ECS students will have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience with leading, state-of-the-art co-verification solutions, as a result of the EVE University Connections Program.

The University of Southampton has become a member of the Program, enabling the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) to take delivery of EVE’s hardware/software co-verification solutions. ECS will use the ZeBu-UF University Bundle for system-on-chip (SoC) design teaching and research programs. The bundle includes the hardware emulator, zFAST fast synthesis with support for VHDL and Verilog, the zTIDE simulation environment to develop synthesizable transactors, a ZEMI-3 custom transactor compiler license and validation intellectual property (IP).

Sandra Larrabee, manager of the EVE University Connections Program, commented: 'The addition of the University of Southampton expands our reach into universities worldwide for teaching and research. Welcoming the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton to our program puts EVE one step closer to obtaining our goal to touch the academic world, especially with Southampton’s global reputation and large research and student populations.'

Professor Mark Zwolinski of ECS and Dr Matthew Swabey, Teaching Fellow, explained: 'EVE is the world-class vendor of emulation technologies. Its ZeBu will enable our students to learn how to prototype very large digital systems, further enhancing our teaching. It is especially applicable for our teaching and research on novel numerical System-on-Chip co-processors based around cores from ARM, IBM and OpenSPARC.'

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453

A new report authored by ECS academics proposes using Semantic Web Technologies to link higher and further education learning and teaching repositories in the UK and calls for the technology to be used now.

The Semantic Technologies in Learning and Teaching Report, which was compiled by academics at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), for the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) looked at the existing or potential use of Semantic Web Technologies in the UK education system and proposed means of linking them up.

Semantic Technologies are designed to extend the capabilities of information on the Web and link information in meaningful ways. The authors of the report believe that these capabilities can address higher and further education challenges, such as student retention, curriculum alignment and support for critical thinking.

The report, which distinguishes between soft semantic technologies, like topic maps and Web 2.0 applications, and hard semantic technologies like RDF (Resource Description Framework), identified over 36 tools which are relevant to the education sector.

The surveyed tools can be classified as: tools for collaborative authoring and annotation; searching and matching; repositories and infrastructural technologies for linked data and semantic enrichment.

The researchers recommend that by evolving and disseminating deeper understandings of the potential for Semantic Technologies across the education sector, JISC can work with its stakeholders to establish and develop good practice which enhances the value of its investment in innovation and infrastructure in this sector.

The report sets out a roadmap for developing the identified tools for use in education, with an overall objective of the emergence of a linked data field across UK higher education and further education institutions.

‘We hope that this project will influence the research agendas and budget allocations of institutions in the UK and of the funding councils,’ said Dr Thanassis Tiropanis, one of the authors of the report from ECS’s Learning Societies Lab. ‘Semantic Technologies are available to us now and we already have lightweight knowledge models in institutional repositories as in internal databases, virtual learning environments, file systems and internal or external Web pages; these models can be leveraged to make a big difference in learning and teaching. Let’s start using the technology now rather than waiting for some time in the future.’

The Report was produced as part of the SEMTECH project.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453

A forearm crutch which incorporates sensor technology to monitor whether it is being used correctly has been developed by ECS engineers.

The crutch, which was developed by Professor Neil White and Dr Geoff Merrett at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science in conjunction with Georgina Hallett, a physiotherapist at Southampton General Hospital, is fitted with three accelerometers that detect movement and force sensors that measure the weight being applied to a patient's leg and the position of his/her hand on the grip.

Data are transmitted wirelessly to a remote computer and visual information is displayed on the crutch if the patient uses it incorrectly.

'A growing number of people are in need of physiotherapy,’ said Professor White, ‘but reports from physiotherapists indicate that people do not always use crutches in the correct manner. Until now, there has been no way to monitor this, even though repeated incorrect use of the crutch could make the patient's injury worse.’

The new crutch has been developed using low-cost, off-the-shelf technology and sensors similar to those used in Nintendo Wii.

