13474 research outputs found
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Multi-label incremental kernel extreme earning machine for food recognition / Chen Sai
No full textReal-world food datasets are not fixed, it is open-ended and dynamic, however, the novel machine learning methods for food recognition have poor performance in incremental learning datasets. If food samples and food categories continuous increase, these methods may need to train again from the beginning. This is time-consuming and occupies computational resources. My study proposed a multilabel classifier for this shortcoming, called Multi-Label Adaptive Reduced Class Incremental Kernel Extreme Learning Machine, the abbreviation is ARCIKELM-ML. We applied Inception-Resnet-V2 for food feature extraction and the Relief F method for feature ranking and selection. Then used ARCIKELM-ML for multi-label classification. In the framework, the hidden and output neurons corresponding to new labels are added and the classifier progressively remodels its structure like the new labels are introduced from the beginning of the training process. The experiment for food ingredients recognition is based on three standard benchmark datasets and evaluated on F1 score, Hamming Loss, Recall Score and Precision Score. Results showed that the proposed ARCIKELM-ML algorithm has good performance and meets the criteria of incremental learnin
Development of water surface robot system for lake sanitation and sampling / Ahmed Abdullah Omar
No full textThere are many exciting individual robot designs and strategies in either water sanitation or sampling tasks. However, rarely a robot design considers handling both tasks because they do not share similar sensing technology or similar data processing framework. Also, low-cost robot designs have become limited to onboard computational resources; sensor data is captured locally, and the mechanical aspects of the robots are mainly pre-programmed or remotely controlled. In low-cost robots, automation is hardly ever considered. This dissertation explores a design where a low-cost water surface robot can tackle sanitation and sampling tasks. Central to the design is real-time access to mechanical control and sensor data for off-board processing and analytics. Off-board computation allows other researchers to deploy advanced algorithms without restrictions on computing resources. Only the results need to be communicated back onto the robot for real-time actions. The dissertation proposes three objectives; to design and develop the water surface robot structure, control and electronics, design and develop the APIs for remote robot connection, data communication and positioning, and evaluate the robot’s performance through case studies. Regarding results, a low-cost robot system that can glide on the lake surface has been developed. The robot system showcases PVC pipes for the body with a load up to 17kg. The electronic design covers the cooling system, battery level monitoring, voltage control and sensor reading. The software design features a mobile app for remote access, live video streaming, mapping system and communication APIs. The robot networking includes an RTK server setup for accurate localization and positioning. Two case studies test the robotic system performance. Case study 1 tests the robot’s APIs in implementing a genetic algorithm for wayfinding with RTK-based localization. Case study 2 tests the robot’s APIs in training a deep learning model for garbage detection based on the robot's live stream. The dissertation shows that an open robotic design can coordinate contributions by various parties on a single platform; robotics engineers can focus on improving the robot hardware and controls towards enabling live data. AI researchers can test automation theories on robot data without the need for robot hardware and control know-how. Such design allows anyone to drive the robot over the internet without the physical need to be on site. Remote driving can improve lake sanitation and sampling activities and can significantly promote citizen science
al-Qiyās dalam perbahasan ilmu kalam menurut al-Amidi: Terjemahan dan analisis teks terpilih daripada kitab Abkār al Afkār / Ruzaimi Ibrahim
