Rhythmically coordinating with a partner can increase pro-sociality, but pro-sociality does not appear to change in proportion to coordination success, or particular classes of coordination. Pro-social benefits may have more to do with simply coordinating in a social context than the details of the actual coordination (Cross et al., 2016). This begs the question, how stripped down can a coordination task be and still affect pro-sociality? Would it be sufficient simply to imagine coordinating with others? Imagining a social interaction can lead to many of the same effects as actual interaction (Crisp and Turner, 2009). We report the first experiments to explore whether imagined coordination affects pro-sociality similarly to actual coordination. Across two experiments and over 450 participants, mentally simulated coordination is shown to promote some, but not all, of the pro-social consequences of actual coordination. Imagined coordination significantly increased group cohesion and de-individuation, but did not consistently affect cooperation.
Behçet's disease (BD) is a chronic relapsing vasculitis that affects vessels of all types and sizes with a broad spectrum of phenotypic heterogeneity and complex immunopathogenesis. Efforts by the scientific community to resolve the unmet needs of BD and gaps in our knowledge have been hampered by considerable challenges that primarily relate to the rare nature of the disease in many parts of the world and its heterogeneity. Controversies remain in many aspects of the disease including the diagnostic criteria, immunopathogenesis and biomarker discovery, geographical variation, and therapeutic considerations. In this review, we highlight recent advances in our scientific understanding of BD, shed new insights into diagnostic and treatment strategies, and discuss residual gaps in our knowledge that will serve as the basis for current and future research.
Despite all of the control strategies, tuberculosis (TB) is still a major cause of death globally and one-third of the world's population is infected with TB. The drugs used for TB treatment have drawbacks of causing adverse side effects and emergence of resistance strains. Plant-derived medicines have since been used in traditional medical system for the treatment of numerous ailments worldwide. There were nine major review publications on antimycobacteria from plants in the last 17 years. However, none is focused on Southeast Asian medicinal plants. Hence, this review is aimed at highlighting the medicinal plants of Southeast Asian origin evaluated for anti-TB. This review is based on literatures published in various electronic database. A total of 132 plants species representing 45 families and 107 genera were reviewed; 27 species representing 20.5% exhibited most significant in vitro anti-TB activity (crude extracts and/or bioactive compounds 0-<10 µg/ml). The findings may motivate various scientists to undertake the project that may result in the development of crude extract that will be consumed as complementary or alternative TB drug or as potential bioactive compounds for the development of novel anti-TB drug.
MeSH terms: Complementary Therapies; Antitubercular Agents; Cause of Death; Plants, Medicinal; Tuberculosis; Complex Mixtures
In Australia, infection of horses with the West Nile virus (WNV) or Murray Valley encephalitis virus (MVEV) occasionally results in severe neurological disease that cannot be clinically differentiated. Confirmatory serological tests to detect antibody specific for MVEV or WNV in horses are often hampered by cross-reactive antibodies induced to conserved epitopes on the envelope (E) protein. This study utilized bacterially expressed recombinant antigens derived from domain III of the E protein (rE-DIII) of MVEV and WNV, respectively, to determine whether these subunit antigens provided specific diagnostic markers of infection with these two viruses. When a panel of 130 serum samples, from horses with known flavivirus infection status, was tested in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using rE-DIII antigens, a differential diagnosis of MVEV or WNV was achieved for most samples. Time-point samples from horses exposed to flavivirus infection during the 2011 outbreak of equine encephalitis in south-eastern Australia also indicated that the rE-DIII antigens were capable of detecting and differentiating MVEV and WNV infection in convalescent sera with similar sensitivity and specificity to virus neutralization tests and blocking ELISAs. Overall, these results indicate that the rE-DIII is a suitable antigen for use in rapid immunoassays for confirming MVEV and WNV infections in horses in the Australian context and warrant further assessment on sensitive, high-throughput serological platforms such as multiplex immune assays.
MeSH terms: Animals; Antibodies, Viral; Disease Outbreaks; Encephalitis, Arbovirus/diagnosis; Encephalitis, Arbovirus/veterinary*; Encephalitis, Arbovirus/virology; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay/veterinary*; Horse Diseases/diagnosis; Horse Diseases/virology*; Horses; Neutralization Tests/veterinary; New South Wales/epidemiology; Viral Proteins; West Nile Fever/diagnosis; West Nile Fever/veterinary*; West Nile Fever/virology; West Nile virus/isolation & purification*; Encephalitis Virus, Murray Valley/isolation & purification*
Roots of Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. are prominent ingredients in the cuisine of several Asian countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, and China. An extract prepared from the roots of this plant showed strong inhibitory activity against enzymes α-glucosidase and pancreatic lipase and was subjected to chromatographic separation to identify the active components. Three new biflavonoids of the flavanone-chalcone type (9, 12, and 13) were isolated, along with 12 known compounds. Among the 15 isolates, the three new compounds showed stronger inhibitory activity against α-glucosidase than the drug acarbose but displayed lower pancreatic lipase inhibitory effect than the drug orlistat. The results indicated the potential of B. rotunda roots as a functional food for controlling after-meal blood glucose levels.
