Abstract Aedes mosquitoes, the primary vectors of dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika, remain a significant public health threat despite ongoing control efforts. Their adaptability to environmental changes has contributed to the continued rise in disease incidence. This study aims to evaluate and update the oviposition preferences of Aedes albopictus with respect to ovitraps colour and water sources across various sites at Universiti Sains Malaysia. The experiment tested five ovitraps colours: black, blue, green, orange, and red, alongside four water sources: rainwater, pond water, seasoned tap water, and distilled water. Over the study period, 2,640 eggs were collected, revealing significant differences (P<.05) in oviposition preferences for both ovitraps color (P = 0.012) and water source (P = 0.049). Black ovitraps attracted the highest number of eggs (672), followed by red (609), orange (410), blue (233), and green (190). Among the water sources, rainwater was most preferred (788 eggs), followed by pond water (725), seasoned tap water (630), and distilled water (497). Location 3 (School of Biological Sciences) recorded the highest egg count (972 eggs), although location differences were not statistically significant (P=0.434). Correlation analysis indicated a positive association between mosquito oviposition and water temperature (rs = 0.638; P = 0.047, P< .05). These findings highlight the importance of considering both ovitraps’ colour and water source in mosquito surveillance and control strategies, as these factors significantly influence the oviposition behaviour of Ae. albopictus. The results contribute valuable insights into optimizing ovitrap designs and selecting suitable water sources for more effective mosquito management in urban and suburban environments.

Abstract Controlling the power level in the TRIGA PUSPATI Reactor (RTP) is crucial for both producing accurate power output and managing reactor activity and power distribution. Currently, the RTP uses a Feedback Controller Algorithm (FCA) based on a Proportional-Integral (PI) controller to improve steady-state error during operation. However, this existing model faces issues such as delays in reaching a steady state and an inability to minimize errors due to insufficient power accuracy and an ineffective controller. To address these issues, a new structure called the Fractional Order Lead-Lag Compensator (FOLLC) has been introduced. Traditionally, the FOLLC structure is identified through loop shaping using Bode plots and root locus in the frequency response domain. In this study, however, the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique has been employed to estimate the values of the compensator’s poles and zeros. Integrating the compensator with the PSO approach improved the reactor core system's ability to reach and maintain the desired power output while minimizing deviations from the target power level, achieving Residual Mean Percentage (RMP) values between 0.75% and 2.35%. In comparison, the model without a compensator had much higher RMP values of 3.45% to 27.48%, showing a less accurate match with the real plant. This integration enhanced the overall performance of the reactor core system.

Abstract This study evaluated resin formation in Aquilaria malaccensis Lamk. and Aquilaria beccariana Tiegh. plantations in Sabah, Malaysia. Non-destructive methods based on colour and fragrance assessments using the Aggregated Assessment Index (IV) were applied to examine the effects of inoculation segmentation, location, diameter at breast height (DBH), and stand age on resin profiling. A total of 70 trees, aged 7 to 29 years, were assessed across multiple research plantation sites within the Forest Reserves (FR.), with resin inducement carried out by drilling segmented holes and applying locally sourced inoculum. Results after six months showed that inoculation segmentation had minimal impact on resin formation, with slightly higher resin formation found in the middle section for Aquilaria beccariana compared to Aquilaria malaccensis, though differences were not statistically significant. Resin formation varied by location, with older trees at Segaliud Lokan FR. and Sook FR. producing slightly more resin index than younger trees at Mile 9 and Gum-Gum FR. However, the Kruskal-Wallis H test confirmed that the IV index across locations were not statistically significantly in resin formation. Stand age showed a slightly stronger correlation with resin formation (rs = 0.24, p = 0.043) than DBH (rs = 0.17, p = 0.166), though both were weak predictors. These findings suggest that resin formation is generally associated by multiple factors beyond tree size and age, including environmental conditions, genetics, and management practices. Despite the limitation of the IV method, it provides a useful baseline for resource-limited settings, with the potential for refinement through detailed grading with modern methods at later stages.

Abstract The information of pili (Canarium ovatum) nut oil from Sabah is still scare. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the physicochemical properties of pili nut oil from Sabah. The oil was extracted using solvent extraction method which petroleum ether was the organic solvent. The extracted oil was evaluated for yield, color, slip melting point, iodine value, carotene content, fatty acid and triacylglycerol compositions. The oil was yellow in color with high yield (~70%) and semisolid state at room temperature (25 °C). The extracted oil had 18.5 °C for slip meting point and 96.4 g I2/100 g for iodine value. The oil was rich in oleic, palmitic, stearic ad linoleic acids with the major triacyclglycerols were POO, PPO and OOO. The extracted oil was of good quality with free fatty acid content and peroxide value was about 1.5% and 2.5 mEq/kg oil, respectively. The β- carotene content of pili nut oil was about 66 ppm.

