bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development of Integrated Library System: A Case Study of TRAMPIL Foundation ‘s Learning Center
Authors: Puspa Dewi Lily , Sugiarto Sugiarto , Febrico Bintoro Andy , Imam Raharjo Arlinah
Published: April 2015

TRAMPIL Foundation is a social foundation that is engaged in the education field by providing learning facilities for public in Surabaya, especially for teachers or educators to improve their teaching quality.  The Foundation established the learning centers are spread all over Indonesia to provide the learning facilities for people in the rural area. The learning center sets up the library and under supervises by the foundation in Surabaya. In this study, we will develop a system to integrate collection data of each learning center. This system is expected may help the librarian to manage and distribute the information of both physical and digital collections. This system is also able to help librarian for monitoring the system usage therefore that it can be used as an evaluation of the development of learning centers. The system is implemented in web technology using Yii framework. Based on a questionnaire given to the system stakeholders, 100% assess the software meets the library business’ needs and present accurate data. 100% of respondents measure the overall software is high.
Effect of Flame Angle Using Various Swirler Angle in Combustion Performance
Authors: Rahim Muhammad Roslan , Mohd Jaafar Mohammad Nazri
Published: April 2015

The abbreviation N  is commonly used as a reference to all oxides of nitrogen and the examples of oxides of nitrogen are NO, N  and O. These emission gases mostly come from the combustions of fossil fuels and biofuels in industrial activities and also in road traffics globally. N  as a pollutant deserves special attention because of its various issues on human’s health and environment. Some of these issues are global warming, acid rain, ozone layer depletion and photochemical smog. To address these issues, some studies are concentrating on the reduction of NO emission from the combustion process. This paper describes a study in the effects of swirling flow generated by using a radial swirler on flame characteristics that is related to the emission of NO. The radial swirlers used in this study have the angles of 40°, 50° and 60°. Diesel is used as a fuel in this study. The results show that all radial swirlers used have different effects on the flame characteristics. From all these radial swirlers, the one with an angle of 60° produces flame with high temperature, short flame length with blue colour and wide spread. The results also show a short time residence during combustion process that could reduce the formation of CO and N .
Psychometric Analysis of Predictors and Outcome of Organizational Cynicism: A Mathematical Approach
Authors: Munir Yasin , Rasli Amran
Published: April 2015

Present study is an attempt to investigate the psychometric analysis of perception of ethical climate, horizontal violence, perceived authentic leadership style and perceived organizational support as predictors and turnover intention as an outcome of organizational cynicism. Psychometric analysis is conducted through measurement model by using AMOS 21. A mathematical approach is utilized to compute the reliability and validity of the constructs. Questionnaires were distributed among 870 nurses out of which 711 questionnaires were returned at the actual response rate of 81.7% and 668 questionnaires were scrutinized at the affective response rate of 76.78%.Current study validates the questionnaire and offers a reliable instrument to investigate organizational cynicism in Asian countries.
Driver’s Decision Model at an Onset of Amber Period at Signalised Intersections
Authors: Che Puan Othman , Ibrahim Muttaka Na’iya , Muhammad Nor Nur Syahriza , Triana Era
Published: April 2015

Driving is a complex task and, probably, the most dangerous activity on roadways because it involves instantaneous decision making by drivers. A traffic signal–controlled intersection is one of road facilities which require drivers to make an instantaneous decision at the onset of amber period. This paper describes the application of a regression approach to evaluate the factors that influence the decision made by a driver whether to proceed or to stop at the stop line at the onset of amber period at signalised intersections. More than 2,700 drivers approaching the stop–line at the onset of amber period at six intersections installed with a fixed–time traffic signal–control system were observed. Two video cameras were used to record the movements of vehicles approaching the intersection from a distance of about 150 metres. The data was abstracted from the video recordings using a computer event recorder program. The parameters considered in the analysis include vehicles’ approaching speed, distance from the stop line at the onset of amber, the position in the platoon as well as the types of vehicles driven. The result of the analysis shows that about 13.43% of the drivers tend to accelerate to clear the intersection at the onset of amber period and about 26.32% of the drivers ended up with running the red light. A binary logistic model to explain the possible decision made by a driver for a given set of conditions was developed. The analysis shows that the probability of drivers’ decision either to stop or proceed at an onset of amber period is influenced by his/her distance from the stop line and his/her position in the platoon.
Evaluating The Performance for DCF Protocol and EDCA Protocol
Authors: Abu-Khadrah Ahmed , Zakaria Zahriladha , Othman Mohdazlishah
Published: April 2015

