Science, Technology, and Communication Journal

Comparative electrical impedance analysis of blood in normal and diabetes mellitus patients under fasting and postprandial conditions

2025-09-08T10:01:32+07:00

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) alters blood biophysics, yet most bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) studies examine only glucose and overlook hematological or morphological factors. This comparative study analyzed venous blood samples from normoglycemic individuals (n = 5) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients (n = 5) under fasting and postprandial conditions. Assessments included glucose, hemoglobin, complete blood count, erythrocyte morphology, and wide-band BIS (100 Hz – 100 kHz). T2DM patients consistently showed higher impedance than controls, with partial reductions postprandially but clear intergroup separation. Morphological analysis revealed an increased number of abnormal erythrocytes, including schistocytes, teardrops, and elliptocytes, consistent with membrane remodeling and hemorheological disturbance. Wide-band BIS detected frequency-dependent signatures shaped by glucose, hemoglobin, membrane capacitance, and cytoplasmic resistance. By integrating biochemical, hematological, and morphological data, this study established a multidimensional electrohematological profile of diabetes. Including both fasting and postprandial states addressed a key gap in previous BIS work and emphasized the clinical relevance of postprandial variability. These findings highlight BIS as a promising, non-invasive adjunct for diabetes monitoring, with translational potential for hybrid diagnostic strategies, wearable sensors, and point-of-care technologies.

Design and optimization of square SRR metamaterial-based microstrip antenna for wideband biomedical sensing

2025-09-08T10:08:21+07:00

The continuous advancement in wireless biomedical technology necessitates the development of compact, high-performance antennas capable of operating across a wide frequency range. In this context, this study reports the design and optimization of a square split-ring resonator (SRR) metamaterial-based microstrip antenna to enhance bandwidth and gain characteristics for wideband biomedical sensing. The proposed metamaterial, composed of one to four square SRR unit cells, was modeled using copper patches on an FR-4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.3 and simulated in CST Studio Suite 2019 over a frequency range of 0.009 – 9 GHz. The electromagnetic behavior of the structure was analyzed through S-parameter characterization, and the Nicolson–Ross–Weir (NRW) retrieval method was applied to extract the effective constitutive parameters, including relative permittivity, relative permeability, and refractive index. The optimized four-cell SRR configuration demonstrated double-negative (DNG) characteristics, exhibiting a relative permittivity of -153.65, a relative permeability of -8.85, and a refractive index of -9.48, thereby confirming the negative-index properties essential for enhanced electromagnetic field confinement and energy concentration. Integration of the optimized metamaterial into the microstrip antenna structure yielded significant performance improvement, achieving a return loss of -48.31 dB, bandwidth of 4.37 GHz, and gain of 2.23 dBi. These results substantiate that the square SRR metamaterial contributes to superior impedance matching and field localization, making the proposed antenna architecture highly promising for wideband biomedical sensing and potential internet of things (IoT) healthcare implementations.

Utilization of IoT and biomass energy for innovation in cracker production

2025-09-16T08:59:17+07:00

This study explores an innovation based on IoT and biomass energy for the efficient production of processed food, specifically crackers. Biomass energy, derived from plant materials, is utilized to generate heat in the processing room. This innovation significantly reduces the processing time for crackers to just 2 hours, compared to the conventional method that requires 2 days of sun-drying. The biomass energy source used in this study includes rambutan tree trunks, which not only provide efficient heat but also impart a pleasant aroma to the final product. The research employs a direct experimental method to design and implement this technology in industrial settings. The primary ingredient for the crackers is cassava, mixed with fish, shrimp, and jengkol. The heat energy generated from the combustion of rambutan tree trunks is effectively utilized in the combustion chamber. Observations indicate that the crackers produced are of high quality, with appealing color and fragrance, making them suitable for market distribution. This innovation demonstrates the potential of combining IoT and biomass energy to enhance food processing efficiency and product quality.

