Femtocells are home access points installed by end consumers inside their houses which are an important and a promising technology in future wireless networks. It was proposed as a solution to the indoor propagation problems and to increase the indoor bandwidth. However, many challenges need to be addressed before deployment of femtocells. One of the most important challenges are assessing and mitigating the interference. In order to calculate the Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), an accurate path loss model is required. Most of the studies in the open literature considered a two dimensional scenarios where the femtocell has specific location and uniformly distributed in the network. On the contrary, this research will consider more practical scenarios where the femtocell is randomly distributed in a three Dimensional (3-D) environment to accommodate interference from cells spaced horizontally on a terrestrial access or stacked vertically as in the case for office or residential towers. The vertical interference is still not considered in the open literature yet. The most important parameter that should be considered once calculating the interference is the path loss. Since femtocell is installed in an indoor environment, this thesis addresses only the indoor propagation channel. Most of the available propagation models are for long range communication networks like macro and micro cellular networks. Models for femtocell networks, where the effects of walls and floors are considered, appeared to be necessary. In this research six different models of indoor propagation were studied and compared with measured data. Comprehensive measurements were conducted in a four storey building using most popular frequencies for Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks of 1.8 and 2.6 GHz. Three different scenarios with different numbers of penetrated walls and floors were considered. The results were analyzed statistically using linear and non-linear regression methods. Further, a three dimensional path loss model based on two distance concept is proposed for indoor femtocells. In this model, the path loss intercept is made equal to the free space losses. Two path loss exponents were proposed. The first one is the vertical exponent that equals 7.62, and was inferred based on the vertical propagation measurements. The second path loss exponent is the horizontal one (variable) and it is found to be a function of transmitter and receiver heights. This model is found to be suitable for applications in LTE wireless networks and maybe applied in both LTE and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system level simulators. In addition, path loss has been evaluated in terms of various antenna aspects such as polarization and directivity. Finally a three dimensional system level simulator is developed and integrated into the famous Vienna LTE simulator in order to help the researcher in LTE femtocell field to analyze and investigate more real scenarios of femtocell deployment. The developed simulator allows the researcher to locate a multi-storey building in the region of interest, choose the number of floors, determine the ceiling height, and allocate the position of the femtocell inside the house. The proposed three dimensional indoor propagation model is implemented in the simulator and is used to assess and model interference. Different parameters such as Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR), and throughput, were studied especially for vertically stacked femtocells. Results indicate the validity of the proposed 3-D model and confirm that it is a more realistic tool for assessment and model of femtocell interference.

A vehicle suspension system is the main component in a ground vehicle that functions to achieve good ride comfort by isolating vibration of the road from the passenger. Active suspension system has the capability to continuously adjust itself, hence has a better design trade-offs compared to a conventional suspension system. Active disturbance rejection control (ADRC) is a relatively new control method and has not been thoroughly investigated in the area of ride comfort and advanced automotive suspension. In this thesis, ADRC with and without input decoupling transformation (IDT) is proposed to improve the ride quality performance of a vehicle with active suspension system according to several performance criteria: minimizing vehicle body accelerations, suspension working space, and road holding. Three vehicle models: quarter-car, half-car, and full-car model were used in this thesis. The models used in the analysis were limited to discrete models which break down the vehicle model into lumped systems. Through experimental simulation studies, the ability of the proposed controllers to cope with varying process is investigated. The optimized controllers are then compared to an ideal skyhook control to benchmark the performance. Results show that ADRC-IDT was able to produce comparable performance to a typical ADRC control structure, but with less number of control parameters. Both controllers were able to significantly reduce vehicle body acceleration while maintaining other responses. Furthermore, On the whole, it is shown that the performance of the optimized ADRC and ADRC-IDT is close to the performance of an ideal skyhook control especially for the sprung mass vertical acceleration which is the main indicator of vehicle ride comfort.

In the automotive industry some components and subassemblies which were initially made of steel are now being replaced with alloys and composites which have a higher strength to weight ratio. Therefore, today's vehicles are lighter, stronger and thus have small fuel consumption. However, mounting a more powerful engine to a lighter vehicle could cause vibration induced by the dynamics of the engine and thus affecting the comfort of the passenger. One way to overcome this predicament is to modify the mounting of the engine by introducing an active engine mounting (AEM) system which consists of passive rubber mount and a linear force actuator. At the correct frequency the linear force actuator would trigger a force which has a magnitude approximately equal to the engine's disturbance force but opposite in direction. With this the force transmitted to the chassis of the vehicle would then be minimized and increases passenger's comfort. In controlling the system, especially the force actuator, numerous controllers have been introduced which include but not limited to H2 controller, hybrid of feedback and feedforward, filtered X-LMS controller, optimal controller based on Haar wavelet and other classical feedback and feedforwad controllers. Determining the controller parameters could be a major and difficult task to perform since these parameters are based on the mathematical model of the engine-chassis system which also includes the mathematical model of the engine disturbance. In this thesis an intelligent controller namely the neural network controller has been introduced to reduce controller parameters identification. The system considered in this research includes two degree and multi degree of freedom systems. The dynamics of a nonlinear actuator was also included. Two types of neural network controller that has been used in this research namely the nonlinear auto regressive moving average (NARMA-L2) and the extended minimal resource allocating network (EMRAN). The performance of the neural network based controllers was then compared with classical controller such as PID for two degree of freedom system and a Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) controller for the multi degree of freedom system. The ability of the EMRAN to be trained online makes it advantageous for a non-model based controller. The EMRAN neural network has the ability to add and prune hidden layer neurons and for the purpose of efficiency and additional advantage was the adoption of the 'winner-takes-all' algorithm. Results show that the EMRAN controller perform much better as compared to PID and LQR controllers for the purpose of active vibration isolation based on the reduction of the force transmitted to the chassis of the vehicle.

