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Downes, Toni, of Western Sydney Macarthur University, and Faculty of Education. "Children's use of computers in their homes." THESIS_FE_XXX_Downes_T.xml, 1998. http://handle.uws.edu.au:8081/1959.7/507.
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This project explores the interactions of young children with computers in their homes. It focuses on: resources available and what affordances these enable; socio-cultural contexts, discourses and family practices; nature of the use and affordances children perceive; and how school experiences differ from those at home and the impact of teachers' discourses about computing. Findings were: common activities comprised game playing, editing and decorating texts and using information texts; gender and socio-economic differences interacted with varying rules, resources, discourses, affordances, and family use and expertise; parental discourses and resources combined to generate key affordances of the computer as toy and tool; parental discourses revealed different conceptions of childhood and computers; children’s patterns of learning and use are relatively consistent across age, gender and family background – they learn by exploring and the dominant affordance is the computer as playable; teachers’ discourses and conceptions lead to the marginalisation of computer use within the curriculum; at school, children have less access, control and time to use computers in ways that allow them to draw on the expertise and approaches they have developed at home. Theories are developed to show how children come to perceive the computer as playable, and how parents’ and teachers’ discourses position computing as marginal to the curriculum. The other issues relate to conceptions of learning, types of learning that computers afford, and the possibility that children’s approaches to learning are changing as a result of their interactions with computersDoctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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Downes, Toni. "Children's use of computers in their homes /." [Campbelltown, N.S.W.] : University of Western Sydney, Macarthur, Faculty of Education and Languages, 1998. http://library.uws.edu.au/adt-NUWS/public/adt-NUWS20030627.095435/index.html.
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Julian, Donald P. "Delaying-type responses for use by software decoys." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 2002. http://library.nps.navy.mil/uhtbin/hyperion-image/02sep%5FJulian.pdf.
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Thesis (M.S. in Computer Science)--Naval Postgraduate School, September 2002.Thesis advisor(s): Neil C. Rowe, J. Bret Michael. Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-57). Also available online.
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Nash, Beverly Elaine. "Effects of efficacy expectations, instrumentality beliefs and computer enjoyment on intentions to use computers." Thesis, Georgia Institute of Technology, 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/1853/28844.
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Hendricks, Samantha. "The relationship between inservice teachers' beliefs about computers and their levels of computer use." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0013/MQ52570.pdf.
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Longjohn, Gerald. "The educational use of computers in student ministry." Online full text .pdf document, available to Fuller patrons only, 2000. http://www.tren.com.
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Felton, Faye S. "The Use of Computers by Elementary School Principals." Diss., Virginia Tech, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/27213.
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This was an investigation of the use of computers by elementary school principals. The independent variables were socio-demographic characteristics, attitude toward computers, and beliefs about the outcomes of computer applications. The dependent variables were hardware and software proficiency, administrative proficiency, instructional proficiency, and overall proficiency.
A random sample of 400 elementary school principals in the United States and the District of Columbia was drawn from a national database developed by Quality Education Data. The sample had 228 females and 172 males. Data were collected with a questionnaire that was mailed to the sample. Two hundred fifty-three questionnaires were returned. One survey was blank and unusable.
Data were analyzed with correlation coefficients, t-tests, and one-way analyses of variance followed by Schefféâ s post-hoc comparisons. Exploratory analyses with chi-square tests were used to determine if a profile of â high techâ elementary principals could be identified.
Elementary principals used the computer on a daily basis for a variety of administrative and instructional tasks. The more proficient users had more favorable attitudes toward the use of computers, used the Internet more frequently and for more tasks, and believed that computers made a difference in the time spent on and the quality of their work. Formal training was related to all four types of proficiency.
Socio-demographic variables not associated with proficiency in using computers were gender, ownership of a home computer, ethnicity, age, years of administrative experience, and highest degree held. Males and females, minorities and whites, and older and younger principals were equally proficient. Years of experience and degree did not distinguish more proficient from less proficient users.
A socio-demographic profile of â high techâ principals was not found; however, â high techâ principals (personal digital assistant users) reported higher levels of Internet use, higher levels of all four types of proficiency at alpha = .10, and a more favorable attitude toward computers. The use of the latest technologies by principals appears to be a good predictor of the proficiency of principals in using technology generally.Ed. D.
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Nilsson, Andreas, and Camilla Gustafson. "Opinions on the use of computers in preschool." Thesis, Malmö högskola, Lärarutbildningen (LUT), 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:mau:diva-34701.
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Det står i läroplanen för förskolan att verksamheten skall lägga grund för ett livslångt lärande. På sikt skall barnen även kunna tillägna sig den kunskap som utgör den gemensamma referensramen som alla i samhället behöver (Utbildningsdepartementet, 1998). Kan datorer kanske vara ett verktyg som kan hjälpa dem att få tillgång till kunskap? I denna uppsats är syftet att undersöka pedagogers och föräldrars syn på datorer i förskolan och hur barnen faktiskt använder datorn i vardagen. De vuxnas åsikter framställs genom intervjuer och enkäter. Barnens användning av datorer synliggörs genom löpande observationer. Frågeställningarna är: Hur används datorerna på förskolan? Hur ser pedagogerna på användandet av datorer i förskolan? Hur ser föräldrarna på datorer i förskolan? Skiljer sig datoranvändningen åt mellan pojkar och flickor?För den teoretiska basen i analysen använder vi oss av John Deweys och Lev Vygotskijs aktivitetsteorier samt inslag av Maria Montessoris tankar angående pedagogiska strategier. Resultatet visar att pedagoger och föräldrar är både positiva och negativa till datorer i förskolan, men att de inte riktigt hittat strategier för hur de ska hantera och använda datorn tillsammans med barnen. Studien visar även att barnen använder datorerna som en mötesplats, en leksak och som inlärningsredskap, med eller utan pedagogens aktiva närvarande.Nyckelord: Aktivitetsteori, Barns datoranvändning, Datorer i förskolan, Internet
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Morris, Samantha Alison. "Factors Related to the Counterproductive Use of Computers." Ohio University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1184524078.
