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Evaluation of mechanical properties of Malaysia local source wood for electric cruiser board applications / Mohamad Rosman Othaman
Get PDFThis research project revolves around the idea to reduce the carbon emission in mitigating the issue of climate change. An idea to introduce the electrical cruiser board by Muhammad Fiqkri Ismail from Universiti Kuala Lumpur with his idea to promote carbon less form of multimodal transportation for users in urban city of Greater Kuala Lumpur leads this research to study the elastic properties of local source woods in Malaysia that could be proposed for this application. The wood is used for the construction of the deck of cruiser board which designed three layers with the cross-ply laminate. Three types of wood were selected for this research project. It is consisting of Bakau, Merawan, and Laran which all of them had gone through an experimental to evaluate their elastic properties in Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM). The elastic properties as in the form of multilayer were predicted by using laminate composite theory. The result of elastic properties predicted proves that Bakau is the best candidate to be proposed for development of electric cruiser board due to higher elastic properties especially in flexural modulus. The three layers of laminate exhibits significantly higher flexural modulus in longitudinal direction. The additional lamina into seven layers improved significantly of flexural modulus in perpendicular direction and slightly diminished modulus in longitudinal direction
Genotoxic and hematological effects of aluminium and lead exposure in red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis sp.) / Faten Fatehah Mohamad Zaid
Get PDFThis study was conducted to investigate the genotoxic effects of single aluminium (Al), 25.00 mg/l, single lead (Pb), 18.75 mg/l and binary mixtures of Al and Pb (25.00 mg/l + 18.75 mg/l) and to determine their hematological effects on the tilapia fish as test subjects after 96 h exposure to these heavy metals. Oreochromis sp. was selected as the test subjects because of its adaptability to the environment and it can be easily found as it is the most common species of freshwater fish being cultured and farmed. Two different methods, micronucleus test and comet assay, were used for the genotoxicity studies while complete blood count (CBC) test was used for the hematological studies. Results showed that 18.75 mg/l of Pb was able to significantly induce the highest erythrocytes with nuclear abnormalities and highest erythrocytes with comets compared to the other samples. Regarding the absolute blood measurement index, it could be seen that there were significant differences in red blood cell (RBC) which is 0.000 and white blood cells (WBC), 0.010, which is (p<0.05) of Pb at 18.75 mg/l compared to the other samples and control. This study showed that the micronucleus test, comet assay test and complete blood count test were able to support the results of the genotoxic and hematology study whereby Pb created a bigger impact on the samples compared to Al and the mixtures of Al and Pb. In addition, this study strengthen the different methods as complementary to each other in assessing the effects of genotoxicity and the hematological effects of Oreochromis sp. exposed to heavy metals of Al and Pb
Biomechanical investigation of individual with over-pronation and over-supination foot during walking / Nur Saibah Ghani
Get PDFOver-pronation and over-supination foot conditions are foot deformity that can lead to unstable ankle and subtalar joint during walking. They are define as condition where the foot roll in and out excessively from its neutral line and can lead to misalignment of the foot and leg in human in which can create abnormal gait cycle. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to analyze the foot-ankle joint biomechanical behavior including the range of motion, joint moment, joint power and GRF in a complete gait cycle for all subjects in this study and to compare the foot-ankle biomechanical behavior between normal foot with over-pronation and over-supination foot condition during walking. 20 subjects were volunteer but only 16 passed the selection test and divided into three groups; normal subjects (n=2), over-pronation (n=7) and over-supination (n=7). Motion analysis system was used to observe and analyze the gait cycle in individual with over-pronation and over-supination conditions. The raw data that we got from motion analysis will be statistically analyzed using the Nexus 1.3 and MATLAB_R2019a software. The result observed were kinematics and kinetic parameter of foot during walking. The statistical analysis done to compare normal foot with OP foot condition shows that the ankle joint during the initial contact was below 5° for all subjects. Subject 2 shows the lowest ankle angle during initial contact while for mid stance phase, subject 3 shows the highest ankle angle which was 24.15° on left foot and 28.30° on right foot. From the ANOVA test, the p-value for ankle joint angle was less than 0.05, which indicates that there was significant difference between all the subjects. For joint moment and power the p-values found was less than 0.05 which indicates there was significance differences between over-pronation compare to normal foot condition. While for subjects with over-supination condition, they tends to be in plantar flexion condition during heel strike phase rather than in neutral position because the high arch put the foot in plantar flexion position such as subject 1(-0.69), subject 3 (-
