Preparation, Characterization, Properties And Degradation Behaviour Of Peanut Shell Powder Recycled Polypropylene Composites

Recycled polypropylene (RPP) was compounded with peanut shell powder (PSP) using a Haake internal mixer at 180 °C and the rotor speed of 50 rpm. Tensile properties of composites were tested using an Instron tensometer. The thermal properties of composites were analyzed using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The thermal stability of composites was determined by thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The peanut shell powder content was varied from 0 to 40 wt.%. Firstly, a compatibilizer was used to improve the interfacial adhesion of RPP/PSP composites which is polyethylene-co-acrylic acid (PEAA). The tensile strength and elongation at break decreased with increasing peanut shell powder content. The addition of PEAA as a compatibilizer has improved tensile strength, elongation at break and modulus of the composite. Furthermore, the addition of PEAA has slightly enhanced the thermal stability of the composites. During natural weathering for 6 months, it was observed that the incorporation of peanut shell powder has increased the degradability of composites. However, PEAA compatibilized composites showed lower degradability than uncompatibilized composites based on tensile properties, carbonyl indices, crystallinity and weight loss. Secondly, the effect of modification of PSP by using polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) was examined. It was found that, the tensile properties of modified composites were higher than unmodified composites. The chemical similarity of PSP and PVOH formed ether bonding as shown in IR spectra and such interaction indicated better interfacial adhesion. However, it was observed that, the addition of both PSP and PVOH has boosted up the water absorption percentages due to their hydrophilic nature. The deteriorating impact of composites due to exposure to natural weathering can be seen with the reduction of overall tensile properties. The IR spectra is further confirming the photo-degradation occurred with the appearance of carbonyl (C=O) peaks. Next, the effect of alkaline peroxide pre-treatment was examined. Treated PSP is found to be a promising reinforcement to augment the tensile properties. Subsequently, the tensile properties of composites with treated PSP are somehow slightly retained upon exposure to weathering. However, they are still susceptible to degradation due to the presence of small amounts of monomer and it is verified by FTIR, SEM and weight loss. Lastly, the influences of electron beam (EB) irradiation was evaluated. The gel content increased after the irradiation. However, the increment of gel content was hindered by increasing PSP content. The tensile strength and modulus of the irradiated composites were increased while elongation at break of the irradiated composites decreased. Further analysis on the irradiated composites using FTIR spectra indicated an increase of oxygenated product after irradiation. EB irradiation also enhanced the thermal stability of the composites. After natural weathering, the results agreed that the degradability of irradiated composites was lower than non-irradiated composites

ENHANCING USABILITY USING AUTOMATED SECURITY INTERFACE ADAPTATION (ASIA)

2 PUBLISHED CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS PROVIDED IN APPENDIX E.Many users are now significantly dependent upon computer application. Whilst many aspects are now used very successfully, an area in which usability difficulties continue to be encountered is in relation to security. Thus can become particularly acute in situations where users are required to interact and make decisions, and a key context here is typically when they need to respond to security warnings. The current implementation of security warnings can often be considered as an attempt to offer a one size fits all solution. However, it can be argued that many implementations are still lacking the ability to provide meaningful and effective warnings. As such, this research focuses upon achieving a better understanding of the elements that aid end-users in comprehending the warnings, the difficulties with the current approaches, and the resulting requirements in order to improve the design and implementation of such security dialogues. In the early stage of research, a survey was undertaken to investigate perceptions of security dialogues in practice, with a specific focus upon security warnings issued within web browsers. This provided empirical evidence of end-users’ experiences, and revealed notable difficulties in terms of their understanding and interpretation of the security interactions. Building upon this, the follow-up research investigated understanding of application level security warnings in wider contexts, looking firstly at users’ interpretation of what constitutes a security warning and then at their level of comprehension when related warnings occurred. These results confirmed the need to improve the dialogues so that the end-users are able to act appropriately, and consequently promoted the design and prototype implementation of a novel architecture to improve security warnings, which has been titled Automated Security Interface Adaptation (ASIA). The ASIA approach aims to improve security warnings by tailoring the interaction more closely to individual user needs. By automatically adapting the presentation to match each user’s understanding and preferences, security warnings can be modified in ways that enable users to better comprehend them, and thus make more informed security decisions and choices. A comparison of the ASIA-adapted interfaces compared to standard versions of warnings revealed that the modified versions were better understood. As such, the ASIA approach has significant potential to assist (and thereby protect) the end-user community in their future interactions with security.UNIVERSITY SAINS MALAYSIA (USM), MINISTRY OF HIGHER EDUCATION MALAYSIA(MOHE

Assesing the role of work motivation on employee performance

This study was aimed to examine the perception of teachers in a school located in Port Klang, Selangor, Malaysia about the role of work motivation on employee performance. The independent variables used in this study are extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. For the dependent variable is the employee performance. This study was conducted to identify the factors that motivate employee as well as to identify the role of work motivation towards employee performance. A Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant correlation between work motivation and employee performance. Regression analysis showed that the factors of work motivation consists of professional development/conference, job promotion, money as well as education/classes or seminars which contribute directly towards employee performance. The significant of this study besides able to identify the factors, it is also to create awareness for the organization to have fully understanding on work motivation of the employees since it might have great impact to the organizatio

A study on promotional tools that applied by TM SME Perak in achieving sales and win back VOIP customer / Siti Najwa Sharir Zaaba

