Biography: Dr. Feng-Jen Yang received the B.E. degree in Information Engineering from Feng Chia University, Taichung, Taiwan, in 1989, the M.S. degree in Computer Science from California State University, Chico, California, in 1995, and the Ph.D. degree in Computer Science from Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois, in 2001, respectively. Currently, he is teaching and conducting researches at the Florida Polytechnic University. Besides the currently academic career, he also has highly regarded prior research experiences. He once was a research assistant at the Chung Shan Institute of Science and Technology (CSIST), Taoyuan, Taiwan, from 1989 to 1993, as well as an engineer at the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Hsinchu, Taiwan, from 1995 to 1996. His research areas include Artificial Intelligence, Expert Systems, Database Management Systems, Data Communications, and Software Engineering.

Topic: The Design and Implementation of Intelligent Tutoring Systems

Abstract: The idea of creating tutoring systems to assist learning started in early 1970s. As a special kind of interactive software, an intelligent tutoring system is a medium that conveys domain knowledge in a two-way, adaptive, and incremental manner. Learning from a well-implemented tutoring system could be like going through a life tutoring session in spite of the limitation on accommodating open-end discussions that usually need special handling by letting the virtual tutor actively control the discourse and preventing them in advance. Nevertheless, most of the intelligent tutoring system researchers still share the premise that interactive software can provide excellent instruction for large number of students within a confined domain of knowledge.
The naming of tutoring software has gone through CAI (Computer Aided Instruction), CAL (Computer Assisted Learning), CBT (Computer Based Training), ICAI (Intelligent Computer Aided Instruction), and finally the ITS (Intelligent Tutoring System). Besides chronicling the various technologies, this evolution of naming also suggested a shift of paradigm from simply encoding human teaching methods in predefined sessions to the incorporation of cognition and psychology into the instructional programs. As time goes on, more and more researchers are dedicated in the investigations of new technologies to make instructional software more human like, intelligent, efficient and practical.

Biography: Dr. Thomas Yang is a tenured full professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU), Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. He was a 2013 National Research Council (NRC) Senior Research Fellow supported by Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and a Visiting Faculty Research Fellow at Air Force Research Lab/Information Directorate (AFRL/RI) in 2012 and 2017. His recent research was also funded by AFRL's Machine Intelligence for Mission Focused Autonomy (MIMFA) program, and NASA Florida Space Grant Consortium. Dr. Yang is the recipient of 2017 Abas Sivjee Outstanding Researcher of the Year Award at ERAU, 2010 IEEE Florida Council Outstanding Engineering Educator Award, and Best Paper Award at 2014 IEEE International Conference on Electro/Information Technology. He is an Associate Editor of the journal Circuits, Systems, and Signal Processing (Springer). Dr. Yang is a member of Eta Kappa Nu and Phi Kappa Phi. As a Senior Member of IEEE, he served as the Chairman of IEEE Daytona Section in 2011 and 2012.

Topic: Blind Signal Separation for Multi-user Detection in MIMO Wireless Communications

Abstract: This talk presents a blind multi-user detection technique for multi-antenna quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) receivers with Inphase/Quadrature phase (I/Q) imbalances. The estimation of multiple users in the presence of I/Q imbalances is performed by Blind Source Separation (BSS) methods. While the complex-valued signal model for multi-antenna QAM receivers does not lend itself to BSS due to the effect of I/Q imbalances, reformulating the signal model to a real-valued equivalent form enables the application of BSS. The proposed method enables multiple users to share the same bandwidth simultaneously in different geographical locations, and avoids the need for the knowledge of the channel state information. In addition, despite of the presence of I/Q imbalances in all receiver branches, the number of antenna required in the receiver is equal to the number of users. Computer simulations are conducted using the popular Fast-ICA (Independent Component Analysis) algorithm, and the simulation results confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed technique.

Biography: Dr. Massila Kamalrudin is an associate professor of Software Engineering Department of UTeM and a group leader of Innovative Software System & Services Group. Currently, Dr Massila is a deputy dean of Institute of Technology Mangement and Entrepreneurship, managing the trans-disciplinary program and research. Her first degree was Computer Science majoring in Software Engineering from Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2003, then completed her MSc in Computing and Software Technology in 2006 from University of Wales, Swansea. In 2011 she gained her PhD from University of Auckland, New Zealand in the area of Requirements Engineering within 3 years and did a post-doctorate study at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. She is a member of IEEE and Malaysia Software Engineering Group (MYSEIG). Her main interests of research are requirements engineering, global software development and software tool and methodology. She has written many reputable peer-reviewed journals and IEEE/ACM papers proceedings in the area of requirements engineering and automated software engineering.

Topic: Generating Abstract Test for Requirements Validation

Abstract: Getting the best quality requirements is often considered to be difficult, time consuming and error prone. Further, validating the software application to meet those requirements usually costs up to 40% to 60% of the software budget. Motivated from this, we developed a lightweight approach that adopts requirements-based testing methodology for validating requirements captured from clients-stakeholder. This approach can automatically generate abstract test from semi-formalised model: Essential Use Cases (EUCs) and Essential User Interface (EUI). To do this, an automated tool support called TestMEReq is also developed. We conducted a case study with an industry and their feedback was collected to evaluate the effectiveness of our approach. We also conducted interview with experts from IT/software industry to evaluate further the usability of the approach. The results prove that our approach helps to reduce effort in validating requirements, easy to use and helps the requirement engineers to gain fast and more accurate feedback from client-stakeholder.