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Polynomial Model Of Transmission And Reflection Of Electromagnetic Waves In Multilayer Thin Films Subjected To An External Transverse Voltage
Get PDFIn designing and controlling the transmission and reflection characteristics of multilayer thin films, mathematical modelling of their electrical and optical response is a vital step to save time, effort and money in the experimental fabrication process. Different approaches exist for modelling the propagation of electromagnetic waves through multilayer thin films. This thesis employs the polynomial approach to model the electromagnetic wave, utilizing dielectric constants, electrical resistivities, and refractive indices of thin film materials to infer the transmission and reflection of electromagnetic wave incidents on the multilayer structure when one or more accumulated-charge regions superimpose between adjacent layers. The model, based on Maxwell's equations was derived for nonmagnetic lossless or lossy materials. Wave Tensor and Wave Tensor-II, home-grown MATLAB codes, were used to simulate the polynomial model for three pairs of materials: pair consists of a non-magnetic lossy material, germanium, and a non-magnetic lossless material, magnesium oxide. Second pair are two non-magnetic lossless materials, magnesium oxide and calcium fluoride. Third pair of materials are two non-magnetic lossless materials: calcium fluoride and silicon dioxide. The dielectric constants, electrical resistivities, and refractive indices of chosen materials were outsourced from trustworthy references
Metode Penfatwaan Jawatankuasa Fatwa Negeri Perak: Analisis Terhadap Fatwa-Fatwa Negeri Perak Dari Tahun 2016 Hingga 2019
Get PDFThe Perak State Fatwa Committee (JFNPk) is a religious institution with full
of jurisdictions and authority to decide and issue fatwas in the state of Perak based on
its own methodology (manhaj). However, research has found that some of the fatwas
issued by JFNPk differ in methodology from those of other states, lack uniformity in
the fatwa-issuing methods, and are heavily bound to the Shāfi'ī school of law.
Therefore, this study aims to identify the basic fatwa-issuing methodologies among
Islamic scholars. Subsequently, it examines the methodologies applied by JFNPk by
referring to several fatwas from the years 2016 to 2019 as case studies. The study
also analyzes the fatwas that have been decided in terms of their fatwa-issuing
methods. The methodology of this study uses a qualitative approach by analyzing
content, wherein data collection methods, interviews, documentation, and data
analysis are presented descriptively. As a result, this study shows that the practice of
issuing fatwas by JFNPk follows the fatwa-issuing methodologies established by
Islamic scholars. The study also found that there are several methodological aspects
that need improvement, especially regarding the authority of sources in the process
of istidlāl (derivation of legal rulings). Subsequently, this study suggests the creation
of a standardized guideline module for issuing fatwas, as uniformity in methodology
can ensure the quality of fatwa research and public trust
Bio-Based Graphene From The Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches As A Fluid Loss Additive In The Water-Based Drilling Mud
Get PDFOne of the most serious issues encountered during drilling operations is the loss of drilling fluid through the well formation, which is referred to as fluid loss, resulting in dry drilling fluid and increasing the likelihood of the drill being stuck. To prevent this scenario, a fluid loss additive was added to the drilling mud. The effectiveness of bio-based graphene (BG) prepared from oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) empty fruit bunches biomass as a fluid loss additive for water-based drilling mud (WBM) was investigated. To accomplish this, BG was exfoliated from lignin extracted through a soda pulping process. The BG exfoliation process consisted of a combination of thermal treatment via pyrolysis at 300, 600, 800, and 1000 °C with a reaction time of 60 minutes under an argon atmosphere, followed by a mechanical exfoliation using a homogenizer with a shear rate of 12400 rpm for 1 hour. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize each prepared sample. The Raman analysis confirmed the graphene formation based on the I2D/IG value similar to the commercial graphene, i.e., 0.91. The FTIR analysis revealed that the BG structure has a less functional group than GO, which has been confirmed using XPS as the C/O ratio of BG is less than GO
Phytochemical Studies And Cytotoxicity Assessment Of Stem Bark Extracts From Calophyllum Macrocarpum Hook. F. And Calophyllum Recurvatum P. F. Stevens
Get PDFNumerous Calophyllum sp. have long been valued widely in Asian traditional medicine especially in Malaysia. The modern natural product-based research on the genus Calophyllum has further revealed a variety of biological functions exhibited by these plants, such as inhibition of HIV, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity. Species from the genus Calophyllum are also abundant in phenolic compounds especially xanthones and coumarins. However, Calophyllum macrocarpum and Calophyllum recurvatum are among the species that still need more scientific documentation on the phytochemistry and pharmacological aspects. In this research project, the stem bark of Calophyllum macrocarpum and Calophyllum recurvatum were being subjected for phytochemical investigation, which led to the isolation of various phytochemicals such as xanthones and coumarins. Extensive chromatographic separations and purifications on the stem bark of C. macrocarpum (n-hexane and chloroform extracts) resulted in isolation of prenylated xanthones; ananixanthone (1), trapezifolixanthone (2), 8-deoxygartanin (3), as well as triterpenoid; stigmasterol (4) and friedelin (5). Furthermore, thwaitesixanthone (6), teysmanone A (7), soulattrolide (8), calanone (9), as well as friedelin (5) were successfully being isolated from the stem bark of C. recurvatum (n-hexane and chloroform extracts)
