bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Sicca Symptoms in Parkinson’s Disease: Association with Other Nonmotor Symptoms and Health-Related Quality of Life
Authors: Prell Tino , Schaller Denise , Perner Caroline , Witte Otto W. , Grosskreutz Julian
Published: February 2020

Background. Frequently used nonmotor scales do not cover all aspects of dysautonomia in Parkinson’s disease (PD). This study explores the association between autonomic symptoms and sicca symptoms with other nonmotor symptoms and health-related quality of life (QoL) in PD. Methods. Autonomic symptoms (Survey of Autonomic Symptoms, SASs), motor function (Movement Disorder Society-sponsored revision of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale III, MDS-UPDRS III), nonmotor symptoms (nonmotor symptoms questionnaire, NMS-Quest), and QoL (PD Questionnaire-39, PDQ-39) were analysed in 93 PD patients without dementia. Multivariable and multivariate analyses were performed to study the association between clinical parameters and PDQ-39 domains. Results. Among the autonomic symptoms, sicca symptoms (xerostomia and dry eyes) were the most commonly reported (69%), followed by sexual dysfunction in men, leaking of urine, vasomotor dysfunction, constipation, sudomotor dysfunction, and orthostatic symptoms. The autonomic symptom burden (SAS total) correlated with the NMS-Quest and Hoehn and Yahr stage, but not with age, levodopa equivalent daily dose, disease duration, and the MDS-UPDRS III. The SAS total score was an independent predictor of the PDQ-39 summary index and mainly affected the PDQ-39 cognition and emotional well-being domains. Sicca symptoms were not associated with age, MDS-UPDRS III, disease duration, Hoehn and Yahr stage, and levodopa equivalent daily dose but aggravated the PDQ-39 domains: cognition, emotional well-being, bodily discomfort, and mobility. Sicca symptoms frequently occur together with other nonmotor symptoms, namely, urine urgency, orthostatic problems, and concentration problems. Overall, 75% of the subjects took at least one drug that can cause sicca symptoms (anti-PD medication, antidepressant drugs, antihypertensive drugs, antipsychotic drugs, antimuscarinic drugs, and analgesic drugs). Conclusion. Sicca symptoms are common in PD and negatively influence QoL. The observed association between sicca symptoms and other nonmotor symptoms provides further preliminary evidence for the growing recognition of different nonmotor clusters in PD.
Antioxidant and Wound Healing Property of Gelsolin in 3T3-L1 Cells
Authors: Vaid Bhavna , Chopra Bhupinder Singh , Raut Sachin , Sagar Amin , Badmalia Maulik D. , Ashish  , Khatri Neeraj
Published: February 2020

Delineation of factors which affect wound healing would be of immense value to enable on-time or early healing and reduce comorbidities associated with infections or biochemical stress like diabetes. Plasma gelsolin has been identified earlier to significantly enable injury recovery compared to placebo. This study evaluates the role of rhuGSN for its antioxidant and wound healing properties in murine fibroblasts (3T3-L1 cell line). Total antioxidant capacity of rhuGSN increased in a concentration-dependent manner (0.75-200 μg/mL). Cells pretreated with 0.375 and 0.75 μg/mL rhuGSN for 24 h exhibited a significant increase in viability in a MTT assay. Preincubation of cells with rhuGSN for 24 h followed by oxidative stress induced by exposure to H2O2for 3 h showed cytoprotective effect. rhuGSN at 12.5 and 25 μg/mL concentration showed an enhanced cell migration after 20 h of injury in a scratch wound healing assay. The proinflammatory cytokine IL-6 levels were elevated in the culture supernatant. These results establish an effective role of rhuGSN against oxidative stress induced by H2O2and in wound healing of 3T3-L1 fibroblast cells.
Shear Behavior and Anisotropy Characteristics of the Fracture Morphology of Sandstone with Different Water Contents
Authors: Du Changang , Sun Lulu , Qin Botao , Xu Jiang , Liu Yixin
Published: February 2020

Hydromechanical coupling in rock masses is an important issue for many rock mechanics and hydrogeology applications. The change of a water-bearing state will induce the fracture of the intact rocks and further accelerate the shear slip instability of the sheared surface. To investigate the weakening effect of water content on the mechanical properties of a rock mass, laboratory direct shear tests combined with three-dimensional analysis of sheared surfaces were carried out on sandstone samples with different water contents. The variogram parameters, sill and range, were applied to quantify the morphology of shear fracture surfaces, to reflect the shear failure process of the intact rock, and to provide a basis for resliding instability of jointed rock. It was determined that the sill represents the height of the fluctuation body in the fracture surface and the range represents the single fluctuation body and may reflect the frequency of fluctuations. The test results revealed that the increase in water content had a clear weakening effect on the shear strength and deformation behavior of rock, especially under saturated conditions. Moreover, the distribution of water in the samples directly affected the crack initiation and propagation and characteristics of the fracture morphology.
Research on the Normal Use of a Plug Discharge Tunnel
Authors: Liu Wen , Deng Jun , Tian Zhong , Zhang Faxing
Published: February 2020

