A new technique to reduce overshoot in pneumatic positioning system

This paper presents a new approach for improving the performance of the pneumatic positioning system by incorporating a nonlinear gain function with observer system. System identification technique has been employed to represent the pneumatic system, while a model predictive control (MPC) with the observer system has been employed as the main controller to control the positioning of the system. The nonlinear gain function has been incorporated with the control strategy to compensate nonlinearities and uncertainties inherent in the parameters of the system. Unconstrained and constrained cases of control signals have been considered in this study. Simulation based on Matlab/Simulink indicated a reduction in overshoot of the system response for both cases due to additional nonlinear gain function in the strategy. Furthermore, remarkable enhancement was observed in effectiveness of this function while incorporated in constrained case, when this new strategy successfully improved the transient response in the pneumatic positioning system

Herbal sensitivity of Pseudomonas bacteria isolated from cultured tilapia with useful applications in vaccine preparation.

The antibacterial activity of certain commercial antibiotics and common herbs was evaluated against pathogenic Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas putida and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolated from Malaysian and Egyptian cultured fish, mainly tilapia. A suspension of freshly cultured isolates was prepared (with 0.5 OD) and 100 μL of this suspension was spread over the Muller’s Hinton agar plates. The antibiotic discs were inoculated on each cultured plate while the herbal extracts were soaked on Whatman filter paper (20 μL each) that have been cut into discs and later inserted on to bacteria-cultured plates to screen their sensitivity to both antibiotics and herbs. Double-fold dilution was used to determine the Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) for the effective herbs at 100, 50, 25, 12.5 and 6.25%. Results revealed high resistance of the tested bacteria against most of the screened antibiotics except Ciprofloxacin. With regard to herbal sensitivity, only Origanum vulgare showed effectiveness and inhibition zone against all isolates. The MIC ranged from 15-40% for both Egyptian and Malaysian isolates. Thus, Origanum vulgare is recommended as a feed additive for cultured fish and can also be applied for inactivated and live-attenuated Pseudomonas vaccines’ preparation

Calcium phosphate ceramics prepared from natural waste materials

Calcium phosphate bio-ceramics have widely been developed in biomedical applications due to their excellent biocompatibility, bioactivity and osteoconduction characteristics. These materials may be employed in many ceramic t(irms such as porous blocks, dense body, granular forms and hybrid composites to fill bone defects or voids. The main component of calcium phosphate ceramics is calcium. One of the means to produce calcium phosphate is by extracting it from natural sources such as eggshells. animal bones, cockles and coral as biogenic materials that are naturally available. Finer particles of the resulting powder promises better bioactivity and mechanical properties of bio-ceramic materials. This present research aims to synthesize calcium phosphate powders from raw materials, such as egg shell and bovine bone. The chemical and morphological properties of the materials arc studied and the phase stability and mechanical characteristics of the resulting granulated bin-ceramic material arc evaluated. The final products arc porous bioceramics used as ceramic scafi()lds for spongy bone application and dense ceramics used for load bearing applications

Predictive Functional Controller (PFC) with Novel Observer Method for Pneumatic Positioning System

Nowadays, the pneumatic system is more complex which leads to the development of an intelligent pneumatic system. Due to the difficulties in controlling the position and force of pneumatic actuators nonlinearities existed. This paper proposes a design of Predictive Functional Control (PFC) using two different types of observers such as full-order and reduced order as a novel method to come out with these issues. The mathematical model of the pneumatic system come from System Identification (SI) method and third order Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Input (ARX) has been chosen as a model structure. Matlab/Simulink has been utilized as the platform and the performance of the controller using both observers have been validated in simulation and real-time experiment. The comparison has been made to identify which observers are more efficient by taking into account the value of Steady State Error (Sse), Percentage of Overshoot (%Os), Settling Time (Ts) and Rise Time (Tr). Real-time experiment results show that the strategy using reduced-order observer is more efficient because this strategy can reduce more Sse

Development of Nonlinear Adaptive PI Controller For Improved Pneumatic Actuator System

The wide application of pneumatic actuator in electrical and electronics sectors are undeniable hence ask for a good control environment. PID controller is always known with easy implementation and good control performance. But the limitation of the PID static gains to effectively control the complex nonlinear system is unavoidable. This suggests the enhancement of the PI controller with a nonlinear adaptive interaction algorithm (AIA). The modification is introduced by integrating a nonlinear gain function that adaptively tunes the AIA parameter, hence resulting the best tuning of the PI control gains. The uncertainties and nonlinearities inherent in the system parameters are believed to be handled by the integration, therefore improving the controller performances while maintaining the pneumatic actuator at the desired position. It was proved that improved error performance criteria’s, settling time and overshoot were resulted by the nonlinear AIA PI compared to fix AIA PI. Besides, the nonlinear AIA PI has successfully reduced the overshoot to 5.35% and 6.70% compared to optimal AIA PI and optimal PI controller, respectively. To conclude, the development of the proposed controller is demonstrated to function well and offers an alternative tuning strategy in other electronical and electronic engineering applications

