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  1. Fulltext Advection and dispersion of water quality constituents in Batu Ferringhi Penang
    Muhammad Ilyas Ahmad Jamalluddin, Wei-Koon, Lee
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(104):103-114.
    MyJurnal
    The incident of beach pollution in Batu Ferringhi in year 2014 has created a major concern over water
    quality at the tourists’ haven. In order to understand advection and dispersion of pollutants in the area,
    a coastal hydrodynamic model of Batu Ferringhi beach was developed in this study by taking into
    consideration its wind, tide, coastal current and riverine runoff. The model was calibrated and validated
    through observations from adjacent coastal monitoring stations. Simulation was then carried out to
    investigate scenario of the constituent water quality which originates from the three rivers in the vicinity.
    Results showed high concentrations of water quality parameters observed near the headland towards the
    northeast of the study area, with intermittent patchy escape which may retain more than one-third the
    initial concentrations, weighted by the river discharge. Even more worrying is that localised trapping of
    up to three-quarter the initial weighted concentrations also occurs at the beach, owing to the interactions
    between river flow and longshore current.
  2. Fulltext Association between marital status and the outcome of teenage pregnancy: a retrospective review in year 2009-2012 in Hospital Ampang
    Salleha Khalid, Muhammad Shamsir Mohd Aris
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(104):159-168.
    MyJurnal
    Teenage pregnancy is associated with maternal and neonatal morbidity. Some postulate that it is due to biological immaturity, while others postulate that it is due to inadequate antenatal care. The objective of this study is to compare the maternal and neonatal outcome between married and unmarried teenage mothers. A retrospective study was conducted from 2009 to 2012, where mothers aged below 20 year old were included. Maternal and neonatal outcome was assessed. A total of 750 patients aged below 20 year old delivered at Hospital Ampang. The trend of teenage pregnancy decreased from 3.1% in 2009 to 2.2% in 2012. A total of 578 (77.1%) mothers were married, while 172 (22.9%) were unmarried. Being unmarried was significantly associated with unbooked (p<0.001), preterm birth (p= 0.00468), and lower birth weight (p< 0.0001, and unpaired T-Test with 95% CI -0.2607 to -0.0933). However there is no significant difference in the number of mothers with hypertensive disease (p= 0.88428), diabetes in pregnancy (p= 0.39602), mode of delivery (p= 0.055 vaginal delivery, p = 0.4419 caesarean section, and p= 0.9097 instrumental deliveries) and NICU admission (p= 0.3779) between the two groups. Unmarried teenage pregnancy is associated with a lack of antenatal care, preterm birth, and lower birth weight compared to their married counterpart.
    Keywords: Marital status, pregnancy outcome, teenage pregnancy
  3. Fulltext Penile amputation as to secondary to the psychopathology of shizophrenia
    Maszaidi, Z., Hatta, S., Muhammad Hizri, H.
    Medicine & Health, 2016;11(2):294-297.
    MyJurnal
    Schizophtrenia is a chronic mental disorder that is characterized by perceptual,
    thinking, cognitive, and behavioural disturbances. One of the important symptoms
    of schizophrenia is auditory hallucinations. In this case report, we discussed a
    31-year-old Rohigya refugee man who had his penis totally amputated. The auditory
    hallucinations instructed him to do so. He was rushed to Universiti Kebangsaan
    Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC) for the immediate surgical treatment. After
    his condition was stabilized, he was admitted to the psychiatric ward for further
    observation and medical treatment. Some issues related to psychosocial, economic
    and politic were discussed which made this case unique. Patient was treated
    with medication sulpride and was referred to the Urology Surgeon for further
    management.
  4. Fulltext Analysis on the OTTV of modern-style apartment facades in Bandar Sri Permaisuri, Kuala Lumpur
    Ahmad Sanusi Hassan, Muhammad Hafeez Abdul Nasir
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(104):215-226.
    MyJurnal
    The aim of this paper is to interrogate the principle of heat gain by the Overall Thermal Transfer Value
    (OTTV) through residential building facades. This study proposes three façade configurations as case
    studies to determine their capability of achieving the OTTV set by the current residential standards.
