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- PublicationBrain activity and changes in depressive symptoms following cognitive restructuring in depressive disorders: a case series(2025)Depression is a major mental health concern with psychological and neurobiological underpinnings. Cognitive restructuring (CR), a core component of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), is effective in reducing negative automatic thoughts and depressive symptoms, yet few studies have examined its neural effects using electroencephalography (EEG), particularly in Malaysia. This case series explored clinical and neurophysiological outcomes of a structured CR intervention in individuals with depressive disorders. Three female participants aged 20-23 years old with clinically diagnosed Major Depressive Disorder (one also with underlying Persistent Depressive Disorder) completed six individual CR sessions. Resting-state EEG (eyes closed, eyes open) was recorded pre- and post-intervention, focusing on absolute alpha (8–13 Hz) and theta (4–7 Hz) power at the F3 electrode, associated with emotional regulation. Clinical measures included the Malay versions of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ). All participants showed clinically meaningful improvements. Participant 1: BDI 34 to 20, BAI 27 to 23, ATQ (items 4–5) 14 to 8. Participant 2: BDI 32 to 19, BAI 10 to 4, ATQ 18 to 1. Participant 3: BDI 20 to 3, BAI 21 to 0, ATQ 5 to 0. EEG results showed participant-specific changes: Participant 1 had modest increases in both bands; Participant 2 showed reduced alpha (EC) but increased alpha (EO) and marked theta gains; Participant 3 had large alpha and theta increases, especially theta (EC: 0.04 to 42.09 μV²). Findings suggest CR may reduce depressive symptoms and negative thoughts while inducing measurable resting-state EEG changes, particularly in alpha and theta bands. EEG shows promise for monitoring individualised neural responses to psychotherapy, supporting integration into clinical practice and culturally relevant care in Malaysia.
- PublicationExploring the experiences and inner strengths of caregivers of children with leukemia in Malaysia: a qualitative study(2025)Childhood leukemia presents not only a significant health challenge for young patients but also imposes a profound caregiving burden on their families. In Malaysia, where leukemia accounts for the highest childhood cancer mortality rate, there is a critical lack of qualitative research exploring the lived experiences and psychological resources of caregivers. This study aimed to explore the experiences and inner strengths of caregivers of children with leukemia in Malaysia. It sought to understand the multifaceted challenges they face and the coping mechanisms they utilize, filling a major gap in existing literature. A qualitative research design with a phenomenological approach was employed to gain in-depth insights into caregivers’ lived experiences. Data were collected from 10 primary caregivers through semi-structured, in-depth interviews conducted online. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) was performed with the aid of Atlas.Ti software, and the identified themes were validated by one expert in the field to ensure credibility and trustworthiness. Findings revealed five experiential themes, which include emotional turmoil, social challenges, family and role conflict, work commitment challenges, and financial burden. Despite these challenges, caregivers exhibited four key inner strengths, which include positive appraisal, spirituality, resilience, and personal growth. Many caregivers reframed their experiences positively, found strength in religious beliefs, utilized support systems, and developed a deeper appreciation for life. This study offers a holistic understanding of the caregiving experience in the context of paediatric leukemia in Malaysia. The findings highlight the dual nature of caregiving, which is marked by emotional and practical struggles, yet also by the emergence of psychological resilience and growth. These insights can inform the development of culturally sensitive interventions, such as psychosocial support programs, caregiver education, and resilience training. Ultimately, this study contributes to a strengths-based framework for supporting caregivers and enhancing the well-being of families affected by childhood leukemia in Malaysia.
- PublicationImpact Of Internet Money Market Funds On Loans Of Commercial Banks In China(2025-01)Commercial banks in china began issuing internet money funds in 2013, and by 2023, its total net market value could rival the combined deposits of china's four largest commercial banks. As internet money funds divert large amounts of bank deposits, they may reduce the source of funding for bank loans, leading to weak growth in the lending business. Between 2014 and 2022, 50% of the listed banks' loan size growth rate showed a downward trend. According to the theory of substitution effect, there is a certain degree of substitution effect between internet money funds and deposits; meanwhile, bank deposits serve as the primary source of funding for bank loans, significantly impacting bank loans. Therefore, this thesis investigates the impact of internet money funds on lending operations as well as the mediation effect of deposits in said impact. A panel model with dynamic features is estimated using the gmm method and analyzed using nine years of annual data from twenty commercial banks listed in china before 2014. The study found that the rapid growth in internet money funds dampened the size of loans. Deposits play a mediating role of 27.42% in the influence of internet money funds on bank loans. As a result, banks need to take a series of measures to boost their lending business, such as imposing restrictions on internet money funds, rationalizing their pricing, and increasing the yield on deposits.
