Bim: the setback or solution to project cost issues in Malaysia construction industry?

Malaysia is progressing into Industry Revolution (IR) 4.0 which emphasizes more onto digital, data and artificial intelligence where everything is expected to be automated. However, cost tends to be a major issue at the pioneer stage of embracing technology where Building Information Modelling (BIM) for example tends to be a cost tussle for the current construction industry. Yet, research has shown that BIM is arguably one of the technology platforms in combating the costing issue considering that BIM enables 3D model elements to link to cost and auto-generate quantities which potentially achieve cost-effective project. Due to the conflicting perspectives of how BIM affects project cost issues, it is imperative to investigate the cost-related issues in implementing BIM in the project and to determine how BIM in general positively influences the overall project cost. Qualitative research is adopted in this study. A semi-structured interview was conducted among four professionals who employs BIM in their project. They consist of the assistant manager, senior manager and chief executive officer. The data collected is analysed by utilising Matrix Table for better organisation. The scope of the study is in the Selangor state in which the local construction industry had applied BIM in their construction industry up to the 3D stage. The results showed that the BIM implementation cost is not too burdensome as it is only a one-time cost and does not vary throughout the project period. In addition, the BIM influence on the overall cost of the project is beneficial to the industry. It improves workflow and cost management. In conclusion, BIM is beneficial to the construction industry in the long term. It is important to resolve the costrelated issues for implement BIM and hence, encourage the usage of BIM, especially in the IR 4.0 ecosyste

Robust intelligent active force control of nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot

The paper describes a new and novel approach to control a nonholonomic wheeled mobile robot (WMR) robustly with reference to its trajectory tracking capability in the wake of introduced disturbances. The workspace of a mobile robot is not always ideal but more often than not, filled with disturbances (known or unknown) such as inherent friction, irregular surface terrain, uncertainties, and parametric changes. An intelligent active force control (IAFC) scheme incorporating fuzzy logic has been proposed in the study to counter the disturbances and consequently improve the trajectory tracking characteristic of the system. In the study, IAFC scheme is employed together with a resolved acceleration control (RAC) that has been shown to provide a very robust and accurate performance of the WMR. Fuzzy logic is explicitly used for the estimation of the inertia matrix that is required in the inner feedback control loop of the IAFC scheme. The robustness and effectiveness of the proposed control scheme are investigated considering various forms of loading and operating conditions. The IAFC scheme has also been compared to two other control methods for the purpose of benchmarking

Effect of Magnetic Flux on Rotor-Stator Arrangement of Neodymium Permanent Magnet

The use of crude oil to produce energy become limited and gives threat to the earth. There are various alternative sources that have been developed today such as solar, wind, hydro, etc., but are not sustainable or constant with time due to its nature. Recent development in ‘free energy’ shows some technology that allegedly approaching commercial and magnet motor is one of the most promising technologies. Magnet motor is a free energy device that can generate energy with the repellent force of permanent magnet in cylindrical arrangement. The arrangement of permanent magnet in rotational array configuration produces a cyclic motion indefinitely; which is so called perpetual motion device. The torque produced by perpetual motion device may be used to drive electric generator to produce free electricity. In this paper, neodymium permanent magnet was arranged in rotor-stator configuration by using block shape (12.7 mm x 12.7 mm x 25.4 mm thickness) N42 grade magnet. A preliminary design was conducted and the effect of magnetic flux was investigated on the rotational movement of the rotor. Based on the experimental result, it had confirmed that cogging effect could be eliminated. This was achieved by cancellation of magnetic flux in different arrangement of permanent magnet in the stator

Improvement of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) through Implementation of Autonomous Maintenance in Crankcase Line

A study on Autonomous Maintenance (AM) implementation was conducted for CNC machine at automotive components manufacturing line in order to identify and measure equipment losses related to availability, performance and quality rate. These values were used to determine the overall equipment effectiveness (OEE) of the manufacturing line before and after AM implementation. The project started with AM team formation before it was continued with 5S activities and fuguai (abnormality) detection and restoration. Kaizen was used for continuous improvement to restore deteriorated parts and components of the machine. Autonomous Maintenance standards such as cleaning, lubricating and inspection were developed. The AM team members consistently followed the operator maintenance standards to ensure that machine is always in good working condition. The OEE results were taken daily after AM implementation and compared with the data before the implementation. The average OEE result shows significant improvement from 65.8% to 80.4% after the AM implementation. However, the result still did not achieve the company’s target. The main reason was because the machine was very old, which almost reaches deterioration stage according to the bath tub curve. Some recommendations are suggested as to push the OEE value closer to the company’s target including a review on other pillars in Total Productive Maintenance (TPM)

Struktur bahasa Suwawa

XIV+136hlm.;21c

Geografi dialek bahasa Gorontalo

xii+198hlm.;21c

Differentiation of dental pulp stem cells into islet-like aggregates

The post-natal dental pulp tissue contains a population of multipotent mesenchymal progenitor cells known as dental pulp stromal/stem cells (DPSCs), with high proliferative potential for self-renewal. In this investigation, we explored the potential of DPSCs to differentiate into pancreatic cell lineage resembling islet-like cell aggregates (ICAs). We isolated, propagated, and characterized DPSCs and demonstrated that these could be differentiated into adipogenic, chondrogenic, and osteogenic lineage upon exposure to an appropriate cocktail of differentiating agents. Using a three-step protocol reported previously by our group, we succeeded in obtaining ICAs from DPSCs. The identity of ICAs was confirmed as islets by dithiozone-positive staining, as well as by expression of C-peptide, Pdx-1, Pax4, Pax6, Ngn3, and Isl-1. There were several-fold up-regulations of these transcription factors proportional to days of differentiation as compared with undifferentiated DPSCs. Day 10 ICAs released insulin and C-peptide in a glucose-dependent manner, exhibiting in vitro functionality. Our results demonstrated for the first time that DPSCs could be differentiated into pancreatic cell lineage and offer an unconventional and non-controversial source of human tissue that could be used for autologous stem cell therapy in diabetes. This record was migrated from the OpenDepot repository service in June, 2017 before shutting down