Monitoring and modelling of non methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) in various areas in Pulau Pinang, Malaysia.

Hidrokarbon bukan metana (NMHC) memainkan peranan penting dalam proses pembentukan ozon dalam persekitaran bandar, di mana pembebasan dari asap kenderaan adalah dominan. Non Methane Hydrocarbons (NMHC) plays a vital role in the formation process of ozone in urban environment, where vehicle emissions are dominant

Bio-cryptography using Zernike Moments and Key Generation by Cubic Splines

Cryptography is the process of protecting sensitive information and making it unreadable to unwanted parties. Since all algorithms that perform this task depend on the process of finding a suitable key, the key generation is considered the soul of powerful encryption. The traditionally generated keys are long and random, hence are difficult to memorize, and we need a database to store the keys. To alleviate this limitation, we use bio-cryptography that is combined of biometrics and cryptography. Using Bio-Cryptography generated keys provides the necessary security through powerful encryption and decryption of data. This paper uses cubic spline to generate a cryptographic key through extracting the features from fingerprint. The approach is based on extracting the features generated by using Zernike Moment on a biometric, and then sending these features to a Cubic-Spline Interpolator to generate the keys. A key encryption will be generated for every person through extracting the features from his / her biometric (fingerprint) and then applying these features on the cubic spline interpolator to obtain some points. These interpolated points will be used as keys to encrypt the information by using a suitable encryption algorithm.  The benefit presented by this approach is to ensure a high level of security to protect the information through generating secure keys ready to be used for unsecured channel. In this paper, we used fingerprints from Biometric Recognition Group - ATVS to examine the performance of this approach. Keywords: Biometrics, Key Generation, Zernike Moment, Cubic Spline, Cryptography, RSA, Fingerprint

Clustering large-scale data based on modified affinity propagation algorithm

Traditional clustering algorithms are no longer suitable for use in data mining applications that make use of large-scale data. There have been many large-scale data clustering algorithms proposed in recent years, but most of them do not achieve clustering with high quality. Despite that Affinity Propagation (AP) is effective and accurate in normal data clustering, but it is not effective for large-scale data. This paper proposes two methods for large-scale data clustering that depend on a modified version of AP algorithm. The proposed methods are set to ensure both low time complexity and good accuracy of the clustering method. Firstly, a data set is divided into several subsets using one of two methods random fragmentation or K-means. Secondly, subsets are clustered into K clusters using K-Affinity Propagation (KAP) algorithm to select local cluster exemplars in each subset. Thirdly, the inverse weighted clustering

Clinical impact of open versus laparoscopic approach on the outcome in cases of congenital duodenal obstruction: A comparative study

Introduction Congenital duodenal atresia/partial duodenal obstruction/duodenal stenosis is one of the most common variants of intestinal atresia, occurring 1 in 2500–5000 live births. The aim of this study was to compare between both the laparoscopic and open approaches for repair of congenital duodenal obstruction regarding their effects on outcome.Patients and methods A total of 20 cases diagnosed with congenital duodenal obstruction (atresia, web, and stenosis) in the neonatal and pediatric surgical units of Cairo University Specialized Pediatric Hospital were studied. All cases underwent either laparoscopic or open repair. Cases associated with malrotation or multiple atresias were excluded. Patients’ characteristics, including age, sex, presenting symptoms, associated anomalies, preoperative investigations, intraoperative details, and postoperative outcomes, were documented.Results A total of 20 cases of duodenal obstruction were included in this study over 1 year, from January 2017 to January 2018. We did duodenoduodenostomy in 15 cases (web in the second part of duodenum, types II and III) and excision of the web in the first part of duodenum in five cases. Laparoscopic repair was done in 11 (55%) cases (diamond-shaped duodenoduodenostomy in nine cases and web excision in two cases) whereas open technique was performed in nine (45%) cases (diamond duodenoduodenostomy in six cases, and excision of the web in three cases). The average operative time in cases of laparoscopic duodenoduodenostomy was 120 min whereas in the cases of open technique was 90 min. The average time needed until full feeding to be achieved was 6–7 days in cases done  laparoscopically, whereas other group was 10–20 days. In this cohort, no stricture or leakage or wound dehiscence was found in both groups. Laparoscopic group afforded a better cosmesis and more parent satisfaction.Conclusion Use of the laparoscope in duodenal obstruction in either neonates or children is a safe and easy technique, and despite being a lengthier operation, feeding could be established earlier. Keywords: duodenal atresia, laparoscopic, TPN