Frequency reconfigurable monopole antenna with harmonic suppression for IoT applications

This work proposes a new reconfigurable printed monopole antenna for IoT devices working with the promising wireless technology Wi-Fi 6. Based on effective resonant length value, the antenna has the ability to reconfigure its operating band between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz ISM bands. Therefore, the designed antenna works as an RF band-pass filter which reduces receiver complexity and supports network scalability. One PIN diode with complete biasing circuit is integrated to the antenna radiator to obtain re-configurability. Furthermore, two stubs are added to the antenna structure in order to suppress harmonic component which appears near to the higher band (5 GHz) when antenna forced to work at the lower band (2.4 GHz). The design built over commercially available FR-4 substrate with a compact size of (33.5x16x1.6) mm3. CST software is used to simulate antenna performance in terms of flection coefficient, radiation pattern, efficiency, and gain

Enterprise risk management and firm performance: Role of the risk committee

In recent years, there have been increasing efforts in the corporate world to invest in risk management and governance processes. In this paper, we examine the impact of Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) on firm performance by examining whether firm performance is strengthened or weakened by the establishment of a board-level risk committee (BLRC), an important governance mechanism that oversees ERM processes. Based on 260 observations from FTSE350 listed firms in the UK during 2012–2015, we find the effectiveness of ERM significantly and positively affects firm performance. We also find strong BLRC governance complements this relationship and increases the firm performance effects of ERM. Our findings suggest the mere formation of a BLRC is not a panacea for ERM oversight; however, existence of a structurally strong BLRC is crucial for effective ERM governance

Analisis Dan Implementasi Optical Character Recognition (OCR) Menggunakan Jaringan Syaraf Tiruan (JST) Untuk Pengenalan Aksara Sunda Baku

ABSTRAKSI: Aksara sunda merupakan sebuah tulisan yang dulu digunakan oleh suku sunda dalam menuliskan bahasa yang digunakan untuk menyampaikan hasil pemikiran, perasaan, gagasan dan ide yang direkam melalui sarana bahasa dan aksara. Dalam rangka melestarikan aksara sunda di era modern ini, pemerintah jawa barat mendaftarkan Unicode untuk aksara sunda, supaya aksara sunda dapat dikenal di dunia teknologi informasi. Setelah Unicode didaftarkan, maka diperlukan sebuah font standar untuk aksara sunda. Banyak keuntungan yang didapatkan dari menggunakan font standar aksara sunda, salah satunya adalah untuk Optical Character Recognition (OCR).Pada tugas akhir ini dibangun sebuah sistem OCR untuk mengenali aksara sunda yang dicetak dengan menggunakan font standar, dengan menggunakan Modified Directional Feature (MDF) untuk mengekstraksi ciri dari karakter yang akan dikenali, dan menggunakan jaringan Syaraf Tiruan Radial Basis Function (RBF) dalam pengenalan karakter. Selain itu, dalam tugas akhir ini juga dibangun sebuah metode segmentasi untuk memisahkan karakter-karakter aksara sunda yang dicetak dengan menggunakan font standar.Dari hasil percobaan yang dilakukan, diketahui bahwa metode segmentasi yang dibangun dapat memisahkan karakter-karakter dalam tulisan aksara sunda dengan baik, selain itu MDF juga dapat mengekstraksi ciri dengan baik, sehingga classifier yang dibangun dengan menggunakan Radial Basis Function dapat mengenali aksara sunda dengan tingkat akurasi pengenalan yang tinggi, mencapai 95,9% untuk data testing dan 96,5% untuk data training.Kata Kunci : OCR, Aksara sunda, segmentasi, MDF, RBFNABSTRACT: Sundanese script is a written that was used by the Sundanese tribe in writing Sundanese language used to convey the ideas, feelings and thoughts that were recorded by means of language and script. In order to preserve the Sundanese script in this era, West Java Government register the Unicode of Sundanese script, so that Sundanese script can be known in the world of information technology. Once Unicode registered, it would require a standard font for the Sundanese script. Many of the benefits gained from using a standard font characters Sunda, one of them is for Optical Character Recognition (OCR).In this thesis OCR system to recognize printed sunda script which using standard fonts is built, using the Modified Directional Feature (MDF) for extracting the feature of character to be recognized, and use Artificial Neural Network Radial Basis Function (RBF) in its recognition . Moreover, in this thesis a segmentation method to separate the Sundanese script which using standard fonts is built.From the results of experiments conducted, it is known that the segmentation method which built can separate the Sundanese script well, beside that MDF can extract features well, so that the classifier which constructed by using a Radial Basis Function can recognize Sundanese script with high accuracy, reached 95,9% for data testing and 96,5% for data training.Keyword: OCR, Sundanese Script, Segmentation, MDF, RBF

Sukukization: Islamic Economic Risk Factors in Shari’ah View

Despite the Economic closeness of overall concept, Sukukization (Islamic Securitization) is not equal to “Securitization” as it is known in its conventional sense. Securitization, generally relates to the converting of loans of various sorts into marketable securities by packaging the loans into pools and then selling shares of ownership in the pool itself. Sukukization, on the hand; refers to, Islamic Sukuk Investment (as defined by AAOIFI) are certificates of equal value representing undivided shares in ownership of tangible assets, usufruct and services. The development of innovative Economic financial solutions in the Muslim world has been dormant for centuries. It is only recently, since the early 1970s that significant work that has been done in the field of Islamic Capital Market. In order to take benefit from Western financial structures, care must be taken to make sure that the concepts are acceptable by Shari’ah. The West has had significant success in linking the End-Investor (Excess Capital) with the most optimal user of this Excess Capital; be it the Stock Market, Debt Market or the Securitization structures, they all serve the purpose of linking Capital with its most optimal (on a risk-adjusted basis) user. It must be kept in mind, that even though the West has had more success than the Muslim world in implementation of a financial system, it has been plagued with constant cycles of boom and bust. The most recent financial markets crisis has again opened the discussion for the need of structural changes to the current financial models/instruments in place. Most commentators have stressed for the need of more regulation whereas the stress should be on making changes to the structural features of the financial instruments. An in-depth discussion of the financial system is beyond the scope of this article and for now the focus will only be on the Islamic Securitization structures (Sukukization) for the housing capital market and the relevant Economic factors

