A Curriculum Unit on Programming and Robotics

The Tangible Kindergarten project studies how, when given age-appropriate tools, young children can actively engage in computer programming and robotics in a way that is consistent with developmentally appropriate practice. This research project explores the creation of novel human computer interaction techniques to support learning with technology in early elementary school, with a focus on kindergarten. Since many modern graphical user interfaces are not designed with the developmental needs of such young learners in mind, they are generally ill-suited for use in early elementary school classrooms, especially for computer programming activities. To overcome this problem, this research project has created a tangible-graphical hybrid programming language specifically for young children, the Creative Hybrid Environment for Robotics Programming, or CHERP

A Constraint-Solver Based Tool for User-Assisted Interactive 3D Layout

We propose to use constraint programming (CP) to assist the user in 3D layout of restricted virtual environments (VEs). With this aim in mind, we integrated a constraint solver, into a professional authoring tool allowing the development of 3D real-time applications. The solver is used to formalize and develop different types of layout constraints and to find a solution to a user-specified layout problem. A communication module was developed to transmit the solution to the VE which automatically re-arranges itself. Modeling the problem and finding solutions are completely transparent for the user since he/she interacts with the VE regardless of the resolution mechanisms. In addition to the automatic objects placement, the proposed system can be used to assist the user during a manual layout by providing visual informations about the areas in which a given object cannot be placed. An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the effect of the provided look ahead-based assistance on user performance in 3D layout tasks

Content placement in 5G‐enabled edge/core data center networks resilient to link cut attacks

High throughput, resilience, and low latency requirements drive the development of 5G-enabled content delivery networks (CDNs) which combine core data centers (cDCs) with edge data centers (eDCs) that cache the most popular content closer to the end users for traffic load and latency reduction. Deployed over the existing optical network infrastructure, CDNs are vulnerable to link cut attacks aimed at disrupting the overlay services. Planning a CDN to balance the stringent service requirements and increase resilience to attacks in a cost-efficient way entails solving the content placement problem (CPP) across the cDCs and eDCs. This article proposes a framework for finding Pareto-optimal solutions with minimal user-to-content distance and maximal robustness to targeted link cuts, under a defined budget. We formulate two optimization problems as integer linear programming (ILP) models. The first, denoted as K-best CPP with minimal distance (K-CPP-minD), identifies the eDC/cDC placement solutions with minimal user-to-content distance. The second performs critical link set detection to evaluate the resilience of the K-CPP-minD solutions to targeted fiber cuts. Extensive simulations verify that the eDC/cDC selection obtained by our models improves network resilience to link cut attacks without adversely affecting the user-to-content distances or the core network traffic mitigation benefits.publishe

Pengembangan Kesenian Wayang Golek Virtual Berbasis Komputer Dengan Software Opensource

Human mind changes and modern life influnce traditional art, especially Wayang of Indonesia has begun to rarely performed. Therefore, with the technology and computer resources that can be used to show the art puppet show in this study conducted a virtual puppet design application that uses Augmented Reality. The application is executed using a virtual puppet of digital cameras real-time, also using markers and a computer. Through the camera, a virtual puppet application will identify a marker and then do the loading 3D objects shaped puppet that can allow a user to interact with virtual puppet. User act as a puppeteer who will deliver in accordance with the puppet show puppet show story and also to load the supporting applications to play gamelan and sinden sound like the real puppet show. The method used is waterfall method. And implemented using C programming language, library ARToolkit, Blender, and Lazarus-based opensource. The application has been tested and the results obtained through questionnaires that this application can motivate users to learn the art puppet using this application

