The objective of this study was to examine the effect of different ratios of fish to tapioca flour on the linear expansion, oil absorption, colour, and crispiness of fish crackers. Four different ratios of fish to tapioca flour were used in the formulation of the fish crackers. The results showed that protein and fat content increased with the increase in the ratio of the fish. On the other hand, linear expansion and oil absorption decreased with an increase in the ratio of the fish. Hardness also increased with the increase in the ratio of the fish. The colour measurement showed that the lightness value decreased with an increase in the ratio of fish and this decrease is seen more clearly with the fried fish crackers.
Magnetically separable photocatalyst beads containing nano-sized iron oxide in alginate polymer were prepared. This magnetic photocatalyst beads are used in slurry-type reactors. The magnetism of the catalyst arises from the nanostructured particles gamma-Fe(2)O(3), by which the catalyst can be easily recovered by the application of an external magnetic field. These synthesized beads are sunlight-driven photocatalyst. In the system without magnetic photocatalyst beads, no chromium reduction was observed under sunlight irradiation due to the stability of the chromium (VI). Upon the addition of magnetic photocatalyst beads, the photo-reduction of Cr(VI) was completed in just after only 50min under sunlight irradiation due to the photocatalytic activity of the beads. However when placed away from sunlight, the reduction rate of the chromium is just about 10%. These observations were explained in terms of absorption occurrence of chromium (VI) onto the catalyst surface which took place in this reaction. In addition, photo-reduction rate of chromium (VI) was more significant at lower pH. The results suggest that the use of magnetic separable photocatalyst beads is a feasible strategy for eliminating Cr(VI).
The influence of optical parameters, additional techniques (e.g. PIDS technology) and the importance of light microscopy were investigated by comparing laser diffraction data obtained via the conventional method and an optimized analysis method. Also the influence of a possible dissolution of nanocrystals during a measurement on the size result obtained was assessed in this study. The results reveal that dissolution occurs if unsaturated medium or microparticle saturated medium is used for the measurements. The dissolution is erratic and the results are not reproducible. Dissolution can be overcome by saturating the measuring medium prior to the measurement. If nanocrystals are analysed the dispersion medium should be saturated with the nanocrystals, because the solubility is higher than for coarse micro-sized drug material. The importance of using the optimized analysis method was proven by analysing 40 different nanosuspensions via the conventional versus the optimized sizing method. There was no large difference in the results obtained for the 40 nanosuspensions using the conventional method. This would have led to the conclusion, that all the 40 formulations investigated are physically stable. However, the analysis via the optimized method revealed that from 40 formulations investigated only four were physically stable. In conclusion an optimized analysis saves time and money and avoids misleading developments, because discrimination between "stable" and "unstable" can be done reliably at a very early stage of the development.
Delays in transporting blood samples may cause inaccurate results. Samples may be exposed to light or heat during delays, resulting in the degradation of analytes, for example, bilirubin. This study was done to determine the effect of delays in the transportation of blood samples on serum bilirubin test results.
The range-gated imaging systems are reliable underwater imaging system with the capability to minimize backscattering effect from turbid media. The tail-gating technique has been developed to fine tune the signal to backscattering ratio and hence improve the gated image quality. However, the tail-gating technique has limited image quality enhancement in high turbidity levels. In this paper, we developed a numerical model of range-gated underwater imaging system for near target in turbid medium. The simulation results matched the experimental work favorably. Further investigation using this numerical model shows that the multiple scattering components of the backscattering noise dominate for propagation length larger than 4.2 Attenuation Length (AL). This has limited the enhancement of tail-gating technique in high turbidity conditions.
Nowadays, phytochemicals and antioxidants in plants are raising interest in consumers for their roles in the maintenance of human health. Phenolics and flavonoids are known for their health-promoting properties due to protective effects against cardiovascular disease, cancers and other disease. Ginger (Zingiber officinale) is one of the traditional folk medicinal plants and it is widely used in cooking in Malaysia. In this study, four levels of glasshouse light intensities (310, 460, 630 and 790 μmol m(-2)s(-1)) were used in order to consider the effect of light intensity on the production, accumulation and partitioning of total phenolics (TP), total flavonoids (TF) and antioxidant activities in two varieties of Malaysian young ginger (Zingiber officinale). TF biosynthesis was highest in the Halia Bara variety under 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1) and TP was high in this variety under a light intensity of 790 μmol m(-2)s(-1). The highest amount of these components accumulated in the leaves and after that in the rhizomes. Also, antioxidant activities determined by the 1,1-Diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) assay in both of varieties, increased significantly (p ≤ 0.01) with increasing TF concentration, and high antioxidant activity was observed in the leaves of Halia Bara grown under 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1). The ferric reducing (FRAP) activity of the rhizomes was higher than that of the leaves in 310 μmol m(-2)s(-1) of sun light. This study indicates the ability of different light intensities to enhance the medicinal components and antioxidant activities of the leaves and young rhizomes of Zingiber officinale varieties. Additionally, this study also validated their medicinal potential based on TF and TP contents.