This study analyzed the normal use of an unusual flood-releasing tunnel with a plug dissipator. Firstly, normal physical model tests based on the Froude criterion (1 : 50) were finished. Secondly, depression physical model tests based on the Froude criterion (1 : 50) and cavitation similarity criterion were finished. Thirdly, 3-dimensional numerical simulation of flow field was finished, and free surface profile was captured, which was based on RNGk-εtwo-equation turbulence model and VOF method. The focus of this study is on the relationship between normal use and cavitation characteristics (e.g., pressure, turbulence kinetic energy, and cavitation number). The results show that lowering the reservoir water level, reduced by 20.41 m at most, increases the risk of cavitation of a plug discharge tunnel, which means with the decrease of the flow cavitation number, the possibility of structural damage will increase dramatically, while reducing the outlet height can effectively raise the flow cavitation number, ensuring the safety of normal use. Under the conditions of free outflow, for theH1/evalues of 4.45, 4.00, and 3.55, the conditions in which the tunnel meets the requirements of anticavitation areh/D ≤ 0.42,h/D ≤ 0.39, andh/D ≤ 0.35, respectively. In addition, the discharge capacity of the tunnel is not significantly reduced with the lowering of outlet height, implying that operation under a low water head of the plug discharge tunnel, as low as 3.55 ofH1/ein the test, is feasible. The results obtained in this study can serve as reference information in engineering design of the plug discharge tunnel.
Efficient Certificateless Aggregate Signature Scheme for Performing Secure Routing in VANETs
Authors: Xu Zhiyan , He Debiao , Kumar Neeraj , Choo Kim-Kwang Raymond
Published: February 2020

Certificateless public key cryptosystem solves both the complex certificate management problem in the public key cryptosystem based on the PKI and the key escrow issue in the public key cryptosystem based on identity. The aggregator can compress n different signatures with respect to n messages from n signers into an aggregate signature, which can help communication equipments to save a lot of bandwidth and computing resources. Therefore, the certificateless aggregate signature (CLAS) scheme is particularly well suited to address secure routing authentication issues in resource-constrained vehicular ad hoc networks. Unfortunately, most of the existing CLAS schemes have problems with security vulnerabilities or high computation and communication overheads. To avoid the above issues and better solve the secure routing authentication problem in vehicular ad hoc networks, we present a new CLAS scheme and give the formal security proof of our scheme under the CDH assumption in the random oracle model. We then evaluate the performance of our proposed CLAS scheme, and the results demonstrate that our proposal is more practical in resource-constrained vehicular ad hoc networks.
Lepton Mixing Patterns from PSL2(7) with a Generalized CP Symmetry
Authors: Rong Shu-Jun
Published: February 2020

Lepton mixing patterns from the modular group PSL2(7) with generalized CP symmetries are studied. The residual symmetries in both charged lepton and neutrino sectors are Z2×CP. Seven types of mixing patterns at the 3σ level of the new global fit data are obtained. Among these patterns, three types of patterns can give the Dirac CP phase which is in the 1σ range of the global fit data. The effective mass of neutrinoless double-beta decay for these patterns is also examined.
Energy Harvesting and Information Transmission Mode Design for Cooperative EH-Abled IoT Applications in beyond 5G Networks
Authors: Gao Hongyuan , Zhang Shibo , Su Yumeng , Diao Ming
Published: February 2020

Energy harvesting (EH) technology is considered to be a promising approach to provide enough energy for energy-constrained Internet of Things (IoT). In this paper, we propose an energy harvesting and information transmission mode for the spectrum sharing system with cooperative EH-abled IoT applications in beyond 5G networks. Different from most existing IoT spectrum-sharing research studies, in our system, both primary user (PU) and IoT devices (IDs) collect energy for their information transmission. In addition, for all IDs, they should realize two communication functions: working as relays to help the information transfer process of PU and completing their own information transmission. We analytically derive exact expressions for the throughput of the primary system and IoT system and then formulate two objective functions. It is easy to see that power splitting ratio, dynamic EH ratio, power sharing ratio, and relay selection should be optimized to get the best performance for different communication circumstances. Actually, it is a hybrid NP-hard problem to optimize these parameters and traditional algorithms cannot solve it well. Therefore, a novel algorithm-quantum whale optimization algorithm (QWOA) is proposed to obtain the best performance. Simulation results show the good performance of QWOA in different simulation scenarios.
A Novel Schizophrenia Diagnostic Model Based on Statistically Significant Changes in Gene Methylation in Specific Brain Regions
Authors: Zou Donghua , Qiu Yufen , Li Rongjie , Meng Youshi , Wu Yuan
Published: February 2020

