Biodegradable PLA-Kenaf fibre biocomposite for cleaner environment

This project was undertaken to study the biodegradability of PLA-KF biocomposite in different conditions; soil burial and immersion in water. The samples were buried in soil for 40 days to investigate the degradability of biocomposites. As for water absorption tests, the samples were immersed in three different types of water which were river water (pH 6), tap water (pH 7) and sea water (pH 7.5). The amount of water intake was weighed for every three days for 27 days. This is done to determine the rate of water absorption and the effect on the physical properties of biocomposites. From the soil burial tests, it was found that longer time of soil burial and higher reinforcement of kenaf fibre has increases the weight loss of PLA biocomposite. Further, it was predicted that biodegradability may be increased up to 34.5% by prolong the burial of reinforced PLA biocomposite in the soil up to 80 days

Effect of drying methods on phenolic contents of neem (Azadirachta indica) leaf powder

The medicinal quality of plant parts is affected due to the thermal decomposition of the active ingredients during the drying process. Additional processing such as grinding will also influence the composition and extraction of active ingredients. Neem (Azadirachta indica) leaves dried under shade, oven-dried at 45°C and at 70°C varied in final moisture content, color, and crispness and in their phenolic contents. Grinding depended upon the crispness of the dried leaves, where finer particle sizes were obtained from crisper leaves. The phenolics contents were higher in powder obtained from shade-dried leaves compared to the oven-dried leaves at 45°C or at 70°C. There was no difference in total phenolics in extracts from finer-sized (250 μm) particles in the case of oven-dried leaves at 45°C. However, the extracts from finer particle sizes (250 μm) from oven-dried leaves at 70°C and shade-dried leaves respectively

Potensi Limbah Sagu (Metroxylon SP.) Di Kecamatan Tebing Tinggi Barat Kabupaten Kepulauan Meranti Sebagai Substrat Penghasil Biogas

Biogas is one of alternative energy sources that fulfills future fuel needs. This studyaimed to analyse the potency of sago waste as fermentation substrate for biogasproduction. This research was done experimentally by employing sago waste materialsobtained from Sago Factory Nambus River from District West Tebing Tinggi Sub-province Meranti and fresh cow rumen liquid was obtained from slaughterhouse inPekanbaru. The biogas volume was calculated by measuring the volume of water thatwas pushed every 3 days, where the volume of water driven was proportional to thevolume of biogas produced. The bacterial cell numbers was counted using plate countmethod employing Nutrient Agar (NA). The substrate fermentation temperature and pHwere measured every 3 days. The highest biogas volume was produced by fermenter III(45760 ml) containing solid sago waste, liquid sago waste, and rumen liquid with ratio 1: 1 : 1 and the lowest was produced by fermenter II (1600 ml). The total bacterialinvolved in biogas production ranges from 1,87x10 5 – 2,87x10 8 CFU/ml samples. Thetemperature and pH of substrate fermetation was relatively constant during biogasproduction. The results showed that sago waste is potential as substrate for biogasproduction

Compatibilized PP/EPDM-kenaf fibre composite using melt blending method

Thermoplastic Elastomer (TPE) composite reinforced with Hibiscus cannabinus, L fiber (kenaf fiber, KF) was prepared via melt blending method using internal mixer at temperature 18

Analysis of Severity Level Types and Trends in Road Accident Cases at Johor Inter State Road Using Analythical Hierarchy Process (AHP) And Geographical Information System

Road traffic accidents are usually happened and keep increasing year by year in Malaysia. It will give a adverse impact at the road also to the road user. There are several causes that contribute to the accident such as faulty vehicle, uneven roads, driver behavior and many more. So, with all these causes, it might be the reason why the road accidents keep on increasing. The purpose of this case study is to determine the highest road accident ranking based on the types of injuries at the state road, Johor. Another purpose is to identify the current traffic accident trends. Secondary data collected from Balai Polis Trafik, Batu Pahat are used to get an accident data and the Analythical Hierarchy Process (AHP) will be proceed to find the road accident ranking based on the types of injuries. The case study used the five years  road accident data as from 2016 until October 2020 . Geoda as  GIS application is used to insert the data about the road accident trends. The highest road accident ranking based on the types of injuries and the road accident trends were obtained and achieved all the objective of this case study. The hierarchy structure has founded highest ranking by types of injuries, which is the highest is Wreckage injuries that has the consistency ratio 2.92 which is the highest then the other value. The fatal injury has the second highest value which is 1.31, the minor is 0.88 and  the lowest value is in the serious injuries which is 0.70 in consistency Ratio. In conclusion, by using the AHP it is more easy to find the rangking at any of problem issues and by using this method it can use primarily used to weigh the parameters and pick and rate the alternatives that have been chosen.Besides that, it will be useful as a reference to any party in the future for the road traffic management

