bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Prenatal exposure to finasteride promotes sex-specific changes in gerbil prostate development
Authors: Maldarine Juliana S. , Sanches Bruno D. A. , Cabral Ágata S. , Lima Maria L. D. , Guerra Luiz H. A. , Baraldi Carolina M. B. , Calmon Marília F. , Rahal Paula , Góes Rejane M. , Vilamaior Patricia S. L. , Taboga Sebastião R.
Published: June 2019

Finasteride is a drug that is widely used in the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia, hair loss and even as a chemotherapeutic agent in the treatment of prostatic adenocarcinoma. However, its use is known to cause several side effects in adults and it can also cause changes in the embryonic development of the male prostate, which is a cause for concern given the possibility of the accumulation of finasteride in the environment. Nevertheless, no studies have investigated the effects of finasteride on the development of the prostate in females, which occurs in several species of mammals. To evaluate the effects of intrauterine exposure to finasteride (500μgkg−1 day−1) on postnatal prostate development in the Mongolian gerbil in the present study, we used immunohistochemistry, immunofluorescence, serological analysis and three-dimensional reconstruction techniques. Differences were observed in the effects of finasteride on periductal smooth muscle and cell proliferation between the sexes, as well as intersex differences in the presence of the androgen receptor, which was elevated in males, and the oestrogen receptor ERα, which was increased in females. Together, the data indicate that the female prostate has its own hormone dynamics and that there are sex-specific differences in the way in which the female prostate reacts to prenatal exposure to finasteride.
Paramilitarism and music in Colombia
Authors: Barbosa Caro Eduar , Suavita Johanna Ramírez
Published: June 2019

Colombia has experienced violence at the hands of both guerrillas and paramilitaries fighting
to control territories, drug trafficking, and gain political influence. Though in recent years armed
activities by both groups has subsided, their conflicting ideologies are visible in several contexts in
today’s polarized Colombia. We tend to think about conflict in terms of bullets and people in military
uniforms, but discourses of conflict are also evident in popular culture, such as music. In this paper, we
analyse 19 corridos paracos, videos produced by sympathisers of Right-wing guerrilla groups,
to demonstrate how this is done. Here, we find songs present a messianic portrayal of the paramilitary along
with sexist ideas as the representation of manliness. Moreover, there is an almost total absence of peaceful
actions in the lyrics, and an exaltation of brutality and terrorism. In a political context which cries out
for reconciliation, these do little to this end.
The ambiguous transnationalism of the Roma in Toronto
Authors: Levine-Rasky Cynthia
Published: June 2019

While crossing cultural and political borders and maintaining relations spanning those borders should qualify the Roma of Toronto as a transnational group, they are not easily subsumed under theories of transnationalism. Reasons pertain to the asylumseeker status of a segment of the community, as well as their ‘super-diversity’. These factors mitigate effective transnational activities. More problematic in viewing local Roma through a uniform transnational lens is the concept of host/home, a linguistic convention used throughout the literature. Due their history and current status as a vilified minority throughout Europe, the possibility of belonging to a ‘home’ country has been undermined by states that are intent on subjugating the Roma as permanent outsiders. In assessing the applicability of general theories of transnationalism, the Roma embody a unique case that calls for a more thorough recognition of political context and social particularity.
Geography, Geographers and the Future Scenario: Malaysia
Authors: Sirat M
Published: June 2019

Since early 2000, four future scenarios have been generated to chart the development of higher education in Malaysia. The most recent future scenario for Malaysia’s higher education was generated with the Fourth Industrial Revolution as its primary context and driver. Arguably, the Fourth Industrial Revolution represents new ways in which disruptive technologies are affecting educators, thus necessitating a redesigning of the education system and transform the learning and teaching delivery, as well as demanding the industry sectors to enhance, reskill and upscale talents. In this respect, geography as a discipline and geographers as the practitioners of this discipline need to adapt to the demands of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The response to Fourth Industrial Revolution is indeed critical to ensure the relevance of the output and outcome of our efforts as geographers in the universities and in practice. The most critical element in geography that need geographers’ attention is the idea of physical versus virtual mobility, brought about by advanced technologies. The paper concludes that while the Fourth Industrial Revolution would introduce new technology that would ultimately reduce the need for real (physical) mobility, real human experience, which is the core concern of geography, nonetheless need to be defended. Human experience through purely virtual mobility could not replace those accumulated through travel and exploration. Google Sightseeing is a preamble to travel and experience and not the final destination. Geography and geographers would continue to have an important role to play in enhancing the human experience in the Fourth Industrial Revolution period. For this to happen, strategic initiatives must be put rolled out now.
The Simulation of Smong in Geography Learning to Enhance Understanding of Disaster
Authors: Gadeng A N , Maryani E , Ningrum E
Published: June 2019