Structural behavior of two-way slabs cast with different fiber types and contents

This paper presents an experimental investigation on the effects of incorporating Stainless-Steel Fibers (SSF) on the flexural behavior of reinforced concrete two-way slabs. For this deal, three types of steel fiber (straight, hooked, and corrugated steel fiber) are used. Each type of steel fiber was added in four different volume fractions. Each steel fiber shape was added separately by proportions (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5) % of the total concrete volume. Subsequently, ten 800 × 800 mm × 100 reinforced concrete slabs (three slabs for each type of fibers, one for each proportion, and the remaining one slab was the control) were cast and subjected to flexural tests. The effect of type and amount of SSF on flexural behavior of two-way slabs were studied. That, where 0.5% of steel fibers was added, the straight fibers were acknowledged in comparison to the others whereas the improvement to the stiffness was better and the ultimate load increased by 22.58%. At 1% of steel fibers, the ultimate load increased by (35, 43, and 29) % for straight, hooked, and corrugated fibers respectively which at this addition ratio the hooked fibers were the notable contributor as opposed to other types, and this observation was apparent in improving splitting and flexure strength for hardened concrete. Adding 1.5% of steel fibers to the concrete degrade the workability severely by (83-92)% for all types of steel fibers in parallel with little improvement on slabs behavior is contrary to 1% ratio, thus, the 1% is the recommended addition

Feasibility of Primary PCI as the Reperfusion Strategy for Acute ST elevation MI at PIMS

Objective: To determine the feasibility of primary PCI in terms of frequency of patients with acute ST elevation MI found to have a first-medical-contact to needle time of 90 minutes.Methodology: The descriptive, cross sectional case series was conducted at department of Cardiology, PIMS, Islamabad from January 2017 to April 2017Results: A total of 350 patients were enrolled into the study, 67% (235) of which were males and 33% (115) females. Mean age of the participating population was 54 ±7.8 years. The mean first medical contact needle time was 2.3±1.1 hours, out of which a vast majority (73%) fell into the 90 minutes range. The patients had a median first medical contact to needle time of 74 minutes.Conclusion: The study concluded that majority of patients presenting to the emergency department with acute STEMI were found to be feasible for primary PCI as the reperfusion strategy with an FMC to needle time of less than 90 minutes. Therefore, accelerated efforts need to be made to develop this center as a primary PCI capable facility providing such standards of care to patients with ST-elevation MI

Association of Interleukin-8 Levels with the Development of Uterine Leiomyomas

AbstractObjective: To find out the relationship between Uterine Leiomyoma and IL-8 levels.Methodology: A cross sectional study was conducted on a sample of 100 females (age ranging from25-50 years) including 50 ultrasound confirmed cases of uterine leiomyomas and 50 healthy controlsfor a duration of 6 months. Levels of plasma IL-8 were measured by ELISA technique.Results: Irregular menstrual cycle was reported in about 44% of cases and 11% of controls. Meannumber of fibroids in females was two. 54% of women were found to have small (<2cm) sized fibroidswhile 46% had large sized fibroids. Out of these 78% were intramural and 22% were sub-serosal typeof fibroids. Plasma levels of IL-8 were positively correlated (p=0.001) with Uterine Leiomyomas.Conclusion: IL-8 levels are significantly higher in patients with uterine leiomyomas depicting apositive correlation between IL-8 and the development of fibroids. However, further studies arerequired to better understand the role of IL-8 in the development of fibroids.Keywords: Uterine Leiomyoma; IL-8, Risk Factor

A NEW MIMO SLOT ANTENNA FOR 5G APPLICATIONS

A new MIMO slot antenna is proposed in this paper, the proposed antenna consists of tuning stub with certain dimensions in the top layer of the FR-4 dielectric substrate to increase the matching between the feed line and slot in the ground plane, this antenna feeds with 50-ohm characteristic impedance microstrip feed line. The dimensions of the proposed antenna are (50×50×1.6) mm2, the FR-4 epoxy substrate has a relative dielectric constant of ɛr=4.3, the tangent loss of tan (δ) =0.025. A bandwidth of 9.083 GHz (25.917–35) GHz and gain (6.33) dBi compatible with 5G applications are achieved with this antenna. To get the desired gain and bandwidth, several slots are etched on the ground, Using CST tools, the simulation results are collected. And the proposed antenna is manufactured in the Ministry of Science and Technology's- Electronic Manufacturing Center, a reasonable agreement is reached between simulation and measured performance

Kampanye dalam Pemasaran Politik dan Brand Politik

Political marketing is a permanent concept that must be carried out continuously by political candidates in building public trust and image. Marketing is needed to face competition in fighting for the market, which in this case is the voters. In the political marketing process, the application of the 4P of the marketing mix is used, namely product, price, promotion, and placement. This paper examines how campaigns are in political marketing and how political brands emerge. By using descriptive qualitative analysis, the researcher wants to analyze the data by properly describing the collected data related to campaigns in political marketing and political brands