A single sample from the logged section at eastern side of Gua Panjang limestone hill, southwest of Kampung Kubang
Rasa Village, Merapoh, has yielded 5 very important conodont species. They are Hindeodus parvus erectus, Hindeodus
parvus parvus, Hindeodus latidentatus latidentatus, Hindeodus latidentatus praeparvus, Hindeodus postparvus, Hindeodus
eurypge and Isarcicella staeschi. These Early Triassic conodonts were obtained in a bioclastic dolostone sample, located
2.5 m above bioclastic grainstone which yielded Late Permian foraminifera. The conodonts found were given Conodont
Alteration Index (CAI) scale of 5, consistent with the heating of Main Range granitoid during Indosinian Orogeny.
Limestone harbouring basal Triassic conodonts in Gua Panjang is interpreted to be deposited in an open shallow marine
shelf environment.
The relationship between national income growth and the environment of 14 Asian economies over a 50 year period is examined using the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Ecological Footprint (EF) measures environmental impacts and gross domestic product (GDP) measures economic growth. It is hypothesised that increased rates of economic growth come at a cost to the natural environment. The EKC hypothesis has been mainly tested in the literature by cross-sectional or panel data methods. In this study, it is tested using time series analysis through initially examining the relationship between EF and GDP using linear, quadratic and cubic estimating OLS regression functions. In the second stage, the long-run relationship between EF and GDP is investigated using an augmented error correction trend model. There is a statistically significant cointegrated long-run relationship between the variables in most of the countries. The EKC hypothesis is supported in the case of India, Nepal, Malaysia and Pakistan with the other countries exhibiting a positive linear relationship between the two variables. Almost all error correction terms are correct in sign and significance that implies that some percentage of disequilibria in EF in the previous year adjusts back to the long-run equilibrium in the current year. Based on the long-run relationship, it is apparent that rapid economic growth has had an impact on the environment and the ecosystems of these countries over the last 50 years. Despite that, until now, not many of them have taken sufficient steps to reduce their EF or to improve their bioproductive capacity.
We analyse molecular and phenotypic evolution in a group of taxonomically problematic Indomalayan pitvipers, the Trimeresurus sumatranus group. Mitochondrial DNA sequencing provides a well-resolved phylogeny, with each species representing a distinct lineage. Multivariate morphological analysis reveals a high level of phenotypic differentiation, which is congruent between the sexes but does not reflect phylogenetic history. An adaptive explanation for the observed pattern of differentiation is supported by independent contrasts analysis, which shows significant correlations between current ecology and the characters that most account for the variation between taxa, including those that are presently used to identify the species. Reduced precipitation and altitude, and increased temperature, are correlated with higher numbers of scales on the head, body and tail. It is hypothesized that scale number plays an important role in heat and water exchange by influencing the area of exposed of interstitial skin, and that colour pattern variation reflects selection pressures involving camouflage and thermoregulation. Ecological convergence in traits used for classification is found to have important implications for species identification where taxa are distributed over varying environments.
The embodied carbon of building materials and the energy consumed during construction have a significant impact on the environmental credentials of buildings. The structural systems of a building present opportunities to reduce environmental emissions and energy. In this regard, mass timber materials have considerable potential as sustainable materials over other alternatives such as steel and concrete. The aim of this investigation was to compare the environment impact, energy consumption, and life cycle cost (LCC) of different wood-based materials in identical single-story residential buildings. The materials compared are laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and glued laminated timber (GLT). GLT has less global warming potential (GWP), ozone layer depletion (OLD), and land use (LU), respectively, by 29%, 37%, and 35% than LVL. Conversely, LVL generally has lower terrestrial acidification potential (TAP), human toxicity potential (HTP), and fossil depletion potential (FDP), respectively, by 30%, 17%, and 27%. The comparative outcomes revealed that using LVL reduces embodied energy by 41%. To identify which of these materials is the best alternative, various environmental categories, embodied energy, and cost criteria require further analysis. Therefore, the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method has been applied to enable robust decision-making. The outcome showed that LVL manufacturing using softwood presents the most sustainable choice. These research findings contribute to the body of knowledge about the use of mass timber in construction.
