Transportation Optimization Model Of Palm Oil Products For Northern Peninsular Malaysia.

Dalam tesis ini, model matematik pemprograman integer telah dibangunkan untuk menyelesaikan masalah pengangkutan minyak sawit mentah dan isirong sawit di Utara Semenanjung Malaysia. In this thesis, integer mathematical programming models were developed to solve the crude palm oil (CPO) and the palm kernel (PK) transportation problems for northern peninsular Malaysia

Preference of the metallic blue ladybeetle Curinus coeruleus Mulsant for different nymphal instars of Diaphorina citri Kuwayama (Homoptera: Psyllidae)

The preference of the metallic blue ladybeetle, Curinus coeruleus Mulsant for Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama was investigated in the insectary. The aim was to determine whether there was any preference by C. coeruleus at different stages for different instars of the psyllid D. citri. The 1st and 2nd instar larvae exhibited preference for smaller-sized prey, while the 3rd and 4th instar larvae and adult mostly preferred the 4th and 5th instar nymphs. The highest preference value recorded for each stage of the predator, 1st to 4th instar larvae and adult, were 0.49, 0.29, 0.33, 0.33 and 0.34, respectively on the 1st, 2nd, 4th, 4th and 4th instar nymphs. The probability of capture indicated significant differences among prey instars captured by each stage of predator. The 1st and 2nd instar larvae captured significantly more 1st and 2nd instar nymphs than the other instar nymphs. In contrast, 3rd and 4th instar larvae and adult predator captured significantly more 4th and 5th instar nymphs. Hence, the results suggest that C. coeruleus exhibited body size preference for D. citri nymphs comparable to or slightly smaller than predator's size (stages). This preference was due to the probability of success in capturing the prey

Life table and demographic parameters of the metallic blue ladybeetle, Curinus coeruleus mulsant, fed with the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama

Life table parameters were calculated for the blue metallic ladybeetle, Curinus coeruleus Mulsant, fed with the Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri Kuwayama, at temperatures of 26 - 28° and 75 - 85% RH and natural photoperiod in the insectary of Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia. The development of immature stages took 19.1± 0.3 days; mated adult females lived for 34.2 ± 4.7 (range 24-39) days and produced a mean of 80.3 ± 13.6 progeny female-1 during oviposition period of 21.3 ± 1.4 days, with a sex ratio of 1:1.8 (:). The net reproductive rate (R0) was 59.1 and the capacity for increase (rc) was 0.113. The finite rate of increase (λ) was 1.29 female-1 day-1 while the intrinsic rate of natural increase (rm) was 0.116 female-1 day-1. Each female contributed 60.2 individuals to the population in a mean generation time (T) of 35.3 days. , Ibrahim, Y.B., Ibrahim, R. and Osman M.S

Dyskeratosis congenita: a case report and review of literature

Dyskeratosis congenita (DC) is classically characterised by a mucocutaneous triad of reticulated poikiloderma, nail dystrophy and mucosal leukoplakia together with bone marrow failure and increased risk of malignancy1- 4. Due to its rarity and clinical heterogeneity it is not easily recognised and patients are often treated for other entities. We report a case of dyskeratosis congenita who presented to us with the classical triad in his late twenties after years of being treated as lichen planus

Importance of fish aggregating devices (FADs) as substrates for food organisms of fish

Various hypothesis have been proposed to explain why floating artificial habitats are successful in attracting fishes. Food may be a stimulus for aggregating some species around Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs). This study attempts to discover if sessile marine organisms which readily encrust traditional FADs, are important food organisms for fish. A new group of FADs was installed in a rich fishing ground. Different parts of the FADs were sampled every 2 weeks for identification of encrusted organisms, and ten species were identified. The density of the organisms fluctuated with time of immersion. Plankton collected from the water at the FAD sites was also identified. Stomach contents of 90 fishes caught around these FADs were analyzed and the organisms found in the stomachs were compared with those on the FADs. This study suggests that the attraction of fishes to FADs is due to mechanisms other than feeding on organisms encrusting the FADs

Development of volume function for final felling of Pinus brutia Ten in Kurdistan Iraq

Planning for forest management depends upon the forest dynamics, which includes integration of all forest disciplines and understanding of forest resource characteristics including its growth dynamics. The forest growth and yield modelling can provide valuable information about forestry which can be used to determine harvest levels or allowable cut, and to analyze alternative stand treatments. Growth and yield models are generally used to predict the temporal development of forest stands. Knowledge of Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) and total tree height is fundamental to both developing and applying many growth and yield models [1]. Among the several available approaches in the yield prediction methodology, the multilevel model approach, which is a statistical technique, found to be commonly used in many fields of study for generating improvements in parameter estimation .A volume estimation of a forest stand is a good example. Volume estimation in the form of volume function and volume table has been widely used for many different purposes in forestry for more that hundred years including forest plantations and an inventory for timber harvesting. In view of the importance of these functions in forestry, this study was conducted with the main aim to develop a volume function for Pinus brutia Ten, which is a very common forest tree species planted in northern Iraq. The least squares method was used to fit eight unweighted volume equations including two logarithmic transformed equations and seven weighted forms of volume equations to volume data of a 25-30 years old Pinus brutia Ten plantation. The best fit equation was done using Furnival’s index

