bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
SOCIAL MEDIA AND VIRTUAL PLATFORMS FACILITATOR'S FOR INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE.
Authors: Neagu Anamaria , Pavaloiu Bujor ionel , Mateescu Liviu mihail
Published: February 2023

The present paper debates the topic of intercultural dialogue in the context of global and multicultural societies. Nowadays key issues like intercultural communication, intercultural sensitivity and tolerance are becoming a must rather than an option. The international context of terrorism and numerous conflictual religious aspects require a careful analysis and understanding of how we can improve the communication and negotiation among nations. The paper tries to answer questions like: Is intercultural dialogue possible in the virtual world? Such an initiative brings positive or negative contributions? Could the virtual environment support and eliminate some of the major disparities perceived by individuals? The social media, such as web-based forums, or wiki's, provide opportunities for collaboration among diverse cultures? Research until now suggests that a mix of new media platforms, including on-line and video chat/conferencing, may increase the chances for achieving intercultural dialogue. Literature on virtual intercultural dialogue is limited, but the evidence suggests that it is challenged by many of the same factors that affect intercultural dialogue in real communities. One impact that social media has on intercultural dialogue is the common medium for exchanging messages. People around the globe can use the Internet to communicate and collaborate. Such a self- development tool is insufficiently exploited for now; it reduces time and space, gives the opportunities of mutual ideas before physical contact. People find a common ground, they are encouraged to debate to find new ideas to discover passions and hobbies without the actual material contact. Such an opportunity creates a virtual portrait starting from the positive side of every individual and many find themselves encouraged to act natural in such a virtual world. The present paper will provide an inventory of online supporting intercultural dialogue platforms with possible improvement suggestions for further use.
EMERGENT TECHNOLOGIES FOR LEARNING ANALYTICS
Authors: Radu Ioan cosmin
Published: February 2023

In this paper, a comprehensive definition of learning analytics is offered. After analytics methods were applied with success in business and in the industry, a natural step is for these techniques to be applied in other fields, such as teaching. We start by exploring the origins of learning analytics and the current implementations. We note that the learning analytics systems currently in use tap into data collected from two main sources. The first source of data is the data gathered while the learners were directly interacting with the system by navigating pages, posting on forums, discussing with the other users of the platform, completing quizzes or different virtual laboratories. The second source of data comes from the real-world interactions that the learners have such as course presence, grades, and submitted assignments. We advance the idea that another important source of data could be obtained by direct measurement of the learner’s behavior. We discuss the potential of tapping into the neurological and biological responses to the different activities involved in learning. This would allow for an unbiased and instant feedback of the user’s interactions. We discuss possible future developments based on technologies such as brain-computer interfaces (BCI), giving electroencephalography (EEG) as an example, and other methods that could be used for directly assessing the mental state as gaze tracking technologies, galvanic skin response (GSR), and heart rate. For the measurement of heart rate and GSR, inexpensive devices such as fitness bands and smartwatches could be used, while for gaze tracking, classical webcams could provide a solution.
GENDER DIFFERENCES IN THE MOTIVES OF USING ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Authors: Iordache Dragos daniel
Published: February 2023

Recent studies show that university students are frequently using the online social networks (OSN) in order to get new information about friends, courses and university events, to maintain relationships with old colleagues or to search new friends. All these motives may differ depending on the gender of students. By understanding gender differences in students' motives to use social networks, teachers will know how to better encourage and improve the learning activities of students, by using the various tools offered by the OSNs. Facebook is one of the fastest growing online social networks, with more than 8 million Romanian users in 2016. This paper investigates the motives of its use and variations across gender. A total of 225 students from a Romanian university took part in this study. This research has two main objectives: (a) to analyze the measurement invariance across gender and (b) to analyze the gender differences along three dimensions: extending the social relations, information & collaboration and maintaining the social relations and. A Multi-Group Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) has been conducted, to assess whether the scale is invariant across gender. The measurement invariance analysis show that the model exhibits factorial, metric, and structural invariance across gender groups. The gender differences analysis shows mean differences between male and female students as regards all three dimensions: extending the social relations, information & collaboration and maintaining the social relations. The results of this research contribute to a better understanding of the motives of Facebook use by university students. Second, this study provides a reliable evaluation instrument that performs well across gender.
TRANSCULTURAL CONTEXTS: NETWORKS OF LITERARY TRANSLATIONS
Authors: Mihaila Ramona
Published: February 2023

