Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 371 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Abu Taha A, Abu-Zaydeh AH, Ardah RA, Al-Jabi SW, Sweileh WM, Awang R, et al.
    Zoonoses Public Health, 2016 09;63(6):449-57.
    PMID: 26752329 DOI: 10.1111/zph.12249
    Antibiotics are considered to be among the most commonly sold drug classes in Palestine. Resistance to antibiotics has increased for reasons relating to the use and misuse of antibiotics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, and attitudes regarding antibiotic use and awareness about resistance among adults visiting the emergency departments at hospitals in North Palestine. A self-administered cross-sectional questionnaire survey involving participants aged 18 or over was conducted from June 2012 to February 2013. Adults who visited the emergency departments at hospitals in North Palestine were included. Demographic characteristics, knowledge and attitudes towards antibiotic use were included in the questionnaire. Poor and good knowledge were defined as a total knowledge score of 0-7 and 8-15 of 15 questions, respectively. Attitude scores of 0-3 and 4-7 of 7 questions were considered poor and good, respectively. A total of 375 questionnaires were included in the study. A response rate of 83.3% was attained. About 55.0% of the participants had a good knowledge and 56.5% had a good attitude towards rational antibiotic use. A significant positive correlation was shown between participants' knowledge scores and participants' attitude scores towards antibiotic use (R = 0.344, P = 0.001. Participants with a high family income were more likely to be aware of appropriate antibiotic use than participants with a low family income (P-value <0.001). Participants with a higher educational level (university) had a good attitude towards rational antibiotic use than those with a lower education level (P-value <0.001). This study has documented important knowledge and attitude gaps in antibiotic use. These findings will help health policymakers in Palestine to implement intervention programmes to rationalize antibiotic use. Continuing medical education, professional development and training workshops for healthcare professionals regarding rational use of antibiotics and health risks associated with the spread of antibiotic resistance are needed. In addition, minimizing non-prescription use of antibiotics and increasing the public awareness about the health and economic hazards of antibiotic resistance are also required.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  2. Kadir SRA, Rasid MHFA, Kwong KO, Wong LL, Arai T
    Zookeys, 2017.
    PMID: 29134009 DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.695.13298
    Recent studies suggested that accurate species identification in the tropical anguillid eels based on morphological examination requires confirmation by molecular genetic analysis. Previous studies found that two tropical anguillid eels, Anguilla bicolor bicolor and A. bengalensis bengalensis, were found in peninsular Malaysia (West Malaysia) based on morphological and molecular genetic analyses. This study is the first record of A. marmorata in peninsular Malaysia confirmed by both morphological and molecular genetic analyses. The present study also suggests that accurate tropical eel species identification is difficult by morphological identification alone; therefore, molecular genetic analysis is needed for precise species confirmation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  3. Nurhafizah Moziyana Mohd Yusop, Nooraida Samsudin, Nooraida Samsudin, Anis Shahida Mokhta, Siti Rohaidah Ahmad, Mohd Fahmi Mohammad Amran, et al.
    MyJurnal
    Euler method is a numerical order process for solving problems with the Ordinary Differential Equation (ODE). It is a fast and easy way. While Euler offers a simple procedure for solving ODEs, problems such as complexity, processing time and accuracy have driven others to use more sophisticated methods. Improvements to the Euler method have attracted much attention resulting in numerous modified Euler methods. This paper proposes Cube Polygon, a modified Euler method with improved accuracy and complexity. In order to demonstrate the accuracy and easy implementation of the proposed method, several examples are presented. Cube Polygon’s performance was compared to Polygon’s scheme and evaluated against exact solutions using SCILAB. Results indicate that not only Cube Polygon has produced solutions that are close to identical solutions for small step sizes, but also for higher step sizes, thus generating more accurate results and decrease complexity. Also known in this paper is the general of the RL circuit due to the ODE problem.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  4. Jing W, Tao H, Rahman MA, Kabir MN, Yafeng L, Zhang R, et al.
    Work, 2021;68(3):923-934.
    PMID: 33612534 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-203426
    BACKGROUND: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) is incorporated with a variety of applications for input processing and response actions. Facial recognition systems in workplaces and security systems help to improve the detection and classification of humans based on the vision experienced by the input system.

