Ontology-based recommender system for a learning sequence in programming languages

The same learning process in educational systems could be boring and time consuming for some learners. This problem arises from the lack of personalized learning sequence for learners with different knowledge level. Recommender systems play an important role in assisting the learners to find suitable learning materials and personalized learning sequence. Use of ontology for knowledge representation in knowledge-based recommender systems would facilitate sharing, reuse and common terminology. Since programming concepts have logical relationships among together so, traditional education systems are more stressful and very time-consuming. This paper aims to propose an ontology-based recommender system to present a Personalized Learning Sequence in Programming (PLSP) domain which is depended to learner's knowledge level. A recommender module and, the knowledge base module are integrated together in the proposed framework. The recommender module as the main module in the framework, has three stages which is working based on semantic rules and ontology representation. Evaluation of the system was carried out by comparing the non-recommender system (web-based search) using 32 ICT respondents. Results demonstrate that the participants who used the proposed system spent 1119 seconds to find the suitable learning path in comparison to those who used a non-recommender system (3480 seconds) in the same learning material. It means that learners who follow learning path with PLSP, are more suitable for them. Furthermore, the average mean value of usability test is 4.47, (5 maximum scale) which indicates that the system proved to be useful, was easy to use, and satisfied the users

Predicting aesthetic preferences: does the Big-Five matters?

User experience is imperative for the success of interactive products. User experience is notably affected by user preferences; the higher the preference, the better the user experience. The way users develop their preferences are closely related to personality traits. However, there is a void in understanding the association between personality traits and aesthetic dimensions that may potentially explain how users develop their preferences. This paper examines the relationship between the Big-Five personality traits (Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism) and the two dimensions of aesthetics (classical aesthetics, expressive aesthetics). Two hundred twenty participants completed the Big-Five questionnaire and rated their preference for each of the ten images of web pages on a 7- point Likert scale. Results show Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism were not significantly correlated with aesthetic dimensions. Only Agreeableness showed a significant correlation (although weakly) with both classical and expressive aesthetics. The finding conforms to literature that personality traits have influence on the preference of individual design features in lieu of aesthetic dimensions. In other words, personality traits are inapt predictor of aesthetic dimension. Therefore, more studies are needed to explore other factors that potentially help to predict aesthetic dimensions

An integrated data mining algorithms and meta-heuristic technique to predict the readmission risk of diabetic patients

Reducing hospital readmission rate is a significant challenge in the healthcare industry for managers and policymakers seeking to improve healthcare and lower costs. This study integrates data mining and meta-heuristic techniques to predict the early readmission probability of diabetic patients within 30 days of discharge. The research dataset was obtained from the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository, including 101765 instances with 50 features representing patient and hospital outcomes, collected from 130 US hospitals. After data preprocessing, including cleansing, sampling, and normalization, a Chi-square analysis is done to confirm and rank the 20 identified factors affecting the readmission risk. As the algorithms' performance could vary based on the features’ characteristics, several classification algorithms, including a Random Forest (RF), Neural Network (NN), and Support Vector Machine (SVM), are employed. Moreover, the Genetic Algorithm (GA) is integrated into the SVM algorithm, called GA-SVM, for hyper-parameter tuning and increasing the prediction accuracy. The performance of the models was evaluated using accuracy, recall, precision, and f-measure metrics. The results indicate that the accuracy of RF, GA-SVM, SVM, and NN are calculated respectively as 74.04 %, 73.52 %, 72.40 %, and 70.44 %. Using GA to adjust c and gamma hyper-parameters led to a 1.12 % increase in SVM prediction accuracy. In response to increasing demand and considering poor hospital conditions, particularly during epidemics, these findings point out the potential benefits of a more tailored methodology in managing diabetic patients

Development of a Combined System Based on Data Mining and Semantic Web for the Diagnosis of Autism

Introduction: Autism is a nervous system disorder, and since there is no direct diagnosis for it, data mining can help diagnose the disease. Ontology as a backbone of the semantic web, a knowledge database with shareability and reusability, can be a confirmation of the correctness of disease diagnosis systems. This study aimed to provide a system for diagnosing autistic children with a combination of semantic web and data mining. Method: Data is taken from the UCI database. There were a total of 292 data records available of which 80% (234 records) were used for modeling through the decision tree. Knowledge about patients and autism disease was presented via ontology using the Protégé 5 software. The ontology has four classes and 12 properties to communicate between the individuals in the classes. The rules extracted from the decision tree were transformed into a comprehensible form (SWRL) for interpretation in the ontology using a converter. Results: Whether the child is healthy or not can be determined by the rules obtained in the decision tree. In addition, the output of the ontology using the interpretation of 25 rules confirmed the diagnosis of an Autistic child using the decision tree. The evaluation of the ontology also confirmed its correctness. Conclusion: According to the similarity between the result of the ontology and the decision tree regarding the diagnosis of the disease, the accuracy of the proposed method can be emphasized

Ontology-Based Recommender System for a Learning Sequence in Programming Languages

The same learning process in educational systems could be boring and time consuming for some learners. This problem arises from the lack of personalized learning sequence for learners with different knowledge level. Recommender systems play an important role in assisting the learners to find suitable learning materials and personalized learning sequence. Use of ontology for knowledge representation in knowledge-based recommender systems would facilitate sharing, reuse and common terminology. Since programming concepts have logical relationships among together so, traditional education systems are more stressful and very time-consuming. This paper aims to propose an ontology based recommender system to present a Personalized Learning Sequence in Programming (PLSP) domain which is depended to learner's knowledge level. A recommender module and, the knowledge base module are integrated together in the proposed framework. The recommender module as the main module in the framework, has three stages which is working based on semantic rules and ontology representation. Evaluation of the system was carried out by comparing the non-recommender system (web-based search) using 32 ICT respondents. Results demonstrate that the participants who used the proposed system spent 1119 seconds to find the suitable learning path in comparison to those who used a non-recommender system (3480 seconds) in the same learning material. It means that learners who follow learning path with PLSP, are more suitable for them. Furthermore, the average mean value of usability test is 4.47, (5 maximum scale) which indicates that the system proved to be useful, was easy to use, and satisfied the users