    Utilising the OTTV formula provided by the Malaysian Standards, the OTTV of each case study was
    calculated using parameters including Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR), Shading Coefficient (SC), U-values
    and solar absorption (α). Results showed that each of the façade generated OTTV exceeding the regulation
    of 50 Wm-2. The study uncovered the increase in WWR leading to the increase in OTTV. The OTTV
    increased alongside window areas due primarily to the high amount of heat gained through windows,
    a constituent component of OTTV. Simultaneously, high Shading Coefficient (SC) and U-values were
    found to cause the high amount of solar heat gained through windows. The result underpins the impacts
    of high solar heat gain particularly from windows of a building envelope on OTTV. Recommendations
    for improvement of OTTV of the residential façades are also discussed..
  5. Fulltext Ziegler-nichols first tuning method for air blower PT326
    Muhammad Hanihazaim Abd Halim, Mahanijah Md Kamal
    Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2017;25(104):259-268.
    MyJurnal
    In this work, two types of controller were designed for the nonlinear air blower system PT326 used at
    the Instrumentation Laboratory Faculty Electrical Engineering, UiTM, Shah Alam. This work began with
    collection of data from the experimental work. Once the S-shape of the system response was obtained,
    the procedure of getting the process dead time, τD and time constant τC was applied to the S-shape form.
    By determining these two values, the optimum values of PI and PID controllers can be calculated. From
    the acquired data, the simulation model was developed in MATLAB/Simulink R2013a software using
    the transfer function obtained from the open-loop control system. The modelling system is based on
    the transfer function of open-loop air blower system PT326 before the design state of finding a suitable
    controller can be suggested. The controller design of PI and PID was obtained using the first method
    Ziegler-Nichols tuning rules. The result from the simulation shows that the Ziegler-Nichols first tuning
    rules can be applied in designing the PI and PID controller based on S-shape response obtained in
    open-loop test.
  6. Fulltext Achieving Reliability in Cloud Computing by a Novel Hybrid Approach
    Shahid MA, Alam MM, Su'ud MM
    Sensors (Basel), 2023 Feb 09;23(4).
    PMID: 36850563 DOI: 10.3390/s23041965
    Cloud computing (CC) benefits and opportunities are among the fastest growing technologies in the computer industry. Cloud computing's challenges include resource allocation, security, quality of service, availability, privacy, data management, performance compatibility, and fault tolerance. Fault tolerance (FT) refers to a system's ability to continue performing its intended task in the presence of defects. Fault-tolerance challenges include heterogeneity and a lack of standards, the need for automation, cloud downtime reliability, consideration for recovery point objects, recovery time objects, and cloud workload. The proposed research includes machine learning (ML) algorithms such as naïve Bayes (NB), library support vector machine (LibSVM), multinomial logistic regression (MLR), sequential minimal optimization (SMO), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), and random forest (RF) as well as a fault-tolerance method known as delta-checkpointing to achieve higher accuracy, lesser fault prediction error, and reliability. Furthermore, the secondary data were collected from the homonymous, experimental high-performance computing (HPC) system at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, and the primary data were generated using virtual machines (VMs) to select the best machine learning classifier. In this article, the secondary and primary data were divided into two split ratios of 80/20 and 70/30, respectively, and cross-validation (5-fold) was used to identify more accuracy and less prediction of faults in terms of true, false, repair, and failure of virtual machines. Secondary data results show that naïve Bayes performed exceptionally well on CPU-Mem mono and multi blocks, and sequential minimal optimization performed very well on HDD mono and multi blocks in terms of accuracy and fault prediction. In the case of greater accuracy and less fault prediction, primary data results revealed that random forest performed very well in terms of accuracy and fault prediction but not with good time complexity. Sequential minimal optimization has good time complexity with minor differences in random forest accuracy and fault prediction. We decided to modify sequential minimal optimization. Finally, the modified sequential minimal optimization (MSMO) algorithm with the fault-tolerance delta-checkpointing (D-CP) method is proposed to improve accuracy, fault prediction error, and reliability in cloud computing.
