This study aims to explore the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on tourists' travel risk and management perceptions. Driven on the effect of the pandemic, we investigate tourists' travel risk and management perceptions and its effect on society using a sample of 716 respondents. The data was collected through social media platforms using a representative sampling method and analyzed applying the PLS-SEM tool. The findings reveal that Covid-19 pandemic has greatly affected travel risk and management perceptions. Travel risk and management perception had a significant association with risk management, service delivery, transportation patterns, distribution channels, avoidance of overpopulated destinations, and hygiene and safety. The results also identified the mediating effect of travel risk and management perceptions. The finding of this study contributes to tourism crises and provides future research insights in the travel and tourism sector and response to change tourists' travel risk and management perceptions in the post-covid recovery period.
Objectives: This paper aims to discuss the issue related to the application of temporary insanity plea through a case report of a man who was earlier certified as mentally sound following a murder and suicide attempt. Methods: We report a man who committed murder and attempted suicide 7 years ago, had a psychiatric certification of not having mental illness and recently requested for a second psychiatric assessment. The factors taken into consideration in arriving at the final diagnosis are discussed. Results:The man was found to have brief psychotic disorder precipitated by psychological blow and sleep deprivation with underlying undiagnosed borderline mental retardation.Conclusion: In assessing patient with
temporary insanity plea, various areas in the history need to be explored deeply with thorough investigations to be done in order to arrive at a fair conclusion for the patient’s and victim’s sake.
Sel bahan api mikrob (SBAM) ialah sebuah bioreaktor yang bertindak menukarkan tenaga kimia kepada tenaga elektrik daripada pengoksidaan bahan organik oleh mikroorganisma. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenalpasti kesan faktor jenis elektrod, pH dan luas permukaan elektrod katod (25.75 cm2 dan 51.50 cm2) terhadap prestasi penghasilan tenaga elektrik dengan menggunakan air sisa kumbahan domestik berkepekatan tinggi. SBAM berkepekatan 3750 mg/L COD yang menggunakan katolit pH 6.5 dan katod kertas karbon telah mencapai ketumpatan kuasa yang tertinggi, 61.98 mW/m2. Sementara SBAM berkepekatan 1375 mg/L COD yang menggunakan katolit pH 6.5 dan katod kain karbon telah mencapai ketumpatan kuasa yang tertinggi, 66.21 mW/m2. Penyingkiran COD berjaya mencapai sehingga 96 % di dalam reaktor SBAM ini. Penghasilan tenaga elektrik saling berkait rapat dengan parameter yang digunakan. Namun penambahan luas permukaan katod tidak memberikan kesan yang memberangsangkan terhadap pengeluaran tenaga elektrik.
Objective: This case report highlights the risk of Torsade de Pointes (TdP), a life threatening cardiac arrhythmia in a heroin dependent patient receiving methadone substitution therapy who was prescribed erythromycin for upper respiratory tract infection. Method: We report a case of a 35-year-old Malay man on methadone maintenance treatment who developed TdP possibly due to drug interaction between methadone and erythromycin. Results: The
patient reported feeling unwell, chest pain and feeling dizzy after consuming 2 doses of erythromycin. ECG monitoring showed prolonged rate-corrected QT interval leading to TdP. The patient was admitted to the ward where the cardiac arrhythmia ceased following methadone discontinuation. This cardiac arrhythmia was most likely due to drug interaction between methadone and erythromycin (an enzyme inhibitor) which led to an increase in methadone concentration and potentiated the adverse effects. Conclusion: As methadone is a beneficial treatment for heroin dependent patients, the risk of cardiac arrhythmia is of great concern. To avoid complications of drug interaction, patients on methadone therapy should be advised to seek medical assessment before taking other drugs. As TdP is life threatening, it is thus important that physicians and psychiatrists involved in the treatment of
heroin dependent patients on methadone substitution therapy be made aware of this risk.
Sodium silicate was used to synthesize silica fine particles at room temperature using non-ionic surfactant of triethanolamine (TEA), dissolution salt and precipitating agent. The experiments were conducted by different composition of precursor material, nonionic surfactant and dissolution salt concentrations through the sol-gel process. Various particle sizes in the range 100-300nm were synthesized. The particle size of silica powders were analyzed via Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDAX), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), and Fourier Transformation Infrared (FTIR). The result has demonstrated that the particle size can be controlled by changing the ratio of non-ionic surfactant and dissolution salt or the sodium silicate concentration.