Domestic dogs, Canis lupus, have been one of the longest companions of humans and have introduced their own menagerie of parasites and pathogens into this relationship. Here, we investigate the parasitic load of 212 domestic dogs with fleas (Siphonaptera) chewing lice (Phthiraptera), and ticks (Acarina) along a gradient from rural areas with near-natural forest cover to suburban areas in Northern Borneo (Sabah, Malaysia). We used a spatially-explicit hierarchical Bayesian model that allowed us to impute missing data and to consider spatial structure in modelling dog infestation probability and parasite density. We collected a total of 1,968 fleas of two species, Ctenocephalides orientis and Ctenocephalides felis felis, from 195 dogs (prevalence, 92 %). Flea density was higher on dogs residing in houses made of bamboo or corrugated metal (increase of 40 % from the average) compared to timber or stone/compound houses. Host-dependent and landscape-level environmental variables and spatial structure only had a weak explanatory power. We found adults of the invasive chewing louse Heterodoxus spiniger on 42 dogs (20 %). The effect of housing conditions was opposite to those for fleas; lice were only found on dogs residing in stone or timber houses. We found ticks of the species Rhipicephalus sanguineus as well as Haemaphysalis bispinosa gp., Haemaphysalis cornigera, Haemaphysalis koenigsbergi, and Haemaphysalis semermis on 36 dogs (17 %). The most common tick species was R. sanguineus, recorded from 23 dogs. Tick infestations were highest on dogs using both plantation and forest areas (282 % increase in overall tick density of dogs using all habitat types). The infestation probability of dogs with lice and ticks decreased with elevation, most infestations occurred below 800 m above sea level. However, the density of lice and ticks revealed no spatial structure; infestation probability of dogs with these two groups revealed considerable autocorrelation. Our study shows that environmental conditions on the house level appeared to be more influential on flea and lice density whereas tick density was also influenced by habitat use. Infestation of dogs with Haemaphysalis ticks identified an important link between dogs and forest wildlife for potential pathogen transmission.
Asymmetrical street aspect ratios, i.e. different height-to-width (H1/W-H2/W) ratios, have not received much attention in the study of urban climates. Putrajaya Boulevard (northeast to southwest orientation) in Malaysia was selected to study the influence of six asymmetrical aspect ratio scenarios on the street microclimate using the Envi-met three-dimensional microclimate model (V3.1 Beta). Putrajaya Boulevard suffers from high surface and air temperature during the day due to the orientation, the low aspect ratio and the wide sky view factor. These issues are a common dilemma in many boulevards. Further, low and high symmetrical streets are incompatible with tropical regions as they offer conflicting properties during the day and at night. These scenarios are examined, therefore, to find asymmetrical streets which are able to reduce the impact of the day microclimate on boulevards, and as an alternative strategy fulfilling tropical day and night climatic conditions. Asymmetrical streets are better than low symmetrical streets in enhancing wind flow and blocking solar radiation, when tall buildings confront winds direction or solar altitudes. Therefore, mitigating heat islands or improving microclimates in asymmetrical streets based on tall buildings position which captures wind or caste shades. In northeast to southwest direction, aspect ratios of 0.8-2 reduce the morning microclimate and night heat islands yet the negative effects during the day are greater than the positive effects in the night. An aspect ratio of 2-0.8 reduces the temperature of surfaces by 10 to 14 °C and the air by 4.7 °C, recommended for enhancing boulevard microclimates and mitigating tropical heat islands.
Austenitic stainless steels of grade 304 were exposed to dry (Ar-75%CO2) and wet (Ar-75%CO2-12%H2O) environments at 700oC. This experimental setup involved horizontal tube furnace connected to CO2 gas and water vapour facilities. X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique, variable pressure-scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM) and optical microscope techniques were used to characterize the products of corrosion. The results of XRD showed that the phase of oxide layers consists of Cr2O3 and NiCr2O4 in dry CO2, meanwhile Fe2O3, Cr2O3, Fe0.56Ni0.34, Fe3O4 were identified in wet condition after 50 h. Adding 12%H2O in Ar-75%CO2 leads significantly in weight change occurred at 10 h exposure. However, after 20 h, the weight gain was decreased due to spallation of the oxide scale. The addition of water vapour accelerates the oxidation rate on the steel than that in dry condition. Morphologies and growth kinetics of these oxides vary with reaction condition. The oxidation behaviour at different times of exposure and the effect of water vapour were discussed in correlation with the microstructure of the oxides.
