We present a systematic study on gender classification with automatically detected and aligned faces. We experimented with 120 combinations of automatic face detection, face alignment and gender classification. One of the findings was that the automatic face alignment methods did not increase the gender classification rates. However, manual alignment increased classification rates a little, which suggests that automatic alignment would be useful when the alignment methods are further improved. We also found that the gender classification methods performed almost equally well with different input image sizes. In any case, the best classification rate was achieved with a support vector machine. A neural network and Adaboost achieved almost as good classification rates as the support vector machine and could be used in applications where classification speed is considered more important than the best possible classification accuracy.

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Higher education in Tanzania like in many other Sub-Saharan countries suffers from unavailability of quality teaching and learning resources due to lack of tradition, competence, and experience to develop such resources. Nevertheless, there are thousands of open educational resources (OER) freely available in the public domain that can potentially improve the quality of existing resources or help to develop new courses. The uptake and reuse of these resources in higher learning institutions (HLIs) in Tanzania has been very low. The study applied the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) model to elicit instructors' intention to adopt and use OER in teaching. The paper also investigated challenges that hinder instructors to adopt and use OER. A sample of 104 instructors selected randomly from five HLIs was collected and tested against the research model using regression analysis. The study found effort expectancy had significant positive effect on instructors' intention to use OER while performance expectancy, facilitating conditions, and social influence did not have significant effect. Challenges that were found to hinder instructors to adopt and use OER are discussed. The findings of this study will help those who are involved in OER implementation to find strategies that will maximize OER adoption and usage in higher education in Tanzania.

<p>The past few years have seen increasingly rapid development and use of open educational resources (OER) in higher education institutions (HEIs) in developing countries. These resources are believed to be able to widen access, reduce the costs, and improve the quality of education. However, there exist several challenges that hinder the adoption and use of these resources. The majority of challenges mentioned in the literature do not have empirically grounded evidence and they assume Sub-Saharan countries face similar challenges. Nonetheless, despite commonalities that exist amongst these countries, there also exists considerable diversity, and they face different challenges. Accordingly, this study investigated the perceived barriers to the use of OER in 11 HEIs in Tanzania. The empirical data was generated through semi-structured interviews with a random sample of 92 instructors as well as a review of important documents. Findings revealed that lack of access to computers and the Internet, low Internet bandwidth, absence of policies, and lack of skills to create and/or use OER are the main barriers to the use of OER in HEIs in Tanzania. Contrary to findings elsewhere in Africa, the study revealed that lack of trust in others’ resources, lack of interest in creating and/or using OER, and lack of time to find suitable materials were not considered to be barriers. These findings provide a new understanding of the barriers to the use of OER in HEIs and should therefore assist those who are involved in OER implementation to find mitigating strategies that will maximize their usage.</p>

In recent years, there has been an increasing adoption of various Learning Management Systems (LMS) in higher education in Sub‐Saharan countries. Despite the perceived benefits of these systems to leverage challenges facing education sector in the region, studies show that the majority of them tend to fail; partially or totally. This paper presents a model for evaluating LMS deployed in Higher Education Institutions in Sub‐Saharan countries through adopting and extending the updated DeLone and McLean information system success model. The proposed model and the instrument have been validated through a survey of 200 students enrolled in various courses offered via Moodle LMS at University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The findings of this study will help those who are involved in the implementation of LMS in higher education in Sub‐Saharan countries to evaluate their existing systems and/or to prepare corrective measures and strategies to avoid future LMS failures.

Human augmentation is a field of research that aims to enhance human abilities through medicine or technology. This has historically been achieved by consuming chemical substances that improve a selected ability or by installing implants which require medical operations. Both of these methods of augmentation can be invasive. Augmented abilities have also been achieved with external tools, such as eyeglasses, binoculars, microscopes or highly sensitive microphones. Lately, augmented reality and multimodal interaction technologies have enabled non-invasive ways to augment human.In this article, we first discuss the field and related terms. We provide relevant definitions based on the present understanding of the field. This is followed by a summary of existing work in augmented senses, action, and cognition. Our contribution to the future includes a model for wearable augmentation. In addition, we present a call for research to realize this vision. Then, we discuss future human abilities. Wearable technologies may act as mediators for human augmentation, in the same manner as eyeglasses once revolutionized human vision. Non-invasive and easy-to-use wearable extensions will enable lengthening the active life for aging citizens or supporting the full inclusion of people with special needs in society, but there are also potential problems. Therefore, we conclude by discussing ethical and societal issues: privacy, social manipulation, autonomy and side effects, accessibility, safety and balance, and unpredictable future.

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The present aim was to study if thermal stimuli presented to the palm can affect emotional responses when measured with emotion related subjective rating scales and changes in skin conductance response (SCR). Two target temperatures, cold and warm, were created by either decreasing or increasing the temperature of the stimulus 4 °C in respect to the participants current hand temperature. Both cold and warm stimuli were presented by using two presentation methods, i.e., dynamic and pre-adjusted. The results showed that both the dynamic and pre-adjusted warm stimuli elevated the ratings of arousal and dominance. In addition, the pre-adjusted warm and cold stimuli elevated the SCR. The results suggest that especially pre-adjusted warm stimuli can be seen as effective in activating the autonomic nervous system and arousal and dominance dimensions of the affective rating space.