The study was aimed to determine the variation in taxonomic diversity of Polynemus paradiseus based on morphometric and meristic analyses of samples collected from three coastal rivers of Bangladesh (Payra, Tentulia and Kirtonkhola). A total of 105 individuals ranging at 10-20 cm in total length (TL) and 7.91-60.64 g in body weight (BW) were sampled using Been nets and Kachal and Veshal nets. Significant differences were observed in 24 out of 25 morphometric measurements and 6 out of 10 meristic counts among the populations. In morphometric measurements, the first discriminant function (DF1) was accounted for 78.6% and the second discriminant function (DF2) was accounted for 21.4% of among groups variability, explaining 100% of total among group variability. A dendrogram based on morphometric data showed that the Tentulia and Kirtankhola populations showed high degree of overlapping and these two populations were highly different from Payra river population. The canonical graph also showed that the populations of Tentulia and Kirtankhola rivers were more closely related comparing with Payra river population for isometric condition. These findings may provide useful information for the conservation and sustainable management of this important fish.
In this work, graphene has been utilized as the sensing material for the development of a highly-sensitive flexible pressure sensor platform. It has been demonstrated that a graphene-based pressure sensor platform that is able to measure pressure change of up to 3 psi with a sensitivity of 0.042 psi-1 and a non-linearity of less than 1% has been accomplished. The developed device, which resides on a flexible platform, will be applicable for integration in continuous wearables health-care monitoring system for the measurement of blood pressure.
Fosil radiolaria berusia Perm Awal telah ditemui daripada batuan silika-rijang di Pos Blau, baratdaya Kelantan,
Semenanjung Malaysia. Sebanyak empat puluh spesies radiolaria tergolong dalam lima belas genera dan tujuh famili
telah dikenal pasti. Fauna radiolaria yang diperoleh termasuklah spesies penunjuk usia seperti Pseudoalbaillella
lomentaria, Ps. sakmarensis, Ps. scalprata scalprata, Ps. scalprata postscalprata dan Ps. scalprata rhombothoracata.
Kesemua radiolaria ini mewakili usia Perm awal merujuk kepada Zon Himpunan Pseudoalbaillella lomentaria
(Sakmarian Awal) dan Zon Himpunan Pseudoalbaillella scalprata m. rhombothoracata (Sakmarian Akhir). Keputusan
ini dapat menambah baik maklumat biostratigrafi radiolaria dan usia batuan bersilika-rijang di kawasan Pos Blau
dan di dalam Zon Sutura Bentong-Raub.
Sistem hidrazin hidrat/hidrogen peroksida (HH/H2
O2
) digunakan untuk menjana sumber hidrogen bagi tujuan
penghidrogenan getah asli cecair (LNR) melalui penghasilan diimida. Spesies diimida yang terhasil akan membekalkan
sumber hidrogen kepada ikatan karbon ganda dua dalam rantai polimer LNR. Getah asli cecair terhidrogen (HLNR)
yang terhasil menunjukkan ciri lebih tahan suhu berbanding LNR. Suhu degradasi HLNR didapati meningkat pada 435°C
berbanding LNR iaitu pada 381°C. HLNR seterusnya dijadikan pengserasi dalam penghasilan adunan polimer polistirena/
getah asli, PS/NR/HLNR (60/35/5). Kekuatan regangan dan impak PS/NR masing-masing meningkat sebanyak 70.7% dan
149.6% setelah HLNR ditambah sebagai pengserasi dalam adunan. Beberapa pemerhatian morfologi melalui mikroskop
optik dan SEM turut menyokong kesan penyerasian adunan PS/NR dengan HLNR.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti model statistik terbaik bagi mewakili set data melampau untuk salah satu bahan pencemaran udara iaitu zarah terampai (PM10). Data dari enam buah stesen pengawasan kualiti udara di sekitar Lembah Klang dari tahun 2009 hingga 2011 digunakan dalam kajian ini. Dalam penentuan taburan terbaik, taburan parametrik dan taburan tak berparameter telah diuji. Dua siri data melampau yang digunakan ialah siri data maksimum bulanan dan siri data melangkaui ambang bagi PM10. Seterusnya, dua taburan parametrik iaitu Taburan Melampau Teritlak (GEV) dan Taburan Pareto Teritlak (GPD) masing-masing dipadankan kepada siri data maksimum bulanan dan siri data melangkaui ambang. Kaedah penganggaran parameter L-momen dan ujian kebagusan penyuaian Anderson Darling digunakan dalam pemilihan taburan parametrik terbaik yang juga menentukan kaedah pemilihan data melampau yang mana lebih baik. Bagi kaedah tak berparameter, penganggaran fungsi ketumpatan kernel (KDE) digunakan untuk menentukan taburan terbaik PM10 melampau. Hasil pengiraan ralat min kuasa dua (MSE) mendapati taburan tak berparameter merupakan taburan terbaik bagi data melampau PM10 di kebanyakan stesen kajian. Taburan terbaik bagi setiap stesen kajian seterusnya digunakan bagi menghitung tempoh ulangan PM10 yang sangat berguna bagi pihak yang terbabit.
