UoB Computing

Deep thoughts from the Centre for Applied Computer Science @ The University of Bolton

Category: Disciplines (Page 1 of 2)

Fostering Entrepreneurial Empowerment.

November 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Get ready for a captivating session as Associate Professor Vandana unveils the secrets behind “Cracking the Code: Young Adult Dementia Prediction Explored for Societal Impact.” In this enlightening talk, she will delve into cutting-edge techniques and insights, deciphering the complexities of predicting dementia in young adults. Join us for an engaging exploration of local post-hoc models and their broader implications for society, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and healthcare. Professor Vandana’s expertise promises to shed light on the transformative potential of understanding dementia in the youth for the betterment of our communities.

Author Bio:

As an accomplished Chartered Accountant and qualified Teaching Professional, Dr. Mohammed Sadiq brings a passion for leveraging his commercial acumen and industry knowledge to impart crucial accountancy and business skills to learners. With extensive experience in industry, Accountancy Practice, and academia, he holds membership in the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and possesses CIMA’s full Practicing Certificate.

Beyond his CIMA accreditations, he has served as a Chief Examiner and Subject Matter Expert with a leading international qualifications body. His role has also encompassed developing and crafting exam questions for professional accountancy examinations. His commitment extends to nurturing learners’ skills to align with the evolving needs of local and national employers in the 21st Century. Currently pursuing a PhD doctorate in a specialized field of accountancy, his aim is to enhance the learner journey at the University of Bolton. He ensures unwavering commitment and positive results in all endeavors and is eager to share his expertise. Additionally, he was honored as the ‘Outstanding Lecturer of the Year’ for The Institute of Management in 2014/15.

You can watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/y4ANnO5Wkv4

Moderators: Thomas Tega Tonukari, Ejovi Ekakitie

Cracking the Code: Young Adult Dementia Prediction Explored for Societal Impact.

November 20, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Summary

Get ready for a captivating session as Associate Professor Vandana unveils the secrets behind “Cracking the Code: Young Adult Dementia Prediction Explored for Societal Impact.” In this enlightening talk, she will delve into cutting-edge techniques and insights, deciphering the complexities of predicting dementia in young adults. Join us for an engaging exploration of local post-hoc models and their broader implications for society, offering a unique perspective on the intersection of technology and healthcare. Professor Vandana’s expertise promises to shed light on the transformative potential of understanding dementia in the youth for the betterment of our communities.

Author Bio:

Dr. Vandana Sharma is an Associate Professor at CHRIST University, Delhi-NCR, India. Currently, she is a post-doctoral fellow at Lincoln University College, Malaysia. Dr. Sharma has 14+ years of teaching experience at the postgraduate level and has expertise in subjects like Data Structures & Algorithms, Advanced Computer Networks and Software Testing. She has guided 100+ dissertations at the postgraduate level.


Dr. Sharma has served NAAC-accredited A+ institutions like Galgotias University, Greater Noida Campus and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi.
Dr. Sharma obtained her doctoral degree from Amity University, Noida Campus, M.Tech(I.T) and B.E-Com from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Delhi.
She is a Senior Member of IEEE and as a keen researcher, she has published 35+ research papers in SCI and Scopus Indexed international journals and conferences. Dr. Sharma has contributed voluntarily as a Reviewer and Technical Program Committee (TPC) member for reputed International Journals and IEEE Conferences and has presented her work at IEEE Conferences across India and abroad. Her primary areas of interest include Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Blockchain Technology and the Internet of Things (IoT).

You can watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/VeLpTz8B8Qk

Moderators: Ekakitie Ejovi, Adetunji Funmilayo

Cybersecurity and Innovation, Personal Experiences

November 15, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Speaker Bio

Mohammed M. Alani holds a PhD in Computer Engineering with specialization in network security. He has worked as a professor, and a cybersecurity expert in many countries around the world. His experience includes serving as VP of Academic Affairs in the United Arab Emirates, network and security consultancies in the Middle-East, and Cybersecurity Program Manager in Toronto Canada.