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0.33°), subject 5 (-0.38°) and subject 7 (-4.55°). While the normal subject starts this phase at neutral position (0°) and a little dorsiflexion (2.97°). The statistical analysis for kinetic and kinematic data when comparing over-supination foot condition with normal foot condition shows that the p-values were more than 0.05 that indicates there were no significant differences between these two conditions. Therefore, this research concluded that the analyzed done on kinetic and kinematic data to demonstrate that the ankle joint angle, moment, power and GRF does in fact influence by the condition of the foot and can cause deformities if no proper treatment was done
Impact of learning support intervention on preclinical students' conception of self-regulated learning: A quasi-experimental study based on the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire / Radha Kodiappan
Get PDFSelf-regulated learning (SRL), which includes the ability to regulate motivational,
cognitive and metacognitive strategies based on the contextual and task demand, is
recognized as a critical element for lifelong learning. However, past literature indicate a
deficit in undergraduate medical students’ capabilities to self-regulate their learning and
shortcoming of implicit methods to develop students’ SRL in medical schools. Thus, the
objectives of this research were to analyse (i) the baseline level of the preclinical students’
SRL and (ii) the impact of the learning support intervention on the students’ conception
of SRL. These objectives were approached from the perspectives of the students’
motivation orientation and learning strategies. Understanding the impact of this
intervention on the students’ SRL conception will enable opportunities for medical
teachers to plan and design effective learning support programmes that will enrich the
students’ lifelong learning skills. In this one-group pretest-posttest quasi-experimental
research involving explicit training on SRL strategies, the Motivated Strategies for
Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was administered to the first-year, and second-year
undergraduate medical students at the Perdana University-RCSI School of Medicine,
Malaysia. A total of 53 students participated in this research. The baseline level of the
preclinical students’ motivation and learning strategies for SRL were determined based
on the descriptive statistics analysis of the pre-test MSLQ data. The findings revealed that
the preclinical students had high task value and control beliefs. However, they were
extrinsically motivated and reported low self-efficacy beliefs. Although the data showed
that the students do use some higher-order cognitive learning strategies such as
organization and elaboration, the high dependence of surface learning strategies such as
rehearsal, and the deficits in critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation, and resource
management strategies were indicative of inefficient self-regulation of learning among
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the preclinical students. The independent t-test and the Mann-Whitney test showed no
significant difference in the baseline level of SRL between the first-year and second-year
students. The paired-sample t-test and Wilcoxon signed-rank test revealed that the
intervention significantly reduced students’ test anxiety and significantly increased the
post-test mean scores for all subscales, except effort regulation and extrinsic motivation.
Notably, the explicit SRL teaching favourably enhanced the students’ self-efficacy beliefs
and extrinsic motivation to self-regulate their learning. Hence, medical schools should
take serious consideration on imparting explicit learning skills instruction as it can
positively impact the students’ motivation and learning strategies to effectively selfregulate
their learning
Identification of microscopy cell images by using convolutional neural network application / Norfatin Farisya Ajis
Get PDFBreast cancer has been the major factor of cancer death and the second main cause of women’s deaths in the world. The false positive results of this cancer cell detection during the screening test leads to false treatment and emotional disturbance of the patients. Thus, breast cancer cell lines (MCF7) is used as the microscopy image samples together with the Human Bone Osteosarcoma Epithelial Cells (U2OS), and Human Hepatocyte as control to study the effectiveness of convolutional neural network (CNN) as a method of image recognition. The objectives of this study are to determine the ability of convolutional neural network in the classification of MCF7, U2OS, and human hepatocyte and also to compare the accuracy of convolutional neural network in the detection of microscopic cells by using Resnet-50 architecture model and self-training. The first procedure is a normal CNN training without using any CNN architecture model and later added with Resnet-50 model as a transfer learning to compare the results of efficiency for both method. Both results found that it can detect the image samples according to the cell type but the training accuracy gives different percentage, where the image training accuracy for Resnet-50 gives 100% accuracy result and 79.57% accuracy for self-training. Increasing the number of image samples and image augmentation has been done to improve the result of self-training but still, both methods are not comparable because the self-training is not completely done under certain circumstances. This is a small scale work where the findings may not contribute much to the medical research, but more to exposure of machine learning application
