Introducing a new technology to enhance community sustainability: An investigation of the possibilities of sun spots

The introduction of the Sun SPOT, Small Programmable Object Technology, developed by Sun Microsystems has been depicted as providing a revolutionary change in cyber physical interaction. Based on Sun Java Micro Edition (ME), this sensor technology has the potential to be used across a number of discipline areas to interface with systems, the environment and biological domains. This paper will outline the potential of Sun SPOTs to enhance community sustainability. An action based research project was carried out to investigate the potential uses of these technologies and develop a prototype system as a proof of concept. The research will compare Sun SPOTs with similar technologies, provide an assessment of the technology, and propose a number of possible implementations of the technology to enhance community sustainability

Empowering International and Culturally Diverse Honours and Project Students Through Mentoring Activities

This paper reports on an initiative to develop a successful school based student mentoring program in the context of a Computer Science based school which has a high proportion of international and culturally diverse student population. A review of literature was made of three areas of research related to mentoring and peer support. This provided evidence for the role of mentoring and peer support in empowering student learning, with particular emphasis on how mentoring can provide both social and academic support; on the role of mentoring in different contexts; within the Computer Science field and within an international and culturally diverse education perspective and finally on the role of and qualities required by the mentor in the mentoring process. The paper examines the findings from an email based survey of current and former members of student mentor group which has existed since 2003. The questionnaire was categorized into five sections including demographic information, factors influencing choice of the group, reflections onthe mentoring experience (joining the group, project activities), on commitments and skills development (commitments, interpersonal/interaction, improving skills) and additional support services. The overarching finding from the research was that the mentoring experience was a positive one for both mentor and mentees. The mentor group provided a supportive respectful environment which could offer both academic and technical skills development and provide social support. Students also identified the most important qualities and obligations that the mentor group leader should provide to include, subject knowledge and technical expertise, and quality traits of trustworthiness, intercultural understanding and friendliness. From the research findings a framework was proposed to support the implementation of a school based mentor group program. This is seen as beneficial to project and research students especially in an international and culturally diverse student population

Analysis of PKI as a Means of Securing ODF Documents

Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) has for the last two decades been a means of securing systems and communication. With the adoption of Open Document Format (ODF) as an ISO standard, the question remains if the unpopular, expensive, complex and unmaintainable PKI can prove to be a viable means of securing ODF documents. This paper analyses the drawbacks of PKI and evaluates the useji.tlness of PKl in provisioning robust, cheap and maintainable XML security to XML based ODF. This paper also evaluates the existing research on XML security, more specifically fine grained access control

Exploring issues of resilience and technology use for older people - A scoping review protocol

The aim of this scoping review is to understand the extent of issues of resilience implied by the interactions of older people with financial, social, and health related technologies. Older people aged 60+, technology use or non-use, and issues of resilience studied over the last four years (2019-2022) demarcate the scope of this review. Key exclusion criteria are older adults living in long-term care facilities, nursing homes, care homes and hospital in-patients. It also excludes studies on the perspectives of older peoples’ clinicians. The review will be carried out according to the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) scoping review methodology. The key information sources are SCOPUS, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and MEDLINE databases. The forms of grey literature included are reports from government and non-government organizations, as well as studies from the ProQuest Dissertations & Theses - Global database. The search is limited to studies written in English. For the first step in the search strategy, keywords and index terms will be identified via SCOPUS, Web of Science, and MEDLINE databases. This is followed by a search via the above databases. Third, a search of the reference lists of all included articles will form part of the full-text screening process. Two researchers will independently screen the titles and abstracts of the literature and then read the full text of the included literature, applying the inclusion criteria and searching reference lists. All data will be presented in tables and charts to answer the review question