Search results for: Ben Y. B. Chan

Authors: Ka Yan Chan

Abstract:

Cohabitation among couples has been increasingly common in recent decades. Nonetheless, insufficient attention was given to the impact of attachment on cohabitation. This study discussed the experience of cohabitation among women with insecure attachments by collecting qualitative data through semi-structured interviews. Through thematic analysis, the study explored the characteristics of the women, the formation of cohabitation, struggles, coping mechanisms, and the impacts of cohabitation on the women. Moreover, the influences of the family-of-origin on cohabitation and the needs of the women were explored. The findings indicated that insecure attachment and the family-of-origin had significant effects on cohabitation and the interaction among the cohabitating couples. Women with insecure attachments were more likely to enter cohabitation unconsciously and without discussing what cohabitation means for their relationship with their partners. The findings also suggested that committing to marriage was not the only method for the women to feel secure in the relationship. Instead, long-lasting love and care, as well as reliability from their partners, could satisfy their emotional needs. More importantly, the findings revealed that repairing attachment problems and dealing with challenges in life stage transition is associated with positive impacts on the cohabitation experience. Additionally, to meet the needs of diverse family structures and to provide all-rounded support for enhancing the wellbeing of individuals, cohabitants, and couples, a comprehensive intervention model of relationship enrichment was discussed. 

Keywords: cohabitation, family-of-origin, insecure attachment, relationship enrichment

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Authors: Jyh-Cherng Gu, Ming-Ta Yang, Chao-Fong Yan, Hsin-Yung Chung, Yung-Ruei Chang, Yih-Der Lee, Chen-Min Chan, Chia-Hao Hsu

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There are a number of Distributed Generations (DGs) installed in microgrid, which may have diverse path and direction of power flow or fault current. The overcurrent protection scheme for the traditional radial type distribution system will no longer meet the needs of microgrid protection. Integrating the Intelligent Electronic Device (IED) and a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) with IEC 61850 communication protocol, the paper proposes a Microgrid Protection Management System (MPMS) to protect power system from the fault. In the proposed method, the MPMS performs logic programming of each IED to coordinate their tripping sequence. The GOOSE message defined in IEC 61850 is used as the transmission information medium among IEDs. Moreover, to cope with the difference in fault current of microgrid between grid-connected mode and islanded mode, the proposed MPMS applies the group setting feature of IED to protect system and robust adaptability. Once the microgrid topology varies, the MPMS will recalculate the fault current and update the group setting of IED. Provided there is a fault, IEDs will isolate the fault at once. Finally, the Matlab/Simulink and Elipse Power Studio software are used to simulate and demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.

Keywords: IEC 61850, IED, Group Setting, Microgrid.

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Authors: Chua Bee Seok, Rosnah Ismail, Jasmine Adela Mutang, Shaziah Iqbal, Nur Farhana Ardillah Aftar, Alfred Chan Huan Zhi, Ferlis Bin Bahari, Lailawati Madlan, Hon Kai Yee

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The present study aims to explore the role of parents' ethnic socialization practices contributes to the ethnic identity development, self-esteem and psychological adjustment of multi ethnic children in Sabah, Malaysia. A total of 342 multi ethnic children (age range = 10 years old to 14 years old; mean age = 12.65 years, SD = 0.88) and their parents participated in the present study. The modified version of Multi group Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), The Familial Ethnic Socialization Measure (FESM). The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE) and Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale Edition 2 (BERS-2) were used in this study. The results showed that: i) parents' ethnic socialization practice was a strong predictor of ethnic identity development of multi ethnic children; ii) parents' ethnic socialization practice also was a significant predictor of self-esteem of multi ethnic children; iii) parents' ethnic socialization practice was not a significant predictor of psychological adjustment of multi ethnic children. The results of this study showed the implications parents' ethnic socialization practices and ethnic identity development in successful multi ethnic families.

Keywords: Ethnic Identity development, multi ethnic children Parents' Ethnic Socialization Practices, psychological adjustment, self-esteem.

