Contextual Approach for Expository Essay: A Study of Writing Achievement and Quality

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of a contextual approach to students’ writing achievement and quality based on some categories (excellent, good, average, and poor). Quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this study. An experimental method was used for the quantitative approach and essay analysis was used for the qualitative one. One hundred and eight of the tenth graders of SMAN 7 Palembang became the sample of the study. The results showed that the writing quality (content, organization, and language) of the students who were taught using a contextual approach was better than that of the students who were taught using an inductive and deductive approach. Students’ writing as being categorized of excellent or good quality was more predominant in classrooms taught using a contextual approach.   Keywords: achievement, contextual approach, essay qualit

Asymmetrical Nine-Level Inverter Topology with Reduce Power Semicondutor Devices

In this paper a new single-phase multilevel inverter topology is presented. Proposed topology is capable of producing nine-level output voltage with reduce device counts. It can be achieved by arranging available switches and dc sources in a fashion such that the maximum combination of addition and subtraction of the input dc sources can be obtained. To verify the viability of the proposed topology, the circuit model is developed and simulated in Matlab-Simulink software. Experimental testing results of the proposed nine-level inverter topology, developed in the laboratory, are presented. A low frequency switching strategy is employed in this work. The results show that the proposed topology is capable to produce a nine-level output voltage, capable in handling inductive load and yields acceptable harmonic distortion conten

Pertumbuhan dan penambahbaikan nanokomposit Ag-ZnO untuk aktiviti fotomangkin

Kami melaporkan hasil kajian terhadap nanokomposit Ag-ZnO dengan nisbah berat yang berbeza bagi Ag:ZnO (0:10, 7:10 & 25:10) yang telah disediakan melalui kaedah sonokimia. Kajian fotomangkin terhadap nanokomposit Ag-ZnO menunjukkan peningkatan kecekapan fotomangkin terhadap foto-penguraian larutan akues metilena biru berbanding nanobahan ZnO tulen di bawah penyinaran cahaya nampak. Sampel Ag-ZnO pada nisbah 7:10 menunjukkan aktiviti fotomangkin terbaik dan mencapai kadar penguraian sehingga 94% bagi tempoh masa penguraian selama 80 min, diikuti 86% bagi sampel ZnO tulen dengan menggunakan kaedah yang sama. Morfologi, struktur bahan, sifat optik dan kehabluran bagi nanokomposit Ag-ZnO juga dibincangkan menerusi data yang diperoleh melalui mikroskop elektron transmisi, spektroskopi ultralembayung-cahaya nampak dan difraktometer analisis sinar-X. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa dengan penambahan zarah Ag kepada ZnO telah meningkatkan kadar serapan cahaya bagi ZnO di kawasan cahaya nampak dan meningkatkan kadar pemisahan cas foto-aruhan bagi menghasilkan rawatan air tercemar pewarna yang lebih baik

Industrial Training as Gateway to Engineering Career: Experience Sharing

AbstractToday's engineering education demands in-depth theoretical knowledge as well as hands-on exposure to the profession. Traditionally, theoretical engineering education is achieved in campus through direct teaching and laboratory learning. However, hands-on exposure or real world confrontation provides engineering students with on-the-job experience. This helps them to decide whether their skills and industry are a good match. For specialised industries, such as manufacturing, aerospace and electronics, industrial training provides the opportunity for students to gain the most rewarding and enlightening working experience in related companies. This paper examines the industrial training experience gained by the students through a 12-week attachment period specifically looking at whether the companies have been successful in providing a relevant engineering workplace experience. A few industrial training experiences by students will be shared highlighting the positive and negative aspects. This study also suggests some steps that can be taken to ensure companies run industrial training programs that do meet the faculty's expectation

