Structural Surface Mapping for Shape Analysis

Natural surfaces are usually associated with feature graphs, such as the cortical surface with anatomical atlas structure. Such a feature graph subdivides the whole surface into meaningful sub-regions. Existing brain mapping and registration methods did not integrate anatomical atlas structures. As a result, with existing brain mappings, it is difficult to visualize and compare the atlas structures. And also existing brain registration methods can not guarantee the best possible alignment of the cortical regions which can help computing more accurate shape similarity metrics for neurodegenerative disease analysis, e.g., Alzheimer’s disease (AD) classification. Also, not much attention has been paid to tackle surface parameterization and registration with graph constraints in a rigorous way which have many applications in graphics, e.g., surface and image morphing. This dissertation explores structural mappings for shape analysis of surfaces using the feature graphs as constraints. (1) First, we propose structural brain mapping which maps the brain cortical surface onto a planar convex domain using Tutte embedding of a novel atlas graph and harmonic map with atlas graph constraints to facilitate visualization and comparison between the atlas structures. (2) Next, we propose a novel brain registration technique based on an intrinsic atlas-constrained harmonic map which provides the best possible alignment of the cortical regions. (3) After that, the proposed brain registration technique has been applied to compute shape similarity metrics for AD classification. (4) Finally, we propose techniques to compute intrinsic graph-constrained parameterization and registration for general genus-0 surfaces which have been used in surface and image morphing applications

On-line Handwritten Character Recognition: An Implementation of Counterpropagation Neural Net

On-line handwritten scripts are usually dealt with pen tip traces from pen-down to pen-up positions. Time evaluation of the pen coordinates is also considered along with trajectory information. However, the data obtained needs a lot of preprocessing including filtering, smoothing, slant removing and size normalization before recognition process. Instead of doing such lengthy preprocessing, this paper presents a simple approach to extract the useful character information. This work evaluates the use of the counter- propagation neural network (CPN) and presents feature extraction mechanism in full detail to work with on-line handwriting recognition. The obtained recognition rates were 60% to 94% using the CPN for different sets of character samples. This paper also describes a performance study in which a recognition mechanism with multiple hresholds is evaluated for counter-propagation architecture. The results indicate that the application of multiple thresholds has significant effect on recognition mechanism. The method is applicable for off-line character recognition as well. The technique is tested for upper-case English alphabets for a number of different styles from different peoples

The impact of servicescape on patronage intention: Evidence from Arabic restaurants in Shah Alam / Muhammad Ashraaf Ahmad Razib

Intense competition in the business environment forces firms to look for ther best approach to attract and create patronage intention. Servicescape is a strategy used by many firms to maintain patronage intention. Good implementation of servicescape strategies will result in quality built between customers and firms. The main study of this research is to investigate the impact of servicescape on patronage intention evidence from Arabic restaurants in Shah Alam. Patronage intention being a dependent variables in this research and measured by five independent variables which is aesthetics, ambient conditions, space, seating comfort and cleanliness. A review of literature was conducted to find out the patronage intention on Arabic restaurants. The literature review confirms this relationship. This research is based on 130 respondents which collect in three Arabic restaurants area town Shah Alam which is Al Rawsha Restaurant, Sahara Tent Restaurant and Zam Zam Arabic Restaurant. Sampling method used in this study is convenience sampling. The data was analyzed using correlation coefficient and regression by using SPSS software. The findings reveal that are positive relationship between these servicescape dimensions and patronage intention. However, the result shows that ambient conditions, seating comfort and cleanliness has significant impact on patronage intention

Pertanggungjawaban Hukum Proksi atas Kejahatan Internasional Melalui “Taylor’s Doctrine”

Perkembangan teknologi dan hubungan internasional telah memaksa perubahan fundamental dalam perang atau konflik, dimana perang konvensional dianggap tidak relevan lagi digunakan ketika terjadi konflik antara para pihak yang terlibat (belligerent). Kondisi tersebut menjadikan konsep perang proksi yang dikenal juga sebagai konsep berperang secara tidak langsung (indirect involvemen) menjadi salah satu mekanisme berperang yang paling populer saat ini. Namun, pergeseran teknis-mekanis tersebut tidak menghilangkan fakta bahwa perang merupakan salah satu faktor utama pendorong terjadinya kejahatan internasional yang menjadi ancaman bagi nilai-nilai kemanusiaan universal. Bentuk perang proksi yang tidak langsung, tersembunyi dan cenderung tidak tampak menjadi tantangan bagi penegakan hukum internasional, khususnya dalam memetakan pertanggungjawaban kejahatan internasional yang dilakukan oleh proksi maupun pihak yang melakukan proxy intervention. Dengan menggunakan metode penelitian hukum normatif, penelitian ini melakukan analisis terhadap regulasi, konsep dan doktrin dalam hukum internasional, dalam hal ini “Taylor’s Doctrine” yang menyediakan konsep “aiding and abetting” untuk melihat relasi antara proksi dengan proxy intervention dalam kaitannya dengan pertanggungjawaban atas kejahatan internasional yang telah terjadi