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Authors: Luen Chow Chan

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With the advocacy of green transportation and green traveling, cycling has become increasingly popular nowadays. Physiology and bike design are key factors for the influence of cycling efficiency. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the significance of bike-frame geometric factors on cycling efficiency and muscle activation for different body sizes of non-professional Asian male cyclists. Participants who represented various body sizes, as measured by leg and back lengths, carried out cycling tests using a tailor-assembled road bike with different ergonomic design configurations including seat-height adjustments (i.e., 96%, 100%, and 104% of trochanteric height) and bike frame sizes (i.e., small and medium frames) for an assessable distance of 1 km. A specific power meter and self-developed adaptable surface electromyography (sEMG) were used to measure average pedaling power and cadence generated and muscle activation, respectively. The results showed that changing the seat height was far more significant than the body and bike frame sizes. The sEMG data evidently provided a better understanding of muscle activation as a function of different seat heights. Therefore, the interpretation of this study is that the major bike ergonomic design factor dominating the cycling efficiency of Asian participants with different body sizes was the seat height.

Keywords: Bike frame sizes, cadence rate, pedaling power, seat height.

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Authors: Meei-Hoan Ho, Chee-Ming Chan

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Soft clays are defined as cohesive soil whose water content is higher than its liquid limits. Thus, soil-cement mixing is adopted to improve the ground conditions by enhancing the strength and deformation characteristics of the soft clays. For the above mentioned reasons, a series of laboratory tests were carried out to study some fundamental mechanical properties of cement stabilized soft clay. The test specimens were prepared by varying the portion of ordinary Portland cement to the soft clay sample retrieved from the test site of RECESS (Research Centre for Soft Soil). Comparisons were made for both homogeneous and columnar system specimens by relating the effects of cement stabilized clay of for 0, 5 and 10 % cement and curing for 3, 28 and 56 days. The mechanical properties examined included one-dimensional compressibility and undrained shear strength. For the mechanical properties, both homogeneous and columnar system specimens were prepared to examine the effect of different cement contents and curing periods on the stabilized soil. The one-dimensional compressibility test was conducted using an oedometer, while a direct shear box was used for measuring the undrained shear strength. The higher the value of cement content, the greater is the enhancement of the yield stress and the decrease of compression index. The value of cement content in a specimen is a more active parameter than the curing period.

Keywords: Soft soil, Oedometer, Direct shear box, Cementstabilisedcolumn.

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Authors: Bruce X. B. Yu, Yan Liu, Keith C. C. Chan

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We propose to record Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) of elderly people using a vision-based system so as to provide better assistive and personalization technologies. Current ADL-related research is based on data collected with help from non-elderly subjects in laboratory environments and the activities performed are predetermined for the sole purpose of data collection. To obtain more realistic datasets for the application, we recorded ADLs for the elderly with data collected from real-world environment involving real elderly subjects. Motivated by the need to collect data for more effective research related to elderly care, we chose to collect data in the room of an elderly person. Specifically, we installed Kinect, a vision-based sensor on the ceiling, to capture the activities that the elderly subject performs in the morning every day. Based on the data, we identified 12 morning activities that the elderly person performs daily. To recognize these activities, we created a HARELCARE framework to investigate into the effectiveness of existing Human Activity Recognition (HAR) algorithms and propose the use of a transfer learning algorithm for HAR. We compared the performance, in terms of accuracy, and training progress. Although the collected dataset is relatively small, the proposed algorithm has a good potential to be applied to all daily routine activities for healthcare purposes such as evidence-based diagnosis and treatment.

Keywords: Daily activity recognition, healthcare, IoT sensors, transfer learning.

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Authors: Melvin Chan, Chew Lee Teo

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There has been a growing emphasis in elevating the teachers’ proficiency and competencies through continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities. In this era of a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, Ambiguous (VUCA) world, teachers are expected to be collaborative designers, critical thinkers and creative builders. However, many of the CPD structures are still revolving in the model of transmission, which stands in contradiction to the cultivation of future-ready teachers for the innovative world of emerging technologies. This article puts forward the framing of CPD through a Principle-Based, Technological-Driven Knowledge Building Approach grounded in the essence of andragogy and progressive learning theories where growth is best exemplified through an authentic immersion in a social/community experience-based setting. Putting this Knowledge Building Professional Development Model (KBPDM) in operation via a Professional Learning Team (PLT) situated in a Secondary School in Singapore, research findings reveal that the intervention has led to a fundamental change in the learning paradigm of the teachers, henceforth equipping and empowering them successfully in their pedagogical design and practices for a 21^st century classroom experience. This article concludes with the possibility in leveraging the Learning Analytics to deepen the CPD experiences for educators.

