Urban Transit Network Design Problem (UTNDP) focuses on deriving useful set of
routes, manageable timetabling for each transit route and transit scheduling based on
available resources. UTNDP is commonly subdivided into Urban Transit Routing
Problem (UTRP) and Urban Transit Scheduling Problem (UTSP), respectively. There are
various approaches applied to solve the UTSP. The aim of this paper is to give a
comprehensive list of studies on UTSP that deals with metaheuristic approaches such
as Tabu Search, Simulated Annealing, Genetic Algorithm and their hybrid methods. This
review also addressed possible gaps of the approaches and the limitations of the
overall problem. It can be concluded that only some of the metaheuristic approaches
and sub-problems are highly studied in UTSP. This review will be useful for researchers
who are interested in expanding their knowledge and conduct research in UTSP using
metaheuristic approaches.
Among athletes, endurance is one of the key elements to victory. In addition to
training, athletes normally used supplement to prevent fatigue during the event. With
prolonged and intense activity, our body started to experience decrease in muscle
performance due to several factors such as oxidative stress, dehydration and
accumulation of lactic acid in the body fluids. The free radicals generated during
intense exercise will expose the cells to oxidative damages. In the event of
dehydration, there will be significant losses of water and functional electrolytes during
intense exercise which affected the body fluid balance. Fatigue will also occur during
reduced oxygen in aerobic metabolism which later caused accumulation of lactic acid
in the muscle. This will change the pH balance toward more acidic and caused the
muscles to lose contractile efficiency. In addition, fatigue can also be studied using rats
as model organism. Results from this activity can be useful to analyse cellular
metabolism and physiology effects of the tested rats toward physical exercise.
Therefore, this review aims to discuss the causes of fatigue through oxidative stress,
dehydration and lactic acid accumulation. In addition, the effectiveness of using rats as
a model system in measuring fatigue is also included in illustrating examples on fatigue
assessment in vivo.
Fibrous concrete composite (FCC) have been applied in numerous civil engineering
structures, such as pavements, dams, runway, hydraulic structures, aircraft parking,
and runway. The desire for their usage as being due to their unique properties
compared with other materials. The stability of fibres in cement concrete appears to
be good enough, but further long term tests are necessary to evaluate their durability
and performance under mechanical sustained load. This is owing to the dearth in
knowledge on the fibrous concrete particularly bio fibrous concrete composites (BFCC)
behaviour and response to compressive, flexural and uniaxial tensile sustained loads.
Therefore, an in-depth study into the creep performance of BFCC is necessitated to
understand the long term behaviour of this biodegradable and environmental friendly
construction product. This will avail the structural engineers and builders’ adequate
understanding and data for design construction purpose of this green concrete
product.
A summary of research on image visualization in fluid flow is presented. The review
addresses the topics of method in image processing, the application of particle image velocimetry and
different sensor source of tomography. One of the greatest challenges in image visualization research
is the improvement of flow measurement for multiphase flow. As there a lot of prediction in studying
multiphase flow, the selection of image visualization method has to be chosen carefully. The important
part is the method to process the image which consists of parameters to be studied. The improvement
in image visualization method is important to further applied to other area of process.
The primary objective of control rod management is to ensure the safe, reliable and
optimum use of the nuclear fuel in the reactor, while remain within the limits imposed
by the design of the fuel assembly and reactor w.r.t the safety analysis. In numerous
reactors, the control rods perform the function of reactivity control, both globally and
locally, latter also control the power distribution of the core. Most control rods are
completely withdrawn from the core during operations and fully inserted during
shutdown of the reactor. This are the prove of an investigative study into optimization
of the heterogeneous control rods, the safety management of an additional safety rod,
and control rod drop hydrodynamic analysis which will be able to provide an efficient
and maximum safety procedure for emergency shut down system in the reactor. It is
also will be very important safety features of the reactor. To design the additional
safety rod at the inner irradiation sites with boron carbide (absorber material) and
stainless steel (clad) and also to design a simple heterogeneous control rod design to
analyse the effects of geometry self-shielding, the Monte Carlo Neutron Particle Code,
version 5 (MCNP5) was used. By simulating the unsteady flow field around the control
rod, the hydrodynamic analysis of the control rod can be analysed. A correlation based
on the achieved data was proposed to provide useful information on the safety
management during the research.
Incineration of both industrial and municipal solid waste has been widely used due to
its ability to reduce the volume of waste by about 90% and detoxify the waste.
