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Finger clubbing, also known as drumstick finger, is the medical symptom that is indicated by the development of the sponginess or swelling in the nail beds of nails and toes. The higher grade of clubbing on the patients can be easily identified with the presence of drumstick finger. The existing available measurement device to identify the early stage of clubbing required much time which is impractical for a busy clinic practice. This paper explains the determination of the finger clubbing by using the Digital Index (DI) measurement, which was deployed by implementing and developing the Portable Finger Clubbing Meter hardware and the Microsoft Visual Basic (VB) Graphical User Interface (GUI). Finger circumference values of nail-fold (NF) and distal interphalangeal joint (DIP) of twenty participants were measured using the developed hardware. Data analysis was then performed using the GUI for DI computation, and the presence of finger clubbing could be determined.

A promising way to model fracture mechanics with the use of an original Discrete Element Method (DEM) is proposed. After proving the ability of the method to capture kinetic damage induced by cracking phenomena in brittle materials such as silica [1], taking advantage of the method for composite materials applications is the main purpose of this work. This paper highlights recent and current developments to prove abilities of the DEM to give some answers to challenges : i) use the present DEM to model damage mechanisms (matrix cracking, debonding, fiber break and delamination) in a composite material ii) deal with impact applications on dry fabrics using the DEM. All developments are made in the home made software GRANOO (GRANular Objet Oriented) [2]. The promising results are commented and the on going developments are exposed.

There is a necessity to reduce GHG emission because climate change may have critical consequences in many places around the world. The main gas which causes climate change is CO2 which is released into atmosphere mainly by industries and vehicles. This research aims to compare two technologies for CO2 capture: chemical absorption with membranes, and to present hybrid processes using both of these. A review of the state of art for CO2 capture is used in this research. The capture by absorption with amines is the state of the art for post-combustion because it produces CO2 with higher purity and is cheaper. However, the energy and installation cost are high which does do not encourage its applicability. Membrane for CO2 capture from natural gas is promissory because of this. Thus, researchers have studied other technologies for CO2 capture to replace or add through including hybrid processes. Capture by membrane is a promising technology for this, provided that since it presents appropriate selectivity and permeability. This paper presents a comparison between CO2 capture by absorption with amines and by membranes. The goal is to discuss hybrid processes with these two technologies in series.

The paper describes the importance of monitoring the dust in the atmosphere of human life. It deals with the issue of dust in air ducts, approaching the methods that can be used to detect the amount of dust. For conditions for buildings in the Czech Republic there is created the methodology of quantitative and qualitative evaluation of dust sediment for the needs of HVAC and other building surfaces. The scale for visual evaluation was created and it has been elaborated the assessment of kind of particles contained in dust.

The current structural design provisions are prevalently based on experience and on the assumption of stationary meteorological conditions. However, the observations of past decades and advanced climate models show that this assumption is debatable. Therefore, this paper examines the historical long-term trends in ground snow load maxima, and their effect on structural reliability. For this purpose, the Carpathian region is selected, and data from a joint research effort of nine countries of the region are used. Annual maxima snow water equivalents are taken, and univariate generalized extreme value distribution is adopted as a probabilistic model. Stationary and five non-stationary distributions are fitted to the observations utilizing the maximum likelihood method. Statistical and information theory based approaches are used to compare the models and to identify trends. Additionally, reliability analyses are performed on a simple structure to explore the practical significance of the trends. The calculations show decreasing trends in annual maxima for most of the region. Although statistically significant changes are detected at many locations, the practical significance - with respect to structural reliability - is considerable only for a few, and the effect is favourable. The results indicate that contrary to the widespread practice in extreme event modelling, the exclusive use of statistical techniques on the analysed extremes is insufficient to identify practically significant trends. This should be demonstrated using practically relevant examples, e.g. reliability of structures.

In this paper we introduce for the first time a new type of structures, called (T, I, F)-Neutrosophic Structures, presented from a neutrosophic logic perspective, and we show particularcases of such structures in geometry and in algebra.

In uncertainty calculation, the inability of interval parameters to take into account mutual dependency is a major shortcoming. When parameters with a geometric perspective are involved, the construction of a model using intervals at discrete locations not only increases the problem dimensionality unnecessarily, but it also assumes no dependency whatsoever, including unrealistic parameter combinations leading to results that probably overestimate the true uncertainty. The concept of modelling uncertainty with a geometric aspect using interval fields eliminates this problem by defining basis functions and expressing the uncertain process as a weighted sum of these functions. The definition of the functions enables the model to take into account geometrically dependent parameters, whereas the coefficients in a non-interactive interval format represent the uncertainty. This paper introduces a new type of interval field specifically tailored for geometrically oriented uncertain parameters, based on a maximum gradient condition to model the dependency. This field definition is then applied to a model of a clamped plate with uncertain clamping stiffness with the purpose of identifying the effects of spatial variability and mean value separately.

