Modification on drying chamber wall of spray dryer towards better yield

Spray drying is a widely used industrial process that converts liquid or slurry feed materials into dry powder or granules and it commonly shrouded with the stickiness problem. This study was carried out by response surface methodology (RSM) to minimize fouling during the spray drying process by optimizing the condition of the drying chamber wall of the spray dryer. The concentration (%) and exposure time (min) of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) were examined as independent variables in order to modify the dryer wall. Responses including flux adhesion weight, product recovery, hygroscopicity, and moisture content of the powder were evaluated. Statistical analysis showed that experimental data were best fitted into a quadratic polynomial model with regression coefficient values greater than 0.75 for all responses. The optimum conditions in reducing fouling were discovered at PTFE concentration of 17.27% and PTFE exposure time of 6 min. These conditions would result in low flux adhesion weight (35.28 mg), high product recovery (39.38%), low hygroscopicity (6.08%) and low moisture content (7.97%). The observed outcomes aligned with the predicted values, affirming the suitability of the model in improving the flowability of the spray drying process

In-vitro inhibitory activities of potential probiotic isolated from pangasius nasutus against aeromonas hydrophila and streptococcus agalactiae

In aquaculture, using probiotics is crucial for strengthening the immune system and encouraging the growth and survival of many aquatic organisms, including the Pangasius species. This approach is particularly significant given the impact of bacterial diseases on Pangasius survival. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of probiotics isolated from Pangasius nasutus as alternatives to antibiotics for combating infections caused by Aeromonas hydrophila and Streptococcus agalactiae. Potential bacteria were isolated from the intestine and stomach of healthy P. nasutus. Seventy probiotic strains were successfully isolated and further screened using A. hydrophila and S. agalactiae as pathogens in an in vitro disc diffusion assay. Preliminary screenings indicated that five probiotic strains inhibited the growth of A. hydrophila. Stomach-derived strain S1 and intestine-derived strain L1 suppressed A. hydrophila growth with inhibition zones of 10.5±1 mm and 8.5±1 mm, respectively. Likewise, strains L2, L8, and L12 from the intestine showed inhibitory zones of 6.0±1 mm, 6.5±1 mm, and 6.0±1 mm, respectively. Of these, only L12 inhibited the growth of S. agalactiae with a clear zone of 5.0±1 mm. In the elimination of pathogenic strains, potential strains S1 and L1 did not grow on the Aeromonas isolation medium. Co-culture assays demonstrated that both potential strains significantly inhibited Aeromonas hydrophila growth at concentrations of 106 and 108 CFU mL-1 over 48- and 96-hour periods, respectively. The potential bacterial strains were identified using 16s rRNA gene sequencing and were classified as follows: S1 - Lactococcus lactis, L1 - Weissella confusa, L2 - Cosenzaea myxofaciens, L8 - Lactococcus garvieae, and L12 - Plesiomonas shigelloides. Strain S1 L. lactis and strain L1 W. confusa are suggested for further evaluation and acquired additional research to fully elucidate their mechanisms and potential as probiotics

Ethnics in coalition: An analysis of stronghold state level party’s performance and trend

Pahang was known as Barisan Nasional (BN) stronghold state due to its capabilities to take over the office in Pahang comfortably from the first General Election (GE) until the 13th GE (2013). Despite its triumph, BN Pahang began to lose its tenacity in the 12th GE (2008) and worsened in the 14th GE held in 2018. As a party that consists of three main component parties, namely, United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA), and Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC) needs to devise a new formula and strategy to rebound their position. Therefore, this article was designed to unravel the interrelation between two main keys, ethnicity and alliance formation, to determine the BN resiliency in Pahang. The approach used in this study was a quantitative method using the data obtained from the Election Commission of Malaysia. The data was then tabulated and displayed on a map using the Geographical Information System (GIS). The study found that BN lost their popular vote to the opposing party by only 41.6% compared to 54.8% in the 13th GE. Besides, the number of seats won by BN declined by 39% compared to the 11th GE (2004). Results show that BN needs to form a strong coalition that consists of diversity in terms of ethnicity to win over the office. This study is substantively for parties to win over the electorate’s heart and promote a good democracy in the country

