Volume 35 (06) November 2023

Current advancements in sensor networks are crucial for environmental remediation. The Internet of Things (IoT) connects numerous devices that may share and collect data. IoT expands its capabilities to include environmental concerns in addition to the automation sector by utilizing industry 4.0. Polluted water has emerged as one of the most serious dangers in latest days since drinking water has been contaminated and polluted. Contaminated water may trigger a variety of illnesses in humans and animals, affecting the ecosystem’s life cycle. This means, there is an increased demand for water which might affect the available sources of water at large. Therefore, effective management and monitoring of available resources of water is the need of the hour. This review paper includes the use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology for physical parameters of the water monitoring systems to manage and save scarce water resources. The traditional method to monitor water quality and quantity has been a quite difficult task involving a large amount of labour and cash. But the IoT application slashes human involvement and most of the procedural decisions are made by algorithms. Thus, smart methods for investigating water contamination are becoming increasingly significant with advancements in sensors, communication, and IoT technologies. A water monitoring system (WMS) is a low-cost and feasible system that uses IoT technology to analyse the quality of drinking water. use of IoT tools for water monitoring will be a step in the right direction. Even though there are many great technological advancements for the surveillance of water quality, the research field is still challenging. This article aims to unveil the recent research for developing intelligent, energy-efficient, and highly effective water monitoring systems that will allow for continuous monitoring of water in less privileged areas of Pakistan. This article will assist researchers and administrative organizations in starting pertinent investigations of water in rural areas by utilizing a WMS.

Keywords : Internet of Things (IoT), Water Monitoring, Sensors Used for Water Monitoring

In this study, the effect of bentonite (BT) and dolomite (DT) on the mechanical and microstructural properties of concrete was evaluated on nine mixes. Cement was replaced with bentonite and dolomite by weight with varying mix ratios. The mixes are divided as M1 (Control mix), M2 (2.5% BT), M3 (2.5% DT), M4 (5% BT), M5 (5% DT), M6 (10% BT), M7 (10% DT), M8 (2.5% BT and 2.5% DT), and M9 (5% BT and 5% DT). Concrete specimens were subjected to mechanical and microstructural analysis tests. Mechanical test results show that the addition of bentonite (2.5%, 5%, and 10% ) leads to an increase in compressive strength (6.31%, 8.94%, and 13.15%) respectively. Similarly, the addition of 2.5% and 5% dolomite enhanced compressive strength by 10.52%, and 8.94% respectively, however, the addition of 10% dolomite reduced compressive strength by 6.8%. Replacement of cement with dolomite and bentonite individually also showed a small contribution to flexural and split tensile strength. Microstructural analysis shows that the addition of bentonite and dolomite filled the microstructure and refined the internal pores contributing to compressive strength. In addition, the replacement of cement with bentonite and dolomite enhanced the formation of CSH gel.

Keywords: Bentonite; dolomite; mechanical properties; microstructural analysis

The rate of urbanisation is increasing in Pakistan as it develops. The connection to nature, however, is receding in urban settings as the country grows. Apartment buildings have been recognized as a characteristic type of urban housing due to the increasing intensity of land use in urban areas. In Hyderabad, one of the neglected aspects of urban living is the neglect of window design, orientation, and view through the window in apartment buildings. Windows are the primary means of communication between the inside and outside of the building. This paper highlights the significance of window views in urban setting in relation to sustainable development. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the effect of window views on apartment dwellers in Hyderabad and how it affects the sustainability of a building. The case studies were conducted on apartments in Qasimabad, along with a questionnaire survey based on the residents’ preferences for window views and how the existing setting affects their behavior. After analyzing literature, conducting case studies, and completing a survey questionnaire, results suggest that window views promote pleasant emotions, productivity, health, and well-being, which contribute to a sustainable development.

Keywords: Urban Dwelling, Window Views, Built Environment, Visual Comfort, Well-being and Sustainable Urban Living.

