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  1. Fulltext Review of development survey of phase change material models in building applications
    Akeiber HJ, Wahid MA, Hussen HM, Mohammad AT
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:391690.
    PMID: 25313367 DOI: 10.1155/2014/391690
    The application of phase change materials (PCMs) in green buildings has been increasing rapidly. PCM applications in green buildings include several development models. This paper briefly surveys the recent research and development activities of PCM technology in building applications. Firstly, a basic description of phase change and their principles is provided; the classification and applications of PCMs are also included. Secondly, PCM models in buildings are reviewed and discussed according to the wall, roof, floor, and cooling systems. Finally, conclusions are presented based on the collected data.
    Matched MeSH terms: Technology/methods
  2. Fulltext Effects of homogenization process parameters on physicochemical properties of astaxanthin nanodispersions prepared using a solvent-diffusion technique
    Anarjan N, Jafarizadeh-Malmiri H, Nehdi IA, Sbihi HM, Al-Resayes SI, Tan CP
    Int J Nanomedicine, 2015;10:1109-18.
    PMID: 25709435 DOI: 10.2147/IJN.S72835
    Nanodispersion systems allow incorporation of lipophilic bioactives, such as astaxanthin (a fat soluble carotenoid) into aqueous systems, which can improve their solubility, bioavailability, and stability, and widen their uses in water-based pharmaceutical and food products. In this study, response surface methodology was used to investigate the influences of homogenization time (0.5-20 minutes) and speed (1,000-9,000 rpm) in the formation of astaxanthin nanodispersions via the solvent-diffusion process. The product was characterized for particle size and astaxanthin concentration using laser diffraction particle size analysis and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. Relatively high determination coefficients (ranging from 0.896 to 0.969) were obtained for all suggested polynomial regression models. The overall optimal homogenization conditions were determined by multiple response optimization analysis to be 6,000 rpm for 7 minutes. In vitro cellular uptake of astaxanthin from the suggested individual and multiple optimized astaxanthin nanodispersions was also evaluated. The cellular uptake of astaxanthin was found to be considerably increased (by more than five times) as it became incorporated into optimum nanodispersion systems. The lack of a significant difference between predicted and experimental values confirms the suitability of the regression equations connecting the response variables studied to the independent parameters.
    Matched MeSH terms: Nanotechnology/methods*
  3. Fulltext The contribution of nearshore fish aggregating devices (FADs) to food security and livelihoods in Solomon Islands
    Albert JA, Beare D, Schwarz AM, Albert S, Warren R, Teri J, et al.
    PLoS One, 2014;9(12):e115386.
    PMID: 25513808 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0115386
    Fish aggregating devices, or FADs, are used widely in developing countries to concentrate pelagic fish, making them easier to catch. Nearshore FADs anchored close to the coast allow access for rural communities, but despite their popularity among policy makers, there is a dearth of empirical analysis of their contributions to the supply of fish and to fisheries management. In this paper we demonstrate that nearshore FADs increased the supply of fish to four communities in Solomon Islands. Estimated total annual fish catch ranged from 4300 to 12,000 kg across the study villages, with nearshore FADs contributing up to 45% of the catch. While it is clear that FADs increased the supply of fish, FAD catch rates were not consistently higher than other fishing grounds. Villages with limited access to diverse or productive fishing grounds seemingly utilized FADs to better effect. Villagers believed FADs increased household income and nutrition, as well as providing a source of fish for community events. FADs were also perceived to increase intra-household conflict and reduce fishers' participation in community activities. FADs need to be placed within a broader rural development context and treated as another component in the diversified livelihoods of rural people; as with other livelihood options they bring trade-offs and risks.
    Matched MeSH terms: Fisheries/methods*
  4. Fulltext Piezoelectric bimorphs' characteristics as in-socket sensors for transfemoral amputees
    El-Sayed AM, Hamzaid NA, Abu Osman NA
    Sensors (Basel), 2014;14(12):23724-41.
