An Efficient Method for Conducting Step Testing ofCrude Distillation Unit

The objective in implementing the process control strategy is to maintain the process at desired condition, safely and efficiently, while satisfying environmental and product quality requirement. There are seven layers of a process control hierarchy which are instrument, safety, regulator, multivariable, real time optimization and planning and scheduling. Some of the strategies, as for example model predictive controller which located at multivariable stage requires a model to enable it to be implement. There are four phase in developing a model-required process control strategy such as MPC. The phases are; 1) pretest and preliminary MPC design 2) plant testing 3) model and controller development and 4) commissioning and training. The accuracy and reliability of the deliverables from each phases is extremely crucial in determining the success of the developed process control strategy. According to literature, plant testing took the longest period of among all the stages. The plant testing could consume up to 50% of the time used in order to develop the model. In orderto run the plant testing, taking steptesting as for an example, there is a literature suggested that the step testing shall be made between eight and twelve step, where for each step, the developer have to let the process to reach steady state before implementinganother step. This study has the objective to reduced the effort, generally, and time particularly, while conducting a plant testing. In this report, the Case Study of Crude Distillation Unit by Aspen HYSYS was used to generating the experimental data. From the data generated, the MATLAB System Identification Toolbox was later used to generate the model. The model generated later was analyzed to investigate the project objective. All the necessary steps that are required will be explained through this report

Antagonistic of Trichoderma spp. as biological control agent against Rhizoctonia solani, Sheath blight disease in rice / Muhammad Ikmal Mohd Zulkifli

Sheath blight caused by Rhizoctonia solani is categorized as the one of the most serious disease that effects the rice production which has widely established in many areas cultivation rice in Malaysia. The effective of Trichoderma was tested towards inoculated rice with R. solani which is the causal agent of disease severity. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to conduct pathogenicity test of R. solani of sheath blight disease on rice and to determine the performance of Trichoderma spp. for measurement against R. solani. Rice was growth under normal condition until reach maximum tillering and was conducted to pathogenicity test by using conidial suspension method. After that, suspension of Trichoderma was used as biological control agent. Disease severity was observed and recorded for 6 days in order to observe the difference of application using Trichoderma spp. All five isolates showed the disease severity after six days of inoculation with isolate SB 01 and SB 04 has 95% and 90% which is the highest score. Meanwhile, after the application of Trichoderma, isolate SB 01 and SB 04 has 50% and 30% score which is the highest score. As conclusion, by using Trichoderma spp. as biological control can be decreased the disease severity of sheath blight disease which causes by Rhizoctonia solani as pathogenic agent

An Efficient Method for Conducting Step Testing ofCrude Distillation Unit

The objective in implementing the process control strategy is to maintain the process at desired condition, safely and efficiently, while satisfying environmental and product quality requirement. There are seven layers of a process control hierarchy which are instrument, safety, regulator, multivariable, real time optimization and planning and scheduling. Some of the strategies, as for example model predictive controller which located at multivariable stage requires a model to enable it to be implement. There are four phase in developing a model-required process control strategy such as MPC. The phases are; 1) pretest and preliminary MPC design 2) plant testing 3) model and controller development and 4) commissioning and training. The accuracy and reliability of the deliverables from each phases is extremely crucial in determining the success of the developed process control strategy. According to literature, plant testing took the longest period of among all the stages. The plant testing could consume up to 50% of the time used in order to develop the model. In orderto run the plant testing, taking steptesting as for an example, there is a literature suggested that the step testing shall be made between eight and twelve step, where for each step, the developer have to let the process to reach steady state before implementinganother step. This study has the objective to reduced the effort, generally, and time particularly, while conducting a plant testing. In this report, the Case Study of Crude Distillation Unit by Aspen HYSYS was used to generating the experimental data. From the data generated, the MATLAB System Identification Toolbox was later used to generate the model. The model generated later was analyzed to investigate the project objective. All the necessary steps that are required will be explained through this report