Nowadays supporting quality of service (QOS) for real time application is the main challenge of the wireless area network. 802.11standards use distributed Coordination Function (DCF) protocol and Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) protocol in the MAC layer. DCF protocol has only one queue for different data types, it deals with data depending on the arriving time. There is no priority to serve real time applications faster. However EDCA protocol has four queues and each queue works with specific data type. Voice, video, best effort and background are the different queues in the EDCA protocol. Different parameters and priorities are defined for each queue. The voice queue reserves the highest priority and serves its data first. In this paper QOS parameters are measured for both DCF and EDCA protocol by using OPNET simulation. The QOS parameters must reach the requirements to support QOS. The results show how QOS parameters do not reach the requirements when using DCF protocol. The values of the end to end delay and the packet loss percentage are 0.514second, 19.04% respectively. But, when using EDCA protocol the end to end delay becomes 0.0624 second and the percentage of the packet loss decreases until reach 0.00617%. So the QOS parameters achieve requirements with EDCA protocol and support QOS.
End-to-End Networks Vs Named Data Network: A Critical Evaluation
Authors: Hassan Suhaidi , Elbreiki Walid , Firdhous Mohamed , Monzer Habbal Adib M.
Published: April 2015

Named data networking or information centric networking is the newest networking paradigm that gives foremost place to the contents in identification and dissemination. On the other hand, the end to end networking paradigm on which the Internet is currently built on places heavy emphasis on devices that make the architecture. The current Internet suffers from many shortcomings due to the misplaced emphasis. In order to overcome some of these deficiencies, researchers and developers have come up with patches and work around that have made the Internet more complex than it ought to be. Named data networking is a clean slate approach in building a network architecture overcoming all the current deficiencies and make it future safe. Several researchers have carried out comparative studies between named data networking and end to end networking. But these studies concentrate only on the features and capabilities of the networking paradigms. This is the first attempt at quantifying the performance the networking architectures experimentally. The authors in this paper present the results of the comparative study carried out experimentally in a simulated environment based on the final throughput. The results have been presented in a graphical form for easy visualization of results.
A Proposed Model to Enhance Crisis Management Capabilities of Electricity Production and Supply Companies in Pakistan
Authors: Haider Maqsood , Rasli Amran
Published: April 2015

Crisis management (CM) is considered to be of growing importance in the management of utilities. A wealth of literature on crisis stresses on the need to enhance crisis management capabilities such as decision making, and leadership. Such capabilities are already in practice in the developed countries but have been mostly ignored in developing countries like Pakistan. Because of the neglect of the crisis management capabilities particularly in relation to utilities, Pakistan is facing acute shortage of electricity which is the life and blood of the industrial development in the country. Due to the electricity crisis, many of the industries have been forced to shut down and hundreds of thousands have become unemployed. The present study is an attempt to propose a framework that would help enhance the crisis management  capabilities of the companies involved in electricity production and supply. A comprehensive review of literature has been carried out in order to propose a conceptual framework accordingly.
Daily Wind Speed Forecasting Through Hybrid AR-ANN and AR-KF Models
Authors: Shukur Osamah Basheer , Lee Muhammad Hisyam
Published: April 2015

The nonlinearity and the chaotic fluctuations in the wind speed pattern are the reasons of inaccurate wind speed forecasting results using a linear autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model. The inaccurate forecasting of ARIMA model is a problem that reflects the uncertainty of modelling process. This study aims to improve the accuracy of wind speed forecasting by suggesting more appropriate approaches. An artificial neural network (ANN) and Kalman filter (KF) will be used to handle nonlinearity and uncertainty problems. Once ARIMA model was used only for determining the inputs structures of KF and ANN approaches, using an autoregressive (AR) Instead of ARIMA may be resulted in more simplicity and more accurate forecasting. ANN and KF based on the AR model are called hybrid AR-ANN model and hybrid AR-KF model, respectively. In this study, hybrid AR-ANN and hybrid AR-KF models are proposed to improve the wind speed forecasting. The performance of ARIMA, hybrid AR-ANN, and hybrid AR-KF models will be compared to determine which had the most accurate forecasts. A case study will be carried out that used daily wind speed data from Iraq and Malaysia. Hybrid AR-ANN and AR-KF models performed better than ARIMA model while the hybrid AR-KF model was the most adequate and provided the most accurate forecasts. In conclusion, the hybrid AR-KF model will result in better wind speed forecasting accuracy than other approaches, while the performances of both hybrid models will be provided acceptable forecasts compared to ARIMA model that will provide ineffectual wind speed forecasts.
Developing a Mathematical Model of Entrepreneurship Based on Transformational Leadership Behavior
Authors: Rashed Fatemeh , Moradi Deluyi Amir Hosein , Daud Khadijah
Published: April 2015

