The Need to Integrate Computer Science

This school improvement plan outlines a detailed three-year strategy designed to integrate computer science into the K-5 curriculum. Emphasizing a comprehensive approach, the action plan employs a multi-tiered strategy combining a standalone curriculum with embedded activities. Drawing insights from successful educational practices and leveraging resources, the plan strategically aligns the curriculum with CSTA standards while fostering hands-on learning experiences at various grade levels. The timeline features foundational teacher training, curriculum integration, community engagement events, and consistent assessment processes. The plan aims to create an environment where both students and educators actively participate in the dynamic landscape of computer science education. By using a phased approach, this blueprint offers a comprehensive understanding of computer science concepts, equipping students for success in a technology-driven world. The plan acknowledges the importance of monitoring potential barriers and challenges to ensure effectiveness in the integration process

Autonomous Mission Manager for Rendezvous, Inspection and Mating

To meet cost and safety objectives, space missions that involve proximity operations between two vehicles require a high level of autonomy to successfully complete their missions. The need for autonomy is primarily driven by the need to conduct complex operations outside of communication windows, and the communication time delays inherent in space missions. Autonomy also supports the goals of both NASA and the DOD to make space operations more routine, and lower operational costs by reducing the requirement for ground personnel. NASA and the DoD have several programs underway that require a much higher level of autonomy for space vehicles. NASA's Space Launch Initiative (SLI) program has ambitious goals of reducing costs by a factor or 10 and improving safety by a factor of 100. DARPA has recently begun its Orbital Express to demonstrate key technologies to make satellite servicing routine. The Air Force's XSS-ll program is developing a protoflight demonstration of an autonomous satellite inspector. A common element in space operations for many NASA and DOD missions is the ability to rendezvous, inspect anclJor dock with another spacecraft. For DARPA, this is required to service or refuel military satellites. For the Air Force, this is required to inspect un-cooperative resident space objects. For NASA, this is needed to meet the primary SLI design reference mission of International Space Station re-supply. A common aspect for each of these programs is an Autonomous Mission Manager that provides highly autonomous planning, execution and monitoring of the rendezvous, inspection and docking operations. This paper provides an overview of the Autonomous Mission Manager (AMM) design being incorporated into many of these technology programs. This AMM provides a highly scalable level of autonomous operations, ranging from automatic execution of ground-derived plans to highly autonomous onboard planning to meet ground developed mission goals. The AMM provides the capability to automatically execute the plans and monitor the system performance. In the event of system dispersions or failures the AMM can modify plans or abort to assure overall system safety. This paper describes the design and functionality of Draper's AMM framework, presents concept of operations associated with the use of the AMM, and outlines the relevant features of the flight demonstrations

STS-71 Shuttle/Mir mission report

The performance measurements of the space shuttle on-orbit flight control system from the STS-71 mission is presented in this post-flight analysis report. This system is crucial to the stabilization of large space structures and will be needed during the assembly of the International Space Station A mission overview is presented, including the in-orbit flight tests (pre-docking with Mir) and the systems analysis during the docking and undocking operations. Systems errors and lessons learned are discussed, with possible corrective procedures presented for the upcoming Mir flight tests

Maturity model and action recommendation : A PSS capability self-assessment tool for companies

The main idea in Product-Service Systems (PSS) research is to provide solutions instead of products or services. Nevertheless, PSS comprise a broad variety of characteristics from product-oriented services, to use-oriented services and result-oriented services [1]. In industrial practice all of these dimension as well as intermediate stages are evidently realized. Additionally, trending topics like smart services, which can be described as the exploitation strategy from Industrie 4.0 [2], also known as cyber-physical systems and Internet of Things, accelerate the interest in PSS. However, many companies’ in particular small and medium-sized enterprises just started realizing the potential and necessity to establish service thinking in order to stay competitive. These companies face considerable challenges regarding the transformation from an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) towards an Original Solution Provider (OSP)[3]. In a first step,companies need to assess their current situation and develop a strategy based on the desired target situation. For this reason, the authors developed a model combined with a self-assessment method which enables a basic analysis of the companies’ situation including action recommendations. The research results as well as the evaluation with a company are presented in this paper

