Computer aided analysis of dental radiographic images

This paper is a result of a fruitful cooperation between the computer science and the dental diagnosis experiences. The study presents a new approach of applying computer algorithms to radiographic images of dental implantation used for bone regeneration. We focus here only on the contribution of the computer assistance to the clinical research as the periodontal therapy is beyond the scope of this paper. The proposed system is based on a pattern recognition approach, directed to recognize density changes in the intra-bony affected areas of patients. It comprises different modules with new algorithms specially designed to treat the patients&rsquo; radiographic images more accurately. The system includes digitizing, detecting the complicated region of interest (ROI), defining reference area to correct any projection discrepancy of the follow up images, and finally to extract the distinguishing features of the ROI as a basis for determining the rate of new bone density accumulation. This study is applied to two typical dental cases for a patient who received two different operations. The results are very encouraging and more accurate than traditional techniques reported before. <br />

A gendered view of computer professionals: preliminary results of a survey

The under-representation of women in the computing profession in many parts the western world has received our attention through numerous publications, the noticeable low representation of women at computer science conferences and in the lecture halls. Over the past two decades, the situation had become worse. Please refer to the other articles in this special issue for detailed statistics, a discussion of factors that contribute to the low participation rate by women, and for suggestions on how to reverse the current trend.This paper seeks to add to the dialogue by presenting preliminary findings from a research project conducted in four countries. The aim of this research was to gain an insight into the perceptions future computer professionals hold on the category of employment loosely defined under the term of &quot;a computer professional.&quot; One goal was to get insight into whether or not there is a difference between female and male students regarding their view of computer professionals. Other goals were to determine if there was any difference between female and male students in different parts of the world, as well as who or what most influences the students to undertake their courses in computing.The team of researchers gave an extensive questionnaire to undergraduate students enrolled in a variety of computing degree programs. The students enrolled in these programs at Victoria University of Technology in Melbourne, the University of East London, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Ithaca College located in Ithaca, New York. This article reports on the analysis of the results from the questionnaire. It discusses the gender differences in the responses from the students in these countries to try to get a worldwide perspective. At this time, it does not yet report on the similarities and differences between the groups of participants from each of the four countries. Instead, it investigates whether there are gendered differences in the views of this rather broad sample of student population of future computer professionals.<br /><br />

Factors affecting success in undergraduate computer programming

The aim of the research is to investigate factors that may explain success in elementary computer programming at the tertiary level. The first phase of the research included the identification of possible explanatory factors through a literature review, a survey of students studying introductory computing, a focus-group session with teachers of computer programming and interviews with programming students. The second phase of the research that was called the main study, involved testing the identified factors. Two different groups of programming students - one group majoring in business computing and another majoring in computer science - completed a survey questionnaire. The findings of the research are as follows. Gender is of little significance for business students but there is an adverse gender penalty for females in computer science. Secondary school assessment is inversely related to outcomes in business computing but directly influences outcomes in the first programming unit in the computer science course. As in prior research, previous knowledge and experience were demonstrated to matter, A range of other variables was found to be of little importance. The research suggests that different problem-solving techniques might be relevant in business compared with those of use in computer science.

Computer hacking and cyber terrorism: The real threats in the new millennium?

As the new millennium approaches, we are living in a society that is increasingly dependent upon information technology. However, whilst technology can deliver a number of benefits, it also introduces new vulnerabilities that can be exploited by persons with the necessary technical skills. Hackers represent a well-known threat in this respect and are responsible for a significant degree of disruption and damage to information systems. However, they are not the only criminal element that has to be taken into consideration. Evidence suggests that technology is increasingly seen as potential tool for terrorist organizations. This is leading to the emergence of a new threat in the form of 'cyber terrorists', who attack technological infrastructures such as the Internet in order to help further their cause. The paper discusses the problems posed by these groups and considers the nature of the responses necessary to preserve the future security of our society.

A taxonomy and mapping of computer-based critiquing tools

Critics have emerged in recent times as a specific tool feature to support users in computer-mediated tasks. These computer-supported critics provide proactive guidelines or suggestions for improvement to designs, code, and other digital artifacts. The concept of a critic has been adopted in various domains, including medical, programming, software engineering, design sketching, and others. Critics have been shown to be an effective mechanism for providing feedback to users. We propose a new critic taxonomy based on extensive review of the critic literature. The groups and elements of our critic taxonomy are presented and explained collectively with examples, including the mapping of 13 existing critic tools, predominantly for software engineering and programming education tasks to the taxonomy. We believe this critic taxonomy will assist others in identifying, categorizing, developing, and deploying computer-supported critics in a range of domains.<br />