On March 16th , 2023, Research and Consultancy Committee arranged a presentation to discuss the research outcomes of NACA 2412 turbine blade testing using the Wind Tunnel facility available in the Engineering research lab. This presentation was aimed at providing the audience with an insight into how this type of testing can be used to optimize wind turbine blades for maximum efficiency. Dr. Arthur Davis Nicholas has presented part of the outcomes of TRC funded research project under the title, “Experimental Investigation of Flow over a NACA 2412 Wind Turbine Blade Profile in an Open Subsonic Wind Tunnel”. In his presentation, he has elaborated Testing of Wind Turbine Blades, Geometry Optimization, Linearizing Blade Chord, Blade Twist Distribution and Aerodynamic Performance of Wind Turbine Blades. He specifically explained how different parameters affect the aerodynamic performance of a NACA 2412 wind turbine blade profile with BETZ law basics and Coefficients. The presenter clarified various aspects such as Reynolds number effects, Mach number effects, and angle of attack effects on the lift and drag coefficients. Furthermore, details on how to examine the effect of blade geometry optimization on overall aerodynamic performance were also elaborated. Finally, the presenter discussed the results obtained from the research experiments and suggested ways to design these types of turbine blades.
The Staff Development Committee of Engineering Department organized an online webinar program on “Organizational Behavior Skills and Personality Development” on 9th March 2023 from 1.30 PM to 2.30 PM through MS teams. The program was delivered by external speaker Mr. Prakash Manoharan, Assistant Professor, Sanjivani College of Engineering, Maharashtra, India.
He started his presentation with an overview to Behavior, Skills and Personality Development. He Provided with various practical examples about the organization behavior towards personality development. Followed by he explained the different ways involved in the organization’s success through the organizational behavior and personality development. The staff members were benefitted with the presentation, it was very useful and effective for every organization we work with. The participants found the webinar informative and engaging, and they actively participated in the Q&A session at the end of the program. The webinar was a great success, and the participants appreciated the efforts of the Staff Development Committee for organizing such an insightful program. They expressed their interest in attending similar programs in the future and suggested inviting more external experts to share their knowledge and expertise in their respective fields.
The IT Department through its Staff Development Committee conducted a webinar via MS Teams titled, “Block Chain Technology” in 8th March 2023 at 12PM. The SDC introduced and welcomed the speaker after which, the speaker started her presentation. First, the speaker discussed the flow diagram of Block Chain Technology and immediately she introduced and defined cryptocurrency and its related topic, bitcoin. Shem mentioned that Blockchain is the technology behind ‘bitcoin, whereas bitcoin is a digital token and blockchain is the ledger that keeps track of who owns the digital tokens. In order for the audience to have clarity about the topic, the presenter emphasized that a person can’t have a bitcoin without blockchain but you can have a blockchain even without bitcoin. She mentioned also other prominent cryptocurrencies such as ethereum, bitcoin cash, ripple and litecoin, and most dominant coin is the bitcoin.
Moreover, the presenter reiterated why people are shifting from the old technology to a new technology such as block chain – it is because through such technology, ie bank transactions, the technology in such case will take over the middle man in between the transactions (the process of transferring money from the sender to the receiver will be faster as compared when using a middleman). This process refers to block chain technology as the technology governs a ledger of data. Also, Dr Brilly explained what are block chains? She defined it in a way the audience can relate – example, blocks in a chain is just like pages in a book (or a book is a chain of pages), however she presented block chain as it is just a file or data structure, ie. How data is sensibly put together and stored. Other data structures are databases, text files, images, lists and so on. In order for the participants to grasp this technical presentation, Dr Brilly mentioned few properties of block chain such as decentralized, immutable data store, shared book that records all transactions, greater transparency and trust to all parties; and its implementation. Towards the end of her presentation, she presented the architecture of block chain, different versions of block chain and most importantly the future of block chain technology. Before she ended her presentation, the speaker made a short practical demonstration how block chain transactions are made. It was indeed an interesting topic and presentation; and the expectations were met because the examples are real life examples. Before the Staff Development Committee presented to her the signed Certificate of Appreciation, Mr William asked what are the drawback of this block chain technology – if this technology will replace the traditional ledger transactions, and the presenter answered and explained it very concise and clear.