Regulation on occupational safety and health in Malaysia had evolved from the prescriptive Factory and Machinery Act (1967) to a self-regulated Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994). However, from the authors’ observation the high standards of occupational safety and health culture that surpass the legal requirement were not widely practiced by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The two main objectives of this study are: first, to identify and determine the level of conformity; and second, to investigate the reasons of nonconformity to Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994) regulation in SMEs involved the chemical industry sub-sectors. The survey questionnaire was distributed to 150 SMEs in chemical industry sub-sectors. Forty one of the survey questionnaires were completed and returned, giving a response rate of 27.3% for the survey. The survey results revealed that an overwhelming majority (92.7%) of the respondents from SMEs are likely not conforming to the basic requirement of Occupational Safety and Health Act (1994). In addition to this, the survey also found that only 3.1% of the management personnel can be considered competent in terms of knowledge, skill and ability in carrying out occupational safety and health regulation within their respective organization. While, 96.9% of the respondents that participated in the survey can be considered not competent. The authors hope the result of this survey could assist the relevant authorities in formulating a better policy and strategy for implementing occupational safety and health in SMEs involved in chemical industry sub-sectors.
Redox polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) with ethyl acrylate (EA) and fumaronitrile (FN), as comonomer and termonomer respectively, were carried out using sodium bisulfite (SBS) and potassium persulphate (KPS) as initiators at 40°C. The actual composition of monomers in copolymers and terpolymers has been characterized by gas chromatography (GC). The effects of EA and FN on the glass transition temperature (Tg) and stabilization temperature have been studied by Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC). The degradation behaviour and char yield were obtained by thermogravimetric analysis. Meanwhile, incorporation of 10 mol% of EA in homoPAN system was found to greatly reduce Tg to 66°C as compared to that of the homoPAN (Tg=105°C). The initial cyclization temperature (Ti) was found to be higher (264°C) in comparison to that of homoPAN (246°C). In addition, the incorporation of EA was also shown to reduce the char yield of copolymer to 40%. When FN was incorporated as termonomer, the char yield of poly(AN/EA/ FN) 90/4/6 increased up to 44% after the heat treatment with the lowest Ti (241°C).
Satu kajian keratan rentas telah dijalankan ke atas 285 orang penduduk yang berumur 18 tahun dan ke atas di Kg. Bangi Daerah Hulu langat, Selangor D.E. dari 6-12 Mac 2006. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk melihat prevalens senaman dan faktor yang mempunyai hubungan dengannya. Kaedah persampelan universal telah digunakan dan pengumpulan data melalui borang soalselidik berpandu. Alatan yang digunakan termasuk penimbang berat Seca dan sfigmomanometer yang telah di kalibrasi, stateskop dan pita pengukur ketinggian. Hasil kajian menunjukkan hanya 13.7% daripada responden yang di kaji di dalam kategori cukup bersenam mengikut definisi kajian. Antara faktor-faktor yang mempunyai hubungan yang signifikan dengan prevalens cukup bersenam adalah jantina (p=0.004), tahap pendidikan (p=0.02) dan status perkahwinan (p
This work aims at optimizing the media constituents for citric acid production from oil palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) as renewable resource using artificial neural networks (ANN) approach. The bioconversion process was done through solid state bioconversion using Aspergillus niger. ANN model was built using MATLAB software. A dataset consists of 20 runs from our previous work was used to develop ANN. The predictive and generalization ability of ANN and the results of RSM were compared. The determination coefficients (R2-value) for ANN and RSM models were 0.997 and 0.985, respectively, indicating the superiority of ANN in capturing the non-linear behavior of the system. Validation process was done and the maximum citric acid production (147.74 g/kg-EFB) was achieved using the optimal solution from ANN which consists of 6.1% sucrose, 9.2% mineral solution and 15.0% inoculum.
