Industrial application of fuzzy systems; adaptive fuzzy control of solder paste stencil printing

This paper presents an adaptive fuzzy control algorithm for the control of the solder paste stencil printing stage of surface mount printed circuit board assembly. The proposed method of automatic solder paste stencil printing consist of four blocks; fuzzy feature extraction, defect classifcation of paste deposits, adaptive fuzzy rule-based model identifcation and subsequently an optimal control action for the stencil printing process. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the capability of the algorithm

The self-editor: a strategy for improving reflective writing.

A strategy to help students meet reflective writing and critical self-analysis required in Work Based Learning courses, using a strategy based on ‘tricks of the trade’ by professional writers, as an alternative to a ‘basics skills’ approach. Students invariably submit early drafts with ‘All the right content, but not necessarily in the right order!’ - to take a theme from a well-known comedian. The strategy proposes a framework for student feedback given by staff: first, the use of ‘call out’ notes in Adobe PDF, illustrates how students are guided to re-cast copy; second, the Self-Editor, a staged framework for improving writing offers students a practical method to encourage self-awareness of what is good practice. Mike Howarth draws on his editing, scripting and creative writing experience. The paper summaries eye search and neuroscience theories that inform the Self –Editor strategy

Children and computers: the development of graphical user interfaces to improve the quality of interaction

The development of educational multimedia since 1994 has been characterised by a rapid expansion of new technologies. In the context of an exciting and controversial exploration of techniques, research into how children used computers in the classroom had been limited. The thesis therefore included a wide-ranging study into factors informing a deeper understanding of the way 5 to7-year-old school children use interactive computer programs. The thesis originated in contextual studies undertaken by the researcher in classrooms. The contextual research raised issues that are not the common ground of educational multimedia practitioners. These issues were explored in depth in the literature review. The thesis tested the potential improvements in interface design - an interactive educational CD-ROM using audio and visual resources from a BBC School Radio music series. The focus was not the music content or the teaching of the subject. The results of testing the research tool that used observation of groups of three children, interviews with individual children and teachers were summarised and improvements identified. The aim was to seek answers to the question 'How can the quality of computer interface interaction be improved?' Improvements were considered by enhancing the quality of interaction through greater depth of engagement by using the computer mouse to move icons on the computer screen. In the process of contextual research the following issues were raised: the need for teachers to have a method of mediating the content of educational CD-ROMs, the physiological demands made on children in terms of eye search; the difficulties they encountered using navigation metaphors; and the potential of pseudo 3-D perspective interfaces. The research re-evaluates the relationship between children and computers in the familiar context of groups of three children using computers in the primary classroom, and resulted in a coherent set of suggestions for a more effective holistic paradigm for the design of multimedia programs that takes into account practical realities in classroom environments. .

45 ̊ Learning: a guide to organising teaching online in the Covid pandemic, including peer observation revision

The paper suggests ways to benefit student learning online by improving staff training. The paper challenges the assumption that classroom based pedagogy applies to online teaching, with alternative ways that resolve the stress and confusion during the pandemic. The paper is the ‘front end”, a summary guide to online teaching written after creating 25 practical video resources during June-December 2020, that demonstrate well-tried creative methods used in BBC School Radio. The paper considers solutions using the unwritten pedagogy - ‘The Knowledge’ in the making of education radio broadcasts: embedded in self-awareness and self-assessment training of teachers in the BBC School Radio Department, evolved between 1935 and 1996. The argument is that HE lecturers can become more creative if they: inform educate and entertain, replace declarative lecturing with a conversational style, say goodbye to ‘engagement’ and stop fighting the enemy. Students will learn more and the mental health of everyone concerned will improve too. The author makes the training explicit. As one of a handful of experts he had the privilege of working with colleagues, who freely shared their experience in an atmosphere of creative commitment to learning and he shares these ideas with you, in this 33 page paper: Solutions in terms of: the physical organisation of the lecturer’s home online studio; personal presence online; and ways to refine spoken English skills for a memorable student learning experience. See Appendix 3, Appendix 5 Illustrates in practical examples how they can be achieved in videos of tradecraft, that raise the teacher’s self-awareness and self-assessment. See Appendix 4. Adapts the national standard peer observation form, and an online T&L lesson planner to demonstrate the potential for better online teaching. See Appendix 1, 2. Demonstrates new software that sets up online T&L Lesson planner content quickly. All backed by the extensive125 page Working documents and Production notes, that demonstrates the real way to scaffold online learning. 45˚ Learning (Trade Mark applied for) brings together the author’s BBC training, online teaching, and reflection on the project to gather examples of School Radio broadcasts and publications for the British Library Radio Archive

