The performance of modified jatropha-based nanofluid during turning process

The industry's extensive use of petroleum-based metalworking fluid (MWF) harms the environment and humans. The production of bio-based MWF, especially from crude jatropha oil (CJO), has therefore taken numerous initiatives. This aimed to formulate newly modified jatropha oil (MJO) with the addition of 0.05wt.% hBN and 0.05wt.% MoS2 as the nanofluid for MWF. The performance of the nanofluids was determined through the turning process in terms of cutting temperature, workpiece surface roughness, tool life and tool wear of the tool lubricated by the nanofluids. The performance of the nanofluid samples was compared with the synthetic ester (SE). From the results, after conducted 100mm axial cutting length MJO+hBN+MoS2 recorded the lowest in cutting temperature and surface roughness compared to all samples. The result shows that MJO+hBN+MoS2 has longer tool life (6500mm) compared to SE (6000mm). Abrasion and adhesion were observed as the dominant tool wear mechanism. In conclusion, MJO+hBN+MoS2 shows better machining performance and has the potential to be an environmentally friendly metalworking fluid

Lighting system design according to different standards in office building: A technical and economic evaluations

Lighting system is an important sub-system in office buildings. A good design can contribute energy saving and visual comfort to occupants. This paper presents a comparison of lighting system design according to different standards: European Standard EN12464-1 and Malaysian Standard MS1525 in terms of average illuminance level and illuminance uniformity. In the design, the illuminance measurement is according to the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA) and the European Standard EN12464-1. Three types of luminaires are considered which are: T8, T5 and light emitting diode (LED) lamps. The technical and economic evaluations are taken into account in this paper. The technical evaluations are considered the number of luminaires, average illuminance level and illuminance uniformity. The energy consumption (EC) and lighting energy numeric indicator (LENI) are considered according to the European Standard EN15193. Meanwhile, the economic evaluation involves billings and luminaires costs and billing savings. The case study is an office room and it is modelled and simulated using DIALux software. The results show that the design according to the European Standard EN12464-1 with uniformity based method that used T5 lamps had contributed to the highest number of luminaires and costs. Whereas, the design according to the Malaysian Standard MS1525 with illuminance level based method that used LED lamps had contributed to the lowest number of luminaires and costs. Thus it can provide the higher billing savings. It can be concluded the LED has great potential to replace T8 and T5 lamps

Beaconless Packet Forwarding Approach for Vehicular Urban Environment

Existing wireless technologies provide communication and information services to all fields of life. The one of the emerging and popular field is vehicular ad hoc networks, with its unique characteristics and highly mobile environment. Different types of routing protocols have been proposed to address the routing issues in network and one of the most efficient types is geographical routing. In this type of protocols, the beacon messages are using to update the node locations and positions. However, these protoocls have been suffered with high channel congestion issue in the network. To this end, we propose a beaconless packet forwarding strategy based on modified handshake messages mechanism. The protocol uses some realistic metrics to select the next forwarder node such as forward progresss and link quality. The protocol performance is evaluated with existing beacon and beaconless geographical routing protocols. The simulation results showed the better performance of the proposed protocol in terms of packet delay and data delivery ratio in realistic wireless channel conditions

A Pilot Study on the Quality of Life in Family Caregivers of Cancer Patients at an Urban Tertiary Hospital in Kuala Lumpur

Background: Family plays an important role in caregiving of cancer patients. There are limited published articles on cancer caregiving in the Malaysian population. The aim of the study was to determine the quality of life (QoL) of cancer patient caregivers and its associated factors. Subjects and Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at an urban tertiary hospital in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 94 family caregivers of all types of cancer patients completed validated questionnaires in the national language. The dependent variable was theQoL in family caregivers, which was measured by the Malay Caregiver Quality of Life–Cancer (MCQOL-C) questionnaire. It consisted of 35 items, and the domains are burden, positive adaptation, disruptiveness, financial concerns and others. The higher the QoL scores, the better the QoL. The independent variables were socio-demographic factors (age, education level, ethnicity, gender, marital status, relationship with patient, any children less than 18 years old, and employment status). The data were analyzed by a linear regression model. Results: The study population (N= 94) comprised of 73.4% females, 38.8% were spouses to cancer patients. The mean age was 45.02+14.65, ranged from 17-78 years old. Half (56.4%) of the study subjects were Malays, 54.3% obtained secondary education, and 50% were not working. The reliability of the questionnaire was good with Cronbach alpha= 0.87. The mean (SD) score of QoL was 80.57 (21.27), ranged from 25-128. The multivariate analysis showed that being non-Malay had lower quality of life than Malay (b= -18.40; 95% CI= 3.10 to 33.70; p= 0.020). Conclusion: Ethnicity affects the QoL of cancer patient caregiving. This provides invaluable insight for developing health care service. Keywords: quality of life, family caregiver, cance

