Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Attitudes toward Statistics (USM-AS) is a newly developed, selfadministered inventory for measuring attitudes toward statistics among postgraduate students. The
USM-AS consists of three factors (affect, cognition, and behavior) and 58 items. This study was
aimed to validate the USM-AS and provide evidence of its construct validity by investigating its
internal structure. This study consists of four validation studies, which were conducted consecutively
among postgraduate students (master’s degree and PhD students) in the medical and health sciences.
The revised USM-AS, consisting of three factors and 12 items, was found to have good construct
validity, which was demonstrated by good model fit, high factor loadings (0.62 to 0.92), high
construct reliability (0.84 to 0.89), good discrimination between factors and good test-retest reliability
(intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.63 to 0.82). However, validity was limited to postgraduate
students in the medical and health sciences in Malaysia. Further validation studies among
postgraduate students in other scientific fields are recommended to provide additional construct
validity evidence of the USM-AS.
Occupation is the most important element in changing the quality-of-life continuity and the recovery of drug addicts. This study aimed to measure the level of employment sustainability among ex-clients from the National Anti-Drug Agency (AADK). This study used a quantitative approach with a cross-sectional design. A total of 130 AADK ex-clients who were in employment were selected as respondents for this study. Our findings show that the majority of AADK ex-clients can survive relatively well enough for between 1 to 2 years depending on the factors of wages, work environment, interests and skills. The finding of this study implies that former clients tend to remain only 1 to 2 years in employment if their wages and jobs are not in line with their will. The findings also found that there was a significant relationship between the job-person fit and job satisfaction with motivation. Hence, this study is capable to modify the perceptions and views of employers towards clients' initiative for being persistent at the workplace as well as improving existing policies in providing incentives to clients for being consistent on the job.
Oleic acid (OA) capped wolfram (VI) oxide, WO3 nanoparticles were chemically synthesized and characterized by means of Fourier Transform-Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The tribological properties of the capped WO3 nanoparticles as an additive in base oils were investigated using a four-ball machine. Results show that OA-capped WO3 nanoparticles are able to prevent water adsorption and capable of being dispersed stable in organic solvents which is base oils. The as-prepared capped WO3 nanoparticles have an average size of 15 nm. In addition, OA-capped WO3 nanoparticles as an additive in base oils perform good anti-wear (AW) and anti-friction (AF) properties owing to the formation of a boundary film.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti punca berlakunya banjir di Segamat pada 17 hingga 21 Disember 2006. Kegiatan termasuklah mengumpul, menilai dan mengalisis data taburan hujan dari Januari 1998 hingga Disember 2006 serta menganalisis data telemetri harian bagi aras dan luahan air sungai pada Disember 2006. Satu set data hujan harian, bulanan dan tahunan dari Stesen Felda Medoi, Segamat telah dianalisis dan dihubungkait dengan data telemetri. Data taburan hujan selama 8 tahun tersebut menunjukkan kawasan Bandar Segamat menerima hujan bulanan yang berjulat daripada 2.5 mm (Februari 2004) sehingga 536.8 mm (Januari 2003). Taburan hujan bulanan Oktober sehingga Disember 2006 menunjukkan kenaikan secara positif, iaitu daripada 118 mm sehingga 435 mm/bulan tetapi berlaku penurunan (392 mm) pada Januari 2007. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa hujan lebat yang luar biasa dan keadaan bentuk topografi yang rendah dan beralun di kawasan kajian adalah penyebab utama banjir di Segamat.
