Search results for: Mohd Hassan Abdullah

Authors: Noha Ibrahim, Eman S. Elzanfaly, Said A. Hassan, Ahmed E. El Gendy

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Objectives: The purpose of the study is to develop a sensitive synchronous spectrofluorimetric method with multivariate calibration after studying and optimizing the different variables affecting the native fluorescence intensity of amlodipine and olmesartan implementing an experimental design approach. Method: In the first step, the fractional factorial design used to screen independent factors affecting the intensity of both drugs. The objective of the second step was to optimize the method performance using a Central Composite Face-centred (CCF) design. The optimal experimental conditions obtained from this study were; a temperature of (15°C ± 0.5), the solvent of 0.05N HCl and methanol with a ratio of (90:10, v/v respectively), Δλ of 42 and the addition of 1.48 % surfactant providing a sensitive measurement of amlodipine and olmesartan. The resolution of the binary mixture with a multivariate calibration method has been accomplished mainly by using partial least squares (PLS) model. Results: The recovery percentage for amlodipine besylate and atorvastatin calcium in tablets dosage form were found to be (102 ± 0.24, 99.56 ± 0.10, for amlodipine and Olmesartan, respectively). Conclusion: Method is valid according to some International Conference on Harmonization (ICH) guidelines, providing to be linear over a range of 200-300, 500-1500 ng mL⁻¹ for amlodipine and Olmesartan. The methods were successful to estimate amlodipine besylate and olmesartan in bulk powder and pharmaceutical preparation.

Keywords: amlodipine, central composite face-centred design, experimental design, fractional factorial design, multivariate calibration, olmesartan

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Authors: Rasheed F. G., Hassan H. A., Shehu F. A., Mukhtar M. M., Muhammad Y. Y., Ibrahim S. S., Shehu D., Abdulsalam K., N. Abdullahi

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A cross sectional randomized, descriptive cross sectional study was conducted on the frequency of GSTT1 null alleles in patients diagnosed with type-2-diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 40 patients with T2DM and 10 non-diabetic controls were included in the study. GSTT1 null-alleles genotyping was carried out using multiplex PCR amplification to amplify GSTT1 gene (460bp) while using β-globulin (250bp) as an internal control. The results showed that 55% of T2DM patients had BMI within reference limits, 13% are overweight. Additionally, patients with T2DM were found to have significantly higher (p<0.05) serum levels of glucose, total cholesterol, triglyceride and low density lipoprotein. Furthermore, the presence of null genotype of GSTT1 (deletion in GSTT1) was observed in 28% of diabetic patients. Subjects with GSTT1 deletion have significantly higher (p<0.05) levels of serum glucose, low-density lipoprotein and total cholesterol when compared with individuals without deletion (diabetic and non-diabetic). This results suggests that the deletion of GSTT1 gene might serve as a predisposing factor in the development of T2DM and dyslipideamia

Keywords: diabetes, glutathione-S-transferase, lipid profile, PCR, polymorphism.

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Authors: Abdullah Arafat, Ali Al-Farhan, Amir Omair

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Objectives: To review and assess the effectiveness of the implemented modified five-levels triage and acuity scale triage system in AL-Yarmook Urgent Care Center (UCC), King Abdulaziz Residential city, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Method: The applied study design was an observational cross sectional design. A data collection sheet was designed and distributed to triage nurses; the data collection was done during triage process and was directly observed by the co-investigator. Triage system was reviewed by measuring three time intervals as quality indicators: time before triage (TBT), time before being seen by physician (TBP) and total length of stay (TLS) taking in consideration timing of presentation and level of triage. Results: During the study period, a total of 187 patients were included in our study. 118 visits were at weekdays and 68 visits at weekends. Overall, 173 patients (92.5%) were seen by the physician in timely manner according to triage guidelines while 14 patients (7.5%) were not seen at appropriate time.Overall, The mean time before seen the triage nurse (TBT) was 5.36 minutes, the mean time to be seen by physician (TBP) was 22.6 minutes and the mean length of stay (TLS) was 59 minutes. The data didn’t showed significant increase in TBT, TBP, and number of patients not seen at the proper time, referral rate and admission rate during weekend. Conclusion: The CTAS is adaptable to countries beyond Canada and worked properly. The applied CTAS triage system in Al-Yarmook UCC is considered to be effective and well applied. Overall, urgent cases have been seen by physician in timely manner according to triage system and there was no delay in the management of urgent cases.

Keywords: CTAS, emergency, Saudi Arabia, triage, urgent care

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Authors: Sabir Hussain, Mujtaba Hassan, Kashif Rasool, Asif Shahzad

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Fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) was collected in Islamabad from November 2022 to January 2023, at urban sites. The average mass concentrations of PM2.5 varied, ranging from 90.5 to 133 μg m−3 in urban areas. Environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) analysis revealed that Islamabad's PM2.5 comprised soot aggregates, ashes, minerals, bio-particles, and unidentified particles. Results from inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) indicated a gradual increase in total elemental concentrations in Islamabad PM2.5 in winter, with relatively high levels in December. Significantly different elemental compositions were observed in urban PM2.5. Enrichment factor (EF) analysis suggested that elements such as K, Na, Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, Ba, and Sr were of natural origin, while As, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Mn, Ni, and Se originated from anthropogenic sources. Plasmid DNA assays demonstrated varying levels of potential toxicity in Islamabad PM2.5 collected from urban sites, as well as across different seasons. Notably, the urban winter PM2.5 sample exhibited much stronger toxicity compared to other samples. The presence of heavy metals in Islamabad PM2.5, including Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, Mn, and Ni, may have synergistic effects on human health.

