Miami University, Ohio
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Smart Searching: An Online Information Literacy Tutorial Tailored Specifically To Introductory Engineering Students
Get PDFA common problem facing librarians today is convincing students about the world of information beyond Google. Traditional library instruction is a reasonable answer, but tends not to be effective. First, introductory science courses at Miami University (Oxford, OH) are usually far too large for instruction, with enrollments of between 300 and 800 students. Secondly, many students at this stage fail to see the relevancy of the library instruction because they have not made the connection between good information seeking skills and improved assignments. Finally, students may not see the importance of the instruction because it is not geared towards their current situation. One example of this is E-learn, an online tutorial developed several years ago by the Miami University Libraries. However, the examples used in E-learn were too general to be of great help to science students.
In this era of customization and personalization, several librarians at Miami University decided to create a set of online tutorials that are designed specifically for students in specific introductory engineering courses. The result is: Smart Searching: Finding, Citing, & Evaluating Information (http://e-learn.lib.muohio.edu/science/eas and http://e-learn.lib.muohio.edu/science/eas102 ). Librarians worked closely with faculty in the Engineering departments to create this set of tutorials for the introductory engineering courses (300 students).
The Smart Searching tutorials have several features that make them unique and applicable to students in these courses. The tutorials are designed to address information seeking skills needed for assignments in each course. Examples used in the tutorials are topics that will be encountered during the course. Secondly, a blog is built in to the tutorials to ease communication between the librarians and students. The tutorials were also created with a customizable back-end interface, so that changes can be completed with ease. While each tutorial is customized to one course, each tutorial can be used as a refresher for students once they leave the course.
This session will document the process of creating Smart Searching from initial idea to implementation and its evolution from an optional activity to a fully integrated and required assignment within the introductory engineering courses
A Demonstration of Computer Assisted Instruction Using Authorware Professional to Teach Basic Theology
Get PDFThe purpose of this thesis is to investigate principles which are basic to Computer Assisted Instruction and how Authorware Professional is able to make use of these principles.
A computer assisted instruction module will be produced to demonstrate these principles within the Authorware environment. This module would be used by an individual end user. This module provides enough specific instructions within the program
itself that an end user may easily use it. There are two major reasons for choosing Authorware. The first is that I have had experience using this product in different ways. These include public presentations for the library and a simulation module for a graduate class. The second reason is that in light of that experience I believe it provides an excellent vehicle for computer assisted instruction. Authorware Professional may be described as having some relationship to Director but is easier for the end user and thus allows for more emphasis on methodology rather than learning the details of the software.
The particular vehicle which was chosen is instruction in basic theology. The reason for choosing this vehicle is that I have a Master's of Theology degree and twelve years of experience as a minister. This enabled me to concentrate on the methodology used
in the module rather than the content as I could be my own resource. My experience in communication and teaching also provides a valuable background for this thesis. Many of
the means of communicating ideas used in this module draw upon my experience in dealing with people and communicating concepts to them. This description is designed to convey the major concepts I learned while producing this module as well as provide a basic description of the program itself. As such, it
includes a description of basic general principles, a general description of Authorware, the way Authorware was used in the program, a discussion of my response to user suggestions and some thoughts for future study. The major part of the project is the program itself. This document seeks to clarify methods, structure and learning
Integrated Expert System Development Environment With an Automatic Verification Feature: An Application To Grinding Process
Get PDFThe concerns of this Master degree project are the implementations of an expert system development environment and an application to manufacturing. The environment is given the
name of IDEA (Integrated expert system Development Environment with Automatic verification feature), and it integrates an expert system shell with a rule base verification facility and a rule base builder into a single program. The interface of IDEA has the look of a general purpose computer language. The knowledge bases referenced by IDEA consist of LF-THEN rules with
the syntax of Object-Attribute-Value (O-A-V) triples and confidence factors. An application is developed for grinding chattering diagnosis problems using the IDEA. The verification facility of IDEA realizes the main functions of CHECK, a verification tool, developed by T. Nguyen et al, 1987, so that it can identify some major problems of inconsistency and incompleteness. Different from CHECK, IDEA uses a unique approach based on rule tree algorithm to check for some logic problems in a rule base. IDEA also has the ability to draw the rule tree on a computer screen. This report discusses the problems of inconsistency and incompleteness in detail, including the influence of introducing confidence factors. Some
problems identified in this report are not reported before.
The rule base builder of IDEA uses some techniques that can greatly reduce errors in a rule base during its input phase and greatly speed up the input work. First, the builder uses
templates for rule input to eliminate the possible syntax errors of rules. Second, it uses an O-AV file for declared O-A-V triples. By checking the O-A-V file and the O-A-V triples used in the rule base, the problems of illegal O-A-V triples and unreferenced O-A-V triples can be identified. Finally, it has the ability to automatically generate the ask-part of the rule base, so that no errors will exists in the ask-part and the input work can be efficient. Grinding chattering is a kind of abnormal phenomenon in a grinding process, which greatly degrades the surface quality of the workpiece ground. The grinding chattering diagnosis rule base gives complete answers for the causes of chattering for external cylindrical grinding.
This report describes the rule base development work and its related grinding knowledge
A Simulation Game for Software Project Management
Get PDFThe software industry is one of the most rapidly growing
businesses in our age. Yet, this growth has not been a wellbalanced one. On the one hand, on the technical side, programming languages, programming techniques and methodologies have exhibited an unprecedented growth (1). But on the other hand, the art and science of managing software projects has not enjoyed such a growth. Management of software systems has been plagued by overruns, late deliveries, and users1 dissatisfaction (1). The objective of this project is to design an interactive simulation game based on a system dynamics model of software project management. It is hoped that the game will provide insights into the effectiveness of various management strategies, especially when the project is behind schedule.
