Intruder localization wireless sensor network radar design with virtual reference tags

This research designs a WSN (Wireless Sensor Network) algorithm for human intruder localization and path detection. There are two commonly used position estimation techniques in WSN, ToA (Time of Arrival) and RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator). In ToA the difference between arrivals of signal is estimated and based on this information position of target is calculated. This technique produces better results but in real time the cost of nodes used increases due to synchronization requirement. On the other hand RSSI technique requires no synchronization and can be considered as most simple and low cost technique but its accuracy is very low. To increase the accuracy of RSSI this research introduces VRTs (Virtual Reference Tags). VRTs are previously used in RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) system to provide reference to the system. Four reference nodes are used such that one acts as transmitting while three as receiving nodes. These nodes are placed at the edges of surveillance area. NS2 (Network Simulator 2) is used to design the WSN. The surveillance area of system is taken as 80X80 meters. Nine scenarios are checked with varying number of VRTs mapped over surveillance area. From the results it is observed that as the number of VRT is increased, accuracy of WSN radar also increases. But in actual implementation greater number of VRT can result in greater hardware requirement in terms of processor and high speed data storage. Since the proposed WSN radar is designed for human intruder localization, the WSN accuracy is kept to 0.2 meters. In simulation for a surveillance area of 80X80 meters to locate and track human intruder with 0.2 meter accuracy, 1721 VRTs are required to be virtually mapped over surveillance area. This research also presents a proposed design of WSN which can be used in vehicles as road safety feature providing assistance to driver. The WSN consists of three receivers, one on each side and one in front and the surveillance area around the vehicle is divided into levels which determine whether it is safe for driver to move towards that side. Driver alerting method is also presented using vehicle‟s steering wheel

Brunei's political development and the formation of Malaysia : 1961-1967

The years immediately following the formation of Malaysia in May 1961, were an especially critical time in Brunei's political development. The key issues connected with the Malaysia proposal, namely the Brunei Revolt 1962, Brunei's refusal to join the Federation, Communist connections with the Party Rakyat Brunei (PRB), the claim to Limbang, foreign involvement in Brunei's internal politics and lastly, the British role in ensuring the survival of the Brunei Islamic State will be examined in depth.The main focus of this study is to trace the political development of Brunei from the announcement of the Malaysia Proposal in May 1961 by Tunku Abdul Rahman up to the abdication of Sultan Sir Omar Ali Saifuddien III in 1967. As background, the thesis also examines the proclamation of the Brunei Constitution in 1959. However, the implementation of the Constitution did not give sufficient power for the people to voice their opinions in the affitirs of the state. This led to the formation of a left-wing political party known as the Brunei People's Party or Party Rakyat Brunei in 1956. The PRB subsequently opposed any policies introduced by the government and demanded the introduction of full democracy in the state. This was the beginning of conflict between the people and the government in modem Brunei political history. The conflict intensified in 1961 when Tunku Abdul Rahman proclaimed the Federation of Malaysia comprising II Malayan States, Singapore, Sarawak, North Borneo and Brunei. The issue of whether or not to join the Federation posed a dilemma for Brunei.The situation worsened when the Sultan announced his decision to support the concept of Malaysia in principle in December 1961, whereas most of his subjects were opposed to it. As a result, a revolt broke out on 8th December 1962 led by the PRB. However, after the revolt the Sultan refused to join Malaysia, which resulted in him raising the claim to Limbang. In the meantime, the internal political conflict in Brunei intensified and led to the involvement of Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, the United Kingdom and Communist elements. The conflict spread beyond Brunei's borders and resulted in its involvement in the Malaysia- Indonesia Confrontation in 1963-1966. At the same time, the British also tried to push Brunei into the Federation of Malaysia between 1963-1966 in order to hasten its independence and to ensure the survival of the Sultanate. However, the Sultan was not interested in this idea and preferred to stay out of the Federation. Eventually, Sultan Omar Ali Saifaddien, who depended on the British for the survival of his Malay Islamic Monarchy, abdicated from the throne in 1967 in favour of his son, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Muzzaddien Waddaullah. Therefore, the concept of Malaysia and its formation had influenced the internal and external political development of Brunei in the period 1961-1967. Ultimately, however, Brunei has been able to sustain and maintain itself as a Malay Islamic Sultanate to the present day

Bridge deck assessment using visual inspection, ground penetrating radar, portable seismic property analyzer-ultrasonic surface wave, hammer sounding and chain drag

