Recently, the industry and academia there is significant activity in research and development towards the next generation micro and Pico cellular wireless Networks (5th generation). This paper presents, a structure design of microstrip patch antenna array operate at the central frequency of 28 GHz waveband is proposed. The patch antenna array consists of four elements with rectangular patch and uniform distribution. It has a compact size of 26.51 x 20.37 mm with operating frequency at 28 GHz. The inset feed technique is used for the matching between radiating patch and the 50Ω microstrip feedline. The proposed 2x2 antenna array successfully improve the antenna gain up to 8.393dB compare to existing CRLH TL CPW antenna with 2.99 dB, wideband antenna with 7.1 dB and 3.7 dB for broadband elliptical-shaped slot antenna. As a conclusion, the directivity of 10.13 db and efficiency is higher than 80% considered as a potential candidate for the 5G wireless networks and applications.
Body posture is one of the most important parts when lifting an object as it can causes injury if the wrong technique and body posture were used. A worker will injure their low back if a bad posture is not in consideration. A good body posture is recommended among workers to reduce the chance of injury while lifting and improve their postural safety. The main objectives of this study are to observe the body posture of the worker during lifting and study the comparison of using lower back support when lifting. It also investigates the muscle activity of the worker during heavy lifting using EMG and simulates the worker's movement using CATIA Software for Rapid Upper Limb Assessment (RULA) results. The selected grocery was chosen in Kota Samarahan, Sarawak with 7 male respondents are identified to undergo this study. The results show that the worker with lower back support tends to show raw EMG signal with lower muscle activity compared to without using lower back support. Thus, using belt support can reduce muscle activity by up to 67.4% compare to not wearing back support. Raw EMG signals also show 3010 amplitude (mV) muscle activity if postural safety of the workers improved by following the NIOSH lifting Recommendations.
Wireless communication is a technology that plays an important role in current technology transformation. wireless communication is a method of telecommunication that are available for transmitting large amounts of data, voice and video over long distance using different frequencies. Specifically, Low Noise Amplifier which is located at the first block of receiver system, makes it one of the important element in improving signal transmission. This study was aimed to design a microwave Low Noise Amplifier for Long Term Evolution (LTE) application that will work at 5.8 GHz using high-performance low noise superHEMT transistor FHX76LP manufactured by Eudyna Technologies. The low noise amplifier (LNA) produced gain of 17.2 dB and noise figure (NF) of 0.914 dB. The input reflection (S11) and output return loss (S22) are -17.8 dB and -19.6 dB respectively. The bandwidth of the amplifier recorded is 1.2 GHz. The input sensitivity is compliant with the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards.
Wheelchair has been an important assistive device and the demand are ever rising because of the increasing physically handicapped and old age populations. The recent development in the robotics artificial intelligence extends vast scope for developing the more advanced and intelligent one to overcome limitations of the existing traditional wheelchairs. The prototype smart wheelchair were present on this paper using hardware implementation with the help of simple hand gesture which is comprises of an accelerometer mounted on the hand glove senses the tilt angle of the user hand movements and transmits control signal to the receiver mounted on wheelchair. This will interpret the movement accordingly required by user. The wheelchair control unit is developed by integration of ATMEGA328 microcontroller with Arduino UNO. The wheelchair is developed to allow peoples to move safely and put reliability in accomplishment of some important tasks in daily life.
Driving posture is important to determine the comfortability of the driver. The purpose of this study is to investigate the muscle response in car pedal operation. To evaluate this response, 11 volunteers involved in simulated driving experiment using an electrical impedance myography to detect the muscle contraction of the lower leg, particularly at Gastrocnemius medial (GM). The driver requires to perform different pedal actions. The results depict that GM muscle shows different reaction according to pedal actions. According to these results, different degree of ankle angle lead to different muscle response. These findings help us to understand the effect of physical attribute related to muscle response and joint angle on driver during monotonous driving task.
