Sonographic Appearance of Abdominal Wall at the Left Flank of Laparotomy Incision Site in Ettawah Grade Does

The aim of this study was to describe the sonographic appearance of abdominal wall at the left flank of laparotomy incision site in 11 mated Ettawah grade does. Brightness-mode ultrasound examination by using transducer with frequency of 5.0-6.0 MHz was conducted to grouping the does based on their pregnancy statuses. The incision site of the abdominal wall at left flank laparotomy was transcutaneous-scanned as long as 8 cm vertically. The sonographic appearance of the laparotomy wall thickness showed that in all groups of does were similar and not different statistically. The thickness of oblique external and oblique internal abdominal muscles increased in the pregnant does as compared to non-pregnant does (P<0.05)

Cloning and expression of human immunoglobulin G4 (hIgG4) hinge region cDNA from blood sample

Human immunoglobulin G4 (hIgG4) is increasingly being used for the detection of various infectious diseases and in allergy-related immunoassays, thus, anti-hIgG4 antibody is of interest in the development of diagnostic tests. The present study was conducted to produce a recombinant peptide antigen that can be used to generate monoclonal antibodies specific to hIgG4. The cDNA coding for the hinge region of hIgG4 was derived from mRNA from a human blood sample using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The cDNA was verified by sequencing and cloned into pQE-2 expression vector to construct pQE-2-IgG4. The latter was transformed Escherichia coli M15 cells, recombinant protein expression induced by IPTG and the expression was confirmed by SDS-PAGE and western blot analysis.Key words: Human IgG4, hinge region, cDNA, peptide, expression

PI Controller Design Using Model Reference Adaptive Control Approaches For A Chemical Process

This paper discusses the application of Model Reference Adaptive Control (MRAC) concepts in designing an adaptive feedback controller to tune a given PI controller. The approaches of using the gradient (MIT) and stability (Lyapunov) methods are shown. The effectiveness of the two methods are shown through simulation and comparison is made to show which method give the best result. The results show that the stability method produces a better result

Sonographic Appearance of Abdominal Wall at the Left Flank of Laparotomy Incision Site in Ettawah Grade Does

The aim of this study was to describe the sonographic appearance of abdominal wall at the left flank of laparotomy incision site in 11 mated Ettawah grade does. Brightness-mode ultrasound examination by using transducer with frequency of 5.0-6.0 MHz was conducted to grouping the does based on their pregnancy statuses. The incision site of the abdominal wall at left flank laparotomy was transcutaneous-scanned as long as 8 cm vertically. The sonographic appearance of the laparotomy wall thickness showed that in all groups of does were similar and not different statistically. The thickness of oblique external and oblique internal abdominal muscles increased in the pregnant does as compared to non-pregnant does (P<0.05).Key words: laparotomy, left flank, ultrasonography, incision site, Ettawah grade doe

A Pilot Study on the Sustainability of the Engineers' Technical Knowledge Repository (KR) Establishment: a Malaysian Case

. Knowledge is an important resource in this current economic condition where organizations are competing in creating more innovation in order to maintain their business in the marketplace. Thus, it is important for an establishment to continue their capitalizing their knowledge asset as knowledge is vital to gain competitive advantage in this current epoch. With regards to that, an organization needs to plan and design the most appropriate approach which enable the organizational knowledge asset to be captured, stored and utilized its valuable benefits. Establishing a knowledge repository (KR) is one of the approaches organizations adapt in maintaining organizational knowledge asset and promoting knowledge reuse. The focal point of this research is on the sustainability of knowledge repository establishment in sharing, transferring, storing the technical knowledge of the key personnel from the Malaysian public sector. The study adopted the qualitative research approach as its aim is to look into the sustainability of KR in an in-depth manner which concerned with the societal facet of that particular system. Therefore, the paper discusses the outcomes from the pilot study on which elements that sustain the significant impact in contributing to the process of knowledge repository sustainability in an organization