Fosil radiolaria yang terawet dengan agak baik telah ditemui di dalam lapisan rijang yang tersingkap di km 38, lebuhraya Gua Musang-Cameron Highland, berdekatan dengan Pos Blau, baratdaya Kelantan, Semenanjung Malaysia. Sebanyak 20 spesies fosil radiolaria telah dikenal pasti. Spesies ini mewakili zon himpunanPseudoalbaillella globosa yang menunjukkan usia (Roadian) Awal Perm Tengah. Zon himpunan radiolaria ini merupakan rekod biostratigrafi yang baru untuk jujukan batuan bersilika di Pos Blau dan di dalam Zon Sutura Bentong-Raub.
In western China, with plenty of transportation infrastructures being constructed, many man-made slopes have been formed in the highway constructions along the highway routes. Fortunately, most of these man-made slopes were in middle or small scales. However, in the procedure of slope design as well as potential landslides controlling, there are many problems and error viewpoints, such as slope angle is determined mainly on the basis of designers’ experience without considering the lifetime of control projects, calculating slope satiability and optionally choosing remedial measurements. If not well resolved, these problems will affect not only the safety of highway operation, but also project investment. Based on the experiences in the highway engineering, these problems have been summarized in detailed and discussed in this paper. Some advices have also been put forward, which could be beneficial to the highway construction and operation.
Oil-palm-boiler clinker (OPBC) is an agricultural solid waste sourced from the palm oil industry in tropical regions. This study investigates the use of OPBC as coarse aggregate instead of conventional coarse aggregates to produce a greener concrete, which will help in implementing sustainable construction practices by reducing the usage of raw materials. For this purpose, normal weight coarse aggregates was substituted with dry OPBC aggregates up to 75% (by volume) in a high strength normal weight concrete. The effectiveness of this substitution on the properties of the concrete such as workability, density, compressive strength, splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity was studied. The slump test results showed that using OPBC in dry condition reduced the workability of the concrete and therefore can be used up to 50% of the total volume of coarse aggregate. Concrete containing 50% OPBC can be considered as semi-lightweight concrete with high strength. Using OPBC in concrete reduced the splitting tensile strength and modulus of elasticity, however, the reduction was not significant.
An alternative robust method for testing the equality of central tendency measures was developed by integrating H Statistic with adaptive trimmed mean using hinge estimator, HQ. H Statistic is known for its ability to control Type I error rates and HQ is a robust location estimator. This robust estimator used asymmetric trimming technique, where it trims the tail of the distribution based on the characteristic of that particular distribution. To investigate on the performance (i.e. robustness) of the procedure, some variables were manipulated to create conditions which are known to highlight its strengths and weaknesses. Bootstrap method was used to test the hypothesis. The integration seemed to produce promising robust procedure that is capable of addressing the problem of violations to the assumptions. About 20% trimming is the appropriate amount of trimming for the procedure, where this amount is found to be robust in most conditions. This procedure was also proven to be robust as compared to the parametric (AN0vA) and non parametric (Kruskal-Wallis) methods.
Allelopathy is a process in which one plant species may usefully or adversely affect the growth of other plant species
through the production of allelochemicals. During the present investigation, mulch effect of Jatropha curcas leaves was
evaluated on seed germination and seedling growth of maize varieties viz. Pioneer (V1), Azam (V2) and Jalal (V3). Mulch
was applied at 1 and 2 tons/hectare. Phenolic compounds were detected in Jatropha curcas leaf (131.15 mg gallic acid
eq./gm extract). Mulch applied at 2 tons/hectare significantly reduced seed germination (%), germination index, relative
water content, root width and seedling dry weight. From the findings of the present investigation, it was inferred that
Jatropha curcas leaves exhibited phytotoxic effects on maize at high concentrations.
