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Displaying publications 21 - 40 of 2000 in total

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Fulltext Maintenance and physical asset management issues in project commissioning

Ahmad Fuad Ab Ghani, Azrin Ahmad, Nor Salim Muhammad, Reduan Mat Dan, Rustamreen Jenal

Malaysian Journal of Applied Sciences, 2018;2(2):10-28.
MyJurnal

This study describes the review on maintenance related issues during design and construction stage
within construction industry. The paper highlights the causes and errors made during design and
construction stage and their impact during the operation/production/occupancy stage as well as the
maintenance costs associated with it. The study identifies the mistakes in the working processes within
design and construction stage leading to the errors that affect the durability, performance, reliability,
maintainability, availability and safety of the systems. The paper presents a comprehensive review of
the published literatures, journals, technical papers in the related areas in the construction field. The
review highlights the new approaches and decision framework which link the designers and
construction personnel that could reduce the errors and defects in construction which then lead to
maintenance issues and asset management. The factors of accessibility, materials, design and
documentation standardization have been discussed thoroughly for better understanding in improving
maintenance and physical asset management in project commissioning.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Application of artificial neural network for automatic contingency analysis in power security assessment

Ismail Musirin, Titik Khawa Abdul Rahman

Scientific Research Journal, 2006;3(1):11-25.
MyJurnal

Several incidents that occurred around the world involving power failure
caused by unscheduled line outages were identified as one of the main
contributors to power failure and cascading blackout in electric power
environment. With the advancement of computer technologies, artificial
intelligence (AI) has been widely accepted as one method that can be applied
to predict the occurrence of unscheduled disturbance. This paper presents
the development of automatic contingency analysis and ranking algorithm
for the application in the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). The ANN is
developed in order to predict the post-outage severity index from a set of preoutage
data set. Data were generated using the newly developed automatic
contingency analysis and ranking (ACAR) algorithm. Tests were conducted
on the 24-bus IEEE Reliability Test Systems. Results showed that the developed
technique is feasible to be implemented practically and an agreement was
achieved in the results obtained from the tests. The developed ACAR can be
utilised for further testing and implementation in other IEEE RTS test systems
particularly in the system, which required fast computation time. On the other
hand, the developed ANN can be used for predicting the post-outage severity
index and hence system stability can be evaluated.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
CMF-iteMS: An automatic threshold selection for detection of copy-move forgery

Abd Warif NB, Idris MYI, Abdul Wahab AW, Salleh R, Ismail A

Forensic Sci Int, 2019 Feb;295:83-99.
PMID: 30576953 DOI: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2018.12.004

Taking into consideration that the prior CMF detection methods rely on several fixed threshold values in the filtering process, we propose an efficient CMF detection method with an automatic threshold selection, named as CMF-iteMS. The CMF-iteMS recommends a PatchMatch-based CMF detection method that adapts Fourier-Mellin Transform (FMT) as the feature extraction technique while a new automatic threshold selection based on iterative means of regions size (iteMS) procedure is introduced to have flexibility in changing the threshold value for various characteristics (quality, sizes, and attacks) in each input image. To ensure the reliability of the proposed CMF-iteMS, the method is compared with four state-of-the-art CMF detection methods based on Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), patch matching, multi-scale analysis and symmetry techniques using three available datasets that cover the variety of characteristics in CMF images. The results show that the F-score of the CMF-iteMS outperformed existing CMF detection methods by exceeding an average of 90% F-score values for image-level evaluation and 82% of F-score value for pixel-level evaluation for all datasets in original size. As special attention is given to the image resizing attack, the method is able to maintain the highest performance even if the images in the datasets are resized to 0.25 parameter.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Cross-cultural adaptation and validation of the Malay health assessment questionnaire for use in rheumatoid arthritis

Hussein H, Mustafa R, Quek KF, Hassanudin NS, Shahid S

Int J Rheum Dis, 2008;11(3):237-240.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-185X.2008.00384.x