The work described in this paper pertains to the identification of some features of micro- and macroprofile formation of surfaces to be machined with flat face grinding, with inclination of the spindle axis. The question of the formation of machined surface profile at through-feed grinding and multiple-pass scheme are considered by using computer-aided simulations in COMPASS environment. More specifically, for flat face through-feed grinding, a generalized empirical equation exhibiting the dependency of concavity from the outer diameter of the face grinding wheel, the spindle axis inclination angle and the width of the surface of the workpiece is acquired. Furthermore, based on the maximum allowable value of flatness deviation and with pre-determined grinding wheel diameter and workpiece width, it is possible to identify the maximum inclination angle at which concavity falls within acceptable limits. For the case of multiple pass flat face grinding, the role of factors such as inclination angle of spindle axis, cross-feed and diameter of the grinding wheel on the height of residual ridges on the surface of the parts is determined through the proposal of an empirical equation. With the aforementioned equations the machinist may reasonably prescribe machining conditions in practice. The conducted research contributes to the expansion of ideas regarding technological possibilities of improvement of flat face grinding.

The paper aims to explain the technology of emergence of information. Our research proves that information as communicational product is the result of processing within some operations, actions, mechanisms and strategies of informational material meanings. Are determined eight computational-communicative operations of building information.Information occurs in two communication phases, syncretic and the segregation-synthetic. The syncretic phase consists of four operations: referral of significant field, primary delimitation of information, detection-looking information and an anticipative-draft constitution (feedforward). The segregation-synthetic phase also includes four operations: discrimination, identification, interpretation and confrontation (feedback).In the future we will investigate informational actions, mechanisms and strategies.

This paper is to study the effect of electric field on an angle variation of copper down-conductor due to voltage and current transient. Down-conductor which informs of numerous material, shape and dimension are mandatory for diverting the lightning current from air termination system to the grounding system in sheltered building. Hence, a numerical analysis method is applied emulating the comprehensible and particular model according to ordinarily used in the manufacturer’s datasheet specification. A rigorous assessment in term of electric fields was reviewed in comparison with the critical breakdown value of air for a crucial study. Later, a foremost angle is proposed for the installation of down-conductor in order to achieve a reliable protection system.

A number of studies have been carried out previously to investigate the suitability of palm oil as dielectric insulation fluid in transformers. Among the important studies is the ageing performance of palm oil. In this paper, a study was carried out to investigate the dielectric properties of Refined Bleached and Deodorized (RBDPO) Olein after subjected to thermal ageing. A low temperature ageing was carried out at 85°C for 5 days. The AC breakdown voltage, dielectric dissipation factor, relative permittivity and resistivity of RBDPO were examined throughout the ageing duration. It was found that the RBDPO performs reasonably well under low temperature ageing.

This paper presents the behavior of 33kV polymer insulator under nominal voltage and impulse by means of lightning activities. The electrical performance of the insulator is translated to electric field under uniform weather conditions which comprises of air humidity and contamination. ANSYS Maxwell modeling software is used to simulate the structure of the polymer insulator based on the real existing insulator’s dimension. The trend of electric field increase is discussed in detail.

This paper presents the unique characteristics of positive lightning generated vertical electric field waveforms recorded in Malaysia. The focus of the study was the waveforms due to positive lightning and their number of return strokes in a flash. A total of 172 lightning ground flash records were analysed, out of which 57 flashes contained positive lightning with a number of them having high numbers of subsequent return strokes which is somewhat unusual with observations elsewhere. The field measurements were done by using a parallel plate antenna coupled with a recording system. In contrary to the majority of positive lightning return strokes that has been recorded previously, where the average multiplicity is one, this study showed an average multiplicity of 3.86 which is almost four times higher than that is usually observed.

The evaluation of the behaviour of lightning current along a tall structure is becoming an important issue when considering the lightning protection equipment required along a tall structure. This behaviour is affected by the element of the ground reflection factor which has a correlation between the impedance of the ground and the tower. The impedance of the ground is considered for a horizontal grounding arrangement while the impedance of the tower is assumed to be constant. Hence, the ground reflection factor can be given a variable value, whereas most of the existing literature assumes a constant value. When a constant value is entered into a calculation field, an inaccurate result is computed.In this paper, the lightning current along a tall structure under varying values of ground reflection factor and including the effect of the presence of a horizontal grounding arrangement has been considered and the results discussed accordingly. Modelling of the lightning return stroke current along a tall structure was undertaken by entering the calculated variable value of the ground reflection factor. The results indicated that a variable value of the ground reflection factor causes different peak values of the current and wave shape of the lightning current for different positions along a tall structure.

