Search results for: SIMD (Single Instruction Multiple Data) computers

Authors: Sabiu Bala Muhammad, Rosli Saad

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Multiple linear regression (MLR) models for fast estimation of true subsurface resistivity from apparent resistivity field measurements are developed and assessed in this study. The parameters investigated were apparent resistivity (ρₐ), horizontal location (X) and depth (Z) of measurement as the independent variables; and true resistivity (ρₜ) as the dependent variable. To achieve linearity in both resistivity variables, datasets were first transformed into logarithmic domain following diagnostic checks of normality of the dependent variable and heteroscedasticity to ensure accurate models. Four MLR models were developed based on hierarchical combination of the independent variables. The generated MLR coefficients were applied to another data set to estimate ρₜ values for validation. Contours of the estimated ρₜ values were plotted and compared to the observed data plots at the colour scale and blanking for visual assessment. The accuracy of the models was assessed using coefficient of determination (R²), standard error (SE) and weighted mean absolute percentage error (wMAPE). It is concluded that the MLR models can estimate ρₜ for with high level of accuracy.

Keywords: apparent resistivity, depth, horizontal location, multiple linear regression, true resistivity

Procedia PDF Downloads 258

Authors: Chien-Wei Hung, Fu-Hau Hsu, Chuan-Sheng Wang, Chia-Hao Lee

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Nowadays, the abuse of keyloggers is one of the most widespread approaches to steal sensitive information. In this paper, we propose an On-Screen Prompts Approach to Keyloggers (OSPAK) and its analysis, which is installed in public computers. OSPAK utilizes a canvas to cue users when their keystrokes are going to be logged or ignored by OSPAK. This approach can protect computers against recoding sensitive inputs, which obfuscates keyloggers with letters inserted among users' keystrokes. It adds a canvas below each password field in a webpage and consists of three parts: two background areas, a hit area and a moving foreground object. Letters at different valid time intervals are combined in accordance with their time interval orders, and valid time intervals are interleaved with invalid time intervals. It utilizes animation to visualize valid time intervals and invalid time intervals, which can be integrated in a webpage as a browser extension. We have tested it against a series of known keyloggers and also performed a study with 95 users to evaluate how easily the tool is used. Experimental results made by volunteers show that OSPAK is a simple approach.

Keywords: authentication, computer security, keylogger, privacy, information leakage

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Authors: Junjun Chen, Yingxiu Li

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The occupational well-being of school principals has played a vital role in the pursuit of individual and school wellness and success. However, principals’ well-being worldwide is under increasing threat because of the challenging and complex nature of their work and growing demands for school standardisation and accountability. Pressure is particularly acute in the post-pandemicfuture as principals attempt to deal with the impact of the pandemic on top of more regular demands. This is particularly true in Hong Kong, as school principals are increasingly wedged between unparalleled political, social, and academic responsibilities. Recognizing the semantic breadth of well-being, scholars have not determined a single, mutually agreeable definition but agreed that the concept of well-being has multiple dimensions across various disciplines. The multidimensional approach promises more precise assessments of the relationships between well-being and other concepts than the ‘affect-only’ approach or other single domains for capturing the essence of principal well-being. The multiple-dimension well-being concept is adopted in this project to understand principal well-being in this study. This study aimed to understand the situation of principal well-being and its influential drivers with a sample of 670 principals from Hong Kong and Mainland China. An online survey was sent to the participants after the breakout of COVID-19 by the researchers. All participants were well informed about the purposes and procedure of the project and the confidentiality of the data prior to filling in the questionnaire. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modelling performed with Mplus were employed to deal with the dataset. The data analysis procedure involved the following three steps. First, the descriptive statistics (e.g., mean and standard deviation) were calculated. Second, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to trim principal well-being measurement performed with maximum likelihood estimation. Third, structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the influential factors of principal well-being. The results of this study indicated that the overall of principal well-being were above the average mean score. The highest ranking in this study given by the principals was to their psychological and social well-being (M = 5.21). This was followed by spiritual (M = 5.14; SD = .77), cognitive (M = 5.14; SD = .77), emotional (M = 4.96; SD = .79), and physical well-being (M = 3.15; SD = .73). Participants ranked their physical well-being the lowest. Moreover, professional autonomy, supervisor and collegial support, school physical conditions, professional networking, and social media have showed a significant impact on principal well-being. The findings of this study will potentially enhance not only principal well-being, but also the functioning of an individual principal and a school without sacrificing principal well-being for quality education in the process. This will eventually move one step forward for a new future - a wellness society advocated by OECD. Importantly, well-being is an inside job that begins with choosing to have wellness, whilst supports to become a wellness principal are also imperative.

