Ammonium perchlorate (AP) based solid propellant is a modern solid rocket propellant used in various applications. The combustion characteristics of AP based composite propellants were extensively studied by many research scholars to gain higher thrust. The amount of thrust and the thrust profile, which may be obtained from a specific grain design, is mainly determined by the propellant composition and the manufacturing process that produces the solid propellant. This article is intended to review and discuss several aspects of the composition and preparation of the solid rocket propellant. The analysis covers the main ingredients of AP based propellants such as the binder, oxidizer, metal fuel, and plasticizers. The main conclusions are derived from each of its components with specific methods of good manufacturing practices. In conclusion, the AP based solid propellant, like other composite propellants is highly influenced by its composition. However, the quality of the finished grain is mainly due to the manufacturing process.

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Modification techniques of the inorganic fillers have been introduced in the synthesis of mixed matrix membrane (MMM) in order to make the fillers become more compatible and homogenously dispersed in the polymer matrix. It is also believed that enhancement in polymer/filler interaction can enhance the gas separation performance. In this work, SAPO-34 zeolite was functionalized using an organic amino cation, ethylenediamine (EDA) prior to embedment in the PES polymer matrix. The obtained PES/SAPO-34 mixed matrix membranes were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Thermogravimetric (TGA) and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) analyses in order to compare the properties between unmodified and modified MMM. It was found from FTIR analysis that EDA was successfully grafted onto the SAPO-34 surface. TGA analysis also showed that functionalized MMM exhibited an increase in membrane thermal stability. The use of EDA-functionalized SAPO-34 in the PES based MMM has improved the contact between polymer and filler interphase as revealed by FESEM images. This finding suggests that the functionalization technique using EDA can be used in the fabrication of MMM in order to enhance the compatibility between the polymer and zeolite.

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Balloon kyphoplasty (BKP) is one of the most reliable minimally invasive surgery (MIS) procedure to treat osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (VCFs). However, untoward complications of high incidence of adjacent vertebral fractures after BKP and their risk factors are still equivocal. To further investigate the underlying cause of this phenomenon, non-linear finite element analysis (FEA) was fully utilized based on load sharing distribution, strain energy distribution and fracture risks evaluation. For this purpose, an image-based pre and postoperative three-dimensional (3D) finite element models of thoracic and lumbar spinal unit (T11-L3) for an osteoporotic patient were developed. After BKP, the load sharing distribution (between anterior and posterior column), strength and stiffness of the augmented vertebra has significantly improved. However, higher generation of interface stresses and deformation energy were found immediately at the adjacent vertebral bodies, which makes them susceptible to the risks of bone failures. Failure risks evaluation based on the incremented loads of 1kN to 10kN (50% risk of spinal injury) have shown very encouraging results. Apparently, the postoperative deformation onset loading (5kN) was fallen within the acceptable range that was higher than the standard normal daily living activities (1kN). It is believed that, the optimization of the material properties used in BKP procedure with the depth understanding on the historical and natural evolution of the osteoporosis could achieve optimal clinical outcomes in the future.

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In today’s world, the study and applications of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) capable Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have increased vastly. A wide variety of UAVs are currently being employed in both civilian and military sectors. In remote control (RC) technology, the VTOL system is also implemented in RC aircrafts and helicopters. In this paper, our focus will be on the Tilt-rotor model. The Tilt-rotor has a rotor on each side of its airframe, where it can tilt to provide both lift and forward thrust to the rotor-craft. The Tilt-rotor craft is controlled via glove controller weared by human. The glove controller drives the rotor of the aircraft model based on the hand motion, allowing the glove wearer to manipulate the VTOL system of the aircraft including pitch, yaw and row movement of the aircraft.

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Vibration of exhaust system due to the engine operation and the condition of the road surface which is transferable to the body through the hanger affects the noise, vibration and harshness performance of the vehicle. The exhaust manifold is mounted on the engine and the exhaust pipe is fitted to the exhaust manifold. Therefore, the fixed-free condition of exhaust system finite element model has been used to perform normal mode analysis and frequency response analysis using MSC Patran/Nastran software. According to the simulation results, the average excited load response at the different nodes is generated. The root mean square (RMS) values of these responses were calculated to select the suitable hanger positions which are confirmed at the point where the RMS value is comparatively small. This study can contribute to the design development and verifying the performance of an automobile exhaust system and can be broadened for the other exhaust system designs of various vehicles.

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In the present work, the structural modifications of Ge- doped silica preforms due to γ-irradiation at room temperature have been investigated using Raman spectroscopy. The MCVD fabricated preforms labelled as P1 and P2 are distinguishable by the oxidation and thermal history during the fabrication process, in which related to the oxygen bonding of SiO₄ tetrahedral. From Raman analysis, the 480 cm^-1(D1) and 609 cm^-1(D2) peaks are the main network features of pure and doped silica glass, suggest the formation of defect centers in the preforms. The structural modifications of this defects centers are more sensitive in P2 , due to the oxygen deficient state of the preform.

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Development of autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) for hydrography survey requires varieties of transducers to be setup. However, several of the commercial of the shelf (COTS) transducers are using a different format of data transmission. Therefore, there is a need for built-in communication protocols for seamless integration to your monitoring platform and data logging. This paper focuses on the practical implementation of the technique to convert unformatted asynchronous serial data from transducers into NMEA 0183 protocol. NMEA 0183 protocol is being selected as the common protocol since it is used by many marine vehicles. The technique lies on extracting the non-formatted asynchronous serial data and generates a custom made NMEA sentence that complies with the format. By implementing such technique, the data will not only synchronize in a single format but also stamp with the global positioning system (GPS) data which is crucial for mapping.

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Bi₃Ni₂Ta₃O₁₄ (BNT) pyrochlores and a series of its solid solutions Bi3Ni2-xTa3O14-x (- 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) were prepared via conventional solid state method. The phase purity of BNT and its solid solutions was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. Phase pure of BNT cubic pyrochlore was successfully synthesized at x = 0.6 (Bi₃Ni_1.4Ta₃O_13.4) with sintering temperature of 1050^oC over 24 hours. The single phase material crystallized in a cubic system, space group Fd3m with a = b = c = 10.5134 Å, α = β = γ = 90º, respectively. Detailed analysis was carried out on single phase material and the electrical properties was determined by ac impedance spectroscopy in the frequency of 5 Hz to 13 MHz. Conducticity revealed that the sample was in bulk properties and it had a high activation energy of 0.93eV and 0.95eV for heat and cool respectively. Ac impedance indicate that BNT exhibits dielectric properties with permittivity, ε’ of 44.85 and dielectric loss, tan δ, of 0.003 at room temperature in the frequency region 1 x 10⁵ Hz (100 kHz), respectively.

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Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a non-invasive procedure using electrical impedance to image the human breast. Due to its mobility and using non-compression technique it is appealing to patients. This scanning device does not emit any ionizing radiation thus it can be done on pregnant women by means of no age limit. Since the EIT has play some supplementary function in the breast imaging, a lot of research on its clinical accuracy has been done. Therefore, the aim is to carry out a review of EIT clinical accuracy and assess the quality of journal by using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) criteria. The journals that assess the sensitivity were search through various databases and the clinical accuracy of EIT in each journal is recorded. The review shows that the range sensitivity (Sn) of EIT system to human breast in ten journals was between 17% and 94.6%. The range of specificity (S_p) is between 49% and 97.1%. The negative (NPV) and positive predictive value (PPV) is between 74% and 98%; 4% and 73.3% respectively. The accuracy (ACC) of EIT is between 69% and 80.5%. This value is found to be supported that EIT can be used as an adjunct screening technique for human breast.

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A novel method to provide an objective visual guide during lower limb prosthetic alignment is proposed. A customized ambulatory device was built to collect kinematic and temporal gait data from 3 subjects walking in four different experiment setups. Multiple gait events within a gait cycle and stride time were derived as feature variables and were pre-processed using Principle Component Analysis (PCA). Distinctive clusters due to different walking setups were noticed in a PCA plot in two dimensions. Dispersion of each clusters and distances amongst each other explains the walking variability and differences under different setups.

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This paper reports on the design and fabrication of a High Temperature Short Time (HTST) camel milk pasteurization pilot plant. The objective of this project is to design and fabricate a low cost and practical camel milk pasteurization pilot plant which will work well in an agricultural setting in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Fresh camel milk is a much sought after delicacies in the Arab world, usually sold directly by the farmer to the consumer without any further processing. However, this traditional method of milk handling has a few limitations where there is a possibility of milk contamination during handling, excess milk cannot be stored and the excess milk cannot be transported to other localities further away limiting the economic opportunities of the farmers. This pasteurization plant is based on High Temperature Short Time (HTST) continuous process where the raw camel milk will be indirectly heated to 72oC via a heat exchanger. The milk temperature will be maintained at 72oC for 15s in a holding tube to kill most of the harmful microorganisms present in the milk. The pasteurized milk is then ready for consumption or can be refrigerated and stored for upto 21 days. With the introduction of this pasteurization pilot plant, it is hoped that the hygiene factor and the livelihood of the farmers will be improved where the camel milk can be stored longer and transported to stores safely to meet the demands of consumers.