Objective: To validate the Malay version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (Malay-HAQ) for use in Malay-speaking rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients in the Malaysian setting. The HAQ - Disability Index has been validated in several languages, but not in Malay.Methods: The original HAQ was modified and translated into Malay by two translators, one of whom was aware of the objectives of the Questionnaire and the other as a lay translator. Two sets of Malay-HAQ were distributed to RA patients during their routine follow-up visits; one set to be completed immediately and another set to be completed 2 weeks later. A total of 61 patients completed the two sets of Malay-HAQ. The data collected was analysed using SPSS V. 11.0. Reliability of the data was evaluated using the test-retest method and internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha.Results: The study showed that the Malay-HAQ is feasible and reliable. The Spearman's correlation coefficient ranged from 0.65 to 0.82, while the internal consistency was 0.88-0.92.Conclusion: The Malay-HAQ is a sensitive, reliable and valid instrument for the measurement of functional status in RA patients in a Malay setting. © 2008 Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Validation and reliability of a prototype orthodontic bracket debonding device equipped with force-sensitive resistor (FSR): a novel method of measuring orthodontic bracket debonding force in vivo

Ahmed T, Rahman NA, Alam MK

Prog Orthod, 2019 Jul 08;20(1):26.
PMID: 31281954 DOI: 10.1186/s40510-019-0277-x

BACKGROUND: To introduce an orthodontic bracket debonding device capable of measuring debonding force clinically by a novel sensor mechanism MATERIALS AND METHOD: A prototype orthodontic debonding device was constructed utilizing a lift-off debonding instrument (LODI) and force-sensitive resistor (FSR). For data interpretation, the force sensor was equipped with a microcontroller and C++ programming software running on a computer. Ninety-nine (99) 0.022-in. conventional metallic brackets were bonded to premolar teeth in vitro by a single clinician applying the same adhesive and bonding technique. For validation, the mean debonding force measured by the prototype debonding device (n = 30) and the universal testing machine (n = 30) was compared. Both intra- and inter-examiner reliability tests were done by holding and operating the device in a standardized manner. Following debonding by the prototype device, the bracket failure pattern was evaluated (n = 30) by adhesive remnant index (ARI) under the stereomicroscope at × 30 magnification. Statistical analysis included independent samples t test for validation and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) with a 95% confidence interval for both intra- and inter-examiner reliability.
RESULTS: Mean orthodontic bracket debonding force measured by the prototype device (9.36 ± 1.65 N) and the universal testing machine (10.43 ± 2.71 N) was not significantly different (p

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Fluid flow characteristics within an oscillating lower spherical surface and a stationary concentric upper surface for application to the artificial hip joint

Tso CP, Hor CH, Chen GM, Kok CK

Heliyon, 2018 Dec;4(12):e01085.
PMID: 30627676 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e01085

The synovial fluid motion in an artificial hip joint is important in understanding the thermo-fluids effects that can affect the reliability of the joint, although it is difficult to be studied theoretically, as the modelling involves the viscous fluid interacting with a moving surface. A new analytical solution has been derived for the maximum induced fluid motion within a spherical gap with an oscillating lower surface and a stationary upper surface, assuming one-dimensional incompressible laminar Newtonian flow with constant properties, and using the Navier-Stokes equation. The resulting time-dependent motion is analysed in terms of two dimensionless parameters R and β, which are functions of geometry, fluid properties and the oscillation rate. The model is then applied to the conditions of the synovial fluid enclosed in the artificial hip joint and it is found that the motion may be described by a simpler velocity variation, whereby laying the foundation to thermal studies in the joint.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext The control chart technique for the detection of the problem of bad data in state estimation power system

Khan, Zahid, Radzuan Razali, Hanita Daud, Nursyarizal Mohd Nor, Fotuhi-Firuzabad, Mahmud

