Displaying publications 1 - 20 of 91 in total

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  1. Siew Tin, Tan, Mohd-Sidik, Sherina, Lekhraj, Rampal, Normala, Ibrahim, Kit-Aun, Tan, Zuriati, Ibrahim
    MyJurnal
    As reported by the World Health Organisation (2014), Malaysia is the fattest country among the Southeast Asia. Among others, obesity is a leading contributor of non-communicable diseases (e.g., type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and cancer). This article aims to review the exiting weight management programmes targeting overweight and obesity in Malaysia from 2005 to 2015. The findings from this review could be useful for future intervention efforts in an attempt to address such issues in Malaysia.
  2. Faid Rahman, Ahmad Ismail
    MyJurnal
    Waterbirds serve as an important bio-indicator of ecosystem changes and have been used widely throughout the world. This is because they exhibit conspicuous and meaningful responses to the changes of the environment around them. Other qualities that make them a good bio-indicator are also highlighted. Thus, important information on their biology and ecology are essential to make informed decisions. This is crucial in order to better conserve them and their habitats. Currently they are facing new challenges that arise from continuous development throughout the world. In addition, many endangered species continue to declines and could be extinct if they are not protected and conserved. The development of artificial habitat such as wetlands to compensate natural habitat loss could be an alternative. However, detailed information on the waterbirds and their interactions with the new environment are needed in order to do so. It is further highlighted that few researches have been conducted and focused on the waterbirds particularly in Malaysia. Thus, we encourage more local young scientists to take up this challenge and equip themselves with the right knowledge and necessary skills as well as to remain relevant with the international research standards. Proper planning, funding and focus should also be considered by the government and local authorities to maximize the impact of the country’s conservation effort.
  3. Liew, Pit Sze, Nurulfiza Mat Isa, Omar Abdul Rahman, Aini Ideris, Mohd HAIRBEJO
    MyJurnal
    Infectious bursal disease (IBD), also known as the Gumboro disease, has been a great
    concern for poultry industry worldwide. The first outbreak of IBD due to very virulent (vv) IBD virus
    (IBDV) infection in Malaysia was reported in 1991. The major economic impact of the disease is high
    mortality and poor performance. The virus causes immunosuppression where if the infected chicken
    recovered from the acute disease, they become more susceptible to infections of other pathogens and
    fail to respond to vaccines. Therefore, prevention is important and vaccination has become the
    principal control measure of IBDV infection in chickens. The conventional attenuated live and killed
    vaccines are the most commonly used vaccines. With the advancement of knowledge and technology,
    new generation of genetically-engineered vaccines like viral vector and immune complex vaccines
    have been commercialised. Moreover, hatchery vaccination is becoming a common practise, in
    addition to farm vaccination. Currently, the disease is considerably under controlled with the
    introduction of vaccination. However, occasional field outbreaks are still commonly reported. The
    demand for vaccines that could suit the field situation continues to exist. The endemicity of disease,
    presence of challenge in the farm and maternally derived antibody in chicks are affecting the choice
    vaccine as well as the vaccine development and vaccination strategies. In this review, advances made
    in various vaccines that have been commercialised or under development, and challenges that they
    face, are outlined. Furthermore, how the emergence of vvIBDV affect the progress of vaccine
    development and influence its vaccination strategy are discussed.
  4. Ahmed Tarajo Buba, Lee, Lai Soon
    MyJurnal
    The urban transit network design problem (UTNDP) involves the development of a transit route set and associated schedules for an urban public transit system. The design of efficient public transit systems is widely considered as a viable option for the economic, social, and physical structure of an urban setting. This paper reviews four well-known population-based metaheuristics that have been employed and deemed potentially viable for tackling the UTNDP. The aim is to give a thorough review of the algorithms and identify the gaps for future research directions.
  5. Cheong, Chooi Wei, Siti Aqlima Ahmad, Ooi, Peck Toung, Phang, Lai Yee
    MyJurnal
    Feather waste is a potential renewable source to recover valuable products because it is being a rich source of keratin proteins and amino acids. It can be used to make feather meal, fertilizer and yarn sizing agent. Various treatments have been used to recover the protein from chicken feathers as the keratinous feathers cannot be easily degraded due to its tough structure. This paper reviews the existing treatment methods used to hydrolyze chicken feathers. The treatment methods for feather hydrolysis such as physical, chemical, biological and combined treatments as well as their advantages and challenges are highlighted. The effects of these treatments on feather hydrolysis are complex and vary in regards to the performance of feather hydrolysis and product yielded. Hence, it is important to choose an appropriate treatment method since the type of treatment applied affects the product yielded qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, the economic assessment and environmental impact of the choice of treatment should be considered also.
