Assessment of BioPattern in Novel Idea Generation for Bio-Inspired Design

BioPattern is a novel ideation tool for Bio-Inspired Design, built based on TRIZ, SAPPhIRE, and pattern language. It consists of an ontology, known as pattern-based ontology, and a sustainability evaluation, known as Ideal Windows. However, this framework has not been tested yet. Therefore, this article is to present the results and analysis of the case study conducted to assess this biomimicry framework. Two different groups of students, Creative & Innovation class (controlled group) and Integrated Engineering Design class (experimental group), are asked to generate innovative ideas where the experimental group employed BioPattern as the ideation tool. It is found that the level of innovation for the inventive ideas generated by the experimental group is much higher compared to that of the controlled group. Based on the inventive ideas produced by the experimental group, BioPattern is found to be efficient in ideation, able to generate effective solution, the problem-solution pairs of the ontology are adequate, and the biological solutions suggested are transferable as technological solutions. It can be concluded that BioPattern is able to bridge the biology-engineering gap

Development of a Malaysian Sign Language interpreter using image recognition for the community to understand the deaf

In Malaysia, Person with Disabilities (PWD) with hearing problems or commonly known as the deaf, struggle to have a conversation with the communities who do not know or how to do sign language efficiently. The consequence is hearing PWD received unequal treatment in jobs and learning opportunities. This project aims to develop a Malaysian Sign Language interpreter to convert hand signs to texts, in order to facilitate the conversation between hearing PWD and the communities. The system would implement a camera and vision system to capture images of hand signs. Four hand signs have been selected. Stacks of these images were processed digitally using deep learning method, and eventually the trained network could recognize the hand signs successfully. This feasible study suggests that the proposed setup could be further implemented to train more hand signs and enrich the hand signs-to-text vocabulary

Development of a Wireless and Ambulatory Posture Monitoring System

The wireless and ambulatory posture monitoring system monitors the movement and posture change of the human body with respect to the g-line. It is crucial to monitor the posture health of the ophthalmologist who spends a prolonged period on the static sitting posture while operating on the slit lamp which leads to any painful experience. The motivation of the proposed system is to improve the ergonomics of the ophthalmologist on their working environment and reduce any occupational potential hazard which may prompt Work-Related Musculoskeletal Disorders (WMSDs). The proposed system also induced a wireless system by using XBee wireless units to reduce the use of the wire that may tangle on the study subject which causes any uncomfortable experience to the study subject during the human trial. Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensor which consists of an Accelerometer, a Gyroscope and a Magnetometer is used to measure the angle of deviation of the body segment with respect to the g-line. The data is tabulated and presented into the graphical method to identify and extract the properties of the graph on each different static sitting posture which later are used for posture recognition

Development of a wheelchair lifting system with height levelling and side transfer

Wheelchair Lifting System is one of the alternative solution to help the disabled person which have difficulties in moving from the wheelchair into the car easily. The transferring process of these disabled person from getting in or out of the car is a delicate process. Most of the situation, two or more caregivers are required, and they also need a lot of energy and time to complete that process. It is also reported that 1 in 3 caregivers might develop back injuries. Most of the injuries were occurring because the patient is heavy to lift. Besides that, the caregivers may exposed to awkward positions during the transferring process from the wheelchair to the car seat. The support device such as mechanism lifting system is needed to move the disabled person. Various tests have been done to verify the functionality of the device. The results shows that wheelchair is able to carry the maximum weight of 100kg to the car seat successfully

Shape Optimization of High-Speed Rail by Biomimetic

The Southern Corridor High-Speed Rail (HSR) has the potential to connect Kuala Lumpur and Singapore with only 90 minutes of travel time. The HSR needs to travel at minimum drag in order to promote ride comfort and environmental sustainability. Eight combinations of train head bio-models are generated from a morphological chart of three key concepts formed by biomimetic method, referring to the peregrine falcon, belted kingfisher, sailfish and dolpine. The three key concepts are the type of train nose, cross-section shape, and train nose shape. The bio-models are drawn by computer-aided drawing software and the air flow around the bio-models are simulated in order to obtain the drag coefficients in counterflow condition. The drag coefficient of each bio-models are compared and validated with published drag coefficient of Harmony CRH380A, which is 0.1971. The bio-models with lowest drag coefficient is the bio-model with sharp-streamlined nose and round-based crosssection, which is 0.1559. The drag coefficient of Harmony CRH380A is reduced by 20.9% if the windscreen is removed and the paraboloid nose is replaced with sharp nose. These bio-models can be a guideline for future studies in developing a more sustainable train shape in the railway industry