He currently works as a Cybersecurity Professor at Seneca College, Toronto, Canada.He has authored 4 books in different areas of networking and cybersecurity along with many research papers published in highly ranked journals and conferences. He also holds many industrial certifications such as Security+, Cybersecurity Analyst+ (CySA+), PenTest+, CompTIA Advanced Security Practitioner+ (CASP+), Server+, Cisco Certified Network Associate, CCAI, Microsoft Azure Data Science Associate, and Microsoft AI Fundamentals. His current interests include applications of ML in cybersecurity, and ML security.

You can watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/RDGzubglwiQ

Moderators: Orunsolu, Falilat temitope, David ayokunle Fayankin

We’re Celebrating!

April 17, 2019 / / 0 Comments

The Centre for Applied Computer Science has been a Cisco Academy for fifteen years. We have incorporated the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) curriculum into our BSc Computer Networks and Security course since we created it. CCNA is a qualification that employers really value. We believe that having a CCNA as well as a degree when you go to an interview gives you an advantage over other candidates.

Vendor certifications are part of our commitment to make our degrees relevant to the modern workplace. Our graduates tell us that CCNA, Windows and Linux experience all help to make them more employable.

We have incorporated material from the Red Hat Academy into the most recent version of Computer Networks and Security. Students study the syllabus for the Red Hat Certified System Administrator qualification.

Both Cisco and Red Hat are major brands in Computing and Networking. Belonging to their academies gives you a head start in your career.

Our latest program embraces Cloud technology. We have joined the Amazon Web Services: AWS Educate programme. This allows our students to use Amazon’s powerful cloud infrastructure in class and to pursue your own interests outside the classroom. AWS give students credits to use this world-class infrastructure and learn modern cloud computing techniques.

AWS Educate

Mind your language! – The programming languages we teach with and why we use them

April 12, 2019 / / 2 Comments

Students often ask which programming languages we teach with at the University of Bolton and why we chose them.

On our Software Engineering and Computing degrees, we use a range of popular languages but the decision as to which to use is not as straightforward as you might think!

As a newcomer to the computing lecturing ranks at Bolton and straight out of 20 years in industry as a programmer, I thought I’d blog an answer to these questions…

At heart, the reason anyone programs a computer to do anything is to produce a solution to a problem. Thus, all programming languages are just tools, a means to an end. So that would mean lecturers should just teach with whatever language they prefer then, right? Wrong!

We currently teach with three main “general-purpose” languages: Java, Python and C# along with “web languages” such as JavaScript, PHP and Bash shell scripting and the ubiquitous SQL of the database world. But the rationale for this selection goes beyond that of being personal preference on the part of lecturers. Yes, the University is Teaching Intensive, Research Informed but it’s also concerned about and informed by the needs of industry.

Software Engineering graduates need to be adaptable, able and willing to pick up new programming languages or paradigms quickly and easily. Yes, you may graduate from University one year with strong skills in Java or C#, but the following year or so, who knows, your career may require you to learn something “classic” like C++ or COBOL (yes, it’s still used out there!) or another of the myriad other new languages that ebb and flow like the tide.

As someone who graduated in 1998, strong in C++ and JavaScript, I’ve ended up 2 decades later still using JavaScript but the demands of the jobs over those years led to C# supplanting C++ as my “go to” language of choice for general programming.

Although no University can ever prepare you for every language you’re likely to face in your professional careers, what it can do is help you master the principles of programming, expose you to several key languages and leave you confident and open to learning new ones throughout your life in so doing.

In the Centre for Applied Computer Science at the University of Bolton, I can proudly say we’re definitely all about doing that!

But it’s not just about your ability to adapt and change. Employers are also naturally interested in what programming skills you do have when you graduate.
While all the languages we use are industry-standard, platform independent and (mostly) open source, they are also widely used in industry and – more importantly for our students – they represent skills that are in demand with employers regionally.

