focus is laid on knowledge dynamics in symbolic knowledge bases of music scenes, as the field of non-technological innovation is relatively underexplored despite its increasing economic significance. In order to quantitatively measure innovation and knowledge dynamics in this creative industry, this thesis employs so-called resonance indicators derived from digital social data. The findings of this thesis show that the interplay of cumulative and combinatorial knowledge dynamics leads to processes of path modernization and branching. While cumulative knowledge dynamics guide the direction of potential diversification routes, combinatorial knowledge dynamics affect the creation and transformation of new organizations and institutions. In order to promote these dynamics, path plasticity and the openness to extralocal knowledge sources should be promoted

Designing for mod development: user creativity as product development strategy on the firm-hosted 3D software platform

The thesis is designed to improve our understanding of user participation in Web-based development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry. It aims to investigate whether the creative capacities of users and their contributions to the online firm-hosted 3D platform are indicative of a novel configuration of production that influences the processes of product development across firm boundaries. The thesis mobilizes the user participation literature developing in media research as its main theoretical framework. It builds on insights derived from work on user participation in media sites as seen through a cultural lens, in particular, as developed in Henry Jenkins' notions of 'participatory' and 'convergence culture'. The user participation literature is supported by a combination of insights drawn from work on communities of practice and user-centred innovation so as to offer a more robust approach to examine and appreciate the firm-hosted 3D platform as a site of user participation. More specifically, the conceptual framework for the study provides a basis for an examination of the ways a software developer finn encourages user participation in a market and of how this enables and facilitâtes particular modes of user creativity. These are shown to shape and maintain a firm-hosted platform that aids product development efforts that are expected to benefit the developer fimi. An empirical study of the platform, Second Life, provides the basis for the analysis of finn-user interactions which are shown to underpin a distinctive finn leaming process in the context of product development that occurs across permeable fimi boundaries. The thesis yields insight into the way a developer firm invites its user base to partner with it in product development, indicating how aspects of user participation associated with non-market dynamics are embedded in commercial activity and professionalism. The pivotal role of users is revealed in the design, development and sustainability of a firm-hosted 3D product. The findings point to interesting relationships between the distinctive creative capacities of users and the range of capabilities afforded by the firm-provided design space. Variations in user participation and contributions to product development suggest that particular patterns of learning opportunities occur. The analysis yields several new concepts including a 'modification effect market' which are used to extend existing conceptualizations of user participation in digitai development practices in the commercial setting of the 3D software industry

Issues, opportunities and concepts in the teaching of programming to novice programmers at the University of Lincoln : three approaches.

This thesis describes three small-scale, computer-based approaches developed and used by the author in her teaching of programming concepts to novice programmers, using Pascal as a first language, within a higher education context. The first approach was the development of a piece of tutorial CAL, the second was the development of an on-line help system and the third the development of a pattern language. For the first two, the author created the product. For the pattern language, she designed the template. These three approaches are described and the results obtained outlined. The work also looks at the kind of research methodologies and tools available to the author and present a rationale for her choices of method and tools. This work also briefly reviews some learning theories that could be used to underpin the design, use and evaluation of CAL. The thesis looks at a range of topics associated with the teaching of programming and the use of CAL. It looks at issues around the psychology and human aspects of learning to program, such as confirmatory bias and vision. It looks at other research efforts aimed at developing software to support inexperienced programmers, including new programming languages specifically designed to teach programming concepts and sophisticated programming support environments. The work briefly reviews various types of CAL and their uses. It also examines some key projects in CAL development from the 1960s onwards, with particular emphasis on UK projects from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. It looks at what conclusions can be drawn from examining some of the many CAL projects in the past. Finally, the work reviews the various strands of the author's research efforts and presents a brief overview and some initial suggestions for the teaching of programming to novice programmers

Computer education: new perspectives

Computer technologies were introduced into educational contexts over two decades ago and while there is some argument about the extent to which computers have realised their potential, they have undoubtedly had a significant impact on education. A look into any school will reveal computers being used widely by clerical staff, teachers and children. It is clear that computers are here to stay, but it is less clear as to how effectively they are being used in the learning process. Teachers not only need to use computers but they need to use them well, and in order to do this they must understand what computer technology can offer and the ways in which such technology can be used in teaching and learning

An examination and confirmation of a macro theory of conversations through a realization of the protologic Lp by microscopic simulation

