The new Google magazine, 'Think Quarterly', features an article in its first edition by Nigel Shadbolt, Professor of Artificial Intelligence in ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

Since 2009 Professor Shadbolt has been working with Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, ECS Professor and inventor of the World Wide Web, as advisers to UK Government and leading advocates of the ‘open data’ movement. They developed the website data.gov.uk, which provides a single point of access to thousands of UK government datasets, and which has focused interest worldwide on the benefits of freeing up public data for business and citizens.

In the article in 'Think Quarterly' - 'Open for Business', Professor Shadbolt explains the scope and challenges of obtaining and publishing non-personal public data in a format that enables it to be re-used for public good, citing examples such as Who’s Lobbying, which reveals the many special interest groups which are aiming to influence government ministers, and TravelOptions which provides information to help citizens find their way round London.

He also reveals the extent to which companies are now turning their attention to Open Government Data, and asks whether businesses’ own data might benefit from similar exploitation. “We know that better information makes better marketsâ€?, he says. “Lack of access to information about demand and supply makes it difficult for both suppliers and traders to plan, economise and improve their activities.â€?

As one of the leaders of the Open Data revolution, Professor Shadbolt is in no doubt that it has plenty of momentum; he concludes: “The Open Government Data revolution is important. Viewed as a precursor to a wider open data movement, it could be as important as any we have seen in the web era.â€?

Earlier this month, the University of Southampton published its own open data, making it available under an open licence, from a single point of access and in a standard format – giving anyone permission to use and reuse the data.

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

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For further information about Web Science, see www.webscience.org.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web, was honoured last night at a special 80th birthday celebration for former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Mr Gorbachev had chosen Sir Tim Berners-Lee, along with Ted Turner and Evans Wadongo, as the first recipients of the Mikhail Gorbachev awards.

Sir Tim holds a Chair of Computer Science in ECS-Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton. He is 3COM Founders Professor of Engineering at Massachussetts Institute of Technology, and Director of the World Wide Web Consortium.

The Inaugural Gorbachev Awards were presented in three categories, intended to reflect the former Soviet leader's own achievements in the world. Mr Gorbachev, who turned 80 earlier this month, is widely credited with ending the Cold War and won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1992.

The three ‘Man Who Changed the World’ awards were:

‘Glasnost’, awarded to Ted Turner for his ‘contribution to the development of the culture of an open world’. Ted Turner is also a philanthropist who donated one billion dollars to the United Nations.

‘Uskorenie’ was awarded to Mr Wadongo for his "contribution to the development of modern science and technology". Mr Wadongo invented a solar-powered LED lantern at 18 and founded Sustainable Development for All-Kenya.

‘Perestroika’ was awarded to Sir Tim for his "contribution to the development of global civilisation". Sir Tim created the World Wide Web in 1990.

Mr Gorbachev said: "These three people have each, in their own way, changed the world for their fellow men and women in ways which affect all our lives. Each and every one possesses the ability to make a difference and the Gorbachev Awards have been established to those people who achieve this and to provide inspiration to all of us to try."

Devices which could be used to rehabilitate the arms and hands of people who have experienced a stroke have been developed by researchers at the University of Southampton.

In a paper to be presented tomorrow (6 April) at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Assisted Living Conference, Dr Geoff Merrett from ECS-Electronics and Computer Science, will describe the design and evaluation of three technologies which could help people who are affected by stroke to regain movement in their hand and arm.

Dr Merrett worked with Dr Sara Demain from the University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Dr Cheryl Metcalf who works across Health Sciences and ECS, to develop three ‘tactile’ devices which generate a realistic “sense of touchâ€? and sensation which mimic those involved in everyday activities.

“Most stroke rehabilitation systems ignore the role of sensation and they only allow people repetitive movement,â€? said Dr Demain. “Our aim is to develop technology which provides people with a sense of holding something or of feeling something, like, for example, holding a hot cup of tea, and we want to integrate this with improving motor function.â€?

