Rapid pleurodesis using small bore pigtail catheter and bleomycin in malignant pleural effusions: a case series

Pleural drainage is the treatment of choice for patients presented with symptomatic malignant pleural effusion. The conventional method of treatment is insertion of large bore thoracostomy tube (chest tube) before proceeding to chemical pleurodesis. The aim of this preliminary prospective study was to investigate the success rate of performing pleurodesis using a small bore pigtail catheter (Mar Flow® CH12) in patients with malignant pleural effusion. Pleurodesis was performed within twenty four hours after insertion of pigtail catheter with bleomycin as sclerosing agent. Patients were follow-up at four weeks post pleurodesis with chest radiography. The intervention was scored as “successful” if no radiographic evidence of fluid reaccumulation was noted at four weeks. A “partial success” score indicated accumulation of fluid that did not produce symptoms and did not require repeat pleural drainage of any sort. All other outcomes were scored as “unsuccessful”. Five patients with malignant pleural effusion from Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainab II were included in this study with mean age of 53.6 year old. The primary diseases include breast, lung, ovarian and colon cancers. The mean time of pleurodesis was 9.5 hours. Of the five pleurodesis performed, a complete response (“successful”) was seen in three patients (60%), a partial response (“partial success”) was seen in one patient (20%) and one patient (20%) did not respond to rapid pleurodesis. In conclusion, pleurodesis in patients with malignant pleurodesis can be achieved rapidly using small bore pigtail catheter and bleomycin

Translation of the Culture-Specific Items in Malaysian Children’s Animated Movies Subtitles

Throughout the decades, the significant roles of the Audiovisual Translation (AVT) as the vehicle for interpreting the information and aiding the children’s learning process of other cultures through the films have been widely discussed and studied. However, numerous scholars of the translation field agreed that transferring a language mainly one that is heavily influenced by Culture-Specific Items (CSI) proves to be the most complex issue faced by the translators. Most of the studies reported that applying unsuitable translation strategies to translate cultural items has resulted in the lack of consistency, accuracy and less impactful translation. This study identified the types of CSI found in Malaysian children’s movies and the translation strategies for the CSI in the subtitles of Malaysian children’s movies. Using the descriptive research design, this study employed a quantitative approach to reach the findings. The samples used were two Malaysian animated movies namely Geng: Pengembaraan bermula and Keris Siamang Tunggal. With the application of two theories - Nedergaard-Larsen’s (1993) Culture-bound problems in subtitling and Pedersen’s (2011) taxonomy of Extralinguistic Cultural References - the types of CSI and the translation strategies for the CSI were identified quantitatively using content analysis. The findings of this study revealed that all types of CSI such as Society, Culture, Geography and History are present in the samples. As for the translation strategies, it has been found that the translators favored the source language-oriented translation strategies such as Retention and Direct Translation when translating cultural items. In conclusion, the overall translation of the cultural items in the films can be said to be appropriate in terms of the simplicity of the structure and comprehensible usage of vocabularies that can resonate well with the targeted group of viewers for this type of genre, which is children. In addition, the application of various translation strategies showed that the translators did not only intend to give the target audience the accessibility to the source culture but also produce the translation that is able to promote Malaysia's cultural identity as well as its artistic values to the world

Variable Valve Timing / Rahmat Nizam Romzan, Mohd Hezrin Hashim and Norfazizi Razali

The main objective of this thesis is to study the different types of Variable Valve Timing (WT) used by carmaker manufacturers. The other objective is to learn about the basic principal and the mechanisms use in VVT. In this thesis we make comparisons between the two well-known car largest manufacturers in the world TOYOTA and HONDA that uses Variable Valve Timing. From the different types of WT we will analyze and try to detect the weaknesses of the WT system if any. We will then come up with suggestions on the new W T system to achieve better engine performance as compared to the conventional WT. Aside from the above, we hope to also improve our computer skills during the writing up of the thesis where Microsoft words will be used. Cooperation skills and group teamwork will be further developed. Last but not least, most importantly, we will be able to enhance our knowledge in a new technology of W T and the entire concept related to the WT system

Heritage building preservation through building information modellling: reviving cultural values through level of development exploration

Despite the rich and diverse heritage buildings in Malaysia, they suffer from many problems and threats. Many heritage buildings are deteriorating, and this threatens the country’s cultural values. The deterioration of built heritage is a result of the poor inheritance of its related documentation and need to be addressed. Thus, this study brought forward the concept of preservation using Building Information Modelling (BIM). Exploring the potential of BIM as a preservation tool in reviving local cultural values might help to balance the problem of poor inheritance or inconsistency in managing historic and documentation maintenance. The aim of this paper is to study the relationship between levels of development (LOD) and usage of BIM in heritage building preservation. This study employs exploratory research using content analysis. The result of the study found that the availability of as-built details (LOD 500) of the building would be the crucial dataset needed for BIM to function in heritage building as H-BIM. This paper suggests on techniques available for constructing Level of Development (LOD) needed for H-BIM

RF-DC power conversion of Schottky diode fabricated on AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure for on-chip rectenna device application in nanosystems