This study investigates metal removal rate (MRR) of the biomaterial by using discharge machine Neuar CNC A50 Electrical Discharge Machine Die Sinking (EDM DS). The purpose of this study is to compare machining curvature cup for material SKD 11 and stainless steel with shape curvature cup acetabular. The result showed that electrode wear is higher when high current is applied. For each applied current 0.5A and 3.0A could result electrode wear of 0.236 mm, 0.246 mm and 0.269 mm respectively. Mean time of complete discharged for each pit with 0.3mm depth with supply 0. 5A is 6.51 minutes; 1. 5A is 3.54 minutes and 3A is 1.52 minutes. The biggest mean parameter of the pit is 0.356 mm, with 3A of current is applied. From this study, it can be concluded that low current set may give lower electrode copper wear. The experiment will help a researcher to discharge biomaterial types of metal with small size of copper electrode use of EDM DS Neuar for discharge multi hole or micro pit.
A biological method was employed to synthesize silver nanoparticles through marine diatom Amphora sp. Antimicrobial efficacy test against different pathogenic bacteria were performed through synthesized silver nanoparticles. The physio-chemical properties of synthesized silver nanoparticles were studied using analytical techniques such as UV-Vis spectrophotometer, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), EnergyDispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD). UV-Vis color intensity study and higher magnification of the Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy image showed the synthesized silver nanoparticles were rod shaped with a size range from 42 nm to 46 nm. The synthesized nanoparticles exhibited antibacterial activities in varying magnitudes. About 10 mg/ml of silver nanoparticles were able to inhibit the growth of gram-negative bacteria while gram-positive bacteria were resistant towards similar concentrations of silver nanoparticles.
The location of Sarawak State in the equatorial region makes it an area of high rainfall. For this reason, hydroelectric power plants have been built in several catchments in Sarawak, especially in the Kapit area. This needs to be harnessed to improve the economy and social living standards of the people of Sarawak in particular. This paper presents the land cover change by analyzing the stratification change for 30 years (1985-2018) at Bakun Dam, Sarawak. This study uses Landsat 5 and Landsat 8 satellite data. Both data have to go through pre-processing such as geometric, radiometric, and atmospheric corrections. In this study, Normalized Water Difference Index (NDWI) is used to classify water areas, built human areas, and vegetation areas. Overlay analysis was applied to identify areas that had changed over the 30 years in the study area. The results showed the greatest changes from vegetation areas to water bodies for 30 years. The results showed that the most affected land cover was forest cover with a reduction of 740 km², which shifted mainly to water bodies with 669.9 km² and human development with an area of 68.7 km². The study area is less populated and anthropogenic influences are rather low, but deforestation is observed in the upper river basin. These events would change the hydrological behavior of these catchments in the future. Land cover mapping is very important to provide information to those responsible for planning sustainable development. In addition, land cover maps are important for land use planning and land use regulation to avoid land-use conflicts.
A new innovation has been created which is called AUTOMATIC MEAT SLICING (AMS) MACHINE. The main purpose of the machine creation is to replace the old-style method in slicing the chicken meat to modern method. BABARITTOS DELIGHT supplies Tortillas Wrap to the latest trend of Food & Beverage (F&B) business called Food Truck. The main ingredient of Burritos is slices of boneless chicken meat, where each slice is approximately has to be 5 mm thick. Formerly, the slicing procedure used a normal cutting knife and its production rate was truncated as the demands of the Burritos are going higher by days. This method requires 3 to 4 workers to team up to complete the 30 kg boneless chicken meat to be cut into roughly 5 mm per slice within one and half hour. The AMS machine is predominant to help the company to grow the output of sliced meat and at the same time can reduce the number of workers. The usage of AMS machine is only required one worker for the operation and the output can be up to 30kg per 30mins, which is actually can end up almost 3 times quantity of output and 3 times labor cost-saving. Meanwhile the quality of the sliced meat is much enhanced as most of the slice meat is precisely 5mm thick. The AMS concept design is cutting the meat using several circular cutting blades, where the chicken will be put on the moving conveyor and finally will fall onto the hygienic tray.
