Applied Mechanics and Materials Vols. 773-774

Abstract: A cross sectional study was conducted to evaluate whole body vibration (WBV) and back pain problem among light rail transit (LRT) driver. This study was carried out to determine exposure level of whole body vibration and identify back pain problem due to whole body vibration exposure among LRT driver. Standardized Nordic questionnaire was used for the analysis of musculoskeletal symptoms, to identify the prevalence of back pain, information about health history, working time duration, and working experiences was obtained from 52 drivers of light rail transit (LRT) train. HVM 100 Larson Davis was used to measure whole body vibration measurement of eight LRTs with different vehicle number. The measurement of whole body vibration was done during operation working time. The data collected from HVM 100 were transferred to the Blaze software for getting the vibration magnitude of the experiment while data collected from survey were analyzed by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) for statistical analysis. The analysis of graph patterns and the differentiation of magnitude value from each LRT were studied to determine the exposure level of vibration. A high prevalence of back pain (82.7%) among LRT drivers was found and high daily exposure level was obtained. The finding showed that, there are relations between back pain and daily vibration exposure which resulted in a correlation coefficient of 0.709, with significant at α = 0.05. In conclusion, it was expected that the individuals subjected to the high vibration levels would tend to report back pain.

Abstract: —Public transit has gained significant attention among Malaysian citizens for the past few years. The increase in the number of private vehicles on the road leads to massive traffic jam especially during peak hours, thus causing them to consider switching towards public transit. Our mission in Prasarana Malaysia Berhad is to ensure that people can get stress-free experience while using public transports. One of the elements that contribute towards stress-free experience is passenger information system. In this paper, an alternative method to channel transit information to passenger is proposed that is by using frequent route map (FRM). In FRM, the frequency schedule of public bus is presented graphically on the GIS. The lower the operation frequency, the thinner the route line on the map will be and vice versa. As a result, the frequency schedule-GIS combination has made it easier for viewer to both identify the service availability and frequency. Keywords—public transport; passenger information system; route map; journey planner

Abstract: The relationship between supply chain practices and business performance has been widely investigated by many academics and practitioners; however, the relationship is not yet fully understood. Therefore, this paper aims to examine the relevance of several prominent theories in strategic management for explaining the mediating role of operational capability in the relationship between supply chain practices and business performance. The resource-based view of the firm and neo-institutional theory are reviewed for their applicability to relate supply chain practices and operational capability in explaining sustained business performance. Supply chain practices are insufficient to drive business performance. Firms need to be able simultaneously to increase efficiency through supply chain practices and to be innovative through operational capability. Specifically, operational capability is forwarded as a key firm-specific capability that can result in significant and long-term improvement in organisational sustainability. Operational capability can serve as a critical mediating factor that better transmits the ambitions of supply chain practices onto business performance. As such, this paper provides a conceptual support to urge further research to empirically evaluate the relationship between supply chain practices, operational capability and business performance.

Abstract: Malaysia governments are seeing that the future of transportation to be creating an environmentally clean and sustainable for the benefit of the people.A huge amount of investment has been made by the governments towards a public transportation sector by expecting that the infrastructure and sustainability of transportation could change the number of modal share gradually. However, the numbers of modal share has not increased compared to private vehicle usage of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Therefore, a study on the travellers (both public and private vehicle users) attitudes is important to help understand the similarity or differences that could explain the modal share. The purpose of this study is to compare the attitudes of travellers in the Kuala Lumpur city centre by analysing the similarities and differences of attitudes among Public Transport users (PT) and Private Transport users (PV). The attitude being studied is about travelling without any specification of modes, thus examining 1790 KL dwellers objectives and provide the basis for fair and just comparison with regard to PT and PV. The attitudes towards travelling were measured by a 5-point Likert scale using a structured questionnaire, and statistically analysed by applying factor analysis provided in SPSS. The study found that six attitudes define the attitudes of PT traveller towards travelling, and three attitudes were influencing PV travellers toward travelling. Based on this outcome, the key attitudes that influence travellers’ willingness to use public transport were discussed and identified. The results lead to understanding the attitudes of people towards travelling from the eye of public transport and private transport users. The understanding forms concrete basis for government to plan on strategies to shift private vehicle users and promote usage of public transport. For operators, the understanding also provides invaluable input for strategic planning of marketing effort/public policy.Keyword- Traveller Attitude, Age, Gender, Income level, Public Vehicle, Private Vehicle

Abstract: Application of axiomatic design (AD) for the purpose of enhancing end-of-life recovery potential of a product has been the main focus of this paper. To demonstrate the usage of AD in this particular area, a case study that involves keypad assemblies of mobile phones is presented. The functional requirements (FR) of the two assemblies were defined differently (only Handset 2 involves refurbishment-related FRs). Using evaluation approach presented by Kwak and Kim (2010), it can be observed that when recovery-related requirements are omitted, application of AD produces a keypad assembly that fulfills the FRs derived from customer needs with more complicated product architecture. In contrast, when recovery-related FRs are included during problem definition using axiomatic approach, the disassemblability of the resulted keypad is improved and thus increasing recovery potential in the event of replacing defective keypad, while satisfying product-related FRs.

