Distribution snd Ecology of the Malaysian Mahseer (Genus: Tor) in Kenyir Lake, Malaysia

A study on distribution and ecology of the Malaysian mahseer ( Tor sora Cuvier & Valenciennes and Tor tambroides Bleeker) was carried out in lotic and lentic habitats in Lake Kenyir, Malaysia. The fish distribution and habitat profile of the Malaysian mahseer were studied to investigate the ecological condition and their relationship with the environment and to determine the present spatial distribution and abundance in the lake system. The results showed that there is a habitat selection by fish of different sizes, (fingerling 2.0 - 7.0 cm, juveniles 7.1 - 20.0 cm and adults >20.0 cm TL) in relation with size of stream, water depth, current velocity, substrate, water temperature, water transparency, dissolved oxygen, and habitat types. The adults of Tor tambroides were most abundant in deeper parts or pools in upstream reaches of large streams (26-60 m width) of Sg. Tembat and Sg. Terengganu and medium-sized stream ( 1 2-25 m width) of Sungai Kiang. The juvenile were found in all sizes of sampled streams in the lake. The adult of T. sora were found in less abundance in small and medium-sized streams of Sg. Buluh Nipis n, Sg. Mandak I and n, Sg. Siput, and Sg. Lancang. However, the juveniles and fingerlings were mostly found in the small stream reaches and were most abundant at water depths ranging from 10 to 187 cm with velocity ranging from 1 to 118 cm.s·l. The adults occurred in habitats where the water depth was about 5.4 m and current velocity ranged from 1 to 66 cm.s·l. The fingerling and juvenile of both species were frequently found in streams where pools represented from 3 to 9%, runs 5 to 32%, riffles 61 to 91 % of the total area. The fingerlings and juveniles were mostly found in habitats where boulders were predominant followed by bedrock, sand, gravel, cobble and pebble. The adults mostly occurred in habitats where the substrate comprised of boulders and rock. The young mahseers were frequently found in clear-running water, while the adults occurred in slow-running and more turbid water as compared to the young mahseer. The temperature profile ranged from 23.0 to 2S.3°C. the dissolved oxygen varied from 6.7 to 8.8 mg.rl. The water hardness of the mahseer habitat nullifies the effect of toxic metals to the fish. The microhabitat and macrohabitat analysis of habitat use and preference of T. soro in the two small stream reaches of Sg. Buluh Nipis IT and Sg. Mandak IT showed that T. soro preferred depths between 52 em and 120 em and water velocity between 0 and 35 cm.s·l. Different size classes of T. sora used different mean depths at both sites. The seasonal use of depth and velocity by T. sora were significantly different at both sites (p<O.OS). T. sora preferred sand and gravel as substrate. T. sora preferred cover up to 70% and the fish of all size had similar preference for cover at both sites (p>O.OS). T. sora generally aggregated in groups ranging from 1 to 7 fish and were fou nd to associate with Acrossocheilus dearatus (C & V) and Osteochilus vittatus (C & V). The adults of T. sora were fou nd in pools. The juveniles were quite well spread in all habitat types, pools, runs and ri ffles, while the fingerl ings were most abundant in riffle habitat. It was found that T. soro fed mainly on algae and other available fauna and flora at the stream of Sg. Buluh Nipis II. Examining their feeding apparatus, the teeth of T. sora (7.0 -26.0 cm in TL) and T. tambroides (17.0 - 25.0 cm in TL) were not developed on the lower and upper jaw, but there is a presence of pharyngeal te€th on the upper and lower pharyngeal arch. Their mouths were protracted and slightly inferior. The lips of both fish species were thick. Being a typical cyprinid, both fish species had no conventional stomach and possessed an extended long intestine. The fish employed suction feeding in adaptation with their feeding apparatus. The relative length of gut (R.L.G.) for the T. sora with the size range from 7.0 to 26.0 cm in total length has been found to vary from the lowest 0.77 to the highest 2.85. The value of R.L.G. for T. tambraides with size ranging from 17.0 to 25.0 cm in total length also varies, ranging from l.11 to 2.50. Both fish species were omnivores as evident from gut content analysis and the relative length of gut. It could be concluded that the mahseer is a highly territorial fish species. The physical and chemical parameters are significant in determining spatial distribution and abundance of the Malaysian mahseer and also important in the application of habitat-based management of the mahseer population in Lake Kenyir

