Depth estimation of inner wall defects by means of infrared thermography

There two common methods dealing with interpreting data from infrared thermography: qualitatively and quantitatively. On a certain condition, the first method would be sufficient, but for an accurate interpretation, one should undergo the second one. This report proposes a method to estimate the defect depth quantitatively at an inner wall of petrochemical furnace wall. Finite element method (FEM) is used to model multilayer walls and to simulate temperature distribution due to the existence of the defect. Five informative parameters are proposed for depth estimation purpose. These parameters are the maximum temperature over the defect area (Tmax-def), the average temperature at the right edge of the defect (Tavg-right), the average temperature at the left edge of the defect (Tavg-left), the average temperature at the top edge of the defect (Tavg-top), and the average temperature over the sound area (Tavg-so). Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was trained with these parameters for estimating the defect depth. Two ANN architectures, Multi Layer Perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function (RBF) network were trained for various defect depths. ANNs were used to estimate the controlled and testing data. The result shows that 100% accuracy of depth estimation was achieved for the controlled data. For the testing data, the accuracy was above 90% for the MLP network and above 80% for the RBF network. The results showed that the proposed informative parameters are useful for the estimation of defect depth and it is also clear that ANN can be used for quantitative interpretation of thermography data

Adaptive thresholding in dynamic scene analysis for extraction of fine line

This paper presents an adaptive threshold method whereby a fine thin line of one-pixel width lines could be detected in a gray level images. The proposed method uses the percentage difference between the mean of the pixels within a window and the center pixel. The minimum threshold value however is heuristically set to 32. If the percentage difference is greater than 40% then the threshold value will be set to the difference value. This method has been applied in detecting moving objects with fine lines and the results showed that the method was able to pickup straight thin edges that belong to the moving objec

Reka bentuk dan prestasi peranti pemeteran penabur terus biji benih padi

Satu bentuk pemeteran benih padi telah direkabentuk untuk meletakkan padi pracambah dalam jumlah yang terbaik untuk menghasilkan pertumbuhan pokok padi yang sihat. Dimensi, sifat semulajadi dan betuk benih telah diambilkira semasa mereka bentuk komponen-komponen peranti pemeteran ini. Pengukuran dimensi benih padi serta kesesuaian bahan adalah berasaskan benih padi dari variety MR220. Peranti pemeteran yang dihasilkan telah diuji di dalam dan luar makmal dengan mengenakan beberapa faktor luaran yang boleh mempengaruhi prestasi dan perlakuan alat tersebut. Faktor luaran yang dikenakan kepada anak benih adalah kelembapan benih padi, kelajuan tolakan angin dan kelajuan pusingan peranti. Selain dari itu peranti juga diuji secara manual dan juga dengan traktor di tapak sawah kering. Dari keseluruhan pengujian yang dibuat, dapat dikatakan bahawa prestasi peranti pemeteran sangat dipengaruhi oleh kelembapan biji benih padi. Benih padi dalam keadaan kering amat mudah melungsur keluar dari unit permeteran tersebut tetapi benih padi basah amat sukar di lepaskan dan penggunaan hembusan udara berterusan ke dalam takung benih dapat mengatasi masalah tersebut. Pada keadaan kering, purata jumlah benih padi yang dilepaskan dari unit pemeteran tersebut adalah sebanyak 5 butir dalam satu longgokkan. Pengujian dengan benih padi dalam keadaan lembap dibantu denga hembusan angin pula menghasilkan purata sejatuhan sebanyak 3 butir. Selain dari itu peranti pemeteran tersebut dapat memberikan purata jarak jatuhan benih sejauh 22sm pada semua keadaan ujikaji

Effects of Terms of Trade and its Volatility on Economic Growth: A Cross Country Empirical Investigation

This study examines the effects of terms of trade and its volatility on economic growth for a sample of 94 developed and developing countries, using five year average annual data from 2004 to 2008. The cross country ordinary least square estimation results indicate significant positive effect of terms of trade on economic growth. Furthermore, volatility of terms of trade has significant positive effect on economic growth. To test the robustness of initial results, sensitivity analysis has been performed using different additional variables, sample size and various proxies of volatility variable. The initial results were found robust despite the inclusion of various variables in the basic model and use of various proxies for volatility of terms of trade.Terms of trade, Volatility, Economic Growth

