is the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for pub-lication in the following s... more is the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for pub-lication in the following source:
The number of students who travel abroad to study or are enrolled in a distance learning program ... more The number of students who travel abroad to study or are enrolled in a distance learning program outside their home country is growing. According to UNESCO, such students are called internationally mobile students (IMSs) and 5 destination countries accounted for almost 50% of IMSs: United States (18%), United Kingdom (11%), France (7%), Australia (6%), and Germany (5%). Internationalisation of the higher education has created the so-called borderless university, providing better opportunities for learning and increases the human and social sustainability. In this paper, we propose an online system to support transnational education (TNE) in Australia. This system will consist of both an online module and quiz, and an automated assistance module. The first part will ensure that students understand TNE-related potential problems, such as the importance of submission deadlines, and provide students early hints and help to avoid the TNE-related problems. The second part will provide ass...
Agent systems are used for a wide range of applications, and techniques to detect and avoid defec... more Agent systems are used for a wide range of applications, and techniques to detect and avoid defects in such systems are valuable. In particular, it is desirable to detect issues as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. We describe a technique for checking the plan structures of a BDI agent design against the requirements models, specified in terms of scenarios and goals. This approach is applicable at design time, not requiring source code. A lightweight evaluation demonstrates that a range of defects can be found using this technique.
In this paper we discuss various issues in the operational semantics of logic programs. Such issu... more In this paper we discuss various issues in the operational semantics of logic programs. Such issues include the need for an operational semantics, the relationship between the operational semantics and the declarative semantics (which can involve a signiicant amount of subtlety), and various approaches to solving the technical problems faced when dealing with non-determinism. Note: This paper is not intended as a complete survey of the eld, but as a position paper exploring some ideas. Comments are most welcome. One of the key features of the logic programming paradigm is that programs have a declarative semantics, i.e. one that is given in terms of models, interpretations , formulae, and other well understood mathematical constructs, and not in terms of a sequence of operations. As Kowalski's famous equation of Algorithm = Logic + Control indicates 4], we may separate what the program computes from how it is computed. In particular we can consider the successful ground goals as...
We describe and discuss the implementation of a new logic programming language called Lygon. This... more We describe and discuss the implementation of a new logic programming language called Lygon. This language is based on linear logic, a logic designed with bounded resources in mind. Linear logic may be thought of as a generalisation of classical logic, ...
Logic programming languages based on linear logic have been of recent interest, particularly as s... more Logic programming languages based on linear logic have been of recent interest, particularly as such languages provide a logical basis for programs which execute within a dynamic environment. Most of these languages are implemented using standard ...
The busy beaver problem is a well-known example of a non-computable function. In order to determi... more The busy beaver problem is a well-known example of a non-computable function. In order to determine a particular value of this function, it is necessary to generate and classify a large number of Turing machines. Previous work on this problem has described the processes used for the generation and classification of these machines, but unfortunately has generally not provided details of the machines considered. While there is no reason to doubt the veracity of the results known so far, it is difficult to accept such results as scientifically proven without being able to inspect the appropriate evidence. In addition, a list of machines and their classifications can be used for other results, such as variations on the busy beaver problem and related problems such as the placid platypus problem. In this paper we investigate how to generate classes of machines to be considered for the busy beaver problem. We discuss the relationship between quadruple and quintuple variants of Turing mach...
We extend our earlier work on quantifying the level of completeness of achievement goals in BDI a... more We extend our earlier work on quantifying the level of completeness of achievement goals in BDI agents [8], to encompass maintenance goals. We both characterize what it means for a maintenance goal to be partially complete in terms of its relevancy, and sketch an efficient computational mechanism for an agent to compute dynamic estimates of the progress of its maintenance goals. We also discuss the relationship between our computation of progress estimate with an earlier theoretical perspective on BDI goal completeness.
BDI agents often have to make decisions about which plan is used to achieve a goal, and in which ... more BDI agents often have to make decisions about which plan is used to achieve a goal, and in which order goals are to be achieved. In this paper we describe how to incorporate preferences (based on the LPP language) into the BDI execution model.
This research explores the effect of the use of laptop computers on students’ learning experience... more This research explores the effect of the use of laptop computers on students’ learning experiences during lectures. Our methodology involves embedding laptops with visualization software as a learning aid during lectures. We then employ a framework of seven principles of good practice in higher education to evaluate the impact of the use of laptop computers on the learning experience of computer programming students. Overall, we found that students were highly motivated and supportive of this innovative use of laptop computers with lectures.
In this work we extend a popular agent design methodology, Prometheus and improve the understanda... more In this work we extend a popular agent design methodology, Prometheus and improve the understandability and maintainability of requirements by automatically generating UML activity diagrams from existing requirements models; namely scenarios and goal hierarchies. The approach is general to all the methodologies that support similar notions in specifying requirements.
Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering
Requirements Engineering (RE) activities require intensive communication to capture clients' ... more Requirements Engineering (RE) activities require intensive communication to capture clients' requirements. As culture influences the way in which people communicate and interact, individuals' culture might influence the implementation of RE activities. In this paper, we discuss the differences between formal approach (using the framework we propose) and case-study-based approaches for the identification of cultural influences in RE. We compared the results of the application of our framework with the results of case studies conducted by other researchers from several cultures. The results showed that the framework provided a much higher degree of precision than expected: the framework identified almost all of the cultural influences mentioned in the identified cases studies. This provides evidence of the accuracy and validity of our framework, which can provide similar conclusions based on information about the cultures involved rather than in-depth analysis.
is the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for pub-lication in the following s... more is the author’s version of a work that was submitted/accepted for pub-lication in the following source:
The number of students who travel abroad to study or are enrolled in a distance learning program ... more The number of students who travel abroad to study or are enrolled in a distance learning program outside their home country is growing. According to UNESCO, such students are called internationally mobile students (IMSs) and 5 destination countries accounted for almost 50% of IMSs: United States (18%), United Kingdom (11%), France (7%), Australia (6%), and Germany (5%). Internationalisation of the higher education has created the so-called borderless university, providing better opportunities for learning and increases the human and social sustainability. In this paper, we propose an online system to support transnational education (TNE) in Australia. This system will consist of both an online module and quiz, and an automated assistance module. The first part will ensure that students understand TNE-related potential problems, such as the importance of submission deadlines, and provide students early hints and help to avoid the TNE-related problems. The second part will provide ass...
Agent systems are used for a wide range of applications, and techniques to detect and avoid defec... more Agent systems are used for a wide range of applications, and techniques to detect and avoid defects in such systems are valuable. In particular, it is desirable to detect issues as early as possible in the software development lifecycle. We describe a technique for checking the plan structures of a BDI agent design against the requirements models, specified in terms of scenarios and goals. This approach is applicable at design time, not requiring source code. A lightweight evaluation demonstrates that a range of defects can be found using this technique.
In this paper we discuss various issues in the operational semantics of logic programs. Such issu... more In this paper we discuss various issues in the operational semantics of logic programs. Such issues include the need for an operational semantics, the relationship between the operational semantics and the declarative semantics (which can involve a signiicant amount of subtlety), and various approaches to solving the technical problems faced when dealing with non-determinism. Note: This paper is not intended as a complete survey of the eld, but as a position paper exploring some ideas. Comments are most welcome. One of the key features of the logic programming paradigm is that programs have a declarative semantics, i.e. one that is given in terms of models, interpretations , formulae, and other well understood mathematical constructs, and not in terms of a sequence of operations. As Kowalski's famous equation of Algorithm = Logic + Control indicates 4], we may separate what the program computes from how it is computed. In particular we can consider the successful ground goals as...
We describe and discuss the implementation of a new logic programming language called Lygon. This... more We describe and discuss the implementation of a new logic programming language called Lygon. This language is based on linear logic, a logic designed with bounded resources in mind. Linear logic may be thought of as a generalisation of classical logic, ...
Logic programming languages based on linear logic have been of recent interest, particularly as s... more Logic programming languages based on linear logic have been of recent interest, particularly as such languages provide a logical basis for programs which execute within a dynamic environment. Most of these languages are implemented using standard ...
The busy beaver problem is a well-known example of a non-computable function. In order to determi... more The busy beaver problem is a well-known example of a non-computable function. In order to determine a particular value of this function, it is necessary to generate and classify a large number of Turing machines. Previous work on this problem has described the processes used for the generation and classification of these machines, but unfortunately has generally not provided details of the machines considered. While there is no reason to doubt the veracity of the results known so far, it is difficult to accept such results as scientifically proven without being able to inspect the appropriate evidence. In addition, a list of machines and their classifications can be used for other results, such as variations on the busy beaver problem and related problems such as the placid platypus problem. In this paper we investigate how to generate classes of machines to be considered for the busy beaver problem. We discuss the relationship between quadruple and quintuple variants of Turing mach...
We extend our earlier work on quantifying the level of completeness of achievement goals in BDI a... more We extend our earlier work on quantifying the level of completeness of achievement goals in BDI agents [8], to encompass maintenance goals. We both characterize what it means for a maintenance goal to be partially complete in terms of its relevancy, and sketch an efficient computational mechanism for an agent to compute dynamic estimates of the progress of its maintenance goals. We also discuss the relationship between our computation of progress estimate with an earlier theoretical perspective on BDI goal completeness.
BDI agents often have to make decisions about which plan is used to achieve a goal, and in which ... more BDI agents often have to make decisions about which plan is used to achieve a goal, and in which order goals are to be achieved. In this paper we describe how to incorporate preferences (based on the LPP language) into the BDI execution model.
This research explores the effect of the use of laptop computers on students’ learning experience... more This research explores the effect of the use of laptop computers on students’ learning experiences during lectures. Our methodology involves embedding laptops with visualization software as a learning aid during lectures. We then employ a framework of seven principles of good practice in higher education to evaluate the impact of the use of laptop computers on the learning experience of computer programming students. Overall, we found that students were highly motivated and supportive of this innovative use of laptop computers with lectures.
In this work we extend a popular agent design methodology, Prometheus and improve the understanda... more In this work we extend a popular agent design methodology, Prometheus and improve the understandability and maintainability of requirements by automatically generating UML activity diagrams from existing requirements models; namely scenarios and goal hierarchies. The approach is general to all the methodologies that support similar notions in specifying requirements.
Proceedings of the Evaluation and Assessment in Software Engineering
Requirements Engineering (RE) activities require intensive communication to capture clients' ... more Requirements Engineering (RE) activities require intensive communication to capture clients' requirements. As culture influences the way in which people communicate and interact, individuals' culture might influence the implementation of RE activities. In this paper, we discuss the differences between formal approach (using the framework we propose) and case-study-based approaches for the identification of cultural influences in RE. We compared the results of the application of our framework with the results of case studies conducted by other researchers from several cultures. The results showed that the framework provided a much higher degree of precision than expected: the framework identified almost all of the cultural influences mentioned in the identified cases studies. This provides evidence of the accuracy and validity of our framework, which can provide similar conclusions based on information about the cultures involved rather than in-depth analysis.
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Papers by James Harland