The ixiQuarks: merging code and GUI in one creative space

This paper reports on ixiQuarks; an environment of instruments and effects that is built on top of the audio programming language SuperCollider. The rationale of these instruments is to explore alternative ways of designing musical interaction in screen-based software, and investigate how semiotics in interface design affects the musical output. The ixiQuarks are part of external libraries available to SuperCollider through the Quarks system. They are software instruments based on a non- realist design ideology that rejects the simulation of acoustic instruments or music hardware and focuses on experimentation at the level of musical interaction. In this environment we try to merge the graphical with the textual in the same instruments, allowing the user to reprogram and change parts of them in runtime. After a short introduction to SuperCollider and the Quark system, we will describe the ixiQuarks and the philosophical basis of their design. We conclude by looking at how they can be seen as epistemic tools that influence the musician in a complex hermeneutic circle of interpretation and signification

Fundamentals of Java Programming

This book was born from the desire of having an introductory Java programming textbook whose contents can be covered in one semester. The book was written with two types of audience in mind: those who intend to major in computer science and those who want to get a glimpse of computer programming. The book does not cover graphical user interfaces or the materials that are taught in a data structure course. The book very quickly surveys the Java Collection Framework and the generics in the penultimate chapter. The book also covers the concepts of online and recursive algorithms in the last chapter. The instructors who choose to use this textbook are free to skip these chapters if there is no sufficient time. Except for the code examples that receive parameters from the command line, the code examples can be compiled and run in a command-line environment as well as in IDEs. To execute those code examples in an IDE, the user must follow the step of provide args before execution. The code examples appearing in the book have very few comments, since the actions of the code are explained in the prose. The code examples with extensive comments are available for the publisher. There are PDF lecture slides accompanying the book. They are prepared using the Beamer environment of LATEX. The source codes of the lecture slides may be available through the publisher

Empirical modelling principles to support learning in a cultural context

Much research on pedagogy stresses the need for a broad perspective on learning. Such a perspective might take account (for instance) of the experience that informs knowledge and understanding [Tur91], the situation in which the learning activity takes place [Lav88], and the influence of multiple intelligences [Gar83]. Educational technology appears to hold great promise in this connection. Computer-related technologies such as new media, the internet, virtual reality and brain-mediated communication afford access to a range of learning resources that grows ever wider in its scope and supports ever more sophisticated interactions. Whether educational technology is fulfilling its potential in broadening the horizons for learning activity is more controversial. Though some see the successful development of radically new educational resources as merely a matter of time, investment and engineering, there are also many critics of the trends in computer-based learning who see little evidence of the greater degree of human engagement to which new technologies aspire [Tal95]. This paper reviews the potential application to educational technology of principles and tools for computer-based modelling that have been developed under the auspices of the Empirical Modelling (EM) project at Warwick [EMweb]. This theme was first addressed at length in a previous paper [Bey97], and is here revisited in the light of new practical developments in EM both in respect of tools and of model-building that has been targetted at education at various levels. Our central thesis is that the problems of educational technology stem from the limitations of current conceptual frameworks and tool support for the essential cognitive model building activity, and that tackling these problems requires a radical shift in philosophical perspective on the nature and role of empirical knowledge that has significant practical implications. The paper is in two main sections. The first discusses the limitations of the classical computer science perspective where educational technology to support situated learning is concerned, and relates the learning activities that are most closely associated with a cultural context to the empiricist perspective on learning introduced in [Bey97]. The second outlines the principles of EM and describes and illustrates features of its practical application that are particularly well-suited to learning in a cultural setting

A Multimedia Interactive Environment Using Program Archetypes: Divide-and-Conquer

As networks and distributed systems that can exploit parallel computing become more widespread, the need for ways to teach parallel programming effectively grows as well. Even though many colleges and universities provide courses on parallel programming [1], most of those courses are reserved for graduate students and advanced undergraduates. There is a demand for ways to teach fundamental parallel programming concepts to people with just a working knowledge of programming. By using the idea of a software archetype, and providing a learning environment that teaches both concept and coding, we hope to satisfy this need. This paper presents an overview of the multimedia approach we took in teaching parallel programming and offers Divide-and-Conquer as an example of its use