This study aimed to reduce the university-industry gap from the perspective of leadership and entrepreneurship. The focus of this research is to assess the influence of transformational leadership of manager on academic staff’s entrepreneurial orientation and to pave the way for identifying potential opportunities, generating new ideas in industrial relation, and to subsequently narrow the university-industry problem. In order to understand the contribution of leadership within the university–industry context, this research reviewed the effect of transformational leadership style on entrepreneurial orientation and then examined the existing relationship. The population of this study is the academic staff of a public university in Iran. A research sample of 295 academic staff was chosen by using stratified sampling technique. Technical analysis of data applied Structural Equation Modeling in two step: measurement model for testing the construct validity of questionnaires and structural model for hypothesizes testing with mathematical program. The results showed that transformational leadership was the best predictor for entrepreneurial orientation. The research findings in this study revealed that the quality of transformational leadership within an organization had an effect on the entrepreneurial orientation. One of the managerial implications of this study is to reinforce the recognition and basis of enhancing entrepreneurial orientation by transformational leadership.
Towards the Development of a Framework for Sustainable Marine Space Governance: A Proposal for Collaborative Design Approach
Authors: Mohamad Abdullah Nazirah , Omar Abdullah Hisam , Desa Ghazali , Rambat Shuib
Published: April 2015

Malaysia is surrounded by ocean, approximately, 515,000 square kilometers covered by maritime realm and 4,576 km in length by coastline. The country has terrestrial borders with Thailand, Brunei Darussalam and Indonesia and has maritime borders with Thailand, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines. In addition Malaysia has many institutions for managing the marine environment. Hence the development of the institution and the scope still has some ambiguity, conflict and overlapping marine because organizations exist on the basis of a resolution of the Parliament. While on the physical condition, especially in the marine environment is difficult to determine the resolution authority area to an area of true governance. This paper addresses the need on collaborative design approach that fits into Malaysian marine space governance scenario, in particular with respect to stakeholder management. This paper first reviews several international collaborative designs. An exemplary model of collaborative has been developed, which constitutes the key factors that determine the success of collaborative implementation. This model is pending for experimentation to examine its effectiveness on Malaysia marine space governance.
Effect of Lime on Compaction, Strength and Consolidation Characteristics of Pontian Marine Clay
Authors: Chong Siaw Yah , Kassim Khairul Anuar
Published: April 2015

Marine clay is a problematic construction material, which is often encountered in Malaysian coastal area. Previous researchers showed that lime stabilization effectively enhanced the engineering properties of clay. For soft clay, both strength and consolidation characteristics are equally important to be fully understood for design purpose. This paper presented the effect of lime on compaction, strength and consolidation characteristics of Pontian marine clay. Compaction, unconfined compression, direct shear, Oedometer and falling head permeability tests were conducted on unstabilized and lime stabilized samples at various ages. Specimens were prepared by compaction method based on 95 percent maximum dry density at the wetter side of compaction curve. It was found that lime successfully increased the strength, stiffness and workability of Pontian marine clay; however, the permeability was reduced. Unconfined compressive strength of stabilized soil was increased by 49 percent at age of 56 days whereas compressibility and permeability was reduced by 48 and 67 percent, respectively. From laboratory tests, phenomenon of inconsistency in engineering characteristics was observed for lime stabilized samples below age of 28 days. This strongly proved that lime stabilized soil underwent modification phase before stabilization phase which provided the long term improvement.
Application Of Digital Image Processing Technique In Monitoring LNAPL Migration In Double Porosity Soil Column
Authors: R Sa’ari , N. A. Rahman , H. N. Abdul Latif , Z. M. Yusof , S. K. Ngien , S.A Kamaruddin , M. Mustaffar , M. A. Hezmi
Published: April 2015

This paper investigates the phenomenon of light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) migration in double porosity soil. Investigation on the migration of LNAPL in double porosity soil was performed on aggregated kaolin using the digital image analysis. The photographic technique was used to capture the migration of LNAPL in aggregated soil samples. The captured digital images were fed through an image processing code to convert them to the hue-saturation-intensity (HSI) format which were subsequently used to plot the 2D LNAPL migration behaviour. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 show that the LNAPL moved downward faster when the moisture content increased. Another observation was that the kaolin granules started to disintegrate at a water  content of 35%. In conclusion, using image analysis technique has enabled the researchers to monitor and visualize the LNAPL migration in the double porosity soil columns based on HSI values. The contour plots of HSI intensity value has provide detailed and useful information for future research.
Soil Damping Effects on Integrity Test of Piles
Authors: Nazir Ramli , El Hussien Osman
Published: April 2015

The effects of surrounding soil on pile integrity test results are still not precisely quantified despite its influence on test output. It is usually difficult to assess the integrity of piles socketed in hard soil strata due to soil damping effects. A method of calculating soil damping effects on stress wave force and velocity values during pile integrity test is presented. Theoretical model based on numerical solution of wave equation was formulated. This model incorporates soil resistance effects on wave propagation in piles. Results generated from the proposed model was compared with PIT-S software, which simulates low strain waves propagation in piles, assuming pile cast in very dense granular soil. The generated Force-Velocity curves were found to be similar comparing both methods; however, some variations were observed at pile toe due to the different procedures used for soil reaction estimation. Furthermore, the model produced results were compared with real in-situ pile integrity test and PIT-S results. The model had showed better prediction of pile toe received signal compared to PIT-S software.
Physico-Chemical Characterization Of Lime Stabilized Tropical Kaolin Clay
Authors: Abdul Hussein Saeed Khitam , Kassim Khairul Anuar , Mohd Yunus Nor Zurairahetty , Nur Hadi
Published: April 2015

