bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
How Hotelling’s T2 Control Chart Performed with the Autocorrelation Imposed when Controlled Correlation is Used
Authors: Umar Farouk Abbas , Mohamad Ismail , Idi Hamisu
Published: June 2014

Control charts are made to identify assignable causes of difference that could exist in production processes. It is usually believed the probability distribution which represents the actual observations includes a known functional form and it is constant as time passes. However, in reality, observations obtained through continuous and discrete procedures in many cases are serially correlated. Autocorrelation not just breaks the actual independence assumption of conventional control charts, but also can impact the efficiency associated with control charts negatively. In this article, we are going to investigate the impact of autocorrelation to the performance of Hotelling T2 control chart in which autocorrelated data were utilized to construct the Hotelling’s T2 chart with induced autocorrelation from various levels of correlation at different sample sizes. Simulations had been done to generate the data set used to construct the Hotelling’s T2 control chart and the outcomes implies that all of the control charts constructed had their points outside the designed control limits, that confirmed the effect of autocorrelation to the performance of the Hotelling’s T2 control chart. Suggestions on how to tackle the problem was proposed.
Observation of Isolated Breakdown Lightning Flashes in a Tropical Region
Authors: Mehranzamir Kamyar , Abdul-Malek Zulkurnain , Salimi Behnam , Ahmad Noor Azlinda
Published: June 2014

The impact of lightning on humans and its threats on life and structures have encouraged the scientists to pursue study in this field. Lightning flash is a high current electric discharge that can be classified into five categories which are intra-cloud discharges, cloud to cloud, cloud to air, ground to cloud and cloud to ground discharges. Intra-cloud discharges have the main portion of the lightning flashes. The most damages and disturbances of lightning flashes are due to cloud to ground and ground to cloud flashes. The discharge phenomenon has various behaviors even in the same thunderstorm. The cloud to ground lightning discharge starts with preliminary breakdown pulses followed by leaders which cause return strokes. The subsequent strokes happen after the first return stroke in a typical lightning flash, but in few flashes the discharges do not lead to any subsequent strokes. This research investigates on these types of flashes which are called isolated breakdown lightning flashes, in Malaysia. The isolated breakdown flashes have rarely been seen in tropical regions compared with temperate areas. Among 150 selected waveforms on 9thMay 2013 in our measurement station, only 10 isolated lightning flashes were observed in our dataset, which make up less than 7% of total flashes in one thunderstorm.
The Effect of Grounding Electrode Parameters on Soil Ionization and Transient Grounding Resistance Using Electromagnetic Field Approach
Authors: Mokhatri Mehrdad , Abdul-Malek Zulkurnain
Published: June 2014

The soil ionization phenomenon occurs during the dispersion of lightning current into the earth. This phenomenon causes the grounding electrode resistance to be effectively reduced. The extension of the soil ionization depends on the current amplitude along the electrode and the resultant electric field intensity surrounding the electrode. The electrical and physical parameters of the grounding electrode system are found as factors that affect the electric field intensity. In this study the electromagnetic field approach and the soil breakdown theory are taken into account to investigate the effect of the mentioned factors on soil ionization and grounding resistance. Changing the parameters of the grounding electrode system affect the electric field distribution around the electrode. Based on the conditions the grounding electrode resistance was reduced between 12% to 75% by considering the soil ionization effect.
Control Strategy for Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) Pulse Power Generator
Authors: Erawan Minhat Ade , Nor Hisham Khamis , Yahya Azli , Trias Andromeda , Kartiko Juli Purwanto Nugroho , Nor Liyana Safura Hashim , Nazriah Mahmud , Razak M. Daud
Published: June 2014

Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) is a advanced machine that can control electrical spark to erode metal on the workpiece. In manufacturing, EDM is used on hard material parts that are extremely difficult to machine by conventional machining processes. EDM system consists of a shaped tool and the work piece, which are connected to a power supply and placed in a dielectric fluid. EDM pulse power generator applies voltage and current pulses between the electrode and workpiece to generate sparks through the gap. To obtain the optimum metarial removal rate (MRR), a good alternative is to improve the gap voltage and gap current. A proposed solution to these issue is combining ultracapacitor bank to the main power supply circuit for EDM machines. The control feedback of this research is designed to make sure that the current on DC bus is maintained at current setting during the machining processes.
Numerical Simulation of High Reynolds Number Flow Structure in a Lid-Driven Cavity Using MRT-LES
Authors: Jahanshaloo Leila , Che Sidik Nor Azwadi
Published: June 2014

The Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) is a potent numerical technique based on kinetic theory, which has been effectively employed in various complicated physical, chemical and fluid mechanics problems. In this paper multi-relaxation lattice Boltzmann model (MRT) coupled with a Large Eddy Simulation (LES) and the equation are applied for driven cavity flow at different Reynolds number (1000-10000) and the results are compared with the previous published papers which solve the Navier stokes equation directly. The comparisons between the simulated results show that the lattice Boltzmann method has the capacity to solve the complex flows with reasonable accuracy and reliability.
Keywords: Two-dimensional flows, Lattice Boltzmann method, Turbulent flow, MRT, LES.
Acoustic Energy Harvesting Using Flexible Panel and PVDF Films: A Preliminary Study
Authors: Sidik Susilo , Putra Azma , Kok Swee Leong , Nuawi Mohd Zaki , Nawal Aswan Abdul Jalil
Published: June 2014

