Resources from IT Sligo
There was an impressive display of learning materials on show at the National Digital Learning Repository (NDLR) Fest in the Science Gallery. Particularly impressive were the 3D tours of Trinity College (TCD), Dublin City Hall and the Honan Chapel developed by History of Art, TCD, Sports Education from Cork Institute of Technology and the Taxonomy and Learning How to Think, Know How and Be a Scientist websites both from the Institute of Technology Sligo. TCD have also developed an annotation tool which was originally developed to annotate a digital version of Piers Plowman, a manuscript of a poem dating from the Middle Ages. This tool, which is being shared through the repository, could have many applications in annotating images.
Veterinary Surgical Instruments. (c) Trish Darvall, UCD
University College Dublin (UCD) have contributed resources in Medicine, Horticulture and in Veterinary Surgical Instrumentation as part of the Veterinary and Bio-Environmental Science Community of Practice.
Robocode Challenge
Tipperary Institute are sharing the basic RoboCode engine which students download and apply their Java programming skills to develop smart robot tanks with computer animations for moving, firing and hunting. Student teams compete in the Robocode Ireland Challenge to program the best robot tank, which will outmanoeuvre its opponents in battle. Tipperary Institute hosts the Challenge, which is part of Games Fleadh, their annual computer games programming festival.
NDLR Repository 2010
Until now, only registered members could access the resources in the National Digital Learning Repository. It is now open and resources can be viewed (though not downloaded) without registering. The repository is also open to search engines. Most resources are or will be available through Creative Commons licences which allow for reuse on a non-commercial basis . Open access will hopefully lead to a greater use of the repository. The repository has been redeveloped using DSpace, an open source tool. It can be accessed at http://dspace.ndlr.ie.
April 21st, 2010
The Infectious exhibition at the TCD Science Gallery is an example of popular science communication at its best. It addresses a topical issue in an imaginative and engaging manner, it allows visitors to participate in research … and admission is free!
 |
Visitors are greeted by a person in a ‘decontamination’ suit who hands them an ‘uninfected’ electronic badge. Contagion spreads (virtually) through the exhibition based on models for the spread of real epidemics. As you move about, your badge is read by sensors. Eventually, you become electronically infected and have to visit a ‘disinfection’ station. |
Multimedia technologies are used very imaginatively. For example, the movement of Daphnia (water fleas) changes in response to infection. These changes are represented musically.
| In the Cybernetic Bacteria exhibit, bacterial communication and digital network patterns are combined to create artificial life forms. |
 |
 |
While other exhibits include agar plates (pictured here with visitor badge) showing the growth of bacteria from people’s and dog’s mouths … and maps and models of an epidemic spreading over time across the world. |
Visitors can participate in research on immunity to malaria by giving a cheek swab, which analyses mal genes. Depending on the variation of these genes you can have a highly active response which can lead to inflammation (SS), an inactive response which leads to infection (LL) or a combined form which responds to infection and does not cause inflammation (SL). Along with 59% of the population tested, I have a highly active response. (Image below courtesy of TCD Science Gallery).
June 11th, 2009
Grid computing aims to share computer processing power between large numbers of computers over a network. It is so called as it distributes computing power in the same way (metaphorically) as the electricity network distributes electrical power. Computers in a grid can be in different locations in different institutes. By combining the CPU of a large number of computers, a virtual super computer can be created which can make short-term use of idle CPU in all the machines on the network. Grids can also be used to share access to specialist equipment such as telescopes and to share large quantities of distributed data.
Grids are increasingly being used in Scientific Computing. Professor David Britton of Glasgow University’s Physics and Astronomy department will discuss grids and grid computing at the Alchemist Café on March 12th 2008 in The Mercantile, Dame Street, Dublin at 7:45pm. Admission is free. Further details from http://www.alchemistcafedublin.com/
March 10th, 2008
Dublin’s Alchemist Café is part of the Café Scientifique network which meet regularly to hear scientists or writers on science talk about their work and discuss it with diverse audiences. For the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.
Café Scientifique is a forum for debating science issues, not a shop window for science. It aims to promote public engagement with science and to make science accountable. Alchemist Café is hosting two events in The Mercantile, Dame Street, in October:
Magic or Maths? – Monday, October 15th @ 7:45
Andrew Jeffrey: Award-winning Magician and one of England’s top Mentalists. Is he magical, a mind-reader, a mathematician or just mad? Probably a bit of all four, to be honest, but why not find out for yourself? Andrew will amaze you with his seemingly impossible feats, many of which work by the use of simple but well-disguised mathematical principles.
Planning for Future Climate Change in Ireland – Wednesday, October 17th @ 7:45
Dr. John Sweeney of NUI Maynooth will discuss what Ireland needs to do to cope with climate change. Irrespective of any attempts at mitigation, Irish climate is set to change significantly over the next few decades. How can we anticipate where and by how much this is going to occur? This talk addresses the question of how global scale musings about climate change can be brought down to a regional and local level in a manner in which policymakers, engineers and individuals can plan for in order to ensure that Ireland positions itself to adapt to, and thus become a potential winner rather than loser, from the climate changes, which are imminent.
Further info from http://www.alchemistcafedublin.com/
October 8th, 2007