Investigation of Attributes that Influence the Insider Trust

A study of cyber-attack incidents emanating from insiders identifies some characteristic of the malicious user including trust, attack on hardware, software and network, and vulnerabilities of threat. Among the research that has been conducted, insider trust is identified as a critical characteristic where trust of insider is categorized as a major potential to attack system information either high, medium or low risk to access the sensitive document. Trust characteristics is hard to be analyzed due to the different human behaviour. Thus, a survey was conducted that includes hypothesis to support the investigation of insider threat characteristic. To obtain the result of finding prominent insider trust criteria, a regression analysis is used to get the actual value. A survey has been distributed to multiple user roles of three systems namely e-Plantation System (ePS), eCampus System (eCampus) and Human Resources Management System (eHRMS). The outcome of this study demonstrates that skill and experience are two prominent factors that mainly influence the characteristic of insider trust

Patient satisfaction with the quality of healthcare services at selected major outpatient clinics at Sultan Ahmad Shah Medical Centre Kuantan Pahang

INTRODUCTION: Patient satisfaction is a key factor in determining any gaps or inadequacies in the healthcare provider's services. This study aimed to measure the level of patient satisfaction and its associated factors towards the healthcare service of outpatient clinics in Sultan Ahmad Shah Medical Centre (SASMEC), IIUM, Kuantan, Pahang. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 1050 patients were recruited from internal medicine, paediatrics, surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, orthopaedics, and psychiatry clinics between February 2021 and February 2022. A questionnaire was administered which consists of two parts: one that covers patients’ sociodemographic data and the other that assesses the patients’ level of satisfaction with the healthcare services using the Malay-validated Short-Form Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ-18). RESULTS: The mean overall satisfaction level was 3.94 ± 0.46, with the highest mean scores in the interpersonal manners (4.2 ± 0.64) and communications (4.26 ± 0.56) domains. From the multivariate analysis, it was found that those patients in the lower income group (B40) were more satisfied with the quality of the healthcare services (B=0.172, 95% CI=0.08, 0.263) compared to the middle-income group. Being a student (B=-0.202, 95% CI=-0.296, -0.108) and having a follow-up treatment visit (B=-0.082, 95% CI=-0.156, -0.008), were significantly associated with lower satisfaction levels as compared to their counterparts. CONCLUSION: Overall, patients who attended SASMEC were satisfied with the service provided. Continuous service improvement aimed at patients’ household income, occupation and purpose of visit may help SASMEC enhance its service in the future

A systematic approach of rock slope stability assessment: a case study at Gunung Kandu, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia

The stability of the limestone cliff at Gunung Kandu, Gopeng, Perak, Malaysia was assessed based on the Slope Mass Rating (SMR) system on 53 cross sections of the Gunung Kandu hill slopes. The slopes of Gunung Kandu were identified as class I (very good) to IV (poor). The kinematic analysis showed that 12 out of 53 hill slopes of Gunung Kandu were identified as having potential wedge, planar and toppling failures. The assessment showed that the stability of the western flanks can be classified as stable to unstable with the probability of failure from 0.2 to 0.6. The stability of the eastern and southern flanks range from very stable to partially stable with the probability of failure from 0.0 to 0.4. While the stability of northern flanks are from very stable to stable with the probability of failure of 0.0 - 0.2. This systematic approach offers a practical method especially for large area of rock slope stability assessment and the results from probability of failure values will help engineers to design adequate mitigation measures

MANUAL FOR IBADAH CAMP ORGANIZER A PART OF THE IIUM FLAGSHIP ENTITLED “GENDER DYSPHORIA”

Maknyah or male-to-female transgender are those who transform their identity biologically from male to female through crossdressing and their lifestyle associated with homosexuality. Crossdressing and homosexuality are unlawful in accordance with Islamic practices. Often, these transgenders are associated with being sex workers in major hotspots such as in Federal Territory Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Pulau Pinang, Pahang and Sarawak.1 It is estimated that the population size of sex workers in Malaysia in 2018 is 37,000 (22,000 Female Sex Workers and 15,000 Transgender Sex Workers). Despite the reducing number of transgender sex workers in Malaysia (as compared to previous Key Population Estimates in 2010), it is still a concern to Muslims and this trend needs to be relieved promptly

On-line cursive handwriting recognition: a survey of methods and performances

This paper presents a detailed review of prior techniques and applications for on-line cursive handwriting recognition. This survey is divided into two parts, the first one dealing with the review of main approaches used in character recognition, since most have been used in cursive script recognition as well. The second one is focusing on the prior techniques for on-line cursive handwriting recognition and their applications

Neural Nets for On-line Isolated Handwritten Character Recognition: A Comparative Study

Handwriting processing is a domain in great expansion which in the present day begins to see several industrial realizations. The field of personal computing has begun to make a transition from the desktop to handheld devices, thereby requiring input paradigms that are more suited for single hand entry than a keyboard. Online handwriting recognition allows for such input modalities. Handwriting recognition has always been a tough problem because of the handwriting variability, ambiguity and illegibility. This paper describes a simple approach involved in online handwriting recognition. Conventionally, the data obtained needs a lot of preprocessing including filtering, smoothing, slant removing and size normalization before recognition process. Instead of doing such lengthy preprocessing, this paper presents a simple approach to extract the useful character information. The whole process requires no preprocessing and size normalization. The method is applicable for off-line character recognition as well. This is a writer-independent system based on two neural net (NN) techniques: back propagation neural network (BPN) and counter propagation neural network (CPN). Performances of BPN and CPN are tested for upper-case English alphabets for a number of different styles from different peoples