- PublicationEvaluation Of Colour Stability, Gloss, Microhardness And Surface Roughness Between Microhybrid And Nano-Based Light Cured Composites In Different Ph Solutions(2024-12)Nanotechnology in dentistry is not something new. The application of nanotechnology provides many advantages and benefits especially in the production of high-quality restorative materials. Research and continuous improvement are conducted to ensure that the newly developed composite resins have superior characteristics that are resistant to mechanical challenges to remain and sustain in the oral environment for a lifetime. This study aims to evaluate the influence of various types of beverages that are widely used in malaysia on colour stability, surface gloss, microhardness, and surface roughness of contemporary composite resins. A total of 450 samples were fabricated from the three types of composites tested; filtektm 250; filtektm 250 xt; filtektm 350 xt (n=150). All samples were immersed in five immersion solutions consisting of distilled water, artificial saliva, soft drink, energy drink and instant black coffee for 100 days. Findings of this study was analysed using one-way anova and post-hoc test at significant level of p<0.05. The results of the study showed that all the composites immersed in various ph levels experienced a significant change in colour and gloss after the assessment periods of 24 hours, d10, d20, d30, d60 and d100 using a colorimeter and gloss meter. Evaluations of the microhardness level using vickers hardness test was performed at 24 hours, d30 and d100 found that nanofilled composites present a higher strength against mechanical stress compared to microhybrid composites.
- PublicationPrevalence And Clinico-Laboratory Characteristics Of Mono Dengue And Dengue-Malaria Dual Infection And Their Association With Acute Kidney Injury Among Patients In Pakistan Tertiary Care Hospitals(2024-12)Dengue and malaria have similar clinical manifestations and laboratory characteristics, thus making it difficult to distinguish between the two infections during the endemic period. Dengue viral infection is a debilitating and dangerous vector-borne disease that has spread rapidly and becoming endemic in many parts of the world in recent years. According to world health organization (who) survey in pakistan plasmodium vivax prevalence is 84%. While, 14.9% and 1.1% cases were due to p. Falciparum and mixed infection respectively. Dengue fever is the major cause of illness and death geographically. Despite of aggressive precautionary measures, pakistan is still facing worsening dengue crisis over the past few years. It warrants an urgent need to evaluate dengue cases and dual infection cases to understand its clinico-laboratory spectrum in order to combat with these infectious diseases. Moreover, recent data indicated the rapid but transient rise in serum creatinine associated with the dengue induced acute kidney injury (aki) among dengue patients. This is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in dengue patients. Aki is still a neglected complication of dengue mono infection and dengue malaria dual infection in pakistan.
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- PublicationBiodegradable polyvinyl alcohol (pva) /carboxymethyl cellulose (cmc) halochromic film using natural dye from red cabbage(2024-08-01)The conventional pH indicator film is often synthetic and non-biodegradable, which can contribute to pollution and environmental degradation. In this research, a biodegradable halochromic film was fabricated using natural dye (anthocyanin) from red cabbage, PVA, and CMC and formed into film through the solution casting method. Solid-liquid extraction method was used to extract anthocyanin from red cabbage, and the optimum parameters, such as type of solvent, temperature, and time to extract a higher amount of anthocyanin, were determined. Responsiveness of halochromic film with different amounts of PVA/CMC (100/0, 80/20, 60/40, 40/60, 20/80, 0/100) was determined by using air exposure from different pH buffer solutions (pH 2–pH 12) by observing the colour change within 120 seconds and analysing the total colour difference (ΔE) by using colour analysis software. Characterization of the film was done through FTIR, swelling test, tensile test and reusability test. The finding shows the optimum parameters to extract higher amounts of anthocyanin were a 1:1 ratio of ethanol to distilled water, 70°C of heating, and an extracted duration of 30 minutes. The halochromic film with higher CMC content undergoes a faster and more obvious colour change when air exposure to different pH buffer solutions. The tensile strength and Young’s modulus increase, while elongation at break decreases as CMC content increases. Anthocyanin halochromic film shows a good sensor at pH 2, 11, and 12 as it changes to red at pH 2, green at pH 11 and greenish yellow at pH 12. Halochromic film made from 60% PVA and 40% CMC shows a balance in both colour response time and mechanical properties.
