Towards a Learning-Aware Application Guided by Hierarchical Classification of Learner Profiles

Learner profiling is a methodology that draws a parallel from user profiling. Implicit feedback is often used in recommender systems to create and adapt user profiles. In this work the implicit feedback is based on the learner's answering behaviour in the Android application UnlockYourBrain, which poses different basic mathematical questions to the learners. We introduce an analytical approach to model the learners' profile according to the learner's answering behaviour. Furthermore, similar learner's profiles are grouped together to construct a learning behaviour cluster. The choice of hierarchical clustering as a means of classification of learners' profiles derives from the observations of learners behaviour. This in turn reflects the similarities and subtle differences of learner behaviour, which are further analysed in more detail. Building awareness about the learner's behaviour is the first and necessary step for future learning-aware applications

Pergamon Press Ltd.

Abstract--The automatic recognition of printed Farsi (Persian) texts is complicated by several properties of the Farsi script: (a) connectivity of symbols, (b) similarity of groups of symbols, (c) highly variable widths, (d) subword overlap, and (e) line overlap. In this paper, a technique for the automatic recognition of printed Farsi texts is presented and its steps are discussed as follows: (1) digitization, (2) editing, (3) line separation, (4) subword separation, (5) symbol separation, (6) recognition, and (7) postprocessing. The most notable contributions of this work are in algorithms for steps (5) and (6) above. Practical application of the technique to Farsi newspaper headlines has been 100 % successful. However, smaller type fonts, which could not be handled by the coarse digitization hardware used, will no doubt result in less than perfect recognition. The technique is also applicable with little or no modification to printed Arabic and Urdu texts which use the same alphabet as Farsi. Character recognition Computer input Document input Optical character recognition Pattern recognition Persian BACKGROUND Automatic recognition of printed or handwritten texts provides a convenient means of communication wit

Electrically and thermally conductive thin elastic polymer foils containing SiC nanofibers

6 pags., 6 figs.Design and experiment of polymeric nanocomposites (NCs) for photovoltaic applications with outstanding electrical and thermal properties has been investigated with the introduction of SiC nanofibers (NFs) into the poly(trimethylene terephthalate)-block-poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTT-PTMO) copolymers. In order to enhance the electrical and thermal conductivity, different concentrations of SiC NFs, ranging from 0.1 to 3.0 wt %, have been selected to mix with PTT-PTMO via in situ polymerization method. This reaction method is an excellent choice for incorporation of high amount of SiC NFs (3 wt %) into the polymer that was confirmed by morphological studies. From dielectric spectroscopy studies a percolating behavior was confirmed at low percolation threshold (less than 2% wt %). Furthermore, the 15% increment for thermal conductivity appeared with combination of 0.5 wt % SiC NFs with PTT-PTMO copolymers, which can be affected by manufacturing process of NCs, state of nanofillers dispersion and aspect ratio of nanofillers.Sandra Paszkiewicz would like to thank for financial support from West Pomeranian University of Technology (Dean's Grant for Young Scientists). Amelia Linares and Tiberio A. Ezquerra acknowledge the financial support provided by MINECO (grant MAT2015-66443-C02-1-R).Peer Reviewe