There were 46 participants who benefited the presentation. A feedback was taken and as a result, the presenter got a mean score of 4.5 on a 1-5 scale where 5 is the highest. This implies that the participants were satisfied with the way Dr Brilly presented the topic.
On February 15th, 2023, representatives from the IT department visited Cisco headquarters in Muscat to meet with Dr. Ali Al Lawati, Cisco's general manager for Oman. The meeting aimed to explore collaboration opportunities in student training, research and innovation, and knowledge transfer. The visiting team comprises the Department Head, Dr. Amal Al Abri; the Head of the IT Section, Ms. Fatma Al Shamli; the Public Relation Committee Coordinator, Mr. Abdullah Al Shukeily; and the Coordinator of the Research and Consultancy Committee, Dr. Qais Al Janabi. The visiting team arrived at 11:00 AM and was received by Dr. Al Lawati at the Cisco office in Bait Aalreem complex in Muscat.
After a hearty and hospitable reception, Dr. Amal described the future plan of the IT department and the present departments' activities regarding staff improvement and student skill development. Dr. Amal also emphasized the value added to the student's certificate after the merger with other colleges of technologies and applied sciences based on the Royal Decree to establish a new University of Technology and Applied Sciences. Afterward, Mr. Adbullah introduced the meeting agenda.
The first item on the agenda is the students' training opportunities and how Cisco can help our students improve their skills and elevate their abilities to meet Oman's vision for 2040. Dr. Allawatti highlighted Cisco's commitment to supporting student training and development. He shared details of the various programs and initiatives that Cisco has implemented to help students gain practical experience in computer science.
Dr. Al Lawati was very supportive and expressed his willingness to provide everything within his capacity to achieve the expected goal. He also introduced the new features added to the NetAcad website that will allow the students to attend high-quality content based on interactive learning techniques such as quizzes, simulations, and hands-on labs to engage learners and reinforce their understanding of the material.
Dr. Al Lawatti added, Netacad is an online learning platform created by Cisco, which offers a variety of courses and learning resources related to networking, cybersecurity, programming, and IT infrastructure. It provides various benefits, including high-quality content, flexibility, interactive learning, a global community, industry certification, and cost-effectiveness. It is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to develop their skills and knowledge in IT and networking.
Moreover, Dr. Al Lawatti introduced Cisco's developer hub. The Cisco Developer Hub is an online platform created by Cisco that provides resources, tools, and support for developers interested in building applications and solutions using Cisco technologies. The hub is designed to be a central location where developers can find everything they need to create innovative solutions that can leverage Cisco's extensive portfolio of products and services. He added that in the developer hub, the students could find Learning Labs and Sandbox remote labs to assist with their learning experience. Beyond the interactive Learning Labs and reservable Sandboxes, the students can also find API documentation, event information, and curated code examples on Code Exchange. A video series on network programmability is also available.
Additionally, Dr. Al Lawatti stressed the importance of Cisco certificates and demanded to organize boot camps for students led by certified instructors from the department. He explained how Cisco certificates are highly demanded, and certified students are qualified to secure fine positions in the job market. Among the items discussed with the general manager of Cisco is the OJT training of our students under Cisco's supervision. Dr. Al Lawatti shows his support despite the limited opportunities due to the size of the office in Muscat. Therefore, the OJT training will be limited to two students per semester.
Research and Innovation:
The IT department representatives were particularly interested in the research collaborations with Cisco. Dr. Ali suggested exploring Cisco's developer hub, where many case studies and statistical records are listed. On the other hand, the visiting team asked for more potential collaboration, such as performing system performance testing as well as sharing anonymized data dumps for further research activities.
The IT department representatives also expressed an interest in knowledge transfer opportunities. They discussed the possibility of having Dr. Al Lawatti or other experts from Cisco deliver training sessions to their organization's IT staff on the latest technology trends and best practices. Dr. Allawatti also suggested exploring the potential for joint research projects that could benefit both organizations.
