Frances L. Van Scoy

Haptic Display of Mathematical Functions for Teaching Mathematics to Students with Vision Disabilities: Design and Proof of Concept

The design and initial implementation of a system for constructing a haptic model of a mathematical function for exploration using a PHANToM are described. A user types the mathematical function as a Fortran arithmetic expression and the system described here carves the trace of the function onto a virtual block of balsa wood. Preliminary work in generating music which describes the function has begun.

Broadcasting multiple messages in a grid

Abstract The problem of broadcasting in grid graphs is discussed. Two algorithms for broadcasting m messages in an n × n grid are given. These algorithms require time max (n+ 5 2 m−1 , 2 n +2 m −4) and time 2 n + 5 2 m − 4. An algorithm for broadcasting m messages in an n × n × n grid which requires time 3 n + 10 3 m + 2 is presented. It is conjectured that similar algorithms exist for d -dimensional grids which require time dn + ( d 2 + 1)/ dm + constant.

Using Cellular Automata to Determine Bounds for Measuring the Efficiency of Broadcast Algorithms in Highly Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

The proliferation of mobile computing devices in recent years has produced an increased interest in the development of efficient methods of communication among these devices. As networked mobile devices move, the configurations of the networks of which they are a part change and if the time between these changes is short enough then conventional routing algorithms are no longer useful. This paper describes the use of cellular automata to model message broadcasting among autonomous agents in highly mobile ad hoc networks. The advantages offered by using this method to study the problem are discussed and an upper bound on the time steps required by a “reasonable” broadcast algorithm is derived.

Developing an Undergraduate Software Engineering Curriculum within an Existing Computer Science Program

This paper proposes an evolutionary approach for developing an undergraduate software engineering program within an existing computer science program. The proposed approach is evolutionary because of the fairly common university requirement that a new program must already have some identifiable courses, students, faculty, and other resources before it is formally approved. The approach consists of five steps and has two main goals: a gradual establishment of an undergraduate software engineering program and the introduction of key software engineering concepts within an undergraduate computer science program which now exists and will continue to exist.

Developing software for parallel computing systems

Abstract In recent years parallel computing systems based on a collection of a modest number (generally in the range of 16 to 1024) relatively high powered processors (such as those used in scientific workstations) have become commercially available. The current systems software for these computing systems requires that programmers use special techniques to benefit from the improved computing speed of the systems. When converting programs that have been written for conventional sequential or vector systems to one of the new parallel systems, programmers must be aware of the paradigms of parallel computing and the primitive operations used by the new system. This paper lays the foundation for converting old code to parallel code by describing two paradigms of parallel computing: data parallel and message passing. Some primitive operations of these two paradigms are described and illustrated by examples from existing languages, and a few examples of data parallel code are given.

Enabling collaboration in high performance computing

The West Virginia Cluster Computing Grid (WVCCG) Project is focused on enabling, enhancing, and supporting high performance computing-based research and education throughout the state of West Virginia. The goal of this National Science Foundation funded project is to provide educators and researchers access to moderate-cost computational resources. This goal was met by deploying production quality cluster computing resources at five small state colleges and universities, which in the future will connect to larger resources at a research university and a non-profit research organization. These resources allow the colleges to integrate high performance computing into their curriculum and become a part of a larger research community. This paper discusses the challenges and triumphs of such a project and details the educational and research initiatives undertaken by this group. The partners in this effort are the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation, West Virginia University, Fairmont State University, Alderson-Broaddus College, Wheeling Jesuit University, Davis and Elkins College, and West Virginia State College.

Everything you ever wanted to know about software engineering education, but were afraid to ask (panel)

In this panel, we will address questions on software engineering education that are voted on by the conference attendees in advance of the session. A sample set of questions will be posted. Conference attendees who will then vote on the questions to be addressed by the panel will augment these. After the panellists provide answers to a given question, the discussion will be opened up for follow-up questions or comments by the conference attendees.

Development and distribution of Ada courseware

Ada courseware products are being developed under Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) and Ada Joint Program Office (AJPO) contracts with more than 50 colleges, universities, and other organizations. ASSET and West Virginia University are evaluating and cataloging courseware products for electronic distribution over the Internet. This panel has representatives from the developers, evaluators, and distributors. Panel members will discuss their involvement in the process, the issues they addressed, and the benefits to the ultimate consumers. Because many of the assets we are processing are given to us by faculty who are not contractually obligated to provide them, we have been unable to enforce a standard format for the assets. The result is that we have received assets compressed by many different compression schemes. (We’ve been surprised at the amount of effort it has required to obtain a set of tools for uncompressing the various formats.) Other authors have provided us with either diskettes or pointers to ftp sites containing hundreds of f&s arranged in a complex subdirectory structure which has taken us significant time to move to our computing system DEVELOPMENT

Where have the women gone and how do we keep them from going? (panel)

When only one female student joined our Introduction to Structured Programming course in the Fall of 1993 and was gone by midterm, I became alarmed! During the last several years, our enrollment in Computer Science has attracted fewer and fewer females. I believe the lack of interest of female students to be a serious problem that needs to be addressed by educators. For this reason I have assembled a panel of educators who will share their ideas as to why this is happening and inform us of their efforts to counteract this gender imbalance.

Bridging the Gaps

Introduction By the year 2020, the international eye care community hopes to have eliminated avoidable blindness as a public health problem. The global partnership, VISION 2020: The Right to Sight, has provided a focus for all concerned (from international policy makers to village level health workers), identified five priority eye conditions, and clarified the key components to achieve this purpose.1,2 However, as Daniel Etya’ale, co-ordinator for VISION 2020 in Africa points out, there is still a big gap between what needs to be done and what is being done and he estimates that currently hardly 20 per cent of the current needs in Africa are being met. On a more optimistic note, there has been a move towards closer and more functional partnerships between professional groups, governments, NGOs and industry.