Hemorrhagic septicemia (HS) caused by Pasteurella multocida B:2 and E:2 is among the fatal bacterial diseases in cattle and buffaloes that are economically valuable in Asian and African countries. The current work aims to study the prevalence of HS among buffaloes, cattle, sheep, and goats in 41 countries in 2005–2019. The data analysis revealed that 74.4% of the total infection rate in the world was distributed among cattle, followed by buffaloes (13.1%). The mortality of HS among cattle and buffaloes increased in 2017–2019 compared to the period between 2014 and 2016. The best measure to control the disease is through vaccination programs. Current commercial vaccines, including live-attenuated vaccines and inactivated vaccines, have some shortcomings and undesirable effects. Virus-like particles (VLPs) have more potential as a vaccine platform due to their unique properties to enhance immune response and the ability to use them as a platform for foreign antigens against infectious diseases. VLPs-based vaccines are among the new-generation subunit vaccine approaches that have been licensed for the human and veterinary fields. However, most studies are still in the late stages of vaccine evaluation.

Renewable energy technology nowadays is advancing in research and application as an alternative for non-renewable energy sources including fossil fuels and coals since it is considerably less hazardous for the environment. In recent years, many studies to harvest energy from water energy including ocean waves and hydropower has been conducted. The inherent characteristic of the piezoelectric sensor which can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy has created an alternative to generate energy from renewable sources. The main aim of this research is to harvest energy from water movements which include self-generated water waves, automated water waves, flowing water and falling water. The piezoelectric sensor used in this research is a pressure-based piezoelectric sensor which means when there is a pressure exerted on the surface, it will generate electricity. A prototype was designed and simulated by Proteus software and the prototype was fabricated for energy harvesting from water movements. In this study, four methods had been used to harvest energy from small scale hydropower where two methods are from water waves generated from a hairdryer and ultrasonic cleaner and another two methods from falling water and flowing water. The results obtained shows that harvested energy from falling water gives the best results in which it has accumulated up to 13V in the same amount of time as compared to water waves and water flow.

Product warranty seals or stickers are criteria for after-sale warranty services. The unauthorized removal or modification of a seal will void the warranty. So far, there is no detection method to confirm the warranty, other than the visual inspection of the deformation of the seal. Hence, a system to detect, read, and record the ’warranty’ seal deformation is presented in this paper. A flexible piezoelectric sensor was used to determine the mechanical impacts of the seal. Three major impacts are discussed and evaluated in this paper—partial removal, complete removal, and drop deformations of the seal. These impacts were compared with the ambient responses to distinguish the conditions. All three impact cases show distinct characteristics in terms of sensor values, pulses, and pulse widths. For partial removal and complete removal of the seal, both cases exhibited maximum sensor values but differed in pulse and pulse width. A partially removed seal experienced the maximum number of pulses while complete removal experienced the maximum pulse width. However, if the seal experienced a drop impact, it showed lower sensor values, with the lowest pulse and pulse width. Hence, an algorithm was applied to generalize the conditions and decisions of warranty violations.

The ocean offers vast opportunities for unprecedented energy harvesting where most studies had concentrated on large scale energy harvesting from the ocean waves. However, there were minimal studies on low-scale energy harvesting. This study focuses on ambient, low-scale energy harvesting which theoretically can be used to power low energy consumption electrical appliances. The inherent characteristic of piezoelectric materials which can convert mechanical energy to electrical energy has created an alternative to generate energy from renewable sources including ocean waves. Initially, this study started with preliminary work which consisted of the development and testing of a lab scale piezoelectric energy harvester (PEH-1) which was tested along the beach area of Kuala Nerus, east coast of Malaysia. Results from PEH-1 had shown that the high tide produced more power level compared to low tide experiments. The findings from the first phase of this study served as a foundation study towards the development of an upscaled version of the PEH-1 in relation of mechanical and electronics, which was termed as PEH-2. Testing for PEH-2 was conducted in the coastal area of Pulau Bidong Laut, Kuala Nerus. Results from the second part of the study had shown that approximately almost 80% of the power harvested correlated linearly with wind speed, however after reaching 0.7W the peak dips down which was probably due to the instability of PEH-2 to be used in harsh open seas environment. This study had shown the feasibility of utilizing piezoelectric material to harvest low-scale power, however, several in-house modifications needed to be made for it to be fully functionable.

Amyloid fibrils, also referred to as protein fibrils, represent irregular assemblies of proteins exhibiting a cross-β configuration. Terahertz radiation, a segment of the electromagnetic spectrum spanning 0.3 to 10 terahertz (THz), is known to interact with these fibrils due to their cylindrical shape. This study's objective was to explore the potential of terahertz spectroscopy as a non-invasive means to detect the progressive growth of protein fibrils. In this investigation, human serum albumin (HSA) was synthetically induced to form protein fibrils. Confirmation of fibril formation was done by fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, and Terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDS). To initiate the process, HSA was dissolved in distilled water at a concentration of 160 µM, followed by the addition of 60% ethanol to both samples for dilution. The HSA to Cu (II) ratio was maintained at 1:1 (160 µM) for stock solutions containing Cu (II). Subsequently, each set underwent a 6-hour heating phase at 65 °C to cultivate fibrils, which were then stored at room temperature for 30, 60, and 90 days before evaluation. Incubation of human serum albumin yielded amyloid fibrils as evidenced by ThT fluorescence, FT-IR spectroscopy revealed an emergence of fibrils within the amide I bands, extending from 1630 cm⁻¹ to 1650 cm⁻¹ and UV-Vis spectroscopy disclosed the augmentation of protein fibril absorbance over the incubation period. THz spectroscopy absorbance progressively heightened with prolonged heating of the protein fibrils due to the hydration shell surrounding them. Through these spectroscopic methods, it was elucidated that the fibrillation process led to the gradual development of β-sheet and unordered helix structures as well as the potential of THz spectroscopy as non-invasive tool for detection and monitoring of amyloidal diseases, promising insights into early diagnosis and treatment strategies.