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Patient concerns inventory head and neck as an individualised approach to assess post-treatment outcomes among oral cancer patients in Malaysia / Ainon Natrah Aminnudin
No full textBackground: Oral cancer and its treatment undisputedly impacts patients‘
quality of life, posing a challenge to clinicians in managing them optimally. Identifying
patients‘ concerns is central to holistic patient care; as such time constraints faced by
clinicians during consultation sessions may pose a barrier in identifying such concerns
effectively. The use of PCI-H&N during post-treatment oral cancer consultation
sessions has previously shown to be beneficial, simultaneously promoting effective
patient- clinician communication during consultations. Objectives: This study aimed to
determine the feasibility of the PCI-H&N in assessing post- treatment oral cancer
patients concerns and its relationship with patients‘ HRQoL, psychological distress and
satisfaction during their follow-ups consultation. Methods: A mixed mode study design
was conducted among post-treatment oral cancer patients in multiple centres of Oral
Maxillofacial Surgery Clinics in Malaysia, in two phases; i) Phase I: 3-armed pragmatic
RCT among post-treatment oral cancer patients, and ii) Phase II: focus group discussion
among health personal. A sample of 123 post-treatment oral cancer patients attending
their follow-up reviews were recruited comprising Malaysians aged 18 years and above,
completed treatment and on follow-up from one month until five years or more. A set of
self-administered questionnaires was administered pre and post-consultation. The
primary outcomes were patients‘ HRQoL assessed by the FACT-H&Nv4.0,
psychological distress by using Distress Thermometer and satisfaction with the follow�up consultation measured by a study specific questionnaire. The feasibility and
preferred versions of PCI-H&N were secondary outcomes assessed with specific
questionnaires respectively. The data were analysed descriptively; multiple linear
regression and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to determine possible
predictors of patients‘ HRQoL and psychological distress. Results: Response rate was
88% with 63% patients completing the post-consultation questionnaires. The median
iv
(IQR) number of the PCI-H&N items selected was three (1-5.5) and 43.5% patients
selected four or more concerns. ‗Recurrence or fear of cancer coming back‘ (31.8%)
was most frequently selected. A shorter time was taken by patients to complete the
paper version (4.0 + 3.7 mins; 95% CI: 3.87, 5.87) than the computerised web-based
version (6.0 + 4.5 mins; 95% CI: 5.55, 8.92). A high number of concerns was strongly
significant among patients of ‗one-month to one-year post-treatment‘ (n=84%)
(p=0.001). Significant association existed between ‗time after treatment completed‘ and
concerns of ‗chewing/eating‘, ‗mouth opening‘, ‗swelling‘, ‗weight‘,‘ ability to
perform‘, ‗cancer treatment‘ and ‗supplement/ diet-related‘. ‗Chewing/eating‘ scored
highly for predicting low HRQoL (p< 0.0001) followed by ‗appearance‘ and ‗ability to
perform recreation activities‘ (personal function domain). Patients at risk of
psychological distress were 14 times more likely to select ‗ability to perform recreation
activities‘ and 7 times more likely to select ‗feeling depressed‘. No significant
association was identified between patients satisfaction with the consultation and
patients concerns. Conclusion: The use of PCI-H&N as an individualised approach
during follow-up consultations could potentially enhance patient-centred care by
improving doctor-patient communication, identifying oral cancer patients' concerns and
further improving quality care delivery for Malaysian oral cancer patients. In addition,
the computerized web-based version is in tandem with patient health management
system advancement.