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(3):825-834.
MyJurnal

State estimation plays a vital role in the security analysis of a power system. The weighted least squares method is one of the conventional techniques used to estimate the unknown state vector of the power system. The existence of bad data can distort the reliability of the estimated state vector. A new algorithm based on the technique of quality control charts is developed in this paper for detection of bad data. The IEEE 6-bus power system data are utilised for the implementation of the proposed algorithm. The output of the study shows that this method is practically applicable for the separation of bad data in the problem of power system state estimation.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Input attributes optimization using the feasibility of genetic nature inspired algorithm: Application of river flow forecasting

Afan HA, Allawi MF, El-Shafie A, Yaseen ZM, Ahmed AN, Malek MA, et al.

Sci Rep, 2020 03 13;10(1):4684.
PMID: 32170078 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-61355-x

In nature, streamflow pattern is characterized with high non-linearity and non-stationarity. Developing an accurate forecasting model for a streamflow is highly essential for several applications in the field of water resources engineering. One of the main contributors for the modeling reliability is the optimization of the input variables to achieve an accurate forecasting model. The main step of modeling is the selection of the proper input combinations. Hence, developing an algorithm that can determine the optimal input combinations is crucial. This study introduces the Genetic algorithm (GA) for better input combination selection. Radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) is used for monthly streamflow time series forecasting due to its simplicity and effectiveness of integration with the selection algorithm. In this paper, the RBFNN was integrated with the Genetic algorithm (GA) for streamflow forecasting. The RBFNN-GA was applied to forecast streamflow at the High Aswan Dam on the Nile River. The results showed that the proposed model provided high accuracy. The GA algorithm can successfully determine effective input parameters in streamflow time series forecasting.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Rigour in qualitative research: is there a panacea to it?

AHMED, ABUBAKAR, MURTALA MUHAMMAD

Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, 2017;4(1):60-68.
MyJurnal

Despite the reported limitations of the qualitative research in comparison to other methodologies, we contend that the common criticisms against it are too often using criteria explicitly analogous to quantitative reasoning. We critically analysed the reported limitations of qualitative research in the literature to deconstruct the conflicting discourses that enable an understanding of their subjectivity. Also, we provide a philosophical justification that both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are appropriate for studying a different form of reality. Lincoln and Guba’s four principles for determining the quality of qualitative research rigour along with confirmability, transferability, credibility and dependability are deemed appropriate rather than the commonly employed internal and external validity, reliability and objectivity. Finally, we argued that a widespread use of a different standard for judging the quality of qualitative research consequential to its philosophical stance is the panacea for the unfair criticisms in the future.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
State-of-the-Art on Functional Titanium Dioxide-Integrated Nano-Hybrids in Electrical Biosensors

Nadzirah S, Gopinath SCB, Parmin NA, Hamzah AA, Mohamed MA, Chang EY, et al.

Crit Rev Anal Chem, 2020 Sep 30.
PMID: 32997522 DOI: 10.1080/10408347.2020.1816447

Biosensors operating based on electrical methods are being accelerated toward rapid and efficient detection that improve the performance of the device. Continuous study in nano- and material-sciences has led to the inflection with properties of nanomaterials that fit the trend parallel to the biosensor evolution. Advancements in technology that focuses on nano-hybrid are being used to develop biosensors with better detection strategies. In this sense, titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanomaterials have attracted extensive interest in the construction of electrical biosensors. The formation of TiO2 nano-hybrid as an electrical transducing material has revealed good results with high performance. The modification of the sensing portion with a combination (nano-hybrid form) of nanomaterials has produced excellent sensors in terms of stability, reproducibility, and enhanced sensitivity. This review highlights recent research advancements with functional TiO2 nano-hybrid materials, and their victorious story in the construction of electrical biosensors are discussed. Future research directions with commercialization of these devices and their extensive utilizations are also discussed.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Pengurusan panitia, kualiti pengajaran dan komitmen kerja guru terhadap pencapaian Bahasa Melayu di negeri Sabah