Moreover, Cisco agreed to support the IT department with future activities such as resource person, couch, and jury in competitions and innovation challenges.
Overall, the industry visit by the IT department to Cisco HQ in was productive and informative. The IT department representatives gained valuable insights into Cisco's expertise and technology and explored potential collaboration opportunities. They were also impressed with Cisco's commitment to supporting student training and development. The meeting was a great opportunity for the IT department representatives to learn from a global technology leader and explore potential future partnerships and knowledge transfer opportunities.
The Staff Development Committee of the Business Studies Department organized a presentation titled "A Workshop on ERP in Teaching" on Thursday, February 23, 2023, from 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m. The session started with a welcome address given by Dr. Tamilselvan. The resource person, Dr. Syeda Zubaida Hashmi, started her presentation by focusing on the use of tally in teaching. She guided the audience on how to create the new company's groups. There was an interaction discussion about the usage of various accounts and inventories with the audience, which provided an easy pathway to understand the usage of ERP in teaching. At the end, there was a Q&A session to clarify the doubts raised by the audience. Overall, the whole session was beneficial to the faculties of all departments.
The Staff Development Committee of Engineering Department organized a technical awareness program on "Various IoT Platforms to Develop Engineering Projects" on 23th February 2023 Thursday from 1:30 PM – 2:30PM in Multi-Purpose Hall.
Dr.M.MURUGANANDAM, Lecturer, Electrical Section, Engineering Department has delivered the presentation for the benefit of the staff members. The targeted audience for the program were the lecturers of Electrical and Electronics Engineering section.
He started his presentation with an overview of various IoT platforms. He explained various hardware and software used for IoT applications. There are a lot of open source IoT platforms, he noted, and Lecturer should use open source software to build projects. He demonstrated some IoT software platforms such as ThingSpeak, Blynk and IFTTT.
Finally, he showed some IoT based projects as case studies such as IoT based smart health care system for monitoring asthma patients, IoT based smart energy meter, IoT based smart agriculture monitoring system. It was a useful guide for engineering lecturers. To benefit from IOT. The staff felt that the presentation was very useful and effective. A total of 25 faculties participated.
The Research and Consultancy Committee of the IT department has organized a webinar titled " Project Management and Funding Opportunities in India and Abroad " on November 22nd 2022. The webinar aimed to provide an overview of project management techniques and funding opportunities available for IT projects. The webinar was delivered by Dr. M Pallikonda Rajasekharan, Director (Research and Development) Kalasalingam Academy of Research and Education. Dr. M Rajasekharan is an expert in the field of project management and IT governance.
Key Takeaways:
- Introduction to Project Management: Dr. Rajasekharan started the webinar by introducing the concept of project management and its importance in IT projects. He explained the key components of project management, including scope management, time management, cost management, quality management, and risk management. He also highlighted the benefits of adopting project management practices, such as improved project success rates and better stakeholder engagement.
- Project Management Techniques: The webinar covered various project management techniques, including agile project management, waterfall project management, and hybrid project management. Dr. Rajasekharan discussed the advantages and disadvantages of each technique and explained when each technique should be used based on the project's requirements.
- Funding Opportunities for IT Projects: In the second part of the webinar, Dr. Rajasekharan discussed various funding opportunities available for IT projects, including government grants, venture capital, crowdfunding, and angel investors. He explained the requirements and eligibility criteria for each funding source and shared some tips on how to secure funding for IT projects.
- Project Management Best Practices: In the final part of the webinar, Dr. Rajasekharan discussed some best practices for effective project management, such as stakeholder management, communication management, and change management.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the webinar "Project Management and Funding Opportunities" provided valuable insights into project management techniques and funding opportunities available for IT projects. In the end, the speaker allotted some time for a questions and answers session. The feedback was collected from the 73 participants on a scale of 5, the result of the feedback was 3.75 out of 5.