Myoblasts, the contractile cells of skeletal muscle, have been invaluable for fundamental studies of muscle development and clinical applications for muscle loss. A major limitation to the myoblast-based therapeutic approach is contamination with non-contractile fibroblasts, which overgrow during cell expansion. To overcome these limitations, this study was carried out to establish a 3D culture environment using nanofiber scaffolds to enrich the myoblast population during construct formation. Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanofiber (PM) scaffolds were fabricated using electrospinning techniques and coated with extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, such as collagen or laminin, in the presence or absence of genipin. A mixed population of myoblasts and fibroblasts was isolated from human skeletal muscle tissues and cultured on plain surfaces, as well as coated and non-coated PM scaffolds. PMMA can produce smooth fibers with an average diameter of 360 ± 50 nm. Adsorption of collagen and laminin on PM scaffolds is significantly enhanced in the presence of genipin, which introduces roughness to the nanofiber surface without affecting fiber diameter and mechanical properties. It was also demonstrated that laminin-coated PM scaffolds significantly enhance myoblast proliferation (0.0081 ± 0.0007 h-1) and migration (0.26 ± 0.04 μm/min), while collagen-coated PM scaffolds favors fibroblasts proliferation (0.0097 ± 0.0009 h-1) and migration (0.23 ± 0.03 μm/min). Consequently, the myoblast population was enriched on laminin-coated PM scaffolds throughout the culture process. Therefore, laminin coating of nanofiber scaffolds could be a potential scaffold for the development of a tissue-engineered muscle substitute.
Due to recent advancements and appealing applications, the purchase rate of smart devices is increasing at a higher rate. Parallely, the security related threats and attacks are also increasing at a greater ratio on these devices. As a result, a considerable number of attacks have been noted in the recent past. To resist these attacks, many password-based authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of these schemes are not screen size independent; whereas, smart devices come in different sizes. Specifically, they are not suitable for miniature smart devices due to the small screen size and/or lack of full sized keyboards. In this paper, we propose a new screen size independent password-based authentication scheme, which also offers an affordable defense against shoulder surfing, brute force, and smudge attacks. In the proposed scheme, the Press Touch (PT)-a.k.a., Force Touch in Apple's MacBook, Apple Watch, ZTE's Axon 7 phone; 3D Touch in iPhone 6 and 7; and so on-is transformed into a new type of code, named Press Touch Code (PTC). We design and implement three variants of it, namely mono-PTC, multi-PTC, and multi-PTC with Grid, on the Android Operating System. An in-lab experiment and a comprehensive survey have been conducted on 105 participants to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the effect of different cooking
procedures on the total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity of organic and inorganic
beans based on the increasing demand of organic food products. The total phenolic content and
antioxidant capacities of eight types of beans matched to the organic and inorganic samples was
analyzed based on three different conditions namely raw (R), cooked without soaking (CWS)
and cooked after soaking (CAS). Changes in these variables before and after processing were
compared between organic and inorganic beans. CAS caused significant (p
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability in the world. The
primary cause of CVD is development of atherosclerosis resulting from chronic inflammation
and endothelial dysfunction. Indeed, endothelial dysfunction is considered to be the earliest
stage in the process of atherosclerosis development. There is great interest in discovering
strategies to inhibit endothelial dysfunction and atherosclerosis progression. The role of plant
constituents routinely consumed have attracted much attention as preventive health approaches
due to their availability and perceived safety. Accumulating studies suggest that constituents
present in tea, grape, cocoa, soy and pomegranate are associated with reduced risks of CVD.
In this review, we discuss the potential of the above mentioned dietary ingredients to improve
endothelial function in vivo and in vitro.
Honey is a natural sweetener, which is consumed in a variety of sweet products. It is
considered as healthy food because it contains nutrients such as carbohydrate,
protein, vitamins and mineral. The presence of adulterated honey in the market is
worrying the consumers since it is difficult to distinguish between pure and adulterated
honey due to similar appearance and texture of both type honeys. Chemometric
analysis combined with spectroscopic data is a powerful technique that has been used
to discriminate different type of honey. Samples of pure honey are collected from
beekeepers at Ayer Keroh, Melaka and Cameron Highland, Pahang. The adulterants
used to prepare adulterated honey are sugar and corn syrup with the concentration of
the adulterants added to the pure honey ranging from 10% to 90% by weight of
adulterant. All the samples are treated with heat at 40o
C to ensure the adulterant and
pure honey are mixed well. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) is used to
generate the spectra of the honey and subsequently subjected to chemometric
analysis. The spectra data is then analysed by using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)
technique using SOLO+Mia software. In this study, all honeys have been successfully
discriminated according to their origins and purity as well as types of adulterants used.
