13474 research outputs found
Sort by
Developing the design framework of Islamic student housing architecture in Indonesia / Muhammad Ismail Hasan
No full textThis study aims to reveal the Islamic value of Islamic Student Housing (ISH) in Semarang, Indonesia. This study investigates how Islamic university students dwelling in student housing conduct their daily activities. The goal is to develop a design framework for creating ISH design that include Islamic values. This study utilized constructivism grounded theory with a FGD and observation method. The collected data is then visualized to create a spatial representation of space use. According to the findings of this study, three factors must be considered while creating user-based ISH: privacy, sociability and orientation. These three aspects allow for an ISH design that prioritizes typology while putting the user first. Furthermore, the study's findings point to the presence of an ISH spatial planning system that takes into account both external and internal relationships. Spatial configurations that considering the interaction between space and interior have the potential to create an ISH space system based on Islamic values
Exploring an Islamic student housing framework in Semarang, Indonesia / Muhammad Ismail Hasan
No full textThis study aims to reveal the Islamic value of Islamic Student Housing (ISH) in Semarang, Indonesia. This study investigates how Islamic university students dwelling in student housing conduct their daily activities. The goal is to develop a design framework for creating ISH design that include Islamic values. This study utilized constructivism grounded theory with a FGD and observation method. The collected data is then visualized to create a spatial representation of space use. According to the findings of this study, three factors must be considered while creating user-based ISH: privacy, sociability and orientation. These three aspects allow for an ISH design that prioritizes typology while putting the user first. Furthermore, the study's findings point to the presence of an ISH spatial planning system that takes into account both external and internal relationships. Spatial configurations that considering the interaction between space and interior have the potential to create an ISH space system based on Islamic values
Development of urea adsorbed activated carbon-bentonite composite as a green controlled-release fertilizer and its effect on growth productivity of purslane, Portulaca oleracea L. / Pravin Vejan
No full textUrea fertilizer is widely used to increase crop production yield. However, low use efficiency of urea fertilizer could lead to its excessive usage, cause groundwater contamination, eutrophication, and the increased emission of global greenhouse gases. Controlled-release urea fertilizers (CRUF) can effectively reduce the amount of urea fertilizer used, and improve the availability of urea fertilizer, which is conducive to the plant growth, and at the same time overcome the environmental issues associated with urea fertilizers. Therefore, it is imperative to develop CRUF as an alternative to conventional urea fertilizer. Basically, CRUF consist of internal urea fertilizer and outer coating materials of polymers which delays the release of urea. However, most of the polymers used are not only increase the cost of CRUF, but also non-biodegradability, toxicity, and often causes pollution and ecological damage to the soul. With the increasing awareness of environmental protection, more and more attention has been paid to the usage of biodegradable materials such as natural polymers and porous inorganic materials such as biochar, activated carbon, bentonite, perlite, zeolite and so on. As the first objective of this study, the urea adsorption capacity of oil palm kernel shell biochar (OPKS-B) and oil palm kernel shell activated carbon (OPKS-AC) was evaluated. The second objective of this study was then designed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of CRUF produced using thermal infusion of urea fertilizer into activated carbon in existing of bentonite. The third objective was achieved with the investigation of the controlled-release properties of CRUF and its impact on growth performance of Portulaca oleracea L. The OPKS-AC with high surface area and well-developed porous structure is used in this study. Bentonite, a naturally available mineral silicate, would be ideal for CRUF production due to its swelling capacity and good water retention properties. In this study, urea was thermally infused into the OPKS-activated carbon-bentonite composite biomaterial to produce a novel activated carbon composite-based urea fertilizer (CRUF) as potential green controlled release urea fertilizer. The CRUF was subjected to characterization studies such as ultimate analysis, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (FESEM-EDX) and nitrogen release in water and soil studies. The CRUF has