When the heat losses sense is adopted for some solar system and power conversion components in residential building application, it is benefit to use those losses, that are consequently acts inversely on system efficiency, as a useful energy to modify the performance of that system instead of dissipated. In terms of efficiency of solar-battery charge controller, power dissipation is always associated with every power component and the losses would be either results from switching and conducting components or from the OFF state of the main switching component. This paper proposed a high efficiency solar-battery charge controller as an alternative to the main solar charge controller in most conventional residential solar system , the concept of the proposed controller circuit based on using the off state energy duration as well as that power losses coming from the main switching component and complexity of the conventional controller, and using this energy in a separate current path to energize an auxiliary battery or directly load used to cool or even to ventilate the system components causing in improving its performance. This will leads to electronic circuit with low losses as a compared with the conventional charge controller to be a part of the integrated and automated building solar system, the design has an algorithm based on some environment parameters like sun Irradiance and weather temperature, this algorithm seems to be inversely calculated because its start from the value of full charge battery voltage. A Simulink Matlab simulator is attempted in the simulation phase of this research as well as an experimental data has been collected to verify the circuit function and energy saving goal.

In this paper we propose an Hardware-In-the-Loop (HIL) system for industrial drives. The system allows the user to optimize the design of control strategies by emulating complex mechanical applications. In fact, with this approach it is possible to simulate the behavior of the real mechanical system, and therefore to verify a priori the effectiveness of a control strategy and to achieve a rapid prototyping of the mechatronic system. The structure of the system consists of a couple of brushless motor which are connected by a mechanical joint. In one drive the control functions related to a specific application are implemented while the other one is used to replicate the mechanical system model of the application. A modular approach has been selected in order to allow a rapid development of a given application. In particular, a library of components has been implemented both in Simulink and in an IEC61131-3 language.

The properties of Palm Oil (PO) and Coconut Oil (CO) offer the potential for transformers with non-toxicity, high fire and flash points and better environmental compatibility while compared with those filled with Mineral Oil (MO). This potential has led to intensive studies of electrical performance of biodegradable oil especially in evaluating the electrical performance under lightning impulse voltage in recent years. This paper presents the investigation on the impulse breakdown voltage of PO and CO in such a uniform field. The PO used in this study is Refined, Bleached and Deodorized Palm Oil (RBDPO) Olein type. Two testing methods, rising-voltage and up-and-down are considered for both oils with different gap distances (2.0 mm and 3.8 mm). Testing methods including rising-voltage method and up-and-down method have no notable influence on the breakdown voltages of RBDPOs and CO compared to MO.

The optimal capacitor placement problem involves determination on the type, number, location and size of capacitors to be placed in a distribution system for the attainment of energy efficiency. The main objectives of the capacitors placement and sizing are to reduce total line loss and energy consumption while satisfying the operational constraints. This paper presents the optimal capacitor placement and sizing problems solved by using the Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique with the integrated of circuitry unbalanced electrical distribution modeled in SIMULINK®MATLAB®software. The proposed technique was tested on a modified IEEE 13-bus unbalanced radial distribution system and the results revealed that the proposed technique has the merit in achieving optimal solution for addressing the problems.

This paper presents of Polymer Matrix Composite (PMC) as feedstock used in Fused Deposition Modelling (FDM) machine. This study discussed on the development of a new PMC material by the injection molding machine. The material consist of copper powder filled in an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), binder and surfactant material. The effect of metal filled in ABS and binder content was investigated experimentally by the Melt Flow Index (MFI) machine. Based on the result obtained, an increment of copper filled in ABS by volume percentage (vol. %) effected on melt flow index results. With highly filled copper in PMC composites increase the melt flow index results. It was concluded that, the propensity of the melt flow allow an internal force in PMC material through the injection molding and FDM machine.

Ozone (O3) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are closely related in the atmosphere. In ambient air, these pollutants always fluctuated depending on their emission sources and meteorological influences. The paper is aims to gain insight understanding of the monthly temporal variation of O3 and NOx concentrations to enable proper control strategies against these pollutants. One-year monitoring records from 1st January to 31st December 2009 of O3 and NOx at Pasir Gudang, were obtained from Department of Environmental Malaysia. Temporal analysis of O3 and NOx concentration fluctuation during annual and monthly were assessed using time series and scatter plots. The annual variations of O3 concentrations were negatively correlated with annual variation of NO and NO2 concentrations. Results suggest that NO concentration are higher than O3 and NO2 especially in May 2009. However, zero exceedences were recorded in the studied period for all pollutants against the Malaysia Ambient Air Quality Guidelines.

This study deals with a master-slave system for a tele-operated electro-hydraulic actuator (T-EHA) that focuses on a hydraulic system to remotely control a mini excavator. Tele-operation using such system is useful for tele-operation support of heavy construction and road restoration, typically in post-disaster areas. This paper presents the current development of position control electro-hydraulic actuator for such remote tele-operation application. A 2.4 GHz radio-controlled transmitter and receiver unit, which is also known as the master, has been utilized as the remote controller for an electro-hydraulic actuator. The electro-hydraulic actuator, which serves as the slave has been fabricated by using a tie-rod cylinder, and coupled with a 24 VDC electro-hydraulic valve. Position control mathematical modelling and operational evaluation have been studied with regard to the tele-operated electro-hydraulic actuator.

