Table of Content Page

Keynote Speaker Session 1 3-8

Keynote Speaker Session 3 9-14

Civil Engineering 15-46

Chemical Engineering 47-79

Mechanical Engineering 80-130

Electrical Engineering 131-150

Biomedical Engineering & Health Science 151-163

Computer Engineering 164-181

Engineering Education 182-192

Civil / Mechanical Engineering 193-197

Keynote Speaker Session 1

COLD-FORMED STEEL USAGE FOR CONSTRUCTION: MAY NOT BE COLD ITEM ANY LONGER

ASSOC. PROF. DR. ARIZU SULAIMAN

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Associate Research Fellow of Construction Research Center (UTM-CRC). Specialize in Analysis, Design and Construction of Steel Structure , Hot-Rolled and Cold Formed Steel, and Steel Connections

ABSTRACT

Cold-formed steel (CFS) sections are usually used as secondary elements in comparison to the hot-rolled steel (HRS) sections. This may be due to the fact that typical cross sections of CFS sections are light and thin which in turn create a perception that CFS sections would not be able to sustain larger loadings. However, through the advent of researches and innovations, nowadays, this cold perception may no longer be true. This keynote paper is intended to show some of the efforts and few of the potential usages of CFS sections. A scenario of light- gauge construction of a house is demonstrated. In comparison to the conventional construction, the construction of the house using CFS sections is found out to be more efficient in terms of the reduction in time and cost. In addition, a few evaluations of experimental works carried out at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia are also presented. The findings can provide some insights to the ability of CFS sections to be utilized as main load carrying elements or components. The first is the experimental investigation of composite beam-to-column joint formed by a composite concrete slab and two lipped CFS C-sections placed back-to-back as beam and column. The second is the experimental investigation of load bearing composite wall frame, while the third is the reinforced concrete beam with CFS section as reinforcement. As the bare CFS sections might not have higher resistance, a composite action with the concrete is utilized and expected to enhance the load carrying capacity and offer significant performance of the joint, the wall and the beam. In the first experiment, two specimens namely the composite joint and non-composite joint are constructed and tested until failure under a point load at a certain eccentricity from the face of the column to induce moment to the joint. The relationship between the load and deflection, and subsequently, the moment and rotation of the joints are obtained, specifically, the ultimate load and the respective moment resistance. As for the load bearing wall, several configurations of CFS frames were cast with concrete and tested under compression. The relationships between the load and lateral deflection were the main results obtained. In the third experiment, two different arrangements of CFS sections have been placed as reinforcement in concrete beam. Tested under bending, the load-deflection relationship was obtained and subsequently the ultimate load. From all of these experimental investigation, it is found out that i) the composite joint yields higher ultimate load and moment resistance compare to the non-composite joint, ii) the wall with vertical studs can carry higher ultimate load, and iii) the CFS sections placed back-to-back yields significant increase in the flexural resistance of the beam. All of these results, collectively, indicate further that the composite construction between CFS sections and concrete could offer potential and significant benefits. In conclusion, based on the efficiency in constructing the light-gauge structure and the potential enhancement of the load-carrying capacity mentioned, the CFS could be another hot item in construction and may not be regarded as cold any longer as the name literally stated.

POLY (LACTIC ACID): POLYMER FOR THE FUTURE

PROF DR AZMAN HASSAN

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Awarded with the Top Research Scientists Malaysia (TRSM) by Akademi Sains Malaysia (ASM)

ABSTRACT

Bio-based polymers are materials such which are produced from renewable resources and currently hold a small fraction of the total global plastic market. The worldwide interest in bio- based polymers has accelerated in recent years due to the desire and need to find non- fossil fuel- based polymers. One such bio-based polymer which is also biodegradable is polylactic acid (PLA), which is derived from sustainable resources. Due to the good mechanical strength and low toxicity, PLA is considered to be a potential replacement for petroleum based plastics used for various commodity applications. Although PLA has been the focus of much research for nearly decades, their production has still not reached the level of PE, PET and PP due to cost. Lactic acid is not as readily available compared to the starting materials used for current plastics. Despite PLA’s shortcomings, interest in this material has not waned due to its faster degradation time compared to current plastics, which is believed to prevent its accumulation in our environment if implemented on an industrial scale. The other weaknesses of PLA are poor thermal properties limit its applicability at high temperatures, and brittleness. Therefore, further developments are still required before PLA can replace existing plastics. Many researches have been reported on the modification of PLA to further enhance the properties; overcoming the weaknesses without compromising its inherent outstanding properties like good mechanical performances and biodegradability. This presentation will highlight on efforts to reduce the cost of PLA to make it more competitive compared to the commodity synthetic plastics. Besides that, investigations on overcoming the brittleness and poor thermal properties will be discussed. The other important property which is important for PLA to be accepted in many engineering applications is good flame resistance. This aspect will also be covered in this presentation.

INTELLIGENT DISTURBANCE OBSERVER-BASED CONTROL FOR DISTRIBUTED FORMATION OF QUADROTORS

ASSOC. PROF. DR. ABDUL RASHID HUSAIN

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Member of IEEE | Specialize in industrial precision molding and IC trimming process

ABSTRACT

A quadrotor is known to be sensitive to external disturbances due to its small size and lightweight. This is particularly more critical when multiple quadrotors are flying simultaneously (smarm) in formation close to each other as the disturbances could cause a collision between the quadrotors. In this work, the design and analysis of distributed formation controls with disturbance rejection capability of swarm quadrotors perturbed by external disturbances are discussed. This covers the control scheme that consists of two control loops: inner-loop control and outer-loop control. In the inner- loop control, the feedback linearization technique is employed to linearize the nonlinear quadrotor dynamics. However, the presence of external disturbances may cause inexact linearization resulting in an unknown disturbance.

Thus, an improved disturbance rejection, namely intelligent disturbance observer-based control (iDOBC), is implemented in the outer-loop control to estimate and reject the unknown disturbance parts. The iDOBC consists of a disturbance observer (DO) that estimates the unknown disturbance part and augmented with a radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) compensator. In this work, the RBFNN is utilized to improve the disturbance rejection by compensating the estimation error produced by DO when estimating time-varying disturbances. The iDOBC is augmented with distributed formation regulation (FR-iDOBC) and formation tracking (FTiDOBC) control to improve the robustness of the formation control algorithms by using the consensus-based algorithm that only requires local neighbour-to-neighbour communication. The main merits of the proposed methodologies are twofold: the disturbance estimation and rejection using iDOBC requires no prior knowledge of the disturbance, and the introduction of decoupling gain in the formation controls for design flexibility. Several simulation case studies are carried out to show the efficacy of the proposed algorithms.

CELLULAR AND AUXETIC STRUCTURE MATERIALS: CONTEMPORARY AND ADVANCE SOLUTIONS IN MECHANICS

ASSOC. PROF. DR. SOHAIB ZIA KHAN

Islamic University Madina (IUM) Saudi Arabia | Lead team of Mechanical Engineering for ABET accreditation. Author of multiple journals and conference papers. Research interest include Mechanics and characterisation of Materials, laser- materials interaction, additive maanufacturing and Nano- materials

ABSTRACT

To get the best utilization of material with less relative density or weight ratio, cellular or porous structures are considered one of the promising candidates. Cellular structures have tunable properties and thus have multiple applications in thermal and thermo-fluid, materials strength, acoustic, biomedical, shock and energy absorption, and other areas. These structures are broadly categorized as ‘irregular cellular structure’ and ‘regular cellular structure’. Irregular cellular structures have random connecting lines or surfaces attached to create porosity in the materials. For example, traditional foams. Regular cellular structures can be classified as ‘periodic’ and ‘non- periodic’ cellular structures. The periodic cellular structures have regular or identical structures of repeating unit cell. Either the least volume or the most basic connecting links or surfaces define the unit cell. For example, Triple Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMS). In addition, traditional cellular structures can be also modified to change behaviour. Auxetic materials are an exceptional class of materials having a negative Poisson’s ratio, which mean when a tensile force is applied in the axial direction, the dimensions of both the axial and the transverse direction increase and vice versa. Thus, auxetic materials due to this behaviour enhance and/or alter physical and mechanical properties of overall structure. The keynote presentation will cover these aspects and future direction of research in the area of these modified structures.

REAL TIME HUMAN RESPIRATION CARBON DIOXIDE MEASUREMENT DEVICE USING SIDESTREAM TECHNOLOGY

ASSOC. PROF. IR. DR. MALARVILI BALAKRISHNAN

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Founder and Head of Biosignal Processing Research Group (BSP- RG) | Recipient of Outstanding Woman in Health and Medical Sciences at 4th Venus International Women Award 2019

ABSTRACT

Development of a human respiration carbon dioxide (CO2) measurement device remains a demanding research to evaluate the cardio-respiratory status of human beings since last decades. Hence, we report a real time, highly reliable, quantitative CO2 measurement device based on infrared CO2 sensor, Arduino Mega2560, and thin film transistor (TFT, 3.5”), incorporated with low pass (cut-off frequency,10Hz) and moving average (span,13) filters. The developed device measured the features such as partial end-tidal carbon dioxide, respiratory rate, inspired carbon dioxide and activity that annotated with a date and time received from real-time clock and stored into the secure digital (SD) card. Further, it was tested on 22 healthy subjects and performance (reliability and relationship) of each feature was established using, (1) intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), (2) standard error measurement (SEM), (3) smallest detectable difference (SDD), and (4) Pearson’s correlation (r). The SEM, SDD, and ICC values for inter- and intra- rater reliability were less than 5% and more than 0.8, respectively. Besides, we found that PetCO2 and RR (r, -0.69) and RR and activity (r, – 0.65) are negatively while PetCO2 and activity (r, 0.84) are positively correlated. Thus simultaneous measurement of these features may assist clinicians in understanding the subject’s cardiopulmonary status.

Keynote Speaker Session 3

NEW-OLD TEACHERS-TEACHING METHODS QUADRANT TO SUPPORT 21 ST CENTURY ENGINEERING EDUCATION

ASSOC. PROF. DR. MOHD KAMARUDDIN ABD HAMID

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Deputy Director of Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT) UTM | Awarded with Engineering Education Teaching Award 2017

ABSTRACT Engineering schools today are facing challenges they have never faced before to produce graduates who are relevant in the 21st century. Today’s engineers are entering into a world marked by rapid and global change, exponential advancement in information and computer technologies, complex ethical issues, borderless global competition, changing demographics, sustainability, and a multitude of problems that only emerged in the new millennium. Just as business as usual will not survive in the 21st Century, education as usual will also not get us there. This presentation briefly explores challenges in global engineering practice in the 21st century especially in preparing future ready engineering educators. A New-Old Teachers- Teaching Methods quadrant has been proposed and used in monitoring the current status of our future ready engineering educators and way forward.

SMARTBINS SOLUTION: FROM ACADEMIC TO COMMUNITY FOR MANAGING AND MONITORING WASTE

ASSOC. PROF. DR. MOHAMMAD NAZIR BIN AHMAD @ SHARIF

Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) | Active in the fields of Ontology and Knowledge Management | Authored at least 126 publications

ABSTRACT

Waste management can be generally understood to mean the collection, transportation, treatment and disposal of garbage, sewage, and other waste products; along with relevant monitoring and regulation activities. In other words, it encompasses all processes and resources related to proper waste material handling, monitoring bin collections, and maintaining waste transport trucks and dumping facilities, in compliance with health codes and environmental regulations. With a focus on the bin collection process, systematic monitoring is an important aspect of waste management. Successful collection of bins depends greatly on effective coordination and communication; as performed by a number of stakeholders which include contractors, collectors, inspectors, finance officers and waste managers. Poor monitoring and coordination between these stakeholders can result in inaccurate contractor payments, indecision regarding the termination of incompetent contractors, increased community complaints, difficulties in auditing bin inventories, and insufficient tracking efforts. All this can lead to integrity and transparency problems faced during collection activities. Another related issue is that monitoring decisions are usually made based on the individual experience and domain knowledge of relevant managerial personnel. Unfortunately, this shared knowledge is not well captured, nor explicitly represented. Therefore, effective knowledge management is crucial in the Waste Management (WM) domain. Accordingly, this presentation proposes the Smartbins solution, for streamlining and enhancing the bins collection process; currently being used by the Kemaman Municipal Council (KMC). It has been consequently leveraged for all local councils in Malaysia’s Terengganu State (1Terengganu). This project has been implemented as part of the Smart Community program under the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC), representing the first such innovation proposed for Malaysia’s local councils. SILICA AEROGELS FROM AGRO WASTE RICE HUSK FOR ENGINEERING APPLICATIONS

ASSOC. PROF. DR. MUHAMAD AZIZI BIN MAT YAJID

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Active in the area of materials engineering | Published more than 50 indexed papers

ABSTRACT

Silica based aerogels may not be a very new discovery as the first of its kind were synthesized in 1930’s. However, in the field of material sciences, this material is one that is currently gathering momentum and one that is still actively being researched with incremental innovation around it happening progressively. Silica aerogel is derived from silica gel in which the liquid component of the gel has been replaced with a gas. The result is an extremely low density porous solid with several remarkable properties, most notably its effectiveness as a thermal insulator. Conventional silica aerogels available in the market are derived from chemicals (e.g. silicone alkoxides). These raw materials, although it offers high quality silica aerogels, are eventually less sustainable, costly and unfriendly to environment. The high cost of current commercial silica aerogels is prohibitive to cost sensitive industries such as housing. As an alternative, the technology of producing silica aerogels from rice husk was patented in 2007 by a group of Malaysian researchers headed by Prof. Dr. Halimaton Hamdan of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). Rice husk is an abundant agro-waste in Malaysia and laboratory proven as a good alternative source of highly active silica for the production of a variety of nanostructured materials. In this presentation, the research and development efforts involved in the production and application of rice husk derived – silica aerogels were highlighted. With its unique properties of being extremely lightweight, vast suitable applications already discovered for this material as a thermal insulator and the potential markets look promising especially for energy efficiency and sustainability. Three (3) research areas were explored; first is the optimization of the silica aerogel synthesis toward commercialization, with the aims of reducing the overall cost while obtaining optimum properties. Second is the application of silica aerogel particles (i.e. granules) as a porous filler in polymer matrix composites for thermal insulation application. To preserve its unique properties, the aerogels was physically modified into core-shell structure. The last but not least is the development of lightweight silica aerogel composite panel which can be used in construction. With its exceptional abilities to insulate most occupied space while offers fire protection, the impact on sustainable construction technologies is very significant.

SUSTAINABLE ADSORPTION FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT IR. DR. MUHAMMAD ABBAS AHMAD ZAINI

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Director of the Centre of Lipids Engineering and Applied Research (CLEAR) in UTM | Research revolves around adsorbent and activated carbon synthesis for wastewater treatment.

ABSTRACT Adsorbent is used as a solid medium to attract the target solute to its surface. The process known as adsorption has been widely used in wastewater treatment, water purification and air pollution control. Adsorption can take place through several routes and mechanisms, depending on the physicochemical properties of adsorbent and solute, that bring about the adsorbent-solute interactions in water contaminants removal. This presentation introduces adsorption phenomenon and mechanisms that are supported with relevant theories and experimental data. It highlights the compilation of Author’s experience and publications over the past 11 years.

UNDERSTANDING FIRST FLUSH IN URBAN RUNOFF

DR. NORALIANI ALIAS

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) | Published more than 30 Scopus-indexed papers | Research interest is in urban water quality, flood modelling and groundwater contamination

ABSTRACT Urbanisation process can have a positive impact in terms of socio economic development. However, urbanisation negatively impacts on the water environment in both quantitative and water qualitative terms. In terms of water qualititative, increase in anthropogenic activities within an urbanised area leads to the generation of high amounts of pollutant build up on the impervious surface and will be washed off during the storm event. The first flush phenomenon during wash off process is an important parameter in designing effective stormwater treatment. Therefore, in depth understanding of first flush behavior which are responsible for the accumulation and transport of various pollutants in the urban environment is important. The first flush behavior was investigated in urban residential area in Gold Coast, Australia and also a small catchment in higher learning institution in Johor, Malaysia. Several water quality parameters were tested such as Total Suspended Solids, Total Dissolved Solids, Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorus and Zinc. The influence of catchment and rainfall characteristics on first flush behavior was investigated. Therefore, PROMETHEE and GAIA was adopted in order to achieve the objective. The results show that rainfall pattern and location of the pollutants source play an important role on first flush behavior.

Civil Engineering

CAN COLD-FORMED STEEL SECTION BE USE AS A SUSTAINABLE STRUCTURAL MEMBER IN BUILDING & CIVIL ENGINEERING CONSTRUCTIONS? A MINI REVIEW

Mustapha Muhammad Lawan1, Poi-Ngian Shek2 and Mahmood Md Tahir3

1 Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Wudil, Kano State, NIGERIA. 2-3UTM Construction Research Centre, Institute for Smart Infrastructure and Innovative Construction, School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Baharu, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Cold-Formed Steel (CFS) section for several decades was not considered as a structural member in building and civil engineering constructions due to inadequate technical information available about its usage, despite the potentials it demonstrated as proven by current research studies. Therefore, this paper aimed at demonstrating the structural capability of CFS section as a sustainable structural member in building and civil engineering constructions. Some research studies conducted reported in this paper shows the possibility of CFS section to be utilized as a structural member in the construction industries. Results from the research studies reported shows that flexural capacities were found to be increased when the CFS section was integrated compositely. In conclusion, and as demonstrated in this paper based on the studies reported, the CFS section can be employed as a sustainable structural member in small and medium size buildings, civil engineering and in lightweight industrial constructions.

Keywords: Cold-formed steel section; Sustainable construction; Sustainable structural member; Flexural capacities; Structural member

THE FIBRE SHEAR SUPPLEMENT OF PRECAST BEAM HALF JOINT USING STEEL FIBRE SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE

Nor Fazlin Zamri1, Roslli Noor Mohamed2 and Izni Syahrizal Ibrahim3

1-2 Department of Structure and Materials, School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3Forensic Engineering Centre (FEC), Institute of Smart Infrastructure & Innovative Construction (ISIIC), School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

A series of experiments were performed on shallow recess (SR) and deep recess (DR) half joint beams to examine the partial reduction of reinforcement with 1% replacement of steel fibre. As the end region of these beams experienced multiaxial stress actions, which requires high amounts of reinforcement, hooked-end steel fibres were mixed into all beam specimens to partly replace the secondary shear and bursting reinforcement. All SR and DR beams were then tested under shear load to study the effectiveness of steel fibres over traditional reinforcement in resisting loads, with two different shear span-to-depth ratios. The experimental shear strength fibre supplement results for the SR and DR beam specimens were compared with theoretical predictions using the analytical and RILEM methods. The inclusion of 1% steel fibre was effective in replacing 50% of horizontal and vertical reinforcement in SR and DR beams. In general, it is found that both the analytical and RILEM methods give a close approximation for the experimental DR beam specimen values, but slightly overestimated the fibre shear supplement of SR beam specimens by was 13.4%. The results support the ability of steel fibres to resist tensile stress through its fibre- bridging action

Keywords: Precast beam half joint; Shear strength, Rilem method; Steel fibre; Self- compacting concrete

PULLOUT BEHAVIOUR OF RIBBED BARS IN SELF-COMPACTING CONCRETE WITH STEEL FIBERS

Nelly Majain*1, Ahmad Baharuddin Abdul Rahman2, Azlan Adnan3 and Roslli Noor Mohamed4

1-4 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This research mainly focuses on the bond performance between ribbed bars and the Self- Compacting Concrete with Steel Fibers (SCCSF). The ribbed bars diameter were 12 mm, 16 mm and 20 mm. The steel fibers used in this study were the hooked end type with 35 mm length and an aspect ratio of 63.6. An investigation was conducted on the pullout behaviour of different bars diameter embedded at a depth of 5 times the bar diameter in SCC, SCCSF and Normal Concrete (NC) by using the direct pullout test method recommended by RILEM RC6 Part 2. A total of 10 specimens with a dimension of 200 mm cube were prepared and tested for the pullout test. It was found that the addition of steel fibers in SCC help to increase the bond behaviour between ribbed bars and the surrounding concrete by providing confinement in concrete that increases the ductility and prevents concrete from splitting. It was also observed that the bond stress could only be determined for specimens with 16 mm diameter rebar in which the confined specimen acquire ultimate bond stress of 28.35 MPa. The intended pullout failure modes were not attained for the specimens with 12 mm and 20 mm diameters rebars which suggested that the embedment length should be shorter than 5 times the bar diameter.

Keywords: Pullout, Self-Compacting Concrete, Steel Fiber, Bond Stress

TOWARD GREEN CONCRETE FOR BETTER SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENT USING WASTE CARPET FIBERS AND PALM OIL FUEL ASH

Hisham Alabduljabbar1, Hossein Mohammadhosseini*2, Mahmood Md. Tahir3 and Rayed Alyousef4

1,4 Dept. of Civil Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, AlKharj, Saudi Arabia. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 2,3Institute for Smart Infrastructure and Innovative Construction (ISIIC), School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The utilization of industrial waste in the production of sustainable construction materials has attracted much attention recently due to saving a necessary place for landfills, low-cost of waste materials and also an improvement in the concrete properties. This study presents the outcomes of an investigational work that addresses the physical and mechanical properties of green concrete comprising waste polypropylene carpet fiber and palm oil fuel ash (POFA). In this study, six fiber volume fractions of 0-1.25% with the fibers of 20 mm in length were used for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) concrete mixes. Another six mixes were cast, whereby 20% POFA replaced OPC. It has been found that carpet fibers, together with POFA reduced the workability of concretes. The experimental results also revealed that the combination of carpet fibers and POFA enhanced the long-term compressive strength of concrete. At 365 days, the compressive strength was in the range of 43-54 MPa. The combination of waste carpet fiber and POFA, therefore, increased the tensile and flexural strength of concrete. The effects of POFA on the strength gain of concrete were to be more noticeable at ultimate curing ages. The outcomes of this study showed that there is a promising future for the consumption of industrial waste carpet fibers together with POFA in the production of green concrete as structural components.

Keywords: Sustainability; Concrete composites; Waste polypropylene carpet fiber; Palm oil fuel ash; Physical and mechanical properties.

SUPPLY OF SKILLED WORKERS TOWARDS IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS DELIVERY IN NIGERIA

Mohammed Isah Leje*1, Abdullah Fadhlin2, and Bandi Shamsulhadi3

1 Department of Quantity Surveying, The Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger State, NIGERIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 2, 3 Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Skilled workers are potentially useful for increased productivity, work quality, and overall delivery of construction projects. Despite these roles, the demand for skilled workers in Nigeria construction industry outstrips the supply. Hence, this study aims to determine the significant factors impeding the supply of skilled workers towards improved construction projects delivery. Data for this study was collected through self-administered questionnaire on a stratified random sample of four major construction professionals organization in Nigeria. 290 valid questionnaires were analyzed using Standard Multiple Regression (SMR) to determine the most significant factors impeding the supply of skilled workers. The results of SMR indicates that poorly equipped training workshops, government policies on construction organization, low remuneration of skilled workers, health and safety issues on construction sites, high mobility of skilled workers, absence of clear career path of skilled workers and diminishing building trades training programs are the most significant factors impeding the supply of skilled workers. The findings are focused to assist construction stakeholders on the supply of skilled workers in order to improve the delivery of expected infrastructural developments in Nigeria.

Keywords: Construction sector, Skilled workers, Supply of skilled workers, Construction projects delivery

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF CONCRETE WITH ARABIC GUM BIOPOLYMER

Abdeliazim Mustafa Mohamed1, Mohd Azreen Mohd Ariffin2, Hichem Smaoui3 and Mohd Hanim Osman4

1,4School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 1College of Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, Al-Kharj, SAUDI ARABIA. 2Forensic Engineering Centre, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3 Faculty of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, SAUDI ARABIA. 3 University of Tunis El Manar, National Engineering School of Tunis, Lab: LR11ES16, Tunis, TUNISIA.

ABSTRACT Arabic gum biopolymer (AGB) has demonstrated the good potential to be used as a water-reducing admixture in concrete to enhance its physical and mechanical properties as well as durability performance. The utilization of AGB in concrete is an attractive because of technological, economic, and ecological advantages. This paper highlights the results of an experimental investigation on the performance of concrete incorporating AGB as an admixture. Six mixes with different percentages of AGB varying from 0 to 1.1% were cast. The specimens were cured in water and tested for fresh and hardened properties. The studied properties included soundness, ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV), compressive strength, and acid resistance. It was observed that the addition of AGB significantly reduces the soundness of concrete. By adding AGB the compressive strength of concrete was enhanced by 8% to 41 MPa and UPV values were increased by about 40%. Also, the resistance of concrete containing AGB to acid attack was higher than that of plain concrete. X-ray diffraction was preformad to help explain the inflence of AGB on the macroscopic behavior of concrete. The findings of study demonstrated that there is a promising future for the use of AGB as an admixture in the production of concrete with adequate mechanical and durability properties.

Keywords: Arabic Gum Biopolymer, Concrete, Soundness, Ultrasonic pulse velocity, Acid Resistance.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF VOLUNTEERING BODIES IN ASSISTING THE AUTHORITIES IN ROAD REPAIR WORKS

Mohd Rayme Anang Masuri*1 and Muhammad Syarifuddin Zainal2

1-2 Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This study highlights the effectiveness of volunteering bodies in assisting the authorities in road repair works. The study was done through qualitative method by which eight respondents from authorities, member of volunteering bodies and road users in the district of Kinta, Perak participated in the interviews. This study consists of three phases consisting identification phase (problem identification and research design), data collection phase (participation selection aand interview) and analysing phase (analysis and discussion). Thematic analysis was done resulted the emergence of four main themes namely the role of volunteering bodies, strategic cooperation, safety issues and the role of authorities. Each main theme established total thirteen subthemes. The analysis shows that the volunteering bodies have positive impact in improving the level of safety of the road users. The authorities acknowledged their contribution and strategic collaboration should be established.

Keywords: Authorities, volunteering bodies, road repair, accident, safety

THE EFFECT OF FLY ASH AND SILICA FUME ON SELF- COMPACTING HIGH PERFORMANCE CONCRETE

Falmata Audu*1, Mustapha, Arizu Sulaiman2, Roslli Nor Mohamed3 and Shettima Ali Umara4

1-3 School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4 Department of Civil Engineering Technology, The Federal Polytechnic Damaturu, Yobe State, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This work is carried out to gain a better understanding of the effect of fly ash and silica fume on fresh properties and compressive strength of self-compacting high-performance concrete (SCHPC). SCHPC is concrete that possesses the adequate self-compact ability (filling ability, passing ability, and segregation resistance) of the self-compacting concrete (SCC) and the high strength and good durability of the high-performance concrete (HPC). The paper focused on the feasibility of substituting the ordinary Portland cement with waste supplementary cementing materials (SCMs) to decrease the abundant disposal of fly ash. This could reduce the high cement content and chemical admixtures usually used in the production of SCHPC and also making the waste more economical and ecologically friendly. To achieve the set objective, SCHPC with partial replacement of Portland cement with ASTM C618 class F fly ash (FA) and silica fume (SF) were used in exploring the fresh properties and compressive strength of SCHPC mixes. Six (6) different mixes were made with 0%, 25%, 40%, 50%, 65% and 75% cement replacement by FA and SF. However, SF was maintained at 10% constant replacement. The water/binder (w/b) ratio was fixed at 0.31 for all the mixes. Test on fresh concrete such as Slump flow, L-Box, and V- funnel was conducted to assess the fresh properties of SCHPC. Compressive strength test was determined on concrete cubes of 100 mm2 at curing ages of 7 and 28. The results of slump flow, passing ability and viscosity of SCHPC in this research work indicates that it satisfied the requirement of the Specification and Guidelines for Self-Compacting Concrete (EFNARC). Maximum compressive strength of 87.06 MPa was achieved by the blend of 40%PC; 50%FA; 10%SF at 28 days curing age, that is 5% higher than the control specimen with compressive strength of 82.39MPa.

Keywords: Self-compacting high-performance concrete, Fly ash, Compressive strength, Silica fume

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF GREEN CONCRETE COMPOSITES COMPRISING METALIZED PLASTIC WASTE FIBRES AND PALM OIL FUEL ASH

Rayed Alyousef1, Hossein Mohammadhosseini*2, Mahmmod Md. Tahir3 and Hisham Alabduljabbar4

1,4 Dept. of Civil Engineering, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, AlKharj, Saudi Arabia. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 2,3Institute for Smart Infrastructure and Innovative Construction (ISIIC), School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia (E-mail:[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Amongst the potential solutions to a cleaner environment is to minimize the consumption of non- biodegradable materials and to reduce wastes. The generation and disposal of waste plastics cause severe impacts on the environment. The utilization of solid waste in the sustainable constructions has concerned much attention due to the lower cost of wastes along with saving a necessary place of landfills. The current paper investigates the feasibility of utilizing metalized plastic waste (MPW) fibers used for food packaging and palm oil fuel ash (POFA) in concrete in terms of physic-mechanical properties. Six fiber volume fractions of 0-1.25% were used for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) mixtures. In addition, the same dosages of fibers were used in mixes with 20% POFA. The results show that MPW fibers, together with POFA reduced the workability of concretes. It has also been found that by adding MPW fibers to the concrete mixtures, the compressive strength decreased for both OPC and POFA mixes at the early ages. Though at the longer curing time, say 91 days, the mixes contain POFA attained compressive strength higher than those of OPC mixes. The mixture of MPW fibers and POFA subsequently enhanced the tensile and flexural strengths, thereby increasing the ductility. The study revealed that the MPW fibers are potential to be used in sustainable concrete by improving the mechanical properties.

Keywords: Sustainability; Concrete; Palm oil fuel ash; Waste metalized plastic fibers; Physical and mechanical properties.

SUSTAINABILITY CONSTRUCTION ASSESSMENT OF CONCRETE PREFABRICATED PREFINISHED VOLUMETRIC (PPVC): LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT

Ali Tighnavard

Structure and Materials Department, School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. Tel: +60136743818, (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Since buildings account for a substantial portion of environmental burdens, this study intends to examine the environmental performance of modular facilities over their life cycle. Environmental performance is one of the most significant dimensions leading to sustainability. Off-site module construction has recently been gaining a lot of attention in academic research and the industry. The fundamental aim of this research is to conduct a life cycle assessment (LCA) on concrete Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric Construction (PPVC). PPVC technology is still in its infancy stage in many parts of the world especially in Malaysia and other neighboring countries such as Singapore. PPVC is a method in which freestanding volumetric modules complete with finishes for walls, floors, ceilings, ceramic tile, sanitary and others are prefabricated, and then transported on-site to be erected. This technology is different from other conventional methods as all the construction activities are carried out in the factory before having the volumetric transported to the site to be erected. A “cradle to grave” LCA is applied on the PPVC case study building. The finding from the construction process shows that concrete structure wall produces the highest carbon emission in all categories followed by roofing structure and coating in second and third place respectively. On the other hand, the result of the construction material assessment shows that concrete, interior wall panel and ceramic tile produce the highest carbon emission in all categories.

Keywords: Concrete Prefabricated Prefinished Volumetric (PPVC), Environmental Assessment, Life Cycle Assessment

POTENTIAL OF WATER PIPELINE BURSTING USING STOCHASTIC APPROACH IN GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM

Azne Hazira Sukor1, Shahabuddin Amerudin*2 and Zainab Mohamed Yusof3

1, 2 Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected]) 3 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

A pipe bursting is one of major problems in water distribution systems. This problem resulted in losses, particularly in water wastage or shortage and infrastructure damages. Futhermore, several organisation and authorities do not have systems or database for the water management monitoring, leading to a difficulty in monitoring and update the pipelines condition. Geographical Information System (GIS) can help to develop geospatial database for the water distribution network; to determine the high potential of pipe to be burst and identify the areas affected by the pipe failure. In this study, potential of pipe to be burst is determined using a stochastic approach to get the probability of the potential failure, which based on four factors; age, pressure, material and diameter of the pipe. A valve isolation trace function from ArcGIS is then used to determine the area affected from the pipeline failure. Maps of high potential pipeline bursting and the affected areas were produced from the analysis. The findings could help the management to monitor the conditions of the water pipeline regularly, detecting early warning, preparation for the pipe’s replacement and notify to the residents to make initial preparations if the pipe has a potential to burst.