Objective. The present study identified methylation patterns of schizophrenia‐ (SCZ‐) related genes in different brain regions and used them to construct a novel DNA methylation‐based SCZ diagnostic model. Methods. Four DNA methylation datasets representing different brain regions were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus. The common differentially methylated genes (CDMGs) in all datasets were identified to perform functional enrichment analysis. The differential methylation sites of 10 CDMGs involved in the largest numbers of neurological or psychiatric‐related biological processes were used to construct a DNA methylation‐based diagnostic model for SCZ in the respective datasets. Results. A total of 849 CDMGs were identified in the four datasets, but the methylation sites as well as degree of methylation differed across the brain regions. Functional enrichment analysis showed CDMGs were significantly involved in biological processes associated with neuronal axon development, intercellular adhesion, and cell morphology changes and, specifically, in PI3K‐Akt, AMPK, and MAPK signaling pathways. Four DNA methylation‐based classifiers for diagnosing SCZ were constructed in the four datasets, respectively. The sample recognition efficiency of the classifiers showed an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 1.00 in three datasets and >0.9 in one dataset. Conclusion. DNA methylation patterns in SCZ vary across different brain regions, which may be a useful epigenetic characteristic for diagnosing SCZ. Our novel model based on SCZ‐gene methylation shows promising diagnostic power.
Analysis and Research on Longitudinal Vibration Characteristics of Deep Sea Mining Pipe Based on Finite Element Method
Authors: Liu Qiang , Xiao Linjing
Published: February 2020

This paper aimed to study the longitudinal vibration characteristics of the 5000 m mining pipe in the ocean under different working wind conditions, offset angle, damping, and ore bin weight. Based on the finite element method, the mining pipe is simplified into beam element and discretized, and the physical and mathematical models of the mining pipe system are established. The Wilson-θ direct integral method is adopted for numerical calculation. The results show that the longitudinal vibration of the mining pipe is irregular, which presents the phenomenon of oscillation. The vibration amplitude decreases first and then increases from top to bottom, the minimum vibration amplitude appears at 1000 m, and the maximum vibration amplitude appears at the top of the mining pipe. Under the same working wind condition, the overall longitudinal vibration amplitude of the mining pipe can be increased by increasing the ore bin weight and the offset angle, but neither of them can change the frequency of the longitudinal vibration. The closer the excitation frequency generated by different working wind conditions is to the natural frequency, the larger the mining pipe longitudinal vibration amplitude is. The closer the vibration frequency generated by the same excitation frequency is to the natural frequency, the stronger the vibration intensity is, and when damping is added, the vibration intensity decreases faster.
Weed Control in Dicamba-Resistant Soybean with Glyphosate/Dicamba Applied at Various Doses and Timings
Authors: Soltani Nader , Shropshire Christy , Sikkema Peter H.
Published: February 2020

Seven field trials were completed over a three-year period (2016 to 2018) in southwestern Ontario, Canada, to assess weed control in conventional-till dicamba-resistant (DR) soybean with glyphosate/dicamba (2 : 1 ratio) applied postemergence (POST) at 3 doses (900, 1350, and 1800 g·ae·ha−1) and 3 application timings (up to 5, 15, and 25 cm weeds). There was minimal soybean injury (≤2%) from treatments evaluated. Glyphosate/dicamba applied at application timing of up to 5, 15, and 25 cm weeds, controlled Amaranthus spp. (pigweed spp.) 87–96, 94–99, and 99%; Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) 93–99, 97–99, and 99–100%; Chenopodium album (lambsquarters) 89–99, 95–100, and 99–100%; Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyardgrass) 81–84, 94–96, and 96–97%; Setaria faberi (giant foxtail) 37–90, 77–98, and 99–100%; and Setaria viridis (green foxtail) 94–96, 99, and 99–100%, respectively. Additionally, glyphosate/dicamba applied POST at 900, 1350, and 1800 g·ae·ha−1 controlled Amaranthus spp. 90–97, 95–98, and 97–99%; A. artemisiifolia 95–98, 97–99, and 99–100%; C. album 92–99, 95–100, and 98–100%; E. crus-galli 84–88, 93-94, and 95-96%; S. faberi 74–95, 75–97, and 79–98%; and S. viridis 98, 98–99, and 98–100%, respectively. Weed interference reduced DR soybean yield as much as 51% compared to the highest yielding treatments. Results indicate that glyphosate/dicamba applied POST at the label doses can provide an adequate control of troublesome weeds in DR soybean. Weed control was generally most consistent when glyphosate/dicamba was applied at the highest registered dose in Ontario (1800 g·ae·ha−1) and when weeds were up to 25 cm tall.
Development of New Lesions of Hidradenitis Suppurativa on a Caesarean Section Scar: A Manifestation of the Koebner Phenomenon?
Authors: Agiasofitou Efthimia , Kanni Theodora , Platsidaki Eftychia , Tzanetakou Vasiliki , Gregoriou Stamatios , Rigopoulos Dimitrios , Kontochristopoulos George
Published: February 2020