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In this research, zinc was doped into calcium phosphate through mechanochemical synthesis. Zinc mol concentration was varied from 0.1%, 0.3% and 0.5%. The main precursors employed in this work are calcium hydroxide, phosphoric acid and zinc hydroxide. The synthesized powders were examined through FTIR and XRD analyses to validate the presence of all the chemical elements. The synthesized powders were then compacted into green bodies and sintered at 1000oC. Density test showed a linear change towards the different concentration on the zinc where zinc dopants improved the densification and microstructure of the calcium phosphate.

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TiO₂photocatalyst is a widely used catalyst because it is inert, non-toxic, and economical. However, the energy gap (bandgap) on TiO2 is about 3.2 eV which is equivalent to ultraviolet (UV) light at λ = 388 nm, limiting the application of its photocatalyst only in the UV, but not in the visible region. Whereas, visible light is available in abundance as the sunlight reaching the earth. One approach to improve the efficiency of TiO₂photocatalytic is by inserting dopants in the crystalline TiO₂ matrix, which has a smaller energy gapand equivalent to the energy of visible light. One of the most promising dopants is nitrogen. The results of material characterization showed that the N-TiO₂ has a smaller energy gap which was equal to 2.6580 eV compared with TiO₂ standard which was equal to 3.2949 eV. The success indication of nitrogen insertion was obtained by the UV-Visspectrum, infrared absorption peaks, and XRD analysis. The testing of photocatalytic activityby using visible light revealed that the reaction rate constant of N-TiO₂ can degrade congo red dye faster than the TiO₂ standard.

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TRIZ is the Russian Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, an approach to come out with systematic approach from identifying the problem to engineering solution. This paper presents the TRIZ approach in selecting conventional and non-conventional machining method that meet the goal of study for dimple fracture fabrication. From the analysis using TRIZ approach, the fabrication method of turning process is selected for dimple fabrication. The selection is mainly due to the goal of study i.e. performance, reliable and cheapest dimple structure fabrication method.

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Comparison of various responses such as fill time, deflection, volumetric shrinkage and residual stress between runner linear layout and runner star layout using mold flow simulation software in family plastic injection molding was studied. The plastic parts such as tensile specimen, impact specimen, flexural specimen and hardness specimen were designed using CATIA version 5. Then, designed plastic parts in CATIA software were imported into Moldflow software to transform the plastic specimen parts from solid form to mesh form. Feeding system such as sprue, runner and gate including water cooling system was designed inside the mold. Determination of the type of injection molding machine and the type of plastic material in the settings was taking under cool + fill + pack + warp analysis. It is found that runner linear layout produces lower filling time as compared to runner star layout and deflection on runner linear layout was lower than runner star layout. Then, shrinkage value in runner star layout exceeded runner linear layout. In addition, in cavity residual stress, distribution stress on the plastic part surface of the star runner layout shows high stress. Thus, it shows that runner linear layout in family plastic injection moulding was the most suitable layout for this family injection mold.

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Mould making industry is a manufacturer and designer for various kinds of mould such as commodity mould, packaging mould and furniture mould for other manufacturing processes. Due to the mould manufacturing process, workers are exposed to the risks of upper limb disorders such as repetitive tasks, uncomfortable work postures and carry out work for long periods without break. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to identify the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among the employee at mould making manufacturing industry. Structured interview using Cornell Musculoskeletal Discomfort Questionnaires (CMDQ) were conducted over 35 workers in mould making industry in which the age range was from 23 to 38 years (mean 28.54 ± 4.22 years) while working experience ranges from 1 to 11 years (mean 4.31 years ± 3:09). The results shows that workers in the mould making industry were exposured to ergonomic risk of experiencing discomfort in the upper part of the body such as neck, back body, forearm and wrists that involves an iterative process on a regular basis and work in awkward postures. As a conclusion, this study can be a useful reference to ergonomists, researchers, OSH practitioners and others concerned to identify the prevalence of work-related musculoskeletal disorders in the workplace, especially in the mould making industry and other manufacturing industries.

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In this paper, the fabrication of piezo resistive micro cantilever (PRM) sensor was realized through the utilization of bulk micromachining technology. Through a sequence of photolithography and etching processes, the device fabrication is realized. The fabrication of two PRM designs, dual-layer and single-layer has opened up the opportunity for device improvement especially in fabrication methods for simpler and reduced process steps. In single-layer design, the fabrication at reduced process steps which offers simpler and reproducible device has been successfully realized. This design offers simpler fabrication process by not only reducing the number of process steps but also eliminating the common fabrication issues encountered in bulk micromachining technology. With the development of single-layer doped silicon PRM sensor, the thermal strain issue, due to mismatch in coefficients of thermal expansion of multi-layered structure is not an issue. The novelty of this work lies in the design itself, in which the single-layer dual leg design not only simplifies the fabrication work, but also promotes an efficient current distribution along the piezo resistive dual-leg structure which is integrated with Wheatstone bridge configuration.

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Bamboo has found numerous applications in human life for centuries. In recent years however, bamboo has generated interest from researchers as a candidate to replace environmental unfriendly glass as fibre in fibre reinforced composites. This is due to the potential properties of bamboo that has high specific strength and stiffness besides being biodegradable, sustainable and renewable. This paper is to review on the properties of bamboo reinforced composites from numerous characterization studies of bamboo that are available in the literatures. The review is based on characterization studies on several types of bamboo reinforced composites such as laminated bamboo fibre reinforced composite, randomly oriented bamboo reinforced composite, hybrid fibre reinforced composite, bamboo fibre reinforced bio-composite and bamboo fibre sandwiched structure composite. It can be said that the laminated bamboo composite in general gives higher mechanical properties compare to other structural forms of bamboo composite. Even though bamboo bio-composite in general provides low mechanical properties, the properly design unidirectional bamboo bio-composite can also have high mechanical properties that are as good as the laminated bamboo reinforced composite. While specific tensile properties of laminated bamboo reinforced composite are at par with glass fibre reinforced composite, the mechanical properties of bamboo fibre reinforced composite are comparable to the mechanical properties of the best among natural fibre reinforced composites.

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The rapid growth of coffee industry is accompanied by a staggering increase in the amount of agriculture waste produced. In coffee producing countries, coffee wastes constitute a source of severe contamination and a serious environmental problem. In this study, the investigation on the possibility to utilize the coffee waste (CW) incorporated into the fired clay brick was carried out. The main purpose of this study is to determine the physical, mechanical properties and leachability test of bricks incorporated with different percentages of CW. In this methodology, control brick (CB) and three different percentages of coffee waste brick (CWB) (1%, 3% and 5%) were manufactured and fired at 1050°C. Physical and mechanical properties including shrinkage, density and compressive strength were reported and discussed. Additionally, leaching of heavy metals from manufactured clay brick was tested by using Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP). The results reported that with the incorporation of CW, the shrinkage increased linearly but still comply with minimum standard below 8% and good quality of brick was manufactured. Meanwhile, the results showed that density value decreased up to 30% from the normal brick with increased percentages of CW. The decreased compressive strength value of all the manufactured brick is still complies with minimum standard. On the other hand, heavy metals concentration leach out from different percentages of coffee waste brick is not exceeding the limit of 5 mg/L allowed by United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). As a conclusion, the incorporation of CW into fired clay brick gives some advantages to the brick properties and also provides alternative solution on disposing the CW. In addition, the CW could also be a potential of low cost waste additive for the production of a brick.

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If a concrete structure is exposed to high temperature, inner structure of concrete degrades. Level of permeability of the surface layer is important for evaporation of water vapor from the whole bulk of the structure. If permeability of the surface layer is low, explosive spalling can occur and steel reinforcement can be uncovered. One of methods of measuring permeability of the surface layer of concrete is the Initial Surface Absorption Test (ISAT). The paper states results of experimental determination of permeability of the surface layer of concrete before and after thermal load. Tested concretes contained basalt aggregate and lightweight expanded clay aggregate. Results of the measurements showed that structure of surface layer in case of concrete with lightweight expanded clay aggregate is less porous than the structure of concrete with basalt aggregates. Damages caused by exposure to high temperature were recorded on both tested mixtures but concrete with lightweight expanded clay aggregate resists better.

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Demand for natural sources in textile processing has increased due to environmental concerns among consumers and manufacturers. In this study, the effectiveness of chitosan and sodium nitrite treatment on knitted cotton fabric dyed with Gluta Aptera was investigated. The fabrics were brought to a series of wet treatments before dyed, and the colour fastness to light, colour fastness to washing, colour fastness to perspiration and their stiffness were then tested. The results were analysed to determine the most effective treatment could be applied in improving the fastness properties of the fabric. Overall results shown that chitosan-sodium nitrite treated fabric has better performance than the fabric treated with chitosan alone. It was also shown that the colour fastness of the fabric has been improved without affecting the appearance (stiffness) of the structure.