molten urea evenly infused on the pores of the composite with superior characterization properties and nitrogen release study compared to urea, urea/OPKS-AC thermally infused and commercial CRUF. The CRUF has been applied in glasshouse studies with a test crop, purslane (Portulaca oleracea L.), as an environmentally friendly fertilizer. The CRUF synthesized showed significant effectiveness regarding soil properties, plant nutrient uptake, non-enzymatic antioxidants, and growth parameters of purslane. CRUF significantly improved the (p<0.5) height (12.80cm), biomass (31.38g) and total plant nitrogen (6.67%) of purslane while indicating decreasing trends for non-enzymatic antioxidants. Therefore, CRUF as a green fertilizer showed promising attributes for the uplifting of current unsustainable agricultural practices to a more economically and environmentally safer
Optimizing production conditions, sensory attributes, and consumer acceptance of gaba soy sauce using Aspergillus sp., Bacillus sp., and Tetragenococcus sp. and sustainable production strategies / Chong Shin Yee
No full textThe rising demand for functional foods has sparked an interest in boosting the nutritional value of conventional condiments such as soy sauce. Recent soy sauce research has focused on enhancing functional gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) by microorganisms since the key inhibitory neurotransmitter provides various health benefits, including anti-anxiety and anti-stress effects. However, optimizing fermentation conditions to increase GABA production with microorganisms remains challenging, specifically, difficulty in balancing multiple fermentation variables such as pH, inoculum percentage, and agitation speed, which interact to impact GABA production levels. These complexities make it hard to achieve optimal conditions for producing a high-quality GABA soy sauce. Additionally, the existing scholarly literature on the sustainability of soy sauce production is relatively scattered. The primary goals of the present study were to determine the ideal fermentation conditions to maximize GABA concentration in soy sauce production using Response Surface Methodology (RSM), assess consumers’ acceptance of GABA soy sauce through sensory analysis, and design a sustainable soy sauce production via a systematic review. The fermentation conditions, including the percentage of bacterial inoculum (10, 15, and 20%), initial pH (3, 5, and 7), and agitation speed (100, 150, and 200 rpm), were optimized using RSM with a mixed culture containing Aspergillus oryzae strain NSK, Bacillus cereus strain KBC and Tetragenococcus halophilus strain KBC. The mixed cultures generated 128.69 g/L of GABA after 7 days of fermentation. Remarkably, 239.08 g/L of GABA was produced after 4 weeks of fermentation with 20% of inoculum, initial pH 7, and 100 rpm, which was iv
36% higher than non-optimized conditions (153.48 g/L). Meanwhile, the sensory analysis revealed that fermented GABA soy sauce received higher consumer acceptance (7.46) than the control (5.90) and commercial soy sauces (4.47). Consumer preference indicated that the starter culture offered a better umami taste while reducing the presence of bitter, sour, and salty tastes compared to the commercial products. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) analysis was performed to facilitate sustainable soy sauce production, applying inclusion criteria to the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The systematic review identified existing gaps in soy sauce fermentation research and proposed future research possibilities, with a particular emphasis on sustainable soy sauce technologies and techniques that could contribute to advancements in soy sauce production. This study proves that under optimal fermentation conditions determined by RSM statistical analysis, the mixed culture demonstrates a remarkable ability to generate high levels of GABA and greatly enhances consumer acceptability toward this GABA-enriched soy sauce. This study provides valuable insights for industry stakeholders interested in sustainable food production, highlighting the potential for health benefits and increased market viability
Analgesic effect of erector spinae plane block in lumbar spine surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trial / Lee Tzi Sen
No full textIntroduction: The use of ESP block has gained popularity in multiple types of surgeries which include lumbar spine surgeries. It is a relatively new technique in lumbar spine surgery and its advantages includes analgesic effect and also reducing opioid consumption, hence promoting ERAS. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to evaluate the analgesic effect of ESP block in lumbar spine surgery.
Method: Randomized controlled trials of ESP block in lumbar spine surgery was searched in Pubmed and clinicaltrial,gov. Data was selected and was reviewed by two author which included a total of 7 RCTs.
