The use of an artificial neural network (ANN) is becoming common due to its ability to analyse complex
nonlinear events. An ANN has a flexible, convenient and easy mathematical structure to identify the
nonlinear relationships between input and output data sets. This capability could efficiently be employed
for the different hydrological models such as rainfall-runoff models, which are inherently nonlinear in
nature and therefore, representing their physical characteristics is challenging. In this research, ANN
modelling is developed with the use of the MATLAB toolbox for predicting river stream flow coming
into the Ringlet reservoir in Cameron Highland, Malaysia. A back propagation algorithm is used to train
the ANN. The results indicate that the artificial neural network is a powerful tool in modelling rainfallrunoff.
The obtained results could help the water resource managers to operate the reservoir properly in
the case of extreme events such as flooding and drought.
Human breast milk microbiota is essential for infant immune system development, maturation and
protection against infection. However, there is scarce information on the fluid’s microbiological
composition from Malaysia. The objective of the study was to isolate, identify and characterise commensal
bacterial population present in human breast milk from Malaysia. One hundred bacteria were isolated
from the human breast milk of healthy lactating women (n=30). After preliminary screening, 20 isolates
were characterised using both phenotypic and molecular techniques. The results indicated that most
frequently identified bacteria in this study were E. faecalis and S. hominis. These organisms alongside E.
cloacae were all metabolised D-Maltose, Sucrose, D-Turanose, α-D-Glucose, D-Fructose, D-Mannose,
D-Galactose, D-sorbitol and D-Mannitol and were able to grow at pH 5 and 6, 1% sodium lactate, 1%,
2% and 8% NaCl. BLAST showed over 99% similarity to those deposited in Genbank. Phylogeneticrelatedness
was depicted using neighbour-joining method and had two clades with 100% bootstrap. These
findings provided insight into the nature, characteristics and also phylogenetic-relatedness of bacteria
present in human milk from Malaysia. Isolation and identification of commensal bacteria from human
milk are considered the first step for future studies on the benefit of these organisms towards human health.
Colo-colic intussusception is a rare manifestation of a primary tumour in an adult patient. This article
aims to document the rarity of colo-colic intussusception features on the 18 FDG- PET-CT in a patient
with primary colonic carcinoma. An 18 FDG-PET-CT was performed for the purpose of pretreatment
staging of a colonic carcinoma in a 61-year-old man following a diagnostic colosnoscopic biopsy. He
presented with abdominal distension and peri-rectal bleeding for a month. The fused 18 F-FDG PET-CT
image revealed an FDG-avid mass in the left hemicolon showing a rim of FDG avidity denoting the head
of intussusceptum. There are also multiple FDG-avid nodules seen along the anti-mesenteric colonic fat
suspicious for lymph nodes metastasis. Debulking of tumour revealed a mucinous adenocarcinoma of
colon with a metastatic lymph node. 18 FDG PET-CT features of intussusception in colonic carcinoma
have never been described before. It can potentially become a preferred diagnostic tool in delineating a
potential tumour mass within the intussusceptions that help improve prognosis in patients with malignancy.
The presence of calcification in a particular FDG-avid soft tissue lesion may at times present uncertainty
regarding the clinical course of the disease pathology. Calcific deposits are not specific for either benign
or malignant aetiologies (Brant et al., 2010). Altered glucose metabolism with associated calcification
may underpin underlying aggressive pathophysiology with necrosis as sequelae. Mantle Cell Lymphoma
(MCL) is a subtype of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. It is a rare B-cell NHL that is prevalent in men over
the age of 60. The disease may be aggressive but it can also behave in a more indolent fashion in some
patients. MCL comprises about 5% of all NHLs. The disease is called Mantle Cell Lymphoma because the
tumour cells originally come from the ‘mantle zone’ of the lymph node (Zhou et al., 2004). Pretreatment
Hodgkin’s lymphoma with calcification may masquerade as other second primary pathologies, e.g.
extraosseous osteosarcoma or myositis ossificans (Apter et al., 2002; Korek-Amorosa et al., 1974). A
calcified perineural lymphoma prior to treatment is exceedingly rare and calcification usually occurs
one to five years after chemotherapy or radiation therapy with an incidence of 2% (Apter et al., 2002).
This case documents how the manifestation of a rare malignant perineural mantle cell lymphoma may
be indistinguishable from other pathological entities based on its pattern of distribution in a combined
FDG- PET-CT study.
One of the best ways to enhance heat transfer coefficient is by improving thermal properties of the
working fluid. Gold/water nanofluid flow through horizontal minitube with very low Reynolds number
was simulated by using Thermal Lattice Boltzmann Method (TLBM) under uniform heat flux boundary
condition. The effect of different volume fraction of nanoparticles on the heat transfer coefficient was
studied and compared with the base fluid (water). The results were verified using Finite Volume Method
(FVM). The results showed enhancement of heat transfer coefficient when using gold/water nanofluid
and this enhancement depends on the volume concentration of Gold nanoparticles. The maximum
enhancement was 18% with 0.03 volume concentration.
