Content-based indexing of low resolution documents

In any multimedia presentation, the trend for attendees taking pictures of slides that interest them during the presentation using capturing devices is gaining popularity. To enhance the image usefulness, the images captured could be linked to image or video database. The database can be used for the purpose of file archiving, teaching and learning, research and knowledge management, which concern image search. However, the above-mentioned devices include cameras or mobiles phones have low resolution resulted from poor lighting and noise. Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) is considered among the most interesting and promising fields as far as image search is concerned. Image search is related with finding images that are similar for the known query image found in a given image database. This thesis concerns with the methods used for the purpose of identifying documents that are captured using image capturing devices. In addition, the thesis also concerns with a technique that can be used to retrieve images from an indexed image database. Both concerns above apply digital image processing technique. To build an indexed structure for fast and high quality content-based retrieval of an image, some existing representative signatures and the key indexes used have been revised. The retrieval performance is very much relying on how the indexing is done. The retrieval approaches that are currently in existence including making use of shape, colour and texture features. Putting into consideration these features relative to individual databases, the majority of retrievals approaches have poor results on low resolution documents, consuming a lot of time and in the some cases, for the given query image, irrelevant images are obtained. The proposed identification and indexing method in the thesis uses a Visual Signature (VS). VS consists of the captures slides textual layout’s graphical information, shape’s moment and spatial distribution of colour. This approach, which is signature-based are considered for fast and efficient matching to fulfil the needs of real-time applications. The approach also has the capability to overcome the problem low resolution document such as noisy image, the environment’s varying lighting conditions and complex backgrounds. We present hierarchy indexing techniques, whose foundation are tree and clustering. K-means clustering are used for visual features like colour since their spatial distribution give a good image’s global information. Tree indexing for extracted layout and shape features are structured hierarchically and Euclidean distance is used to get similarity image for CBIR. The assessment of the proposed indexing scheme is conducted based on recall and precision, a standard CBIR retrieval performance evaluation. We develop CBIR system and conduct various retrieval experiments with the fundamental aim of comparing the accuracy during image retrieval. A new algorithm that can be used with integrated visual signatures, especially in late fusion query was introduced. The algorithm has the capability of reducing any shortcoming associated with normalisation in initial fusion technique. Slides from conferences, lectures and meetings presentation are used for comparing the proposed technique’s performances with that of the existing approaches with the help of real data. This finding of the thesis presents exciting possibilities as the CBIR systems is able to produce high quality result even for a query, which uses low resolution documents. In the future, the utilization of multimodal signatures, relevance feedback and artificial intelligence technique are recommended to be used in CBIR system to further enhance the performance

Malay, Chinese, and internet banking

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to focus on the impact of cultural traits on the intention to use internet banking. Drawing from the technology acceptance model and trust literature, the paper examines the influence of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and trust on the intention to use internet banking among Malay and Chinese ethnic groups. Design/methodology/approach: The questionnaire was distributed to final year business students and Master of Business Administration students at four public universities in Malaysia. A separate multiple regression was employed to analyze the data for each ethnic group. Findings: For both ethnic groups, the results showed that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and trust, all have significant effect on the intention to use internet banking. Further examination of the regression coefficients revealed the cultural traits that may explain the extent to which they influence factors that affect the intention to use. Research limitations/implications: Respondents of this study were students. This factor may decrease generalizability of the study because students' interest on the use of internet banking may be different from those of the general public. One research implication of this study is that there is a need to consider the role of culture in examining factors that affect behavioral intention. Practical implications: Banks need to highlight the benefits of internet banking, make internet banking easy to use, and enhance internet banking's security to improve consumers' trust. Given the fact that culture affects one's behavior, each customer group needs to be evaluated differently and the "one-size-fit-all" approach to encourage internet banking usage should be avoided. Originality/value: This paper attempts to link cultural traits that may explain the extent to which it influences factors that affect the intention to use internet banking

Advertizing, concentration and profitability in Malaysian manufacturing revisited: A simultaneous equation approach