Language Processing Unit (LPU) is a system built to process text-based data to comply with the rules of sign language grammar. This system was developed as an important part of the Sign Language Synthesizer system. Sign Language uses different grammatical rules from the spoken/verbal language, which only involves the important words that Hearing/Impaired Speech people can understand. It needs word classification by LPU to determine grammatically processed sentences for the sign language synthesizer. The existing language processing unit in SL synthesizers suffers time lagging and complexity problems, resulting in high processing time. The two features, i.e., the computational time and successful rate, become trade-offs which means the processing time becomes longer to achieve a higher success rate. To address this problem, this thesis proposes an adaptive Language Processing Unit (LPU) that allows processing the words from spoken words to Malaysian SL grammatical rule that results in relatively fast processing time and a good success rate. It involves n-grams, NLP, and Hidden Markov Models (HMM)/Bayesian Networks as the classifier to process the text-based input. As a result, the proposed LPU system has successfully provided an efficient (fast) processing time and a good success rate compared to LPU with other edit distances (Mahalanobis, Levenstein, and Soundex). The system has been tested on 130 text-input sentences with words ranging from 3 to 10 words. As a result, the proposed LPU could achieve around 1.449ms processing time with an average success rate of 84.49% for a maximum of ten-word sentences.

Hybrid buoyant (HB) aircraft in which 50% of gross takeoff mass is supported by “free of cost aerostatic lift”, are a new arena to boost up the tourism and agricultural industry by leveraging on the new merger of lighter than air and heavier than air technologies. Due to non-availability of historical trends for HB aircraft, which are required to begin with traditional method for aircraft design, it is quite difficult to estimate its aerodynamic and stability characteristics. In the present research work, correlation of the geometric and buoyant properties of the swimming animals with the HB flying vehicles has been done to link the existing modern knowledge of aerospace with the biological sciences. Fineness ratio, location of maximum width and buoyant independent drag of a California sea lion are found to be the three quantities which are common with hybrid buoyant aircraft. Based on the existing fundamental relationships used for aircraft as well as airship design, a new conceptual design methodology for such aircraft is proposed with the help of two design examples. Pugh concept selection charts have assisted to rank the population of different concepts of such aircraft. Driving factors of such design concepts have been reviewed along with the selection of figure of merits. The diffused lift technology in HB aircraft seems to have eradicated the separate requirement of the heating mechanism for the lifting gas. A methodology for system design for consistent aerostatic lift is also proposed. The focus of this research work is not on the degree of “exactness” of the potential designs being considered at conceptual level, but rather to get the first- hand knowledge of the aerodynamics and static stability characteristics. Existing analytical relationships for the skin friction drag and Munk-Multhopp’s relationships for the estimation of pitching moment are revisited and potential issues related to their derivation are also elaborated. For the conceptual design work, Aircraft Digital DATCOM is used for a hybrid lift aerial vehicle. XFLR software along with the CFD results of the fuselage are used for HB aircraft, designed for STOL application. New analytical relationship for the estimation of the neutral point of a HB aircraft is derived. A first order approximation of the power-off stick fixed neutral point is done by using the computational results of the fuselage along with the panel method results for the lifting surfaces. The value so obtained is then compared with that obtained from the steady state simulations of the clean configuration of a two seater HB aircraft for which the SIMPLE scheme is employed for pressure velocity coupling along with the k-ω SST model. CFD results under predicts the slope of pitching moment as well as the static margin. Irrespective of the difference of flight and wind tunnel’s Reynolds number, a good comparison of results is obtained. However, from the controllability point of view, it’s negative sign can be made positive by designing an elevator for constant pitch down position for the level flight, moving the wing to further aft position or by increasing the anhedral angle of the canard. A chaotic behavior in the overall lift, drag and yawing moment is observed due to the dorsal fins. An increase in the aerodynamic coefficients is also observed when the configuration is tested after removing the dorsal fins. Moreover, an increase in the lateral stability is also observed when the canard is given a small anhedral angle. The developed databank of aerodynamic and static stability derivatives will be highly beneficial for the future design work of such aircraft after applying the Reynolds number corrections.

