Journal publishing with Acrobat: the CAJUN project

The publication of material in electronic form should ideally preserve, in a unified document representation, all of the richness of the printed document while maintaining enough of its underlying structure to enable searching and other forms of semantic processing. Until recently it has been hard to find a document representation which combined these attributes and which also stood some chance of becoming a de facto multi-platform standard. This paper sets out experience gained within the Electronic Publishing Research Group at the University of Nottingham in using Adobe Acrobat software and its underlying PDF (Portable Document Format) notation. The CAJUN project1 (CD-ROM Acrobat Journals Using Networks) began in 1993 and has used Acrobat software to produce electronic versions of journal papers for network and CD-ROM dissemination. The paper describes the project's progress so far and also gives a brief assessment of PDF's suitability as a universal document interchange standard.

O papel do software educativo na aprendizagem da matemática

Tese de Doutoramento, Educação (Tecnologia Educativa), 26 de Julho de 2013, Universidade dos Açores.

A future dynamically reconfigurable automotive software system

Embedded software systems in vehicles are of rapidly increasing commercial importance for the automotive industry. Current systems employ a static run-time environment; due to the difficulty and cost involved in the development of dynamic systems in a high-integrity embedded control context. A dynamic system, referring to the system configuration, would greatly increase the flexibility of the offered functionality and enable customised software configuration for individual vehicles, adding customer value through plug-and-play capability, and increased quality due to its inherent ability to adjust to changes in hardware and software. We envisage an automotive system containing a variety of components, from a multitude of organizations, not necessarily known at development time. The system dynamically adapts its configuration to suit the run-time system constraints. This paper presents our vision for future automotive control systems that will be regarded in an EU research project, referred to as DySCAS (Dynamically Self-Configuring Automotive Systems). We propose a self-configuring vehicular control system architecture, with capabilities that include automatic discovery and inclusion of new devices, self-optimisation to best-use the processing, storage and communication resources available, self-diagnostics and ultimately self-healing. Such an architecture has benefits extending to reduced development and maintenance costs, improved passenger safety and comfort, and flexible owner customisation. Specifically, this paper addresses the following issues: The state of the art of embedded software systems in vehicles, emphasising the current limitations arising from fixed run-time configurations; and the benefits and challenges of dynamic configuration, giving rise to opportunities for self-healing, self-optimisation, and the automatic inclusion of users’ Consumer Electronic (CE) devices. Our proposal for a dynamically reconfigurable automotive software system platform is outlined and a typical use-case is presented as an example to exemplify the benefits of the envisioned dynamic capabilities.

Language Outcomes of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Project Home Consultation model—An Extended Analysis

The current study is a post-hoc analysis of data from the original randomized control trial of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Home Consultation program, a parent-mediated, DIR/Floortime based early intervention program for children with ASD (Solomon, Van Egeren, Mahone, Huber, & Zimmerman, 2014). We examined 22 children from the original RCT who received the PLAY program. Children were split into two groups (high and lower functioning) based on the ADOS module administered prior to intervention. Fifteen-minute parent-child video sessions were coded through the use of CHILDES transcription software. Child and maternal language, communicative behaviors, and communicative functions were assessed in the natural language samples both pre- and post-intervention. Results demonstrated significant improvements in both child and maternal behaviors following intervention. There was a significant increase in child verbal and non-verbal initiations and verbal responses in whole group analysis. Total number of utterances, word production, and grammatical complexity all significantly improved when viewed across the whole group of participants; however, lexical growth did not reach significance. Changes in child communicative function were especially noteworthy, and demonstrated a significant increase in social interaction and a significant decrease in non-interactive behaviors. Further, mothers demonstrated an increase in responsiveness to the child’s conversational bids, increased ability to follow the child’s lead, and a decrease in directiveness. When separated for analyses within groups, trends emerged for child and maternal variables, suggesting greater gains in use of communicative function in both high and low groups over changes in linguistic structure. Additional analysis also revealed a significant inverse relationship between maternal responsiveness and child non-interactive behaviors; as mothers became more responsive, children’s non-engagement was decreased. Such changes further suggest that changes in learned skills following PLAY parent training may result in improvements in child social interaction and language abilities.

Manual do software xcalibre para aplicação do modelo de rasch

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Física, Programa de Pós-Graduação de Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Física, Mestrado Nacional Profissional em Ensino de Física, 2015.

Free software: an alternative to automate information units

The document begins by describing the problem of budget information units and the high cost of commercial software that specializes in library automation. Describes the origins of free software and its meaning. Mentioned the three levels of automation in library: catalog automation, generation of repositories and full automation. Mentioned the various free software applications for each of the levels and offers a number of advantages and disadvantages in the use of these products. Concludes that the automation project is hard but full of satisfaction, emphasizing that there is no cost-free project, because if it is true that free software is free, there are other costs related to implementation, training and commissioning project progress.