Keywords: islamabad particulate matter pm2.5, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy(sem-eds), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy(ftir), inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy(icp-oes)

Procedia PDF Downloads 39

Authors: Ghulam Mustafa Kamal, Xiaohua Wang, Bin Yuan, Abdullah Ijaz Hussain, Jie Wang, Shahzad Ali Shahid Chatha, Xu Zhang, Maili Liu

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Organic food products are becoming increasingly popular in recent years, as consumers have turned more health conscious and environmentally aware. A lot of consumers have understood that the organic foods are healthier than conventionally produced food stuffs. Price difference between conventional and organic foods is very high. So, it is very common to cheat the consumers by mislabeling and adulteration. Our study describes the 1H NMR based approach to characterize and differentiate soy sauce prepared from organically and conventionally grown raw materials (wheat and soybean). Commercial soy sauce samples fermented from organic and conventional raw materials were purchased from local markets. Principal component analysis showed clear separation among organic and conventional soy sauce samples. Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis showed a significant (p < 0.01) separation among two types of soy sauce yielding leucine, isoleucine, ethanol, glutamate, lactate, acetate, β-glucose, sucrose, choline, valine, phenylalanine and tyrosine as important metabolites contributing towards this separation. Abundance ratio of 13C to 12C was also evaluated by 1H NMR spectroscopy which showed an increased ratio of 13C isotope in organic soy sauce samples indicating the organically grown wheat and soybean used for the preparation of organic soy sauce. Results of the study can be helpful to the end users to select the soy sauce of their choice. This information could also pave the way to further trace and authenticate the raw materials used in production of soy sauce.

Keywords: 1H NMR, multivariate analysis, organic, conventional, 13C isotopic ratio, soy sauce

Procedia PDF Downloads 245

Authors: Mohamed Muse Hassan

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Selling through the Internet is changing the norms of doing business globally. Today, selling and buying from the Internet is not only an option but the dominant form of shopping. But, this phenomenon is not thriving in the developing countries, mainly in Africa. Therefore, although previous studies focused on the e-retailers’ side, this study investigates the effect of consumer trust and online payment options on the awareness and perception of e-commerce in Africa. We developed a five-construct model and empirically tested the model by targeting professionals and college students who reside in Somalia. We employed structural equation modeling (SEM) technique for path analysis to probe answers for the variables under study. The main findings of the study show that there is significant evidence that online payment option impacts both the awareness level and perception of e-commerce in Somalia. Consumer trust was also found to determine both the awareness and perception of online shopping in the country. Moreover, the current global payment options available ignore local technologies popular in Africa. For example, the inclusion of a mobile payment option alone would make a big difference in Africa. The paper also determined that consumer trust toward online retailers is very low and this can be solved if consumers are given assurances for their financial transactions. The paper concludes that increased online payment options are needed in Somalia and, in Africa, in general. Limitations and further research suggestions are also included at the end of this paper.

Keywords: Africa, consumer trust, e-commerce, online payment

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Authors: Abdullah Malek, Muzn Al Khaldi, Lian Odeh, Atheer Tariq, Mohammad Al Fardan, Hiba Barqawi

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H. pylori bacterium is a known underlying agent for gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, and gastric cancer and is believed to infect half of the world’s population. Even with the ubiquity of H. pylori bacterium, there is lack of knowledge regarding its modes of transmission, associated diseases, carcinogenic effect and means of prevention; especially in the UAE. A cross sectional study of 500 participants, of which 58% (n= 289) of the respondents were female, and 42% (n=210) were male, was conducted in Sharjah to assess the knowledge, and explore the attitudes and practices among UAE residents towards Helicobacter Pylori and its associated PUD as well as its carcinogenic nature. A structured self-administered questionnaire was distributed to the target population to establish their demographic background and selected aspects of their lifestyle. General knowledge about H. Pylori was poor, only 24.6% stated they have heard of H. pylori. Attitudes towards prevention and practices were relatively poor as well. Subjects who suffered from severe symptoms (ALARM symptoms) had significantly lower habit scores than those with mild and moderate symptoms (p=0.0078**). To the authours’ knowledge, no previous studies were conducted in the United Arab Emirates regarding the epidemiology of the infection to detect the extent of H. Pylori’s impact on the public health. The results of this study can be used to draw conclusions about the average knowledge of the UAE population regarding H. pylori. It can also be a starting point to devise new education programs and campaigns that raise awareness of this health issue which could be easily avoided with early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment.

Keywords: chronic gastritis, community health, gastric cancer, Helicobacter pylori, peptic ulcers

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Authors: Salah Hassab Elnaby, Omnia Hamdy, Aziza Ahmed Hassan, Salwa Abdelkawi, Ibrahim Abdelhalim

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Laser corneal reshaping has been proposed as a successful treatment of many refraction disorders. However, some physical and chemical demonstrations of the laser effect upon interaction with the corneal tissue are still not fully explained. Therefore, different computational and mathematical models have been implemented to predict the depth of the ablated channel and calculate the ablation threshold and the local temperature rise. In the current paper, we present a modified model that aims to answer some of the open questions about the ablation threshold, the ablation rate, and the physical and chemical mechanisms of that action. The proposed model consists of three parts. The first part deals with possible photochemical reactions between the incident photons and various components of the cornea (collagen, water, etc.). Such photochemical reactions may end by photo-ablation or just the electronic excitation of molecules. Then a chemical reaction is responsible for the ablation threshold. Finally, another chemical reaction produces fragments that can be cleared out. The model takes into account all processes at the same time with different probabilities. Moreover, the effect of applying different laser wavelengths that have been studied before, namely the common excimer laser (193-nm) and the solid state lasers (213-nm & 266-nm), has been investigated. Despite the success and ubiquity of the ArF laser, the presented results reveal that a carefully designed 213-nm laser gives the same results with lower operational drawbacks. Moreover, the use of mode locked laser could also decrease the risk of heat generation and diffusion.