Performance of spent garnet as sand replacement in concrete at high temperature

Garnet is ideal for many commercial uses due to its potential to be recycled. The dumping millions of tons of spent garnet in landfills, quarries, oceans and waterways will cause the creating environmental concerns. In this study, spent garnet as a sand replacement is produced to innovate sustainable concrete. The research objectives are to study the effects of strength of spent garnet as sand replacement in concrete mix at high temperature and to evaluate its physical properties of spent garnet. Several laboratory experiments were conducted to determine the physical and its compressive strength before and after exposed to high temperature. Furthermore, the test for the physical properties that had been conducted were, specific gravity, bulk density and water absorption test. Other than that, the compressive strength of 30MPa at 28 days for trial mix design were prepared accordingly. The cube specimens of 100 × 100 × 100 mm were provided with substitution of 0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% of spent garnet as sand replacement with 0.45 of water cement ration. All the concrete mixes containing spent garnet were produced slump of 30-60mm. Based on the test result, the cube specimen of 40 percent of spent garnet after heated started decrease in term of strength due to the present of the excessive of spent garnet particles in the concrete which can weaken the bond between aggregates and the cement paste. Thus, it reduces the concrete strength in term of less compaction of concrete has lower bonding strength

Satisfaction of IIUM medical students towards online learning and its facilitating factors

The declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic on 11th March 2020 has left a significant mark on the global education ecosystem. The transition from conventional to online learning is challenging for the administrators, teachers and students. The purpose of this study is to determine the satisfaction towards online learning and its facilitating factors among medical students in the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM). We conducted a cross-sectional study among first- and second-year medical students in IIUM from July to August 2021. The study protocol has been approved by the institutional research committee (Research ID 735). We asked the participants to complete a web-based self-administered Online Learning Experience Questionnaire (OLEQ) and rated the items using the 4 and 5-Likert scales. We used IBM SPSS Statistics 26 (IBM, New York) to describe and analyse the data. We received 50% (n=77) and 59% (n=80) responses from first- and secondyear medical students respectively. In general, the satisfaction of the students towards online learning was positive (mean 2.84-3.87 out of 4). In both cohorts, access to information and learning material scored the highest satisfaction followed by interaction with teachers. Meanwhile, the topmost factor facilitating online learning was being encouraged to take responsibility for their learning [4.11 (0.82) out of 5] followed by electronic communication with the teacher [3.92 (0.91)]. We found a positive association between the satisfaction score towards online learning and the facilitating factors score (r=0.635, p<0.001). In a nutshell, we can see that the IIUM medical students’ satisfaction towards online learning was positive and this could be attributed to the facilitating factors. This finding could be useful for policy-makers and administrators in education to focus on these factors to keep the system relevant in this current pandemic situation

Perceptions of the online learning experience among medical students during COVID-19

Social gatherings have been limited during the COVID 19 pandemic to reduce the transmission of viruses. Many academic institutions have shifted their classes from traditional methods into online remote teaching and learning sessions. Since neither the students nor lecturers were familiar with this setting, the delivery of medical education has undoubtedly impacted as the lectures, clinical placements and key examinations were discontinued. Many adjustments need to be made in order to make sure that the online teaching is held properly. This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of online learning experience among medical students during the pandemic. An online survey was distributed to 158 medical students from Year 1 and Year 2 of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) from July 2021 till August 2021. The Learning Community Scale and Student Support Scale based on Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) were applied to measure the participants' perceptions. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Based on the Learning Community scale, higher response values signified better feelings towards the learning community. The average scores of all five questions were high level (3.68-4.36 on 5-Likert scale), suggesting that the participants were feeling well towards their learning community. Likewise, higher response values in the Student Support scale indicated that better student support is perceived. The average scores of all five questions were also high (3.11-4.31 on 5-Likert scale), indicating that the respondents perceived an adequate amount of student support. In conclusion, the study conjectured positive perceptions towards their learning experience during COVID-19 pandemic among the students despite the sudden shift from physical to online teaching and learning sessions. However, broader ethnic groups and larger sample sizes might be useful for more precise and reliable future results

Perceptions of the online learning experience among medical students during covid-19

