bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
17,18-dihydroxy Montecristin Compound from the Stem Bark of the Soursop (Annona muricata Linn.)
Authors: Salempa Pince , Muharram - , Dini Iwan , Taba Paulina , Ilyas Asriani
Published: March 2019

The development of natural ingredients use for conventional medicine is now in high requirement due to the traditional drugs are reasonably undemanding to be achieved. Annonaceae is one plant family which is usually utilized as medical plants in Indonesia and many other countries. One species of the family which is regularly used as customary medicine is A. muricata Linn which is well-known as soursop that comes from Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Along with the technological advancement, compounds and efficacy of soursop plant becomes popular. Annona muricata Linn. or soursop belongs to the Annonaceae family that is traditionally used to treat various diseases, such as cancer, diarrhea, convulsive, fungal and itching. The purpose of this study was to isolate and purify secondary metabolites of ethyl acetate fraction of the soursop stem bark. Research methods include extraction (maceration), fractionation and BLST test against Artemia salina. The structure of the 17.18-dihydroxy montecristin compound was determined by IR, 1H and 13C-NMR spectra HMBC and COSY. The compound had an activity to the tumor cell of murine leukemia cells P-388 with the IC50 value of 34.05 mg/mL respectively. This study found that the compound of 17.18-dihydroxy montecristin have been isolated from the stem bark of A. Muricata L. which has potential as an anticancer with the IC50 of 34.05 µg/mL.
An Evaluation of The Mobile Apps for Children with Special Education Needs Based on The Utility Function Metrics
Authors: Kraleva Radoslava , Kralev Velin
Published: March 2019

Mobile apps can be used in various environments and at any time. People used them for learning, communications, and entertainment. Because of the ease use of mobile devices interface (like smartphone and tablet), then everyone, including the children with special needs, can have used them. In recent years, there has been an increase in the efforts of educational institutions and of scientists to support children in their daily life. Ongoing developments in communication and information technologies contribute to this process. The main goal of this study is to present the basic functional requirements for the mobile apps for children with special needs. The current state of the scientific research related to the design and development of mobile apps is discussed. This issue became very important in the last years because of an increase in the number of children with special needs on a worldwide scale is observed. And the same time the increase in the use of mobile technologies of them. The proposed model for the evaluation of potential utility provides for the classification of the mobile applications designed for children with special needs about their functionality features. This model is based on our studies of the state-of-art scientific works of many authors. Whit the model for the evaluation of potential utility, the 27 mobile applications for children with special needs, downloaded from the mobile application stores: Apple Store, Google Play and Store Windows Phone Apps, were classified and analyzed. The results showed that despite the variety of mobile applications, those that are suitable for children with special needs are too few. Most of the applications cover only half of the evaluation criteria, which means they have functionalities only for individual needs. Therefore, the proposed utility function metrics of the evaluation can be used as a basis for interface developing for mobile apps, appropriate for children with special needs.
On the Fly Access Request Authentication: Two-Layer Password-Based Access Control Systems for Securing Information
Authors: Al-Muhammed Muhammed Jassem , Daraiseh Ahmad
Published: March 2019

In the digital era, most of our highly sensitive documents are stored in computers. These documents are in a great threat unless protected using appropriate measures. Despite their several imperfections, passwords are becoming the de-facto mechanism for securing documents stored in local directories or on the websites. In this scheme users protect their documents using passwords. In order for such scheme to work, the passwords must be stored in the file system either in plain or hashed form so that they can be used as references when information is requested. This paper proposes innovative password-based protection system. Although the proposed system uses passwords for document protection, it proposes a completely different way of using and managing these passwords. Our system protects a stored document in terms of both the document itself and the password. Both the document’s content and the password are used along with random noises to generate security code that serves as a reference when the document is requested. The security code is neither reversible nor reproducible without a full knowledge of the password and the content of the document. The users of our system keep their passwords and provide them only when they first store the document and when they later request document retrieval. The passwords are never stored neither in their plain nor hashed forms. Experiments with our prototype implementation showed that our protection scheme is effective and passed important security tests.
The effectiveness of Papain Enzyme Supplementation in Artificial Feed on Growth and Survival Rate of Mangrove Crab Larvae (Scylla Olivacea)
Authors: Haryati H , Saade Edison
Published: March 2019

