From carbon nanotubes and silicate layers to graphene platelets for polymer nanocomposites

In spite of extensive studies conducted on carbon nanotubes and silicate layers for their polymer-based nanocomposites, the rise of graphene now provides a more promising candidate due to its exceptionally high mechanical performance and electrical and thermal conductivities. The present study developed a facile approach to fabricate epoxy–graphene nanocomposites by thermally expanding a commercial product followed by ultrasonication and solution-compounding with epoxy, and investigated their morphologies, mechanical properties, electrical conductivity and thermal mechanical behaviour. Graphene platelets (GnPs) of 3.5

Markov Decision Processes with Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of autonomous and resource-limited devices. The devices cooperate to monitor one or more physical phenomena within an area of interest. WSNs operate as stochastic systems because of randomness in the monitored environments. For long service time and low maintenance cost, WSNs require adaptive and robust methods to address data exchange, topology formulation, resource and power optimization, sensing coverage and object detection, and security challenges. In these problems, sensor nodes are to make optimized decisions from a set of accessible strategies to achieve design goals. This survey reviews numerous applications of the Markov decision process (MDP) framework, a powerful decision-making tool to develop adaptive algorithms and protocols for WSNs. Furthermore, various solution methods are discussed and compared to serve as a guide for using MDPs in WSNs

Mengenal pasti masalah pemahaman dan hubungannya dengan latar belakang matematik, gaya pembelajaran, motivasi dan minat pelajar terhadap bab pengawalan kos makanan di Sekolah Menengah Teknik (ert) Rembau: satu kajian kes.

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji hubungan korelasi antara latar belakang Matematik, gaya pembelajaran, motivasi dan minat dengan pemahaman pelajar terhadap bab tersebut. Responden adalah seramai 30 orang iaitu terdiri daripada pelajar tingkatan lima kursus Katering, Sekolah Menengah Teknik (ERT) Rembau, Negeri Sembilan. Instrumen kajian adalah soal selidik dan semua data dianalisis menggunakan program SPSS versi 10.0 untuk mendapatkan nilai min dan nilai korelasi bagi memenuhi objektif yang telah ditetapkan. Hasil kajian ini menunjukkan bahawa hubungan korelasi antara gaya pembelajaran pelajar terhadap pemahaman pelajar adalah kuat. Manakala hubungan korelasi antara latar belakang Matematik, motivasi dan minat terhadap pemahaman pelajar adalah sederhana. Nilai tahap min bagi masalah pemahaman pelajar, latar belakang Matematik, gaya pembelajaran, motivasi dan minat terhadap bab Pengawalan Kos Makanan adalah sederhana. Kajian ini mencadangkan penghasilan satu Modul Pembelajaran Kendiri bagi bab Pengawalan Kos Makanan untuk membantu pelajar kursus Katering dalam proses pembelajaran mereka

Unified clustering and communication protocol for wireless sensor networks

In this paper we present an energy-efficient cross layer protocol for providing application specific reservations in wireless senor networks called the “Unified Clustering and Communication Protocol ” (UCCP). Our modular cross layered framework satisfies three wireless sensor network requirements, namely, the QoS requirement of heterogeneous applications, energy aware clustering and data forwarding by relay sensor nodes. Our unified design approach is motivated by providing an integrated and viable solution for self organization and end-to-end communication is wireless sensor networks. Dynamic QoS based reservation guarantees are provided using a reservation-based TDMA approach. Our novel energy-efficient clustering approach employs a multi-objective optimization technique based on OR (operations research) practices. We adopt a simple hierarchy in which relay nodes forward data messages from cluster head to the sink, thus eliminating the overheads needed to maintain a routing protocol. Simulation results demonstrate that UCCP provides an energy-efficient and scalable solution to meet the application specific QoS demands in resource constrained sensor nodes. Index Terms — wireless sensor networks, unified communication, optimization, clustering and quality of service