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Parametric instability is an important machine design consideration because it may cause failures such as fatigue and breakage in machine components. The problem of parametric instability in drive system is reviewed in this paper focusing on shafts that are interconnected through joint. The review covers aspects of modeling of the shafts, methods of solving parametric equation (Mathieu or Mathieu-Hill equation) in the drive system and sources of parametric instability in rotating shafts. Lumped-mass model has been used in modeling the drive shaft system during the early work. In order to obtain a realistic condition, continuous model has been established that considers the mass of the shaft. However these studies lacked in considering more degrees of freedom that can give better representation of the problem. The methods of solving Mathieu or Mathieu-Hill type equation in drive system are reviewed, analytical and numerical. Parametric instability in a rotating shaft system is due to asymmetric shaft, anisotropic bearing, cracked and the applied periodic axial compressive loading. In the case of the rotating shafts interconnected with joint, parametric instability may be a result of periodic variation of velocity ratio and the angular misalignment.

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In this paper, design of the physical of double-sided linear induction motor with ladder secondary is presented. It has aim to obtain the high-precision of DSLIM for the linear slow speed applications. One of limiting factor for precision linear movement is cogging force. The efforts in reducing the cogging action in rotary induction motor have been conducted very well. However, the cogging force reduction in the DSLIM with ladder secondary has not been done before. The DSLIM provide a great advantages for LIM-driven wheel vehicles for specific applications, for example vehicles that are used in over short distances, e.g. at planned stop, switches, or slopes or linear feed axes of machine tools. The disadvantage for very low applications is the existence of cogging forces that can cause the precision-decreasing of the linear movement. The design for reducing cogging force refers to storage magnetic energy variation in the air gap. At first, effects of ratio slot pitch between in the moving and stationary parts over the storage magnetic energy have been investigated and produced new structure results of DSLIM. Secondly the winding structures variation in slots of moving part which it can make cogging force between teeth cancel each other. The design results has been verified using FEM (Finite Element Method) and an experimental verification.

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Soft tissues, skin and rubber-like material research has gained considerable attention over the last few years. Most related research has adopted hyperelastic material models namely Mooney-Rivlin, Neo-Hookean and Ogden models. The complex behaviour (highly non-linear) makes it challenging to be analysed. Nevertheless, the fundamental understanding of a particular hyperelastic model could assist researchers to have a better judgement on their findings. Therefore, performing a parametric study is vital especially at the beginning of such numerical analysis. This study aims to investigate numerically, the contribution of material parameters of two hyperelastic constitutive models viz. Ogden and Mooney-Rivlin. This study is divided into three stages, i.e. the derivation and simplification of the hyperelastic equations, the parametric analysis of the hyperelastic models and the demonstration of the hyperelastic material parameters with respect to stress and stretch. The second stage consists of the following investigations (1. The influence of the first material parameter Constant 1, C1 and Ogden Exponent, α for Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden Model respectively; 2. The influence of the second material parameter Constant 2, C2 and Ogden Coefficient, µ for Mooney-Rivlin and Ogden Model correspondingly and 3. The influence and sensitivity of the stress levels with different stretch, . on the three-dimensional stress-stretch curve). From this parametric study, the Mooney-Rivlin Model indicates that an incompressible, isotropic Mooney-Rivlin Model is more sensitive to C1variations as compared toC2 variations. Nevertheless, the Ogden model shows results that the higher Ogden exponent influence the stress level as well as the stress-stretch curve with an accelerated stress increment at the beginning of deformation. It is also evident from the stress-stretch curves illustrated in each investigation, the hyperelastic models are sensitive towards different material coefficients.

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Nature has the best way of providing the solution for the next energy harvesting mechanism from fruits plants and flowers. This paper proposes the use of a nature based dye extracted from Hibiscus flower which has potential light absorbing mechanism in dye-sensitized solar cell, an electrochemical oriented solar cell. Ultrasonic extraction treatment was enforced to Hibiscus petals with a temperature, time and frequency rating of 30^oC, 30 minutes and 37 Hz, respectively. Different extracting solvent from ethanol and distilled water were used to observe the absorption spectra by using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) were used to characterize the functional components of dyes. From FT-IR result, the presence of carbonyl (C=O) and amines group (N-H) represented the existence of betacyanin from the betalains group. The result shows that dye extracted under ethanol treatment has the highest absorbance rate compared to extraction by distilled water with the peak of 460 nm. As for the photon energy, results shows a narrow energy gap of 2.70 eV with higher absorption coefficient of 2.35k m^-1 in the visible light spectrum.

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Universal sensing enabled by Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) technologies cuts across many areas of modern day living. This offers the ability to measure, infer and understand environmental indicators, from delicate ecologies and natural resources to urban environments. The proliferation of these devices in a communicating-actuating network creates the Internet of Things (IoT), wherein, sensors and actuators blend seamlessly with the environment around us, and the information is shared across platforms in order to develop a smart community. This paper try to develop an Internet of Things application, small smart community, which refers to a paradigmatic class of cyber-physical systems with cooperating objects as a networked smart homes. It offers to define the small smart community architecture that presents two smart home applications that able to monitor temperature, light intensity, door condition and to control fan/AC, some lamps and give any security alert. A website based on TCP/IP protocol web server is used to give interconnection between device systems and database system using smart phone or computer/laptop via WiFi. It can be said that all of the device system able to operate in good performance, respectively.

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This paper optically characterized anthocyanins and betalains pigments in blueberry and dragon fruit, respectively, to function asa dye sensitizer in dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Ultrasonic extraction treatment was enforced to cocktail dye with a temperature, time and frequency rating of 30 ^oC, 30 minutes and 37 Hz, respectively. Different extracting solvent from ethanol and distilled water were used to observe the absorption spectra by using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) were used to characterize the functional components of dyes. From FT-IR spectra, cocktail dye represented the existing of carboxyl group correspond to the CO=OH stretching vibrations which is an important functional group in betalains pigment. From UV-Vis absorption spectra, the cocktail dye extracted with ethanol (M-Etha), compared to DI- water (M-DI) has the peak absorbance of 500 nm with broader absorbing range in visible light spectrum (450-600 nm). As for the photon energy, results show a narrow energy gap of 2.49 eV with higher absorption coefficient of 2.17 km^-1.

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Dragon fruit or Hylocereuspolyrhizus was extracted using ethanol and distilled water (DI) for the purpose as sensitizer for Dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC). Ultrasonic extraction method was employed to extract these dyes at temperature, time and frequency settings of 30 ^oC, 30 minutes and 37 Hz, respectively. Different extracting solvent from ethanol and distilled water were used to observe the absorption spectra by using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy. Fourier transforms infrared (FT-IR) were used to characterize the dye’s active components. Result of FT-IR shows that dye extracted from dragon fruit contained C=O stretching vibrations at the peak of 1667 cm^-1 and at the peak at 3407 cm^-1, represents the O-H stretching vibration. From the FT-IR result, the CO=OH which corresponds to the carboxylic group in Betalain’s pigment for Dragon fruit’s dye is observed. From UV-Vis absorbance, dragon fruit under distilled water treatment has the highest absorbance rate comparing to ethanol with the peak of 510 nm and bandgap of 2.26 eV while the absorption coefficient is at 2.12 k m^-1. From the result obtained, it is found that dragon fruit which was treated with DI has the potential as natural sensitizer in developing a high efficiency of DSSC.

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Metal (titanium) as a bone-fracture fixation material were characterized by very high strength and stiffness compared to mechanical bone, thus could lead to bone atrophy. This condition requires a secondary surgical procedure to remove bone-fracture fixation devices, leads to increase of treatment time, recovery time and nursing costs. In this study, we use absorbable material (biodegradable) to avoid the secondary surgical procedure. Previous study shows catgut reinforced PVA–HA (60:40) composite, did not reach sufficient mechanical strength as a bone–fracture fixation material. In this study, we used glutaraldehyde as a crosslinker to improve the mechanical characteristics of the composite. The specimens were prepared for tensile and bending test and immersed in phosphate–buffered saline (PBS) solution with pH 7.4 and incubated at 37 ⁰C. The specimens were tested for me­chanical strength during the period of 0 and 60 days. The results showed that the addition of glutaraldehyde (1%) as a crosslinker could significantly improve the mechanical strength of catgut reinforced Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA)–hydroxyapatite (HA) composite as a bone–fracturefixation material.

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The investigation of frame disturbance (FD) in perceptual evaluation speech quality (PESQ) as a perceptual metric

Satisfying customers’ needs economically is one of the important aspects in mobile communication industry. Provider should cater a good and consistent quality of service as expected by the customers. Hence, it is amounts to controlling the speech quality perceived by the customers. However, to control the speech quality, the reliable measurement of the speech quality must be determined first, then exercising direct control of it. Traditionally, the quality of speech at the end user has been monitored and controlled based on radio link measurements such as the Signal Interference Ratio (SIR), Bit Error Rate (BER), or Frame Error Rate (FER). The truly perceive speech quality is measure through subjective listening tests. However, this method is not practical for real-time day to day applications. Newly, objective quality measurement algorithms have been developed to replace the subjective quality measurement with considerable accuracy. P.862 Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) model is the state of art on the referenced objective measurement method in the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T). PESQ is calculated based on the so-called Frame Disturbance (FD). In this paper FD is investigated as a perceptual metric for control of speech quality in modern communication systems replacing the conventional metrics.