Keywords: GIS, Water pipeline, Pipeline burst, Valve isolation

BEHAVIOUR OF PERFORATED BUILTUP COLD-FORMED STEEL SECTIONS WITH EDGE AND WEB STIFFENERS

K. J. Abd Hamid1, S. Saad2, H. Abdul Hamid3, N. Mohsan4, S. I. Doh5, N. A. Muhamad Khairussaleh6 and Z. Zakaria7 1,5-7Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology,Universiti Malaysia Pahang, 26300 Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang, MALAYSIA. 2,3School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. 4Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Mara Cawangan Pahang Kampus Jengka, 26400 Bandar Pusat Jengka, Pahang, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the experimental investigation of various perforation positions influence on C- sections cold-formed steel with edge and web stiffeners assemble as built-up open section subjected to axial compressive load. The built-up sections been setup as back-to-back by using self-tapping screws connected at web on two longitudinal lines of 100 mm spacing. The sections is then fabricated as 600 mm short column structures with both ends are fix-welded to 20 mm thickness of bearing supports. Total of 16 nos of specimens consist of both conventional and modified 1.2 mm thickness built-up C-sections with the sequence positions of elongated circle perforations whether as absent or present as in single or multiple openings. The strength of the columns as the results of ultimate load by caused of the location of perforation even if at middle section or near end section are tabulated. The results show that the establishment of stiffeners may increase the strength of the column. However, the effects of perforation when as a multiple openings and the position is closer to the support will reduce the strength.

Keywords: Cold-formed steel, Column, Stiffeners, Built-up, Perforations

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DELAY, ACCEPTED GAP AND CIRCULATING FLOW AT ROUNDABOUT

S. F. Azhari1, S. A. Hassan2 and O. C. Puan*3

1-3 School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSA. 1 Building and Road Research Institute, University of Khartoum, Khartoum, SUDAN. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Capacity and delay are critical parameters to evaluate roundabout performance. This paper is attempted to investigate the influence of circulating traffic flow and gap acceptance on roundabout delay. All the data related to the analysis were gathered at a three-leg roundabout located at Kulai in Johor using video camera technique. The data were analyzed using a regression analysis technique:simple regression and multi-linear regression. The simple regression results show there is an exponential relationship between the delay and circulating flow and a power relationship between the accepted gap and delay as well as between accepted gap and circulating flow. The result of the multi regression between the delay, circulating flow and accepted gap gives high R- value. Despite the high R-value, the p-value of the circulating flow and accepted gap were found higher than 0.05 at 95% confident level; due to the high correlation between circulating gap and the accepted gap. This result can be used as a basis in developing a delay model for the roundabout in Malaysia, taking into account the influence of the drivers' behavior

ESTIMATION OF DEBRIS FLOW SEDIMENTATION VOLUME THROUGH NUMERICAL MODELLING

Heirlina Mawarni Jamri 1, Siti Norafida Jusoh*2, Aminaton Marto3, and Kamarul Azlan

Mohd Nasir4

1 Malaysian Public Works Department, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2 Department Geotechnics and Transportation, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 3 Department of Environmental Engineering & Green Technology, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 4 Department Water, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Implementation of potential debris flow hazard in Malaysia has been conducted by Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR) in 2011. However, evaluation of this hazard level cannot deny the consequent to the nearest facilities. Thus, run-out analysis based on numerical modelling is easiest and competent way to evaluate the risk level. This paper presents a study on debris flow sedimentation volume with and without sabo dam by numerical simulation using Kanako 2D software. Kanako 2D software is widely being used in Japan and it is equipped with graphical user interface (GUI). A crossed verification upon numerical modelling and actual field data collection, and mitigation situation model that include sabo dam has been conducted. Result showing that Kanako 2D software has a precise output where the sedimentation volume is slightly higher around 5-15 %. It also proven that sabo dam can reduce the impact of debris flow because it can bear the sedimentation volume about 91%. In speeding up the process of setting landform in Kanako 2D, it recommended to use GIS to generate the appropriates data. Thus, a laser scanning of topographical data is required.

Keywords: debris flow, Kanako 2D simulation, debris flow sedimentation volume, sabo dam

POST-REMEDIATION ASSESSMENT OF TONGA-GURU ARTISANAL GOLD-MINING VILLAGE FAMILY HOUSES, ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA

1Hassan I., 2Girigisu S., 3Lawal S., 4Ahmad G., and 5Isa B.K

1Department of Physics, Zamfara State College of Education, Maru, NIGERIA. 2Department of Physics, Federal College of Education (Technical), Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 3Department of Physics, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 4Department of Chemistry, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 5Department of Chemistry, North-West University, Kano, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT:

Contamination by Heavy metal (HM) and accumulation poses serious problem to associated environment due to the toxicity and non-biodegradable properties. An assessment of soil contamination of family compounds in artisanal mining district of Tonga-Guru was undertaken to determine the post-remediation status of the said village. The village had been cleansed of Lead poisoning by chelation and soil remediation in 2011. In this study, nine soil samples were randomly collected from selected family compounds in the village. The samples were subjected to x-ray fluorescence analysis at Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The result indicates that the mean concentrations of these heavy metals were ranked: Fe >Mn >Zr >Pb >Sr >Co >As > Ni> W > Hg >Th >Mo > U while Au and Se were below detection limits. More than half of the elements present here are at relatively high concentration with Fe, Mn, Zr, Pb, Sr, Co and As at resounding peak values compared to the others. The contamination levels revealed by the contamination factor and geo-accumulation index shows that Ni, Co, Fe, U, Sr, Zr and Mo showed moderate contamination. W, As and Pb are at moderate to strong contamination levels. This has a lot of implication on health of community settlers. Recommendations were made on re-orientation of the settlers on hazards of mining and needed protection against communal contamination.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Contamination Factor, Geo-accumulation Index, X-ray fluorescence analysis

PERFORMANCE OF MR-DE`DUSTER IN CAPTURING LOW DENSITY PARTICULATE

Norelyza Hussein*1, Mohd Rashid Mohd Yusof 2, Nor Ruwaida Jamian3, Nor Hasyimah

Hashim 4, Che Hafizan Che Hassan5, and Nur Syamimi Zaidi6

1, 6 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 2, 3, 4 Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, UTM Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, Kampung Datuk Keramat, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 5 Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Water Security (IPASA), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

A newly multi-cyclones named MR-deDuster is developed to capture particulate emission from potential industries. This study aims to assess the performance of MR-deDuster in capturing low density particulate. The tested particulate used in the study is PreKotTM (proprietary of AMR Sdn. Bhd), which is a low density particulate available in the market and commonly used as a pre- coating material with particulate density of 747 ± 2.2 kg/m3. Fractional collection efficiency, overall collection efficiency, cut diameter (dpc) and stack concentration were used to determine the performance of unit. The study indicates the unit able to capture about 88% of low density particulate at volumetric gas flow rate of 0.19 m3/s. The study has shown that collection efficiency of MR-deDuster increased as the volumetric gas flow rate increased. However, as the volumetric flow rate of gas was further increased to 0.21 m3/s, the collection efficiency of the unit was reduced. The optimum collection efficiency was observed to occur at volumetric gas flow rate of 0.19 m3/s.

Keywords: Air pollution, Cyclone efficiency, Multi-cyclones, MR-deDuster, Low density particulate

ASSESSMENT OF BRIDGE DECK MOVEMENT UNDER THE IMPACT OF ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS AND TRAFFIC LOAD

Trung-Hieu Ha1, Tien-Yin Chou2 and Yao-Min Fang3

1Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, College of Construction and Development, Feng Chia University, TAIWAN. 1Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Transport and Communications – Campus in Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM *E-mail: [email protected] 2,3GIS Research Center, Feng Chia University, Taichung, TAIWAN

ABSTRACT

The Bridge Health Monitoring (BHM) system has become crucial for long-span bridge structures. This study aims to assess the bridge deck movement based-on GPS time series data and environmental data obtained from BHM system. The correlation and regression analysis are utilized to find out the pairwise relationship between the bridge deck movement in all directions and environmental factors as well as traffic load. The result shows the highest correlations in bridge deck vertical movements, the symmetrical oscillation in different parts of bridge deck and it also reveals the impact of air temperature change, wind velocity and traffic vehicle on bridge deck movement in all directions.

RISK ASSESSMENT OF DESIGN COMPONENTS OF BUILDING CONSTRUCTION

Alusine Barrie1 Jafri Mohd Rohani2, Kamarizan Kidam3, Mohammad Ismail4, Noor Nabilah Sarbini5, Hanafiah Kamarden6, Kherun Nita Ali7, Hamizah Liyana Tajul Ariffin8, Norhazren Izatie Mohd9, Nur Emma Mustaffa10, Samsiah Abdullah11, Muhammad Syaiful Ahdat M Fetri12, Ramuseren13, and Nazruddin Ali14

1-6 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia 7-11 Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. 12-13 Construction Industry Development Board, Tingkat 23, Sunway Putra Tower, No 100, Jalan Putra, 50350, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. 14Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Blok D4, Komplek D, Pusat Pentadbiran Kerajaan Persekutuan, 62530, Putrajaya, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Lack of designer’s knowledge of construction safety risks and HSE personnel’s knowledge of structural designs and means and methods of construction have been highlighted as major barriers to the implementation of design for construction safety. These barriers often result in poor collaboration among designers and HSE personnel in addressing safety issues that lead to accidents and frequent work stoppages. This study explored the ability of HSE officers, engineers and superintendents to recognize and assess risk associated with constructing structural components of a building (foundation, columns, walls, beams and roofs). The objective was to determine how concensus is risk perceived among the three groups of field personnel. The paper used a quantitative methodology that evaluate safety risks related to performing construction activities to supports designers carry out construction designs using a risk assessment–based approach. The methodology compares cumulative risks of five designs and ranks the severity level of each design. The methodology also compares risk perception among HSE personnel, engineers and superintendent. Using this method of risk assessment will identify significant risks during design stage and highlight them in advance, thus, a range of risk elimination or mitigation measures will be implemented before and during construction. The study was done with a survey questionnaire and 40 construction field personnel (12 HSE, 14 superintendents and 12 engineers) were asked to evaluate risk’s level of severity and time of exposure for each activity. Data collected were analysed with SPSS Statistics using descriptive statistics, general linear models (Multivariate) and Bivariate correlations (Pearson and Spearman). The results of the analysis showed that roof construction was perceived to have the highest risk followed by beam, foundation, wall and column. The differences in risk perceptions among the respondents were found to be non- significant statistically.

Keywords: Risk Assessment, building construction, structural components, design for safety, field personnel

PRELIMINARIES ITEM: ESTIMATE OR GUESTIMATE?

Fara Diva Mustapa*1, Intan Fatin Syazwani Azinal Abidin2 and Muzani Mustapa3

1-3 Department of Quantity Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Preliminaries in Bills of Quantities outlined by Malaysian Standard Method of Measurements of Building Works 2 generally covers preliminaries items such as contract particulars, works, goods and materials by others, general facilities, obligation and contingencies. It comprises of several important measurable and non-measurable items which are usually found to be most difficult and randomly priced out of all items in the BQ. It was found that an accurate estimation of preliminaries not only helps to improve the chance of success in bidding, but also serves as a profit centre for the contractor. However, many contractors often overlook the importance of preliminaries. This is due to its small percentage contribution in the contract sum. This research aims to explore the most priced items and its value in the preliminaries made by the contractors and also to determine how the contractors priced their preliminaries items. This research was conducted through a mixed method approach through 203 document survey and interviews which is known for its suitability for social science research. The findings indicates that items like signboard, superintending officer’s site office and temporary power and water supplies are the most priced items in the preliminaries. This suggests that the nature of direct costs which is tangible, are the most priced items in the preliminaries as the estimation can be referred from similar previous projects. The findings also revealed that less priced items are usually derived from the indirect costs items which reflect the intangible nature of the items. This is supported from the research interviews where majority of the contractors utilizes their good experience and understandings on the conditions of contract to estimate the preliminaries items.

Keywords: Preliminaries items, Estimating methods, Price bidding

PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES OF GREEN MATERIALS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF LOW-COST BUILDING IN NIGERIA

Shogo Musbau Adeniyi*1 and Sarajul Fikri Mohamed2

1Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Environmental Studies Federal Polytechnic Offa, Kwara State. NIGERIA. 2Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying University Tecknologi MALAYSIA. Correspondence author *[email protected], Phone Number: 08167084766 and +601161242629

ABSTRACT

Housing plays an essential role in the wellbeing of people because it is the only place where people can fall back to relaxed and re-calibrated to put body and soul together. Thus, this paper been part of the more extensive study is on prospects and challenges of green materials an alternative material to provide housing for the low-income earners at affordable price in the developing countries such as Nigeria. The approach used to carry out the research is gathering information through the primary and secondary source. Four hundred structured questioners were designed and administered to the experts in the building industry out which 305 were considered usable after the data screening on the subject matter. The analysis was carried with statistical package for social science (SPSS) 23 software, the results from the response received reveal that relevant green materials have the following advantages affordability, renewability and naturality, free from volatile organic compound, durability among others. On the other, it has hitches of human neglect, lack of information, socio-economic influence, climate and weather influence among others.

Keywords: Housing, Green materials, Affordable, Re-calibrated and Nigeria

EFFECTS OF THE INTENSITY OF DESIGN LIVE LOAD ON THE SEISMIC RESPONSE MODIFICATION FACTORS OF RC FRAMES

Sophia C. Alih*1, Mohammadreza Vafaei2, Issa Ghanim3, and Mohammad Alhariri4

1 Institute of noise and vibration, School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2-4 School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: vafaei@utm,my, [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Seismic response modification factors that include the response modification factor (R), the overstrength factor (Ω), and the displacement amplification factor (Cd) play a significant role in the seismic design of structures. The recommended values for these factors in seismic design codes are empirical and do not account for the differences in the intensity of the design live load in structures. This study investigates the change in the value of these factors as a result of the change in the intensity of the design live load. For this purpose, eighteen reinforced concrete frames with the different number of stories and ductility classes were designed and analyzed. Nonlinear static analysis was used in order to calculate the capacity curve of frames and their seismic response modification factors. Results indicated that the values of Ω and Cd for both low and high-ductile RC frames decreased slightly as the intensity of design live load increased. Increase in the intensity of the design live load increased the R-factor in the high-ductile RC frames.

Keywords: RC frames, Response modification factor, Displacement amplification factor, Over-strength factor, Pushover analysis

DEVELOPMENT OF LIGHT TRANSMITTING CONCRETE - A REVIEW

Shing Mei Chiew1, Izni Syahrizal Ibrahim2, Noor Nabilah Sarbini3, Mohd Azreen Mohd Ariffin4, Han Seung Lee5 and Jitendra Kumar Singh6

1-4 Forensic Engineering Centre (FEC), Institute of Smart Infrastructure & Innovative Construction (ISIIC) School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. 5,6 Innovative Durable Building and Infrastructure Research Center, Hanyang University, Ansan, KOREA.. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper provides an overview on the development of Light Transmitting Concrete (LTC). Concrete is improved in terms of transparency by installing optical fibres into the concrete. The application of LTC in building enables light transmisson, which reduces light energy consumptions and carbon footprint, providing a more sustainable living environment. This paper also discusses the current development and application of LTC. Some of the previous research regarding the microstructure and mechanical properties of LTC in terms of compressive strength, flexural strength, and light transmittance properties are also discussed. Since LTC is still a new type of building material introduced in the construction industry and most of the current applications are more focused on aesthetic purpose, further research and investigation on the structural performance on LTC is required. There is also a research potential on the application of LTC on civil and infrastructure in terms of traffic safety.

Keywords: Light tansmitting concrete, Optical fibre, Green building, Mechanical properties

MULTI-POLLUTANT APPROACH TO MODELLING OF CONTAMINANTS FLOW IN SURFACE AND GROUNDWATER: A REVIEW

Saadu Umar Wali1 and Noraliani Alias2

1-2 Department of Water and Environmental Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected]; [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Pollution of surface and groundwater is largely caused by anthropogenic activities and the natural geogenic processes. Most of the contaminants in surface and groundwater have a common origin. The aim of this review is to highlight the importance of multi-approach modeling of pollutants which is required for various reasons, owing to the existing of different types and sources of water pollutants. We attempted a systematic review to assess the current progress in modeling water pollution using multi-approach methods. Research articles were selected from Scopus, Web of Science and other databases systematically. The articles were further refined based on the selection criteria set in Figure 2, and finally, 11 published articles were chosen and employed for the review process. Results showed that (9) out of the eleven (11) chosen studies have applied some forms of multi-approach modeling methods to examine pollutants in surface and groundwater. Results also suggest that there is an increased concern on understanding how pollutants are transported from sources to surface water and how impurities are transported to groundwater aquifers by infiltering surface flows.

Keywords: Groundwater contamination, Surface water filtration, Analytical models

CONSTRUCTION TENDER PRICING STRATEGIES IN TRADITIONAL PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

Liew Mei Qi1, Zuhaili Mohamad Ramly2, Hamizah Liyana Tajul Ariffin3,

Norhazren Izatie Mohd4 and Mohd Azwarie Md Dzahir5

1-5 Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The fundamental activities carried out by a contractor are estimating and submitting pricing proposal, therefore contractors are required to make decision during pricing of Bills of Quantities (BQ) regarding the most suitable pricing strategies to be applied. Despite numerous of research has been carried out to identify effective pricing strategies to allow competitive pricing, contractor choose no strategies but relied on their instinct and feeling at the moment of pricing. Thus, it poses an interest to investigate the current pricing strategies used by contractors in Malaysia. This research is conducted to identify the current pricing strategies used by contractors and to determine the internal and external variables in making pricing strategies decision. Target respondents for this research are restricted to estimator in Grade 7 contractors in Peninsular Malaysia. Semi- structure interviews were successfully carried out. Content analysis method is used to analyse the obtained data. The findings show that the tender pricing strategies currently adopted by contractors are cost based pricing strategies, hybrid pricing strategies and the combination of cost based and historical price based strategies in which the three pricing strategies used are cost oriented. On the other hand, top management decision and company strength and weaknesses are the two internal variables in making pricing decision. Besides, the external variables in selection of pricing strategies is owner’s characteristics. Conclusively, this research can enhance the understandings on tender pricing strategies and outline the viable alternatives way to have a better position in project bidding.

Keywords: Bidding, Pricing Strategies, Procurement, Construction

INTEGRATED TRANSPORT SYSTEM: CHALLENGES AND POTENTIAL TOWARD SUSTAINABILITY IN THE MALAYSIAN TRANSPORT SYSTEM

Munirah Musa*1, Nor Fazilah Hashim2 and Rahimah Muhamad3

1-3 Faculty of Technology and Informatics Razak, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Integrated Transport System (ITS) is the technology of utilising intelligent application in management of transportation systems. Generally, ITS involves the merging of various transport systems of multiple types of transportation, and managing the movement of the cargo or passengers according to data collected, in terms of destination, congestions, routing and costs, to name a few. The idea behind ITS is to facilitate a better experience for moving of cargo and passengers, by integrating suitable modes of transport, based on real-time data of the best available routes, time and cost. ITS also aims for better comfort and efficiency, to beat the typical adverse effects of transport systems, particularly congestions, delays, and subsequent wastes such as pollutions to the environment. This paper examines trend of ITS in Malaysian, particularly in the Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley area, the potential and benefits that ITS can bring to improve on the current transport system.

Keywords: Integrated Transport System, transportation, challenges, potential

A REVIEW OF FACILITIES INFORMATION REQUIREMENTS TOWARDS ENHANCING BUILDING INFORMATION MODELLING (BIM) FOR FACILITIES MANAGEMENT (FM)

Muhammad Zia-ul-haq Muhammad1 and Muzani Mustapa2

1,2 Department of Quantity Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected] and [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Digital technologies are being utilized with a view towards optimizing building lifecycle management. Building Information Modelling (BIM) for facilities management (FM) benefits the owner the most by increasing the value of information in their possession and the amount of Return on Investment (ROI). Regardless of the growing use of BIM for FM, several studies have reported that research and application of BIM in FM is lagging behind similar efforts in design and construction. Information management is a major threat facing FM practice where the multidisciplinary activities demand extensive information requirements. Lack of accurate transmission of building information from the earlier stages of a building project to FM professionals leads to significant loss in the quality of building information for operational needs, impedes the promotion of an automated FM practice and an integrated and life-cycle oriented construction. A clear definition and identification of FM information for specific FM tasks in BIM models is therefore essential for realizing the full potential of BIM in FM. A critical review of the current efforts in managing FM information aimed at contributing to organizations’ strategic thinking on BIM-FM implementation was conducted. Peer reviewed journal articles were sourced from the core collection of the Web of Science online database using queries relevant to the study. The findings show that BIM is poised to solve the inconsistencies in ‘demand’ and ‘supply’ of critical data for FM tasks. The quality and integrity of information at the disposal of FM professionals is often unique and tailored to different FM tasks and to different organizations suggests that handover information in BIM models must also be tailored FM teams’ requirements. This lends itself to strategic thinking where information management (strategy focus) compliments information systems (software focus) and information technology (infrastructure focus) for a holistic BIM-FM implementation.

Keywords: BIM, FM, FM information, FM tasks, Implementation

ACOUSTICAL PERFORMANCE OF PALM OIL CLINKER SAND SOUND ABSORBER

Zaiton Haron1, Noor Suhaida Galip2, Khairulzan Yahya3, Muhammad Zulfikri Zakaria4, Zanariah Jahya5, Nadirah Darus6, Ramli Abdullah7 and Nazli Che Din8

1-6 Department of Structures and Materials, School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] ) 7,8 Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper present the results of a study in which the performance of Palm Oil Clinker (POC) sand as an alternative acoustic material to control noise problem was investigated. The specimens were prepared using the basic mortar mixture of cement to river sand ratio of 1:4. The five mixtures adopted in the study contained the POC sand of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of the total weight of the sand. Hardened mortar properties of density and compressive strength, and acoustic performance were measured. The results show that the specimens containing POC sand give an average noice reduction coefficient of 0.30, which was larger than the corresponding value of 0.25 for the specimens with the river sand only. The combination of 50% POC and 50% river sand achieve the highest sound absorption coefficient of 0.5 at 315 Hz and 0.4 at 1000Hz. It was also found that although POC sand reduces the compressive strength of specimens, the values obtained was still within the strength limit of non-load bearing structure. The findings suggest that POC sand has the potential to be used in the construction of non-structural wall where outdoor urban courtyards need to be improved from heating, ventilation, air conditioning and traffic noise pollutions.

Keywords: Palm oil clinker, Mortar, Sound absorption, Sound barrier, Sound absorber

MALAYSIAN BUMIPUTERA CONTRACTORS’ SUPPLY CHAIN: A PRELIMINARY APPRAISALS

Muhammad Khairuddin Azwi1, Muzani Mustapa*2, Fara Diva Mustapa3

1-3 Faculty of Built Environment and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, MALAYSIA (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The construction industry is a complex and dynamic industrial sector. Malaysia, as a developing country, considers the construction as one of the main contributors to the country’s economy. Hence, being one of the economic drivers, the construction industry needs to ensure it remains important and competent by venturing succesful strategies applied by other sectors. The application of the supply chain management, mainly in the manufacturing industry has been successful and has achieved the expected benefits as a cost reduction, competitive advantages, productivity improvement, value creation and better relationships between parties. This study aim to review reported outcome on Bumiputera contractors’ supply chain network. Additionally, this study also intent to analyse the main categories of risk that affect the Bumiputera contractors’ project performance which related to their approach on supply chain management. Current research papers on relevance to the issue were critically reviewed. The results from the structured literature review managed to identifies that supply chain is not used extensively among the Bumiputera contractors. Additionally, risks associated with the supply chain network in construction industry can be further categorised into external and internal factors such as cooperative risk, financial risk, technology risk and economic risk. The result have aspired a better understanding between the supply chain management with sustaining project performance among Bumiputera contractors. This study is a part of an on-going contract research with the overall aim to model supply chain network using risk parameters which will be identified at later stage of this research.

Keywords: Bumiputera contractor, Supply chain, Risk management, Project risks

INFLUENCE OF RAINFALL CHARACTERISTICS ON FIRST FLUSH BEHAVIOUR

Noor Atiqah Zuraini*1, Noraliani Alias2

1, 2 Water and Environmental Department, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. ([email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Urban stormwater with impervious surface often produces runoff with a variety of contaminants. This paper discusses an investigation into the influence of rainfall characteristics toward the first flush behaviour. This study involved field investigations, sampling of urban stormwater runoff, laboratory testing and data analysis. 15 stormwater samples were collected and executed manually in a small catchment, which represents the higher institution area in Skudai, Johor. Data collections were carried out on 9 November 2017. Correlation of pollutants such as total suspended solids (TSS), total dissolved solids (TDS), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) and zinc with runoff were derived within the evaluation of hyetograph, hydrographs and pollutographs. The concentration varied at different stages of the same rainfall event. The higher strength of first flush was seen in case of TSS, BOD and zinc compared to TDS and COD. The finding shows that high rainfall intensity in the beginning of the event had contributed to the high wash off of some pollutants such as TSS, BOD and zinc. Factor analysis suggested that the effect of rainfall characteristics on the concentrations of selected pollutants varied depending on the pollutant. However, the concept of the first flush cannot be used alone to establish a reliable methodology to design treatment facilities. Additional knowledge and information are necessary.

Keywords: First flush, Wash off, Rainfall characteristics, Urban stormwater

PARKING CHARACTERISTICS IN MALAYSIA PUBLIC HOSPITALS

Abdul Razak Ali1 and Sitti Asmah Hassan2*

1,2 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 1Prima Reka Konsultan, Jurutera Perunding Awam & Struktur, Ampang Baru, Ipoh, Perak, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Parking in public hospitals has been a significant issue for public, authorities and parking operators running the facility within the hospital compound. In view to the fact that private vehicles are the preferred mode of choice for commuting in Malaysia, the issue could not get any better. This paper attempts to evaluate parking characteristics in public hospitals in Malaysia. Parking characteristics at six public hospitals in Peninsular Malaysia were investigated. Secondary data were obtained from Ministry of Health. License Plate method was used to collect parking demand data as a primary data for a period of 12 hours at public hospitals. Parking duration, parking turnover and parking index were determined to investigate parking scenario at each respective study sites. It was found that long parking hours was a nature in public hospitals with average parking duration of almost 4 hours/veh. Higher parking turnover rate was also observed for public bay area. The average parking index for all hospitals was also more than 100% in which it exceeding the capacity. The actual parking demand was found to be higher than the provided parking space at all public hospitals under investigation and it is also far below the specified various guidelines except for EPU guideline.

Keywords: Parking Demand, Public Hospital, Parking Duration, Parking Turnover, Parking Index

TECHNICAL INFORMATION ON ISO SHIPPING CONTAINER

Philip Chie Hui Ling1, Cher Siang Tan*2, Yeong Huei Lee3 and Shahrin Mohammad4

1,2,4 School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia. 3Dept. Civil & Construction Eng., Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University, Sarawak, Malaysia. (E-mail: *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

Shipping container had become popular among construction industry as alternative building material. However, the information on the shipping container detailing had been lacking and not easily accessible by designer. This paper summarised the technical information of ISO shipping container including geometry properties, materials and structural testing. The information was presented in tables which are easier to interpret and use in structural design.

Keywords: Shipping container, Dimension, Material properties, Standard load test

Chemical Engineering INFLUENCE OF TARTARIC ACID AS THE COMPLEXING AGENT ON THE PROPERTIES OF CHEMICAL BATH DEPOSITED FESXOY THIN FILMS

Abdil Hassan Hidzir1, Aizuddin Supee*2, Nur'Ain Balqis Haladin3, Mohd Zamri Mohd Yusop4 and Norazana Ibrahim5

1-5 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

FeSxOy thin films were deposited on fluorine-tin-oxide (FTO)-coated glass substrate at 75 °C and 3 hours deposition time via chemical bath deposition (CBD) from solution containing 100 mM Na2S2O3 and 30 mM FeSO4. The effects of L(+)-tartaric acid (C4H6O6) as the complexing agent under different concentration were studied. All the films were crystalline and exhibited n-type photoresponse. The films deposited with complexing agent generally possess less iron and larger oxygen and sulfur contents than those deposited without the agent. The tartaric acid seems capable to reduce or control the thickness, enhance the uniformity, delayed the hematite formation and results in clearer absorption edge. Larger crystallite size and larger optical transmittance were observed for the film deposited with 50 mM tartaric acid. The influence of tartaric acid in FeSxOy thin films can be explained by considering suppression of elemental Fe deposition and enhancement of sulfur reduction.

Keywords: FeSxOy, Tartaric acid, Complexing agent, Chemical bath deposition, n-type

INTEGRATED MITIGATION STRATEGY MODEL FOR CARBON ACCOUNTING AND SUSTAINABILITY INDEX TO ENCOUNTER PALM OIL MILL WEAKNESSES HOLISTICALLY

Nabila Farhana Jamaludin1, Zarina Ab Muis*2 and Haslenda Hashim3

1-3 Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, and School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Palm oil industry has received criticism from various parties on the issue of sustainability and greenhouse gases. Effective mitigation plan is needed to improve the process performance and to counter criticsm towards palm oil mill. However, the current framework has limitation to consider sustainability as a whole and may resulting inaccurate selection of further mitigation. This study aims to develop mitigation strategy model based on palm oil mill carbon accounting (POMCFA) and sustainability (POMSI) performances. A result from integrated palm oil mill carbon footprint accounting (POMCFA) and palm oil mill sustainability index (POMSI) framework has been used for the model development in this study. This model is able to predict the best selection to improve the weak performance, forecast new score of palm oil mill carbon accounting (POMCFA) and sustainability (POMSI). A series of mitigation options are selected which impacted any changes to the indicators (in terms of environment and economy aspect). The model is developed and computed using the General Algebraic Modelling System (GAMS). The analysis from integrated assessment shows that highest carbon dioxide equivalent emission was contributed by palm oil mill effluent followed by diesel consumption and water consumption. In terms of sustainability scoring, the results show that the environmental aspect achieved the lowest scores compared to other aspects (social and economy). Weaknesses identified include dust concentration, palm oil mill effluent and boiler emission. The mitigation model been developed shows the optimal mitigation for the weaknesses is to implement high technology boiler. The assessment analysed in terms of carbon dioxide equivalent and sustainability scoring demonstrates its potential to provide comprehensive mitigation selection purposes.

Keywords: Palm Oil Mill, Big Data, Mitigation Planning, Sustainability Assessment, Carbon Footprint Assessment

SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY OF HYDROGEN FOR INTEGRATED POWER PLANT WITH METHANATION VIA PINCH ANALYSIS

Siti Norlaila Faeizah Mohd Rudin1, Zarina Ab Muis*2, Wai Shin Ho3, Haslenda Hashim4, Ahmad Fakrul Ramli5, Hazrul Adzfar Shabri6 and Roziah Zailan7

1-3, 5-7 Process System Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute of Sustainable Environment, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering (FCEE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected]) 4 Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering (FCEE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The increment of greenhouse gaseous emission increase the needs to find the best solution to reduce emission of its gaseous. Carbon dioxide is the main contributor which comes mainly from energy sector. Capturing CO2 from power plant does not fully solves the issue hence integrating power plant with methanation was proposed. In this paper, a pinch analysis technique is introduced to solve the challenge to implement the integrated power plant with methanation. The main drawback of the system is to deliver a sustainable and optimize capacity of hydrogen for methanation of carbon dioxide. Cascade pinch analysis is done which has been adopted from ESCA to calculate optimal hydrogen supply and hydrogen storage. From the analysis, after five iteration, the hydrogen supply capacity is obtained which is 281.38 Wh. The hydrogen storage capacity can also be determined which is 1352.52 Wh. Through the case study presented, it has proven that pinch analysis provide a simple methodology to solve the optimization issue of hydrogen supply and demand for integrated power plant with methanation system.

Keywords: Carbon Dioxide Reduction and Utilisation, Methanation, Power to Gas, Pinch Analysis

NUMERICAL STUDY OF THE HEAT TRANSFER BEHAVIOR IN HELICAL MICROCOIL TUBE

Adnan Rasheed1, Hajar Alias*2 and Sami Salman3

1, 2 Chemical Engineering Department, Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected]) 3 Al- Khwarizmi College of Engineering, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, IRAQ. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This work introduces a numerical study of the convective heat transfer of helical microcoil tube heat exchanger coil.. It tested for both circle and elliptical geometry with 18mm pith and diameter of copper pipes. It is very difficult and time consuming if these analyses could be carried out experimentally. Water is used as working fluid by using 80C for hot water and 25C for cold water. The Reynolds number selected in the range of 200 to 1800 for hot water, while specified 5000 for cold water. ANSYS-FLUENT 18.0 have been used to investigate the heat transfer behavior. The elementary results observed a proportionality relationship between the heat transfer and Reynolds number raised values. Also, the circler configuration present maximum heat transfer performance.