Integrated non-destructive techniques were utilized to assess the condition of a reinforced concrete bridge deck. There were two main objectives accomplished. The first objective was to assess the integrity of the reinforced concrete bridge deck using four non-destructive techniques, namely visual inspection, ground penetrating radar, portable seismic property analyzer-ultrasonic surface wave, and hammer sounding and chain drag. Visual inspection data were used to identify signs of deterioration on surface of the bridge deck such as cracking, concrete leaching, and reinforcement corrosion. Ground penetrating radar data were used to determine the relative condition of the bridge deck. However, due to the significant differences in depth of the embedded reinforcements, ground penetrating radar data were not useful in terms of assessing the overall condition of the bridge deck. Portable seismic property analyzer-ultrasonic surface wave data were used to determine the concrete quality of the bridge deck by estimating averag Young\u27s modulus (elastic modulus). Hammer sounding and chain drag data were used to identify non-delaminated and severe delaminated areas in the bridge deck. The second objective was to demonstrate the effect of temperature and moisture content changes on ground penetrating radar signal amplitude. Ground penetrating radar signal amplitude variations associated with different weather condition of temperature and moisture changes were evaluated. Ground penetrating radar signal amplitude was increasingly attenuated during low temperature and high moisture content. In contrast, ground penetrating radar signal amplitude was decreasingly attenuated during high temperature low moisture content --Abstract, page iii

Greenhouse disease of oil palm seedlings and their causal pathogen in UiTM Melaka Campus Jasin / Akmal Hakim Abdullah Hadi

Malaysia is among the top countries in the world in producing oil palm. Nowadays, the number of oil palm production plays a significant role in Malaysia economic growth. The diseases that attack the oil palm leaves were became a major problem in the early growth stage of oil palm such as Culvularia leaf spot that caused by Culvularia sp., Fusarium wilt caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp elaeidis (Foe), Corticium leaf spot caused by Corticium solani. It was became a problem when hard to be eradicated and taken several methods to eliminate it. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to recognize and define what type of leaf diseases and its causal agents on oil palm seedlings. Next, to determine disease incidence and distribution of leaf diseases on oil palm seedlings reared in the greenhouse structure. Last but not least, the purpose control on the disease that attacked oil palm seedlings. In this study, disease that I found in the greenhouse three UITM Jasin were found and isolated it to identify what type of disease that attack the oil palm seedlings leaves. In vitro studies, the sample of leaf diseases were collected and its causal agent induced to grow on PDA. Four type of diseases were identified which were Culvularia leaf spot, Fusarium wilt, Common spear rot and Rhizoctonia solani. The most leaf disease attacked on oil palm seedlings was Culvularia leaf spot at 41% incidences. The causal agent for each of leaf diseases have been identified after isolation and observation under microscope based on their microscopic characteristics (Conidia and hyphae). The most recommend control methods have been identified to control common spear rot, Rhizoctonia solani and Culvularia leaf spot was using the biological control method such as Bacillus subtillis, Tricoderma harzianum and wild basidiomycetes. But the most effective approach in controlling fusarium wilt was using the resistances cultivars

Impacts of Wide Area Network Bandwidth Capacity on the Web Access Performance in a Proxy-Based Environment

Generally, by adding bandwidth capacity on Wide Area Network links, which connect organizations' Local Area Network to the Internet will ease the slow response of users Web access. Our study is to find out whether adding bandwidth capacity on organizations Wide Area Network links will give the same result if the users' web access in the organizations is not made directly to the remote Web server but via a caching proxy server. Our study focuses on identifying the effects of WAN bandwidth capacity on the average latency of Web access, which is composed of three components namely TCP connection establishment time, time taken to get the first byte of the requested Web object after the connection to the server has been established and the downloading time of the Web object. Our investigation utilized experimental approach, where we conducted several trace-driven experiments in isolated network environment to simulate users web access through a single proxy server in an organization across Wide Area Network link. Our results indicate that the percentage of reduction of average web access latency due to web caching diminishes with the increment of the Wide Area Network bandwidth capacity. Another interesting finding from our results is the degree of Web access latency reduction diminishes more rapidly if the caching proxy server has limited amount of memory

The Impact of the Deconstructive Trend on the Deviations of Arab Modernists in Some Interpretations of the Holy Qur'an

This research on the impact of the deconstructive trend on the deviations of Arab modernists in some interpretations of the Holy Qur'an represents the latest findings of the minds of the European philosophers who are followed by these Arab modernists. The nature of the research necessitated that I divide it into a preface and two sections preceded by an introduction and followed by a conclusion, so I talked in the preface about the historical depth of the intellectual fertilization between the Arab nation and the West and its negative effects. In the first section, I talked about the deconstructive trend concept, while in the second section I dealt with procedural. Then I showed the deviation of their claims and the applications of this trend, which these modernists mentioned in the conclusion and results, with the references. My method of research was descriptive and analytical. Keywords: deconstruction, modernists, interpretation, trend, deviation