    OBJECTIVES: In this manuscript, the Robotic Facial Recognition System using the Compound Classifier (RERS-CC) is introduced to improve the recognition rate of human faces. The process is differentiated into classification, detection, and recognition phases that employ principal component analysis based learning. In this learning process, the errors in image processing based on the extracted different features are used for error classification and accuracy improvements.

    RESULTS: The performance of the proposed RERS-CC is validated experimentally using the input image dataset in MATLAB tool. The performance results show that the proposed method improves detection and recognition accuracy with fewer errors and processing time.

    CONCLUSION: The input image is processed with the knowledge of the features and errors that are observed with different orientations and time instances. With the help of matching dataset and the similarity index verification, the proposed method identifies precise human face with augmented true positives and recognition rate.

    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  5. Zhang G, Jing W, Tao H, Rahman MA, Salih SQ, Al-Saffar A, et al.
    Work, 2021;68(3):935-943.
    PMID: 33612535 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-203427
    BACKGROUND: Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) has become a prominent solution to improve the robustness of real-time service provisioning through assisted functions for day-to-day activities. The application of the robotic system in security services helps to improve the precision of event detection and environmental monitoring with ease.

    OBJECTIVES: This paper discusses activity detection and analysis (ADA) using security robots in workplaces. The application scenario of this method relies on processing image and sensor data for event and activity detection. The events that are detected are classified for its abnormality based on the analysis performed using the sensor and image data operated using a convolution neural network. This method aims to improve the accuracy of detection by mitigating the deviations that are classified in different levels of the convolution process.

    RESULTS: The differences are identified based on independent data correlation and information processing. The performance of the proposed method is verified for the three human activities, such as standing, walking, and running, as detected using the images and sensor dataset.

    CONCLUSION: The results are compared with the existing method for metrics accuracy, classification time, and recall.

    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  6. Tao H, Rahman MA, Jing W, Li Y, Li J, Al-Saffar A, et al.
    Work, 2021;68(3):903-912.
    PMID: 33720867 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-203424
    BACKGROUND: Human-robot interaction (HRI) is becoming a current research field for providing granular real-time applications and services through physical observation. Robotic systems are designed to handle the roles of humans and assist them through intrinsic sensing and commutative interactions. These systems handle inputs from multiple sources, process them, and deliver reliable responses to the users without delay. Input analysis and processing is the prime concern for the robotic systems to understand and resolve the queries of the users.

    OBJECTIVES: In this manuscript, the Interaction Modeling and Classification Scheme (IMCS) is introduced to improve the accuracy of HRI. This scheme consists of two phases, namely error classification and input mapping. In the error classification process, the input is analyzed for its events and conditional discrepancies to assign appropriate responses in the input mapping phase. The joint process is aided by a linear learning model to analyze the different conditions in the event and input detection.

    RESULTS: The performance of the proposed scheme shows that it is capable of improving the interaction accuracy by reducing the ratio of errors and interaction response by leveraging the information extraction from the discrete and successive human inputs.

    CONCLUSION: The fetched data are analyzed by classifying the errors at the initial stage to achieve reliable responses.

    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  7. Dwekat IMM, Tengku Ismail TA, Ibrahim MI, Ghrayeb F
    Women Birth, 2021 Jul;34(4):344-351.
    PMID: 32684342 DOI: 10.1016/j.wombi.2020.07.004
    BACKGROUND: Respectful care during childbirth is a universal right for each woman in every health system, and mistreatment of women during childbirth is a major breach of this right.

    AIM: This study aimed to explore the views of Palestinian women and healthcare providers regarding factors contributing to the mistreatment of women during childbirth at childbirth facilities in the West Bank, Palestine.