Three tactile devices were developed and tested on patients who had had a stroke and on healthy participants. The devices were: a ‘vibration’ tactile device, which users felt provided a good indication of touch but did not really feel as if they were holding anything; a ‘motor-driven squeezer’ device, which users said felt like they were holding something, a bit like catching a ball; and a ‘shape memory alloy’ device which has thermal properties and creates a sensation like picking up a cup of tea.

“We now have a number of technologies, which we can use to develop sensation,â€? said Dr Merrett. “This technology can be used on its own as a stand-alone system to help with sensory rehabilitation or it could be used alongside existing health technologies such as rehabilitation robots or gaming technologies which help patient rehabilitation,â€? Dr Metcalf concluded.

The academics’ paper: Design and Qualitative Evaluation of Tactile Devices for Stroke Rehabilitation will be presented at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Assisted Living Conference. A copy of the paper can be accessed at: http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/21802/

See our video on the ECS News channel on YouTube.

This weekend (9/10 April) sees the culmination of the Student Robotics Challenge with school teams from around the country and as far afield as Grenoble coming to the University to take part in a day of furious and frenzied competition.

The schools taking part have been working on their robots for six months, designing them, building them and perfecting their ability to execute particular manoeuvres in the most efficient and successful way.

On the final day of competition, Sunday 10 April, the robots will be put through their paces in a specially-constructed arena in the University Students’ Union, performing tasks which will test the design and construction skills of their student architects.

The school teams have all been mentored by a member of the Students Robotics team, which is drawn from current and former engineering students of the University of Southampton, University of Bristol and Imperial College London and is based at ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton.

The competition is now in its fifth year, and is highly regarded by sponsors, who include Motorola and BitBox, and teachers at the competing schools. “I was tremendously impressed with the set up (of the competition day) and the ingenuity displayed by the various teams. It is quite incredible what relatively young students can achieve,â€? said a member of the teaching staff at Peter Symonds College, Winchester.

The school teams arrive in Southampton on Saturday 9 April, and have the opportunity to spend a day of final preparations for the competition, which begins on Sunday morning at 10 am. After inspection of the robots to ensure they meet the competition regulations, the event begins at 10.30 and continues until 3.45 in the afternoon. After a short period of judging, the prize-giving ceremony takes place at 4 pm.

“This is the culmination of a huge amount of ingenuity, inventiveness, and hard work,â€? says Alex Forward, this year’s Student Robotics Chairman. “Student Robotics is an inspirational activity, both for students at the University who have the opportunity to work with sixth-form students and see what they can achieve, and for the students and their teachers, who try to coax the best out of their robots to such great effect on the competition day.

“It’s definitely a day of unexpected outcomes, including triumph and disaster! But it’s a lot of fun.â€?

Professor Neil White, Head of ECS-Electronics and Computer Science, will be presenting the prizes on Sunday: “The competition is a very practical way of helping sixth-formers acquire an understanding of the kind of engineering design skills that are fundamental to the country’s technological development.

“We are very proud of our students who run this Challenge so professionally, and I am looking forward to seeing some excellent robots and stiff competition on Sunday.â€?

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

The Chair of this year's international conference on electromagnetics will warn next week that the amount of energy lost from UK power devices will remain high if the industry does not design better products.

According to Professor Jan Sykulski of ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, at the moment the total energy loss associated just with transmission of electricity in one day in the UK is the equivalent of three nuclear explosions of the Nagasaki Bomb.

Speaking at the opening session of CEM 2011(the 8th international Conference on Computation in Electromagnetics) on Tuesday 12 April, Professor Sykulski will argue that electromechanical and electromagnetic communities need to use better design tools and modern simulation techniques to produce products that are more efficient and competitive.

"Modelling and simulation of electromagnetic fields is an integral part of the vast majority of devices, including everyday items such as computers and mobile phones," he said. "Whether they are big or on the nanoscale, the same principles apply."

Professor Sykulski also claims that despite the wide reach of electromagnetics and the very real need for more efficiency, the industry is slow to subscribe to this need. This year's CEM will bring together the three key communities in this field: power engineering, antennas and propagation, and electromagnetic compatibility and hazards.