    PMID: 25513823 DOI: 10.3390/s141223724
    Alternative sensory systems for the development of prosthetic knees are being increasingly highlighted nowadays, due to the rapid advancements in the field of lower limb prosthetics. This study presents the use of piezoelectric bimorphs as in-socket sensors for transfemoral amputees. An Instron machine was used in the calibration procedure and the corresponding output data were further analyzed to determine the static and dynamic characteristics of the piezoelectric bimorph. The piezoelectric bimorph showed appropriate static operating range, repeatability, hysteresis, and frequency response for application in lower prosthesis, with a force range of 0-100 N. To further validate this finding, an experiment was conducted with a single transfemoral amputee subject to measure the stump/socket pressure using the piezoelectric bimorph embedded inside the socket. The results showed that a maximum interface pressure of about 27 kPa occurred at the anterior proximal site compared to the anterior distal and posterior sites, consistent with values published in other studies. This paper highlighted the capacity of piezoelectric bimorphs to perform as in-socket sensors for transfemoral amputees. However, further experiments are recommended to be conducted with different amputees with different socket types.
    Matched MeSH terms: Biosensing Techniques/methods*
  5. A comparative study of clonal selection algorithm for effluent removal forecasting in septic sludge treatment plant
    Chun TS, Malek MA, Ismail AR
    Water Sci Technol, 2015;71(4):524-8.
    PMID: 25746643 DOI: 10.2166/wst.2014.451
    The development of effluent removal prediction is crucial in providing a planning tool necessary for the future development and the construction of a septic sludge treatment plant (SSTP), especially in the developing countries. In order to investigate the expected functionality of the required standard, the prediction of the effluent quality, namely biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand and total suspended solid of an SSTP was modelled using an artificial intelligence approach. In this paper, we adopt the clonal selection algorithm (CSA) to set up a prediction model, with a well-established method - namely the least-square support vector machine (LS-SVM) as a baseline model. The test results of the case study showed that the prediction of the CSA-based SSTP model worked well and provided model performance as satisfactory as the LS-SVM model. The CSA approach shows that fewer control and training parameters are required for model simulation as compared with the LS-SVM approach. The ability of a CSA approach in resolving limited data samples, non-linear sample function and multidimensional pattern recognition makes it a powerful tool in modelling the prediction of effluent removals in an SSTP.
    Matched MeSH terms: Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods*
  6. Fulltext Comparison of selected metals content in Cambodian striped snakehead fish (Channa striata) using solar drying system and open sun drying
    Basri DF, Abu Bakar NF, Fudholi A, Ruslan MH, Saroeun I
    J Environ Public Health, 2015;2015:470968.
    PMID: 25688274 DOI: 10.1155/2015/470968
    The content of 12 elements in Cambodian dried striped snakehead fish was determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The present study compares the level of the trace toxic metals and nutritional trace elements in the fish processed using solar drying system (SDS) and open sun drying (OSD). The skin of SDS fish has lower level of As, Pb, and Cd compared to the OSD sample. As such, the flesh of the fish accumulated higher amount of toxic metals during OSD compared to SDS. However, arsenic was detected in both samples within the safe limit. The nutritional elements (Fe, Mn, Mg, Se, Mo, Cu, Ni, and Cr) were higher in the skin sample SDS fish compared to OSD fish. These beneficial metals were not accumulated in the flesh sample SDS fish demonstrating lower level compared to drying under conventional system. The reddish coloration of the SDS fish was due to the presence of high Cu content in both the skin and flesh samples which possibly account for no mold formation 5 days after packaging. As conclusion, drying of Cambodian C. striata using solar-assisted system has proven higher content of the nutritious elements compared to using the conventional system despite only slight difference in the toxic metals level between the two systems.
    Matched MeSH terms: Food Analysis/methods*
  7. Fulltext Improvement of adaptive GAs and back propagation ANNs performance in condition diagnosis of multiple bearing system using grey relational analysis
    Wulandhari LA, Wibowo A, Desa MI
    Comput Intell Neurosci, 2014;2014:419743.