    METHODS: A qualitative study was conducted in the West Bank, Palestine, from February 2019 to April 2019. In-depth interviews were conducted with six Palestinian women and five healthcare providers. Consent was obtained individually from each participant, and the interviews ranged from 40 to 50min. Data collection was continued until thematic saturation was reached. Open-ended questions were asked during interviews. Thematic analysis was used to interpret the data collected from the interviews.

    RESULTS: Four themes were identified with regards to the women and healthcare providers' views about factors contributing to the mistreatment of women during childbirth in the West Bank, Palestine: limitation in childbirth facilities, factors within the healthcare providers, the women themselves, and barriers within the community.

    DISCUSSION: Mistreatment of women during childbirth may occur due to the limitations of resources and staff in childbirth facilities. Some women also justified the mistreatment, and certain characteristics of the women were believed to be the factors for mistreatment.

    CONCLUSION: As the first known study of its kind in West Bank, the identified contributing factors especially the limitations of resources and staff are essential to provide good quality and respectful care at childbirth facilities.

    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  8. Kunacheva C, Boontanon SK, Fujii S, Tanaka S, Musirat C, Artsalee C, et al.
    Water Sci Technol, 2009;60(4):975-82.
    PMID: 19700836 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2009.462
    Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) have been used for many years, and are distributed all over the world. This study focused on occurrences of PFCs, especially perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctonoic acid (PFOA) in Thai rivers and industrial estate discharges, while comparing results with rivers of other Asian countries (Japan, China, and Malaysia). Surveys were conducted in Chao Phraya River, Bangpakong River and three industrial estates. A solid phase extraction (SPE) and HPLC-ESI-MS/MS were used for the analysis of these chemicals. The average concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were 1.9 and 4.7 ng/L, respectively in Chao Phraya River, while lower concentrations were detected in Bangpakong River with the averages of 0.7 ng/L for both PFOS and PFOA. Higher concentrations were detected in all industrial estate discharges with the averages of 64.3 ng/L for PFOA and 17.9 ng/L for PFOS., Total loadings from three industrial estates were 1.93 g/d for PFOS and 11.81 g/d for PFOA. The concentration levels in Thai rivers were less than rivers in Japan, China, and Malaysia. However, PFCs loading rate of Chao Phraya River was much higher than Yodo River (Japan), due to the higher flow rate. The other six PFCs were found above the Limit of Quantification (LOQ) in most samples. PFHxS and PFNA were also highly detected in some river samples.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  9. Karim Ghani WA, Rusli IF, Biak DR, Idris A
    Waste Manag, 2013 May;33(5):1276-81.
    PMID: 23415709 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2012.09.019
    Tremendous increases in biodegradable (food waste) generation significantly impact the local authorities, who are responsible to manage, treat and dispose of this waste. The process of separation of food waste at its generation source is identified as effective means in reducing the amount food waste sent to landfill and can be reused as feedstock to downstream treatment processes namely composting or anaerobic digestion. However, these efforts will only succeed with positive attitudes and highly participations rate by the public towards the scheme. Thus, the social survey (using questionnaires) to analyse public's view and influencing factors towards participation in source separation of food waste in households based on the theory of planned behaviour technique (TPB) was performed in June and July 2011 among selected staff in Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor. The survey demonstrates that the public has positive intention in participating provided the opportunities, facilities and knowledge on waste separation at source are adequately prepared by the respective local authorities. Furthermore, good moral values and situational factors such as storage convenience and collection times are also encouraged public's involvement and consequently, the participations rate. The findings from this study may provide useful indicator to the waste management authorities in Malaysia in identifying mechanisms for future development and implementation of food waste source separation activities in household programmes and communication campaign which advocate the use of these programmes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  10. Hannan MA, Arebey M, Begum RA, Basri H, Al Mamun MA
    Waste Manag, 2016 Apr;50:10-9.
    PMID: 26868844 DOI: 10.1016/j.wasman.2016.01.046
    This paper presents a CBIR system to investigate the use of image retrieval with an extracted texture from the image of a bin to detect the bin level. Various similarity distances like Euclidean, Bhattacharyya, Chi-squared, Cosine, and EMD are used with the CBIR system for calculating and comparing the distance between a query image and the images in a database to obtain the highest performance. In this study, the performance metrics is based on two quantitative evaluation criteria. The first one is the average retrieval rate based on the precision-recall graph and the second is the use of F1 measure which is the weighted harmonic mean of precision and recall. In case of feature extraction, texture is used as an image feature for bin level detection system. Various experiments are conducted with different features extraction techniques like Gabor wavelet filter, gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM), and gray level aura matrix (GLAM) to identify the level of the bin and its surrounding area. Intensive tests are conducted among 250bin images to assess the accuracy of the proposed feature extraction techniques. The average retrieval rate is used to evaluate the performance of the retrieval system. The result shows that, the EMD distance achieved high accuracy and provides better performance than the other distances.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  11. Isa MH, Asaari FA, Ramli NA, Ahmad S, Siew TS
    Waste Manag Res, 2005 Dec;23(6):565-70.
    PMID: 16379126
    The implementation of a suitable solid waste management programme with appropriate methods of recycling as an inherent element is vital to the alleviation of the problems associated with solid waste generation, handling and disposal, environmental conservation, public hygiene, etc. The present work is a case study on solid waste collection and recycling practices in Nibong Tebal town, Penang, Malaysia. The amount and types of domestic waste generated, household participation in recycling, identification of existing problems related to the implementation of the recycling programme, etc. formed the basis of this study. Surveys (interviews/questionnaires) and on-site observations were conducted to gather information on the solid waste collection and recycling practice of the residents. A focus group of 60 individuals was selected and their response to a questionnaire, prepared according to a Likert scale, was obtained and analysed. The majority of the respondents expressed concerns about recycling and wanted more to be done in this regard. Illegal collection, aesthetically displeasing sites and a lack of public awareness were problems of major concern. Issues related to inadequate funding and manpower as well as end market are also addressed and suggestions made.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  12. Ghani AAA, Shahudin MS, Zamri-Saad M, Zuki AB, Wahid H, Kasim A, et al.
    Vet World, 2017 Jun;10(6):630-635.
    PMID: 28717314 DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2017.630-635
    AIM: The study was conducted at a smallholder goat farm located in Labu, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of proper feeding program on growth performances of replacement breeder goats.

    MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 30 healthy female boer cross goats at the age of 4 months old with average initial live body weight (BW) of 20.05±0.5 kg were used for on-farm feeding trial to evaluate the growth performance as preparation for breeding purposes. The experimental goats were divided into two groups of 15 animals each labeled as control and treatment groups, which were kept under intensive farming system. Goats in control group were fed with normal routine feeding protocol practiced by the farmer, while goats in the treatment group were fed with new feed formulation. Throughout the experimental period, on-farm monitoring and data collection were carried out. Initial BW and body condition score (BCS) were recorded before the start of the experiment while final BW and BCS were gained after 7 months of the experimental period. Average daily gain (ADG) was calculated after the experiment end. Data on BW, ADG, and BCS were recorded from both groups for every 2 weeks and reported monthly. The feed intake for the control group was 2.8 kg/animal/day which practiced by the farmer and 3.2 kg/animal/day as new feed formulation for the treatment group.

    RESULTS: After 7 months of the experimental period, final BW shows an improvement in treatment group (39.1±1.53 kg) compared with control group (32.3±1.23 kg). The ADG in treatment group also gives promising result when comparing with control group. Goats in treatment group significantly attained better ADG than control group which were 126.7 g/day and 83.3 g/day, respectively. For the BCS, goats in the treatment group had shown an improvement where 86.67% (13 out of 15) of the group had BCS ≥3 (1-5 scoring scale) and only 66.67% (10 out of 15) of the control group had BCS ≥3.

    CONCLUSION: Therefore, it was concluded that implementation of proper feeding program as shown in treatment group give promising result to improve the growth performance of replacement breeder goats which can be adopted by the farmers to improve farm productivity.