Latifah Binti Ayang, Mohd Khairuddin Abdullah @ Jerry, Asmiaty Amat

Malaysian Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 2019;4(6):161-169.
MyJurnal

Kajian ini dilaksanakan adalah untuk mengenal pasti pengurusan panitia, kualiti pengajaran dan komitmen guru terhadap pencapaian Bahasa Melayu di Negeri Sabah. Pengurusan panitia dilihat dalam aspek prinsip pengurusan panitia, sifat kendiri dan kemahiran pengurusan. Manakala kualiti pengajaran pula dilihat dari sudut dimensi persediaan pengajaran, penyampaian pengajaran dan aspek tingkah laku. Seterusnya pemboleh ubah komitmen kerja dilihat dari aspek kesediaan untuk kekal dalam organisasi dan kesediaan untuk memenuhi matlamat organisasi. Dalam kajian ini, penyelidik telah menggunakan Teori Pengurusan Saintifik Taylor, Teori Vroom dan Teori Side Bet. Pengkaji telah menggumpul sebanyak 335 soal selidik yang telah dijawab dalam kalangan responden guru yang mengajar Bahasa Melayu dan mewakili seluruh sekolah menengah bantuan penuh kerajaan di Negeri Sabah dengan mengunakan persampelan berkelompok, persampelan kluster dan persampelan rawak mudah. Manakala data pula dianalisis menggunakan program SPSS for Windows Versi 25.0 Ujian regrasi berganda menunjukkan bahawa terdapat pengaruh yang signifikan antara pengurusan panitia dan pencapaian Bahasa Melayu R2 =.485 dan pengaruh Kualiti pengajaran terhadap pencapaian Bahasa Melayu R2 =.646. Manakala pengaruh komitmen kerja terhadap pencapaian Bahasa Melayu menunjukkan nilai pengaruh R2 =.586. Seterusnya dalam analisis regrasi hierarki didapati bahawa konstruk tingkah laku pengajaran guru di bilik darjah memberi sumbangan yang paling besar iaitu sebanyak 41.0% terhadap pencapaian Bahasa Melayu. Pengkaji turut mencadangkan agar pihak berwajib bersama-sama mengembleng tenaga untuk memastikan pencapaian pelajar dalam mata pelajaran Bahasa Melayu sentiasa cemerlang sejajar dengan taraf Bahasa Melayu sebagai Bahasa Kebangsaan.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Evaluating the Performance of Dental Students with Different Levels of Clinical Experience in Learning ICDAS

Pishipati KV, Telang L, Nerali JT, Telang A, Jaganathan S

J Contemp Dent Pract, 2021 Jan 01;22(1):89-92.
PMID: 34002716

AIM: This study aimed to evaluate the dental students' performance in ICDAS (International Caries Detection and Assessment System) coding with different levels of clinical experience.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental students (n = 122) in their clinical years, year 3 (n = 37), year 4 (n = 44), and year 5 (n = 41) received training (two-hour introductory lecture on ICDAS, followed by a 90 min e-learning video, and practice sessions using extracted teeth and photographs) from a calibrated expert. After training, the students examined a prevalidated set of extracted teeth and assigned scores in two sessions. The intra- and inter-examiner agreement between students was analyzed using weighted kappa statistics and a focus group discussion was conducted for qualitative feedback.
RESULTS: The range of kappa values for intra-examiner agreement among the year 3, 4, and 5 students for ICDAS caries code (0.611-0.879, 0.633-0.848, and 0.645-1.000) and restoration code (0.615-0.942, 0.612-0.923, 0.653-1.000), respectively. The range of kappa values for inter-examiner agreement for year 3, 4, and 5 students with a trained expert for ICDAS caries code (0.526-0.713, 0.467-0.810, and 0.525-0.842) and restoration code (0.531-0.816, 0.682-0.842, and 0.645-0.928), respectively.
CONCLUSION: The ICDAS system is a promising tool for caries detection and its implementation in the curriculum was perceived by dental students as an effective method. In general, there was moderate to substantial agreement for ICDAS caries and restoration code between students of different academic year groups and with a trained ICDAS expert.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: ICDAS is a simple, logical, and evidence-based system for the detection and classification of caries. Introducing ICDAS to dental students enables them to detect caries in a reliable and reproducible manner irrespective of their past clinical experience and also significantly improves their caries detection skills.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Factor Structure of The Malay-Version Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire among patients with diabetes mellitus