Development of Nonlinear Adaptive PI Controller For Improved Pneumatic Actuator System

The wide application of pneumatic actuator in electrical and electronics sectors are undeniable hence ask for a good control environment. PID controller is always known with easy implementation and good control performance. But the limitation of the PID static gains to effectively control the complex nonlinear system is unavoidable. This suggests the enhancement of the PI controller with a nonlinear adaptive interaction algorithm (AIA). The modification is introduced by integrating a nonlinear gain function that adaptively tunes the AIA parameter, hence resulting the best tuning of the PI control gains. The uncertainties and nonlinearities inherent in the system parameters are believed to be handled by the integration, therefore improving the controller performances while maintaining the pneumatic actuator at the desired position. It was proved that improved error performance criteria’s, settling time and overshoot were resulted by the nonlinear AIA PI compared to fix AIA PI. Besides, the nonlinear AIA PI has successfully reduced the overshoot to 5.35% and 6.70% compared to optimal AIA PI and optimal PI controller, respectively. To conclude, the development of the proposed controller is demonstrated to function well and offers an alternative tuning strategy in other electronical and electronic engineering applications

LANGUAGE AND POLITICS: CONOTATIVE MEANING ANALYSIS OF “SYAIR PELEMBAGAAN NEGERI BRUNEI” FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF LEADERSHIP CHARACTERISTIC OF MUDA OMAR ALI SAIFUDDIEN

The creativity of a writer in a literary work mainly involves aspects of language and it is also a platform to widen its political matters. In Brunei Darussalam, Syair Perlembagaan Negeri Brunei (SPNB) (the Brunei State Constitution Syair) by Muda Omar Ali Saifuddien (MOAS) is one of the greatest literary works in the history of the 1959 Constitution. Distinctly, the language used in the couplet poems of SPNB was displayed gracefully with a meaning which the writer intended to convey. Hence, this study aims to explore the semantic aspects of interpreting the meaning of the word that implies both explicit and implicit meanings (connotative). Through literature and analysis methods, this study is also refering to an informant in order to explain the basic meaning of the word. Besides, Teori Segi Tiga Makna Semiotik Charles Sanders Pierce (1931–58) was applied in interpreting implicit meanings. The observed word was derived after identifying six prominent characteristics of leaders and political leadership of MOAS. Those characteristics were selected based on the elaboration by Nik Mustapha Nik Hassan (2013). The study found six political leadership characteristics of MOAS. The characteristics are concern for people’s welfare, prioritization of religious affairs, just and wise, emphasis on knowledge, emphasis on prosperity and security and visionary.  In the meantime, at least one conotated word was applied in couplet poetry of SPNB. However, in analyzing the characteristic of a leader who prioritised the religious affairs, it was found that MOAS did not exert a word with explicit meaning. MOAS did also specify the meaning of a conotated word under the category of a just and wise leader. The analysis of the meaning of the word had reflected that MOAS had more than six characteristics that had been discussed as his legacy to stabilise the country, so that the welfare of its people will always be preserved

Stopwatch Verification Platform The Development Of An Automated Device For Stopwatch Calibration

Stopwatch is designed to quantify the elapses time between the start activation and deactivation. To ensure the precision of the time taken, calibration of the device is essential. National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST) has provide complete guidelines on the stopwatch and timer calibration. However, the standards guidelines usually use manual calibration personnel hence may possibly cause inefficiency for calibration works. The 'Stopwatch Verification Platform' is a prototype aimed to replace the manual handling of digital stopwatch calibration with an automated timer-controlled device, without interfering with NIST recommended practice. The 'Stopwatch Verification Platform' is able to automatically trigger start and stop the reference and test stopwatches by integrating with precise timer controller and specific relay connections. The timer controller circuitry is integrated with the reference stopwatch circuitry, with 0.001 second resolutionIt is capable in verifying more units of stopwatches by using one reference. The measurement procedures do not contradict with the NIST recommended practice. This prototype does not alter the uncertainties calculation because it is a well-developed standard formula which is set by international standard