Mehran University Research Journal of Engineering and Technology

6

Authors: Junejo M., Shaikh A.A., Qureshi A.S.

This study develops MHGM (1,1) (Modified Hybrid Grey Model) which is the combination of two models first one is improved GM (1,1), this model consists of optimization of initial and background values and other is concave EDDGM (1,1) (Dynamic Discrete Grey Model) termed, in this model equal division technique is applied to fit the concavity of cumulative sequence and after that created dynamic average value and on the basis of that dynamic average value dynamic discrete GM (1,1) model is established and by the gradual heuristics method or the dichotomy approach the initial equal division number is obtained. We have fixed equal division number ‘n’ between 0 and 1in MHGM (1,1). For forecasting of starting half years we use y(0)(m) as initial condition of model in time restored function and also multiply by a factor e^(-b)1 to adjust the model. This model has applied without solving by heuristics or dichotomy method. Subscribers of cellular networks increase day by day in Pakistan; cellular industry has total five networks in Pakistan. In this paper data of three cellular networks subscribers that are Mobilink, Ufone and Zong have taken as application of models and it has been proved by using mean absolute percentage error that the forecast accuracy of MHGM (1,1) is better than GM (1,1) (Grey Model) and improved grey model (1,1).

8

Authors: Mustafa G., Bari M., Rehman T.

We are going to implement least squares approach to fit the bivariate quartic polynomial to (2n+1)2- perceptions/data, where n>2. By taking different values of n, (2n+1)2-point approximating subdivision schemes are built. The proposed scheme can be applied for illustrate individual items as a part of 3D (Three Dimensional) space. The proposed scheme is based on fitting the local least squares bivariate quartic polynomial of degree four to the (2n+1)2-observations. The influence of the proposed scheme is shown by 2D example and its working is presented with the help of different quadrilateral meshes. Subdivision and topological rules are also explained with graphical and mathematical representation. Applications and visual exhibitions of the plan have additionally been displayed to show the implementation of the plan.

8

Authors: Awan J.H., Memon S., Memon S., Pathan K.T., Arijo N.H.

Nowadays, every internet user is part of cyber world. In this way, millions of users, knowledge seekers, and service provider organizations are connected to each other, a vast number of common people shifted their everyday activities to cyber world as they can save their time, traffic problem and gets effective and costless services by using various services such as, online banking, social networking sites, government services and cloud services. The use of Cyber services, eBusiness, eCommerce and eGovernance increases the usage of online/cyber services also increased the issue of cyber security. Recently, various cases have been reported in the literature and media about the cyber-attacks and crimes which seriously disrupted governments, businesses and personal lives. From the literature. It is noticed that every cyber user is unaware about privacy and security practices and measures. Therefore, cyber user has provided knowledge and fully aware them from the online services and also about cyber privacy and security. This paper presents a review on the recent cybercrimes, threats and attacks reported in the literature and media. In addition, the impact of these cyber breaches and cyber law to deal with cyber security has been discussed. At last, a defensive model is also proposed to mitigate cyber-criminal activities.

8

Authors: Kanwal H., Arif S., Javed M.A., Farooq A., Khan M.A.

Effective utilization of the available resources is imperative approach to achieve the apex of productivity. The modern world is focusing on the conditioning, sustainability and recycling of the assets by imparting innovative techniques and methodologies. Keeping this in view, an experimental study was conducted to evaluate the strength of concrete made with treated waste water for structural use. In this study ninetysix cylinders of four mixes with coarse aggregates in combination with FW (Fresh Water), WW (Wastewater), TWW (Treated Wastewater) and TS (Treated Sewage)were prepared. The workability of fresh concrete was checked before pouring of cylinders. The test cylinders were left for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days for curing. After curing, the compressive strength was measured on hardened concrete cylinders accordingly. Test results showed that workability of all the four mixes were between 25-50mm but ultimate compressive strength of concrete with WW was decreased and with TWW, TS at the age of 28 days do not change significantly. This research will open a new wicket in the horizon of recycling of construction materials. The conditioning and cyclic utilization will reduce the cost of the construction and building materials as well as minimize the use of natural resources. This novelty and calculating approach will save our natural assets and resources.

