Heterotrigona itama is a Malaysian stingless bee species that actively reared for meliponiculture. This stingless bee is cultivated in a commercial scale for its honey production, propolis and among the greatest commercial potential as crop pollinators. However, this species has been potentially exposed to agronomic practices, among which the use of synthetic insecticides against pests.The indirect toxicity effect of the post-insecticide had affected the mortalities of H. itama especially, to the foragers. Due to that, a study has been conducted to determine the lethal concentration of 50% (LC50) and 95% (LC95) of the selected insecticides against stingless bee forager workers through residual exposure. The bioassay test was conducted to the local stingless bee H. itama at Agricultural Research Station, Tenom. Four commonly used insecticides in crop protection; Deltamethrin, Chlorpyrifos, Cypermethrin and Malathion were tested at five concentrations that diluted with 500 ml of distilled water in three replications for each insecticide. Lethal concentrations (LC50 and LC95) were obtained from probit analysis after 1-hour dry residues exposure and 24-hour mortality observation. The result shows that; all four tested insecticides were harmful to H. itama through dry residue. Deltamethrin shows the higher value of LC50 (1.256 ml) and LC95 (3.582ml) that make it less toxic to the H. itama than cypermethrin, malathion, and chlorpyrifos, however, as the concentration gets higher it becomes more toxic.
University students are known to have different sleeping schedules. Students’ sleep difficulties will affect their health and their performances in studies. Sleep hygiene is a collection of healthy sleep habits that can improve one’s ability to fall asleep and stay asleep. It is considered to be imperative to treat sleep disturbance especially among university students. The aim of this study is to examine the sleep beliefs among the students of UiTM Sabah based on gender and academic performance. This study was conducted on Diploma students between March and July 2018. The respondents were randomly selected from Diploma students of all faculties in UiTM Sabah: Accounting, Business Management, Public Administration, Science, Planting Industry Management, Hotel Management, and Tourism Management. This paper is based on the Sleep Belief Scale questionnaire to assess the sleep hygiene awareness. Questionnaires were distributed using online survey. Findings of this study were analyzed using SPSS statistical software. The result of findings showed that the Sleep Incompatible Behaviours (drinking coffee, taking sleep medication, smoking before sleep) is the highest contributor of the students’ sleep hygiene and therefore it affects the sleep quality. While the Sleep Wake Cycle Behaviours (going to bed & waking up always at the same hour, going to bed two hours earlier than the habitual hour) and Thoughts and Attitude to Sleep (over thinking before sleep, trying to fall asleep without having a sleep sensation)also contributed to the sleep hygiene of the students but not as high as the Sleep Incompatible Behaviours. Based on the results of the findings, the counseling department of UiTM Sabah may organise an education program to create awareness among students about the intervention and prevention strategies as well as the incorrect beliefs about sleep.
Black pod rot is the most economically important disease of cocoa in Malaysia which is
mainly caused by a highly polyphagous Phytophthora species, called Phytophthora palmivora.
The fungus could attack all parts of the cocoa plant organs and caused various diseases at
any growth stage from seedling until the mature stages, especially during raining season. The
application of synthetic fungicides has been widely recommended to manage the disease but
their repeated use had led to other problems such as environmental, human health and
development of fungicide resistance issues. This study isolated and identified Phytopththora
isolate from a cocoa pod sample based on micro-morphological characters. Besides, the
present investigation was undertaken to screen for the antifungal potency of different weed
extracts against the Phytophthora pathogen using poisoned food technique. The fungal isolate
was successfully recovered from pod tissues of clone PBC123 on 20% tomato juice agar
culture (20T). Only one out of ten weed extracts tested showed a significant in vitro inhibitory
effect towards mycelial growth of Phytophthora isolate, which was aqueous crude leaf extract
of Solanum torvum (42.68%). This study indicated that the potential of weed extracts in the
management of Phytophthora diseases, and may offer more natural, effective and economical
control methods.
Several studies have indicated education inequality between rural students and urban students. In language learning, students in rural areas have lower proficiency in English than those in urban areas. The aims of the present study were to investigate the perceptions, instructional knowledge and classroom practices of English teachers in teaching reading in rural areas in Sabah. An online survey was conducted on a sample of 20 secondary English teachers in a teacher professional development programme in Kudat, Sabah. The implications of these findings for future practice in rural high schools are discussed.
