Mental health disorders (MHDs) among refugees has been recognized as a major public health issue. However, to date, there is limited evidence on the prevalence of MHDs among Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. This study aimed to examine the prevalence and associated factors of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Rohingya refugees in Malaysia. A total of 220 refugees were randomly selected to participate in this cross-sectional study, conducted from June 2019 to November 2019. Perceived social support, religious orientation, food security, and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed as independent variables. The dependent variables assessed were MDD, GAD, and PTSD. The prevalence of GAD, PTSD, and MDD was reported at 92 (41.8%), 84 (38.2%), and 71 (32.3%). Several factors were significantly associated with MDD following multivariate analysis such as perceived low to moderate social support (AOR = 2.17; 95% CI 1.13, 4.19) and food insecurity (AOR = 2.77; 95% CI 1.19, 6.47). Exposure to violence (AOR = 38.46; 95% CI 16.27, 90.91) and food insecurity (AOR = 3.74; 95% CI 1.41, 9.91) were significantly associated with PTSD. Addressing these risk factors could be key in improving mental health outcomes among this vulnerable population.
The effects of propylene stored in pressurized spherical vessel were investigated using radiation & explosion modeling using PHAST 6.7 software in one of the refinery in Malaysia. The simulations were performed for various weather conditions with different leak scenarios in deterministic approach. Modeling approach was standard with current industry practice. Resulting events such as jet fire, vapor cloud explosion, boiling liquid evaporating vapor explosion effects shown in thermal radiation and overpressure towards targeted technical buildings. The effects of resulting jet fire flame length increase with release rate and explosion overpressure effects increase with degree of confinement and volume fraction respectively. The results were reviewed, interpreted against industry standard. The sensitivity cases show that, using lower inventory with moderate operating conditions will keep the consequence in acceptable region. This consequence analysis will form a basis for layout development, safety distance and fire zone segregation during conceptual design stage. Propylene storage conditions, layout arrangements and blast protections were recommended as part of preventive and mitigative measures.
The Setiu Wetlands, a unique area with nine interconnected habitats, comprises a considerable fraction of the total Peninsular Malaysia's wetland flora. Although botanical collecting in the area has been active in the past 10 years, only a few studies dealing with the wetland flora have been published. Thus, a detailed checklist of this area is urgently needed to ensure the continuity of its inter-relating flora and fauna, as well as the livelihood of the local people. In this work we conducted a survey of the vascular plant flora of Setiu Wetlands and investigated the most important plants used by the local communities. Our checklist accounts for 406 taxa from 277 genera and 106 families, including 24 (6%) species of ferns and lycophytes, three gymnosperms, 257 (64%) dicotyledons and 122 (30%) monocotyledons. This comprehensive plant checklist will be a primary reference for the management of the newly gazetted Setiu Wetlands State Park covering more than 400 hectares of lands and water bodies.
Tissue engineering (TE) research serves to overcome the major obstacles in organ transplantation. This paper summarizes the progress of TE in Malaysia. The online database of Elsevier’s SCOPUS was accessed. Publications related to TE from 1960 till 2017 were scrutinized. The results show an increasing trend in tissue engineering research and development in Malaysia. The search result identified and examined 264 original article publications. It is hoped that the outcomes of this study could serve as a point of reference for researchers on the status of TE research and development in Malaysia. The findings of this study could assist TE researchers in Malaysia to identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and obstacles towards further enhancement in their activities. Consolidating, realigning and re-strategizing those initiatives should also be seen within the context of nurturing potential and budding researchers in TE.
An environmental problem which is of concern across the globe nowadays is air pollution. The extent of air pollution is often studied based on data on the observed level of air pollution. Although the analysis of air pollution data that is available in the literature is numerous, studies on the dynamics of air pollution with the allowance for spatial interaction effects through the use of the Markov chain model are very limited. Accordingly, this study aims to explore the potential impact of spatial dependence over time and space on the distribution of air pollution based on the spatial Markov chain (SMC) model using the longitudinal air pollution index (API) data. This SMC model is pertinent to be applied since the daily data of API from 2012 to 2014 that have been gathered from 37 different air quality stations in Peninsular Malaysia is found to exhibit the property of spatial autocorrelation. Based on the spatial transition probability matrices found from the SMC model, specific characteristics of air pollution are studied in the regional context. These characteristics are the long-run proportion and the mean first passage time for each state of air pollution. It is found that the probability for a particular station's state to remain good is 0.814 if its neighbors are in a good state of air pollution and 0.7082 if its neighbors are in a moderate state. For a particular station having neighbors in a good state of air pollution, the proportion of time for it to continue being in a good state is 0.6. This proportion reduces to 0.4, 0.01, and 0 for the cell of moderate, unhealthy, and very unhealthy states, respectively. In addition, there exists a significant spatial dependence of API, indicating that air pollution for a particular station is dependent on the states of the neighboring stations.