Keywords: well-being, school principals, quantitative, influential factors

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Authors: Hassan S. Hussein, Rania A. Abul Seoud, Amr M. Refaat

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Scientific researchers face in the analysis of very large data sets that is increasing noticeable rate in today’s and tomorrow’s technologies. Hadoop and Spark are types of software that developed frameworks. Hadoop framework is suitable for many Different hardware platforms. In this research, a scientific Linux cluster for Big Data analysis (SLBD) is presented. SLBD runs open source software with large computational capacity and high performance cluster infrastructure. SLBD composed of one cluster contains identical, commodity-grade computers interconnected via a small LAN. SLBD consists of a fast switch and Gigabit-Ethernet card which connect four (nodes). Cloudera Manager is used to configure and manage an Apache Hadoop stack. Hadoop is a framework allows storing and processing big data across the cluster by using MapReduce algorithm. MapReduce algorithm divides the task into smaller tasks which to be assigned to the network nodes. Algorithm then collects the results and form the final result dataset. SLBD clustering system allows fast and efficient processing of large amount of data resulting from different applications. SLBD also provides high performance, high throughput, high availability, expandability and cluster scalability.

Keywords: big data platforms, cloudera manager, Hadoop, MapReduce

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Authors: Jyoti Sharma, Raj Kumar Arya

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The coatings of homogeneous ternary solution of Poly(styrene)(PS)-Poly(ethyleneglycol)-6000(PEG) Chlorobenzene (CLB) of two different concentrations (5.05%-4.98%-89.97% and 10.05%-5.12%-84.82%) were studied and dried under quiescent conditions. Residual solvent percentage and coatings thickness were calculated by gravimetric weight loss data. Residual solvent remained lower in case of the single thick layer as compared to layer-by-layer assembly technique. The Results suggests the effectiveness of the single thick layer for minimizing the residual solvent. A single thick layer had an initial coating thickness of 1098 µm and the final thickness of 106 µm which is lower as compared to the dried coatings of nearly the same final thickness by layer-by-layer assembly technique.

Keywords: films, layer-by-layer assembly, polymeric coatings, ternary system

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Authors: Bhat Geetalaxmi Jairam, D. V. Ashoka

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Wireless Sensor Networks are used in many applications to collect sensed data from different sources. Sensed data has to be delivered through sensors wireless interface using multi-hop communication towards the sink. The data collection in wireless sensor networks consumes energy. Energy consumption is the major constraints in WSN .Reducing the energy consumption while increasing the amount of generated data is a great challenge. In this paper, we have implemented two data gathering protocols with multiple mobile sinks/elements to collect data from sensor nodes. First, is Energy-Efficient Data Gathering with Tour Length-Constrained Mobile Elements in Wireless Sensor Networks (EEDG), in which mobile sinks uses vehicle routing protocol to collect data. Second is An Intelligent Agent-based Routing Structure for Mobile Sinks in WSNs (IAR), in which mobile sinks uses prim’s algorithm to collect data. Authors have implemented concepts which are common to both protocols like deployment of mobile sinks, generating visiting schedule, collecting data from the cluster member. Authors have compared the performance of both protocols by taking statistics based on performance parameters like Delay, Packet Drop, Packet Delivery Ratio, Energy Available, Control Overhead. Authors have concluded this paper by proving EEDG is more efficient than IAR protocol but with few limitations which include unaddressed issues likes Redundancy removal, Idle listening, Mobile Sink’s pause/wait state at the node. In future work, we plan to concentrate more on these limitations to avail a new energy efficient protocol which will help in improving the life time of the WSN.

Keywords: aggregation, consumption, data gathering, efficiency

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Authors: Bourama Mane, Ibrahima Fall, Mamadou Samba Camara, Alassane Bah

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At the level of the National Statistical Institutes, there is a large volume of data which is generally in a format which conditions the method of publication of the information they contain. Each household or business data collection project includes a dissemination platform for its implementation. Thus, these dissemination methods previously used, do not promote rapid access to information and especially does not offer the option of being able to link data for in-depth processing. In this paper, we present an approach to modeling these data to publish them in a format intended for the Semantic Web. Our objective is to be able to publish all this data in a single platform and offer the option to link with other external data sources. An application of the approach will be made on data from major national surveys such as the one on employment, poverty, child labor and the general census of the population of Senegal.

Keywords: Semantic Web, linked open data, database, statistic

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Authors: Abdull Halim Abdull, Nasiman Sapari, Mohammad Haikal Asyraf Bin Anuar

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Although soil thermal properties are required in many areas to improve oil recovery, they are seldom measured on a routine basis. Reasons for this are unclear, but may be related to a lack of suitable instrumentation and entropy theory. We integrate single probe thermal gradient for the radial conduction of a short-duration heat pulse away from a single electrode source, and compared it with the theory for an instantaneously heated line source. By measuring the temperature response at a short distance from the line source, and applying short-duration heat-pulse theory, we can extract all the entropy properties, the thermal diffusivity, heat capacity, and conductivity, from a single heat-pulse measurement. Results of initial experiments carried out on air-dry sand and clay materials indicate that this heat-pulse method yields soil thermal properties that compare well with thermal properties measured by single electrode.