Consequently, the developed model can potentially be used as a screening tool to
determine the purity of honey in the market.
The academic performance of Malaysian students has recently been in the spotlight
when it was revealed that our high schoolers had performed dismally in recent major
international benchmarking studies. Malaysian students were not only ranked below
the global average, but they also appear to be performing worse in Mathematics,
Science and Reading Literacy compared the previous assessments. This has raised
alarm among not only educational policy makers and academicians, but also other
stakeholders who are directly or indirectly affected by the success or failure of the
educational system. This study aims at empirically analysing the academic
performance of students enrolled in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma
Program at Kolej MARA Banting (KMB) over a span of 23 years. It attempts to identify
whether there is a similar declining trend as reported by PISA and TIMSS, and identify
factors that accounted for the students’ performance. Students’ IB results from 1993
to 2016 sourced from KMB database were analysed for trend and the strength of the
relationship of subjects that contributed to the total points of the IB examination for
two main programs offered at the college. Finally, future performance for the next
three years was forecasted using time series analysis using ARIMA (1,0,0). The Mann
Kendall Test confirmed existence of a downward trend in the students’ results.
Correlational analyses found that high level subjects comprising of the High Level
Chemistry, High Level Physics, High Level Biology and High Level Mathematics are
highly correlated to IB examination results. This is accentuated further after a policy
change in 2009 when the program for pre-Medical students opted for Standard Level
Mathematics, instead of High Level Mathematics it used to offer. It is anticipated that
the findings of this study will provide the relevant authorities with invaluable
information with a view of instituting corrective measures.
The construction industry is one of the major sectors in Malaysia. Apart from providing
facilities, services and goods it also offers employment opportunities to local and
foreign workers. In fact, the construction workers are exposed to high risk of noises
being generated from various sources including excavators, bulldozers, concrete mixer
and piling machines. Previous studies indicated that the piling and concrete work were
recorded as the main source that contributed to the highest level of noise among
others. Therefore, the aim of this study is to obtain the level of noise exposure during
piling process and to determine the awareness of workers against noise pollution at
the construction site. Initially, the reading of noise level was obtained at construction
site by using a digital sound level meter (SLM) and noise exposure to the workers was
mapped. Readings were taken from four different distances; 5, 10, 15 and 20 meters
from the piling machine. Furthermore, a set of questionnaire was also distributed to
assess the knowledge of regarding noise pollution at the construction site. The result
showed that the mean noise level at 5 meters distance was more than 90 dB, which
exceeded the recommended level. Although the level of awareness of regarding the
effect of noise pollution is satisfactory but majority of workers (90%) still did not wear
ear muffs during working periods. Therefore, the safety module guidelines related to
noise pollution controls should be implemented to provide a safe working environment
and prevent initial occupational hearing loss.
MeSH terms: Awareness; Employment; Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced; Malaysia; Noise; Occupational Diseases; Surveys and Questionnaires; Construction Industry
HEIs are facing major challenges in the current era, and an investigation of their
structures and roles is imperative. The survival and continued competiveness of HEIs
depend on the willingness and acceptance of changes and consideration for the
methods that will allow their practices to be improved. A learning organization is one
that seeks to maximize fully the capacities of its people to change, to survive in a
volatile environment and to sustain competitive advantage. The HEI sector is one such
sector that exists in a volatile environment; this sector needs to be resilient in facing
these challenges and adopting new ways to survive and cope with them. Thus, this
paper proposes that the learning organization approach has a direct influence on
knowledge transfer and organizational performance, which in turn, leads to HEIs
attaining success and continued survival.
The fragmented and unstable nature of the construction industry associated with
unpleasant working environment caused the diminishing preference of potential
manpower to participate in the construction industry. An increasing number of
construction firms are experiencing severe outflow of the workforce, not limited to loss
of manpower, but contemporaneously, expertise and valuable experiences too. The
construction industry is conservative and particularly resistant to synchronise with
hectic and rapid changes to content and accommodate current demands.
Accumulation of a few causes such as the refusal of locals to involve, unsatisfied
working conditions, labour-intensive trades, etc had caused workforce scarcity as the
supplies unable to overcome and cope in-parallel with the demands. The objective of
this study was to identify labour composition (profiles) at construction sites. The
method used to fulfil the objective was face to face questionnaire survey to the
targeted respondents. The questionnaire consisted two (2) sections; details of the
construction project and details of construction labours such as background, education
and training level, working experiences, general welfare and working hours and wages.