Smong is the local wisdom belongs to people in Simeulue Regency, Aceh Province. The Smong poetry become guidance for people in disaster mitigation when tsunami occurred on Sunday, 26 December 2004 which cause only 7 Simeulue people died. Simulation as learning model which encourage students to rehearse on the spot and brought to situation resemble the actual situation, and it is done in classroom. This study aims to simulate the smong poetry into geography learning which comprise activity such as singing the smong poetry, interpreting the lyrics in smong poetry and applying the meaning of smong poetry in disaster mitigation. This study used qualitative approach, and the object of study in this study was the local wisdom smong and simulation learning model. Data was analyzed qualitative descriptively. The study result was the smong simulation learning model which consist of 4 steps, orientation by collaborating the local wisdom smong, participation rehearsal, the implementation of simulation, interview with participants (one or all next activities).The conclusion of this research is teachers can use certain learning model by utilizing people’s local wisdom as learning media, particularly in disaster mitigation material in geography subject.
Participatory Mapping for Community-Based Watershed Management, Lesson Learn from Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara
Authors: Ismail A , Affriani A R , Himayah S , Nandi  , Jupri  , Malik Y
Published: June 2019

The rehabilitate degraded watersheds efforts at the national level tends to ineffective, due to the lack of synergy between stakeholders and community involvement. This paper aims to give an idea that planning for rehabilitation of degraded watersheds can be started from the community level, through the involvement of the community in spatial planning. It can be done by integrating watershed and administration unit with participatory mapping method. From two locations in Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara, it shows that participatory mapping could be implemented as a method to identify existing land use, land cover and finding the problem in their environment. Furthermore, spatial planning can be developed together by the community in different village but in the same watershed area.
Transportation and Trade Network in Priangan Residency in The 20th Century
Authors: Mulyana Agus
Published: June 2019

This paper is a historical study that elaborates how the transportation network developed and people’s activities on trade in early 20th century in Priangan Residency. Within history study of Indonesia in the early 20th, it was always interpreted as a period of social change. Transportation and trade were indicators that contributed to social change. The study about transportation network, of which we could examine how transportation network that occurred between regions in Priangan Residency, whilst the trade examined types of trade and distribution as well as goods exchange that occurred in Priangan Residency. As in general, history study will answer about background and how the process takes place. Through this study, it is expected that it will provide historical picture towards people’s activities related to transportation and trade aspect in Priangan Residency in the early 20th.
Development Strategy For the Special Interest of Sustainable Tourism Object of Palembang
Authors: Oktavia M , Heldayani E
Published: June 2019

Abstrack

Special interest tourism objects are one of the leading sectors developed in Palembang. But the realization was not optimal, especially the management and sustainable service. The research aims to formulate sustainable development strategies for special interest tourism. This research was a case study focused on special interest attractions AL-Quran Al-Akbar. Data is collected by in-depth interviews involving managers, users and the government. Data processing and analysis uses qualitative models from miles and hubberman and the formulation of development strategies was assessed using the SWOT analysis. The development strategies of special interest tourism objects were a) complementing and improving tourism facilities and infrastructure through iconic, instagramable and tripadvisor according to the digital trend, b) increasing human resources based on digital creative economy, c) increasing collaboration between government and management in tourism development through sales mission, festival / event and famtrip.
Ultra-Wideband Confocal Microwave Imaging for Brain Tumor Detection
Authors: Jamlos M A , Mustafa W A , Husna Nurasma , Syed Idrus S Z , Khairunizam Wan , Zunaidi I , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B
Published: June 2019

A high-performance UWB array antenna to identify a tumor in a human brain phantom using confocal microwave imaging technique is presented. The antenna operated within the ultra-wideband (UWB) from 1.2 GHz to 10.8 GHz. Its high gains of between 5.2 dB and 14.5 dB and compact 90 mm × 45 mm size enabled its functionality and eased its integration into the microwave imaging system. Besides developing UWB array antenna as the sensor, a low-cost human head phantom represented by tissue simulating liquid as layers of skin, fat, skull, and brain are also developed. The antenna transmits the signal through the head phantom from 9 different points and receives the scattered waves under two different conditions; in the presence and absence of the tumor. The recorded scattering parameters are further processed in an improved delay and sum imaging algorithm using Matrix Laboratory software to generate an accurate image. The produced image indicated the presence of the tumor with an error of less than 2 cm.
Development of predictive models for cervical cancer based on gene expression profiling data
Authors: Abdullah A A , Abu Sabri N K , Khairunizam Wan , Zunaidi I , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B
Published: June 2019

