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  • Publication
    Classification of glioma brain tumors in mr images using imagej-based radiomic analysis
    (2024-07)
    Zafrin, Nurizzatul Hadawiyah Mohamed
    The aim of this study is to classify glioma brain tumor grades using ImageJ-based radiomic analysis. This study utilizes magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with ImageJ (Fiji) software to perform radiomic analysis, providing a quantitative method to evaluate Glioma tumor without the use of Gadolinium based contrast agents (GBCAs). Gliomas can range from low grade gliomas (LGGs) (Grades I and II) to high grade gliomas (HGGs) (Grades III and IV) tumors. Accurate grading of tumor is vital in determination of the appropriate treatment. This is a retrospective study on 12 T2-weighted (T2W) images (n=12) of patients with pathologically diagnosed glioma of different grades retrieved at the Radiology Department, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia from Picture Archiving and Communications System (PACS). A single slice of T2W image is chosen for analysis and all of the images were analysed for its image quality. Then, a workflow and protocol for image processing were explored using ImageJ. The lesion and normal appearing white matter (NAWM) region of interest (ROI) were selected for histogram analysis, along with lesion to normal tissue ratio (LNR) calculations and standard deviation of lesion (SDL) analysis for the assessment of tumor heterogeneity and intensity. Additionally, color thresholding, lookup table (LUT) images with 3D plot surface images, and midline shift angle measurements were used to assess tumor characteristics such as the margin, edema, and mass effect. The result of this study shows no specific trend for the tumor intensity based on LNR findings; however the SDL of the tumor shows an increasing trend across the glioma grades, which proves the increasing heterogeneity as the glioma grades increase. The margin of the tumor can be depicted by entropy thresholding, the edema is depicted by LUT images. Finally, the mass effect is depicted by the measurement of midline shift angle where higher-grade tumor depicts further deviation from 180.0° and in 3D surface plot images. In conclusion, ImageJ-based radiomic analysis provides an accessible and simple method for classifying glioma brain tumors. This approach may potentially facilitate tumor grading without the use of GBCAs.
  • Publication
    Percentage depth dose (PDD) of 9 MEV electron beam in the medium with the presence of inhomogeneous tissue by using optically stimulated luminescence dosimeter (OSLD), EBT3 film and ionization chamber
    (2024-07)
    Malek, Nur Syazwany
    The human body has variations in tissue density such as high-density bone tissue and low-density lung tissue, which will impact the dose distribution in the medium. The study aims to evaluate the dosimetric accuracy of optically stimulated luminescence dosimeters (OSLD) and their ability to detect and measure dose perturbation by measuring the percentage depth dose (PDD) in the medium consisting of solid water, bone equivalent, and cork(lung) equivalent phantom. Three phantom setups of solid water phantom, solid water-bone phantom, and solid water-cork (lung) phantom were irradiated with a 9 MeV electron beam, and the PDD was measured using OSLD, EBT3 film, and ionization chamber. The PDD curve and electron range parameter obtained by OSLD was compared to other dosimeters and statistical test was conducted to determine the agreement between the PDD using the p-value. The results showed that PDD measured by OSLD was in good agreement with the ionization chamber and EBT3 film dosimetry in a homogenous solid water phantom setup. PDD in the inhomogeneous solid water-bone and solid water cork (lung) phantom setups measured by OSLD was also consistent with the EBT3 film and previous studies. No significant differences were observed between PDD measured by OSLD and the reference dosimetry, evidenced by p-value > 0.05 obtained from statistical tests. The overall results indicated the suitability of OSLD as a passive dosimeter in electron beam dosimetry in the medium with the presence of inhomogeneous tissue.
