IT e-Magazine Issue 4, February 2015
The growth of Information Technology has been phenomenal since the middle of the 21 century. It has affected all aspects of life in one way or another. So the objective of this magazine, which released by the department of Information Technology – Lebanese French University (LFU), is to disseminate information on the application of IT and to be a platform for discussing its benefits and its impact on society. We welcome articles that cover and analyze the benefits and impacts of IT applications on the society and which elaborate on their implementation issues. The criteria for selecting articles for the magazine include: the subject area of the article; new ideas about applications and implementation techniques; how well the information is presented; level of interest to other readers; and, the importance to the IT community. All articles will be subject to a reviewing procedure. Hopefully, contributions to this magazine will 'enhance readability for the general IT reader' and 'help direct society towards a more beneficial use of IT'. Editorial Committee item @ lfu-erbil . net
1971, Project Gutenberg was created by Michael Hart (inventor of the electronic book 'e-book') to be a first project for make books freely available via the Internet as a first e-library. Project Gutenberg began when Hart, a student at the University of Illinois, was given an operator's account on Materials Research Lab's mainframe to digitize the 'United States Declaration of Independence'. As of January 2015, Project Gutenberg has over 48,000 items in its collection.
1 in 7 people More than 1.2 billion people use Office. That’s 1 in 7 people on the planet.
ARMA 3 Arma company launched the new version of his famous online fighting game (arma 3) which contains several new armies (Peshmerga, ISIS and Iraqi Army) next to the armies of the world superpowers, where each army has a real recipes and special style to planning, managing and running the battles. This is a version of "arma 3" is an update to the original 3D and with interactive graphics version.
People who changed the Internet Father of the Internet The Father of Internet 'Vint Cerf', together with 'Bob Kahn' created the TCP/IP suite of communication protocols. A language used by computers to talk to each other in a network. Vint Cerf once said that the internet is just a mirror of the population and spam is a side effect of a free service. ITeM Website: http://www.lfu-erbil.net/item
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INSIDE THIS ISSUE
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Are Mobile Apps Worth it? Mohammad Al-Hamami
Although mobile devices are developing in a very fast manner but if we compare mobile devices with desktop computers, they are still suffering from limited resources such as memory capacity, processor computational power, and battery power. That is reasonable because mobiles should be in appropriate size and light weight. This will be a challenge for the convenience of mobile use and its efficiency. So how that will affect apps? Apps that need limited resources will be successful products for mobiles, so apps programmers should be creative on how building apps that have effective features with limited resources, and this is a big challenge. Who can read this article: IT, Educators, Computer Students and Parents
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BYOD Policy in Education Mazin S Al-Hakeem
BYOD (Bring your own device) refers to the policy of permitting employees, students also, to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace, and to use those devices to access privileged information and applications. However, the proliferation of devices such as tablets and smartphones, which are now used by many people in their daily lives, has led to a number of companies, such as Intel and IBM, and universities such as MIT, to allow employees and students to bring their own devices to work and classroom, due to perceived productivity gains and cost savings. Who can read this article: IT, Educators, Computer Students and Parents
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Careful what you say: Your Samsung TV might be listening Harith Abdullah
Samsung has come under fire from privacy campaigners after it emerged the company’s new smart TVs are capable of listening to your conversations. Viewers hoping to take advantage of the voice activation feature have been warned by Samsung not to disclose personal information because voice recordings can be captured and transmitted to unidentified third parties! Who can read this article: Any One
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Content Management Systems Ahmed Abduladheem Abdulwahid
When programmer wants to build a website, he should go and learn one of the most popular website programming languages such as PHP, ASP.net, JavaScript, etc. All these languages require a skilled a tremendous effort to be able to design and create a powerful website (Dakhwe, 2006). Who can read this article: Web Designers, Web Developers, & CS lecturers
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Interactive Whiteboard Yahya Tariq Hussaen
An interactive whiteboard (IWB) is a presentation device that interfaces with a computer. The projector projects the content from a computer onto the surface of the board, where they can be seen and manipulated. Users can control software both from the computer and from the board. Participants can add notations, and emphasize by using a pen and or highlighter tool. Who can read this article: IT, Educational
