Faculty - Dashboard

@inproceedings{bib_Mapc_2025, AUTHOR = {Gnaneswar, K and Srikanth, Anushka and Choppella, Venkatesh and K, Muhammed Shamil }, TITLE = {Mapcode Machines for Expressing and Tracing Iterative Algorithms}, BOOKTITLE = {ACM Conference on Global Computing Education}. YEAR = {2025}}

Algorithms are a fundamental part of computer science education, with expressing and tracing forming key aspects of their study. Both pseudocode and code are used to express algorithms. Pseudocode helps abstract away specifics of the programming language when specifying an algorithm, but it can introduce ambiguities due to its informal nature and does not support a structured way to trace an algorithm. On the other hand, tracing a program provides a precise description but can conflate algorithmic logic with language-specific details, obscuring the inherent structure of an algorithm. In this experience report, we propose employing the Mapcode framework for expressing and tracing algorithms. Mapcode represents an algorithm as a set of transformations between well-defined spaces, naturally producing execution traces that are independent of programming constructs. Unlike traditional notional machines, which model the execution of programs, Mapcode machines model the high-level execution of algorithms. Mapcode traces reflect underlying logic and are independent of programming-language-specific data and control structures like while loops. We report preliminary findings from two classroom activities which explored the application of Mapcode to express and trace algorithms. In the first activity, third-year undergraduate students drew Mapcode Execution Diagrams to trace simple algorithms already specified in the Mapcode framework. We found that a majority of students were successful in constructing the diagrams. In the second activity, students in a Principles of Programming Languages course successfully defined algorithms from various paradigms (greedy, dynamic programming, sorting, etc.) as Mapcode machines and implemented them in Python and Racket.

@inproceedings{bib_A_Sc_2025, AUTHOR = {Srikanth, Anushka and Gnaneswar, K and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A Scaffolded Approach for Tracing Control-Flow in Simplified Python Programs}, BOOKTITLE = {Conference on Integrating Technology into Computer Science Education}. YEAR = {2025}}

The ability of students to read, understand and explain code is tightly interlinked to their ability to trace. Multiple studies have shown that tracing helps students improve their comprehension of code. Analysis of the traces also provides insight into student misconceptions about program execution. We are interested in exploring pen-and-paper activities related to tracing control-flow. While the literature presents several tracing methodologies, existing pen-and-paper activities prioritise tracking the values of variables as they change throughout the program; control-flow is not adequately addressed. To fill this gap, we propose a comprehensive suite of class activities around control-flow of programs and report our experience deploying it in a first-year university programming course. In these activities, students construct six hand-drawn artefacts representing the static and dynamic aspects of a program's control-flow. We use a simplified subset of Python that includes sequential, conditional, iterative and (first-order) procedural control. We chose this subset to match the syllabus of the introduction to computer programming course of our university. We report the results of a preliminary study conducted to explore the feasibility of constructing the artefacts. Most students correctly understood the structure of the artefacts. We also report what these artefacts revealed about students' misconceptions related to control-flow in programs. Students had difficulty identifying the destination of a procedure call and its return. A significant number of their misconceptions were related to transfer of control when encountering errors.

@inproceedings{bib_Syst_2024, AUTHOR = {Chaudhari, Sachin and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kathalkar, Om Rajendra and Viswanadh, Kandala Savitha and Nilesh, Nitin }, TITLE = {System and method for implementing an experiment remotely and determining an output using a computer vision model}, BOOKTITLE = {United States Patent}. YEAR = {2024}}

A system and method for implementing an experiment remotely and determining an output using a computer-vision model is provided. The system includes an image capturing device, an experiment setup, a microcontroller, a user device, and a relay unit. The microcontroller (i) receives the input of the experiment from the image capturing device,(ii) extracts one or more frames from the input data,(iii) pre-process the one or more frames to obtain a binary image,(iv) obtain a closed curve around the binary image to locate the experiment,(v) determine the coordinates of the experiment to track the experiment in each frame,(vi) determine an output of the experiment from every two consecutive frames of the one or more frames, and (vii) optimize the determined output of the experiment using a linear regression model.

@inproceedings{bib_Enha_2024, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Enhancing MVC architecture pattern description using its System of Systems model}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2024}}

When novice engineers (fresh or recent graduates with little industry experience) join a SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) product company, they are tasked with comprehending the product, especially its behavior and dynamics. We believe that they can comprehend more effectively if they know and understand the architecture patterns used in the product. Are the current architecture pattern descriptions of high quality? Do they fit the needs of novice engineers? We evaluated the pattern descriptions of Model-View-Controller (MVC) (a popular and important architecture pattern for cloud systems) from a quality and fitment perspective and found gaps. To address these gaps, we have built a System of Systems (SoS) model of MVC that uses a transition systems vocabulary and a set-theoretic notation. In the paper, we show that this SoS model provides a rich set of information about the behavior and dynamics of the MVC components and their interactions. The model bridges the gaps in the MVC pattern description. One of the contributions of the paper is to provide criteria to evaluate the pattern descriptions for quality and fitment for novice engineers. The paper proposes that we augment the benchmark pattern description of MVC with an SoS model. The paper also demonstrates a general approach to building SoS models for architecture patterns and recommends creating a catalog of SoS models for SaaS architecture patterns. We believe such a catalog will significantly help novice engineers in comprehension and other software engineering activities.

@inproceedings{bib_The__2024, AUTHOR = {Gureja, Akshit and Hussain, Aftab M. and Viswanadh, Kandala Savitha and Walchatwar, Nagesh Laxman and Agrawal, Rishabh Anup and Sinha, Shiven and Chaudhari, Sachin and Vaidhyanathan, Karthik and Choppella, Venkatesh and Bhimalapuram, Prabhakar and Kandath, Harikumar }, TITLE = {The Engineering End-to-End Remote Labs using IoT-based Retrofitting}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE Access}. YEAR = {2024}}

Remote labs are a groundbreaking development in the education industry, providing students with access to laboratory education anytime, anywhere. However, most remote labs are costly and difficult to scale, especially in developing countries. With this as a motivation, this paper proposes a new remote labs (RLabs) solution that includes two use case experiments: Vanishing Rod and Focal Length. The hardware experiments are built at a low-cost by retrofitting Internet of Things (IoT) components. They are also made portable by designing miniaturised and modular setups. The software architecture designed as part of the solution seamlessly supports the scalability of the experiments, offering compatibility with a wide range of hardware devices and IoT platforms. Additionally, it can live-stream remote experiments without needing dedicated server space for the stream. The software architecture also includes an automation suite that periodically checks the status of the experiments using computer vision (CV). The software architecture is further assessed for its latency and performance. RLabs is qualitatively evaluated against seven non-functional attributes - affordability, portability, scalability, compatibility, maintainability, usability, and universality. Finally, user feedback was collected from a group of students, and the scores indicate a positive response to the students’ learning and the platform’s usability.

@inproceedings{bib_Chal_2024, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Challenges and Opportunities in the Industrial Usage Controller Synthesis Tools: A Review of LTL-based Opensource Tools for Automated Control Design }, BOOKTITLE = {Results in Control and Optimization}. YEAR = {2024}}

Controller synthesis is pivotal in automating control system design from formal specifications and enhancing industrial system verification and optimization processes. This paper critically evaluates LTL-based controller synthesis, highlighting significant gaps in tool support that hinder its widespread adoption in the industry. Despite substantial theoretical progress, an apparent disparity persists between academic research outcomes and the robust, practical tools demanded by industry. Through a comprehensive evaluation, this study reveals mismatches between industrial requirements and the capabilities of current open-source tools. The findings emphasize underexplored challenges and propose future research directions and strategies for practical integration. This work aims to bridge the gap by advocating for enhanced tool support, enabling solutions that align with industrial standards and fostering the broader application of controller synthesis across various sectors.

@inproceedings{bib_Cont_2024, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Control Software Engineering Approaches for Cyber-Physical Systems: A Systematic Mapping Study}, BOOKTITLE = {ACM Transactions on Cyber-Physical Systems}. YEAR = {2024}}

Cyber-physical systems (CPS), robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), and automotive systems are integral to modern technology. They are characterized by their safety criticality, accuracy, and real-time control requirements. Control software plays a crucial role in achieving these objectives by managing and coordinating the operations of various sub-systems. This paper presents a novel systematic mapping study (SMS) for control software engineering, analyzing 115 peer-reviewed papers. The study identifies, classifies, and maps existing solutions, providing a comprehensive and structured overview for practitioners and researchers. Our contributions include (i) a unique classification of literature into six research themes—engineering phases, engineering approaches, engineering paradigms, engineering artefacts, target application domains, and engineering concerns; (ii) insights into the specificity of approaches to target technologies and phases; (iii) the prominence of model-driven approaches for design and testing; (iv) the lack of end-to-end engineering support in existing approaches; and (v) the emerging role of agile-based methods versus the dominance of waterfallbased methods. This paper’s significance lies in its thorough analysis and the high-level mapping of the solution space, offering new perspectives and a detailed roadmap for future research and innovation in control software engineering. The findings will guide advancements and best practices in the field, underscoring the paper’s impact.