Shape Optimization of High-Speed Rail by Biomimetic

The Southern Corridor High-Speed Rail (HSR) has the potential to connect Kuala Lumpur and Singapore with only 90 minutes of travel time. The HSR needs to travel at minimum drag in order to promote ride comfort and environmental sustainability. Eight combinations of train head bio-models are generated from a morphological chart of three key concepts formed by biomimetic method, referring to the peregrine falcon, belted kingfisher, sailfish and dolpine. The three key concepts are the type of train nose, cross-section shape, and train nose shape. The bio-models are drawn by computer-aided drawing software and the air flow around the bio-models are simulated in order to obtain the drag coefficients in counterflow condition. The drag coefficient of each bio-models are compared and validated with published drag coefficient of Harmony CRH380A, which is 0.1971. The bio-models with lowest drag coefficient is the bio-model with sharp-streamlined nose and round-based crosssection, which is 0.1559. The drag coefficient of Harmony CRH380A is reduced by 20.9% if the windscreen is removed and the paraboloid nose is replaced with sharp nose. These bio-models can be a guideline for future studies in developing a more sustainable train shape in the railway industry

Population Pharmacokinetics of Vancomycin in Premature Malaysian Neonates: Identification of Predictors for Dosing Determination▿

The present study determined the pharmacokinetic profile of vancomycin in premature Malaysian infants. A one-compartment infusion model with first-order elimination was fitted to serum vancomycin concentration data (n = 835 points) obtained retrospectively from the drug monitoring records of 116 premature newborn infants. Vancomycin concentrations were estimated by a fluorescence polarization immunoassay. Population and individual estimates of clearance and distribution volume and the factors which affected the variability observed for the values of these parameters were obtained using a population pharmacokinetic modeling approach. The predictive performance of the population model was evaluated by visual inspections of diagnostic plots and nonparametric bootstrapping with replacement. Dosing guidelines targeting a value of ≥400 for the area under the concentration-time curve over 24 h in the steady state divided by the MIC (AUC24/MIC ratio) were explored using Monte Carlo simulation. Body size (weight), postmenstrual age, and small-for-gestational-age status are important factors explaining the between-subject variability of vancomycin pharmacokinetic parameter values for premature neonates. The typical population parameter estimates of clearance and distribution volume for a 1-kg premature appropriate-for-gestational-age neonate with a postmenstrual age of 30 weeks were 0.0426 liters/h and 0.523 liters, respectively. There was a 20% reduction in clearance for small-for-gestational-age infants compared to the level for the appropriate-for-gestational-age control. Dosage regimens based on a priori target response values were formulated. In conclusion, the pharmacokinetic parameter values for vancomycin in premature Malaysian neonates were estimated. Improved dosage regimens based on a priori target response values were formulated by incorporating body size, postmenstrual age, and small-for-gestational-age status, using Monte Carlo simulations with the model-estimated pharmacokinetic parameter values

Internet of thing based obesity and overweight monitoring arm belt for teenagers in Malaysia

It is reported that the prevalence of obesity and overweight among the teenagers is at alarming level. Obesity might develop into further health issues as they grow up into adults. Better lifestyle and modern technologies such as internet and smart phones have encouraged sedentary lifestyle. Lack of physical activities and uncontrolled food intake would be the main causes. The project aims at developing a portable internet-of-thing (IoT) instrument to monitor their physical activities. The instrument is designed to wrap around the arm and is a battery-powered microcontroller system, equipped with a global-positioning-system (GPS) sensor and a movement sensor (accelerometer). The system would synchronize to the internet via a smart phone. The location and body movements are recorded and could be monitored remotely by another user