Factors influencing household debt in Malaysia / Nur Natasha Liyana Ramli

This paper aim at finding out the factors influencing household debt in Malaysia which the household debt is monitor based on the total loans and financing from Commercials Banks and Islamic Banks. The variables are considered are gross domestic product (GDP), housing price (HP), interest rate (INT) and unemployment (UN). This study required 9 years data which is equal to 36 data by quarterly for each variable from 2010 until 2018. Methodology used for this study is using Multiple Linear Regression with series data. Thereafter, this test is to be conducted to observe the relationship of the independent variables with dependant variable which is household debt. Interactive software package E-view would be used for testing and analyzing the data collected. This study is attempting to investigate the relationship between the independent variables with the household debt and which variables contributes most to household debt. Findings from previous study mostly show that gross domestic product (GDP), housing price, interest rate and unemployment rate have a significant role in the determination of household debt As guidance to the past research that have been done, this study will examine the relationship between impact of independent variables and household debt

Accessible housing guidelines: A global comparison

House is one of the most important necessities in one’s life. Houses with good accessibility parameters will be able to improve the life quality of the occupants regardless of age and abilities and support the aging process. Hence, guidelines related to accessibility in housing have been developed globally, respectively, either by the countries’ governments or as initiatives of its housing developers. Therefore, this research aims to determine and explore the current guidelines on accessibility in housing from several countries. In response, the research employs a qualitative approach by comparing these guidelines to develop a suitable accessibility guideline for the context of Malaysian housing. The findings determine the important spaces are: bathroom; building entrance; circulation/corridor; kitchen; bedroom and; access to the site. Furthermore, the important categories for each element are: size; accessibility; materials; safety; comfort, and; fitting. These findings are hoped to assist local authorities, developers, and professionals in improving the housing development in Malaysia, in particular to accessibility aspects

Modelling And Fuzzy Logic Control Of An Underactuated Tower Crane System

Tower crane is one of the flexible maneuvering systems that has been applied pervasively as a powerful big-scale construction machine. The under-actuated tower crane system has nonlinearity behavior with a coupling between translational and slew motions which increases the crane control challenge. In practical applications, most of the tower cranes are operated by a human operator which lead to unsatisfactory control tasks. Motivated to overcome the issues, this paper proposes a fuzzy logic controller based on single input rule modules dynamically connected fuzzy inference system for slew/translational positioning and swing suppressions of a 3 degree-of-freedom tower crane system. The proposed method can reduce the number of rules significantly, resulting in a simpler controller design. The proposed method achieves higher suppressions of at least 56% and 81% in the overall in-plane and out-plane swing responses, respectively as compared to PSO based PID+PD control

MDMA-induced BV2 microglial cell activation in vitro

Background: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a psychostimulant drug that induces neurotoxicity. Even though several psychostimulant substances activate microglia, little is known about MDMA's effects on these cells, and evidence of MDMA-induced microglial activation is equivocal. Materials and Methods: This study employed a murine microglial cell line, BV2, to examine the effects of MDMA on the microglia morphological changes and the survival of microglia in vitro. MDMA was incorporated into the media at the time of plating, and cell number and mitochondrial dehydrogenase activity (MTT) levels were determined in vitro. The level of pro-inflammatory cytokine TNF-α was also determined. Results: Treatment of BV2 cells with MDMA resulted in morphological changes, reduced cell viability after 24h incubation with the inhibitory concentration (IC50) value of 243.6 µg/mL, and increased TNF-α level in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusion: These findings proposed that MDMA could induce BV2 microglial cell activation in vitro and suggested that it has an essential role in developing MDMA use disorder

Assessment tools to measure postnatal mental illness: A 10-year scoping review

Introduction: The use of assessment tools to measure postnatal mental illness is essential in healthcare settings. However, variations in the types of tools and their reliability in a particular population lead to under-recognition of mental health status in postnatal mothers. The aim of this review is to evaluate the most recent 10 year of research on the validity and reliability of postnatal mental illness assessment tools. Methods: A literature search of studies from online databases PubMed, Scopus, and Science Direct was conducted. Results: A total of 59 studies were selected for this review. Several studies utilised multiple assessment tools, and a total of 96 assessment tools were identified and classified into six domains: postnatal blues, postnatal stress, postnatal anxiety, postnatal depression, postnatal psychosis, and postnatal psychological disorder. In this review, EPDS was the most common tool used to identify postnatal depression and anxiety while DASS 21 was the most common tool used to identify postnatal psychological disorder. There is a wide range in preponderance of evidence for the reliability of each assessment tool and there were inconsistencies in assessing the validity of the assessment tools. Conclusion: This review provides information regarding some of the main assessment tools currently available to measure postnatal mental illnesses. There were no standardised tools that were used in a particular setting. The results may differ in different population because there are differences in not only languages and dialects, but also cultural and racial backgrounds, which greatly influences their perception and interpretation of postnatal mental illness

Exploring the views of healthcare practitioners on postnatal mental illness screening among Malaysian women

Introduction: Healthcare practitioners involved in the maternity care provision should be equipped with adequate knowledge and skills in the screening of postnatal mental illness. The promotion of a screening tool for this purpose can enhance these skills among the healthcare providers. In Malaysia, there is a lack of fundamental knowledge among healthcare practitioners regarding postnatal mental illness and their perceptions are not fully understood, thus hindering the development of relevant screening tools. This study aimed to explore the views of Malaysian healthcare practitioners on the indicators and potential mechanisms for the screening of postnatal mental illness. Method: This qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews involving 28 healthcare practitioners at maternal and child health clinics, psychiatric departments, and obstetrics and gynaecology departments across 18 maternal and child health clinics and six government hospitals in the states of Pahang, Terengganu, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, and Kuala Lumpur. The data were analysed using framework analysis. Results: The healthcare practitioners’ views on postnatal mental illness were reflected in three themes, namely perceived causes of postnatal mental illness, indicators of postnatal mental illness, as well as screening and intervention mechanisms for postnatal mental illness. According to the respondents, the existing screening tools available within the clinical practice were less sensitive in assessing postnatal mental illness. Conclusion: The introduction of a relevant screening tool in addressing the common symptoms of postnatal mental illness can improve its the detection among Malaysian women