Lime stabilization is one of the techniques used to improve the mechanical properties, particularly the strength of soft clay soil. However the effectiveness of lime at long term is still ambiguous. This paper aims to determine the suitability of lime for stabilizing tropical kaolin clay soils, and to assess typical changes in soil structure due to mineralogical influences at different during period and lime content in both short and long term. The microstructure characterizations have been investigated using x-ray diffraction (XRD), and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM). Furthermore, to illustrate the effect of lime on the strength, series of laboratory tests were carried out by unconfined compressive strength. The results indicated that the addition of lime resulted in an improvement in compaction properties. In addition, the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of stabilized clay has increased with the addition of lime. The influence of the time factor on the development of strength lime treated samples was equally proportional with the lime content factor. The formation of calcium aluminate silicate hydrate (CASH) was observed from the XRD test after 200 days, and the presence of the cementious products were further verified in FESEM analysis. It is therefore, proved the effectiveness of lime to stabilize kaolin clay in long term duration.
Preliminary Test of Fish Respiratory and Locomotive Signal Using Multispecies Freshwater Bio indicator (MFB)
Authors: A. K. Ahmad, , Siti Munirah A. H. , Shuhaimi-Othman M.
Published: April 2015

Fish produces many types of behavior as response to stress that cause by pollution. Respiration and locomotion are two main responses that normally produced. As such, study on these responses is important especially for pollution monitoring. Study on fish respiratory and locomotive behaviors was undertaken using multispecies freshwater bio indicator (MFB). Signal produced by fish determines the specific frequency range for respiratory and locomotive activities. This study aims to produce unstressed and stress signals (ventilation and locomotion) as a respond to TSS contamination. Three common species namely guppy (Poecilia reticulata), fighthing fish (Trichopsis vitatus) and Malaysian masher (Tor tambroides) were used and test was conducted for 24-hour period. Result of the study indicates that ventilation and locomotion activities were clearly separated by different wavelength for all species but each species produced similar wavelength for each activity. A paired t-test confirmed that wavelength for each activity from all species was not differ significantly (p > 0.05, α = 0.05). Only ventilation produce significant respond to TSS load and ventilation percentage signal was increase as TSS concentration increase. Similar respond was observed for all species. This study demonstrates that TSS contamination can be detected at early stage and maximum TSS load into the river system could be estimated.
A Coplanar Waveguide Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna (RDRA) for 4G Applications
Authors: Kamarudin Muhammad Ramlee , Roslan Siti Fairuz , Khalily Mohsen , Jamaluddin Mohd Haizal
Published: April 2015

This paper presents the design of coplanar waveguide (CPW) rectangular dielectric resonator antenna (RDRA) with and without metallic strip, operating at 2.6 GHz for long term evolution (LTE) applications. The CPW RDRA without metallic strip produces impedance bandwidth of 51 %. Then, a metallic strip was added on top of the dielectric resonator (DR) in order to enhance the impedance bandwidth; thus give more flexibility for the system to cover more applications. A good agreement between simulation and measurement results, in terms of reflection coefficient magnitude and radiation pattern is presented. The simulated and measured impedance BWs for S11 < -6dB are 67 % (1.74-3.47 GHz) and 66 % (1.83-3.54 GHZ) respectively, with the gain of 3.12 dBi is obtained at 2.6 GHz.  The mode excited for this antenna is TEy1δ1 mode.
A Hybrid Model for Stream Flow Forecasting Using Wavelet and Least Squares Support Vector Machines
Authors: Shabri Ani
Published: April 2015

This paper proposed a hybrid wavelet-least square support vector machines (WLSSVM) model that combine both wavelet method and LSSVM model for monthly stream flow forecasting. The original stream flow series was decomposed into a number of sub-series of time series using wavelet theory and these time series were imposed as input data to the LSSVM for stream flow forecasting. The monthly stream flow data from Klang and Langat stations in Peninsular Malaysia are used for this case study. Time series prediction capability performance of the WLSSVM model is compared with single LSSVM and Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) models using various statistical measures. Empirical results showed that the WLSSVM model yield a more accurate outcome compared to individual LSSVM, ANN and ARIMA models for monthly stream flow forecasting.
Modelling the Behaviour of Single Stage Splicing Language: A Yusof Goode Computational Approach
Authors: Lim Wen Li , Yusof Yuhani , Rosli Norhayati , Mudaber Mohammad Hassan
Published: April 2015

