Malaysia is also affected by the economic crisis as it applies the door-to-door policy economy even though the crisis has started on a global platform. Therefore, the objective of this study is to see how far economic recession affects development expenditure, domestic investment, and foreign direct investment in Malaysia. Using secondary data from 1980 to 2015, unit root tests, Johansen co-integration test, Vector Error Correction Model (VECM), and Granger-causality test were carried out. The findings showed that there was a long run relationship between the economic recession and at least one independent variable while there was no short run relationship between the variables. For causal relationships, the economic recession was the cause of domestic development and investment expenditure while foreign direct investment was the cause of the recession, domestic development, and investment spending. Hence, the government must ensure economic stability by implementing various policies.
Vinegars are most widely used as preservatives in food industry. Vinegars are known for their health benefits; however, the roles of vinegar-associated microflora in locally produced vinegars are not well established. The objectives of this study are to isolate and identify the lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from black rice vinegar and coconut vinegar, measure their pH and titratable acidity, and determine their antibacterial activity. LAB was isolated using cultural method. Phenotypic characterization of LAB was carried out using Gram-staining, oxidase test, catalase test and API 50 CHL Kit. Results from API 50 CHL Kit confirmed that BRV03M strain from black rice vinegar and CV03M strain from coconut vinegar were Lactobacillus paracaseissp. paracasei. The identified bacteria in both samples were consistent as L. paracaseiusing 16S rDNAgene sequences with 93% and 99% similarity, respectively. The pH and titratable acidity percentage of both vinegars were also determined. The stability of Cell Free Supernatant-Lactic Acid Bacteria (CFS-LAB) strains within 14 days on their inhibition against selected pathogenic bacteria was determined using agar well diffusion method. The CFS-LAB strain isolated from black rice vinegar (BRV03M) was more stable within 14 days than coconut vinegar in inhibiting tested bacteria, suggesting this strain has great potential as natural antibacterial agents.
Fresh-cut pineapple has experienced an increase in demand due to its great health benefits and is rich in vitamins A, B and C. Moreover, pineapple is known as a source of the enzyme bromelain, which has therapeutic applications, such as reducing inflammation, improving digestion and treating osteoarthritis. However, bromelain generally affects the pineapple’s flavour and is less preferred by consumers due to the uncomfortable prickling and tingling sensations it brings. In the present study, two types of gases and their combination, nitrogen (N2) and carbon dioxide (CO2), were used to evaluate their impacts on reducing the tingling and prickling sensations, as well as maintaining the postharvest qualities of fresh-cut pineapple stored at 5°C for 12 days. The parameters being evaluated were the bromelain enzyme activity, flesh colour, ascorbic acid concentration, flesh firmness, soluble solids concentration (SSC), titratable acidity (TA) and sensory evaluation. No significant differences were recorded for all parameters tested. Based on the sensory evaluations, all the attributes, such as colour, aroma, texture, sweetness, sourness, tingling and prickling sensations, and overall acceptance were not affected by the different gases application. Even though no apparent effect was observed, the 30 panellists preferred the aforementioned attributes, except sourness. In conclusion, the fumigation treatments with N2 and CO2 gases were not effective in reducing the tingling and prickling sensations of pineapples cv. Morris.