  7. Fulltext Examining the asymmetric effects of fiscal policy instruments on environmental quality in Asian economies
    Ullah S, Majeed MT, Chishti MZ
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2020 Oct;27(30):38287-38299.
    PMID: 32623670 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-09859-x
    Empirical studies pertaining to the effects of fiscal policy instruments on environmental quality have provided mixed evidence. We consider the asymmetric effects of fiscal policy instruments on environmental quality for the top ten Asian carbon emitters over the period 1981-2018. We go beyond the literature and claim that the effects could be asymmetric. More specifically, we found that a positive shock in government expenditure will worsen environmental quality in Malaysia, UAE, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, India, and China, and improve it in Japan. On the other hand, we found that cutting government expenditure will improve environmental quality in these economies and will worsen only in Japan. Moreover, a higher government income tax revenue uniquely increases the government's spending that increases the carbon emissions in Malaysia, UAE, Thailand, Indonesia, Turkey, Iran, India, and China, and decrease in Japan. The negative shock of government revenue has adverse results on carbon emissions in these economies. However, short-run asymmetric effects translate to long-run effects in most Asian economies.
  8. The nexus between green intellectual capital, blockchain technology, green manufacturing, and sustainable performance
    Umar M, Ahmad A, Sroufe R, Muhammad Z
    Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2024 Feb;31(10):15026-15038.
    PMID: 38285260 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-31952-8
    Enterprises across the globe are facing increasing pressure to effectively utilize resources and reduce costs through green supply chain practices. Emerging technology, such as blockchain technology which enables green practices, has become a contemporary industrial paradigm. However, enterprises need to build green intellectual capital to implement blockchain technology, which can be key to realizing green supply chain practices. This research examines the impact of green intellectual capital (GIC) on blockchain technology and its role in implementing green manufacturing to achieve sustainability. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was utilized for assessing the proposed hypotheses, and cross-sectional data was accumulated from manufacturing firms. As per the results, GIC, which includes green human capital, green structural capital, and green relational capital has a crucial role in the implementation of blockchain technology. The outcomes also indicated that the adoption of blockchain technology significantly influences green manufacturing. Moreover, green manufacturing (GM) has a substantial role in improving business sustainability. This empirical research provides a deeper understanding of how GIC and blockchain technology contribute to the implementation of GM. This research also provides guidelines that managers, policymakers, and producers can use to facilitate the incorporation of GM practice into business activities.
  9. Fulltext Combined measures to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan, Hubei, China: A narrative review
    Hasnain M, Pasha MF, Ghani I
    J Biosaf Biosecur, 2020 Dec;2(2):51-57.
    PMID: 33521592 DOI: 10.1016/j.jobb.2020.10.001
    Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an emerging disease caused by the coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, which leads to severe respiratory infections in humans. COVID-19 was first reported in December 2019 in Wuhan city, a populated area of the Hubei province in China. As of now, Wuhan and other cities nearby have become safe places for locals. The rapid control of the spread of COVID-19 infection was made possible due to several interventions and measures that were undertaken in Wuhan. This narrative review study was designed to evaluate the emerging literature on the combined measures taken to control the COVID-19 pandemic in Wuhan city. Science Direct, Springer, Web of Science, and the PubMed data repositories were searched for studies published between December 1, 2019, and June 07, 2020. The referred "preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses" (PRISMA) protocol was used to conduct this narrative review. A total of 330 research studies were found as a result of the initial search based on exclusion and inclusion criteria, and 30 articles were chosen on final evaluation. It was discovered that the combined measures to control the spread of COVID-19 in Wuhan included cordon sanitaire, social distancing, universal symptom surveys, quarantine strategies, and transport restrictions. Based on the recommendations presented in this review study, existing policies with regard to combined measures and public health policies can be enforced by other countries to implement a rapid control procedure to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  10. Analytical assessment of modulated electric flux triggered degradation of chlorfenapyr and deltamethrin pesticides in guava fruits
    Ruman UE, Zubair M, Zeeshan MH
    Anal Biochem, 2023 Jun 01;670:115148.
