Construction of an optical fiber strian gauge

This project is focused on the construction of an optical fiber strain gauge that is based on a strain gauge described by Butter and Hocker. Our gauge is designed to generate an interference pattern from the signals carried on two bare single-mode fibers that are fastened to an aluminum cantilever. When the cantilever experiences flexural stress, the interference pattern should change. By observing this change, it is possible to determine the strain experienced by the cantilever. I describe the design and construction of our optical fiber strain gauge as well as the characterization of different parts of the apparatus

Perception towards service quality and the impact of brand image on customers in Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Melaka / Nur Ain Farhana Sulaiman and Nurul Najwa Khairul Azman

The title of this study is “Perception towards service quality and The Impact of Brand Image on Customers in Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad Melaka”. The first purpose of this study is to determine the level of brand image towards Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad Melaka. There are five independent variables involved in this study which are Tangible, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. In order to completing this study, the hypothesis was been constructed and focused on the objective to determine whether there has significant relationship between those independent variables with brand image. A total of 150 peoples have participated in this study as respondents. The methodology used for the study was primary data collection. For primary data, the researcher was used the method of questionnaire to obtained through the analyzing and interpret data of result. The reliability test, regression, frequency analysis, descriptive testing and Pearson’s correlation coefficient testing was used for data analysis. From correlation testing, the result shows that one of the independent variables which is responsiveness has a strong relationship with brand image. The relationship of brand image with other independent variables which are assurance and empathy are moderate relationship while tangible and reliability are weak relationship respectively. For hypothesis, there are clearly shown that all of the hypothesis including tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy are supported

Legal Issues and Challenges in Managing Kuala Lumpur as a Tourism Destination: A case study of the Silang Street

Kuala Lumpur is a historical city with heritage significance for tourism destination. However, the heritage significance of the city may be challenged by several issues. One of which is the number of immigrants who have manipulated business activities in the busy street which is known as Silang Street. The issue of immigrants at Silang Street is not only on the matter of licence to operate business, but also involved the immigration aspect. This paper highlights the challenges faced by the stakeholders in regulating business activities conducted by the immigrants at Silang Street and possible improvements are suggested.    Keywords: heritage; Kuala Lumpur; legal issues; tourism destination.    eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5iSI1.232

Adsorption of Congo Red Dye from Aqueous Solution onto Natural and Modified Bauxite Clays

The adsorption behavior of congo red dye from its aqueous solutions was investigated onto natural and modified bauxite clays. Both bauxite and modified bauxite are primarily characterized by using, FTIR, SEM, AFM, and XRD. Several variables are studied as a function of adsorption including contact time, adsorbent weight, pH, ionic strength, particle size and temperature under batch adsorption technique. The absorbance of the solution before and after adsorption was measured spectrophotometrically. The equilibrium data fit with Langmuir model of adsorption and the linear regression coefficient R2 is found to be 0.9832 and 0.9630 for natural and modified bauxite respectively at 37.5°C which elucidate the best fitting isotherm model. The general shape of the adsorption isotherm of congo red on natural and modified bauxite is consistent with (H-type) on the Giles classification. Different thermodynamic parameters such as Gibb's free energy, enthalpy and entropy of the on-going adsorption process have also been evaluated. The thermodynamic analyses of the congo red adsorption on natural and modified bauxite indicate that the systems are endothermic in natur

Infecciones del espacio orofacial, etiología, susceptibilidad microbiológica y manejo quirúrgico.