While in the Western societies the act of translating was a phenomenon that had a powerful tradition which started long before the sixteenth century, in the Romanian Principalities the first timid attempts were recorded at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Taking into account the translations accomplished by the nineteenth Romanian women writers and the large range of languages (French, Italian, Greek, Latin, German, English, Spanish) they used, I have tried to “discover” and “revive” as many women writers as I could, first of all by focusing all my attention on the works of the neglected women (writers) translators. The present research, which limits only to Romanian women writers that translated writings of foreign women authors, needs also a special attention to finding biographical data about the translators since a lot of them used pen names (few writers used even more than three pen names) or signed their writing or translations only with the initial letters of their names, especially for the works published in installments. There is a significant amount of research in order to bring to light all the translated works since most of them can be found only in (incomplete) issues of journals, almanacs, literary magazines, theatre’s journals, or manuscripts. By using the international database Women Writers in History we may involve researchers and students from many European countries in contributing with important information concerning their women writers. There are also negotiations with national libraries in 25 countries around Europe in order to get partners for this database which offers open access.
AGE DIFFERENCES AND PREFERENCES IN ONLINE BEHAVIOR. HOW AGEING AND DIGITAL CONNECTEDNESS ARE REFLECTED IN CURRENT RESEARCH REGARDING THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA.
Authors: Stanciu Ionutdorin
Published: February 2023

The people’s need for social connectedness was thoroughly documented and established in research literature. Currently, we experience rapidly increasing technological developments which not only allow for new ways of ‘digital’ connections, but, arguably so, require people to use digital channels of socializing. The use of Internet, in general, and social media, is not limited to searching for information but it includes also knowledge construction. However, not all of us react the same when faced with change in our lives, and even more so, with respect to the use of new technologies. Ageing is increasingly important because of the role of the elderlies in the modern society. Increasingly more elderly citizens live active and connected lives. The advances in medicine and the increase in welfare lead to an increase in life expectancy and to an unprecedented diversity in terms of age with respect to the use of social media. With a current 2.34 billion users of social media, and with a projected increase of 200 million new users in 2017, more than a few elderly users are expected to join social media. As such, the question arises, is there such a thing as a “generational gap/divide”, with respect to the use of social media, in general, and social networking, in particular? Current research provide some conflicting evidence, with most studies refraining from tacking age directly and resorting to considering age as a moderator of other pathways of influence between various predictors and outcomes of interest. We present a synthetic but thorough and updated review of the state of the art with respect to the past and current approaches to investigating the role of age in interindividual differences with respect to the adoption of social media, with a specific focus on social networking media.
SEMANTIC ANNOTATION AND AUTOMATED TEXT CATEGORIZATION USING COHESION NETWORK ANALYSIS
Authors: Guturobu Gabriel , Dascalu Mihai , Heutelbeck Dominic , Hemmje Matthias , Westera Wim , Trausanmatu Stefan
Published: February 2023

With the increasing amount of published scientific papers, it becomes paramount for learners and researchers alike to use tools that semantically annotate resources in order to facilitate the information retrieval process. Thus, we introduce a semantic annotation tool incorporated within our ReaderBench framework to provide recommendations regarding categories that should be used for automated labelling. Currently, the tool categorizes input documents based on the ACM Computing Classification System (http://dl.acm.org/ ccs_flat.cfm) taxonomy from 2012. The Semantic Annotation tool provides also suggestions and cohesion scores for the most relevant keywords covered by the paper, allowing researchers to automatically extract the paper’s topics. Therefore, the semantic annotation algorithms involved within the tool ensure a cohesion-centered and in-depth representation of discourse. The underlying adaptive technologies support academia with potential suggestions of automated categorization and keywords generation useful when submitting scientific papers or properly assigning papers for review. A more specific objective is to facilitate the classification of publications in the internal Digital Library of the RAGE project meant to support researchers from the RAGE eco-system. Additionally, the Semantic Annotation tool provides cohesion scores between the abstract, authors’ keywords and the entire paper’s textual content. These scores may provide useful insights in terms of generating personalized recommendations of keywords that are representative for an article, or recommendations for rewriting the abstract in a cohesive manner in accordance with the entire paper. To this aim, the SemEval corpora comprising of 244 scientific papers classified into four of the ACM CCS 1998 categories was used to validate our tool. Hence, we applied a clustering algorithm to group semantically related papers and compared the generated clusters with the initial group assignments.
SEMANTIC ROLE ANNOTATION FOR ELEARNING
Authors: Trandabat Diana
Published: February 2023

