Mauro Coccoli

Privacy problems with Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is an attitude rather then a new technology, as the creation of a social environment was already present in the original web vision. The evolution of web-based technologies, such as scripting languages and HTML 5, has produced more powerful and user-friendly interfaces. Moreover, clear and widely accepted standards dramatically push the concept of interoperability. As a consequence, it is now easier to conduct social activities, create communities, establish relationships and publish user-generated content. But this also has a drawback – the increased ‘social attitude’ introduces related issues in terms of privacy and personal information protection.

Computer Supported Collaborative Learning in software engineering

Collaboration is one of the keywords in education as well as in computer-assisted instruction. In this respect, e-learning platforms provide users with specific tools, enabling them to collaborate and/or to cooperate so to reach common objectives. Collaboration is considered as a teaching strategy but, in many cases such as in the software engineering classes, collaboration has to be a learning outcome itself, since students must acquire a specific ability in team working. Thus a suited working environment is needed, that has to be much more than just a flexible Learning Management System. Consequently, a specific project has been launched within the Italian Eclipse Community in the framework of the Enforcing Team Cooperation (ETC) activity. The aim of the project is that of enforcing and enlarging cooperation activities among a large number of students, all attending software engineering courses at different Universities in Italy. The main idea behind the project is the implementation of a really effective Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) paradigm, to be used for higher education on team cooperation, in software engineering classes for the analysis, design, and development of software programs along their lifecycle.

Semantic Web and Internet of Things Supporting Enhanced Learning

This paper outlines possible evolution trends of e-learning, supported by most recent advancements in the World Wide Web. Specifically, we consider a situation in which the Semantic Web technology and tools are widely adopted, and fully integrated within a context of applications exploiting the Internet of Things paradigm. Such a scenario will dramatically impact on learning activities, as well as on teaching strategies and instructional design methodology. In particular, the models characterized by learning pervasiveness and interactivity will be greatly empowered.

Opportunities, integration and issues of applying new technologies over e-learning platforms

Recent advancements in the field of social networking, Web 2.0 technologies, grid and cloud computing, and mobile communications have significantly changed many concepts at the basis of e-learning. The latter is also a valuable tool for teaching in developing Countries, especially when jointly used with satellites allowing to overcome the digital divide. In this perspective, this paper investigates several enabling technologies that can be used to improve e learning platforms, reflecting in the so-called e-learning 2.0 and m-learning. Specifically, this work showcases: i) the mobile paradigm applied to e-learning process; ii) the usage of p2p to better exploit the more “social” nature of modern frameworks; iii) the adoption of cloud computing concepts to bring e-learning services to the nextstep and iv) hazards and opportunities when employing satellite communication.

Vibration damping and second-order sliding modes in the control of a single finger of the AMADEUS gripper

The vibration damping problem relevant to a single element (finger) of the AMADEUS gripper is addressed. A simplified model of such an element, constituted by three bellows connected to two plates, one fixed and the other (the tip) free, has been derived. The elastic constants in this model are assumed uncertain. Therefore, a sliding mode approach has been adopted to damp the oscillations and perform the dynamic decoupling between displacements and rotations. Then, the transmission delays have been taken into account and an unconventional adaptive sliding mode strategy has been designed. In order to avoid the chattering phenomenon and eliminate the drawbacks typical of hydraulic valves (low bandwidth and hysteresis), a new actuation system, driven by a new sliding mode control algorithm, has been developed and experimentally tested.

CADDIE and IWT: two different ontology-based approaches to Anytime, Anywhere and Anybody Learning

The Semantic Web seems to offer great opportunities for educational systems aiming to accomplish the AAAL: Anytime, Anywhere, Anybody Learning. In this scenario, two different research projects are here introduced: CADDIE (Content Automated Design & Development Integrated Editor), developed at the DIST of the University of Genoa, and IWT (Intelligent Web Teacher), developed at the DIIMA of the University of Salerno, each of them characterized by the use of ontologies and semantic technologies in order to support instructional design and personalized learning processes. The former aims to develop a learning resources and instructional paths authoring tool based on a logical and abstract annotation model, created with the goal of guaranteeing the fexibility and personalization of instructional design, the reusability of teaching materials and of the related whole knowledge structures. The latter represents an innovative e-learning solution able to support teachers and instructional designers to model educational domains knowledge, users’ competences and preferences by a semantic approach in order to create personalized and contextualized learning activities and to allow users to communicate, to cooperate, to dynamically create new content to deliver and information to share as well as enabling platform for e-learning 2.0.

Topic Maps e XTM per l’e-learning

Topic Maps are a methodology whose aim is describing knowledge structures and associating them with information resources. XML Topic Maps (XTM) is an XML-based encoding scheme to represent topic maps and similar knowledge structures (e.g. semantic networks, associative networks, concept maps, mind maps, etc.). In this paper Topic Maps and XTM are proposed as a knowledge representation system to be exploited in e-learning environments for a suited integration with semantic web technologies. They may be a useful tool to facilitate the design of learning contents and their delivery in diverse contexts. After a short survey of the Topic Maps standardization process, in this paper key elements and characteristics of TM and XTM paradigm are described. Then it is briefly discussed about Topic Maps applications in e-learning context and also a short survey of related works is presented.

Semantic Wiki: a collaborative tool for instructional content design

The rapid evolving of web technologies has brought to the increasingly diffusion of applications making the Web an interactive social network environment. The World Wide Web Consortium and several research centers are working on the integration of such technologies into the project of a Semantic Web. Consequently, e-learning systems and tools supporting instructional content design could take advantage of these advancements. In this scenario, according to a social-constructivist approach, the authors discuss the adoption of Semantic Wiki as a collaborative environment to design educational contents. The paper will outline the application perspectives and the strategies to adopt, in order to facilitate meaningful learning processes, and the potential advantages that Semantic Wikis would bring from the point of view of knowledge management, as well as for the re-use of learning resources.

Sliding mode control of an underwater robotic manipulator

Deals with the application of sliding mode control theory to the specific case of a manipulator for which mono-directional control actions only have to be considered. In particular the control of an underwater gripper is presented. Many even complex robotic structures, can be actuated by mono-directional control actions, for example the so called tendon-arms, jet-actuated vehicles, underwater vehicles with mono-directional thrusters, etc. The robotic system which is considered in the paper belongs to the above class, since it is actuated by voice coil motors which, acting on a hydraulic circuit, are able to generate mono-directional forces. In practical realizations actuators often show imprecise relationships between the electrical input signals and the mechanical outputs, that is joint forces or torques. Such a situation constitutes a source of uncertainties we have to deal with. A sliding mode control methodology based on the use of a simplex of constant control vectors is presented, which has been revealed to be general enough to work with different applications too.

Interacting with annotated objects in a Semantic Web of Things application

Abstract This paper presents a model and an infrastructure for technology-enhanced learning applications and discusses issues in using Semantic Web, Linked Data, and Internet of Things. In particular, we apply the novel paradigm of the Semantic Web of Things to enhance information management and users׳ experience in a museum exhibition where artworks assume a pro-active role and provide visitors with enriched information. According to the Linked Data principles, the content delivery system is empowered by the introduction of suited semantic annotations to the objects. This enables things in the real world to be linked to their corresponding descriptions on the Web of Data and, in turn, it enables users to increase their knowledge and discover new facts. Moreover, the deployment of education-oriented annotations, which specify how to use the sensorized objects in learning activities, makes possible to match their features with educational tasks and users characteristics, thus providing personalized services and improving the learning experience.