Repetitive movement can lead to the pain muscle, nerves, and tendons that cause by
repetitive overuse of working task. The muscle will fatigue due to; repetitive
movement, force that been applied, posture during working and duration of working.
The stress level during working can influent the energy performance usage during
working. The aim of this paper is to analyse the influence of heart rate and muscle
activity of workers in composite manufacturing towards muscle fatigue. The data was
collected for a worker in hand layup department and the Qualitative method was used
in a way to investigate the working load and level of pain received by their body. Then,
the Qualitative data was sorted and the respondent proceeded for a Quantitative
method which involves muscle activity analysis and heart rate analysis. The tools that
were used to conduct these experiments were surface electromyography (sEMG),
Wristwatch with chest strap and perceived stress scale (PSS). The experimentation
used to calculate the average reading of heart rate and muscle activity during working
and detect the duration the muscle to start fatigue. Moreover, this paper analysed the
relationship between heart rate and muscle activity through the duration of working.
As an overall finding of this research, it was shown that the heart rate of the workers
influence the muscle activity of workers and has high potential relationship to the
fatigue of muscles of the workers in the layup department.
Designing of autonomous navigation is very complex and challenging. The main motive
of the proposed research was to construct an autonomous robot which has a
proficiency to move in unpredictable and dynamic environments, and for that reason
the robot has to sense the environment and lug out the required tasks irrespective of
any hindrances in its working area. Applications of autonomous mobile robots can
include espionage, underground mining, military operations, driverless transportation,
identification of intrusion and protect missions, etc. Several various approaches have
been critiqued to perform such operability of robot but results proved that the Fuzzy
logic found to be the best for this kind of robotics operations because it has the
capability to respond meritoriously to the complex inputs. To refrain and bypass the
obstacles accurately and to attain the destination under various contour of obstruction
in surroundings, a fuzzy logic approach has been studied and carried out to advance
the motion of robot vigorously with less false alarm rate using ‘If-Then’ basic principle
fuzzy inference norms and defuzzification procedure for the accurate and precise path
planning and navigation of autonomous robot. The unmanned robot was furnished
with sensors (ultrasonic HC-SR04) which has the aptitude to detect the scope of
hindrances on the premise of how close or far the impediment is. To achieve this a
solitary board PC was utilized, to be specific Raspberry-Pi 2 model b which takes the
inputs from the sensors and maintain a strategic distance from the snags set in their
way lastly proceeds onward. Results proved that our designed robot is a cost-effective
solution performed better than the other techniques.
Muhammad Adil Khattak, Mohammad Azfar Haziq Ayoub, Muhammad Ariff Fadhlillah Abdul Manaf, Mohd Faidhi Mahrul, Mohd Ridwan Mohd Juhari, Mira Idora Mustaffa, et al.
Energy supply security is a vital aim of energy policy in countries across the globe.
Global energy security is one of the main concerns as it depends on the concentrations
of the energy supplies political pressure from energy exporters. In Europe’s case,
energy security has been of large concern by the gas crisis which resulted from gas
prices and debts that caused the halt in Russian gas flowing through Ukraine’s
pipelines. The crisis coincidentally happened during the increasing concerns in the
nationalism resource of energy exporters as well as the circumstance involving high oil
prices. Europe’s economies were a huge concern as it was susceptible of energy
exporters’ political pressure and the rivalry with the resource demanding China. Energy
security, however, is still confused as it is shown in political actions. The focus of energy
security in the U.S. has originally been to reduce the susceptibility of it towards political
manipulation and that has tipped the politicians to voice out for the independence of
energy increasing shares of renewable energy. The plan of energy independence in
Brazil, however, had come to a reality as there were timeframes of politician
represented a rising share in fossil fuel supply imports and lowered shares of
renewable energy as to encourage energy security. For other countries, the energy
security they went for was the protection of the poor in countering the products price
instability while others highlight the prominence of defending the economy in contrast
of the disturbance in energy service supplies which is done by letting the prices of
products to increase in times of shortage. The paper will define the energy security
better in terms of the European Union as to shed some light on the issue. It will review
the European Union and the global energy security whilst including the implication of
oil market which will be concentrated in terms of EU, elaboration of the energy security
of EU in context of foreign relation, the physical security issues and challenges faced
by EU, and the elaboration of energy policy of EU.
