Latest news with #UniversityofHertfordshire
The Star
2 days ago
- General
- The Star
Raising thinkers, not calculators
FOR Dr Fu Sai Hoe, mathematics is more than a subject. It is a mission. Born and raised in Sandakan, Fu's natural gift for numbers showed early. From primary school through to his SPM exams, he aced every mathematics paper. But it was a single sentence from a university lecturer that reshaped his path forever. 'Teach the kids how to live a good life,' said Dr Ng Pei Fern during his undergraduate studies in mathematics education, words that planted a seed which would become his life's work. Today, Fu is a regional expert in mathematics education and a specialist in dyscalculia, a learning difficulty that often goes unrecognised, yet affects many children's understanding of numbers. He is also the founder of Numi (Numeracy Intervention), a programme dedicated to training teachers across South-East Asia to identify and support students with numeracy challenges, particularly those aged seven to nine. 'It is never just about equations. It is about equipping children with the skills to reason, to make decisions, to think for themselves,' said the 40-year-old. Fu (standing) observing the work of maths teachers during one of his masterclasses. Fu's career began at the Temenggong Ibrahim Teacher Education Institute in Johor, in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. His first posting to SJKC Chiaw Nan in Sarawak coincided with the nationwide launch of the LINUS programme, aimed at boosting literacy and numeracy among early primary students. It was there that he noticed something troubling. 'Children sitting in the same classroom had vastly different learning needs, but were all being taught the same way,. There was a gap ... and I wanted to bridge it,' he said. Since then, Fu has dedicated his work to closing that gap. His philosophy is simple yet profound. To him maths is not about memorising formulas, it is about learning how to think. Fu advocates teaching methods that go beyond rote memorisation. His approach centres on mental representation, the ability to visualise numbers and their relationships, and reasoning, the foundation of logical thought. 'These skills last long after school. We don't teach maths to raise calculators. We teach it to raise thinkers,' said Fu. As a master trainer and researcher, Fu has worked with countless educators across Malaysia and the region. His PhD research in Sandakan proved that with the right intervention, even students who struggle the most can master basic numeracy. But the work is not easy. 'With children, it is about understanding how their brains develop. With teachers, it is about attitude. Both require empathy, patience, and a willingness to learn.' For Fu, mathematics will always be more than numbers. 'It is a journey, one that starts with understanding, and ends with purpose.'
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
University team compete in robot football contest
A team from the University of Hertfordshire have travelled to Salvador in Brazil to take part in a global football competition involving autonomous robots. The aim of RoboCup 2025 is to develop humanoid robots capable of defeating the human FIFA World Cup champions by 2050 in a fair match. Daniel Polani, a professor of artificial intelligence at the university and part of the team, said the AI robots "are nowhere close to the ability of a Messi or a Ronaldo because running is a very difficult task". He added: "At this stage we are happy if they can walk without falling down." RoboCup, which first started in 1997, has long served as a proving ground for AI and robotics researchers and this year's competition involves 250 teams from 37 countries. "We have been playing with humanoid robots which look like humans and the robots we use are not allowed to use anything that humans don't have," said Mr Polani, who is also on the Board of Trustees of the RoboCup Federation. "The robots are independent - they are not remote controlled because it is a competition where AI does everything," he said. The only remote aspect is the whistle to stop and start the game, he added. Mr Polani said the idea behind the competition was if you want to make intelligent machines you have to put them in the real world and "if they mess up they mess up themselves". "It is a really difficult task to kick and not fall down and you have to contend with 22 different robots working in a coordinated fashion," he added. The University of Hertfordshire sent its first team to RoboCup in 2002, as it believed it was "where the future of robotics will lie", said Mr Polani. He said the French and Japanese teams were good, but he did not think that they would do well this year. RoboCup takes place from 17-21 July alongside other competitions such as where robots are tested in rescue situations and perform household tasks. Organisers said the competition was expected to attract 150,000 spectators. Livestream coverage was also available throughout the event on Twitch and YouTube. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story Robots could 'act on intuition' due to new algorithm University spends £2m on wind tunnels for students Plans to expand university backed by council Related internet links University of Hertfordshire RoboCup
BBC News
6 days ago
- Sport
- BBC News
University of Hertfordshire team compete in robot contest