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Near-Field Communication or NFC is a new technology that was introduced in recent years. However, even with the simplicity and security that the technology provide, the adoption of this technology is not widespread. In this paper, we describe the user-friendliness criteria essential for NFC technology through a proposed library system. To determine the criteria of user-friendliness for the technology, we conducted a survey on the understanding and usage of different users that would be exposed to a library system. The survey included questions about the existing library system (OPAC) and their perception of the NFC technology. Based on the results, we managed to identify that the OPAC system is not a user-friendly library system. Further, we have also identified that there are three main user-friendliness criteria deemed necessary by users for an NFC-enabled library system to be more effective than the OPAC system: usability, security and efficiency.

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Cervical Cancer is one of the ubiquitous forms of cancer afflicting the female population worldwide. A Colposcope is a self-illuminated microscope which acquires the image of the affected cervix and the image is known as a cervigram. The raw cervigram is preprocessed by removing the specular reflections and then the region of interest is sought. Before the image is made ready for implementing further image processing algorithms, our novel illumination correction and intensity normalization methods are applied. In the current paper we propose a novel method where we use the polynomial-type Newton’s divided difference interpolation for illumination correction. Based on our research findings, we conclude that the peak of the entire cervix region intensity distribution is strongly correlated with the peak of the SE region intensity distribution.

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The usage of mobile organizers today is increasing with the advent of smart mobile phones and; the higher need for daily organizational skills. Most of the current research on mobile organizers highlights that most users rely on the application as an effective tool to manage their daily activities especially among university students. A mobile organizer application is software that acts as a personal assistant for users to help them manage their time and activities. From a Malaysian context, the usage of these applications among university students has not been explored in-depth. The aim of this paper is to initially explore the current usage of mobile organizers within a Malaysian university specifically Universiti Sains Malaysia. There are a number of requirements that a mobile organizer application should fulfill, in order to be effective for users. In order to identify these requirements, an initial survey was conducted in order to identify these requirements, which, would then be incorporated into the development of a mobile organizer suitable for Malaysian university students.

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This paper demonstrates the design process, implementation and experimental verification of an SMS based Flood Monitoring and Early Warning system. With tools such as credit top-up and storing contact numbers will be done via SMS. Updates on the height of the water level would be texted upon users’ request. The system provides timely information and alerts at-risk or threatened populace and relevant authorities by means of SMS when the level of water surpasses the user defined threshold value. The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) module is used for sending the mobile text messages while the Arduino Uno microprocessor is used to read in the input from the pressure sensor and then calculate the height of water. This simple yet effective warning system is deemed to be one of the fastest and cost effective method of alerting the relevant authorities and the vulnerable residence.

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Augmented reality is nowadays well known solution to present to users a comfort of real world view with a virtual one. We can found many examples of more or less specific solutions but most of them are focused to use an embedded sensors of modern mobile devices, where the developed application are used. Our paper would like to describe some basic info about possible platforms for application development as well as to introduce several issues to lead you when designing an application for. Most important issues are described with examples of specific procedures and algorithm samples of programming sensors on currently the most widely used mobile platform Google Android. Case study is presented as an example of photo application which is based on augmented reality elements.

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In this paper, we present an autonomous semantic parser for analyzing Bangla Language semantics applying Bangla WordNet. A rule based semantic parser engrosses in mapping of Natural Language (NL) Sentence into a complete formal meaning representation language. Semantic parsing augments the stratum of comprehension of natural language processing than the syntactic parsing, which is primarily indulges in untangling the syntactic ambiguities of the words. The rule based approach is used here to develop semantic parser rule as the approach uses the rules and a lexicon for ambiguity resolution of the words. The proposed parser distinguishes grammatical meaning of the words. Tests are carried out in a prearranged schedule on more than 2000 Sentences and Accuracy at different levels is measured.

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In the paper the use of radio map modeling approach for a fingerprinting based indoor positioning will be discussed. The paper will describe different propagation models used for a radio map simulation together with the theory of deterministic localization algorithms. In the paper deterministic algorithms from Nearest Neighbor family will be used together with previously proposed rank based fingerprinting algorithm. Impact of used propagation model for radio map simulation on the performance of fingerprinting algorithms will be investigated. The radio map was simulated on the model of Department of Telecommunications and Multimedia at University of Zilina using Radioplan RPS software. Afterwards real world positioning was performed using described algorithms to evaluate impact of radio map simulation on these algorithms.

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GLCM texture features have been widely used to characterize biomedical images. Most of the previous studies using GLCM features to characterize biomedical images only consider single or limited color space due to the use of only one color model. To mimic human color perception, conventional RGB color model may need to be supplemented with other color space models for better human vision representation. This study is aimed to find an optimal set of GLCM features extracted from different color space for pterygium grading. Mimicking human color perception has commonly employed RGB color space, which is shown in this paper is inadequate. GLCM features when extracted in various color space show better representation of human perception (correlation coefficient > 0.6) compared to using RGB color space (correlation coefficient < 0.2).

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Vehicular Ad hoc Network (VANET) is very promising technique to increase traffic safety. This will help in saving life of many people from road accidents. VANET uses vehicle to vehicle communication to inform about the location of other vehicles and the traffic density. There are many routing protocols described in VANET. Position-based protocols are best suited in highly dynamic topology environment as followed by VANET. We will compare various position-based protocols on bases of various parameters. The advantages and limitations of these protocols are also discussed. We also summarized some protocols, which consider real time communication traffic and compare them with other well-known position based protocols.

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Hydrological performance of native plant species within extensive green roof system in Malaysia

Little is known about the hydrological performances of different native plant species within extensive green roof system in Malaysia. Thus, this research focused on the runoff retention efficiency within extensive green roof system with respect to different native plant species in Malaysia. A total of six green roofs were constructed with five being vegetated and one left unvegetated. Four test beds were vegetated with Nephrolepis bisserata (fern), Axonopus compressus (cow grass), portulaca grandiflora cultivars (sedum) and Zoysia matrella (Manila grass). The fifth test bed was a combination of all species and the six test bed with bare soil acted as control. The runoff volume was measured volumetrically through connected to an surface runoff harvesting tank under the test beds. Water retention was calculated from the difference between the depth of rainfall and the depth of runoff from each test bed. Results showed that mixture of plant species was the most effective vegetation at reducing runoff water. The monoculture of portulaca grandiflora cultivars (sedum) performed the best runoff water retention efficiency for single plant species.

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This research proposes novel solutions for utilizing the unavoidable solar system losses by the hypothesis of dispensing the power converters in residential solar system application, which is based on the matching between the source and load. Since the energy source is a direct current DC supply, the matching process has achieved throughout studying the normal alternative current AC appliances and its compatibility to be switched on DC supply, either by direct coupling or simple modification. The work investigates eliminating more than one of the main costly components that is used in the traditional solar powered home system, such as DC-AC Inverter and AC-DC converters. Design and implement of a novel efficient solar charge controller as an alternative to that conventional MPPT one in the traditional solar system. The compatibility of the market loads with DC supply were classified the appliances according to power supply circuit categories. To upgrade the system towards optimum performance achievements, an energy management and monitoring system have been adopted on the system components via a very low power consumption automation technique which is based on a wireless network communication nodes, such as XBee adapted with the automation sensors. All the proposed system components were investigated in three stages; firstly, the proposed alternative solar-battery charge controller stage, secondly, the analysis and selection of the appliances power supply with respect to DC compatibility stage, finally, the wireless low power consumption automation system stage. These phases were evaluated by using Simulink Matlab 2013 and verified with experimental data.

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The study focuses on the characteristics of urban heat island (UHI) in Bangkok, Thailand. Hourly air temperature data from four weather stations -one in rural site and three in urban sites for the last five year are used to study the characteristics and intensities of UHI in Bangkok area. The results indicate the presence of urban heat island in Bangkok and it is increasing in terms of intensity. The study reveals the maximum intensity of around 6-7°C is detected during dry season. The mean annual air temperature in Bangkok city is higher by 0.8°C than outside the city. The weather conditions (wind, cloud, and precipitation), and different land cover types are the major factors governing the near surface urban heat island.

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Permeability is vital to every project where the flow of water through soil is a concern (e.g. dam seepage, cutoff wall and diaphragm wall). There are numerous studies about the vertical permeability of soil since ASTM D2434 Standard Test Method for Permeability of Granular Soils (Constant Head & Falling Head) is being followed. On the contrary, there are only a few studies that focused on the horizontal permeability of soils. Five (5) soil samples with different mixes of silty sand and fly ash were obtained for comparison. Rigorous laboratory tests were performed to determine the individual properties. Tests such as specific gravity tests, Atterberg limit tests (liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index), emax and emin test/relative density tests, particle size analyses, microscopic characterizations, elemental composition tests and permeability tests were performed to garner data that were utilized for the model. A new permeability set-up was used in the determination of the horizontal permeability. A relationship between the percentage of fly ash and the coefficient of permeability was established, the said relationship was utilized to develop a model that will predict the coefficient of permeability when the percentage of fly ash is available.