    PMID: 37019252 DOI: 10.1016/j.ab.2023.115148
    The purpose of this study was to explore the new effective method and investigate the dissipation of chlorfenapyr and deltamethrin (DM) pesticides used in the treatment of guava fruit from tropical and sub-tropical areas of Pakistan. Five different solutions of varying concentrations of pesticides were prepared. This study involved the in-vitro and in-vivo analysis of modulated electric flux-triggered degradation as an efficient method for the safer degradation of selected pesticides. The Taser gun was used as a tool for providing different numbers of electrical shocks of million voltages to the pesticides present in guava fruit at different temperatures. The degraded pesticides were extracted and analyzed by High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The HPLC chromatograms verified that significant dissipation of pesticides took place when these were exposed to 9 shocks at 37 °C, which proved the efficiency of this degradation method. More than 50% of the total spray of both pesticides was dissipated. Thus, modulated electrical flux-triggered degradation is one of the effective methods for pesticide degradation.
  11. Fulltext Improved accuracy and less fault prediction errors via modified sequential minimal optimization algorithm
    Asim Shahid M, Alam MM, Mohd Su'ud M
    PLoS One, 2023;18(4):e0284209.
    PMID: 37053173 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0284209
    The benefits and opportunities offered by cloud computing are among the fastest-growing technologies in the computer industry. Additionally, it addresses the difficulties and issues that make more users more likely to accept and use the technology. The proposed research comprised of machine learning (ML) algorithms is Naïve Bayes (NB), Library Support Vector Machine (LibSVM), Multinomial Logistic Regression (MLR), Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO), K Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and Random Forest (RF) to compare the classifier gives better results in accuracy and less fault prediction. In this research, the secondary data results (CPU-Mem Mono) give the highest percentage of accuracy and less fault prediction on the NB classifier in terms of 80/20 (77.01%), 70/30 (76.05%), and 5 folds cross-validation (74.88%), and (CPU-Mem Multi) in terms of 80/20 (89.72%), 70/30 (90.28%), and 5 folds cross-validation (92.83%). Furthermore, on (HDD Mono) the SMO classifier gives the highest percentage of accuracy and less fault prediction fault in terms of 80/20 (87.72%), 70/30 (89.41%), and 5 folds cross-validation (88.38%), and (HDD-Multi) in terms of 80/20 (93.64%), 70/30 (90.91%), and 5 folds cross-validation (88.20%). Whereas, primary data results found RF classifier gives the highest percentage of accuracy and less fault prediction in terms of 80/20 (97.14%), 70/30 (96.19%), and 5 folds cross-validation (95.85%) in the primary data results, but the algorithm complexity (0.17 seconds) is not good. In terms of 80/20 (95.71%), 70/30 (95.71%), and 5 folds cross-validation (95.71%), SMO has the second highest accuracy and less fault prediction, but the algorithm complexity is good (0.3 seconds). The difference in accuracy and less fault prediction between RF and SMO is only (.13%), and the difference in time complexity is (14 seconds). We have decided that we will modify SMO. Finally, the Modified Sequential Minimal Optimization (MSMO) Algorithm method has been proposed to get the highest accuracy & less fault prediction errors in terms of 80/20 (96.42%), 70/30 (96.42%), & 5 fold cross validation (96.50%).
  12. Compulsive digital use: the risk and link of loneliness among adolescents
    Amran MS, Roslan MZ, Sommer W
    Int J Adolesc Med Health, 2024 Aug 01;36(4):419-423.
    PMID: 38997216 DOI: 10.1515/ijamh-2024-0047
    PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The current rise of digital technologies is causing adolescents to spend more time on their digital devices, especially since the lockdown period of the pandemic. Adolescents are among those who are affected by lifestyle changes and are at risk of digital addiction due to the overuse of digital technologies. This opinion paper discusses the possible risk of loneliness among adolescents due to the overuse of digital devices. In this article, we would like to propose the concept of digital abuse and its risk of loneliness, as well as discuss some proposed solutions by referring to recent statistics and research evidence to reduce digital abuse among adolescents.

    RECENT FINDINGS: Evidence from previous studies highlights the association between digital addiction and loneliness among adolescents. Overusing digital devices among adolescents is also associated with various physical and psychological side effects.

