Category / Technology & Design

CIM Dorset Event – Make the Most of Mobile – Duncan Cook from 3 Sided Cube

Training

Duncan Cook of internationally-renowned, locally-based mobile app development agency 3 Sided Cube is the next speaker in the CIM Dorset series of Entrepreneurial Sessions.  Having been invited to the White House because one of their apps helped save the lives of literally thousands of Americans and with their apps now being translated into more and more languages, 3 Sided Cube really are known all over the world for what they do.

Duncan will be sharing his insights on mobile, dispelling myths about what does and doesn’t work and generally enlightening the audience with his views on the future of this exciting industry.

We’ve all got smartphones and its people like Duncan that make them useful.  As marketers, it’s incumbent upon is to understand their potential.

Arrival from 6pm for a 6:30pm start.  Networking from 6pm until the event start. To book please visit http://bucfe.com/events/mobile/

Book early as we expect to sell out quickly!

Arrival from 6pm for a 6:30pm start.  Networking from 6pm until the event start.

New research web pages and removal of old pages

Research news, Training

On Monday 27 January the Digital Communications Team will integrate the new research web pages into the main BU site.

This will include a link from the homepage and from the School pages. (School copy has been developed with the Deans and DDRs to introduce the new site, provide an overview of the School’s research and outline the research themes the School is involved in).

The Digital Communications Team will also start removing the old research pages on Monday. This will include removing the research centre pages, which have either been moved to the new site, elsewhere, or identified as no longer required.

In addition to notification from Professor Matthew Bennett and the Schools, the research website team have tried to speak to all staff in person to ensure required content is moved across and outdated content is removed. This has been a massive exercise and apologies if we have missed anyone. If you do have any concerns regarding your pages, please email the website team as soon as possible. All old content will be moved onto an internal BU server, where it will be kept for a period of six months before being finally deleted.

Screenshot of the new research website

Feedback from researchers already using the new site is that it is very flexible, quick and easy to use and allows easy integration of a variety of different media content types.

If you would like to find out more about using the new site or joining us for a training session, please read my blog post from earlier in the week.

Research website training sessions

Research news, Training

 BU’s new research website is an externally facing communications channel. It allows you to add and update research-related content quickly and easily. The site is flexible and accommodates a range of digital media content. You can login with your usual BU username and password and start creating content here.Screen shot of new website

We are hosting a series of 90 minute training sessions, which are open to all BU academic staff, post graduate research students and those supporting researchers in their communications activity.

During the session you will learn the following:

  • Why BU has a new research website
  • How you can upload content to the website
  • How the site can be used most effectively to maximise exposure of BU research.

There are three sessions taking place next month on Talbot Campus and at the Lansdowne. These are hosted by the website designer Matt Northam and me. Sessions are informal and if they fall over lunchtime, do feel free to bring a sandwich!

To book on one of the following sessions please use the links below…

Friday 7 February 2014 12:00-13:30 – S103 Studland House, Lansdowne Campus

Friday 14 February 2014 10:00-11:30 – P131 Poole House, Talbot Campus

Friday 14 February 2014 14:30-16:00 – P131 Poole House, Talbot Campus

If you have any questions about the website or training sessions, please email the research website team.

 

SciTech Design Engineering Level C students’ study trip

BU research, PG research

Sustainable Design Research Centre (SDRC) within the University’s Faculty of Science & Technology (SciTech) has established significant research links through match funded PhD degree researches with The Tank Museum at Bovington and Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) Ministry of Defence (MoD) [lead by Dr Zulfiqar Khan].  SDRC has been conducting research in structural integrity in terms of degradation through corrosion in large military vehicles of historic importance, corrosion condition monitoring and life prediction.

SDRC has been actively engaging Design & Engineering Framework students in research activities to enhance their experience of learning at BU. One of the models to facilitate research informed education is through students’ projects. Design Engineering Level C students will be working on their project (4th project of the unit and 50% of the total course work) within their Design Methods & Project unit (40 credit) [Dr Zulfiqar Khan, unit leader]. Students will have the opportunity to learn about the materials, manufacturing techniques, mechanics at the interface & degradation issues within the context of track and sprocket. The students are tasked to propose a design solution for reliability & durability of the tracks utilising alternative materials, geometrical configuration and/or manufacturing techniques. The students visited The Tank Museum to study various Tanks and gather specific information.