The purpose of this research is to gain initial knowledge and to predict the sustainability of an all-weather
Micro-Aerial-Vehicle (MAV). The observed parameters are: the maximum coefficient of lift, CL and the
changes in CL after impact, the fluctuation of CL upon entering simulated rain environment, and length of
stability recovery in terms of time and flapping cycle, t and t/T, at flapping frequencies of 8, 16, and 24
Hz, at t/T = 3/8 and 7/8. At 24 Hz, the increase in peak CL value after impact of entering rain environment
is 0.59. The average fluctuations in CL occurred when entering the rain environment are 410.263. The
stability recovery time recorded is 0.006 seconds. Small birds (especially hummingbirds) have a very
high flapping frequency that enables them to efficiently withstand external disturbances caused by nature
and to instantly adapt to new environments.
Flow separation over blade surfaces is an important parameter and its reduction or elimination can improve
better aerodynamic performance, efficiency and stall margin. In this work, numerical investigation has
been carried out to study the flow separation and performance analysis of a transonic axial compressor
rotor blade at off-design operating conditions. The off-design cases studied comprised of compressor
operation at 80%, 90%, 100% and 105% on the on-design rotational speed. The results are validated with
experimental work from literature. Additionally, 3D flow visualisations and performance parameters were
examined in detail to understand the blade to blade relative mach number distributions and shock front
created by the model. Finally, the benefits of unsteady simulation on axial compressor blade performance
predictions were examined.
A new numerical scheme based on the particle method, namely the Moving Particle Pressure Mesh
(MPPM) method, has been previously developed by the authors to address the limitation of the
conventional Moving Particle Semi-implicit (MPS) method in simulating incompressible flow. In this
paper, we shall investigate on a more practical way to extend our MPPM method to handle complex
geometry, i.e. by employing an embedded unstructured mesh system to cope with an arbitrarily-complex
flow domain. No-slip boundary condition is modelled via placing a series of fixed particles at the wall
boundaries, negating the use of ghost particles which are difficult to generate. In order to verify our
numerical procedure, the vortex-shedding process behind a cylinder is computed and it is found the
numerical result is agreeable with the reference solution.
There are many contributions from synthetic fibres in the world of industrial composites over the years.
However, they contain hazardous properties to humans causing irritation when exposed to the skin
and eye. Inhalation of fibrous synthetic can cause lung cancer with its deadly effects. There have been
studies and researches conducted on natural fibres to replace synthetic fibres as it is believed the latter
are more environmental-friendly and pose less health risks to humans. The aim of this study was to
investigate hoop tensile properties of the composite hollow shaft for different winding angles and PVC
reinforcement produced via the filament winding technique. For this purpose, split-disk tests (according
to ASTM D-2290 standard) were performed for the specimens produced with two different winding
angles such as 45o and 90o winding angle. By determining the hoop tensile strength and modulus of
these specimens, the effects of filament-winding processing parameter in winding angle were evaluated.
Experiments successfully showed that the mechanical properties such as tensile properties of kenaf yarn
fibre reinforced unsaturated polyester hollow tube at 90° and 45° winding angle with and without PVC.
The value was 15% for the different winding angles and 25% for the different winding angles with and
without PVC. The results indicate that 90° fibre winding angle kenaf yarn fibre unsaturated polyester with
PVC has the highest hoop tensile strength compared with other composite specimens. The experiments concluded that the orientation on fibre angle has
a significant impact on the hoop tensile strain,
hoop tensile modulus and hoop tensile strength
properties.
With the proliferation of Web 2.0 technologies, folksonomy which is also known as social tagging or
collaborative tagging is widely used by learners to annotate and categorize their learning resources. In
a folksonomy system, the tags are added by learners to the learning resources, hence the tags are often
ambiguous, overly personalised and imprecise. In addition, conjugated words, compound words and
nonsense words may be used in tagging and shared among a group of learners. This has resulted in an
uncontrolled and chaotic set of tagging terms that cause learning resources searching, reuse and sharing
to become ineffective. In this paper, we present a content-based approach which automatically generates
tags from a learning resource using Part-Of-Speech Tagging and K-Means Clustering techniques. The
generated tags are more precise and unambiguous which can improve learning resources searching,
reuse and sharing among learners.
Malaysian Studies is a compulsory course for international undergraduate students in Malaysia. The
subject comprises Malaysian history, its governance and administration system. Due to different sociocultural
backgrounds and histories, most, if not all, international students, struggled with this subject.