  • Publication
    Establishment of local diagnostic reference level (LDRLS) for digital mobile radiography in neonate population
    (2024-08)
    Nazar, Nur Athirah Syuhada
    Introduction: Radiology techniques such as chest AP, abdomen AP, and chestabdomen X-rays are frequently performed on neonates to address various clinical conditions. However, a comprehensive Diagnostic Reference Level (DRL) that considers the specific needs and categories of neonates is currently lacking. Developing such DRLs is crucial for optimising radiation doses and ensuring safe imaging practises tailored to the delicate physiology of neonates. Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the dose distribution (Air Kerma-Area Product, PKA in mGy.cm2) for chest, abdomen, and chest-abdomen AP studies for mobile digital X-ray units among neonates and establish the local diagnostic reference levels (LDRLs) for these studies specifically for neonates. Method: In this study, a retrospective survey of X-ray data was conducted on 694 neonate samples, aged 1 to 28 days, who underwent chest AP, abdomen AP, or chest-abdomen X-ray examinations between January 2022 and December 2023 at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM) using a mobile Samsung GM85 unit. The dose distributions (PKA in mGy.cm2) were evaluated, and the local diagnostic reference levels were established for these selected studies. Results: The dose distribution (PKA in mGy.cm2) revealed the highest DRL (Q3) value in the abdomen AP (17.26 mGy.cm2) and the lowest in the chest AP (6.79 mGy.cm2). The reference range of PKA for the selected X-ray examinations are abdomen AP (1.98 – 140.98 mGy.cm2), chest-abdomen (2.62 – 132.66 mGy.cm2), and chest AP (0.97 – 24.50 mGy.cm2). Conclusion: The findings of this study reveal that KAP value proportionally increases with kV, mAs and FOV. The DRL for neonates varies depending on the area being scanned for each X-ray radiography examination. In summary, this study makes a significant contribution to enhancing radiation safety, patient care, and clinical decision-making in neonatal X-ray radiography. Generally, this study agrees with other conducted DRL studies.
  • Publication
    Development and validation of IYCF-CCPQ to assess knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) on infant and young child feeding and factors associated with the kap scores among child care providers in Kelantan
    (2019-01)
    Zakria, Najihah Mahfuzah
    Adequate nutrition is critical to child health. There is a need to identify the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) on infant and young child feeding among child care providers. Pre-existing questionnaires are unsatisfactory due to a different target population, weak theory, and lack of confirmatory analysis. Our objectives were t o develop and validate a new questionnaire that will be use d to assess the KAP and its associated factors among child care provider s in Kota Bharu. This study consists of two phases which Phase 1 developed and validate a new questionnaire, meanwhile Phase 2 involved assessment of KAP and its associated factors. The questionnaire was developed based on literature review, experts’ opinion and theoretical framework. Response process was assessed via cognitive debriefing and pretesting. Psychometric validation was carried out among 200 child care providers outside Kota Bharu. Purposive sampling was applied. Item Response Theory and Exploratory Factor Analysis were used for internal structure validity . Internal consistency rel iability was conducted for all domains. For Phase 2, a cross-sectional study involved 150 child care providers in Kota Bharu. Multistage random sampling was applied. Level of KAP was determined and its associated factors were identified through multiple linear regression and chi-square analysis. As a result, the new questionnaire consists of 218 final items with 3 domains (99 items on knowledge, 77 items on attitude, and 42 items on practice) and named as ‘Borang Kaji Selidik Pemakanan Bayi dan Kanak-Kanak dalam kalangan Pengasuh’ or IYCF-CCPQ. IYCF-CCPQ had good psychometric properties. Internal consistency by marginal reliability ranging from 0.74 to 0.91 for domain knowledge. Reliability for domain attitude ranging from 0.89 to 0.90. Breastfeeding and formula feeding knowledge score (BFFKS) was 69.42 (SD 11.31), complementary feeding knowledge score (CFKS) was 76.99 (SD 9.31), breastfeeding and formula feeding attitude score (BFFAS) was 143.61 (SD 12.10); and complementary feeding attitude score (CFAS) was 176.69 (16.07). Exclusive breastfeeding experience (adjusted b=7.09; 95%CI 1.69,12.48; p=0.001) and number provider per centre (adjusted b=-0.41; 95%CI -0.77,-0.06; p=0.022) did had association with BFFKS. Being married had significant association with BFFKS (adjusted b=6.01; 95%CI 2.32,9.71; p<0.001), BFFAS (adjusted b=5.33; 95%CI 1.40,9.26; p=0.008) and CFAS (adjusted b=7.69; 95%CI 2.94,12.45; p=0.002). Increased total working hours per day (adjusted b=2.53; 95%CI 1.06,4.00; p<0.001) did have association with CFKS. Diploma or higher qualification did influence CFKS (adjusted b=3.13; 95%CI 0.08,6.19; p=0.046), BFFAS (adjusted b=5.33; 95%CI 21.40,9.26; p=0.008) and CFAS (adjusted b=10.74; 95%CI 5.69,15.79; p<0.001). Job scope less than five did influence CFKS (adjusted b=4.67; 95%CI 1.79,7.54; p=0.001), BFAS (adjusted b=3.94; 95%CI 0.29,7.58; p=0.036) and CFAS (adjusted b=8.24; 95%CI 3.53,12.94; p<0.001). Source information from health staff did influence CFKS (adjusted b=3.16; 95%CI 0.05,6.27; p=0.048). Meanwhile, pamphlet source had association with CFAS (adjusted b=5.89; 95%CI 0.79,11.00; p=0.025). There was a significant association of educational level (X2=8.12(3),p=0.044) and exclusive breastfeeding (p=0.041, fisher exact test) with the practice of handling express breastmilk. Meanwhile, hygenic practice did have association with educational level (p=0.048, fisher exact test). In conclusion, the IYCF-CCPQ is reliable and valid to be used to assess KAP among child care providers on infant young child feeding. Overall KAP was satisfactory and identified significant factors help in improving child care providers’ KAP in future.
