An IoT based home automation integrated approach: impact on society in sustainable development perspective

In recent years, due to substantial evolution in the field of consumer electronics, the society is striving to optimize efficiency, energy savings, green technology and environmental sustainability in their daily lives at homes. Most of the people are controlling and monitoring home appliances manually and therefore, facing lots of problems in managing natural resources, cost, effort and security which lead towards an un-comfortable and un-reliable life. Numerous 'intelligent' devices such as smartphones, tablets, air-conditioners, etc. have promoted the key concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) based home automation. Entrenched with technology, these devices can be distantly monitored and controlled over the Internet at home and anywhere in the world. Over the past few decades, global warming has become a severe worldwide challenge. However, sustainable development and green technology play an important role in climate change. The primary purpose of this study is to save natural resources, reduce energy consumption, and to understand the impact of home automation on the society in order to achieve the goal of green technology and environmental sustainability. In this paper, IoT based home automation approach integrated with the smart meter, solar, wind, geothermal renewable energy resources and government green awareness program to extensively optimize the need of energy consumption, security, cost, convenience and cleaner environment for the society is proposed. In addition, a survey was conducted among the target audience for the purpose of identifying and evaluating its least impact on the environment and society in a sustainable development perspective. The results of this survey are statistically analyzed using IBM SPSS statistics version 23. The results revealed that there is a significant impact of home automation on the society thereby contributing to its solution

Application of response surface methodology for COD and ammonia removal from municipal wastewater treatment plant using acclimatized mixed culture

This study aimed to optimize conditions influencing the removal of chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia-N in municipal wastewater by using acclimatized mixed culture (AMC). Two-level factorial analysis was used to investigate the factors affecting the degradation of COD and ammonia-N (%); ratio of synthetic wastewater (SW) to acclimatized mixed culture (AMC) (1:1 and 3:1), presence and absence of support media (Yes and No), agitation (0 rpm and 100 rpm) and hydraulic retention time (HRT) (2 and 5 days). A central composite design (CCD) under response surface methodology (RSM) determined the optimum agitation (0 rpm and 100 rpm) and retention time (2 and 5 days). The best conditions were at 3:1 of SW: AMC ratio, 100 rpm agitation, without support media, and 5 days retention time. COD and ammonia-N removal achieved until 57.23% and 43.20%, respectively. Optimization study showed the optimum conditions for COD and ammonia-N removal were obtained at 150 rpm agitation speed and 5 days of retention time, at 70.41% and 64.29% respectively. This study discovers the conditions that affect the COD and ammonia-N removal in the municipal wastewater using acclimatized mixed culture

Persuasive system design: social support elements to influence the Malaysian wellness in social media

Obesity is a significant problem in Southeast Asia, especially in Malaysia, where the report by The National Health and Morbidity Survey of 2015 emphasized that the country has the highest proportion of obese and overweight population in the region and it is increasing by the year. Recently, it was observed that the social media could be leveraged for influencing healthier lifestyle. It is believed that, to motivate people to engage with social media or any wellness system, social support is important. However, research indicated that the understanding of social support from the perspectives of system design is still lacking. This study aims to fill these gaps and have better understanding of social support through the Persuasive System Design (PSD). The objectives of this research are (i) to identify the social support elements within the persuasive design elements (ii) to qualitatively verify the social support elements for Malaysian wellness in social media. Qualitative data collection was conducted through social media content observations and focus group interviews with selected respondents. Five PSD elements in social support were identified. They are: social learning, social facilitation, social comparison, recognition and normative influence. The relevancy and significance of these elements towards the health and wellness motivation among Malaysian were also identified

Development of coconut-based floating structure for stand-alone solar PV system in the tropics

The use of plastics and composite materials as the base structure for a floating solar photovoltaic system commonly known as floatovoltaic system can cause negative impact to the environment especially the aquatic life and human. Additive materials are infused to form the plastics by which giving adverse effect to our metabolism. Despite the fact that the plastics are durable, to create and recycle it will produce toxic materials of many kinds in addition to the higher expenses for floatovoltaic installation. The unique approach of floatovoltaic is further discussed withstanding the continuous constraint of limited and suitable land for solar PV farms. This paper presents field analysis of the development of coconut-trunk as the base structure for a floatovoltaic system with regards to the environmental impact. A framework based on the density and buoyancy of the coconut trunk material is considered for the desig

Interference management using direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS) technique in LTE-Wi-Fi network