The ability of mud crab (Scylla olivacea) larvae to digest artificial feed depends on the availability of digestive enzymes. To improve the ability of the larvae to digest artificial feed can be done by adding exogenous enzymes. Papain is a protease enzyme capable of hydrolyzing proteins into simpler molecules so that the larvae can utilize artificial feed optimally.  This study aimed to determine the appropriate dosage of papain enzyme and stadia of artificial feeding on growth and survival rate of mud crab (Scylla olivacea)  larvae. The experimental design used was a factorial pattern with complete randomized design, the first factor was the dose of papain enzyme (0%, 1.5%, 3.0% and 4.5%), while the second factor was the different stadia of artificial feeding that started, at stadium Zoea II and Zoea III. The results showed that the difference of papain enzyme dose, different stadia of artificial feeding and the interaction between the dosage of papain enzyme and the artificial feeding stage had a significant effect  (P <0,05) to the growth of carapid width and length and specific growth of individual weight. The artificial feeding larvae from Zoea II  stadium with 3.0% and 4.5% papain enzyme dose were not significantly different (P> 0.05) compared to those administered with artificial feeds starting  Zoea III  stadia, but higher and significantly different (P <0.05) than those fed artificial feeds starting Zoea II  stadia with a dose of 0% and 1.5% papain enzyme. The survival rate of larvae from zoea I  to megalopae at a dose of  3.0% and 4.5% papain enzyme was not significantly different    (P> 0.05) but higher and significantly different with 0% and  1.5%  dose (P < 0.05).  In the rearing of mud crabs larvae, artificial feed that has been predigesting with a dose of enzyme papain between 3.0% to 4.5% can be given starting stadia Zoea II.
A New Method for Battery Lifetime Estimation Using Experimental Testbed for Zigbee Wireless Technology
Authors: Dahnil Dahlila Putri , Selamat Supiah , Abu Bakar Khairul Azmi , Hassan Rosilah , Ismail Ahmad G.
Published: March 2019

Many Zigbee-based wireless sensor networks have been developed for outdoor applications such as agriculture monitoring. The main attractiveness of Zigbee wireless module is in its potential to set up self-organizing network that requires no network backbone and extremely low cost with low-power wireless networking. Many simulations have been performed for testing the capabilities of wireless communication device and the battery lifetime. However, the results from the simulation do not capture the actual environment effects and the simulators allow users to isolate certain factors by tuning to different parameters. This paper provides experimental results on actual voltage drop using Zigbee protocol devices when communicating temperature, humidity and soil moisture data using a 900mAh battery both in indoor and outdoor environments. It is observed that the wireless nodes are capable of relaying data up to 143 meters on unobstructed line of sights in an outdoor environment with some observation of packet drop. The results differ from previous researches that perform the experiments on shorter range which only covers 50 cm distance between transmitter node and receiver node for 2 bytes of data transfer. The paper proposes a new method for battery lifetime estimation which is derived from number of times data packet can be transmitted. This study also suggests to conduct experiment by including the environmental factors to capture the actual performance of wireless device and the impact to packet drop. The experiment concludes the suitability of Zigbee wireless communication for short-range applications of up to 143 meters which is significantly farther than other reported experiments.
Trust Model Based On Islamic Business Ethics and Social Network Analysis
Authors: Kolan Nor Faradila , Jailani Norleyza , Abu Bakar Marini , Latih Rodziah
Published: March 2019

Buyers and sellers in e-commerce market such as e-auction form a virtual community. They use the feedback system to rate each other following a completed transaction and these ratings are used to build their reputation in the virtual community.  Existing reputation systems can often be easily manipulated by forming cohesive group in giving fake user feedbacks to increase their respective reputation. This practice is a clear violation of Islamic business ethics. In addition, there is currently no real-time support for reputation system and this causes users to be misinformed on the reputation of a seller. To improve the reputation system this study developed a trust framework based on business Islamic ethics. In this paper, a trust model which evaluates conformance to nine Islamic business ethical codes is proposed to calculate users’ initial trust value based on their ethical behavior. The trust model proposed the Islamic business ethics algorithm which calculates the user compliance to Islamic business ethics (IBE) score based on trading partner’s feedbacks. Because of feedback frauds can still occur, this study introduces a cohesive group algorithm to track users who collaborate to give false feedbacks. The cohesive group algorithm applied k-core algorithms which is capable of determining the strength of the relationship of every user in the cohesive group. The cohesive group algorithm also proposed a cohesive score to determine the feedback reliability of every user’s transaction based on the user’s k-core and the highest k-core. In the group user reputation (trust score) is measured by considering the feedback reliability status for all transactions. A reputation prototype system for e-auction was developed as the test bed to validate the trust model through simulation of the set of initial experiments, showing the feasibility and benefit of the model.
Evaluating Usability of Serious Games for Therapeutic Purpose: A Study of ASAH-i
Authors: Ahmad Zaki Nadia Akma , Tengku Wook Tengku Siti Meriam , Ahmad Kartini
Published: March 2019