Abstract The existing occupational radiation dose management system for Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) trainee radiographers continues to rely on paper-based records. These manual records are susceptible to damage, inconvenient to access, lack effective security measures, and impede data analysis. The study aims to develop an electronic personal dose records (e-PDR) system to monitor the occupational radiation exposure received by the trainee during their clinical practices. Developed using WordPress and PHP WordPress Blog Script, the e-PDR system leverages the MySQL server to store the database containing records of trainees and their radiation exposure data. The system adopts a Three-Tier Architecture approach, comprising a presentation tier for the user interface, a logic tier for security and user interaction handling, and a data tier for database management. The system ensures data security through robust password mechanisms and authentication features enforced by security plugins. The e-PDR system provides a user-friendly interface for viewing reports through line charts and tables. The feasibility of the proposed e-PDR system is tested through a pilot test using occupational radiation exposure data from a single cohort. The e-PDR system is feasible to be used as a centralized management tool for storing individual radiation dose data in the long term and facilitating exposure trend analysis at local level.

Abstract Chitosan is a straight amino-polysaccharide made after the alkaline deacetylation of biopolymer chitin. N-acetyl-D-glucosamine molecules are converted into D-glucosamine components, which contain free amino groups with an advantageous ionic charge. Chitosan and its derivatives have been used in a wide variety of applications such as food industry, biomedicine, cosmetics and agriculture. There are three stages to extract chitosan from shrimp shell waste such as deproteinization, demineralization and deacetylation. This present study aims to examine the influence of different temperatures and using 60% NaOH during the deproteinization process while 5% of HCl during demineralization and 60% NaOH during deacetylation. The temperature being studied during deproteination was 30 oC – 80 oC. The results show that the percentage of chitosan yield was higher when using low temperature at the first stage. The yield obtained in this study ranged from 6.90 – 9.50%, while degree of deacetylation ranged from 85.28 – 85.34%.

Abstract Driver fatigue is one of the major causes of road accidents. While numerous electroencephalography (EEG) related methodologies have been proposed for automatic fatigue detection, very little attention has been given to explore the use of EEG in the estimation of the prediction horizon of driver fatigue. This paper proposed a novel framework based on the similarity score measured by the Euclidean distance in the brain oscillatory rhythmic patterns to determine how far ahead the decrement in driver’s vigilance could be detected. A new metric for the confidence level of the estimation was also suggested to quantify prediction reliability. The proposed framework was assessed using the data from a driving simulation experiment involving 20 healthy female subjects with mean age of 22 and found that the prediction horizon can be extended up to 56s solely based on EEG features. In conclusion, this study demonstrated how the EEG features can be used for the estimation of prediction horizon in driver fatigue management.

Abstract Prevalent challenges persist within remote sensing techniques for benthic habitat mapping. While efforts are being made to improve mapping accuracy through combined remote sensing approaches, the synergistic use of satellite and side-scan sonar datasets to address the inherent limitations of spectral discrimination and geometric distortions in each method remains limited. This review focuses on exploring the latent potential inherent in the complementary properties of both datasets. An analysis of articles from the Scopus databases published between 2010 and 2023 has shown that different data inputs with classification techniques influence the accuracy of coral reef community mapping. The integration of acoustically derived data and/or bathymetric data with satellite imagery can influence mapping results to varying degrees. The addition of acoustic hardness to satellite imagery has unfortunately led to inaccuracies. The contribution of slope derived from bathymetry varies with extraction algorithms; the use of more sophisticated algorithms leads to higher accuracy. Research on classification methods shows that object-based approaches produce different results depending on field conditions, which are consistently better than pixel-based methods, for both satellite spectral and side-scan sonar data. This review not only highlights conceptual discoveries, but also provides recommendations for future research: (1) the need for comparative evaluation of classification algorithms to determine the optimal classifier; and (2) side-scan sonar-derived slope as a forcing factor to improve accuracy. It is also expected that the review will provide valuable insights into data and classification decisions regarding the use of satellite imagery and acoustic data in future coral reef community mapping.