Weed Populations and their buried seeds in rice fields of the Muda Area, Kedah, Malaysia

Twenty weed species belonging to 15 families were found in rice fields near Kampung Tandop, in the Muda Irrigation Scheme, Kedah, Malaysia. The dominant weeds in dry-seeded rice were Utriculatia aurea Lour., Fimbristylis miliacea (L.) Vahl., Echinochloa cruss-galli (L.) Beauv., Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f) Presl and Najas graminea (Del.) Ridl.. In the wet-seedled rice, the dominant species were N. graminea, Lemna minor L, Sphenoclea zeylanica Gaertn., U. aurea, and Sagiuaria guayanensis H.B.K. while in volunteer seedling rice fields, the dominant species were Echinochloa colollllm (L.) Link., Fimbristylis alboviridis C.B. Clarke, F. miliacca, Cyperus babakan Steud. and Fuirena umbellata Rottb.. Dry-seeded rice fields contained the highest number of weed seeds (930,910/m2. in the top 15 inch of soil); volunteer seedling rice fields contained 793, 162/m2 and wet-seeded rice fields 712,228/m2. In general, seed number declined with increasing soil depth. At 10-15 cm depth, seed of U. aurea and S. zeylanica were tile most abundant in dry- and wet-seeded rice fields, whilst seeds of Scirpus juncoides Roxb. and F. miliacea were most abundant in volunteer seedling fields

Multi-objective optimisation for minimum quantity lubrication assisted milling process based on hybrid response surface methodology and multi-objective genetic algorithm

© 2019 by SAGE Publications Ltd.Parametric modelling and optimisation play an important role in choosing the best or optimal cutting conditions and parameters during machining to achieve the desirable results. However, analysis of optimisation of minimum quantity lubrication–assisted milling process has not been addressed in detail. Minimum quantity lubrication method is very effective for cost reduction and promotes green machining. Hence, this article focuses on minimum quantity lubrication–assisted milling machining parameters on AISI 1045 material surface roughness and power consumption. A novel low-cost power measurement system is developed to measure the power consumption. A predictive mathematical model is developed for surface roughness and power consumption. The effects of minimum quantity lubrication and machining parameters are examined to determine the optimum conditions with minimum surface roughness and minimum power consumption. Empirical models are developed to predict surface roughness and power of machine tool effectively and accurately using response surface methodology and multi-objective optimisation genetic algorithm. Comparison of results obtained from response surface methodology and multi-objective optimisation genetic algorithm depict that both measured and predicted values have a close agreement. This model could be helpful to select the best combination of end-milling machining parameters to save power consumption and time, consequently, increasing both productivity and profitability.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Impact of service marketing mix on customer satisfaction

Findings of previous studies poorly proved that the impact of all elements of service marketing mix on customer satisfaction. This gap motivated me to do research in banking services to know the impact of service marketing mix on customer satisfaction in two selected branches of Batticaloa District. This study is aimed to know the impact of service marketing mix on customer satisfaction. This study considered 100 banking customers from the selected two branches of Bank of Ceylon in Batticaloa District. For collecting data, questionnires were distributed among the customer for each branch of Bank of Ceylon during the banking hours without disturbing the employees at banks. In this study, if correlation values for service marketing mix elements such as product, place, promotion, price, people, process & physical evidence and customer satisfaction are 0.707, 0.605, 0.685, 0.665, 0.684, 0.504 and 0.670 respectively service marketing mix elements have higher strength of associations with customer satisfaction. Test of hypotheses have proved that service marketing mix has relationship with customer satisfaction. In terms of the values of the R square and adjusted R square of the results of the regression, service marketing mix elements such as product, place, promotion, price, people, process and physical evidence explain around 75% of variation on customer satisfaction. Study concludes that service marketing mix have higher impact on customer satisfaction

Performance evaluation of three commercial molecular assays for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from clinical specimens in a high TB-HIV-burden setting

