Using SDN as a Technology Enabler for Distance Learning Applications

The number of students who obtained degrees via distance learning has grown considerably in the last few years. Services provided by distance learning systems are expected to be delivered in a fast and reliable way. However, as the number of users increases, so does the stress on the network. Software-Defined Networking, on the other hand, is a new technology that provides a rapid response to the ever-evolving requirements of today’s businesses. The technology is expected to enhance the overall performance of cloud services, including those provided by distance learning. This paper investigates the benefits of employing such a technology by educational institutions to provide quality services to the users. The results of the experiments show an improvement in performance of up to 11%, when utilizing the technology. In addition, we show how resource reservation features can be utilized to provide quality service to users depending on their role in the distance learning system

Generalization of Vieta\u27s Formula

In his beautiful monograph, Mark Kac gave a proof of Vieta\u27s formula using the Rademacher functions and their independence property. In the first chapter of his book, he gave as an exercise to state and prove a generalization of Vieta\u27s formula. In this paper we give a proof based on Kac\u27s proof for Vieta\u27s formula, and to the best of our knowledge, this generalization has only been achieved by Kent E. Morrison using the Fourier transform and delta distributions

Common Peroneal Nerve Mononeuropathy due to an Amniotic Constriction Band

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Attitudes to school physics laboratory in Oman

The major goal of this study is to explore the attitude of students and teachers to physics laboratory work in after-basic education schools in Oman. The world has seen an explosion of scientific knowledge in the past hundred years or so. The outcomes of this have brought immense changes to societies and to lifestyles; the communications revolution, the world of new materials, the development of medical advances, etc. All of these have depended on very highly skilled scientists, given the support and facilities to experiment and explore. The place of the laboratory in this has been critical and this has had an effect on the way the sciences are taught at school and university levels. The Ministry of Education in Oman incorporated laboratory work as an integral part of school education from the 1970s. Many changes have been implemented in recent years to reform the science school education. Secondary education (Grades 11 and 12) are the last episode of the basic education system. It is composed of both compulsory and elective subjects. Upon completion of this level, students receive General Education Diploma in Post-Basic Education. The curricula have been changed radically to include practical as well as theory components. The main aim of this study is to gather insights about students’ and teachers’ attitudes to physics laboratory in Oman, and how the perceptions of students and teachers differ. The attitudes of 881 Omani students and 39 teachers were surveyed using questioners designed in line with the methods of Osgood et. al (1957) and Likert (1932). The sample came from 29 public Omani schools in Al-Dahera Region. The goal was to present a picture of the attitudes based on the patterns of responses of large samples. This allows investigating the trends with students and teachers differences. Overall, students and their teachers hold positive attitudes towards laboratory work in physics. Both students and teachers argued that laboratory work is the best part of physics; it is enjoyable, important, interesting and promotes critical thinking. However, they pointed out some issues and concerns that should be addressed to fully harness the laboratory work in teaching school physics. Chi-square analyses shows that students and teachers have minor dissimilarities of views towards laboratory work. With such large sample, the study has offered a general idea about students and teachers perceptions towards physics laboratory work. Interviews with more than forty physics teachers show strong conformity between the teachers’ survey results and the results obtained from these interviews. The interviews also gave the teachers a chance to express different concerns related to physics curriculum, technical support, training and attitudes related to the use of laboratory in teaching school physics. Moreover, the study shed some light on issues and concerns that should be addressed. It also offered proposals for possible future research and presents general findings and implications

Oman, a Pathfinder Towards Tuberculosis Elimination: The journey begins

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Sleep Deprivation and Depression : A bi-directional association

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Inspirational Thinking Process within Branding Courses at University of Technology and Applied Sciences

In the world of competition and development, new brands appear everyday with catchy names and unique branding designs, presenting imagery throughout design realms. Many individuals and designers are allowed to access an extensive range of informational and visual elements to communicate with people from different backgrounds around the world. Despite the advantages of modern designs of different products and services. However, this has encountered some issues in assessing design imitations and the level of innovation and creativity in each project specially for juniors’ designers and design students. This research paper is highlighting a problem of stealing branding ideas and the difficulties that design students at University of Technology and Applied Sciences face while trying to inspire new ideas for their projects. Furthermore, it presents some challenges that teachers have when evaluating students’ works and discovering that the design has been copied. Moreover, the paper will show the role of instructors in helping their learners to inspire and make unparalleled design ideas, taking one of the fundamental branding courses at university as a case study. Also, by conducting different exercises as steps for inspiring and finalizing a project of branding to come up with a distinctive concept. At the end of this study, some tips about how to be up to date with the design development field to avoid unconscious imitation will be discussed