This paper investigates the effect of bolt gauge on the face bending behaviour of concrete-filled Square Hollow Sections (SHS) in Hollo-Bolted connections. A set of full-scale experiments were undertaken to examine the effects of varying the bolt gauge on the SHS face bending behaviour while controlling all other parameters. Typical experiment involved one row of two bolts pulled out of concrete-filled SHS. A special dummy bolts were manufactured to the exact size and geometry of open Hollo-Bolts, and were used in the experiments to remove the influence of any deformation associated with the real Hollo-Bolts, and isolate the face bending behaviour. Non-contact video-based equipment was used to record the SHS face deformation. This deformation is recorded as force-displacement relationship which is commonly used to represent the structural behaviour of similar components, and typically defined by initial stiffness, yield force and post yield stiffness. Across the range considered in this investigation, it was found that varying the bolt gauge to SHS width ratio have a significant effect on the concrete-filled SHS face in bending component. Both the initial stiffness and the yield force of the component were found to increase with the increase of the bolt gauge. The Post-Yield stiffness was not affected by the change in bolt gauge.

In this paper, an experimental study evaluating the effect of exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) onboard systems attached to a single cylinder DI diesel engine running with diesel is presented. Tests were performed at the minimum (1400 rpm) and maximum engine speeds (4100 rpm). The engine were tested under four different operating modes mainly; (a) standard test condition, (b) engine with EGR system, (c) engine with LPG system and (d) the engine with EGR and LPG onboard systems. Parameters that been measured during the tests are percentage of oxygen (O2) content, carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, carbon dioxide (CO2) and unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) emissions. Results show for the exhaust emissions, the engine with LPG onboard system emits higher CO and UHC emissions for both engine speeds. According to the experimental results it can be concluded that the use of EGR system increased the exhaust gas temperature and CO2emissions. While the engine with EGR and LPG onboard systems have influenced much on the increase in CO and UHC emissions for both engine speeds.

Restructuring of electricity supply industry had begun in early 20th centuries. Malaysia Electricity Supply Industry (MESI) has aimed to change its structure to a wholesale market model in 2005. Started in 1992, Independent Power Producers (IPPs) were introduced and since then MESI had applied the Single Buyer Model until today. Even though, the Single Buyer Model had passed several process of evolution, it still a form of imperfect competition in which there is only one buyer and many sellers of a product. Therefore, other alternatives of electricity market model for MESI have been proposed, in order to carry on the MESI previous plan towards restructuring. This paper discusses three electricity market models; Single Buyer Market Model, Pool Market Model and Hybrid Market Model. The case study is carried out to compare the three market models in term of generation revenue. Data from 14 IPP and load profiles in MESI is used for the case study and the result will be discussed.

Worldwide, cigarette butts (CBs) are among the most common type of litter. The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that in 2004 over 5.5 trillion cigarettes were produced in the world. This is equivalent to an estimated of 1.2 million tonnes of cigarette butt waste per year. These figures are expected to increase by more than 50% by 2025 according to American Cancer Society, mainly due to an increase in global population. This paper presents a review of the environmental problems associated with CBs, which have been found to be the number one littered item in Australia over the past years. It is estimated 25 to 30 billion filter cigarettes are smoked each year; of these, an estimated 7 billion become litter. The CBs accumulate due to the poor biodegradability of the cellulose acetate filter, and the toxicity constituent trapped within threatens human life, marine ecosystems as well as the environment if not disposed in an appropriate manner. With the increasing concern arising from insufficient landfill sites and the growing environmental awareness about toxic incinerator emissions, there is a critical need for an alternative method for CB waste disposal which is environmentally acceptable.

Blade fault is one of the most causes of failure in turbo machinery. This paper discussed the time frequency analysis for blade rubbing detection from casing vibration signal. Feasibility of Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT), Wigner-Ville distribution (WVD) and Choi-Williams distribution (CWD) were examined for blade rub detection in a multi stage blade system through an experimental data. Analysis results of the experimental data showed that these time frequency analysis methods have some inevitable deficiencies in segregating the blade passing frequency (BPF) components of the three rotor stage signals. However, CWD demonstrated a better time-frequency resolution in analyzing the multi stage rotor system signal.

This paper discusses a finite element analysis of cylinder on flat contact configuration subjected to constant normal load and reciprocating tangential displacement with linear kinematic hardening models based on bi-modal Ti-6Al-4V cyclic stress-strain curves. The predicted evolution of plastic deformation such as the equivalent plastic strain, tangential plastic strain and shear plastic strain distributions on the contact region has been studied along with its respective predicted stress distributions. The effect of applied forward and backward sliding displacement movements on predicted stress and strain distributions have also been looked at. It is found that the stress distributions predicted for kinematic hardening model is similar for forward and backward movements while the predicted plastic strain distribution is increasing with reciprocating sliding movement. The predicted value keep increasing when it moves forward, backward and finally moves forward again. This is due to large strain effect of the model and its dependant on the displacement movement amount.