Bitumen is a widely used road infrastructure material exhibiting black color and sticky consistency and is known for its versatile use and thermoplastic nature. In recent years, predicting road life has been arduous due to increasing traffic, global warming, and ever-changing stresses on pavements. Meanwhile, a large amount of waste engine oil (WEO) and vehicle tyres from various automobiles is disposed of into the atmosphere as hazardous waste. Relatedly, heavy metals and the huge capital involved in the sustainable treatment of these materials have been challenging. Therefore, this study aims to analyze modified bitumen using (WEO) in combination with waste crumb tyre rubber (CTR), thus reducing virgin bitumen (VB) use and making bitumen a sustainable material. During the characterization of modified bitumen, the following WEO concentrations were utilized: 3%, 5%, 7%, and 9%, and the following CTR concentrations: 5%, 7%, 9%, 12%, and 15%. The properties of modified and virgin bitumen were compared. It has been found that the blend of 5% CTR and 9% WEO exhibit the highest penetration value and the lowest softening temperature of all the samples examined. As a result, this mixture can be used to reduce the excessive brittleness of bitumen to a greater extent. Moreover, the flash and fire point values have increased after modification, while the ductility and specific gravity values have decreased. In summary, the modified bitumen has shown promising results regarding physical changes in bitumen.

Keywords: Modified bitumen; crumb tyre rubber; waste engine oil; physical properties; sustainability

Tapered wing shape of a planform wing is still widely used amongst airplane and UAVs with subsonic speed. In the design process, a good consideration for a good taper ratio of a wing is required to obtain the optimal and distribution for the desired function of an aircraft. Additionally, addition of expansion segment on wing planform shape is often used to increase the performance of wings without the increase of wingspan. Several methods to analyze a wing shape are experimentation, computational luid dynamics, and analytical calculation. Analyzing with analytical calculation will present limited, but accurate outcomes due to the assumptions that are made during the calculation. This method, however, is inexpensive. This is why analytical calculation is still a common method to use in the design process of an aircraft, particularly in the early phase. Five variants of taper ratio and 3 variants that with expansion segment is analyzed using the Lifting Line Theory that utilizes Fourier series at subsonic speed. The results are the values of and with respect to and the distribution of and along the wingspan. Increasing the taper ratio results in the decrease of and the increase of , while adding an expansion segment will give results that are dependent on the added segment’s taper ratio.

Keywords: Lifting Line Theory; taper ratio; expansion segment

In order to further reduce oil dependence and world pollution, there’s growing interest in embedding batteries such as Li-Po batteries within vehicle components. The implementation of structural batteries is believed to be the next promising approach for next-generation hybrid and electric vehicles. The proposed research is devoted to the uncertainty analysis of structural battery behavior under various parameters. To help with the analysis, a dedicated algorithm based on an elimination approach to solve numerical problems with uncertain parameters is successfully developed using Visual Basic. The Constant Strain Triangle element with linear elastic behavior is used as a structural model to simplify the model. Uncertainty of the material properties and loading are modeled as Fuzzy Random Variables. In evaluating the influence of the uncertainty parameters, Interval Monte Carlo Simulation and the interval finite element method are used to compute the bounds of the structure behavior. Simulation results between the Interval Monte Carlo and Deterministic are compared to evaluate the significance of the uncertainty factor influences. It is shown that the structural batteries that can be considered safe based on deterministic parameters may be unsafe if the uncertainty parameters are considered. The proposed approach could detect the results that are not necessarily detected through deterministic means. By producing a broader result, further prevention and consideration can be made to avoid catastrophic events.

Keywords: Ergonomics, musculoskeletal disorders, ergonomic posture assessment, RULA, REBA, welding practical work

Biocomposite is a combination of natural reinforcement and natural matrix material consisting of kenaf reinforced with polylactic acid (PLA), where its mechanical properties will be affected when exposed to heat. This research investigates the effect of exposure of biocomposites to different temperatures on the mechanical properties of biocomposites, consisting of tensile and flexural properties. Before producing the sample, kenaf in the form of one-way yarn is conditioned with 40% RH humidity, and then the sample is produced using hot compression molding techniques by combining kenaf with PLA. Tensile and bending tests carried out in a heating chamber with the heat were studied using a Universal Testing Machine (UTM). The choice of heat temperature depends on the glass transition temperature of polylactic acid, where the study temperature ranges from 25 ^oC to 65 ^oC. From the results of the study, it was found that the maximum bending strength and modulus (117 MPa, 5.8 GPa) and the maximum tensile strength and modulus (59 MPa, 3.2 GPa) were both obtained at low temperatures (25 ^oC). While the modulus value decreases significantly at 55 ^oC, the tensile and flexural properties both show a steady decrease with increasing temperature. Therefore, the presence of temperature has a significant effect on the tensile and flexural properties of kenaf-reinforced PLA biocomposites. When it is exposed to high temperatures, the mechanical quality deteriorates, and the risk of failure increases. Failure is caused by poor reinforcement and matrix bonding caused by the degradation of natural fiber properties of kenaf and the level of PLA plastic deformation.