Cervical cancer and the prediction of clinical outcome are among the most important emerging applications of gene expression microarray technology with feature sequencing of microRNA. By using reliable and dependable classification of machine learning algorithms available for microarray gene expression profiling data is the key in order to develop the most suitable and possible predictive model to be used by patient. In this paper, two-machine learning algorithms have been used which are Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Random Forests (RF) for the predictive models of cervical cancer. We identify and evaluate the performance of these two algorithms in order to know which algorithm has better performance. In this study, 714 features and 58 samples are used to develop predictive model for cervical cancer and our computational results show that RF algorithm outperform SVM algorithm with the accuracy of 94.21%. Our data also underline the importance of variables, which give the significant role in predicting the occurrence of cervical cancer.
Navigation Mobile Apps Utilization and K–MACS Algorithm for VRPTW Model of Fruits Distribution
Authors: Hartati S , Seminar K B , Sutrisno
Published: June 2019

This study proposed an extended multiple ant-colony system for vehicle routing problem with time windows (K-MACS VRPTW) in delivery cases considering by the temperature sensitive and perishable products (TSPPs) of strawberries. K-MACS VRPTW is organize with K-Means to partitioning, and MACS, a hierarchy of two artificial ant colonies with objective function to minimizes vehicles used and the transportation times. The designed model is concerning to obtain optimal shipment of box reefer vehicle both Colt-L300 and colt diesel-double (CDD) delivery routes and the unviolated trips time of distribution-center about 8 and 12 working hours. The parameters was the calculation shortest distances of clustering in Euclidean and optimal routing in Haversine. Experimental results was better than the single MACS-VRPTW solution, that is savings costs as diminish the vehicles used by 5 instead 4 vehicles with shorter total distance and quicker travel time. The trials of the assigned feasible routes is using Voyager, the free navigation mobile apps with API Google direction service for optimization, was found a better nodes sequences of routes mapping.
A Comprehensive Review on Document Image (DIBCO) Database
Authors: Mustafa W A , Khairunizam Wan , Zunaidi I , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B
Published: June 2019

One of the most significant current discussions in image processing is a document analysis. Now, many types of document database were established in order to address the issue of binarization effectiveness. In this paper, a comprehensive review of the document database was presented. Review based on an image from Document Image Binarization Contest (DIBCO) from 2013 to 2017 which consists of handwritten and printed image. The best algorithm for each year is discussed and analyzed. Based on the results, the technique using background estimation and stroke edges is better performance for the overall database. Besides, the method using the combination of Laplacian operator and canny edge detection also shows the successful result, especially in the printed image. Implications of the review give the direction for future binarization approach developments.
Blood Vessel Extraction Using Combination of Kirsch’s Templates and Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) on Retinal Images
Authors: Azani Mustafa Wan , Syauqi Mahmud Ahmad , Khairunizam Wan , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B , Zunaidi I
Published: June 2019

Disease diagnosis based on retinal image analysis is very popular in order to detect a few critical diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, high blood pressure, cancer and glaucoma. The important part in the retinal is a blood vessel. Besides, the blood vessel study plays an important part in different medical areas such as ophthalmology, oncology, and neurosurgery. The significance of the vessel analysis was helped by the continuous overview in clinical studies of new medical technologies intended for improving the visualization of vessels. In this paper, a new blood vessel detection based on a combination of Kirsch’s templates and Fuzzy C-Means (FCM) was proposed. The main objective of this study is to improve the detection result of FCM and achieved more effective performance compared to the Kirsch’s templates result. The proposed method experimented on 20 images is utilized namely from Digital Retina Images for Vessel Extraction (DRIVE) dataset. The resulting images are compared with the benchmark images based on a few image quality assessment (IQA) such as accuracy, sensitivity and specificity. The total average of accuracy is 92.64%, while sensitivity and specificity got 95.73% and 60.45% respectively.
Analysis of Human Behaviour while Controlling the Steering Wheel of a Buggy Electric Vehicle (EV)
Authors: Halin Hafiz , Khairunizam Wan , Ikram K , Haris Hasri , Zunaidi I , Bakar S A , Razlan Z M , Noriman N Z
Published: June 2019

Human ability to make a decision and recognize pattern are based on their intelligence level and experience. This ability makes the driver alert and knows what they need to do at certain situations. This paper aims to study human behavior while driving the vehicle at the desired path. Certain criteria subjects are selected with the purpose to study their driving pattern. The subjects must own a driving license and driving experience less than 10 years. The subject then drives the vehicle at the designed paths, which is straight and right turn. The drive pattern for the subjects shows a similar pattern but different characteristics. The experiments used to create a fuzzy controller that imitate human behavior while controlling the steering wheel. The steering wheel angle, position, heading and speed of the vehicle are recorded during the experiments. This paper only focus on the analysis of human behaviour based on steering wheel angle recorded.
Document Images Binarization Using Hybrid Combination of Fuzzy C-Means and Deghost Method
Authors: Mustafa W A , Aziz Hairy , Khairunizam Wan , Zunaidi I , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B
Published: June 2019

