Teratogenic effects and maternal toxicity sprague dawley rats fed Ficusdeltoidea leaves aqueous extract in late gestation

Ficusdeltoidea have many beneficial uses however no report has been documented on the possible teratogenic effects if consumed during pregnancy. A study was conducted to observe the effects of feeding Ficusdeltoidea leaves aqueous extract (FDLAE) to rats during the late gestation period. Thirty pregnant Sprague Dawley rats were divided equally into five groups: positive control (retinylpalmitate in corn oil), negative control (only water), vehicle control (corn oil), low dose (5g/kg/day) and high dose (10g/kg/day) of FDLAE. Dams were sacrificed at term and their uteri removed by Caesarean section. Livers, placentae and kidneys of dams were subjected to histopathological examination. Fetuses were stained with Adlizarin Red S to observe skeletal malformations. The results showed that the maternal liver and kidneys were significantly (p<0.05) affected in FDLAE treatment and positive control groups, however only the placenta was affected in the positive control group. Mortality of dams and numerous skeletal abnormalities of fetuses were also observed in FDLAE treatment groups. We suggest that feeding FDLAE to pregnant dams during the late gestation period cause teratogenic effects and contribute to maternal toxicity

Structural and physical properties of Sm3+ doped magnesium zinc sulfophosphate glass

Samarium (Sm3+ ) doped magnesium zinc sulfophosphate glass system of composition (60-x)P2O5-20MgO-20ZnSO4-xSm2O3 (x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mol%) were synthesized using melt-quenching technique. The structure and physical properties of prepared glass samples were characterized. The X-ray diffraction pattern verified their amorphous nature. The physical properties such as density, refractive index, molar volume, rare earth ion concentration, etc. were calculated. The decrease in the optical bandgap energy with increasing Sm2O3 contents was attributed to the alteration in the glass network structures. Fourier transformed infrared spectra and Raman analyses manifested the depolymerization of ZnSO4 in the phosphate host matrix. The present findings may be beneficial for the advancement of functional glasses

Designing Problem Based Learning (PBL) Problem Scenario for Statistic Using Linear and Non-linear Multimedia Presentation

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional method that is known to offer students with knowledge suitable for problem solving. In order to test this assertion the process of problem based learning is described and measured against three principle of learning: activation of prior knowledge, elaboration and encoding specificity. Using PBL method, students’ understanding with regards to the problem scenario is very significant process. One of the main defining characteristic of PBL, which distinguishes it from some other method, is that the problem is presented to the students first at the start learning process. Traditionally, problem scenario is presented in a printed text, which is not tempting for student to understand the motive behind it. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on the other hand has widely accepted in many areas which include education as well. By applying multimedia presentation as a discipline in ICT, it is believed that it could helps in designing the effective problem scenario. The purpose of this study is to design and test the effectiveness of PBL problem scenario for subject Statistic using linear and non-linear multimedia presentation. Linear presentation is known as no navigation control is involved through that process while nonlinear presentation uses user interactivity to control the presentation. This paper discusses the early storyboard design and the icons that used

DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH FRAMEWORK FOR PBL PROBLEM SCENARIO USING LINEAR & NON-LINEAR MULTIMEDIA

Problem Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional approach to provide student with knowledge suitable for problem solving. To support the research, PBLStat courseware is developed based on the PBL approach. In PBL approach, problem scenario is first presented during the learning process. Problem scenario helps to maintain student interest in course so it is important to create a good problem that can cause students‘ inquiry and drive students to solve the problems. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the development of research framework for PBL problem scenario presentation. Problem scenario can be presented using linear and non-linear multimedia categories. The framework of study contains the description of research control modes, content and output. The control modes of the research are consisting of two independent variables which are linear problem scenario and non-linear problem scenario. Content is the phase of courseware‘s development. The ADDIE model is used to complete the development of courseware. Finally is the research output, this is to evaluate student‘s preferences and performances based on the problem scenario categorization. There are four research instrument tools has been created to answer the research question which are questionnaire, observation, interview and PBLStat

Wheeling Charges Methodology for Deregulated Electricity Markets using Tracing-based Postage Stamp Methods

MW-mile and Postage-stamp methods is traditionally used by electric utilities to determine a fixed transmission cost among users of firm transmission service. MW-Mile method is charging the users by determining the actual paths the power follows through the network. However, this method is not sufficient to recover the total transmission system cost. To recover the total transmission system cost, the Postage Stamp Method is adopted. This method is simple but its main drawback is that the charges paid by each user do not reflect the actual use of the network but based on the average usage of the entire network. This paper proposes a new wheeling charges methodology using tracing-based postage stamp methods. The proposed method allocates transmission costs among the generators proportional to the total power delivered to the load through transmission lines. The proposed method incorporates with generalised generation distribution factors to trace the contribution of each generator to the line flow. One unique feature of the proposed method is the consideration of the local load on the power flow allocation. Two case studies of 3-bus and IEEE 14-bus systems are used to illustrate the proposed method. Results show that the proposed method provides fair and equitable wheeling charges to generators reflecting the actual usage of the transmission system

