Displaying publications 41 - 60 of 618 in total

Abstract:
Sort:
  1. Kalatehjari R, Rashid AS, Ali N, Hajihassani M
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:973093.
    PMID: 24991652 DOI: 10.1155/2014/973093
    Over the last few years, particle swarm optimization (PSO) has been extensively applied in various geotechnical engineering including slope stability analysis. However, this contribution was limited to two-dimensional (2D) slope stability analysis. This paper applied PSO in three-dimensional (3D) slope stability problem to determine the critical slip surface (CSS) of soil slopes. A detailed description of adopted PSO was presented to provide a good basis for more contribution of this technique to the field of 3D slope stability problems. A general rotating ellipsoid shape was introduced as the specific particle for 3D slope stability analysis. A detailed sensitivity analysis was designed and performed to find the optimum values of parameters of PSO. Example problems were used to evaluate the applicability of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D slopes. The first example presented a comparison between the results of PSO and PLAXI-3D finite element software and the second example compared the ability of PSO to determine the CSS of 3D slopes with other optimization methods from the literature. The results demonstrated the efficiency and effectiveness of PSO in determining the CSS of 3D soil slopes.
  2. Sabullah MK, Sulaiman MR, Abd Shukor MY, Syed MA, Shamaan NA, Khalid A, et al.
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:571094.
    PMID: 25401148 DOI: 10.1155/2014/571094
    Crude extract of ChE from the liver of Puntius javanicus was purified using procainamide-sepharyl 6B. S-Butyrylthiocholine iodide (BTC) was selected as the specific synthetic substrate for this assay with the highest maximal velocity and lowest biomolecular constant at 53.49 µmole/min/mg and 0.23 mM, respectively, with catalytic efficiency ratio of 0.23. The optimum parameter was obtained at pH 7.5 and optimal temperature in the range of 25 to 30°C. The effect of different storage condition was assessed where ChE activity was significantly decreased after 9 days of storage at room temperature. However, ChE activity showed no significant difference when stored at 4.0, 0, and -25°C for 15 days. Screening of heavy metals shows that chromium, copper, and mercury strongly inhibited P. javanicus ChE by lowering the activity below 50%, while several pairwise combination of metal ions exhibited synergistic inhibiting effects on the enzyme which is greater than single exposure especially chromium, copper, and mercury. The results showed that P. javanicus ChE has the potential to be used as a biosensor for the detection of metal ions.
  3. Zen NI, Abd Gani SS, Shamsudin R, Masoumi HR
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2015;2015:684319.
    PMID: 26171418 DOI: 10.1155/2015/684319
    The usage of soy is increasing year by year. It increases the problem of financial crisis due to the limited sources of soybeans. Therefore, production of oral tablets containing the nutritious leftover of soymilk production, called okara, as the main ingredient was investigated. The okara tablets were produced using the direct compression method. The percentage of okara, guar gum, microcrystalline cellulose (Avicel PH-101), and maltodextrin influenced tablets' hardness and friability which are analyzed using a D-optimal mixture design. Composition of Avicel PH-101 had positive effects for both hardness and friability tests of the tablets. Maltodextrin and okara composition had a significant positive effect on tablets' hardness, but not on percentage of friability of tablets. However, guar gum had a negative effect on both physical tests. The optimum tablet formulation was obtained: 47.0% of okara, 2.0% of guar gum, 35.0% of Avicel PH-101, and 14.0% of maltodextrin.
  4. Norazlimi NA, Ramli R
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2015;2015:105296.
    PMID: 26345324 DOI: 10.1155/2015/105296
    A study was conducted to investigate the relationship between the physical morphology of shorebirds and water birds (i.e., Lesser adjutant (Leptoptilos javanicus), Common redshank (Tringa totanus), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), and Little heron (Butorides striata)) and their foraging behavior in the mudflats area of Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia, from August 2013 to July 2014 by using direct observation techniques (using binoculars and a video recorder). The actively foraging bird species were watched, and their foraging activities were recorded for at least 30 seconds for up to a maximum of five minutes. A Spearman Rank Correlation highlighted a significant relationship between bill size and foraging time (R = 0.443, p < 0.05), bill size and prey size (R = -0.052, p < 0.05), bill size and probing depth (R = 0.42, p = 0.003), and leg length and water/mud depth (R = 0.706, p < 0.005). A Kruskal-Wallis Analysis showed a significant difference between average estimates of real probing depth of the birds (mm) and species (H = 15.96, p = 0.0012). Three foraging techniques were recorded: pause-travel, visual-feeding, and tactile-hunting. Thus, morphological characteristics of bird do influence their foraging behavior and strategies used when foraging.
