Efficiency of Silver Nanoparticles in third Generation Solar Cells

Immense energy is required for the production of first generation solar cells and they also tend to be rigid. There are lower efficiencies of the second generation solar cells than the first generation solar cells. On the other hand, the durability and efficiency of the third generation solar cells is more than the first generation solart cells. Moreover, the third generation solar cells are not available commercially and this area of solar cells requires more research and development. The current research works makes use of silver nanoparticles to enhance the efficiency of third generation solar cells. Silver nanoparticles were first made and then the solar cells were fabricated. Titanium and platinum electrodes were used. The titanium electrode was immersed in the silver nanocluster solution for 12 hours after which the electrodes were then clipped together. Solar simulator was used in the research work for testing the efficiency of the solar cells. The efficiency was calculated to be 3.46%. The results of the research work suggest that silver nanoparticles can essentially enhance the efficiency of third generation solar cells

Knowledge and practice of breastfeeding among mothers in Arma’a District Shabwah Governorate - Yemen

Introduction Breastfeeding is almost universal, but there are many barriers for proper breast feeding practices. Inadequate knowledge, or inappropriate practice, of breastfeeding may lead to undesirable consequences. The aim of this study was to assess breastfeeding knowledge, and practice among mothers in Arma’a district Shabwah governorate and identify factors that may affect breastfeeding practice in the study population. Methods A cross-sectional study using pre-tested validated structured questionnaire conducted among mothers who were attending Arma’a hospital and four health care units around Arma'a district. Sample size was 130 mothers who had at least one child aged two years or younger. Breastfeeding knowledge and practice of participants were assessed based on their experience with the last child. Results This study found that there are only 24 mothers (18.6%) have good knowledge while 106 mothers (81.4%) have low knowledge. 63 mothers (48.5%) had good breastfeeding practice while 67 mothers (51.5%) have poor breastfeeding practice. 54.0% mothers that have good knowledge have good practice while 52.8% mothers of poor knowledge have poor practice. Mothers’s knowledge was significantly associated with their education level and their practice was significantly associated with the number of pregnancies (p-value=0.04 and =0.027 respectively). There was no significant association with other demographic data, and between knowledge and practice. No exclusive breastfeeding reported in this study. Conclusions This study shows that undesirable cultural practices such as giving pre-lacteal, avoiding exclusive breastfeeding are still prevalent among the mothers. The maternal knowledge towards breastfeeding was very low and there was big gap between actual and desired practices

OPC Protocol Application for Real-Time Carbon Monitoring System for Industrial Environment

Global warming is referred to the rise in average surface temperatures on earth primarily due to the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions such as Carbon Dioxide (CO2). Monitoring the emissions, either direct or indirect from the industrial processes, is important to control or to minimize their impact on the environment. Most of the existing environmental monitoring system is being designed and developed for normal environment monitoring. Hence, the aim of this project is to develop industrial CO2 emission monitoring system which implements industrial Open Platform Communications (OPC) protocol in an embedded microcontroller. The software algorithm based on OPC data format has been designed and programmed into the Arduino microcontroller to interface the sensor data to any existing industrial OPC compliant Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. The system has been successfully tested in a lab with the suitable environment for real-time CO2 emissions measurement. The real-time measurement data has been shown in an industrial SCADA application which indicates successful implementation of the OPC communications protocol

Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi stres, kebimbangan dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga kepada pesakit leukemia kanak-kanak

