Affective issues in learning technologies: emotional responses to technology and technology's role in supporting socio-emotional skills

This paper focuses on some of the author's research studies over the past thirty years and places these in a wider context to reflect on research into affective issues in learning technologies over this period, and to consider whether and how the issues uncovered by research have changed as technologies have developed over time. Three issues are given particular attention: firstly the reasons for learners' use or lack of use of technologies for their learning; secondly adult learners' attitudes towards using technology for learning and thirdly how technology might support socio-emotional development and expression in children. The discussion of these issues is framed by two of the author's research projects. For the first two issues this is an early study of students' perceptions and attitudes towards using computers for tutorial learning in 1980. The factors that influenced the students' use of the computer tutorials are discussed (including access, assessment and anxiety about using computers) and also the extent to which some of these factors persist for many learners using (or not using) technologies today. The discussion of the third issue draws on a series of studies conducted in the 1990s to investigate whether educational technology could support children and young people's emotional expression and communication and development of socio-emotional skills. Finally the paper considers how these kinds of issues have been taken forward and how they are represented in contemporary research and suggests that trust is an important factor in using learning technologies

Semantic Web meets Web 2.0 (and vice versa): The Value of the Mundane for the Semantic Web

Web 2.0, not the Semantic Web, has become the face of “the next generation Web” among the tech-literate set, and even among many in the various research communities involved in the Web. Perceptions in these communities of what the Semantic Web is (and who is involved in it) are often misinformed if not misguided. In this paper we identify opportunities for Semantic Web activities to connect with the Web 2.0 community; we explore why this connection is of significant benefit to both groups, and identify how these connections open valuable research opportunities “in the real” for the Semantic Web effort

An integrated optofluidic Bragg grating device to measure the dynamic composition of a fluid

Strong transitional mixing effects were observed by a planar Bragg grating sensor within a microfluidic system. This property was used to develop an integrated optofluidic sensor for detection of the composition of mixed solvent systems

mSpace meets EPrints: a Case Study in Creating Dynamic Digital Collections

In this case study we look at issues involved in (a) generating dynamic digital libraries that are on a particular topic but span heterogeneous collections at distinct sites, (b) supplementing the artefacts in that collection with additional information available either from databases at the artefact's home or from the Web at large, and (c) providing an interaction paradigm that will support effective exploration of this new resource. We describe how we used two available frameworks, mSpace and EPrints to support this kind of collection building. The result of the study is a set of recommendations to improve the connectivity of remote resources both to one another and to related Web resources, and that will also reduce problems like co-referencing in order to enable the creation of new collections on demand

mSpace Mobile: Exploring Support for Mobile Tasks

In the following paper we compare two Web application interfaces, mSpace Mobile and Google Local in supporting location discovery tasks on mobile devices while stationary and while on the move. While mSpace Mobile performed well in both stationary and mobile conditions, performance in Google Local dropped significantly. We postulate that mSpace Mobile performed so well because it breaks the paradigm of the page for delivering Web content, thereby enabling new and more powerful interfaces to be used to support mobility

Characterization of a planar microcoil for implantable microsystems

This paper discusses the modelling, design and characterization of planar microcoils to be used in telemetry systems that supply energy to miniaturized implants. Parasitic electrical effects that may become important at a.c. frequencies of several megahertz are evaluated. The fabrication process and electrical characterization of planar receiver microcoils will be described, and it will be shown that a power of a few milliwatts is feasible.\u

mSpace: improving information access to multimedia domains with multimodal exploratory search

Overview of mSpace interaction approach for presenting exploratory search particularly in the audio domain by using slices, preview cues, and user-determined organization of information from high-dimensional space

An integrated Bragg grating oxygen sensor using a hydrophobic sol-gel layer doped with an organic dye

Oxygen sensing is required for the understanding of many chemical processes across a diverse set of fields including medicine, environmental science and chemical synthesis. Oxygen sensing can be achieved through the use of electronic sensors. However, there are limitations associated with electronic sensors including susceptibility to electromagnetic interference and presenting a spark risk in flammable environments. Optical fiber and integrated optical chemical sensors overcome these limitations of electrical based sensing methods

Optofluidic integrated Bragg grating chemical sensor: Utilising a sodium-elective receptor surface to enhance detection

Planar waveguides can be written with a UV-laser into photosensitised silica to produce a wide range of optical devices. Careful modulation of two interfering beams allows Bragg gratings to be directly written into the channel. These Bragg gratings are inherently sensitive to temperature and strain, however etching away the surface exposes the mode within the grating to its surroundings. The corresponding observed shift in Bragg wavelength can be used to detect changes in this environment [1]. It has been previously reported [2] that the sensitivity of such a refractometer can be enhanced by over an order of magnitude through use of a high-index overlayer of tantalum pentoxide. This enhanced sensor has shown the potential to detect a single molecular monolayer upon the sensor surface [2]. This sensitivity was confirmed through the successful attachment and detection of a single molecular monolayer of a fluorescein-based organic dye to the sensor surface [3

mSpace Mobile: a UI Gestalt to Support On-the-Go Info-Interaction

mSpace Mobile Interaction presents a UI gestalt of 7 techniques for mobile/on-the-move information retrieval and assessment that enables multiple views of the information within a persistent focus+context viewer. It uses the web but breaks the web page paradigm to support effective rapid triage