Acoustic energy harvesting from ambient noise utilizing flexural vibration of a flexible panel is investigated. A flexural vibration of a flexible panel is use to extract more energy from the ambient noise level where piezoelectric materials of PVDF films are attached at the plate edges. The energy harvesting can be obtained with a maximum output power of 120 pW at the sound pressure level of 97.3 dBA.
Effect of Maleic Anhydride (MA) on Properties of Recycled High Density Polyethylene/Ethylene Vinyl Acetate/Egg Shell Powder (rHDPE/EVA/ESP) Composites
Authors: Farahana Ramli Nur , Supri A.G. , Teh Pei Leng
Published: June 2014

The difference in polarity of recycled high density polyethylene (rHDPE) and ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) blends leads to poor mechanical properties (Atul Rajan, 2013). Present works aim at finding the effects of maleic anhydride on the mechanical, morphological, and water resistance properties of rHDPE/EVA/ESP blends. It is shown that there is a significant improvement on tensile strength, interfacial adhesion between components, and water absorption resistance of adding maleic anhydride (MA) to rHDPE/EVA/ESP blends. This study may suggest that the MA can act as compatibilizer to enhance the interfacial interaction between the rHDPE and EVA matrix in the rHDPE/EVA/ESP composites.
Synthesis of a Compatibilizer and the Effects of Monomer Concentrations
Authors: Abdullah Sani Nur Syazana , Arsad Agus , Rahmat Abdul Razak
Published: June 2014

The aim of this research was to modify Poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and Natural Rubber (NR) using maleic anhydride (MA). The preparation was carried out using internal mixer by free radical melt grafting reaction to produce PLA-g-MA and NR-g-MA as a compatibilizer. The effects of concentrations of MA (3-12 phr) were studied in details. The samples structure of copolymers were then characterized using 1H nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR) and Fourier transforms infrared spectrometer (FTIR). Quantities of grafted MA (% grafting) were characterized by titration analysis and when increasing the monomer used, the quantities of the grafted MA on PLA and NR molecules also increased. The optimum grafting degree for PLA-g-MA and NR-g-MA was at 9 phr of MA with value of 1.63% and 5.02%, respectively.
Cab Transfer Process Improvement at an Automotive Manufacturing Facility
Authors: Kasim Nazrul Idzham , Leman Zulkiflle , Musa Mohd Azam , bin Baharudin B.T. Hang Tuah
Published: June 2014

This project is related to the improvement of cab transfer process from Painted Body Storage (PBS) area to General Assembly (GA) line. The objectives of this project are to eliminate the root cause of cab defect and to streamline the transfer process with the reduction of process cycle time. From the current process study, it is found that the lifting method causes the quality defect to the cab and the usage of different type of trolley between PBS and GA contribute to the high cycle time. The new process design has been introduced from the findings with the use of towing method and the use of common trolley for both PBS area and GA line. With the new and improved cab transfer process, the cab changing process can be eliminated. Hence, the number of operator required has been reduced, from two operators to only one operator. A trial run has been conducted with a prototype trolley and a forklift. The objectives of this project are fulfilled with the new towing method that eliminate the quality defect and the use of common trolley for both PBS and GA line resulting new cycle time of 7.13 minutes per unit from 9.77 minutes per unit. Further studies are needed for commissioning and monitoring to the new cab transfer process with the actual trolley and tow tug or buggy.
A Study of the Acoustics and Speech Intelligibility Quality of Mosques in Malaysia
Authors: Abdullah Abdul Hakim , Zulkefli Zamir A.
Published: June 2014

This study presents the assessment of the quality of speech intelligibility of two Malaysian mosques and the results are used to develop a set of general acoustical guidelines to be used in the design of a mosque. Two mosques were selected for the research: Masjid UPM and the Masjid Jamek. The objective of the research is to enable the comparison of the acoustics and speech intelligibility between the mosques as function of the size, volume, occupancy and other parameters of the main prayer hall on the acoustic and speech intelligibility of the respective mosques. The reverberation time (RT60), speech level (SL), background noise (BN), signal-to-noise ratio (S/N ratio) were determined and are used to develop the speech transmission index (STI) and rapid transmission index (RASTI) prediction models for both mosques. It was observed from the results that the RT60, STI and RASTI values shows better performance over number of occupancy for both mosques. Furthermore, the BN and SL results were visualized using the spatial distribution patterns (SDP) of the main hall. The results of the analysis show that the overall acoustic and speech quality of Masjid Jamek is better when compared to the overall acoustic and speech quality of Masjid UPM. These results are then used to develop a set of design recommendations to ensure adequate speech intelligibility quality a mosque.
Implementing Neural Network for Damage Severity Identification of Natural Kenaf Fibre Composites
Authors: Zaleha M. , Mahzan Shahruddin , Idris Maizlinda Izwana
Published: June 2014