Electrical Discharge Machining, EDM is one of the technologies used for surface
texturing such as the embedded micro-dimples on the metallic acetabular cup. During
the machining process, changes in the gap distance may lead to load changes from
open to short circuit. Limiting the load current under short circuit conditions and load
voltage under open circuit conditions is the requirement in this system. Power supply
is one of the elements that controls the process parameters which is related to improve
the machining condition as well as Material Removal Rate (MRR). A considerable
number of power supply design method were proposed for various EDM application.
This research proposed a Switch Mode Power Supply method implementing new
design of Flyback power supply which can stabilize the voltage during open circuit
condition as well as during discharge condition. Experimental studies were conducted
to verify the capability of Flyback power supply by machining eight micro-dimples in
lower position and twelve micro-dimples in upper position, both in circular
arrangement on metallic acetabular cup. Research conducted shows that the Flyback
power supply improve the consistency of MRR when compared to Linear power supply.
This may help to predict the machining time, thus improving the production of microdimples
in required time.
Yeast growth and biomass production are greatly influenced by the length of the
incubation period during cultivation. Therefore, this study was conducted to
investigate the growth kinetics of five Lipomyces starkeyi strains as determined by
biomass production. The five L. starkeyi strains, namely L. starkeyi ATCC 12659, L.
starkeyi MV-1, L. starkeyi MV-4, L. starkeyi MV-5 and L. starkeyi MV-8, were inoculated
in sterilized Yeast Malt broth, and, incubated for 192 hr at ambient temperature.
Biomass yields were assessed and calculated gravimetrically every 24 hr. Results
indicated that the optimal biomass production of L. starkeyi ATCC 12659, L. starkeyi
MV-1, L. starkeyi MV-4, L. starkeyi MV-5 and L. starkeyi MV-8 were at 120, 168, 144,
168 and 120 hr, with the concentrations of 6.64, 6.43, 9.78, 11.23 and 8.56 g/L,
respectively. These results indicate that each L. starkeyi strain requires specific
incubation period for the optimum production of fungal biomass. Therefore, by
cultivating each L. starkeyi strain at the predetermined incubation period, biomass
yields could significantly be improved for further downstream applications such as
single cell protein and lipid production.
Mechanical responses and failure of fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composite
laminates could be predicted using the validated finite element (FE) simulation. The
material constitutive and damage models employed in the simulation are developed
based on the properties of the unidirectional lamina, including those obtained
through tension tests. Such computational model assumes perfectly aligned fibers in
the lamina. In this respect, this paper examined the effect of fabrication-inherited
fiber misalignment on the tensile response of the unidirectional lamina. For this
purpose, a series of tension tests are performed on unidirectional carbon fiberreinforced
polymer (CFRP) composite lamina specimens with different gage lengths
ranging from 50 to 150 mm. Fiber misalignment is quantified to be 7o and represents
the nominal deviation of the fibers from the reference longitudinal axis direction.
Load-displacement responses of the specimens are compared. Results show that the
nominal tensile strength of the lamina is 1089±33 MPa. The elastic modulus,
however, increases from 36.96 to 55.93 GPa as the gage lengths vary from 50 to 150
mm, respectively. This is due to the induced bending effects on the reinforcing fibers
that is greater for longer gage lengths. Multiple fiber fracture events, each is depicted
in a noticeable load drop, are recorded throughout the tensile loading of long lamina
specimens. Although the load at fracture is accurately reproduced by the FE
simulation using the damage-based mesoscale model, the effect of fiber
misalignment could not be captured.
Bioethanol is one of the leading alternative biofuel to fossil fuels and can be use in
existing gasoline engines without any major modification. Bioethanol can be
produced from sugar containing biomass fermentation using different potential
strains. In this study, the gram negative, facultative anaerobic, rod shaped strain
‘Zymomonas mobilis’ was used as microorganism to produce bioethanol from sugar
cane molasses using anaerobic fermentation. The study was conducted to investigate
the optimized conditions for production of bioethanol through batch fermentation
process. The fermentation unit was designed to determine the effect of process
parameters such as fermentation temperature, pH, sugar concentration and supply of
nutrients. The Zymomonas mobilis produced 9.3% (v/v) bioethanol by utilizing 16
g/100mL sugar with the fermentation efficiency 92.5%. The fertilized based nutrients
were supplied to enhance the production of bioethanol yield. The bioethanol yield
produced by using this strain in optimized conditions is in good compromise with
previous study and also compared with commercially available yeast strain.
