Fuzzy-skyhook controller with cuckoo search algorithm for a semi-active suspension system with magnetorheological damper

This study aims to investigate the performance of a semi-active suspension system of the quarter car using fuzzy-skyhook (fs) controller tuned by cuckoo search algorithm (CSA). Since the parameters of the controller are crucial to be determined, the CSA method is deemed a good approach when combined with the fuzzy-skyhook controller since the proposed controller is expected to improve the searching accuracy of the parameters. The magnetorheological (MR) damper model was developed using the Spencer model approach based on the force-velocity and force-displacement characteristics. Then, a full simulation of the suspension system excited with a sinusoidal road profile input was conducted using MATLAB/Simulink. A comparative study was carried out between the semi-active systems and benchmarked against a passive suspension. The effectiveness of the fuzzy-skyhook controller with CSA (fs-CSA) was analyzed and compared to the fuzzy-skyhook and skyhook controllers. The result indicates that fs-CSA gives the highest percentage of improvement for the body acceleration and displacement for up to 48.6% and 21.3%, respectively

TEACHER PRESENCE AS MEDIATOR IN ONLINE LEARNING: THE CASE FOR FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Fortunately, technology and long entered the education sectors when the world is faced with the pandemic. Whether teachers and learners are ready or not, online classes are here to stay. Online learning is a unique way of learning that allow flexibility at many levels. Language educators once felt that the learning of language can only be done face-to-face because of the needs of some language skills. This study is done to explore the portrayal of presence during online learning of the French as a foreign language. This quantitative study is done to investigate how learners cope learning French online. 170 respondents were purposely chosen from learners who took French as a foreign language. They attended the course in a few public and private universities. The instrument used is a questionnaire. Findings revealed interesting influence of the teacher as mediator in online learning. Article visualizations

EXPLORING EXPECTANCY THEORY AS MOTIVATION FOR LEARNING FRENCH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACROSS GENDER

Previously many language teachers feared that online learning may not give the same impact that it had for face-to-face learning. Nevertheless, now, online learning has become a new norm. More studies on online language learning have emerged. Past studies have shown that the success (or failure) of online classes is the strength of the engagement that took place during the online sessions. This study is done to see if there are gender differences in the learning of a foreign language; French; specifically in terms of Valence, instrumentality, expectancy. French as a foreign language across gender. The instrument used is a survey with four sections. Section A looks at the demographic profile, Section B looks at Valence, Section C looks at Instrumentality and Section D looks at Expectancy. A total of 170 learners responded to the survey. 44 of them were male learners, while 126 were female. Findings revealed variations in gender motivation and perceptions of online language learning. Article visualizations

The role of the audit oversight board: Watching the ‘Watch Dog’

The Audit Oversight Board (AOB) is an establishment initiated to improve audit quality. It is a patronage of the Securities Commission.It aimed to provide assurance and strengthen public confidence in the audited financial information. However, in recent years issues have been raised regarding the quality of the audited financial information.Motivated by the argument on the quality of the audited financial information, we explore the role of the Audit Oversight Board, as the auspices of the Securities Commission, to monitor the quality of the audited financial information in the Malaysian context.We adopted a generic inquiry approach to achieve our objective and employed several data gathering techniques such as interviews and documents to explore our concern.Our content analysis indicated that the AOB’s role is twofold: as a mechanism for audit governance and sustainability assurance.Our findings also revealed other important points, including improving the establishment by increasing AOB expertise, increasing its empowerment, and advancing its focus as overseer to integrative reporting.Our study contributed to literature by expanding the understanding of the Audit Oversight Board.As this is a small scale project, we suggest future research should widen the parameters of the sample scope

Potential enhancement in mechanical and physical properties of Sn-Ag-Cu lead free solder as a replacement material for Sn-Pb in electronic packaging

Sn-Ag-Cu lead free solder is a well-known studied material replacing the Sn-Pb solder which is prohibited due to the toxicity of lead. Even though it is proven to have good reliability and mechanical properties, Sn-Ag-Cu is lacking in terms of melting point and wettability. Previously, research has been focused on further enhancement of Sn-Ag-Cu solder by addition of alloying elements, nanoparticles and others. In this paper, a critical review of the work on the enhancement of the mechanical and physical properties of Sn-Ag-Cu solder using this method for its application in electronic packaging is explored

