A Remote Long-Range Localized Air Pollution Monitoring System

Air pollution is a global issue that affects us every day, which brings about the need to monitor air quality regularly. However, fixed air monitoring systems in Malaysia are only situated in several areas, and the public is unaware of air quality conditions in terms of pollutants at specific locations. In efforts to tackle localised air pollution, this paper proposes to construct a low-cost remote air quality monitoring system and develop a web application to act as an interface for users. The proposed system comprises a sensor system and a ground terminal, which are connected using Long Range (LoRa) technology. Both units function to measure air quality parameters such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM) particles, etc., and upload the collected data onto the Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The functionality of the prototype was verified by testing it in different environments. The sensor’s data was also verified to be accurate through data comparisons, where the majority of percentage differences fell below 10%. Performance analysis was then performed through statistical measures such as standard deviation, mean, etc., to categorise the data in each tested area. The low-cost nature of this proposed system would benefit everyone, especially underdeveloped countries that are always under threat of poor air quality

Identification and mitigation of non-line-of-sight path effect using repeater for hybrid ultra-wideband positioning and networking system

At least two decades ago, various applications have been proposed for the implementation of ultra-wideband (UWB) technology, but only a few of them are being realised such as radar detection, home networking, and indoor positioning. Although UWB positioning offers precise locality tracking, the accuracy of the estimation is greatly affected by the non-line-of-sight (NLOS) path effect. In this paper, we propose a hybrid indoor UWB positioning and networking system that utilises the existing repeater of the data network to eliminate the NLOS paths. A switching algorithm is written to identify the existence of NLOS paths based on received signal strength (RSS) and unique channel characteristics such as mean excess delay (MED) and root mean square (RMS). From the simulation results, the NLOS paths have been successfully identified under the NLOS environment. Hence, a higher probability of accuracy across the entire tested area can be achieved for the UWB positioning system by mitigating the NLOS path effect using the proposed algorithm. Besides that, the transmission of the line-of-sight (LOS) signal attains a data rate of around 15 times higher than the NLOS signal at a bit-error-rate (BER) of 10 −5 in the indoor networking system. In this case, the minimum-bit-errorrate (MBER) receiver is again shown to outperform the minimum-mean-square error (MMSE) and the performance gain drops around 5 dB to 6 dB at a BER of 10 −5 when the repeaters increase to a maximum number of 10 units. In conclusion, the proposed method is capable of mitigating the NLOS path effect on both indoor positioning and data networking systems

A remote long-range localized air pollution monitoring system

Air pollution is a global issue that affects us every day, which brings about the need to monitor air quality regularly. However, fixed air monitoring systems in Malaysia are only situated in several areas, and the public is unaware of air quality conditions in terms of pollutants at specific locations. In efforts to tackle localised air pollution, this paper proposes to construct a low-cost remote air quality monitoring system and develop a web application to act as an interface for users. The proposed system comprises a sensor system and a ground terminal, which are connected using Long Range (LoRa) technology. Both units function to measure air quality parameters such as carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), ozone (O3), particulate matter (PM) particles, etc., and upload the collected data onto the Internet of Things (IoT) platform. The functionality of the prototype was verified by testing it in different environments. The sensor’s data was also verified to be accurate through data comparisons, where the majority of percentage differences fell below 10%. Performance analysis was then performed through statistical measures such as standard deviation, mean, etc., to categorise the data in each tested area. The low-cost nature of this proposed system would benefit everyone, especially underdeveloped countries that are always under threat of poor air quality

A Mobile IoT-based Elderly Monitoring System for Senior Safety

Traditional elderly monitoring systems may misdiagnose and treat senior citizens due to inaccurate results, resulting in higher care costs and poorer health outcomes. Thus, the Internet of Things (IoT) was introduced to provide accurate, real-time monitoring data to improve overall performance. The IoT health system connects devices wirelessly to collect and analyze health data, monitor vital signs and physical activity, and provide real-time insights to improve health management. This paper aims to monitor real-time conditions as well as ensure the safety of senior citizens by developing a low-cost wearable prototype device to measure heart pulses, detect falls, and determine their actual location in an indoor space. The data is uploaded to IoT platforms like Blynk, Firebase, and Google Assistant, providing frequent updates on the elderly's health status and conditions and sending emergency messages, if necessary, to an Android application. A home control system is also developed to control the home appliances using mobile phones or voice control. A demonstration has been conducted to showcase the operation and functionality of the prototype. The proposed system has the capability to simplify the daily routines of the elderly while also granting caregivers greater control over their health and well-being

Overexpressing 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase (HMGR) in the lactococcal mevalonate pathway for heterologous plant sesquiterpene production.