If you need further information on the above academic activity please contact

 

Dr Zulfiqar Khan

Associate Professor

Director SDRC

Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

 

Atrium BRC stand

Research news

Emily Loring and I are in the Atrium, Poole House, Talbot Campus today giving out copies of the Bournemouth Research Chronicle (BRC) magazine to academic staff. Do come along and pick up a copy and have a cake with us!

We will be here until 4:30pm today (Tuesday) and again on Thursday between 9am-5pm.

Sustainable Design Research Centre: Research Seminar

PG research

Title – Understanding the corrosion of archaeological iron to better manage its conservation

Date:  Wednesday   12-03-2014

Start: 12:00 Finish: 12:30

Venue: PG 22 (Poole House)

Abstract – Worldwide there are millions of archaeological iron objects stored in museums. Most are inherently unstable, with their chloride content being cited as being the main corrosion driver in conjunction with relative humidity. Attempts to prevent their corrosion are time consuming and costly, with limited numbers of evidence-based conservation options available to managers. The talk reports work examining relationships between chloride and relative humidity for archaeological iron. The outcomes of the study are discussed in relation to their potential for developing new approaches to managing preservation of the archaeological iron heritage.

The above seminar will be delivered by Professor David Watkinson. He is Head of Conservation at Cardiff University, where he teaches undergraduate and post-graduate conservation students and directs conservation research. The Cardiff University ferrous metals research group is quantifying the corrosion rate of archaeological iron and evaluating desalination treatments, as well as carrying out studies to quantify the performance of protective coatings for heritage wrought iron and steels. David’s corrosion research underpinned the design for the desiccated storage of Brunel’s iconic steamship ss Great Britain and in 2010 he was awarded the Plowden Medal for innovative research and services to conservation.

All BU staff and students, who have interest in this area in terms of research and education, are invited to this research seminar. Please feel free to forward this invitation to your external contacts who might have interest in corrosion, conservation, structural integrity and related area.

These seminars are organised by the University Sustainable Design Research Centre in the Faculty of Science & Technology to provide a platform for disseminating latest research activities and results. These seminars are good opportunity of networking for both BU staff and students.

If you would like further information on research activities in corrosion, corrosion simulation and corrosion monitoring please visit SDRC webpage. For any specific inquiries please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director Sustainable Design Research Centre

Bournemouth Research Chronicle

BU research, Research news, Research themes

The third edition of the Bournemouth Research Chronicle (BRC) is now published. Thank you very much to everyone who contributed.

Front cover of the BRC

This is a glossy ‘coffee table’ magazine with some lovely images.  It is aimed at peer researchers and research collaborators, prospective funders and (perhaps most importantly) research users such businesses, government organisations, policy makers and charities.

We all know that communication is an integral part of the link between research and societal impact and this magazine is a great way to get the message heard by the right people.

Content is presented through BU’s eight research themes. This edition provides a snapshot of some of the work BU submitted to the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014. In particular it focuses on the societal impact of our research, which forms a key part of REF2014.

 

DistributionInside cover of the BRC

Every BU academic will receive a copy of the BRC. My colleagues and I will be in the Atrium, Poole House on Tuesday and Thursday next week with a large stash so do pop along, say hello and pick up yours. Otherwise, we’ll put it in the internal post for you.

Throughout January I’ll be sending the BRC to an extensive list of research users, including policy makers, community figures, opinion leaders, businesses and journalists. I will be providing a supply to each School so please do send it to your contacts, collaborators, peers, prospective funders, industry partners or anyone else who has an interest in BU’s research.

R&KEO will keep a larger stock of the BRC. If you would like copies for an event or conference then email me (Sally Gates – Editor) to arrange a delivery.

Thank you again to everyone who contributed and happy reading!

Sustainable Design Research Centre (SDRC) – Research Seminar

PG research

Title

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN NOVEL ALTERNATIVE RENEWABLE ENERGY TECHNOLOGY

Sustainable Design Research Centre (SDRC) – Research Seminar

Date: Wednesday 8th Jan

Venue: P 406

Time: 12:00 – 12:30

 

Abstract

Renewable Technology is a BU recognised sub-theme within Technology & Design. SDRC has significant portfolio of research within Renewable Technology, this include Cross-Channel Consortium in Mechanical Current Turbine (MCT) research , working closely with community interest groups such as Poole Tidal Energy Partnership in Tidal Energy, final year design projects in Tidal Energy, Heat Pumps & Retro-Fitted Micro Wind Turbines & cross-school activity within Fusion initiative.