It’s a no-brainer really that a majority of students studying at the University of Bolton will seek work within (or bordering) the Greater Manchester region once they graduate. So while global language popularity indices like The TIOBE index do inform our choices, we also look at statistics that are much closer to home.  It’s likewise also a no-brainer that students who study on courses which use a variety of languages that are already in demand by employers, should see their future employment prospects greatly enhanced by it.

I know this from personal experience in industry: the more skills that can be “ticked off” on your CV when it arrives on a desk in a company’s Human Resources department, the more likely it is you’ll be called for that all-important first round of interviews.

This is especially true of many SMEs who simply do not have the time, resources or budget to retrain graduates who have never so much as heard of the languages they use never mind actually know how to program in them.

The statistics produced by analysis of job postings by sites such as IT Jobs Watch produce some interesting and enlightening figures regionally.  At the time of writing (April 2019) a search on the site for programming roles in the Greater Manchester region shows that what we’re teaching with is indeed in demand locally:

All of the top 6 languages featured here are used in our teaching. This means that students studying at the University of Bolton can be confident in knowing that what they are learning are not just the solid fundamental principles and best practises that will set up them up well for careers in the software industry, but also important, valuable language skills in their own right that when placed on their CVs later, will make them immediately more attractive to potential employers.

Because this, fundamentally, is what University is all about for so many of our students. Absolutely and for sure University is a place to broaden your horizons: expand your knowledge, your skills and your mind. A place to challenge and debate and discover.

Most students will do that with the ultimate aim of seeking a rewarding and well-paid career after.

And that’s why we teach with the languages that we do.

Happy coding and studying!

Centos 7 and Packet Tracer 7.11

July 23, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Cisco Networking Academy Logo

Cisco Networking Academy


The University of Bolton has been a Cisco Academy since 2006 and we have put loads of Computer Networks and Security students through their CCNA. This year we thought we would make life more difficult for ourselves… We have decided to upgrade our Networking lab (C2-017) to a Linux lab. It will help with a number of modules next year.
Our Linux Distro of choice is Centos 7. [Some of you already know where I’m going with this.] Cisco + Centos equals headache. There is a Linux version of Packet Tracer (the network simulator used by the Cisco Academy) but although it works wonderfully with Ubuntu it famously doesn’t get along with Centos and Fedora.
This work was done in July 2018. We used Centos 7 and Cisco Packet Tracer 7.11.

Initial Install

The basic install is straightforward. Download a copy of Packet Tracer from the Cisco Academy website. The install comes as a tar file. It doesn’t create a directory when you unpack the archive so the following cleanly installs Packet Tracer:

mkdir ptinstall
mv PacketTracer711_64bit_linux.tar ptinstall
cd ptinstall
tar xf PacketTracer711_64bit_linux.tar
chmod +x install
sudo ./install

Follow the prompts and Packet Tracer will be installed in /opt/pt a handy alias is created in your path so that you can type packettracer and start the application. If you try that, nothing happens. The packettracer alias links to a script which suppresses error messages. If you run /opt/pt/bin/PacketTracer instead you will see a series of complaining error messages which list missing libraries.

Missing Libraries

The big problem for Packet Tracer on Centos is that the libCrypto library is not officially available. There are versions that have been compiled which do work. We found this SuSe packages site which contains the updated library libopenssl1_0_0-1.0.2j-7.3.x86_64.rpm if you would rather use the command line

wget http://ftp.gwdg.de/pub/opensuse/distribution/leap/42.3/repo/oss/suse/x86_64/libopenssl1_0_0-1.0.2j-7.3.x86_64.rpm

To install this library run:

sudo rpm -Uvh libopenssl1_0_0-1.0.2j-25.1.x86_64.rpm

Finally there are some Qt libraries needed, but fortunately you can get them using yum:

sudo yum install qt5-qtwebkit qt5-qtmultimedia qt5-qtsvg qt5-qtscript

With those in place you should be able to launch Packet Tracer using either the packettracer alias or the full /opt/pt/bin/PacketTracer command.