This research investigates the effect of permeability on the aerodynamics of airfoils and wings. The aerodynamic performance of these airfoils and wings were studied experimentally in the IIUM-low speed wind tunnel. From the literature, it appears that a comprehensive experimental study on permeable wings and airfoils is needed. The research comprises two main objectives; the first of which is to investigate the aerodynamic performance of permeable wings and airfoils using experimental and simulation methods (CFD). The second objective is to investigate experimentally the effect of permeable wingtips on the flow field over the wingtip and its effect on the wake vortex flow downstream using particle image velocimetry (PIV). A permeable thin flat plate, representing a thin symmetric airfoil, as well as a finite wing of the same cross section is used. Permeability is introduced by using a honeycomb structure. The experiment was performed for a range of different porosity values. The results are presented in terms of lift slope versus permeability. The lift slope reduces as the permeability increases for both wings and airfoils. The behaviour/trend of the lift slope is similar to the analytical results available in the literature. The effect of permeability on the aerodynamic center is plotted as well. As the permeability increases the aerodynamic center moves towards the impermeable region. The investigation on the applicability of the standard equation for calculating the lift slope of a wing from an airfoil is applied to permeable wings and airfoils. The result shows that this equation is applicable to both conventional impermeable as well as permeable wings and airfoils. The CFD work is carried out on a thin symmetric airfoil using NACA008 as its cross section. The results of the variation of the lift slope with permeability show a similar behavior as in the experimental study. The results of permeability from CFD shows that a low value of permeability reduces the drag coefficients and thus increases the lift to drag ratio by a large amount. The effect of directional porosity of wing tips on the flow field on the wing surface and in the nearfield of the wing is investigated through PIV. The PIV experiment was performed on seven models of wingtips including the base model. An impermeable wing with a NACA 653218 section was used in this study. Directional porosity is used in five wing tip configurations and one wing tip was made of a honeycomb structure. Configurations 4 – 7 have the highest porosity and the porosity direction in configurations 4 and 5 is 90º, and configurations 6 and 7 have a directional porosity of 95º and 100º, respectively, the directional porosity angle is measured from the chord line., have the highest effect on flow vortex downstream and the reduction in vorticity can reach up to 90% and reduction in tangential velocity can reach up to 74%. These directional porosity wing tips have a great impact on the flow field over the wingtip surface as shown by studying the flow field over the upper surface of wingtips using PIV measurements. These configurations have a porosity perpendicular to the chord line. Configuration 5 has the highest impact as it has the highest porosity value. Configurations 2 and 3 result in a lesser effect on vorticity and tangential velocity as they have porosity inclinations of 30º and 45º respectively. The PIV results over the upper surface of the wingtip show a high disturbance of the flow on the upper surface which results in a reduction in wake vortex downstream. The aerodynamic performances of permeable wingtips were obtained as well and they show a negligible reduction in lift but increase in drag coefficients in some configurations can reach up to 18% at angles of attack [10º - 15º]. These permeable wing tip configurations can be used to alleviate the wake vortex as they are not add-on devices and they are easy to deploy. Thus, this research investigated the behavior of permeable airfoils and wings and compared their behavior with analytical results. It also verified the applicability of the standard equation of calculating lift slope of wing from airfoil lift slope for permeable wings and airfoils. The research also introduced new directionally permeable wingtips which have high impact on vorticity reduction downstream in the near wake field. Last, it investigated the flow behavior over the porous wingtip surface to investigate its role in wake vortex strength reduction downstream.

Accessing healthcare services by several stakeholders for diagnosis and treatment has become quite prevalent owing to the improvement in the industry and high levels of patient mobility. Due to the confidentiality and high sensitivity of electronic healthcare records (EHR), the majority of EHR data sharing is still conducted via fax or mail because of the lack of systematic infrastructure support for secure and reliable health data transfer, delaying the process of patient care. As a result, it is critically essential to provide a framework that allows for the efficient exchange and storage of large amounts of medical data in a secure setting, where the storing the data over the cloud do not remain secure all the time. Since the data are accessible to the end user only by using the interference of a third party, it is prone to breach of authentication and integrity of the data. This thesis introduces the development of a Patient-Centered Blockchain-Based EHR Management (PCBEHRM) system that allows patients to manage their healthcare records across multiple stakeholders and to facilitate patient privacy and control without the need for a centralized infrastructure. In addition, the proposed system ensures a secure and optimized scheme for sharing data while maintaining data security and integrity over the Inter Planetary File System (IPFS). Further, the proposed system introduces a sophisticated End to End Encryption (E2EE) functionality by combining the ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography) method and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) method. This is to enhance the security of system, reduce the computational power for memory optimization, and ensure authentication and data integrity. We have also demonstrated how the proposed system design enables stakeholders such as patients, labs, researchers, etc., to obtain patient-centric data in a distributed and secure manner that is integrated using a web- based interface for the patient and all users to initiate the EHR sharing transactions. Finally, the thesis enhances the proposed PCBEHRM system with deep learning artificial intelligence capabilities to revolutionize the management of the EHR and offer an add-on diagnostic tool based on the captured EHR metadata. Deep learning in healthcare now had become incredibly powerful for supporting clinics and in transforming patient care in general and is increasingly applied for the detection of clinically important features in the images beyond what can be perceived by the naked human eye. Chest X-ray images are one of the most common clinical methods for diagnosing several diseases. The proposed enhancement integrated deep learning feature is a developed lightweight solution that can detect 14 different chest conditions from an X-ray image. Given an X-ray image as input, our classifier outputs a label vector indicating which of 14 disease classes does the image fall into. The proposed diagnostic add-on tool focuses on predicting the 14 diseases to provide insight for future chest radiography research. Finally, the proposed system was tested in Microsoft Windows@ environment by compiling a smart contract prototype using Truffle and deploying it on Ethereum using Web3. The proposed system was evaluated in terms of the projected medical data storage costs for the IPFS on blockchain, and the execution time for a different number of peers and document sizes. The results show that the proposed system achieves a reduced storage cost of 73.4172% and a 76% in execution time in comparison to other proposed systems in the open literature. The Results of the study conclude that the proposed strategy is both efficient and practicable. The add-on deep learning diagnostic feature flags any present diseases predicted from the health records and assists doctors and radiologists in making a well-informed decision during the detection and diagnosis of the disease.