  5. Mariod AA, Salama SM
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2020;2020:6326452.
    PMID: 32549800 DOI: 10.1155/2020/6326452
    The current study has been conducted to evaluate the effect of different processing techniques on the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging capacity and the gastroprotective potential of Chenopodium quinoa red seeds in acute gastric injury induced by absolute ethanol in rats. Seven groups of female Sprague Dawley rats were assigned to normal and absolute ethanol (absolute EtOH) groups, given distilled water, reference control omeprazole (OMP, 20 mg/kg), pressure-cooked quinoa seeds (QP, 200 mg/kg), first stage-germinated quinoa seeds (QG, 200 mg/kg), Lactobacillus plantarum bacteria-fermented quinoa seeds (QB, 200 mg/kg), and Rhizopus oligosporus fungus-fermented quinoa seeds (QF, 200 mg/kg). One hour after treatment, all groups were given absolute ethanol, except for the normal control rats. All animals were sacrificed after an additional hour, and the stomach tissues were examined for histopathology of hematoxylin and eosin staining, immunohistochemistry of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), and nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Stomach homogenates were evaluated for oxidative stress parameters and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Gene expression was performed for gastric tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and nuclear factor kappa of B cells (NF-kB). QB and QG recorded the highest DPPH scavengers compared to QF and QP. The gastroprotective potential of QB was comparable to that of OMP, followed by QF, then QG, and QP as confirmed by the histopathology, immunohistochemistry, and gene expression assessments. In conclusion, differently processed red quinoa seeds revealed variable antioxidant capacity and gastroprotective potential, while the bacterial fermented seeds (QB) showed the highest potential compared to the other processing techniques. These results might offer promising new therapy in the treatment of acute gastric injury.
  6. Shah M, Ayob MTM, Rosdan R, Yaakob N, Embong Z, Othman NK
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2020;2020:3989563.
    PMID: 32774180 DOI: 10.1155/2020/3989563
    H2S gas when exposed to metal can be responsible for both general and localized corrosion, which depend on several parameters such as H2S concentration and the corrosion product layer formed. Therefore, the formation of passive film on 316L steel when exposed to H2S environment was investigated using several analysis methods such as FESEM and STEM/EDS analyses, which identified a sulfur species underneath the porous structure of the passive film. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that the first layer of CrO3 and Cr2O3 was dissolved, accelerated by the presence of H2S-Cl-. An FeS2 layer was formed by incorporation of Fe and sulfide; then, passivation by Mo took place by forming a MoO2 layer. NiO, Ni(OH)2, and NiS barriers are formed as final protection for 316L steel. Therefore, Ni and Mo play an important role as a dual barrier to maintain the stability of 316L steel in high pH2S environments. For safety concern, this paper is aimed to point out a few challenges dealing with high partial pressure of H2S and limitation of 316L steel under highly sour condition for the oil and gas production system.
  7. Primasari DN, Nirwana I, Budi HS, Wardhana AS, Sari AF, Novita N, et al.
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2022;2022:6740853.
    PMID: 36561943 DOI: 10.1155/2022/6740853
    OBJECTIVE: Ellagic acid, a phenolic compound with anti-inflammatory potential, can be used to accelerate the bone healing process and affect human health, while hydroxyapatite is the most commonly used bone graft material. Using a combination of the two materials results in reduced inflammation and increased osteogenesis. This study aimed to determine the effects of combining ellagic acid and hydroxyapatite in bone marker remodelling by analysing the expression of tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin 10 (IL-10), bone morphogenetic 4 protein (BMP-4), and osteopontin (OPN).

    METHODS: Thirty Wistar rats were used in the study. A defect was created in each animal's femur using a low-speed diamond bur. In the control group, the bone was then treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG). In one of the other groups, the bone was treated with hydroxyapatite, and in the other, with ellagic acid-hydroxyapatite. The femur was biopsied 7 days after the procedure and again 14 days after the procedure, and an indirect immunohistochemical (IHC) examination was performed for TNF-α, IL-10, BMP-4, and OPN expression.

    RESULTS: The ellagic acid-hydroxyapatite decreased TNF-α expression in the bone tissue after 7 days and again after 14 days (p 

  8. Mustapha A, Aris AZ, Ramli MF, Juahir H
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2012;2012:294540.