Keywords: Heat transfer enhancements, Elliptical pipe, Helical micro coil

MATERIAL AND CHEMICAL STABILITY OF USING MOTOR GASOLINE/AUTOMOTIVE GASOLINE IN PISTON ENGINE AIRCRAFTS – A REVIEW

Thanikasalam Kumar*1, Rahmat Mohsin2, Zulkifli Abdul Majid3, Mohammad Fahmi Abdul Ghafir4 and Ananth Manickam Wash5

1-3UTM-MPRC Institute for Oil and Gas (IFOG), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Piston aircraft engines commonly operate on aviation gasoline (AVGAS) and motor gasoline (MOGAS). Engines such as JABIRU and Lycoming have the capability to run on both types of gasolines. Currently, MOGAS often comprises a specific percentage (3-10%) of bio-alcohol. In this regard, the material and chemical stability of MOGAS must be considered by aircraft operators to understand the possible impact of using this gasoline as aviation fuel. Some aircraft manufacturers recommend MOGAS to power aircraft engines, although AVGAS may still be employed as well. Some manufacturers are currently designing engines capable of operating on both types of fuels because in the future AVGAS would be less available compared to MOGAS. Operating a piston engine aircraft using MOGAS presents several issues owing to the side effects associated with ethanol contained in the blended fuel. This paper studies the factors affecting the use of MOGAS in piston aviation industry as the only approved fuel for piston aviation is AVGAS, a leaded fuel in terms of chemical and material stability and compatibility.

Keywords: Material Compatibility, Avgas, Mogas, General Aviation, Piston Aircraft

EXPERIMENTAL ANALYSIS OF CASSAVA STARCH AS A FLUID LOSS CONTROL AGENT ON DRILLING MUD

Novrianti Novrianti*1 and Idham Khalid2

1-2Petroleum Engineering, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Islam Riau, INDONESIA. (E-mail: *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

One function of drilling mud is designed to reduce fluid loss in formations. Fluid loss control agents are additional substances added to drilling mud formulations to reduce fluid loss. Various polymers have been used as additives to control fluid loss. Starch is included in the type of natural polymer. The use of starch can reduce fluid loss. Making cassava starch is washed with water and mashed and then filtered. The filtered water is deposited for 6 hours, after that, it is dried in the sun to dry and do a sieve analysis with a size of 200 mesh. Then corn starch is mixed with mud with a composition of 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 grams to determine the filtrate volume and the thickness of the mud cake. Testing of filtration loss and mud cake is done using an LPLT (Low Pressure Low Temperature) by placing a measuring cup to accommodate the volumetric filtrate that has been released for 30 minutes, and thick mud cake on the filter paper that has been installed on the LPLT device. The results show that filtration loss obtained for 6.8 - 5.6 ml and mud cake thickness of 1.55 - 1.35 mm. There was a decrease in filtrate volume and thickness of mud cake. Addition of starch mass to the mud can reduce filtration loss and mud cake.

Keywords: Fluid loss control agent, Filtration loss, Mud cake, Drilling mud

EXPERIMENTAL OF ALTERNATIVE DEMULSIFIER FORMULATION FROM CORN OIL IN OVERCOMING WATEROIL EMULSION

Tomi Erfando*1, Idham Khalid2 and Rizky Bahari3

1-3 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universitas Islam Riau, Pekanbaru, INDONESIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

An Emulsion is one of the problems that often occur in oil production activities. Emulsions occur in certain conditions. The presence of emulsions in crude oil makes it difficult for crude oil to be processed and the quality of the oil does not become good. Because it causes water to be contained in crude oil. An effort to overcome is to use a demulsifier. In this study, an alternative demulsifier was tested with the main raw material of corn oil. It will be processed with the saponification process to become a demulsifier. Demulsifier derived from corn oil is expected to have the ability to separate water from oil better than commercial demulsifiers. Demulsifier testing is done using the bottle test method. The test was carried out for 180 minutes and carried out observations every 30 minutes. the bottle test method was carried out using a water bath. Demulsifiers made from natural ingredients have better abilities than commercial demulsifiers. The best test results by the green demulsifier at 80 ̊C with a concentration of 5 ml separated 39 ml of water. While the commercial demulsifier with a concentration of 5 ml separates 32 ml of water. So demulsifier made from corn oil is more effective in separating water than commercial demulsifier.

Keywords: Demulsifier, Emulsion, Corn Oil, Bottle Test

STUDY OF HYDROGEN ADSORPTION ONTO KENAF SORBENT SURFACE BY METAL IMPREGNATION METHOD

S. N. Ezaty*1, N. Zaini2 and K.S.N. Kamarudin3

1,2 Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected] ) 3,4 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected] )

ABSTRACT

The potential of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) as hydrogen materials was investigated. Improvement on the surface support was achieved by impregnating kenaf (size: 500 µm) into chemicals of Nickel Nitrate, Ni(NO3)2 in different concentrations. To improve the hydrogen adsorption, the surface was tailored using Formaldehyde (HCHO) and Potassium Hydroxide (KOH) before the process of metal impregnation. The modified kenaf sorbents were characterized and performed by laboratory scale of hydrogen adsorption system by ultra-purity hydrogen gas (H2) in ambient temperature. Two cyclic operation for delivery performance of hydrogen. Shows that modified nickel-kenaf with 0.4M concentration in 4 bar pressure bed had better improvement in hydrogen adsorption performance.

Keywords: Kenaf, Hydrogen, Adsorption, Nickel, Impregnation

ENERGY SAVING POTENTIAL OF 6- COMPONENT AROMATIC MIXTURE VIA ENERGY INTEGRATED DISTILLATION COLUMNS SEQUENCE (EIDCS) METHOD

Munawar Zaman Shahruddin*1, Ahmad Nafais Rahimi2, Muhammad Afiq Zubir3, Muhammad Fakhrul Islam Zahran4, Kamarul Asri Ibrahim5 and Mohd. Kamaruddin Abd. Hamid6

1 Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, 40450, Selangor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 1-6 Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute for Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 5,6 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Univesiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, 81310, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Distillation column is a well-known unit operation in chemical and petrochemical industries for an intended separation task. However, the energy usage still becomes a problem particularly for a multicomponent system of distillation columns sequence. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the applicability of Thermal Pinch Analysis to be employed in a distillation columns sequence to solve the problem. The method is complemented by the sequencing method of Driving Force which leads to a novel method namely Energy Integrated Distillation Columns Sequence (EIDCS). This systematic method has been designed for optimal distillation columns sequence and further energy saving by Thermal Pinch Analysis. The Driving Force Sequence was firstly determined by the use of Driving Force Plot. Then the shortcut and rigorous simulations have been carried out and the resulting data were extracted for Thermal Pinch Analysis at a fixed value of ΔTmin at 10 °C. Next, the Problem Table Algorithm (PTA) was constructed to indicate the possible energy saving for the distillation columns sequence. Finally, the proposed Heat Exchanger Network (HEN) via Grid Diagram that satisfies the energy requirement was constructed. A case study of 6-component Aromatic Mixture has been selected to evaluate the proposed EIDCS method in this study.

Keywords: Energy Integrated Distillation Column Sequence, Driving Force Method, Energy Saving, Heat Integration, Thermal Pinch Analysis

COMPARISON AND IMPROVEMENT OF DRIVING FORCE-BASED DISTILLATION COLUMNS SYSTEM DESIGNS

Muhammad Afiq Zubir*1, Muhammad Fakhrul Islam Zahran2, Munawar Zaman Shahruddin3, Ahmad Nafais Rahimi4, Kamarul Asri Ibrahim5 and Mohd. Kamaruddin Abd. Hamid6

1-4,6Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute of Sustainable Engineering (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, 40450, Selangor, MALAYSIA. 5,6School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Univesiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The aim of this paper is to compare two driving force-based approaches for designing distillation column systems. A new methodology intended as a comparison tool is presented, where a distillation column system designed at maximum driving force is compared with a distillation column system designed at driving force that corresponds to the feed composition of the light component. In addition, a simplified Kirkbride equation is proposed to improve the existing feed location determination. The methodology is made up of four hierarchical stages; a) identification of process mixture, b) determination of driving force sequence, c) design using driving force method and d) energy analysis. The steps to sequence and design the systems as well as to analyze their performance in terms of energy usage were applied on an aromatic mixture separation case study. The findings show that by using the new approach, the design variables obtained resulted in a system that succesfully fulfills desired purity, is more accurate and is able to achieve energy reduction up to 9.34 %.

Keywords: Driving force method, Sequence, Design, Feed location, Energy analysis

QUALITY PREDICTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF REFINED PALM OIL USING PARTIAL CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Nor Adhihah Rashid1, Khu Wai Hoong2, Azmer Shamsuddin3, Khor Wei Jin4, Muhammad Hisyam Lee5 and Mohd. Kamaruddin Abd Hamid*6

1-4,6 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], *[email protected]) 5 Department of Mathematical Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected]) 3 Lahad Datu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd, KM 2, Jalan Minyak off Jalan POIC, Locked Bag 16, 91109 Lahad Datu, Sabah, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Regression technique such as partial correlation analysis has been widely used as tool of prediction in business, finance and biomedical field. However, the application of predictive analysis in chemical process, specifically palm oil refinery process has rarely been done. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present a quality prediction and diagnosis tool using partial correlation analysis, with the aim to predict the quality of refined palm oil and to diagnose the crude palm oil and process variables. Several statistical analysis are applied in data pre-process to obtain statistical sample size, optimum sampling and processing time of the process. The predictor coefficient is developed using partial correlation analysis while control chart is used to monitor the process behavior of both predicted and actual output value. The monitored out-of-control behavior is then diagnosed using SPE-contribution plot to identify the faulty input variables, thus pre-treatment can be executed before the refining process. The predicted model is successfully developed with MSE value less than 0.01 and three faulty variables are identified.

Keywords: Quality Prediction, Quality Diagnosis, Partial Correlation Analysis, Refined Palm Oil

DEVELOPMENT OF NUMERICAL TRIGENERATION SYSTEM CASCADE ANALYSIS WITH TRANSMISSION AND STORAGE ENERGY LOSSES CONSIDERATION

Khairulnadzmi Jamaluddin1, Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi*2, Zainuddin Abdul Manan3, Khaidzir Hamzah4 and Jiri Jaromir Klemes5

1-3 Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute for Sustainable Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected]) 4 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Malaysia (E-mail: [email protected]) 5 Sustainable Process Integration Laboratory–SPIL, NETME Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Brno University of Technology–VUT BRNO, Technická 2896/2, 616 69 Brno, Czech Republic (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Depletion and rising prices of fossil fuel, as well as environmental pollution, have led the world to find energy-efficient technologies such as improvement of efficiency of the current energy systems. The thermal efficiency of the current systems can be improved from 30 – 40 % to 80 – 90% through implementation of trigeneration system. Trigeneration is a system which can improve the efficiency of the current energy systems by reusing the waste heat to produce power, heating and cooling from a single fuel. Pinch Analysis is a methodology which enables users to optimize the energy, water and other resources. Trigeneration System Cascade Analysis (TriGenSCA) is developed to minimize power, heating and cooling energies as well as obtain optimal sizing of the trigeneration system. In the previous TriGenSCA, transmission energy losses which contribute significantly to the final amount of energy arrived at the demand was not considered. This leads to an optimistic target for energy reduction. The objective of this work is to develop an extension of numerical insight-based Pinch Analysis methodology for optimal trigeneration system which considers energy losses in the transmission lines and storage systems. There are three major steps on developing TriGenSCA, which are data extraction, construction of TriGenSCA with transmission and storage energy losses, and comparison of TriGenSCA with and without transmission energy losses consideration. The transmission energy losses are included in the TriGenSCA where energy depleted due to the transportation of energy from the trigeneration system to the demand load, separated by 10 km of distances. Aluminium cable steel, carbon and stainless steel pipelines are used to transfer power and thermal energies to the demands. Based on the case study, the energy difference of TriGenSCA with and without transmission energy losses is 76.83 MWh/d. This shows huge energy is lost due to the transmission process. The development of this systematic methodology can give benefits to engineers, designers and power plant managers in order to determine the exact value of utility and thus, perform the optimal design of a trigeneration system.

Keywords: Trigeneration system, Pinch Analysis, Transmission Losses, Trigeneration System Cascade Analysis, Storage system CONTROL AND ENERGY ANAYSIS OF A DRIVING FORCE-BASED AROMATIC MIXTURE DISTILLATION COLUMNS SEQUENCE

Muhammad Fakhrul Islam Zahran*1, Muhammad Afiq Zubir2, Ahmad Nafais Rahimi3, Munawar Zaman Shahruddin4, Kamarul Asri Ibrahim5, and Mohd Kamaruddin Abd

Hamid*6

1-4 Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute of Sustainable Engineering (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4 Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Shah Alam, 40450, Selangor, MALAYSIA. 5,6 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Univesiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

To minimize the energy usage of distillation systems, past researchers have developed algorithms that exploit the driving force of distillation, which is the difference in vapour and liquid fractions due to relative volatilities. So far, little is known about the degree of controllability of the energy efficient solutions. This paper aims to ascertain that idea by applying a simple methodology on a common mixture as the case study. The methodology is made up of four stages: (1) feed information gathering, (2) sequence determination, (3) energy analysis and (4) controllability analysis. The controllability was analysed in terms of input-output interaction and resiliency using RGAno and MRI, respectively. From the application, it has been found that the sequence determined using driving force algorithm is the most optimal sequence overall, measured by the use of a multiobjective function.

Keywords: Distillation, Driving force, Controllability

EVALUATION OF DYES REMOVAL BY BETA-CYCLODEXTRIN ADSORBENT

Noor Suhailah Sulaiman1, Muhammad Abbas Ahmad Zaini*2, and Agus Arsad3

1-2 Centre of Lipids Engineering & Applied Research (CLEAR), Ibnu-Sina Institute for Scientific & Industrial Research (ISI-SIR), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2,3 School of Chemical & Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This work was aimed at evaluating the adsorptive properties of β-CD adsorbent towards methylene blue and congo red removal. The adsorbent was characterized for specific surface area and surface chemistry. The results show that the surface area of β-CD adsorbent is small at 0.1 m2/g and the surface chemistry is rich in acidic oxygen groups. The dyes adsorption onto β-CD is favourable. Congo red adsorption exhibits a greater rate constant of 0.103 min-1 and a relatively shorter time to reach equilibrium at 40 min as opposed to 1500 min for methylene blue. On molar basis, both dyes display a comparable maximum capacity of 1.80×10-2 mmol/g, with β-CD shows a greater affinity for congo red. The congo red adsorption is governed by hydrophobic host-guest complex interactions, while that for methylene blue is weak electrostatic interactions at the hydrophilic exterior of β-CD. To conclude, β-CD is a promising adsorbent candidate for the treatment of dyes wastewater.

Keywords: Beta-cyclodextrin, Adsorbent, Adsorption, Wastewater treatment

POLYURETHANE FOAM SYNTHESIZED BY PALM KERNEL OIL BASED POLYOL AND THE EFFECT OF SODIUM HYDROGEN BICARBONATE

Tarek Fawzi*1, Yu Lih Jiun2, Khairiah Binti Haji Badri3, Zainuddin Sajuri4 and Ammar

Abdulaziz Majeed Al-Talib5

1, 2,5 Faculty of Engineering, Technology & Built Environment, UCSI, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ) 3 School of Chemical Sciences & Food Technology, Faculty of Science & Technology, UKM, Bangi, MALAYSIA (E-mail: [email protected]) 4 Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, UKM, Bangi, MALAYSIA (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Flexible polyurethane foams were synthesized by using palm kernel oil-based polyol and two different types of blowing agents: water and sodium hydrogen bicarbonate, as alternatives to the climate changing blowing agents. They were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), density measurements and FT-IR spectroscopy. SEM revealed that adding water (2 php) incremented the cell size by 157% and pore size by 226%, while adding water (2 php) and sodium hydrogen bicarbonate (25 php) incremented the cell size and pores by 276% and 920%, respectively. These blowing agents affect struts differently, presence of water in foaming process could reduce struts thickness, while adding sodium hydrogen bicarbonate resulting increment in polyurethane (PU) mixture viscosity. In addition, FT-IR spectroscopy confirmed that both blowing agents (water and sodium hydrogen bicarbonate) do not affect the polyurethane’s functionalities or react with any of its constituents, it showed absence of (-NCO) functionality peaks due to exploiting diisocyanate completely. It was found that additional of (2 php) water in the PU could reduce the density by 24%. Meanwhile, additional of sodium hydrogen bicarbonate (2 php) into PU, under water deficits condition has increased the density of PU by 5%. In absence of water, the viscosity of polyurethane foam increased, resists the cell grow and accelerates foams rupturing process.

Keywords: Palm kernel oil, Sodium hydrogen bicarbonate, Apparent density, SEM, FTIR

ANALYSIS OF CEMENTING CARBONATION DURING CO2 SEQUESTRATION

Sharina Zakariya*1, Ting Yao Tee2 and Mohd Akhmal Muhammad Sidek3

1, 2 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bharu, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected]) 3 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bharu, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Effects of global warming are well-known to be caused by emissions of greenhouse gases. As an effort to alleviate the gases production, Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is implied in oil and gas practices where carbon dioxide gas (CO2) is captured from different emission sites and injected into geological formations. However, problems arised in sequestration projects as exposure of CO2 degraded the Portland-based cement in the wellbore. Consecutively, the cement cracked and leakage of CO2 contaminated the underground drinking water. Hence, this paper aims to understand the physical and chemical reaction between CO2 and Class G cement further. Class G cement was obtained from Schlumberger Kemaman Supply Base and tested with water according to American Petroleum Institute (API) standard which water to cement ratio was set to 0:44:1. All of the samples were exposed to CO2 for six, eight and ten days accordingly and analyzed with unconfined compression, Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) testings. Ten days of CO2 exposure towards Class G cement showed the lowest compressive strength as to be compared to other samples. Carbonation reaction between water and CO2 was diagnosed to take place causing the cement to loose its strength. FESEM analysis on the other hand showed that the surface of the sample were uneven with long-shaped crystals with supporting XRD data presented large number of calcium carbonate ((Ca(CO)3). Nevertheless, the unexposed sample showed the opposite result with highest value of compressive strain and large number of calcium hydroxide ((Ca(OH)2).

Keywords: Cement Carbonation, Mechanical Strength, Carbon Dioxide Sequestration

NANOFILTRATION OF BINARY PALM OIL/SOLVENT MIXTURES: EXPERIMENTAL AND MODELING

Ki Min Lim1 and Nazlee Faisal Ghazali*2

1 Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra, 54100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2 Department of Bioprocess Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT Purification by using membrane technology has been recently considered as an alternative method to the conventional purification of crude vegetable oil. Although there are studies regarding the application of membrane technology on the purification of crude vegetable oil, the research on the separation process performance by considering transport models is scarce. Therefore, in this work, an investigation on the performance of organic solvent nanofiltration (OSN) for palm oil and solvent mixtures was carried out. In order to describe and predict the membrane separation performance, the integration of membrane transport model with experimental data is required. Parameter estimation of transport model parameters was conducted to correlate a chosen transport model to the experimental data. In this research, the effect of concentration polarization was also included in the mass transfer of triglycerides, whereby a combined film theory/ solution diffusion transport model was employed. The results revealed that the permeation flux of palm oil and acetone mixtures in SolSep 030306 nanofiltration membrane increased with increasing stirring speed but decreased with increasing feed viscosity. The rejection of triglyceride, on the other hand, increased with increasing feed concentration, however, the rejection did not show any significant trending with the change in operating pressure. This study served as the first attempt to investigate the performance of organic solvent nanofiltration of palm oil by using a solvent resistant membrane through both experiments and membrane transport modeling.

Keywords: Palm oil, Organic solvent nanofiltration, Film theory, Solution diffusion, Parameter estimation

INFLUENCE OF TARTARIC ACID AS THE COMPLEXING AGENT ON THE PROPERTIES OF CHEMICAL BATH DEPOSITED FESXOY THIN FILMS

Abdil Hassan Hidzir1, Aizuddin Supee*2, Nur'Ain Balqis Haladin3, Mohd Zamri Mohd Yusop4 and Norazana Ibrahim5

198

SOLUBILITY OF SWIETENIA MACROPHYLLA SEEDS IN SUPERCRITICAL CARBON DIOXIDE EXTRACTION

Mohammad Lokman B. Hilmi1,2, Liza Md Salleh*2, Roslina Jamaludin3, Nur Salsabila Md Norodin4 and Dayang Norulfairuz Abang Zaidel5

1, 4 Center of Lipids Engineering and Applied Research (CLEAR), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. 1, 2, 4 Department of Bioprocess and Polymer Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia 3, 5 Institute of Bioproduct Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Swietenia macrophylla seeds oil has been claimed to possess anti-diabetic, antioxidant and other health benefit properties which have garnered the interest from food and pharmaceutical industries. This study aimed to determine solubility data of S. macrophylla seeds oil in order to understand the behaviour of the separation process which is fundamental in the designing process. Solubility of S. macrophylla seeds oil in supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) was determined by using dynamic method at 20-30 MPa and 40-60C at fixed CO2 flowrate, 2 mL/min. The solubility of S. -1 macrophylla seeds oil obtained were 1.93 to 4.77 mg (g CO2) and was increased with pressure and temperature. In this study, the Chrastil, Adachi-Lu, del Valle-Aguilera, Gordillo and Sparks as semi-empirical models were tested to fit the experimental data. The Sparks model showed the best-fitted model for S. macrophylla seeds oil solubility data with an average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of 7.76% and a high coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.992. It can be concluded that the semi-empirical model give good correlation between observed value and predicted value.

Keywords: Swietenia macrophylla seeds oil, Solubility, Supercritical carbon dioxide, Semi- empirical model

OPTIMIZATION OF NICKEL NANOPARTICLES CONCENTRATION FOR BIOGAS ENHANCEMENT FROM GREEN ALGAE ANAEROBIC DIGESTION

Asad A. Zaidi1, Sohaib Z. Khan*2 and Yue Shi3

1,2 Department of Engineering Sciences, PN Engineering College, National University of Sciences and Technology, Karachi 75350, PAKISTAN. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah, P. O. Box 170, KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 1,3 College of Power and Energy Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PR CHINA. (E-mail:[email protected])

ABSTRACT

The process of ship ballast water treatment and algae disaster management has produced a large amount of algae waste, and its disposal has become a key problem in the field of marine environmental protection. Algae waste has great potential to become raw material for biological hydrogen production and can comprehend multiple benefits of waste treatment and resource utilization. In order to increase the productivity characteristic of algae waste, this study is focused on introducing nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) in anaerobic digestion (AD) of green algae Enteromorpha. Optimization of Ni NPs was carried out by Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Batch experiments were conducted to optimize the AD process of green algae at different temperature (25-45oC), initial pH (5-9) and Ni NPs concentration range of (0.5-2 mg/L). Results showed that favourable concentration for Ni NPs is 1 mg/L whereas the temperature and initial pH of 35oC and 7 had a better effect on anaerobic digestion of green algae.

Keywords: Anaerobic Digestion, Biogas, Nanoparticles, Green Algae

A QUALITATIVE CFD SIMULATION ANALYSIS ON HYDRODYNAMICS OF POROUS MEDIA DURING WATER FLOODING: A PRELIMINARY

Noraishah O. 1, Nazrul H. Yusoff 2, and Mohd Amirul S. Mohd Yunos3

1-3 Industrial Technology Division, Malaysian Nuclear Agency, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that uses numerical analysis and data structures to solve and analyze problems that involve fluid flows. A preliminary study has been developed to investigate the effect of parameters on the hydrodynamics of porous media (sand column) during wáter flooding activity. In this study, a horizontal column is occupied by 150µm grain size of sand is used as basis of the geometry for porous media study. A 3D modeling of single- phase flow in steady mode and unsteady mode oil-water flows by using Volume of Fluid Model (VOF) has been adopted to study the behavior of the 3-phases flow inside the column using ANSYS 2019R1™. The parameters involved are the viscous resistance and inertial resistance for steady state mode to look at the porosity attributes to the hydrodynamics as well as the flow rate of wáter flooding, volume fraction of oil and sand porosity for transient mode respectively. The porosity is fixed at 0.4 whereas ΔP is set at 4 atm. The preliminary results show the significant qualitative analysis insights during transient mode for fluid flow inside the porous media with variation of flow rates (5cm/s as higher velocity and 1cm/s for lower velocity respectively) and volume fraction of oil is fixed at 1.0. The wáter breakthrough is determined at t=7s for higher velocity and t=25s for lower velocity.

Keywords: CFD, ANSYS 19R1 ™, porous media, hydrodynamics, VOF, qualitative analysis, 3-phases flow

IONIC LIQUID-BASED ULTRASONIC-ASSISTED EXTRACTION MODEL FOR SOLVENT DESIGN

Nur Rahilah Haji Abd Rahman 1, Nor Alafiza Yunus2, Ani Idris3, Azizul Azri Mustaffa*4

1-4School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA 1, 2, 4Process Systems Engineering Centre (PROSPECT), Research Institute for Sustainable Environment (RISE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA 3Institute of Bioproduct Development, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. Email : [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Ionic liquid is a favourable solvent in separation process due to the vast possibilities of ionic liquid structures. Many researches showed that ionic liquid extract higher amount of phytochemicals compared to conventional solvents. Even better, ionic liquid extraction coupled with ultrasonic- assisted extraction produced higher yield and less hassle. Therefore, ionic liquid can be considered as a suitable solvent for herbal extraction. This study is a part of a solvent design framework to obtain an extraction process model. It focuses on the process of ionic liquid-based ultrasonic- assisted extraction of flavonoid and phenolic acid from Labisia pumila. A two level, four factor of central composite design (CCD) was employed to determine the effect of the process factors towards yield of flavonoid and phenolic acid extracted from the herb. The process factors are the temperature (Celsius), extraction time (min), power (W) and type of ionic liquid (based on their dielectric point). The extracted samples were analysed to determine the yield of flavonoid and phenolic acid. Two models were developed for flavonoid and phenolic acid extraction based on the optimization results. The models are important as yield prediction in solvent process performance stage of the development of ionic liquid design framework.

DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM CO2 WATER ALTERNATING GAS (CO2-WAG) RATIO IN SUMATERA LIGHT OIL-FIELD

Muslim Abdurrahman1, Fiki Hidayat*2, Ully Z. Husna3 and Agus Arsad4 1-3Department of Petroleum Engineering, Universitas Islam Riau, Jl. Kaharuddin Nasution no.113, Pekanbaru, 28284, INDONESIA. E-mail: [email protected] 4School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru , Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

The CO2 water alternating gas (CO2-WAG) injection method, allows the oil to first expand and become better able to flow because of the CO2, and then the water increases the pressure in the reservoir to flush this newly freed oil to production wells. This study is located in Sarolangun District, Jambi Province which is prospect of CO2 injection tertiary recovery project due to its abundant CO2 reserve. The success of CO2-WAG injection can be determined by investigating ratios between CO2 and water. The goals of this study is to determine optimum CO2-WAG injection ratio in Sumatera light-oil Field. This study is done through a numerical simulation of immiscible CO2 WAG which is conducted under three scenarios of ratio using CMG simulator. The CO2/water ratios are varied from 1:1, 2:1 and 1:2. The study results show that the CO2/water 1:2 is the best CO2-WAG injection ratio that gives highest additional oil recovery factor of 35.24%. Additional recovery factor given by CO2/water ratio 2:1 and 1:1 are 1.49% and 19.52% respectively. Based on this study, the effect of CO2-WAG ratio to oil productivity is depending of amount of water injected. Proper CO2-WAG injection ratio will give an optimum oil recovery.

Keywords: WAG; CO2 Injection, EOR, CO2-Water Ratio, Sumatera Light Oil

OPTIMIZING WATER SHUT OFF (WSO) BY UTILIZING CROSS- LINKER ADDITIVE SYSTEM IN THE NEARBY WELLBORE TREATMENT IN SANDSTONE ENVIRONMENT

Putra, Dike Fitriansyah1, Ardiansyah2, Muhammad Irfan3

1-3 Department of Petroleum Engineering, Islamic University of Riau, Jl. Kaharuddin Nasution No.113 Pekanbaru 28284, INDONESIA.

ABSTRACT

Excessive water production is one of the biggest problems commonly found in the brown water- flood field. The study proposed and analyses of the optimization in the application of the water shut off method using polymer cross-linker additive in the 7E Sandstone field by utilizing a conceptual simulation model. Geographically, this field is located in the Central Sumatera basin. The field is a moderately homogenous sandstone. Last decade, the field was associated with excessive water production issue, some mechanical water shut off (WSO) have been done to solve the problem, but less effective and inefficient. Hence chemical WSO job comes as a promising option to overcome this problem robustly. One of the chemical WSO methods is cross-link polymer injection, which is the action of blocking water from entering and reaching production wells by using a mixture of polymer, cross-linker, and water.A base case of the conceptual model has been developed, then over twenty injection scenarios wide-ranging based on polymer concentrations are implemented in the model. Each of these concentration schemes is simulated using different injection flow rates for the total injection volume of 2000 bbl. The injection rate sets at 1000 bbl/day for twice injection and 2000 bbl/day for only one injection. A comparison of water production before and after the WSO is used to investigate WSO effectivity. The simulation results mentioned that the WSO implementation could decrease excess water produced by 159,121 to 179,226 bbl. The best scenario is 5000 ppm polymer concentration, 1000 bbl/day injection rate using three days soaking time, which yields 75768.5 barrel oil production cumulative. This study also reveals that the longer the soaking time, the more effective the water shut off, in other words, the lesser the water production.

Keywords: Water shut off; Polymer cross-linker; Concentration; Wellbore treatment

RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF DRILLING MUD CONSIST OF CMC WHICH IS MADE BY CARTON WASTE AND CHEMICAL ADDITIVE OF NA2CO3 FOR REDUCING LOST CIRCULATION

Novia Rita1, Idham Khalid2, Muhammad Ridho Efras3

1-3 Jl. Kaharudin Nasution, No. 113, Pekanbaru,28284, INDONESIA.

ABSTRACT

The Drilling process has the most important main objective is to reach the reservoir zone safely, quickly, and economically. The important component in the drilling process is drilling fluid commonly called by drilling mud. The drilling mud design needs to be properly planned to avoid problems during drilling. The research was conducted for testing the drilling mud rheology by using CMC from carton waste with the addition of Na2CO3, this research was conducted with several scenarios, which in each scenario have different levels of CMC and Na2CO3, from each result scenario can be seen in the value of density, viscosity, mud cake, pH, and filtrate volume of each mud. Thus it can be seen the best mud rheology from the addition of CMC waste carton waste and Na2CO3 to the drilling mud. The results of this research is the addition of CMC waste carton and Na2CO3 in the dominant drilling mud to rheology and aditive function of CMC in increasing the viscosity were in 5 gr sample with 4.5 gr of Na2CO3 addition, with density value: 8.75 ppg, viscosity: 26 cp, mud cake : 0.54 cm, pH: 1, and filtrate volume : 4.42 ml.

Keywords: Drllling Fluid, Drilling Mud, Rheology

EFFECT OF NATIVE SOLIDS SIZES AND CONCENTRATIONS ON THE KINETIC STABILITY OF WATER-IN-OIL EMULSIONS

Adamu Bello1, Abubakar A. Umar*2

1, 2 Department of Petroleum Engneering, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The mingled production of oil and water, in the presence of other surface active agents (surfactants), either indigenous in the crude oil aid the formation and stabilization of emulsion. Colloidal particles behave like surfactants molecules, mostly when they adsorb to a fluid-fluid interface. With adequate coverage of these particles at the interface, they act as barriers against droplet coalescence and enhance emulsion stability. This study investigate the effect of certain native solids on the kinetic stability of W/O emulsions. The effect of their sizes and concentrations was studied. Conventional batch test, coupled with Turbiscan were used for the stability measurements. It was found out that the particle type (physico-chemical properties), concentration of the particles at the interface and their sizes are important measures of emulsion stability.

