Search results for: Syed Mohd Ahmad

Authors: Elham Moniri, Homayon Ahmad Panahi, Mitra Hoseini

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In this research, clinoptilolite zeolite was prepared. The zeolite was characterized by fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy. Then the effects of various parameters on Cr(III) sorption such as pH, contact time were studied. The optimum pH value for sorption of Cr(III) was 6 respectively. The sorption capacity of zeolite for Cr(III) were 7.9 mg g−1. A recovery of 89% was obtained for the metal ions with 0.5 M nitric acid as the eluting agent. The effects of interfering ions on Cr(III) sorption was also investigated. The profile of Cr(III) uptake on this sorbent reflects a good accessibility of the chelating sites in the clinoptilolite zeolite. The developed method was utilized for the determination of Cr(III) in environmental water samples by flame atomic absorption spectrometry with satisfactory results.

Keywords: clinoptilolite zeolite, chromium, environmental sample, determination

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Authors: Ishtiaq Wahid, Masood Ahmad, Nighat Ayub, Sajad Ali

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Lifetime of a wireless sensor network (WSN) is directly proportional to the energy consumption of its constituent nodes. Routing in wireless sensor network is very challenging due its inherit characteristics. In hierarchal routing the sensor filed is divided into clusters. The cluster-heads are selected from each cluster, which forms a hierarchy of nodes. The cluster-heads are used to transmit the data to the base station while other nodes perform the sensing task. In this way the lifetime of the network is increased. In this paper a comparative study of hierarchal routing protocols are conducted. The simulation is done in NS-2 for validation.

Keywords: WSN, cluster, routing, sensor networks

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Authors: Arifa Batool, Ghulam Hussain Bhatti, Syed Mujtaba Shah

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Inorganic n-type (TiO2, CdO) and p-type (NiO, CuO) metal oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by a facile wet chemical method at room temperature. The morphological, compositional, structural and optical properties were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD analysis, UV/Visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. All semiconducting nanoparticles were photosensitized with Ru (II) based Z907 dye in ethanol solvent by grafting. Grafting of dye on the surface of nanoparticles was confirmed by UV/Visible and FT-IR spectroscopy. The synthesized photo-active nanohybrid was thoroughly blended with P3HT, a solid electrolyte and I-V measurements under solar stimulated radiations 1000 W/m2 (AM 1.5) were recorded. Maximum incident photon to current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 0.9% was achieved with dye functionalized Z907-TiO2 hybrid, IPCE of 0.72% was achieved with bulk-heterojunction of TiO2-Z907-CuO and IPCE of 0.68% was attained with nanocomposite of TiO2-CdO. TiO2 based Solar cells have maximum Jscvalue i.e.4.63 mA/cm2. Dye-functionalized TiO2-based photovoltaic devices were found more efficient than the reference device but the morphology of the device was a major check in progress.

Keywords: solar cell, bulk heterojunction, nanocomposites, photosensitization, dye sensitized solar cell

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Authors: Sharifah M. Syed Mohsin, Sayid J. Azimi, Abdoullah Namdar

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The present article reports the findings of a study into the behavior of oil palm shell reinforced concrete (OPSRC) beams with the addition of kenaf fibres. The work aim is to examine the potential of using kenaf fibres to improve the strength and ductility of the OPSRC beams and also observe its potential in serving as part of shear reinforcement in the beams. Two different arrangements of the shear links in OPSRC beams with a selection of kenaf fibres (amount of [10kg/m] ^3 and [20kg/m] ^3) content are tested under monotonic loading. In the first arrangement, the kenaf fibres are added to the beam which has full shear reinforcement to study the structural behavior of OPSRC beams with fibres. In the second arrangement, the spacing between the shear links in the OPSRC beams are increased by 50% and experimental work is carried out to study the effect of kenaf fibres without compromising the beams strength and ductility. The results show that the addition of kenaf fibres enhanced the load carrying capacity, ductility and also altered the failure mode of the beams from a brittle shear mode to a flexural ductile one. Furthermore, the study depicts that kenaf fibres are compatible with OPSRC and suggest prospective results.

