Improvement of speed response in four-phase DC–DC converter switching using two shunt voltage-source

This study proposes a technique that is able to improve the speed response of a four-phase DC–DC converter switching. The basic concept of the proposed technique is the inclusion of two shunt-connected voltage sources in series to the converter system. Using a higher input voltage to drive the load, a higher current per microsecond output system will be obtained and reverts to its nominal input upon obtaining desired references. Thus, the transient response observed when using this proposed technique is found to be much faster when compared to the conventional converter. Moreover, this technique is easily implemented as it requires only an additional voltage source, power switch, and power diode. The integrated model of the two shunt voltage-source in a four-phase DC–DC converter was simulated in MATLAB/Simulink and validated against the experimental results of a laboratory prototype, 600 W four-phase DC–DC converter. The novelty of this proposed technique is its ability to provide faster operations for critical loads applications, lower output capacitor and lower operating frequency

Measuring students' interest towards engineering in technical school: a case study

Estimating from the steady declining rate of engineering students in Malaysia, the country is predicted to be short of 236,000 engineers and technical personnel to achieve its 2020 Mission. Hence, it has built the first technical MARA Junior Science College that introduced engineering to lower secondary students. However, there is yet a study on whether or not it helps the students to increase their interests in engineering. Therefore, in this paper, a survey has been conducted to first and foremost investigate the technical students’ interests in engineering as well as finding out the reasoning from those who are not interested in engineering. After that, a half day engineering program is introduced with a measurement on the interest in engineering before and after the intervention is held. Finally, the survey studies which field of engineering the students are most interested in. The results show that, before the program is introduced, only 8.47% of the technical students have shown high interests in engineering field with only 7.5% female students are interested in engineering compared to 18.42% for male students. After the program is introduced, as high as 33.05% students rated their interest in engineering field as ‘most interested’, with 39.47% in male students and 30% in female students. It proves that an engineering event is crucial in increasing students’ interests in engineering. It also concludes that Electrical Engineering is the most favourite field of engineering with percentage score of 38.98%, while Electrical Power being the leastPeer Reviewe

Watak dan nilai positif dalam cerita jenaka etnik peribumi terpilih di Sabah

Pewarisan sastera lisan secara tradisi menerusi pertuturan orang perseorangan atau penglipur lara bukan sekadar hiburan tetapi juga menggambarkan akal budi masyarakat terdahulu dan memiliki inti pati pengajaran yang bertujuan memberikan didikan kepada masyarakat. Kini, sastera lisan didokumentasikan, diterbitkan dan dianalisis mengikut keperluan sesuatu kajian. Sastera lisan yang berbentuk naratif, dikenali sebagai cerita rakyat mengandungi kisah binatang, cerita jenaka, hikayat dan sebagainya. Cerita jenaka Melayu seperti Pak Pandir, Lebai Malang dan Si Luncai sangat popular sehingga watak mereka dicitrakan dalam perspektif negatif seperti bodoh, bebal dan malang. Makalah ini membincangkan cerita jenaka etnik Brunei, Bajau Laut/Suluk dan Dusun yang terdapat di Sabah. Data daripada kajian ini diambil daripada buku Koleksi Cerita Rakyat Sabah (2019) yang diselenggarakan oleh Lokman Abdul Samad dan Suhaimi Yasinserta data cerita jenaka etnik Brunei yang telah diperoleh daripada kajian lapangan pada tahun 2012. Analisis data menggunakan teori kecerdasan emosi oleh Salovey dan Mayer (1990) bagi merungkai watak dan perwatakan menerusi cerita tersebut. Kajian mendapati bahawa cerita jenaka peribumi Sabah menemukan ciri watak dan nilai yang positif sekali gus memperbetul persepsi cerita jenaka Melayu yang sering kali memperlihatkan sifat bodoh dan malang sahaja. Oleh itu, cerita jenaka daripada pelbagai etnik juga wajar diberikan penekanan dan diajarkan di sekolah atau dibacakan kepada anak-anak untuk membentuk peribadi positif dalam kalangan mereka

