Remote laboratories in teaching and learning – issues impinging on widespread adoption in science and engineering education

This paper discusses the major issues that impinge on the widespread adoption of remote controlled laboratories in science and engineering education. This discussion largely emerges from the work of the PEARL project and is illustrated with examples and evaluation data from the project. Firstly the rationale for wanting to offer students remote experiments is outlined. The paper deliberately avoids discussion of technical implementation issues of remote experiments but instead focuses on issues that impinge on the specification and design of such facilities. This includes pedagogic, usability and accessibility issues. It compares remote experiments to software simulations. It also considers remote experiments in the wider context for educational institutions and outlines issues that will affect their decisions as to whether to adopt this approach. In conclusion it argues that there are significant challenges to be met if remote laboratories are to achieve a widespread presence in education but expresses the hope that this delineation of the issues is a contribution towards meeting these challenges

Investigating the design space of smartwatches combining physical rotary inputs

Watches benefit from a long design history. Designers and engineers have successfully built devices using rotary physical inputs such as crowns, bezels, and wheels, separately or combined. Smart watch designers have explored the use of some of these inputs for interactions. However, a systematic exploration of their combinations has yet to be done. We investigate the design space of interactions with multiple rotary inputs through a three stages exploration. (1) We build upon observations of a collection of 113 traditional or electronic watches to propose a typology of physical rotary inputs for watches. (2) We conduct two focus groups to explore combination of physical rotary inputs. (3) We then build upon the output of these focus groups to design a low fidelity prototype, and further discuss the potential and challenges of rotary inputs combinations during a third focus group

’Eyes free’ in-car assistance: parent and child passenger collaboration during phone calls

This paper examines routine family car journeys, looking specifically at how passengers assist during a mobile telephone call while the drivers address the competing demands of handling the vehicle, interacting with various artefacts and controls in the cabin, and engage in co-located and remote conversations while navigating through busy city roads. Based on an analysis of video fragments, we see how drivers and child passengers form their conversations and requests around the call so as to be meaningful and paced to the demands, knowledge and abilities of their cooccupants, and how the conditions of the road and emergent traffic are oriented to and negotiated in the context of the social interaction that they exist alongside. The study provides implications for the design of car-based collaborative media and considers how hands- and eyesfree natural interfaces could be tailored to the complexity of activities in the car and on the road

Theory of Robot Communication: II. Befriending a Robot over Time

In building on theories of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC), Human-Robot Interaction, and Media Psychology (i.e. Theory of Affective Bonding), the current paper proposes an explanation of how over time, people experience the mediated or simulated aspects of the interaction with a social robot. In two simultaneously running loops, a more reflective process is balanced with a more affective process. If human interference is detected behind the machine, Robot-Mediated Communication commences, which basically follows CMC assumptions; if human interference remains undetected, Human-Robot Communication comes into play, holding the robot for an autonomous social actor. The more emotionally aroused a robot user is, the more likely they develop an affective relationship with what actually is a machine. The main contribution of this paper is an integration of Computer-Mediated Communication, Human-Robot Communication, and Media Psychology, outlining a full-blown theory of robot communication connected to friendship formation, accounting for communicative features, modes of processing, as well as psychophysiology.Comment: Hoorn, J. F. (2018). Theory of robot communication: II. Befriending a robot over time. arXiv:cs, 2502572(v1), 1-2

Telecom photon interface of solid-state quantum nodes

Solid-state spins such as nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center are promising platforms for large-scale quantum networks. Despite the optical interface of NV center system, however, the significant attenuation of its zero-phonon-line photon in optical fiber prevents the network extended to long distances. Therefore a telecom-wavelength photon interface would be essential to reduce the photon loss in transporting quantum information. Here we propose an efficient scheme for coupling telecom photon to NV center ensembles mediated by rare-earth doped crystal. Specifically, we proposed protocols for high fidelity quantum state transfer and entanglement generation with parameters within reach of current technologies. Such an interface would bring new insights into future implementations of long-range quantum network with NV centers in diamond acting as quantum nodes.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Accessibility requirements for human-robot interaction for socially assistive robots

Mención Internacional en el título de doctorPrograma de Doctorado en Ciencia y Tecnología Informática por la Universidad Carlos III de MadridPresidente: María Ángeles Malfaz Vázquez.- Secretario: Diego Martín de Andrés.- Vocal: Mike Wal

Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for the Visual Arts

This Code of Best Practices provides visual-arts professionals with a set of principles addressing best practices in the fair use of copyrighted materials. It describes how fair use can be invoked and implemented when using copyrighted materials in scholarship, teaching, museums, archives, and in the creation of art.The Code addresses the following five questions:Analytic Writing: When may scholars and other writers about art invoke fair use to quote, excerpt, or reproduce copyrighted works?Teaching about Art: When may teachers invoke fair use in using copyrighted works to support formal instruction in a range of settings, including online and distance teaching?Making Art: Under what circumstances may artists invoke fair use to incorporate copyrighted material into new artworks in any medium?Museum Uses: When may museums and their staffs invoke fair use in using copyrighted works -- including images and text as well as time-based and born-digital material -- when organizing exhibitions, developing educational materials (within the museum and online), publishing catalogues, and other related activities?Online Access to Archival and Special Collections: When may such institutions and their staffs invoke fair use to create digital preservation copies and/or enable digital access to copyrighted materials in their collections

User interface guidelines for the control of interactive television systems via smart phone applications

International audienceThere are a growing number of smart phone applications allowing the user to control their television, set-top box or other entertainment devices. The success of these applications is limited. Based on findings from media studies in Austria and France focusing on how people currently use their TV and iTV systems and associated devices, this article describes recommendations for the design of a smart phone application enabling users to control Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) systems including all connected entertainment devices. Recommendations include the need to allow users to control devices that are related to the IPTV experience (not only the set-top box or television set) and the focus on scenarios of usage like supporting listening to music, enjoying a movie or controlling the connected home. Based on similarities and differences found in the two samples, future smart phone applications for controlling TV will only succeed if they provide meaningful functionalities that satisfy the (varying) user needs, support personalisation and personal usage and respect the limitations of mobile phones with respect to possible parallel activities performed