Fossil fuels have become the main energy source for human after the Industrial Revolution. However, with ever-increasing energy consumption, they are not sustainable in terms of their finite reserves, environmental implications and contributions to climate change. Within the Energy 2020A strategy for competitive, sustainable and secure energy, the EU and UK have together set a mutual objective to generate renewable energy as 20% of the total energy supply by 2020, for further details please click here. The current research aims to develop low cost renewable technology systems with competitive efficiency and readily adaptable systems both for domestic and commercial applications. In this seminar, the study will present the project background and experimental methodology employed for recording thermodynamic attributes of the solar thermal system to be used in mathematical analyses. The presentation will also present some results and engineering design of key components for improving the overall thermal efficiency of the solar thermal system.

Biography

Bruce Wen is currently conducting research as a PhD student. This research project is fully funded by Future Energy Source Ltd [Dr Zulfiqar Khan PI]. The proposed programme is a direct response to the needs of developing novel alternative renewable technology solutions capable of converting solar energy into useful clean energy. Bruce has participated in the DEC PGR conference and currently planning to present at the BU Graduate School Annual Conference this month.

If you have interest in this research area or would like further information then please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

Service Computing Seminar: Servicing Big Data

BU research, Fusion

As part of the Service Computing Seminar (SCS) project, funded by Bournemouth University Fusion Investment Fund, we would like to invite you to the Service Computing Seminar

Title: Servicing Big Data

Time: 14:00-16:00 Wednesday, 18 Dec. 2013

Venue: PG143 (Thomas Hardy Suite, Talbot Campus)

Speaker: Prof. Athman Bouguettaya, Head of School of Computer Science and Information Technology at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

 

Abstract

Big data is here and in a big way.  Big data is coming from all sorts of sources and means, including sensors, deep space, social media, smartphones, genomic, etc.  The cloud has been instrumental supporting the storage and processing of the ever increasing amount of data.  “Domesticating” the data, i.e., making it useful, however, has been a major challenge.  Service computing is the next major evolution of computing that aims at transforming massive data into artefacts that are acted upon, i.e., services. Service computing is increasingly being recognized as part of a broader agenda in Service Science. In that respect, service computing may be viewed as the “engineering” side of service science. Service computing broadly focuses at providing a foundational framework to support a service-centric view of designing, developing, and exposing data (and applications), whether it is in the enterprise or on the Web. In that respect, the Web is and will undoubtedly be the preferred delivery platform of service-based solutions. More specifically, Web services are currently without contest the key enabler for deploying service-centric solutions. Fully delivering on the potential of next-generation Web services requires building a foundation that would provide a sound design for efficiently developing, deploying, publishing, discovering, composing, trusting, and optimizing access to Web services in an open, competitive, untrustworthy, and highly dynamic environment. The Web service foundation is the key catalyst for the development of a uniform framework called Web Service Management System (WSMS). In this novel framework, Web services are treated as first-class objects. In this talk, I will first motivate the need for a uniform service management to service big data. I will then overview the core components of a typical WSMS. I will conclude by describing our latest research servicing sensor data.

 

Short Bio

Athman Bouguettaya is Professor and Head of School of Computer Science and Information Technology at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. He received his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder (USA) in 1992.  He was previously Science Leader in Service Computing at CSIRO ICT Centre, Canberra. Australia. Before that, he was a tenured faculty member and Program director in the Computer Science department at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (commonly known as Virginia Tech) (USA).  He is a founding member and past President of the Service Science Society, a non-profit organization that aims at forming a community of service scientists for the advancement of service science. He is on the editorial boards of several journals including, the IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, ACM Transactions on Internet Technology, the International Journal on Next Generation Computing, VLDB Journal, Distributed and Parallel Databases Journal, and the International Journal of Cooperative Information Systems. He is also on the editorial board of the Springer-Verlag book series on Services Science.  He served as a guest editor of a number of special issues including the special issue of the ACM Transactions on Internet Technology on Semantic Web services, a special issue the IEEE Transactions on Services Computing on Service Query Models, and a special issue of IEEE Internet Computing on Database Technology on the Web. He served as a Program Chair of the 2012 International Conference on Web and Information System Engineering, the 2009 and 2010 Australasian Database Conference, 2008 International Conference on Service Oriented Computing (ICSOC) and the IEEE RIDE Workshop on Web Services for E-Commerce and E-Government (RIDE-WS-ECEG’04). He has published more than 170 books, book chapters, and articles in journals and conferences in the area of databases and service computing (e.g., the IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, the ACM Transactions on the Web, WWW Journal, VLDB Journal, SIGMOD, ICDE, VLDB, and EDBT). He was the recipient of several federally competitive grants in Australia (e.g., ARC) and the US (e.g., NSF, NIH). He is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Distinguished Scientist of the ACM.

