The effect of surface treatment on composite interface, tensile properties and water absorption of suger palm fiber/polypropylene composites

The rising concern towards environmental issues besides the requirement for more flexible polymer-based material has led to increasing of interest in studying about green composite. Sugar palm fiber (SPF) is a versatile fiber plant employed with wide range of application such as in automotive, packaging and buildings construction. This research was aimed to study the effect of surface treatment on composite interface, tensile properties and water absorption of sugar palm fiber/polypropylene (SPFPP) composite by using different surface treatments such as silane (Si), atmospheric glow discharge plasma (Agd) and maleic anhydride (Ma). Silane treatment was carried out by using immersion method, the Agd plasma was conducted using polymerization and lastly polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride by using melting approach. The SPFPP composite was prepared by using injection moulding with fiber content var­ied from 10-30wt%. The effect of interface enhancement on morphology, mechanical properties and water uptakes of SPFPP composites were then investigated by using FfIR, FESEM, tensile test and water absorption test. Overall, the outcome shows that aJl types of surface treatments had improved the interface of SPFPP composite, thus improving its tensile properties compared to the benchmark untreated SPFPP (Ut­SPFPP) composites and polypropylene. The 30wt% Ma-SPFPP composite shows the highest improvement in tensile properties with 58% and 27% increase in the respective Young's Modulus and tensile strength value compared to Ut-SPFPP composite, while 10wt% Ma-SPFPP composite shows the smallest reduction in elongation compared to Neat PP. On the other hand, the 30wt% Si-SPFPP composite shows the lowest water absorption with 20% reduction respective to Ut-SPFPP composite. In conclusion, the surface treatments have proven succesfull in enhancing the natural fiber-polymer in­terface and improve the tensile properties of SPFPP composite with Ma-SPFPP shows the highest improvement, foJlowed by Agd-SPFPP and Si-SPFPP composites

The effect of surface treatment on composite interface, tensile properties and water absorption of suger palm fiber/polypropylene composites

The rising concern towards environmental issues besides the requirement for more flexible polymer-based material has led to increasing of interest in studying about green composite. Sugar palm fiber (SPF) is a versatile fiber plant employed with wide range of application such as in automotive, packaging and buildings construction. This research was aimed to study the effect of surface treatment on composite interface, tensile properties and water absorption of sugar palm fiber/polypropylene (SPFPP) composite by using different surface treatments such as silane (Si), atmospheric glow discharge plasma (Agd) and maleic anhydride (Ma). Silane treatment was carried out by using immersion method, the Agd plasma was conducted using polymerization and lastly polypropylene grafted maleic anhydride by using melting approach. The SPFPP composite was prepared by using injection moulding with fiber content var­ied from 10-30wt%. The effect of interface enhancement on morphology, mechanical properties and water uptakes of SPFPP composites were then investigated by using FfIR, FESEM, tensile test and water absorption test. Overall, the outcome shows that aJl types of surface treatments had improved the interface of SPFPP composite, thus improving its tensile properties compared to the benchmark untreated SPFPP (Ut­SPFPP) composites and polypropylene. The 30wt% Ma-SPFPP composite shows the highest improvement in tensile properties with 58% and 27% increase in the respective Young's Modulus and tensile strength value compared to Ut-SPFPP composite, while 10wt% Ma-SPFPP composite shows the smallest reduction in elongation compared to Neat PP. On the other hand, the 30wt% Si-SPFPP composite shows the lowest water absorption with 20% reduction respective to Ut-SPFPP composite. In conclusion, the surface treatments have proven succesfull in enhancing the natural fiber-polymer in­terface and improve the tensile properties of SPFPP composite with Ma-SPFPP shows the highest improvement, foJlowed by Agd-SPFPP and Si-SPFPP composites

Nonlinear H ∞ optimal control scheme for an underwater vehicle with regional function formulation

A conventional region control technique cannot meet the demands for an accurate tracking performance in view of its inability to accommodate highly nonlinear system dynamics, imprecise hydrodynamic coefficients, and external disturbances. In this paper, a robust technique is presented for an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) with region tracking function. Within this control scheme, nonlinear H∞ and region based control schemes are used. A Lyapunov-like function is presented for stability analysis of the proposed control law. Numerical simulations are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed tracking control of the AUV. It is shown that the proposed control law is robust against parameter uncertainties, external disturbances, and nonlinearities and it leads to uniform ultimate boundedness of the region tracking error

The causal effects of baldrige excellence framework and lean in the Malaysian electrical and electronics manufacturing industry