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Rechargeable battery plays an important role in future technology since it potentially to be applied as the energy storage element in technology applications. However, to improve the efficiency of the battery, the system needs accurate information of the battery parameters. Thus, this paper presents the implementation of time-frequency analysis technique which is spectrogram to analyze battery charging and discharging of Nickel-Metal Hydride (Ni-MH). Signal of charging and discharging from the battery is translated into time-frequency representation (TFR) to estimate the signal parameters. The signal parameters are such as instantaneous of voltage root mean square, voltage direct current and voltage alternating current. Then, characteristics of the Ni-MH battery are calculated based on the signal parameters. This analysis focuses on Ni-MH battery with nominal voltage of 6 and 12V and their storage capacities from 5 to 50Ah, respectively. The results show that the analysis of charging and discharging of the Ni-MH battery using spectrogram is capable to identify the characteristics of the battery and a new formula to represent the relationship between battery storage capacity and voltage alternating current is present.

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This paper presents a new semi auto vertical fluidized bed tubular combustor for any biomass burning. The new semi auto system is suitable for the experimental and testing platform, particularly lacking in the area of laboratory facilities and individual exposed to the hazard. A fully integrated, easy to operate, inexpensive, movable, accurate temperature and flow rate control, flexible fluidised bed tubular furnace are fabricated and presented. The fluidized bed tubular furnace is operated at 2.6 kW and at temperatures ranging from 50ºC to 1300ºC, an open coil heating assembly which is surrounded by refractory ceramic fibre in the flexible orientation. The water chiller and condensers are integrated into the system for the simplicity design. The layout had been designed by using the SolidWorks CAD software.

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Maintenance and monitoring of aquatic systems such lakes, reservoirs and river involves properly documented, valid, and comprehensible data archives. However, aquatic data are collected and kept separately, creating difficulties in data integration. For effective aquatic data management it is important to have databases metadata that have been validated. This study aims to discuss framework for aquatic data warehouse system using web services for sharing database components using standard format and common data exchange method to foster easier data integration and exchange. The key features of the data warehouse comprises of graphical user interface (GUI) developed using ASP.Net. XML to represent metadata for data exchange and transfer, Darwin Core for formatting ecological and biological data management for data exchange protocol in this study.

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A new concept for snow removing from Moscow streets in wintertime that proposes development of the “distributed snow melting system” (DSMS) in the city is represented in this Article. The basic element for a suggested DSMS is a near-house heat pump snow melting site of 10÷15 m² using renewable energy sources (RES). In addition, DSMS can include heat pump snow melting systems for heating pavement at transport stops and in public places, and also specialized heat pump snow melting systems for snow, removed from city highways. Use of ambient air as a heat source for heat pumps snow melting system and results of the trial operation of experimental snow melting facility under Moscow climatic conditions are given.

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This paper presents the global solar radiation in University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia (6.0367°N, 116.1186°E) over period of one year from 2013 to 2014 using LI-200 pyronometer data logger set. Daily and monthly average global solar radiation values were calculated from 10 minutes average recorded values. Daily maximum global solar radiation were 1056.10 W/m² was recorded on August 18, 2013 while the highest daily average global solar radiation of 495.90 W/m² was recorded on August 28, 2013. Global solar radiation of Kota Kinabalu were compared to other cities in Malaysia. From the data collected we can see that Kota Kinabalu receive ample global solar radiation and has a very strong potential for solar energy development.

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This article is devoted to the study of condensate formation and freezing in the heat exchangers utilizing low-grade heat of atmospheric air and prepared according to the results of theoretical and experimental research. The article presents the results of numerical experiments carried out by JSC "INSOLAR-ENERGO" during elaboration of technical solutions on protection of heat exchangers from freezing the moisture, which is condensed on heat exchange surfaces while recovering low-grade air heat in the heat pump systems. The purpose of the calculations is simulation of the condensation of moisture in the humid air flow during its cooling for heat recovery. The results presented in this article can be extended on heat pump systems that use low-grade air heat, for example for space heating or snow melting, and on exhaust air heat recovery in ventilation systems of buildings.

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The growing and incessant energy consumption has already become a global concern, and currently more than forty countries are involved in research and programs in order to create mechanisms to save it. This work deals with the Energy-aware Traffic Engineering problem applied to the backbone of an IP network, presenting an approach to select routers and circuits to be switched off in time periods where network traffic is low. The approach is to focus on the optimization formulation, rather than on heuristic methods as usually observed in the literature. The associated linear optimization program, although frequently very large, can be broken by decomposition techniques into several low size optimization problems thus bringing the problem to the realm of practical feasibility.

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Much energy is saved in the daily operation of FM broadcast stations if the transmitting antenna system employed transmits RF signal only in directions where the signal is wanted. Most FM broadcasters employ antenna systems that radiate equally in all directions or having an omnidirectional pattern on the horizontal plane. In most cities where broadcast stations operate, the target population are located only in some directions from the antenna location and definitely not around it. The use of correct radiation patterns in FM broadcasting is very important to assure that every RF energy emitted by the transmitter is received only within the target areas and not to be wasted in directions where the signal is not needed. This paper presents a method of producing directional patterns that are suitable for FM broadcast applications with simple implementation. These patterns are shaped by varying the physical distance and the phase relationship of two basic antennas called bays in uniform linear array. The bay used in the array is the shunt-fed, slanted dipole commonly used in FM broadcasting. Computer simulations show that the patterns presented in this paper have sufficient gains in certain directions, greater beamwidth and sidelobe-free. Though only two control factors are used in shaping the radiation pattern of the array, several patterns can still be produced that find practical applications in FM broadcasting.

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The purpose of this work was to study the effect of blend ratio on thermal behavior and ash compositions of coal/bark co-combustion. The study consistsof two experiments, thermal behavior analysis and ash composition analysis by using the non-isothermal thermogravimetric method (TGA) under combustion conditions and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) respectively. The results of the two experiments can show the interaction between coal and bark at three of blending ratio30:70, 25:75, and 20:80 by weight. Bark shows a good interaction with coal leading to significant reduction in ignition temperature of coal and this effect was more pronounced with higher blending ratio of bark. In addition, it was found that the ash compositions were depended on the blend ratios.

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The need of searching for an alternative for lubricant oil has been studied by a number of researchers due to the awareness of environmental issues. However, with the limitations of low oxidation stability, many straight vegetable oil needs to be added with certain additive in order to improve the performance as lubricant oil. This paper reviews the addition of Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) in straight vegetable oil namely canola oil, corn oil and karanja oil. The property improvement upon addition of ZDDP was also reported in this review paper. With the addition of ZDDP in straight vegetable oil is hoped to contribute to the development of a more stable bio-lubricant that could be used in lubricating machines.

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European countries have a target to reduce the use of coal and fossil fuel and substitute them with renewable energy. Solar power, hydropower, and wind power are the most popular energies, but these power generations fluctuate based on weather variables. High dependence to weather also applied for energy demand. These climate dependencies (e.g. seasonality and intermittency) make the integration of climate related energies into the conventional energy system potentially difficult. In this research, we assess the fluctuations of the energy production potential for different climate related energy sources. The analysis is done for 12 regions among Europe from long chronological time series of data obtained for 1980 to 2012 (33 years). The seasonal pattern of energy production is highly region dependent: solar power production are different between northern and southern areas due to differences in temperature and solar radiance cycles, hydropower production are different between northern-eastern and western areas due to precipitation patterns and snow dynamic, wind power production pattens differ between oceanic and continental areas based on the difference of wind speed, and the fluctuation of energy demand is different between northern and southern areas following the differences in heating and cooling needs especially for households. Cofluctuations between energy sources are finally explored suggesting the interest of mixes for a better integration of these energy sources.

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The method for instrumental assessment of specific energy consumption for heating and ventilation of buildings before commissioning has been developed. The paper contains basic principles of assessing energy consumption of a building, equations for engineering calculations of drying and accumulating coefficients for the building envelope, the results of field tests.

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Flux switching machines (FSMs) which employing all flux sources in the stator body have been lately developed all over the world due to their undisputed advantage of single piece robust rotor structure suitable for high speed applications. Furthermore, they can be broken down into three clusters namely permanent magnet (PM) FSM, field excitation (FE) FSM, and hybrid excitation (HE) FSM. Both PMFSM and FEFSM has only permanent magnet (PM) and field excitation coil (FEC), respectively as their main flux sources, while HEFSM unites both PM and FECs. Among these, PMFSM presents benefits of low cost, simple construction and FEC-free winding that gains low copper losses- suitable for various performances. In this paper, design study and investigative analysis of a new alternate circumferential and radial magnetization flux (AlCiRaf) of 12S-10P PMFSM with salient rotor (SalR) is presented. The proposed design is then compared to the conventional PMFSM and segmental rotor PMFSM (SegRPMFSM). Initially, design procedures of the AlCiRaFPMFSM including topology development, materials and conditions setting and properties setting are described. Subsequently, coil arrangement tests are examined to validate machine operating principle and position of each armature coil phase. Moreover, the flux interaction between PM and armature coil, induced voltage, cogging torque at various rotor position, initial output power and torque performances are also investigated using 2D-FEA. The simulated result shows that the proposed AlCiRaFPMFSM achieves its highest output power performances of 8.1kW at maximum Ja=30Arms/mm² significantly 15.2% higher than that of conventional PMFSM and 12.9% better than SegRPMFSM in terms of initial output torque.