Interest in Indigenous Knowledge (IK) system has been particularly highlighted in
flood disasters, due to the likely increase of flood events resulting from
anthropogenic climate change through heavy precipitation, increased catchment
wetness, and sea level rise. Therefore, bringing IK of flood risk reduction into focus
and context to deepen the understanding of how people manage their own changing
circumstances can bring more pertinent information about flood risk reduction. This
paper reviews the significance of IK in flood risk reduction. Specifically, the paper
discusses IK flood forecasting, early warning signs, adaptation and coping strategies
in flood risk reduction around the world. The Methodological approach employed for
this paper is the review of existing literature on IK in flood Disaster Risk Reduction
(DRR), and then a summary of the outcomes of the studies reviewed was discussed.
However, it was deduced from the review undertaken, the need for an intensive
empirical study to be conducted to explore how efficient these strategies or
techniques are, in relation to flood risk reduction, which this paper strongly
recommends for further investigation. Additionally, the paper concludes by
emphasizing that although the IK of flood risk reduction is embedded in varied
regions around the globe, still there is a need for further study to be carried out in
order to unveil why the similarities and variations in flood risk reduction
practices/strategies between regions.
Recently natural polyphenol compounds (PCs) of plants, gained wide consideration of
scientists, companies and public people because of its unique pharmaceutical and
preservative benefits in the physiological system. They can prevent mortal and serious
diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular and Alzheimer. However, defining a suitable
source of PCs and their proper, economic and efficient extraction method are still a
challenge. The aim of this study was to review PCs as an important antioxidant, the
significance of pomegranate as a source of natural PCs and its application in meat and
meat product. This study also covers different types of PCs extraction methods such as
solid-liquid extraction (SLE) method as a conventional extraction which using Soxhlet
apparatus and several solvents and advanced methods such as microwave-assisted
extraction (MAE), supercritical fluid extraction (SFE), accelerated solvent extraction
(ASE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and high hydrostatic pressure extraction
(HHPE). Simple and developed analytical method of PCs is also reviewed in the study.
SLE method is an easy and simple method but, it uses lots of chemicals and is not
suitable for all kinds of PCs extraction. UAE is using for quick extraction PCs, SFE is green
extraction method uses less solvent and have a good result but it needs high
technology. ASE method is a proper alternative for Soxhlet extraction method for its
quick result. MAE method has high extraction result but is not suitable for some
thermolabile PCs. Several parts of pomegranate showed antioxidant and antimicrobial
traits for shelf life extension of meat and meat product. Pomegranate peel is the
strongest antioxidant followed by pomegranate juice and seed. Pomegranate peel
prolonged chilled chicken meat shelf live up to three weeks.
Kaempferia galangal rhizome is one of the traditional medicinal plant species in
Zingiberaceae family and well known as “cekur” in Borneo. Rapid emergence of
multidrug resistance of V. cholerae biofilm has increased the failure of antibiotic
treatment in recent years. This research was designed to demonstrate the
antimicrobial activity of K. galangal rhizome extract against twenty six (n=26) V. cholera
biofilm which were isolated from outbreak in Limbang, Sarawak in 2016. K. galangal
rhizome was analyzed by methanol extraction and tested against biofilm of V. cholerae.
The susceptibility of V. cholerae towards K. galangal rhizome was evaluated using disk
diffusion method which showed a maximum zone of inhibition of 12.0 mm at 1000
mg/mL concentration. As a result, the MBEC50 of V. cholerae was between 125 mg/mL
to 250 mg/mL while more than 90% biofilm eradication (MBEC90) was achieved by 500
mg/mL extract concentration. Extract-treated cell showed change in the morphology
of V. cholerae by destruction of cell wall. K. galangal rhizome extract acts as a potent
antibiofilm agent with dual actions by preventing and eradicating the biofilm of V.
cholerae.
An investigation of bending loss characteristics of a Polymer Optical Fiber is presented experimentally. Loss of optical power in an optical fiber due to bending has been investigated for a wavelength of 650 nm. Variations of bending loss with different lengths have been measured, with a number of radii of curvature. Bending Loss equations for short length POF is proposed, which shows the dependence of bending loss on the curvature radii. The equations can be an initial reference or aid in predicting the loss contributes by the polymer optical fiber.