The serious impact of the trailing vortices from large aircraft is well known. Many examples exist of the damage caused to following aircraft caught up in the swirling wake shed from an upstream aircraft. Motivation behind the present investigation is the alleviation of the rolling moment induced on the following aircraft by means of a differential spoiler setting DSS's. An experimental investigation on a wing tip vortex generated by generic aircraft model, Subsonic Wall Interference Model (SWIM) in plain and flapped wing configurations was conducted in a low speed wind tunnel at Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). Particle image velocimetry was used to characterize wing tip vortex structures as well as to distinguish and quantify vortex meandering and further remove its effects. In subsequent experiments investigation on wake vortices has been carried out in the international Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) low speed wind tunnel for the evaluation of differential spoiler settings (DSS) capabilities in modifying the span-wise wing load and further reduces the wake vortex hazard. Advanced PIV technique was used to measure the wake velocities at four cross-section planes down-stream of the aircraft half model in the near and extended near wake field. Model was investigated at high lift configuration as well as at four DSS configurations believed to modify the span-wise wing loading (two inboard and two outboard loading cases). Results reveal a noticeable inboard shift of wing loading along with the direct interaction of the spoiler's wake and flap tip vortex for the inboard loading cases. Implementation of DSS results in a substantial redistribution of the flap tip vortex circulation with a diameter of the merged vortex increased by a factor of up to 2.72 times, relative to the undisturbed flap tip vortex. Inspection of the cross-stream distribution of axial vorticity shows up to 2.33 times reduction in the peak vorticity value. A 44% decrease of the maximum cross-flow velocity was recorded for the case of deployed spoilers relative to undisturbed flap tip vortex maximum cross-flow velocity. The wing tip vortex experiences the effect of wing load modification but doesn't show appreciable difference, both in terms of cross-flow velocity and local circulation distribution. Evaluations of the outboard loading results indicate a limited diffusion experienced by the vortex due to the increased level of turbulence. Influence of DSS's on the wake vortex structure emphasizes that separation distance (spoiler wake/wing-flap tips vortices) plays an important role in the favorable interaction expected. Finally assessment of the DSS's capabilities as a wake vortex attenuation device reveals, while position of the maximum induced rolling moments in the flap tip area is little influenced by the DSS's, the maximum induced rolling moment coefficient was reduced to a nearly one third relative to the undisturbed flap tip vortex value.

Renewable energy sources are seen as the key to future energy needs because they are clean and sustainable. Solar photovoltaic (PV) energy is a widely used and accessible renewable source. This research introduces a new way to enhance the efficiency and reliability of PV power systems. The study focuses on using high-performance, grid-tied hybrid DC-DC converters in PV systems. These converters can minimize power loss during energy conversion. Various well-known existing MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) algorithms are used to obtain maximum power output from the PV modules. However, owing to their operational characteristics, it takes them longer to track MPP. Additionally, they provide oscillation near MPP. An improved MPPT algorithm based on the pelican optimization method is developed to ensure optimal power from the PV source by reducing tracking time and minimizing fluctuations around MPP. The research also discusses the causes of power loss, including those caused by parasitic resistance in components. It then proposes design strategies to reduce these losses. Mathematical simulations show that the proposed system attains high efficiency across a wide range of power levels. The design also minimizes the impact on voltage gain and voltage stress caused by load and parasitic resistance changes. Theoretical models are developed for component resistances, efficiency, voltage gain, and voltage stress. To address challenges like the intermittent output and irregular voltage of PV power generation, this research presents a system that combines a high-performance DC voltage conditioner with an efficient inverter. A prototype system is built and tested employing simulations (MATLAB/Simulink) and theoretical calculations to verify the effectiveness of the proposed design. This method effectively maximizes energy production and ensures compatibility with the power grid by maintaining low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) and high power factor. Additionally, the system optimizes power conversion at each stage through advanced mathematical modeling. The findings from this research, including the proposed system design and data results, are valuable for professionals and researchers in renewable energy and battery management systems (BMS) for electric vehicles. This paves the way for further advancements in these fields.