Post Install

With packet tracer working you might think your work is done. Not yet, it helps to add Packet Tracer to the Application Menu in Gnome. You can also associate packet tracer files with the application so that you can double-click on the save files and launch the application.
As root, using your favorite editor (there’s a huge vi vs nano divide in the networks team) create /usr/share/applications/pt.desktop and paste the following into it:

[Desktop Entry]
Exec=/opt/pt/bin/PacketTracer7
Icon=/opt/pt/art/app.png
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Name=Packet Tracer 7.11
MimeType=application/x-pka;application/x-pkt;application/x-pkz;

Run:
sudo update-desktop-database /usr/share/applications
This will reload your Applications menu and add PT to it.

Register Mime Types

Again as root using your favorite editor create /usr/share/mime/packages/pt.xml and paste:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<mime-info xmlns="http://www.freedesktop.org/standards/shared-mime-info">
 <mime-type type="application/x-pka">
   <comment>Packet Tracer Activity</comment>
   <glob pattern="*.pka"/>
 </mime-type>
 <mime-type type="application/x-pkt">
   <comment>Packet Tracer</comment>
   <glob pattern="*.pkt"/>
 </mime-type>
 <mime-type type="application/x-pkz">
   <comment>Packet Tracer Archive</comment>
   <glob pattern="*.pkz"/>
 </mime-type>
</mime-info>

You may need to adapt the next bit if you use a different desktop theme from the default.

sudo bash
cd /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/32x32/mimetypes
cp /opt/pt/art/pka.png application-x-pka.png
cp /opt/pt/art/pkt.png application-x-pkt.png
cp /opt/pt/art/pkz.png application-x-pkz.png
gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/
update-mime-database /usr/share/mime/packages

If you save a packet tracer file in your workspace now, it should show with a packet tracer icon in your file manager tool. Double-click and the application should launch.

Boosting I/O for HDD

December 19, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Seagate multi-actuator drive

Seagate’s multi actuator drive


There’s an interesting article in The Register about Seagate developing hard disks with two independent sets of read/write heads. When you think about it, this is long overdue. Currently an eight-platter drive will have sixteen read-write heads. They all move in concert so that reading from a particular location means that all the heads are positioned over the same track waiting for the desired sector to spin past.
Seagate’s new implementation splits the head mechanism into two groups. If the disk can read or write to two locations simultaneously that’s already a boost to I/O capacity. The Register speculates that other manufacturers will jump on this trend and go further with multiple read-write actuators.
Seagate’s own blog post explains this further. As ever, this new innovation puts our lecture material out of date. In week 11 of Introduction to Operating Systems Virtualisation our students have just learned that the read heads move in sync. That’s another lecture to re-write next year. Computing always evolves and we have to evolve with it.

Porthcurno

August 14, 2017 / / 0 Comments

Cornwall is home to several important network resources for the United Kingdom. For a good part of the 19th and 20th centuries the tiny village of Porthcurno near Land’s End was a hub of the international communications system.

This lovely sandy beach once had fourteen major underwater telegraph cables landing on it and linking up to the telegraph station just inland. Telegraph was based on Morse code rather than voice or data. (Colin the Computer Networks and Security course leader can send and receive Morse, the rest of us are too digital).
There’s a little museum up from the beach which explains the history of the telegraph network. On the first display there is a fascinating fact:

The rest of the museum shows the increasing automation of the services. What started originally with hand-keyed Morse code was automated using paper tape as output using needles scratching a trace on paper tape.Input was automated using keyboards to cut punched tape – taking the creation of message from being a skilled task to a low-skill activity.
The first submarine cable route was not to the US as I imagined, but to India. I suppose I don’t think in terms of the priorities for the Empire. Messages could not go directly to India from the UK but went instead via a series of relays in the Azores, Egypt and Aden (Yemen). Initially the incoming messages were received at the relay station, transcribed and then transmitted onwards. As automation improved the REGEN process became fully automatic.

