Abstract: In first stage of each microwave receiver there is Low
Noise Amplifier (LNA) circuit, and this stage has important rule in
quality factor of the receiver. The design of a LNA in Radio
Frequency (RF) circuit requires the trade-off many importance
characteristics such as gain, Noise Figure (NF), stability, power
consumption and complexity. This situation Forces desingners to
make choices in the desing of RF circuits. In this paper the aim is to
design and simulate a single stage LNA circuit with high gain and
low noise using MESFET for frequency range of 5 GHz to 6 GHz.
The desing simulation process is down using Advance Design
System (ADS). A single stage LNA has successfully designed with
15.83 dB forward gain and 1.26 dB noise figure in frequency of 5.3
GHz. Also the designed LNA should be working stably In a
frequency range of 5 GHz to 6 GHz.
Abstract: Mobile learning (m-learning) is a new method in teaching and learning process which combines technology of mobile device with learning materials. It can enhance student's engagement in learning activities and facilitate them to access the learning materials at anytime and anywhere. In Kolej Poly-Tech Mara (KPTM), this method is seen as an important effort in teaching practice and to improve student learning performance. The aim of this paper is to discuss the development of m-learning application called Mobile EEF Learning System (MEEFLS) to be implemented for Electric and Electronic Fundamentals course using Flash, XML (Extensible Markup Language) and J2ME (Java 2 micro edition). System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) was used as an application development approach. It has three modules in this application such as notes or course material, exercises and video. MEELFS development is seen as a tool or a pilot test for m-learning in KPTM.
Abstract: The consumption of lactose in acid cheese whey
anaerobic fermentation process under fed-batch conditions was
studied. During fermentation for 100 hours the biogas production
(CO2 and CH4) was analyzed online. Among the standard analyses
FT-IR spectroscopy was used to follow the consumption of lactose by
bacteria. The absorption bands at 990, 894 and 787 cm-1 in the 2nd
derivative spectra were shown to be characteristic for lactose and
were used to follow the lactose conversion. It was shown that acid
cheese whey lactose was converted by bacteria in first 7 hours. In the
spectra of 17, 18 and 95 hour fermentation samples lactose was not
identified and these results correlated with the HPLC data.
Abstract: The Non-Rotating Adjustable Stabilizer / Directional
Solution (NAS/DS) is the imitation of a mechanical process or an
object by a directional drilling operation that causes a respond
mathematically and graphically to data and decision to choose the
best conditions compared to the previous mode.
The NAS/DS Auto Guide rotary steerable tool is undergoing final
field trials. The point-the-bit tool can use any bit, work at any
rotating speed, work with any MWD/LWD system, and there is no
pressure drop through the tool. It is a fully closed-loop system that
automatically maintains a specified curvature rate.
The Non–Rotating Adjustable stabilizer (NAS) can be controls
curvature rate by exactly positioning and run with the optimum bit,
use the most effective weight (WOB) and rotary speed (RPM) and
apply all of the available hydraulic energy to the bit. The directional
simulator allowed to specify the size of the curvature rate
performance errors of the NAS tool and the magnitude of the random
errors in the survey measurements called the Directional Solution
(DS).
The combination of these technologies (NAS/DS) will provide
smoother bore holes, reduced drilling time, reduced drilling cost and
incredible targeting precision. This simulator controls curvature rate
by precisely adjusting the radial extension of stabilizer blades on a
near bit Non-Rotating Stabilizer and control process corrects for the
secondary effects caused by formation characteristics, bit and tool
wear, and manufacturing tolerances.
Abstract: Fluorescent and WOLED are widely used because it consumes less energy. However, both lamps cause a harmonics because it has semiconductors components. Harmonic is a distorted sinusoidal electric wave and cause excess heat. This study compares the amount of harmonics generated by both lamps. The test shows that both lamps have THDv(Total Harmonics Distortion of Voltage) almost the same with average 2.5% while the average of WOLED's THDi(Total Harmonics Distortion of Current) is lower than fluorescent has. The average WOLED's THDi is 29.10 % and fluorescent's 'THDi is 87. 23 %.