Three Essays on Railroad Cost

The railroad industry has traditionally been a major source for transporting bulk products in the United States. Prior to deregulation this industry faced fairly stringent economic regulation and stringent work-rules. However, with passage of the Staggers Act in 1980, railroad carriers now had greater opportunity to legally abandon unprofitable short-haul service. Carriers were also able to negotiate more flexible work-rules as well as take advantage of greater freedom setting competitive shipping rates. These policy changes facilitated significant changes to the cost of providing shipping service in the railroad industry. This dissertation examines three different aspects of railroad cost in the current period of a more market-oriented business environment. Coverage includes analysis of economies of scope, allocative use of factor inputs and determinants of productivity growth. The first essay examines cost results from estimating a normalized quadratic cost function for the US rail industry to empirically test whether maintenance of short-haul services contributes to economies of scope for Class-1 rail carriers. The analysis examines the existence of economies of scope in the railroad industry with respect to different types of services provided by carriers, namely; unit train, way train and through train services. Special attention is given to the (dis)economies of scope associated with providing way train service, since routes for this service cover small distances and, therefore, depict short-haul shipping that has traditionally been associated with cost inefficiencies. The parameter estimates obtained from estimating the normalized quadratic cost function are used to simulate hypothetical firms that provide various combinations of outputs, since there is no available data to compare rail firms that provide different combinations of transport service. Findings suggest that the majority of the observations exhibit economies of scope. Without imposing concavity, more than 95 percent of observations display economies of scope, while more than 70 percent of observations display economies of scope when input price concavity is imposed. The findings on diseconomies of scope also suggest that providing way service is not the primary source, rather all three services equally contribute to diseconomies for the non-substantial number of observations when this occurs. The second essay explores the possibility of railroad input market distortion in the form of allocative inefficiency due to labor market regulation and union work-rules. Rail carriers have consistently negotiated less rigid work-rules which may create a business environment that enhances carriers\u27 ability to employ an allocatively efficient mix of inputs. Using labor as the benchmark of comparison when examining usage of factor inputs suggests that indeed carrier do employ an allocatively efficient combination of equipment and labor, material and labor, and way and structures and labor. Findings suggest carriers over invest in fuel with respect to labor. This latter finding is interpreted as suggesting that relative to shadow fuel prices, low shadow wages due to work-rule restrictions and due to the use of fuel efficient locomotives that facilitate the overuse of fuel relative to labor. Nonetheless, efficient use of labor relative to non-fuel inputs is consistent with the notion that less restrictive work-rules promotes a business environment contributing to allocative efficient use of those inputs. The third essay examines factor price effects on productivity in the railroad industry. Findings suggest that price effects are not the main source of changes in productivity. Among the price effects, the price of material and price of way and structures show larger and significant magnitudes in explaining the sources of changes in productivity compared to other prices. Interestingly, price of labor and price of fuel are the input prices that contribute the least to changes in unit cost

A long-run relationship between the trade and its determinants for a group of selected Arab Maghreb Union Countries

The Arab Maghreb Union (AMU) comprising Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, and Tunisia has established a framework to enhance regional cooperation on trade facilitation. It is doubtful whether the Arab Maghreb countries could achieve the goals of this regional cooperation or not. The objective of this study is to examine a long-run relationship between the trade and its determinants for a group of selected Arab Maghreb Union Countries.Using a data set consisting of a panel observation for the AMU countries for the period of 1989-2009; a panel unit root test was done to investigate the possibility of panel cointegration.Overall, the results are consistent with those found in Pedroni approach in all cases, parameters for the variables are found to be correctly signed and highly significant. In terms of trade openness, the results show that the trade barriers are found to be positively and significantly correlated with openness where their relationships within the AMU trade intensity ratios show a strong correlation.In other words, the trade barriers are fairly effective for increasing trade

Faktor-Faktor Keluarga dan Tingkah Laku Penyalahgunaan Dadah: Satu Kajian Perbandingan antara Penyalahguna Dadah dengan Bukan Penyalahguna Dadah

The present study compares aspects of parent-child communication, parent-child nurturance, and family members involvement in drug abuse between drug abusers and non-drug abusers. Sample for the stud), were 191 drug abusers who were undergoing rehabilitation treatment at ('lUr Government Serenti Centres, and 191 non-drug abusers living in Kuala Lumpur. Two special instruments namely Communication and Parent-Child Interaction Rating Scales were used in this study. The study found significant differences between drug abusers and non-drug abusers in parent-child nurturance, parent-child communication, and family members involvement in drug abuse. Findings from this study have implications for drug abuse programmes in this country specifically those related to nurturance and parent-child communication, and parent behaviour model for children