Mesona palustris, colloquially known as ‘Black Cincau’, can commonly be found in East and South East Asian regions. Traditionally, M. palustris extracts have been used as herbal drinks to promote vitality and health. With advancements in technology, M. palustris may now be processed into more nutraceutical options, including edible jellies. Studies have also come up with efficient extraction processes to better characterize its chemical constituents. Containing phenolic compounds like flavonoid and tannins, M. palustris has recently been reported to yield many exciting pre-clinical observations that are comparable to bioactive metabolites found in plants from the same genus, including Mesona procumbens and Mesona chinensis, alongside unrelated herbaceous plant species which have been utilized as natural remedy options. Thus, this review discusses the recently observed pre-clinical applications of M. palustris by highlighting its ability in promoting antidiabetic, anticancer, and antihypertensive properties, which are closely tied to its antioxidative nature. Given the developing nature of M. palustris utilization in pre-clinical and possibly clinical research, more thorough characterization, pharmacological, and molecular studies should be conducted not only to avoid adverse risks or derogatory interactions with existing drugs, but also to properly direct its use as a nutraceutical agent for specific indications.
This paper is a review of the chemical and physical properties of coconut fiber in asphalt mixtures. Coconut fibers (CF) are natural fibers and also an agricultural waste, which is abundant after the extraction of juice and coconut fruit. Nowadays, CF has been studied for its potential use in the construction field to increase the strength of materials with its high tensile strength. Additionally, CF can also be one the materials in highway construction as it can improve the skid resistance of asphalt pavements. It was shown that CF treated with NaOH lowered the penetration value and increased the softening point of modified bitumen. Flow of bitumen also can be avoided at high mixing and compaction temperatures by adding 0.7% of CF.
Protease is an enzyme that catalysed the hydrolysis of protein into peptide. Application of protease in industry has been linked with cost effective substrates and complex of enzyme-substrate stability. Molecular docking approach has identified casein as a preference substrates. However, lack of data on casein mode of binding to protease and enzyme stability represents a limitation for its production and structural optimization. In this study, we have used a molecular dynamic (MD) to examine the stability of complex enzyme-substrate of protease from Bacillus lehensis G1. The 3D structure of protease (BleG1_1979) was docked with substrate casein using AutoDock Vina. Structural analysis of the substrate-binding cleft revealed a binding site of casein was predominantly at the hydrophobic region of BleG1_1979. The MD of complex BleG1_1979-casein was tested with two temperatures; 298 K and 310 K using GROMACS v5.1.4. MD simulation showed a stable behaviour of BleG1_1979 over the 20 ns simulation period. The molecular docking and MD simulation suggested that the production of protease from B. lehensis G1 by utilization of casein and the stability of complex protease-casein could be a potential application to generate a cost effective enzyme to be develop for industrial use.
Several foot deformities have been identified in Malaysian women due to wearing shoes which do not fit the size and shape of their feet. Hallux valgus (bunions), corn, cellules and ingrown toenail are among the common deformities experienced by Malaysian women. The root of this issue is that the Malaysian footwear market has adopted foreign shoe size standards such as those from the US and UK. This means that Malaysian women face difficulties in obtaining correctly-sized shoes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to develop and propose a standard shoe sizing system for women in Malaysia based on anthropometric measurements of Malaysian women’s foot sizes and shapes. Women from Malaysia’s primary ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) aged 20 to 60 years old participated in this project, where the anthropometric measurements for their foot size and shapes were obtained using a 3D foot scanner. Regression analysis in the form of Generalized Linear Model (GLM) was performed to determine the association between a few attributes including foot measurements and the existence of the foot deformities. Foot length and Ball girth circumference have significant association with the foot deformities (FL: p = .028 and BG: p = .045). The new standard shoe sizing system has been developed ith more accurate sizes and shapes, it is hoped that the foot deformities problem could be solved or at least reduced the foot pain.
The purpose of this paper is to prepare a conceptual framework of hybrid lean and ergonomics for assembly manufacturing process based. The research used PDCA approach as a basis in linking the relationship between lean manufacturing and ergonomics. Comprehensive literature review identify the lean ergonomics issues, best practices, and also the way to improve the ergonomic conditions in the workplace, especially those impacting employees on the assembly process. The findings show that the job design strategies for reducing extreme injuries influence by repetitive tasks. Selections of lean tools and technique, human factors analysis and lean performance measure are the key point on the stages of the PDCA conceptual framework for lean ergonomics in working assembly process. This paper also demonstrates by continuous improvement applied between the elimination of waste and increased productivity and the impacts on the ergonomic conditions to carry out operations and consequently by improving the productivity and well-being of its employees based on implementation of PDCA conceptual frameworks.