The emergence of natural fiber as a potential alternative for glass fibre replacement has seen various development and investigation for various applications. However, the main issue with the natural fibre reinforced composites is related to its susceptibility to impact damage. This paper presents a preliminary case study of damage identification in Natural Fibre Composites (NFCs). The study involves a simple experiment of impact on a NFC panel. The strain data are measured using piezoceramic sensors and the response signal was investigated. Then an effective impact damage procedure is established using a neural network approach. The system was trained to predict the damage size based on the actual experimental data using regression method. The results demonstrated that the trained networks were capable to predict the damage size accurately. The best performance was achieved for an MLP network trained with maximum signal features, which recorded the error less than 0.50%.
Current Status of Audit on Board Ferry Services Operating between Labuan and Mainland (Sabah, Sarawak and Brunei)
Authors: Serap R. , Adam Nor Mariah , bin Baharudin B.T. Hang Tuah , Ramli A.R.
Published: June 2014

This study is concerned with evaluating the seaworthiness of ferry services between Labuan and Mainland (Sabah, Sarawak, Brunei) Labuan provides services to 2500 passengers a day Department and the number spikes during festive seasons. The audit tools were adopted from the Marine Department and surveyor list. Nine ferry services were audited for seaworthiness based on ship's structure, machinery, fire safety measures, remote control and warning system, life saving appliances, radio communications, remote control and warning system, safety of navigations and accommodation and escape measures. The audit shows that the ships generally comply to the rules on minimum requirements for life saving appliances (LSA) at medium level except on some boats the Hydrostatics Release Unit (HRU) were wired and this cam prevent the life-raft to self-inflate when submerged in water. It is suggested that standard design for speedboat hull needs to be introduced.
An Experimental Study on Double-Glazed Flat Plate Solar Water Heating System in Turkey
Authors: Ozsoy Ahmet , Demirer Sabahattin , Adam Nor Maria
Published: June 2014

Domestic hot water preparation systems with flat plate solar collectors are widely used in Turkey. In this collector, the temperature difference between the required water temperature and the ambient air temperature increase causes a decrease in the efficiency of the collector. In this study, the use of double glass in order to increase the efficiency of the collector is studied experimentally.The location is in Isparta South West Turkey. Experimental study is conducted in May 2013 at the Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta. The system components are solar simulator, solar collector, tank, circulation pump, flowmeter, thermocouples, data acquisition device and solar sensor. Solar collector system’s operating temperature is 50 oC for winter also summer. The difference between the collector temperature and the ambient air temperature exceeds 25 oC in many cases, were found to be more efficient double-glazed collectors. When the temperature difference is 40 oC, using double glazing collector is 24% more efficient than using single glazing collector.
Monitoring of Selected Indoor Air Quality Parameters and Cooling Energy Usage in Hotel Restaurant Malaysia
Authors: Syazwan M.M. Syafiq , Yusof Mohammad Zainal M. , Chang C.K. , Abdullah M.D. Amir
Published: June 2014

Sensible (temperature) and latent (moisture) loads are the common load an air-conditioning (AC) system need to handle. Both loads are generated from conditioned space, internal source and outdoor air ventilation. This study is to monitor the indoor air quality IAQ in hotel restaurant and the results are compared with Malaysian standard MS1525 and Industry Code of Practice (COP) on IAQ 2010, Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) Malaysia. The AC system performance was also monitored to identify the actual cooling energy usage base on standard operations. Psychrometric chart was used to analyse the actual cooling energy required and identified the latent and sensible loads significantly. The result of the study shows the mean air temperature, relative humidity (RH), carbon dioxide (CO) and carbon monoxide (CO2) levels were within range as stipulated by standard and code of practice. Heat loads analysis on a psychrometric chart showed the total cooling energy as 296.2 kW; of which 196.3 kW was contributed to primary air unit (PAU) and 99.9 kW to air handling unit (AHU) respectively. The primary contribution for sensible and latent loads and recommendation of potential energy saving also been discussed to meet energy efficient in AC system while maintaining good indoor air quality in the restaurant.
Numerical Simulation of Microwave Heating for Soot Oxidation
Authors: Al-Wakeel Haitham B. , Abdul Karim Z.A. , Al-Kayiem Hussain Hamoud
Published: June 2014

This paper presents the simulation of microwave heating by coupling high frequency electromagnetic with transient heat transfer using finite element method edge base of ANSYS software. Helmholtz equation of electric field has been formulated from Maxwell equations to predict electric field and the mathematical model of transient thermal analysis was included. Three cases have been examined numerically to investigate electric field, dissipated heat, temperature distribution and weight loss of soot at operation frequency 2.45 GHz. The simulation results showed that heat is generated from inside to outside of soot. The temperature at penetration depth increased till ignition point and after further heating, maximum temperature was attained, followed by temperature decreases due to mass transport. Maximum electric field was found to be located on the front face for the small samples with dimensions less than penetration depth. The predicted results have been compared with experimental results which show the validity of the simulation.
Use of Fuzzy Logic to Control Air Intake for Increase in Boiler Efficiency
Authors: Treedet Wasakron , Suntivarakorn Ratchaphon
Published: June 2014