- PublicationImproved automated tool change mechanism of modular gripper for delta-robot(2024-08)The parallel Delta robot is an essential technology in the field of industrial automation especially in the transformative landscape of Industry 4.0. These robots are built with three or more arms attached to a common base enables them to do delicate tasks with unparalleled accuracy and making them optimal for industries requiring the highest levels of precision, such as electronics assembly and food and beverage processing. To increase the ability of delta robot to execute various tasks, an automated tool changer is created that capable changing the gripper of robot. The Delta robot confronts a significant challenge due to the constraint imposed by its workspace, primarily stemming from the co-location of the gripper exchange station and the pick and-place operations. This constraint impedes the robot's capability to efficiently pick up objects from one position and accurately deposit them in a different location. For that reason, this project aims to improve the workspace area of the delta robot for effective pick-n-place operation. Furthermore, sliding tray for modular gripper changer station is presented to make it easier to switch grippers and increase the Delta robot's workspace for better pick-and-place tasks. Normally, it sits at the edge of the Workspace. But when the robot needs a different gripper, the tray moves to the middle of the workspace using a pulley system driven by a stepper motor. Experiments showed that increasing the stepper motor speed up to 300 RPM significantly reduced the time taken for the gripper changer station to move between points A and B and return B to A. This inverse relationship is crucial for optimizing the operational efficiency of the Delta robot, highlighting the importance of selecting appropriate motor speeds to achieve desired performance outcomes.
- PublicationThe psychological well-being, emotional distress and resilience in adolescents living with thalassemia in maldives.(2013)his study was conducted with the aim of assessing the psychological well-being emotional distress and level of resilience in adolescents living with Thalassemia in Maldives. Eighty one adolescents living with Thalassemia in Maldives, who presented to the Thalassemia centre between March 2013 and May 2013 was included in the study. The subject’s psychological well-being, emotional distress and resilience were studied. The pedsQL 4.0 generic scale was used to asses psychological wellbeing, while the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale (DASS-21) was used to assess the level of their emotional distress. The Resilience Scale was utilized to assess the subject’s resilience level. SPSS version 19.0 was used for statistical analysis. The level of psychological well-being was found to be 79.50 (95% Cl 75.84, 83.15), while the level of emotional distress, in terms of depression was at 4.18 (95% Cl 3.19, 5.18), stress at 4.59 (95% Cl 3.60, 5.58) and anxiety was at 4.47 (95% Cl 3.51, 5.42). Resilience level fell into the moderate category with a score of 131.6 (95% Cl 125.57, 137.58). PWB was found to have a significant but reverse correlation with emotional distress, which included stress (r = -0.632, p<0.05), depression (r = -0.628, p<0.05) and anxiety (r = -0.476,p <0.05). Resilience was found to have a significant but poor positive correlation with psychological wellbeing, while a negative correlation existed with depression. A ferritin level of more than 2500p/l had a significant effect on PWB (t (74) = 2.36, p <0.05) and anxiety (t (70.04) = 2.43, p<0.05) .The study showed that younger subjects were more resilient (r = 0.22, p<0.05). The females have lower PWB compared to the male subjects (t = 2.36, p<0.05). A significant linear negative relationship between gender, depressive symptoms and stress symptoms with psychological well-being was obtained. Where those who are male have 6.52 unit lower psychological wellbeing (adjusted b=-6.52, 95% Cl -11.97,-1.07), p=0.020), while those depressed have 1.54 unit lower psychological well-being (adjusted b=-1.54, 95% Cl -2.48 0.60), p=0.002) and those stressed have 1.12 unit lower psychological well-being (adjusted b=-1.12, 95% Cl -2.50, 0.19), p=0.018). The study showed that emotional distress had a negative impact on psychological well-being of adolescents living with Thalassemia in Maldives. It also found that those with lower resilience were more likely to be depressed. However resilience did not play a role in anxiety and stress. The psychological well-being was found to be higher in those with high levels of resilience. It was also found that gender, depressive symptoms and stress symptoms were predictors PWB of thalassemia adolescents.