This paper presents a document binarization approach to the document image. Thousands of historical documents usually hold important information within them. It is usually stored in the national archives and library around the globe waiting to be scanned to retrieve the content it holds. However, many environmental factors, improper handling, and the poor quality of the materials used in the document creation cause it to suffer a high degree of degradation of various types. In order to retrieve the content of the degraded historical document, a binarization approach on document images must be applied. The processes of the binarization separate pixel value of an input image into two values which is white as the background and black as foreground text. The proposed system consists of three parts. In the first part, the image pre-processing operation is done before the binarization process to enhance image quality. In this part, Contrast Stretching and Mean Filter is applied onto the image to remove noise on the image. The second part will be to apply the binarization algorithm on the document image that has undergone an image pre-processing operation. By applying the Fuzzy C-Means algorithm to the document images, the images will be converted to a binary image and divided into two components, which is text and background. The last step of the proposed method will be performing the Deghost operation to remove “ghost” entities that may have appeared on the document image. The method will undergo imaging quality analysis, such as PSNR, Accuracy, and F-measure to determine the effectiveness of the proposed method. The experimental results on H-DIBCO 2013 dataset show the robustness, reliability, and efficiency in the proposed approach.
Improved KNN Scan Matching for Local Map Classification in Mobile Robot Localisation Application
Authors: Markom M A , Adom A H , Abdul Shukor S A , Abdul Rahim N , Mohd Muslim Tan E S , Ilias B
Published: June 2019

Localisation is essential for autonomous mobile robot system enabling it to locate itself within its environment. One method to perform localisation is to use scan matching with iteration closest point (ICP) algorithm. However, typical ICP may be prone to inaccuracies in localisation and mapping due to problems associated with laser range data limitation such as overshoot data and blank data. This paper presents the improvement to the above problem by the inclusion of a threshold to the KNN scan matching algorithm during iteration process. The threshold is a percentage of nearest point of incoming input with respected to reference point. Threshold values of 0%, 70% and 90% were tested, and improvements of the classification performance were observed with the increase in the threshold values, with the latter achieving 100% accuracy. This work shows that the use of threshold in scan matching may improve the accuracy of local map classification.
Fragmentation in MAC IEEE 802.15.4 to Improve Delay Performance in Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN)
Authors: Nadia Wan Abdullah Wan Aida , Yaakob Naimah , Badlishah R. , Elshaikh Elobaid Mohamed , Asilah Yah Siti , Zunaidi I.
Published: June 2019

A Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol plays a significant role in enhancing the performances of Wireless Body Area Network (WBAN). This technology is commonly implemented IEEE 802.15.4 standard that works under CSMA/CA protocol. In addition, WBAN deals with probability of high traffic occurrence due to collection bulk of medical data that are generated from several bio-sensors through a continuous monitoring of patient’s health. This phenomenon could result to congestion in the network which may lead to increment in delay and packet loss that could collapse the network. The increment in these two performances could lead to wrongly diagnosed of the diseases as well as late in medical help. Hence, the proposed mechanism aimed to reduce the delay through fragmenting the packets by decrementing the slot time in MAC 802.15.4 protocol under different number of number nodes with constant packet size and bit rate. The performances of the proposed mechanism are measured in terms of delay and packet loss by using OMNeT++ simulator tool. Based on the collected results, the proposed mechanism has shown a promising result in reducing the delay which means that it has improved the network performance of WBAN.
Low-Complexity Distributed SDN Controller Environments on Switch Migration Testbed
Authors: Bin Mohd Warip Mohd Nazri , Yen Phing Ng , Mat Safar Anuar , Badlishah Ahmad R. , Yaakob Naimah , Amir Amiza , Ibrahim Zunaidi
Published: June 2019

Control Path Management is an important component in the Distributed SDN Controller, and plays a key role in Software Defined Networking (SDN). Testbed simulations are done with an implementation of several controllers are deployed to improve the scalability and reliability of the control plane framework by employed network clustering into several subdomains with separate controllers. This paper investigates the deployment of distributed SDN controller but logically centralized systems for decouples control plane using Distributed Traffic Engineering mechanism. The results obtained show that the proposed mechanism can achieve controller load balancing with better performance.
Performance analysis of Software Defined Network (SDN) in link failure scenario
Authors: Sakari M A I M , Yaakob N , Amir A , Ahmad R B , Warip M N M , Ibrahim Z
Published: June 2019

