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Kesan Penambahan Tiubnano Karbon terhadap Pertumbuhan Lapisan Sebatian antara Logam Sistem Pateri Sn-Ag-Cu/Cu akibat Penuaan Terma (Effect of carbon nanotube addition on the growth of intermetallic layer of Sn-Ag-Cu solder system under thermal aging)
No full textEffect of carbon nanotube (CNT) on the growth of intermetallic compound (IMC) layer of 96.5Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu/Cu substrate lead free solder system has been investigated. Sn-Ag-Cu alloy powder (SAC305) was mixed with 0.02 weight percent of CNT to produce SAC-CNT solder paste. Both SAC305 and SAC305-CNT solder paste has been manually printed on the printed circuit board (PCB) with the copper (Cu) surface finish by using stencil printing method. Printed samples were reflowed at temperature 260°C. Soldered samples underwent thermal aging test for the period of 200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000 h using high temperature storage (HTS) oven at a constant temperature 150°C. The thickness of IMC layer was measured by Infinite Focus Measurement (IFM®) equipment. The results found that growth rates of IMC layer for SAC305/Cu-CNT system is 25% lower than SAC/Cu system. Therefore, addition of CNT proposed can retard about 25% of IMC layer growth under thermal aging
The impact of anticipatory guidance on early childhood caries: a quasi-experimental study
No full textBackground: This study evaluated the impact of anticipatory guidance on the caries incidence of 2-3-year-old preschool children and their 4-6-year-old siblings, as well as on their mothers' oral health literacy, as compared to the conventional Ministry of Health (MOH) programme. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted at two government dental clinics in Batu Pahat District, Malaysia. The samples comprised of 478 mother-child-sibling trios (233 families in the intervention group, and 245 families in the control group). An oral health package named the Family Dental Wellness Programme (FDWP) was designed to provide dental examinations and oral health education through anticipatory guidance technique to the intervention group at six-month intervals over 3 years. The control group received the standard MOH oral health education activities. The impact of FDWP on net caries increment, caries prevented fraction, and mother's oral health literacy was assessed after 3 years of intervention. Results: Children and siblings in the intervention group had a significantly lower net caries increment (0.24 ± SD0.8; 0.20 ± SD0.7) compared to the control group (0.75 ± SD1.2; 0.55 ± SD0.9). The caries prevented fraction for FDWP was 68% for the younger siblings and 63.6% for the older children. The 2-3-year-old children in the intervention group had a significantly lower incidence of white spot lesions than their counterpart (12% vs 25%, p < 0.05). At three-year follow-up, there were significant increments in the oral health literacy scores of mothers in the intervention group compared to the control group. Conclusion: The FDWP is more effective than the standard MOH programme in terms of children's and siblings' caries incidence and mother's oral health literacy
A comparative investigation on in-situ and laboratory standard test of the potential induced degradation of crystalline silicon photovoltaic modules
No full textPotential induced degradation (PID) is one of the genuinely critical concerns of a sustainable power generation from a PV system. Generally, the PID behavior of a PV module is tested in the laboratory according to the IEC standard before installation into a plant. On the other hand, an electroluminescence imaging is a reliable technique to identify the different types of PV cell defects which cause the degradation of the PV modules. The aim of this research is to investigate the PID behavior of similar PV modules in both the real on-site test and the laboratory standard test conditions. This will facilitate the outcome of the tangible indoor PID test results with more ease and reliability. It has been observed from the EL images of the on-site degraded PV module that a performance degradation happens due to different types of PV cell defects, such as, localized shunting, cracks, front contact grid interruptions, etc. The maximum power versus EL mean intensity shows a linear relationship which predicts the quantitative performance analysis of a PV module from an EL imaging process. The PID of a PV module has been found in a negative voltage stress condition in both the on-site and the laboratory tests. The shunt resistance gradually decreases as a consequence of the negative voltage stress only. The on-site degradation levels of the Pmax, Voc, Isc and FF are 46.5, 7.15, 30.4, and 17.35% respectively after a duration of nearly 11 years of a negative voltage stress generated from a 240 V string size. In a laboratory PID test, the Pmax, Voc, Isc and FF are degraded due to a negative voltage stress with a value of 6.83%, 1.9%, 1.5%, and 3.5% respectively
Maqasid al-Shariah as a Complementary Framework for Conventional Bioethics: Application in Malaysian Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Fatwa
