Principal investigator in a box: Version 1.2 documentation

Principal Investigator (PI) in a box is a computer system designed to help optimize the scientific results of experiments that are performed in space. The system will assist the astronaut experimenters in the collection and analysis of experimental data, recognition and pursuit of 'interesting' results, optimal use of the time allocated to the experiment, and troubleshooting of the experiment apparatus. This document discusses the problems that motivate development of 'PI-in-a-box', and presents a high- level system overview and a detailed description of each of the modules that comprise the current version of the system

Incorporating engineering design challenges into STEM courses

Successful strategies for incorporating engineering design challenges into science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) courses in American high schools are presented in this paper. The developers have taken the position that engineering design experiences should be an important component of the high school education of all American youth. In most instances, these experiences in engineering design are infused into instruction programs in standards-based courses in science, technology, or mathematics. Sometimes the courses are designated as engineering courses and the engineering design component is emphasized. A growing number of researchers seek to understand whether the development of engineering habits of thought and action in high school STEM courses leads to improvements in problem solving abilities, systems thinking, integration of STEM content, increased interest in engineering, and feelings of self- efficacy about pursuing additional engineering activities. We have attempted to integrate these findings, to draw inferences that reflect the current body of knowledge, and to call attention to promising contemporary practices. This paper is intended to provide guidelines for the development of authentic engineering design challenges, to describe instructional strategies for introducing engineering design experiences to high school students, and to offer suggestions for the assessment of the outcomes of engineering design activities. The information is intended to be useful in planning, organizing, and implementing the infusion of engineering design challenges in high school STEM courses. The paper is not intended as a detailed guide for curriculum development, comprehensive instructional design, or the assessment of achievement across the range of high school STEM courses

Improving Problem Solving with Subgoal Labels in Expository Text and Worked Examples

In highly procedural problem solving, procedures are typically taught with context-independent expository text that conceptually describes a procedure and context-dependent worked examples that concretely demonstrate a procedure. Subgoal labels have been used in worked examples to improve problem solving performance. The effect of subgoal labels in expository text, however, has not been explored. The present study examined the efficacy of subgoal labeled expository text and worked examples for programming education. The results show that learners who received subgoal labels in both the text and example are able to solve novel problems better than those who did not. In addition, subgoal labels in the text appear to have a different, rather than an additive, effect on learners compared to subgoal labels in the example. Specifically, subgoal labels in the text appear to help the learner articulate the procedure, and subgoal labels in the example appear to help the learner apply the procedure

A Study Of Factors Contributing To Self-reported Anomalies In Civil Aviation

A study investigating what factors are present leading to pilots submitting voluntary anomaly reports regarding their flight performance was conducted. The study employed statistical methods, text mining, clustering, and dimensional reduction techniques in an effort to determine relationships between factors and anomalies. A review of the literature was conducted to determine what factors are contributing to these anomalous incidents, as well as what research exists on human error, its causes, and its management. Data from the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) was analyzed using traditional statistical methods such as frequencies and multinomial logistic regression. Recently formalized approaches in text mining such as Knowledge Based Discovery (KBD) and Literature Based Discovery (LBD) were employed to create associations between factors and anomalies. These methods were also used to generate predictive models. Finally, advances in dimensional reduction techniques identified concepts or keywords within records, thus creating a framework for an unsupervised document classification system. Findings from this study reinforced established views on contributing factors to civil aviation anomalies. New associations between previously unrelated factors and conditions were also found. Dimensionality reduction also demonstrated the possibility of identifying salient factors from unstructured text records, and was able to classify these records using these identified features

Англійська мова для навчання і роботи. Т. 3. Дискусії та презентації

Розглянуто всі види діяльності студентів з вивчення англійської мови, спрямовані на розвиток мовної поведінки, необхідної для ефективного спілкування в академічному та професійному середовищах. Містить завдання і вправи, типові для різноманітних академічних та професійних сфер і ситуацій. Структура організації змісту – модульна, охоплює певні мовленнєві вміння залежно від мовної поведінки. Даний модуль має на меті розвиток у студентів умінь і навичок академічного і професійно-орієнтованого мовлення, необхідних для участі в дискусіях, семінарах, конференціях та при підготовці й проведенні презентацій (виступів-доповідей). Зразки текстів – автентичні, містять цікаву та актуальну інформацію із загальнонаукової та професійної тематики. Ресурси для самостійної роботи (частина ІІ) включають завдання та вправи для розвитку словникового запасу та розширення діапазону функціональних зразків, необхідних для виконання певних функцій, та завдання, які спрямовані на організацію самостійної роботи студентів. За допомогою засобів діагностики (частина ІІІ) студенти можуть самостійно перевірити засвоєння навчального матеріалу та оцінити свої досягнення. Граматичні явища і вправи для їх засвоєння наводяться в томі 5. Призначений для студентів технічних університетів гірничого профілю. Може використовуватися для викладання вибіркових курсів англійської мови, а також у самостійному вивченні англійської мови викладачами, фахівцями і науковцями різних інженерних галузей

