Assessing fun: young children as evaluators of interactive systems.

In this paper, we describe an exploratory study on the challenges of conducting usability tests with very young children aged 3 to 4 years old (nursery age) and the differences when working with older children aged 5 to 6 years old (primary school). A pilot study was conducted at local nursery and primary schools to understand and experience the challenges working with young children interacting with computer products. We report on the studies and compare the experiences of working with children of different age groups in evaluation studies of interactive systems

Modeling neural plasticity in echo state networks for time series prediction

In this paper, we investigate the influence of neural plasticity on the learning performance of echo state networks (ESNs) and supervised learning algorithms in training readout connections for two time series prediction problems including the sunspot time series and the Mackey Glass chaotic system. We implement two different plasticity rules that are expected to improve the prediction performance, namely, anti-Oja learning rule and the Bienenstock-Cooper-Munro (BCM) learning rule combined with both offline and online learning of the readout connections. Our experimental results have demonstrated that the neural plasticity can more significantly enhance the learning in offline learning than in online learning

A new species of genus Ephemeroporus Frey, 1982 (Cladocera: Anomopoda: Chydoridae) from Peninsular Malaysia

Study of Ephemeroporus Frey, 1982 populations from Peninsular Malaysia revealed a new species. Ephemeroporus malaysiaensis sp. nov. is characterized by the presence of four-five large denticles on anal margin of postabdomen instead of two-three, and five distinctive pigmented spots on each valve. Pigmented spots on the valves were never recorded for any species of family Chydoridae. E. malaysiaensis sp. nov. seems to be another endemic Chydoridae species of South- East Asia. E. malaysiaensis sp. nov. is a rare species, associated with emergent macrophytes in the littoral zone of shallow lake. Most of Ephemeroporus populations from Peninsular Malaysia belong to eurybiotic Paleotropical species Ephemeroporus barroisi (Richard, 1984)

Multi objective machining estimation model using orthogonal and neural network

Much hard work has been done to model the machining operations using the neural network (NN). However, the selection of suitable neural network model in machining optimization area especially in multi objective area is unsupervised and resulted in pointless trials. Thus, a combination of Taguchi orthogonal and NN modeling approach is tested on two types of electrical discharge machining (EDM) operations; Cobalt Bonded Tungsten Carbide (WC-Co) and Inconel 718 to observe the efficiency of proposed approach on different numbers of objectives. WC-Co EDM considered two objective functions and Inconel 718 EDM considered four objective functions. It is found that one hidden layer 4-8-2 layer recurrent neural network (LRNN) is the best estimation model for WC-Co machining and one hidden layer 5-14-4 cascade feed forward back propagation (CFBP) is the best estimation model for Inconel 718 EDM. The results are compared with trial-error approach and it is proven that the proposed modeling approach is able to improve the machining performances and works efficiently on two-objective problems

Detection of Koi herpesvirus (KHV) in Cyprinius carpio (Koi) stocks using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

Koi herpesvirus (KHV), which is also known as Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3) infection, is an OIE(international des epizootis) listed disease that caused high losses in common and koi carp in Indonesiaand Japan in 2002 and 2003. Since the mid of 2006, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been usedin Malaysia for surveillance of koi fingerlings to detect virus nucleic acid, but it has been found to produceunreliable results. Following this, an alternative enzyme-link immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique forthe detection of antibody against KHV was used to find evidence of KHV infection in koi carp stocks on farmsthat had been sampled for the PCR. For this purpose, a total of 245 serum samples from koi carp stocks werecollected and tested for the antibody to KHV by the ELISA at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries andAquaculture Science (CEFAS) laboratory, Weymouth, UK. Two hundred and eight samples were found to benegative but 37 others were either definitely positive or close to borderline positive and all were retested. Thefinal results showed that 222 (90%) samples were confirmed as negative and 19 (8%) others were definitelypositive. Meanwhile, four samples (1.6%) were positive at dilutions of 1:400 or 1:200, but cross reactionswith CyHV-1 (causing herpesviral epidermal hyperplasia) could have occurred at those dilutions. Three of thesamples were the only positive fish at two sites, but the fourth sample came from a site at which there were 4definite positive samples (from 20 fish sampled). Thus this study confirmed that Malaysian koi stocks havepreviously been exposed to KHV. With the lack of bio-security measures and awareness, there was a highprobability that the koi carp had been exposed to KHV, leading to subclinical infections and some fish mightpossibly have become carriers of the virus. Hence, further surveillance needs to be conducted to determinethe true situation of the KHV infection in Malaysia