This paper presents a study and investigation of an improvement of boiler efficiency with an automatic control of air quantity into a combustion chamber. A fire tube boiler with a fixed gate and screw conveyor for feeding fuel was used to test the automatic control system, and a sub-bituminous was used as a fuel for this study. The increase in boiler efficiency was based on controlling amount of air quantity for fuel combustion before entering to the combustion chamber using fuzzy logic control algorithm. Automatic combustion control was achieved by measuring the amount of Oxygen gas (O2) from flue gas stack. From the experimental results, it was indicated that the automatic control system can control the average amount of O2 in flue gas at 11.09% when the O2 in the flue gas was set at 10%. The boiler efficiency was increased by 4.34%, and the energy consumption was reduced to have a fuel saving of 195.88 ton/year.
Effects of Geometrical Shapes and Orientations of Metal Foams Subjected to Impact Loading
Authors: Kamardan M. Ghazali , Zaidi Ahmad Mujahid Ahmad , Abidin Z. Fitri Z. , Noh Dalimin M. , Mohd Zaid Othman
Published: June 2014

The effects of geometrical shapes are believed to play significant role in the deformation of metal foams under impact loading. This research was carried out to investigate the deformation behaviour of a single cellular cell of metal foam with different geometrical shapes. The simulation analyses were done on various two dimensional shapes with the consideration of the material properties. Two parameter values had been studied to determine the dynamic deformation behaviour of various geometrical shapes i.e. the internal energy and kinetic energy. It is found that, the geometrical shapes have shown significant effects on the dynamic deformation of single metal foam cell. It is hoped that this study could contribute significant result to the research of the metal foams especially in analyzing the shape effects to the behaviour of the metal foam under impact loading.
An Overview of the Impacts of Material Parameters on Springback
Authors: Buang Muhamad Sani , Abdullah Shahrul Azam , Saedon Juri
Published: June 2014

Springback is a serious problem in the manufacturing industry due to errors that effects the appearance of the final product especially in the sheet forming process. This paper presents the review on past literature regarding factors that affects the amount of springback that occurs after the forming operation. This paper focus on 5 major elements that affects the value of springback including yield stress (σy), Young’s modulus (E), strain hardening exponent (n), Poisson’s Ratio (v) and thickness of the sheet (t). This 5 elements show that, increases in the value of (σy), (n), will increase the value of springback. The springback decreases with increasing of (t) and (E). While (v) has a small significant effect on springback. The effects of these factors can be used as a guide when considering further research on springback.
Design Analysis of Two Ways Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) Actuated Aerofoil
Authors: Hassan Mohd Roshdi , Haw Yong Thian , Asri Mohd Nasrisyam
Published: June 2014

This paper describes the design analysis of the behavior of a shape memory alloy (SMA) plate embedded into an aerofoil. Experimentation and simulation were done to fulfill this purpose. The aerofoil is made of silicone rubber material. The SMA plate which was embedded into the maximum chamber of aerofoil during the fabrication process was measured at approximately 175mm, 63mm and 3mm in length, width and thickness respectively. Experimentation was conducted to show that the SMA plate is able to produce two-way shape memory effect. Simulation was executed by using Abaqus 6.9-1 (finite element analysis software). The aerofoil profile was changed by the movement of SMA plate, which has subsequently changed the angle of aerofoil’s trailing edge. The result from the experiment shows that the aerofoil’s trailing edge has undergone a certain amount of displacement after heated. Upon cooling, the aerofoil’s trailing edge did not return to its initial position. Based on this analysis, it is clear that the simulation results are in agreement with the findings of experimental results.
HA/Ti6Al4V Powder with Palm Stearin Binder System - Feedstock Characterization
Authors: Arifin Amir , Sulong Abu Bakar , Muhamad Norhamidi , Syarif Junaidi , Ramli Mohd Ikram
Published: June 2014

Metal Injection Molding (MIM) is widely known as net shape process to mass production for complex shape. In this study polyethylene and palm stearin was used as binder system for composite HA and Ti6Al4V. Ti6Al4V has spherical shape with particle size 25 μm and Hydroxyapatite has particle size 5 μm. Brabender® was used to mix HA and Ti6Al4V powder and binder for making feedstock, rheological properties of feedstock was examined by capillary rheometer. Effects of temperature, viscosity, shear rate and activation energy were discussed in this paper. Binder was removed by thermal debinding. Rheological test showed feedstock of composite HA and Ti6Al4V shows pseudoplastic behavior. Sintering was conducted on 1200°C by argon with holding time 2 hour.
Thermal Stability of CK60 Steel Nano-Crystallized By Drilling Method
Authors: Mohd Tahir Suraya , Shohreh Nosrati , Mohamed Ariff Azmah Hanim , Hashim Mansor
Published: June 2014

