Predictive Relationship between Technology Acceptance Readiness and the Intention to Use Malaysian EduwebTV among Library and Media Teachers

AbstractLibrary and Media Teacher (LMT) serves as a catalyst for the implementation of the technology programs conducted in schools. The challenge to the LMT is to be more open and innovative to the innovations introduced in schools from time to time. Their level of readiness to accept new technology in teaching and learning earlier than their colleagues in schools could expedite the diffusion process into the school education system. Therefore, this study was conducted to measure the level of readiness acceptance among LMT in terms of Personal Innovativeness (PI), Personal Innovativeness Information Technology (PIIT) and Computer Self-Efficacy (CSE), and the contribution to the acceptance of Edu web TV in teaching and learning. The study involved 546 respondents consisting of LMT of primary and secondary schools in Malaysia. The findings show that the readiness acceptance level among LMT in terms of PI, PIIT and CSE are moderate. Significant relationships were found between CSE, PI, PIIT and behavioural intentions to use the Edu web TV. The obtained results also show that PIIT and CSE significantly contributed to the intention to use Edu web TV. Therefore, those individuals with higher levels of PIIT and CSE are more open, willing to try and confident in the adoption of new technology in teaching and learning than those with lower levels of PIIT and CSE. These results provide valuable feedback to institutions and educators in enhancing the effectiveness of LMT

Robust bounded control for uncertain nonlinear systems: application to a nonlinear strict feedback wind turbine model with explicit wind speed dynamics.

In this paper, a robust bounded control law for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems is proposed. The proposed bounded controller guarantees asymptotic stability, asymptotic tracking and asymptotic disturbance rejection of systems in strict feedback form with the sum of unmatched uncertainties and the unbounded exogenous disturbance. A feedback law emerged from Artstein's Theorem and Sontag's universal formulas are known to be useful to limit the control signal. However, the formulas are not robust as in many cases, being applied to the systems without uncertainties and disturbances. The controller proposed in this paper takes advantages of a mixed backstepping and Lyapunov redesign, which employed to enrich the Sontag's universal formulas. Therefore, the appealing feature of the proposed controller is that it satisfies small control property in order to preserve performance robustness and stability robustness with less control effort. Another advantage of the proposed controller is the formulas become applicable to higher order systems (i.e. order > 0). This paper also discusses fuzzy logic tuning approach for the controller parameters such that the closed loop system matrix remain Hurtwitz. For practicality, the proposed technique is applied to a variable speed control of a new strict feedback wind turbine system with wind dynamics appeared explicitly in the system model. The proposed controller guarantees the asymptotic tracking of the turbine rotor speed; maintains the optimal tip speed ratio and produces maximum power coefficient. This yields maximum power output from the turbine

A Universal Formula for Asymptotic Stabilization with Bounded Controls

Motivated by Artstein and Sontag universal formula, this brief paper presents an explicit proof of the universal formula for asymptotic stabilization and asymptotic disturbance rejection of a nonlinear system with mismatched uncertainties and time varying disturbances. We prove the stability via Lyapunov stability criteria. We also prove that the control law satisfies small control property such that the magnitude of the control signal can be bounded without the catastropic effect to the closed loop stability. For clarity, we benchmark the proposed approach with other method namely a Lyapunov redesign with nonlinear damping function. We give a numerical example to verify the results

Fault tolerant control for sensor fault of a single-link flexible manipulator system

This paper presents a new approach for sensor fault tolerant control (FTC) of a single-link flexible manipulator system (FMS) by using Finite Element Method (FEM). In this FTC scheme, a new control law is proposed where it is added to the nominal control. This research focuses on one element without any payload assumption in the modelling. The FTC method is designed in such way that aims to reduce fault while maintaining nominal FMS controller without any changes in both faulty and fault free cases. This proposed FTC approach is achieved by augmenting Luenberger observer that is capable of estimating faults in fault detection and isolation (FDI) analysis. From the information provided by the FDI, fault magnitude is assessed by using Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) where this information is used in the fault compensation strategy. For the nominal FMS controller, Proportional- integral- derivative (PID) controller is used to control the FMS where it follows the desired hub angle. This work proved that the FTC approach is capable of reducing fault with both incipient and abrupt signals and in two types of faulty conditions where the sensor is having loss of effectiveness and totally malfunction. All the performances are compared with FTC with Unknown Input Observer (FTC-UIO) method via the integral of the absolute magnitude of error (IAE) method

Market potential analysis for tengas (Neolissochilus sp.) in the Malaysian market