Orofacial infections are considered as one of most common infections and need rapid and adequate treatment as they affect a very delicate region and are associated with serious life-threatening complications. Orofacial infections can be either odontogenic that is with an origin in teeth and associated structures or non-odontogenic, not associated with teeth, can affect facial spaces and spread from one space to another, so a good knowledge about diagnosis and treating these infections is of utmost importance, and can include both non-surgical and surgical treatment. The aim of our study was to determine the most common cause of orofacial infections, the most common bacterial microorganisms and their antibiotic susceptibility. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was undertaken in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Al-Shaheed Ghazi Al-Hariry Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq from 1st January to 30th September 2015. This study included 45 patients with different forms of orofacial infections; data regarding age, gender, underlying cause, facial space involvement, presenting signs were collected through history, clinical examination and radiographs, incision and drainage with swab sample for culture and sensitivity test was performed. Results: Patients with orofacial infections showed a female to male ratio of 1.25:1. The mean age was 32.8 years. Most of the patients were in their 4th decade of life (27%). Most infections were odontogenic in origin (62%), the most common facial space involved was submandibular (65%), the most common isolated microorganism was Streptococcus pyogenes (59%), and most patients were treated using an extra-oral surgical approach (78%). Antibiotics to which bacterial isolated showed the most sensitivity were netilmicin, cefoperazone and rifampicin (91%). Pain and limitation of mouth opening gradually decreased in most of patients during the two weeks follow up period. Conclusion: Orofacial infections were more common in females, in the third and fourth decade of life, were odontogenic in origin, were mostly caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, and most isolates were susceptible to netilmicin, cefoperazone and rifampicin. Pain and trismus decreased over two weeks post-treatment.Las infecciones orofaciales se consideran una de las infecciones más comunes y necesitan un tratamiento rápido y adecuado, ya que afectan una región muy delicada y se asocian con complicaciones graves que amenazan la vida. Las infecciones orofaciales pueden ser odontogénicas que se originan en los dientes y las estructuras asociadas, o no odontogénicas, no asociadas con los dientes, pueden afectar los espacios faciales y propagarse de un espacio a otro, por lo que un buen conocimiento sobre el diagnóstico y el tratamiento de estas infecciones es de suma importancia, y puede incluir tratamiento no quirúrgico y quirúrgico. El objetivo de nuestro estudio fue determinar la causa más común de infecciones orofaciales, los microorganismos bacterianos más comunes y su susceptibilidad a los antibióticos. Material y Métodos: se realizó un estudio descriptivo en el Departamento de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial, Hospital Al-Shaheed Ghazi Al-Hariry, Bagdad, Iraq del 1 de enero al 30 de septiembre de 2015. Este estudio incluyó a 45 pacientes con diferentes formas de infecciones orofaciales; Se recopilaron datos sobre edad, sexo, causa subyacente, afectación del espacio facial, signos de presentación a través de la historia, examen clínico y radiografías, incisión y drenaje con muestra de hisopo para cultivo y prueba de sensibilidad. Resultado: Los pacientes con infecciones orofaciales mostraron una relación mujer/hombre de 1.25: 1. La edad media fue de 32,8 años. La mayoría de los pacientes estaban en su cuarta década de vida (27%). La mayoría de las infecciones fueron de origen odontogénico (62%), el espacio facial más común involucrado fue submandibular (65%), el microorganismo aislado más común fue Streptococcus pyogenes (59%), y la mayoría de los pacientes fueron tratados con un abordaje quirúrgico extraoral (78%). Los antibióticos a los que las bacterias aisladas mostraron mayor sensibilidad fueron netilmicina, cefoperazona y rifampicina (91%). El dolor y la limitación de la apertura de la boca disminuyeron gradualmente en la mayoría de los pacientes durante el período de seguimiento de dos semanas. Conclusión: Las infecciones orofaciales fueron más comunes en las mujeres, en la tercera y cuarta década de la vida, fueron de origen odontogénico, fueron causadas principalmente por Streptococcus pyogenes y la mayoría de los aislamientos fueron susceptibles a la netilmicina, cefoperazona y rifampicina. El dolor y el trismo disminuyeron durante las dos semanas posteriores al tratamiento

Lynas Advanced Materials Plant

This case study illustrates the issues regarding Lynas Advanced Material Plant. The Lynas Corporation Ltd of Australia first looked at China before settling on Pahang, Malaysia to establish its rare earth processing plant. Rare earth is a slightly radioactive material. Despite reassurances by the company and the State and Federal governments that the Lynas Advanced Material Plant is not dangerous to the employees and the community, some NGOs and the public are still skeptical. They say the benefits derived from investment may not outweigh the risks. The case presents a balanced perspective on both the benefits and risks of this project

A review on the application of remote sensing and geographic information system in flood crisis management