    PMID: 25587265 DOI: 10.1155/2014/419743
    Condition diagnosis of multiple bearings system is one of the requirements in industry field, because bearings are used in many equipment and their failure can result in total breakdown. Conditions of bearings commonly are reflected by vibration signals data. In multiple bearing condition diagnosis, it will involve many types of vibration signals data; thus, consequently, it will involve many features extraction to obtain precise condition diagnosis. However, large number of features extraction will increase the complexity of the diagnosis system. Therefore, in this paper, we presented a diagnosis method which is hybridization of adaptive genetic algorithms (AGAs), back propagation neural networks (BPNNs), and grey relational analysis (GRA) to diagnose the condition of multiple bearings system. AGAs are used in the diagnosis algorithm to determine the best initial weights of BPNNs in order to improve the diagnosis accuracy. In addition, GRA is applied to determine and select the dominant features from the vibration signal data which will provide good diagnosis of multiple bearings system in less features extraction. The experiments results show that AGAs-BPNNs with GRA approaches can increase the accuracy of diagnosis in shorter processing time, compared with the AGAs-BPNNs without the GRA.
    Matched MeSH terms: Equipment Failure Analysis/methods*
  8. Recent advances in the role of supramolecular hydrogels in drug delivery
    Amin MC, Ahmad N, Pandey M, Abeer MM, Mohamad N
    Expert Opin Drug Deliv, 2015 Jul;12(7):1149-61.
    PMID: 25547588 DOI: 10.1517/17425247.2015.997707
    Supramolecular hydrogels, formed by noncovalent crosslinking of polymeric chains in water, constitute an interesting class of materials that can be developed specifically for drug delivery and biomedical applications. The biocompatibility, stimuli responsiveness to various external factors, and powerful functionalization capacity of these polymeric networks make them attractive candidates for novel advanced dosage form design.
    Matched MeSH terms: Tissue Engineering/methods
  9. A novel approach to detect respiratory phases from pulmonary acoustic signals using normalised power spectral density and fuzzy inference system
    Palaniappan R, Sundaraj K, Sundaraj S, Huliraj N, Revadi SS
    Clin Respir J, 2016 Jul;10(4):486-94.
    PMID: 25515741 DOI: 10.1111/crj.12250
    BACKGROUND: Monitoring respiration is important in several medical applications. One such application is respiratory rate monitoring in patients with sleep apnoea. The respiratory rate in patients with sleep apnoea disorder is irregular compared with the controls. Respiratory phase detection is required for a proper monitoring of respiration in patients with sleep apnoea.

    AIMS: To develop a model to detect the respiratory phases present in the pulmonary acoustic signals and to evaluate the performance of the model in detecting the respiratory phases.

    METHODS: Normalised averaged power spectral density for each frame and change in normalised averaged power spectral density between the adjacent frames were fuzzified and fuzzy rules were formulated. The fuzzy inference system (FIS) was developed with both Mamdani and Sugeno methods. To evaluate the performance of both Mamdani and Sugeno methods, correlation coefficient and root mean square error (RMSE) were calculated.

    RESULTS: In the correlation coefficient analysis in evaluating the fuzzy model using Mamdani and Sugeno method, the strength of the correlation was found to be r = 0.9892 and r = 0.9964, respectively. The RMSE for Mamdani and Sugeno methods are RMSE = 0.0853 and RMSE = 0.0817, respectively.

    CONCLUSION: The correlation coefficient and the RMSE of the proposed fuzzy models in detecting the respiratory phases reveals that Sugeno method performs better compared with the Mamdani method.

    Matched MeSH terms: Monitoring, Physiologic/methods
  10. Fulltext Evaluation and selection of open-source EMR software packages based on integrated AHP and TOPSIS
    Zaidan AA, Zaidan BB, Al-Haiqi A, Kiah ML, Hussain M, Abdulnabi M
    J Biomed Inform, 2015 Feb;53:390-404.
    PMID: 25483886 DOI: 10.1016/j.jbi.2014.11.012
    Evaluating and selecting software packages that meet the requirements of an organization are difficult aspects of software engineering process. Selecting the wrong open-source EMR software package can be costly and may adversely affect business processes and functioning of the organization. This study aims to evaluate and select open-source EMR software packages based on multi-criteria decision-making. A hands-on study was performed and a set of open-source EMR software packages were implemented locally on separate virtual machines to examine the systems more closely. Several measures as evaluation basis were specified, and the systems were selected based a set of metric outcomes using Integrated Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS. The experimental results showed that GNUmed and OpenEMR software can provide better basis on ranking score records than other open-source EMR software packages.
