Muhammad Rafie Mohd Arshad

Cross-platform mobile applications for android and iOS

Generally, there are three types of mobile application development, which are native mobile application, cross-platform mobile application and hybrid application. However, there are numbers of mobile devices that runs with different operating systems and languages in the current mobile market. Android and iOS is the most leading representative as the whole of current market. Developing application in different platforms has generated many problems, a lot of time; cost and man power is needed if there is no significant porting work. In order to avoid re-implementing the same type of application separately to fulfil the diverse platform needs, several tools are proposed. For example: XMLVM, PhoneGap, PhoneXML, DragonRad and RhoMobile, each with their own strength. Cross-platform is necessary in current mobile market. Besides that, we have proposed a cross mobile platform for Android and iOS games development using XMLVM.

Adaptive hypermedia system in education: review of available technologies

Adaptive hypermedia system is a result from research on adaptive hypermedia and user modeling. This system is divided into different types. There are educational hypermedia, on-line-help systems, information retrieval hypermedia, institutional hypermedia, and systems for managing personalized views in information spaces. Adaptive hypermedia systems build model of the goals, preferences and knowledge of each individual user, and use this model throughout the interaction with the user, in order to adapt to the needs of that user. The goal of this paper is to present literature review of adaptive educational hypermedia systems including the architecture, approaches and techniques involved in building it.

Hajj-QAES: A Knowledge-Based Expert System to Support Hajj Pilgrims in Decision Making

Most Muslim countries provide trainings to their pilgrims before departing for Mecca in order to assist them in achieving a perfect or mabrur hajj. However they probably encounter hajj related problems that require them to make immediate decisions especially while performing hajj. In such situations they may refer to hajj guide books or their fellow pilgrims. Besides, they may need to refer to hajj experts in the decision making process pertaining to more complex problems. Nevertheless, experts may not be around all the time especially while performing hajj rituals. We propose a knowledge-based approach that can capture possible problems and solutions from the experts in a prototype known as hajj Q&A expert system or Hajj-QAES. It provides an interface that enables experts to capture both simple and advanced questions. Thus, we anticipate Hajj-QAES can support pilgrims both in learning process and most importantly while performing hajj in Mecca. Such systems would be more accessible should it be installed in handheld devices such as a hand phone or a personal digital assistant (PDA).

A knowledge-based approach to facilitate queries by hajj pilgrims

Hajj pilgrims need to undergo a proper and comprehensive training before leaving their mother countries in order to perform a successful and rewarding hajj. Despite of being trained, the pilgrims might not be aware of some rules and regulations that may affect their hajj rituals or rites if the pilgrims do not follow them. They may have many queries pertaining to hajj rituals, which cannot be found in their guidebooks. They could have the queries while doing any of the rituals in the middle of the crowded areas and might need to call the experts to solve the queries. However if they cannot contact the experts at the moment, they might not be able to find the solution immediately. We propose a question and answer (Q&A) expert system using a knowledge-based approach to facilitate queries by the hajj pilgrims either before or while performing their hajj rituals. We have developed the research prototype on a Web-based application, which we suggest to be installed on kiosks located around Mecca or Madinah or in handheld devices. This paper covers the theoretical aspects of knowledge-based approach to facilitate queries by hajj pilgrims. We also discuss some basic examples of how the approach can be realized in a hajj Q&A system as a personalized e-hajj guidebook.

RFID applications in Hajj management system

Millions of Muslims go to Mecca every year to perform their Hajj (Pilgrimage). Managing of Hajj activities is a very complex task on Saudi Arabian authorities and Hajj organizers due to the large number of pilgrims, the specific geographical area for the movement of pilgrims and the short period of Hajj. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be used in various applications during Hajj season to provide good solutions for many problems and contribute in overcoming many difficulties. This paper describes the potential applications of this new emerging technology in new field like Hajj and then proposes architecture for RFID-based Hajj management systems and communication network for data sharing.

