Nowadays, the mining of sand resources from rivers areas especially in Perak state is a common practice and may lead to destruction of public assets as well as impacts or increase stress on commercial and noncommercial living resources that utilize these areas. This study was carried out to determine possible river sand removal capacity and their consequences towards Sungai Perak. Van Veen Grabber and Helley Smith sediment sampler are used to collect bed soil samples and determine sediment transport at the time of sampling. These two methods could estimate the suitability of available sand material and the flux of sediment transport locally. By conducting the surveys and analysing all the collected data, it showed positive results. Almost 90% of the grab samples were good quality of sand. The minimum total  quantity of minable sand in Sungai Perak at Bota Kanan is 713,073.1 tonnes (269,084.2 m3) with the maximum replenishment period of 100 days. The recharge sediment transport yield o.....

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 Balance significant for keeping up postural harmony and along these lines for the shirking of falls. Ageing may influence the central nervous system and neuromuscular system properties prompting deficiencies in equalization and step execution. The motivation behind this investigation was to assess the test-retest reliability of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) used to look at equalization in elderly adult. Twenty healthy volunteer elderly adult (age 62–91) were incorporated three males and 17 females into the examination. The Berg Balance Scale (BBS) was assessed twice by a similar assessor. Each volunteer played out the Berg Balance Scale (BBS) succession in random request around the same time and after two days. The test-retest reliability assessments were made at roughly a similar time of day. The mean age in years of the participants was 71.9. The test-retest reliability for the BBS was excellent Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC = 0.994). The BBS is a reliable and valid sca.....

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The split delivery vehicle routing problem (SDVRP) is a relaxed  version of the classical VRP where customers can be visited more  than once. The SDVRP is also applicable for problems where one or  more of the customers require a demand larger than the vehicle  capacity. Constructive heuristics adapted from the parallel savings  and the sweep methods are first proposed to generate a set of  solutions which is then used in the new and more efficient set  covering-based formulation which we put forward. An effective repair  mechanism to remedy any infeasibility due to the set covering  problem is presented. A reduced set of promising routes is used in our model, instead of the original set of routes, proposing and using well defined reduction schemes. This set covering-based approach is  tested on large datasets from the literature with encouraging results. In brief, seven best solutions including ties are found among the 137 SDVRP instances...

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Penang Island, or Pulau Pinang, is one of the most urbanized and densely populated regions in Malaysia. It is undergoing rapid environmental degradation. Simultaneously, a significant culprit for soaring rates of deforestation and severe climate change is inefficient and unsustainable food waste management. Literature reviews have analysed the efficacy of various composting systems that divert food waste to be repurposed and transformed into a value-added soil enhancement. They reveal the superiority of an in-vessel Economic Smart Food Waste Composter. The ESFWC employs a plastic drum to turn compost materials, an automated programming system, and microbial solutions to accelerate the aerobic digestion of organic waste. The ESFWC requires minimal time, cost, labour and GHGs emissions. For this study interviews and questionnaires were conducted with stakeholders on Penang Hill, or Bukit Bendera. It displays a need for an ESFWC, to reduce the detrimental environmental effects of food was.....

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Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti tanda, menganalisis kesan penggunaannya yang mempunyai hubungan korelasi objek-objek kepada pembaca dan menginterpretasikan kaitannya dengan budaya masyarakat Tamil dalam 40 buah cerpen terpilih M. Ramaiah. Kajian ini ialah kajian kepustakaan yang menggunakan kaedah analisis kandungan dan analisis deskriptif. Analisis dan perbincangan dibuat berpandukan teori semiotik Charles Sanders Peirce. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa sebanyak 66 jenis tanda yang dikenal pasti mempunyai hubungan dengan 38 jenis objek dalam 40 buah cerpen terpilih M.Ramaiah. Antara tanda ini, 59 jenis yang didapati mempunyai kaitan dengan budaya masyarakat Tamil dapat diinterpretasikan, manakala tujuh pula tidak dapat diinterpretasikan. Kesimpulannya, hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahawa kesemua tanda ini mendukung mesej dan amanat yang unik, istimewa dan mendalam yang dapat membuka minda pembaca. Implikasinya, kajian semiotik ini bukan sahaja memaparkan kepent.....