However, a great challenge associated with waste incineration is production of toxic
fly and bottom ashes. These ashes contain heavy metals which enters water bodies
through percolation and absorption, and their consequences on human and animals is
enormous. Various researches were conducted on the application of thermal plasma
arc technology to safely detoxify incinerator ashes. The final product from plasma
treatment is a melt or vitreous slag within which toxic heavy metals are cemented. This
paper reviewed the different studies conducted on the treatment of incinerator fly and
bottom ashes in thermal plasma arc reactor. The review looked at the characteristics
of the ashes, the thermal plasma reactor specifications, the operating conditions and
the product characteristics. It also focused on effectiveness of the treatment processes
in terms of volume reduction, detoxification, crystalline structure of the product and
their usability. It is generally observed that thermal plasma arc reactors detoxify both
fly and bottom incinerator ashes, reduce the volume of waste by about 90% and
convert the ash to a vitreous slag where heavy metals are immobilized. Low basicity in
parent ash favours conversion of ash into glassy vitreous slag
This review paper describes in general the use of VR as a training tool in manufacturing
technology like design, rapid prototyping, and manufacturing with some practical
examples where VR is used and its benefits in manufacturing industries which reduces
a lot of cost in the design stages to the finish stages. VR is the closest man can get to
reality as the names implies with the present capabilities. The technique enables
engineers and designers to move around and interact with the object in real time. This
review paper looks into some challenges of VR applications in manufacturing
industries.
Business strategy plays a key role in determining the success of organizations. In view
of its important role, studies have attempted to investigate the approaches adopted
by organizations to develop as well as implement their business strategy. As far as the
approaches to business strategy are concerned, the review of past studies indicates
that organizations tend to adopt different approaches. At the same time, questions
have been raised as to whether these strategic approaches are relevant and applicable
to all organizations, especially with regard to their emphasis, focus and scope. Based
on the literature, this paper reviews the most common approaches to business
strategy and identifies the differences in their emphasis, focus and scope.
Muhammad Adil Khattak, Muhammad Zulhelmi Mahadi, Nurlaila Syamsul Bahri, Hor, Yen Tiu, Khairulnadzmi Jamaluddin, Muhammad Faiz Farhan Noorizhab, et al.
The objective of this review paper is to summarize the current state of understanding
on a topic ‘Nuclear spent fuel storage and facilities’. This review paper surveys and
summarizes previously published studies, rather than reporting new facts or analysis.
It is importance to case study this issue since the number of spent fuel are increasing
in which a typical nuclear power plant in a year generates almost 20 metric tons of
used nuclear fuel. In which the nuclear industry generates a total of about 2,000 - 2,300
metric tons of used fuel per year and for the last 40 years produced 76,430 metric tons
of nuclear spent fuel. Future understanding and attention need to be accomplished
since spent fuel can cause harm due to its high radioactive level and also the ability to
reprocess the fuel to be used as MOX fuel.
This review presents generally about Virtual Reality (VR) technologies in industrial
training. Virtual reality training is increasingly used for maintenance and operation,
assembly procedure, welding and operative construction training that allow the
workers to work on existing and new tasks in safe, and perceive on how an item takes
shape as it travels through the manufacturing system, which result more effective
training. For companies to spend the large amount of economic resources in training
people, thus VR systems for training may reduce in dealing with issues such as the high
economic costs of training for travel and living expenses for those who need to move
from work to training centers. An adaptive technology has been used for pilot training
and vehicle driver training that may improves accuracy of the procedure. VR training
could create a more effective and efficient learning even without the presence of a
trainer.
Historically, there is evidence to suggest that communities in the developing countries
are still using plant-based materials as one of the strategies for purifying drinking
water. In this review, the coagulant properties of Moringa oleifera seeds extract were
quantitatively evaluated toward suitable wastewater treatment and examining its
coagulation mechanism. The seeds are rich in bio-active components and also used as
a natural coagulant for effective water treatment. The seeds extract operates
predominantly by bridging coagulation mechanism and operates through charge
neutralization. This natural ingredient of an organic polymer is essential as it contains
acrylamide monomers that are harmless to human’s health and lesser expensive as
compared to conventional chemicals since they are available in most rural
communities. The application of this readily available natural product as part of pointof-use
in water treatment technology may offer a practical, cheap, appropriate and
sustainable solution for producing potable water in some developing nations.
Issue related to safety, health and environmental has become major priority to be
concerned of in the transportation of hazardous materials (HAZMAT) worldwide. Due
to the high risk that entailed in the operation of HAZMAT transportation, many
accidents in this industry have been reported which include chemicals spillage, fire
and explosion. In order to quantify the degree of hazards and risks of these accidents,
various assessment methods have been introduced either by the academia, the
industry as well as the authority. The methods present various approaches for the
assessment, ranging from a simple to highly complicated ones depending on the
purpose of the assessment and the available resources and constraints. To date there
is yet any study conducted to review those available methods. This paper intends to
present a comprehensive review of the existing methods for hazards and risks
assessment of HAZMAT transportation between years 1995-2015 which considers
road, marine, railway, air and pipeline system. Based on careful screening of the
abundance of methods available, 151 of them were selected – that is those
specifically meant for hazards and risks assessment of HAZMAT transportation only.
The methods are reviewed in terms of the types of assessment; either qualitative,
quantitative or hybrid techniques, as well as their specific application in different
mode of transportation. Also, statistical analysis was performed to determine the
trend of past publications regarding on the type of journal, year of publication and
also financial support received in the context of hazard and risk assessment of
HAZMAT transportation.