Cryptographic Boolean functions serve as an integral part of symmetric-key ciphers. A strong cipher requires that the underlying functions meet specific security criteria. Traditionally, the Walsh transform and autocorrelation function of Boolean functions have been deployed as the main tools for studying whether such functions meet the desired criteria. This thesis introduces the Haar transform as an alternative tool for studying cryptographic Boolean functions. The thesis presents Haar analysis and synthesis (construction) of cryptographically significant functions, including their related application specific designs. The study parallels with the earlier ones based on the Walsh domain approach. For the analysis part, the work begins by establishing the missing connections between the Haar, Walsh, and autocorrelation spectra. This stage presents new Haar representations of the Walsh-Paley transform and autocorrelation function, along with the related connection to the power spectrum. Using the Walsh analogy, the work then proceeds to derive the Haar based measures for the main cryptographic criteria including; Hamming distance and weight, balancedness, bentness, nonlinearity, correlation immunity, resiliency, strict-avalanche, global-avalanche and propagation criteria. The work presents the Haar general formulation and representation of all the stated criteria. The synthesis part is divided into two sub-parts related to testing and construction algorithms. The former introduces Haar based algorithms for testing and measuring main cryptographic criteria. The latter includes algorithms in two forms of Haar stochastic multistage search and Haar spectrum manipulation techniques. Both of these algorithms work on modifying bent functions to yield optimum functions with desired trade-off between criteria. This part also presents the simulation results of the Haar based algorithms in comparison to the existing benchmarks. The last part of the work involves deploying the synthesized functions for the design of S-boxes and combiner/filtering functions. A new design approach to S-boxes is presented along with its related experimental results for 4x4 and 6x4 mappings. For the 6x4 mapping, a set of 8 new DES-like S-boxes are selected and their security characteristics are compared to the existing benchmarks of DES and its improved variants. Additionally, the work proposes a new approach to the design of the underlying combiner/filtering functions. The simulation results demonstrate that the Haar based testing algorithms exhibit better computational complexity compared to their counterparts, possess the unique ability to quit the testing even when the spectrum is only processed partially, and their local zones' view allows for possible parallel and independent processing. Moreover, the construction algorithms have the flexibility to yield a single as well as a pool of cryptographically desired functions, and provide the lower variables' domain view in terms of the related sub-functions without leaving the current domain. The new designed S-boxes have shown improved security characteristics in terms of nonlinearity, differential characteristics, average probabilities and cross correlations. These methods allow for more design decision flexibility with an alternative local view that is not possible from the existing methods.

The study of plate with tunable frequency becomes an important study as it aids for more effective design of plate for the use of devices such as resonator (i.e. SJAs, speakers) or energy harvesting devices. This study explored on idea of a structure which its frequency may be tuned through the application of electrical means alone. This idea would eliminate the needs of extra mechanical structure in certain transportation such as aircraft. A circular plate is tuned through attaching a piezoceramic annular plate at the edge of a circular plate. By controlling the voltage applied to the piezoceramic annular plate, thus the radial load, the fundamental frequency of the circular plate may be tuned. The analysis is performed by using finite different method which coded through MATLAB. The study is divided into two major parts. First part is the study of circular plate buckling problem in order to obtain the limit of radial load that may be applied by using attached piezoceramic annular plate. This will provide an information on significant radial load. Second part is the study of circular plate vibration problem which aim to look at the feasibility of using attached piezoceramic annular plate in tuning the circular plate frequency. For both, buckling and vibration problems, a parametric study was also performed. Results on vibration problem showed that the radial load applied through attached piezoceramic annular plate gave a significant range of frequency tuning for most configuration reported. Parametric study for buckling problem showed that the inner radius has a significant influence in critical buckling voltage except for the case of annular plate is thicker than the circular plate. Also, it is found that for inner radius far enough from the outer radius, the circular thickness only influence the critical buckling voltage when the circular plate has thickness near the annular plate or smaller. Lastly, the critical buckling voltage increases as the annular thickness increases regardless the annular plate is thicker or thinner than the circular plate. On the other hand, parametric study for vibration problem showed that the fundamental frequency is independent of the radius if the annular plate has equal thickness as the circular plate. While the similar may be conclude for the case where the annular is thicker than the circular plate but only for the if the inner radius is less than half of the outer radius. The fundamental frequency reduces rapidly as the inner radius became larger than half of the outer radius. For the case where the annular plate is thinner than the circular plate, the fundamental frequency increases with the change of the inner radius.

A boiler is a closed vessel used to heat fluid (typically water). The heat or vapours expelled by the boiler's fluid are employed in various heating techniques or applications, including sanitation, boiler-based power production, central heating, cooking, and water heating. According to the ASME performance test code (PTC), there are two techniques for determining the efficiency of a boiler: the Input-Output Method (Direct method), and the Heat Loss Method (Indirect method). Diverse studies on boiler efficiency have been undertaken over the last few decades using various methodologies, including experimental analysis and optimization methods. It is critical to monitor boiler efficiency to increase overall plant production. As a result, numerous approaches are employed to enhance boiler efficiency. Similarly, another research found that a boiler consumes approximately eighty percent of the boiler's energy and operational cost. As a result, it is noted that a variety of undesirable impacts might result in additional losses; such losses are mainly caused by unburned fuel, tube gas accumulation, convective, and radiative heat loss. As a result, this research aims to investigate boiler performance and increase boiler efficiency in the Kuwait oil and gas industries using a design optimization technique. This research thesis examined several elements to enhance the boiler's efficiency using the analysis of variance approach, including pre-heater design, economizer design, an efficient heating system design, and so on. For this objective, we used the design optimization technique to examine the feasibility and probability of boiler performance and efficiency under various conditions using empirical data from respondents in Kuwait's oil and gas business. According to the findings of this study, around 30% of heat energy is lost during the process of discharging flue gas from the boiler. As a result, the requirement for boiler design transformation is critical for improving boiler performance.