The collected data were analysed using percentage distribution methods and
presented in the tables and charts for easy understanding. From the result gathered,
the respondents’ education level is low and most of them are from the Philippines and
Indonesia. Most of them acquire the construction skills through site experience and no
formal training. The majority of them stayed off-site comfortably with their family and
being paid according to their skills.
Temperature monitoring system plays a very important role in modern liquid industrial
process especially where temperature monitoring is impossible through traditional
methods. In this paper a design and implementation of temperature monitoring
system using ATmega328 microcontroller has been proposed. The proposed system
consists of two different parts. The first part is temperature monitoring system and the
other is GUI interfacing between temperature monitoring system and computer as
temperature data storage. The monitoring part is composed of an ATmega328
microcontroller, temperature sensor LM35, alarm buzzer, a LED and a LCD. The
microcontroller is programmed in embed C language using Arduino Uno software to
read data from temperature sensor LM 35, convert and display in digital form on LCD.
Moreover, this part also indicates whether the temperature is low, high or safe by LED
light and alarm buzzer. The second part is GUI interfacing between temperature
monitoring system and computer which is performed through visual basic
programming using Microsoft visual basic software. The function of this part is to store
and display the temperature values and their waveform along with time and date on
computer.
This paper presents the speed control of DC series motor by using field control method,
armature control method and voltage control method. In field control method, a
variable resistance is connected in parallel with series field winding to shunt some
portion of the line current from the series field winding. Thus weakening the field and
increasing the speed. While in armature control method, a variable resistance is
directly connected in series with the supply to reduce the voltage available across the
armature and hence the speed falls. For voltage control method, the motor is supplying
with a variable voltage supply to change the speed of the motor. A laboratory
experiment is designed to control the speed of dc series motor where a rheostat
(variable resistor) is used to vary the field and armature resistance of the motor. The
applied voltage is kept constant for both field control method and armature control
method experiment. The result of the experiment shows at a constant supplied
voltage, the speed of the motor increased when the flux and armature resistance
decreased. Meanwhile, the speed of the motor increased when the terminal voltage
increased. This study concluded that the speed of a series DC motor can be controlled
by varying the field, armature and supplied voltage.
Honeycomb with good mechanical properties and low density are the top priorities in
material selection. Therefore, the facesheet thickness is a factor that contributes to it
as it made up most of the weight in the structure. Appropriate thickness can optimize
the mechanical performance. However, the sandwich composite may associate to high
density if the facesheet is of high thickness yet deteriorate the mechanical properties
as an overall. As the facesheet is attached to the sandwich structure via matrix, the
peeling properties for various facesheet thickness is investigated. The facesheet
thickness in terms of one to five layers are glued to the rubber wood core. The
structures are tested for its peeling strength under vertical 90° test according to the
ASTM standard. The optimal number of facesheet with good peeling strength is
discussed
Climate change influences over years clearly can affect a catchment area in terms of
quantity and quality of water. High annual rainfall in Malaysia does not solve water
scarcity problems during the El Nino phenomenon and can cause severe flooding
during La Nina. A simulation from year 1980 to 2006 has been done at Sg. Ketil
streamflow station at Kuala Pegang, Kedah in the North region of Malaysia according
to availability of data. The monthly streamflow later has been calibrated and validated
using SWAT-CUP. Water level data was obtained from an inventory water level station
recorded at the station. Land-use, soil type and slope are taken account to produce a
number of hydrologic response units (HRU). This study used developed gridded daily
hydrometeorological data set for Peninsular from 1980-2006using interpolation
technique. The results shown that the calibrated model is able to simulate the flow for
the river basin successfully with the R2
= 0.65 and NSE=0.52 and validated value of
R
2=0.5 and NSE=0.43. A recommendation is purposed to simulate the catchment using
hydrometeorological data set in the stations located in the area to compare the results
for further study.
Riparian vegetation has been recognized for its remarkable environmental and
management implications. Occurred within the dynamic tract of river systems, riparian
vegetation is a complex character that often exposed to the changes of river water and
river beds. Their spatial extent is strongly controlled by inundation and flood
disturbance, which result in the riparian vegetation migration to the point of
destruction, if the competition for the area and other sources are lacking. This paper
presents the findings of collected riparian vegetation information along Sg Johor at the
upstream and downstream of Kota Tinggi. Using Point-Centre-Quarter Method, the
vegetation’s species, density, basal area, diameter at breast height and relative
composition were recorded, identified and classified. Vitex pubescens and Drypetes
spp. dominantly occurred along the upstream and downstream of this river,
respectively. Species like Gymnacranthera bancana, Endospermum malaccense, and
Aquilaria malaccensis are also found inhabit along Sg Johor bank. Classified as woody
vegetation, these vegetations are equipped with buttress roots that enable them to
increase soil strength. This paper also suggests that proper study of riparian vegetation
along river banks could promote a better understanding of the function of each
species, to ensure the sustainability of riparian vegetation as part of river system
engineer.