Employing Object Technology to Expose Fundamental Object Concepts

We explore technical issues in the design of programming tools, development environments, simulations, code examples, user interface frameworks and pedagogies for a university-level course on object-oriented software development. The course, M206 Computing: An Object-Oriented Approach has been specifically developed for distance learning, and is enrolling over 5,000 students per year (average age 37) in the UK, Europe and Singapore. The course introduces computing via an object-oriented approach. M206 is substantial in extent representing one sixth of a degree. It embodies a practical, industry oriented view of computing and includes programming, analysis, design and group working. Considerable effort has been invested in making the simplicity, consistency and power of object technology accessible to and capable of being applied by beginners. A diverse set of educational media, such as CD-ROMs, TV and the Web, have been deployed as learning resources. We describe the agenda for the course; its object-oriented pedagogy and our strategy for delivery. We explain measures taken to avoid misconceptions about objects, our analysis and design method, and the Smalltalk programming environment we have developed specifically for learners and which is crucial to our approach. We outline how our adherence to the separation of view and domain model leads to technical innovations. Concluding remarks reflect on the benefits a reflexive strategy, both in education and training

Inviwo -- A Visualization System with Usage Abstraction Levels

The complexity of today's visualization applications demands specific visualization systems tailored for the development of these applications. Frequently, such systems utilize levels of abstraction to improve the application development process, for instance by providing a data flow network editor. Unfortunately, these abstractions result in several issues, which need to be circumvented through an abstraction-centered system design. Often, a high level of abstraction hides low level details, which makes it difficult to directly access the underlying computing platform, which would be important to achieve an optimal performance. Therefore, we propose a layer structure developed for modern and sustainable visualization systems allowing developers to interact with all contained abstraction levels. We refer to this interaction capabilities as usage abstraction levels, since we target application developers with various levels of experience. We formulate the requirements for such a system, derive the desired architecture, and present how the concepts have been exemplary realized within the Inviwo visualization system. Furthermore, we address several specific challenges that arise during the realization of such a layered architecture, such as communication between different computing platforms, performance centered encapsulation, as well as layer-independent development by supporting cross layer documentation and debugging capabilities

Prisoners of our own consciousness? : the autonomy of the subject : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Sociology

This thesis explores questions which have vexed both philosophers and sociologists. These are questions which, to varying degrees remain unanswered, but which, nonetheless, are basic questions pertaining to our existence. Just what is the nature of the 'subject'? Can we even say that the 'subject' exists? What is consciousness? What role does language play in defining the subject? What is 'truth'? Is there a 'truth'? How much autonomy does the subject have? The main question, though, posed in this thesis relates to whether we are: Prisoners of our own Consciousness? It is from a reading of the writings of certain late twentieth century French thinkers that the above questions are considered. The four writers: Jean Paul Sartre, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida and Pierre Bourdieu, offer their views. Whilst Jean Paul Sartre advocates atheistic existentialism, the remaining three French theorists have been labelled post-structuralists, a term given, rather than claimed. Whilst Sartre, Foucault, Derrida and Bourdieu have differing views on the above questions, there are points of congruence. The elusiveness of the subject is one such point of agreement. There is also agreement amongst the four (less overtly expressed by Derrida) that freedom of the subject is a possibility. For Sartre, freedom is the very essence of humankind. The thinkers differ on the matter of 'truth'. Sartre believes in an absolute truth. Foucault deals with 'regimes of truth'. Derrida remains somewhat silent, except that he contends there is a justice, which does not exist but which is an ideal and is infinitely irreducible. Bourdieu unashamedly believes all scientists are seeking the truth, and he proposes a method which he believes will assist in the pursuit of that goal. Each of the four theorists contends, to some degree, that language and discourse are constructed by the social world and influence our perception of reality. Regarding the notion of being 'prisoners of our own consciousness?', the theorists under scrutiny, with the exception of Sartre, believe we are seriously constrained by language and discourse. Foucault and Bourdieu are of the opinion that knowledge may free us from this predicament. I suggest that humankind is neither free, nor non-free. Rather, that the 'subject' merely Is. I suggest that we are not prisoners because to endorse such a view, would be to accept that we are being detained from a realm which would be our 'normal' realm. Given that there is no realm other than the present, and given that constraints are consistent with the nature of humankind, we cannot be said to be prisoners. Further, it is argued that not only our consciousness defines us but also our unconsciousness. And both consciousness and unconsciousness, in turn, are defined by the social world in which we live