@inproceedings{bib_A_Kn_2024, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A Knowledge-Driven Approach for Dynamic Reconfiguration of Control Design in Internet of Things and Cyber-Physical Systems}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE Internet of Things Journal}. YEAR = {2024}}

Dynamic control software reconfiguration for the Internet of Things (IoT) and cyber-physical systems (CPS) is crucial for adaptable and efficient automation. This paper presents a knowledge-driven architecture enabling dynamic device reconfiguration using the Web Ontology Language (OWL) and Terse Triple Language (TTL) formats. Key components include a capability ontology, session-type information for sequencing and concurrent operations, and an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for automated control design. The capability ontology standardizes machine capabilities, facilitating device integration based on their capabilities, while session-type information ensures correct sequencing and synchronization of machine functions. The IDE platform supports dynamic reconfiguration by automating device selection, control strategy formulation, and system adjustments across diverse use cases. The architecture has been validated in real-world scenarios, including smart meeting rooms, warehouse automation, and energy management, showing a reduction in manual configuration time (up to 50%), development time (86% in some cases), and error rates (30%). Benchmarking results indicate faster code generation (40% improvement) and efficient component integration across different CPS environments. Challenges like computational complexity, scalability, and integration with existing systems highlight limitations. Future research will explore further optimizations and broader applicability to ensure low-latency, high-accuracy, and seamless integration in complex CPS. This work advances dynamic control software reconfiguration by providing a flexible solution that enhances CPS reliability and efficiency through a knowledgedriven approach.

@inproceedings{bib_Know_2024, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Knowledge-aided Integrated Development Environment (K-IDE) for Control Software Development}, BOOKTITLE = {Computing in Science & Engineering}. YEAR = {2024}}

Developing control software for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) and industrial automation faces challenges like hardware integration, real-time responsiveness, and high reliability. Traditional environments often lack domain-specific knowledge, leading to inefficiencies. This paper introduces the Knowledge-aided Integrated Development Environment (K-IDE), which integrates domain knowledge into the software lifecycle, improving efficiency, consistency, and maintainability. K-IDE uses domain-specific languages (DSLs) and knowledge graphs to automate design and code generation. Key findings show that K-IDE significantly reduces development time and errors compared to traditional IDEs, proving effective in robotics and industrial automation. K-IDE bridges the gap between abstract designs and concrete implementations, offering a robust solution for modern control software development.

@inproceedings{bib_Soft_2023, AUTHOR = {Gureja, Akshit and Agrawal, Rishabh Anup and Chaudhari, Sachin and Vaidhyanathan, Karthik and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Software Architecture for Multi-User Multiplexing to Enhance Scalability in IoT-Based Remote Labs}, BOOKTITLE = {World Forum on Internet of Things}. YEAR = {2023}}

Remote Labs refer to an end-to-end system, including hardware and software built to access scientific equipment and resources remotely. The software platform built for such purposes needs to be robust enough to handle the communication of inputs and outputs between the client and the hardware nodes with minimal latency and simultaneously provide a seamless user experience. This paper highlights the importance of scalability in Remote Labs and presents multi-user multiplexing as a solution, to essentially provide users with concurrent access to the hardware node for experiments which can generate outputs instantaneously. The paper discusses the inefficiency of existing web-based Remote Labs with 4-layered architectures and proposes the use of WebSocket with a 3-layer software architecture to enhance user experience, accelerate input-output communication and implement multi-user multiplexing. To showcase the effectiveness of the proposed architecture over existing implementations using Blynk IoT platform as the middleware, a comprehensive communication pipeline was developed from scratch to perform Kirchhoff’s Voltage Law (KVL) experiment remotely.

@inproceedings{bib_Know_2023, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Knowledge Driven Synthesis Using Resource-Capability Semantics for Control Software Design}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE Access}. YEAR = {2023}}

This paper presents a knowledge-driven approach for automated synthesis of controllers in three different use-cases. The approach addresses the engineering challenge posed by Industrie 4.0, which requires fast, reliable, and flexible integration of multiple heterogeneous hardware and software components. Manual design approaches are not scalable for large systems due to their complexity. The proposed approach captures resource-capability knowledge and uses a reasoning-based synthesis mechanism to compose a controller design for a plant goal. The approach uses domain-specific languages (DSLs) to describe the components, their interfaces, and capabilities. The generated control designs are executable codes that implement the control strategy. The proposed approach reduces the average engineering time by 70% and generates on an average 60% of the executable code in each use-case. The

@inproceedings{bib_Syst_2023, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Systems Modeling for novice engineers to comprehend software products better}, BOOKTITLE = {Technical Report}. YEAR = {2023}}

One of the key challenges for a novice engineer in a product company is to comprehend the product sufficiently and quickly. It can take anywhere from six months to several years for them to attain mastery but they need to start delivering results much before. SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) products have sophisticated system architecture which adds to the time and effort of understanding them. On the other hand, time available to new hires for product understanding continues to be short and getting shorter, given the pressure to deliver more in less time. Constructivist theory views learning as a personal process in which the learner constructs new knowledge for themselves. Building and refining a mental model is the key way in which they learn, similar to how the brain operates. This paper presents an approach to improve system comprehension process by using a system model that a) acts as a transitional object to aid and refine the mental model of the learner, and b) captures the current understanding of the dynamics of the software system in a way that can be reasoned with and simulated. We have adapted discrete systems modeling techniques and used a transition system as a lightweight modeling language. Such a model can be used by novice engineers during their product ramp-up phase to build a model of the software system that captures their knowledge of the system and aid their mental model. The paper also presents a learning approach in which the learners create and refine these models iteratively using the available and newly uncovered knowledge about the software system. We hypothesize that by leveraging this modeling

@inproceedings{bib_A_mo_2023, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A modeling language for novice engineers to design well at SaaS product companies}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2023}}

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) product companies have brought in significant changes in how we build software from architecture and engineering process perspective. SaaS products are large, dis- tributed software systems hosted in cloud and built using collabo- rating services (or micro-services). The software releases happen in days and weeks, necessitating an agile development process. Novice engineers (those who join the company fresh from college) need to become comfortable with complex systems and proficient in agile delivery with high quality, otherwise they fall behind in productivity. The paper posits that, to be successful at these SaaS product companies, the novice engineers need good modeling and design skills. While this has been for all software development, the changes driven by SaaS products have made this need more acute. Such skills will allow them to capture their feature behaviors (in context of their understanding of the larger product) in an implementation- independent manner and any knowledge gaps can be identified and bridged by their collaborators. We propose a modeling language that is easy for them to learn and use, and which has characteristics suitable for the kind of engineering work they need to do in their early years in a SaaS product company. This modeling language is based on the notion of Transition Systems. The paper demonstrates the usage and value of this language by creating a model for a real feature. The modeling language is quite general and transcends abstraction boundaries. We also present a modeling process that should be used with this language for better results. This is a short position paper that presents an idea about a new modeling language for a specific purpose (helping novice engineers design well at SaaS product companies). Validation studies for the language and the design process is a work in progress and the results will be shared in a full paper later.

@inproceedings{bib_CV_a_2022, AUTHOR = {Viswanadh, Kandala Savitha and Kathalkar, Om Rajendra and K, Om. and Vinzey, P. and Nilesh, Nitin and Chaudhari, Sachin and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {CV and IoT-based Remote Triggered Labs: Use Case of Conservation of Mechanical Energy}, BOOKTITLE = {Future Internet of Things and Cloud}. YEAR = {2022}}

Remote Triggered Labs (RTL) are helpful for students to work on laboratory experiments virtually anytime, anywhere. Such setups can facilitate distance learning and are helpful during pandemics. In this paper, the use of Computer Vision (CV) is demonstrated for RTL experiments. For this, a use-case of the Conservation of Mechanical Energy experiment is considered. A CV-based approach is used to estimate an object’s velocity whose setup primarily consists of a microprocessor, a camera and infrared (IR) sensors. The experiment is recorded, and various CV techniques are employed to estimate the object’s velocity. This paper also compares a CV-based and an IR sensor-based approach to estimate the object’s velocity. Linear regression applied to the CV-based implementation resulted in an optimal mean-squared error (MSE), nearly 10 times better than IR-based implementation.

@inproceedings{bib_A_st_2022, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A study of the design and documentation skills of industry-ready CS students}, BOOKTITLE = {Compute Conference}. YEAR = {2022}}

An engineer in a product company is expected to design a good solution to a computing problem (Design skill) and articulate the solution well (Expression skill). We expect an industry-ready student (final year student or a fresh campus hire) as well to demonstrate both these skills when working on simple problems assigned to them. This paper reports on the results when we tested a cohort of participants (N=16) for these two skills. We created two participant groups from two different tiers of college, one from a Tier 1 college (who were taking an advanced elective course), and another from Tier 2 colleges (who had been hired for internship in a SaaS product company). We gave them a simple design problem and evaluated the quality of their design and expression. Design quality was evaluated along three design principles of Abstraction, Decomposition, and Precision (adapted from the Software Engineering Book of Knowledge). Expression quality was evaluated using criteria we developed for our study that is based on the diversity and density of the expressions used in the articulation. We found the students lacking in design and expression skills. Specifically, a) they struggled with abstraction as a design principle, b) they did not use enough modes of expressions to articulate their design, and c) they did not use enough formal notations (UML, equations, relations, etc.). We also found significant difference in the performance between the two participant groups.

