Search results

The purpose of this study is to design and implement an intelligent online proctoring system (IOPS) by using the advantage of artificial intelligence technology in order to monitor the online exam, which is urgently needed in online learning settings worldwide. As a pilot application, the authors used this system in an authentic university online exam and checked the proctoring result.

The IOPS adopts the B/S (Browser/Server) architecture. The server side is implemented with programming language C and Python and stores the identification data of all examinees and their important behavior change status, including facial expression, eye and mouth movement and speech. The browser side collects and analyzes multimodal data of the examinee writing the online test locally and transfers the examinee’s most important behavior status change data to the server. Real-time face recognition and voice detection are implemented with the support of open-source software.

The system was integrated into a Web-based intelligent tutoring system for school mathematics education. As a pilot application, the system was also used for online proctored exam in an undergraduate seminar in Peking University during the epidemic period in 2020. The recorded log data show that all students concentrated themselves on the exam and did not leave the camera and did not speak.

During the epidemic period of the novel coronavirus outbreak, almost all educational institutions in the world use online learning as the best way to maintain the teaching and learning schedule for all students. However, current online instruction platforms lack the function to prevent the learners from cheating in online exams and cannot guarantee the integrity and equality for all examinees as in traditional classroom exams. The literature review shows that the online proctoring system should become an important component of online exams to tackle the growing online cheating problem. Although such proctoring systems have been developed and put on the market, the practical usage of such systems in authentic exams and its effect have not been reported. Those systems are heavyweight and commercial product and cannot be freely used in education. The light-weight IOPS developed by the authors could meet the need for online exam as a stable and practical approach and could contribute to the growing online learning and distance learning.

This paper aims to examine and highlight the influence of perceived restrictiveness on online communication, and in relation, the reduction of uncertainty in purchasing decisions.

By testing statistical associations between such variables as uncertainty, perceived restrictiveness and online communications, the authors are to establish the prevalence of a phenomenon with quantitative methods that collect survey data from more than 500 real customers of a popular Chinese e-commerce site – Taobao.com.

The findings show that the perceived restrictiveness of a shopping website has a significantly role in motivating individuals to engage with each other by initiating online communication that leads to information acquirement and exchange. In addition, online communication that takes place between buyers and sellers, or among buyers, is found to be an important factor in the process of making purchasing decisions by customers.

This paper adds significance to the extant academic literature as well as assists the appropriate e-commerce vendors in assessing the determinants of customer’s purchasing behavior in the context where online shopping platforms do not support buyers’ desired decision options. It further reconciles and supplements the findings of the previous e-commerce-related studies that focus on the website characteristics only without bringing in the role of customer’s perceived restrictiveness.

The purpose of this research is to explore the relationship of a few sensory environmental parameters, mainly visual and acoustical stimuli, with childrens' behaviour and performance in special needs schools.

Analysis of teaching layouts and the sequence of activities in ten selected special needs schools have been conducted using questionnaire directed at carers and teachers. The findings were cross‐validated via open‐ended interviews with teachers and carers to glean more in‐depth understanding about sensory influences.

Several sensory parameters were observed in the teaching environment: bright colours and light, pattern glare, echoing, higher and low‐pitch sound and background noise level. The study identified numerous factors having a negative effect on children's behaviour.

This paper provides further understanding of the key factors contributing to the quality of teaching environment consistent with user's need and expectations. It provides suggestions regarding the briefing and design to support childrens' performance. This can assist in developing alternative design guidelines based on users‐centered approach to schools design.

This paper will highlight issues for open discussion amongst all those involved in the process of planning, design and management of school environments which further reduce the undesirable consequences of the aforementioned parameters towards improving their operational efficiency in use.

Cotton is one of the most common nature textile fiber that is widely used in clothing, bedding and decorative fields due to its comfort. However, the cellulosic cotton fiber has its own drawbacks. Cotton fiber belongs to flammable material with the limiting oxygen index (LOI) value about 18% that restricts its applications. Cotton fiber is easy to crease during the repeat wearing and laundering process that will influence the wearability. Therefore, it is very important to improve the flame retardancy and anticrease performance of cotton fabric.

In this study, flame retardant and anticrease multifunctional modifications of cotton fabric were conducted by one-step pad–dry–cure process using eco-friendly phytic acid and 1, 2, 3, 4-butanetetracarboxylic acid.

The results of limited oxygen index (LOI) values and vertical burning test indicate that the flame retardancy of modified cotton fabric was greatly improved. The LOI value of modified cotton fabric reached 30.8% when the usage of phytic acid was 12%. The crease recovery angle was over 250° of the modified cotton fabric revealing good anticrease performance.

This research provides a novel feasible cost-effective one-step method for the multifunctional modified cellulosic fiber using eco-friendly chemical agents.