PARAMETRIC STUDY OF REINFORCED CONCRETE BEAM SUBJECTED TO IMPACT LOADING USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

Impact loading design is crucial in specific structures, but there are no simpler method to design reinforced concrete members to impact loads other than performing extensive experimental works, studies and simulations, as the dynamic behavior of reinforced concrete member is harder to predict unlike reinforced concrete structural member under static load, which is commonly designed under the Ultimate Limit State. Therefore, this research aims to perform a parametric study on the dynamic behavior of the beams under impact loading

Analisis Pengaruh Pembelian Strategik dan Pengembangan Pemasok Terhadap Kinerja Pemasok serta Pengaruhnya Terhadap Kelangsungan Hubungan Dengan Pemasok (Studi Kasus di PT DJARUM)

This research is motivated by supply chain management practices within companies that use variations of the strategy in accordance with the desired policy in creating advantage through supplier management. Further analysis on the performance of suppliers to consider the variables that may affect the performance of suppliers and it affects the strategic purchasing, supplier development, and continuity of relationships with suppliers. The research object is PT Djarum. This research uses statistical techniques to aid the analysis of path analysis through SPSS 19.0 software. Data were obtained from the respondents to the manager or head of population in the purchase of PT Djarum. Analysis results meet the criteria of 0.8639 Goodness of Fit. t-test results on the first and fifth regression equation indicate that the variable strategic purchasing and supplier development have significance value less than 5% significance level. Empirical findings of this research indicate that the effect on the strategic purchasing on supplier performance and sustainability of relationships with suppliers can be optimized through supplier developmen

Summary of pre-2008 Machine Induced Background Estimates for the LHCb Experiment

This document summarizes the pre-2008 estimates of particle flux arriving at the LHCb experiment from machine (LHC) related background sources. These particles arrive in the form of showers from both beam-gas interactions in the dispersion suppression and long straight section of IR8 and from proton losses on the IR8 tertiary collimators due to betatron cleaning inefficiencies, momentum cleaning inefficiencies and elastic beam-gas interactions along the LHC beam orbit

Long-Term Outcomes Following Laparoscopic and Abdominal Supracervical Hysterectomies

Long-term outcomes, in terms of cervical stump symptoms and overall patient satisfaction, were studied in women both after abdominal (SAH) and laparosocopic (LSH) supracervical hysterectomies. Altogether, 134 women had SAH and 315 women LSH during 2004 and 2005 at our department. The response rate of this retrospective study was 79%. Persistent vaginal bleeding after the surgery was reported by 17% in the SAH group and 24% in the LSH group. Regular bleeding was reported by only 8% in both study groups, and the women rarely found the bleeding bothersome. The women reported a significant pain reduction after the surgery, but women having a hysterectomy because of pain and/or endometriosis should be informed about the possibility of persistent symptoms. The overall patient satisfaction after both procedures was high, but the patients should have proper preoperative information about the possibility of cervical stump symptoms after any supracervical hysterectomy

The Beam Conditions Monitor of the LHCb Experiment

The LHCb experiment at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) is dedicated to precision measurements of CP violation and rare decays of B hadrons. Its most sensitive components are protected by means of a Beam Conditions Monitor (BCM), based on polycrystalline CVD diamond sensors. Its configuration, operation and decision logics to issue or remove the beam permit signal for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are described in this paper.Comment: Index Terms: Accelerator measurement systems, CVD, Diamond, Radiation detector

School-Based Telemedicine Interventions for Asthma: A Systematic Review.