2020 tracer study report

Assalamualaikum arahmatullahi wabarakatuh, Last year and the current year have been turbulent years due to the Covid 19 pandemic. Universities were closed for most of the days and classes were conducted online. Convocations were cancelled or postponed and hence it has affected the collection of data involving graduates of the year 2020. The Alumni Relations Division and the Counselling and Career Services Centre had done their best to collect necessary data for this Tracer Study report. As with other universities globally, the current condition has also affected the employability rate of the graduates. This document reports the Tracer Study findings that were compiled using the results of data analysed from the 2020 graduates. Graduates answered 2 sets of online survey questionnaires – one constructed by the Ministry of Education (MOE) and another constructed by the 2020 IIUM Tracer Study team. The MOE survey consists of eight main parts/ categories. PART A: Respondent’s Background, PART B: Current Job Status, PART C: Employment, PART D: Unemployed/ Not Working and Others, PART E: Further Studies, PART F: Evaluation of Programmes and Services Offered by Respective Institution, PART G: Effectiveness of Study Programme and Self Readiness and PART H: Agreement. Respondents who were employed were asked to complete Section C, to clarify about their employment status, occupation, income, and other work‐related particulars. Graduates who were not working at the time of the survey were asked to complete Section D, which asked their reasons for not working, job search, and preferences. Those who were doing further studies were asked to complete Section E. All respondents were asked to complete Sections F and G. The IIUM questionnaire consists of ten parts which include categories on the graduates’ level of satisfaction of different offices and services offered by IIUM, self-perception of Islam and Islamisation, conditions related to mental health and well-being, involvement in community programmes and realization of Sustainable Development Goals. A total of 4,338 graduates participated in completing MOHE survey – 3804 Bachelor’s degree graduates, 425 Master graduates, and 109 PhD graduates. They were representatives from fourteen Kulliyyah at IIUM as well as two institutes, namely INHART, and IIiBF. Another Institute, INSTAC was not represented in the MOHE survey but 2 of their students completed the IIUM survey. For completeness, comparison and presentation of charts/ graphs by Kulliyyah include the Institutes although their number of students are less. The findings of this Tracer Study are presented in thirteen different sections. The first section presented the profile of the graduates with the details of their employment profile in the second one. The third section reports on graduates’ entrepreneurship situation during study with the fourth section presenting the details on non-working graduates. This is followed by the fifth section on career, guidance and counselling services (CGCS) and the sixth section on academic programmes. The seventh sections examine the facilities and services offered by IIUM which include Mahallah, Library, Kulliyyah, Career, Guidance and Counselling services, etc. The eighth section examines the graduates’ perception of the effectiveness of their study programme and self-readiness after their study, while the ninth section examines students’ job-seeking behaviour. IIUM missions of islamisation, which is considered important to IIUM is presented in section ten together with other components of IIUM’s mission such as internationalisation, and integration of knowledge. Section eleven reveals IIUM graduates’ psychological condition; Section twelve about the sustainable development goals (SDGS), and finally section thirteen detailing what the graduates’ perceive of their experiences in IIUM

Evaluation of acute and sub-acute oral toxicity of the aqueous extract of aquilaria malaccensis leaves in sprague dawley rats

Aquilaria malaccensis or commonly known as ‘gaharu’ is a species of Aquilaria genus and belongs to the Thymelaeaceae family. It is widely distributed in Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Borneo Islands. Traditionally, its leaves were used to relieve bruises and studies have shown that they function as an antioxidant, aphrodisiac, and tranquilizer. Despite its proven beneficial medicinal properties, information regarding its toxicity is limited. Therefore, we performed a safety evaluation on the aqueous A. malaccensis leaves extract (AMAE) in Sprague Dawley rats. The assessment of acute toxicity based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Guideline 420 revealed that AMAE did not influence mortality, clinical appearance, body weight gain, or necropsy findings at a dose of 2000 mg/kg body weight. In the sub-acute toxicity, all doses did not significantly modify the body weight and food and water intake. In male rats treated with 2000 mg/kg, there was a significant reduction in the relative weight of liver. Not only that, an increase in alkaline phosphatase and alanine transaminase was also observed in different groups among the female rats. A significant decrease in the creatinine level was also seen among male rats administered with different doses of AMAE. In both sexes, histopathological analysis had shown abnormalities in the liver and kidney of rats treated at the dose of 2000 mg/kg. In conclusion, the 50% lethal dose (LD50) of AMAE was estimated to be greater than 2000 mg/kg. In sub-acute duration, the findings suggested that AMAE administered orally is slightly toxic at higher doses (2000 mg/kg) and could provoke functional and structural changes in the kidney and liver of rats. Thus, the extract should be used with caution