Keywords: Continual professional development, knowledge building, learning paradigm, andragogy.

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Authors: Chan-Jung Liang, Shu-Huei Wang, Pei-Jhen Wu, Jaw-Shiun Tsai, Chau-Chung Wu, Yuh-Lien Chen

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Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an enzyme degrading heme to carbon monoxide, iron, and biliverdin, has been recognized as playing a crucial role in cellular defense against stressful conditions, not only related to heme release. In the present study, the effects of TNF-a on the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) as well as the related mechanisms were investigated. 10 ng/mL TNF-α treatment significantly increased HO-1 expression after 6h, then a further increase at 12h and declined at 24h. Treatment with 2 ng/mL of TNF-a after 12 h resulted in a significant increase in HO-1 expression, which peaked at 10 ng/mL, then declined at 20 ng/mL. TNF-α induced HO-1 expression and then HO-1 expression reduced  vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) expression. Phosphorylation studies of ERK1/2, JNK, and p38, three subgroups of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) demonstrated TNF-α-induced ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 phosphorylation. The increase in HO-1 expression in response to TNF-α treatment was affected by pretreatment with SP600125 (a JNK inhibitor) and SB203580 (a p38 inhibitor), not with PD98059 (an ERK1/2 inhibitor). The expression of HO-1 was stronger in aortas of TNF-α-treated apo-E deficient mice when compared with control mice. These results suggest that low dose of TNF-α treatment notably induced HO-1 expression was mediated through JNK/p38 phosphorylation and may have a protective potential in cardiovascular diseases and inflammatory response through the regulation of HO-1 expression.

Keywords: Heme oxygenase-1 inflammation, endothelial cells, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs).

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Authors: Hye-Young Shin, Chan Kee Park

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Background: To compare the thinning patterns of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) as measured using Cirrus high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) in patients with visual field (VF) defects that respect the vertical meridian. Methods: Twenty eyes of eleven patients with VF defects that respect the vertical meridian were enrolled retrospectively. The thicknesses of the macular GCIPL and pRNFL were measured using Cirrus HD-OCT. The 5% and 1% thinning area index (TAI) was calculated as the proportion of abnormally thin sectors at the 5% and 1% probability level within the area corresponding to the affected VF. The 5% and 1% TAI were compared between the GCIPL and pRNFL measurements. Results: The color-coded GCIPL deviation map showed a characteristic vertical thinning pattern of the GCIPL, which is also seen in the VF of patients with brain lesions. The 5% and 1% TAI were significantly higher in the GCIPL measurements than in the pRNFL measurements (all P < 0.01). Conclusions: Macular GCIPL analysis clearly visualized a characteristic topographic pattern of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss in patients with VF defects that respect the vertical meridian, unlike pRNFL measurements. Macular GCIPL measurements provide more valuable information than pRNFL measurements for detecting the loss of RGCs in patients with retrograde degeneration of the optic nerve fibers.

Keywords: Brain lesion, Macular ganglion cell-Inner plexiform layer, Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

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Authors: Mui Joo Tang, Eang Teng Chan

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Advertising is commonly used to foster sales and reputation of an institution. It is at first the growth of print advertising that has increased the population and number of periodicals of newspaper and its circulation. The rise of Internet and online media has somehow blurred the role of media and advertising though the intention is still to reach out to audience and to increase sales. The relationship between advertising and audience on a product purchase through persuasion has been developing from print media to online media. From the changing media environment and audience, it is the concern of this research to study the impact of online advertising to such a relationship cycle. The content of online advertisements is much of text, multimedia, photo, audio and video. The messages of such content format may indeed bring impacts to its audience and its credibility. This study is therefore reflecting the effectiveness of online advertisement and its influences on generation Y in their purchasing behavior. This study uses Media Dependency Theory to analyze the relationship between the impact of online advertisement and media usage pattern of generation Y. Hierarchy of Effectiveness Model is used as a marketing communication model to study the effectiveness of advertising and further to determine the impact of online advertisement on generation Y in their purchasing decision making. This research uses online survey to reach out the sample of generation Y. The results have shown that online advertisements do not affect much on purchase decision making even though generation Y relies much on the media content including online advertisement for its information and believing in its credibility. There are few other external factors that may interrupt the effectiveness of online advertising. The very obvious influence of purchasing behavior is actually derived from the peers.