Keywords: Emulsions, Emulsion Stability, Pickering Emulsions, Kinetic Stability, Solids

THE EFFECT OF KENAF BAST AND CORE LOADING ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF KENAF-REINFORCED RPET/RPP COMPOSITE

Nur Hidayah Bt Marzuki1, Mat Uzir bin Wahit2, Agus Bin Arsad3, Izyan Syazana Bt Yusoff4

1-4 School of Chemical and Energy, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Kenaf fibre as a natural lignocellulos is fast receiving encouraging attention in bio-composite material because it offers a range of properties that may be difficult to obtain with other synthetic reinforcements. The aim of this study is to compare the mechanical properties of kenaf bast and core fibre reinforced recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET)/recycled polypropylene (rPP) composite with varying fiber loading i.e. 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 phr. The fiber length use in this study is 250 µm. The injection moulding technique was used to prepare the composite specimens for tensile, flexural and impact tests in accordance to the ASTM D5083, ASTM D790 and ASTM D256 respectively. The overall results showed that the composites reinforced with kenaf bast fibre had higher mechanical properties than kenaf core fibre composites. The results also showed that the optimum fibre content for achieving highest tensile properties for bast and core composites was 5 wt%. It was also observed that the elongation at break for both composites decreased as the fibre content increased. The impact test indicated that a remarkable enhancement in the impact strength of the composites were observed upon the addition of 20 wt% of bast and core fibre loading.

Keywords: Kenaf bast, Kenaf core, Fiber reinforced composite, Recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate), Recycled polypropylene (rPP), Mechanical properties

STERILIZATION OF OYSTER MUSHROOM CROP RESIDUE SUBSTRATE BY USING COLD PLASMA TECHNOLOGY

Linda Aguna*1, Norhayati Ahmadb2, Norizah Redzuan3, Nor Azyan Syahirah4, Shazwin Mat Taib5, Zarita Zakaria6, Raja Kamarulzaman Raja Ibrahim7

1-4School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA E-mail: [email protected] 5School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 6School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 7School of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT

Traditional steaming method applied by mushroom entrepreneurs took long time (48 hours) to complete the sterilization process. Moreover, improper steaming process causes contamination by soil-borne pathogens. This study will develop a new design by using cold plasma technology for crop residue substrate sterilization process. The cold plasma discharge works as sterilization able to kill the soil-borne pathogens without effect the substrate properties. Hence, focus was intention to examine the efficiency of the dielectric barrier discharges cold plasma (DBD-CP) pen mixer system on the crop residue substrate sterilization process for oyster mushroom cultivation. This renewal process develops by using electric field from voltage breakdown to discharge the plasma. The plasma with variable sterilization duration of 0 min, 5 min, 10 min, 15 min, 20 min and 25 min will discharge on the crop residue substrate. The soil-borne pathogens inactivation occupies on agro-waste substrate will examine using bacteria colony forming unit (CFU) method. Data gathered shows the bacteria colonies reduce from 1.09 CFU/mL (0 min) to 1.58 CFU/mL (25 min) due to increment of sterilization time. The mushrooms cultivation duration also characterized. The mushroom fruiting body was successfully growth two days earlier on crop residue substrate sterilized using cold plasma technology. Results show 25 min of sterilization duration by cold plasma technology shows the best optimum time. As conclusion, cold plasma technology is an efficient technology and can be applied in oyster mushroom industry for crop residue substrate sterilization process. The mushroom productivity was increase, the mushroom fruiting body growth faster, the sterilization time was shorter and the soil-borne pathogens were reduced.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF XYLANASE PRODUCTION FROM SOLID STATE FERMENTATION OF RICE HUSK ASSOCIATED FUNGUS ASPERGILLUS NIGER

Siti Afiqah Razali1, Nazaitulshila Rasit*2 and Chee Kuan Ooi3

1-3 Faculty of Ocean Engineering Techology and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21300 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, MALAYSIA. Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Rice husk is one of the highly potential lignocellulosic wastes that can be utilized as substrate for the production of xylanase by solid state fermentation. Xylanase enzymes have gained importance in industrial because of their various applications in bio-processing of fabrics, bio-bleaching of pulp, waste paper recycling, and bioconversion. For xylanase production, since rice husk usage as a substrate was not extensively studied as much as wheat bran, this preliminary feasibility study needed to be undertaken. The aim of the present study is to investigate the production of xylanase from solid state fermentation of rice husk associated fungus Aspergillus niger using Full Factorial Design. Three parameters to be observed in this study are temperature, size of inoculum and moisture content. Effect of parameters and interaction were analysed using normal plot, pareto chart, residual plot, main effect, interaction plot, contour plot and surface plot. From the result, it was found that the interaction between the factors are significant and the optimum production of enzyme which is 8 U/ml obtained at 7.5 Petri dish of inoculum and 40% moisture content with 25°C as a hold value. The result of xylanase optimization from this study is potential to be applied in palm oil mill effluent (POME) pre-treatment. The parameters tested are chemical oxygen demand (COD) and total solid (TS) with 10% dilution of xylanase enzyme to POME and were digested for 6 days. Result from the study indicated that xylanase enzyme was able to reduce 84% COD and 78% TS from POME.

Keywords: Xylanase; Rice Husk; Aspergillus niger; Palm oil mill effluent; Solid state fermentation

BIOMASS AS A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF SUSTAINABLE FUEL, CHEMICAL AND TRIBOLOGICAL MATERIALS- OVERVIEW

Anthony Chukwunonso Opia1, Abdul Hamid Mohd Kameil Bin2, Samion, Syahrullail3, Abu Baka Abd Rahim4, Charles A. N. Johnson5

1-4Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] 5Department of Marine Engineering, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa State, NIGERIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Pollution pronounced as one of the global biggest challenges towards mankind. Studies discovered that high percentage are from industrial by-products source and mostly from combustion of fuels used during manufacturing and other applications. The introduction and acceptance of smother burning fuels together with less harmful chemical (lubricants) began to gain ground, owing to the worldwide environmental concern. This drastically pushes into utilization of biomaterials known with potential of renewability and eco-friendly, to substitute poisonous fuels chemicals and oils. Furthermore, the initiation of biomass in the industry, alters the continuous demand and increase in the price of petroleum products, also the environmental catastrophe is minimised. This paper looks into the advantageous potentials of biomass in the areas of combustion and tribological applications. With the modern technologies in the industry for biomass conversion, better products of oils, chemicals and gases certainly will be generated. Continuous utilization of biomass, evidently will eliminate the global greenhouse emission and other combustible by-product challenges.

Keywords: Biomass, Sustainability, Green economy, Utilization and biomass conversion

PERFORMANCE AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF RICE BRAN OIL IN AN OIL BURNER

Burhani M Burhani1, Mohammad Nm Jaafar2, Norazila Othman*3, Anis Athirah Mohd Azli4, Mazlan Said5, Muhammad Roslan Rahim6, Muhammad Syahiran Abdul Malik7 and Wan Zaidi Wan Omar8

1-8 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru 81310, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The fossil fuels have been the most practical way to produce energy for industries, vehicles and homes due to their lower prices, good combustion properties and their availability compared to other types of fuels. However, in this era of modernization, one of the biggest challenges of humanity is depletion of fossil fuels may result the increasing of the price. Studies have found out that it is possible to improve physical and chemical characteristics of alternative fuel based biodiesel by using the transesterification process and hence act as an alternative to mineral diesel. Therefore, the study about the potentiality of the rice bran oil as biodiesel feedstock is explained in this paper. The aim of this study is determining the performance and emission characteristics of the rice bran oil biodiesel (RBOBD). In addition, the comparison is made for its combustion and emission characteristics to those of conventional diesel fuel (CDF). Results show that RBOBD is very good at minimizing emissions, especially CO and SO2 with the value 60 ppm and 10 ppm, respectively. The establish information may help Malaysia to recognize the potentiality of the rice bran oil in order to replace the conventional fuel in the future.

Keywords: Rice bran oil; Biodiesel emission; Combustion; Nitrogen oxide; Oil Burner; Equivalence ratio

TWO-STAGES CARBON EMISSION PINCH ANALYSIS FOR INTEGRATED SYSTEM OF RENEWABLE ENERGY AND ELECTRIC VEHICLE

Ahmad Fakrul Ramli1, Ahmad Muzammil Idris2, Zarina Ab Muis3, Wai Shin Ho4, Aziatul Niza Sadikin5 and Syaza Izyanni Ahmad6

1-4 UProcess Systems Engineering Center (PROSPECT), School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA E-mail: [email protected] 1-6Department of Chemical Engineering, School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT

Abstract. The introduction of electric vehicles to the transportation fleet has merged the power generation and transportation sectors into an integrated system. Rather than fuel sources, electricity is used to charge electric vehicles, so these vehicles play a vital role as an important green technology that could reduce carbon emissions in the transportation sector. This study aimed to develop a multi-stage carbon emission pinch analysis for an integrated system to optimise the energy mix for electricity generation. In the first stage, the minimum number of electric vehicles required to reduce transportation emissions was determined. In the second stage, the optimal energy mix for power generation sector was determined while including the electricity demand for the electric vehicle. Four scenarios, namely the business-as-usual scenario (S1); the public transport utilization scenario (S2); the electrification of vehicle scenario (S3); and the Integrated- Policies scenario (S4) were developed based on Peninsular Malaysia as a case study, to analyse the impact of different mitigation strategies on the country’s economy. S1 was set as baseline for all the cases i.e., without any mitigation strategies. The results reveal that S4 was the best scenario, yielding a total cost saving percentage of 51.42 % compared to S1. For the power generation sector, 52 % of renewable energy (solar PV, biomass and biogas) utilisation would be needed in the energy mix to achieve the emission reduction target.

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

CURRENT USAGE BY A DC MOTOR TO VARY RATIO IN AN ELECTROMECHANICAL CONTINUOUSLY VARIABLE TRANSMISSION

Lucas Jean Delhaise1, Izhari Izmi Mazali*2, Zul Hilmi Che Daud3, Mohd Salman Che Kob4 and Zainab Asus5

1 Institut Supérieur de I'automobile et des Transports, Universite de Bourgogne, FRANCE. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2-5 School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In a typical continuously variable transmission (CVT) for automotive, engine torque is transmitted from the primary pulley (connected to the vehicle’s engine) to the secondary pulley (connected to the wheels) through a metal pushing V-belt. The CVT ratio (rCVT) is defined as the pitch radius of the belt on the secondary pulley divided by the pitch radius on the primary pulley. Conventionally, rCVT is varied using hydraulic pressure generated by an oil pump which is powered by the engine. A continous hydraulic pressure is also required to maintain high clamping force applied on the belt so that sufficient traction between the belt and the pulleys can always be provided. This requirement, unfortunately, causes significant power losses in the CVT and to address this, the idea of electro-mechanical CVT (EM CVT) is proposed. In an EM CVT, rCVT is varied using a power screw mechanism and a DC motor while the desired ratio and the belt’s clamping force is maintained using the thread of the power screw mechanism, thus eliminating the aforementioned issue. This paper describes the process of measuring the current used by a DC motor to vary rCVT in an EM CVT. The results show that the current usage is higher during upshifting from rCVT of 1.95 to 1.43 (about 45 A) as compared to downshifting from 1.43 to 1.95 (about 23 A). This is due to the application of disc springs in the secondary pulley that reduces the required motor torque for downshifting. The results also proves that no current is consumed by the motor during a constant rCVT. In conclusion, the motor’s current usage has been successfully measured and the results can be used for a future development of the EM CVT’s battery system.

Keywords: DC motor, Current, Electro-Mechanical, Continuously Variable Transmission, Metal Pushing V-Belt

STUDY OF MULTI-CELL THIN-WALLED TUBE WITH VARIOUS CONFIGURATION UNDER LATERAL LOADING

Muhammad Izzuddin Mohd Sofi*1, Zaini Ahmad2, Wong King Jye3 and Chow Zhen Pei4

1, 2 Department of Applied Mechanics and Design, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected]) 3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Thin-walled structure is one of the common structures that is widely used as an energy absorber due to inexpensive, high availability and lightweight. Moreover, the multi-cell structure is acknowledged as a useful method to elevate the effectiveness of thin-walled structures in crashworthiness. Energy absorber performance of multi-cell thin-walled tube structure is known to be greater than the single thin-walled tube. This is due to the limitation of plastic hinge zones of single tube during lateral loading condition. This paper presents the effect of multi-cell configuration on energy absorption responses under lateral loading condition. Experiment and numerical approach were used in this research. The validation of finite element model (FEM) was conducted by comparing the load-displacement responses and deformation mode of a quasi-static compression test. Multi-cell configuration study was performed to identify the energy absorption performance of multi-cell thin-walled tube with different arrangements. The results reveal that an increasing number of cell will increase the energy absorption capacity of multi-cell structure. The additional number of tube cells contribute to the increases of the contact joint between each tube thus, generate additional permanent plastic-hinges.

Keywords: Multi-cell structure, Thin-walled, Crashworthiness

EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE IMPACT CHARACTERISTICS OF SEAMLESS FIBRE METAL LAMINATE (FML) TUBES

Mazlan Ahmad Mansor, Zaini Ahmad and Mohamed Ruslan Abdullah

1 Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2, 3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study is to investigate the energy absorption and impact characteristics new tubular and seamless type of Fibre Metal Laminate (FML) fabricated from braided fibreglass sleeve and aluminium alloy tubes. Aluminium tubes was precisely machined to specific thickness and chemically treated to improve the adhesive bonding. Sleeve type braided fibreglass was selected as it comes in specific dimension and more importantly it is seamless and produces an excellent composite tube. Tubes carefully assembled to form 2/1 and 3/2 layup configurations and highly adhesive resin was introduced as interlayer, which is composed of two layers of aluminium tubes and one layer of fibreglass braided sleeve in between for 2/1 layup. The new designed tubes were tested together with aluminium bare tubes with identical mass and inner dimension to 2/1 tube to evaluate the behaviour and impact characteristics under low velocity axial impact loading, where its intended purpose of application. This tube crushed progressively and unlikely to fail under catastrophic failure. The results also indicate that the mechanical performance of a new FML tube could be applied as a new and efficient energy absorber.

Keywords: Fibre Metal Laminate, Energy Absorption, Crashworthiness, Low Velocity, Impact Loading

THERMAL PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS IN SINUSOIDAL CAVITIES- RIBS MICROCHANNEL HEAT SINK WITH SECONDARY CHANNEL GEOMETRY FOR LOW PUMPING POWER APPLICATION

Wan Mohd. Arif Aziz Japar*1 and Nor Azwadi Che Sidik2

1-2 Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 3 Research Centre for Nano-Materials and Energy Technology, School of Science and Technology, Sunway University, Bandar Sunway, 47500 Subang Jaya, Selangor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 4 Faculty of Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The increase in the demand for high performance electronic device has led cooling technology from air cooling to liquid cooling method in order to prevent the operating temperature in the electronic device goes beyond the junction temperature of the electronic device. Liquid as a heat transportation in a micro-cooling technology is an effective method to maintain the operating temperature. Among the micro-cooling technology, microchannel heat sink appears as a promising method that provides high heat transfer rate with minimal pressure drop. However, the conventional microchannel heat sink which has straight channels (CR MCHS) inadequate to remove high heat flux generated by the current devices due to high thermal resistance in laminar region. High heat transfer rate just can be obtained in the microchannel heat sink by using larger mass flowrate which affects the pumping power consumption. The method is not suitable for the low pumping power application. So instead of increases the mass flowrate, in this paper, a hybrid microchannel heat sink was proposed in order to satisfy the cooling demand with low pumping power consumption. The effect of sinusoidal cavities, rectangular ribs and secondary channel geometry on thermal resistance and pumping power in the hybrid microchannel sink (SD-RR-SC MCHS) was studied numerically. The result showed the SD-RR-SC MCHS and RR MCHS had the lowest thermal resistance and temperature variation for the mass flowrate that less than 6.78X10-5 kgs-1. Despite both designs had a similar thermal performance with the average deviation of 5%, SD-RR-SC MCHS required only 11.3% of CR MCHS pumping power, while RR MCHS required 31.3% of CR MCHS pumping power in order to achieve the optimum thermal performance of CR MCHS. Means, SD-RR-SC MCHS is the most suitable design which can fulfil cooling demand for low pumping power application.

Keywords: Microchannel heat sink, Thermal resistance, Pumping power, Cavities, Secondary channels

OPTIMIZATION PARAMETER FOR ALUMINIUM AISI 5052 – H32 BY MULTI - PASSES BUTT JOINT USING FRICTION STIR WELDING

MOHD Hairizal Osman1, a, MOHAMMAD khalid Wahid2,b, MOHD Nazri Ahmad3,c, NURUL Ain Maidin4, d and MOHD Hidayat Ab Rahman5, e 1-5 Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering Technology, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka,Hang Tuah Jaya, 76100, Durian Tunggal, Malaysia [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the Optimization parameter for aluminium AISI 5052 – H32 by multi passes butt joint using friction stir welding. This research use Flamefast machine to make the Process of Multi – Passes control two parameter Spindle Speed (RPM) and Weld Rate (MM/S). Amada FO 3015 M2 NT Laser cut Machine is to cut the specimen DogBone follow the ASTM E8M. To get the mechanical properties base on the ASTM E8M five specimens DogBone for tensile test using measurement tensile strength brand INSTRON 5669 at lab mechanical testing. In order to obtain the result for Multi - Passes by Using Friction Stir Welding using Minitab 15 software method Taguchi and ANOVA to analyse the data for get the significant parameter for Spindle Speed (RPM) and Weld Rate (MM/S) for Multi – Passes Friction Stir Butt Joint Aluminium 5052 – H32. The result revealed that the shows that the parameter of Friction Stir Welding Multi-passes by using Flamefast machine is significant. The signal to noise ratios ‘Larger is Better’ to perform the predicted parameter of the Friction Stir Welding to confirmation the parameter for the confirmation test. The predicted value for the signal to noise ratio is 43.7491 and the mean is 112.747. From that predicted, this will perform the by conformation test base on the calculation percentage error, the percentage error is 9.6% will be performing the significant.

Keywords: Friction Stir Welding, Multi Pass Butt Joint, Taguchi Method, Anova

FIT MIX EFFECT MODELLING OF PHYSIO-MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF EXPERIMENTAL AL-ZN-MG-CU ALLOY STIR- CAST FROM RECYCLED BEVERAGE CAN

Kazeem Abubakar1, Nur Azam Badarulzaman2 and Wan Fahmin Faiz Wan Ali3

1 Department of Science Policy and Innovation Studies, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), North Central Zonal Office, FCT-Abuja, NIGERIA. 2 Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, UTM-Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The unique properties of aluminium and its alloyability with metals and non-metals made it one among most studied materials. It has vast areas of application in the automobile and aerospace industries. More than 97 % of aluminium used in beverage cans (BCs) are recoverable. Bulk of efforts were channelled to reuse of BCs to produce another can while models predicting the physio-mechanical properties of novel alloys produced from recycled BCs were lacking in previous studies. The objective of this paper is to produce a new Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy from recycled beverage cans, experimentally determine the physical and mechanical properties for the purpose of developing a Fit Mix Effect (FME) Model to predict the physio-mechanical properties of this new alloy. Ingots were cast from BCs and spent batteries. Weight percent (wt. %) Zn were alternated between 4, 4.5 and 5 to produce nine (9) sections (S1-S9). Tensile and hardness pieces were heat treated. Largely, S3 delivered the maximum UTS of 362 MPa, hardness of 113 Hv, 1.38 mm elongation and density of 2.800 g/cm3. The empirical properties were used in delivering the FME model after fitting. The model was significant (P=0.991) and fully represent the properties of this alloy. Further studies may adopt this model to predict the properties of similar alloy and validate with experimental outcomes. Simulation of the properties are equally open for further investigations.

COMPLEX GEOMETRY AUTOMOTIVE MUFFLER SOUND TRANSMISSION LOSS MEASUREMENT BY EXPERIMENTAL METHOD AND 1D SIMULATION CORRELATION

Mahadhir Mohammad1, Mohd Farid Muhamad Said*2, Muhamad Hariz Khairuddin3, Khairuldean Abdul Kadir4, Muhd Afiq Aiman Dahlan5 and Thiha Zaw6

1-5 Automotive Development Centre (ADC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor, MALAYSIA. *(E-mail: [email protected]) 1 UTM Centre for Low Carbon (LOCARTIC), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor, MALAYSIA 6 Mechanical Precision Engineering Department, Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

A muffler is device to attenuate noise from the exhaust. The muffler performance determined by the acoustic performance called sound transmission loss (STL). This paper objective to measure the STL experimentally and correlated with the 1D simulation result. Experiment STL measured using the impedance tube. Four pole method (microphone) and two load method was applied to measure the STL. The STL also determined through the 1D simulation tools software. Three types of mufflers STL had been measured, which are small expansion chamber, big expansion chamber and complex muffler. The respective error between simulation and experiment are 0.17%, 7.89% and 11.40%. Hence,the STL experiment result was well correlated with 1D simulation model.

Keywords: Muffler, Sound transmission loss, Automotive, Acoustic, 1D simulation

PREDICTIVE NUMERICAL ANALYSIS ON THE FUEL HOMOGENEITY IN A ROTATING DETONATION ENGINE (RDE) IMPLEMENTING RADIALLY ENTERED FUEL INJECTION SCHEME

Mohammad Nurizat Rahman1, Mazlan Abdul Wahid*2 and Mohd Fairus Mohd Yasin3

1-3 High Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The potential for a continuous detonation wave in rotating detonation engine (RDE) hugely rely on homogenous fuel-air mixture within the annular chamber. Hence, a comprehensive numerical study on the non-reacting flow field was carried out to investigate hydrogen – oxygen mixing in a RDE, allowing this study to represent the flow behavior at the split second before ignition. A validation with the published experimental data was successfully done by comparing the predicted detonation front displacement, r and velocity, 푣퐷. Below than 10 % error was detected in both variables. New parameter representing fuel homogeneity was introduced which is the magnitude of maximum deviation from the hydrogen (H2) mean mass fraction, |푆max|. A comparison in the |푆max| generated from the RDE implementing axially-entered fuel (AEF) injection with the RDE implementing radially-entered fuel (REF) injection was carried out. Based on the numerical results, the |푆max| value generated from the AEF injection is lower than the REF injection implying the capability of AEF injection to produce better fuel homogeneity. Via AEF injection, the fuel stream has a direct impingement with the oxidizer stream allowing proper mixing of the reactants. In REF injection, the distance from fuel injector to oxidizer injector, R was varied to foresee the impact of R in |푆max| value. The outcome shows that the higher the value of R, the higher the value of |푆max|. This comes from the formation of vortex between the reactant streams plus the increased in distance between both streams which further reduced the interaction between the reactants. In the cases of R3 and R4 where the values of R are 7 and 9 mm respectively, the homogeneity of fuel is severe in the upstream region. This is a major concern since the ignition happened in that particular area. Thus, it is crucial for the reactants to mix properly within the upstream region.

Keywords: Rotating detonation engine (RDE), Radially-entered fuel injection, Fuel homogeneity

OPTIMAL DESIGN OF AN AUTONOMOUS EMERGENCY BRAKE SYSTEM FOR A PASSENGER VEHICLE

Muhammad Zulfadzli Che Mustafar1 and Saiful Anuar Abu Bakar*2

1 Engineering Division, PROTON, 40400, Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA. 1, 2 Automotive Development Centre, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper models the performance of a passenger vehicle equipped with Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) using a feedback control system in MATLAB Simulink. Two types of AEB control systems are simulated and compared; proportional-integral (PI) control and fuzzy logic control (FLC). Performance of both control systems simulated are compared using AEB City collision scenario defined in Euro New Car Assessment Protocol (NCAP). Results show that the proposed PI control system is able to meet Euro NCAP AEB City set requirements.

Keywords: Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), MATLAB Simulink, Proportional- Integral (PI), Fuzzy Logic Control, New Car Assessment (NCAP)

LOW SPEED VERTICAL AXIS CURRENT TURBINE (LS-VACT): EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS

Nursahliza Muhamat Yain*1, Adi Maimun Abdul Malik2, Arifah Ali3, Atef Salem Meftah Souf Aljen4, Fatemeh Behrouzi5 and Mehdi Nakisa6

1, 2-6 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 3 Marine Technology Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Depleting of fossil fuels and climate change problem as well as the pollutions arise make the renewable energy one of the best options for long-term usage. In hydropower energy extraction, vertical axis marine current turbine applications; Savonius turbine is suitable with the Malaysia’s sea which has the ability to operate in low speed current. However, due to the drawbacks which are low efficiency and low tip speed ratio, modifications need to be done to harness more power. Hence, Low Speed Vertical Axis Current Turbine is appeared to extract energy based on the Savonius rotor. In conjunction to this matter, laboratory work has been done in a way to study the relationship between Power Coefficient (Cp) and Tip Speed Ratio (λ), and also the relationship between Torque Coefficient (Ct) and Tip Speed Ratio (λ) based on the different current speed which are 0.32 m/s and 0.64 m/s.

Keywords: Renewable energy, LS-VACT, Turbine

DEVELOPMENT OF AN ONBOARD AND WIRELESS DATA TELEMETRY SYSTEMS FOR ELECTRIC VEHICLE

(E-K Sundralingam1, S.A Abu Bakar*2, M.F.M. Said3 and M. Muralitharan4

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300, Skudai, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (F-mail: *[email protected]; [email protected] )

ABSTRACT

This research aims to design and develop a data monitoring and acquisition system of an onboard and wireless data telemetry system for electric vehicle. The scopes of this research are sensor integrations (6DOF IMU sensor and voltage sensor), creating a Graphical User Interface (GUI) for onboard monitoring system, conducting tests on data acquired by systems and connection’s durability testing for the developed systems. The onboard system consists of Arduino Uno, sensors, a serial communication module, LCD display and a memory card which is fitted onto RC car for data recording. The data is transmitted to the wireless system via radio frequency through the serial communication module. The wireless system consisting of Arduino Uno and a serial communication module are connected to a laptop. The data collected from both systems are compared to ensure minimal data losses. It is found that there are no data losses between the data transmitted and received. As an outcome from this research, a telemetry system has been developed to be used on RC cars.

Keywords: Electric Vehicle, Data Telemetry, Arduino

PREDICTIVE SIMULATION OF SINGLE CYLINDER N-BUTANOL HCCI ENGINE

Muhammad Faizullizam Roslan1, Ibham Veza2 and Mohd Farid Muhamad Said*3

1-3Automotive Development Centre, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. *(E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) is a commonly research new combustion mode due to its advantages over conventional combustion in internal combustion engine such as higher thermal efficiency as well as lower particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emission. However, combustion phasing control difficulty is the main challenge in order to achieve this HCCI combustion due to the absence of direct auto-ignition control. In this paper, several parameters had been investigated numerically to evaluate the combustion characteristics of HCCI engine in a single-cylinder and four-stroke engine fueled with n-butanol. Predictive one- dimensional engine cycle simulation with single-zone model is employed in this study. A chemical kinetic mechanism of n-butanol is used to in this model to capture the chemical reaction process during the combustion. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate, intake charge temperature and engine loads were varied to assess the combustion characteristics of the engine. It was found that these parameters play important roles towards the combustion phasing of the HCCI engine as well as the in-cylinder pressure. This HCCI model is able to predict the trend of the combustion characteristics comprehensively with the variation of these critical parameters resulting in a good agreement with previous HCCI studies.

Keywords: HCCI, n-butanol, single-zone model, EGR, intake charge temperature

A REVIEW ON THE CURRENT SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING PRACTICES AND METRICS

Zoran Arputhaselan1, Syed Ahmad Helmi2 and Azanizawati Ma’aram3

1-2 Centre for Engineering Education, Faculty of Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]) 3School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Sustainable manufacturing approach in industry is becoming increasingly important due to scarcity of natural resources, stricter regulations, and increasing customer demand for sustainable products. Sustainable manufacturing involves the use of sustainable processes and systems to produce more sustainable products. In order to meet these demands, manufacturing companies have to adopt numerous strategies to achieve sustainable manufacturing. This paper reviews existing practices and metrics for product and process sustainability which are published in previous journals. The review covers publications from 2005 to 2019. The practices and metrics have been identified in relation to the 3 major elements of manufacturing; (1) Product, (2) Process and (3) System. The outcome of this review is to study the ways to incorporate these practices and metrics into a framework as an approach to implement Sustainable Manufacturing as a whole in all the three domains.

OPTIMIZATION PROCEDURE FOR PARAMETER DETERMINATION OF CHABOCHE KINEMATIC HARDENING MODEL

Navid Moslemi*1, Mohsen Golzardian2, Norizah Redzuan*3, Farzin Mozafari4 and Amran Ayob5

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Skudai 81310, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 5 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Bangi 43600, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT The ratcheting behavior and prediction of 316L stainless steel pipe was developed using numerical finite element approach. The Chaboche model parameters to be used in the numerical method were adopted from symmetric post monotonic test on the pipe. The significant property, the Elastic Limit of the material, was extracted using incremental cyclic uniaxial test. Comparison between two well-known optimization methods, Particle Swarm Optimization and Genetic Algorithm gave the former a slightly better correlation with experimental tests. The Chaboche model in ANSYS was utilized to predict the uniaxial ratcheting behavior of the pipe specimen. The close comparison of rate of ratcheting between finite element simulation and experimental test indicates that accurate Elastic Limit extraction from post monotonic test alone results in improved ratcheting prediction, with PSO method adopted to optimize ratcheting parameters.

Keywords: 316L stainless steel, Ratcheting, Calibration, Chaboche model

INFLUENCE OF FABRICATION METHODS ON MICROSTRUCTURES AND HARDNESS OF TI-NI, TI-NB AND TI-TA FOR BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Esah Hamzah*1, Z.Z. Anuar2, I.S. Arudi3, M.K Ibrahim4, A Bahador5 and A Khaatak6 1-6 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 3Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Abuja, P.M.B 117, Abuja, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

Ti-based alloys namely, Ti-Ni, has been used as biomedical material due to its superior properties. However, it has been reported recently that nickel is toxic to the human body and thus alternative nickel-free alloys has been rigorously studied. The best candidate materials are Ti-Nb and Ti-Ta which are known to be biocompatible. These alloys maybe produced either via casting or through powder metallurgy route. Both production and fabrication methods produced dense and porous materials respectively which have different applications in biomedical field. This paper describes the influence of production and fabrication methods on the microstructures and hardness of nickel- free Ti-alloys, namely, Ti-Nb and Ti-Ta alloys with Ti-Ni as a reference alloy. The alloys were produced by three different methods: casting in vacuum induction furnace, compaction of powders followed by microwave sintering and compaction of powders followed by spark plasma sintering. The presence of porosity was analysed on the as cast and sintered samples by Archimedes drainage method while microstructures analysis was done using standard materials characterisation techniques such as optical and electron microscopy as well as x-ray diffractometry. Hardness test was also conducted by Vickers hardness test. It was found that the alloys with different production and fabrication methods give slight variation in the microstructures in terms of grain size and structures, porosity intensities and pore size. As-cast Ti alloys have the lowest amount of porosity and highest hardness values while Ti alloys fabricated by microwave sintering have the highest porosity content with lowest hardness values.

Keywords: Microwave sintering, spark plasma sintering, casting, titanium-based alloys

THE EFFECT OF FLOW VARIATIONS TO VIBRATION TENDENCY IN A HYDRAULIC MANIFOLD

Norazhar Ali1, Kahar Osman2, Fazila Mohd Zawawi3 and Muhammad Noor Afiq Witri Muhammad Yazid4

1-2 School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

A hydraulic manifold is an important component in hydraulic machinery to convey hydraulic oil under high pressure into hydraulic tube and hose for cleaning purpose. Due to high pressure during operation, the process induces vibration and leakage can occur at the exit ports of hydraulic manifold. The aim of this study is to determine the effects of pressure and velocity variations in hydraulic manifold with respect to vibration tendency. In this study, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to simulate the hydraulic manifold fluid behaviours, under various operating conditions. The result shows that fluctuations in pressure and velocity occurs at each branch in a mainstream due to changes of the area and geometrical shape. We also observed surge of pressure but reduction in velocity at each branch. Overall, the results show the most affected areas are those near the inlet. Areas further downstream are not significantly changed by the increments.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PDCA CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT CYCLE (PLAN-D0-CHECK-ACT) AS A TOOL FOR IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF THE CAST AA5083 ALLOY PRODUCED IN THE FOUNDRY LABORATORY

Abdelaisalam Ali Al Bakoosh1, Zamani Ahmad2 and Jamaliah Idris*3

1-3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. Email: [email protected]; [email protected]; *[email protected]

ABSTRACT

Production of the high-quality alloy sample using the casting process it is not an easy and simple matter, it is one of the critical difficulties faced by the foundry technologist and researchers. Since the PDCA continuous improvement cycle is a key tool to achieve quality improvement of the product. Therefore, it was applied as an attempt to produce a high-quality cast AA5083 alloy. The main purpose of this paper is to avoid the defects that occur during the production of cast AA5083 alloy using the casting technique, which leads to minimizing product quality. The defects that may take place during the casting process of aluminium alloys have been identified through the literature reviews and taken into consideration to avoid them. The cause-effect diagram (Fishbone- Diagram) was constructed to show the root cause of the defects to avoid them, as well as the PDCA cycle was used to minimize the defects effectively. The results obtained showed that by applying the PDCA continuous improvement cycle and using the quality control tools, the quality of the cast AA5083 alloy can be improved.