Optimización del software empotrado de los equipos HMI y sDIAG del TCMS COSMOS

Trabajo realizado en la empresa CAF Power&Automation

TORP: The Open Robot Project A Framework for Module-Based Robots

The development of robots has shown itself as a very complex interdisciplinary research field. The predominant procedure for these developments in the last decades is based on the assumption that each robot is a fully personalized project, with the direct embedding of hardware and software technologies in robot parts with no level of abstraction. Although this methodology has brought countless benefits to the robotics research, on the other hand, it has imposed major drawbacks: (i) the difficulty to reuse hardware and software parts in new robots or new versions; (ii) the difficulty to compare performance of different robots parts; and (iii) the difficulty to adapt development needs-in hardware and software levels-to local groups expertise. Large advances might be reached, for example, if physical parts of a robot could be reused in a different robot constructed with other technologies by other researcher or group. This paper proposes a framework for robots, TORP (The Open Robot Project), that aims to put forward a standardization in all dimensions (electrical, mechanical and computational) of a robot shared development model. This architecture is based on the dissociation between the robot and its parts, and between the robot parts and their technologies. In this paper, the first specification for a TORP family and the first humanoid robot constructed following the TORP specification set are presented, as well as the advances proposed for their improvement.

Diseño de una metodología para la gestión de pruebas y ensayo en proyectos de software

Independientemente de la metodología que se adopte en el desarrollo de software, se contemplan aquellas actividades gerenciales o de dirección del proyecto y las inherentes a las técnicas, propias del desarrollo del producto como tal, como los requerimientos demandados, análisis, diseño, implementación y pruebas o ensayos previos a su materialización -- El presente trabajo se deriva del interés por diseñar una metodología para la gestión de la fase de pruebas y ensayo, con base en el modelo de integración de las actividades contempladas en la guía del PMBOK, la cual es compatible con las funciones de dirección y actividades técnicas de otras metodologías, especialmente en su etapa de prueba; de allí la importancia que representa para los gerentes de proyectos obtener resultados satisfactorios en esta fase, por su impacto directo y significativo en el cumplimiento del tiempo y los costos estimados, lo que permite prevenir o mitigar, tiempos adicionales o sobrecostos por reproceso, evitando ser transferidos al cliente o asumidos por el fabricante de software -- Así mismo, asegurar una ejecución correcta de la fase de pruebas y ensayo, garantiza que el proyecto responda a los estándares de calidad, de acuerdo con sus indicadores de medición y la satisfacción del usuario

Project Flappy Crab : an edugame for music learning

This chapter discusses some possibilities of gamification and remixing processes for music education. It also analyzes the concepts of gamification, mashup/remix and presents its possible usage in education—music teaching—through the development of the project/educational game FLAPPY CRAB. The chapter begins with a brief introduction to the concepts listed above, trying to consider them in the school context. After that, we will make the summary presentation of the music educational game FLAPPY CRAB, a clone of the GEARS Studios Flappy Bird, developed for mobile devices and other platforms with the UNITY 3D© game engine. In this chapter we’ll talk yet, albeit briefly, about the game engine used in the development of this educational application. This educational game aims to assess the possible impacts that its use has on learning and skill development related to auditory memory, qualitative discrimination of musical sound height (pitch—in the range of an octave with a central point in 440 Hz), visual identification of musical notation symbols and its relative organization according to the grammar rules of traditional music spelling. The game has been tested by a group of approximately 30 teenagers over a period of about 6 months, over which data was collected. In this chapter, we will present a review of the preliminary data collected to date.

Collaborative Web-Based Simulation Platform for Construction Project Planning

Part 13: Virtual Reality and Simulation

Blended learning and art education: student participation in a collaborative, authentic assessment project

This paper reports on higher education student engagement with blended learning experiences incorporating located (on campus), cloud based (online e-learning ) and graphically built, socially networked 3D multi user virtual environments (MUVES). Immersion in this environment enabled collaboration between two groups of students enrolled in separate undergraduate art education and public relations units, to identify, develop and participate in an integrated, authentic assessment project. It is contended that immersive blended learning experiences support creative problem solving and encourages synchronous and asynchronous student participation in authentic problem solving and collaborative practice. Interacting with co-learners, students gain knowledge and skills through situated learning, defined as the application of knowledge, learned in one setting and transferred to another and where immersion in a virtual learning experience leads to higher level engagement on the transfer task in a real world setting. In this project, collaborative blended learning involved the creation of a collection of digital artworks by art education students using computer software located in a real world environment. These artworks were curated and exhibited by the students in a virtual gallery they designed and built on Deakin Arts Education island in Second Life. For public relations students, the virtual art exhibition was the focus of a virtual campaign, designed, researched and developed by them to promote the Deakin Virtual Art Gallery on Deakin island in Second Life. The final promotion for the Virtual Gallery was presented by the students at a symposium in both real world and virtual world environments.

Advanced 4DT flight guidance and control software system

The work presented in this thesis has been part of a Cranfield University research project. This thesis aims to design a flight control law for large cargo aircraft by using predictive control, which can assure flight motion along the flight path exactly and on time. In particular this work involves the modelling of a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III 6DOF model (used as study case), by using DATCOM and Matlab Simulink software. Then a predictive control algorithm has been developed. The majority of the work is done in a Matlab/Simulink environment. Finally the predictive control algorithm has been applied on the aircraft model and its performances, in tracking given trajectory optimized through a 4DT Research Software, have been evaluated.