InGaN photocell significant efficiency enhancement on Si – an influence of interlayer physical properties

Nearly similar molar ratio of in and Ga in indium gallium nitride (InGaN) /Si photocells prefers to match InGaN conduction level energy to Si valance energy band for ohmic contact between two cells. At high temperature fabrication process, InGaN–Si interface shows highly defecting prone. Considering those tussles, InGaN-based/Si-based double-junction tandem solar cell was designed and fabricated. In₀.₄Ga₀.₆ N cell was fabricated on Si photocell by implementing AlN/SiO₂/Si₃N4 interlayers. Interlayer influence on quantum efficiency of InGaN cell was studied under ideal irradiance AM1.5 solar spectrum at 300°K. Because of insertion of interlayers between InGaN and Si; the gradual efficiency enhancement with respect to the overlayer h-GaN (a = 3.183 nm) plane lattice was found to 8.3%, 5.9% and 5.1% for AlN (a = 3.11 nm), for SiO₂ (a = 4.9 nm) and for Si₃N4 (a = 7.76 nm), respectively. AlN was found to be an excellent and SiO₂ as preferable interlayer compared with Si₃N4. Coherence (in-plane lattice matching) of nano-interlayer appears to reduce photonic electro-migration hurdle between InGaN and Si; therefore, progressive enrichment of efficiency was realized

Embedded wireless stingless beehive monitoring and data management system

In this paper, an embedded wireless stingless bee monitoring system, which investigates the environment's temperature and humidity effect on the bee activity and honey production of Heterotrigona Itama, a stingless bee species, is presented. The variables observed by the system are the weight of the honey container, the temperature inside the hive, humidity inside the hive, temperature of the environment outside of the hive, the humidity of the environment outside of the hive, and bee activity counter. The sensors used are Strain Gauge Load Cell (SGLC) sensor for weighing purposes, DHT22 sensors for temperature and humidity, and infrared transceivers bee counter sensor for bee activity monitoring. All installed sensors were controlled by using a NodeMCU microcontroller. All data were recorded and transferred to a Google Firebase real-Time database. The proposed system offers an android application to access the recorded data called EMAS apps. EMAS fetches all the information from the database and represents it on graphs and pages in the user smart devices. This paper analyses the data obtained for 36 hours from a single hive. Results obtained represent a relationship between the temperature collected and bee activity with the honey produced. It was observed that in the morning, the increase of temperature leads to high traffic of bees going out of the hive, which decreases the weight of the hive to 2.7 Kg. Meanwhile, in the evening, the decrease in temperature leads to high traffic of bees going into the hive, which increases the hive weight to 4.5 Kg. For future work, to enhance the system's performance, installation of the embedded system into an array of hives was advised and longterm data observation process was required

Growth performance of Malaysian's spoongrass, Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hooker f. under different substrate, salinity and light regime.

Halophila ovalis plants collected from the native environment (Lat. 04°54.473 N, Long. 115°22.299’E-Pantai Bangat, Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia) were grown in aquarium culture system to assess: (i) the feasibility of using planting materials e.g. rhizomes with and devoid of leaves, (ii) the growth and development of the plants under non-native substrates, fine beach sand and coarse river sand, (iii) the sustain growth and development of the population, and (iv) the tolerance range of plants under the tested salinity and depth. These assessment were achieved by planting rhizomes with or devoid of leaves in the tested sub-strates in containers, maintained in artificial seawater of various salinity, with minimum aeration and exposed in shaded out- door natural condition. The artificial seawater permitted a standardization of the medium. By manipulating the placement of substrates in the container (and planting of rhizomes into individual container) then submerged at different depths into the aquarium facilitated observation, recording of data and transferring of plants from one test condition to another. The morpho- logical changes of the vegetative parts e.g. leaf, petiole dimensions and paired cross-veins numbers of H. ovalisin the created conditions were compared to those of H. ovalis from native environment

Understanding the concept of al-ibtila’ (trial) in personality development: the Muslim flood victims’ experience

Religious coping plays an important role to rehabilitate victims affected by traumatic life events. Islamic teachings emphasizes al-ibtila' (trial) concept that serves in understanding the concept of qada’ (fate) and qadar (destiny).This study explored al-ibtila’ in coping with traumatic events by achieving sense of personal control in situations that produce distress and torment, as exhibited by 2014 flood victims in Temerloh, Pahang.This study analyzed their understanding, genuine acceptance, and relationship between understanding of al-ibtila' and personality development in overcoming trauma. A mixed-method approach was applied, comprising methods of documentation, interviews (five interview subjects selected by sequential sampling), and survey questionnaires (300 flood victims as respondents). Data from documentation and interviews were analyzed using the inductive approach (qualitative) in a descriptive study, while survey data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistical tests (quantitative). The findings gave evidence of significant positive effects in dealing with flood disaster stress from three aspects: the understanding, acceptance, and relationship between understanding of al-ibtila' with good personality development.These results emphasized the need to include understanding and acceptance of al-ibtila' as part of God’s plan in the face of traumatic events, indicating that highly optimistic flood victims can positively deal with traumatic events

