Scalability challenges in healthcare blockchain system - a systematic review

Blockchain technology is a private, secure, trustworthy, and transparent information exchange performed in a decentralised manner. In this case, the coordination and validation efforts are simplified as the records are designed to update regularly and there is no difference in the two databases. This review focuses on how the blockchain addresses scalability challenges and provides solutions in the healthcare field through the implementation of blockchain technology. Accordingly, 16 solutions fell under two main areas, namely storage optimization and redesign of blockchain. However, limitations persist, including block size, high volume of data, transactions, number of nodes, and protocol challenges. This review consists of six stages, namely identification of research question, procedures of research, screening of relevant articles, keywording based on the abstract, data extraction, and mapping process. Through Atlas.ti software, the selected keywords were used to analyse through the relevant articles. As a result, 48 codes and 403 quotations were compiled. Manual coding was performed to categorise the quotations. The codes were then mapped onto the network as a mapping process. Notably, 16 solutions fell under two main areas, namely storage optimization and redesign of blockchain. Basically, there are 3 solutions compiled for storage optimization and 13 solutions for the redesign of the blockchain, namely blockchain modelling, read mechanism, write mechanism, and bi-directional network

Halal Logistics: Halal Integrity and Legal Enforcement Challenges

This is a review paper on the topic of halal logistic in relation to halal integrity and legal enforcement challenges. With the increased potential on halal logistic in the global and local market, there is a need towards maintaining and upholding the halal integrity of the business. This study shall focus on discovering the challenges on halal logistic industry and finding the means of improving the situation which causing a lot of concern. Moreover, the country must not miss out on this opportunities of maximizing the lucrative business in halal logistic to have a better economic and social upgrade as with this opportunity, there is a possibility of raising the standard of living of the local population with the creation of job employment in the halal logistic market. This study is based on the previous literature reviews and local halal forums/talks. The idea of this research study is to seek scholastic understanding of challenges of halal integrity in the logistic sector. This is an opportunity for the authors to contribute to the knowledge on halal logistic specifically on the better understanding of local halal legal enforcement issues by referring to the current reported news. Hence, emphasis on the problems faced by local authorities in enforcing the legal system to protect the halal logistic integrity

Halal Logistics: Halal Integrity and Legal Enforcement Challenges

This is a review paper on the topic of halal logistic in relation to halal integrity and legal enforcement challenges. With the increased potential on halal logistic in the global and local market, there is a need towards maintaining and upholding the halal integrity of the business. This study shall focus on discovering the challenges on halal logistic industry and finding the means of improving the situation which causing a lot of concern. Moreover, the country must not miss out on this opportunities of maximizing the lucrative business in halal logistic to have a better economic and social upgrade as with this opportunity, there is a possibility of raising the standard of living of the local population with the creation of job employment in the halal logistic market. This study is based on the previous literature reviews and local halal forums/talks. The idea of this research study is to seek scholastic understanding of challenges of halal integrity in the logistic sector. This is an opportunity for the authors to contribute to the knowledge on halal logistic specifically on the better understanding of local halal legal enforcement issues by referring to the current reported news. Hence, emphasis on the problems faced by local authorities in enforcing the legal system to protect the halal logistic integrity

The production of crude palm oil in Malaysia

Palm oil production contributes significantly to the Malaysian economy. Malaysia currently holds the position as the world's second-largest palm oil producer after Indonesia. This study intends to empirically test the Cobb- Douglas (C-D) production function for the palm oil production sector in Malaysia with the validity of C-D's assumptions. The significance of factors such as capital, labour and utilisation rate in the production of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) is also tested in the study. The data on the productivity of the Palm Oil (PO) mills are collected from the Malaysian Palm Oil Board (MPOB). The methods of Least Square (LS) and robustness check are carried out in the estimation of the production function. The results show a positive and significant relationship between the production of CPO and labour, capital, and the utilisation rate. This study suggests that increases in capital, labour employment and the utilisation rate will boost the production of CPO in Malaysia

Thermal comfort study for classroom in urban and rural schools in Selangor

Optimum comfort factors help in enhancing effective learning process in a classroom. The aim of this research is to study thermal comfort in school classroom for a more desirable learning process. Four schools consist of urban and rural schools in Selangor were selected for this study. Field measurement and questionnaires was used to measure the level of comfort and satisfaction of school teacher and student in classroom. Data was collected using Temperature data-loggers (SD500 Humidity/Temperature Data logger). The questionnaire was analysed based on Likert's scale rating. Result from both on-field measurement and questionnaire survey suggests that thermal comfort have greater importance to focus. All the schools tested higher temperature than the recommended value. This study also outlines several improvement suggestions actions for better comfort level such as better air ventilation system and smaller class size