Pengenalan Penjagaan pesakit kanak-kanak leukemia memerlukan pemerhatian dan tumpuan yang tinggi untuk memastikan rawatan yang disarankan oleh Pakar Perubatan dapat dilaksanakan dengan baik. Perkara ini sedikit sebanyak akan menjejaskan fungsi sosial, meningkatkan stres, kebimbangan dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga. Oleh itu, kajian irisan lintang ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji prevalen serta faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi stres, kebimbangan dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga kepada pesakit leukemia kanak-kanak. Metodologi Sampel kajian adalah seramai 54 orang. Data diukur menggunakan DASS-21 versi Bahasa Malaysia yang telah divalidasi oleh kajian lepas. Keputusan Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa prevalen stres tahap rendah dalam kalangan penjaga kepada pesakit leukemia kanak-kanak adalah sebanyak 88.9% manakala prevalen stres tahap tinggi adalah sebanyak 11.1%. Prevalen kebimbangan tahap rendah adalah sebanyak 90.7% dan prevalen kebimbangan tahap tinggi adalah sebanyak 9.3%. Prevalen kemurungan tahap rendah adalah sebanyak 96.3% dan prevalen kemurungan tahap tinggi adalah sebanyak 3.7% dalam kalangan penjaga. Terdapat beberapa faktor yang mempengaruhi stres dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga secara signifikan (p<0.05). Faktor agama, bangsa dan jantina kanak-kanak mempunyai hubungan dengan status stres penjaga (p<0.05). Faktor jantina penjaga dan hubungan antara penjaga dengan ahli keluarga mempunyai hubungan dengan status kemurungan penjaga (p<0.05). Kesimpulan Kesimpulannya, faktor sosiodemografi dan hubungan antara penjaga dengan ahli keluarga sama ada erat atau tidak erat mempengaruhi stres dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga kepada pesakit leukemia kanak-kanak manakala faktor tahap pengetahuan tidak mempengaruhi stres, kebimbangan dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga. Strategi diperlukan untuk bantu mengurangkan stres, kebimbangan dan kemurungan dalam kalangan penjaga kepada pesakit leukemia kanak-kanak

The ‘irrational’ taboos and ‘irrelevant’ traditions related to postpartum women’s health and well-being

Taboos and traditions refer to myths and non-scientific practices held by people across the world. A variety of taboos are practiced worldwide (including those relating to food, religious, and sexual beliefs), including in Malaysia. Most of the taboos that concern the postpartum period are related to postpartum physiological, emotional, and family dynamic changes. The aim of this systematic review is to explore the traditions and taboos practised among postpartum mothers in Malaysia, and to consider the purpose and health impact of their practice. A systematic search of journals in Malaysia was conducted using eight major databases: Scopus, Ovid Medline, Science Direct, SAGE, PubMed, Wiley Online Library, Google Scholar, and EBSCOhost. Articles from all journals published between 2013 and 2018 were assessed through the PRISMA checklist. From 17,945 papers screened, seven papers were selected for critical analysis using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool (2018). It was found that in Malaysia, certain postpartum traditions, including food taboos and behavioural and physical restrictions were conducted with the aim of maintaining the well-being of mother and baby, and to improve the healing process. Some of the practices were found to be irrelevant, whilst others had beneficial health impacts. Based on this review, the practice of certain taboos and traditions during the postpartum period was found to have both advantages and disadvantages. A rational approach is needed to weigh the practice against maternal safety and health. Thus, healthcare personnel should be sensitive to the role of taboos and traditions in the postpartum care of patients. The practice of traditions and taboos should be monitored for safe practice, along with a need for community-based education to avoid any unwanted issues as a result of its practice

The Effect of Nozzle Size on the Tensile and Flexural Properties of PLA Parts Fabricated Via FDM

The nozzle of a 3D printer extrudes molten filament onto the print surface. The detachable and adjustable nozzle of a 3D printer allows for the printing of lines of varying thickness. This study intends to investigate the effect of nozzle diameter on the tensile and flexural properties of printed specimens. The tensile and flexural specimens were prepared according to ASTM D638 Type 1 and ISO 178, respectively. After specimens were printed with nozzles having diameters of 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, and 0.8 mm, tensile and flexural tests were conducted using an Instron 5585 machine. Each specimen was printed with 0.2 mm layer thickness, a line pattern, and 100 percent infill. Tensile and flexural behaviors of PLA specimens were comparable, according to the findings. Tensile and flexural strengths increase as nozzle diameter increases, but they are only effective up to a certain diameter. At a nozzle diameter of 0.6 mm, the maximum tensile strength was 33.32 MPa, and at a nozzle diameter of 0.5 mm, the maximum flexural strength was 76.76 MPa. The flexural strength decreases when using nozzles with diameters of 0.6 and 0.8 mm, and the tensile strength decreases when using a nozzle with a larger diameter (0.8 mm). Because the diameter of the nozzle has a significant impact on the mechanical properties of a part, it is crucial to choose the correct nozzle diameter for optimal mechanical properties

A modified maximum likelihood estimation for the three parameters in lognormal distribution model / Faiz Zulkifli, Noorizam Daud and Norazan Mohamed Ramli