The analysis of semantic roles reveals the hidden structure of a sentence and contributes to the construction of meaning, identifying specific roles that entities play in various contexts and actors involved in an event. The semantic role expresses the correlation between a predicate and its arguments. This paper describes a preliminary study about the impact semantic roles could have in eLearning contexts. The goal of our application is to identify, from a collection of learning materials, all contexts referring to a specific entity, in order to analyse relations between the entity and words with which it frequently co-occurs. Thus, through semantic role analysis, we intend to determine temporal, spatial or modal constraints which determine or restrict a concept. More concretely, the system we propose starts from an input concept, searches learning materials for that particular concept, selects the snippets that contains it, and applies semantic role labelling. At a further step, we extract semantic relations between the entity and neighbouring words, resulting in a list of binary relations. Finally, the program uses WordNet hypernyms trying to generalize over all extracted snippets. Thus, the program may facilitate the understanding of the concept through its neighbours, by creating a map of structured data related to a target concept, where each related entity is marked with its corresponding role (which can be of type Agent, Patient, Effect, Location, Cause, Time, etc.).
THE SCHOOL LIBRARY IN THE DIGITAL ENVIRONMENT
Authors: Brat Florina
Published: February 2023

As an essential part of the educational process the school library has to meet these days both the challenges of the digital environment. A survey of the school libraries in Romania points out quite noticeable differences between the rural and the cities school communities. There are also strong inequalities as far as the distribution of the electronic equipment, access to internet and library stuff qualification is concerned. In the absence of a coherent, long term central institutional agenda with regard to the school libraries, the betterment of a school library highly depends on the program of the school manager and the professional approach of the school librarian. Yet, on the local plan, the Teachers’ Houses are highly active in supporting and organizing yearly professional training courses and meetings for the school librarians and documentalist teachers. This paper aims to outline the above mentioned matters and then turns to focus on to envisage the required digital literacy, skills and means for a school librarian that could empower them to promote and enhance the library as a physical space as well as a info-documentation resource for the school community to new dimensions that are more likely to be accepted by the young students. The dispute between the hardcopy book and the digital book is being now extended to the increasing gap between the Text and the Book and a newly rising “secondary orality” (Walter Ong, 1982) supported by the media and communication technology.
CURRENT STAGE OF APPLICATION OF THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PROCESS IN ROMANIAN ACADEMIC LIBRARIES
Authors: Madge Octavialuciana
Published: February 2023

One of the debate topics in recent library literature is the reconfiguration of the managerial style, the new organization and functioning models of the info-documentary structures which could meet the requirements and characteristics of the digital society and the current needs of users for quality information services. Along with these aspects the new professional profiles of library specialists, the new roles which they should play and the skills needed are also addressed. Knowledge management, a process which has also been applied lately in the library world, and which supports organizational development, innovation and fosters collaboration and teamwork, is one of the possible successful models. A knowledge management strategy could prove to be an all-inclusive solution for libraries in the digital age. In this context, starting from the results of an interview based study, conducted with directors of academic libraries and heads of academic library branches in Romania, this paper evaluates the current stage in Romanian academic libraries in terms of understanding the importance of knowledge management and the implementation thereof within these institutions. Taking into account the results obtained in 2004, during the first research conducted in Romania on the subject of knowledge management at the level of the info-documentary structures and the strategic model proposed for the implementation of this process in Romanian libraries, and designed on the basis of researches conducted over several years in these institutions, the analysis of results obtained herein indicates a deep awareness of the importance of knowledge management application in libraries but a small progress in its effective implementation within the academic libraries in Romania, as well as a feeble concern in this regard from library directors.
AUTOMATIC ASSESSMENT OF MATHEMATICS
Authors: Poka Stefan , Herman Cosmin
Published: February 2023