In this paper a study on the wideband double-pass Raman fibre amplifier with mirror as the pump reflector is reported. The pump lights at 1435 nm and 1455 nm were launched in a co-directional manner with respect to the input signal. The double-pass direction of the signal was achieved through a fibre loop mirror constructed using an optical circulator. It was shown that multiple signal amplification was achieved without any disturbance of stimulated Brillouin scattering.
Although the Ministry of Health Malaysia has been encouraging the practice of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM)1, 2 , 3, 4 but patients/clients has not been able to apply it for their need of medical treatments and sometimes it leads to negative outcomes due to lack of knowledge on T&CM and its safe applications5,6’ 7,8 Most of the western-trained physicians are ignorant of risk and benefits of T&CM9,10,11 . This study was aimed to determine the gap between knowledge regarding T&CM and perception on education in T&CM among the medical staffs in five selected hospitals in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was done at five public hospitals among medical staff in Malaysia by using quantitative methods. A total of 477 medical staffs were involved in this study. The study showed that the overall knowledge of T&CM among the medical staffs were poor (61.2%). Having good knowledge regarding T&CM were significantly higher in Hospital Duchess of Kent (52%, p=0.001), among the non-Malays (44%, p=0.047) and pharmacists (47.2%, p=0.030). Positive perception on health education in T&CM among medical staffs were high (85.3%) especially among females (88.1%, p=0.002) and pharmacists (93.7%, p< 0.001). The use of T&CM among the general population is relatively high in Malaysia and many patients increasingly seek the information on T&CM therapies from medical staffs. Knowledge regarding T&CM was poor in this study because most of the medical staffs have not been exposed to T&CM education. This interesting scenario between poor knowledge and high positive perception on health education in T&CM shows the demand of urgent intervention in educating the medical staffs. We recommend that medical staffs must have some basic education and knowledge about T&CM before they could offer advice to their patients. Doctors are of the utmost important in this regard because they play a very important role in patient care. Providing T&CM education to medical staff may help to integrate T&CM into the mainstream medicine.
Adolescent smoking is an emerging health concern in the developing countries. A cross-sectional study is conducted to determine the prevalence and smoking behaviour of adolescents in Sarawak. The prevalence of smoking is 32.8% with mean age of initiation at 12.8±1.9 years. Most (67.2%) adolescents are experimental smokers and the majority (67.9%) did not smoke on a daily basis. Branded cigarettes are preferred (83.1%) and the cigarettes are obtained either from friends (49.1%) or self purchased (43.6%). Students prefer to smoke at their friend’s house (31.0%) or at school (25.3%). Smoking prevalence among adolescents in Sarawak is high and begins early. Early intervention on smoking prevention and risk awareness is perhaps more effective if initiated before the age of 12 years.
It is known that lifting tasks are one of the risk factors of musculoskeletal disorders in the automotive industry.
Extensive research has been carried out over the years to develop guidelines and determine safe limits in which an
individual can lift. For this reason, the objective of this study is to determine the significant risk factors of
musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive industry, and propose a
methodological framework for future research on manual lifting tasks. The subjects of this study comprise 211
manual material handling workers from the automotive industry. The subjects completed a set of questionnaires
which are used to elicit information on their demographic characteristics, as well as physical factors and the
prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. The Chi-Square test was used to determine the relationship between the
risk factors and musculoskeletal discomfort. The findings of the study show that the following postures (trunk bent
slightly forwards, hands above the knee level (p < 0.05), trunk twisted (over 45o) and bent sideways (p < 0.05) are
the significant risk factors of musculoskeletal discomfort among manual lifting task workers in the automotive
industry. A methodological framework on manual lifting task in the automotive industry is proposed based on the
findings of this study. The framework is developed based on the need to model human lifting capabilities so that task
demands can be designed to fit the workers’ capacity when performing lifting tasks.
