Ali gets a mention

In a recent posting about computer forensics the paper presented by Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz was discussed. A recent blog reviewing the workshop provides an interesting overview of the workshop and discuss some of the presentation including Ali's.

"One of the last presentations of the day was by Ali Al-Sherbaz from Northampton University.    Ali directed us to an interesting web page which is entitled, The Evolution of Privacy on Facebook which has a really nice graphic.  (Digital privacy is one of those issues that is addressed on an Open University module called TU100, My Digital Life). Ali also introduced us to a pedagogic tool called Dale's cone of experience." Christopher Douce

The blog also provides an informative summary and reflections on the links between this workshop and others by the Higher Education Academy.

The posting can be found by clicking on this link.

GreenFoot and robots in problem solving

One of the criticism of the using robots for teaching problem solving is they are finite resources, there is a risk that some students will dominate the programming in group work. To address this a new feature has been added to the teaching of problem-solving activities. There are now two parallel activities  as well as programming a robot; there is a separate programming exercise carried out at the same time which replicates some of the same actions of the robot but this time on screen.

Figure: Robot pushing a barrel

These exercises are based around the increasingly popular Greenfoot software (http://www.greenfoot.org/download/) which is free to download and use. This can be put on as many machines as are need enabling more people to have a go at programming.

The exercises initially gets participants to set-up the world, place a robot within it and get the robot to move across the screen. Building on the each previous exercise, the complexity increases and includes challenges (such as in the figure) where the robot pushes a piece of rubbish (in this case a barrel) off the screen.

A series of other activities based around controlling a robot or robots in an environment has been developed. 

The nice feature of both the robot and Greenfoot exercises, all the activities are Java based, not a specifically written language- a 'real programming language'. The extra feature that Greenfoot provides is flexibility. The students can download this at home and work on it on their own machines, whereas the robots can't be taken home.

Anecdotally, initial student feedback has been positive, with some students creating solutions to some of their own problems.

Some of the material can be found at: http://www.computing.northampton.ac.uk/~scott/greenfoot_ex/sco1/default.htm

Greenfoot Exercise 2 
Greenfoot Exercise 3

State of the Blog

Just for interest really I am presenting some of the statistical information about this blog.

Fig1. Overview of the blog

In fig 1 there seems to be a slow positive trend in the number of views of the blog per month, with the most popular postings being about BSc or MSc student work.

Fig 2 Audience data

In fig 2 the top ten countries where the site is being view includes some surprises (well to me anyway) such as Russia and Thailand being number 3 and 4 in the list.

BCS Bedford: IT Security for SMEs - Who wants your information, why and what you can do to keep it secure

Not exactly Northamptonshire but nearly...

Date:: Thursday, 15 December 2011

Theme:: IT Security for SMEs - Who wants your information, why and what you can do to keep it secure

Speaker:: David Pybus, Head of Security Governance, Risk and Compliance, Diageo

Time:: 6.00pm for 6.30-8.00pm

Location:: Studio Theatre, Bedford College, Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AH

Rationale:

A short talk that will answer some key information security questions including:

• Who is really after your information? Has the stereotypical hacker changed?
• What sort of information do they want?
• Why do they want your information and your computer?
• What might it mean to you and your customers if they do steal your information?
• What can you do to secure your systems against information theft?
• How else might someone steal your information?

More details can be found at: http://www.bedfordtrainingservices.co.uk/itsecurity

New PhD student joins Northampton

Ahmed Al-Khali has started as a new PhD student in Computing. He will working with Dr Ali Al-Sherbaz and Dr Yinghui Zhang on mobile wireless networking for vehicles. Especially concerned with ad-hoc networks that the emergency services can use and investigating issues such as "how do have we have an ad-hoc network when the nodes are moving quickly in the opposite direction?"

IET & BCS Christmas Lecture Neural Interfaces: An Experimental Tour

Not strictly Northamptonshire but might be of interest. Taken from: http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/westmids/warks/xmas-neural.cfm

Lecture

In this presentation a practical look is taken at how the use of implant and electrode technology can be employed to diminish the effects of certain neural illnesses by opening up a new path between the brain and technology. However as a result this also results in biological brains for robots and enables human enhancement. In all cases the end result is to increase the range of abilities of the recipients.

Speaker(s)

Professor Kevin Warwick, Reading University

Date & Time

• 07 December 2011
• 18:30 for 19:00

• Alan Berry Building
  Coventry University
  Coventry CV1 5FB
  

Organiser

• IET Coventry & Warwickshire Network

About this event

In this presentation a practical look is taken at how the use of implant and electrode technology can be employed to diminish the effects of certain neural illnesses by opening up a new path between the brain and technology. However as a result this also results in biological brains for robots and enables human enhancement. In all cases the end result is to increase the range of abilities of the recipients. An indication is given of a number of areas in which such technology has already had a profound effect, a key element being the need for a clear interface linking a biological brain directly with computer technology.
The emphasis is clearly placed on experimental scientific studies that have been and are being undertaken and reported on. The area of focus is notably the need for a biological/technological connection, where a link is made directly with the cerebral cortex and/or nervous system. The presentation will also consider the future: in which robots have biological, or part-biological, brains and in which neural implants link the human nervous system bi-directionally with technology and the internet.


From more information: http://www.theiet.org/local/uk/westmids/warks/xmas-neural.cfm