English has for long been one of the most widely used media of communication globally, especially in the Malaysian universities. It has been termed as a Lingua Franca because it is shared with other languages which are considered first languages by different speakers. For this reason, English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) has attracted a number of researchers to investigate its variety via other languages in various communities. The objective of this paper is therefore to establish the strategies which are employing by the international students at the National University of Malaysia/ UniversitiKebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) as an example of one of the Malaysian universities; when they e

  A simple, fast and sensitive spectrophotometric method has been applied for the determination of tetracycline hydrochloride in its pure form and in pharmaceutical preparations. The method based on coupling reaction of the antibiotic with diazotized anthranilic acid to form a stable yellow azo dye which shows a maximum absorption at 419 nm. Uni- and multivariate approaches were followed in optimizing the experimental conditions. Under optimum experimental conditions obtained via multivariate (Central Composite Design), the linearity of the constructed calibration curve was in the range of 0.560 μg.mL-1 with molar absorptivity of 14619 L.mol-1.cm-1 and the value of detection limit was 0.2813μg.mL-1. The capability of the metho

The effects of using aqueous nanofluids containing covalently functionalized graphene nanoplatelets with triethanolamine (TEA-GNPs) as novel working fluids on the thermal performance of a flat-plate solar collector (FPSC) have been investigated. Water-based nanofluids with weight concentrations of 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075%, and 0.1% of TEA-GNPs with specific surface areas of 300, 500, and 750 m2/g were prepared. An experimental setup was designed and built and a simulation program using MATLAB was developed. Experimental tests were performed using inlet fluid temperatures of 30, 40, and 50 °C; flow rates of 0.6, 1.0, and 1.4 kg/min; and heat flux intensities of 600, 800, and 1000 W/m2. The FPSC’s efficiency increased as the flow rate and hea

Sorption is a key factor in removal of organic and inorganic contaminants from their aqueous solutions. In this study, we investigated the removal of Xylenol Orange tetrasodium salt (XOTS) from its aqueous solution by Bauxite (BXT) and cationic surfactant hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide modified Bauxite (BXT-HDTMA) in batch experiments. The BXT and BXT-HDTMA were characterized using FTIR, and SEM techniques. Adsorption studies were performed at various parameters i.e. temperature, contact time, adsorbent weight, and pH. The modified BXT showed better maximum removal efficiency (98.6% at pH = 9.03) compared to natural Bauxite (75% at pH 2.27), suggesting that BXT-HDTMA is an excellent adsorbent for the removal of XOTS from water. The equ

A resume is the first impression between you and a potential employer. Therefore, the importance of a resume can never be underestimated. Selecting the right candidates for a job within a company can be a daunting task for recruiters when they have to review hundreds of resumes. To reduce time and effort, we can use NLTK and Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to extract essential data from a resume. NLTK is a free, open source, community-driven project and the leading platform for building Python programs to work with human language data. To select the best resume according to the company’s requirements, an algorithm such as KNN is used. To be selected from hundreds of resumes, your resume must be one of the best. Theref

Calcium-Montmorillonite (bentonite) [Ca-MMT] has been prepared via cation exchange reaction using benzalkonium chloride [quaternary ammonium] as a surfactant to produce organoclay which is used to prepare polymer composites. Functionalization of this filler surface is very important factor for achieving good interaction between filler and polymer matrix. Basal spacing and functional groups identification of this organoclay were characterized using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy respectively.  The (XRD) results showed that the basal spacing of the treated clay (organoclay) with the benzalkonium chloride increased to 15.17213 ⁰A, this represents an increment of about 77.9% in the

Consuming of by-product or waste materials in highway engineering is significant in the construction of new roads and/or in renovations of the existing ones. Pulverised Fuel ash (PFA), which is a by-product material of burning coal in power stations, is one of these materials that might be incorporated instead of mineral filler in hot asphalt mixtures.

Two types of surface course mixtures have been prepared one with conventional mineral filler i.e. ordinary Portland cement (OPC) while the second was with PFA. Several testings have been conducted to indicate the mechanical properties which were Marshall Stability and Indirect Tensile Strength tests. On the other hand, moisture damage and ageing have been evaluated