Abstract: When teachers reflect and evaluate whether their teaching methods actually have an impact on students’ learning, they will adjust their practices accordingly. This inevitably improves their students’ learning and performance. The approach in meta-teaching can invigorate and create a passion for teaching. It thus helps to increase the commitment and love for the teaching profession. This study was conducted to determine the level of metacognitive thinking of teachers in the process of teaching and learning in the classroom. Metacognitive thinking teachers include the use of metacognitive knowledge which consists of different types of knowledge: declarative, procedural and conditional. The ability of the teachers to plan, monitor and evaluate the teaching process can also be determined. This study was conducted on 377 graduate teachers in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The stratified sampling method was selected for the purpose of this study. The metacognitive teaching inventory consisting of 24 items is called InKePMG (Teacher Indicators of Effectiveness Meta-Teaching). The results showed the level of mean is high for two components of metacognitive knowledge; declarative knowledge (mean = 4.16) and conditional (mean = 4.11) whereas, the mean of procedural knowledge is 4.00 (moderately high). Similarly, the level of knowledge in monitoring (mean = 4.11), evaluating (mean = 4.00) which indicate high score and planning (mean = 4.00) are moderately high score among teachers. In conclusion, this study shows that the planning and procedural knowledge is an important element in improving the quality of teachers teaching in the classroom. Thus, the researcher recommended that further studies should focus on training programs for teachers on metacognitive skills and also on developing creative thinking among teachers.
Abstract: Deformable part models achieve high precision in
pedestrian recognition, but all publicly available implementations are
too slow for real-time applications. We implemented a deformable
part model algorithm fast enough for real-time use by exploiting
information about the camera position and orientation. This
implementation is both faster and more precise than alternative
DPM implementations. These results are obtained by computing
convolutions in the frequency domain and using lookup tables to
speed up feature computation. This approach is almost an order of
magnitude faster than the reference DPM implementation, with no
loss in precision. Knowing the position of the camera with respect to
horizon it is also possible prune many hypotheses based on their
size and location. The range of acceptable sizes and positions is
set by looking at the statistical distribution of bounding boxes in
labelled images. With this approach it is not needed to compute the
entire feature pyramid: for example higher resolution features are
only needed near the horizon. This results in an increase in mean
average precision of 5% and an increase in speed by a factor of
two. Furthermore, to reduce misdetections involving small pedestrians
near the horizon, input images are supersampled near the horizon.
Supersampling the image at 1.5 times the original scale, results in
an increase in precision of about 4%. The implementation was tested
against the public KITTI dataset, obtaining an 8% improvement in
mean average precision over the best performing DPM-based method.
By allowing for a small loss in precision computational time can be
easily brought down to our target of 100ms per image, reaching a
solution that is faster and still more precise than all publicly available
DPM implementations.
Abstract: This study aimed to determine low-income housing adaptations for flooding, which causes living problems and housing damage, and the results from improvement. Three low-income settlements in Chiang Mai which experienced different flood types, i.e. flash floods in Samukeepattana, drainage floods in Bansanku, and river floods in Kampangam, were chosen for the study. Almost all of the residents improved their houses to protect the property from flood damage by changing building materials to flood damage resistant materials for walls, floors, and other parts of the structure that were below the base of annual flood elevation. They could only build some parts of their own homes, so hiring skilled workers or contractors was still important. Building materials which have no need for any special tools and are easy to access and use for construction, as well as low cost, are selected for construction. The residents in the three slums faced living problems for only a short time and were able to cope with them. This may be due to the location of the three slums near the city where assistance is readily available. But the housing and the existence in the slums can endure only the regular floods and residence still have problems in unusual floods, which have been experienced 1-2 times during the past 10 years. The residents accept the need for evacuations and prepare for them. When faced with extreme floods, residence have evacuated to the nearest safe place such as schools and public building, and come back to repair the houses after the flood. These are the distinguishing characteristics of low-income living which can withstand serious situations due to the simple lifestyle. Therefore, preparation of living areas for use during severe floods and encouraging production of affordable flood resistant materials should be areas of concern when formulating disaster assistance policies for low income people.