BACKGROUND : A major challenge faced by countries with a high burden of tuberculosis (TB) is early detection especially in individuals with paucibacillary disease which is common in HIV endemic settings. Remarkable efforts have been made globally to accelerate the development and expansion of new diagnostic technologies that allow better and earlier diagnosis of active tuberculosis particularly directly from clinical specimens with a few commercial options available. These include GenoType MTBDRplus Version 2.0 (Hain Lifescience), Xpert® MTB/RIF (Cepheid) and Anyplex™ plus MTB/NTM/DR-TB Real-time detection (Seegene). We evaluated the diagnostic performance of these three commercial molecular assays for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex from clinical specimens in a high TB-HIV-burden setting. METHODS : This was a retrospective laboratory-based study using stored remnant sediments from clinical specimens of presumptive pulmonary TB cases. A stratified sample of smear positive TB, smear negative TB and TB culture negatives was included. All the samples were tested on the three molecular assays following the manufacturers’ instructions; except for Anyplex™plus, for which DNA extraction was performed using the NucliSENS® easyMAG® platform (bioMerieux). Samples were also processed for liquid TB culture and time-to-culture positivity was recorded. RESULTS : Of the 90 sediments processed, 81 were analyzable across all three systems. The overall sensitivity was highest for Xpert® MTB/RIF (89.1 %) followed by GenoType MTBDRplus (70.9 %) and Anyplex™ plus (65.5 %). The specificity and sensitivity in smear positive cases was comparable across all systems. There was a significant difference in sensitivity between Xpert® MTB/RIF and the other two assays for smear-negative cases (P < 0.05). The performance in cases where the time-to-culture positivity was ≥20 days was also significantly poorer for both Anyplex™ plus and GenoType MTBDRplus compared to Xpert® MTB/RIF (P < 0.05). Xpert® MTB/RIF achieved 100 % specificity, while Anyplex™ plus and GenoType MTBDRplus achieved 96.2 and 92.3 % respectively. CONCLUSION : The Xpert® MTB/RIF was superior to the other two assays for the detection of TB in smear negative specimens notably when bacterial loads are very low in sputum. It is important that studies reporting on test performance stratify their results by time-to-culture positivity to accurately assess clinical performance especially in high HIV settings.RESCOM Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria and the NHLS.http://www.biomedcentral.com/bmcinfectdisam201

Oscillating Magnetohydrodynamic Stability Self-gravitating Fluid Cylinder Pervaded By General Varying Magnetic Field

The dispersion relation of magnetohydrodynamic stability of an oscillation self-gravitating flowing fluid cylindrical enclosed by varying magnetic field is studied. The problem is specified, investigated analytically and the data verified mathematically, the fundamental equations are resolved, non-singular solutions are found using the proper boundary circumstances, also, derived the total second order integro-differential equation of Mathieu equation type. Just the small axisymmetric region is destabilized by the capillary force but is stabilized by the otherwise perturbation modes. The constant magnetic field that permeates the fluid is strongly stabilized regardless of the perturbation type, while the varied magnetic field bound the fluid is completely destabilized in axisymmetric mode(m=0), but it is either so or not in the non-axisymmetric ( ≥ 1) perturbation per the constraint. Moreover, the fluids oscillating flow has a potent inclination to stabilize. Once the capillary forces destabilising effect on the model is diminished and subdued, stability develops

Magnetohydrodynamic Stability of Self-gravitating Streaming Fluid Cylinder

The stability self- gravitating magneto-hydrodynamic of the cylinder flowing fluid was examined. Relation of eigenvalue is derivative. Analytical, the findings were explained, and numerically, they were confirmed. The magnetic and capillary are very strong stabilise, while the streaming is destabilise. The (un)-stable domains are specified. Checked the capillary effect and magnetic fields have an effect just on models self-gravitating instabilities

Investigation on Dielectric Properties of Sludge Waste from Water Treatment Using Microwave Non-Destructive Testing (MNDT)

The demand for water cleanup rises in tandem with a country's requirements and development. Recovery of purified water containing nutrients and other beneficial materials is a critical opportunity that must be taken advantage of. A challenge that needs to be tackled is the necessity for large capacity and high-value management of sludge waste following the water treatment process. The pH level and microwave frequencies influence were used as a starting point for assessing the content of the sludge waste. Microwave non-destructive testing (MNDT) is a microwave measurement that can be used to determine the dielectric characteristics of materials without destroying or modifying the sample's content. The methodology employs a free-space measurement technique with a frequency range of 8 to 12 GHz (X-band). Through S-parameters acquired, a correlation analysis was done to analyze the effect of frequencies with the sludge waste. A comparative investigation with peat soil samples in establishing if the sludge has similar attributes to normal soil is used to ensure the accuracy of the sludge waste data. It can be determined that the sludge waste has a high signal correlation towards the frequency band 8 GHz to 12 GHz, which is compatible with the MNDT approach. All of the sludge samples had a pH range that is appropriate for agricultural use

