A training monitoring system for cyclist based on wireless sensor networks

This paper presents a training monitoring system for cyclist that is based on the technology of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A stable and reliable wireless cyclist monitoring system is vital to establish a smart and efficient sports management program. A training monitoring system has been developed and tested in a real cyclist training environment in a velodrome. The system is designed is such a way that the packet loss rate is minimum. Using TelG mote as the basis, customized sensor nodes that function as a forwarder node and the relay nodes are developed to form the WSN. This WSN is linked to the cloud network on the Internet. The cloud network is then established and end users application for data accessing is designed. Several experiments have been conducted in a real scenario in a velodrome to measure the reliability of the system architecture. It is shown from the experiments that the proposed system is reliable even when the cyclist is moving at a high speed. The packet loss is less than 2% which does not give a huge impact to the data transmission

NPK detection spectroscopy on non-agriculture soil

Soil is a medium for plant roots to grow, absorb water and necessary solutes for growth. Soil macronutrient testing is helpful for determining the nutrients content in soil before applying fertilizer for quality and process controls of agricultural produce and soil fertility. Spectroscopy is an emerging technology which is rapid and simple has been widely used in agricultural and food analysis processes. The capability of spectroscopy to characterize material from the transmission or absorbance has been used in this paper to measure nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) content in non-agriculture soil. The paper details preliminary characterization of soil spectroscopy with a Deuterium-Halogen light source and Ocean Optic spectrometer to measure the absorbance level of the macronutrients. The extracted nutrients were mixed with the colour reagent and specific colored solution was developed. Two soil samples have been employed for the experimental characterization, which are mud flood and kaolin. The result shows that high absorbance level of N at 450 nm in wavelength, P at 750 nm for both samples. The absorbance level of K was measured high at 500nm for mud flood and 450nm for kaolin. In addition, the tested macronutrients give similar wavelength of peak absorbance level at 970 nm for both samples. For future works, the optical measurements will be implemented using visible and near infrared LED and the photodetector in order to replace the spectrometer usage for soil spectroscopy. This would lead to achieve the primary objective of this research in developing a simple and low cost spectroscopy uses light-emitting diode (LED)

A novel approach of multimedia instruction applications in engineering education

Effective use of educational technology depends on knowledge of why and how to utilize technology to solve teaching and learning problems. The present study first conducts a systematic literature review of the limited studies undertaken on multimedia instruction applications for engineering education to critique the current status of knowledge in this area. The conventional qualitative content analysis method was employed for data analysis. The results highlighted the incompatibility of three basic educational elements i.e. engineering curriculum, educational resources and engineering students’ learning characteristics all of which posed major challenges in teaching and learning engineering courses. Multimedia instruction enhances engineering students’ understanding of engineering concepts, procedures, problems and solutions through direct visualization. Furthermore, it could indirectly assist students in achieving higher order learning levels and skills through enhancing or supporting educational resources and increasing students’ motivation. Mobile multimedia instruction and a student-generated multimedia learning approach to improve engineering education are suggested for future research

A novel method for the analysis of particle coating behaviour via contact spreading in a tumbling drum: Effect of coating liquid viscosity

Spray coating is a common method of distributing liquids over powders, especially in the pharmaceutical, detergent and food industries. During this process, liquid drops are deposited on the surface of particles. Liquid is then transferred between particles via particle collisions, in a process called liquid contact spreading. This contact spreading process facilitates inter-particle coating, in which wetting, de-wetting, mixing and drying are occurring simultaneously. This work presents the first experimental study of the mechanism of liquid contact spreading. In this work, a novel experimental method has been developed to investigate the mechanism of contact spreading, incorporating a newly developed image analysis technique, based on colourimetric measurements, to quantitatively determine coating behaviour via contact spreading. Here, experiments designed to isolate the contact spreading coating mechanism were performed in a tumbling drum using a model material system; alumina particles and dyed polyethylene glycol solutions of varying viscosities. The coating uniformity was quantified by the variation in inter-particle coating; the coefficient of variation (CoV). For all systems, the uniformity of the coating increased with time until the CoV decreased to an asymptotic value. The rate of the decrease in the CoV was successfully fitted using an exponential decay function. The viscosity of the coating solution had a significant effect on the rate of liquid transfer; the lower the viscosity the faster the contact spreading process. This effect is attributed to differences in the formation and stability of liquid bridges between the particles, influencing the extent of liquid transfer. The results also show that in most cases examined here, viscous forces play a main role in the contact spreading process, and the contribution of capillary forces are minimal. This understanding could assist the design and scale up for the wet coating processes

A study of frequency and pulses for stepper motor controller system by using programmable logic controller

The stepper motor movement process produced different frequency and pulses. This research explained about the frequency and pulses for the stepper motor movement by using Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) as research method. The study was done to find the suitable frequency and pulses for stepper motor movement by developing a prototype stepper motor controller system. The pulse frequency used did not affected the distance of moving load in the stepper motor operations. The increasing number of pulse frequency only will affect the time taken for the stepper motor to complete its operations. The result showed that number of pulse frequency at high operation was 5000 Hz. Pulse number reacted as a manipulated variable that affected both factor which is time taken of stepper motor operation and the distance of moving load

