Signal And Image De-Noising Using Discrete Wavelet Transform Basis Function

Wavelet transform is being used quite extensively in mathematical sciences and engineering problems notably in image compression and image de-noising. Given any signal with noise, our main objective is to remove the noise and reconstruct the original signal with an acceptable error. This objective can be achieved by using threshold method

Ethical perception of cross-species gene transfer in plant

Plants can be genetically modified through a variety of methods in the hope that it will be improved in some way to increase the yield and quality of a crop, or to add nutritional value or shelf life. The development of genetically modified (GM) rice to enrich its nutritional value, such as Vitamin C might involve gene transfer across different species. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the public in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia, perceive the development of GM rice which contain mice gene to increase its vitamin C content. A survey was carried out using self constructed multi-dimensional instrument measuring ethical perception of GM rice. The respondents (n = 434) were stratified according to stakeholders groups. Results from the survey on 434 respondents have shown the Malaysian stakeholders were not very familiar with GM rice and perceived it as having moderate risk, its benefits to the society would not be much denied if it is not developed and the ethical aspects were considered as not acceptable to them as well as from their religous point of view. ANOVAs showed that the five ethical dimensions: Familiarity, denying benefits, religious acceptance, ethical acceptance and perceived risks significantly differed across stakeholders’ groups while the first three dimensions also differed significantly across races. Furthermore, with respect to ages, only the factor of familiarity differed and no significant difference were found across educational level and gender. In conclusion, although the idea of producing GM rice enriched with vitamin C seems to be an ideal alternative to increase vitamin C intake in Malaysia, the Malaysian public in the Klang Valley region were still not ready and have a cautious stance. The research finding is useful to understand the social construct of the ethical acceptance of cross-species gene transfers in developing country.Key words: Ethical perception, genetically modified (GM) rice, cross-species gene transfer, Malaysia

Comparative studies on the structure and electromagnetic properties of Ni-Zn ferrites prepared via co-precipitation and conventional ceramic processing routes

The magnetic and physical properties of ferrites are very sensitive to microstructure, which in turn critically depends on the manufacturing process. In this study, nickel zinc ferrite powder with composition Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 has been prepared via conventional ceramic processing and co-precipitation methods. The toroidal and pellet form samples were sintered at various temperatures such as 1100, 1200 and 1300 °C. The microstructure, magnetic and dielectric properties of both samples were studied. The X-ray diffraction patterns confirm the formation of single-phase cubic spinel structure for the co-precipitation technique after sintering. The microstructure studies of Ni0.8Zn0.2Fe2O4 show the grain size increases and the porosity decreases with temperature for both methods. The controlled permeability with small loss and wide operational frequency range are found in the co-precipitation samples. Dielectric constants decrease with increase of frequency and increase with sintering temperature in both methods. Consequently, the homogenous microstructure with the low-loss high-performance of nickel zinc ferrite has been discovered by means of co-precipitation method

Hydrothermal alteration mapping of mineralogical imprints associated with subtle geothermal system using mixture tuned matched filtering approach on ASTER VNIR And SWIR data

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the applicability of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Visible near infrared (VNIR) and Shortwave infrared (SWIR) bands in discriminating hydrothermal alteration mineralogy related to thermal springs as proxy for identifying subtle Geothermal (GT) systems at Yankari Park in north eastern Nigeria. The area is characterized by a number of thermal springs including, Gwana, Dimmil, Mawulgo and Wikki which is used directly for recreation and tourism. A Decorrelation Stretch (DCS) transform was initially used on ASTER to highlight alteration zones and generate regions of interest (ROIs) which guided field validation and identification of associated exposed alteration zones. GPS field survey and sampling of hydrothermally altered rocks and laboratory analysis using Analytical Spectral Device (ASD) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) is conducted for verification. Observed and validated alteration sites (ROIs) are subsequently used to extract mean image spectra from the ASTER data. We then explored the utility of mean image spectra for mapping subtle mineralogical imprints associated to geothermal systems as proxy for identifying targets in unexplored regions by using the Mixture Tuned Match Filtering (MTMF) algorithm on ASTER VNIR to SWIR spectral subsets. The results indicate that ASTER data could reliably be used for prefeasibility stage narrowing of targets and mapping of subtle alterations using image derived spectra. These could have significant implications especially for mapping unconventional GT systems in unexplored regions

Efficient QRS complex detection algorithm implementation on SOC-based embedded system

This paper studies two different Electrocardiography ( ECG ) preprocessing algorithms , namely Pan and Tompkins (PT) and Derivative Based (DB) algorithm, which is crucial of QRS complex detection in cardiovascular disease detection . Both algorithms are compared in terms of QRS detection accuracy and computation timing performance , with implementation on System - on - C hip (SoC) based embedded system that prototype on Altera DE2 - 115 Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) platform as embedded software . Both algorithm s are tested with 30 minutes ECG data from each of 48 different patient records obtain from MIT - BIH arrhythmia database. Results show that PT algorithm achieve 98.15% accuracy with 56. 33 seconds computation while DB algorithm achieve 96.74% with only 22. 14 seconds processing time. Based on the study, an optimized PT algorithm with improvement on Moving Windows Integrator (MWI) has been proposed to accelerate its computation. Result show s that the proposed optimized Moving Windows Integrator algorithm achieve s 9.5 times speed up than original MWI while retaining its QRS detection accuracy

Stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobanks in Malaysia

The Malaysian Cabinet’s approval of MyCohort in 2005 was seen as the crucial step toward the country having its very first biobank to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Past studies have shown that public attitudes towards biobanking depend heavily upon several factors including public engagement with biobanks, trust in key actors, privacy and data security, perceived benefit, altruism and certain demographic variables. The objective of this paper is to assess and compare the attitude levels of the Malaysian stakeholders’ towards the application of biobanks across education levels and religion. A survey was carried out on 509 adult respondents in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Results of the study have substantiated that the Malaysian stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobank were classified as high. Despite their high levels of perceived benefit and religious acceptance, they also expressed moderately high levels of concern when it comes to issues of data and specimen protection; this suggests that the Malaysian stakeholders also tend to be critical upon expressing their views towards a complex system such as biobanks. One-way MANOVA initially has detected a significant difference of attitude towards biobanks across stakeholder groups, education level and religion. Series of univariate analysis following the MANOVA, as well as Post Hoc analysis, also confirm significant difference of attitude existing across stakeholders; however, no significant differences were detected across education level and religion. The research finding serves as a useful benchmark for scientists and government regulators to understand public attitudes to biobanks before they are set into use

Harnessing Information Systems & Technology with Supply Chain Management for Performance Excellence in Retail Sector

Purpose: Retailers are revolutionizing the ways they manage their operations and supply chains to meet customer's ever changing needs. Advancements in Information Technology (IT) and Information System (IS) are supporting the companies to achieve this goal. Core activities of a retailer; stock management, category & space management, forecasting, negotiation and tracking all depends upon efficient supply chain management (SCM). These tasks cannot be executed without the proper implementation of IT/IS solutions at various levels of organizations. The purpose of this paper is to focus on critical SCM performances and to highlight how IT/IS system can help the retailers to overcome the challenges of modern day retail business

Creep And Isothermal Fatigue Behaviour Of Eutectic SnPb, SnBi And SnZn Solders For Microelectronic Packaging At Mildly Elevated Temperatures

Interconnect materials are used to connect surface mounting components and other passive and discrete circuit components on to copper pads or lands, and in holes on the printed circuit boards. Presently, the industrial practice is using thermal cycling as a method for reliability testing of circuit boards with assembled components. Bulk specimens of 63Sn37Pn solder alloy were subjected to isothermal fatigue at three mildly elevated temperatures (30, 40 and 50oC), loading frequencies (6, 60 and 600 CPM) and at different applied peak stresses (ranging from 8.75 to 33.25 MPa)

Ethical perception of modern biotechnology

Past studies have shown that successful development and commercialisation of modern biotechnology products depends heavily on public acceptance. Of the many variables studied by earlier researchers, it was found that moral acceptability was an important predictor of support for biotechnology. The purpose of this paper is to examine the ethical perception of modern biotechnology among the public in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia and to compare their ethical perception across several demographic variables. A survey was carried out using a self-constructed multi-dimensional instrument measuring the ethical perception of modern biotechnology. The respondents (n = 434) were stratified according to stakeholder groups which consisted of eleven groups: Producers, scientists, policy makers, NGOs, the media, religious scholars, university students and consumers. Results from the survey showed that the Klang Valley public did not perceive modern biotechnology as very threatening to the natural order of things (mean score 3.76) and they recognised the high benefits that modern biotechnology could provide to society (mean score 5.31). However, they also stressed that humans do not have the absolute right to modify living things (mean score 3.55) and they perceived modern biotechnology as moderately risky (mean score 4.59), whilst they had moderate confidence in regulation (mean score 4.09) and stressed the high need for proper labelling of modern biotechnology products (mean score 5.70). Background variables such as religion, race, age, education level and gender have significant effect on some of the dimensions of Malaysians’ ethical perception of modern biotechnology. The research findings are useful for understanding the social construct of the ethical acceptance of modern biotechnology in a developing country.Key words: Modern biotechnology, ethical aspects, perception, Malaysia

FTIR spectroscopy combined with chemometrics for analysis of lard adulteration in some vegetable oils

This study was aimed to develop a fast technique of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for detection and quantification of lard adulteration in some vegetable oils, namely canola oil (Ca‒O), corn oil (CO), extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), soybean oil (SO), and sunflower oil (SFO). The FTIR spectra associated with Ca‒O, CO, EVOO, SO, and SFO as well as their blends with lard were scanned, interpreted, and identified. The chemometrics of partial least square (PLS) and discriminant analysis (DA) at fingerprint regions of 1500–1000 cm−1 was used for quantifying and classifying of lard in the mixture with vegetable oils, respectively. PLS calibration can be successfully used for quantification of lard in the mixture with vegetable oils, either using normal spectra or its first derivatives. Furthermore, DA based on Mahalanobis distance can classify lard in vegetable oils. El objetivo de este estudio fue desarrollar una técnica rápida de espectroscopia de infrarrojos por transformada Fourier (FTIR) para la detección y cuantificación de adulteración con grasa de cerdo de algunos aceites vegetales, principalmente aceite de colza (Ca‒o), aceite de maíz (CO), aceite de oliva virgen extra (EVOO), aceite de soja (SO) y aceite de girasol (SFO). El espectrograma FTIR asociado con Ca‒O, CO, EVOO, SO y SFO, así como sus mezclas con grasa de cerdo, fueron escaneadas, interpretadas e identificadas. El análisis quimiométrico de mínimos cuadrados parciales (PLS) y análisis discriminantes (DA) en la región de 1500–1000 cm−1 se usaron para cuantificar y clasificar la grasa de cerdo en la mezcla con aceites vegetales, respectivamente. La calibración PLS puede ser usada satisfactoriamente para la cuantificación de grasa de cerdo en la mezcla con aceites vegetales, bien usando un espectro normal o sus primeras derivadas. Además, DA basados en la distancia Mahalanobis pueden clasificar la grasa de cerdo en aceites vegetales