Investigation on Dielectric Properties of Sludge Waste from Water Treatment Using Microwave Non-Destructive Testing (MNDT)

The demand for water cleanup rises in tandem with a country's requirements and development. Recovery of purified water containing nutrients and other beneficial materials is a critical opportunity that must be taken advantage of. A challenge that needs to be tackled is the necessity for large capacity and high-value management of sludge waste following the water treatment process. The pH level and microwave frequencies influence were used as a starting point for assessing the content of the sludge waste. Microwave non-destructive testing (MNDT) is a microwave measurement that can be used to determine the dielectric characteristics of materials without destroying or modifying the sample's content. The methodology employs a free-space measurement technique with a frequency range of 8 to 12 GHz (X-band). Through S-parameters acquired, a correlation analysis was done to analyze the effect of frequencies with the sludge waste. A comparative investigation with peat soil samples in establishing if the sludge has similar attributes to normal soil is used to ensure the accuracy of the sludge waste data. It can be determined that the sludge waste has a high signal correlation towards the frequency band 8 GHz to 12 GHz, which is compatible with the MNDT approach. All of the sludge samples had a pH range that is appropriate for agricultural use

Causative failure factors of communications management in mixed-use development projects in Malaysia

Construction delay has been a persistent challenge for the Malaysian construction industry. This has resulted in many issues, including public complaints, government loss of reputation and income and a decline in the gross domestic product output of the industry. Furthermore, the construction industry is a complex business with several stakeholders continually sharing information. Hence, ensuring project success has to be the utmost important task of a project manager. Often the construction industry is marred by high cases of delays, overruns, poor quality, health and safety issues, emissions and sustainability issues as a result of ineffective communication practices. Therefore, this paper aims to examine causative failure factors of communications management in mixed-use development projects in Malaysia. Based on the literature review, 11 factors and 44 items were identified. These factors and items were evaluated by 141 respondents from the Malaysian construction industry. Data analysis was done using SPSS 23.0. This study found that the most critical causative failure factor is team meeting discussions. The respondents believe that there is lack of stakeholder cooperation due to poor representation during the discussions, which also reflects the inadequacy of mutual respect, confidence and trust among stakeholders. As a recommendation, frequent team meeting discussions provide a platform for effective information exchange, thus help to reduce mixed-use project failures in Malaysia

The DARC-null trait is associated with moderate modulation of NK cell profiles and unaltered cytolytic T cell profiles in black South Africans

The Duffy Antigen Receptor for Chemokines (DARC)-null trait, common among persons of African descent and associated with lower absolute neutrophil counts (ANCs), may be linked to increased risk to certain infections including HIV-1 but the underlying causes are poorly understood. We hypothesized that DARC-null-linked neutropenia may negatively impact neutrophil immunoregulatory modulation of other immune cells such as natural killer (NK) and CD8+ T cells leading to altered phenotype, functionality and homeostatic activity of these immune cells. HIV-1 uninfected (n = 20) and HIV-1 chronically infected (n = 19) participants were assessed using multi-parametric flow cytometry to determine NK and CD8+ T cell counts, phenotypic profiles, and cytokine production and degranulation. Annexin V and carboxyfluorescein succinimidyl ester (CFSE) staining were used to examine NK cell survival and NK cell and CD8+ T cell proliferation respectively. Participants were genotyped for the DARC-null polymorphism using allelic discrimination assays and ANCs were measured by full blood count. In HIV uninfected individuals, a reduction of total NK cell counts was noted in the absence of DARC and this correlated with lower ANCs. HIV uninfected DARC-null subjects displayed a less mature NK cell phenotype. However, this did not translate to differences in NK cell activation or effector functionality by DARC state. Whilst HIV-1 infected subjects displayed NK cell profiling that is typical of HIV infection, no differences were noted upon DARC stratification. Similarly, CD8+ T cells from HIV infected individuals displayed phenotypic and functional modulation that is characteristic of HIV infection, but profiling was unaffected by the DARC-null variant irrespective of HIV status. Overall, the data suggests that the DARC-null polymorphism and lower ANCs does not impede downstream cytolytic cell priming and functionality