The extent to which genetic gain achieved from selection programs under strictly controlled environments in the nucleus that can be expressed in commercial production systems is not well-documented in aquaculture species. The main aim of this paper was to assess the effects of genotype by environment interaction on genetic response and genetic parameters for four body traits (harvest weight, standard length, body depth, body width) and survival in Red tilapia (Oreochromis spp.). The growth and survival data were recorded on 19,916 individual fish from a pedigreed population undergoing three generations of selection for increased harvest weight in earthen ponds from 2010 to 2012 at the Aquaculture Extension Center, Department of Fisheries, Jitra in Kedah, Malaysia. The pedigree comprised a total of 224 sires and 262 dams, tracing back to the base population in 2009. A multivariate animal model was used to measure genetic response and estimate variance and covariance components. When the homologous body traits in freshwater pond and cage were treated as genetically distinct traits, the genetic correlations between the two environments were high (0.85-0.90) for harvest weight and square root of harvest weight but the estimates were of lower magnitudes for length, width and depth (0.63-0.79). The heritabilities estimated for the five traits studied differed between pond (0.02 to 0.22) and cage (0.07 to 0.68). The common full-sib effects were large, ranging from 0.23 to 0.59 in pond and 0.11 to 0.31 in cage across all traits. The direct and correlated responses for four body traits were generally greater in pond than in cage environments (0.011-1.561 vs. -0.033-0.567 genetic standard deviation units, respectively). Selection for increased harvest body weight resulted in positive genetic changes in survival rate in both pond and cage culture. In conclusion, the reduced selection response and the magnitude of the genetic parameter estimates in the production environment (i.e., cage) relative to those achieved in the nucleus (pond) were a result of the genotype by environment interaction and this effect should be taken into consideration in the future breeding program for Red tilapia.
Effective talent development requires robust supervision. However, the effects of supervisory styles (coaching, mentoring and abusive supervision) on talent development and the moderating effects of clinical learning environment in the relationship between supervisory styles and talent development among public hospital trainee doctors have not been thoroughly researched. In this study, we aim to achieve the following, (1) identify the extent to which supervisory styles (coaching, mentoring and abusive supervision) can facilitate talent development among trainee doctors in public hospital and (2) examine whether coaching, mentoring and abusive supervision are moderated by clinical learning environment in predicting talent development among trainee doctors in public hospital.
Among the challenges for superconducting devices to be applied in industry are the need for high transport critical current density (Jr) and sustainability of the device in different environment. For superconducting material to maintain high 4, effective flux pinning centers are needed. The addition of small size MgO particles in bulk Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8 (Bi-2212) superconductor has been proven to enhance the effective flux pinning centers in the superconducting material. Nevertheless, the flux pinning properties of the superconducting materials may change if they are exposed to radioactive environment. Electron irradiation is one of the common techniques that can be used to study the impact of irradiation on superconducting materials. In this work, a small amount of nanosize MgO particles were used as the flux pinning centers for Bi-2212 superconducting material. The Bi-2212/MgO composite was heat treated and followed by partial melting and slow cooling. Some of the samples were subjected to electron irradiation using the facility at the Malaysian Nuclear Agency. Characterizations of non-irradiated and irradiated samples were performed via X-ray Diffraction Patterns (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and measurements of J, dependence on temperature in self-field. Higher J, indicates better flux pinning properties in irradiated superconductor composite. This is achieved if defects with larger radius with dimension comparable to the coherence length of the superconducting material were created. On the other hand, decreased in Je indicates ineffective flux pinning and this is attributed to the overlapping of defects that break the superconducting region. Our study showed that electron irradiation deteriorated the flux pinning properties of the Bi-2212/MgO superconductor composite.
This paper examines the effects of energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development on carbon emissions in a panel of 122 countries. We employ both first-generation and second-generation cointegration and estimation procedures in order to address diverse economic and econometric issues such as heterogeneity, endogeneity, and cross-sectional dependence. We find a cointegration relationship between the variables. Energy consumption, economic growth, and financial development have detrimental effects on carbon emissions in the full sample. When the sample is split into different income groups, we reveal that economic growth and financial development mitigate carbon emissions in high-income group but have the opposite effects in low-income and middle-income groups. The implication of the findings is that energy consumption increases carbon emissions. While high levels of income and financial development decrease carbon emissions, low levels of income and financial development intensify it. Based on the findings, the paper makes some policy recommendations.