No full textRapid development in the area of assisted reproductive technology (ART), has benefited mankind by addressing reproductive problems. However, the emergence of new technologies and techniques raises various issues and discussions among physicians and the masses, especially on issues related to bioethics. Apart from solutions provided using conventional bioethics framework, solutions can also be derived via a complementary framework of bioethics based on the Higher Objectives of the Divine Law (Maqasid al-Shariah) in tackling these problems. This approach in the Islamic World has been applied and localised in the Malaysian context. Thus, this paper highlights a conceptual theoretical framework for solving current bioethical issues, with a special focus on ART in the Malaysian context, and compares this theory with conventional theories of bioethics
Variations in the Asian collectivistic working culture in intercultural collaboration: A case of a South Korean Company in Malaysia
No full textThis study examined the prevailing differences between the collectivistic values of South Korean and Malaysian workers in a multinational company operating in Malaysia. Descriptive data from participant observations and in-depth interviews were used to scrutinize the background of the variations in the collectivistic values, their impact on the employees’ behaviour and the intercultural conflicts between the two parties. This empirical work observed that South Korean and Malaysian workers shared the same elements of collectivistic values. However, their interaction revealed variations in the target group of loyalty in the process of achieving solidarity and object of commitment. In short, the dominant values perceived in this analysis manifested strong orientation towards family, teamwork, and the relationship among the Malaysian workers whilst South Korean workers prioritized organizational interests, loyalty, and uniformity for the sake of solidarity and sense of belonging. Findings of this study also suggested how the variations in the collectivistic values have led to a differing interpretation of the situation, work, and relationship, thus resulting in diverse approaches in the workplace
Compensation of friction and force ripples in the estimation of cutting forces by neural networks
No full textEstimated cutting forces are usually mixed up with disturbing forces such as friction and need to be compensated. In common compensation methods, such forces are firstly recorded along machining contours under air-cutting conditions. Then, recorded disturbing forces are recalled for the compensation during the main machining process. This method doubles the process time and needs a precise synchronization. This problem is addressed in this paper. A novel method based on neural networks is introduced to compensate of friction and force ripples during cutting force estimations when signals of permanent magnet linear motors (PMLMs) are used. To this end, a Kalman filter observer was designed and experimentally verified for measuring of friction and force ripples. It was then used to provide target series required for training a neural network. Time series of the translator position along some sinusoidal trajectories were selected as training inputs. Taguchi experimental design method was used to determine the structure of the network (number of layers, nodes, and delays). It can be seen that increasing the complexity of the network does not necessarily lead to a more precise network, and a neural network with a hidden layer,16 nodes in the hidden layer and two time-delays can well model such forces. Experiments showed that the results of both methods are very similar and therefore, the proposed method can be used as well as the recording method. Finally, the designed method was successfully applied to the precise estimation of micro milling forces in order to estimate tool deflections
Microsporidia infection among various groups of the immunocompromised patients
No full textWhile information with regards to the bacterial and viral infections are commonly available among clinicians, data on parasitic infection, particularly Microsporidia among immunocompromised patient is currently lacking in Malaysia. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of Microsporidia among a various group of immunocompromised patient. Two hundred and eighty-eight archived stool samples were examined for the presence of Microsporidia with Gram-Chromotrope Kinyoun staining method. The overall prevalence of Microsporidia was 29.2 % (84/288; 95% CI=24.2-34.5). The end-stage renal failure (ESRF) patients (32.1%) recorded the highest infection rate, followed by cancer (26.2%), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV/AIDS) (22.6%) and acute gastroenteritis (AGE) (7.1%). Meanwhile, organ transplant recipients and autoimmune disease patients recorded the lowest prevalence rate (6.0%). Other intestinal parasites were Strongyloides stercoralis, Trichuris trichiura, Ascaris lumbricoides and Cryptosporidium species. Diarrhoea was the most common symptoms among patients with microsporidiosis. The present study showed that the prevalence of Microsporidia infection was relatively high among immunocompromised patients. This finding highlighted the importance to include detection of microsporidia infection as a routine differential diagnosis in immunocompromised patients, which serves the benefit of treatment to the patients