Keywords: oil palm shell reinforced concrete, kenaf fibres, peak strength, ductility

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Authors: Wang Yanping Karen, Mohd Rafeah Siti, Park MI Kyoung

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Formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue is important in the area of oncological diagnostics. This method of preserving tissues enabling them to be stored easily at ambient temperature for a long time. This decreases the risk of losing the DNA quantity and quality after extraction, reducing sample wastage, and making FFPE more cost effective. However, extracting DNA from FFPE tissue is a challenge as DNA purified is often highly cross-linked, fragmented, and degraded. In addition, this causes problems for many downstream processes. In this study, there will be a comparison of DNA extraction efficiency between One BioMed’s Xceler8 automated platform with commercial available extraction kits (Qiagen and Roche). The FFPE tissue slices were subjected to deparaffinization process, pretreatment and then DNA extraction using the three mentioned platforms. The DNA quantity were determined with real-time PCR (BioRad CFX ) and gel electrophoresis. The amount of DNA extracted with the One BioMed’s X8 platform was found to be comparable with the other two manual extraction kits.

Keywords: DNA extraction, FFPE tissue, qiagen, roche, one biomed X8

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Authors: Shafqat Wahab, Waseem Tahir, Manzoor Ahmad, Sarfraz Khan, M. Azam

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Optimization and analysis of tool flank wear width and surface finish of alloy steel rods are studied in the presence of cryogenic media (LN2) by using Tungsten Carbide Insert (CNMG 120404- WF 4215). Robust design concept of Taguchi L9(34) method and ANOVA is applied to determine the contribution of key cutting parameters and their optimum conditions. Through analysis, it revealed that cryogenic impact is more significant in reduction of the tool flank wear width while surface finish is mostly dependent on feed rate.

Keywords: turning, cryogenic fluid, liquid nitrogen, flank wear, surface roughness, taguchi

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Authors: Mazharuddin Syed Ahmed

Abstract:

This research presents a framework used to develop The Ara Polytechnic College of Architecture Studies building “Kahukura” which is Green Building certified. This framework integrates the development of a smart building digital twin by utilizing Building Information Modelling (BIM) and its BIM maturity levels, including Levels of Development (LOD), eight dimensions of BIM, Heritage-BIM (H-BIM) and Facility Management BIM (FM BIM). The research also outlines a structured approach to building performance analysis and integration with the circular economy, encapsulated within a five-level digital twin framework. Starting with Level 1, the Descriptive Twin provides a live, editable visual replica of the built asset, allowing for specific data inclusion and extraction. Advancing to Level 2, the Informative Twin integrates operational and sensory data, enhancing data verification and system integration. At Level 3, the Predictive Twin utilizes operational data to generate insights and proactive management suggestions. Progressing to Level 4, the Comprehensive Twin simulates future scenarios, enabling robust “what-if” analyses. Finally, Level 5, the Autonomous Twin, represents the pinnacle of digital twin evolution, capable of learning and autonomously acting on behalf of users.

Keywords: building information modelling, circular economy integration, digital twin, predictive analytics

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Authors: Sanam Pudasaini, A. T. K. Perera, Ahmed Syed Shaheer Uddin, Sum Huan Ng, Chun Yang

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Development of high-efficiency and environment friendly bacterial inactivation methods is of great importance for preventing waterborne diseases which are one of the leading causes of death in the world. Traditional bacterial inactivation methods (e.g., ultraviolet radiation and chlorination) have several limitations such as longer treatment time, formation of toxic byproducts, bacterial regrowth, etc. Recently, an electroporation-based inactivation method was introduced as a substitute. Here, an electroporation-based continuous flow microfluidic device equipped with an array of micropillars is developed, and the device achieved high bacterial inactivation performance ( > 99.9%) within a short exposure time ( < 1 s). More than 99.9% reduction of Escherichia coli bacteria was obtained for the flow rate of 1 mL/hr, and no regrowth of bacteria was observed. Images from scanning electron microscope confirmed the formation of electroporation-induced nano-pore within the cell membrane. Through numerical simulation, it has been shown that sufficiently large electric field strength (3 kV/cm), required for bacterial electroporation, were generated using PDMS micropillars for an applied voltage of 300 V. Further, in this method of inactivation, there is no involvement of chemicals and the formation of harmful by-products is also minimum.