Faktor Yang Menyumbang Kepada Ketidakmampuan Pemilikan Rumah Dan Kesannya Dalam Kalangan Isi Rumah Bandar M40 Di Pulau Pinang
Get PDFHomeownership is a crucial element in ensuring human well-being. However, there are notable distinctions concerning the matter of home ownership between the B40 and M40 household segments. The majority of incentives for home ownership are directed towards the B40 households, while the M40 households receive less emphasis. This scenario particularly impacts the M40 income group in owning their own homes. Therefore, this study aims to examine the factors influencing the ability to own a house among M40 urban households in Penang. Additionally, the study analyzes the implications of the inability to own a house and provides recommendations to enhance homeownership among M40 urban households in Penang. The study adopts a qualitative approach through semi-structured interview method. The purposive sampling techniques are employed to select 20 study participants and 3 informant who meet the predetermined criteria. The findings revealed several factors that affect the ability to own a house among M40 urban households in Penang, including housing costs, house criteria, household income, savings, and housing loans. Findings of this study also revealed four main effects of the inability to own a home among urban M40 households in Penang, including financial, social, emotional, and well-being and safety effects. Additionally, the study identified several recommendations to address the issue of homeownership affordability among urban M40 households in Penang, such as expanding targeted housing schemes, government housing initiatives and collaborations, balancing affordability and prices, and providing financial management suggestions for M40 urban households. The main implication of this study is the importance of examining the issue of homeownership affordability comprehensively encompassing various perpspectives or dimensions by identifying the factors and resulting effects among urban M40 households, with the aim of formulating more effective policies and strategies to enhance societal well-being
Multi-objective Binary Clonal Selection Algorithm In The Retrieval Phase Of Discrete Hopfield Neural Network With Weighted Systematic Satisfiability
Get PDFThe stability of the Discrete Hopfield Neural Network is dependent on the ability of the network to govern the neuron connections that caused several issues to arise, such as random distribution of positive and negative literals and overfitting final neuron states. Therefore, this thesis proposes a new systematic Satisfiability logical rule namely Weighted Systematic 2 Satisfiability that uses a weighted feature to control the distribution of the negative literals. The proposed logic embedded into Discrete Hopfield Neural Network and considered the optimization of multi-objective function in the retrieval phase to locate superior final neuron states. A Binary Clonal Selection Algorithm is being proposed to ensure optimal generation of the superior final neuron states. The proposed algorithm in the retrieval phase showed optimal performance as compared to the baseline algorithms. The newly proposed logical rule and the algorithm will be the components in the logic mining model namely Weighted Systematic 2 Satisfiability Modified Reverse Analysis. The proposed logic mining model is able to retrieve best induced logic that represents the optimal patterns of the dataset. Based on the findings, the proposed logic mining model outperformed other baseline logic mining models for all the performance metrics used in the repository dataset. The proposed logic mining model was tested on a real-life dataset from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, and it showed superior performance
Comparative Analysis Of Nucleic Acid Residues In Core Streptavidin Using Three Isolation Techniques
Get PDFRecombinant core streptavidin (cSAV) is a truncated non-glycosylated tetrameric SAV which has been widely utilised in a wide range of biotechnological applications. Due to cSAV commercial importance, recombinant cSAV has been extensively produced using expression host system such as Escherichia coli to high expression level. Nevertheless, accumulation of cSAV in high levels results in the formation of insoluble non-functional inclusion bodies (IBs) which requires efficient downstream processing steps to overcome. This process involves isolation of IBs from cell lysates through combination of cell disruption techniques, multiple centrifugation steps, IBs solubilization and refolding to acquire correctly refolded cSAV. However, during IBs preparation, presence of cellular contaminants such as residual nucleic acids is inevitable and can affect subsequent refolding process. Hence, in this study, the IBs isolation process from our previous group (Process A) was improved to obtain high quality cSAV IBs in an effort to attain refolded cSAV with minimal contaminants. The improvements were enhanced with the incorporation of quantitative polymerase chain reactions (qPCR) for residual DNAs monitoring. By employing combined cell disruption approaches such as extensive sonication (Process B) and addition of benzonase nuclease (Process C), cSAV IBs with 99% removal of residual DNAs were achieved. A 10% increment of cSAV refolding yield (72%) and 83% reduction of residual DNAs from refolding of 1 mg cSAV IBs were observed under extensive sonication. Despite perceiving the least residual DNAs, refolding of cSAV was found not affected and the activity of refolded cSAV was not compromised