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic, inflammatory, recurrent skin disorder of the hair follicle. Trauma, mechanical pressure, or friction could have an important role in the pathogenesis of HS. We present a patient with HS who developed new HS lesions shortly after a cesarean section, which could be explained by the Koebner phenomenon. Koebnerization in HS has recently been observed in patients in whom new lesions developed at an ectopic location free from apocrine glands as a result of trauma. More studies need to be conducted to shed light on the possible relation between HS and surgical trauma. Avoidance of external trauma could be included in general measures of HS treatment.
Performance simulation of broadband multimedia wireless networks simulation based on OPNET
Authors: Lafta Sameer Abdul-Sattar , Hasan Ali Aktham , M. Kareem Marwah , A. Hussein Yasser , H. Ali Adnan
Published: February 2020

As the rapid growth of multimedia application over the Internet, it is essential to preserve the Quality of Service (QoS), which is certifying the guaranteed service through the Internet and representing the biggest challenges for the current IP based services. Multimedia traffic usage has been increased in relation to the streaming media such as video conferencing using OPNET, the performance can be simulated based on heavy and light scenarios for video conferencing including web traffic. The overall WLAN load data are obtained for such scenarios, also the performance of simulated overall Delay in the three scenario networks is measured.
Intelligent based technique for under voltage load shedding in power transmission systems
Authors: Abd Shukor Saiful Firdaus , Musirin Ismail , Abd Hamid Zulkifli , Mohamad Zamani Mohamad Khairuzzaman , Zellagui Mohamed , Suyono Hadi
Published: February 2020

The increasing demand of electric power energy and the presence of disturbances can be identified as the factors of voltage instability condition in a power system. A secure and reliable power system should be considered to ensure smooth delivery of electricity to the consumers. A power system may experience undesired event such as voltage instability condition leading to voltage collapse or cascading collapse if the system experiences lack of reactive power support. Thus, to avoid blackout and cascaded tripping, load shedding is the last resort to prevent a total damage. Under Voltage Load Shedding (UVLS) scheme is one of the possible methods which can be conducted by thepower system operators to avoid the occurrence of voltage instability condition. This paper presents the intelligent based technique for under voltage load shedding in power transmission systems. In this study, a computational based technique is developed in solving problem related to UVLS. The integration between a known computational intelligence-based technique termed as Evolutionary Programming (EP) with the under-voltage load shedding algorithm has been able to maintain the system operated within the acceptable voltage limit. Loss and minimum voltage control as the objective function implemented on the IEEE 30-Bus Reliability Test System (RTS) managed to optimally identify the optimal location and sizing for the load shedding scheme. Results from the studies, clearly indicate the feasibility of EP for load shedding scheme in loss and minimum voltage control in power system.
Review on solar disturbance studies and electric power transmission line fault in Malaysia
Authors: Mohd Alias Mohammad Zakaria , Jamilah Homam Mariyam , Mohd Noh Faridah Hanim
Published: February 2020

This work is a review on previous research and studies on the solar disturbance activities and faults that occur on the electric power transmission line. Research has shown that low latitude regions could also be affected by solar disturbance events. The effects of these events on earth are considerable and may cause electric power transmission failure. Geomagnetically induced current is one of the ground impacts to the transmission line, which may cause fault or disturbance and consequently power system failure. Solar disturbance data from magnetometers and electric power transmission line fault data from a digital fault recorder are reviewed in this work. These data would be valuable in determining the characteristics and effects of solar disturbances on Malaysia’s electric power transmission lines.
Design and development of PWM switching for 5-level multiphase interleaved DC/DC boost converter using FPGA
Authors: H. A. Gani A. F. , A. Bakar A. , Ponniran A. , Hussainar M. , N. Amran M. A.
Published: February 2020

The continuously increasing demand for control on electric power equipment has led to the rapid technological development in various applications such as renewable energy, electric drives, and communication. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) switching is an important technique to control the output voltage. PWM signals can either be generated using digital controller or analog controller. Digital controllers are widely used to generate PWM signals due to their reliability in solving complex algorithms within short amount of time. Multiphase boost converter is capable to overcome high input current ripple, current stress and semiconductor losses in conventional boost converter. This paper proposes a PWM switching scheme for multiphase interleaved converter using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The proposed switching scheme uses PWM switching technique that is implemented by programming Altera DE2-70 board. The duty cycle can be easily adjusted using assigned switches on the Altera board. For validation, switching frequency was set to 100 kHz, and then switching signal was observed using oscilloscope.
Liquefied petroleum gas monitoring and leakage detection system using nodemcu ESP8266 and wi-fi technology
Authors: Binti Sarnin Suzi Seroja , Senanu Ametefe Divine , Fadzlina Naim Nani , Wan Mohamad Wan Norsyafizan , Ishak Norlela , Ab Wahab Norfishah , Ya’acob Norsuzila
Published: February 2020

