Using Microsoft Multipoint Technology to Enhance Collaborative Learning in Primary Schools

Researches in psychology, education and pedagogical practices show the stunning impact of collaboration in learning, particularly for young children. However, current design of Personal Computer Applications for collaborative learning is limited and poor. The objective of this research is to use Microsoft Multipoint technology in order to create collaborative quiz game for leveraging collaboration among primary school students. Merging prototyping with Interaction Design is very suitable for the purpose of gaining experience and it identifies new opportunities to customize the interface for collaborative software and make full use of Microsoft Multipoint technology. Measuring usability attributes; Usefulness, Ease of Use, Ease of Learning and Satisfaction is a core step to test the prototype system and approve the successfulness of research objectives. One limitation of this paper is that there is no text-based activity in the prototype. All data was collected via using USE Questionnaire in order to test usability attributes from perspective of users. The results of this research revealed that students found the prototype useful, easy to use, easy to learn and they attained high satisfaction. Most importantly, observations revealed that students were extremely excited and they could collaborate effectively. The value of this project is to leverage collaborative learning in primary schools and clarify the importance of merging Interaction Design and Microsoft Multipoint technology; which in return could encourage collaboration. Placing this project in the public domain will, hopefully enable other researchers and practitioners in similar situations to relate to my experience and gain insights

Gold recovery from sulphide minerals:a bioprocessing approach

Sometimes gold recovery  from its ores represents a challenge. This is due to fine dissemination and interlocking of the gold within the associated sulfide minerals. Many approaches were tried to solve this problem, they included roasting, oxidation in addition to bioprocessing. In thelast approach, application of bacteria enhances sulfidesbio-oxidation and consequently facilitates their leaching. Therefore, this paper aims at investigating gold biorecovery from Alhura area gold ore, located at Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia. Investigated parameters included Feed Size,mm; Dose of bacteria, ml ; Retention time, day; Steeringspeed, rpm; Bacteria nutrient addition rate, K  2SO4, kg/t; Bacteria nutrient addition rate, (NH  4)3PO4, kg/t. Statistical screening of these parameters showed that the most significant ones are: ore feed size, dose of bacteria and K2SO4 nutrition in addition to retention time. However at optimum conditions, (10 ml bacterial dose, 6 days retention time, and 6.5 Kg/t K 2SO4 as bacteria nutrient) a gold concentrate containing up to 107g/t gold from an ore containing 1.14g/t gold was obtained

Current Challenges of Requirement Change Management

Nowadays, responding to requirements change in software industry is essential for survival in the competitive market to achieve business objectives. However, it is clearly evident that changing requirements have many problems which causes software failure. This was a great motivation to analyse literature for identifying current challenges of Requirements Change Management (RCM); which in return can improve our ability to make better decisions and resolve changing requirements problems. Major challenges of RCM have been elucidated as reusability, change anticipation, change activity measurement, connectivity with software artifacts and change management automation. Identifying RCM challenges will help to draw a road map for researchers and practioners to find optimal solutions

Assessing organizations readiness toward business intelligence systems: a proposed hypothesized model

Nowadays, the concept of Business Intelligence (BI) is being implemented within many organizations around the globe. Organizations invest billions of US dollars aiming to improve their timeliness and quality of the input to the decision process, where BI is the targeted keyword. However, organizations are often faced with many challenges in achieving the expected outcomes of BI systems within their firms. Here, one of the most cumbersome obstacles is the organizations’ readiness toward BI systems. Therefore, it is highly justified to assess organization’s readiness toward BI systems to avoid any loss and to enhance the overall revenue. This paper presents a brief history on BI systems and the challenges of their implementation within organizations. A review and analysis of models for assessing organizations’ readiness toward BI systems is established to understand their weakness and strength points. Finally, this paper proposes a hypothesized framework for solving readiness assessment issues within organizations which will be evaluated in the coming studies