The original Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm that postulates a unidirectional relationship between concentration, advertizing and profitability had been used as the theoretical framework for many empirical works in industrial organizations before the mid seventies. Thereafter, doubts had begun to surface over the unidirectional postulate and there is new theory suggesting simultaneous interdependence. Unfortunately, not only are Malaysian studies in this area few and far between (exhaustive literature review yields only three published studies namely, Gan and Tham, 1977; Gan, 1978; and Rugayah, 1992), they also failed to incorporate the more recent theoretical development on the simultaneity of effects. This paper revisits the SCP paradigm as applied to the relationship among concentration, advertizing and profitability by conducting an empirical test that allows for simultaneous interdependence among variables. A set of three equations was estimated using three stage least squares (3SLS). The results provide considerable support to the feed forward and feedback effects between the three variables. Advertizing intensity exerts a significant influence on profit and concentration in the industry and there exists a feedback effect running from concentration to advertizing intensity. This finding suggests that advertizing does have an anti-competitive impact on the industry and therefore has a direct bearing on competition policy analysis

A perspective of the Malaysian highway energy consumption and future power supply

In this short communication, we discuss the energy consumption trends in the Malaysian road transport sector, with a special emphasis on the energy losses due to vehicle aerodynamic drag on highways. The recent trends of energy consumption in the Malaysian road transport sector are reviewed. It is evidently shown that the aerodynamic losses represented exceed 1.2. MTOE annually since 2002. A novel concept of vertical-axis wind turbine (VAWT) farms for harvesting aerodynamic energy losses on Malaysian highways is preliminarily proposed. The novel concept aims at providing a sustainable and green energy source for the lighting of the highway network in the country

Secondary School Students’ Abilities Through Problem Posing Activities

Creativity in problem posing activities can be measured or assessed via students’ abilities through problem posing activities. In this study, the researchers considered secondary school students’ abilities in problem posing activities can be measured via two main stages, namely “Uno problem” stage and “Due problem” stage. “Uno problem” stage requires students to add extra conditions from the original textbook problem and create a new demand. On the other hand, “Due problem” stage requires students to remove one or two conditions from the original textbook problem and create a new demand. This paper reports the study that examined secondary school students’ abilities through problem posing activities. The purpose of the study was threefold. First, to investigate secondary school students’ abilities in the problem posing activities, second, to identify secondary school students’ performances in the problem posing activities, and third to evaluate the proposed teaching-learning material, which consisting of problem posing activities. The study involved the use of exploratory, quantitative and qualitative approaches as its study design. Sixty students involved in the test and interview sessions, and ten mathematics teachers involved in answering the questionnaire sessions. The results of the study revealed that more than three quarter of the students were “more able” in generating “Uno problem” correctly if compared to “Due problem”. In other words, the students were “more able” to add extra conditions from the original textbook problem and create a new demand. On the other hand, it was found that more than half of the students were able to perform four out of five questions correctly. So this means that students’ problem posing performances can be nurtured. In addition, the proposed teaching-learning material consisting of problem posing activities, which is appropriate to students’ different abilities and performances can be used to enhance teaching and learning mathematics. Keywords: structured problem posing activities, uno problem, due problem, problem posing framewor

Economical effectiveness comparison between Sabit 1 Teras and motorized palm cutter (Cantas) / Nor Izati Md Nor

In oil palm plantation, harvesting is the important element that needs to be carried out efficiently. Proper harvesting technique, skills and tools are the main element to ensure that the yield can be harvest in maximum numbers. The harvesting tool was designed to ease the harvesting process as well as reduce cost. Nowadays, there are several types of harvesting tools that have been used in oil palm plantation which are conventional sickle, chisel, Motorized Palm Cutter and Sabit 1 Teras. This study focuses on comparing the economical effectiveness between Sabit 1 Teras and Cantas and was conducted at Kedah. The data taken by using these two harvesting tools includes all the economic assessment data needed as well as number of bunches harvested per day, time taken needed to harvest bunches, working endurance of workers in field and economic life of each equipment. The data were analyzed by using cost effectiveness analysis and Independent T-Test. The results from statistical analysis showed that Sabit 1 Teras is more effective in terms of technical and economical compared to Cantas. From the results of this study, it was really recommended for the plantation and smallholders to use Sabit 1 Teras since it will help in saving the cost and achieving higher technical efficiency for the harvesting process