Keywords: entropy, single probe thermal gradient, soil thermal, probe heat

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Authors: Hechmi Saidi, Noureddine Hamdi

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The performance of Decode and Forward (DF) multihop Free Space Optical ( FSO) scheme deploying Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) configuration under Gamma-Gamma (GG) statistical distribution, that adopts M-ary Pulse Position Modulation (MPPM) coding, is investigated. We have extracted exact and estimated values of Symbol-Error Rates (SERs) respectively. A closed form formula related to the Probability Density Function (PDF) is expressed for our designed system. Thanks to the use of DF multihop MIMO FSO configuration and MPPM signaling, atmospheric turbulence is combatted; hence the transmitted signal quality is improved.

Keywords: free space optical, multiple input multiple output, M-ary pulse position modulation, multihop, decode and forward, symbol error rate, gamma-gamma channel

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Authors: Md. Danish Eqbal, Venkat Gundabala

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Microparticles and microcapsules are basically used as a carrier for cells, tissues, drugs, and chemicals. Due to its biocompatibility, non-toxicity and biodegradability, alginate based microparticles have numerous applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, organ repair and transplantation, etc. The production of uniform monodispersed microparticles was a challenge for the past few decades. However, emergence of microfluidics has provided controlled methods for the generation of the uniform monodispersed microparticles. In this work, we present a successful method for the generation of both microparticles and microcapsules (single and double core) using merging approach of two droplets, completely inside the microfluidic device. We have fabricated hybrid glass- PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) based microfluidic device which has coflow geometry as well as the T junction channel. Coflow is used to generate the single as well as double oil-alginate emulsion in oil and T junction helps to form the calcium chloride droplets in oil. The basic idea is to match the frequency of the alginate droplets and calcium chloride droplets perfectly for controlled generation. Using the merging of droplets technique, we have successfully generated the microparticles and the microcapsules having single core as well as double and multiple cores. The cores in the microcapsules are very stable, well separated from each other and very intact as seen through cross-sectional confocal images. The size and the number of the cores along with the thickness of the shell can be easily controlled by controlling the flowrate of the liquids.

Keywords: double-core, droplets, microcapsules, microparticles

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Authors: M. Sumana, K. S. Hareesha

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Secure computations are essential while performing privacy preserving data mining. Distributed privacy preserving data mining involve two to more sites that cannot pool in their data to a third party due to the violation of law regarding the individual. Hence in order to model the private data without compromising privacy and information loss, secure multiparty computations are used. Secure computations of product, mean, variance, dot product, sigmoid function using the additive and multiplicative homomorphic property is discussed. The computations are performed on vertically partitioned data with a single site holding the class value.

Keywords: homomorphic property, secure product, secure mean and variance, secure dot product, vertically partitioned data

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Authors: Hua Cao, Laurent Peyrodie, Olivier Agnani, Cecile Donze

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease, which affects the central nervous system, and causes balance problem. In clinical, this disorder is usually evaluated using static posturography. Some linear or nonlinear measures, extracted from the posturographic data (i.e. center of pressure, COP) recorded during a balance test, has been used to analyze postural control of MS patients. In this study, the trend (TREND) and the sample entropy (SampEn), two nonlinear parameters were chosen to investigate their relationships with the expanded disability status scale (EDSS) score. Forty volunteers with different EDSS scores participated in our experiments with eyes open (EO) and closed (EC). TREND and two types of SampEn (SampEn1 and SampEn2) were calculated for each combined COP’s position signal. The results have shown that TREND had a weak negative correlation to EDSS while SampEn2 had a strong positive correlation to EDSS. Compared to TREND and SampEn1, SampEn2 showed a better significant correlation to EDSS and an ability to discriminate the MS patients in the EC case. In addition, the outcome of the study suggests that the multi-dimensional nonlinear analysis could provide some information about the impact of disability progression in MS on dynamics of the COP data.

Keywords: balance, multiple sclerosis, nonlinear analysis, postural sway

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Authors: Yong Hwang, Kang Yeol Suh, Yundeok Jang, Tae Hoon Kim

