Computer scientists in ECS are using social networking tools to explore if individuals can enhance their personal and social wellbeing over time if they quickly share how they feel about issues such as their busy-ness, enjoyment, health and stress via these networks.

dr mc schraefel, who is passionate about ‘geek fitness’ and keeps kettlebells in her office to run fitness classes for academics at lunchtimes, has set up healthii, an application to examine new ways for individuals in groups to communicate with one another. She is working with ECS PhD student Paul André on the project.

‘We want to find out if we made it easy to convey richer status in say, Twitter, first will people use it, and second, will they find value in it?,' says dr schraefel. 'For instance, if I can tell people “I am reading an interesting paperâ€? and add a compressed version of my wellbeing at that time, with a code like “#healthii(3321)â€?, then I am not only saying what I am doing, but adding a rich context around that activity. In this case, the code says I am busy, enjoying what I am doing, not too stressed, but feeling under the weather.

'In our test application we have mechanisms to make selections easily rather than having to remember numbers. We are interested in understanding what dimensions and how best to convey them are most effective.’

A study of the healthii prototype will run until the end of August. It can be used via Facebook or desktop application, both of which can input from and output to Twitter. ‘We want to see if writing and observing this richer status affects our behaviour. If we see that most of our colleagues are coming down with a cold, perhaps we'll stay at home, or perhaps reach out and give them a hug,’ said Paul André. ‘Already we’ve seen examples where participants are using the application for self-reflection and group awareness. One person finally has the evidence that they have been working non-stop for a week and needed to take a break.

‘We also hope to see how trends may be used to understand group dynamics: if one group of friends or colleagues seems to be enjoying themselves and working hard, and another group is working hard but not enjoying themselves, what is going on? Ultimately we’re hoping that tuning applications to support this kind of awareness will contribute to improved personal and social wellbeing.’

The researchers will report on results of the study by the end of September.

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

The University of Southampton’s Southampton Nanofabrication Centre, which opens next week (9 September), will make it possible to manufacture high-speed and non-volatile ‘universal memory’ devices for industry within 5 years.

According to Dr Yoshishige Tsuchiya from the Nano Group at the University's School of Electronics and Computer Science, the Nano electromechanical systems (NEMS) available within the new clean room will make high-speed, non-volatile and low-power computer memory a reality.

'This high-speed, non-volatile and low-power NEMS memory will be suitable for pen drive devices for PCs and mobile applications and will mean that computers will warm up immediately when switched on and will have a ‘sleep’ switch to conserve energy,’ said Dr Tsuchiya.

Working with Professor Hiroshi Mizuta in the Nano Group, Dr Tsuchiya will combine conventional silicon technology with the NEMS concept.

‘In the clean room, we will have both conventional equipment and new nanofabrication facilities such as Electron Beam Lithography and Focused Ion Beam, which we will use to fabricate the new memory devices,’ Dr Tsuchiya added. The academics also plan to use the new equipment to do what they call “More than Mooreâ€? and “Beyond CMOSâ€? (Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor).

The former involves integrating NEMS into conventional electronic devices to create advanced switch, memory and sensor devices, while the latter involves working on quantum information devices based on single-electron and single-spin device technology which could realize massively-parallel information processing.

‘I believe that if we adopt unique properties of well-controlled silicon nanostructures and co-integration with other emerging technologies such as NEMS, nanophotonics and nanospintronics, we can develop extremely functional information processing devices, faster than anything we could ever have imagined with just conventional technologies,’ Professor Mizuta said.

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

Professor David De Roure of ECS is one of two British academics embarking on a visit to the US next week to establish changing practice in e-Science.

Professor De Roure, who directs e-Research activities at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and Professor Malcolm Atkinson, UK e-Science Envoy, are to spend 8 to 30 September on a fact-finding tour of the some of the US’s major institutions.

