DOI: 10.3897/jucs.96347

Authors: Ricardo Caceffo, Jacques Wainer, Guilherme Gama, Islene Garcia, Rodolfo Azevedo

Abstract: Perceptual Learning Modules (PLMs) is a variation of Perceptual Learning based on multiple-choice questionnaires. There exists successful research of the use of PLMs in math and flight training. The possibility of designing and adopting PLMs in Introductory Programming Courses (CS1) is still an open area of study. The goal of this study is to test whether students that received a PLM training on recognising segments of programs will perform better at writing programs. Two PLM interventions were administered to students. The first intervention was a nonrandom controlled experiment, in which students opted to answer the PLM questionnaire (N=40), while the control group consisted of students that did not answer it (N=629). The second intervention was a randomized controlled experiment with a placebo, in which students were randomly assigned to perform either the PLM questionnaire (N=51) or another a placebo activity (N=51). The different forms of analysis of the first experiment results yielded Cohen’s d ranging from 0.23 to 0.34 in favor of the PLM intervention. For the second experiment, the effect size was d = -0.11 against the PLM intervention, but the two results were significant. We believe that the cautious conclusion is that there is a null effect in using a PLM activity as part of a CS1 course. The paper is also of interest because of the methodological decisions and techniques used.

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DOI: 10.3217/jucs-021-11-1405

Authors: Iaakov Exman, Juan Llorens, Anabel Fraga, Jose Alvarez-Rodríguez

Abstract: There has been a growing awareness of deep relations between software and knowledge. Software, from an efficiency oriented way to program computing machines, gradually converged to human oriented Runnable Knowledge. Apparently this has happened unintentionally, but knowledge is not incidental to software. The basic thesis: runnable knowledge is the essence of abstract software. A knowledge distillation procedure is offered as a constructive feasibility proof of the thesis. A formal basis is given for these notions. Runnable knowledge is substantiated in the association of semantic structural models (like ontologies) with formal behavioral models (like UML statecharts). Meaning functions are defined for ontologies in terms of concept densities. Examples are provided to concretely clarify the meaning and implications of knowledge runnability. The paper concludes with the runnable knowledge convergence point: SKYWare, a new term designating the domain in which content meaning is completely independent of any underlying machine.

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DOI: 10.3217/jucs-013-02-0149

Authors: Rai Chan, Junichi Hoshino

Abstract: Generating composite human motion such as locomotion and gestures is important for interactive applications, such as interactive storytelling and computer games. In interactive story environments, CG characters do not merely stand in one position. Rather, they should be able to compose gestures and locomotion based on the discourse of the story and the locations of objects in the scene. Thus, in the present paper, we propose a conversational locomotion model for CG character. We constructed a conversational locomotion network for a virtual environment. A multi-path searching algorithm calculates the optimal walking path, which uses node activation from the story locations and conversation units. The CG character also locally adjusts its position so that it does not block the referenced object from the user’s sight. We have applied the proposed technique to an interactive 3D movie system and have demonstrated composite motion of the locomotion and conversation of a CG character, which improves the immersion of the viewer in the story environment.

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DOI: 10.3217/jucs-010-09-1302

Authors: José Sierra, Alfredo Fernández-Valmayor, Baltasar Fernández-Manjón, Antonio Navarro

Abstract: This paper proposes a document oriented paradigm to the development of content-intensive, document-based applications (e.g. educational and hypermedia applications, and knowledge based systems). According to this paradigm, the main aspects of this kind of applications can be described by means of documents. Afterwards, these documents are marked up using descriptive domain-specific markup languages and applications are produced by the automatic processing of these marked documents. We have used this paradigm to improve the maintenance and portability of content-intensive educational and hypermedia applications. ADDS (Approach to Document-based Development of Software) is an approach to software development based on the document oriented paradigm. A key feature of ADDS is that formulation of domain-specific markup languages is a dynamic and eminently pragmatic activity, and markup languages evolve according to the authoring needs of the different participants in the development process (domain experts and developers). The evolutionary nature of markup languages in ADDS leads to OADDS (Operationalization in ADDS), the proposed operationalization model for the incremental development of modular markup language processors. Finally, the document-oriented paradigm can also be applied in the construction of OADDS processors that are also described using marked documents. This paper presents our ADDS approach, including the operationalization model and its implementation as an object-oriented framework. The application of our document-oriented paradigm to the construction of OADDS processors is also presented.

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