Keywords: Biocomposite; kenaf; polylactic acid; tensile properties; flexural properties

In additive manufacturing, polymer composites are often produced by using fuse deposition modeling (FDM) methods which usually have a clear effect on layer by layer due to incomplete bonding once it is been printed. FDM is one of the widely used 3D printing technology due to its fast printing speed and affordable cost. The mechanical characteristics of composite printed using the FDM technology are affected by the printing parameters of the FDM machine. The mechanical and tensile characteristics of polymer printed using FDM technology are also affected when it is exposed to high temperature. Therefore, this study is to identify the effect of high temperature towards the mechanical performance and tensile characteristics of FDM printed with 2 different printing temperature . A total of 18 samples with 2 different printing temperatures, are tested through a tensile test at temperature of 190°C, 200°C, and 210°C, scanning electron microscope (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA).

Keywords : 3d-printing; FDM; PACF; TGA; tensile

The Green Sand-casting technique is a very ancient method of casting that has many different uses. The increased rate of errors and rejection in this process is a key drawback that reduces output and profits. It’s challenging to develop a good link between the many different parameters and defects since the process is so complicated. This article describes a hybrid approach to find the co-relation for sand casting process’s variables. This approach mixes the Taguchi method (TM) with Grey Relational Analysis (GRA) paired with Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Moisture content, Permeability, Loss of Ignition, Pouring Time & Pouring Temperature selected as input parameters while types of defects (Shrinkage, Blow holes, Cracks, Porosity) as responses for proposed study. The L27 OA from Taguchi is used to plan the tests. TM implemented to analyse individual responses. GRA is applied to find optimal solutions for a set of replies, whereas PCA is used to determine how much weight each response should be given. Using proposed methodology, 4% moisture content, 160% permeability, 5% loss of ignition, 60 seconds of pouring time, and 1400°C found as optimum set of parameters. The findings demonstrate that the hybrid approach, which makes use of both a cost-effective and efficient experimental design strategy, was successful in resolving the complexity trade-off experienced throughout the judgment process of multi-response optimization.

Keywords: Green sand-casting; process parameters; TM; GRA; PCA

There are numerous parking supervision and random booking procedures that regulate parking operations. Travel time to the parking slot and walking time inside the terminus can still be dropped if the parker can book a precise parking spot instead of an arbitrary one. This is achieved by our proposal, called sPark which is an app-based parking method that includes indoor navigation facility i.e., an app for parking with indoor navigation facility. sPark’s sharing system will rapidly book the optimal parking slots for parkers and advise them on the best feasible entrances for practice. Also, parkers will find the briefest path to their target using our proposed app’s navigation technique, saving them a lot of time roaming to the building. Different parking methods like sPark (our proposed), non-directed and directed methods (existing) are designed and assessed. The designed and assessed simulation outcomes of sPark indicate an important decrease in the overall driving time by 30% to 60% as compared to the non-directed method which is an existing method. Additionally, the resource sharing module in our scheme i.e., an app for parking with indoor navigation facility called sPark has revealed a 9.99% decrease in driving time in comparison to directed methods (existing) that feature interior cruising and direction only.

Keywords: Smart driving; parking lot; sPark; radio frequency identification; MySQL database

Stroke is a major cause of disability worldwide that affects many people every year. Stroke rehabilitation is a process that helps stroke patients regain their lost function and improve their quality of life. However, the recovery process varies widely depending on the severity of stroke and other factors such as age, health and type of stroke. Many elderly patients face difficulties in attending rehabilitation centers due to various factors such as cost, distance and congestion. Therefore, this paper proposes methods to help stroke patients do rehabilitation exercises at home using the latest technology. Our project consists of interactive exercises that are customized to the skill level of the patients, hardware sensor inputs that can measure the strength of the hand movement of the patients, embedded processing board with camera that can detect and guide the movement of the patients and machine learning using convolutional neural network (CNN) that can analyze the movement data and provide feedback and motivation to the patients. The effectiveness of the proposed system is evaluated by the improvements in patients’ conditions through pre- and post-exercise tests. Overall, our kinesthetic augmented kinematic inferencing methods appear to be more effective than conventional methods for post-stroke rehabilitation. This project demonstrates a promising solution to enhance stroke rehabilitation, recovery and quality of life.

