The performance of a chemical process plant can gradually degrade due to deterioration of the process equipment and unpermitted deviation of the characteristic variables of the system. Hence, advanced supervision is required for early detection, isolation and correction of abnormal conditions. This work presents the use of an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for online fault diagnosis of a gas-phase polypropylene production process with emphasis on fast and accurate diagnosis, multiple fault identification and adaptability. The most influential inputs are selected from the raw measured data sets and fed to multiple ANFIS classifiers to identify faults occurring in the process, eliminating the requirement of a detailed process model. Simulation results illustrated that the proposed method effectively diagnosed different fault types and severities, and that it has a better performance compared to a conventional multivariate statistical approach based on principal component analysis (PCA). The proposed method is shown to be simple to apply, robust to measurement noise and able to rapidly discriminate between multiple faults occurring simultaneously. This method is applicable for plant-wide monitoring and can serve as an early warning system to identify process upsets that could threaten the process operation ahead of time.
Malaria is still an endemic disease of public health importance in Malaysia. Populations at risk of contracting malaria includes indigenous people, traditional villagers, mobile ethnic groups and land scheme settlers, immigrants from malaria endemic countries as well as jungle workers and loggers. The predominant species are Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax. An increasing number of P. knowlesi infections have also been encountered. The principal vectors in Peninsular Malaysia are Anopheles maculatus and An. cracens. This study aims to determine the changes in spatial distribution of malaria in Peninsular Malaysia from year 2000-2009.
INTRODUCTION: Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common among Malaysian military patients but has not been studied closely. The purpose of this study was to assess the type of activities leading to the ACL injury and the outcome of reconstructive ACL surgery at one year follow up.
METHODS: From the registry record, military patients who had undergone ACL reconstruction in two Malaysian military hospitals were identified. Their medical records were reviewed. The activities that they performed when the ACL injury occurred were identified. After ACL reconstruction, the patients' ability to resume previous duty at one year follow up was evaluated.
RESULTS: From 111 patients, 82% of the ACL injuries were due to sporting activities whereas military activities and road traffic accident accounted for 14% and 4% respectively. Out of 69 patients with isolated ACL injury who were followed up at one year, all except two were able to resume their previous duty.
CONCLUSIONS: Among the military patients who underwent ACL reconstruction, ACL injury was mainly due to sporting activity. ACL reconstruction showed good outcome at one year follow up.