19672 research outputs found
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Development of an intelligent system based on ANFIS model for predicting soil erosion
No full textThis study explores capability of adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface system (ANFIS) model for soil erosion assessment of which various parameters are involved and the parameters interaction is highly nonlinear. Soft computing technique has been applied widely in various fields, but its application in soil science is limited. A number of models have been established in predicting soil erosion such as a revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model whereby parameters of the RUSLE model are employed in testing the ANFIS model in this study. Besides, a new parameter of biomass microbe (Mf) is introduced and its effectiveness in controlling erosion is demonstrated. A hilly area near the Guthrie Corridor Expressway, Malaysia, is chosen as a study area whereby five experimental plots size of 8 × 8 m and 5 × 5 m are developed. These five plots are characterized by either natural or planted vegetation or either with or without microbe bio-fertilizer. Input parameters of RUSLE, i.e. rainfall erosivity, soil erodibility, slope length and steepness, vegetation and support practice, are measured, and observed erosion is monitored for 1 year. The microbe factor presented as Mf is examined by pairing the plot with and without microbe while keeping other similar characteristic for those plots. Result shows a satisfactory achievement between observed and predicted model by ANFIS with R2, RMSE and MAE being 0.8275, 1.4276 and − 0.0165, respectively. In terms of a relationship between the Mf factor and soil erosion, it is noticed that the soil erosion is inversely proportional to the Mf when the entire erosion conservation practices are unchanged for a given period. Therefore, the application of microbes could be an alternative or additional erosion conservation technique in soil conservation works
Prevalence of on-host ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) in small mammals collected from forest near to human vicinity in Selangor, Malaysia
No full textTicks are important vectors that transmit a variety of pathogenic microorganisms known to be medically important worldwide. Many vertebrate groups have become host to this organism, and their presence and abundance are an indicator of the condition of both host and its habitat. This study was conducted to determine tick's infestation and its prevalence on small mammal's residing in the recreational forests (RF) and semi-urban (SU) residential areas which have encountered Leptospirosis outbreak and cases in Hulu Langat, Selangor Malaysia. Trapping of the small mammals involved deploying two hundred cage traps in a systematic one-hectare plot (100 m × 100 m), as well as along the stream and forest trails at random. Ticks were extracted from the captured individual hosts. Identification of the tick species was performed based on morphological features and molecular approach using 16S rDNA and COI (cytochrome oxidase subunit I) genes. A total of 278 individuals of small mammals belonging to 15 species (13 Rodentia, 1 Scandentia and 1 Insectivora) were captured in the study areas. From these, 34 individuals from eight small mammal species were infested with ticks. The most infested host species was Muller's giant Sunda rat (Sundamys muelleri) with 5.80% (n=16). Ticks prevalence was slightly higher in RF with 6.40% (n=18) compared to SU with 5.80% (n=16). A total of 107 adult ticks (103 female and 4 male) were collected from the infested host. Ixodes granulatus was the most dominant tick species encountered (70.40%, n=85), followed by Dermacentor sp. (18.60%, n=20), while Amblyomma sp. was the least abundant (2%, n=2). This study provides information on tick species present and tick burden on small mammal hosts within the study areas. Our findings suggest that the visitors to the recreational forests and the residents of the semi-urban area were not only exposed to Leptospirosis bacteria but also tick bites and potentially tick-borne disease, therefore, precaution should be taken to avoid contact with small mammal hosts
Multi-walled carbon nanotubes doped Poly(Methyl MethAcrylate) microfiber for relative humidity sensing
No full textMulti-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) doped Poly(Methyl MethAcrylate) (PMMA) microfiber was proposed and demonstrated for relative humidity sensing. It was prepared through a direct drawing technique to achieve a diameter of 5 μm and a length of 5 mm. As the relative humidity increases from 45% to 80%, the output power of the sensor decreases linearly with a sensitivity of 0.3341 dBm/% and a resolution of 1.649%. The result signifies that PMMA doped with MWCNTs exhibits better sensitivity and higher resolution compared to the un-doped PMMA microfiber sensor. In addition, the sensor exhibits high reliability as well good repeatability
A framework to address communication issues during requirements engineering process for software development outsourcing