    Matched MeSH terms: Medical Informatics/methods*
  11. Sterols as biomarkers in the surface microlayer of the estuarine areas
    Alsalahi MA, Latif MT, Ali MM, Dominick D, Khan MF, Mustaffa NI, et al.
    Mar Pollut Bull, 2015 Apr 15;93(1-2):278-83.
    PMID: 25682566 DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2015.01.011
    This study aims to determine the concentration of sterols used as biomarkers in the surface microlayer (SML) in estuarine areas of the Selangor River, Malaysia. Samples were collected during different seasons through the use of a rotation drum. The analysis of sterols was performed using gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionisation detector (GC-FID). The results showed that the concentrations of total sterols in the SML ranged from 107.06 to 505.55 ng L(-1). The total sterol concentration was found to be higher in the wet season. Cholesterol was found to be the most abundant sterols component in the SML. The diagnostic ratios of sterols show the influence of natural sources and waste on the contribution of sterols in the SML. Further analysis, using principal component analysis (PCA), showed distinct inputs of sterols derived from human activity (40.58%), terrigenous and plant inputs (22.59%) as well as phytoplankton and marine inputs (17.35%).
    Matched MeSH terms: Environmental Monitoring/methods*
  12. Infrared-metabolomics approach in detecting changes in Andrographis paniculata metabolites due to different harvesting ages and times
    Yusof NA, Isha A, Ismail IS, Khatib A, Shaari K, Abas F, et al.
    J Sci Food Agric, 2015 Sep;95(12):2533-43.
    PMID: 25371390 DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.6987
    The metabolite changes in three germplasm accessions of Malaysia Andrographis paniculata (Burm. F.) Nees, viz. 11265 (H), 11341 (P) and 11248 (T), due to their different harvesting ages and times were successfully evaluated by attenuated total reflectance (ATR)-Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and translated through multivariate data analysis of principal component analysis (PCA) and orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). This present study revealed the feasibility of ATR-FTIR in detecting the trend changes of the major metabolites - andrographolide and neoandrographolide - functional groups in A. paniculata leaves of different accessions. The harvesting parameter was set at three different ages of 120, 150 and 180 days after transplanting (DAT) and at two different time sessions of morning (7:30-10:30 am) and evening (2:30-5.30 pm).
    Matched MeSH terms: Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared/methods
  13. Estimating farmers' willingness to pay for climate change adaptation: the case of the Malaysian agricultural sector
    Masud MM, Junsheng H, Akhtar R, Al-Amin AQ, Kari FB
    Environ Monit Assess, 2015 Feb;187(2):38.
    PMID: 25632900 DOI: 10.1007/s10661-014-4254-z
    This paper estimates Malaysian farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) for a planned adaptation programme for addressing climate issues in the Malaysian agricultural sector. We used the contingent valuation method (CVM) for a monetary valuation of farmers' preferences for a planned adaptation programme by ascertaining the value attached to address climatic issues in the Malaysian agricultural sector. Structured questionnaires were distributed among the sampled farmers. The study found that 74 % of respondents were willing to pay for a planned adaptation programme and that several socioeconomic and motivation factors have greater influence on their WTP. This paper clearly specifies the steps needed for all institutional bodies to better address issues in climate change. The outcomes of this paper will support policy makers to better design an efficient adaptation framework for adapting to the adverse impacts of climate change.
    Matched MeSH terms: Agriculture/methods*
  14. Fulltext Creative treatment of early buried bumper syndrome
    Taher MM, Kosai NR, Gendeh HS
    Ann R Coll Surg Engl, 2014 Nov;96(8):621-2.
    PMID: 25350188 DOI: 10.1308/rcsann.2014.96.8.621b
    Matched MeSH terms: Endoscopy, Digestive System/methods*
  15. Adaptational properties and applications of cold-active lipases from psychrophilic bacteria
    Maiangwa J, Ali MS, Salleh AB, Rahman RN, Shariff FM, Leow TC
    Extremophiles, 2015 Mar;19(2):235-47.