Ficus deltoidea is one of the common medicinal plants used in Malaysia. This epiphytic plant, from the Moraceae family has been claimed to have antidiabetic property. However, scientific evidence to confirm its efficacy is still lacking. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of ethanolic extract of F. deltoidea on glucose level in normal rats at different prandial state. The results showed that, all doses of ethanolic extract of F. deltoidea reduced fasting blood glucose particularly after 6 h of administration. Interestingly, the extract did not produce severe hypoglycemia as shown by its comparable effect with metformin. Likewise, postprandial hyperglycemia was also significantly reduced particularly after 4 and 6 h of administration. Furthermore, extract was used at a dose of 1000 mg/kg b.w., reduced postprandial hyperglycemia similar to metformin. This suggests that postprandial antihyperglycemic mechanism of this extract is mediated through enhancement of glucose uptake into muscle cells and reduction of hepatic gluconeogenesis. Glucose tolerance activity was also significantly improved in the presence of ethanolic extract of F. deltoidea. From this study, it is suggested that ethanolic extract of F. deltoidea reduced postprandial hyperglycemia and improves glucose tolerance activity in normal rats.
Ultrafine, cemented tungsten carbide (WC) possesses exceptional hardness, wear resistance and high strength in various applications. In this study, WC was produced through micro powder injection molding (μPIM), which is also applicable for metals and ceramics in producing complex parts with high-dimensional accuracy. Different inhibitors, such as VC, Cr2C3, NbC, or TaC, were added to improve the mechanical properties of WC and control its grain growth. The effects of a grain growth inhibitor were investigated by adding VC in WC–10%Co–nVC, where n = 0 to 1.2 wt. %. The mechanical properties of the sintered part, such as hardness and flexural strength, were determined. The morphology and elemental distribution of the samples were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction was employed to study the phases of the obtained samples. The results showed that the sample with 0.4 wt. % VC (optimal amount) sintered at 1410°C exhibited the highest theoretical density, hardness and flexural strength of 95.2%, 1973±31 HV and 2586±172 MPa, respectively. The average grain size measured was 519±27 nm. VC acted as a grain growth inhibitor during sintering, thereby improving the mechanical properties.
In this study, the numerical solution of stagnation point flow over a stretching surface, generated by Newtonian heating in which the heat transfer from the surface is proportional to the local surface temperature is considered. The transformed boundary layer equations are solved numerically using the shooting method. Numerical solutions are obtained for the local heat transfer coefficient, the surface temperature and the temperature profiles. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics for various values of the Prandtl number, stretching parameter and conjugate parameter are analyzed and discussed.
Bioethanol is a very environmentally friendly liquid biofuel that is not only renewable, but also sustainable. It is currently
deemed as a highly suitable additive and substitute energy source to replace fossil based fuel. In this study, bioethanol
was produced from sago hampas by using commercial amylase, cellulase and Saccharomyces cerevisiae via sequential
saccharification and simultaneous fermentation (SSSF), a modified version of the simultaneous saccharification and
fermentation (SSF) process. SSSF was performed on sago hampas at 2.5 and 5.0% (w/v) feedstock load for five days. The
samples taken from the SSSF broths were analysed via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for ethanol, glucose
and acetic acid production. From the results obtained, SSSF with 5.0% sago hampas loading exhibited the highest ethanol
production at 14.13 g/L (77.43% of theoretical ethanol yield), while SSSF using 2.5% sago hampas loading produced
ethanol at 6.45 g/L (69.24% of theoretical ethanol yield). This study has shown that ethanol not only can be produced
from sago hampas using different enzyme mixtures and S. cerevisiae via SSSF, but yields were also high, making this
process highly promising for the production of cheap and sustainable ethanol as fuel.
Epoxy shape memory foam (ESM) was produced by an advanced aqueous method. Mixture of epoxy, sodium bicarbonate,
hardener and ammonium chloride was premixed and emulsified in distilled water by using high speed stirring (at 1200
rpm). The content of sodium bicarbonate used was 5, 10, 15 and 20 phr. Besides that, ammonium chloride was used
(based on stoichiometrical content) to also function as acidifying agent in initiating the decomposition process of sodium
bicarbonate at lower foaming temperature. The foam morphology was observed using SEM. It was found that higher
sodium bicarbonate produced more porosity, more cell size, thinner cell wall and more cell interconnection. Epoxy shape
memory foam with 10 phr of sodium bicarbonate exhibited good shape memory property and better compression set.