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Herring, Donna F. "Factors Affecting the Use of Computers In Classrooms." NSUWorks, 1992. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/582.
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The problem addressed by this investigation was the potential disparity between the availability of computers for classroom use and the extent to which computers were being used in Northwest Georgia classrooms. The study was based on three objectives: (1) To document the availability of computers for instructional purposes, (2) To determine the extent to which teachers were using computers for instructional purposes, and (3) To determine the effect of 49 identified factors on classroom computer utilization. Data for this study was collected through three procedures: (1) completion of a nationally published technology survey, (2) observations of classrooms where computers were being used for instructional purposes, and (3) interviews with classroom teachers. The population for the technology survey consisted of 880 lead teachers from the 16 member school systems of Northwest Georgia RESA. Participants for the classroom observations and teacher interviews were selected by the principals from 8 school systems that had been randomly selected. Appropriate data from the surveys, classroom observations and teacher interviews were categorized and tabulated in terms of both frequency counts and percentages. In addition, specific data from the surveys and teacher interviews were analyzed by the chi-square analysis statistical technique to determine if there were any differences between survey participants and interview participants for the questions used. The following major recommendations, based on the discussion and implications of the findings from this investigation, include: (1) the 16 school systems that were involved in this investigation need to develop comprehensive plans for using computer technology throughout the K-12 curriculum. (2) This investigation that was limited to lead teachers should be repeated and expanded to include all teachers from the 16 Northwest Georgia school systems. (3) Before the investigation is repeated, certain modifications need to be made to the survey instrument for purposes of clarity as well as for collecting other important information. (4) The 16 school systems that were involved in this investigation need to develop comprehensive staff development plans to train teachers to use computers for instructional as well as management purposes.
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Hannaby, Simon Anthony. "The use and analysis of infinite elements." Thesis, City, University of London, 1994. http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/17974/.
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Until recently, problems defined in infinite domains were usually solved using truncated finite elements in a finite domain. A mesh extending to some finite boundary would be chosen, and any boundary conditions which should have been applied at infinity would, in practice, be imposed at this boundary. Thus, the truncated finite element method approximates a different problem; refining the mesh leads to convergence to the solution of this new problem. Infinite elements allow one to model the behaviour at infinity, to some extent, since the basis functions used are of decaying type and the elements are of infinite length. The aim of this study is to compare these two methods, in one and two dimensions, in particular, • to derive error bounds • to show the advantages of the infinite element method • to demonstrate the effectiveness of the error bounds. The realisation of these error bounds depends on a knowledge of the true solution of the problem under examination. However, by using a spIine interpolant (or a splinefit) to the nodal infinite element parameters, we may obtain a piecewise polynomial function which is representative of the true solution, assuming that the nodal solutions are accurate. The bound which is based on the true solution may then be approximated by computing the equivalent bound obtained using this spline function. Thus we can find error bounds of real practical significance. Numerical examples and solutions are provided to illustrate the usefulness of the practical error bounds.
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Polaski, Dennis Arthur. "Use of computers in the instruction of integral calculus." Thesis, Monterey, Calif. : Springfield, Va. : Naval Postgraduate School ; Available from National Technical Information Service, 1993. http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA272500.
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Wong, Pik-wah Angela, and 黃碧華. "General practitioners' use of computers: a Hong Kong study." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2002. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B25101225.
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Wong, Pik-wah Angela. "General practitioners' use of computers : a Hong Kong study /." Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25101225.
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Borgardt, M. Luther. "Attitudes towards the use of computers by registered nurses." CSUSB ScholarWorks, 2005. https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/etd-project/2616.
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Baharoon, Walid A. M. "Architect-user communication process through the use of computers in multi-unit housing design." Thesis, McGill University, 1990. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=59621.
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It is commonly believed that by involving the user in the design process of his dwelling unit, a higher level of satisfaction could be achieved. Attempts have been made in several countries to include users in the design process of their units using different communication media including computers. However, today computers have been implemented primarily for the use of architects. This study aims at narrowing the architect-user communication gap by using computers in multi-unit housing design. The author reviews past work in user involvement in the design process through the use of computers and the possibility of introducing computers into the North American homebuilding Industry. Through an algorithm the author will demonstrate how the communication process can take place. Two simulations were conducted in order to test the proposed system in a realistic situation. The results of the study suggest that the user is able to make his own decisions, control his budget and satisfy his needs independently within a reasonable amount of time. These results could have further positive impact on the architect, user, building industry and the built environment.
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Bean, Carol. "Meeting the Challenge: Training an Aging Population to Use Computers." Southeastern Library Association, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/106048.
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Older adults present a special challenge to libraries offering computer training. Many of those seeking training have little, if any, prior experience with the concepts and skills necessary to use computers, yet their ability to learn those concepts and skills is hampered by the aging process. This article summarizes the factors in aging which most affect learning computer skills, and how those factors can be mitigated.
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Felisiak, Krzysztof K., and Pawel S. Grunt. "Evaluating thin client computers for use by the Polish Army." Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10945/10126.