"I am excited about these three communities coming together for the first time in this way," said Professor Sykulski. "It is helpful for them to talk to each other, exchange experiences and to see the benefits of better, more efficient examples."

CEM 2011 – an international conference organised by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) – will take place in Wroclaw, Poland from 11-14 April 2011.

Professor Sykulski is Chair of CEM for the third time this year; he has just been appointed Editor of IEEE Transactions on Magnetics and has been General Secretary of the International Compumag Society since 1993.

-- For more information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453.

Professor Nigel Shadbolt was this week appointed chair of mydata, an initiative designed to give consumers easier access to data held about them by businesses.

The initiative, which was announced on Wednesday (13 April) by Consumer Minister Edward Davey, will enable consumers to use the digital data held about them by a whole range of businesses: financial, retail, telecoms and utility companies. This data can empower consumers aiming to get the best deals for products and services - for example, in price comparison sites.

The project will assess how to give people their personal data in a format that is safe to pass on to third parties.

Professor Shadbolt of ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, commented: "Information about how we shop, travel, communicate and live our lives is a powerful source of insight, so it's important that each of us should be able to access our own data.

"I am very much looking forward to chairing the mydata group, which aims to make accessing this data much simpler, and should be a watershed on how we use data to get a better deal every day."

The working group will form a series of subgroups, chaired by Professor Shadbolt , which will decide on a format and timetable for releasing data. Professor Shadbolt has already been involved in a number of government data initiatives, including the setting up of data.gov.uk.

The group of companies include Barclaycard, Mastercard, HSBC, RBS Group, Lloyds TSB, John Lewis Partnership, Groupe Aeroplan (Nectar) Home Retail Group, Centrica, Southern and Scottish Energy, Everything Everywhere (T-Mobile/Orange), Google, and Microsoft.

The initiative was launched by the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) in conjunction with the Cabinet Office as part of a wider consumer push called 'Better Choices: Better Deals'.

The first miniature sensors designed to measure saltiness and temperature across the world’s oceans are currently in use as part of an ambitious expedition.

A four-man team of officers from Swanton Morley, UK, are rowing 3,100 miles from Australia to Mauritius in a voyage that began in mid-April. They aim to raise £100,000 for charities including the Light Dragoons Charitable Trust and the Mark Evison Foundation by rowing in two-hour shifts for 24 hours a day in an attempt to complete their mission in less than 68 days.

As well as raising money for charity, the expedition provides an opportunity to measure ocean conditions and provide valuable information about climate change.

The boat is fitted with sensors to measure ocean temperature and salinity. The technology was developed by Electronics and Computer Science (ECS) professors Hywel Morgan, and Xi Huang of the University of Southampton, along with Dr Matt Mowlem of Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre (NOCS).

According to Professor Morgan, these are the first miniature sensors that can measure these parameters with extremely high precision.

"There are large bulky devices that measure these parameters, but no miniature sensors that come close to what these chips can do," says Professor Morgan.

The expedition has given the ECS researchers an opportunity to test the sensors and to assess their application in areas such as ocean meteorology and water quality monitoring, and as fish tags.

The longer-term plan is to commercialise the sensors and the researchers have just received £150,000 from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) to develop them further and to integrate them into devices.

Researchers in ECS-Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton have designed a new pricing mechanism based on an online auction protocol that makes it possible to charge electric vehicles without overloading the local electricity network.

The new system was designed by a team led by Dr Alex Rogers and presented at AAMAS 2011 – the Tenth Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems - held in Taiwan earlier this week. The researchers have devised a system in which electric vehicle owners use computerised agents to bid for the power to charge the vehicles and also organise time slots when a vehicle is available for charging.

"Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles are expected to place a considerable strain on local electricity distribution networks. If many vehicles charge simultaneously, they may overload the local distribution network; so their charging needs to be carefully scheduled," said Dr Rogers.

To address this issue, Dr Rogers and his team turned to the field of online mechanism design. They designed a mechanism that allows vehicle owners to specify their requirements (i.e. when they need the vehicle, and how far they expect to drive). The system then automatically schedules charging of the vehicles’ batteries. The mechanism ensures that there is no incentive to ‘game the system’ by reporting that the vehicle is needed earlier than is actually the case, and those users who place a higher demand on the system are automatically charged more than those who can wait.