@inproceedings{bib_Algo_2021, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and Kumar, Mrityunjay }, TITLE = {Algodynamics - Algorithms as Systems}, BOOKTITLE = {Frontiers in Education}. YEAR = {2021}}

This Full Paper in the Innovative Practice category begins by asking “can algorithms be thought of and taught as dynamical systems?” Our exploration of this idea — Algodynamics — is guided by a vision to achieve convergence between computing and engineering education. The engineering sciences share a common conceptual vocabulary originating in dynamical systems: state spaces, flows, actions, invariants, fixed points, convergence, etc. The goal of algodynamics is to build, ab initio, a framework for understanding and teaching algorithms using concepts from dynamics. This allows us to teach computing and algorithms as an engineering science. Engineers work with models. In algodynamics, models are expressed using transition systems rather than as pseudocode or programs. This allows a crisp representation of two important classes of computation: sequential algorithms as ‘discrete flows’ (iterative systems) and interactive applications as ‘action flows’ (transition systems).

@inproceedings{bib_Know_2021, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Knowledge driven approach to auto-generate digital twins for industrial plants}, BOOKTITLE = {Conference on Information & Knowledge Management Workshops}. YEAR = {2021}}

@inproceedings{bib_Know_2021, AUTHOR = {B, Amar and C, Subhrojyoti R. and R, Dhakshinamoorthy and N, Rajesh and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Knowledge Driven Approach To Auto-Generate Digital Twins for Industrial Plants}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management}. YEAR = {2021}}

Control systems operate industrial plants to accomplish stakeholder objectives like achieving production targets, complying with environmental ordinances, handling faults, etc. Such stakeholder objectives get realised by identifying and executing valid control actions on the plant’s control system. E.g., to achieve fault management a command is fired to place machines in a fault mode when the plant is under an error state. Arriving at such control actions is a non-trivial task demanding a detailed understanding of the plant’s structure and behaviour. Besides, it is also essential to verify the consequences of such control actions relative to other cross-cutting objectives and plant behaviour. E.g., to fulfil fault management objectives, the action to set machines in fault mode may affect production goals due to the machine unavailability. Hence, validation of control actions is vital before executing them using the actual plant’s control system. With digital twin technologies (DT), it is now possible to verify the implications of such control actions against a plant’s behaviour and objectives in a simulated environment without affecting the actual plant operations. DTs get developed autonomously as one-off solutions to simulate and validate plant control actions in the current state of practice, demanding high efforts and domain expertise. Our paper proposes a knowledge-driven approach enabling automation in DT development. The result of our approach is an auto-generated digital twin that pro-actively mimics the plant’s control system behaviour and helps with the validation of control actions before their execution. We use this approach to build three fault management DTs in a power plant. The application of our approach significantly reduces the manual efforts and development time to build such DTs.

@inproceedings{bib_Algo_2021, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and Kumar, Mrityunjay }, TITLE = {Algodynamics: algorithms as systems}, BOOKTITLE = {Frontiers in Education}. YEAR = {2021}}

This Full Paper in the Innovative Practice category begins by asking “can algorithms be thought of and taught as dynamical systems?” Our exploration of this idea — Algodynamics — is guided by a vision to achieve convergence between computing and engineering education. The engineering sciences share a common conceptual vocabulary originating in dynamical systems: state spaces, flows, actions, invariants, fixed points, convergence, etc. The goal of algodynamics is to build, ab initio, a framework for understanding and teaching algorithms using concepts from dynamics. This allows us to teach computing and algorithms as an engineering science. Engineers work with models. In algodynamics, models are expressed using transition systems rather than as pseudo- code or programs. This allows a crisp representation of two important classes of computation: sequential algo- rithms as ‘discrete flows’ (iterative systems) and interactive applications as ‘action flows’ (transition systems). The focus of this paper is on the first of these classes, algorithms, but using ideas from the second, viz., tran- sition systems. In this framework, algorithms emerge as convergent iterative systems. Due to their non-interactivity, iterative systems may be hard to understand. The student may trace through the algorithm, but to know how the parts of the algorithm work together requires ‘opening up’ the algorithm and situating it within the more general class of interactive systems. Doing so helps the student to understand the machinery of an algorithm in an incremen- tal and modular way. The student interactively solves the algorithmic problem, experimenting with various strategies along the way. At each stage of the design, interactivity is traded for automation

@inproceedings{bib_A_Re_2021, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and , Manoranjan Satpathy }, TITLE = {A Report on the PhD Symposium at ISEC 2021}, BOOKTITLE = {India Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2021}}

The annual ACM Innovations in Software Engineering Conference (ISEC) held its 14th edition online during 25–27th February, 2021. Since 2019, the conference has included a PhD symposium. The aim of the symposium is to offer PhD scholars in early stages of their research work a platform to present their work and also to get feedback from the audience. This report from the symposium co-chairs briefly summarises the effort involved in organising the symposium and a brief summary of the papers presented at the symposium.

@inproceedings{bib_Impr_2021, AUTHOR = {HATHI, KRUTAM and Agnihotri, Rajarshi and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Improving The Performance of Virtual Labs Bubble Sort Experiment}, BOOKTITLE = {2021 9th International Conference on Information and Education Technology (ICIET)}. YEAR = {2021}}

Online education has witnessed a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic[1], due to which it is important to be performance efficient and serve the content in a reasonable time. In this case study of Virtual Labs, an e-learning platform we analyse and propose a set of approaches which helps in improving the website’s performance. Virtual Labs is an e-learning website for virtual experiments in topics on science and engineering. These experiments are in the form of static webpages. This paper delineates the steps we followed to improve the performance of the static e-learning website. It shares insights into some of the concepts which can help improve the website performance.

@inproceedings{bib_Mode_2020, AUTHOR = {Palavalasa, Surya Teja and SINGH, YUVRAJ and SINGLA, ADHISH and Purini, Venkata Suresh Reddy and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Model Checking as a Service using Dynamic Resource Scaling }, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on High Performance Computing}. YEAR = {2020}}

Model checking is now a standard technology for verifying large and complex systems. While there are a range of tools and techniques to verify various properties of a system under consideration, in this work, we restrict our attention to safety checking procedures using explicit state space generation. The necessary hardware resources required in this approach depends on the model complexity and the resulting state transition graph that gets generated. This cannot be estimated apriori. For reasonably realistic models, the available main memory in even high end servers may not be sufficient. Hence, we have to use distributed safety verification approaches on a cluster of nodes. However, the problem of estimating the minimum number of nodes in the cluster for the verification procedure to complete successfully remains unsolved. In this paper, we propose a dynamically scalable model checker using an actor based architecture. Using the proposed approach, an end user can invoke a model checker hosted on a cloud platform in a push button fashion. Our safety verification procedures automatically expands the cluster by requesting more virtual machines from the cloud provider. Finally, the user gets to pay only for the hardware resources he rented for the duration of the verification procedure. We refer to this as Model Checking as Service. We approach this problem by proposing an asynchronous algorithm for safety checking in actor framework. The actor based approach allows for scaling the resources on a need basis and redistributes the work load transparently through state migration. We tested our approach by developing a distributed version of SpinJA model checker using Akka actor framework. We conducted our experiments on Google Cloud Engine (GCE) platform wherein we scale our resources automatically using the GCE API. On large models such as anderson.8 from BEEM benchmark suite, our approach reduced the model checking cost in dollars by 8.6x while reducing the wall clock time to complete the safety checking procedure 5.5x times.

@inproceedings{bib_Algo_2020, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and Kumar, Mrityunjay and Mohril, Ojas }, TITLE = {Algodynamics: Teaching Algorithms using Interactive Transition Systems}, BOOKTITLE = {Technical Report}. YEAR = {2020}}

The importance of algorithms and data structures in computer science curricula has been amply recognized.For many students, however, gaining a good understanding of algorithms remains a challenge.Because of the automated nature of sequential algorithms there is an inherent tension in directly applying the ‘learning by doing’ approach. This partly explains the limitations of efforts like algorithm animationand code tracing.Algodynamics, the approach we propose and advocate, situates algorithms within the framework of transi-tion systems and their dynamics and offers an attractive approach for teaching algorithms. Algodynamics starts with the premise that the key ideas underlying an algorithm can be identified and packaged into interactive transition systems. The algorithm when ‘opened up’, reveals a transition system, shorn of most control aspects, enriched instead with interaction. The design of an algorithm can be carried out by constructing a series of interactive systems, progressively trading interactivity with automation. The setransition systems constitute a family of notional machines.We illustrate the algodynamics approach by considering Bubblesort. A sequence of five interactive tran-sition systems culminate in the classic Bubblesort algorithm. The exercise of constructing the individualsystems also pays off when coding Bubblesort: a highly modular implementation whose primitives are bor-rowed from the transition systems. The transition systems used for Bubblesort have been implemented as interactive experiments. These web based implementations are easy to build. The simplicity and flexibility afforded by the algodynamics framework makes it an attractive option to teach algorithms in an interactive way.