Socio-demographic determinants of Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in migrant workers of Peninsular Malaysia

Background The number of migrants working in Malaysia has increased sharply since the 1970’s and there is concern that infectious diseases endemic in other (e.g. neighbouring) countries may be inadvertently imported. Compulsory medical screening prior to entering the workforce does not include parasitic infections such as toxoplasmosis. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the seroprevalence of T. gondii infection among migrant workers in Peninsular Malaysia by means of serosurveys conducted on a voluntary basis among low-skilled and semi-skilled workers from five working sectors, namely, manufacturing, food service, agriculture and plantation, construction and domestic work. Methods A total of 484 migrant workers originating from rural locations in neighbouring countries, namely, Indonesia (n = 247, 51.0%), Nepal (n = 99, 20.5%), Bangladesh (n = 72, 14.9%), India (n = 52, 10.7%) and Myanmar (n = 14, 2.9%) were included in this study. Results The overall seroprevalence of T. gondii was 57.4% (n = 278; 95% CI: 52.7–61.8%) with 52.9% (n = 256; 95% CI: 48.4–57.2%) seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma IgG only, 0.8% (n = 4; 95% CI: 0.2–1.7%) seropositive for anti-Toxoplasma IgM only and 3.7% (n = 18; 95% CI: 2.1–5.4%) seropositive with both IgG and IgM antibodies. All positive samples with both IgG and IgM antibodies showed high avidity (> 40%), suggesting latent infection. Age (being older than 45 years), Nepalese nationality, manufacturing occupation, and being a newcomer in Malaysia (excepting domestic work) were positively and statistically significantly associated with seroprevalence (P < 0.05). Conclusions The results of this study suggest that better promotion of knowledge about parasite transmission is required for both migrant workers and permanent residents in Malaysia. Efforts should be made to encourage improved personal hygiene before consumption of food and fluids, thorough cooking of meat and better disposal of feline excreta from domestic pets

Improving spatial ability using a web-based virtual environment (WbVE)

We examine transfers and tied aid in a model with increasing returns to scale and monopolistic competition. Transfers give rise to an additional (love of variety) welfare effect and affect the utility possibility locus. Generic tied aid may exacerbate or reverse these results. The popularity of aid tied to specific manufactured goods can be explained through rent-seeking behavior since such aid gives rise to profits in the donor country. These profits in turn largely repatriate the transfer such that donors can appear to be more generous than they really are

Growth performance of Malaysian\u27s spoongrass, Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hooker f. under different substrate, salinity and light regime

Halophila ovalis plants collected from the native environment (Lat. 04°54.473′N, Long. 115°22.299′E-Pantai Bangat,　Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia) were grown in aquarium culture system to assess: (i) the feasibility of using planting materials e.g. rhizomes with and devoid of leaves, (ii) the growth and development of the plants under non-native substrates, fine beach sand and coarse river sand, (iii) the sustain growth and development of the population, and (iv) the tolerance range of plants under the tested salinity and depth. These assessment were achieved by planting rhizomes with or devoid of leaves in the tested substrates in containers, maintained in artificial seawater of various salinity, with minimum aeration and exposed in shaded outdoor natural condition. The artificial seawater permitted a standardization of the medium. By manipulating the placement of substrates in the container (and planting of rhizomes into individual container) then submerged at different depths into the aquarium facilitated observation, recording of data and transferring of plants from one test condition to another. The morphological changes of the vegetative parts e.g. leaf, petiole dimensions and paired cross-veins numbers of H. ovalis in the created conditions were compared to those of H. ovalis from native environment.Proceedings of 4th JSPS-VAST Joint Seminar on \u27Coastal Marine Science\u27, Hai Phong, Viet Nam, 26-28 October 2009Oceanograph

Growth performance of Malaysian's spoongrass, Halophila ovalis (R.Br.) Hooker f. under different substrate, salinity and light regime

Halophila ovalis plants collected from the native environment (Lat. 04°54.473′N, Long. 115°22.299′E-Pantai Bangat,　Lawas, Sarawak, Malaysia) were grown in aquarium culture system to assess: (i) the feasibility of using planting materials e.g. rhizomes with and devoid of leaves, (ii) the growth and development of the plants under non-native substrates, fine beach sand and coarse river sand, (iii) the sustain growth and development of the population, and (iv) the tolerance range of plants under the tested salinity and depth. These assessment were achieved by planting rhizomes with or devoid of leaves in the tested substrates in containers, maintained in artificial seawater of various salinity, with minimum aeration and exposed in shaded outdoor natural condition. The artificial seawater permitted a standardization of the medium. By manipulating the placement of substrates in the container (and planting of rhizomes into individual container) then submerged at different depths into the aquarium facilitated observation, recording of data and transferring of plants from one test condition to another. The morphological changes of the vegetative parts e.g. leaf, petiole dimensions and paired cross-veins numbers of H. ovalis in the created conditions were compared to those of H. ovalis from native environment.Proceedings of 4th JSPS-VAST Joint Seminar on 'Coastal Marine Science', Hai Phong, Viet Nam, 26-28 October 2009Oceanograph