48 research outputs found
Designing Examinations Information System Management: a comparative case study application of Soft Systems Methodology
No full textInformation systems development is considered socio-technical system design (Bostrom and Heinen, 1977). Technical system developments with conventional software development methodologies (lifecycle/waterfall approach, CASE tools, RAD, OOP) sometimes ignore important social and cultural factors, which may lead to failure of the information systems (Bostrom and Heinen, 1977; Bennetts et al., 2000). Soft Systems Methodology (Checkland, 1990) is identified as a potential approach for tackling such factors in messy ill-structured information system development problem situations. Many attempts have been made to integrate SSM with more conventional methodologies (Avison & Wood-Harper 1990; Savage & Mingers, 1996; Bustard et al., 2000; Lewis, 2008) and some recent developments are made by Mathiassen & Nielsen (2000) and Rose (2002). Conceptualizing work systems using SSM has been carried out in many studies (Kasimin and Yusoff,1996; Sørensen & et al. 2010). However, almost all studies have taken a single organizations’ work situation as their starting point.This interpretive action research uses SSM to compare two work situations: the Examination Departments of Mehran University (MUET) and Aalborg University (AAU). MUET is a primarily manual system, whereas Aalborg is extensively computerized. The objective is to design an improved system for MUET. Standard SSM analysis tools are integrated with interaction and transformation models (Rose, 2002), flowchart tools (JAI, 1995), physical workspace models and user interface prototypes from contextual design (Beyer & Holtzblatt, 1998), and the process of organizational meaning model (POM) (Checkland, 1998). A systematically desirable and culturally feasible examinations information system model is proposed for MUET. Much inspiration can be taken from study of the computerized work process at Aalborg, but care must be taken to accommodate the underlying cultural differences.<br/
Bridging worlds:Information systems development through cross-cultural comparison
No full textThis paper reports a case study where soft systems methodology (SSM) was used to help automate a largely manual administrative (examination) information system in a Pakistani university. Various design suggestions for information system improvements, both administrative and IT-supported were made (and implemented) through comparison with another university in Denmark which is well supported by computer systems. An action design research approach with an interpretative epistemology/ontology was adopted. Though the single comparison experience is difficult to generalise, we conclude that SSM (with some adaptations) can enable a socio-technical comparison and design effort and offer a prototype process. The comparison stimulates forward-looking design, but great care must be taken to accommodate cultural differences, and further research is necessary to integrate more sophisticated cultural analysis tools into the design process. The research extends SSM in information system development—from a single situational analysis to a comparative process and can be adapted as a pattern for practitioners with similar automation needs.This paper reports a case study where Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) was used to help automate a largely manual administrative (examination) information system in a Pakistani university. Various design suggestions for information system improvements, both administrative and IT-supported were made (and implemented) through comparison with another university in Denmark which is well supported by computer systems. An action design research approach with an interpretative epistemology/ontology was adopted. Though the single comparison experience is difficult to generalise, we conclude that SSM (with some adaptations) can enable a socio-technical comparison and design effort and offer a prototype process. The comparison stimulates forward-looking design, but great care must be taken to accommodate cultural differences, and further research is necessary to integrate more sophisticated cultural analysis tools into the design process. The research extends SSM in information system development (ISD) - from a single situational analysis to a comparative process and can be adapted as a pattern for practitioners with similar automation needs
PARADIGMA TAFSIR AL-MANAR
No full textAbstract: The essential of Al-Mana>r in the process of interpretation become its interpretation phenomenal. Many names were given indistinguishing al-Mana>r style such al-manhaj al-ijtima>y, al-laun al-adaby al-ijtima>’y and so forth. The writer elaborates the paradigm that used by al-mana>r’s author to investigate the reasons in giving various naming. As the result, those naming are understandable. This article investigated al-Mana>r paradigm into three perspectives. First, interpretation means an earnest effort which implemented to decide some cases which are not discussed in Qur’an and hadist. In consequence, human taught becomes an important aspect in interpreting. Second, all the effort is an attempt to make the interpretation of Qur’an as guidance (hida>yah). Then third, interpretation effort is an attempt to make Qur'an readers happiness in this world and in the hereafter. Al-Mana>r has inspired various interpreting works. Therefore, Al-Mana>r refers to the social interpreting (al-madrasah al-'aqliyah al-ijtima>'iyyah). Al-Mana>r paradigm can be categorized as rational paradigm because it puts sense in the important position. Muh}ammad 'Abduh argues that, "Logic is the main principal of Islam. Logical thinking in Islam means a prelude to the true faith” and “Reasoning becomes priority when a literal understanding and logical reasoning clash.” Keywords: Paradigm, Help, Happiness, al-Madrasah.</jats:p
Design and Analysis of an Anthropomorphic Finger with Three Points Pneumatic Actuation
No full textThe human being’s hand is a set of fingers and can achieve any shape to hold or grip or grasp the object of different shapes. In the industrial sectors, various robot manipulators with different types of end-effectors (robot grippers) are used to perform tasks like gripping the object, picking & dropping the object, holding the tool, etc. The different types of end-effectors are required for grasping according to the geometry of the object. In this paper, an anthropomorphic finger is designed to mimic the human being’s finger to achieve any shape as the human’s finger and this finger can be a part of the robotic hand easily. This single type of robotic hand can perform all tasks for grasping any geometry of the object. The proposed finger consists of three pin joints with three pneumatic muscles, which help to achieve the desired shape with maximum holding/grasping power. The CAD model is developed to visualize and analyze finger motion. The comparison of the proposed finger and a real human finger is presented for validation of results. The results show that the proposed system can mimic the human finger and shape modulation
Development of Capacity Building Mechanism for Non-Academic Staff in Public Sector Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan
No full textNon-academic staff play a critical role in the administration, governance, and operational efficiency of public sector higher education institutions (HEIs) in Pakistan. However, limited capacity-building initiatives hinder their professional development, affecting institutional performance. This study explores the training needs, challenges, and skill gaps among non-academic personnel and proposes a structured capacity-building mechanism. A pilot study with 50 participants was conducted using a quantitative survey approach, followed by statistical validation, reliability analysis, and exploratory factor analysis (EFA). The findings indicate insufficient training opportunities, resistance to digital transformation, and a lack of standardized professional development policies. The study emphasizes the need for HEC-led national training frameworks, dedicated funding, and competency-based learning models to enhance staff efficiency and institutional governance. The research provides evidence-based recommendations to improve non-academic staff development in Pakistan’s HEIs, ensuring long-term sustainability and operational effectiveness in higher education administration
Blood image analysis to detect malaria using filtering image edges and classification
No full textMalaria is a most dangerous mosquito borne disease and its infection spread through the infected mosquito. It especially affects the pregnant females and Children less than 5 years age. Malarial species commonly occur in five different shapes, Therefore, to avoid this crucial disease the contemporary researchers have proposed image analysis based solutions to mitigate this death causing disease. In this work, we propose diagnosis algorithm for malaria which is implemented for testing and evaluation in Matlab. We use Filtering and classification along with median filter and SVM classifier. Our proposed method identifies the infected cells from rest of blood images. The Median filtering smoothing technique is used to remove the noise. The feature vectors have been proposed to find out the abnormalities in blood cells. Feature vectors include (Form factor, measurement of roundness, shape, count total number of red cells and parasites). Primary aim of this research is to diagnose malaria by finding out infected cells. However, many techniques and algorithm have been implemented in this field using image processing but accuracy is not up to the point. Our proposed algorithm got more efficient results along with high accuracy as compared to NCC and Fuzzy classifier used by the researchers recently
Use of reflective journal in an in-service teacher education programme: Some implications for school improvement
No full textA considerable amount of research conducted in Europe and elsewhere except in Pakistan indicates that the in-service teacher education programmes facilitated in the implementation and institutionalization of change at school level geared towards the school improvement process (Dalin et.al, 1992). In the past, the in-service education programmes for teachers in Pakistan received little attention of the government since its focus was on the quantitative expansion rather than qualitative augmentation of education. The teachers who attended in-service education programmes found their experiences as a ‘luxury activity’. Most of them seemed to be interested in their traveling and daily allowances (T.A./D.A.) rather than professional development (Warwick and Remiers, 1995). In order to depart from the traditional in-service teacher education programmes, the government sector generally and particularly the private sector have launched some reflective and practial in-service teacher education programmes in Pakistan. These programmes allow teachers to reconceptualize their teaching practice that might lead to equality improvement in their schools. The Institute for Educational Development of the Aga Khan University, organized an eight week in-service teacher education programme for Balochistan primary school teachrs from three districts (Quetta, Kallat and Killa Saifullah) from January 5 – March 6, 1997. This programme was known as Visiting Teachers (VT) programme. Among other practices and processes used in this programme for the professional development of these teachers leading to school improvement, reflective journal was used to develop their critical thinking which is essential for the effective teaching and learning process. In other contexts, reflective journals have been used effectively in various teaching and learning situations for different purposes. In this case the purpose of using reflective journals was to allow teachers to think critically and analyze their thinking and actions for making necessary modification in their teaching behaviour that is required for improving quality education. Furthermore, reflective journal helped them to see relationship between written account and reasoning and raise critical issues to their learning for their professional development. This paper aims to underline the importance of reflective journal as a useful device for VTs to ‘unfreeze’ their age old notions of their teaching and learning, question the relevance of new ideas to their practical life, initiate ‘change’ and ‘refreeze’ new practices which are required for sustainable change for school improvement (Cheng 1996)
The role of value of information in multi-agent deep reinforcement learning for optimal decision-making under uncertainty
No full textTo preserve structural safety of deteriorating engineering systems through optimal maintenance, it is imperative to efficiently integrate structural health information with decision-making optimization frameworks. Although there may be abundance of available data, these are often uncertain and incomplete. In addition, joint inspection and maintenance (I&M) optimization is inherently complex due to high-dimensional state and action spaces, stochastic objectives, long planning horizons, and various constraints, among others. As shown recently, these computational challenges can be effectively addressed through optimization principles of Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) and constrained Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL). The POMDP framework provides a way of updating the decision-maker's perception about the system state by naturally incorporating the Value of Information (VoI) in the optimality equations. As such, optimal observation-gathering actions are those which guide maintenance decisions towards reduced life-cycle costs and risks. The role of VoI in DRL-driven I&M has also been shown to be central to the formation of policy gradients, which are necessary to obtain the optimal I&M plan with deep learning actor-critic architectures. Leveraging this property, a recently devised DRL architecture is further examined in this work, consisting of fully decoupled 'maintainer' and 'inspector' actors, which allow for greater efficacy and interpretability in multi-agent DRL settings. Several numerical analyses are carried out to assess the performance of the relevant architectures on stochastic systems with a varying number of components, multiple maintenance-inspection actions per component, and system-level failure risks.Architectural Technolog