Millions of Muslims from all over the world perform Umrah and Hajj every year. There were 250,000 pilgrims from Malaysia in 2017, and the number is expected to grow by 20 percent in 2018. This projected increase will create a huge demand for Umrah and Hajj travel agencies’ services in Malaysia. At present, there are 328 Umrah and Hajj travel agencies registered under Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTAC). However, the supposedly bright outlook maybe marred by undesirable consequences. Along with the increase in the number of Umrah and Hajj travel agencies, there also tends to be an increase in fraud Umrah packages offered by fake agents in Malaysia. Such incidents will cause sadness and anger in the victims and other involved parties. Umrah package fraud involving fake agents in Malaysia has attracted the attention of many including the public, the government, the private sector, even the media. Nevertheless, studies on correlation between Muslim travellers’ perception of the quality of service by Umrah travel agencies and their decision to purchase the Umrah package are scarce in Malaysia. Hence, this study investigated Muslim travellers’ perception of Umrah and Hajj travel agencies’ service quality and its influence on their decision to purchase the Umrah package, in an attempt to discover why some Muslim travellers fell into fake agents’ trap in Malaysia. A total of 319 Muslim respondents completed the questionnaire on service quality perception, specifically service quality elements and loyalty. The data obtained was examined using SPSS version 25 for descriptive and regression analysis. Umrah and Hajj travel agencies as well as relevant government agencies could use the findings of the study to assist with formulating plans and policies to improve the quality of service by Umrah and Hajj industry players and awareness among Muslim travellers on the importance of being able to identify bogus agencies. The limitations, implications andsuggestions for future research are also discussed.
A numerical study is conducted to determine the Vortex Induced Motion (VIM) effects on Deep-Draft Semi-Submersibles (DDSS). The VIM phenomena is a crucial problem that can cause severe impact on the fatigue life of mooring risers in DDSS. Therefore, a comprehensive numerical simulation is conducted using the Acusolve computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. Five models of immersed columns with different aspect ratios (ie. 0.6, 0.8, 1.0, 1.2 and 1.4) are numerically investigated under two different incidence angles, which are 0° and 45°. The transverse and in-line vibration amplitude, amplitude of lift force coefficient and vortex shedding are analyzed. The numerical measurements are obtained to see the response of horizontal plane motions, which are transverse, in line and yaw motions. This study with detailed numerical results from parametric data will contribute future studies and the comparisons are made to demonstrate the capability of the present CFD approach.
The distinctive regenerative ability of local marine worm (polychaete),Diopatra claparediiGrube, 1878, has the potential as a cellular growth agent. In this study, the growth effect was investigatedin normal cellsand cancer cells. Different concentrations (0-100
Gold is a valuable asset to a country because of itsliquidity.Gold reserve can stabilize the currency in a country.The objectiveof this paper is to identify the factors contributingto the volatility of gold prices, such as Real Malaysia GDP, inflation rates, crude oil pricesand exchange rates. The data was analysed using Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approachwith time series data, with 30-year coverage from 1987 to 2016. Findings showed that only Real Malaysia GDP and crudeoil priceswere significantly relatedto gold prices. As a conclusion, this study can beusedas reference byother investors.The author suggests toother researchers to further improve upon this study by adding more variables or diversifying the variables that relate to volatility of gold prices
A wide range of studies have been conducted on deep learning to forecast time series data. However, very few researches have discussed the optimal number of hidden layers and nodes in each hidden layer of the architecture. It is crucial to study the number of hidden layers and nodes in each hidden layer as it controls the performance of the architecture. Apart from that, in the presence of the activation function, diverse computation between the hidden layers and output layer can take place. Therefore, in this study, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) architecture is developed using the Python software to forecast time series data. Then, the developed architecture is applied on the Apple Inc. stock price due to its volatile characteristic. Using historical prices, the accuracy of the forecast is measured by the different activation functions, number of hidden layers and size of data. The Keras deep learning library, which can be found in the Python software, is used to develop the MLP architecture to forecast the Apple Inc. stock price. The developed model is then applied on different cases, namely different sizes of data, different activation functions, different numbers of hidden layers of up to nine layers, and different numbers of nodes in each hidden layer. Then, the metrics mean squared error (MSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) are employed to test the accuracy of the forecast. It is found that the architecture with rectified linear unit (ReLU) outperformed in every hidden layer and each case with the highest accuracy. To conclude, the optimal number of hidden layers differs in every case as there are other influencing factors.