No full textKajian ini tertumpu kepada perbahasan al-qiyās menurut al-Amidi. Secara umumnya ia menyentuh tentang kaedah pendalilan yang digunakan dalam mengukuhkan sesuatu pendirian yang berkaitan dengan usul al-din, di mana kaedah al-qiyās yang merupakan sebahagian daripada metode dalil ‘aqli telah mengalami beberapa perubahan dan penambahbaikan sama ada dari sudut māddahnya atau ṣūrahnya sejak daripada ia mula diaplikasikan dalam perbahasan ilmu kalam, khususnya ilmu kalam al-Ashā’irah. Kajian ini merupakan kajian perpustakaan yang melibatkan tiga metode utama: Pertama, pengumpulan data, metode ini digunakan pada bab kedua yang membahaskan berhubung latar belakang dan ketokohan al-Amidi, begitu juga pada bab keempat ketika proses pengumpulan maklumat sebelum analisis. Kedua, terjemahan teks, metode ini digunakan pada bab ketiga dimana pengkaji menterjemah teks terpilih daripada kitab Abkār al-Afkār kepada bahasa Melayu. Ketiga, menganalisis data, dimana metode ini dilaksanakan melalui tiga kaedah; iaitu kaedah deduktif, induktif dan perbandingan, ia digunakan ketika melakukan kajian dalam bab keempat yang menumpukan analisis terhadap kaedah al-qiyās, begitu juga ia turut digunakan pada bab kedua. Al-Amidi yang merupakan salah seorang mutakallim yang begitu kukuh penguasaannya terhadap ilmu-ilmu ‘aqliyyah telah menjadikan kaedah al-qiyās sebagai kaedah utama dalam perbahasan ilmu kalam yang dikemukakan. Tumpuan utama kajian ini adalah berkaitan perkembangan kaedah al-qiyās dan penambahbaikan yang dilakukan oleh al-Amidi. Ia dimulai dengan perbahasan berkaitan konsep dalil kemudian diikuti dengan pembentukan sesuatu pernyataan dan seterusnya pembinaan al-qiyās sebagai kaedah pendalilan. Kesimpulan daripada kajian yang dilakukan mendapati bahawa al-Amidi telah mengukuhkan dan memperkemaskan kaedah al-qiyās, sama ada dari sudut al-māddah atau al-ṣūrah, bahkan dalam keadaan tertentu beliau berupaya mengharmonikan di antara beberapa pandangan yang berbeza, seperti perbezaan konsep dalīl antara al-Razi dan jumhur al-Ashā’irah. Seterusnya beliau mengaplikasikan kaedah tersebut dalam perbahasan ilmu kalam seperti yang beliau kemukakan dalam kitab Abkār al-Afkār
Development of a biopsychosocial-spiritual model of coping in Muslim parents of Person with Autism (PWA) / Siti Patonah Mohamad
No full textAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with dysfunctions of certain nervous system parts. The lifelong condition of a person with autism (PWA) is characterized by complex disabilities, presented as impairments in social communication and/or interaction, and behavioural rigidity. Caring and raising PWA with these symptoms throughout his/her lifespan is challenging. Thus, the well-being maintenance of parents of PWA is critical in enabling a balanced lifestyle. Past research have examined the various coping strategies by parents of PWA in search of the best method in fostering wellbeing and overcoming challenges faced. Coping strategies are the cognitive and behaviours of an individual in dealing with stress, consciously or unconsciously. A holistic coping, which integrates aspects of biological factors (physical/ physiological), psychological factors (mental/ emotion), social factors (environment) and spiritual factors (soul), would be ideal. Prior to studying the coping strategies used by Muslim parents of PWA, the stress sources were first identified; for example, the expression of the symptoms of autism by the PWAs. This study utilized a mixed-method, sequential, explanatory research design in exploring the complex, dynamic process of coping and its impact on the wellbeing of Muslim parents of PWA. The quantitative phase was conducted including 49 parents (40 mothers and 9 fathers, Mparentage=41.10 years; Mchildage=11.03 years). Descriptive analysis described items from the sociodemographic questions and core scales: (i) Autism Parenting Stress Index (APSI), (ii) WHOQOL-BREF, and (iii) WHOQOL-Spirituality, Religiousness, and Personal Beliefs (SRPB). Slightly more than half of the respondents (51.0%) expressed low levels of parental stresses, while 49.0% respondents showed moderate or high level of stress. More than half of the respondents (53.1%) demonstrated high level for their wellbeing/ quality of life (QoL), while 77.6% of the respondents showed high level of spirituality and religiosity. The results reflected good condition of QoL and spirituality in majority of these parents. Inferential analysis was done by using the IBM SPSS statistics (SPSS) software. Correlation analysis showed low, negative correlation between parental stress and both QoL (rs= -.388, p= .006), and spirituality (rs= -.350, p= .014). However, a moderate, positive correlation was shown between QoL and spirituality (rs= .548, p= .000). Multiple linear regression exhibited by the 8 SRPB facets explained a significant proportion of variance in predicted parenting stress (i.e., Facet S8 Faith: ß =-.692, t=-2.738, p<.05) and QoL (i.e., Facet S6 Inner peace: ß=.327, t=2.159, p<.05). Whereas General Domain of QoL was the only factor influencing parental stress (ß =-.756, t=-3.359, p<.05) and Core Autism Domain predicting the spiritual condition of Muslim parents (ß =-.376, t=-2.130, p<.05). For the qualitative study, parents with higher score in QoL and spirituality were then selected (n=6; 3 mothers and 3 fathers); representing homogeneity of sample population and the real experienced and practices by parents. Thematic analysis shown that spiritual/ religious coping was most applied by the parents, followed by psychological, social, and physiological aspects. The sub-themes analysis was elaborated in the study and biopsychosocial-spiritual coping was proposed for the intervention of Muslim parents of PWA
Online tuning control for a switch-sharing based multilevel inverter using capacitor voltage balancing / Zalifah Ramli
No full textIn these modern days, energy sustainability has gained increasing attention, bringing
about the reinforcement of numerous attempts to utilize renewable energy and improve
energy efficiency. In relation to this, multilevel inverters, which come from a family of
power electronic converters, have a great potential to play an important role in
contributing to this field. One type of multilevel inverter which has the potential to
perform the task is the switch-sharing-based multilevel inverter. The switch-sharingbased
multilevel inverter offers several benefits, such as decreasing the complexity of a
circuit, minimizing power losses and contributing to smaller filter size. However, just like
diode-clamped multilevel inverter, the switch-sharing-based multilevel inverter also
suffers from the unbalanced capacitor voltage issue. This phenomenon degrades the
voltage waveforms for the AC-side, which results in an unfavorable operation of the
inverter. Therefore, this research adopts the approach of implementing a capacitor voltage
balancing circuit based on a buck-boost converter in a five-level switch-sharing-based
multilevel inverter topology. For this approach, a performance-based online tuning
control based on proportional-integral (PI) configuration is proposed to balance and
maintain the capacitor voltages at the desired levels and improve the dynamic
performance. Through MATLAB/SIMULINK simulation, a detailed analysis of the
results for the buck-boost converter with the proposed online controller with
performance-based tuning has been made. For validation purposes, the buck-boost
converter has been constructed in the laboratory, and the controller has been implemented
on a digital signal processor (DSP). The test conducted with an experimental five-level
switch-sharing-based multilevel inverter reveals that satisfactory results have been achieved. Simulation and experimental results reveal that the capacitor voltages can be
balanced at high modulation indexes with improved current harmonic performance able to be acquired at the inverter’s output
Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for determination of neonicotinoid pesticides in honey by UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS / Ahmed Qasim Abdulhussein
No full textIn this work, new selective and sensitive dual-template molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (MIPs1 and MIPs2) were synthesised for the simultaneous extraction and clean-up of four neonicotinoid pesticide residues (nitenpyram, imidacloprid) and (thiamethoxam, thiacloprid) from honey samples. Ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry triple-quadrupole UHPLC-MS/MS (QqQ) was used for the selectivity and sensitivity analysis and to determine the pesticides in the honey samples successfully. A multi-template MIPs was synthesised using precipitation polymerisation method with functionalised Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Sorbent MIPs1 was prepared by polymerisation of nitenpyram and imidacloprid as a template with 2-vinylpyridine as a functional monomer. For sorbent MIPs2, thiamethoxam and thiacloprid were utilised as a template with methacrylic acid as a functional monomer. Both MIPs used ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA) as cross-linker and 4,4’-azobis (4-cyanovaleric acid) as the initiator. Characterisation of the polymers was performed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption kinetic curve, adsorption isotherm, and selective adsorption were measured by a static method. Pseudo-second-order kinetic model best explained the adsorption kinetics. The adsorption data fitted well into the linearized Freundlich equation (R2 = 