Wear Behaviour of Tungsten Carbide in End Milling Process of Aluminium Alloy 6061-T6 with Minimal Quantity of Tri-hybrid Nanofluids

Nowadays, using nanotechnology in science and industry improves the yield of different processes. The machining process using hybrid nanofluids requires further research to better understand the mechanism of tool wear and the fundamental aspects are not yet ventured. In machining, tool wear is common problems that exist for quite some time. In addition, milling process of Aluminium Alloy was challenged due to a strong adhesion particularly in higher temperature. Deposition of chips material during the process at the tool edge may induce several tool failures such as build-up edge, chipping and flaking. Eventually, tool life, manufacturing cost and product quality were the factors that normally effects by tool wear. However, the severity of tool wear can be reduced by applying a cutting fluid to the tool-workpiece interface. This paper intends to discover the effects of tri-hybrid nanofluids in end milling process of Aluminium Alloy 6061-T6 mainly on wear conditions of uncoated and double-layered PVD coated inserts. In this research works, three different nanoparticles SiO2-Al2O3–ZrO2 were dispersed in 60:40 of deionized water and ethylene glycol. The concentration was prepared between 0.06 and 0.12 wt.%. The MQL system with assisted air pressure was employed to deliver newly developed tri-hybrid nanofluids. During metal cutting process, the metal working fluid was supplied intermittently based on flow rate setting in the MQL system to the cutting zone with a very minimal quantity. A single insert was used and changed for every 100 mm of cutting length at different machining parameters. The effects on wear mechanisms were closely examined at the flank area using scanning electron microscope. Through comprehensive investigation, the wear mechanisms consist of attrition, flaking, abrasion and coating delamination. Other phenomenon such as thermal crack was observed in the wear region. The tool failures have a relationship with machining parameters and cutting tool condition itself. It can be concluded that, coating delamination and abrasion quite severe for coated inserts. While, uncoated tools were severe with attrition mode of failures. At extreme machining condition, higher temperature and friction forces at the tool-workpiece interface have a significant effect on the tool failures. For further investigation, the effects of tri-hybrid nanofluids on wear behaviour of tungsten carbide inserts can be examined for other machining process with different workpiece material

The role of tool geometry in process damped milling

The complex interaction between machining structural systems and the cutting process results in machining instability, so called chatter. In some milling scenarios, process damping is a useful phenomenon that can be exploited to mitigate chatter and hence improve productivity. In the present study, experiments are performed to evaluate the performance of process damped milling considering different tool geometries (edge radius, rake and relief angles and variable helix/pitch). The results clearly indicate that variable helix/pitch angles most significantly increase process damping performance. Additionally, increased cutting edge radius moderately improves process damping performance, while rake and relief angles have a smaller and closely coupled effect

Effects of biomaterials keratin-gelatin and basic fibroblast growth factor-gelatin composite film on wound healing in dogs

Eighteen clinically healthy dogs weighing 10-15 kg body weight were used in this study over a 20-day period. They were allocated randomly into 3 groups of 6 animals each. After the creation of 5 cm x 5cm open wound, Group I was control treated with Gentamycin ointment. Groups II and ill were treated with keratin-gelatin and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-gelatin composite film respectively. On application, the keratin-gelatin and bFGF-gelatin composite film were well accepted by the animals without any adverse reaction. On clinical examination, Group II showed bright beefy red color granulation tissue with angiogenesis when compared to Groups I and ill. On bacteriological examination, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas, Escherichia coli, Proteus and Klebsiella species were isolated from all the groups. Mean percentage of epithelialisation, wound contraction and total healing were significantly better in Group II (P<0.05). Keratin is a biocompatible protein which does not interfere with the body's normal immunologic response and therefore it can be used in extensive wounds and also in non healing chronic wounds which need a trigger to stimulate the normal healing process. In extensive wounds when there is lack of autologous tissue, biomaterials like keratin-gelatin may be beneficial and can be used