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MBA Professional ReportThe purpose of this MBA Project was to examine the technical capabilities of thin client devices to determine if they could successfully replace traditional personal computers (PCs) within a Polish Army command environment. In order to accomplish this, the authors built a prototype thin client network and tested the compatibility of the system using software applications used by the Polish Army. The project also analyzed the costs of implementing and operating a thin client-based network compared to a traditional PC network. In addition, the project investigated the feasibility of exporting thin client technology to Poland and determined any trade restrictions involved. Finally, the project presented conclusions and recommendations drawn from theory and practical experiments.
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Wren, Yvonne Elizabeth. "An evaluation of the use of computers in phonology therapy." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2005. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.422606.
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Kerawalla, Lucinda. "Children's use of home computers from a cultural psychological perspective." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2002. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/35962.
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This thesis adopts a cultural psychological perspective on children's use of computers at home and, as a contrast, in the classroom. It utilises various methodologies to investigate the actual uses that children make of computers in these settings and also focuses on how computing practices are situated within the local ecology, or context. Seventy-six 7-, 9- and 11-year-old pupils from five socially and ethnically diverse primary schools were interviewed in their schools. In addition, thirty-three families with children of comparable ages, from the same five schools, participated in a detailed study of the ecology of home computing. Findings suggest that, although parents had high educational aspirations for the ways in which their children would use a new computer, these aspirations were not met in reality. Entertainment games predominated and educational software was used comparatively little. This thesis explores why this was the case and finds that it was the differing ecologies of the home and the classroom that mediated the different uses that were found in either setting.
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Ramsay, Annetta. "Marriage Enrichment: the Use of Computers to Teach Communication Skills." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1989. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc331913/.
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In this study, a computerized marriage enrichment program that gave couples instruction on communication skills and problem-solving was developed and tested. Couples completed the marriage enrichment courseware together on a computer. Forty couples from a metropolitan area in North Texas volunteered to complete the marriage enrichment courseware. Ten couples were randomly assigned to each of the following four groups: an experimental group that received the pretest followed by treatment and a post-test, a control-wait group that completed pre- and post-tests, an experimental group that received treatment followed by a post-test, and a post-test only control-wait: group. Three hypotheses were generated predicting that experimental subjects would significantly increase their marital communication skills following the treatment and that wives in the pre-test and experimental groups would achieve higher marital communication scores than would husbands. The dependent variable was the score on the Marital Communication Inventory (Bienvenu, 1970). Analyses of variance did not reveal any differences between husbands, wives, and couples at the pre- or post-tests. A three way analysis of variance revealed a significant main effect for treatment (p < .04), but no interaction effects were found. In related findings, a t-test on the post-test minus pre-test difference for wife's scores was significant beyond the .005 level of confidence. Pearson product-moment correlations between the amount of time spent on the marriage enrichment courseware and posttest scores suggested that couples who spent more time completing the program were more likely to achieve higher scores. A regression analysis confirmed the significance of time spent on increased post-test scores (p < .0085). Based on these findings, it seems appropriate to conclude that computerized marriage enrichment courseware is a promising approach for couples who spend at least two hours completing the material.
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Pike, Matthew. "Exploring the use of brain-sensing technologies for natural interactions." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/45136/.
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Recent technical innovation in the field of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) has increased the opportunity for including physical, brain-sensing devices as a part of our day-to-day lives. The potential for obtaining a time-correlated, direct, brain-based measure of a participant's mental activity is an alluring and important development for HCI researchers. In this work, we investigate the application of BCI hardware for answering HCI centred research questions, in turn, fusing the two disciplines to form an approach we name - Brain based Human-Computer Interaction (BHCI). We investigate the possibility of using BHCI to provide natural interaction - an ideal form of HCI, where communication between man-and-machine is indistinguishable from everyday forms of interactions such as Speaking and Gesturing. We present the development, execution and output of three user studies investigating the application of BHCI. We evaluate two technologies, fNIRS and EEG, and investigate their suitability for supporting BHCI based interactions. Through our initial studies, we identify that the lightweight and portable attributes of EEG make it preferable for use in developing natural interactions. Building upon this, we develop an EEG based cinematic experience exploring natural forms of interaction through the mind of the viewer. In studying the viewers response to this experience, we were able to develop a taxonomy of control based on how viewers discovered and exerted control over the experience.
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Garcia, Constantino Matias. "On the use of text classification methods for text summarisation." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2013. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/12957/.
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This thesis describes research work undertaken in the fields of text and questionnaire mining. More specifically, the research work is directed at the use of text classification techniques for the purpose of summarising the free text part of questionnaires. In this thesis text summarisation is conceived of as a form of text classification in that the classes assigned to text documents can be viewed as an indication (summarisation) of the main ideas of the original free text but in a coherent and reduced form. The reason for considering this type of summary is because summarising unstructured free text, such as that found in questionnaires, is not deemed to be effective using conventional text summarisation techniques. Four approaches are described in the context of the classification summarisation of free text from different sources, focused on the free text part of questionnaires. The first approach considers the use of standard classification techniques for text summarisation and was motivated by the desire to establish a benchmark with which the more specialised summarisation classification techniques presented later in this thesis could be compared. The second approach, called Classifier Generation Using Secondary Data (CGUSD), addresses the case when the available data is not considered sufficient for training purposes (or possibly because no data is available at all). The third approach, called Semi-Automated Rule Summarisation Extraction Tool (SARSET), presents a semi-automated classification technique to support document summarisation classification in which there is more involvement by the domain experts in the classifier generation process, the idea was that this might serve to produce more effective summaries. The fourth is a hierarchical summarisation classification approach which assumes that text summarisation can be achieved using a classification approach whereby several class labels can be associated with documents which then constitute the summarisation. For evaluation purposes three types of text were considered: (i) questionnaire free text, (ii) text from medical abstracts and (iii) text from news stories.