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IT Curriculum of Undergraduate Programs Mohammad Salim
This article is short summary of curriculum guidelines of Information Technology which prepared by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society. In this article, the sequence as the followings: IT definitions, broad goals of IT programs, IT curricula focus area, and academic discipline of IT as the last subject of the article. However, in academic environment, IT refers to undergraduate degree programs that prepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations. In some countries, other names are used for such degree programs. Who can read this article: IT Lecturers, IT Students and anyone interested in IT field
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LED, LCD, Plasma and 3D TVs Ali Makki Sagheer
LED, LCD and plasma are the main types of TV available in stores, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses that should be factored into your buying decision. Of the, LED TVs are the most recent introduction and, as such, are generally a bit more expensive than comparable plasma and LCD models. For the money, though, you'll get a super thin and energy-efficient TV. Although, as with most modern flat screen TVs, LED sets often suffer from poor sound. Who can read this article: IT Intendance
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MCC-Education: Ihsan Sayyid Salman
Opportunities of Using Mobile Cloud Computing as ICT tool in Education It is a new technological platform which has been emerged in the recent years through development of mobile technology in the world known as Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC). Mobile Cloud Computing can be defined as an integration of cloud computing into mobile environment that refers to an infrastructure where both data storage and data processing happened outside of mobile device. Who can read this article: IT, Educational
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The Statistics Software Package (SPSS): IBM Predictive Analytics Tool Sarah Y Yosif
IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is a software package that used for the analysis of statistical information programs is in sociology. Today, SPSS is widely used by researchers in the field of marketing, finance, government, education, and is also used to analyze the questionnaires, information management and document information to achieve deeper understanding of people's attitudes, preferences and opinions so that this valuable insight can be included in decision-making processes. Who can read this article: IT, Statisticians, Educators, Researchers
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Wireless Damage on the Health and how to Avoid Them Biayrak Al-Taie
Is Wi-Fi devices harmful to human health? This question imaginable by Internet /mobile phones users from time to time, there is different views and research in this regard and the truth is that it does not effect on the public health only but it effects on the environment too, studies of Wageningen University have proven the negative impact of the wireless on existing trees in civilized places in the Netherlands, The result was the discovery of damage in the tissues of these trees and the differences in growth caused by the electromagnetic field sent out from the Wifi networks. Who can read this article: Every person using Wifi and Bluetooth devices
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Are Mobile Apps Worth it? Mohammad Alaa Al-Hamami (Ph.D) Applied Science University - Bahrain mohammad.alhamami@yahoo.com The development of mobile devices leads them to be used in anytime and in anyplace to communicate with others. Due to the existence of wireless networks, it becomes easy to deal with all electronic applications by using mobile devices. The use of mobiles in dealing with business applications leads to large impacts on communication networks and applications from the information integrity, security and responses to queries point of view.
Mobiles became a main part in our life, now days you could forget your wallet or your watch but I don’t think you can afford forgetting your mobile because everything you need is there. Mobile devices become smarter and their objective uses had been changed.
systems and devices; in other words the success of the mobile brand depends on the number of applications that it has. Although mobile devices are developing in a very fast manner but if we compare mobile devices with desktop computers, they are still suffering from limited resources such as memory capacity, processor computational power, and battery power. That is reasonable because mobiles should be in appropriate size and light weight. This will be a challenge for the convenience of mobile use and its efficiency. So how that will affect apps? Apps that need limited resources will be successful products for mobiles, so apps programmers should be creative on how building apps that have effective features with limited resources, and this is a big challenge.
You can do mostly everything by using your mobile device such as calling, browsing emails and the Internet, and use Internet applications like social networks, e-commerce and other activities.
Let us take Instagram as an example, it becomes one of the most popular image processing mobile applications because it gives us flexible tools to edit images and at the same time it doesn’t need much memory space or processing time. But I still believe that Instagram will be much better if there is a desktop version, because its features could be much stronger, simpler, and better with the available resources.