Usability has been determined to be connected to achieving predetermined practical goals by identifying usability problems during the development cycle of a product or system. In order for the next and future versions of the systems to be enhanced and improved, usability flaws and errors must first be identified. On the same stroke, identifying flaws encountered by the end users will indirectly steer other developers from committing the same mistakes. This paper reveals findings from a usability assessment conducted on the serious game, which was developed for therapeutic purpose known as ASAH-i, which was custom-made to develop and encourage the perception and cognitive skills for children with speech and language delay (CSLD). Two groups of users were formed, namely, test group and control group. Twelve participants were selected which include six CSLD as participants for test group and another six normal children for the control group. In a controlled environment, observation and think-aloud methods were applied to analyse ASAH-i. The data gathered were then evaluated accordingly to the task success, time of the user assignment accomplishment, error rates, and satisfaction in regards to the utilisation of ASAH-i. The result proved that there is no profound disputes between the two corresponding groups, where almost all participants for both groups can play ASAH-i prototype effectively since no major usability issues were found. With regards to competency or efficiency, the result reveals that the control group can play ASAH-i prototype more competently and efficiently than the test group. However, it is interesting to note that both group members also succeeded to play ASAH-i with very little mistakes. This factor yields a strong base that provides towards the group members’ contentment and enjoyment, in which most group members in both teams were very much happy and satisfied with ASAH-i. With this fact in mind, we propose an endorsement or recommendation study which includes details and emphasises on future development to enhance the usability of ASAH-i.
A Proposed Model for Virtual Fitting Room Based on Usability and Profound Emotional Elements
Authors: Noordin Syazwan , Sahari @ Ashaari Noraidah , Tengku Wook Tengku Siti Meriam
Published: March 2019

Technological advancement has evolved the way business is conducted. Companies around the globe venture into e-commerce to reach more customers apart from the traditional retails and marketing approaches. Nowadays, almost everything could be found sold via the internet regardless of size, usage, price and etc. The challenge of e-commerce channel is coming from its inability to provide a practical ways in giving the customers the sense of trying before purchase which is crucial for some product type namely clothing. This paper presents the issues in the e-commerce clothing industry, namely fitting issues and problems encountered in existing Virtual Fitting Room (VFR) applications. These issues include usability and lack of a profound emotional stimulant within existing applications. A systematic procedure of searching related literature on VFR is done based on several identified criteria from the established online repository. The extensive search result is then filtered based on the identified criteria once again to obtain the suitable model to be further studied. This study reviewed five VFR-related models, with the results confirming the issues of usability and profound emotional elements in each model.  This study also proposed a new VFR model based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT), which consists of usability and profound emotional constructs. These elements were mainly included to solve the identified problems and to provide guidelines for a design solution, which is usable, useful, and delightful.
A Conceptual Framework for Metrics Selection: SMeS
Authors: Bukhari Zubaidah , Yahaya Jamaiah , Deraman Aziz
Published: March 2019

Measurement is an emerging field of software engineering. A systematic and efficient measurement process can assist in the production of quality government web applications since it can support planning, monitoring, and improving the software development process. The quality of software products is often measured using the metrics-based method. Various types of software metrics have been suggested in the last three decades to measure software quality, track software progress, estimate effort and certify software products. However, the process of identifying and determining a suitable software metrics is still lacking in term of guidance and structure. Without an effective method to evaluate and select suitable metrics, the time spent for selecting the correct and relevant metrics may offset the advantages of using them. In this paper, using the Evaluation Theory as the base theory and building upon the integration of Goal Question Metric (GQM) approach, a conceptual framework of software metrics selection (SMeS) was proposed. The main elements of the proposed conceptual framework include goal-based metrics selection process integrating with GQM, evaluation criteria, reference standard, and synthesis technic in decision making mechanisms. The integrated framework produces a software metrics selection process which is more structured, transparent, and directive in choosing a set of relevant metrics that may help the organizations’ measurement program. The result from this study improves the existing metrics software selection model and serves as a guideline in implementing a clear and practical software metrics selection.
Classification of Plasmodium Malariae dan Plasmodium Ovale in Microscopic Thin Blood Smear Digital Images
Authors: Nugroho Hanung Adi , Darojatun Aulia , Ardiyanto Igi , Buana Ratna L.B
Published: March 2019

Malaria is one of the global diseases, which mostly found in eastern Indonesia. It is caused by Plasmodium parasite infection, with four type of common species that are Plasmodium ovale (PO), Plasmodium Malaria (PM), Plasmodium falciparum (PF) and Plasmodium vivax (PV). Malaria can be detected by taking a microscopic analysis from a patient blood sample. Although it is a gold standard of malaria identification according to the WHO, this method has a risk of miss diagnosis due to the human factors. This study proposed a classification method with morphological features of PM and PO in order to help the medical expertise in identifying the malaria parasite from a thin blood smear digital microscopic image. The data used are digital images that have been through the Region of Interest (ROI) determination process. Furthermore, the process followed by improving the morphological and feature extraction of shapes and colors. Based on these obtained features, the parasites are classified by using the multilayer perceptron method. From this study, we found that the classification system has the accuracy of 95%, the sensitivity of 93%, and the specificity of 97%.
Integrated Gas – Electricity Network - Combined Heat and Power Optimization with Associated Petroleum and Wet Gas Utilization Constraint
Authors: Pujihatma Priambudi , Hadi Sasongko Pramono , Sarjiya Sarjiya , Rohmat Tri Agung
Published: March 2019

