Supporting Group Coursework Assessment in Large Computing Classes through an Open-Source Web Application

Group coursework in computing often suffers from uneven workload distribution, poor communication, and limited visibility for staff, especially in large cohorts. We present an open-source web application that addresses these challenges through automated team allocation (via genetic algorithms), student skill self-assessment, meeting tracking, peer review, and supervisor tools. The system is embedded in a year-long second-year undergraduate module on software design and development (with 300 students in 2025/26) and is replacing manual, ad-hoc processes with structured, data-driven support. Informal trials suggest it helps staff identify struggling teams early and supports fairer marking. Data collection from the first cohort is ongoing. We share findings, reflect on design choices, and discuss implications for adoption in other computing courses

Longitudinal social network methods for the educational and psychological sciences

Social network analysis is useful for obtaining a better understanding of antecedents and mechanisms of relationship formation and interactions between individuals in educational and psychological contexts. Research utilising descriptive and cross-sectional applications of network analysis is regularly reported, but longitudinal analyses of networks have received less scrutiny. In this methodological article, we compare three commonly applied approaches for analysing longitudinal social network data: Multiple Regression Quadratic Assignment Procedure (MRQAP), Separable Temporal Exponential Random Graph Models (STERGM), and Stochastic Actor Oriented Modelling (SAOM) with research questions about correlations, social structures and mechanisms respectively. We highlight advantages and disadvantages of the methods and illustrate differences between these methods by analysing longitudinal peer-communication network data of pre-service teachers. The key considerations by the researcher is summarised as “FACTS” (Focus, Assumptions, Conceptualisation, Time points, and Size) and aid researchers to select the most appropriate method for the analysis of longitudinal social network data

Constructing the self: historical roots, current challenges, and future directions

In this entry, we survey key ideas about the construct of “the self,” tracing its development from evolutionary origins to contemporary theories in psychology and neuroscience. We highlight three organizing features of selfhood: reflexive consciousness, interpersonal relatedness, and agency. Drawing on work from philosophy and the cognitive sciences, we outline how the self has been conceptualized as both a product of mental processes and a participant in social life. We connect early philosophical theories, such as those proposed by Hume and James, to later psychological models that address the self-concept, motivation, regulation, and narrative identity. We also consider current challenges, including how digital environments and artificial intelligence are reshaping the way individuals construct identity, relate to others, and reflect on experience. These trends raise questions about how the self functions in technologically mediated contexts and how emerging tools might change scholarly understanding of personhood. We conclude by considering interdisciplinary approaches and future directions in research on the self

Piano music of the Black Renaissance

This ground breaking anthology introduces a canon of piano works from the Black Renaissance school of the early twentieth century. The music of Harry T. Burleigh, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, R. Nathaniel Dett, Nora Holt, Florence B. Price, Zenobia Powell Perry, Margaret Bonds, and Betty Jackson King affirms a rich, Afrodiasporic concert tradition, in which African, Caribbean, and African American folk songs and dances are absorbed into a distinct classical voice. This volume offers clearly presented performing editions, with fingering and pedalling, of a representative selection of piano music from this period, ranging from intermediate to advanced levels. Notes by Dr Samantha Ege provide historical background and interpretative insights for this previously overlooked area of piano literature

Politicising safety and racialised and gendered criminalisation: political agenda-setting and the case of Albanian asylum-seekers in the UK

How the UK government has politicised asylum by categorising Albanian asylum-seekers as “criminals” and Albania as a “safe” country to advance an immigration deterrence agenda remains unresearched. We use agenda-setting and policy framing analytical insights to explain how and why UK government’s successful agenda-setting was underpinned by the racialised and gendered criminalisation of Albanian males and the politicisation of the safety conditions in Albania. Our findings draw on qualitative empirical data, alongside triangulation with official and stakeholder data and documents. We argue that the racialised and gendered criminalisation of Albanian males – as evidenced by political rhetoric and the media – was integral to the targeted legal and political measures making Albania a “safe” country. Nonetheless, we show that these framings misrepresent the reality in Albania and the challenges that vulnerable Albanians face when seeking protection in the UK

Information walls and norm-dependent abilities

The article studies the interplay between obligations, knowledge, and abilities. It introduces the notion of norm-dependent abilities--something that an agent knows how to achieve using a knowingly allowed action and assuming that the other agents also use only knowingly allowed actions. The main technical contribution is a sound and complete logical system that describes the interplay between the modalities representing knowledge, obligations, and norm-dependent abilities in the presence of information walls between the agents

Rate splitting multiple access for RIS-aided URLLC MIMO broadcast channels

The performance of modern wireless communication systems is typically limited by interference. The impact of interference can be even more severe in ultra-reliable and low-latency communication (URLLC) use cases. A powerful tool for managing interference is rate splitting multiple access (RSMA), which encompasses many multiple-access technologies like non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA), spatial division multiple access (SDMA), and broadcasting. Another effective technology to enhance the performance of URLLC systems and mitigate interference is constituted by reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RISs). This paper develops RSMA schemes for multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) RIS-aided broad-cast channels (BCs) based on finite block length (FBL) coding. We show that RSMA and RISs can substantially improve the spectral efficiency (SE) and energy efficiency (EE) of MIMO RIS-aided URLLC systems. Additionally, the gain of employing RSMA and RISs noticeably increases when the reliability and latency constraints are more stringent. Furthermore, RISs impact RSMA differently, depending on the user load. If the system is underloaded, RISs are able to manage the interference sufficiently well, making the gains of RSMA small. However, when the user load is high, RISs and RSMA become synergetic