Keywords: UV lasers, mathematical model, corneal ablation, photochemical ablation

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Authors: Asaduzzaman Rimon, Pankaj Kumar Jha, Abdullah Al Mansur, Mohammad Mofizul Islam, Nasrin Sultana Juyena, Farida Yeasmin Bari

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This study was conducted to determine the effects of multi-species skim milk based extenders on sperm quality at 5ºC with the advancement of preservation time. Altogether forty ejaculates, 8 ejaculates for each of the 5 home-made semen extenders: cow skim milk (CSM), goat skim milk (GSM), sheep skim milk (SSM), buffalo skim milk (BSM) and commercial dried skim milk (CDSM) were examined for motility, plasma membrane integrity and normal morphology % of sperm at 0, 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, respectively. Sperm motility was significantly decreased (P < 0.05) with the increase of preservation time. There were no significant difference in motility % among CSM (84.0±1.4, 82.3±2.1), GSM (84.5±1.0, 82.5±0.6) and CDSM (85.0±80.3±1.3) extenders at 0 and 24 hours, respectively. However, the motility in GSM extender was significantly higher than BSM, SSM and CDSM extender at 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours. The plasma membrane integrity % at 0 hour had no significant difference among the extenders. But, the plasma membrane integrity % in GSM (84.3±0.9, 81.8±1.3, 78.0±2.2, 74.8±0.5, 72.0±1.4) and CSM (82.8±0.5, 80.8±1.0, 78.0±1.4, 73.5±1.7, 70.3±0.5) extenders were significantly higher than BSM (81.0±1.4, 76.3±2.5, 72.5±1.7, 63.8±2.5, 54.0±4.6), SSM (78.5±1.5, 75.0±1.6, 71.5±2.4, 64.3±1.7, 56.5±2.4) and CDSM extenders (78.3±2.4, 75.8±3.9, 72.5±3.3, 64.8±1.0, 60.5±3.3) at 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, respectively. The sperm morphology % had no significant difference at 0 hour among the extenders but were significantly higher in GSM (83.0±0.8, 81.3±1.5, 79.3±1.3, 73.0±2.2, 70.3±1.3) and CSM (81.5±1.7, 79.3±1.5, 75.8±1.5, 70.3±1.3, 66.3±1.5) than BSM (79.0±1.2, 75.0±1.4, 69.5±1.7, 64.5±3.1, 56.8±2.2), SSM (79.8±1.3, 76.8±2.1, 71.3±3.0, 66.0±2.7, 60.3±4.5) and CDSM (80.0±1.6, 77.0±2.2, 72.0±2.5, 66.3±2.5, 62.0±4.0) extenders at 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hours, respectively. The motility, plasma membrane integrity and normal morphology % of sperm had shown no significant difference between GSM and CSM but were found to be higher in GSM extenders. In the end, we concluded from the above study that the goat milk based extenders (GSM) had optimum sperm preserving quality. However, further studies are required to validate followed by fertility rate.

Keywords: chilled semen, indigenous ram, multi-species skim milk based extenders, preservation

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Authors: Marwan Khalil Qader, Arshad Mohammad Abdullah

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Antimicrobial resistance is a major cause of significant morbidity and mortality globally. Seven plant extracts (Plantago mediastepposa, Quercusc infectoria, Punic granatum, Thymus lcotschyana, Ginger officeinals, Rhus angustifolia and Cinnamon) were collected from different regions of Kurdistan region of Iraq. These plants’ extracts were dissolved in absolute ethanol and distillate water, after which they were assayed in vitro as an antimicrobial activity against Candida tropicalis, Candida albicanus, Candida dublinensis, Candida krusei and Candida glabrata also against 2 Gram-positive (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) and 3 Gram-negative bacteria (Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsilla pneumonia). The antimicrobial activity was determined in ethanol extracts and distilled water extracts of these plants. The ethanolic extracts of Q. infectoria showed the maximum activity against all species of Candida fungus. The minimum inhibition zone of the Punic granatum ethanol extracts was 0.2 mg/ml for all microorganisms tested. Klebsilla pneumonia was the most sensitive bacterial strain to Quercusc infectoria and Rhus angustifolia ethanol extracts. Among both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria tested with MIC of 0.2 mg/ml, the minimum inhibition zone of Ginger officeinals D. W. extracts was 0.2 mg/mL against Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsilla pneumonia. The most sensitive bacterial strain to Thymus lcotschyana and Plantago mediastepposa D.W. extracts was S. aureus and E. coli.

Keywords: antimicrobial activity, pathogenic bacteria, plant extracts, chemical systems engineering

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Authors: Majid Alizadeh, Sina Nematizadeh, Hassan Esmailpour

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The mutual effects of hospitality and the environment are undeniable, so that the tourism industry has major harmful effects on the environment. Hotels, as one of the most important pillars of the hospitality industry, have significant effects on the environment. Green marketing is a promising strategy in response to the growing concerns about the environment. A green hotel marketing model was proposed using a grounded theory approach in the hotel industry. The study was carried out as a mixed method study. Data gathering in the qualitative phase was done through literature review and In-depth, semi-structured interviews with 10 experts in green marketing using snowball technique. Following primary analysis, open, axial, and selective coding was done on the data, which yielded 69 concepts, 18 categories and six dimensions. Green hotel (green product) was adopted as the core phenomenon. In the quantitative phase, data were gleaned using 384 questionnaires filled-out by hotel guests and descriptive statistics and Structural equation modeling (SEM) were used for data analysis. The results indicated that the mediating role of behavioral response between the ecological literacy, trust, marketing mix and performance was significant. The green marketing mix, as a strategy, had a significant and positive effect on guests’ behavioral response, corporate green image, and financial and environmental performance of hotels.