A budget feasible peer graded mechanism for iot-based crowdsourcing

We develop and extend a line of recent works on the design of mechanisms for heterogeneous tasks assignment problem in ’crowdsourcing’. The budgeted market we consider consists of multiple task requesters and multiple IoT devices as task executers. In this, each task requester is endowed with a single distinct task along with the publicly known budget. Also, each IoT device has valuations as the cost for executing the tasks and quality, which are private. Given such scenario, the objective is to select a subset of IoT devices for each task, such that the total payment made is within the allotted quota of the budget while attaining a threshold quality. For the purpose of determining the unknown quality of the IoT devices we have utilized the concept of peer grading. In this paper, we have carefully crafted a truthful budget feasible mechanism for the problem under investigation that also allows us to have the true information about the quality of the IoT devices. Further, we have extended the set-up considering the case where the tasks are divisible in nature and the IoT devices are working collaboratively, instead of, a single entity for executing each task. We have designed the budget feasible mechanisms for the extended versions. The simulations are performed in order to measure the efficacy of our proposed mechanismPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Impact of primary kidney disease on the effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease: secondary analyses of the EMPA-KIDNEY trial

Background: The EMPA KIDNEY trial showed that empagliflozin reduced the risk of the primary composite outcome of kidney disease progression or cardiovascular death in patients with chronic kidney disease mainly through slowing progression. We aimed to assess how effects of empagliflozin might differ by primary kidney disease across its broad population. Methods: EMPA-KIDNEY, a randomised, controlled, phase 3 trial, was conducted at 241 centres in eight countries (Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, the UK, and the USA). Patients were eligible if their estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was 20 to less than 45 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or 45 to less than 90 mL/min per 1·73 m2 with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (uACR) of 200 mg/g or higher at screening. They were randomly assigned (1:1) to 10 mg oral empagliflozin once daily or matching placebo. Effects on kidney disease progression (defined as a sustained ≥40% eGFR decline from randomisation, end-stage kidney disease, a sustained eGFR below 10 mL/min per 1·73 m2, or death from kidney failure) were assessed using prespecified Cox models, and eGFR slope analyses used shared parameter models. Subgroup comparisons were performed by including relevant interaction terms in models. EMPA-KIDNEY is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03594110. Findings: Between May 15, 2019, and April 16, 2021, 6609 participants were randomly assigned and followed up for a median of 2·0 years (IQR 1·5–2·4). Prespecified subgroupings by primary kidney disease included 2057 (31·1%) participants with diabetic kidney disease, 1669 (25·3%) with glomerular disease, 1445 (21·9%) with hypertensive or renovascular disease, and 1438 (21·8%) with other or unknown causes. Kidney disease progression occurred in 384 (11·6%) of 3304 patients in the empagliflozin group and 504 (15·2%) of 3305 patients in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0·71 [95% CI 0·62–0·81]), with no evidence that the relative effect size varied significantly by primary kidney disease (pheterogeneity=0·62). The between-group difference in chronic eGFR slopes (ie, from 2 months to final follow-up) was 1·37 mL/min per 1·73 m2 per year (95% CI 1·16–1·59), representing a 50% (42–58) reduction in the rate of chronic eGFR decline. This relative effect of empagliflozin on chronic eGFR slope was similar in analyses by different primary kidney diseases, including in explorations by type of glomerular disease and diabetes (p values for heterogeneity all >0·1). Interpretation: In a broad range of patients with chronic kidney disease at risk of progression, including a wide range of non-diabetic causes of chronic kidney disease, empagliflozin reduced risk of kidney disease progression. Relative effect sizes were broadly similar irrespective of the cause of primary kidney disease, suggesting that SGLT2 inhibitors should be part of a standard of care to minimise risk of kidney failure in chronic kidney disease. Funding: Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, and UK Medical Research Council

Direct thrust force measurement of pulse detonation engine

In this paper we present the result of High-Speed Reacting Flow Laboratory (HiREF) pulse detonation engine (PDE) experimental study on direct thrust measurement. The thrust force generated by the repetitive detonation from a 50 mm inner diameter and 600 mm length tube was directly measured using load cell. Shchelkin spiral was used as an accelerator for the Deflagration to Detonation Transition (DDT) phenomenon. Propane-oxygen at stoichiometric condition was used as the combustible fuel-air mixture for the PDE. The PDE was operated at the operation frequency of 3Hz during the test. The amount of thrust force that was measured during the test reaching up to 70N. These values of thrust force were found to be fluctuating and its combustion phenomenon has been analyzed and discussed

Computational modelling of reinforced concrete wall subjected to transformer tank rupture

Transformer is one of the vital equipment to provide reliable electricity. The worst of the transformer explosion may lead to the major blackout. Transformer explosion maybe due to, lack of maintenance or the problems inside itself. In the past, transformers were adjacent to each other and without a wall in between at substation. Nowadays, constructing reinforced concrete wall between transformers is in practice as protection precaution. Finite Element Method (FEM) software is used due to the capability of analyzing and simulating reinforced concrete structure subjected to high rate and short duration dynamic loading. The simulation results reveal the crack propagation behavior is identical for the different blast modes. The cracks start to occur at the bottom of the wall on the transformer side. Later follows with the crack propagations on the other side at about one third of the wall height in the curve shape