ReM-AM: Reflective Middleware for Acoustic Management in Intelligent Environments

This paper presents the architecture of a Reflective Middleware for Acoustic Management that will improve the interaction between users and agents in Intelligent Environments, using the Multiagent System paradigm. The middleware manages the acoustic services, from the identification and recognition of the acoustic signals, until the interpretation, processing and analysis of them. In this paper are detailed the architecture bases, the middleware components, and case studies where this Middleware can be used. Acoustic signals and vibrations will generate the connection between agents, but it will also include the sounds that are provided by the users of the Intelligent Environment, making it an interactive and immersive experience.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

ReM-AM: Reflective Middleware for Acoustic Management in Intelligent Environments

This paper presents the architecture of a Reflective Middleware for Acoustic Management that will improve the interaction between users and agents in Intelligent Environments, using the Multiagent System paradigm. The middleware manages the acoustic services, from the identification and recognition of the acoustic signals, until the interpretation, processing and analysis of them. In this paper are detailed the architecture bases, the middleware components, and case studies where this Middleware can be used. Acoustic signals and vibrations will generate the connection between agents, but it will also include the sounds that are provided by the users of the Intelligent Environment, making it an interactive and immersive experience.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativa (SADIO

Building sustainable learning environments that are ‘fit for the future’ with reference to Egypt

Perhaps there is no building type that has a more significant impact on our lives than the Kindergarten to high School (K-12). We continue to carry the memories of our early learning environments through the residue of our lives. It is the quality of those learning environments that play a crucial role in enhancing or hampering our learning experience. Learning spaces are complex spaces where the collective skills, knowledge, and practices of a culture are taught, shaped, encouraged, and transmitted. Comfortable/safe and creative learning spaces can inspire and motivate users, while ugly/unsafe spaces can oppress. Based on these two attitudes, the aims of this paper are to; firstly, developing Sustainable learning environments (SLE) in the Middle-East countries with reference to Egypt. Secondly, to reviewing and extending the planning and design of the internal, external and landscaping features of a proposed eco-class to collectively pass to the learners for enhancing the quality of learning space and thus education. After the Egyptian Revolution on the 25th of January, 2011 and the hopes and dreams this brings with it, for a major transformation in all life sectors, the Egyptian government needs to recognise the right of children and young people to learn in an environment which is safe, healthy and achieves the highest quality possible. We must all be committed to improving the quality, attractiveness and health of the learning and communal spaces in our schools. Environmental factors have significant effects on pupil and teacher wellbeing. In contrast, poor school and classroom design can affect concentration, creativity and general well-being; in addition, poor quality lighting, ventilation, acoustics and furniture all have a negative effect on student achievement and health. Nowadays, Egypt endure deterioration of education quality as a result of deficient learning spaces, high number of pupils in class, insufficient governmental expenditure and funding, and lack of proper research in education developmental strategies. Therefore, new learning spaces should be able to increase flexibility in order to support hands-on and outside-class learning activities. Furthermore, they intend to encourage extra-curricula activities beyond conventional learning times. Currently, these integral learning-components are crucial for socio-cultural sustainability and positive initiatives towards minimizing recent educational underachievement. Undoubtedly, comfortable, safe and creative learning spaces can inspire and motivate users, while ugly/unsafe spaces can depress. Therefore, well-designed learning spaces are able to support creative, productive and efficient learning processes on one hand. On the other hand, ecological design measures became increasingly major keystone for modern sustainable learning-spaces. Thus, learning-spaces’ design process, form, components, materials, features, and energy-saving technologies can generate well-educated, environmental-literate, energy-conscious, and innovative future-generations. (Continued

FORGE: An eLearning Framework for Remote Laboratory Experimentation on FIRE Testbed Infrastructure

The Forging Online Education through FIRE (FORGE) initiative provides educators and learners in higher education with access to world-class FIRE testbed infrastructure. FORGE supports experimentally driven research in an eLearning environment by complementing traditional classroom and online courses with interactive remote laboratory experiments. The project has achieved its objectives by defining and implementing a framework called FORGEBox. This framework offers the methodology, environment, tools and resources to support the creation of HTML-based online educational material capable accessing virtualized and physical FIRE testbed infrastruc- ture easily. FORGEBox also captures valuable quantitative and qualitative learning analytic information using questionnaires and Learning Analytics that can help optimise and support student learning. To date, FORGE has produced courses covering a wide range of networking and communication domains. These are freely available from FORGEBox.eu and have resulted in over 24,000 experiments undertaken by more than 1,800 students across 10 countries worldwide. This work has shown that the use of remote high- performance testbed facilities for hands-on remote experimentation can have a valuable impact on the learning experience for both educators and learners. Additionally, certain challenges in developing FIRE-based courseware have been identified, which has led to a set of recommendations in order to support the use of FIRE facilities for teaching and learning purposes