The energy is the most of the human existence. Consumption fossil fuels has grown substantially and consumption the energy sources that is seen as having a major environmental impacts. Diminution world oil reserves and increasing environmental concern have induced found alternative and renewable energy resources called biodiesel. Biodiesel fuel from the vegetable oil, regarded as of the best candidate for the substitute diesel fuel in diesel engines because of the characteristics closer. The application of biodiesel has shown a positive impact in resolving these issues. This paper introduces some type of alternative fuel whose oils are potential sources of biodiesel. These types are crude palm oil (CPO), straight vegetable oil (SVO), waste cooking oil (WCO) and Jatrophacurcas (JPO). From the review, fuel properties are found to considerablyareon density, viscosity, acid value, water content and flash point. In conclusion, a long period of storage will reduce the quality of biodiesel does not matter what kind of conditions and environments that are exposed to. However, the rate of degradation of biodiesel can be slow if the right circumstances and environment provided.

Recently, incorporation of cement replacement material (CRM) in concrete has gained considerable attention throughout the world. It is known that the commonly used CRM in current concrete industry is silica fume (SF), pulverized fuel ash (PFA) and rice husk ash (RHA). RHA is an agricultural waste from rice milling process. Rice farming activities is one of the main crops planted in Malaysia and therefore, the rice husk abundantly generated every year. RHA exhibits positive pozzolanic reaction during concrete strength development. The material contains amorphous silica and hence it contributed towards enhancement of various concrete properties. This paper presents a short review of RHA properties as CRM and pozzolanic reaction determination.

The terminology of "Asset Management" (AM) has been widely used in many organizations. It has been generally accepted and defined as a cost effective approach for asset operation, maintenance, upgrade, and disposal. It covers many scopes and topics spanning from financial, IT, human resources, and also physical engineered assets. Engineering asset management (EAM) is the management of engineering assets and it provides guidelines on the effective usage of all the physical engineered assets within the organization. It is deemed essential to understand the concept of effective EAM and practices in an organization. This paper provides a review on the definition and concepts of AM and EAM with the aim of providing good insights and understanding on this topics.

This paper shows the stress-strain behavior of peat from the perspective of geotechnical engineering based on laboratory test. Stress happens when a load applied to a certain specimen and deformed the specimen while strain is the response from applied stress on a specimen. Peat is known as an ultimate soft soil in engineering terms because it has low shear strength and compressibility. This research is concerned about the stress-strain behavior of hemic peat. The undisturbed samples were collected at Parit Sulong and Parit Nipah, Batu Pahat, Johore, Malaysia. Normal stresses are 12.5kPa, 25kPa, 50kPa and 100kPa. The shear rate to determine the stress-strain on peat is 0.1mm/min. It is a drained condition test. Both results from each method that obtained were compared based on the relationships of stress-strain. Parit Sulong has higher stress-strain than Parit Nipah. If shear stress increased, shear strain also increased. The result shows that, direct simple shear test of stress-strain that tested on hemic is more relevant than a direct shear box because DSS shear the entire specimen of peat while DSB only shear at the center of the specimen. Geotechnical engineers can use the direct simple shear method to understand efficiently about the stress-strain behaviour of peat.

A hydroxyapatite is known as one of vital materials and common use in biomedical field and concentrated in clinical area. In relation to the above, the development of hydroxyapatite powder becomes an attractive research lines due to simplify in produce it. Thus in this paper the researcher stress out about Hydroxyapatite powder gained from the natural sources or so called as the waste of Tilapia bone and scales. The raw bones of and scale were undergo to crushing process to form in powder size (0.2 mm) then analysed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to identified the mineralogy of raw bone. Moreover the powder of fish bone and scales also go through to Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) machine to analyse the microstructure of the powder while EDS act as device to determine the chemical composition of the sample powder. Sample powder then forward calcination process at selected temperature range to as a cheaper method in obtained hydroxyapatite raw sources. The range of calcination temperatures are between 800°C to 1000 °C. The sample preparation were analysed in both condition before and after calcination process by using XRD, SEM and EDS. The HAP crystalline composition of tilapia bones for raw powder and at 800 °C are similar with HAP pattern (JDS 00-009-0432) and the chemical reaction is Ca5(PO4)3(OH) then at temperature 900 and 1000 similar to HAP pattern (JDS 00-055-0592) with chemical reaction equal to Ca10(PO4)6(OH)2.

This paper presents the combination technique in developing the woven kenaf fiber that is used as a new method to improve energy absorption performance. This method focuses on the effect energy absorption of angle orientation. Due to the low density, natural fiber such as kenaf fiber provides comparatively good mechanical properties. Thus, natural fibers have high potential for better reinforcement in light weight structures on automotive applications. Total force, total energy, and energy absorption of natural fibre reinforced composite for different type’s natural fibre and angle orientation are discussed and reviewed.

