UPC barcode apps for drug registered verification

In pharmacology, drug is used to prevent and cure diseases and to improve the physical or mental well-being. All medicinal products must be registered with Drug Control Authority (DCA) of Malaysia before being marketed. However, there are still numerous unregistered products being sold in night markets and grocery stalls that contained unknown materials that could harm our bodies. As nowadays most people own smartphones, thus it will be great if the smartphone is being utilized to become a mobile apps that can prevent consumers from buying unregistered products. This study described the process of creating a barcode reader application for drug registered verification. The application is created using Android Studio software, Java programming language and source code from GitHub, which is then synchronized with the database of some medicinal products. The barcode scanner is then tested to read the UPC barcode on the products and the result of registration confirmation will be shown on the screen of the smartphone. Thus, it will aware the user from buying the unregistered products

Geometric and process design of ultra-thin junctionless double gate vertical MOSFETs

The junctionless MOSFET architectures appear to be attractive in realizing the Moore’s law prediction. In this paper, a comprehensive 2-D simulation on junctionless vertical double-gate MOSFET (JLDGVM) under geometric and process consideration was introduced in order to obtain excellent electrical characteristics. Geometrical designs such as channel length (Lch) and pillar thickness (Tp) were considered and the impact on the electrical performance was analyzed. The influence of doping concentration and metal gate work function (WF) were further investigated for achieving better performance. The results show that the shorter Lch can boost the drain current (ID) of n-JLDGVM and p-JLDGVM by approximately 68% and 70% respectively. The ID of the n-JLVDGM and p-JLVDGM could possibly boost up to 42% and 78% respectively as the Tp is scaled down from 11nm to 8nm. The channel doping (Nch) is also a critical parameter, affecting the electrical performance of both n-JLDGVM and p-JLDGVM in which 15% and 39% improvements are observed in their respective ID as the concentration level is increased from 1E18 to 9E18 atom/cm3. In addition, the adjustment of threshold voltage can be realized by varying the metal WF

2021 stars conference: student plenary

The Student Panel Session at the 2021 STARS Conference concluded the formal presentations for the event.&nbsp; At this session, students from the tertiary sector shared with delegates their personal experiences in higher education and thoughts concerning the messages and insights gained from the conference experience. The students had responded to an invitation from Student Voice Australia to participate in the conference, be part of the Panel, and were encouraged to attend the keynote presentations across the event.&nbsp; Delegates had the opportunity to present questions to the students.&nbsp; For the purposes of this feature, the editors have summarised and edited the transcript to present the key points of each discussion, including questions and comments from delegates. Panel members have approved the editorial interpretations of their comments.</jats:p

Performance analysis of ultrathin junctionless double gate vertical MOSFETs

The main challenge in MOSFET minituarization is to form an ultra-shallow source/drain (S/D) junction with high doping concentration gradient, which requires an intricate S/D and channel engineering. Junctionless MOSFET configuration is an alternative solution for this issue as the junction and doping gradients is totally eliminated. A process simulation has been developed to investigate the impact of junctionless configuration on the double-gate vertical MOSFET. The result proves that the performance of junctionless double-gate vertical MOSFETs (JLDGVM) are superior to the conventional junctioned double-gate vertical MOSFETs (JDGVM). The results reveal that the drain current (ID) of the n-JLVDGM and p-JLVDGM could be tremendously enhanced by 57% and 60% respectively as the junctionless configuration was applied to the double-gate vertical MOSFET. In addition, junctionless devices also exhibit larger ION/IOFF ratio and smaller subthreshold slope compared to the junction devices, implying that the junctionless devices have better power consumption and faster switching capability

Data visualization of temporal ozone pollution between urban and sub-urban locations in Selangor Malaysia

In Malaysian environment, ground level zone has been reported as one of the most important pollutants that contribute to air quality degradation. The odourless and invisible nature of the pollutant has caused problems for individuals to realize and notice the existence of Ozone pollution in the environment. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim to assess and visualize the occurrence of potential Ozone pollution severity of two chosen locations in Selangor, Malaysia: Shah Alam (urban) and Banting (sub-urban). Data visualization analytics were employed using Ozone exceedances and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The study results have shown an increasing pattern of Ozone pollution occurrence with several modes of distinct diurnal variations at the locations. The study also provides strong insights that Banting might experience a higher potential for Ozone pollution severity compared to Shah Alam.Keywords: ozone pollution; air quality; data visualization; data analytics; principalcomponent analysis

The extraction of lignin from empty fruit bunch fiber via microwave-assisted acid hydrotrope solvent