0.999). The R2 values obeyed the Langmuir isotherm model indicating that binding occurred on the homogeneous sites. Scatchard plot analysis of MIPs demonstrated linearity, indicating the presence of homogenous sites. To maximise the extraction performance, several parameters such as MIPs sorbent amounts, extraction time and sample pH were optimised prior to UHPLC-MS/MS analysis. Sorbent MIPs1 revealed a much higher affinity for nitenpyram and imidacloprid than structurally similar analogues thiamethoxam (α = 17.79, 13.66) and thiacloprid (α = 14.63, 11.23), while sorbent MIPs2, displayed a much higher affinity for thiamethoxam and thiacloprid over structurally equivalent nitenpyram (α = 6.407, 10.97) and imidacloprid (α = 8.297, 8.816) analogues. The method limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for pesticides from light and dark honey ranged from 0.03 μg kg-1 - 0.08 μg kg-1 and 0.06 μg kg-1 - 0.12 μg kg-1, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precision (RSD, %) ranged from 0.6% to 2.0% and 5.0% to 12.0%, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied for analysis of the four neonicotinoids in honey samples with high recoveries ranging from 94.3% to 108.0%
A lightweight secure authentication for vehicular ad-hoc networks by message encapsulation and trusted authority dependency-less scheme / Tarak Nandy
No full textA vehicular network is a collection of vehicles and other components that are facilitated with versatile sensors to communicate, which are also backed by authentication mechanisms. Present authentication protocols for vehicular networks have a focus on either the lightweight feature or the security feature. However, privacy during authentication is neglected by many researchers. Existing schemes depend on a trusted authority to check the legitimacy of a communicating node. These existing schemes suffer from the infrastructure-less scenario and rely on a secure communication channel during the registration phase, which may not always be available. Two novel authentication protocols are designed in this thesis to address these concerns. Firstly, an elliptic curve cryptography-based (ECC) authentication scheme is proposed. A secure key establishment is shown, and Pseudo-id-based authentication is used to provide privacy preservation on the scheme. Symmetric-key cryptography with a session key is used for message encryption during communication. Secondly, an enhanced lightweight and secure authentication protocol (ELSAP) for V2V Communication in VANETs is proposed. The scheme is equipped with self-authentication before communication that is able to enhance network feasibility. This proposed method, in return, needs less message transfer during authentication as well as communication. Therefore, it contributes to the lightweight features of the proposed scheme. The experimental analysis shows that the proposed methods outperformed existing related authentication schemes. Furthermore, the simulation results reflect the practicality of the projected scheme. To conclude, the proposed proposal creates effective communication with other network devices and ensures security and privacy
An integrated software-hardware exercise encouraging system / Kong Sibo
No full textWith the rapid development of technology, transportation, and urbanization, people’s
physical requirement is greatly reduced, and the mental load of many jobs is increased
at the same time. Young people are now more likely to sit in front of a screen than go
out for exercise. Lack of physical activity leads to an increased risk of a variety of
chronic diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. This study
proposed an integrated system for physical exercise, comprising an exercise monitoring
wearable device and an exercise encouraging mobile application. The developed system
captures the users’ heart rate, blood oxygen and body temperature in real-time while the
users are exercising. The STM32F103 board was used as the main control chip, the
MAX30102 sensor for collecting users’ heart rate and blood oxygen, whereas the
MAX30205 sensor for collecting users’ body temperature. Bluetooth low power module
was chosen for communication with Android. Android Studio was used as the software
development tool for the mobile application that receives sensor signals and records the
signals as data. Analysis and visualization of data, as well as risk alerting, are among the
functions of the mobile application. The application encourages exercise through
exercise reminder, exercise goal setting, sign in, and other features. After implementing
