Chun-Chia Wang

Adaptive digital image inpainting

Digital image inpainting is a technique that can repair a portion of damaged or removed image by means of automatic mechanisms. Image inpainting tools can be applied to repairing damaged historical documents. In this paper, we propose an adaptive mechanism, which is based on a color interpolation mechanism. The repairing procedure checks the surrounding information of a damaged pixel and decides the range of references that can be used to compute an interpolated color. We have tested on more than 2000 images include painting, photo, and cartoon drawing. The evaluation shows that our mechanism produces a very good result.

An Adaptive Caching Strategy for m-Learning Based on SCORM Sequencing and Navigation

One of the main problems encountered in the usage of mobile devices as a learning platform is the presence of an impermanent network environment due to insufficient coverage or link failure in wireless communication. On the other hand, a persistent connection is usually offered by cellular phones using a telecommunication protocol, but with a relatively weak computing power and very limited network bandwidth which makes m-learning a time-consuming process. Moreover, learning contents are currently composed of various multimedia resources that induce long latency to display on handheld devices such as smartphones with GPRS. Recently, a lot of m-learning systems and contents have conformed to the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) since it was introduced by ADL in the late 90s. The Sequencing and Navigation (S&N) specification is an important part of SCORM. S&N is defined to prescribe the intended student learning sequence by instructors. In this paper, we propose an adaptive course caching strategy based on the S&N specification in an m-learning environment. The system automatically switches to the corresponding course caching strategies, namely, the virtual memory management (VMM) mode and caching on disk (COD) mode, according to the current networking capability. The proposed mechanism is implemented on an m-learning system—Pocket SCORM—which received the 2005 Brandon Hall Excellence in Learning Award in the USA. Our simulation and experiments demonstrate that the proposed course caching strategy ultimately reduces the latency during the learning process and decreases the requests for Internet reconnection.

An Application of Question Answering System for Collaborative Learning

With the rapid development of E-learning, collaborative learning is an important kind of group learning mode. It emphasizes the communication and information sharing among group members. Current collaborative learning systems haven’t reached a high interaction degree between the students and the instructor to gain knowledge. In order to solve this problem, this paper introduces a semantic-based automated question answering (Q&A) system like a virtual teacher to respond to student questions online. Through the proposed mechanism, the Q&A knowledge base will be enriched in the future process of Q&A. Furthermore, not only the students can get answers to their questions, but also the instructors could know what problems students encountered in learning. This would be a great help for both the instructor and the students in collaborative learning environment. Keywords: automated question answering system, natural language processing, collaborative learning, distance learning.

A Semiautomatic Content Adaptation Authoring Tool for Mobile Learning

A lot of studies about automatic content adaptation have been done and are proposed to overcome the drawbacks of browsing regular content with handheld devices such as pocket PCs and smartphones. But we argue that the total automatic adaptation algorithm designed by an engineer to transform Web Page presentation is still appropriate to be applied on educational content. Therefore, this paper proposes a learning content adaptation tool that provides different adaptation templates to help the author automatically and efficiently reproduce high-quality learning content for specific handhelds. Furthermore, the author will not only be able to preview the adaptation result before publishing the course but also be able to adjust the template parameters manually to affect the process if they are not satisfied with the current result. Finally the new adapted content can be packaged with original content as a multi-version learning course.

Combine Personal Blog Functionalities with LMS Using Tools Interoperability Architecture

Respecting related technologies within e-learning domain, the use of learning management system (LMS) has been considered as the most important and essential component. LMS can manage the curriculum learning content, learners learning profile and learning process. However it lacks suitable study assistance functions and personalized interface. Accordingly LMS is hard to promote and to be utilized by learners. This paper proposed an integrated framework which combined the personal learning blog functionalities to LMS by using the tools interoperability (TI) architecture in order to develop the suitable learning functionalities and interface in LMS for learners. And we hope the TI-based blog functionalities which can be utilized by other LMS in order to improve the LMS utility rate and to prove the feasibility of TI-based blog system.

A Learning Content Adaptation Tool with Templates for Different Handhelds

A large number of excellent digital learning materials have been created and distributed for e- learning. These contents are mostly designed for reading on regular PCs that have big screens, powerful computing, large storage and wide bandwidth compared to handheld devices. Therefore, a lot of studies about automatic content adaptation have been done and are proposed to overcome the drawbacks of browsing regular content with handheld devices such as pocket PCs and smartphones. But we argue that the total automatic adaptation algorithm designed by an engineer to transform Web Page presentation is still appropriate to be applied on educational content. We believe the quality of the result can not be assured and supervised by educators, and educational essence may be damaged during the real time adaptation process. This paper proposes a content adaptation tool that provides different adaptation templates to help the author automatically and efficiently reproduce high-quality learning content for specific handhelds. Furthermore, the author will not only be able to preview the adaptation result before publishing the course but also be able to adjust the template parameters manually to affect the process if they are not satisfied with the current result.

Enhancing Reusability of Learning Objects with Object-Oriented Inheritance Relationships

This paper points out relevant issues of object inheritance in the context of SCORM/CORDRA research communities. We propose a mechanism, as well as an implemented prototype system, that can be used to support searching and reusing of learning objects formed by a reusability tree in repositories. The underlying repository to store learning objects is constructed based on the architecture defined as CORDRA. We integrate the authoring tool, the LMS, and the repository as a total solution to SCORM-based distance learning. The proposed MINE registry served as an instance of CORDRA-based repository is also discussed.

Supporting collaborative learning environment with learning blogs

Collaborative learning is a kind of group learning mode where members of group learn any concept or topic through communication and discussions. Current researches on collaborative learning paid little attention to the functionalities of group members. In order to solve this problem, this paper utilizes a learning blog (LBlog) to share experience and viewpoints of group members, and achieve learning goals together in the end. The LBlog also integrates learning management system (LMS) to manage the group memberspsila profiles to evaluate the learnerspsila learning efficiency. Our initial experiments with the LBlog indicate that it is an useful educational tool to support collaborative learning.

An Interactive Video Course Platform with Authoring and Playback Systems

Interactive video was developed to enable different video experiences to users. By using the technology, video materials can be augmented to attract students. An interactive video course platform integrated with authoring and playback systems is proposed in this paper. Content providers can produce interactive video courses by using the interactive video authoring tool. Video files will be cut into several smaller segments called scenes as the basic unit in a video course. Interactive objects and multimedia resources can also be inserted to video courses to enhance variety. Users can play interactive video via the proposed playback platform. Interactions, messages and other multimedia objects will be displayed in scenes when users browse video courses. The integrated system was used in class room and received positive feedbacks. Interested readers are welcome to visit our demonstrations at http://member.mine.tku.edu.tw/www/ham/IVEL.wmv.

Interference-aware QoS multipath routing for ad hoc wireless networks

Abstract As ad hoc wireless networks provide less stable communication for mobile nodes than infrastructure wireless networks, several multipath routing protocols are proposed to improve the throughput and stability of ad hoc wireless networks. When using multipath routing protocols, a sender node adopts multiple disjoined routing paths for data transmission. To minimize the path cost, paths with smaller hopcounts are preferred; for the most part, paths with nearer position and high interference are adopted. As a result, the expected goals of using multipath routing protocols are unable to be attained. To overcome the situation above, this paper brings up an interference-aware multipath routing protocol for QoS-constraint multimedia and real-time applications in ad hoc wireless networks. The proposed protocol can reduce the call dropping rate and improve the QoS stability with its effective bandwidth pre-evaluation and interference susceptibility; the simulation results also show that the proposed protocol has good performance.