Investigating the Role of Multibiometric Authentication in Professional Certification E-exams

E-learning has grown to such an extent that paper-based testing is being replaced by computer-based testing also known as e-exams. Because these e-exams can be delivered outside of the traditional proctored environment, additional authentication measures must be employed in order to offer similar authentication assurance as found in proctored, Paper-Based Testing (PBT). In this study, we extended the body of knowledge in e-learning research by comparing e-exam scores and durations of three separate groups of e-exam takers using different authentication methods: Online Using Username/Password (OLUP), In-Testing Proctored Center (ITPC), and Online Proctored with Multibiometrics (OPMB). The aim was to better understand the role as well as the possible effect of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication on professional certification e-exam scores and durations. Our results indicated that group affiliation, i.e. type of authentication methods, had no significant effect on differences among e-exam scores and durations. While there was a clear path of increased mean e-exam score as authentication method was relaxed, it was evident from the analysis that these were not statistically significant,probably due to the limited sample size. Age was found to have a significant effect on e-exam scores where younger participants were found to have higher e-exam scores and lower e-exam durations than older participants. Gender was not found to have a significant effect on e-exam scores nor durations. This study’s results can help organizations better understand the role, possible effect, and potential application of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication as a justifiable approach when compared with the more common authentication approach ofUser Identifier (UID) and password, both in professional certification e-exams as well as in an online environment

The Contribution of the Parietal Lobes to Speaking and Writing

The left parietal lobe has been proposed as a major language area. However, parietal cortical function is more usually considered in terms of the control of actions, contributing both to attention and cross-modal integration of external and reafferent sensory cues. We used positron emission tomography to study normal subjects while they overtly generated narratives, both spoken and written. The purpose was to identify the parietal contribution to the modality-specific sensorimotor control of communication, separate from amodal linguistic and memory processes involved in generating a narrative. The majority of left and right parietal activity was associated with the execution of writing under visual and somatosensory control irrespective of whether the output was a narrative or repetitive reproduction of a single grapheme. In contrast, action-related parietal activity during speech production was confined to primary somatosensory cortex. The only parietal area with a pattern of activity compatible with an amodal central role in communication was the ventral part of the left angular gyrus (AG). The results of this study indicate that the cognitive processing of language within the parietal lobe is confined to the AG and that the major contribution of parietal cortex to communication is in the sensorimotor control of writing

Investigating the Role of Multibiometric Authentication on Professional Certification E-examination

E-learning has grown to such an extent that paper-based testing is being replaced by computer-based testing otherwise known as e-exams. Because these e-exams can be delivered outside of the traditional proctored environment, additional authentication measures must be employed in order to offer similar authentication assurance as found in proctored, paper-based testing. This dissertation addressed the need for valid authentication in e-learning systems, in e-examinations in particular, and especially in professional certification e-examinations. Furthermore, this dissertation proposed a more robust method for learner authentication during e-examination taking. Finally, this dissertation extended e-learning research by comparing e-examination scores and durations of three separate groups of exam takers using different authentication methods: Online Using Username/Password (OLUP), In-Testing Center (ITC), and Online with Multibiometrics (OLMB) to better understand the role as well as the possible effect of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication on professional certification e-examination scores and durations. The sample used in this study was based on participants who were all professional members of a technology professional certification organization. The methodology used to collect data was a posttest only, multiple, non-equivalent groups quasi-experiment, where age, gender, and Information Technology Proficiency (ITP) were also recorded. The analyses performed in this study included pre-analysis data screening, reliability analyses for each instrument used, and the main analysis to address each hypothesis. Group affiliation, i.e. type of authentication methods, was found to have no significant effect on differences among exam scores and durations. While there was a clear path of increased mean e-examination score as authentication method was relaxed, it was evident from the analysis that these were not significant differences. Age was found to have a significant effect on exam scores where younger participants were found to have higher exam scores and lower exam durations than older participants. Gender was not found to have a significant effect on exam scores nor durations. ITP was found to have a significant effect on exam scores and durations where greater scores with the ITP instrument indicated greater exam scores and lower exam durations. This study\u27s results can help organizations better understand the role, possible effect, and potential application of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication as a justifiable approach when compared with the more common authentication approach of User Identifier (UID) and password, both in professional certification e-examinations as well as in an online environment

Investigating the role of multibiometric authentication on professional certification e-examination

E-learning has grown to such an extent that paper-based testing is being replaced by computer-based testing also known as e-exams. Because these e-exams can be delivered outside of the traditional proctored environment, additional authentication measures must be employed in order to offer similar authentication assurance as found in proctored, Paper-Based Testing (PBT). In this study, we extended the body of knowledge in e-learning research by comparing e-exam scores and durations of three separate groups of e-exam takers using different authentication methods: Online Using Username/Password (OLUP), In-Testing Proctored Center (ITPC), and Online Proctored with Multibiometrics (OPMB). The aim was to better understand the role as well as the possible effect of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication on professional certification e-exam scores and durations. Our results indicated that group affiliation, i.e. type of authentication methods, had no significant effect on differences among e-exam scores and durations. While there was a clear path of increased mean e-exam score as authentication method was relaxed, it was evident from the analysis that these were not statistically significant,probably due to the limited sample size. Age was found to have a significant effect on e-exam scores where younger participants were found to have higher e-exam scores and lower e-exam durations than older participants. Gender was not found to have a significant effect on e-exam scores nor durations. This study’s results can help organizations better understand the role, possible effect, and potential application of continuous and dynamic multibiometric authentication as a justifiable approach when compared with the more common authentication approach ofUser Identifier (UID) and password, both in professional certification e-exams as well as in an online environment

Effects of different cultivated or weed grasses, grown as pure stands or in combination with wheat, on take-all and its suppression in subsequent wheat crops

Grass species were grown in plots, as pure stands or mixed with wheat, after a sequence of wheat crops in which take-all (Gaeumannomyces graminis var. tritici) had developed. Annual brome grasses maintained take-all inoculum in the soil as well as wheat (grown as a continuous sequence), and much better than cultivated species with a perennial habit. Take-all developed more in wheat grown after Anisantha sterilis (barren brome) or Bromus secalinus (rye brome), with or without wheat, than in continuous grass-free wheat in the same year, where take-all decline was apparently occurring. It was equally or more severe, however, in wheat grown after Lolium perenne (rye-grass) or Festuca arundinacea (tall fescue), despite these species having left the least inoculum in the soil. It was most severe in plots where these two grasses had been grown as mixtures with wheat. It is postulated that the presence of these grasses inhibited the development of take-all-suppressive microbiota that had developed in the grass-free wheat crops. The effects of the grasses appeared to be temporary, as amounts of take-all in a second subsequent winter wheat test crop were similar after all treatments. These results have important implications for take-all risk in wheat and, perhaps, other cereal crops grown after grass weed-infested cereals or after set-aside or similar 1-year covers containing weeds or sown grasses, especially in combination with cereal volunteers. They also indicate that grasses might be used experimentally in wheat crop sequences for investigating the mechanisms of suppression of, and conduciveness to, take-all