Keywords: Generation Y, online advertising, online media, persuasion, print media, purchase decision.

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Authors: Chee-Ming Chan

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In spite of the advent of new materials, clay bricks remain, arguably, the most popular construction materials today. Nevertheless the low cost and versatility of clay bricks cannot always be associated with high environmental and sustainable values, especially in terms of raw material sources and manufacturing processes. At the same time, the worldwide agricultural footprint is fast growing, with vast agricultural land cultivation and active expansion of the agro-based industry. The resulting large quantities of agricultural wastes, unfortunately, are not always well managed or utilised. These wastes can be recycled, such as by retrieving fibres from disposed leaves and fruit bunches, and then incorporated in brick-making. This way the clay bricks are made a 'greener' building material and the discarded natural wastes can be reutilised, avoiding otherwise wasteful landfill and harmful open incineration. This study examined the physical and mechanical properties of clay bricks made by adding two natural fibres to a clay-water mixture, with baked and non-baked conditions. The fibres were sourced from pineapple leaves (PF) and oil palm fruit bunch (OF), and added within the range of 0.25-0.75 %. Cement was added as a binder to the mixture at 5-15 %. Although the two fibres had different effects on the bricks produced, cement appeared to dominate the compressive strength. The non-baked bricks disintegrated when submerged in water, while the baked ones displayed cement-dependent characteristics in water-absorption and density changes. Interestingly, further increase in fibre content did not cause significant density decrease in both the baked and non-baked bricks.

Keywords: natural fibres, clay bricks, strength, water absorption, density.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

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In the beginning of the prevalence of social media, it would be an obvious trend that the young adult age group has the highest population among the users on social media. However, apart from the age group of the users are becoming younger and younger, the elderly group has become a new force on social media, and this age group has increased rapidly. On top of that, the influence of social media towards the elderly is becoming more significant and it is even trending among them. This is because basic computer knowledge is not instilled into their life when they were young. This age group tends to be engrossed more than the young as this is something new for them, and they have the mindset that it is a new platform to approach things, and they tend to be more engrossed when they start getting in touch with the social media. Generally, most of the social media has been accepted and accessed by teenagers and young adult, but it is reasonable to believe that the social media is not really accepted among the elderly. Surprisingly, the elderlies are more addicted to the social media than the teenagers. Therefore, this study is to determine and understand the relationship between the elderly and social media, and how they employ social media in their lives. An online survey on 200 elderly aged 45-80 and an interview with a media expert are conducted to answer the main questions in the research paper. Uses and Gratification Approach is employed in theoretical framework. Finding revealed that majority of the respondents use social media to connect with family, friends, and for leisure purposes. The finding concluded that the elderly use social media differently according to their needs and wants which is in par with the highlight of Uses and Gratification theory. Considering the significantly large role social media plays in our culture and daily life today, the finding will shed some light on the effect of social media on the elderly or senior citizens who are usually relegated into a minority group in today’s age where the internet and social media are of great importance to our society and humanity in general. This may also serve to be useful in understanding behavioral patterns and preference in terms of social media usage among the elderly.

Keywords: Elderly, Facebook, Malaysia, social media.