In present study drilling as a new Surface Sever Plastic Deformation technique (SSPD) has been applied to commercial CK60 steel plate to create a nanoCrystalline (NC) structured layer.The CK60 steel plate with tempered martensitic crystalline structure has been drilledusing hard titanium coated drilling bit under 20 m/min cutting speed. The formed surface nanocrystalline (NC) layers characterized by using field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and microhardness tests. The results showed that the hardness of formed NC layer with almost 50nm grain sizes was more than twice of the martensitic base metal hardness. The thermal stability of NC layer has been studied in the range of 673 to 923K and the results showed that created fine grain structurehad higher thermal stabilitycompared to CK60 steel samples with coarse granular crystalline structure. The microhardness of NC layers reduced from 9.8 to 9.1 GPa after 1 hour tempering at923K.
Analysis of Flat and Dry Polishing Parameter Influence on Surface Roughness for Robotic Polishing Cell
Authors: Zamri Ruzaidi , Ismail N. , bin Baharudin B.T. Hang Tuah , Mohamed Ariff Azmah Hanim , Prabuwono Anton Satria
Published: June 2014

Polishing is a secondary process in machining. The application of polishing process is crucial to obtained final appearance of a product. This study addresses parameter analysis on flat and dry polishing to determine the most influence parameter which effect surface roughness. For this purpose, Design of Experiment (DOE) is used as a methodology in the analysis. The polishing process is conducted on Comau robotic cell and the combination of grit size, polishing time and polishing force are subjected on the material by using pneumatic polishing tool. Two-level factorial experiment design is conducted and result is interpreted by using statistical software. From the result it is shown that grit size and polishing time give the main effect on surface roughness. However for 2-way interaction effect, polishing time and polishing force contribute significantly on surface roughness. This suggested that for flat and dry polishing, consideration on these parameters is an essential aspect in order to achieve a good surface finished.
Reactive Scheduling of a Decentralized Multi-Objective Material Transportation Tasks in a Dynamic Job Shop Manufacturing System
Authors: bin Md Fauadi Muhammad Hafidz Fazli , Azni Jafar Fairul , Saptari Adi , Li Wan Ling
Published: June 2014

The increasingly challenging and dynamic nature of manufacturing industry has driven organizations to enhance their system efficiency. One of the most important aspects in manufacturing plant is the Material Transportation System (MTS). In order to address dynamic factors, MTS need to be equipped with rescheduling capability. This paper focuses on reactive transportation task assignment to a fleet of autonomous Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs). This paper proposes a Mixed Integer Programming method to reschedule transportation tasks for a non-disruptive job shop manufacturing system based on Multi Agent System (MAS) architecture. The result shows that proposed rescheduling method is able to outperform conventional method significantly.
Numerical Investigations of Membrane Surface Effects on NACA 643- 218 Airfoil
Authors: Abdul Aziz M.S. , Abdullah M.Z. , Ahmad Kamarul Arifin
Published: June 2014

This paper presents two dimensional fluid structure interaction (FSI) CFD analysis on the effect of skin thickness and Reynolds number on the aerodynamic performance of NACA 643-218 airfoil. Numerical investigations were performed using FLUENT 6.3 fluid flow solver and ABAQUS 6.8-1 structural solver. Coupling of both solvers in real time mode was accomplished with the Mesh based parallel Code Coupling Interface (MpCCI 3.1). The predicted and experimental results were found to be in excellent match. Generally, the results showed that the aerodynamic lift increases while drag decreases with the decrease of membrane thickness.
Analysis of Muscle Activity Using Surface Electromyography for Muscle Performance in Manual Lifting Task
Authors: Isa Halim , Rawaida  , Kamat Seri Rahayu , Rohana A. , Saptari Adi , Shahrizan Mohd
Published: June 2014

In industries, manual lifting is commonly practiced even though mechanized material handling equipment are provided. Manual lifting is used to transport or move products and goods to a desired place.Improper lifting techniquescontribute to muscle fatigue and low back pain that can lead to work efficiency and low productivity.The objective of this study were to analyze muscle activity in the left and right Erector Spinae, and left and right Biceps Brachii of five female subjects while performing manual lifting taskwithdifferent load mass, lifting height and twist angle.The muscle activitywere measured and analyzed using surface electromyography (sEMG).This study found that the right Biceps Brachii, right and left Erector Spinae experienced fatigue while performingasymmetric lifting (twist angle = 90°) at lifting height of 75 cm and 140 cm with load mass of 5 kg and 10 kg. Meanwhile, the left Biceps Brachii experienced fatigue when the lifting task was set at lifting height of 75 cm, load mass of 5 kg and twist angle of 90°.The load mass and lifting height has a significant influence to Mean Power Frequency (MPF) for left Biceps Brachii, left and right Erector Spinae. This study concluded that reducing the load mass can increase the muscles performance which can extend the transition-to-fatigue stage in the left and right Biceps Brachii and Erector Spinae.
Application of Product Line Commonality Index (PCI) in a Family of Products
Authors: Rubio M. Oliver , Mora O. Julian , Guarin G. Alvaro , Carrizosa I. Pablo
Published: June 2014

