The consumption of medicine is typical in geriatrics, having many problems related to medications. Geriatrics often forget to take their medicine, and this problem can be overcome by using an automatic reminder system. In this study, an automated reminder system is developed as an improved community element, acting as a system that can help geriatric in taking their medicine on time, thus, boosting their health condition. This reminder system also includes an interaction between the geriatrics and their caretakers. This reminder system includes Arduino UNO as the microcontroller, with the notification system, Blynk Application, a buzzer, and a light-emitting diode (LED) system. To make this reminder system more versatile, the buzzer will alarm during the medicine intake time, giving information to the elderly on which medicine to take. When the time has reached to take medication, the buzzer will produce a sound. Suppose the medicine box opens after the buzzer's sound and is detected by the passive infrared sensor (PIR sensor). In that case, the caretaker will receive a notification through the Blynk application that the geriatric already took medicine. On the contrary, if the medicine box is not open after 3 minutes following the buzzer's sound, which indicates that the geriatric did not take their medicine, the system will not send a notification to their caretakers on the status. This prototype is tested on ten users for its accuracy and effectiveness. It is believed that this system can provide geriatrics more alert in taking their medicine on time, enhancing their health status.
The rapid growth of electronic systems and devices operating within the gigahertz (GHz) frequency range has increased electromagnetic interference. In order to eliminate or reduce the spurious electromagnetic radiation levels more closely in different applications, there is strong research interest in electromagnetic absorber technology. Moreover, there is still a lack of ability to absorb electromagnetic radiation in a broad frequency range using thin thickness. Thus, this study examined the effect of incorporating magnetic and dielectric materials into the polymer matrix for the processing of radar absorbing materials. The experiment evaluated the sample preparation with different weight percentages of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) mixed with Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4 (Nickel-Zinc-Ferrite) loaded into epoxy (P) as a matrix. The prepared samples were analysed by examining the reflectivity measurements in the 8 – 18 GHz frequency range and conducting a morphological study using scanning electron microscopy analyses. The correlation of the results showed that different amounts of MWCNT influenced the performance of the microwave absorber. As the amount of MWCNTs increased, the reflection loss (RL) peak shifted towards a lower frequency range and the trend was similar for all thicknesses. The highest RL was achieved when the content of MWCNTs was 2 wt% with a thickness of 2 mm with an RL of – 14 dB at 16 GHz. The 2.5 GHz bandwidth corresponded to the RL below -10 dB (90% absorption) in the range of 14.5 – 17 GHz. This study showed that the proposed experimental route provided flexible absorbers with suitable absorption values by mixing only 2 wt% of MWCNTs.
Partial differential equations involve results of unknown functions when there are multiple independent variables. There is a need for analytical solutions to ensure partial differential equations could be solved accurately. Thus, these partial differential equations could be solved using the right initial and boundaries conditions. In this light, boundary conditions depend on the general solution; the partial differential equations should present particular solutions when paired with varied boundary conditions. This study analysed the use of variable separation to provide an analytical solution of the homogeneous, one-dimensional heat equation. This study is applied to varied boundary conditions to examine the flow attributes of the heat equation. The solution is verified through different boundary conditions: Dirichlet, Neumann, and mixed-insulated boundary conditions. the initial value was kept constant despite the varied boundary conditions. There are two significant findings in this study. First, the temperature profile changes are influenced by the boundary conditions, and that the boundary conditions are dependent on the heat equation’s flow attributes.
A simple and low-cost Fiber Optic Displacement Sensor (FODS) using reflective intensity modulation technique was developed to analyze various concentrations of Pb2+, a compound classified under heavy metal ions. Lead is harmful to the environment including to human but is used in the cosmetic field for beauty without realizing and considering the hazardousness of lead as it would cause a long-term effect. Therefore, a feasible way has been identified in this study to demonstrate the level of Pb2+ concentration in cosmetics field by employing the theory of modulation of intensity as a function of displacement sensor. The permissible limit according to Malaysian Cosmetics Guidelines and ASEAN Cosmetic Directive was 20 ppm. The concentration sensor’s system exhibits 0.0018 V/ppm sensitivity with a linearity of 96% and 94% respectively, for both peaks. Meanwhile, the sensitivity was 0.034 V/ppm for the first peak and 27.72 V/ppm for the second peak, with slope linearity of more than 96% for surface tension parameter. The credibility of these optical response curves data might be useful, especially in the cosmetic’s industrial application.
Nonsurgical retreatment involves removing mechanical barriers such as gutta-percha to achieve proper cleaning and disinfection. The complexity of the anatomy of molar tooth gives challenge in retreatment procedure. Thus, this study evaluates the amount of residual gutta-percha after retreatment with rotary files (Reciproc Blue®) from each maxillary first molar canal using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and the time required to accomplish it. Nine freshly extracted maxillary molars were instrumented and obturated. Preoperative CBCT was taken, and retreatment was done using Reciproc Blue®. CBCT was taken post retreatment, and the residual volume percentage of gutta-percha from each canal was calculated. The total retreatment time was recorded, and the data were statistically analyzed. The result shows no statistically significant difference in the amount of residual filling material in mesiobuccal, distobuccal, and palatal canal for maxillary first molar and total time used for retreatment with Reciproc Blue® system.
