Interactive student engagement using wireless handheld devices

This paper presents an initial design of a pilot wireless Classroom Communication System (CCS) used for continuous and interactive engagement of students aiming at enhancing student critical thinking, extending attention span and enabling better student assessment. The system was designed mostly for engineering students and is intended to be used in lectures, tutorials or laboratories. The design should ultimately enable students to use, amongst other software, standard engineering packages such as MATLAB, PSpice, or Electronic WorkBench to construct designs, perform simulations and obtain answers to design problems using just wireless handheld pocket PCs. The system is based upon a CSCW system originally designed to be used anytime during lectures or tutorials and may involve the guidance and personal intervention of a lecturer or tutor. It is intended to support several modes and allows group or one-to-one personal tutoring. The system may also serve as a means of assessing individual student performance and in assisting lecturing staff with other task

Real-time path planning optimisation algorithm for obstacle avoidance

This paper presents a new real-time path planning algorithm suitable for implementation on small mobile robots to aid navigation in unknown environments. The Random Obstacle Avoidance (R.O.A) algorithm was developed for small robots and it can be used as the basis for mapping the environment. The algorithm has been tested through a specially developed simulation environment using MATLAB. The main characteristics of the algorithm are simplicity, ease of implementation, speed, and efficiency

Combining interpolation and 3D level set method (I+3DLSM) for medical image segmentation

A combined interpolation - 3D Level Set Method (I+3DLSM) based segmentation process is presented. The performance in terms of accuracy of the 3-dimensional (3D) level set method (LSM) in the segmentation of throat regions from highly anisotropic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumes, with and without an interpolation step is evaluated. Qualitative and quantitative results from real MRI data suggest that performing interpolation, to reconstruct isotropic MRI volumes, prior to 3D LSM improves the accuracy of the segmentation results, compared to interpolation post 3D LSM and no interpolation at all

Validation of a magnetic resonance imaging-based auto-contouring software tool for gross tumour delineation in head and neck cancer radiotheraphy planning

To perform statistical validation of a newly developed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) auto-contouring software tool for gross tumour volume (GTV) delineation in head and neck tumours to assist in radiotherapy planning. Axial MRI baseline scans were obtained for 10 oropharyngeal and laryngeal cancer patients. GTV was present on 102 axial slices and auto-contoured using the modified fuzzy c-means clustering integrated with level set method (FCLSM). Peer reviewed (C-gold) manual contours were used as the reference standard to validate auto-contoured GTVs (C-auto) and mean manual contours (C-manual) from 2 expert clinicians (C1 and C2). Multiple geometrical metrics, including Dice Similarity Coefficient (DSC) were used for quantitative validation. A DSC ≥0.7 was deemed acceptable. Inter-and intra-variabilities amongst the manual contours were also validated. The 2-dimension (2D) contours were then reconstructed in 3D for GTV volume calculation, comparison and 3D visualisation. The mean DSC between C-gold and C-auto was 0.79. The mean DSC bet ween C-gold and C-manual was 0.79 and that between C1 and C2 was 0.80. The average time for GTV auto-contouring per patient was 8 minutes (range 6-13mins; mean 45seconds per axial slice) compared to 15 minutes (range 6-23mins; mean 88 seconds per axial slice) for C1. The average volume concordance between C-gold and C-auto volumes was 86. 51% compared to 74.16% between C-gold and C-manual. The average volume concordance between C1 and C2 volumes was 86.82%. This newly-designed MRI-based auto-contouring software tool shows initial acceptable results in GTV delineation of oropharyngeal and laryngeal tumours using FCLSM. This auto-contouring software tool may help reduce inter-and intra- variability and can assist clinical oncologists with time-consuming, complex radiotherapy planning

