There is demand for application of polymer materials in electrochemical devices, especially natural polymers, because of their superiority in mechanical integrity, affordability and biodegradability. In this work, solid biopolymer electrolyte (SBEs) comprising 2-hydroxyethyl cellulose (2-HEC) doped with different weight percentage of ammonium thiocyanate, NH4 SCN (0 – 44 wt.%) were prepared using a facile solution casting technique. The effects of NH4 SCN on ionic conductivity and dielectric properties of SBEs were investigated using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The ionic conductivity recorded at room temperature showed massive improvement for pure 2-HEC from the value of 5.93 x 10-8 S cm-1 to 1.16 ×10-4 S cm-1, comprising 36 wt.% NH4 SCN. Meanwhile, at elevated temperatures, the ionic conductivity revealed the Arrhenius behaviour, where it increased proportional to the temperatures. In addition, by introducing NH4 SCN content as a proton donor, it also effectively reduced the activation energy of the SBEs, which further support enhancing the ionic conductivity. In dielectric permittivity study, the εr and εi increased as the NH4 SCN content increased, revealing the non-Debye dependency of the SBEs, which indicates that the SBEs are ionic conductors. The addition of the optimum value of NH4 SCN content showed good characteristic for electrochemical devices applications.

Minimally invasive surgery results in faster recovery. The objective of this study is to identify criteria for the feasibility of 24-hour discharge post laparoscopic ovarian cystectomy. This is a prospective cross-sectional study that was carried out at the Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department in Putrajaya Hospital between 1 January and 31 December, 2016. The inclusion criteria were: age between 15 and 45, no comorbidities, no family history of malignancy, BMI of less than 30, mass size less than 18 weeks, single uninoculated simple cyst and no ascites. The exclusion criteria were post-menopause women, known medical illness, family history of malignancy, mass size more than 18 weeks, multiloculated or bilateral ovarian cyst, presence of solid area within the cyst and ascites. The sample size was calculated to be 14. A total of 16 participants were identified. Results showed that using the Visual Analogue Score (VAS), the mean pain score post operatively in the first six hours, 24 hours, 48 hours, two weeks and three months were 3.67, 2.57, 0.5, 0 and 0, respectively. Two of the subjects experienced post-operative nausea and vomiting, one had urinary tract infection and one had minor bleeding from the surgical site. All the participants were discharged within 24 hours post-operatively. There was no readmission. In conclusion, 24-hour discharge post laparoscopic cystectomy is safe and feasible. Factors determining the success must be adhered to closely to ensure a good and satisfactory outcome. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. � 2018 Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

The integration of additive manufacturing (3D printing) in the biomedical sector required material to portray a holistic characteristic in terms of printability, biocompatibility, degradability, and mechanical properties. This research aims to evaluate the 3D printability and mechanical properties of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) as additives in the urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) based resin and its potential for medical applications. The printability of the PHB/UDMA resin blends was limited to 11 wt.% as it reached the maximum viscosity value at 2188 cP. Two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was also conducted to assess the significant effect of the varied PHB (wt.%) incorporation within UDMA resin, and the aging duration of 3D printed PHB/UDMA on mechanical properties in terms of tensile and impact properties. Meanwhile, the increasing crystallinity index (CI) of X-ray diffraction (XRD) in the 3D printed PHB/UDMA as the PHB loading increased, indicating that there is a strong correlation with the lower tensile and impact strength. FESEM images also proved that the agglomerations that occurred within the UDMA matrix had affected the mechanical performance of 3D printed PHB/UDMA. Nonetheless, the thermal stability of the 3D printed PHB/UDMA had only a slight deviation from the 3D printed UDMA since it had better thermal processability.

Nanocellulose, a refined form of cellulose, can be further functionalized on surface-active sites, with a catalyst as a regenerative agent. Newly developed adsorbents are expected to have the characteristics of good and rapid adsorption performance and regeneration properties with flexible structure using 3D printing technology. In this work, the adsorption performance of 3D printed functionalized nanocellulose was investigated using batch and fixed-bed column adsorption. Kinetics adsorption studies were divided into different adsorption models, with the pseudo-second order model showing a better correlation coefficient than the pseudo-first order and intraparticle diffusion models. The Langmuir and Thomas models were used to calculate the adsorption performance of batch and fixed-bed columns. Given the catalytic activity of Fenton oxidation, the fixed-bed column was regenerated up to five adsorption-desorption cycles, suggesting satisfactory performance of the column, with a slightly reduced adsorption capacity.