    PMID: 25472009 DOI: 10.1007/s00792-014-0710-5
    Psychrophilic microorganisms are cold-adapted with distinct properties from other thermal classes thriving in cold conditions in large areas of the earth's cold environment. Maintenance of functional membranes, evolving cold-adapted enzymes and synthesizing a range of structural features are basic adaptive strategies of psychrophiles. Among the cold-evolved enzymes are the cold-active lipases, a group of microbial lipases with inherent stability-activity-flexibility property that have engaged the interest of researchers over the years. Current knowledge regarding these cold-evolved enzymes in psychrophilic bacteria proves a display of high catalytic efficiency with low thermal stability, which is a differentiating feature with that of their mesophilic and thermophilic counterparts. Improvement strategies of their adaptive structural features have significantly benefited the enzyme industry. Based on their homogeneity and purity, molecular characterizations of these enzymes have been successful and their properties make them unique biocatalysts for various industrial and biotechnological applications. Although, strong association of lipopolysaccharides from Antarctic microorganisms with lipid hydrolases pose a challenge in their purification, heterologous expression of the cold-adapted lipases with affinity tags simplifies purification with higher yield. The review discusses these cold-evolved lipases from bacteria and their peculiar properties, in addition to their potential biotechnological and industrial applications.
    Matched MeSH terms: Industrial Microbiology/methods
  16. Pain experience and satisfaction with postoperative pain control among surgical patients
    Subramanian P, Ramasamy S, Ng KH, Chinna K, Rosli R
    Int J Nurs Pract, 2016 Jun;22(3):232-8.
    PMID: 25355297 DOI: 10.1111/ijn.12363
    Alleviating acute pain and providing pain relief are central to caring for surgical patients as pain can lead to many adverse medical consequences. This study aimed to explore patients' experience of pain and satisfaction with postoperative pain control. A cross-sectional survey was carried out among 107 respondents who had undergone abdominal surgery in the surgical ward of an urban hospital using the Revised American Pain Society's Patient Outcome and Satisfaction Survey Questionnaires (APS-POQ-R). Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and chi-square test. Chi-square test showed significant association between race (P = 0.038), education level (P ≤ 0.001), previous operation status (P = 0.032) and operation status (P ≤ 0.001). Further analysis on nominal regression, association between dissatisfaction with factors of operation status (46.09 (95% CI 7.456, 284.947)) and previous operation status (13.38 (95% CI 1.39, 128.74)) was found to be significant. Moderate to high levels of pain intensity in the last 24 h after surgery, as well as moderate to high rates of pain-related interference with care activities were most reported. Pain still remains an issue among surgical patients, and effective pain management and health education are needed to manage pain more effectively after surgery.
    Matched MeSH terms: Pain Management/methods*
  17. Stability indicating HPLC-UV method for detection of curcumin in Curcuma longa extract and emulsion formulation
    Syed HK, Liew KB, Loh GO, Peh KK
    Food Chem, 2015 Mar 1;170:321-6.
    PMID: 25306352 DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2014.08.066
    A stability-indicating HPLC-UV method for the determination of curcumin in Curcuma longa extract and emulsion was developed. The system suitability parameters, theoretical plates (N), tailing factor (T), capacity factor (K'), height equivalent of a theoretical plate (H) and resolution (Rs) were calculated. Stress degradation studies (acid, base, oxidation, heat and UV light) of curcumin were performed in emulsion. It was found that N>6500, T<1.1, K' was 2.68-3.75, HETP about 37 and Rs was 1.8. The method was linear from 2 to 200 μg/mL with a correlation coefficient of 0.9998. The intra-day precision and accuracy for curcumin were ⩽0.87% and ⩽2.0%, while the inter-day precision and accuracy values were ⩽2.1% and ⩽-1.92. Curcumin degraded in emulsion under acid, alkali and UV light. In conclusion, the stability-indicating method could be employed to determine curcumin in bulk and emulsions.
