134 research outputs found
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Empirical Evaluation of a Differentiated Assessment of Data Structures: The Role of Prerequisite Skills
There can be many reasons why students fail to answer correctly to summative tests in advanced computer science courses: often the cause is a lack of prerequisites or misconceptions about topics presented in previous courses. One of the ITiCSE 2020 working groups investigated the possibility of designing assessments suitable for differentiating between fragilities in prerequisites (in particular, knowledge and skills related to introductory programming courses) and advanced topics. This paper reports on an empirical evaluation of an instrument focusing on data structures, among those proposed by the ITiCSE working group. The evaluation aimed at understanding what fragile knowledge and skills the instrument is actually able to detect and to what extent it is able to differentiate them. Our results support that the instrument is able to distinguish between some specific fragilities (e.g., value vs. reference semantics), but not all of those claimed in the original report. In addition, our findings highlight the role of relevant skills at a level between prerequisite and advanced skills, such as program comprehension and reasoning about constraints. We also suggest ways to improve the questions in the instrument, both by improving the distractors of the multiple choice questions, and by slightly changing the content or phrasing of the questions. We argue that these improvements will increase the effectiveness of the instrument in assessing prerequisites as a whole, but also to pinpoint specific fragilities
Populist communication in the new media environment: a cross-regional comparative perspective
The changing terms of mediation place new demands, opportunities and risks on the performance of the political persona. Visibility has become a double-edged sword, leaving representatives vulnerable to exposure while new tools provide opportunities for emerging entrepreneurial actors. This double risk to elitesâ mediated personasâexposure and challenge from entrepreneursârenders their armour of authenticity dangerously fragile, which nourishes a public sense of being inefïŹcaciously represented. It is this climate in which populism currently ïŹourishes around the globe. Three primary criteria of mediated self-representation by politiciansâvisibility, authenticity and efïŹcacyâform the focus of this paper: how do populists negotiate such demands in different democratic contexts, and wherein lies the symbiosis between populism and the new media environment suggested by the literature? To answer this, the paper compares two populist cases responding to different democratic contexts: UKIP, a right-wing party from an established democracy (UK), and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), a left-wing party from a transitional democracy (South Africa). The objects of study are disruptive performances by these parties, which are considered emblematic manifestations of populist ideology as they establish a Manichaean relationship between the elite and populist actors who embody the people. The paper introduces disruption as a multi-faceted and signiïŹcant analytical concept to explain the populist behaviour and strategies that underlie populist partiesâ responses to the demands for visibility, authenticity and efïŹcacy that the new media environment places upon political representatives. Using mixed methods with an interpretive focus, the paper paints a rich picture of the contexts, meanings and means of construction of populist performances
Trends in modeling Biomedical Complex Systems
In this paper we provide an introduction to the techniques for multi-scale complex biological systems, from the single bio-molecule to the cell, combining theoretical modeling, experiments, informatics tools and technologies suitable for biological and biomedical research, which are becoming increasingly multidisciplinary, multidimensional and information-driven. The most important concepts on mathematical modeling methodologies and statistical inference, bioinformatics and standards tools to investigate complex biomedical systems are discussed and the prominent literature useful to both the practitioner and the theoretician are presented
Directorium divini cultus ad Cathedralis Ecclesiae Minoriccensis : eiusque Dioecesis usum
Fecha de imprenta tomada del tĂtulo
Soldier positioning in GNSS-denied operations
Foot-mounted inertial sensors, combined with GPS-receivers, magnetometers and barometric pressure sensors have shown great potential in providing a high-accuracy positioning system for safety-critical applications, such as first responders and military personnel. Although several research groups have demonstrated high accuracies with experimental systems in controlled environment tests, showcasing the potential of the technology, there is still an apparent lack of performance evaluations conducted during more realistic conditions. Several field tests have been performed and the results from the first scenario-based measurements are presented here. An accuracy of 2-4 m was obtained with an experimental soldier positioning demonstration system, using foot-mounted inertial sensors, during a realistic building-clearing exercise that lasted over three and a half minutes. Also, different sensor fusion alternatives are examined, using double foot-mounted inertial navigation systems (INS) and combining a foot-mounted INS with camera-based localization.QC 20121221</p
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