Keywords: AA5083 alloy, Quality Control, PDCA cycle, Cause-and effect diagram, Casting

BRIEF REVIEW ON DISSIMILAR WELDING USING COLD METAL TRANSFER

Nordayana Mior Burhanuddin1, Norizah Redzuan2, Norhayati Ahmad3, Izman Sudin4 and Mohd Faridh Ahmad Zaharuddin5

1-5 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Hybrid joint configuration nowadays has been an essential process for fabrication in both industrial and construction industry. However, the challenges in welding two varied materials need to consider both metal characteristics since the joint of the different metals from various properties cause the formation of intermetallic compounds (IMCs) layers can cause the failure. Various parameters (i.e; welding current, welding speed) and factors (i.e; materials’ thickness and properties) need to be considered when joining two different metals using welding. Common methods use for joining two different metals are friction stir welding, laser welding, resistant spot welding and gas metal arc welding (GMAW). Cold metal transfer method (CMT) is new technique that recently applied for joining dissimilar metal weld especially for thin metals of 0.3~2.0 mm. Major advantage of CMT is using low power and green technology process. This review provides explanation of common field which applying dissimilar metal welding and discuss the previous related researches with example of different materials being used. This including factors that need to be concerned to produce good welding joint and the current research using cold metal transfer for hybrid joint configuration.

Keywords: Cold Metal Transfer (CMT); Dissimilar Metal Welding; Aluminium Alloy 6061; Hybrid Joint

STEEL WIRE CLEANING BY USING COLD PLASMA

Muhamad Nor Firdaus Zainal1, Norizah Redzuan*2, Mohd Fadthul Ikmal Misnal3, Norhayati Ahmad4 and Raja Kamarulzaman Raja Ibrahim5

1-4School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. E-mail: *[email protected] 5Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Current galvanizing process used hydrochloric acid to remove oxide layer and mild acidic bath to remove oil on metal wire surface. These cleaning processes are compulsory before steel wire coated with zinc. These chemicals cleaning technique cause ecological harm and produce toxic waste. To consider of minimizing these problems, cold plasma was introduced for metal wire cleaning. Previous research already proves that cold plasma capable to remove oil by using dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and remove oxide layer on copper by using RF plasma discharge. Therefore, in this research, the same plasma discharge system that is DBD was used to remove oil and oxide layer on steel wire. 8kV of voltage and air was used to generate plasma. By using copper and steel wire as electrode, it can remove oil around 82% and oxide layer around 54%.

THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT MOTOR CONSTANTS TO A COMMERCIAL PROPELLER

Mastura Ab Wahid1, Norazila Othman2, Mohd Ibthisham Ardani3, Mohd Zarhamdy Md. Zain4, Shuhaimi Mansor5 and Attica Natasya Asmi6

1-5 School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper discussed the performance of a propeller with different motor constants such as the speed constants, motor resistance. The performance that was compared are the thurst, torque and total efficiency. There are many motors developed by the manufacturer but the datasheet given are not complete and lack information such as rotational speed and torque. This information is important to a designer and hobbyist to size their UAV or multicopter. But the overwhelming motor type makes it difficult to choose the best motor. This research will perform analysis from the datasheet obtained from the manufacturer to see the effects of different motors to the propeller performance. It was gathered that for lower Kv such as KV980, it is better when higher torque than thrust is required. But for motor with speed constant above 1250 to 1400, the choice of motor will not have significant effect on the propeller performance. However when size increase with higher Kv (more that 1400) the efficiency will drop

Keywords: Propeller/motor performance, Brushless DC motor, 1047 ropeller

SHIP SYSTEMS SYNTHESIS AND ANALYSIS USING HOLISTIC DESIGN APPROACH: THE QFD-AD METHOD

Jauhari Tahir Khairuddin*1, Adi Maimun Abdul Malik2 and Chee Loon Siow3

1 School of Ocean Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Kuala Nerus, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 1-3 Marine Technology Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Design complexity is influenced by available technologies, design development and production processes. It is often observed in large, complex and integrated systems. In this context, a study is conducted to observe ROPAX ship design and the development processes applying the QFD-AD method. It is proposed to synthesise and analyse the ship systems design and configurations at the early design phase. This study explored the method applicability to facilitate concurrent design and decision-making, alternative to the conventional ship design spiral model. Moreover, it presented the method potential to support holistic design approach in exploring ship design as large and complex systems.

Keywords: Systems Engineering, Concurrent Engineering, Parametric-Based Design, Design Complexity

WETTABILITY CONTROL OF NANO-COLUMNAR DLC THIN FILMS VIA EB-IRRADIATION

Jinhoe Foo

1School of Mechanical Engineering, UTM, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 2Dept of Engineering & Design, Shibaura Institute of Technology, Tokyo, JAPAN. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Amorphous carbon (a-C:H/a-C) or Diamond-like carbon, have a very high potential diverse engineering application especially in protective coating which made it an ideal method to be manipulated in process parameters so to achieve the desired mechanical and functional properties; this correlates to the smoothness, atomic density, and the sp3 content. The nano-structure of this amorphous carbon is characterized by its disordered state of sp2 and sp3. The mechanical property would response to the sp2/sp3 matrix with the small hydrogen content which leads to the significant increases in hardness, tribological and also the wettability properties. This vague columnar structure of DLC is strictly modified to fine and self-organized structure, where hig-density, graphitic inter-columnar structure is embedded into the low-density amorphous carbon phase as being confirmed through characterization, mechanical properties and response.

This unique hybrid system in the a-C:H films would control the functionality of the final coating in customized way to suit multi-disciplinary engineering applications. This Nano-columnar a-C:H system. However, this hybrid system is still bound to the triangular diagram of sp2-sp3-H in the formation of a-C or a-C:H. This formed nano-columanr a-C:H films shows a unique nano-structure and its graphatized inter-columnar network with amorphous columns responsible the desired properties manipulation. In this paper, correlation between the degree of graphitization and wettability is established.

Keywords: Nano-columnar DLC, RF-sputtering, EB-Irradiation

MICROSTRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF MODIFIED PLASMA SPRAY LZ/YSZ THERMAL BARRIER COATING BY LASER GLAZING

Azrina Arshada1, Muhammad Azizi Mat Yajida2 and Mohd Hasbullah Idrisa3

1-3Department of Materials, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. 1Quality Engineering Section, Malaysian Institute of Industrial Technology, Universiti Kuala Lumpur, 81750 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

One of the most potential materials, known as lanthanum zirconate (LZ) is deposited on superalloy 625 due to its excellent phase stability and lower thermal conductivity as well as high melting point. However, microstructural defects was detected due lamellar structure behaviour exhibited from the plasma sprayed coating techniques. This paper is to investigate the effect of surface modification on LZ thermal barrier coating (TBC) by using laser glazing method. The double ceramic layer (DCL) TBCs are composed of NiCoCrAlYTa bond coating formed via the HVOF process while 8YSZ ceramic top coat and La2Zr2O7 as third layer were produced utilizing APS technique. Nd:YAG pulsed laser has been used to modify the surface layer of plasma-sprayed LZ coatings. The microstructural morphologies of both as-sprayed and laser glazed samples were investigated using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The phases of the coatings were analysed with X-ray Diffractometry (XRD). The results show that laser glazing process may reduce the surface roughness attributed by the sealing the porosities and other structural defects of coating. Finally, the influences of laser energy input and laser distance on the characterization of the glazed layer are discussed.

Keywords: Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs); Laser Glazing; Air Plasma Spraying (APS); Lanthanum Zirconate (LZ); Double Ceramic Layer (DCL)

EXPERT VALIDATION OF TOUCH POINT METHOD IN IDEATION PROCESS BASED ON USER BENEFIT AND CREATIVITY

Thamilarasan Balasubramaniam*1, Nor Fasiha Mohd Yusof 2 and Mohd. Noor Harun3

1 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 2 Engineering Design Research Group, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 3 Sports Innovation & Technology Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

“You've got to start with the user experience and work backward to the technology”–Steve Jobs. This study demonstrates the importance of understanding the user before undergoing the engineering design process. Recently, many researchers in the design engineering field work on the early phase of the design process due to decision making. There are many tools developed to gather and understand user needs. Touch Point method is an example of a user-oriented design approach that focuses on gathering user needs. In this study, Touch Point method is taken as the experimental method to compare with a controlled method of the design process. Participants are the 4th year Mechanical Engineering students of UTM, JB, whom separated into two groups. They are trained with different approaches – Touch Point method and traditional design process – and are required to solve a same problem. Outcomes are in the form of the detail sketching of design concept. Every design concepts produced by both groups are evaluated by seven design experts. They evaluate the design concept via user benefit, originality and feasibility criteria. Significant effect also identified for originality, with negative correlation. Results are discussed. In conclusion, this study proves the importance of understanding user needs during early stage of the design process.

Keywords: Empathic Design, Touch Point Method, Customer Journey Mapping, User Benefit

AIR FLOW ANALYSIS AND EFFECT OF ANGLE ON ROTATION VANE BLADE THROUGH 90º PIPE BEND

(G-Aiman.Y *1, S.Mariam2 , M.N.MUSA3 and Syahrullail. S4

1-4School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The usual problem occurs when fluid flow pass through elbow or 90º pipe bend is that secondary flow will exist which then lead to high pressure drop. The high pressure drop happen will affect the elbow which is erosion will appear. To overcome this problem, a rotation vane blade with different angles are installed at the pipe. The rotation vane blade will reduce the pressure drop that happened. In this paper, analysis of air flow through 90 pipe bend and the effect of angle rotation vane blade toward it is investigated. The process of the investigation is made through experiment. The inlet velocity used in this experiment are 1.20, 1.30, 1.40, 1.45 and 1.50 m/s. Furthermore, all the inlet velocity produced turbulence flow. Then, rotation vane blade of angle 18º and 33º are installed between the pipes by turn before the 90º pipe bend. U-tube manometer are attached at two places which is Section A-A (before elbow) and Section B-B (after elbow). From this experiment, elevation heights that measured by u-tube manometer of the two sections which are located before and after the 90 pipe bend are recorded. Next, the elevation heights will be used in the Bernoulli equation in order to calculate the velocity distribution at all sections, pressure distribution at all sections and pressure drop between both sections. The result of this experiment show that the rotation vane blade produced slower velocity at section B-B and higher pressure at section B-B. Pressure drop between both sections A-A and B-B is lower when using larger angle of rotation vane blade (33º).

Keywords: Air flow; Rotation vane blade; Fluid; Velocity distribution; Pressure distribution

POTENTIAL OF RANGE EXTENDER ELECTRIC VEHICLES (REEVS)

1 2 *3 Ibham Veza , Muhammad Faizullizam Roslan , Mohd Farid Muhamad Said , and Zulkarnain Abdul Latiff4

Automotive Development Centre, School of Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) is a promosing technology. However, it suffers from low range characteristics thus increasing the anxiety to prospect customers and hindering its market penetration. To overcome this challenge, a range extender that can generate additional power to charge the battery could be the solution. This brief review article will highlight the prospects and challenges of range extender technology for electric vehicles. A number of automobile manufacturers have launched their Range Extended Electric Vehicles (REEVs) models and the detail comparison will be given. Several types of range extenders will be discussed, including internal combustion engine, micro turbine, and fuel cell. Lastly, this report will suggest the use of Low Temperature Combustion (LTC) i.e Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) engine to be utilised as range extenders for electric vehicles.

Keywords: BEVs, Range Extender, Electric Vehicles, REEVs, HCCI

MULTIVARIATE CHANGE POINT ESTIMATION IN COVARIANCE MATRIX USING ANN Alireza Firouzi1, Noordin Bin Mohd Yusof*2 and Muhammad Hisyam Lee3

1, 2 Alireza Firouzi, Profesor Dr. Noordin Bin Mohd Yusof, Mechanical Engineering, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 3 Profesor Dr.Muhammad Hisyam Lee,Department of Mathematical Sciences, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In statistical process control, change point estimation is an essential requirement for diagnosing the source of a deviation when a process is out of control as one is able to know when the change occurred. In order to estimate the change point in the multivariate normal process correctly, all statistical parameters must be considered including the covariance matrix. the correlation between parameters is normally constant for a physical system, this assumption is implemented in order to obtain realistic simulated data. Different scenarios of literature have been studied and a novel scenario is defined and modeled for possible deviation cases we are defined and modeled for possible deviation cases and an artificial neural network was adopted and trained using this simulated data. The resulting model achieved an accuracy of 90% in training and can predict new data set with high accuracy and acceptable level of confidence for this proposed change point estimator.

Keywords: Statistical Process Control (SPC), Multivariate normal process, Change point, Covariance Matrix, Artificial Neural Network (ANN)

ELECTROLESS DEPOSITED BLACK NICKEL-PHOSPHOROUS SOLAR ABSORBER COATINGS ON CARBON STEEL: EFFECT OF PLATING BATH PH

Nor Akmal Fadil1, Nur Nasihah Anis Azli2, Abdullah Azzam Muhammad3, Taoheed Sadiq4 and Nurfatin Liyana Mohd Amin5

1-3Faculty of Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor Bahru, Malaysia 4 Manufacturing Department, Engineering Materials Development Institute, KM4, Ondo Road, P.M.B 611, Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria. *corresponding author: +60197373983 E-mail address: [email protected](Fadil), [email protected] (Anis), [email protected] (Muhammad) and [email protected] (Sadiq)

ABSTRACT

One of the challenges to solar energy collector is the energy conversion efficiency, particularly the absorbent surface capability to convert the solar energy to thermal energy. In this work, a nickel coatings for solar-to-thermal energy conversion were deposited onto carbon steel substrates from a nickel sulfate electroless bath as a nickel sourcel and sodium hypophosphite as a reducing agent using electroless plating at various pH. Electroless black nickel surfaces were obtained through etching of electroless nickel-phosphorous deposits with an oxidizing acid solution. This work aims to maximising the percentage of light absorption and minimizing the light reflectance. VIS-Nir was used to observe the percentage of reflectance and the sample with reflectance percentage approaching zero is the most efficient solar absorber.

Keywords: Electroless, Blackened nickel-phosphorous, Corrosion, Solar collector panel, Renewable energy

FEATURE EXTRACTION METHODS FOR PROGNOSIS MAINTENANCE MODEL

Azman Ahmad Bakir1, Adnan Hassan2, and Mohd Foad Abdul Hamid3

1-3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 UTM Skudai, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Research in prognosis maintenance, a branch of condition-based maintenace has received attention by some researchers lately. It focuses on predicting when is the most suitable time to perform maintenance without jeopardising the machine performance. Our review suggests that investigation on feature extraction in development of prognosis prediction model is still limited. This paper presents our study to find the most effective method for features extraction from maintenance monitoring data. Significant features set should effectively improve the prognosis maintenance model performance. There have been several investigations to study feature extraction methods; however, the appropriate one is yet to be identified. In this research, we used datasets publically available from NASA army research laboratory. This datasets were generated through a simulation of the turbofan engine by using CMAPSS software developed by NASA army research laboratory. Features extraction methods such as correlation among sensors, correlation among the outputs, variable weighing and treated data methods were studied in this research. Next, the extracted features were applied to the regression tree based prognosis model. Based on the results, the correlation among sensors method is the best feature extraction method which can represent the most useful features for the prediction model.

Keywords: Condition based Maintenance, Prognosis, Features extraction, Regression Tree

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF AN ERGONOMIC SITTING STOOL WITH STORAGE CAPABILITY

H Wessam

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The paper presents design, development, and fabrication of a modern and ergonomic sitting stool with storage capability, for the Electronic Learning Center (ELC) of Jerudong International School (JIS), Brunei Darussalam. Dimensions of the stool are based on anthropometric data of teenage students of 18 years of age. It is fabricated using readily available materials that can be reused and recycled which makes the stool environmentally friendly. It is designed and developed after analyzing the available stools in the market. The analysis is performed based on product specifications such as aesthetics, cost, function, size, materials, environment-friendliness, and safety. The stool is termed a better solution by the supervisor and senior students of the ELC that could solve the problem of limited desk space at ELC, provide comfortable seating for students, and also provide the students with enough space to store their books, folders, bags, pencil case, and their water bottle in the storage compartment of the stool.

IGNITION CHARACTERISTICS OF SUPERSONIC COMBUSTION

Shehab El Hawary*1, Aminuddin Saat2, Mohammad Amri Mazlan3, Mazlan Abdul Wahid4

1-4 High-Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory, School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. (*E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Detonation may be initiated by two different modes, direct initiation or deflagration-to-detonation transition (DDT). Direct initiation can occur by a strong source such as using exploding wire or high-voltage discharge jets. Nevertheless, this method required a significant amount of energy in order to ensure that the generated blast wave will not separate and decay. A good alternative to direct initiation is Pre-detonator initiation, it depends on initiate the detonation in an ancillary small tube connected to the main tube then the detonation waves propagate to achieve detonation in the main tube. The pre-detonator is one of the most used methods to initiate the detonation due to the high reliability and design simplicity. This article is used to present a short review on experimental studies of supersonic combustion using various types of pre-detonator together with preliminary experimental work on single supersonic combustion experiment by using methane-oxygen and propane-oxygen mixtures. From this initial work, it is shows that equivalence ratio of Propane- Oxygen mixture at 0.6 shows smaller size of the supersonic combustion wave front as compared to the Methane-Oxygen mixture at 0.6 and 0.8.

Keywords: Detonation Engines, Supersonic Combustion, Pulse Detonation Engines, Pre- detonator, Detonation Initiation

MEASUREMENT OF WEAR PROPERTIES OF ALUMINIUM METAL MATRIX COMPOSITE

Mohd Islahuddin Bin Abdul Aziz1, Tuy Asma Abu Bakar*2, and Hamidreza Ghandvar3

1-3 School of Mechanical, Faculty of Engineering, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Nowadays, Aluminium Metal Matrix Composites had being widely used thorough out various application in industries especially automotive and aerospace industry. Also in engineering field, Rare Earth Element (REE) such has Yttrium, Neodymium and Praseodymium has being widely used as alloying element to improve strength and wear resistance. Therefore, this project had been done too measure the effect of Praseodymium (Pr) addition into the Aluminium MMC of Al-15Mg2Si composite. Microstructure analysis, wear Test and Hardness Test had been done to measure Pr addition effectiveness. From the result of this research, it appears that Praseodymium addition proven to give an affect the microstructure and wear properties of Aluminium composite. It can being conclude that 0.5%Pr had given the highest Mg2Si phase density of area and lowest value of wear rate. These low value of wear rate indicates the positive effect on Praseodymium addition on Wear Resistance of composite. However, the addition of Pr did not give a significance change into the hardness value of composite.

Keywords: Aluminium MMC, Praseodymium, Addition, Wear, Tribology

DESIGN AND CONTROL OF A MOTOR WHEEL SYSTEM CONTROLLED BY SMARTPHONE

Zainab Asus*1, Mohamad Fikri Irsyad Mat Razi2, Mohd Fazzlan Mahmudin3, Zul Hilmi Che Daud4, Izhari Izmi Mazali5 and Mohd Ibthisham Ardani6

1, 2, 3 Department of Applied Mechanic and Design, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4, 5, 6 Department of Aeronautics, Automotive, and Ocean Engineering, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 1, 4, 6 Automotive Development Centre, School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this project is to design a wheel system controlled by smartphone for multiple utilization and determine its efficient control. The motor wheel system is equipped with four mecanum wheels with ten movements: forward, reverse, left, right, clockwise, counter-clockwise, and four on diagonal. PID control which is a closed loop control was implemented to regulate the speed of the wheel system. The system is equipped with Bluetooth and a mobile application was developed as its user interface. Two control mode were developed in this project which is the precision mode where the user control the wheel system manually using the smartphone as a control panel and another mode is the following mode where smartphone internal gyroscope and accelerometer are combined together to move the wheel system automatically with respect to the user body movements. CAD model of the design is developed in Solidworks and finite element analysis is done using CAE. FEA analysis is studied and discussed with focus on the critical location of the design. Full size prototype of the design is developed and tested in normal running condition. The system is proven to be reliable to carry loads and can be controlled efficiently by smartphone.

Keywords: Omnidirectional drive, Design, Control, Smartphone, Mobile Application

AN INVESTIGATION OF COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS OF HUMAN NASAL AIRFLOW USING LS-DYNA

Vizy Nazira Riazuddin*1, Chen Chin Chien2, Ahmad Faridzul3, Muhammad Afiq Jasni4, Jenson Chen5

1-5 Dyna Forming Engineering and Technology, 534-a, Jalan Seremban Tiga 15, 70300 Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Understanding the properties of airflow in the nasal cavity is very essential in determining the nasal physiology and in diagnosis of various anomalies associated with the nose. This numerical study presents the characteristics of flow features inside a human nasal cavity. A three dimensional nasal cavity model was constructed from computed tomographic images of a healthy adult nose. Pressure inlet of 0Pa were defined at the left and right nostril inlets representing the atmospheric condition. Negative pressure value was defined at the pharynx outlet to model the airflow suction during inhalation. We have found that the flow pattern in the nasal cavity is highly dependent on the complex geometry of the nasal airway. This simulation of breathing airflow enables us to visualize the flow features inside the complicated human nasal cavity which is otherwise impossible to be determined by any other method.

Keywords: Nasal Airflow, Computational Fluid Dynamics, Inspiratory Flow, LS-PrePost, LS-DYNA

LASER SURFACE CLADDING OF MILD STEEL WITH 316L STAINLESS STEEL FOR ANTI-CORROSION APPLICATIONS

Essam R.I. Mahmoud1, Sohaib Z. Khan*2 and Muhammad Ejaz3

1,2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, Islamic University of Madinah, SAUDI ARABIA (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected]) 3 REAN Consultants Ltd, 15 Concraig Place, Aberdeen, UK (E-mail: [email protected]) ABSTRACT

Fiber YAG Laser cladding is used to generate a thin layer of 316L stainless steel over low carbon steel substrate alloy to enhance corrosion resistance. In this work, the cladding technique was used at the laser powers of 2800, 2400 and 2000 W with a fixed travelling speed of 6 mm/s. The microstructure of both formed layers by cladding and substrate was investigated. On the clad cross- section of the specimens, the micro-Vickers hardness was measured. At laser powers of 2800 and 2400 W, the produced layers were well bonded to the substrate without visually noticeable macro- defects. Some defects associated with cracks appeared at a laser power of 2000 W. The stainless steel clad layer consisted mainly from highly refined mixed columnar and cellular dendritic austenite structure elongated perpendicularly to the substrate surface in the direction of heat flow. At higher powers, the structure showed organized parallel columnar dendrites while at lower powers, it shows fine cellular dendrites in random directions. A narrow dilution zone (less than 10 micrometers) was obtained where the carbon and chromium elements can stay together and form harmful carbides. The depth of the fused part in carbon steel side has a direct relationship with the laser power, and it consisted mainly from feathery bainite inside large ferrite grains. The hardness of the produced layers was improved than the base metal. Sudden hardness increment at the limited area around the interface was obtained after all the laser powers. Decreasing laser power led to hardness increment at the clad and fusion zone.

Keywords: Low carbon steel, 316L Stainless Steel, YAG Laser cladding, Microstructure, Corrosion resistance

THERMAL COMPONENT FOR AN ELECTROCHEMICAL LITHIUM ION BATTERY MODEL : IMPACT AND VARIATION ON THE BATTERY PERFORMANCE

Mohd Ibthisham Ardani1, Mastura Abdul Wahid2, Mat Hussin Ab. Talib3, Zulhilmi Che Daud4, Zainab Asus5 and Mohd Aifaa Mohd Ariff6

1,2,3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4,5 Automotive Development Centre (ADC), School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 6 Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn, 86400 Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The performance of a lithium ion battery is inherently dictated by its chemistry in which the voltage curve, capacity and thermal characteristics are notably distinct from a battery with different chemistry. In principal, different battery chemistry gives different characteristics however, these differences are gauged by the battery temperature through the Arrhenius law. A battery model is essential to predict and furthermore acts as a tool for analysing the performance of a battery in the design stage, particularly for a battery pack design. The complexity of the battery model merely lies on the electrochemical part in which all of the diffusion, electron and charge transfer are modelled. On the other hand, the thermal component of the battery model is important allowing the temperature to have a direct impact on the battery performance. This paper evaluates the impact of having different thermal component as a coupling to an electrochemical battery model. In relation to the electrochemical model, the thermal models are typically described based on the degree of its dimensionality. The highest degree of thermal model is a 3D-thermal model in which it maps the whole geometry of the battery. Nevertheless, we show that, having relatively higher degree of thermal model does not yield significant performance differences as compared to battery model that adopts a zero dimensional thermal model. Adding a more complex thermal model only puts additional computational effort which extends the duration of the calculation. This suggests that the key integration of the thermal component to an electrochemical model is on the battery thermal-electrical interplay. The direction of the battery internal current during charge/discharge must be known or assumed before an appropriate thermal model is chosen.

Keywords: Lithium-Ion Battery, Thermal model, Heat Transfer

OPTIMUM TRUNCATION LEVEL OF HEAT PIPE BASED COMPOUND PARABOLIC COLLECTOR

Bala Abdullahi1, Raya K. Al-Dadah2 and Saad Mahmoud3

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science & Technology, Wudil, Kano-NIGERIA (E-mail: [email protected]) 2,3 School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UNITED KINGDOM (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Radiation available, collector design and its orientation are the key parameters that affect the performance of any solar collector. The concentrator of Compound Parabolic Collector tends to be long especially at low concentration and most of the top parts are not contributing to the radiation collection. Truncating those parts is found to increase the optical efficiency at the expense of the concentration ratio. This work presents simulation and experiment on the effects of truncation level of heat pipe based compound parabolic collector (HPCPC) on its optical performance using solar radiation in Kano, Nigeria (12.05oN). It is aimed at the determination of the effects of truncation at different levels, so that the best level could be determined. Two computer programs were developed for geometric characterization of symmetric low concentration compound parabolic collectors and studying the effects of truncating its concentrator. Results showed that as the truncation levels increases the collector height, aperture width, concentration ratio and average number of reflection decrease while the acceptance angle increases. The effect of truncation was also studied using a validated advanced ray tracing technique. Results showed that truncation increases the optical efficiency of the HPCPC but decreases it’s concentration ratio. From the graph of optical efficiency and concentration ratio against truncation level, results have showed that the HPCPC with acceptance angle of 60o and receiver radius of 12.5 (i.e. HPCPC60R12.5), HPCPC40R12.5 and HPCPC30R12.5 can be truncated respectively by 62%, 55% and 43% to achieve optical efficiencies/concentration ratios of 84%/1.65, 71%/2.55 and 55%/3.5 respectively.

Keywords: Truncation level, Optical Simulation, Optical efficiency, Concentration ratio, Acceptance angle

MEDICAL STAFF’S POSTURE ON AIRFLOW DISTRIBUTION AND PARTICLE CONCENTRATION IN AN OPERATING ROOM

Keng Yinn Wong1, Haslinda Mohamed Kamar*2 and Nazri Kamsah3

1-3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Movement by humans in healthcare facilities is unpreventable, especially among a team of medical staff performing surgical procedures in an operating room. Those movements can generate a secondary airflow that interrupts the air supplies from the ceiling-mounted diffuser, that serves to remove the airborne particles from the surgical zone. Consequently, the movement of particles in the surgical zone is affected, and the tendency of particles to fall onto the patient’s wound is increased. This situation could elevate the chances of a patient contracting surgical site infections and could increase the risk of death. The present study aims to examine the effects of medical staff’s turning movements on the number of particles falling onto the patient. A simplified computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of the operating room was developed and validated based on the published data. An RNG k-ε turbulence model based on the Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations was used to simulate the airflow, while a discrete phase model was used to simulate the movement of the airborne particles. Results show that bent-forearm of medical staff obstructed the downward airflow to remove the particles released by the medical staff. Approximately 37 particles/m3 accumulated in the chest region of the medical staff. A high particle accumulation is also observed at the gap between the staff’s legs due to the stagnant airflow.

Keywords: Operating room (OR), Airflow distribution, Airborne particles, Nmerical Method

A NOVEL DOUBLE CHAMBER ROTARY SLEEVE AIR COMPRESSOR PART I: DESIGN AND THERMODYNAMIC MODEL

Yahya Ahmed Alduqri1, Haslinda Kamar2, Md Nor Musa3, Nazri Kamsah4, Nik Rumzi Nik Idris5 and Gamal Alqaifi6

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], 3mdnor@ utm.my, [email protected]) 5 School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 6 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, , Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper introduces a novel double chamber rotary sleeve compressor (DCRSC) concept. The compression mechanism is basically that of a rotary motion whereby the novelty lies in the usage of a rotating sleeves and a non-sliding vane that has one end fixed to a rotor and the other fixed end to a outer rotating sleeve. The main goal of this paper is to describe the compression processes of air as the working fluid and reveals the variations of pressure, temperature, mass and compression power inside the compressor working chambers at different rotational speed. Friction and leakage model of the proposed compressor are evaluated in Part II and Part III of this paper series. The compressor was theoretically analyzed based on three thermodynamic compression approaches namely: adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal approaches. According to the thermodynamic simulation, a 171 cm3.rev-1 DCRSC is capable of delivering a 15.4 m3.h-1 of compressed air at 9.3 bar, 6.8 bar and 4.9 bar when air undergoes adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal compression processes, respectively. The DCRSC compression mechanism shows a potential capabilities of a new compressor concept and to be well suited for the air conditioning and compressed air systems

Keywords: Rotary air compressor, Double-chamber, Design, Thermodynamic model, Simulation

A NOVEL DOUBLE CHAMBER ROTARY SLEEVE AIR COMPRESSOR- PART II: FRICTION LOSSES MODEL

Yahya Ahmed Alduqri1, Haslinda Kamar2, Md Nor Musa3, Nazri Kamsah4, Nik Rumzi Nik Idris5 and Gamal Alqaifi6

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], 3mdnor@ utm.my, [email protected]) 5 School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected]) 6 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, , Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper presents the friction loss model of a novel double chamber rotary sleeve air compressor (DCRSC) concept. The compressor mechanism is similar to that of rotary compressor whereby the novelty transpires in the installment of two rotating sleeves and a secured vane that has one end fixed to an outer sleeve and the other end to a rotor, respectively. This Part II of the paper series presents the friction losses analysis of the compressor. Thermodynamic and leakage losses models were respectively presented in Part I and Part III of this paper series. The primary aim of this paper is to formulate and analyse the friction loss model at the radial and axial contact regions of DCRSC at different rotational speed. The variations of the mechanical power and efficiency were evaluated based on the adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal thermodynamic principles as illustrated in Part I of this paper series. Considering the design simplicity of cylindrical shaped components, at maximum rotational speed of 1500 rpm, the DCRSC mechanical efficiencies are 72.43%, 66.2% and 59% when air undergoes adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal compression process, respectively. it is believed that the DCRSC is well suited for compressed air systems and air- conditioning applications.