Keywords: green marketing, sustainable development, hospitality, grounded theory, structural equations model

Procedia PDF Downloads 48

Authors: Muhamad Iqbal Mubarak Faharul Azman, Azim Hilmy Mohd Yusof, Nur Azwin Ismail, Noer El Hidayah Ismail

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Landslides and rock falls are the examples of environmental and engineering problems in Malaysia. There are various methods that can be applied for the environmental and engineering problems but geophysical methods are seldom applied as the main investigation technique. This paper aims to study the slope stability by using 2-D resistivity method at Jalan Tun Sardon and Sungai Batu, Pulau Pinang. These areas are considered as highly potential for unstable slope in Penang Island based on recent cases of rockfall and landslide reported especially during raining season. At both study areas, resistivity values greater than 5000 ohm-m are detected and considered as the fresh granite. The weathered granite is indicated by resistivity value of 750-1500 ohm-m with depth of < 14 meters at Sungai Batu area while at Jalan Tun Sardon area, the weathered granite with resistivity values of 750-2000 ohm-m is found at depth < 14 meter at distance 0-90 meter but at distance of 95-150 meter, the weathered granite is found at depth < 26 meter. Saturated zone is detected only at Sungai Batu with resistivity value <250 ohm-m at distance 100-120 meter. A fracture is detected at distance about 70 meter at Jalan Tun Sardon area. Unstable slope is expected to be affected by the weathered granite that dominates the subsurface of the study areas along with triggering factor such as heavy rainfall.

Keywords: 2-D resistivity, environmental issue, landslide, slope stability

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Authors: Mohd Dahlan Abdul Malek, Muhamad Idris, Adi Fahrudin, Ida Shafinaz Mohamed Kamil, Husmiati Yusuf, Edeymend Reny Japil, Wan Anor Wan Sulaiman, Lailawati Madlan, Alfred Chan, Nurfarhana Adillah Aftar, Mahirah Masdin

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This research intended to develop a valid and reliable instrument of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) to measure satisfaction with life (SWL) constructs among public and private university students in Sabah, Malaysia, through the exploratory factor analysis (EFA) procedure. The pilot study obtained a sample of 108 students from public and private education institutions in Sabah, Malaysia, through an online survey using a self-administered questionnaire. The researchers performed the EFA procedure on SWL construct using IBM SPSS 25. The Bartletts' Test of Sphericity is highly significant (Sig. = .000). Furthermore, the sampling adequacy by Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO = 0.839) is excellent. Using the extraction method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax Rotation, a component of the SWL construct is extracted with an eigenvalue of 3.101. The variance explained for this component is 62.030%. The construct of SWL has Cronbach's alpha value of .817. The development scale and validation confirmed that the instrument is consistent and stable with both private and public college and university student samples. It adds a remarkable contribution to the measurement of SWLS, mainly in the context of higher education institution students. The EFA outcomes formed a configuration that extracts a component of SWL, which can be measured by the original five items established in this research. This research reveals that the SWL construct is applicable to this study.

Keywords: satisfaction, university students, measurement, scale development

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Authors: Hassan M. Albishri, Fatimah Al-Shehri, Deia Abd El-Hady

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Among the analytical techniques, reverse phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) is currently used in pharmaceutical industry. Ecofriendly analytical chemistry offers the advantages of decreasing the environmental impact with the advantage of increasing operator safety which constituted a topic of industrial interest. Recently, ionic liquids have been successfully used to reduce or eliminate the conventional organic toxic solvents. In the current work, a simple and ecofriendly ionic liquid modified RPLC (IL-RPLC) method has been firstly developed and compared with RPLC under acidic and neutral mobile phase conditions for simultaneous determination of atorvastatin-calcium, rosuvastatin and simvastatin. Several chromatographic effective parameters have been changed in a systematic way. Adequate results have been achieved by mixing ILs with ethanol as a mobile phase under neutral conditions at 1 mL/min flow rate on C18 column. The developed IL-RPLC method has been validated for the quantitative determination of drugs in pharmaceutical formulations. The method showed excellent linearity for analytes in a wide range of concentrations with acceptable precise and accurate data. The current IL-RPLC technique could have vast applications particularly under neutral conditions for simple and greener (bio)analytical applications of pharmaceuticals.

Keywords: ionic liquid, RPLC, anti-hyperlipidemic drugs, ecofriendly

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Authors: Muhammad Rafiq Shahid, Ali Hassan, Umm-e- Rubab, Muhammad Nadeem

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Insecticidal property of plant extracts was assessed toward dusky bug of cotton. Plant extracts consisted of bari pata (Ziziphus jajuba), Ak (Calotropis gigantean), Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), Bakine (Melia azedarach),Kanar (Nerium oleander),Kurtuma (Mitragyna speciosa) and one Control was also included with distilled water treatment. Forced feeding experiment was used to determine the antibiotic effect of bug plant extracts on dusky bug whereas Multi-choice experiment to determine the antixenosis/ repellent property of botanicals. It is evident from the results that mortality and antibiosis percentage of dusky bug due to the use of botanicals ranged from 15-95% and 20-87.3% respectively that was maximum in tobacoo extract followed by bakain and kurtama, minimum was on Ak, kanair and bakain extract. Non preference ranged from 14.28 to 85.7 where maximum non preference of dusky bug was found on bakain and kurtama followed by ak and kanair however minimum was on Bari pata extract. It was further found that local plant extract possessed insecticidal property toward dusky bug as well as also possesses repellency effect toward dusky bug, thus should be included in integrated pest management program of cotton in order to minimize the ill effects of pesticides it is compulsory to adopt eco-friendly methods of insect pest management.

