13474 research outputs found
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Self-directed learning readiness of recent medical graduates / Mohamad Nabil Mohd Noor
No full textSelf-directed learning occurs when teachers empower learners to take control of
their learning. This method has been highlighted in medical education to promote lifelong
learning for physicians to adapt to the ever-changing field of medicine. Past researchers
have focused on undergraduate medical students' self-directed learning readiness and
suggested further studies for the population after graduation. The present study aims to
measure the level of self-directed learning readiness amongst recent medical graduates in
Malaysia. 371 Malaysian doctors who recently graduated within the past 18 months
participated in this study and completed Guglielmino’s Self-Directed Learning Readiness
Scale. Mean score was computed to compare the Self-Directed Learning Readiness scores
between different age groups and Independent samples T-tests were used to compare the
scores between genders and between employment statuses. The mean Self-Directed
Learning Readiness Scale score was 215.18 (SD = 22.62) which is similar to the
population average. There was no significant difference in the scores between age groups
and gender. The scores between employed and unemployed participants showed no
significance, but employed graduates obtained higher scores than their unemployed
counterparts. Medical graduates should be trained to be highly self-directed to be
independent in their learning. This study implies the importance of medical education
institutions to incorporate instructional delivery that promotes self-directed learning and
provide activities that can boost self-directed learning after graduation and during service.
Graduates should be guided in planning their career paths to ensure an optimum level of
self-directed learning
Perception of stakeholders on current perfusion education in Malaysia / Rafiq Sumardi Omar
No full textPerfusionist is known as a certified medical technician liable for extracorporeal
oxygenation of the blood during open-heart surgery. Current curriculum is believed to be
at par and is aligned with the National Occupational Skills Standard, however, the scope
of perfusion practice keeps changing with the advancement of technology and
procedures, and there is a demand for specialty area such as extracorporeal membrane
oxygenation (ECMO). Therefore, current curriculum should be re-evaluated by taking
consideration from multiple stakeholders’ perception on current needs, content,
educational strategies, teaching methods, assessment methods, and curriculum
management. Hence, this study aimed to explore perception of stakeholders in evaluating
current perfusion education in Malaysia. In the context of the present study, stakeholders
of perfusion education in Malaysia were referred to the private providers, manager,
educators, advance diploma holders, perfusionist, and pensioners. This was a qualitative
study which involved in-depth interview approach. A total 10 stakeholders participated
in this study, chosen though purposive sampling. The interview was guided by semi�structured questions to explore participant’s perception. The participants were
approached by the list obtained from the Malaysian Perfusionist Society (MAPS). The
interviews were conducted face-to-face or virtually. Interviews were conducted in
English and Malay languages. The Malay conversation was transcribed into English. The
ethical approval was obtained from University’s research ethic committee. The interview
transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis to address the four components of
Daniel Stufflebeams’s conceptual model for programme evaluation: Context, Input,
Process, and Product. Based on the findings, in terms of the context code, perfusion
programme can be improved by competency acquisition, proper accreditation, having
longer duration of study, benchmark the curriculum, and integrate simulation-based
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training. In terms of input evaluation, the strengths of the institutions were having
sufficient cardiac cases and certificate recognition. However, few weaknesses were
identified, namely the programme is not par with international standard, lack of clinical
experience among trainees due to time constraint, and non-comprehensive syllabus. For
the process evaluation, modifications to improve perfusion educations include to upgrade
existing diploma to degree level, encourage critical thinking through evidence-based
practice, reduce knowledge and practice gap, and to have single exit exam which serve
as standard assessment. As for the product evaluation, current perfusionist trainees were
less competent and the scope of perfusion need to be widened to cater for the
advancement in the field of perfusion. In conclusion, it is hoped that further steps can be
taken to improve the quality of perfusion education in Malaysia, including the absorption
of competency-based education where the number of cases collected should be the
priority to qualifying individual perfusionist. This can be done through three mechanisms
such as the training centres should have adequate number of clinical cases to provide
learning opportunities for the students, prolonging the duration of study, and providing
interdepartmental or inter hospital rotation clinical placements.