This research project aims to create, implement and evaluate a mobile application (app) as a catalyst for
mobile learning (m-learning) for one particular topic of the Malaysian Studies course. The increased
use of technology in learning environments has changed instructional approaches by making it more
accessible and essentially, more student-centered. Using a design-based research approach, the mobile
app is aimed to guide students to write their own notes to assist in deeper understanding of the subject.
The mobile app was also reviewed by users to gauge its effectiveness and ease of use. Findings from the
tests showed the potential to structure the students’ learning from the topic. From the research, there are
a few improvements and suggestions that could be implemented for similar future studies and projects.
The purpose of this research is to analyse the impact of identified variables to adapt change management
due to e-learning implementation in Malaysian private higher education institutions focusing on educators’
perspectives. The conceptual framework was modified in combination of various theories from Systemic
Change Models and E-learning Cycle Models. A self-administered questionnaire adapted from Siebel
4.0-2 Survey Questionnaires (SSQ) by Hambling, 2010 was the data collection instrument. The sample
consisted of educators from private higher education institutions with visions or missions based on
e-learning implementation in Malaysia. As per findings, through review of the visions and missions,
the selected private higher education institutions integrated teaching and learning, advancement of the
knowledge based on e-learning and leadership in service and outreach.
The aims of this study were to fabricate cellulose acetate (CA) film from oil palm empty fruit bunch (OP-EPB), as well as to characterize and evaluate their biocompatibility. Several processes were carried out, and these included prehydrolysis-soda method, chlorine free bleaching method, including oxygen, ozone and peroxide, to produce the cellulose pulp. Then, a liquid phase acetylation method was applied through acetic acid-acetic anhydride-sulphuric acid. Triethyl citrate (TEC) ester was used as additive at different percentages of 10, 20, 30 and 40 wt%. The film produced was characterized by FTIR to identify the functional group of the CA film and their tensile properties were further characterized. Biocompatibility of the film was evaluated using cytotoxicity test. Stem cell derived from human deciduous teeth (SHED) was used with MTS assay. The results showed at 30% of TEC, the tensile strength and elongation of CA (OP-EFB) film was at the optimum and is therefore suitable to be used in dental application. The cytotoxicity evaluated showed that the fabricated CA (OP-EFB) films were non-toxic up to the concentration tested, and are thus compatible with SHED.
If we were given a questionnaire of “How do we measure a researcher as a true scientist? with optional answers like (a) Having a good number of publications, (b) having attending numerous conferences, (c) with a high popularity as always appeared in mass media, and (d) good international networking and good public relations. Options (c) and (d) always come later after option (a) has been achieved, while option (b) can be simply achieved or abstract be accepted for presentation in any conference. Hitherto, publishing in any peer-reviewed journals carry a certain quality since they are highly subjected to peer review evaluation before the paper can be accepted for publication in a journal. Needless to say, those constructive comments given by the reviewers are very crucial in shaping our scientific understanding in our subject area rather than rejection experience (Yap, 2009). Having said so, option (a) will definitely be the best answer. The fact is that option (a) should not be argued whatsoever as the best answer [since publications speaks louder than anything else] and options (a), (b) and (c) are supplementary criteria to option (a) but they are not as vital as option (a). When we are asked ‘What is your scientific research performance or research output?’, the answer could always be ‘Having a good number of publications.’ Then, the next question forwarded is that ‘What is the quality and impact of your published papers to the scientific community?’ Of course, good and high impact factor journals always accept papers with high novelty in the subject area. Therefore, papers published in good journals are always highly cited and subsequently resulting in high impact (or citations) of the research done to the scientific community. However, the last question is sometimes very subjective and difficult to answer until h-index is introduced and discussed among the researchers. This paper aimed to discuss the h-index based on Elsevier’s Scopus database as an indicator of research achievement for young Malaysian scientists.
As a crucial demand in urban areas, flood risk management has been considered by researchers and decision makers around the world. In this case, hydrological modelling that simulates rainfall-runoff process plays a significant role. This paper quantified the roles of three main parameters in river basin hydrological response, namely, rainfall event duration, rainfall event ARI (magnitude) and land-use development condition. The case study area of this research was Sungai Kayu Ara basin which is located in the western part of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of twenty seven scenario were defined for this research, including three different rainfall event durations (60, 120 and 360 minutes), three different ARIs (20, 50 and 100 years) and in three different land-use conditions (existing, intermediate and ultimate). The results of this research indicate that rainfall event duration, rainfall event ARI (magnitude) and land-use development condition have considerable effects of the surface runoff hydrographs in terms of peak discharge and volume.