Abstract: In this paper, we have presented and analyzed three-dimensional (3-D) matrices of wavelength/time/space code for optical code division multiple access (OCDMA) networks with NAND subtraction detection technique. The 3-D codes are constructed by integrating a two-dimensional modified quadratic congruence (MQC) code with one-dimensional modified prime (MP) code. The respective encoders and decoders were designed using fiber Bragg gratings and optical delay lines to minimize the bit error rate (BER). The performance analysis of the 3D-OCDMA system is based on measurement of signal to noise ratio (SNR), BER and eye diagram for a different number of simultaneous users. Also, in the analysis, various types of noises and multiple access interference (MAI) effects were considered. The results obtained with NAND detection technique were compared with those obtained with OR and AND subtraction techniques. The comparison results proved that the NAND detection technique with 3-D MQC\MP code can accommodate more number of simultaneous users for longer distances of fiber with minimum BER as compared to OR and AND subtraction techniques. The received optical power is also measured at various levels of BER to analyze the effect of attenuation.
Abstract: This paper presents modern solutions of distributed generation in rural communities aiming at the improvement of energy and environmental security, as well as power supply reliability to important customers (e.g. health care, sensitive consumer required continuity). Distributed sources are mainly gas and biogas cogeneration units, as well as wind and photovoltaic sources. Some examples of their applications in a selected Silesian community are given.
Abstract: Manufacturing technologies are becoming continuously
more diversified over the years. The increasing use of robots for
various applications such as assembling, painting, welding has also
affected the field of machining. Machining robots can deal with
larger workspaces than conventional machine-tools at a lower cost
and thus represent a very promising alternative for machining
applications. Furthermore, their inherent structure ensures them a
great flexibility of motion to reach any location on the workpiece with
the desired orientation. Nevertheless, machining robots suffer from
a lack of stiffness at their joints restricting their use to applications
involving low cutting forces especially finishing operations. Vibratory
instabilities may also happen while machining and deteriorate the
precision leading to scrap parts. Some researchers are therefore
concerned with the identification of optimal parameters in robotic
machining. This paper continues the development of a virtual robotic
machining simulator in order to find optimized cutting parameters in
terms of depth of cut or feed per tooth for example. The simulation
environment combines an in-house milling routine (DyStaMill)
achieving the computation of cutting forces and material removal
with an in-house multibody library (EasyDyn) which is used to
build a dynamic model of a 3-DOF planar robot with flexible links.
The position of the robot end-effector submitted to milling forces is
controlled through an inverse kinematics scheme while controlling
the position of its joints separately. Each joint is actuated through
a servomotor for which the transfer function has been computed
in order to tune the corresponding controller. The output results
feature the evolution of the cutting forces when the robot structure
is deformable or not and the tracking errors of the end-effector.
Illustrations of the resulting machined surfaces are also presented.
The consideration of the links flexibility has highlighted an increase
of the cutting forces magnitude. This proof of concept will aim
to enrich the database of results in robotic machining for potential
improvements in production.
Abstract: Mobile augmented reality (MAR) tracking targets from the surroundings and aids operators for interactive data and procedures visualization, potential equipment and system understandably. Operators remotely communicate and coordinate with each other for the continuous tasks, information and data exchange between control room and work-site. In the routine work, distributed control system (DCS) monitoring and work-site manipulation require operators interact in real-time manners. The critical question is the improvement of user experience in cooperative works through applying Augmented Reality in the traditional industrial field. The purpose of this exploratory study is to find the cognitive model for the multiple task performance by MAR. In particular, the focus will be on the comparison between different tasks and environment factors which influence information processing. Three experiments use interface and interaction design, the content of start-up, maintenance and stop embedded in the mobile application. With the evaluation criteria of time demands and human errors, and analysis of the mental process and the behavior action during the multiple tasks, heuristic evaluation was used to find the operators performance with different situation factors, and record the information processing in recognition, interpretation, judgment and reasoning. The research will find the functional properties of MAR and constrain the development of the cognitive model. Conclusions can be drawn that suggest MAR is easy to use and useful for operators in the remote collaborative works.