No full textWith the advent of global software engineering, Software Development Outsourcing (SDO) has gained momentum. But the failure rate of outsourced software development projects is high. For such projects, Requirements Engineering (RE) involves intensive communication among geographically distributed stakeholders resulting in one of the major causes of the projects' failures. Addressing communication issues during RE is critical for the success of such projects. Therefore, the basic objective of this study is to recommend RE practices for addressing communication issues in such scenarios. Literature review has been performed, questionnaire survey has been completed by involving SDO industry practitioners and their semistructured interviews have been conducted for data gathering. We have: (i) Identified 32 communication issues of RE process for SDO from literature and industry, (ii) Provided 28 relevant RE practices to address such issues. A framework has been proposed that maps the communication issues to relevant RE practices in the form of RE practices' sets to address corresponding issues
Identification of transformer fault based on dissolved gas analysis using hybrid support vector machine-modified evolutionary particle swarm optimisation
No full textEarly detection of power transformer fault is important because it can reduce the maintenance cost of the transformer and it can ensure continuous electricity supply in power systems. Dissolved Gas Analysis (DGA) technique is commonly used to identify oil-filled power transformer fault type but utilisation of artificial intelligence method with optimisation methods has shown convincing results. In this work, a hybrid support vector machine (SVM) with modified evolutionary particle swarm optimisation (EPSO) algorithm was proposed to determine the transformer fault type. The superiority of the modified PSO technique with SVM was evaluated by comparing the results with the actual fault diagnosis, unoptimised SVM and previous reported works. Data reduction was also applied using stepwise regression prior to the training process of SVM to reduce the training time. It was found that the proposed hybrid SVM-Modified EPSO (MEPSO)-Time Varying Acceleration Coefficient (TVAC) technique results in the highest correct identification percentage of faults in a power transformer compared to other PSO algorithms. Thus, the proposed technique can be one of the potential solutions to identify the transformer fault type based on DGA data on site
A Mathematical Model of Cloud Computing in the Economic Fractional Dynamic System
No full textComputing is experiencing much change from client/server to the cloud. The interest for cloud infrastructures is not only introducing in the business domain, but likewise encompasses to government activities. In this work, we suggest a new dynamic system, equilibrium of cloud computing based on fractional calculus. In our preparation, each agent (i.e., each company or government agency) determines between going to appliance the customary on-site computing pattern and acting to the cloud computing model. In this model, separately agent will optimize an entire cost that involves of two mechanisms: the cost of implementing the cloud computing pattern and the effort cost of moving to the cloud computing pattern. We shall impose various types of two-dimensional fractional systems. The method of finding the solution is subjected to bifurcation and bifurcation boundaries to perform a good result in the cloud computing. This method is generalized to the fractional calculus. Therefore, the outcome lets us to training the dynamic evolution of the density of cloud computing
A security framework for mHealth apps on Android platform
No full textMobile Health (mHealth) applications are readily accessible to the average users of mobile devices, and despite the potential of mHealth applications to improve the availability, affordability and effectiveness of delivering healthcare services, they handle sensitive medical data, and as such, have also the potential to carry substantial risks to the security and privacy of their users. Developers of applications are usually unknown, and users are unaware of how their data are being managed and used. This is combined with the emergence of new threats due to the deficiency in mobile applications development or the design ambiguities of the current mobile operating systems. A number of mobile operating systems are available in the market, but the Android platform has gained the topmost popularity. However, Android security model is short of completely ensuring the privacy and security of users’ data, including the data of mHealth applications. Despite the security mechanisms provided by Android such as permissions and sandboxing, mHealth applications are still plagued by serious privacy and security issues. These security issues need to be addressed in order to improve the acceptance of mHealth applications among users and the efficacy of mHealth applications in the healthcare systems. The focus of this research is on the security of mHealth applications, and the main objective is to propose a coherent, practical and efficient framework to improve the security of medical data associated with Android mHealth applications, as well as to protect the privacy of their users. The proposed framework provides its intended protection mainly through a set of security checks and policies that