Remotely Accessible Laboratory for Teaching and Research on Solar Thermal Collectors

This paper discusses a new test platform for evaluating the performance of solar thermal collectors that was recently designed and constructed on the roof of the Applied Energy Laboratory at Purdue University, located at 40.4 °N and 86.9 °W. The test platform is mainly used for teaching undergraduate students about applications of thermodynamics and renewable energy, but it can also be used for comparative evaluations of solar thermal collector designs according to an established test standard. The entire system is monitored and controlled by a web-based Building Automation System that automatically tracks and trends both weather data and the performance of individual solar collectors. The online data is particularly helpful for undergraduate education because large numbers of students, including international partners, can access real-time data to learn about solar energy applications. The weather at this location varies significantly by season, which has a substantial impact on the performance of the solar thermal collectors. ASHRAE designates this location as climate zone that experiences both hot, humid summers and cold, dry winters. The solar intensity also varies by season, with longer and more sunny days during the summer and shorter and more cloudy days during the winter. Not surprisingly, evaluations of solar collector performance vary seasonally too. Solar collector efficiency, the ratio of thermal energy collected to the solar energy available, varies from 10% to 80%. Solar energy factor, the ratio of thermal energy collected to the source energy (electricity) to circulate the fluid, varies from 10 to 150. Both performance terms (efficiency and energy factor) are needed to get a complete picture of solar collector performance

Suzerains of the Anthropocene: a Posthumanist Reading of Cormac Mccarthy's Blood Meridian and the Road

Scholars of Cormac McCarthy’s fiction often cite the violence typically present within it as abundant in its volume and nihilistic in its meaning. However, the violence in McCarthy’s work atypically does not exist for show or snuff or to progress the plot. Instead, the author repeatedly meditates upon violence and proffers dark assertions as to the nature of violence. In Blood Meridian, the bloodlust of the antagonist, Judge Holden, emerges from a being and a philosophy of the land. From the Darwinian struggle for supremacy articulated by Holden and reified by the content of the narrative, a posthuman condition built upon inter- and intraspecies violence that decentralizes the human emerges. McCarthy does this in Blood Meridian (1985) and The Road (2006) to articulate the violence inherent in the contemporary status quo of the primary human/biological condition, via respective examinations of bloodthirst in the American Southwest in 1849-50 and a post-apocalyptic near-future.However, this thesis will primarily argue that McCarthy tempers the violence present in these works with the emergence of a morality based in posthumanism. Drawing heavily from Elizabeth Grosz’ posthuman Darwinism as well as theory on the Anthropocene and other posthumanists, this essay will argue that central characters in Blood Meridian and The Road reject participation in the violence that unfolds around them and, in doing so, transcend the kill-or-be-killed binary posited as fundamental to life on earth in McCarthy’s two novels. Their transcendence is marked by the responsibilities of those species, namely humans, that have succeeded in a Darwinian framework, and that the steps beyond a continued cornucopianist existence valued in the Anthropocene lie in the application of posthuman theory to life and systems beyond the human

