5975 research outputs found
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Determining Hotspots of Road Accidents using Spatial Analysis
No full textRoad accidents continuously become a major problem in Malaysia and consequently cause loss of life or property. Due to that, many road accident data have been collected by highway concessionaries or build–operate–transfer operating companies in the country meant for coming up with proper counter measures. Several analyses can be done on the accumulated data in order to improve road safety. In this study the reported road accidents cases in North South Expressway (NSE) from Sungai Petani to Bukit Lanjan during 2011 to 2014 period is analyzed. The aim is to determine whether the pattern is clustered at certain area and to identify spatial pattern of hot spots across this longest controlled-access expressway in Malaysia as hotspot represents the location of the road which is considered high risk and the probability of traffic accidents in relation to the level of risk in the surrounding areas. As no methodology for identifying hotspot has been agreed globally yet; hence this study helped determining the suitable principles and techniques for determination of the hotspot on Malaysian highways. Two spatial analysis techniques were applied, Nearest Neighborhood Hierarchical (NNH) Clustering and Spatial Temporal Clustering, using CrimeStat® and visualizing in ArcGIS™ software to calculate the concentration of the incidents and the results are compared based on their accuracies. Results identified several hotspots and showed that they varied in number and locations, depending on their parameter values. Further analysis on selected hot spot location showed that Spatial Temporal Clustering (STAC) has a higher accuracy index compared to Nearest Neighbor Hierarchical Clustering (NNH). Several recommendations on counter measures have also been proposed based on the details results
Effort of NGO in Promoting Comprehensive Sexuality Education to Improve Quality of Life among Local and Refugee Communities
No full textFederation of Reproductive Health Association, Malaysia (FRHAM) is a pioneer Non-governmental Organization (NGO) in disseminating the knowledge and services of sexual reproductive health in Malaysia. A qualitative case study research design was employed to explore the roles of FRHAM in promoting Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) for the well-being of locals and refugees’ communities. In-depth interviews were conducted with the staffs of FRHAM to inquire about their effort in delivering their services. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, coded and emergent themes were identified. FRHAM had played a part as educator, service provider, advocate and actively involved in improving the quality of life among the refugee community. The organization had developed modules for CSE and conducted programs for dissemination of knowledge. They also collaborated with local governmental agencies and other NGOs to promote awareness and utilization of services among the communities. Nevertheless, promoting CSE had experienced many challenges in Malaysia. The perceptions of Malaysian viewing sexuality education as taboos, cultural factors, the reluctance of educators in delivering, and the low visibility of FRHAM are the barriers encountered by FRHAM in promoting CSE. FRHAM recommended including parents, teachers and other stakeholders in the promotion of CSE and acknowledging CSE as an official subject to be implemented in schools. The information from this study may encourage more partnerships between the stakeholders, policy makers and NGOs for providing high quality CSE and sexual reproductive health services
Democratic Perception and Attitudes of the Pre-Service Music Teachers in Turkey
No full textDemocracy, a lifestyle as much as it is a form of government, begins to be learned in the family. The youth observe and acquire the democratic attitudes of their parents. The task of passing it on to the new generations and helping them acquire democratic values is the mission of schools, namely teachers. It is a commonly known fact that developmental level of countries shows parallelism with the democratic attitudes of individuals. It is important to understand the democratic perceptions and attitudes of teachers who are responsible for positioning democratic structure and thus raising the democratic level of countries. For this reason, the research aims to examine the democratic perceptions and attitudes of music teacher candidates in terms of some variables. Data collected using the democratic attitude scale were analyzed using t-test, Kruskal-Wallis H test, and Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results showed that attitude scores did not change according to gender, level of parents’ education or the year students were in. Scale scores were negatively correlated with the amount of parents’ income. There was no correlation between the students’ GPAs and the scale scores. Music teaching requires a democratic environment intrinsically; therefore, the democratic perceptions and attitudes of the music teacher candidates who will carry out the music lessons in which they should maintain the democratic environment must be determined. As aforementioned notions suggest, this study is of the essence since the results will shed light on the academic staff in the institutions that train music teachers
Assessing the Crown Closure of Nypa on UAV Images using Mean-Shift Segmentation Algorithm
No full textUtilization of very high-resolution images becomes a new trend in forest management, particularly in the detection and identification of forest stand variables. This paper describes the use of mean-shift segmentation algorithm on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) images to measure crown closure of nypa (Nypa fructicans) and gap. The 27 combinations of the parameter values such as spatial radius (hs), range radius (hr), and minimum region size (M). Gap detection and nypa crown closure measurements were performed using a hybrid between pixel-based (maximum likelihood classifier) and object-based approaches (segmentation). For evaluation of the approach performance, the accuracy assessment was done by comparing object-based classification results (segmentation) and visual interpretation (ground check). The study found that the best combination of segmentation parameter was the combination of hs 10, hr 10 and M 50, with the overall accuracy of 76,6% and kappa accuracy of 55.7%
Verification of Quartz Crystal Microbalance Array using Vector Network Analyzer and OpenQCM
No full textQuartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) is a device that allows non-destructive measurements of r in situ reaction activities. In this article, an array comprising of six 3MHz QCM sensors in an array were characterized using a vector network analyzer and OpenQCM, a portable measuring instrument that measures change in resonance frequency. Measurements of S21 transmission characteristics using the vector network analyzer provides the resonance frequency and can also be used to derive the RLC equivalent electrical circuit values of a resonant two-port network based on the Butterworth-Van Dyke model. In this work, Rm, Lm, Cm and Co were obtained via curve-fitting of the measurement results to the simulated results. Measurements were done in triplicates to verify reproducibility for all 6 sensors. For comparison, measurements were also done using a portable, open-source instrument, OpenQCM. The OpenQCM instrument directly measures changes in resonance frequencies, making it ideal for biosensing experiments, which correlate changes in mass with changes in resonance frequencies. Comparison between resonance frequency measurements using VNA and OpenQCM exhibit low percentage difference 0.2%. This QCM sensor array has the potential of conducting real-time, point-of-care analyses for detection of biological molecules.
