Cluttered traffic distribution in LoRa LPWAN

Low Power WAN (LPWAN) is a wireless broad area network technology. It is interconnects using only low bandwidth, less power consumption at long range. This technology is operating in unauthorized spectrum [1] which designed for wireless data communication. To have an insight of such long-range technology, this paper evaluates the performance of LoRa radio links under shadowing effect and realistic smart city utilities clutter grid distribution. Such environment is synonymous to residential, industrial and modern urban centers. The focus is to include the effect of shadowing on the radio links while attempting to study the optimum sink node numbers and their locations for maximum sensor node connectivity. Results indicate that the usual unrealistic random node distribution does not reflect actual real-life scenario where many of these sensing nodes follow the built infrastructure around the city of smart buildings. The system is evaluated in terms of connectivity and packet loss ratio

Cluttered traffic distribution in LoRa LPWAN

Low Power WAN (LPWAN) is a wireless broad area network technology. It is interconnects using only low bandwidth, less power consumption at long range. This technology is operating in unauthorized spectrum [1] which designed for wireless data communication. To have an insight of such long-range technology, this paper evaluates the performance of LoRa radio links under shadowing effect and realistic smart city utilities clutter grid distribution. Such environment is synonymous to residential, industrial and modern urban centers. The focus is to include the effect of shadowing on the radio links while attempting to study the optimum sink node numbers and their locations for maximum sensor node connectivity. Results indicate that the usual unrealistic random node distribution does not reflect actual real-life scenario where many of these sensing nodes follow the built infrastructure around the city of smart buildings. The system is evaluated in terms of connectivity and packet loss ratio

Impak media baharu terhadap patriotisme belia di Malaysia

Patriotisme sering dikaitkan dengan konsep yang berkaitan dengan kenegaraan. Sentimen patriotisme berkembang luas dan meliputi pelbagai negara di peringkat global. Tahap patriotisme belia di negara ini perlu dipertingkatkan dengan penggunaan media baharu. Medium media baharu yang berasaskan Internet amat membantu dalam menyebarluaskan pelbagai jenis maklumat yang ingin disalurkan khususnya informasi kenegaraan. Aspek patriotisme seharusnya diberi penekanan secara terperinci dan haruslah dipupuk dalam kalangan rakyat Malaysia. Paparan maklumat menerusi medium komunikasi ini mempengaruhi pengguna dan sekaligus memberi kesan kepada golongan belia. Sememangnya tahap kesedaran kumpulan masyarakat khususnya golongan belia terhadap aspek patriotisme adalah kurang memberangsangkan dan perlu dipertingkatkan secara menyeluruh. Kekurangan semangat patriotisme cenderung kepada pelbagai faktor semasa seperti sikap seseorang individu. Hal ini seharusnya diberi penekanan yang sewajarnya kerana berupaya menjadi sebahagian daripada entiti negara. Kajian yang dilakukan dengan menggunakan kaedah survei adalah untuk melihat sejauh mana peranan media baharu memberikan impak terhadap patriotisme belia di Malaysia. Oleh yang demikian, berpaksikan kepada Teori Penyuburan yang dipelopori oleh George Gerbner dan Larry Gross (1976), kertas konseptual ini membincangkan secara spesifik berkaitan impak yang wujud menerusi teknologi media baharu terhadap penyuburan patriotisme belia di Malaysia

The Potential of High Flow Concrete Mixtures Utilizing Recycled Coal Bottom Ash as Underground Cable Trench Backfill Material

