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Accident Severity Analysis In Johor
No full textRoad accident has been a common problem in Malaysia. Road accidents occurred due to various factors with different type of accident severities. This study analyzed the relationship between the accident severities and accident factors in Johor. Accident severities were analyzed using R software to develop regression models that capable of predicting the number of accidents as well as the accident severities by road type, time of occurrence, and road geometry. As for the severity, there were three levels of severities that were presented in this study which were death, major injuries and minor injuries. The results showed that the combination of the federal road with straight road which took place around 8 PM to 10 PM were the most critical combination that caused the highest chance of fatalities. It was also shown that there were high chances for a driver to suffer death from road traffic accident anytime in the 24 hours
Semiconductor based nanomaterials for harvesting green hydrogen energy under solar light irradiation
No full textIn this review, the evolution of hydrogen in a combined cell system of photoelectrocatalytic and microbial fuel is discussed. Hydrogen is used as chemical fuel and being produced through photoelectrocatalytic method. The semiconductor material was put into the water and irradiated with solar light. After that, the hydrogen is produced by different steps and accumulated. Production of hydrogen also takes place in a microbial fuel cell system. These are electrochemical devices that are initially used to treat the wastewater. But now, this cell has entered into a very interesting field of research which is Bioelectrochemical system (BES). BES produces hydrogen by using biomass as a catalyst and small consumption voltage rather than simple electrolysis of water. The first section explains how hydrogen can be produced individually by these two methods. Then, a comprehensive review is presented on the evolution of hydrogen by combining microbial fuel and photoelectrocatalytic cell system. The continuous production of hydrogen by using (PEC-MFC) hybrid device, sunlight and splitting of water and electro-hydro genesis of microbial cell in fusion device (PEC-MFC) are also reported. This method gives continuous production of hydrogen using wastewater under solar light and also gives the treatment of wastewater. It is a clean energy source and also fulfils today’s demand for energy. At last, a review on the production of hydrogen by the microbial photoelectrochemical system is constructed by photocathode of semiconductor material and an anode of microbial. Production of hydrogen was continuously achieved without external voltage under ultraviolet irradiation
Antibiogram Patterns of Staphylococci isolated from the Nasal and Axilla of Healthy Individuals in Nilai
No full textAn antibiogram study suggests the prescription patterns of antibiotics in a location through which,
the prescription of certain antibiotics can be controlled to minimize the rise of antibiotic resistant
bacteria. S. aureus, S. epidermidis and P. acnes are common bacteria of the skin, nasal and axillae.
However, many of these bacteria are gaining resistance towards antibiotics. Thus, the objective of
this study was to discover the antibiogram of the common microflora isolated from the axillae and
nasal cavity of 25 healthy individuals aged 18-50 in Nilai. The bacterial samples were aseptically
obtained, cultured in nutrient broth and streaked onto nutrient agar to obtain pure cultures. The
pure cultures were subjected to Gram-staining, catalase test, and grown on mannitol salt agar. The
antibiotic susceptibility testing were performed to characterize the susceptibility of the bacterial
isolates towards amoxicillin, cefazolin, erythromycin, cefoxitin, trimetoprima/ sulfametoxazol,
tetracycline and gentamycin on Mueller Hinton agar. Pure cultures of 78 axillae and nasal samples
were screened in this study. 65.38% of the bacterial isolates were gram positive bacteria
comprising of S. aureus, S. epidermidis and possibly Propionibacterium and Corynebacterium.