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Seeley, Monica E. "Senior executives and their individual use of computers : a study of the continuity, level and extent of senior executives' use of computers for personal support." Thesis, University of Bath, 1996. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.337818.
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Clark, Leigh M. H. "Exploring vague language use and voice variation in human-agent interaction." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2016. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/37863/.
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This thesis addresses the linguistic phenomenon of vague language (VL) and its effect on the creation of identity in the emerging and developing field of human-agent interaction (HAI). Current research on VL has focused on human interaction, while similar existing literature on language in HAI has focused on politeness theory and facework. This thesis brings the two research fields together and uses them as a focusing lens to investigate the issue of identity in agents – software with varying degrees of autonomy and intelligence. Agents are increasingly common in our everyday lives, particularly in the role of an instructor. Intelligent personal assistants are a frequent feature on smartphones, automated checkout systems pervade supermarkets both large and small, and satellite navigation systems have been a mainstay for over a decade now. Despite their frequency, there is relatively little research into the communication challenges surrounding HAI. Much like other people, the language and voice of agents have the ability to affect our perceptions and of them, and shape the way in which we create their identities. Instruction giving, amongst other facets of talk, in human communication can be mitigated through the use of VL. This can reduce the imposition we have on interaction partners, pay respect to a listener’s face, and establish and maintain a positive rapport with our interlocutors. This can have a profound effect on the desire to interact with someone again. Furthermore, agents that use speech to communicate are assigned one of two varieties of voice – synthesised or pre-recorded human speech, both of which have documented benefits and drawbacks. Given the rise of agents in the modern world, it is in the best interest of all parties to understand the salient variables that affect our perceptions of agents, and what effect VL and other variables such as voice in language and voice may have in our interactions with them. This thesis provides a novel approach to investigating both VL and voice in HAI. A general framework is presented with the use of a specific VL model to apply in the interactions, which is designed around verbal agents giving people instructions on how to construct Lego models. The first study compares the effects of a vague and non-vague verbal agent in this context, while the second study focuses on the comparative use of synthesised text-to-speech voices and professional human recordings in the same context. The results from the investigation reveal key findings regarding the use of VL in a verbal agent instructive context. The first study indicated that a synthesised agent voice is better suited to using non-vague instructions, while the second study revealed that a professional voice actor is a preferable candidate for using VL in comparison to two different synthesised voices. These findings discuss the issue of identities in HAI. They reveal that, when an agent instructor is perceived to have a voice that is non-human and machinelike, it is more likely that its use of VL will be received less positively. This is often because the combination of voice and language do not mix, but is also a result of a clash of perceived group identities between agent and human speech. As agents are typically direct, the use of “humanlike” VL can create a large disparity between a person’s expectations of agent speech and the reality of the interaction. Similarly, if an agent’s voice has more of a humanlike feel to it, then its use of VL will create less disparity and has the potential to bridge the gap between these two group identities. This poses discussions on the nature of agent identity and how it compares to those in humans. The thesis concludes with reflection on the findings in light of existing linguistic theories, and how further research into this field may assist agent designers, researchers, and agent users alike. A suggestion of employing a corpus linguistics approach to HAI is proposed, which may pave the way for future success in this area.
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Hartner, Teresa. "Computer use in preschool : effects on social interactions /." Full text available online, 2005. http://www.lib.rowan.edu/find/theses.
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Che, Pee Naim. "Computer games use in an educational system." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2011. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/12297/.
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Teaching a subject which involves a long process and inter-related problems can sometimes be difficult through conventional classroom activities. This is particularly difficult at the UK Key Stage 3 (13-14 years) where students are only beginning to understand the processes of reason. Often what the teacher would like to encourage is group discussion but for many reasons, young students may be reluctant to put forward ideas in a conventional classroom setting. An area where this becomes less of a problem is once they get involved in playing a game together. In addition to this certain subjects are difficult to teach because they involve complex interactions that are largely outside the general knowledge of young students. An example of this is the issue of human contributions to climate change. The subject is one of recent heated debate, much of which involves complex arguments on the relationship between the natural contribution to climate variation and those produced by human beings. In the work reported here a computer game has been developed which tries to incorporate the various processes involved in a realistic way. In principle this game can be used individually. However, it also provides the opportunity for generating group discussion and reasoning processes. The game which has been developed uses a non-player character which is controlled by the teacher. The game is played in a networked environment with a number of teams of two players each trying to provide solutions to a complex climate issue. The non player character is able to monitor the performance of the different teams and provide feedback that will be of a more realistic/less predictable nature. This thesis addresses the design and the implementation of the game as a tool for teaching and learning purposes for learning about the human contribution to climate change. Three experiments have been done using this computer game to investigate the effectiveness of game-based learning towards tackling these issues. The first two studies were carried out in the UK while the third study was carried out in Malaysia to investigate educational cultural background. The initial study involved two groups of Key Stage 3 children in a Geography class. The study was undertaken in the normal teaching sequence. The children were divided into pairs during game-play and each session lasted about one hour. The behaviour of the whole group and individual teams was monitored throughout the game-play. Analysis of this shows that the game not only allowed the students to investigate the science but also to communicate with each other during the process. Overall, it is felt that by introducing an environment with which they were sufficiently familiar (playing a game together) the normal inhibitions to communication were removed. The control based experiment reinforced these findings.
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Medek, Liza. "User participation in the housing design process through the use of computers : home builders' response." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26242.