Social gatherings have been limited during the COVID 19 pandemic to reduce the transmission of viruses. Many academic institutions have shifted their classes from traditional methods into online remote teaching and learning sessions. Since neither the students nor lecturers were familiar with this setting, the delivery of medical education has undoubtedly impacted as the lectures, clinical placements and key examinations were discontinued. Many adjustments need to be made in order to make sure that the online teaching is held properly. This study was conducted to investigate the perceptions of online learning experience among medical students during the pandemic. An online survey was distributed to 158 medical students from Year 1 and Year 2 of International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) from July 2021 till August 2021. The Learning Community Scale and Student Support Scale based on Course Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) were applied to measure the participants' perceptions. The data were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Based on the Learning Community scale, higher response values signified better feelings towards the learning community. The average scores of all five questions were high level (3.68-4.36 on 5-Likert scale), suggesting that the participants were feeling well towards their learning community. Likewise, higher response values in the Student Support scale indicated that better student support is perceived. The average scores of all five questions were also high (3.11-4.31 on 5-Likert scale), indicating that the respondents perceived an adequate amount of student support. In conclusion, the study conjectured positive perceptions towards their learning experience during COVID-19 pandemic among the students despite the sudden shift from physical to online teaching and learning sessions. However, broader ethnic groups and larger sample sizes might be useful for more precise and reliable future results

Physical health of preclinical medical students during covid-19

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several preventive measures have been put in place including movement restriction and closure of non-essential services in Malaysia including educational premises and shifting towards online learning. Physical inactivity may impact medical students’ quality of life, particularly their physical and mental health, as both are especially influenced by doing physical activity. This study aimed to assess the physical health of medical students during the pandemic. This study has been approved by the institutional research committee (Research ID: 735). All Year 1 and Year 2 International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) medical students were invited to participate in this cross-sectional study. Participants were asked to complete an online, self-administered abbreviated World Health Organisation Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF) questionnaire from July until August 2021. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 (IBM, New York). We received 158 responses, consisting of 77 Year 1 and 81 Year 2 students. All participants were undertaking online remote learning at the time of study. The mean score for overall quality of life was 14.58 (3.23) whereas the physical health domain mean score was 14.18 (2.48). We found that the requirement for medical treatment scored the highest 17.70 (3.42) whereas work capacity scored the lowest 12.25 (3.95). There was no significant difference in the scores between 14.50 (2.56) and 13.87 (2.37) for Year 1 and Year 2 students in the individual items (p=0.107- 0.862). We concluded that despite the nationwide lockdown, the medical students in IIUM reported acceptable-good quality of life and physical health. This could be due to their adaptation to the new norms by applying the right coping strategy. Future study to re-assess their quality of life is due should the lockdown are further extended or tightened

Association of barriers of learning during COVID-19 pandemic with mental health

On March 11, 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared that COVID-19 has become a pandemic. Therefore, online learning (OL) has replaced face-to-face teaching and learning sessions in many schools and colleges. This has forced the students to adapt to a new environment and overcome some barriers during the OL. However, the increase in suicidal rate among students is a disturbing phenomenon due to mental vulnerability experienced during the current worldwide situation. This study was done to investigate the association between barriers of learning during Covid-19 with mental well-being among International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) pre-clinical medical students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among the Year 1 (n=77) and Year 2 (n=81) medical students of IIUM, from July until August 2021. They were recruited to answer self-administered online questionnaires based on 5 remote learning barriers (inadequate interaction with classmates and teachers, lack of peer support and confidence to handle online tasks, and difficulty in applying taught concepts). The survey includes Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD-5) and Well Being Index (WHO5) to assess mental well-being and was approved by the institutional ethical committee (Research ID: 735). The results were analysed using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 (IBM, New York). The prevalence of depression and anxiety among medical students were 27.8% and 86.7% respectively. More than half of the respondents agreed with all learning barriers listed. However, the difficulty in applying taught concepts is the only significant barrier associated with depression (p<0.05). In conclusion, although only one item was identified as significant, it was an undeniable factor. Corrective measures must be taken to minimize it as continuous exposure may deteriorate mental health among medical students. Careful evaluation is required in order to ensure the quality of education remains upheld to its highest standards without jeopardizing the students’ psychological well-being