Search results for: Knowledge Extraction
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 2569

Search results for: Knowledge Extraction

1819 Decision Rule Induction in a Learning Content Management System

Authors: Nittaya Kerdprasop, Narin Muenrat, Kittisak Kerdprasop

Abstract:

A learning content management system (LCMS) is an environment to support web-based learning content development. Primary function of the system is to manage the learning process as well as to generate content customized to meet a unique requirement of each learner. Among the available supporting tools offered by several vendors, we propose to enhance the LCMS functionality to individualize the presented content with the induction ability. Our induction technique is based on rough set theory. The induced rules are intended to be the supportive knowledge for guiding the content flow planning. They can also be used as decision rules to help content developers on managing content delivered to individual learner.

Keywords: Decision rules, Knowledge induction, Learning content management system, Rough set.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1542
1818 Translator Design to Model Cpp Files

Authors: Er. Satwinder Singh, Dr. K.S. Kahlon, Rakesh Kumar, Er. Gurjeet Singh

Abstract:

The most reliable and accurate description of the actual behavior of a software system is its source code. However, not all questions about the system can be answered directly by resorting to this repository of information. What the reverse engineering methodology aims at is the extraction of abstract, goal-oriented “views" of the system, able to summarize relevant properties of the computation performed by the program. While concentrating on reverse engineering we had modeled the C++ files by designing the translator.

Keywords: Translator, Modeling, UML, DYNO, ISVis, TED.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1512
1817 The Analysis of Different Classes of Weighted Fuzzy Petri Nets and Their Features

Authors: Yurii Bloshko, Oksana Olar

Abstract:

This paper presents the analysis of six different classes of Petri nets: fuzzy Petri nets (FPN), generalized fuzzy Petri nets (GFPN), parameterized fuzzy Petri nets (PFPN), T2GFPN, flexible generalized fuzzy Petri nets (FGFPN), binary Petri nets (BPN). These classes were simulated in the special software PNeS® for the analysis of its pros and cons on the example of models which are dedicated to the decision-making process of passenger transport logistics. The paper includes the analysis of two approaches: when input values are filled with the experts’ knowledge; when fuzzy expectations represented by output values are added to the point. These approaches fulfill the possibilities of triples of functions which are replaced with different combinations of t-/s-norms.

Keywords: Fuzzy petri net, intelligent computational techniques, knowledge representation, triangular norms.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 405
1816 Expression of Security Policy in Medical Systems for Electronic Healthcare Records

Authors: Nathan C. Lea, Tony Austin, Stephen Hailes, Dipak Kalra

Abstract:

This paper introduces a tool that is being developed for the expression of information security policy controls that govern electronic healthcare records. By reference to published findings, the paper introduces the theory behind the use of knowledge management for automatic and consistent security policy assertion using the formalism called the Secutype; the development of the tool and functionality is discussed; some examples of Secutypes generated by the tool are provided; proposed integration with existing medical record systems is described. The paper is concluded with a section on further work and critique of the work achieved to date.

Keywords: Information Security Policy, Electronic Healthcare Records, Knowledge Management, Archetypes, Secutypes.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1327
1815 Topics of Blockchain Technology to Teach at Community College

Authors: Penn P. Wu, Jeannie Jo

Abstract:

Blockchain technology has rapidly gained popularity in industry. This paper attempts to assist academia to answer four questions. First, should community colleges begin offering education to nurture blockchain-literate students for the job market? Second, what are the appropriate topical areas to cover? Third, should it be an individual course? And forth, should it be a technical or management course? This paper starts with identifying the knowledge domains of blockchain technology and the topical areas each domain has, and continues with placing them in appropriate academic territories (Computer Sciences vs. Business) and subjects (programming, management, marketing, and laws), and then develops an evaluation model to determine the appropriate topical area for community colleges to teach. The evaluation is based on seven factors: maturity of technology, impacts on management, real-world applications, subject classification, knowledge prerequisites, textbook readiness, and recommended pedagogies. The evaluation results point to an interesting direction that offering an introductory course is an ideal option to guide students through the learning journey of what blockchain is and how it applies to business. Such an introductory course does not need to engage students in the discussions of mathematics and sciences that make blockchain technologies possible. While it is inevitable to brief technical topics to help students build a solid knowledge foundation of blockchain technologies, community colleges should avoid offering students a course centered on the discussion of developing blockchain applications.