After the appearance of mobile apps, mobile devices become much stronger and these apps is now one of the most important criteria for mobile operating
From the other hand, typing using mobile devices is still a big pain, although mobile vendors try to fix this problem by enhancing input buttons, touch screens,
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6 and using pens, but it still not comfortable. I think most people agree about writing using a pen on glass feels freaky!
From the previous we can conclude that mobile apps are very important and it worth to be developed due to the large use of the mobile devices.
So writing programs or typing a lot of text pages using mobile devices will be a bad idea.
BYOD Policy in Education Mazin S. Al-Hakeem Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil dr.mazin@lfu-erbil.net BYOD (Bring your own device) refers to the policy of permitting employees, students also, to bring personally owned mobile devices (laptops, tablets, and smart phones) to their workplace, and to use those devices to access privileged information and applications.
However, the proliferation of devices such as tablets and smartphones, which are now used by many people in their daily lives, has led to a number of companies, such as Intel and IBM, and universities such as MIT, to allow employees and students to bring their own devices to work and classroom, due to perceived productivity gains and cost savings.
morale and convenience by using their own devices. The study by Aruba Networks found that high rate of enterprises and universities allowed some form access from personal devices. The amount of enterprises and universities endorsing BYOD varied significantly in different countries and regions. Here’s the rate of BYOD acceptance. In 2009, the term BYOD first entered common use, courtesy of Intel when it allows to his employees to bring their own devices (i.e., smartphones, tablets and laptop computers) to work and connect them to the corporate network. However, in early 2011, Unisys (IT services provider) and Citrix Systems (software vendor) companies was achieved the real prominence when based on BYOD philosophy.
Some researchers believe that BYOD may help students be more interactive and productive as it allows for the ability to easily take the device home and classroom; and it increases student
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7 In 2012, the USA Equal Employment Opportunity Commission adopted a BYOD policy; and in August 2014, a California court ruled that companies must now reimburse any work calls done on any employee's personal phone in the state. Apple has been a major force in the BYOD movement, it ignited the BYOD flame with the release of the iPhone and iPad. In addition to the financial considerations, another major advantage is the educational benefits of mobile devices, which were tested during pilot programmes in several states, these are: Students can for example attend lectures via podcasts they can consult online at home for their homework, leaving them free during class to ask the teacher questions and discuss and solve problems as a group. The same advantages apply to teachers: they can deliver their prerecorded lessons and be free to interact
with students and offer individual help and coaching to those with difficulties. From a purely practical vantage, students using their own devices will already be familiar with the technology. Having connected devices also means that students have fewer text books to carry (and potentially leave at home), and such devices offer access to online resources, either on the school’s dedicated platform or stored on the hard drive or in the cloud. Another practical consideration, the colleges who took part in pilot programmes observed that students tend to take better care of their own hardware than of equipment lent by the college. References 1. http://www.mobilitybriefing.com 2. http://www.arubanetworks.com/ne ws-releases/byod-adoption-isgrowing
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Careful what you say: Your Samsung TV might be listening Harith A. Hussein Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil harith_abd1981@yahoo.com Samsung has come under fire from privacy campaigners after it emerged the company’s new smart TVs are capable of listening to your conversations. Viewers hoping to take advantage of the voice activation feature have been warned by Samsung not to disclose personal information because voice recordings can be captured and transmitted to unidentified third parties!
Even viewers who do not activate the voice recognition feature are still at risk of being snooped on, as the machine continues to collect data through its microphones. The only way to stop a Samsung smart TV from eavesdropping on your conversation is to disable voice recognition data collection in the settings menu. Samsung claims it collects transcribed voice data in order to improve the technology’s features. An investigation last year by consumer magazine ,Which found that smart TVs made by LG, Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, and Toshiba track people’s viewing habits – something consumers agree to when they accept the TV’s terms and conditions.
Electronic Frontier Foundation activist Park Higgins compared Samsung’s privacy policy to the famous book in a tweet on Sunday. It has already received 14,000 retweets. Samsung insists it takes consumer privacy seriously, but did not name the third party which translates speech to text. The issue was first highlighted by the Daily Beast, which warned readers not to talk about incriminating matters such as “tax evasion” and “drug use” in front their TV sets. Hidden away in Samsung’s privacy policy is a single sentence which may change the way you behave in front of your TV: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party.”