Liquefied Petroleum Gas which is popularly known as LPG is a clean source of energy which is highly flammable and usually compressed into storage tanks. Due to the flammable nature of LPG it can easily lead to uncontrollable explosions in the presence of any ignition action or may lead to complete depletion of oxygen in a particular area. This study is focused on the fabrication of a system that would detect, monitor and control LPG gas leakages for domestic gas cylinders. A MQ-2 gas sensor was used for the detection of LPG gas leakages, the monitoring aspect was satisfied locally through notifications triggered by LEDs, piezo buzzer and remotely through the use of an application known as Blynk. The control aspect was implemented with the use of a stepper motor which turns off gas cylinder regulators whenever gas concentrations are high. All operations are primary hinged on the NodeMCU ESP8266 controller and Wi-Fi communication technology. 
Electrocardiogram profiling of myocardial infarction history using MLP and HMLP networks
Authors: Ab Gani Fatin Syahirah , Khairi Nordin Mohd , Mohd Yassin Ahmad Ihsan , Ibrahim Idnin Pasya , Amin Megat Ali Megat Syahirul
Published: February 2020

Narrowing of coronary arteries caused by cholesterol deposits deprives heart tissues of oxygen. In prolonged conditions, these will result in myocardium infarction. The presence of damage tissues modifies the normal sinus rhythm and this can be detected using electrocardiogram (ECG). Hence, this paper characterized history of myocardial infarction from survivors using QRS power ratio features from the ECG. Subsequent profiling is performed using multilayered perceptron (MLP) and hybrid multilayered perceptron (HMLP) networks. ECG with history of anterior and inferior infarctions, along with healthy controls is obtained from PTB Diagnostic ECG Database. The signal is initially pre-processed and the power ratio features are extracted for low- and mid-frequency components. The features are then used as input vector to the MLP and HMLP networks. The optimized MLP has attained accuracies of 99.2% for training and 98.0% for testing. Meanwhile, the optimized HMLP managed to achieve accuracies of 99.4% for training and 97.8% for testing. Despite the similarities in network performance, MLP provides a better alternative due to the reduced computational requirements by as much as 30%.
Measure learning effectiveness among children using EEG device and mobile application
Authors: Gasah Magrizef , Baharum Aslina , Mat Zain Nurul Hidayah
Published: February 2020

This paper presents a method in measuring the learning effectiveness among children using EEG device and Mobile Application.  In this study, an approach to measure the children learning effectiveness using a mobile learning application and EEG device have been developed. The method used to develop the approach was from the extensive literature review from previous research related to children learning effectiveness and its experimental works. A quantitative method was used to measure the effectiveness of children learning and the result of this experimental work shows that children learning effectiveness can reach nearly 73%. Since lot of teachers and student having trouble in accessing the learning activity whether it was effective or not, this study shown a significant way to solve such problem.
Real-time and Low-cost IoT based farming using raspberry Pi
Authors: Rahman Md. Wahidur , Hossain Md. Elias , Islam Rahabul , Rashid Md. Harun Ar , Alam Md. Nur A , Hasan Md. Mahmodul
Published: February 2020

This paper reflects on the implementation of IoT enabled Farming, especially for the people needed a smart way of agriculture. This research focuses on real-time observation with efficient use of cheapest security system. The features of this research including i) Sensor data monitoring using soil moisture sensor which is responsible for measuring moisture of the filed, water level sensor which is liable for detecting flooded water, pH sensor which is accountable for measuring pH of the soil and Temperature and humidity sensor which is responsible for tracking out the present temperature and humidity in the atmosphere ii) Live monitoring of sensor’s value using cloud and a Dashboard iii) Security issues of the farming using Laser shield and IP-Camera through Wi-Fi which is conducted by android application. This paper also assures the analysis of the experimented data through various sensor’s value and gives a momentous way for future application. Result and discussion ensures the contribution in the field of Internet of things
Design, analysis and fabrication of utm hydraulic ram pump for water supply in remote areas
Authors: Sarip S. , Mohd Radzi A. Q , S. Hong T. , Mohammad R. , F. Yakub M. , A. Suhot M. , M. Kaidi H.
Published: February 2020

This paper focuses on design, analysis and fabrication of hydraulic ram pump, which uses the force of gravity to deliver water to higher altitudes. It does not depend on electrical and fossil energy and robust, inexpensive, easy to install and maintain. All these qualities make it suitable for use in remote areas where water and electricity supply, especially in developing countries. The aim of this study is to construct a low cost UTM hydraulic ram pump for water supply in remote areas, provided that it must have a reliable design and made of materials available locally in Malaysia. The design must also be easy to assemble and dismantle, easy to maintain and durable with a long service life. In order to achieve these objectives, existing ram pump designs by other researchers were studied to provide the basics in designing the UTM hydraulic ram pump. The ram pump efficiency is 62%, based on drive pipe diameter of 3” and air chamber volume of 33.3 L. Referring to the guidelines and experimental data these design specifications allow a total of 7000 L/day (4.86 L/min) of water to be delivered to the storage tank. The power required is about 23.9 kW which is enough to overcome head losses of about 54.52 m. Through a test stand, the value of circulations is 49 cycle/minute and thus the overall performance of the ram pump can be calculated before installation in remote areas. Other factors such as the proper material selection and safety considerations were also prioritized.
Hydraulically operated palm oil loader system design as fresh fruit bunch collector
Authors: Sarip S. , A. Suhot M. , M. Kaidi H. , Mohd Noor M. F. , Abdul Aziz S. , A. Bani N. , S. Noorazizi M.
Published: February 2020

