Interactive product catalogue with user preference tracking

In the context of m-commerce, small screen size poses serious difficulty for users to browse effectively through a product catalogue, given the limited number of products that may be presented on-screen. Despite the availability of search engines, filters and recommender systems to aid users, these techniques focus on a narrow segment of product offering. The users are thus denied the opportunity to do a more expansive exploration of the products available. This paper describes a novel approach to overcome the constraints of small screen size. Through integration of a product catalogue with a recommender system, an adaptive system has been created that guides users through the process of product browsing. An original technique has been developed to cluster similar positive examples together to identify areas of interest of a user. The performance of this technique has been evaluated and the results proved to be promising

A NEW CLASS OF LUMINESCENT ORGANOMETALLICS -DIETHYNYLRHODACYCLOPENTADIENES

The main objective in this project is to develop a greater understanding of the unusual photophysical properties of 2,5-bis(arylethynyl)rhodacyclopentadienes. Three distinct and unusual photophysical properties were found in the 2,5-bis(arylethynyl)-rhodacyclopentadienes: (i) long-lived singlet excited states, from which some of them exhibit high-intensity fluorescence with nanosecond lifetimes; (ii) slow intersystem crossing rates (k values ≈ 108 s-1) compared to typical luminescent organometallic complexes (with k values ≈ 1012 s-1); and (iii) no phosphorescence was observed even at 77 K in a rigid glass. Many photophysical experiments such as e.g. low-temperature lifetime measurments, singlet oxygen sensitisation and time-resolved infrared (TRIR) have been carried out in order to investigate further and explain the unusual photophysical properties of this class of organometallic complexes. Five different types of ligand X on 2,5-bis(p-R-arylethynyl)-X-rhodacyclopentadienes [X = 4-[4-(N,N-di-n-hexylamino)phenylethynyl]phenylethynyl- (DHAPEPE-), trimethyl silylethynyl- (TMSE-), methyl- (Me-), η2-benzoato- and acetylacetonato- (acac-)] have been synthesised and the photophysical properties of the complexes were investigated. The TMSE-rhodacyclopentadienes gave the highest fluorescence quantum yields compared to the other series of rhodacyclopentadienes. Extended phenylene-ethynylene ligands (i.e. DHAPEPE-) did not impart any effects on the max values in absorption and emission but the quantum yields were lower than those for the TMSE-rhodacyclopentadienes. η2-Benzoato- and acac- ligands shifted the max values in absorption and emission to lower energy, which implies that they induce smaller energy gaps between the excited and ground states. The emissions from the η2-benzoato-rhodacyclopentadienes were quenched (especially for those with R = H and SMe substituents, which have quantum yields of less than 0.01). The first example of isomeric biphenyl-rhodacyclopentadiene by-product formation was found in the synthesis of acac-rhodacyclopentadienes. The isomeric biphenyl-rhodacyclopentadiene by-product with R = CO2Me was isolated and its molecular structure was confirmed by X-ray analysis. Its emission spectrum shows two emission bands with max values of 394 and 544 nm in degassed toluene solution. The fluorescent emission at 394 nm has a quantum yield of 0.03, whereas the phosphorescent emission at 544 nm has a quantum yield of 0.05. The unusual long lifetime (237.6 s) of the phosphorescence at room temperature indicates that the transition is from a ligand-centred (LC) * transition. In addition, the syntheses of 1,4-bis(p-R-phenyl)buta-1,3-diynes and novel 1,12-bis(p-R-phenyl)dodaca-1,3,9,11-tetraynes, which serve as the starting materials for the synthesis of the rhodacyclopentadienes, are also reported. Four novel 1,12-bis(p-R-phenyl)dodaca-1,3,9,11-tetraynes (where R = H, SMe, CO2Me and BMes2) have been synthesised and characterised. The formation of homo-coupling products was a major problem which reduced the yields of the 1,3,9,11-dodacatetraynes. The 1,3,9,11-dodacatetraynes were separated from their respective homo-coupling products using column chromatography, and the yields obtained were 30 – 46%

