Neural Network Exploration Using Optimal Experiment Design

We consider the question "How should one act when the only goal is to learn as much as possible?" Building on the theoretical results of Fedorov [1972] and MacKay [1992], we apply techniques from Optimal Experiment Design (OED) to guide the query/action selection of a neural network learner. We demonstrate that these techniques allow the learner to minimize its generalization error by exploring its domain efficiently and completely. We conclude that, while not a panacea, OED-based query/action has much to offer, especially in domains where its high computational costs can be tolerated.

The Role of SoTL in Classroom Innovation.

The Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) is being promoted as an activity for teaching-focused academics in the UK. However, support for SoTL is not a priority for most institutions, and formal provision for such support may not extend beyond the postgraduate certificate in higher education that is offered for new academic staff. This paper examines the experiences of SoTL of a group of twenty-one Life Sciences academics from a range of UK universities. It explores the role that SoTL has to play in developing classroom innovation in a structured and scholarly manner, and the consequences to both teaching staff and students, if SoTL is not supported as an academic activity throughout the careers of teaching-focused academics.

The Stokes experiment in a foam - a summary

Sponsorship: EPSRC

100 Jaar rontgen straling: wisselwerking tussen theorie, experiment en simulatie

R. Zwiggelaar, '100 Jaar rontgen straling: wisselwerking tussen theorie, experiment en simulatie', Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Natuurkunde 61 (12), 207-209 (1995)

Lightweight Formal Verification in Classroom Instruction of Reasoning about Functional Code

In college courses dealing with material that requires mathematical rigor, the adoption of a machine-readable representation for formal arguments can be advantageous. Students can focus on a specific collection of constructs that are represented consistently. Examples and counterexamples can be evaluated. Assignments can be assembled and checked with the help of an automated formal reasoning system. However, usability and accessibility do not have a high priority and are not addressed sufficiently well in the design of many existing machine-readable representations and corresponding formal reasoning systems. In earlier work [Lap09], we attempt to address this broad problem by proposing several specific design criteria organized around the notion of a natural context: the sphere of awareness a working human user maintains of the relevant constructs, arguments, experiences, and background materials necessary to accomplish the task at hand. We report on our attempt to evaluate our proposed design criteria by deploying within the classroom a lightweight formal verification system designed according to these criteria. The lightweight formal verification system was used within the instruction of a common application of formal reasoning: proving by induction formal propositions about functional code. We present all of the formal reasoning examples and assignments considered during this deployment, most of which are drawn directly from an introductory text on functional programming. We demonstrate how the design of the system improves the effectiveness and understandability of the examples, and how it aids in the instruction of basic formal reasoning techniques. We make brief remarks about the practical and administrative implications of the system’s design from the perspectives of the student, the instructor, and the grader.

序破急 Jo-Ha-Kyu: enticement - crux - consolidation. From study to learning: Process drama projects in the Japanese English language university classroom

This dissertation investigates how social issues can be explored through process drama projects in the Japanese university English as a Foreign Language classroom context. The trajectory of this dissertation moves along a traditional Noh three part macro-continuum, called Jo-Ha-Kyu, interpreted as enticement, crux and consolidation. Within these three parts, there are six further divisions. Part I consists of three sections: Section I, the introduction, sets the backdrop for the entire dissertation, that of Japan, and aims to draw the reader into its culturally unique and specific world. This section outlines the rationale for placing the ethnographer at the centre of the research, and presents Japan through the eyes of the writer. Section II outlines relevant Japanese cultural norms, mores and values, the English educational landscape of Japan and an overview of theatre in Japan and its possible influences on the Japanese university student today. Section III provides three literature reviews: second language acquisition, drama in education to process drama, and Content Language Integrated Learning. In Part 2, Sections IV and V respectively consist of the research methodology and the action research at the core of this dissertation. Section IV describes the case of Kwansei Gakuin University, then explains the design of the process drama curricula. Section V details the three-process drama projects based around the three social issues at the centre of this dissertation. There is also a description of an extra project that of the guest lecturer project. The ultimate goals of all four projects were to change motivation through English in a CLIL context, to develop linguistic spontaneity and to deepen emotional engagement with the themes. Part 3 serves to reflect upon the viability of using process drama in the Japanese university curriculum, and to critically self-reflect on the project as a whole.

Voltage properties of optically injected long wavelength VCSELs: Theory and experiment

Future high speed communications networks will transmit data predominantly over optical fibres. As consumer and enterprise computing will remain the domain of electronics, the electro-optical conversion will get pushed further downstream towards the end user. Consequently, efficient tools are needed for this conversion and due to many potential advantages, including low cost and high output powers, long wavelength Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) are a viable option. Drawbacks, such as broader linewidths than competing options, can be mitigated through the use of additional techniques such as Optical Injection Locking (OIL) which can require significant expertise and expensive equipment. This thesis addresses these issues by removing some of the experimental barriers to achieving performance increases via remote OIL. Firstly, numerical simulations of the phase and the photon and carrier numbers of an OIL semiconductor laser allowed the classification of the stable locking phase limits into three distinct groups. The frequency detuning of constant phase values (ø) was considered, in particular ø = 0 where the modulation response parameters were shown to be independent of the linewidth enhancement factor, α. A new method to estimate α and the coupling rate in a single experiment was formulated. Secondly, a novel technique to remotely determine the locked state of a VCSEL based on voltage variations of 2mV−30mV during detuned injection has been developed which can identify oscillatory and locked states. 2D & 3D maps of voltage, optical and electrical spectra illustrate corresponding behaviours. Finally, the use of directly modulated VCSELs as light sources for passive optical networks was investigated by successful transmission of data at 10 Gbit/s over 40km of single mode fibre (SMF) using cost effective electronic dispersion compensation to mitigate errors due to wavelength chirp. A widely tuneable MEMS-VCSEL was established as a good candidate for an externally modulated colourless source after a record error free transmission at 10 Gbit/s over 50km of SMF across a 30nm single mode tuning range. The ability to remotely set the emission wavelength using the novel methods developed in this thesis was demonstrated.