Physico-Chemical Properties of Heattreated Layered Double Hydroxide Nanocomposites

Nanocomposite material of Zn/Al LDH-congo red (ZACORN), Co/ Al LDH-congo red (CACORN) and Zn/Al LDH-SDS (ZASDSN), were synthesised by spontaneous self-assembly of the inorganic and organic phase from homogenous aqueous solutions technique The X-ray diffraction patterns of heat-treated samples showed the formation of new phases ZnO and ZnA1204 at 900°C and 1000°C for ZACORN, C0304, C02AI04 and CoAh04 for CACORN and only ZnO for ZASDSN ZACORNs and CACORNs prepared at various concentrations of congo red showed that the concentration of congo red does not effect the basal spacing Quantitative analysis of colour difference, ∆E*ab, for TZACORNs and TCACORNs showed that they change exponentially with the heating temperature For TZASDSN, ∆E*ab increased rapidly at low temperature up to 300°C and then decreased as the temperature increased FTIR spectra showed the presence of four main peaks, 3700-3200 cm-1 is due to the hydroxyl groups, 1650-1500 cm-1 is due to the presence of water molecules, 1 130 cm-1 and 620 cm-1 is due to the presence of sulphate anion whereas peak at 800-400 cm-1 is Co-Al-O stretching and bending and metal-oxygen stretching. Scanning electron microscopy showed a mixture of amorphous and needle-like crystals for ZACORN, cubicle-like crystals for CACORN and spherical-like crystals for ZASDSN when heated at 900°C

Study of Critical Success Factors in Engineering Education Curriculum Development Using Six-Sigma Methodology

Highly skilful and competent human capital especially engineers are critically needed to accelerate and contribute efficiently towards the development of technology in view of spearheading much of Malaysia’s transformation agendas. Hence, Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) are required to play a pivotal role to produce graduates, who are equipped with sound engineering based knowledge, technical competencies along with related desired attributes to support the nation’s transformation roadmap. As employability of graduates forms as one of the important Key Result Areas (KRA) of all IHL, interesting active learners teaching methodologies such as Outcome Based Education (OBE), Problem Based Learning (PBL), Project Base Learning, Case Based Learning (CBL) and TRIZ has been infused in the curriculum to ensure that connectivity prevails between classroom instructions and the curriculum contents besides producing industry ready graduates. However, rapid technological development at work front has created an impact towards employment of graduates, which calls for an immediate redefining of current technical attributes to cultivate elements of creativity or “out of box” thinking approach to spark ideas of highly innovative that are of commercial value to generate revenue for the sustainability of businesses. Hence, this study is to determine the critical success factors required in engineering education curriculum to produce engineering graduates of global minded workforce where adaptability to new conditions and creativity for innovations are much sought after by industries. (Abstract by authors

Study of the Effectiveness of the Implementation of Washington Accord in Malaysia's Engineering Undergraduate Programme Using SEM

Transformation of engineering undergraduate programs towards global practice of outcomes based accreditation (OBA) entails a huge challenge to universities as there is mounting pressure for infusion of desirable and yet measurable graduate competencies into its offered programs in order to fulfil professional bodies accreditation criteria. Hence, in view of providing a sense of direction to the local engineering education community, Washington Accord (WA) ensures that accredited programmes synonymously mean that its graduates are equipped with 12 professional abilities obtained through an innovative outcomes-based engineering programme. However, further complication unfolds as industries are continuously evolving to meet rapid global demand and practice; hence defining set of competencies that can accurately map attributes outlined by industry with the aim of addressing “skill-gap” will continue to be a challenging endeavour for higher education sector. This paper intends to investigate the effectiveness of the OBA criteria outlined by WA in terms of attainment of graduate attributes which would enable graduates to take on challenging careers in the industry. Hence, the study will focus on identifying the relationship between the five outcome-based accredited criteria and the attainment of twelve graduate attributes outlined by WA in view of producing a conceptual framework which are then tested using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). (Abstract by authors

Investigating university-industry partnership of higher engineering education using cause-effect analysis and multi-criteria decision making: A Malaysian perspective