Postmenopausal osteoporosis is one of the main health problems in aging women. It was due to several factors including oxidative stress, which can be controlled through intake of antioxidants from food sources. Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is one of the natural product rich in antioxidants and has been proven to protect osteoporotic bone. This study was conducted to gain in-depth understanding on virgin coconut oil’s activity on osteoporosis at molecular level. Thirty two female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups, namely Sham operated group, ovariectomized control group (Ovx+Ctrl), ovariectomized with VCO treatment (Ovx+VCO), and ovariectomized with estrogen treatment (Ovx+E). All treatments were administered orally for ten weeks. Bone samples were obtained to examine changes on expression of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPX), osteocalcin and runt-related transcription factor 2 (Runx2) genes. The results indicated that rats receiving VCO treatment had experienced significant increments in SOD, GPX and osteocalcin gene expressions compared to the ovariectomized control group, besides the gene expressions of Runx2 which also showed an increment pattern. In conclusion, VCO helps to protect bone in osteoporotic rat model by increasing the expressions of antioxidant genes and genes which increase the osteoblast acitivities.
Keywords: Osteoporosis; ovariectomized rat model; postmenopausal; virgin coconut oil
Mekanisme pembentukan apatit pada permukaan β-wolastonit dikaji. β-wolastonit dihasilkan daripada teknik sol-gel menggunakan abu sekam dan batu kapur terkalsin sebagai bahan pemula dengan nisbah CaO:SiO2 adalah 55:45. Kebioaktifan sampel β-wolastonit dikaji dengan merendam sampel berbentuk silinder dalam larutan simulasi badan (SBF) untuk tempoh yang ditetapkan iaitu 1, 3, 7 dan 14 hari. Komposisi permukaan, morfologi dan perubahan struktur sampel sebelum dan selepas direndam dianalisis melalui pembelauan sinar-X (XRD) dan mikroskop elektron imbasan (FESEM) yang digabungkan dengan EDX. Keputusan XRD menunjukkan fasa β-wolastonit berjaya dihasilkan selepas dimasukkan ke dalam autoklaf untuk 8 jam pada suhu 135°C pada tekanan 0.24 MPa dan disinter 2 jam pada suhu 950°C. Apatit didapati tumbuh pada permukaan sampel β-wolastonit selepas 7 hari rendaman dalam larutan SBF. Semasa proses rendaman dalam larutan SBF, 2 jenis kumpulan kalsium fosfat dihasilkan iaitu amorfus kalsium fosfat (ACP) selepas 3 hari rendaman dengan julat nisbah Ca/P 1.2-2.02 dan pada hari ke-14 membentuk hidroskiapatit kurang kalsium (CDHA) dengan nisbah Ca/P 1.63. Perubahan fasa sampel β-wolastonit daripada keadaan hablur kepada amorfus jelas terbukti daripada keputusan XRD selepas direndam dalam SBF dengan penurunan puncak keamatan bagi sampel β-wolastonit pada sudut belauan 30°. Ini mengukuhkan mekanisme pembentukan lapisan apatit pada permukaan sampel β-wolastonit dan ianya bersifat bioaktif.
Zinc (Zn) deficient soil prevails throughout the world and it has become the bottleneck in achieving production potential
and quality of crops. The negligible use of micronutrients along with irregular use of macronutrients is practised for
fodder production in Pakistan. Varying levels of zinc (0, 5, 10 and 15 kg ha-1) and nitrogen (0, 60, 120 and 180 kg ha-1)
were evaluated for their effect on yield, quality and zinc uptake on fodder sorghum (variety Hegari) in a field experiment
for two consecutive years (2014 and 2015). Data were analysed by using Fishers’ analysis of variance (at p<0.05) and
response surface methodology (RSM). Correlation between different parameters was also studied. Application of zinc
and nitrogen improved the plant height, leaf area plant-1, green fodder yield, dry matter yield, crude protein percentage
and zinc content of plant but decreased the neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber and ash percentage. Values for
different parameters recorded at second and third levels of zinc and nitrogen were remained at par with each other.