Waterfowl Population Status, 2010

In the traditional survey area, which includes strata 1‒18, 20‒50, and 75‒77, the total duck population estimate was 40.9 ± 0.7 [SE] million birds. This estimate was similar to last year\u27s estimate of 42.0 ± 0.7 million birds and was 21% above the long-term average (1955‒2009). Estimated mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) abundance was 8.4 ± 0.3 million birds, which was similar to the 2009 estimate of 8.5 ± 0.2 million birds and 12% above the long-term average. Estimated abundance of gadwall (A. strepera; 3.0 ± 0.2 million) was similar to the 2009 estimate and 67% above the long-term average. Estimated abundance of American wigeon (A. americana; 2.4 ± 0.1 million) was similar to 2009 and the long-term average. The estimated abundance of green-winged teal (A. crecca) was 3.5 ± 0.2 million, which was similar to the 2009 estimate and 78% above their longterm average of 1.9 ± 0.02 million. The estimate of blue-winged teal abundance (A. discors) was 6.3 ± 0.4 million, which was 14% below the 2009 estimate and 36% above their long-term average of 4.7 ± 0.04 million. The estimate for northern pintails (A. acuta; 3.5 ± 0.2 million) was similar to the 2009 estimate, and 13% below the long-term average of 4.0 ± 0.04 million. Estimates of northern shovelers (A. clypeata; 4.1 ± 0.2 million) and redheads (Aythya americana; 1.1 ± 0.1 million) were similar to their 2009 estimates and were 76% and 63% above their long-term averages of 2.3 ± 0.02 million and 0.7 ± 0.01 million, respectively. The canvasback estimate (A. valisineria; 0.6 ± 0.05 million) was similar to the 2009 estimate and to the long-term average. The scaup estimate (A. affinis and A. marila combined; 4.2 ± 0.2 million) was similar to that of 2009 and 16% below the long-term average of 5.1 ± 0.05 million. Habitat conditions during the 2010 Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey were characterized by average to below-average moisture, a mild winter, and early spring across the traditional and eastern survey areas. The total pond estimate (Prairie Canada and U.S. combined) was 6.7 ± 0.2 million. This was similar to the 2009 estimate and 34% above the long-term average (1974‒2009) of 5.0 ± 0.03 million ponds. The 2010 estimate of ponds in Prairie Canada was 3.7 ± 0.2 million. This was similar to last year\u27s estimate (3.6 ± 0.1 million) and to the long-term average (1961‒2009; 3.4 ± 0.03 million). The 2010 pond estimate for the north central U.S. was 2.9 ± 0.1 million, which was similar to last year\u27s estimate (2.9 ± 0.1 million) and 87% above the long-term average (1974‒2009; 1.6 ± 0.02 million). The projected mallard fall-flight index is 10.3 ± 0.9 million birds. The eastern survey area was restratifed in 2005 and is now composed of strata 51‒72. Estimates of mallards, scaup, scoters (black [Melanitta nigra], white-winged [M. fusca], and surf [M. perspicillata]), green-winged teal, American wigeon, bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), ring-necked duck (Aythya collaris), and goldeneyes (common [B. clangula] and Barrow\u27s [B. islandica]) were all similar to their 2009 estimates and long-term averages. The merganser (red-breasted [Mergus serrator], common [M. merganser], and hooded [Lophodytes cucullatus]) estimate was 386.4 thousand, which was 15% below the 2009 estimate, and 14% below the long-term average of 450.8 thousand. The American black duck (Anas rubripes) estimate was similar to the 2009 estimate and 7% below the long-term average of 478.9 thousand

Configurable EBEN: Extreme Bandwidth Extension Network to enhance body-conducted speech capture

This paper presents a configurable version of Extreme Bandwidth Extension Network (EBEN), a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) designed to improve audio captured with body-conduction microphones. We show that although these microphones significantly reduce environmental noise, this insensitivity to ambient noise happens at the expense of the bandwidth of the speech signal acquired by the wearer of the devices. The obtained captured signals therefore require the use of signal enhancement techniques to recover the full-bandwidth speech. EBEN leverages a configurable multiband decomposition of the raw captured signal. This decomposition allows the data time domain dimensions to be reduced and the full band signal to be better controlled. The multiband representation of the captured signal is processed through a U-Net-like model, which combines feature and adversarial losses to generate an enhanced speech signal. We also benefit from this original representation in the proposed configurable discriminators architecture. The configurable EBEN approach can achieve state-of-the-art enhancement results on synthetic data with a lightweight generator that allows real-time processing.Comment: Accepted in IEEE/ACM Transactions on Audio, Speech and Language Processing on 14/08/202