Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kotelnikov: Pioneer of the sampling theorem, cryptography, optimal detection, planetary mapping

In 1933 the young Russian communications engineer Vladimir Aleksandrovich Kotelnikov published a paper in which he formulated for the first time in an engineering context the sampling theorem for lowpass and bandpass signals. He also considered the bandwidth requirements of discrete signal transmission for telegraphy and images. Kotelnikov subsequently worked on scrambling, cryptography, optimal detection, and planetary radar (including the radar-assisted cartography of Venus). He was awarded numerous Soviet and international prizes and played a major role in Soviet academic and professional life in the field of radio engineering. Yet his achievements are still comparatively little known outside Russia

[Review of] Thomas Kochman, Black and White Styles in Conflict

Race, class and culture are the ingredients of black-white relations in America. Thomas Kochman\u27s book attempts to separate out the cultural component of this mix and to examine it because he believes that it is both ignored and the source of much interracial conflict. The author is Professor of Communications and Theatre at the University of Illinois and has taught and researched in the area of black language and behavior. His background has clearly made him sensitive to aspects of black culture, a sensitivity he exploits in his book

mLearning, development and delivery : creating opportunity and enterprise within the HE in FE context

This research project was funded by ESCalate in 2006-7 to support Somerset College in developing the curriculum, as well as widening participation via the use of mobile communications technologies such as mp3 players and mobile phones. The Project represents a highly topical and timely engagement with the opportunities for learning provided by the burgeoning use of mobile computing/ communications devices. Activities bring together colleagues from Teacher Education and Multimedia Computing in an innovative approach to designing for and delivering the curriculum. The Project addresses pedagogic issues and also vitally involves current and future learners, providing them with a new context for skills development and entrepreneurship. Anticipated outcomes include informed development of new HE modules and professional CPD activities which address the skills and context of this emerging approach to delivering the curriculum. The Project also intends to trial and evaluate the use of mobile technologies to support a blended learning approach to programme delivery and the development of a FD module which could be delivered via a mobile computing device. An interim report and a final project report are available as Word and PDF file

Managing investment in teaching and learning technologies

Information and communications technologies are radically changing the way that teaching and learning activities are organised and delivered within HE institutions. A wide range of technologies is being deployed in quite complex and interactive ways, including virtual learning environments (VLEs), mobile communication technologies, digital libraries and on-line resources. A key challenge for university leaders is to maximise the benefits derived from these investments for all institutional stakeholders (not just teachers and learners), while at the same time minimising cost and risk (Ford et al, 1996). This requires not only co-ordinated strategies for change management but also new approaches to decision-making and to the evaluation of changes resulting from these decisions

Whistleblower or Troublemaker? How One Man Took on the Soviet Mafia

The paper tells the story of a pensioner’s fight against a local mafia of Soviet party and government officials and farm managers in a remote rural locality in the 1950s. To Moscow, he was a whistleblower. To the leaders of his local community, he was a troublemaker. Working together, the local people went to extraordinary lengths to suppress his criticisms. Eventually, Moscow intervened to vindicate him. The story illustrates vividly the political and economic issues that arose when a centralized dictatorship that relied on mass mobilization over a vast territory with sometimes poor communications tried to contain local rent seeking while moving away from mass terror as its chief instrument of control.Corruption ; Mafia ; Soviet Economy ; Whistleblowing.

A Proposed Solution to the Scholarly Communication Crisis

After reviewing the history and parameters of the scholarly communications crisis, particularly in regard to skyrocketing prices for journals in the natural sciences, the author reviews and rejects previously attempted solutions. He then employs the principles of game theory in proposing a new solution to the crisis

Striking the balance: why we still need a plurality dialogue

Robin Foster is an adviser on strategy, policy and regulation in the media and communications sectors and a founding member of Communications Chambers. He previously held strategy and board level posts at Ofcom, Independent Television Commission, and the BBC and has provided senior level advice to leading organisations including BT, ITV, Channel 4 and BskyB. Here he argues for the continued need for a dialogue on media plurality between digital intermediaries, policy makers and other stakeholders