Drug delivery constitutes the formulations, technologies, and systems for the transport of pharmaceutical compounds to specific areas in the body to exert safe therapeutic effects. The main criteria for selecting the correct medium for drug delivery are the quantity of the drug being carried and the amount of time required to release the drug. Hence, this research aimed to improve the aforementioned criteria by synthesizing a medium based on calcium carbonate-nanocellulose composite and evaluating its efficiency as a medium for drug delivery. Specifically, the efficiency was assessed in terms of the rates of uptake and release of 5-fluorouracil. Through the evaluation of the morphological and chemical properties of the synthesized composite, the established 3D printing profiles of nanocellulose and CaCO3 took place following the layer-by-layer films. The 3D printed double laminated CaCO3-nanocellulose managed to release the 5-fluorouracil as an effective single composition and in a time-controlled manner.

Trans-radial prosthesis is a wearable device that intends to help amputees under the elbow to replace the function of the missing anatomical segment that resembles an actual human hand. However, there are some challenging aspects faced mainly on the robot hand structural design itself. Improvements are needed as this is closely related to structure efficiency. This paper proposes a robot hand structure with improved features (four-bar linkage mechanism) to overcome the deficiency of using the cable-driven actuated mechanism that leads to less structure durability and inaccurate motion range. Our proposed robot hand structure also took into account the existing design problems such as bulky structure, unindividual actuated finger, incomplete fingers and a lack of finger joints compared to the actual finger in its design. This paper presents the improvements achieved by applying the proposed design such as the use of a four-bar linkage mechanism instead of using the cable-driven mechanism, the size of an average human hand, five-fingers with completed joints where each finger is moved by motor individually, joint protection using a mechanical stopper, detachable finger structure from the palm frame, a structure that has sufficient durability for everyday use and an easy to fabricate structure using 3D printing technology. The four-bar linkage mechanism is the use of the solid linkage that connects the actuator with the structure to allow the structure to move. The durability was investigated using static analysis simulation. The structural details and simulation results were validated through motion capture analysis and load test. The motion analyses towards the 3D printed robot structure show 70%–98% similar motion range capability to the designed structure in the CAD software, and it can withstand up to 1.6 kg load in the simulation and the real test. The improved robot hand structure with optimum durability for prosthetic uses was successfully developed. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

In this study, we investigate the third-order nonlinear optical properties of phenol red (PR) solutions and their hybrid composites, analyzing a PR solution with a pH of 7.56, a zwitterionic PR solution (PRz) with a pH of 1.52, and a PR-doped PVA/silica (PR-PS) hybrid composite made using an acid-catalysed sol-gel method and drop-casting technique. The PR-PS thin film exhibits a smooth and homogeneous surface, with a root mean square roughness (RMS) of 0.816 nm and an average roughness, Ra of 0.648 nm. FESEM was employed to analyze the surface morphology and thickness of the thin film, which was found to be approximately 80 µm. UV-vis analysis demonstrates that PR in the matrix is in its zwitterionic form, with absorption peaks at 450 nm and 515 nm. The PVA/silica hybrid matrix exhibits an enhancement in third-order nonlinear susceptibility, χ(3) by 83.94%. Moreover, our finding also indicates that the PR-PS hybrid composite’s β being being 79.09% and 99.37% larger than that of the PR and PRz samples, respectively. These results suggest that the PR-PS thin film is a promising material for photonic applications, such as nonlinear optical switching devices and optical limiting applications, due to its enhanced nonlinear optical properties.

Metadiscourseserves to direct readers through the text and allows them to understand it better. However, the readers of crisis news frequently misinterpret the news because of the inconsistent sentence formation. Hence, content creators or journalists need to create amessage that is understood accurately. Therefore, the study's aim is to ascertain if journalism students are aware of the employment of metadiscourse features particularly in Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) related news before and after an intervention process. COVID-19 news is one of the crisis news. Eleven journalism students took the Metadiscourse Awareness Test twice, once before and once after the intervention process. As part of the intervention process, students were provided with news with and without metadiscourse as well as writ-ing prompts in order to enhance awareness of the appropriate usage of metadiscourse in crisis news. When compared with their pre-test scores, the results of the post-test revealed that the students had an overall greater awareness of metadiscourse features. Additionally, it was found that the intervention process had a substantial impact on the journalism students' awareness of the usage of metadiscourse in crisis news. As a result, the results of the Meta-discourse Awareness Test might be utilised to grow the journalism students’ knowledge of metadiscourse and create more effective content creators.