@inproceedings{bib_An_S_2020, AUTHOR = {Sanagavarapu, Lalit Mohan and Mrudhvika, Damaraju Venkata Naga and PILLUTLA, RAVI SHANKAR and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy and RAMAN, PADMAPRIYA }, TITLE = {An SE approach for CoCo Learning of Virtual Labs}, BOOKTITLE = {Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training}. YEAR = {2020}}

With increasing computing power, capacity and internet connectivity, the ability to learn has crossed classroom boundaries in the form of online learning. The adoption rate and effectiveness of online learning continues to be an area of research. Collaborative and Cooperative (CoCo) learning involves a joint effort by students to understand and solve problems or tasks. Adoption of open source software has also increased with technology-aided collaboration and cooperation. Leveraging the practices of crowdsourced software development, we propose CoCo Learning approach for technical education using virtual labs. About 145 undergraduate engineering students from various institutes participated in our study for a period of one full semester. About 92% of the students conducted an average of 24 virtual experiments with this approach. Nearly 90% of the faculty from these institutes also confirmed that their students' understanding of courses has improved while delivering tangible software artifacts as outcomes.

@inproceedings{bib_Gene_2020, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and SANJEEV, ARJUN }, TITLE = {Generalised dining philosophers as feedback control}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Distributed Computing and Internet Technology}. YEAR = {2020}}

We examine the mutual exclusion problem of concurrency through the systematic application of modern feedback control theory, by revisiting the classical problem involving mutual exclusion: the Generalised Dining Philosophers problem. The result is a modular development of the solution using the notions of system and system composition in a formal setting that employs simple equational reasoning. The modular approach separates the solution architecture from the algorithmic minutiae and has the benefit of simplifying the design and correctness proofs. Two variants of the problem are considered: centralised and distributed topology with N philosophers. In each case, solving the Generalised Dining Philosophers reduces to designing an appropriate feedback controller.

@inproceedings{bib_Meth_2019, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Methodology to develop domain specific modeling languages }, BOOKTITLE = {ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling}. YEAR = {2019}}

Domain Specific Modeling Languages (DSML) significantly improve productivity in designing Computer Based System (CBS), by enabling them to be modeled at higher levels of abstraction. It is common for large and complex systems with distributed teams, to use DSMLs, to express and communicate designs of such systems uniformly, using a common language. DSMLs enable domain experts, with no or minimal software development background, to model solutions, using the language and terminologies used in their respective domains. Although, there are already a number of DSMLs available for modeling CBSs, their need is felt strongly across multiple domains, which still are not well supported with DSMLs. Developing a new DSML, however, is non trivial, as it requires (a) significant knowledge about the domain for which the DSML needs to be developed, as well as (b) skills to create new languages. In the current practice, DSMLs are developed by experts, who have substantial understanding of the domain of interest and strong background in computer science. One of the many challenges in the development of DSMLs, is the collection of domain knowledge and its utilization, based on which the abstract syntax, the backbone of the DSML is defined. There is a clear gap in the current state of art and practice, with respect to overcoming this challenge. We propose a methodology, which makes it easier for people with different backgrounds such as domain experts, solution architects, to contribute towards defining the abstract syntax of the DSML. The methodology outlines a set of steps to systematically capture knowledge about the domain of interest, and use that to arrive at the abstract syntax of the DSML. The key contribution of our work is in abstracting a CBS from a domain into a Domain Specific Machine, embodied in domain specific concepts. The methodology outlines, how the Domain Specific Machine, when coupled with guidelines from current practices of developing DSMLs, results in the definition of the abstract syntax of the intended DSML. We discuss our methodology in detail, in this paper.

@inproceedings{bib_A_kn_2019, AUTHOR = {Satyabroto, Banerjee Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A knowledge centric approach to conceptualizing robotic solutions}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2019}}

The focus of the ongoing Digital and Industry 4.0 revolution is on re-engineering business operations to take advantage of various technologies, including robotics. Conceptualizing, say, a robotics solution to automate aspects of warehouse operations involves multiple activities: understanding the problem space in sufficient detail to identify the right automation opportunities; working through the space of possible solution options and developing the solution design; and building a prototype solution with sufficient functional detail to enable customer experts to assess its suitability with respect to multiple concerns, and its impact on the business processes and environment. Only after that can a project be initiated to engineer and deploy the production solution, while making the necessary changes to the business system. With current practice, conceptualization and prototyping typically takes several months and considerable manual effort. In this paper, we present an environment for rapid prototyping of robotics solutions that facilitates a knowledge-centric approach based on capability composition. The environment enables systematic capture of functional domain knowledge, modular composition of solution space capabilities, and expression of the solution concept using a constrained natural language. Detailed functional simulators are generated automatically from the resulting design. This results in high customer confidence in the solution, substantial reductions in cycle time, and productivity gains due to modular reusability of solution knowledge and components.

@inproceedings{bib_Tuto_2019, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Rastogi, Aseem }, TITLE = {Tutorials and Technical Briefings at ISEC 2019}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2019}}

This is a short report on the Tutorials and Tech Briefings session of the 12th Innovations in Software Engineering (ISEC 2019) confer- ence held on 14th February 2019 in Pune, India. The tutorials and tech briefings at ISEC have been popular with the participants because they offer a gentle and friendly introduc- tion to cutting edge topics and research at the frontiers of the discipline of software engineering. This year’s track attracted a total of 11 submissions (four tutorial and seven tech briefings). The five submissions that were selected reflect the current interests and directions of the field of software engineering

@inproceedings{bib_Towa_2019, AUTHOR = {PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Chimalakonda, Sridhar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Towards a Domain-Specific Language for the Renarration of Web Pages}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2019}}

We are interested in the problem of enabling transformation of existing, already published web pages. We call this Renarration of web content. In our earlier work, we had already established the role and importance of renarration for improving Web Accessibility. There are nearly a billion websites on the web, making transformation of pages a domain on its own. In this paper, we present the development of a Domain-Specific Language (DSL) for the purpose of web page transformation. We show how the design and implementation of our DSL is driven by our problem domain, its terminology and its unique requirements. We take up an existing online video-course delivery system, which has accessibility challenges, as a specific case to demonstrate our DSL. We end with insights and reflections for future work in both DSL and web page transformations.

@inproceedings{bib_Mode_2019, AUTHOR = {S, LALIT MOHAN and Swain, Shovan and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {Model driven approach for virtual lab authoring-chemical sciences labs}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies}. YEAR = {2019}}

Virtual Labs allow performance of experiments without real world instrumentation needs. Most of these virtual experiments are simulation based and developed using proprietary or Open Source simulation, Adobe Flash, and other client side software. The procedural steps involved in conducting these experiments are hardwired and require software modification for enhancements or alignment to the course structure. We propose a model based approach that eases development of virtual experiments without dependency on software programmers for any changes. We demonstrate our model driven based approach on Chemical Sciences labs of Virtual Labs, a Government of India initiative. With our model driven based approach, the effort for new experiment development or FOSS conversion of existing experiments that were using outdated technologies is less than a person day as compared to more than a person …

@inproceedings{bib_A_kn_2019, AUTHOR = {Chaudhuri, Subhrojyoti Roy and Banerjee, Amar and Swaminathan, N. and Choppella, Venkatesh and Pal, Arpan and P., Balamurali }, TITLE = {A knowledge centric approach to conceptualizing robotic solutions}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2019}}

The focus of the ongoing Digital and Industry 4.0 revolution is on re-engineering business operations to take advantage of various technologies, including robotics. Conceptualizing, say, a robotics solution to automate aspects of warehouse operations involves multiple activities: understanding the problem space in sufficient detail to identify the right automation opportunities; working through the space of possible solution options and developing the solution design; and building a prototype solution with sufficient functional detail to enable customer experts to assess its suitability with respect to multiple concerns, and its impact on the business processes and environment. Only after that can a project be initiated to engineer and deploy the production solution, while making the necessary changes to the business system.