The kinks in charge radii across NN = 82 and 126 revisited

We revisit the studies of the isotopic shift in the charge radii of {\it even-even} isotopes of Sn and Pb nuclei at $N$ = 82, and 126, respectively, within the relativistic mean-field and Relativistic-Hartree-Bogoliubov approach. The shell model is also used to estimate isotopic shift in these nuclei, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge. The ground state single-particle energies ($spe$) are calculated for non-linear NL3 \& NL3$^*$ and density-dependent DD-ME2 parameter sets compared with the experimental data, wherever available. We establish a correlation between the filling of single-particle levels and the isotopic shift in occupation probabilities. The obtained $spe$ from the relativistic mean-field and Relativistic-Hartree-Bogoliubov approaches are in line with those used in the shell model and experimental data for both the Sn and Pb isotopic chains. The shell model calculated isotopic shift agrees with relativistic mean-field and Relativistic-Hartree-Bogoliubov approaches that explain the experimental data quite well.Comment: Published in Journal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physic

Characterization of an azo-dye-degrading white rot fungus isolated from Malaysia

Sixty-three local white-rot fungi were isolated from soil and wood samples on potato dextrose agar (PDA). All these isolates were screened for their ability to degrade 4 textile azo dyes;Ponceau 2R (C.I. 16450), Orange G (C.I. 16230), Direct Blue 71 (C.I. 34140) and Biebrich Scarlet (C.I. 26905). Out of 40 isolates that gave positive results, only 1 promising isolate which completely degrades all 4 dyes in the minimum amount of time was selected for further investigation. This isolate was sourced from University Putra Malaysia (UPM) Serdang campus.The isolate was tentatively identified as Coriolopsis sp. Strain arf5 based on the analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. Nutritional studies on defined solid medium showed that this isolate was only able to degrade the 4 azo dyes under nitrogen-limiting conditions and an additional carbon source (glucose) need to be added to provide sufficient energy for the degradation to occur. Various parameters were optimized

Rehabilitation Of Ex-Mining Pond And Existing Wetland For Integrated Stormwater Management.

A study on rehabilitation of ex-mining pond and existing wetland for integrated storm water facilities has been carried out in Malaysia

Adaptive FEC error control scheme for wireless video transmission

Transmission errors have detrimental impact on video quality in wireless network. Hence, this requires highly efficient error correction scheme to significantly improve the quality of the media content. Deploying error correction technique alone would not strategically eradicate the problem unless some adaptation mechanism has been included in order to make efficient decision while adding more redundant information base on the channel condition. Adapting with channel condition can significantly enhance the network performance and video quality as well. In this paper, we paper presents an approach using forward error correction and cross layer mechanism which dynamically adapts with the channel condition to recover the loss packets in order to enhance the perceived video quality. The scheme has been developed and tested on NS-2 simulator and it shows more dramatic improvement in video quality

Self-cleaning and spectral attributes of erbium doped sodium-zinc-tellurite glass: Role of titania nanoparticles

Highly transparent and durable self-cleaning materials became demanding for diverse applications. To attain such goals, glass system with composition (69 - x)TeO2-20ZnO-10Na2O-1Er2O3-(x)TiO2, where x = 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 and 0.4 mol% were synthesized using the conventional melt quenching method and characterized. For the first time, the influence of embedded TiO2 (Titania) nanoparticles (TNPs) concentration variation on the self-cleaning and spectral properties was examined to establish their correlation. TEM micrograph revealed the nucleation of spherical TNPs (average size ˜ 14 nm) inside the amorphous matrix. Reduction in the optical band gap energy (from 3.08–3.03 eV) and water contact angle (from 68o to 43o) both were evidenced with the increase in TNPs contents, wherein the later one (reduced contact angle or enhanced wettability) was attributed to the enhanced hydrophilicity of the glass samples. Conversely, a slight increase in the methylene blue (MB) degradation rate with the increase of TNPs contents up to 0.2 mol% indeed indicated an improved photocatalytic activity of the synthesized glass. The absorption spectra exhibited ten significant bands of Er3 + ions in the wavelength range of 407 to 1532 nm. The emergent three prominent photoluminescence (PL) emission bands of the glass sample (with 0.2 mol% of TNPs) positioned at 535 nm, 555 nm and 670 nm were enhanced by a factor of 6.77, 4.56 and 2.00, respectively. Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band of the embedded TNPs inside the glass was detected around 581 nm. Furthermore, Raman band of the glass (containing 0.4 mol% of TNPs) centred at 845 cm- 1 displayed an intensity enhancement by a factor of 3.58 times, which was ascribed to the TNPs localized SPR field mediated effect. It is established that the measured enhanced hydrophilicity (self-cleanliness) and improved spectral features of the present glass composition was steered by the TNPs surface plasmon assisted effects