A series of ten 5-arylidene Meldrum’s acid derivatives had been synthesised in excellent yield via Knoevenagel condensation. This method does not require catalyst, or any further purification. Isopropylidene malonate (2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxane-4,6-dione), also known as Meldrum’s acid, is utilised as a core skeleton for various kind of reactions. Meldrum’s acid has features of a peculiar ring- opening sequences based on nucleophile-sensitive carbonyl functional groups at C-4 and C-6, which has made it possible for useful synthetic transformations, as well as its high acidity of methylene hydrogen at carbon position C-5. Hence, it allows the compound to be a flexible reagent for further reaction to prepare other derivatives. Therefore, Meldrum’s acid derivatives showed high potential of biological functions, such as antibacterial, antimalarial and antioxidant activities due to the olefinic linkage which played an important role in the enhancement of antimalarial activity. Furthermore, when arylidene Meldrum’s acid transformed to epoxide, the compound showed losses of antimalarial behaviour. Additionally, this compound has unique molecules due to the high acidity of methylene hydrogen at the carbon-5 position to initiate various reactions with different functional groups. In this research, Meldrum’s acid, 3 and ten its 5-arylidene derivatives (4a-e) and (5a-e) were synthesised by using two short and efficient reaction steps. The first step involved the condensation of malonic acid, 1 with acetone, 2 in acetic anhydride and acid via one-pot reaction to give Meldrum’s acid, 3 in 50% overall yield. Having Meldrum’s acid in hand, the reaction was proceeded with the Knoevenagel condensation reaction by using various functional groups, such as aryl aldehydes and aryl amines. All the synthesised compounds were characterised by using 1H and 13C spectroscopy.
Adjustment among new students at the university plays an important role in determining their success at university. This study showed one of the reasons students fail to complete their study is due to adjustment problems. Students found to be unable to deal with the challenges and demands on campus and experience a variety of problems that some of them failed to proceed to the next semester. The population of the study consist of 143 First Semester Diploma students in the Faculty of Business and Management studies at Universiti Teknologi MARA Pahang Raub Campus. The instrument used is questionnaires. There are four subscales designed to measure the effectiveness of student adjustment to university that are academic adjustment, social adjustment, personal (emotional) adjustment and institutional commitment. The study shows that adaptability on campus has a relationship with psychosocial abilities possessed by the students. Among the psychosocial abilities have a positive and significant impact on student adjustment is emotional intelligence, coping, and social support. All three of these psychosocial capabilities found to play an important role in helping students adjust at the university. Thus, the university must take proactive steps to develop emotional intelligence, coping and social support among new students to improve their adaptability
An interactive teaching tool that utilizes a game board strategy to facilitate the learning of statistics has been developed and employed. This study aims to determine the impact of the board game on the motivation of diploma students towards learning statistics. Data are collected from 7 respondents using a face to face interview. Responses are qualitatively analysed. Results show that respondents are generally positive about the effectiveness of the board game as a teaching tool to enhance le arning and understanding. More importantly, respondents have shown a change in attitude towards statistics and are more motivated to learn statistics under this innovative learning environment. Some suggestions for future research are outlined.
In this paper, a semi analytic iterative method (SAIM) is presented for solving two forms of Blasius equation. Blasius equation is a third order nonlinear ordinary differential equation in the problem of the two-dimensional laminar viscous flow over half-infinite domain. In this scheme, the first solution which is in a form of convergent series solution is combined with Padé approximants to handle the boundary condition at infinity. Comparison the results obtained by SAIM with those obtained by other method such as variational iteration method and differential transform method revealed the effectiveness of the SAIM.