Currently many companies base their marketing strategy around a family of products. Thus, they regularly add new variations to products in order to meet changing market needs, or to attract new customers. Although the basic functionality remains unchanged across products, new features, aesthetic appearance and technologies are incorporated in each new product. This if it is not checked, can generate the “complexity of the product,” which leads to a loss of productivity or quality. Thus, the effective management of product variations in design and manufacturing is challenging. The key is minimizing the non-value added variations through models within a range of options without limiting customers. This article discusses the factors that contribute to the "complexity of the product” and this is done through the product line commonality index (PCI) , which measures the level of common parts in a product family. A case study of bicycle frame displays its implementation and functionality. The index shows the possibility that the products in a family share parts effectively (modularity) and reduces the total number of parts (multifunctionality).
Cost Analysis of Two Different Configurations for a Distribution Network Design
Authors: Firoozi Zahra , Ismail N. , Ariafar Shahram , Tang S.H. , Mohd Ariffin Mohd Khairol Anuar , Memariani Azizollah
Published: June 2014

One significant decision in supply chain management is to determine the configuration of the supply chain network. However, studies that analyze different configurations are rare in the literature. This paper considers a supply chain network consisting of one supplier and a number of retailers. Two different configurations were proposed and were compared in terms of total cost for the network. In the first configuration, retailers directly order to the supplier and hold the inventory to meet the demand of customers. However, in the second configuration, a number of intermediate facilities were established to order products from the supplier and satisfy the demands of retailers. The inventory of retailers in the latter configuration is stored in the intermediate facilities. These two configurations were compared in terms of total cost. Numerical calculations indicate that the latter configuration was preferred in most cases.
Key Issues and Challenges of a Sustainable Closed Loop Supply Chain
Authors: Tahoori G. , Rosnah Mohd Yusuff , Norzima Zulkifli
Published: June 2014

Being tied with sustainability and due to the emergence of various environmental threats, closed loop supply chain (CLSC) has received huge attention recently. Dealing with both forward and reverse chain simultaneously, closed loop supply chain plays the key role as an enabler for sustainability. In this paper the gradual evolution of supply chain, the concept of sustainability, sustainable supply chain, incentives and different dimensions of sustainability and closed loop supply chain, issue and challenges such as recovery options, product acquisition, uncertainty, supplier selection, etchave been discussed.
Managing Uncertainty in Supply Chain Management of Vessel Chartering in Oil & Gas Industry
Authors: Menhat Masha Nur Salsabiela , Mohd Ariffin Mohd Khairol Anuar , Sulaiman Sreenivasan , Tang S.H.
Published: June 2014

Uncertainty is a condition that needs to be dealt with by Supply Chain Management (SCM) in many organization. The factors that contributed to the uncertainty have to be understood in order to manage it in the best and practical ways. Uncertainty in an Oil & Gas firm propagates through the supply chain network including vessel sourcing activities that involved offshore transportation and installation activities. It is important to have a sustainable and reliable vessel supply in supporting offshore activities. Therefore, this paper presents the analysis of uncertainty in supply chain management process of vessels in the Oil & Gas Industry. This research is conducted by analysing quantitative data from vessel sourcing database focuses on uncertainty recorded from January to August 2012. It has been found that, the major causes of uncertainty is due to the unavailability of vessel with 51% of causes of uncertainty recorded. This is due to the increment of vessel utilization from year 2011 to 2012. However the uncertainty can be appropriately managed by implementing product departmentalization instead of customer departmentalization which is currently practiced by the firm under study. It can be concluded that, there are four factors that contributed to uncertainty which are vessels availability, project management plan, project requirement, and vendor reliability.
Using TRIZ to Generate Ideas to Solve the Problem of the Shortage of ICT Workers
Authors: Ang Mei Choo , Ng Kok Weng , Ahmad Siti Azfanizam , Wahab Amelia Natasya Abdul
Published: June 2014

With the ever competitive global market swamped with more choices of high-tech gadgets from smartphones to head-mounted display eyewear like “Google Glass”, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the key factors to engineering and technological advancement and the bridge to the future. In view of such significant importance, the government of Malaysia has been embarking on national policies to prioritise the education and the programmes on ICT to train and produce highly skilled ICT workers to achieve the nation’s ambition to become a developed country. Despite the government efforts, studies have shown that Malaysia is still currently facing shortage of skilled ICT workers. In view of this shortage of skilled ICT worker problem, a systematic engineering problem solving theory known as TRIZ is applied to generate ideas and potential solutions to solve this problem in this research.
Single-Grade Engine Lubricant: Introduce Viscosity Index Numerical Order (VIno)
Authors: Adibah Abdullah , Inayatullah Othman , Ujila Masuri Siti , Nuraini A.A. , Barkawi Sahari B. , Jamaludin Nordin
Published: June 2014

Single-grade engine oil viscosity experience changes influenced by temperature and pressure. However, in reality, the viscosity of engine oil is also affected by age and it has been proven in earlier studies through the viscosity model of the UKM Equation (ηUKM). In this mathematical model, the viscosity of the engine oil is manipulated by the factors of temperatue and time. Both of this factors relies fully on laboratory data. Based on this hypothesis, a model of the viscosity which is based on a mathematical model have been developed whereby the technical temperature factor value and technical time factor are obtained through engine oils technical data such as the density, viscosity index and kinematic viscosity; technical parameter displayed in technical statements of every engine oil. This model is named the viscosity model of viscosity index numerical order (ηVIno) and the estimation of viscosity obtained through the ηVIno was found to not exhibit any significant deviation from the actual viscosity of the oil.
Problems Evaluation for TRIZ Method Using AHP: Case Study on Car’s Dashboard Improvement Design Concepts
Authors: Rosli Uzair , Mohd Ariffin Mohd Khairol Anuar , Sapuan S.M. , Sulaiman Sreenivasan
Published: June 2014