  6. Nurul Asma Samsudin, Zulkarnain Zainal, Lim, Hong-Ngee, Yusran Sulaiman, Chang, Sook-Keng
    MyJurnal
    Titania nanotube is gaining tremendous interest for its unique features including high
    surface area, ion-exchange ability, photocatalytic potential and prominent electrical properties. Many
    attempts were made to manipulate the unique properties of titania nanotubes for supercapacitor
    application. In this review a comprehensive list of literatures on fabrication of titania nanotubes via
    anodisation method in fluoride-based electrolytes and its application as supercapacitor are discussed.
    This review shows that the nanotube morphology can be optimized by varying the anodisation
    parameter such as electrolyte concentration, pH, voltage, and bath temperature. The review also
    includes studies on the application of titania nanotubes as supercapacitor on improving the specific
    capacitance value by doping with metal oxides and conducting polymers.
  7. Mohammed Abdulrazzaq Assi
    MyJurnal
    Nigella sativa (Black seeds) has been recognized as one of the most popular herbs in many
    parts of the world for centuries. It was used in the world as folk medicine to cure different kinds of diseases. This plant has been considered as one of the main sources of nutrition and healthcare for humans as well as animals. It has been perceived as Kalonji; it is a southwest Asian plan t that flowers annually. The seeds and oil of this plant have been used in food; in addition, it has a long history in the making of medicines. In addition to its being a model plant for better realization of gene and chromosome relationship, the plant species is also significant cytogenetically. Plant based system has not been absorbed fully for human health care despite the remarkable advancements in the field of pharmacology. Cumin, as one of the medicinal plants gifted to humans by nature, has a number of potential uses. It has been proved to be a
    useful herbal medicines that can be used for human health and therefore has been extensively studied and investigated to further discover the advantages of this plant.
  8. Abdul Rashid, Abdullah, Ariful, Islam
    MyJurnal
    Readymade garments (RMG) industry of Bangladesh are lesser revealed to sustainable outlines that originating avoidance related with standard health and safety provisions, labor rights, women safety, child labor, pollution, waste disposal and ground water depletion. Recently there are also several safety hazards by way of fire incidents and building collapses which caused death and injury of thousand or garment workers at Bangladesh. Actually a suitable sustainable development scheme for this industry includes the insights of proper employee involvement based upon what is known (knowledge) and done (behavior). So the study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge and behavior which reflects the complication between what is in fact known and what is done in case of sustainable issues. The study has used both questionnaire survey and interview procedures on 10 BGMEA registered factories of Chittagong to recognize the connection between knowledge and behavior. The target populace of the study has been limited only to the white collar employees. However, the study identified that employee knowledge and behavior of sustainable development contains a moderate, positive relationship (r=.315, n=150, p
  9. Aimi Adzirul kamarubahrin, Asmaddy Haris, Siti Nurazira Mohd Daud, Zurina kefeli @ Zulkefli, Nursilah Ahmad, Nurul Aini Muhamed, et al.
    MyJurnal
    Awareness of recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption has increased substantially over the last 20 years. In addition, fruits and vegetables such as pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata Duchesne) are good sources of many important nutrients, including potassium, vitamin C, folate, fibre, and numerous phytochemicals. Malaysia produces pumpkinits own, with considerably large areas of production comparable to its high global demand. However, in reality, there is a limitation in the commercial production as the local pumpkinis very much dependent on the market demand as the utilization has been limited to the consumption of fresh product. Thus, the objective of the study first initiative to provide the information about the pumpkinand second to investigatesthe opportunities on commercialized local pumpkinin Malaysia as by products despite various nutritious it is also listed as prophetic foods. The scientific research that covered a broad range of in vitro to in vivo studies on the by-products potentials of these fruits is also discussed in detail.The current review is an update for researchers to have a better understanding of the pumpkin, which simultaneously can provide awareness to enhance their commercial value and promote their utilization.Malaysia have potential to growth pumpkin instead of continuously importing. The daily consumption of pumpkins may provide various health benefits to human. Future investigation is needed to explore the potential of pumpkin as by products in order to increase its competitiveness and self-sufficiency.