Keywords: botanical extract, insecticidal and repellency activity, Gossypium hirsutum, oxycarenus laetus

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Authors: Muhammad Afiq Anaqi Bin Baharudin, Muhammad Izamuddin Bin Mohd Nasir, Syarifuddin Bin Sujuanda, Muhammad Syahmi Rusyaidi Bin Sham Suddin, Danish Hakimi Bin kamaruzaman, Muhammad Haqimi Nazim Bin Hasmanizam, Mohammad Akmal Zakwan Bin Amran, Muhammad Alparizi Bin Latif

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In particular, for small and medium enterprises (SMBs) in Malaysia, process safety management (PSM) is a crucial component of industrial safety. Limited resources, a lack of technical know-how, and linguistic and cultural obstacles are just a few of the difficulties SMBs in Malaysia encounter while putting PSM programmes into practice. A number of studies have emphasised the significance of leadership commitment, hazard identification and assessment, and employee involvement in the execution of effective PSM programmes, which are crucial for preventing accidents and incidents. In the literature, there has been a lot of discussion on the creation of specialised PSM frameworks for SMBs in Malaysia. Several studies have proposed implementation frameworks for PSM programmes that are based on recognised worldwide standards. Despite the significance of PSM in ensuring industrial safety, there are still a number of gaps in the literature on PSM in Malaysian SMBs. These gaps include the need for additional research on the efficiency of PSM programmes in reducing accidents and incidents in SMBs as well as the development of more specialised approaches to implementing PSM programmes in SMBs with limited resources and technical expertise. The goal of this review is to give a thorough overview of the body of research on PSM in Malaysian SMBs while highlighting important findings, points of contention, and knowledge gaps that need to be filled in.

Keywords: process safety management, occupational safety and health (OSH), small businesses, medium businesses, malaysia

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Authors: Nahla H. Alaswadko, Rayya A. Hassan, Bayar N. Mohammed

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Empirical deterministic models have been developed to predict roughness progression of heavy duty spray sealed pavements for a dataset representing rural arterial roads. The dataset provides a good representation of the relevant network and covers a wide range of operating and environmental conditions. A sample with a large size of historical time series data for many pavement sections has been collected and prepared for use in multilevel regression analysis. The modelling parameters include road roughness as performance parameter and traffic loading, time, initial pavement strength, reactivity level of subgrade soil, climate condition, and condition of drainage system as predictor parameters. The purpose of this paper is to report the approaches adopted for models development and validation. The study presents multilevel models that can account for the correlation among time series data of the same section and to capture the effect of unobserved variables. Study results show that the models fit the data very well. The contribution and significance of relevant influencing factors in predicting roughness progression are presented and explained. The paper concludes that the analysis approach used for developing the models confirmed their accuracy and reliability by well-fitting to the validation data.

Keywords: roughness progression, empirical model, pavement performance, heavy duty pavement

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Authors: Basem Elarbe, Ibrahim Elganidi, Norida Ridzuan, Norhyati Abdullah

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Wax deposition in production pipelines and transportation tubing from offshore to onshore is critical in the oil and gas industry due to low-temperature conditions. It may lead to a reduction in production, shut-in, plugging of pipelines and increased fluid viscosity. The most significant popular approach to solve this issue is by injection of a wax inhibitor into the channel. This research aims to determine the amount of wax deposition of Malaysian crude oil by estimating the effective parameters using (Design-Expert version 7.1.6) by response surface methodology (RSM) method. Important parameters affecting wax deposition such as cold finger temperature, inhibitor concentration and experimental duration were investigated. It can be concluded that SA-co-BA copolymer had a higher capability of reducing wax in different conditions where the minimum point of wax reduction was found at 300 rpm, 14℃, 1h, 1200 ppmThe amount of waxes collected for each parameter were 0.12g. RSM approach was applied using rotatable central composite design (CCD) to minimize the wax deposit amount. The regression model’s variance (ANOVA) results revealed that the R2 value of 0.9906, indicating that the model can be clarified 99.06% of the data variation, and just 0.94% of the total variation were not clarified by the model. Therefore, it indicated that the model is extremely significant, confirming a close agreement between the experimental and the predicted values. In addition, the result has shown that the amount of wax deposit decreased significantly with the increase of temperature and the concentration of poly (stearyl acrylate-co-behenyl acrylate) (SABA), which were set at 14°C and 1200 ppm, respectively. The amount of wax deposit was successfully reduced to the minimum value of 0.01 g after the optimization.