Lignin is a sub-product from lignocellulose apart from cellulose and hemicellulose that produced from empty fruit bunch fiber (EFB). Lignin has low solubility and reactivity due to its bulky macromolecule structre. Being one of the wastes that being generated in massive amount, many alternatives has been taken to transform lignin into valuable products. To do so, many reactions are needed for the lignin to go through. In this study, lignin will be extracted from empty fruit bunch (EFB) with the aid of acid hydrotrope concentration of 30 % and microwave assisted with various extraction heating time and temperature. Characterization of lignin is done using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) while Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) used to characterize residues. The highest percentage of lignin yield and its purity obtained are 19.47 % and 96.63 % with the reaction time and temperature of the microwave is 30 minutes and 90 °C. From Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), a wide band at 3430.09 cm-1 and 3413.45 cm-1 are observed due to O-H stretching vibration. As for peak at 1123.17 cm-1 and 1051.26 cm-1, it correspond to syringyl and guaicyl unit in both lignin and raw EFB. As for Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), it shows that lignin decomposes slowly compared to raw EFB due to the aromatic structure of lignin that is very stable, therefore leading to difficulty of decomposing while from Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), after removing cellulose and hemicellulose, glass transition temperature (Tg) obtained from lignin DSC spectroscopy is 193.05 °C at heat flow of 1.15 mW/mg. Next, from Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the signals observed around 6.5 – 8.0 ppm indicate aromatic H in syringyl and guaiacyl unit only at lignin spectra while at 3.3 – 4.0 ppm, raw EFB has an intense peak compared to lignin which attribute to methoxyl group. When the residue of the lignin as well as the raw EFB powder is characterized using X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), the crystallinity index of the lignin with reaction time and temperature of the microwave 30 minutes and 90 °C is the highest, 69.28 %. As a conclusion, an admissible percent of lignin yield and purity is able to be obtained with addition of acid hydrotrope depending on the variables. From the spectroscopies characterization, it is proved that lignin characteristics and properties are compatible for the production of new and value added products

Impacts of various high beam headlight intensities on driver visibility and road safety

Based on several studies, driving above certain speed at night while using low beam headlights has been found to result in insufficient visibility to respond to road hazards. Luckily, vehicle headlight technology has advanced so much and the system is commercially available in many parts of the world. However, the technical development for optimal photometric performance raises a few questions. The use of high beam headlight system creates a glare to drivers of oncoming and preceding vehicles (because of both oncoming headlights and preceding taillights), to the extent that it has become necessary to determine the need to put a limit on the luminous intensity of high-beam headlights. This study shall therefore summarize and investigate visual performance that allows for evaluation of the potential benefits of increased luminous intensity by considering glare rating related to safety. Two different car models; the Proton Prevé and the Perodua Myvi were used in the experiments. The results showed that the highest average illuminance [lux] for single vehicle was 17.5, 7.5, 5.0 and 1.0 for the distances of 30m, 60m, 120m and 150m. However, the average illuminance based on total number of vehicles was 1.0, 0.5, 0.0 and 0.0 at distances of 30m, 60m, 120m and 150m, which were considered below maximum recommended safety level (max. 9.0 – 11.0 lux). The current average vehicle high-beam headlight control was found at the level of acceptable glare control (glare to oncoming and preceding drivers) and below the maximum level of illuminance rate with the normal speed of 40 km/h

Hollow-core photonic crystal fiber refractive index sensor based on modal interference

A refractive index sensor based modal interference in hollow core photonic crystal fiber (HCPCF) is proposed and demonstrated. The sensor is realized by splicing both ends of a HCPCF section to single mode fiber (SMF). At both splicing points, the HCPCF air holes are fully collapsed by the arc discharge. The collapsed regions excite and recombine core and cladding modes which formed modal interference for sensing purpose. The HCPCF sensor is tested in sugar solution and the response is measured from the wavelength shift in the interference spectra. The achieved sensitivity and resolution are 36.184 nm/RIU and 5.53-10-4 RIU, respectively, in refractive index range between 1.3330 and 1.3775. Result also shows that the sensor has a small temperature sensitivity of 19 pm/°C in the range of 35.5°C to 60.5 °C. The propos sensor potentially can be applied in biomedical, biological and chemical applications

Comprehensive review on controller for leader-follower robotic system

985-1007This paper presents a comprehensive review of the leader-follower robotics system. The aim of this paper is to find and elaborate on the current trends in the swarm robotic system, leader-follower, and multi-agent system. Another part of this review will focus on finding the trend of controller utilized by previous researchers in the leader-follower system. The controller that is commonly applied by the researchers is mostly adaptive and non-linear controllers. The paper also explores the subject of study or system used during the research which normally employs multi-robot, multi-agent, space flying, reconfigurable system, multi-legs system or unmanned system. Another aspect of this paper concentrates on the topology employed by the researchers when they conducted simulation or experimental studies