Keywords: Blockchain, pedagogies, blockchain technologies, blockchain course, blockchain pedagogies.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 900
1814 Sfard’s Commognitive Framework as a Method of Discourse Analysis in Mathematics

Authors: Dong-Joong Kim, Sangho Choi, Woong Lim

Abstract:

This paper discusses Sfard’s commognitive approach and provides an empirical study as an example to illustrate the theory as method. Traditionally, research in mathematics education focused on the acquisition of mathematical knowledge and the didactic process of knowledge transfer. Through attending to a distinctive form of language in mathematics, as well as mathematics as a discursive subject, alternative views of making meaning in mathematics have emerged; these views are therefore “critical,” as in critical discourse analysis. The commognitive discourse analysis method has the potential to bring more clarity to our understanding of students’ mathematical thinking and the process through which students are socialized into school mathematics.

Keywords: Commognitive framework, discourse analysis, mathematical discourse, mathematics education.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2158
1813 Javanese Character Recognition Using Hidden Markov Model

Authors: Anastasia Rita Widiarti, Phalita Nari Wastu

Abstract:

Hidden Markov Model (HMM) is a stochastic method which has been used in various signal processing and character recognition. This study proposes to use HMM to recognize Javanese characters from a number of different handwritings, whereby HMM is used to optimize the number of state and feature extraction. An 85.7 % accuracy is obtained as the best result in 16-stated vertical model using pure HMM. This initial result is satisfactory for prompting further research.

Keywords: Character recognition, off-line handwritingrecognition, Hidden Markov Model.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1970
1812 An Integrated Natural Language Processing Approach for Conversation System

Authors: Zhi Teng, Ye Liu, Fuji Ren

Abstract:

The main aim of this research is to investigate a novel technique for implementing a more natural and intelligent conversation system. Conversation systems are designed to converse like a human as much as their intelligent allows. Sometimes, we can think that they are the embodiment of Turing-s vision. It usually to return a predetermined answer in a predetermined order, but conversations abound with uncertainties of various kinds. This research will focus on an integrated natural language processing approach. This approach includes an integrated knowledge-base construction module, a conversation understanding and generator module, and a state manager module. We discuss effectiveness of this approach based on an experiment.

Keywords: Conversation System, integrated knowledge-base construction, conversation understanding and generator, state manager

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1709
1811 Statistical Study of Drink Markets: Case Study

Authors: Seyed Habib A. Rahmati, Arash Haji Karimi, Reza Saffari, Zeeya Rashvand

Abstract:

An important official knowledge in each country is to have a comprehensive knowledge about markets of each group of products. Drink markets are one the most important markets of each country as a sub-group of nourishment markets. This paper is going to study these markets in Iran. To do so, first, two drink products are selected as pilot, including milk and concentrate. Then, for each product, two groups of information are estimated for the last five years, including 1) total consumption (demand) and 2) total production. Finally, the two groups of productions are compared statistically by means of two statistical tests called t test and Mann- Whitney test. The implemented Different related tables and figures are also illustrated to show the method more explicitly.

Keywords: Market evaluation, Drink, Estimation, Mann- Whitney test

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1329
1810 Web Data Scraping Technology Using Term Frequency Inverse Document Frequency to Enhance the Big Data Quality on Sentiment Analysis

Authors: Sangita Pokhrel, Nalinda Somasiri, Rebecca Jeyavadhanam, Swathi Ganesan

Abstract:

Tourism is a booming industry with huge future potential for global wealth and employment. There are countless data generated over social media sites every day, creating numerous opportunities to bring more insights to decision-makers. The integration of big data technology into the tourism industry will allow companies to conclude where their customers have been and what they like. This information can then be used by businesses, such as those in charge of managing visitor centres or hotels, etc., and the tourist can get a clear idea of places before visiting. The technical perspective of natural language is processed by analysing the sentiment features of online reviews from tourists, and we then supply an enhanced long short-term memory (LSTM) framework for sentiment feature extraction of travel reviews. We have constructed a web review database using a crawler and web scraping technique for experimental validation to evaluate the effectiveness of our methodology. The text form of sentences was first classified through VADER and RoBERTa model to get the polarity of the reviews. In this paper, we have conducted study methods for feature extraction, such as Count Vectorization and Term Frequency – Inverse Document Frequency (TFIDF) Vectorization and implemented Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier algorithm for the sentiment analysis to decide if the tourist’s attitude towards the destinations is positive, negative, or simply neutral based on the review text that they posted online. The results demonstrated that from the CNN algorithm, after pre-processing and cleaning the dataset, we received an accuracy of 96.12% for the positive and negative sentiment analysis.

Keywords: Counter vectorization, Convolutional Neural Network, Crawler, data technology, Long Short-Term Memory, LSTM, Web Scraping, sentiment analysis.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 133
1809 Competency-Based Social Work Practice and Challenges in Child Case Management: Studies in the Districts Social Welfare Services, Malaysia

Authors: S. Brahim, M. S. Mohamad, E. Zakaria, N. Sarnon@Kusenin

Abstract:

This study aimed to explore the practical experience of child welfare caseworkers and professionalism in child case management in Malaysia. This paper discussed the specific social work practice competency and the challenges faced by child caseworkers in the fieldwork. This research was qualitative with grounded theory approach. Four sessions of focused group discussion (FGD) were conducted involving a total of 27 caseworkers (child protector and probation officers) in the Klang Valley. The study found that the four basic principles of knowledge in child case management namely: 1. knowledge in child case management; 2. professional values of caseworkers towards children; 3. skills in managing cases; and 4. culturally competent practice in child case management. In addition, major challenges faced by the child case manager are the capacity and commitment of the family in children’s rehabilitation program, the credibility of caseworkers are being challenged, and the challenges of support system from intra and interagency. This study is important for policy makers to take into account the capacity and the needs of the child’s caseworker in accordance with the national social work competency framework. It is expected that case management services for children will improve systematically in line with national standards.

Keywords: Social work practice, child case management, competency-based knowledge, and professionalism.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2878
1808 Customer Knowledge and Service Development, the Web 2.0 Role in Co-production

Authors: Roberto Boselli, Mirko Cesarini, Mario Mezzanzanica

Abstract:

The paper is concerned with relationships between SSME and ICTs and focuses on the role of Web 2.0 tools in the service development process. The research presented aims at exploring how collaborative technologies can support and improve service processes, highlighting customer centrality and value coproduction. The core idea of the paper is the centrality of user participation and the collaborative technologies as enabling factors; Wikipedia is analyzed as an example. The result of such analysis is the identification and description of a pattern characterising specific services in which users collaborate by means of web tools with value co-producers during the service process. The pattern of collaborative co-production concerning several categories of services including knowledge based services is then discussed.

Keywords: Service Interaction Patterns, Services Science, Web2.0 tools, Service Development Process.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1702
1807 Public Art and Public Space in an Emerging Knowledge Economy: The Case of Doha

Authors: Anna Grichting, Sara Al Sada, Angelica Caccam, Urshi Khan

Abstract:

Qatar, a Gulf country highly dependent on its oil and gas revenues – is looking to innovate, diversify, and ultimately reach its aim of creating a knowledge economy to prepare for its post-oil era. One area that the country is investing in is Contemporary Art, and world renowned artists such as Damien Hirst and Richard Serra – have been commissioned to design site-specific art for the public spaces of the city of Doha as well as in more remote desert locations. This research discusses the changing presence, role and context of public art in Doha, both from a historical and cultural overview, and the different forms and media as well as the typologies of urban and public spaces in which the art is installed. It examines the process of implementing site-specific artworks, looking at questions of scale, history, social meaning and formal aesthetics. The methodologies combine theoretical research on the understanding of public art and its role and placement in public space, as well as empirical research on contemporary public art projects in Doha, based on documentation and interviews and as well as site and context analysis of the urban or architectural spaces within which the art is situated. Surveys and interviews – using social media - in different segments of the contemporary Qatari society, including all nationalities and social groups, are used to measure and qualify the impacts and effects on the population.