Submarine Cables

Submarine Cables


Paper Trace

Paper Trace


Telegraph Transmitter

Telegraph Transmitter


Keyboard Entry

Keyboard Entry


 

Telegraph Network Map


The map of the network shows the beginnings of worldwide communications over land and sea. Compare it to a modern map of the undersea fibre Internet and communications network and see many more connected countries and a lot more fibre across the Pacific.
Internet cable map.
There’s an interactive version of this map available at submarinecablemap.com. Very little Internet traffic goes via satellite. The latency of transmitting to a geostationary satellite and back again – even at the speed of light it too great.
It’s a lovely little museum, worth an hour of your time if you are down there.

Drinking the Kool-Aid

July 22, 2017 / / 0 Comments

tub of grape flavour kool-aidOur American friends have a lovely expression: “Drinking the Kool-Aid”. If you’re not American (and most of us aren’t) this isn’t always easy to understand. Kool-Aid is a relatively cheap powdered soft drink. The phrase refers to the 1978 Jonestown deaths of followers of the People’s Temple in a murder/suicide where the drink was mixed with poison.
Drinking the Kool-Aid is taken to mean an act of faith of a true believer. Typically this also means going along with a dangerous or doomed course of action. This is a bit grim, what has this got to do with Computing at Bolton?
Our new Computer Networks and Security course has a greater emphasis on the Linux operating system that the earlier course of the same name. Along with the Cloud Computing courses we have linked up with Red Hat – a leading version of the Linux operating system. We will be the first UK university to integrate the Red Hat Academy curriculum into our degree programmes. Students will be able to gain Red Hat certifications as part of their studies (as well as the Cisco Academy certifications we already offered).
Over the summer we are transitioning one of our labs to be Linux only. In an effort to be a true believer, I’m going to develop my course material for the Cld4002 module using Linux.
Of the Linux web pages I visited, only Debian had the Terry Pratchett header present on their site.
Which Linux though? As you know there are squillions of different Linux distributions out there. One of the strengths of the open source movement is the idea that anyone can take the source code of an existing project and use it as the starting point for a new project (known as a fork). There are loads of articles suggesting which Linux to choose. There are two main families: Debian and Red Hat. Popular distros like ubuntu are derived from Debian. Fedora and Centos are based on Red Hat. As we are following the Red Hat academy, I’ve gone for Centos at home. (Interestingly only the Debian site has the GNU-Terry-Pratchett header present).
The install was pretty easy, but then I’m not a beginner. If you have never done it before you might find it daunting. The main choice I had to make was the type of initial system I wanted. Normally I would opt for a server system to run web and/or database; this time I need a desktop system instead to develop teaching material. On Bren’s advice I went for the Gnome Desktop option. I left the computer chuntering away to itself and went to watch TV. (My broadband is slow at home and this was a network install).
Once the install was done it was time to do the usual routine:

  • Install a browser
  • Install office Libre Office is already installed. Not a 10 day evaluation, a full package.
  • Add Google Drive
  • Add my printer

Although Firefox was already installed, I prefer Chrome so after finding some instructions I was able to install it fairly quickly. A totally free Office package was already there. I’ll write more about the office tools in a future post.
Adding Google Drive was a bit more effort. I found a clear enough set of instructions, but it was a fairly complex setup which might be a problem for a newbie. I came unstuck with my printer though. The printer is an old HP Laserjet which I picked up for £30 on eBay a few years ago. It is rock-solid reliable and I would much rather shell out £25 for a toner cartridge once a year than the monthly grind of inkjet cartridges. The printer hangs off my Mac using CUPS and my Linux system should be able to use it. I was able to find the link and add the printer to my Linux host. So far, so good until I tried to print. Nothing happened, and when I looked at the error log I got a message about a filter problem.
Right: time to google the error message and solve the problem. I held off though because I know what kind of rabbit hole this problem can descend into. It could be a Mac problem, a cups problem, a Linux problem or an issue with the printer driver. The chances are that this could take a couple of frustrating hours to fix, and as I didn’t need to print anything now I left it for another day.
After an hour’s fiddling about, I was able to get down to work and write something. Now what on earth do I want to write?

« Older posts

© 2024 UoB Computing

Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