The Research and Consultancy Committee of the IT department has organized a webinar titled "Human Pose Estimation in Computer Vision" on November 10th 2022. The webinar was delivered by Dr. Bharatesh Chakravarthi, a renowned researcher in the field of computer vision and human pose estimation. The webinar aimed to provide an overview of human pose estimation techniques in computer vision, their applications, and current research trends.
Key Takeaways:
- Introduction to Human Pose Estimation: Dr. Chakravarthi started the webinar by introducing the concept of human pose estimation in computer vision. He explained that human pose estimation is the process of estimating the position, orientation, and configuration of a person's body parts in an image or video. He also discussed the importance of human pose estimation in various applications such as robotics, gaming, healthcare, and surveillance.
- Techniques for Human Pose Estimation: Dr. Chakravarthi explained various techniques used for human pose estimation, including 2D pose estimation, 3D pose estimation, and multi-person pose estimation. He discussed the advantages and limitations of each technique and also shared some recent advancements in these areas.
- Applications of Human Pose Estimation: The webinar also covered various applications of human pose estimation, including action recognition, gait analysis, human-computer interaction, and sports analysis. Dr. Chakravarthi explained how these applications are benefiting from human pose estimation techniques and shared some examples of successful implementations.
- Challenges and Future Directions: In the final part of the webinar, Dr. Chakravarthi discussed the current challenges and future directions of human pose estimation research. He highlighted some of the major challenges such as occlusion, variability in human body shapes and sizes, and the need for large annotated datasets. He also discussed some of the recent research trends, such as deep learning-based approaches, multi-modal fusion, and the use of generative model
Conclusion:
In conclusion, the webinar "Human Pose Estimation in Computer Vision" provided valuable insights into the current state-of-the-art techniques and applications of human pose estimation in computer vision. The webinar was well-structured and informative, and Dr. Chakravarthi did an excellent job of explaining complex concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. Overall, the webinar was a great learning experience and provided a better understanding of the importance and challenges of human pose estimation in computer vision.
Around 230 participants attended the webinar from various institutes in Oman and India. The overall feedback provided by the participants was 4.6 out of 5
The Community Engagement Committee of ELC UTAS-Ibri conducted the final IELTS training session for semester 1 (2022-2023) from January 8 to 11, 2023. The IELTS tutors Ms Sharon Devaneson and Dr Miriam Cordova shared useful tips and strategies with IELTS aspirants.
Ms. Sharon Devaneson opined that the key to successfully clear IELTS Examination is that the candidates need to identify their areas of strengths and weakness and focus on the areas for the progress.
The primary objective of the IELTS course was to facilitate the students to identify their areas of improvement in each skill and help them to work towards it. The mock tests were given in all four skills to instill confidence and to find out the grey areas to work on.
The tutors shared the information pertaining to useful apps such as LearnEnglish Audio and Video, Ted Talks Daily, LearnEnglish Grammar, and IELTS Word Power to help improve their grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, and listening skills. Dr Miriam stated that the free IELTS courses enable them to connect with students and professionals who are aiming for self-improvement and professional growth. It is rewarding to be part of their IELTS journey, although it is only a glimpse, as the materials have to be condensed and delivered according to a given schedule.
On the last day, Ms Zumrut Cassidy and Mr Michael Cassidy conducted mock IELTS speaking tests for the students and gave them their feedback. Dr Abdusalam, the head of the ELC, encouraged the students to not only practice well but also to listen to English documentaries or movies and make it a habit to speak in English with their friends and colleagues. He gave away the participation certificates for their active participation. He also expressed his gratitude to the educators for their ongoing assistance and commitment to helping the community.
Dr. Mohsen Amiri, as a guest speaker, conducted an online workshop at Qatar University for the department of English literature and linguistics on February 13, 2023 for the graduate and post-graduate students. The workshop titled 'Am I Ready to Become a Teacher?' highlighted the most effective and practical strategies and untold qualities of teaching English for graduate and postgraduate students who intend to become English teachers in the GFP in the future. Acceding to the request of Arts students in the English Society at Sultan Qaboos University, it was decided that a similar workshop will be organized for the Education and Arts students in March 2023.
