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Construction 4.0 technology evaluation using fuzzy TOPSIS: comparison between sustainability and resiliency, well-being, productivity, safety, and integrity

Shafei H, Rahman RA, Lee YS

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2024 Feb;31(10):14858-14893.
PMID: 38285259 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-31862-9

This study aims to compare the impact of Construction 4.0 technologies on different organizational core values, focusing on sustainability and resiliency, well-being, productivity, safety, and integrity. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are the following: (i) identify the critical Construction 4.0 technologies between core values; (ii) appraise overlapping critical Construction 4.0 technologies between core values; (iii) examine the ranking performance of Construction 4.0 technologies between core values; and (iv) analyze the interrelationships between Construction 4.0 technologies and core values. First, twelve Construction 4.0 technologies were identified from a national strategic plan. Then, the fuzzy technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) that incorporates subjective and objective weights was used to evaluate the impact of the Construction 4.0 technologies on the five core values. Finally, the collected data was analyzed using the following techniques: fuzzy TOPSIS, normalization, overlap analysis, agreement analysis, sensitivity analysis, ranking comparison, and Spearman correlation. The study findings reveal four critical Construction 4.0 technologies that enhance all five core values: building information modeling (BIM), Internet of Things (IoT), big data and predictive analytics, and autonomous construction. Also, there is a high agreement on the Construction 4.0 technologies that enhance well-being and productivity. Lastly, artificial intelligence (AI) has the highest number of very strong relationships among the core values. The originality of this paper lies in its comprehensive comparison of the impact of Construction 4.0 technologies on multiple organizational core values. The study findings provide valuable insights in making strategic decisions in adopting Construction 4.0 technologies.
Developing a WELL building model for office environments

Tan CYM, Rahman RA, Lee YS

Environ Sci Pollut Res Int, 2024 Jan 18.
PMID: 38236568 DOI: 10.1007/s11356-024-31923-z

Many reported cases of occupants in modern office buildings suffer from severe health risks, negative impacts on well-being, and productivity loss. Existing building standards often prioritize energy performance and green environments over human sustainability. Moreover, office buildings have a distinct group of occupants that require extra attention. Hence, the study aims to develop a WELL building model specifically for office buildings to support occupants' well-being, health, and productivity (i.e., WELL). To achieve that objective, this study developed a list of physical indoor building features through a systematic literature review and semi-structured interviews. Then, the features were inserted into a survey and sent to office building occupants and built environment professionals. The collected data was analyzed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings suggest twelve new features applicable for supporting WELL in office buildings: workspace privacy, sufficient space, office layout, cleanliness, efficiency in building services, individual control, building automation system, Information Technology (IT) infrastructure, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) risk, security system, safety at parking lots, and safe design. Also, three new concepts for supporting WELL in office buildings were established: office space, building services and maintenance, and smart systems. The new concepts and features lay a foundation for designing office buildings that comprehensively target occupants' WELL. Finally, this study is unique as it accentuates the development of a WELL building model specifically for office buildings.
CT-MRI Dual Information Registration for the Diagnosis of Liver Cancer: A Pilot Study Using Point-based Registration

Rahimi A, Khalil A, Faisal A, Lai KW

Curr Med Imaging, 2021;18(1):61-66.
PMID: 34433403 DOI: 10.2174/1573405617666210825155659

BACKGROUND: Early diagnosis of liver cancer may increase life expectancy. Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) play a vital role in diagnosing liver cancer. Together, both modalities offer significant individual and specific diagnosis data to physicians; however, they lack the integration of both types of information. To address this concern, a registration process has to be utilized for the purpose, as multimodal details are crucial in providing the physician with complete information.
OBJECTIVE: The aim was to present a model of CT-MRI registration used to diagnose liver cancer, specifically for improving the quality of the liver images and provide all the required information for earlier detection of the tumors. This method should concurrently address the issues of imaging procedures for liver cancer to fasten the detection of the tumor from both modalities.
METHODS: In this work, a registration scheme for fusing the CT and MRI liver images is studied. A feature point-based method with normalized cross-correlation has been utilized to aid in the diagnosis of liver cancer and provide multimodal information to physicians. Data on ten patients from an online database were obtained. For each dataset, three planar views from both modalities were interpolated and registered using feature point-based methods. The registration of algorithms was carried out by MATLAB (vR2019b, Mathworks, Natick, USA) on an Intel (R) Core (TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20 GHz computer. The accuracy of the registered image is being validated qualitatively and quantitatively.
RESULTS: The results show that an accurate registration is obtained with minimal distance errors by which CT and MRI were accurately registered based on the validation of the experts. The RMSE ranges from 0.02 to 1.01 for translation, which is equivalent in magnitude to approximately 0 to 5 pixels for CT and registered image resolution.
CONCLUSION: The CT-MRI registration scheme can provide complementary information on liver cancer to physicians, thus improving the diagnosis and treatment planning process.
Fulltext Psychological Well-Being of Malaysian University Students during COVID-19 Pandemic: Do Religiosity and Religious Coping Matter?

