Determining features for discriminating PTB and normal lungs using phase congruency model

The appearance of the infected zone on the digital chest X-ray image for pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) does not conform to standard shape, size or configuration. This study uses phase congruency (PC(x)) values to gather information from transition of adjacent pixel values that may be used as features to represent known disease type. The feature vector consisting of the average, variance, coefficient of variation and maximum PC(x)-values was found to be able to detect PTB with high accuracy

Malaysia in transition: A comparative analysis of Asian values, Islam Hadhari and 1Malaysia

This paper discusses on the principles of Asian values, propagated by Malaysia fourth prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, Islam Hadhari by the fifth prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, and 1Malaysia by the current prime minister Najib Razak. This paper gives a special attention to Abdullah and Islam Hadhari because it links the Mahathir’s period to current Najib’s leadership. The intension of this paper is to prove that actually these concepts are similar in theory and practice in stressing more on Islam and neo-feudalistic Malay agenda. In fact, Islam Hadhari is ironically a concept created by Mahathir himself to counter the idea of Islamic State from the Islamic party, PAS. Therefore, even after resigning from government, Mahathir’s agenda of Asian values is still being practiced.Najib Razak, current Prime Minister, on the other hand intended to promote quality leadership performance for the public and unity among the multiracial Malaysia.Although there are differences in term of the arguments for each of the idea, it is clear that these ideas or philosophies attempt to protect the real agenda of those three leaders which were to protect the political culture of neo-feudalism and ensure the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Barisan Nasional (BN) will stay in power.This paper shows the debates between scholars in explaining the ideas and philosophies behind those three concepts in Malaysia’s realpolitik

Sea level change in the Malaysian seas from multi-satellite altimeter data

Seas from satellite altimetry data of the Topex, Jason-1, ERS-1, ERS-2 and Envisat missions. During the past two decades, satellite altimeter has provided its capability in measuring the global mean of sea level with precision better than 1 mm/year. Sea level data retrieval and reduction were carried out using Radar Altimeter Database System (RADS). In RADS data processing, the recently updated environmental and geophysical corrections were applied. Sixth 1° × 1° areas were chosen for the altimeter data comparison and to find the best ocean tide model for Malaysian Seas, where the altimeter tracks are nearby to tide gauge locations. Similarity in the pattern of sea level variations indicated good agreements between tide gauge data and altimeter data using FES2004 ocean tide model. It also showed that the altimeter data can be used to investigate sea level rise for Malaysian Seas. Here, sea level variations for four areas in the Malaysian Seas have been investigated using 15 years of altimeter data. The altimeter sea level time series revealed that since 1993, the mean sea level in Malaysian Seas has been rising at a rate of between 1.42 – 4.08 mm/year. This information is important to study alternative energy extraction and environmental issues related to flood investigations and global warming

Enhancement of height system for Malaysia using space technology: the study of the datum bias inconsistencies in Peninsular Malaysia

The algorithm for orthometric height transfer using GPS has been widely presented. Its practical limitations are mostly due to datum bias inconsistencies and lack of precise geoid. In most applications, datum biases are assumed to be systematic over short baselines and therefore could be eliminated by differential heighting techniques. In this study, optimal algorithms were investigated to model biases between local vertical datum in Peninsular Malaysia and the datums implied by by EGM96, OSU91A and the regional Gravimetric Geoid in South_East Asia. The study has indicated that local vertical datum is not physically parallel to the datums implied by the above geoids. The shift parameters between the datums implied by the GPS/leveling data, and the EGM96, OSU91A and the gravimetric datums are about – 41cm, -54 cm and – 8 cm respectively. Also the maximum tilts of the planes fitting the residual geoids above these datums relative to GPS/Leveling datum are of the order of 36, 51 and 33 centimeters per degree. It is therefore necessary to take into account the effect of inconsistent datum bias particularly for baseline height transfer. The level of accuracy achieved by the bias corrected relative orthometric height differences of the EGM96, OSU91A and the gravimetric geoid models combined with GPS/leveling data for baseline lengths up to 36 km, is sufficient to replace the conventional tedious, time consuming ordinary leveling technique for rapid height transfer for land surveying and engineering applications

Micro Wind Turbine as the Power Supply for Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

The objective of this project is to generate an uninterrupted power supply to operate the Micro Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (MUAV). MUAV is a small flying vehicle used for site observation since it is small, cheap and does not need a pilot to fly it. There are lots of energy sources can be extracted to produce energy to operate the MUAV. For instance, when the MUAV is flying at the high altitude, there are high speed wind, sunshine, vibration from the MUAV and many more sources of energy that should never been wasted

