Nik Ghazali Nik Daud

Expressive Information Visualization Taxonomy for Decision Support Environment

This paper proposes expressive information visualization (IV) taxonomy to support cognitive and perceptual needs for decision support environment. Four key dimensions have been identified, namely representation, organization, interaction and content. The effects of these expressive dimensions on user satisfaction were examined. Results suggest that these dimensions are important and affect their satisfaction. Further analysis was conducted and results indicate that there are significant differences across IV techniques and decision style. This suggests and provides empirical evidence that the proposed expressive IV taxonomy is important to consider in the design and evaluation of IV in particular and user interface in general.

Electrical responses of piezoelectric device

Energy harvesting from human motion by using piezoelectric element plays an important role in the development of renewable energy technology. The energy harvesting mechanism includes the process of extracting the renewable energy, converting it into usable electricity and then storing the energy as in capacitor. Piezoelectric element is used as a sensor to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. The electrical power supply can be used for electronic devices and other mobile applications. The element is capable in converting mechanical energy from the motion of human body, such as walking and running activities, into electrical energy. In this research, a prototype of piezoelectric energy harvesting was developed. Piezoelectric disk-type sensor was installed inside a shoe of officer cadets to harvest the mechanical force from the walking motion. The experimental work was tested for five different weights (48 kg, 59 kg, 62 kg, 71 kg, and 85 kg) of officer cadets on the treadmill with a constant speed of 2 km/h. The piezoceramics material used in this research was lead zirconate titanate (PZT). Before the piezoelectric device was tested on the cadets, the effects of single impact (free fall) of different weights (1N, 2N, 3N, 4N, and 5N) on PZT piezo disk were tested and analyzed. The responses of piezoelectric element were analyzed. The results show that the piezoelectric device generates a maximum output voltage of 7.4 V from the walking movement.

Tansig activation function (of MLP network) for cardiac abnormality detection

Heart abnormality often occurs regardless of gender, age and races. This problem sometimes does not show any symptoms and it can cause a sudden death to the patient. In general, heart abnormality is the irregular electrical activity of the heart. This paper attempts to develop a program that can detect heart abnormality activity through implementation of Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) network. A certain amount of data of the heartbeat signals from the electrocardiogram (ECG) will be used in this project to train the MLP network by using several training algorithms with Tansig activation function.

Hybrid modified booth encoded algorithm-carry save adder fast multiplier

One of the effective ways to speed up multiplication are by reducing the number of partial products and accelerating the accumulation. In this paper, a new architecture of hybrid Modified Booth Encoded Algorithm (MBE) and Carry Save Adder (CSA) is developed as fast multiplier architecture. Altera Quartus II platform is used to run the simulation. The architecture design is programmed into FPGA using Altera DE2 board to verify the synthesizability on physical hardware. This hybrid fast multiplier delivers good performance in term of higher speed as well as in term of less usage of logic elements.

Power factor regulation for household usage

Power factor regulator technology has recently drawn attention to the consumer and to power generation company in order for consumers to use electricity efficiently. Controlling of power factor for efficient usage can reduce the production of power in fulfilment demands hence reducing the greenhouse effect. This paper presents the design method of power factor controller for household usage. There are several methods to improve the power factor. The power factor controller used by this method is by using capacitors. Total harmonic distortion also has become a major problem for the reliability of the electrical appliances and techniques to control it will be discussed.Power factor regulator technology has recently drawn attention to the consumer and to power generation company in order for consumers to use electricity efficiently. Controlling of power factor for efficient usage can reduce the production of power in fulfilment demands hence reducing the greenhouse effect. This paper presents the design method of power factor controller for household usage. There are several methods to improve the power factor. The power factor controller used by this method is by using capacitors. Total harmonic distortion also has become a major problem for the reliability of the electrical appliances and techniques to control it will be discussed.

Pulse repetition interval analysis using decimated Walsh-Hadamard transform

Radar signal sorting for the identification of radar signals is one of the main tasks for Electronic Intelligence (ELINT). Information derived from the pulse repetition interval (PRI) of a radar signal can be used to identify radar emitters. In this study, classification of PRI type is done based on the power spectrums of the Walsh-Hadamard transform (WHT). The generated spectrums are downsampled to reduce sampling errors and sub-harmonics, resulting in decimated WHT (DWHT) spectrums. A template for DWHT spectrums is developed for the most common PRI modulation types; constant, jittered and staggered. In this template, each pulse sequence is given a unique DWHT spectrum as its identity. A model for the prediction of missing and spurious pulses is developed to estimate their distributions density of occurrences that can be related to the robustness of the PRI classification method. The proposed model is tested for its feasibility using Monte-Carlo simulation. The results showed that the proposed PRI classification model can achieve better than 85% accuracy even in the presence of missing and spurious pulses.

Measurement of field blast testing data using high speed data acquisition system for steel fiber reinforced concrete

This paper reports on a measurement of field blast testing data for steel fiber reinforced concrete using high speed data acquisition system. In this experiment a field blast test was conducted by the Blast Research Unit of University Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia to investigate the behavior of steel fiber reinforced concrete panel subjected to air blast loading. The steel fiber reinforced concrete panels were subjected to air blast loading using plastic explosive (PE4) weighing 1kg each at standoff distance of 0.3 meter. The parameters measured are air blast pressure, free field blast pressure and also acceleration of the slab using high speed data acquisition system and the result is presented in this paper.

Examining Individual Differences Effects: An Experimental Approach

Role of individual differences has been emphasized for system success. Many researchers claim about the need for a better understanding of individual differences as empirical evidence is still very limited. The purpose of this paper is to examine the extent to which individual differences affects ones decision performance and decision processes. This study focuses on decision making style and gender as the dimensions of individual differences characteristics. Their potential effects are investigated using experimental approach. Empirical findings from this study support for the user-centered approach that emphasize on user in the design of an information system.