In recent years, discharging flood water downstream of the dams by the use of ski-jump bucket has become increasingly common. However, due to impact of trajectory unexpected scour holes have occurred in the tail channel, leading to expensive remedial work. One of the threats is that scouring caused by the impact of trajectory, which not only affects the safety of the river bed or tail channel but it also affect the safety of the dam, spillway and bucket. To minimize this risk of scouring, a model studies using deflector along both sides of the ski-jump bucket is performed. The model is designed in the scale of 1:50. The experiments are performed in a flume of 20 m long, 0.7 m wide and 1.2 m deep. The work is carried out using prototype data of the Ukai dam Spillway. The experimental observations are taken with and without presence of deflector. In the current study, a convergent deflector arrangement on a bucket forces a water jet to impact in mid-air, allowing it to fall down with a downscale impact. The results show that using a deflector can minimize scour by 16.51% to 28.28%.

Rural electrification in the Philippines is one of the main problems in the country. In this study, the possible electrification of Barangay Puray using three alternatives, namely, solar power, generator set and Meralco connection was analyzed. The stakeholders in this study were the people of the barangay, the local government of Rizal and the Meralco Corporation. Some assumptions are made, one of which is that the local government of Rizal will pay the capital costs for solar power and generator set, while the residents of the barangay will pay the government within 25-year period of the study. Here, two cases were introduced, whether the residents will pay the capital and maintenance costs or the maintenance costs only. The values of the initial costs and maintenance costs were compared and used to get the generation cost of the system. The results showed different values, with total of 189,889,720 pesos for the solar power while for the generator set was 235,425,304 pesos, thus the conclusion was made for the perspective of each of the stakeholder. For the residents of Barangay Puray, the most feasible was the solar power utility system. For the local government of Rizal, the generator set was more advantageous. While the Meralco Corporation would need the road laid out first before the electrification even it only has capital cost of 10,721,984 pesos in which the MOE was disregarded.

Bioconversion of crude glycerol (CG), the primary byproduct in biodiesel generation, is currently of great interest due to its promising potential in producing chemicals of high commercial interest. The efficient use of CG is still limited primarily due to the presence of impurities that may vary in composition based on the parent feedstock, biodiesel generation process, and any recovery/ purification conducted. In this study, laboratory scale fermentation of vancomycin using Amycolatopsis orientalis ATCC® 19795™ was analyzed based on the presence of salts as an impurity in biodiesel derived CG. Results showed that CG as the sole carbon source inhibited the cell growth, but the vancomycin production was approximately the same (158±2 mg L-1) as that of refined glycerol (RG)-based media at varying initial glycerol concentrations studied (5 g L-1 to 40 g L-1). NaCl as an impurity in biodiesel derived CG reduced both the growth yield coefficient (YX/S) and vancomycin formation at high concentrations. Among other salts tested are NaNO3 and KCl. NaNO3 (0.8 g L-1) supplemented media generated a higher YX/S (1.1 g biomass (g glycerol consumed)-1) and a similar vancomycin concentration (193 mg L-1) compared to the media with added NaCl (YX/S of 0.4 g biomass (g glycerol consumed)-1 and a vancomycin concentration of (190 mg L-1)). Relatively, both the YX/S (0.55 g biomass (g glycerol consumed)-1) and vancomycin concentration (135 mg L-1) was reduced in KCl (0.7 g L-1) supplemented media. The results suggest the potential of using CG (with salts i.e., NaCl as impurities) as an excellent low-cost alternative for RG in fermentation of vancomycin using Amycolatopsis orientalis ATCC® 19795™.

This paper presents a mathematical modeling with parameters identification of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) system or hexarotor system using the Hamiltonian approach. The mathematical model of the hexarotor is derived from the Hamiltonian approach which involved the storage, dissipation, and routing of energy elements from the UAV. This UAV model parameters identification method is proposed as an alternative to the commonly used wind tunnel testing, which is complex and tedious. This Hamiltonian model is made of a fully actuated subsystem with roll, pitch, and yaw angles as output, as well as an under-actuated subsystem with position coordinates as its output. Thrust constant, drag constant and speed of hexarotor are determined through the experimental setup while moment of inertia is determined by physical measurement and calculation. The outcome from this research works demonstrates an undemanding, yet effective method of modeling an UAV, and is useful for designing nonlinear controller to perform the important UAV tasks such as taking off, hovering, and landing.

This paper examines the effective criteria to determine the capable delay analysis methodologies by the contractors for the construction’s claim in Abu Dhabi. The previous research was argued that 50% of the construction projects in UAE encounter delays and are not completed on time. Selecting the delay analysis methodology is a significant part of the claim process. Numerous delay analysis techniques used in the UAE, and constitute several factors. Thus, the selection practice is more significant to identify the delays. Contractor’s analyst consumed exaggerated time and effort to show their right using delay analysis methodologies (DAMs) and submit this as an extension of time claim, demanding to make the most of their benefits. The aim of this study contains exploring the selection of the delay analysis methodologies by the contractors for the construction’s claim in Abu Dhabi. In this regard, five case studies were selected on the basis that they represent examples for application of the delay analysis methods and techniques for the residential building. The respondents were selected from five projects and the interviews were held with the Contractor of each project. The collected Qualitative Data was analysed manually by using Thematic Analysis. The study found that the effective criteria for determining the delay analysis methodologies lie in its acceptance in court and as per contractual requirements. Furthermore, the factors influence the selection of the effective criteria for determining the delay analysis methodologies are the acceptance of the selected delay analysis method /technique, realistic results and accuracy of the delay analysis method /technique. However, the findings from this study become more important, if more studies are conducted to extend the exploring of the different delay analysis methodologies used by the contractors for the construction’s claim for wide range of projects in Abu Dhabi.