In this study, the potential recycling Coal Bottom Ash (CBA) through replacing sand in flowable fill for cable trench backfill is determined. The new material is targeted to replace the soil backfill of narrow trenches to mitigate problems related to compacting soil backfill.. Targets were set for the workability, flowability, compressive strength and thermal resistivity, which corresponds to suitable properties for cable trench backfill. Three (3) concrete mixes were made as preliminary trial mixes for preliminary testing. Mix No.1 is a control mix made with cement and sand. Mix No.2 was prepared through substituting 50% of the natural sand content of Mix No.1 with CBA. In Mix No.3, CBA is fully used as the aggregate. In the Slump test, only that Mix No.3 fulfils the workability and flowability targets. All three mixes exceeded the limits for compressive strength. It is found that only Mix No.1 and Mix No.2 fulfils the requirement for thermal resistivity. In conclusion, recycled CBA can potentially be utilized in flowable fill for underground cable trench backfill, however more studies must be conducted to further improve the mix design to fulfil the requirements

MFCCs and TEO-MFCCs for stress detection on women gender through deep learning analysis

Men and women describe differing physical and emotional responses to stress; women reported experiencing it more than men with 11.7% higher. This issue has been affecting women in different ways than men due to biological and social factors (e.g., differences in hormone processes between both genders and dual responsibilities in the workplace as well as at home). This crucial issue raises many concerns about women's mental health, and prolonged stress, such as heart problems, sleep problems, and others, will ideally impact them. Early stress detection is a crucial strategy to overcome the said problems since mental health issues always begin with stress problems. Therefore, in this paper, the MFCCs and TEO-MFCCs for stress detection in the women gender through deep learning are presented. The stress classification had been made by utilizing the speech features, which are Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCCs) and Teager Energy Operator-Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (TEO-MFCCs), with the help of Deep Learning technology, which is Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). The Toronto Emotional Speech Set (TESS) has been selected for this study since it consists of women's speech data. The outcome shows that MFCCs provide better accuracy in predicting women's stress, with a 98% score outperformed another study using the same dataset

Self-medication of antibiotics: investigating practice among university students at the Malaysian National Defence University

Background: Self-medication of drugs to alleviate symptoms is a common global behavior, helping relieve burdens on health services, but many drugs eg, antibiotics are prescription-only. Self-medication of antibiotics (SMA) is an irrational use of drugs, contributing to microbial resistance increasing health care costs and higher mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to assess SMA among university students. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among medical and non-medical students of the National Defence University of Malaysia. A validated instrument was used to gather data. Ethics approval was obtained. Random and universal sampling was adopted, and SPSS 21 was used for data analysis. Results: A total of 649 students participated in the study: 48.5% male and 51.5% female, 39.3% reported self-medicating with antibiotics. Penicillin, doxycycline, clarithromycin were the antibiotics most used with the majority reporting no adverse drug reactions. Cost savings and convenience were the principal reasons for SMA which were mainly obtained from local retail pharmacies. Despite medical students (particularly the more senior) having better knowledge of antibiotic use than non-medical students, 89% of all research participants responded that practicing SMA was a good/acceptable practice. Conclusion: SMA is common amongst Malaysian students and, despite understanding why SMA is unwise, even medical students self-medicate

A cross-sectional study evaluating the knowledge and beliefs about, and the use of antibiotics amongst Malaysian university students

Background: The introduction of antibiotics into modern medicine has changed clinical care by saving millions of lives. However, misuse of antibiotics has led to their benefits being overshadowed by the development of antimicrobial resistance. Aims of Study: This study aimed to assess university students’ knowledge and beliefs about and their use of antibiotics. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 674 medical and non-medical students of the National Defence University of Malaysia, using universal and convenience sampling methods. The data was collected using a validated questionnaire and analyzed using IBM SPSS 24, and the MANOVA test and Logistic Regression were used to explore the associated factors. Results: More than half of the respondents’ knowledge was low and their health beliefs outdated. Age, race and program were significantly associated with up-to-date knowledge and beliefs about antibiotic use, factors associated with finishing a course of antibiotics were studying medicine, personal health, and ethnicity. The significant factors associated with antibiotic self-prescribing were beliefs having been prescribed antibiotics during the last one year, and trusting the doctors who did not prescribe antibiotics. Conclusion: This study has identified a concerning low knowledge about antibiotics amongst some Malaysian university students, reflected in use of un-prescribed antibiotics and a lack of adherence to treatment. There is a need for educational interventions for students regarding antibiotic usage and resistance issues