The Schottky diodes enjoined with coplanar waveguides are investigated for applications in on-chip rectenna device applications without insertion of a matching circuit. The design, fabrication, DC characteristics and RF-to-DC conversion of the AlGaAs/GaAs HEMT Schottky diode is presented. The RF signals are well converted by the fabricated Schottky diodes with cut-off frequency up to 25 GHz estimated in direct injection experiments. The outcomes of these results provide conduit for breakthrough designs for ultra-low power on-chip rectenna device technology to be integrated in nanosystems

Finite element modelling of fixed-fixed end plate attached with vibration absorber

The present paper investigated the effect of the lightweight dynamic vibration absorber (LDVA) to reduce vibration of thin walled structure. The free and forced vibration response of a rectangular thin plate were performed using finite element method. Subsequently, the effects of attached single and dual LDVA were analysed in depth by using Ansys workbench 14.5. Results demonstrated that single LDVA attached at the centre of the plate succesfully attenuate vibration over the frequency range of 0- 600 Hz. By contrast, attached with dual LDVA only suppresses the resonance of the first second and fourth modes but not for third and fifth modes of thin walled structure. It was found that by simply increasing the weight of mass does not improve the vibration absorption over the entire frequency range. The study conclude that attached single LDVA are better than dual LDVA for vibration absorption of thin walled structure over the entire frequency range

Predictive Modeling of TiN Coating Roughness

In this paper, an approach in modeling surface roughness of Titanium Nitrite (TiN) coating using Response Surface Method (RSM) is implemented. The TiN coatings were formed using Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) sputtering process. N2 pressure, Argon pressure and turntable speed were selected as process variables. Coating surface roughness as an important coating characteristic was characterized using Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) equipment. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to determine the significant factors influencing resultant TiN coating roughness. Based on that, a quadratic polynomial model equation represented the process variables and coating roughness was developed. The result indicated that the actual coating roughness of validation runs data fell within the 90% prediction interval (PI) and the residual errors were very low. The findings from this study suggested that Argon pressure, quadratic term of N2 pressure, quadratic term of turntable speed, interaction between N2 pressure and turntable speed, and interaction between Argon pressure and turntable speed influenced the TiN coating surface roughness

Recreating historical Malay architecture with BIM process

In South-East Asia, the Malay architecture is among the popular subject of research because of its historical importance within the region, apart from many others. To some researchers, the Malay architecture is unique because of its intangible meaning and historically rich design characters. It is difficult to be reproduced, and only limited numbers of people are acknowledged as experts. With the introduction of technology such as BIM, it is hypothesized that the gap can be minimized. The idea of this paper is to outline the process of recreating cultural architectural design using a modern process such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform in specific, from data collection using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) and digitalization process in Revit software. This paper employs observation approach using data from laser scanner collected from case study and content analysis technique. While normally most of the cultural architecture is undocumented, the findings of this activity are aimed to provide guideline to develop geometrical information for heritage-enthusiast in practicing their undertakings. It is hoped that more historical and cultural architecture can be recreated and appreciated for the use and inspiration of current construction industry

Digital aerial imagery of unmanned aerial vehicle for various applications

Digital aerial imagery (DAI) can be acquired using digital mapping camera attached to light aircraft. The DAI is used for the production of topographic and thematic map. The cost of acquiring DAI is very expensive and suitable for large area coverage. The acquisition of DAI is not economical and suitable for small area coverage. Therefore an alternative method should be used to fulfill this need. There are two alternative methods that can be used for acquisition of DAI which include using a small format digital camera attached to light aircraft and using a small format attached to an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). UAV system has been reported used in various and diversified applications such as mapping applications (eg. map revision, landslide, coastal erosion, archaeology, forestry), industrial application (eg. engineering, crash accident), Geographic Information System (GIS) applications and others. In this study, micro unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) systems which comprise of fixed wing UAV flying and rotary UAV are attached with small format high resolution digital camera to acquire DAI for the purpose of mapping at the flying height of 300m at 100m respectively. The micro UAVs were flown autonomously (i.e automatically) and a series of DAIs of a slope using fixed wing UAV and a stream using rotary UAV were acquired rapidly within short period. Ground control point (GCP) and check point (CP) were established using the Global Positioning System and conventional Total Station techniques around the study area for the slope and stream respectively for the purpose of digital image processing and accuracy assessment. The DAIs were processed to produce photogrammetric output such as digital elevation model (DEM) and orthophoto. All these photogrammetric products were successfully produced and assessed. The achievable accuracy is less than ±1m for slope mapping and ±0.280m for stream mapping. In this study, it is proven that the micro UAV system can be used for mapping which cover small area. As conclusion, micro UAV is suitable for mapping small area, rapid data acquisition, accurate, low cost and can be employed for various applications

The electric field effect on angles of copper-type down-conductor

This paper is to study the effect of electric field on an angle variation of copper down-conductor due to voltage and current transient. Down-conductor which informs of numerous material, shape and dimension are mandatory for diverting the lightning current from air termination system to the grounding system in sheltered building. Hence, a numerical analysis method is applied emulating the comprehensible and particular model according to ordinarily used in the manufacturer’s datasheet specification. A rigorous assessment in term of electric fields was reviewed in comparison with the critical breakdown value of air for a crucial study. Later, a foremost angle is proposed for the installation of down-conductor in order to achieve a reliable protection system