Big Data Processing in Cloud Computing Environments

Cloud computing is a powerful technology to perform massive-scale and complex computing. It eliminates the need to maintain expensive computing hardware, dedicated space, and software. Massive growth in the scale of data or big data generated through cloud computing has been observed. Addressing big data is a challenging and time-demanding task that requires a large computational infrastructure to ensure successful data processing and analysis. This paper introduces several Big Data processing techniques from system and application aspects. First, from the view of cloud data management and Big Data processing mechanisms, we present the key issues of Big Data. Following, we present the cloud computing for Big Data and related work. Furthermore, we also discuss, Big Data moving to the cloud. Finally, we present the conclusion and future work

Job burnout and work values as antecedents of organizational citizenship behaviours / Shaiful Annuar Khalid et al.

This study is conducted to examine the relationship between dimensions of job burnout, work values and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Dimensions of burnout include cynicism, emotional exhaustion and reduced professional efficacy whereas work values consist of intrinsic work values and extrinsic work values. Two forms of OCBs tested are organizational citizenship behaviour directed at individual (OCBI) and organizational citizenship behaviour directed at organization (OCBO). The sample of this study includes 101 employees from several work divisions and levels of a Malaysian Multinational Corporation. It was found that dimensions of work values and burnout are significant factors to consider for enhancing OCBO. Specifically, the finding of this study demonstrates that intrinsic work values, extrinsic work values, emotional exhaustion and reduced professional efficacy are significant predictors of OCBO. However, only reduced professional efficacy significantly related with OCBI, whereas cynicism was not related with both types of OCB

Computer Aided System for Brain Abnormalities Segmentation

Detection of abnormalities in brain tissue area in different medical images is inspired by the necessity of high accuracy when dealing with human life. A Variety of diseases occur in brain tissue area such as brain tumour, stroke, infarction, haemorrhage and others. At the present time, the current method that is used for diagnosing those diseases is using a well known digital imaging technique which is Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), though the brain diseases are still difficult to diagnose due to certain circumstances. Thus, Computer Aided System (CAS) is significantly useful due to the fact that it could enhance the results of humans in such domain. It is also important that the false negative cases must be kept at a very low rate. This paper proposes a development of a CAD that implement image processing techniques for segmenting any kind of abnormalities that occur in human brain tissue area. The system is able to determine the patterns and characteristics for each part of particular brain tissue in order to identify any brain abnormalities. The behind idea is that the local textures in the images can reveal the characteristic of abnormalities of the biological structures. Therefore, the system is expected to detect threats in patients and planning for early treatment strategies in the future

Reliving the traditional masjid architecture in contemporary world : the case of Masjid Al Falah - KAED Community Project

Architecture academics, historians and traditionists relished in the nostalgic past of old traditional raised timber masjid architecture making a comeback to our rural landscape currently sprinkled with colonial, mughal- Indianised, Seljuk, hybrid and contemporary masjid architecture in Malay-sia. Through community work, opportunity that allows KAED team to design and construct this dream through means eagerly spread in front of us, a journey was made with Allah's grace to a village of Belukar Luas, Ketereh. The objective was to extend an existing little masjid of Indian reminisce from a 200-300 jemaah capacity to additional 500 jemaah with Imam's office, Sultan's room, new entrances, new toilets, ablutions separate for different gender, disable friendly, elderly friendly, child friendly, women friendly and others. The vital mission was to accomplish the practical function of capacity then the intangible function of shaping the masjid to be in harmony with its natural surroundings of green rice fields, bluish hills and farming activities - a sustainable scene. Whilst listening to the Masjid committee's demands and expectations, the team embarked on literature review of traditional masjid of the region with case studies and visits to nearby oldest raised timber masjid of the country-the Masjid Kampung Laut. Contemporary traditional masjid was added on the visit list knowing very well that "modern" means "contemporary and comfortable" with selected spaces identified as needing a new feel. Several designs were drawn based on the "old" masjid using scale and proportion as well as experimenting on the building material and construction method. Cost and skills on the part of the contractor were the biggest hurdle and challenge in realising the dream. Cost cutting exercise participated by the Masjid committee, the contractor and the consulting team reduces the original design to an affordable schemes with much apprehension. Outside philanthropist and local qariahs donated to the construction in kinds and cash. The findings of the whole exercise, apart from costs, minor changes to design concepts, availability of material and local craftsmen, was the local acceptance as the paramount factor to the shaping of the masjid as it complete its phase. A job is done but not without its constraints and unexpected outcomes. The objective of the project is realised in the physical entity space for the additional 500. Findings made on the journey from theory to practicality met through contemporary changes that may have occurred during the establishment of the "old" grand masjid as well. No literature mentioned explicitly on its mode of construction or cost per se, but perhaps knowing the kindred spirit of the scholars then, accepting the phenomena of the unforetold ,as destiny, could be a contributing factor to the "how" and "why" we inherit the serene architecture of traditional masjid today, wallahuala

Performance Evaluation of Web Portals

Performance of Web portals at the system level has not been given much attention. The evaluation at the system level is importance for systems maintenance or further improvement. This study develops an evaluation model based on queuing theory at a system level of web portals performance for a university. A system level performance model views the system being modeled as a ‘black box’ which considers the arrival rate of packets to the portals server and service rate of the portals server. These two parameters are important elements to measure web portals performance metrics such as server utilization, average server throughput, average number of packet in the server and mean response time. This study refers to infinite population and finite queue. The proposed analytical model is simple in such a way that it is easy to define and fast to interpret the results but still represents the real situation. The results present the performance of six parallel web portal