The project comprised three major steps. The first step was to
construct a dynamic model of how software projects are managed in software developing organizations. After studying several models that already exist in the literature ( 4 , 5 ) , I decided to simplify and modify the system dynamics model (in Dynamo) constructed by Tarek-Abdel Hamid and Stuart Madnick (1). In order to construct a model (in Stella 11) that can be the background of a participatory simulation game, I made certain modifications, additions and deletions. I simulated this model under various conditions and studied its properties in order to make sure that it was a reliable and robust model.
The second step of the project was to complete the gaming
interface for the developed model. For this purpose, several wellestablished principles in constructing informative and userfriendly computer gaming interfaces were utilized (2,6,7). The final game interface is graphical and consists of two major
environments (the "simulator controls" and the "information
system"), and numerous pop-up windows. In order to implement the
game in an IBM-PC environment, the game was coded using the
graphics-based spreadsheet software WingZ.
The third and final step was testing and validating the
system. The system dynamics model that I modified for the game had already been subjected to validity testing and was found to be quite reliable (1). In addition, I tested my version of the model by running it under various typical and extreme conditions. Tests of the gaming version have demonstrated the game to be robust even under various extreme and unlikely player decisions. Tests with independent player subjects have also confirmed this and have demonstrated the game to be potentially very useful. The overall behavior of the game satisfies my goal of constructing an interactive simulation game which is able to reflect the characteri.stics of real life software management projects, and respond to player decisions in a realistic way so as to provide an interactive learning laboratory for software project management
Preparing the Aging Network for Choice for Independence : Title VI Survey Results
Get PDFWith a grant from the Administration on Aging, the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging(n4a) partnered with the Scripps Gerontology Center to conduet the 2007 Aging Network Survey of Title VI Native American Programs. The survey was launched national wide and 86% of programs responded. Results show the capacity of Title VI organizations to provide long-term services and supports to their elders
Ohio Residential Care Facility Resident Satisfaction Survey : Instrument Refinements [2007]
Get PDFThis report describes psychometric testing and other evaluations of the 2007 Ohio Residential Care Resident Satisfaction Survey. Recommendations include removal of items to shorten the survey and refinement of other items
Librarian A Multi-User License Manager
Get PDFA common problem in network administration is that there are often more workstations on a network than there are available licensed copies of the various software products. The purpose of the software described herein is to provide the tools necessary to manage and enforce software licensing agreements
by insuring that no more that the licensed number of copies of any given package are in operation concurrently on a network. In addition, these tools collect usage statistics so that an administrator can determine where, when, and how many copies of each product are used. This type of information can prove invaluable in management and purchase decisions.
This software was designed to meet the following goals:
It should allow management of software products without modification tothose products. The tools allow a centralized license manager to bequeried before a product is run. Typically this is done through menu system or a shell script.
It should run on systems that support public domain network protocols such as TCP/IP and Remote Procedure Call. The software has been tested on IBM RS/6000 (AIX), IBM PCs running Sun's PC-NFS, NeXT Workstations, and DEC Vaxes (Ultrix).
It should support license management for IBM PC (MS-DOS) machines as well as UNIX machines, given a UNIX based file serve.
To accomplish these goals, the system was designed as an RPC client server application. In essence, each client that desires to run a licensed application must first "check out" that software from the server. When finished, clients "check in" the application. It is up to the client to follow the procedure. Also, tools are provided for the administrator to perform various management operations
User Interface Implementation for Network License Management System
Get PDFThis paper describes a project to understand and enhance a distributed application - the Applied Science Microlab Network License Management System(NLMS1, and to design and implement
an improved user interface for that system. The NLMS utilizes a client-server architecture, the TCPIIP network protocol suite, and the Remote Procedure Call (RPC) facility for the program to interface to the network. The new user interface is based on X WindowslMot~foUr NIX client and Microsoft Windows for PC client. In addition, management reports are added to the
system and expected to provide the package usage statistics to aid in future software purchase plans.
The goals of my project are to do some developmental work in the UNZX environment; to understand more about network programming; to learn how to write distributed applications; and
to learn to programming X Windows/Motif and Microsoft Windows. In my opinion, I have accornplished these goals
Dynamic Signature File Partitioning Based on Term Characteristics
Get PDFSignature files act as a filter on retrieval to discard a large number of non-qualifying data items. Linear hashing with superimposed signatures (LHSS) provides an effective retrieval filter to process queries in dynamic databases. This study is an analysis of the effects of reflecting the term query and occurrence characteristics to signatures in LHSS. This approach relaxes the unrealistic uniform frequency assumption and lets the terms with high discriminatory power set more bits in signatures. The simulation experiments based on the derived formulas show that incorporating the term characteristics in LHSS improves retrieval efficiency. The paper also discusses the further benefits of this approach to alleviate the potential imbalance between the levels of efficiency and relevancy
Degree-constrained Minimum Latency Trees are APX-Hard
Get PDFWhen transmitting data from a single source to many recipients, it is often desirable to use some recipients of the stream to re-broadcast the stream to other users. In such multicast systems each client may be used as a server, serving up to B other clients. Formally, we will take a set X of clients, along with a distance function d that specifies the latency (in the host network) between each pair of clients in X. Our goal will be to produce a directed spanning tree of X, rooted at some specified root 2 X, with out-degree bounded by B, and minimizing the sum of the latencies from root to every point in X. In addition to being motivated by current experimental algorithms work, the problem also interpolates naturally between the traveling repairman problem (when B = 1) and single source shortest paths (when B = n − 1). The former problem is APX-complete (in metric spaces) and the latter is in P. We explore the hardness of the problem for other values of B. In particular, we show that the problem remains APX-Hard at least up to B = Cpn for some universal constant C when the host space is a general semi-metric