AutoFocus – Ein Werkzeugprototyp zur Entwicklung eingebetteter Systeme

Zusammenfassung.   Der Beitrag stellt AutoFocus vor, einen Werkzeugprototyp zur Entwicklung verteilter, eingebetteter Systeme auf der Grundlage formaler Techniken. AutoFocus unterstützt die Systementwicklung mit integrierten, im wesentlichen graphischen Beschreibungstechniken, mit deren Hilfe sowohl unterschiedliche Sichten als auch verschiedene Abstraktionsebenen eines Systems beschrieben werden. Um konsistente und vollst?ndige Beschreibungen sicherzustellen, bietet AutoFocus die M?glichkeit, Konsistenzbedingungen zu formulieren und Systembeschreibungen daraufhin zu überprüfen. Aus ausführbaren Spezifikationen k?nnen Prototypen des entwickelten Systems erzeugt werden und in einer Simulationsumgebung ausgeführt und visualisiert werden. Zur formalen Verifikation von Systemeigenschaften verfügt AutoFocusüber Anbindungen an Modellprüfungswerkzeuge wie -cke oder SMV. Eingegangen am 23. Dezember 1998 / Angenommen am 16. Juni 1999     

Lernen mit Kernen Support-Vektor-Methoden zur Analyse hochdimensionaler Daten

Dieser Beitrag erl?utert neue Ans?tze und Ergebnisse der statistischen Lerntheorie. Nach einer Einleitung wird zun?chst das Lernen aus Beispielen vorgestellt und erkl?rt, dass neben dem Erkl?ren der Trainingdaten die Komplexit?t von Lernmaschinen wesentlich für den Lernerfolg ist. Weiterhin werden Kern-Algorithmen in Merkmalsr?umen eingeführt, die eine elegante und effiziente Methode darstellen, verschiedene Lernmaschinen mit kontrollierbarer Komplexit?t durch Kernfunktionen zu realisieren. Beispiele für solche Algorithmen sind Support-Vektor-Maschinen (SVM), die Kernfunktionen zur Sch?tzung von Funktionen verwenden, oder Kern-PCA (principal component analysis), die Kernfunktionen zur Extraktion von nichtlinearen Merkmalen aus Datens?tzen verwendet. Viel wichtiger als jedes einzelne Beispiel ist jedoch die Einsicht, dass jeder Algorithmus, der sich anhand von Skalarprodukten formulieren l?sst, durch Verwendung von Kernfunktionen nichtlinear verallgemeinert werden kann. Die Signifikanz der Kernalgorithmen soll durch einen kurzen Abriss einiger industrieller und akademischer Anwendungen unterstrichen werden. Hier konnten wir Rekordergebnisse auf wichtigen praktisch relevanten Benchmarks erzielen.     

Exploring the challenges in obtaining physical activity data from women using hip-worn accelerometers

Quality objective physical activity data are required to inform physical activity-based health improvement initiatives, however, various challenges undermine acquisition of such data. We examined the efficacy and challenges of a hip-worn accelerometry protocol in women. Specific objectives included determining accelerometer-wear-compliance rates and understanding the barriers and acceptability of wearing accelerometers. Healthy New Zealand women (n?=?406) of three ethnicities (Māori (indigenous New Zealander), Pacific, European) aged 16–45 years (30.9?±?8.7 y) wore hip-mounted Actigraph wGT3X+ accelerometers for 7 consecutive days under a 24-h wear protocol. Post hoc, a sub-sample (n?=?45; age: 29.4?±?9.0 y) was interviewed to investigate comfort/convenience and burdens of accelerometer-wear. Wear-compliance (≥10?h/day, ≥4 day) was 86%. European women returned more valid data (92.7%, p?<?.04) than Pacific (73.0%) or Māori women (82.1%). Twenty-two participants (5.4%) had completely missing data; 13 due to lost accelerometers. Burden of accelerometer-wear was greatest during sleeping (66.7%) due to discomfort. Embarrassment of accelerometer visibility through clothing and consequent restricted clothing choices caused high burden in social settings (45.2%). Discomfort during sleeping, embarrassment due to perceived appearance in social settings and ethnicity are key factors affecting the efficacy of collecting physical activity data from women using hip-worn accelerometers. Refining accelerometer design to reduce size and subsequently participant burden should improve acceptability and wear-compliance. Increasing overall participant compliance by reducing burden and ensuring appropriate understanding of study aims and relevance should reduce attrition and improve wear-compliance and data quality when collecting accelerometry data from women of different ethnicities.     

Reflections on working with virtual action learning

This paper brings together the reflections of the authors on their shared and individual experiences of virtual action learning. Whilst many conclusions are shared, there are also some points of difference in practices.     

“Read My Story!” Using the Early Authors Program to Promote Early Literacy Among Diverse,Urban Preschool Children in Poverty

This article evaluates the utility of the Early Authors Program, a 12-month early literacy intervention emphasizing highly meaningful language interactions that was implemented in childcare facilities in an ethnically and linguistically diverse, urban, low-income community. Children learn to be writers and readers by creating their own self-authored, storybook texts, supported by the sensitive guidance of adults. Children (n = 280) in 32 experimental group centers and children (n = 87) in 9 similar control group centers were individually assessed at pretest and posttest on measures of language and cognition. Teachers completed pretest and posttest surveys and interviews, and interventionists were also interviewed. 3- to 5-year-old children receiving the intervention, as predicted, made significantly greater gains than the control group specifically on the child language measures but not on other measures. The quality of the classroom literacy environment and teachers' literacy-promoting practices improved considerably in centers receiving the intervention. Teachers reported high satisfaction and sustainability for the program.     

CULTURALLY SITUATED EXPLORATIONS OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT: A HOME VISIT PROJECT FOR PROSPECTIVE EARL Y CHILDHOOD TEACHERS

As part of a child development course in an undergradute early childhood teacher preparation program, students completed a home visit project with a family of a culture other than their own. This report examines the assignment's effectiveness in helping students become aware of the cultural nature of human development and the role of the family in the child's growth and development. Student responses obtained through focus groups, papers, field notes, and course evaluations included 1) reflections on the nature of the experience; 2) reactions to the role of researcher in the home of relative strangers and 3) evaluation of the learning. Although students seem to have achieved some understanding of the role of family and culture, the further step of recognizing culture as fundamental to development was generally not an outcome of the present intervention.     

The Shifting Relationship between Vocational and Higher Education in France and Germany: towards convergence?

In Europe, the Bologna and Copenhagen Processes in higher education (HE) and vocational education and training (VET) are on the agenda, aiming to create a European educational area. Acknowledging important differences between countries, we compare the evolving relationship between HE and VET. We ask whether and how these two distinct organisational fields in France and Germany have changed in recent decades. Comparing institutional shifts, the article analyses whether long-standing differences in postsecondary education and training systems and the education/economy nexus in these two countries have remained stable. We argue that these countries’ skill formation systems have begun to converge, departing from their original institutionalisation paths. Thus, while the traditional typologies that contrast France and Germany have served as useful heuristic devices, they require revision to adequately represent incremental institutional change in these skill formation systems resulting from endogenous reforms and exogenous pressures due to Europeanisation.     

Manifest: Strategische Bedeutung des Software Engineering für die Medizin

Ohne Zusammenfassung