Development of Foreign Material Detection in Food Sensor Using Electrical Resistance Technique

Food inspection has been a serious matter in the food industry as the contamination by foreign materials such as metals, bone, plastics and glass in food plays a major impact on the industry. In spite of a great deal of effort to prevent mixing foreign bodies in food materials, food manufacturers have still not been able to detect them. Electrical Resistance Sensor to detect the foreign material in food detection sensor is constructed and presented in this work. This project focuses on how to design and implement the system to detect and distinguish between food and foreign material using resistance concept. The electrode plate of Electrical Resistance Sensor (ERS) is designed using COMSOL Multiphysics Software to see the electric field and contour of the electric potential of the system. The resistance value from the sensor is measured based on the AC Circuit concept. The alternating current from the sensor flows to the charge detector circuit providing the voltage corresponding to the resistance between the electrode pair. The voltage from the charge detector circuit has been amplified by the amplifier circuit to obtained DC output from an AC input signal. The voltage form circuit has been converted from the analog to digital signal using Bluetooth Electronics Application via Arduino Uno through HC-05 Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth Electronics Application is used as a graphical user interface (GUI) to display the condition of the material tested including food and foreign material to a smartphone.  The experiment results show that the electrical resistance sensor are able to detect the foreign material in food by changes of the resistance value. If the food was detected with the foreign material (non-conductive), the value of resistance will decrease due to the flow of electric current

3D Numerical modelling on the thermal performance of reinforced concrete encased wide-flanged steel column

This paper presents the development and verification of a three-dimensional (3D) numerical modelling to predict the thermal performance of reinforced concrete encased wideflanged steel (RCEWFS) column. The numerical model was developed using finite element software, ABAQUS. Then, the verified model was used to determine the suitable value for heat transfer conductance, time step and mesh size that provide the most reliable prediction against the experimental results. The parametric studies were also conducted to study the effect of rising time of fire exposure, section size, and flange width of I-section on the thermal performance of the RCEWFS column. From this study, it can be concluded that the predictions by the 3D numerical model are reliable and accurate. The study on the contour of the model shows that the thermal behaviour of concrete is non-linear

Effect of long-distance earthquake from Philippines and Sulawesi to Sabah region

Sabah is known for its active earthquake activities, especially in Ranau, Kudat and Lahad Datu areas. The effects of local earthquake can reach M W 6.0. Furthermore, Sabah was also hit by earthquakes from neighbouring countries such as Sulawesi and Philippines. These countries produce highly active earthquakes that can reach as high as M W 8.6. The increase in the frequency of earthquakes is one of the concerns of the Sabah government for the safety of its people because most people live in concentrated areas near the coast. This study shows the effects of major earthquakes from the Philippines and Sulawesi which have been recorded between 1900 to 2020 and analyzed in terms of peak ground acceleration (PGA). The eastern region of Sabah is adopted in the analysis for the effect of long-distance earthquakes, as these areas are close to both countries. The analysis uses standard seismic hazard assessment procedure with compilation magnitudes greater than M W 5.0. In the final analysis, it is shown that the effects of large earthquakes from both countries are relatively small compared to the effects of local earthquakes

Tribological and residential air conditioning performance using SiO2-TiO2/PVE nanolubricant

Applying nanoparticles as an additive may increase the lubrication performance of the oil. The present paper evaluates the tribological performance of SiO2-TiO2 nanoparticles in PVE lubricant and its effect on the system's performance in residential air conditioning (RAC). The hybrid nanolubricants with a concentration from 0.003 to 0.01% at a 50:50 ratio were tested using the four-ball tribological method and then applied in a customised RAC test rig. The friction coefficient and wear scar diameter were evaluated to synthesise nanolubricant anti-wear effect on a paired surface. The coefficient of performance (COP), cooling capacity, power consumption, and energy efficiency ratio (EER) were analysed to understand the influence of SiO2-TiO2/PVE nanolubricant in the RAC system. About 25% reduction in frictional coefficient was discovered when the nanoparticles were added into lubricant with a concentration of 0.005%. Applying nanolubricant in the RAC system can reduce compressor work and power consumption, increase the refrigerant flow rate and cooling capacity, and increase the COP and EER. Maximum enhancement of 39.2% and 52.7% for COP and EER were found for nanolubricant at concentrations of 0.005%. The 0.005% concentration is the nanoparticle's concentration threshold for SiO2-TiO2/PVE, as the higher concentration may lead to the performance of a pure lubricant

Review – Plant nutritional status analysis employing the visible and near-infrared spectroscopy spectral sensor

Experiments demonstrated that visible and near-infrared (Vis-NIR) spectroscopy is a highly reliable tool for determining the nutritional status of plants. Although numerous studies on various kinds of plants have been conducted, there are only a few summaries of the research findings regarding the absorbance bands in the visible and near-infrared region and how they relate to the nutritional status of plants. This article will discuss the application of Vis-NIR spectroscopy for monitoring the nutrient conditions of plants, with a particular emphasis on three major components required by plants, namely nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K), or NPK. Each section discussed different topics, for instance, the essential nutrients needed by plants, the application of Vis-NIR spectroscopy in nutrient status analysis, chemometrics tools, and absorbance bands related to the nutrient status, respectively. Deduction made concluded that factors affecting the plant's structure are contributed by several circumstances like the age of leaves, concentration of pigments, and water content. These factors are intertwined, strongly correlated, and can be observed in the visible and near-infrared regions. While the visible region is commonly utilised for nutritional analysis in plants, the literature review performed in this paper shows that the near-infrared region as well contains valuable information about the plant's nutritional status. A few wavelengths related to the direct estimation of nutrients in this review explained that information on nutrients can be linked with chlorophyll and water absorption bands such that N and P are the components of chlorophyll and protein; on the other hand, K exists in the form of cationic carbohydrates which are sensitive to water region

Radical cations of end-capped tetrathienoacenes and their p-dimerization controlled by the nature of a-substituents and counterion concentration

Radical cations of a soluble rigid tetrathienoacene are capable of forming stable p-dimer dications at ambient temperature when the short backbone becomes extended with conjugated thiophene-2-yl substituents in the a-positions. On the other hand, simple attachment of methyl groups on the a-carbon of the external thiophen-2-yl rings proved sufficient to inhibit the dimerization. Stable radical cationswere also exclusively formed for tetrathienoacene derivatives end-capped with bulky TIPS and phenyl substituents

Improving sustainability of road construction by partial replacement of natural aggregates in subbase layer with crushed brick and reclaimed asphalt pavement

Reducing dependent on naturally sourced materials is among the priority in improving the sustainability of road construction. The subbase layer which provides strength and stability across the road profile, comprised mainly of natural aggregates. This study aims to explore the feasibility of partial replacement of natural aggregates in subbase layer with 20% Crushed Brick (CB) and 20 to 50% Reclaimed Asphalt Pavement (RAP). California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test and Constant Head Permeability tests were carried out to determine the effect of this partial replacement on the geotechnical properties of the subbase layer. The results obtained denotes that the combination of 20% CB and 50% RAP is the optimum partial replacement of natural aggregates in subbase layer with CB and RAP. The use of CB further complements RAP in improving the stiffness and compressibility of the subbase layer while contributing significantly toward sustainability in road construction