The Effectiveness Of The Production-Oriented Approach In Enhancing English Writing Achievement And Motivation Among Year 8 Students In China
Get PDFEnglish writing is particularly crucial for students at the basic education level. This study aims to address the current issues of poor writing achievement and low writing motivation among Chinese eighth-grade students by employing a production-oriented approach (POA). The research design followed the Explanatory Sequential (QUAN-Qual) Design of the mixed-methods approach, which the qualitative findings were used to help explain and support the quantitative results. The quantitative study employed purposive sampling to conduct a quasi-experimental study with 80 students, including 40 students in the experimental group who participated in eight weeks of POA. In the qualitative study, five students from the experimental group volunteered to participate in semi-structured interviews. The quantitative results of the writing test and MANCOVA analyzes showed that the experimental groups were significantly different (p <.05) from that of the control group in terms of language, content, and structure. Additionally, the questionnaire and independent sample t-test analyzes revealed that the writing motivation was significantly different (p <.05) for both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation
Haemoglobin A1c, blood pressure and ldl-cholesterol goals attainment and its associated factors among adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes in Terengganu, 2023
Get PDFBackground: The global and local increase in prevalence of diabetes mellitus presents a significant public health challenge. Early-onset type 2 diabetes, diagnosed between ages 18 and 45 years, is increasingly common and associated with a heightened risk of complications. Therefore, achieving the ABC goals (HbA1c <7%, blood pressure <140/90 mmHg, and LDL-C <100 mg/dL) is essential for managing diabetes and reducing the complications.
Objective: This study aims to determine the attainment of two or more ABC goals and its associated factors among adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes in Terengganu in 2023.
Methodology: A cross-sectional study design was employed, utilizing secondary data of adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes who were audited in the National Diabetes Registry in Terengganu in 2023. A simple random sampling was applied to select the required sample of 675. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle factors, and diabetes treatment profiles were extracted and analysed using SPSS version 28. Descriptive statistics and multiple logistic regression were used to summarize the data and identify factors associated with achieving two or more ABC goals.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 46.8 years (SD 7.86). The majority of the patients were female (68.3%), of Malay ethnicity (97.9%), and non-smokers (95.4%). The proportion of attainment two or more goals was 36.4%. Women are 38% less likely than men to achieve two or more ABC goals, with a statistically significant odds ratio (OR) of 0.63 (95% CI: 0.44 to 0.88, p=0.007). Regarding treatment types, individuals on oral treatment alone have 2.49 times higher odds of achieving these goals compared to those on a combination of oral treatment and insulin (95% CI: 1.77 to 3.49, p<0.001). Additionally, those not on any treatment have 2.76 times higher odds of reaching the goals compared to those on the combination treatment (95% CI: 1.11 to 6.91, p=0.030).
Conclusion: These findings highlight significant challenges in comprehensive diabetes control among adults with early-onset type 2 diabetes in Terengganu, with notable sex-based disparities and treatment profiles in goal attainment. Effective diabetes management requires addressing gender-specific challenges and modality of treatment profiles through public health campaigns, interdisciplinary strategies, and personalized care. Additionally, achieving the recommended ABC goals is more likely in patients who take fewer medications for diabetes
Synthesis Of Novel Carbon Dots From Polyalthia Longifolia Leaf For In Vitro Cytotoxicity Against Hela Cells
Get PDFCarbon dots (CDs), known for their outstanding fluorescence properties, have
found extensive applications in medicine and pharmacy owing to their
biocompatibility and nano-sized attributes. However, the potential cytotoxic effects of
CDs derived from Polyalthia longifolia rich with various pharmacological activity
remain underexplored. To address this gap, the current study synthesized,
characterized, and investigated the toxicity against RAW264.7 cells, as well as photoinduced
cytotoxicity against HeLa cells of the CDs derived from P. longifolia. Various
methods, including transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction
(XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, zeta potential, and Fouriertransform
infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), were employed to characterize the CDs.
Additionally, the toxicity of the synthesized CDs was evaluated against RAW 264.7
cells, and the photo-induced cytotoxicity was assessed against HeLa cells under white
light. Moreover, the impact of photo activation on ROS generation in HeLa cells also
investigated. The synthesized spherical black spheres exhibited an average size of 6.29
± 0.31 nm (TEM), consisting of both crystalline and amorphous phases of carbon
(XRD), and a negative zeta potential of -20.7 ± 2.01 mV. The synthesized CDs emitted
blue fluorescence when exposed to UV light at 365 nm and exhibited a prominent UVvisible
absorption peak in the UV region. FTIR analysis revealed the existence of
diverse functional groups on the CDs. The toxicity evaluation of synthesized CDs
indicated low toxicity, promoting RAW264.7 cell viability within the 500–8000 μg
range (P<0.05)