Integrating vocational training in culinary arts and Islamic studies at juvenile rehabilitation centres: Malaysian experience

The Juvenile Rehabilitation Centres (JRC) in Malaysia aims to provide shelter, counselling and skills training to juveniles specifically for those who wish to transform themselves from the regrettable misdeeds they have committed. At JRCs, an integrated Culinary Vocational Training and Islamic education forms part of their training curriculum. The skills acquired should enable trainees to secure jobs upon completion of training. However, there are some training institutions that lack systematic training structures resulting in trainees becoming less skilful in both vocational and Islamic education. The objective of this research is to identify the effectiveness of an integrated Culinary and Islamic Education curriculum implemented at JRCs in Malaysia. This is a descriptive survey and data was obtained using questionnaire and interview. Respondents comprised 92 trainees, four managers, four culinary trainers and four Islamic education teachers, all from four different JRCs. The findings show that the trainees are happy with their trainings that brought about positive effects for them. Some suggestions have been made to provide improvements in the implementation of the course among them the inclusion of prayers in the Islamic education syllabus

Fluorescence spectroscopy for analysing deterioration of palm olein in batch deep-fat frying

Palm olein has been commercially used as frying medium in batch deep-fat frying. During frying, the oil usually deteriorates due to the exposure to high temperature. In this study, a fluorescence spectroscopy technique was applied to monitor the deterioration of refined, bleached, and deodorized palm olein (RBDPO) in batch deep-fat frying. 22.5 kg of French fries were used as the frying material. In 30 batches, the french fries were intermittently fried at 185 ± 5°C for eight hours a day over five consecutive days capturing 40 hours. The fluorescence intensity of the RBDPO was recorded with excitation at 390 nm and resulting emission of 465 nm. The fluorescence intensity of the RBDPO over five days of frying decreased considering the wavelength range of emission 430-640 nm and excitation 360-430 nm. The decreased in intensity of fluorescence emission and excitation spectra were inversely correlated with the FFA content of the oil samples. This study demonstrates the potential of fluorescence spectroscopy in monitoring the deterioration of RBDPO during batch deep-fat frying

A review on thermo-physical properties of bio, non-bio and hybrid nanofluids

The pressure drop and thermal performance of various nanofluids can be affected by their thermo-physical properties. However, there are many different parameters that need to be considered when determining the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids. This paper highlights a detail reviews on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids with different material type and effect of some process parameters (such as material type, temperature and concentration) on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids. Four thermo-physical properties mainly density, viscosity, thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity from different literatures were summarized, discussed and presented. The lowest viscosity value of nanofluids in literature was mango bark water-based nanofluid (0.81cP). On the other hand, the maximum thermal conductivity value of nanofluids in the literature was GNP-Ag water-based nanofluid (0.69W/mK). The density and specific heat capacity are strongly dependent on the material type. Meanwhile, the viscosity and thermal conductivity are greatly affected by temperature and concentration. The most influential parameters on thermo-physical properties of nanofluids are material type followed by temperature. Most of the literatures confirmed bio nanofluids have low viscosity value and hybrid have high thermal conductivity values

Feasibility of LoRa Implementation for Remote Weather Monitoring System through Field Measurement and Case Study Analysis

This paper discusses the feasibility of Long Range Wide-area network (LoRa-WAN) implementation for weather data collection and transmission in remote locations, specifically in east Malaysia. Currently, Malaysia Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia) has installed more than 100 weather stations around Malaysia, and out of this number, there are many stations, mostly in east Malaysia that are dependent on Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services for data transmission due to unavailability of mobile coverage. Due to significant cost of VSAT subscription, LoRa communication is proposed as an alternative solution due to its low power, low-cost, and long range characteristics. In this paper, the study has been performed through two stages; first, technical performance of LoRa network was validated through field measurement in urban areas to determine the actual LoRa characteristics in real condition. In the measurement, a LoRa module operating at 433 MHz was used to demonstrate a single channel LoRa gateway that acted as a bridge to communicate between LoRa node to IP network. Parameters such as received power spectrum and free space path loss were recorded for analysis. Second, based on the measured data, extrapolation of maximum feasible distance of LoRa signal propagation was done to analyze the viability of implementing LoRa in various locations of existing weather stations in Sabah and Sarawak. Two case studies are presented in this paper, with the aim to evaluate the suitable location of LoRa gateway to establish communication with the existing weather stations when LoRa network is used. Detailed link budget analysis was performed for each scenario. Based on the comparison between theoretical and measurement, the power transmitted from LoRa node shows inconsistent readings throughout the day, suspected due to the changes in spread factor that has been automatically set by the module. Nevertheless, taking into account this factor, it was found that the transmission range was adequate for some remote locations. Meanwhile, for some locations that are separated too far from each other, higher power is needed to allow consistent communication

Simple Clinical Screening Underestimates Malnutrition in Surgical Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease-An ACS NSQIP Analysis.