Aside from liquid hydrocarbon, oil exploration also produces associated petroleum gas and wet gas. The use of associated petroleum and wet gas adversely affects gas turbine performance and gas line operation in several ways such as low gas quality, unstable heating value, and high H2S content. This research develops an integrated gas - combined heat and power optimal power flow with associated petroleum and wet gas utilization constraint.  Thermodynamic equations are used to model gas turbine and gas network operation when subjected to low-quality fuels. To meet the fuel quality standard, additional constraints are considered. These constraints include the Modified Wobbe Index, a critical parameter for gas turbines, and H2S content, a critical parameter for pipelines. The results show that the proposed model can optimize combined heat and power cost by determining the most efficient power - steam dispatch, optimal fuel mixture and gas line pressure settings, while still meeting operational constraints.
An Empirical Study of Scrumban Formation based on the Selection of Scrum and Kanban Practices
Authors: Alqudah Mashal , Razali Rozilawati
Published: March 2019

Scrumban is a combination of practices from Kanban and Scrum practices to manage the development of software based on different project situations. Scrumban practices formation can differ based on different projects and team members. However, since each method has its own pros and cons, inappropriate formation of Scrumban practices may lead to increased waste and time of development, and decreased quality, which in turn, affect the Agile organizations and cause inefficient and ineffective development. Practitioners of Kanban and Scrum are convinced that a combination of both methods is better than the use of one and thus, practitioners should be guided in their decision making. This study aims to show how Scrumban method is formed based on a combination of Kanban and Scrum methods. Scrumban formation and the identification of the factors, which assist in the combination of Kanban and Scrum were conducted through a review of the previous work and semi-structured interviews with 7 Agile experts, after which, content analysis was conducted to analyse the gathered data. Different factors - the method prescription, roles and responsibilities, adoption time, team size, batch size, requirements prioritization, feature size, lead time, technical practices, cost and quality, assist Agile team members in the formation of Scrumban by combining appropriate Kanban and Scrum practices. In addition, Scrumban were found to be more appropriate than Scrum or Kanban in saving time, improving quality and minimizing waste.
Impact Assessment of State Assistance Program to Agri-based Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in the Philippines
Authors: Herpacio Charles Allen L. , Hidalgo Hanilyn
Published: March 2019

The Philippine business economy is largely fuelled by micro, small and medium enterprises.  In order to cope with the competition with large firms in the industry, the government has poured investments in form of technology upgrading in the last 15 years. The research aimed to assess the impact on productivity and profitability of state assistance to agri-based micro, small enterprises.  Partial Budget Analysis was used in assessing the profitability of the proponent after the intervention. The study showed an average increase in enterprises' production volume, sales level, and generated employment by 157.9%, 51.65%, and 191.82%, respectively. Further, the assistance generated a positive increase in income. However, the defective equipment, failure to meet the repayment schedule, and non-compliance to documentary requirements were among the major problems encountered by the proponent during program implementation. Nonetheless, the state assistance was able to spur innovations among the enterprises. Market potential, market knowledge, financial capability to repay the loan as well as the entrepreneur’s resiliency were some of the observed success factors of MSMEs. With its positive firm-level impact, the state assistance program has generally been able to improve its proponent’s competitiveness and thus worthy for continuous implementation.
Blocks Correctness Evaluation Methodology for Block-Based Software Development
Authors: Mohd Zin Abdullah , Almatary Mustafa , Abu Bakar Marini , Latih Rodziah , Jailani Norleyza
Published: March 2019