This study established a support tool framework for TRIZ practitioners to specify the problems statement stage in TRIZ method through utilizing the Multi Criteria Decision Method (MDCM) of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed framework was analyzed and evaluated by a case study of car’s dashboard. From a list of problems and customer complaints gathered by survey, the problems were evaluated through AHP method and resulted only three major problems that should be highlighted for further steps. Results indicated that the improvement design generated by both methods could came out an appropriate new design effectively and avoided the cost waste during the product design and development processes.
New Observations from Comparison between the Benner et al. and the Ainley and Mathieson Models for Profile Losses
Authors: Yuan Zhen Wei , Zhu Dong Shuai , Zhang Jun
Published: June 2014

Based on the inspection of the Ainley and Mathieson and the Benner et al. models for profile losses, the two models are compared through numerical simulations. The discrepancies between them are examined and discussed with new observations. It is observed that the stalling incidence predicted by the Benner et al. model is smaller than that predicted by the Ainley and Mathieson model. And also, the Benner et al. model demonstrates that profile losses experience three evidently different regimes, say, insensitive to incidence or the ratio of incidence to stalling incidence from-3.0 to +0.65, sensitive from +0.65 to +2.0, and very sensitive beyond +2.0, but the Ainley and Mathieson model does not. In particular, the third regime had not been covered by the Ainley and Mathieson model. The Benner et al. model is superior to the Ainley and Mathieson model both in preciseness and coverage in that the former is developed through a series of improvements to fit the existing measurements.
Gold Ball Wire Bonding Energy Transfer Mechanism and Experimental Studies
Authors: Wu Qian Qian , Chen Li Guo , Pan Ming Qiang , Chen Lin Sen
Published: June 2014

Because of the complexity of bonding process, the mechanism of bonding has been unable to agree. Accoding to previous research, a new bond energy transfer model is established: bond energy equals to energy caused by temperature rising and the friction energy.Then do experiment on bonding time, bonding stress and ultrasonic energy.Experimental results show that as the increase of process parameters, the bonding strength first increases then decrease, which consistent with the hypothesis.
Complication Evaluation of Methods of Naval Battlefield Electromagnetic Environment Based on Combat Effectiveness
Authors: Shao Xiao Fang , Chen Qi
Published: June 2014

Aiming at the lack of unified evaluation criteria and method system to evaluate the naval battlefield electromagnetic environment complication, the methods are raised to work out the problem, such as building methods of index system based on the equipment operational effectiveness, practical evaluation index system ,quantitative index assessment model, evaluation criteria, etc. The methods can satisfy the requirements of naval battlefield electromagnetic environment complication evaluation, and it has reference significance to the navy to operate exercises under complex electromagnetic environment.
Construction of Point Set Surfaces through Quadric Polynomials
Authors: Liu Yu
Published: June 2014

This paper constructs PSSs (Point Set Surfaces) by combining locally fitted quadric polynomials. First, an energy function is defined as the weighted sum of distances from a point to these quadric polynomials. Then, a vector field is constructed by the weighted sum of normal vectors at input points. Finally, points on a PSS are obtained by finding local minima of the energy function along the vector field. Experiments demonstrate that high quality PSSs can be obtained from the method presented for input point clouds sampled from various shapes.
Improvement of TA Cloning Method to Facilitate Direct Directional Cloning of PCR Products
Authors: Li Ji Gang , Han Guo Ying , Li Xiu Min , Sun Jiao Jiao , Song Ke Jing , Zhang Ting
Published: June 2014

Directional cloning is a prerequisite for the construction of expression vectors in molecular biology laboratories. Although TA cloning is widely used to clone unmodified PCR (polymerase chain reaction) products, a major disadvantage of this technique is that cloning is not directional. Here we reported a novel PCR products cloning vector with one deoxythymidine overhang and one deoxycytidine overhang at two 3'-ends respectively. With the choice of nucleotides of 5'-ends of PCR primers, PCR products can be cloned to this vector both directly and directionally. The feasibility and efficacy of this cloning method were confirmed by using a pET-17b derivative vector and a green fluorescent protein gene (EGFP) and a red fluorescent protein reporter (Ds-Red) gene. This cloning strategy may be useful in the high-throughput construction of expression vectors and could be viewed as an interesting improvement of existing TA cloning method.
Neural Network Monitoring Strategy of Cutting Tool Wear of Horizontal High Speed Milling
Authors: Mecheri Kious , Aissa Benhorma Hadj , Aissa Ameur , Abdechafik Hadjadj
Published: June 2014

