Normal soaking extraction (NSE) of rotenone from Derris elliptica

Derris elliptica or the tuba plant contains rotenone, bio-active compound known that has the potential to be used as bio-pesticide. Bio-pesticide is the best-known alternative bio-pesticide which has the potential to replace the use of conventional pesticides, as it is more environmentally friendly. The main objective of the paper is to obtain the best extraction solvent for optimizing the yield in rotenone extraction. Rotenone was extracted from Derris root using three different parts of roots and three types of solvent in Normal Soaking Extraction (NSE). The types of Derris roots are: (1) Fine root (2) Coarse root (3) Stem. The three types of solvent system are: (1) Acetone 95 % (v/v), (2) Chloroform 99.9 % (v/v) and (3) a mixture of ethanol: H2O (9:1) added with oxalic acid (1mg/ml). The liquid crude extracts were further cleaned up to remove the fine debris of roots. The presence of rotenone was confirmed using qualitative analysis Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) and thereupon the determination of rotenone content was carried out using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). From the results obtained, it was found that the Normal Soaking Extraction (NSE) using acetone 95 % (v/v) was the best method to extract the highest yield of rotenone; 1.14 % (w/w)

SoC-based biomedical embedded system design of arrhythmia detector

Arrhythmia is an irregular heartbeat where the blood may not be delivered effectively throughout the body and cause sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Immediate treatment is required to prevent SCA. However, most of the existing electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring devices are bulky, cost expensive and lack arrhythmia detection and classification system. This paper proposes a front-end on-board graphical interface design of System-on-Chip (SoC) based arrhythmia detector which can be used as a first screening device for cardiac disease patient. The system consists of a knowledge-based arrhythmia classifier which is able to identify three types of arrhythmias which are ventricular fibrillation (VF), premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) and second-degree atrioventricular (AV) block. The system has been evaluated and benchmarked with ECG data from MIT-BIH arrhythmia database. The results show that its accuracy is up to 99.25% with a computation time of 6.385 seconds. It is highly portable and relatively inexpensive for installation in small clinics and home monitoring

Level of Service for Pedestrian Movement towards the Performance of Passenger Information in Public Transport Stations in Klang Valley

Rapid growth in car ownership in Malaysia plays a major role to traffic congestion. Hence, public transportation is crucial to cater the residents in high-density area especially in Klang Valley. Signage information in public transport station is one of an important passenger information system. Poor placement of sign information will decrease the efficiency of passenger flow and caused congestion in the station. Passenger information system is very useful for trip planning and decision making. Therefore, it is interesting to study the performance of passenger information system in focusing the movement behavior of pedestrian at non-peak period. Thus, the study on pedestrian movement during non-peak period on weekdays and weekends in mass transit stations and bus transit stations in Klang Valley was carried out by using video observation. The observation of the pedestrian movement was made in Mass Transit Station 1 in the middle of Kuala Lumpur and Mass Transit Station 2 in southern of Kuala Lumpur. The other site was focused at Bus Transit Station 1 in Putrajaya and Bus Transit Station 2 in Kajang. Findings shown that Mass Transit Station 1 having the best facility in terms of passenger information which the level of service obtained is LOS A, while the lowest level of service which is LOS E was obtained in Bus Transit Station 2

Study of 5.8 GHz Band-Stop Frequency Selective Surface (FSS)

This paper presents the study of 5.8 GHz frequency selective surface (FSS) acts as a band stop to eliminate unwanted radiation signal at 5.8GHz. The FSS was designed using computer simulation technology (CST) Microwave Studio software. The paper shows the comparison of square loop, octagon loop and hexagon loop of Band stop FSS (BSFSS) performance at 5.8 GHz. Besides, the BSFSS design using four different type of dielectric substrate such as FR-4, TLY-5, Roger RT5870 and Roger RT5880 were compared. The results obviously show that the Rogers RY5880 has the attenuation -44.72 dB.  The fabricated FSS were measured by using free space technique with two horn antennas connected to performance network analyzer (PNA). The measured and simulated results were compared. The results show that the square loop FSS structure have the better attenuation -26.76 dB (simulated) and -38.34 dB (measured) at 5.8 GHz

Polisakarida Mengandung Mannan dari Bungkil Inti Sawit Sebagai Antimikroba Salmonella typhimurium pada Ayam

Mannan containing polysaccharides could be used as an alternative to replace antibiotics due to their capacity to block the colonization of pathogenic bacteria in the intestine of poultry. The aim of this study was to investigate mannan containing polysaccharides from palm kernel meal (PKM) and its inhibitory effect against Salmonella typhimurium. Hot water extractions were used to isolate mannan containing polysaccharides from cell wall of PKM. In vivo studies were conducted using broiler and layer chicks that were challenged orally with 104 cfu Salmonella typhimurium on third day. Split plot design was used as experimental design with strain as main plot and level of mannan polysaccharides as sub plot. The levels of mannan containing polysaccharides that were used consisted of 0 (R0); 1000 (R1); 2000 (R2); 3000 (R3); 4000 (R4) ppm, in term of total sugar. The results indicated that compared to the control group, feeding PKM containing mannan 4000 ppm decreased (P < 0.01) Salmonella typhimurium incidence. The addition of mannan did not affect feed consumption. On the contrary, the addition of 4000 ppm mannan gave significantly higher feed/weight gain ratio of the chicks (P < 0.05). The administration of feed supplemented with mannan from PKM did not influence weight gain of poultry. It is concluded that mannan from PKM can prevent the colonization of Salmonella typhimurium in poultry. Key words: palm kernel meal, mannan, Salmonella typhimurium, performance, poultr

Microstrip to Parallel-Strip Nonlinear Transition Balun with Stubs and DGS for UWB Dipole Antenna

Three tapered baluns with nonlinear transition are developed for harmonic suppression in dipole antenna. The first balun consists of an exponential profile with the size of a quarter–wavelength for both the height and width with a wideband characteristic. However, for some applications such as narrowband harmonic suppression antennas and wideband-to-narrowband reconfigurable antennas, the suppression of higher operating band is desired. By employing stubs-filter and a defected ground structure (DGS), two narrowband tapered baluns are produced. They are named as an exponential balun-stub and an exponential balun-DGS, respectively, that operate from 1 to 2 GHz. A simulated and measured results that based on the reflection coefficient is found to be better than -10 dB from 1 to 2 GHz. The employment of the stubs and DGS have enabled these baluns to have the capability to reject the unwanted higher frequency band from 2.0 to 10 GHz. Finally, the proposed baluns are employed as a feeding circuit for an ultra wideband (UWB) circular dipole antenna that produces a reasonable outcome