Physical properties of oil palm fresh fruit bunch varieties

2025-10-02T12:06:22+07:00

Identification of oil palm fresh fruit bunches (FFB) based on variety is a crucial step in sorting and grading FFBs to produce good-quality crude palm oil (CPO). Most palm oil mills receive two varieties of FFBs at the reception stations, Tenera and Dura, and only a certain percentage of the Dura variety is allowed in a transporting truck. The conventional identification is destructive, cutting several fruits off an FFB bunch and checking for fruit Mesocarp and shell thickness. The method suffers a high increase in free fatty acid (FFA) content. This study is a preliminary study using computer vision and image processing to differentiate the two varieties based on their physical properties. The samples consisted of 20 Dura and 20 Tenera FFBs, 10 unripe and 10 ripe FFBs. The FFB images were acquired for both front and back sides using a color CMOS camera. ImageJ software was used to obtain the number of outer fruits and bunch surface area, used to calculate fruitlet density. Both varieties are also compared based on mass and by red, green, and blue (RGB) intensities. The results were compared to the results measured manually. The results showed that the Tenera variety exhibited higher fruit density, fruitlet count, RGB intensity compared to the Dura variety. Both varieties have higher correlations between fruit density and their masses. These results show the potential of computer vision and image processing methods to differentiate Tenera and Dura varieties, used for sorting and grading oil palm FFBs.

A classification of Quran translations using K-nearest neighbors, support vector machine and random forest method

2025-10-04T09:37:29+07:00

A Classification of Quranic verses based on topics is one of the efforts to facilitate understanding and searching for information in the holy book, especially for non-Arabic readers. This study aims to test and compare the performance of three text classification methods, namely K-nearest neighbors (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF), in grouping translated Quranic verses into 15 topic classes, such as Islamic arkanul, faith, the Quran, science and its branches, charity, da'wah, jihad, human and social relations, and others. The dataset used is the English translation of the Quran with full preprocessing and an 80:20 data split for training and testing. The evaluation was carried out using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score metrics. The results show that RF achieved the best performance with an average F1-score of 58.48% and testing accuracy of 90.81%. KNN followed with an F1-score of 54.07% and the highest testing accuracy of 92.05%, while SVM produced the lowest F1-score at 50.76% and accuracy of 88.20%. The RF demonstrates a more balanced ability in recognizing all classes, KNN excels in overall accuracy, and SVM performs less optimally in this classification task. This research is expected to serve as a foundation for developing a more intelligent and contextual topic-based verse classification system.

ACCOALTIC: Bottom loading dispenser through raw water source Kuantan River polluted Hg from unlicensed gold mining activity

2025-10-06T09:12:30+07:00

Unlicensed gold mining activities are still a polemic in the people of Kuantan Singingi Regency, starting from 2006 until now. Kuantan River water has a turbidity of 72.42 NTU, a concentration of 0.0325 mg/l Hg, and a bacterial count of 410 CFU/100 ml. Eventhough, Kuantan River water is the main source of raw water used by UPTD PAB with 3,727 active customers. Until now, water treatment at UPTD still uses alum as a purifier without laboratory-scale analysis. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effectiveness of ACCOALTIC's working principles in the Kuantan River raw water purification process and explain the results of the development of ACCOALTIC bottom loading dispenser. The study was conducted in quantitative experiments. ACCOALTIC uses the working principle of 3 filtration tanks, namely purification & coagulation, adsorption, and disinfection. Test parameters using a turbidity meter get an average value of 5 tests per sample after treatment of 0.1 NTU. The decline occurs due to the nature of Al₂(SO₄)₃ contains aluminum sulfate. In the XRD test of Hg absorption, there is a peak in the X-ray intensity coordinates (a.u.) which indicates the presence of Hg. SSA testing found a decrease in Hg concentration by 77.21%. The number of E. coli bacteria was 410 (before treatment) and 2 (before treatment) in CTU/100 mL units, hence the % value decreased by 99.51% while the development of ACCOALTIC is carried out in the form of bottom loading dispensers.

Effect of drying methods on total flavonoid content of Scurrula ferruginea (Jack) Danser (Loranthaceae) leaf extracts parasitizing jengkol (Pithecellobium jiringa)

2025-10-15T07:15:04+07:00

Scurrula ferruginea (Benalu) is a hemiparasitic plant with potential as a raw material for traditional medicine due to its high flavonoid content. The concentration of flavonoids is substantially determined by the specific drying technique applied. Studies investigating the use of the stir-frying method remain limited, and there is no standardized protocol has yet been established to recommend an appropriate method for preserving the total flavonoid content in S. ferruginea leaves. This study aims to compare the total flavonoid content (TFC) in ethanol extracts of Benalu leaves on the Jengkol dried using three different methods: air-drying, oven-drying, and stir-frying drying. All samples were subsequently powdered and subjected to maceration using ethanol solvent, followed by analysis of their total flavonoid content using spectrophotometry UV-Vis at maximum wavelength at 431 nm. Statistical analysis of one-way ANOVA showed that different drying methods generated significant effects on TFC level of Benalu leaves extracts with significance value = 0.001 (p-value <= 0.05). The results indicated that air-drying yielded the highest flavonoid content with 7.37 ppm, followed by stir-frying (4.93 ppm) and oven-drying (2.88 ppm). These findings highlight the critical importance of selecting an appropriate drying method to preserve flavonoid levels, thereby enhancing the pharmacological efficacy and quality of herbal products derived from S. ferruginea leaves.