Scienceploration 2023

The Scienceploration Camp is an initiative of the Centre for Pre-University Studies, UNIMAS (PPPU), which aims to increase the interest in science among secondary school students. It is also an effort taken by PPPU towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 4 in providing equal quality education and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. On top of that, this camp supports Sarawak’s Digital Economy Strategy in nurturing an integrated ecosystem to foster inclusive digital society, by building the right foundations to grow our local digital economy

Modelling and optimizing single and multiple effect evaporators using Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM)

The Modelling and Optimizing Single and Multiple Effect Evaporators Using Aspen Custom Modeler (ACM) are carried out to understand the developed model equations written for a double effect evaporator and be able to develop similar programs for both single effect and multiple effect evaporators. The case study was taken from the examples provided by Aspen Customer Modeller (ACM), a part of ASPEN software package. The case study involves the double effect evaporator used to concentrate glycol from a dilute aqueous solution of 3.5 w% of glycol. The steady state model with the cost model to operate the double effect evaporator was obtained from ACM. These models were tested by performing steady and optimization simulations in MATLAB and ACM software. To perform the simulation for single and multiple effect evaporator systems, a deeper understanding of process model is essentially required before applying the process model in MATLAB and ACM. A study on the process model was carried out using Excel spreadsheet. The single effect evaporator system is not a complex system investigated compared with the double effect evaporator system. Therefore, the steady state model for a single effect evaporator system was developed first before proceeding with double effect evaporator. At the same time, sensitivity analysis of the single and multiple effect evaporators were performed and compared. Sensitivity analysis was performed to examine the limitations of process variables such as steam conditions and steam valve coefficients against concentration of product, mass flowrate of liquid, mass flowrate of steam, temperature liquid, and temperature chest. As for the relationship between mass flowrate of steam against concentration of liquid out of evaporator, the increase in mass flowrate of steam affects the concentration of product. For the second case, sensitivity analysis was carried out to investigate the relationship between steam valve coefficients out of evaporator against concentration of liquid out. For single effect evaporator at the beginning of the process, the concentration of liquid increased then did not change and remained constant after a certain limit. As a conclusion for the result, to operate single effect evaporator, the steam valve coefficient for this process has a limit. For double effect evaporator, the concentration of liquid keep increased against steam valve coefficients out of evaporator. Overall, most of the main objectives of this thesis were achieved with very satisfying results. However due to unforeseen circumstances and time constraints, optimization was not fully investigated

Optimal composite nonlinear feedback control with multi objective algorithms for active front steering system

The main purpose of controlling vehicle handling is to ensure that the vehicle follows the desired path. Vehicle yaw rate must be controlled in order to achieve a good vehicle handling. In this thesis, optimal Composite Nonlinear Feedback (CNF) controller with multi objective algorithms is proposed for the Active Front Steering (AFS) system in improving the vehicle yaw rate response. The model used to validate the performance of the controller is a 7 degree-of-freedom (DOF) nonlinear vehicle model. This vehicle model is also simplified to a 2 DOF bicycle model for the purpose of controller design. In designing the optimal CNF control, the parameter selection of optimal linear and non-linear gain parameters becomes very important to obtain a good system response. Optimization algorithms are utilized to minimize the complexity in selecting the best parameters. Hence, Multi Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO) and Multi Objective Genetic Algorithm (MOGA) are proposed to produce the optimal CNF. Moreover, manual tuning method was utilized and has been compared with the proposed algorithms. As a result, the performance of the yaw rate response is improved with a 98 percent reduction in error. Hence, the vehicle handling can be improved and the vehicle will be able to travel safely on the desired path

Monitoring air conditioning in class using : GSM technology / Liyana Syazwan Ramli

Air conditionings are provided in most classrooms or lecture halls in high education institutions as they provide comfortable temperature for students during lecture hours. However, the increasing number of universities has increased the amount of energy demand in Malaysia. Leaving the classrooms and lecture halls without switching off the air conditionings after lecture hour ends has led to energy wastage problem. Polis Bantuan (PB) in UiTM Perlis have the responsibility in ensuring that all of the air conditionings in the classrooms and lecture halls have been switched off to prevent electricity wastage. In order to reduce the PB burden of having to go and check for every classroom and lecture hall, a system for monitoring air conditioning usage from PB’s mobile phone is proposed. The prototype system allows PB to monitor whether an air conditioning unit in a classroom or lecture hall is on or off. The prototype system requirements are Arduino UNO R3 board, LM35 temperature sensors, a GSM module as well as Arduino IDE. Three experiments were conducted in this project which are the functionality test of LM35 temperature sensors, GSM network performance and functionality of the completed prototype. Result from the functionality test of LM35 temperature sensors shows that the sensors are able to produce quite accurate reading. The result of GSM network performance tested on 3 selected locations shows that there is not much difference in the delay of SMS transmission, which means the system is able to provide real time information. The accuracy test done on the prototype system shows that the system is able to tell whether the air condition unit is on or off. In the future, this project which was successfully implemented has potential to assist PB to monitoring classroom and lecture hall air conditions in UiTM Perlis