A big data prediction framework for weather forecast using MapReduce algorithm

Weather forecasting plays a vital role in daily routine, businesses and their decisions. The process of weather forecasting is developing as the effect of advancement in technology right from the realization of increasing size of data, Weather forecasting was found to be based on big data. The researchers have taken review with the objective to study the current forecasting process and methods, and the need of a data structure is recognized for handling the weather data, which is bigger in size, used for the process of weather forecasting. This paper presents a big data analysis framework for weather dataset based on MapReduce Algorithm, and offers not only weather dataset analysis, but also various analytic capabilities on huge amounts of data. However, this work establishes a guideline for researchers and industrial practitioners on how to analysis big data

Bacterial degradation of caffeine: a review

Caffeine (1,3,7-trimethylxanthine) is an important naturally occurring, commercially purine alkaloid which can be degraded by bacteria. It is a stimulant central nervous system and also has negative withdrawal effects and is present in different varieties of plants such as coffee plant, tea leaves, colanut, cocoa beans and other plant. It is also present in soft drinks and is being used extensively in human consumption and has in addition some therapeutic uses but in minimal amount. Evidence has proved the harmful effects of caffeine thus opening a path in the field of caffeine biodegradation. Biodegradation by bacteria is considered to be the most efficient technique in degrading caffeine within the environment. Even though there are available methods for the removal of caffeine using conventional methods such as water, supercritical and solvent decaffeination but they are lack of accuracy/specificity for the removal of caffeine and in addition to the existing caffeine which sometime remains. Microbial degradation of caffeine provides a safe and cheaper alternative compared to chemical and physical methods. Microbial candidates for caffeine biodegradation are actively being isolated globally. Caffeine degradation can occur in both aerobically and an-aerobically depending on the contaminants. Organisms such as Pseudomonas, Alcaligenes, Aspergillus, Serratia, Penicillium, Klebsiella, Stemphylium, Rhizopus, Rhodococcus, Brevibacterium, Bacillus sp., and Phanerochaete strains have been reported to have the ability to degrade caffeine

A study of potential retroffiting existing Sultan Ibrahim heritage building to green building

Green building amount in Malaysia is still in small percentage compared to the other countries. Heritage buildings in one of the old buildings that preserved, carefully, but still not achieved sustainability because there are few factors that will become the barriers. This paper is to identify the potential and the barrier of retrofitting that Sultan Ibrahim building toward green building initiatives. All the information obtained is from the study of literature, distributing questionnaires, and preliminary interviews. The respondents were selected from green building experts, contractors, engineers, and Sultan Ibrahim Building’s staffs. The result of this study shows availability some components in Sultan Ibrahim Building that have potential retrofit and know how far the building availability for retrofit according to green building guideline. Moreover, there are some barriers had been analyzed may be happened during retrofitting Sultan Ibrahim building towards green building

Effect of rotation on the Rayleigh-Benard Convection in nanofluid layer with vertical magnetic field and internal heat source

Effect of rotation on the onset of Rayleigh-Benard convection in a horizontal nanofluid layer with vertical magnetic field and internal heat source is investigated. Linear stability analysis based upon normal mode method is employed to find solution of the horizontal nanofluid layer bounded between free-free, rigid-free and rigid-rigid boundaries. Rayleigh number has been determined using the galerkin method. Graphs have been plotted to study the efficiency of rotation, magnetic field, internal heat source and other nanofluid parameters to the system

Antiapoptotic and Antioxidant Properties of Orthosiphon stamineus Benth (Cat's Whiskers): Intervention in the Bcl-2-Mediated Apoptotic Pathway

Antiapoptotic and antioxidant activities of aqueous-methanolic extract (CAME) of Orthosiphonstamineus Benth(OS), and its hexane (HF), chloroform (CF), n-butanol (NBF), ethyl acetate (EAF) and water (WF) fractions were investigated. Antioxidant properties were evaluated using the assays of Folin-Ciocalteu, aluminiumtrichloride, β-carotene bleaching and DPPH. The role of OS against hydrogen peroxide induced apoptosis on MDA-M231 epithelial cells was examined using MTT assay, phase contrast microscope, colorimetric assay of caspase-3, western blot and quantitative real-time PCR. Results showed that EAF showed the highest total phenolic content followed by CAME, NBF, WF, CF and HF, respectively. Flavonoid content was in the order of the CF > EAF > HF > CAME > NBF > WF. The IC50 values on DPPH assay for different extract/fractions were 126.2 ± 23, 31.25 ± 1.2, 15.25 ± 2.3, 13.56 ± 1.9, 23.0 ± 3.2, and 16.66 ± 1.5 μg/ml for HF, CF, EAF, NBF, WF and CAME, respectively. OSreduced the oxidation of β-carotene by hydroperoxides. Cell death was dose-dependently inhibited by pretreatment with OS. Caspase-3 and distinct morphological features suggest the anti-apoptotic activities of OS. This plant not only increased the expression of Bcl-2, but also decreased Bax expression, and ultimately reduced H2O2-induced apoptosis. The current results showed that phenolics may provide health and nutritional benefits