The proliferation and advancement in network technologies has brought unprecedented opportunities towards the development of Software Defined Network (SDN) which presents an alternative network architecture that separates data forwarding and control functions to simplify global network management. As SDN is developed to handle large-scale network, addressing network dynamics such as link failure remains challenging. Link failure in SDN could still cause major performance disruption which can lead to severe performance degradation for underlying applications. Therefore, this paper analyses several link failure circumstances in SDN and show how it reacts to such situations. As SDN decouples data and control planes, routing algorithm is determined by its controller. In this paper, routing algorithm is used to control the behaviour of the network traffic when one or more links are disconnected. Ryu controller which is one of the open controllers in SDN, acts as a brain to adapt how traffic is controlled for the whole network. Performance of SDN in different network topologies is compared in terms of throughput and Round-Trip-Time (RTT) which shows desirable SDN performance.
Analysis of EEG Spectrum Bands Using Power Spectral Density for Pleasure and Displeasure State
Authors: Ameera Anis , Saidatul A. , Ibrahim Z
Published: June 2019

The technology of reading human mental states is a leading innovation in the biomedical engineering field. EEG signal processing is going to help us to explore the uniqueness of brain signal that carries thousands of information in human being. The aim of this study is to analyze brain signal features between pleasure and displeasure mental state. Brainwaves is divided into 5 sub frequency bands namely alpha (8 – 13 Hz), beta (13 – 30 Hz), gamma (30 – 100 Hz), theta (4 – 8 Hz) and delta (1 – 4 Hz). However, in this study, alpha and beta waves were analyzed to investigate the mental states. Twenty subjects were recruited from undergraduate engineering student’s education background in UniMAP with age ranging between 19 to 23 years old. The subject must be healthy and right-handed. The subject was required to view a series of pleasure and displeasure images for 10 minutes and take rest for 30 seconds between pleasure and displeasure view. Truscan EEG device (Deymed Diagnostic, Alien Technic, Czech Republic) with 19 channels were used to acquire EEG data with frequency sampling of 1024 Hz and impedance is kept below 5 kΩ. A bandpass filter was used to extract alpha and beta waves. The signal was segmented and PSD value using Welch and Burg method was calculated for both mental states. 7 statistical features (mean, mode, median, variance, standard deviation, minimum and maximum) were obtained from PSD value and used as an input for the classifier. K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were used to classify into two mental states. As a result, Welch method gives the highest classification accuracy which is 99.3 % for alpha waves followed by 97.5 % for beta waves from channel F4. It can be concluded that alpha waves are the most potential waves to be used in order to differentiate pleasure and displeasure features.
PSD-Based Features Extraction For EEG Signal During Typing Task
Authors: Bin Ng Wei , Saidatul A , Chong Y.F , Ibrahim Z
Published: June 2019

Electroencephalograph (EEG) is an electrical field that generated by our brain incessantly. The EEG signal released by the brain is different when a people is performing different activities in their daily life. And such EEG signals consist complicated information that can be interpreted. The aims of this study is to analyse the specific EEG channels of a user when they are performing a typing task with laptop. Meanwhile, this research also aimed to verify the performance of the different sub frequency band which is alpha and beta to recognize the specified tasks. The frequency sampling was set at 1024 Hz and the impedance was kept below 5k ohm of each channels. The Truscan EEG (Deymed, Diagnostic, Czech Republic) device consists of 19 channels and only selected channels which is F3 and F4 is filtered through butterworth bandpass filter (1Hz-80Hz) in the pre-processing stage. Power Spectra Density was calculated by using Welch and Burg Method to extract the features from filtered data. K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) classifier and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) were used in classification. It is found that the combination of channel F3 and F4 for Alpha frequency using Welch method gives the highest accuracy which is 98.45%.
Estimating Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Irrigated Paddy Fields in Indonesia under Various Water Managements
Authors: Arif Chusnul , Indra Setiawan Budi , Iswati Hasanah Nur Aini , Mizoguchi Masaru
Published: June 2019

Methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) are two main greenhouse gasses emitted from paddy irrigated paddy fields. Their fluxes are commonly affected by water managements in the fields. However, the main problem in the study of greenhouse gas emissions in paddy fields is the instrumentation for measuring emissions. Measurements of greenhouse gas emissions are costly and complicated. The current study proposes estimating method to quantify greenhouse gas emissions by an artificial neural network (ANN) model. They are estimated based on easily measurable parameters such as soil moisture, soil temperature, soil electrical conductivity (EC), soil redox potential (Eh) and soil pH. The model was verified based on field experiments that were conducted in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia during 26 March – 24 June 2015. Here, three regimes of water management, i.e. continuous flooded (FL), moderate (MR) and dry (DR) regimes, were performed in the field. The DR regime released the lowest total greenhouse gas emissions; however, it reduced grain yield by 58% and 12% compared to the FL and MR regimes respectively. The developed model showed high accuracies for both greenhouse gasses estimation where the coefficients of determination (R2) values were 0.84 and 0.76 for CH4 and N2O prediction respectively.
Integration of Asset Tracking System through Trilateration Method as Detection Mechanism
Authors: Fadzilla M A , Shahriman A.B , Harun A. , Hashim M.S.M , Razlan Z.M , Wan W.K , Ibrahim Z. , Abdullah A. H , Turner J.S.C , Kassim K.A.A , Khalid M.S.A , Jawi Z. , Isa M.H.M , Ismail R.C
Published: June 2019