A warrant is a security that allows the holder to buy and sell the underlying share at a
fixed price until expiry date. Warrant price will always fluctuates since the underlying
share also fluctuates. Hence, determining the warrant price is the main problem
among the investors in Malaysia. This research is focusing on pricing the warrant for
five companies that were listed in Bursa Malaysia. The companies were chosen
randomly from UiTM DataStream. The selected companies were Boon Koon Sdn
Bhd, Hovid Bhd, Kelington Bhd, ML Global Bhd and Tropicana Corporation Bhd.
The data contained underlying share, interest rate, exercise price and actual warrant
price. This research aims to define the price of warrant by using Binomial model.
Historical volatility and implied volatility were used in this research whereby
volatility is the movement of the underlying share price. This research aims at
comparing the actual warrant price with the calculated warrant price. The data were
computed manually by using Microsoft Excel and the comparison was made between
the two type of volatilities to give the nearest value of calculated warrant price to the
actual warrant price. The nearest value was assumed the best value for this research.
The result was made by analyzing the line graphs and comparing between historical
volatility and implied volatility with actual warrant price. Mean Square Error was
used to support the results that were obtained from the line graphs. In the end, implied
volatility yielded better results compared to historical volatility.
Canarium odontophyllum is a rare tropical fruit that is primarily propagated by seeds.
However, there is little information regarding its seed handling and germination. As
low seed moisture content (MC), generally that below 10%, is the key determinant to
successful seed storage while avoiding microbial damage, the objective of this study
was, hence, set to investigate C. odontophyllum’s seed germination as affected by
desiccation using drying beads (DBs) at room temperature or convection oven at
40C to varying seed MCs, from its initial MC of above 20% down to that below 10%.
It was found that the seeds tolerated fast dehydration within 24h at room temperature
using DBs. They retained 90% germination despite seed MC was reduced to below
10%. Desiccation tolerance with DBs was, however, found only with seeds extracted
from fresh fruits. As the fruits started rotting with wrinkled appearance and fungi on
the pericarp from four days after harvest onwards, the seeds extracted from them died
at MC of below 15%. A slower seed drying method using convection oven at higher
temperature of 40C, on the other hand, took 72h to bring the seed MC down to
Generally, pineapple sucker is used as the main planting material for commercial cultivation
of pineapple. Pineapple sucker is usually obtained either from the stalk or the stem of a
pineapple plant. Research to study the effect of planting media using mineral soil as the main
component for the mixture on the growth of sucker by stem cutting technique was conducted. The objective of this research is to study the effects of mineral soil-based mixed planting
media on the growth of pineapple suckers produced cultivated via stem cutting of Madu
pineapple. The research was conducted at the Pineapple Nursery of the Faculty of Sustainable
Agriculture, UMS Sandakan, from March 2019 until September 2019. The treatments used in
this research were, soil as T1 (100%); Soil:coco peat as T2 (1:1,v/v); Soil:peat soil as T3
(1:1,v/v); Soil:sand as T4 (1:1,v/v). The data obtained showed there is a significant difference
in the number of a successfully germinated sucker. However, no significant difference was
detected for the sucker growth parameters. Planting media T3, soil: coco peat recorded the
highest number of successfully germinated suckers (12.25). Meanwhile, for growing media, suggested T2 soil: peat soil were recorded the highest for root length (15.53 cm), leaf number
(18.00), and stem diameter (2.18 cm) at 60 days after transplant (DAT).
Most of the plants in the ginger family Zingeberaceae are well-known for their medicinal properties. However, the genus Hornstedtia found in Sabah is less reported. This research aims to investigate the phytochemical constituent and vitamin C content of a fruit, locally known as the Tolidus fruit in Sabah. The dried fruit sample was extracted using three solvents which were water, ethanol and methanol. The phytochemical constituents were determined using standard Colour Test for the presence of alkaloid, flavonoid, saponin and tannin. Then, the content of Vitamin C was determined using the standard Colorimetric Titration and ascorbic acid as standard. The phytochemical evaluation revealed that all three targeted constituents were present in all extracts except for the alkaloid. The vitamin C content was determined in both dried and fresh sample of fruits, where 52.84 mg was quantified in the fresh fruit aqueous extract and 23.93 mg in the dried fruit aqueous extract respectively. These results are comparable to the content of vitamin C in orange and lime fruits. The phytochemical evaluation and vitamin C content of Tolidus suggested the potential of this underutilised fruit to be the natural and affordable source of vitamin C. Additionally, may protect the body against harmful free radicals. However, further analysis is needed to determine other constructive natural contents and evaluate the efficacy of this fruit as a natural source of antioxidant
A retrospective study was carried out at one selected dairy farm located in Keningau, Sabah in order to evaluate the effect of age at first calving (AFC) on the productive performance of the
primiparous Sahiwal x Friesian crossbred dairy cows. The retrospective data was collected from 123 Sahiwal x Friesian crossbred dairy cows. AFC was classified into 7 groups such as:
≤22; 23-24; 25-26; 27-28 months old; 29-30; 31-32 and >32 months old, respectively. The productive performance parameters that were evaluated consisted of the first-lactation milk
yield, lactation length, average daily milk yield and dry period. Cows with AFC of 23-24 and 25-26 months of age showed the highest first-lactation milk yield, 7210.14± 384.84 litres and
7053.80± 342.98 litres, respectively. Cows with AFC of 23-24 months old have also showed the longest lactation length of 410.25± 19.51 days. However, cows with AFC of 23-24 months
of age produced the least average daily milk yield, that was about 17.62± 0.60 litres/day and cows that were calved at 29-30 months of age and >32 months of age produced the highest
average daily milk yield, that was about 24.10± 0.94 litres/day and 24.16± 0.79 litres/day, respectively. The study showed that AFC had a significant effect on the first-lactation milk
yield, lactation length and average daily milk yield of the Sahiwal x Friesian crossbred dairy cows (p0.05). Overall, cows with the AFC of 23-24 months old have showed the best productive performance
This study is focused on formulating a natural-based fabric softener using baking
soda and vinegar with the addition of insect repellent finish of citronella oil and
vanillin. The effectiveness of the fabric softener was evaluated by conducting a fabric
stiffness test on both untreated and treated fabric samples with the softener
formulated in this study. The assessment for the efficacy of insect repellence was
carried out using 3 human participants of the same gender and build but different
blood type, positioned at a mosquito infested area. Three tests; negative, positive, and
normal tests were conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the formulated mosquito
repellent finishes in the fabric softener. The results show that the formulated fabric
softener is good mosquito repellent and it is good at giving a soft effect on the treated
fabric.
The Silver Reed Model LK150 knitting machine is a home knitting machine which is
extremely lightweight and compact, making it preferable by most home knitters.
There are various knitwears with interesting patterns can be made using this model. In
the field of garments manufacturing by using flatbed knitting machines, it is
important to understand the physical properties of fabric so that their impact on
dimensional changes can be predicted to produce the most suitable end use. The
samples were produced by using a blended bamboo/cotton yarn, with a composition
of 30% cotton and 70% bamboo. The main objectives of this study are to to evaluate
the physical properties of single jersey fabric knitted on home knitting machine by
using different stitch dials and to relate the physical properties with different stitch
lengths. Then, all tests were conducted to compare the physical properties of samples
between three different stitch dials and the effects of before and after washing. The
physical properties measured in this research were stitch length, stitch density, weight,
thickness, absorbency and shrinkage. The result indicated that the longer the stitch
length, the higher the percentage of the water impact penetration. Meanwhile, there
was a slight reduction on the density, thickness and fabric weight. In addition, the
result after three times washing showed that the samples only had slight changes in
density, thickness, weight and stitch length, but has significant changes on the water
impact penetration.
It is vital for educators to understand and match the learning needs of every student for learning to take place effectively. A detailed reference of the students’ entry characteristics, family background, and previous academic performance is useful in determining the materials and activities to be used with the students. The respondents of this study involved 103 students who enrolled in the pre-higher education programme. The characteristics to identify at-risk students are used as guidelines to redefine the definition of pre-higher education students. Therefore, the study aims to examine the characteristics of pre-higher education students based on their academic performance and socio-economic status. A quantitative method is used to gather more information about the basic entry characteristics, previous academic achievement, family background and Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) results of the students. The findings of the study help the researcher to define the terminology of the prehigher education programme. Having to confirm to the conceptual definition of the pre-higher education students helps the policy makers and institutions to develop a suitable learning programme to cater to their learning needs.
This study explores how laboratory activity with the argumentative approach could promote
students' conceptual understanding in the Hess' law energy cycle through laboratory work.
Laboratory work with an argument-based inquiry instructional strategy was set up to 15 preuniversity
students from one of the Form 6 Centre at the West Coast Division of Sabah,
Malaysia. The laboratory work consists of a guided inquiry-based instruction with an
argumentative approach in the topic of thermochemistry. The students' understanding of the
energy processes was analyzed with a qualitative method using a semi-structured interview
and triangulated with conversation analysis. The data collected from students' conversation
during the activity was then triangulated with reflective writing at the end of the laboratory
lesson. The study shows the students' prior knowledge and argumentation discourse
significantly influences the development of conceptual understanding. This study emphasizes
argument-based inquiry (ABIIS) in laboratory work to enhance their conceptual knowledge in
the laboratory.