A student personal system for bologna process mobility

The Bologna Process aimed to build a European Higher Education Area with the objective of promoting students mobility. The adoption of Bologna Declaration directives requires a decentralized approach that accelerates student's mobility, based on frequently updated legislation. This paper proposes a student personal system to manage student's academic information. This system is supported by a flexible model that integrates, for instance, knowledge about the student attended courses or about a course that the student wishes to apply. Essentially, this model holds a (i) Student's Academic Record with skills acquired in academic course units, professional experience or training and an (ii) Individual Studies Plan, which places the student in a particular (iii) Course Plan setting the curricular structure that the student wishes to apply

On-Demand Learning in the Semantic Web

Learning processes need to be efficient and just-in-time for supporting the need-to-know of employees or learners. The efficient mechanisms for acquiring knowledge on demand are crucial for organizations to enhance the skills of their employees. This paper presents how semantic web technologies used for the description both of learning objects and learning models can be used for realizing the knowledge on demand paradigm

Final State Certification of Biprofessional Educational Programs Graduates in Russia: Building a Model

The paper aims to improve the diagnostic procedures of the final state certification of university graduates studying the biprofessional content training program. The research purpose is to build and test a final state certification model of biprofessional educational programs graduates. The authors propose a functional final state certification model of biprofessional educational program graduates, which includes five blocks: (1) normative, (2) informative, (3) technological, (4) diagnostic, and (5) organizational-managerial. A graduate’s competencies, the integrity and effectiveness of their training as a social procurement requirement are confirmed during the final state certification. Certification is a system-forming factor. The paper presents the state examination effectiveness results using automated control in complex interdisciplinary testing and competence-oriented tasks. The proposed model allows for more accurate and targeted diagnostics of the graduates’ educational achievements at state examination during the final state certification

Improving Discovery of and Access to Digital Repository Contents Using Semantic Web Standards: Columbia University’s Academic Commons

This article describes the progress made towards developing Academic Commons (AC), Columbia University’s digital repository, as an interoperable repository through the use of RDF and non-RDF Semantic Web technologies. Approaches taken include the implementation of microdata to add semantic markup to HTML content; a collaboration with Oregon State University’s (OSU) digital repository, ScholarsArchive@OSU (SA@OSU), to implement an application that indexes RDF data from OSU for use in AC; as well as an exploration of the recently released MODS RDF

Organizing Contextual Knowledge for Arabic Text Disambiguation and Terminology Extraction.

Ontologies have an important role in knowledge organization and information retrieval. Domain ontologies are composed of concepts represented by domain relevant terms. Existing approaches of ontology construction make use of statistical and linguistic information to extract domain relevant terms. The quality and the quantity of this information influence the accuracy of terminologyextraction approaches and other steps in knowledge extraction and information retrieval. This paper proposes an approach forhandling domain relevant terms from Arabic non-diacriticised semi-structured corpora. In input, the structure of documentsis exploited to organize knowledge in a contextual graph, which is exploitedto extract relevant terms. This network contains simple and compound nouns handled by a morphosyntactic shallow parser. The noun phrases are evaluated in terms of termhood and unithood by means of possibilistic measures. We apply a qualitative approach, which weighs terms according to their positions in the structure of the document. In output, the extracted knowledge is organized as network modeling dependencies between terms, which can be exploited to infer semantic relations.We test our approach on three specific domain corpora. The goal of this evaluation is to check if our model for organizing and exploiting contextual knowledge will improve the accuracy of extraction of simple and compound nouns. We also investigate the role of compound nouns in improving information retrieval results

Modelos de decisão no processo de candidatura ao ensino superior público portugês

