Ibn Al-Baitar: the pioneer of botanist and pharmacist

Ahmad Ibn Al-Baitar was one of the greatest scientists of Muslim Spain and also a well-known botanist and pharmacist of a Middle Ages. By using all the knowledge he learnt from Abu Al-Ábbas, he start collecting plants in and around Andalusia before he left Spain for plants collecting expeditions and travel along the North African coast before he authored his valuable books at Egypt. Ibn Al-Baitar’s major contribution, Kitab Al-Jame’, described about the basic medicines and nutrients derived from plants, animals, and minerals which hold a high status among botanist up to 18th century. He did not write something without first having observation and he had full confidence in inferences and deductions. Besides that, Ibn Al-Baitar was the first who specifies the timing of medicines, which one to be taken during the night and which were to be taken during the day

Rectangular dielectric resonator antenna array for 28 GHz applications

In this paper, a Rectangular Dielectric Resonator Antenna (RDRA) with a modified feeding line is designed and investigated at 28 GHz. The modified feed line is designed to excite the DR with relative permittivity of 10 which contributes to a wide bandwidth operation. The proposed single RDRA has been fabricated and mounted on a RT/Duroid 5880 (εr = 2.2 and tanδ = 0.0009) substrate. The optimized single element has been applied to array structure to improve the gain and achieve the required gain performance. The radiation pattern, impedance bandwidth and gain are simulated and measured accordingly. The number of elements and element spacing are studied for an optimum performance. The proposed antenna obtains a reflection coefficient response from 27.0 GHz to 29.1 GHz which cover the desired frequency band. This makes the proposed antenna achieve 2.1 GHz impedance bandwidth and gain of 12.1 dB. Thus, it has potential for millimeter wave and 5G application

5G beam-steering 2×2 butler matrix with slotted waveguide antenna array

In this research paper, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) was proposed as a technique by realizing bilateral edge walls to produce a compact 5G beam-steering antenna at 24 GHz. The beam forming network is produced using SIW directional coupler perform as 2×2 Butler Matrix (BM) fed with SIW slotted waveguide antenna array. The output signal is steered from -29 degrees and +29 degrees when the signal is fed to the respective input ports. If one of the input ports is fed, the signal is evenly distributed between the adjacent output ports with 90 degree constant phase shift. The compact size of directional coupler was designed by longitude slots on the surface of SIW substrate with bandwith of 16.85% at the operating frequency. The proposed antenna produce gain of 6.34 dB at operating frequency and the promising outcome of the beam steering make proposed design suitable for 5G communications especially with tracking capabilities

5G beam-steering 2×2 butler matrix with slotted waveguide antenna array

In this research paper, substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) was proposed as a technique by realizing bilateral edge walls to produce a compact 5G beam-steering antenna at 24 GHz. The beam forming network is produced using SIW directional coupler perform as 2×2 Butler Matrix (BM) fed with SIW slotted waveguide antenna array. The output signal is steered from -29 degrees and +29 degrees when the signal is fed to the respective input ports. If one of the input ports is fed, the signal is evenly distributed between the adjacent output ports with 90 degree constant phase shift. The compact size of directional coupler was designed by longitude slots on the surface of SIW substrate with bandwith of 16.85% at the operating frequency. The proposed antenna produce gain of 6.34 dB at operating frequency and the promising outcome of the beam steering make proposed design suitable for 5G communications especially with tracking capabilities

Development of radio direction finder using 6 log Periodic dipole array antennas

Radio Direction Finder (RDF) system can be used in search and rescue operations. However the existing RDF system is complex, expensive and not suitable for mobile operation such as search and rescue operations. This paper presents the development of a unique low cost Radio Direction Finder (RDF) using 6 Log Periodic Dipole Array (LPDA) antenna. Six unit of log periodic printed circuit board antenna from WA5VJB is used in this project since it is commonly used in UHF licence-free band. A modified amplitude comparison method has been made in order to match the antenna character. The unique physical design, electronics design and software design implemented in the RDF system are described in this paper. Also a test has been conducted and the system performance shows the RSM error of 14°

Virtual Professional Communication Project Presentation: Examining Students’ Speaking Anxiety in a Malaysian Public University

ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise is a final semester course that the LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students must complete before graduating and was offered for the first time in September 2020 via Open Distance Learning (ODL). For this, students are required to undertake a project that is related to their field of study and present it to a panel of examiners consisting of faculty lecturers and industry panel members. As carrying out the presentation in English was already stressful enough for the students, the presence of these external examiners could lead to a higher level of stress and anxiety. With this in mind, this study intends to examine the students’ perceptions of communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and anxiety during the final course presentation and whether the presence of these two additional factors, the ODL method and the inclusion of external examiners could cause communication apprehension on the part of the students that could lead to additional emotional pressure, fear and anxiety. The purposive sampling method was used to obtain responses from 63 final semester LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Melaka and Johor who had recently completed the ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise course and had gone through the online presentation involving external examiners. The instrument for this study was administered using Google Forms, which utilized a 5-point rating scale for three components categorized as Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Feedback and Test Anxiety. The findings revealed that this group of LG120 students who conducted the presentation of their final project via ODL and in the presence of industry panel members generally experienced a moderate to high level of anxiety. Several other conclusions were made based on the findings. Overall, this study has shown that, although the mode of this assessment was changed to ODL, similar anxiety factors in public speaking that affect students remained a constant presence

Virtual Professional Communication Project Presentation: Examining Students’ Speaking Anxiety in a Malaysian Public University

ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise is a final semester course that the LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students must complete before graduating and was offered for the first time in September 2020 via Open Distance Learning (ODL). For this, students are required to undertake a project that is related to their field of study and present it to a panel of examiners consisting of faculty lecturers and industry panel members. As carrying out the presentation in English was already stressful enough for the students, the presence of these external examiners could lead to a higher level of stress and anxiety. With this in mind, this study intends to examine the students’ perceptions of communication apprehension, fear of negative evaluation and anxiety during the final course presentation and whether the presence of these two additional factors, the ODL method and the inclusion of external examiners could cause communication apprehension on the part of the students that could lead to additional emotional pressure, fear and anxiety. The purposive sampling method was used to obtain responses from 63 final semester LG120 Diploma in English for Professional Communication students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Cawangan Melaka and Johor who had recently completed the ELS304 Professional Communication Exercise course and had gone through the online presentation involving external examiners. The instrument for this study was administered using Google Forms, which utilized a 5-point rating scale for three components categorized as Communication Apprehension, Fear of Negative Feedback and Test Anxiety. The findings revealed that this group of LG120 students who conducted the presentation of their final project via ODL and in the presence of industry panel members generally experienced a moderate to high level of anxiety. Several other conclusions were made based on the findings. Overall, this study has shown that, although the mode of this assessment was changed to ODL, similar anxiety factors in public speaking that affect students remained a constant presence