Scientific Research Department:
The Research Department has been established to manage research affairs in the College. It endeavours to help advance scientific research and make it reach the highest possible levels. Through its various activities—such as research management, promotion, support, follow-up and the application of research outcomes—the Department seeks to develop knowledge and ultimately serve society in various fields of knowledge.
Vision:
To promote scientific research in the Colleges of Applied Sciences, contribute to its progress and make it work for the benefit of society and sustainable development.
Mission:
Our mission is to achieve qualitative and quantitative excellence in graduate programs and scientific research. We strive to carry out innovative research that serves society and helps build a knowledge-based economy. This entails the development of an infrastructure that stimulates study and research, the training of high-calibre researchers and research assistants, and the establishment of an effective partnership with the various sectors of society in such a way as to help make current sustainable development efforts succeed.
Goals:
# To examine Research-Support applications and ensure that they have been properly done before submitting them to the Research Centre.
# To carry out the decisions made by the Research Centre.
# To maintain the exchange of information in the research field between the Colleges of Applied Sciences and related research institutions.
# To periodically prepare and document statistics and reports in the area of scientific research in the College.
# To follow up research projects financed by the College.
# To provide financial support for research projects undertaken by College faculty, and publish scientific research in refereed international journals.
The Research Council’s initiatives bode well for the future of applied research in Oman. As a result of these initiatives, researchers will know that the work they do to contribute to the economic and industrial future of Oman will receive full support. This article will discuss three examples of research projects sponsored by the Research Council.
Project 1: Building and Analyzing an Efficient and Scalable Arabic Information Retrieval System Based on XML and Semantic Web Technologies.
The main researcher in this project is Dr. Awny Abdelhadi Ahmed, an Associate Professor at College of Applied Sciences-Ibri. The duration of this project is three years, and it will cost OR 77000. The study aims to establish a system for retrieving information in Arabic based on XML and Semantic Web Technologies. The use of this new technology will save time and effort by helping the user find the exact information he/she is looking for without the need to surf hundreds of sites that might not be related to the information being looked for. In addition, the use of a semantic web application in the system can enable the user to find information that he/she cannot find using search engines like Google. For example, if we want to search for an answer to the question, “Who is the president of the United States?”, this system will give the exact answer, “Barcak Obama”, without the need to display different links as Googlewould do. This project will assist Omani researchers in their Master’s and Doctorate studies. This project is expected to build a comprehensive and an efficient system that solves the problems of inaccurate information and the waste of time and effort that users frequently face.
Project 2: Building a Multi-agent Computer Network Based on Graphic Processing Unit
The main researcher here is Dr. Mayyada Hammoushi from the College of Applied Sciences-Ibri, and the duration for this project is three years. The total cost of the project will be OR 85000. The study aims to build an early warning system that predicts weather phenomena like cyclones and floods in the Sultanate by processing satellite images in super computers. This system is expected to help minimize infrastructure damage when the Sultanate experiences extreme weather.
Project 3: Building a Face Recognition System Based on Subspace:
The main researcher in this project is Dr. Nushad A’Shafi, Assistant Professor in the Department of Information Technology at the College of Medicine. The project duration is two years, and it will cost OR 50000. The project aims to build a system for recognizing people through their facial features by the use of powerful algorithms. This project is expected to help in building a database in the Middle East that is based on facial recognition.