Performance of High Strength POFA Concrete in Acidic Environment

Malaysia as the world’s largest exporter of palm oil has been facing problem in disposing palm oil fuel ash, a by-product of palm oil mill since many years ago. The discovery made by researchers of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia last century in revealing the potential of this finely ground waste as a partial cement replacement in normal concrete has stem efforts towards studying the possibility of using it in high strength concrete production. This paper illustrates the durability aspect of high strength concrete produced using POFA of different fineness when exposed to acidic environment. Two POFA concrete mixes with different fineness termed (POFA 45 and POFA 10) at 20% replacement level by weight of cement and an OPC concrete mix functioning as control specimen termed Po was considered in this study. All the specimens were subjected to water curing for 28 days before immersed in the hydrochloric solution having pH 2 for 1800 hours. The progressive deterioration was evaluated through mass changing of the specimens, visual inspection and relative compressive strength determinations. Conclusively, the study found that increase in the POFA fineness enhances the resistance of high strength POFA concrete towards acid attack

ON (p, q)-STANCU-SZÁSZ-BETA OPERATORS AND THEIR APPROXIMATION PROPERTIES

In the present paper, we introduce the generalized form of (p; q)-analogue of the Szász-Beta operators with Stancu type parameters. We derived the local approximation properties of these operators and obtained the convergence rate and weighted approximation

A qualitative study on best practices and process of eliciting unambiguous quality attributes in scrum-based projects

Software quality is very crucial for users’ satisfaction and software success in the market. Recent studies found some ambiguous software quality attributes that may lead to low-quality software, and lack of elicitation practices in projects that apply Agile Software Development (ASD) methodology especially Scrum. However, current ASD methodologies, systematic literature reviews and surveys did not provide explanation of the necessary elicitation practices. Therefore, this qualitative study was essential to achieve two objectives: exploring the best practices and identifying process of eliciting unambiguous quality attributes in Scrum-based projects. The study used qualitative approach in which data was collected via interviewing eight experienced software practitioners from India and documents analysis that explains documentation of quality attributes in Scrum. For data analysis, the thematic analysis method was used for analysing interviews scripts and documents. The findings resulted in three initial themes that represent three steps in the elicitation process and six sub-themes that represent the elicitation practices. The first step is proactive exposure to quality attributes which consists of two practices: understanding software scope and envisaging potential quality attributes. The second step is mutual learning discussion which consists of two practices: ameliorating technical knowledge of customers and users and compiling details of quality attributes. The third step is verifying common understanding which consists of two practices: utilization of visual artefacts and documentation of quality attributes. The contribution of the study provides an extension to ASD body of knowledge regarding the effectiveness of disambiguation of terminologies in software domain, simplifying technical terms, representing reusable software artefacts, showing similar software, drawing mock-up and developing proof of concept in eliciting unambiguous quality attributes. Furthermore, the findings accentuate practical contributions to the software developers such as reducing effort, time and cost of designing and construction of software

Service quality and technology for performing Hajj

This case highlights the success of Lembaga Tabung Haji as the sole provider of Hajj (pilgrimage) management services for Muslims residing in Malaysia to perform Hajj in the Holy Land. A very significant contributing factor to the success of Lembaga Tabung Haji was the services provided by various staff under Tabung Haji as well as related parties. This case specifically discuss about the opportunities and challenges for the Guidance Division, a division under the Hajj Department, focusing on two types of Tabung Haji staff: PIHTAS (Hajj facilitators in the Holy Land) and PEKTA (Hajj course facilitators). The case highlighted the need for guidance among the prospective pilgrims both while in Malaysia and in the Holy Land. The knowledge on hukum and the support (such as counselling) given by PEHTAS & PEKTA helped ease the challenges faced by prospective pilgrims who were in unfamiliar places performing unfamiliar rituals. Delivery of service and service quality directly influenced the satisfaction of these pilgrims. In the future, the introduction of technology to assist delivery of the services might further improve service quality, hence increasing customer satisfaction with Lembaga Tabung Haji as a whole