Distribution of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) on digestive tract of red palm weevil larva, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Dryophthoridae)

The red palm weevil (RPW), Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera: Dryopthoridae) is a well-known deadly pest of palmae tree worldwide. The larvae of RPW is the most destructive stage of its life cycle and caused great economic lost to palm tree plantation for example the coconut tree plantations. In this study, we focused on detection of two important biogenic amines, serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) that play important roles in the regulation of the digestive tract of this insect. Immunohistochemistry analysis has been carried out on the cross-sectioned tissue of three different parts of the digestive tract; foregut, midgut and hindgut. 5-HT receptor for serotonin and D1 receptor for dopamine were chosen for chromogenic detection of the biogenic amine. The distribution of 5-HT can be detected at the plasma membrane, basement membrane and cytoplasm of the cell for the whole guts except at the midgut cell. While DA can only be detected at the basal membrane of the gut cell for the most part of the gut. Further study could be done to find a possible solution in controlling the survival of RPW by understanding the roles of the biogenic amine in controlling and modulating the mechanism of absorption and digestion of the digestive tract

Material characterization of a doped triangular silicon nanowire using raman spectroscopy

A top-down silicon nanowire fabrication using a combination of optical lithography and orientation dependent etching (ODE) has been developed using a doped Silicon-on Insulator (SOI) as the starting substrate. The use of ODE etchant such as potassium hydroxide (KOH) and Tetra-Methyl Ammonium Hydroxide (TMAH) is known to create geometrical structures due to its anisotropic mechanism of etching. The SOI is doped with an n-type dopant (phosphorus) and the doped silicon nanowire is then characterized using Raman Spectroscopy. Due to the changes in the silicon structure, the result shows that the highly doped silicon nanowire has a wider Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) as compared to the undoped silicon substrate

Novel Memory Structures in QCA Nano Technology

Quantum-dot Cellular Automata (QCA) is a new emerging technology for designing electronic circuits in nanoscale. QCA technology comes to overcome the CMOS limitation and to be a good alternative as it can work in ultra-high-speed. QCA brought researchers attention due to many features such as low power consumption, small feature size in addition to high frequency. Designing circuits in QCA technology with minimum costs such as cells count and the area is very important. This paper presents novel structures of D-latch and D-Flip Flop with the lower area and cell count. The proposed Flip-Flop has SET and RESET ability. The proposed latch and Flip-Flop have lower complexity compared with counterparts in terms of cell counts by 32% and 26% respectively. The proposed circuits are designed and simulated in QCADesigner software

The Persian Soccer Spectator Behaviour Inventory (PSSBI): development and psychometric properties of the PSSBI using structural equation modelling (SEM)

Psychometric instruments assessing spectator motives for attending professional sports have mostly been validated in a Western context. The present study describes the development of the Persian Soccer Spectator Behaviour Inventory (PSSBI). The 21-item PSSBI was completed by 1385 Iranian spectators. Exploratory factor analysis indicated that the 21 items loaded on four factors: Promotional Incentives, Game Attractiveness, Schedule Considerations, and Economic Considerations. These factors demonstrated acceptable internal consistency and explained 65.48% of the total variance. It is concluded that the resulting 20-item PSSBI is a viable tool for assessing football fans’ motives for attending professional football matches in Iran

PROFILE OF ICT INNOVATIVENESS IN MALAYSIAN SMES FROM SERVICES SECTOR BASED ON CORE ICT INDICATORS

This study is to determine the profile of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) innovativeness in Malaysian SMEs from services sector by using the core ICT indicators by businesses as suggested by International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Previous research had indicated that the rate of adoption of ICT innovation specifically among SMEs in Malaysia was low although there are many initiatives have been implemented by the government but the outcomes have not been fully translated into results. This is important to improve the business performances, to sustain and compete globally by adopting the ICT innovation as SMEs are key drivers and engine for the economic growth. More importantly, ICT are among the National Key Economic Areas (NKEAs) that need to be focus especially for the purpose of SMEs development. Core ICT indicators have been used as the measuring tools adhered to globally accepted standards. From the probability proportionate stratified random sampling, 390 respondents participated in the survey questionnaires. The results are analyzed using descriptive statistic. This study revealed the profile of ICT innovativeness for Malaysia services sector SMEs specifically based on the 12 elements of core ICT indicators. Mainly, the findings supported government agenda for developing the SMEs as stated in SME Masterplan (2011-2020) and towards achieving government’s aspiration to become high income and developed nation by 2020 as stated in New Economic Model (NEM)

Enhanced sensing of dengue virus DNA detection using O2 plasma treated-silicon nanowire based electrical biosensor

Dengue Virus (DENV) has become one of the most serious arthropod-borne viral diseases, causing death globally. The existing methods for DENV detection suffer from the late stage treatment due to antibodies-based detection which is feasible only after five days following the onset of the illness. Here, we demonstrated the highly effective molecular electronic based detection utilizing silicon nanowire (SiNW) integrated with standard complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process as a sensing device for detecting deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) related to DENV in an early stage diagnosis. To transform the fabricated devices as a functional sensing element, three-step procedure consist of SiNW surface modification, DNA immobilization and DNA hybridization were employed. The detection principle works by detecting the changes in current of SiNW which bridge the source and drain terminal to sense the immobilization of probe DNA and their hybridization with target DNA. The oxygen (O2) plasma was proposed as an effective strategy for increasing the binding amounts of target DNA by modified the SiNW surface. It was found that the detection limit of the optimized O2 plasma treated-SiNW device could be reduced to 1.985 × 10−14 M with a linear detection range of the sequence-specific DNA from 1.0 × 10−9 M to 1.0 × 10−13 M. In addition, the developed biosensor device was able to discriminate between complementary, single mismatch and non-complementary DNA sequences. This highly sensitive assay was then applied to the detection of reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) product of DENV-DNA, making it as a potential method for disease diagnosis through electrical biosensor