As the lighting load constituted amount of power in electricity system, improving of efficiency in lighting technology would make a beneficial to consumer, energy provider and environment. Consequently, majority of home lighting manufacturers were competing each other by improving and claiming their product as the best energy efficient lighting product. Knowledge or exposure regarding to lighting technology especially on energy efficiency, power quality and economy are an important issues to give awareness to user before buy or use the lighting product. Therefore in this research study, three types of lighting product such as energy saving incandescent lighting, compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) and solid state lighting (LED) were compared. Comparative parameters were collected from data provided by lighting manufacturer and experimental data conducted in laboratory using power quality meter and lux meter. Hence, these study discussed in term of economy, power and light quality and energy efficiency of the tested lighting product. At the end of this study, the best home lighting technology is determined successfully.
Flood mitigation and assessments are crucial in current time. The seasonal and nonseasonal of flood occurrence in Malaysia provide risk towards country growth and productivity. In this study, the flood pattern will be analysed by using correspondence analysis. The data involve the occurrence of flood based on month and locality from 2013 to 2018. The test of independence (χ2 test) between month and locality indicated independency among the variables (p=0.615). The symmetric plot suggested that Perak, Melaka, Selangor, Johor, Terengganu, Sarawak inclined to have flood occurrence during December to March, while Kedah and Penang during March. This analysis will help authorities to better planning flood mitigation accordingly.
A comfortable work space is important to produce productive work performance among workers. In Malaysia, the condition of office environment and its related issues on thermal comfort are fairly new. Past studies shown that the increment of energy consumption in high rise offices tend to increase dramatically. This is because the consumption of air condition for cooling accounts in office buildings had increased from 40% to 60% in recent years and the total electricity usage for office units also rises intensely due to urban heat island (UHI) resulted from modification of land surfaces. The objective of this paper therefore is to investigate the conditions and problems of existing prominent high rise office in Kuala Lumpur which is IBM Plaza and Menara Mesin Niaga in the scope of thermal comfort as well as describes an integrated passive design approach to reduce the cooling requirement for high-rise office building through an improved building envelope design using green technologies like external wall cladding following the GBI standard. This paper also attempts to get the user perception towards their existing workspace. For this purpose, case study as research strategy is adopted using mixed methodology combining qualitative and quantitative method under the framework of interpretivism and positivism research paradigm. Findings indicate that external wall cladding made of composite aluminium provides much advantages to the user. This study is important because appropriate design principles by adopting appropriate building envelope made of suitable material addressing ecology issues will not only provide a comfortable living environment to the users but also established referential guideline for future designers and scholars whom interested in office design.
Laterite soils are occasionally associated with geotechnical problems such as road deformation, erosion, settlement, dam seepage, slope instability, leachate permeation through hydraulic barriers, etc. Numerous soil improvement techniques were being applied to overcome these problems, including mixing the laterite soil with cements, limes, bitumen, chemicals, pozzolanas, etc. These additives may not be locally available and cheap, and could significantly increase the cost of construction. Likewise, in many cases, these stabilizing agents are not environmentally friendly. Different percentages of fines, sand and gravel in laterite soils exhibit different engineering characteristics and behaviour, making it difficult to obtain suitable and appropriate gradation for specific construction purposes. Thus, the essence of this review is to determine the fundamental engineering properties of laterite soil as a standalone material at different gradations to harness its potentiality for various construction purposes. It proposes step-by-step procedures on how to achieve a better soil by varying its gradation and moisture content. Laboratory testing in accordance with BS1377:1990 and ASTM D698 are adopted to examine the engineering characteristics with respect to hydraulic conductivity, shear strength, and volumetric shrinkage. In this experimental technique where molding water content and compaction energy are carefully controlled at different laterite gradations, the engineering design is anticipated to provide greater accuracy, safety, and sustainability.