The term “block” in Block-Based Software Development (BBSD) refers to a software component that has the characteristics of reusable, composition, customizable and configurable. Based on the principles of component-based software development and end-user development, the objective of BBSD is to allow non-programmer known as end-user to build a new application by using a set of blocks by creating composite blocks, configuring and customizing for a specific application domain. In the current implementation, a Domain Initiator is responsible for identifying blocks’ specifications, which will be uploaded to the block store repository. Block developers can contribute to developing blocks using the Java programming language. Blocks for a specific domain are bundled as a JAR file. These blocks will be stored in a block store. The block store is a software repository that provides a sharing mechanism for domain driven blocks specification, cataloging, archiving, and distribution. Before the blocks submitted to the block store can be distributed to end-users, they are required to undergo the process of block verification and evaluation to ensure that they conform to the requirement specification. The submitted blocks will also need to be approved by the domain initiator before they are made available to the end users. This paper proposes the block-based evaluation methodology as well as the software tool which helps domain initiator in the process of blocks verification and evaluation. The proposed methodology consists of three types of validation namely Automatic Validation Approach, JSR-303 or JSR-349 standard bean Validation Specification, and the manual testing. The proposed methodology itself was verified through a case study using a list of blocks submitted to the block store repository.
The Effect of Organizational Commitment and E-training on E-tourism Job Performance
Authors: Moradi Leila , Mohamed Ibrahim , Yahya Yazrina
Published: March 2019

E-tourism combines e-commerce and Information Technology (IT) in the tourism industry. It can be defined as the investigation, strategy, application and implementation of e-commerce solutions and IT in the travel, leisure, and tourism industry. Training is required to update the skills and knowledge of employees. This learning is mandatory for performance enhancement of job-related tasks. Training and development also strives to increase organisational commitment, which can be defined as an effective connection with the organisation that encourages the employee to work productively as well as to continue to work with the organisation. Organisational commitment can be characterised by the willingness of employees to contribute to the objectives of the organisation. Previous works in the literature have investigated e-training and development and its correlation with e-tourism performance. However, the impact of organisational commitment on the relationship between e-training and development and e-tourism performance, particularly in a virtual team setting, is not well understood. Therefore, this paper investigates the mediatory role of organisational commitment on e-training and IT project performance for virtual teams working in the e-tourism field. The primary objective of this paper is to prove that improvement in e-training and development and organisational commitment of e-tourism virtual teams will also improve the job performance of the virtual teams. This work is justified from the needs of current organisations that are embracing a more virtual working environment, with the aim of catering to detached workforces—internally and externally—that communicate through IT and thus further improve organisational performance. The results help determine whether or not e-training and development helps employee participation in training programs and their perceptions towards it. The findings also prove that organisational commitment is a crucial factor affecting the productivity and efficiency of employees in the workplace.
Rules Discovery of High Ozone in Klang Areas using Data Mining Approach
Authors: Ali Othman Zulaiha , Ismail Noraini , Abu Bakar Azuraliza , Latif Mohd Talib , Syed Abdullah Sharifah Mastura
Published: March 2019

Ground level ozone (O3) is one of the common pollution issues that has a negative influence on human health. However, the increasing trends in O3 level nowadays which due to rapid development has become a great concern over the world. Thus, developing an accurate O3 forecasting model is necessary. However, the interesting pattern from the data should be identified beforehand. Association rules is a data mining technique that has an advantage to discover frequent patterns in a dataset, which subsequently will be useful in the research domain. Therefore, this paper presents the discovering knowledge based on association rules and clustering technique towards a climatological O3 dataset. In this study, the data was analysed to find the behaviour of each precursors. Later K-means clustering technique was used to find the suitable range for each chosen variable independently, then applied Apriori based association rules technique to present the behaviours in a meaningful and understandable format. The climatological O3 time series data has been collected from Department of Environment for Klang station from year 1997 to 2012. However, the proposed method only applied on high O3 concentration data during stated years to find the association pattern. The outcome has discovered 17 strong rules.  The patterns and behaviours of the selected variables during high O3 concentration has been discovered. The rules are benefit to the government on how to control the air quality later.
A Model for Afghanistan’s Cyber Security Incident Response Team
Authors: Jalal Islahuddin , Mohd Yusof Maryati , Shukur Zarina , Mokhtar Mohd. Rosmadi
Published: March 2019

Persistent cyber threats require effective and efficient mitigation techniques. The cyber security incident response team (CSIRT) is expected to respond to external and internal cyber threats or incidents. Various organizational, national, and international level CSIRTs have been developed for defending and protecting such kinds of threats. Developing countries like Afghanistan have also formed a Computer Emergency Response Team for handling national cyber incidents although it provides limited services to only a few constituencies and depends on funding from foreign donors. Therefore, a new organizational model was proposed to provide guidelines for a specific country, instead of a provision from a constitutional context. Five national CSIRTs were compared to identify their features and characteristics to provide basis for the proposed framework.  The study presented the proposed model based on two CSIRT organizational models that incorporated a new funding strategy to achieve a Sustainable National CSIRT for developing countries. Our model combined coordinate and security teams; if consists of constituency’s mission, services, resources, organizational framework, and funding strategy. This study employed qualitative method by using document analysis and interview techniques. CSIRT for Afghanistan known as AFCERT was evaluated in terms of structure, services, resources, and funding.  AFCERT services level were below the standard of a national CSIRT. Therefore, a more sustainable service need to be provided based on the proposed model components. Findings showed the suitability and potential of the model in controlling and mitigating cyber-attacks, more specifically in the context of Afghanistan.
Damage Level Prediction of Pier using Neuro-Genetic Hybrid
Authors: Suryanita Reni , Mardiyono Mardiyono , Maizir Harnedi
Published: March 2019