Abstract: Seaweed farming is emerging as a viable alternative
activity in the Indonesian fisheries sector. This paper aims to
investigate people-s perceptions of seaweed farming, to analyze its
social and economic impacts and to identify the problems and
obstacles hindering its continued development. Structured and
semi-structured questionnaires were prepared to obtain qualitative
data, and interviews were conducted with fishermen who also plant
seaweed. The findings showed that fishermen in the Laikang Bay were
enthusiastic about cultivating seaweeds and that seaweed plays a major
role in supporting the household economy of fishermen. However,
current seaweed drying technologies cannot support increased
seaweed production on a farm or plot, especially in the rainy season.
Additionally, variable monsoon seasons and long marketing channels
are still major constraints on the development of the industry. Finally,
capture fisheries, the primary economic livelihood of fishermen of
older generations, is being slowly replaced by seaweed farming.
Abstract: Protective relays are components of a protection system
in a power system domain that provides decision making element for
correct protection and fault clearing operations. Failure of the
protection devices may reduce the integrity and reliability of the power
system protection that will impact the overall performance of the
power system. Hence it is imperative for power utilities to assess the
reliability of protective relays to assure it will perform its intended
function without failure. This paper will discuss the application of
reliability analysis using statistical method called Life Data Analysis
in Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), a government linked power utility
company in Malaysia, namely Transmission Division, to assess and
evaluate the reliability of numerical overcurrent protective relays from
two different manufacturers.
Abstract: Integration of process planning and scheduling
functions is necessary to achieve superior overall system
performance. This paper proposes a methodology for integration of
process planning and scheduling for prismatic component that can be
implemented in a company with existing departments. The developed
model considers technological constraints whereas available time for
machining in shop floor is the limiting factor to produce multiple
process plan (MPP). It takes advantage of MPP while guarantied the
fulfillment of the due dates via using overtime. This study has been
proposed to determinate machining parameters, tools, machine and
amount of over time within the minimum cost objective while
overtime is considered for this. At last the illustration shows that the
system performance is improved by as measured by cost and
compatible with due date.
Abstract: Bio-chips are used for experiments on genes and
contain various information such as genes, samples and so on. The
two-dimensional bio-chips, in which one axis represent genes and the
other represent samples, are widely being used these days. Instead of
experimenting with real genes which cost lots of money and much
time to get the results, bio-chips are being used for biological
experiments. And extracting data from the bio-chips with high
accuracy and finding out the patterns or useful information from such
data is very important. Bio-chip analysis systems extract data from
various kinds of bio-chips and mine the data in order to get useful
information. One of the commonly used methods to mine the data is
classification. The algorithm that is used to classify the data can be
various depending on the data types or number characteristics and so
on. Considering that bio-chip data is extremely large, an algorithm that
imitates the ecosystem such as the ant algorithm is suitable to use as an
algorithm for classification. This paper focuses on finding the
classification rules from the bio-chip data using the Ant Colony
algorithm which imitates the ecosystem. The developed system takes
in consideration the accuracy of the discovered rules when it applies it
to the bio-chip data in order to predict the classes.
Abstract: The enormous amount of solid waste generated poses
huge problems in waste management. It is therefore important to
gauge the awareness of the public with regards to waste management.
In this study, an instrument was developed to measure the beliefs,
attitudes and practices about waste management of school children as
an indication of their waste management awareness. This instrument
has showed that a positive awareness towards waste management
refers mainly to attitudes. However it is not easy for people to
practice waste management as a reflection of their awareness.
Abstract: Knowledge Discovery of Databases (KDD) is the
process of extracting previously unknown but useful and significant
information from large massive volume of databases. Data Mining is
a stage in the entire process of KDD which applies an algorithm to
extract interesting patterns. Usually, such algorithms generate huge
volume of patterns. These patterns have to be evaluated by using
interestingness measures to reflect the user requirements.
Interestingness is defined in different ways, (i) Objective measures
(ii) Subjective measures. Objective measures such as support and
confidence extract meaningful patterns based on the structure of the
patterns, while subjective measures such as unexpectedness and
novelty reflect the user perspective. In this report, we try to brief the
more widely spread and successful subjective measures and propose
a new subjective measure of interestingness, i.e. shocking.
Abstract: Ventricular fibrillation is a very important health
problem as is the cause of most of the sudden deaths in the world.