Recently, license plate detection has been used in many applications especially in transportation systems. Many methods have been proposed in order to detect license plates, but most of them work under restricted conditions such as fixed illumination, stationary background, and high resolution images. License plate detection plays an important role in car license plate recognition systems because it affects the accuracy and processing time of the system. This work aims to build a Car License Plate Detection (CLPD) system at a lower cost of its hardware devices and with less complexity of algorithms’ design, and then compare its performance with the local CAR Plate Extraction Technology (CARPET). As Malaysian plates have special design and they differ from other international plates, this work tries to compare two likely-design methods. The images are taken using a web camera for both the systems. One of the most important contributions in this paper is that the proposed CLPD method uses Vertical Edge Detection Algorithm (VEDA) to extract the vertical edges of plates. The proposed CLPD method can work to detect the region of car license plates. The method shows the total time of processing one 352x288 image is 47.7 ms, and it meets the requirement of real time processing. Under the experiment datasets, which were taken from real scenes, 579 out of 643 images were successfully detected. Meanwhile, the average accuracy of locating car license plate was 90%. In this work, a comparison between CARPET and the proposed CLPD method for the same tested images was done in terms of detection rate and efficiency. The results indicated that the detection rate was 92% and 84% for the CLPD method and CARPET, respectively. The results also showed that the CLPD method could work using dark images to detect license plates, whereas CARPET had failed to do so.
Pregnancy is associated with increased risk of development and progression of diabetic retinopathy (DR). Although pregnancy does not have any long term effect on DR, progression of retinopathy changes occur in 50%-70% of cases. The greatest risk of worsening occurs during the second trimester and persists as long as 12 months postpartum. The other factors found to be associated with its progression include duration of the diabetes, severity of retinopathy at conception, hyperglycaemic control, anaemia and progression of coexisting hypertension. Because of the increased risk of progression of the disease in pregnancy, conception should be delayed till the ocular disease is treated and stabilized and laser photocoagulation should be promptly instituted in all cases of severe non-proliferative retinopathy and should not be delayed till the patient develops early proliferative changes. Good diabetic control before and during pregnancy can help prevent this increase in the progression and serious vision loss.
Introduction: To determine the effectiveness of the enhance enforcement programmes (The Ops) on the percentage of seatbelt wearing among front occupants in Malaysia.
Methodology: The roadside observations for measuring the seatbelt wearing among front occupant were conducted before, two weeks and six months after the Ops. The study was conducted in selected states representing four different zones (Northern, Southern, Eastern and Central zones) of Peninsular Malaysia.
Result: A total of 12,298 drivers and 11,212 front occupants were observed for their seatbelt wearing status through out the study. Percentage of seatbelt wearing among drivers and front passengers were increased from the baseline of 82.6 % and 74.4 % to 92 % (95 % CI: 91.2, 92.7) and 87.0 % (95 % CI: 85.9, 88.0) after two week, but declined to 85.7 % (95 % CI: 84.4, 86.8) and 76.8 % (95 % CI: 75.2, 78.3) after six months of the Ops respectively. Pre and post analysis revealed that after 2 weeks, the Ops were significantly effective in increasing the seatbelt wearing among front passengers and drivers with the RR (95 % CI) of 1.17 (1.14, 1.20) and 1.12 (1.10,1.13) respectively. However, after six months, the effectiveness of the Ops was reduced for both type of vehicle occupant.
Conclusion: This study sheds light on the importance of the enhance enforcement programme for increasing the seatbelt wearing in Malaysia. However, in order to give more impact on seatbelt wearing, the strategy and the frequency of the enhance enforcement programme in Malaysia may need to be revised.
