University receives over £500,000 worth of technology to enrich students’ learning

Taken from: http://www.northampton.ac.uk/news/500k-technology-donation/

Computing students at the University of Northampton are benefiting from more than £550,000 worth of new cutting-edge hardware and software, which has been donated to the institution by leading players in the technology industry.

The hardware kits, which are widely recognised in both industry and academia, will allow University of Northampton students the opportunity to develop their learning at an industry standard – ensuring that once they graduate they leave University with the skills and experience that employers require.

The hardware and software – which is worth collectively over £553,000 – has been donated by three leading computing organisations: Altera (now part of Intel), ARM, and Texas Instruments.

The donated kit includes two different types of circuit boards; one which supports high-intensity computing applications such as cloud computing, data acquisition and network processing, and another which is suitable for a wide range of exercises in courses on digital logic and computer organisation.

The computing software and hardware that have been donated will be used in research projects and group work to provide students with the knowledge required to design an ‘Internet of Things’ system and/or modern embedded systems applications. The ‘Internet of Things’ concept will mean that every device that can ‘power up’ could potentially be controlled from the internet – either from a PC or smart device, or by using Bluetooth technology.

All of the donations will be embedded into the teaching curriculum and used by students studying Computing (Computer Systems Engineering), and those undertaking postgraduate research at the University.

Dr Michael Opoku Agyeman, Lecturer in Computing, explained: “The kits are well equipped with state-of-the-art technology to cover a wide scope of applications in Computer Systems Engineering. Both our undergraduate and postgraduate research students will benefit from rapid prototype and evaluation of basic to advanced digital world projects in game console design, robotics, home and industrial automation, wearable computing, digital signal processing, reconfigurable computing, digital electronic devices and Very-Large-Scale-Integration circuit design.

“Donations such as these support the University’s mission to transform lives and inspire change.”

The University of Northampton’s Computing (Computer Systems Engineering) degree allows students to study the integral role that effective computer systems play in 21st Century society –  from local, small scale systems that may be developed by a single person to make their devices interact; through to larger multi-national companies with employees who need to communicate fast and securely.

Find out more Computer Systems Engineering at the University of Northampton. Computer Science at the University was recently ranked 19th in the United Kingdom, in the 2017 Guardian University Guide.

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Pictured: Dr Michael Opoku Agyeman, with some of the donated technology.

If you'd like to find out more about Computing at the University of Northampton go to: www.computing.northampton.ac.uk. All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

Northampton Computing OERs: over 2000 views

A selection of the open educational resources that have been released from the Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies, School of Science and Technology at the University of Northampton. The table below shows the views of the Jorum page and the items downloaded from the page. Some resources such as C programming have more individual items than say the summary of evolutionary algorithms.

	views	downloads
C Programming	948	5231
Summary of Evolutionary Algorithms	678	312
Problem-Solving	517	801
Total	2143	6344

Based on figures from Jorum at 16/5/2016.

Summary of Evolutionary Algorithms

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19204

These slides are intended for undergraduate computing students, providing an overview of Genetic Algorithms, a concept of in artificial intelligence. As well providing an overview the material also include links to applications via web resources. The slides are taken from an undergraduate artificial intelligence module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. Possible uses of these including support material for second year, third year or masters level course on artificial intelligence.

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19204

C Programming

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192

In this material you will be introduced to some of the principles of programming, and specifically learn to write fairly simple programs using a programming language called C. An idea central to this material is that programming is about problem solving; you write a program to solve a particular problem. It is hoped that at the end of the material you should see that there is nothing magical or mysterious about programming. One of the features some people like about programming is you are making the computer do what you want. During the programming exercises, do not worry about making mistakes. In this material you will be expected to try out programs and eventually write your own. The target audience is anyone who wants to learn a programming language or is looking for some assessment questions around programming. The material was originally aimed at second year engineering students at the University of Northampton.

Click here for the resource: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19192

Problem-Solving

Author: Dr Scott Turner

http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

These mini lectures are intended for undergraduate computing students, for providing simple steps in problem solving before the students learn a programming language. Problem-Solving and Programming is a common first year undergraduate module on the BSc Computing Programme at the University of Northampton. This material was taken from the problem solving part of the module and provides an introduction to five topics in problem-solving.

The resource can be found at: http://find.jorum.ac.uk/resources/19001

All  All views and opinions are the author's and do not necessarily reflected those of any organisation they are associated with

3D, immersive, virual reality, human body experience

It's the first time in the UK that a 5-sided active Cube will have been used to educate students about human anatomy.

Taken from Northampton Academy students to visit University for 3D human body experience Friday 5th July 2013

Pupils from Northampton Academy will be visiting the University of Northampton's School of Science and Technology at Avenue Campus on 8 July to investigate the human body.
The event will be led by University health ambassadors, and consist of two different workshops alongside a 3D experience at NVision, the UK's leading immersive 3D visualisation centre based at Avenue Campus.


James Powell, Manager of NVision explains: "Students attending the event will be able to experience and learn about the human anatomy via the deployment of Virtual Reality technology. The University's NVision department has created 3D stereoscopic content that will enable students to step into the immersive Cube housed at the Newton building and come face to face with life size 3D virtual humans. Students will be able to explore the virtual reality humans (both male and female) and see skin layers removed to reveal muscle structures, internal organs, blood vessels, lymph system, nerve system and skeletal structure. It's the first time in the UK that a 5-sided active Cube will have been used to educate students about human anatomy.""

'via Blog this'

The University of Northampton's, Department of Computing and Immersive Technologies offers five courses within the MSc Computing postgraduate provision (shown below) all available either part-time or full-time. 

• MSc Computing
• MSc Computing (Internet Technology and Security)
• MSc Computing (Computer Networks Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Software Engineering)
• MSc Computing (Immersive Technologies)

update: Applications for RFID

Applications for RFID 13th June 2012

Synopsis:
Andrew James RFID Sales Manager - Established a new business channel at Harland Simon with RFID as the underlying technology. Focus on delivering active and passive RFID solutions to deliver improved efficiency in busy, multi floor healthcare environments where location tracking is key. Recent successes include location tracking solutions at Cambridge University Hospitals, South Devon Chesterfield Royal Hospital and Milton Keynes General Hospital.

Declan Begley - Business Development Manager (RFID) - Declan has 15 years experience delivering IT projects in the newspaper printing industry across the globe but in recent years has taken an interest in using RFid to solve a range of everyday problems - include tracking the money on Channel 4's 'The Million Pound Drop'.

Subjects: Active and passive RF Solutions and introduction on latest miniature RF/GPRS/GSM/LF/GPS technology

Location: Room MB8 at University of Northampton Campus St Georges Road NN2 6JD 

Time: 18:30

For BCS members and non-members

http://northampton.bcs.org/forthcoming_events.php?menu_id=5

CEISE2011 paper: The Exploration and Practice on the Cultivation of Software Talents

An abstract from the 7th China – Europe International Symposium on Software Industry Orientated Education to be held 23-24th May 2011 at School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton, UK. For more details can be found at this link.

Liyong Ren^[1], Qin Zhiguang², Zhou Shijie³

 (University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610054, China)

Abstract: The competition of software industry primarily lies in software talents. Targeting at the importance of software talents cultivation currently, this paper proposes some new strategies and measures, such as enhancing external cooperation, emphasizing cultivation quality, carrying out international communications, and organizing innovation activities.

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1 Dr, Associate Professor, School of Software, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

2 Dr, Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

3 Dr, Associate Professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China

Proceedings can be found at: http://www.web-sustainablity.net/conference/GreenConferenceBook.pdf