Keywords: Perception, stakeholders, perfusion education, Malaysi
Computational fluid dynamics simulation of internal fluid flow: A case of venturi effect / Kho Tuck Sing
No full textThis research project uses the Ansys Fluent software to conduct various Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation of venturi effect occurs in an internal pipe flow based on the multi-phase flow model. In fluid dynamics, venturi effect is a common phenomenon occurs in an internal pipe flow, where a reduction in fluid pressure resultant from a fluid flow through a constricted section of a pipe. In accordance to Bernoulli's principle, an incompressible fluid's velocity increases as it passes through a constriction, in accordance to the principle of mass continuity, while its static pressure must decrease in accordance to the principle of conservation of mechanical energy. Hence, any gain in kinetic energy a fluid may attain by its increased velocity through a constriction is balanced by a drop in pressure. Physical experiments are time consuming and definitely will not be cost-effective to study the venturi-effect occurs within the pipelines. Therefore, CFD simulation is proposed to simulate the venturi effect occurs in an air ejector in this research project. Initially, a 2-D geometry modelling of the preliminary designed air ejector with water inlet, air inlet, converging section, throttling section, diverging section and outlet is constructed, conditioned, simulated and analyzed. The design and simulation process will be repeated to further improve the hydraulic conditions by modification of pre- and post-venturi effect piping arrangements. All simulation results will be plotted and analyzed from the pressure, velocity and volume fraction perspectives. Hypothetically, a streamline flow will enhance the hydraulic conditions and the mixing quality in this research project, through analyzing the simulation results of various improvement
Inherent safety implementation in office building / Prasad Anantha Raj
Get PDFThis study is conducted based on the inherent safety design practiced in oil and gas, and chemical industries. The inherently safer design is introduced in these industries to eliminate or minimize the chances of an accident can occur by considering every small amount of action that can take place in the plant. As such, today, most people are working in office buildings and the percentage of office employees involved in accidents at workplace and having health issues are considerably high. These happens due to the lack importance given when it comes to office setups. Mostly priority is given to the interior looks and space saving instead of functionality and employee health benefits. Even if these are considered, only the minimum is fulfilled. In this work, the common safety issues in office buildings are identified and the possible ways or methods to implement inherent safety design are proposed through inherent safety principles. Some of the identified hazards in office buildings are poor air quality sick building syndrome, electrostatic charges, danger of electromagnetic radiation, work stress etc. A guideline in developing safer offices by integrating the inherent safety measures are also discussed in this work. The advantages of using inherently safer design assessment tools such individual safety attributes test methodology is explained and the techniques are discussed on how it can improve office safety in overall. Proper office setup and configuration are introduced and justified on how it will help productivity of the employees. In addition the importance of natural elements in office environment and its benefits in terms of the employees’ health and how it is related to productivity is explained. Lastly, the benefits of short break and its relationship with office employees are discussed
Effects of new and recycle electrodes on the mechanical properties of shielded metal arc welding (SMAW) / N Rajeswara Rao Apparow
Get PDFShielded Metal Arc Welding (SMAW) is a manual simple and common welding process using electrodes as filler material. There was a requirement welding electrode are recommended to be used once after opened from Vacuum pack followed by baking. It not recommended to rebake few times after removed from oven. This project is a study on the effect of welding from newly baked electrode, electrode after 1st rebake, 2nd rebake and 3rd rebake on the mechanical properties. The mechanical properties of the welding in this study are tensile test, impact test, bend test and hardness test. Based on the research all the mechanical properties was in acceptable range for all the multiple rebaked electrodes. There were no visible cracks found for all the bend test specimens. There was a slight trend of tensile properties reduction as the electrodes was more frequently baked. But the impact properties increase as the electrodes were more frequently baked. Hardness value is inconsistent but as average the hardness value increase as the electrodes were baked more times. The changes in the mechanical properties are estimated below 3% and can be consider almost insignificant. Hence there is an insignificant changes in the mechanical properties due to the multiple rebaking of electrodes
Compliance on safety behaviour among the lift maintenance worker / Shahrul Azhar Mustaffa
No full textThis study was conducted to probe the effects of certain factors on Compliance of
Safety Behaviour among lift maintenance workers as a very few studies has been
conducted. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of five (5) independent
variable; (1) Job Safety, (2) Co-Worker Safety, (3) Supervisor Safety, (4) Management
Safety and (5) Satisfaction on Safety Programs and Strategy on Compliance of Safety
Behaviour among lift maintenance workers. This quantitative study used five (5)
element of the Work Safety Scale (WSS) to measure perceptions of safety at work. The result will show that compliance with safety behaviour is significantly related job safety, supervisors safety, management safety, and satisfaction on the programs implemented. However, it has been shown that Co-Worker Safety is less significant related to Safety Behaviour. Recommendations and suggestions for future study were illustrated in the discussion. Moreover, a brief proposal had been discussed on how to implement Safety Behaviour among lift maintenance worker
Sustainable entrepreneurship and business performance: Evidence from food and beverage outlets in East Coast Malaysia / Hajera Shah Syed