The present large scale study aimed to assess the prevalence and consequences of malnutrition, based on clinical assessment (body mass index and preoperative weight loss) and severe hypoalbuminemia (<3.1 g/L), in a representative US cohort undergoing IBD surgery. The American College of Surgeons National Quality improvement program (ACS-NSQIP) Public User Files (PUF) between 2005 and 2018 were assessed. A total of 25,431 patients were identified. Of those, 6560 (25.8%) patients had severe hypoalbuminemia, 380 (1.5%) patients met ESPEN 2 criteria (≥10% weight loss over 6 months PLUS BMI < 20 kg/m <sup>2</sup> in patients <70 years OR BMI < 22 kg/m <sup>2</sup> in patients ≥70 years), and 671 (2.6%) patients met both criteria (severe hypoalbuminemia and ESPEN 2). Patients who presented with malnutrition according to any of the three definitions had higher rates of overall, minor, major, surgical, and medical complications, longer LOS, higher mortality and higher rates of readmission and reoperation. The simple clinical assessment of malnutrition based on BMI and weight loss only, considerably underestimates its true prevalence of up to 50% in surgical IBD patients and calls for dedicated nutritional assessment

An introductory CFD analysis study of novel cavity vane driven wind turbine blade design

Climate in Malaysia is heavily influenced by monsoon seasons, where the wind speed pattern is inconsistent and highly unsteady. Existing commercial wind turbines are only designed to accommodate high wind speed regions. In order to harvest energy in Malaysia, design modification is required on conventional wind turbine blade. This paper presents an introductory computational investigation of proposed drag driven vertical axis wind turbine. The objective of this research is to investigate the factors that govern the aerodynamics attributes of the proposed design. The design is simulated in 2D using sliding mesh technique via FLUENT based on URANS model. Previous mesh dependency study shows that fine and medium grid topology indicated a good agreement. In this numerical study, the proposed wind turbine is simulated based on SST k-ω turbulent transport model under fine grid spatial discretization. The design is analyzed under the influence of constant freestream velocity of 25 m/s in order to study the behavior of the turbine at high speed and low RPM. Result shows that high static pressure of 64.8 kPa exerts on the returning blade 1 which overwhelms the motion of advancing blade. Blade 1-3 indicated stable numerical values after 216°. Hence, the governing factors in terms of flow properties that affected the wind turbine are studied for future improvement. It is found that the cavity vane of the proposed design requires modification in order to improve moment

A moment coefficient computational study of parametric drag-driven wind turbine at moderate tip speed ratios

This paper presents the CFD numerical investigation of novel drag-driven wind turbine blade inspired by spiral optimisation algorithm (SPO) and cycloid curve. In this study, six hybrid spiral geometries were analysed via CFD simulation using FLUENT based on URANS and SST numerical model. The simulated results of six shapes were compared against simulated conventional Savonius wind turbine. In terms of moment coefficient, all the turbines were simulated under similar computational configuration. The turbines were studied at two moderate tip speed ratios, which are λ = 0.59 and λ = 0.94, under constant freestream velocity of 8 m/s. The result shows that design shape S-4 displayed higher moment coefficient than Savonius wind turbine with an improvement of 7.2% in moment coefficient at λ = 0.59. However, at λ = 0.94, the percentage of improvement in moment coefficient is only 4%. It is observed that reduction in blade height and modification of blade curve configuration improve the moment of the rotor. The sharp edge presented by the hybrid spiral shape induces higher pressure gradient than Savonius wind turbine on the convex side of the blade

Optical and electrical characteristics of (LiCl)x(P2O5)1-x glass.

Homogeneous (LiCl) x (P2O5)1 − x glasses were synthesised using a melt-quenching method for x = 0.1–0.6 in the interval of 0.05. The amorphous structure of the samples was evident by the X-ray diffraction spectrum. The short range structures of the binary phosphate samples were examined by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, whilst the density of the samples was measured as supportive data for the investigations. The results of refractive indices as measured using an ellipsometer reveal the homogeneity of samples and was found to depend on the glass composition. The electrical properties of the glasses were investigated by ac impedance spectroscopy from 10 mHz to 1 MHz for temperatures ranging from room temperature to 573 K. An estimation of the bulk resistivity was obtained by taking the intercepts on the real axis at low frequencies of the complex impedance plot. The dc conductivities derived from the reciprocal of resistivity values were found to obey the Arrhenius relationship, and its activation energy shows a decreasing trend with the increase in LiCl content in the glass. Lastly, an equivalent circuits consisting of real and complex capacitors is proposed to describe the dielectric response of the glass

A Parametric Study on Dual-Band Meander Line Monopole Antenna For RF Energy Harvesting

This paper studies the dual-band monopole antenna based on meander line structure for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) band applications, which is also has the potential to be used for RF energy harvesting. A meander line antenna with a conductor line is investigated during the design using the Computer Simulation Tool (CST) software. The antenna is fabricated on a double-sided FR-4 printed circuit board using an etching technique. The comparison between simulation and measurement results for the return loss and radiation patterns are observed and are in good agreement. A bandwidth of 97 MHz and return loss of -19.29 dB is obtained at the first frequency band, i,e. 915 MHz, while a bandwidth of 46.2 MHz with a return loss of -16.27 dB are obtained at the second frequency band, i.e. 1800 MHz. This study is an early investigation in designing the RF energy harvesting to support green technology and sustainable development particularly for Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) as well as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) applications