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As a result of the diversity of home buyers within the current housing market, houses are increasingly designed with but little user input into the overall design process. Home builders require the development of design tools which will accommodate user needs within specific housing markets. This thesis investigates the reaction of builders to the participation of home buyers in the design process through the use of computer-aided design (CAD).A review of the role of computers within the homebuilding industry is provided, including an historical overview of the use of CAD. The state of the art in CAD software applications is explored, with an assessment made of three low-cost software programs. Following a description of the existing design process in the homebuilding industry, a proposed system of user participation is outlined. A survey is taken of six builders in the Montreal and Ottawa regions to determine industry response to home buyer use of CAD as a design tool.
An analysis of the survey results reveals that although the builders are not currently participants in such a process, they are tentatively positive in their receptiveness to the idea of user-related CAD. The builders express many reservations concerning the available CAD systems, and they declare little interest in adopting the process as it presently exists. The relevant computer programs are found wanting, revealing a need for further development of both the software applications and the procedure for implementing CAD at the user participation level. Suggestions are offered for improvements in the process to the benefit of builder, designer, and end user.
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Kent, Matthew Paul. "Estimating functional performance for use in the aesthetic design process." Thesis, University of Birmingham, 2015. http://etheses.bham.ac.uk//id/eprint/6422/.
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In engineering fields such as automobile design, optimisation of functional performance properties often conflicts with aesthetic optimisation. Functional performance feedback into the aesthetic design software may therefore improve the convergence of the design process. Unfortunately, many functional performance scores such as aerodynamic drag require intensive computational effort. We consider the use of machine learning approaches to instead provide estimates of these functional performance scores. We study the problems encountered when developing such an estimation function. The use of a historically accumulated data set of STereoLithography-format designs and their performance scores is suggested. We first look at preparing such a data set as training data for a machine learning task. Our first major novel contribution combats this problem in a manner similar to voxelisation. We next look at generating the regression function, seeking to achieve good generalisation across a large space of possible designs and for a problem where dimensionality reduction is challenging. Our second major novel contribution deals with this problem using an ensemble regression framework incorporating multiple data representations. Finally, we look at strategies of combining these two novel systems into a complete system. Upon evaluation, we conclude that our original aims have been met by this complete system.
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Brower, Bernard V. "Evaluation of digital image compression algorithms for use on laptop computers /." Online version of thesis, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1850/11893.
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Brown, Elizabeth. "The use of learning styles in adaptive hypermedia." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2007. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10577/.
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Computer-based learning has become a common phenomenon in the modern age. Many distance-learning systems distribute educational resources on the Internet and indeed entire study programmes are now widely available online. Such a large amount of content and information can be intimidating to learners, who may exhibit different individual characteristics, such as variation in goals, interests, motivation and/or learning preferences. This suggests that a uniform approach taken by learning environments to deliver materials and resources to students is not appropriate and that personalisation of such materials/resources should address users' differences to provide a customised learning experience, thus enhancing its effectiveness, lowering drop-out rates and maintaining high student motivation. This thesis addresses the latter issue of learning preferences, specifically investigating learning styles as an adaptation mechanism for personalised computer-based learning. A number of previous studies indicated the positive effect that this kind of adaptation provides, but under closer examination these were not conducted in a scientifically rigorous manner and thus their findings are somewhat limited. This research utilises a quantitative and highly objective approach to investigate visual/verbal and sequential/global learning styles in different user groups. Three user trials were carried out to discover whether there were any benefits to using these learning styles for studying in an adapted environment. Overall, no statistically significant benefits were found and these findings now shed doubt as to whether learning styles are indeed an effective mechanism for personalised learning.
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Jefferies, Clive. "Investigating the use of native language calls in a multi-channel business process." Thesis, Keele University, 2011. http://eprints.keele.ac.uk/3839/.
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Background Making system functionality available via multi-channel access (MCA) can be achieved through exposing functions and business processes as software services. When offering MCA to a business process, system performance is an important consideration due to network limitations and verbose messaging in service-oriented technologies. Aims The first aim of this study is to investigate the potential impact on system performance and agility that may occur when an underlying business process is exposed for MCA. The second aim is to investigate if reengineering a system as a service-oriented architecture (SOA) improves agility. The work also aims to create an MCA reengineering method to transform systems from single-channel into multi-channel. Methods A case study was used, along with an experiment, to compare the performance and agility of native language calls (NLC) and protocol based messaging (PBM) for service messaging in a business process. The case study also investigated if reengineering a system as an SOA improves agility by comparing system and code metrics. A multi-channel access reengineering method (McARM) was created and evaluated. Results No significant difference was found between the performance of the PBM and NLC binding technologies. However, NLC bindings were found to be less agile than PBM. Reengineering a system as an SOA was found to improve the agility of a system. A method was created which was used to reengineer a system for MCA. Conclusions Based on the results, the recommendation is that NLC should not be used instead of PBM for messaging between the services and business processes in a system reengineered for MCA. Measures should be taken to ensure that the reengineering of a system for MCA does not affect performance. Finally, an SOA can be used to improve system agility.
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Heywood, G. "Computer-assisted learning as innovation in junior schools." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1987. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.328718.
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Luhamba, John K. M. "Evaluating The Use Of Laptop Computers In Teaching Construction Computer Applications At The College Of Technology, Bowling Green State University." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2007. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1185651720.
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Wade, Stephen Paul. "An investigation into the use of the tuple space paradigm in mobile computing environments." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1999. http://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/11687/.
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Freebody, Nicola. "The use of Raman microprobe spectroscopy in the analysis of electrically aged polymeric insulators." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2012. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/346963/.