Result: Meta-analysis suggested that there is a statistical significant difference in ESP block providing lower pain scores at rest at 0 hour (MD, -1.60; 95% CI, -2.74 to -0.46; I2 = 93%; P = 0.006) and 24 hours (MD, -0.54; 95% CI, -0.98 to -0.10; I2 = 70%; P = 0.02) postoperatively as compared to patients who do not receive ESP block. There is no statistically significant difference in postoperative pain scores between patients who receive and did not receive ESP block at 4 hours (MD, -0.97; 95% CI, -2.21 to 0.27; I2 = 94%; P = 0.13) and 12 hours (MD, -1.28; 95% CI, -2.54 to -0.03; I2 = 96%; P = 0.05). It also showed that patient with ESP block had lower 24-h opioid consumption (MD, -50.95; 95% CI, -68.09 to -33.80; I2= 100%; P < 0.00001) and significant reduction in incidence of PONV (RR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.20 to 0.77; I2 = 55%; P =0.007).
Conclusion: Our meta-analysis found that ESP block proven to be effective in reducing post operatively pain score, post operative opioid consumption and PONV in lumbar spine surgery. However, due to high heterogeneity, further studies need to be carried out to determine the efficacy
Knowledge sharing among academics in higher education institutions in China / Zhenyu Fan
No full textKnowledge sharing brings tremendous benefits to higher education institutions in terms of enhanced teaching, research, and innovation performance. However, extensive knowledge sharing remains the exception rather than the rule, which hampers the performance of higher education institutions. In recent years, universities in China are facing unprecedented competition from within and globally, hence, an in-depth understanding of the influencing factors of knowledge sharing is crucial to fostering knowledge sharing among academics for enhanced competitiveness. Existing literature on knowledge sharing in the higher education context is scarce, especially in China, with less qualitative efforts observed. In addition, various influencing factors of knowledge sharing were not thoroughly investigated. Moreover, prior studies did not employ the full framework of the theory of planned behavior with key variables or relationships neglected. In light of the research gaps, this study adopted the full framework of the theory of planned behavior and augmented it with individual, organizational, and technological factors as antecedents of attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control toward knowledge sharing intention and behavior. This study adopted a mixed methods approach. In the first stage, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 academics in China, and the initial conceptual framework was modified accordingly. During the second stage, an online questionnaire was employed to collect data for testing the hypotheses. 532 valid responses were gathered from academics in 20 top HEIs in three geographic regions in China using multistage sampling. Partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis supported 21 out of 26 hypotheses. In terms of individual factors, loss of knowledge power, time and effort, expected association, reputation and image, enjoyment in helping others, and self-development showed significant effects on attitude toward knowledge sharing whereas the effects of extrinsic rewards and knowledge self-efficacy were not significant. As for organizational factors, affiliation, trust, competition, individualism, and leadership support had significant effects on subjective norm while innovativeness and collaboration showed no significant effects. Regarding technological factors, use of IT tools and perceived usefulness significantly impacted perceived behavioral control whereas perceived ease of use exerted no significant impact. Attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control significantly contributed to knowledge sharing intention while both intention and perceived behavioral control are positively correlated with knowledge sharing behavior. In addition, the mediating role of intention was also confirmed. From the theoretical perspective, the study filled four research gaps by (1) adding research on knowledge sharing in Chinese higher education; (2) incorporating a wide range of individual, organizational, and technological factors into a single conceptual framework and empirically verified their effects; (3) employing the full framework of the theory of planned behavior, further verifying the robustness of the theory in explaining knowledge sharing behavior; (4) conducting semi-structured interviews which revealed additional factors that have not been fully investigated by prior studies. From the practical perspective, the findings offer guidance for managers in higher education in strategy design to successfully manage organizational knowledge for enhanced competitiveness, further contributing to China’s aspiration to be competitive in higher education globally