Keywords: Contemporary Public Art, Knowledge Economy, Public Realm, Site Specific Art Works.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2348
1806 Processing and Economic Analysis of Rain Tree (Samanea saman) Pods for Village Level Hydrous Bioethanol Production

Authors: Dharell B. Siano, Wendy C. Mateo, Victorino T. Taylan, Francisco D. Cuaresma

Abstract:

Biofuel is one of the renewable energy sources adapted by the Philippine government in order to lessen the dependency on foreign fuel and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. Rain tree pods were seen to be a promising source of bioethanol since it contains significant amount of fermentable sugars. The study was conducted to establish the complete procedure in processing rain tree pods for village level hydrous bioethanol production. Production processes were done for village level hydrous bioethanol production from collection, drying, storage, shredding, dilution, extraction, fermentation, and distillation. The feedstock was sundried, and moisture content was determined at a range of 20% to 26% prior to storage. Dilution ratio was 1:1.25 (1 kg of pods = 1.25 L of water) and after extraction process yielded a sugar concentration of 22 0Bx to 24 0Bx. The dilution period was three hours. After three hours of diluting the samples, the juice was extracted using extractor with a capacity of 64.10 L/hour. 150 L of rain tree pods juice was extracted and subjected to fermentation process using a village level anaerobic bioreactor. Fermentation with yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) can fasten up the process, thus producing more ethanol at a shorter period of time; however, without yeast fermentation, it also produces ethanol at lower volume with slower fermentation process. Distillation of 150 L of fermented broth was done for six hours at 85 °C to 95 °C temperature (feedstock) and 74 °C to 95 °C temperature of the column head (vapor state of ethanol). The highest volume of ethanol recovered was established at with yeast fermentation at five-day duration with a value of 14.89 L and lowest actual ethanol content was found at without yeast fermentation at three-day duration having a value of 11.63 L. In general, the results suggested that rain tree pods had a very good potential as feedstock for bioethanol production. Fermentation of rain tree pods juice can be done with yeast and without yeast.

Keywords: Fermentation, hydrous bioethanol, rain tree pods, village level.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1537
1805 Financial Literacy of Students of Finance: An Empirical Study from the Czech Republic

Authors: Barbora Chmelíková

Abstract:

Financial literacy is a widely discussed topic on the national and international level by governments, organizations and academia. For this reason, this study analyses financial knowledge, financial behavior, and financial attitudes of students of finance. The aim of the paper is to determine whether the financial literacy of university students studying finance differs from the level of financial literacy in selected OECD countries. The research was conducted at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic. The empirical study comprises questions related to several aspects of financial literacy, such as financial knowledge, personal finance behavior, or decisionmaking. The results indicate that improvement in financial literacy of university students is still required, even though their major is finance related.

Keywords: Financial literacy, financial behavior, personal finance management, university students.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2352
1804 A Comparison of Signal Processing Techniques for the Extraction of Breathing Rate from the Photoplethysmogram

Authors: Susannah G. Fleming Lionel Tarassenko

Abstract:

The photoplethysmogram (PPG) is the pulsatile waveform produced by the pulse oximeter, which is widely used for monitoring arterial oxygen saturation in patients. Various methods for extracting the breathing rate from the PPG waveform have been compared using a consistent data set, and a novel technique using autoregressive modelling is presented. This novel technique is shown to outperform the existing techniques, with a mean error in breathing rate of 0.04 breaths per minute.

Keywords: Autoregressive modelling, breathing rate, photoplethysmogram, pulse oximetry.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 3283
1803 Sustainability Management for Wine Production: A Case of Thailand

Authors: Muthatakul Metasit, Setthasakko Watchaneeporn

Abstract:

At present, increased concerns about global environmental problems have magnified the importance of sustainability management. To move towards sustainability, companies need to look at everything from a holistic perspective in order to understand the interconnections between economic growth and environmental and social sustainability. This paper aims to gain an understanding of key determinants that drive sustainability management and barriers that hinder its development. It employs semi-structured interviews with key informants, site observation and documentation. The informants are production, marketing and environmental managers of the leading wine producer, which aims to become an Asia-s leader in wine & wine based products. It is found that corporate image and top management leadership are the primary factors influencing the adoption of sustainability management. Lack of environmental knowledge and inefficient communication are identified as barriers.