@inproceedings{bib_Prom_2019, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and S, LALIT MOHAN and Chimalakonda, Sridhar and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {Promoting better financial inclusion through web page transformation—a systematic literature review}, BOOKTITLE = {Journal of Banking and Financial Technology}. YEAR = {2019}}

Most financial institutions, NGOs, and self help groups (SHG) are now using web technology to create outreach. However, for non-mainstream users, like those in rural India, the web application’s non vernacular language, unfamiliar terminology, complex financial models, and user’s own poor digital exposure, together creates a mistrust in the web applications, which tends to result in poor adoption. This inhibits financial literacy initiatives and slows down Financial Inclusion, which is a Millennium Goal. We treat this as a web accessibility problem, and look for prior work on transforming published web content for making it suitable for easy consumption by non-mainstream users. To this end we present a systematic literature review, which forages through 1068 records related to page transformation, to RQ1) uncover existing motivators for transforming an existing web page, RQ2) surface the approaches taken, and …

@inproceedings{bib_Meth_2019, AUTHOR = {Chaudhur, Subhrojyoti Roy and Natarajan, Swaminathan and Banerjee, Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Methodology to develop domain specific modeling languages}, BOOKTITLE = {ACM SIGPLAN International Workshop on Domain-Specific Modeling}. YEAR = {2019}}

Domain Specific Modeling Languages (DSML) significantly improve productivity in designing Computer Based System (CBS), by enabling them to be modeled at higher levels of abstraction. It is common for large and complex systems with distributed teams, to use DSMLs, to express and communicate designs of such systems uniformly, using a common language. DSMLs enable domain experts, with no or minimal software development background, to model solutions, using the language and terminologies used in their respective domains. Although, there are already a number of DSMLs available for modeling CBSs, their need is felt strongly across multiple domains, which still are not well supported with DSMLs. Developing a new DSML, however, is non trivial, as it requires (a) significant knowledge about the domain for which the DSML needs to be developed, as well as (b) skills to create new languages. In the …

@inproceedings{bib_Towa_2019, AUTHOR = {SANKAR, P RAVI and S, LALIT MOHAN and Choppella, Venkatesh and Jesrani, Avni and RAMAN, PADMAPRIYA and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {Towards Massively Open Online Virtual Internships in Computing Education}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E)}. YEAR = {2019}}

Student internships are necessary for every student to learn and apply the learning to deliver tangible and relevant outcomes. In-person internship opportunities are less in number and have major challenges in scaling such as lesser number of available projects in relevant technologies, inadequate mentorship during the internship, varying college calendars and others. This paper presents SRIP (Student Remote Internship Program) approach which focuses on the domain of programming in open source technologies and projects for the internships that are relevant to 2nd and 3rd year engineering college students. It aims to overcome the stated challenges and simultaneously make a contribution to the open source community. Virtual Labs is the open source repository that we leveraged to implement SRIP pilot study for interns to contribute and develop programming skills.

@inproceedings{bib_Enha_2019, AUTHOR = {SANKAR, P RAVI and Choppella, Venkatesh and S, LALIT MOHAN and Mrudhvika, Damaraju Venkata Naga }, TITLE = {Enhancing Virtual Labs Usage in Colleges}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E)}. YEAR = {2019}}

Virtual Labs is an MHRD (Ministry of Human Resource Development, India) initiative in which over 1100 virtual experiments are freely available to engineering students across India and the rest of the globe to access and learn. Until the beginning of 2018, the lab usages by students were mostly in the push mode during the workshops. The average usage per workshop was significantly low, at about 8 usages per student. Interventions were proposed in the process to improve the usage by enhancing 'Arousal' and 'Choices' as students' motivation. Qualitative observation of the results shows that students conducted more than the requested 15 experiments, along with the expectation of instant appreciation and recognition. This change in the process to create extrinsic motivation increased the usage per student from 8.62 to 19.7. self-reported motivation levels of students after doing the experiments improved from 5 to …

@inproceedings{bib_A_le_2019, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kottarathil, Sanjana Sunil and Ali, Syed Sumaid Ali Khaled }, TITLE = {A learnable-by-design (LEAD) model for designing experiments for computer science labs}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education (T4E)}. YEAR = {2019}}

India graduates 1.5 million engineering students every year, majority of them from its Tier 2 and Tier 3 colleges where there is severe shortage of qualified faculty and lab infrastructure, and where English is second or third language for most students. To provide affordable virtual laboratories to these engineering colleges, Government of India runs the Virtual Labs project with a select set of participating institutions to create virtual labs required for entire engineering student population of India. The program suffers from two problems: 1) lack of focus on pedagogy and learnability of labs being created, and 2) little ability to scale to more teachers and subject matter experts to produce labs aligned to local contexts. This paper presents a model (LEAD model) for the design of virtual labs for a data structures and algorithms course in computer science and is intended to address the problems stated above. The model …

@inproceedings{bib_eter_2018, AUTHOR = {Sanjeev, Arjun and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath }, TITLE = {eterson’s Mutual Exclusion Algorithm as Feedback Control}, BOOKTITLE = {Technical Report}. YEAR = {2018}}

eterson’s Mutual Exclusion Algorithm as Feedback Control

@inproceedings{bib_An_A_2018, AUTHOR = {Banerjee, Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath }, TITLE = {An Attempt at Explicating the Relationship between Knowledge,Systems and Engineering}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2018}}

Software systems often serve as the agents of operation for both enterprise systems and embedded systems. Engineering such systems is a knowledge-centric activity. A clear understanding of the relationship between knowledge, systems and engineering can help us to establish firm theoretical foundations for software and systems engineering. Currently we have a strong intuitive understanding of how knowledge flows into engineering, while our understanding of the relationship between systems and knowledge is part explicit and part tacit. A symptom of this is that we have difficulty in building unified models of large systems such as telescopes and enterprises that span multiple knowledge domains and viewpoints. We are able to build multiple models covering various aspects and particular viewpoints. However, we have challenges in integrating them into a single unified model. Another symptom is that software and systems engineering practice are widely viewed as empirical fields, without sufficiently strong theoretical foundations. This work attempts to explicate and synthesize our common intuitive understanding in this space to develop a conceptual model of the relationships. It then explores the validity of this model by examining the extent to which it is able to explain and illuminate current engineering practices and issues. This is an initial strawman version of the model, presented with a view to obtaining feedback and inputs from the community.

@inproceedings{bib_”A_2018, AUTHOR = {Banerjee, Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and Natarajan, Swaminathan and Nistala, Padmalata V. and Nori, Kesav }, TITLE = {”An Attempt at Explicating the Relationship between Knowledge, Systems and Engineering.}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2018}}

Software systems often serve as the agents of operation for both enterprise systems and embedded systems. Engineering such systems is a knowledge-centric activity. A clear understanding of the relationship between knowledge, systems and engineering can help us to establish firm theoretical foundations for software and systems engineering. Currently we have a strong intuitive understanding of how knowledge flows into engineering, while our understanding of the relationship between systems and knowledge is part explicit and part tacit. A symptom of this is that we have difficulty in building unified models of large systems such as telescopes and enterprises that span multiple knowledge domains and viewpoints. We are able to build multiple models covering various aspects and particular viewpoints. However, we have challenges in integrating them into a single unified model. Another symptom is that software and systems engineering practice are widely viewed as empirical fields, without sufficiently strong theoretical foundations. This work attempts to explicate and synthesize our common intuitive understanding in this space to develop a conceptual model of the relationships. It then explores the validity of this model by examining the extent to which it is able to explain and illuminate current engineering practices and issues. This is an initial strawman version of the model, presented with a view to obtaining feedback and inputs from the community.

@inproceedings{bib_Usab_2018, AUTHOR = {Kumar, Mrityunjay and Emory, Jessica and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Usability Analysis of Virtual Labs}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies}. YEAR = {2018}}

The Virtual Labs project (vlabs) is a country wide effort to provide access to internet and browser based virtual laboratories to science and engineering college students in India. There are currently over 800 experiments packaged in 70 vlabs in more than ten science and engineering disciplines. More than five hundred workshops on these virtual labs have been conducted and the experiments have been used over 2 million times. Vlabs are an important Government initiative in higher learning in engineering in India. This paper examines virtual labs from a usability perspective, focusing on vlabs. Usability of user-interface elements (technical usability) as well as how they aid learning (pedagogical usability) has been considered. We adapt Nielsen's technical usability heuristics and Nokelainen's pedagogical usability criteria to virtual labs and evaluate the usability of the top three most used vlabs. We construct checklists for each of these criteria and evaluate the vlabs against this checklist. Our analysis reveals a lack of usability focus in lab design. Lab design and implementation guidelines seem to be deficient in covering key usability criteria. We make suggestions on how to quickly improve the usability of these labs.

@inproceedings{bib_An_A_2018, AUTHOR = {Banerjee, Amar and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and Natarajan, Swaminathan and Nistala, Padmalata V. and Nori, Kesav }, TITLE = {An Attempt at Explicating the Relationship between Knowledge, Systems and Engineering}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2018}}

Software systems often serve as the agents of operation for both enterprise systems and embedded systems. Engineering such systems is a knowledge-centric activity. A clear understanding of the relationship between knowledge, systems and engineering can help us to establish firm theoretical foundations for software and systems engineering.

