A study on the viability of implementing a witness protection programme in Malaysia / Nur Hazwani Shuhaimi ...[et al.]

This research project concerned with the protection of witnesses when they have to face the risk of being harmed by the criminals if they come forward to testify against them. In order to protect the witnesses, one of the effective methods is by setting up a witness protection programme; in other words, by enacting specific law to protect the witnesses. Most of the countries in the world have this kind of programme to protect their witnesses such as United States, Australia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippine and others. As in Malaysia, we do not have specific statute concerning the protection of the witnesses. However, a Malaysian Witness Protection Bill has been tabled for the first reading in Parliament in December 2008. The main objective of this research project is to highlight the important in having specific law, which is Witness Protection Act that will govern protection of witnesses smoothly by set out the methods and procedures to be done by the witnesses and imposed by the responsible authority. It acts as a guideline for the witnesses and responsible authority. Based on our research project, we can conclude that, it is very crucial to have specific law in protecting witnesses because the increasing crimes in our country are becoming more serious. In having Witness Protection Act, the safety of the witnesses are more protected and this will help in upholding justice as more crimes can be settled without the witnesses fear that they will be harmed if they give evidences leading to the arrest of the criminals

Creative Leading Corporation / Farhana Aini Hailin...[et al.]

Umbrella is a primarily a device to keep people dry in rain and shade a person from the sun. Mostly, it can be seen that umbrella is used by women. In the market, there is abundance of designs, colours and functions that can be choose. The improvement in our design may lead umbrella to a better user friendly and easy to carry to anywhere. Basically, the new invention that we apply to our umbrella is that it can expand from the small size to a larger size just by clicking the button provided in the umbrella's handle. One of the reasons that we come out with this idea is that we notice most of the students carry their own umbrella to the class which the size of the umbrella usually is small and fit for 1 person only. By the time of raining, they cannot share the umbrella with their friends and we found out, the umbrella's owner also may get wet because of the small umbrella. Therefore, our group come with the idea of a helping-hand solution by having an expand umbrella. As we gather the information that is heeded, we eventually come out with some of the fantastic ideas that never had been explored by the other designers out there. Our new invention idea is that by having just 1 umbrella, you can share it with your friends. The canopy for our umbrella can be enlarged at 2 times. Basically, the size will be small that fit for 1 person. Then it can enlarged to the medium size that fit for 2 or persons, and again, the canopy can enlarged to the large size that will be fit for 4 or 5 persons. Other than that, this umbrella can also be a table umbrella. The umbrella's weight is not heavy although it has added the canopy enlargement which it is easy to be carried to everywhere

An exploratory study on wind speed profiling of high-rise building/monument using EnviMET.

Envi-MET is a useful tool for simulating wind speed at building heights and modelling microclimatic conditions around buildings, including wind speed around buildings and other structures. Envi-MET is used in this study to simulate wind speed toward building heights. When R2 = 0.8186, relative bias is -0.0775, and RMSE is 0.2578, the agreement between Envi-MET simulation and ground observation indicates acceptable agreement. With this establishment, it was discovered that the building's height and wind speed are not the only factors causing destruction; the less friction of wind with surface features will also increase the wind speed, as shown by the results of the vertical profile wind speed in relation to the tollway building's height. At a height of 13 metres, the wind speed is 3.5 m/s. Wind circulation affects the building at this elevation, causing damage to the roof and ceiling. Buildings and structures can sustain significant damage as a result of high wind speeds. When wind speeds are high, the wind's force increases, causing pressure differences on different sides of a building or structure. The findings of this study inform relevant parties of the impact of wind on building construction and how it may influence variations in wind speed

Conceptualizing Spatial Heterogeneity of Urban Composition Impacts on Precipitation Within Tropics

Urban composition has exacerbated precipitation patterns. Rapid urbanization with dynamic composition and anthropogenic activities lead to the change of physical environment, especially land-use and land cover which subsequently magnifies the environmental effects such as flash floods, extreme lightning, and landslides. Due to extreme and elevated temperature trends with exacerbated rainfall patterns, these environmental effects become major issues in tropics. Albeit several studies pointed out that rapid urbanization induced precipitation, studies about the heterogeneity of urban composition on precipitation variables are still limited. Thus, this paper review studies about precipitation pattern in relation to the heterogeneity of urban composition that successfully integrates geographical information system (GIS) and remote sensing techniques to enhance the understanding of interactions between precipitation patterns against heterogeneity of urban composition. This article also addressed the current state of uncertainties and scarcity of data concerning remote sensing techniques. Evidently, with a comprehensive investigation and probing of the precipitation variables in the context of urbanization models fused with remote sensing and GIS, they put forward powerful set tools for geographic cognition and understand how its influence on spatial variation. Hence, this study indicated a great research opportunity to set the course of action in determining the magnitude of spatial heterogeneity of an urban composition towards the pattern of precipitation

Potential Neuroprotective Effect of Apis dorsata Honey Against Morphine Tolerance: An in-vivo Study

