Phenolic chemicals with their very low taste and odour thresholds, high persistence and toxicity, are of growing concern as water pollutants. The compounds are known to exist in raw water as well as in treated water. The level of phenolic priority pollutants in water within the catchment area of the Linggi River Treatment Plant in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, which includes the Linggi river basin, was monitored. The 4-aminoantipyrin colourimetric method was used to determine total phenols whereas capillary column gas chromatography was used to determine the individual compounds. The results show that at most sampling stations, particularly those within the Seremban municipality, the level of phenols was found to exceed the recommended Malaysian standard of 2.0 μg/L(-1) for raw water. This is seen as the direct impact of industrial and urbanization of the area and clearly indicates the unhealthy state of the Linggi river. The results also indicate the need to improve the water quality if the river is going to be used as a source of raw water.
The global increase in young consumer population and purchasing power has created a new demand for halal cosmetics product development. In Malaysia, it is now the trend in the industry of cosmetics for local manufacturers to produce halal cosmetic products. As the market growth is rapid, the manufacturers of cosmetics are eager to dominate the market and come up with many product varieties in order to pursue and satisfy customers. However, most consumers are conscious of the ingredients used in the making of cosmetic products. While the introduction of new products may facilitate companies in gaining competitive advantage, the failure rate of local products is high. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to understand the relationship between product characteristics, social influence and individual innovativeness with halal cosmetics adoption among young consumers in the Klang Valley, Malaysia. The sampling of this study comprised 350 respondents using survey questionnaires that were distributed in shopping malls in the Klang Valley. In order to test the model, this study used the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique using partial least squares (PLS) with SmartPLS 3.2.8. The findings of this study show that there is a positive relationship between product characteristics, social influence and individual innovativeness towards halal cosmetics adoption among respondents. This study demonstrates that halal cosmetics adoption is increasing among young consumers. Therefore, cosmetics producers or marketers need to understand the behaviour of young consumers in order to ensure that failure rate can be minimised.
Objective: This study aimed to determine the association of socio-demographic factors and quality of life (QOL) of HNC survivors before and after treatment in Malaysia. Methods: 40 HNC patients were recruited, and assessed for their with QOL with Life Cancer Survivor (QLQ-CS) Head & Neck 35 (QLQ-H&N35) questionnaire pre-treatment and six months post-treatment. One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and paired t-test were done to analyse the data. Results: The result shows that the QOL of HNC patients were at medium level (total mean score M= 6.22) before treatment, and reduced (total mean score M= 4.84) at 6 months after treatment) . Only health history was seen significantly associated with QOL of HNC patients, both pre and post-treatment. Post treatment showed only marital status factor associated with QOL of HNC patients. The paired sample t-test result shows that the symptoms /problem pre- treatment (M = 255.10, SD = 20.405 )was lower than post treatment (M = 201.80, SD = 22.025)(t (49) = 9.337; p =0.001). Conclusions: The present research suggested that the patients’ QOL is reduced after treatment (medium level). This could be due to the advancement of the cancer and evidence when the health history and symptoms found significantly associated with the QOL. Thus, socio-demographic factors is very crucial factors that must be considered during patients’ assessment in improving patients’ care and optimum QOL pre and post treatment.
A bioengineering technique is gradually being used as an alternative for slope stabilisation design. The effect of vegetation on soil strength, particularly in terms of root reinforcement aspects has therefore become a major interest. However, there is a lack of documentation on the root mechanical properties available especially in Malaysia. In this study, both pull-out and tensile strength of two tropical trees namely Leucaena leucocephala and Acacia mangium were investigated on different stem sizes. L. leucocephala performs the higher pullout strength than A. mangium. The results also show that pullout resistance is much affected by the root than the shoot profiles. In terms of tensile strength, the tensile strength decreases with increasing root diameter, implying the finer root diameter contribute to the higher tensile strength. In both parameters, L. leucocephala exhibits the highest value. The study suggests that L. leucocephala has an added value as a good potential slope plant for slope stabilization work as it exhibits outstanding root mechanical properties. Interestingly, the results also showed that the pullout force was much affected by the tensile strength. It can be concluded that some root and shoot properties do have a great impact on root mechanical properties such as tensile and pullout strengths.
Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengesahkan kemampuan teknologi DNA mikroaturan cip gen OliproTM FoodPATH bagi mengesan bakteria patogen makanan. Sebanyak 9 jenis DNA bakteria patogen makanan telah digunakan iaitu Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Staphylococcus aureus, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Shigella spp. dan Campylobacter spp. Sebanyak 36 kombinasi templat DNA bakteria patogen makanan telah digunakan. Pengesahan bagi mengesan bakteria patogen makanan dilakukan dengan menggunakan kaedah reaksi berantai polimerase (PCR) dan penghibridan Southern-blotting di atas cip gen untuk mengesahkan kemampuannya. Keputusan daripada analisis hibridasi di atas cip gen telah dibandingkan dengan hasil gel elektroforesis 2.0% (w/v). Lima saringan diperlukan untuk menghabiskan 36 kombinasi templat DNA bakteria patogen makanan. Setiap saringan, satu cip gen telah digunakan sebagai kawalan negatif tidak diinokulasikan dengan sebarang kombinasi DNA bakteria patogen makanan. Daripada hasil kajian, didapati bahawa semua kombinasi templat DNA bakteria patogen makanan telah dapat dikesan. Cip yang digunakan sebagai kawalan negatif tidak menunjukkan kehadiran DNA. Oleh itu, daripada kajian ini cip gen OliproTM FoodPATH didapati memberikan keputusan yang lebih baik berbanding dengan 2.0% (w/v) gel elektroforesis.
Water scarcity is a global concern, as the demand for water is increasing tremendously and poor management of water resources will accelerates dramatically the depletion of available water. The precise prediction of evapotranspiration (ET), that consumes almost 100% of the supplied irrigation water, is one of the goals that should be adopted in order to avoid more squandering of water especially in arid and semiarid regions. The capabilities of feedforward backpropagation neural networks (FFBP) in predicting reference evapotranspiration (ET0) are evaluated in this paper in comparison with the empirical FAO Penman-Monteith (P-M) equation, later a model of FFBP+Genetic Algorithm (GA) is implemented for the same evaluation purpose. The study location is the main station in Iraq, namely Baghdad Station. Records of weather variables from the related meteorological station, including monthly mean records of maximum air temperature (Tmax), minimum air temperature (Tmin), sunshine hours (Rn), relative humidity (Rh) and wind speed (U2), from the related meteorological station are used in the prediction of ET0 values. The performance of both simulation models were evaluated using statistical coefficients such as the root of mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE) and coefficient of determination (R2). The results of both models are promising, however the hybrid model shows higher efficiency in predicting ET0 and could be recommended for modeling of ET0 in arid and semiarid regions.
Clinacanthus nutans is the native medicinal herbs that grow in tropical climate, mainly can be found in Malaysia and Thailand. Clinacanthus nutans is used to boost immunity and for detoxification. It is claiming to promote bowel movement and other health promotions, such as skin care, diuresis and cancer (such as lung, ovary, uterine, prostate, nasopharyngeal and breast). This study focused on the effects of solvents towards antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of C. nutans (Belalai Gajah/ Sabah Snake Grass) leaves and stems. Freeze-dried leaves and stems were homogenized before testing its antimicrobial properties. The 70% acetone (Merck, Germany) was prepared by dissolving fine powder of C. nutans in 1:10 solvent ratio with 70% acetone using ultrasonic extraction for 1 h in an ultrasonic bath (Soniclean, Thebarton, Australia). Ten bacteria (Bacillus cereus, B. subtilis, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Listeria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aureginosa, Salmonella typhimurium, Shigella boydii, Staphylococcus aureus and S. epidemidis) and four fungi (Aspergillus niger, Candida albicans, Rhizopus stolonifer and Saccharomyces cerevisiae) were used in the antimicrobial study employing minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimal microcidal concentration (MMC) methods. The data obtained were statistically analysed using SPSS Inc. Version 22 (Chicago, USA). The MIC values of acetone extracts for the selected bacteria and fungi ranged between 6.25 – 100.00 mg/ mL while the MMC values of acetone extracts for the selected bacteria and fungi were between 25.00 - >100.00 mg/ mL. Recommendation on phytochemicals investigation should be conducted to determine the potential of compounds toward antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.