Phenolic acid content and composition have been determined in 26 wheat genotypes grown in Hungary over three consecutive years and at three additional locations (France, United Kingdom, and Poland) during the third year. Fractions comprising free, soluble conjugated, and bound phenolic acids were analyzed using HPLC with measurements being made for individual phenolic acids in each fraction. Statistically significant differences in phenolic acid content occurred across the different growing locations with the average total phenolic acid content being highest in the genotypes grown in Hungary. The growth year in Hungary also had a large impact, especially on the free and conjugated phenolic acid contents. Certain genotypes were more resistant to environmental impacts than others. Of the genotypes with high levels of total phenolic acids, Lynx, Riband, Tommi, and Cadenza were most stable with respect to their total contents, whereas Valoris, Herzog, and Malacca, also high in phenolic acid content, were least stable. Of the three fractions analyzed, the free and conjugated phenolic acids were most variable and were also susceptible to the effect of environment, whereas bound phenolic acids, which comprised the greatest proportion of the total phenolic acids, were the most stable.
A child's growth achievement depends on his genetic endowment and the environment in which he lives; Comparative studies of children of similar racial origin but growing under different environmental conditions have shown differences in their body size and shape. In general higher income families produce offspring with higher mean birth weight. This is largely due to better nutrition and care of mothers during pregnancy and childhood. Children from higher socioeconomic groups are on an average larger in size in terms of weight, height, head circumference, midarm circumference, crown-rump length and leg length. This is largely due to a better home environment including sanitation, nutrition, health and care enjoyed by the better-off children. .Generally urban children are larger than rural children mainly due to economic differences between the two areas. In most countries the secular trend to children getting larger still continues reflecting an improvement of living conditions with time. Unlike body size, body shape is less influenced by the environment and the change in body proportion brought about by environment is not permanent. In developing countries, children from higher socioeconomic families have generally thicker skinfolds. On the average, infants and preschool children of European ancestry have thicker triceps skinfolds compared with Negroes and Asians living in comparable environments. It is possible that this is due to long term adaptation to different climatic conditions.
Warm compaction is an advanced manufacturing technique which consists of two consecutive steps, i.e. powder compaction at above ambient temperature and sintering in a controlled environment. Due to the relative movement between the powder mass and die wall as well as sliding among powder particles, frictional force is generated during the compaction stage. Admixed lubricant is used during the compaction step in order to minimize friction and hence improve the uniformity of the density of distribution inside the component. However, during the sintering process, trapped lubricant is often found to be burnt out hence leaving pores or voids which result in the lower strength of the final products. Warm compaction was initiated in the nineties, however not much information has been published about the effects of lubrication on the quality of the components produced through this route. Therefore, this paper presents the outcome of an experimental investigation about the effects of lubrication on manufacturing near-net shape components through the warm compaction route. Iron powder ASC 100.29 was mixed mechanically with zinc stearate to prepare the feedstock. Mixing time, weight percentage of lubricant content and compaction temperature were varied during green compact generation while sintering temperature, heating rate and holding time were manipulated during sintering. The relative densities and strengths of the final products were investigated at every compaction as well as sintering parameter. The results revealed that lubrication could provide significant effects at the compaction temperature of 180ºC while no significant effect of lubrication was observed during sintering. The suitable lubricant content was found to be 0.4 wt% and mixing time was around 30 min and the sintering temperature was around 990ºC.