Abstract: Reliability and availability of power stations are extremely important in order to achieve a required level of power generation. In particular, in the hot desert climate of Kuwait, reliable power generation is extremely important because of cooling requirements at temperatures exceeding 50-centigrade degrees. In this paper, a particular power plant, named Sabiya Power Plant, which has 8 steam turbines and 13 gas turbine stations, has been studied in detail; extensive data are collected; and availability of station units are determined. Furthermore, a simulation model is developed and used to analyze the effects of different maintenance policies on availability of these stations. The results show that significant improvements can be achieved in power plant availabilities if appropriate maintenance policies are implemented.
Abstract: There are many types of mechanical failure on the
dental implant. In this project, the failure that needs to take into
consideration is the bone resorption on the dental implant. Human
bone has its ability to remodel after the implantation. As the dental
implant is installed into the bone, the bone will detect and change the
bone structure to achieve new biomechanical environment. This
phenomenon is known as bone remodeling. The objective of the
project is to improve the performance of dental implant by using
different types of design. These designs are used to analyze and
predict the failure of the dental implant by using finite element
analysis (FEA) namely ANSYS. The bone is assumed to be fully
attached to the implant or cement. Hence, results are then compared
with other researchers. The results were presented in the form of Von
Mises stress, normal stress, shear stress analysis, and displacement.
The selected design will be analyzed further based on a theoretical
calculation of bone remodeling on the dental implant. The results
have shown that the design constructed passed the failure analysis.
Therefore, the selected design is proven to have a stable performance
at the recovery stage.
Abstract: Present study deals with drama education in preschool education. The research made in this field brings a qualitative comparative survey with the aim to find out the use of methods and techniques of drama education in preschool education at university or secondary school graduate preschool teachers. The research uses a content analysis and an unstandardized questionnaire for preschool teachers and obtained data are processed with the help of descriptive methods and correlations. The results allow a comparison of aspects applied through drama in preschool education. The research brings impulses for education improvement in kindergartens and inspiration for university study programs of drama education in the professional training of preschool teachers.
Abstract: Governments around the world are adopting Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) because of the important opportunities it provides through E-government (EG) to modernize government public administration processes and delivery of quality and efficient public services. Almost every country in the world is adopting ICT in its public sector administration (EG) to modernize and change the traditional process of government, increase citizen engagement and participation in governance, as well as the provision of timely information to citizens. This paper, therefore, seeks to present the adoption, development and implementation of EG in regions globally, as well as the ICT indicators around the world, which are making EG initiatives successful. Europe leads the world in its EG adoption and development index, followed by the Americas, Asia, Oceania and Africa. There is a gradual growth in ICT indicators in terms of the increase in Internet access and usage, increase in broadband penetration, an increase of individuals using the Internet at home and a decline in fixed telephone use, while the mobile cellular phone has been on the increase year-on-year. Though the lack of ICT infrastructure is a major challenge to EG adoption and implementation around the world, in Africa it is very pervasive, hampering the expansion of Internet access and provision of broadband, and hence is a barrier to the successful adoption, development, and implementation of EG initiatives in countries on the continent. But with the general improvement and increase in ICT indicators around the world, it provides countries in Europe, Americas, Asia, Arab States, Oceania and Africa with the huge opportunity to enhance public service delivery through the adoption of EG. Countries within these regions cannot fail their citizens who desire to enjoy an enhanced and efficient public service delivery from government and its many state institutions.
Abstract: The artificial neural network is one of the interesting techniques that have been advantageously used to deal with modeling problems. In this study, the computing with artificial neural network (CANN) is proposed. The model is applied to modulate the information processing of one-dimensional task. We aim to integrate a new method which is based on a new coding approach of generating the input-output mapping. The latter is based on increasing the neuron unit in the last layer. Accordingly, to show the efficiency of the approach under study, a comparison is made between the proposed method of generating the input-output set and the conventional method. The results illustrated that the increasing of the neuron units, in the last layer, allows to find the optimal network’s parameters that fit with the mapping data. Moreover, it permits to decrease the training time, during the computation process, which avoids the use of computers with high memory usage.
