Export Trend of Wooden Furniture from Malaysia

The furniture sector is a major industry in Malaysia in terms of value of the products made and number of people employed. It plays an important role in increasing export earnings and contributes to the development of Malaysia in economy. This study was carried out to determine the trend of wooden furniture exported from Malaysia to major world regions and countries from year 1990- 1999. The trend in export was analysed using shares structure analysis on trade data of export value published by Malaysian Timber Industry Board (MTIB). Market percentages by regions and countries were calculated. Then exponential smoothing forecasting model was used to analyze the export trend of wooden furniture in year 2000. Results of the study showed that USA, Japan and Singapore were the most important trade partners with Malaysia during the period of 1990 to 1999. The world countries were classified into eight major regions according to their world geographical location. America, East Asia and ASEAN regions appeared as top three major importing regions from year 1990 to 1997. But later from year 1998 to 1999, European Union become the third important trade partners with Malaysia. The total trade value of wooden furniture is forecasted to inerease by 18.37% to the export value of RM3,776.8 million in year 2000. Generally, Malaysia's export of wooden furniture to the world market had been increasing over the last 10 years. The trend analysis of export values show that West Asia has the highest increase followed by Oceania/Pacific and Africa. If analysed on individual Country basis, UK is forecasted to have the highest increment followed by Netherlands, Australia and Korea. Local manufacturers should make efforts to maintain and increase export to the existing market. Besides that, they should concentrate on the regions and countries which show high increment in the forecasting export. It is suggested that the producers and relevant marketing agencies need to regular trend forecast the future export value. Further studies can be done on the internal and external factors that may affect the buying behaviour of foreign importers

PLC CONTROLLED AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV)

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a specialized computer and designed to be used in industrial for control purpose. In general, an automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a kind of transportation that mostly used in material handling system. It is self-propelled (driverless) vehicles guided along defined pathways and controlled by a computer. The objective of the project is to design an AGV vehicle prototype which is controlled by PLC for industrial application (material handling). Most of the AGV used in industries are controlled by a microprocessor. In this project the main focus is to have a reliable design, easier maintenance and advanced PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV). The significant part of the project is of using sensors to guide the vehicle along the pre-determined path instead of using embedded wire guided method. The initial stage of the project involves feasibility studies of the PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV) which includes the ability of the PLC and the automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGV design requires the determining of the type of hardware needed, for example PLC (CPM2A), sensors (metal), rechargeable battery, power window motors and others. The design of AGV and its path are implemented. The AGV prototype is built part by part and then assembled. Two safety features are added on the prototype, i.e., the emergency reset and obstacles detection by using sensor. The ladder diagram for controlling the AGV is designed base on the path design and tested with PLC CPMlA training kit. The input and output components and the rechargeable battery is interfaced with the PLC on the AGV. Finally, the PLC controlled AGV was tested and some modification is required on the ladder diagram and also on the AGV. The project is successfully executed by using a PLC to control the AGV to find its route in a predefined path

A data format providing side wall orientation and adaptive slicing for use in stepless rapid prototyping

Current Rapid Prototyping systems mainly use 2D layers building techniques that result in the 'staircase' effect on slanted surface. A new method has been developed to eliminate the 'staircase' effect and to improve the surface quality by extending the 2D layers to 3D layers building. In this approach, a new data format, Layer Transfer Interface (LTI), is introduced to generate layers having slanted side wall. It provides a faster slicing algorithm and accurate reconstruction of 3D objects. This format is independent of any particular RP machines. Furthermore, adaptive slicing has been achieved using this format and implemented on a fiveaxis milling RP system.Mechanical Engineerin

PLC CONTROLLED AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV)

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a specialized computer and designed to be used in industrial for control purpose. In general, an automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a kind of transportation that mostly used in material handling system. It is self-propelled (driverless) vehicles guided along defined pathways and controlled by a computer. The objective of the project is to design an AGV vehicle prototype which is controlled by PLC for industrial application (material handling). Most of the AGV used in industries are controlled by a microprocessor. In this project the main focus is to have a reliable design, easier maintenance and advanced PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV). The significant part of the project is of using sensors to guide the vehicle along the pre-determined path instead of using embedded wire guided method. The initial stage of the project involves feasibility studies of the PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV) which includes the ability of the PLC and the automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGV design requires the determining of the type of hardware needed, for example PLC (CPM2A), sensors (metal), rechargeable battery, power window motors and others. The design of AGV and its path are implemented. The AGV prototype is built part by part and then assembled. Two safety features are added on the prototype, i.e., the emergency reset and obstacles detection by using sensor. The ladder diagram for controlling the AGV is designed base on the path design and tested with PLC CPMlA training kit. The input and output components and the rechargeable battery is interfaced with the PLC on the AGV. Finally, the PLC controlled AGV was tested and some modification is required on the ladder diagram and also on the AGV. The project is successfully executed by using a PLC to control the AGV to find its route in a predefined path