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Introduction: Rhabdomyolysis is a syndrome characterized by muscle necrosis and the release of intracellular muscle constituents into the circulation. Acute kidney injury is a potential complication of severe rhabdomyolysis and the prognosis is substantially worse if renal failure develops. We try to identify the factors that were predictive of AKI in severe trauma patients with rhabdomyolysis. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted at the emergency department of a level Ⅰ trauma center. Patients enrolled that initial creatine phosphokinase (CPK) levels were higher than 1000 IU with acute multiple trauma, and more than 18 years older from Oct. 2012 to June 2016. We collected demographic data (age, gender, length of hospital day, and patients’ outcome), laboratory data (ABGA, lactate, hemoglobin. hematocrit, platelet, LDH, myoglobin, liver enzyme, and BUN/Cr), and clinical data (Injury Mechanism, RTS, ISS, AIS, and TRISS). The data were compared and analyzed between AKI and Non-AKI group. Statistical analyses were performed using IMB SPSS 20.0 statistics for Window. Results: Three hundred sixty-four patients were enrolled that AKI group were ninety-six and non-AKI group were two hundred sixty-eight. The base excess (HCO3), AST/ALT, LDH, and myoglobin in AKI group were significantly higher than non-AKI group from laboratory data (p ≤ 0.05). The injury severity score (ISS), revised Trauma Score (RTS), Abbreviated Injury Scale 3 and 4 (AIS 3 and 4) were showed significant results in clinical data. The patterns of CPK level were increased from first and second day, but slightly decreased from third day in both group. Seven patients had received hemodialysis treatment despite the bleeding risk and were survived in AKI group. Conclusion: We recommend that HCO3, CPK, LDH, and myoglobin should be checked and be concerned about ISS, RTS, AIS with injury mechanism at the early stage of treatment in the emergency department.

Keywords: acute kidney injury, emergencies, multiple trauma, rhabdomyolysis

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Authors: L. Matthewman, J. Nowlan

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Background: Holistic or Integrative Psychology emphasizes the interdependence of physiological, spiritual and psychological dynamics. Studying “wholeness and well-being” from a systems perspective combines innovative psychological science interventions with Eastern orientated healing wisdoms and therapies. The literature surrounding holistic/integrative psychology focuses on multi-stage interventions in attempts to enhance the mind-body experiences of well-being for participants. This study proposes a new single stage model as an intervention for UG/PG students, time-constrained workplace employees and managers/leaders for improved well-being and life enhancement. The main research objective was to investigate participants’ experiences of holistic and mindfulness interventions for impact on emotional well-being. The main research question asked was if single stage holistic interventions could impact on psychological well-being. This is of consequence because many people report that a reason for not taking part in mind-body or wellness programmes is that they believe that they do not have sufficient time to engage in such pursuits. Experimental Approach: The study employed a mixed methods pre-test/post-test research design. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Purposive sampling methods were employed. An adapted mindfulness measurement questionnaire (MAAS) was administered to 20 volunteer final year UG student participants prior to the single stage intervention and following the intervention. A further post-test longitudinal follow-up took place one week later. Intervention: The single stage model intervention consisted of a half hour session of mindfulness, yoga stretches and head and neck massage in the following sequence: Mindful awareness of the breath, yoga stretches 1, mindfulness of the body, head and neck massage, mindfulness of sounds, yoga stretches 2 and finished with pure awareness mindfulness. Results: The findings on the pre-test indicated key themes concerning: “being largely unaware of feelings”, “overwhelmed with final year exams”, “juggling other priorities” , “not feeling in control”, “stress” and “negative emotional display episodes”. Themes indicated on the post-test included: ‘more aware of self’, ‘in more control’, ‘immediately more alive’ and ‘just happier’ compared to the pre-test. Themes from post-test 2 indicated similar findings to post-test 1 in terms of themes. but on a lesser scale when scored for intensity. Interestingly, the majority of participants reported that they would now seek other similar interventions in the future and would be likely to engage with a multi-stage intervention type on a longer-term basis. Overall, participants reported increased psychological well-being after the single stage intervention. Conclusion: A single stage one-off intervention model can be effective to help towards the wellbeing of final year UG students. There is little indication to suggest that this would not be generalizable to others in different areas of life and business. However this study must be taken with caution due to low participant numbers. Implications: Single stage one-off interventions can be used to enhance peoples’ lives who might not otherwise sign up for a longer multi-stage intervention. In addition, single stage interventions can be utilized to help participants progress onto longer multiple stage interventions. Finally, further research into one stage well-being interventions is encouraged.

Keywords: holistic/integrative psychology, mindfulness, well-being, yoga

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Authors: Bok Check Meng, Goh Ying Soon

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Giving additional learning materials such as Chinese fantasy novel to non-native learners can be strenuous. Instructors have to understand the underpinning theories about cognitive theory for new word instruction. This paper discusses the underpinning theories. Relevant literature reviews are given. There are basically five major areas of cognitive related theories mentioned in this article. These include motivational learning theory, Affective theory of learning, Cognitive psychology theory, Vocabulary acquisition theory and Bloom’s cognitive levels theory. A theoretical framework has been constructed. Thus, this will give a hand in ensuring non-native learners might gain positive outcomes in the instruction process. Instructors who are interested in teaching new word from Chinese fantasy novel in specific to support additional learning might be able to get insights from this article.