Yusof-Goode (Y-G) splicing system is a formal characterization of the generative capacity of specified enzymatic activities acting on DNA molecules with new extension symbolization of representing rule. The output of Y-G splicing system can be categorized into three types of single stage splicing language namely active persistent, transient and inert persistent language. It is both money and time consuming to conduct laboratory experiments to determine the behaviour of splicing language. Hence, research has been conducted to predict the characteristic of single stage splicing language based on limit adjacency matrix computational modelling in order to optimize time and money. The utilization of software programming has been developed through Visual Basic Software for scientists to determine the behaviour of single stage splicing language as well as the number types of resulted DNA molecules restricted to at most two strings and two rules with one cutting site. The output from the program was found to match the outcomes of wet lab experiments.
Improving the Optical Burst Switching Networks Quality of Service by Ensuring the Fairness among the Network Traffic Types
Authors: Al-Shargabi Mohammed , Saeed Faisal , Shamsan Zaid , Ismail Abdul Samad , M Idrus Sevia
Published: April 2015

The Optical burst switching (OBS) networks have been attracting much consideration as a promising approach to build the next generation optical Internet. Aggregating the burst in the OBS networks from the high priority traffic will increase the average of the loss of its packets. However, the ratio of the high priority traffic (e.g. real-time traffic) in the burst is a very important factor for reducing the data loss, and ensuring the fairness between network traffic types. This paper introduces a statistical study based on the significant difference between the traffics to find the fairness ratio for the high priority traffic packets against the low priority traffic packets inside the data burst with various network traffic loads. The results show an improvement in the OBS quality of service (QoS) performance and the high priority traffic packets fairness ratio inside the data burst is 50 to 60%, 30 to 40%, and 10 to 20% for high, normal, and low traffic loads, respectively.
Towards a New Framework for TPM Compliance Testing
Authors: Tharwat Elhagari Usama , Shanmugam Bharanidharan , Ab. Manan Jamalul-lail
Published: April 2015

Trusted Computing Group (TCG) has proposed the Trusted Computing (TC) concept. Subsequently, TC becomes a common base for many new computing platforms, called Trusted Platform (TP) architecture (hardware and software) that, practically, has a built-in trusted hardware component mounted at the hardware layer and a corresponding trusted software component installed at the operating system level.  The trusted hardware component is called Trusted Platform Module (TPM) whose specification has been issued by TCG group and it is implemented by the industry as a tamper-resistant integrated circuit. In practice, the security of an IT TPM-enabled system relies on the correctness of its mounted TPM. Thus, TPM testing is urgently needed to assist in building confidence of the users on the security functionality provided by the TPM. This paper presents the state of the art of the modelling methods being used in the TPM compliance testing as well as it demonstrates some of the important attacks against TPM. Finally, the paper proposes new framework criteria for TPM Testing that aim at increasing the quality of TPM testing.
Passive Aproaches for Detecting Image Tampering: A Review
Authors: Salman Hashem Fatma , Sulong Ghazali
Published: April 2015

This paper defines the presently used methods and approaches in the domain of digital image forgery detection.  A survey of a recent study is explored including an examination of the current techniques and passive approaches in detecting image tampering. This area of research is relatively new and only a few sources exist that directly relate to the detection of image forgeries. Passive, or blind, approaches for detecting image tampering are regarded as a new direction of research. In recent years, there has been significant work performed in this highly active area of research. Passive approaches do not depend on hidden data to detect image forgeries, but only utilize the statistics and/or content of the image in question to verify its genuineness. The specific types of forgery detection techniques are discussed below.
An Improved Method for Predicting and Ranking Suppliers Efficiency Using Data Envelopment Analysis
Authors: Farahmand Mohammadreza , Desa Mohammad Ishak , Nilashi Mehrbakhsh , Wibowo Antoni
Published: April 2015

Supplier selection problem (SSP) is a problem to select the best among suppliers based on input and output data of the suppliers. Since different uncontrollable and unpredictable parameters are affecting selection, choosing the best supplier is a complicated process. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is a method for measuring efficiency and inefficiencies of Decision Making Units (DMUs). DEA has been employed by many researchers for supplier selection and widely used in SSP with inputs for supplier evaluation. However, the DEA still has some disadvantages when it is solely used for SSP. Hence, in this paper, a combination of DEA and Neural Network (NN), DEA-NN, is proposed for SSP. We also develop a model for SSP based on Support Vector Regression (SVR) to improve the stability of DEA-NN. The proposed method was evaluated using small and large data sets. The experimental results showed that, the proposed method solve the problems connected to the previous methods. The results also showed that stability of proposed method is significantly better than DEA-NN method. In addition, CCR-SVR model overcome shortcomings such as instability and improves computational time and accuracy for predicting efficiency of new small and large DMUs.
An Improved Automated Herbicides Machine for Farmers at Oil Palm Plantation
Authors: Abdul Rahim Herlina , Abd Ghafar Azmi , Awang Zubaidah
Published: April 2015