Keywords: Environmental, knowledge; Sustainability management; Top management leadership; Wine industry

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2036
1802 Genetic Programming Approach to Hierarchical Production Rule Discovery

Authors: Basheer M. Al-Maqaleh, Kamal K. Bharadwaj

Abstract:

Automated discovery of hierarchical structures in large data sets has been an active research area in the recent past. This paper focuses on the issue of mining generalized rules with crisp hierarchical structure using Genetic Programming (GP) approach to knowledge discovery. The post-processing scheme presented in this work uses flat rules as initial individuals of GP and discovers hierarchical structure. Suitable genetic operators are proposed for the suggested encoding. Based on the Subsumption Matrix(SM), an appropriate fitness function is suggested. Finally, Hierarchical Production Rules (HPRs) are generated from the discovered hierarchy. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Genetic Programming, Hierarchy, Knowledge Discovery in Database, Subsumption Matrix.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1418
1801 Towards An Integrated Model for Academia- Industry Interface in India

Authors: Vinay K. Nangia, Cashmira Pramanik

Abstract:

Academia-industry relationship is not like that of technology donator-acceptor, but is of interactive and collaborative nature, acknowledging and ensuring mutual respect for each other-s role and contributions with an eye to attaining the true purpose of such relationships, namely, bringing about research-outcome synergy. Indeed, academia-industry interactions are a system that requires active and collaborative participations of all the stakeholders. This paper examines various issues associated with academic institutions and industry collaboration with special attention to the nature of resources and potentialities of stakeholders in the context of knowledge management. This paper also explores the barriers of academia-industry interaction. It identifies potential areas where industry-s participation with academia would be most effective for synergism. Lastly, this paper proposes an integrated model of several new collaborative approaches that are possible, mainly in the Indian scenario to strengthen academia-industry interface.

Keywords: academia-industry, interface, knowledge economy, technology transfer.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 6172
1800 Machine Learning Methods for Network Intrusion Detection

Authors: Mouhammad Alkasassbeh, Mohammad Almseidin

Abstract:

Network security engineers work to keep services available all the time by handling intruder attacks. Intrusion Detection System (IDS) is one of the obtainable mechanisms that is used to sense and classify any abnormal actions. Therefore, the IDS must be always up to date with the latest intruder attacks signatures to preserve confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the services. The speed of the IDS is a very important issue as well learning the new attacks. This research work illustrates how the Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (or Knowledge Discovery in Databases) KDD dataset is very handy for testing and evaluating different Machine Learning Techniques. It mainly focuses on the KDD preprocess part in order to prepare a decent and fair experimental data set. The J48, MLP, and Bayes Network classifiers have been chosen for this study. It has been proven that the J48 classifier has achieved the highest accuracy rate for detecting and classifying all KDD dataset attacks, which are of type DOS, R2L, U2R, and PROBE.

Keywords: IDS, DDoS, MLP, KDD.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 703
1799 Thermodynamic Evaluation of Coupling APR1400 with a Thermal Desalination Plant

Authors: M. Gomaa Abdoelatef, Robert M. Field, Lee, Yong-Kwan

Abstract:

Growing human population has placed increased demands on water supplies and spurred a heightened interest in desalination infrastructure. Key elements of the economics of desalination projects are thermal and electrical inputs. With growing concerns over use of fossil fuels to (indirectly) supply these inputs, coupling of desalination with nuclear power production represents a significant opportunity. Individually, nuclear and desalination technologies have a long history and are relatively mature. For desalination, Reverse Osmosis (RO) has the lowest energy inputs. However, the economically driven output quality of the water produced using RO, which uses only electrical inputs, is lower than the output water quality from thermal desalination plants. Therefore, modern desalination projects consider that RO should be coupled with thermal desalination technologies (MSF, MED, or MED-TVC) with attendant steam inputs to permit blending to produce various qualities of water. A large nuclear facility is well positioned to dispatch large quantities of both electrical and thermal power. This paper considers the supply of thermal energy to a large desalination facility to examine heat balance impact on the nuclear steam cycle. The APR1400 nuclear plant is selected as prototypical from both a capacity and turbine cycle heat balance perspective to examine steam supply and the impact on electrical output. Extraction points and quantities of steam are considered parametrically along with various types of thermal desalination technologies to form the basis for further evaluations of economically optimal approaches to the interface of nuclear power production with desalination projects. In our study, the thermodynamic evaluation will be executed by DE-TOP, an IAEA sponsored program. DE-TOP has capabilities to analyze power generation systems coupled to desalination plants through various steam extraction positions, taking into consideration the isolation loop between the nuclear and the thermal desalination facilities (i.e., for radiological isolation).

Keywords: APR1400, Cogeneration, Desalination, DE-TOP, IAEA, MED, MED-TVC, MSF, RO.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2811
1798 Information Sharing to Transformation: Antecedents of Collaborative Networked Learning in Manufacturing

Authors: Wee Hock Quik, Nevan Wright

Abstract:

Collaborative networked learning (hereafter CNL) was first proposed by Charles Findley in his work “Collaborative networked learning: online facilitation and software support" as part of instructional learning for the future of the knowledge worker. His premise was that through electronic dialogue learners and experts could interactively communicate within a contextual framework to resolve problems, and/or to improve product or process knowledge. Collaborative learning has always been the forefront of educational technology and pedagogical research, but not in the mainstream of operations management. As a result, there is a large disparity in the study of CNL, and little is known about the antecedents of network collaboration and sharing of information among diverse employees in the manufacturing environment. This paper presents a model to bridge the gap between theory and practice. The objective is that manufacturing organizations will be able to accelerate organizational learning and sharing of information through various collaborative

Keywords: Collaborative networked learning, Collaborative technologies, Organizational learning, Synchronous and asynchronous networked learning.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1673
1797 21st Century Islam: Global Challenges of Islamic Representation and Knowledge Acquisition

Authors: M. M. Muhammed, O. Khuzaima

Abstract:

This research examined and outlined some of the challenges facing Islam and Muslims in the 21st century, considering global Islamic representation and knowledge acquisition as key objectives. It was observed that the Western media misrepresentation of Islam and the Western ethos embodied by the acquisition of western civilisation are major challenges faced by Islam and Muslims today. The problem of sectarianism, decline in the socio-economic power of Muslim communities and the archaic nature of the Islamic creed were recorded as major actors to the evolving global Islamic issues. It was therefore concluded that Islam is not the reason for these challenges, rather the action of some Muslims and non-Muslims were the contributing factors to the pandemics faced by Islam and Muslims. Some relevant recommendations were made to the Islamic world that could serve as effectual solutions to these lingering problems.

Keywords: Islam, challenges, Misrepresentation, twenty-first century.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1873
1796 Virtual Mechanical Engineering Education – A Case Study

Authors: S. H. R. Lo

Abstract:

Virtual engineering technology has undergone rapid progress in recent years and is being adopted increasingly by manufacturing companies of many engineering disciplines. There is an increasing demand from industry for qualified virtual engineers. The qualified virtual engineers should have the ability of applying engineering principles and mechanical design methods within the commercial software package environment. It is a challenge to the engineering education in universities which traditionally tends to lack the integration of knowledge and skills required for solving real world problems. In this paper, a case study shows some recent development of a MSc Mechanical Engineering course at Department of Engineering and Technology in MMU, and in particular, two units Simulation of Mechanical Systems(SMS) and Computer Aided Fatigue Analysis(CAFA) that emphasize virtual engineering education and promote integration of knowledge acquisition, skill training and industrial application.