Out of the 24 isolates of S. aureus and S. epidermidis, 18.42% were found to be sensitive to the
tested antibiotics whereas, 7.89 % showed resistance to more than one antibiotic. 28% of the
staphylococci showed resistance towards amoxicillin. Although amoxicillin-resistance among
gram positive staphylococci has been reported previously, it is also crucial to note that the transfer
of resistant bacteria is likely to increase with imprudent prescriptions of antibiotics and improper
hygiene practices of individuals. Although the sample size used in this were rather small, the
findings in this study could be used for a definitive antibiotic therapy among gram positive
infections in Malaysia
Tensile Test Of Fly Ash-Polypropylene Hybrid Composite Via Ansys Simulation
No full textThe utilization of power plant by various nations is the direct result from the need to satisfy the ever increasing demand for electricity. One of the major drawback for the use of power plant is the resulting fly-ash waste. The goal of this study was to investigate the tensile strength of a newly developed fly-ash-polypropylene (PP) hybrid composite via Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulation. Four (4) types of hybrid composite were simulated in this study which were: (i) 100% PP, 0% fly-ash, (ii) 90% PP, 10% fly-ash, (iii) 80% PP, 20% fly-ash, and (iv) 70% PP, 30% fly-ash. The properties of the composite for four (4) different samples were obtained from the literature and via calculations. The results showed that shows that for sample 1, 2, 3 and 4; the maximum stress of 20.218 MPa, 20.171 MPa, 16.859 MPa and 15.37 MPa were simulated. Furthermore, only sample 1 managed to record the factor of safety to be above 1.0. Hence, it is safe to deduce that tensile strength of the newly developed fly-ash- polypropylene hybrid composite is decreasing with the increasing percentage of fly-ash. The reduction in tensile strength proves that there is the absent of a chemical bond between the polypropylene and fly-ash. Further addition of fly-ash onto the hybrid composite increases the material linear elastic fracture because of creation of lager defect. Therefore, the fly-ash-polypropylene hybrid composite is not suitable for the engineering application where tensile strength matters the most. For future studies, other types of mechanical properties assessment is recommended to be conducted on the fly-ash-recycled-plastic hybrid composite
Prevalence of low back pain and associated risk factors among car mechanics in Malacca, Malaysia
No full textBackground: Work-related low back disorder is one the common musculoskeletal disorders that has been concurrently associated with the work characteristic and position during work. The working posture of car mechanics that involves high force exertion, vibration, prolonged standing and awkward working position has directly contributed to the development of low back pain. Although previous study has addressed on this issue, there is a paucity of information in regards to the prevalence, risk factors of low back pain and the association between these two variables. Thus, the current study was conducted to address this issue with following objective:
Objective:
1. To determine the prevalence and the risk factors of work-related low back pain among car mechanics in Malacca City, Melaka, Malaysia.
2. To examine the association between low back pain and risk factors of work-related low back pain among car mechanics in Malacca City, Melaka, Malaysia.
Materials & Methodology:
This cross-sectional study includes 120 car mechanics selected from 43 car workshops in Malacca city by simple random sampling method. Musculoskeletal disorders and disability data was gathered by using standardized Nordic self-report questionnaire and Oswestry disability index. Descriptive statistics were present for all categorical variables. Chi-Square were used to determine the association between low back pain and the related risk factors.
Results: The findings of the current study showed that 80.0% of car mechanics experienced low back disorder in Malacca city. The risk factors such as BMI, rest time/rest period and squatting for long period showed a significant association with low back trouble. Conclusion: The inappropriate working posture and contributing risk factors has led to steady increase of low back pain among car mechanics. An early education of healthy lifestyle involving exercise and good diet as well as practice of effective ergonomics intervention should be encouraged among them in order to prevent further injury and eliminate low back pain
Antibacterial effects of Curcuma species and Vigna radiata against MRSA, MRSE, and Propionibacterium acnes
No full textBacterial infections can be treated by antibiotics, but bacteria are developing resistance against antibiotics which has led to a global threat. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria will result in hard-to-treat infections. These will increase medical costs, lengthen hospital stays and increase in mortality rate. Many studies are searching for a promising solution for antibiotic resistant issues. In this research, three herbal plants, Curcuma aromatica, Curcuma zedoaria, and Vigna radiata were used to study the antibacterial activity against ten gram positive strains of bacteria, which were Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus aureus FB408/B, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus epidermidis S15B/A and Propionibacterium acnes as well as three strains of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which were MRSA positive control, MRSA S16B/A, MRSA F13, and as well as two strains of Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE), which were MRSE S19 and MRSE S23. These three plants were selected for this study because they are commonly using in Chinese and Indian traditional medicines as wound healing agents and bath