  • Publication
    Development of a pigeohole letter detector system with higher number of users
    (2012-06-01)
    Ng, Kok Meng
    Time is ticking every second as we are walking or doing daily chores and it passes unnoticeably. The time that has been spent cannot be recovered and has become the past in the histories of our lives. Thus, every second is precious and time planning is important to avoid doing activities that are going to waste our time. So, this system is developed in conjunction to this statement as it helps users to save time even if for a mere few minutes. Hence, they could use this spare time to complete other more important work. A user does not need to go and check for letters every day. For some people, they may only receive letters twice a week. So they could save time and energy especially those who are living in high rise buildings. With this system, they will be acknowledged by a notification telling them that there is a letter in the pigeon hole. This system required a root user to operate in PC, it is a very user friendly system and the instruction is also easy to understand. Database will store information of all pigeonhole users. Each pigeon hole consists of a sensor to sense the presence of letter and a microcontroller is used to monitor its’ changes. Then it will continue to communicate with PC via transmission of signal using serial port communication. From PC, a program will run automatically. This program will then send a notification in the form of Email or SMS to that particular pigeonhole user. Basically the system runs continuously until the root user disables it. In overall, the system performs accurately and easy to manage. It is as convenient as a calculator where the user just key in the required information and the result will come out in no time. The sense of worrying whether there is letter inside the letter box is no longer an issue. Lastly, users will definitely gain benefits for using the pigeon hole letter detector system.
Most viewed
  • Item
    Knowledge, attitudes, and practices toward coronavirus disease 2019 among intensive care unit nurses in Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia
    (Pusat Pengajian Sains Kesihatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2022-06)
    Paul, Christie Lily Aida Pius
    COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus at Wuhan, China on 2019. Hence, COVID-19 spreads across the world, the intensive care units (ICU) community must prepare for the challenges associated with this pandemic. A cross-sectional study has been conducted to assess the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices towards COVID-19 among ICU nurses in Hospital USM. This study also examined the correlation between level of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 among ICU nurses in Hospital USM. In addition, the study also examined the association between the socio-demographic data of respondents (age, gender, ethnicity, level of education and years in nursing practices) and the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19. The Pearson Correlation Coefficient test was used to determine the correlation between the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19 and to determine the association between the socio-demographic data of respondents (age, gender, ethnicity, level of education and years in nursing practices) and the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices toward COVID-19. A total 159 ICU nurse from ICU wards were recruited through purposive sampling. Data were collected from September 2021 to June 2022 using google form and analysed using SPSS version 26.0 for a window. Most of the respondents are female (88.7%). The results revealed that overall ICU nurses had a moderate level of knowledge towards COVID-19 , poor level of attitudes towards COVID-19 and good level of practices towards COVID-19. In addition, the findings were there was no significant association between level of knowledge and attitudes toward COVID-19 (p >0.05). Next, , the findings were there was no significant association between level of knowledge and practices toward COVID-19 (p >0.05). Meanwhile, there are significant association between level of attitude and level of practices (p= 0.001). The findings about the association between socio-demographic data of respondent (age, gender, ethnicity, level of education and years of nursing experiences) and the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices, there is significant only between age and knowledge as the p-value is 0.015. In conclusion, the level of knowledge and level of attitudes needs to increased and improved among ICU nurses so they will be able to delivery an excellent nursing care for COVID-19 patients.
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    Teachers' satisfaction with principals' communication
    (1998-07)
    Keat Bee, Chee
    This study examined the importance teachers attach to the different communication messages of their principals and their satisfaction with these messages. Specifically, the communication content variables studied were messages pertaining to direction, work information, job rationale, performance feedback, positive expression, negative expression and participation. Overall, highest importance was placed on feedback. This was followed by work information, job rationale, participation, direction, positive expression and negative expression in decreasing order of importance. Younger teachers however attached the greatest importance on messages providing direction. Teachers in the sample reported dissatisfaction in all areas of their principals' communication. The greatest dissatisfaction was with the communication of feedback followed by messages encouraging participation and those providing work-related information. Male teachers were significantly less dissatisfied with their principals' communication than female teachers. Teachers perceive lower levels of communication dissatisfaction under female principals. Communication ~atisfaction was found to increase with teachers' age. There was no significant relationship between teachers' teacl~ing experience, educational level and length of service under principal and their communication satisfaction. Based on the findings, principals should tailor their communication to meet the needs of teachers at different stages of their career.