Today’s strategies of learning and teaching are substantially enhanced in the recent years by the rise of eLearning software and ICT technologies. This paper considers automatic assessment of Mathematics by using, on the Moodle platform, the Wiris software for Math and Science. Learning mathematics online, its assessment and teaching it requires special tools; we will show and analyze the new opportunities in more effective learning presented by: Wiris math editor, usage of variables, Computer Algebra System, and other features that provides a consistent formative evaluation. Variable assessment is done by an algorithm invoked by Wiris CAS. One remarkable fact about Wiris software is the possibility of using open ended questions (admitting an unlimited number of correct answers); evaluation of such answers is done by means of using a grading function in the algorithm connected with the item. Wiris software also allows for mathematically equivalent answers to be assessed as correct. Another essential benefit of the software is its easy to use math editor; inputting answer for mathematics is unconceivable without the use of a math editor for the greatest majority of the question types. The possibility of restricting the range for the allowed values for variables so that the steps needed to be done by test takers are not too many or complicated is another great benefit of using Moodle together with Wiris. As a consequence of the above mentioned features, a test that contains items created with Wiris integrated in Moodle is actually a bundle/bunch of tests that reveals itself differently at different attempts; obviously if such a test is simultaneously accessed by a class of students, they will face different questions but with the same degree of difficulty.
TASK-BASED APPROACH IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES (ESP) TEACHING: A CASE STUDY IN THE FIELD OF SPORTS SCIENCES
Authors: Fazio Alessandra , Isidori Emanuele , Chiva bartoll Oscar
Published: February 2023

Considering that the study of language use can be carried out from different perspectives such as pragmatics, speech act theory, functional linguistics, despite the fact that any utterance may have a multiplicity of functions/meanings and that the local context can strongly influence interpretation, we agree with Swales’ words “thinking of given stretches of discourse in terms of the actions they are intended to perform brings a useful ‘directedness’ to our perceptions of generic exemplars”. It is widely acknowledged that teaching and learning language involves far more than highlighting lexico-grammar patterns. Pragmatic aspects of language are the most difficult to teach, given their subtlety and complexity. The aim of this paper is to show a case study carried out at the University of Rome “Foro Italico” on a task-based course to teach English for Specific Purposes (ESP) in the field of sports for students mastering in Sports Sciences and Adapted Physical Activity (Master MA in Adapted Physical Activity AMPA academic year 2014 and 2015). The course was based on the principle of specific knowledge acquisition through the use of key-features and key-words in the specific professional setting of sports science in English with the aid of e-tools (blended learning). To this purpose the course was based on project development based on an assigned task. The project was intended as a “simulation” of a professional situation that could have been re-negotiated with the teacher. Project realization based on collaborative work of small groups of students has been carried out as the final outcome for students’ assessment. Examples of students’ realizations and data collected can provide the basis of a teaching resource, specifically designed for an intermediate/advanced postgraduate English class in Italy or Spain.
EDUCATIONAL PERSPECTIVES OFFERED BY THE USE OF H-902 WATERPROOF BONE CONDUCTION SYSTEM IN THE PREPARATION OF SWIMMERS
Authors: Marinescu Gheorghe , Bidiugan Simona nicoleta , Becheru Catalin , Radulescu Adrian , Ticala Laurentiu daniel
Published: February 2023

Exercise performed in swimming events can be systematized depending on the supply of oxygen in the aerobic effort (1,500m Freestyle, 10,000m Freestyle), anaerobic effort (50m Freestyle, 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle) and mixed effort, where the energy source is provided by both anti-oxidative reactions and oxybiotic reactions, their ratio varying according to exercise intensity and duration (400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle). One cannot approach exercise capacity without referring to its psychological dimension, with implications on the psychomotor sphere of the athlete. A major challenge faced by performance swimming is early dropout and mental wear, in connection with different forms of motivation. Through the H-902 Waterproof Bone Conduction System, the coach can communicate directly with the athletes during training, encouraging them and influencing a change in the activation level of their positive emotional feelings. Direct communication allows transposing/ strengthening the principles of active and conscious participation and of intuition during training, removes monotony and develops the self-control ability. Examples of technical and tactical components: DAC (distance covered per arm cycle/rate, stroking length and swimming speed), correction of swimming technique, the start and turns, all of them are effectively improved. The device also allows understanding and learning the key-elements of the motor act, and enhances psychomotricity (by the correct representation of body schema and balance), in close connection with the coordination abilities.
A COMPUTERIZED SYSTEM FOR JUDGING DANCESPORT COMPETITIONS - AN INNOVATIVE APPLICATION
Authors: Nicoara Adrian , Teodorescu Silvia , Urzeala Constanta
Published: February 2023