  10. Abdinasir Yusuf Osman, Faez Firdaus Jesse, Arifah Abdul Kadir, Abdul Aziz Saharee
    MyJurnal
    Brucella melitensis is one of the major zoonotic pathogens worldwide with enormous
    economic losses as well as considerable human morbidity in endemic areas. The global burden of its
    incidence in both human and animal populations remains significantly at an alarming rate. The impact
    of the disease is even multidimensional in nature and not always well understood and significantly
    complicating effective policy response. The pathogenesis is complex and governed by several factors
    working together in synergistic manner. The evolutionarily developed diverse evasion strategy to avoid
    the host’s innate and adaptive immunity is further worsening the situation. Until recently,
    lipopolysaccharide (LPS) remains the major virulent factor of B. melitensis and responsible for the
    mechanism by which the pathogen causes its deleterious effects. Mechanisms presiding to the
    colonization of the pregnant uterus in different animal species are still largely unknown. Information
    related to the epidemiology and immunopathophysiology is still scarce in the database and control
    programs are rarely implemented. Therapy is based on wide spectrum antibiotics with mysterious
    outcome. The pre-existing vaccines appear not promising. Thus, understating the biological behaviour
    of the disease becomes a fundamental issue. In this review, we highlight various key aspects of the
    disease with special reference to the epidemiology and the immunopathophysiology of the disease in
    sheep goat populations.
  11. Nik Atilla Atasha Shamsuddin, Sharkawi Che Din, Masran Saruwono, Norizan Sajar
    MyJurnal
    Hospitals have a complex environment setting which may cause confusion amongst visitors and the tendency of them getting lost is possibly high. This article aims to highlight the wayfinding aids used by visitors in hospitals. However, there are barriers and challenges that may affect the success of wayfinding experience amongst hospital visitors. Three targeted factors, namely poor and unfriendly signage; inconsistent utilisation of the numbering system; and difficulty in navigating the hospital premise have been identified to be improved. Therefore, by incorporating these factors with a constant stimuli method with fixed images in an indoor public hospital environment, this may improve visitors’ experiences when navigating in a hospital.
  12. Keetanjaly Arivayagan, Zaidatol Akmaliah Lope Pihie
    MyJurnal
    Recently research in creative leadership has ballooned to encompass the essential qualities in organizational leaders (Petrie, 2014). In this study, Generativity Theory was utilized to explore the concept of creativity in leaders. Epstein (1999) presented four main core skills and abilities that assist people in expressing creativity individually which are capturing, challenging, broadening and surrounding. Model of high performing school by Shannon and Bylsma (2007) was utilized to measure school effectiveness. The purpose of this study is to determine teacher’s perceptions related to principals’ creative leadership practices towards school effectiveness in secondary schools in Klang District. Simple random sampling was used to select ten secondary schools from three different clusters of schools in the Klang District. A total of 250 teachers from these ten schools participated in this study. The study used self-administered questionnaires. The data are collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation and Multiple Regressions). This research endeavoured to answer the research questions through employing quantitative research method. This study discovered that the level of school effectiveness as practiced by secondary school teachers was overall high level. On the other hand, it was concluded that the level of creative leadership practiced by school leaders is at moderate level. This study also found out a moderate correlation between school principals’ creative leadership practice and school effectiveness (r = .617, p < .01). Additionally, multiple regression analysis indicated creative leadership practices domain; Encourage Capturing received the strongest weight in the prediction (β = 0.383, p
  13. Muhammad Nasiruddin Aziz, Chai, Moo-Hung
    MyJurnal
    This study assessed the feasibility of a syntactic analysis of newspaper editorials and to test out Morenberg’s (2010) syntactic theory. The purposes of this study hence, were to develop appropriate research questions and to determine whether Morenberg’s (2010) theory could be employed for the syntactic analysis of editorials. By adopting this theory, one editorial from The Star (2018), Malaysia and two editorials from The Sun (2018a, 2018b), UK were analysed, with the intention of investigating the concept of syntax to highlight the styles and constructions in professional writing. Sentences obtained from these three editorials were broken down via tree diagramming to answer the first research question - what are the syntactic patterns used in editorials in newspapers? The tree diagrams of all sentences were then examined to answer the second research question - are there syntactic differences in editorials? The study found the basic patterns of the sentences of all editorials used mostly transitive verbs, with the inclusion of many VBE verbs and very few intransitive and two-place transitive Vc verbs. Optional elements in the syntactic patterns, however, varied according to their different orders in sentence builds. Tree diagramming of the sentences revealed few noticeable differences in terms of sentence mood, structural parallelism, employment of wh-clause as well as subject ellipsis.