As one of the states within the Federation of Malaysia, Sabah has inherited the characteristics of a
developing country’s security management. The threats are not only driven by external but also from
internal sources. As such, this article analyzes threats to Sabah's security predicaments. By using the
National Security Theory of Developing Countries and Securitization Theory as the basis for
discussion, the article explores and discusses how Sabah's security management have been influenced
by several variables such as local political influences, federal-state relations, and societal’s state
loyalty. The article concludes that Sabah’s security threats have been securitised by local political and
community leaders. But, the success of securitising the threats depend on how security actors at the
federal level are convinced with the omnipresent threats.
Pumpkin seeds are nutritionally dense by-product of pumpkin but commonly discarded as waste. The purpose of the study was to formulate pumpkin seeds as valuable product with good nutritionally supplement. Pumpkin seeds were processed into raw flour. Four products namely Cake, Cookies, Muffin and Bingka were prepared and standardized. For each product, one control and three experimental samples using raw pumpkin seed flour were prepared. The control and test samples were analyzed for their sensory attributes. Most accepted test samples were analyzed for nutritional composition along with control sample. All the products supplemented with 30% pumpkin seed were most acceptable except cake which was highly accepted at 20% level of supplementation. The moisture, protein, fat, fiber, ash, iron, zinc content of raw pumpkin seed flour was 6.98 and 2.80%, 22.05 and 23.45%, 30.80 and 31.90%, 7.68 and 7.56%, 8.92 and 8.04%, 8.16 and 7.08mg/100gm, 6.60 and 6.35mg/100gm respectively. Total carotenoid content, antioxidant activity, peroxide value of pumpkin seed flour was found as 0.75 and 0.42mg/100gm, 68.80 and 61.30%, 4.60 and 6.20meq/kg. The protein, fat, fiber, ash and energy content of all the supplemented products were significantly higher as compared to the control samples.
Nuclear grade (high-purity) graphite for fuel element and moderator material in Advanced Gas
Cooling Reactors (AGR) displays large scatter in strength and a non-linear stress-strain response from the damage accumulation. These responses can be characterized as quasi-brittle behaviour. Current assessments of fracture in core graphite components are based on the linear elastic approximation and thus represent a major assumption. The quasi-brittle behaviour gives challenge to assess the real nuclear graphite component. The selected test method would help to bridge the gap between microscale to macro-scale in real reactor component. The small scale tests presented here can contribute some statistical data to manifests the failure in real component. The evaluation and choice of different solution design of biaxial test will be discussed in this paper. The ball on-three ball test method was used for assessment test follows by numerous of analytical method. The results shown that biaxial strength of the EY9 grade graphite depends on the method used for evaluation. Some of the analytical methods use to calculate biaxial strength were found not to be valid and therefore should not be used to assess the mechanical properties of nuclear graphite.
This study looked at mutagenic effectiveness of gamma rays d on two varieties of Zingiber officinale Roscoe: Bentong and Tanjung Sepat. The rhizomes were exposed to different doses (0, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 15 Gy) using Caesium-137 as source of the gamma rays. The effect of different gamma doses on the crude fibre composition of irradiated ginger was studied and genetic variability was assessed using molecular marker technique, RAPD. Findings showed different doses of gamma rays could induce variability in these two ginger varieties and the effect was found to be variety-dependent. Bentong variety irradiated with 9 Gy recorded 8.53% of crude fibre composition while Tanjung Sepat irradiated ginger with 5 Gy recorded 8.70% of crude fibre which gave the lowest composition compared with other irradiated ginger. A total of nine different arbitrary decamers were used as primers to amplify DNA from mutant plant material to assess their polymorphism level of ginger mutant lines. Polymorphism of all mutant lines was 97.62% indicating that there were significant changes in genetic sequences in irradiated ginger genotypes.
The 3D structure of the insecticidal protein Cry1Ba4 produced by B. thuringiensis subsp.
Entomocidus HD-9 was determined using homology modelling. From the model built, we have
been able to identify the possible sites for structure modification by site-directed mutagenesis.
The mutation was introduced at the conserved region of -helix 7 by substituting the
hydrophobic motif that comprises alanine 216, leucine 217 and phenylalanine 218 with arginine.
Wild and mutant Cry1Ba4 genes were cloned into pET200/D-TOPO and expressed in the
expression host. The result suggests that mutant Cry1Ba4 protein was less toxic to the larvae
Plutella xylostella compared to the wild-type. In conclusion, alteration in the structure of
Domain I had left an impact on the toxicity of Cry1Ba4 against P. xylostella.