    SUMMARY: Recent findings support the rapid rise of digital device usage among adolescents and its contributions to digital use. More research is needed to support existing interventions, provide early screening, and combat digital addiction to protect adolescents from the risks of loneliness due to the overuse of digital devices.

  13. Reliability and validity of the Game Addiction Scale in Malaysian Adolescents
    Roslan MZ, Amran MS, Sommer W
    Int J Adolesc Med Health, 2024 Nov 25.
    PMID: 39582428 DOI: 10.1515/ijamh-2024-0150
    OBJECTIVES: Problematic gaming behavior has been an issue in many countries, raising the need for assessment tools. The Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GASA) by Lemmens et al. is widely used for assessing game addiction and has been adopted for use in various countries. The GASA consists of 21 items covering several criteria of game addiction: salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems. The present study aimed to investigate the reliability and validity of the GASA when applied to Malaysian adolescents.

    METHODS: The study was conducted in two phases (reliability assessment for phase 1 and validity assessment for phase 2). The Malay version of the Game Addiction Scale was created using a forward-translation procedure with the help of panelists consisting of researchers and educators from the fields of Psychology, Medicine, and Education to translate from English to Malay. The participants of the study were presented with both versions (Malay and English) during the data collection process. The study checked content validity with the help of 33 panelists and reliability based on the scores of 116 participants who spent at least 1 h and up to 6 h per week playing games.

    RESULTS: The reliability was measured using Cronbach's alpha and provided high reliability ranging from 0.671 to 0.903 for all criteria. All criteria scored higher than 0.8 except for relapse (α=0.788) and problems (α=0.671) criteria, indicating that the instrument provides high reliability. The findings from the study show acceptable content validity with high I-CVI values ranging from 0.73 to 0.94 and an S-CVI/Ave value of 0.80. Internal consistency was excellent (α=0.949) and the Content Validity Index (I-CVI) was high for most items.

    CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that GASA is suitable for application among adolescents in Malaysia.

  14. Fulltext Support vector data description with kernel density estimation (SVDD-KDE) control chart for network intrusion monitoring
    Ahsan M, Khusna H, Wibawati, Lee MH
    Sci Rep, 2023 Nov 06;13(1):19149.
    PMID: 37932421 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-46719-3
    Multivariate control charts have been applied in many sectors. One of the sectors that employ this method is network intrusion detection. However, the issue arises when the conventional control chart faces difficulty monitoring the network-traffic data that do not follow a normal distribution as required. Consequently, more false alarms will be found when inspecting network traffic data. To settle this problem, support vector data description (SVDD) is suggested. The control chart based on the SVDD distance can be applied for the non-normal distribution, even the unknown distributions. Kernel density estimation (KDE) is the nonparametric approach that can be applied in estimating the control limit of the non-parametric control charts. Based on these facts, a multivariate chart based on the integrated SVDD and KDE (SVDD-KDE) is proposed to monitor the network's anomaly. Simulation using the synthetic dataset is performed to examine the performance of the SVDD-KDE chart in detecting multivariate data shifts and outliers. Based on the simulation results, the proposed method produces better performance in detecting shifts and higher accuracy in detecting outliers. Further, the proposed method is applied in the intrusion detection system (IDS) to monitor network attacks. The NSL-KDD data is analyzed as the benchmark dataset. A comparison between the SVDD-KDE chart with the other IDS-based-control chart and the machine learning algorithms is executed. Although the it has high computational cost, the results show that the IDS based on the SVDD-KDE chart produces a high accuracy at 0.917 and AUC at 0.915 with a low false positive rate compared to several algorithms.
  15. Fulltext A fact based analysis of decision trees for improving reliability in cloud computing
    Asim Shahid M, Alam MM, Mohd Su'ud M
    PLoS One, 2024;19(12):e0311089.