Model Fungsian Sistem Pengurusan Ko-Kurikulum Sekolah Rendah (SPKoK)

Co-curricular activities are outdoor class activities which are both important and compulsory for all students apart from their indoor curricular activities. However, the management of the current manually-run report management system and cocurricular information registration imposes problems to the teachers who are managing them as well as to the school authorities. Among the weaknesses of the manual system include inefficient data storing, incompetent and time-consuming data access, data security problem, inconsistency in developed report format and difficulty in data manipulation. Other than that, there is no specific guide or model that can be used as reference when automating the manual process. Due to this, the study aims to propose a functional model for Primary Schools Co-curricular Management System (SPKoK). Generally, the functional model of SPKoK comprises of six major functions and those functions are modeled using a diagram notation of a flowchart so that the view for all the functions as well as connection between functions and data flows, external entities and data storage can be seen without detailed explanation within the functional model. The developed functional model was verified through the prototype construction and testing of acceptance by teacher

Chauffeur Service Management System

The purpose of this research project is to improve the business performance of the chauffeur service company specifically in Kuala Lumpur. Case study of one of the Chauffeur Service company in Kuala Lumpur called Alpha Stella Malaysia was taken where few problems had been identified such as conventional system of receive and process the reservation by the customers, chauffeur and cars details not updated, no proper client records, and no specific place to cater customer feedback to improve the service. Therefore Chauffeur Service Management System will assist the Alpha Stella in improving their business efficiency as well as to improve the quality of service that they are provided. This web based system was developed using ASP.Net with the concept of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Management lnformation System (MIS). The result of User Acceptance test had shown that Alpha Stella customers agree that the usage of Chauffeur Service Management System will lead towards increase in Alpha Stella business effrciency and also the retention of the loyal customers. Besides Alpha Stella's customers, Alpha Stella's workers also agree that the system will assist them in lessen the work load and reduce time consuming. Furthermore, there were two main usability testing were conducted which covered the System Usability Testing (SUS) and Generic User Interface Questionnaire (QUIS). The result had shown that Chauffeur Service Management System is easy to navigate somehow the administrator and customer service still need the help of technical person in guide them in using the system. However, they are confidence in using the system and believe the system will help them in increasing the work efficiency and productivity

Physical properties of cutlet-clay ceramic

A series of ceramic based on (x) cullet-(l00-x) clay has successfully been made by slip casting followed by sintering at 800°C. The sample density has been determined using the Archimedes method while their hardness by the Vickers Hardness Test. Meanwhile, the thermal shrinkage has been measured at 900°C. It is found that the density is in the range of 2.03–2.27gem-3, increases as the amount of cullet is increased. Meanwhile their hardness up to 0.38 GPa can easily be obtained. The thermal shrinkage is found to be 2.9–11.9%, increases with the increasing of cullet content up to 60 wt%

Factors impeding the industrialized building system (IBS) implementation of building construction in Malaysia

In Malaysian construction industry, Industrialised Building System (IBS) has been introduced to replace the traditional construction method. While the government has been making significant efforts to encourage the IBS adoption, the uptake of IBS in Malaysia construction projects remains low. This study seeks to identify the barriers to the uptake of IBS and to propose the strategies to enhance the implementation IBS in Malaysian housing construction process from the perspectives of consultants. Interviews were conducted with five selected experienced individuals who were working with consultants (civil and structure engineer and quantity surveyor). The results revealed that, lack of knowledge and insufficient skilled workers are the main factors that impede the IBS uptake in Malaysia. Meanwhile, the most strategy proposed by the interviewees is to increase the facilities and incentives in order to expand research and development in IB