Keywords: Chinese fantasy novel, new word teaching, non-native learners, cognitive theory, bloom

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Authors: Raziyeh Shamsi

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In this paper, we present a multiple objective linear programming (MOLP) problem in full fuzzy case and find Data Envelopment Analysis(DEA) targets. In the presented model, we are seeking the least inputs and the most outputs in the production possibility set (PPS) with the variable return to scale (VRS) assumption, so that the efficiency projection is obtained for all decision making units (DMUs). Then, we provide an algorithm for finding DEA targets interactively in the full fuzzy case, which solves the full fuzzy problem without defuzzification. Owing to the use of interactive methods, the targets obtained by our algorithm are more applicable, more realistic, and they are according to the wish of the decision maker. Finally, an application of the algorithm in 21 educational institutions is provided.

Keywords: DEA, MOLP, full fuzzy, target

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Authors: Sini George

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Active learning pedagogies are valued for their success in increasing 21st-century learners’ engagement, developing transferable skills like critical thinking or quantitative reasoning, and creating deeper and more lasting educational gains. 'Blended learning' is an active learning pedagogical approach in which direct instruction moves from the group learning space to the individual learning space, and the resulting group space is transformed into a dynamic, interactive learning environment where the educator guides students as they apply concepts and engage creatively in the subject matter. This project aimed to develop a blended learning instructional approach to teaching concepts around pharmaceutical calculations to year 1 pharmacy students. The wrong dose, strength or frequency of a medication accounts for almost a third of medication errors in the NHS therefore, progression to year 2 requires a 70% pass in this calculation test, in addition to the standard progression requirements. Many students were struggling to achieve this requirement in the past. It was also challenging to teach these concepts to students of a large class (> 130) with mixed mathematical abilities, especially within a traditional didactic lecture format. Therefore, short screencasts with voice-over of the lecturer were provided in advance of a total of four teaching sessions (two hours/session), incorporating core content of each session and talking through how they approached the calculations to model metacognition. Links to the screencasts were posted on the learning management. Viewership counts were used to determine that the students were indeed accessing and watching the screencasts on schedule. In the classroom, students had to apply the knowledge learned beforehand to a series of increasingly difficult set of questions. Students were then asked to create a question in group settings (two students/group) and to discuss the questions created by their peers in their groups to promote deep conceptual learning. Students were also given time for question-and-answer period to seek clarifications on the concepts covered. Student response to this instructional approach and their test grades were collected. After collecting and organizing the data, statistical analysis was carried out to calculate binomial statistics for the two data sets: the test grade for students who received blended learning instruction and the test grades for students who received instruction in a standard lecture format in class, to compare the effectiveness of each type of instruction. Student response and their performance data on the assessment indicate that the learning of content in the blended learning instructional approach led to higher levels of student engagement, satisfaction, and more substantial learning gains. The blended learning approach enabled each student to learn how to do calculations at their own pace freeing class time for interactive application of this knowledge. Although time-consuming for an instructor to implement, the findings of this research demonstrate that the blended learning instructional approach improves student academic outcomes and represents a valuable method to incorporate active learning methodologies while still maintaining broad content coverage. Satisfaction with this approach was high, and we are currently developing more pharmacy content for delivery in this format.

Keywords: active learning, blended learning, deep conceptual learning, instructional approach, metacognition, pharmaceutical calculations

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Authors: William Chung

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This paper is to study the use of multiple subproblems in Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition of linear programming (DW-LP). Traditionally, the decomposed LP consists of one LP master problem and one LP subproblem. The master problem and the subproblem is solved alternatively by exchanging the dual prices of the master problem and the proposals of the subproblem until the LP is solved. It is well known that convergence is slow with a long tail of near-optimal solutions (asymptotic convergence). Hence, the performance of DW-LP highly depends upon the number of decomposition steps. If the decomposition steps can be greatly reduced, the performance of DW-LP can be improved significantly. To reduce the number of decomposition steps, one of the methods is to increase the number of proposals from the subproblem to the master problem. To do so, we propose to add a quadratic approximation function to the LP subproblem in order to develop a set of approximate-LP subproblems (multiple subproblems). Consequently, in each decomposition step, multiple subproblems are solved for providing multiple proposals to the master problem. The number of decomposition steps can be reduced greatly. Note that each approximate-LP subproblem is nonlinear programming, and solving the LP subproblem must faster than solving the nonlinear multiple subproblems. Hence, using multiple subproblems in DW-LP is the tradeoff between the number of approximate-LP subproblems being formed and the decomposition steps. In this paper, we derive the corresponding algorithms and provide some simple computational results. Some properties of the resulting algorithms are also given.