    Matched MeSH terms: Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid/methods*
  18. Fulltext Harvesting the maximum length of sciatic nerve from adult mice: a step-by-step approach
    Bala U, Tan KL, Ling KH, Cheah PS
    BMC Res Notes, 2014;7:714.
    PMID: 25304607 DOI: 10.1186/1756-0500-7-714
    Over the past several decades, many studies concerning peripheral nerve damage or regeneration have been performed. Mice have been widely used for many of these studies, with the sciatic nerve being the most targeted and preferred nerve. Therefore, techniques for harvesting mouse sciatic nerves of a maximum length that is sufficient for different analyses will be highly valuable. Here we describe a simple step-by-step guide for harvesting the maximum length of mouse sciatic nerve and compare the length of the harvested nerves gathered with the proposed method with nerves obtained using a conventional mid-thigh incision approach.
    Matched MeSH terms: Tissue and Organ Harvesting/methods*
  19. Fulltext A review on strengthening steel beams using FRP under fatigue
    Kamruzzaman M, Jumaat MZ, Sulong NH, Islam AB
    ScientificWorldJournal, 2014;2014:702537.
    PMID: 25243221 DOI: 10.1155/2014/702537
    In recent decades, the application of fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites for strengthening structural elements has become an efficient option to meet the increased cyclic loads or repair due to corrosion or fatigue cracking. Hence, the objective of this study is to explore the existing FRP reinforcing techniques to care for fatigue damaged structural steel elements. This study covers the surface treatment techniques, adhesive curing, and support conditions under cyclic loading including fatigue performance, crack propagation, and failure modes with finite element (FE) simulation of the steel bridge girders and structural elements. FRP strengthening composites delay initial cracking, reduce the crack growth rate, extend the fatigue life, and decrease the stiffness decay with residual deflection. Prestressed carbon fibre-reinforced polymer (CFRP) is the best strengthening option. End anchorage prevents debonding of the CRRP strips at the beam ends by reducing the local interfacial shear and peel stresses. Hybrid-joint, nanoadhesive, and carbon-flex can also be attractive for strengthening systems.
    Matched MeSH terms: Materials Testing/methods
  20. Applicability of fluidized bed reactor in recalcitrant compound degradation through advanced oxidation processes: a review
    Tisa F, Abdul Raman AA, Wan Daud WMA
    J Environ Manage, 2014 Dec 15;146:260-275.
    PMID: 25190594 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2014.07.032
    Treatment of industrial waste water (e.g. textile waste water, phenol waste water, pharmaceutical etc) faces limitation in conventional treatment procedures. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) do not suffer from the limits of conventional treatment processes and consequently degrade toxic pollutants more efficiently. Complexity is faced in eradicating the restrictions of AOPs such as sludge formation, toxic intermediates formation and high requirement for oxidants. Increased mass-transfer in AOPs is an alternate solution to this problem. AOPs combined with Fluidized bed reactor (FBR) can be a potential choice compared to fixed bed or moving bed reactor, as AOP catalysts life-span last for only maximum of 5-10 cycles. Hence, FBR-AOPs require lesser operational and maintenance cost by reducing material resources. The time required for AOP can be minimized using FBR and also treatable working volume can be increased. FBR-AOP can process from 1 to 10 L of volume which is 10 times more than simple batch reaction. The mass transfer is higher thus the reaction time is lesser. For having increased mass transfer sludge production can be successfully avoided. The review study suggests that, optimum particle size, catalyst to reactor volume ratio, catalyst diameter and liquid or gas velocity is required for efficient FBR-AOP systems. However, FBR-AOPs are still under lab-scale investigation and for industrial application cost study is needed. Cost of FBR-AOPs highly depends on energy density needed and the mechanism of degradation of the pollutant. The cost of waste water treatment containing azo dyes was found to be US$ 50 to US$ 500 per 1000 gallons where, the cost for treating phenol water was US$ 50 to US$ 800 per 1000 gallons. The analysis for FBR-AOP costs has been found to depend on the targeted pollutant, degradation mechanism (zero order, 1st order and 2nd order) and energy consumptions by the AOPs.
    Matched MeSH terms: Waste Disposal, Fluid/methods
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