The study on composition, abundance and diversity of larval fish was conducted with the aim to attain information on larval fish breeding ground and made easy for fishery management. Larval fish were collected during September 2015 from mangrove areas of Pekan Pahang, Pendas Johor, Matang Perak and Setiu Terengganu using a bongo net, towed at a depth of about 0.5 m from the surface for 5 min against the tidal flow. A total of 354 larval fish were collected, representing 21 families and 51 species. The top 3 families were Gobiidae (39.26%), Engraulidae (14.97%) and Clupeidae (14.40%), occurred in all sampling areas except in Setiu. The most abundant 11 species formed about 50% of all collected larval fish. Gobiidae spp. were the most abundant, making up 17.8% of the total catch, followed by Clupeidae spp. (12.7%), Engraulidae spp. (8.2%), Ambassis dusumieri (6.5%), Thryssa kammalensis (4.8%), Pseudogobius masago (both 4.8%), Sillaginidae spp. (4.2%), Ambassidae spp. (3.4%), Pseudogobius sp. (3.4%), Blenniidae spp. (2.8%), and Hemigobius hoevenii (2.5%). The highest diversity of larval fish was recorded for Pendas, Johor with Shannon Wiener index Hs = 2.699, and the lowest was Setiu, Terengganu (Hs = 0.832). The highest evenness index of larval fish species was recorded for Pekan, Pahang with Es = 0.815 and the lowest for Setiu Terengganu with Es = 0.465, indicating high single-species dominance. Species overlapping was the highest between Pendas and Setiu at 14.3%, and zero similarity of fish composition was recorded between Matang and Setiu according to Jaccard coefficient. Findings from surveillance of larval fish species provide valuable information for future biodiversity studies and allow better management of biodiversity resources in the mangrove ecosystem of Malaysia.
Derivation of activated carbon from biomass wastes for energy storage applications such as fuel cells and supercapacitors are attracting wide attractions as the world is now demand for other sustainable energy that can help to explore new technologies especially for energy conversion and storage. This is important because the world now is facing a rapid depletion of fossil energy. In this review, an outline of recent trends towards biomass-derived specifically from fruit-based biomass wastes is explained in a holistic manner. Thanks to their high carbon content, high specific surface area and developed porous structure, biomass-derived chars can be treated and converted into carbon. The performance of activated carbon in terms of Brunette Emmet Teller (BET) surface area, micropore volume, total pore volume and specific capacitance has been reported. This review showed that higher BET surface will contribute to higher pore volume in the activated carbon that makes them good candidates for the fabrication of electrodes in supercapacitor applications. This study was focused on providing a detailed comparison of published studies that utilized different physical and chemical routes and their effect of modification such as various activation temperatures and the ratio of activating agents towards the performance of the activated carbon under different parameters. Implementing chemical routes with an ideal 600°C – 850°C and inclusion ratio might be effective to produce high performance activated carbon.
The issue of overwork due to numerous responsibilities among academicians is getting a serious
attention in educational literature. Academicians have to fulfil many responsib ilitie s simultaneously,
including teaching, conducting research, writing, publication, holding administrative posts,
involvement in committees and community services, and other professional works which may
improve the image of their university. Thus, the o bjecti ves of this study are to examine the
academicians’ perceptions on their academic and non academic responsibilities and investigate the
relationship between the respondents’ length of service with academic workloads and administrative
posts. This stud y has used self administered questionnaires, which have been distributed to 391
lecturers from various faculties on the Campus of UiTM Cawangan Terengganu. Results obtained
from 119 academicians have indicated that a majority of the respondents have chosen to be in the
teaching and learning track for their performance evaluation purpose. This is consistent with the
findings that they have spent most of their working hours to fulfil their academic workloads. In
addition, the non academic responsibilities hav e requ ired them to work beyond office hours in
performing their duties. Overall, the findings of this study have shown that most academicians have
spent more time on the academic responsibilities. On the other hand, the correlation has revealed that
the lo nger t he length of service of the respondents, the more academic workloads will be given and
the higher their chances to be appointed as administrators. This has implied that the academicians will
be responsible for higher positions and a wide range of tas ks as they become more experienced and at
a senior level.
This research aimed to determine the total antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of the papaya
seeds. These papaya seeds then were introduced into the prepared ice cream to determine the effect of the
papaya seeds to the physicochemical and the acceptability of ice cream by making four different
formulations (Control, 1.0%, 2.0%, and 3.0% of papaya seeds). Two methods namely free radical
scavenging assay (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) were used to determine the total
antioxidant activity of the papaya seeds, whereas total phenolic content was determined by FolinCiocalteu’s method (TPC). The papaya seeds showed high total phenolic content in the TPC analysis result.