Keywords: electroporation, high-efficiency, inactivation, microfluidics, micropillar

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Authors: Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Vasilis Peristeras, Ioannis Magnisalis

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Organizations, including governments, generate (big) data that are high in volume, velocity, veracity, and come from a variety of sources. Public Administrations are using (big) data, implementing base registries, and enforcing data sharing within the entire government to deliver (big) data related integrated services, provision of insights to users, and for good governance. Government (Big) data ecosystem actors represent distinct entities that provide data, consume data, manipulate data to offer paid services, and extend data services like data storage, hosting services to other actors. In this research work, we perform a systematic literature review. The key objectives of this paper are to propose a robust definition of government (big) data ecosystem and a classification of government (big) data ecosystem actors and their roles. We showcase a graphical view of actors, roles, and their relationship in the government (big) data ecosystem. We also discuss our research findings. We did not find too much published research articles about the government (big) data ecosystem, including its definition and classification of actors and their roles. Therefore, we lent ideas for the government (big) data ecosystem from numerous areas that include scientific research data, humanitarian data, open government data, industry data, in the literature.

Keywords: big data, big data ecosystem, classification of big data actors, big data actors roles, definition of government (big) data ecosystem, data-driven government, eGovernment, gaps in data ecosystems, government (big) data, public administration, systematic literature review

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Authors: Syed Khurram Mahmud, Athar Naveed, Shoaib Arif

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Beamforming is a signal processing technique extensively utilized in wireless communications and radars for desired signal intensification and interference signal minimization through spatial selectivity. In this paper, we present a method for calculation of optimal weight vectors for smart antenna array, to achieve a directive pattern during transmission and selective reception in interference prone environment. In proposed scheme, Mutual Information (MI) extrema are evaluated through an energy constrained objective function, which is based on a-priori information of interference source and desired array factor. Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) performance is evaluated for both transmission and reception. In our scheme, MI is presented as an index to identify trade-off between information gain, SINR, illumination time and spatial selectivity in an energy constrained optimization problem. The employed method yields lesser computational complexity, which is presented through comparative analysis with conventional methods in vogue. MI based beamforming offers enhancement of signal integrity in degraded environment while reducing computational intricacy and correlating key performance indicators.

Keywords: beamforming, interference, mutual information, wireless communications

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Authors: Shahbaz Ahmad, Muhammad Ali, Sahar Naz

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Corm rot is caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. gladioli and it causes remarkable losses to the growers. Experiment was conducted in order to find some viable recommendations for this agronomically as well as economically important problem. Four fungicides, namely Carbendazim, Mancozeb, Thiophanate methyl and Chlorothalonil were used to control corm rot in gladiolus field. Fungicides were applied singly as foliar, in irrigation as well as with sulphuric acid in variable doses. The results revealed that application of all fungicides was variably effective to control corm rot in acid mixed irrigation followed by fungicide in irrigation. The application of all fungicides in various combinations was observed to be ineffective at all three doses.

Keywords: gladiolus, corm rot, Fusarium oxysporum, fungicides

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Authors: H. Mohammadi Aliabadi, M. S. Mansouri

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The effect of two different transplanting date (March and November) in five pistachio cultivars ('Ahmad Aghaei', 'Akbri', Momtaz', 'Ghazvini', and 'Ohadi') were evaluated in Rafsanjan Azad University, Iran. Seeds were planted in plastic bags in March 2012. The seedlings were transplanted to a field in November 2012 and March 2013. Vegetative growing factors such as plant length, stem diameter, number of leaves and fresh and dry weight were measured in date. The results obtained from collected data indicated that no significant differences were found for the traits of interest. Therefore, growers should not be concerned regarding these two transplanting dates.

Keywords: pistachio, seedling, success rate, transplanting date

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Authors: Chiau Yuan Lim, Hayyiratul Fatimah Mohd Zaid, Fai Kait Chong

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Deep Eutectic Solvent (DES) is used in various applications due to its simplicity in synthesis procedure, biodegradable, inexpensive and easily available chemical ingredients. Graphene Oxide is a popular catalyst that being used in various processes due to its stacking carbon sheets in layer which theoretically rapid up the catalytic processes. In this study, choline chloride based DESs were synthesized and ChCl-PEG(1:4) was found to be the most effective DES in performing desulfurization, which it is able to remove up to 47.4% of the sulfur content in the model oil in just 10 minutes, and up to 95% of sulfur content after repeat the process for six times. ChCl-PEG(1:4) able to perform up to 32.7% desulfurization on real diesel after 6 multiple stages. Thus, future research works should focus on removing the impurities on real diesel before utilising DESs in petroleum field.