Comprehensive comparison on quarter-car, half-car and full-car models were conducted to analyze the effect of using semiactive control policies, namely skyhook, groundhook and hybrid controls, in improving ride quality of passenger vehicle. Sprung mass acceleration, suspension deflection and tire deflection responses were analyzed for measurements of ride quality, rattle-space and road holding. Three different analyses were conducted on each model; frequency-domain transfer function analysis, time-domain transient state and steady state analysis. Results shows that hybrid control policy gives significant improvements in most responses while at the same time it does not compromise road holding ability of vehicle. Further quantitative comparison of responses on all three models shows that quarter-car model is unable to accurately represent responses in full-car model. Half-car model gives reasonable representation of full-car model in some states. RMS analysis conducted on a H-car 2-DOF system shows good agreement to the previous work on Q-car 2-DOF. This book should benefit researchers working in the area of semiactive control of vehicle suspension system

Rotary hammer forging process is getting popular since it has many advantages as compared to the conventional forging process. The mechanism of the movement in terms of orbital motion of the conical upper die becomes a primary concern of this thesis. This thesis presents the three stages of the modeling of the rotary hammer forging. The first stage is the development of the orbital motion of the conical upper die. Three dimensional CAD model of the conical upper die was developed to determine the orbital motion as a function of the four parameters: Nutation, Precession, Spin and Rocking-Die mechanism. A reasonably accurate design of the conical upper die and the workpiece has been developed based on the motion as a result of interaction of conical upper die and upper part of workpiece geometries. The behavior of orbital motion with any active combination of those four parameters was observed. The second stage was the development of the conical upper die with the specific feature in order to generate a product with an unsymmetrical shape of upper part of the product. The forming sequence and mechanism of the formation of the upper part of product were generated. The third stage was the analysis of the stress strain state during the formation of the upper part of the workpiece. An elastic-plastic, dynamic analysis of 3D rotary hammer forging mechanism with the concern at the workpiece and their interaction with a model of dies have been performed. Verification of the indentation mechanism of the rotary hammer forging had been done by validating the result with the existing experimental results.

Climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions led to new vehicle emissions standards which in turn led to a call for vehicle technologies to meet these standards. Modeling of vehicle fuel consumption and emissions emerged as an effective tool to help developing and assessing such technologies. Although vehicle analytical models are favourable in many cases due to describing the physical phenomena associated with vehicle operation based on the principles of physics and with explainable mathematical trends and with extendable modeling to other vehicle types, no analytical model has been developed and experimentally validated as yet of diesel fuel consumption and exhaust emissions rate. The present study analytically models diesel fuel consumption rate microscopically for the accelerating, cruising and decelerating modes of driving a vehicle and models diesel regulated emissions rate for the cruising mode of driving a vehicle. In order to make these models, an analytical model of the following subsystems has been made: (i) intake manifold taking the flexibility of crankshaft and air density into account, (ii) supercharging diesel centrifugal compressor, (iii) multi-cylinder supercharged diesel engine, (iv) diesel fuel system and engine power, (vi) exhaust system and the percentage of unburned fuel. Sensitivity analysis has been conducted for simplifying the models in order to fit the INTEGRATION software and traffic simulator. The models have been validated experimentally against field data. For the rate of diesel fuel mass flow, the average percentage of deviation was 1.8% for all standard cycles outperforming widely recognized models such as the CMEM and VT-Micro. The simulated results have been analyzed statistically for the rate of diesel fuel mass flow with coefficient of determination and relative error of 96% and 1.2%, respectively. The average percentage of deviation of 7% 1.7%, 1.9%, 2%, and 10.6% for the diesel engine power, CO emission, NOx emission, HC emission, and percentage of unburned fuel respectively, for all Freeway cycles outperforming widely recognized models such as the CMEM and VT-Micro. The simulated results have been analyzed statistically as well with coefficient of determination of 73%, 99%, 99%, 83%, and 70% respectively. The corresponding relative error has been 7%, 3%, 1.7%, 2%, and 10.6% respectively. Moreover, the developed analytical models of the intake manifold gas speed dynamics, in-cylinder gas speed dynamics, supercharging compressor power, supercharging compressor mechanical efficiency, and supercharged air density have been experimentally validated using case studies with an average of deviation from field data of 12.6%, 11%, 3%, 8%, and 3.7%, respectively. The simulated results have been analyzed statistically as well with relative error of 12.6%, 11%, 3%, 8%, and 3.7%, respectively. In addition to devising two new classifications, which are the formulation approach-based modelling and main input variable-based modelling, the models developed in this study are (a) widely valid models which are not restricted to a specific dataset, (b) an effective tool to quickly judge whether the related experimental measurements make sense or not, (c) show which chemical reaction within the powertrain kinetically influences significantly emissions rate. Keywords: Vehicle Fuel Consumption; Vehicle Regulated Emissions; Modeling; Diesel Powertrain