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Authors: Tang Mui Joo, Chan Eang Teng

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The use of social media has become more defined. It has been widely used for the purpose of business. More marketers are now using social media as tools to enhance their businesses. Whereas on the other hand, there are more and more people spending their time through mobile apps to be engaged in the social media sites like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and others. Social media has even become common in Public Relations (PR). It has become number one platform for creating and sharing content. In view to this, social media has changed the rules in PR where it brings new challenges and opportunities to the profession. Although corporate websites, chat-rooms, email customer response facilities and electronic news release distribution are now viewed as standard aspects of PR practice, many PR practitioners are still struggling with the impact of new media though the implementation of social media is potentially reducing the cost of communication. It is to the point that PR practitioners are not fully embracing new media, they are ill-equipped to do so and they have a fear of the technology. Somehow that social media has become a new style of communication that is characterized by conversation and community. It has become a platform that allows individuals to interact with one another and build relationship among each other. Therefore, in the use of business world, consumers are able to interact with those companies that have joined any social media. Based on their experiences with social networking site interactions, they are also exposed to personal interaction while communicating. This paper is to study the impact of social media to PR. This paper discovers the potential changes of PR practices in a developing country like Malaysia. Eventually the study reflects on how PR practitioners are actually using social media in the country. This paper is based on two theories in its development of this research foundation. Media Ecology Theory is to support the impact and changes to PR. Social Penetration Theory is to reflect on how the use of social media is among PRs. This research is using survey with PR practitioners in its data collection. The results have shown that PR professionals value social media more than they actually use it and the way of organizations communicate had been changed due to the transformation of social media.

Keywords: New media, social media, PR.

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Authors: Tien-Shun Chan, Yung-Chung Chang, Cheng-Yu Chu, Wen-Hui Chen, Yuan-Lin Chen, Shun-Chong Wang, Chang-Chun Wang

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98% of the energy needed in Taiwan has been imported. The prices of petroleum and electricity have been increasing. In addition, facility capacity, amount of electricity generation, amount of electricity consumption and number of Taiwan Power Company customers have continued to increase. For these reasons energy conservation has become an important topic. In the past linear regression was used to establish the power consumption models for chillers. In this study, grey prediction is used to evaluate the power consumption of a chiller so as to lower the total power consumption at peak-load (so that the relevant power providers do not need to keep on increasing their power generation capacity and facility capacity). In grey prediction, only several numerical values (at least four numerical values) are needed to establish the power consumption models for chillers. If PLR, the temperatures of supply chilled-water and return chilled-water, and the temperatures of supply cooling-water and return cooling-water are taken into consideration, quite accurate results (with the accuracy close to 99% for short-term predictions) may be obtained. Through such methods, we can predict whether the power consumption at peak-load will exceed the contract power capacity signed by the corresponding entity and Taiwan Power Company. If the power consumption at peak-load exceeds the power demand, the temperature of the supply chilled-water may be adjusted so as to reduce the PLR and hence lower the power consumption.

Keywords: Gery system theory, grey prediction, chller.

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Authors: Mun Yee Chan, Sin Ming Goh, Lisa Gaik Ai Ong

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Approximately 10,000 different types of dyes and pigments are being used in various industrial applications yearly, which include the textile and printing industries. However, these dyes are difficult to degrade naturally once they enter the aquatic system. Their high persistency in natural environment poses a potential health hazard to all form of life. Hence, there is a need for alternative dye removal strategy in the environment via bioremediation. In this study, fungi laccase is investigated via commercial agar dyes plates and submerged fermentation to explore the application of fungi laccase in textile dye wastewater treatment. Two locally isolated basidiomycetes were screened for laccase activity using media added with commercial dyes such as 2, 2-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS), guaiacol and Remazol Brillant Blue R (RBBR). Isolate TBB3 (1.70±0.06) and EL2 (1.78±0.08) gave the highest results for ABTS plates with the appearance of greenish halo on around the isolates. Submerged fermentation performed on Isolate TBB3 with the productivity 3.9067 U/ml/day, whereas the laccase activity for Isolate EL2 was much lower (0.2097 U/ml/day). As isolate TBB3 showed higher laccase production, it was subjected to molecular characterization by DNA isolation, PCR amplification and sequencing of ITS region of nuclear ribosomal DNA. After being compared with other sequences in National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI database), isolate TBB3 is probably from species Trametes hirsutei. Further research work can be performed on this isolate by upscale the production of laccase in order to meet the demands of the requirement for higher enzyme titer for the bioremediation of textile dyes.