Generally, long span bridges have multiple columns as known as piers to support the stability of the bridge. The pier is the most vulnerable part of the deck against the earthquake load. The study aims to predict the performance of the pier on the bridge structure subject to earthquake loads using a Neuro-Genetic Hybrid. The mix design of the Back Propagation Neural Networks (BPNN) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) method obtained the optimum-weight factors to predict the damage level of a pier. The input of Neuro-Genetic hybrid consists of 17750 acceleration-data of bridge responses. The outputs are the bridge-damage levels based on FEMA 356. The categorize of a damage level was divided into four performance levels of the structure such as safe, immediate occupancy, life safety, and collapse prevention. Bridge responses and performances have resulted through analysis of Nonlinear Time History. The best of Mean Squared Error and Regression value for the Neuro-Genetic hybrids method are 0.0041 and 0.9496 respectively at 50000 epochs for the testing process.  The Regression value denotes the predicted damage values more than 90% closer to the actual damage values. Thus, the damage level prediction of the pier in this study offers as an alternative to structural control and monitor of bridges.
Vibration Response Suppression of Space Structure using Two U-Shaped Water Container
Authors: Son Lovely , Bur Mulyadi , Satria Eka
Published: March 2019

Nowadays, a passive vibration control technique using dynamic vibration absorbers (DVA) has drawn many researchers’ attention in the structural dynamic field. The reason is that this technique is simple and it can work effectively in reducing the vibration response when its parameters are optimally designed. The DVA fundamental concept is the addition of a new vibration system to the primary system. This new system addition causes reduction of the vibration response of the primary system during excited by a dynamic load. One simple technique to realize the DVA for structural application is by using water vibration. This research is aimed to develop one type of dynamic vibration absorber using the water vibration system in a U-shaped container for a two-story building structure model. Besides being used as the dynamic absorber, this U-shaped container is also functioned as the water storage tank in the building. Regarding reduce the first bending mode response of the structure in x-z and y-z plane, two U-shaped water storage tanks are placed on the upper floor of the building. The dimensions of the water storage tanks are designed so that the natural frequency of moving water in the tank is the same as the natural frequency of the first bending mode of the structure in x-z and y-z plane. The performance of dynamic absorber is evaluated by applying the impulsive and seismic loads on the building. The simulation results show that the U-shaped water storage tank placed on the upper floor of the building can reduce the response amplitude of the structure under impulsive loads. Meanwhile, for the seismic load case, the performance of dynamic absorber is clearly seen when the excitation frequency is close to the natural frequency of the building structure.
The Behaviours of the Brick-Masonry Infilled RC Frame Structure under Reversed Cyclic Lateral Loading
Authors: Maidiawati Maidiawati , Sanada Yasushi , Tanjung Jafril
Published: March 2019

The experimental study for investigating the seismic responses of the Reinforced Concrete (RC) frame specimens is presented in this paper.  Regarding this experimental, two one-bay and scaled-down specimens have been prepared and tested, i.e., RC bare frame and RC frame with brick masonry infill. The masonry infilled RC frame specimen was the RC frame which was infilled by the extracted brick masonry wall from the survive RC building in Padang city due to September 2007 Sumatra earthquake. These both of specimens, obviously, represent the typical low-rise RC building in West Sumatra, Indonesia. These specimens were tested to the constant vertical load, and lateral static reversed cyclic loading in the structural testing facilities. The lateral loading was applied incrementally and controlled by the drift angle of the specimens.  The drift angle is the ratio between the lateral displacement of the top of the column and the column height of the specimen.  The applied incremental lateral load and displacements at several points on the specimens were measured and recorded during the testing.  The observation of the major cracks and its propagation were also conducted to identify the failure mechanism of the RC frame specimens. Comparison of the testing results for both of the specimens suggests that the masonry brick infill contributed to significantly increase the dissipating energy capacity, lateral strength, and stiffness of overall RC frames. On the other hand, unfortunately, the ductility performance of the brick masonry infilled RC frame specimen was decreasing. The presence of brick masonry infill in the RC frame seems to control the failure mechanism of the RC frame, reduces the deformation capacity of the boundary column, and alters the lateral and axial deformations of boundary columns.
Properties of DMF-fossil gasoline RON95 blends in the consideration as the alternative fuel
Authors: Hoang Anh Tuan , Nguyen Danh Chan
Published: March 2019