Optimal orientations of Vertex-multiplications of Trees with Diameter 4

\noindent Koh and Tay proved a fundamental classification of $G$ vertex-multiplications into three classes $\mathscr{C}_0, \mathscr{C}_1$ and $\mathscr{C}_2$. They also showed that any vertex-multiplication of a tree with diameter at least 3 does not belong to the class $\mathscr{C}_2$. Of interest, $G$ vertex-multiplications are extensions of complete $n$-partite graphs and Gutin characterised complete bipartite graphs with orientation number 3 (or 4 resp.) via an ingenious use of Sperner\u27s theorem. In this paper, we investigate vertex-multiplications of trees with diameter $4$ in $\mathscr{C}_0$ (or $\mathscr{C}_1$) and exhibit its intricate connections with problems in Sperner Theory, thereby extending Gutin\u27s approach. Let $s$ denote the vertex-multiplication of the central vertex. We almost completely characterise the case of even $s$ and give a complete characterisation for the case of odd $s\ge 3$

Synthesis of New Star-Shaped Liquid Crystalline Cyclotriphosphazene Derivatives with Fire Retardancy Bearing Amide-Azo and Azo-Azo Linking Units

Two series of new hexasubstituted cyclotriphosphazene derivatives were successfully synthesized and characterized. These derivatives are differentiated by two types of linking units in the molecules such as amide-azo (6a–j) and azo-azo (8a–j). The homologues of the same series contain different terminal substituents such as heptyl, nonyl, decyl, dodecyl, tetradecyl, hydroxyl, carboxyl, chloro, nitro, and amino groups. All the intermediates and final compounds were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), and Carbon, Hydrogen, and Nitrogen (CHN) elemental analysis. Liquid crystal properties for all compounds were determined using polarized optical microscope (POM). It was found that only intermediates 2a–e with nitro and alkoxyl terminal chains showed a smectic A phase. All the final compounds with alkoxyl substituents are mesogenic with either smectic A or C phases. However, other intermediates and compounds were found to be non-mesogenic. The study on the fire retardancy of final compounds was determined using limiting oxygen index (LOI) method. The LOI value of pure polyester resin (22.53%) was increased up to 24.71% after treating with 1 wt% of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene (HCCP). Moreover, all the compounds gave positive results on the LOI values and compound 6i with the nitro terminal substituent showed the highest LOI value of 27.54%

A Complete Characterisation of Vertex-multiplications of Trees with Diameter 5

For a connected graph $G$, let $\mathscr{D}(G)$ be the family of strong orientations of $G$; and for any $D\in\mathscr{D}(G)$, we denote by $d(D)$ the diameter of $D$. The $\textit{orientation number}$ of $G$ is defined as $\bar{d}(G)=\min\{d(D)\mid D\in \mathscr{D}(G)\}$. In 2000, Koh and Tay introduced a new family of graphs, $G$ vertex-multiplications, and extended the results on the orientation number of complete $n$-partite graphs. Suppose $G$ has the vertex set $V(G)=\{v_1,v_2,\ldots, v_n\}$. For any sequence of $n$ positive integers $(s_i)$, a $G$ \textit{vertex-multiplication}, denoted by $G(s_1, s_2,\ldots, s_n)$, is the graph with vertex set $V^*=\bigcup_{i=1}^n{V_i}$ and edge set $E^*$, where $V_i$\u27s are pairwise disjoint sets with $|V_i|=s_i$, for $i=1,2,\ldots,n$; and for any $u,v\in V^*$, $uv\in E^*$ if and only if $u\in V_i$ and $v\in V_j$ for some $i,j\in \{1,2,\ldots, n\}$ with $i\neq j$ such that $v_i v_j\in E(G)$. They proved a fundamental classification of $G$ vertex-multiplications, with $s_i\ge 2$ for all $i=1,2,\ldots, n$, into three classes $\mathscr{C}_0, \mathscr{C}_1$ and $\mathscr{C}_2$, and any vertex-multiplication of a tree with diameter at least 3 does not belong to the class $\mathscr{C}_2$. Furthermore, some necessary and sufficient conditions for $\mathscr{C}_0$ were established for vertex-multiplications of trees with diameter $5$. In this paper, we give a complete characterisation of vertex-multiplications of trees with diameter $5$ in $\mathscr{C}_0$ and $\mathscr{C}_1$