Demands for localization system has been growing rapidly in the last several years both for an outdoor and indoor area. In conjunction with this, the capability and reliability of this system to precisely locate and track objects of interest for the indoor area has catered researchers and study on how to do so. One of the major ideas on making it more advance is by incorporating the use of wireless devices into the system. There are numbers of issues that could interrupt the efficiency and success of the system. One of the main problems is the signal loss mainly caused by the attenuation of the signal as they propagate through from the transmitter to the receiver. These attenuations are mostly due to the surface types the signal are traveling on and the objects that are in the Line of Sight in between the transmitter and receiver. In order to ensure the most reliable and efficient wireless connection between transmitter and receiver, a propagation study on the signal is needed for us to analyze and find the best way to trade off the signal attenuation based on the environment surrounding the system. By doing so, a thorough system that has models that can work efficiently even if we are to consider the attenuation factors. The system consists of nodes installed inside the research institute that acts as both transmitter and receivers. The transmitter and receiver will then process the signal that will then determine their location. The receiver is connected to the laptop in order to get a real-time reading so that we will be able to locate the transmitter. A networked of nodes are installed inside the research institute for experiment and the layout of the research is conferred for future references. Data from the experiment are then analyzed and a model for the signal propagation alongside the research institute is created. This model will be able to apprehend the signal attenuation despite the surrounding environment such as furniture and walls. A completed asset tracking system with models of signal attenuation will be built in the future for a more efficient signal transmission.
FBMC as 5G candidate for high speed mobility
Authors: Abas Taher Montadar , Hussein Kutheir Khalid
Published: June 2019

Beyond 4G, communication systems will be highly flexible and more congested. This is because of the increased demand for wireless applications, such as machine type communications (MTC) aside from the cellular mobile communications. Hence the need for the next generation, 5G, becomes essential. In the 4G systems, the cyclic-prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) has been adopted as a modulation technique. However, CP-OFDM suffers from the spectrum waste problem, because of the high out of band (OOB) emission. Thus, not all frequency spectrums will be useful. On the other hand, the required, increased demand, for high data rate motivated the industry to find another candidate as a modulation technique to be adopted in the next generation. Different candidates have been introduced; the Filter Bank Multi-Carrier (FBMC) is one of the promising candidates for that job. In this paper, we will show that the FBMC can be employed in 5G communication systems and can exploit almost, all, the advantages of the previous, CP-OFDM, system with little increment in the complexity, such as the implementation of multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) antenna diversity, and the high throughput with noteworthy mobility speeds.
Spouted Bed Drying of White Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) with Microwave Preheating Treatment
Authors: Hartulistiyoso E. , Purwanto Y.A. , Mukhlis A.M.A.
Published: June 2019

Drying is an important process in the production of high quality of white pepper commodities that have a high economic value. The objective of this study was to investigate the drying process and the quality of white pepper after spouted bed drying with microwave preheating treatment based on quality parameters of total oil content and microbial contamination. The results of the study indicated that the drying process of spouted bed was able to reduce the moisture content of pepper on average by 59.94% d.b. for 31 minutes on treatment of non-preheating, 60.38% d.b. for 37 minutes on treatment of preheating of 320 watts, and 59.35% d.b. for 32 minutes at treatment of preheating of 640 watts. The initial white pepper seeds that was boiling and soaking for 3 days had a total microbial contents of 2.5 × 107 CFU/g. Total microbial of white pepper after spouted bed drying process without preheating was 1.54 × 105 CFU/g, while the total microbes of white pepper with preheating treatment of 320 and 640 watts were 3.0 × 104 and 6.0 × 103 CFU/g, respectively. Oil content in all treatments was not significantly different. Oil content obtained in the treatment of non-preheating, preheating of 320 watts and preheating of 640 watts were 2.88%, 3.21% and 2.86%, respectively. It can be concluded that, in all treatments, the amount of moisture reduction and the drying time were relatively similar. However, preheating treatment can reduce microbial content to the IPC quality standard.
High Enhancement of Unidirectional UWB Array Antenna’s Gain Using Flat Reflector Structure for Microwave Applications
Authors: Jamlos M A , Mustafa W A , Syed Idrus Syed Zulkarnain , Khairunizam Wan , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B , Zunaidi I
Published: June 2019

UWB array antenna with the high enhancement of gain is proposed. New additional flat reflector with a distance of 20 mm enhances the proposed antenna gain. UWB antenna performance with reflector is better than UWB antenna without reflector structure. Antenna with reflector recorded wider operating bandwidth; 1.9GHz-10.6GHz with higher gain ranged from 3.5dB until 14.2dB compared with without reflector antenna operated from 2.2GHz to 10.6GHz with lower gain ranges of 1.9dB to 9.8dB. The reflector structure enhanced the antenna gain by 50% where the average gain throughout operating frequency for an antenna with reflector and antenna without a reflector is 10.2dB and 6.8dB respectively.
Mechanical Properties of Concrete Contain Waste Fibers of Plastic Straps
Authors: Khatab Hadeel R. , Mohammed Samaher J. , Hameed Laith A.
Published: June 2019

