36853578
Diagrams and Text as Computer Input
Diagrams are both natural and economical as a means of describing spatial objects and relationships. The use of relatively free-form diagrams as input to computer programs is potentially very attractive. However, understanding diagrams involves many of the same problems as understanding natural language: ambiguity of diagram elements and relationships, properties that are implicit rather than being explicitly shown, and the need to use context and world knowledge to resolve ambiguities. We describe a program, BEATRIX, that can understand textbook physics problems specified by a combination of English text and a diagram. The result of the understanding process is a unified internal model that represents information derived from both the text and the diagram. The process of interpreting diagram elements and relationships is described; a central problem is establishing coreference, that is, determining when parts of the text and diagram refer to the same object. Constraints supplied by the text, by the diagram, and by world knowledge are sued to reduce ambiguity of diagram elements until unique interpretations are obtained. Generalizations of these techniques to other diagram understanding tasks are discussed.
20629289
Interactions of Abstractions in Programming
Computer programs written by humans are largely composed of instances of well-understood data and procedural abstractions. Clearly, it should be possible to generate programs automatically by reuse of abstract components. However, despite much effort, the use of abstract components in building practical software remains limited. 
 
We argue that software components constrain and parameterize each other in complex ways. Commonly used means of parameterization of components are too simple to represent the multiple views of components used by human programmers. In order for automaticgen eration of application software from components to be successful, constraints between abstract components must be represented, propagated, and where possible satisfied by inference. 
 
A simple application program is analyzed in detail, and its abstract components and their interactions are identified. This analysis shows that even in a small program the abstractions are tightly interwoven in the code. We show how this code can be derived by composition of separate genericp rogram components using view types. Next we consider how the view types can be constructed from a minimal specification provided by the user.
46566017
Research Summary
Background Children’s school readiness has long been of interest to policymakers, educators and early childhood practitioners. Children from disadvantaged backgrounds (e.g., low-income and/or single parent households) enter school behind their more affluent peers on a range of academic and social outcomes (Brooks-Gunn & Duncan, 1997; Lee & Burkham, 2002; Reardon, 2011). This gap in school readiness emerges early, is evident even before kindergarten (Fryer & Levitt, 2004; Halle et al., 2009), and is predictive of academic trajectories through later schooling (Entwisle & Alexander, 1999). Concerns about these disparities in skills have focused state and federal efforts on initiatives to improve young children’s school readiness, such as through early care and education programs including Head Start, child care and public pre-kindergarten. These initiatives have also led to a proliferation of state early learning guidelines and kindergarten readiness assessments aimed at articulating and evaluating the set of skills and competencies young children need to prepare them for the increased challenges and demands of kindergarten and to succeed in later schooling (Scott-Little, Lesko, Martella, & Milburn, 2007; Stedron & Berger, 2010). Yet, the evidence base available to identify what these guidelines and standards should look like is quite thin. Despite theoretical reasons to believe that early skills are the foundation for later success, few studies have offered more than a piecemeal view of the relationship between specific school readiness skills and later academic, social and emotional outcomes. Research has not clearly articulated what children should know and be able to do by the time they reach kindergarten in order to participate in and benefit from learning in kindergarten and subsequent grades. ABOUT THIS RESEARCH BRIEF In 2009, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services funded Child Trends to conduct a review of the literature as well as plan and execute secondary data analyses to examine whether there is evidence of thresholds of school readiness which, when attained, predict skill acquisition in later schooling. This brief presents some of the key findings from this multi-year project entitled In the Running for Successful Outcomes: Early Education, Care and Comprehensive Services. (More information about the project is provided at the end of this brief). Staff in ASPE’s Division of Children and Youth Policy oversaw the project.