Keywords: choline chloride, deep eutectic solvent, fuel desulfurization, graphene oxide

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Authors: Mohamed N. Al-Arifi, Hessa Othman Al-Husein, Mostafa Q. Al Shamiri, Ragab Said, Syed Wajid, Salmeen D. Babelghaith

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Polypharmacy was defined as a taking more than 4 medications per single patients (minor polypharmacy), patients who are taking more than 10 medications we considered as a major polypharmacy. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly Saudi cardiac patient. A retrospective observational study was carried out at the department of CCU and cardiology unit of the King Fahad cardiac centre (KFCC) in King Khalid university hospital from May 2012 to October 2012. All Parameters was analyzed by using Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) to conclude the result; tests of association were performed using the chi-square statistic. The mean age of patients was 70.1 ± 7.75 years, more than half 83 (51.6%) were males. The highest frequency of chronic diseases found were hypertension (91.0%) followed by, dyslipidemia (74.9%), and diabetes mellitus. Results showed that 82% had polypharmacy (>4 drugs) during the study period, and 47.9% had major polypharmacy. The incidence of inappropriate drug use was found to be higher with men than female (p = 0.984). In conclusion, this study revealed that high prevalence of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medications in elderly Saudi cardiac inpatients.

Keywords: cardiac inpatients, medications, polypharmacy, prevalence

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Authors: Nur Suraya Anis Ahmad Bakhtiar, Hazizan Md Akil

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In the present work, the dielectric properties of Epoxy/MWCNTs-muscovite HYBRID and MIXED composites based on ratio 30:70 were studies. The multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared by two method; (a) muscovite-MWCNTs hybrids were synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and (b) physically mixing of muscovite with MWCNTs. The effect of different preparations of the composites and filler loading was evaluated. It is revealed that the dielectric constants of HYBRID epoxy composites are slightly higher compared to MIXED epoxy composites. It is also indicated that the dielectric constant increased by increases the MWCNTs filler loading.

Keywords: muscovite, epoxy, dielectric properties, hybrid composite

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Authors: Maged Syed Ahamd, Manal Mohamed Yasser, Essam Sholkamy

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In this paper, we reported that selenium (Se) nanoparticles were firstly biosynthesized with a simple and eco-friendly biological method. Their shape, size, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy), UV–vis spectra, TEM (Transmission Electron Microscopy) images and EDS (Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy) pattern have been analyzed. TEM analyses of the samples obtained at different stages indicated that the formation of these Se nanostructures was governed by an incubation time (12- 24- 48 hours). The Se nanoparticles were initially generated and then would transform into crystal seeds for the subsequent growth of nanowires; however obtaining stable Se nanowire with a diameter of about 15-100 nm. EDS shows that Se nanoparticles are entirely pure. The IR spectra showed the peaks at 550 cm-1, 1635 cm-1, 1994 cm-1 and 3430 cm-1 correspond to the presence of Se-O bending and stretching vibrations. The concentrations of Se-NPs (0, 1, 2, 5 µg/ml) did not give significantly effect on both two cell lines while the highest concentrations (10- 100 µg/ml gave significantly effects on them. The lethal dose (ID50%) of Se-NPs on Hep2 G and MCF-7 cells was obtained at 75.96 and 61.86 µg/ml, respectively. Results showed that Se nanoparticles as anticancer agent against MCF-7 cells were more effective than Hep2 G cells. Our results suggest that Se-NPs may be a candidate for further evaluation as a chemotherapeutic agent for breast and liver cancers.

Keywords: selenium nanoparticle, Streptomyces bikiniensis, nanowires, chemotherapeutic agent

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Authors: Nathasa Mazna Ramli, Nurul Husna Mohd Salleh, Nurul Aini Muhamed

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This study focuses on the governance of an Islamic philanthropic institution in Malaysia. Specifically, the internal governance structure of corporate Islamic endowment, or waqf, is being analysed. The purposes of waqf are to provide continuous charity that could generate perpetual income flow for the needy. This study is based on the principle of MCCG 2012, Shariah Governance Framework and charity governance. This study utilises publicly available data to examine the internal governance structure of a corporate waqf. This study finds that the Islamic philanthropic Institution practices, to some extent, have a sound governance structure to discharge their transparency and accountability. Furthermore, findings also showed that though governance structure is in place, most of the structures are not disclosed in the annual reports of the company. Findings from the study could extend the knowledge in these areas and stimulate further research on the governance of Islamic philanthropic institutions, particularly for corporate waqf.

