Agonistic behavior of captive saltwater crocodile, crocodylus porosus in Kota Tinggi, Johor

Agonistic behavior in Crocodylus porosus is well known in the wild, but the available data regarding this behavior among the captive individuals especially in a farm setting is rather limited. Studying the aggressive behavior of C. porosus in captivity is important because the data obtained may contribute for conservation and the safety for handlers and visitors. Thus, this study focuses on C. porosus in captivity to describe systematically the agonistic behaviour of C. porosus in relation to feeding time, daytime or night and density per pool. This study was carried out for 35 days in two different ponds. The data was analysed using Pearson’s chi-square analysis to see the relationship between categorical factors. The study shows that C. porosus was more aggressive during daylight, feeding time and non-feeding time in breeding enclosure (Pond C, stock density =0.0369 crocodiles/m2) as compared to non-breeding pond (Pond B, stock density =0.3317 crocodiles/m2) where it is only aggressive during the nighttime. Pond C shows the higher domination in the value of aggression in feeding and non-feeding time where it is related to its function as breeding ground. Chi-square analysis shows that there is no significant difference between ponds (p=0.47, χ2= 2.541, df= 3), thus, there is no relationship between categorical factors. The aggressive behaviour of C. porosus is important for the farm management to evaluate the risk in future for the translocation process and conservation of C. porosus generally

Impact of urban configurations on microclimate and thermal comfort in residential area of Kuala Lumpur

The increase of vertical development causes the modification of urban microclimates and higher intensity of Urban Heat Island (UHI). Scholars emphasise that urban configuration is one of the major factors that influences this issue. Current studies on the relationship of urban configurations and urban climate mainly focus on the urban canyon. Furthermore, there is lack of focus on the impact of urban configurations on both microclimate and thermal comfort. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of urban configurations on the mitigation of UHI and the balance between microclimate and thermal comfort, called Climatically Responsive Urban Configuration (CRUC) in Kuala Lumpur. Four urban configurations, namely: Courtyard, U, Courtyard Canyon and Canyon were investigated using ENVI-met simulation. The urban configurations were simulated according to the value of Sky View Factor (SVF). Besides, these urban configurations were set according to two canyon directions; East West and North South in two empirical sites situated in Kuala Lumpur. The results showed that the urban configurations have impact on both microclimate and thermal comfort. This is an indication that the increase of SVF in urban configurations could mitigate the intensity of the UHI. Enclosed urban configurations such as the Courtyard and Courtyard Canyon complied with the concept of CRUC in the setting of East West canyon direction, whereas urban configurations with canyon features for Canyon and Courtyard Canyon are recommended in the setting of North South canyon direction. The finding emphasised that in Kuala Lumpur climatic context, the high intensity of the solar radiation is the main influential factor in UHI mitigation and forming the CRUC. It is recommended that urban planners avoid East-West canyon direction in strategising the impact of urban configurations on microclimate and thermal comfort

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN): An Overview

The plethora of research and development efforts on Wireless Sensor Networks is an indication that the technology has emerged an active research area in recent times. In this paper, a review of this intelligent technology is undertaken. Its working mechanisms, merits, challenges, transmission technologies, simulating tools and applications are considered. The paper concludes with a clear conviction that a sound knowledge of the basics of this technology is a sine qua non to research and development of the technology

Model kesesuaian perancangan elemen keselamatan fizikal komuniti berpagar dan kejiranan berpengawal

Gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods are considered to be one of the best recent developments that contribute to the security of urban populations. Several issues frequently arise concerning the physical planning of gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods, such as the construction of unauthorised guard houses, the size of fences or the construction of physical barriers to meet security requirements. Many constructions within gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods do not incorporate the basic principles of Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) in drawing up security elements to control crime. In this study, a model to enhance the preparedness in physical security elements in gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods integrating Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) and Geographic Information System (GIS) is presented. This approach in integrating MCDA and GIS improves the result analysis to identify gated residential communities and guarded neighbourhoods that are best planned in terms of physical security, as well as the actual level of security achieved. The integration of MCDA and GIS facilitates the resolution of various problems associated with the planning and management of gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods. In particular, the adoption of GIS more precisely elucidates the specific planning requirements for the improvement of such communities. The additional benefits obtained through GIS modelling include proposals and standards that are appropriate to the particular gated and guarded community according to its classification and suitability. With such standards in place, a mechanism for the development of policies and guidelines can be established to achieve the best results in the planning and implementation of security features for gated communities and guarded neighbourhoods of the future

Semantic model for mining e-learning usage with ontology and meaningful learning characteristics

The use of e-learning in higher education institutions is a necessity in the learning process. E-learning accumulates vast amount of usage data which could produce a new knowledge and useful for educators. The demand to gain knowledge from e-learning usage data requires a correct mechanism to extract exact information. Current models for mining e-learning usage have focused on the activities usage but ignored the actions usage. In addition, the models lack the ability to incorporate learning pedagogy, leading to a semantic gap to annotate mining data towards education domain. The other issue raised is the absence of usage recommendation that refers to result of data mining task. This research proposes a semantic model for mining e-learning usage with ontology and meaningful learning characteristics. The model starts by preparing data including activity and action hits. The next step is to calculate meaningful hits which categorized into five namely active, cooperative, constructive, authentic, and intentional. The process continues to apply K-means clustering analysis to group usage data into three clusters. Lastly, the usage data is mapped into ontology and the ontology manager generates the meaningful usage cluster and usage recommendation. The model was experimented with three datasets of distinct courses and evaluated by mapping against the student learning outcomes of the courses. The results showed that there is a positive relationship between meaningful hits and learning outcomes, and there is a positive relationship between meaningful usage cluster and learning outcomes. It can be concluded that the proposed semantic model is valid with 95% of confidence level. This model is capable to mine and gain insight into e-learning usage data and to provide usage recommendation