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Conversation Theory is a theory of interaction. From interaction (the theory asserts) arises all individuals and all concepts. Interaction, if it is to allow for evolution, must perforce contain conflict, and, if concepts and individuals are to endure, resolution of conflict. Conversation Theory as developed by Pask led to the protologic called Lp which describes the interaction of conceptual entities. Lp contains injunctions as to how entities can and may interact, including how they may conflict and how their conflict may be resolved. Unlike existing software implementations based on Conversation Theory, Lp in its pure form is a logic of process as well as coherence and distinction. The hypothesis is that a low-level simulation of Lp, that of an internal and microscopic level in which topics are influenced by "forces" that are exerted by the topology of the conceptual space, would, in its activation as a dynamic process of appropriate dimension, produce as a result (and hence be a confirmation of) the macroscopically-observed behaviour of the system manifest as conflict and resolution of conflict. Without this confirmation, the relationships between Conversation Theory and Lp remain only proposed; with it, their mutual consistencies and validity as a model of cognition, are affirmed. The background of Conversation Theory and Lp necessary to support the thesis is presented a long with a comparison of other software approaches to related problems. A description of THOUGHTSTICKER, a current embodiment of Lp at the macro level, provides a detailed sense of the Lp operations. Then a computer program (developed to provide a proof by demonstration of the thesis) is described, in which a microscopic simulation of Lp processes confirms the macroscopic behaviour predicted by Conversation Theory. Conversation Theory thereby gains support f or its use as a valid observer's language for every-day experience owing to this confirmation and its protologic as a basis for psychological phenomena in the interaction of conceptual entities of mind

3d food printing: study and applications to produce innovative food products.

La stampa 3D degli alimenti rappresenta una tecnologia innovativa ed emergente capace di costruire un oggetto tridimensionale partendo da un modello CAD creato su software di disegno grafico. Durante gli ultimi anni molti studi hanno dimostrato come questa tecnologia sia stata applicata per la produzione di alimenti nuovi. L’obiettivo principale di questa tesi è stato l’approfondimento e il miglioramento della tecnologia di stampa 3D nel settore alimentare contribuendo alla creazione di alimenti dalle proprietà mai esplorate prima. Dopo un’analisi dell’evoluzione temporale della tecnologia di stampa 3D nel settore alimentare, una varietà di altri aspetti sono stati studiati, tra cui la capacità di creare e modificare alimenti dalle nuove texture attraverso la progettazione di nuovi design, inoltre è stata oggetto di studio la stampa 3D ad alta velocità, tema interessante dal punto di vista dell’applicazione in campo industriale. Gli studi si sono focalizzati sull’utilizzo di due diverse matrici di stampa: impasto a base di cereali e gel a base d’amido, stampando strutture geometriche (cubi, parallelepipedi) e design ispirati alla natura (tessuti interni delle mele). La tesi è strutturata in 8 capitoli: una breve introduzione (capitolo 1), obiettivi e linee di ricerca (capitolo 2) e altri cinque capitoli corrispondenti alle 5 pubblicazioni su riviste internazionali; Drawing the scientific landscape of 3D Food Printing. Maps and interpretation of the global information in the first 13 years of detailed experiments, from 2007 to 2020’(capitolo 3) and ‘Rheological properties, dispensing force and printing fidelity of starchy-gels modulated by concentration, temperature and resting time’ (capitolo 4). I capitoli 5 e 6 sono dedicati alla creazione di alimenti stampati in 3D con proprietà meccaniche desiderate e personalizzabili: Programmable texture properties of cereal-based snack mediated by 3D printing technology’ (capitolo 5), ‘Extending 3D food printing application. Apple tissues microstructure as CAD model to create innovative cereal-based snacks’ (capitolo 6). Il capitolo 7 si è focalizzato sulla stampa 3D ad alta velocità: ‘Extending the 3D food printing tests at high speed. Material deposition and effect of non-printing movements on the final quality of printed structures’. E infine il capitolo 8 racchiude le conclusioni e alter discussioni generali riguardanti la tesi.3D printing (3DP) represents an innovative and emerging technology aiming to build three-dimensional objects starting from the computer-aided model. During last years main studies showed the application of this technology to produce innovative foods. The main aim of this research was the better understanding and the implementation of 3D Printing in the food sector aiming to contribute to the creation of food with unprecedented properties. After an analysis on the temporal evolution of 3D Food Printing (3DFP) in scientific field, a variety of relevant aspects have been studied: the capability of modifying the texture properties of the end products by means of accurate design of the digital models and the printing at high speed that could open for a more practical application at industrial level. Moreover, the studies have focused on two different matrix: cereals based and starchy gels, printing geometric structures (cube, parallelepiped) and design inspired by nature (apple tissue). The thesis is structured in 8 chapters: a brief introduction (chapter 1), objects and outlines of research (chapter 2) and the other sections consists of five published papers in international peer reviewed journals ‘Drawing the scientific landscape of 3D Food Printing. Maps and interpretation of the global information in the first 13 years of detailed experiments, from 2007 to 2020’(chapter 3); ‘Rheological properties, dispensing force and printing fidelity of starchy-gels modulated by concentration, temperature and resting time’ (chapter 4). The chapters 5 and 6 has been dedicated to the creation of 3D-printed food with desired and programmable mechanical properties: ‘Programmable texture properties of cereal-based snack mediated by 3D printing technology’ (chapter 5), ‘Extending 3D food printing application. Apple tissues microstructure as CAD model to create innovative cereal-based snacks’ (chapter 6). Chapter 7 focused on speed up of 3DFP: ‘Extending the 3D food printing tests at high speed. Material deposition and effect of non-printing movements on the final quality of printed structures’. Finally chapter 8 contains the conclusions and some general discussion of the thesis