Dancesport involves a variety of body movements performed to the rhythm of a song that is materialized in a choreography piece where the two partners try to convey emotions in a unique and personal way, which leads us to assert that dance has no boundaries, no barriers, it is simply felt and expressed. Dancesport provides the necessary framework to transmit a compositional message, trigger emotions, present an artistic creation, generate a show, that is why assessing the dancers’ performance often has a subjective character as regards technical execution, artistic mastery, plasticity and beauty of movement, shortly, the quality of dance. In this research, we developed and used an evaluation/ judging system which included five criteria: movement to music, posture and coordination, quality of movement and balance, partnered relationship and leading, choreography and presentation, and a larger or smaller number of sub-criteria. The aim was to prove the efficiency of a computerized system intended to reduce subjectivity in the evaluation of dancers’ competitive performance. Transposition of the evaluation/judging system to a computerized application using Web-based technology with extension for tablet ensures effectiveness for the judging panel, reducing the time needed to establish rankings, facilitating the work of the competition Secretariat and removing the possible human errors. The application summarized information on organized competitions, users, couples of dancers, dances, classes, age categories, to which each judge can login to access scoring sheets/per criterion/dance and check each sub-criterion for each component, male and female counterparts. The major difference between the two evaluation systems (one used by the DanceSport Federation, the other developed by us) could be noted in the hierarchy of couples in the mid-ranking, where the value level of dancers was close and their order in the ranking was decided by a few tenths or hundredths of a point.
EVALUATION MODEL OF THE TEENAGERS' ACTIVE LIFESTYLE
Authors: Stanescu Monica , Stoicescu Marius , Bejan Lucian
Published: February 2023

One of the major components of the life quality is represented by the active lifestyle. The school educative programs should build up a series of competences allowing the young people to practice physical exercises also in their leisure time. The positive effects of this kind of activities will be reflected at all personality levels (physical, cognitive, emotional, and social). But nowadays, one of the most alarming aspects concerning the young people lifestyle is the increased tendency to adopt sedentary habits early at the age. That is the reason for why in this paper we approach the necessity to identify an evaluation model of the teenagers’ activism. The novelty of this evaluation approach is conferred by the missing demarches interested in calibrating the biomonitoring equipment’s that measure the indicators of the active lifestyle at adolescents’ level (heart rate, number of steps/day, number of calories, active time, distance). We have chosen this target group because, in some previous studies, there were identified a decreasing tendency of their cardiovascular fitness and an increasing tendency to become overweight. This information is also presented in the literature, often being associated with the analysis of other diseases. Starting from the aspects mentioned above, we present in this paper how it is possible to integrate a technological component represented by a Smart Sport Watch (designed with integrated GPS and heart rate monitor), in a evaluation model designed to objectify the adolescents’ active lifestyle and to offer a functional model able to put the basis for a referential database specific for this population.
LEARNING PROPER ROWING TECHNIQUE BY USING ERGOMETERS
Authors: Tomaurichianu Sanda
Published: February 2023

High-level sports training is, as we know a very difficult activity. Many hours and extensive effort needs to be invested in it by athletes. The volume and intensity of training progressively increases, and athletes go through the motions repeatedly. In order to achieve high level performance, athletes need to learn the most efficient training techniques, which will allow them to advance to international level skills. A modern machine to learn rowing motions is the Concept 2, PM5 ergometer. This machine contributes to high performance sports activities and to major changes in training techniques by revolutionizing teaching and learning methods, radically changing the job of coaches. The purpose of the research we undertake is to identify methods and modern learning methods using a paddling ergometer for streamlining of the benefit athletes in competitions. Thesis objectives are: literature review on learning efficient paddling in canoeing, determining the optimal level of morpho-functional development necessary for learning paddling, paddling identification methodology for learning through teaching and sports training exercise on ergometer. Research hypothesis. It was surmised that the application of effective learning methodologies motion rowing ergometer on the simulator will help improve and promote a stage superior performance in rowing. Research Methodology. The study undertaken following methods were used for research: the study of bibliography, teacher observation, video analysis method, the method of testing, statistical and mathematical methods of processing and interpretation of data. Organizing and conducting research. The study was conducted between October to April 2015, Triumph Sports Club Bucharest on a group of six athletes beginners. For this study we had available as basic material type Concept II ergometers June 6 craft training (1x - type West) and program execution facility chosen and imposed by our study. We note that these athletes have performed in this period five times per week, for 2 hours. Conclusions. This study confirmed the hypothesis that learning rowing motions through ergometer training helps to improve rowing techniques and achieve a higher-level performance results in rowing competitions.
BIOELECTRIC BODY IMPEDANCE METHOD (BIA) - ROLE IN EVALUATION AND MONITORING OF FITNESS AND NUTRITION PROGRAMS
Authors: Varzaru Cristina , Tudor Virgil , Mujea Anamaria , Iordache Georgian
Published: February 2023

