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The article discusses two computer science research papers concerning artificial intelligence (AI). Topics explored include the susceptibility of deep convolutional neural networks to input pertubations acknowledged in the 2013 study "Intriguing Properties of Neural Networks," by Christian Szegedy and colleagues, and the capability of sequence-to-sequence language models to execute short computer programs reported in the 2014 study "Learning to Execute," by Wojciech Zaremba and Ilya Sutskever.

The existence of AI application examples is by itself an admirable achievement of engineers and professionals working on them, and certainly there is an interest to move forward to design AI algorithms to make it write proficiently with originality. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become a trendy topic through advertisements, notes and even warnings about it, claiming that it can be used to answer almost any kind of question. Generating new content requires that AI conduct research work starting from, in principle, human proposed hypothesis, and then getting analyzable results to formulate conclusions. [Extracted from the article]

Reproducibility, the ability to reproduce the results of published papers or studies using their computer code and data, is a cornerstone of reliable scientific methodology. Studies where results cannot be reproduced by the scientific community should be treated with caution. Over the past decade, the importance of reproducible research has been frequently stressed in a wide range of scientific journals such as Nature and Science and international magazines such as The Economist. However, multiple studies have demonstrated that scientific results are often not reproducible across research areas such as psychology and medicine. Statistics, the science concerned with developing and studying methods for collecting, analyzing, interpreting and presenting empirical data, prides itself on its openness when it comes to sharing both computer code and data. In this article, we examine reproducibility in the field of statistics by attempting to reproduce the results in 93 published papers in prominent journals using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data during the 2010–2021 period. Overall, from both the computer code and the data perspective, among all the 93 examined papers, we could only reproduce the results in 14 (15.1%) papers, that is, the papers provide both executable computer code (or software) with the real fMRI data, and our results matched the results in the paper. Finally, we conclude with some author-specific and journal-specific recommendations to improve the research reproducibility in statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades, digital flashcards – that is, computer programmes, smartphone apps, and online services that mimic, and potentially improve upon, the capabilities of traditional paper flashcards – have grown in variety and popularity. Many digital flashcard platforms allow learners to make or use flashcards from a variety of sources and customise the way in which flashcards are used. Yet relatively little is known about why and how students actually use digital flashcards during self-regulated learning, and whether such uses are supported by research from the science of learning. To address these questions, we conducted a large survey of undergraduate students (n = 901) at a major U.S. university. The survey revealed insights into the popularity, acquisition, and usage of digital flashcards, beliefs about how digital flashcards are to be used during self-regulated learning, and differences in uses of paper versus digital flashcards, all of which have implications for the optimisation of student learning. Overall, our results suggest that college students commonly use digital flashcards in a manner that only partially reflects evidence-based learning principles, and as such, the pedagogical potential of digital flashcards remains to be fully realised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Abstract: The paper describes a system for executable papers for publishers enabling them to reuse content and to generate further advances of science and engineering. The executable algorithmic descriptions within a paper are presented in natural language sentences and basic code, thereby making long term compatibility absolute. Authors are required to use publicly numerical libraries on the Internet or references to publications with executable papers. As used by authors the system automatically creates a web of algorithmic knowledge on the Internet. Novelty of new algorithms in publications can be evaluated by automated tools available to authors, reviewers and readers of scientific papers published. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Adessowiki is a collaborative platform for scientific programming and document writing. It is a wiki environment that carries simultaneously documentation, programming code and results of its execution without any software con- figuration such as compilers, libraries and special tools at the client side. This combination of a collaborative wiki environment, central server and execution of code at rendering time enables the use of Adessowiki as an executable paper platform, since it fulfills the need to disseminate, validate, and archive research data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article presents the results of a research in the classroom in the subject Programming I, initial course of computer programming in Systems Engineering and Computing. The research pretend to approach the impact of two methodologies of problem solving based on programming logic and the use of programming languages for its implementation. We use a qualitative perspective, as far as the students' performance as programmers, and quantitative, in what corresponds to the qualification of the written evaluations. It has been used to structure two parallel courses, using different methodologies for solving programming problems. With the first group, a methodology was implemented based on the conceptual resolution of these problems using solutions on paper and with the other one we use resolution of problems based on the intensive use of the computer. The results show a very interesting trend that allows us to make some important inferences regarding the promotion of logic and the approach of solutions in the paper against the use of the computer and the deepening in the purely technological knowledge. Conclusions leave open doors of the discussion about the different and possible ways that the students of programming to appropriate, assimilate and apply the own knowledge of this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having students write programs is the best method to test students programming ability. Most of the time these tests are administered via paper and pencil whereas the homework is completed using a computer and compiler. So why not use a computer and compiler to administer programming tests? This article describes an experiment done in a Java Programming class where both methods of testing were compared. There was no significant difference in students' scores between the two types of testing, but there was a significant difference in the time it took students to complete the test. It took than much longer to complete the test using a computer and compiler. Students were surveyed and they unanimously preferred the computer and compiler method of testing even though it took them longer to complete the test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to assess the extent to which text-mining techniques can be used to gain insights into a particular topic area, we apply hierarchical word clustering and the Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) measure to articles on computer programming published since the 1970s, when research articles on teaching programming are now more readily available in PDF files. Study 1 compares two sets of papers published before and after the introduction of the concept of Computational Thinking in 2006 to highlight the changes seen in these research sets. Articles mentioned in frequently cited review papers were selected as the target articles to ensure the quality of the sample. Study 2 extends the sample pool to include a range of papers published after the 1970s, allowing us to examine the stability of the conceptual structures identified in Study 1. In both studies, the obtained word clusters or concepts align with known research trends in the programming-education literature. The significance and potential of text-mining techniques are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]