10

Authors: Maitlo G., Mahar R.B., Unar I.N., Brohi K.M.

Biomass materials such as CS (Cotton Stalks) and RH (Rice Husk) are a renewable source of energy. As biomass resources have potential to offer a uninterpted supply of biofuels through thermal decomposition processes. Nevertheless, an appropriate understanding of reaction kinetics and thermal properties of biomasses play a vital role in designing of the commercial plants using biomass as a raw material for energy generation. The kinetic characteristics of the CS and RH samples under pure nitrogen 99.9% and pure oxygen 99.9% was performed. The temperature was raised from ambient to 900oC maintaining the heating rate of 10oC/min. CS and RH decomposition was noticed in three dissimilar regions. The kinetic characteristics such as (pre-exponential factor, the order of reaction and activation energy) were calculated for both selected materials. The activation energies calculated under nitrogen environment for CS and RH was 68.77 and 72.31 kJ/mole, whereas the regression coefficient (R2) was 0.9877 and 0.9731 respectively. The activation energies under oxygen environment were higher, it was 106 and 118 kJ/mole. The regression coefficient (R2) under oxygen environment was 0.9987 and 0.99883 for above sample sequence.

12

Authors: Wasiullah, Shereen M.K., Khan N.

LPV (Linear Parameter Varying) system is an important class of system, as it covers many physical systems. In the existing design theory related to control system, the major part is related to linear and non-linear systems. However, the LPV system is getting prominence and hence is an attractive area of research. Control issues linked with LPV systems are an emerging area of modern research. To investigate the control of this predominant class, the idea of observer design has been carried out in this article. In this paper, an observer based on RKF (Routine KalmanFiltering) scheme and LQR (Linear Quadratic Regulator) is employed for a set of linear parameter variations. The state and gain matrices are scheduled using an interpolation method, which is linear according to each parameter and is expected to be non-linear globally. For stability of observer, bound on rate of parameter variation is imposed. For simulation purpose, a real life case study of Boeing-747 is adopted. The proposed scheme is implemented for the stated LPV system. All the associated states of the system are examined with and without observer. Results obtained in this work show better performance as manifested by errors. Error in measurement is much reduced by employing this scheme. Short-listed features are presented in this paper to comprehend the performance of observer.

12

Authors: Lashari J.H., Bhutto A., Abro Q.M.M., Memon Z.A., Naqvi I.N.

It is well understood that the creation and applications of new knowledge is the primary factor that drives economic growth. Aim ofthis research is to examine the KTCs (Knowledge Transfer Channels) in the universities of Sindh, Pakistan leading towards the scientific and technological development of environment sector. This research identified 29 KTCs from literature those were examined, making exploratory interviews with PhD faculty members of universities offering degrees in field of environment. The identified 29 KTCs are grouped together into 7 groups based on their characteristics. KTC-1: Publications (2-variables); KTC-2: Networking (4-variables); KTC-3: Mobility of Researchers (6- variables); KTC-4: Joint Research (5-variables); KTC-5: Intellectual Property with (2-variables); KTC- 6: Co-operations (6-variables); KTC-7: Institutional Infrastructure (3-variables). Findingsshows, relevancy of KTCs in terms of their role towards the utilization of knowledge capital towards development by means of professional publications from KTC-1, participation of industry staff in conferences and workshops from KTC-2, students working as trainees in the industry and outflow of graduates at M.Phil. level from KTC-3, consultancy of university staff members in the industry from KTC-4, research work in co-operation with research institutes and with consultants from KTC-6 and sharing of physical infrastructure from KTC-7 also shows their impact towards the utilization of knowledge capital for development of environment sector. None of variablefrom KTC-5 related to intellectual property rights shows their impact towards utilization of knowledge capital. This research contributes empirical results of KTCs in universities, with policy implications for future knowledge transfer, which can contribute in the development of society.