Design and development of a general purpose collaborative environment

This paper presents a system that allows any legacy computer application to be used for collaborative work over internet or wireless connections. The applicability of the system is wide and encompasses all aspects of engineering, education, manufacturing and general use. A recent report concerning the use of collaborative software worldwide, indicates that collaboration will expand and grow at a fast pace in the next few years. The development presented here has been specifically designed to address these needs in a flexible, expandable and generic manner. The product has a modular structure, which we view as essential for providing collaborative capability to applications, since it allows developers and users the ability to customise the system for individual needs

WebClass: software to web-enable MATLAB for collaborative use

The paper describes the work carried out in Strathclyde University to web-enable MATLAB, a commonly used package in engineering applications, for Internet-based distance co-working and collaboration with full sharing functionality by all users and at all times. The software was developed with platform-independence in mind and has undergone several updates. Additional software to enhance functionality is still being developed and integrated into the original system. The paper provides an overview of the development known as WebClass

Resource sharing software for distance learning in engineering education

This paper presents the work being carried out in Strathclyde University to utilize generic methods for making computer-aided design (CAD) and simulation packages available on the Internet for distance learning and distance collaboration purposes. The system was developed over a 3-year period and has now evolved into a generic resource sharing structure with several features designed for use predominantly in education but also in other environments. This paper provides an overview of the development, illustrates the functionality and use of the system in sharing different applications and for various user-modes, analyses the significance of such systems in educational establishments, indicates the difficulties experienced thus far in implementation and gives a brief overview of the latest version of this development

An ambient monitoring system for unsupervised user modelling

This paper describes a means of unsupervised learning of recurring patterns in user activity through patterns in system level events generated by a graphical user interface. Earlier work has shown that using this distillation of the more complex behavioural interaction between the user and the application provides a symbolic representation of knowledge and goals that could be used to imply preference. Although prior research has explored the possibilities of removing this information acquisition bottleneck in such an expert system using ambient monitoring approaches, some have experienced difficulty in dealing with the varying length training sequences and segmentation of the continuous event stream. Unlike previous work the approach documented here handles interactions of varying sizes and is able to recall recurrent patterns in real time irrespective of the number of interactions learned. In addition to describing the proposed approach we also describe the shortcomings of various previously applied machine learning techniques on the same type of data. We also demonstrate a practical implementation of our approach applied to web browser usage

Generic object-based resource-sharing interface for distance co-operation

A computer program interface for permitting multiple users to share a single copy of a computer program is described. The program interface is written in Java 1.2 or a later version and C++ and permits users who have browser programs enabled in Java to interact with the user interface. The system can be used in a variety of modes which includes a shared mode to allow multiple users to use the system, although other modes include use by a single user. In the shared mode two or more users share the same copy of software interactively over the Internet or an Intranet connection. In one embodiment during the sharing activity only one user, designated the active user, interacts directly with the computer program and the other users, designated passive user, observe what the active user does and what results are produced in response to the active user's activities. The user interface allows intercommunication between users and allows passive users to assume the role of an active user and vice versa but there is only one active use at any time. In another embodiment more than one active user can share a program which permits real-time interaction for example in game playing or co-design. Various aspects of the invention including graphical and command-time user new interface programs are described

J-SIM: a GUI platform for real-time sharing of Matlab designs and simulations

This paper introduces J-SIM, a package that enables arbitrary numbers of geographically dispersed users to actively share, control and collaborate on designs and simulations of dynamic systems through internet connections. J-SIM resembles Simulink and is compatible with MATLAB, which it uses as its mathematical engine. J-SIM was developed for distance learning and collaboration and it can be shared in real-time over internet connections through browsers. It is totally platform and browser independent and allows several sharing modes to accommodate typical situations encountered in collaborative design and educational domains. Users can alternate control of J-SIM on-the-fly without loss of data. J-SIM conserves bandwidth by using client-plotting facilities by using a specially developed graphics system (the WebEng GL Plotter or WGLP). This paper gives an overview of J-SIM, the reasons for its development, the modes of operation and some insight gained from limited trials of the software