The performance of modified jatropha-based nanofluid during turning process

The industry's extensive use of petroleum-based metalworking fluid (MWF) harms the environment and humans. The production of bio-based MWF, especially from crude jatropha oil (CJO), has therefore taken numerous initiatives. This aimed to formulate newly modified jatropha oil (MJO) with the addition of 0.05wt.% hBN and 0.05wt.% MoS2 as the nanofluid for MWF. The performance of the nanofluids was determined through the turning process in terms of cutting temperature, workpiece surface roughness, tool life and tool wear of the tool lubricated by the nanofluids. The performance of the nanofluid samples was compared with the synthetic ester (SE). From the results, after conducted 100mm axial cutting length MJO+hBN+MoS2 recorded the lowest in cutting temperature and surface roughness compared to all samples. The result shows that MJO+hBN+MoS2 has longer tool life (6500mm) compared to SE (6000mm). Abrasion and adhesion were observed as the dominant tool wear mechanism. In conclusion, MJO+hBN+MoS2 shows better machining performance and has the potential to be an environmentally friendly metalworking fluid

Micropropagation and production of eurycomanone, 9- methoxycanthin-6-one and canthin-6-one in roots of Eurycoma longifolia plantlets

Eurycoma longifolia or Tongkat Ali is a well known medicinal plant in Malaysia. The plants are used as main portion in herbal preparation, and have been extensively harvested. Generally, most of the raw materials required by the industries are heavily collected from the natural forests, thereby resulting in the uncontrolled exploitation of the plant in the wild. Hence, there is a need to ensure adequate supply of quality E. longifolia for the use of the related industries and for conservation purposes. Micropropagation has proved to be an alternative for the multiplication of medicinal and aromatic plants and it can allow the future commercial use of E. longifolia in the herbal industries. In this study, E. longifolia plantlets were successfully mass-produced using axillary shoot multiplication techniques, and the production of eurycomanone, 9-methoxycanthin-6-one and canthin-6-one compounds of E. longifolia were detected in roots of tissue culture plantlets.Key words: E. longifolia, Tongkat Ali, micropropagation, eurycomanone, 9-methoxycanthin-6-one, canthin-6- one

Visual Thinking Process and Emotions Through Expressive Art

Background: Drawing has a therapeutic function in the lives of people with special needs.These people need additional support for communication and learning.Researchers believed that drawing is an effective way for these people to show their self-esteem, emotions, social competence, and other hidden personalities. Art therapy teaches knowledge of visual art (drawing and painting). It is also known as expressive art because it assists in dealing with some emotions that are difficult for verbal communication. Furthermore, art therapy is beneficial for fine motor skill development. The aim of this study was to explore the use of expressive art in a group of autistic people. Subjects and Method: This was a qualitative study. A series of art therapy workshop were conducted in University of Malaya in collaboration with Malaysian Rehabilitation Council, and Maybank Foundation. A number of 18 people aged 8-17 years old with autism from Malaysian Rehabilitation Council were invited to University of Malaya for the art therapy workshop. They consisted of Malays, Chinese, and Indians. These peoplehad some level of communication problems. Art therapy workshop was conducted twice a month for 6 month with each session lasted for 4 hours. Art template, art materials, and a list of activities were given to each participant. Before the session, the participants informed the researchers verbally the scope of art that they would be drawing. The researchers observed the thinking process and emotions of the participants through the art activities. Results: Some of the art work was not related to what they have mentioned earlier. We found that art demonstrated their thought process. Drawing was more accurate in visualizing their thinking process rather than verbal communication. Besides, we detected a range of emotions illustrated from their final art work. Some of the emotions were psychological distress, happiness, and sadness. Conclusion: Expressive artis useful for visualizing thinking process of autistic people. Keywords: art therapy, autistic, visual thinking, emotions, expressive ar

Business intelligence readiness factors for higher education institution

Higher Education Institution (HEI) have embarked on the new style of decision-making with the aim to enhance the speed and reliability of decision-making capabilities. One of the hardest challenges in implementing Business Intelligence (BI) is the organization’s readiness towards adopting and implementing BI systems. Currently, few published studies have examined BI readiness in HEI environment. Seeing this challenge, this study aims to contribute in determining the BI readiness factors in HEI specifically in the deployment strategies. Through inductive attention to BI in HEI environment, three broad factors have been identified: a) Organizational – that concerning on business strategies, process and structure, b) Technology – involves the BI system and knowledge for managing including the sources and c) Social – the culture within organization that may influence decision-making and its processes. This paper also makes recommendations for future research

Comparison of the Cyclic Variation of a Diesel-Ethanol Blend in a Diesel Engine

Alcohols are renewable and sustainable second generation biofuels which are derived from various biomass feedstock sources. These fuels with similar properties to mineral diesel can be used as a blend or additive to improve the combustion characteristics and pollutant emissions in the automotive engines. However, different fuel properties characterize different combustion phasing parameters for the specific engine operation and test condition. This paper presents the preliminary results of coefficient of variations of IMEP (COVIMEP) and Pmax (COVPmax) for a diesel engine fuelled with mineral diesel (B0) and DE10 blend at full load both engine speeds of 1100 rpm and 2300 rpm. The influence of ethanol content in a blend of diesel on the cyclic combustion variations is explained in the calculation values of the coefficient of cyclic variation (COV). The experimental results showed the DE10 fuelling exhibited larger cyclic variations than mineral diesel (B0) at the same test conditions, owing to the reduction of combustion temperature during combustion phasing and lower reactivity of ethanol