Performance of mycelial biomass from the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum as feed additive on growth and quality of red hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis spp.) / Grema Yerima
Get PDFThe present study describes the potentiality of dietary supplement of mycelial biomass of Ganoderma lucidum (MBGL) as functional feed additives formulated along with other feed ingredients at different inclusion levels (5g/kg diet, 10g/kg diet and 15g/kg diet). A hundred and twenty (120) red hybrid tilapia were used for this experiment in duplicates treatment. Fifteen fish were allocated to each tank with an average weight of 17.0g. A six (6) week feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the effect of GL biomass on red hybrid tilapia body composition, organosomatic index, as well as hematological indices. At the end of the feeding trial, three fish were randomly selected in each tank for fillet body composition study and organosomatic indices (condition factor, hepatosomatic indices, and viscerosomatic indices). Blood samples were collected from 7 fish for hematological studies from each group of diet. The result obtained from this study shows that the dietary supplement of GL biomass has a significant (P<0.05) influence on red hybrid tilapia organosomatic indices. The inclusion of this diet as feed additives has no adverse effect on the hybrid tilapia hematological indices. Based on the findings of this study, the mycelial biomass of Ganoderma lucidum can be used as a functional feed additive to improve aquatic productivity in aquaculture. The optimum supplementation level suggested in this study is 10g/kg diet which is considered sufficient to meet the nutritional requirement of hybrid tilapia
Penggunaan lakuan tuturan dalam interaksi semasa kelas Bahasa Cina peringkat prasekolah / Lim Yee Wah
Get PDFKajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti jenis-jenis lakuan tuturan yang digunakan oleh kanak-kanak prasekolah semasa mereka berinteraksi dengan guru dan rakan sebaya dalam kelas bahasa Cina di tadika. Pemerolehan bahasa dan perkembangan bahasa kanak-kanak masih berlaku pada peringkat umur mereka antara 4 tahun hingga 6 tahun (Piaget, 1964; Saxton, 2017). Data yang dikumpul melibatkan rakaman video semasa kanak-kanak prasekolah sedang belajar, menjalankan aktiviti, bermain dan berinteraksi dengan guru dan rakan sebaya. Justeru, kajian ini menggunakan kaedah analisis kandungan dan kerangka analitikal yang diadaptasi daripada kerangka lakuan tuturan Searle (1976) dan Yule (1996), serta kajian-kajian lakuan tuturan yang terkini (Özge Gül, 2014; Ogiermann, 2015; Takada & Endo, 2015; Kanngiesser et al., 2017) untuk mengklasifikasi jenis-jenis lakuan tuturan yang didapati dalam data. Kajian ini mendapati bahawa kanak-kanak prasekolah dan guru menggunakan lakuan tuturan yang tertentu dalam komunikasi di kelas semasa sesi kelas bahasa Cina, iaitu lakuan tuturan representatif, direktif, ekspresif dan komisif. Kanak-kanak prasekolah kerap menggunakan lakuan tuturan representatif dan lakuan tuturan direktif, iaitu menyatakan, bertanya dan meminta semasa berkomunikasi dengan guru dan rakan sebaya mereka. Manakala, lakuan tuturan yang paling kerap digunakan oleh guru adalah lakuan tuturan direktif dan lakuan tuturan representatif. Jenis-jenis lakuan tuturan yang kerap digunakan oleh guru adalah mengarah, bertanya dan menyatakan semasa berinteraksi dengan kanak-kanak prasekolah. Kajian ini mendapati lakuan tuturan yang kerap digunakan oleh guru bukan sahaja menunjukkan kategori khusus lakuan tuturan namun kebanyakan adalah menunjukkan kategori kombinasi dua lakuan tuturan yang berbeza, terutamanya kombinasi lakuan tuturan representatif dengan direktif. Jenis-jenis kombinasi lakuan tuturan yang kerap digunakan oleh guru adalah kombinasi menyatakan dengan mengarah dan kombinasi menyatakan dengan bertanya semasa berinteraksi dengan kanak-kanak prasekolah. Kepentingan kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenal pasti tahap penggunaan lakuan tuturan di peringkat kanak-kanak prasekolah semasa berinteraksi dengan guru dan rakan sebaya dalam bahasa Cina. Kajian pragmatik berkenaan dengan penggunaan lakuan tuturan dalam peringkat prasekolah perlu dijalankan bagi memantapkan dan melengkapkan lagi kajian-kajian yang sedia ada, dan ia juga membawa manfaat kepada para pendidik bagi membantu mereka merancang kaedah pengajaran dan aktiviti mengikut tahap perkembangan bahasa kanak-kanak dengan lebih berkesan