Keywords: approximate subproblem, Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, large-scale models, multiple subproblems

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Authors: Leiya Ho Yin Lee

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Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis, 1993) may seemingly be a fairly unremarkable Hollywood comedy film in the 90s, it is argued that the film, with its protagonist Phil (Bill Murray), inadvertently, but perfectly, demonstrates an important aspect in filmmaking, film spectatorship and film research: repetition. Very rarely does a narrative film use one, and only one, take in its shooting. The multiple ‘repeats’ of Phil’s various endeavours due to his being trapped in a perpetual loop of the same day — from stealing money and tricking a woman into a casual relationship, to his multiple suicides, to eventually helping people in need — make the process of doing multiple ‘takes’ in filmmaking explicit. But perhaps more significantly, Phil represents a perfect model for the spectator/cinephile who has seen their favourite film for multiple times that they can remember every single detail. Crucially, their favourite film never changes, as it is a recording, but the cinephile’s experience of that very same film is most likely different each time they watch it again, just as Phil’s character and personality has completely transformed, from selfish and egotistic, to depressed and nihilistic, and ultimately to sympathetic and caring, even though he is living the exact same day. Furthermore, the author did not come up with this stimulating juxtaposition of film spectatorship and Groundhog Day the first time the author saw the film; it took the author a few casual re-viewings to notice the film’s self-reflexivity. And then, when working on it in the author’s research, the author had to re-view the film for more times, and have subsequently noticed even more things previously unnoticed. In this way, Groundhog Day not only stands for a model for filmmaking and film spectatorship, it also illustrates the act of academic research, especially in Film Studies where repeatedly viewing the same films is a prerequisite before new ideas and concepts are discovered from old material. This also recalls Deleuze’s thesis on difference and repetition in that repetition creates difference and it is difference that creates thought.

Keywords: narrative comprehension, repeated viewing, repetition, spectatorship

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Authors: Terence Soule, Tami Al Ghamdi

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To study how to transfer knowledge from multiple source problems to the target problem, we modeled the Transfer Learning (TL) process using Genetic Algorithms as the model solver. TL is the process that aims to transfer learned data from one problem to another problem. The TL process aims to help Machine Learning (ML) algorithms find a solution to the problems. The Genetic Algorithms (GA) give researchers access to information that we have about how the old problem is solved. In this paper, we have five different source problems, and we transfer the knowledge to the target problem. We studied different scenarios of the target problem. The results showed combined knowledge from multiple source problems improves the GA performance. Also, the process of combining knowledge from several problems results in promoting diversity of the transferred population.

Keywords: transfer learning, genetic algorithm, evolutionary computation, source and target

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Authors: Jian-Ping Yu, Wen-Xiu Ma, Yong-Li Sun, Chaudry Masood Khalique

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In this paper, a 2d Toda equation is studied, which is a classical integrable system and plays a vital role in mathematics, physics and other areas. New lump-type solution is constructed by using the Hirota bilinear method. One interesting feature of this research is that this lump-type solutions possesses two types of multiple-lump-type waves, which are one- and two-lump-type waves. Moreover, the corresponding 3d plots, density plots and contour plots are given to show the dynamical features of the obtained multiple-lump-type solutions.

Keywords: 2d Toda equation, Hirota bilinear method, Lump-type solution, multiple-lump-type solution

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Authors: Yanling Li, Linying Ji, Zita Oravecz, Timothy R. Brick, Michael D. Hunter, Sy-Miin Chow

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Assessing several individuals intensively over time yields intensive longitudinal data (ILD). Even though ILD provide rich information, they also bring other data analytic challenges. One of these is the increased occurrence of missingness with increased study length, possibly under non-ignorable missingness scenarios. Multiple imputation (MI) handles missing data by creating several imputed data sets, and pooling the estimation results across imputed data sets to yield final estimates for inferential purposes. In this article, we introduce dynr.mi(), a function in the R package, Dynamic Modeling in R (dynr). The package dynr provides a suite of fast and accessible functions for estimating and visualizing the results from fitting linear and nonlinear dynamic systems models in discrete as well as continuous time. By integrating the estimation functions in dynr and the MI procedures available from the R package, Multivariate Imputation by Chained Equations (MICE), the dynr.mi() routine is designed to handle possibly non-ignorable missingness in the dependent variables and/or covariates in a user-specified dynamic systems model via MI, with convergence diagnostic check. We utilized dynr.mi() to examine, in the context of a vector autoregressive model, the relationships among individuals’ ambulatory physiological measures, and self-report affect valence and arousal. The results from MI were compared to those from listwise deletion of entries with missingness in the covariates. When we determined the number of iterations based on the convergence diagnostics available from dynr.mi(), differences in the statistical significance of the covariate parameters were observed between the listwise deletion and MI approaches. These results underscore the importance of considering diagnostic information in the implementation of MI procedures.