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Due to its applications in high voltage insulation, a thorough understanding of the chemical reactions that occur during electrical ageing in polymers is needed. A confocal Raman microscope has a potential lateral resolution of ~1μm along both the lateral and optic axes and is able to characterise the localised chemical composition of a material; for this reason, it has been applied in the study of electrical ageing in solid dielectrics. Due to inaccurate assumptions about the optical processes involved in confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy (CRMS), however, the exact characterisation of the processes and chemicals involved has previously proven to be difficult. The objective of this study is to apply the technique of Raman microprobe spectroscopy in the analysis of the chemical structures of electrically aged polymers. It was found that, with the application of immersion oil and by using a refined version of a model of CRMS which is based on a photon scattering approach; CRMS is a valuable tool in the study of polymers. More accurate results can be obtained, however, by revealing the feature in question to the surface and applying non confocal Raman microprobe spectroscopy (RMS). CRMS was applied to a variety of polymeric samples containing electrically aged voids and electrical trees. Results showed that within the electrically aged voids, chemical signatures similar to those previously found in electrical trees in PE can be found. Finally, a variety of polymeric insulators was subjected to spark ageing and corona discharge. The by-products of these ageing mechanisms were then characterized using RMS in an attempt to reproduce in bulk the chemical compounds formed in electrical treeing. The resulting Raman spectra indicated that the same by-products as those formed in voids and trees are indeed formed. Where possible all results were compared to comparative data obtained using Fourier transform infra red (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and discussed in relation to previously published work.
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Chua, Stephanie Hui Li. "An investigation into the use of negation in Inductive Rule Learning for text classification." Thesis, University of Liverpool, 2012. http://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/7633/.
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This thesis seeks to establish if the use of negation in Inductive Rule Learning (IRL) for text classification is effective. Text classification is a widely research topic in the domain of data mining. There have been many techniques directed at text classification; one of them is IRL, widely chosen because of its simplicity, comprehensibility and interpretability by humans. IRL is a process whereby rules in the form of $antecedent -> conclusion$ are learnt to build a classifier. Thus, the learnt classifier comprises a set of rules, which are used to perform classification. To learn a rule, words from pre-labelled documents, known as features, are selected to be used as conjunctions in the rule antecedent. These rules typically do not include any negated features in their antecedent; although in some cases, as demonstrated in this thesis, the inclusion of negation is required and beneficial for the text classification task. With respect to the use of negation in IRL, two issues need to be addressed: (i) the identification of the features to be negated and (ii) the improvisation of rule refinement strategies to generate rules both with and without negation. To address the first issue, feature space division is proposed, whereby the feature space containing features to be used for rule refinement is divided into three sub-spaces to facilitate the identification of the features which can be advantageously negated. To address the second issue, eight rule refinement strategies are proposed, which are able to generate both rules with and without negation. Typically, single keywords which are deemed significant to differentiate between classes are selected to be used in the text representation in the text classification task. Phrases have also been proposed because they are considered to be semantically richer than single keywords. Therefore, with respect to the work conducted in this thesis, three different types of phrases ($n$-gram phrases, keyphrases and fuzzy phrases) are extracted to be used as the text representation in addition to the use of single keywords. To establish the effectiveness of the use of negation in IRL, the eight proposed rule refinement strategies are compared with one another, using keywords and the three different types of phrases as the text representation, to determine whether the best strategy is one which generates rules with negation or without negation. Two types of classification tasks are conducted; binary classification and multi-class classification. The best strategy in the proposed IRL mechanism is compared to five existing text classification techniques with respect to binary classification: (i) the Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm, (ii) Naive Bayes (NB), (iii) JRip, (iv) OlexGreedy and (v) OlexGA from the Waikato Environment for Knowledge Analysis (WEKA) machine learning workbench. In the multi-class classification task, the proposed IRL mechanism is compared to the Total From Partial Classification (TFPC) algorithm. The datasets used in the experiments include three text datasets: 20 Newsgroups, Reuters-21578 and Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) datasets and five UCI Machine Learning Repository tabular datasets. The results obtained from the experiments showed that the strategies which generated rules with negation were more effective when the keyword representation was used and less prominent when the phrase representations were used. Strategies which generated rules with negation also performed better with respect to binary classification compared to multi-class classification. In comparison with the other machine learning techniques selected, the proposed IRL mechanism was shown to generally outperform all the compared techniques and was competitive with SMO.
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Gowens, Eric Christopher. "Two dimensional radiation sensor development for use in space bound reconfigurable computers." Thesis, Montana State University, 2011. http://etd.lib.montana.edu/etd/2011/gowens/GowensE0511.pdf.
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Space bound computers are exposed to damaging radiation once they leave the safety of the Earth's atmosphere, which is a significant hindrance to the development of digital space systems. While most digital systems can be radiation hardened, the development time in making them less susceptible to radiation keeps the hardened systems behind the cutting edge. A better solution for this problem is to provide an early warning that a digital microchip may have been struck by radiation in the form of a spatially aware sensor. The focus of this thesis is the design, fabrication, and testing of a two-dimensional silicon-based radiation sensor capable of detecting the location of a potentially damaging radiation strike on a microchip. It is demonstrated that by using a strip sensor design, the spatial detection of incident radiation is possible. Simulations of performance are presented that predict the functionality of the strip sensor. The capabilities of a commercially available sensor are investigated. Additionally, a sensor is designed, fabricated, tested, and compared to the performance of the commercially available sensor. Recommendations for future research of the sensor design are discussed.