    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  13. Aljunid SM, Srithamrongsawat S, Chen W, Bae SJ, Pwu RF, Ikeda S, et al.
    Value Health, 2012 2 1;15(1 Suppl):S132-8.
    PMID: 22265060 DOI: 10.1016/j.jval.2011.11.004
    This article sought to describe the health-care data situation in six selected economies in the Asia-Pacific region. Authors from Thailand, China mainland, South Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and Malaysia present their analyses in three parts. The first part of the article describes the data-collection process and the sources of data. The second part of the article presents issues around policies of data sharing with the stakeholders. The third and final part of the article focuses on the extent of health-care data use for policy reform in these different economies. Even though these economies differ in their economic structure and population size, they share some similarities on issues related to health-care data. There are two main institutions that collect and manage the health-care data in these economies. In Thailand, China mainland, Taiwan, and Malaysia, the Ministry of Health is responsible through its various agencies for collecting and managing the health-care data. On the other hand, health insurance is the main institution that collects and stores health-care data in South Korea and Japan. In all economies, sharing of and access to data is an issue. The reasons for limited access to some data are privacy protection, fragmented health-care system, poor quality of routinely collected data, unclear policies and procedures to access the data, and control on the freedom on publication. The primary objective of collecting health-care data in these economies is to aid the policymakers and researchers in policy decision making as well as create an awareness on health-care issues for the general public. The usage of data in monitoring the performance of the heath system is still in the process of development. In conclusion, for the region under discussion, health-care data collection is under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and health insurance agencies. Data are collected from health-care providers mainly from the public sector. Routinely collected data are supplemented by national surveys. Accessibility to the data is a major issue in most of the economies under discussion. Accurate health-care data are required mainly to support policy making and evidence-based decisions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection/methods*
  14. Mohd Zulhilmi Aqil Muhamad, Noor Hafhizah Abd Rahim
    MyJurnal
    Expert system is a system that emulates experts to aid in decision making. This system can be applied in various categories such as diagnosis, prediction, interpretation, and others. Expert System to Diagnose Dengue Fever is a web-based system which is integrated with prolog language in order to provide rules for dengue fever detection. The aims of this research are to study dengue fever symptoms and other illnesses related to the fever, to design an inference engine, and to build an expert system. The challenges faced while developing this expert system were the complexity of prolog codes and their integration with the web development. In this system, rules were developed by prolog language which define dengue fever and accuracy based on input from the user. This system is expected to aid users in self-detecting early symptoms of dengue fever before seeing the doctors.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  15. Nurita AT, Abu Hassan A, Nur Aida H
    Trop Biomed, 2008 Aug;25(2):145-53.
    PMID: 18948886 MyJurnal
    Three species composition surveys were conducted in a rural location in Kedah and an urban location in Pulau Pinang. Two of the surveys were conducted in November 2003, the first was at the Kedah site and the second was at the Pulau Pinang site. The third survey was conducted at the Pulau Pinang site again on the last week of April 2004. All these surveys were conducted one week prior to field evaluations of commercial chemical fly baits. The predominant species recovered from the surveys was the house fly, Musca domestica, which ranked first in prevalence in all three studies. Catches of Musca sorbens, Chrysoma megacephala and Lucillia cuprina were lower than M. domestica. Sarcophaga sp. was not present at the Kedah site and was only present at the Pulau Pinang site during the survey in April 2004. The other fly species present at the Kedah site were Megaselia sp., Psycoda sp., Piophila sp. and Fannia sp. These species were scarce and never exceeded 1% of the total catch.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  16. Goh JC, Juliana J, Malina O, Ngah ZU, Norhafizalena O
    Trop Biomed, 2007 Jun;24(1):37-46.
    PMID: 17568376 MyJurnal