This project improves on the existing manual herbicides tanks used by farmers at oil palm plantations. The main objective is to design and construct an automated machine that can facilitate the farmer's work of clearing grass at small scale oil palm plantations. In this project, a portable machine trolley which can be handled with ease was contructed. This machine allows the farmers to freely control the flow of herbicide directly towards the grass using one hand. The system will automatically pump the fluid inside the tank and, indicate the signal for high and low water level. The herbicides tank can accommodate 30 L at one time and regulate the pressure manually. This system is controlled by a relay circuit. As a result, the output of the pump can produce a pressure of 0.7 MPa or 7 Bar and the distance of the water from static machine can spray out up to 15 m. The maximum flow of water measured is 5.0 L per minute maximum. As a result, it gives farmers more options for clearing grass at oil palm plantations.
A Low Cost Method to Analyse Concentration of Carbon Monoxide (CO)
Authors: Ngah M. Amirudin , Ahmad Anita , Abdul Samad Adlina
Published: April 2015

This paper presents the design and development of a Carbon Monoxide (CO) gas detector for vehicles. A  gas sensor MQ7 was used to detect if there is any CO gas leakage in a vehicle. To develop a CO Smart Detector that operates systematically, Arduino Uno was used as a microcontroller to control the whole system. The gas detector would automatically alert the user inside the vehicles by triggering a warning using LED, buzzer and LCD display as indicators. An exhaust fan was also used to extract the polluted air from the vehicle. The colour, green, yellow or red would  appear on the LED automatically when there is a certain level of CO concentration in the vehicle. Green LED is for safe condition and yellow LED and buzzer with beep sound will be turned on automatically in an alert condition. Finally, red LED with its continuous sound would come on when the MQ7 sensor detects a dangerous level of CO concentration in the vehicle. In addition to the buzzer with its continuous sound to alert users, a fan to extract the air from inside the vehicle could be turned on automatically or manually using  a switch if the need arises.
Automatic Human Guided Shopping Trolley with Smart Shopping System
Authors: Leng Ng Yen , Siong Lim Cheng , A. Danapalasingam Kumeresan , Loong Peng Tan Michael , Wei Tan Chee
Published: April 2015

A shopping trolley is a necessary tool for shopping in supermarkets or grocery stores. However, there are shopping trolleys abandoned everywhere in supermarkets after being used. In addition, there are also shopping trolley safety issues such as sliding down from an escalator. It is known to be an inconvenience and time wasting for customers who are in rush to search for desired products in a supermarket. Therefore, an automatic human and line following shopping trolley with a smart shopping system is developed to solve these problems. A line following portable robot is installed under the trolley to lead the users to the items’ location that they plan to purchase in the supermarket. This paper presents the hardware and software design of the portable robot. The result of the testing on the used sensors like ultrasonic and line sensors are presented. Lastly, the graphical user interface of Android application during the shopping trolley in operation is explained.
Analysis of Optimized and Improved Low Cost Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Reflective Mid-Infrared Gas Sensor
Authors: Salim Mohd Rashidi , Yaacob Maslina , Ching En Marcus Tay , David Micheal , Hussin Nabihah , Ibrahim Mohd Haniff , Izam Azmi Asrul , Ngajikin Nor Hafizah , Dooly Gerard , Lewis Elfed
Published: April 2015

The optimized structure of CO2 gas sensor has been simulated consists of low cost components and easy for fabrication. The structure is based on reflective type gas cell using aluminium material. Optimization was made on radius of aluminium surface to enhance the performance of the sensor. The results show that the gas sensor is fully optimized and able to detect higher power efficiently. It is proven that the optimized CO2 gas sensor of 8-Multiple-Input-Single-Output (MISO) has capability to gain power of at least 1.0 Watt with 12.5% efficiency. However, Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) has shown greater efficiency as it can detect 29.1% of total power supplied with the lowest Merit Function (MF) value of 0.648.
A Review Relations of Optical Tomography and Optical Coherance Tomography
Authors: Abd. Rahman Noor Amizan , Ee Hong Ling , Hj. Abdul Rahim Ruzairi , Md. Yunus Mohd Amri , Abdul Wahab Norhaliza , Ahmad Nasaruddin , Wahab Ahmad Ridhwan , Jumaah Mohd Fahjumi , Ee Hong Ling , Jamaluddin Juliza , Chiew Loon Goh , Kok San Chan
Published: April 2015

Optical Tomography (OT) is a form of computed tomography using a digital model of the volume of an object by reconstructing an image of the light transmitted and scattered by the object. OT is used mostly as a form of research in medical imaging. OT depends on the reference object being at least partially light transmitting or translucent, so it works best on soft tissue, such as breast and brain tissue. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is a new technology for performing high-resolution cross-sectional imaging. OCT is similar to ultrasound imaging, but uses different types of light instead of sound. OCT can provide cross-sectional images of tissue structure on the micrometer scale and in real time. OCT serves as a kind of optical biopsy and is used as a medical diagnostic imaging technology because, unlike conventional histopathology, it does not require the removal and processing of tissue specimens for microscopic examination. The study was carried out to see how the two types of optical imaging and the use of concepts and components used in the system. The light source is used to show different levels of penetration and resolution for both methods is used. The use of an interferometer in optical imaging applications is discussed along with examples of commonly used methods. The optical imaging method contributes significantly to the diversity of tomography systems.
Application of Optical Tomography for Monitoring Gas Bubbles Flow Based on Independent Component Analysis Algorithm
Authors: Mohd Khairi Mohd Taufiq , Ibrahim Sallehuddin , Md Yunus Mohd Amri , Faramarzia Mahdi , Nor Ayub Nor Muzakkir
Published: April 2015

