Non-Taylor series based positioning method for location based services

Location Based Services (LBS) has gained increasing popularity in major cities. Due to blocking from man-made structures, the existing Global Positioning System (GPS) could not satisfy LBS applications, especially in street canyon and indoor surroundings. This has lead to the development of Assisted GPS (A-GPS) which can provide better service availability and accuracy gain. In the conventional positioning method, Taylor series expansion is applied to solve non-linear distance equations. This method requires an initial estimation of A-GPS receiver’s position. This paper investigates the positioning method for LBS based on hybrid E-OTD/GNSS. The proposed positioning method is non-Taylor series based. Therefore, it involves less complicated mathematical expansion and substitution. A flexible LBS positioning tool is developed which can generate position information in convenient way. It supports both Taylor series and non-Taylor series based positioning methods. The obtained results showed that the proposed non-Taylor series based positioning method can achieve better positioning accuracy

Performance Of Urban Stormwater Drainage System Through Dry Detention Pond (Case Study: Kota Damansara, Selangor)

Lantaran daripada pembangunan yang pesat, banjir kian menjadi. Senario ini semakin meruncing akibat sistem saliran yang tidak sesuai di kawasan perumahan. Sekiranya keadaan ini dibiarkan berlanjutan, besar kemungkinan ia akan membawa risiko banjir yang lebih serius dan lebih kerosakan harta serta kehilangan nyawa. Sejak pelaksanaan Manual Saliran Mesra Alam (MSMA) pada 2001 oleh Jabatan Pengairan dan Saliran, langkah-langkah pengurusan yang baik melalui pembinaan kolam takungan adalah digalakkan. Selepas 8 tahun pelaksanaannya, kajian untuk mempertimbangkan semula keperluan pembinaan kolam takungan dengan menilai keberkesanan kolam takungan dari segi kuantiti melalui kaedah numerikal adalah amat diperlukan. Due to the rapid development, flooding occurred progressively. This scenario is worsened if improper drainage systems were implemented. The inattentiveness to all the problems occurred will generate the possibility for more severe flooding risk and creates further damages of property and loss of lives. Since the implementation of Urban Stormwater Management Manual of Malaysia (MSMA) in 2001 by Department of Irrigation and Drainage, Malaysia, the Best Management Practices (BMPs) through construction of detention ponds have been encouraged. After 8 years of implementation, there is a need to reconsider the recommendation of constructing detention pond for water quantity control by evaluating performance of the constructed dry detention ponds using computer modelling

A novel approach, using regional climate model, to derive present and future Intensity-Duration-Frequency curves

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

The design and evaluation of a virtual reality (VR) - based educational storytelling system

This project aims to design and evaluate a storytelling system using desktop virtual-reality(VR). The storytelling system entitled “Survival Skills in Forest” was designed to educate children on survival skills in a forest. It was designed based on the instructional design theoretical framework for VR-based learning environment. Generally, the storytelling system incorporates an integrative goal, problems and support tools to facilitate learning during the storytelling process as well as applying various design principles for effective presentation of information. The usability of the storytelling system was evaluated using cooperation evaluation technique. In general, the results of the cooperative evaluation showed that the storytelling system can be used without much difficulty. Exposing children to the real environment of a forest maybe dangerous, therefore by presenting the environment of forest in the form of virtual environment it is hope that children can effectively explore the virtual forest and interact with it. Indeed, this project provides an innovative way to delivering a story by using desktop VR

An Assessment of the Potential, Suitability and Sustainability of the Sand Mining Site in the Kemaman River Basin, Terengganu Using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

Sand mining from the catchment basin for building is a worldwide issue. The increasing demand for sand in the construction industry has led sand suppliers to look for alternative methods by which they can obtain source of sand from the riverbed. Floodplain and river slabs can be used as new sources of sand mining. In Sungai Kemaman, during September until March a high precipitation can cause high flow in river. This high flow can cause riverbank erosion which leads to instability of river. Therefore, river erosion can probably be reduced by identifying the potential area for sand mining. This research was conducted to analyse sand capability on floodplain and riverbed by integrating resistivity method and sediment transport loads using Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP). Resistivity survey is used in determining the availability of potential soil at the study area and the equipment could measure subsurface profile up to 80 meters depth. Meanwhile, ADCP survey is utilized to make river profiler in term of velocity meshes and riverbed depth. The primary data collected was from 20 January 2014 to 19 February 2014. The findings found that the samples trapped in the Helly-Smith grabber were majority of the samples consisted more than 93% of gravel and sand materials and from the resistivity analysis, it is verified that the surrounding materials along the Sungai Kemaman is sandy material and high potential of the sand mining site

The dynamics of ecological sustainability in housing delivery: Developers’ perspectives

Housing delivery is facing substantial environmental sustainability threats. Consequently, the housing industry is constantly adopting broad-based actions to sustain the environment and make delivery more efficient and risk-averse. Such regulatory models are sometimes targeted at the housing developers’ readiness, the dimensions of market volatility, technology, and the firm's resources. These variables are more profound within an emerging economic context such as Malaysia, and previous research investigating sustainability agenda in housing delivery has neglected their impacts within the housing developer's perspective. This study tested regional-scale hypotheses regarding predictors of ecological sustainability across the state of Sarawak Malaysia. It was hypothesised that the critical dynamics of technology, developer's readiness, resources, regulatory framework, market turbulence, and uncertainty would increase the likelihood of cumulative environmental sustainability in housing delivery. A sample of 221 Housing developers registered under the Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association and allied professionals were sent a self-report online survey instrument, and 144 completed questionnaires were returned, indicating a 65 per cent response rate. Subsequently, SPSS and SmartPLS were used for data analysis. SPSS was used for data screening, while SmartPLS was used to assess the measurement and structural models. Structural equation models show that improved technology, developer's readiness, and regulatory apparatus are the better correlated with environmental sustainability performance