Shape memory behaviour was measured by the recovered time of the transformed sample to its original shape.
The development of overweight and obesity among women in Malaysia has shown an increasing trend between the year 2003 and 2014 base on the Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey report in 2015. The prevalence of obesity was significantly higher in women by 22.9% compared to men 14.5%. There are many factors contributing to the upsurge of obesity among women and among most, sleep disorders has been the emerging issue which has longed been discussed. Certain important factors affecting women related to sleep quality such as stress, insomnia, depression and some biological conditions like menopause, menstrual cycle and pregnancy can affect sleep quality. This paper serves to review how lack of sleep quality is associated to the development of obesity and why healthy sleep behaviour could aid to weight loss. Public health approaches to reducing the burden of obesity must consider equipping the women in managing their sleep related issues and how they are able to control the food consumption and lifestyle of the family. Thus, promoting healthy sleep behaviour among women emphasized on the importance of deriving sleep quality through three important factors that is early bed time, sleep in the dark and sleep duration would be a contributing factor in managing obesity through healthy lifestyle changes.
Study name: Malaysian Adult Nutrition Survey (MAN-2014)
Love is an important psychological entity in relation to marital satisfaction. Therefore, this study aimed to compare how married couples from three groups’ length of marriage (1-5 years, 6-18 years and 19 years) perceive love (intimacy, passion and commitment) and to compare marital satisfaction across three length of marriage. This study applied the survey research design using a combination of cluster and stratified sampling techniques. Questionnaires which were distributed consisted of questions related to personal background, marital background, love and marital satisfaction. Malay married individuals residing in Lembah Klang from eight different locations who volunteered to participate in this study were given questionnaires to complete. 310 participants (155 males and 155 females) completed the questionnaires which later were collected for data analysis. Results showed that there were significant differences on how three groups length of marriage (1-5 years, 6-18 years and 19 years above of marriage) perceive love (commitment and passion). However, there were no differences in marital satisfaction between the three groups length of marriage as suggested by previous research. Results indicated that love has an important psychological role at any stages of marriage. This research suggested that more research should explore the psychological aspects of love within marriage and its contribution to psychological wellbeing of married couples.
Public perceptions, understanding and acceptance of modern biotechnology can both promote and hamper their commercial introduction and adoption. Various studies have shown that consumer acceptance of modern biotechnology tend to be conditional and dependent on several factors. Public perceptions of biotechnology have received extensive attention in recent years in most Western countries such as Europe, USA and Canada but there have been limited similar surveys in developing countries. Most of the earlier studies used uni-dimensional or bi-dimensional instrument with multi-items or the most is four dimensions with single item. In this study, public attitude towards genetically modified (GM) soybean that is already available in the Malaysian market. A survey was carried out on 577 general public respondents in the Klang Valley region. In order to detect the structure of attitude amongst the expert group in the Klang Valley region, structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS version 5.1 was carried out. Result of the survey has confirmed that attitude towards complex issues such as biotechnology should be seen as multi-faceted/ multidimensional process. The most important factors predicting encouragement of GM soybean are the specific application-linked perceptions about the benefits and acceptance of risk while moral concern, risk and familiarity are significant predictors of intermediate factors. Researchers, policy makers and industries interested in developing and marketing GM products in Malaysia should consider the various factors mentioned in this in order to gain public approval.