Keywords: dynamic modeling, missing data, mobility, multiple imputation

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Authors: Daniele Baldacci, Remo Pareschi

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Augmented Reality and Augmented Intelligence are radically changing information technology. The path that starts from the keyboard and then, passing through milestones such as Siri, Alexa and other vocal avatars, reaches a more fluid and natural communication with computers, thus converting the dichotomy between man and machine into a harmonious interaction, now heads unequivocally towards a new IT paradigm, where holographic computing will play a key role. The OLOS® platform contributes substantially to this trend in that it infuses computers with human features, by transferring the gestures and expressions of persons of flesh and bones to anthropomorphic holographic interfaces which in turn will use them to interact with real-life humans. In fact, we could say, boldly but with a solid technological background to back the statement, that OLOS® gives reality to an altogether new entity, placed at the exact boundary between nature and technology, namely the holographic human being. Holographic humans qualify as the perfect carriers for the virtual reincarnation of characters handed down from history and tradition. Thus, they provide for an innovative and highly immersive way of experiencing our cultural heritage as something alive and pulsating in the present.

Keywords: digital cinematography, human-computer interfaces, holographic simulation, interactive museum exhibits

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Authors: Jefunnie Matahum, Yu-Chi Kuo, Chao-Ming Su, Tzong-Rong Ger

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Magnetic cell labeling is of great importance in various applications in biomedical fields such as cell separation and cell sorting. Since analytical methods for quantification of cell uptake of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) are already well established, image analysis on single cell level still needs more characterization. This study reports an alternative non-destructive quantification methods of single-cell uptake of positively charged MNPs. Magnetophoresis experiments were performed to calculate the number of MNPs in a single cell. Mobility of magnetic cells and the area of intracellular MNP stained by Prussian blue were quantified by image processing software. ICP-MS experiments were also performed to confirm the internalization of MNPs to cells. Initial results showed that the magnetic cells incubated at 100 µg and 50 µg MNPs/mL concentration move at 18.3 and 16.7 µm/sec, respectively. There is also an increasing trend in the number and area of intracellular MNP with increasing concentration. These results could be useful in assessing the nanoparticle uptake in a single cell level.

Keywords: magnetic nanoparticles, single cell, magnetophoresis, image analysis

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Authors: Melanie Adrian, Elspeth McCulloch, Emily-Jean Gallant

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Resources -financial, physical, and human- are increasingly constrained in higher education. University classes are getting bigger, and the concomitant grading burden on faculty is growing rapidly. Multiple-choice exams are seen by some as one solution to these changes. How much students retain, however, and what their testing experience is, continues to be debated. Are multiple-choice exams serving students well, or are they bearing the burden of these developments? Is there a way to address both the resource constraints and make these types of exams more meaningful? In short, how do we engender evaluation methods for large-scale classes that provide opportunities for heightened student learning and enrichment? The following article lays out a testing approach we have employed in four iterations of the same third-year law class. We base our comments in this paper on our initial observations as well as data gathered from an ethics-approved study looking at student experiences. This testing approach provides students with multiple opportunities for revision (thus increasing chances for long term retention), is both individually and collaboratively driven (thus reflecting the individual effort and group effort) and is automatically graded (thus draining limited institutional resources). We found that overall students appreciated the approach and found it more ‘humane’, that it notably reduced pre-exam and intra-exam stress levels, increased ease, and lowered nervousness.

Keywords: exam, higher education, multiple-choice, law

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Rebecca Zahra, Joseph G. Vella, Ernest Cachia

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The notion of cloud computing is rapidly gaining ground in the IT industry and is appealing mostly due to making computing more adaptable and expedient whilst diminishing the total cost of ownership. This paper focuses on the software as a service (SaaS) architecture of cloud computing which is used for the outsourcing of databases with their associated business processes. One approach for offering SaaS is basing the system’s architecture on multi-tenancy. Multi-tenancy allows multiple tenants (users) to make use of the same single application instance. Their requests and configurations might then differ according to specific requirements met through tenant customisation through the software. Despite the known advantages, companies still feel uneasy to opt for the multi-tenancy with data security being a principle concern. The fact that multiple tenants, possibly competitors, would have their data located on the same server process and share the same database tables heighten the fear of unauthorised access. Security is a vital aspect which needs to be considered by application developers, database administrators, data owners and end users. This is further complicated in cloud-based multi-tenant system where boundaries must be established between tenants and additional access control models must be in place to prevent unauthorised cross-tenant access to data. Moreover, when altering the database state, the transactions need to strictly adhere to the tenant’s known business processes. This paper focuses on the fact that security in cloud databases should not be considered as an isolated issue. Rather it should be included in the initial phases of the database design and monitored continuously throughout the whole development process. This paper aims to identify a number of the most common security risks and threats specifically in the area of multi-tenant cloud systems. Issues and bottlenecks relating to security risks in cloud databases are surveyed. Some techniques which might be utilised to overcome them are then listed and evaluated. After a description and evaluation of the main security threats, this paper produces a list of software requirements to ensure that proper security policies are implemented by a software development team when designing and implementing a multi-tenant based SaaS. This would then assist the cloud service providers to define, implement, and manage security policies as per tenant customisation requirements whilst assuring security for the customers’ data.