Users who choose not to accept their TV’s terms and conditions may end up reverting to a not-so-smart television. While Toshiba and LG block internet access and apps, Samsung reportedly stops customers from using the TV at all. Sony is the only manufacturer which blocks the tracking of television usage without restricting other functions. Finally, Samsung has responded to the public backlash against its privacy policy, claiming it takes such concerns “very seriously.” “If a consumer consents and uses the voice recognition feature, voice data is provided to a third party during a requested voice command search. At that time, the voice data is sent to a server, which searches for the requested content then returns the desired content to the TV,” the company said.
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Content Management Systems Ahmed Abduladheem Abdulwahid Master of Computer Science, University of Central Missouri, USA ahmed_z_1987@yahoo.com Introduction When programmer wants to build a website, he should go and learn one of the most popular website programming languages such as PHP, ASP.net, JavaScript, etc. All these languages require a skilled a tremendous effort to be able to design and create a powerful website (Dakhwe, 2006). However, these languages require some particular server platforms to be able to implement them easily and with flexibility. These procedures spend time, money and effort to achieve the particular requirements . Nowadays, several collections of open source software allow any developer or programmer to work with them much more easily than writing program code. Content Management System (CMS) is the solution of spending less time, money, and effort.
It is defined as a software system that allows any developer to organize, develop, design, manage, publish, and collaborate tools with little knowledge of web programming languages (Esparza, 2011).
CMS Advantages Moreover, Content Management System deals with the relational database that makes the connection between the system and the database very flexible and easy. Several advantages support using CMS in these days widely. Many CMSs are free open source software that can find online with a lot of kinds of modules, themes, and other web applications. CMSs have very high levels of security (Jain, 2010). The most popular CMSs Currently, there are several types of Content Management Systems (CMS), but the most popular CMSs are WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal. These are widely used CMSs in these days, and they are free open source software written in PHP that use MySQL as the database (Jain, 2010).
References 1. Dakhwe, A. (2006). A Dynamic, CostEffective and Efficient Information Portal Solution Using the Mambo Content Management System (Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University). 2. Esparza, P. (2011). A web site-level implementation of OWL Same As predicate in Drupal. 3. Jain, C. G. (2010). The study of open source CMSs, (Rutgers the State University of New Jersey - New Brunswick).
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Interactive whiteboard (IWB) Dr. Yahya Tareq Hussein Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil dr.yahya@lfu-erbil.net As a part of the ICT integration process, the interactive whiteboard (IWB) has been one technology most invested in especially by European countries such as England, Spain, and Turkey. As of 2010, England has the highest IWB penetration rate (73%) in the world and many countries including Denmark (50%) and the USA (35%) have substantially increased IWB rates in classrooms; however, the average rate for Asia is still lower than 2%.
By using his finger as a mouse, the teacher or student can run applications directly from the board. Another user at the computer can also have input. Any notes or drawings can then be saved or printed out and distributed to group members. The board is typically mounted to a wall or floor stand. It offers a way to manage learning information on a large scale. Use of the interactive whiteboard (IWB) Optimal use of an interactive whiteboard involves both teacher and student use. It can, for example, be used to: •
•
An interactive whiteboard (IWB) is a presentation device that interfaces with a computer. The projector projects the content from a computer onto the surface of the board, where they can be seen and manipulated. Users can control software both from the computer and from the board. Participants can add notations, and emphasize by using a pen and or highlighter tool.
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•
• •
Allow presentation of student work in a more interactive and collaborative way Show video clips that present and explain difficult concepts (in any curricular area) Demonstrate how an educational software program works, e.g., an art program with students using their fingers or pen to draw rather than using a mouse serve more effectively for visually impaired students and other students with special needs Display Internet resources in a teacher‐directed manner Allow students to work creatively through learning activities in whole‐ class mode or in small groups and to present their work in multi‐media form for class viewing and discussion
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Provide new opportunities for individualized learning experiences Create handwritten drawings, notes and concept maps during class time, all of which can be saved for future reference
Conclusions Interactive whiteboards present educational resources in a new and impressive way. They are suitable for both whole class and in small group settings. IWBs allow pupils to explore ideas, carry out assignments and follow‐through on learning activities in new and interactive ways. The boards are highly motivational and elicit strong responses and participation within the classroom.