Keywords: Patient Concerns Inventory (PCI), health-related quality of life,
psychological distress, oral cancer and paper version
Inventory models for deteriorating items with power pattern demand rate / Adaraniwon Amos Olalekan
No full textInventory management has become a prevalent topic in the field of operational research over some decades now. It cuts across many areas like management sciences, statistics and engineering. However, research focusing on inventory model with power demand pattern is quite limited. Demand patterns are defined as different ways by which products are removed out of inventory to supply customers demand during the schedule period. Power demand pattern permits suiting the demand to a more practical situation. In this research, four deterministic inventory model for deteriorating items with power demand pattern has been developed. We considered in the first models an inventory model for deteriorating item with power demand pattern and time-dependent holding cost without shortages, in the second model, we considered an inventory model for linear time-dependent deteriorating rate and time-varying demand with shortages completely backlogged, while in the third model, an inventory model for delayed deteriorating items with power demand considering shortages and lost sales. Linear deteriorating inventory policy for products with power demand pattern and variable holding cost considering shortages is developed in the final model with some additional features. In all the models, the objective is to determine the optimal replenishment strategy for the proposed inventory model to minimise the total inventory cost per unit time. Mathematical formulation for and analysis of the inventory problems were developed within the framework of the model assumptions. A system of differential equations incorporating initial and boundary conditions are given for the proposed inventory policy, and the problem solved using Microsoft@Excel@ Solver and maple software 2018 to obtain the optimal solutions for all the models. Numerical examples are given at the end of each developed inventory model to establish the robustness and effectiveness of the models. Moreover, the sensitivity analysis of each model was carried out to see the effects of various changes in some possible parameters combination of the inventory policy
Solar radio burst type II and III with half wave dipole antenna / Farah Aqilah Mohd Pauzi
Get PDFAn investigation into the physics of solar radio burst type II was done to understand the frequency gap between its fundamental and harmonic emissions that happen as aftershocks of Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). Up until now, the evolution of type II and its associated coronal wave still remain a mystery. Hazardous CME study upholds its fore coming danger to human and technology. This work also addresses the issue of the lack of spatial resolution of previous solar radio burst type II studies. An instrument produced by ETH Zürich namely the Compound Astronomical Low-cost Low-frequency Instrument for Spectroscopy and Transportable Spectrometers (CALLISTO) was used. A newly designed low frequency antenna array produced through a collaboration between University of Malaya (UM) and the Yunnan Astronomical Observatory (YNAO) of China named the Half Wave Dipole Antenna (HWDA) array is also used in this research. This dissertation describes the newly designed proposed instrument and its significance in studying solar radio burst type II. Comparison study is also made with other leading radio solar monitoring instruments such as the CALLISTO, Chinese Spectral Radio Heliograph (CSRH) and Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Upon setting up the HWDA, the radio frequency interference (RFI) of the observation site in UM is shown to emphasize the suitability of the selected candidate site. Furthermore, it also includes the optimal observation design and strategies for future detection. This dissertation shows the preliminary results of the proposed instrument by detecting solar radio burst type III confirmed by CALLISTO. The same event also indicates a correlation ratio of 0.94 with that coincides with solar flare class C 2.0. Gopalswamy power law and the electron density were used to estimate the density scale height (Ln). At the bandpass frequency of the HWDA Ln was found to be 1.41 x 108 m. The calculated shock speeds are hence found to be 2.350 x 103 ms-1 and 1.504 x 107 ms-1 for low and high drift rates, respectively. These shock speed values indicate that the kilometric type II associated with CMEs are able to drive shocks only when it reaches far into the interplanetary medium
Hydrolysis of palm oil mill effluent using enzymes from spent mushroom substrate of Pleurotus pulmonarius (FR.) QUEL / Nurul Anisa Mat Yunan