    PMID: 22919302 DOI: 10.1100/2012/294540
    Robust statistical tools were applied on the water quality datasets with the aim of determining the most significance parameters and their contribution towards temporal water quality variation. Surface water samples were collected from four different sampling points during dry and wet seasons and analyzed for their physicochemical constituents. Discriminant analysis (DA) provided better results with great discriminatory ability by using five parameters with (P < 0.05) for dry season affording more than 96% correct assignation and used five and six parameters for forward and backward stepwise in wet season data with P-value (P < 0.05) affording 68.20% and 82%, respectively. Partial correlation results revealed that there are strong (r(p) = 0.829) and moderate (r(p) = 0.614) relationships between five-day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD(5)) and chemical oxygen demand (COD), total solids (TS) and dissolved solids (DS) controlling for the linear effect of nitrogen in the form of ammonia (NH(3)) and conductivity for dry and wet seasons, respectively. Multiple linear regression identified the contribution of each variable with significant values r = 0.988, R(2) = 0.976 and r = 0.970, R(2) = 0.942 (P < 0.05) for dry and wet seasons, respectively. Repeated measure t-test confirmed that the surface water quality varies significantly between the seasons with significant value P < 0.05.
  9. El-Sayed AM, Hamzaid NA, Abu Osman NA
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:297431.
    PMID: 25110727 DOI: 10.1155/2014/297431
    Several studies have presented technological ensembles of active knee systems for transfemoral prosthesis. Other studies have examined the amputees' gait performance while wearing a specific active prosthesis. This paper combined both insights, that is, a technical examination of the components used, with an evaluation of how these improved the gait of respective users. This study aims to offer a quantitative understanding of the potential enhancement derived from strategic integration of core elements in developing an effective device. The study systematically discussed the current technology in active transfemoral prosthesis with respect to its functional walking performance amongst above-knee amputee users, to evaluate the system's efficacy in producing close-to-normal user performance. The performances of its actuator, sensory system, and control technique that are incorporated in each reported system were evaluated separately and numerical comparisons were conducted based on the percentage of amputees' gait deviation from normal gait profile points. The results identified particular components that contributed closest to normal gait parameters. However, the conclusion is limitedly extendable due to the small number of studies. Thus, more clinical validation of the active prosthetic knee technology is needed to better understand the extent of contribution of each component to the most functional development.
  10. Muarrif S, Samadi S, Jauharlina J, Sutekad D, Syaukani S
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2022;2022:9475722.
    PMID: 35153630 DOI: 10.1155/2022/9475722
    The genus Termes Linneus, 1758 consisting of a total of 24 valid named species known from the Old World, is a very heterogeneous group of termites and seems to involve many taxonomic obscurities and confusions. In the island of Sumatra, the sixth-largest island located in the Southeast Asian tropics, four species of Termes have been found, namely, T. comis, T. laticornis, T. rostratus, and T. propinquus. Termes propinquus is also known from Brunei, Indonesia (Kalimantan and Sumatra), Malaysia, and Thailand. However, previous authors have mentioned that T. propinquus has been poorly discriminated from the other congeners, especially T. rostratus. Therefore, the present study aimed at clarifying the discrimination of Termes propinquus from the morphologically similar congeners from Sumatra. A total of 14 nests were collected using a standardized sampling protocol and visual colony searching in Sumatra and its adjacent island. As a result of a careful morphological examination of the soldier caste, T. propinquus was discriminated from the three other congeners by a combination of the following characteristics: distinctly long frontal projection, larger head capsule, and 2nd antennal segment distinctly longer than the 3rd. The redescription of the soldier caste of T. propinquus and a key to Termes species known from Sundaland are provided. The nests of T. propinquus were attached to the bases of living trees, clinging to stumps or the bases of the dead tree, or were epigeal.
  11. Chan KG, Cheng HJ, Chen JW, Yin WF, Ngeow YF
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:891041.
    PMID: 25101326 DOI: 10.1155/2014/891041
    Many Proteobacteria communicate via production followed by response of quorum sensing molecules, namely, N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs). These molecules consist of a lactone moiety with N-acyl side chain with various chain lengths and degrees of saturation at C-3 position. AHL-dependent QS is often associated with regulation of diverse bacterial phenotypes including the expression of virulence factors. With the use of biosensor and high resolution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry, the AHL production of clinical isolate A. baumannii 4KT was studied. Production of short chain AHL, namely, N-hexanoyl-homoserine lactone (C6-HSL) and N-octanoyl-homoserine lactone (C8-HSL), was detected.