References 1. Türel, Y. K., & Johnson, T. E. / Teachers' Belief and Use of Interactive Whiteboards for Teaching and Learning. Educational Technology & Society, 15 (1), 381–394 2. NCTE Advice Sheet – Interactive Whiteboards http://www.pdsttechnologyineduc ation.ie/en/Technology/AdviceSheets/ 3. Mary Ann Bell/ Why Use an Interactive Whiteboard? http://www.teachers.net/gazette/J AN02/mabell.html
IT Curriculum of Undergraduate Programs Mohammad Salim Abdulrahman Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil mohammads@lfu-erbil.net Introduction This article is short summary of curriculum guidelines of Information Technology which prepared by Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society. In this article, the sequence as the followings: IT definitions, broad goals of IT programs, IT curricula focus area, and academic discipline of IT as the last subject of the article. Definition of Information Technology To define IT as an academic discipline, in its widest sense IT includes all aspects of computing technology. IT, as an academic discipline, is concerned with issues related to supporting users and meeting their needs within an organizational and social context
through the selection, creation, application, integration & administration of computing technologies. Figure 1 shows the processes of IT to support users' needs. However, in academic environment, IT refers to undergraduate degree programs that prepare students to meet the computer technology needs of business, government, healthcare, schools, and other kinds of organizations. In some countries, other names are used for such degree programs.
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Fig 1: IT Processes
02 Broad goals of an IT program IT programs aim to provide IT graduates with the skills and knowledge to take an appropriate professional positions in Information Technology and grow into leadership positions or pursue research or graduate studies. Specifically a student should be able to: 1. Explain and apply appropriate information technologies and employ appropriate methodologies to help an individual or organization achieve its goals and objectives. 2. Function as a user advocate. 3. Manage the information technology resources of an individual or organization. 4. Anticipate the trend of information technology and evaluate and communicate the likely utility of new technologies to an individual or organization. 5. Understand and, in some cases, contribute to the scientific, mathematical and theoretical foundations on which information technologies are built. 6. Live and work as a contributing, wellrounded member of society.
This area extends down most of the right edge, encompassing the application, deployment, and configuration needs of organizations and people over a wide spectrum of contexts. Across this range (from organizational information systems, to application technologies, and down to systems infrastructure), their role has some overlap with Information Systems, but IT people have a special focus on satisfying human needs that arise from computing technology. In addition, IT’s shaded area goes leftwards, from application towards theory and innovation, especially in the area of application technologies. This is because IT people often develop the web-enabled digital technologies that organizations use for a broad mix of informational purposes, and this implies an appropriate conceptual foundation in relevant principles and theory. Academic discipline of Information Technology
IT'S Curricula Focus Area
Fig 2: The Information Technology Discipline
Fig 1: IT Curricula focus area
Figure 2 is a graphical description of IT. The shaded area of the diagram represents the focus of typical information technology curricula.
Figure 3 shows the academic discipline of Information Technology. The pillars of IT include programming, networking, human-computer interaction, databases, and web systems, built on a foundation of knowledge of the fundamentals of IT.
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03 Overarching the entire foundation and pillars are information assurance and security, and professionalism. While this figure does not depict all aspects of the IT discipline, it does help to describe the relation of the key components.
References 1. Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and IEEE Computer Society Curriculum Guidelines for Undergraduate Degree Programs in Information Technology, 2008. 2. http://www.acm.org/education/curri cula-recommendations.
LED, LCD, Plasma and 3D TVs Ali Makki Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil ali@lfu-erbil.net LED vs LCD vs Plasma LED, LCD and plasma are the main types of TV available in stores, and they all have their own strengths and weaknesses that should be factored into your buying decision. Of the, LED TVs are the most recent introduction and, as such, are generally a bit more expensive than comparable plasma and LCD models. For the money, though, you'll get a super thin and energy-efficient TV. Although, as with most modern flat screen TVs, LED sets often suffer from poor sound. Plasma TVs, meanwhile, offer arguably deeper and more detailed black areas on screen, but are hit by a higher energy consumption rate. LCD TVs are often the cheapest sets available, but they're now on the decline as LED technology comes to the fore. LCD TVs Liquid crystal display (LCD) TVs come to life when light from behind the screen is shone through a matrix of tiny, colored liquid crystal cells. Signals control each cell, letting varying amounts of color through to build up the picture.