Keywords: sleeve compressor, double-chamber, friction losses, modeling, simulation

A NOVEL DOUBLE CHAMBER ROTARY SLEEVE AIR COMPRESSOR- PART III: LEAKAGE LOSSES MODEL

Yahya Ahmed Alduqri1, Haslinda Kamar2, Md Nor Musa3, Nazri Kamsah4, Nik Rumzi Nik Idris5 and Gamal Alqaifi6

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], 3mdnor@ utm.my, [email protected]) 5 School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected]) 6 School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, , Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper presents comprehensive leakage model of a novel double chamber rotary sleeve air compressor (DCRSC). The compressor mechanism is that of a rotary motion whereby the novelty lies in the usage of two rotating sleeves and a secured vane that has one end fixed to an outer sleeve and the other end to a rotor, respectively. The thermodynamic model and friction model of the DCRSC are respectively presented in Part I and Part II of this paper series. The main goal of this study is to formulate and analyse the internal leakage losses at different rotational speed. Dynamic clearance at the contact regions between the high-pressure and low-pressure chambers were made clear. The variations of the internal leakage rate and volumetric efficiency for three compression approaches namely: adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal compression processes were evaluated. At maximum rotational speed of 1500 rpm, the DCRSC volumetric efficiencies are 53.1%, 69.4% and 98% when air undergoes adiabatic, polytropic and isothermal compression process, respectively. The internal leakage losses can effectively be minimized by selecting the right lubricant and reducing the assembly clearances of the rotating parts that defines the compression chambers.

Keywords: Sleeve compressor, Double-chamber, Leakage losses, Modelling, Simulation

EFFECT OF RICE HUSK ASH (SILICA) ON THE TENSILE PROPERTIES OF BAMBOO CHARCOAL POWDER REINFORCED WITH POLYPROPYLENE ON WOOD PLASTIC COMPOSITE

Mohd Fairuz Alias1, Mohammad Sukri Mustapa2 , Yusri Yusof3, Shipun Hamzah4,Anbia Adam5 ,Shaheeda Omar6 1-6 Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

This research study was focusing on the effect of rice husk ash (silica) on the tensile properties of bamboo charcoal (BC) powder reinforced with polypropylene on wood plastic composite system. This study used 3 different composite proportions of 10% BC powder- 90% polypropylene, 20% BC powder-80% polypropylene and 30% BC powder-70% polypropylene with added rice husk ash of 0%, 5% and 10%. The size of the particle for the BC powder is 60µm. The method used to produce this wood plastic composite was by mixing and injection molding method. The test performed on the sample was tensile test and surface morphological test. It was observed that the tensile strength of the composite increased when the percentage of rice husk ash added increased. The highest tensile strength of the composite was at 10% rice husk ash reinforced with 10% BC powder and 90% polypropylene with value of 23.15 MPa. Overall the proportion of 10% rice husk ash reinforced with 10% BC powder and 90% polypropylene showed the best result to enhance the wood plastic composite.

Keywords: Wood Plastic Composite, Bamboo Charcoal Powder, Rice Husk Ash, Polypropylene

ELECTRODE MATERIALS APPLICATION AND PERFORMANCE FOR SEAWATER POWER SOURCE

M.Z.Md.Zain1, N.A.A. Napiah2, M.A.Shadan3 and T.O.Sadiq4, S.N.A. Mohamad5, N.A.Fadil6 1-3,5,6Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 4Manufacturing Department, Engineering Materials Development Institute KM4, Ondo Road, P.M.B 611, Akure, Ondo State, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The technologies of energy storage system have been improvised for years. Most of the technologies being researched are for the application of big scale such as grid. The effort is to change our energy consumable pathway to renewable one with low cost, high efficient and sustainable energy. But for many reasons, there is not much effort that was done on a small-scale application. The production and demand of simple batteries are expected to increase, but the common disadvantages are still encountered. Thus, this study focused on the usage of abundant materials to be used as one of the components of battery. The integration of cathode and anode material listed from electrochemical series was studied, and it was able to produce a certain amount of energy in the form of electricity. First phase of the experiments was executed by using four chosen materials; copper, zinc, aluminium and magnesium. The second phase dealt with the integration of connection between anode and cathode. The 4 series and 2 parallel connection of seawater cell using magnesium and copper as anode and cathode respectively was able to light up three 1.8V LED in parallel.

Keywords: Electrode materials, Seawater electrolyte, Cathode and anode integration, Seawater and alkaline batteries, Voltage drop

NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION OF BETA RATIO AND REYNOLDS NUMBER EFFECT ON COEFFICIENT OF DISCHARGE OF VENTURIMETER

Abdul Razak Kaladgi1, Arafat Mukhtar2, Asif Afzal3, Mohammed Kareemullah4 and Ramis M K5

1-5Department of Mechanical Engineering, P.A.College of Engineering, Mangalore, Karnataka, 574153- INDIA Corresponding Author Email: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The The present work is intended to give information on the construction and performance of the venturimeter. It also indicates the need for more effective utilization of venturimeter and offers a conceptual design of a venturimeter for determining the flow rate of a fluid flowing through the pipe. The experiment was conducted with three different Beta ratios (β) of 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7 installed in a pipe of 2.54cm diameter with water as a working fluid. The study mainly focused on the effects of beta ratio and Reynolds number on coefficient of discharge. A two-dimensional model of venturimeter with different Beta ratios (β) was also created to do simulation & compare the numerical results with the experiments and to further explore the capability of the CFD code Ansys Fluent© to visualize the flow patterns in the venturimeter, recognize eddies and wake regions at diverging part and to plot and compare velocity profiles and pressure distribution at selected zones in the venturimeter. It was seen that the change in beta ratio and Reynolds number has considerable impact on Coefficient of discharge.

Keywords: Venturimeter, Beta ratio, Reynolds number, Coefficient of discharge, Computational Fluid Dynamics.

EFFECT OF COMBINED CE AND ER ADDITION ON SOLIDIFICATION, MICROSTRUCTURE OF THE AL-7SI-ALLOY

Faraj Saeid Adrees Majeed*1, Nordin Bin Mohd Yusof2, Mohd Azlan Suhaimi3, Rosli Bin Ahmad4, and Mohammed Basher Asmael5

1-3 Department of manufacturing engineering, E07 School of Mechanical Engineering, University Technology Malaysia,81310, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4-5 Department of manufacturing engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400, Parit Raja Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper highlights the effects of the additions of two rare earth elements (REEs) (Ce and Er) on microstructure and to investigate the characteristic temperatures during solidification of the modified alloy. Five modifies of Al-7Si alloys with xEr+xCe additions (x=0.15, 0.25, 0.4, 0.5 and 0.75) were produced by casting technique via the solidification parameters examined using computer-aided cooling curve thermal analysis (CA-CCTA). The thermal analysis tests were carried out for each one by using a thermal analysis system that includes (K-type Thermocouple, EPAD-TH8-K, EPAD-Baes2 and Laptop with Dewesoft-7.5-Lt). To estimate the change in microstructure and solidification as a result of adding (Ce+Er) additions the obtained result showed Al-Phase Al-Phase that the growth TG and nucleation TN temperatures decreased to lower temperatures 614.7°C and 615.5°C respectively as the amount Ce, Er increased.

Keywords: Microstructure, Thermal Analysis, Er: Erbium, Ce: Cerium

EFFECT OF HEAT TREATMENT ON MODULUS HARDENING AND PHASE TRANSFORMATION IN EXPERIMENTAL 7XXX STIR-CAST ALLOY FROM RECYCLED BEVERAGE CANS

Abubakar Kazeema1, Nur Azam Badarulzaman2 and Wan Fahmin Faiz Wan Ali3

1Department of Science Policy and Innovation Studies, National Centre for Technology Management (NACETEM), North Central Zonal Office, FCT-Abuja, NIGERIA. 1,2Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310, UTM-Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

The astronomic growth in drinking beverage cans waste called for an innovative conversion of this huge resources to aerospace and automobile applications. Unfortunately, the can-to-can cycle has been maintained for decades. Past studies nosedived in converting Recycled Beverage Cans (RBCs) to experimental 7xxx alloys and evaluating the consequence of heat treatments on formation of hardening compounds and modulus of this novel alloy. The aim of this study is to investigate compound and phase formations and the effect of these compounds on the modulus hardening of the experimental Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy cast from RBCs after heat treatments. Wt. % of Zn was varied at 4, 4.5 and 5; annealing done at 350, 380 and 413 oC; artificial aging temperature and time were varied at 100, 120 and 145 oC and 5, 10.5 and 15 hrs respectively. A highest of 566.0 MPa modulus was observed in an alloy of 5 wt. % Zn, annealed at 350 oC, 100 oC T6- temperature and 6 hrs soaking time. When the annealing temperature and wt. % Zn were increased to 380 oC and 4.5 wt. %, the highest modulus was 170.0 MPa. Simples artificially age at 120 oC and 100 oC, with time hold at 10.5 hrs recorded a peak modulus of 137.3 MPa and least of 127. 8 MPa. The maximum obtainable hardness of 151.6 Hv was observed in an alloy with 4 wt. % Zn, 145 oC T6-Temperature and aged for 15 hrs. Al, FCC (ICDD 004-0787), Zn (ICDD = 004- 0831) were among identified phases. Simulations to predict the mushy zones of this alloy and other properties, the introduction of graphene in RBCs for property enhancement are opinions open to further investigations.

Keywords: Mechanical Properties, Phases and precipitates, Modulus, Cast

BENDING EXPERIMENT ON A NOVEL CONFIGURATION OF COMPOSITE SYSTEM USING REBAR AS SHEAR CONNECTORS WITH PARTIALLY ENCASED COLD-FORMED STEEL BUILT-UP BEAMS

Musab N A Salih*1, Mahmood Md Tahir2, S Mohammad3, Y Ahmad4, PN Shek5, Achmad Abraham6, Muhammad Firdaus7, K M Aminuddin8, and Khadavi9

1,3,9School of civil engineering, faculty of engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. E-mail: *[email protected] 2,5UTM Construction Research Centre (UTM CRC), Institute for Smart Infrastructure and Innovative Construction (ISIIC), School of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 6-8Civil Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Sriwijaya, Inderalaya, INDONESIA.

ABSTRACT

In order to achieve greater ductility and strength, as well as to produce a more economical design, a novel composite beam and floor system have been developed to achieve higher strength and ductility, as well as to yield a more economical design purpose. This paper has put focus on this newly developed composite beam system which consists of a profiled metal decking slab made with self-compacting concrete (SCC). It has been joined together by two parallel cold-formed steel (CFS) built-up beams. These beams have been infilled with SCC by means of U-shaped rebar used as shear connectors. The researcher, in order to construct an open section, put together two CFS C-lipped channel sections in a back-to-back formation, and to construct a closed section, the formation was made to be toe-to-toe. The flexural behaviour of the partly encased composite beam was evaluated through experimentation by the researchers. So that the researchers could observe the failure modes and flexural capacity of the construction, a four-point bending test procedure was performed on two samples taking into consideration both closed and open built-up beam sections. The results of the test demonstrated that the open sections were able to exhibit a 24 percent higher ultimate moment capacity as well as greater stiffness and higher vertical deflection. As can be seen from the results of the experimental bending test, the built-up design had a great impact on the capacity and deflection of the section, and the section that was encased was able to reach the ultimate strength when the proposed shear connector was placed in the composite action. In order to validate the present test results, the design and analysis of the new composite beams have been evaluated.

Keywords: Cold-formed Steel; Composite Beam; Encased Sections, Self-Compacting Concrete; Shear Connector

POST-REMEDIATION ASSESSMENT OF TONGA-GURU ARTISANAL GOLD-MINING VILLAGE FAMILY HOUSES, ZAMFARA STATE, NIGERIA

1Hassan I., 2Girigisu S., 3Lawal S., 4Ahmad G., and 5Isa B.K

1Department of Physics, Zamfara State College of Education, Maru, NIGERIA. 2Department of Physics, Federal College of Education (Technical), Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 3Department of Physics, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 4Department of Chemistry, Federal University Gusau, Zamfara State, NIGERIA. 5Department of Chemistry, North-West University, Kano, NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT:

Contamination by Heavy metal (HM) and accumulation poses serious problem to associated environment due to the toxicity and non-biodegradable properties. An assessment of soil contamination of family compounds in artisanal mining district of Tonga-Guru was undertaken to determine the post-remediation status of the said village. The village had been cleansed of Lead poisoning by chelation and soil remediation in 2011. In this study, nine soil samples were randomly collected from selected family compounds in the village. The samples were subjected to x-ray fluorescence analysis at Nigerian Institute of Mining and Geosciences in Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. The result indicates that the mean concentrations of these heavy metals were ranked: Fe >Mn >Zr >Pb >Sr >Co >As > Ni> W > Hg >Th >Mo > U while Au and Se were below detection limits. More than half of the elements present here are at relatively high concentration with Fe, Mn, Zr, Pb, Sr, Co and As at resounding peak values compared to the others. The contamination levels revealed by the contamination factor and geo-accumulation index shows that Ni, Co, Fe, U, Sr, Zr and Mo showed moderate contamination. W, As and Pb are at moderate to strong contamination levels. This has a lot of implication on health of community settlers. Recommendations were made on re-orientation of the settlers on hazards of mining and needed protection against communal contamination.

Keywords: Heavy metals, Contamination Factor, Geo-accumulation Index, X-ray fluorescence analysis

COMBUSTION AND EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF PALM OIL- BASED BIODIESEL IN A LIQUID FUEL BURNER

Amirul A. Ahmad1, Mohammad NM. Jaafar2, Norazila B. Othman3, Anis AM. Azli4, Mazlan Said5, Muhammad R. Rahim6, Muhammad SA. Malik7, Wan ZW. Omar8 1-8 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an experimental investigation of the combustion characteristics of palm oil methyl ester (POME) or called as biodiesel (B), in an open-ended combustion chamber or called as open-ended liquid fuel burner. The performance of conventional diesel fuel (CDF) and various percentages of POME and CDF, which are B10 (10% biodiesel) and B30 (30% biodiesel) were studied to evaluate their performance. Combustion temperature profile in the combustion chamber and exhaust emission concentrations such as NOx, CO and SO2 have been carried out using five different equivalent ratios such as Φ = 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4. The results show that as the biodiesel content increased, the emission significantly increased except for the NOx emission. It was also found that higher biodiesel content resulting faster combustion rate at near burner region, especially for Φ = 1.0 due to higher Cetane Number (CN) although the lower overall temperature profile produced compared to CDF alone. This proved the suitability of biodiesel for an enhanced transportation engine performance in the near future.

Keywords: Palm oil; Combustion; Nitrogen oxide; Oil Burner; Equivalence ratio.

CARBURETTOR ICING IN PISTON ENGINE AIRCRAFT – A REVIEW

Thanikasalam Kumar1, Rahmat Mohsin2, Zulkifli Abdul Majid3, Mohammad Fahmi Abdul Ghafir4 and Ananth Manickam Wash5

1-3,5UTM-MPRC Institute for Oil and Gas (IFOG), Faculty of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4Department of Aeronautical Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM), 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Aircraft fuels systems have strict design requirements since failure of any system can be disastrous. Fuel storage and management systems on an aircraft are usually redundant in order to avert a possibility of catastrophic failure. In addition, the fuel systems in aircraft are designed to withstand extreme environmental conditions. However, the engines and their components may not be redundant and are very often exposed to the elements. The carburettor in aviation piston engines is a particularly vulnerable to extreme weather conditions, especially cold weather. Since aircraft move across large distances and across climates, carburettors tend to accumulate ice, which hinders proper functioning of the fuel and air supply as well as the engine. Given how critical such a problem is, a number of scholars in the aviation industry have done research on carburettor icing in piston engine aircraft.

Keywords: Carburettor Icing, Avgas, Mogas, General Aviation, Piston Aircraft

Electrical Engineering

BLACK BOX MODELLING AND SIMULATING THE DYNAMIC INDOOR HUMIDITY OF A LABORATORY USING AUTOREGRESSIVE– MOVINGAVERAGE (ARMA) MODEL

Shamsul Faisal Mohd Hussein1,a, Mohd. Fitri Alif Mohd. Kasai2,b, Abdulqader Omar Al- Rabeei1,c, Amrul Faruq1,3,d, Che Munira Che Razali1,e, Sheikh Ahmad Zaki Shaikh Salim4,f, Shahrum Shah Abdullah1,g

1 Biologically Inspired System and Technology (Bio-iST) iKohza, Department of Electronic Systems Engineering (ESE), Malaysia – Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra (Jalan Semarak), 54100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected] a, [email protected] c, [email protected] e, [email protected] g) 2 Department of Control and Mechatronics Engineering (CMED), School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Johor Bahru, 81310 Johor Darul Takzim, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected] b) 3 Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Muhammadiyah Malang. Jl. Raya Tlogomas 246, 65144 Malang, INDONESIA. (E-mail: e-mail: [email protected] d) 4 Wind Engineering for (Urban, Artificial, Man-made) Environment Laborotary, Department of Mechanical Precision Engineering (MPE), Malaysia – Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Kuala Lumpur, Jalan Sultan Yahya Petra (Jalan Semarak), 54100 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected] f)

ABSTRACT

Modelling and simulation of the dynamic humidity behaviour of a building is important to test any proposed thermal comfort control system and strategy in the building. Like other models, the dynamic humidity behaviour of a building can be developed based on the white-box model, black- box model, and grey-box model. This research focuses on the usage of auto regressive and moving average (ARMA) model, a type of black-box model that represents the dynamic humidity behaviour of Industrial Instrumentation Laboratory at Malaysia-Japan International Institute of Technology (MJIIT), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Kuala Lumpur (UTM KL) and uses the real recorded data from the laboratory and minimal knowledge regarding the physical characteristics of the laboratory. The performance of the ARMA model developed in this research is compared with the real recorded data from the laboratory. Results obtained shows that ARMA model is enough for modelling and simulation the dynamic humidity behaviour of the laboratory.

Keywords: Modelling and Simulation, Black-box Modelling, Building Humidity Simulation, Building Humidity Prediction

ADAPTIVE SLIDING MODE CONTROL DESIGN FOR THE ATTITUDE OF THE QUADROTOR UNMANNED AERIAL VEHICLE (AUV)

Ahmed Eltayeb1, Mohd Fua’ad Rahmat2, Mohd Ariffanan Mohd Basri3 and Mohammed A. M. Mansour4

1-3 Division of Control and Mechatronics Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In this paper, an adaptive sliding-mode controller is designed for the quadrotor attitude. The proposed controller is designed based on Lyapunov stability theorem to achieve a robust trajectory tracking for the attitude taking into consideration the system’s uncertainty in addition to reduce the effect of chattering problem associated with the conventional sliding mode controller. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed controller MATLAB/SIMULINK platform is used for system simulation.

Keywords: Quadrotor UAV, Sliding mode control, Adaptive sliding mode, Chattering

EFFECTS OF APPROXIMATION IN COMPUTATION ON THE ACCURACY AND PERFORMANCE OF DEEP NEURAL NETWORK INFERENCE

Ow Hui Nee, Usman Ullah Sheikh and Musa Mohd Mokji

1-2 Department of Teknik Elektro, Universitas Medan Area, Medan, INDONESIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The utilization of well-managed electrical energy sources will result in high energy efficiency and reliability. Smart grid uses electricity management with 2-way communication that allows loads and sources to coorporate each other. Campus is a place that requires priority in the availability of energy and it requires smart grid management. This research will contain smart grid management systems on campus that use multisources to fulfill dynamic loads conditions so as to produce optimal smart grid management. The optimal smart grid achieved by analysis the sources and loads energy needed and then create a management system that have substantial impact on campus electrical system. The results of this study will ensure that conditions for the needs of these dynamic loads can be fulfilled.

Keywords: Smart Grid, Campus, Management

152

ANALYSIS OF IMAGE MAGNIFICATION IN X-RAY FAN BEAM COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY

Muhamad Noor Izwan Ishak1, Susan Maria Sipaun2, Mohd Fitri Abdul Rahman3 and Mohamed Rabaie Shari4

1, 2,3 Plant Assessment Technology Group, Industrial Technology Group, Kajang, Selangor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], susan@ nuclearmalaysia.gov.my, [email protected])

ABSTRACT

X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a non-destructive measurement method that allows inspection into both external and internal geometry of scanned sample. This work is mainly concerned with industrial X-ray CT and its 2D image reconstruction parameters. The purpose of our study was to investigate how image magnification in 2D X-ray CT is influenced by the object position for a 50.5 mm x 50.5 mm cuboid. Using a standard definition of magnification, equations were derived to enable geometrical magnification to be determined from its position and vice versa knowing the diameter and machine parameters. Experimental data are compared and observed with regard to geometrical magnification. Results from experimental data showed strong correlation between geometrical magnification and image magnification obtained from the reconstructed CT image. Derived sizes of cuboid from magnification were more consistent horizontally with geometrical magnification than vertically.

Keywords: X-ray computed tomography, Non-destructive, Image reconstruction, Magnification

QUANTIFICATION AND LOCALIZATION OF INDIVIDUAL LEAF DISEASE LESION FOR GRADING SEVERITY OF LATE BLIGHT

Aliyu Muhammad Abdu*1, Musa Mohd Mokji2 and Usman Ullah Sheikh3

1-3 School of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Detecting incidence and grading the severity of plant diseases caused by pathogens is among the most important activities in precision agriculture. This research proposes novel noetic integration between pathology and simple yet advance image processing technique for grading severity of vegetable late blight. Until recently, most of the presented image processing techniques had been, and some still are, grading severity based on visual understanding of disease symptom as a single lesion colony. One of the most significant advantages of the proposed method is quantifying and localizing disease symptom colonies into symptomatic and necrotic in accordance with pathological disease analogy for actual severity grading. In the 1st phase of the study, individual symptomatic (RS), necrotic (RN), and blurred (RB, in-between healthy and symptomatic) regions were identified and segmented. The isolated diseased lesions are then quantified and localized for correlation with a standard area diagram which gives the accurate grading of disease severity. Results obtained indicated great potential for accurate grading by which pathological knowledge and advance computer network operate in proper synergy. It is also envisaged that this research method would provide meaningful insight on the important current and future role pathological integration in machine learning for food security.

Keywords: Image processing, Plant phenotyping, Plant disease detection, Plant disease severity, Precision agriculture

PERFORMANCE COMPARISON BETWEEN SVM AND K-MEANS FOR VEHICLE COUNTING

Mohamed A. El-Khoreby1, Syed Abd Rahman Abu-Bakar2, Musa Mohd Mokji3, Syaril Nizam Omar4 1 Department of Electronics and Communications, Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport, Egypt 1-3School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 4 Iskandar Region Development Authority (IRDA) E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Support vector machine (SVM) and K-means have been two well known methods used in classification. Choosing an accurate classifier for good features to differentiate between the foreground and background has a significant effect in increasing the accuracy of the detection. This paper presents and analyzes performance comparison between SVM and K-means classifiers for vehicle counting targeted for intelligence transportation systems (ITS) application. In particular, precision and recall have been used for the comparison between the two methods. Five videos from different weather conditions have been used for the testing purposes. SVM shows a better performance in terms of precision and recall.

Keywords: Support vector machine, K-means, Classification

AUTOMATED CLASSIFICATION OF STROKE LESION USING BAGGED TREE CLASSIFIER

Norhashimah Mohd Saad1, Abdul Rahim Abdullah2, Syafeeza Ahmad Radzi3, Nor Shahirah Mohd Noor4, Nur Hasanah Ali5 and Ahmad Sobri Muda6

1,3,4 Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektronik dan Kejuruteraan Komputer, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, MALAYSIA. 2 Fakulti Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Melaka, MALAYSIA. 5 Faculty of Engineering and Technology, Multimedia University, Melaka, MALAYSIA. 6 Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Selangor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Stroke is a “brain attack” that often causes paralysis, resulted from either bleeding in the brain (hemorrhagic) or the blockage of blood flow to the brain (ischemic). It posed a big challenge to Malaysian healthcare services with at least 32 deaths per day, while survivors were burdened with multiple problems. Conventionally, the diagnosis is performed manually by neuroradiologist during a highly subjective and timeconsuming task. Therefore, this paper intends to diagnose and classify stroke by investigating diffusion- weighted imaging (DWI) of brain stroke images using bagged tree classification. Stroke is classified into three main types which are acute stroke, chronic stroke and hemorrhage stroke. Based on the results, the overall accuracy for the classification is 96.7%. The area under the curve (AUC) of each type of stroke for acute stroke, chronic stroke and hemorrhage stroke is 97%, 100% and 99%, respectively. This outcome could serve as an insight to improve the healthcare of the community by providing better solutions using such intelligent system.

Keywords: Bagged tree, Diffusion-weighted imaging, Machine learning, Stroke

FACE RECOGNITION AND MACHINE LEARNING AT THE EDGE

Joanne Ling Sin Yee*1, Usman Ullah Sheikh2, Musa Mohd Mokji3 and Syed Abd Rahman4

1, 2 Intel (M) Sdn Bhd, Pulau Pinang, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: joanne [email protected]) 2, 3, 4 School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The number of IoT is expected to reach 20 billion by year 2020. This is due to data that log in the sensors or cameras are all send to the cloud for further processing. Cloud computing is not able to support big data analytic anymore due to network bandwidth. Face recognition is chosen as a case study to demonstrate the challenges to shift the application to the edge. The objective of this project is to develop a face recognition system that is suitable to be used at the edge using a deep neural network. Secondly, investigate the performance in terms of model size, speed and inference time after different bit-width fixed point quantization on the weights of the network. Lastly, deploy the model to Raspberry Pi 3 and test the performance. The chosen data set is AT&T. MATLAB is used to train the network in laptop with i5-7300 CPU while OpenCV-python is used to load and test the network in Raspberry Pi3 and laptop. The proposed system is designed by doing transfer learning on SqueezeNet to classify face. Fixed-point quantization is being applied to the weights of the layers to reduce the size of the model. From the experiment result, it is recommended to use 8-bit fixed-point quantization to the weights in all the layers in the model to compress the size of the network up to 2.5 times while maintaining the original accuracy 90%. That is only 1.1x speed up of the model on Raspberry Pi 3 after different bit-width weight quantization.

Keywords: Edge Computing; Face recognition; Weight quantization

IOT BASED TEMPERATURE CONTROL FOR SMART MOSQUE

M N A Yusarelan1, S Z A Hamid, R A Rashid2 and A K M Ibrahim3 1-3Communication Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Malaysia is a country which has one of the biggest Muslim societies in the world, followed by a large number of mosques scattered in various places and these mosques have maintenance problems especially in energy consumption. Mosques normally experience sudden influx of users at five specified times throughout the day, and the use of the fans in the mosques is very inefficient and wasteful, corresponding with the five daily Islamic prayers. Regarding this matter, this project is conducted in order to reduce mosque energy consumption by developing smart mosque temperature control. The temperature control aims to focus on reading the temperature of mosque and then smartly controls fan according to the temperature reading by applying Internet-of-Things (IoT). The Arduino Uno controller board will read and process the sensors to trigger the fan switch. The act of controlling the fan according to the ambient temperature of the mosques will help to reduce power consumption. The smart mosque temperature control can be applied widely in Malaysia to make mosques smarter and efficient in energy consumption.

Keywords: Internet of Things (IoT), Temperature Control, Arduino Uno Controller

IOT BASED NOISE MONITORING SYSTEM (NOMOS)

Muhammad Baihaqi Badruddin1, Siti Zaleha Abdul Hamid2 and Rozeha A. Rashid3

1-3Communication Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Presently, noise pollution has become a very big issue around the world. The adverse effects of this pollution include hearing impairment, negative social behavior, annoyance, sleep disturbance and intelligibility to understand people’s speech. In learning context, noise can affect understanding and behavior of people and places with high noise level are not suitable for learning and teaching process. Internet of Things (IoT) technology is one of the best choices to monitor the noise or sound intensity in the environment for the safety of human being. The aim of this paper is to deliver a development of an IoT based noise monitoring system comprises of a sound sensor, an IoT platform called NodeMCU, LCD and LEDs. The system will provide a real-time alert if the noise exceeds the threshold noise limit set by Environmental Department of Health standard. Comes with an Android application, the data from the sound sensor will be transferred into the cloud server and subsequently transferred into the app for display and to enable remote monitoring. A case study is carried out using the developed prototype to ascertain the noise comfort for Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) students for studying or learning purpose. The sound level is measured for two different days during weekend and weekday. Based on Charted Institution of Building Service Engineers (CIBSE), 60dBA is the permissible ambient level and any readings that above 60dBA can interrupt speech intelligibility. From the research, the suitable time for students to study for weekend is all day starting from morning until midnight. As for weekday, the most suitable time to study is during midnight. These justifications are made based on the readings of the sound level.

Keywords: Internet of Things, Noise, Noise monitoring system, Noise level, Sound level

OPTIMIZATION OF PEAK TO AVERAGE POWER RATIO IN MIMO- OFDM BY USING FILTERIZE SELECTED MAPPING

Yogeshver Khandagre1 and Sanjeev Kumar Gupta2

1 Dept. of Electronics & Communication, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2 Dept. of Electronics & Communication, Rabindranath Tagore University, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, INDIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In previous years, variety of dissimilar technology has been proposed for reduction of peak to average power ratio. In this, article suggested algorithm, for a new filter companding selected mapping (FC-SLM) technique, which is reduce peak to average power ratio, in multiple inputs, multiple, outputs-orthogonal frequency, division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM). In this article analyzed the bit, error rate, (BER) and reduction of peak, to average, power ratio (PAPR), of OFDM, with AWGN channel and study with different possible quality issues. One of the most important shortcoming issues is the high PAPR. Filter Companding Selected Mapping technique [FC-SLM] to reduce the PAPR using filtering and companding. In proposed technique, different phase sequence multiplications of signal and perform IFFT then calculate PAPR and pass through filter which is pass only lower (Minimum PAPR) and upper (Maximum PAPR) and select the minimum PAPR, and Perform Mu-Law Companding then transmitted. The proposed scheme to reduce 2.4 dB PAPR and improve bit, error rate. This is one of the well-built promising techniques for Next generation (5-G) wireless, communication.

Keywords: OFDM, SISO, SIMO, PAPR, AWGN, MIMO, BER, FC-SLM

BLOCKCHAIN-BASED INTERNET OF THING FOR SMART RIVER MONITORING SYSTEM

M K Tajudin1, M A Sarijari2, A K M Ibrahim3 and R A Rashid*4

1-4Telecommunication Software and Systems Research Group, Communication Engineering Department, School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The river plays an important role in the source of water in Malaysia as it is a part of the water cycle while acting as a drainage channel for surface water. One of the major threats to its sustainability is water pollution. The conventional methods for monitoring the water quality in the river are manual and continuous monitoring that will be costly and less efficient. Hence, this paper proposes the Internet of Things (IoT) as a promising technique that can provide real-time monitoring and enhances the efficiency of data collection. To make the data secure and trustworthy, blockchain technology will be used as a platform for all the data transaction in real time. The proposed system will provide a better solution to monitor the quality of the river and for the user to interact, retrieve and analyze real and historical data.

Keywords: River Monitoring, Internet of Things, Blockchain, Data integrity

ACTIVITY SCHEDULING FOR PARTIAL COVERAGE IN WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS

Fuad Bajaber

Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Computing and Information Technology King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Kingdom of SAUDI ARABIA E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The sensor nodes communicate with each other to share their data or to redirect their data to a base station. These nodes are small devices with limited processing power, limited memory, and low power. Since the sensor nodes have limited amount of energy and if all sensor nodes would be active all the time the whole network may collapse in a short time. Reducing the unnecessary working sensor nodes by efficient scheduling is a key factor for extending the network lifetime. The proposed protocol uses the residual energy levels and feedback from the sensor nodes for scheduling the activity of sensor nodes. It eliminates redundant sensor nodes in order to avoid that these sensor nodes perform unnecessary communication. It is a scheduling scheme for sensor nodes to determine the amount of overlapping sensing coverage between a sensor node and its neighbors. The proposed protocol checks if the sensor node is completely or partially covered by its neighbors. Our initiatives are focused on increasing network efficiency by minimizing energy consumption.

Keywords: WSN, Sensor, Energy consumption

ENERGY EFFICIENCY THE SMART GRID SYSTEM ANALYSIS

Dina Maizana1 and Syarifah Muthia Putri2

1-2 Department of Teknik Elektro, Universitas Medan Area, Medan, INDONESIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper tells about a smart grid system. The system uses electrical energy sources through the National Electricity Company, PV Solar Systems and Batteries as a backup. For the load, the rector building, lecture building, hostel and mosque are used. The method of calculating efficiency values uses conventional methods. In the analysis of the efficiency of the use of electrical energy found the highest efficiency value when there is excess energy from the National Electricity Company and as an additional load used batteries to store the excess energy. Demonstrate that the efficiency of electrical energy in smart grid is not only influenced by dynamic loads but also by the addition of other sources of electrical energy.