    PMID: 39625991 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0311089
    The popularity of cloud computing (CC) has increased significantly in recent years due to its cost-effectiveness and simplified resource allocation. Owing to the exponential rise of cloud computing in the past decade, many corporations and businesses have moved to the cloud to ensure accessibility, scalability, and transparency. The proposed research involves comparing the accuracy and fault prediction of five machine learning algorithms: AdaBoostM1, Bagging, Decision Tree (J48), Deep Learning (Dl4jMLP), and Naive Bayes Tree (NB Tree). The results from secondary data analysis indicate that the Central Processing Unit CPU-Mem Multi classifier has the highest accuracy percentage and the least amount of fault prediction. This holds for the Decision Tree (J48) classifier with an accuracy rate of 89.71% for 80/20, 90.28% for 70/30, and 92.82% for 10-fold cross-validation. Additionally, the Hard Disk Drive HDD-Mono classifier has an accuracy rate of 90.35% for 80/20, 92.35% for 70/30, and 90.49% for 10-fold cross-validation. The AdaBoostM1 classifier was found to have the highest accuracy percentage and the least amount of fault prediction for the HDD Multi classifier with an accuracy rate of 93.63% for 80/20, 90.09% for 70/30, and 88.92% for 10-fold cross-validation. Finally, the CPU-Mem Mono classifier has an accuracy rate of 77.87% for 80/20, 77.01% for 70/30, and 77.06% for 10-fold cross-validation. Based on the primary data results, the Naive Bayes Tree (NB Tree) classifier is found to have the highest accuracy rate with less fault prediction of 97.05% for 80/20, 96.09% for 70/30, and 96.78% for 10 folds cross-validation. However, the algorithm complexity is not good, taking 1.01 seconds. On the other hand, the Decision Tree (J48) has the second-highest accuracy rate of 96.78%, 95.95%, and 96.78% for 80/20, 70/30, and 10-fold cross-validation, respectively. J48 also has less fault prediction but with a good algorithm complexity of 0.11 seconds. The difference in accuracy and less fault prediction between NB Tree and J48 is only 0.9%, but the difference in time complexity is 9 seconds. Based on the results, we have decided to make modifications to the Decision Tree (J48) algorithm. This method has been proposed as it offers the highest accuracy and less fault prediction errors, with 97.05% accuracy for the 80/20 split, 96.42% for the 70/30 split, and 97.07% for the 10-fold cross-validation.
  16. Optimization, physicochemical stability and in vivo study of alginate-chitosan composites as nanocarriers for low molecular weight angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory peptide
    Auwal SM, Ghanisma SBM, Saari N
    J Food Drug Anal, 2024 Sep 13;32(3):358-370.
    PMID: 39636769 DOI: 10.38212/2224-6614.3522
    Chitosan and alginate, are non-toxic and biodegradable polymers used to enhance the stability of biotherapeutics by loading them into nanocarriers. In this study, the stone fish-derived low molecular weight peptide (Ala-Leu-Gly-Pro-Gln-Phe-Tyr), exhibited an in vitro ACE-inhibitory activity of 94.43 ± 2.05% and an IC50 of 0.012 ± 0.001 mM. The peptide was encapsulated via ionic gelation with alginate followed by polyelectrolyte complexation with chitosan. The resulting ACE-inhibitory peptide-loaded alginate-chitosan nanoparticles (ACE-I-ALG-CS NPs) were optimized to achieve small particle size (212.60 nm) and high encapsulation efficiency (EE, 74.48%). This was based on an optimum chitosan concentration (0.420%w/v), homogenization speed (6000 rpm), and homogenization time (30 min) using Box Behnken experimental design (BBED). Characterization of the ACE-I-ALG-CS NPs revealed a spherical, monodispersed morphology with high physicochemical stability during storage at 2 °C, 7 °C, and 12 °C for 12 weeks. Moreover, the in vivo study conducted on spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs) demonstrated a significantly higher (p < 0.05) systolic blood pressure (SBP)-lowering effect of the ACE-I-ALG-CS NPs compared to captopril and unencapsulated peptide. Hence, alginate and chitosan can be used as biocompatible coating materials to enhance the stability and in vivo anti-hypertensive effect of Ala-Leu-Gly-Pro-Gln-Phe-Tyr through encapsulation, thereby making it potentially valuable for various applications in pharmaceuticals and food industry.
  17. Fulltext Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever in Pakistan: Are we going in the right direction?
    Ahmad A, Khan MU
    J Res Pharm Pract, 2015 Oct-Dec;4(4):173-4.
