Profil Permeabilitas Berdasarkan Struktur Morfologi Membran Polietersulfon Pada Pemekatan Larutan Tokoferol

Separation technique by membrane technology has been widely applied for separation and purification of minor components from vegetable oil. Membrane was prepared and modified in several way in order to improve the filtration performance in purification process of vegetable oil. In this work, the filtration performance of three types of polyethersulfone hollow fiber membrane was investigated. The main objective of this research was to study the effect of membranes type on the filtration performance of tocopherol solution. Three series of filtration experiment were conducted by using fabricated membrane by dissolving of polyethersulfone (PES) in N-methyl pyrrolydone (NMP) with different polymer composition. The membranes was M1 = PES 20 % + NMP, M2 = PES 18 % + NMP, and M3= PES 20 %+ Polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP 5 %) + NMP. The difference structure of membrans was confirmed by scanning electron microscopy measurement. The permeability profile of tocopherol solution of 500 ppm was observed by using a single module of hollow fiber membrane with filtration flow of pressure driven inside (PDI). It is shown that, the permeability of tocopherol solution was maximum and stable using PES membrane was composed by M3 system. Moreover, the improvement of tocopherol concentration in retentate solution was about two times higher than that the original solution that was obtained from filtration system of M1 membrane

SCREENING OF SYNTHETIC NEW HETEROCYCLIC DERIVATIVES OF 3- FORMYL-4-HYDROXYCOUMARIN FOR ANTI-INFLAMMATORY ACTIVITY IN ALBINO RATS

Coumarins have multiple biological activities; various coumarin-related derivatives arerecognized as inhibitors of the lipoxygenase and cycloxygenase pathways of arachidonatemetabolism. Several natural or synthetic coumarins with various hydroxyl and other substituteswere found to inhibit lipid peroxidation and to scavenge hydroxyl radical and superoxide anionand to influence processes involving free radical mediated injury. The heterocyclic derivatives of3-formyl-4-hydoxycoumarin were found to present significant anti-inflammatory effect, thecompounds inhibited formalin induced hind paw edema and they also significantly suppressedthe formation of granuloma tissue in cotton pellet induced chronic model of inflammation. Theresult showed that the anti-inflammatory (both acute & chronic) effect of the test compound Ib iscomparable to that of standard Antiinflammatory drug Diclofenac Sodium

Measuring students’ understanding in counting rules and its probability via e-learning mode: a Rasch measurement approach

Probability is a study of the rules that offers the foundational theory for the development of statistics. This sets out the investigation where students’ understanding of counting rules and its probability were explored using the Rasch measurement approach. A test instrument with 20 items was developed and administered to 74 students taking the STA150 Probability and Statistics course. Data were captured through an interactive e-learning platform that is dmodo.com and analyzed using Winsteps 3.81.0. The results from the Wright map showed that 83.8% of the students have the ability that matched well with the difficulty of the while 16.2% of the students need to be given more attention on the topic. The study was also able to show that the items can be replicated in other samples of similar characteristics. Keywords: students’ understanding; counting rules; probability Raschmeasurement model; Wright map

Routine Chest Computed Tomography and Patient Outcome in Blunt Trauma

Background: Computerized Tomography (CT) scan is gaining more importance in the initial evaluation of patients with multiple trauma, but its effect on the outcome is still unclear. Until now, no prospective randomized trial has been performed to define the role of routine chest CT in patients with blunt trauma. Objectives: In view of the considerable radiation exposure and the high costs of CT scan, the aim of this study was to assess the effects of performing the routine chest CT on the outcome as well as complications in patients with blunt trauma. Patients and Methods: After approval by the ethics board committee, 100 hemodynamically stable patients with high-energy blunt trauma were randomly divided into two groups. For group one (control group), only chest X-ray was requested and further diagnostic work-up was performed by the decision of the trauma team. For group two, a chest X-ray was ordered followed by a chest CT, even if the chest X-ray was normal. Injury severity, total hospitalization time, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission time, duration of mechanical ventilation and complications were recorded. Data were evaluated using t-test, Man-Whitney and chi-squared test. Results: No significant differences were found regarding the demographic data such as age, injury severity and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). Thirty-eight percent additional findings were seen in chest CT in 26% of the patients of the group undergoing routine chest CT, leading to 8% change in management. The mean of in-hospital stay showed no significant difference in both groups with a P value of 0.098. In addition, the mean ICU stay and ventilation time revealed no significant differences (P values = 0.102 and 0.576, respectively). Mortality rate and complications were similar in both groups. Conclusions: Performing the routine chest CT in high-energy blunt trauma patients (with a mean injury severity of 9), although leading to the diagnosis of some occult injuries, has no impact on the outcome and does not decrease the in-hospital stay and ICU admission time. It seems that performing the routine chest CT in these patients may lead to overtreatment of nonsignificant injuries. The decision about performing routine CT scan in a trauma center should be made cautiously, considering the detriments and benefits

Effect of cement additive and curing period on some engineering properties of treated peat soil