Simulation-based performance evaluation of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS)-assisted non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks

2025-07-11T08:57:13+07:00

The integration of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) into non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) networks presents a promising solution to the persistent interference and inefficiency challenges of modern wireless communication systems. This study investigates the impact of RIS on the performance of downlink NOMA networks using a simulation-based approach in MATLAB Simulink. The objective is to evaluate how RIS can enhance signal quality, reduce bit error rate (BER), improve spectral and energy efficiency, and minimize latency in densely connected environments. The methodology involves modeling a system with a base station, multiple users, and a RIS layer, analyzing various RIS configurations such as the number of reflecting elements and user distances ranging from 200 m to 1000 m. Results show that RIS-assisted NOMA significantly boosts signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) across all user pairs, achieving an average SINR gain of 6 dB e.g., SINR for users at 200 m improved from 12.5 dB to 18.7 dB. Similarly, BER dropped by up to 80%, spectral efficiency increased by 1 bps/Hz, and energy efficiency rose by 35%. Furthermore, outage probability reduced by more than 50%, and latency improved by approximately 3ms on average. These findings demonstrate the capacity of RIS to create a smart radio environment that overcomes path loss and interference bottlenecks, offering a scalable, energy-efficient, and low-latency solution for next-generation wireless networks.

Impact of differential group delay and environmental factors on signal quality in multimode fiber using NRZ and QAM modulation

2025-07-12T10:43:45+07:00

This study investigates the effects of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) on high-speed multimode fiber (MMF) optical communication systems, focusing on how differential group delay (DGD) and environmental conditions such as temperature and humidity influence signal quality. The research was conducted in Abuja, Nigeria, using two modulation formats—non-return-to-zero (NRZ) and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM). Experimental measurements were carried out over fiber lengths ranging from 1 km to 38 km, and data rates from 15 Gbps to 240 Gbps. Key performance metrics such as bit error rate (BER), jitter, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were analyzed in relation to DGD under varying environmental conditions. Results showed that DGD increased from 0.136 ps to 2.78 ps for NRZ and from 0.058 ps to 2.24 ps for QAM across the tested fiber lengths. Corresponding BER values for NRZ ranged from 1.18 × 10^-7 to 1.35 × 10^-7, while QAM showed slightly better performance with BER values between 1.18 × 10^-7 and 1.29 × 10^-7. Jitter rose from 4.26 ps to 31.20 ps in NRZ and from 4 ps to 33.54 ps in QAM. SNR values declined as DGD increased, with NRZ dropping from 34.59 dB to 54.56 dB and QAM from 34.83 dB to 52.90 dB. Environmental factors also played a role; temperature increases from 28.34°C to 29.90°C and humidity from 53.1% to 59.5% led to significant increases in DGD. The findings confirm that PMD, though less dominant in MMF than modal dispersion, still significantly affects signal quality in long-distance and high-speed MMF systems. QAM demonstrated greater resilience to PMD compared to NRZ. This study highlights the need for effective dispersion management and modulation format optimization in designing robust optical networks for environmentally dynamic regions like Abuja.

Science communication and outreach with music from plants and phytoacoustics

2025-07-25T10:01:02+07:00

Integrating innovative methods in scientific communication is essential to stimulate interest in science in particular in children and young people. Music originated from electric conductivity (EC) of plants seems to be an effective tool for translating complex scientific concepts into simple and engaging sensory experiences and to underline the potential of music for sustainability transformation. Plant-generated music, through immersive sound experiences and promoting active learning, makes scientific concepts more accessible stimulating curiosity, motivation and interest in scientific research and environmental issues. Many studies confirmed the effectiveness of non-formal approaches in science dissemination and the experiences made at the Institute for Biological Systems of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR-ISB) highlight how music generated from EC of plants and phytoacoustics may encourage scientific and sustainability awareness and a multidisciplinary vision of natural sciences.