Visualisation techniques for users and designers of layout algorithms

Visualisation systems consisting of a set of components through which data and interaction commands flow have been explored by a number of researchers. Such hybrid and multistage algorithms can be used to reduce overall computation time, and to provide views of the data that show intermediate results and the outputs of complementary algorithms. In this paper we present work on expanding the range and variety of such components, with two new techniques for analysing and controlling the performance of visualisation processes. While the techniques presented are quite different, they are unified within HIVE: a visualisation system based upon a data-flow model and visual programming. Embodied within this system is a framework for weaving together our visualisation components to better afford insight into data and also deepen understanding of the process of the data's visualisation. We describe the new components and offer short case studies of their application. We demonstrate that both analysts and visualisation designers can benefit from a rich set of components and integrated tools for profiling performance

Citizenship education and identity in Europe

This article surveys some of the theoretical bases of identity and citizenship and their implications for potential European identity and citizenship, and relates these to the CiCe network of teacher educators and others. CiCe (Children’s identity and Citizenship in Europe) is a European Commission supported network of 100 European Universities, in 19 countries, who have worked together since 1998 in building links in higher education courses and research, in the education of teachers, social pedagogues and early childhood workers who teach about identity and citizenship education in the schools, preschools and colleges of our countries. It is argued that the current European context is contributing to changes in the way we construct identity and citizenship, that are necessarily reflect in the teaching and learning in our schools. To be effective, education for active citizenship must address and encompass both the nature of multiple identities and the extension of civic rights to minorities, and in particular that a focus on the possible enhancement of rights will provide a powerful vehicle for learning through deliberative democracy. Current European developments provide a particularly useful setting in which young people’s attitudes to citizenship and identity can be explored

Interactive product browsing and configuration using remote augmented reality sales services

Real-time remote sales assistance is an underdeveloped component of online sales services. Solutions involving web page text chat, telephony and video support prove problematic when seeking to remotely guide customers in their sales processes, especially with configurations of physically complex artefacts. Recently, there has been great interest in the application of virtual worlds and augmented reality to create synthetic environments for remote sales of physical artefacts. However, there is a lack of analysis and development of appropriate software services to support these processes. We extend our previous work with the detailed design of configuration context services to support the management of an interactive sales session using augmented reality. We detail the context and configuration services required, presenting a novel data service streaming configuration information to the vendor for business analytics. We expect that a fully implemented configuration management service, based on our design, will improve the remote sales experience for both customers and vendors alike via analysis of the streamed information

Subthreshold dynamics of a single neuron from a Hamiltonian perspective

We use Hamilton's equations of classical mechanics to investigate the behavior of a cortical neuron on the approach to an action potential. We use a two-component dynamic model of a single neuron, due to Wilson, with added noise inputs. We derive a Lagrangian for the system, from which we construct Hamilton's equations. The conjugate momenta are found to be linear combinations of the noise input to the system. We use this approach to consider theoretically and computationally the most likely manner in which such a modeled neuron approaches a firing event. We find that the firing of a neuron is a result of a drop in inhibition, due to a temporary increase in negative bias of the mean noise input to the inhibitory control equation. Moreover, we demonstrate through theory and simulation that, on average, the bias in the noise increases in an exponential manner on the approach to an action potential. In the Hamiltonian description, an action potential can therefore be considered a result of the exponential growth of the conjugate momenta variables pulling the system away from its equilibrium state, into a nonlinear regime

Constructing narratives of political identities: young people in the ‘new’ European states

This chapter focuses on young people’s narratives in constructing their sense of identities with their country, and how these are used to distinguish themselves as a generation distinct from their parents and grandparents. The study is of 13 to 19 year olds in twelve European countries that were formerly in the communist bloc, and have since joined (or are joining) the European Union. Their discussions of the meanings their country had for them raise questions about their use of political discourse, their expressions of feelings of patriotism, and their sense of agency in their own and their county’s future

Beyond us versus them: citizenship education with hard to reach learners in Europe

This edited book explores the construct of 'hard to reach' learners in citizenship education across a number of European countries. It includes analysis and case studies. Alistair Ross was responsible as co-editor for editing, structure; co-authoring the introduction, and contributing one chapter ('Us vs. Them' - Constructing mindsets in Citizenship Education: A European Survey, pages 259-281). He also wrote the introduction (with Michalis Kakos, Chrisoph Müller-Hofstede) (pages 9-32)

Italian young people in a meta-study of European youth

Introductory chapter to a co-authored study by Chistolimi, Lastrucci and Porcarelli. They analyse data collected in discussions collected in collaboration with Ross from young Italians (11 to 19) collected in 20 group discussions in various Italian locations in 2015. This chapter locates the book's analysis in the metastudy carried out by Ross

Minorities and migrant communities in contemporary Europe

This chapter focuses on the position of the Alevi as minority communities in contemporary Europe countries and the European Union. The European diaspora of the Alevi community offers a particular lens with which to examine how policies construct conceptions of the migrant and the minority, and their citizenship in terms of identity, rights and statu

Minorities, migrants and citizenship education

Editorial to a special issue of the journal, of which Ross was the invited guest editor. The term Citizenship Education is generally used to mean teaching and learning about the social and political relationships involved in living together in societies: citizenship is used to refer to both rights and identities, rather than to the formal status of being a citizen of a particular state. But citizenship education also needs to address how societies that include citizens who have come from other states are incorporated and live together: how majorities deal with new arrivals and minorities