‘The US has major initiatives dealing with huge amounts of data, much bigger than we would normally see in the UK, so our trip will provide us with some good case-study material,’ said Professor De Roure. ‘This is an opportunity to find out how e-Science research is being done in the US and how it will be done in the future.’

Among the institutions to be visited by the academics are: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University, University of Illinois at Chicago, Northwestern University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin, University of New Mexico, Microsoft, Stanford, University of California, Irvine, University of California, San Diego, and Johns Hopkins University.

The academics will address topics such as: W3C web standards, public research data, cloud computing, collaboration and social science research, medical data, data-intensive workflows, global atmospheric data and national research data strategy.

By the end of their visit they plan to be able to recommend a strategy for researchers, data and service providers and research funders in e-Science research in the UK and to identify future research challenges. ‘There is a lot happening in e-Science research at the University of Southampton and I bring a Web 2.0 and social science perspective which may have led to Malcolm choosing me to join him on this mission,’ said Professor De Roure. ‘I believe that we will complement each other well, with me blogging and tweeting and with him writing the documents!’

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

Professor Dame Wendy Hall, FRS, FREng, Web pioneer and leading campaigner for women in science, is to receive the 19th Duncan Davies Medal from the Research and Development Society for her outstanding contribution toward making the UK the best-performing research and development environment in the world.

Professor Dame Wendy Hall is the recipient of the 2009 Duncan Davies Medal awarded by the Research and Development Society. Dame Wendy will accept the medal at a lecture she will give to the R&D Society on the evening of 12 October 2009 at the Royal Society, London.

The Duncan Davies Medal is awarded annually to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution toward making the UK the best-performing research and development environment in the world.

Dr David Kingham, Chair of the R&D Society, commented, "Dame Wendy is a leading academic researcher who is passionate about business, maintaining links and providing expertise to innovative companies large and small. Her work as a role model and advocate of fair opportunities for women in science and engineering careers is benefiting UK R&D well beyond her own subject area of Web technology. She’s been an inspiration to both men and women in the UK, and we’re pleased to award Dame Wendy our highest honour."

On hearing of the award, Dame Wendy commented: “I’m deeply flattered by the offer of this award – I can’t believe the company I find myself in when I look at the list of previous recipients. I am pleased that this award recognises my commitment to attracting more women into computer science. I believe my research area of the Semantic Web will open up a whole new wave of businesses, applications, services and R&D processes in the future, which the UK could lead, if it takes advantage of the talents of the very best men and women. I look forward to discussing this at the R&D Society event in October.â€?

Dr Duncan Davies was the third President of the R&D Society, and began his presidency in 1982, shortly after retiring as Chief Scientist and Engineer at the Department of Trade and Industry. Passionately concerned about R&D in the UK, he took a very active interest in the work of the Society. His sudden demise in 1986 came as a harsh blow to the Society and to UK R&D. To acknowledge the debt that it owed to Duncan Davies's leadership, the Society decided to establish a medal in his memory. Dame Wendy joins an esteemed list of recipients including Sir David King, Sir Robin Saxby, Lord Kumar Bhattacharya, Dame Bridget Ogilvie and Lord Sainsbury.

Dame Wendy will speak on “Research 2.0: The Age of Networksâ€? on 12 October 2009 at 6.30pm, where she will discuss the development of Web Science, the opportunities and challenges posed by the increasing need for interdisciplinary research, and how this may drive universities to radically change.

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

A new paper by ECS academics proposes a new way for engineers to use the Semantic Web.

Dr Richard Crowder at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) and co-authors received the 2009 Richard E. Fulton SEIKM (Systems, Engineering, Information and Knowledge Management) Best Paper Award last week at the CIE (Computers and Information in Engineering)Conference held in San Diego, California. The award recognises original research and/or implementation and technology application contributions to the fields covered by the Systems Engineering, Information and Knowledge Management Technical Committee.

The paper 'Navigation Over a Large Ontology for Industrial Web Applications', on which Dr Crowder was lead author, considered the fact that Semantic Web searches for industrial applications are often very large and unearth a large pool of technical terminology. With this in mind, he and the co-authors of the paper developed three approaches to ontology presentations to limit the amount of information presented to the user at any one time.