The use of endless biomass sources form agricultural by-products for the renewable fuel synthesis has been being considered as the extremely useful works meeting the strict strategies of environment protection. In this work, 2,5-dimethylfuran (DMF) synthesized from available rice straw in Vietnam was mixing with fossil gasoline RON95 to determine and measure the key properties of DMF-gasoline RON95 blends based on corresponding ASTM standards in the consideration as a new alternative fuel for modern gasoline engines. Each 5% volume fraction of DMF was used for mixing purposes to create 21 samples with the change of DMF volume fractions from 0% to 100%. As a result, the linearization of density, octane number, and laten heat of vaporization was conducted; meanwhile, the stoichiometric air/fuel ratio, heating value, and self-ignition temperature of DMF-gasoline RON95 blends were also reported. This work provided the full properties of blends of DMF-gasoline RON95 blends based on experimental results, and of course, achieved results could be used for the next steps to investigate the applicability of DMF-gasoline RON95 blends to practical experiments or simulation studies.
Landscape Ecological Changes and Livelihood Dilemma of the Rural Household around the Oil Palm Plantation
Authors: Fatmasari Reni , Darma Rahim , Salman Darmawan , Musa Yunus
Published: March 2019

The pressure of global market demand for palm oil is driving a massive expansion of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Although it provides benefits in economic terms, it also has social and environmental impacts. The impact is in the form of changes in the ecological landscape, conversion of agricultural land, rural household livelihood systems, reduced biodiversity, deformation, plant monoculturalization, and even a monostructuring of livelihood. This study aimed to provide an overview of changes in the ecological landscape that resulted from the expansion of oil palm plantations and the socio-economic impact of the expansion of oil palm plantations on farmers' household livelihood systems. The study was conducted in West Sulawesi, Indonesia. This study uses the livelihood survey method by selecting 30 farmer households selected by random sampling. The results of the study found the fact that oil palm plantations seemed to provide welfare for rural households, but what happened was a vulnerability and high livelihood dependence on income from the wages of oil palm plantations. The expansion of oil palm plantations has created the integration and dependence of rural economies on the global political economy of oil palm, but at risk to even undergoing household livelihood dilemmas due to the two villages’ deliberate divergence of livelihoods because of shifting ecosystems now leading by palm oil commodities.
A Challenge in Providing Housing Land and Sustainable Agricultural Land; An Effort to Meet The Backlog of Housing and Food Security in West Sumatra
Authors: Yossyafra  , Noer Melinda , Hakimi Rini , Reza Muhamad
Published: March 2019

Population growth in urban areas tends to be faster than in rural areas; it is due to various factors. Population growth has increased housing demand. The need for housing should be filled with the provision of land and houses. The most common problems in urban housing provision are less urban land available for housing and higher the price. It is happening in cities of West Sumatra, changed of agricultural land (rice field) into housing although the Government of the Republic of Indonesia has issued Act No.26 / 2007 on Spatial Planning, which sets the land allotment for spatial in Indonesia. Supporting this, in the year 2009, the Indonesian government issued, Indonesian Act No. 41/ 2009 on Sustainable Land Farming Protection, concerning on sustainable land for food agriculture, that agricultural land must be maintained in order to produce agricultural products. This paper describes to what extent of the conversion of agriculture land into housing in the last five years in several regions in West Sumatra, Indonesia. Illustrate the process of transferring land functions (from rice filed to housing), which is permitted by government regulations. This study shows that there has been a relatively significant change in the function of a rice field in urban areas. The lack of government records on land use change needs to be an important note. A legal product is governing the conversion of agricultural land, Law enforcement of spatial use rules, detailed spatial plan, reliable maps as a reference (Spatial Planning) in determining the land use of the proposed location for the house to be built, should be of particular concern by the government. It is necessary to coordinate and integrate housing and agricultural planning so that housing construction can meet the needs of the house, on the other hand, the need for rice product can be produced without having to reduce agricultural land.
Vertical Deformation and Ballast Abrasion Characteristics of Asphalt-Scrap Rubber Track Bed
Authors: Setiawan Dian M , Rosyidi Sri Atmaja Putra
Published: March 2019