Application of 10 kg ha-1 zinc and 120 kg ha-1 nitrogen showed an average increase of 7.3 and 18.6% in green fodder
yield while 12.1 and 15.8% in dry matter yield, respectively. Similarly 6.1 and 7.5% increase in crude protein was noted
over control. Correlation between NDF and ADF was negative with rest of the studied parameters. In conclusion, Zn2
and
N2
gave the best results in term of yield and quality of fodder sorghum.
The application of the Variance Targeting Estimator (VTE) is considered in GJR-GARCH(1,1) model, under three
misspecification scenarios, which are, model misspecification, initial parameters misspecification and innovation
distribution assumption misspecification. A simulation study has been performed to evaluate the performance of VTE
compared to commonly used, which is the Quasi Maximum Likelihood Estimator (QMLE). The data has been simulated
under GJR-GARCH(1,1) process with initial parameters ω = 0.1, α = 0.05, β = 0.85, γ = 0.1 and an innovation with a
true normal distribution. Three misspecification innovation assumptions, which are normal distribution, Student-t
distribution and the GED distribution have been used. Meanwhile, for the misspecified initial parameters, the first initial
parameters have been setup as ω = 1, α = 0, β = 0 and γ = 0. Furthermore, the application of VTE as an estimator has
also been evaluated under real data sets and three selected indices, which are the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
Index (FBMKLCI), the Singapore Straits Time Index (STI) and the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI). Based on the results, VTE
has performed very well compared to QMLE under both simulation and the applications of real data sets, which can be
considered as an alternative estimator when performing GARCH model, especially the GJR-GARCH.
Recent progress in alternative medicine has highlighted the benefits of olive as an integral part of therapeutic diet to
promote healthy living. Among the thirty different phenolic compounds of olive known to date; oleocanthal, oleuropein,
tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol are being increasingly investigated for their potential in prevention and healing of several
major forms of neurological dysfunctions and disorders. A considerable amount of literature suggests the neuroprotective
effects of olive and its phenolic compounds are owing to their roles as anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic
agents. At preclinical level, olive attenuated cognitive dysfunctions and the functional outcomes in spinal cord injury,
delayed the progression of amyloid beta pathology, improved motor and mitochondrial dysfunctions in Parkinson’s
disease, reversed diabetic-related neurological complications and also ameliorated cerebral pathologies in stroke. In this
paper, we aim to review the neuroprotective role of olive and its phenolic derivatives in the following diseases or deficits
of the nervous system that include cognitive dysfunction, neurodegenerative diseases, stroke, peripheral neuropathy and
spinal cord injury.
Osteoporosis dikaitkan dengan radikal bebas dan tekanan oksidatif. Kandungan polifenol yang tinggi dalam minyak
kelapa dara (VCO) yang bertindak sebagai antioksidan mampu menghalang tekanan oksidatif seterusnya mencegah
osteoporosis. Uji kaji in vitro ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji mekanisme kesan perlindungan polifenol ekstrak daripada
VCO (PF) ke atas sel selanjar pre-osteoblas mencit (MC3T3-E1) teraruh tekanan oksidatif. Untuk mengkaji viabiliti
kesan perlindungan polifenol terhadap MC3T3-E1 daripada toksisiti hidrogen peroksida (H2
O2
), sel MC3T3-E1 dirawat
dengan beberapa dos polifenol selama 24 jam selepas dieram dengan 250 µM (IC50) H2
O2
selama 1 jam. Mekanisme
perlindungan dikaji dengan mengukur aras malondialdehid (MDA) serta aktiviti enzim antioksidan iaitu superoksida
dismutase (SOD), glutation peroksidase (GPx) dan katalase (CAT). Keputusan kajian menunjukkan bahawa kepekatan
perencatan median (IC50) H2
O2
pada 1 jam adalah 250 µM. Ujian viabiliti sel mendapati kesemua dos polifenol dapat
melindungi sel MC3T3-E1 daripada toksisiti H2
O2
. Dos 1 dan 0.01 µM polifenol dapat meningkatkan aras GPx dan CAT,
manakala dos 0.01 dan 0.0001 µM dapat meningkatkan aras SOD. Sementara itu, hanya dos 0.01 dan 0.001 µM sahaja
yang dapat menghalang peningkatan aras MDA. Kesimpulan yang dapat dibuat di dalam kajian ini adalah polifenol
daripada minyak kelapa dara mencegah lipid peroksida pada sel MC3T3-E1 yang telah diaruh dengan H2
O2
dengan
meningkatkan aktiviti enzim antioksidan.
