Experimental validation of a theoretical model for flexural modulus of elasticity of thin cement composite

Experimental and analytical investigations for the modulus of elasticity of thin cement composite composed of mesh and mortar are demonstrated. Based on the analyses and experimental data, new equations for the modulus of elasticity of thin cement composite are proposed. It is observed that the flexural modulus of elasticity of thin cement composite depends on the elastic modulus of mortar and some factor of the difference of elastic modulus of mesh and mortar. Results obtained by using the proposed equations are compared to those of the available equations. It has been found that the newly developed equations give relatively conservative results as compared to the typically used ones. A comparison between the analytical and experimental findings further indicates that there is a good agreement between the analytical and experimental result

Current review towards the new best practices of Corporate Real Estate Management (CREM) in Malaysia

Corporate Real Estate (CRE) is referring to land and buildings owned by companies which are not primarily in the real estate business used for operational purpose. CRE covers the entire range of activities. Awareness of knowledge of CRE in Malaysia lacks because the researcher found that the operation of properties owned by a few large companies is undermanaged and underused. This review paper focuses on the definition of corporate real estate (CRE), components of CRE, and the current practice in the industry. This paper a desk analysis reviewing the literature on general management of the corporate real estate. By using the secondary data such as Company Annual Report, Previous studies and other relevant sources. There are several different issues to examine along the way, from the business strategies, Constituent and tools to help make the right decisions. It draws a framework for CRE analysis. From this paper, we can find the issue to improve the current practice on the CRE in Malaysia

An Analysis of the Prevalence of Pneumonia for Children under 12 Year Old in Tawau General Hospital, Malaysia

Pneumonia is one of the serious illnesses, which involves lung infection specifically alveoli. Nearly 40,000 to 70,000 people die each year in United State because of pneumonia. Therefore, it is not a surprise that pneumonia is one of the most critical illnesses for children under 12 years old in many parts of the world, including Malaysia and particularly in Tawau, Sabah, Malaysia. The objectives of this study are: to develop a summary on the prevalence of pneumonia in Tawau General Hospital, to analyze the best practice to prevent this illness and lastly to determine an overview of which area that is widely affected by pneumonia. The results can assist doctors and the government to take major precautions and preventive measures efficiently to the full extent. This paper presents a descriptive analysis of the data, which are retrieved from the medical reports at the Tawau General Hospital. Through the findings, pneumonia is widely spread among young children under 12 years old. There are more than one major factor that leads to this critical illness, such as family background, genetic and environment. Therefore, the government, doctors and parents should take major steps to prevent children suffering from pneumonia.Comment: Presented at the International Seminar on the Application of Science & Mathematics 201

Optimised combinatorial control strategy for active anti-roll bar system for ground vehicle

The objective of this paper is to optimise the proposed control strategy for an active anti-roll bar system using non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) tuning method. By using an active anti-roll control strategy, the controller can adapt to current road conditions and manoeuvres unlike a passive anti-roll bar. The optimisation solution offers a rather noticeable improvement results compared to the manually-tuned method. From the application point of view, both tuning process can be used. However, using optimisation method gives a multiple choice of solutions and provides the optimal parameters compared to manual tuning method

Simulation and analysis for harvesting Dioscorea hispida tubers

This study discussed an analysis and simulation of fixture stand structure that will use for data collection of force required for harvesting the tubers of Dioscorea hispida. The tubers were surrounded by roots which were well gripped to the soil which made harvesting process difficult. Therefore, a new tool fixture equipped with digital force gauge device to gripped stem dioscorea hispida is required. Imada digital force measurement gauges are state-of-the-art, instruments capable of the highly accurate measurements required in quality testing to determine the strength or functionality of a part or product. The information from the experiments is used to model and simulate the tool in Computer Aided Design (CAD) environment. The solid modelling software Solidworks was used for the design, modelling and simulation of the equipment and the finite element analysis to determine the stress affected on various fixture designs

Substrate and cofactor binding interaction studies of galactitol -1- Phosphate 5- Dehydrogenase from Peptoclostridium difficile