Palm oil is one of the main agricultural contributors to Malaysia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Although commercial palm oil plantations have flourished in Malaysia for decades, there is still room for improvement especially in minimizing manpower load and developing efficient machinery to improve the various processes involved in the palm oil industry from estate to the mills. This paper presents a modified towable backhoe to assist in the Fresh Fruit Bunch (FFB) collecting process as an effort to save time. The main objective of this study is to design a machine that can be used by smallholders of oil palm in order to help speed up the work process. With a boom extension and an innovative grabber, the pressure needed to operate the hydraulic system was analyzed to ensure the towable backhoe functioned effectively and fulfilled its objectives. From the calculations done, the maximum pressure that the system can supply is 31.28 MPa which is higher than the 11 MPa minimum required for the hydraulic system to operate.
Robust controller for an open irrigation canal prototype
Authors: Merabti Nardjes , Faycel Arbaoui , Larbi Saidi Mohamed , Yahmedi Said
Published: February 2020

A Management and control of irrigation canals is a very important task whether for irrigation of agricultural land, to provide clean water, or to avoid floods. Irrigation canals are sometimes subject to intense variations due to climate change and inclement weather. For this reasons, a robust controller that allows dealing with large variation in operating conditions is proposed to control the water level of a multi-pool open irrigation canal prototype. The main objective of this study is to regulate the downstream level of each canal's pool at a constant value even with inflow disturbances.  The robust controller is designed and tested in simulation for different operating conditions. The results obtained show the good behavior and the effectiveness of the designed controller.
Author identification for Under-Resourced language (KadazanDusun)
Authors: Tarmizi Nursyahirah , Saee Suhaila , Abang Ibrahim Dayang Hanani
Published: February 2020

This paper presents the task of Author Identification for KadazanDusun language by using tweets as the source of data to perform Author Identification task of short text on KadazanDusun, which is considered as one the under-resourced language in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate Author Identification of short text on KadazanDusun. Besides, this paper also examines the performance of two machine learning algorithms on the KadazanDusun data set by analyzing the stylometric features. Stylometric features are used to quantify the writing styles of the authors which includes character n-grams and word n-grams. The workflow of Author Identification implements the machine learning approach to solve the single-labelled multi-class problem and predict the author of a given message in KadazanDusun. Two classifiers are used to compare the accuracy including Naïve Bayes and Support Vector Machine (SVM). The results show that the combination of n-grams which is word-level unigram and {1-5}-grams with character 3-grams are the most relevant stylometric features in identifying the author of KadazanDusun message with an accuracy of 80.17%. The results also show that SVM classifier has outperformed Naive Bayes in this Author Identification task with the accuracy of 80.17%.
Classification of EMG signal for multiple hand gestures based on neural network
Authors: Azlan Abu Mohd , Rosleesham Syazwani , Zubir Suboh Mohd , Md Yid Mohd Syazwan , Kornain Zainudin , Fauzani Jamaluddin Nurul
Published: February 2020

This paper presents the classification of EMG signal for multiple hand gestures based on neural network. In this study, the Electromyography is used to measure the muscle cell’s electrical activities which is commonly represented in a function time. Every muscle has their own signals, which was produced in every movement. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is used as a non-invasive technique for acquiring the EMG signal. The development of sensors’ detection and measuring the EMG have been improved and have become more precise while maintaining a small size. In this paper, the main objective is to identify the hand gestures based on: (1) Cylindrical Grasp, (2) Supination (Twist Left), (3) Pronation (Twist Right), (4) Resting Hand and (5) Open Hand that are predefined by using Arduino IDE, CoolTerm software and Microsoft Excel before using artificial neural network for classifying purposes in MATLAB. Finally, the extraction of the EMG patterns for each movement went through features extraction of the signals which is used to train the classifier in MATLAB to classify signals in the neural network. The features extracted are using mean absolute value (MAV), median, waveform length (WL) and root mean square (RMS). The Artificial Neural Network (ANN) produced accuracy of 80% for training and testing for 10 hidden neurons layer.
Hierarchy based firefly optimized K-means clustering for complex question answering
Authors: Reddy A. Chandra Obula , Madhavi K.
Published: February 2020

Complex Question Answering (CQA) is commonly used for answering community questions which requires human knowledge for answering them. It is essential to find complex question answering system for avoiding the complexities behind the question answering system. In the present work, we proposed Hierarchy based Firefly Optimized k-means Clustering (HFO-KC) method for complex question answering. Initially, the given input query is preprocessed. It eliminates the way of misclassification when comparing the strings. In order to enhance the answer selection process, the obtained keywords are mapped into the candidate solution. After mapping, the obtained keywords are segmented. Each segmentation forms a new query for answer selection and various number of answers selected for each query. Okapi-25 similarity computation is utilized for the process of document retrieval. Then the answers selected are classified with K means clustering which forms the hierarchy for each answer. Finally the firefly optimization algorithm is used for selecting the best quality of answer from the hierarchy.
Photovoltaic-integrated review and expansion need in green building landscape for bridging the malaysian RE policy
Authors: Effendi Amran Mohd , Nabil Muhtazaruddin Mohd , Aini Bani Nurul , Syed Abd Rahaman Sharipah Alwiah , Md Yusoff Nelidya , Hanapi Azizul Mohd , Muhammad-Sukki Firdaus
Published: February 2020