No full textThe concepts of sustainable entrepreneurship and measuring business performance using the tools of sustainability performance measurement and management have gained increasing attention over the decades. The terms such as sustainability and sustainable entrepreneurship have roots in the notion of sustainable development. On the other hand, the role of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the economic make up of a country is a significant one. Despite, the important role of SMEs, the area of sustainable entrepreneurship practices among SMEs has been under-researched. Thus, this research aimed to study sustainable entrepreneurship practices of SME managers or manager-owners of Food and Beverage Outlets located across East Coast Malaysia (i.e. the states of Kelantan, Terengganu and Pahang). The concepts of Stakeholder theory and triple bottom line have been employed to build a robust framework for the research study. In the light of The Stakeholder theory and triple bottom line three hypotheses were developed and tested. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the approach of SMEs towards people/social, profit/economic and planet/environment and positive business performance. Quantitative form of study was utilized for primary data collection. A total of 200 survey questionnaires were distributed among the SME managers or manager-owners from East Coast Malaysia. 165 valid survey questionnaires, which is a response rate of 82.5 percent, were received. The results indicated that proposed research model was a significant one as approximately 40 percent of the variance in business performance was explained by the approach towards people/social, profit/economic and planet/environment. Sustainable entrepreneurship practices towards people/social do not have a significant relationship with positive business performance. Whereas, profit/economic and planet/environment have a direct significant relationship with positive business performance. In conclusion, one of the significant theoretical contributions of this study were that the findings can be added to the existing literature of sustainable entrepreneurship practices of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, another primary theoretical contribution was the amalgamation of the concepts of sustainability, entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship, sustainable development and sustainable growth to build a meaningful connection among the various notions so that future researchers may derive benefit from the findings of the study. Finally, from a bigger practical perspective, the Malaysian entrepreneurs shall find meaningful information to practically design their business model resulting in the fulfilment of sustainable development goals (SDGs) as laid down by United Nations
Development of three dimensional volumetric rendering in medical image application / Wu Danping
No full textThe distribution, area size, shape, direction, and spatial structure of bones,surface skin, blood vessels and other tissues or organs are the key basis of reference
for clinical treatment, diagnosis, and prognosis. On the one hand, due to the continuous development for a long time, the traditional medical images has its unique
advantages as the main clinical examination method. On the other hand, the shortcomings of two dimensional (2D) medical images are also obvious: (1). it is difficult for non-professionals to understand complex medical images, which
increases the difficulty of doctor-patient communication and treatment. (2). the tissue and organ structure itself is very complex, even experienced professionals will
experience misdiagnosis or missed diagnosis due to various factors. (3). there are few professionals with rich practical experience. Compared with 2D medical images, Three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction
medical image is a more clinically practical technical method, the reconstructed image can intuitively display tissues or organs from all directions of point, line and plane. The Visualization Toolkit (VTK) is an excellent and powerful open source software that encapsulates many class libraries to facilitate the realization of 2D to 3D image
reconstruction. It is very suitable for use by researchers.
This paper first analyzes the imaging principles and its limitation of CT, MRI, and ultrasound 2D images, at the same time briefly describe the DICOM medical image standard, the class objects/libraries needed to read DICOM image files in VTK, and the specific implementation steps. Then, introduced the process of 3D volumetric rendering and C++ code on the VTK and visual studio 2008 platform in detail, and
focuses on the explanation of the VTK functions that affect the 3D volumetric rendering effect. Next, 3D volumetric rendering is performed using realistic CT brain/head, MRI brain, and ultrasound fetal phantom slices data. Three kinds of medical images were evaluated directly according to the obtained 3D volumetric rendering results, an objective analysis of the 3D volumetric rendering and their
corresponding 2D image, as well as the comparison between the three different types of images. The findings of 3D volumetric rendering in three medical image
applications are summarized. Finally, in Chapter 5, the development of 3D volumetric rendering in medical images will be discussed in detail
Blood cells classification using embedded machine learning / Zhang Zimu
No full textWith the development of science and technology, digital image processing has been applied to various fields, especially playing an important role in medicine. This thesis mainly studies the identification of blood cells in complex situations, and proposes a YOLOv3 target detection method. The ResNet network is used to optimize the Darknet-
53 feature extraction structure of YOLOv3, and the feature pyramid network is used to obtain the four scale features of the target to fuse the shallow features and deep feature
information. Then adjust the influence weight of the loss function according to the size of the detected target, so as to enhance the detection effect of small targets and mutual
occluded objects. The experimental results on the data set show that the detection accuracy of the YOLOv3 method can reach 83.74%,and made a graphical interface with Python QT5
Fuzzy logic control of biohydrogen production using microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) reactor for storage application / Khew Mun Hong, Gabriel
No full textThe content of this work presents the implementation of Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) on a microbial electrolysis cell (MEC) for storage applications. Hydrogen has been touted as one of the potential alternative sources of renewable energy to the depleting fossil fuels. MEC is one of the most extensively studied methods of hydrogen production. One of main advantages of MEC is its ability to utilize organic wastes as the substrates for biohydrogen production. However, the MEC system involves microbial interaction contributes to the system’s nonlinear behaviour. Due to its high complexity, a precise process control system must be implemented to ensure the MEC systems could operate in a stable manner. Proportional Integral-Derivative (PID) controller has been one of the pioneer control loop mechanism. However, the conventional PID controller has its drawbacks such as the lacking in its ability to adapt properly in the presence of disturbance within a nonlinear system. Advanced process control mechanism known as FLC can prove to be a better solution to be implemented on a nonlinear system due to its similarity in human-natured thinking. In this research, the FLC is implemented onto the MEC system and its performance is evaluated using several control schemes such as constant setpoints, multiple setpoints tracking, internal disturbance rejection, external disturbance rejection and noise disturbance rejection to ensure a timely readiness of hydrogen storage. Similar evaluations are conducted on Proportional-Integral (PI) and PID controllers as well for comparison purposes. FLC has generally resulted in desirable outcomes over the PI and PID controllers. Integral absolute error (IAE) evaluation shows improvement ranging from 42.3% to 99.4% from PI controller to FLC and 36.2% to 99.4% from PID controller to FLC can be obtained from this study