This paper presents the monitoring process of gas bubbles flow in water using an optical tomography system. The system is aided by an Independent Component Analysis (ICA) algorithm for distinguishing the gas bubbles in pure water. The optical attenuation model is implemented for studying the light transmissions to different media which is water and air. Several quantities of air are inserted using an air pump which is installed at the bottom of a flow pipe in order to produce the gas bubbles flow upwards. The quantity of air is controlled by using a valve and five types of bubble flow are investigated; a single bubble flow, double bubble’s flow, 25% of air opening, 50% of air opening and 100% of air opening. The concentration profiles of the gas bubble flow are constructed. The concentration profile obtained from the experiments shows that the ICA algorithm can be used as a tool for imaging the two-phase flow phase distribution.
A Review of Thermoelectric Energy Harvester and Its Power Management Approach in Electronic Applications
Authors: Choon Chuan Law , Wahid Herman , Abdul Rahim Herlina , Abdul Rahim Ruzairi
Published: April 2015

Thermoelectric energy (or power) harvester is a kind of renewable energy approach that extracts waste heat from targeted device or object to generate electrical power. It is an advance technology widespread among researchers for decades. By having plenty of promising advantages, the thermo-electric power harvester is being developed in types of feasible interfaces. This review paper focused on research had been done relating to thermo-electric power harvester, in the macro scale and mainly in the micro scale of power harvester. Several designs of thermo-electric technologies will be further discussed in this paper. This paper reveals the viability of thermo-electric power harvester in sustaining electric supply for micro-electronics applications. Eventually, some add-on is being proposed at the last part of the paper.
Empirical Evaluation of Drivers’ Operating Speeds along Curvatures on Single Carriageway Roads
Authors: Che Puan Othman , Halim Shafini , Ibrahim Muttaka Na’iya
Published: April 2015

Choice of vehicle’s speed is one of the most important factors for a driver for proper vehicle’s control and selecting a wrong speed results in loss of vehicle’s control; particularly in negotiating road curvatures. Many of such speed related errors could be attributed to inconsistencies in the road alignment, that surprise the driver as a result of sudden change in road characteristics leading to an excess critical speed, hence, losing the vehicle’s control. This inconsistency should be accounted for and controlled by the engineers.  This study was carried out to evaluate the speeds of the drivers when negotiating various layouts of road bends, determination of possible factors affecting drivers’ operating speed and development of prediction models for operational 85th percentile driver’s speed. Speeds of over 4000 vehicles (light and heavy) were collected at 10 road curves of various designs using speed radar meter and video recording system. Speeds were measured at three different points along the curves; the entry, mid and exit points. Preliminary findings from this study revealed that there are some inconsistencies in the features of the existing road curves. The design of the existing curves used in this study can be regarded as fair as the change in the operating speed of light vehicles was found to be higher than 10 km/h; being the established lower limiting value. Likewise, the road curves could also be regarded to fall within a fair and poor design because the average change in operating speed exceeded the limiting value of 20 km/h when compared with the posted speed limit. However, more data would be required to improve the accuracy of the results.
Assessment of Bus Service-Quality using Passengers’ Perceptions
Authors: Minhans Anil , Shahid Shamsuddin , Hassan Sitti Asmah
Published: April 2015

Public transport business has been facing quite a few serious challenges. Indeed, public transport operators need to be more heedful of the changing mobility needs and passengers’ perceptions regarding the delivery of bus transport services in order to keep it profitable.  With the prevailing conditions of city buses, as they are, bus transport may not suit the needs of most passengers, especially car users. The aforementioned scenario provided the rationale to conduct this study in 5order to assess the satisfaction of users regarding bus services in three regions of Johor Bahru, Malaysia. A total of 225 samples was evaluated to form the level of satisfaction based on 7 main attributes of bus service-quality as reported by 3 income groups. The perception towards the bus service-quality were obtained and corresponding level-of-satisfaction were analysed. The variability between different user groups’ relative level-of-satisfaction with respect to bus quality attributes was examined using SPSS statistical software. The disputes and agreements between passengers were critically examined to obtain a final rating of service quality attributes. The results revealed that users are very disappointed with the punctuality of  bus service and inability of the operators to provide a tentative timetable for the operation schedules. Passengers of public transport were satisfied with the number of days of operation and the available bus facilities. The study also indicated that the reliability provided by the operators is quite different from what passengers expect
Variations of Sea Level and Tidal Behaviour during El Nino/La Nina: An Example of Malaysian Coastline
Authors: Abdullah Mohd Hilmi , Mahmud Mohd Razali , Amat Nor Ainah
Published: April 2015

