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The design of any robotic system requires input from engineers from a variety of technical fields. This paper describes a project-based module, Biologically-Inspired Robotics, that is offered to Electronics and Computer Science students at the University of Southampton, U.K. The overall objective of the module is for student groups to investigate the interface between robotics and biology and develop a system (either hardware or software) to illustrate biological principles. This paper discusses the details of the implementation and delivery of the module, together with evaluation feedback. A number of the robotic systems developed by project groups are presented in order to illustrate the diversity and quality of the systems that have been developed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A survey using a scenario-based questionnaire format has provided insight into the perceptions of U.K academics who teach programming on computing courses. This survey across various higher education (HE) institutions investigates what academics feel constitutes source-code plagiarism in an undergraduate context. Academics' responses on issues surrounding source-code reuse and acknowledgement are discussed. A general consensus exists among academics that a "zero tolerance" plagiarism policy is appropriate; however, some issues concerning source-code reuse and acknowledgement raised controversial responses. This paper discusses the most important findings from the survey and proposes a definition of what can constitute source-code plagiarism from the perspective of U.K. academics who teach programming on computing courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

John R. Womersley's career epitomized how numerical and statistical methods came into widespread use from the 1930s, in Britain as in other Western countries. As an applied mathematician and then a manager of mathematicians and statisticians, in war and in peacetime, Womersley and his career reflect the major trends in British applied mathematics, statistics, and automated computation in the middle decades of the 20th century. Womersley made both significant scientific contributions in applied mathematics and managerial contributions to computer innovation. He was also involved at the beginning of electronic computers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Manchester Baby, built by F.C. Williams and Tom Kilburn and operational in June 1948, was the first stored-program electronic computer. The Williams-Kilburn tube memory, pioneered in the Baby, was subsequently adopted in many first-generation computers, including the Princeton IAS machine and the IBM 701. Part 1 of this article provides an overview of the Manchester project and its personnel and documents the origins of the Williams-Kilburn tube. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]