LCD has, however, been eclipsed by LED as the most popular TV technology. You might still find LCD TVs available in smaller screen sizes at the budget end of the market, but most manufacturers are now focused on LED. LED TVs LEDs (light-emitting diodes) have been around for decades, but their introduction into TV design is a fairly recent development. LED televisions employ standard LCD technology but with one crucial difference – the handful of backlight lamps that traditionally illuminate the LCD screen are replaced by a larger number of tiny LEDs. This enables LED TVs to be much slimmer than their LCD counterparts. These are the two types of LED TV, although most sets nowadays are edgelit LEDs. Edge-lit models: have LED lamps just around the edge of the screen, enabling them to super-slim. Early edge-lit models had problems with
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04 inconsistent lighting of the screen, and patchy colours. While you can still find a bad one, the technology behind edge-lit panels has improved significantly in recent years.
picture quality. However, in recent years the difference between LED and plasma is not so marked, while the poor energy efficiency of plasma TVs means they can be costly to run.
Back-lit models: (also referred to as direct-lit) have LED lamps spread across the entire rear of the screen. They aren't as slim as edge-lit LEDs, but the consistency of lighting should be much better.
The big manufacturers, such as Panasonic, are now scaling back their plasma TV production (or stopping it entirely) in favor of LED and even newer screen types - so plasma is definitely on the decline
Dimming - backlit LED TVs were previously known for a technique called 'local dimming', which varies the backlight in different parts of the screen to give darker, richer blacks and brighter whites where needed. TV manufacturers have now found ways to incorporate similar technology into their edge-lit models, meaning you're not missing out by buying one - and they're usually cheaper.
3D TVs A 3D TV, or three-dimensional television, displays three-dimensional content with the aid of 3D glasses and a 3D source. You’re probably most familiar with this technology through 3D movies that have hit theaters throughout the years. Today, most higher-end plasma, LED, and LCD TVs made since 2010 are actually 3D compatible when used with the accompanying glasses and 3D source, and a 3D TV will still display 2D, or “regular” content. That means you can consider 3D to be a special feature on a television, rather than an entirely different class of television.
Plasma TVs Plasma TVs use completely different technology and principles to LCD and LED sets. A plasma display is an array of tiny gas cells sandwiched between two sheets of glass. Each cell acts like a mini fluorescent tube, emitting ultraviolet light which then strikes red, green and blue spots on the screen. These spots glow to build up the picture. Home-cinema enthusiasts would claim that the best plasma TVs still boast better blacks and more natural colors than the market-leading LED TVs, making them a better choice if you want spectacular
References 1. ANDREW LAUGHLIN, LED vs LCD vs plasma TV, which? Web site available at http://www.which.co.uk/reviews/televisio ns/article/advice/led-vs-lcd-vs-plasma-tv2. TechFemina web site available at http://www.techfemina.com/advantagesdisadvantages-3d-tvs/
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MCC-Education: Opportunities of Using Mobile Cloud Computing as ICT tool in Education Ihsan Sayyid Salman Northumbria University, ihsan.rukaibawi@northumbria.ac.uk Introduction It is a new technological platform which has been emerged in the recent years through development of mobile technology in the world known as Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC). Mobile Cloud Computing can be defined as an integration of cloud computing into mobile environment that refers to an infrastructure where both data storage and data processing happened outside of mobile devices (Davcev and Kitanov, 2012; Kovachev et. al., 2011). It has been considered a powerful tool to address most of the challenges in terms of environment perspective (such as heterogeneity, scalability and availability), performance perspective (such as bandwidth, battery life and storage) and security perspective (such as reliability and privacy) when implementing mobile learning in education. This essay will discuss opportunities of using mobile cloud computing in higher education. Opportunities of Using Mobile Cloud Computing in Education Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) can be seen as a powerful tool in higher education. It has several benefits. The main benefit is that MCC plays a vital role in minimising and overcoming different obstacles that related to mobile learning such as high costs of smartphones, low network transudation rate, battery life and low storage capacity (Li, 2010). The
flexibility and convenient of mobile cloud computing allows students for learning and studying anywhere, at any time without needing the costly software and hardware because they are run by cloud. In addition, mobile cloud computing helps learners to access to their academic materials, videos, libraries and assignments or exams over the cloud via their mobile devices. It suitable and cheaper to the universities for building mobile cloud services without spending a lot of money for infrastructure and they do not need to update and maintenance their services because all the storage, computing and updates have accomplished on the cloud side (Davcev and Kitanov, 2012). Learners just have used their smartphones devices as a display to the contents on the cloud. The figure below shows the architecture of mobile cloud computing. According to Palmer and Dodson (2011) mobile cloud computing enables learners who live in isolated areas and they have no access to the high internet speed connection for accessing to their training materials through using these services at cloud data center (Wang, Chen and Khan, 2014). Finally, two of the major benefits of using mobile cloud computing are to extend a battery lifetime for mobile devices and to improve data capacity with processing power through enabling learners to access to the large data on the cloud.
