Development and validation of a questionnaire to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of flood disaster management (FloodDMQ-BM) among health care workers in Kelantan

Background: Flood catastrophe has a major impact on healthcare service in Malaysia. However, there is no validated tool to measure the knowledge, attitude and practice of flood disaster management among healthcare workers involved in the response phase of a flood disaster in Malaysia.We aim to develop and validate a questionnaire in Bahasa Malaysia (FloodDMQ-BM) to measure the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of flood disaster management among healthcare workers. Materials and Methods: The questionnaire was developed based on four domains: standard operating procedure, transportation, alert system and communication. Psychometric analyses were tested on healthcare workers involved in patient management during flood disaster in Kelantan. The hypothetical concept of the items in attitude and practice sections was assessed using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and internal consistency reliability. The knowledge section was analysed using 2-parameter logistic model of Item Response Theory. Result: 36 items were generated for FloodDMQ-BM. For both the attitude and practice items, the EFA have good factor loading (>0.5) and satisfactory internal consistency of 0.925 and 0.935 respectively. The remaining items in the knowledge section have good marginal fit and adequate Root Mean Square Error of Approximation of 0.08. All the remaining items have good standardized loading (>0.3) and marginal reliability of 0.623.Conclusion: The results suggested that the FloodDMQ-BM has valid and reliable psychometric properties

Sound Velocity Profile (SYP) at Strait of Malacca for Maritime Warfare Usage

Nowadays, many tragedies and accidents happen in the oceans due to human negligence in handling equipment and also the ship itself. Therefore, it is important to do the hydrographic survey as it is the study about the physical of the sea. In the other words, the hydrographic survey also comes out with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all other marine activities, including the economic development, security and defences, scientific research, and environmental protection. The sound velocity profile is a plot of propagation speed or velocity of sound as a function of depth and it is a fundamental tool for predicting how the sound will travel. The sound velocity profiles around the world are different. There are three factors affecting the sound velocity profile which is temperature, salinity, and pressure. The survey to get the sound velocity profile is using the sound velocity probe. The survey was done at 9 chosen locations at Straits of Malacca to get their sound velocity profile. The data from the sound velocity probe from the survey being collected by the hydrographic department and the sound velocity profile for 9 chosen locations at Straits of Malacca have been plotted. Therefore, the profile can be used as a reference for the tactical warfare usage and also for calibration of the echo sounder on board the ship

Acoustic Approach to Determining Seabed Substrates Distribution at Mandi Darah Island, Sabah

Marine ecosystems and natural habitat play the important role of the Earth’s life support system. They significantly contribute to economies and food safety and help preserve ecological processes. However, the devastation of the marine ecosystem in Malaysia due to the human factor and climate change is quite alarming. Therefore, spatial marine information, especially on the distribution of seabed substrates and habitat mapping, are of utmost importance for marine ecosystem management and conservation. Traditionally, seabed substrate and habitat mapping were classified based on direct observation techniques such as photography, video, sampling, coring and scuba diving. These techniques are often limited due to water clarity and weather conditions and only suitable for smaller scale surveys. In this study, we employed an acoustic approach using the RoxAnn Acoustic Ground Discrimination System (AGDS) with a high-frequency single-beam echo sounder to examine the distribution of seabed substrate at the Mandi Darah Island, Sabah. The acoustic signals recorded by AGDS are translated into hardness and roughness indices which are then used to identify the unique characteristics of the recorded seabed types. The analysis has shown that fifteen types of substrates, ranging from silt to rough/some seagrass, have been identified and classified. The findings demonstrated that the acoustic method was a better alternative for seabed substrate determination than the conventional direct observation techniques in terms of cost and time spent, especially in large scale surveys. The seabed substrate dataset from this study could be used as baseline information for the better management and conservation of the marine ecosystem

Development and Experimental Investigation of a Marine Vessel Utilizing the Energy Ship Concept for Far Offshore Wind Energy Conversion

The energy ship is a concept for offshore wind energy capture which has received very little attention until today. To this date, there had not been yet an experimental proof of concept. In order to tackle this issue, an experimental platform and data acquisition system has been developed. A 5.5m long sailing catamaran served as a platform equipped with a 240mm diameter water turbine. The energy ship platform has been tested several times in the actual river to investigate the workability of the platform and data acquisition system. Results show that energy ship platform can produced 500W electric power for a true wind speed of 10 knots

Feasibility Study of Monsoon Effect on Wave Power for Wave Energy Converter in Sabah, Malaysia

This paper presents a research to determine the effects of the Northeast Monsoon (NEM) and the Southwest Monsoon (SWM) on wave power along the coastal area of Mandi Darah Island, Sabah. This study identified the daily data of wave height and wave period for 6 months from June to December 2018. The following period was chosen because it consisted of two monsoon seasons in Sabah. The data obtained from the Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) were thoroughly analyzed to estimate the wave height and the wave period to identify the wave power at Mandi Darah Island. The wave heights ranged from 0.01 m to 0.47 m while the wave periods ranged from 1.0 s to 8.6 s. The wave height range during the NEM was higher by 0.12 m than SWM, while the difference of wave period was significantly higher by 2.17 s during the NEM. The maximum wave power recorded at Mandi Darah Island was 1.57 kW/m throughout the period. During NEM, the wave power was significantly higher than during SWM, by 0.70 kW/m. These findings led to determining the wave energy type converter that suits the wave conditions at the Mandi Darah Island coastal area