Trends in the current society are moving increasingly towards keeping a high standard of health, permanently maintained by practicing physical exercises and associated to a proper nutrition. Evaluation of health status, in our advanced technology era, can be realized both by classical methods, and through noninvasive tools, BIA type - bioelectric body impedance. This method makes possible the body mass evaluation using Tanita BC1000 weighing, by measuring body fat (%), visceral fat, total water (%), muscle mass (kg), metabolic age analyzes (years). Also, this method assesses the physical condition of the body, determines the basic metabolic rate, estimates the bones mineralization based on non-fat mass and analyzes fat mass distribution on each segment. Our research aims to monitor the efficiency of a fitness and nutrition program based on some data provided by the evaluation tool already mentioned. Hypothesis of the research: The use of a noninvasive method of investigation such as BIA (bioelectric body impedance) through the evaluation of body mass, will lead to knowing the efficiency of nutrition and fitness programs. In order to validate the hypothesis of our research, the following methods were used: tests method, graphical method, statistical-mathematical method etc. In this regard, we conducted this research to Fitclub fitness center, over a period of 3 months, research which included a number of ten subjects. The research had an algorithm: initial evaluation with Tanita BC1000 weighing, dichotomous intervention program: fitness and nutrition, and final evaluation realized through the use of body composition scanning method. Each subject's data storage offers the possibility to a fair comparison between initial and final results.
CHALLENGES OF TEACHING A BLENDED ENGLISH COURSE TO UNIVERSITY STUDENTS
Authors: Rasskazova Tatiana , Muzafarova Anna , Okhotnikova Anna , Daminova Julia
Published: February 2023

With digitization of our life the vast opportunities the virtual world offers are increasingly employed in teaching and learning. Consequently, there are a growing number of researchers who investigate the most efficient ways of engaging learners and gaining successful results from their learning online. While Western universities already take online learning for granted, Russian universities have just started introducing it for different subjects. This article is focused on the experience of one of the ten largest Russian universities (Ural Federal University) in implementing a blended learning pilot course based on the “Touchstone” coursebook by Cambridge University Press and a corresponding LMS (Learning Management System). The results were far from satisfactory and this article discusses both external and internal factors that could have affected them. The study used the following research methods: statistical analysis of the students’ learning results from the LMS (progress reports and scores), student surveys after the course, informal interviews with pilot course participants. The results of the study reveal that despite the general perception both on the part of the students and teachers that we cannot go on without virtual reality as part of education, few of them are ready to accept that personally and start implementing it in their own lives. Another conclusion is that teachers should seek opportunities to adapt the content of online courses to the Russian university context. And last but not least, not all Russian universities are ready to provide the necessary working conditions for the teachers to work with online content, so they have to monitor students from home, which extends working hours and decreases their motivation.
DEVELOPING IOT ENABLED APPLICATIONS FOR AUGMENTED ENGINEERING EDUCATION
Authors: Popentiu vladicescu Florin , Albeanu Grigore , Madsen Henrik , Grosu Ruxandra  raluca , Hadj Bourducen
Published: February 2023

Engineering education through real life projects asks for augmenting the already established curriculum with items of the new IoT world, and the science of developing IoT enabled applications, addressing sets of different technologies working together. The FOG world consists of devices, sensors, data and the cloud. Unlike a desktop/laptop computer or tablet, IoT devices can access specific hardware like lights, sensors and motors. Therefore, a large plethora of real life projects can be implemented during practical lessons. Based on FOG approach of the new IoT based world, this paper describes architectures and methodologies to be applied both for massive and critical IoT enabled applications. The adequacy of programming languages, application programming interfaces' availability and new frameworks for IoT enabled applications for various boards including Raspberry PI, Dragon board, Intel Joule, and Minnow are considered. As results of this project, a syllabus and an e-book for the course "Developing IoT enabled applications" are obtained. Theoretical and practical case studies can be used in a blended learning approach to teach such a new subject. By taking this course or/and studying the e-book, the students will gain knowledge on developing IoT smart applications using eclipse IoT technology.
ANALYZING CYBER THREAT ACTORS OF E-LEARNING PLATFORMS BY THE USE OF A HONEYNET CLOUD BASED INFRASTRUCTURE
Authors: Barbu Ionutdaniel , Petrica Gabriel , Axinte Sabinadaniela , Bacivarov Ioan
Published: February 2023