Soft pneumatic actuator for lower limb rehabilitation: Development and its efficacy in reducing muscle stiffness and pain / Hanisah Bakeri
No full textLower limb injuries have been identified as a significant contributor to the occurrence of time lost during both physical training and daily activities. In recent years, pneumatic compression therapy has emerged as a viable alternative for managing patients who exhibit resistance to conventional compression methods. The conventional compression method exhibits limitations in consistent pressure distribution and adaptability. Recognizing these challenges, this study explores the integration of soft pneumatic actuators (SPAs) in compression therapy to enhance precision and dynamic adaptability, offering a promising alternative for improved treatment outcomes. The objective of this study is to investigate the potential application of soft pneumatic actuators (SPA) in the context of rehabilitation therapy for musculoskeletal ailments. The primary objective of this study is to analyze various aspects related to SPA including their design, material selection, fabrication, and design testing. Additionally, the research aims to experimentally validate the efficacy of lower limb rehabilitation compression therapy in reducing muscle stiffness among healthy individuals. Furthermore, ongoing investigations in the field of compression therapy predominantly focus on the advancement of soft pneumatic actuators tailored to various applications. However, there remains a dearth of definitive findings pertaining to the advantages of compression therapy in alleviating muscle fatigue. Therefore, a SPA chamber with two elastomeric layers was developed for this study, with single-side inflation using food-grade silicone. The 3D deformation profiles of the SPA chamber using three different elastomeric rubbers were analyzed using the finite element method (FEM). The best SPA-compliant behavior was displayed by food-grade silicone A10 Shore with a maximum deformation value of 25.34 mm. Next, the SPA chamber was fabricated using A10 Shore food-grade silicone and experimentally validated. A total of 30 healthy male subjects were recruited and underwent a fatigue induction exercise. Muscle stiffness was assessed at four distinct time points in both the intervention group, which received SPA, and the control group, which did not receive SPA. The compression pressure in respect to calf circumference was measured, and both the maximum and average values were recorded. The findings suggest that the SPA system demonstrates effective pressure transmission on the skin within the pressure range of 20-160 mmHg for healthy male subjects. A positive linear trend between pressure variation and calf circumference was found. The mean muscle stiffness for the intervention group exhibited a reduction from an initial value of 496.26 ± 24.70 Nm-2 to a subsequent value of 382.30 ± 19.72 Nm-2 immediately following the application of pneumatic compression. This decrement corresponds to a percentage reduction of 22.96%, with p-value of 0.0001. There was no statistically significant difference seen between the pre-treatment and post-treatment measurements in the control group, with a p-value of 0.3500. The results of the study showed that the short form McGill pain questionnaire (SF-MPG) of the intervention group had a statistically significant impact on the pain index following a 30-minute treatment with SPA. The study demonstrates that the proposed SPA system is capable of reducing muscle stiffness and
delivering the desirable pressure for treating musculoskeletal injuries, thereby aiding in the acceleration of recovery
Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical NiO nanoparticles loaded SnO2 for acetone gas sensing / Shady Fouad Ahmed Saber
No full textThe present study has successfully synthesized a cauliflower-like hierarchy microstructure of NiO: SnO2 through a facile hydrothermal method for acetone detection. Among the sensors evaluated, the sensor synthesized with a NiCl2·6H2O: SnCl2.2H2O molar ratio of 5:100, labeled as K5, exhibited exceptional performance in acetone gas sensing, with a response of 1734 at 1000 ppm at 350 °C, two times more than pristine SnO2. Also, at lower concentrations, the responses were recorded to be 325, 170, 70, and 35 for 200 ppm, 100 ppm, 50 ppm, and 20 ppm acetone balanced in nitrogen, respectively. Moreover, swift response and recovery times of 8 seconds and 2 minutes 18 seconds were recorded at 20 ppm acetone balanced in nitrogen, respectively, at the optimal operating temperature, 350 °C. Also, the sensor was further assessed for its ability to distinguish acetone from other gases by exposing it to equal concentrations of 200 ppm of acetone, carbon dioxide, ammonia, and ethanol, all balanced in nitrogen, and tested at 350°C. Moreover, K5 exhibited exceptional selectivity, with response levels in acetone surpassing those in carbon dioxide, ammonia, and ethanol by factors of 142.74, 143.39, and 2.42 times, respectively. Finally, when tested over five repeated exposure cycles of 200 ppm acetone in nitrogen, K5 displayed remarkable operational stability