‘These crutches will make it much easier for patients to be taught how to use them properly, and how much weight they are allowed to put through their injured leg,’ said Georgina Hallett. ‘This will help them to get out of hospital faster and also reduce their risk of further damaging an already injured leg by putting too much or too little weight through it.’ At the moment, the crutch is suitable for monitoring and training patients in hospital environments; the researchers have plans to develop a pair for use in patients' homes.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453.

Computerised agents developed by an ECS academic which will negotiate the best online deals for buyers and sellers will be fully operational by the end of the year.

Aroxo, a new and unique marketplace that helps buyers and sellers for products and services to negotiate with each other, has appointed Professor Nick Jennings, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), as its Chief Scientific Officer.

Professor Jennings is now working with the company to provide computerised agents capable of entering into automated negotiations for buyers and sellers who use Aroxo.

'I am really excited about this since I have been saying for a long time that software agents will have a real place in our lives and now it’s really going to happen,’ said Professor Jennings. ‘These are algorithms that we have been working on in abstract for 20 years or so and now they are actually going to be used in commercial business on a large scale.’

According to Matt Rogers, Co-founder of Aroxo, the new automated system currently under development will provide the first two-way negotiation between buyer and seller online. Matt said: ‘It’s going to be a Credit Crunch Christmas, so we’re working really hard to help families make the most of what they have. Buyers using Aroxo will be able to get a great deal and make their money go further, and our sellers get to grow their business when others are suffering.’

According to Aroxo, people are haggling more and more in shops; buyers show the shop the online price for an item and ask the retailer to beat it.

‘At the moment, online retailers can’t compete with this because they can’t negotiate with buyers to help them make a sale. Our system will enable sellers to use computerised agents to negotiate on their behalf while they get on with other things,’ said Matt. ‘All of Aroxo’s sellers are based in the UK, so this is really helping British buyers and sellers.’

The developers will make this service available initially online with plans to go on to offer it through mobile platforms.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453

ECS researcher Dr Alex Penn has been awarded funding to predict the effects of climate change on soil behaviour.

Dr Penn, who is based in the SENSe group (Science and Engineering of Natural Systems) in the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science, has been awarded a British Council Darwin Researcher Exchange Grant to carry out research into soil ecosystems in Biosphere 2, the largest closed system ever created.

Biosphere 2 is a 3.15-acre, 12,700 m2 structure built as a materially-closed ecological system in Oracle, Arizona, USA, by Space Biosphere Ventures. The nature of the structure allows scientists to monitor the ever-changing chemistry of the air, water and soil contained within.

Dr Penn, who carried out PhD research on artificial ecosystem selection, says that Biosphere 2 runs many possible climatic zones, making it possible for her to look at the effects of climate change on complex soil ecosystems.

'This is quite a challenge as there are about a million bacterial species in just one gram of soil,' she said.

Over the next 10 months, Dr Penn will expose soil samples to long periods of drought and heavy rainfall, which will become typical conditions as climate change progresses, and she will monitor how ecosystems may evolve within these scenarios.

'Some ecosystems may be killed off by extreme conditions, allowing neighbouring ecosystems to spread,' she said. ‘This could have a strong impact on soil ecosystem function which is vital for ecosystem services that we depend on.'

Dr Penn plans to take the microcosms that are performing best and use them to emulate ecosystem evolution in a spatial metacommunity. This approach takes into account the co-evolution of the interconnected species.

'We already know of the significant effects if we expose soil to these sorts of evolutionary conditions in the lab; now we have an opportunity to see what happens in the natural world using new models of complex communities rather than our simple models of single gene evolution.'

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. +44(0)23 8059 5453.

The MyExperiment social networking site for scientists is the subject of a new video from JISC (the Joint Information Systems Committee), which explains the background to the project and key features which have already contributed to its success.

The new video is one of a series from JISC featuring the Virtual Research Environment (VRE) programme, which is trying to find ways to connect people and speed up research projects across disciplines.

MyExperiment, directed by Professor David De Roure of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton and Professor Carole Goble of the University of Manchester, enables scientists to share scientific data and know-how, and to build on results already achieved and available on the site. By providing scientists with the opportunity to exchange scientific workflows, the MyExperiment researchers aim to provide them also with the means to achieve new scientific results.