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Mobile Cloud Computing Architecture (Khan et. al., 2012) Conclusion In conclusion, Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) has becoming one of effective tools for minimising and improving various challenges that related to mobile learning in terms of deliver resources on – demand, flexible to use in different devices, reduce high cost of implementing mobile cloud facility and no require to have high IT professionals. References 1. Davcev, D. & Kitanov, S. (2012) 'Mobile Cloud Computing Environment as a Support for Mobile Learning', the 3rd International Conference on Cloud Computing, GRIDs, and Virtualization.
2. Kovachev, D. & Cao, Y. & Klamma, R. (2011) 'Mobile Cloud Computing: A Comparison of Application Models'. 3. Li, J. (2010). Study on the development of mobile learning promoted by cloud computing. In IEEE 2010 2nd International Conference on Information Engineering and Computer Science (ICIECS), 1-4. 4. Khan, A. N., Mat Kiah, M. L., Khan, S. U., & Madani, S. A. (2012). Towards secure mobile cloud computing: A survey. Future Generation Computer Systems, 29, 1278-1299. 5. Wang, M. & Chen, Y. & Khan, M.J. (2014) 'Mobile Cloud Learning for Higher Education: A Case Study of Moodle in the Cloud'.
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The Statistics Software Package (SPSS) IBM Predictive Analytics Tool Sarah Y. Yousif Directory of QA, Lebanese French University - Erbil sarahyyosif@lfu-erbil.net IBM SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is a software package that used for the analysis of statistical information programs is in sociology.
Today, SPSS is widely used by researchers in the field of marketing, finance, government, education, and is also used to analyze the questionnaires, information management and document information to achieve deeper understanding of people's attitudes, preferences and opinions so that this valuable insight can be included in decision-making processes. With SPSS predictive analytics software, you can predict with confidence what will happen next so that you can make smarter decisions, solve problems and improve outcomes. There are three basic windows for the Package Data view: it is a data window which displays the data. Variable view: it is a window Shaw the properties for each variable in the dataset. SPSS Viewer: the results from statistical procedures is an independent and displays the results (tables - fees - the results of statistical analyzes).