Energy Absorption at High Strain Rate of Magnesium Alloy AZ31B

This paper presents the efficient energy absorption of magnesium alloy AZ31B with reinforcement carbon nanotubes (CNT) and lead (Pb). The high specific energy absorption demonstrated by CNT compared to metals is one of the criteria to improve the AZ31B performance against ballistic penetration. More ductility by adding Pb in the alloy also plays a vital role to increase the energy absorption capability. Four-cylinder shape AZ31B-based specimens are tested dynamically by using compression Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB). The diameter and thickness of the specimen is 18 mm and 12.5 mm respectively. The striking velocity used in this work is 20 m/s. By equation of 1D wave propagation, stress-strain curve is plotted and the area under the curve is equivalent to energy absorption. The highest energy absorption is about 270 kJ with the increment of 47% compared to original AZ31B. This increment is consistent with the higher strain rate experienced by the specimen during the test. The strain rate determined from the study is 1300 per second compared to original AZ31B of 850 per second. The finding of this paper is the presence of CNT and lead could improve the energy absorption performance as the strain rate of the specimen also increased

Rock bearing resistance of bored piles socketed into rock

In view of the large movement required to mobilise the base resistance of bored piles and difficulty in base cleaning, the end bearing resistance often ignored in current design practice that will result in excessive rock socket length. Many attempts have been made to correlate the end bearing resistance with the uniaxial compressive strength of intact rock and the RQD but it is uncertain how applicable they are to rock type in Malaysia. This paper attempts to review the applicability of the formulas from previous studies to rock type in Malaysia. A program of field tests for 13 bored piles with diameter varying from 1000 mm to 1500 mm constructed in granite was conducted to measure the axial response of bored piles, tested using static load test and high strain load dynamic test to verify its integrity and performance. The results were evaluated and compared to the predicted rock bearing resistance. Based on the result obtained, the method by AASHTO gives the best prediction of rock bearing resistance for granite in Malaysia. However the relationship between compressive strength and rock discontinuities with the rock bearing resistance showed scattered results

Improvement of Harmonics Using Passive Harmonics Filter

Power quality problems are continuously increased and received a great attention due to the impacts on both utilities and consumers. The most frequently reported power quality problem is the harmonics. The aim of this project is to enhance the system performance under the load variation effect through desirable filter placement. In this project, two types of passive filter called single tuned and 3rd order C-type are studied. Load flow analysis is performed to calculate the load bus voltage and total harmonic distortion (THD) that determine the effectiveness of filter application. The work was simulated using Electrical Transient Analyzer Program (ETAP) and tested on two test systems namely the 4-bus and IEEE 14-bus. The results of this work show that single tuned filter is more effective in filtering the harmonic compared to the 3rd order C-type. Furthermore, installing the single tuned filter near to the source of harmonics produces a better result

Energy absorption AZ31B using quenching in nano fluid

This paper focuses on improving energy absorption through a series of heat treatment and quenching in medium, presence of nanoparticle. The characterisation of the experiment was to determine the suitable combination of composition factors: temperature, soaking time, and the medium that consist of nanoparticle on magnesium alloy surface structure to improve the energy absorption using quenching in nanofluids. The diameter and thickness of the specimen are 6 mm and 10 mm, respectively. All specimens undergo heat treatment based on the temperature of the furnace and the soaking time of the specimen in the furnace, which will be submerged into three medium distilled water, and the addition of a 0.1% wt carbon-nanotube (CNT) and 0.1% wt nano-silica. The addition of CNT and nano-silica shows an increment of 106.68%% and 59.30% for energy absorption, respectively, when compared to the controlled sample. Later microscopy has performed on the specimen to correlate the addition of nanoparticles in the heat treatment and improved energy absorption by EDS analysis on the material composition on the specimen’s surface. Therefore, this paper reveals factors of heat treatment and the presence of CNT and Nano silica effects on enhancing magnesium alloy energy absorption: UTS and yield strength using quenching method

Optimization Method for Voltage Sag Monitor Placement in Power System

Voltage sag is one off the severe power quality issues and may cause huge losses to industries. Voltage sag happens frequently and might be caused by random and unpredictable factors. To monitor voltage sag, Voltage Sag Monitoring (VSM) system has been currently implemented to the whole power system. However, implementation of VSM at all buses is not economical. Therefore, the objective of this study is to evaluate the optimal number and placement of voltage sag monitors in IEEE 30-bus system. First, the concept of monitor reach area is used. In this study, voltage sag is represented by balance and unbalance fault with fault impedance, Zf equal to 0Ω. To obtain fault voltage on each bus, IEEE 30-bus system was constructed using PowerWorld software. Then, monitor reach area matrix is formed by comparing fault voltage with selected voltage threshold, α. After that, monitor reach area is analysed by using branch and bound method to evaluate the minimum number and the possible arrangements of VSM. Finally, to optimally place the identified number of VSM, all possible combinations of VSM in the power system were evaluated using sag severity index. To show the effectiveness of the proposed method on the optimal voltage sag monitor placement in power system, the proposed algorithm was implemented and tested on the IEEE 30-bus test system. The proposed method was tested with two different α; i.e. 0.55 p.u. and 0.80 p.u. respectively. The proposed method successfully found the optimal number and its placement for monitoring the whole IEEE 30-bus system with respective α value. Based on the results, for α equal to 0.55, VSM need to be installed on bus 6, 17, 25 and 30 in order to monitor voltage sag on IEEE 30-bus system; and for α equal to 0.80 p.u., VSM are only required to be placedat bus 25 respectively