A literature review is presented specifically on the photovoltaic (PV) as a distributed generation (DG) integration approach and the extensiveness through renewable energy (RE) assessment criteria in current green building rating system (GBRS) to: delineate for further classification in terms of installed-capacity; identify the RE applications’ intent / aim; and recommendation for PV-type DG (PV-DG) expansion needs. The paper aims to close the gap in knowledge, by an empirical review of current RE assessment criteria and to portray the expected evolution of RE for higher installed-capacity in ensuring the government key achievement can be achieved. In considering the expansion needs in GBRS, the optimal technique for PV-DG expansion-limit would serve as a conceptual bridge between expanding mechanism and realization of the Malaysian most recent RE policy specifically on the drastically increment of RE quota. These can be achieved since various DG optimization case studies have been presented and overcome with the improvement impact on the test system, in term of power loss reduction, increased efficiency and optimal cost outcome. Future analysis as well as research direction are proposed and linked with some of the previous optimization reviews in recent literature.
Optimization performance management with FCAPS and ITILv3: opportunities and obstacles
Authors: Widjajarto Adityas , Lubis Muharman , Rizal Syahputra M. K.
Published: February 2020

With the need for rapidly growing network services each year; the factors of reliability, availability and quality become extremely critical for organizations, groups, institutions and governments to have in the network services implementation. In this case, several rural governments requires the improvement of its network performance management in establishing their internal and external operation to align with the grand design by the central government in improving citizen’s satisfaction through public service. Testing was done using scenarios for output analysis and packet loss as parameters. The results of the proposed topology obtained a productivity of 541.43 Kbps and a packet loss of 0.07%. While the current topology gets a rate of 421.28 Kbps and packet loss of 0.22%. It can be concluded that the proposed topology is still better than the current topology. The optimization of performance management is based on the FCAPS method which emphasize in the performance monitoring and data analysis with the support of ITILv3 that contains documentation and policy guidance to conduct quality performance management. In addition, performance management activities will occur with processes in the design of ITIL services and existing conditions.
Performance comparison of multicast MANET CRN system’s based on POS scheme with different types of router protocol algorithms
Authors: Nadhim Basma Nazar , Mahmood Sarab Kamal
Published: February 2020

A multi-layer multi-hop mechanism, with one of three different types of router protocol algorithms (Steiner minimal tree (SMT), shortest path tree (SPT) and minimal spanning tree (MST)) was employed for the construction of multi-cast MANET CRNs. The probability of success (POS) used as the channel assignment scheme, is dependent on the availability of the channel, and the required transmission time. It was applied to the network after the conversion of the network’s random topology into one of the three algorithms (SMT, SPT or MST). This facilitated the selection of an efficient channel for the transmission of the CR user’s data, under the effect of the Rayleigh fading channel. Three idle probability circumstances (i.e., =0.1, 0.5, 0.9), and different network parameters, were used to compare the  performance of the CRN with three routing protocols in terms of throughput, and packet delivery rate (PDR). According to the simulation results, for a high traffic load of PUs ( 1) at different network parameters , the CRN with the SPT algorithm performed better than the CRN with the SMT or MST algorithm. 
Effect of increasing the network capacity using device-to-device technology for next generation networks
Authors: Yonis Aws Zuheer
Published: February 2020

Device-to-device (D2D) communication is one of the key technologies in the fifth generation of wireless communication systems, which is defined as direct communication between two mobile users without traversing the base station D2D communication plays an increasingly important role and which improves communication capability and reduces communication delay and power consumption. D2D communication that enables direct communication between nearby mobiles is an exciting and innovative feature of next-generation cellular networks. In order to meet the rising subscriber demands and provide them satisfactory services, D2D communication is being looked upon as an emerging technology of the next generation networks.
BCH codes for 5G wireless communication systems over multipath fading channel
Authors: Hussain Ghasan Ali , Audah Lukman
Published: February 2020