The ability of a locally isolated clinical strain of C. albicans to adapt and response towards oxidative stress were investigated in this study. Treatment of C. albicans with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) will exert an oxidative stress to C. albicans cells and affect the growth rate of this opportunistic pathogen. Cells that were grown in Yeast Peptone Dextrose (YPD) medium with the presence of 4.0 mM H2O2 gave a doubling time of 51 min/generation compared to 44 min/generation for those grown in 0.4 mM H2O2 and without H2O2. In order to determine the resistance level of C. albicans towards oxidative stress, cells were exposed to different concentration of H2O2. Results showed that percentage of cells viability decreased with the increased concentration of H2O2. These data indicated that C. albicans could overcome oxidative stress to a certain level before they were killed. To determine whether this strain exhibited a stress induce protection, cells were treated with mild oxidative stress for one hour before exposed to a stronger oxidative stress. Data obtained shows that cells that were pre-treated with mild oxidative stress showed higher percentage of survival compared to non pre-treated cells. This strongly suggested that stress induce protection was present in this C. albicans. Finally, in order to determine whether oxidative stress can induce yeast to hyphal morphogenesis in C. albicans, cells were then exposed to 0.4 mM H2O2 at 37 ºC and the number of hyphal formed were compared to hyphal formation when the cells were grown at 37 ºC only. However the results showed that oxidative stress failed to induce yeast to hyphal morphogenesis in this clinically isolated C. albicans strain.
Keywords: Candida albicans; oxidative stress
ZnO nanowires have been synthesized using a catalyst-free carbothermal reduction approach on SiO2-coated Si substrates in a flowing nitrogen atmosphere with a mixture of ZnO and graphite as reactants. The collected ZnO nanowires have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy. Controlled growth of the ZnO nanowires was achieved by manipulating the reactants heating temperature from 700 to 1000 oC. It was found that the optimum temperature to synthesize high density and long ZnO nanowires was about 800 0C. The possible growth mechanism of ZnO nanowires is also proposed.
Numerous routing protocols for mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have been designed in process information delivery from a source node to a destination node. In this paper, the Taguchi’s design of experiment (TDE) has been applied to investigate the performance of Destination Sequence Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol in MANETs. The effects of network parameters namely terrain sizes, node speeds, network sizes, transmission ranges, transmission rates, pause times and the number of maximum connections on packet delivery ratio and routing overhead in medium scale ad hoc networks have been done through simulation experiments. Through this study, we can rank these factors that may affect packet delivery ratio and routing overhead. The response performance was analyzed based on signal-to-noise ratio and analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results revealed that the transmission range was the most influential factor on the packet delivery ratio, followed by terrain size and transmission rate. The network size had the greatest effect on routing overhead, followed by the transmission range.
This paper reports on the synthesis and characterization of CdTe-CdSe core-shell quantum dots (QDs) with luminescent from 650 to 720 nm. The QDs were synthesized using a wet-chemical process at a moderate temperature (300 °C) following two-steps process of core and shell synthesis. The photoluminescence characterization on the QDs showed that the QDs emitted light in the range of red regime with quantum yield as high as 37%. Owing to their unique photoluminescence characteristics (high quantum yield and narrow spectrum), the QDs may find a potential application in a variety of applications such as LED, solar cell and bio-labeling.
Research on the development of lightweight concrete (LWC) utilizing wastes and natural resources as lightweight
aggregates (LWA) is increasingly gaining attention worldwide due to sustainable and environmental concerns. A new
alternative is using palm kernel oil polyol (PKO-p)-based polyurethane (PU) as filler. Rigid PU is a block copolymer
comprised of a monomeric PKO-p and 2, 4-methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (crude MDI). The property of PKO-p, its
ratio with crude MDI and reaction time were determined. The reaction time showed the average of 60 s for cream
time and 95 s for rise time with maximum hardening time of 8 min. The reaction between PKO-p to MDI at 1:1 ratio
resulted in a very short hardening time (within 2 min). The compressive strength of the rigid PU was at 7.0 MPa at a
density of 206 kg/m3
. Further increase in the amount of PKO-p increased the density and compressive strength of the
PU. PU aggregate in the concrete mixture was added at 1 to 5% (w/w) to obtain concrete with density of less than 1800
kg/m3
. The resulting concrete has excellent compressive strength (17.5 MPa) and thermal conductivity (0.24 W/m⋅K).