Purpose–Halal tourism has grown significantly, driven by the increasing global Muslim population and disposable income. However, comprehensive analysis of the research landscape is lacking. This study bridges this gap by conducting a bibliometric analysis of halal tourism research from 2014 to 2024 and examining growth trends, key contributors, and collaborative networks.Methodology–Using Scopus data, 244 documents from 132 sources were analyzed.Findings –Research on halal tourism has grown at an annual rate of 34.24%. Contributions from 645 authors, averaging 3.25 co-authors per document, indicate robust collaboration. Key journals include theJournal of Islamic Marketing, Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism,and Tourism Management Perspectives. Thematic clustersinclude economic impact, marketing strategies, sustainability, and religious aspects. Indonesia and Malaysia, led by Universitas Airlangga and the University of Malaya, dominate the research output and citation impact. The findings suggest that enhancing visibility and impact requires focusing on high-quality projects, strategic collaboration, and active dissemination.Implications–This study identifies key trends and research gaps, guiding future studies, and fostering interdisciplinary collaboration. For industry stakeholders, it underscores the importance of targeted marketing and sustainable practices in catering to Muslim travelers. Policymakers should be encouraged to develop standardized halal tourism frameworks, enhance international collaboration, and support research initiatives for sustainable sector growth.Originality–This study offers a unique perspective through a comparative bibliometric analysis of halal tourism research in Indonesia and Malaysia, identifying emerging trends and collaboration networks, while providing new directions for future studies and partnerships.

The objective of this study was to identify and characterise various resin-bonded bridge (RBB) articles published in dental journals using bibliometric analysis. The search was performed using the Scopus database to generate publications related to RBB. Data analysis and visualisation were done using Microsoft Excel, Biblioshiny software or VOSviewer. The trend of publication shows an annual growth rate of 7.19 percent within the years 1973–2022. Sixteen articles were cited more than 100 times, with seven highly cited articles focusing on the survival and/or complications of RBB. Matthias,Kern is the most prolific author in RBB research with Journal of Prosthetic Dentistry being the most influential journal. “survival”, “dental bonding” and “zirconia” were identified as core research areas for RBB for the past 10 years. Future research on the incorporation of new technology in prosthesis fabrication to assess the survival and longevity of RBB is expected to increase, with an emphasis on bonding to new materials. This paper presents an overview of scientific production, prominent researchers and countries, emerging keywords and core research areas in RBB research.

Dumping syndrome is a common complication of bariatric surgery. A high clinical suspicion of hypoglycaemic events is required as the symptoms mimic early pregnancy complaints. Diagnosis and treatment of dumping syndrome remain a challenge in pregnancy. Thus, diet modification remains a mainstay of management. This case report discusses dumping syndrome in a post-bariatric surgery mother who presented hypoglycaemia symptoms in the primary care clinic.

Introduction: The purpose of the current case is to give a detail description on an incidence of a traumatized upper left central incisor with symptomatic periapical periodontitis which was root treated. Descriptions: The apical portion of the tooth had a large apical lesion with external root resorption that end up with an open apex due to the loss of tooth cementum, dentine and adjacent hard tissue. The tooth was endodontically retreated, and the apical region was treated surgically with apical curettage and retrograde Mineral Trioxide Aggregate filling (MTA). Results: The affected tooth was considered successful both functionally and aesthetically during a 12-month follow-up. Conclusion: Apicoectomy and retrograde filling with MTA is a viable option in case of treating traumatized tooth with large peri-apical lesion and open apex

Chronic oral ulcer in patients with rheumatoid arthritis is a diagnostic challenge in primary health care. The possible causes include the disease itself, side effect of treatment, malignancy and infections. This is a case of a 63-year-old woman with underlying rheumatoid arthritis presented with chronic solitary oral ulcer. She was on oral methotrexate (MTX) and high dose folic acid for five years with good compliance. Tissue biopsy showed marked inflammatory cells infiltration and nuclear hyperchromatism with no evidence of malignancy nor infection. The ulcer was resolved after completing antifungal treatment for six weeks following failure of improvement after empirical antibiotic, elimination of possible trauma and discontinuation of MTX. The fungal staining was negative. There are possibilities of false negative results, thus broadened diagnosis with repeated and further investigations are recommended in cases who did not respond to conventional treatment.