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Monteiro, Beatriz de Freitas. "Factors affecting mathematics teachers use of computers and software in secondary schools." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1993. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.336026.
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Cole, Jerry W. "The Use of Computers to Enhance the Administrative Function in Tennessee Schools." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 1992. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2662.
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The purpose of this study was to compare the levels of computer use by school principals in administering their schools. Comparisons were made of the different techniques being employed by school principals as they manage the vast amounts of data that are present in today's educational process. A comprehensive collection of computer applications was identified and school principals were surveyed regarding their use of these applications. A random sample was selected from a population of 1,800 school principals in the state of Tennessee. School principals from 430 public schools and 70 private/parochial schools in Tennessee were surveyed for responses relative to their practices regarding the use of computers in the management of their school. Surveys were mailed in early January, 1992, to those principals who were identified in the sample selection. Surveys were received over a period of several weeks. A return of 71% was obtained. Findings include the determination that schools have computers specifically for the purpose of completing administrative tasks. Principals and office staffs are using administrative computers to improve their management of school data. The primary areas identified as being preformed by school principals were attendance, management of student data, wordprocessing, grade reporting, and transportation. Principals indicated that the major avenues for computer training is through seminars and workshops. The major conclusions included the need for additional computer training in principal preparation curricula, exposure to innovative uses of computers to enhance the administrative function.
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Bell, Stephen Charles Davenport. "Participatory art and computers : identifying, analysing and composing the characteristics of works of participatory art that use computer technology." Thesis, Loughborough University, 1991. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7207.
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This research was initiated to determine the essential characteristics of participatory works of art that use computer technology. Through comparing ideas and practices which emerged during the practical development of a participatory work called Smallworld with those reported by makers and critics of existing works a need was identified for a general system of analysis of these works which can be remembered easily and applied in their critical evaluation and realisation. The thesis proposes a system of analysis in which the principal characteristics are considered to be those which contribute to the degree and manner of control afforded to participants. The system can be applied in the composition of works as well as in their analysis: it is demonstrated that the characteristics identified can be composed and that works can be considered to be compositions of changing degree and manner of control. The system proposed is intended to serve as a paradigm for the development of further systems to analyse such works and to contribute to the evolution of a language with which to discuss them. Although the thesis addresses a special class of the use of interactive computer technology it is intended to contribute to the broader discussion of the use of computer technology in participatory situations.
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Kunkle, Carol J. "Identifying and relating nurses' attitudes toward computer use." Virtual Press, 1995. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/958788.
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Computerization is changing how hospitals do business as well as how nursing is practiced. Use of computer applications depends on the attitudes and motivation nurses have about computers.The purpose of this replication study is to examine relationships between nurses' attitudes toward computer use satisfaction, beliefs, and motivation. This study used an adaptation of Vroom's expectancy theory as a framework to identify and relate nurses' attitudes and identify variables that may relate with computer use.An instrument developed by Burkes (1991), the Nurses' Computer Use Attitude Questionnaire was used to measure nurses' attitudes toward computer usage. This includes satisfaction, beliefs, and motivation.The convenience sample included 101 (67%) nurses from three rural hospitals who agreed to participate in the study. Confidentiality was maintained, and only group data was reported.Findings in this study support Vroom's theory that there is a relationship between beliefs and motivation, between satisfaction and motivation, and between beliefs and motivation. Findings in this study were the longer the nurses duration of computer experience the more satisfied they were with using them. Age and level of nursing experience did not determine satisfaction, beliefs or motivation to use computer applications. Conclusions from this study were that knowledge levels can vary in regard to use. In this study the Beliefs subscale accounted for 46% of the variance in predicating motivation. Therefore what one comes to expect or believe will be a factor in how much effort is put into behavior changes.Further research should try to determine what if any demographic information is consistently a predictor of attitudes scores. This information could be helpful in enhancing the chances for successful implementation and utilization of computers. There should also be research in the variables that impact attitudes of nurses toward utilization of computers.This study is significant because findings will provide information about attitudes and usage of computers in rural hospitals. If attitudes are recognized, attitudes can be improved and better utilization will follow.School of Nursing
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Jackson, P. "The use of digital computers for the design and optimisation of fluid power manifolds." Thesis, University of Brighton, 1986. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.233272.
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Maloney, Tina M. "Crowding out the girls : issues of gender access in the use of computers /." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape8/PQDD_0031/MQ47463.pdf.
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Smith, Bethany Virginia. "Use of Online Educational Social Networking in a School Environment." NCSU, 2009. http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/theses/available/etd-03252009-104050/.
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The purpose of this mixed-methods research study was to investigate the use of a closed social network, utilizing Ning, in an online educational environment. The research question driving this study was, does a student-centered online tool, such as Ning, foster knowledge construction through discussion boards more than a class-focused online tool, such as a traditional CMS? The participants were students enrolled in one of two online graduate education courses, one in a traditional Course Management System (CMS), and another class that utilized Ning for their discussions. Discussion Board postings from the Ning group were categorized based on the Interaction Analysis Model (IAM) developed by Gunawardena, C. N., Lowe, C., & Anderson, T. (1997), to assess knowledge construction. Survey instruments and interviews were conducted to provide additional insight into the use of a social network in an educational context.
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SHIVERDECKER, TERESA A. "OHIO SCIENCE TEACHER'S PERCEPTIONS OF FACTORS RELATED TO IMPLEMENTING COMPUTERS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL USE." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1029356497.
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Wang, Yueyue. "Fair use and file sharing in research and education." Thesis, University of Southampton, 2009. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/67657/.