Abstract: Line-of-sight (LOS) information, data rates, good quality, and flexible network service are limited by the fact that, for the duration of any given connection, they experience severe variation in signal strength due to fading and path loss. Wireless system faces major challenges in achieving wide coverage and capacity without affecting the system performance and to access data everywhere, all the time. In this paper, the cell coverage and edge rate of different Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) schemes in 20 MHz Long Term Evolution (LTE) system under Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAV) platform are investigated. After some background on the enormous potential of UAV, MIMO, and LTE in wireless links, the paper highlights the presented system model which attempts to realize the various benefits of MIMO being incorporated into UAV platform. The performances of the three MIMO LTE schemes are compared with the performance of 4x4 MIMO LTE in UAV scheme carried out to evaluate the improvement in cell radius, BER, and data throughput of the system in different morphology. The results show that significant performance gains such as bit error rate (BER), data rate, and coverage can be achieved by using the presented scenario.
Abstract: This paper seeks the potentials of studying aerodynamic characteristics of inward cavities called dimples, as an alternative to the classical vortex generators. Increasing stalling angle is a greater challenge in wing design. But our examination is primarily focused on increasing lift. In this paper, enhancement of lift is mainly done by introduction of dimple or cavity in a wing. In general, aircraft performance can be enhanced by increasing aerodynamic efficiency that is lift to drag ratio of an aircraft wing. Efficiency improvement can be achieved by improving the maximum lift co-efficient or by reducing the drag co-efficient. At the time of landing aircraft, high angle of attack may lead to stalling of aircraft. To avoid this kind of situation, increase in the stalling angle is warranted. Hence, improved stalling characteristic is the best way to ease landing complexity. Computational analysis is done for the wing segment made of NACA 0012. Simulation is carried out for 30 m/s free stream velocity over plain airfoil and different types of cavities. The wing is modeled in CATIA V5R20 and analyses are carried out using ANSYS CFX. Triangle and square shapes are used as cavities for analysis. Simulations revealed that cavity placed on wing segment shows an increase of maximum lift co-efficient when compared to normal wing configuration. Flow separation is delayed at downstream of the wing by the presence of cavities up to a particular angle of attack.
Abstract: Selection of competent contractors for construction projects is usually accomplished through competitive bidding or negotiated contracting in which the contract bid price is the basic criterion for selection. The evaluation of contractor’s safety performance is still not a typical criterion in the selection process, despite the existence of various safety prequalification procedures. There is a critical need for practical and automated systems that enable owners and decision makers to evaluate contractor safety performance, among other important contractor selection criteria. These systems should ultimately favor safety-conscious contractors to be selected by the virtue of their past good safety records and current safety programs. This paper presents an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach to develop a framework for an automated decision support system that evaluates contractor safety performance based on a multitude of indicators and metrics that have been identified through a comprehensive review of construction safety research, and a survey distributed to domain experts. The framework is developed in three phases: (1) determining the indicators that depict contractor current and past safety performance; (2) soliciting input from construction safety experts regarding the identified indicators, their metrics, and relative significance; and (3) designing a decision support system using relational database models to integrate the identified indicators and metrics into a system that assesses and rates the safety performance of contractors. The proposed automated system is expected to hold several advantages including: (1) reducing the likelihood of selecting contractors with poor safety records; (2) enhancing the odds of completing the project safely; and (3) encouraging contractors to exert more efforts to improve their safety performance and practices in order to increase their bid winning opportunities which can lead to significant safety improvements in the construction industry. This should prove useful to decision makers and researchers, alike, and should help improve the safety record of the construction industry.
Abstract: The purpose of this study are to define the nature of oral sensory issues in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), identify important components of the assessment and treatment of this issues specific to this population, and delineate specific therapeutic techniques designed to improve assessment and treatment within therapeutic settings. Literature review and case example is used to define the predominant nature of the oral sensory issues that are experienced by some children on the autism spectrum. Characteristics of this complex disorder that can have an impact on feeding skill and behavior are also identified. These factors are then integrated to create assessment and intervention techniques that can be used in conjunction with traditional feeding approaches to facilitate improvements in eating as well as reducing oral apraxic component in this unique population. The complex nature of ASD and its many influences on feeding skills and behavior create the need for modification to both assessment and treatment approaches. Additional research is needed to create therapeutic protocols that can be used by speech-language pathologists to effectively assess and treat feeding and oro motor apraxic difficulties that are commonly encountered in children with ASD.