Keywords: accountability, governance, Islamic philanthropic, corporate waqf

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Authors: Oloruntoba Kayode, Mohd Hisyam Rasidi, Ismail Said

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This study investigates the influence of public space in developing social cohesion among residents in science cities. The study takes into consideration the need for social cohesion in knowledge-based development and focuses on Cyberjaya Malaysia being a science city that is characterized by public spaces. As such, we adopted validated measuring tools for this study we developed a theoretical framework that links public space utilization with people's social cohesion. A total of 211 survey questions were administered by the residents in the study area on public space utilization and their social cohesion potentials. The research framework was validated to confirm its fit using structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings indicated that the observed public space utilization variables significantly influenced people's social cohesion, while group social ties have a positive influence on their collective minds.

Keywords: public space, social cohesion, knowledge-based development, theoretical framework

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Authors: M. Kislu Noman, Syed Mohammed Shamsul Islam, Shahriar Hassan, Raihana Pervin

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With the increasing rate of wireless devices and high bandwidth operations, wireless networking and communications are becoming over crowded. To cope with such crowdy and messy situation, massive MIMO is designed to work with hundreds of low costs serving antennas at a time as well as improve the spectral efficiency at the same time. TDD has been used for gaining beamforming which is a major part of massive MIMO, to gain its best improvement to transmit and receive pilot sequences. All the benefits are only possible if the channel state information or channel estimation is gained properly. The common methods to estimate channel matrix used so far is LS, MMSE and a linear version of MMSE also proposed in many research works. We have optimized these methods using genetic algorithm to minimize the mean squared error and finding the best channel matrix from existing algorithms with less computational complexity. Our simulation result has shown that the use of GA worked beautifully on existing algorithms in a Rayleigh slow fading channel and existence of Additive White Gaussian Noise. We found that the GA optimized LS is better than existing algorithms as GA provides optimal result in some few iterations in terms of MSE with respect to SNR and computational complexity.

Keywords: channel estimation, LMMSE, LS, MIMO, MMSE

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Authors: Tengku Farah Petri Tengku Mahmood, Shameem Rafik-Galea, Zalina Mohd Kasim, Norlijah Othman

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Childhood vaccination programme is mandatory in Malaysia. However, the decision to vaccinate or not vaccinate children is still left to the parents. Presently, there are parents who are opting out of vaccination claiming that it causes autism and other chronic disorders despite inconclusive evidence. There appears to be a dangerous trend among some Malaysian parents to not vaccinate their children and to not participate in the childhood vaccination programme. This study presents preliminary findings of parental discourse on childhood vaccination programme through the perspective of the Integrated Threat Theory. An in-depth interview was carried out to investigate a parent’s concern of the effects of childhood vaccination on children. A thematic discourse analysis was used to analyse the transcribed data. The emerging themes based on the analysis and their relevance to our understanding of a parent’s concerns of the effects of childhood vaccination on children are discussed.

Keywords: case study, parental discourse, thematic discourse analysis, childhood vaccination

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Authors: Mohd Akram Shair Mohamad

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The relation to the infinite variety issues sprouting in sports or lex sportiva, like lex mercatoria in the early centuries, has now come of age and even begun a maturing process in the past thirty-five years or so. Lex sportiva now straddles sports management, sports medicine, tort, criminal law, employment contract, competition law and a host of multifarious activities related to sports. This has catapulted a host of legal issue and problems, demanding urgent legal solutions to actual or potential disputes. This paper discusses the nature and development of lex sportiva, and how it is able to resolve sports disputes. Resolving sports dispute via the tiresome, dilatory and expensive process of litigation is most unsuitable. Arbitration may not be equally a satisfactory solution. The paper strongly advocates the far the most effective and resolution friendly mode of settling sports disputes namely, mediation. In support it highlights numerous advantages mediation has to offer and with reference to many significant sports disputes which had been successfully resolved via mediation.

