Repository@USM
Welcome to closed access digital repository of Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM).
This repository contains multiple types of scholarly materials, especially USM theses and exam papers.
“Any doctoral thesis or academic work owned by Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) that is downloaded through its official platforms shall not be shared, distributed, printed, or reproduced in any form to third parties without explicit written permission from USM. Any breach of this condition constitutes a violation of institutional intellectual property rights and may result in disciplinary action, legal proceedings, or revocation of academic credentials, depending on the severity of the offence.”
To access the full text, please log in with your USM email account.
Research outputs
7510
Projects
0
People
0
Recent Additions
- PublicationThe influence of online food delivery services usage on healthy food choices among community in USMKK(2026-01)Online food delivery service (OFDS) usage has become popular among the university community due to its availability and convenience. The growth of these services may influence healthy food choices. This study aims to assess the influence of online food delivery service usage on healthy food choices among the community in USMKK. A descriptive cross-sectional study design was used from August 2025 to February 2026. The study was administered to 372 respondents, who comprised the USMKK community, including lecturers, staff, and students. They willingly answered the online questionnaire after meeting all inclusion and exclusion criteria. The questionnaire has three sections: demographic characteristics, online food delivery usage, and healthy food choices. The results showed that convenience was the primary reason people used OFDS; however, many respondents reported difficulty finding healthy food choices when ordering online. The statistical analysis revealed a significant association between OFDS usage and healthy food choices. The correlation was a weak positive correlation. This shows that the increased use of online food delivery services was related to food choices, which led to less healthy eating behaviours. These findings underscore the importance of targeted nutrition education and the increased availability of healthier food options on online food delivery platforms to promote healthier dietary practices within university communities
- PublicationThe perceived role of viral food trends on social media towards halal awareness among muslim Gen Z in university setting(2026-01)Social media has rapidly evolved into a powerful platform to create, share, and interact with content, enabling connection, creativity, and expression. Gen Z are the most active group on social media, as they were born and raised with the social web. They are the generation of digital-centric, and their identity is technology. That is why they are responsive to trends on social media, including viral food content. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the perceived role of viral food trends on social media and halal awareness among Muslim Generation Z university students in Malaysia. From September to November 2025, a cross-sectional research approach was used, with participants receiving the online questionnaire through online platforms like WhatsApp and Instagram. For this study, a sample size of 393 aged 18 to 28 years old from university students was required. In order to evaluate the data, SPSS version 30.0 has been used. The findings indicate that there is a significant relationship (p < 0.001) between the perceived role of viral food trends on social media and halal awareness. Future research is needed to include additional factors such as religiosity, peer influence, and Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) to provide more understanding of halal food decision-making among Muslim Gen Z.
- PublicationClassification analysis for cyclists’ posture recognition(2016-06)In cycling sports, there are three basic postures: standing, normal and lean forward to be analyzed for the most efficient posture. Previous works in cycling motion detailed into the physics concept for good cycling performances. However, no studies had realized the body joints and angles postulations worth some consideration. Another constraint is on the complicated steps and processes required for analyzing the cycling motion. Therefore, the purposes of this study are to (i) analyzed three different cycling motion postures: Normal, Lean Forward and Standing for classification analysis, (ii) study skeletal 2D postures that determine optimum posture for classification, (iii) relate selective attributes to enhance the cycling posture classification accuracies. The study begins with experimental cycling motion capture data, followed by data conversion into images and numeric data. Data mining analysis consisting of four stages is employed. It is found that the lower body segments (below waists) are important for classifying data into its corresponding classes. Best classification accuracy obtained show up to 99.67 % accurately classified data using the Tree Classifier on 10 fold cross validation mode. A further study showed that three body joint coordinates: kx, ky and llAngle are the critical attributes, while the knee being the important attribute to distinguish the different cycling postures perfectly.
- PublicationThe association between social media engagement, body image concern and eating behaviour among undergraduate health science students in Universiti Sains Malaysia(2026-01)The rapid growth of social media has influenced body image and eating habits among university students. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between eating habits, body image concerns, and social media use among undergraduate health science students at Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), Kubang Kerian. Simple random sampling was used in a cross-sectional quantitative design with 285 students. The Social Media Engagement Questionnaire (SMEQ), Body Self-Image Questionnaire–Short Form (BSIQ-SF) and Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) were used to gather data. The findings showed a significant negative correlation between social media engagement and body image concern (r= -0.309, p= 0.001), and positive correlation between social media engagement and eating behavior (r= 0.172, p=0.004). A stronger negative correlation was observed between body image concern and eating behavior (r= -0.481, p= 0. 001). These results emphasize how crucial it is to encourage positive body image and healthy social media use to reduce the risk of unhealthy eating habits among university students.