Keywords: wax deposition, SABA inhibitor, RSM, operation factors

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Authors: Naeem Hassan

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The study intended to investigate the impact of the e banking system on the performance efficiency of the commercial banks in KP, Pakistan. In addition to this main purpose, the study also aimed at analyzing the impact of e banking on the service quality as well as satisfaction of the customers using e banking system. More over, the focus was also given to highlight the risks involved in the e banking system. The researcher has adopted the quantitative methodology in the study. in order to reach concrete finding, the researcher has analyzed the secondary data taken from the annual reports of selected banks and State bank of Pakistan as well as the primary data collected through the self-administrated questionnaire from the participants selected for the current study. The study highlighted that there is a significant impact of e banking on the financial efficiency on the commercial banks in KP, Pakistan. Additionally, the results of the study also show that the online banking is having significant effects on the customer satisfaction. The researcher recommends on the bases of findings that commercial banks should continue to adopt new technologies which will improve their margins and hence their net profit after tax in order to attract more investors. Additionally, commercial bank needs to minimize the time and risk in e-banking to attract more customers which will improve their net profit. Furthermore, the study findings also recommend the banking policy makers should also review policies related to promotion of innovation adoption and transfer of technology. Commercial banking system should encourage adoption of innovations that will improve profit of the banking industry.

Keywords: E-banking, performance efficiency, commercial banks, effect

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Authors: Razieh Zareia, Hassan ZMB, Darush Moslemic, Amrollah Mostafa-Zaded

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Introduction: Shark is a murine organism and its cartilage has antitumor peptides to prevent angiogenesis, at least, in vitro. The purpose of our research was to evaluate the immune-effectiveness on imbalance between IL-23/IL-17 axis, as an inflammatory pathway and TGF/Foxp3 T regulatory as a inhibitory pathway of commercial shark cartilage that is available as a non-common dietary supplement in IRAN. Materials and Methods: First investigated an imbalanced supernatant of cytokines exist in patients with gastric cancer by ELISA. Associated with cytokines measuring such as IL-23, IL-17, TGF-β, IL-4, and γ-IFN, then flow cytometry was employed to determine whether the peripheral blood mononuclear cells such as CD4+CD25+Foxp3highT regulatory cells in patients with gastric cancer were changed correspondingly. Results: The simultaneously presented up-regulation IL-17A indicated, at least cytokine level without changing in TGF-β amount or CD4+CD25+Foxp3 T regulatory cells, that there are not a direct correlation between IL-23/IL-17 axis and Treg/TGF-β pathway in patients with gastric cancer treated by shark cartilage, but IL-23 was not expressed differentially in this group. So, accompany these changes, an imbalance between Th1 immunity (γ-IFN production) and TH2 immunity (IL-4 secretion) evaluated in patients with gastric cancer treated by shark cartilage. Conclusion: On the basis of results, we propose that shark cartilage, by reducing IL-4, decreasing IL-17 a central cytokine in angiogenesis and increasing γ-IFN amplify anti-tumor immune responses in patients with gastric cancer.

Keywords: IL-23/IL17 axis, TGF-β/CD4+CD25+Foxp3high T regulatory pathway, γ-IFN, IL-4, shark cartilage, gastric cancer

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Authors: Hassan Nabipour Afrouzi, Naser Mahmoudnia

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Broiler production has increased rapidly in tropical and subtropical regions in the past and sustained growth is forecast for the future. One of the greatest challenges to efficient production in these regions is reduced performance from warm and hot weather conditions. There are many ways to decrease these detrimental effects of heat on broiler chickens. One way is to supplement broiler diet with betaine added to feed or drinking water. A review of the results of this study suggest that betaine supplement was effective to significantly improve body weight and feed conversion ratio at the initial stages of growth but not in the finisher stages (P<0/05). It was also demonstrated that the use of betaine significantly reduced the percentage of abdominal meat and the percentage of breast meat (P<0/05), but had no effect on other carcass compositions. Betaine may improve the digestibility of specific nutrients. Betaine, as a methyl donor provides labile methyl groups for the synthesis of several metabolically active substances such as creatine and carnitine. Oil in a broiler diet is known to promote a response to dietary betaine supplements, that is, chicks have a higher demand for betaine with a high fat diet. This study implies that betaine supplement may stimulate protection of intestinal epithelium against osmotic disturbance, improve digestion and absorption conditions of the gastrointestinal tract and promote amended use of nutrients.

Keywords: heat stress, betaine, performance, broiler‚ growth

Procedia PDF Downloads 571

Authors: Saima Iftikhar Rida Shabbir, Zeeshan Hassan

Abstract:

Water shortage, energy crisis and natural misfortunes are the glitches which reduce the efficacy of agricultural ecosystems especially in Pakistan where these are more frequent besides being intense. Accordingly, the agricultural water resources, food security and country’s economy are at risk. To address this, we have used Geospatial techniques incorporating ASTER Global DEM, Geological map, rainfall data, discharge data, Landsat 5 image of Swat valley in order to assess the viability of selected sites. The sites have been studied via GIS tools, Hydrological investigation and multiparametric analysis for their potentialities of collecting and securing the rain water; regulating floods by storing the surplus water bulks by check dams and developing them for power generation. Our results showed that Siat1-1 was very useful for low-cost dam with main objective of as Debris dam; Site-2 and Site 3 were check dams sites having adequate storing reservoir so as to arrest the inconsistent flow accompanied by catering the sedimentation effects and the debris flows; Site 4 had a huge reservoir capacity but it entails enormous edifice cost over very great flood plain. Thus, there is necessity of active Hydrological developments to estimate the flooded area using advanced and multifarious GIS and remote sensing approaches so that the sites could be developed for harnessing those sites for agricultural and energy drives.