Background: To determine the effects of Apis dorsata honey on the development of morphine tolerance and oxidative stress in rats. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 male Sprague Dawley rats were injected (subcutaneous) with 10 mg/kg of morphine following oral administration of A. dorsata honey (0.5, 1.5, and 2.5g/kg). On day 15, the rats were euthanized, and the thalamus, spinal cord, and hippocampus were homogenized to assess iNOS and MDA using ELISA kits.Results: The honey of A. dorsata significantly prevented morphine tolerance to analgesia in the hotplate test on Day 14 (p<0.05). The biochemical assessment showed that A. dorsata honey significantly reduced MDA formation in the brain regions compared to the morphine control group at dose 2.5g/kg. Elevation of iNOS caused by chronic morphine intake was reduced in A. dorsata honey co-treatment. Conclusion: This study suggests the therapeutic role of A. dorsata honey in preventing morphine tolerance via inhibition of oxidative stress

The Development of the Vulnerability Index (VI) using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)

Climate change elevates the rate of emergence of urban heat islands (UHIs), especially in the tropics. UHIs severely affect human comfort and health. Many studies have suggested that urban areas should be properly mitigated or planned. To cope with this, it is best to present the issue using easy-to-understand approaches to allow for better decision-making, especially during urban planning. Based on the information, adaptations and mitigation strategies can be suggested in order to reduce the impact. Hence, this research was aimed at determining the heat vulnerability index (HVI) of urban areas. This study was conducted in Malaysia in the Klang Valley, a tropical city with a complex urban morphology. Remote sensing techniques were employed to extract and derive the spatial index values for exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity. A principal component analysis (PCA) was used to estimate the vulnerability as well as to generate the HVI. The most vulnerable districts were found to be Petaling (1.00), Kuala Lumpur (0.99), and Putrajaya (0.95). Kuala Lumpur had a level of exposure that was high (0.56), a level of sensitivity that was high (0.84), and capacity to adapt that was low (0.54), while Petaling had a high exposure value (0.56), very high sensitivity (1), and high adaptive capacity (0.72). A Pearson’s correlation (r) test also revealed that the variables used were highly correlated. From the preliminary findings, the vulnerability of the population to high temperatures in the Klang Valley can be identified to help develop adaptative plans that are targeted as a response to rapid warming in the future in Malaysia

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS) of human skeletal muscle at 1.5 Tesla: potential applications in exercise - a pilot study

This research study aimed to evaluate metabolites in human skeletal muscles pre- and post-exercise non-invasively via proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H-MRS). The upper legs of 6 lightly active male subjects underwent imaging pre- and post-exercise via 1.5 T MRI (TR/TE = 3500ms/100ms, FOV = 20cm, slice thickness = 6mm) and ¹H-MRS (TR/TE = 2000ms/31ms, VOI = 20mm x 20mm x 35mm). The researchers measured the pre- and post-exercise metabolic readings (NAA, CHO, and Cr metabolites) for the vastus lateralis and semitendinosus muscles. A paired t-test was performed. In the vastus lateralis muscle, NAA, CHO, and Cr metabolites values decreased with no significant difference after the exercise. Similarly, in the semitendinosus muscle, NAA, CHO, and Cr metabolites values were also decreased with CHO (p<0.02) and Cr (p<0.01) showed the significant difference after the exercise. Evaluating human skeletal muscles via ¹H-MRS at 1.5 T is feasible

Amelioration of paracetamol-induced hepatotoxicity in rat by the administration of methanol extract of Muntingia calabura L. leaves

Muntingia calabura L. is a tropical plant species that belongs to the Elaeocarpaceae family. The present study is aimed at determining the hepatoprotective activity of methanol extract of M. calabura leaves (MEMC) using two models of liver injury in rats. Rats were divided into five groups (n = 6) and received 10% DMSO (negative control), 50 mg/kg N-acetylcysteine (NAC; positive control), or MEMC (50, 250, and 500 mg/kg) orally once daily for 7 days and on the 8th day were subjected to the hepatotoxic induction using paracetamol (PCM). The blood and liver tissues were collected and subjected to biochemical and microscopical analysis. The extract was also subjected to antioxidant study using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl-(DPPH) and superoxide anion-radical scavenging assays. At the same time, oxygen radical antioxidant capacity (ORAC) and total phenolic content were also determined. From the histological observation, lymphocyte infiltration and marked necrosis were observed in PCM-treated groups (negative control), whereas maintenance of hepatic structure was observed in group pretreated with N-acetylcysteine and MEMC. Hepatotoxic rats pretreated with NAC or MEMC exhibited significant decrease (P < 0.05) in ALT and AST enzymes level. Moreover, the extract also exhibited good antioxidant activity. In conclusion, MEMC exerts potential hepatoprotective activity that could be partly attributed to its antioxidant activity and, thus warrants further investigations

Software project estimation with machine learning

This project involves research about software effort estimation using machine learning algorithms. Software cost and effort estimation are crucial parts of software project development. It determines the budget, time and resources needed to develop a software project. One of the well-established software project estimation models is Constructive Cost Model (COCOMO) which was developed in the 1980s. Even though such a model is being used, COCOMO has some weaknesses and software developers still facing the problem of lack of accuracy of the effort and cost estimation. Inaccuracy in the estimated effort will affect the schedule and cost of the whole project as well. The objective of this research is to use several algorithms of machine learning to estimate the effort of software project development. The best machine learning model is chosen to compare with the COCOMO