Abstract: The purposes of this paper are to (1) promote excellence in computer science by suggesting a cohesive innovative approach to fill well documented deficiencies in current computer science education, (2) justify (using the authors' and others anecdotal evidence from both the classroom and the real world) why this approach holds great potential to successfully eliminate the deficiencies, (3) invite other professionals to join the authors in proof of concept research. The authors' experiences, though anecdotal, strongly suggest that a new approach involving visual modeling technologies should allow computer science programs to retain a greater percentage of prospective and declared majors as students become more engaged learners, more successful problem-solvers, and better prepared as programmers. In addition, the graduates of such computer science programs will make greater contributions to the profession as skilled problem-solvers. Instead of wearily rememorizing code as they move to the next course, students will have the problem-solving skills to think and work in more sophisticated and creative ways.
Abstract: Internet computer games turn to be more and more
attractive within the context of technology enhanced learning.
Educational games as quizzes and quests have gained significant
success in appealing and motivating learners to study in a different
way and provoke steadily increasing interest in new methods of
application. Board games are specific group of games where figures
are manipulated in competitive play mode with race conditions on a
surface according predefined rules. The article represents a new,
formalized model of traditional quizzes, puzzles and quests shown as
multimedia board games which facilitates the construction process of
such games. Authors provide different examples of quizzes and their
models in order to demonstrate the model is quite general and does
support not only quizzes, mazes and quests but also any set of
teaching activities. The execution process of such models is
explained and, as well, how they can be useful for creation and
delivery of adaptive e-learning courseware.
Abstract: This paper considers the problem of Null-Steering beamforming using Neural Network (NN) approach for antenna array system. Two cases are presented. First, unlike the other authors, the estimated Direction Of Arrivals (DOAs) are used for antenna array weights NN-based determination and the imprecise DOAs estimations are taken into account. Second, the blind null-steering beamforming is presented. In this case the antenna array outputs are presented at the input of the NN without DOAs estimation. The results of computer simulations will show much better relative mean error performances of the first NN approach compared to the NNbased blind beamforming.
Abstract: This paper describes a code clone visualization method, called FC graph, and the implementation issues. Code clone detection tools usually show the results in a textual representation. If the results are large, it makes a problem to software maintainers with understanding them. One of the approaches to overcome the situation is visualization of code clone detection results. A scatter plot is a popular approach to the visualization. However, it represents only one-to-one correspondence and it is difficult to find correspondence of code clones over multiple files. FC graph represents correspondence among files, code clones and packages in Java. All nodes in FC graph are positioned using force-directed graph layout, which is dynami- cally calculated to adjust the distances of nodes until stabilizing them. We applied FC graph to some open source programs and visualized the results. In the author’s experience, FC graph is helpful to grasp correspondence of code clones over multiple files and also code clones with in a file.
Abstract: The Kowsar dam supply water for different usages
such as drinking, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture farms
usages and located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and
Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and
villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and
Choram are the most important and populated cities in this area. The
study was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the
urban areas of the Kowsar dam. A total of 28 water samples were
collected from 6 stations on surface water and 1 station from
groundwater on the watershed of the Kowsar dam. All the samples
were analyzed for Cd concentration using standard procedures. The
results were compared with other national and international
standards. Among the analyzed samples, as the maximum value of
cadmium (1.131 μg/L) was observed on the station 2 at the winter
2009, all the samples analyzed were within the maximum admissible
limits by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, EU,
WHO, New Zealand , Australian, Iranian, and the Indian standards.
In general results of the present study have shown that Cd mean
values of stations No. 4, 1 and 2 with 0.5135, 0.0.4733 and 0.4573
μg/L respectively are higher than the other stations . Although Cd
level of all samples and stations have had normal values but this is
an indication of pollution potential and hazards because of human
activity and waste water of towns in the areas, which can effect on
human health implications in future. This research, therefore,
recommends the government and other responsible authorities to take
suitable improving measures in the Kowsar dam watershed-s.
Abstract: This paper aims to argue that religion and Faith-based
Organizations (FBOs) contribute to building democratic process
through the provision of education in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone
experienced a civil war from 1991 to 2002 and about 70 percent of the
population lives in poverty. While the government has been in the
process of rebuilding the nation, many forms of Civil Society
Organizations (CSOs), including FBOs, have played a significant role
in promoting social development. Education plays an important role in
supporting people-s democratic movements through knowledge
acquisition, spiritual enlightenment and empowerment. This paper
discusses religious tolerance in Sierra Leone and how FBOs have
contributed to the provision of primary education in Sierra Leone. This
study is based on the author-s field research, which involved
interviews with teachers and development stakeholders, notably
government officials, Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and
FBOs, as well as questionnaires completed by pupils, parents and
teachers.
