Computing Machinery Research Articles

10th Anniversary Special Issue: From Fringe to Mainstream—We Have Come a Long Way

10th Anniversary Special Issue: From Fringe to Mainstream—We Have Come a Long Way

Reinforcing and Enhancing Understanding of Students in Learning Computer Architecture

Introduction Computer Engineering studies combine two different fields of knowledge: hardware and software. Computer Engineering deals mainly with computer architecture and begins with the hardware-software hierarchy level of abstraction from digital logic, whereas Electrical Engineering deals with hardware below this level of abstraction--from silicon layers, to transistors, logic gate implementation, and digital logic. The border between the two is rarely dealt with. In the integrative concept, one wishes to strengthen the synergism between these two worlds, and to emphasize the importance of studying Computer Architecture to studies, and especially Assembly Language. Curriculum development requires that the developers engage in analysis and decision-making concerning the required number of software and hardware courses studied and concerning the dependency between the two. This is essential in order to define the proper order in acquiring knowledge. As the ACM--Association for Computer Machinery (2004) declared in ACM/IEEE Joint Task Force on Computing Curricula, Students need to understand computer architecture in order to structure a program so that it runs more efficiently on a real machine. In selecting a system to use, they should be able to understand the trade off among various components, such as CPU clock speed vs. memory size. The aim of the research presented here was to review the curriculum in order to improve its coverage, with the goal of better preparing graduates to pursue a wider range of professional careers, as recommended by McGettrick et al. (2003). The paper in organized as follows: the rest of this section presents the program of a newly founded Engineering program and focuses on the characteristics of computer architecture topics and teaching approaches. The next section describes the goal of the research and the experimental framework and the third section details the methodology. The results are presented in the fourth section. The final section summarizes the conclusions and examines the perspectives. Computer Engineering Undergraduate Studies In this section, the authors present the concept of a new Computer Engineering (CE) program that was implemented in the newly founded School of Engineering at Bar-Ilan University in Israel. The concept includes a description of the basic ideas concerning the structure of the CE Department, its organization, the CE curriculum, issues concerning teaching and research, the infrastructure of the laboratories, ideas of assessment, and organization of the final project. Establishing a new Engineering Department has always been considered as a challenge. In particular, regarding a Computer Engineering (CE) Department, this challenge is even greater for a number of reasons: (a) the high prestige of computer-related professions in today's society; (b) rapid development of new information technologies and the appearance of corresponding innovative teaching strategies and new learning environments including laboratory infrastructures; (c) the great influence of the modern high-tech industry on the content of the engineering curriculum. At the same time, the challenge is also motivated by the need to distinguish the CE studies from the Computer Science studies, which are widely known and have been intensively developed during the last decades. More specifically, two main dilemmas have to be resolved when developing a new Computer Engineering Curriculum. 1) The Theory vs. Practice dilemma that deals with a compromise between fundamental studies, which are oriented toward basic academic subjects based on classical science and engineering university studies, and industry oriented studies based on rapidly changing computing and information innovations. 2) The Programming vs. Designing dilemma that deals with the compromises between programming as the main computing skill and designing as the more subject-oriented professional skill. …

Validation of a fornix depth measurer: a putative tool for the assessment of progressive cicatrising conjunctivitis

Background/aimsDocumentation of conjunctival forniceal foreshortening in cases of progressive cicatrising conjunctivitis (PCC) is important in ascertaining disease stage and progression. Lower fornix shortening is often documented subjectively or semi-objectively, whereas...

The imitation game

This issue of the Kybernetes journal is concerned with the philosophical question Can a Machine Think? Famously, in his 1950 paper ‘Computing Machinery and Intelligence’ [11], the British mathematician Alan Turing suggested replacing this question which he found “too meaningless to deserve discussion” with a simple [behaviourial] test based on an imagined Victorian-esque pastime he entitled the ‘imitation game’. In this special issue of Kybernetes a selection of authors with a special interest in Turing’s work (including those who participated in the 2008 AISB symposium on the Turing test) have been invited to explore and clarify issues arising from Turing’s 1950 paper on the imitation game; now more widely known as the Turing test. As early as 1941 Turing was thinking about machine intelligence [3] specifically how computing machines could solve problems by searching through the space of possible problem solutions guided by heuristic principles. And in 1947 Turing gave what is perhaps the earliest public lecture on machine intelligence at the Royal Astronomical Society, London. Subsequently, in 1948, following a year’s sabbatical at Cambridge, Turing completed a report for the UK’s National Physical Laboratory on his research into machine intelligence, entitled Intelligent Machinery [10]. Although not published contemporaneously, the report is notable for predicting many core themes which eventually emerged from the yet nascent science of machine intelligence: Expert Systems; Connectionism; Evolutionary Algorithms; but most intriguingly of all in the context of this special issue, the report offers perhaps the earliest version of the imitation game / Turing test. Turing presents this original version as follows:

Design of an Information Technology Undergraduate Program to Produce IT Versatilists

This paper attempts to present a model for designing an IT undergraduate program that is based on the recommendations of the Association for Computer Machinery/ Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Information Technology (ACM/IEEE – IT) Curriculum Model. The main intent is to use the ACM/IEEE – IT Curriculum Model’s recommendations as a guide to design an IT curriculum that includes the IT knowledge core, general requirements beyond the IT knowledge core, and advanced courses. In addition, the recommendations are used to ensure quality standards of the curriculum. In the process, the model takes advantage of ACM/IEEE – IT Curriculum Model’s recommendations to design an undergraduate IT program that produces IT versatilists. Morello (2005) stated that IT professionals are no longer referred to as specialists or generalists. In today’s business world, these professionals are IT versatilists. They not only have technical abilities, but they also possess expertise in multiple domains within organizations. Versatility of IT professionals plays an important role in today’s organizations for achieving competitive tasks. The model consists of two phases. Phase I encompasses the design of the framework for the IT program. It includes four components: formulating program mission, considering program accreditation, establishing program career goals, and establishing program competencies. Phase II focuses on the design of specific courses in the curriculum and includes the designing the IT foundational courses and the designing the advanced IT courses. It supports the foundational work of Phase I. Phase II takes advantage of putting together a curriculum that produces IT versatilists. It includes the body of knowledge and the general requirements. It also includes advanced courses within and beyond the IT domain to provide strength to the curriculum. This paper begins with introductory remarks that include an explanation of IT versatilists and the purpose of the paper. A review of the literature about the IT curriculum is presented following a brief discussion of the ACM/IEEE - IT Curriculum Model 2008. Next, the model is presented. It describes the design of an undergraduate IT program based on the ACM/IEEE - IT Curriculum Model’s recommendations. The model uses the undergraduate IT program at Macon States’ School of Information Technology as an example. Conclusion and recommendations complete the paper.

Proximal Knowledge‐based Classification

AbstractPrior knowledge over general nonlinear sets is incorporated into proximal nonlinear kernel classification problems as linear equalities. The key tool in this incorporation is the conversion of general nonlinear prior knowledge implications into linear equalities in the classification variables without the need to kernelize these implications. These equalities are then included into a proximal nonlinear kernel classification formulation (G. Fung and O. L. Mangasarian, Proximal support vector machine classifiers, in Proceedings KDD‐2001: Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, F. Provost and R. Srikant (eds), San Francisco, CA, New York, Association for Computing Machinery) that is solvable as a system of linear equations. Effectiveness of the proposed formulation is demonstrated on a number of publicly available classification datasets. Nonlinear kernel classifiers for these datasets exhibit marked improvements upon the introduction of nonlinear prior knowledge compared with nonlinear kernel classifiers that do not utilize such knowledge. Copyright © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Statistical Analysis and Data Mining 1: 000‐000, 2009

Domain Mapping of the Polycystin-2 C-terminal Tail Using de Novo Molecular Modeling and Biophysical Analysis

