Ecological niche models (ENMs) is a popular method in ecology, mostly due to its broad applicability and the fact that required data is simple and easily accessible from digital databases. ...Nevertheless, there is an underlying methodological complexity, often overlooked by many scientists that rely on ENMs to achieve other objectives. We present here the package ENMTML, an Open Source R package. The main purpose of this package is to assemble all this methodological complexity spread over several papers and bring it into the spotlight in a simple way for people not used to the details of ENMs. The package contains several alternatives to different methodological steps, e.g., pseudo-absence allocation and accessible area delimitation, formulated within a single function, to make it accessible for people not used to the programming environment.
•We present ENMTML, an open source R package to fit ecological niche models (ENMs).•The package covers a wide variety of methodological aspects gathered from several studies.•Complex methodological features, which were not readily available in R, are now easily accessible to users.•We condense all this complexity in a single function to make it easier for users to follow a workflow.•We demonstrate an example of fitting models for four species with complex methodological choices and its interactions.
We apply data mining to version histories in order to guide programmers along related changes: "Programmers who changed these functions also changed..." Given a set of existing changes, the mined ...association rules 1) suggest and predict likely further changes, 2) show up item coupling that is undetectable by program analysis, and 3) can prevent errors due to incomplete changes. After an initial change, our ROSE prototype can correctly predict further locations to be changed; the best predictive power is obtained for changes to existing software. In our evaluation based on the history of eight popular open source projects, ROSE's topmost three suggestions contained a correct location with a likelihood of more than 70 percent.
Computational thinking and coding are becoming an integral part of K-12 education, with female students being underrepresented in such subjects. The proliferation of technological tools and ...programming environments offers the opportunity for creative coding activities for children and increases the need for appropriate instructional practices. In this study, we design and evaluate a coding workshop for children. Our goal is to examine differences between boys and girls using eye-tracking as an objective measure and triangulating the findings with qualitative data coming from children's interviews. The results show no statistically significant difference between female and male gaze and learning gain during the coding activity; interestingly, the qualitative data show differences in the strategies and implemented practices during coding, and in perceptions about those coding activities. Our results highlight that further studies need to utilize objective measures and unveil necessary differences in the design and implementation of coding activities. Furthermore, our results provide objective evidence that female students do not lack in competences compared to boys, but simply that they have a different approach during coding activities and different perspectives about coding, an approach that needs to be cultivated and nurtured.
•We designed and evaluated a coding workshop for children.•We examined gender differences using eye-tracking and interviews.•We found no-statistically significant gender difference in gaze and learning gain during coding.•We found gender differences in the strategies and implemented practices during coding.•Females do not lack in competences but simply have a different approach during coding.
•Economic benefit and environmental benefit are analyzed.•Three load profiles and two PV systems are simulated in PV SOL software.•Two kinds of systems with different installation power is ...analyzed.•EPBT, GPBT, greenhouse gas emission, NOx, CO2, and SO2 are analyzed to evaluate environment benefit.
This paper mainly analyses two systems in Shanghai. A Building Attached Photovoltaic (BAPV) system of 3kWp and a Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) system of 10kW. This BAPV system is the first practical application of grid-connected roof-mounted BAPV systems in China. It has great significance to the research of BAPV systems and the development of China renewable energy. The output yields, monthly performance ratio (PR), and monthly system efficiencies of the two systems of the two systems are illustrated. This paper used net present value (NPV) and the payback period (Pd) to analyze system benefits. PV SOL is used to simulate these two systems combined with three load profiles. The simulation results including economic and performance states are illustrated in this paper. Moreover, energy payback time (EPBT) and greenhouse-gas payback time (GPBT) are used to evaluate environmental impacts. EPBT of the two systems are 4.2 years and 3.1 years, for GPBT they are 1.3 years and 0.4 years. The economic benefit of contaminating emission reduction of the two systems is also assessed to promote the development of PV industry.
Microtask Programming LaToza, Thomas D.; Di Lecce, Arturo; Ricci, Fabio ...
IEEE transactions on software engineering,
11/2019, Letnik:
45, Številka:
11
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Traditional forms of Crowdsourcing such as open source software development harness crowd contributions to democratize the creation of software. However, potential contributors must first overcome ...joining barriers forcing casually committed contributors to spend days or weeks onboarding and thereby reducing participation. To more effectively harness potential contributions from the crowd, we propose a method for programming in which work occurs entirely through microtasks, offering contributors short, self-contained tasks such as implementing part of a function or updating a call site invoking a function to match a change made to the function. In microtask programming, microtasks involve changes to a single artifact, are automatically generated as necessary by the system, and nurture quality through iteration. A study examining the feasibility of microtask programming to create small programs found that developers were able to complete 1008 microtasks, onboard and submit their first microtask in less than 15 minutes, complete all types of microtasks in less than 5 minutes on average, and create 490 lines of code and 149 unit tests. The results demonstrate the potential feasibility as well as revealing a number of important challenges to address to successfully scale microtask programming to larger and more complex programs.