Effects of new and recycle flux on the mechanical properties of submerged arc welded (SAW) line pipe grade X52M and X65M / Meor Mohd Adli Taib
Get PDFTwo line pipe grade X52M and X65M were manufactured using submerged arc welding process. For each grade, two different welding flux condition were simulated, i.e. 100% new flux and 100% recycle flux. The flux used was aluminate basic type trade name OP 132. The outside diameter and wall thickness for X52M was 610mm x 12.7mm and for X65M was 762mm x 14.3mm. Lower weld re-entrant angle and higher weld bead height were observed in recycle flux condition. Lower weld manganese content recorded in recycle flux condition. And lower mechanical tests (i.e. tensile, impact, and hardness) value reported for recycle flux condition. The mechanical properties reduced when welding condition changed from 100% new flux to 100% recycle flux
Quantitative risk assessment and dispersion modelling using ALOHA for chlorine gas handling facility / Uvaraja Kusala
Get PDFMalay-Sino Chemical Industries Sdn Bhd (Lahat) is a chlor-alkali industry consist of Emergency Chlorine Gas Handling Facility (ECGHF) which have the tendency to affect the plant workers and nearby residential area in the event of accidental chlorine gas release. HAZOP tool with risk assessment was used to identify the hazard and quantifying the hazards in order to prioritize the recommendations at the ECGHF. Possible incident scenario was selected from the HAZOP outcome which was the chlorine gas release from the stack due to scrubbing flow failure. The consequences of the released chlorine gas to the atmosphere was simulated by using ALOHA Vr 5.4.7 software where heavy gas dispersion model was selected which identifies the impacted area along with the concentration of the chlorine gas for TWO (2) wind direction (East and West) with other atmospheric conditions remain the same. The maximum emission rate was selected which is at 199kg/hr. Based on the findings from the modelling for both wind directions, the toxic threat zones and distances along with the concentration of chlorine plume remain same for both wind directions which is at 0.5ppm (1,100m), 2ppm (537m), and 20ppm (161m) and represented in Yellow, Orange, and Red lines and the threat zones are of 1,100m maximum radius. The probit analysis indicated there’s no human fatality percentage predicted due to the chlorine gas exposure. The map from google satellite was used to identify the impacted residential areas in which the areas are Bukit Merah Village, Taman Menglembu Impiana Adril, and Taman Pasir Wang. Recommendations were proposed to eliminate the chlorine gas release from the ECGHF thus increasing the safety and reliability of operation
Artifact identification for blood pressure and photoplethysmography signals in an unsupervised environment / Lim Pooi Khoon
Get PDFPhysiological signals play a significant role in clinical diagnosis, it always acts as a major input of a decision support system. However, the physiological signal is easily corrupted by different factors especially motion artifacts. Several research works have been tried to recover the underlying physiological signal by suppressing the artifact. However, not much attention has been paid to situation where the artifact is too extreme and the artifact suppression is not possible. In this situation, physiological signal quality must be evaluated before any further assessment. In this study, an automated artifact detection algorithm was developed for Blood Pressure and PPG signals. For Blood Pressure signal, an automatic algorithm based on relative changes in the cuff pressure and neighbouring oscillometric pulses was proposed to remove outlier points caused by movement artifacts. Next, multiple linear regression (MLR) and support vector regression (SVR) models were used to examine the relationship between the Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP) and the Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP) ratio with ten features extracted from the oscillometric waveform envelope (OWE). Upon using the artifact detection method followed by BP estimation, the SBP and DBP were improved in BHS grades from D to A. With regards to the AAMI standard, the mean ± SD of difference between the estimated and the gold standard SBP improved from 4.5±28.6 mmHg to -0.3±5.8mmHg and -0.6±5.4 mmHg using the MLR and SVR, respectively. Meanwhile, the mean ± SD of difference for DBP improved from 0.0±14.2 mmHg to -0.2±6.4 mmHg and 0.4±6.3 mmHg using the MLR and SVR, respectively. For PPG signal, two master templates have been generated from PhysioNet MIMIC II database. The master template is then updated with each of the incoming clean pulse. Correlation coefficient were used to classify the PPG pulse into either good or bad quality categories. The robustness of this artifact detection algorithm was then evaluated on both short and continuous data collected from young and older subjects which included arrhythmia patients. For short data, the average accuracy improved from 95.2% to 98.0%. For long continuous data on healthy subject, an average accuracy of 91.5%, sensitivity of 94.1% and specificity of 89.7% were achieved. Meanwhile, for long continuous data on elder subject which included arrhythmia patients, an average accuracy of 91.3%, sensitivity of 80.5% and specificity 93.0% were achieved