ensure protection against traditional as well as recently published threats to mHealth applications. The design of the framework comprises two layers: a Security Module Layer (SML) that implements the security-check modules, and a System Interface Layer (SIL) that interfaces SML to the Android OS. SML enforces security and privacy policies at different levels of Android platform through SIL. The proposed framework is validated via a prototypic implementation on actual Android devices to show its practicality and evaluate its performance. The framework is evaluated in terms of effectiveness and efficiency. Effectiveness is evaluated by demonstrating the performance of the framework against a selected set of attacks, while efficiency is evaluated by comparing the performance overhead in terms of energy consumption, memory and CPU utilization, with the performance of a mainline, stock version of Android. Results of the experimental evaluations showed that the proposed framework can successfully protect mHealth applications against a wide range of attacks with negligible overhead, so it is both effective and practical
Electrochemical bicarbonate reduction in the presence of Diisopropylamine on sliver oxide in alkaline sodium bicarbonate medium
No full textIn this study, the reduction of bicarbonate in the presence four amines on a silver oxide/ carbon nanotube (Ag2O/CNT) composite electrode has been investigated. The studied amines includes ethanolamine (MEA), diethylenetriamine (DETA), diisopropylamine (DIPA) and aminoethylpiperazine (AEP). Regardless of amine type, in the absence of a bicarbonate solution, no reduction/oxidation peaks were observed. However, in the presence of bicarbonate, a single reduction peak along with simultaneous H2 evolution was clearly observed. The cyclic voltammetry measurements showed that only diisopropylamine (DIPA) had a significant catalytic effect toward bicarbonate reduction on the composite electrode. No peak was observed in the anodic direction of the reverse scans, suggesting the irreversible nature of the electrochemical process. The effect of scan rate revealed that the irreversible reduction mechanism is governed by both diffusion and adsorption pathways. In addition of carbonate ions, format ions also have been detected in liquid phase. In order to study the mechanism of bicarbonate reduction in the DIPA solution on Ag2O/CNT electrode, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was employed. The EIS results showed that the charge transfer resistance decreased when the potential decreased from -0.1 to -0.9 V then faded with a further rise in potential to up to -1.9 V. In addition, an inductive loop under certain conditions was observed in the complex plane due to the formation of adsorbed intermediates onto the electrode surface
Inverse identification of impact locations using multilayer perceptron with effective time-domain feature
No full textThis study presents a novel time-domain feature to identify impact locations using Multilayer Perceptron. This feature is based on the minimum arrival time (MAT) of surface wave at a particular location of an object due to impact. Trial impact forces were made on a Perspex plate structure and corresponding acceleration responses were acquired from six locations. Two other conventional time-domain features–peak arrival time (PAT) and threshold crossing (TC), were compared with the proposed feature. Each feature was used separately as network inputs to identify 15 fixed impact locations. The results showed that impact localization with MAT feature resulted in the highest accuracy, making a relative decrease in error of 42.06 and 81.04% compared to PAT and TC cases, respectively. A consistency measurement scheme has been developed as well, which indicated that MAT is more consistent than PAT and TC for a particular pair of impact-sensor location, and hence a more accurate localization of impact can be obtained
Debonding failure analysis of prestressed FRP strengthened RC beams
No full textFiber Reinforced Polymer (FRP), which has a high strength to weight ratio, are now regularly used for strengthening of deficient reinforced concrete (RC) structures. While various researches have been conducted on FRP strengthening, an area that still requires attention is predicting the debonding failure load of prestressed FRP strengthened RC beams. Application of prestressing increases the capacity and reduces the premature failure of the beams largely, though not entirely. Few analytical methods are available to predict the failure loads under flexure failure. With this paucity, this research proposes a method for predicting debonding failure induced by intermediate crack (IC) for prestressed FRP-strengthened beams. The method consists of a numerical study on beams retrofitted with prestressed FRP in the tension side of the beam. The method applies modified Branson moment-curvature analysis together with the global energy balance approach in combination with fracture mechanics criteria to predict failure load for complicated IC-induced failure. The numerically simulated results were compared with published experimental data and the average of theoretical to experimental debonding failure load is found to be 0.93 with a standard deviation of 0.09