Analysis of Severity Level Types and Trends in Road Accident Cases at Johor Inter State Road Using Analythical Hierarchy Process (AHP) And Geographical Information System

Road traffic accidents are usually happened and keep increasing year by year in Malaysia. It will give a adverse impact at the road also to the road user. There are several causes that contribute to the accident such as faulty vehicle, uneven roads, driver behavior and many more. So, with all these causes, it might be the reason why the road accidents keep on increasing. The purpose of this case study is to determine the highest road accident ranking based on the types of injuries at the state road, Johor. Another purpose is to identify the current traffic accident trends. Secondary data collected from Balai Polis Trafik, Batu Pahat are used to get an accident data and the Analythical Hierarchy Process (AHP) will be proceed to find the road accident ranking based on the types of injuries. The case study used the five years  road accident data as from 2016 until October 2020 . Geoda as  GIS application is used to insert the data about the road accident trends. The highest road accident ranking based on the types of injuries and the road accident trends were obtained and achieved all the objective of this case study. The hierarchy structure has founded highest ranking by types of injuries, which is the highest is Wreckage injuries that has the consistency ratio 2.92 which is the highest then the other value. The fatal injury has the second highest value which is 1.31, the minor is 0.88 and  the lowest value is in the serious injuries which is 0.70 in consistency Ratio. In conclusion, by using the AHP it is more easy to find the rangking at any of problem issues and by using this method it can use primarily used to weigh the parameters and pick and rate the alternatives that have been chosen.Besides that, it will be useful as a reference to any party in the future for the road traffic management

Enhancement the Performance of OFDM based on Multiwavelets Using Turbo Codes

In wireless communication systems, the main challenge is to provide a high data rate and reliable transmission over a frequency selective fading channel. Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a very attractive technique for high data rate transmission with better bandwidth efficiency. In this paper, the effectiveness of turbo codes is utilized to develop a new approach for an OFDM system based on a Discrete Multiwavelet Critical-Sampling Transform (OFDM-DMWCST). The use of turbo coding in an OFDM-DMWCST system is useful in providing the desired performance at higher data rates. Two types of turbo codes were used in this work, i.e., Parallel Concatenated Convolutional Codes (PCCCs) and Serial Concatenated Convolutional Codes (SCCCs). In both types, the decoding is performed by the iterative decoding algorithm based on the log-MAP (Maximum A Posteriori) algorithm. The simulationresults showed that, the turbo-coded OFDM-DMWCST system achieves large coding gain with lower Bit-Error-Rate (BER), therefore, offering a higher data rate under different channel conditions. In addition, thePCCCs offer better performance than SCCCs

Learning robotic pyeloplasty without simulators: an assessment of the learning curve in the early robotic era

OBJECTIVE: To analyze our experience and learning curve for robotic pyeloplasty during this robotic procedure. METHODS: Ninety-nine patients underwent 100 consecutive procedures. Cases were divided into 4 groups of 25 consecutive procedures to analyze the learning curve. RESULTS: The median anastomosis times were 50.0, 36.8, 34.2 and 29.0 minutes (p=0.137) in the sequential groups, respectively. The median operative times were 144.6, 119.2, 114.5 and 94.6 minutes, with a significant difference between groups 1 and 2 (p=0.015), 1 and 3 (p=0.002), 1 and 4 (po0.001) and 2 and 4 (p=0.022). The mean hospital stay was 7.08, 4.76, 4.88 and 4.20 days, with a difference between groups 1 and 2 (po0.001), 1 and 3 (po0.001) and 1 and 4 (po0.001). Clinical and radiological improvements were observed in 98.9% of patients. One patient presented with recurrent obstruction. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate a high success rate with low complication rates. A significant decrease in hospital stay and surgical time was evident after 25 cases

Risks and benefits of genetically modified foods

There are claims that fear towards new technology has been caused by the lack of information and education on the subject to the public. Modern biotechnology and its applications have been receiving the same criticism. Thus, the objective of this study is to analyze the trends and coverage of genetically modified food (GMF) related issues available in an online database. In order to achieve this, GMFrelated articles (n = 60) were retrieved from a database, Science Direct, from the year 2005 until 2010. These articles were then analyzed using the annotated bibliography and content analysis techniques. It was found that the highest number of articles was in the ’Technical/Progress’ theme with 22 counts followed by the ‘Attitude’ theme with 13 counts. Meanwhile, the ‘Social Risks and/or Benefits’ theme was the lowest with only 1 paper identified. This trend shows that the focus of the majority of papers published were on the progress of GMF technology followed by attitude studies (such as perceptions and willingness to buy) and only a few were discussing the risk and benefit aspects of GMF. These findings are useful in giving us an insight of what have been discussed on GMF in the existing literature.Key words: Genetically modified food (GMF), themes, risks and benefits, content analysis, biotechnology