Dissertação de mestrado em Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de InformaçãoEm Portugal existem atualmente cerca de 320.000 alunos a frequentar o Ensino Secundário. Através de um estudo realizado no âmbito deste trabalho foi possível verificar que, a 5 meses da data de candidatura ao Ensino Superior, 51% dos alunos não sabiam concretamente que curso colocar na candidatura ao Ensino Superior. Foi então encontrado um número significativo (cerca de 160.000) de alunos que precisavam ser informados sobre a oferta educativa a nível nacional. Paralelamente, 25% dos cerca de 309.000 alunos que frequentam o Ensino Superior Público Português (cerca de 77.000) já mudou ou já pensou em mudar de curso no decorrer do seu percurso académico, por não estar satisfeito com a sua situação atual. Estes dois indicadores levaram os intervenientes deste projeto a pensar se a sua área de formação (Engenharia e Gestão de Sistemas de Informação) poderia contribuir com uma solução para fazer frente a este problema e auxiliar os indivíduos acima referidos a tomar a decisão mais importante do seu percurso académico. Foi então delineada através do conceito de Modelos Decisão uma solução para este problema que tem por base a construção de uma ferramenta que, através de um questionário minuciosamente preparado, vai identificar para um determinado utilizador, quais as melhores alternativas para este aplicar na sua candidatura ao Ensino Superior. O contributo desta dissertação de mestrado incide na criação de Modelos de Decisão que servirão de suporte de (conhecimento e informação) ao sistema. Para tal foi seguida uma metodologia de desenvolvimento de Modelos de Decisão baseada em 5 fases que contempla, desde a definição de objetivos, identificação do problema e dos utilizadores, passando pela procura de informação, posterior construção do modelo capaz de suportar o processo de decisão. Esta solução tem como fatores chave a informação que lhe está associada, desde variáveis de vários contextos (aspetos sociais, económicos, pessoais, psicológicos, etc.), o fundamento das mesmas em conteúdos científicos ou estudos realizados com base em factos reais, e a forma como é disponibilizada aos utilizadores finais. O modelo produzido contempla a introdução de um sistema de ponderação dessas mesmas variáveis que poderá ser definido pelo próprio utilizador, sendo este a definir o que terá mais peso no seu processo de tomada de decisão. Assim o modelo é capaz de se adaptar às características intrínsecas de cada indivíduo.In Portugal there are currently about 320,000 students attending high school. Considering that, 5 months from application date, 51 % of them did not know concretely which course to apply at College, we found a significant number (about 160,000) of students who needed to be guided and informed about the educational provision at the national level. Meanwhile, 25% of the approximately 309,000 students attending Portuguese Public Higher Education (about 77,000) has changed or ever thought of changing their course during their academic career by not being satisfied with their current situation. These two indicators led the team involved in this project to think if there was a way in which their training area (Information Systems Management and Engineering) could provide a solution to tackle this problem and assist referred students to take the most important decision of their academic career. It was then outlined, through the concept of Decision Models, a solution to this problem which is based on the construction of a tool that, through a carefully prepared questionnaire will identify for a user, what are the best alternatives for his application to College. The content of this dissertation focuses on this solution, more specifically in the Decision Models that are associated with it to support knowledge and information (database). Will be followed a development methodology for Decision Models with 5 stages that cover from setting objectives, identifying the problem and users, the demand for information , subsequent model construction capable of supporting the decision making process . This solution, considering Decision Models, has the information as key factors associated with it. Since the variables from various contexts (social, economic, personal, psychological, etc), their foundation in scientific studies or in real facts content, and the presentation to the final users. The generated model contemplates the introduction of a weighting system for these variables that can be set by the user, which is the set that will carry more weight in their decision making process. Therefore the model will be able to adapt to the intrinsic characteristics of each user

Machine Learning Approach for an Advanced Agent-based Intelligent Tutoring System

Machine Learning Approach for an Advanced Agent-based Intelligent Tutoring System Roya Aminikia Learning Management Systems (LMSs) are digital frameworks that provide curriculum, training materials, and corresponding assessments to guarantee an effective learning process. Although these systems are capable of distributing the learning content, they do not support dynamic learning processes and do not have the capability to communicate with human learners who are required to interact in a dynamic environment during the learning process. To create this process and support the interaction feature, LMSs are equipped with Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs). The main objective of an ITS is to facilitate students’ movement towards their learning goals through virtual tutoring. When equipped with ITSs, LMSs operate as dynamic systems to provide students with access to a tutor who is available anytime during the learning session. The crucial issues we address in this thesis are how to set up a dynamic LMS, and how to design the logical structure behind an ITS. Artificial intelligence, multi-agent technology and machine learning provide powerful theories and foundations that we leverage to tackle these issues. We designed and implemented the new concept of Pedagogical Agent (PA) as the main part of our ITS. This agent uses an evaluation procedure to compare each particular student, in terms of performance, with their peers to develop a worthwhile guidance. The agent captures global knowledge of students’ feature measurements during students’ guiding process. Therefore, the PA retains an updated status, called image, of each specific student at any moment. The agent uses this image for the purpose of diagnosing students’ skills to implement a specific correct instruction. To develop the infrastructure of the agent decision making algorithm, we laid out a protocol (decision tree) to select the best individual direction. The significant capability of the agent is the ability to update its functionality by looking at a student’s image at run time. We also applied two supervised machine learning methods to improve the decision making protocol performance in order to maximize the effect of the collaborating mechanism between students and the ITS. Through these methods, we made the necessary modifications to the decision making structure to promote students’ performance by offering prompts during the learning sessions. The conducted experiments showed that the proposed system is able to efficiently classify students into learners with high versus low performance. Deployment of such a model enabled the PA to use different decision trees while interacting with students of different learning skills. The performance of the system has been shown by ROC curves and details regarding combination of different attributes used in the two machine learning algorithms are discussed, along with the correlation of key attributes that contribute to the accuracy and performance of the decision maker components

Anuário Científico – 2009 & 2010 Resumos de Artigos, Comunicações, Teses, Patentes, Livros e Monografias de Mestrado