The results showed that physical properties of PU played the most significant effect on the physical and mechanical
properties of the lightweight concrete
This paper analyzes the bilateral ties of Kuala Lumpur-Beijing over four decades in the political, economic and socio-cultural fields. Firstly, the paper discusses the historical background of Malaysia-China informal relations from the Kingdom of Malacca; the British era; the early stages of Malaysia's independence; as well as the Cold War era. Secondly, the paper examines the beginnings of Kuala Lumpur-Beijing diplomatic relations from 1974 until the demise of the Malayan Communist Party in 1989. Thirdly, this is followed by an examination of bilateral developments between 1990 and 2008. The section analyzes the extent to which the principle of openness in Malaysian foreign policies was followed, cooperation within the framework of regionalism as well as how the rise of China's economic power has had positive impact on bilateral relations. More significantly, the paper then extends the discussion to Malaysia-China relations under Mohd Najib Abdul Razak which began in 2008 and ended with the advent of the new government of Pakatan Harapan in Malaysia in May 2018. Presently, Malaysia's foreign policy towards China is facing a revamp under Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s leadership. Yet the paper argues that the current government’s action enhances comprehensive cooperation, particularly in the political and economic spheres.
Naegleria fowleri and Balamuthia mandrillaris are protist pathogens that infect the central nervous system, causing primary amoebic meningoencephalitis and granulomatous amoebic encephalitis with mortality rates of over 95%. Quinazolinones and their derivatives possess a wide spectrum of biological properties, but their antiamoebic effects against brain-eating amoebae have never been tested before. In this study, we synthesized a variety of 34 novel arylquinazolinones derivatives (Q1-Q34) by altering both quinazolinone core and aryl substituents. To study the antiamoebic activity of these synthetic arylquinazolinones, amoebicidal and amoebistatic assays were performed against N. fowleri and B. mandrillaris. Moreover, amoebae-mediated host cells cytotopathogenicity and cytotoxicity assays were performed against human keratinocytes cells in vitro. The results revealed that selected arylquinazolinones derivatives decreased the viability of B. mandrillaris and N. fowleri significantly (P < 0.05) and reduced cytopathogenicity of both parasites. Furthermore, these compounds were also found to be least cytotoxic against HaCat cells. Considering that nanoparticle-based materials possess potent in vitro activity against brain-eating amoebae, we conjugated quinazolinones derivatives with silver nanoparticles and showed that activities of the drugs were enhanced successfully after conjugation. The current study suggests that quinazolinones alone as well as conjugated with silver nanoparticles may serve as potent therapeutics against brain-eating amoebae.
Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti dan membandingkan tahap kesedaran dan tingkah laku risiko yang "altruistik".antara jantina selain meninjau hubungan antara keduanya dalam kegiatan rekreasi dalam Program Pembangunan Masyarakat Guru (BIG). Satu set soalan yang ditanyakan telah digunakan berbanding 81 pelajar tahun akhir Fakulti Pendidikan, KUIS di Raub, Pahang. Persoalan penyelidikan terdiri daripada dua perubahan, iaitu kesadaran terhadap risiko dan tingkah laku keselamatan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan kesedaran yang tinggi tentang risiko semasa aktiviti rekreasi. Analisis ujian T menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan dalam kesedaran terhadap risiko dan kelakuan keselamatan antara wanita. Analisis korelasi Pearson menunjukkan bahawa terdapat hubungan positif yang signifikan antara kesedaran risiko (peraturan keselamatan) dan tingkah laku keselamatan "altruistic". Implikasi kajian ini ialah rekreasi dan pentadbir universiti perlu mengambil kira pelbagai jenis risiko dalam merekabentuk aktiviti rekreasi luar. Tahap kesadaran risiko yang tinggi dapat membantu pelajar dengan tingkah laku yang baik dalam aktiviti rekreasi luar yang mereka berminat.