Keywords: Bioremediation, dyes, fermentation, laccase.

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Authors: Chia-Chi Chang, Chuan-Bi Lin, Chia-Min Chan

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Most ZigBee sensor networks to date make use of nodes with limited processing, communication, and energy capabilities. Energy consumption is of great importance in wireless sensor applications as their nodes are commonly battery-driven. Once ZigBee nodes are deployed outdoors, limited power may make a sensor network useless before its purpose is complete. At present, there are two strategies for long node and network lifetime. The first strategy is saving energy as much as possible. The energy consumption will be minimized through switching the node from active mode to sleep mode and routing protocol with ultra-low energy consumption. The second strategy is to evaluate the energy consumption of sensor applications as accurately as possible. Erroneous energy model may render a ZigBee sensor network useless before changing batteries.

In this paper, we present a ZigBee wireless sensor node with four key modules: a processing and radio unit, an energy harvesting unit, an energy storage unit, and a sensor unit. The processing unit uses CC2530 for controlling the sensor, carrying out routing protocol, and performing wireless communication with other nodes. The harvesting unit uses a 2W solar panel to provide lasting energy for the node. The storage unit consists of a rechargeable 1200 mAh Li-ion battery and a battery charger using a constant-current/constant-voltage algorithm. Our solution to extend node lifetime is implemented. Finally, a long-term sensor network test is used to exhibit the functionality of the solar powered system.

Keywords: ZigBee, Li-ion battery, solar panel, CC2530.

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Authors: Chan Eang Teng, Tang Mui Joo

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With the viral factor on social media, the sense of persuasion is generated by repetition and popularity. When users’ interest is captured, political awareness increases to spark political enthusiasm, but, the level of user’s political participation and political attitude of those active users is still questionable. An online survey on 250 youth and in-depth interview on two politicians are conducted to answer the main question in this paper. The result shows that Facebook significantly increases political awareness among youths. Social media may not be the major trigger to political activism among youths as most respondents opined that they would still vote without Facebook. Other factors could be political campaigning, political climate, age, peer pressure or others. Finding also shows that majority of respondents did not participate in online political debates or political groups. Many also wondered if the social media was the main power switch that triggers the political influx among young voters. The research finding is significant to understand how the new media, Facebook, has reshaped the political landscape in Malaysia, creating the Social Media Election that changed the rules of the political game. However, research finding does not support the ideal notion that the social media is the major trigger to youth’s political activism. This research outcome has exposed the flaws of the Social Media Election. It has revealed the less optimistic side of youth political activism. Unfortunately, results fall short of the idealistic belief that the social media have given rise to political activism among youths in the 13^th General Election in Malaysia. The research outcome also highlights an important lesson for the democratic discourse of Malaysia which is making informed and educated decisions takes more commitment, proactive and objective attitude.

Keywords: Social media, political participation, political activism, democracy, political communication.

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Authors: Yan Su, L. C. Chan

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A novel typical day prediction model have been built and validated by the measured data of a grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) system in Macau. Unlike conventional statistical method used by previous study on PV systems which get results by averaging nearby continuous points, the present typical day statistical method obtain the value at every minute in a typical day by averaging discontinuous points at the same minute in different days. This typical day statistical method based on discontinuous point averaging makes it possible for us to obtain the Gaussian shape dynamical distributions for solar irradiance and output power in a yearly or monthly typical day. Based on the yearly typical day statistical analysis results, the maximum possible accumulated output energy in a year with on site climate conditions and the corresponding optimal PV system running time are obtained. Periodic Gaussian shape prediction models for solar irradiance, output energy and system energy efficiency have been built and their coefficients have been determined based on the yearly, maximum and minimum monthly typical day Gaussian distribution parameters, which are obtained from iterations for minimum Root Mean Squared Deviation (RMSD). With the present model, the dynamical effects due to time difference in a day are kept and the day to day uncertainty due to weather changing are smoothed but still included. The periodic Gaussian shape correlations for solar irradiance, output power and system energy efficiency have been compared favorably with data of the PV system in Macau and proved to be an improvement than previous models.

Keywords: Grid Connected, RMSD, Solar PV System, Typical Day.