- PublicationThe effect of different frying oils on the physicochemical and sensory properties of deep-fried doughnuts(2025)The research has compared the impacts of four different frying oils, palm oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil and canola oil on the physicochemical, physical, textural, colour and sensory attributes of deep-fat-fried doughnuts. Physicochemical analysis showed that doughnuts fried in palm oil contained the highest amount of moisture (32.72%), fat content (20.82%), and energy (3685.67 cal/g), followed by coconut oil (31.22% moisture; 17.88 fat; 3509.67 cal/g), and sunflower and canola oils contained significantly lower amounts of fat (13.74% and 11.89% respectively), and lower energy values (p < 0.05). Analysis of texture profile did not indicate significant differences in firmness and resilience (p > 0.05); but springiness was significantly less in doughnuts fried in coconut oil (57.48) than in palm oil (62.02) (p < 0.05). Colour analysis showed that there were significant differences in lightness (L) and yellowness (b) (p < 0.05) with coconut oil yielding darker (L = 52.49) and yellower doughnuts (b = 35.85) and no significant differences in redness (a) among oils. Both physical properties such as diameter and thickness and spread ratio did not differ significantly (p > 0.05). Sensory analysis showed that there were no major differences in taste, texture, colour, or acceptability between oils (p > 0.05) but coconut oil scored significantly higher in aroma evaluation (p < 0.001). In general, frying oil choice had a strong impact on the physicochemical quality, but only a small effect on the overall consumer acceptance.
Most viewed
- PublicationDose Verification Of Brass Mesh Bolus For Contralateral Breast Post-mastectomy In Three-dimensional Conformal Radiotherapy Technique(2023-09)Post mastectomy radiation therapy (PMRT) prescribed to patient that undergo breast mastectomy. With the bolus application in PMRT, it has shown few limitations whereby current water equivalent bolus (WEB) unable to conform irregular surface consistently. Besides that, dose inhomogeneity arises in contralateral breast (CB) and organ at risk (OAR) during PMRT. It is established that brass mesh bolus (BMB) has potential in conforming irregular surface with the aim to treat chest wall site in delivering maximum dose and sparing OAR. This study aims to determine the feasibility of BMB as an alternative to bolus and to verify dose received by CB and target breast with application of BMB in 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DCRT). This study are designed based on three main parts ; firstly is to characterize dosimeters (Ludlum detector, ionization chamber and nanoDotTM) based on Cobalt-6o and 6-MV photon energy; secondly is to measure the radiological, physical and dosimetric properties of BMB by measuring the density using three methodologies (Image-J analysis, conventional density and CT analysis), mass attenuation coefficient, mass energy absorption coefficient and percentage depth dose (PDD) ; and lastly is to verify the radiotherapy treatment with the BMB to the PMRT heterogenous phantom by 3DCRT. Statistical analysis evaluation in accordance with the international standard was applied. The results revealed that all dosimeters have high linearity with acceptable traceability
- ItemSignalling pathways involved in IL-8 mediated odontogenic differentiation of shed cultured on human amniotic membrane with BMP-2(Pusat Pengajian Sains Pergigian, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2021-12)Current knowledge about the treatment modalities using amniotic membrane (AM) scaffold for dental regeneration is still limited. It has been previously shown that bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) growth factor assisted stem cells from human exfoliated deciduous teeth (SHED) differentiation into odontoblast-like cells via activation of interleukin-8 (IL-8) cytokine. Nevertheless, the fundamental biology of IL-8 mediation in the process is yet to be understood. This study aims at finding the roles and mechanisms of IL-8 immunomodulatory pathway during odontoblast differentiation of SHED. In this study, SHED was cultured on AM scaffold with BMP-2 treatment. Flow cytometry analysis, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and Western blot were conducted to determine the expression of stem cell markers, the expression of inflammatory cytokines genes, the protein expression of odontoblast markers, and molecules involved in the IL-8 immunomodulatory pathways. Finally, the ultrastructure of SHED and odontoblastlike cells were also investigated via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging. The results presented in this thesis showed the potential of SHED to differentiate into odontoblast-like cells on AM scaffold. SHED was characterised, and exhibited expression profiles of various stem cell markers for the presence of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) markers (cluster of differentiation) CD44, CD73, CD90, CD105 and the absence of hematopoietic markers CD34 and CD45 using flow cytometry analysis. The results also indicated that SHED revealed strong expression of MSC surface markers CD90, CD44 and CD73 with 100% expression while CD105 has 84.1% expression. Under stimulation with BMP-2, it was demonstrated that proinflammatory cytokines namely IL-8, IL-6, IL-1β, TGF-β and TNF-α were expressed. Successful differentiation of SHED into odontoblast-like cells was demonstrated by the expression of odontoblast markers such as dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP), dentin matrix protein 1 (DMP1), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and osteopontin (OPN). Exogenous IL-8 showed to enhance the expression of odontogenic markers of DSPP, DMP1 and ALP. During the differentiation of SHED, high expression of IL-8 protein stimulated the cascades of signalling pathway of PI3K/Akt/NF-κB. This pathway is known to be responsible for regulating the biological process of cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. Visualisation of SHED ultrastructure further confirmed the differentiation process of SHED into odontoblast-like cells. Emerging of phenotypic characteristics of odontoblast-like cell with a columnar cell body and several processes as well as strong cell induced mineralisation on the cell body suggesting morphology of mature odontoblast. In conclusion, this study confirmed for the first time that complete differentiation process of SHED into odontoblast-like cells occur with BMP-2 stimulation within 14 days via IL-8 signalling pathways mediation.
