Teaching functional patterns through robotic applications

We present our approach to teaching functional programming to First Year Computer Science stu- dents at Middlesex University through projects in robotics. A holistic approach is taken to the cur- riculum, emphasising the connections between different subject areas. A key part of the students’ learning is through practical projects that draw upon and integrate the taught material. To support these, we developed the Middlesex Robotic plaTfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform built using Raspberry Pi, Arduino, HUB-ee wheels and running Racket (a LISP dialect). In this paper we present the motivations for our choices and explain how a number of concepts of functional programming may be employed when programming robotic applications. We present some students’ work with robotics projects: we consider the use of robotics projects to have been a success, both for their value in reinforcing students’ understanding of programming concepts and for their value in motivating the students

Genetic local search for multicast routing with pre-processing by logarithmic simulated annealing

Over the past few years, several local search algorithms have been proposed for various problems related to multicast routing in the off-line mode. We describe a population-based search algorithm for cost minimisation of multicast routing. The algorithm utilises the partially mixed crossover operation (PMX) under the elitist model: for each element of the current population, the local search is based upon the results of a landscape analysis that is executed only once in a pre-processing step; the best solution found so far is always part of the population. The aim of the landscape analysis is to estimate the depth of the deepest local minima in the landscape generated by the routing tasks and the objective function. The analysis employs simulated annealing with a logarithmic cooling schedule (logarithmic simulated annealing—LSA). The local search then performs alternating sequences of descending and ascending steps for each individual of the population, where the length of a sequence with uniform direction is controlled by the estimated value of the maximum depth of local minima. We present results from computational experiments on three different routing tasks, and we provide experimental evidence that our genetic local search procedure that combines LSA and PMX performs better than algorithms using either LSA or PMX only

A Dialectical Basis for Software Development Tool Building

We identify typical problems in the interactions of people with current software-based systems. In particular we observe the need to expend significant on-going effort to adapt these systems to reflect changes in the world about them, the need for people to adapt their working practices to fit in with these systems, and the inflexibility of these systems when faced with unusual circumstances or the need for change. We believe that these problems follow, at least in part, from these systems being developed and evolved using mechanisms each based on one Inquiry System only. This basis leads to assumptions being embedded in the mechanisms’ analysis outputs, and in system designs and implementations. We suggest that the problems noted may be mitigated by the use of a dialectical approach to Inquiry System selection for software development, based on the work of Hegel, which places in opposition different models of a situation based on different Inquiry Systems. We claim that such a mechanism has the potential to make explicit some of the assumptions which would otherwise be embedded implicitly in the delivered system without being questioned. We outline a research programme intended to test this hypothesis, and suggest other research directions

Fluorescence: A Novel Method for Determining Manuka Honey Floral Purity

Manuka honey, harvested from Leptospermum scoparium, is New Zealand\u27s most recognised honey type and commands a premium due to health‐related benefits. However, the plant\u27s distribution, relative to other species flowering simultaneously, allows honeybees to incorporate alternative nectars into the honey. Melissopalynological analysis in New Zealand is often unrepresentative due to the presence of many pollen‐bearing sources; consequently, alternative means of categorising manuka honey were examined. RP‐HPLC revealed that manuka honey contains distinct compounds, of which were relatively enriched and not present in the other New Zealand monofloral honeys. These main candidate compounds were isolated and have been described by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, synthesised to confirm structure, and as standards. These compounds, Leptosperin and Lepteridine, are a methyl syringate glycoside and pteridine derivative, respectively. Examination of these compounds revealed unique fluorescence signatures, this fluorescence could be detected in manuka honey samples the signal used to confirm that a honey was solely or predominantly consisted of L. scoparium nectar. Commercial manuka honeys were assessed by traditional analytical techniques, and comparisons were made with fluorescence signature; the fluorescence technique determined the authenticity of the honeys accurately

Teaching functional patterns through robotic applications

We present our approach to teaching functional programming to First Year Computer Science stu- dents at Middlesex University through projects in robotics. A holistic approach is taken to the cur- riculum, emphasising the connections between different subject areas. A key part of the students’ learning is through practical projects that draw upon and integrate the taught material. To support these, we developed the Middlesex Robotic plaTfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform built using Raspberry Pi, Arduino, HUB-ee wheels and running Racket (a LISP dialect). In this paper we present the motivations for our choices and explain how a number of concepts of functional programming may be employed when programming robotic applications. We present some students’ work with robotics projects: we consider the use of robotics projects to have been a success, both for their value in reinforcing students’ understanding of programming concepts and for their value in motivating the students

Following wrong suggestions: self-blame in human and computer scenarios

This paper investigates the specific experience of following a suggestion by an intelligent machine that has a wrong outcome and the emotions people feel. By adopting a typical task employed in studies on decision-making, we presented participants with two scenarios in which they follow a suggestion and have a wrong outcome by either an expert human being or an intelligent machine. We found a significant decrease in the perceived responsibility on the wrong choice when the machine offers the suggestion. At present, few studies have investigated the negative emotions that could arise from a bad outcome after following the suggestion given by an intelligent system, and how to cope with the potential distrust that could affect the long-term use of the system and the cooperation. This preliminary research has implications in the study of cooperation and decision making with intelligent machines. Further research may address how to offer the suggestion in order to better cope with user's self-blame.Comment: To be published in the Proceedings of IFIP Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (INTERACT)201

Elicitation of Preferences under Ambiguity

This paper is about behaviour under ambiguity ‒ that is, a situation in which probabilities either do not exist or are not known. Our objective is to find the most empirically valid of the increasingly large number of theories attempting to explain such behaviour. We use experimentally-generated data to compare and contrast the theories. The incentivised experimental task we employed was that of allocation: in a series of problems we gave the subjects an amount of money and asked them to allocate the money over three accounts, the payoffs to them being contingent on a ‘state of the world’ with the occurrence of the states being ambiguous. We reproduced ambiguity in the laboratory using a Bingo Blower. We fitted the most popular and apparently empirically valid preference functionals [Subjective Expected Utility (SEU), MaxMin Expected Utility (MEU) and α­-MEU], as well as Mean-Variance (MV) and a heuristic rule, Safety First (SF). We found that SEU fits better than MV and SF and only slightly worse than MEU and α­-MEU

Quantum decision making by social agents

The influence of additional information on the decision making of agents, who are interacting members of a society, is analyzed within the mathematical framework based on the use of quantum probabilities. The introduction of social interactions, which influence the decisions of individual agents, leads to a generalization of the quantum decision theory developed earlier by the authors for separate individuals. The generalized approach is free of the standard paradoxes of classical decision theory. This approach also explains the error-attenuation effects observed for the paradoxes occurring when decision makers, who are members of a society, consult with each other, increasing in this way the available mutual information. A precise correspondence between quantum decision theory and classical utility theory is formulated via the introduction of an intermediate probabilistic version of utility theory of a novel form, which obeys the requirement that zero-utility prospects should have zero probability weights.Comment: This paper has been withdrawn by the authors because a much extended and improved version has been submitted as arXiv:1510.02686 under the new title "Role of information in decision making of social agents

MIRTO: an open-source robotic platform for education

This paper introduces the MIddlesex RoboTic platfOrm (MIRTO), an open-source platform that has been used for teaching First Year Computer Science students since the academic year 2013/2014, with the aim of providing a physical manifestation of Software Engineering concepts that are often delivered using only abstract or synthetic case studies. In this paper we provide a detailed description of the platform, whose hardware specifications and software libraries are all released open source; we describe a number of teaching usages of the platform, report students’ projects, and evaluate some of its aspects in terms of effectiveness, usability, and maintenance