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Authors: Lim Chen Kim, Tan Kian Lam, Chan Yi Chee

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This research presents a multi-modal simulation in the reconstruction of the past and the construction of present in digital cultural heritage on mobile platform. In bringing the present life, the virtual environment is generated through a presented scheme for rapid and efficient construction of 360° panoramic view. Then, acoustical heritage model and crowd model are presented and improvised into the 360° panoramic view. For the reconstruction of past life, the crowd is simulated and rendered in an old trading port. However, the keystone of this research is in a virtual walkthrough that shows the virtual present life in 2D and virtual past life in 3D, both in an environment of virtual heritage sites in George Town through mobile device. Firstly, the 2D crowd is modelled and simulated using OpenGL ES 1.1 on mobile platform. The 2D crowd is used to portray the present life in 360° panoramic view of a virtual heritage environment based on the extension of Newtonian Laws. Secondly, the 2D crowd is animated and rendered into 3D with improved variety and incorporated into the virtual past life using Unity3D Game Engine. The behaviours of the 3D models are then simulated based on the enhancement of the classical model of Boid algorithm. Finally, a demonstration system is developed and integrated with the models, techniques and algorithms of this research. The virtual walkthrough is demonstrated to a group of respondents and is evaluated through the user-centred evaluation by navigating around the demonstration system. The results of the evaluation based on the questionnaires have shown that the presented virtual walkthrough has been successfully deployed through a multi-modal simulation and such a virtual walkthrough would be particularly useful in a virtual tour and virtual museum applications.

Keywords: Boid algorithm, crowd simulation, mobile platform, Newtonian laws, virtual heritage.

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Authors: Bee-Lin Tang, Ismail Bakar, Chee - Ming Chan

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Limited infrastructure development on peats and organic soils is a serious geotechnical issues common to many countries of the world especially Malaysia which distributed 1.5 mill ha of those problematic soil. These soils have high water content and organic content which exhibit different mechanical properties and may also change chemically and biologically with time. Constructing structures on peaty ground involves the risk of ground failure and extreme settlement. Nowdays, much efforts need to be done in making peatlands usable for construction due to increased landuse. Deep mixing method employing cement as binders, is generally used as measure again peaty/ organic ground failure problem. Where the technique is widely adopted because it can improved ground considerably in a short period of time. An understanding of geotechnical properties as shear strength, stiffness and compressibility behavior of these soils was requires before continues construction on it. Therefore, 1- 1.5 meter peat soil sample from states of Johor and an organic soil from Melaka, Malaysia were investigated. Cement were added to the soil in the pre-mixing stage with water cement ratio at range 3.5,7,14,140 for peats and 5,10,30 for organic soils, essentially to modify the original soil textures and properties. The mixtures which in slurry form will pour to polyvinyl chloride (pvc) tube and cured at room temperature 250C for 7,14 and 28 days. Laboratory experiments were conducted including unconfined compressive strength and bender element , to monitor the improved strength and stiffness of the 'stabilised mixed soils'. In between, scanning electron miscroscopic (SEM) were observations to investigate changes in microstructures of stabilised soils and to evaluated hardening effect of a peat and organic soils stabilised cement. This preliminary effort indicated that pre-mixing peat and organic soils contributes in gaining soil strength while help the engineers to establish a new method for those problematic ground improvement in further practical and long term applications.

Keywords: peat soils, organic soils, cement stabilisation, strength, stiffness.

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Authors: Yee-May Chan

Abstract:

In recent decades, it is observed that social work agencies have participated actively, and thus, have gradually been more influential in social work education in Hong Kong. The neo-liberal welfare ideologies and changing funding mode have transformed the landscape in social work practice and have also had a major influence on the fieldwork environment in Hong Kong. The aim of this research is to explore the educational role of social work agencies and examine in particular whether they are able to enhance or hinder critical reflective learning in fieldwork. In-depth interviews with 15 frontline social workers and managers in different social work agencies were conducted to collect their views and experience in helping social work students in fieldwork. The overall findings revealed that under the current social welfare context most social workers consider that the most important role of social work agencies in fieldwork is to help students prepare to fit-in the practice requirements and work within agencies’ boundary. The fit-for-purpose and down-to-earth view of fieldwork practice is seen as prevalent among most social workers. This narrow perception of agency’s role seems to be more favourable to competence-based approaches. In contrast, though critical reflection has been seen as important in addressing the changing needs of service users, the role of enhancing critical reflective learning has not been clearly expected or understood by most agency workers. The notion of critical reflection, if considered, has been narrowly perceived in fieldwork learning. The findings suggest that the importance of critical reflection is found to be subordinate to that of practice competence. The lack of critical reflection in the field is somehow embedded in the competence-based social work practice. In general, social work students’ critical reflection has not been adequately supported or enhanced in fieldwork agencies, nor critical reflective practice has been encouraged in fieldwork process. To address this situation, the role of social work agencies in fieldwork should be re-examined. To maximise critical reflective learning in the field, critical reflection as an avowed objective in fieldwork learning should be clearly stated. Concrete suggestions are made to help fieldwork agencies become more prepared to critical reflective learning. It is expected that the research can help social work communities to reflect upon the current realities of fieldwork context and to identify ways to strengthen agencies’ capacities to enhance critical reflective learning and practice of social work students.

Keywords: Competence-based social work, fieldwork, neo-liberal welfare, critical reflective learning.

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Authors: Maksudur Rahman Khan, Kar Min Chan, Huei Ruey Ong, Chin Kui Cheng, Wasikur Rahman

Abstract:

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a promising technology for simultaneous bioelectricity generation and wastewater treatment. Catalysts are significant portions of the cost of microbial fuel cell cathodes. Many materials have been tested as aqueous cathodes, but air-cathodes are needed to avoid energy demands for water aeration. The sluggish oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) rate at air cathode necessitates efficient electrocatalyst such as carbon supported platinum catalyst (Pt/C) which is very costly. Manganese oxide (MnO2) was a representative metal oxide which has been studied as a promising alternative electrocatalyst for ORR and has been tested in air-cathode MFCs. However the single MnO2 has poor electric conductivity and low stability. In the present work, the MnO2 catalyst has been modified by doping Pt nanoparticle. The goal of the work was to improve the performance of the MFC with minimum Pt loading. MnO2 and Pt nanoparticles were prepared by hydrothermal and sol gel methods, respectively. Wet impregnation method was used to synthesize Pt/MnO2 catalyst. The catalysts were further used as cathode catalysts in air-cathode cubic MFCs, in which anaerobic sludge was inoculated as biocatalysts and palm oil mill effluent (POME) was used as the substrate in the anode chamber. The asprepared Pt/MnO2 was characterized comprehensively through field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-Ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV) where its surface morphology, crystallinity, oxidation state and electrochemical activity were examined, respectively. XPS revealed Mn (IV) oxidation state and Pt (0) nanoparticle metal, indicating the presence of MnO2 and Pt. Morphology of Pt/MnO2 observed from FESEM shows that the doping of Pt did not cause change in needle-like shape of MnO2 which provides large contacting surface area. The electrochemical active area of the Pt/MnO2 catalysts has been increased from 276 to 617 m2/g with the increase in Pt loading from 0.2 to 0.8 wt%. The CV results in O2 saturated neutral Na2SO4 solution showed that MnO2 and Pt/MnO2 catalysts could catalyze ORR with different catalytic activities. MFC with Pt/MnO2 (0.4 wt% Pt) as air cathode catalyst generates a maximum power density of 165 mW/m3, which is higher than that of MFC with MnO2 catalyst (95 mW/m3). The open circuit voltage (OCV) of the MFC operated with MnO2 cathode gradually decreased during 14 days of operation, whereas the MFC with Pt/MnO2 cathode remained almost constant throughout the operation suggesting the higher stability of the Pt/MnO2 catalyst. Therefore, Pt/MnO2 with 0.4 wt% Pt successfully demonstrated as an efficient and low cost electrocatalyst for ORR in air cathode MFC with higher electrochemical activity, stability and hence enhanced performance.

Keywords: Microbial fuel cell, oxygen reduction reaction, Pt/MnO2, palm oil mill effluent, polarization curve.

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