Małgorzata Plechawska-Wójcik

Using Deming cycle for strengthening cooperation between industry and university in IT engineering education program

European Qualification Framework (EQF) forces universities to strengthen the cooperation with industry. Although EQF guidelines were introduced as obligatory into Polish educational system this year, Lublin University of Technology (LUT) had opportunity to implement EQF outlines into educational program earlier, especially in area of cooperation with industry, thanks to educational project for reengineering of second level degree program in Computer Science. To improve the quality of the established cooperation and thus to strengthen it the Deming cycle was used. The paper presents the evaluation of LUT cooperation with industry made after the project. It also discusses gained experience. The main study method was the survey conducted among industry representatives. The survey was focused on three groups of ICT company employers: internships supervisors, MSc thesis industry consultants and high technical managers. The conclusions in research and the plan of those implementation to improve the cooperation between ICT industry and LUT in the Computer Science education field are presented as well.

Methods and technologies for quality improving of student team software projects

Today IT systems need to fulfill requirements of a client, but they also need to be reliable and free from faults. The quality of IT projects depends on many factors and attributes. This paper emphasizes the role of student team projects in software engineering education. In particular the paper describes the importance of encouraging students to improve software development process as well as software quality. Presented method was evaluated using anonymous survey.

Contribution of international seminars on computer science to education adjustment on European IT industry market

The article presents the role of international seminars in the educational process. Seminars are conducted on the computer science master degree program. Traditional ways of teaching, like lectures, laboratories and projects needs to be supplemented to make the educational offer interesting and to cover today students needs. The European IT market is changing and developing fast. It also spread rapidly and new branches are developed. Supporting ways of teaching, like international seminars enable students to learn about new technologies, applications, methods and solutions used and spread on abroad universities and markets. Moreover, such seminars help students to develop soft skills, establish new personal contacts and experience cooperation with abroad teachers. All those aspects enable students to orient themselves in the possibilities of study and work abroad. This study is concentrated on the aspects of communication, understanding content in foreign languages and obtaining knowledge in presented subject. What is more students expectation about the theoretical and practical knowledge quality, learning experience, teachers skills and knowledge are evaluated. Additionally the influence of seminars on participation in student exchange programs is tested. The seminars described in the article were conducted by the educational project “A graduate of our time” granted by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education. The project covers creation of new specialisations for the Computer Science Master Degree program in Lublin University of Technology.

Cognitive inconsistency in bipolar patients is determined by increased intra-individual variability in initial phase of task performance

BACKGROUND Bipolar patients show high intra-individual variability during cognitive processing. However, it is not known whether there are a specific fluctuations of variability contributing to the overall high cognitive inconsistency. The objective was to compare dynamic profiles of patients and healthy controls to identify hypothetical differences and their associations with overall variability and processing speed. METHODS Changes of reaction times iSD during processing speed test performance over time was measured by dividing the iSD for whole task into four consecutive parts. Motor speed and cognitive effort were controlled. RESULTS Patients with BD exhibited significantly lower results regarding processing speed and higher intra-individual variability comparing with HC. The profile of intra-individual variability changes over time of performance was significantly different in BD versus HC groups: F(3, 207)=8.60, p<0.0001, ηp2=0.11. iSD of BD patients in the initial phase of performance was three times higher than in the last. There was no significant differences between four intervals in HC group. Inter-group difference in the initial part of the profiles was significant also after controlling for several cognitive and clinical variables. LIMITATIONS Applied computer version of Cognitive Speed Test was relatively new and, thus, replication studies are needed. Effect seen in the present study is driven mainly by the BD type I. CONCLUSIONS Patients with BD exhibits problems with setting a stimulus-response association in starting phase of cognitive processing. This deficit may negatively interfere with the other cognitive functions, decreasing level of psychosocial functioning, therefore should be explored in future studies.

Quality improvement of ERP system GUI using expert method: A case study

The paper presents a case study of GUI quality improvement procedure. The procedure was used during development of GUI for Sale Force Automation (SFA) application as a part of ERP system. The paper outlines: the used methodology, GUI evaluation process, the SFA application description as well as the most important remarks concerning GUI. Moreover, the general recommendation and conclusions are listed.

An analysis of eye-tracking and electroencephalography data for cognitive load measurement during arithmetic tasks

The paper presents multiple features analysis of cognitive load case study. The set of features applied in the research covers response times, committed errors, EEG spectral data as well as pupillometry and eye-tracking (ET) data including fixations, saccades and blinks. The experiment took the form of eleven intervals: six containing arithmetic tasks and five breaks. Two correlation analyses were performed. The first one aimed in finding correlation between cognitive measure, EEG and ET features in each interval. The second analysis was performed to find correlation of cognitive workload and EEG and ET features. The results proved that the best cognitive workload measures are selected eye movement and pupil dilation measures.

Comparison of the ICA and PCA methods in correction of EEG signal artefacts

The paper presents application and comparison of two methods based on the blind source separation problem: Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Independent Component Analysis (ICA) as well as combining these methods. Both methods might be applied in the task of eliminating artefacts from the electroencefalography (EEG) signal. Such artefacts might cover eye-blinks, muscle artefacts etc. The case study described in the paper presents the results of correcting various kinds of artefacts using these methods and its comparison to manual artefact detection performed by an expert.

Appling of Neural Networks to Classification of Brain-Computer Interface Data

The paper presents application of neural networks to the construction of a brain-computer interface (BCI) based on the Motor Imagery paradigm. The BCI was constructed for ten electroencephalographic (EEG) signals collected and analysed in real time.The filtered signals were divided into three groups corresponding to the information displayed to users on the screen during the experiments. ANOVA analysis and automatic construction of a neural network (NN) classification were also performed. Results of the ANOVA analysis were confirmed by the neural networks efficiency analysis. The efficiency of NN classification of the left and right hemisphere activities reached almost 70 %.

Synergy effect in GUI usability and accessibility education improvement

The paper presents a synergy effect achieved through knowledge and experience exchange in the field of Graphical User Interface (GUI) usability and accessibility among Leonardo da Vinci Partnerships project partners. The main aim of the project is curricula and teaching materials development in the usability and accessibility of computer applications area. Partner universities join their potential in order to achieve the planned results.

The Artifact Subspace Reconstruction (ASR) for EEG Signal Correction. A Comparative Study

The paper presents the results of a comparative study of the artifact subspace re-construction (ASR) method and two other popular methods dedicated to correct EEG artifacts: independent component analysis (ICA) and principal component analysis (PCA). The comparison is based on automatic rejection of EEG signal epochs performed on a dataset of motor imagery data. ANOVA results show a significantly better level of artifact correction for the ASR method. What is more, the ASR method does not cause serious signal loss compared to other methods.