A Comparative Review on Data Hiding Schemes
No full textData hiding is a technique used to protect confidential information. The aim of a particular data hiding scheme is to make a more secure and robust method of information exchange so that confidential and private data can be protected against attacks and illegal access. The aim of this paper is to review on different data hiding schemes, covering the decoding, decrypting and extracting schemes. This paper also highlighted three major schemes that are widely used in research and real practice. The discussion include findings on the most recent work on decryption schemes
Automated Real-Time Vision Quality Inspection Monitoring System
No full textThe requirement of product quality inspection in industries for product standardized leads to a development of the quality inspection system. The problem is related to a manual inspection that is done by a human as an inspector. This paper presents an automated real-time vision quality inspection monitoring system as a problem solver to a manual inspection that is tedious and time-consuming task as well as reducing cost especially in small and medium enterprise industries (SME). For the proposed system, soft drink is used as the test product for quality inspection. The system uses computer-network to inspect two quality inspections which are color concentration and water level. The analysis includes pre-processing, color concentration using the histogram and quadratic distance and level inspection using coordinate vertical and horizontal reference levels. The similarities of both experimental and simulation results are obtained for both parameters which are 100% accuracy using 205 samples
FPGA Implementation of a Novel Gaussian Filter Using Power Optimized Approximate Adders
No full textSmoothing filters are essential for noise removal and image restoration. Gaussian filters are used in many digital image and video processing systems. Hence the hardware implementation of the Gaussian filter becomes a reliable solution for real time image processing applications. This paper discusses the implementation of a novel Gaussian smoothing filter with low power approximate adders in Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA). The proposed Gaussian filter is applied to restore the noisy images in the proposed system. Original test images with 512x512 pixels were taken and divided in to 4x4 blocks with 256x256 pixels. The proposed technique has been applied and the performance metrics were measured for various simulation criteria. The proposed algorithm is also implemented using approximate adders, since approximate adders had been recognized as a reliable alternate for error tolerant applications in circuit based metrics such as power, area and delay where the accuracy may be considered for trade off
Development of Learning Tools using Maples for Engineering Mathematics Subject
No full textMathematics is one of the basic and core subject for engineering students. Learning mathematics helps in developing problem solving skills as the subject requires critical thinking. However, many students perceive mathematics as a difficult subject and eventually get poor result for the subject. In the institution under study, there were increases in failure rate for the subject for the past few semesters. Based on a preliminary study, it was found that 55 percent of engineering student claimed that they encountered difficulties in visualizing functions in 3-dimensional space, which is the main content for engineering calculus subject. This fact is very unsatisfactory as engineering students are expected to possess strong mathematical problem solving skills. In light of this, the objective of this research is to develop an interactive teaching and learning tools, so as to assist students in visualizing 3-dimensional space functions. The tool is intended to be used in teaching and learning process in classrooms and it is expected that the students’ understanding in the subject could be improved
Fuzzy Logic Controller Effectiveness Evaluation through Comparative Memberships for Photovoltaic Maximum Power Point Tracking Function
No full textMaximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is an important objective needed to gain maximum power from solar photovoltaic panel during the weather condition variation. Many studies and solutions are proposed in literature, most of them focus on the type of algorithm which adopted for MPP tracking through using same driver i.e. DC-DC Boost converter. Among these algorithms, Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) demonstrates high quality performance by fast tracking response and robust effectiveness. This paper proposes a FLC by a new harmony of the input and the output variables through comparative study to the controller tracking behavior. To track the MPP, the proposed solution controls the change of duty cycle for PWM gate drive pulses width variation to drive the designed Buck-Boost DC-DC converter. MATLAB/Simulink software is selected to simulate the introduced controller. The simulation results are reflecting the promising indications to adopt the presented proposal as an effective MPPT system for practical applications