Sizing and economic analysis of stand-alone hybrid photovoltaic-wind system for rural electrification: A case study Lundu, Sarawak

Energy Consumption has been increasing at an alarming rate due to the growing energy need. More and more non-renewable sources are harvested to fulfill the energy demand resulting in and rising environmental health issues. However, harvesting Solar and Wind energy is considered as the best alternative in generating energy as these resources are renewable. Hybrid Renewable Energy System (HRES) has been grabbed the attention recently, as it involves with renewable, environmentally friendly sources to generate energy. The limitation of single Renewable Energy (RE) system is overcome by systems such as HRES. Even though it has been introduced different sizing and optimization techniques, due to the lack of system function, it had posed issues in calculating the optimized cost of a hybrid system considering the solar, wind resources and load demand as the optimization of the system cannot be predicted accurately. The aim of this research was to obtain optimization of a Hybrid PV-wind system in term of sizing and cost over the 20 years of the period of interest. The simulation of the PV-Wind Hybrid system using MATLAB for the verification purpose. This work includes detailed calculation using the Life Cycle Cost method for identifying all possible combinations. The combination of eleven Solar Panels, one Wind Turbine and nine Batteries was identified as the optimal Combination with LCC of RM 221,329.97 and has been verified using simulation results. Lastly, a sensitivity test was carried out using the exiting results of verified by the simulation to identify the most deterministic system in affecting LCC of the Hybrid system. Further, total Cost distribution for the Optimized hybrid PV-Wind system was conducted and identified that 50% of system cost was contributed by the Wind turbine. Determination of LCC, was done as a combination of Component and Operation costs. It was identified that Replacement cost contributed the highest while Wind turbine showed the highest Operation cost from the system cost. Thus, this work was included with the sensitivity test assuming 10% price increment for each component and it was concluded that price changes in Wind turbine results the greatest difference in LCC while further verified with the results of the simulation

Comprehensive review on the feasibility of developing wave energy as a renewable energy resource in Australia

The facts are that increasing energy demand, depletion of fossil fuel, and greenhouse gas emissions have increased the world's interest in renewable energy. Out of all RE options, Wave Energy (WE) is the least harnessed one despite the availability of WE Resource (WERs) in many countries and with the potential to cover a significant proportion of the world's energy needs. Australia, mainly in the southern part of the country, has plenty of this resource. Although recently, the Australian Government has started to focus on WERs as a Renewable Energy Source (RES) to cope with the energy crisis, research suggests that the country's progress in the WE generation to meet the energy demand is well below the potential generation capacity. However, insufficient research and studies address the issues and technologies in detail. This study examines the viability of further developing WE as a renewable energy source in Australia by evaluating the current constraints and challenges to achieving a satisfactory level of WE generation in the country. As a result, this study emphasizes the trustworthiness of WE in terms of several criteria. The availability of WERs within Australia and the status of producing WE are reviewed in this study. It also highlighted certain Australian technologies and devices that are now being tested or deployed in real-time. Moreover, this review is expanded by comparing the key developers in the WE sector to Australia to uncover some of the contributing elements in other countries that may have contributed to the growth of the WE generation in other nations. Finally, some of the barriers identified are lack of high-resolution data and social & environmental challenges. Some recommendations are given in the latter part of the review to accelerate WE production in Australia

A review of clinical and surgical outcomes of endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery in a Tertiary Center in Sarawak

Background: Endoscopic endonasal approach (EEA) for skull base tumor has been extensively developed in recent years. Objectives: To review the demographic data, indications, clinical presentations and surgical outcomes of endoscopic endonasal skull base surgeries performed. Methods: A retrospective analysis on all patients who had undergone endoscopic endonasal skull base surgery at the Skull Base Unit (ENT & Neurosurgery) from December 2013 to December 2015. Results: A total 34 cases were operated on during the study period. Female patients account for 44% of patients while 56% were male patients, with ages ranging from 8 to 77 years, with the mean age of 51.88 years. Majority of the cases were pituitary tumors (41%), followed by sinonasal tumors (15%), meningioma (12%), clival tumor (8%), cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak repair (8%) and frontal mucocoele (6%). Transsellar approach was the commonest approach (41%) followed by the transclival, transplanum, transfrontal approaches. In about 80% of cases, CSF leak was encountered intraoperatively and was successfully repaired endoscopically with the Hadad-Bassagasteguy flap and with the insertion of a lumbar drain. Only one case (3%) of CSF leak was noted postoperatively which was then successful repaired endoscopically with a nasoseptal flap. Systemic complications and intracranial infections were seen in 3 cases (8%) and were managed accordingly. No cases of epitaxis requiring surgical intervention were noted post operatively

From mesoscale to nanoscale mechanics in single-wall carbon nanotubes

The experimental work was carried out in collaboration with W. Wenseleers and S. Cambré at the University of Antwerp, Belgium. The computational results presented have been achieved in part using the Vienna Scientific Cluster (VSC). DJD is grateful for support from the Region Rhône-Alpes through the programme “Accueil-PRO 2014” and from the iMUST Labex programme “Mobility in 2015”. ACTD, TFTC, WC, MALM, SB, DM and ASM acknowledge support from the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche through contract ANR-11-NANO-025 “TRI-CO”. ACTD acknowledges postdoctoral grant from Brazilian Ministry of Education (CAPES)