Keywords: site suitability, check dams, SHP, terrain analysis, volume estimation

Procedia PDF Downloads 295

Authors: Hassan Saffari;, Reza Askari Moghadam

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In modern communication systems, it is highly demanded to achieve high performance with minimal power consumption. Low actuation voltage RF MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) switches represent a significant advancement in this regard. These switches, with their ability to operate at lower voltages, offer promising solutions for enhancing connectivity while minimizing energy consumption. Microelectromechanical switches are good alternatives for electronic and mechanical switches due to their low insertion loss, high isolation, and fast switching speeds. They have attracted more attention in recent years. Most of the presented RF MEMS switches use electrostatic actuators due to their low power consumption. Low actuation voltage RF MEMS switches are among the important issues that have been investigated in research articles. The actuation voltage can be reduced by different methods. One usually implemented method is low spring constant structures. However, despite their numerous benefits, challenges remain in the widespread adoption of low-actuation voltage RF MEMS switches. Issues related to reliability, durability, and manufacturing scalability need to be addressed to realize their full potential in commercial applications. While overcoming certain challenges, their exceptional performance characteristics and compatibility with miniaturized electronic systems make them a promising choice for next-generation wireless communication and RF applications. In this paper, some previous works that proposed low-voltage actuation RF MEMS switches are investigated and analyzed.

Keywords: RF MEMS switches, low actuation voltage, small spring constant structures, electrostatic actuation

Procedia PDF Downloads 26

Authors: Ugbede Onalo, Mohd Lizam, Ahmad Kaseri

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In view of dearth of studies on changes in accounting standards and banks’ earnings management particularly in the context of emerging economies, and the recent Malaysia and Nigeria change from their respective local GAAP to IFRS, this study deemed it overwhelming to investigate the effects of the switch on banks’ earnings management focusing on LLP as the manipulative device. This study employed judgmental sampling to select twenty eight banks- eight Malaysia and twenty Nigeria banks as sample covering period 2008-2013. To provide an empirical research setting in pursuant of the objective of this study, the study period is further partitioned into pre (2008, 2009, 2010) and post (2011, 2012, 2013) IFRS adoption periods. This study consistent with previous studies models a LLP regression model to investigate specific discretionary accruals of banks. Findings suggest that Malaysia and Nigeria banks individually use LLP to manage reported earnings more prior to IFRS implementation. Comparative overall results evidenced that the pre IFRS adoption or domestic GAAP era for both Malaysia and Nigeria sample banks is associated with higher prevalent earnings management through LLP than the corresponding post IFRS adoption era in diverse magnitude but in favour of Malaysia banks for both periods. With results demonstrating that IFRS adoption is linked to lower earnings management via LLP, this study therefore recommends the global adoption of IFRS as reporting framework. This study also endorses that Nigeria banks embrace and borrow a leaf from Malaysia banks good corporate governance practices.

Keywords: accounting standards, IFRS, FRS, SAS, LLP, earnings management

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Jamila Garba Audu, Shehu Usman Hassan

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The widespread failure in the financial information quality has created the need to improve the financial information quality and to strengthen the control of managers by setting up good firms structures. Published accounting information in financial statements is required to provide various users - shareholders, employees, suppliers, creditors, financial analysts, stockbrokers and government agencies – with timely and reliable information useful for making prudent, effective and efficient decisions. The relationship between corporate governance and performance to financial reporting quality is imperative; this is because despite rapid researches in this area the findings obtained from these studies are constantly inconclusive. Data for the study were extracted from the firms’ annual reports and accounts. After running the OLS regression, a robustness test was conducted for the validity of statistical inferences; the data was empirically tested. A multiple regression was employed to test the model as a technique for data analysis. The results from the analysis revealed a negative association between all the regressors and financial reporting quality except the performance of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. This indicates that corporate governance plays a significant role in mitigating earnings management and improving financial reporting quality while performance does not. The study recommended among others that the composition of audit committee should be made in accordance with the provision for code of corporate governance which is not more than six (6) members with at least one (1) financial expert.

Keywords: corporate governance, financial reporting quality, manufacturing firms, Nigeria, performance

Procedia PDF Downloads 227

Authors: Hassan Abo-Salem, Huang Xiaolin

Abstract:

Background and Purpose: The effectiveness of mirror therapy (MT) has been investigated in acute hemiplegia. The present study examines whether MT, given during chronic stroke, was more effective in promoting motor recovery of the lower extremity and walking speed than standard rehabilitation alone. Methods: The study enrolled 30 patients with chronic stroke. Fifteen patients each were assigned to the treatment group and the control group. All patients received a conventional rehabilitation program for a 4-week period. In addition to this rehabilitation program, patients in the treatment group received mirror therapy for 4 weeks, 5 days a week. Main measures: Passive ankle joint dorsiflexion range of motion, gait speed, Brunnstrom stages of motor recovery, plantarflexor muscle tone by Modified Ashworth Scale. Results: Results: No significant difference was found in the outcome measures among groups before treatment. When compared with standard rehabilitation, mirror therapy improved Ankle ROM, Brunnstrom stages and waking speed (p < 0.05). However, there were no significant differences between two groups on MAS (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Mirror therapy combined with a conventional stroke rehabilitation program enhances lower-extremity motor recovery and walking speed in chronic stroke patients.

Keywords: mirror therapy, stroke, MAS, walking speed

Procedia PDF Downloads 482

Authors: Hassan Wajid

Abstract:

Architecture design studio with all its accouterments, especially pedagogies, has been committed to awakening the students to the true meaning of the concept of Dwelling. The real task is how to make them unlearn the associations of “dwelling as a rented or owned accommodation by the road with a car parked in front of a garage door and replace it by the fundamental experiential-phenomenological manifestations of Light, Space, Gravity and Time through assigned readings and small theoretical challenges resulting in drawings and models. The primary challenge for teachers remained the introduction of the act or desire of ‘Dwelling’ philosophically. The academic link had been offered by Albert Hofstadter's Poetry, Language, through which Martin Heidegger’s fourfold concept of ‘Building Dwelling, Thinking’ primarily served to guide us through this trajectory in helping to build an intellectual framework as justification of the term “dwelling” in its various meanings. Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space and Merleau-Ponti’s Phenomenology of Perception also got assigned as reading. Four fictional characters created by two master short story writers G Maupassant, and O Henry were introduced as DwellersClients in search of their respective dwellings as drawn imaginations in the studio four-fold of Light, Space, Gravity, and Time and at the same time aspire to understand thoroughly Heidegger’s Four-Fold of Earth, Sky, Divinities and Mortals. asserting its place in the corresponding story and its unique character as the Dweller.