This study examined the utilization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) strap waste as fibers to reinforce the concrete. The fibers were obtained by simply cutting the strap. An investigation was carried out on 7 batches containing PET waste fibers as a volumetric fraction of concrete. The parameters were the fibers fraction ratio ranging from (0-0.5) % and aspect ratio (2.5 and 3). Compressive strength, slump test, and splitting tensile strength were the test supplied to concrete. The test results indicate that the PET fibers improve the splitting tensile strength and slightly decrease the compressive strength and workability. So that, the concrete produced can be used in paving, industrial flooring, precast concrete, and shotcrete. Furthermore, a way to reuse plastic waste will be utilized to contribute to saving the environment.
Carbon Dioxide Adsorption on MOF-199 Metal-Organic Framework at High Pressure
Authors: Alrubaye Rana Th. A. , Kareem Huda M.
Published: June 2019

MOFs have considered as promising materials for CO2 adsorption due to their excellent chemical stability, large pore volume, and high surface area. In this study, MOF-199 has been synthesized using the solvent-thermal method with focusing on the significant parameters that affecting the structure of the MOF-199 (solvent, synthesis time, and temperature). Produced MOF-199 samples were characterized by electron scan microscope, X-ray diffraction, and microporosimetric analysis. High crystallinity degree and high surface area were found at 1:1 of the H2O: C2H5OH (within the solvents range from 1:1 to 1:2 ratios), whereas the changing of the synthesis duration from 18 to 48 h, and synthesis temperatures from 40 to 140 °C have revealed that the best synthesis conditions are 100 °C for 48 h. The appropriate activation condition has been determined to be 60 °C for 16 h. For CO2 adsorption isotherms on MOF-199 were at a temperature (36, 40, 60, and 70) °C and pressure range (0-5) bar using a volumetric technique. Temkin, Freundlic and Langmuir isotherm models have been used to analyze the equilibrium data. This research presents the effect of significant parameters on the synthesis of MOF-199 to understand their influence on the formation of MOF structures and the CO2 adsorption capacities.
Studying structural properties of thin film nanostructure of pentoxide vanadium Prepared by reactive DC magnetron sputtering
Authors: Muhammed M Sh , Kalaf M K , Mohammed S J
Published: June 2019

Abstract. In this work, the structural properties of the monocrystalline vanadium pentoxide have been presented. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) films were deposited by using a DC reactive magnetron sputtering system at working pressure of 8.5x10-2mbar. The sputtered vanadium atoms were sputtered and oxidized in presence O2:Ar gas mixture by (5/95,10/90,15/85,20/80,30/70,50/50). Employment of magnetron results in the formation of V2O5 in the final samples according to the XRD analysis, increase the roughness and hence surface area of the produced V2O5nanostructures. The results of X-rays are shown to us, the deposited films were formed by nanoparticles with average grain size in the range of (52.11nm to 98.03) nm and roughness Ave (nm) in the range of (1.04nm to 8.88nm). The deposited films are identified to be polycrystalline nature with a cubic structure along ((001), (111)) and ((200)) orientation also MonoV2O5, Cub VO were found as deposited. The texture of the films was observed using SEM and AFM, it was observed that the grain size was increased with increased the O2 percentage. These improvements in the structural properties of the produced vanadium pentoxide make these nanostructures good candidates for specific applications, such as photo detectors, solar cells, electro chromic smart window and gas sensor.
Metal Oxide and Activated Carbon as Photocatalyst for Waste Water Treatment
Authors: Abdul Shukor Suhaibatul Aslamiyah , Hamzah Rosniza , Abu Bakar Mohamad , Noriman N Z , Al-Rashdi Awad A. , Razlan Z M , Shahriman A B , Zunaidi I , Khairunizam Wan
Published: June 2019

Nanoparticles of metal oxide have great potential in the photocatalytic system for removal of heavy metals in wastewater. The usage of titanium dioxide (TiO2) as photocatalyst has gained much attention because of its unique properties compared to others metal oxide. The usage of activated carbon (AC) as adsorbent from agricultural wastes such as coconut shell, cotton stalks and rice husk (RH) has recently used nowadays due to it is characteristic and low cost. Besides, it can reduce the abundant of wastes from open burning occurs and also can minimizing air pollution. The combination of photocatalyst-absorption process has been introduced in photocatalytic activity via dip-coating techniques without involving the filtration process. This technique has seeking more attention of researchers for removal of heavy metals such as cadmium (Cd), chromium Cr) and copper (Cu) in industrial wastewater treatment.
Effects of slurry concentration and rotational speeds of drum drier to the characteristics of pregelatinized breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis) flours
Authors: Sunarti T C , Br. Sinaga W S L , Pandji C
Published: June 2019