Woon, L.S., Hatta, S., Norlaila, M.

Medicine & Health, 2020;15(1):208-217.
MyJurnal

Soal-selidik Kecelaruan Keresahan Menyeluruh-7 (GAD-7) versi Bahasa Melayu telah menunjukkan kesahan bersamaan, iaitu kepekaan dan kekhususan yang tinggi sebagai alat saringan untuk keresahan. Namun, ciri-ciri psikometriknya dari segi kesahan faktor belum lagi dikaji dengan lebih lanjut. Kajian ini memeriksa struktur faktor GAD-7 versi Bahasa Melayu di antara 300 orang pesakit luar kencing manis (purata umur: 60.4 tahun, sisihan piawai: 13.4 tahun; 52.7% lelaki) di sebuah hospital universiti di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Peserta kajian mengisi soal-soal selidik tentang maklumat sosiodemografik, GAD-7, Inventori Kemurungan Beck (BDI), dan WHOQOL-BREF. GAD-7 versi Bahasa Melayu menunjukkan konsistensi dalaman yang baik (Alfa Cronbach=0.91) dan kesahan konvergen yang tinggi dengan kemurungan (R Pearson=0.642, p

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Schiff base complex/TiO2 chemosensor for visual detection of food freshness level

Sahudin MA, Su'ait MS, Tan LL, Abd Karim NH

Spectrochim Acta A Mol Biomol Spectrosc, 2021 Mar 05;248:119129.
PMID: 33281086 DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2020.119129

Histamine is one of the important biomarkers for food spoilage in the food sectors. In the present study, a rapid and simple analytical tool has been developed to detect histamine as an indirect strategy to monitor food freshness level. Optical histamine sensor with carboxyl-substituted Schiff base zinc(II) complex with hydroxypropoxy side chain deposited onto titanium dioxide nanoparticles was fabricated and was found to respond successfully to histamine. The Schiff base zinc(II) complex-histamine binding generated an enhancement of the fluorescent signal. Under the optimal reaction condition, the developed sensor can detect down to 2.53 × 10-10 M in the range of between 1.0 × 10-9 and 1.0 × 10-5 M (R2 = 0.9868). Selectivity performance of the sensor towards histamine over other amines was confirmed. The sensor also displayed good reproducibility performances with low relative standard deviation values (1.45%-4.95%). Shelf-life studies suggested that the developed sensor remains stable after 60 days in histamine detection. More importantly, the proposed sensor has been successfully applied to determine histamine in salmon fillet with good recoveries. This strategy has a promising potential in the food quality assurance sectors, especially in controlling the food safety for healthy consumption among consumers.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Graphene oxide nanocomposites based room temperature gas sensors: A review

Thangamani GJ, Deshmukh K, Kovářík T, Nambiraj NA, Ponnamma D, Sadasivuni KK, et al.