Keywords: Machine learning; interactive exercises; convolution neural network; artificial intelligence

This paper presents the performance analysis of an 6/4 3-phase switched reluctance motor in terms of current, flux, torque and speed. When the speed of the motor is low the current rises quickly. If the speed is large the increase in current is low. In low-speed region, the current can be controlled by using chop/hysteresis current control mode. In this mode a voltage of +Vdc and -Vdc is applied in such way the current is limited to a band. The bands can design around the reference value of current. The upper and lower bands can be designed based on the reference current. After the base speed we have to maintain current, current can’t increase quickly because speed becomes large, so in this region instead of keeping current constant the power is to be considered constant. When the speed is large this mode is not preferable. So still we have to maintain the power current has to build up, so we switch little earlier that angle is called advance angle. Angle by which voltage application is advanced that angle is the advance angle. The advance angle control can be used in such way that the current increase will happen in the lower inductance region only. The advancing of angle can be increased up to certain angles only i.e up to the lower value of inductance minimum point. The simulation has been carried out for 6/4 3-phase switched reluctance motor using MATLAB/ Simulink by applying closed loop current control technique. The detailed control of SRM for different speed modes has been carried out and the analysis of results demonstrated.

Keywords: Switched reluctance motor; aligned inductance; chop mode; electromyography

Desertification and industrial pollution environment can significantly degrade photovoltaic cells performance. Accumulated dust on the surface of a photovoltaic module can partially hinder incident light and consequently degrade optical to electrical energy conversion. Dust properties play a major role in deteriorating solar system performance. Thus, this paper presents extensive investigations on the UV- absorbance, light transmittance and reflectance through an accumulated dust layer. Dust characterization; focusing on its spectral and crystallographic properties of three types of dust (Graphene, Silica, and natural), was carried out to evaluate the degradation rate of the output power for three types of solar PV modules (monocrystalline, polycrystalline, and thin-film). Spectrophotometric analysis was conducted to determine UV light absorbance and light transmittance through the three types of dust. X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) tests were conducted to evaluate the effect of dust crystallinity on light reflectance. A lab-scale setup was used to examine the performances of the three solar PV modules under clean and polluted conditions. Results indicated that Graphene dust exhibits severe UV light absorbance, and its crystalline form increases light reflectance from the surfaces of the modules. However, Silica and natural dust showed a little UV absorbance. Among the three types of the solar PV modules, thin-film panel showed the highest degradation under polluted conditions as compared to the other modules. Therefore, thin film solar module is not recommended for areas with high density of dust.

Keywords: Photovoltaic system; dust effect on PV cell; dust characteristics; dust deposition rate

The interaction of a liquid with the surrounding air produces unstable waves that disintegrate the liquid into droplets, which is known as liquid atomization. The common internal flow of a liquid atomization nozzle experiences a single-phase flow but might turn into a multiphase flow with the existence of cavitation. Cavitation in internal flow has gotten a lot of attention because of the positive and negative consequences it can have depending on the application. One such advantageous result is that cavitation has been used to promote the atomization of liquid jets by causing gas bubbles in the atmosphere to collapse. Most of the past research on cavitation has focused on the exit orifice’s constant cross-section area. The current study investigates the effect of throat location and geometry on cavitation characteristics. Filtered water was used as the simulation fluid. The high-speed shadowgraph technique was applied to record the images of the internal flow patterns. The placement of the throat was discovered to have a substantial impact on the status of the cavitation. Cavitation began at the inlet of the throat when the throat was placed at the uppermost part of the exit orifice. However, when the throat is placed in the middle of the exit orifice, the cavitation begins at the end of the throat. Four cavitation regimes were identified, namely developing, mixed, super and sudden expansion cavitation. Furthermore, it was found that the discharge coefficient depends on the cavitation’s state and length, except when the cavitation is in the supercavitation regime.