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Two stroke engine is almost left out by automotive industry in urban development due to several unsolved problems including higher pollutant, fuel consumption, and impractical oiling in the combustion chamber. However, it still promotes an unforgettable advantage in generating rapid potential power twice as much as it does in the four stroke engine. This paper is one of the series research publications on the two stroke double potential power ecological engine with spark assisted compression ignition, which can maintain lower emission, better fuel consumption and practicality of the fuel type, while at the same time improve the thermal efficiency of the double power generation. Technical finding on the development has been reserved for certain purpose; therefore, such material will be presented on the basis of conceptual design to qualify for academic publication. The design of Double Power Ecological Engine had been published as it is stated in the first reference, so that some detail thermodynamic consideration will not be rewritten. The design of new development including managing steps of combustion cycle, controlling the air-fuel ratio, introducing new way of eliminating knock limit, and improving thermal efficiency will be described.

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The need for development of new green lubricant is in the limelight of researchers today. This is due to the fact that, the existing mineral based lubricants are of non-renewable sources and prone to environmental issues. This paper reports the physical property improvement of canola oil and corn oil with the addition of Zinc Dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP) as anti-wear agent. Samples with addition of 0wt%, 2 wt% and 5 wt% ZDDP were prepared and tested using RDE-AES spectrometer and a heated viscometer. The samples were then characterized using a pin-on-disc tribometer. Corn oil has a lower kinematic viscosity value compared to canola oil and gives a lower kinematic viscosity value of 36.3 cSt with the addition of 2 wt% ZDDP. The addition of 2 wt% ZDDP in corn oil and canola oil proves to lower the coefficient of friction for both type of oil. The results showed that it is feasible to continue the study on addition of ZDDP in vegetable based oil for substitution to mineral based lubricant oil.

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This article investigates the on-going issue that is associated with the Sarawak Corridor of Renewable Energy, or SCORE, from the perspective of the five dimensions of mega project success of Sovacool and Cooper (2013) - social (governance), technological (systems), democratic (politics), externalities (economics, ecology) and risk assessment (accountability), and its possible impact on Sarawak’s power surplus issue (reserve margin) from having excessive hydropower station construction. Now, the energy efficient mission development may be questionable through the issues raised by the people which are the current and future Sarawak’s total installed capacity versus the peak demand for energy. i.e. electricity. Sarawak could see the extensive construction of SCORE as an unnecessary option whereby with partial discontinuation of the construction, it can close the gap to match up to the international standard of energy efficiency (EE) by lowering the reserve margin.

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This research is about obtaining the realism in virtual heart surgery. Normally, novice cardiac surgeons learn the surgery by observing the experts perform the operation on a patient. The physical involvement from these novice cardiac surgeons is very minimal. As such, virtual surgery might help in simulating the cardiac surgery and provide the feeling of doing a real surgery without putting any patients’ life at risk. The main challenge in virtual surgery is to ensure the 3D model of the heart is as realistic as the real heart. Currently artificial 3D heart is used in virtual cardiac surgery. In order to provide realism in the virtual surgery, MRI are used to capture the internal part of the heart and camera-captured images are used to portray the external part. The MRI slices are combined to create a 3D heart. In order to increase the accuracy of the texture mapping, the captured image are transformed into 3D points of cloud based on the depth of the surface, before they can be mapped on the 3D heart. These two types of images (MRI slices and camera captured) are taken from real patients. Here, MRI and point clouds provide accuracy and the captured images provide realism.

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In this paper, a distinctive approach of Machine Translation (MT) from Bangla language to Universal Networking Language (UNL) is proffered. This approach corroborates analyzing Bangla sentences more precisely. The analysis churns out a semantic net like structure expressed by means of UNL. The UNL system comprises two major components, namely, EnConverter (used for converting the text from a Native language to UNL) and DeConverter (used for converting the text from UNL to a Native language). This paper discusses the framework for designing EnConverter for Bangla language with a particular attention on generating UNL attributes and relations from Bangla Sentence input. The structural constitution of Bangla EnConverter, algorithm for understanding the Bangla sentence input and resolution of UNL relations and attributes are also conferred in this paper. The paper highlights the EnConversion analyzing rules for the EnConverter and indicates its usage in generating UNL expressions. This paper also covers the results of implementing Bangla EnConverter and compares these with the system available in a Language Server located in Russia.

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Utilization of polishing sludge (PS) and body mill sludge (BS) incorporated into fired clay brick

Aeslina Abdul Kadir, Ahmad Shayuti Abdul Rahim and Mohd Ikhmal Haqeem Hassan

Brick manufactured from mosaic sludge waste and clay is investigated considering the huge volume that has been produced and the effect towards the environment. In this study, the research attempt to reuse two types of mosaic sludge from polishing (PS) and body mill (BS) process conducted in mosaic industries to be incorporated into fired clay brick. The mosaic sludge is used to replace the raw material which is clay up to 10%. In this investigation, the composition and concentration of heavy metals were determined by using X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer (XRF). Physical and mechanical properties test were conducted (compressive strength, shrinkage, density and initial rate of suction). The results show that PS brick (5%) and BS brick (5%) obtained the highest compressive strength, low density and less total shrinkage compared to other percentages. Nevertheless, all properties for all bricks incorporated with different percentages of mosaic sludge were complied with the British Standard 3291:1985. Both mosaic sludge (PS and BS) could be an alternative low cost material for brick and at the same time provide an environmental friendly disposal method for the waste.

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Marine debris composition in batupahat, johor: a comparison between sungai lurus and minyakbeku beaches

Aeslina Abdul Kadir, AmirulFahmi Hasni and Noor Amira Sarani

The increment of population growth and rapid economic development near the beaches area enhance the generation of marine debris annually thus has become an environmental concern. In BatuPahat, Johor, determination of marine debris compositions on the beach provide a preliminary caution on the level of contamination and also enable to identify the most abundant waste. For this study, a comparison between two beaches namely Sungai Lurus and MinyakBeku in BatuPahat district and located in the same coastline, were carried out. The composition, density and moisture content of the marine debris collected were determined  The results demonstrated that plastic waste was the most abundant item at 80% of the total amount of debris and represents 54% by weight of marine debris composition in Sungai Lurus beach. Meanwhile, glass waste predominates at 60% with 39% by weight of marine debris composition at MinyakBeku beach. The moisture content of debris composition at MinyakBeku beach represents up to 12.61% compared to 8.68% at Sungai Lurus beach. High density of debris composition was obtained at MinyakBeku beach with 94.56kg/m³ followed by 66.15kg/m³at Sungai Lurus beach. As a conclusion, the economic activities and solid waste management along the beaches highly influence the amount of marine debris composition at Sungai Lurus and MinyakBeku beaches. Due to the number of marine debris that is still littered along the beaches has indicated that environmental concerns among Malaysian are still low.

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Integrated solid waste management: A life cycle assessment

Norazli O., Noor Ezlin A. B., Muhd Noor M. Y. and Roslina M.

An amount of 30, 000 tonnes per day is expected to be accumulated in Malaysia in the near year 2020. In order to manage this increasing volume of solid wastes, the waste management technologies have to be further integrated between one and another. A life-cycle assessment is an environmental management tool to project and compare the environmental impacts of a product or a service from the initial stage until the final stage of the product’s or the service’s life-cycle. Life cycle assessment checks every part in a system in which the input such as raw materials and energy and the output such as products including the emissions of air, water and residuals of the system are calculated in order to project the existing environmental impacts resulting from the system’s activities. This paper discusses the application of the technique as a tool to predict the integrated solid waste management system impacts towards the environment. The environmental effect analysis on the case study has found that the practiced management scenario i.e. integrated solid waste management is able to solve issues related to the reduction of world’s energy resources and raw materials. However, a little impact has been given by the system with regards to the rise of the global warming effects due to the transportation and material processing activities. The improvement of the integrated solid waste management system in future is required in order to reduce the environmental burden that produced the global warming effects.

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Fracture energy of foamed concrete by means of the three-point bending tests on notched beam specimens

Norashidah Abd Rahman, Zainorizuan Mohd Jaini and Nur Nadia Mohd Zahir

Foamed concrete has recently gained attention as an alternative to normal concrete in structural engineering. Its low range of densities with good strength, high serviceability and lightness that lead to the many applications. In the last few years, many studies have been conducted to determine the mechanical properties and strengths of foamed concrete, especially high-performance characteristics. However, these studies did not examine the fracture energy, which is the important parameter of structural behaviour and damage mechanisms. Fracture energy represents the ability of a structural element to resist crack propagations during the softening phase. This study, therefore, aims to experimentally investigate the fracture energy of foamed concrete. The notched beam specimens of foamed concrete were prepared at densities of 1400kg/m³ and 1600kg/m³. The dimension of beam specimen is 700mmx150mmx150mm. Two types of notches; U and V shapes were used. The notch has a depth of 30mm and located at the mid-span of beam specimens. Meanwhile, cube samples were also cast to access the compressive strength. All notched beam specimens were tested using the three-point bending test to obtain the load-deflection profiles. The results were used to calculate fracture energy using Hillerborg model. Meanwhile, the fracture energy was also calculated using Bazant, CEB and Oh models. A comparison of these models shows a favourable agreement with the fracture energy of foamed concrete is in the range of 18N/m to 25N/m. surprisingly, the fracture energy is relatively high for compression strength of foamed concrete at a range of 6.4MPa to 14.7MPa.