Keywords: Computational modelling and simulation, mechanical engineering education.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2408
1795 Using SMS Mobile Technology to Assess the Mastery of Subject Content Knowledge of Science and Mathematics Teachers of Secondary Schools in Tanzania

Authors: Joel S. Mtebe, Aron Kondoro, Mussa M. Kissaka, Elia Kibga

Abstract:

Sub-Saharan Africa is described as the second fastest growing in mobile phone penetration in the world more than in the United States or the European Union. Mobile phones have been used to provide a lot of opportunities to improve people’s lives in the region such as in banking, marketing, entertainment, and paying for various bills such as water, TV, and electricity. However, the potential of mobile phones to enhance teaching and learning has not been explored. This study presents an experience of developing and delivering SMS based quiz questions used to assess mastery of subject content knowledge of science and mathematics secondary school teachers in Tanzania. The SMS quizzes were used as a follow up support mechanism to 500 teachers who participated in a project to upgrade subject content knowledge of teachers in science and mathematics subjects in Tanzania. Quizzes of 10-15 questions were sent to teachers each week for 8 weeks and the results were analyzed using SPSS. Results show that teachers who participated in chemistry and biology subjects have better performance compared to those who participated in mathematics and physics subjects. Teachers reported some challenges that led to poor performance, This research has several practical implications for those who are implementing or planning to use mobile phones in teaching and learning especially in rural secondary schools in sub-Saharan Africa.

Keywords: Mobile learning, e-learning, educational technologies, SMS, secondary education, assessment.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2037
1794 Some Improvements on Kumlander-s Maximum Weight Clique Extraction Algorithm

Authors: Satoshi Shimizu, Kazuaki Yamaguchi, Toshiki Saitoh, Sumio Masuda

Abstract:

Some fast exact algorithms for the maximum weight clique problem have been proposed. Östergard’s algorithm is one of them. Kumlander says his algorithm is faster than it. But we confirmed that the straightforwardly implemented Kumlander’s algorithm is slower than O¨ sterga˚rd’s algorithm. We propose some improvements on Kumlander’s algorithm.

Keywords: Maximum weight clique, exact algorithm, branch-andbound, NP-hard.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1839
1793 Cellulose Extraction from Pomelo Peel: Synthesis of Carboxymethyl Cellulose

Authors: J. Chumee, D. Seeburin

Abstract:

The cellulose was extracted from pomelo peel and an etherification reaction used for converting cellulose to carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The pomelo peel was refluxed with 0.5 M HCl and 1 M NaOH solution at 90°C for 1 h and 2 h, respectively. The cellulose was bleached with calcium hypochlorite and used as precursor. The precursor was soaked in mixed solution between isopropyl alcohol and 40%w/v NaOH for 12 h. After that, chloroacetic acid was added and reacted at 55°C for 6 h. The optimum condition was 5 g of cellulose: 0.25 mole of NaOH : 0.07 mole of ClCH2COOH with 78.00% of yield. Moreover, the product had 0.54 of degree of substitution (DS).

Keywords: Pomelo peel, Carboxymethyl cellulose, Cellulose.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 4272
1792 Capacity Enhancement for Agricultural Workers in Mangosteen Product

Authors: Cholpassorn Sitthiwarongchai, Chutikarn Sriviboon

Abstract:

The two primary objectives of this research were (1)  to examine the current knowledge and actual circumstance of  agricultural workers about mangosteen product processing; and (2) to  analyze and evaluate ways to develop capacity of mangosteen  product processing. The population of this study was 15,125 people  who work in the agricultural sector, in this context, mangosteen  production, in the eastern part of Thailand that included Chantaburi  Province, Rayong Province, Trad Province and Pracheenburi  Province. The sample size based on Yamane’s calculation with 95%  reliability was therefore 392 samples. Mixed method was employed  included questionnaire and focus group discussion with  Connoisseurship Model used in order to collect quantitative and  qualitative data. Key informants were used in the focus group  including agricultural business owners, academic people in agro food  processing, local academics, local community development staff,  OTOP subcommittee, and representatives of agro processing  industry professional organizations. The study found that the  majority of the respondents agreed with a high level (in five- rating  scale) towards most of variables of knowledge management in agro  food processing. The result of the current knowledge and actual  circumstance of agricultural human resource in an arena of  mangosteen product processing revealed that mostly, the respondents  agreed at a high level to establish 7 variables. The guideline to  developing the body of knowledge in order to enhance the capacity  of the agricultural workers in mangosteen product processing was  delivered in the focus group discussion. The discussion finally  contributed to an idea to produce manuals for mangosteen product  processing methods, with 4 products chosen: (1) mangosteen soap;  (2) mangosteen juice; (3) mangosteen toffee; and (4) mangosteen  preserves or jam.