Tax Literacy Rate Among Taxpayers: Evidence From Malaysia

The extent of taxpayer knowledge can have a major impact on the degree of compliance with taxation rules and regulation. Low knowledge creates uncertainty about requirements of the tax regulation and can lead to high degree of involun-tary non-compliance. This study high¬lighted the importance of taxation knowledge by measuring Malaysian’s tax payers’ tax literacy rate taking into consideration the following criteria: 1) Individual ability to fill the tax return form inde¬pendently, 2) Taxpayer’s interest in learning about tax, and 3) Incident of errors in filling the tax re¬turn forms. Questionnaires were used in this study to ascertain the tax liter-acy rate. The results in¬dicate that among the respondents, professionals group has the highest percentage of tax literacy and the formers have the lowest percentage. Majority of the businessmen paid for services for fill¬ing tax return forms and high rank officers are the highest among the group for not employing oth¬ers for filling the tax forms. Businessmen have the highest incidence of error in filling tax return form and most of teachers reported no error in filling such forms. Most business-men showed interests and were willing to spend time to learn about taxation. They perceived taxation knowledge as an important tool for themselves and also for their family. Overall results indicate that more than 60% of respondents are tax lit-erate. However, a significant number of them are actually‘ functionally tax illiter-ate’. Most of them thought that they knew a lot about taxation as they had read them in the tax literature sent to them by the IRB. However, the evidence was con-trary to this conjecture. The in¬formation on the extent of taxpayers’ knowledge is potentially useful to the tax authorities to assist them in developing effective com-pliance enhancement policie

Road Vehicle Following System With Adaptive Controller Gain Using Model Reference Adaptive Control Method Lyapunov Approaches

In order to maintain stability and satisfy operating constraints, the control system on the following vehicle needs information about the motion of preceding vehicle. A one-vehicle look-ahead control strategy is proposed and will be investigated for this operation. A mathematical model for this control strategy is obtained and simulated. This paper describes the process of designing an adaptive controller gain for a road vehicle following system using two Lyapunov approach. One approaches utilizes the perfect modelling while the other does not. This is done through simulations and comparisons and is further discussed to find the effectiveness of the two Lyapunov approaches

Development of a Quadruped Crawling Robot Prototype

Although wheeled robots are commonly used, it has limited ability to move to any terrains at ease. They suffer from difficulties when travelling over uneven and rough terrains. Legged robots have an advantage over the wheeled robots in that they are suited for such situations. The implementation of legged robots normally requires many motors to move every joint in a robot leg. Additional motor will increase the construction cost, robot weight, and the demand for power supply. Moreover, robot simulation becomes more complex. This research is related to the design and development of a cost effective quadruped autonomous robot. The robot can moves according to a unique pattern using three servo motors as its actuator in each of its leg. The design of the robot is firstly made with CAD program and then the structure of the body and the leg is analyzed in order to find a correct balance and to make sure the servo motors are capable to move the robot. A prototype of the quadruped robot is fabricated and tested thoroughly. Experimental studies are carried out to test its stability issues when the robot moves. The robot is capable of moving forward, backward, turn left and turn right by crawling its way. A microcontroller is used as the brain of the robot assisted by two analog distance sensor for better obstacle sensing. It uses a rechargeable battery as the power supply for the microcontroller. The servo motors on the other hand are powered by another rechargeable battery. At the end of this research, a working prototype has been developed

Development of Standard Approach for Sickle Blade Manufacturing

The sickle blade used in the motorised palm cutter known as “CANTAS” provides fast, easy and safe pruning and harvesting for those hard to reach applications. Jariz Technologies Company is experiencing problem in the consistency of sickle blade which was supplied by various blade manufacturers. Identifying the proper blade material with a certain hardness value would produce a consistent as well as long lasting sickle blade. A Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in the manufacturing of the sickle blades was suggested to ensure a consistent blade. From this study, the optimum temperature for hardening and tempering of SUP 9 had been identified as 850 °C for hardening and 480 °C for tempering. The final hardness after heat treatment for SUP 9 was around 55HRC