Development of Mobile App (P_Lab) for Enhancing the Student Understanding In Practical Work

Mobile applications which are also known as mobile apps is a software program which is developed for mobile devices such as smartphone and tablets. Recently, the development of mobile apps for the educational purpose has been expanding rapidly. It becomes as one of a powerful tool for transforming learning and for improving the quality of education, enhancing the student understanding, helping affirm as well as advance the relationships between educators and students. Among the incredible number of mobile apps, there are a large number of apps for educational purposes. However, there is still a lack of mobile apps which focus on enhancing student understanding in Practical Work (PW). PW is important and plays a central role in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). It is because PW can develop hand on skill and at the same time as a bridging between theory and practice. However, most of the student cannot do well in PW because; students are not interested to read lab sheets, lack on preparation as well as lack on the understanding in theory which is related to PW. Therefore, P_Lab is developed with aim for enhancing the student understanding in the PW. P_Lab is a mobile app that is developed from AppMakr.com which is a do-it-yourself platform and the process requires less coding knowledge. To study the effectiveness of the P_Lab, pre-test, post-test and a questionnaire has been given to the Electrical Engineering student in Politeknik Melaka. Results showed that students made extensive use of resources provided from P_Lab, considered the P-Lab to be beneficial for enhancing their understanding in practical work, and found that it is easy to use with minimal support and training. An analysis showed a statistically significant increase in understanding scores for practical work-related questions after the introduction of P_Lab mobile app.

An Overview of Blockchain Technology

Blockchain Technology is an emerging technology nowadays. The Blockchain was first used as a Peer-to-Peer ledger for registering Bitcoin transactions. The blockchain is a singly linked list which consists of a number of transactions. The blockchain is a decentralized distributed ledger which consists of a number of blocks organized in the form of a chain. A block in blockchain consists of two parts data and hash pointer. The first block in the blockchain is known as genesis block. The transactions and data in the block are secured by cryptography. The data inside a block in blockchain can be anything like bank transactions, backup data etc., which are recorded chronologically and publicly. The Hash pointer of a block is a unique code generated by a hash function like SHA256, SHA-3 etc., the hash function used in bitcoin blockchain. A block consists of a public key and a private key, using hash function digital signature is generated to the block. This is how the data inside the blockchain is so secured. The blocks are added into the blockchain by verifying the transaction in the block, the transactions are verified by miners. The miners use consensus algorithm to solve the blocks.

A Secure Communication through Quantum Key Distribution Protocols

Quantum cryptography is a new method of communication offering the security of the inviolability by using Law of Nature.Quantum Cryptography uses different secure communication by applying the phenomena of quantum physics. Unlike traditional classical cryptography, which uses mathematical techniques to restrict eavesdroppers, quantum cryptography is focused on the properties of physics of light for information. Quantum cryptography depends only on the validity of quantum theory, i.e., it is guarantied directly by the laws of physics. This is a different from any classical cryptographic techniques. This paper summarizes the current state of quantum cryptography and provides potential extensions of its feasibility as a mechanism for securing existing communication systems.

Design of Reliable Body Channel Communication Transceiver with Spread Spectrum Clock Generator and PNR Generator

In this work, the communication of a channel in the human body has a characteristic (time-domain) which can be measured at various distances in transmission and various frequencies of a signal by the printed circuit board-an analog frontend board (PCB-AFE) support. Besides, for the wideband signal of Body Channel Communication (BCC), a human body skin acts within a range of 1 Mb/s to 40 Mb/s as the transmission medium. This communication is more stable and attenuating low power while comparing with all another transmission medium in wireless. Moreover, due to the motion of a human body, this communication doesn't get affected. Though, the body antenna gives effects in the communication of a channel of the human body by occurs some interference. The Manchester data acts as encoder and decoder in transmitter and receiver parts respectively, in an AFE-PCB the Manchester encoder data is amplified after receiving the data from end to end channel of a human body. The data quality is improved by 7X sampler in clock data recovery (CDR) circuit. Therefore, the proposed design of reliable BCC Transceiver with SSCG and PNR Generator is processed in XilinxISE14.5, ModelSim Simulator 6.5a (Quartus II 8.1), and Micro wind software tools. It is also implemented in a XilinxXC9572XL kit. The power consumption and delay is reduced up to 90%, speed is increased up to 50% and leakage current is reduced up to 80% in the transmitter part.

Information Quality Characteristics for M-Learning Applications

This research study investigates the potential to apply a quality analysis process for mobile learning (M-learning) software applications in accordance to a defined set of information quality characteristics in attempt to increase the level of quality in the mobile learning systems. This empirical study is conducted on widely accepted and used M-learning application form both close source and open source systems comprising a known reasonable amount of MLOC, medium-scale. Four M-learning applications were selected for conducting this study including Moodle, Blackboard, Edmodo and Schoology. The systems are statically analyzed and examined to determine if it meets the proposed quality characteristics or not. For each system the features and techniques used with respect to the defined characteristics are determined and tabulated. This study focuses mainly on particular information quality characteristics include maintainability, reusability, testability, and security. The data shows that the approach is applicable and effective but needs further formalization and improvement to be effectively implemented. New ideas are additionally proposed for future work to include other dimensions of the M-learning application quality characteristics such as availability, reliability, performance, usability, and functionality. This empirical study is part of funded research project investigating the development, adoption and dissemination of M-learning in Oman.