Keywords: Capacity Enhancement, Agricultural Workers, Mangosteen Product Processing.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 1888
1791 A Quasi-Systematic Review on Effectiveness of Social and Cultural Sustainability Practices in Built Environment

Authors: Asif Ali, Daud Salim Faruquie

Abstract:

With the advancement of knowledge about the utility and impact of sustainability, its feasibility has been explored into different walks of life. Scientists, however; have established their knowledge in four areas viz environmental, economic, social and cultural, popularly termed as four pillars of sustainability. Aspects of environmental and economic sustainability have been rigorously researched and practiced and huge volume of strong evidence of effectiveness has been founded for these two sub-areas. For the social and cultural aspects of sustainability, dependable evidence of effectiveness is still to be instituted as the researchers and practitioners are developing and experimenting methods across the globe. Therefore, the present research aimed to identify globally used practices of social and cultural sustainability and through evidence synthesis assess their outcomes to determine the effectiveness of those practices. A PICO format steered the methodology which included all populations, popular sustainability practices including walkability/cycle tracks, social/recreational spaces, privacy, health & human services and barrier free built environment, comparators included ‘Before’ and ‘After’, ‘With’ and ‘Without’, ‘More’ and ‘Less’ and outcomes included Social well-being, cultural coexistence, quality of life, ethics and morality, social capital, sense of place, education, health, recreation and leisure, and holistic development. Search of literature included major electronic databases, search websites, organizational resources, directory of open access journals and subscribed journals. Grey literature, however, was not included. Inclusion criteria filtered studies on the basis of research designs such as total randomization, quasirandomization, cluster randomization, observational or single studies and certain types of analysis. Studies with combined outcomes were considered but studies focusing only on environmental and/or economic outcomes were rejected. Data extraction, critical appraisal and evidence synthesis was carried out using customized tabulation, reference manager and CASP tool. Partial meta-analysis was carried out and calculation of pooled effects and forest plotting were done. As many as 13 studies finally included for final synthesis explained the impact of targeted practices on health, behavioural and social dimensions. Objectivity in the measurement of health outcomes facilitated quantitative synthesis of studies which highlighted the impact of sustainability methods on physical activity, Body Mass Index, perinatal outcomes and child health. Studies synthesized qualitatively (and also quantitatively) showed outcomes such as routines, family relations, citizenship, trust in relationships, social inclusion, neighbourhood social capital, wellbeing, habitability and family’s social processes. The synthesized evidence indicates slight effectiveness and efficacy of social and cultural sustainability on the targeted outcomes. Further synthesis revealed that such results of this study are due weak research designs and disintegrated implementations. If architects and other practitioners deliver their interventions in collaboration with research bodies and policy makers, a stronger evidence-base in this area could be generated.

Keywords: Built environment, cultural sustainability, social sustainability, sustainable architecture.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2466
1790 Aquatic Modeling: An Interplay between Scales

Authors: Christina G. Siontorou

Abstract:

This paper presents an integrated knowledge-based approach to multi-scale modeling of aquatic systems, with a view to enhancing predictive power and aiding environmental management and policy-making. The basic phases of this approach have been exemplified in the case of a bay in Saronicos Gulf (Attiki, Greece). The results showed a significant problem with rising phytoplankton blooms linked to excessive microbial growth, arisen mostly due to increased nitrogen inflows; therefore, the nitrification/denitrification processes of the benthic and water column sub-systems have provided the quality variables to be monitored for assessing environmental status. It is thereby demonstrated that the proposed approach facilitates modeling choices and implementation option decisions, while it provides substantial support for knowledge and experience capitalization in long-term water management.

Keywords: Aquatic ecosystem, integrated modeling, multi-scale modeling, ontological platform.

Procedia APA BibTeX Chicago EndNote Harvard JSON MLA RIS XML ISO 690 PDF Downloads 2306