  12. Faraj FL, Zahedifard M, Paydar M, Looi CY, Abdul Majid N, Ali HM, et al.
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:212096.
    PMID: 25548779 DOI: 10.1155/2014/212096
    Two new synthesized and characterized quinazoline Schiff bases 1 and 2 were investigated for anticancer activity against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. Compounds 1 and 2 demonstrated a remarkable antiproliferative effect, with an IC50 value of 6.246×10(-6) mol/L and 5.910×10(-6) mol/L, respectively, after 72 hours of treatment. Most apoptosis morphological features in treated MCF-7 cells were observed by AO/PI staining. The results of cell cycle analysis indicate that compounds did not induce S and M phase arrest in cell after 24 hours of treatment. Furthermore, MCF-7 cells treated with 1 and 2 subjected to apoptosis death, as exhibited by perturbation of mitochondrial membrane potential and cytochrome c release as well as increase in ROS formation. We also found activation of caspases-3/7, -8, and -9 in compounds 1 and 2. Moreover, inhibition of NF-κB translocation in MCF-7 cells treated by compound 1 significantly exhibited the association of extrinsic apoptosis pathway. Acute toxicity results demonstrated the nontoxic nature of the compounds in mice. Our results showed significant activity towards MCF-7 cells via either intrinsic or extrinsic mitochondrial pathway and are potential candidate for further in vivo and clinical breast cancer studies.
  13. Tajdidzadeh M, Azmi BZ, Yunus WM, Talib ZA, Sadrolhosseini AR, Karimzadeh K, et al.
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:324921.
    PMID: 25295298 DOI: 10.1155/2014/324921
    The particle size, morphology, and stability of Ag-NPs were investigated in the present study. A Q-Switched Nd: YAG pulsed laser (λ = 532 nm, 360 mJ/pulse) was used for ablation of a pure Ag plate for 30 min to prepare Ag-NPs in the organic compound such as ethylene glycol (EG) and biopolymer such as chitosan. The media (EG, chitosan) permitted the making of NPs with well dispersed and average size of Ag-NPs in EG is about 22 nm and in chitosan is about 10 nm in spherical form. Particle size, morphology, and stability of NPs were compared with distilled water as a reference. The stability of the samples was studied by measuring UV-visible absorption spectra of samples after one month. The result indicated that the formation efficiency of NPs in chitosan was higher than other media and NPs in chitosan solution were more stable than other media during one month storage. This method for synthesis of silver NPs could be as a green method due to its environmentally friendly nature.
  14. Mohd Sultan N, Johan MR
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:184604.
    PMID: 25215315 DOI: 10.1155/2014/184604
    Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) had been synthesized with various molarities and weights of reducing agent, monosodium glutamate (MSG), and stabilizer chitosan, respectively. The significance of chitosan as stabilizer was distinguished through transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images and UV-Vis absorption spectra in which the interparticles distance increases whilst retaining the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) characteristics peak. The most stable AuNPs occurred for composition with the lowest (1 g) weight of chitosan. AuNPs capped with chitosan size stayed small after 1 month aging compared to bare AuNPs. The ability of chitosan capped AuNPs to uptake analyte was studied by employing amorphous carbon nanotubes (α-CNT), copper oxide (Cu2O), and zinc sulphate (ZnSO4) as the target material. The absorption spectra showed dramatic intensity increased and red shifted once the analyte was added to the chitosan capped AuNPs.
  15. Ullah S, Bustam MA, Nadeem M, Naz MY, Tan WL, Shariff AM
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:940502.
    PMID: 25436237 DOI: 10.1155/2014/940502
    Melamine formaldehyde (MF) resins have been synthesized at different reaction temperature and pH values. Different molar ratios of melamine and formaldehyde were used to synthesize the corresponding resins. The prepared resin samples were characterized by using molecular weight determination viscometry and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The maximum percentage of solid content (69.7%) was obtained at pH 8.5 and 75°C temperature. The molecular weight of MF resin was increased with an increase of melamine monomer concentration. The highest residual weight 14.125 wt.% was obtained with sample 10.
  16. Han TK, Fen LB, Nee NM, Johan MR
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:847806.