Corrosion study of pipeline material for seabed sediment in tropical climate

Corrosive environments such as marine sediments can cause corrosion to steel pipelines at any time when certain conditions are met. Seabed sediment could cause severe corrosion damage due to its corrosiveness to the pipelines buried under it. Many consequences could take place in case if there is incident in oil/gas pipelines. Successfully identifying elements of corrosion in marine sediment would enhance the future of steel structure protection and monitoring systems. This article focuses on the behaviour of corrosion rate of steel located near shore environment and the aim is to determine the effect of sediment on corrosion of steel. To investigate that, simulated near shore sediment conditions have been used where the steel coupons buried in sediments which have different characteristics. Weight loss technique has been implemented to determine the weight loss rate of the steel specimens. Based on the results of this study, metal weight loss increases as the duration of exposure to seabed sediment environment become longer. The sea sediment simulated condition has given significant levels of corrosion. Conclusively, the corrosion rate of steel in seabed sediment located in tropical region is complicated and further studies are suggested

Comparison of Computed Tomography Dose Reporting Software

Computed tomography (CT) dose reporting software facilitates the estimation of doses to patients undergoing CT examinations. In this study, comparison of three software packages, i.e. CT-Expo (version 1.5, Medizinische Hochschule, Hannover, Germany), ImPACT CT Patients Dosimetry Calculator (version 0.993, Imaging Performance Assessment on Computed Tomography, www.impactscan.org) and WinDose (version 2.1a, Wellhofer Dosimetry, Schwarzenbruck, Germany), has been made in terms of their calculation algorithm and the results of calculated doses. Estimations were performed for head, chest, abdominal and pelvic examinations based on the protocols recommended by European guidelines using single-slice CT (SSCT) (Siemens Somatom Plus 4, Erlangen, Germany) and multi-slice CT (MSCT) (Siemens Sensation 16, Erlangen, Germany) for software-based female and male phantoms. The results showed that there are some differences in final dose reporting provided by these software packages. There are deviations of effective doses produced by these software packages. Percentages of coefficient of variance range from 3.3 to 23.4 % in SSCT and from 10.6 to 43.8 % in MSCT. It is important that researchers state the name of the software that is used to estimate the various CT dose quantities. Users must also understand the equivalent terminologies between the information obtained from the CT console and the software packages in order to use the software correctly

Geomorphic Indicators of Folds Lateral Growth Using Satellite Images: Sulaimaniyah Vicinity in Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Visual interpretation of satellite images is a very significant technique to recognize and interpret structural features, which indicate lateral growth of folds, the origin of folds, and dating of folds using the exposure dating method. In this study, Landsat 8 (ESSRI) and Google Earth images are used to recognize structural features at Pira Magroon, Surdash, and Azmar anticlines in the Sulaimaniyah vicinity, Kurdistan Region, north of Iraq. The mentioned anticlines are outstanding geomorphological and structural features in the Sulaimaniyah vicinity. The recognized and interpreted structural features include: en-echelon folding, domes, and Neotectonic indication. All these features are discussed in detail with many images to show the discussed cases, most of the interpreted data and presented figures are never mentioned previously

Molecular characterization of an aster yellows phytoplasma associated with proliferation of periwinkle in Malaysia

Madagascar periwinkle is a common decorative, easy growing and spreading perennial herb. Phyllody, virescence, proliferation, little leaf and yellowing symptoms were observed on periwinkle in Serdang and Banting, Selangor, Malaysia. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays using P1/P7 universal phytoplasma primers and secA primers designed for identification and classification of phytoplasma, amplified 1.8 kb fragment that encompasses the entire 16S rRNA gene, the 16S - 23S intergenic spacerregion and the beginning of the 23S rRNA gene as well as the 840 bp from part of secA gene, respectively. Sequence analysis of the 16S rDNA, 16S - 23S intergenic region and the beginning of the 23S rRNA and secA gene PCR products determined that the phytoplasma strain associated withperiwinkle proliferation in Malaysia belongs to the ‘Candidatus Phytoplasma asteries’ (16Sr I-B) group of phytoplasmas. The virtual restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis with 10restriction endonulease enzymes revealed identical patterns to phytoplasmas members of Aster yellows phytoplasma subgroup B. A phylogenetic tree based on 16S rDNA sequences, secA gene sequences and virtual RFLP revealed that the periwinkle proliferation phytoplasma is closely related to the subgroup 16SrI-B. Periwinkle proliferation also confirmed which 16SrI-B has wide geographical distribution and host range