The highlight history of SPSS In 1968, the first version of the software was appeared as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) after being developed by (Norman H. Nie, Dale H. Bent, and C. Hadlai Hull) in 1970. In 1975 Early versions of SPSS Statistics were designed for batch processing on mainframes, including for example IBM and ICL versions, originally using punched cards for input. From version 10 (SPSS-X) in 1983, data files could contain multiple record types. SPSS Statistics version 13.0 for Mac OS X was not compatible with Intelbased Macintosh computers, due to the Rosetta emulation software causing errors in calculations. SPSS Statistics 15.0 for Windows needed a downloadable hotfix to be installed in order to be compatible with Windows Vista. SPSS Statistics versions 16.0 and later run under Windows, Mac, and Linux. The graphical user interface is written in Java. The Mac OS version is provided as a Universal binary, making it fully compatible with both PowerPC and Intel-based Mac hardware. Prior to SPSS 16.0, different versions of SPSS were available for Windows, Mac OS X and Unix. The Windows version was updated more frequently and had more features
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than the versions for other operating systems. It was acquired by IBM on July 28, 2009 that it was being acquired by IBM. Because of a dispute about ownership of the name ‘SPSS’, between 2009 and 2010, the product was referred to as PASW (Predictive Analytics Software). As of January 2010, it became "SPSS: An IBM Company". Complete transfer of business to IBM was done by October 1, 2010. By that date, SPSS: An IBM Company ceased to exist. The current versions (2014) are officially named (IBM SPSS) Statistics is now fully integrated into the IBM Corporation, and is one of the brands under IBM Software Group's Business
Analytics Portfolio, together with IBM Algorithmic and IBM Open Pages . Nowadays, IBM SPSS is a comprehensive and flexible statistical analysis and data management solution. SPSS can take data from almost any type of file and use them to generate tabulated reports, charts, and plots of distributions and trends, descriptive statistics, and conduct complex statistical analyses. SPSS is available from several platforms; Windows, Macintosh, and the UNIX systems. References 1. http://www01.ibm.com/software/analytics/spss/ 2. http://www.spss.co.in/
Wireless damage on the health and how to avoid them Biayrak-K-Hathat AlTaie Department of Information Technology, Lebanese French University - Erbil dr.baiyrekaltaie@lfu-erbil.net What is a wifi? WiFi is shortly for Wireless Fidelity, this meaning wireless transmission with high precision and speed, it uses radio waves to exchange information instead of wires and they are able to break through walls and barriers with high speed in transfer and receive data up to 54 Mb ps.
effects on the environment too, studies of Wageningen University have proven the negative impact of the wireless on existing trees in civilized places in the Netherlands, The result was the discovery of damage in the tissues of these trees and the differences in growth caused by the electromagnetic field sent out from the Wifi networks.
Is Wi-Fi devices harmful to human health? This question imaginable by Internet /mobile phones users from time to time, there is different views and research in this regard and the truth is that it does not effect on the public health only but it
ITeM | Issue 4, February – 2015
09 How do you determine the impact of Wireless Networks on your health? Risk resulting from wireless networks is determined only by using these technologies, you can conclude the influence of electromagnetic waves by only the answers to these questions: •
Do you use mobile phones more than an hour a day? • Are you using a mobile phone to your ear directly? • Do you use the Internet via the router using wifi or wired? • How many wireless devices in the home? • Where are you keeping wireless devices inside the house? • What is the range of your use of the device Bluetooth? As for the harmful effect on human health, Too much exposure to electromagnetic radiation from Wifi and wireless networks leads to some health problems, such as the effect on the brain or memory.
Advices to avoid damage of radiation from wireless networks Technology is a double-edged weapon in spite of the Massive advantages of the uses of wireless networks, so we cannot deny that there is some of the damage to health and the environment and it is so difficult to completely abandon them. For this reason we must follow these tips
to protect our self from radiation caused by: 1) For the best protection preferably use the connection to the Internet via the wire and not wireless. 2) If you have a device (wireless router) in the house prefers keep it away from sleeping areas. 3) You must turn off the Wifi completely mobile device or router when you are not using them. 4) Use only wired printer, also an attached devices such as a computer "mouse, keyboard…etc". 5) To reduce exposure to radiation must disable wireless communications device when not in use, such as a Bluetooth device. 6) If not, use mobile phones and tablets must be kept in a distant room at home. 7) Remember mobile phones away from children and pregnant women, a new study has found that the child can take in 10 times the amount of radiation absorbed by an adult. 8) Use the speaker or headphones instead of close Phone head for long periods. 9) Try not to use mobile phones inside the elevators or cars or trains or planes, where the metal enclosed places increases the impact of radiation. References 1. http://www.globalhealingcenter.co m/natural-health/10-shocking-factshealth-dangers-wifi/ 2. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/ar ticles/archive/2013/09/21/cellphone-wifi-radiation.aspx
ITeM | Issue 4, February – 2015
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