    PMID: 24995365 DOI: 10.1155/2014/847806
    We report the synthesis of amorphous carbon nanotubes/silver (αCNTs/Ag) nanohybrids via simple chemical route without additional reactant and surfactant at low temperature. Field emission scanning microscope (FESEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) confirmed formation of CNTs. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirmed the amorphous phase of carbon and the formation of Ag nanoparticles crystalline phase. Raman spectra revealed the amorphous nature of α CNTs. UV-visible spectroscopy showed enhancement of optical properties of α CNTs/Ag nanohybrids.
  17. Masoumik SM, Abdul-Rashid SH, Olugu EU, Raja Ghazilla RA
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:897121.
    PMID: 24523652 DOI: 10.1155/2014/897121
    Designing the right supply chain that meets the requirements of sustainable development is a significant challenge. Although there are a considerable number of studies on issues relating to sustainable supply chain design (SSCD) in terms of designing the practices, processes, and structures, they have rarely demonstrated how these components can be aligned to form an effective sustainable supply chain (SSC). Considering this gap in the literature, this study adopts the configurational approach to develop a conceptual framework that could configure the components of a SSC. In this respect, a process-oriented approach is utilized to classify and harmonize the design components. A natural-resource-based view (NRBV) is adopted to determine the central theme to align the design components around. The proposed framework presents three types of SSC, namely, efficient SSC, innovative SSC, and reputed SSC. The study culminates with recommendations concerning the direction for future research.
  18. Rahman S, Khan MT, Akib S, Din NB, Biswas SK, Shirazi SM
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:721357.
    PMID: 24701186 DOI: 10.1155/2014/721357
    Water is considered an everlasting free source that can be acquired naturally. Demand for processed supply water is growing higher due to an increasing population. Sustainable use of water could maintain a balance between its demand and supply. Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the most traditional and sustainable method, which could be easily used for potable and nonpotable purposes both in residential and commercial buildings. This could reduce the pressure on processed supply water which enhances the green living. This paper ensures the sustainability of this system through assessing several water-quality parameters of collected rainwater with respect to allowable limits. A number of parameters were included in the analysis: pH, fecal coliform, total coliform, total dissolved solids, turbidity, NH3-N, lead, BOD5, and so forth. The study reveals that the overall quality of water is quite satisfactory as per Bangladesh standards. RWH system offers sufficient amount of water and energy savings through lower consumption. Moreover, considering the cost for installation and maintenance expenses, the system is effective and economical.
  19. Abdulameer MH, Sheikh Abdullah SN, Othman ZA
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:835607.
    PMID: 24790584 DOI: 10.1155/2014/835607
    Existing face recognition methods utilize particle swarm optimizer (PSO) and opposition based particle swarm optimizer (OPSO) to optimize the parameters of SVM. However, the utilization of random values in the velocity calculation decreases the performance of these techniques; that is, during the velocity computation, we normally use random values for the acceleration coefficients and this creates randomness in the solution. To address this problem, an adaptive acceleration particle swarm optimization (AAPSO) technique is proposed. To evaluate our proposed method, we employ both face and iris recognition based on AAPSO with SVM (AAPSO-SVM). In the face and iris recognition systems, performance is evaluated using two human face databases, YALE and CASIA, and the UBiris dataset. In this method, we initially perform feature extraction and then recognition on the extracted features. In the recognition process, the extracted features are used for SVM training and testing. During the training and testing, the SVM parameters are optimized with the AAPSO technique, and in AAPSO, the acceleration coefficients are computed using the particle fitness values. The parameters in SVM, which are optimized by AAPSO, perform efficiently for both face and iris recognition. A comparative analysis between our proposed AAPSO-SVM and the PSO-SVM technique is presented.
  20. Sinniah A, Maniam T, Oei TP, Subramaniam P
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:718367.
    PMID: 24672358 DOI: 10.1155/2014/718367
    The aim of this paper is to review the literature on suicide attempts in Malaysia. PsycINFO, PubMed, and Medline databases from 1845 to 2012 and detailed manual search of local official reports from the Ministry of Health and the Malaysian Psychiatric Association and unpublished dissertations from 3 local universities providing postgraduate psychiatric training were included in the current review. A total of 38 studies on suicide attempts in Malaysia were found and reviewed. Twenty-seven (76%) of the studies on suicide attempts were descriptive studies looking at sociodemographic data, psychiatric illnesses, and methods and reasons for suicide attempts. No study has been conducted on treatment and interventions for suicide attempts and the impact of culture was rarely considered. The review showed that in order for researchers, clinicians, and public health policy makers to obtain a better understanding of suicide attempts in Malaysia, more systematic and empirically stringent methodologies and research frameworks need to be used.
Filters
Contact Us

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

External Links