https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/41656 Fri, 10 Apr 2026 13:04:00 GMT 2026-04-10T13:04:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95973 Title: Services and engines for a recommender system Abstract: The number of ecommerce websites has grown rapidly over the past few years. Most of these websites use a back end database and support clients by providing ordinary database query facilities. However, using this approach has the major drawback that searching for a required product becomes difficult: Often users are faced with situations were the database either returns too many results or none at all. Also these websites, regardless of the fact they are used by a large number of users, they rarely take advantage of its population. Recommender systems can help dealing with the mass of products that are available in the databases of online organizations. They take advantage of the users of a web site and exploit personalization technologies to recommend items of interest to what other have liked. To overcome the problems of information overload and help customers receive better suggestions, a Framework is being proposed that identifies a common set of services which software developers should find helpful when implementing a recommender system, and implement these services through engines which are powered by knowledge based technologies. The framework should then be used by developers in order to create recommender systems in a shorter time. Description: B.Sc. IT (Hons)(Melit.) Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95973 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95968 Title: Photon : particle-based effect simulation and rendering image Abstract: The use of Computer Generated special effects has become a trend in many areas such as the movie industry and games. Several of these effects are too random and chaotic to be modelled with traditional rendering techniques. Particle systems have long been used to simulate these type of complex special effects (such as fire, smoke, clouds and explosions). Together with the latest improvements in CPU and GPU technology, such effects can now be created with particle systems in real-time and used to improve the user's perception of the virtual world. Description: B.Sc. IT (Hons)(Melit.) Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95968 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95966 Title: Automatic number plate recognition Abstract: In today's world, there is a need for automated traffic monitoring and control due to the ever increasing number of cars. Such monitoring and control is needed in car park entrances and exits, at traffic stops and border crossings to name just a few. An effective way to do this is by reading the license plate on the vehicle. This can reliably be done due to the fact that a license plate number is a unique set of characters belonging to a vehicle which can easily be read by a computer. This Final Year Project is an implementation of an Automatic Number Plate Recognition System. The user gives the system a bitmap image and given control parameters, the system locates the characters in the number plate. By using a template matching based OCR algorithm, the characters can be recognized and transformed to data which is easily recognized by a computer, such as ASCII. This system investigates a template matching system for the OCR stage. Template matching makes use of images representing all possible characters which may turn up in a number plate. Then the template image which best matches a character in the number plate is assigned the character name of that template. Improvements to the system can be integrating the system with a database of vehicle number plates containing the owner's name, car type, and other data which may be useful to that particular situation or environment in which the system is installed. Other additions can be to make the system work with video images. Description: B.Sc. IT (Hons)(Melit.) Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95966 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95965 Title: The visual facilitation of object orientated programming Abstract: Software development is one of the most actively evolving fields in LT. It is, therefore, important that programmers have the means to adapt to new design and development methodologies, such as that of object orientated programming, as quickly as possible. One of the best ways to catalyze this adaption is through the use of educational software. The advantages of opting for the use of software over conventional teaching mediums such as books and lectures are numerous, such as the interactivity that can be provided and the means to apply the concepts learnt in an actual development environment. The notion of using visual representation and demonstration to make a topic more understandable has been around for centuries. The more sensory stimulation a student receives in the process of learning, the more likely he or she will be to retain the knowledge. It stands to reason that an interactive environment which encourages the student to both observe and participate in the learning process is likely to be far more successful than an environment that lulls the pupil into a state of passive inactivity. This thesis attempts to present an environment in which it is possible to familiarize oneself with the concepts of object orientated programming and to observe the application of these concepts in the C# programming language. Description: B.Sc. IT (Hons)(Melit.) Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/95965 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z