Chitin is a biopolymer that forms the exoskeleton of arthropods, and found in the shells of crustacea and in the cell walls of certain fungi and algae. Commercially, chitin is obtained from processing the outer skeleton of crustacea such as shrimp, crab, prawn, and crayfish. Extraction of chitin was carried out using various chemical procedures. The study aim is to examine characteristic of chitin for different aging of Leucaena leucephala pods using hydrochloric acid (HCl). Different aging of the raw materials was used to study their effect of nitrogen content in the pods. In this study, chitin in Leucaena leucephala was extracted using chemical methods by using hydrochloric acid (HCl). The extracted chitin was then characterized by using elemental analyzer. The results obtained revealed that the percentage of nitrogen and carbon content in the samples was significantly reduced after extraction. Elemental analysis, the N% value in younger pods is closer to the theoretical value than adult pods. The purity of chitin in younger pods is higher than chitin in the adult pods.
Anaerobic wastewater treatment technology has become one of the most popular technologies due to its economic and environmental benefits. Therefore, a reliable method to study the specific methanogenic activity (SMA) of anaerobic sludge is presented using SMA test. This test helps to determine suitable organic loading rate (OLR) to the anaerobic process. Meanwhile, SMA act as a benchmark to the anaerobic system performance where a slight change in SMA stipulate the accumulation of inhibitory substances from influent wastewater. One of the possible substances that inhibit the anaerobic digestion process is the presence of excessive light metal ions such as sodium (Na+) from the wastewater. The objective of this research was to investigate the specific methanogenic activity of anaerobic sludge in anaerobic filter and anaerobic digester as well as to compare and analyze anaerobic methanogenic bacteria under the effect of potentially inhibitory compound in both anaerobic digester and anaerobic filter. Two sources of inoculums (one from the anaerobic digester and one from the anaerobic filter) were adapted with sodium with varied range of concentrations which was 0 to 5 g Na + /l, before conducting SMA test by means of pressure differences. For the anaerobic digester, the SMA varied from 0.25 to 0.31 g COD/g VS.day meanwhile for the anaerobic filter, the SMA varied from 0.40 to 0.51 g COD/g VS.day. The result obtained confirmed that sludge from POME have better tolerance towards sodium than influents from petrochemical wastewater.
In this paper, the water driving cycle had been chosen to determine and compare the component sizing of conventional boat and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Recreational Boat (PHERB) powertrains. PHERB is an improvement on conventional boat to reduce the fuel consumption and emissions. The locations of water driving cycle in this research are at Pulau Kapas and Tasik Kenyir, Terengganu. Boat energy and power requirement was calculated according boat parameters, specifications and performance requirements to study the differences component sizing of conventional boat and PHERB powertrains. Power flow analyses are used to decide the size and capacity of main components for achieving the design specifications and requirements of conventional boat and PHERB powertrains. The results for PHERB powertrain requirement using steady state velocity are 20 kW at 3000 rpm for Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), 30 kW for Electric Machine (EM) and 5 kWh for Energy System Storage (ESS). The acquired results show that the PHERB gained the most existing powertrains and has extraordinary potential in applications to marine transportation in reducing fuel consumption and emission.
This study aimed to integrate polyether sulfone (PES) membrane with hydroxyapatite synthesized from fish scale biowaste (HAp) to form ion exchange membrane. The PES incorporated by self-assembled with different concentrations of HAp solution; 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 wt%. The prepared ion exchange membranes were characterized regarding permeability coefficient, porosity, morphology, ion exchange capacity (IEC), AT-IR, and fouling analysis. The promising characteristics and outstanding performance demonstrated by PES membrane incorporated with 0.8 wt%. Via SEM images and ATIR spectra, the PES/HAp-0.8 membrane depicted the adequate number, well distributed and low agglomeration of HAp onto the membrane surface with a strong attachment. The membrane also demonstrated good ion exchange capacity around 49%. Permeability coefficient for PES/HAp-0.8 membrane was 101.5 L/m2.h with 87.69 % membrane porosity.
The plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) has received extensive attention due to the alternatives it provides for reducing the dependency on petroleum. Nowadays, many simulation software such as ADVISOR and AUTONOMIE, were built to help in PHEV research. In this paper, the effect of three main PHEV powertrains such as engine power, traction motor power and battery capacity on fuel consumption, electric consumption and carbon oxide emission is studied using AUTONOMIE. The simulation is designed and run using AUTONOMIE with example of commands used in MATLAB. The overall simulation results show that the fuel consumption decreases as the motor power increases with the same battery capacity and engine power. In additions, the simulation results also show that the electric and fuel consumptions are contrary to each other. Meanwhile, the carbon oxide emission and fuel consumption increase following each other’s.