Most construction projects have been recognized as underperformance due to the increase numbers of delays, cost overruns and poor quality construction. The inability of contractors to meet clients’ expectation has been found as one of the main causes that contribute to the project failure. Alternatively, key players are encouraged to shift from the conventional method towards Industrialized Building System (IBS). Also known as prefabrication, previous researchers proved that IBS is able to minimize on-site works and increase the building quality in a controlled environment. However, the take up rate of IBS in Malaysian construction industry is still low as compared to developed countries basically due to incapability of contractors in mastering an advanced technology and their negative perceptions in IBS implementation. In addition, a limited subjective performance measurement, particularly to evaluate contractors' satisfaction level in implementing the IBS construction is still neglected. This is a review paper for an on-going research in examining contractor satisfaction levels on the IBS implementation and its attributes. The measurements are based on contractor perception instead of the typical approaches that solely concerned with objective measures (time, cost and quality). As a result, several attributes that integrate sustainability elements (economical, environmental, social, and institutional factors) are also determined. These attributes are then developed through systematic analysis to enhance the ability of IBS in improving contractors’ satisfaction. The developed framework is expected to help the project team in performing IBS projects more efficiently, ensuring the quality meet the standards and encouraging effective communication between participants. Moreover, the findings will be useful to assist contractors in enhancing competitiveness, increase company reputation and improve project deliveries to meet global challenges.

The increasing use of electronically mediated communication among workers when dealing with collocated group members has become unavoidable. Besides, communication is a vital part of sustainability strategy of an organization in order to keep abreast with business agility, as well as increasing organization’s intellectual productivity. However, the importance of physical workplace as a place supporting face to face communication cannot be denied since it is one of the factors of successful accomplishment of complex group tasks and activities. In this paper, we explored and compared the characteristics of two small office layout and physical settings on group’s communication while performing their work process – in this case we adopted SECI Model behaviors. The ethnographic and cross-sectional studies were conducted, and relationship between physical design, communication and work process have been explored by considering the office layout of two project groups at research institution in Japan. The findings highlighted the differences in distribution of amount of communication in these two layouts based on several measurements such as communication contents, unit boundaries, SECI behaviors and so on. Based on the result of the study, we suggest the layout and physical settings that foster communicative workplace as well as supporting their work process.

Self-compacting concrete which commonly abbrevited as SCC is a special concrete that have the ability to consilodate fully under its own self-weight without any internal or external vibration. This paper presents the experimental investigation carried out to study the strength of self-compacting concrete incorporating bottom ash at different replacement level of natural sand. The composite cement was used and the replacement level of bottom ash to natural sand is set up to 30% by volume. The strength properties such as compressive strength, split tensile strength and flexural strength of the concrete at the age of 7 and 28 days of curing day were conducted. Results shows that the strength of the concrete with bottom ash increased up to replacement level 15% higher than control specimens. This show that bottom ash can be used as supplimentary cementitious materials, having the pozzolanic reactivty.

Research and development on hybrid excitation flux switching machines (HEFSM) for various applications have been carried out in the last years. The designed HEFSM consist of permanent magnet (PM) and DC field excitation coil (DC-FEC) which is located on the stator core as their main flux sources, while a single piece rotor gives the advantages of robust rotor structure. Since most of the designed HEFSMs utilize three-phase windings, more complicated design and control system are required to run the motor. Thus, a new design of single-phase E-Core HEFSM with several advantages of much simpler converter size and smaller battery package due to small voltage capacity when compared with conventional three-phase system is proposed. Consequently, the size of overall configuration systems will also be reduced resulting in reducing total weight and cost. In this paper, initial performances of 4S-4P, 4S-6P, 4S-8P and 4S-10P E-Core HEFSM topologies are analysed. Since 4S-10P design gives highest torque and power performances, deterministic design optimization approach is conducted to enhance much higher and optimum performances. As conclusion, the optimized E-core HEFSM with 4S-10P topology has achieved maximum torque and power of 208.857Nm and 47.31 kW, respectively.

The depletion of fossil fuels as well as the rises of greenhouse gases had caused most government worldwide to follow the international energy policies for the use of biodiesel. One of the economical sources for biodiesel production is waste cooking oil. The use of waste cooking oil is more sustainable if they can perform similarly to conventional diesel fuel. This paper deals with the experimental study carried out to evaluate the engine performance and exhaust emission of diesel engine operated by biodiesel from waste cooking oil at various engine speed. The biodiesel used are known as B5, which contains of 5% of waste cooking oil and 95% of diesel fuel. The other one is B20, which contains of 20% of waste cooking oil plus 80% of diesel. Diesel was used as a comparison purposes. The results show that power and torque for B5 give the closest trend to diesel. In terms of heat release, diesel still dominates the highest value compared to B5 and B20. For exhaust emission, B5 and B20 showed improvement in the reduction of NOx and PM.