    Indoor fungal reservoirs, particularly airborne Penicillium species, were identified throughout the ventilation system of the building and dissemination of fungi from those reservoirs was found to be occurring all the time. The objectives of this study were to determine the association between air concentration of indoor mould (Penicillium) and allergy symptoms among office workers. The study design used in this research was a cross-sectional study. Risk factors were identified through the questionnaire survey. Office workers were selected based on the proximity of their workstations to the microbiological air sampler used for the mould sampling. Results from the current study suggests that individual susceptibility of exposed subjects might be influenced by several factors associated with mould exposure; for example, inhaled mycotoxins or volatile organic compounds, which may, in some complex way, affect the immune response. This study provides the much needed preliminary baseline data for developing guidelines with validated findings that will be of use for policy decisions in Malaysia regarding indoor air quality. Results from this study are recommended for use in planning and implementing control measures in order to reduce the exposure to indoor mould and promote healthy working environment among the workers.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  17. Dorny P, Van Wyngaarden T, Vercruysse J, Symoens C, Jalia A
    Trop Anim Health Prod, 1994 May;26(2):81-6.
    PMID: 7941034
    A survey on mange mite infestations in the aetiology of skin lesions in goats in Peninsular Malaysia is described. Skin lesions were observed in 25 (93%) of the 27 goat farms investigated. Mange mites were found in 22 (88%) of these goat herds. Chorioptes texanus was found in 20.7%, Psoroptes cuniculi in 19.3%, Sarcoptes scabiei in 18.6% and Demodex canis var. caprae in 0.4% of the samples, taken from the skin lesions. Thirteen cases of generalised manage were diagnosed, from which 9 were caused by S. scabiei, 2 by P. cuniculi and one by C. texanus. All other cases had more or less localised lesions. No significant differences could be found in incidence and distribution of skin lesions between age classes.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  18. Fornace KM, Drakeley CJ, William T, Espino F, Cox J
    Trends Parasitol, 2014 Nov;30(11):514-9.
    PMID: 25443854 DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2014.09.001
    The potential applications of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, have generated intense interest across many fields. UAVs offer the potential to collect detailed spatial information in real time at relatively low cost and are being used increasingly in conservation and ecological research. Within infectious disease epidemiology and public health research, UAVs can provide spatially and temporally accurate data critical to understanding the linkages between disease transmission and environmental factors. Using UAVs avoids many of the limitations associated with satellite data (e.g., long repeat times, cloud contamination, low spatial resolution). However, the practicalities of using UAVs for field research limit their use to specific applications and settings. UAVs fill a niche but do not replace existing remote-sensing methods.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection/instrumentation*
  19. Francis Davin Nyoro, Siong Fong Sim, Amelia Laccy Jeffrey Kimura
    MyJurnal
    This study reports the caffeine content in seven locally available coffee. The caffeine was extracted with chloroform and analysed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR). The method reports an average recovery of 101% with the limit of determination established at 0.1%. The absorption band at 1654 cm-1 was used to construct the calibration curve for quantification of caffeine where the regression was fitted with satisfactory linearity. An average of 0.55% of caffeine was detected in the seven coffee products with Arabica coffee demonstrating lower caffeine concentration. The study evidenced that caffeine content in coffee is determined by the coffee types. The caffeine content found in the local coffee products was relatively lower likely due to the solvent types, extraction procedure and analytical method used.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
  20. SAUD AMERROUF SIAN, TERRY LUCAS
    MyJurnal
    When we heard Retro design, people will think about the fashion, music, poster, style and trend of the 1940s to1980s. The trend retro-futurism, however, is entirely different. It is a trend that was created by writers, artists and film directors in the past and is closely related to science fiction. This research concentrates on investigating the characteristics of retro-futurism and how it can be used to incorporate its features into building design for 3D animation. An exploratory method was used to analyse the architectural design of the past. The gathered information could give some insights and understanding of what retro-futurism is and the reason behind why the architectural design in the previous era was created that way. The process and challenges of implementing retro-futurism visual style are also discussed. As the result of the collected data, developing a design with the aesthetic of retro-futurism become more accessible and well-planned.
    Matched MeSH terms: Data Collection
Filters
Contact Us

Please provide feedback to Administrator (afdal@afpm.org.my)

External Links