The introduction of the threshold parameters in three parameters lognormal distribution(λ ,μ ,σ) creates complications when we seek to estimate these parameters from sample. Hill(1963) has shown that global maximum likelihood estimators resulted in inadmissibleestimates as the likelihood function of any ordered sample tends to infinity when(λ ,μ ,σ ) approach( ,−∞, ∞) 1 x respectively. Hence, in this project we would like to propose anew modified version of maximum likelihood estimation to cater for the above problem. Theperformance of the proposed method compared to the existing method suggested by Cohenand Whitten (1980), will be examined and verified through a rigorous simulation procedureusing S-PLUS programming language. A sensitivity analysis will be conducted to study thebehaviour of the estimators in meeting the asymptotic normality assumption. For illustration,the proposed method will be applied to real data sets such as biological and physical sciencesdata

Competing risks for reliability analysis using Cox’s model

Purpose – Cox’s model with Weibull distribution and Cox’s with exponential distribution are the most important models in reliability analysis. This paper seeks to show that, with a large sample size based on expectation maximization (EM) algorithm, both models give similar results. Design/methodology/approach – The parameters of the models have been estimated by method of maximum likelihood based on EM algorithm. The objective of this analysis is to fit the modification of Cox’s model with Weibull distribution and Cox’s with exponential distribution, examine its performance and compare their results with Crowder et al. Findings – A simulation study indicates that the parametric Cox’s model with Weibull distribution gives similar results to Cox’s with exponential distribution, especially for a large sample size. Also, the modification of the two models showed better results compared with Crowder et al., especially for the second causes of failure. Originality/value – A modification of the two competing risk models has mostly been applied in failure time data and simulation data. The results of the simulation study indicate that the Weibull and exponential are suitable for Cox’s model as they are easy to use and it can achieve even higher accuracy compared with other distribution models

Pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku komuniti Sungai Klang terhadap pencemaran sungai

Pencemaran sungai di Malaysia pada masa ini berada di tahap yang kritikal dan amat membimbangkan dengan pelbagai masalah pencemaran sungai berlaku hampir setiap hari. Tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku individu memberikan impak yang besar terhadap isu pencemaran sungai. Oleh itu, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menilai tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku komuniti yang tinggal berhampiran Sungai Klang. Kajian keratan rentas yang menggunakan persampelan rawak mudah telah dilakukan untuk mengkaji tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku komuniti Sungai Klang terhadap pencemaran sungai. Responden kajian terdiri daripada penduduk kawasan setinggan dan penduduk kawasan perumahan biasa yang menetap berhampiran Sungai Klang. Kajian ini telah menggunakan borang soal selidik. Analisis deskriptif dan ujian t telah digunakan untuk menganalisis data. Hasil deskriptif mendapati bahawa tahap pengetahuan (min=3.13, s.p.=0.40), sikap (min=3.28, s.p.=0.65) dan tingkah laku (min=2.96, s.p.=0.72) pencemaran sungai bagi penduduk setinggan adalah lebih rendah daripada penduduk perumahan biasa. Ujian t juga menunjukkan perbezaan yang signifikan (p<0.05) untuk tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku antara penduduk setinggan dan penduduk perumahan biasa. Kesimpulannya, tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku pencemaran sungai komuniti Sungai Klang berada di tahap yang tidak memuaskan. Oleh yang demikian, tindakan perlulah diambil oleh pihak yang berkaitan untuk memantapkan lagi tahap pengetahuan, sikap dan tingkah laku penduduk berkaitan pencemaran sungai agar isu pencemaran sungai ini dapat diatasi

PID Control Tuning via Particle Swarm Optimization for Coupled Tank System

This paper presents the use of meta-heuristic technique to obtain three parameters (KP, KI and KD) of PID controller for Coupled Tank System (CTS). Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is chosen and Sum Squared Error is selected as objective function. This PSO is implemented for controlling desired liquid level of CTS. Then, the performances of the system are compared to various conventional techniques which are Trial and Error, Auto-Tuning, Ziegler-Nichols (Z-N) and Cohen-Coon(C-C) method. Simulation is conducted within Matlab environment to verify the transient response specifications in terms of Rise Time (TR), Settling Time (TS), Steady State Error(SSE) and Overshoot (OS). Result obtained shows that performance of CTS can be improved via PSO as PID tuning methods