Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Cse: U: Mixed-Initiative Personal Assistant Agents, Joshua W. Buck, Saverio Perugini, Tam Nguyen

Saverio Perugini

Specification and implementation of flexible human-computer dialogs is challenging because of the complexity involved in rendering the dialog responsive to a vast number of varied paths through which users might desire to complete the dialog. To address this problem, we developed a toolkit for modeling and implementing task-based, mixed-initiative dialogs based on metaphors from lambda calculus. Our toolkit can automatically operationalize a dialog that involves multiple prompts and/or sub-dialogs, given a high-level dialog specification of it. The use of natural language with the resulting dialogs makes the flexibility in communicating user utterances commensurate with that in dialog completion paths—an aspect …

Chameleon: A Customizable Language For Teaching Programming Languages, Saverio Perugini, Jack L. Watkin

Saverio Perugini

ChAmElEoN is a programming language for teaching students the concepts and implementation of computer languages. We describe its syntax and semantics, the educational aspects involved in the implementation of a variety of interpreters for it, its malleability, and student feedback to inspire its use for teaching languages.

Natural Language, Mixed-Initiative Personal Assistant Agents, Joshua W. Buck, Saverio Perugini, Tam W. Nguyen

Saverio Perugini

The increasing popularity and use of personal voice assistant technologies, such as Siri and Google Now, is driving and expanding progress toward the long-term and lofty goal of using artificial intelligence to build human-computer dialog systems capable of understanding natural language. While dialog-based systems such as Siri support utterances communicated through natural language, they are limited in the flexibility they afford to the user in interacting with the system and, thus, support primarily action-requesting and information-seeking tasks. Mixed-initiative interaction, on the other hand, is a flexible interaction technique where the user and the system act as equal participants in an …

An Application Of The Actor Model Of Concurrency In Python: A Euclidean Rhythm Music Sequencer, Daniel P. Prince, Saverio Perugini

Saverio Perugini

We present a real-time sequencer, implementing the Euclidean rhythm algorithm, for creative generation of drum sequences by musicians or producers. We use the Actor model of concurrency to simplify the communication required for interactivity and musical timing, and generator comprehensions and higher-order functions to simplify the implementation of the Euclidean rhythm algorithm. The resulting application sends Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data interactively to another application for sound generation.

Developing A Contemporary Operating Systems Course, Saverio Perugini, David J. Wright

Saverio Perugini

The objective of this tutorial presentation is to foster innovation in the teaching of operating systems (os) at the undergraduate level as part of a three-year NSF-funded IUSE (Improving Undergraduate STEM Education) project titled “Engaged Student Learning: Reconceptualizing and Evaluating a Core Computer Science Course for Active Learning and STEM Student Success” (2017–2020).

Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines [2006 Edition], Michael O. Leavitt, Ben Shneiderman, Robert W. Bailey, Carol Barnum, John Bosley, Barbara Chaparro, Joseph Dumas, Melody Y. Ivory, Bonnie John, Hal Miller-Jacobs, Sanjay J. Koyani, James R. Lewis, Stanley Page, Judith Ramey, Janice (Ginny) Redish, Jean Scholtz, Steve Wigginton, Cari A. Wolfson, Larry E. Wood, Don Zimmerman

Barbara S. Chaparro

The new edition of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines. These guidelines reflect HHS’ commitment to identifying innovative, research-based approaches that result in highly responsive and easy-to-use Web sites for the public.

These guidelines help move us in that direction by providing practical, yet authoritative, guidance on a broad range of Web design and communication issues. Having access to the best available research helps to ensure we make the right decisions the first time around and reduces the possibility of errors and costly mistakes.

Haptic Alternatives For Mobile Device Authentication By Older Technology Users, David M. Cook, Kulwinder Kaur

Dr. David M Cook

The Efficacy Of Using Virtual Reality For Job Interviews And Its Effects On Mitigating Discrimination, David M. Cook, Rico Beti, Faris Al-Khatib

Dr. David M Cook

Space Operations In The Suborbital Space Flight Simulator And Mission Control Center: Lessons Learned With Xcor Lynx, Pedro Llanos, Christopher Nguyen, David Williams, Kim O. Chambers Ph.D., Erik Seedhouse, Robert Davidson

Pedro J. Llanos (www.AstronauticsLlanos.com)

This study was conducted to better understand the performance of the XCOR Lynx vehicle. Because the Lynx development was halted, the best knowledge of vehicle dynamics can only be found through simulator flights. X-Plane 10 was chosen for its robust applications and accurate portrayal of dynamics on a vehicle in flight. The Suborbital Space Flight Simulator (SSFS) and Mission Control Center (MCC) were brought to the Applied Aviation Sciences department in fall 2015 at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach campus. This academic and research tool is a department asset capable of providing multiple fields of data about suborbital simulated flights. …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Flipped Classrooms For Teaching Cs1, Ashish Amresh, Adam R. Carberry, John Femiani