Improved cuckoo search based neural network learning algorithms for data classification

Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) techniques, mostly Back-Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) algorithm has been used as a tool for recognizing a mapping function among a known set of input and output examples. These networks can be trained with gradient descent back propagation. The algorithm is not definite in finding the global minimum of the error function since gradient descent may get stuck in local minima, where it may stay indefinitely. Among the conventional methods, some researchers prefer Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) because of its convergence speed and performance. On the other hand, LM algorithms which are derivative based algorithms still face a risk of getting stuck in local minima. Recently, a novel meta-heuristic search technique called cuckoo search (CS) has gained a great deal of attention from researchers due to its efficient convergence towards optimal solution. But Cuckoo search is prone to less optimal solution during exploration and exploitation process due to large step lengths taken by CS due to Levy flight. It can also be used to improve the balance between exploration and exploitation of CS algorithm, and to increase the chances of the egg’s survival. This research proposed an improved CS called hybrid Accelerated Cuckoo Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (HACPSO) with Accelerated particle Swarm Optimization (APSO) algorithm. In the proposed HACPSO algorithm, initially accelerated particle swarm optimization (APSO) algorithm searches within the search space and finds the best sub-search space, and then the CS selects the best nest by traversing the sub-search space. This exploration and exploitation method followed in the proposed HACPSO algorithm makes it to converge to global optima with more efficiency than the original Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm. Finally, the proposed CS hybrid variants such as; HACPSO, HACPSO-BP, HACPSO-LM, CSBP, CSLM, CSERN, and CSLMERN are evaluated and compared with conventional Back propagation Neural Network (BPNN), Artificial Bee Colony Neural Network (ABCNN), Artificial Bee Colony Back propagation algorithm (ABC-BP), and Artificial Bee Colony Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm (ABC-LM). Specifically, 6 benchmark classification datasets are used for training the hybrid Artificial Neural Network algorithms. Overall from the simulation results, it is realized that the proposed CS based NN algorithms performs better than all other proposed and conventional models in terms of CPU Time, MSE, SD and accuracy

Multitier Biometric Template Security Using Cryptographic Salts and Personal Image Identification

Individual identification can be accurately done by measuring biological parameters termed as biometrics. These have been proved as an exceptional tool for identity verification. Security of biometric template is the most challenging aspect of biometric identification system. Storing the biometric template in the database increases the chance of compromising it which may lead to serious threat and misuse of the individual identity. This paper proposes a novel and computationally simpler approach to store a biometric sample in the form of template by using cryptographic salts. Use of Personal Image Identification (PII) makes the proposed algorithm more robust and adds another level of security. The saltcrypted templates are created and stored instead of storing the actual sample behaving as a fuzzy vault. The algorithm has been analytically proved computationally simple compared to the existing template security mechanisms. The fuzzy structure of saltcrypted template is entirely dependent on user interaction through PII. Actual template is not stored at any point of time which adds new dimension to the security and hence to individual identity

Distributed Power Allocation for Sink-Centric Clusters in Multiple Sink Wireless Sensor Networks

Due to the battery resource constraints, saving energy is a critical issue in wireless sensor networks, particularly in large sensor networks. One possible solution is to deploy multiple sink nodes simultaneously. Another possible solution is to employ an adaptive clustering hierarchy routing scheme. In this paper, we propose a multiple sink cluster wireless sensor networks scheme which combines the two solutions, and propose an efficient transmission power control scheme for a sink-centric cluster routing protocol in multiple sink wireless sensor networks, denoted as MSCWSNs-PC. It is a distributed, scalable, self-organizing, adaptive system, and the sensor nodes do not require knowledge of the global network and their location. All sinks effectively work out a representative view of a monitored region, after which power control is employed to optimize network topology. The simulations demonstrate the advantages of our new protocol

Application of Geographic Information Systems

The importance of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can hardly be overemphasized in today’s academic and professional arena. More professionals and academics have been using GIS than ever – urban & regional planners, civil engineers, geographers, spatial economists, sociologists, environmental scientists, criminal justice professionals, political scientists, and alike. As such, it is extremely important to understand the theories and applications of GIS in our teaching, professional work, and research. “The Application of Geographic Information Systems” presents research findings that explain GIS’s applications in different subfields of social sciences. With several case studies conducted in different parts of the world, the book blends together the theories of GIS and their practical implementations in different conditions. It deals with GIS’s application in the broad spectrum of geospatial analysis and modeling, water resources analysis, land use analysis, infrastructure network analysis like transportation and water distribution network, and such. The book is expected to be a useful source of knowledge to the users of GIS who envision its applications in their teaching and research. This easy-to-understand book is surely not the end in itself but a little contribution to toward our understanding of the rich and wonderful subject of GIS