No full textMushroom cultivation and palm oil industry in Malaysia have contributed to the large volumes of lignocellulosic residues. Lignocellulolytic enzymes profiles (lignin peroxidase, laccase, xylanase, endoglucanase, and β-glucosidase) of Pleurotus pulmonarius (parents strains UMP001 and UMP 002, and the hybrid UMH004) during growth in sawdust substrate bags were investigated. The enzymes extracted from the spent mushroom substrate (SMS) of the strain with the highest enzymes productivity was used to hydrolyse palm oil mill effluent (POME). Optimization of parameters for POME hydrolysis to release reducing sugar was conducted using central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). The potential of hydrolysed POME to produce biohydrogen using acclimatized POME sludge as the inoculum was determined. The productivities of the concentrated enzymes obtained from the eleventh-week old SMS of UMH004 for lignin peroxidase, laccase, xylanase, endoglucanase and β-glucosidase were 214.1 U g-1, 4.1 U g-1, 2.3 U g-1, 14.6 U g-1, and 915.4 U g-1, respectively. Enzymatic hydrolysis of POME using concentrated enzymes yielded four times higher reducing sugar (4.7 g L-1) than hydrolysis using the crude enzymes, (1.1 g L-1). Meanwhile, under the optimized condition using RSM (12 hours, 10% enzyme loading (v/v) at pH 5.4), 3.82 g L-1 of reducing sugar yield was achieved, which was consistent with the predicted reducing sugar yield, (3.76 g L-1). Incubation time and enzyme loading factors had significant effects (p < 0.05) on the POME hydrolysis. The F-value of 38.41 from analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicated that the model could predict the optimum experimental parameters. Batch fermentation of hydrolysed POME yielded 23 times higher volume of biohydrogen when compared to non-hydrolysed raw POME
Microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of ultra-fine grained tubular components processed by severe plastic deformation / Mohsen Mesbah
No full textThe lightweight alloys have been widely used in various engineering applications such as automotive, aerospace, construction, and biomedical industries due to their low densities, high ductility, formability, and facile machining. However, the emerging trend for materials with high mechanical strength and plasticity hampers the widespread application of these alloys. Over the last two decades, severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been introduced as a promising approach for enhancement of the mechanical performance of the lightweight alloys through microstructural manipulations and grain refinement. However, the SPD techniques have been extensively utilized for the fabrication of non-tubular geometries and the studies on the manufacturing of ultra-fine-grained tubular components using SPD methods are scarce. The present research aims to study the microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of Al-1060, Brass70/30, ZK60, and WE43 Mg alloys processed by different SPD methods including tubular channel angular pressing (TCAP) and parallel tubular channel angular pressing (PTCAP). Accordingly, the main objective of this study is to investigate the possibility of fabricating ultrafine-grained (UFG) alloys via TCAP and PTCAP techniques and explore the effects of the number of passes on microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of the SPD-processed alloys as compared with the as-received counterparts. Several characterization techniques, such as X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, optical microscope (OM), scanning electron microscope (SEM) combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and mechanical tests were employed to investigate the microstructural and mechanical characteristics of UFG alloys. The obtained results confirmed the formation of homogeneous UFG structures with the minimum number of passes of 1 for Al and brass, as well as 3 for ZK60 and WE43. The minimum mean grain sizes obtained in TCAP-processed Al, as well as PTCAP-processed brass, ZK60 and WE43 were 0.48 μm, 0.59 μm, 0.9 μm, and 2.2 μm respectively. It was proposed that dynamic recrystallization as well as breaking and distributing of the precipitates at the newly-formed grains were the dominant phenomena after the SPD processes. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) profiles also confirmed the significant effect of the number of SPD passes on the microstructural characteristics of all four studied alloys. In terms of the mechanical properties, the hardness of the processed tubes increased and reached a maximum by increasing the number of SPD passes. The different SPD processes enhanced not only strength but also the ductility of the tubular component due to the simultaneous fine grain strengthening mechanism and homogeneous distribution of the intercomponent metallics in the alloy matrix. As a conclusion, the studied SPD processes exhibited significant potentials to generate UFG structures, leading to enhanced mechanical properties in the Al-1060, Brass70/30, ZK60, and WE43 Mg alloys
