Oral manifestation in systemic lupus erythematosus: a case report / Wan NurHazirah Wan Ahmad Kamil and Nor Nazaliza Basri.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease with diverse clinical manifestations affecting several organs such as the brain, lungs, kidneys, heart, blood vessels, muscles and skin. Oral manifestations might be the first sign and symptoms of SLE. Hence, this paper describes a 58-year old lady whom oral lesions were the first manifestation of SLE disease. The oral manifestations and management of this patient was discussed

Extension Of Markowitz Model For Portfolio Analysis.

This paper focused on portfolio analysis that set-up among 10 selected stocks traded on Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE). Markowitz model is the main method used to build the optimal portfolio for this paper

The study of THz vertical cavity SASER devices

In this thesis, experimental evidence of sustained phonon oscillations, from an electrically pumped vertical-cavity SASER device, working in the THz frequency domain is presented. Experimental investigation of injection seeding of phonons at a particular frequency, by optical excitation, is also presented. The experimental evidence of phonon oscillation through SASER action consists of a non-linear increase in the initial rising edge of the ballistically propagating LA phonons signal and an increased directionality of emission, once threshold gain is exceeded. The build-up of phonon oscillation fitted well with the theoretical model, also discussed in this thesis, enabling other attributes of the SASER device such as the gain coefficient, maximum acoustic power and device efficiency to be obtained. The cavity was investigated by means of pump-probe reflectivity measurements. Good quantitative agreement is obtained for the cavity mode frequencies, compared to the calculated reflectance of the cavity modes. Good quantitative agreement of the phonon scattering losses, within the cavity, was also obtained, when compared with theoretical predictions. Also provided is experimental evidence of injection seeding in the SASER devices under different conditions. The SASER device yields analogous characteristics to a seeded laser in that it acts as a phonon amplifier, due to SASER action, for the injected modes. The results contribute not only towards understanding the fundamental principles of achieving SASER oscillations but also towards the possibility of achieving a practical SASER device in the future

A pilot randomized control study comparing sustained low efficiency daily dialysis (SLEDD) with sustained low efficiency daily diafiltration (SLEDD-F) in patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) outcome : effect on renal outcome

Introduction: Acute kidney injury in critically ill patients requiring dialysis remains to be a burden to the population in terms of mortality and renal recovery. Renal recovery is important as dialysis dependant patient leads to chronic hemodialysis which is a major burden for patients, their families, and healthcare systems, and is associated with higher long-term mortality. The standard renal replacement therapy used worldwide is continuous renal replacement therapy i.e. continuous veno-venous hemofiltration or intermittent hemodialysis. Emerging modalities as an alternative such as sustained low efficiency daily dialysis (SLEDD) and sustained low efficiency daily diafiltration (SLEDD-f) have shown similar outcome in terms of renal recovery and mortality with shorter duration of dialysis. These two therapies have not been directly compared. Methodology: This is a pilot randomized control study comparing two dialysis modalities (SLEDD vs SLEDD-f) for the treatment of AKI in the critical patients at HUSM. Duration of study is from 1st May 2014 till 1st November 2014 and a total of 12 patients were selected. Primary outcome measures were renal recovery at 42 days either complete, partial or no recovery. Secondary outcome measures all-cause mortality rate after 60 days of randomization. Results: Baseline characteristics of 12 patients randomized into two groups of 6 patients each were similar. Sepsis represented the major cause of acute kidney injury, 83.33% causes. The overall renal recovery for either SLEDD or SLEDD-f was 33.33%. In the SLEDD group, 20.0% of study subjects had complete renal recovery, while 80% were dialysis dependant. In the SLEDD-f group 50% of patients had complete renal recovery while the rest were dialysis dependant. There were no significant differences in the renal recovery outcome for both modalities (odds ratio, 4.00; 95% CI 0.27 to 6.33; p=0.317). Mortality within 60 days were observed in two of the six patients (33.3%) in the SLEDD group, and one of the six patients (16.7%) under SLEDD-f group (odds ratio, 0.40; 95% CI 0.03 to 6.18; p=0.512). The overall mortality rate was 25%. The risk factors associated for renal recovery include estimated glomerular filtration rate, etiology of acute kidney injury and serum creatinine level prior to the initiation of dialysis were found not significant by using logistic regression. Conclusion: SLEDD-f used in critically ill patients with acute kidney injury did not show any difference between SLEDD with regards to all-cause mortality and renal recovery. Thus SLEDD-f may be used as an alternative for patients in critical care settings