PLC CONTROLLED AUTOMATED GUIDED VEHICLE (AGV)

A programmable logic controller (PLC) is a specialized computer and designed to be used in industrial for control purpose. In general, an automated guided vehicle (AGV) is a kind of transportation that mostly used in material handling system. It is self-propelled (driverless) vehicles guided along defined pathways and controlled by a computer. The objective of the project is to design an AGV vehicle prototype which is controlled by PLC for industrial application (material handling). Most of the AGV used in industries are controlled by a microprocessor. In this project the main focus is to have a reliable design, easier maintenance and advanced PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV). The significant part of the project is of using sensors to guide the vehicle along the pre-determined path instead of using embedded wire guided method. The initial stage of the project involves feasibility studies of the PLC controlled automated guided vehicle (AGV) which includes the ability of the PLC and the automated guided vehicle system (AGVS). The AGV design requires the determining of the type of hardware needed, for example PLC (CPM2A), sensors (metal), rechargeable battery, power window motors and others. The design of AGV and its path are implemented. The AGV prototype is built part by part and then assembled. Two safety features are added on the prototype, i.e., the emergency reset and obstacles detection by using sensor. The ladder diagram for controlling the AGV is designed base on the path design and tested with PLC CPMlA training kit. The input and output components and the rechargeable battery is interfaced with the PLC on the AGV. Finally, the PLC controlled AGV was tested and some modification is required on the ladder diagram and also on the AGV. The project is successfully executed by using a PLC to control the AGV to find its route in a predefined path

Electrochemical oxidation of L-cysteine mediated by a fullerene-C60-modified carbon electrode

Use of a glassy carbon electrode modified by adhered microcrystals of fullerene-C60 mediates the oxidation of cysteine in the presence of aqueous potassium-containing electrolytes. Under conditions of cyclic voltammetry, the potential for the oxidation of cysteine is lowered by approximately 100 mV and current is enhanced significantly relative to the situation prevailing when a bare glassy carbon electrode is used. Additional mediation occurs when the potential range covered includes that of C60/C60n− redox couples. The sensitivity under condition of cyclic voltammetry is significantly dependent on pH, temperature and C60 dosage. Excellent analytical and/or recovery data are obtained with vitamin pill, cassamino acid (hydrolyzed casein) and for a range of beverages

Ultrasonic bonding of thermoplastic microfluidic devices

Microfluidic devices see many advantages in using plastics that include low cost and easily available manufacturing methods, as compared to glass and silicon. Regardless of the bonding method, mass manufacturing development always imposes a unique set of challenge to overcome. Ultrasonic welding offers advantages including compatibility with any thermoplastic, the ability to weld two different plastics or materials. Therefore the effects of ultrasonic welding of PMMA microfluidics were investigated using an adaptive one-factor-at-a-time method in this report. The parameters under investigation are vibration amplitude, welding pressure, welding time and holding time. The optimised welding parameters had been identified and were used for further analysis on the dimension loss and bond strength. Defects were found on the microfluidic devices causing it to leak. However, good quality micro features and bond strength was observed from the optimised microfluidic devices tested.Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering

Editorial policies on election news : a study of the pre-1978 general election news in the New Straits Times and the Utusan Ma

information is essential to us.We need information for decision making day to day.The press,whose function is to put the information regardless of party affilliation or self interest

Layer generation in a stepless rapid prototyping system

Current rapid prototyping processes build parts in a layer by layer based on CAD data of a part that is either triangulated or sliced directly into thin layers representing consecutive cross-sections of the part. One of the problems is that side surfaces of a layer that are not perpendicular to the slice plane are approximated as vertical side surfaces, creating a staircase effect on the part surfaces. The aims of this thesis were to eliminate the staircase effect through a slanted layer building method to achieve higher rapid prototyping accuracy and to reduce the overall building time through thick layer deposition. A Stepless Rapid Prototyping (SRP) system is under development to fulfil these aims. A layer-slicing algorithm and a Layer Transfer Interface (LTI) data format were developed to create three-dimensional layers for slanted layer building. This new data format provides adaptive slicing of layers and hence enables a thick layer material deposition to support the use of these adaptive slices. An adaptive slicing on the de facto facet STL models was successfully carried out. To support the use of adaptive slicing, a powder sintering experiment on thermoplastic polymer layer of 1 mm thick was also examined. A sintering model was developed to predict the sintering time required for the thermoplastic powders used. Test parts were built and verified using both the SRP machine and Steoreolithography machine. Results showed that slanted layers with thick layer deposition were achieved in the SRP machine. This work suggests that the adaptive slicing of slanted layers on facet STL model and the corresponding thick layer deposition can be realized to achieve more accurate and faster rapid prototyping.Master of Engineering (MPE