BackgroundSchool health systems are increasingly investing in telemedicine platforms to address acute and chronic illnesses. Asthma, the most common chronic illness in childhood, is of particular interest given its high burden on school absenteeism.ObjectiveConduct a systematic review evaluating impact of school-based telemedicine programs on improving asthma-related outcomes.Data sourcesPubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar.Study eligibility criteriaOriginal research, including quasi-experimental studies, without restriction on the type of telemedicine.ParticipantsSchool-aged pediatric patients with asthma and their families.InterventionsSchool-based telemedicine.Study appraisal and synthesis methodsTwo authors independently screened each abstract, conducted full-text review, assessed study quality, and extracted information. A third author resolved disagreements.ResultsOf 371 articles identified, 7 were included for the review. Outcomes of interest were asthma symptom-free days, asthma symptom frequency, quality of life, health care utilization, school absences, and spirometry. Four of 7 studies reported significant increases in symptom-free days and/or decrease in symptom frequency. Five of 6 reported increases in at least one quality-of-life metric, 2 of 7 reported a decrease in at least 1 health care utilization metric, 1 of 3 showed reductions in school absences, and 1 of 2 reported improvements in spirometry measures.LimitationsVariability in intervention designs and outcome measures make comparisons and quantitative analyses across studies difficult. Only 2 of 7 studies were randomized controlled trials.Conclusions and implications of key findingsHigh-quality evidence supporting the use of school-based telemedicine programs to improve patient outcomes is limited. While available evidence suggests benefit, only 2 comparative trials were identified, and the contribution of telemedicine to these studies' results is unclear

Surface modelling for 2D imagery

Vector graphics provides powerful tools for drawing scalable 2D imagery. With the rise of mobile computers, of different types of displays and image resolutions, vector graphics is receiving an increasing amount of attention. However, vector graphics is not the leading framework for creating and manipulating 2D imagery. The reason for this reluctance of employing vector graphical frameworks is that it is difficult to handle complex behaviour of colour across the 2D domain. A challenging problem within vector graphics is to define smooth colour functions across the image. In previous work, two approaches exist. The first approach, known as diffusion curves, diffuses colours from a set of input curves and points. The second approach, known as gradient meshes, defines smooth colour functions from control meshes. These two approaches are incompatible: diffusion curves do not support the local behaviour provided by gradient meshes and gradient meshes do not support freeform curves as input. My research aims to narrow the gap between diffusion curves and gradient meshes. With this aim in mind, I propose solutions to create control meshes from freeform curves. I demonstrate that these control meshes can be used to render a vector primitive similar to diffusion curves using subdivision surfaces. With the use of subdivision surfaces, instead of a diffusion process, colour gradients can be locally controlled using colour-gradient curves associated with the input curves. The advantage of local control is further explored in the setting of vector-centric image processing. I demonstrate that a certain contrast enhancement profile, known as the Cornsweet profile, can be modelled via surfaces in images. This approach does not produce saturation artefacts related with previous filter-based methods. Additionally, I demonstrate various approaches to artistic filtering, where the artist locally models given artistic effects. Gradient meshes are restricted to rectangular topology of the control meshes. I argue that this restriction hinders the applicability of the approach and its potential to be used with control meshes extracted from freeform curves. To this end, I propose a mesh-based vector primitive that supports arbitrary manifold topology of the mesh

Shading Curves: Vector-Based Drawing With Explicit Gradient Control

A challenge in vector graphics is to define primitives that offer flexible manipulation of colour gradients. We propose a new primitive, called a shading curve, that supports explicit and local gradient control. This is achieved by associating shading profiles to each side of the curve. These shading profiles, which can be manually manipulated, represent the colour gradient out from their associated curves. Such explicit and local gradient control is challenging to achieve via the diffusion curve process, introduced in 2008, because it offers only implicit control of the colour gradient. We resolve this problem by using subdivision surfaces that are constructed from shading curves and their shading profiles.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cgf.1253