Keywords: Cavitation; atomization; discharge coefficient; cavitation length; shadowgraph

This paper presents a case study of an existing slope at Taman Kelab Ukay, Ampang, Selangor. A potential slope failure is predicted as the nearby surrounded slope failed due to low self-retaining strength caused by prolonged and intense rainfall. The slope stability is analyzed by the Limit Equilibrium Method (LEM) using Geo-Studio 2018 (SLOPE/W) software to investigate the slope’s Factor of Safety (FOS). The slope stability analysis confirms that the existing slope only provides the FOS of 1.028, which does not meet the minimum FOS of 1.30 of JKR Guidelines for Slope Design (2010) for untreated slope. The slope is subsequently re-analyzed as a treated slope, and the proposed remedial actions are soil nailing and geotextiles. As a result, the soil nailing and geotextiles achieve a minimum FOS of 1.50 for treated slope, with values of 1.899 and 1.845, respectively. For remedial work, soil nailing is recommended to be employed at the slope since the method is commonly used in the construction industry as it offers an inexpensive and uncomplicated installation technique. The sufficient soil nailing design characteristics proposed for the slope is three (3) bars of 7 meters length of soil nails at a 25° inclination angle. Soil nailing is a reliable and cost-effective method for slope stabilization and remedial work due to its ability to provide a durable, long-term solution for slopes that are prone to instability, erosion and landslides.

Keywords: Slope stability; SLOPE/W software; factor of safety (FOS); soil nailing; geotextiles

Deterioration of geo-environmental quality caused by the heavy metal in contaminated soil leads to changes in physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of soil. It is important to study the effect of contamination of the geotechnical properties of soil. The main aim of this research is to study the impact of lead and incubation time on polluted soil compressibility. The soil samples were got from Kaolin Malaysia Sdn Bhd in Tapah Perak. The soil samples were spiked with two concentrations of lead nitrate (1000 mg/kg and 2000 mg/kg), and were incubated for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. The contaminated samples were created using a mixture of distilled water and lead nitrate. The physical, mechanical, and chemical properties of control and contaminated samples were assessed to analyse the effect of lead nitrate on these properties. Lead nitrate causes the increasing of plastic limit and liquid limit, reduction of maximum dry density and optimum moisture content. In addition, the unconfined compressive strength was decreased by 4.2% for 1000mg/kg while 24.3% with 200 mg/kg. This is with increasing concentration of lead nitrate as well as incubation period. Collapsibility increases with increased concentration of lead nitrate and time of incubation due to increased compressibility capacity. The important thing about this study is to provide a database for the future development of the site area contaminated with heavy metals such as landfill, landfill, agriculture and industry.

Keywords: Lead; heavy metal; contaminated soil; spiked soil; strength

The problem of foreign worker is currently increasing due to many factors and has necessitated a comprehensive study to identify the critical factor that leads to the failure of construction projects. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the performance of foreign labour so that the foreign worker can be trained and educated. Methodologically, a total of 68 questionnaires were distributed to respondents at construction sites in four districts of Johor Bahru, Kota Tinggi, Kulai and Pontian in Johor. The selected site was based on the study location, population, design criteria, sample size, sampling frame, sampling method and data collection method. The survey consisted of two sections, Sections A and B. Section A deals with the demographic profile of the respondents. Section B deals with the main factors affecting performance. The data was then analysed using descriptive analysis to determine the mean of the responses. The results show that inadequate health and safety awareness at the worksite is the most important factor affecting the performance of foreign workers. The results also show that the most negative influence of foreign workers is on the construction project. Therefore, the company needs to spend more resources on training the foreign workers. To overcome the problems, the company needs to set and pursue goals to improve the skills of the worker force. This factor is overcome through various strategies such as training foreign labours, monitoring their performance, communicating regularly with the workers and pursuing goals to improve the skills of the workers. The findings of this study can therefore be used to train and educate the foreign worker to perform better in construction projects, especially in heavily populated areas.

Keywords: Foreign worker; construction project; negative impact; cronbach’s alpha; heavily populated area

Precast concrete buildings in Industrialised Building Systems (IBS) are constructed of multiple pieces of structural members joined together using a variety of methods. The use of precast concrete wall panels has become increasingly popular in modern construction practices. One critical aspect of precast concrete wall panels is their connection to the adjacent walls. Various of wall-to-wall connections have been used in the IBS based construction. However, for non-load bearing application, the use of dapped connections for precast wall made with recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) is still limited and unexplored. This study aims to evaluate the structural performance of horizontally light reinforced dapped (HLRD) connections for precast wall panels made with RCA. The investigation includes experimental testing that includes three pair of specimens subjected to uniformly distributed monotonic loading to evaluate their strength capacity, strain, and deflection behaviour as well as the resulting crack propagation throughout the test. The connection displays brittle behaviour by developing a few line cracks and having a significant deflection before failure. The findings of this study will contribute to a better understanding of the behavior of HLRD connections and provide preliminary guidance for their design in precast concrete wall panels.