    PMID: 26645021 DOI: 10.4103/2279-042X.167052
  18. Fulltext A high resolution capacitive sensing system for the measurement of water content in crude oil
    Zubair M, Tang TB
    Sensors (Basel), 2014;14(7):11351-61.
    PMID: 24967606 DOI: 10.3390/s140711351
    This paper presents the design of a non-intrusive system to measure ultra-low water content in crude oil. The system is based on a capacitance to phase angle conversion method. Water content is measured with a capacitance sensor comprising two semi-cylindrical electrodes mounted on the outer side of a glass tube. The presence of water induces a capacitance change that in turn converts into a phase angle, with respect to a main oscillator. A differential sensing technique is adopted not only to ensure high immunity against temperature variation and background noise, but also to eliminate phase jitter and amplitude variation of the main oscillator that could destabilize the output. The complete capacitive sensing system was implemented in hardware and experiment results using crude oil samples demonstrated that a resolution of ± 50 ppm of water content in crude oil was achieved by the proposed design.
  19. Developmental rate, size, and sexual dimorphism of Megaselia scalaris (Loew) (Diptera: Phoridae): its possible implications in forensic entomology
    Zuha RM, Omar B
    Parasitol Res, 2014 Jun;113(6):2285-94.
    PMID: 24728523 DOI: 10.1007/s00436-014-3883-z
    Cosmopolitan scuttle fly, Megaselia scalaris (Loew) (Diptera: Phoridae) is one of the commonest forensic species recorded colonizing human corpse indoors and in concealed environment. The occurrence of this species in such environments provides a higher evidential value to assist estimation of postmortem interval (PMI) compared to other forensically important dipterans. However, developmental and size data of M. scalaris are still lacking and they are derived from a limited range of thermal values. The objective of this study is to develop the growth model of M. scalaris by emphasizing the size range of larvae and puparia at different constant temperatures. This species was reared in six replicates at eight varying constant temperatures ranging from 23 to 36 °C and cow's liver was provided as food source. Larvae and puparia were sampled at set time intervals and measured by their length and weight. Because interpretation of forensic entomological evidence is subject to application of different techniques, development of M. scalaris is expressed herein by using developmental table, length/morphological stage diagrams and linear/nonlinear estimation methods. From the findings, it is very important to highlight that sexual dimorphism of M. scalaris during post feeding larva and pupa stage could be observed based on size and developmental periods. Mean length and weight ratios of male to female puparia are approximately 0.8 and 0.3-0.5, respectively, indicating sexual dimorphism of this species. Developmental period in female are 4.0-11.4 h (post feeding larval stage), 3.7-24.0 h (pupal stage), and 3.0-20.1 h (total developmental period) longer in male. Due to this dimorphism, PMI estimation using M. scalaris post feeding larva or puparium specimens must be carried out carefully by to avoid inaccuracy and misinterpretation.
  20. Synthesis and β-glucuronidase inhibitory activity of 2-arylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones
    Khan KM, Saad SM, Shaikh NN, Hussain S, Fakhri MI, Perveen S, et al.
    Bioorg Med Chem, 2014 Jul 1;22(13):3449-54.
    PMID: 24844756 DOI: 10.1016/j.bmc.2014.04.039
    2-Arylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones 1-25 were synthesized by reacting anthranilamide with various benzaldehydes using CuCl2·2H2O as a catalyst in ethanol under reflux. Synthetic 2-arylquinazolin-4(3H)-ones 1-25 were evaluated for their β-glucuronidase inhibitory potential. A trend of inhibition IC50 against the enzyme in the range of 0.6-198.2μM, was observed and compared with the standard d-saccharic acid 1,4-lactone (IC50=45.75±2.16μM). Compounds 13, 19, 4, 12, 14, 22, 23, 25, 15, 8, 17, 11, 21, 1, 3, 18, 9, 2, and 24 with the IC50 values within the range of 0.6-44.0μM, indicated that the compounds have superior activity than the standard. The compounds showed no cytotoxic effects against PC-3 cells. A structure-activity relationship is established.
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