Tagatose is a high value low calorie sweetener that is used as a sugar substitute in the food and pharmaceutical industry. The production of tagatose requires the conversion of galactitol-1-phosphate to tagatose-6-phosphate by galactitol-1-phosphate 5-dehydrogenase (PdGPDH). Theobjective of this work is to study the protein-ligand interaction between PdGPDH and its ligands; galactitol-1-phosphate, Zn2+ and NAD+. Understanding of this mechanism will provide an insight into the possible catalytic events in these domains, thus providing information for potential protein engineering to improve the tagatose production. A 3D model of PdGPDH was constructed to identify the catalytic and coenzyme binding domains. In order to understand the interaction of PdGPDH with its ligands, a docking analysis of PdGPDH-substrate, PdGPDH-Zn2+ and PdGPDH-NAD+ complex was performed using CDOCKER in Discovery Studio 4.0 (DS 4.0). A series of docking events were performed to find the most stable binding interaction for the enzyme and its ligands. This study found that Cys 37, His 58, Glu 59, Glu 142 residues from PdGPDH form an active site pocket similar to known GPDH. A catalytic Zn2+ binding domain and a cofactor NAD+binding domain with strong hydrogen bonding contacts with the substrate and the cofactor were identified. The binding pockets of the enzyme for galactitol-1-phosphate, NAD+ and Zn2+has been defined. The stability of PdGPDH with its ligand was verified by utilizing the molecular dynamic simulation of docked complex. The results from this study will assist future mutagenesis study and enzyme modification work to improve the tagatose production

Antimicrobial activity and bioactive evaluation of Plectranthus amboinicus essential oil

Abstract Plectranthus amboinicus or locally known as bangun

Evaluating mobile laser scanning for landslide monitoring

Landslide is one of the natural disasters that give a huge impact to human life and social-economic development. Landslide needs to be monitored periodically in order to avoid loss of human life and damages of properties. Various methods have been used for monitoring landslide. This aim of the research is to evaluate the potential of mobile laser scanning technique for monitoring of landslide area. The objectives of the research are to acquire three-dimensional surface data of landslide area in different epochs and to analyze the movement of the landslide area using three-dimensional surface deviation and ground surveying techniques. The methodology begins with the GPS survey for the establishment of ground control points for the project area. The total station survey was then carried out to measure the three-dimensional coordinates of twenty well distributed targets located at the project area. The data collection phase was then continuing with the mobile laser scanning survey. The processing of the two epochs data acquired from both techniques was then carried out simultaneously and the methodology concluded with the output comparison analysis for the movement detection of the land slip. The finding shows that the mobile laser scanning provides fast and accurate data acquisition technique of the landslide surface. The surface deviation analysis of the two epochs laser scanning data was capable to detect the movement occurred in the project area. The results were successfully evaluated using the changes of the three-dimensional coordinates of the targets from the two epoch’s ground surveying data

A whole genome analyses of genetic variants in two Kelantan Malay individuals

The sequencing of two members of the Royal Kelantan Malay family genomes will provide insights on the Kelantan Malay whole genome sequences. The two Kelantan Malay genomes were analyzed for the SNP markers associated with thalassemia and Helicobacter pylori infection. Helicobacter pylori infection was reported to be low prevalence in the north-east as compared to the west coast of the Peninsular Malaysia and beta-thalassemia was known to be one of the most common inherited and genetic disorder in Malaysia.By combining SNP information from literatures, GWAS study and NCBI ClinVar, 18 unique SNPs were selected for further analysis. From these 18 SNPs, 10 SNPs came from previous study of Helicobacter pylori infection among Malay patients, 6 SNPs were from NCBI ClinVar and 2 SNPs from GWAS studies. The analysis reveals that both Royal Kelantan Malay genomes shared all the 10 SNPs identified by Maran (Single Nucleotide Polymorphims (SNPs) genotypic profiling of Malay patients with and without Helicobacter pylori infection in Kelantan, 2011) and one SNP from GWAS study. In addition, the analysis also reveals that both Royal Kelantan Malay genomes shared 3 SNP markers; HBG1 (rs1061234), HBB (rs1609812) and BCL11A (rs766432) where all three markers were associated with beta-thalassemia.Our findings suggest that the Royal Kelantan Malays carry the SNPs which are associated with protection to Helicobacter pylori infection. In addition they also carry SNPs which are associated with beta-thalassemia. These findings are in line with the findings by other researchers who conducted studies on thalassemia and Helicobacter pylori infection in the non-royal Malay population.Wan Khairunnisa Wan Juhari, Nur Aida Md Tamrin, Mohd Hanif Ridzuan Mat Daud, Hatin Wan Isa, Nurfazreen Mohd Nasir, Sathiya Maran, Nur Shafawati Abdul Rajab, Khairul Bariah Ahmad Amin Noordin, Nik Norliza Nik Hassan, Rick Tearle, Rozaimi Razali, Amir Feisal Merican and Bin Alwi Zilfali

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