There are some signals that Malaysian marine landings are decreasing and that wild stocks have been over-fished. However, it has extensive inland water bodies which have the potentials to be developed into freshwater aquaculture sites. Tengas (Neolissochilus sp.), a freshwater type of fish, are found in abundance in Malaysia; but has not reached the commercial level in the market. This paper examines the potential of developing tengas as a commercial freshwater species. The data used in this study were obtained through primary data search from key informants and a survey. A semi-structured open-ended questionnaire with Malay and Chinese languages was designed for the interviews. The study areas covered Peninsular Malaysia and East Malaysia. From the survey, we found that tengas has potential to be taken as a food item and an ornamental fish. The wild stock of tengas in fact is also worthwhile to be conserved for agro-tourism development. Many restaurant operators are willing to invent cooking method on tengas

Improving Contractors' Practices of Industrialized Building System (IBS) Implementation in Construction Industry

Abstract: Nowadays, the Malaysian construction industry is moving forward to roll out technology advantage across project life-cycle for enhancing human development skills. Therefore, the government has adopted industrialized building systems (IBS) to enhance control and balance of workforce supply for overall project performance achievement. However, the challenges faced by the construction industry such as delay the completion of construction projects was due to poor contractors' practices. In addition, there are significant challenges related to contractors' practices for instance shortage of skill, practical know-how, worker capability, and financial difficulties in IBS implementation. Therefore the purpose of this study was to identify current practices and influencing factors of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. This study also determines the improved ways of contractors' practices for IBS implementation in the construction industry. The study was conducted in Johor Bahru, Johor where various development and construction activities are currently active. Quantitative method was conducted by distribution the questionnaires to Grade 7 (G7) contractors as study respondents which involved wide practices of IBS construction projects. Data collected were analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) 22.0 software. The study reveals that, the problems faced by contractors in their practices of IBS implementation such as low productivity, management aspects, and financial problems. Therefore, training to labour, IBS instruction guideline and improving finance, and procurement mechanism are the top recommended factors to improve contractors' practices for successful IBS implementation. In conclusion, with the improvement of contractors' practices, the productivity of IBS implementation in the construction industry can be improved

DEVELOPMENT OF A STRICT FEEDBACK TWO-MASS HORIZONTAL AXIS WIND TURBINE MODEL WITH EMPIRICAL POWER COEFFICIENT AND EXTERNAL STIFFNESS

For a variable speed wind turbine, the control approach requires the exact dynamical model of such wind turbine to be under controlled. The established wind turbine dynamics neglect the external stiffness as an integrator to the system dynamics is introduced. In addition, many approaches assume a constant value for the coefficient, which is practically not a valid choice. Hence, this paper proposed a strict feedback model of a two-mass wind turbine system that focused on external stiffness, and also embedded empirical power coefficient in the system dynamics. The model represented in this study is a "ready-to-be-used" form that benefits the control system engineers when the feedback control approaches are taken into account

Model and analysis of wind speed profile using artificial neural network - feasibility study in Peninsular Malaysia

Accurate modeling of wind speed profile is crucial as the wind speed dynamics are non-deterministic, having chaotic behavior and highly nonlinear in nature. Therefore, obtaining mathematical model of such wind speed profile is rather difficult and vague. In this brief manuscript, the wind speed distribution in Peninsular Malaysia is modeled via the real-time wind data obtained from the Malaysian Meteorological Services (MMS). Artificial neural network (ANN) has been exploited to train the data such that the exact model of wind speed can be identified. The induced wind speed model worthwhile for control engineers to develop control apparatus for wind turbine systems at the selected area of studies. With the wind speed distribution profile, turbine output power can be analyzed and were discussed thoroughly

LMI-based multiobjective integral sliding mode control for rotary inverted pendulum system under load variations

This paper presents a multiobjective integral sliding mode controller (ISMC) for a rotary inverted pendulum system under the influence of varying load. Firstly, the nonlinear system is approximated to facilitate the desired control design via extended linearization and deterministic approach. By using both of these techniques, the nonlinear system is formulated into a nonlinear state-space representation where the uncertainties are retained in the model. Next, the design objectives are formulated into linear matrix inequalities (LMI) which are then solved efficiently through convex optimization algorithms. With proper selection variables, numbers of the decision variables for LMIs are reduced. Hence, it will reduce the numerical burden and believes the calculated values more viable in practice. Finally, simulation works are conducted and comparison is made between the proposed controller, such as normal ISMC and LQR. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed controller and the performance is evaluated through integral of absolute-value error (IAE) performance index