A record of the design process A systematic investigation of the role, value, and effectiveness of the “process book” for interior design students

The aim of this study is to analyze the structure, role, and effectiveness of a design student's "process book" as a method of capturing and facilitating design thinking. The "process book" includes all of the work completed during a design project such as written notes, drawings, and research. This study poses the following research questions: 1) What role and value does the process book have to design students and instructors? 2) How can the process book structure help to reduce a student’s cognitive load, yet allow for the spontaneous actions involved in graphic thinking? This mixed-method research study includes an analysis and exploration of interior design student and instructor perspectives of the process book artifact and tool. The data collection and analysis involves two main components. The first includes an investigation of student and faculty perspectives of the structure, role, and effectivenss of the process book obtained from semi-structured interviews. The second part is an online student survey questionnaire of sophomore, junior, senior, and graduate student perspectives. One interior design program in a large Midwestern university was selected. All students within the undergraduate and graduate program were invited to participate in the survey questionnaire and all faculty were interviewed. Interviews were audio-taped and later transcribed for coding and interpretation. This study serves as a case study and pilot study to provide a foundation for a larger-scale future research initiative. Results from this study will inform two future initiatives: 1) design of a larger-scale research design involving a multi-university sampling frame, and 2) development of a “digital process book” research study. Keywords: Design Process, Design Education, Drawing Research</p

Improving spatial-simultaneous working memory in Down syndrome: effect of a training program led by parents instead of an expert

Recent studies have suggested that the visuospatial component of working memory (WM) is selectively impaired in individuals with Down syndrome (DS), the deficit relating specifically to the spatial-simultaneous component, which is involved when stimuli are presented simultaneously. The present study aimed to analyze the effects of a computer-based program for training the spatial-simultaneous component of WM in terms of: specific effects (on spatial-simultaneous WM tasks); near and far transfer effects (on spatial-sequential and visuospatial abilities, and everyday memory tasks); and maintenance effects (1 month after the training). A comparison was drawn between the results obtained when the training was led by parents at home as opposed to an expert in psychology. Thirty-nine children and adolescents with DS were allocated to one of two groups: the training was administered by an expert in one, and by appropriately instructed parents in the other. The training was administered individually twice a week for a month, in eight sessions lasting approximately 30 min each. Our participants' performance improved after the training, and these results were maintained a month later in both groups. Overall, our findings suggest that spatial-simultaneous WM performance can be improved, obtaining specific and transfer gains; above all, it seems that, with adequate support, parents could effectively administer a WM training to their child

Routing Protocols for Lossy Wireless Networks

Tato práce zkoumá vhodnost a požadavky návrhu simulací pro simulátor NS-3 pro případ bezdrátových sítí používaných v měřící infrastruktuře společnosti Kamstrup. V práci je popsán simulátor NS-3 a je vytvořena základní implementace dvou protokolů. Wireless M-Bus jako příklad jednosměrného protokolu pro zařízení napájené z baterií. Simulace Wireless M-Bus je porovnána s daty naměřenými v reálném systému. NS-3 poskytuje flexibilní prostředí pro vývoj simulací různých síťových protokolů, včetně těch určených pro sítě inteligentních měřidel.This thesis investigates suitability and design constraints of the NS-3 Simulator for simulations of wireless protocols used by Kamstrup metering infrastructure. An overview of NS-3 Simulator is given and preliminary implementations of two protocols are created. Wireless M-Bus as an example of a one-way protocol for battery-powered devices. The simulation of Wireless M-Bus is compared with measurements obtained in a real deployment. NS-3 proves to be a flexible framework for developing simulations of various network protocols, including the ones used for smart metering.

Relationship Between Static Mobility of the First Ray and First Ray, Midfoot, and Hindfoot Motion During Gait

The relationship between a static measure of dorsal first ray mobility and dynamic motion of the first ray, midfoot, and hindfoot during the stance phase of walking was investigated in healthy, asymptomatic subjects who represented the spectrum of static flexibility. Static first ray mobility of 15 subjects was measured by a load cell device and ranged from stiff (3.1 mm) to lax (8.0 mm). Using three-dimensional motion analysis, mean first ray dorsiflexion/eversion and mid-/hindfoot eversion peak motion, time-to-peak, and eversion excursion were evaluated. Subjects with greater static dorsal mobility of the first ray demonstrated significantly greater time-topeak hindfoot eversion and eversion excursion (p \u3c .01), and midfoot peak eversion and eversion excursion (p \u3c .01). No significant association was found between static first ray mobility and first ray motion during gait. This research provides evidence that the dynamic response of the foot may modulate the consequences of first ray mobility and that compensory strategies are most effective when static measures of dorsal mobility are most extreme

Convex Optimization for Linear Query Processing under Approximate Differential Privacy

Differential privacy enables organizations to collect accurate aggregates over sensitive data with strong, rigorous guarantees on individuals' privacy. Previous work has found that under differential privacy, computing multiple correlated aggregates as a batch, using an appropriate \emph{strategy}, may yield higher accuracy than computing each of them independently. However, finding the best strategy that maximizes result accuracy is non-trivial, as it involves solving a complex constrained optimization program that appears to be non-linear and non-convex. Hence, in the past much effort has been devoted in solving this non-convex optimization program. Existing approaches include various sophisticated heuristics and expensive numerical solutions. None of them, however, guarantees to find the optimal solution of this optimization problem. This paper points out that under ($\epsilon$, $\delta$)-differential privacy, the optimal solution of the above constrained optimization problem in search of a suitable strategy can be found, rather surprisingly, by solving a simple and elegant convex optimization program. Then, we propose an efficient algorithm based on Newton's method, which we prove to always converge to the optimal solution with linear global convergence rate and quadratic local convergence rate. Empirical evaluations demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed solution.Comment: to appear in ACM SIGKDD 201

Tracking the dynamic nature of learner individual differences: Initial results from a longitudinal study

Individual differences (IDs) have long been considered one of the most important factors explaining variable rates and outcomes in second language acquisition (Dewaele, 2013). While traditional operationalizations of IDs have, explicitly or implicitly, assumed that IDs are static traits that are stable through time, more recent research inspired by complex dynamic systems theory (Larsen-Freeman, 1997, 2020) demonstrates that many IDs are dynamic and variable through time and across contexts, a theme echoed throughout the current issue. This study reports the initial semester of a diachronic project investigating the dynamicity of four learner IDs: motivation, personality, learning and cognitive styles, and working memory. In the initial semester, data from 323 participants in their first year of university-level Spanish were collected and analyzed to determine what type of variability may be present across learners with respect to the four IDs studied at one time point and to discern possible learner profiles in the data or patterns via which the data may be otherwise meaningfully described. The results revealed four types of learner profiles present in the dataset