Cooking the books: The case of Malaysian Listed Companies

Cooking the books refers to fraudulent accounting activities undertaken by a business to falsify its financial statements. Thus, the objectives of this study are to investigate what the cooking-the-books activities carried out by businesses consist of, how they conduct them, and what the impact is on the business and its shareholders.The case study sample companies are two Malaysian companies that had received various awards from reputable third-party organizations. On the other hand, the activities undertaken in both companies have caused them to be labelled as Malaysian mini Enrons. We employ a qualitative research methodology as most prior research employs a quantitative methodology to investigate the determinant factors in businesses’ cooking-the-book activities.The result of the study shows that the managers have used their positions, prior experience, and regulatory loopholes in their activities.Furthermore, the financial report restatement and higher reported earnings are the early warning s ignals of their activities.As a result of this, the Malaysian Securities Commission has revised the corporate governance code, and among others incorporated the Audit Oversight Board, known in the US as the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board

Optimization of Cobalt Nanoparticles for Biogas Enhancement from Green Algae Using Response Surface Methodology

Organic matter may be converted to energy through various methods, but the most preferable one is the Anaerobic Digestion (AD), specifically for biogas production. In sustainable bioenergy production, it can undoubtedly be called one of the most widely used methods from the various feedstock. Over the past years, algae waste has become an increasingly acute environmental problem but luckily it can be used as feedstock to produce bioenergy. In order to improve the energy productivity of green algae, this study is focused on the introduction of cobalt (Co) nanoparticles (NPs) in the AD process. The concentration of Co NPs was optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). Mesophilic temperature range (25–45 °C), initial pH (5–9) and Co NPs dosage (0.5–2 mg/L) were selected as the independent variables for RSM. The results indicated that at optimized values (Co NPs concentration = 1 mg/L, initial pH = 7, and digestion temperature = 35 °C) produced the highest biogas yield of 298 ml. An experiment was carried out at optimized conditions to explore the effect on biogas production. The results showed that Co NPs had a positive influence on biogas yield. The low concentrations achieved higher biogas production as compared to higher ones. A maximum biogas yield of 678 mL is achieved by Co NPs (1 mg/L). AD performance was further evaluated by the modified Gompertz model. Different kinetic parameters were calculated. The values of the performance indicators confirmed that the mathematical model fitted well with experimental data

Optimization Of Pid Controller For Double-Link Flexible Robotic Manipulator Using Metaheuristic Algorithms

This paper investigates the optimization approach of PID controller for double-link flexible robotic manipulator using metaheuristic algorithm. This research focus on population-based metaheuristic that is particle swarm optimization (PSO) and artificial bees algorithm (ABC) to tune the PID control parameters of the system. In the tuning process, the number of iteration was set and the number of particles was varied. The tuning process was interrupted once the convergence value of Mean Square Error (MSE) was achieved. For PSO, it was found that when the number of iteration increased, or the number of particles were set to higher values, there were no significant improvement of MSE. Results showed that 25 iterations were required for MSE to converge for hub angle and 20 iterations were required for MSE to converge for endpoint acceleration. Meanwhile, it was discovered that ABC portrayed the same pattern with PSO whereby when the number of iteration increased or the number of colony sizes were set to higher values, there were no significant improvement of MSE. From the results, 15 iterations were required for MSE to converge for hub angle and 25 iterations were required for MSE to converge for end-point acceleration. The performance of the algorithm was validated by evaluating the performance of the controllers in comparison with the conventional controller that is Ziegler Nichols (ZN) in term of input tracking capability and vibration suppression for both links. The system managed to reach desired angle for both hub angle 1 and 2. Besides, vibration reduction shows great improvement for both link 1 and 2. This signifies that, the PSO and ABC algorithm are very effective in optimizing the PID parameters