Che Rahimi A, Bakar RS, Mohd Yasin MA

Healthcare (Basel), 2021 Nov 10;9(11).
PMID: 34828581 DOI: 10.3390/healthcare9111535

The COVID-19 pandemic and the restrictions imposed that changed the teaching and learning activities may add a psychological impact to the existing academic stress faced by university students. Past studies have associated low levels of psychological disorder with high religiosity and positive religious coping (RC). This study aimed to determine the level of psychological disorder among university students in Malaysia during the COVID-19 pandemic and measure their association with religiosity and religious coping (RC). An online cross-sectional survey was conducted between March and June 2020 involving 450 students. The survey instruments consisted of sociodemographic proforma, Duke University Religious Index (DUREL) for religiosity, Brief RCOPE Scale for RC and General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) for psychological disorder; 36% of the participants experienced psychological disorder. Younger age, being a Muslim, living in the Green/Yellow zone and higher negative RC were significantly associated with psychological disorder. Higher positive RC was found to be protective against psychological disorder. However, the level of religiosity had no significant association with psychological disorder. In conclusion, the level of psychological disorder among university students has been high during the pandemic. Measures and interventions focusing on positive RC and reducing negative RC are recommended to improve the psychological well-being.
Does Overnight Culture of Cleaved Embryos Improve Pregnancy Rate in Vitrified-Warmed Embryo Transfer Programme?

Agha-Rahimi A, Omidi M, Akyash F, Faramarzi A, Farshchi FA

Malays J Med Sci, 2019 Mar;26(2):52-58.
PMID: 31447608 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2019.26.2.6

Background: Vitrification is a routine procedure in assisted reproductive technique (ART) lab. However, there is widespread variability between protocols of different centres. The aim of this study was to compare the chemical pregnancy, clinical pregnancy and live birth rates between one-day embryo culture and immediate transfer for frozen-thawed embryo transfer (FET) cycles.
Methods: In this cohort retrospective study, 366 FET cycles were divided into two groups: Group A, the embryos were warmed one day before transfer, and were cultured overnight; Group B, the embryos were warmed on the same day of transfer, at least were cultured 1 h before embryo transfer (ET). Chemical and clinical pregnancy and live birth rates were compared between two groups.
Results: The chemical pregnancy was higher in group A than B (37.9% versus 28.9%), but this difference was not significant (P = 0.07). Clinical pregnancy (30.8% versus 24.1%) and live birth (19.8% versus 22.05%) were similar in group A and B, (P = 0.15), and (P = 0.8). Conclusion: In conclusion, overnight culture and confirmation of mitosis resumption was not essential for FET cycles in vitrification method.
Fulltext Brain Tumour Temporal Monitoring of Interval Change Using Digital Image Subtraction Technique

Khalil A, Rahimi A, Luthfi A, Azizan MM, Satapathy SC, Hasikin K, et al.

Front Public Health, 2021;9:752509.
PMID: 34621723 DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2021.752509

A process that involves the registration of two brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) acquisitions is proposed for the subtraction between previous and current images at two different follow-up (FU) time points. Brain tumours can be non-cancerous (benign) or cancerous (malignant). Treatment choices for these conditions rely on the type of brain tumour as well as its size and location. Brain cancer is a fast-spreading tumour that must be treated in time. MRI is commonly used in the detection of early signs of abnormality in the brain area because it provides clear details. Abnormalities include the presence of cysts, haematomas or tumour cells. A sequence of images can be used to detect the progression of such abnormalities. A previous study on conventional (CONV) visual reading reported low accuracy and speed in the early detection of abnormalities, specifically in brain images. It can affect the proper diagnosis and treatment of the patient. A digital subtraction technique that involves two images acquired at two interval time points and their subtraction for the detection of the progression of abnormalities in the brain image was proposed in this study. MRI datasets of five patients, including a series of brain images, were retrieved retrospectively in this study. All methods were carried out using the MATLAB programming platform. ROI volume and diameter for both regions were recorded to analyse progression details, location, shape variations and size alteration of tumours. This study promotes the use of digital subtraction techniques on brain MRIs to track any abnormality and achieve early diagnosis and accuracy whilst reducing reading time. Thus, improving the diagnostic information for physicians can enhance the treatment plan for patients.
Evaluation of home medication review for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus by community pharmacists: a randomised controlled trial