Furthermore, DPPH and FRAP showed high antioxidant activity of the papaya seeds. Acceptability of the
ice cream was conducted by sensory evaluation and the results showed that the control (0.0%) papaya seeds
ice cream formulation was the most favorable by the panelists followed by 1.0%, 2.0%, and 3.0% papaya
seeds formulation. In conclusion, the papaya seeds are proven to contain antioxidants by the results given
in DPPH, FRAP, and TPC tests. Surprisingly, the papaya seeds also did not affect the physicochemical of
the ice cream and the ice cream was accepted by the panelists.
In Islamic transaction, the disputations between two or more parties could affect the roles and responsibilities. Furthermore, when the court received a case from disputed parties, there will be a perception among each of parties of win-lose situation, whereby one party embellished with satisfaction, while the other party will beat in suffering, so the impact is the relationship between two parties are become farther. Therefore, alternative dispute resolution (ADR) in Islamic Finance is suggested in by many Muslim economist and legal experts as a substitute to any further legal activities. This is because it will satisfy many of litigants and it provides a complementary substitute to litigation. The study about ADR in Islamic finance has been done by previous literature. By the way, the implementation of ADR in Islamic financial institutions still needs to be elaborated. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss about updated issues and challenges of implementations of ADR in Islamic finance. This paper found that the ADR in Islamic finance need a model to make the ADR more flexible and eligible with different kinds of conflicts.
As the backbone of the economic contributor to the Gross National Profit (GNP), tourism sector plays
a vital role in creating employment opportunities. For that reason, attention is given to the travel
agencies’ operators to improve productivity and to be competitive in the travel and tour markets.
However, in reality, not all companies adopt and use effectively, or even use, information technology.
The gap lies between the realities of the actual usage of information technology. A deeper
understanding of the current demographic profile and web technologies and e-business adoption
practice is vital to know the current trends and practices are implemented among SME entrepreneurs.
This study provides a general description of SME’s travel agencies background and web-technology
and e-business adoption profile in Malaysia. A total of 313 respondents from SMEs owners/managers
has been selected using multistage cluster sampling method to answer the open ended questionnaire. A
descriptive analysis SPSS was used in describing the web technologies adoption among Malaysia
SMEs travel agencies. The findings of the study revealed that Malaysia SMEs still attach to the
conventional way of conducting travel agencyy business.
The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of Vernonia cinerea, Peperomia
pellucida and combination of Vernonia cinerea and Peperomia pellucida. These two herbs are pants that
often grow at random in different environments but are not commercialized due to the fact that no
comprehensive study of the importance of their use. The extract was prepared with methanol respectively.
1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay were used to study their antioxidant activity. The extracts
were compared with commercial antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The highest scavenging
effect from peel extract was presented by Vernonia cinerea with the value of 76.3% scavenging activity
(IC50 = 2.909), followed by the combination of Vernonia cinerea and Peperomia pellucida (71.21%
scavenging activity; IC50 = 5.274) and Peperomia pellucida with value of 68.3% scavenging activity (IC50
= 5.572). BHT showed the lowest IC50 value 1.71 with the scavenging activity 90.0%. Low IC50 value will
indicates the strong ability of the extracts to act as DPPH scavenger.
The present study was conducted to evaluate the antioxidant activity of peel extract from three types of
melon, Cucumis melo var cantalupensis, Cucumis melo var inodorus and Citrullus lanatus in family
Curcurbitaceae. The extract was prepared with methanol respectively. 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH) assay were used to study their antioxidant activity. The extracts were compared with commercial
antioxidant, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The highest scavenging effect from peel extract was
presented by Cucumis melo var inodorus with the value of 52.7 ± 9.1µg/ml (IC50 = 4.61). BHT showed
the lowest IC50 value 1.71 with the scavenging activity 90.0 ± 1.7µg/ml. Low IC50 value will indicates the
strong ability of the extracts to act as DPPH scavenger.