Elevated temperature affects marine benthic algae by reducing growth and limits the transport of electron or carbon fixation which may reduce the ability of the cell to use light. This resulting excess light energy may cause photoinhibition. In this study, the photosystem II of the benthic microalgal communities from Casey, eastern Antarctic were relatively unaffected by significant changes in temperatures up to 8ºC, along with high PAR level (450 μmol photons m–2 s–1). Similarly, the community was able to photosynthesize as the temperature was reduced to –5ºC. Recovery from saturating and photoinhibiting irradiances was not significantly influenced by temperatures at both –5ºC and 8ºC. These responses were consistent with those recorded by past experiments on Antarctic benthic diatoms and temperate diatoms which showed that climate change did not have a significant impact on the ability of benthic microalgae to recover from photoinhibitory temperature stress.
In this study the effects of phosphorus and nitrogen levels, temperature and light-dark cycle on the algal growth potential (AGP) of an Antarctic Chlorococcum isolated from an ephemeral stream at Reeve Hill, Antarctica was investigated. The highest AGP was attained when the cultures were grown at high nitrogen concentration (329.87 mg NO3-N/l) and low phosphorus concentration (2.6 mg PO4-P/l) at 4ºC on a 12 h:12 h light-dark cycle. The results showed that Chlorococcum sp. required a high concentration of nitrogen, low concentration of phosphorus, low temperature with equal lengths of light and dark period (12 h:12 h) for optimum growth.
Plant cell cultures could be used as an important tool for biochemical production, ranging from natural coloring (pigments) to pharmaceutical products. Anthocyanins are becoming a very important alternative to synthetic dyes because of increased public concern over the safety of artificial food coloring agents. Several factors are responsible for the production of anthocyanin in cell cultures. In the present study, we investigate the effects of different environmental factors, such as light intensity, irradiance (continuous irradiance or continuous darkness), temperature and medium pH on cell biomass yield and anthocyanin production in cultures of Melastoma malabathricum. Moderate light intensity (301 - 600 lux) induced higher accumulation of anthocyanins in the cells. The cultures exposed to 10-d continuous darkness showed the lowest pigment content, while the cultures exposed to 10-d continuous irradiance showed the highest pigment content. The cell cultures incubated at a lower temperature range (20 ± 2 ºC) grew better and had higher pigment content than those grown at 26 ± 2 ºC and 29 ± 2 ºC. Different medium pH did not affect the yield of cell biomass but anthocyanin accumulation was highest at pH 5.25 - 6.25.
We implement a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm to characterize stimulated Brillouin scattering phenomena in optical fibers. The explicit and strong dependence of the threshold exponential gain on the numerical aperture, the pump laser wavelength and the optical loss coefficient are presented. The proposed PSO model is also evaluated with the localized, nonfluctuating source model and the distributed (non-localized) fluctuating source model. Using our model, for fiber lengths from 1 km to 29 km, the calculated threshold exponential gain of stimulated Brillouin scattering is gradually decreased from 17.4 to 14.6 respectively. The theoretical results of Brillouin threshold power predicted by the proposed PSO model show a good agreement with the experimental results for different fiber lengths from 1 km to 12 km.
A survey of the infestation rate of colonies of Macrotermes gilvus (Hagen) (Termitidae: Macrotermitinae) with the koinobiont endoparasitoid Misotermes mindeni Disney & Neoh (Diptera: Phoridae) was conducted in Malaysia from September 2009 to January 2011 in the states of Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Terengganu, and Sarawak. Of the 1,125 M. gilvus mounds surveyed, 12.4% contained termites parasitized by M. mindeni and these mounds occurred only in the states of Penang and Perak. High frequencies of mounds containing parasitized termites were found at sites in Penang: Bayan Lepas (21.1%), Minden Campus of Universiti Sains Malaysia ([USM]; 24.5%), Teluk Bahang (28.0%), and Bukit Mertajam (35.0%); the lowest frequency (4.0%) was recorded from Gelugor. The parasitized colonies at all sites were classified as healthy, with exception of several from the Minden Campus of USM (96.4% healthy) and Ayer Itam (87.5% healthy). Most parasitized colonies (71.2%) had a low level of M. mindeni infestation. Only 16.7 and 12.1% of the infested colonies had moderate or high parasite infestation levels, respectively. The height of infected mounds was significantly higher than that of the healthy mounds, but there was no difference between the mound diameters of infested and uninfested mounds. Parasite infestation level was not significantly correlated with mound height or mound diameter. The ambient light intensity at sites with infested mounds was significantly lower than that of uninfested mounds. There was also a significant negative relationship between light intensity and degree of parasitism.
