Modern System-on-chip (SoC) hardware design puts considerable pressure on existing design and verification flows, languages and tools. The Register Transfer Level (RTL)description, which forms the input for synchronous, logic synthesis-driven design is at too low a level of abst…
Awareness of individual and group activities is critical to successful collaborative authoring. Participants require knowledge of what other contributors are doing and have done, what meaningful changes have been made to a document, and who is editing each section of a document …
There is currently a notable amount of research suggesting that educators should use computer games as part of their teaching. Most of this research suggests why games should be used choosing very specific example games, or making broad sweeping statements about gaming as a whol…
Nonlinear photonic devices utilize phase-matched parametric wavelength conversion in a nonlinear medium to create a widely tunable pulsed laser source. Currently most of nonlinear lasers are based on bulk optics or photonic fibres. Lasers based on bulk optics utilizing nonlinear…
Many approaches to learning and teaching rely upon students working in groups. For- mation of optimal groups can be a time consuming and complex task, particularly when the list of participants is unknown in advance. This research investigates the imple- mentation of semantics t…
Unmanned sensors are rapidly becoming the de facto means of achieving situational awareness---the ability to make sense of, and predict what is happening in an environment---in disaster management, military reconnaissance, space exploration, and climate research. In these domain…
With the rapid development of Computer-based Sport Training (CBST), feedback plays an important role in both coaching and learning. A good CBST system includes not only good training strategies but also effective feedback design. Feedback in the motor skill domain via CBST may b…
This research introduces a conceptual framework for the design of serious games and uses the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for its validation. An initial study identified 12 attributes of educational serious games that can be used to support effective learning. These attribu…
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have a diverse range of industrial, scientific and medical applications where the sensor nodes are of low cost, standard with respect to hardware architecture, processing abilities and communicate using low-power narrow-band radios. Position infor…
This work presents the development of electrowetting on dielectric and liquid dielectrophoresis as a platform for chemistry, biochemistry and biophysics. These techniques, typically performed on a single planar surface offer flexibility for interfacing with liquid handling instr…
Influenced by information technology advances, the assessment process has begun to make its way out of the traditional classroom into online environments. The online summative assessment is a high-stake examination which counts towards a final course mark. Thus, as a result of t…
Due to ever increasing complexity of circuits, EDA tools and algorithms are demanding more computational power. This made transistor-level simulation a growing bottleneck in the circuit development process. This thesis serves as a proof of concept to evaluate and quantify the co…
This thesis highlights two different methods of extracting electrical energy from rotational forces using impact based and non-contact based piezoelectric harvesters. In this work, the centripetal force is used as the main acting force that causes the piezoelectric harvesters to…
This thesis explores the deployment of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) on localised maritime events. In particular, it will focus on the deployment of a WSN at sea and estimating what challenges derive from the environment and how they affect communication. This research address…
Photovoltaic solar cells (PVs) are now recognised as the world’s fastest growing energy technology, yet, they only account for a mere fraction of current global renewable power capacity. It is acknowledged that this inadequate market penetration has been largely a result of the …
This thesis reports on the development of a novel 77GHz low loss MEMS switch with a mechanically unrestrained armature, over a RF transmitting coplanar waveguide. Electrostatic actuation is used during the switching operation. The attractive force from the electrostatic field is…
The traditional start-to-finish playback model is not suitable for all modern interactive video streams. Users expect support for higher levels of interactivity such as fast forward and rewind or the ability to arbitrary seek within their media quickly and efficiently. By conduc…
In electronic devices solder joints form a mechanical as well as an electrical connection between the circuit board and the component (e.g. a chip or a resistor). Temperature variations occurring during field use cause crack initiation and crack growth inside the joints. Accurat…
Adriaan de Groot, the Dutch psychologist and chess Master, argued that “perception and memory are more important differentiators of chess expertise than the ability to look ahead in selecting a chess move” (Groot 1978). A component of expertise in chess has been attributed to th…