Keywords: Smart Grid System, Efficiency, PV Solar System

OPTIMAL SMART GRID MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Syarifah Muthia Putri1, and Dina Maizana2

1-2 Department of Teknik Elektro, Universitas Medan Area, Medan, INDONESIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The utilization of well-managed electrical energy sources will result in high energy efficiency and reliability. Smart grid uses electricity management with 2-way communication that allows loads and sources to coorporate each other. Campus is a place that requires priority in the availability of energy and it requires smart grid management. This research will contain smart grid management systems on campus that use multisources to fulfill dynamic loads conditions so as to produce optimal smart grid management. The optimal smart grid achieved by analysis the sources and loads energy needed and then create a management system that have substantial impact on campus electrical system. The results of this study will ensure that conditions for the needs of these dynamic loads can be fulfilled.

Keywords: Smart Grid, Campus, Management

DESIGN AND FABRICATION OF A WORK DESK WITH INTEGRATED CHARGING PORTS, DESK LAMP AND STORAGE CAPABILITY

Wessam Hamid

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

TThis paper presents the design, development, and fabrication of a new work desk with integrated charging ports, desk lamp and storage capability for students’ use at the Outdoor Discovery Centre (ODC) hub at Jerudong International School (JIS), Brunei Darussalam. It contains a solar-powered lamp to provide light for students while conducting projects in the hub and storage compartments for students to place their belongings. It can organize and store wires, solar charge controllers, and switch box of a solar power system. Removable fans can be connected to the desk for students’ comfort. Charging ports are provided in the desk to charge electronic devices. The dimensions of the desk are based on anthropometric data of students of ages 14 - 18 years old. Feasible concepts of the product are generated and the final concept is selected based on product specifications such as aesthetics, cost, function, size, materials, environment-friendliness, and safety. The product is termed a better solution for use in ODC hub by its in-charge, Miss Follows Smith and the in-charge of renewable energy project at JIS, Dr. Lloyd.

FISH FARM ELECTRIFICATION UTILISING A HYBRID DEVICE OF LOW-SPEED VERTICAL AXIS TURBINE AND SOLAR PANELS

Adi Maimun1, Atef Soufaljen*2, Jaswar Koto3 and Adibah Fatihah Binti Mohd Yusof4

1-4 Marine Technology Centre, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In this century, the demand for seafood is continually increasing. The best way to meet that is through the aquaculture. In Malaysia, the important alternative source of fish supply is the fish farms. Nowadays, fish farms use energy which is not clean and expensive and cannot meet the environmental and climate goals. Due to the lake of the electricity and making a fish farm to be cleaner, this paper presents a hybrid device as a standalone system consisting of two Low-Speed Vertical Axis Current Turbines (LS-VACTs), two permanent synchronic generators, storage batteries, controller and solar panels. This device is used as a hybrid solution because of the low current speed in the area surrounding the fish farms and due to the variable nature of both resources solar and marine currents. In another hand, this device has lower cabling and infrastructure requirements and reduced capital costs. Moreover, this paper investigates the performance characteristics of the LS-VACT implemented. Also, a computer simulation program is developed using Math lab-Simulink software to investigate the performance and the power take-off of the hybrid device and to predict the number of solar panels required to provide sufficient energy for a fish farm. The experimental results show that the turbine has CP =19 % at a designed speed of 1 m/s and high torque coefficient of 76 %. The simulation results indicate that the power output of the system can provide 20 Kwh/day with current speed higher than 1 m/s. This combination of both resources can sustain and produce enough power for electrification of the fish farm.

Keywords: Hybrid, Low-Speed Current, Renewable Energy, Solar Panel, Vertical Axis Current Turbine

A STATISTICAL DATA SELECTION APPROACH FOR SHORT-TERM LOAD FORECASTING USING OPTIMIZED ANFIS

Mamunu Mustapha*1, Mohd Wazir Mustafa 2, Sani Salisu3, Isiyaku Abubakar 4 and

Maitama A. Y. Hotoro5

1Department of Electrical Engineering Kano University of Science and Technology, Wudil, Kano, NIGERIA. 2School of Electrical Engineering, Universiti Technologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. 3Department of Electrical Enginerring Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Kaduna, NIGERIA. 4Department of Electrical Enginerring Bayero University, Kano, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Volume of the forecasting data and good data analysis are the key factors that influence the accuracy of forecasting algorithm. Because forecasting accuracy depends on data identification and model parameters. This paper forcuses on data selection approach for short-term load forecasting. It involves formulating data selection algorithm to identify factors (variables) that influence energy demand at utility level. Correlation analysis (CA), hypothesis test (HT) are used in the sekection, were wavelet transform (WT) is applied to bridge the gap between the forecasting variables. This results to three groups of data-data without CA, HT and WT, data with CA, HT but without WT and data with CA, HT and WT. An optimized adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) using Cuckoo Search Algorithm (CS) is used to conduct the forecasting. The essence is to reduce the computational difficulty associated with the gradient descent (GD) algorithm in traditional ANFIS. With the three data groups it is observed that CHW data can give satisfactory results morethan the NCNHNW and NCNHW data. Also the numerical results shows that CHW data selection approach can give a MAPE of 0.63 against the bech-mark approach with MAPE of 3.55. This indicates that it is good practice to select the actual data, process it before the forecasting.

Keywords: Short-term load forecasting, Data selection, Correlation analysis, ANFIS

ADVANCES OF SOLAR PV SYSTEM OUTPUT IMPROVEMENT THROUGH COOLING TECHNOLOGIES IN MALAYSIA

Mohd Azimin Elias*1, Ridzuwan Mohd Jais2, Noraziah Muda3 and Nur Eleena Hafizah

Hassan4

1-3 Renewable Energy and Green Technology Unit, TNB Research Sdn Bhd, Kajang, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 4 School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, University of New South Wales, Sydney, AUSTRALIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panel is the most widely used renewable energy technology in Malaysia due to constant irradiation throughout the year as the country is located near the equator. According to the current state of the Malaysian weather, the ambient temperature is around 25°C and can go up to 30°C. The electrical efficiency of a PV panel is sensitive towards temperature where it is known that the power and efficiency decrease at the rate of ±0.5%/°C and ±0.05%/°C respectively as the ambient temperature increases (Irwan et. al., 2013). This paper discusses the cooling of solar PV technologies, the methodologies of the cooling system and its effectiveness. Generally, the effectiveness of the studies conducted were derived from the solar PV panel temperature reduction and solar PV electricity power output increment. This paper elaborates the trend of methodologies for cooling of solar PV in Malaysian climate. The methodologies that were used by the researchers vary according to the specific objectives which can be categorized as active cooling and/or passive cooling. The gaps of the studies were also identified alongside with the possible solutions to mitigate the problems.

Keywords: Solar PV, Photovoltaic, Solar Cooling, PVT, Solar Performance

Biomedical Engineering and Health Science

SPAWN TREATMENT BY COLD PLASMA FOR INCREASE MUSHROOM CULTIVATION AND PRODUCTION

Linda Agun*1, Norhayati Ahmad*2, Norizah Redzuan3, Muhammad Farid Aidil Mohd Ali4, Muhamad Nor Firdaus Zainal5, Mohd Fadthul Ikmal Misnal6 and Raja

Kamarulzaman Raja Ibrahim7

1-6 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA (E-mail: *[email protected], *[email protected]) 7 School of Physics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA.

ABSTRACT

Cold plasma (CP) technology has found favour in the agricultural industry for increasing the seed permeability and seed stimulating. However, there are still leaking studying of CP technology on the mushroom needs. Current convectional mushrooms germination process requires long duration (~6 weeks) for fruiting to growth. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the cold plasma efficiency towards the oyster mushroom performance. By designing novel atmospheric cold plasma pen system, the mushroom spawn grains were treated in room temperature conditions. The CP generates towards the spawn with a flow rate of 4, 5 and 6 SLM (standard liter per minute) by considering different duration of plasma exposure (0, 5, 15, 30, 45 and 60 seconds) with ~7 kV of supply voltage. The efficiency of the treatment was characterised by mushroom cultivation performance particularly on (i) mycelium growth rate and (ii) mushroom fruiting body productions. The results show CP flow rate and treatment time, as the cold plasma processing parameter absolutely influence the mushroom germination and production. CP pen system optimized at 5 SLM and 15 s presents triple production of mushroom weight and shorten the mycelium growth rate (only 4 weeks) compared to control spawn grains (6 weeks). As conclusion, atmospheric cold plasma pen has capability to adapt on mushroom industry.

Keywords: Atmospheric cold plasma pen, Oyster mushroom, Mycelium growth, mushroom cultivation

VIRTUAL INSTRUMENT BASED REAL TIME ECG MONITORING DEVICE

Om Prakash Singh, Ahmad Athif Mohd Faudzi and MB Malarvili

1-2 DSchool of Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study presents a real-time ECG monitoring system based on a virtual instrument. The device was designed using surface electrode, lead wire, instrumentation amplifier (IN114), and passive low pass filter with cut-off frequency (fc, 180 Hz). Thereafter, the ECG signal was transferred via DAQ card by initializing the analog input and sampling rate to the Labview for further analysis. Further, digital notch filter (fc, 47 to 53 Hz), bandpass filter (fc, 0.05 to 20 Hz), and FIR high pass filter using Kaiser window (order-56, and fc – 3.5 Hz) was employed in order to remove the power line interference, detect fiducial point from ECG, and eliminate the baseline wondering. In addition, we examined the various wavelet to choose the best to use wavelet denoise based on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Finding suggests the SNR (58.75 dB) of sym8 wavelet was higher comparing with another wavelet. Hence, the wavelet denoising was implemented into the developed device to remove the distortion and to detect the better peak in real time. Further, multiresolution analysis with Haar wavelet with the decomposing level of 1 was incorporated into the developed ECG monitoring device to detect the R-R peak, followed by automatic heart rate detection. Thus, this finding suggests the promising result that has the potential to assess the cardiovascular conditions. In future, the developed device will be tested with healthy subjects in order to standardize the functionality and significant features will be extracted from the morphology of ECG waveform for the analysis of cardiovascular diseases.

A STUDY ON HUMAN FOOT PRESSURE BEHAVIOUR AND BALANCING CHARACTERISTICS

Attica Natasya Asmi1, Norazila Othman2, Mohd Zarhamdy Md. Zain*3 and Mastura Ab Wahid4

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This paper presents an experimental investigation on pressure distribution on human foot and balancing characteristics on human foot health. Feet are the parts of the human body that will sustain the highest pressure during standing. Analysis of foot plantar pressure distributions helps in revealing the interface pressure between the foot plantar surface and the shoe sole. The objectives of this research are to study on behavioural of the human foot pressure distribution and balancing during standing. In this study, five factors are considered for the experiment to establish the behavioural of humans' foot, which are body mass index, gender, type of arch, diabetic and progressive foot deformity. Therefore, the experiment is conducted in order to know the pressure distribution based on factors by using Force Resistive Sensor. As a result, foot pressure distribution for normal subjects usually concentrated on the forefoot, followed by hindfoot and middle foot. Body mass index also affects the pressure distribution as an increase in pressure follows an increase in body mass index and vice versa. As for gender factor, there is no significant difference in the pattern of pressure distribution between males and females. While for the type of feet arch factor, the different arch will give different locations of peak pressure. The diabetic factor, pressures will distribute more to the metatarsals and heel area while for progressive foot deformity factor, the pressure is usually distributed at the metatarsals and the toe area.

Keywords: Diabetic, Foot Pressure Distribution, Force Resistive Sensor, Progressive Foot Deformity, Standing

INVESTIGATION OF MULTIPARAMETER TRENDS AND ANTHROPOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS FOR CARDIORESPIRATORY FITNESS ASSESSMENT AMONG UTM STAFF

Latha Nair Muralitharan1, Wan Nor Syuhada Wan Zahari2, Nor Aziyatul Izni Mohd Rosli3, Norjihada Izzah Ismail4, MB Malarvili*5, and Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Kadir6

1-6 School of Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is known to reduce metabolic-related diseases like cardiovascular diseases (CVD), obesity, hypertension, and type II diabetes. On the other hand, the gold standard to measure CRF is by measuring maximal oxygen consumption, VO2 max over the years. This study is performed to identify parameters that influence CRF without solely relying on invasive features such as VO2 max. A number of 31 UTM staff aged between 30 and 40 years old have participated in this study with 17 female subjects and 14 male subjects. Anthropometric measurements are obtained by direct measurement and body composition analysis using a body composition monitor. Multiparameter trend measurements were obtained from vital sign monitors at rest. Single feature analysis was performed in terms of accuracy, specificity and sensitivity to identify which feature influences CRF the most. The features collected are body mass index (BMI), body fat (BF), muscle mass (MM), bone density (BD), waist circumference (WC), resting heart rate (RHR), resting systolic blood pressure (RSBP), forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), and recovery trend heart rate (RecHR). Next, all these features were validated using Naïve Bayes (NB) and Decision Tree (DT) classifiers. Finally, six features which are BF, BM, BD, RHR, RSBP and FEV1, with accuracy more than 70% were selected and identified as the features which influence CRF of UTM staff.

Keywords: Multiparameter trends, Anthropometric, Cardiorespiratory Fitness (CRF), Naïve Bayes, Decision Tree

CLASSIFICATION OF BRAIN FUNCTIONAL CONNECTIVITY USING CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Wan N. S. Shahriman*1, Chun-Ren Phang2, Fuad Numan3, and Chee-Ming Ting4

School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, 1-4 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Abnormalities and alterations in brain connectivity networks as measured using neuroimging data has been increasingly used as biomarkers for various neuropsychiatric disorders. Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a complex neuropsychiatric disorder associated with dysconnectivity in brain networks. In this paper, we develop a framework for automatic classification of healthy control and SCZ patient based on electroencephalogram (EEG) connectivity and compare the classification performance with conventional artificial neural network (ANN). We propose to use convolutional neural network (CNN) for the classification of brain functional connectivity between healthy control and SCZ groups. Vector autoregression (VAR) model is used to extract connectivity features from schizophrenia EEG signals and directed connectivity at different EEG frequency bands is computed via partial directed coherence (PDC). Results show that the classification with high accuracy is achievable using VAR model. From the result, the performance of CNN reaches 86.9% over five-fold cross validation that considered to be good accuracy for the CNN to do a good prediction. The results also show that time-domain VAR features performed better than frequency domain PDC features. CNN provides a more practical method in classification between healthy and schizophrenic brain connectivity.

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Vector Autoregression model, Partial directed coherence, Convolutional neural network, Schizophrenia

ANALYSIS OF BREATHING PATTERNS FROM THERMAL IMAGES USING AN AUTOMATED SEGMENTATION METHOD

Asmaa Husna Arzae1, Lee Jiah Kee2, Muhammad Faiz Md Shakhih3, Rania Al-Ashwal4 and Asnida Abdul Wahab5

1-4School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, UTM, Skudai, MALAYSIA 5Medical Devices and Technology Center, Faculty of Engineering, UTM, Skudai, MALAYSIA E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Breathing pattern is one of the important vital signs in diagnosing and monitoring various diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and cardiovascular diseases.. Recently, there are few types of modalities that have been used to evaluate breathing activity such as respiratory belt, thermistor and capacitive sensor mounted on shirt. These devices are less effective as they are directly attach to patients such which will cause pain and discomfort to the patients. Thermography is a contactless and painless technique which has been recently introduced to assess breathing patterns through temperature change during inspiration and expiration. In this study, inspiration time and expiration time of three different breathing patterns such as normal, prolonged and rapid breathing patterns were measured by using the thermography. Eleven subjects were selected to participate in this study where they were required to simulate various breathing patterns by using a video-guided method. The thermal images obtained were first processed using an algorithm developed which integrates the both edge and region based methods. Temperature parameters were then extracted, converted to inspiration and expiration time ratio and analysed to differentite various breathing patterns. . The algorithm developed has shown that the tracker was able to segment the region of interest automatically, and successfully identified different type of breathing patterns with with 5% of relative error and stable detection compared to manual segmentation method.

Keywords: Thermography, Respiratory, Image processing

BIOMECHANICAL EVALUATION OF INSOLE FOR BADMINTON PLAYERS: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Amir Mustakim Ab Rashid1, Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Kadir2, and Muhammad Hanif

Ramlee*3

1, 3 Medical Devices and Technology Center (MEDITEC), Institute for Human Centered Engineering (iHumen), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

2 Sports Innovation and Technology Center (SITC), Institute for Human Centered Engineering (iHumen), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

2,3 School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Study in sports biomechanics is a demand field for any athletes due to the fact that it can contribute a lot for the improvement of sports performance. One of them is a study on badminton games where the athletes are normally perform many movements with a combination of usage of sport shoes and insoles. It should be noted that analysis on the badminton games and insoles are very limited in the literature. Therefore, this paper is presenting an art of development process of three- dimensional model of bone and insole in order to simulate the condition of badminton games via finite element method. Computed tomography images were used to reconstruct phalanges bones using Mimics software whereas insole was developed using Gensole®. The bones were reconstructed by setting a Hounsfield Unit (226 to 3071) to differentiate the cortical bone. Anthropometric procedure was firstly used to develop the insole of Slazenger. For the preliminary analysis, the models were used to simulate the landing phase of the badminton player where the inferior part of the insole were lifted at 20° with a total of 750N was applied from the bottom of insole. From the results, it is shown that the von Misses stress were observed at the contact point between bones and insole. From the preliminary results, the stress distribution on the insole is higher at certain points, might due to a larger contacted part. Nevertheless, a detail of foot and ankle joint should be developed in the future to mimic the real condition of the landing phase of athletes.

Keywords: Biomechanics, Badminton, Insole, Stress, Sports

IMPACT OF ECAP PROCESS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF ZN-3MG ALLOY AS POTENTIALS BIODEGRADABLE IMPLANT MATERIALS

Murtala Dambatta1, Izman Sudin2, Denni Kurniawan3, Nura Muhammad4 and Shamsu Tukur5

1,4,5 Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Kano University of Science and Technology (K.U.S.T), Wudil Kano State, NIGERIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 2,3 Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Various studies viewed Zn and its alloys as an alternative to Mg-based alloys for temporary implant support utilization. This is because of its superior degradation performance in human body environment compares to Mg-based alloys. Earlier studies reported that low strength, and ductility limits the utilization of Zn-based alloys as biodegradable implant material. This study aims to improve the above mentioned properties on Zn-3Mg alloy. Equal channels angular pressing (ECAP) technique was used to enhance its mechanical properties. High-purity Zn-3Mg alloy was fabricated via a conventional casting process. The untreated and treated Zn-3Mg samples' microstructures, microhardness and tensile strength were investigated. The results reveal that as-cast sample microstructure shows dendrite structures of Zn-rich distributed within the Zn2Mg11 intermetallic phase. The observed phase distribution was significantly improved, leading to improved microstructure homogeneity after 2-ECAP passes. Furthermore, ECAP process up to 2-pass significantly increases the as-cast alloy’s ultimate tensile strength, yield strength and elongation by 130 %, 81 %, and 119 % respectively. These enhancements were attributed to combine influences of microstructural changes, elimination of dendrite structure, as well as existence reduction of casting defects. The 2-ECAP pass was able to improve both strength and ductility of as-cast Zn-3Mg alloy. These remarkable results could enhance the potential of Zn- 3Mg alloy as biodegradable implant material.

Keywords: Zn-3Mg, ECAP, Biodegradable, Heat treatment, Mechanical properties, Implant

DESIGN OF DEVICE TO MONITOR ASTHMA SEVERITY USING MAINSTREAM TECHNOLOGY WHILE ADMINISTERING MEDICATION

Mohamad Haikal Mohamad Rosli1, Rokini Kumarasamy2 and MB Malarvili*3

1-3 School of Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: *[email protected]

ABSTRACT

A CO2 measuring device is proposed based on a mainstream technique which would be able to classify the asthmatic condition while administering the medication to the patients. A SprintIR CO2 sensor is used for extracting CO2 concentration from the patient. In order to provide medication to the patient, a nebulizer is used that was combined together with the CO2 measuring device which is designed by the 3D computer-aided design (CAD) software where the design is printed using 3D printing machine. The device uses a facemask to channel the gases where it measures the types of conditions which are ‘No Asthma’, ‘Mild Asthma’ and ‘Severe Asthma’. The preliminary test results for 9 asthmatic patients and 10 non-asthmatic individuals shows that the device can measure their conditions successfully. Meanwhile, it can also deliver medication to the patients if the condition is ‘Severe Asthma'.

EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE, PRESSURE AND HUMIDITY ON CARBON DIOXIDE CONCENTRATION— SIMULATION STUDY

Om Prakash Singh1 and MB Malarvili*2

1,2 Bio-Signal Processing Research Group, Department of Biotechnology and Medical Engineering Faculty of Biosciences and Medical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia 81310, Skudai, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected])

ABSTRACT

The growing application of infrared carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor now needs an accurate and precise measurement of human respired CO2 concentrations. CO2 concentration measurement is influenced by a number of environmental parameters. The objective of this study is to perform a simulation study on the list of environmental parameters which have a major influence on the precision and accuracy of the infrared CO2 sensor. Here, we designed a CO2 concentration estimation circuit that comprises temperature, pressure and humidity sensor, Arduino Uno, and liquid crystal display. Besides, a program is written and uploaded to the Arduino board to compute the CO2 concentration. A simple mathematical equation is employed to calculate the instantaneous CO2 concentrations with respective temperature, pressure and relative humidity. We observed a change in CO2 concentration from 31.11% to 30.60% and 21.25% to 26.18% corresponding to changes in temperature from 25oC to 30oC and pressure 21.53kPa to 26.52kPa, respectively while keeping the temperature (250C) and pressure (31.52kPa) constant with respect to each other. In addition, with a change in relative humidity from 28% to 30%, change in CO2 values (6.26% to 9.39%) were observed while temperature kept at 25 0C. Results show that pressure, temperature, and relative humidity have a significant effect on the output of CO2 concentration. Hence, this should not be underestimated while developing a CO2 sensor and barometric pressure, temperature, and relative humidity sensor should be integrated with CO2 sensor for automatic adjustment in CO2 concentration based on the current pressure, temperature and humidity in contrast to manual.

Keywords: CO2 sensor, CO2 concentrations, Environmental influences, Arduino, Proteus, Simulation

PREDICTION OF VENTRICULAR FIBRILLATION USING SUPPORT VECTOR MACHINE

Wei Wei Heng1, Eileen Su Lee Ming2, Ahmad Nizar Jamaluddin3, Fauzan Khairi Che Harun4, Nurul Ashikin AbdulKadir5 and Che Fai Yeong6

1,2, 4-6Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3Department of Cardiology, Ara Damansara Medical Centre, Selangor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Sudden cardiac death remains one of the top causes of high mortality rate and early prediction of VF can improve the survival chance of a patient by enabling earlier treatment. Heart rate variability analysis is widely adopted by the previous works to address this issue. Different combinations of features from multiple domains were explored but the spectral analysis was performed without the required preprocessing or on a shorter segment as opposed to the standards of The European and North American Task force on HRV. This work is performed to develop a robust prediction algorithm by including only time domain and nonlinear features while maintaining the prediction resolution of one minute. Nine time domain features and seven nonlinear features were extracted and classified using support vector machine of different kernels. High accuracy of 94.7% and sensitivity of 100% were achieved using extraction of only two HRV features and support vector machine of linear kernel without complicated preprocessing of HRV signals. This algorithm with high accuracy and low computational burden is beneficial for embedded system and real-time application which could help alerting the individuals sooner and hence improving the patient survival chance.

Keywords: Ventricular fibrillation, Sudden cardiac death, Electrocardiogram (ECG), Heart rate variability

AUTOMATED BADMINTON SMASH RECOGNITION USING CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORK ON THE VISION BASED DATA

Nur Azmina Rahmad1, Muhammad Amir As'Ari*2, Kamaruzaman Soeed3 and Izwyn Zulkapri4

1,3,4 School of Biomedical Engineering and Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 2 Sport Innovation and Technology Center (SITC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (IHCE), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Sport performance analysis in sports practice cannot be separable. It is important to help coach analyze and improve the performance of their athletes through training or game session. Due to the advancement of technology nowadays, the notational analysis of the video content using various software packages has become possible. Unluckily, the coach needs to recognize the actions manually before doing further analysis. The purpose of this study is to formulate an automated system for badminton smash recognition on widely available broadcasted videos using pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) method. Smash and other badminton actions such as clear, drop, lift and net from the video were used to formulate the CNN models. Therefore, two experiments were conducted in this study. The first experiment is the study on the performance between four different existing pre-trained models which is AlexNet, GoogleNet, Vgg-16 Net and Vgg-19 Net in recognizing five actions. The results show that the pre-trained AlexNet model has the highest performance accuracy and fastest training period among the other models. The second experiment is the study on the performance of two different pre-trained models which is AlexNet and GoogleNet to recognize smash and non-smash action only. The results show that the pre- trained GoogleNet model produces the best performance in recognizing smash action. In conclusion, pre-trained AlexNet model is suitable to be used to automatically recognize the five badminton actions while GoogleNet model is excellent at recognizing smash action from the broadcasted video for further notational analysis.

Keywords: Action recognition, Convolutional neural network, Deep learning, Notational analysis, Vision based

Computer Engineering

PROTOTYPE DEVELOPMENT OF IOT BASED SMART WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR SMART CITY

Muhammad Zar Mohd Zaid Harith1, Mohammad Asif Hossain2, Ismail Ahmedy*3, Mohd Yamani Idna Idris4, Tey Kok Soon5, and Rafidah Md Noor6

1-6Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, University of Malaya 50603 Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. 6Centre for Mobile Cloud Computing Research, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The inefficient waste collection system has resulted in environmental pollution and large consumption of source of energy. This is because of inefficient waste collection system results in smell pollution, unpleasant views, breading of insects, animal scavengers and rodents which also giving rise to a range of diseases when some waste bins are left overloaded and uncollected. As one of the efforts to overcome the inefficiency of the waste collection system problem and to achieve smart cities, an IoT (Internet of Things) based smart bin sensor prototype is proposed in this paper. An optimal route planning is also presented in this paper. Altogether, it is an automatic centralized monitoring system that provides the timely status of a bin, enables optimal route planning for collections, reduces collection times, and saves costs as well as fuel consumption.

Keywords: IoT, smart waste management system, RFID, sensors, smart city

OIL WELL DETECTION SYSTEM FOR SEISMIC SURVEYING BASED ON INTERNET OF THINGS (IOT)

Norsyazwani Mohd Puad1, Maheyzah Md. Siraj*2 and Nur Rafeeqkha Binti Sulaiman3

1-3 School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Seismic Surveying is a geophysical survey that was conducted to measure the physicals principle in earth’s geography like magnetic, gravitational and thermal. There are several simulations that have been produced to be used in oil and gas field, such as Petrel by Schlumberger and ECLIPSE. however, this simulation is confidential and cannot be used by individuals outside the company. Therefore, some of petroleum geologists are not able to use the simulations in their geology analysis. This issue is also experienced by students studying in this field as they are not able to access any simulations. Hence, making them not able to experience the real environment of the process for their future used. The existing software also do not analyse real time data, which will be covered in this project. Oil Well Detection System for Seismic Surveying is a web-based system that aims to analyse data for seismic surveying to give user better understanding on the process before conducting it in real life. This system also uses real time data in order to generate the result for the simulation. Users are able to generate the data in numeric data sets, 2D or 3D images. Notifications will be sent to users whenever there are data generating the best limestone result. This is to make sure that users have the best field for new oil reservoir and comparing the data of seismic surveying to make sure the best region to drill. The sensors technology will be used to detect the elements in limestone and send the data to user’s smartphones. Prototype Model Methodology is used throughout the development process alongside Firebase Cloud Database for storing information. This project will help petroleum geologists and students to experience the real time simulation in order to have better understanding about seismic surveying before conducting it in real life. They also can use it as study purposes as it is beneficial to students.

Keywords: Seismic Surveying, Petrel, Firebase, web-based system, numeric data sets

RELIABILITY AWARE RESOURCE SCHEDULING BASED ON FUZZY CUCKOO SEARCH (FCS) TECNIQUE FOR IN IAAS CLOUD

Syed Hamid Hussain Madni *1, Muhammad Shafie Abd Latiff2 and Abdul Hanan

Abdullah3

1-3School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]*1, [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT Resource scheduling assigns the precise and accurate task to CPU, network, and storage. The aim behind this is the optimum usage of resources. However, a well-organized scheduling is needed for both cloud providers and cloud users. A number of resource scheduling algorithms have been discussed in the literature, but there are little emphases to reliability aware resource scheduling. In this research article, an innovative technique is proposed that is known as Fuzzy Cuckoo Search (FCS) technique based on fuzzy theory and cuckoo search algorithm to solve real-time optimization problematic issues. The FCS technique is used to address the reliability aware resource scheduling problems in IaaS Cloud. An experiment has been carried out on CloudSim simulator and results of FCS techniques are compared with Genetic Algorithm (GA), Honey Bee (HB) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) scheduling algorithms. Finally, computational results and statistical analysis demonstrate that the FCS techniqiue is produced 39.21% better optimal solutions than the best solutions obtained by the comparison algorithms in term of failure rate. Keywords: Cloud Computing, Failure Rate, Fuzzy Cuckoo Search, Reliability, Resource Scheduling

JUNCTION-CENTRIC DATA FORWARDING IN URBAN VEHICULAR COMMUNICATION:FUTURE DIRECTION AND CHALLENGES

A Aliyu*1, A H Abdullah2, S Abdulrahman3, U M Joda4 and Z A Abdulraheeem5

1,4Department of Mathematical Sciences, Bauchi State University Gadau, Bauchi State, NIGERIA. 2,5Department of Computer Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 3Center for Atmospheric Research (CAR-NASRDA), Ayingba, Kogi State NIGERIA 4,5Kogi State Polytechnic Lokoja, Kogi State, NIGERIA E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], azajoze- [email protected],

ABSTRACT

Data packet transmission is a concept in vehicular communication for achieving road safety based on Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The packet forwarding is carried out in two scenarios including road zone and junction zone forwarding in order to address the problem of intermittent disconnection that leads to packet loss and packet error. Several studies have been conducted considering these scenarios to achieve effective communication. These studies have been revisited to provide comprehensive understanding in order to further explore the existing solutions. However, the re-visitations of these studies have not considered some of the existing junction zone packet forwarding, which is based on video data transmission. To this end, this paper suggests a qualitative review on Junction-centric Data Packet Forwarding (JDPF) focusing on vehicular communication. Precisely, a review of various junction-centric approaches with their comparative assessment is presented. Major challenges in the junction-centric data packet forwarding are identified as future directions of research. The review would be useful to practitioners and researchers, in terms of augmenting clarity in the junction-centric data packet forwarding literature.

Keywords: Vehicular communication, Junction, Data packet, Packet forwarding, Intersection

GROUP-BASED AUTHENTICATION SCHEMES USED FOR MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATION DEVICES IN WSN: A REVIEW

Ullah. S*1, Raja Zahilah2, Marina Md Arshad3, Abdul Hanan Abdullah4 , Rashidah Kadir5

1-5 School of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia. (E-mail: *[email protected];{zahilah, marinama, hanan, rashidah}@utm.my)

ABSTRACT

M2M communication is the next vital part of IoT infrastructure. It is extremely important for IoT systems to prosper in machine-type communication (MTC) devices that have low computational power, limited energy and small amount of memory capabilities. Thousands of devices transmitting data while working remotely and independent of any external supervision, creates concern for the security of data and devices as the topology is totally different to that of personal computers. In relation to the security of the devices, authentication is the first important part that has to be addressed against all possible security threats in IoT communication. In this regard, we focus on different types of authentication techniques being carried out by the researchers in M2M communicating environment of several remotely operating devices and address their security threats.