The study of THz vertical cavity SASER devices

In this thesis, experimental evidence of sustained phonon oscillations, from an electrically pumped vertical-cavity SASER device, working in the THz frequency domain is presented. Experimental investigation of injection seeding of phonons at a particular frequency, by optical excitation, is also presented. The experimental evidence of phonon oscillation through SASER action consists of a non-linear increase in the initial rising edge of the ballistically propagating LA phonons signal and an increased directionality of emission, once threshold gain is exceeded. The build-up of phonon oscillation fitted well with the theoretical model, also discussed in this thesis, enabling other attributes of the SASER device such as the gain coefficient, maximum acoustic power and device efficiency to be obtained. The cavity was investigated by means of pump-probe reflectivity measurements. Good quantitative agreement is obtained for the cavity mode frequencies, compared to the calculated reflectance of the cavity modes. Good quantitative agreement of the phonon scattering losses, within the cavity, was also obtained, when compared with theoretical predictions. Also provided is experimental evidence of injection seeding in the SASER devices under different conditions. The SASER device yields analogous characteristics to a seeded laser in that it acts as a phonon amplifier, due to SASER action, for the injected modes. The results contribute not only towards understanding the fundamental principles of achieving SASER oscillations but also towards the possibility of achieving a practical SASER device in the future

Far infrared transmission spectroscopy of binary semiconductors

The far infrared optical properties of a selection of binary semiconductors have been studied by the technique of dispersive Fourier transform spectroscopy. A commercial modular Michelson interferometer has been rebuilt in a single pass dispersive mode for this work. The performance of the instrument has been substantially improved by mounting the moving mirror on a pneumatically controlled precision linear slide to provide a smooth travel. The interferogram was sampled internally by monitoring the interference fringes derived from a secondary He-Ne laser channel. Precision alignment maximises the throughput signal enabling a relatively small specimen to be studied. Direct measurements of the amplitude and phase transmission spectra of GaP, GaAs, InSb, InAs and ZnSe have been performed at room temperature and 100K for the first time. The single-pass configuration has enabled new optical constant data to be obtained accurately on either side of the reststrahlen band. In most cases, these are the first reported results at the two temperatures. In each case the absorption coefficient and the complex dielectric response functions have also been calculated. Prominent features in the spectra are assigned as phonon-combination bands with the aid of critical point phonon frequencies derived from a lattice dynamical model. The magnitude of the imaginary part of the anharmonic self-energy function of the zone-centre transverse optical phonon required to account fully for the observed absorption has been estimated. The results give a clear indication of the range of validity of the anharmonic mechanism and the onset of lattice absorption due to non linear terms in the dipole moment expansion. <p

The effectiveness of HRIS by using Technology Acceptance Model ( TAM ) on human resources perfomance at Wisma Persekutuan / Wan Siti Sarah Nabilah Wan Muhd Kamil