Cobalt-based catalysts for hydrogen production by thermochemical valorization of glycerol: a review

Rising energy needs and the exhaustion of fossil fuels are calling for renewable fuels such as dihydrogen (H2), commonly named 'hydrogen.' Biomass treatment produces glycerol, which can be further used to generate dihydrogen or syngas. Here, actual challenges comprise the design of efficient and economically viable catalysts for attaining high hydrogen yield and minimizing coke deposition. Here, we review glycerol valorization routes for hydrogen or syngas generation, such as pyrolysis, steam reforming, aqueous phase, dry, supercritical water, partial oxidation, and autothermal reforming. We focus on cobalt-based catalysts due to their high availability, low cost, thermal stability, and coke resistance. The efficiency of cobalt-based catalysts can be improved by modifying textural properties, particle size and distribution, the strength of metal–support interaction, surface acidity and basicity, oxygen mobility, and reducibility. Such improvements have led to 100% glycerol conversion, 90% dihydrogen yield, and coke deposition of about 0.05%

Finite element analysis of external fixator for treating femur fracture: analysis on stainless steel and titanium as material of external fixator

An external fixator device is a medical implant used to keep fractured bones stabilized and in alignment. It consists of pins which are placed into the bone, extending outside the surface of the skin, and attached to a rigid external rod to keep it in place. The aim of this study is to investigate the most suitable material used for the external fixator. Firstly, the 3D model of two unilateral uniplanar external fixator with the properties of titanium and stainless steel were constructed at Solidworks software with all the other parameters set to constant. Meanwhile, CT images of the lower limb were used to reconstruct a 3D model of the femur fracture at Mimics Medical software. Positioning and meshing of both the external fixator and the femur done at 3- Matics Medical and export as Patran for simulation at Marc Mentat software. 375 N load was applied at the most proximal femur to simulate stance phase of a gait cycle. From the findings, external fixator by using stainless steel as material properties have lower maximum von Mises Stress (18.40 MPa) at the femur and (103.69 MPa) at the fixator compared to the titanium (32.38 MPa) at the femur and (182.93 MPa) at the fixator. The result shows a difference of 75% of maximum von Mises Stress at the femur and the external fixator. Configuration by using stainless steel displaced 1.15 mm at the femur and 1.01 mm at the fixator which almost double value of displacement for titanium material for both femur (2.35 mm) and external fixator (2.11 mm). In conclusion, stainless steel external fixators provide better stability when compared to titanium external fixators

Integral application of electrical resistivity tomography, geochemistry and borehole data in groundwater seepage assessment

Electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) has increasingly adopted as an alternative approach in engineering, environmental and archeological studies. In the past, several limitation of conventional method in groundwater mapping was always relative to the high cost, time consuming and limited data coverage. Hence, this study adopted an ERT in order to identify the unknown problematic zone due to the excessive groundwater seepage occurrences. During data acquisition, five (five) ERT spread lines was conducted using ABEM SAS4000 equipment set. Then, field raw data was processed using RES2DINV and ROCKWORKS software to generate 2-D and 3- D of the inverse model resistivity section respectively. Engineering properties and information related to the borehole and geochemistry results was also used for interpretation and verification purposes. Geochemistry test was performed to identify groundwater sources using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) and Ion Chromatography (IC) in order to determine the elements of cation (sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium) and anions (chloride, bicarbonate, nitrate and sulfate) respectively. Based on ERT results, it was found that low electrical resistivity value (10 ~ 100 Ωm) which commonly associated to groundwater was detected at ground surface (0 m) until greater depth (> 10 m). Furthermore, it was found that the groundwater was classified as Ca-HCO that indicates the water was originally come from a typical shallow of the fresh groundwater. Finally, this study has successfully demonstrate that the integral application of ERT, geochemistry and borehole data was applicable to produced comprehensive outcome with particular reference to the problematic groundwater seepage assessment