Keywords: Authentication and Key Agreeing (AKA), Message Access Code (MAC), Machine to Machine Communication (M2M), Machine Type Communication (MTC), Man in The Middle (MiTM)

AN ONTOLOGY DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE FOR STRATEGIC THREAT INTELLIGENCE OF SOUTH CHINA SEA CONFLICT (OntoSCSC)

Siti Hajar Othman1 and Muhammad Fakhrul Syazwan Kamarudin2

Information Assurance and Security Research Group (IASRG), School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 Johor Bharu, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The South China Sea is a basic business gateway for a huge part of the world's vendor shipping. In addition, that sea is likewise a significant economic and strategic sub-locale of the Indo-Pacific. Because of its huge, the site cause a few complex regional disputes which make many conflict and pressure inside the region and all through the Indo-Pacific. Throughout the most recent year, the South China Sea’s disputes has overwhelmed features, and they give off an impression of being sure to keep on producing crisp national security issues. In this research, we try to overcome the complexity of information related to the South China Sea conflicts by utilizing the capability of ontology framework that we named it as the ‘OntoSCSC’. Ontology giving idea that is directly identify with being, reality, existence, substance, cause, action and phenomenon of its domain under study. The basic issue in gaining from structure information such ontology is to figure out which pieces of structural data can give significant information in understanding any specific South China Sea conflicts. It is expected that by the formalization of the OntoSCSC, it will benefits many researchers, security specialists, government and industry alike to understand better issues related to South China Sea conflicts.

Keywords: South China Sea conflicts, Ontology, Information Retrieval and Strategic Threat Intelligence

NAMED ENTITY RECOGNITION OF SOUTH CHINA SEA CONFLICTS

Nur Rafeeqkha Sulaiman*1, Maheyzah Md Siraj2 and Mazura Mat Din3

1-3 School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Skudai, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]; [email protected] )

ABSTRACT

Online news articles not only provide us with useful and reliable information and reports, it also eases information extraction and gathering for research purposes especially in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). The topics regarding the South China Sea have been popular lately due to the rise of conflicts between several countries claim on the islands in the sea. Gathering data through Internet and online sources proves to be easy, but to process a huge amount of data and to identify only useful information is no longer possible. Because of that, relevant information and the classification of news articles in relation to the conflicts need to be done. In this paper, a model is proposed to use NER that search for and classifies important information regarding to the conflicts. In order to do that, a combination of POS and NER are needed to extract meaningful information from the news. This study also aims to classify conflict related news by using Conditional Random Field (CRF) algorithm as classification method by training and testing the data.

Keywords: Natural Language Processing, Named-Entity Recognition, CRF, POS, South China Sea

ENHANCEMENT OF INDIVIDUALITY REPRESENTATION FOR MULTI-BIOMETRIC IDENTIFICATION

W Y Leng1, S M Shamsuddin2 and S Sulaiman3

1 School of Computing, Faculty Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 Skudai JB, MALAYSIA. 2,3 UTM Big Data Centre, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 Skudai JB, Malaysia 1,3 Soft Computing Research Group (SCRG), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 Skudai JB, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Personal identification is one of the areas in pattern recognition that has created a center of attention by many researchers to work in. Recently, its focal point is in forensic investigation and biometric identification as such the physical (i.e., iris, fingerprint) and behavioural (i.e., signature) style can be used as biometric features for authenticating an individual. In this study, an improved approach of presenting biometric features of true individual from multi-form of biometric images is presented. The discriminability of the features is proposed by discretizing the extracted features of each person using improved Biometric Feature Discretization (BFD). BFD is introduced for features perseverance to obtain better individual representations and discriminations without the use of normalization. Our experiments have revealed that by using the proposed improved BFD in Multi-Biometric System, the individual identification is significantly increased with an average identification rate of 98%.

FEATURE SELECTION FOR MALICIOUS ANDROID APPLICATIONS USING SYMMETRICALUNCERTATTRIBUTEEVAL METHOD

H al-kaaf*1, A Ali, S Shamsuddin2 and S Hassan3

1-3School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The fast growth of tablets, smartphones has led to increase the usage of mobile applications. The Android apps have more popularity, however, the applications downloaded from third-party markets could be malware that may threaten the users’ privacy. Several works used techniques to detect normal apps from malicious apps based on mining requested permissions. However, there are some set of permissions that can occur in benign and malignant applications. Redundant features could reduce the detection rate and increase the false positive rate. In this paper, we have proposed feature selection methods to identify clean and malicious applications based on selecting a set combination of permission patterns using different classification algorithms such as sequential minimal optimization (SMO), decision Tree (J48) and Naive Bayes. The experimental results show that sequential minimal optimization (SMO) combining with SymmetricalUncertAttributeEval method achieved the highest accuracy rate of 0.88, with lowest false positive rate of 0.085 and highest precision of 0.910. And the findings prove that feature selection methods enhanced the result of classification.

DETECTING TELECOMMUNICATION FRAUD WITH VISUAL ANALYTICS: A REVIEW

M Mohamed Amin*1, A Zainal2, N F Mohd. Azmi3 and N A Ali4

1,2,4School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, UTM, Johor, MALAYSIA. 2Cyber Threat Intelligence Lab, Information Assurance & Security Research Group, UTM, Johor, MALAYSIA. 3Razak Faculty of Technology and Informatics, UTM, Kuala Lumpur, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The detection of anomalous events in large multivariate data is sought in many domains. Analysis of data is an important fraud detection procedure in detecting suspicious events and prevent attempts to defraud. While now the data is becoming more complicated and difficult as data scales and complexities increase than ever before, the rich insights within the data may be difficult to identify by traditional means and often remain hidden. People require powerful tools to extract valid conclusions from the data while maintaining trustworthy and interpretable results. Hence, various fraud detection approaches have started to exploit Visual Analytics (VA) techniques to reveal the hidden knowledge in such fraudulent activities. Interactive data visualization tools have substantial potential for making the detection of fraudulent transactions more efficient and effective by allowing the investigator to change the representation of data from text and numeric into graphics and filter out subsets of transactions for further fraud investigation. However, little research to date has directly examined the efficacy of data visualization techniques for fraud detection especially telecommunication fraud. In this paper, we present an overview of several fraud detection solutions that use data visualization techniques to detect fraudulent transactions in the telecommunication domain. The paper concludes by discussing how academic research might proceed in investigating the efficacy of interactive data visualization tools for fraud detection.

Keywords: Telecommunication fraud detection; Visual analytics, Multivariate; Time- oriented

ROBUST WATERMARKING TECHNIQUES AGAINST COMPRESSION ATTACK

Mohd Aliff Faiz Jeffry1 and Hazinah Kutty Mammi2

1-2School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering,Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Digital watermarking is a way to protect digital images from malicious attacks. Compression attack is one of the most common attacks on images uploaded to social media. Social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, have implemented a compression method for all types of media before being successfully uploaded to their server. It is designed to reduce the network bandwidth and storage needed to store each media on their server. However, the compression method used tends to tarnish the image properties of the image itself, which can be used to identify the image itself. This causes another problem, namely ownership and copyright issues. The use of digital watermarks was therefore proposed for this research to avoid the problem identified. The selected digital watermarking techniques, which are DCT-based Pyramid Transform (DCTPT), Two-Step Sudoku Method using LSB (TSSLSB), Semi-fragile Spatial Watermarking based on Local Binary Pattern Operator (SSWLBP) and Hybrid Schur and Singular Value Decomposition (HSSVD), theoretically must be able to withstand compression attacks by social media. These techniques have been simulated using the default MATLAB image dataset, but the use of photos taken by smartphones is a must for us to obtain useful metadata for real-world implementations. Some comprehensive analyses of the watermarking algorithms were done, and the findings were recorded in this paper.

PERFORMANCE COMPARISON OF PARTITIONED AND GLOBAL APPROACHES FOR WEAKLY HARD REAL-TIME SYSTEMS

Habibah Ismail*1, Dayang N. A. Jawawi2, Ismail Ahmedy3 and Mohd Adham Isa4

1, 2, 4 School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 3 Department of Computer System and Technology, Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University of Malaya, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

One way to minimizing resource requirements is through the careful management and allocation, in example, scheduling. Research on weakly hard real-time scheduling on multiprocessor has been extremely limited; most prior research on real-time scheduling on weakly hard real-time has been confined to uniprocessors. The need for multiprocessor is due to issues that impose limits on the performance of a single processor. As real-time application systems increasingly come to be implemented upon multiprocessor environments, thus, this study applies multiprocessor scheduling approach for verification of weakly hard real-time tasks and to guaranteeing the timing requirements of the tasks. In fact, within the multiprocessor, the task allocation and migration problems seem even harder than in uniprocessor case; thus, in order to cater that problem, the sufficient and efficient scheduling algorithm supported by accurate schedulability analysis technique is present to provide weakly hard real-time guarantees. The proposed approach involves the two existing multiprocessor real-time scheduling algorithms combining with the hyperperiod analysis and deadline models; weakly hard constraints and µ-pattern. In this paper, the Matlab simulation tool is used in order to validate the result of analysis. From the experimental and performance evaluation results, it proved that the proposed approach is satisfied the tasks deadlines with less number of misses.

Keywords: Performance comparison, Weakly hard real-time systems, Partitioned and global approaches

FEATURES AND BEHAVIOURS MAPPING IN MODEL-BASED TESTING IN SOFTWARE PRODUCT LINE

Rabatul Aduni Sulaiman*1, DNA Jawawi2 and Shahliza Abd Halim3

1-3 Software Engineering Department, School of Computing, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 1 Faculty of Computer Science and Information System, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400 Parit Raja, Johor, Malaysia

ABSTRACT

Testing in Software Product Line (SPL) is very hard task due to the high degree of variability that existed in products. Nowadays, many testing approaches have concern on reusability of technique. Feature Model (FM) is used to represent variability and commonality of products in SPL. The components of FM that represented as symbols caused the needs of mapping with other models to represent their semantics. In this paper, we give a concise definitions that relates with mapping approaches between FM and behaviour model. Model definitions presented in our algorithms is used for automation mapping process based on traceability link created. We implemented the advanced query mechanism to automate the process of mapping between models. Based on the experimental result, it shows that our proposed algorithm can help tester in automate searches for accurate mapping requirements.

Keywords: Variability, Feature model, Model-based, Software product line

COMPARISON OF WEB SERVICES FOR SENTIMENT ANALYSIS IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Ain Balqis Md Nor Basmmi*1, Shahliza Abd Halim2 and Nor Azizah Saadon3

1-2 School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: *[email protected]

ABSTRACT

With various type of web services available, it is hard to identify and compare which of the free access web services work best in analysing sentiment of extremist content in social networking sites. For that purpose, a generic approach by working with API of web service using PHP programming language is used to test each dataset that was extracted based on the keyword ‘extremism’. Data from both Twitter and Facebook has been used as these two are the most powerful platforms for expressing one’s feeling. The comparison for web service is done based on the analysis of its accuracy, precision, recall and f-measures in obtaining the lowest score of mean square error (MSE). Four sentiment analysis web services are used which are Sentiment Analyzer, Aylien, ParallelDots, and MonkeyLearn. From the comparison, MonkeyLearn obtained the best final results among all web services with the lowest MSE score of 14%. For the benefit of other researchers, the finding of this will reveal the suitable web service for analysing sentiment issues as critical as extremism.

SITUATION FACTORS INFLUENCING HOUSE BUYER'S PURCHASING DECISION IN INANAM, SABAH

Kelvin Celesistinus*1 and Siti Radiaton Adawiyah Zakaria 2

1, 2 Department of Real Estate, Faculty of Build Environment and Survey, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The Issues regarding the housing supply, demand and house ownership have been in focus of lately in Malaysia. Over the few decade, the property market especially for residential have been drastically drop to a certain level that will affect the future development of residential property. In this paper, researcher apply the theory of consumer decision model (CDM) focusing on to identified what are the situation factor within the environmental variables that affecting the homebuyers’ decision to purchase a dwelling. For this purpose, quantitative approaches are used and the information gathering method adopted in this study was based on the distributions of questionnaire’s to two hundred and seventy local residents. The research only focusing on the Inanam area, which is located within the district of Kota Kinabalu Sabah. The analysis method used in this study to achieve the research objective is by using frequency analysis. It has been found out, physical surrounding of the house, emotional of individual, the purpose of purchase and the temporally perspective are the sub factor that affecting the homebuyer’s decision in purchasing a dwellings. In a separate analysis, the three strongest sub factor that influencing the homebuyer’s decision were the physical surrounding of the house, emotional of individual and the purpose of purchase. In this regard, this study is expected to provide awareness to the government and developers in managing the development of housing in Malaysia and the importance of conducting human behavior studies before implementing housing development.

Keywords: housing, consumer decision model, situation factor

AN ENHANCED SEGMENTATION TECHNIQUE FOR SMOKERS RBC ROULEAUX COIN STACKING FORMATION

M H Malijan1 J M Sharif2 A H Abdullah3 M M Jamil4

1-3School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. 4Department of Electronic Engineering, Faculty of Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, 86400, Batu Pahat, Johor, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Smoking is one of the major factor of having coin stacking formation of RBC that can cause blood clots and can lead to stroke. Smokers tends have thicker, high count, and overlapping of RBC compared to non-smokers. Blood cell detection plays significant part in biomedical field. There are a two methods in detection of RBC, manual inspection by medical experts and automated machines. The manual inspection process is detection of blood cells under a microscope that is more prone to human error and time consuming, while automated hardware solutions like automated hematology machines are available, due to high cost it is not widely available to poor and developing countries who have a high statistics of smokers. Smokers have a high tendency of overlapping RBC or commonly known as rouleaux coin stacking cell formation. This study presents an enchanced segmentation technique that can detect the high degree of overlapping RBCs of smokers using digital image processing that can be helpful in the medical field.

Keywords: Red Blood Cell, Image Processing, Smoker RBC, Coin Stacking, Rouleaux

EXPLORING SOCIAL MEDIA USER EMOTIONS AND EMOTICONS USE AMONG MALAYSIA UNIVERSITIES

Mohamad Alif Fikri Mukhktar1, Nor Azman Ismail2, Hairudin Abdul Majid3, Mohd Sharul Hafiz Razak4

1-4 School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Expressing emotions through Twitter has been the norm to social media users especially university students. Emoticons has been used in their Tweet to represents their emotions to current issue. Emolyzer has been used to extract the Tweet of five active Malaysia universities community Twitter account which are USM, UTM, UKM, UiTM and UUM. With a variety of emoticons, people find it interesting as there are so many emoticons to symbolize different emotions. Different social media may differ in emoticons used, so the observation of frequently used emoticons in Twitter is a must. These emoticons are then categorized into happy, sad, annoying, angry and surprise. As a result, each different sentiment between these five universities can be compared. The study shows that USM has the highest percentage of happy while UiTM has the highest percentage of sad. This finding can be used to guide universities social media administrator to strategize in content strategy in social media.

Keywords: Social Media Analytics, Sentiment Analysis, Twitter, University Students, Emoticon

Engineering Education STRATEGIES TO INTEGRATE DESIGN PROCESS INTO TVET IN CONDUCTING FINAL YEAR PROJECT

Khairul Anwar Hanafiah1, Mohd Fadzil Mohd Daud2, Jamaludin Mohd Taib3, Afandi Dzakaria4, Rabiatul Adibah Abdul Rahim5, Hasni Rais6, Zaim Basiran7, and Norisham A Rahim8

1-4 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], (E-mail: [email protected]. utm.my) 5 Medical Device and Technology Center (MEDITEC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (IHumEn), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 6-8 Kolej Vokasional Kota Tinggi, PO Box 65, 81907 Kota Tinggi, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Ministry of Education (MOE) has made the final year project compulsory for every student to graduate with vocational diploma. Guideline for final year project becomes the basis to conduct the project executed based on Final Year Project I and II course. To have an effective and standardized teaching and learning (T&L) environment, design process should be implemented in technical and vocational education and training (TVET). Therefore, this paper will propose the strategies to integrate the design process in supervising, report writing, and assessing the final year project complying with the MOE guideline. The design process becomes the backbone due to its capability to sequence the design activities, integrate the various knowledge, and to enhance the creativity towards the selection of the final design from a range of designs with their respective conflicting issues. The strategies include integration of the design process into the supervision, report writing, and assessing the course. These strategies will be implemented through workshop, feedback and student activities. Kolej Vokasional Kota Tinggi (KVKT) is selected to be used as a case study.

Keywords: Engineering Education, Design Process, Teaching and Learning, TVET

CONSIDERATION OF EDUCATIONAL TOOLS AND METHODS OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING EDUCATION FOR NON-CSE STUDENTS

Hidehiko Hayashi*1

1Department of Management Information, Hokusei Gakuen University, Sapporo, JAPAN. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), one of the important issues is to educate software engineering not only to computer sience and engineering (CSE) students who specialize in information but also to non-CSE students who major in humanities and society and so on. It is not only for gaining a job in developing and operating digital technology and systems, but also for solving many social problems such as sustainable development goals (SDGs) and also leading to ethics such as human happiness. It is necessary to combine all kinds of knowledge such as science, engineering, humanities, social science, etc. in order to solve complex social problems. Students majoring in humanities and society do not have enough knowledge and skills in engineering like first year student, so they need educational tools and methods to learn software engineering smoothly. In this case study, we conducted to combine the Learning Management System (LMS) of communication function which is a share tool by digital approach and Idea-sketching for idea generation by analog approach such as pen and paper. The classes for humanities and social sience students who are not good at computer operation have found that they learn smoothly. As contribution of this study, it suggested a possibility effective as an educational tools and methods for first year students majoring in computer science as well as students majoring humanities and social science.

Keywords: LMS, 4IR, Humanities, Software Requirement

PROBLEM BASED LEARNING APPROACH ON CRICKET BATTING SKILL ACQUISITION

Asha Hasnimy Mohd Hashim*1, Maizal Nordin2, Noriza Milan3, Halijah Ibrahim4, Zainal Abidin Zainuddin5 and Diyana Zulaika Abdul Ghani6

1,4-6 School of Education, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 2,3 Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Dato’ Penggawa Timur, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

In this study, the problem-based learning (PBL) approach was integrated with the action research to explore how such a learning strategy could influence skill acquisition of backlift phase in cricket player’s batting skills. Bowling machine had been introduced (to create similiar bowling environment) to train batsman due inconsistency of bowling (speed, angle, fault, etc.) by bowlers. In this study 4 male cricket athletes aged 15 – 17 years old (weight: 60.00 ± 4.55 kg, height: 1.72 ± 0.01 m and Body Mass Index: 20.21 ± 1.26. and at least represented cricket team at district level from year 2017-2018. All the subject in this study need to perform batting at least six times for two different pitches situation (form bowlers and bowling machine) at constant distance. The movements of batting were recorded using a mobile phone at 60 frame per seconds (fps) (model Apple Iphone 6.0) from 1.5 meter lateral of batsman. The phase of backlift while batting were analysed using Kinovea–0.8.15 software. The data obtained were analysed descriptively (means and standard deviation) and inference (percentage value of intra-trial variability) and paired t-test) using Microsoft Excel 2010. The findings indicate no significant difference from the aspect of angle of backlift phase while batting, particularly when receiving a baseball throw from bowlers and bowling machine (t = 2.62, p = 0.07). However, the percentage value of intra-trial variability for each subject a low range average when the athlete received a baseball throw by a bowling machine; this indicates the consistency of angle performed while batting. In conclusion, the use of bowling machine can increase the consistency of an athlete’s batting skill acquisition during a backlift phase. Through this consistency, coaches can give feedback and train athletes in performing the required action and this can indirectly improve the batsmen’s skill in batting.

Keywords: Problem based learning, Skill Acquisition, Intervention

APPLICATIONS OF SERVICE LEARNING (S.L) APPROACH IN CONSTRUCTION RELATED COURSES IN MALAYSIA

Pui Kay Lai1, Syamsul Hendra Mahmud2, Mohd Azwarie Mat Dzahir3, Noorfajri Ismail4,

Mohd Saidin Misnan5

1 Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environments and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2-5 Building Information Centre, Faculty of Built Environments and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The integration of service learning (SL) into higher education in most of the universities has become a crucial topic. It brings the benefits to the students, communities, and faculty of higher education in term of building connections between course content and practical to the real context application. However, many students are still resist to involve in SL as well as the lecturers. SL in Malaysia is also at initial stage and limited range. The objectives of this research is to identify the application of SL in construction related courses and to identify the barriers of implementing SL in construction related courses in Malaysia. Therefore, qualitative and quantitative approach have been adopted in this research. By carrying out the open-ended interview in order to achieve the first objective. Distribute questionnaire among lecturers and students in the public universities and private universities to identify the barriers of implementing SL in construction related courses in Malaysia. Content of analysis is being used to analyse the data collected from interview and compare mean analysis method is used to analyse the data collected from questionnaire respectively. A total sixteen respondents were participated in the interview session and sixty-two questionnaires were obtained. The findings showed that application of SL was suitable for every construction related courses which encourage students work in group basis and can be applied to students as course assignment in class or as extracurricular activity. Besides that, activities that conducted during application of SL in construction related courses, landscaping work, environmental friendly activities, refurbishment work, preparation building plan and cost estimation and design work in this study. Meanwhile, the barrier of heavy workload agreed between public lecturer and private lecturer. The barriers of student characteristics and time constraint agreed between public student and private student.

Keywords: Service Learning, Application, Barriers, Construction Related Courses, Education

COMPARISON OF LECTURERS’ EPISTEMOLOGICAL BELIEFS IN TEACHING ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY

Mohd Shafie Bakar*1, Khairiyah Mohd-Yusof2, Nor Farahwahidah Abdul Rahman3, Norazan Mohd. Kassim4 and Mohd Haniff Ibrahim5

1Universiti Malaysi Pahang, Pahang, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected]) 2,3Centre for Engineering Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 4,5 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

This reseach was conducted to compare the epistemological beliefs of two lecturers in teaching Electromagnetic Theory course. The two lecturer were selected based on their experiences in teaching the course at a University in Malaysia. A series of interviewes were conducted, audio recorded and transcribed. The data were analysed using thematic analysis approach. The research found that based on the Yu and Strobel framework of the epistemological beliefs, only a few items within the constructs were undefined and most of the items meet the learning enviroments.

Keywords: Epistemological beliefs, Experience, Framework

TECHNOLOGY IN SAFETY TRAINING DELIVERY

Norhazren Izatie Mohd*1, Hamizah Liyana Tajul Ariffin2, Zuhaili Mohamad Ramly 3, Mohd Azwarie Mat Dzahir⁴, Siti Rahmah Omar5, Muhammad Yusuf Nordin6 and Mohammad Fahrulradzi Asmawi7

1-7 Faculty of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The construction site is in a constant state of fluidity. This constant change presents challenges for construction players who must be able to foresee hazardous conditions before they cause injuries or fatalities on the construction site. Nowadays, technology continuously improves the way the construction industry works. In line with the industrial revolution, technology evolution will improve the effectiveness of construction industry operation. Embracing technologies would benefits inefficiencies, diminishing cost and improve health and safety levels. Therefore, this paper sought to review the technologies that can be implemented in training delivery especially for safety training. Systematic literature review have been conducted to determine suitable technology in assisting safety training. Based on the deductive content analysis, there are three type of technologies that can be used as an approach in training delivery. The findings of the study prevail which technology particularly will create digitally. It seems that with this application of technology can provide a better approach to assess potential problems such as risks on the construction site. These technologies can be adopted to become training module in order to enhance the productivity and minimise the occurrence of accidents in Malaysia construction industry.

Keywords: Industrial Revolution, Technology Evolution, Safety training, Hazard

IMPLEMENTATION OF AUGMENTED AND VIRTUAL REALITY IN TEACHING AND LEARNING IN CONSTRUCTION RELATED COURSES: A REVIEW ON ITS POTENTIAL AND CHALLENGES

You Xing Wong1, Syamsul Hendra Bin Mahmud2, Fara Diva Binti Mustapa3, Mohd

Azwarie Bin Mat Dzahir4, Muzani Bin Mustapa5, Noorfajri Bin Ismail6

1 Department of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environments and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2-6 Building Information Centre, Faculty of Built Environments and Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Rapid information technology (IT) growth has brought many benefits to human being in various industries including education and construction industry. Technologies like digital reality technology such as Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) has shown evolution of human-computer interaction from screen-based to sensory based interfaces. This transformation has changed the way humans interact with data and machine which subsequently lead to adoption in education as a mean of enhancement in students’ learning and understanding. Currently the conventional teaching method has its limitations where students experience difficulties in imagination and lack of hands on practical due to time and resources constraints.. Therefore, this research aim to determine the possibilities of implementating AR and VR within the construction related courses delivery. Two research objectives has been designed to achieve research objectives namely,(1) to identify the potential and (2) challenges of adopting Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) within the teaching and learning for construction related courses. In achieving the aforementioned objectives, mixed method approach via questionnaire and interview questions has been administered to academicians teaching in construction related courses and students in both public and private universities. The interview data has been analysed using thematic analysis method where the results highlights that the simulation of construction process, simulation of scenario, presentation of design and practical module were the potential of AR and VR adoptions in teaching and learning.. As for the challenges, financial aspect, lack of awareness among students of the AR and VR technology and finally lack of support system were highlighted. These aforementioned challenges should be resolved for better adoptions and development of AR and VR technology in teaching and learning which will substantially benefits the construction education specifically and construction industry generally.

Keywords: Augmented Reality (AR), Virtual Reality (VR), Simulation, Education, Construction

ANALYSIS ON REFLECTIVE WRITING USING NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING AND SENTIMENT ANALYSIS

Calvin Chong*1, Usman Ullah Sheikh2, Narina A. Samah3 and Ahmad Zuri Sha’ameri4

1 Intel (M) Sdn Bhd, Pulau Pinang, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected]) 2, 4 School of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]) 3 School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Natural Language Processing (NLP) opens up the possibility for a machine to help us human process the vast data out there. There are multiple branches of NLP, but this thesis focuses on sentiment analysis, more specifically for reflective writing analysis. However, to obtain accurate results, NLP model needs to be tailored for the specific application. In this thesis, an NLP model is developed to process survey results obtained from psychology course by building a word database and categorise the level of reflection using fuzzy logic system. The main processes involved in this work are mainly performing intensive literature review on reflective writing models and to design fuzzy logic rules which can categorise the various levels of reflection demonstrated by the students. The model is then used to analyse a total of 47 reflective journals collected from the survey responses of the students from the School of Education in UTM. These surveys need to be pre-processed using some tools such as Natural Language Tool Kit (NLTK) to be fed to the developed model. There is the need to build a word database with words specific to the psychology field to improve the accuracy. From the analysis of the students’ survey, most of the students exhibit level 1-2 reflection.

Keywords: Natural language processing; Reflective writing

QUALITY PREDICTION AND DIAGNOSIS OF REFINED PALM OIL USING PARTIAL CORRELATION ANALYSIS

Nor Adhihah Rashid*1, Khu Wai Hoong2, Azmer Shamsuddin3, Khor Wei Jin4,

Muhammad Hisyam Lee5, and Mohd. Kamaruddin Abd Hamid6*

1-4,6 School of Chemical and Energy Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: *[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]) 5 Department of Mathematical Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected]) 3 Lahad Datu Edible Oils Sdn Bhd, KM 2, Jalan Minyak off Jalan POIC, Locked Bag 16, 91109 Lahad Datu, Sabah, MALAYSIA. (Email: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Regression technique such as partial correlation analysis has been widely used as tool of prediction in business, finance and biomedical field. However, the application of predictive analysis in chemical process, specifically palm oil refinery process has rarely been done. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to present a quality prediction and diagnosis tool using partial correlation analysis, with the aim to predict the quality of refined palm oil and to diagnose the crude palm oil and process variables. Several statistical analysis are applied in data pre-process to obtain statistical sample size, optimum sampling and processing time of the process. The predictor coefficient is developed using partial correlation analysis while control chart is used to monitor the process behavior of both predicted and actual output value. The monitored out-of-control behavior is then diagnosed using SPE-contribution plot to identify the faulty input variables, thus pre-treatment can be executed before the refining process. The predicted model is successfully developed with MSE value less than 0.01 and three faulty variables are identified.

Keywords: Quality Prediction, Quality Diagnosis, Partial Correlation Analysis, Refined Palm Oil

FEATURE ENGINEERING FOR PREDICTING MOOC PERFORMANCE

*5 6 7 Nadirah Mohamad , Nor Bahiah Ahmad , Dayang Norhayati Abang Jawawi , Siti Zaiton Mohd Hashim8

1-4School of Computing, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected])

ABSTRACT

Increasing data recorded in massive open online course (MOOC) requires more automated analysis. The analysis, which includes making student’s prediction requires better strategy to produce good features and reduces prediction error. This paper presents the process of feature engineering for predicting MOOC student’s performance utilizing deep feature synthesis (DFS) method. The experiment produces features which all the top features selected using principal component analysis (PCA) are the features that are generated from method. In terms of prediction comparing both based features and generated features, the result shows better accuracy for generated features proposed using k-nearest neighbors technique which shows the method potential to be used for future prediction model.

Civil / Mechanical Engineering

RECENT TECHNOLOGIES IN CONSTRUCTION; A NOVEL SEARCH FOR TOTAL COST MANAGEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS (CE)

Uchenna Sampson Igwe, Sarajul Fikri Mohamad, Mohamed Bin Mat Dzahir

Azwarie

197

TOWARDS A READINESS ASSESSMENT MODEL FOR VALUE MANAGEMENT IMPLEMENTATION IN CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY

Baffa Y. Sabiu1, Sarajul F. Mohamed2 and Yusoff W. Mahmood3

1-3 Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT

Value management (VM) has over the years gained acceptance in various countries all over the world as a tool towards achieving value for money for clients. Ongoing research and development into its adoption and implementation within the construction industries of developing countries is on the run. This has made researchers investigate on a better, more effective and more efficient implementation towards achieving the full benefits it offers. VM implementation efforts in the developed countries necessitate the assessment of the readiness of the industries prior to the introduction and adoption of VM. However, there is little effort made in developing a readiness assessment model for VM in the construction industry. Therefore, this paper aims to carry out a comparative review of the available readiness models in the construction industry and some few more from manufacturing industry in view to laying a base towards the development of a readiness assessment model for VM implementation for developing countries. This paper adopts the document analysis method for the review and comparison of the assessment models. The readiness models have been examined and assessed along with their strengths and weaknesses revealed. The paper identifies the requirements of value management and provides a guideline towards the development of a VM readiness assessment model. It finally concludes the necessity of a readiness assessment of the construction industry prior to its introduction. The paper finally identifies development of the model as an area for further study.

Keywords: Value Management; Readiness Assessment; Implementation; Review; Requirement INTELLIGENT ACTIVE FORCE CONTROL OF A TWIN ROTOR SYSTEM

Musa Mailah1, Yin Shen Tay*2 and Howe Hing Tang3

1-3 School of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Johor Bahru, Johor, MALAYSIA. (E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected])

ABSTRACT

The paper deals with a robust control method applied to a a twin rotor multiple-input-multiple- output system (TRMS). The performance of TRMS employing a hybrid active force control (AFC) and iterative learning (IL) technique is simulated to evaluate the capability of the proposed control method in countering the harmonic excitation with reference to the pitch, yaw, angles of main rotor and tail rotor of the TRMS responses. The AFC with IL scheme was used in conjunction with the Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) to analyze the system’s robustness against the introduced disturbance. The mathematical modeling of TRMS was first derived and later the simulation was conducted in MATLAB/Simulink computing platform. The PID controller was used as benchmarking prior to the implementation of AFC and IL in which the tuning of the PID and IL parameters were based on a heuristic method. A comparative study will be conducted for the PID and PIDAFCIL schemes in terms of overshooting, settling time and steady state error. The results show that the PIDAFCIL control method is highly robust, produces low steady state error and exhibits fast convergence compared to its counterpart.

Keywords: Twin rotor system, Active force control, Iterative learning, robustness, Harmonic disturbance

EFFECTS OF NITROGEN DILUTION ON NOX EMISSION CHARACTERISTICS OF TURBULENT SYNGAS NONPREMIXED FLAMES

Yongmo Kim1, Mohammad Nazri Mohd Jaafar2 and Mazlan Said3

1Department of Mechanical Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul, KOREA E-mail: [email protected] 2School of Mechanical Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. 2,3Institute for Vehicle Systems and Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, MALAYSIA. E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

The transient flamelet model has been applied to numerically investigated the effects of the nitrogen dilution on the combustion characteristics of the turbulent syngas nonpremixed flames. Numerical results indicate that, for the highly nitrogen-diluted case with the higher scalar dissipate rate and the shorter flight time, the flame structure is dominantly influenced by the turbulence- chemistry interaction and marginally modified by the radiation effect. On the other hand, the flame structure for the no-dilution case with the longer flight time and the relatively intermediate scalar dissipate rate is influenced strongly by the radiative cooling as well as moderately by the turbulence-chemistry interaction. Numerical results suggest that the NOx formation in the syngas turbulent nonpremixed flames can be effectively suppressed by increasing the fuel-side nitrogen dilution level.