Analytical methods are effective and efficient tools to approximate periodic solutions of nonlinear oscillatory problems. In this thesis, three analytical methods, namely, the harmonic balance method (HBM), the rational harmonic balance method (RHBM) and the energy balance method (EBM), respectively, are presented in modified forms to solve nonlinear oscillatory problems. In this study, first we have applied the modified harmonic balance method (MHBM) to the cubic-quintic Duffing oscillator, the nonlinear oscillator having the square of the angular frequency depends quadratically on the velocity, the nonlinear non-smooth oscillator with non-rational restoring force, the Duffing-relativistic oscillator and the Duffing-harmonic oscillator. Applying the MHBM in all problems, the third order approximate solutions yield almost similar as the corresponding exact solutions. Secondly, we have introduced a new analytical technique based on the RHBM to obtain approximate periodic solutions to the free undamped vibration, nonlinear oscillator with singularity, a nonlinear oscillator with non-rational restoring force, the Helmholtz-duffing oscillator and the Duffing-harmonic oscillator. It is noted that the second order approximate solutions are found very close to the third order approximations obtained by standard HBM. Finally, we have examined our modified energy balance method (MEBM) to some benchmark nonlinear oscillatory problems, namely, the Duffing oscillator, the equation of motion of a particle on a rotating parabola, the simple relativistic oscillator, the stretched elastic wire oscillator (with a mass attached to its midpoint) and the Duffing-relativistic oscillator to determine approximate periodic solutions. The correctness of the MEBM is found much better than the existing solutions. The modified analytical techniques eradicate the limitation of the standard HBM, RHBM and EBM. It is highly remarkable that an excellent accuracy of the approximate periodic solutions has been found by applying all modified analytical techniques which are valid for the whole range of large values of oscillation amplitude as compared with the exact ones. A very simple solution procedure with high accuracy is found in the nonlinear oscillatory problems that illustrates the novelty, reliability and wider applicability of the modified analytical techniques. All of these allow us to conclude that the modified analytical techniques are more convenient, efficient and better alternative than the existing methods for solving nonlinear oscillatory problems arising in nonlinear dynamical systems and engineering.

Cancer, one of the major public health problems, is the leading cause of death worldwide. The available protocols of treatment include surgical intervention, radiation, and chemotherapy which cause numerous side effects on cancer patients. Many phytochemicals have anticancer properties comparable to conventional drugs. The major benefit of these compounds is the non-toxicity nature to the normal tissues. Annona muricate, commonly known as Graviola, is a member of the Annonaceae family. It has been used for ages in traditional medicine due to its biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity to tumour cells. This research investigated the antiproliferative effect of the ionic liquid-Graviola fruit extract (IL-GFE) on in vitro breast MCF-7 and colon HT29 adenocarcinoma cell lines and their cytokinetic behaviour. It also identified the mechanism of IL-GFE inhibition by applying a flow cytometry technique and metabolomics study and assessed its toxicity on in vivo zebrafish developing embryos. The process of ionic liquid-microwave assisted extraction (IL-MAE) method was optimised by Response Surface Methodology for three parameters, namely time, irradiation power and solid-liquid ratio. The optimum extraction conditions gave a yield of Graviola fruit extract up to 66.6 % and an average IC50 of 4.75 µg/mL for MCF-7 and 10.56 µg/mL for HT29, while it was safe toward normal VERO cell lines. The crude IL-GFE was fractionated using the combination of thin-layer chromatography and column chromatography. Six fractions were semi-purified and subjected to phytochemical screening and antiproliferative assay in which, it revealed the presence of many phytoconstituents such as acetogenins, alkaloids, phenols, flavonoids, tannins and terpenoids. Moreover, fraction B exhibited the lowest IC50 toward MCF-7 and HT29 cells at 12.6 and 13.56 μg/mL, respectively. However, the crude IL-GFE had a better IC50 value. The crude IL-GFE with GC-TOFMS analysis revealed the presence of many phytochemicals with anticancer activity such as D-psicofuranose, pentakis ether, propyldecyl cyclopropane carboxylate, tri-ruthenium dodecacarbonyl, N-acetylimino dimethylsulfurane, pyranone, carbohydrazide and benzoic acid. The cytokinetic study showed that crude IL-GFE and Taxol inhibited the growth of MCF-7 and HT29 cells and proved their antiproliferative effect when they reduced the number of cell generations of MCF-7 from 3.71 to 1.67 and 2.18, respectively, and reduced the cell generations of HT29 cells from 3.93 to 2.96 and 2.01, respectively. Furthermore, the acute toxicity of IL-GFE was assessed on in vivo zebrafish model in which crude IL-GFE reduced the survival of zebrafish larvae at a relatively high dose of 250 µg/mL after 96 hpf treatment, while no significant changes on morphology of the treated zebrafish were recorded. The result of the flow cytometry also indicated that the crude IL-GFE arrested the cell cycle of MCF-7 and HT29 at G0/G1 phase and increased the apoptotic and necrotic cells in a time-dependent manner compared with the control group. Finally, the metabolomics analysis of the treated MCF-7 and HT29 cells with crude IL-GFE treatment showed an alteration of many metabolic pathways in treated cancer cells. In conclusion, crude IL-GFE can be one of the promising anticancer agents due to its selective antiproliferation against breast and colon cancer cells and its safety for the healthy cells.