Ashish Amresh

An alternative to the traditional classroom structure that has seen increased use in higher education is the flipped classroom. Flipping the classroom switches when assignments (e.g. homework) and knowledge transfer (e.g. lecture) occur. Flipped classrooms are getting popular in secondary and postsecondary teaching institutions as evidenced by the marked increase in the study, use, and application of the flipped pedagogy as it applies to learning and retention. The majority of the courses that have undergone this change use applied learning strategies and include a significant “learning-by-doing” component. The research in this area is skewed towards such courses and in general …

Uav Sensor Operator Training Enhancement Through Heat Map Analysis, Ashish Amresh, John Femiani, Jason Fairfield, Adam Fairfield

Ashish Amresh

Heat map based data visualization and mining is an emerging area in game engine design and architecture. Employed by many state of the art game engines and popular commercial games, this technology helps populate and collate player activity and behavior to better inform the system for further action. Simulation and serious games can tremendously benefit by applying heat map based visualization for the purposes of analyzing and tracking player behavior. Heat maps are time varying texture maps that represent a chosen activity over a certain grid at any particular interval of elapsed time. In this paper results of applying a …

Interactive Cause And Effect Comic-Book Storytelling For Improving Nutrition Outcomes In Children, Ashish Amresh, Madhumita Sinha, Rebecca Birr, Rahul Salla

Ashish Amresh

Obesity among children and adolescents is increasingly becoming a major public health problem. Poverty and lower socio-economic status as well as lack of parental awareness regarding a balanced diet and adequate exercise all contribute towards childhood obesity. Unfortunately minority children have been especially vulnerable, among them inner-city Latino children continue to have the highest incidence rates of overweight and obesity; hence targeted intervention for this population group is of paramount importance. Access and affordability of smartphones and mobile internet devices provide an opportunity to create nutrition education interventions that can significantly impact and change attitude and knowledge regarding healthy diet …

Developing A Bilingual, Computer-Tailored, Hpv Vaccination Promotion Intervention Targeting Latino Parents, Angela Chia-Chen Chen, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

In this paper we present an innovative, computer-tailored application aimed at increasing Latino parents' intention to vaccinate their adolescent children against Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). HPV infection is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Latinas have the highest age-adjusted incidence rate for HPV-associated cervical cancer compared with their counterparts in other racial/ethnic groups. HPV vaccines offer hope against HPV-associated diseases. Because parental consent is required for children under age 18 to receive t h e HPV vaccination in most U. S. states, parents' attitudes and intention to have their children vaccinated are keys for promoting HPV …

Word Towers: Assessing Domain Knowledge With Non-Traditional Genres, Tyler Baron, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

This paper presents the design, development and the results of a pilot study for Word Towers (WT), an educational game that combines gameplay mechanics from board-style word building and arcade style tower defense games. To our knowledge, this is the first ever attempt to merge these game genres into a functional educational game. Our efforts open the possibility for other learning games to be reworked into new genres, increasing novelty and player engagement. Expanding the range of genres also allows for learning games to reach a wider audience. The goal of the WT is to provide a natural method for …

Towards A Context Agnostic Platform For Design And Assessment Of Educational Games, Tyler Baron, Corey Heath, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

The majority of the games designed for improving, acquiring or transferring knowledge rely heavily on building game mechanics that are grounded deeply in the content or subject matter being taught. There is a growing need for educational practitioners and pedagogical experts to have the ability to easily map learning outcomes by choosing from a pallet of functioning game mechanics without having the need to redesign them from scratch. In this paper, we present the current state of the art in context agnostic design and assessment of educational games, and propose three strategies that educators can take advantage of during the …

Reflection On Assumptions From Designing Female-Centric Educational Games, Corey D.C. Heath, Tyler Baron, Kevin Gary, Ashish Amresh

Ashish Amresh

In this paper we present a detailed analysis of the design and implementation of an educational game targeting young women entrepreneurs by a predominantly male team. During the process, we arrived at assumptions based on intrinsic and extrinsic influences that effected the design of the game. After creating a prototype, the game was provided to the target audience during a usability test. Our observations reveal that even after following a rigorous and agile development model that included stakeholders at several time frames, we were not successful in delivering the desired experience to our target audience. We conclude by presenting a …

The Open World Microorganism, Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson

Revisiting The Futamura Projections: A Diagrammatic Approach, Brandon Williams, Saverio Perugini

Saverio Perugini

The advent of language implementation tools such as PyPy and Truffle/Graal have reinvigorated and broadened interest in topics related to automatic compiler generation and optimization. Given this broader interest, we revisit the Futamura Projections using a novel diagram scheme. Through these diagrams we emphasize the recurring patterns in the Futamura Projections while addressing their complexity and abstract nature. We anticipate that this approach will improve the accessibility of the Futamura Projections and help foster analysis of those new tools through the lens of partial evaluation.