Waves of electrical activity are sent by the SA node, propagate
through the cardiac tissue and activate the mechanisms of cell
contraction, and therefore are responsible to pump blood to the body
harmonically. A spiral wave is an abnormal auto sustainable wave
that is responsible of certain types of arrhythmias. When these waves
break up, give rise to the fibrillation regime, in which there is a
complete loss in the coordination of the contraction of the heart
muscle. Interaction of spiral waves and obstacles is also of great
importance as it is believed that the attachment of a spiral wave to an
obstacle can provide with a transition of two different arrhythmias.
An obstacle can be partially excitable or non excitable. In this talk,
we present a numerical study of the interaction of meandering spiral
waves with partially and non excitable obstacles and focus on the
problem where the obstacle plays a fundamental role in the switch
between different spiral regimes, which represent different
arrhythmic regimes. Particularly, we study the phenomenon of
destabilization of spiral waves due to the presence of obstacles, a
phenomenon not completely understood (This work will appear as a
Chapter in a Book named Cardiac Arrhytmias by INTECH under the
name "Spiral Waves, Obstacles and Cardiac Arrhythmias", ISBN
979-953-307-050-5.).
Abstract: Green Lean Total Quality Management (TQM)
System is a system comprises of Environmental Management System
(EMS) practices which is integrated to TQM with Lean
Manufacturing (LM) principles. The ultimate goal of this system is to
focus on achieving total customer satisfaction and environmental care by removing eight wastes available in any process in an
organization. A survey questionnaire was developed and distributed to 30 highly active automotive vendors in Malaysia and analyzed by
SPSS v.17. It was found out that some vendors have been practicing TQM and LM while some have started to implement EMS. This
study is only focusing on highly active companies that have been involved in MAJAICO Program and Proton Vendor Development
Program. This is the first study conducted to know the current status of TQM, LM and EMS practices in highly active automotive companies in Malaysia. It was found out that EMS has been
practiced by 16 companies out of 30. Within these 16 companies the
approach is more holistic and green. This is a preliminary study that combined 4 awards practices, ISO/TS16949, Toyota Production
System SAEJ4000, MAJAICO Lean Production System and EMS.
Abstract: A trend in agent community or enterprises is that they are shifting from closed to open architectures composed of a large number of autonomous agents. One of its implications could be that interface agent framework is getting more important in multi-agent system (MAS); so that systems constructed for different application domains could share a common understanding in human computer interface (HCI) methods, as well as human-agent and agent-agent interfaces. However, interface agent framework usually receives less attention than other aspects of MAS. In this paper, we will propose an interface web agent framework which is based on our former project called WAF and a Distributed HCI template. A group of new functionalities and implications will be discussed, such as web agent presentation, off-line agent reference, reconfigurable activation map of agents, etc. Their enabling techniques and current standards (e.g. existing ontological framework) are also suggested and shown by examples from our own implementation in WAF.
Abstract: Surface water pollution is one of the serious
environmental problems in rural areas of South Africa due to
discharge of household waste into the streams, turning them into
open sewers. In this study, samples of water were collected from a
stream in Soshanguve and analysed. The result showed that pollution
in the area was caused by man and its activities. The water quality in
the area was found to have deterioted significantly after water runoff
from farms and household wastes. The result shows, fertilizer runoff
contributes 50% of the pollution while pesticides and sediments
contribute up to 10% respectively in the streams, while household
waste contributes up to 30%. This study gives an outline of the
sources of water pollution in the area and provides a process of
creating a clean and unpolluted environment for Soshanguve
community in Pretoria north in order to achieve the 7th aim of the
millennium development goals by 2015, which is ensuring
environmental sustainability.
Abstract: Technology or lack of it will play an important role in Africa-s effort to achieve inclusive development. Although a key determinant of competitiveness, new technology can exacerbate exclusion of the majority from the mainstream economic activities. To minimise potential technology exclusion while leveraging its critical role in African-s development, requires insight into technology diffusion process. Using system dynamics approach, a technology diffusion model is presented. The frequency of interaction of people exposed to and those not exposed to technology, and the technology adoption rate - the fraction of people who embrace new technologies once they are exposed, are identified as the broad factors critical to technology diffusion to wider society enabling more people to be part of the economic growth process. Based on simulation results, it is recommends that these two broad factors should form part of national policy aimed at achieving inclusive and sustainable development in Africa.