Most studies have examined the association of ergonomic risk factors and musculoskeletal discomfort in developed countries. Meanwhile the data are still lacking in developing countries such as Malaysia. The aim of this study was to determine the relation between risk factors and musculoskeletal discomfort among manual material handling workers in Malaysian automotive industries. A total of211 manual material handling workers from automotive industries completed a set of questionnaire on the individual, physical and environmental factors and the prevalence of musculoskeletal discomfort. The Chi-Square test and logistics regression analysis were used to determine the relationship of the risk factors and musculoskeletal. The findings highlighted that job tenure was significantly correlated with musculoskeletal discomfort among the workers (OR=2.33-5.56). The most significant physical risk factor that was associated with musculoskeletal discomfort was bending the trunk forward slightly, hands above knee level, which was significantly related to lower back discomfort (OR=5.13, 95%CI=1.56-16.8), thigh discomfort (OR=5.1, 95%CI=1.01-25.53) and wrist discomfort (OR=3.65, 95%CI=1.06-12.53). Twisting of the trunk (over 45o) and bending sideways were significantly associated to lower back discomfort (OR=4.04, 95%CI=1.44-14.44), and thigh discomfort (OR=4.3, 95%CI=1.29-8.50). The findings also highlighted that environmental factors was associated with musculoskeletal discomfort (p < 0.05. Musculoskeletal discomfort can be reduced by lowering work-related risk factors among automotive manual material handling workers, particularly by focusing on significant factors, including job tenure, bending or twisting postures and environmental factors.
It was suggested by most researchers that train drivers’ workload and alertness levels attribute to train accidents. The main objective of this study is to determine the significant patterns of mental workload and alertness levels of train drivers with respect to the conditions. The data are collected from simulation experiments on 15 professional train drivers. The simulation experiments are performed under three driving conditions (i.e. daytime, rainy daytime and rainy night) using a train driving simulator set. Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals are collected from six significant points on the body of the subjects. It is found that the mental workload of the train drivers tends to be high during rainy night driving condition and sleepiness occurs which is indicative of low vigilance. The beta amplitude increases under rainy night driving condition which may be attributed to viewing difficulties while driving in the dark. The results reveal that there is a significant different between each session (p = 0.042) especially with the pattern for rainy night driving. It is also observed that there is lower mental workload among the train drivers, which indicates that the train drivers are detached from their work.
Journal of Sports Science and Physical Education 5(2): 15-23, 2016 - This study was
conducted to determine the relationship between lower body muscle architectures and lunges
performance. Thirty recreationally active, untrained men (mean age = 22.21 ± 1.59 yrs old)
were recruited and involved in two testing sessions; i) anthropometrics and muscle
architecture, and ii) multiple-repetition maximum (RM) lunge test. Muscle thickness,
pennation angle and fascicle length of vastus lateralis (VL), vastus medialis (VM), rectus
femoris (RF) and biceps femoris (BF) were analysed using ultrasonography. Multiple-RM
lunge testing was used as an estimation of 1RM lunges performance. Correlation analysis was
used to determine the relationship between lower body muscle architectures and lunges
performance calculated absolutely and relatively (1RM/body mass). The overall results
showed that muscle thickness and pennation angle of all muscles were significantly positive
correlated with lunges performance. However, fascicle length was shown to be negatively
correlated with lunges performance. Findings of this study suggested the important for having
thicker, more pennated and shorter fascicle of lower body muscle in enhancing lunges
performances that is one of the most specific movements in sport.
Elderly are exposed to physical impairment. This has a strong impact on their daily activities including
frying, which is one of the most popular cuisine preparations. The stove height and work envelope
are two major ergonomic issues in performing cooking task. There has been little research focusing
on Malaysian elderly task performing in addressing these issues. The objectives of this study were to
identify the acceptable stove height and depth and to determine the working envelope among Malaysian
elderly using anthropometric data. A total of 55 Malaysian elderly (25 male and 30 female) aged between
60 to 85 years participated in this study. Five body measurements were taken from each subject using
an anthropometer. The measurements are stature height, shoulder height, arm span, arm reach forward
and waist height. Apart from these anthropometric measurements, their present stove height was also
measured. The acquisition of stove height dimensions was performed through a series of door to door
visit of the elderly homes in Kg. Sg. Merab. These variables were used to estimate the elderly working
envelope and determine the stove height, width and depth. Data were analysed using SPSS software. The
waist height dimension was to estimate the stove height, the arm reach forward for the depth and the arm
span for the length of the table-top where the stove was placed. Meanwhile the stature and shoulder height
were used for estimating the position of the overhead compartment or placement of cooking utensils.