Der Juni-Aufstand und die Deutschlandpolitik der Westalliierten

Die Westalliierten wurden vom Volksaufstand am 17. Juni 1953 in Ost-Berlin und anderen Städten der DDR überrascht. Zwar waren die politischen und wirtschaftlichen Probleme der DDR den Westmächten gut bekannt, doch erwarteten sie keine derartigen Massenproteste, die rasch zum Volksaufstand anwachsen sollten

A 360 degree learning environment for university online teaching

The paper is a sequence of methods to inform competent online video conferencing (webinar) teaching resources for universities rushing to meet learning effective provision in the current Covid crisis. The authors consider Moore's Theory of Transactional Distance (1970), with the focus of the theory on developing autonomy in the learner, may still be relevant as a theoretical guide to a rapid growth in demand for online learning, despite originally being applied to traditional paper based distance learning. Ensuring autonomy of learning in the theory's application, might need a WHAT, HOW, WHY, analysis to encourage the self-managed focus of webinar Presenters, Facilitators, Participants and stakeholders to be informed and aware from small PowerPoint projects to large scale conferences. The home-distance learning environment of the autonomous learner is now quite different to that envisaged in Moore's theory. Participants now have a broadcast studio in their home. The authors suggest a base level of hard skills of technical nature and soft skills of performance and engagement are required. Managing complex online events are also not a feature of Moore's concept of the autonomous learner. Therefore a ‘Fishbone’ analysis is proposed to show the process of identifying key issues and quickly resolving solutions that may arise. Looking to the future, the authors see the potential for a virtual online 360* Classroom. The Webinar could quickly evolve to use 3D Virtual Reality technology. One application might be to realise the traditional Socratic Method of higher level thinking accessible to many in a virtual online 3D environment. The conflation of technology and educational objectives are complex, but may now be managed with the methods suggested in the paper. Finally, a Transactional Distance Toolkit, is explored as a quick and easy method of planning the structure and organisation of a webinar and a with its inbuilt visualisations are away to assess the effectiveness learner autonomy

Models of webcasts and webinars: towards interactive new-media webcasts.

In this paper we provide a context for models of webcasts and webinars from the perspective of a UK higher education Institution and the corporate training setting. Our synthesis of technical and pedagogic elements arises from these e-learning and marketing considerations and forms a proposal for the Interactive New-media Webcast design (INWeb). Three webcast models are compared with respect to moderated text discussion, the presenterʼs capacity and the type of content engagement for the online event as a key component of the new design model. These e-learning webcast models are triangulated with Garrisonʼs (2004) distance learning historical timeline and Pincasʼ (2007) collection of pedagogic designs known as the 3Ps (Presentation, Practice and Performance). A critique of our mini-case studies is our way to ground the e-learning theory in real-world examples of use. These webcast illustrations are presented from both a business and academic perspective. Mooreʼs (1993, 1996) Transactional Distance Theory (TDT) is critically reviewed for its application to the pedagogic design of the INWeb model. Dialogue and structure are analysed to see the impact on the autonomous learner as a webcast participant. The transactional distance between the webcast presenter and the online viewer/ callers is explored in the context of the webcast content as a learner-generated Web 2.0 dynamic resource for learning and marketing. Our summary reflections then discuss how the current webcast models may be extended if we provide a framework informed by the Evolutionary Graph Theory and Metcalfeʼs Law (Hendler, 2008) as possible theoretical positions to tie together the professional social network and Web 2.0 elements to future interactive New-media Webcast Designs

Noninteractive fuzzy rule-based systems

In this paper, we have introduced a noninteractive model for fuzzy rule-based systems. A critical aspect of this noninteractive model is the introduction of a new set of rules with fewer parameters and without considering the interaction between the functionality of inputs. The new noninteractive model of the fuzzy rule-based system represents the output as a linear combination of the nonlinear function of individual inputs