From recreation mathematics to pseudo-genes

An inspiration for life-like recreation could have come from a meta-magical theme proposed by Hofstadter (1986) that reproduces patterns of genies from "Lucas Tower", '"Towers of Hanoi" and "Towers of Brahma". Perhaps the phenomenon of meta-magics may unveil the mysteries of genes through new designs of gene structures unknown to nature. One day, it may help to solve the puzzles of human's mysterious diseases such as memory dysfunctions, cancer, AIDS, influenza viruses etc. This chapter is on the computer recreation of pseudo-genes using the modified mathematics of Towers of Hanoi. Pseudo-genes are not genes but are non-functional versions of genes. They may resemble other gene sequences and contain significant nucleotide substitutions, deletions and duplications. In combination with bio-molecular approach, this chapter will show how the computer generated pseudo-genes would have certain naturalness of brain disease related natural genes

Kedah Darul Aman sepanjang zaman

Kedah telah melalui perjalanan sejarahnya dalam pelbagai warna.Dari sudut politiknya, sempadan Kedah kini didapati amat berbeza dengan keadaan zaman dahulu.Tiga ratus tahun yang lalu Kedah adalah sebuah negeri yang lebih luas.Dan kalau kita tinjau masyarakat yang bercakap dalam bahasa yang sama iaitu dialek Melayu Kedah sebagai bahasa ibundanya, kita dapati sempadan negeri ini malah lebih luas, hingga ke selatan Thailand.Dari sudut sejarah, Kedah dapat dilihat melalui dua zaman utama.Pertama ialah zaman pra-Islam yang merangkumi masa masyarakat bersifat animisme diikuti masa apabila masyarakat tempatan itu sudah memeluk agama Hindu-Buddha.Kedua ialah zaman apabila masyarakat tempatan itu mulai menerima Islam sebagai cara hidup hinggalah terbentuknya kesultanan Islam, seterusnya ke zaman moden.Kedah boleh dikatakan sebuah negeri yang paling tua di rantau ini seperti yang terbukti dalam kajian-kajian arkeologi. Ia telah berada dalam Zaman Besi se awal abad ke-3 Sebelum Masihi, seperti yang ditemui dalam bentuk runtuhan purba di kompleks Sungai Batu di Lembah Bujang. Masyarakat tempatan itu didapati telah mencapai tamadun yang tinggi, lengkap dengan entrepot, pusat-pusat peleburan besi, kemudahan kastam dan cukai, dan tempat-tempat melaksanakan sembahan agama.Dalam abad ke-5 hingga 7 Masihi masyarakat tempatan itu didapati telah menganut agama HinduBuddha.Pada ketika ini masyarakat tempatan itu telah dinaungi oleh kuasa yang lebih besar iaitu Empayar Sriwijaya. Berikutnya dalam abad ke-13 Masihi, setelah kuasa empayar itu telah malap, Kedah bersatu dalam kerajaan Langkasuka. Agama Islam telah sampai di sini dalam sekitar abad ke-8 Masihi. Mengikuti jirannya iaitu kesultanan Perlak dan Pasai, dalam abad ke-12 Masihi kerajaan Islam telah diisytiharkan di Kedah, dinamakan ‘Kedah Darul Aman’. Pada awalnya, ibu negeri dan pusat pemerintahannya berada di Bukit Meriam dan Sungai Emas dalam Lembah Bujang. Kemudian dalam abad ke-14 Masihi pusat pemerintahannya telah diubah ke pedalaman lembah Sungai Kedah.Bermula dengan Kota Siputih, beberapa pusat pemerintahan lain telah dibina, yang akhirnya tetap di Alor Setar, mulai tahun 1735 hinggalah pada masa sekarang.Setakat ini hanya Kedah sahajalah di sekitar rantau ini yang mempunyai dinasti raja-raja yang terus bersambungan dari semenjak awal kesultanan ini ditubuhkan.Mulai dengan Al-Sultan Muzaffar Shah yang mula memerintah dalam tahun 1136 Masihi hinggalah kepada Sultan Kedah yang ke-28 yang sedang memerintah sekarang, iaitu Kebawah Duli Yang Maha Mulia Tuanku Al-Sultan Haji Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah ibni Al-Marhum Sultan Badlishah, yang memerintah sejak tahun 1958. Dalam melalui suasana jatuh bangunnya, Kedah tetap berdiri teguh seperti mulanya.Kedah terus berubah dan mencapai kemajuan selaras dengan perubahan dan kemajuan yang sedang dikecapi oleh masyarakat seluruh dunia

Influence analysis of director’s elements on the circular Yagi disc antenna performance at 1.8 GHz

This paper aims to investigate and design a Yagi disc antenna with a variable number of director elements for Band 3 in fourth-generation long term evolution (4G LTE) mobile applications. The array technique was introduced by increasing the number of director elements to achieve superior results and better performance, such as higher gain and lower return loss. Initially, the simulated results of return loss and gain with one director element were -19.02 dB and 8.51 dBi, respectively. Then, by increasing the number of directors to three and five elements, the antenna’s performance improved significantly from -32.44 to -42.68 dB for return loss and from 8.51 to 11.17 dBi for gain, respectively. The simulated circular Yagi disc antenna provided a response in the range of 1.78 to 1.82 GHz. Therefore, a model was fabricated and tested to validate the antenna design. The measured results matched well with the simulated ones. By increasing the number of director elements, the measurement results of gain and return loss at a frequency of 1.8 GHz also showed improvement from 7.70 to 11.09 dBi and from -27.31 to -32.91 dB, respectively. Meanwhile, the measured antenna provided a wider bandwidth in the range of 1.72-1.82 GHz