Study On Factors Influencing Internal Auditors Of Glc Companies To Whistleblow

‘Whistle blowing’ atau dalam erti kata lain ‘meniup wisel’ adalah satu tindakan untuk mendedahkan perbuatan yang tidak beretika. Whistle blowing is an action to expose an unethical behaviour

Structural performance of expanded polystyrene lightweight concrete (EPS - LWC) wall panel with square opening / Syed Nurfahmi Effendi Syed Abdul Malik

The load bearing wall is common construction for tall building. The lightweight expanded polystyrene wall panel was establishing in this study in order to develop as the load bearing wall. This study provide the expanded polystyrene lightweight concrete (EPS - LWC ) wall panel with square opening at the centre of wall panel. The objective of this study is to determine the ultimate axial load and maximum deflection of expanded polystyrene light weight concrete (EPS - LWC) wall panel. At the same time, this study also to evaluate crack behaviour of expanded polystyrene light weight concrete (EPS - LWC) wall panel with square opening. The material using to establish lightweight concrete wall panel are steel fibre and expanded polystyrene beads. The using of steel fiber is to minimize the major and minor crack around the opening. For the expanded polystyrene beads (EPS), it’s using to replace the coarse and fine aggregate to ensure the lightweight wall panel is establish. In this study were conducted two samples which are EPS - LWC wall panel with and without opening. The sample of EPS - LWC wall panel without opening is a control sample to compare with EPS - LWC wall panel with square opening. The result further confirm that the ultimate load of EPS - LWC without opening was 771 kN higher than EPS - LWC with square opening which is 428 kN. The deflection profile was not compliance the Euler’s rule because the wall was experience the maximum deflection at 1350 mm from the base of wall panel

Learning Style among Multi-Ethnic Students in Four Selected Tertiary Institutions in the Klang Valley

Learning style is affected by individual differences such as gender, academic and cultural background (Hyland, 1993). However ethnicity is indicated to be the main factor in influencing learning styles (Park, 2000 and Ewing, 1993). In relation to the above statements, Malaysia, a multiracial country provides a rich source of information in finding the relationship between ethnicity and learning styles. Although the three major races, the Malays, Chinese and Indians, are given equal opportunities to further their studies in the institutions of higher learning in the country they were brought up in different cultural backgrounds that influenced the development of their own style of learning. This study examined the learning styles of multi-ethnic students’ in four selected universities in Klang Valley in terms of gender, program of studies and academic achievement levels. Using a modified Honey and Mumford learning Style Questionnaire, 291 valid responses from two public and private universities were subjected to further quantitative analyses of the study. The result of the descriptive analyses revealed that the multi-ethnic students exhibited all the four learning styles that were Activist, Reflector, Theorist and Pragmatist style. Reflector style was found to be the most preferred learning style by the multi-ethnic students while the Activist style was the least preferred. The male and female students demonstrated different patterns of learning styles even though the Reflector style was the most preferred style of both genders. The arts and science students seemed to exhibit similar patterns of learning styles except for the Malay students. The students from IPTA and IPTS too demonstrated similar pattern of learning styles. However the result of Chi-Square Test showed that there was no significant difference in the learning styles among ethnicity, between genders and program of studies. Similarly, the ANOVA did not show any significant difference in the academic achievement among students with different learning styles. Based on the results, five conclusions are made. First, the result of the study is congruent with the learning style theories by Kirton (De Ciantis and Kirton, 1999), Kolb (1984), and Honey and Mumford (1986). Second, The Malay,Chinese and Indian are considered as all-rounder learners. Third, the learning styles have no relationship with academic achievement. Fourth, ethnicity has no bearing on learning styles among multi ethnic tertiary students. Finally, the learning styles are not significantly different between male and female students, and between science and arts students. The study has contributed new knowledge in the literature of learning styles especially the one based on Malaysian context. Besides providing more insight in understanding multi-ethnic students’ learning styles, the study also provides recommendations for higher institutions in Malaysia, providers of extension education and also creates the need for further research in this area

