Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Required Features Of A Virtual Classroom Tool For Use In Higher Education, Arnold Hensman

Articles

The integration of virtual-classroom systems into the arsenal of e-learning tools represents a major evolution in the landscape of modern distance education. For many courses, standard virtual learning environments (VLEs) provide only a foundation upon which to base a distance learning programme. However, synchronous live online-teaching software such as Microsoft Office Communicator and Adobe Connect allow educators to simulate a real-time classroom environment over the internet like never before. Since these tools are being used more and more within higher education, questions must be asked about how effective they ultimately can be in meeting student learning requirements. More importantly, what …

A Theoretical Framework For Serious Game Design: Exploring Pedagogy, Play And Fidelity And Their Implications For The Design Process, Pauline Rooney

Articles

It is widely acknowledged that digital games can provide an engaging, motivating and “fun” experience for students. However an entertaining game does not necessarily constitute a meaningful, valuable learning experience. For this reason, experts espouse the importance of underpinning serious games with a sound theoretical framework which integrates and balances theories from two fields of practice: pedagogy and game design (Kiili, 2005; Seeney & Routledge, 2009). Additionally, with the advent of sophisticated, immersive technologies, and increasing interest in the opportunities for constructivist learning offered by these technologies, concepts of fidelity and its impact on student learning and engagement, have emerged …

Software Process Improvement To Assist Medical Device Software Development Organisations To Comply With The Amendments To The Medical Device Directive, Martin Mchugh, Fergal Mccaffery, Valentine Casey

Articles

A recent revision to the European Medical Device Directive (MDD) 2007/47/EC made fourteen amendments to the original directive (93/42/EEC). A number of these changes directly affect the development of software for use in healthcare. The most significant change in relation to medical device software development is that standalone software is now seen as an active medical device and should be developed following state of the art medical device software development processes. State of the art medical device software processes is understood within the industry as developing software in accordance with IEC 62304 and standards that are aligned with it. This …

Changes To The International Regulatory Environment, Martin Mchugh, Fergal Mccaffery, Valentine Casey

Articles

Since 2010, two significant international regulations regarding medical device development have come into force, the amendment to the European Union (EU) Medical Device Directive (MDD) 2007/47/EC and the United States (US) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Final rule on Medical Device Data Systems (MDDS). Adherence to these regulations is mandatory to be able to market a medical device in the respective region. The ability to understand these regulations and apply them to a development project can be difficult. The MDDS final rule changes the safety classification of a number of devices from Class III-high risk to Class I-low risk. The …

Designing And Implementing A Platform For Collecting Multi-Modal Data Of Human-Robot Interaction, Brian Vaughan, Jing Guang Han, Emer Kilmartin, Nick Campbell

Articles

This paper details a method of collecting video and audio recordings of people inter- acting with a simple robot interlocutor. The interaction is recorded via a number of cameras and microphones mounted on and around the robot. The system utilised a number of technologies to engage with interlocutors including OpenCV, Python, and Max MSP. Interactions over a three month period were collected at The Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin. Visitors to the gallery freely engaged with the robot, with interactions on their behalf being spontaneous and non-scripted. The robot dialogue was a set pattern of utterances to engage interlocutors …

Structure-Reactivity Studies Of Simple 4-Hydroxyprolinamide Organocatalysts In The Asymmetric Michael Addition Reaction Of Aldehydes To Nitroolefins, Fintan Kelleher, John Watts, Lien Luu, Vickie Mckee, Ed Carey

Articles

A series of simple 4-hydroxyprolinamides was synthesised and they were found to act as organocatalysts for the asymmetric conjugate addition of aldehydes to nitroolefins in excellent yields (98%), with complete diastereoselectivity (99:1, syn:anti) and enantioselectivity (98% e.e. for syn). Furthermore, the use of low catalyst loadings (5 mol%) and a low aldehyde molar excess (1.5 equivalents) were achieved.

Computer-Supported Peer Review In A Law School Context, Kevin D. Ashley, Ilya Goldin

Articles

Legal instructors have been urged to incorporate peer reviewing into law school courses as a way to provide students much needed feedback. Peer review can benefit legal education, but only if law school instructors adopt peer review on a large scale, and for that, computer-supported peer review systems are crucial. These web-based systems orchestrate the mechanics of students submitting written assignments on-line and distributing them to other students for anonymous review, making it considerably easier for instructors to manage.

Beyond the problem of orchestrating mechanics, however, a deeper obstacle to widespread acceptance of peer review in legal education is the …

Profiling Instances In Noise Reduction, Sarah Jane Delany, Nicola Segata, Brian Macnamee

Articles

The dependency on the quality of the training data has led to significant work in noise reduction for instance-based learning algorithms. This paper presents an empirical evaluation of current noise reduction techniques, not just from the perspective of their comparative performance, but from the perspective of investigating the types of instances that they focus on for re- moval. A novel instance profiling technique known as RDCL profiling allows the structure of a training set to be analysed at the instance level cate- gorising each instance based on modelling their local competence properties. This profiling approach o↵ers the opportunity of investigating …

Sms Spam Filtering: Methods And Data, Sarah Jane Delany, Mark Buckley, Derek Greene

Articles

Mobile or SMS spam is a real and growing problem primarily due to the availability of very cheap bulk pre-pay SMS packages and the fact that SMS engenders higher response rates as it is a trusted and personal service. SMS spam filtering is a relatively new task which inherits many issues and solu- tions from email spam filtering. However it poses its own specific challenges. This paper motivates work on filtering SMS spam and reviews recent devel- opments in SMS spam filtering. The paper also discusses the issues with data collection and availability for furthering research in this area, analyses …

Evaluating The Benefits Of Octree-Based Indexing For Lidar Data, Abu Saleh Mohammad Mosa, Bianca Schoen-Phelan, Michela Bertolotto, Debra Laefer

Articles

Very large true three-dimensional (3D) point datasets, as opposed to the previously common 2.5D data sets, are progressively more common nowadays, such as from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR). Increasingly, attempts are made to exploit these 3D point data sets beyond mere visualization. However, current Spatial Information Systems provide only limited 3D support. Even commercial systems advertising in-built, 3D data types provide only minimal functionality. Particularly, there is no effective means of indexing large 3D point datasets, which is crucial for efficient analysis and engineering usage. Also many datasets are information rich (e.g. contain color or some other associated semantic …

Personality Modulates The Effects Of Emotional Arousal And Valence On Brain Activation, Elizabeth G. Kehoe, John M. Toomey, Joshua H. Balsters, Arun L.W. Bokde

Articles

The influence of personality on the neural correlates of emotional processing is still not well characterized. We investigated the relationship between extraversion and neuroticism and emotional perception using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a group of 23 young, healthy women. Using a parametric modulation approach, we examined how the blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal varied with the participants’ ratings of arousal and valence, and whether levels of extraversion and neuroticism were related to these modulations. In particular, we wished to test Eysenck's biological theory of personality, which links high extraversion to lower levels of reticulothalamic–cortical arousal, and neuroticism …