Supporting Semantically Enhanced Web Service Discovery for Enterprise Application Integration

The availability of sophisticated Web service discovery mechanisms is an essential prerequisite for increasing the levels of efficiency and automation in EAI. In this chapter, we present an approach for developing service registries building on the UDDI standard and offering semantically-enhanced publication and discovery capabilities in order to overcome some of the known limitations of conventional service registries. The approach aspires to promote efficiency in EAI in a number of ways, but primarily by automating the task of evaluating service integrability on the basis of the input and output messages that are defined in the Web service’s interface. The presented solution combines the use of three technology standards to meet its objectives: OWL-DL, for modelling service characteristics and performing fine-grained service matchmaking via DL reasoning, SAWSDL, for creating semantically annotated descriptions of service interfaces, and UDDI, for storing and retrieving syntactic and semantic information about services and service providers

A gentle transition from Java programming to Web Services using XML-RPC

Exposing students to leading edge vocational areas of relevance such as Web Services can be difficult. We show a lightweight approach by embedding a key component of Web Services within a Level 3 BSc module in Distributed Computing. We present a ready to use collection of lecture slides and student activities based on XML-RPC. In addition we show that this material addresses the central topics in the context of web services as identified by Draganova (2003)

Reflection confocal nanoscopy using a super-oscillatory lens

A Superoscillatory lens (SOL) is known to produce a sub-diffraction hotspot which is useful for high-resolution imaging. However, high-energy rings called sidelobes coexist with the central hotspot. Additionally, SOLs have not yet been directly used to image reflective objects due to low efficiency and poor imaging properties. We propose a novel reflection confocal nanoscope which mitigates these issues by relaying the SOL intensity pattern onto the object and use conventional optics for detection. We experimentally demonstrate super-resolution by imaging double bars with 330 nm separation using a 632.8 nm excitation and a 0.95 NA objective. We also discuss the enhanced contrast properties of the SOL nanoscope against a laser confocal microscope, and the degradation of performance while imaging large objects.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, supplementary include

Privileging information is inevitable

Libraries, archives and museums have long collected physical materials and other artefacts. In so doing they have established formal or informal policies defining what they will (and will not) collect. We argue that these activities by their very nature privilege some information over others and that the appraisal that underlies this privileging is itself socially constructed. We do not cast this in a post-modernist or negative light, but regard a clear understanding of it as fact and its consequences as crucial to understanding what collections are and what the implications are for the digital world. We will argue that in the digital world it is much easier for users to construct their own collections from a combination of resources, some privileged and curated by information professionals and some privileged by criteria that include the frequency with which other people link to and access them. We conclude that developing these ideas is an important part of placing the concept of a digital or hybrid paper/digital library on a firm foundation and that information professionals need to learn from each other, adopting elements of a variety of different approaches to describing and exposing information. A failure to do this will serve to push information professional towards the margins of the information seekers perspective

Impact Of A Visual Programming Experience On The Attitude Toward Programming Of Introductory Undergraduate Students

Traditionally, textual tools have been utilized to teach basic programming languages and paradigms. Research has shown that students tend to be visual learners. Using flowcharts, students can quickly understand the logic of their programs and visualize the flow of commands in the algorithm. Moreover, applying programming to physical systems through the use of a microcontroller to facilitate this type of learning can spark an interest in students to advance their programming knowledge to create novel applications. This study examined if freshmen college students\u27 attitudes towards programming changed after completing a graphical programming lesson. Various attributes about students\u27 attitudes were examined including confidence, interest, stereotypes, and their belief in the usefulness of acquiring programming skills. The study found that there were no statistically significant differences in attitudes either immediately following the session or after a period of four weeks