In the literature, several methods of ground improvement have been presented including compacted stone columns. The bearing capacity of the granular column is governed mainly by the lateral confining pressure mobilized in the soft soil to restrain or prevent bulging of the granular column. Therefore, the technique becomes unfeasible in peat that does not provide sufficient lateral confinement. This condition can be overcome by encasing the stone column with geogrid. This paper investigates the performance of the geogrid encased vibrocompacted stone column in peat. This study was carried out using PLAXIS software equipped with unit cell concept. The peat was modelled using soft soil model and the stone column using Mohr-Coulomb soil model, respectively. The geogrid was modelled using the geogrid option and could take only tensile force. The results indicate that the geogrid encased stone column can take much higher load in comparison to ordinary stone columns as the stiffness of the column increases. Meanwhile, the length of encasement also varied and it was observed that it was very effective up to about two times the diameter of the column. It also increased the column stiffness, and therefore led to a significant strain reduction. It was also observed that the columns at a spacing of three times the diameter are very effective. The results presented here can be used by the geotechnical engineers to design the geogrid reinforced stone column based on the strength of the soil, diameter of the column, spacing of the columns and stiffness of the geogrid.
This study deals with the analysis of the cure rate estimation based on the Bounded Cumulative Hazard (BCH) model using interval censored data, given that the exact distribution of the data set is unknown. Thus, the non-parametric estimation methods are employed by means of the EM algorithm. The Turnbull and Kaplan Meier estimators were proposed to estimate the survival function, even though the Kaplan Meier estimator faces some restrictions in term of interval survival data. A comparison of the cure rate estimation based on the two estimators was done through a simulation study.
This paper presents an effective approach for the optimization of an in-feed centreless cylindrical grindingof EN52 austenitic grade steel (DIN: X45CrSi93) with multiple performance characteristics based on thegrey relational analysis. To study the effect of the entire space of the input variables, nine experimentalruns, based on the Taguchi method of L9 orthogonal arrays, were performed to determine the best factorlevel condition. The response table and response graph for each level of the machining parameters wereobtained from the grey relational grade. In this study, the in-feed centreless cylindrical grinding processparameters, such as dressing feed, grinding feed, dwell time and cycle time, were optimized by takinginto consideration the multiple-performance characteristics like surface roughness and out of cylindricity.By analyzing the grey relational grade, it was observed that dressing feed, grinding feed and cycle timehad significant effect on the responses. The optimal multiple performance characteristics were achievedwith dressing feed at level 1 (5 mm/min), grinding feed at level 2 (6 mm/min), dwell time at level 2(2.5 s), and cycle time at level 2 (11 s). It is clearly shown that the above performance characteristics inthe in-feed Centreless cylindrical grinding process can be improved effectively through this approach.
Many diseases are potential targets for gene therapy using either non-viral or viral vectors. Unlike nonviralmethods, viral vectors, such as lentiviruses, have the ability to integrate into the host chromosome,which can lead to long-term transgene expression. Lentiviruses have advantages over other types ofviruses due to their capacity to transduce non-dividing cells. An optimized generation of lentivirusescarrying green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter gene driven by either UbC (LV/UbC/GFP) orCMV (LV/CMV/GFP) promoter is described in this paper. The lentiviruses were produced by cotransfectinglentiviral expression constructs and packaging mix into 293FT lentivirus producer cell lines.Lipofectamine was highly efficient in transfecting the cells compared to Transfast and Polyethyleneimine(PEI). Following cell transfection, syncytia were clearly visible at day 2. Lentiviruses were harvestedat days 1, 2 and 3 post-transfection. The highest transduction efficiency was read from LV/CMV/GFPharvested at day 2 post-transfection and LV/UbC/GFP harvested at day 3 post-transfection. Finally,the GFP expression in COS-7 cells was determined at day 2 and day 14 post-transduction for transientand stable GFP expression. It was found that the GFP expression declined overtime. However, thetransduction efficiency and duration of the transgene expression in COS-7 cells transduced with LV/CMV/GFP were higher compared to LV/UbC/GFP. In conclusion, we have successfully produced lentivirusescarrying GFP with different promoters and shown that the viruses were able to infect COS-7 cells atdifferent efficiencies. Meanwhile, the generation of the active lentiviruses will allow us to proceed to the subsequent analysis of the effect of regulatory elements in future study.
A numerical simulation of UPM Solar Bowl is presented in this paper. The numerical analysis considereda general model of solar bowl, which was divided into three modules: (a) reflection characterisation ofthe bowl, (b) solar flux density along the receiver, and (c) radiation contour mapping of the receiver.The governing equations are resolved in a segregated manner using Matlab programming environment.The influence of the tropical clear sky irradiance on the collector was numerically studied, whereas thecollector performance in time domain was also quantified. Single reflection is a major element in thermalconcentration. It was observed that solar flux density of collector substantially deteriorated during offsolar noon hour, in which during 08:00 and 16:00 under clear sky of tropics, the percentage reductionof flux density is over 82% at all points of the receiver. The simulated radiation contour mapping of thereceiver supports the finding. Other results of the UPM Solar Bowl simulation model are also shownand discussed.