Challenging the Computational Metaphor: Implications for How We Think

This paper explores the role of the traditional computational metaphor in our thinking as computer scientists, its influence on epistemological styles, and its implications for our understanding of cognition. It proposes to replace the conventional metaphor--a sequence of steps--with the notion of a community of interacting entities, and examines the ramifications of such a shift on these various ways in which we think

Proporcionar experiencias de aprendizaje ubicuo mediante la combinación de Internet de las Cosas y los estándares de e-Learning

[ES]Actualmente, el aprendizaje está teniendo lugar con mayor frecuencia en cualquier lugar y en cualquier momento. Esto implica que los ambientes del aprendizaje electrónico se expandan desde los entornos de aprendizaje solo virtuales a entornos que implican espacios físicos. Gracias a la evolución de Internet, las TIC (Tecnologías de la Información y Comunicación) y a la Internet de las Cosas, se pueden experimentar nuevos escenarios de aprendizaje por parte de los estudiantes, ya sea individualmente o en colaboración. Estos escenarios de aprendizaje ubicuos, permiten compaginar tanto ambientes virtuales como ambientes físicos. Por tanto, estas experiencias se caracterizan por las interacciones posibles del estudiante con el entorno físico, la detección de los datos contextuales, y también la adaptación de las estrategias pedagógicas y de los servicios según el contexto. Este artículo pretende aprovechar esta tendencia y sustentarla en las normas existentes de aprendizaje electrónico como IMS LD y LOM. La solución propuesta es extender los modelos de normas de aprendizaje electrónico como IMS LD y LOM para soportar Internet de las Cosas y para aportar un enfoque de adaptación de las actividades de aprendizaje según el contexto del estudiante y su huella digital utilizando la API eXperience. En este contexto y con el fin de permitir las capacidades de razonamiento y la interoperabilidad entre los modelos propuestos se proponen representaciones ontológicas y una implementación de la solución. Además, se plantea una arquitectura técnica que resalta los componentes de software necesarios y sus interacciones. Y, por último, se implementa y se evalúa un escenario de aprendizaje ubicuo

Innovation in Information Systems Education-IAccelerated Systems Analysis And Design With Appreciative Inquiry - An Action Learning Approach

One of the challenges in teaching information systems analysis and design is setting up experiential learning projects in which students have an opportunity to apply and reinforce the theories and techniques they have acquired in the classroom. This note aims to shed light on this issue and to offer Appreciative Inquiry as an alternative to the prevailing problem solving lens. The Accelerated Systems Analysis and Design with Appreciative Inquiry Workshop revolves around a genuine system design project, which provides an opportunity to apply the latest systems analysis and design methodologies in a realistic setting and to gain hands-on experience in a safe learning environment. Building on the principles of Appreciative Inquiry, the workshop is designed to emphasize collaborative work in the pursuit of both organizational and personal value. The workshop provides not only a framework for looking at organizations and organizational life, but also a language to communicate their dynamic complexities and interdependencies. Overall, participants gain a balanced mix of formal theory, critical thinking, and hands on experience, which prepare them for effective communication and participation in system development in organizational settings

On developing open mobile fault tolerant agent systems

The paper introduces the CAMA (Context-Aware Mobile Agents) framework intended for developing large-scale mobile applications using the agent paradigm. CAMA provides a powerful set of abstractions, a supporting middleware and an adaptation layer allowing developers to address the main characteristics of the mobile applications: openness, asynchronous and anonymous communication, fault tolerance, and device mobility. It ensures recursive system structuring using location, scope, agent, and role abstractions. CAMA supports system fault tolerance through exception handling and structured agent coordination within nested scopes. The applicability of the framework is demonstrated using an ambient lecture scenario - the first part of an ongoing work on a series of ambient campus applications. This scenario is developed starting from a thorough definition of the traceable requirements including the fault tolerance requirements. This is followed by the design phase at which the CAMA abstractions are applied. At the implementation phase, the CAMA middleware services are used through a provided API. This work is part of the FP6 IST RODIN project on Rigorous Open Development Environment for Complex Systems

Leveraging Technology to Implement Curriculum: An Innovative Approach to Community Outreach in Cooperative Extension Programming

A capstone submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in the Ernst and Sara Lane Volgenau College of Education at Morehead State University by Danielle N. Barrett on April 12, 2021