The development of news media and social media has radically changed the way the public consumes information. This study explores the structure of online news media networks in three countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, to investigate the phenomenon of fragmentation in the news consumption pattern on social media. Based on the results of the three network indicators used in this study, it can be concluded that the structure of online news media networks in Indonesia and Malaysia shows a tendency of fragmentation. In contrast, this study did not find sufficient evidence that the phenomenon of fragmentation was occurring in the Singapore media network. In-depth analysis on each formed media cluster shows that online news media in Indonesia and Malaysia tend to group based on similarity in market segments, regions or political alignments.
Furcantenna malayanasp. nov. is described from Peninsular Malaysia, based on a single female collected in 1962. The other two known species of this genus are also known from single specimens, from Southeastern China and Nepal. A key to the species is given, and the taxonomy and distribution of the genus are discussed.
Fibres from banana’s stem are abundantly available in Malaysia. This study focused on the production
of woven fabric from banana pseudo-stem fibres. Yarn made of 100% banana stem and 100% cotton
yarn were produced. Two types of retting techniques were conducted, which are water retting and
retting using softening agent. The fibres were spun and weaved into plain weave fabric. All specimens
were evaluated for yarn twist, yarn evenness, yarn linear density and selected fabric physical
properties. The results obtained showed that banana stem fabric treated with softening agent has lower
area density and higher thickness. Weft sample retted in softening agent has higher bending length and
flexural rigidity than sample retted in water. This might be due to the decrement of yarn’s stiffness,
which eases the insertion of yarn during shedding process. Weft sample retted in water has lower
bending length due to coarser yarn and tends to break easily. It is found that retting banana stem fibres
with softening agent affect the yarn linear density, area density, fabric stiffness properties and flexural
rigidity of the fabric.
Betta nuluhon, new species, is described from a hill stream habitat in western Sabah. This species is allied to both B. chini and B. balunga, and differs from rest of its congeners in the B. akarensis group in having the following combination of characters: yellow iris when live; mature males with greenish-blue iridescence on opercle when live; mature fish with distinct transverse bars on caudal fin; slender body (body depth 22.1-25.2 % SL); belly area with faint reticulate pattern (scales posteriorly rimmed with black); absence of tiny black spots on anal fin; lateral scales 29-31 (mode 30); predorsal scales 20-21 (mode 20). Notes on a fresh series of B. chini are also provided.
A new species of Clidicini ant-like stone beetles, Clidicus mawarensis sp. n., is described and illustrated. The holotype male was collected in East Malaysia (Borneo: Sabah); the new species belongs to a group of large-bodied Clidicus, and shows similarities to C. ganglbaueri Reitter; the male has unusually complex structures of the aedeagal apical region.
Wood-based industry is one of the main drivers of economic growth in Malaysia. Forest being the source of various lignocellulosic materials has many untapped potentials that could be exploited to produce sustainable and biodegradable nanosized material that possesses very interesting features for use in wood-based industry itself or across many different application fields. Wood-based products sector could also utilise various readily available nanomaterials to enhance the performance of existing products or to create new value added products from the forest. This review highlights recent developments in nanotechnology application in the wood-based products industry.
Two new Codonoboea species, C. kenaboiensis Syahida-Emiza, Y.Y.Sam & Siti-Munirah and C. ruthiae Syahida-Emiza, Y.Y. Sam & Siti-Munirah were discovered from the Kenaboi State Park, Peninsular Malaysia. Descriptions, illustrations, colour plates and provisional conservation status are provided.
The red-bellied form of Calliophis intestinalis (Laurenti, 1768) sensu lato was originally reported from Pahang, west Malaysia. To determine the taxonomic status of this form, we examined the type specimens of Elaps sumatranus Lidth De Jeude, 1890, Calliophis intestinalis everetti (Boulenger, 1896), and Callophis furcatus var. nigrotaeniatus Peters, 1863. The results indicated that the red-bellied form of C. intestinalis should be named as Calliophis nigrotaeniatus comb. nov., whose valid species status was based on morphological and molecular analyses. We designate a lectotype and redescribe the species, which is genetically close to Calliophis bilineatus (Peters, 1881) from the Philippines, and is clearly distinguishable from other congeners by possessing a pair of gray or dark blue lateral stripes and by being bright red on the ventrum. Elaps sumatranus and C. i. everetti are relegated to subjective junior synonyms of C. nigrotaeniatus.