This study aims at identifying the reality of alternative assessment for teachers of the first cycle of the basic education in the Sultanate of Oman with respect to the degree of teachers' use of alternative assessment strategies, level of self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies, and attitude towards alternative assessment, and their relationship with other variables. To achieve the aims of the study, a descriptive research approach was utilized. A 5-point self-rated questionnaire was developed. It consists of three sections: Actual use of alternative assessment strategies (21 items), self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies (21 items), and attitude towards alternative assessment (27 items). The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were examined in terms of validity and reliability. The questionnaire was administered to a sample of (392) teachers teaching grades (1-4) of the first cycle of the basic education from three governorates (Muscat, Batinah North, and Batinah South) in the Sultanate of Oman. Results showed that teachers' use of alternative assessment strategies was high, their level of self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies was high, and their attitude towards alternative assessment was positive. Also, there were statistically significant differences among teachers in using alternative assessment strategies, level of self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies, and attitude towards alternative assessment attributed to specialization and training in alternative assessment. However, there were no statistically significant differences among teachers in using alternative assessment strategies, level of self-efficacy for alternative assessment strategies, and attitude towards alternative assessment attributed to years of teaching experience, teaching quorum, and teaching load. The researcher recommends conducting workshops on alternative assessment for the teachers and more research in the area of alternative assessment
Text based-image clustering (TBIC) is an insufficient approach for clustering related web images. It is a challenging task to abstract the visual features of images with the support of textual information in a database. In content-based image clustering (CBIC), image data are clustered on the foundation of specific features like texture, colors, boundaries, shapes. In this paper, an effective CBIC) technique is presented, which uses texture and statistical features of the images. The statistical features or moments of colors (mean, skewness, standard deviation, kurtosis, and variance) are extracted from the images. These features are collected in a one dimension array, and then genetic algorithm (GA) is applied for image clustering.
... Show MoreIn this paper, two new simple, fast and efficient block matching algorithms are introduced, both methods begins blocks matching process from the image center block and moves across the blocks toward image boundaries. With each block, its motion vector is initialized using linear prediction that depending on the motion vectors of its neighbor blocks that are already scanned and their motion vectors are assessed. Also, a hybrid mechanism is introduced, it depends on mixing the proposed two predictive mechanisms with Exhaustive Search (ES) mechanism in order to gain matching accuracy near or similar to ES but with Search Time ST less than 80% of the ES. Also, it offers more control capability to reduce the search errors. The experimental tests
... Show MoreNowadays, still images are used everywhere in the digital world. The shortages of storage capacity and transmission bandwidth make efficient compression solutions essential. A revolutionary mathematics tool, wavelet transform, has already shown its power in image processing. The major topic of this paper, is improve the compresses of still images by Multiwavelet based on estimation the high Multiwavelet coefficients in high frequencies sub band by interpolation instead of sending all Multiwavelet coefficients. When comparing the proposed approach with other compression methods Good result obtained
Background: diagnostic radiology field workers are at elevated risk level for systemic and oral diseases like periodontal diseases. This study was aimed to estimate the periodontal condition and salivary flow rate among diagnostic radiology workers. Material and method: The sample for this study consisted of a study group radiographers (forty subjects) working for 5 years at least and control group consisted of nurses and laboratory workers away from radiation (forty subjects) in Baghdad hospitals. All the 80 subjects aged 30-40 year-old and looking healthy without systemic diseases. Plaque, gingival, periodontal pocket depth and clinical attachment loss indices were used for recording the periodontal conditions. Under standardized condi
... Show MoreNumeral recognition is considered an essential preliminary step for optical character recognition, document understanding, and others. Although several handwritten numeral recognition algorithms have been proposed so far, achieving adequate recognition accuracy and execution time remain challenging to date. In particular, recognition accuracy depends on the features extraction mechanism. As such, a fast and robust numeral recognition method is essential, which meets the desired accuracy by extracting the features efficiently while maintaining fast implementation time. Furthermore, to date most of the existing studies are focused on evaluating their methods based on clean environments, thus limiting understanding of their potential a
... Show MoreUsing the Internet, nothing is secure and as we are in need of means of protecting our data, the use of passwords has become important in the electronic world. To ensure that there is no hacking and to protect the database that contains important information such as the ID card and banking information, the proposed system stores the username after hashing it using the 256 hash algorithm and strong passwords are saved to repel attackers using one of two methods: -The first method is to add a random salt to the password using the CSPRNG algorithm, then hash it using hash 256 and store it on the website. -The second method is to use the PBKDF2 algorithm, which salts the passwords and extends them (deriving the password) before being ha
... Show MoreBeta-lactamase was purified from local isolate Klebsiella pneumonia by several steps included precipitation with ammonium sulphate at 20-40% saturation, DEAE- ion exchange chromatography and gel filtration on Sephacryl S-200 column. The obtained purification fold and recovery were 32.66; 47.04% respectively. The characterization of the purified beta-lactamase showed that the molecular weight was about 4000 daltons as determined by gel filtration.Purified enzyme had an optimal pH of 7 for activity and an optimal stability between pH 6.5-7.5, results shows that the optimal temperature appear to be 35 ? C .During storage the enzyme retained 72% at -20 ? C and retained 25% of the activity at the same period at 4 ? C.
Joining tissue is a growing problem in surgery with the advancement of the technology and more precise and difficult surgeries are done. Tissue welding using laser is a promising technique that might help in more advancement of the surgical practice. Objectives: To study the ability of laser in joining tissues and the optimum parameters for yielding good welding of tissues. Methods: An in-vitro study, done at the Institute of Laser, Baghdad University during the period from October 2008 to February 2009. Diode and Nd-YAG lasers were applied, using different sessions, on sheep small intestine with or without solder to obtain welding of a 2-mm length full thickness incision. Different powers and energies were used to get maximum effect. Re
... Show More