Investigation of Numerical Hydrodynamic Performance of Deformable Hydrofoil (Applied on Blade Propeller)

The hydrofoil is a hydro-lifting surface that significantly contributes to marine transportation such as a boat, ship, and submarine for its movement and maneuverability. The existing hydrofoils are in fixed-shaped National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) profiles, depending merely on the variation of Angle of Attack (AOA) such as rudder, hydroplane, and propeller blade. This research is concerned with the deformable hydrofoil that aims at modifying its NACA profile rather than its AOA. However, there is still a lack of knowledge about designing an appropriate deformable hydrofoil. Therefore, a numerical investigation of hydrodynamic characteristics for selected hydrofoils was conducted. After undergoing the 2D numerical analysis (potential flow method) at specific conditions, several NACA profiles were chosen based on the performance of NACA profiles. NACA 0017 was selected as the initial shape for this research before it deformed to the optimized NACA profiles, NACA 6417, 8417, and 9517. The 3D CFD simulations using the finite volume method to obtain hydrodynamic characteristics at 0 deg AOA with a constant flow rate. The mesh sensitivity and convergence study are carried out to get consistent, validated, and reliable results. The final CFD modeled for propeller VP 1304 for open water test numerically. The results found that the performance of symmetry hydrofoil NACA 0017 at maximum AOA is not the highest compared to the other deformed NACA profiles at 0 deg AOA. The numerical open water test showed that the error obtained on K.T., K.Q., and efficiency is less than 8% compared to the experimental results. It shows that the results were in good agreement, and the numerical CFD setting can be used for different deformed profiles in the future

A retrospective study of ambulance response time in priority one cases

Background: Ambulance response time (ART) is one of the key performance indices set by the Ministry of Health (MOH) in Malaysia. In priority one cases, the response time must be 15 minutes or less. The association between ART and patient outcomes has yet to be assessed in the Malaysian setting. Methods: This was a single-centre study that coordinated by the Medical Emergency Call Centre (MECC) of the Emergency and Trauma Department Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II (ETDHRPZ II) and received a call from the Malaysian Emergency Response Services (MERS) 999 or a direct line. Patients must have met the Delta and Echo classification using the Medical Priority Dispatch System for priority one case with age more or equal to 18 years. The data were collected was done from November 2019 to March 2020. Results: A total of 175 ambulance calls were recorded during the study period, during which the number of ambulances could reach 141 (80.6%) patients within 15 minutes or less. The remaining 34 (19.4%) patients responded in more than 15 minutes. The associations between ART and mortality and morbidity were not significant, with p-value=0.746 and p-value=0.749 respectively. The median length of stay (LOS) among admitted patients was the same which was four days. Conclusion: This study revealed no significant association between ART (less than or equal to 15 minutes) in priority one cases and patient outcomes. However, there is a need to consider multiple variables that influence the emergency medical response due its nature of complexity

Permeance Based Algorithm For Computation Of Flux Linkage Characteristics Of Non-Linear 6/4 Switched Reluctance Motor (SRM)

The concept of permeance is used in the analysis of flux linkage of 6/4 SRM. The aim of this paper is to develop an efficient algorithm exploiting the nonlinear feature of the 6/4 SRM using the aforementioned concept of permeance. The first step is to generate the relevant equations related to permeances of the 6/4 SRM under study. The 6/4 SRM’s magnetization curve is then derived from the summation of mmf drops at various blocks representing the motor. The air gap permeances are derived at various angles and 3-D leakage effects are taken into account. These permeances are used for the mmf drop computation. The algorithm is capable of efficiently computing mmf drop at every block to consequently yield a complete accurate nonlinear flux linkage feature of the 6/4 switched reluctance motor. In this way, the capability of the SRM to produce the expected four times the specific output torque due to operation in high saturation region compared to an equivalent induction motor as special the attribute of the SRM is demonstrated

Fostering inter Group Contacts among multiracial students in higher education

Banks (l995) names prejudice reduction as one of five dimensions of multicultural education. Within this context, a study on the role of curriculum programmes in fostering intergroup contacts among the multiracial students of higher education was conducted in Univcrsiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor. The main purpose of this study was to determine the level of knowledge(K), attitude(A) and practice(P) of students from difference ethnic groups in fostering intergroup contacts. A total number of 130 undergraduate students participated in the study. The study revealed that the students fall into the medium level of knowledge (3.22), attitude (3.67) and practice (3.39) towards fostering intergroup contacts. Spearman correlation coefficient test results showed there is no significant relationship between the levels of KAP across gender and race. Conversely, analyses of ANOVA divulged a significant racial group difference in the levels of knowledge; meanwhile attitude and practice had no significance racial group difference in fostering intergroup contacts. It is hoped that the findings on the levels of KAP in fostering intergroup contacts among the multiracial students would provide significant information where the Issues of multiculturalism is concern