In the JISC video the researchers explain the importance of building the user base at the same time as the data, and the crucial need to create an environment in which scientists feel comfortable in using the data.

‘It’s a radical new idea,’ says Duncan Hull, User Advocate from the University of Manchester. ‘We’re changing the culture in e-science.’

The next phase of myExperiment has already begun, with the aim challenging traditional ideas of academic publishing. The myExperiment Enhancement project will integrate myExperiment with the established EPrints research repository in Southampton and Manchester’s new e-Scholar institutional repository.

‘We are investigating the collision of Science 2.0 and traditional ideas of repositories,’ said Professor Carole Goble. ‘myExperiment paves the way for the next generation of researchers to do new research using new research methods.’ In its first year, the myExperiment.org website has attracted thousands of users worldwide and established the largest public collection of its kind.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453

The Southampton Nanofabrication Centre, which holds its first Open Day on 9 September, will make smaller, more powerful nano- and bio-nanotechnologies possible and save industry time and money.

A key feature of the Centre, which is housed in the University of Southampton’s new Mountbatten Building and is one of Europe's leading multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art clean room complexes, is the new Focused Ion Beam (FIB) system from Zeiss which will make it possible to repair faulty chip circuits.

According to Dr Harold Chong from the Nano Group at the University's School of Electronics and Computer Science, the FIB will make it possible for researchers to view cross sections of materials in fine detail, thus enabling repair of chip circuits in microscopic dimensions.

'This will save a great deal of project management time,' said Dr Chong. 'There is great potential to work with universities and industry to fabricate micro-nano device and possibly salvage damaged circuits. One potential use of the FIB is to carry out fast prototyping and to develop smaller, faster and more powerful single electron devices.’

The Centre which will hold its first open day in September is a key element in maintaining the University's global reputation for world-leading research in nanotechnology and photonics.

The new building and clean room facility will also provide a venue for industrial partners to have training on the research and fabrication equipment.

'We now have the capacity to work with materials 100,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair,' said Professor Harvey Rutt, Head of the School of Electronics and Computer Science. ‘Not only can the FIB cut extremely fine lines, it can analyse atom by atom the material removed.

‘We have an outstanding building in the Mountbatten Building and our clean rooms are now fitted out with around £50M of equipment which gives us unique capabilities for the future. We look forward to welcoming our guests, including research collaborators from universities and industry around the world, to see what we can offer them as research partners in the future.’ For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. +44(0)23 8059 5453

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, has awarded this year's Charles Babbage Grant to the School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS), making the University of Southampton the first in Europe to receive this award.

Through the grant ECS will receive licences of Synopsys' comprehensive electronic design automation (EDA) software and intellectual property. The grant will also enable the University to set up a brand new laboratory for virtual learning. The Virtual Learning Environment will focus on integrated circuit design and will also involve a new range of courses on advanced system-on-chip (SoC) design, with support and professor training from Synopsys. The grant has also enabled ECS to install new computer hardware in the virtual learning laboratory to support 15-20 students.

Synopsys software provides students and researchers with the opportunity to utilise industrial tools for logic and physical synthesis, circuit simulation, nanometre device modelling and fabrication process modelling. Synopsys software serves as the foundation for an industry design flow where students get real-world, hands-on experience of building and testing their designs.

'The School of Electronics and Computer Science is the largest of its kind in the UK with a long tradition of research in electronic engineering and computer science. This grant enables us to continue that tradition with the latest leading-edge commercial tools,' said Dr Matt Swabey, Electronics Teaching Fellow at ECS. 'We can now give our students real quantitative experience in modelling SoCs, enabling them to modify and try out designs to achieve defined goals. This ability will be enormously valuable to our students.'

Access to commercial grade design tools for advanced research and microelectronic design is a common issue facing universities today. Synopsys helps solve this challenge through initiatives like the Charles Babbage Grant and its Worldwide University Program, which provide select universities with design software for modern electronic design flows and leading IC fabrication processes.

John Chilton, Senior Vice President of Marketing & Strategic Development at Synopsys, attended a ceremony in ECS to formally open the lab and meet with students and faculty.