the system, 10 participants aged 18-30 years old were recruited for a six-week
experiment using qualitative and quantitative methods. The study first assessed the
effectiveness of the developed integrated system in encouraging exercise among the
participants. Next, the importance of the exercise monitoring wearable device in
encouraging exercise was studied. Finally, the effectiveness of the system in
maintaining the participants’ active lifestyle was studied. The results show that the
system was effective in improving and maintaining participants’ physical activity and
the wearable device played a role in encouraging physical activity. The participants also
reported little to no discomfort when using the system
Functional interrogation of CRISPR-CAS9 mediated EpCAM knockout in breast cancer cells / Afiqah Fasihah Abdul Rahim
No full textBreast cancer is the most common cancer, and it ranks among the top three in terms of new cases. Many factors contribute to the development of breast cancer, including overexpression of particular genes that promote tumourigenesis. EpCAM which encodes for a pro-metastasis protein, has been consistently associated with the developments of many epithelial cancers including breast cancer. This research aimed to determine the role of EpCAM in MCF-7 and T-47D breast cancer cell lines using CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing tool. Also, this study further investigated the phenotypic effects of knockout EpCAM using functional assays that measured cell migration, proliferation, adhesion and colony formation. The CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing approach was found to successfully perturbed EpCAM functions in both breast cancer cell lines. Similarly, observations on the functional assays showed that knocking out EpCAM reduced cell migration, inhibited cell proliferation while reducing the abilities of the cells to form colonies and cell adhesion. These findings indicate that knocking out EpCAM has a tumour suppressor effect, which suggests EpCAM as a potential target in breast cancer therapeutics
Phenyl rings mesogenic core of azo-ester based liquid crystals: Synthesis, mesomorphic and optical properties / Salwa Jamal M Kamal
No full textAzo-ester compounds containing two and three-benzene-ring in the mesogen bearing varied lateral substituent at the 2-position to the azo linkage including the laterally unsubstituted compounds, i.e. -H, -F and -CH3 with different terminal groups have been designed and synthesized. The chemical structures of all compounds were confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and elemental analysis. All resulting compounds exhibited good thermal stability (above 319℃), as confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The mesomorphic behaviours of liquid crystal compounds were studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), polarized optical microscopy (POM) and small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering (SWAXS). Mesomorphic studies revealed that all derivatives were liquid crystalline materials except for the two-benzene-ring compounds (T1, T2 and T3) and the unsubstituted terminal three-benzene-ring analogues (S1, C1 and C6). The introduction of terminal electron-donating groups in the laterally unsubstituted derivatives (S2 and S3) gave nematic phase at 124°C and 135°C with marble and Schlieren textures, respectively. The laterally fluorinated azo-esters with terminal electron-donating groups (C2 and C3) exhibited nematic phase at 95°C and 117°C, respectively. The incorporation of terminal electron-withdrawing bromine atom in the laterally neat compound (S4) induced enantiotropic nematic-nematic phase transition, while the laterally fluorinated azo-ester analogue (C4) showed nematic-nematic phase transition upon cooling only. The terminal nitro group in both laterally neat and laterally fluorinated derivatives (S5 and C5) displayed nematic phase with clearing temperatures of 168°C and 164°C, respectively. The laterally methyl substituted compound with terminal electron-donating groups (C7 and C8) showed nematic mesophase temperatures at 105°C and 107°C, respectively, which are lower in values compared to the laterally neat and fluorinated analogues. SWAXS analysis confirmed the mesophase textures observed from POM. The absorption maxima of UV-Vis and photoluminescence spectra were influenced by the lateral and terminal substituents. The laterally methyl compounds showed blue-emission with a relatively higher fluorescence intensity compared to the lateral unsubstituted and fluorinated derivatives