A team from the University of Hertfordshire have travelled to Salvador in Brazil to take part in a global football competition involving autonomous robots. The aim of RoboCup 2025 is to develop humanoid robots capable of defeating the human FIFA World Cup champions by 2050 in a fair Polani, a professor of artificial intelligence at the university and part of the team, said the AI robots "are nowhere close to the ability of a Messi or a Ronaldo because running is a very difficult task".He added: "At this stage we are happy if they can walk without falling down." RoboCup, which first started in 1997, has long served as a proving ground for AI and robotics researchers and this year's competition involves 250 teams from 37 countries. "We have been playing with humanoid robots which look like humans and the robots we use are not allowed to use anything that humans don't have," said Mr Polani, who is also on the Board of Trustees of the RoboCup Federation."The robots are independent - they are not remote controlled because it is a competition where AI does everything," he said. The only remote aspect is the whistle to stop and start the game, he Polani said the idea behind the competition was if you want to make intelligent machines you have to put them in the real world and "if they mess up they mess up themselves"."It is a really difficult task to kick and not fall down and you have to contend with 22 different robots working in a coordinated fashion," he added. The University of Hertfordshire sent its first team to RoboCup in 2002, as it believed it was "where the future of robotics will lie", said Mr said the French and Japanese teams were good, but he did not think that they would do well this takes place from 17-21 July alongside other competitions such as where robots are tested in rescue situations and perform household said the competition was expected to attract 150,000 coverage was also available throughout the event on Twitch and YouTube. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Sydney Morning Herald
12-07-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
How to make Italians panic? Increase the price of espresso
Such price controls 'protected neighbourhood bars for a long time', said Jonathan Morris, a coffee historian at the University of Hertfordshire in England. 'That's why no one really ever set up coffee chains in Italy.' (Starbucks actually did, but did not open its first Italian outpost until 2018, 47 years after the company's founding.) Even after the controls were lifted, prices remained low, with few bar owners willing to test whether higher prices would push their customers toward the nearest competitor, usually no more than a block or two away. 'There is a kind of communism,' Morello said, 'when actually one should pay for the quality one receives.' The make-up of the traditional Italian espresso, a brew of darkly roasted arabica and robusta beans, also helped keep prices low, Morris said. As arabica bean prices rose, some Italian producers increased the proportion of cheaper robusta beans in their coffee blends, but that formula was no longer as effective when robusta prices also surged, he said. An espresso in Italy averaged €1.16 (about $2.06) as of the latest analysis this year by Assoutenti, a nonprofit consumer rights organisation, with the lowest average prices found in southern Italy. The national average in January was up about 11.5 per cent from two years earlier, the analysis found, though Italy still sells some of the cheapest espressos in Western Europe. Coffee bean prices have come down somewhat from their peak earlier in the year. But they remain higher than before the surge, and experts fear extreme weather will continue to shrink global supply and keep prices high for roasters, bars and consumers. US tariffs on coffee-producing countries, like Brazil, could drive up prices further. The traditional Italian coffee bar relies on coffee sales for about 30 per cent of its revenues, according to Luciano Sbraga, deputy director for the Federation of Italian Public Establishments, a trade association for the food and hospitality sector. Some owners have found it is more profitable to also sell food, for breakfast, lunch or an aperitivo dinner known as apericena, rather than just coffee. 'Many bars are becoming more similar to restaurants,' he said. That was the choice Consilvio made when he bought and renovated his bar, in a stately plaza with a Parisian air in central Turin. The previous owner had sold espressos at the counter for less than a euro apiece, a price that Consilvio said simply 'can't work'. He sells espressos at his bar, Cicinin, for €2 for table service on the plaza and €1.30 at the counter because nearby bars charge €1.30. (He had wanted to charge €1.50.) Consilvio, who says he drinks seven to eight espressos a day, lamented that espresso machines had become standard in offices and businesses – 'Hairdressers have them,' he scoffed – so fewer customers go to bars. When they do, they demand 'the perfect coffee,' he grumbled, 'not too bitter'. In a sign of how much the industry has changed, a capsule coffee machine by Lavazza, the giant Italian coffee producer, has now taken its place at the company's museum in Turin, alongside revered machines that helped create modern espresso. Executives from Lavazza and Illy, the Italian coffee producer based in Trieste, have warned for more than a year that higher coffee bean prices are most likely here to stay, presenting challenges to everyone from farmers outside Italy to large companies to mom-and-pop coffee shops to consumers. At Gran Caffè Gambrinus, a cafe in Naples established in 1860, an espresso at the counter now costs €1.80, up from €1.50, said Massimiliano Rosati, one of the owners. The cafe can get away with that price, he says, because for a tourist who comes to Naples, the increase makes no difference. That is often not the case for traditional family-run coffee bars, which tend to compete on price. At Giolitti near the Italian parliament in Rome, where King Charles III and Queen Camilla stopped by for a gelato in April, Giovanna Giolitti said she and her brothers recently raised the price of an espresso at the counter to €1.30 from €1.20. Coffee bean prices justified an even bigger hike, she said, but that would have hurt locals who have come to the bar for years. 'Coffee is something that everyone drinks every day,' said Giolitti, who is among the fourth generation of Giolittis to run the bar. In Sant'Eustachio il Caffè near the Pantheon, on a sunny spring Saturday, every outdoor table was full and a line of customers snaked out the door. At one table, two friends, Filippo Facchinetti and Gabriele Bonfanti, shook their heads when their two espressos came out to €9. Bonfanti, who lives in Rome, said he had started making more coffee at home, in part because of pricing but also because he found that some bars use too bitter and dark a roast for his liking. Facchinetti, who lives in Genoa, called two espressos a day his 'bare minimum', though that day he had already had four, and some days he has six. Loading Even recent mark-ups, he believes, will not chase away a nation with a serious coffee craving. 'It's too important,' he said, adding that the Italian espresso ritual 'won't ever change'.