Multi-objective scheduling of MapReduce jobs in big data processing
No full textData generation has increased drastically over the past few years due to the rapid development of Internet-based technologies. This period has been called the big data era. Big data offer an emerging paradigm shift in data exploration and utilization. The MapReduce computational paradigm is a well-known framework and is considered the main enabler for the distributed and scalable processing of a large amount of data. However, despite recent efforts toward improving the performance of MapReduce, scheduling MapReduce jobs across multiple nodes has been considered a multi-objective optimization problem. This problem can become increasingly complex when virtualized clusters in cloud computing are used to execute a large number of tasks. This study aims to optimize MapReduce job scheduling based on the completion time and cost of cloud service models. First, the problem is formulated as a multi-objective model. The model consists of two objective functions, namely, (i) completion time and (ii) cost minimization. Second, a scheduling algorithm using earliest finish time scheduling that considers resource allocation and job scheduling in the cloud is proposed. Lastly, experimental results show that the proposed scheduler exhibits better performance than other well-known schedulers, such as FIFO and Fair
Patient Reporting of Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs)
No full textBackground: Many countries incorporate direct patient reporting of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) into their pharmacovigilance systems as patients provide a different insight into drug safety compared to health care professionals. This study aimed to examine public awareness about ADR reporting in Malaysia and patients’ confidence in reporting ADRs. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design and convenient sampling, data were collected in public areas within Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, via face-to-face interview with a structured questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the significant predictors of patients’ confidence in ADR reporting. Results: Out of 860 consented respondents achieving a response rate of 73.5%, only 69 (8%) were aware of the Malaysian ADR monitoring system. The majority (60%) of the respondents indicated they had the confidence to report ADRs. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that ease in completing the ADR reporting form was the strongest variable predictive of confidence to report ADRs (odds ratio [OR], 18.45; 95% confidence interval [CI], 10.55-32.25). Increased confidence in ADR reporting was also associated with education level. Respondents with a higher education level were more likely to be confident to report ADRs compared to those with primary or no formal education (OR, 2.49; 95% CI, 0.77-8.1). Conclusions: Lack of awareness of the ADR monitoring system is still prevalent among Malaysian patients. The ease of completing the ADR form and education level are predictive of patient confidence to report ADRs. These factors should be considered in designing public promotional activities to encourage patient contributions to pharmacovigilance
Are China’s service exports accurately measured? Implications of an alternative measurement approach
No full textAs economic development advances, a country’s service sector grows. With globalization, this growth is often accompanied by the growth of trade in services. China is a good example. After three decades of spectacular economic advance, its service trade is now one of the world’s largest, but so is its service trade deficit. How did this come about, given China’s competitive strength in the export of goods? Second, is this deficit a statistical anomaly, i.e. with China participating in global supply chains, how well do gross exports reflect the true value of China’s service exports? Third, what is the real competitiveness of China’s service exports? This study examines these questions by first reviewing the structure and trends in China’s service trade using official statistics. It then re-estimates these exports using the “forward linkage value-added method” to compare with gross exports. The third question is addressed by calculating revealed comparative advantage (RCA) indexes based on gross as well as value-added service exports. Using 2000-2014 data, the results show that no matter which method is applied, China’s service exports have weak comparative advantage but rising RCAs show China’s competitive situation improving. Also, gross export values overestimate the RCA compared to value-added values. A number of policy implications arise from these findings