Keywords: dwelling, imagination, architectural manifestation, phenomenological

Procedia PDF Downloads 53

Authors: Rafat Rob, Khaled Alotaibi, Dana Nour, Abdullah Albadrani, Abdulmohsen Mulhim

Abstract:

Power systems digitization solutions provides a comprehensive smart, cohesive, interconnected network, extensive connectivity between digital assets, physical power plants, and resources to form digital economies. However, digitization has exposed the classical air gapped power plants to the rapid spread of cyber threats and attacks in the process delaying and forcing many organizations to rethink their cyber security policies and standards before they can augment their operation the new advanced digital devices. Cyber Security requirements for power systems (and industry control systems therein) demand a new approach, unique methodology, and design process that is completely different to Cyber Security measures designed for the IT systems. In practice, Cyber Security strategy, as applied to power systems, tends to be closely aligned to those measures applied for IT system purposes. The differentiator for Cyber Security in terms of power systems are the physical assets and applications used, alongside the ever-growing rate of expansion within the industry controls sector (in comparison to the relatively saturated growth observed for corporate IT systems). These factors increase the magnitude of the cyber security risk within such systems. The introduction of smart devices and sensors along the grid initiate vulnerable entry points to the systems. Every installed Smart Meter is a target; the way these devices communicate with each other may instigate a Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. Attacking one sensor or meter has the potential to propagate itself throughout the power grid reaching the IT network, where it may manifest itself as a malware infiltration.

Keywords: supply chain, cybersecurity, maturity model, risk, smart grid

Procedia PDF Downloads 89

Authors: Hassan Masoumi, Rashed Alavi, Mahmoud Reza Khorshidian

Abstract:

In order to measure the water deficit stress effects on seed yield and water productivity of soybean cultivars, a two field experiments wad conducted out via split plot in a randomized complete block design with four replications in 2011 and 2012. Irrigation treatments were three levels (S1; 50, S2; 62.5 and S3; 150 mm) that applied based on evaporation from the ‘class A’ pan. Cultivars were L17, Clean, T.M.S, Williams×Chippewa and M9, too. The results showed that, only extreme water deficit stresses (S3) was reduced number of pods per plants, dry weight, seed yield and also water productivity and water economic productivity, significantly. Among cultivars and at the first and second levels of irrigation (S1, S2) cultivar of L17 and at the third level (S3) cultivar of Wiiliams*Chippwea had the highest seed yield, water productivity and water economic productivity. There were observed a positive and significant correlation between seed yield with number of pods per plants and plants dry weight, too. Also, despite the reduction in water consumption at level of S2 than S1 and due to the lack of a significant reduction in seed yield, water productivity and water economic productivity was also increased, significantly (P < 0.01). All indices of sensitivity and tolerance (SSI, STI and GMP) investigated in this study showed that at the moderate and extreme water deficit stresses (S2, S3), the cultivars of L17 and Wiiliams * Chippwea had the highest tolerance and lowest sensitivity among the cultivars.

Keywords: drought, sensitivity indices, yield components, seed

Procedia PDF Downloads 385

Authors: Abdul Rahman Mohd. Sam, Olukotun Nathaniel, Dunu Williams

Abstract:

Concrete is one of the most popular materials used in construction industry. However, one of the setbacks is that concrete can degrade with time upon exposure to an aggressive environment that leads to decrease in strength. Thus, research works and innovative ways are needed to enhance the strength and durability of concrete. This work tries to look into the potential use of rice husk ash (RHA) and wood waste ash (WWA) as cement replacement material. These are waste materials that may not only enhance the properties of concrete but also can serves as a viable method of disposal of waste for sustainability. In addition, a substantial replacement of Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) with these pozzolans will mean reduction in CO₂ emissions and high energy requirement associated with the production of OPC. This study is aimed at assessing the properties of triadic concrete produced using RHA and WWA as a partial replacement of cement. The effects of partial replacement of OPC with 10% RHA and 5% WWA on compressive and tensile strength of concrete among other properties were investigated. Concrete was produced with nominal mix of 1:2:4 and 0.55 water-cement ratio, prepared, cured and subjected to compressive and tensile strength test at 3, 7, 14, 28 and 90days. The experimental data demonstrate that concrete containing RHA and WWA produced lighter weight in comparison with OPC sample. Results also show that combination of RHA and WWA help to prolong the initial and final setting time by about 10-30% compared to the control sample. Furthermore, compressive strength was increased by 15-30% with 10% RHA and 5% WWA replacement, respectively above the control, RHA and WWA samples. Tensile strength test at the ages of 3, 7, 14, 28 and 90 days reveals that a replacement of 15% RHA and 5% WWA produced samples with the highest tensile capacity compared to the control samples. Thus, it can be concluded that RHA and WWA can be used as partial cement replacement materials in concrete.

Keywords: concrete, rice husk ash, wood waste ash, ordinary Portland cement, compressive strength, tensile strength

Procedia PDF Downloads 243