Palladium(II)-Catalyzed Dicarboxymethylation of Chiral Allylic Alcohols: Chirality Transfer Affording Optically Active Diesters Containing Three Contiguous Chiral Centers

This manuscript describes the extension of Stille’s palladium-catalyzed olefin dicarbonylation reaction to chiral allylic alcohols with chirality transfer to afford the corresponding chiral alcohol functionalized with bis-carbomethoxy esters, containing three contiguous chiral centers, in good to excellent diastereoselectivities (78–98%)

Structural Analysis of Factors Affecting Dairy Cattle Industry Development in Malaysia

Malaysian dairy cattle industry has not produced enough quantity of dairy products to satisfy domestic market needs. Various initiatives were made by the government to improve the industry output for more than five decades; however, the results are yet to be materialized. Indeed, Malaysia is still one of the highest milk and dairy products importing countries in the world in terms of overall volume and per capita. The objective of this study is to investigate the most important factors influencing the dairy cattle industry development in Malaysia. A quantitative approach involving Structural Equation Modeling is applied to achieve the aim of this study. After testing the validity and reliability (based on Cronbach’s alpha technique) of the original research instrument, the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) is implemented to analyze the data by using Smart-PLS 3 software. The findings demonstrate that the factors such as adequate land allocation for dairy farming and animal feed plantation, climate condition, logistic costs, animal feed price and accessibility, poor cow breed, lack of well trained and experienced labors, lack of knowledge on dairy farming, government policies, and the inappropriate environment of the industry are among the most important factors affecting Malaysian dairy cattle industry growth. Industry stakeholders such as farmers, policymakers and researchers may benefit from this study. Results of this study can be used as the guidance and roadmap in their future development policies, plans, projects, and studies

Water Flow-Like Algorithm with Simulated Annealing for Travelling Salesman Problems

Water Flow-like Algorithm (WFA) has been proved its ability obtaining a fast and quality solution for solving Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP). The WFA uses the insertion move with 2-neighbourhood search to get better flow splitting and moving decision. However, the algorithms can be improved by making a good balance between its solution search exploitation and exploration. Such improvement can be achieved by hybridizing good search algorithm with WFA.  This paper presents a hybrid of WFA with various three neighbourhood search in Simulated Annealing (SA) for TSP problem. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated using 18 large TSP benchmark datasets. The experimental result shows that the hybrid method has improved the solution quality compare with the basic WFA and state of art algorithm for TSP

Structural and Morphological Investigation of Cr2O3/WO3Oxides Films Composite Using Modified Spray Pyrolysis Technique

Cr2O3/WO3 oxides film composite was successfully synthesized via advanced controlled chemical spray pyrolysis deposition technique using two nozzles. Two solutions of tungstic acid and chromium chloride was sprayed separately at various ratios of (W: Cr) at the same time on a silicon substrate at 500 °C, the film then heat-treated at 400 °C for the 60s. The crystal structure, microstructure and morphology properties of prepared films were studied. Based on characterization techniques, crystallized Cr2O3/WO3 mixed oxides films were investigated by X-ray diffraction after the annealing process, with film thickness of about 500 nm. The SEM and AFM revealed that rough and porous microstructures of Cr2O3/WO3 were formed. The obtained microstructure has been known as one of the most effective microstructures due to having high surface area particularly in gas detection application

Formation of size-tuneable biodegradable polymeric nanoparticles by solvent displacement method using micro-engineered membranes fabricated by laser drilling and electroforming

Biodegradable poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) drug-carrier nanoparticles (NPs) were produced by rapid membrane micromixing combined with nanoprecipitation in a stirred cell employing novel membrane dispersion. The organic phase composed of 0.1−0.6 wt% PCL dissolved in tetrahydrofuran was injected into the aqueous phase (Mili-Q water or 0.2−1 wt% poly(vinyl alcohol) using two microfabricated membranes with different pore morphologies and spatial pore arrangements: ringed stainless steel membrane of reduced (annular) operating area with a square array of cylindrical laser-drilled pores and electroformed nickel membrane of full operating area with a hexagonal array of conical, funnel-shaped pores. The size of the NPs was precisely controlled over a range of 159−394 nm by changing the aqueous-to-organic volumetric ratio, stirring rate, transmembrane flux, the polymer content in the organic phase, membrane type and pore size. The smallest and most uniform particles with a Z-average of 159 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.107±0.014 were obtained using a 10 μm pore-sized stainless steel membrane at the transmembrane flux of 140 L m-2 h-1, a stirring rate of 1,300 rpm, and an aqueous-to-organic phase volume ratio of 10 using 1 g L-1 PCL in the organic phase. The particle size decreased by increasing the stirring rate and the aqueous-to-organic volumetric ratio, and by decreasing the polymer concentration in the aqueous phase and the transmembrane flux. The existence of the peak shear stress within a transitional radius and a rapid decline of the shear stress away from the membrane surface were revealed by numerical modelling