Readymade garments (RMG) industry of Bangladesh are lesser revealed to sustainable outlines that originating avoidance related with standard health and safety provisions, labor rights, women safety, child labor, pollution, waste disposal and ground water depletion. Recently there are also several safety hazards by way of fire incidents and building collapses which caused death and injury of thousand or garment workers at Bangladesh. Actually a suitable sustainable development scheme for this industry includes the insights of proper employee involvement based upon what is known (knowledge) and done (behavior). So the study aims to investigate the relationship between knowledge and behavior which reflects the complication between what is in fact known and what is done in case of sustainable issues. The study has used both questionnaire survey and interview procedures on 10 BGMEA registered factories of Chittagong to recognize the connection between knowledge and behavior. The target populace of the study has been limited only to the white collar employees. However, the study identified that employee knowledge and behavior of sustainable development contains a moderate, positive relationship (r=.315, n=150, p
Coconut fibre reinforced composite was prepared by blending unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) from waste PET with 0.3 v% of coconut fibre. The coconut fibres were pre-treated with sodium hydroxide followed by silane prior to inclusion into the UPR. The untreated coconut fibres reinforced composite were used as a control. Dricon® as a phosphate type of flame retardant was then added to the composite to reduce the flammability of the composite. The amount of Dricon® was varied from 0 to 10 wt% of the overall mass of resin. The burning properties and limiting oxygen index (LOI) of the treated and untreated composites increased with the addition of Dricon®. The tensile strength and modulus of both composites were also increased with the addition of Dricon®. The treated fibre composite with 5 wt% Dricon® showed the highest burning time and LOI with the values of 101.5 s and 34 s, respectively. The optimum tensile strength and modulus for treated fibre composite was at 5 wt% Dricon® whereas the untreated fibre composite was at 2.5 wt% loading of Dricon®. Thermogravimetry (TGA) analysis indicated that the degradation temperature increased with the addition of Dricon® up to 5 wt% into UPR/coconut fibre composites. Morphological observations indicated better distribution of Dricon® for treated fibre composite resulted in enhancement of the tensile properties of the treated fibre composite.
Introduction: The purpose of this study was to decide on the relation between types of mixing and the porosity of diameter (1-100) µm and compressive strength of RMGIC. Methods: Fifteen specimens 6mm height and 4mm in diameter were prepared for each type of luting cement and were stored in distilled water at 37° C for 24 hours. The compressive strength was determined. The fractured surfaces of 10 randomly selected specimens of each cement type were analyzed using SEM at 250 times magnification, and five photomicrographs were taken at five random places. All the photomicrographs were analyzed using image analyzer software to determine the amount and size of porosity present. Results: There was no significant difference in compressive strength between different mixing methods, but it had a significant impact by increasing the percentage of porosity of diameter (1-100) µm in diameter of RMGIC. There was no linear relationship between compressive strength and porosity (1-100) µm in diameter for both types of luting cements (P>0.05). Conclusion: No significant differences in compressive strength were found using different mixing methods. The size and number of porosity in the specimens of encapsulated cements were greater than those of hand-mixed cements. The porosity (1-100) µm in diameter and the compressive strength bore no linear relationship to each other.
Some numerical methods for solving diffusion-convection equations in two dimensional space are formulated. Iterative scheme for each method is studied and numerical test to model problem is conducted. Comparison of methods is given in table form.
Beberapa kaedah berangka bagi menyelesaikan persamaan resapan-olakan dalam ruang dua dimensi telah dirumuskan. Skema lelaran untuk setiap satunya dikaji dan pengujian berangka kepada masalah model dilakukan. Perbandingan antara kaedah telah diberikan secara berjadual.
Kajian keberkesanan sifat antimikrob ekstrak kacangma dijalankan menggunakan ujian resapan cakera dan ujian perencatan langsung. Hasil menunjukkan ekstrak etanol dengan kepekatan 50 dan 100 mg/mL merencat Staphylococcus aureus. Bagi ekstrak air, kepekatan 10, 25, 50 dan 100 mg/mL merencat Aspergillus niger, 25, 50 dan 100 mg/mL dapat merencat Saccharomyces cerevisae dan kepekatan 100 mg/mL dapat merencat Staphylococcus aureus. Perlakuan suhu yang berbeza ke atas ekstrak dalam ujian perencatan langsung tidak menunjukkan sebarang perbezaan ke atas perencatan mikroorganisma yang dikaji.