@inproceedings{bib_A_Co_2018, AUTHOR = {Natarajan, Swaminathan and Kumar, Anand and Chaudhuri, Subhrojyoti Roy and Nori, Kesav and Kasturi, Viswanath and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A Conceptual Model of Systems Engineering}, BOOKTITLE = {INCOSE International Symposium}. YEAR = {2018}}

Systems engineering is widely perceived as an empirical discipline, with a need for theoretical foundations that can facilitate reasoning about practice. This is an attempt to help build such foundations by systems‐theoretic inquiry into the nature of the relationship between knowledge and engineering. We conceptualize this relationship in terms of four worlds: the real world, the world of systems models, a world of aspect knowledge, and a world of wholes knowledge: knowledge that indicates how aspects come together and also how wholes relate to each other. This leads us to a generative understanding of systems engineering: synthesizing aspects to develop blocks; and generating the network of blocks that form a system, through recursive performance of three activities: decomposition, dependency closure and refinement. The problem of systems engineering practice involves augmenting this core with the …

@inproceedings{bib_A_Fo_2017, AUTHOR = {Telikcherla, Krishna Chaitanya and AGRAWALL, AKASH and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {A Formal Model of Web Security Showing Malicious Cross Origin Requests and Its Mitigation using CORP.}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Information Systems Security and Privacy}. YEAR = {2017}}

This document describes a web security model to analyse cross origin requests and block them using CORP, a browser security policy proposed for mitigating Cross Origin Request Attacks (CORA) such as CSRF, Clickjacking, Web application timing, etc. CORP is configured by website administrators and sent as an HTTP response header to the browser. A browser which is CORP-enabled will interpret the policy and enforce it on all cross-origin HTTP requests originating from other tabs of the browser, thus preventing malicious crossorigin requests. In this document we use Alloy, a finite state model finder, to formalize a web security model to analyse malicious cross-origin attacks and verify that CORP can be used to mitigate such attacks.

@inproceedings{bib_Miti_2017, AUTHOR = {AGRAWALL, AKASH and Chaitanya, Krishna and Agrawal, Arnav Kumar and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Mitigating browser-based DDoS attacks using CORP}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2017}}

On March 27, 2015, Github witnessed a massive DDoS attack, the largest in Github's history till date. In this incident, browsers and users were used as vectors to launch the attack. In this paper, we analyse such browser-based DDoS attacks and simulate them in a lab environment. Existing browser security policies like Same Origin Policy (SOP), Content Security Policy (CSP) do not mitigate these attacks by design. In this paper we observe that CORP (Cross Origin Request Policy), a browser security policy, can be used to mitigate these attacks. CORP enables a server to control cross-origin interactions initiated by a browser. The browser intercepts the cross-origin requests and blocks unwanted requests by the server. This takes the load off the server to mitigate the attack.

@inproceedings{bib_Noti_2017, AUTHOR = {PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Notion of Semantics in Computer Science-A Systematic Literature Review}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Natural Language Processing.}. YEAR = {2017}}

In this paper we report on a Systematic Literature Review where we explored the notion of semantics in Computer Science (CSE) literature. Our goal was 1) to surface how the idea of semantics has been used and represented, and 2) to surface its publication pattern in CSE. Our automated search in 5 CSE repositories yielded 653 relevant papers, emerging from multiple disciplines and geographies, spanning a period from year 1967 to 2017. We shortlisted 50 representative samples to study. This literature review was motivated by an external Web Accessibility effort in which we wanted to understand how to influence the various meanings that a variety of human end-user could derive by varying the computer rendering of a given content. The results of the SLR indicate that 44% of papers do have their own definition, almost all are formal in their presentation, and 94% of them have a notion of semantics that favors the computer as a processor. We observe the limited human oriented focus on semantics in CSE, and suggest such semantics focus as an area of potential study.

@inproceedings{bib_Mode_2017, AUTHOR = {AGRAWALL, AKASH and Jagmohan, Maheshwari Shubh and Bandyopadhyay, Projit and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Modelling and Mitigation of Cross-Origin Request Attacks on Federated Identity Management Using Cross Origin Request Policy}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Information Systems Security}. YEAR = {2017}}

Cross origin request attacks (CORA) such as Cross site request forgery (CSRF), cross site timing, etc. continue to pose a threat on the modern day web. Current browser security policies inadequately mitigate these attacks. Additionally, third party authentication services are now the preferred way to carry out identity management between multiple enterprises and web applications. This scenario, called Federated Identity Management (FIM) separates the problem of identity management from the core functionality of an application. In this paper, we construct formally checkable models and design laboratory simulations to show that FIM is susceptible to cross origin attacks. Further, we employ the Cross Origin Request Policy (CORP) to mitigate such attacks.

@inproceedings{bib_An_a_2017, AUTHOR = {PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Chimalakonda, Sridhar and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {An aspect oriented approach for renarrating web content}, BOOKTITLE = {Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2017}}

The ability to modify the existing published web pages is what we are calling Renarration of the web. Such a mechanism is useful for improving accessibility and personalization of the content currently on the web. There are many techniques in place for enabling both Web Accessibility and Web Personalization. In this paper we propose a novel approach: an Aspects inspired design of renarration. Aspects have traditionally been applied to programming. Here we reinterpret concepts like Join Points, Point-cuts and Advices and apply them to web documents. To validate our approach, we designed a framework called Rennaration Studio that is built using microservices based architecture pattern and implemented using Python's flask platform. We demonstrate the feasibility of our proposal by renarrating different Aspects (text, language, phonetics) of two specific web documents.

@inproceedings{bib_A_cr_2017, AUTHOR = {Sanagavarapu, Lalit Mohan and RAMAN, PADMAPRIYA and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {A crowdsourcing approach for quality enhancement of elearning systems}, BOOKTITLE = {Proceedings of the 10th Innovations in Software Engineering Conference}. YEAR = {2017}}

In India, a large number of engineering undergraduates are adopting eLearning as it provides access to best faculty and reduces concerns on inadequate physical infrastructure at colleges. Virtual Labs is a Government of India eLearning initiative containing simulation and remote triggered labs for engineering students. Virtual Labs developed over a period of 6 years is used by more than a million undergraduate students across nine engineering disciplines. The software used for developing these experiments requires substantial effort for maintenance due to deprecation, compatibility, etc. We propose a targeted crowdsourcing approach for maintenance of Virtual Labs with sustainable quality. The targeted crowdsourcing involves the large number of engineering students who are also the major stakeholders of these labs. Our quality enhancement using crowdsourcing approach was validated for 14 labs and …

@inproceedings{bib_A_Li_2017, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and S, LALIT MOHAN and PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Chimalakonda, Sridhar and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {A Lightweight Approach for Evaluating Sufficiency of Ontologies}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Software Engineering and Knowledge Engineering}. YEAR = {2017}}

1Ontologies have emerged as a common way of representing knowledge. Recently, people with minimal domain background or ontology engineering are developing ontologies, leading to a corpus of informal and under-evaluated ontologies. Existing ontology evaluation approaches require rigorous application of formal methods and knowledge of domain experts that can be cumbersome or tedious. We propose a lightweight approach for evaluating sufficiency of ontologies based on Natural Language Processing techniques. The approach consists of verifying the extent of coverage of concepts and relationships of ontologies against words in domain corpus. As a case study, we applied our approach to evaluate sufficiency of ontology in two example domains - Education (Curriculum) and Security (Phishing). We show that our approach yields promising results, is less effort intensive and is comparable with existing evaluation methods.

@inproceedings{bib_Dist_2016, AUTHOR = {SINGLA, ADHISH and Desai, Krishnaji and Purini, Venkata Suresh Reddy and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Distributed safety verification using vertex centric programming model}, BOOKTITLE = {International Symposium on Parallel and Distributed Computing}. YEAR = {2016}}

Software is finding place in deeply embedded systems to large scale distributed systems of cloud service providers such as Amazon and Google. Due to the concurrent and distributed nature of this software, it is hard to test for correctness of such systems in a foolproof manner. Explicit state model checking is an approach in which we build a model of the system and specify the properties it should hold. Then we construct a state transition system from the model and check if it satisfies the specified properties. There are two kinds of properties of interest: safety and liveness. In this paper, we focus our attention on safety verification, which involves checking if the states that are generated in the transition system satisfy some predicate formulae specified in the form of assertions. The main problem here is that the number of states in the transition system grows exponentially with the number of bits required to store the …

@inproceedings{bib_Fast_2016, AUTHOR = {Bradford, Phillip G and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Fast point-to-point Dyck constrained shortest paths on a DAG}, BOOKTITLE = {Annual Ubiquitous Computing, Electronics & Mobile Communication Conference}. YEAR = {2016}}

Many aspects of program analysis are related to CFL (context-free language) constrained path problems on graphs. A path is constrained by requiring its list of edge labels to form a string that is a member of the associated CFL. Constrained shortest path problems give O(n3/ log n)-bottlenecks for program analysis, where n is the number of nodes. Labeled path problems also have many other applications. Assume two terminals (parenthesis) in a Dyck CFL. Given any two vertices s and t and the output of Nykanen and Ukkonen's exact integer path length algorithm. then this paper finds a minimal-cost point-to-point Dyck path cost in such edge-labeled digraphs in O(n2 log n) additional operations. This paper is on the DAG (directed acyclic graph) case. Our result depends on a special case of the exact integer path length problem of Nykanen and Ukkonen that costs O(n3). A new algorithm is introduced that joins …