M-Umrah: An Android-Based Application to Help Pilgrims in Performing Umrah

Performing hajj and umrah is one of the five pillars of Islam. The ritual involves many rules and procedures, and to remember all these rules and procedures usually poses a problem for pilgrims. The advancement of IT can provide a solution to the problem mentioned above. Hence, we apply the Internet and smart phone technologies to develop the M - Umrah application for users. The target users of this application are the Malaysian hajj and umrah pilgrims. This application provides a step-by-step guide to performing umrah, starting from preparation at home up until the pilgrimage is completed. The application was developed on the Android platform, and the first version of the application has been released to the market. Up until this point, more than ten thousand users all around the world have downloaded the application.

Identifying the determinants of RFID adoption intention in Hajj organizations

Millions of Muslims go to Mecca every year to perform their Hajj (Pilgrimage). Managing of Hajj activities is a very complex task on Saudi Arabian authorities and Hajj organizers due to the large number of pilgrims, the specific geographical area for the movement of pilgrims and the short period of Hajj. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can be used in various applications during Hajj season to provide good solutions for many problems and contribute in overcoming many difficulties. Despite this, RFID as an emerging technology has not been studied from the Hajj perspective. Using the Technology- Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, this study develops a theoretical model for RFID adoption intention in Hajj Organizations. Eight variables (relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, top management, firm size, organization readiness, government support, and willingness to collaborate among partners) are proposed to help predict RFID adoption intention. We include the willingness to collaborate among the partners as an important factor in environmental context, but has been ignored in IS literature. This study proposes to empirically test the model with adequate sample size of Hajj organizations.

RFID Smart Shelf Based on Reference Tag Technique

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an automatic identification technology that can track and identify people, animals, and objects. It uses the radio frequency signal to send data from RFID reader to RFID tags. A common RFID system will involve RFID tag, RFID reader, and antenna as its components. Nowadays, RFID technology has been widely used for indoor positioning especially for the smart shelf in locating and tracking the object on the shelf. But, the existing smart shelf needs more than four antenna and more than two readers to increase the accuracy of locating the location and position of the misplaced item at the certain covered area. This research paper will compare a few algorithms which are Fingerprinting (Block Distance), Trilateration (Least Square Estimate) and Trilateration (Two-Border) to show the different accuracy among them and to increase the accuracy in locating the exact position of missing object by using Real Time Locating System (RTLS) by proposing a new algorithm. Besides, Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) is the chosen method of getting data from different points of the shelf to find the location of the missing object on the shelf. This indoor positioning use reference tag technique to get the RSSI data from the shelf. Thus, we can identify the missing object and detect if there is misplaced object occur or track the real-time location of the object.

Attribute based diversity model for privacy preservation

Privacy is a sensitive issue in our society nowadays in which individuals are trying to achieve by keeping their sensitive data secured. However, the demand of sharing sensitive data has been increased lately due to various tremendous benefits that can be achieved. Anatomy model based on k-anonymity and l-diversity models was presented for privacy preservation in data publishing. However, it cannot prevent the background knowledge attack that can occur based on the link between sensitive and non sensitive attribute values like gender or age. This paper evaluates the disclosure risk based on gender and age for Anatomy and proposes S-Cluster Approach to avoid such kind of disclosure. Experiments show that S-Cluster avoids background knowledge attack that is based on gender or age and produces better data quality comparing to Anatomy.

U-Arabic: Design perspective of context-aware ubiquitous Arabic vocabularies learning system

Arabic vocabulary learning is in dire need for modern learning aids, especially nowadays with the advanced facilities provided by modern technologies and the high tendency of people to use these technologies such as mobile devices and smartphones in most of their life aspects. The vast amount of Arabic vocabulary, the multitude of its original and secondary meanings, differences among the ways of its writing and reading according to its position within the sentence, are the major difficulties faced by Arabic learners. This motivated us to utilize state-of-art learning technologies to design Arabic vocabulary learning system called (U-Arabic) in the form of mobile application game. This paper presents the utilization of a context-aware ubiquitous learning system that facilitated vocabulary mastering by free learners form place and time restrictions by combining entertainment with education in the same time within real learning environments through QR-Code utility. Evaluation of U-Arabic prototype was conducted using pre-post-tests on sample of non-Arabic students in Islamic elementary school. The results demonstrated that utilizing context-aware ubiquitous learning has positive impact on enhancing Arabic vocabulary learning for the selected sample.