Keyword : Keyword: Speed of penetrations, CPT, Mackintosh probe, rate effect, shear strength Abstract. A wide range of industrial applications, on land and offshore, require the solution of time domain problems and an associated understanding of rate effects in clay soils. In recent decades many researchers have examined the correlation between shear strength of soils and variation of shear strain rate and it is generally accepted that the strength increases by 1-5% for each order of magnitude increase in shear strain rate. This paper discusses the effects of penetration rate on the penetration resistance (qc) by using cone penetration test (CPT) test setup. The research had been conducted at RECESS and cone penetration test were used in three selected range of rate which were 0.5 cm/s, 1cm/s and 5cm/s. In addition, Mackintosh probe test had been considered as comparison with CPT test for the unconfined compressive strength. The result shows different penetration rate influenced the soil shear strength. For the slowest rate (0.5 cm/s), the shear strength was approximately 0.15% less compared to the standard rate (2 cm/s). However, for the highest rate (5 cm/s), the shear strength was 0.22% more than the reference rate (0.5 cm/s). In conclusion, it is suggested that the RECESS clay soil influenced by the rate effect and in agreement with previous research findings.

—Public transit has gained significant attention among Malaysian citizens for the past few years. The increase in the number of private vehicles on the road leads to massive traffic jam especially during peak hours, thus causing them to consider switching towards public transit. Our mission in Prasarana Malaysia Berhad is to ensure that people can get stress-free experience while using public transports. One of the elements that contribute towards stress-free experience is passenger information system. In this paper, an alternative method to channel transit information to passenger is proposed that is by using frequent route map (FRM). In FRM, the frequency schedule of public bus is presented graphically on the GIS. The lower the operation frequency, the thinner the route line on the map will be and vice versa. As a result, the frequency schedule-GIS combination has made it easier for viewer to both identify the service availability and frequency. Keywords—publictransport;passengerinformationsystem;routemap;journeyplanner

Electrokinetic has proven to be alternative technique to remediate pollution and increase soil strength for soft soil. This remediation method has been applied to remediate the hydrocarbon and heavy metal contaminant. Phytoremediation is a technique used to remediate the hydrocarbon and heavy metal contaminant. Both of this remediation technique has been proven as attractive alternative to clean up polluted soils. Although barren acidic soil is not categories as hazardous, the necessity of covered soil surface is on demand in order to minimize the surface erosion. Other than that, this remediation technology also helps in horticulture in order to enlarge the plantation and farming area. This paper will explain the formation of barren acidic soil, principles electrokinetic remediation for remediation of barren acidic soil and application of phytoremediation in order to sustain the process of remediation. Correlation of both remediation methods will minimize the acidic ion migration and sustain the pH value on soil surface for grass, vegetable or palm oil plantation.

Peat soils are challenging soils which are a problem for many geotechnical engineers especially in the design of shallow foundations and road constructions. The engineering properties of peat are dependent on the nature of its physical properties. Micro structural studies done on the soil shows that it consists of fibres which cause the soil to be highly compressible resulting in excessive settlement when they are subjected to moderate load increments or vibrations produce by traffic. In this paper, dynamic testing was done to approximately simulate traffic loading characteristics on peat taken from Parit Nipah and Pontian, Johor using a cyclic triaxial testing with 1Hz loading frequency. The results were compared with soil that has a stiffer particulate nature such as sand. The comparison showed that the dynamic loading parameters of dynamic shear modulus and damping ratio of peat was dependent on the fiber content and was very much lower than that of well graded and uniform sands. This can be an important indication to understand the key parameter behaviour of peat that must be taken into account when designing and managing infrastructures on peat soils.

Greywater (GW) is identified as waste disposal from home activites that is discharging from laundry, bath and wash-basin. GW useful in irrigation of a garden and aids to reduce cost as well as maintain the environmental prosperity. This paper discussed the effectiveness of Botryococcus sp. to clean GW in phycoremediation treatment. This process involves as growing the Botryococcus sp. in the GW which is contributing to utilize supplements in GW for its grow. The results indicated that Botryococcus sp. is effective to reduce COD (88%), BOD (82%), TIC (76%), TC (58%), TN (52%), TOC (39%), Phosphate (37.5%) and pH (7%) for 100% concentration of GW. Meanwhile, for the 50% of GW concentration Botryococcus sp. capable to remove such as COD (83%), TIC (82%), BOD (68%), TN (67%), Phosphate (36.8%), TC (34%), TOC (31%) and pH (1.2%). Then, the study concludes that Botryococcus sp. can grow effectively in GW and be able to reduce the rate of nutrient in GW.

The measurement of a small strain stiffness can be conducted via measuring the velocity of the material. The stiffness is an indicator for the strength of the material. It is an important parameter to understand the response of the material when it received the loads. The seismic surface wave has an advantage technique to measure the stiffness of the materials due to factors of time consuming and non destructive method. In addition, the test can be conducted on the surface of the material, thus ease to conduct the test. The continuous surface wave is using a steady state seismic source which can be controlled it frequency. Thus, sufficient energy at specified frequency can be obtained. This can be influenced the quality and reliability of the data. In addition the stiffness at specified depth can be identified. In this paper, in-house development of the equipment and the system was described. A few testing was conducted on different materials in order to assess the reliability of the developed system as well as the stiffness of the materials. As a result, the stiffness assessment on the concrete mortar, asphalt pavement and concrete wall showed the values were in the range of 0.25 to 0.33GPa, 0.05 to 0.13GPa and 0.35 to 0.51GPa respectively.