In recent years, there has been growing interest towards integrating industry into the teaching and learning processes. This is due to many factors including increased concerns about the mismatch between the skills and abilities of the talent pool, strengthening partnership and improving quality of engineering education. Thus, greater emphasis on the teaching and learning processes to enhance the students’ learning experience leads to the university-industry partnership to the forefront interest of the university. On the other hand, exclusion of industry’s engagement in the teaching and learning processes have been identified as the main source of chronic criticism on the higher engineering education segment in recent years. This study demonstrates a research model that hypothesised the influence of teaching and learning domains on the university-industry partnership towards enhancing the learning experience of the engineering students. Using the structural equation modelling (SEM), the hypothesis was tested on the primary data collected from 212 communities of the industry. Furthermore, the study investigated the preference of industry on the type of linkages to foster university-industry partnership using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results revealed that nine out of the thirteen hypotheses had significant associations including six direct paths and three indirect effects in the model. The findings indicated the need for industry-university partnership in three main constructs including cooperation in education, the mobility of people and intellectual enhancement. Moreover, internship programme was the important linkage in achieving the overall university-industry partnerships goals, followed by the staff training programme, academic development, consultancy work, student learning activity and publication activity. In summary, the study demonstrates that teaching and learning relevance could be enhanced through optimizing industry’s enrichment activities into the learning process, improving the measures for accreditation in narrowing the gap between theory and practice and proactively improving the quality of teaching by exploring the staff training programmes

Molecular and solid-state topological polaritons induced by population imbalance

Strong coupling between electronic excitations in materials and photon modes results in the formation of polaritons, which display larger nonlinearities than their photonic counterparts due to their material component. We theoretically investigate how to optically control the topological properties of molecular and solid-state exciton-polariton systems by exploiting one such nonlinearity: saturation of electronic transitions. We demonstrate modification of the Berry curvature of three different materials when placed within a Fabry-Perot cavity and pumped with circularly polarized light, illustrating the broad applicability of our scheme. Importantly, while optical pumping leads to non-zero Chern invariants, unidirectional edge states do not emerge in our system as the bulk-boundary correspondence is not applicable. This work demonstrates a versatile approach to control topological properties of novel optoelectronic materials.Comment: preprin

Detection of Antibodies Against Trypanosoma evansi in Sheep by Indirect ELISA in Rayalaseema Region of Andhra Pradesh

The present research was carried out with an objective to improve the diagnostic tools for detection of antibodies against Trypanosoma evansi infection using indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in sheep. In this study standardized the Indirect ELISA for detection of T. evansi in sheep. The optimum concentration of antigen, test sera and conjugate were determined as 5µg per well, 1:10 and 1: 4000 dilutions, respectively. 464 serum samples were collected from sheep in different parts of the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh for screening of T. evansi infection. Out of 464 serum samples 46 (9.91%) were found positive by indirect ELISA

Histopathological Observations in Rabbits Experimentally Infected with Trypanosoma evansi

New Zealand white rabbits (n=6) were challenged with the South Indian local strain of Trypanosoma evansi. Each animal was infected with 5x105 trypanosomes subcutaneously. Animals were daily examined for the development of clinical signs using wet blood-films sampled from the ear veins. Clinically, intermittent pyrexia, undulating parasitaemia, anorexia and emaciation were predominant. Three months post infection, rabbits were sacrificed, detailed postmortem examination was carried out and representative tissue samples were fixed. Gross pathological changes including paleness of visceral organs, gelatinization of fat, congested and oedematous lungs,mucoid enteritis, hepatomegaly and splenomegaly were noticed. Histopathologically, internal organs elucidated clear changes consisted of severe hepatic fatty change, pulmonary congestion with thickened interstitial spaces and emphysema, degeneration of the renal epithelium associated with cystic tubular formation and congested red pulp

Efficacy of Enrofloxacin in the Treatment of Recurrent Pyoderma in Dogs

Dogs with a history of more than three episodes of skin infections in a period of one year were selected for a study on recurrent pyoderma. Oral enrofloxacin along with appropriate simultaneous medication for the underlying associated conditions were chosen as therapy for recurrent pyoderma in dogs. Response to therapy was excellent in all the cases. Improvement was noticed by 12 to 20 days and 20 to 26 days in recurrent superficial and deep pyoderma respectively. Relapse occurred in one dog by 45 days due to re-introduction of allergic food. Enrofloxacin proved to be an effective, safe and convenient antibiotic for the treatment of recurrent pyoderma in dogs