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Application of conditioned reverse path method to large multi-degree-of-freedom nonlinear structure

H.M.Y. Norfazrina, P. Muhamad, B.A. Aminudin, A.M. Wahab and M.R. Raihan

Nonlinear system identification (NSI) has received a fair amount of attention in recent years. The highly individual nature of nonlinearity makes it important to fully understand the implication of nonlinear behavior. Nevertheless, the application of NSI to a more complex multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) system is still scarce and limited. A spectral approach called the Conditioned Reverse Path (CRP) method is chosen to test the capability of said method in identifying underlying linear characteristics. A 240 degree-of-freedom airplane-like structure with a cubic nonlinearity attached between the wings and the engines is modelled using MSC Patran/Nastran software to generate the desired responses. The obtained responses are then imported to Matlab software to proceed with spectral analysis utilizing the CRP method. Unfortunately, the CRP could not depict its capability as one of the advantageous method in the NSI area and further works are necessary to improve the airplane-like modelling thus determine the true underlying linear system. Once the modelling is reliable to be applied in the CRP, a more recent method called the Orthogonalised Reverse Path (ORP) method will be applied as future works.

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Epoxy EFB palm fibre mat composites- The effects of fibre weight fraction on mechanical behaviour

TSHAI Kim Yeow and WONG Tang Lik

The mechanical behaviour of empty fruit bunch (EFB) palm fibre/epoxy composite with varying percentage fibre mass fraction, M_f, was investigated. The mat was prepared by random distribution of a predefined weightage of loose fibres within the effective volume of the mould cavity, followed by wetting with epoxy resin and left to cure under compression. The EFB loaded specimens showed measurable improvement in mechanical properties as compared to pure epoxy. Composite loaded with 27% EFB fibres achieved the highest increment in the measured tensile strength (14.8%) and Young’s modulus (87%). However, increasing fibre content led to a reduction in elongation at break. Similar trend was observed for flexural behaviour whereby the flexural strength and flexural modulus showed an increasing trend with the addition of EFB fibre.

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Recent variations in daily extremes of temperature and precipitation in Hainan island of south China

Hainan Island, as the biggest island in the tropical region of China, the daily extremes of temperature and precipitation may cause serious regional and global consequences, but observation-based research in Hainan is scarce. In this paper, recent annual changes of daily temperature and precipitation extremes at 7 meteorological observing stations in Hainan Island from 1975 to 2012 were studied. Twelve extreme temperature and 11 extreme precipitation indices are selected referring to the CCI/CLIVAR/JCOMM Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices. The results indicated that changes indeed occur in daily temperature and precipitation extremes in Hainan Island, but the changes are not uniform at different locations in the region. Over Hainan Island, coldest night (TNn), coldest day (TXn), cool days (TX10p), warmest night (TNx), warmest day (TXx), warm nights (TN90p), warm days (TX90p), warm spell duration indicator (WSDI) showed warming trends, whereas cool nights (TN10p), cold spell duration indicator (CSDI) and diurnal temperature range (DTR) showed cooling trends between 1975 and 2012. Additionally, the magnitude of trends for indices of TN10p, TN90p, TX90p, WSDI are more pronounced than those of TXx, TNn, TXn, TX10p, CSDI, TNx and DTR. All the regional annual series for the indices in precipitation over Hainan Island have an upward tendency during 1975-2012. Annual total wet-day precipitation, maximum 1-day and 5-day precipitation, very wet and extremely wet day precipitation, annual count of days when Pt≥10mm, Pt≥25mm and Pt≥50mm in the study area generally showed growing patterns. It is noteworthy that the shifts of the probability distribution function (PDF) curves of TN90p, TX90P, TNx, TXx and TX10P are less evident in 2005-2012 during the past four decades. While the shift of the PDF curves of precipitation extremes are more evident than those of temperature. The PDF curves of P10mm, P25mm, P95 and P99 were the most evident in 1985-1994.

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Operational complexity impact on performance of electrical and electronics industry in Malaysia

Nasuha Lee Abdullah, Khairur Rijal Jamaludin and Hayati Habibah Abdul Talib

The electrical and electronics (E and E) manufacturing industry is one of the most complex, challenging and dynamic industry. In order to maintain competitiveness, companies need to learn how to manage and leverage on the increase of complexity in their operations. This study seeks to understand the relationship between operational complexity and operational performance of E and E industry in Malaysia. This survey-based study registered a response rate of 17.8% with 111 usable data. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was applied to analyze the data. Operational complexity consists of two dimensions, namely, complicatedness and uncertainty. Meanwhile, operational performance has four dimensions of cost, quality, delivery and flexibility. Both variables are multi-dimensional and modeled as formative second order in PLS-SEM. Results of structural model reveal that operational complexity has a positive impact on operational performance which indicate that the higher the operational complexity, the better the performance. Based on Complex Adaptive System (CAS) in complexity science literature, the relationship between performance and complexity is an inverse U shape curve. This implies that, high operational complexity needs to be managed so as not to reach the threshold of a chaotic stage, which will affect performance. The finding provides insights for managers to cope with increasing operational complexity and to improve performance in the current fast-moving business environment. It also contributes to knowledge in complexity science.

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Complete monitoring of ground control system for high speed UAV

Herma Yudhi Irwanto

Ground control system (GCS) was developed as tools to analyze a special purpose high speed UAV that capable of flying up to a minimum speed of 300 km/h, and this speed will continue to be improved for the next project. Using Hardware in the Loop Simulation (HILS) method between XPlane flight simulator and Labview as programming tools, all of attitude conditions, position in Google map and health monitoring of UAV can be monitored. Including setting the PID control and way points for auto pilot system can also be set easily. Making it easier for the pilot or the researchers to directly analyzing the current condition of the UAV maneuvers. Since all parameters are displayed in a user friendly views. In Hardware in the Loop Simulation (HILS), data communication is done using UDP / User Datagram Protocol to ensure that the data transfer will not interfere with monitoring / analysis conducted by the researchers, because this GCS has been extremes tested using F22 Raptor fighter up to speed of 514 m/s (about Mach 1.5) in the simulation. And more than that, the real data communication has also been carried out using the data telemetry system TX-RX for the high speed UAV is being developed. With these results, developed a universal GCS that capable of being used for the purposes of any kind UAV research, ranging from a low speed of 80 km/h to 400 km/h at this time. This GCS can display all the parameters that required by the researcher according to the parameters provided by XPlane for the UAV development.

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Modeling of InGaN solar cell for better usage using Silvaco Atlas

With the advancement in every field in the world the global energy expenditure is increasing exponentially, so the demand for improvising our existing renewable energy solutions and finding out more of these kinds has become an important topic for mankind. In accordance with this, InGaN solar cells have proved to be the next big advancement in the field of solar energy. The band gap of 0.7 - 3.4 eV of InGaN has been helpful in the realization of high efficiency solar cells. In this work, different numerical simulations were performed with the help of Silvaco Atlas. In this, InGaN has been used to create a single junction solar cell with different parameters and the work has been compared to some of the existing theoretical work. These simulations are done with varying band gaps. The plot of the IV curve is executed with the help of TonyPlot. The maximum efficiency achieved was with the band gap of 2.66 eV of about 19-20%. This experiment helped in finding out the various parameters of the material and giving a start to research into InGaN as a material for the solar cells.

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Kruskal aided Floyd Warshall algorithm for shortest path identification in microgrids

Microgrids are indispensable at the distribution level network. Integration of Renewable Energy Systems (RES) with microgrid is the solution to effectively cater the need of customers. The dynamic behavior of microgrid poses a challenge while applying suitable protection strategies. In this paper, Floyd Warshall algorithm is employed to identify the shortest path to clear the fault in a microgrid network, taking into account its current topology. The Kruskal algorithm aids the Floyd Warshall algorithm in identifying the active nodes (Distributed Generators (DG), utility grid, loads and point of common coupling) of the current microgrid topology. The novel algorithm is tested on IEEE standard distribution test systems, with DGs included at certain buses. The proposed algorithm assists in adaptively setting the relay coordination for the microgrid.

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Semi distributed hydro climate model: The Xls2Ncascii program approach for weather generator

Modeling a hydro climate model can be tedious and time consuming due to many factors. This paper presents a new advanced approach for automatisation of weather generator data processing of soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) model in reducing the hardship of a hydro climate model. This approach is based on integrating multiple climate data programs in MATLAB environment and allowing the modification of Providing Regional Climates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) output to suit the hydrological model needs. This is achieved by linking NCO, net CDF and CDO with each other and correcting the program by comparing the results using manual approach. This project is undertaken in the West part of Malaysia. The selected research area for this project is the upper part of Langat River Basin. This choice was made considering the importance of the Langat River basin to the Selangor state, one of the most important states in Malaysia. The current state of historical data for model setup, calibration and validation of the model includes future hydro-climate changes using PRECIS A1B data projection that is simulated for this project to see the quality of Xls2Ncascii in preparing soil and water assessment tool for weather generator. The hydrological changes due to climate change are investigated.