A systematic database for microbial data collection management

Microbiology research is one of the research fields that deal with a huge volume of microbial culture collection data which needs to be preserved, due to its importance as a key resource center for obtaining, identifying, producing, preserving, cataloging, and distributing culture data of various microbes. Currently, the collection and storing of microbial culture data is performed manually via various data transfers into record books, logbooks, or spreadsheets. However, the manual process seems to be impractical as it is highly prone to human error and time-consuming, aside from the struggle of managing and retrieving the data. Therefore, to address this issue, we have successfully designed and developed a customized database for microbial data collection that allows users to store, access, visualize and retrieve information in a single platform. The agile development approach has been implemented during the software development process allowing more flexibility during the development phase yet managing to fulfill the functional requirements of the end-users. The front end is created using the Bootstrap framework, an open-source and powerful platform for developing user-friendly web pages and web applications. It is connected to the back-end MySQL database as a relational database management system to organize structured data. As a result, the developed microbial culture collection has eliminated manual data entry and accelerated the data retrieval process. The platform is a one-stop platform for microbiologists when dealing with microbial culture collection data

High failure rate in mathematics subject: influencing factors and study styles / Zuraida Alwadood … [et al.]

The objectives of this study are to determine factors that contribute to the Engineering Calculus subject failures and to analyse the study styles of students taking this course. Based on the literature search, these factors are categorised into three domains which are students’ attitude, students’ background and teacher-related factors. A survey research was done to a sample of engineering degree students who are taking Engineering Calculus subject at their third semester. It was found that non-systematic study style is the greatest factor which has been claimed by the respondents as the main reason for their failures. Besides this, a majority of the students are comfortable with studying alone, as compared to taking part in study group or seeking help from lecturers. These findings suggest that corrective actions should be taken by the students, lecturers, as well as the faculty in order to cope with the alarming failure rate of mathema tics subject

The Effectiveness of Event Promotion by Using Social Networking Site (SNS)

The evolution of the era showed people had changed their living style. To conduct their regular chores, people today need technological gadgets like tablets, smartphones, and PCs. While the majority of individuals now consider having access to the Internet and different social media platforms to be a norm and part of their everyday lives. It indicates the importance of the Internet and social media in people's daily lives nowadays and the widespread use of social media as a promotional tool by the majority of businesses. However, is there effective in promoting the events and reliable to promote the event? In order to determine the efficiency of event advertising, this study will look at the Social Networking Site (SNS) channel.This study involved 200 surveys among event participants using simple random sampling in Kuching City, Sarawak. The results of the descriptive study indicate that the SNS channels are the factors that can affect how well an event is promoted

Analyses using genomic and transcriptomic data of mads-box genes in Elaeis guineensis

MADS-box genes encode a group of transcription factor family, well known as key regulators of plant vegetative and development processes, including flowering. Here, we aimed at analysing MADS-box genes in African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) genome, the pre-dominant source of worldwide production of vegetable oils. A total of 209 potential MADSbox genes are identified in the published 1.8 Gb E. guineensis draft genome. A de novo assembly of RNA-seq data from inflorescence tissues was constructed using Trinity software. The analysed transcriptome data has validated 36 full-length genes, inclusive of seven transcripts that were previously annotated to encode unknown proteins. Of the 36 genes discovered, 21 genes were characterised as Type I MADS-box genes and phylogenetic analysis using maximum likelihood approach further classified them into three sub-groups of Mα, Mβ and Mγ. Based on in silico analyses, we have successfully identified one gene annotated as unknown protein to contain a domain of “MADS-box transcription factor”. Its differential expression data, comparison between normal and mantled inflorescence of oil palm, suggested the involvement of the gene in the mantling related process. The findings contribute to updated oil palm genome information which may potentially lead to future understanding of the association of MADS-box genes in mantled oil palm. This may also lead to a resource for biomarker discovery

In silico genome-wide computational profiling of non-coding RNA in oil palm Elaeis guineensis and its pathogen Ganoderma boninense