@inproceedings{bib_Asse_2015, AUTHOR = {AHUJA, GARIMA and Gupta, Anubha and Wardhan, Harsh and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Assessing the impact of Virtual Labs: a case study with the lab on Advanced VLSI}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies}. YEAR = {2015}}

The laboratory is an indispensable component of learning in engineering education. In this paper, we examine the impact of Advanced VLSI Virtual Lab, which is a part of the Government of India's suite of Virtual Labs, in improving the understanding and learning of students at a small sized university in India. The Advanced VLSI Virtual Lab includes ten simulated interactive experiments in the area of design and application development. Over a hundred Virtual Labs have been proposed and built, but, so far, few have been subject to systematic investigation of their effectiveness in helping the student learn. Our work is one of the first efforts to statistically study the effectiveness of the Virtual Lab. To this end, we designed and conducted pre- and post-tests, and feedback surveys on the lab. The tests and the survey, on analysis, reveal that the lab is effective in enhancing student learning. Our results are encouraging to …

@inproceedings{bib_Gene_2015, AUTHOR = {ASHUTOSH, MAVALANKAR ADITI and KELKAR, TEJASWINEE SANJEEV and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Generation of Quizzes and Solutions Based on Ontologies--A Case for a Music Problem Generator}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2015}}

Generation of problem sets and quizzes forms an important part of education technologies. Although some systems have been built for quiz generation, they mostly focus on abstract logic and mathematical constructs. Knowledge in other domains is relational rather than propositional, and many systems use dedicated knowledge databases. We present a method to present this knowledge in the form of objective question sets and drills. We implement a four-fold approach - ontologies, propositional logic, similarity finding, and hierarchies - as a way to generate quizzes as well as to solve human generated problems of a similar nature. The architecture of this system is such that any knowledgebase can be turned into a vast number of diverse, complex questions. We build this system for an ontology of North Indian Ragas, and also test it on a smaller ontology of animals. We demonstrate an approach to solving human

@inproceedings{bib_Over_2014, AUTHOR = {PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Dinesh, T.B. and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Overcoming the new accessibility challenges using the sweet framework}, BOOKTITLE = {Web for All Conference}. YEAR = {2014}}

For many, Accessibility is about disability and aiding the disabled user. We argue for a much broader definition: One that is inclusive of not only the disabled and the technologically deprived, but also the able-bodied, who may still be facing linguistic, socio-cultural, cognitive type barriers. Further, we discuss how to overcome this new broad set of barriers (which have elsewhere been called New Accessibility). Modification of original static content to new target content – a technique of Renarration – is modeled as a webpage transformation. This is operationally realized as "Sweets". Sweets are external meta data used for transformation of the web page. They are collaboratively and socially produced either by humans or human triggered Sweet based web applications. The entire web architecture featuring Sweets, their repositories and their web applications is explained and shared as a potential mechanism for overcoming New Accessibility barriers. Two web applications, Alipi and Mural Annotation for IDH, are finally showcased to highlight that Sweets based architecture does indeed help in facing the barriers of New Accessibility.

@inproceedings{bib_CORP_2014, AUTHOR = {CHAITANYA, TELIKICHERLA KRISHNA and Choppella, Venkatesh and Bezawada, Bruhadeshwar }, TITLE = {CORP: a browser policy to mitigate web infiltration attacks}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Information Systems Security}. YEAR = {2014}}

Cross origin interactions constitute the core of today’s collaborative Word Wide Web. They are, however, also the cause of malicious behaviour like Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF), clickjacking, and cross-site timing attacks, which we collectively refer as Web Infiltration attacks. These attacks are a rampant source of information stealth and privacy intrusion on the web. Existing browser security policies like Same Origin Policy, either ignore this class of attacks or, like Content Security Policy, insufficiently deal with them. In this paper, we propose a new declarative browser security policy — “Cross Origin Request Policy” (CORP) — to mitigate such attacks. CORP enables a server to have fine-grained control on the way different sites can access resources on the server. The server declares the policy using HTTP response headers. The web browser monitors cross origin HTTP requests targeting the server and blocks those which do not comply with CORP. Based on lessons drawn from examining various types of cross origin attacks, we formulate CORP and demonstrate its effectiveness and ease of deployment. We formally verify the design of CORP by modelling it in the Alloy model checker. We also implement CORP as a browser extension for the Chrome web browser and evaluate it against real-world cross origin attacks on open source web applications. Our initial investigation reveals that most of the popular websites already segregate their resources in a way which makes deployment of CORP easier.

@inproceedings{bib_Any__2014, AUTHOR = {CHOUDHARY, NURENDRA and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy and RAVULA, THIRUMAL }, TITLE = {Any Time Virtual Labs: On Portable Media and as Debian Packages}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2014}}

As education and technology merge, the diversity of teaching and learning methods expand even more. Virtual labs are a set of web applications containing learning materials that compliment the various courses in an Engineering curriculum. The primary intent of the virtual labs is to provide in-lab experience to their users even when the physical lab infrastructure is not available. In this paper, we propose a method for providing access to virtual labs for all those lack internet access. Our aim is to facilitate availability and usage of Virtual Labs without network connectivity. We preinstall the virtual labs with full environment on an Operating System and also use Debian packages for easy installation of the labs on existing Operating System.

@inproceedings{bib_Larg_2014, AUTHOR = {AGARWAL, JATIN and Rastogi, Utkarsh and CHOUDHARY, NURENDRA and Pandey, Prateek and Choppella, Venkatesh and Y, Raghu Babu Reddy }, TITLE = {Large Scale Web Page Optimization of Virtual Labs}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2014}}

e propose set of guidelines for virtual labs to improve end user experience based on analysis of experimental results. Virtual labs were designed and developed by people with different technical backgrounds based on their familiarity with the technologies and the complexity of virtual lab. As a result each lab developer decided to use his or her own set of tools and technologies leading to performance issues during execution of the virtual labs. Performance of a web application depends upon the content of the web page. Therefore, we did analysis on web pages of virtual lab and listed guidelines to enhance user experience.

@inproceedings{bib_Powe_2013, AUTHOR = {AGGARWAL, DEEPTI and Khot, Rohit Ashok and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Power of friends: when friends guess about their friends' guess}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference of Human Factors in Computing Systems}. YEAR = {2013}}

Friendsourcing games aim to collect useful information about individuals by targeting their socially connected groups or friends. The current method of eliciting information is to pose direct questions to friends and expect a truthful response in return. However, such an approach not only becomes monotonous after some time but also suffers from problems like social awkwardness and reticence and thus, affecting the accuracy of the generated responses. In this paper, we present Power of Friends, a novel approach to friendsourcing games, which involves identifying the unanimous opinion of all the friends about a question related to an individual. We tested our proposed approach with seven different groups and were able to generate 47 facts about members of the selected groups. Participants particularly enjoyed the guesswork and interactive elements of the game. Based on the feedback obtained from the study, we propose four strategies for designing similar friendsourcing games.

@inproceedings{bib_Stat_2013, AUTHOR = {GOEL, ANKUR and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {State based access control for open e-governance}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance}. YEAR = {2013}}

The Millenium Development goals emphasize the need for building" open, rule-based, predictable and non-discriminatory" e-governance systems. However, building such open systems remains a challenge: on the one hand, the systems are required to be open, whereas, on the other, there is the need to preserve and protect private and confidential information of potentially millions of users. This requires that e-governance systems carry clear specifications of how access to users' documents is managed throughout an e-governance application's workflow.

@inproceedings{bib_Desc_2013, AUTHOR = {PRASAD, GOLLAPUDI V.R.J. SAI and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Descriptive study of college bound rural youth of AP, India}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2013}}

Pedagogical literature is generally rich with references to digitally savvy students, operating at twitch speed. This creates pressure on instructors, pedagogies, educational technologies to primarily cater to these digital natives. This paper conducts a descriptive study of students of rural AP to see if indeed Indian tier 2-3 students are of this caliber and description. Should the digital natives model be used for rural Indian student profile as well? Findings from our survey based study reveal that of the (N=372) tier 2, 3 students only 50% own a PC, only 41% surf the web, and of those who surf, it is mostly consumption behavior with social intent. And finally, while the confidence in learning and skills is high, English comprehension skills is poor. We feel that this profile of students is in contrast to the computer savvy image being projected, and should inform emerging educational technology projects aimed for rural India.