Cyber Security Seminars: Suggestions for Speakers and Topics

Uncategorized

If you have been following my previous posts then you will know that today is the final Cyber Security Seminar for this semester.  We hope you have found the seminar series interesting so far.

We are currently planning the seminars for next semester.  Please get in touch if you have suggestions for potential speakers, or topics you would like to hear more about. Although the budget we have available is modest, we will do our best to accommodate your suggestions.

SDRC New Research/Education Resource

BU research, PG research

SDRC has added a new fluid property research and education resource to its experimental lab. This resource will be deployed in the current on-going research in renewable technology and coupled with the MEng/BEng Level I thermodynamics & heat transfer unit. This will provide opportunity to realise BU Fusion initiative through research informed education.

Description

The F1-30 Fluid Property Apparatus is part of the Engineering Teaching & Research Equipment in SDRC. It consists of a collection of components that demonstrate individual fluid properties:

  • Density and relative density (specific gravity)
  • Viscosity
  • Capillarity – capillary elevation between flat plates and in circular tubes
  • Buoyancy (Archimedes principle)
  • Atmospheric pressure

For education purpose, it can introduce students a clear understanding about the physical properties of fluids that can build the foundation for them to study the behaviour of fluids in static or dynamic applications.

For research purpose, it allows bench tests to be performed for measuring physical properties of fluids from a wide range of applications.

Measuring Capabilities

  • Measuring fluid density and relative density (specific gravity) of a liquid using a universal hydrometer
  • Measuring fluid viscosity using a falling sphere viscometer
  • Measuring fluid density and relative density (specific gravity) of a liquid using a pycnometer (density bottle)
  • Observing the effect of capillary elevation between flat plates
  • Measuring the effect of capillary elevation inside capillary tubes
  • Verifying Archimedes principle using a brass bucket & cylinder with a lever balance
  • Measuring atmospheric pressure using an aneroid barometer

If you would like to know more about the research and education activities within the SDRC themes please contact

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

Cyber Security Seminar: Approaching the Measurement of User Security Behaviour in Organisations

BU research

Our final Interdisciplinary Cyber Security Seminar this semester will take place on Tuesday, 10th December at 5pm. The seminar will take place in EB202 in the Executive Business Centre, and will be free and open to all. If you would like to attend, please register at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interdisciplinary-seminar-in-cyber-security-tickets-9688353125

Our speaker will be Dr. Simon Parkin from UCL. Simon is a Senior Research Associate in the Information Security group at University College London, contributing to the Productive Security project within the Research Institute in the Science of Cyber Security (RISCS). He was previously a member of the Innovation Team at Hewlett Packard Enterprise Security Services (HP ESS) until mid-2012. From 2007 to 2011, Simon was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Computing Science at Newcastle University, where he also obtained his PhD. His research interests include: IT-security policy management metrics, models and tools; holistic IT-security management principles, and; IT-security risk management approaches and knowledge formalisation.

Abstract: Individuals working within organisations must complete their tasks, and are often expected to do so using secured IT systems. There can be times when the expectations for productivity and security are in competition, and so how would an organisation measure the outcomes in practice? We will review a series of interdisciplinary research efforts that characterise the human factor in IT-security within large organisations, as part of a holistic view of security. There are furthermore a variety of modelling approaches and frameworks that have emerged and informed this view. We will consider the challenges that remain in affording measurement of the human factor in IT-security within organisations, and some of the changes that are required for such activities to be sustainable and effective.