Chemosphere, 2021 Oct;280:130641.
PMID: 33964741 DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130641

Over the last few decades, various volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been widely used in the processing of building materials and this practice adversely affected the environment i.e. both indoor and outdoor air quality. A cost-effective solution for detecting a wide range of VOCs by sensing approaches includes chemiresistive, optical and electrochemical techniques. Room temperature (RT) chemiresistive gas sensors are next-generation technologies desirable for self-powered or battery-powered instruments utilized in monitoring emissions that are associated with indoor/outdoor air pollution and industrial processes. In this review, a state-of-the-art overview of chemiresistive gas sensors is provided based on their attractive analytical characteristics such as high sensitivity, selectivity, reproducibility, rapid assay time and low fabrication cost. The review mainly discusses the recent advancement and advantages of graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites-based chemiresistive gas sensors and various factors affecting their sensing performance at RT. Besides, the sensing mechanisms of GO nanocomposites-based chemiresistive gas sensors derived using metals, transition metal oxides (TMOs) and polymers were discussed. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives of GO nanocomposites-based RT chemiresistive gas sensors are addressed.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Reliability and validity of the instrument used in the HELIC (healthy lifestyle in children) study of primary school children's nutrition knowledge, attitude and practice

Siti Sabariah, B., Zalilah, M.S., Norlijah, O., Normah, H., Maznah, I., Laily, P., et al.

Malays J Nutr, 2006;12(1):33-44.
MyJurnal

The objective of this paper is to report on the reliability and validity of a knowledge, attitude and practice instrument used among young primary school children. The instrument was developed as an evaluation tool in the HELIC study and consisted of 23 knowledge, 11 attitude and 10 practice items. A total of 335 Year 2 students from 4 randomly selected primary schools in Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan participated in the HELIC study. Students were divided into small groups and an enumerator verbally administered the instrument to each group. Reliability for each construct (knowledge, attitude and practice) was estimated as item to total score correlation and internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha). Construct validity was determined through factor analysis and Pearson correlation. Results indicated that 3 attitude and 3 practice items did not correlate significantly to the total score (p>0.05). However, the deletion of these items did not significantly alter the Cronbach's alpha coefficients. Internal consistency was good for knowledge (a=0.68) but low for attitude (a=0.37) and practice (a=0.36) constructs. Based on factor analysis, 5 factor-solutions emerged for knowledge and 4 factor solutions for attitude and practice. Sufficient variance was obtained for the factors in knowledge (51.7%), attitude (51.2% and practice (51.0%). There were also significant positive correlations among the constructs ( ~ 4 . 0 1 ) . In conclusion, the instrument was valid and reliable, especially for the knowledge construct. Further improvements, particularly on the attitude and practice constructs, are needed in order for the instrument to be an effective assessment or evaluation tool in various settings.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Informal carer's knowledge of traumatic brain injury questionnaire: Initial development and validation

Awadh Bamatraf A, Chong MC, Mazlan M, Che CC, Fauziningtyas R, Nursalam N

Nurs Open, 2021 09;8(5):2722-2731.
PMID: 33729702 DOI: 10.1002/nop2.833

AIM: To develop and psychometrically test the instrument for measuring the knowledge of traumatic brain injury of informal carers.
DESIGN: Instrument development.
METHOD: Focus group discussions were conducted among informal carers and healthcare specialists in March 2017. The content validity was determined by the mean of the item content validity index. A reliability test was performed by the Kuder-Richardson 20 and Pearson's correlation coefficient among 40 informal carers of patients with a traumatic brain injury in the rehabilitation medicine department of a tertiary hospital from August-September 2017.
RESULTS: The final 34-item questionnaire covers the nature of traumatic brain injury, the consequences of traumatic brain injury, the rehabilitation process, and the role of the caregiver. The item content means ranged from 0.8-1.00, and the difficulty of knowledge items ranged from 0.18-0.98. The internal consistency reliability and correlation coefficient were 0.70 and 0.84, respectively.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Analysis of stone mastic asphalt (sma) slab dimensions for evaluation of the newly developed roller compactor (Turamesin)

Jakarni, F.M., Muniandy, R., Hassim, S., Mahmud, A.R.