Peat soil is characterized by its high content of decomposed organic matter. Majority of areas occupied by peatland have been developed for agriculture sectors such as pineapple cultivation and oil palm. Due to its geotechnical drawback characteristics such as highly compressibility and low shear strength, peat soil is classified as problematic soils and unstable for engineering structures. Lack of suitable and expensive price of lands, peatland will be an alternative option for future development. Prior to construction works, stabilization of peat soil should be performed to enhance its engineering characteristics. This paper presents the effect of cement and curing period on engineering properties of the cement-treated peat soil. Some engineering variables were examined including the compaction behaviour, permeability and unconfined compressive strength (UCS). The Atterberg limit test was also carried out to examine the influence of cement addition on peat soil. The cement-treated peat soils were prepared by adding varying amount of ordinary Portland cement (OPC) ranging between 0% and 40% of dry weight of peat soil. In order to examine the effect of curing, the treated samples were dried at room temperature for three and seven days while for UCS tests samples were extended to 28 days prior to testings. The results showed that the liquid limit of treated soil decreased with the increase of cement content. Maximum dry density (MDD) increased while optimum moisture content (OMC) dropped with the increase in cement content. Permeability of treated soil decreased from 6.2×10-4 to 2.4×10-4 ms-1 as cement content increase from 0% to 40%. In contrast, the UCS tests indicated an increase in uncompressive strength with the increase in cement contents and curing period. The liquid limit and permeability were also altered as curing periods were extended from three to seven days. This study concluded that geotechnical properties of peat soil can be stabilized using ordinary cement and by modification of the curing periods

Symptoms versus problems (SVP) in household high speed broadband (HSBB): regaining momentum for Unifi, Malaysia

Problem identification is a talent and skill set required in all leaders. The objective of this study is to reveal an improved research method by integrating mixed-method research combined with problem identification method (using symptoms versus problems (SVP) framework) for telco service providers. The SVP framework discovers the primary causes to the decrease in revenue growth rates. Malaysia’s household broadband penetration rate grew from 15.2% (2007) to 67.1% (2013). Meanwhile, the growth rate for Unifi, offered by Telekom Malaysia (TM), decreased from 104% (2012) to 30% (2013). Why? There are eight causes, specifically; not prioritizing 4G LTE license; obligating social services to rural areas; providing 20-30 Mbps wireless broadband packages by the competitors; offering less competitive price; not covering all zones; offering less favorable service contracts; offering limited packages; and receiving customer complaints. The sequential methodology process began with semi-structured interviews, analysis of unpublished company data, customer survey on 164 respondents and field observation which were all summarized into a root-cause analysis tool called symptoms versus problems framework (SVP). The SVP indicates TM acquired Packed One to overcome HSBB issues; revamp its strategies to product content offering instead of head-on price war; establishing bureaucracy busting team, competitors busting teams on product innovation; collaborating with local broadcasting companies; and developing talent. Interestingly, this study discovers another framework on critical success factors for telco service providers through development of “House of Pillars for Rapid Growth” of TM in Malaysia

Three-Dimensional Simulation of Turbulent Hot-Jet Ignition for Air-CH4-H2 Deflagration in a Confined Volume

This work describes essential aspects of the ignition and deflagration process initiated by the injection of a hot transient gas jet into a narrowly confined volume containing air-CH4-H2 mixture. Driven by the pressure difference between a prechamber and a long narrow constant-volume-combustion (CVC) chamber, the developing jet or puff involves complex processes of turbulent jet penetration and evolution of multi-scale vortices in the shear layer, jet tip, and adjacent confined spaces. The CVC chamber contains stoichiometric mixtures of air with gaseous fuel initially at atmospheric conditions. Fuel reactivity is varied using two different CH4/H2 blends. Jet momentum is varied using different pre-chamber pressures at jet initiation. The jet initiation and the subsequent ignition events generate pressure waves that interact with the mixing region and the propagating flame, depositing baroclinic vorticity. Transient three-dimensional flow simulations with detailed chemical kinetics are used to model CVC mixture ignition. Pre-ignition gas properties are then examined to develop and verify criteria to predict ignition delay time using lower-cost non-reacting flow simulations for this particular case of study

Electronic Health Records (EHR) Implementation and Post Implementation Challenges

The US Healthcare Industry lags behind other industries in its use of technologies for process improvement and improvement in quality of services for its patients. Globally, United States is significantly behind some European and Australian countries in implementation of EHR. While the federal government is now mandating this change and also offering incentive programs, healthcare providers remain slow to comply because of challenges they face regarding EHR implementation. This paper discusses EHR architecture, presents implementation challenges, provides a case study and offers future research ideas. The information provided in this research could be beneficial for successful EHR implementation

Automated attendance management and alert system

“Automated Attendance Management and Alert System (AAMAS)” was developed to help UiTM lecturers and Academic Affairs Department in monitoring students’ absenteeism and improving the absenteeism record management. AAMAS provides various functions, from managing and recording students’ attendance record, to sending automatic alerts to students with high absenteeism via short messaging system (SMS) and email. The system is also able to track the number of alerts sent. Through AAMAS, a significant amount of time and money can be saved, for instance time needed to fill out forms and issue notification letters manually can be minimized significantly. Besides, message interception, human resources and human errors can also be reduced. AAMAS which was tailored to UiTM could be also enhanced and custom-made to cater other learning institutions’ requirements throughout Malaysia.Keywords: automated system; attendance management; system development