Enhanced computational methods for detection and interpretation of heart disease based on ensemble learning and autoencoder framework / Abdallah Osama Hamdan Abdellatif
No full textHeart disease remains the primary cause of mortality globally, and its early detection is critical for reducing mortality rates. However, the challenge of class imbalance and high dimensionality in clinical data significantly impedes the efficacy of Machine Learning (ML) models in this domain. This thesis presents two innovative methods that holistically address these challenges at algorithmic and data levels to enhance heart disease detection. The first method introduces an Improved Weighted Random Forest (IWRF) approach, focusing on algorithmic innovation to tackle the imbalance problem. It employs supervised infinite feature selection (Inf-FSs) to identify significant features and Bayesian optimization for fine-tuning hyperparameters. Validated on Statlog and heart disease clinical records datasets, this method demonstrates a notable improvement in prediction accuracy and F-measure, outperforming existing models and marking an accuracy enhancement of 2.4% and 4.6% on these datasets. In contrast, the second method addresses the data-level imbalance through a novel framework named Conditional Autoencoder with Stack Predictor for Heart Disease (CAVE-SPFHD). This approach integrates a conditional variational autoencoder (CVAE) to effectively balance the dataset and a stack predictor (SPFHD) that utilizes tree-based ensemble learning algorithms. The base models' predictions are integrated using a support vector machine, significantly enhancing detection accuracy. Tested across four datasets, CAVE-SPFHD surpasses state-of-the-art methods in f1-score, providing improved not only predictive performance but also critical interpretative insights using the SHapley Additive explanation (SHAP) algorithm. Together, these two methods represent a comprehensive approach to heart disease detection in ML, effectively addressing the dual challenges of class imbalance and high dimensionality. By innovatively tackling these issues at both the algorithm and data levels, this thesis significantly contributes to the field, offering robust, accurate, and interpretable ML solutions for early heart disease detection, which is crucial for proactive healthcare interventions
Multitask learning with bidirectional encoder representations from transformers for sentiment analysis and sarcasm detection / Tan Yik Yang
No full textIn recent years, sentiment analysis has garnered significant interest in social media analytics, aiming to categorize people's thoughts, emotions, and feelings into positive, negative, or neutral categories. However, the increasing volume, complexity, and authenticity of social media data have introduced challenges such as misunderstanding, uncertainty, and inaccuracy. Particularly notable is the difficulty of identifying sarcasm in textual data, where negative intentions are expressed through positive sentences, presents a significant obstacle to sentiment analysis on social media platforms. This thesis proposes a novel multi-task learning framework that leverages Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT), a state-of-the-art language model, to establish a correlation between sentiment analysis and sarcasm detection. The primary objective is to enhance the overall performance of sentiment analysis by identifying instances of sarcasm. The model's efficacy is demonstrated through comprehensive experiments, showing a notable improvement in F1-scores ranging from 2.5 to 6.5 percent upon incorporating sarcasm detection. The proposed approach not only enhances the sentiment classifier's performance but also significantly reduces training time and computational resources, offering substantial practical advantages. The findings underscore the importance of recognizing sarcasm in sentiment analysis and highlight how improved sentiment analysis aids in understanding sarcastic expressions in social media data. In the past, most sentiment analysis work treated the task as a standalone process. However, this thesis provides valuable insights into the influence of sarcasm on sentiment analysis, showing that accuracy can be improved in sentiment analysis by detecting sarcasm