Sustainable Design Research Centre: nano-coating experimental resource

BU research

BU’s Sustainable Design Research Centre has recently added nano-coating experimental resource to its labs

Schaeffler is match funding a PhD studentship (£24K plus £41K in kind) looking into Electroplated composite coatings with incorporated nano particles for tribological systems with a focus on water lubrication. Schaeffler develops and manufactures precision products for machines, equipment, vehicles and aerospace applications. Schaeffler is a leading manufacturer of bearings worldwide and a renowned supplier to the  automotive industry.

This research lies within the Sustainable Design Research Centre’s Tribology theme. This research aims to understand friction, wear, and corrosion performance of electroplated nano-composite coatings especially with special focus in water lubricated mechanical components. These issues are of significant importance in terms of industrial applications. The proposed project will enhance reliability, durability and life cycle issues while incorporating sustainability aspects.

In order to carry this research forward SDRC has recently added a nano-coating facility to its leading research labs in Tribology, Corrosion, Nano-Coatings, Renewable Technology (Thermodynamics & Heat Transfer) and Sustainable Design.

General specifications of the new addition are provided here.

Control Interface

  • The MicroStar control interface features a fully-programmable microprocessor. Menus are accessible to set ampere time, real-time cycles, output tolerance settings and more. Standard features include:
    • Real Time Cycle Control
    • Ampere Time Cycle Control
    • Ampere Time Totalizer
    • Error signals for over-temperature, locked fan rotor, output out-of-tolerance and power failure/brownout conditions
    • Calibration capability through the control interface
  • Digital input for inhibit/operator control
  • FrontPanel+ Host Control Program for process set-up generation and process storage/data logging
  • RS485 and USB prots for serial control

Straight DC and Choice of Low Frequency Pulse or High Frequency Pulse Output

  • High Frequency Pulse (0-5000 Hz)
    • 0 – 40 volts average (DC) or peak (pulsed) voltage
    • 0 – 250 amps average current (or maximum DC current)
    • 10 – 400 amps peak (pulsed) current
  • Low Frequency Pulse (0-200 Hz)
    • DC to 200 Hz pulses (at an 80% duty cycle)
    • Minimum Pulse Width:  4 milliseconds ON, 1 millisecond OFF (80% duty cycle)
    • Typical Pulse Rise Time:   Less than 1500 milliseconds
    • Typical Pulse Fall Time:     Less than 1000 millisecond

If you have interests in this resource, research area or would like to know more about the research activities within SDRC please do contact.

Dr Zulfiqar Khan (Associate Professor)

Director SDRC

email: zkhan@bournemouth.ac.uk

Cyber Security Seminar: Shiny Expensive Things: The Global Problem of Mobile Phone Theft (David Rogers, Copper Horse)

Our next Interdisciplinary Cyber Security Seminar will take place on Tuesday, 3rd December at 5pm. Our seminars are approachable, and require nothing more than a general interest in security, and an enquiring mind.

Our speaker will be David Rogers, who is Founder and Director of Copper Horse Solutions Ltd: a software and security company based in Windsor, UK. Alongside this he teaches the Mobile Systems Security course at the University of Oxford and Chairs the Device Security Steering Group at the GSM Association. He has worked in the mobile industry for over 14 years in security and engineering roles. Prior to this he worked in the semiconductor industry. David’s articles and comments on mobile security topics have been regularly covered by the media worldwide including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and Sophos’ Naked Security blog. His book ‘Mobile Security: A Guide for Users’ was published in 2013. David holds an MSc in Software Engineering from the University of Oxford and a HND in Mechatronics from the University of Teesside.

Abstract: Technology in mobile devices is continuing to advance at an incredible rate, but some of the old security themes continue to persist, mobile phone theft being one of them. This talk looks at the topic of mobile phone theft and what industry’s role has been in helping to prevent it and whether that has been entirely successful. The talk looks at what could happen next and whether it is possible to standardise usable anti-theft mechanisms within devices. It will also look at technologies such as biometrics for access control and whether Police and Government actions have been adequate in dealing with the modus operandi of thieves and fencers of stolen phones.

The seminar will take place in EB202 in the Executive Business Centre, and will be free and open to all. If you would like to attend, please register at http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/interdisciplinary-seminar-in-cyber-security-tickets-9564165677