Mechanical properties of concrete containing palm oil fuel ash and modified expanded polystyrene beads as replacement materials using finite element method

Nowadays, so much waste material was dumped and produced by the industrial sector. In this research, the Palm Oil Fuel Ash (POFA) and Modified Expanded Polystyrene beads (EPS) were used as replacement material. The purpose of this research was to focus on replacement of the modified expanded polystyrene beads (EPS) as a fine aggregate and the palm oil fuel ash (POFA) as a cement in term of mechanical properties of concrete. For Modified EPS will replace with aggregate from 10.0 % and 20.0 % While, for POFA will replace with cement from 10.0 %, 20.0 % and 30.0 %. The data of the material replacement for POFA and Modified EPS will be taken from previous study. Furthermore, the concrete cubes will be analyzed using software called ABAQUS. ABAQUS software is used because this software can measure the concrete cubes in such detail. This test will be performed on a cube that has reached the age of 28 days by following the previous experimental results. In addition, the software can also validate the work for the stress and strain of the graph by analyzing the concrete cubes. Information on Modified EPS and POFA can be filled in this software. Furthermore, it can also analyze mechanical properties of concrete that containing. Modified EPS and POFA. Indirectly, this will help compare the strength of concrete cube that containing of Modified EPS and POFA

Isolation and Identification of Bacteria-producing Cellulose from Tropical Fruit for Halal Capsule Application

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is pure cellulose synthesized by various species of bacteria. Raising demands on bacterial cellulose is due to its pure and simpler structure. It has plenty of applications in various industries such as food, medical and cosmetics, rendering it a choice in halal industry application as a substitute for non-halal gelatine. However, challenges arise during the BC production such as high production cost and low volumetric yield. In this study, BC is studied to overcome the barriers to BC production. Isolation and identification of cellulose producing bacteria were carried out on eight different tropical fruit sources using Hestrin-Schramm media in static culture condition. Morphological and molecular identification by microscopic observation, gram staining, and 16S rRNA analysis were conducted to identify the characteristics and strain of the new isolates. Next, the selected colonies were challenged to grow in agitating condition using modified HS media. The effects of carbon concentration and agitation speed on the production of cellulose were investigated using on central composite design (CCD). Three new cellulose producing bacteria were successfully isolated and identified to be similar to Enterobacter sp. SJZ-5, Bacterium sp NLAE-zl-H356, and Bulkhoderia sp. RD_DACAR_02 through morphological and molecular analysis. The most potent strain which is similar to Enterobacter sp. SJZ-5 (named as Enterobacter sp.M003) has been chosen for BC optimization study for high BC production using modified HS media. Optimization of bacterial cellulose production using response surface methodology (RSM) with 13 runs indicated that the optimal production parameters were 17.5 g/L for carbon concentration at 277 rpm for agitation speed gave 1.7g/L cellulose. It is expected that the newly isolated bacteria will be able to provide an alternative to gelatine for halal capsule production, thus minimizing and replacing non-halal gelatine usage

Booth Algorithm with Implementation of UART Module using FPGA

FPGA gives high level of flexibility to the user to rapidly construct and test any hardware. It has a lot of gates which are used depending upon the hardware to be implemented. These project aims at designing Booth multiplier using VHDL for signed bit multiplication in FPGA for high speed operations, developed and implemented of UART module required to enable two-way communication between the DE-2 board and computer. It is also designed GUI interface using MATLAB for sending data and enable the output of the process result to be displayed. The Booth multiplier was implemented using the algorithm in both signed and unsigned number and the input and output of the multiplication was successfully achieved and confirmed through simulation. The GUI was implemented and tested, which UART module also performed well for transmitting and receiving of 8-bit width data. In general, the objective of this project was successfully achieved, which, the result of the component part were able to be tested

A statistical data-based approach to instability detection and wear prediction in radial turning processes

Radial turning forces for tool-life improvements are studied, with the emphasis on predictive rather than preventive maintenance. A tool for wear prediction in various experimental settings of instability is proposed through the application of two statistical approaches to process data on tool-wear during turning processes: three sigma edit rule analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). A Linear Mixed Model (LMM) is applied for wear prediction. These statistical approaches to instability detection generate results of acceptable accuracy for delivering expert opinion. They may be used for on-line monitoring to improve the processing of different materials. The LMM predicted significant differences for tool wear when turning different alloys and with different lubrication systems. It also predicted the degree to which the turning process could be extended while conserving stability. Finally, it should be mentioned that tool force in contact with the material was not considered to be an important input variable for the model.The work was performed as a part of the HIMMOVAL (Grant Agreement Number: 620134) project within the CLEAN-SKY program, linked to the SAGE2 project for geared open-rotor development and the delivery of the demonstrator part. Funding through grant IT900-16 is also acknowledged from the Basque Government Department of Education, Universities and Research

One-Pot Synthesis, Pharmacological Evaluation, Docking Study, and DFT Calculations for Selected Imidazolidine-2,4-Diones

The title compounds with different 5-substituted imidazolidine-2,4-dione were synthesized through a solvent-free reaction. Imidazolidine-2,4-dione derivatives are found to be an active pharmacophore for design and development of various bioactive lead compounds.  Positive values of energy obtained for compound 1and 3, while a negative value for compound 2 was calculated by DFT in Gaussian. keto-enol tautomerism was supported by energy values  and indicated the most stable tautomeric form. The biological evaluation has been supported by docking studies using molecular operating environment program to show binding with androgen receptor.  Supplementary Materials: https://sjuoz.uoz.edu.krd/suppm

