Dinomyrmex gigas (Latreille, 1802): a potential icon for Taman Negara Johor Endau Rompin

Dinomyrmex gigas (Latreille, 1802) is one of the largest ants in the world and the largest in Southeast Asia. It is also more commonly known as the giant forest ant. This large charismatic ant can be found in the forests of Southeast Asia, however it is not often sighted by the public due to its predominant nocturnal nature. Despite being considerably well studied compared to its smaller counterparts, most people know little about the giant forest ant beyond its large size. Most studies on this species focus on the populations found in Malaysia and Brunei characterizing many aspects of the natural history and biology of this species including its foraging behaviour, diet, territoriality, reproduction and colony structure. While much is known about the biology of this species, fragmented forest habitats may have an impact on the viability and behaviour of this majestic giant ant of the forest. This study involved insects’ viability observation and sampling of ant specimens. The results of observations showed that D. gigas is viable in Endau Rompin Johor National Park (TNJER). Then, various ecological aspects of D. gigas was investigated through field studies and secondary information. Due to its size and uniqueness this species has a potential to be developed into a nature tourism product for Malaysia. The present study elaborated to further discover its daily activity, nesting and defence behaviour which could be useful in developing it into a nature tourism product. As the species is also limited in distribution to undisturbed forest, the issue of its survival is discussed with relation to conservation of the tropical rainforest

Thermal behaviour of single ply triaxial woven fabric composites

This paper studies the complex thermal deformation of single-ply triaxial weave com- posites. This behaviour is studied experimentally, by testing ?at plates and narrow strips of TWF, and numerically, by carrying out ?nite-element simulations that capture the e?ects of the thermo-mechanical anisotropy of the individual tows that make up the composite. It is shown that the dominating e?ect is the development of a thermally-induced twist

Chinese economic reform: approach, vision and constraints

This paper examines the major aspects of economic changes in China in relation to the government's long range goals for economic reform. Various reform experiments introduced in 1978-79 and leading to the reforms of 1984-85 are examined, together with the major elements of the Chinese blueprint for the economic system. A survey is made of the constraints on policy realization in agriculture, industry and the foreign sector

Redesign and Quantitative Assessment of an Accelerated Venous Valve Fatigue Apparatus

Chronic venous insufficiency (CVI) is a form of cardiovascular disease that is caused when valves in the leg become incompetent. Current treatment methods serve to manage symptoms, but there are currently no ways to treat the underlying cause of CVI. A venous valve prosthetic made from a xenograft of a bovine jugular vein is one possible treatment method currently in the research phase. Prosthetic valves must be tested with an accelerated wear tester prior to approval for clinical testing. Although such testers exist for heart valves, physiological differences between heart and venous valves restrict the use those testers on venous valves. An accelerated wear tester, or venous valve fatigue apparatus, was created by a student previously, but failed when the rubber syringe tips melted due to friction. The previous project ran for a total of 10 hours and no conclusive results were determined from subsequent mechanical testing of the valves. The goal of this project was to redesign and rebuild the fatigue apparatus to be more durable, in addition to obtaining quantitative data signifying the machine was working. The fatigue apparatus should create a pressure difference that would drive the valve to repeatedly open and close, wearing the valve out over time. The reconstruction of the apparatus was successfully completed by replacing the syringes used to pump water, with a pneumatic air cylinder connected to a diaphragm. The pneumatic air cylinder causes the diaphragm to expand and contract, moving water with it. Pressure measurements were obtained from the diaphragm, indicating that a maximum pressure 27.24 kPa was created by the diaphragm. Although pressure with a vein would be slightly less, valves close in response to a 1.33 – 5.33 kPa increase. Therefore, the apparatus should function as intended. Testing with a vein was not accomplished in this experiment due to complications from COVID-19 and can be conducted as part of future work

Frogs of populated localities at west coast and Kudat divisions, Sabah, Malaysia: assemblage of merely commensal species or not?

Inventory-based studies on frogs in Sabah have focused on protected areas

Design thinking practice and research: Building research culture in undergraduate studies

The relationships between design practice and research in university education is an on-going discussion. The expansion and development of design fields such as Design Thinking has generated discussions between research and practice (see Kimbell, 2011; Sangiorgi, 2010). This sees the urge to develop strong research culture in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies. This paper presents and discusses a Design Thinking framework in cultivating research culture in undergraduate Design courses at Edith Cowan University (ECU), Western Australia

Australian Fathers\u27 Study: What influences paternal engagement with antenatal care?

This mixed-methods study explores factors associated with and levels of engagement of fathers in antenatal care. One hundred expectant fathers were recruited from antenatal clinics and community settings in Western Australia. They completed validated questionnaires. Eighty-three percent of expectant fathers reported a lack of engagement with antenatal care. Factors significantly associated with lack of engagement in multivariate analysis were working more than 40 hours a week and lack of adequate consultation by antenatal care staff. In qualitative analysis, 6 themes emerged in association with a lack of engagement. They were role in decision making, time pressures, the observer effect, lack of knowledge, barriers to attendance, and feeling unprepared or anxious. Care providers should involve fathers in consultations to improve paternal engagement

Evaluating Byzantine-Based Blockchain Consensus Algorithms for Sarawak’s Digitalized Pepper Value Chain

A chosen network structure of Practical Byzantine Fault Tolerance (PBFT), a Byzantine-based consensus algorithm, is proposed to minimize some of the identified pain points faced by the pepper stakeholders. Byzantine-based consensus algorithms are used to achieve the same agreement on a single data value, including transactions and block state, and to maintain system continuity even when several nodes have failed to respond or transmit inconsistent messages in the blockchain network

Development Of Vehicle Tracking And Counting System From Traffic Surveillance Video

A vehicle counting and tracking system automatically detects and classifies vehicles from traffic surveillance video sequences. The system are used to replace manual labor to collect vehicles data for various application such as transportation planning and road safety evaluation. The existing Vehicle Detection and Classification System does not have tracking and counting module implemented. Tracking is required to enable automatic vehicle count. The objective of this project is to develop and implement tracking and counting feature into the existing vehicle detection and classification system, assess the vehicle detection and classification with tracking and counting feature system performances, and select the optimal parameters for tracking and counting module. Visual Background Extractor (ViBE) is used to extract the vehicles (foreground) from the traffic surveillance video sequences. Simple tracking and counting algorithm is used to track and count the detected vehicle. Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) is used to extract features from the detected vehicle. Multi-class Support Vector Machine (SVM) is used to classify the detected vehicle into four classes, which are motorcycle, car, lorry, and non-vehicle. The system is evaluated using two video sequences which are 670 seconds long with total of 20100 frames. The overall system performance achieves 78.19 % and 88.14% for vehicle detection and classification, respectively