scrubs. Phytochemicals from C. aromatica, C. zedoaria, and V. radiata were extracted with 85% ethanol using a Soxhlet extractor and concentrated using a rotary evaporator. Phytochemical screening was conducted and analyzed the presence of plant secondary metabolites that are involved in antibacterial activity. All the tested plant extracts contained terpenoids, phenols and tannins in general. These ethanolic extracts were tested against the ten gram-positive isolates. All plant extracts inhibited bacterial growth with variable potency. Synergistic effects were observed in combination of the three plants extracts when tested with S. aureus FB408/B and MRSA F13. Furthermore, when tested C. aromatica with C. zedoaria, showed a higher antimicrobial effect against the MRSA positive control in combination, than individually. The combination of C. zedoria with V. radiata on the other hand showed higher activity in P. acnes. Even though synergistic effects were observed, individual plant extract of C. aromatica and C. zedoaria have shown the greatest antibacterial activity against most of the tested isolates. The results in this study can be used to propose an effective facial product with C. aromatica extracts to inhibit activity of common skin pathogens and antibiotic resistant bacteria such as MRSA and MRSE that are found on human skin
Forecasting Stock Price using ARMA Model
No full textForecasting is the process of making predictions based on the historical data. In this paper, we took the daily opening stock prices of Maxis Berhad from Jan 2010 to Dec 2017 to analyze and forecast the opening stock prices from Jan 2018 to Dec 2019. Before the modelling part, we examined the stationarity of the time series data. The data were found to be non-stationary and some transformation procedures were implemented onto the data such as differencing and log transformations. After that, the transformed data were modeled with Autoregressive Moving Average (ARMA) models through Eviews software. ARMA model is the combination of AR(p) and MA(q) models. In this study, we examined ARMA models of order p+q up to 5 order. Then, we did the Global and Coefficients tests to produce the selected models. The selected models will then be inspected based on standard error, r squared and some criteria to obtain the best model. The best model is used to derive the predicted time series data. The predicted time series data is then detransformed and compared with the real daily opening stock prices of Maxis Berhad from Jan 2018 to Dec 2019. Finally, the predicted daily opening stock prices were shown to be having high accuracy with the Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) of 1.41%
Lateral Control of Functionally Graded Composite Beam under Static Load by using Piezoelectric Layer
No full textControlling the deflection of a composite cantilever beam under concentrate static force at the free end is investigated. The composite beam is made of ceramic and metal, which gradually change from ceramic to the metal in thickness coordinate. This kind of composite is called Functionally Graded Material (FGM). In FGM, material properties are presumed to differ as an exponential function. The governing equation of the rectangular composite beam is based on Euler-Bernoulli deformation theory. Two control models are considered in this article. First, two piezoelectric actuators are attached to the two sides of the composite beam which each of these actuators is applied the voltage separately. To control the deflection of each point of the composite beam, the difference between the two voltages is considered constant. Second, a piezoelectric actuator is attached to the free end of the composite beam, which also provides a relation to control any desired point of the composite beam. By comparing the two models, the superiority of the second model is proven
China’s Indigenous Social Rural Pension: Building Ground Work for Future Research
No full textChina has the largest elderly population in the world, while its overall population has been
unprecedentedly growing for quite some time now. The aging population is particularly
concerning in China where the ‘family is traditionally responsible for taking care of their elders
as there is no established, sustainable social security system’ especially in rural areas. Worse
still, the one child policy and the rapid urbanisation processes resulting in younger adults
leaving rural areas for better jobs and lifestyles since the 1990s have put greater pressures on
rural families who have fewer younger people to depend on for taking care of their elderlies.
Against this background, there is an urgent need to build ground work for future research which
can shed more light on social organisations for the rural elderly in China, giving particular
attention to indigenous features in the Chinese context – a contribution this paper offers to
make
The Potential of Implementing Smart Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) To Minimize Work Related Injuries in Construction Sites
No full textConstruction accidents has earned a bad reputation along the years even with personal protective
equipment (PPE) provided on site. Wearable technology has become more common nowadays for
preventing workplace injuries, ensuring level of safety in the workplace. Smart personal protective
equipment (PPE) refers to PPE that connects to the internet and other devices like software or
tablets to deliver real-time safety information. Hence, the aim for this research is to study the
possibility of implementing smart personal protective equipment (PPE) in Malaysian construction
industry. The findings show that majority of respondents are aware of construction accident, smart
PPE are better in reducing injuries than conventional PPE and respondents are willing to
implement in their company if Smart PPE is available in the market and the cost is reasonable