The Age
12-07-2025
- Business
- The Age
How to make Italians panic? Increase the price of espresso
Such price controls 'protected neighbourhood bars for a long time', said Jonathan Morris, a coffee historian at the University of Hertfordshire in England. 'That's why no one really ever set up coffee chains in Italy.' (Starbucks actually did, but did not open its first Italian outpost until 2018, 47 years after the company's founding.) Even after the controls were lifted, prices remained low, with few bar owners willing to test whether higher prices would push their customers toward the nearest competitor, usually no more than a block or two away. 'There is a kind of communism,' Morello said, 'when actually one should pay for the quality one receives.' The make-up of the traditional Italian espresso, a brew of darkly roasted arabica and robusta beans, also helped keep prices low, Morris said. As arabica bean prices rose, some Italian producers increased the proportion of cheaper robusta beans in their coffee blends, but that formula was no longer as effective when robusta prices also surged, he said. An espresso in Italy averaged €1.16 (about $2.06) as of the latest analysis this year by Assoutenti, a nonprofit consumer rights organisation, with the lowest average prices found in southern Italy. The national average in January was up about 11.5 per cent from two years earlier, the analysis found, though Italy still sells some of the cheapest espressos in Western Europe. Coffee bean prices have come down somewhat from their peak earlier in the year. But they remain higher than before the surge, and experts fear extreme weather will continue to shrink global supply and keep prices high for roasters, bars and consumers. US tariffs on coffee-producing countries, like Brazil, could drive up prices further. The traditional Italian coffee bar relies on coffee sales for about 30 per cent of its revenues, according to Luciano Sbraga, deputy director for the Federation of Italian Public Establishments, a trade association for the food and hospitality sector. Some owners have found it is more profitable to also sell food, for breakfast, lunch or an aperitivo dinner known as apericena, rather than just coffee. 'Many bars are becoming more similar to restaurants,' he said. That was the choice Consilvio made when he bought and renovated his bar, in a stately plaza with a Parisian air in central Turin. The previous owner had sold espressos at the counter for less than a euro apiece, a price that Consilvio said simply 'can't work'. He sells espressos at his bar, Cicinin, for €2 for table service on the plaza and €1.30 at the counter because nearby bars charge €1.30. (He had wanted to charge €1.50.) Consilvio, who says he drinks seven to eight espressos a day, lamented that espresso machines had become standard in offices and businesses – 'Hairdressers have them,' he scoffed – so fewer customers go to bars. When they do, they demand 'the perfect coffee,' he grumbled, 'not too bitter'. In a sign of how much the industry has changed, a capsule coffee machine by Lavazza, the giant Italian coffee producer, has now taken its place at the company's museum in Turin, alongside revered machines that helped create modern espresso. Executives from Lavazza and Illy, the Italian coffee producer based in Trieste, have warned for more than a year that higher coffee bean prices are most likely here to stay, presenting challenges to everyone from farmers outside Italy to large companies to mom-and-pop coffee shops to consumers. At Gran Caffè Gambrinus, a cafe in Naples established in 1860, an espresso at the counter now costs €1.80, up from €1.50, said Massimiliano Rosati, one of the owners. The cafe can get away with that price, he says, because for a tourist who comes to Naples, the increase makes no difference. That is often not the case for traditional family-run coffee bars, which tend to compete on price. At Giolitti near the Italian parliament in Rome, where King Charles III and Queen Camilla stopped by for a gelato in April, Giovanna Giolitti said she and her brothers recently raised the price of an espresso at the counter to €1.30 from €1.20. Coffee bean prices justified an even bigger hike, she said, but that would have hurt locals who have come to the bar for years. 'Coffee is something that everyone drinks every day,' said Giolitti, who is among the fourth generation of Giolittis to run the bar. In Sant'Eustachio il Caffè near the Pantheon, on a sunny spring Saturday, every outdoor table was full and a line of customers snaked out the door. At one table, two friends, Filippo Facchinetti and Gabriele Bonfanti, shook their heads when their two espressos came out to €9. Bonfanti, who lives in Rome, said he had started making more coffee at home, in part because of pricing but also because he found that some bars use too bitter and dark a roast for his liking. Facchinetti, who lives in Genoa, called two espressos a day his 'bare minimum', though that day he had already had four, and some days he has six. Loading Even recent mark-ups, he believes, will not chase away a nation with a serious coffee craving. 'It's too important,' he said, adding that the Italian espresso ritual 'won't ever change'.