A preliminary assessment of a simple and rapid electrochemical method was carried out to analyse imidacloprid (IMI) in water samples using cyclic voltammetry (CV) based on modified screen-printed gold electrode (SPGE). Self-assembled monolayer (SAM) was optimized using 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid (11-MUA) with several parameters such as scan rates, type of supporting electrolyte, and pH of the supporting electrolyte. The modified SPGE showed high suppressed current against the potential due to the formation of a monolayer on the electrode surface. Surface morphology of the electrode was analysed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) confirming that 11-MUA was present on the modified SPGE. The water samples were collected from GM Peladang, Kuala Terengganu and two locations at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. Method detection limit was expressed as limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) for modified SPGE which were calculated at 3.784 and 12.613 mg/L in water samples, respectively. This study showed that the reduction peak current observed on the modified electrode was lower compared with oxidation peak current. Hence, gold is unsuitable for IMI detection.
Bapa tunggal merupakan satu golongan yang kurang dititikberatkan oleh masyarakat termasuk agensi-agensi dan NGO yang memfokuskan kepada kebajikan masyarakat berbanding dengan ibu tunggal. Hal ini kerana kebanyakan masyarakat merasakan bahawa golongan ini memiliki kekuatan fizikal dan mental yang tinggi memandangkan bapa tunggal adalah kaum lelaki. Namun, tidak dinafikan bahawa golongan bapa tunggal ini juga mengalami tekanan serius kerana kehilangan satu semangat atau sokongan tanpa pasangan hidupnya. Mereka terpaksa menyandang pelbagai tugas dalam rumah tangga dan membesarkan anak-anak. Kajian terdahulu lebih memfokuskan kepada ibu tunggal yang mendapat sokongan sosial daripada pelbagai agensi. Maka tekanan dan sokongan sosial penting dalam permasalahan bapa tunggal terutama dalam pengurusan rumah tangga dan pekerjaan harian. Objektif utama kajian ini ialah meneroka tekanan dan sokongan sosial dalam kalangan bapa tunggal. Kajian ini dijalankan dengan menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif berpandukan kajian kes. Teknik pengumpulan data kajian adalah melalui temu bual berstruktur. Tujuh orang informan telah dipilih bagi kajian ini dengan menggunakan teknik persampelan bertujuan (purposive sampling). Lokasi kajian yang dipilih ialah daerah Kuala Selangor, Selangor. Data temu bual berstruktur dianalisis secara tematik dan hasil kajian mendapati terdapat tiga faktor utama yang mempengaruhi tekanan terhadap bapa tunggal iaitu emosi, pengurusan rumah tangga dan pekerjaan yang ditemukan menerusi transkrip informan kajian. Manakala sokongan sosial yang diperlukan oleh golongan bapa tunggal ialah kewangan, sokongan moral dan tempat bersembang. Implikasi kajian ini diharapkan dapat mencadangkan program advokasi yang sesuai kepada pekerja sosial dalam mengendalikan kes bapa tunggal dalam komuniti dan institusi.
Food insecurity is interrelated with low food supply consumption which have high disposition to poor diet quality. However, less study has been done in assessing the relationship between food insecurity and diet quality of children in Malaysia. Therefore, this study objectives are to determine food insecurity level and diet quality of children from B40 families in Kedah. This cross-sectional study was carried out among 106 children aged 7 – 12 years old from one selected district in Pendang, Kedah. Radimer/Cornell Hunger was used to determine food insecurity level of the children, while diet quality of the children was assessed by applying modified Healthy Eating Index (HEI) 2005. Based on the result, 43.4% of the household were categorized as food secure while 56.6% were food insecure. Those food insecure were classified into three levels and the study found that 61.0% were household food insecure, 28.0% were individual food insecure and 11.0% of the household were child hunger. About 28.3% of them had poor diet quality, 69.8% of them had diet that needs improvements and only 1.9% of them had good diet quality. However, there was no significant relationship found between food insecurity and diet quality of these children (p = 0.436). This is somehow indicated that food insecurity does not reflect the diet quality of children from the B40 families in this study.