Abstract: The heuristic decision rules used for project
scheduling will vary depending upon the project-s size, complexity,
duration, personnel, and owner requirements. The concept of project
complexity has received little detailed attention. The need to
differentiate between easy and hard problem instances and the
interest in isolating the fundamental factors that determine the
computing effort required by these procedures inspired a number of
researchers to develop various complexity measures.
In this study, the most common measures of project complexity are
presented. A new measure of project complexity is developed. The
main privilege of the proposed measure is that, it considers size,
shape and logic characteristics, time characteristics, resource
demands and availability characteristics as well as number of critical
activities and critical paths. The degree of sensitivity of the proposed
measure for complexity of project networks has been tested and
evaluated against the other measures of complexity of the considered
fifty project networks under consideration in the current study. The
developed measure showed more sensitivity to the changes in the
network data and gives accurate quantified results when comparing
the complexities of networks.
Abstract: Self-Excited Induction Generator (SEIG) builds up voltage while it enters in its magnetic saturation region. Due to non-linear magnetic characteristics, the performance analysis of SEIG involves cumbersome mathematical computations. The dependence of air-gap voltage on saturated magnetizing reactance can only be established at rated frequency by conducting a laboratory test commonly known as synchronous run test. But, there is no laboratory method to determine saturated magnetizing reactance and air-gap voltage of SEIG at varying speed, terminal capacitance and other loading conditions. For overall analysis of SEIG, prior information of magnetizing reactance, generated frequency and air-gap voltage is essentially required. Thus, analytical methods are the only alternative to determine these variables. Non-existence of direct mathematical relationship of these variables for different terminal conditions has forced the researchers to evolve new computational techniques. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are very useful for solution of such complex problems, as they do not require any a priori information about the system. In this paper, an attempt is made to use cascaded neural networks to first determine the generated frequency and magnetizing reactance with varying terminal conditions and then air-gap voltage of SEIG. The results obtained from the ANN model are used to evaluate the overall performance of SEIG and are found to be in good agreement with experimental results. Hence, it is concluded that analysis of SEIG can be carried out effectively using ANNs.
Abstract: Endemic Artemia franciscana populations can be found throughout the American continent and also as an introduced specie in several country all over the world, such as in the Mediterranean region where Artemia franciscana was identified as an invasive specie replacing native Artemia parthenogenetica and Artemia salina. In the present study, the characterization of the new invasive Artemia franciscana reported from Sabkhet Halk El-Menzel (Tunisia) was done based on the cysts biometry, nauplii instar-I length, Adult sexual dimorphism and fatty acid profile. The mean value of the diameter of non-decapsulated and decapsulated cysts, chorion thickness and naupliar length is 235.8, 226.3, 4.75 and 426.8 μm, respectively. Sexual dimorphism for adults specimen showed that maximal distance between compound eyes, diameter for compound eyes, length of first antenna and the abdomen length compared to the total body length ratio, are the most important variables for males and females discrimination with a total contribution of 62.39 %. The analysis of fatty acid methyl esters profile of decapsulated cysts resulted in low levels of linolenic acid (LLA, C18:3n-3) and high levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, C20:5n-3) with 3.11 and 11.10 %, respectively. Low quantity of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3) was also observed with 0.17 mg.g-1 dry weight.
Abstract: Piezoelectric transformers are electronic devices made
from piezoelectric materials. The piezoelectric transformers as the
name implied are used for changing voltage signals from one level to another. Electrical energy carried with signals is transferred by means of mechanical vibration. Characterizing in both electrical and
mechanical properties leads to extensively use and efficiency enhancement of piezoelectric transformers in various applications. In
this paper, study and analysis of electrical and mechanical properties of multi-layer piezoelectric transformers in forms of potential and
displacement distribution throughout the volume, respectively. This
paper proposes a set of quasi-static mathematical model of electromechanical
coupling for piezoelectric transformer by using a set of
partial differential equations. Computer-based simulation utilizing the three-dimensional finite element method (3-D FEM) is exploited
as a tool for visualizing potentials and displacements distribution
within the multi-layer piezoelectric transformer. This simulation was
conducted by varying a number of layers. In this paper 3, 5 and 7 of
the circular ring type were used. The computer simulation based on
the use of the FEM has been developed in MATLAB programming environment.