14

Authors: Memon I., Arain Q.A., Pirzada N.

The study of feature extraction and clustering techniques for an image is carried out to find the future scope in the area of image clustering for the real world applications. Nowadays, a huge amount of image data is being collected in various application domains. As clustering approaches group homogeneous data together and also deals with unlabeled data, it is used quite often for accessing the interesting data easily and quickly. Image clustering is a process of grouping image data on the basis of similarities present between them. Features extracted from the images are used for the computation of similarities among them. This paper presents a technique for CBIR (Content Based Image Retrieval) by selecting the regions on the basis of their contribution to image contents. Texture and edge features are extracted at region-level whereas shape feature is extracted at image-level. At region-level image is divided in nonoverlapping regions. Texture and edge features are calculated for each region separately. Curvelet transform is used for extracting the texture feature by providing the curve continuity as well as line continuity in the feature extraction process. Moment invariant is used for extracting the shape features. All of the regions of the image may not have equal contribution in identifying the user perception of the image. Proposed method does not dominate to the non-highlighted regions but it decreases the region weight for less contributing regions. IRM (Integrated Region Matching) technique is used for retrieving the relevant images. The performance of the proposed system is tested on Flickr and COREL databases. Experimental results show that the retrieval performance of the proposed algorithm is better in comparison to other state-of-the-art methods.

16

Authors: Ahmed M., Sangi N.A., Mahmood A.

In recent years, technology enabled learning also called e-learning is penetrating in the educational sector and its use is increasing especially in ODL (Open and Distance Learning). But a majority of the e-learning systems merely focuses on instruction delivery with little focus on learning activities and thus creating opportunities to develop e-learning more interactive and engaging by adding adaptive features. However, it is also a challenging task to develop and implement an adaptive e-learning model for an ODL environment. There are various issues like non-availability of the specialized contents, the learning sequence story board and the preferences of learners under the available infrastructure. This paper proposes a model of adaptive e-learning for an ODL environment. The proposed model has three important components: content model, learner model and adaptive model. The content model defines and stores the organization of chapters and topics in a logical sequence. The learner model stores information about survey and quizzes data and keep the track of the learning performance. The survey is designed to investigate the personal profiles and the preference of students about their favorite content types. The adaptive model manages content presentation and its navigation derived by the learning algorithm. The learning algorithm takes information from the learner model, analyzes it and adjusts the display of the contents by retrieving it from the content model. The implementation was conducted on two courses of computer science and in each course the experimental and control groups were formed to investigate the change in their learning level. The results show that the proposed adaptive e-learning model has improved the knowledge level of the students. The percentage of highest grade holders has increased and the failure rate has dropped in both courses. The feedback of the students enrolled in adaptive e-learning course is also conducted. The results of the survey highlight the positive opinion about this new paradigm of technology based learning.

18

Authors: Aslam M.

Flooding is globally a major natural hazard. Floods result in property and life loss and poor economic development. Though it is not possible to prevent the occurrence of floods, but their negative impacts could be minimized considerably through proper planning and effective preparation. The vulnerability to floods could be reduced by accurate and timely prediction (Forecasting and Warning) and by impactreducing measures. Pakistan faces flooding problem almost every year in the recent past. For the period 1947-2015, a financial loss of US$ 38.165 billion has been estimated as a result of 23 major flood events in Pakistan. Approximately, more than 12,000 human beings were dead and 616,598 km2 land area was affected due to these floods. Climate change has been projected to lead to an increase in the frequency and magnitude of floods in future in Pakistan due to high glacial melting and deicing of mountain caps and high monsoon rainfall. The situation demands for effective and sustainable flood management to reduce flood damages. This paper reviews flood management current state, highlights challenges of flood management and identifies prospects for effective and sustainable flood management in Pakistan. The paper also seeks to make certain recommendations toward effective and sustainable flood management in Pakistan.