Yellow gourami (Trichopodus trichopterus) is a species native to Southeast Asia and is famous as ornamental species. However, hobbyists and farmers encounter problems where its body colour easily becomes faded in captivity. Since colour enhancer pellets are expensive, an experiment was performed to determine whether tank colour can influence the body colour intensity and growth of T. trichopterus. Four different tank colours (white, yellow, blue and green) with five replicates were tested where fish were kept under natural lighting (outdoor) conditions for two months. The results demonstrated that fish reared in green coloured tank showed an increment in its colour intensity while fish reared in white tanks increased its body weight. It can be concluded that tank colour does affect the body colour intensity and weight of T. trichopterus. This study will help farmers and hobbyists to solve colour fading problem using a cheaper way.
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of different ratios of low protein flour to oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju) powder on the physicochemical properties and sensory acceptability of edible tablespoon. Fresh grey oyster mushroom was dried in a convection oven at temperature of 55.0˚C ± 2.0˚C for 20 h prior to the grinding process. The low protein flour (LPF) was then incorporated with oyster mushroom powder (OMP) at different ratios of 100:0, 96:4, 92:8, 88:12 and 84:16, before being with vegetable oil, sugar, egg white and water in formulating the edible tablespoon. The proximate analyses were carried out in triplicate for calorie content, colour profile, hardness value and morphological structure of edible tablespoon. This study revealed that with decreasing LPF and increasing OMP in the formulation, the ash content (1.24% to 1.92%), crude fat content (8.98% to 10.40%) and fiber content (0.13% to 1.24%) were observed to have increased as well as the hardness value (2042.03g to 2844.57g) and pore’s size of the morphological structure of edible tablespoon. However, the carbohydrate content (78.64% to 75.56%) significantly decreased (p>0.05) together with L* value (from 68.47 to 61.71) when the decrease was in the the percentage of LPF and an increase the percentage of OMP. The calorie content, moisture content and protein content of edible tablespoon were not significantly (p>0.05) affected by different ratios of LPF to OMP. The edible tablespoon formulated with up to 8% of OMP was accepted by the sensory panelists but further increase in OMP addition significantly decreased the degree of likeness in terms of colour, odour, taste and overall acceptability of edible tablespoon. This study suggested that oyster mushroom edible tablespoon could be potential alternative disposable cutlery which will help to reduce the use of huge amount of non-biodegradable materials for environmental conservation.
Kefir is a fermented milk obtained by fermenting milk with kefir grains. The chemical composition ofdairy and non-dairy sources may affect the growth and characterisation of lactic acid bacteria (LAB). In this study, different sources of milk (cow milk) and non-dairy milk (soymilk and coconut milk) were used as the fermentation media for kefir products. The objectives of the study were to isolate and characterise LAB from kefir drink produced from dairy and non-dairy milk. LAB was isolated using different cultural methods, such as MRS Agar, MRS with 0.8% CaCO3, and M17 Agar. The characteristics of the LAB isolates were determined using morphological, biochemical tests and the API 50 CHL kit. The physicochemical composition of the samples was determined using titratable acidity and pH level. Sensory evaluation of the kefir drink samples was also carried out. Results confirmed that the isolates were identified as Lactobacillus buchneri, Lactobacillus brevis 1, Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus acidophilus 3and Lactobacillus plantarum 1. The L. buchneri, L. brevis, Leu. mesenteroides and L. acidophilus are heterofermentative bacteria, whereas L. plantarum is a homofermentative bacterium. Four LAB isolates have the potential to be used as probiotic strains due to their high resistant to low pH and bile salt. The sensory scores of these products range between 5.00 and 8.00 in the 9-point hedonic scale. Most of the sensory panelists preferred cow milk kefir (p < 0.05) compared with coconut milk kefir and soy milk kefir during the sensory evaluation of all attributes. Meanwhile, the preference between coconut milk kefir and soy milk kefir was similar (p>0.05) in all attributes. Therefore, this study will be useful for probiotic manufacturers in the production of alternative probiotic drinks using dairy and non-dairy milk.