Factors influencing users’ satisfaction with online agricultural products in China’s first and second-tier cities under the epidemic

The Covid-19 crisis brought with it significant changes to human lives including changes to behaviour. Particularly, the Coronavirus lockdowns and other restrictions contributed to the rise of online shopping for agricultural products in China’s first and second-tier cities. The core aim of the investigation is to evaluate the factors that influence the satisfaction of users with online agricultural products in first and second-tier cities in China during the pandemic. The research methodology is qualitative and relies on interpretivism to examine the experiences regarding the satisfaction of users with online agricultural products in first and second- tier cities in China during the crisis. An inductive approach is applied and the specific data collection instrument in this research entails semi-structured interviews to facilitate a comprehensive inquiry and gain rich insights. Semi-structured interview sessions are conducted with 30 participants including Chinese shoppers who used online agricultural products between 2019 and 2022 just before the Covid-19 crisis or during the pandemic. The research findings indicate that optimism was found to be crucial to the increased consumption of online agricultural products and high quality emerged as the most influential factor behind users’ satisfaction with online agricultural products. However, online agricultural product sellers in China need to ensure excellence in their operations to succeed in the competitive online marketplace. Conclusively, this investigation achieved its overarching aim of evaluating the factors that influence the satisfaction of users with online agricultural products in first and second-tier cities in China during the pandemic

Naratif politik ‘khianat’ dalam Pilihan Raya Umum Ke-15 (PRU15): analisis 11 kerusi parlimen panas

Artikel ini berhujah bahawa Pilihan Raya Umum ke-15 (PRU15) yang diadakan pada November 2022 merupakan satu titik perubahan bagi Pakatan Harapan (PH) terutama sekali PKR untuk merampas kembali 11 kerusi ahli parlimen mereka yang telah berpaling tadah sewaktu ‘Langkah Sheraton’. Dihujahkan bahawa naratif khianat telah dibangkitkan sebagai satu strategi mobilisasi yang mampan dalam usaha untuk mengukuhkan semula identifikasi kepartian dalam konteks PH-PKR sebagai satu simbol untuk menggugat keberadaan rejim hibrid. Objektif kajian ini adalah untuk melihat sejauhmanakah PKR mengolah naratif politik khianat untuk mengukuhkan kedudukan kepartian mereka di dalam konteks PRU15. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kualitatif deskriptif sebagai teknik untuk mengumpul, memperoleh, dan menganalisis data. Penulis juga berkesempatan untuk menjadikan kajian lapangan sebagai salah satu teknik untuk memperoleh data primer dengan mengunjungi beberapa kawasan Parlimen yang terpilih dan berkaitan dengan kajian penulis. Hasil kajian ini mendapati bahawa naratif politik yang dibangkitkan oleh PKR telah berjaya diolah dan hasilnya PKR berjaya merampas kembali beberapa buah kerusi tradisi mereka. Kajian ini mempersembahkan satu kerangka baharu di dalam konteks kajian pilihan raya dan politik Malaysia di mana ia dilihat sebagai satu platform yang berpotensi untuk dijadikan rujukan umum dan rujukan dasar