The initial capital cost for most microhydro projects has always been an overriding issue for self-funded remote communities. The cost will escalate significantly in the absence of local microhydro electromechanical manufacturers. The application of end suction centrifugal pump as turbine will reduce the overall cost, which renders microhydro systems feasible for self-funded projects and are therefore suitable for rural communities. The goal of this study is to design and develop a pump as turbine (PAT) which serves as a substitute to commercial electromechanical components. Numerical analysis of an inverse flow for an end suction centrifugal pump is presented in this paper, which includes the performance curves and hydraulic characteristics of the pump. ANSYS CFX, a commercial CFD software is used to simulate the performance of the pump with specific speed, Ns of 70 units (Euroflo EU50-20). The computational flow domain inside the pump is comprises of impeller, volute and draft tube. Unstructured tetrahedral mesh is used to maintain good surface mesh due to complex flow domain geometries. The governing equations used in the simulations are three-dimensional, incompressible Navier-Stokes and k-ϵ turbulence model under steady-state condition. The simulation results are compared with pump performance curve supplied by the pump manufacturer. The verification results show good agreement for flow rates between 0.7 and 1.3 QBEP. The best efficient point (BEP) for inverse flow is attained at a higher head and flow rate compared to pump mode, whereby the value is found to be 21.55 m and 14.0 l/s, respectively. It is believed that the findings of this study will be useful to predict hydraulic characteristics and performance curves of PAT and the model may be used to identify poor flow characteristics inside the pump. It is recommended that optimization process is carried out using CFD tools in future studies.

Solid wastes varies extremely in generation rates and types of materials compositions across countries and cities or even within the city parts due to changing socio-economic and climate conditions which also differs with location and time. Thus, studies to define these parameters are essential for achieving efficiency of waste management. This paper reviewed literature and proposed a framework for the analysis of residential solid wastes generation and composition in Bauchi metropolis Nigeria, being an extract of PhD research in progress. The framework suggested a mixed approach with mainly quantitative. The framework paradigm moves toward positivism school. Case studies and stratified random technique is suggested for sample selection and Experiment and questionnaire surveys will constitute data collection instruments. SPSS software can be used for data analysis. The framework will develop reliable data base to underpin policies for efficient solid waste management in Bauchi metropolis, Nigeria.

Application of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in machinery faults detection is known to be only effective if fault is of repetitive in nature and considering severe. While minor and transient faults are usually remain undetected based on vibration spectrum analysis. Wavelet analysis is relatively new technique which is still suffered from inadequately in its time-frequency resolution. In this paper, ahmedrabak_time wavelet is proposed based on the wavelet reassignment technique for Morlet mother wavelet. The proposed wavelet analysis is compared to the conventional wavelet analysis for machinery faults detection based on simulated signal. The results showed that the proposed wavelet has a better resolution than conventional wavelet analysis which could clearly indicate the presence and the location of the fault.

The fuel-air mixing during burning process provides significant effects to the fuel atomization and flame development thus predominantly influences to the behavior of particulate matter (PM) and NOx production. The variant in fuel injection characteristics are widely used in the field of burner system nowadays. Spray nozzles having various operating conditions dependedon the design of nozzle and it was precision components designed to perform very specific spray characteristics under specific conditions. This review paper focuses on spray characteristics, effects of geometry of injector, influence of fuel and hole shaped nozzle with cylindrical and conical holes on spray characteristics. The parameters are discussed based on an overview of the research in the field of simulations with nozzle shaped injectors. Massive researchers had reported that conical nozzle hole is better than cylindrical nozzle due to it contributed suppression of cavitation in nozzle hole, slowed down primary breakup process and thus produced larger spray droplets, high spray

This paper presents a study on quadrotor using PID controller together with the application of Kalman Filter. Purpose of this project is to study effect of separate Kalman filter in overcoming the signal noise and gyro drift in the attitude sensors and simulate the PID controller which controlling the quadrotor dynamics through damping the vehicle oscillation. In this research, simulation of Kalman Filter in filtering the noise from the inertial moment unit (IMU) and PID controller in damping on unstable oscillation has been conducted to observe the performance of the quadrotor.

The use of energy and natural resources being increase due to the growth of economy and world population. One of the natural resources is being consumed heavily is diesel for transportation and burner combustion. However, the major product results from the combustions of diesel are NOx and PM emissions. This review paper focuses on the influences of the emulsified renewable biodiesel fuel such as crude palm oil and waste cooking oil with the concept fuel-air-water internally rapid mixing injector for the open burner system. Water is introduced directly into the combustion field. The concept of rapid mixing from biodiesel and water are controlling of the combustion process in order to minimize the emissions. The water content in the emulsified biodiesel fuels effectively in the reduction of NOx emissions especially the high blending biodiesel. Moreover, emulsion technology significantly reduced particulate matter (PM) emissions as compared to the standard biodiesel fuel combustion. The parameters include equivalent ratio, water content in biodiesel-water, and spray characteristics such as spray penetration, spray angle and spray area.