Study of factors influencing construction delays at rural area in Malaysia

Construction is one of an important industry which contributes to the economic growth in Malaysia. However, it has been revealed that 79.5 percent and 66.7 percent of the public and private projects were not completed within the time specified in the contracts out of 359 projects in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the delay factor caused project delay at rural area. A 5-points Likert scale questionnaire survey were answered by 111 respondents which having experience with rural construction project. The questionnaire data were analysed by using Relative Importance Index (RII). Five top factors were determined from this study based on their RII values which are improper construction method implemented by contractor, weather condition, difficulties in providing delivery to site, breakdown of site equipment, and poor qualification of contractor’s technical staffs

Mathematical model development on the deformation behaviour of symmetric hexagonal of various angles and square tubes under lateral loading

The purpose of this research is to develop a mathematical model of the collapse behaviour of symmetric hexagonal tubes. For that, a finite element analysis procedure was conducted using ABAQUS software to determine the lateral collapse behaviour of symmetric hexagonal of angles, θ = 30°, 45° and 60° and square tubes to compare the results with the cylindrical tube. Then, a new predictive mathematical model of the lateral collapse behaviour for the generalized symmetrical geometric tubes is developed based on rigid, perfectly plastic model and the energy balance method. The newly mathematical model was validated with the simulation method results. It was discovered that symmetric hexagonal and square tubes performed different deformation behaviour than the cylindrical tube. Square and symmetric hexagonal with θ = 15° tubes performed Type II deformation behaviour. Symmetric hexagonal tubes with θ = 30°, 45° and 60° performed Type I with the perfectly plastic collapse behaviour whereas cylindrical tube performed Type I with strain hardening deformation behaviour. The mathematical prediction model had managed to model the deformation behaviour of symmetric hexagonal tubes with θ = 30°, 45° and 60° but failed to model the square and symmetric hexagonal with θ = 15° tubes because it was the perfectly plastic model which suitable for Type I with perfectly plastic deformation behaviour

Global metabolic analyses of acinetobacter baumannii

Acinetobacter baumannii is rapidly emerging as a multidrug-resistant pathogen responsible for nosocomial infections including pneumonia, bacteremia, wound infections, urinary tract infections, and meningitis. Metabolomics provides a powerful tool to gain a system-wide snapshot of cellular biochemical networks under defined conditions and has been increasingly applied to bacterial physiology and drug discovery. Here we describe an optimized sample preparation method for untargeted metabolomics studies in A. baumannii. Our method provides a significant recovery of intracellular metabolites to demonstrate substantial differences in global metabolic profiles among A. baumannii strains

The effect of masking on tinnitus: residual inhibition outcomes by different types of tinnitus maskers

The phantom auditory sensation or tinnitus can be supp-ressed by presenting external sounds. Residual inhibition (RI) method is typically used in clinical settings to determ-ine the suppressive ability of sounds towards tinnitus. The present study aimed to compare the RI outcomes produced by broadband noise (BBN). Amplitude modulated (AM) and ocean wave (OW) sounds in subjects with tinnitus. Employing a repeated measures design, fifteen eligible subjects with the main complaint of subjective and contin-uous tinnitus were enrolled in this study. The mean age of subjects was 47.0 years and 53.3% of them were males. Generally, most of the subjects showed the presence of RI (either full or partial RI) for all stimuli. The percentage of subjects who showed RI was the highest for the OW sound (86.7%). The percentage of subjects with RI effect was similar for BBN and AM tone (i.e., 73.3%). The non-parametric Friedman test found the duration of suppression to be not statistically different between the three stimuli (p = 0.162). To conclude, the occurrence of RI was the highest for the OW sound. On the other hand, the duration of RI was comparable between the three stimuli. The information gathered from this study might be useful for clinicians in choosing the optimum masker for sound therapy. Further studies with larger samples are encouraged to ascertain the present study findings

In vivo anxiolytic and in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of water-soluble extract (WSE) of Nigella sativa (L.) seeds

The WSE is a highly polar, gummy and mucilaginous bioactive content of the Nigella sativa (L.) seeds. This study reports the anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory effects of WSE investigated using Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) and Hole-Board Test (HBT) in adult mice and human RBCs haemolysis inhibition and protein denaturation respectively. The oral WSE treatment (100 & 200 mg/kg b.w/day) for 72 hours has exhibited slightly better anxiolytic effect (p < 0.05) through the time span (92.33 & 93.33 s) spent in the opened arms of EPM vs. diazepam (1 mg/kg b.w i.p/day; 69.33 s). In HBT, only WSE (200 mg/kg b.w/day) has shown a promising number of mean head pokes (13.27 times/min) vs. diazepam (12.87 times/min). The WSE (62.5-500 mg/mL) exposure has exhibited 40.14-72.18% protection against lysis of RBCs vs. aspirin (57.04-71.48%) whilst 62.67-67.66% inhibition of protein denaturation vs. diclofenac sodium (43.11-80.64%). The current findings suggested WSE has promising anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory activities