The El Nino/La Nina Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon indirectly provides dramatic changes to tidal that can cause floods, drought and affect various marine activities. Tidal observation data plays important role in determining the characteristic or behaviour of tide along the coastal area especially during sudden climate change such as the phenomenon of El Nino/La Nina, the Northeast Monsoon, Northwest Monsoon and Tsunami. It is important to study the occurrence of the ENSO event and it characteristic so that it can be used for prediction and monitoring the land and water ecosystem. This research is to identify the variations of sea level and tidal behaviour in Malaysian coastline during El Nino/La Nina. The tidal observation data, meteorology data (temperature and mean sea level pressure), and Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) calculation are used to look on the changes of the tidal variation during the ENSO phenomenon. The results of this research will specially benefit in the determination of tidal level in Malaysia and to the professionals who have responsibilities in policy making, agriculture, environmental planning, economics and marine engineering.
Parameterization of Aerodynamic Roughness Length and Zero Plane Displacement Over Tropical Region Using Airborne LiDAR Data
Authors: Abdul Rahman Muhammad Zulkarnain , Farok Faiznor , Rasib Abd Wahid , Wan Kadir Wan Hazli
Published: April 2015

Airborne LiDAR data has been one of the reliable data for individual tree properties estimation. High density airborne LiDAR data has been used previously for detailed reconstruction of tree geometry. The aim of this study is to estimate aerodynamic roughness over specific height (Zo/H) and zero plane displacement (do) over forest area using airborne LiDAR data. The results of this study will be very useful as a main guideline for related applications to understand the role of carbon and hydrological cycles, land cover and land use change, habitat fragmentation, and biogeographical modeling. The airborne LiDAR data is first classified into ground and non-ground classes. The ground points are interpolated for digital terrain model (DTM) generation and the non-ground points are used to generate digital surface model (DSM). Canopy height model (CHM) is then generated by subtracting DTM from DSM. Individual tree delineation is carried out on the CHM and individual tree height is used together with allometric equation in estimating height to crown base (HCB) and diameter at breast height (DBH). Tree crown delineation is carried out using the Inverse Watershed segmentation approach. Crown diameter, HBC and DBH are used to estimate individual tree frontal area and the total frontal area over a specific ground surface is further calculated by subtracting the intersected crowns and trunks from the total area of tree crowns and trunks. The considered ground area i.e. plants area determined the final spatial resolution of the Zo/H and do. Both parameters are calculated for different wind directions that were assumed to be originated from North/South and East/West. The results show that the estimated Zo/H and do have similar pattern and values with previous studies over vegetated area.
Application of the Powers of Governors’ to Charge Ground Rent Under Nigeria Land Use Act of 1978
Authors: Joachim Onuoha Iheanyichukwu , Kamarudin Norhaya , Aliagha Godwin Uche
Published: April 2015

This study examined the Governors’ powers to charge ground rent and revoke certificate of occupancy in Nigeria under the Land Use Act of 1978 in relation to its impacts on land development. The study found out that there is lack of clarity in the assessment, double payments in the collection of ground rents and loss of revenue by the government. This review strongly suggests that for effective application of ground rent that ensures rapid development of land, there should be an amendment of section 5 (1) of the Act, elimination of frequent revision of ground rent and the use of qualified Estate Surveyors and Valuers in the assessment and collection of ground rents.
Climb-Enabled Discrete Dislocation Plasticity Analysis of the Deformation of a Particle Reinforced Composite
Authors: Ayas C. , Dautzenberg L. C. P. , Geers M. G. D. , Deshpande V. S.
Published: April 2015

The shear deformation of a composite comprising elastic particles in a single crystal elastic–plastic matrix is analyzed using a discrete dislocation plasticity (DDP) framework wherein dislocation motion occurs via climb-assisted glide. The topology of the reinforcement is such that dislocations cannot continuously transverse the matrix by glide-only without encountering the particles that are impenetrable to dislocations. When dislocation motion is via glide-only, the shear stress versus strain response is strongly strain hardening with the hardening rate increasing with decreasing particle size for a fixed volume fraction of particles. This is due to the formation of dislocation pile-ups at the particle/matrix interfaces. The back stresses associated with these pile-ups result in a size effect and a strong Bauschinger effect. By contrast, when dislocation climb is permitted, the dislocation pile-ups break up by forming lower energy dislocation wall structures at the particle/matrix interfaces. This results in a significantly reduced size effect and reduced strain hardening. In fact, with increasing climb mobility an “inverse size” effect is also predicted where the strength decreases with decreasing particle size. Mass transport along the matrix/particle interface by dislocation climb causes this change in the response and also results in a reduction in the lattice rotations and density of geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) compared to the case where dislocation motion is by glide-only.