This study examines the possible causes of anxiety in oral presentations among students who are currently taking English subjects in UiTM Dungun Campus. Communication apprehension especially in doing oral presentations is inevitable among ESL (English as A Second Language) students. This natural phenomenon occurs due to several factors by taking diverse students’ backgrounds into account. However, there are also other factors that may contribute to the students’ anxiety. The respondents were invited to answer a set of questionnaires using Google Forms ™. The questionnaire was adapted and modified from Al-Nouh (2015). A few alterations were made to the questionnaire so as to fit the respondents’ perceptions. From the survey, several factors of anxiety in oral presentations were perceived; language ability, personality traits, preparation and audience interest. Overall, the findings showed that all these four factors did affect the students’ oral presentations. Several implications of the findings were discussed which include setting a friendly and stimulating class environment to cater to the different students’ learning needs, sharing the scoring rubrics for students’ preparation beforehand, encouraging positive attitude among the audience members and emphasizing fluency more than accuracy while using English. It is hoped that the ideas and suggestions discussed will provide the lecturers with basic guidelines of how to improve the students’ command of English language through oral presentation assessments and help the students to work their way out of anxiety
The recent focus of agricultural planning is on sustainable development which is very
pertinent to Malaysian rice industry. Therefore, this study intends to assess the long term
economic sustainability of Malaysian rice farming (1972-2014), by reviewing the bottom line
of prices and the purchasing power of rice (PPR). Statistical information of time series data on
farm harvest price of rice (PR), wholesale commodity price (WP) and rice production for 42
years period was obtained and compiled from the AGROSTAT system of the statistical
division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), World Bank and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia. The data was
analysed using Abdullah’s analysis of the impact of changes the value and purchasing power
of money and wheat in real terms (2013, p.71). The outcome reveals that the PR follows the
general price trend in commodities, even with increased productivity. Thus, the index value of
PR in 2014 at 375% of 1972 prices and WP generally at 614%, then the PPR or ‘real rice’ was
only 61% of what it was in 1972, and therefore had lost 39% of its purchasing power,
signifying that rice was relatively low in price.
local herb known as neem (semambu) or its scientific name Azadirachta indica has been used extensively in traditional treatment due to its medicinal properties. Neem leaves have been used traditionally for treating several epidermal dysfunctions, such as eczema, psoriasis, and acne. Neem is rich in antioxidants and helps to boost immune response in tissues of affected skin area. It also consists of bioactive compounds for antibacterial, antifungal, and anticancer activities. In this study, neem leaves extract was used in producing herbal neem soap as a remedy for curing skin problems. The herbal neem soap was made by blending 36.4% palm oil, 9.1% coconut oil, 27.3% sodium hydroxide, 9.1% neem oil extract, and 18.2% neem aqueous extract which formed a pale yellow soap base. The results of the selected physical and chemical properties of this study show that the moisture content of the soap was 4.02% with 10.60 pH value, 57.40% total fatty matter, and 0.44% free caustic alkali. The results imply that herbal neem soap is suitable for human skin and can be a therapeutic alternative to skin problems.
Recently, the development of activated carbon electrodes from agricultural waste biomass for application in carbon-based electrode of supercapacitor is increasing. The use of agricultural waste biomass as a precursor for the production of activated carbon become popular because it is economical, easily available and also beneficial in reducing waste disposal problem in agricultural industries. In this review, the biomass material for activated carbon using various activators is presented. The effects of activating methods which is physical and chemical activation on the properties of activated carbons are reviewed. Carbonaceous materials with high surface area, which is above 1000 m2g-1 and good porosity with total pore volume approximately 1.0 cm3g-1 promote fast ion-transport, making them an ideal choice to be used in supercapacitor. Previous study had shown that different types of activation method influence significantly on the properties of activated carbon produced. Producing a high porosity and high surface area of activated carbon are essentials to fabricate a high quality of supercapacitor. With proper treatment, it is found that many agriculture wastes have high potential and carry good properties as an electrode in supercapacitor.