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Kajian ini dijalankan bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti hubungan antara motivasi dan sikap murid terhadap pencapaian subjek Reka Bentuk dan Teknologi (RBT) dalam kalangan murid sekolah rendah. Teori Penentuan Kendiri, Teori Penentuan Matlamat dan Teori Keperluan Maslow dan Model Sikap ABC merupakan teori dan model yang dapat menyokong komponen-komponen dalam pemboleh ubah kajian ini. Seramai 200 orang murid tahun lima sekolah rendah dalam daerah Hulu Perak terlibat dalam kajian ini. Reka bentuk kajian adalah berbentuk kuantitatif menggunakan kaedah tinjauan dan instrumen soal selidik digunakan bagi mengumpulkan data. Tiga orang pakar telah dilantik bagi mengesahkan instrumen kajian. Kebolehpercayaan instrumen adalah tinggi dan setiap item boleh diterima dengan nilai Alpha Cronbach adalah sebanyak 0.87. Data yang diperoleh dianalisis menggunakan statistik deskriptif dan Model Persamaan Berstruktur (SEM). Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa murid sekolah rendah mempunyai tahap mot.....

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This study proposes an evaluation and benchmarking decision matrix (DM) on the basis of multicriteria decision making (MCDM) for young learners‘ English mobile applications (E-apps) in terms of listening, speaking, reading and writing (LSRW) skills. Benchmarking E-apps for young learners is challenging due to (a) multiple criteria, (b) criteria importance and (c) data variation. The DM was constructed on the basis of the intersection amongst evaluation criteria in terms of LSRW and E-apps for young learners. The criteria were adopted from a preschool education curriculum standard. The DM data included six E-apps as alternatives and 17 skills as criteria. Thereafter, the six E-apps were evaluated by distributing a checklist form amongst six English learning experts. These apps were subsequently benchmarked by utilising MCDM methods, namely, best–worst method (BWM) and technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). BWM was used for criterion weighting, wh.....

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Steganography is a form of technology utilised to safeguard secret data during communication in addition to data repository. Numerous researchers have endeavoured to enhance the performance of steganography techniques through the development of an effective algorithm for the selection of the optimal pixel location within the host image for the concealment of secret bits, for the enhancement of the embedding capacity of the secret data, and for maintaining the visual quality of the host image (stego image) in an accepted rate after the concealment of the secret data. Therefore, steganography is perceived as a challenging task. Thus, the current study proposes a new technique for image steganography based on particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithm by using pixel selection for the concealment of a secret image in spatial domain, for the purpose of high embedment capacity. The stego possesses a high level of resistance against a steganalytic attack due to the security provided via imag.....

1910 hits

The investigation is based on the understanding of the role of the performer as narrator in the  performance of early nineteenth-century piano music in general and Schubert's  Piano Sonata in A  Major, D959, in particular. In addition to considering aspects of the musical and   cultural    context   as   well   as   piano   construction   in   Schubert's   own   time,   this dissertation   highlights  and  examines  two  general  areas.  The  first  area  contains  three central  themes  -  tempo, articulation  and dynamics. The second  area will shed  light on a 'paradigm  shift'   between  what  Lawrence  Zbikowski  termed  'static  form'  and  'dynamic form'. The traditional  sonata-form  represents the 'static form'  which consists of balanced structure  built  from   regular  sub-units  with  clear  harmonic  connections  between  each other. The  'dynamic  form'   was conceived  as 'form  as proc.....

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Context Telemedicine has been increasingly used in healthcare to provide services to patients remotely. However, prioritising patients with multiple chronic diseases (MCDs) in telemedicine environment is challenging because it includes decision-making (DM) with regard to the emergency degree of each chronic disease for every patient. Objective This paper proposes a novel technique for reorganisation of opinion order to interval levels (TROOIL) to prioritise the patients with MCDs in real-time remote health-monitoring system. Methods The proposed TROOIL technique comprises six steps for prioritisation of patients with MCDs: (1) conversion of actual data into intervals; (2) rule generation; (3) rule ordering; (4) expert rule validation; (5) data reorganisation; and (6) criteria weighting and ranking alternatives within each rule. The secondary dataset of 500 patients from the most relevant study in a remote prioritisation area was adopted. The dataset contains three diseases, namely.....

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