'Synopsys selected the University of Southampton because of its global reputation for leading-edge research and its academic focus on engineering and computer science,' commented John Chilton. 'Through this grant, Synopsys enables the University, through the School of Electronics and Computer Science, to further its reputation as a leading academic institution and to give its students access to the latest tools and equipment, supporting their educational experience and preparing them for future roles in industry, academia or government.'

Dr David Flynn, Fellow in Research and Development at ARM Ltd and Visiting Professor in the Pervasive Systems Centre in ECS, commented: 'Building on a long-term research relationship with Synopsys Inc, I am delighted to see this valuable award presented back to the UK where Charles Babbage was born. ARM has benefited from many good graduates recruited over the years from the University of Southampton and I am confident that access to the latest system-on-chip implementation and verification EDA tools will benefit teaching and research projects as well as equipping students with valuable and relevant hands-on tools experience in the future.'

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. +44(0)23 8059 5453

Hundreds of visitors will be welcomed to the School of Electronics and Computer Science during the University Open Days on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September.

The School is holding two days of tours, presentations, demonstrations and drop-in sessions, highlighting the opportunities available on our degree programmes, and emphasizing the unique character of the School. Visitors will have the chance to see all our undergraduate labs, and to meet past and current students, as well as to find out about our students' excellent career prospects.

Presentations begin at 10 am with a welcome from the Deputy Head of School (Education), Professor Alun Vaughan; there will then be separate tours and presentations for Computer Science & Software Engineering; Electrical & Electromechanical Engineering; Electronic Engineering; and Information Technology in Organisations. These presentations and tours are repeated at 11 am, 2 pm, and 3 pm.

Between 12 noon and 2 pm the School will be holding a drop-in session in the Mountbatten Building, where visitors can see demonstrations, tour the labs with our students, see videos of our Careers Fair and student project work, watch our swarm robots in action, and find out more from ECS Admissions Tutors. Refreshments will be available; there is no need to book for this part of the event.

'Visiting universities is extremely important in enabling students to find the best place for their study,' said Professor Alun Vaughan. 'There are many factors which make a difference to the kind of educational experience that will suit a particular student and we urge prospective students to take advantage of these visit days to find out as much as they can about what we can offer them.'

ECS Open Day Hotline: +44(0)23 8059 4506

Places can be booked on the University Open Day web site.

View our Introduction to ECS Open Days by Professor Alun Vaughan.

A hand-held device which could offer point-of-care blood cell analysis in doctors’ surgeries is being developed by University of Southampton researchers led by Professor Hywel Morgan of ECS.

The research team, which is based in the School of Electronics and Computer Science's Nano Research Group and involves collaboration with Professor Donna Davies and Dr Judith Holloway of the School of Medicine, has developed a microfluidic single-cell impedance cytometer that performs a white cell differential count. The system was developed in collaboration with Philips Research.

The device is described in a paper in Advance Articles in Lab on a Chip this month.

The chip within the device uses microfluidics – a set of technologies that control the flow of minute amounts of liquids – to measure a number of different cells in the blood.

According to Dr David Holmes of ECS, lead author of the paper, the microfluidic set-up uses miniaturised electrodes inside a small channel. The electrical properties of each blood cell are measured as the blood flows through the device. From these measurements it is possible to distinguish and count the different types of cell, providing information used in the diagnosis of numerous diseases.

The system, which can identify the three main types of white blood cells - T lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils, is faster and cheaper than current methods.

‘At the moment if an individual goes to the doctor complaining of feeling unwell, a blood test will be taken which will need to be sent away to the lab while the patient awaits the results,' said Professor Morgan. 'Our new prototype device may allow point-of-care cell analysis which aids the GP in diagnosing acute diseases while the patient is with the GP, so a treatment strategy may be devised immediately. Our method provides more control and accuracy than what is currently on the market for GP testing.

The next step for the team is to integrate the red blood cell and platelet counting into the device. Their ultimate aim is to set up a company to produce a handheld device which would be available for about £1,000 and which could use disposable chips costing just a few pence each.

Devices such as these will be fabricated in the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre, which opens on 9 September and will make smaller, more powerful nano- and bio-nanotechnologies possible and save industry time and money.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453