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2010;18(1):-.
MyJurnal

Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) is one type of asphalt mixture which is highly dependent on the method
of compaction as compared to conventional Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) mixture. A suitable laboratory compaction method which can closely simulate field compaction is evidently needed as future trend
in asphalt pavement industry all over the world is gradually changing over to the SMA due to its excellent performance characteristics. This study was conducted to evaluate the SMA slab mixtures compacted using a newly developed Turamesin roller compactor, designed to cater for laboratory compaction in field simulation conditions. As the newly developed compaction device, there is a need for evaluating the compacted slab dimensions (which include length, width, and thickness), analyzing the consistency of the measured parameters to verify the homogeneity of the compacted slabs and determining the reliability of Turamesin. A total of 15 slabs from three different types of asphalt mixtures were compacted, measured, and analyzed for their consistencies in terms of length, width, and thickness. Based on study the conducted, the compacted slabs were found to have problems in terms of the improperly compacted section of about 30 mm length at both ends of the slabs and the differences in the thickness between left- and right-side of the slab which were due to unequal load distribution from the roller compactor. The results obtained from this study have led to the development of Turamesin as an improved laboratory compaction device.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Determination of neutronic parameters of RTP core using mcnp code

Mohamad Hairie Rabir, Usang, Mark Dennis, Naim Syauqi Hamzah, Julia Abdul Karim, Mohd Amin Sharifuldin Salleh

Jurnal Sains Nuklear Malaysia, 2013;25(1):45-59.
MyJurnal

The 1 MW TRIGA MARK II research reactor at Malaysian Nuclear Agency achieved initial
criticality on June 28, 1982. The reactor is designed to effectively implement the various fields of
basic nuclear research, manpower training, and production of radioisotopes. This
paperdescribes the reactor parameters calculation for the PUSPATI TRIGA REACTOR (RTP);
focusing on the application of the developed reactor 3D model for criticality calculation,
analysis of power and neutron flux distribution and depletion study of TRIGA fuel. The 3D
continuous energy Monte Carlo code MCNP was used to develop a versatile and accurate full
model of the TRIGA reactor. The consistency and accuracy of the developed RTP MCNP model
was established by comparing calculations to the experimental results and TRIGLAV
code.MCNP and TRIGLAV criticality prediction of the critical core loading are in a very good
agreement with the experimental results.Power peaking factor calculated with TRIGLAV are
systematically higher than the MCNP but the trends are the same.Depletion calculation by both
codes show differences especially at high burnup.The results are conservative and can be
applied to show the reliability of MCNP code and the model both for design and verification of
the reactor core, and future calculation of its neutronic parameters.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results
Fulltext Technique for Early Reliability Prediction of Software Components Using Behaviour Models

Ali A, N A Jawawi D, Adham Isa M, Imran Babar M

PLoS One, 2016 Sep 26;11(9):e0163346.
PMID: 27668748 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0163346

Behaviour models are the most commonly used input for predicting the reliability of a software system at the early design stage. A component behaviour model reveals the structure and behaviour of the component during the execution of system-level functionalities. There are various challenges related to component reliability prediction at the early design stage based on behaviour models. For example, most of the current reliability techniques do not provide fine-grained sequential behaviour models of individual components and fail to consider the loop entry and exit points in the reliability computation. Moreover, some of the current techniques do not tackle the problem of operational data unavailability and the lack of analysis results that can be valuable for software architects at the early design stage. This paper proposes a reliability prediction technique that, pragmatically, synthesizes system behaviour in the form of a state machine, given a set of scenarios and corresponding constraints as input. The state machine is utilized as a base for generating the component-relevant operational data. The state machine is also used as a source for identifying the nodes and edges of a component probabilistic dependency graph (CPDG). Based on the CPDG, a stack-based algorithm is used to compute the reliability. The proposed technique is evaluated by a comparison with existing techniques and the application of sensitivity analysis to a robotic wheelchair system as a case study. The results indicate that the proposed technique is more relevant at the early design stage compared to existing works, and can provide a more realistic and meaningful prediction.

Matched MeSH terms: Reproducibility of Results

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