In this paper, an enhance DSSS technique was proposed which considers both serving and its neighbouring base stations in the network. New coefficients, chip rate coefficient (a) and radius fraction coefficient (b) were applied in DSSS technique in order to improve the SINR value. First, SINR MUE and SINR WUE for the standard DSSS were simulated. Then, by using the obtained analysis, the enhance DSSS technique was proposed. As the results, the SINR at MUE using a-coefficient gives better SINR than standard around 4%~5% improvement. On the other hand, the SINR at WUE using a-coefficient also gives better SINR than standard around 9%~10% improvement. Other than that, by applying both a-coefficient and b-coefficient into the proposed DSSS based on modified interference power, the improvement for SINR MUE increases to 11%~13%. For SINR WUE, the percentage spikes to 74%~84%.Keywords: DSSS, LTE network; Wi-Fi network; SINR; interference management and interference power

Effect on mechanical properties by partial replacement of the glass with alkali-treated flax fiber in composite facesheet of sandwich structure

Sandwich structures made of glass-reinforced composite facesheet (FS) and honeycomb core are using in many load-carrying applications. This study aims to reduce the dependency on synthetic materials in the composite FS of sandwich structure. Recently, there has been rapid growth in research and innovation in the hybrid composite to achieve the comparable performance of synthetic materials and reduce the cost, weight, and environmental impact. In the present research, the mechanical properties (tensile, axial compression, and flexural) with flax/glass hybrid composite FS sandwich structure were investigated. The hybrid FS was fabricated with different ratios of glass and alkali-treated flax fiber. The sandwich structure with non-hybrid alkali-treated flax and glass composites FS were fabricated for comparison purposes. The overall results showed the potential of using hybrid reinforcement to improve the structural performance compared to non-hybrid flax composite and revealed the promising and comparable structural performance compared with glass composite. The hybrid composite FS by replacing 25% glass by weight with flax fiber achieved 96% axial compression strength and 92% flexural facing stress of glass composite. The H2 hybrid FS using glass in the outer showed only 6% lower flexural stiffness than non-hybrid glass composite when the normalized flexural stiffness results were compared

Wireless real-time haze monitoring device

Typically, the information received by public is based on 24-hour PSI from pollutant PM10 The 24-hour PSI reading often cause some confusion as most of the time. It does not correlate visually with the environment as seen with naked eye. Inaccurate reading may bring serious effect to people with respiratory problem. Furthermore, the reading from pollutant PM10 is not accurate as it measures particle matter as small as 10 micrometer in diameter, while the harmful particle matter is smaller than that. This project proposes a real-time portable wireless haze monitoring device, based on pollutant PM2.5 to measure air quality and beaglebone blackcontroller to control the transmission process of measured data taken via wireless data network to the MySQL database. The reading, which is real-time reading and more accurate compared to pollutant PM10, can provide haze awareness and guidance to people to plan their activities.Keywords: PSI; PM10; PM2.5; beaglebone black

Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) greenhouse shading: new insights for solar radiation manipulation

Energy crisis is the worldwide main concern since fossil fuels are facing rapid depletion and its consumption contributes to the rise in the average global temperature. Among the challenges to be embedded lately with agricultural activities is to explore clean and renewable energy resources. Electrical energy generation via solar technology, or known also as photovoltaic (PV) technology, has been the most economical viable green resource, especially in tropical-based countries. The most notable problem revealed by conventional PV in greenhouses, however, is due to the antagonistic factor lying in both photovoltaic roofs and plants. As such, the divergence subsequently decreases the growth and productivity of the cultivated crops. The Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) is thus of great importance to human as it possesses several attractive features. For instance, the fabrication of DSSC is cheap. It is also flexible, transparent, and sensitive to low light levels. Besides its easiness to be used in larger applications, makes DSSC an ideal candidate that could function greatly as energy buildings. This review article aims to explore the DSSC technology's potential and its effectiveness as a shading greenhouse. Further, indepth understanding on the uniqueness and advantages of this technology is thoroughly assessed. In comparison to conventional PV, the DSSC technology especially on solar radiation manipulation through the optimum choice of photosensitizer is well described. This paper also consolidates all the materials employed for DSSC fabrication for greenhouse shading. Detailing photosensitizer and light harvesting within PAR wavelength for sustenance growth have been provided. This technology has the potential to improve farming productivity while contribute to a significant reduction of CO2 emission