Cancer is a major burden of disease worldwide, with an estimated 6.9 million cancer deaths in 2018. The number of new cases is expected to increase by about 70% over the next two decades. Polyphenolic compounds (extractable, EPPs and non-extractable, NEPPs), which are most abundantly present as natural bioactive compounds, have recently shown to be a powerful in-vitro anticancer activity through inducing apoptosis in cancer cells. Date palm kernels have gained interest as a valuable by-product “waste” of the date fruit industry and have been identified as a rich source of EPP and NEPP. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anticancer potentiality of polyphenols from Barhi date palm kernels (BDPK) extracts through inducing apoptosis in cancer cells. In the first stage of the study, chemical composition of BDPK was performed before the extraction process to identify its nutritional quality. Cytotoxic and antioxidant activities were screened in aqueous and organic extracts of BDPK by using in-vitro assays, and accordingly, the optimisation of a set of extraction conditions for high-yield recovery of EPP and NEPP, with high anticancer and antioxidant activities, was performed using response surface methodology (RSM). From the obtained results, it can be revealed that EPP exhibited more promising cytotoxic and antioxidant properties when compared to NEPP. Therefore, screening phenolic profile by LC-QTOF/MS to identify new cytotoxic compounds in the active EPP crude extract was done in the next stage. The isolation process was performed through successive steps of various chromatographic methods which had been assisted by the cytotoxic and antioxidant activities of the separated fractions and sub-fractions. Three new cytotoxic flavonoids nobiletin (C1, NOB), tectorigenin (C2, TEC) and persicogenin (C3; PERS) were successfully isolated and identified from BDPK for the first time. The final structures of the isolated flavonoids were established with the aid of spectroscopic analysis including one- and two-dimension at nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), melting points (m.p.), preparative thin layer chromatography (TLC) and mass spectrometry (MS). The three isolated flavonoids exhibited cytotoxic effects against two human cancer cell lines; lung (A549) and colon (HT29), but not normal cells, with higher cell death in A549 than in HT29 after 72 hours treatment, where PERS was found to be the most potent compound, followed by NOB and TEC (IC50=5.75μg/mL, 8.56μg/mL, 10.48μg/mL, respectively). Subsequently, the mechanism of cell death induced by BDPK crude extracts (EPP and NEPP), and the isolated compounds was demonstrated in the last stage of the research. After performing various morphological, biochemical and molecular assessments, it was established that the BDPK extracts induced late stages of apoptosis as there was evidence of the DNA degradation, and large percent of the cells population being in the sub-G0 phase induced by the two extracts. Furthermore, EPP and NEPP exhibited dependent mitochondrial signalling pathway as seen with caspase-9 and induced receptor-mediated (extrinsic) apoptotic pathway as seen with caspase-8. In conclusion, the present study has revealed the anticancer potentials of BDPK extracts and the three new cytotoxic isolated compounds may be new promising preventive/therapeutic candidates in treating lung and colon cancers.

Flowfield Dependent Variation (FDV) method is a mixed explicit-implicit numerical scheme that was originally developed to solve complex flow problems through the use of so-called implicitness parameters. These parameters determine the implicitness of FDV method by evaluating local gradients of physical flow parameters, hence vary across the computational domain. The method has been used successfully in solving wide range of flow problems. However it has only been applied to problems where the objects or obstacles are static relative to the flow. Since FDV method has been proved to be able to solve many complex flow problems, there is a need to extend FDV method into the application of moving boundary problems where an object experiences motion and deformation in the flow. With the main objective to develop a robust numerical scheme that is applicable for wide range of flow problems involving moving boundaries, in this study, FDV method was combined with a body interpolation technique called Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method. The ALE method is a technique that combines Lagrangian and Eulerian descriptions of a continuum in one numerical scheme, which then enables a computational mesh to follow the moving structures in an arbitrary movement while the fluid is still seen in a Eulerian manner. The new scheme, which is named as ALE-FDV method, is formulated using finite volume method in order to give flexibility in dealing with complicated geometries and freedom of choice of either structured or unstructured mesh. The method is found to be conditionally stable because its stability is dependent on the FDV parameters. The formulation yields a sparse matrix that can be solved by using any iterative algorithm. Several benchmark stationary and moving body problems in one, two and three-dimensional inviscid and viscous flows have been selected to validate the method. Good agreement with available experimental and numerical results from the published literature has been obtained. This shows that the ALE-FDV has great potential for solving a wide range of complex flow problems involving moving bodies.

Project management can be defined as the application of processes, knowledge, methods, and skills to achieve project objectives. Project management should benefit small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) the most in their economic part, where failure rates should decline in economic system that practice project management. Any organisation that practice project management should be able to reap the advantages where projects can be completed in an organised manner, within the project timeframe, and within the planned budget. However, there has been a concern over how SMEs susceptible to problems when integrating project management into their organisations. The objectives of this research were to identify the problem areas that hinder the SMEs in applying successful project management, recommending the solutions for the identified problems, and to measure the degree of awareness and implementation of project management for SMEs. The identified general problem areas in project management were: 1) poor basis for the project, 2) appointment failure for project manager, 3) unsupportive top management, and 4) lack of commitment to project. Furthermore, the problems that focused only to SMEs can be identified as: 1) management problems, 2) financial problems, 3) lack of knowledge, 4) project management awareness, 5) labour mobility, and 6) lack of experienced team members. A survey through the distribution of a questionnaire was developed in the current research to measure the awareness and implementation of project management in SMEs. The questionnaire was designed to accommodate the data collection on the background of the respondents, the comprehensive level of project management by respondents, and the implementation level of the concept in the respondents’ organisations. Participants were taken from Pahang and Sarawak states of Malaysia, and 5 out of 45 distributed questionnaires returned for analysis. Statistical Package for Social Science (IBM® SPSS version 23.0) was then used to check the reliability of the collected data and to provide further analysis. The findings show that all participants (100%) are fully aware and have previously heard over the concept of project management. However, only 80% of the respondents perceived that project management is very important. Regardless, all the participants (100%) have been implementing project management within their organisations. Based on the project goals implementation of budget, schedule, and performance, the results of the project management were satisfactorily for the respondents, even though a room for improvement is available. Furthermore, the success factor criteria assessment also revealed that the top management support, clear goals and objectives, planning and control, as well as excellent project manager, to be some of the significant factors in the practice of project management.