An initial study on gene cloning and characterization of unicellular green microalga Ankistrodesmus convolutus was carried out to isolate and characterize the full-length cDNA of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase small subunit (RbcS) as a first step towards elucidating the structure of A. convolutus RbcS gene. The full-length of A. convolutus RbcS cDNA (AcRbcS) contained 28 bp of 5' untranslated region (UTR), 225 bp of 3' non-coding region, and an open reading frame of 165 amino acids consisting of a chloroplast transit peptide with 24 amino acids and a mature protein of 141 amino acids. The amino acid sequence has high identity to those of other green algae RbcS genes. The AcRbcS contained a few conserved domains including protein kinase C phosphorylation site, tyrosine kinase phosphorylation site and N-myristoylation sites. The AcRbcS was successfully expressed in Escherichia coli and a ~21 kDa of anticipated protein band was observed on SDS-PAGE. From the phylogenetic analysis of RbcS protein sequences, it was found that the RbcS of A. convolutus has closer genetic relationship with green microalgae species compared to those of green seaweed and green macroalgae species. Southern hybridization analysis revealed that the AcRbcS is a member of a small multigene family comprising of two to six members in A. convolutus genome. Under different illumination conditions, RT-PCR analysis showed that AcRbcS transcription was reduced in the dark, and drastically recovered in the light condition. Results presented in this paper established a good foundation for further study on the photosynthetic process of A. convolutus and other green algae species where little information is known on Rubisco small subunit.
A new sensing area for a sensor based on surface plasmon resonance (SPR) was fabricated to detect trace amounts of mercury and lead ions. The gold surface used for SPR measurements were modified with polypyrrole-chitosan (PPy-CHI) conducting polymer composite. The polymer layer was deposited on the gold surface by electrodeposition. This optical sensor was used for monitoring toxic metal ions with and without sensitivity enhancement by chitosan in water samples. The higher amounts of resonance angle unit (ΔRU) were obtained for PPy-CHI film due to a specific binding of chitosan with Pb(2+) and Hg(2+) ions. The Pb(2+) ion bind to the polymer films most strongly, and the sensor was more sensitive to Pb(2+) compared to Hg(2+). The concentrations of ions in the parts per million range produced the changes in the SPR angle minimum in the region of 0.03 to 0.07. Data analysis was done by Matlab software using Fresnel formula for multilayer system.
Many reports have revealed that the abundance of microalgae in shrimp ponds vary with changes in environmental factors such as light, temperature, pH, salinity and nutrient level throughout a shrimp culture period. In this study, shrimp cultivation period was divided into three stages (initial = week 0–5, mid = week 6–10 and final = week 11–15). Physical and chemical parameters throughout the cultivation period were studied and species composition of microalgae was monitored. Physical parameters were found to
fluctuate widely with light intensity ranging between 182.23–1278 µmol photon m–2s–1, temperature between 29.56ºC –31.59ºC, dissolved oxygen (DO) between 4.56–8.21 mg/l, pH between 7.65–8.49 and salinity between 20‰–30‰. Ammonium (NH4+-N), nitrite (NO2– -N), nitrate (NO3– -N), and orthophosphate (PO43– -P) concentrations in the pond at all cultivation stages ranged from 0.017 to 0.38 mg/l, 0.24 to 2.12 mg/l, 0.06 to 0.98 mg/l and 0.16 to 1.93 mg/l respectively. Statistical test (ANOVA) showed that there were no significant difference (p
The optical and textural properties of chicken patty formulated with different level of grey oyster mushroom (Pleurotus sajor-caju) at 0, 25 or 50% to replace chicken meat were investigated. The addition of up to 50% oyster mushroom to chicken patty formulations did not change colour a*(redness),compared with the control patty. Chicken patties containing oyster mushroom had lower L* value ranging from 51.02 – 52.65 compared to that of the control patty (57.86). All oyster mushroom-based patties had lower colour b*(yellowness) value compared to chicken patty without mushroom. The hardness of chicken patty decreased proportionally with the level of oyster mushroom. On the other hand, oyster mushroom-based patties were springier than the control patty. Chicken which was replaced with 25% of fresh mushroom, recorded the highest moisture retention (77.19%) and cooking yield (80.71%), respectively. However, replacement of 25% of oyster mushroom with chicken breast in chicken patty formulation was not change the moisture retention, fat retention and cooking yield compared to control patty. Chicken patty added with 50% ground oyster mushroom the highest concentration of total dietary fibre (TDF) at 4.90 g/100 g compared to chicken patty containing 25% of mushroom (3.40 g/100 g) and control (1.90 g/100 g). In summary, the addition of oyster mushroom in chicken patties has decreased the lightness, yellowness, hardness and chewiness while no changes were noted in the redness of the patties.