Keywords: alternative dispute resolution, mediation, arbitration, litigation

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Authors: Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah, Vasilis Peristeras, Ioannis Magnisalis

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Data that is high in volume, velocity, veracity and comes from a variety of sources is usually generated in all sectors including the government sector. Globally public administrations are pursuing (big) data as new technology and trying to adopt a data-centric architecture for hosting and sharing data. Properly executed, big data and data analytics in the government (big) data ecosystem can be led to data-driven government and have a direct impact on the way policymakers work and citizens interact with governments. In this research paper, we conduct a systematic literature review. The main aims of this paper are to highlight essential aspects of the government (big) data ecosystem and to explore the most critical socio-technical factors that contribute to the successful implementation of government (big) data ecosystem. The essential aspects of government (big) data ecosystem include definition, data types, data lifecycle models, and actors and their roles. We also discuss the potential impact of (big) data in public administration and gaps in the government data ecosystems literature. As this is a new topic, we did not find specific articles on government (big) data ecosystem and therefore focused our research on various relevant areas like humanitarian data, open government data, scientific research data, industry data, etc.

Keywords: applications of big data, big data, big data types. big data ecosystem, critical success factors, data-driven government, egovernment, gaps in data ecosystems, government (big) data, literature review, public administration, systematic review

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Authors: Ahsan Ahmed, Ming Lu, Syed Zaidi, Farhan Khan

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The Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) method has been proposed as the solution to tackle complexity and fragmentation in the real world while addressing the construction industry’s growing needs for productivity and sustainability. Although the private sector has taken the initiative in implementing IPD and taken advantage of new technology such as building information modeling (BIM) in delivering projects, IPD remains less known and rarely used in public sector construction. The focus of this paper is set on the use of IPD in projects in public sector, which is potentially complemented by the use of analytical functionalities for workface planning and construction oriented design enabled by recent research advances in BIM. Experiences and lessons learned from implementing IPD in the private sector and in BIM-based construction automation research would play a vital role in reducing barriers and eliminating issues in connection with project delivery in the public sector. The paper elaborates issues challenges, contractual relationships and the interactions throughout the planning, design and construction phases in the context of implementing IPD on construction projects in the public sector. A slab construction case is used as a ‘sandbox’ model to elaborate (1) the ideal way of communication, integration, and collaboration among all the parties involved in project delivery in planning and (2) the execution of projects by using IDP principles and optimization, simulation analyses.

Keywords: integrated project delivery, IPD, building information modeling, BIM

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Authors: Siti Rohana Mohd Yatim, Ku Halim Ku Hamid, Kamariah Noor Ismail, Zulkifli Abdul Rashid

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The aim of this study is to investigate odour emission profiles from storage of food waste and to assess the potential health risk caused by exposure to volatile compounds. Food waste decomposition process was conducted for 14 days and kept at 20°C and 30°C in self-made bioreactor. VOCs emissions from both samples were collected at different stages of decomposition starting at day 0, day 1, day 3, day 5, day 7, day 10, day 12 and day 14. It was analyzed using TD-GC/MS. Findings showed that various VOCs were released during decomposition of food waste. Compounds produced were influenced by time, temperature and the physico-chemical characteristics of the compounds. The most abundant compound released was dimethyl disulfide. Potential health risk of exposure to this compound is represented by hazard ratio, HR, calculated at 1.6 x 1011. Since HR equal to or less than 1.0 is considered negligible risk, this indicates that the compound posed a potential risk to human health.

Keywords: volatile organic compounds, decomposition process, food waste, health risk

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Authors: Norhayati Mohd Rasip, Abd. Samad Hasan Basari , Nuzulha Khilwani Ibrahim, Burairah Hussin

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The allocation of working schedule especially for shift environment is hard to fulfill its fairness among them. In the case of nurse scheduling, to set up the working time table for them is time consuming and complicated, which consider many factors including rules, regulation and human factor. The scenario is more complicated since most nurses are women which have personnel constraints and maternity leave factors. The undesirable schedule can affect the nurse productivity, social life and the absenteeism can significantly as well affect patient's life. This paper aimed to enhance the scheduling process by utilizing the particle swarm optimization in order to solve nurse scheduling problem. The result shows that the generated multiple initial schedule is fulfilled the requirements and produces the lowest cost of constraint violation.

Keywords: nurse scheduling, particle swarm optimisation, nurse rostering, hard and soft constraint

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Authors: Nur Ashida Salim, Muhammad Murtadha Othman, Ismail Musirin, Mohd Salleh Serwan

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Over the past few decades, the power system industry in many developing and developed countries has gone through a restructuring process of the industry where they are moving towards a deregulated power industry. This situation will lead to competition among the generation and distribution companies to achieve a certain objective which is to provide quality and efficient production of electric energy, which will reduce the price of electricity. Therefore it is important to obtain an accurate value of the Available Transfer Capability (ATC) and Transmission Reliability Margin (TRM) in order to ensure the effective power transfer between areas during the occurrence of uncertainties in the system. In this paper, the TRM and ATC is determined by taking into consideration the uncertainties of the system operating condition and system cascading collapse by applying the bootstrap technique. A case study of the IEEE RTS-79 is employed to verify the robustness of the technique proposed in the determination of TRM and ATC.