Innovations in the field of railroad construction need to be improved, especially in the ballast layer which is an essential structure in conventional railways. The purpose of this study was to analyse the characteristics of vertical deformation and ballast material abrasion with 10% of scrap rubber in two types of sizes (uniform and graded) and with 3% of asphalt. This study uses a compressive test method with six types of samples modeled with ballast boxes measuring 400 x 300 x 200 mm. The test results present that the use of 10% scrap rubber can increase the vertical deformation value significantly to 84%. On the other hand, the use of 3% asphalt can minimize vertical deformation to only 14% because asphalt can increase the ballast layer stiffness. Furthermore, it can also be concluded that in general, the use of 10% scrap rubber and 3% asphalt can reduce the percentage of material abrasion up to 80%. Besides, it also can be known that the use of graded sized scrap rubber material is the most effective in increasing material durability. Scrap rubber and asphalt have the potential to be used together on ballast layers which are expected to be a solution of the problems related to the service-life and ballast maintenance work.
Geometric Accuracy Assessment of Very High-Resolution Optical Data Orthorectified using TerraSAR-X DSM to Support Disaster Management in Indonesia
Authors: Sari Inggit Lolita , Siwi Sukentyas Estuti , Brahmantara Randy Prima , Dyatmika Haris Suka , Suprijanto Agus , Pradono Kuncoro Adi
Published: March 2019

Advanced remote sensing satellite data with detail spatial resolution can be an alternative to aerial photography and outweigh in providing rapid and vast spatial, remote area, and consist of multispectral bands to produce continues information. The various types of very high spatial resolution satellite, benefit in producing information for large-scale mappings, such as updating an urban map and supporting disaster management for mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, and recovery effectively and efficiently. Large-scale mapping information for disaster management, particularly for quick response is essential to map the impacted sites, measure the number of houses and infrastructure damaged and determine the evacuation area. However, in producing large-scale mapping, the information should refer to the geospatial specification standard, such as accurate geometric, detail thematic information and completeness. This study aims to identify the use of Pleiades imagery for supporting large-scale mapping, including for disaster management by assessing the geometry accuracy from a standard product acquired from the ground station and precise orthorectification using different types of DSM, including TerraSAR-X and improvement using ground control points. The results show that the improved accuracy to meet geometric accuracy standard for scale 1:5000 can be achieved using a primary product data which process using an insertion of GCPs and selecting the better DSM, while for the standard ortho product can be achieved using shifting the coordinate position of the image. Assessment of the thematic extraction visually shows that the imagery meets the information for large-scale mapping, but detail attribution requires information from field data.
A Study of The Upstream-downstream Interface in End-to-end Tsunami Early Warning and Mitigation Systems
Authors: Sakalasuriya Maheshika , Amaratunga Dilanthi , Haigh Richard , Hettige Siri
Published: March 2019

The tsunami early warning and mitigation systems are typically used to detect the tsunami inundation before the impact so that vulnerable communities can be alerted and the damage can be minimized. These systems typically entail upstream and downstream processes, starting from the detection of tsunami wave and finishing with safe evacuation of people. There is an interface between upstream and downstream mechanisms where the warning is issued and the decision to evacuate people are taken. In individual countries, the system by which the information is disseminated from a national point to individual communities varies significantly. Due to the complex nature of different administrative systems, it is difficult to understand who takes the decision to evacuate, at which point and how is it taken. This paper is the first part of a more extensive study undertaken to understand and evaluate the interface between the upstream and downstream mechanisms of the tsunami early warning system. The objective of the paper is to present the findings of a literature review conducted as an initial step to the above study and to understand state of the art and practices related to the interface of an end-to-end tsunami warning and mitigation system. The literature is grouped and analyzed using the conceptual analysis method, in order to understand the concepts related to the tsunami early warning system, mainly focusing on the issues pertaining to the interface. Through the literature review, a conceptual framework is developed, presenting nine concepts and their relationships within the interface. This conceptual framework will serve as a strong theoretical foundation for the future steps to be taken under the above study.
The Use of GIS and Hydrodynamic Model for Performance Evaluation of Flood Control Structure
Authors: Tunas I Gede , Maadji Rizaldi
Published: March 2019

Flood disaster in Palu River has repeatedly occurred with varying discharge magnitudes, especially in the downstream segment near and around the estuary. The most recent flood occurred in July 2018 has inundated some areas of Palu City and resulted in a considerable impact on the socio-economic life of the community in the city of Palu. Actually, flood prevention efforts have been undertaken by the Palu City Government and River Basin Board of Sulawesi III, one of which is by constructing levee combined with revetment along more than 5 km measured from the estuary to the upstream reach. The levee is made of soil material, while the revetment is a structure to protect the levee made of concrete. These structures were built on both sides of the river banks. However, the flood disaster always happens almost every year in this area. This paper intends to evaluate the performance of the flood control structure using Geographic Information System and HEC-RAS hydrodynamic model.  The use of these tools provides the ease and efficiency of flood simulation along the river being modeled. The analysis results show that the bank capacity of Palu River is currently only effective for flood discharge below 550 m3/s, where the river bank capacity at the beginning of the levee and revetment design is approximately 550 m3/s, equivalent to the 25 years return period of discharge. The river bank capacity decreases due to sediment deposition on the river bed which were originated from the upstream watershed. This decline in cross-section capacity is estimated to be the cause of the flood disaster in parts of Palu City.