The aluminium-silicon (Al-Si) based on Metal Matrix Composites (MMCs) is widely used in lightweight
constructions and transport applications requiring a combination of high strength and ductility. A grain
refinement plays a crucial role in improving characteristics and properties of Al alloys. In this investigation,
titanium diboride (TiB2) and scandium (Sc) inoculants were added to the Al-Si alloys for grain refinement of
an alloy. In this investigation, the corrosion resistance rate of Al-Si cast alloy reinforced by TiB2 and Sc were
measured by potentiostat (AUTOLAB) instrument. The aim of this research is to investigate the corrosion
rate for Al-Si-TiB2-Sc composites that immersed in different concentration of acidic solutions. Besides, the
immersion time of acidic solutions also was investigated. All the samples were prepared accordingly for
ASTM standard by the composition of 6.0 wt% TiB2 and 0.6wt% Sc. All the samples undergo cold mounting
technique for easy handling on corrosion tests. Then the samples were immersed in two different
concentrations acidic medium solutions, which were 0.1.and 1.0 M hydrochloric acids (HCl). The corrosion
rate also was investigated for immersion samples of 1.0 M HCl for 21 days. From the results obtained, added
TiB2 and Sc onto Al-Si alloy gave the better properties in corrosion resistance. Corrosion rates to reduce when
the samples were immersed in a lower concentration of acidic medium, 0.1 HCl. However, there are some
significant on the result but it still following the corrosion rates trend. Thus, improvements to reinforcement
content need to be done in further research to cover the lack of this corrosion rates trend.
The changing trend towards the use of natural ingredients in product formulation has becoming very significant nowadays. Herbal products have gained increasing popularity in the last decade, and are now used by approximately 20% of the population and contribute to the health care of our people. The natural products global trade is projected to be over RM2 trillion by the year 2020 as more people are turning to herbal-based products as nutritional and dietary supplements; an alternative to the conventional therapeutic medicine. Therefore it is hoped that the utilisation of natural ingredients could be capitalised for the mass production of herbal based products. Malaysian herbal product market is experiencing tremendous growth. Malaysia's rich tropical biodiversity is a reliable source for natural health products, and the Government is now addressing its full potential. Although herbs are often perceived as “natural” and therefore safe, many safety issues and side effects have been reported owing to active ingredients, contaminants, or interactions with modern drugs. Before herbal-based products are commercialized, several processes/steps which are critical aspects of the development and marketing of product must be addressed. Thus, there is an urgent need to conduct experimental research to provide scientific evidence in terms of safety, efficacy and quality of herbal medicines. In addition the plants as sources for new lead structure for drug development especially the active compounds that are beneficial for human health requires further investigation.
This research presents an improved and more effective approach for data acquisition of recirculation aquaculture system (RAS). The previous research, the system uses manual methods to take the important data from RAS and it wastes the time and also gets late response from the fish farmer if the data is not in the good condition. As a result, fog computing technology is applied to overcome all these problems and acts as advance data acquisition system to keep data safely by sharing the processed data in fog computing for every tanks and analyze the data to make an accurate control/decision in the real time. Besides, open source technology plus embedded system based will be integrated for this research because its benefits such as small size, low cost, light weight, portable, high efficiency and low power consumption. This research has achieved the objectives which are design a data collecting system for RAS, design a data processing system using fog computing and integrate, test and validate automatic data collection and processing strategy for recirculation aquaculture system (RAS). The data collecting system for RAS, RaspDAQ is developed by connecting Raspberry Pi 3 to temperature sensor (LM35DT) using analogue digital converter (ADC) MCP3002, water level sensor (HC-SR04), Rpi camera module, LEDs and buzzer. Software and program are built using Python and Apache server to run every functions of RaspDAQ. While third Raspberry Pi 3 is setup as data processing system, RaspFog using PHP, Apache and MySQL server. Both RaspDAQ and RaspFog are based on Raspbian operating system. After that, RaspDAQ1 and RaspDAQ2 are connected to RaspFog using WiFi technology to send sensors data in real time. The received data are stored and plotted using Highcharts.com graph. The data collecting system, RaspDAQ and data server and processor, RaspFog has been tested and validated. At the same time, users can see the graph output in the real time for temperature, water level sensor and real condition using Rpi camera module of RaspDAQ1 and RaspDAQ2 by browsing RaspFog website. From the observation, data has been transferred from RaspDAQ to RaspFog in a short duration which is less than 15 seconds. Consequently, the efficiency of data acquisition process has been improved from manual system to fog computing technology successfully.
