Ionospheric Drift Motions and Velocities at UTHM’s Parit Raja Station During Periods of Low Solar and Geomagnetic Activities

Measurements relating to ionospheric plasma drift have been made by the Wireless and Radio Science Centre (WARAS) at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Parit Raja station in Batu Pahat, Johor, since 2004. This is done using a digital doppler interferometer which allows investigations into the dynamics of the ionosphere at this equatorial station to be carried out. These measurements include Doppler shifts and angles of arrival of the reflected HF signals that also allows simultaneous determination of plasma drift directions, drift distance covered and velocities as well as virtual heights of reflection, from ionospheric scattering point sources embedded within the moving plasma. By employing Doppler inteferometry reception technique at four receivers connected to four square array antennas nearby, it is possible to identify the locations, movements and velocities of the bulk scattering points reflected from the ionospheric F-region from the vertically incident HF waves. These waves are transmitted at frequencies of 6MHz, 7MHz, and 8MHz which cover the local F-layers since the critical frequencies lie between 5.9MHz and 8MHz. This work is based on data collected from the F2-layer of this local station at about 300km of virtual height during the measurement period of 2005

Ionospheric Drift Motions and Velocities at UTHM's Parit Raja Station During Periods of Low Solar and Geomagnetic Activities

Measurements relating to ionospheric plasma drift have been made by the Wireless and Radio Science Centre (WARAS) at Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) Parit Raja station in Batu Pahat, Johor, since 2004. This is done using a digital doppler interferometer which allows investigations into the dynamics of the ionosphere at this equatorial station to be carried out. These measurements include Doppler shifts and angles of arrival of the reflected HF signals that also allows simultaneous determination of plasma drift directions, drift distance covered and velocities as well as virtual heights of reflection, from ionospheric scattering point sources embedded within the moving plasma. By employing Doppler inteferometry reception technique at four receivers connected to four square array antennas nearby, it is possible to identify the locations, movements and velocities of the bulk scattering points reflected from the ionospheric F-region from the vertically incident HF waves. These waves are transmitted at frequencies of 6MHz, 7MHz, and 8MHz which cover the local F-layers since the critical frequencies lie between 5.9MHz and 8MHz. This work is based on data collected from the F2-layer of this local station at about 300km of virtual height during the measurement period of 2005

Tahap pengetahuan pelajar tentang konsep menutup aurat: suatu tinjauan umum

The philosophy and concept of covering the aurah in Islam should be clearly understood by Muslims. This is because the standard of covering the aurah in Islam is very different from the views of other beliefs and philosophies. The obligation to cover the aurah as commanded by Allah SWT is very clear and detailed as well as universal in nature. When this concept is clearly understood, then there should be no confusion among Muslims to internalize and practice this ruling that is demanded by Islam. Related to this, a brief study was conducted involving students at one of the institutions of higher learning to get an idea about their perception and level of knowledge and understanding regarding the concept of covering the aurah. A total of 120 students participated in this study. The findings show that the level of students? knowledge pertaining to the obligation related to the covering of aurah is high (mean = 3.91). Besides discussing the findings, the researchers also proposed suggestions to further strengthen the efforts to induce awareness in students regarding the obligation of covering the aurah

Penentuan Gangguan Ionosfera Bergerak Menggunakan Data GPS

This study focuses on the determination of ionospheric disturbances over Malaysia using GPS (Global Positioning System) signals in order to have a better understanding of radio wave propagation. This is done by identifying the presence of Travelling Ionospheric Disturbance (TID) using GPS data. TID is one of the disturbances occuring in the ionosphere that is caused by solar activities. The important parameter taken into account is the Total Electron Content (TEC). The value of the rate of change of TEC, ΔTEC, is taken within a period of 15 minutes in order to detect the occurrences of TID. The data is taken from a GPS receiver stationed at the WARAS Center KUiTHHO, in Parit Raja, Batu Pahat (1°52’N, 103°06’E). The value of ΔTEC is compared based on the largest daily geomagnetic index, Kp index for 3 different days. Geomagnetic storms affect the ionospheric and the layer that is of interest is the F–layer of ionosphere. Results show that there is an occurrence of TID above the receiving station. Results also shows that there is a close correlation between the occurrence of TIDs and Kp values; a higher Kp index show an increase in the number of TIDs. However, more data need to be analysed in order to understand the variation of this disturbance to allow for space weather forecasting in the near future

Jumlah kandungan elektron sewaktu gangguan ionosfera bergerak di Parit Raja, Johor

Travelling ionospheric disturbance (TID) is a phenomenon caused by solar activity and TID strength varies by locations, especially in equatorial regions. This phenomenon affects the local total electron content (TEC), especially during the daytime. Because of this, research regarding augmenting TEC values during TID is done by comparing TEC values obtained from the IRI2001 and NeQuick models with IONEX data. By using Global Positioning System (GPS) data obtained from the Parit Raja station in the southern part of Malaysia (1º 52’ N, 103º 06’ E) as reference, research was conducted during geomagnetic quiet day as well as on the disturbed day. The occurrence of TID can clearly be seen when using the real TEC data from IONEX and WARAS. Result obtained from Parit Raja station shows a much more significant effect of TID occurrence on TEC than what was shown by IONEX data. However, the TEC values obtained from the IRI2001 and NeQuick models were influenced by the number of sunspots and were only applicable in geomagnetic quiet days. In order to obtain more accurate TEC values, it is necessary to ensure that TID condition is included in the IRI2001 and NeQuick model