‘In this paper, we looked at the problem of ontology simplification for presentation in web applications,’ said Dr Crowder. ‘The ontology needed for web applications in technical domains are often very large. This is because of the vastness and complexity of the technical data captured in the ontology.’

The researchers implemented two of the proposed methods – an autocompletion text box which attempts to anticipate users’ intentions and completes their input using vocabulary from a predefined dictionary of words, and drop-down lists that allow users to choose one value from a list.

Both of these methods were made available to engineers and received positive and valuable feedback.

Co-authors on the paper were Dr Max Wilson, Dr David Fowler, Professor Nigel Shadbolt, Dr Gary Wills and Dr Sylvia Wong, all from ECS.

The work was part of the recently completed IPAS (Integrated Products and Services) project funded by the Technology Strategy Board and Rolls Royce.

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

Stroke rehabilitation technology which patients can operate in their own homes while playing computer games is being developed by academics at the University of Southampton.

Therapists, doctors, engineers and psychologists at the University have come together to set up ARM (Assessment, Rehabilitation, Movement) – a unique initiative that is using ideas from industrial robots to help patients regain and control movement of the arm and hand after a stroke.

‘We felt it was important for people to have fun while they recovered,’ said Professor Jane Burridge of the University of Southampton’s School of Health Sciences. ‘In fact we find it’s often difficult to get them to stop playing the computer games!

‘As far as we know no-one has tried using this technique – Iterative Learning Control – to help people move again after a stroke and much of the research and rehabilitation into the effects of stroke has focussed on walking. We believe ARM is a great example of how state-of-the-art control theory, normally used for industrial robots, can be applied to challenges in rehabilitation.’ Professor Burridge is leading the ARM team, which is the first group to take such a comprehensive approach to upper limb stroke rehabilitation. The pioneering system developed by researchers at the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, working with colleagues in Health Sciences, aims to retrain weak or paralysed arm muscles in patients who have suffered brain damage as a result of a stroke.

After initial successful trials at the University, the ARM researchers are now applying the system to retrain hand and arm function using computer games technology. Their research has attracted considerable attention and interest, including national and international awards.

‘We can use state-of-the-art engineering discoveries to make a real difference to people’s lives,’ said Professor Burridge. ‘We are also breaking new ground in understanding how the brain recovers the ability to control movement of the arm and hand after stroke. This is essential knowledge to enable us to develop and test new treatments.’

In collaboration with the ARM team, NHS hospitals and the Universities of Bournemouth and Keele, have already attracted a grant of £2M from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) to take rehabilitation technology out of the laboratory and into healthcare practice nationally.

‘By assembling a multidisciplinary team and bringing together their insights and expertise we want to improve people’s quality of life after stroke by helping them regain the use of their arms,’ said Professor Burridge. ‘With this new technique our patients can actually see their progress and work to improve their performance, and have fun at the same time!’

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

At the opening of the Southampton Nanofabrication Centre this week (9 September), Professor Ian Diamond, Chair of Research Councils UK, described it as a “beautiful buildingâ€?, which will place Southampton as part of an excellent UK network better than anywhere in the world.

Commenting on the Centre, which is housed in the University of Southampton’s new Mountbatten Building, Professor Diamond said:

‘When I was asked to speak at the opening of this facility, it took me all of a nanosecond to say how privileged I felt to be asked ...We have supported the University of Southampton for the past 60 years and feel sure that this new facility will result in the University continuing to win a very high number of grants from the research councils.’

Professor Harvey Rutt, Head of the University’s School of Electronics and Computer Science, welcomed over 200 industrialists to the occasion which was the culmination of a four year journey, and has culminated in a £100M facility - one of Europe's leading multidisciplinary and state-of-the-art clean room complexes. ‘When our clean room facilities in the old Mountbatten Building were lost in a fire in 2005, our Vice-Chancellor made a pledge that we would deliver a facility that was better than anything we had ever had,’ said Professor Rutt. ‘As a result of that pledge, we have a truly fantastic facility that positions us at the cutting edge of nanotechnology.’