The consumption of low-power electronic devices has increased rapidly, where almost all applications use power electronic devices. Due to the increase in portable electronic devices’ energy consumption, the piezoelectric material is proposed as one of the alternatives of the significant alternative energy harvesters. This study aims to create a prototype of “Smart Shoes” that can generate electricity using three different designs embedded by piezoelectric materials: ceramic, polymer, and a combination of both piezoelectric materials. The basic principle for smart shoes’ prototype is based on the pressure produced from piezoelectric material converted from mechanical energy into electrical energy. The piezoelectric material was placed into the shoes’ sole, and the energy produced due to the pressure from walking, jogging, and jumping was measured. The energy generated was stored in a capacitor as piezoelectric material produced a small scale of energy harvesting. The highest energy generated was produced by ceramic piezoelectric material under jumping activity, which was 1.804 mJ. Polymer piezoelectric material produced very minimal energy, which was 55.618 mJ. The combination of both piezoelectric materials produced energy, which was 1.805 mJ from jumping activity.
The creation of technology in this century changes people’s life. Technology plays an important role that benefits young people and has increased agriculture production’s efficiency and profitability. Innovative technology mainly involved in animal feeding automation is currently one of Smart Bran Dispensers’ new inventions. This project approaches an innovative animal husbandry management system to improve the agricultural system’s efficiency, particularly livestock nutrition and feed resources. The benefit of this project is to facilitate animal feeding for breeders, which can be remotely controlled and detected by a tracking module that transmits a signal to the user and informs them of the status of the bran dispenser through the Blynk server. NodeMCU ESP8266 and Arduino UNO were implemented as the main controller.
Chia seed has a high content of fibres and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Chia seed also holds numerous amounts of minerals and vitamins, including calcium and phosphorus. Chia seed offers a great potential of gel-forming ability and good water and oil holding capacities. Therefore, this study aims to determine the effect of chia seed powder substitution in chicken meat sausage formulations on the physicochemical characteristics and sensory acceptance. In the study, the chicken meat sausages were produced in four formulations; sample A as the control (100% chicken meat), sample B (5% substitution of chia seed powder to chicken meat), sample C (10% substitution of chia seed powder to chicken meat) and sample D (15% substitution of chia seed powder to chicken meat). The sausages were analysed for colour, texture, water holding capacity, cooking loss, proximate analysis, crude fibre content, and sensory acceptability. As for the findings, the substitution of chia seed powder resulted in low ‘L’ values of chicken meat sausage due to the dark colour of the chia seed. On the other hand, chia seed powder's substitution decreased the hardness and cohesiveness values. However, it increased the adhesiveness, springiness, and chewiness. Water holding capacity and a cooking loss percentage of the chicken meat sausages with chia seed powder substitution were observed to improve compared to control sausage (100% chicken meat), resulting in juicier sausages. The chia seed powder substitution increased the carbohydrate, ash, fat, and fibre contents for the chemical composition. On a 9-point hedonic scale, sample B (5% chia seed powder substitution) exhibited the highest sensory scores in all attributes evaluated (colour, texture, taste, juiciness, and overall acceptance). Thus, it can be concluded that chia seed powder can be substituted in chicken meat sausage to produce better quality products.
Bioinformatics tool is a software program made to extract meaningful information from the mass of molecular biology or biological databases and carry out sequence or structural analysis. The method of determining the order of nucleotides within a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule is known as DNA sequencing. This analysis is meant to be run to the commercialized or factorymade goat's milk (pasteurised) from various states in Malaysia to identify the milk's authenticity, either it is pure or mixed with other foreign substances from other animals. The main objective is to compare DNA sequences of commercialized and raw goat's milk (handmilking and non-pasteurised). To achieve this, we used ClustalX to align and compare the obtained DNA from both milk samples. The sequences will be aligned using ClustalX software. ClustalX is a provider of an automated system for performing multiple alignments of sequences and profiles and evaluating the outcomes. The usage of ClustalX is helpful as it is cost-effective, user-friendly, and showing a high accuracy of the analysis.
The high popularity of a commercial sea cucumber species on Pangkor Island (i.e. Stichopus horrens) has resulted in a lack of studies on Holothuria (Mertensiothuria) leucospilota from Pangkor Island, Perak, Malaysia. S. horrens is the main ingredient of gamat-based traditional medicine on the resort island, while H. leucospilota is the most dominant species. For that reason, this study aimed to isolate ossicles from a specimen of morphospecies H. leucospilota collected from Teluk Nipah Beach, Pangkor Island; and to determine the shapes of the ossicles for species verification. A number of six ossicle shapes were observed. Beside buttons and tables as the common ossicle shapes; I-shaped rod, long I-shaped rod, branched rod, and spider-shaped rod were also documented. Nonetheless, the spider-shaped rod is an unusual ossicle shape in H. leucospilota as there was no previous record on it, thus it could be considered as a new finding. In summary, the results of this research indicate the uniqueness of the specimen of morphospecies H. leucospilota as a result of the presence of the spider-shaped rod. More studies with more samples, more morphological approaches as well as more molecular techniques need to be incorporated in future for a better insight.