Breadfruit is one alternative carbohydrate source in Indonesia. However, breadfruit is seasonal and climacteric crops; it should be processed immediately to produce flour. Native breadfruit flour has many limitations since it is difficult to be solubilized and swollen in cold water. The flour is modified physically by pregelatinization to improve its properties. Pragelatinized breadfruit flour can be used as instant food, porridge, and baby food. This research is aimed to investigate the effect of slurry concentration (20 and 30%) of native breadfruit flour and rotational speeds (4, 6 and 8 rpm) of double drum drier to the chemical composition and physico-chemical properties of the pregelatinized flours. The results showed that pregelatinization did not influence to the chemical composition. Pregelatinization of the flour improved the water solubility and swelling power on room (30°C) and hot (70°C) solutions, reduced the freeze-thaw stability, caused partial gelatinization which is monitored by losing the birefringence of starch granule, and darkened the flour. The pregelatinization also reduced the gelatinization temperature and had low final viscosity. Low concentration of slurry and low rotation speed of drum increased the gelatinized part of the flour, which is influenced to the cold and hot water solubility.
Prediction Shelf Life of Arabica Java Preanger Coffee Beans under Hermetic Packaging Using Arrhenius Method
Authors: Mardjan S , Hakim F R
Published: June 2019

Java Preanger Arabica coffee is a plantation crop with 2-3 months harvest period annually, therefore the storage system is required to keep the product available throughout the year. Postharvest handling, storage, and packaging particularly are the main factors to be considered so that the coffee beans can be stored for a long time. Hermetic packaging is identified as an effective and safe technology to preserve the quality of grain during storage. Specialty coffee beans cannot be accepted if the total quality value is below 80 according the SCAA protocol, therefore an estimation of the coffee beans shelf life is required. The objective of this research was to analyze and compare the difference between the quality changes of Preanger Arabica Coffee during storage period using hermetic packaging and non-hermetic packaging, and to estimate the shelf life of dried coffee beans based on taste value using ASLT (Accelerated Shelf-Life Testing) method by using Arrhenius approach. Storage simulation was conducted within temperature range of 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C, with 80% relative humidity using both hermetic and non-hermetic packaging. The degradation of quality rate (K value) which was obtained based on the simulation results, was used to predict coffee beans shelf-life by putting it on Arrhenius equation. Coffee packaged with hermetic plastic has a slower rate of quality decline compared to coffee packed with non-hermetic plastic. The predicted shelf-life of coffee beans with hermetic and non-hermetic packaging were 232 days and 45 days (10°C), 113 days and 26 days (15°C), and 57 days and 16 days (20°C), 29 days and 10 days (25°C) respectively.
Studies on The Steel Reinforcement Performance in Presence of NaCl: Effects of Salt Concentration and Temperature
Authors: hatam obaid Sabah , Abbs Jaber Jabbar , Raheem Ibrahim Hadi
Published: June 2019

The present study is to evaluate the performance of steel reinforcement under NaCl concentration chloride exposure. The loss of weight, yield stress and ultimate stress were tested to evaluate the performance of steel reinforcement before and after exposure. The exposure was also repeated under a variable temperature of (50, 60 and 70 C0). The steel was treated to improve its properties by using hardening in the oxy-acetylene torch, epoxy coating and aluminium spread coating. Results showed that the reduction in reinforcement properties was reduced significantly by using the hardening method and the maximum reduction in the performance of steel reinforcement was in the higher temperature chloride exposure. The increasing of concentration (0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 NaCl %) was due to high corrosion in steel wire. The results showed that the treatment of reinforcement was significantly improved.
Oil stove modification to get optimum performance on jatropha oil usage
Authors: Agustina S. Endah , Hasnan Rimo
Published: June 2019

This research is based on the idea to combine efforts on promoting jatropha oil as one of renewable and green energy resources, and efforts to help “house hold oil stove industries” continuing their production even-though more people change kerosene to LPG as their main fuel for cooking. Regarding the idea, this research aims to modify oil stove which has been sold in the market, which was designed for kerosene fuel, to be able to use with jatropha oil and other oil as its fuel in the good performance. Two approach methods based on the physical oil characteristic has been done. They were modification of wick material, and “oil pre-heating system” implementation. The result shows that no wick material having good performance when implemented for jatropha oil usage due to its high viscosity. Original wick has best performance compare to modified wicks. By using original wick, implementation of oil pre heating system has been successfully increasing fuel rate combustion from 0.43 kg/h to 0.63 kg/h, and increasing the total system efficiency from 9.54% to 16.1%.