In the current implementation of K‐12 education, computational thinking is considered an important part of developing students' key abilities. Many studies have shown that computational thinking can ...be improved by programming, for example, using Scratch, App Inventor, and Python. However, different programming tools have different forms of programming that affect the development of learners' computational thinking. This study aimed to test the effects of different programming tools with the same teaching content on learners' computational thinking and computer learning attitude in real classroom teaching. Ninety‐nine participants took part in an eight‐week teaching intervention in the Visual Basic (text‐based) and Pencil Code (block‐based) programming environments. T tests showed that students learning in a mixed text‐based and block‐based Pencil Code programming environment not only had significantly improved computational thinking but also became more self‐confident and enjoyed learning programming. Furthermore, our interviews after the eight‐week teaching intervention found that students showed more communication and interaction behaviors learning with Pencil Code.
The importance of robots for industry, research, education, and society as a whole is steadily increasing as reflected by the number of available systems and installed robots, not only in industry ...but also in the public sector and households. Software-only robotics researchers usually rely on commercially available robots which, in the case of manipulators, are primarily designed for industrial purposes and are often far from their needs. This article is a hands-on tutorial on the Franka Emika robot, the first series of industrial artificial intelligence (AI)-ready tactile robot platforms. Beyond industrial use, the systems can be seamlessly expanded to fulfill the demands of research and education across all robotics and AI disciplines. To satisfy the needs of such a wide variety of fields, it provides three different interfaces: Desk, a high-level app-based user interface for easy and fast task programming; Robot Integrated Development Environment (RIDE), a command-based programming environment used to create high-performance robot skills that enables programming custom apps and integrating external sensors; and the Franka control interface (FCI), a 1-kHz low-level torque and position control interface that exploits the also-available Langrangian dynamics robot model. We take a close look at implementations with all interfaces, ranging from simple solutions, apps, and controllers to robot-learning examples illustrating how to exploit all the advantages of this platform in ongoing robotics research and education.
Abstract
STEM Education is an important topic in today’s educational paradigm. The knowledge in the STEM area will be important to everyone because to solve real-world problems it is necessary to ...have information from different areas of knowledge. In this perspective we present an educational resource that combines the contents of physics (colour addition with LEDs), engineering (circuit assembly), technology (Arduino platform and Processing, an open-source programming language and integrated development environment), and mathematics (number handling and unit conversion). Although there are many examples in the literature regarding the study of colour addition, the educational resource here presented brings a novelty for the students. With a very intuitive setup and a simulation, students are able to understand colour addition perceived by the human eyes from two different mechanisms simultaneously: the colour seen on a computer screen and the colour produced by an RGB LED. This STEM activity uses a very simple and affordable experimental setup (less than 30 dollars, excluding the computer) and it is a clear example of how technology enhanced learning in science can be incorporated in the classroom for teaching physics in a very engaging context.
Mobile robots are valuable tools for education because of both the enthusiasm they raise and the multidisciplinary nature of robotics technology. Mobile robots give access to a wide range of fields, ...such as complex mechanics, sensors, wireless transmission, mathematics, and computer science. However, despite their potential as educational tools, robots are still not as widespread in schools as they could be. In this article, we identify five key reasons: lack of diversity, high cost, noninclusive design, lack of educational material, and lack of stability over time. Then, we describe our answers to these problems, as we implemented them in the Thymio project: a mature mass-produced open-hardware robot, at a low price, with a multiage and gender-neutral feature set, and with a design promoting creativity, facilitating learning, and providing a wide range of interaction possibilities from built-in behaviors to text programming, passing through different visual programming environments. We highlight some neglected key issues that differentiate open-source hardware from open-source software, for instance the legal uncertainty of designing open hardware using professional computer-aided design (CAD) tools and the difficulty to distribute the development. Our solution to these being to increase the awareness of CAD editors to open-source hardware and to provide a two-layer development model for hardware.
The Marathon 2: A Navigation System Macenski, Steve; Martin, Francisco; White, Ruffin ...
2020 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS),
2020-Oct.-24
Conference Proceeding
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Developments in mobile robot navigation have enabled robots to operate in warehouses, retail stores, and on sidewalks around pedestrians. Various navigation solutions have been proposed, though few ...as widely adopted as ROS (Robot Operating System) Navigation. 10 years on, it is still one of the most popular navigation solutions 1 . Yet, ROS Navigation has failed to keep up with modern trends. We propose the new navigation solution, Navigation2, which builds on the successful legacy of ROS Navigation. Navigation2 uses a behavior tree for navigator task orchestration and employs new methods designed for dynamic environments applicable to a wider variety of modern sensors. It is built on top of ROS2, a secure message passing framework suitable for safety critical applications and program lifecycle management. We present experiments in a campus setting utilizing Navigation2 to operate safely alongside students over a marathon as an extension of the experiment proposed in Eppstein et al. 1. The Navigation2 system is freely available at https://github.com/ros-planning/navigation2 with a rich community and instructions.
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