Abstract: This paper presents a review of China’s technological development in the 20th century. The purpose of the review is to study the major technological inventions achieved by China in the 20th century that has brought significant impact to China’s technological development. In the 20th century, China has made great achievements in the field of space technology and also atomic energy. In space technology, China launched its very first satellite, Dong Fang1 (DFH1) (translated as Red East 1) and continued to improvise it in terms of performance in the field of spaceflight technology. In the same century, China also explored the area of atomic energy by building its very first nuclear-powered submarine, Chang Zheng 1 (translated as Long March 1). These technological developments achieved in the 20th century allowed China to be a step ahead of many other countries towards the advancement of technology. It is hoped that this review on China's influential role in the technological developments of the 20th century can be used as a useful references for other countries that wish to embark upon rapid and progressive technological developments.

Abstract: Abstract - Worldwide, the investment in building maintenance is huge as it represents almost 50% of the total turnover of construction activities. Building maintenance is also categorised as the commonest function listed in facilities management activities. This pilot study explores the current practice of building maintenance management in higher education institutions in Malaysia. Information gathered from semi-structured interviews focuses on different areas of building maintenance practices. The main issue is to identify the user-requirements. The areas of study are to cover the objectives of maintenance departments, maintenance reporting processes, maintenance verification processes and other associated tasks. In addition, this study also looks into the contributions of Information Technology (IT) facilities to maintenance practices. Based on the findings, there will be differences in the maintenance practices among the four universities; empirically, of the 57 elements studied only 30% were similar. Some strengths and weaknesses in the maintenance practices were identified and ways in which IT facilities could help to improve the situation. In the future it is envisioned that good building maintenance practices would be the norm in Malaysia to maximise the benefits that users could expect from their buildings and facilities.

Abstract: Functional recovery of upper limb after stroke is crucial to restore the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). This paper presents a robotic rehabilitation approach based on repetitive exercise aimed to help stroke survivors relearn the skills of finger flexion and extension at the comfort of their home. The finger rehabilitation device deploys Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) wires as an actuation approach to deliver three degrees of freedom per finger module. The advantages and challenges of using SMA wires rather than conventional actuators are discussed. A prototype of the finger rehabilitation device was built using PLA material and experiments have been conducted for the purposes of feasibility study. Tests conducted on the wires suggest that it has to have sufficient weight and also has to be stretching at high temperature rather than room temperature in order to have an optimum range of recovery.

Abstract: It is essential to design a control system for stamping process in Kuih Penderam production. The main problem is how to produce the Kuih Penderam due to high demand but low in energy consumption. The objective of this study is to convert the system of Kuih Penderam stamping process from manual system to automatic system. The system is consists of the software and components to be used. There are few components that have been use on designing the automatic system which is PLC systems, compressor, sensors, connectors and push buttons. The results of the reliability for the system shows that all the LED lights are function when the signal is connected to the PLC system on the circuit in a direct connection. This case show every components testing is working properly.

Abstract: Humanoid robot is a type of robot which designed in human-form with the purpose to increase the quality of human life. The key features of humanoid robot are to perform human-like behaviours and to undergo effective interaction with human-operator. Facial expressions play an important role in natural human-robot communication as human communication in daily life relies on face-to-face communication. The purpose of this study was to develop an interactive robot head that able to express six basic human emotions based on Ekman’s model which are joy, sadness, anger, disgust, surprise and fear. The combination of action units based on different control point on robot head was proposed in this study. The new robot head provided with 11-DoFs to perform different expression in human-like way. A survey was conducted on twelve sets of emotion design drawn by using Solidworks. Evaluation had been done on each design for its expression ability and the best design of emotion to implement on the robot head was obtained in the end of survey. Hardware experiment was conducted to control the LCD display and position of servo motor by using Arduino Leonardo as the controller for the robot head system. Additionally, a keypad controller was designed to control the expression of robot head based on the control from user. The controller is connected with LCD display to show the name of facial expression for the learning purpose of autism children. This project focus on the performance test of robot head in term of position accuracy for the 11 actuators used in robot head construction. The result shows that the relative position error for each robot head parts was less than 10% and thus robot head able to perform the emotion effectively. The survey on the recognition rate for each emotion expression was conducted individually to 100 respondents. The recognition rate obtained for the six emotions express by robot head was more than 70%.