Flood is considered as one of the most devastating hazards around the globe and emerged as an important issue among all the stakeholder to manage. Every year when the flood occurs, it has a terrible impact on human lives and demolishes billions of dollars property and infrastructure as well. The flood catastrophe and its losses can be reduced and prevented by flood inundation maps which provides a reliable and accurate information to the public. The principle objective of this paper is to review the application of Geographical information system (GIS) and technology of Remote sensing (RS) in geospatial skills and expertise in sciences, the integration and utilization of spatial and information technology effectively and more prominence is on using non-structure approaches based on remote sensing and geographic information system in flood crisis management. The advantages of solving complex logistics operations, accuracy with high speed which provides a reliable change, improved communication, monitoring capability, modeling, estimation of flood risk, promoted a cost saving mechanism with greater efficiency/friendly adaptability with the environment of theses digitize systems purposes to using more and more spatial application in flood crisis management. Geospatial information and remote sensing utilization serves as bridge between the flooding security measures and early prediction system. The paper encompasses the advantages of RS & GIS which acts as a tool in monitoring and improving before, during and after the flood crisis management in Malaysia

Feature Extraction of Visual Evoked Potentials Using Wavelet Transform and Singular Value Decomposition

Introduction: Brain visual evoked potential (VEP) signals are commonly known to be accompanied by high levels of background noise typically from the spontaneous background brain activity of electroencephalography (EEG) signals. Material and Methods: A model based on dyadic filter bank, discrete wavelet transform (DWT), and singular value decomposition (SVD) was developed to analyze the raw data of visual evoked potentials and extract time-locked signals with external visual stimulation. A bio-amplifier (iERG 100P) and data acquisition system (OMB-DAQ-3000) were utilized to record EEG raw data from the human scalp. MATLAB Data Acquisition Toolbox, Wavelet Toolbox, and Simulink model were employed to analyze EEG signals and extract VEP responses. Results: Results were verified in Simulink environment for the real recorded EEG data. The proposed model allowed precise decomposition and classification of VEP signals through the combined operation of DWT and SVD. DWT was successfully used for the decomposition of VEP signals to different frequencies followed by SVD for feature extraction and classification. Conclusion: The visual and quantitative results indicated that the impact of the proposed technique of combining DWT and SVD was promising. Combining the two techniques led to a two-fold increase in the impact of peak signal to noise ratio of all the tested signals compared to using each technique individually

Crude Palm Oil Corruption: A Discourse on the Imposition of Capital Punishment

The study aims to discuss on the corruption of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) export cases that have led to the scarcity of cooking oil at affordable prices in Indonesia. It is harmful for the public as the Crude Palm Oil (CPO) has been exported without a permit and does not meet the requirements of Domestic Market Obligation (DMO) and Domestic Price Obligation (DPO). The study is a normative legal research employing descriptive-qualitative upon data collected through a library study. The study shows that the case of crude palm oil (CPO) export corruption made the supply of cooking oil disrupted that led to economic and political instability. In response to this, the government conducted an investigation and found  several suspects of  corruption cases. While the legal process running, the discourse on the application of death penalty arose within the society. It was so because this corruption occurred during the pandemic. However, the use of the capital punishment in cases of corruption is restricted because it can only be used in specified circumstances, especially when the funds are intended for dealing with dangerous situations, national natural disasters, social unrest, economic and monetary problems, and corruption repetition

Basis Set Effects on the Stabilities and Interaction Energies of Small Amide Molecules Adsorbed on Kaolinite Surface

Adsorptions of small amide molecules, acetamide (AA) and N-methyl-acetamide (NMA) on the surface of kaolinite are investigated in this study. The focus is on the basis set effects towards the stabilities and the interaction energies of the molecules on the Al–O surface. With a fixed B3LYP functional, we increased the size of the basis sets for the single-point calculations, to find the converged interaction energies and obtain the relative stabilities. We found that, under the direct usage of Pople-type and Dunning’s correlation consistent basis sets, it is not possible to achieve the pattern of convergence for the interaction energies and the relative stabilities. Compared to the complete basis set (CBS) extrapolation scheme, the double zeta basis sets deviated the most, in the range of 21 to 27%, while it is from 1 to 7% for the triple zeta basis sets. Based on the results, we suggest using 6-311++G(2df,2pd) or cc-pVQZ for energy-related quantities. Compared to AA, NMA attached more strongly by 0.5 eV on the surface of Al–O