Development of Band Reject Filter to Mitigate the effect of WLAN in UWB Receivers

This paper is about a dual band single notch filter to eliminate the effect of WLAN in UWB range. A novel square resonator with interdigital coupling at both sides plays a key role in this filter design. Design and EM Simulation of the dual band notch filter's characteristics are discussed in this paper. The proposed dual band notch filter produces excellent bandwidth from 2 GHz to 5 GHz and from 5.5 GHz to 8 GHz. The filter rejects the band of frequency from 5 GHz to 5.5 GHz which is very narrow band in which the filter eliminates the effect of WLAN (IEEE 802.11a). Also the out band performance of the proposed dual band filter meets the requirement of FCC's mask. The simulation analysis of the proposed filter is performed by electromagnetic solver. The return loss, insertion loss, group delay and phase of the filter are simulated and their performances are analyzed. The overall dimension of the filter is achieved to be 39mm x 3.2mm x 1.6mm on accounting the above features. The fractional bandwidth of the notch filter is calculated from the bandwidth and the center frequency and it is obtained about 115%. The S parameter results of the filter such as return loss (S11) in stop band is about -24 dB and insertion loss (S21) is about -28 dB is obtained.

Design and Implementation of the Service-Aware Traffic Engineering (SATE) in the LISP Software- DefinedWireless Network (LISP-SDWN)

Software Defined Wireless Networks (SDWN) have been considered to have a feasible architecture that enables the fast deployment of new services and solutions in response to the explosion in the number of users and network traffic. Currently, the telecommunications sector is ensuring flexibility in network management and configuration. However, fluctuations in traffic are still beyond the control of SDWN providers. This paper suggests ways to manage fluctuations of traffic with service type. We propose the design of a service-aware network management service that achieves the maximum network utilization among heterogeneous Radio Access Networks (RANs) as a form of Traffic Engineering (TE). In this paper, we implement and test the Service-Aware Traffic Engineering (SATE) that distributes the network traffic to RANs according to the service type of traffic in the network layer. The traffic shift latency (e.g., from an LTE RAN to a Wi-Fi RAN) is considered as a performance metric that does not affect the end-to-end latency of some network applications (e.g., VoIP), and it is 3.51ms from our testbed. Therefore, it might not affect the end-to-end latency of the VoIP application in the telecommunications. SATE is implemented using OpenDaylight (ODL) and Ingress/Egress Tunneling Routers (xTRs) running on Vector Packet Processing (VPP).

Fast Recovery Architecture by Selecting Surrogate Master Node (FSMN) in Industrial IoT Environment

This paper proposes an architecture that selects a sink node when a CPS is paralyzed. The CPS is a system (master node) with various sensor networks and machine networks that exchanges device information in real-time in the industrial IoT environment. When the CPS cannot perform normally due to internal/external factors, the last log of the master node is analyzed to determine the cause of the paralysis. The CPS select six attributes from the log data and convert them into datasets usable in this architecture. The normal category of the sink node is determined through the K-means clustering algorithm according to the sink node's profiling data. The centroid of the normal category is then determined. The normal category of the sink node is updated in real time until the CPS is paralyzed. When CPS paralysis occurs, the log data of the most recent sink node is applied to the K-means clustering that was formed in advance. We then determine the most available sink node among the sink nodes through the distance using vector value and priority algorithm between the central point and the sink node. Therefore, in the case of a failure of the master node, the high-priority surrogate master node can perform the role of the master node so that the data and the system can be maintained even in unexpected situations.

Cloud Computing and K-12 School IT Infrastructure in Western Canada: From Challenges to Opportunities

This paper is based on the findings of an exhaustive study of all 75 large K-12 districts in Canada's three western-most provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. This study encompassed over 1.1 million students and a geographical area of 2,258,483 square kilometers. Facilitating teaching and learning activities for so many students across such a large territory, with diverse provincial regulations, is an impressive feat achieved by the information technology leaders of the K-12 school districts. Multiple case study analysis, followed by correlation analysis, were used to explore the nature of IT infrastructure and cloud computing use in Western Canada. A data transformation model mixed methods triangulation design methodology was used. This paper discusses the strategies used in Western Canada to deliver educational technology resources through to students, teachers, parents, and district staff. The findings of this study are that cloud computing is the primary IT infrastructure in Western Canadian K-12 education. All school districts in the three provinces studied use cloud computing for some aspects of their infrastructure. In instances where cloud computing infrastructure is not used, school-level LAN and server infrastructure is used. In addition to being an alternative to cloud computing, the rare instances of school-level server use are either to supplement or complement a district’s centralized cloud computing infrastructure, with cloud computing infrastructure existing in parallel.

Conceptual Design of Low Altitude Unmanned Small Hybrid Airship

In the last two decades, popularity of Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) are at their peaks. Their capacities and abilities are advancing day by day in parallel with development of science and technology. They are doing almost everything what conventional aircrafts are doing except passenger transfer, for now. Despite an UAS can be controlled from thousands of miles away, they are still limited in range and endurance because of their energy storage capacities. Most of the energy sources of an aircraft is used against to gravitational force. However, Lighter Than Air(LTA) gases like helium, hydrogen etc. provides an option to aircrafts using lifting capacity of these gases and combination of lifting capacity of LTA gases and mechanical forces produced by engines allows engineers to create hybrid airships. Hybrid Airships gains flight altitude by using static lifting force of lighter than air gases in addition of the mechanical force which is produced by the propulsion system of the vehicle. Engines makes necessary maneuver with direction units to control the airship in all directions. Static lift from the LTA gases provide additional payload capacity to vehicle without consuming energy. Therefore, unlike the conventional aircrafts, hybrid airship has more flight duration than the others and more payload capacity. Aim of this work is, developing a low-cost small hybrid airship by using static lift force of the lighter than air gases and present to advantages of hybrid aircrafts.