Due to its large peak to average power ratio (PAPR) and high out of band emission (OOBE), OFDM doesn't meet the requirements of 5G services. Additionally, it supports only one type of waveform parameters in entire bandwidth. In contrast, f-OFDM is dividing the system's bandwidth into a number of subbands to support several waveform parameters based on various service scenarios. So, Filtered-OFDM (f-OFDM) is considered as a modern enabler of the flexible waveform to overcome the OFDM drawbacks while remaining its advantages as well as, to encounter the new challenges that faced 5G. Nonetheless, there is a trade-off among OOBE, PAPR and SNR performance. Meanwhile, channel coding technology is one of the most important issue in physical layer which is playing an essential role in order to achieve the reliability and latency. So, BCH code has been suggested in this paper for f-OFDM system to achieve the reliability of transmission information and thus improving BER performance over multipath fading channel. Whilst, BCH-LTE system is introduced as a baseline in this paper that using for comparison purpose with proposed system. Simulation results showed that the proposed BCH-f-OFDM system was significantly better than BCH-LTE system in terms of decreasing OOBE and achieving improving in BER performance. Although, PAPR levels was stilling high in proposed system due to the trade-off among OOBE, PAPR and SNR performance. However, the proposed system is considered a promising candidate to meet the requirements of 5G services because of its ability to solve two important issues in between three trade-offs'.
A fuzzy based vertical handover network selection scheme for device-to-device communication
Authors: Subramani Meenakshi , Kumaravelu Vinoth Babu
Published: February 2020

One of the most attractive and challenging areas in the upcoming next-generation 5G wirelessnetworkistheverticalhandover(VHO).Recently,manyoftheheterogeneous wireless communication technologies are introduced to satisfy the demands of users in all situations. Due to the deployment of heterogeneous networks, the users can access the internet anywhere, anytime through different wireless networks. To obtain seamless service and service continuity, the device should be handed over to the best wireless networks. Here, a half handover scheme for Device-to-Device (D2D) communication is implemented for the selection of the best network. The target network selection for vertical handover can be handled using multiple attribute decision making (MADM) methods. An intelligent and fast vertical handover decision is much needed, which should be reliable even for random and uncertain environments. Fuzzy logic is proved to be effective in handling imprecise data. Hence, in this work, the impact of combining fuzzy with the conventional MADM scheme, simple additive weighting(SAW)isanalyzedandthehybridschemeiscomparedwiththeconventional MADM schemes like SAW, Techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), VlseKriterijumska optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) in terms of handover decision delay. Since, the numbers of handovers executed are low,thehandoverdecisiondelayperformanceoftheproposedschemeissuperiorthan the considered classical MADM schemes.
A review on link adaptation techniques for energy efficiency and QoS in IEEE802.11 WLAN
Authors: Mohd Anuar Aliya Syahira , Muhamad Wan Norsyafizan W , Mohd Ali Darmawaty , Sarnin Suzi Seroja , Wahab Norfishah Ab
Published: February 2020

Link adaptation is a technique that able to adapt modulation and coding scheme (MCS) based on radio channel conditions. With the exponential increase on the wireless devices nowadays, it contributes to high energy consumption and an increase in carbon dioxide (CO2) emission which contribute to the environmental issue. Researchers have developed proposals to tackle these issues by design algorithms based on link adaptation technique. Nowadays, various link adaptation techniques have been proposed by researchers with target for either Quality of Service (QoS) enhancement as well as energy efficiency. This paper presents A Review on Link Adaptation Techniques for Energy Efficiency and QoS in IEEE802.11 WLAN. In this study, a comprehensive review of the relevant literature published that focus on link adaptation technique in IEEE 802.11 WLAN in improving the energy efficiency and maximize the QoS performance is presented. Link adaptation can be categorized into transmission power control adaptation, transmission data rate adaptation and joint rate adaptation. These adaptations are carried out according to the channel state information (CSI). CSI can be categorized into signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), bit error rate (BER), delay, and queue length.
The use of expert review in component development for customer satisfaction towards e-hailing
Authors: Mohd Idros Nur Athirah Nabila , Mohamed Hazura , Jenal Ruzzakiah
Published: February 2020

The emergence of e-hailing apps has increased the demand of customers because online transportation service is very convenient in this modern society. As e-hailing provides an online platform for booking a ride, this apps also functions to connect the customer and driver, while at the same time allowing the customers to interact with customer service that company has provided to keep track of the satisfaction. Competition among e-hailing companies has increased since customers nowadays are very influential and knowledgeable in terms of choosing any transportation services that they want. The purpose of this study is to identify customer satisfaction towards e-hailing by embedding value co-creation model. Value co-creation is one of the concepts in Service Science that has been proved to increase customer satisfaction. Value co-creation is focused on company-customer interaction that helps in maintaining a good customer relationship and improve the company’s performance. Expert identification and evaluation procedure are used as a technique to adapt the definition of value co-creation model towards e-hailing. Then, the other factor from previous studies will be proposed as a component to be listed under value co-creation model and reviewed by an expert.
Requirements engineering for User-Centered school food ordering system
Authors: Halim Khoo Diyana Binti , Fathiyah Harun Afdallyna , Izwan Suliman Saiful
Published: February 2020

Understanding user requirement for a technology design is central to user experience. A user-centered technology design should consider user needs and constraints as well as abide to the principles of HCI design heuristics. This paper describes the requirements gathering for Kantin Online System, a school food ordering system where we considered the needs and constraints of different stakeholders involved and elicit a compromise where the needs of all parties can be met. We then applied usability heuristics into the system design to facilitate perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. We conclude this paper with experts’ evaluations towards the heuristic elements of the system design concept and possible future work.