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This paper evaluates supply to coastal communities that are isolated from a main supply grid compared to current used diesel station. The case study is Stewart Island, where the electricity is provided by a distribution network powered by up to five diesel generators at a central diesel power station. Local residents believe that reducing the consumption of diesel and having a renewable source of electricity generation are two of the island’s highest priorities. Merging a tidal energy source (predictable) with wind (unpredictable) and diesel (back-up), through a microgrid, may be a way to increase reliability and decrease the amount of pollutants. Using two wind and four tidal turbines, plus one diesel generator for back-up, is the best design in terms of lower greenhouse gas emissions, higher renewable fraction, and reduced net present cost. This configuration is simulated and compared with diesel generators system using HOMER PROro software. The results enable to analyse the amount of emissions for both scenarios.

The fast expansion of ICT (information and communications technology) has provided rich sources of data for the analysis, modeling, and interpretation of human mobility patterns. Many researchers have already introduced behavior-aware protocols for a better understanding of architecture and realistic modeling of behavioral characteristics, similarities, and aggregation of mobile users. We are introducing the similarity analytical framework for the mobile encountering analysis to allow for more direct integration between the physical world and cyber-based systems. In this research, we propose a method for finding the similarity behavior of users’ mobility patterns based on location and time. This research was conducted to develop a technique for producing co-occurrence matrices of users based on their similar behaviors to determine their encounters. Our approach, named SAA (similarity analysis approach), makes use of the device info i.e., IP (internet protocol) and MAC (media access control) address, providing an in-depth analysis of similarity behaviors on a daily basis. We analyzed the similarity distributions of users on different days of the week for different locations based on their real movements. The results show similar characteristics of users with common mobility behaviors based on location and time to showcase the efficacy. The results show that the proposed SAA approach is 33% more accurate in terms of recognizing the user’s similarity as compared to the existing similarity approach.

This paper evaluates the feasibility of using wind power for power supply to coastal communities isolated from the main supply grid. The case study is Stewart Island, where the cost of electricity provided by a central diesel power station is higher than the grid network in New Zealand. The Princeton Ocean Model (POM) conducted by MetOcean Solutions Limited (MSL) is used to find Foveaux as an optimized site for generating wind power. Global Wind Atlas is used to plot the wind rose of current wind patterns in New Zealand. In the next step, wind speed data from each site are imported from the NASA database to WRPLOT view software and Homer Pro to find wind frequency distribution and output power in the area. The maximum annual power can be seen in WSW (32,299 kW hours/year), SW (20,111 kW hours/year) and W (15,622 kW hour/year) directions, respectively.

This paper evaluates the feasibility of using a hybrid system consisting of wind and tidal turbines connected to a microgrid for power supply to coastal communities that are isolated from a main supply grid. The case study is Stewart Island, where the cost of electricity, provided by a central diesel power station, is higher than the grid network in New Zealand. Local residents believe that reducing the consumption of diesel and having a renewable source of electricity generation are two of the island’s highest priorities. Merging a tidal energy source (predictable) with wind (unpredictable) and diesel (back-up), through a microgrid, may be a way to increase reliability and decrease the cost of generation. Several off-grid configurations are simulated using HOMER and WRPLOT software. Using two wind and four tidal turbines, plus one diesel generator for back-up, is the best design in terms of lower greenhouse gas emissions, higher renewable fraction, and reduced net present cost.

This paper is a review of multi-channel surface electromyography (sEMG) electrode used in the research for investigating the properties of muscles. Over 300 papers from five recognized journals were examined from the year 2000 to 2013 with only 64 stating the use of multi-channel electrodes in their research. The review determined that multi-channel electrodes can be classified as linear array or 2D array electrodes. The 2D array is the basis for developing the high-spatial-resolution sEMG (HSR-sEMG) or high density sEMG (HD-sEMG). The important factors considered in this review of the electrodes are: 1) the material used; 2) the inter-electrode distance; and 3) the configuration for the collection of the electromyography signals. The basic configurations of the sEMG electrodes are monopolar, bipolar, and double differential. It was found that the majority of the linear array electrodes were used to collect either bipolar or double differential signals. The 2D array electrodes were used to collect monopolar signals. The HSR-sEMG electrodes used a normal double differentiating filter, referred to as Laplacian configuration. The HD-sEMG has versatility being able to collect all types of signals, such as monopolar, bipolar, double differential, or signals filtered by Laplacian configuration.

This paper discusses implementing a Location-Aware Library RFID service employing Radio Frequency Identification as a communication technology. Automating a library system with passive RFID tag infrastructure is proven to be feasible, and can be achieved with even distribution of RFID Antennas, well designed RFID network, an appropriate middleware, and a library application with an accurate error function that minimizes the error in the detected location to an acceptable distance, for instance, 35 cm. The paper first discusses the effect of using RFID on the upper application and System layers. A simulation of randomly distributed tags with spatially distributed antennas is shown. Simulation results are provided to prove the validity of the proposed approach, which proves that adding a localization feature to the system layer is feasible with an acceptable error range that does not exceed 1.1%.