The wear of cutting tool degrades the quality of the product in the manufacturing processes. The on line monitoring of the cutting tool wear level is very necessary to prevent the deterioration of the quality of machining. Unfortunately there is not a direct manner to measure the cutting tool wear on line. Consequently we must adopt an indirect method where wear will be estimated from the measurement of one or more physical parameters appearing during the machining process such as the cutting force, the vibrations, or the acoustic emission etc.... In this work, a neural network system is elaborated in order to estimate the flank wear from the cutting force measurement and the cutting conditions
Quadrotor Position Control Using Cascaded Adaptive Integral Backstepping Controllers
Authors: Younes Younes Al , Drak Ahmad , Noura Hassan , Rabhi Abdelhamid , Hajjaji Ahmed El
Published: June 2014

This paper proposes a nonlinear control technique to control the position of the Qball-X4 quadrotor using a cascaded methodology of two Adaptive Integral Backstepping Controllers (AIBC). The nonlinear algorithm uses the principle of Lyapunov methodology in the backstepping technique to ensure the stability of the vehicle, and utilizes the integral action to eliminate the steady state error that caused by the disturbances and model uncertainties, as well as, the adaptation law will estimate the modeling errors caused by assumptions in simplifying the complexity of the quadrotor model. The algorithm goes through two stages of cascaded AIBCs; the first stage aims to stabilize the attitude and the altitude of the quadrotor, and the second stage feeds the first stage with the desired attitude values to control the position of the quadrotor.Flight test results show that the proposed algorithm is capable of controlling the position of the nonlinear quadrotor model.
Possible Stabilization of Sludge from Groundwater Treatment Plant Using Electrokinetic Method
Authors: Osman Syed Baharom Syed , Iqbal Farhan
Published: June 2014

Among the available methods of disposing sludge from water treatment is to dispose them in landfills or to deposit them at a certain location to form lagoons. Once fully deposited, the landfills or lagoons can be converted into a recreational area or even housing area depending upon the final strength of the sludge. An attempt to look into the possibility to stabilize and strengthen sludge from underground water source using electroosmotic method was carried out in a laboratory environment. Several samples of sludge containing predominantly ferrous oxide were placed in specially fabricated electro-osmotic cells. Direct current was then applied through the samples via copper electrodes at the two ends of the samples. All the samples were subjected to seven days of treatment with variation in the surcharge/load imposed and voltage applied on the samples. Results from the tests demonstrated positive effects on the treated sludge samples. There were significant increase in the shear strength and reduction of moisture content which could be an early indication that sludge which predominantly contains ferric oxide could be strengthen by means of electroosmotic stabilization.
Prediction of Suspended Sediments in a Hyper – Concentrated River Using Neural Networks
Authors: Muhammad Raza Ul Mustafa , Bakar Ahmad Safwan Abu , Isa Mohamed Hasnain , Yusof Khamaruzaman Wan
Published: June 2014

Prediction of suspended sediment concentration in hyper-concentrated rivers is a crucial task in modeling and designing of hydraulic structures such as dams, reservoirs, barrages and water intake inlets. In this study, suspended sediment concentration in Kinta River has been predicted using radial basis function (RBF) neural network modeling technique. Time series of suspended sediments and stream discharge data from 1992 to 1995 are used in the training and testing stages of the model. The data were divided into two sections based on the model stages as training and testing. The Thin Plate Spline (TPS) basis function was used to establish TPS - RBF prediction model. The input neurons were selected based on previous studies about the suspended sediment prediction models. The number of hidden neurons was determined by trial and error method. The spread of the basis function was determined by normalization method. The performance of the prediction model was evaluated using three statistical performance measures namely root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of efficiency (CE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The results showed that the TPS – RBF model predicted the suspended sediment values close to the observed data. The statistics of the model showed that the prediction model performed very well and produced R2 values close to one in both training and testing stages.
Response of Partially Covered Road Embankments and its Environmental Impact
Authors: Yusof Khamaruzaman Wan , Shah Syed Muzzamil Hussain , Zahiraniza Mustaffa Bt , Hashim Ahmad Mustafa
Published: June 2014

Tropical regions have always suffered soil loss by water which deteriorates the surrounding environment in several ways. This paper focuses on one of an issue that under the tropical rainfall event how the newly constructed bare highway affects the water turbidity and total suspended solids in a water channel. The study was based on a pilot scale field test which was constructed in compliance with the real field conditions. The study was limited to the tropical rainfall event of 40 mm/hr, native grass cover, sandy loam, and for the road side slope of 1V:1.5H (~ 30°). To determine the turbidity and total suspended solids (TSS), three plots were observed with the different percentage of covers namely, no cover (plot A-control plot), 50% of the grass covered surface (plot B), and 30% of the grass covered surface (plot C). The purpose of the study was to observe the influence of these three plots on the dependent variables that is turbidity and TSS. The study summarizes that the presence of cover is adequate enough to cope with this issue to an extent. The results obtained showed that the bare soil surface performed worst under the rainfall intensity of 40 mm/hr for both the dependent variables. The maximum turbidity values observed from plot B and plot C were 30% and 90.25% respectively of the maximum turbidity value obtained from plot A. Similarly, the maximum TSS values observed from plot B and plot C were 35.21% and 63.76% respectively of the maximum TSS value observed from plot A.