Application of PROMETHEE method for demand side management (DSM) options ranking

Demand Side Management (DSM) is a method used to modify the electrical load profile of a consumer to reduce its electricity bill. There are various types of DSM options available but mostly involve costs to be incurred by consumers. Moreover, the effectiveness of a DSM option depends on various factors including investment cost, saved energy, payback period and more. Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) is a tool that can be applied to make decision when a lot of factors to be taken into account. In DSM, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) is one MCDA technique that is widely used in ranking the DSM options. However, AHP requires additive aggregation that may cause lost in detailed information. This paper presents another MDCA method; Preference Ranking Organization Method for Enrichment Evaluation (PROMETHEE) to perform the ranking of DSM options. PROMETHEE (I and II) were used in a case study and the results shows that PROMETHEE give the same result as AHP. PROMETHEE has an advantage over AHP as it does not require additive aggregation even the problem is multi-dimensional and could provide visual analysis

An improved load shedding scheduling strategy for solving power supply defisit

When high electricity demand growth not matched by the growth in generating capacity, energy deficit problem cannot be avoided. Power outages of up to 6 hours per day are part of the power crisis experienced by electricity consumers in Sumatra. The utility has applied load shedding approach to tackle the problem, however, there are weaknesses on the current load shedding program. It is discovered that most of the power outage occurs randomly without any prior notice and sometime lasted for many hours. Load shedding program is not properly scheduled and not fairly distributed among all consumers. A proper scheduling program must have a clear periodic schedule, fixed outage hours, fairly distributed and alternated among consumers and most importantly solve energy deficit problem. This paper presented an improved load shedding scheduling strategy based on Round Robin method. The method is then illustrated and applied on actual daily load profile of Sumatra electrical system

Experiment study of using parallel plate sensor for the detection of conductive material

Gold is the yellow precious metal that has been used in many applications likes medicine, electronics, jewelry, investment and others. Thus, gold is one of the commodities which has high demand in the global market. In other to secure the purity of gold and to protect the retailer and consumer from fraud, the detection of gold is very important in the industry. There are many techniques have been used to detect the purity of gold material and those techniques must consider a several factors such as non-destructive, inexpensive, precise, simple and widely accepted by the jewelry industries. Electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) is the most mature non-destructive technique among various tomography. The advantages of ECT are non-radioactive, non-intrusive, high imaging speed and low cost. This paper introduces the ECT using the square sensor. The aim of his paper this to present a new method of verifying the conductive materials using a parallel plate sensor which adopted from the ECT system

Optimizing time of use (ToU) electricity pricing in regulated market

Time-of-Use (ToU) electricity price for residential consumers is receiving lots of attention lately with the increment of smart meters usage among residential customers. ToU prices reflect the actual electricity cost and the rate is commonly set base on market price of electricity. Implementing ToU pricing system on a regulated electricity system such as in Malaysia is complicated due to non existence of electricity market. The electrical utility company or the regulator will need to determine the optimum ToU prices that would give the correct price signal so that customers will react accordingly. Many factors need to be considered such as impact on electricity generation cost, load profile, load elasticity and customers’ satisfaction. This paper presents an optimization method to estimate the optimum ToU prices for given electricity demand profile and demand elasticity. The presented method able to reduce the gap between peak and off-peak demand and ensure the estimated ToU prices are fairly proportionate among hours i.e. summation of rate increments (from the fixed price) is equal to the summation of rate decrements. A simple system is used as a case study to demonstrate the application of the optimization method presented

Engineering properties of high volume biomass waste mortar

This paper represents the effects of using waste generated from palm oil industries like ash, shell and fibre on the engineering properties of mortar. Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) was used as cement replacement up to 60% and Oil Palm Kernel Shell (OPKS) as sand replacement in mortar mixture. The Oil Palm Fibre was added to increase the strengthening performance of mortar. The method used to find the water binder ratio was by trial and error method with 1:3 ratio of cement to sand. The cubes size of 70mm x 70mm x 70mm, beams size of 40mm x 40mm x 160mm, and cylinders size of 70mm diameter and 150mm height, were cast and tested for compressive strength, flexural strength and splitting tensile strengths of mortar. Samples were cured in water before testing it at 7, 28, and 60 days. Also, the water absorption of mortar was tested at the age of 28 days. The results showed that oil palm fibre provided more advantages and increase the strength properties especially in the flexural and tensile strength. The addition of Oil Palm Kernel Shell reduced the density of mortar and it can be used for lightweight application. The test results also showed that as the POFA ratio increased, the compressive strength of mortar decreased. However, as OPKS ratio increased, the density was found to be decreased. The mix proportions using 60% POFA and 20% OPKS was considered as the optimum mix design. The mortar showed optimum strength at 9% with the addition of fibre