@inproceedings{bib_View_2013, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kasturi, Viswanath and MANJULA, PIDAPARTY }, TITLE = {Viewing algorithms as iterative systems and plotting their dynamic behaviour}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2013}}

We revive an old but little explored idea about how to think about algorithms and problem solving. Algorithms are discrete dynamical systems, also called iterative systems. Pursuing this point of view pays rich dividends. Important concepts like state space, next-state function, termination, fixed points, invariants, traces etc., can be mapped from dynamical systems to elements of algorithm design. Many of these concepts can be visualised through plots that trace the dynamic behaviour of the algorithm

@inproceedings{bib_From_2012, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Kumar, Hitesh and , and , and Kasturi, Viswanath }, TITLE = {From high-school algebra to computing through functional programming}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2012}}

The objective of this paper is to suggest a fresh approach to introductory programming curricula in the Indian school and engineering college context. The approach allows the student to connect high-school (up to 10+2) mathematics to the fundamentals of computing, algorithms and problem solving. The bridge connecting algebra and computing is functional programming, a paradigm confined over forty years to the computer science research community but now gaining popularity in industry as well as undergraduate education in some schools across the world. We show, using several examples, why and how functional programming is easier to master than traditional imperative programming. We conclude with the results of our attempts so far at introducing functional programming to students in IT colleges in India.

@inproceedings{bib_uPic_2012, AUTHOR = {AGGARWAL, DEEPTI and ASHOK, KHOT ROHIT and Kalidindi, Vasudeva Varma and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {uPick: Crowdsourcing Based Approach to Extract Relations Among Named Entities}, BOOKTITLE = {Conference on Human-Computer Interaction}. YEAR = {2012}}

espite the advancement in the information extraction area, the task of identifying associated relations among named entities within a text document remains a significant challenge. Existing automated approaches lack human precision and they also struggle to handle erroneous documents. In this paper, we propose a crowdsourcing-based approach to improve the accuracy of the generated relations from the existing extraction techniques. Our idea is to gather judgments on the extracted relations of an article from the interested users. By contributing, the users in return remember the facts related to a document. This paper presents the complete design of the approach along with a user study done with twelve participants. Results show that the users rated the proposed system positively and were willing to contribute their time and energy for the task.

@inproceedings{bib_Alip_2012, AUTHOR = {Dinesh, T B and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Alipi - tools for a Re-narration Web}, BOOKTITLE = {Web for All Conference}. YEAR = {2012}}

A set of tools that demostrate the concept of a re-narration web, that aims to add alternative, target specific narrations of web documents as an extension of the web protocol with the intent of assisting a process of content dissemination and access that is inclusive of non-literate people.

@inproceedings{bib_Alip_2012, AUTHOR = {Dinesh, T B and Uskudarli, S and Sastry, Subramanya and AGGARWAL, DEEPTI and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Alipi: A framework for re-narrating web pages}, BOOKTITLE = {Web for All Conference}. YEAR = {2012}}

We propose Alipi, a distributed and participatory approach for re-narrating web pages for the purpose of rendering the content more accessible. This model supports alternative descriptions for a web page or parts of it via rewriting or re-narration for a given target audience by volunteers. The goal is to render the Web accessible to people across varied abilities, age, economic situation, language and geographic locations. We present the motivation, architecture and prototype implementation of Alipi.

@inproceedings{bib_Alge_2012, AUTHOR = {GOEL, ANKUR and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Algebraic modelling of educational workflows}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2012}}

Workflows are ubiquitous in educational ERP and process management. The question we address in this paper is how to specify and design verifiable workflows for educational processes. To specify workflows, we borrow a simple algebraic notation from computer science. We illustrate the use of this notation through a series of typical workflow examples. We show how an algebraic specification is more expressive than a graphical specification. We then show how these algebraic specifications may be represented in the Scribble specification language, which has in built tools for verification.

@inproceedings{bib_Usin_2012, AUTHOR = {KHARE, SANKALP and SATISH, MISRA ISHAN and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Using Org-mode and Subversion for Managing and Publishing Content in Computer Science Courses}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2012}}

Content creation and management is an inevitable part of teaching a course. This paper describes a novel way of handling this problem using Org-mode, a recently created text based information management tool being used within the Emacs user community. We list certain desirable features, specially for the purposes of computer science courses, such as support for collaborative development and literate programming. We show how Org-mode compares favourably over other approaches like wikis and other content and course management systems. We describe why the combination of Org-mode and version control is suitable for creating and publishing content quickly, with minimum overhead in a collaborative manner.

@inproceedings{bib_Func_2012, AUTHOR = {Pramod, Zade Himanshu and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Functionality or User Interface: Which is easier to learn when changed?}, BOOKTITLE = {International Conference on Intelligent Human Computer Interaction}. YEAR = {2012}}

The rapid release model of software introduces frequent updates to the existing software every twelve-eighteen weeks, forcing a user to get accustomed to its new features. We propose an experimental study to compare the learning gaps that are introduced when a user is exposed to a new version of a software, with which he is previously acquainted. In order to explore the problem, we propose four models of a machine, with each model involving an update either to the functionality, or to the user interface, or both. We conducted a between-subjects experimental study with thirty-two participants who performed two tasks successively on two models of a machine, the second one being a updated model of the first. The analysis of the data using ANOVA implies that a change in the user interface dominates a change in the functionality. Results indicate that 88% of the errors were caused due to a change in the user interface. 87.5% of the users who underwent a change in the user interface hold this change responsible for the learning gap, while only 56.25% users who underwent a change in the functionality consider it to be a potential reason for the learning gap.

@inproceedings{bib_A_vi_2011, AUTHOR = {CHAITANYA, BANDI KRISHNA and NORI, ADITYA KIRAN and Choppella, Venkatesh and Kode, Sandhya }, TITLE = {A virtual laboratory for teaching Linux on the Web}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2011}}

The shortage of experimental platforms needed for learning IT systems in a hands-on way is one reason for the lack of quality education in the area of IT. For most students who have access to a PC, their ability to experiment on that machine is limited by the risk of possible irrecoverable damage their experimentation may cause to the equipment. We report the development of a 'Virtual Laboratory for Systems and Software' that teaches the basics of Linux. The goal of this laboratory is to give the students a platform through which they can learn the essentials of linux. The student interacts with a virtual instance of a linux machine through the browser on his machine to learn basic tasks of linux system administration. The student's machine could be running any operating system (not necessarily linux). This obviates the need to have a linux machine on the part of the student. The lab consists of a suite of experiments designed as web applications which are based on IT Workshop courses at undergraduate level in universities.

@inproceedings{bib_Proc_2011, AUTHOR = {Choppella, Venkatesh and Brahmajosyula, Vamsi Krishna and Kole, Sukant and Vutpala, Medhamsh }, TITLE = {Process models for virtual lab development, deployment and distribution}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2011}}

Distributed and concurrent development of virtual labs across multiple institutes and teams presents several challenges, both organizational and technical in nature. We present models for managing the process of virtual lab development, deployment and distribution. Close to twenty labs in computer science and chemical sciences are currently following our model. The architecture is designed to ultimately encourage and support a community ecosystem where teachers or students from any college could contribute to lab development, and a college could choose to subscribe to a set of virtual labs. Our deployment model, yet to be fully implemented, has as its back end a flexible virtualization architecture for running experiments and and a package based distribution model that encourages community participation in the use of virtual labs.

@inproceedings{bib_Disc_2011, AUTHOR = {ASHOK, KHOT ROHIT and Choppella, Venkatesh }, TITLE = {Discovir: A framework for designing interfaces and structuring content for virtual labs}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2011}}

As education and technology merge, the opportunity for teaching and learning expand even more. However, the juxtaposition of the latest technologies has also raised concern for academic institutions as to which technologies are most effective in terms of cost, reach, richness, and, most importantly, learning. In this paper, we present a novel development framework, which we call as DISCOVIR, for asynchronous virtual lab development. Our aim is to simplify the process of developing the content for a virtual lab and to make the resulting labs more consistent for the learners (students). We incorporate the popular Model View Controller architecture, in building the user interface for the virtual lab. It allows the lab developers to focus completely on the quality of the content while the look and the feel for the resultant lab is provided in the form of customizable themes. We define an HTML5 based semantic structure for writing the lab content. It ensures long term sustainability of the lab and supports semantic search capabilities. Our model makes no prior assumptions or requisites in terms of expertise and tools required to use it in practice. A lab developer is free to use any html editor on any operating system to build his lab. It requires no costly software installations and runs locally without a web server support. Our proposed model is currently being used by 16 of the 28 virtual labs from IIIT, Hyderabad.

@inproceedings{bib_Synt_2010, AUTHOR = {NAIDU, P THULASI RAM and VERMA, MANISHA and Choppella, Venkatesh and Chalapaka, Gangadhar }, TITLE = {Synthesizing customizable learning environments}, BOOKTITLE = {IEEE International Conference on Technology for Education}. YEAR = {2010}}

Making the experience of e-learning more effective requires interactive and collaborative systems to be adaptive and customizable. Specialized learning systems tend to be monolithic and difficult to extend. We present an alternative approach, where we synthesize a customizable learning environment from existing tools (Trac, SVN, reST, SQLite). The system presents the student not just with content, but an immersive experience that allows both individual and group annotations, versioning of the student's work, custom querying, and a uniform markup language to store content. We report the motivation and design of such an environment. We demonstrate the use of this system and its ability to plug into other environments by showcasing a custom interactive workbook, built for teaching and learning the principles of programming.