Keywords: cloud computing, data management, multi-tenancy, requirements, security

Procedia PDF Downloads 137

Authors: Libor Zachoval, Daire O Broin, Oisin Cawley

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E-learning platforms, such as Blackboard have two major shortcomings: limited data capture as a result of the limitations of SCORM (Shareable Content Object Reference Model), and lack of incorporation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms which could lead to better course adaptations. With the recent development of Experience Application Programming Interface (xAPI), a large amount of additional types of data can be captured and that opens a window of possibilities from which online education can benefit. In a corporate setting, where companies invest billions on the learning and development of their employees, some learner behaviours can be troublesome for they can hinder the knowledge development of a learner. Behaviours that hinder the knowledge development also raise ambiguity about learner’s knowledge mastery, specifically those related to gaming the system. Furthermore, a company receives little benefit from their investment if employees are passing courses without possessing the required knowledge and potential compliance risks may arise. Using xAPI and rules derived from a state-of-the-art review, we identified three learner behaviours, primarily related to guessing, in a corporate compliance course. The identified behaviours are: trying each option for a question, specifically for multiple-choice questions; selecting a single option for all the questions on the test; and continuously repeating tests upon failing as opposed to going over the learning material. These behaviours were detected on learners who repeated the test at least 4 times before passing the course. These findings suggest that gauging the mastery of a learner from multiple-choice questions test scores alone is a naive approach. Thus, next steps will consider the incorporation of additional data points, knowledge estimation models to model knowledge mastery of a learner more accurately, and analysis of the data for correlations between knowledge development and identified learner behaviours. Additional work could explore how learner behaviours could be utilised to make changes to a course. For example, course content may require modifications (certain sections of learning material may be shown to not be helpful to many learners to master the learning outcomes aimed at) or course design (such as the type and duration of feedback).

Keywords: artificial intelligence, corporate e-learning environment, knowledge maintenance, xAPI

Procedia PDF Downloads 106

Authors: Kemal Izci

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Assessment forms an important part of instruction. Assessment that aims to support learning is known as formative assessment and it contributes student’s learning gain and motivation. However, teachers rarely use assessment formatively to aid their students’ learning. Thus, reviewing the factors that limit or support teachers’ practices of formative assessment will be crucial for guiding educators to support prospective teachers in using formative assessment and also eliminate limiting factors to let practicing teachers to engage in formative assessment practices during their instruction. The study, by using teacher’s change environment framework, reviews literature on formative assessment and presents a tentative model that illustrates the factors impacting teachers’ adoption of formative assessment in their teaching. The results showed that there are four main factors consisting personal, contextual, resource-related and external factors that influence teachers’ practices of formative assessment.

Keywords: assessment practices, formative assessment, teacher education, factors for use of formative assessment

Procedia PDF Downloads 355

Authors: Karen Armstrong

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Recent concerns about the value of teaching cursive handwriting in the classroom are based on the belief that cursive handwriting or penmanship is an outdated and unnecessary skill in today’s online world. The discussion of this issue begins with a description of current initiatives to eliminate handwriting instruction in schools. This is followed by a brief history of cursive writing through the ages. Next considered is a description of its benefits as a preliminary process for younger children as compared with immediate instruction in keyboarding, particularly in the areas of vision, cognition, motor skills and automatic fluency. Also considered, is cursive’s companion, paper itself, and the impact of a paperless, “screen and keyboard” environment. The discussion concludes with a consideration of the unique contributions of cursive and keyboarding as written forms of communication, along with their respective surfaces, paper and screen. Finally, an assessment of the practical utility of each skill is followed by an informal assessment of what is lost and what remains as we move from a predominantly paper and pen world of handwriting to texting and keyboarding in an environment of screens.

Keywords: asemic writing, cursive, handwriting, keyboarding, paper

Procedia PDF Downloads 262

Authors: Muneerah Jeludin, V. Sivakumar

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Numerous laboratory-based research studies on the behavior of ground improved with granular columns with respect to bearing capacity have been well-documented. However, information on its settlement performance is still scarce. Laboratory model study on the settlement behavior of soft clay reinforced with granular columns was conducted and results are presented. The investigation uses a soft kaolin clay sample of 300 mm in diameter and 400 mm in length. The clay samples were reinforced with single and multiple granular columns of various lengths using the displacement and replacement installation method. The results indicated that that no settlement reduction was achieved for a short single floating column. The settlement reduction factors reported for L/d ratios of 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 are in the range of 1 to 2. The findings obtained in this research showed that the reduction factors are considerably less and that load-sharing mechanism between columns and surrounding clay is complex, particularly for column groups and is affected by other factors such as negative skin friction.

Keywords: ground improvement, model test, reinforced soil, settlement

Procedia PDF Downloads 447