Cybersecurity behavioural model for students in the tertiary institutions / Fatokun Faith Boluwatife
No full textHumans are majorly identified as the weakest link in cybersecurity. Tertiary institution
student’s face lot of cybersecurity issues due to their increased Internet exposure, however
cybersecurity behavioural studies focusing on tertiary students is limited. This study
focused on investigating tertiary institutions students’ cybersecurity behaviour, via
validated cybersecurity factors, Perceived Vulnerability (PV); Perceived Barriers (PBr);
Perceived Severity (PS); Security Self-Efficacy (SSE); Response Efficacy (RE); Cues to
Action (CA); Peer Behaviour (PBhv); Computer Skills (CS); Internet Skills (IS); Prior
Experience with Computer Security Practices (PE); Perceived Benefits (PBnf); and a
newly added factor, Familiarity with Cyber-Threats (FCT), to explore the factors
relationship with the students’ Cybersecurity Behaviours (CSB). The research also
explored if age, gender and educational level had any moderating effect on the
cybersecurity behaviour factors. The new construct of Familiarity with Cyber-Threat
performed excellently well. The research investigations resulted into a model tagged:
Cybersecurity Behavioural Model for Tertiary Institutions Students (CBM-TIS). A crosssectional
online survey was used to gather data from 450 undergraduate and postgraduate
students from tertiary institutions within Klang Valley, Malaysia. Series of Structural
Equation Modelling techniques was employed for the model’s evaluation, and SPSS
version 25 was used as the tool for data analysis. Results from regression analysis
indicated that the influencing factors of the student’s cybersecurity behaviours were their
SSE (t = 4.325, P<0.001), RE (t = 2.167, P = 0.031), PE (t = 5.281, P<0.001) and PBnf (t
= 1.978, P = 0.04). Also, from the point biserial correlation analysis, Age had effect only
on PBr (r = 0.101, p = 0.036), while gender had effects on PS (r = -0.132, p = 0.006), SSE
(r = 0.362, p<0.001), CS (r = 0.233, p<0.001), IS (r = 0.115, p = 0.016), PE (r = 0.123, p = 0.010), and CSB (r = 0.150, p = 0.002); however Educational level had effects on CS
(r = 0.155, p = 0.001), IS (r = 0.120, p = 0.012), FCT (r = 0.106, p = 0.026), and CSB (r
= 0.110, p = 0.022). From the Pearson Correlation analysis conducted, PV (R2 = 0.377, p
= 0.003), PBr (R2 = 0.332, p = 0.002), SSE (R2 = 0.670, p < 0.001), RE (R2 = 0.495, p <
0.001), CA (R2 = 0.471, p < 0.001), PBhv (R2 = 0.436, p < 0.001), CS (R2 = 0.594, p <
0.001), IS (R2 = 0.428, p < 0.001), PE (R2 = 0.667, p < 0.001), PBnf (R2 = 0.511, p <
0.001), and FCT (R2 = 0.540, p < 0.001) were all significantly related to the student’s
cybersecurity behaviours, except PS. Practically, the study instigates the need for more
cybersecurity training and practices in the tertiary institutions. The factor of Prior
Experiences with Computer Security Practices had the highest influence on the student’s
cybersecurity behaviour, hence if appropriate security practices are being upheld by
tertiary institutions, it would help in maintaining good cybersecurity assurance in the
entire institution
A genre analysis of Iranian hotel homepages / Faranak Bastami Awal
No full textThe present research is a genre analysis of hotel websites, targeting the main three aspects; the move structure, communicative purposes, and linguistic features on the 23 five-star and four-star hotel homepages in Iran. Bhatia’s (1993) model is used to investigate the communicative purposes of the digital genre, Suen (2013) framework which is a comprehensive model was adapted to examine the rhetorical move structure, and a combination of Bhatia’s (1993) and Cook’s (2001) model was used to analyze the common linguistic features.
The findings of this research are going to contribute some knowledge to the production of more effective homepages specifically for the hotel industry, especially for Iranian hotels’ websites. The main purpose of the hotel homepage is to attract the readers' attention so that the customers are persuaded to buy the products and services. The persuasion is done indirectly by arranging the move structure wisely and the word and grammatical choices correctly to accomplish the hotels' communicative purposes.
This present study can also be used as a guideline for teachers who teach Business English. This study can help students to improve their communicative abilities with regards to promotional and persuasive writing in the Business context.