Since the opening of Universiti Teknologi MARA Shah Alam Campus (UiTM-SAC), the university has accommodated its students by providing free bus transportation around the campus. The buses are operated based on a specific time schedule. However, students often have to wait a long time for buses because the buses do not usually arrive on schedule. In addition, the bus schedule is manually controlled by an officer, which takes time, and the data can easily be lost. Hence, the goal of this research is to develop a bus tracking and monitoring system for the UiTM-SAC. Arduino node microcontroller unit and global positioning system (GPS) sensors were used to send and receive GPS location information. The data retrieved from these sensors were displayed on an organic light-emitting diode and stored in a web-based software spreadsheet. For the experimental test, only one bus was used for collecting and analysing data. Data were immediately presented on the user interface. The results indicate that the system was able to track and monitor the bus by providing the bus’s latitude, longitude and speed. The results also revealed some key factors that affect the time required for a bus to complete a route based on users’ demands at that time. The difference in demand was 76.2%, as most students use the UiTM bus service in the morning than in the evening. In conclusion, by using the proposed bus campus tracking and monitoring system, users can easily find the exact location of buses running at the UiTM-SAC

Drug and protein encapsulated polymeric microparticles have been considered as the most effective delivery in pharmaceutical biotechnology. In this work, we report the fabrication of polycaprolactone microparticles (PCL MPs) containing insulin via an electrospraying method. The morphology, chemical composition, physicochemical properties, insulin encapsulation and release efficiency, degradation of PCL MPs, and cytotoxicity are systematically characterized and analyzed. The results indicate that insulin do not incorporate with PCL matrix leading to the deformation of PCL MPs’ structure. In addition, insulin can be loaded into the PCL MPs with high concentration up to 25 % while it remains chemical properties when releasing from the PCL MPs. Moreover, insulin demonstrates high burst release within the first day, subsequently the release become more stable during 2-7 days. The 80% viability of the cell suggests that PCL MPs are biocompartible to cells. As a consequence, the above mentioned material is proved to be has high potential for insulin carrier in controlled release application

On April 22, 2019, an earthquake with a magnitude MW 6.1 struck the municipality of Castillejos in Zambales, the Philippines, and severely affected the province of Pampanga, which caused damage to commercial and residential structures reaching over 40 victims. This paper presents an approach for creating a pixel-based proxy damage assessment and displacement field maps to delineate the extent of ground surface displacements due to an earthquake. Specifically, this paper explored two change detection methods: the interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technique and the coherence difference analysis method, using an open-source remote sensing software package and free SAR image data acquired by Sentinel-1 missions. Ground truth data were collected to substantiate the findings of the generated maps after the earthquake. Out of 7 surveyed damaged structures that were included in the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) of the Philippines Situational Report, four damaged structures were successfully targeted using the proxy damage assessment map that had a coherence difference value ranging from 0.7-0.9 and damage grades of 3-5 based on the European Macroseismic Scale 1998 (EMS-98) damage classification system. This study confirms that change detection methods applied to C-band Sentinel-1 SAR data are valuable for mapping damaged areas and estimating ground surface displacements toward better hazard mitigation and disaster response.

One of the traditional specialties in Pariaman, West Sumatra, which is very famous, is sala lauak. Sala lauak is a dish in the shape of a thumb-sized lump made of fish dough that is mashed and collected with flour. Sala lauak specialties are in great demand by people within the region and outside the region. According to the Pariaman City government, sala lauak can be a souvenir for tourists with this potential. Pariaman City Government plans to develop sala lauak packaging. One way is to provide frozen sala lauak. However, currently, the frozen sala lauak packaging has not been developed by the Pariaman City Government. Whereas, unique, save, and attractive packaging is very important to increase the consumer purchasing power. Thus, this study designs frozen sala lauak packaging using a psychological approach based on consumers' feelings and emotions, namely Kansei Engineering. The design of frozen sala lauak packaging using the Kansei Engineering method uses 198 Kansei words, which are simplified into 19 Kansei words. The resulting packaging design consists of two design alternatives. Based on the design evaluation results using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method, a design for frozen sala lauak packaging was selected. The packaging design chosen is in the form of a flat pouch in red, complete with product information and packaging attributes. The flat bottom packaging design gets a positive emotional response from consumers, so it is expected to increase consumer interest in buying sala lauak, especially as a tourist souvenir

In general, the US codes such as the UBC-97 and ASCE-7 are widely used in developing countries including Myanmar, Syria, Philippines and so on. When the current seismic design guideline based on the UBC-97 and ACI 318-99 in Myanmar is assessed, several problems can be found in the following items: firstly, the fundamental period is not checked in modeling; secondly, reduction factor R is introduced a priori for the base shear estimation. And finally, a limit state assessment is done only for Design Basic Earthquake (DBE) but not for other design earthquakes. As a result, adequate yield strength is not checked for Maximum Operational Earthquake (MOE). Then there is no way to assess the seismic safety of the ultimate limit state for Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE). In order to solve these problems, a rationalized seismic design method for earthquake prone developing countries is proposed. A new seismic design method is developed for MOE and MCE with adequate yield acceleration and typical period of the building estimated by using pushover analysis. A simplified procedure to estimate the inelastic response for a given design spectrum is also proposed. Finally, this design procedure can provide a rational method to assess the seismic safety for the ultimate limit of the building.