Abstract: Increasing urbanisation has driven building designers to incorporate natural ventilation in the designs of sustainable buildings. This project utilises Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate the natural ventilation of an academic building, SIT@SP, using an assessment criterion based on daily mean temperature and mean velocity. The areas of interest are the pedestrian level of first and fourth levels of the building. A reference case recommended by the Architectural Institute of Japan was used to validate the simulation model. The validated simulation model was then used for coupled simulations on SIT@SP and neighbouring geometries, under two wind speeds. Both steady and transient simulations were used to identify differences in results. Steady and transient results are agreeable with the transient simulation identifying peak velocities during flow development. Under a lower wind speed, the first level was sufficiently ventilated while the fourth level was not. The first level has excessive wind velocities in the higher wind speed and the fourth level was adequately ventilated. Fourth level flow velocity was consistently lower than those of the first level. This is attributed to either simulation model error or poor building design. SIT@SP is concluded to have a sufficiently ventilated first level and insufficiently ventilated fourth level. Future works for this project extend to modifying the urban geometry, simulation model improvements, evaluation using other assessment metrics and extending the area of interest to the entire building.
Abstract: Millets as a new source of plant protein were not used in food applications due to its poor functional properties. In this study, the effect of high intensity ultrasound (frequency: 20 kHz, with contentious flow) (US) in 100% amplitude for varying times (5, 12.5, and 20 min) on solubility, emulsifying activity index (EAI), emulsion stability (ES), foaming capacity (FC), and foaming stability (FS) of millet protein concentrate (MPC) were evaluated. In addition, the structural properties of best treatments such as molecular weight and surface charge were compared with the control sample to prove the US effect. The US treatments significantly (P
Abstract: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive, systemic inflammatory disorder affecting the synovial joints and typically producing symmetrical arthritis that leads to joint destruction, which is responsible for the deformity and disability. Despite improvements in the treatment of RA over the past decade, there still is a need for new therapeutic agents that are efficacious, less expensive, and free of severe adverse reactions. The present study aimed to investigate role of inflammatory markers in arthritic rats treated with ethanolic bark extract of Albizia procera. The protective effect of ethanolic bark extract of Albizia procera against complete Freund’s adjuvant (CFA) induced arthritis in rats. Arthritis was induced by an intradermal injection of 0.1 ml FCA in the foot pad of left hind limb of rats. ETBE (100 and 200 mg/kg b.wt./p.o) and the reference drug diclofenac (25 mg/kg b.wt./p.o) were administered to arthritic rats. Paw volume was measured for all the animals before inducing arthritis and thereafter once in seven days by using plethysmometer for 42 days. Gene expression of inflammatory markers such as IL-1β and IL-10 were investigated in paw tissues. Up regulation of IL-1β and Down regulation IL-10 were observed in CFA injected rats when compared to normal rats. ETBE attenuated these alterations dose dependently when compared to the vehicle treated rats. These results provide insights into the mechanism of anti-arthritic activity, and unravel potential therapeutic use of Albizia procera in arthritis.
Abstract: Cement utilization to improve the properties of soil is a well-known method applied in field. However, its addition in large quantity must be controlled. This study presents utilization of natural and environmental-friendly material mixed with small amount of cement content in soil improvement, i.e. bamboo chips. Absorbability, elongation, and flatness ratio of bamboo chips were examined to investigate and understand the influence of its characteristics in the mixture. Improvement of dilation behavior as a problem of loose and poorly graded sand soil is discussed. Bamboo chips are able to improve the permeability value that affects the dilation behavior of cemented sand soil. It is proved by the stress path as the result of triaxial compression test in the undrained condition. The effect of size and content variation of bamboo chips, as well as the curing time variation are presented and discussed.