The sound produced by the anurans including toads can be a survival strategy for the selection of fittest males by their conspecific females and a form of effective prezygotic mechanism. Most of the published works on anuran sound production were on true frogs or ranids, yet little is known about sound characteristics of toads. Here we describe the properties of mating calls from six selected toad species from six study sites in Sarawak. Males' mating calls were recorded and analyzed using Sound Ruler Acoustic Analysis ver 0.9.6.0. Call characteristic were subsequently compared for toad species differentiation. The results showed that each species differ in call characteristics, with pulsating note, rate of note repetition and pitch being the most apparent characters. The highest number of pulse notes belongs to Duttaphrynus melanostictus while Ansonia spinulifer exhibited highest pitch and rate of note repetition. These species' differences in mating call characteristics provide an additional method for anuran species classification besides morphological and molecular DNA data. It is also a very useful guide during field survey as the sound is audible and identification can be made without the need of capturing the toads.
Boron is considered important to improve the drought resistance, yield and protein contents of pulses. Two years of field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of boron application and water stress given at vegetative and flowering stages on growth, yield and protein contents of mungbean during spring 2014 and 2015. The experiment was laid out in randomized complete block design with split-plot arrangement giving more emphasis to boron. The experiment comprised three water stress levels (normal irrigation, water stress at vegetative stage and water stress at reproductive phase) and four boron levels (0, 2, 4 and 6 kg ha-1). Final seed yield was significantly increased by different levels of boron application both under normal and water stressed conditions. The increase in yield was mainly due to greater plant height, number of pods bearing branches, number of pods per plant, number of seeds per pod and 1000-grain weight. Boron application at 4 kg ha-1 caused 17%, 10% and 4% increase in grain yield under normal irrigation, stress at vegetative stage and water stress at reproductive phase, respectively. Protein contents were also increased (9-16%) at same boron treatment. Most parameters showed a marked decrease at higher dose (6 kg ha-1) of boron. In conclusion, the boron application at rate of 4 kg ha-1 in clay-loam soil performed the best to enhance mungbean growth, yield and seed protein both under normal and water stressed conditions.
As air travelling now becomes cheaper and available to almost all people of any walk of life, travelling across international borders is fast becoming a lifestyle of many. Having travel health service as part of health care services is important to address the issues of travel related illnesses among travellers. However, lacks of published guidelines pertaining to travel health service rendering many countries to overlook its importance. The aim of this paper is to review published literatures and authoritative websites on the components needed to develop guideline to establish travel health services. A systematic literature search was done using pre-specified keywords for literatures published between years 2000 – 2016. Literatures written in English and fully accessible were all included. No exclusion criteria was set before the search. Online authoritative websites pertaining to travel health were also referred. A total of six literatures ranging from expert opinion, review paper and original study, together with three authoritative websites related to travel health were reviewed. Among the important components needed to be considered for developing the guideline for establishing travel health services are to prioritise pre-travel health service, to set up specialised travel health clinic, to produce travel health/medicine specialist, to emphasize on continuous education and training of the practitioners and to apply multiagency and multidisciplinary approach with adequate fund for research in travel health. As a conclusion, policy makers should prioritise and select the most important components in developing guideline for travel health service.
Nepenthes, locally known as ‘periuk kera’ in Malaysia, is a fascinating species due to uniqueness in their morphology
in having pitcher organ for carnivorous diet. The pitcher plant has been used for cooking traditional delicacies and
as traditional remedies to treat illness. Hence, this species might possess beneficial health properties. This study
aimed to compare the antioxidant activity of the pitcher extracts from Nepenthes ampullaria, Nepenthes rafflesiana
and their hybrid, Nepenthes × hookeriana. The samples were extracted using methanol:chloroform:water (3:1:1)
via sonication assisted extraction and the extracts were subjected to three different antioxidant assays, namely
2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), ferric reducing power (FRAP) and total phenolic content (TPC). Extract from N.
ampullaria exhibited the strongest radical scavenging activity (0.148 ± 0.04 mg/mL) with the highest ferric reducing
power (0.009 ± 0.003 mg GA/mg dry weight) among the three species, whereas that of N. rafflesiana possessed the
highest phenolic content (0.057 ± 0.017 mg GA/mg dry weight). However, the antioxidant capacities of the pitcher
extracts were not significantly different (p>0.05) between the three species and were much lower than the gallic acid
as a standard reference.