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Comparison of pesticide residue levels in the surface water of Bertam river in Cameron Highlands, Pahang

The presence of pesticide residues in the surface water of Bertam River located amidst the agricultural areas of Cameron Highlands in Pahang, Malaysia was monitored from May to October in 2014. The sampling sites were located at 10 sampling points along the Bertam River in the agricultural areas. The method of extraction of the insecticides (organophosphate/pyrethroid) from the water samples consist of solid phase extraction followed by gas chromatography (with electron capture detector, ECD). As expected, insecticides, namely cypermethrin and chlorpyrifos were found in the surface water of Bertam River. High level concentrations of insecticides in the surface water were observed during the period from May to October 2014, a period which included both seasons (wet and dry seasons). The highest concentration of 2.66 μg/ml and 1.23μg/ml for cypermethrin was observed during the wet and dry seasons respectively. This could be due to the frequent usage of the above-mentioned insecticides coupled with contamination that could have originated from the application sites. Meanwhile, the lowest concentration detected in the surface water was
for chlorpyrifos (0.11μg/ml and 0.17μg/ml) during the dry and wet seasons, respectively.

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Optimization of spatial input parameter in distributed hydrological model

Hydrologic models are particularly useful tools in enabling the modeler to investigate many practical and significant issues that arise during planning, design, operation, and management of water resources systems. Distributed models should pass through a careful calibration procedure before they are utilized as the process of decision-making aids in the planning and administration of water resources. Although manual approaches are still repeatedly used for calibration, they are tedious, time-consuming and have the need of experienced personnel. This paper describes a semi-automatic approach for calibrating long term daily streamflow periods estimated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) hydrological model. Optimization of three different sets of spatial input parameters were tested using SUFI-2 algorithms by firstly focusing on the sets of the groundwater inputs parameter. The second set is for the soil input parameters and the final set consists of 21 SWAT input parameters that reflect sensitivity on the streamflow simulation. For Langat river basin, the Rchrg-dp.gw, GW_Delay.gw and CN2.mgt were found to be most sensitive input parameters. SOL_AWC.sol was established to be the most sensitive to soil input parameter and followed by SOL_BD.sol and SOL_K.sol. On the final sets, it was shown that the three input parameters of OV_N.hru, SL_SUBBSN.hru, and HRU_SLP.hru were included as sensitive parameters in addition to the previous parameters. The next step should be conducting a long-term continuous hydrological modeling into SWAT 2012 model with all the selected sensitive SWAT input parameters in order to finalize the objective functions for the watershed.

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This paper examines the impact of climate change on the streamflow in the Kuantan watershed using coupled of statistical climate downscaling tools with hydrologic model - Soil and Water Assessment Tools (SWAT). This integrated modeling framework is designed to simulate and assess watershed-scale changes. The study evaluated the performance and suitability of SWAT model in assessing streamflow trend under the current and future climate. Observed streamflow data from 1978 to 1985 were used for model calibration and data from 2000 to 2006 were used for model validation. For the period of 1986 to 1999, the streamflow data are not available partially and not used in calibration and validation process. SWAT model was calibrated with an R2 value of 0.84 for the calibration and 0.59 for the validation period. The streamflow is expected to increase especially towards the end of the century particularly in the month of August and September which the percentage of increment were up to 106% under the RCP 8.5 scenario and almost more than 50% increase in the month of August during the middle term period under both the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios. However, no decreasing trend is found significantly except a minor decreasing trend during the month of November for the near-term period. For the minimum streamflow projection, percentage of increment can be up to ~57% under the RCP 8.5 scenario and ~34% increase in the month of September during the middle term period under both scenarios with no significant decreasing trend is found except a minor decreasing trend in the month of March during the end of century under the RCP 4.5 scenario. For the maximum streamflow projection, percentage of increment can be up to ~157% under the RCP 8.5 scenario and up ~79% increase in the month of July and August during the middle term period under both scenarios with no significant decreasing trend is found except a minor decreasing trend in the month of November during the near term period under the RCP 4.5 scenario. The simulation results showed that SWAT can be used and implemented for planning and management purposes of watersheds.

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Malaysia is pleasant by plenty of biomass resources that can possibly be consumed as a supply of electricity production. One of them is paddy residues. Annually about 3.66 million tonne of paddy residue is left in the fields. Towards year 2020 this value is forecasted to increase to 7 million tonne per year due to emerging technology development in agriculture industries. Paddy residue can potentially be used as feedstock fuel for electricity generation in Malaysia. Paddy residue based power generation not simply might resolve the difficult of eliminating rice straw from paddy fields without open burning, but furthermore might decrease GHG emission that donate to climate change, acidification, and eutrophication, and amongst another ecological harms. Rice husk power generation would emit a total of 0.217 kg CO₂/kWh, whereas rice straw results in some 0.43 kg CO₂/kWh .These emission is smaller than conventional power generation in Malaysia.

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Recent estimates indicate that by 2017 the number of mobile devices per capita will be increased to 1.4 billion, as reported by the Cisco Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast 2013 Update. This increase has led to the strong emergence of mobile learning in many institutions and countries. However, although several studies concerning Usability Evaluation Methods have been reported, there is scarcity of the systematic review that has been published in the field on Mobile Apps, in particular Mobile Learning Apps (MLA). Therefore, this article aims to review the current information on Usability Evaluation Methods (UEMs) that have been used by many researchers and practitioner to evaluate Mobile Applications in general, and specifically in the Mobile Learning Application. The review focuses on articles published between 2010 and 2015. A systematic review was performed to answer the main research questions. The researchers found the Expertise, Focus Group, Interview, Observation, Questionnaire and Thinking Aloud commonly use in Mobile Application Studies. While, this study found the Interview, Observation and Questionnaire more popular in the mobile learning application. This study provides an overview of current and most popular UEMs to the evaluators and developers.

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Grid systems provide geographically distributed resources for both computational intensive and data-intensive applications. These applications generate large data sets. However, the high latency imposed by the underlying technologies; upon which the grid system is built (such as the Internet and WWW), induced impediment in the effective access to such huge and widely distributed data. To minimize this impediment, jobs need to be scheduled across grid environments to achieve efficient data access. Scheduling multiple data requests submitted by grid users onto the grid environment is NP-hard. Thus, there is no best scheduling algorithm that cuts across all grids computing environments. Job scheduling is one of the key research area in grid computing. In the recent past many researchers have proposed different mechanisms to help scheduling of user jobs in grid systems. Some characteristic features of the grid components; such as machines types and nature of jobs at hand means that a choice needs to be made for an appropriate scheduling algorithm to march a given grid environment. The aim of scheduling is to achieve maximum possible system throughput and to match the application needs with the available computing resources. This paper is motivated by the need to explore the various job scheduling techniques alongside their area of implementation. The paper will systematically analyze the strengths and weaknesses of some selected approaches in the area of grid jobs scheduling. This helps researchers better understand the concept of scheduling, and can contribute in developing more efficient and practical scheduling algorithms. This will also benefit interested researchers to carry out further work in this dynamic research area.

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Nowadays, the electronic resources are available almost in every institution or facility. These electronic resources could be CPU, memory, electrical devices and so on. Most of these resources are wasted or not completely utilized. Hence, the role of Computational Grid comes. Grid Computing focuses on computing resources (such as CPU), in order to achieve a huge task in a short time. Due to the high heterogeneity in Grid environment, proposing an optimal resource allocation mechanism that can work in all scenarios is a dilemma. This paper presents a critical review about some of the most widely known and recently proposed mechanisms in Grid Computing. Thus, it will give the researchers an idea about the features of the most recent and used resource allocation mechanisms in Grid.

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Development of coastal area for various economic activities such as agriculture, tourism and industrial facilities and recreational areas is inevitable. These activities may indirectly contribute to accelerated coastal erosion. Economic activities imply a pressure on natural environment for the case of coastal zones. In addition, environmental changes such as climate change, tidal wave, wind and sea level rise also may affect the erosion. There are many other intangible risks that contributed to coastal erosion. It seems that these multiple risks act simultaneously to deteriorate the situation. Thus, this paper aims to investigate thirteen selected alternatives related to coastal erosion hazards using Interval Type-2 Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (IT2-FAHP) method. The IT2-FAHP procedure includes the rank normalization steps, decision makers averaging weights and an application of trapezoidal interval type 2 fuzzy numbers. The decision makers were asked to judge the comparison matrices with respect to both criterion and alternatives involved. As a conclusion, the risk factor selected for the erosion problems is shoreline evolution with the highest percentage (8.21%) compared to the others alternatives.

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Coronary artery disease (CAD) has been ranked as the top cause of death by world health organization in many countries especially Asia. In Malaysia, 22.18% of total deaths are caused by CAD. In this paper, our focus is to review possible types of data mining algorithms applied for processing of clinical attributes as well as their classification to identify normal and CAD patients in minimal time with optimized accuracy. Various combinations of these techniques and variation have adverse effects as well as increased performance, which will be covered in this paper. Data selection for designing a detection system also varies the system performance and it can be dealt with using standard data sets with relevant feature to ease detection of abnormalities with maximum detection rate.

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