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    Studies on the formation, temporal evolution & forensic applications of camera fingerprints
    (Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2004)
    Kuppuswamy, R.
    A series of experiments was conducted by exposing negative film in brand new cameras of different make and model. The exposures were repeated at regular time intervals spread over a period of two years. The processed film negatives were studied under a stereomicroscope (x1 O-x40) in transmitted illumination for the presence of the characterizing features on their four frame-edges. These features were then related to those present on the masking frame of the cameras by examining the latter in reflected light stereomicroscopy (x1 O-x40). The purpose of the study was to determine the origin and permanence of the frame-edgemarks, and also the processes by which the marks may probably alter with time. The investigations have arrived at the following conclusions: i) the edge-marks have originated principally from the imperfections received on the film mask from the manufacturing and also occasionally from the accumulated dirt, dust and fiber on the film mask over an extended time period. ii) The edge profiles of the cameras have remained fixed over a considerable period of time so as to be of a valuable identification medium. iii) The marks are found to be varying in nature even with those cameras manufactured at similar time. iv) The influence of f/number and object distance has great effect in the recording of the frame-edge marks during exposure of the film. The above findings would serve as a useful addition to the technique of camera edge-mark comparisons.
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    Changes of lower limb kinematics during 2000m ergometer rowing among male junior national rowers
    (Pusat Pengajian Sains Kesihatan, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2019)
    Zainuddin, Fara Liana
    ;
    Umar, Muhammad Aiman
    ;
    Razman, Rizal Mohd
    ;
    Shaharudin, Shazlin
    Rowing involves cyclic motions that have a number of similar repetitions of joint excursion. Similar movement patterns, physiological, muscular activity and biomechanical aspects were observed while rowing on dynamic ergometer and on water. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the changes of lower limb kinematics during 2000m rowing on dynamic ergometer among male junior national rowers. Ten male junior nationallevel rowers participated in the study. 24 passive reflective markers were attached on their lower extremity and their rowing motions were captured. Each phases of rowingcycle was interpolated to 100 time points separately. The lower limb joint kinematics were compared across every 500m sections to evaluate its changes during 2000m rowing trial. There was a statistically significant difference between stroke rates for every 500m of 2000m rowing trial as determined by one-way ANOVA (F(3,36) = 4.880, p = 0.006). Kinematical variabilities were observed across splits particularly in frontal and transverse planes of lower limb joints.
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    Characterization Of Ti/TiN/AlCu Film Stack Prepared By Physical Vapor Deposition
    (Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2012)
    Leow, Mun Tyng
    Physical vapor deposition (PVD) method is widely used in semiconductor industry in metallic film deposition process. It has been found that the metallic film properties are influenced by the parameter change in the PVD sputtering machine. Ionized physical vapor deposition (I-PVD) came about when electronic devices shrink in sizes which increase the packing density of the device. This lead to higher aspect ratio of the via size and smaller interconnect lines of the integrated circuit. I-PVD sputtering method had successfully relieved the step coverage issues for high aspect ratio trenches and vias. In semiconductor industries, reliability surfaced as the major enemy. In this study, metallic film sputtered by direct current (DC) magnetron sputtering system is studied and characterized. Two types of long throw DC magnetron sputtering system were used, which are the conventional (Hi Fill®) and advanced (Advanced Hi Fill®) system. For conventional DC magnetron sputtering, only the substrate biasing is varied while for the advanced technique, the parameter of substrate biasing and magnetic coil current is varied for deposition of Ti metallic film. Film stack of AlCu/TiN/Ti are deposited to investigate the influence of bottom Ti towards the subsequent films. The potential parameter for I-PVD were implemented in patterned wafer process for metal 1 and the result showed a successful increase in resistance of electromigration (EM) when wafers were tested for wafer-level EM test. The structural, surface morphological and physical properties of the films were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscope (AFM), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Eichhorn & Haussmann film stress metrology tool, acoustic measurement machine and four-point probe. In this research, the implementation of the process parameter used in characterizing the sputtering of Ti film by using Advanced Hi Fill® system together with substrate biasing has proven its ability to increase of EM lifetime in semiconductor industry.