Food insecurity is normally associated with lower socioeconomic status and improper feeding practices which may consequently affect growth and development of young children. This study aims to assess household food security status and its association with child feeding practices and children’s weight status among low income mothers in Terengganu. A cross-sectional study using convenience sampling was conducted at four public maternal and child health clinics (MCH) located in Terengganu. A total of 107 of low-income mothers between ages of 18 to 45 years with net household income less than RM 3000 who has at least one child aged two years and above were recruited. The instruments used were Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), Child Feeding Questionnaire (CFQ) and weight-for-age child growth chart for children’ weight status at aged one year. Descriptive statistic and non-parametric tests were employed (SPSS 20). Majority of the households were food secure (85.0%). Yet, it is also important to note that about 15% of the household had experienced some degree of food insecurity. There was no significant correlation between household food security and all child feeding practice domains. Most of the mothers had children with normal weight (mean Z-score =-0.72+0.99). There was statistically significant association between household food security status and weight of children at one year of age (p=0.01). In conclusion, majority of the households experienced food secure. Household food security were associated with children’s weight status at early age but not correlated with parent’s child feeding practice.
Ordinary Differential Equations (ODEs) are usually used in numerous fields especially in solving the modelling problem. Numerical methods are one of the vital mathematical tools to solve the ODEs that appear in various modelling problems by determining the approximation solution close to the in exact solution if it exists. Runge-Kutta methods (RK) are the numerical methods used to integrate the ODEs by applying multistage methods at the midpoint of an interval which can efficiently produce a more accurate result or small magnitude of error. We proposed Runge-Kutta methods (RK) to solve the 1st_ order nonlinear stiff ODEs. The RK methods used in this research are known as the RK-2, RK-4, and RK-5 methods. We proved the existence and uniqueness of the ODEs before we solved it numerically. We also proved the absolute-stability of the RK methods to determine the overall stability of these methods. We found two suitable test cases which are the standard test problem and manufactured solution. We proved that by combining the adaptive step size with RK methods can result in more efficient computation. We implemented the 2nd_, 4th_ and 5th_ order of RK methods with step size adaptively algorithm to solve the test problem and manufactured solution via Octave programming language. The resulting numerical error and the stability of each method can be studied. We compared our results using several error plots versus the Central Processing Unit (CPU) time required to compute a given nonlinear 1st_ order stiff ODE problem. In a conclusion, RK methods which combine with the adaptive step size can result in more efficient computation and accuracy compare with the fixed step size RK methods.
The prediction of rainfall on monthly and seasonal time scales is not only scientifically challenging but is also important for planning and devising agricultural strategies. In this paper, the study is conducted to examine the pattern of monthly rainfall in Alor Setar, Kedah within ten years which is from 2008 to 2018. This paper considered a model based on real data that obtained from Department of Meteorology Malaysia. This study indicates that the monthly rainfall in Alor Setar has a seasonal and trend pattern based on yt vs t plotting, autocorrelation function and Kruskal Wallis Test for seasonality. The examined rainfall time-series modelling approaches include Naïve Model, Decomposition Method, Holt-Winter’s and Box-Jenkins ARIMA. Multiplicative Decomposition Method was identified as the best model to forecast rainfall for the year of 2019 by analysing the previous ten-year’s data (2008-2018).As a result from the forecast of 2019, October is the wettest month with highest forecasted rainfall of 276.15mm while the driest month is in February with lowest forecasted rainfall of 50.55mm. The model is therefore adequate and appropriate to forecast future monthly rainfall values in the catchment which can help farmers to plan their farming activities ahead of time.