  14. Looi, Qi Hao, Abdul Rahman Omar
    MyJurnal
    Swiftlet
    s
    are small insectivorous birds which breed throughout Southeast Asia and
    the South Pacific.
    Among many swiftle
    t species, only a few are notable to produce edible bird’s
    nest
    s
    (EBN) from the secreted saliva during breeding seasons.
    The taxonomy of swiftlet
    s
    remains one of the most controversial in the avian species due to the high similarity in
    morphological charac
    teristics among the species. Over the last few decades, researchers have
    studied the taxonomy of swiftlet
    s
    based on the morphological
    trade
    , behavior, and genetic
    traits
    .
    However, despite all the efforts,
    the
    swiftlet taxonomy remains unsolved.
    The
    EBN is one of
    the
    most expensive animal products
    and frequently being referred
    to
    as the “
    Caviar of the East
    ”.
    The
    EBN market value varies from
    US
    $1000.00 to
    US
    $10,000.00 per kilogram depend
    ing
    on
    its grade, shape, type and origin.
    Hence, bird’s nest harve
    sting is considered a lucrative industry
    in many countries in Southeast Asia.
    However,
    the
    industry faced several challenges over the
    decades such as the authenticity of the EBN, the quality assurance and the depletion of swiftlet
    population. Furthermore,
    there is limited scientific evidence regarding EBN’s medical benefits
    as
    claimed by manufacturers. This paper reviews the taxonomy of swiftlet
    s
    , its morphological
    characteristics, the challenges currently encountered by the industry, and finally the
    compos
    ition and medical benefits of EBN.
  15. Aktar-Uz-Zamana, Md., Tuhina-Khatun, Mst., Mohamed Hanafi Musa, Sahebi, Mahbod
    MyJurnal
    A resistant variety with high yielding potential is key for increasing crop production to
    fulfill the food requirement of the ever increasing world populations. Consequently, the aim of plant
    breeders is to develop high yielding varieties or cultivars that are resistant or tolerant to specific
    diseases or insects. For developing a resistant variety, it is enormously indispensable to incorporate or
    introgress the specific resistant genes of that particular disease into the recipient. Suppression
    subtractive hybridization (SSH) is a powerful technique for the identification of disease specific
    differentially expressed genes that are expressed in a resistant or susceptible variety. This paper
    presents a brief review on the SSH technique with examples focusing on the identification of the
    wheat disease specific differentially expressed genes and their defense mechanisms against fungal
    pathogens in global wheat cultivars. This review is helpful for wheat researchers for the updated
    information on the SSH technique for the identification of differentially expressed genes in the global
    wheat cultivars and varieties. Eventually, the identified genes could be used to develop the disease
    resistance variety through marker-assisted backcrossing programme or conventional breeding.
  16. Lim, Yi-Yi, Lee, Wei-Kang, Leow, Adam Thean-Chor, Parameswari Namasivayam, Janna-Ong Abdullah, Ho, Chai-Ling
    MyJurnal
    Red seaweeds (Rhodophyta) produce a variety of sulfated galactans in their cell wall matrix and intercellular space, contributing up to 50-60 % of their total dry weight. These sulfated polysaccharides are made up of galactose disaccharides substituted with sulfate, methoxyl, pyruvic acid, or non-galactose monosaccharides (e.g. xylose, glucose and mannose). They are required by the Rhodophytes for protection against pathogen, desiccation, tidal waves and extreme changes in pH, temperature and salinity. Since ancient times, sulfated galactans from red seaweeds, such as agar and carrageenan, have been consumed as human foods and later being used in traditional medicine. Nowadays, some red seaweeds are cultivated and exploited for commercial uses in various fields. In this review, different types of sulfated galactans found in red seaweeds and their current and potential uses in food, biotechnology, medical and pharmaceutical industries are discussed.
  17. Nur Maisarah Ahmad Jailani, Abdul Razak Mariatulqabtiah
    MyJurnal
    Stingless bee is a diverse group of highly eusocial bees (meliponines) comprising the Meliponini subfamily of the Apidae family. Throughout the tropics, various kinds of stingless bee have been reared by beekeepers for their products (honey, propolis and bee bread) and pollination services for fruits and vegetables. This meliponiculture in logs or hives is considered safe due to the bee’s inability to sting, with the latter being more preferable for monitoring and managing the colonies and harvesting the products. The source of stingless bee colonies is depending on efficient hunting of feral colonies, which might affect the ecosystem. Following to the growing trend of bee rearing in Malaysia, mainly due to the smart branding strategy of the government through research institutes and universities, e.g. Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu and Universiti Sains Malaysia, it is crucial to increase the number of honey-producing hives by colony splitting. The basis of colony splitting includes provision oviposition (POP), swarming and antennation. Colony splitting is necessary due to deforestation, to expand income generation and for entomological study purposes. A more advanced approach in colony splitting is to prepare and rear the virgin queen bee in vitro, resulting in more queens per one single colony. With the advancement in stingless bee rearing techniques, people may apply the colony splitting strategy to maximise stingless bee products and enhance crop production.