The equipment in the new facility, which includes an Orion Microscope and a Focused Ion Beam, will make high-speed, non-volatile and low-power computer memory a reality and make it possible to carry out fast prototyping and to develop smaller, faster and more powerful single electron devices. Research teams are also working on a method of mass producing point-of-care blood testing kits. Other guest speakers at the opening event included: Dr Larry Scipioni, Director of Applications Research, Carl Zeiss SMT Inc.; Dr David Williams, Chief Research Scientist and Lab Manager, Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory; Dr Chris Winter, Partner, New Venture Partners UK and Professor Peter Ashburn, Head of the Nano group at the School of Electronics and Computer Science.

The opening presentations were followed by clean room tours where industrialists viewed the training and research potential afforded by the facility.

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

Professor Neil White of the University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science received the Callendar Medal of the Institute of Measurement & Control at an awards dinner held this week at the Royal Society, London.

In awarding this year's Callendar Medal to Professor White, the Institute recognized the breadth of contribution to the field of instrumentation and measurement.

The Medal commemorates Professor H L Callendar, FRS, and is presented annually to an engineer or scientist who has, through invention, design or application, or through a series of outstanding papers or articles in the field of measurement, made significant contributions to the art of instruments or measurement.

Commenting on this honour, Professor White said: 'I am delighted, and somewhat flattered, to receive this award. Measurement is an important aspect of modern life and it is very gratifying for my efforts in this field to be recognised by such an esteemed institution.'

During the ceremony, the Institute noted Professor White's extensive research into novel sensor technologies, intelligent instrumentation and alternative energy sources based on electromagnetic and piezoelectric techniques. A desire to explore applications for the latter led to the creation of Perpetuum Ltd, a University spin-out company, of which Professor White is a founder instigator.

Perpetuum was set up to exploit work in the area of energy harvesting and its researchers have developed small, inexpensive wireless sensor systems with RF data transmission. The patented vibration harvesting microgenerator produces sufficient energy from relatively low levels of vibration to power the systems so they require no external power supplies or batteries.

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

ECS Professors Nigel Shadbolt and Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, visited No.10 Downing Street last week to update the Cabinet on progress on making government data more open and accessible.

Work on this project began in June, when the two Professors were asked to advise the UK Government on opening up public data. The initiative is intended to help drive culture change in Whitehall toward an assumption of total publication for anonymous data using open standards.

It will also promote international liaison and global standards-setting as an investment in future international data-sharing. According to the Prime Minister's Office: 'The Government hopes the data project will benefit the UK by creating jobs, driving new economic growth and allowing the re-use of government data to encourage the development of new, innovative information-based businesses and services.'

During the Cabinet meeting Sir Tim Berners-Lee outlined the goal of delivering a single online access point to government information, similar to that introduced by the Obama Administration in the US.

Six students from the School are attending the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, being held this year in Tucson, Arizona.

The School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is a major sponsor of the annual event, which is designed to bring the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront and which attracts participants from around the world. The ECS students attending, led by Professor Dame Wendy Hall, are: Noura Abbas, Asma Ounnas, Anna Asanowicz, Zurina Muda, Salma Noor, Carly Wilson, and Maria Kikelomo Apampa; all have Anita Borg conference scholarships. ECS EngD student Clare Hooper is also attending the conference and giving a presentation. The students are also representing the School’s active ECSWomen group – and are recounting their experiences at GCI in a daily blog.

The Grace Hopper Celebrations are a programme of the Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology. In 2006 Dame Wendy Hall received the Anita Borg Award for Technical Leadership at that year’s Celebration. She is currently the President of the Association for Computing Machinery, the world’s largest organization for computing professionals.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. 023 8059 5453