Bea scoring system: Selecting the right person for scholarship

Disability may involve visual disability, physical disability, learning disorder, speech disorder, mental disorder and others various disabilities. This situation can reduce the quality of life, and causes clear drawback to that person. Due to this, in many countries, there are scholarships for students with disability, and students with disability parents.Universiti Utara Malaysia also provides a scholarship known as Bestari Education Award (BEA) scheme to assist poor students with disability.The process of selecting the right student for the scholarship is through a manual approach by analyzing the individual application forms and usually very time consuming. In this study, a scoring system is developed to simplify the selection process.The score is based on monthly household income, number of dependents and taking into consideration any disabilities, critical illnesses, orang asli and orphan. This scoring system can replace the long manual process of analyzing the forms and assist administrative to strategize the management of this special scheme

Alchemilla vulgaris and Filipendula ulmaria extracts as potential natural preservatives in beef patties

Alchemilla vulgaris (AV) and Filipendula ulmaria (FU) are European medicinal plants possess bioactive compounds that exhibit many pharmacological benefits in human. The present work aims to assess two plants ethanolic extract; AV and FU of their antioxidant activities as natural preservative in beef patties. All plant samples were analysed using total polyphenol content (TPC), their antioxidant activities using Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC), Ferric Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP), color and TBARS (Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) analysis to measure their potential as synthetic preservative in muscle food. The antioxidant activity of FU and AV extracts measured with TEAC were 88.46 and 68.21 mmol of Trolox (TE)/g Dry Weight (DW) respectively. Whereas, FRAP assay were 44.6 and 40.12 mmol of TE/g DW for FU and AV extracts. The effect of lipid oxidation of beef patties were measured with adding 0.1% (w/w) of lyophilise FU and AV and Butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) packed in modified atmosphere (MAP) (80% v/v O2and 20% v/v CO2) for 14 days storages. FU and AV treated samples showed no significant different compared with BHT (p>0.05). Beef patties treated with 0.1% (w/w) FU showed minimum changes in red color and formation of metmyoglobin throughout storages (p<0.05). These results indicate that these edible plants extract are promising sources of natural antioxidants and can potentially be used as functional preservatives in meat products.Postprint (published version

Detection of acetone as a potential non-invasive diagnosis tool for diabetes patients

This work investigated the demonstration of acetone detection device as a potential tool to diagnose diabetes patients. It offers simple and low cost approach based on glass substrate platform. The glass substrate was coated with agarose gel as a sensitive material to increase the sensing response. It has superiority in term of high porosity and capable to absorb molecule around it. The sensing mechanism is based on the change in refractive index (RI) of the agarose gel coating layer when exposed to variation acetone concentration level. This is due to the intensity of the light weakening by absorption and scattering when light propagated through the sensing material. The proposed sensor produces a significant response towards acetone concentrations with the output voltage reduced linearly from 1.6V to 1.2V. The sensitivity and resolution of the agarose coated glass substrate improves by a factor of 1.08 and 1.14 respectively as compared to uncoated glass substrate. It also performed better in term of linearity, stability, response time and hysteresis. The non-involvement of costly laser source based instruments make the proposed sensor become more practical for large production while maintaining a good sensing performances. Based on the experiment results, the proposed acetone sensor has a persuasive potential as an early biomarker for diabetes diagnosis tool

Determination of enhancement in D-region electron density using solar flare model and GOES- 7 measurements

This investigation elucidates the enhancement of production of electrons in the ionospheric D region by soft solar X-ray flares. A simple solar X-ray flare model is established for the purpose of this study. The in-step variation of calculated enhanced electron densities with measured values of enhanced flux intensities obtained by the GOES7 X-ray detector is understood quantitatively by the difference of arrival time of the maximum enhanced electron density with the arrival time maximum enhanced flux intensity i.e., the arrival time lag. This is compared with time lag taken from the X-ray flare model under the condition that the enhanced the electron densities are much smaller than electron density in a quiet state. The comparison of theoretical time lag or the response rate shows a good agreement with that obtained by measurements. By using this model, physical quantities such as the decreasing slope coefficient of flare model b( , z) are described in detail to identify their effects to enhanced electron densities. Good or poor in-step variation of enhanced electron densities to enhanced flux intensities through their increasing, maximum and decreasing stage is mostly dependent on fundamental physical quantities b( , z), by evaluation of the response rate. Time lag, which is inversely proportional to b( , z), shows good response. The temporal variation of b( , z) is also studied. This result can also be applied to disturbance phenomena that have a similar for

True height description of equatorial F-layer over Parit Raja, Batu Pahat, Malaysia

Digisonde ionograms recorded at Parit Raja, Malaysia (Lat. 1°52′N, Long. 103°48′E, Magnetic dip 14.3°) have been used to study the variations of ionospheric F-layer true height density peak (h max). Hourly and daily patterns of h max as deduced from January 2005 ionograms were analysed and studied to determine the actual F-layer peak height over Malaysia. Initial observations revealed that typical height of equatorial F-layer peak was slightly higher compared to other higher latitude regions. The altitude was found to be around 550±50 km during daytime and 300 km from midnight till pre-sunrise hours