In polycystic kidney disease (PKD), polycystin-2 (PC2) is frequently mutated or truncated in the C-terminal cytoplasmic tail (PC2-C). The currently accepted model of PC2-C consists of an EF-hand motif overlapping with a short coiled coil; however, this model fails to explain the mechanisms by which PC2 truncations C-terminal to this region lead to PKD. Moreover, direct PC2 binding to inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor, KIF3A, and TRPC1 requires residues in PC2-C outside this region. To address these discrepancies and investigate the role of PC2-C in PC2 function, we performed de novo molecular modeling and biophysical analysis. De novo molecular modeling of PC2-C using the ROBETTA server predicts two domains as follows: an EF-hand motif (PC2-EF) connected by a linker to a previously unidentified C-terminal coiled coil (PC2-CC). This model differs substantially from the current model and correlates with limited proteolysis, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectroscopy, N-terminal sequencing, and improved coiled coil prediction algorithms. PC2-C is elongated and oligomerizes through PC2-CC, as measured by analytical ultracentrifugation and size exclusion chromatography, whereas PC2-EF is globular and monomeric. We show that PC2-C and PC2-EF have micromolar affinity for calcium (Ca2+) by isothermal titration calorimetry and undergo Ca2+-induced conformational changes by circular dichroism. Mutation of predicted EF-hand loop residues in PC2 to alanine abolishes Ca2+ binding. Our results suggest that PC2-CC is involved in PC2 oligomerization, and PC2-EF is a Ca2+-sensitive switch. PKD-associated PC2 mutations are located in regions that may disrupt these functions, providing structural insight into how PC2 mutations lead to disease.

Trade, foreign firms and economic policy in Indonesian and Thai manufacturing

This paper first examines the rapid growth and changing composition of manufactured exports in Indonesia and Thailand, highlighting the rapid growth of office and computer machinery and electric machinery, somewhat slower growth of non-electric and transportation machinery, as well as the low growth of previously large exports of textiles apparel. Second, the important contributions of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) to export growth in the machinery industries, particularly in electric, office, and computing machinery, are documented. Third, the paper describes trade policies in all these industries in some detail, emphasizing how low protection was a key facilitator of rapid export growth in the MNEs that dominated the electric, office, and computing machinery industry, while high protection reduced incentives to export among MNEs in the transportation machinery industry.

Interview with Jim Thatcher, winner of the 2008 SIGCAS Making a Difference Award

On March 28, 2008, the Association for Computer Machinery's Special Interest Group for Computers and Society (ACM SIGCAS) conferred the 2008 Making a Difference Award on Dr. Jim Thatcher. Dr. Thatcher's work in the area of assistive technologies has spanned four decades, and has enabled many blind and visually impaired individuals throughout the world to expand their use of computers in their daily lives. This summer, I had the opportunity to talk with Dr. Thatcher about his extraordinary career and this acknowledgement he has received from the ACM. --- MN

Prized Programs Need Both Eyes and Ears

In the online News story “Play it again, robot” (21 March, Gonzo Scientist series, [www.sciencemag.org/sciext/gonzoscientist/][1]), J. Bohannon imprecisely described the Turing test as a chat-only test. In his seminal article “Computing machinery and intelligence” ([1][2]), Turing used the

Forum

forum Share on Forum Editor: Diane Crawford Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NYView Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 51Issue 6June 2008 pp 9–11https://doi.org/10.1145/1349026.1349029Published:01 June 2008Publication History 0citation392DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads392Last 12 Months23Last 6 weeks2 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my Alerts New Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Introduction

The Schubmehl-Prein Competition is open each year to high school juniors. The firstplace prize is $1,000, the second-place prize is $500, and the third-place prize is $250. Winning entries have also traditionally been published in the Association for Computing Machinery's Computers and Society online magazine.

Forum

forum Share on Forum Editor: Diane Crawford Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NYView Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 51Issue 1January 2008 pp 7–9https://doi.org/10.1145/1327452.1327458Published:01 January 2008Publication History 1citation586DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations1Total Downloads586Last 12 Months14Last 6 weeks0 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Business Informatics: An Engineering Perspective on Information Systems

