In the kingdom of the blind: successfully implementing institutional repositories in the UK and the SHERPA Partnership experience

This paper takes an overview of the work of SHERPA team and the SHERPA Partnership institutions in the area of developing, populating and maintaining institutional open access repositories. Crucial to this work has been the development of mutually supporting and enabling Partnership community, something which has been now recognised as needed by institutions who lie outside of it. To this end SHERPA is involved in efforts to support the individuals and institutions across the UK and Europe whom are engaging with the open access agenda on a practical level; through setting up community networks and disseminating experience. Key in the experience of the Partnership has been the role of advocacy of open access and repositories to the institutional research community. Whilst this experience has been unique to each institution, there are many shared lessons and best practice that the Partnership has recently reflected on, and that are articulated within this paper. Finally brief coverage on some of the vital community tools developed and maintained by SHERPA, and reflections on the evolving direction of open access in the UK are made.

A navigation and object location device for the blind

Gemstone Team Vision

Facial and expression recognition for the blind using computer vision

Gemstone Team FACE

A Kinect Based Indoor Navigation System for the Blind

Team NAVIGATE aims to create a robust, portable navigational aid for the blind. Our prototype uses depth data from the Microsoft Kinect to perform realtime obstacle avoidance in unfamiliar indoor environments. The device augments the white cane by performing two signi cant functions: detecting overhanging objects and identifying stairs. Based on interviews with blind individuals, we found a combined audio and haptic feedback system best for communicating environmental information. Our prototype uses vibration motors to indicate the presence of an obstacle and an auditory command to alert the user to stairs ahead. Through multiple trials with sighted and blind participants, the device was successful in detecting overhanging objects and approaching stairs. The device increased user competency and adaptability across all trials.

On the performance of a blind source separation based I/Q-corrector

I and Q Channel phase and gain mismatches are of great concern in communications receiver design. In this paper we carry out a detailed performance analysis of the Blind-Source Seperation (BSS) based imbalance compensation structure. The results indicate that the BSS structure can offer adequate performance for most communication systems. Since the compensation is carried out before any modulation specific processing, the proposed compensation method works with all standard modulation formats.

Nature of crossmodal plasticity in the blind brain and interplay with sight restoration

Thèse réalisée en cotutelle avec l'Université catholique de Louvain.

Does the unemployment benefit institution affect the productivity of workers? evidence from a field experiment

We investigate whether and how the type of unemployment benefit institution affects productivity. We designed a field experiment to compare workers’ productivity under a welfare system, where the unemployed receive an unconditional monetary transfer, with their productivity under a workfare system, where the transfer is received conditional on the unemployed spending some time on ancillary activities. First, we find that having an unemployment benefit institution, regardless of whether it makes transfers conditional or unconditional, increases workers’ productivity. Second, we find that productivity is higher under Welfare than under Workfare. Becoming unemployed under Welfare comes at the psychological cost of a drop in self-esteem, presumably due to the shame or stigma associated with receiving an unconditional unemployment benefit. We document the empirical relevance of precisely this channel. The differences we observe in productivity suggest that this psychological cost acts as an extra nonmonetary incentive for workers under Welfare to put a higher effort in their work.

An analysis of the language of certain social study textbooks pertinent to instruction of deaf children

This paper discusses the results of a study of social studies textbooks suitable for hearing impaired children.

An Experience-Driven Pedagogy for the Instruction of Software Testing in Computer Science

In the realm of computer programming, the experience of writing a program is used to reinforce concepts and evaluate ability. This research uses three case studies to evaluate the introduction of testing through Kolb's Experiential Learning Model (ELM). We then analyze the impact of those testing experiences to determine methods for improving future courses. The first testing experience that students encounter are unit test reports in their early courses. This course demonstrates that automating and improving feedback can provide more ELM iterations. The JUnit Generation (JUG) tool also provided a positive experience for the instructor by reducing the overall workload. Later, undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to work together in a multi-role Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) course. The interactions use usability analysis techniques with graduate students as usability experts and undergraduate students as design engineers. Students get experience testing the user experience of their product prototypes using methods varying from heuristic analysis to user testing. From this course, we learned the importance of the instructors role in the ELM. As more roles were added to the HCI course, a desire arose to provide more complete, quality assured software. This inspired the addition of unit testing experiences to the course. However, we learned that significant preparations must be made to apply the ELM when students are resistant. The research presented through these courses was driven by the recognition of a need for testing in a Computer Science curriculum. Our understanding of the ELM suggests the need for student experience when being introduced to testing concepts. We learned that experiential learning, when appropriately implemented, can provide benefits to the Computer Science classroom. When examined together, these course-based research projects provided insight into building strong testing practices into a curriculum.

Second annual examination of the Sunday School for Religious Instruction of Israelites in Philadelphia : held at the synagoge Mikveh Israel ... 29th of March, 1840

together wirth a prayer by Isaac Leeser and an adress by Moses N. Nathan