- PublicationUser-friendly detention pond design development using visual basic 6.0(2005-04-01)Nowadays, urban development in many developing countries, e.g. Malaysia, has found susceptible to adverse environmental crisis through excessive runoff that leads to the degradation of rivers and lakes. Therefore, this project has been carried out in which effective way to manage stormwater has to be developed. Actually, this project is focused more on the development of community and regional detention pond design using Visual Basic 6.0. In accordance with the guidelines provided in Urban Stormwater Management Manual for Malaysia ‘MSMA’ (DID, 2000), a computer model had been developed under this final year project. In other words, this model is built specifically to suit the design rainfall in Malaysia. Since the detention pond simulated via this design model is only to cater for large catchment area ( 80 ha and above ), hence, the Time-Area Method is proposed for the estimation of peak inflow and outflow. After attaining both the stage storage and stage-discharge relationships, Level Pool Routing will then be used in order to determine the peak discharge once a detention pond is designed. This is to ensure that the runoff discharged from the detention pond will not overflow the receiving water downstream. Even the manual calculation had been conducted to have this model checked and complemented. To verify its computation accuracy compared to spreadsheet (EXCEL), this model had been used to design the proposed wet community and regional detention pond located in a development area in Mukim 6, Daerah Seberang Perai Utara, P. Pinang. All the inflows, allowable outflows and required detention pond storage computed through this model were proved to be almost the same as that of EXCEL, only the outlet discharge is rather different between the two. As a whole, this model is indeed a helpful tool to do the preliminary design of wet detention pond.
- PublicationDevelopment and validation of the lateral material shift (lms) ratio method for surface finish quality assessment in machining with palm oils as cutting fluids(2024-09-01)Surface texture plays a crucial role in various applications, including optical, electrical, thermal performance, and appearance. In order to produce the desired surface texture in machining, several measures such as cutting zone temperature, tool wear, cutting forces, surface roughness of workpiece, vibration, chip formation, etc have been used in the past to investigate the effectiveness of machining. Among these the two most common parameters investigated in the past are tool flank wear and average surface roughness (Ra). The use of flank wear and average roughness, however, have resulted in confusing and contradicting findings in some of the published literature, such as improvement in surface roughness in spite of increase in flank wear. This is mainly due to the poor correlation between flank wear and surface roughness. Moreover, since Ra is a measure of the average absolute height of the roughness profile and, therefore, is insenstive to lateral changes in the topography of the surface profile of the workpiece as a consequence of tool wear. The use of Ra as the sole roughness measure could potentially lead to errorneous conclusions. No previous attempt has been made to analyze surface finish quality other than looking at two common parameters which are tool flank wear and current roughness parameters. In this research, a new and more effective method of measuring surface finish quality has been developed to assess the effectiveness of palm oils as cutting fluids. Three methods of workpiece surface analysis, namely autocorrelation, cross-correlation, and lateral material shift (LMS) ratio are investigated. Machining experiments were carried out on AISI 316 stainless steel. Images of tool nose and workpiece profiles were captured using digital camera, and the edges were extracted using sub-pixel edge detection. In the autocorrelation approach, each workpiece profile was correlated with a shifted version of the same profile. In the cross-correlation approach, the workpiece profiles at different stages of machining were correlated with a reference profile generated using the unworn tool edge. In the LMS ratio method, the material shift ratios were determined from each waveform on the workpiece profile at various stages of tool wear. Among the three methods, the LMS ratio method produced the best correlation with tool flank wear with the maximum R-squared value of 0.9466, while average roughness Ra showed no correlation at all with both major and nose flank wear. The proposed LMS ratio method provides a novel method of measuring the workpiece surface deterioration thus giving correlation result in assessing the workpiece surface deterioration.