Keywords: available transfer capability, bootstrap technique, cascading collapse, transmission reliability margin

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Authors: Muhammad Khairul Anuar Mohamed, Mohd Zuki Salleh, Anuar Ishak, Nor Aida Zuraimi Md Noar

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In this study, the numerical investigation of viscous dissipation on convective boundary layer flow towards a horizontal circular cylinder with constant wall temperature is considered. The transformed partial differential equations are solved numerically by using an implicit finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical solutions are obtained for the reduced Nusselt number and the skin friction coefficient as well as the velocity and temperature profiles. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics for various values of the Prandtl number and Eckert number are analyzed and discussed. The results in this paper is original and important for the researchers working in the area of boundary layer flow and this can be used as reference and also as complement comparison purpose in future.

Keywords: free convection, horizontal circular cylinder, viscous dissipation, convective boundary layer flow

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Authors: Rosilah Hassan, Karam Dhafer Mayoof, Norngainy Mohd Tawil, Shamshubaridah Ramlee

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Application of adaptive online quiz system and a design are performed in this paper. The purpose of adaptive quiz system is to establish different questions automatically for each student and measure their competence on a definite area of discipline. This model determines students competencies in cases like distant-learning which experience challenges frequently. Questions are specialized to allow clear deductions about student gains; they are able to identify student competencies more effectively. Also, negative effects of questions requiring higher knowledge than competency over student’s morale and self-confidence are dismissed. The advantage of the system in the quiz management requires less total time for measuring and is more flexible. Self sufficiency of the system in terms of repeating, planning and assessment of the measurement process allows itself to be used in the individual education sets. Adaptive quiz technique prevents students from distraction and motivation loss, which is led by the questions with quite lower hardness level than student’s competency.

Keywords: e-learning, adaptive system, security, quiz database

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Authors: Azli Bin Ariffin, Noor Amy Afiza Binti Mohd Yusof

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This study aims to identify effect of social network usage on the self-learning method in teaching and learning at Sultan Idris Education University. The study involved 270 respondents consisting of students in the pre-graduate and post-graduate levels from nine fields of study offered. Assessment instrument used is questionnaire which measures respondent’s background includes level of study, years of study and field of study. Also measured the extent to which social pages used for self-learning and effect received when using social network for self-learning in learning process. The results of the study showed that students always visit Facebook more than other social sites. But, it is not for the purpose of self-learning. Analyzed data showed that 45.5% students not sure about using social sites for self-learning. But they realize the positive effect that they will received when use social sites for self-learning to improve teaching and learning process when 72.7% respondent agreed with all the statements provided.

Keywords: facebook, self-learning, social network, teaching, learning

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Authors: Muhammad Maqsood, Yasir Nawab, Syed Talha Ali Hamdani

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Stretchable fabrics have diverse applications ranging from casual apparel to performance sportswear and compression therapy. Compression therapy is the universally accepted treatment for the management of hypertrophic scarring after severe burns. Mostly stretchable knitted fabrics are used in compression therapy but in the recent past, some studies have also been found on bi-stretch woven fabrics being used as compression garments as they also have been found quite effective in the treatment of oedema. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to compare the compression properties of stretchable knitted and bi-stretch woven fabrics for compression garments. For this purpose four woven structures and four knitted structures were produced having the same areal density and their compression, comfort and mechanical properties were compared before and after 5, 10 and 15 washes. Four knitted structures used were single jersey, single locaste, plain pique and the honeycomb, whereas four woven structures produced were 1/1 plain, 2/1 twill, 3/1 twill and 4/1 twill. The compression properties of the produced samples were tested by using kikuhime pressure sensor and it was found that bi-stretch woven fabrics possessed better compression properties before and after washes and retain their durability after repeated use, whereas knitted stretchable fabrics lost their compression ability after repeated use and the required sub garment pressure of the knitted structures after 15 washes was almost half to that of woven bi-stretch fabrics.

Keywords: compression garments, knitted structures, medical textiles, woven bi-stretch

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