Empirical evaluation of an educational game on software measurement

Software measurement is considered important in improving the software process. However, teaching software measurement remains a challenging issue. Although, games and simulations are regarded powerful tools for learning, their learning effectiveness is not rigorously established. This paper describes the results of an explorative study to investigate the learning effectiveness of a game prototype on software measurement in order to make an initial judgment about its potential as an educational tool as well as to analyze its appropriateness, engagement and strengths & weaknesses as guidance for further evolution. Within the study, a series of experiments was conducted in parallel in three master courses in Brazil. Results of the study reveal that the participants consider the content and structure of the game appropriate, but no indication for a significant difference on learning effectiveness could be shown.

A micromachined vacuum triode using a carbon nanotube cold cathode

A fully integrated on-chip vacuum microtriode using carbon nanotubes as field emitters was constructed laterally on a silicon surface using microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) design and fabrication principles. Each electrode in the triode was made of a hinged polycrystalline silicon panel that could be rotated and locked into an upright position. The device was operated at a current density as high as 16 A/cm/sup 2/. Although the transconductance was measured only at 1.3 /spl mu/S, the dc output power delivered at the anode was almost 40 /spl times/ more than the power lost at the grid electrode. The technique combines high-performance nano-materials with mature solid-state fabrication technology to produce miniaturized power-amplifying vacuum devices in an on-chip form, which could potentially offer a route of integrating vacuum and solid-state electronics and open up new applications for "old-fashioned" vacuum tubes.     

Vinyl—a new blow molding polymer

Vinyl is used in a wide range of applications, not only in packaging but also in construction, automotive, and other areas. Vinyl (polyvinyl chloride, or PVC) has maintained a significant presence in some markets for more than 30 years. Yet vinyl is not necessarily on the downward leg of its product life cycle. New, more effective PVC blow molding compounds are being developed and introduced. These versatile new polymers are extending the life cycle of vinyl packaging into the 21st century. The long-standing success of vinyl in bottle applications is due to a number of key properties, including its chemical resistance, UV stability, low mold costs, design flexibility, low permeability, and aesthetics. In recent years, improved PVC compounds have created new growth markets for vinyl. Three important ones are hot-fill applications, personal care products, and bottled water. The potential of vinyl bottles to become a major factor in the fast-growing bottled water market is a particularly good example of the adaptability and versatility that make vinyl one of the most exciting “new” blow molding polymers.     

Hierarchical Structure and Word Strength Prediction of Mandarin Prosody

We use Stem-ML to build an automatic learning system for Mandarin prosody that allows us to make quantitative measurements of prosodic strengths. Stem-ML is a phenomenological model of the muscle dynamics and planning process that controls the tension of the vocal folds. Because Stem-ML describes the interactions between nearby tones or accents, we were able to use a highly constrained model with only one accent template for each lexical tone category, and a single prosodic strength per word. The model accurately reproduces the intonation of the speaker, capturing 87% of the variance of the speech's fundamental frequency, f ₀. The result reveals strong alternating metrical patterns in words, and suggests that the speaker uses word strength to mark a hierarchy of sentence, clause, phrase, and word boundaries.