The purpose of this study is to measure HRIS effectiveness by using TAM model and how it impacts on Human Resources (HR) performance. Scope of this study is focus on respondents. The respondents of this research are employee at Human Resources Department in Federal and focused on HR executives and HR staff. This is because; both of these respondents are those who deal daily with HRIS. It is important to get their view and opinion regarding impact on using HRIS in performing their jobs. In addition, it also can focus on questionnaire. Selt:rated questionnaire will be used as a method of gathering data and it will distribute manually to the HR staff. Besides that, scope that can be focus is work environment such as the effectiveness and efficiency of BRJS could influence the ways employee feelings and will affect the entire results of this research. Methods that been use in this research are research design, sampling frame, population, sampling technique, sample size, unit analysis, data collection procedures, instrument, validity of instrument and reabi lity. Findings of this researcher is use to analyze the actual data by using descriptive statistic which Correlation analysis was conducted in order to measure how variables or rank orders are related. Table below was presented the relationship between effectiveness of HRIS by Using Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) on human resources performance at Wisma Persekutuan Ayer Keroh, Melaka. The correlations between the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) in elements of perceives ease of use and perceives usefu lness of HRIS with human resource process, time and cost saving, decision making and information effects were interpreted as Correlation analysis is a tenn that refers to the strength of a relationship between two variables. As a conclusion, the application of HRIS system must used in higher education institutions provide the utmost update ability use of resources, speed, compatibility, updateability, accessibility, data integrity,privacy and security

Determination of optimum combination of voxel size and b-value for brain diffusion tensor imaging

Optimum combination of voxel size resolution and b-value for whole brain imaging has been determined. Data images were acquired using a 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system (GE Signa HDxt). Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scan was performed on phantom and a human volunteer. Six protocols which consist of various combination of voxel size and b-value were evaluated. Measurement of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and DTI parameter indices were carried out for both phantom and in-vivo studies. Due consideration was given to a combination of parameters yielding sufficient SNR with DTI values comparable to those obtained from previous reported studies. For the phantom study, SNR ≥ 20 was found in all of the protocols except for a combination of voxel size of 2.0 × 2.0 × 2.0 mm3 with b-value of 1200 s/mm2 (V2.0 B1200) and that of voxel size of 2.0 × 2.0 × 2.0 mm3 with b-value of 1000 s/mm2 (V2.0 B1000). For in-vivo study, all protocols presented SNR > 20. It was found that a combination of voxel size of 2.5 × 2.5 × 2.5 mm3 with b-value of 1000 s/mm2 (V2.5 B1000) and that of voxel size of 2.5 × 2.5 × 2.5 mm3 with b-value of 700 s/mm2 (V2.5 B700) displayed the most comparable ADC and FA values with references. In terms of anatomic coverage, V2.5 B700 was found better than V2.5 B1000 as it assures coverage of the whole brain. In conclusion, a combination of voxel size of 2.5 × 2.5 × 2.5 mm3 with b-value of 700 s/mm2 was considered as optimum parameters for brain DTI

Measuring customer satisfaction towards entertainment magazines of Utusan Karya Sendirian Berhad

Entertainment magazines are magazines that provide readers with consistently updated entertainment news locally and internationally. This research aimed to identify the factors that influenced customers’ satisfaction. The target population of this research was students of quasi-government polytechnic, Kolej Politeknik MARA in Bangi, Malaysia. A total of 317 questionnaires were distributed. Using SPSS, it was found that the front page was the most influencing factor that affected customer satisfaction. However, it was also found that respondents were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with entertainment magazines. It is suggested that continuous efforts and new marketing plans need to be carried out in order to improve customer satisfaction of the entertainment magazines. Post-purchase product satisfaction need to be studied as a continuation of this study

Plantar pressure repeatability data analysis for healthy adult based on EMED system

This paper presents the repeatability data analyses and discusses the selection of the appropriate type of plantar pressure measurements for the EMED system with regards to Pressure Level Values (PLV) over the touch insole area of healthy adults. In this research, a participant with age 28 years old has been chosen as a sample to measure under foot pressure, it is conducted the test 20 times and took part in four types of plantar pressure clinical assessments, Dynamic (normal walking), Dynamic with load (normal walking, carrying 1.5 Kg), Static (Standing test), and Static with load (Standing, carrying 1.5 Kg). The analysis is implemented using a new approach of recognizing the measurements into 7 different levels of pressure that assigned with 7 colors by considering the image processing algorithm. Variance Coefficient (VC) check is adopted for the statistical analysis and the selection decision. The results highlighted that the overall pressure levels in dynamic with load category have a better variance as compared with three other categories of plantar pressure on this type of repeatability test. In conclusion, EMED system can be considered as an effective instrument to record plantar foot pressure measurements in such type of analysis