Isoprenoids are a large and diverse group of metabolites with interesting properties such as flavour, fragrance and therapeutic properties. They are produced via two pathways, the mevalonate pathway or the 2-C-methyl-D-erythritol-4-phosphate (MEP) pathway. While plants are the richest source of isoprenoids, they are not the most efficient producers. Escherichia coli and yeasts have been extensively studied as heterologous hosts for plant isoprenoids production. In the current study, we describe the usage of the food grade Lactococcus lactis as a potential heterologous host for the production of sesquiterpenes from a local herbaceous Malaysian plant, Persicaria minor (synonym Polygonum minus). A sesquiterpene synthase gene from P. minor was successfully cloned and expressed in L. lactis. The expressed protein was identified to be a β-sesquiphellandrene synthase as it was demonstrated to be functional in producing β-sesquiphellandrene at 85.4% of the total sesquiterpenes produced based on in vitro enzymatic assays. The recombinant L. lactis strain developed in this study was also capable of producing β-sesquiphellandrene in vivo without exogenous substrates supplementation. In addition, overexpression of the strain's endogenous 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase (HMGR), an established rate-limiting enzyme in the eukaryotic mevalonate pathway, increased the production level of β-sesquiphellandrene by 1.25-1.60 fold. The highest amount achieved was 33 nM at 2 h post-induction

Applying Discrete Event Simulation to Reduce Patient Wait Times and Crowding: The Case of a Specialist Outpatient Clinic with Dual Practice System

Long wait times and crowding are major issues affecting outpatient service delivery, but it is unclear how these affect patients in dual practice settings. This study aims to evaluate the effects of changing consultation start time and patient arrival on wait times and crowding in an outpatient clinic with a dual practice system. A discrete event simulation (DES) model was developed based on real-world data from an Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) clinic in a public hospital. Data on patient flow, resource availability, and time taken for registration and clinic processes for public and private patients were sourced from stakeholder discussion and time-motion study (TMS), while arrival times were sourced from the hospital’s information system database. Probability distributions were used to fit these input data in the model. Scenario analyses involved configurations on consultation start time/staggered patient arrival. The median registration and clinic turnaround times (TT) were significantly different between public and private patients (p < 0.01). Public patients have longer wait times than private patients in this study’s dual practice setting. Scenario analyses showed that early consultation start time that matches patient arrival time and staggered arrival could reduce the overall TT for public and private patients by 40% and 21%, respectively. Similarly, the number of patients waiting at the clinic per hour could be reduced by 10–21% during clinic peak hours. Matching consultation start time with staggered patient arrival can potentially reduce wait times and crowding, especially for public patients, without incurring additional resource needs and help narrow the wait time gap between public and private patients. Healthcare managers and policymakers can consider simulation approaches for the monitoring and improvement of healthcare operational efficiency to meet rising healthcare demand and costs

Research funding impact and priority setting – advancing universal access and quality healthcare research in Malaysia

Abstract Background Health Research Priority Setting (HRPS) in the Ministry of Health (MOH) Malaysia was initiated more than a decade ago to drive effort toward research for informed decision and policy-making. This study assessed the impact of funded prioritised research and identified research gaps to inform future priority setting initiatives for universal access and quality healthcare in Malaysia. Methods Research impact of universal access and quality healthcare projects funded by the National Institutes of Health Malaysia were assessed based on the modified Payback Framework, addressing categories of informing policy, knowledge production, and benefits to health and health sector. For the HRPS process, the Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative methodology was adapted and adopted, with the incorporation of stakeholder values using weights and monetary allocation survey. Workshop discussions and interviews with stakeholders and research groups were conducted to identify research gaps, with the use of conceptual frameworks to guide the search. Results Seventeen ongoing and 50 completed projects were identified for research funding impact analysis. Overall, research fund allocation differed from stakeholders’ expectation. For research impact, 48 out of 50 completed projects (96.0%) contributed to some form of policy-making efforts. Almost all completed projects resulted in outputs that contributed to knowledge production and were expected to lead to health and health sector benefits. The HRPS process led to the identification of research priority areas that stemmed from ongoing and new issues identified for universal access and quality healthcare. Conclusion The concerted efforts of evaluation of research funding impact, prioritisation, dissemination and policy-maker involvement were valuable for optimal health research resource utilisation in a resource constrained developing country. Embedding impact evaluation into a priority setting process and funding research based on national needs could facilitate health research investment to reach its potential

GC-MS chromatogram showing the <i>in vivo</i> production of β-sesquiphellandrene by clones harbouring the pNZ:<i>PMSTS</i> plasmid.

<p>The example shown here is for 40 ng/mL nisin induction at 2 h post-induction. B-sesquiphellandrene was detected at 7.24 min in the headspace of the induced culture (indicated by arrow) (A), which was undetected in the uninduced culture (B). Clones harbouring the pNZ:<i>PMSTS</i>:<i>mvaA</i> plasmid showed a similar GC-MS profile (data not shown).</p

Sesquiterpenes produced by the recombinant PMSTS protein in <i>in vitro</i> enzymatic assay as detected by GC-MS.

<p>Sesquiterpenes produced by the recombinant PMSTS protein in <i>in vitro</i> enzymatic assay as detected by GC-MS.</p

HMGR assay using his-tag purified protein expressed from pNZ:<i>PMSTS</i>:<i>mvaA</i>.

<p>Protein expressed from his-tag purified pNZ:<i>PMSTS</i> was used as the negative control.</p