• Advances in robotics research
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• 제2권3호
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• pp.237-245
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• 2018

This study evaluates the efficacy of a class robust control scheme namely active force control in performing a joint based trajectory tracking of an upper limb exoskeleton in rehabilitating the elbow joint. The plant of the exoskeleton system is obtained via system identification method whilst the PD gains were tuned heuristically. The estimated inertial parameter that enables the AFC disturbance rejection effect is attained by means of a non-nature based metaheuristic optimisation technique known as simulated Kalman filter (SKF). It was demonstrated from the present investigation that the proposed PDAFC scheme outperformed the classical PD algorithm in tracking the prescribed trajectory both in the presence and without the presence of disturbance attributed by the mannequin limb weights (1 kg and 1.5 kg) that mimics the weight of actual human limb weight. Therefore, it is apparent from the results obtained from the present study that the proposed control scheme, i.e., PDAFC is suitable for the application of exoskeleton for stroke rehabilitation.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제8권3호
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• pp.246-249
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• 2017

Health-care workers are at risk of exposure to occupational infections with subsequent risk of contracting diseases, disability, and even death. A systematic collection of occupational disease data is useful for monitoring current trends in work situations and disease exposures; however, these data are usually limited due to under-reporting. The objective of this study was to review literature related to knowledge, risk perceptions, and practices regarding occupational exposures to infectious diseases in Malaysian health-care settings, in particular regarding blood-borne infections, universal precautions, use of personal protective equipment, and clinical waste management. The data are useful for determining improvements in knowledge and risk perceptions among health-care workers with developments of health policies and essential interventions for prevention and control of occupational diseases.

• Journal of Information Processing Systems
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• 제11권4호
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• pp.601-615
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• 2015

Region of interest (ROI) is the most informative part of a medical image and mostly has been used as a major part of watermark. Various shapes ROIs selection have been reported in region-based watermarking techniques. In region-based watermarking schemes an image region of non-interest (RONI) is the second important part of the image and is used mostly for watermark encapsulation. In online healthcare systems the ROI wrong selection by missing some important portions of the image to be part of ROI can create problem at the destination. This paper discusses the complete medical image availability in original at destination using the whole image as a watermark for authentication, tamper localization and lossless recovery (WITALLOR). The WITALLOR watermarking scheme ensures the complete image security without of ROI selection at the source point as compared to the other region-based watermarking techniques. The complete image is compressed using the Lempel-Ziv-Welch (LZW) lossless compression technique to get the watermark in reduced number of bits. Bits reduction occurs to a number that can be completely encapsulated into image. The watermark is randomly encapsulated at the least significant bits (LSBs) of the image without caring of the ROI and RONI to keep the image perceptual degradation negligible. After communication, the watermark is retrieved, decompressed and used for authentication of the whole image, tamper detection, localization and lossless recovery. WITALLOR scheme is capable of any number of tampers detection and recovery at any part of the image. The complete authentic image gives the opportunity to conduct an image based analysis of medical problem without restriction to a fixed ROI.

• Journal of Electrical Engineering and Technology
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• 제13권3호
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• pp.1383-1391
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• 2018

A new nonlinear filtering algorithm for effectively denoising images corrupted by the random-valued impulse noise, called dual sliding statistics switching median (DSSSM) filter is presented in this paper. The proposed DSSSM filter is made up of two subunits; i.e. Impulse noise detection and noise filtering. Initially, the impulse noise detection stage of DSSSM algorithm begins by processing the statistics of a localized detection window in sorted order and non-sorted order, simultaneously. Next, the median of absolute difference (MAD) obtained from both sorted statistics and non-sorted statistics will be further processed in order to classify any possible noise pixels. Subsequently, the filtering stage will replace the detected noise pixels with the estimated median value of the surrounding pixels. In addition, fuzzy based local information is used in the filtering stage to help the filter preserves the edges and details. Extensive simulations results conducted on gray scale images indicate that the DSSSM filter performs significantly better than a number of well-known impulse noise filters existing in literature in terms of noise suppression and detail preservation; with as much as 30% impulse noise corruption rate. Finally, this DSSSM filter is algorithmically simple and suitable to be implemented for electronic imaging products.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• 제10권2호
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• pp.128-133
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• 2011

This paper presents a study on product design optimization to reduce the environmental impact of machining. The objective is to analyze the effect of changing the product design parameters such as its dimensions, and basic features on the environmental impact of machining process in terms of its energy consumption, waste produced and the chemicals and other consumables used up during the process. To realize this objective, we used a CAD model of a product with different design scenarios, and analyze their energy consumption using an environmental impact calculator method developed. The waste produced, and the consumables used up, such as lubricants and coolants were analyzed using environmental emission factors. Optimization methods using Genetic Algorithm and Goal Programming are applied to the product design parameters in order to get the best possible product dimensions with the least environmental impact of the machining process.