Abstract: In the current research, we present an operation framework and protection mechanism to facilitate secure environment to protect mobile agents against tampering. The system depends on the presence of an authentication authority. The advantage of the proposed system is that security measures is an integral part of the design, thus common security retrofitting problems do not arise. This is due to the presence of AlGamal encryption mechanism to protect its confidential content and any collected data by the agent from the visited host . So that eavesdropping on information from the agent is no longer possible to reveal any confidential information. Also the inherent security constraints within the framework allow the system to operate as an intrusion detection system for any mobile agent environment. The mechanism is tested for most of the well known severe attacks against agents and networked systems. The scheme proved a promising performance that makes it very much recommended for the types of transactions that needs highly secure environments, e. g., business to business.
Abstract: The authors present a mixed method for reducing the order of the large-scale dynamic systems. In this method, the denominator polynomial of the reduced order model is obtained by using the modified pole clustering technique while the coefficients of the numerator are obtained by Pade approximations. This method is conceptually simple and always generates stable reduced models if the original high-order system is stable. The proposed method is illustrated with the help of the numerical examples taken from the literature.
Abstract: Majority of Business Software Systems (BSS)
Development and Enhancement Projects (D&EP) fail to meet criteria
of their effectiveness, what leads to the considerable financial losses.
One of the fundamental reasons for such projects- exceptionally low
success rate are improperly derived estimates for their costs and time.
In the case of BSS D&EP these attributes are determined by the work
effort, meanwhile reliable and objective effort estimation still appears
to be a great challenge to the software engineering. Thus this paper is
aimed at presenting the most important synthetic conclusions coming
from the author-s own studies concerning the main factors of
effective BSS D&EP work effort estimation. Thanks to the rational
investment decisions made on the basis of reliable and objective
criteria it is possible to reduce losses caused not only by abandoned
projects but also by large scale of overrunning the time and costs of
BSS D&EP execution.
Abstract: In the present article, a new class of solutions of
Einstein field equations is investigated for a spherically symmetric
space-time when the source of gravitation is a perfect fluid. All the
solutions have been derived by making some suitable arrangements
in the field equations. The solutions so obtained have been seen to
describe Schwarzschild interior solutions. Most of the solutions are
subjected to the reality conditions. As far as the authors are aware the
solutions are new.
Abstract: Collective action can be an effective means for local development as well as important strategy to enhance livelihoods especially among rural people. This article explores the level of collective action among members of Fishermen-s Wives Group (KUNITA) in Malaysia. KUNITA was established by the Malaysian Fishery Development Authority (LKIM) with an objective to increase the socio-economic status of fishermen-s families. The members who are mostly the wives and daughters of fishermen are strongly encouraged by LKIM to venture into entrepreneurship activities. The objective of this research was to see the level of collective action among members in KUNITA groups in the state of Selangor. The finding shows that high level of collective action among KUNITA members is strongly based on volunteerism. However, the level of cooperation among members in the group is relatively low. The findings present significant challenges for the group in maintaining the sustainability of KUNITA organization.
Abstract: Remarkable changes, like the progress in the ability to understand others' minds, can be identified in several socio-cognitive dimensions between age four and seven. Recently, the parenting attitudes have been considerate as one of the potential extrinsic modifiers of these important developmental aspects. The aim of present study is to explore the relationship among authoritarian parenting attitudes and individual differences in Theory of Mind performance. The study included ninety-two Costarrican preschoolers. Six False-belief tasks, an Advanced Theory of Mind test and the Parenting Attitudes Inventory were used. The results demonstrate that participants with high and low Authoritarian Parenting Received differ in their performance on First and Second Order False-belief tasks, but not in Advanced Theory of Mind tasks. Theoretical considerations about possible explanations regarding these results are discussed and methodological limitations are considered to shed light over future directions.
Abstract: Thermo-chemical treatment (TCT) such as pyrolysis
is getting recognized as a valid route for (i) materials and valuable
products and petrochemicals recovery; (ii) waste recycling; and (iii)
elemental characterization. Pyrolysis is also receiving renewed
attention for its operational, economical and environmental
advantages. In this study, samples of polyethylene terephthalate
(PET) and polystyrene (PS) were pyrolysed in a microthermobalance
reactor (using a thermogravimetric-TGA setup). Both
polymers were prepared and conditioned prior to experimentation.
The main objective was to determine the kinetic parameters of the
depolymerization reactions that occur within the thermal degradation
process. Overall kinetic rate constants (ko) and activation energies
(Eo) were determined using the general kinetics theory (GKT)
method previously used by a number of authors. Fitted correlations
were found and validated using the GKT, errors were within ± 5%.
This study represents a fundamental step to pave the way towards the
development of scaling relationship for the investigation of larger
scale reactors relevant to industry.
Abstract: A novel concept to balance and tradeoff between
make-to-stock and make-to-order has been hybrid MTS/MTO production context. One of the most important decisions involved in
the hybrid MTS/MTO environment is determining whether a product
is manufactured to stock, to order, or hybrid MTS/MTO strategy. In this paper, a model based on analytic network process is developed to tackle the addressed decision. Since the regarded decision deals with
the uncertainty and ambiguity of data as well as experts- and
managers- linguistic judgments, the proposed model is equipped with
fuzzy sets theory. An important attribute of the model is its generality due to diverse decision factors which are elicited from the
literature and developed by the authors. Finally, the model is validated by applying to a real case study to reveal how the proposed
model can actually be implemented.