- ItemAssessing Year Four Pupils' Levels Of Proficiency In Measurement Formulae(Universiti Sains Malaysia, 2017-05)This study was designed to assess Year 4 pupils’ levels of proficiency in measurement formulae, namely in perimeter, area and volume using three multi-strand tests in measurement that were developed based on the mathematical proficiency model introduced by Kilpatrick et al. (2001). Based on the four demographic variables, namely type of school, location of school, mathematics achievement level and gender, Year 4 pupils’ levels of proficiency in measurement formulae were profiled. This study also determines if there is any significant difference in Year 4 pupils’ levels of proficiency based on the four demographic variables. A cross-sectional survey was conducted and cluster sampling was used to select the sample of this study from a population of Year 4 pupils who are studying in the state of Penang. A sample of 600 Year 4 pupils (286 males and 314 females) from six public primary schools located in Penang were involved in this study. Three multi-strand tests in perimeter, area and volume formulae, respectively were used to assess Year 4 pupils’ levels of proficiency in measurement formulae and a Year Four Mathematics Achievement Test was used to determine Year 4 pupils’ mathematics achievement level and grouped the Year 4 pupils into three different mathematics achievement levels. SPSS version 22 was used to analyse the data obtained from this study. The Kruskal-Wallis Test revealed that there is a significant difference in Year 4 pupils’ levels of proficiency in perimeter, area and volume formulae based on type of school and mathematics achievement level. The post-hoc test indicated that Year 4 pupils from SJKC possessed the highest level of proficiency in the three measurement formulae among the three types of schools, and also indicated the pupils with high mathematics achievement level possessed higher level of proficiency in the measurement formulae among the three different levels of mathematics achievers.
- PublicationActive magnetic control of gravity gradient satellite using 3 magnetic torquers(2009-04-01)This thesis deals with design of controller for gravity gradient satellites. One of the control techniques that have been used on this type of satellite is magnetic control technique. Thus, in this project the magnetic attitude control of the gravity gradient satellite will be analyzed. Three magnetic torquers will be used and placed along the satellite primary axes. Then, the comparison of the Euler Angle between original properties of satellite and after added with the torquers can be made after the simulation is done. In this, the results of the research are obtaining from the simulation models that designed from MATLAB SIMULINK software. On the other hand, the development is taking the first Malaysia microsatellite, TiungSAT-1 as the references model of it characteristic and initial conditions. At the end of this project, should understand the role of the three magnetic torquers to the gravity gradient satellite due to the satellite missions. The findings of this project also prove that Euler angles of the satellite can be control with more accurate with the existence of the controller.
- PublicationComparing The Effects Of Artificial Intelligence (Rain Classroom), Matlab And Multimedia Teaching Platforms In Enhancing Conceptual Understanding And Innovative Thinking Among Automatic Control Principles Course Undergraduates In China(2023-09)This study aimed to investigate the effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI: Rain Classroom), MATLAB, and Multimedia teaching platforms and the students and their teachers’ perception of the use of these three teaching platforms in enhancing students' conceptual understanding and innovative thinking in the Automatic Control Principles (ACP) course. This study used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design. The quantitative data were collected using the Control System Concept Inventory (CSCI) (to measure students' conceptual understanding of ACP), and the Innovative Thinking in Education (ITE) scale (to measure students' innovative thinking ability). Using MANOVA and ANOVA analysis techniques, findings showed that there are significant differences in student's conceptual understanding of ACP and innovative thinking in the three teaching platforms studied. The results showed that the AI (Rain Classroom) teaching platform can best improve students' conceptual understanding of ACP, followed by the MATLAB teaching platform and then the multimedia teaching platform. For innovative thinking ability, the MATLAB teaching platform has the best effect, followed by the AI (Rain Classroom) teaching platform and multimedia teaching platform.