The diversity of investment in Malaysia provides an excellent platform to gauge volatility. Malaysia as an emerging market with a rich Islamic culture serves as an inspiration to randomly model a portfolio of 50 Shariah compliant stock returns from 2015 to 2020. The systematic risk of a company’s stock returns is measured by computing the volatility and downside volatility for the said period. The Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) method is used to outline the risk levels of Shariah compliant stocks for the recent stipulated period. The results indicate a statistical difference between beta and downside beta for Shariah compliant portfolio. This signals investors to be cognisant of the semi-variant characteristics of returns in estimating volatility. Meanwhile, there is no significant difference in performance using the Sharpe and Sortino ratio on the beta and downside beta scores respectively. Consequently, this suggests that investors can always measure performance to a sufficient degree of accuracy regardless of their volatility choice.
Surface tension is a surface characteristic that is related to the forces of molecules residing at the interface. The presence of surface active substance in biological or body fluids which adsorb at interface influences the norm surface tension value. Such the changes indicate valuable signs in the medical field, particularly in pathological states. The conventional surface tension measurements suffered several flaws including lack of dynamic control and required a direct contact with the samples. The optical method seems to be attractive and useful in the surface phenomena owing to non-contact capabilities, non-destructive procedures and required a finite sample volume. In this paper, various optical techniques for surface tension measurement are reviewed and the potential applications regarding the surface tension through the meniscus formation are well discussed. This paper finds the simplicity and credibility of the optical method offers a good opportunity in fields such as medical and diagnostic analysis for monitoring applications.
Bone can heal on its own through the process known as bone remodelling. Nonetheless, a critical size bone defect will hinder the natural bone-healing process and may not allow for complete fracture healing. These requires surgical intervention by employing the use of bone tissue implants and in need of realignment and fixation for proper fracture healing. Traditional knowledge of bone injury and fracture healing must be comprehended thoroughly for a proper invention of bioengineered material or devices that could enhance the physiological process. Heretofore, engineered materials used to address critical size bone defects haveencounteredvarious challenges and improvement be it in bone grafting or choices of mechanicalstabilization devices. To date, researchers have been mainly focussingon the alternative material for bone graft substitutealbeit the selection of fixators to establish mechanical stabilization are as important. This review highlighted the challenges, improvement and advancement in mechanical stabilization devices and bone graft substitute with respect to the physiological process of bone fracture healing. Identifying these challenges would helpassist theresearcher in an expedition toward the recovery and restoration of critical size bone defects.
Background/Aims: Date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, is mentioned 27 times in the Holy Quran and is considered a prophetic food. Islamic scripture together with Jewish and Christian holy texts refers to date palm fruit as having many beneficial effects on health including medicinal properties. This study aims to characterize scientific studies on date palm fruit relating to human health in published scientific literature. Methods: Five major scientific databases of published literature were searched for papers relating to the effects of date palm on human health. A scientometric analysis was then performed on the studies obtained. Results: Analysis of 270 relevant papers revealed a lack of human subject studies despite numerous papers reporting beneficial nutritional properties and promising results from animal studies. Saudi Arabia leads global research output on this topic. Conclusion: Further research should be supported to advance knowledge useful to local populations, especially in Islamic countries where the widely accessible date palm fruit can confer many potential health benefits.
This study was conducted to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics and to determine the degree of consumer preference of fish burgers produced with different level of Black Tilapia surimi paste and potato flour. Five formulation of fish burgers with different percentage of Black Tilapia surimi paste to potato flour were formulated as follows: Control=70:10; A=62:18; B=66:14; C=74:6; D=78:2. The fish burgers were analysed for their colour, cooking loss, texture, pH, water holding capacity, and folding test as well as the proximate composition. Hedonic test was also carried out to evaluate the consumer preference of the fish burgers. In term of colour, raw fish burgers of formulation A was the highest (P
Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are a highly versatile compound to be used in sensing components due to their unique physicochemical and optical properties. Due to its flexibility for surface conjugation, glutathione disulfide-linked gold nanoparticle (AuNP-GSSG) was produced in this study to assess its sensing performance as a colorimetric sensor for human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG). Spectroscopic characterization of AuNP-GSSG confirmed the conjugation of GSSG onto the surfaceofAuNPs.AuNP-GSSGalsoshowedhighsensoryperformancewithgoodlinearityandlowdetectionlimit.However,due to the high percentage of interference, usage of AuNP-GSSG as an HCG sensor requires further pre-treatment step to reduce the interference and increase the sensoraccuracy.