Abstract: The Kowsar dam supply water for different usages
such as drinking, industrial, agricultural and aquaculture farms
usages and located next to the city of Dehdashat in Kohgiluye and
Boyerahmad province in southern Iran. There are some towns and
villages on the Kowsar dam watersheds, which Dehdasht and Choram
are the most important and populated cities in this area. The study
was undertaken to assess the status of water quality in the urban areas
of the Kowsar dam. A total of 28 water samples were collected from
6 stations on surface water and 1 station from groundwater on the
watershed of the Kowsar dam. All the samples were analyzed for Ni
concentration using standard procedures. The results were compared
with other national and international standards. Among the analyzed
samples, as the maximum value of Nickel (0.01 mg/L) was observed
on the station 2 at the autumn 2010, all the samples analyzed were
within the maximum admissible limits by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency, EU, WHO and the Iranian. In
general results of the present study have shown that a Ni mean value
of station No. 2 with 0.006 mg/L is higher than the other stations. Ni
level of all samples and stations have had normal values and this is an
indication of pollution potential and hazards because of human
activity and waste water of towns in the areas, which can effect on
human health implications in future. This research, therefore,
recommends the government and other responsible authorities to take
suitable improving measures in the Kowsar dam watersheds.
Abstract: This research aimed to study correlation between
work satisfaction and organization core value of officers in
Waterworks Authority, Bangkean Branch. Sample group of the study
was 112 officers who worked in the Waterworks Authority,
Bangkean Branch. Questionnaires were employed as a research tools,
while, Percentage, Mean, Standard Deviation, T-test, One-way
ANOVA, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation were claimed as
statistics used in this study. Researcher found that overall and
individual aspects of work satisfaction namely, work characteristic,
work progress, and colleagues significantly correlated with
organization core value in aspect of perception in choice of work at
0.5, 0.01, and 0.01 respectively. Also, such aspects were compatible
with income at .05 which indicated the low level of correlation, mid
low correlation respectively at the same direction, same direction,
opposite direction, and same direction, correspondingly.
Abstract: In this research, the authors analyze network stability
using agent-based simulation. Firstly, the authors focus on analyzing
large networks (eight agents) by connecting different two stable small
social networks (A small stable network is consisted on four agents.).
Secondly, the authors analyze the network (eight agents) shape which
is added one agent to a stable network (seven agents). Thirdly, the
authors analyze interpersonal comparison of utility. The “star-network
"was not found on the result of interaction among stable two small
networks. On the other hand, “decentralized network" was formed
from several combination. In case of added one agent to a stable
network (seven agents), if the value of “c"(maintenance cost of per
a link) was larger, the number of patterns of stable network was
also larger. In this case, the authors identified the characteristics of a
large stable network. The authors discovered the cases of decreasing
personal utility under condition increasing total utility.
Abstract: Today’s technology is heavily dependent on web applications. Web applications are being accepted by users at a very rapid pace. These have made our work efficient. These include webmail, online retail sale, online gaming, wikis, departure and arrival of trains and flights and list is very long. These are developed in different languages like PHP, Python, C#, ASP.NET and many more by using scripts such as HTML and JavaScript. Attackers develop tools and techniques to exploit web applications and legitimate websites. This has led to rise of web application security; which can be broadly classified into Declarative Security and Program Security. The most common attacks on the applications are by SQL Injection and XSS which give access to unauthorized users who totally damage or destroy the system. This paper presents a detailed literature description and analysis on Web Application Security, examples of attacks and steps to mitigate the vulnerabilities.
Abstract: Recent quasi-experimental evaluation of the Canadian Active Labour Market Policies (ALMP) by Human Resources and Skills Development Canada (HRSDC) has provided an opportunity to examine alternative methods to estimating the incremental effects of Employment Benefits and Support Measures (EBSMs) on program participants. The focus of this paper is to assess the efficiency and robustness of inverse probability weighting (IPW) relative to kernel matching (KM) in the estimation of program effects. To accomplish this objective, the authors compare pairs of 1,080 estimates, along with their associated standard errors, to assess which type of estimate is generally more efficient and robust. In the interest of practicality, the authorsalso document the computationaltime it took to produce the IPW and KM estimates, respectively.
Abstract: This paper presents the outcomes of a qualitative
study which aims to investigate the pedagogical potentials of serious
games in the preparation of future teachers. The authors discuss the
existing problems and barriers associated with the organization of
teaching practices in Bulgaria as part of the pre-service teacher
training, as well as the attitudes and perceptions of the interviewed
academics, teachers and trainees concerning the integration of serious
games in the teaching practicum. The study outcomes strongly
confirm the positive attitudes of the respondents to the introduction
of virtual learning environments for the development of professional
skills of future teachers as a supplement to the traditional forms of
education. Through the inclusion of serious games it is expected to
improve the quality of practical training of pre-service teachers as
they overcome many of the problems identified in the existing
teaching practices. The outcomes of the study will inform the design
of the educational simulation software which is part of the project
SimAula Tomorrow's Teachers Training.