With the advent of Advanced Persistent Threats, the complexity of the techniques, tactics and procedures used by the adversaries increased significantly and it becomes more and more clear that all industries are ought to adapt to the emerging threat landscape. While analyzing various industries and the importance of risk assessment within each of them, the authors of this paper shifted their perspective and started a more in depth review of the e-learning environment. Because universities represent the birth place of research and development, they also represent high value targets for threat actors within cybersecurity. Moreover, from a historical perspective, the first few viruses and worms were malicious programs that ran within universities' networks. Therefore, the authors conducted a research on gathering threat intelligence on actors performing attacks against e-learning platforms. As they are active promoters of the availability of education to everyone, the tools used among the experiment were open-source or free for educational purposes. The initial steps and perhaps one of the most effective projects on this matter would be the implementation of a honeypot environment for obtaining tailored indicators of compromise. In today's information technology field, automation is the aspect that drives any organization forward. A honeypot represents one or more systems (honeynet) with the purpose of detecting and deflecting attackers by luring them into the network. The importance of deployment of honeypots as a way of understanding who are the adversaries of e-learning platforms was studied by implementing a SSH honeynet in a Public Cloud environment. On this matter, the authors of this paper developed an infrastructure based in 3 geographical regions including: North America - San Francisco, Europe - London and Asia - Singapore. This is based on DigitalOcean Public Cloud subscription. The architecture is composed of low - interaction and high - interaction research honeypots deployed in all 3 regions to understand difference in attackers' tactics also based on time zones and geolocations. Moreover, for analyzing the data, log servers were installed in Frankfurt, Germany and Amsterdam, Netherlands. These are log collectors and parsers that are able to translate big data into readable and easy to use real-time dashboards. After analyzing the gathered data, the authors' conclusions are that this type of research is highly relevant to understand the current and future state of cyber security and more importantly to prepare the e-learning landscape for defending against emerging threats.
E-LEARNING PLATFORMS IDENTITY USING DIGITAL CERTIFICATES
Authors: Petrica Gabriel , Barbu Ionutdaniel , Axinte Sabinadaniela , Bacivarov Ioan , Mihai Ioan cosmin
Published: February 2023

To ensure the identity of a website, SSL digital certificates are used together with HTTPS secured protocol; these two items provide both the server authentication to the user and an encrypted communication channel intended to prevent interception of information exchanged between the user and that website through the Web browser. The current tendency, supported by the major competitors in the market, The Chromium Projects (since December 2014) and Mozilla Foundation (since April 2015), is to impose HTTPS protocol as the default, worldwide used protocol by the Web servers. The paper analyzes the steps followed for creating / obtaining different types of digital certificates and how to configure the Web server to use the secure protocols HTTPS and SSL/TLS so the access to a website will be done in a secure way. As a case study, a Moodle platform was installed on a XAMPP open-source package (locally hosted) and respectively on a Web domain hosted at a specialized provider of Internet services. The identity of this e-learning platform is approached from the perspective of three types of digital certificates. The first type of tested digital certificate is the self-signed one (it doesn't provide a real level of trust and is designed for personal use or in a company intranet). Next, a digital certificate issued by a Certificate Authority will be installed, ensuring the identity and validation of the Web domain. Finally, will be presented the digital certificate issued by Let's Encrypt, a Certificate Authority providing free, trusted digital certificates (in compliance with X.509 standard), automatically obtained by a process that uses the protocol ACME (Automated Certificate Management Environment).The authors present for each type of installed digital certificate, but also for the default case (the Web server is not configured to use a digital certificate), how the Web browsers display the identity of the e-learning platform and what information are available to describe its identity.
THE CYBERSECURITY OF ELEARNING PLATFORMS
Authors: Udroiu Adriana meda
Published: February 2023

In the last years, cybersecurity becomes a strategic concept which is included all types of security strategies. Globalization and the Internet have given new incredible powers based on continuous development of network technologies for individuals, organizations and nations. For anyone - students, soldiers, spies, propagandists, hackers and terrorists - gathering information, communications, fundraising and public relations have been digitized and revolutionized. E/Online learning platforms represent a modern form of educations which used digital strategies to present the data. In this context, online platforms used digital information and web based platform which must be secured against cyberattacks. In the national critical infrastructure protection framework, the education field represent one of the important critical element (infrastructure). The education infrastructure includes education institutions, people – students, teachers and administrative personal and – most important – the digital infrastructure that supports all data handled. Elearning platforms are part of this digital infrastructure. The increase dependence of elearning platforms on web infrastructure lets cyber-attacks become lethal to digital learning infrastructure; and many attacks are from both state and non-state actors. Because digital learning platforms are low secured, the actors used them as gateways for their attacks on other more important networks such as governmental networks. In the international context, the cyber security issue, as a component of national security, becomes the theme and rationale for developing specific instruments of fundamental and highly applied research. This paper presents the most important aspects of cybersecurity of elearning platforms.
THE DIGITAL DEPICTION OF THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL WOVEN FABRIC BASED ON ARAHNE CAD/CAM FOR WEAVING
Authors: Arnautu Irina
Published: February 2023

