Background
Mr Mark Dixon BSc (Hons)I am from Plymouth, and am a graduate of the School's Computing and Informatics BSc degree. I spent my placement with Girobank Plc in Liverpool. During my final year I took the software engineering and applied intelligent knowledge based systems modules. For my final year project I developed a POP-11 compiler for the IBM PC platform.
I am an EPSRC CASE student. My supervisors are Pat Pearce , Peter Jagodzinski, and Brian Mushens . I am being sponsored by PEP Research and Consultancy Limited, and OPD Management Consultants Ltd. The work has developed from the collaborative projects undertake by the School of Computing, PEP, and OPD towards software support for organisational analysis (DESTINY and Spotlight).
The Destiny project was undertaken in conjunction with the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and several UK manufacturing companies. The project was part of the DTI Manufacturing, Organisation, People, and Systems (MOPS) programme. The Destiny Software brought together modified versions of two existing and proven generic techniques. The Destiny software allows interview data to be collected, presented (in both textual and graphical forms) and analysed. This work was then applied in Europe with another DTI funded project, Advanced Analyses of Manufacturing Enterprises' Culture and Organisation (AAMECO). The Destiny software has been extended into a commercial product, called Spotlight, which is currently being used in Europe.
The work is looking at the development of integrated interviewing, social network analysis, content analysis, and qualitative data analysis software tools. Computing fields currently being considered as potentially applicable to this are; Information Retrieval, Natural Language Processing, Object Technology, Database Technology, Visualisation, and Hypermedia.
My general research interests are Software Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence.
Publications
An English Longbow. It is made of hickory and lemonwood, with horn nocks, and a leather grip. Its draw weight is 45 lb. When it is strung its overall length is 71 inches, and the length of its string is 69 inches. Although traditionally the string would be made from hemp, I use dacron, as hemp strings are prone to breaking. With this bow I use 32 inch wooden arrows, with natural feather fletchings (flights).
A Pearson Compound bow. Its riser (central part) is made of magnesium, and its limbs are made of carbon fibre. Its draw weight can be adjusted between 45 and 60 lbs. When is is strung its overall length is 45 inches, and the length of its string is 37.5 inches. With this bow I use 31 inch carbon fibre arrows.
A Barnett Trident Pistol Crossbow. Its draw weight is 75 lb. Its prod (bow part) is made of fibre glass. It is 14 inches long, and its string is 16.5 inches long. Its bolts (arrows) are 6 inches long.
A Barnett Wildcat II Rifle Crossbow. Its draw weight is 150 lb. Its prod (bow part) is made of fibre glass. It is 30.5 inches long, and its string is 26 inches long. Its bolts (arrows) are 14 inches long.
Reproduction Armour (from about 1300):
Contact
Mark Dixon
School of Computing
University of Plymouth
Drake Circus
Plymouth
Devon PL4 8AA
United Kingdom
Telephone: 01752 232621
Sec: 01752-232541
Fax: 01752 232540
E-mail:
markdi@soc.plym.ac.uk