Over the last three decades many universities have offered various programmes related to Infor-mation Systems. However, the rapid changes in recent years demand constant evaluation and modification of education programmes. Recent challenges include, for instance, the move to-wards programmes that are more applied and professionally-orientated. The Bologna Declaration in Europe with its three level study structure as well as the increasing pressure to ensure funding within most departments adds further pressure to many universities. Despite attempts being made to provide reference to curricula and guidelines, many universities and faculties struggle with the proper direction and design of the information systems curricula. Common reference curricula related to information systems are, for example: the IS 2002; Cur-riculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in information systems; the MSIS 2000: Model Curriculum and Guidelines for Graduate Degree Programs in Information Systems. Al-though these guidelines have existed for many years, many discussions and disagreements exist on the content and direction of information systems curricula and information systems as a disci-pline. Recently a joint task force of the Association for Computing Machinery and Association of Information Systems is aiming at revising the IS 2002 undergraduate curriculum (Topi et al., 2007). At the same time we are experiencing decreasing enrolments in information system pro-grammes worldwide (Granger, Dick, Luftman, Slyke, & Watson, 2007). This article views information systems study programmes from an engineering perspective and presents a framework for structuring information systems programmes within Europe. We amal-gamated the IS 2002 and MSIS 2000 model curriculum with a recommendation for studying business informatics, published from the German Society for Informatics (Gesellschaft fur Infor-matik, 2003). The framework was used to identify differences between selected study pro-grammes currently in place for information systems curricula. For the study we selected two his-torically different educational systems: the United Kingdom and Ireland as representative for the Anglophone area and Germany, Austria, and Switzerland as representative of a continental Euro-pean approach. We collected data from 20 Universities and classified the studied subject areas along our framework. Our results show that even in the context of the Bologna Declaration and common credit transfer systems, the study programmes nation-ally and internationally remain very di-verse. Indeed, this makes comparisons between study programmes difficult to ascertain. The analysis reveals indica-tions that the controversy in information

Editorial

Editorial

Geek Chic

This article explores the relationship between computer gamers and their machines in an effort to characterize cultural attitudes toward the materiality of information technology. Whereas dominant culture desires a world in which information technology performs seamlessly within the fabric of everyday life, case-modding gamers prefer to foreground both their computer machinery and their virtuosity in its manipulation. Instead of desiring the disappearance of machines into the background of a world that those machines produce, case modders revel in, and indeed identify with, the material guts of their computer systems. This machine aesthetic is explored further in the context of the LAN party, where the case modders' machines become as much of a spectacle as the games on the screen.

Forum

article Share on Forum Editor: Diane Crawford Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NYView Profile Authors Info & Claims Communications of the ACMVolume 50Issue 6June 2007 pp 7–9https://doi.org/10.1145/1247001.1247014Published:01 June 2007Publication History 0citation918DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations0Total Downloads918Last 12 Months21Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my Alerts New Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteGet Access

Feminist Activist Art, a Roundtable Forum, August 24?31, 2005

Mary Flanagan is a game designer, artist, and media theorist based in New York City who leads the Tiltfactor research group at Hunter College. Flanagan's artwork has been shown internationally at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, ACM SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques), Ars Electronica, the Moving Image Centre in Auckland, ARCO Madrid, and the Guggenheim. She is author or co-editor of three books, including a book on the popular Sims? game.

Curve Fitting in Architecture

It used to be popular to draw geometric figures on images of paintings or buildings, and to propose them as an “analysis” of the observed work, but the tradition lost some credit due to exaggerated (golden section) interpretations. So, how sure can an art or mathematics teacher be when he wants to propose the profile of a nuclear plant as an example of a hyperboloid, or proportions in paintings as an illustration of the presence of number series? Or, if Gaudi intended to show chain curves in his work, can the naked eye actually notice the difference between these curves and parabolas? The present paper suggests applying the “least squares method”, developed in celestial mechanics and since applied in various fields, to art and architecture, especially since modern software makes computational difficulties nonexistent. Some prefer jumping immediately to modern computer machinery for visual recognition, but such mathematical overkill may turn artistic minds further away from the (beloved!) tradition of geometric interpretations.

A Review of the Impact of ACM Code of Conduct on Information Technology Moral Judgment and Intent

One of the most widely recognized code of ethics in information technology (IT) is the ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Code of Ethics. Adopted in 1992, the code covers many of the key ethical areas that are encountered in information technology practice. But this code has been lightly studied in the literature, including its recognition and its acceptance. Likewise, its effectiveness in influencing moral intent has not previously been established. This manuscript reviews selected key statements from the ACM Code of Ethics to determine the level of agreement with these statements. The surveyed group includes IT students, faculty, and staff. In general, agreement on all issues is found, though varying in degree. Next, the study analyzes the relationship between ACM code agreement and ethical intent. The relationships in nearly all cases are positive and significant. Finally, it examines the influence this code has among participants in a hypothetical hostile work situation. Specifically, it examines moral intent when a supervisor recommends an action directly contrary to the code. The difference between actions in a hostile situation versus no supervisor influence is found to be significant in some cases.