The conservation and restoration of archaeological woven fabrics are faced with many practical challenges. In case of damask fabrics, besides the identification of structural characteristics of the woven fabric, one of these challenges is referred to the reconstruction of the ornamental depiction. In the attempt to obtain a better correlation between the structural characteristics and ornamental depiction of damask fabrics, the traditional working techniques are based too much on subjectivity of archaeological understanding and interpreting of the textile conservator-restorer. The digital techniques can create a scaled unit of repeat of damask design and can simulate ultra realist the damask fabric, thus saving time, money, effort and other valuable resources. The paper presents the results of research on one monochrome silk damask woven in Italy from about the 16-17th centuries. The large scale of the pattern, richly ornamented with stylized vegetal motifs which show the Far East influence, was used extensively for home textiles, especially for curtains and wallpapers, but as well in fashion clothes. A detailed photographic documentation of the damask fragments was made for the stage of reconstruction of scaled unit of repeat. For this purpose was used a graphic art software to obtain the motifs configurations, which then, like the pieces of a puzzle, have been arranged in the damask repeat pattern. In order to simulate the damask fabric were used the programs ArahPaint and ArahWeave of integrated software Arahne CAD/CAM for weaving. At the beginning, the damask repeat pattern was designed and saved in ArahPaint program. To create the two-dimensional simulation of woven fabric, the damask repeat pattern was imported in the Jacquard conversion window of ArahWeave program and have been introduced all structural characteristics of the fabric, previously determined by using non-destructive methods of evaluation. This paper aims to draw attention to the digital reconstruction of archaeological woven fabric not only as a method for the dissemination of research findings, but further, as a viable possibility to be woven.
APPLYING SHANNON AND BOLTZMAN LAWS WHEN SIMULATING THERMAL COMFORT
Authors: Curteza Antonela , Farima Daniela , Buliga Valentin , Ichim Mariana
Published: February 2023

The body-clothing-environment system is considered to be open and in a state of permanent interaction with the surrounding physical, sensorial, psychological and emotional factors. A human subject who carries out a certain type of activity in a well-defined environment will react differently to the external energetic demands, depending on their nature. A certain activity performed by the human subject represents a source of information – the human subject is the receiver and the environment is the channel through which the information is conveyed. In order to estimate the average quantity of information perceived by the human subject, Shannon defined „the informational entropy” (characterized by low predictability and a high quantity of provided information). The term „entropy” resembles, both formally and through its deduction method, with the „thermodynamic entropy” formula („the entropy of a probability field” or, in other words, „the undefined field”), and the term „informational” sets it apart from the thermodynamic entropy. The link between information and physical entropy was established with the help of the Leon Brillouin equation. On the other hand, in order to estimate the quantity of information, the second principle of the thermodynamics set forth by Boltzman was applied, as a probabilistic law referring to the entropy of a system. Considering the complexity of the thermal transfer between the human body and the environment, only the thermal factors were selected from the wide range of factors which determine the quantity of information that reaches the human subject with a certain body state and within specific environment parameters. The quantity of thermal information resulted from the variation of the environmental parameters was calculated based on the similarity between Boltzman’s thermodynamic entropy and Shannon’s informational entropy. Our paper presents a software application that can be used to determine the optimal comfort temperature and to establish the variation of the pairs of values that characterise air temperature Ta [0C] and the temperature of radiant surfaces Ts [0C] in a definite environment, corresponding to a certain quantity of information linked to the state of “absolute comfort” and of “limit comfort” (a quantity of information of 50 bit/s). In order to achieve our goal, a wide base of data was created so as to include all the variation values belonging to all the factors which influence the quantity of heat Q[Kcal] that is being exchanged between the human body and the environment through all the body’s mechanisms of thermal adjustment (conduction, convection, radiation, and evaporation). The application lessens the quantity of work and the extended time which is necessary in order to solve the calculus algorithm; furthermore, it is designed so as to be an e-learning instrument for both college and masters students, as well as for researchers who carry out their activity in this particular field.