  18. Latifah Abd Manaf, Fatma Sabariah Aliasa, Mariani Ariffin, Ho, Sabrina Abdullah
    MyJurnal
    Malaysia has taken initiative in enforcing the Solid Waste Management and Public Cleansing Act 2007 (Act 672) since 2011 to ensure the uniformity of law relating to the solid waste management and public cleansing. Despite the alarming issues on the increasing of solid waste generation, Malaysian government has made solid waste separation at source as mandatory starting 1st September 2015 at eight states. Solid waste separation at source has been seen as the best practice of solid waste minimization where it eliminates and reduces the amount of solid waste produced by the society. The government has taken seriously in solid waste separation at source as the lifespan of disposal site has been decreased and limited space for the new disposal site due to the increasing cost of solid waste management. Hence, to overcome the increasing of solid waste generation, an integrated solid waste minimization through recycling should be implemented as it is involved in minimizing resource and offers the best outcome for the environment. Thus, this paper discussed the overview of solid waste minimization in Malaysia and the stakeholder’s role and their obstacles in solid waste minimization to attract the public participate in reducing the solid waste generation as an efficient solid waste management. A proper solid waste management ensures a sustainable development of Malaysia in terms of health, socio-economy and environment respectively towards Malaysian Vision of 2020.
  19. Ahmad Mustapha, Gandaseca, Seca, Ahmad Hanafi, Siti Nurhidayu, Mohammad Roslan, Khan, Waseem, et al.
    MyJurnal
    The objectives of this review are to determine the types of indices to use, to assess the current sediment quality index (SQI) of a mangrove forest and to select the appropriate index to describe the mangrove sediment quality index. Amongst the many indices considered in this review are the enrichment factors (EFs), the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), the pollution load index (PLI), the marine sediment pollution index (MSPI) and sediment quality index (SQI). The different indices give diverse perspectives of the status of mangrove sediment quality. This review also highlights the appropriate parameters that need to be used in assessing sediment quality, such as the physical, chemical and biological properties. As the comparison review, the sediment quality can be utilized for Mangrove quality index (MQI) development like to assess the heavy metal, complete laboratory parameters and a classification following the Interim Sediment Quality Guidelines ISQG, PCA and HACA. For the heavy metal content of sediment, the suggested parameters are Pb, Zn, Cu, Co and Mn. Lastly, for the indices, the enrichment factor (EFs), geo-accumulation index (Igeo), pollution load index (PLI) and marine sediment pollution index (MPSI) are used in develop SQI on mangrove forest.
  20. Faizalhakim, A.S., Nurhidayu, S., Norizah, K.
    MyJurnal
    Rainfall-runoff information is critical for water resource and river basin management. Runoff can be estimated by using two methods; gauged method (direct measurement) and ungauged method (indirect formula and equation). The in-situ measurement provides real-time and accurate yet required time-consuming operation and inaccessibility topography. Therefore, the runoff estimation modelling and equation was developed to overcome the limitation of in-situ measurement. SCS-CN is a simple model of ungauged method, where runoff volume (Q) resulting from rainfall (P) is formulated using equation of (Q= (P-Ia) 2 / (P-Ia + S). It was known as the best technique to be adopted for large basin study where time and manpower also accessibility are limited. SCS-CN method also is widely use in prediction software as it taken into consideration of the effects of soil, properties, land cover and antecedent moisture. Curve Number is well developed in USA for the agriculture purpose with many investigations to validate and calibrate the values of curve number. It was applied in numerous river basins in temperate and other regions e.g. US, Argentina, India, China, South Korea, Palestine and Malaysia. However, the reliability of the CN in the tropics is doubtable due to different land use characteristics, soil type, climate, geological features and rainfall pattern and variability. Based on the reviewed conceptual and applications of SCS-CN in temperate and tropics, numerous studies found the SCS-CN method is reliable and practical for runoff estimation in tropics region.
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