Oil palm plantation was first established in Malaysia in 1917. Since then, the oil palm industry in Malaysia flourished especially following the shifting of Deli Dura palm to Tenera palm in the 1960s, which contributed to a 30% increase in yield. However, the outbreak of basal stem rot disease caused by Ganoderma boninense has caused substantial yield losses. With no known cure to date, extensive molecular studies were conducted to better understand the underlying mechanism of G. boninense infection and the role of protein-coding genes as regulators in oil palms against G. boninense. The studies have demonstrated the importance of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) in the interaction between oil palm and G. boninense. However, there is still limited genome-scale identification for ncRNAs in oil palm (Elaeis guineensis jacq.) and its pathogen, G. boninense. In this study, we focused on the identification of small and medium-sized non-coding RNA using a computational approach and managed to predict 2,233 ncRNAs and 369 ncRNAs in the E. guineensis and G. boninense genomes, respectively. The identified ncRNAs include transfer RNA (tRNA), ribosomal RNA (rRNA), small nuclear RNA (snRNA), small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA), and microRNA (miRNA). Although the number may be far fewer than the real number, the predicted ncRNAs here represent an almost complete dataset of small and medium-sized ncRNA in both the E. guineensis and G. boninense genomes. The information obtained may be useful to tackle the issue of G. boninense attack on oil palm plantations

Design of Shallow Source/Drain Extension (SDE) Profiles in Improving Short -Channel Effect (SCE) in Nanoscale Devices

This paper purposed the design of shallow source/drain extension (SDE) in improving short channel effect (SCE) in nanoscale devices. In order to increase the mobility and the speed of the electronic devices, semiconductor technology researchers face the limitations such as short channel effect in MOSFET device as it is unavoidable in scaling. Thus, the aim of this project is to improve the short-channel effect in nanoscale devices. The design parameter standard structure of MetalOxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistor (MOSFET) were proposed referring to the International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors (ITRS) 2011 edition and compared the structure with same standard structure of ITRS with modification to the junction depth that becomes more shallow source/drain extension (SDE). Silvaco’s DEVEDIT software is used to design the structure of MOSFET with three different gate lengths, while Silvaco’s ATLAS software is used to simulate the structure for data extraction to obtain the output graph. From the output, it shows that, as the size of MOSFET gate length becomes smaller, the threshold voltages also decrease. In improving the SCE, the value of threshold voltage, Vth, is slightly increases on shallower the source/drain extension (SDE). The value of “ON’’ current (ION) also has been extracted for all designs of MOSFET

Antioxidative constituents from twig and leaves of jasminum sambac / Nurul Fatin Fakhira Mohd Padli ... [et. al.]

This study aimed to investigate new antioxidative constituents from twig and leaves of Jasminium sambac (Oleaceae family) as potent antioxidant sources. The antioxidant behaviour of each extract from twig and leaves of J. sambac was assessed qualitatively by spraying the thin layer chromatography (TLC) of extracts with 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and quantitatively by DPPH radical scavenging method. The collection of antioxidative constituents was carried out using centrifugal chromatography. The chemical structures of all constituents were identified from Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometer (GCMS). The qualitative Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) screening of antioxidants showed that all types of extracts from J. sambac leaves demonstrated moderate antioxidant behaviour as well as the extracts from twig parts. The quantitative DPPH radical scavenging activity of leaves and twig extracts revealed dichloromethane (DCM) extract scavenged DPPH free radicals more effective at IC50of 6.24 ppm and 5.22 ppm respectively compared to petroleum ether extract and methanol extract where both extracts exhibited IC50more than 100 ppm. The antioxidative constituents isolated from DCM extract of twig of J. sambac were recognized as isoamyl nitrite and benzophenone whereby benzophenone was also found in DCM extract of J.sambac leaves. Thus, J. sambaccan be considered as a promising source of bioactive compounds with potent antioxidant properties which can be utilized as baseline information to overcome health disorders