Evaluating the Health Effects of Micro Health Insurance Placement: Evidence from Bangladesh

We examine the impact of micro health insurance placement on health awareness, healthcare utilization and health status of microcredit members in rural Bangladesh, using data from 329 households in the operating areas of Grameen Bank. The results are based on econometric analysis conditioned on placement of the scheme, and show that placement has a positive association with all of the outcomes. The results are statistically significant for health awareness and healthcare utilization, but not for heath status. Our study makes an important contribution to the literature as it provides evidence on the impact of MHI on a broad set of health outcomes.Microcredit, Micro Health Insurance, Grameen Bank, Bangladesh

Vision Based Multi Sensor Feedback System For Robot System With Intelligent

This research studies the machine vision system and how it may be integrated to assist a robot system with artificial intelligent (Al). This research focuses on building a vision based feedback system for robotics application that consists of image processor and two vision-based sensor devices. A robot manipulator controller will drive a single arm industrial robot according to the input from vision system. The feedback system also feeds the Artificial Intelligent program necessary information to make the right decision, which is based on rules of a popular game, Tic-Tac-Toe. One of the advantages of this research is that it only uses a low resolution camera and image processing software generated by the algorithms itself without additional sensors such as sonar or IR sensor. This research developed an improved technique for object recognition and space occupancies determination which not affected by the orientation of the subject. This project also implements colored object recognition technique using its color and size without edge detection process along with a self-calibration technique for detecting object location without any parameter of the camera by using only two reference points. Finally, a set of experiments to validate the proposed algorithms has been conducted. The algorithms function with success rate from 74% up to 100% and could handle the orientation of a tilted object up to 45 degrees. The result from this research may be used in manufacturing plant for a robot system equipped with machine vision and artificial intelligent

Health Insurance for Government Employees in Bangladesh: A Concept Paper

Introducing compulsory health insurance for government employees bears immense importance for stepping towards universal healthcare coverage in Bangladesh. Lack of scientific study on designing such scheme, in the Bangladesh context, motivates this paper. The study aims at designing a comprehensive insurance package simultaneously covering health, life and accident related disability risks of the public employees, where the health component would extend to all dependent family members. We mainly analyzed, due to lack of data on the target population for actuarial calculation, the MIS data of group health insurance schemes (offered to various corporate houses) of some reputed insurance companies in Bangladesh. In addition, we consulted with various stakeholders including insurance companies and Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority. Our predicted loading costs including inflationary factor ranges from 10-15 percent. We have outlined the structure of a contributory and cashless health insurance scheme for the public servants and their eligible family members initially for a block period of 5 years. This offers a comprehensive list of surgical and no-surgical inpatient care (including complicated maternal care) available in the public hospitals and empanelled private hospitals. The coverage includes pre-existing illnesses, but excludes dental and ophthalmic care. The scheme offers a benefit of 5 Lakh Taka for covering all medical costs (excluding transport charges) of inpatient care for a block period of 5 years and 5 Lakh Taka for death benefit. The estimated premium is 500 Taka per month (400 Taka per month for health insurance and 100 Taka per month for life and accident related disability insurance).The hospitalization benefit is on a floater basis i.e. the total coverage can be availed of individually or collectively by the employees and their eligible family members during the said block period with no restriction on the number of times of availing. Subscription may be deducted from salary or medical allowance. If the spouse is also a government employee then subscription may be deducted from one of them. Some infrastructural constraints need to be addressed while introducing the scheme. These, for example, are capacity constraints of public hospitals; lack of provision of local fund in the public hospitals for regular maintenance of medical equipment and continuous supply of reagents for diagnostic tests to smoothen the services and increasing quality of care; provision of sufficient amount of all necessary drugs in the public hospitals; lack of an effective referral chain in the public hospitals; capacity constraints of the existing insurance companies; and lack of third party administrator (TPA). Establishing a powerful autonomous body is also crucial, due to capacity constraints of the existing insurance companies, to carry the risk of such a big pool of population. The main role of this body is to manage insurance fund, carry the risk and to monitor and supervise the health services to be provided under the scheme. The role of the insurance companies may be limited to claim settlement, issuing of smart card, etc