Dynamics and characterisation of membrane fouling in a long reverse osmosis membrane channel

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Species diversity of under-storey birds at mount Jagoi, Bau, Sarawak

Avifauna surveys were conducted at four sites in Mount Jagoi, Bau in August and November 2011, and February 2012. The main objective of the survey was to catalogue a checklist of under-storey birds. This study also compared the species diversity of avifauna at different locations in that area. Twenty mist-nets were deployed for five days in each site, from 0600 to 1800 hour daily. A total of 296 birds from 52 species representing 21 families were captured. Little Spiderhunter (Arachnothera longirostra) was the most abundant species mist-netted (27.4%) and family Pycnonotidae had the most diverse species caught. Statistical analysis showed that there is significant difference between all the study sites

Efficient Progressive Collapse Analysis for Robustness Evaluation and Enhancement of Steel-Concrete Composite Buildings

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Membrane-less microfiltration using inertial microfluidics

Microfiltration is a ubiquitous and often crucial part of many industrial processes, including biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Yet, all existing filtration systems suffer from the issue of membrane clogging, which fundamentally limits the efficiency and reliability of the filtration process. Herein, we report the development of a membrane-less microfiltration system by massively parallelizing inertial microfluidics to achieve a macroscopic volume processing rates (~ 500 mL/min). We demonstrated the systems engineered for CHO (10–20 μm) and yeast (3–5 μm) cells filtration, which are two main cell types used for large-scale bioreactors. Our proposed system can replace existing filtration membrane and provide passive (no external force fields), continuous filtration, thus eliminating the need for membrane replacement. This platform has the desirable combinations of high throughput, low-cost, and scalability, making it compatible for a myriad of microfiltration applications and industrial purposes.Singapore. National Research Foundation (Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology)United States. Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (Grant DE-AR0000294

Whole genome sequencing of four representatives from the admixed population of the United Arab Emirates

© Copyright © 2020 Daw Elbait, Henschel, Tay and Al Safar. Whole genome sequences (WGS) of four nationals of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) at an average coverage of 33X have been completed and described. The selection of suitable subpopulation representatives was informed by a preceding comprehensive population structure analysis. Representatives were chosen based on their central location within the subpopulation on a principal component analysis (PCA) and the degree to which they were admixed. Novel genomic variations among the different subgroups of the UAE population are reported here. Specifically, the WGS analysis identified 4,161,067–4,798,806 variants in the four individual samples, where approximately 80% were single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 20% were insertions or deletions (indels). An average of 2.75% was found to be novel variants according to dbSNP (build 151). This is the first report of structural variants (SV) from WGS data from UAE nationals. There were 15,677–20,339 called SVs, of which around 13.5% were novel. The four samples shared 1,399,178 variants, each with distinct variants as follows: 1,085,524 (for the individual denoted as UAE S011), 1,228,559 (UAE S012), 791,072 (UAE S013), and 906,818 (UAE S014). These results show a previously unappreciated population diversity in the region. The synergy of WGS and genotype array data was demonstrated through variant annotation of the former using 2.3 million allele frequencies for the local population derived from the latter technology platform. This novel approach of combining breadth and depth of array and WGS technologies has guided the choice of population genetic representatives and provides complementary, regionalized allele frequency annotation to new genomes comprising millions of loci