Artificial Intelligence-Based Power System Stabilizers for Frequency Stability Enhancement in Multi-machine Power Systems

Low frequency oscillations (LFOs) occur in a system of interconnected generators connected by weak interconnection. A power system stabilizer (PSS) is commonly used to improve the capacity of the power system dampening. Under a variety of operating conditions, traditional PSSs fail to deliver superior damping. To address this issue, a Farmland Fertility Algorithm (FFA-PSSs controller) was used to solve an optimization problem for optimal design of PSSs system parameters, and its performance efficiency was compared to GA and PSO-based PSSs controllers. In addition to PSS, flexible current transmission (FACTS) devices are widely used. PSSs controllers and FACTS devices are frequently constructed in tandem to improve the dampening efficiency of the system. In this study, an Interline Power Flow Controller (IPFC) FACTS device will be added to the PSSs controller to improve the power system’s oscillatory stability. PSSs optimal design and supplemental controller of power fluctuations for IPFC were conducted out on WSCC multi-machine test systems using a linear system model. Using time-domain simulations and quantitative analysis, the proposed IPFC model was compared to the FFA-PSSs controller in terms of performance and efficiency. The main disadvantage of this technique is the difficulty in designing a dynamic IPFC model in test systems, as well as the burden of IPFC coordinated PSSs optimization. In both PSSs design using FFA method and FFA-optimized PSS with IPFC cases, rise in the computational and simulation costs was found unavoidable. To compensate for these flaws and obtain the research contribution, this paper proposes a Neuro-Fuzzy Controller (NFC) developed as a damping controller that can take the place of the two controllers (research objectives three). The application of the NFC substitutes the computational and simulation cost involved in designing multi-machine PSS and IPFC-FACTS systems simultaneously. With the availability of NFC in SIMULINK, a dynamic model of the WSCC three-machine system was developed under a variety of operating situations. Quantitative analysis results from the WSCC test system simulation show that when comparing the proposed NFC model to the IPFC model for the WSCC test system, the proposed NFC model was found to be 149 percent and 0 percent efficient in terms of the time to settle of rotor angle respond for G2 and G3, respectively, but 394 percent efficient when compared to the uncontrolled model. The decreased settling time values ensured the proposed NFC model’s efficacy in damping down the LFO and achieving superior stability over the two controllers. The proposed NFC model was shown significant performance improvement in both the transient and steady-state areas than when the system was designed with the two damping controllers

Usahawan Wanita Muslim Berjaya: Amalan Gaya Hidup Islam

Keusahawanan merupakan satu bidang kerjaya yang mencabar. Terdapat ramai usahawan wanita Muslim yang menceburi bidang keusahawanan, namun tidak semua berjaya. Usahawan yang berjaya sudah pasti mempunyai amalan yang berbeza dengan mereka yang gagal. Justeru, kajian ini bertujuan untuk meneroka amalan gaya hidup Islam berdasarkan ciri-ciri keimanan, ibadah dan akhlak yang diamalkan oleh usahawan wanita Muslim berjaya. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan penyelidikan kualitatif dengan kaedah fenomenologikal untuk mempelajari pengalaman sebenar usahawan wanita Muslim berjaya dalam menguruskan perniagaan mereka. Pemilihan usahawan yang terlibat dalam kajian ini adalah berdasarkan teknik persampelan bertujuan dan temu bual mendalam digunakan untuk mengutip data daripada mereka. Data dianalisis menggunakan kaedah kondensasi data, pembentangan data dan melakar rumusan dan pengesahan. Penemuan kajian menunjukkan usahawan wanita Muslim berjaya meyakini konsep keberkatan rezeki, rezeki ketentuan Allah dan berdoa. Sementara itu elemen ibadah yang diamalkan oleh mereka melibatkan zakat, sedekah, solat duha, baca al-Quran dan bersilaturrahim. Elemen akhlak pula menunjukkan sifat syukur, tawakal, sabar dan pemurah menjadi amalan usahawan wanita Muslim berjaya. Oleh itu untuk berjaya dan mencapai al-falah, usahawan wanita Muslim perlu menerapkan nilai-nilai keimanan, meningkatkan ibadah serta berakhak mulia. Mereka perlu berusaha bersungguh-sungguh dalam mengurus perniagaan mereka dengan baik dan bijaksana, seterusnya berdoa dan bertawakal kepada Allah untuk menperolehi kejayaan dunia dan akhirat