Guidelines for technology industry chatbot content development

Chatbot is a software that can provide answers to questions and solve common problems on a web page or in an application. Companies are using chatbots to make processes more efficient and to increase customer experience. Currently most of the chatbots are published in the companies which are concentrating on consumer customers. Chatbots can helping customers to solve problems and questions with products and services company is providing. This master’s thesis studied how chatbot can be used to improve customer experience in global technology company and what properties and requirements users have concerning chatbot. Literature review included studies about user experience, customer experience and content strategy. Goal was to find out how these concepts are described and what makes them successful. Study was carried out by doing online survey to case company employees around the world. Survey was built partly based on studies in the literature review. Study results were used to create content development model and guidelines for chatbot by using design science research. Results showed that people are willing to use chatbot and chatbot have positive impact on customer experience. In addition, primary content of chatbot should be customer support, technical information and product information. Study also implicated that people have posi-tive attitudes towards chatbot and it has positive effect on customer experience. Outcome of this study were guidelines that can be used in chatbot content development. Guidelines are easy to use and easy to understand. Addition to this, guidelines solved existing problem in the case company. Guidelines are intended for people who are developing and creating chatbot and its content. They can be used in the development of the chatbot and also reviewing existing chatbot. They can be also developed further since user experience, custom-er experience and content strategy concepts are evolving all the time and based on them, these guidelines can be developed further.Chatbot on ohjelmisto joka vastaa tavallisimpiin kysymyksiin ja ratkaisee yleisimpiä ongelmia verkkosivulla tai sovelluksessa. Yritykset käyttävät chatbotteja prosessien tehostamiseen ja paremman asiakaskokemuksen tarjoamiseen. Tällä hetkellä suurin osa chatboteista on käytössä yrityksissä jotka tarjoavat kuluttajatuotteita tai kuluttajapalveluita. Chatbot auttaa asiakasta ratkaisemaan ongelmia ja vastaamaan kysymyksiin koskien yrityksen tuotteita tai palveluita. Tämä Pro Gradu -tutkielma tutki kuinka chatbottia voidaan hyödyntää asiakaskokemuksen parantamisessa teknologiateollisuuden yrityksessä. Lisäksi tutkimus selvitti ominaisuuksia ja vaatimuksia mitä käyttäjillä on chatboteille. Kirjallisuuskatsaus käsitteli tutkimuksia jotka tutkivat käyttäjäkokemusta, asiakaskokemusta ja sisältöstrategiaa. Tavoite oli selvittää miten nämä käsitteet oli määritelty ja miten saavutetaan paras mahdollinen käyttäjäkokemus, asiakaskokemus ja sisältöstrategia. Varsinainen tutkimus toteutettiin verkkokyselynä yrityksen työntekijöille ympäri maailmaa. Tutkimuksen kysymykset ja teemat perustuivat osittain kirjallisuuskatsaukseen. Kyselyn tuloksien avulla rakennettiin ohjeistus ja malli käyttäen suunnittelutieteellistä lähestymistapaa. Tuloksien perusteella vastaajat ovat halukkaita käyttämään chatbottia ja chatbotilla on positiivinen vaikutus asiakaskokemukseen. Tämän lisäksi, chatbot sisällön pitäisi keskittyä asiakastukeen, tekniseen tukeen ja tuoteinformaatioon. Tuloksista myös selvisi, että ihmiset suhtautuvat positiivisesti chatbottiin ja se vaikuttaa myös asiakaskokemukseen. Tutkimuksen lopputuloksena rakennettiin ohjeistus mitä voidaan käyttää chatbotin sisällön suunnittelussa ja sisällöntuotannossa. Ohjeistus on helppokäyttöinen ja sitä on helppo ymmärtää. Tutkimus myös ratkaisi yrityksessä olevan ongelman joka liittyy chatbotin sisältöön. Ohjeistus on tarkoitettu ihmisille jotka kehittävät chatbottia ja luovat sisältöä siihen. Ohjeistusta voidaan käyttää suunnittelusta, mutta myös olemassa olevan chatbotin arvioinnissa. Tämän lisäksi ohjeistus on mahdollista kehittää eteenpäin, sillä käyttäjäkokemus, asiakaskokemus ja sisältöstrategia kehittyvät koko ajan ja siksi ohjeistusta voi kehittää eteenpäin jatkuvasti

Information Access in Rural Areas of the United States: the Public Library’s Role in the Digital Divide and the Implications of Differing State Funding Models

In the United States, individual states have different means of determining and distributing funding. This influences library service and access to information particularly as it pertains to critical Internet access. Funding and service trends have changed, especially as it relates to public libraries, with some modifications working to their advantage and some to their detriment. Public libraries struggle to meet the needs of their users as more information becomes available online. This is especially true in rural areas that have unique challenges such as a very small tax base and limited budgets, space constraints and dated buildings, limited opportunities for staff education and training, and poor telecommunications infrastructure. Despite these challenges, public libraries need to provide access to e-government and other key information so that their communities can be a part of a democratic society. This has become especially critical in rural areas where the public library may be the only place to access the Internet and communicate with professionals who can assist in the navigation of digital literacy tasks. It is becoming increasingly important to examine funding models and their impact on information access in rural libraries. What is the impact of targeted federal broadband programs in rural public libraries? Is there a funding model that is most effective for rural public libraries? Are librarians opting out of government systems to pursue private assistance with connectivity when available? What is the role of the librarian in digital literacy in rural libraries? These questions were answered by examining five states representing varied funding structures including federal grant support, E-rate, state funding, local funding and library system funding. Surveys and interviews with public library directors and library system staff indicated that federal programs such as E-rate and National Broadband Grant infrastructure funding were making a small impact, but this was not enough to assist librarians with their increasing technology needs. Even more concerning was the diminishing state funding and support to rural public libraries and for library systems that once provided technology support. The objective of this research is to determine best practice for Internet and community anchor institution policy in the U.S., and to advocate for increased public funding that is so critical to public libraries in rural areas