Cryptography is essential for securing digital communication, but many school students have a limited understanding of it, especially in modern and quantum cryptography. This case study examines the understanding of cryptography concepts among gifted students in the school context, focusing on awareness and perceptions. The study involved 45 secondary school students aged between 13 and 17 years. The quantitative questionnaire item was developed based on the KAP model. The survey was conducted online and was distributed via a messaging platform. Data have been analysed using descriptive statistics, including frequencies, percentages, and mean scores. The results showed that approximately half of the students were aware of general cryptographic concepts, fewer reported having learned about modern cryptography, and only a minimal number were familiar with quantum cryptography. The mean score for each item indicated the highest satisfaction. Despite these gaps, most students agreed that cryptography is important for protecting data and involves encoding messages using mathematical and key-based methods. This case study concludes that there is a considerable lack of awareness and conceptual clarity among students regarding advanced cryptographic topics. The findings underscore the importance of incorporating cryptography into the national school curriculum, particularly in light of the increasing digital threats and the future relevance of quantum technologies. Early exposure to and engagement with educational modules can help bridge the gap and foster a new generation of cybersecurity-aware learners equipped for the digital age.

Recently, the education sector has received increased interest in terms of the adoption of Internet of things (IoT) services for learning activities. However, despite this interest, empirical studies on the adoption of IoT services in the smart classroom are limited. Thus, the present study examines students’ intention to use IoT services in the smart classroom. Towards this end, an integrated model based on the technology acceptance model (TAM), technology readiness index (TRI), and external factors (enjoyment, compatibility, and self-efficacy) is proposed. A quantitative research design was therefore used to determine the factors that affect students’ intention to use IoT services in the smart classroom, using a sample of 230 participants. The findings showed that compatibility, discomfort, enjoyment, and self-efficacy had a significant influence on both perceived ease of use (PEoU) and perceived usefulness (PU). Furthermore, innovativeness had a significant effect on PEoU, and insecurity had a significant impact on PU. The results also revealed that PU had a significant influence on the students’ behavioural intention to use. These findings extend the understanding of students’ intention to use IoT services in the smart classroom. This study could be beneficial to researchers, educators, and IoT developers. However, it also presents a number of limitations, such as a lack of qualitative methods and the small number of theories applied.

Online learning has revolutionized education by offering a flexible platform that transcends geographical boundaries and time constraints. It provides various multimedia resources, interactive exercises, and personalized feedback, enhancing the learning experience. However, online classes have challenges, such as decreased student engagement, technical issues, and a lack of structure, leading to procrastination and decreased productivity. This research aims to delve into the level of satisfaction experienced by talented high school students in terms of their virtual classroom experience. The study was conducted through an online survey using purposive and convenient sampling techniques. The data analysis showed that most students expressed satisfaction with the online classes, indicating that they found them informative, engaging, and meaningful. However, a few minor adjustments could be made to enhance students' experience, such as more opportunities for interactive participation, additional resources, and more precise instructions. Overall, the research highlights the positive impact of online education on the learning experience of gifted high school students

In this paper, classification of brain wave using real-world data from Parkinson�s patients in producing an emotional model is presented. Electroencephalograph (EEG) signal is recorded on eleven Parkinson�s patients. This paper aims to find the �best� classification for brain wave patterns in patients with Parkinson�s disease. This work performed is based on the four phases, which are first phase is raw data and after data processing using statistical features such as mean and standard deviation. The second phase is the sum of hertz, the third is the sum of hertz divided by the number of hertz, and last is the sum of hertz divided by total hertz. We are using five attributes that are patients, class, domain, location, and hertz. The data were classified using WEKA. The results showed that BayesNet gave a consistent result for all the phases from multilayer perceptron and K-Means. However, K-Mean gave the highest result in the first phase. Our results are based on a real-world data from Parkinson�s patients. � Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015.

In the era of Education 4.0, transitioning to Education 5.0, the use of gamified educational applications has become increasingly popular to enhance student engagement, motivation, and learning outcomes. Traditional teaching methods are now often supplemented with digital tools that turn passive learning into interactive experiences. This study was designed to analyze and compare 44 educational applications commonly used in classroom settings, with a focus on their gamification features, usability, and educational impact. The objective of this study is to help educators select the most effective tools to enhance student engagement and support meaningful learning experiences. The study employed a qualitative descriptive review of each application, focusing on its features, functions, and significance in teaching and learning. The findings indicated that many applications effectively incorporated gamification elements such as points, leaderboards, challenges, and real-time feedback to boost student motivation and engagement. Others emphasized features that support creativity, collaboration, and classroom management, offering diverse approaches to enhance the teaching and learning experience. The comparison also highlighted the importance of features like offline access, cross-platform compatibility, and reporting tools for tracking student progress. While most applications offer basic functionalities for free, many require paid subscriptions to access advanced features. This study provides practical insights for educators, equipping them with the knowledge to align technology use with pedagogical goals and student needs. By understanding the distinct features and strengths of each tool, educators can create learning environments that support 21st-century skills, active learning, and a positive classroom culture across various educational settings.