Solar photocatalysis is a green technology that takes advantage of sustainable solar energy for enhancing oxidation process of numerous harmful water contaminants. In this study, a custom solar driven zinc oxide (ZnO)-mediated photocatalytic system was developed and its efficiency to remove organic contaminants as well as to disinfect selected bacteria was investigated. Methylene blue (MB) dye was used as the model organic contaminant, while Escherichia coli(E.coli) was used as the model fecal coliform bacteria in contaminated water. A series of photodegradation experiments were conducted on water contaminated with either 10 mg/L of MB or ~1010CFU/ml of E.coli. The experiments were completed under sunlight irradiation in the presence of 1 g/L of nano ZnO photocatalyst for up to 6 hours. Using a solar thermal collector, the photoreactor operated in the temperature range of 25 to 50 oC. The findings revealed that the combination of solar thermal with solar photocatalysis usingZnO intensified the degradation of MB and disinfection of E.coli. 98.08% of MB dye and 99.99% of E.coliwere successfully removed from the water within the first 3 hours of treatment. Almost complete removal was eventually achieved after 6 hours of treatment. It is therefore suggested that ZnO-based solar photocatalytic system developed in this study is highly efficient at enhancing water decontamination process.
This study aimed to determine the potential pollinating agents of Ixora coccinae and Ruellia simplex at Universiti Malaysia Terengganu (UMT) campus based on the foraging activities of the flower visitors. The diurnal observations (0700 hr to 1800 hr) were conducted for a total of 144 hours and 96 hours for I. coccinae, for R. simplex respectively. The flower visitor activities (landing or hovering at the flowers) and the time spent at the flowers however were recorded for only the first 10 minutes of every hour between 0700 hr and 1000 hr for four days. A total of 383 flower visitations was recorded by 17 insect species and a bird species, the olive-backed sunbird (Cinnyris jugularis). For I. coccinae, the most common visitors were Apis cerana, Heterotrigona itama and Xylocopa confusa, in which all species were found to show only landing behaviour to forage at the flowers, and the time spent foraging at the flowers was not significantly different between the species (Kruskal-Wallis test, H = 1.323, df = 2, p = 0.055). For R. simplex, the most common visitors were A. cerana with 100% landing, and C. jugularis which recorded 80% landing and 20% hovering during their visits to the flowers. Between the two, A. cerana recorded significantly longer time spent at the flowers as compared to C. jugularis (Mann-Whitney test, U = 17.355, p < 0.001). Based on the visitation rate and feeding behaviour of the flower visitors, A. cerana, H. itama and X. confusa were the potential pollinating agents for I. coccinae while for R. simplex, A. cerana showed higher potential to be a pollinating agent as compared to C. jugularis. Therefore, this study highlighted the importance of recording the behaviour of each flower visitor to determine the relative contribution to the pollination success of the plant species visited.
Clean, safe and readily available water is very crucial in everyday life, especially for health, hygiene, and the productivity of the community. Unfortunately, increase in contaminants in water supplies from human activities and industrialization is very worrying. Conventional wastewater treatment includes the usage of alum that will affect health with prolonged consumption. This research was carried out to focus on the development of wastewater treatment system using adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds. Adsorbent was successfully synthesized from the seeds of Moringa oleifera. Characterization of the sample was made using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), while the effectiveness of water treatment was analyzed using Turbidity Meter. Then, all samples were tested against kaolin wastewater. XRD results showed that all the adsorbent samples were amorphous in nature. FTIR results indicated that there were hydroxyl group and carboxylic group in the sample representing numerous oxygen-riddled functional groups on the surface. From SEM results, it was clearly shown that the pore structure and size of Moringa oleifera affected the capability of adsorption where the smaller the size, the more effective the sample. Turbidity test showed that the sample that worked best for wastewater treatment was adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds in size of 125µm that was heated for 4 hours with 93.76% turbidity removal. Therefore, this study proved that the adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds is very suitable for high turbidity wastewater treatment. Further studies investigating the combination of conventional activated carbon with adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds should be conducted before these samples are made available for further use so that we can compare which sample works best for wastewater treatment.