The 5
th
percentile was chosen since it is appropriate to accommodate 90% of the studied population. The 5
th
percentile was also applied for the setting
of the working envelope so as to provide better
reaching tolerances. Meanwhile, standard was used
to compare the present state of the studied kitchen
setting. The results show that 56.4% of the elderly
waist height is lower than the standard table-top
height which is 36 inches (91.4cm) and 36.4% of the stove height was found higher than that of the standard. This could apparently cause fatigue and
discomfort to shoulders, the neck, the arm and the back of the user. Anthropometrics measurements can
be used for estimating the stove height, length and depth. These could also calculate a space taken for
certain physical activities, such as frying task envelope. Providing a good combination of stove height,
length, depth and ergonomic working envelope could hopefully improve the elderly cooking task and
increase their quality of life.
Covalently cross-linked nanogels were prepared via irradiation of inverse micelles that had been preparedfrom radiation crosslinkable polymer, water, oil and surfactant. A mixture of polymer, water, heptane andsodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (AOT) at certain compositions forms inverse micelles with the size rangingfrom 2 to 8 nm. The hydrophilic head of the surfactant facilitates encapsulation of water soluble polymer.If the entrapped polymer is radiation crosslinkable, it is expected that upon irradiation, polymerizationshall take place in such small and confined space, leading to formation of nano-sized polymeric gel.Meanwhile, emulsion at 2 nm size was chosen for gamma irradiation process. The formation of thenano-sized discreet gel using irradiation of inverse micelles technique was proven at a dose as low as 5kGy to obtain nanogel sized ~ 95 nm.
Objective: The fact that childhood sexual abuse is associated with depression is well-known. To date, there is no proper study done on screening for depression and coping strategies among sexually abused children in Malaysia. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of depression and examine the association of depression with the socio-demographics and
coping strategies used by sexually abused children. Methods: Sixty-five sexually abused children who attended the One Stop Crisis Centre (OSCC) services at Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia and fulfilled the study criteria were screened for depression using a validated Malay version of Children Depression Inventory (CDI).Depression was determined by a positive score of the Malay-CDI with depression being indicated in scores of more than 18.
Results: In the study sample, 16 (24.6 %) participants had been depressed and 49 (75.4 %) participants had not been depressed. Having a confidante was a protective factor against depression. Short duration of time between the abuse incident and the clinical interview was significantly associated with depression. With respect to coping strategies, 59 (90.8 %) used emotionfocused strategies and 6 (9.2 %) used problem or task-focused strategies. Among emotion-focused coping strategies, participants did the following: deciding that nothing could be done to change things, were in denial, and suppressed their feelings. Conclusion: Twenty five percent of the sample suffered from depression. The screening of depression in the vulnerable group such as sexually abused children is important, particularly for early
detection and treatment. By recognizing the coping strategies used in sexually abused children, the clinician could understand them better and plan for their psychological management.
Congenital epulis is a fairly rare soft tissue tumour occurring exclusively on the alveolar ridge of newborns. The exact origin of congenital epulis is still debatable. The objective of the study is to determine the clinicopathological features and immunohistochemical findings of congenital epulis. A retrospective study was carried out to determine the clinicopathological features of congenital epulis, diagnosed histologically in the main oral histopathology laboratory in Malaysia from 1967 to 2014. Immunostaining using vimentin, muscle specific actin, smooth muscle antigen, desmin, S100, CD34, CD68 and CD1a was carried out. Twelve cases of congenital epulis were reviewed. All of the patients were females and the presentation age ranged from 2 to 90 days. The patients comprised of 6 Malays, 3 Chinese, 2 Indians and 1 Orang Asli. Most of the cases (n=7) involved the maxillary ridge and presented as pedunculated well-defined lumps (n=8). Excisional biopsy was performed in all cases. Via immunohistochemistry, vimentin expression was observed in all cases; but negative for CD34, muscle specific actin, smooth muscle antigen, and desmin. CD1a and S100 positivity was seen in five cases. The interstitial cells were highlighted by CD68. Although congenital epulis has been first described 130 years ago, the exact nature of its histogenesis remains a mystery.