The present study does not deal with all the issues in this field, but it solely concentrates on the three parts which are to investigate the function and application of communicative purposes, the move structure, and the linguistic features of hotel homepages. Genre analysis of hotel homepages in Iran can be explored in other aspects of the genre analysis field and more extensively for further studies in the future
Identification of ECG anomalies through deep deterministic learning / Uzair Iqbal
No full textElectrocardiography (ECG) is a primary diagnostic tool for measuring the malfunctioning of the heart muscles in the context of morbidity of different cardiac diseases and arrhythmia. Different existing techniques and methods delivered accurate cardiac diseases myocardial infarction (heart stroke) and atrial fibrillation recognition. However, there are still some flaws in existing methods like recognition of special myocardial infarction situation flattened T wave in “Non-Specific ST-T Changes (nsst-t)” and reduction of computational cost in cardiac diseases recognition. Accurate recognition of cardiac diseases along with least computational complexity and feature analysis of flattened T wave in myocardial infarction remains an open job. In this research, three different datasets were used for experimental activities. Two datasets are publicly available namely; Massachusetts Institute of Technology-Beth Israel Hospital (MIT-BIH) arrhythmia database and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), and the third dataset are exclusively obtained from the University of Malaya Medical Center (UMMC), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This thesis presents the major contributions in perspective of, accurate as well as least computational complex in recognition of atrial fibrillation and flattened T wave situation in myocardial infarction detection and prediction. Two new deterministic methods are proposed namely; deep deterministic learning (DDL) and model driven deep deterministic learning (MDDDL) which delivered impressive results in recognition and predictive classification of atrial fibrillation and flattened T wave situation in myocardial infarction (i.e., ≤99.97%). Finally, both the proposed models DDL and MDDDL are further useful for recognition and predictive classification of the other malfunctions of the heart
Permeable road pavement with subsurface precast micro-detention storage: A green pavement practice / Norazlina Bateni
No full textGreen infrastructure practices are uniquely applicable to address the relationship between land use and water resources through the replication of the natural hydrological process within the landscape. Implementation of such practices, especially green pavement can significantly improve the rainfall-runoff responses, and thereby minimise the occurrence of flood hazards, which may lead to uncountable economic losses. Common permeable pavements are typically composed of fine-layered particles attributed to low porosity. In this study, an innovative permeable pavement with a micro-detention pond storage (PPDS) system is proposed. It is a modified type of interlocking block permeable pavement consisting of a hollow cylinder with a hexagonal cover at the top and bottom of the PPDS. The PPDS is designed with a void volume of 70% and a water storage capacity of 0.19 m3/m2. The system can serve as an alternative for green pavement application as it meets all the principal criteria, particularly integrating the permeable and porous pavement with void spaces to store and recycle stormwater, attenuate the peak discharge, etc. A rainfall simulator is used to test the profile of the hydrological pavement, such as the storage capacity, detention period, permeability rates and infiltration performance over various storm events. The system performance is verified via simulation of storm water management model (SWMM), a product of US environmental protection agency (USEPA). The observed performances indicate that the PPDS has met the basic hydrological design considerations, like those in the typical permeable pavement, from the perspective of permeability rates, infiltration capacity, storage and detention capability. A case study is then developed to assess the hydrological impacts of PPDS and compared it with the conventional road pavement and other types of permeable pavements, such as pervious concrete (PC) and permeable interlocking concrete pavers (PICP). The PPDS results in higher runoff reduction, the lowest runoff coefficients, and peak flowrate. It also demonstrates faster infiltration of rainfall into ground with a higher rate of infiltration loss in comparison to those recorded for PC and PICP. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of PPDS as a permeable pavement with the presence of subsurface micro-detention storage. Hence, it is concluded that PPDS is a better practice in minimising runoff for stormwater management
Philanthropy from the perspective of the holy Quran: A case study among Muslim community in Gansu province, China / Mao Zhan Qin
No full textIt is Allah s commands being the main motivation and reason for people to seek
philanthropy according to Islamic sharia. The study aims at clarifying the conceptual
and jurisprudential framework of philanthropy by among the Mu Jim Community in Gansu
Province in China. The theoretical par1 of this study was based on the descriptive and
historical approaches, while the empirical side is based on analytical approach. This
was done by using questionnaire as a research instrument through which data was
collected by targeting a sample of those engaged in charitable work in the charities and
centres in Gansu. The study concluded that charity work in China in general
widespread, and within the Muslim community in Gansu in particular where
developmental and social role of many charities and centres spread. This role has nothing
to do with the role of preachers. The study also concluded that in institution and charities
have little awareness concerning the fiqh (jurisprudence) of charitable work. Furthermore,
the study concludes that charities and centres face number of challenges, the most
important of which are the fear of partisan and sectarian affiliations the authorities fear
of extremism and terrorism the influence of religion and philosophical ideas of
understanding religion, the multiplicity of Islamic references and sect well as the
bureaucracy or foundational and organizational procedures. The researcher recommends
that in order to promote charitable work based on sharia and the rule fit fiqh, it is
necessary to spread the fiqh of charitable work and unite the efforts to Muslim scholar
in China under the Association of Ulema Uniting Islamic References. It is also
to qualify imams and preachers in order to spread awareness within the community in the spirit of the tim