Effects of Current Density and Deposition Time on Corrosion Behaviour of Nickel-based Alloy Coatings

Corrosion of fasteners is an on-going issue and stainless steel 304 (SS304) is prone to this destructive process. One method to mitigate corrosion is electrodeposition of Co-Ni-Fe nanoparticles.  This paper studied the effects of deposition time and current density on corrosion behaviour of Co-Ni-Fe coated SS304 bolt. Co-Ni-Fe ternary alloys were electrodeposited onto SS304 bolt in 15, 30, or 45 minutes by using current density of 28, 35, 42 mA/cm2. Combinations of these parameters produced 9 samples. These samples were electrochemically tested by a potentiostat using open circuit potential (OCP) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP). The samples were also characterised in terms of surface roughness and thickness of the coatings by using 3D surface metrology system. The OCP value decreased when deposition time was increased. All sample synthesised in 30 minutes had a more stable OCP curve. PDP curves exhibited active behaviour without passivation region. The corrosion potential (Ecorr) of T15 samples was more anodic than T30 and T45 samples. The corrosion current density (Icorr) of all samples fluctuated. Sample synthesised in 30 minutes using 42 mA/cm2 had the lowest corrosion rate. It was found that the surface roughness influences the corrosion behaviour in which a lower surface roughness tends to produce coating with better corrosion performance. Current density had small effect on the thickness of coating, whereas the tendency of a thickness to increase was obvious for deposition time

Effects of Current Density and Deposition Time on Corrosion Behaviour of Nickel-based Alloy Coatings

Corrosion of fasteners is an on-going issue and stainless steel 304 (SS304) is prone to this destructive process. One method to mitigate corrosion is electrodeposition of Co-Ni-Fe nanoparticles.  This paper studied the effects of deposition time and current density on corrosion behaviour of Co-Ni-Fe coated SS304 bolt. Co-Ni-Fe ternary alloys were electrodeposited onto SS304 bolt in 15, 30, or 45 minutes by using current density of 28, 35, 42 mA/cm2. Combinations of these parameters produced 9 samples. These samples were electrochemically tested by a potentiostat using open circuit potential (OCP) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP). The samples were also characterised in terms of surface roughness and thickness of the coatings by using 3D surface metrology system. The OCP value decreased when deposition time was increased. All sample synthesised in 30 minutes had a more stable OCP curve. PDP curves exhibited active behaviour without passivation region. The corrosion potential (Ecorr) of T15 samples was more anodic than T30 and T45 samples. The corrosion current density (Icorr) of all samples fluctuated. Sample synthesised in 30 minutes using 42 mA/cm2 had the lowest corrosion rate. It was found that the surface roughness influences the corrosion behaviour in which a lower surface roughness tends to produce coating with better corrosion performance. Current density had small effect on the thickness of coating, whereas the tendency of a thickness to increase was obvious for deposition time

Effects of deforestation on physicochemical properties and microbial population of soils in a South-East Asian tropical forest

The study was conducted in deforested land and adjacent natural forest in Chittagong Forest South Division, Bangladesh, to explore the effects of deforestation on physico-chemical properties of soil and the soil microbial population. Soil samples from surface (0-10 cm depth) or subsurface (10-20 cm depth) of two hill positions (top and bottom) of deforested land and an adjacent natural forest were collected and analysed for their physico-chemical properties and microbial population. The study reveals that there was no significant (p≤0.05) difference in soil texture for soil surfaces or hill positions between the deforested land and natural forest. However, significantly (p≤0.05) low moisture content and high pH was observed in both the surfaces and hill position in deforested land compared to the natural forest. The microbial community i.e., the fungal and bacterial population was also significantly (p≤0.05) lower in both surfaces (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm) of hill positions in the deforested land compared to natural forest. Fungal population ranged from 59 to 76 million g-1 and 78 to 153 million g-1 of dry soil in deforested land and in natural forest, respectively, whereas bacterial population ranged from 70 to 146 million g-1 in deforested land and from 127 to 218 million g-1 in natural forest. A total of seven genera of fungi were primarily identified from the soils of natural forest and six from the deforested land. The six common genera of identified fungi in both the land used were Mucor, Aspergillus, Rhizopus, Fusarium, Penicillium and Trichoderma and the different one was Colletotrichum from the natural forest. Three genera of bacteria coccus, Streptococcus and Basillus were noticed in natural forest and two genera (coccus and Streptococcus) were recorded from deforested land

Physical fatigue assessment for intrastate bus driver

Fatigue is considered a psychological or mental fatigue type characterized by subjective feelings of a disinclination to continue driving, drowsiness, fatigue, and deduction motivation. Bus drivers in Malaysia have been facing physical fatigue from driving for many years. Therefore, investigating the psychophysiological factor that related to fatigue could improve understanding and management for fatigue in the transport industry. Physical factors are divided by two parts that is upper and lower body. The objective of this study is to identify the cause, determine the level and analyze the physical fatigue on bus driver. There were two methods applied in this study, which were Modified Nordic Questionnaires that represent subjective measurement and surface Electromyography (sEMG) the objective measurement. Results from sEMG showed neck and upper back muscle groups leads to fatigue as the muscle is running out of energy based from the graph. Through the sEMG data, it can determine the level of physical fatigue on bus driver and analyzed the physical fatigue. Findings of this study from the questionnaire data analysis using the Statistical Package Social Science software, it is proved that physical fatigue really occurred to the intrastate bus driver. Results also showed significant correlation relationship between physical and mental