• 아시아태평양코퍼스연구
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• 제2권2호
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• pp.1-15
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• 2021

The study aims to explore the use of metadiscourse in the Bank Negara Malaysia Governor's speeches based on Hyland's Interpersonal Model of Metadiscourse. The corpus data consist of 343 speech texts, which were extracted from the Malaysian Corpus of Financial English (MacFE), amounting to 688,778 tokens. Adopting both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data analysis the study investigates (1) the overall use of metadiscourse in the Bank Negara Governor's speech texts and (2) the functions of the most prominent metadiscourse resources used and their functions in the speech texts. The findings reveal that the Governor's speech texts to be interactional rather than interactive, revealing a rich distribution of interactional metadiscourse resources, namely engagement markers, self-mention, hedges, boosters and attitude markers throughout the texts. The interactional metadiscourse resources function to establish speaker-audience engagement and alignment of views, as well as to express degree of uncertainty and certainty and attitudes. The study concludes that the speech texts are not merely informational or propositional, but rather interpersonal.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• 제54권2호
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• pp.197-200
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• 2016

Cryptosporidium, a protozoan parasite, can cause cryptosporidiosis which is a gastrointestinal disease that can infect humans and livestock. Cattle are the most common livestock that can be infected with this protozoan. This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of Cryptosporidium infection in cattle in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia and to find out the association between the occurrence of infection and 3 different ages of cattle (calves less than 1 year, yearling, and adult cattle). The samples were processed by using formol-ether concentration technique and stained by modified Ziehl Neelsen. The results showed that 15.9% (24/151) of cattle were positive for Cryptosporidium oocysts. The occurrence of Cryptosporidium in calves less than 1 year was the highest with the percentage of 20.0% (11/55) followed by yearling and adult cattle, with the percentage occurrence of 15.6 % (7/45) and 11.8% (6/51), respectively. There was no significant association between the occurrence and age of cattle and presence of diarrhea. Good management practices and proper hygiene management must be taken in order to reduce the infection. It is highly important to control the infection since infected cattle may serve as potential reservoirs of the infection to other animals and humans, especially animal handlers.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제7권12호
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• pp.565-576
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• 2020

This study examines factors of unemployment and career path challenges commonly faced by youth in the East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia. The study employed a quantitative approach which involved a total of 1,083 youths in Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu selected at random. Descriptive and multiple regression analysis (OLS) methods were used to analyze demographic distribution of youth in determining factors influencing unemployment among them. The results reveal that the majority of youth respondents in the East Coast states of Malaysia are still unemployed and actively seeking employment. Demographic profiles are based on the survey results, youths seeking employment with 36 per cent distribution in Kelantan, 34 per cent in Pahang, and 30 per cent in Terengganu. Majority of the respondents were youths aged 20 to 24 years with a 40.9 percent percentage. The findings show that there are differences in factors affecting youth unemployment in the three states of East Coast, Malaysia. For Kelantan (age, experience, work mobility, marital status), Pahang (experience, marital status) and Terengganu (experience, gender, marital status, training). This study suggests that youths should be wise in preparing for their career by choosing the right career as well as doing side jobs to gain experience before they pursue for a real job.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7161-7164
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• 2013

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women globally. This study was conducted to compare the awareness of breast cancer and the practice of breast self-examination (BSE), clinical breast examination (CBE) and mammography screening among rural females in Pahang and Perak. A cross-sectional study was carried out in five selected rural districts of Pahang and Perak. Two hundred and fifty households were randomly selected and interviewed face to face using a semi-structured questionnaire. The majority of residents from both states were Malay, aged between 50 and 60 years and had a secondary level of education. Malay women aged 40-49 years and women with a higher level of education were significantly more aware of breast cancer (p<0.05). About half of these women practiced BSE (60.7%) and CBE (56.1%), and 7% had underwent mammography screening. The results of this study suggest that women in Pahang and Perak have good awareness of breast cancer and that more than half practice BSE and CBE. The women's level of education appears to contribute to their level of knowledge and health behaviour. However, more effort is needed to encourage all women in rural areas to acquire further knowledge on breast cancer.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• 제9권1호
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• pp.115-124
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• 2018

Background: Substantial empirical research has shown conflicting results regarding the influence of organizational external factors on construction risk management, suggesting the necessity to introduce a moderator into the study. The present research confirmed whether rules and regulations matter on the relationships between organizational external factors and construction risk management. Methods: Based on discouragement and organizational control theory, this research examined the effects of organizational external factors and rules and regulations on construction risk management among 238 employees operating in construction companies in Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria. A personally administered questionnaire was used to acquire the data. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Results: A significant positive relationship between organizational external factors and construction risk management was asserted. This study also found a significant positive relationship between rules and regulations and construction risk management. As anticipated, rules and regulations were found to moderate the relationship between organizational external factors and construction risk management, with a significant positive result. Similarly, a significant interaction effect was also found between rules and regulations and organizational external factors. Implications of the research from a Nigerian point of view have also been discussed. Conclusion: Political, economy, and technology factors helped the construction companies to reduce the chance of risk occurrence during the construction activities. Rules and regulations also helped to lessen the rate of accidents involving construction workers as well as the duration of the projects. Similarly, the influence of the organizational external factors with rules and regulations on construction risk management has proven that most of the construction companies that implement the aforementioned factors have the chance to deliver their projects within the stipulated time, cost, and qualities, which can be used as a yardstick to measure a good project.