Review on decomposed fuzzy PID structure for power inverters regulation

The aim of this paper is to critically review prominent decomposed Fuzzy PID control structures. Structural construction and output control laws of these controllers will be discussed. Their merits and drawbacks are highlighted. Based on the critical discussions, a new structure of Fuzzy PID controller is proposed. It is based on cascaded structure, which yields simpler design flow and parameters tuning. Other advantages of the proposed Fuzzy PID structure are the reduction of tuning parameters and rules of the Fuzzy controller. In addition, the proposed structure allows the usage of signed distance method. The application of the method reduces the computation burden significantly as the power inverter regulation needs very fast and precise computation

myBas driving cycle for Kuala Terengganu city

Driving cycles are series of data points that represent vehicle speed versus time sequenced profile developed for specific road, route, city or certain location. It is widely utilized in the application of vehicle manufacturers, environmentalists and traffic engineers. Since the vehicles are one of the higher air pollution sources, driving cycle is needed to evaluate the fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. The main objectives in this study are to develop and characterize the driving cycle for myBAS in Kuala Terengganu city using established k-means clustering method and to analyse the fuel consumption and emissions using advanced vehicle simulator (ADVISOR). Operation of myBAS offers 7 trunk routes and one feeder route. The research covered on two operation routes of myBAS which is Kuala Terengganu city-feeder and from Kuala Terengganu to Jeti Merang where the speed-time data is collected using on-board measurement method. In general, driving cycle is made up of a few micro-trips, defined as the trip made between two idling periods. These micro-trips cluster by using the k-means clustering method and matrix laboratory software (MATLAB) is used in developing myBAS driving cycle. Typically, developing the driving cycle based on the real-world in resulting improved the fuel economy and emissions of myBAS

On insertion-deletion systems over relational words

We introduce a new notion of a relational word as a finite totally ordered set of positions endowed with three binary relations that describe which positions are labeled by equal data, by unequal data and those having an undefined relation between their labels. We define the operations of insertion and deletion on relational words generalizing corresponding operations on strings. We prove that the transitive and reflexive closure of these operations has a decidable membership problem for the case of short insertion-deletion rules (of size two/three and three/two). At the same time, we show that in the general case such systems can produce a coding of any recursively enumerable language leading to undecidabilty of reachability questions.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figure

Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance of NiO-Decorated ZnO Nanowhiskers for Methylene Blue Degradation

ZnO nanowhiskers were used for photodecomposition of methylene blue in aqueous solution under UV irradiation. The rate of methylene blue degradation increased linearly with time of UV irradiation. 54% of degradation rate was observed when the ZnO nanowhiskers were used as photocatalysts for methylene blue degradation for 80 min under UV irradiation. The decoration of ptype NiO nanoparticles on n-type ZnO nanowhiskers significantly enhanced photocatalytic activity and reached 72% degradation rate of methylene blue by using the same method. NiO-decorated ZnO was recycled for second test and shows 66% degradation from maximal peak of methylene blue within the same period. The increment of photocatalytic activity of NiO-decorated ZnO nanowhiskers was explained by the extension of the electron depletion layer due to the formation of nanoscale p-n junctions between p-type NiO and n-type ZnO. Hence, these products provide new alternative proficient photocatalysts for wastewater treatment

Applications of artificial intelligence in ship berthing: A review

Ship berthing operations in restricted waters such as ports requires the accurate use of onboard-vessel equipment such as rudder, thrusters, and main propulsions. For big ships, the assistance of exterior supports such as tugboats are necessary, however with the advancement of technology, we may hypothesize that the use of artificial intelligence to support ship berthing safely at ports without the dependency on the tugboats may be a reality. In this paper we comprehensively assessed and analyzed several literatures regarding this topic. Through this review, we seek out to present a better understanding of the use of artificial intelligence in ship berthing especially neural networks and collision avoidance algorithms. We discovered that the use of global and local path planning combined with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) may help to achieve collision avoidance while completing ship berthing operations

Applications of artificial intelligence in ship berthing: A review

855-863Ship berthing operations in restricted waters such as ports requires the accurate use of onboard-vessel equipment such as rudder, thrusters, and main propulsions. For big ships, the assistance of exterior supports such as tugboats are necessary, however with the advancement of technology, we may hypothesize that the use of artificial intelligence to support ship berthing safely at ports without the dependency on the tugboats may be a reality. In this paper we comprehensively assessed and analyzed several literatures regarding this topic. Through this review, we seek out to present a better understanding of the use of artificial intelligence in ship berthing especially neural networks and collision avoidance algorithms. We discovered that the use of global and local path planning combined with Artificial Neural Network (ANN) may help to achieve collision avoidance while completing ship berthing operations