Global warming is the main concern in today’s century as it comes with numerous side effects to the natural environment. Open Top Chambers (OTC) consist of metal constructions with transparent vertical side-walls and a frustum on top. An opening in the middle of the frustum allows an air exchange to reduce temperature and humidity effects in the chamber. The size of the open top chamber which is located in Universiti Putra Malaysia is slanted 60o, 50cm tall, 2.08m basal diameter hexagon chamber. The Open Top Chamber experiments were carried out to determine how much global warming has affected and is still affecting the temperature, pH, the moisture and the growth of the microbes in the tropical soil. The aim of this study is to elucidate the effects of temperature increase on the soil microbes’ population and on the pH of the soil. The study was conducted to observe the effect of heat on the population of soil microbes and the pH of the soil which was collected on the same day for 6 consecutive months. The microbes from the samples were grown on agar plates. The population of microbes on the plates were used as values were for Colony Forming Unit (CFU) value calculations. The effects of OTCs on mean temperature showed a large range of CFU values throughout the 6 months but did not differ significantly between studies. Increases in mean monthly and diurnal temperature were strongly related, indicating that the presence of warming effect by the OTCs. Such predictive power allows a better mechanistic understanding of observed biotic response to experimental warming. This study will be useful for the understanding of the global warming effect on microbes. The Open Top Chamber experiment has proven to be one of the effective model for global warming research and data collected especially on the growth of soil microbial obtained would be of great use for further experiments.
The effect of season on yield and quality of organic solvent extracts from Gracilaria changii was determined. The sustainability of the bioactive compound of G. changii from Malaysia was investigated by using the TLC and FTIR standards methods. Studies was carried out to examine the sustainability of the bioactive compound in the various extract obtained from G. changii collected from Pantai Morib, Beach Selangor Malaysia on bimonthly for a period of one year in 2003. This study revealed that the bioactive compounds was present all over the year but with different quantities. In general the variation in yield or quantities of bioactive compound was related to environment. G. changii can be considered a candidate for drug development since it retained the number of bioactive compound.
Linear density polyethylene (LDPE)/thermoplastic sago starch (TPSS), blended with and without the addition of compatibilizer [Polyethylene-grafted-Maleic Anhydride, (PE-g-MA)] were prepared for soil burial test. The test was conducted in the natural soil environment for 3 and 6 months. Different loading of TPSS (10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt. %) were used in this study. After soil burial, the blends were evaluated for their tensile properties and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the surface morphology properties after the test. For LDPE/TPSS, it was observed that the tensile strength decreased with the increase of soil burial time, as well as Young modulus and elongation at break (EB). The LDPE/TPSS/PE-g-MA also showed the same trend for the tensile properties, but with higher properties as compared to uncompatibilized blends. The tensile properties also decreased with the increase in the TPSS loading for both the LDPE/TPSS and LDPE/TPSS/PE-g-MA. Meanwhile,
the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) on the blend surfaces after the soil burial test showed that degradability increased with the increase in the exposure time as well as the TPSS loading.
Immune cell-based therapies using natural killer (NK) cells and cytotoxic T cells are under constant scrutiny, with the aim to design an effective and reduced-toxicity therapy, which will benefit patients via improved quality of life and improved prognosis. Four patients with stage IV colon cancer were administered 1, 3, 5 and 6 effector cell intravenous infusions, respectively. Peripheral blood was collected from the patients and the ex vivo activation and expansion of NK and T cells was performed in Good Manufacturing Practice-certified clean rooms for ~12-15 days. Immunophenotypic analysis of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and expanded NK and T cells was conducted using flow cytometry and the patients were followed up. On average, 4.8×107 initial PBMCs and 2.7×109 total expanded cells were obtained. The intravenous infusions of the expanded cells were not accompanied by adverse reactions. Improved prognosis, reflected by a considerable decrease in the cancer markers, accompanied by an improved quality of life in the patients were observed. In conclusion, potential strategies are currently under development for the large-scale production of effectors cells; therefore, autologous immune enhancement therapy (AIET) may be considered as a viable approach to cancer treatment.
An emerging infection is defined as an infection which has newly appeared in a population while a re-emerging infection is one which has existed in the past but its incidence is rapidly increasing. The reasons for the emergence and re-emergence of infections are not well understood but appear to be associated with factors that involve the pathogen, the host and the environment. These factors are often inter-related and act together in a complex manner to bring about changes in patterns of infection. Pathogens are extremely resourceful and possess mechanisms to adapt to new hosts and environments as well as to acquire new virulence traits. Host factors include herd immunity, social behaviour and demographics. Environmental factors like the climate, deforestation and new technologies have an impact on the emergence of infections. The challenge is to contain an infection when it emerges but more importantly to prevent its emergence in the first place. As the emergence of an infection is complex and multifactorial, a multidisciplinary approach is required. Health based strategies alone are insufficient. Social, economic and environmental measures and the political will to implement appropriate policies are equally important.