The teaching of science in english in the Malaysian classroom

In 2003, the Malaysian Government made a purposeful decision to change the medium of instruction for the teaching of Science and Mathematics from Bahasa Malaysia to English. This change was made as a step towards preparing the nation to face the economic globalisation (K-economy) as well as to develop the nation to be on par with the advancement of science and technology globally. This change poses a challenge to teachers who have been trained in Bahasa Malaysia and even for those who have been trained in English, as a large part oftheir professional experience involved the use of Bahasa Malaysia as a medium of instruction. What is more, teachers who were the products of the KBSM syllabus have learnt the subjects in Bahasa Malaysia and might be less familiar with the subjects in English. This unfamiliarity with the new medium of instruction might cause a gap in the fluency ofspeech during the delivery ofthe content. In spite of the directive given by the Ministry of Education that the entire teaching and learning process should be conducted in English, Science teachers may face difficulties in expressing himself/herself and thus, resort to the use of another language so as to "compensate for the deficiency" (Crystal, 1987)

Design proposal of the energy installation system for vehicle’s wind turbine

New inventions is relating to the idea of mounting a wind turbine for power generating system in vehicles. This study will investigate on the existing energy conversion and storage systems used in standard vehicle’s power system.This study involves with a proposed design of a vehicle’s wind turbine system. The energy that has been generated by wind turbine will be stored in the 12 volt battery and will then, be distributed to the entire vehicle for the use of the vehicle components. The optimal design for energy conversion system is created based on the review of the existing energy conversion and storage systems which are used in vehicle’s power system. A simulation study using NI Multisim (National Instrument Software) is conducted on the energy conversion and storage system that. The objectives of this study are to convert a mechanical energy from the blade to electrical energy to generate 12V voltage and to store it in a 12 volt battery. The 12V battery voltage will then be supplied to a high voltage system, up to 200V voltage capacity. From the analysis that has been done, the energy from a turbine has the potential to generate power to car system. The wind energy is possible to integrate with other existing and renewable energy. At this stage, the energy gained does not replace the existing one but it can be considered as a new energy source in the future energy developmen

Pengoptimuman algoritma pengesanan batu loncatan dalam sistem pengesanan pencerobohan

Detection of a network intrusion and manual response without any further action does create a problem known as time gap. Time gap is duration between detection and response. Previous researches have used some approaches like intelligent agent and IDS adoption to solve time gap problem. However, they do not consider the aspect of intrusion response mechanism. The purpose of this study is to optimize the stepping stone algorithm, which is part of intrusion response mechanism. In this research, special Top-Down methodology has been used to optimize the stepping stone algorithm. It is achieved by analyzing five stepping stone algorithms, in which each algorithm is divided into three main parts. The parts are packet capture, identification and comparison. Among these algorithms, the best approach which produces minimum processing time from each main part has been deployed and tested as a complete stepping stone algorithm. The results from both the optimized approach and existing algorithm are compared. From this comparison, the optimized algorithm gives the best result. The finding of this research suggests that time gap can be reduced through the optimization of the stepping stone algorithm

Ethics in Islam: a critical survey

In Islam, ethics (akhlaq) is inseparable from religion and is built entirely upon it. Naturally, therefore, the Qur’an and the Sunnah are the ultimate sources for Muslim ethics. The books on adab (good manners) and makarim alakhlaq (noble qualities of character), which have embodied the earliest works on ethics in Islam demonstrate the extant to which they utilize the Qur’an and the Sunnah. However, early Muslim discussions on ethical philosophy, such as those by al-Kindi (d. 874), al-Farabi (d. 950) and Ibn Sina (d. 1037), did not attain to the status of a discipline though invariably serving as an introduction to their wider studies on politics, law and other fields of knowledge. Miskawayh (d.1030), through his famous ethical work on ethics, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq, was the first Muslim moralist to have separated ethics from other disciplines, offering a very thorough analytical system of Islamic ethics. Thus, this qualitative study which applies conceptual content analysis method seeks to make a critical survey of the development of ethical thought in Islam

The Effects Of Relational Factors, Trust-Commitment And Information Exchange In Sme Service Firm And Supplier Relationship In Malaysia

Dalam model rantaian perbekalan perkhidmatan, pertukaran maklumat antara sesebuah firma dengan pembekal merupakan salah satu daripada praktis yang penting. Walaubagaimanapun, praktis ini kurang mendapat perhatian sebagai subjek kajian terutama yang berkait dengan hubungan firma EKS (Enterprais Kecil dan Sederhana) perkhidmatan dan pembekal In a service supply chain model, information exchange between a firm and supplier is one of the many important elements. However, this practice receives less attention as a research subject, especially in SME (Small Medium Enterprise) service firm and supplier relationshi