Keywords: Dapped connection; industrialised building system; precast wall panel; recycled concrete aggregate; Strength Compressive Test; uniform distributed load

Bitumen is a hydrocarbon material which can be largely obtained from crude petroleum distillation. It used widely in flexible pavement construction as a binder that binds the aggregate. Flexible pavements make up around 95% of the pavement in entire world. The quality of the materials used in the flexible pavement is essential for its performance. The modification of bituminous binders using modifiers is applied to improve the quality and properties of bitumen. Due to the limitation of crude oil, higher price, and impact of bitumen on the environment, an efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly modifier for the modification of bituminous binders is vital in road industry. This paper aims to provides a review and propose the waste materials that can be used as modifier or bitumen extender. Among these waste materials, silicon, rubber, cooking oil (mix with other modifiers) lignin and calcium lignosulfonate shown a promising results as bitumen extender. Furthermore, the cost analysis of the modified bituminous binders was also look upon. The findings from this study recommend lignin among the extender being compared. Lignin can be mixed directly in the bitumen with a minimal process involved. Moreover, lignin is a biobased waste materials and the second most abundant organic material on earth, after cellulose. With 25% replacement of bitumen, lignin reduces the consumption of non-renewable bitumen and has a great potential to be used in pavement construction.

Keywords: Bitumen; waste materials; bituminous mixture; bitumen extender

Tensioned fabric structure became a topic of discussion for many engineers because of its lightweight. This structure manages to resist all loads such as wind and rain. Due to the light in weight, tensioned fabric structures are normally designed to be in the form of equal tensioned surface or minimal surface. The major objective of this study is to generate three Jungle forms with minimal surface or equal tensioned surface to apply in infrastructure and to propose an alternative for engineers to consider the Jungle minimal surface models. More study found out that minimal surface of tensioned fabric structure help in sustainability the environment. The form of tensioned fabric structure of this structure was applied using mathematical equation which was then generated through MATLAB. The three Jungle forms tensioned fabric structure show minimal surface. The study might inspire the engineers to implement Jungle shape in tensioned fabric structures.

Keywords: Tensioned fabric structure; minimal surface; equal tensioned surface; jungle shape

Rapid development and climate change has endangered the availability of water resources worldwide. This study look into the potential of the applying a rainwater harvesting system (RWHS) for non- potable water usage in a doublestorey residential terrace house using Tangki NAHRIM 2.0 (TN2.0). TN2.0 is a web application that adopt the yield-after-spillage (YAS) convention to identify the optimum rainwater tank size. It is found that for a house of size 86.86 m², the optimum tank size is 2 m³ with water-saving and storage efficiency values of 51% and 63.2% respectively. Additionally, the performance of the optimum tank size of 2 m³ was further examined under different water demand. It was found that a 2 m³ tank was still able to save water up to 42.1% for a family of 10 persons. Meanwhile, the storage efficiency shows a little increment from 63.2% to 67.8%.

Keywords: Green technology; rainwater harvesting; yield-after-spillage; water-saving efficiency

Office buildings often consume high energy to sustain building operations such as HVAC systems. A lack of proper decision-making approaches and a lack of maintenance planning will cause higher operational costs. This paper proposes data analytics for air conditioner’s performance in laboratory by using Internet of Things (IoT)-based monitoring system to improve efficiency in facility maintenance. It provides a monitoring system, notification system and performance dashboard to enable data analytics. The data analytics methods used here are i) condition-based maintenance which includes thermal analysis and electrical analysis; and ii) Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) approach. The pre-maintenance performance measured for AC-1 is adequate while AC-2 does not meet the requirement. After the reactive maintenance was performed on AC-2; there was a performance increment of 63.15%. Based on sensors data, it seems to correlate between current draw and low refrigerant. It aids facility maintenance for early failure detection, which helps in decision-making. The result from the OEE approach also suggested the same decision-making to schedule maintenance. Performance needs to balance out to leverage power consumption without hefty operational costs for maintenance strategies. In conclusion, the data analytics provide insight for the maintenance management to monitor and schedule preventive maintenance before air conditioner (AC) faults happen. Meanwhile, the modified OEE approach for ACs to measure performance takes into consideration speed to cool down air and cost to run the AC which has not been explored yet elsewhere.