Rosli MR, Neoh CF, Wu DB, Hassan NW, Mahmud M, Rahimi A, et al.

Pharm Pract (Granada), 2021 09 09;19(3):2397.
PMID: 34621450 DOI: 10.18549/PharmPract.2021.3.2397

Background: Successful diabetes treatment requires commitment and understanding of disease management by the patients.
Objective: This trial aimed to evaluate the programme effectiveness of home medication review by community pharmacists (HMR-CP) in optimising diabetes care and reducing medication wastage.
Methods: A randomised controlled trial was conducted on 166 patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) who were randomly assigned to the intervention or control groups. The intervention group received HMR-CP at 0-month, 3-month, and 6-month. The primary outcome was haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) while clinical outcomes, anthropometric data, and humanistic outcomes were the secondary outcomes. For the intervention group, drug-related problems (DRP) were classified according to the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe Foundation (PCNE). Medication adherence was determined based on the Pill Counting Adherence Ratio (PCAR). The cost of medication wastage was calculated based on the total missed dose by the T2DM patients multiplied by the cost of medication. General linear model and generalised estimating equations were used to compare data across the different time-points within and between the groups, respectively.
Results: No significant difference was observed in the demographic and anthropometric data at baseline between the two groups except for fasting blood glucose (FBG). There was a significant reduction in the HbA1c (-0.91%) and FBG (-1.62mmol/L) over the study period (p<0.05). A similar observation was noted in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and total cholesterol (TC) but not in high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and anthropometric parameters. Both utility value and Michigan Diabetes Knowledge Test (MDKT) scores increased significantly over time. As for the intervention group, significant changes in PCAR (p<0.001) and the number of DRP (p<0.001) were noted.
Conclusions: HMR-CP significantly improved the glycaemic control, QoL, medication adherence, and knowledge of T2DM patients as well as reduced the number of DRP and cost of medication wastage. However, the impact of HMR-CP on certain clinical and anthropometric parameters remains inconclusive and further investigation is warranted.
A bio-mimetic zinc/tau protein as an artificial catalase

Asadollahi K, Jasemi NS, Riazi GH, Katuli FH, Yazdani F, Sartipnia N, et al.

Int J Biol Macromol, 2016 Nov;92:1307-1312.
PMID: 26905468 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2016.02.045

In this study, the catalase-like activity of monomeric tau protein was reported in the presence of of zinc (Zn(II)) ions at low pH value. Monomeric tau protein contains two SH groups that are a target of disulfide bond formation. However these SH groups are able to interact with Zn(II) ion at pH 7.2 which creates a thiol bond as a mimetic model of chloroperoxidase active site which performs catalase like activity at low pH. Zn(II)/tau protein complex decomposed H2O2 with a high rate (Vm) as well as an efficient turn oven number (kcat) at pH 3. This remarkable catalase like activity is may be attributed to the conformational reorientation of protein at low pH. Circular dichroism (CD) studies did not demonstrate any secondary structural changes of tau protein after addition of Zn(II) ions at pH 7.2. In addition, tau protein shows identical CD bands at pH 7.2 and 3. Moreover, fluorescence quenching of tau by Zn(II) at pH 7.2 was initiated by complex formation rather than by dynamic collision. A significant red shift (6nm) was observed in the emission maximum of the fluorescence spectra when the protein was dissolved at pH 3 compared to pH 7.2. This conformational change can provide information regarding the rearrangements of the protein structure and exposure of Cys-Zn(II) group to the solvent which induces easy access of active site to H2O2 molecules and corresponding enhanced catalytic activity of Zn(II)/tau protein complex. This study introduces tau protein as a bio-inspired high performing scaffold for transition metal encapsulation and introducing an engineered apoprotein-induced biomimetic enzyme.