Environmental indoor air quality is one of the major concerns in occupational safety and health issues related to workers. Nowadays, the evolving of Internet of Things (IoT), the monitoring of the surrounding environmental desired parameters is more fascinating with the use of various sensors. Real time data now can be monitored with the Wi-Fi connection where the data being transfer across the network cloud with different platform service. This research focus is on the environmental monitoring for indoor air quality in terms of carbon monoxide (CO) in selected palm oil mill factory. This project aims to benefit the workers in a way where air quality is monitored. This low-cost device air quality monitoring (LCDAQM) used an ESPduino-32 to collect and process sensed data to the ThingSpeak platform service that can be monitored through web based or apps. The level of the carbon monoxide (CO) will light up the red LED when reach more than 50ppm which was set by OSHA. Result shows that level of CO in factory is unhealthy and need future engineering control action. The validation between LCDAQM and RS CO meter show the percentage error of 14.41%. Therefore, this study will help workers and factory to monitor and reduce the occupational safety and health (OSH) related problems to indoor air quality in factory.
Layered double hydroxide (LDH)-based nanocomposite, created by interacting LDH with another nanoparticles usually applied in the area of environmental, catalytic, industrial and biomedical field. In this study, a new herbicide delivery system was developed through the intercalation of Magnesium Aluminiumlayered double hydroxide (MAN host) with 4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (4-CPA). This intercalation was done by using co-precipitation method at pH 10 with different concentration of 4-CPA which were 0.5 M and 0.7 M. The successful intercalation was obtained at 0.7 M Magnesium Aluminium-4-chlorophenoxyacetic acid (MAC) and had been confirmed through several analysis. Firstly, the XRD pattern shows expansion of basal spacing shifted from 8.9 Å to 9.3 Å. This result supported by the FTIR-ATR spectrum that shows the disappearance nitrate peak (NO3 - ) and appearance of carboxylate ion (COO- ) peak at 1596 cm-1 . Furthermore, this intercalation was validated with the result of surface morphology by FESEM. The controlled release study of 4-CPA from 0.7 M MAC shown sodium carbonate solution released the percentage of 4-CPA higher than tap water. This study has signifies MAC as a safer agent of agrochemicals by reducing the dosage of herbicide in the agriculture field and protect the herbicide through encapsulation system.
Unmanned air vehicles (UAV) have been used for many years and it mainly focus on military purposes. Numerous UAV development have been popular worldwide because the low in development cost, operating cost and ability to provide accurate surveillance information and it is a better option for performing reconnaissance missions in hostile environment. However, in the past years a new type of UAV has appeared that possessed lighter weight and smaller in size and it is categorized as a micro unmanned air vehicle (μ-UAV). Although the non-autonomous ready-to-fly tailless μ-UAV exists among local universities, the development of non-autonomous ready-to-fly tailless μ-UAV is still open to be explored. Thus, this project demonstrates the development of the non-autonomous ready-to-fly tailless μ-UAV named as Neo-Ptero. A special CNC hot wire cutter machine was used in the Neo-Ptero fuselage and wing development in which has evidently produced high accuracy of shapes and geometry based on the CAD design. A 3D printing process was used to produce few parts in the Neo-Ptero μ-UAV model. The model was equipped with on shelves RC components for future flight testing purpose. The actual Neo-Ptero weigh around 1.3kg and has a wingspan of 120.6cm.