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This work was inspired by the well-ventilated current problems around the use of digital file sharing technologies and their promotion of infringement of copyright leading to the alleged destruction of entertainment industries. Different legal systems have applied different analyses to such problems, and there is no clear and coherent answer to the question of whether file sharing, especially in the form of peer-to-peer (P2P), is legal. The particular focus of this thesis flows from the realisation that litigation around file sharing has uniformly explored it from the perspective of users downloading entertainment materials such as music and videos. Comparatively little attention has been paid to whether research and educational users have, or should have, rights to use the same digital file sharing technologies to access copyright materials important to their work. If digital file sharing is declared illegal by the courts at the behest of the entertainment industries, then what will happen to research and educational users of these networks? To explore this key problem, this thesis focuses on how fair use doctrine, the most important exception and limitation to copyright, has transferred from the traditional copyright environment into the context of digital file sharing. By undertaking a study of relevant legislation and cases, such as the well known Napster, Grokster and MP3.com, the “who” issue, namely, who is the party entitled to benefit from a fair use defence will be highlighted. Having established that fair use as a defence operates ineffectively in the digital file sharing environment, the thesis then looks at existing alternative or “fared” use models, and particularly the disadvantages of “fared” use system in serving research and educational file sharing. Finally the thesis turns to what is termed the “voluntary model”: a model in which copyright owners make their works available to academic users for free, via an institutional repository, the authors gaining non-pecuniary benefits while the commercial publisher being cut out as a “middleman”. Although future work to develop the details of this approach would be required, the thesis asserts this is a promising way towards ensuring access to copyright works in research and education thus benefiting society, whilst at the same time establishing fair compensation to authors for their efforts.
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Liu, C. Y. J. "Facial identification from online images for use in the prevention of child trafficking and exploitation." Thesis, Liverpool John Moores University, 2018. http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/9901/.
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Every year, an estimated 1.2 million children are trafficked (International Labour Office, 2002). The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) received a 432% increase in child sexual abuse images for the purposes of identification between 2005 and 2009 (U.S. Department of Justice, 2010), and they assisted in the identification of 2,589 victims related to indecent images of children in 2015 (NCMEC, 2015a). In relation to the vast number of images received, machine-based facial recognition could help law enforcement and other organisations to match faces more efficiently. The use of facial recognition technology has become more popular within our society, but where rapid juvenile growth changes facial features recognition is challenging, especially for children under 15 years of age with changes to the outer contour of the face (Ramanathan and Chellappa, 2006). The challenge not only relates to the growth of the child's face, but also relates to face recognition in the wild with unconstrained images. This study aims to provide an open-access database of facial images, documenting the different stages of facial growth from numerous individuals from birth to 19 years of age. There are currently very limited longitudinal databases available for the research community, and the collection of this database will benefit all researchers who wish to study age progression and facial growth. Ferguson (2015) suggested that facial recognition algorithms can perform better than humans in the identification of faces of children. Experiment 1 of this research takes a further step to explore how the difference in age group and age gap can affect the recognition rate using various facial recognition software, and explores the possibilities of group tagging. Results indicated that the use of multiple images is beneficial for the facial identification of children. Experiment 2 explores whether age progression work could further improve the recognition rate of juvenile faces. This study documents the workflow of a new method for digital manual age progression using a combination of previously published methods. The proposed age progression method for children recorded satisfactory levels of repeatability with facial measurements at the Nasion (n) and Trichion (tr) showing the most inaccuracy. No previous studies have tested how different conditions (i.e. blurring, resolution reduction, cropping and black and white) can affect machine-based facial recognition nor have they explored the relationship between age progression images and facial recognition software. The study found that reduction of the resolution of an age progression image improves automated facial recognition for juvenile identification, and manual age progressions are no more useful than the original image for facial identification of missing children. The outcome of this research directly benefits those who practice facial identification in relation to children, especially for age progression casework.
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Williamson, Janet, and n/a. "Teachers and the use of computers in four ACT non-government primary schools." University of Canberra. Education, 1994. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20050816.150827.
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The case studies carried out in four non-government
primary schools in the ACT aimed to look at the way
teachers were using computers in classrooms in order to
shed light on the factors which may determine how
teachers chose to use computers to enhance learning. The
case study method allowed the researcher to use
triangulation to provide in-depth information about the
processes involved in the delivery of a lesson using a
computer.
The findings were positive in that more than half of the
teachers were found to be using computers at a high level
of adoption, predominantly running simulation programs.
In most schools, this was in spite of either hardware or
software constraints, inadequate professional development
opportunities or administrative obstacles. Whether the
teachers taught in a laboratory or had one computer in
the classroom did not seem to retard their enthusiasm for
finding the best strategies to effectively integrate
computer use.
Cooperative learning strategies had been adopted by most
of the teachers so their transition to computer use was
made easier since their students had already been
'routinised'.The data also pointed to formal Computer Education as a
possible determinant of a high level computer user.
However, research on a wider scale would be needed to
validate the result.
Differences in the way classes were managed in a onecomputer
classroom and a laboratory were evident.
Teachers spent most time with those students working away
from the computer in the one-computer classroom and most
time with those working at the computer in the laboratory
setting. Methods of evaluation were shown to be
necessarily different depending on whether work was
carried out in a laboratory or a one-computer classroom.
Finally, the study pointed to the need for non-government
schools and system managers to begin long-term planning
for hardware and software purchase and resource
management in order to provide teachers with the tools
needed to integrate computer use effectively. Such
planning would need to include provision for professional
development.
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Fung, Yat-chu, and 馮一柱. "Information technology and empowerment in information society: use of computers amongst senior persons." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31245298.
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