Keywords: Data analytics; facility maintenance; IoT; decision-making; OEE

Telemedicine is a technology that promotes patient engagement and makes healthcare more affordable and accessible. Telehealth technologies are used in healthcare settings such as teleconferencing, patient data transfer, and shared remote learning. However, current teleconferencing has limited ability to perform annotation on real-time videos. The proposed surgery assistance system would revolutionize the medical surgery industries where surgery can be monitored remotely by a surgical specialist with minimal assistance. The supervising surgeon can provide assistance to his subordinates in the operating room by annotating on videos of body parts transmitted live then the annotation will be projected directly onto the patient’s body as physician’s guidance. A comprehensive surgery assistance system is proposed as there are not many open-source systems that can support this technology. The system is capable of detecting the reference points placed on the body parts that will be operated on. Any movement of the reference points should be detected by this system, which would also alert the user with a message when movement is detected. This process is critical to ensure that the video images delivered to the remote monitor are identical to the video images captured in the operating room. Python version 3.9.4 was used, along with its associated libraries, to develop the proposed system. Socket communication using Transport Control Protocol (TCP) is used to make video transmission more secure. The proposed graphical user interface was accessed experimentally using the functional and reliability tests with the average percentage of 92% and 95% respectively to ensure that it was well implemented and both of the proposed goals were achieved.

Keywords: Graphical User Interface (GUI); video transmission; reference points analysis; movement detection; surgery

The two most crucial factors that are constantly taken into account while developing or building any new infrastructure in this day and age are sustainability and resilience. In a similar manner, this project centers on the same idea of sustainability and resiliency in order to construct a 10-story structure that served the function of a multipurpose community center equipped with cutting edge technology and carefully selected construction materials in order to lessen the number of harmful emissions and to keep a balance in both the structural strength and the environment. The design process has involved choosing the primary building material, the type of construction used, the building plans, and the carbon footprints the selected building materials are generated. The building’s planned design also assessed for structural soundness, environmental sustainability, and resilience. The outcomes are compared to an existing structure in the same domain for the critical evaluation and effective decision-making. As a result, this compilation also includes a complete and in-depth analysis of how the suggested construction is more robust and sustainable. The preface also includes information on the building parts, such as the materials used to contrive the structural as well as the non-structural members. In the end, the suggested design is monitored based on its structural qualities to ensure its stability and resilience. In order to successfully propose a sustainable and resilient design for the building of a multipurpose 10-story community center, a comprehensive and optimal set of recommendations is provided.

Keywords: Sustainability, Resiliency, Construction, Climate Change

For Malaysia’s future energy needs, solar photovoltaic (PV) technology and farming is becoming a more costeffective option and technology in achieving Malaysia’s goal of having 31% renewable energy in its power mix by year 2025. Malaysia’s global climate commitment is to reduce its economy-wide carbon intensity (as a percentage of GDP) by 45% by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. Realizing the government’s vision is critical to assisting the country in meeting its Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets (SEDA, 2022). Hence, this paper highlights the evaluation of an existing solar farm located at Seberang Perai Pulau Pinang, Malaysia as a case study to examine the potential environmental impact arising from of large-scale solar (LSS) PV development utilising the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) under the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique. The approach for this study was conducting in depth interviews with 16 people, including academics, authorities, and experts in the field. Large projects need to be evaluated to make sure that any potential problems are found and resolved early in the planning and design phases. This study considers the effects on the environment and chemicals (EC), as well as occupational safety (OSH) and economic impact (EI). AHP is then used to assess the data and utilized to produce the final component rankings. By showing the outcomes, the bar chart will aid in improved decision-making. The bar chart’s ability to display the results will help in the decision-making. From the results, LSS PV farm were conducive to achieving strong sustainability however in term of environmental degradation, mitigation action must be implemented on site to tackle the arising issues.

Keywords: large-scale solar; renewable energy; environmental impact screening