“The mechanism leaves some available units of electricity unallocated. This is counter-intuitive since it seems to be inefficient but it turns out to be essential to ensure that the vehicle owners don’t have to delay plugging-in, or misreport their requirements, in an attempt to get a better dealâ€?, said Dr Enrico Gerding, the lead author of the paper.

In a study based on the performance of currently available electric vehicles, performed by Dr Valentin Robu and Dr Sebastian Stein, the mechanism was shown to increase the number of electric vehicles that can be charged overnight, within a neighbourhood of 200 homes, by as much as 40 per cent.

This research follows on from Dr Rogers’ and Professor Nick Jennings’ work on developing agents that can trade on the stock market and manage crisis communications and Dr Rogers’ iPhone application, GridCarbon for measuring the carbon intensity of the UK grid.

Professor Tony Hey will urge academics to take part in the technology revolution geared towards solving the world’s problems when he speaks at the University of Southampton this week (Thursday 12 May).

In a talk entitled 'The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery', Professor Hey, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Research, will describe how we are in the middle of 'The Fourth Paradigm' – a period which is all about the data and computational systems needed to manipulate, visualise and manage large amounts of scientific data.

“We are dealing with a whole new type of science where data sets are so large that we cannot easily keep them on machines,â€? he will say. “What we are discovering in e-Science is that we have new communities like biologists, who are doing major tasks like gene sequencing on computers. In fact, soon we will be able to get our genes sequenced for about £100.â€?

Professor Hey will talk about some of the far-reaching changes that this fourth paradigm will bring to scientific discovery. He will describe how research technologies from Microsoft Research are making it possible to establish genetic profiles for drug delivery; to build an effective vaccine against HIV, and to protect the environment by applying machine-learning techniques to sugar cane so that ethanol can be extracted to power cars in Brazil.

He will claim that future progress can only happen if academic researchers collaborate with one another and with people from other disciplines.

“We need to solve the major health and environmental problems facing the world today,â€? he will say. “A multidisciplinary society is the way forward. Academic researchers, you should be part of the process not part of the problem. Computing can help solve the world’s problems and it is worth being involved.â€?

Professor Hey will deliver 'The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery' on Thursday 12 May at 6pm in the Nightingale Lecture Theatre on the Highfield Campus, University of Southampton. The lecture is part of the Faculty Distinguished Lecture series in the Faculty of Physical and Applied Sciences, and will be chaired by the Dean of the Faculty, Professor Dame Wendy Hall. No tickets are required to attend the lecture and all are welcome.

Professor Hey was a former Head of School of Electronics and Computer Science in the University of Southampton and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He was also Head of e-Research for Research Councils UK.

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

A new way to send large files around the Web completely free of charge has been launched by Julian Field, Postmaster at ECS-Electronics and Computer Science.

ZendTo is a free and secure Web-based system, which will allow users to send large files around the Web much faster than by email.

The system allows users to send files within and beyond their organisations from their own servers, and it will run from any Linux or Unix server or virtualisation system with no size restriction.

“This is completely free and because you run it on your own site, you can be sure that it is completely safe and private and you retain complete control of your data, your system and your users,â€? said Julian.

ZendTo is particularly useful for organisations which operate in a customer service environment, since when it sends files, it incorporates customer service ticketing references, so that all the references are kept intact.

According to Julian, ZendTo is his next big development since MailScanner. He began developing MailScanner in 2000 and it is now the world-leading email security and anti-spam system. It has been downloaded over 1.5 million times andis used by some of the world’s leading organisations in 226 countries, such as the US Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command; Harvard, MIT, and Cambridge universities; Vodafone Europe; Amnesty International; Friends of the Earth; and the British Antarctic Survey. The technology is fast becoming the standard email solution at many ISP sites for virus protection and spam filtering.

“Ironically, the success of MailScanner and its strict security protocol means that it imposes limits on files being sent by email, which led to the development of ZendTo which has no size or type restrictions,â€? said Julian.

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