Lanthanide element in the methanation reaction gives an excellent catalytic performance at low reaction temperature. Praseodymium is one of lanthanide element and was chosen due to its properties which are thermally stable and provide excess of oxygen in the oxide lattice. Therefore, a catalyst of Ru/Mn/Pr (5:30:65)/Al2O3 (RMP, 5:30:65/Al2O3) was prepared via wetness impregnation method and the effect of calcination temperature on the catalyst performance was investigated using FTIR analysis. The RMP/Al2O3 catalyst calcined at 800 o C was chosen as an excel catalyst with CO2 conversion of 96.9% and CH4 formation of 45.1% at 350 o C reaction temperature. From the EDX mapping, it can be observed that the distribution of all element is homogeneous at 800 o C and 900 o C except Ru, O and Al at 1000 o C calcination temperature. The image from FESEM also shows the presence of some crystal shape on the catalyst surface. From the FTIR analysis, the peak stretching and bending mode of O-H bond decreased when the calcination temperature increased.
Of late, dyeing fabrics with natural dyes have become an attraction because of its eco-friendly and less threatening disposition towards humankind. In the textile colouration industry, natural dyes play an important role because of the need for replacement synthetic dyes which have a great deal of tension with the environmental issues. This study focuses on the colour shade, colour coordinates, and fastness properties of dyed silk fabric from tagetes erecta (Mexican Marigold flower) using the water boiling extraction method. The dyeing was carried out using lemon juice as a natural mordant through the simultaneous mordanting method, using two different dyeing methods: infrared (IR) dyeing and exhaustion dyeing. The shades produced for exhaustion dyed fabric is light-yellow compared to the IR dyed fabric, which is medium-light yellow. These shades were confirmed with the CIELAB colour coordinates, L*a*b* values. The colourfastness to washing, perspiration, rubbing, and light of the fabrics were conducted to investigate the performance of the dye and mordant on the dyed silk fabrics. The colourfastness properties of the dyed silk fabric using infrared (IR) dyeing technique have better performance than using exhaustion dyeing technique.
The isolation of cellulose fib
r es requires the removal of o ther components such as lignin,
hemicellulose, and pectin from the biomass. In this st udy, the matured Leucaena leucocephala seeds
(LLS) was applied as a raw material to extract cellulose. The influence of sodium hydroxide
conc e ntration (2% 6%) on the structure of cellulose isolated LLS was studied. The highest yield
23.7% of cellulose wa s extracted using 4 wt% NaOH treatment The chemical physical properties of
cellulose extracted were characterized using Fourier Transform In f rared (FTIR), Field Emission
Scanning Electron Microscope (FES EM) and X ray Diffraction (XRD) XRD). FTIR spectrum indic ated that
of all treated samples shows the peaks of cellulose structure. The highest crystallinity index of
cellulose was obtained from 6% Na O H treatment which is 76.04%. Under FESEM images, the
cellulose appeared in fibrils like structure. The cellulose o btained can be further disintegrate to micro
and nano cel lulose to increase the chemical physical properties for various application such as i n
biocomposite, biomedicine and other value added chemicals.
Ginger essential oils (GEO) are natural products with antibacteria properties consisting of many different volatile
compounds have high potential to be used in many applications. In this study, the ginger GEO was successfully
encapsulated in chitosan as a carrier agent using a spray drying technique. The extraction of Zingiber officinale
(ginger) essential oil is performed by steam distillation method. The GEO was encapsulated in chitosan as a carrier
agents at 1:3, GEO:chitosan ratio by using spray drying technique. GEO together with encapsulated GEO were
further assayed for antimicrobial activity by disc-diffusion method. For characterization of encapsulated GEO,
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were
used. FTIR analysis revealed that there was no existence of a new functional group in the encapsulated GEO
showing that there is only physical interaction between GEO and chitosan. Besides, FESEM analysis showed the
encapsulated GEO were in micro in sizes and possessed spherical shape with smooth and porous surface.
Furthermore, Both GEO and encapsulated GEO showed in vitro antimicrobial activity against Escheriachia coli,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella typhi with encapsulated GEO possessed higher in
the activities for all studied bacteria compared to GEO. The encapsulated GEO demonstrated a superior performance
against Salmonella typhi with the inhibition zone of 22.5 mm compared to GEO only 13.5 mm. The results obtained
indicated that due to the volatility and instability of the GEO when exposed to environmental factors, its encapsulation considerably improve and enhanced its performance.