O Conselho Técnico-Científico do Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), na senda da consolidação da divulgação do conhecimento e da ciência desenvolvidos pelo nosso corpo docente, propõe-se publicar mais uma edição do Anuário Científico, relativa à produção científica de 2009 e 2010. A investigação, enquanto vertente estratégica do Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa (ISEL), tem concorrido para o seu reconhecimento nacional e internacional como instituição de referência e de qualidade na área do ensino das engenharias. É também nesta vertente que o ISEL consubstancia a sua ligação à sociedade portuguesa e internacional através da transferência de tecnologia e de conhecimento, resultantes da sua atividade científica e pedagógica, contribuindo para o seu desenvolvimento e crescimento de forma sustentada. São parte integrante do Anuário Científico todos os conteúdos com afiliação ISEL resultantes de resumos de artigos publicados em livros, revistas e atas de congressos que os docentes do ISEL apresentaram em fóruns e congressos nacionais e internacionais, bem como teses e patentes. Desde 2002, ano da publicação da primeira edição, temos assistido a uma evolução crescente do número de publicações de conteúdos científicos, fruto do trabalho desenvolvido pelos docentes que se têm empenhado com afinco e perseverança. Contudo, nestes dois anos (2009 e 2010) constatou-se um decréscimo no número de publicações, principalmente em 2010. Uma das causas poderá estar diretamente relacionada com a redução do financiamento ao ensino superior uma vez que limita toda a investigação no âmbito da atividade de I&D e da produção científica. Na sequência da implementação do Processo de Bolonha em 2006, o ISEL promoveu a criação de cursos de Mestrado disponibilizando uma oferta educativa mais completa e diversificada aos seus alunos, mas também de outras instituições, dotando-os de competências inovadoras apropriadas ao mercado de trabalho que hoje se carateriza mais competitivo e dinâmico. Terminados os períodos escolar e de execução das monografias dos alunos, os resumos destas são igualmente parte integrante deste Anuário, no que concerne à conclusão dos Mestrados em 2009 e 2010.A fim de permitir uma maior acessibilidade à comunidade científica e à sociedade civil, o Anuário Científico será editado de ora avante em formato eletrónico. Excecionalmente esta edição contempla publicações referentes a dois anos – 2009 e 2010

Viabilização da Televisão Digital Terrestre em pequenos e médios broadcasters utilizando o datacasting

Com o crescimento das tecnologias da informação e comunicação (TICs), a Televisão Analógica Terrestre se tornou obsoleta frente às tecnologias entrantes, por não oferecer serviços tecnológicos de qualidade aos seus utilizadores. Assim, faz-se impreterível a migração das Emissoras de Televisão do sistema analógico para o digital. Nesse contexto, a investigação visou a o estudo de viabilidade, nos planos tecnológico e econômico-financeiro, para a implantação da Televisão Digital Terrestre (TDT), estudo esse suportado num modelo criado para esse efeito. Para tanto, a investigação levantou, através de uma pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e estudo de caso, aspectos tecnológicos e de gestão referentes à TDT, tendo como foco a realidade brasileira. Esses levantamentos serviram de subsídio para a formação das alternativas tecnológicas possíveis na implantação da TDT e também para a concepção dos modelos de negócio utilizando o datacasting. As análises efetuadas mostraram-se eficientes na escolha da tecnologia e dos modelos de negócios. Definidos os modelos, realizou-se uma análise econômica e financeira, a qual mostra que os modelos de negócios através do datacasting e com as configurações tecnológicas utilizadas são economicamente viáveis. A solução proposta está consubstanciada no modelo formulado, o qual resulta da análise crítica dos modelos estudados, permitindo assim, responder à problemática e ao problema de investigação e fundamentar a viabilidade tecnológica e econômicofinanceira relacionada com o objeto e objetivos desta investigação. O modelo permitiu, também, evidenciar que, além da interação com o espectador, a TDT constitui um poderoso meio de distribuição de dados e abre novas frentes de pesquisa nesta área de conhecimento.The increased development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) turned Analog Terrestrial Television obsolete when compared to new coming technologies, as it cannot provide quality technological services to its users. Thus, the migration of analog Television Stations to digital is imperative. In this context, this research aimed at the feasibility study, in the technological and financial economic plans, for the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) implantation and it was supported by an appropriate model that was developed. This model took into account a deep literature review, where different case studies, including technological and management aspects related to DTT, were analysed and adapted to the Brazilian reality. These studies were considered for the possible formation of alternative technologies in the deployment of DTT and also for the design of business models using datacasting. This analysis was effective for the selection of the adopted technological and business models. After defining the proposed models, an economic and financial analysis was performed, which shows that the business models for datacasting, with the technological configurations used, are economically viable. The proposed solution is consolidated in the model formulated, which results from a critical analysis of the studied models, thus, to respond to the problematic and research problem identified and to support the technological, financial and economic feasibility related to the purpose and objectives of this research. The proposed solution also shows that, besides the possibility of interaction with viewers, DTT is a powerful system for data distribution that opens a wide range of new opportunities in this field