Heavy competition in telecommunication industry will make Telekom Malaysia work harder to compete with their competitors to keep and retain their customer especially business customer. This situation may encourage and give challengers to the company to maintain their reputation and performance. I believe that this company especially TM SME Perak have their own plan to achieve their objective. This paper serves to discuss on the performance of the promotional tools that TM SME Perak applied in order to achieve sales and win back VOIP customer. So in this case study, I will share on what I have observed about the promotion program that this company used in achieving the objective. Beside that, these studies also will view on the issue or problems that arise during the implementation of TM SME Perak promotional activities. At last the purpose of this proposal is served to provide suggestion and recommendation that can be applied by this company in future. In preparing this proposal, I found that this company facing with challengers and problem especially in winning sales and win back their losing customer. There has a gap during implementing their promotional activities because the current promotional activities that applied by TM SME Perak are different with the theory. So at the end of the study, I recommend some solution and ideas that can be used in order to solve the problem that facing by this company

The impact of trust and social network on employee knowledge sharing capabilities / Azwan Ahzran Perman, Saiful Zizi Jalil and Zuraidah Zaaba

This research is from a knowledge management domain. It looks into employees’ knowledge sharing capabilities in selected private and public institutions in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. The focused was on the impact of trust and social network on employee knowledge sharing capabilities. The questionnaires were distributed to 5 public and private institutions in Kota Kinabalu. For confidentiality issue, the name of the organization was not disclosed and to respect the request of the organizations. Statistical analysis was used to analyse 127 respondents. These analyses applied multiple regression analyses to test the relationships of the variables. It was argued that at the early development of the research, both variables had a positive relationship with the dependent variable. The result showed, trust and social network has a positive relationship among employees’ knowledge sharing capabilities. The research implied that trust and social network should be considered by the management of the private and public sector to develop and improve the overall employee knowledge sharing capabilities in their organization. Therefore, policies or programs initiated by any organizations should reflect the usage of these two variables to ensure the proper effectiveness of the employees in sharing knowledge for the benefit of the organization in the short and long term

Implementation of an automated smart home control for detection for detecting human emotions via facial detection

With our daily busy schedules, the home is one of the main locations where we could unwind and relax.With the implementation of an effective smart home system, the relaxation time could begin as soon as the homeowners return home.The Eye 2H is an automated smart home control system that detects the homeowners emotion via facial detection.The system is capable of boosting the mood and emotion of the residents by controlling the electronic lighting and equipment in their home. By adjusting, the lighting conditions automatically could create a welcoming effect for the homeowners.Besides that, the system is also able to reduce energy usage via sensors, which would detect human presence in specific rooms. As such, the implementation of the system require a number of processes along with initial testing to ensure a smooth system operation.Based on our testing and evaluation, the proposed system is able to detect both facial and emotion in an effective manner

Security Warning Life Cycle: Challenges and Panacea

Security warning is a very important aspect in computer security. Security warning is a form of message conveyed to inform user on the risk of allowing an application to run on the computer system. Security warning plays an important role in notify, warn and advise user about the potential result of an action beforehand. However, security warnings are often being ignored due to various reasons such as poor design of security warnings and too many technical terms used in security warnings. This research highlights insights into the discovery of problems and difficulties encountered by the users, approaches in improving security warnings and future direction of the security warning improvement process. We proposed to utilise the hybrid approach of iterative design and mental model in the effort to enhance the current implementation of security warning. Iterative design is a cyclic design process where prototyping, testing and refining are done repeatedly. A mental model is a person’s psychological representation of how they perceive and understand something. It is expected that this paper would benefit the researchers to comprehend approches and challenges to improve security warnings

IN VITRO FREE RADICAL SCAVENGING ACTIVITY OF TEA TREE OIL AND CLOVE OIL

ABSTRACTObjective: To investigate the in vitro free radical scavenging activity of tea tree oil and the clove oil.Methods: Both tea tree oil and clove oil were tested by using phytochemical test, estimation of total phenolic content as well as various antioxidantsassays such as nitric oxide radical inhibition assay, hydrogen peroxide scavenging assay and 1-diphenyl 2-picrylhyorazyl (DPPH) assayResults: Both tea tree oil and clove oil possess antioxidants activity and in vitro free radical scavenging activity.Keywords: Scavenging activity, Tea tree oil, Clove oil, Antioxidant

Atmospheric Pressure Cold Plasma (ACP) Treatment a New Technique to Improve Microstructure and Textural Properties of Healthy Noodles Fortified with Mango Flour

The effect of atmospheric pressure cold plasma (ACP) on microstructural, textural and sensory properties of healthy noodles fortified with mango flour was studied. Atmospheric pressure cold plasma was carried out using helium gas with a flow rate of 1000 ml/min at room temperature. The electrodes were powered by a direct current (DC) power supply voltage of 16.6 kV wrapped around the quartz glass tube to develop plasma plume. SEM for microstructural observation was done to study the changes in surface morphology of plasma treated noodles. It was observed that after the plasma treatment the gluten and fiber content on the noodles surface more coherent and smoother between gluten network and starch granules than the control with respect to plasma power and time of treatment. Atmospheric pressure cold plasma treatment maintained the hardness, springiness and gumminess of control noodles without mango flour (CNT) and noodles fortified with mango flour (NMFT) significantly (P<0.05) compared to untreated control noodles (CN) and untreated mango flour fortified noodles (NMF). The results suggest that ACP is an effective technique for enhancing the gluten strength and improving the qualities of noodles fortified with mango flour