The aim of this research is to construct a comprehensive performance measurement model using the 2019-2020 Baldrige excellence framework criteria that examines the Malaysian Electrical and Electronics (E&E) industry. The criteria in this framework are leadership, strategy, customers, measurement, analysis and knowledge management (MAKM), workforce, operations and results. The previous study in the context of Business Excellence (BE) was focused more on aspects of quality management, organisational context, company performance but it often excluded the deployment of continuous improvement tools. Based on the research gaps, this research would like to assert the potency of the leadership of Baldrige setting as a driver that contributes positively to the Lean practice and BE elements of the company. The present study also integrating the Lean practices with Baldrige excellence framework to predict operations and the results of company performance. This integration may bridge the literature gap whereby the past studies have been conducted Lean, BE and operational performance individually. BE outcomes were achieved in both financial and non-financial performance metrics and the BE Models, Leadership theory and Lean model also guided the theoretical framework. The study also employed stratified random sampling from four sub-sectors of the E&E industry. A total of 156 respondents responded to the survey questionnaire from 488 companies that were sampled. This equates to a 32.0% response rate. The collected data were analysed using SPSS 23.0 and SmartPLS 3.3.2. The analysis found significant and positive relationships between strategy, operations and Lean practices on the achievement of BE. The results of this study promoted a better understanding of the BE in the E&E industry and its implications for activities concerning Lean practices, thus contributing to a wider body of knowledge. The survey instrument which combining Lean and BE was validated in this research can be reused in the other manufacturing sector studies on the initiatives deployment to predict business performance. Therefore, it contributes to the methodology perspective. The findings v of the research can become a reference, which can help the company focus on the right things in promoting excellence in their organisation and then pursuing BE Awards. Practical adoption of leadership and Lean practices may improve infrastructural decision areas of manufacturing strategy and the outcomes of this study may also be beneficial to policy makers of the Malaysian government and agencies such as Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) and Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI). The scope of this study was limited because it was restricted to the Malaysia’s E&E industry only. As a suggestion, future research could be conducted by involving other industries

TRIDENT: A Framework for Autonomous Underwater Intervention

TRIDENT is a STREP project recently approved by the European Commission whose proposal was submitted to the ICT call 4 of the 7th Framework Program. The project proposes a new methodology for multipurpose underwater intervention tasks. To that end, a cooperative team formed with an Autonomous Surface Craft and an Intervention Autonomous Underwater Vehicle will be used. The proposed methodology splits the mission in two stages mainly devoted to survey and intervention tasks, respectively. The project brings together research skills specific to the marine environments in navigation and mapping for underwater robotics, multi-sensory perception, intelligent control architectures, vehiclemanipulator systems and dexterous manipulation. TRIDENT is a three years project and its start is planned by first months of 2010.This work is partially supported by the European Commission through FP7-ICT2009-248497 projec

The mediating effect of the employee commitment on the relationship between recruitment process and organizational performance in UAE organisations

The UAE employment market has a higher rate of turnover; besides some studies revealed that the recruitment process is slow and weakly prepared. The high rate of turnover can negatively affect the organizations’ performance in the UAE; therefore, revealing the causes can contribute to overcoming the problem and avoiding the weak recruitment practices, which will improve the performance and strengthen the UAE economy. Therefore, this study is an empirical examination by surveying the 34 companies of the Fujairah National Group (FNG) to examine the mediating role of employee commitment on the relationship between the recruitment process and organizational performance. Social exchange theory (SET) assumes that encouragement activities undertaken between an organization and its employees generate organizational commitment. The proposed conceptual model has the recruitment process as the independent variables, employees’ commitment as the mediating variable, and organizational performance as the dependent variables. The quantitative research approach has been used, and the study applied a cross-sectional survey method; and the unit of analysis of this study is the companies of the Fujairah National Group (FNG), which includes 34 working companies. The population of the study is the employees who involve in the recruitment and selection process in all companies. This includes human resource employees, besides supervisors, managers, and senior managers in all departments, and the estimated population is 1075. The technique used for this study is quota sampling because the population is classified into nine different quotas. The face-to-face direct collection is applied by visiting the target companies and asks the available participants on the chosen companies to fill up a printed copy of the questionnaire. The final valid data set has 366 respondents. The proposed model of this particular study has four regression models, in which 15 relationships are tested by using the significance level value with the path coefficient analysis. Overall, 12 hypotheses are accepted, and three are rejected. The three rejected hypotheses are related to the variable job analysis. Future work is advised to explore why the job analysis is not an antecedent of organizational performance in the UAE

Investigation into the Dynamics and Control of an Underwater Vehicle-Manipulator System

This study addresses the detailed modeling and simulation of the dynamic coupling between an underwater vehicle and manipulator system. The dynamic coupling effects due to damping, restoring, and inertial effects of an underwater manipulator mounted on an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) are analyzed by considering the actuator and sensor characteristics. A model reference control (MRC) scheme is proposed for the underwater vehicle-manipulator system (UVMS). The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated using numerical simulations along with comparative study between conventional proportional-integral-derivative (PID) control. The robustness of the proposed control scheme is also illustrated in the presence of external disturbances and parameter uncertainties

Autonomous Underwater Intervention: Experimental Results of the MARIS Project

open11noopenSimetti, E. ;Wanderlingh, F. ;Torelli, S. ;Bibuli, M. ;Odetti, A. ;Bruzzone, G. ; Lodi Rizzini, D. ;Aleotti, J. ;Palli, G. ;Moriello, L. ;Scarcia, U.Simetti, E.; Wanderlingh, F.; Torelli, S.; Bibuli, M.; Odetti, Angelo; Bruzzone, G.; Lodi Rizzini, D.; Aleotti, J.; Palli, G.; Moriello, L.; Scarcia, U