Teknik Fuzzy Delphi: reka bentuk inovasi imbuhan menurut konsensus pakar

Pengajaran abad ke-21 merupakan satu pendekatan yang sesuai seiring dengan era globalisasi dalam melahirkan generasi baharu yang berwibawa dan berketerampilan. Sehubungan itu, makalah ini membentangkan elemen Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan berdasarkan pembelajaran abad ke-21. Kajian ini juga bertujuan mendapatkan kesepakatan pakar dalam keperluan komponen utama, elemen dalam komponen utama dan turutan kedudukan (ranking) keutamaan komponen utama untuk setiap konstruk reka bentuk dan pembangunan Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan. Kajian ini merupakan kajian kuantitatif yang menggunakan teknik Fuzzy Delphi. Pendekatan yang digunakan dalam mengumpulkan data kajian ialah instrumen soal selidik yang terdiri daripada satu konstruk dan terbahagi kepada lima item. Seramai 18 orang pakar bahasa Melayu telah terlibat dalam pembentukan elemen reka bentuk Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan ini. Hasil daripada analisis melalui kaedah Fuzzy Delphi, tiada unsur dalam reka bentuk Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan digugurkan melalui konsensus pakar. Dalam pada itu, panel pakar telah bersetuju dengan item dan elemen yang ditetapkan dalam reka bentuk Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan, iaitu penanda sebagai wakil murid dalam Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan, kad info imbuhan sebagai nota tambahan dan murid dapat belajar sambil bermain, papan sebagai tapak Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan, dadu sesuai digunakan sebagai penentuan jumlah langkah Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan dan token sebagai pengumpulan markah murid dalam Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa semua item dan elemen bernilai threshold d kurang daripada 0.2, peratusan persetujuan pakar melebihi 75.0% manakala Defuzzication (alpha-cut) telah melebihi 0.5. Kesimpulannya, reka bentuk Permainan Inovasi Imbuhan telah diterima dan mempunyai konsensus pakar sepenuhnya. Melalui kajian ini, satu reka bentuk inovasi imbuhan yang berkualiti dapat didirikan untuk membantu murid yang mempunyai permasalahan dalam topik imbuhan bahasa Melayu

The need to improve the family cases management system in Malaysia’s syariah courts

The increase in family cases today, including domestic violence, failure to pay alimony, infidelity, polygamy without consent, and others, has drawn attention from the public on social media, not to mention the involvement of well known influencers and celebrities. A total of 19,268 cases of domestic violence were reported between 2020 and 2022 (Royal Malaysia Police) (PDRM). In 2020, 5,260 cases were recorded, followed by 7,468 cases in 2021 and 6,540 cases in 2022. When legal action is taken against religious organizations and the government, the situation becomes further tense. The credibility of Malaysia’s Islamic judicial institutions will erode if this predicament remains. The Malaysian Syariah Justice Department (JKSM), the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (JAKIM), the Royal Malaysian Police (PDRM), and Bank Negara are among the various organizations involved in these cases. Is there a consistent system in place across Malaysia’s different justice institutions? Consequently, the purpose of this study is to determine whether there is a need to enhance Malaysia’s data management system for Islamic family issues. This qualitative research involved five of the highest-ranking JKSM officers being subjected to in-depth interviews with a line of questions that had been carefully selected and aligned with the study’s objective. A theoretical framework model of Islamic family management was created based on the thematic analysis of the findings. The research findings suggest that there is a significant need to improve the management of family cases in the Syariah Court, including the need to improve the record system and technology between Malaysia’s Syariah Courts. This advancement is significant because it contributes to the development of a Civilized Malaysian and is in line with Malaysia Madani proposed by Malaysia Prime Minister, which prioritizes the development of socially prosperous Malaysian families and communities

Kesan penggantian litium ke atas struktur, sifat fizikal dan sifat elektrik terhadap seramik BCZT

The invention of novel lead-free piezoelectric materials with ABO3 perovskite structure, based on barium calcium zirconate titanate (BCZT) for application in various device especially in sensor application. In this work, BCZT with lithium substitution at the calcium site with composition Ba0.85Ca0.15-xLi2xZr0.1Ti0.9O3 (x = 0.00, 0.03, 0.06, 0.09 and 0.12) were synthesized by using the conventional, solid state reaction method. The influence of different Li content on the structure, microstructure, density, and electrical properties were investigated. The results show that substitution led to the improvement of the physical and electrical properties of the piezoelectric ceramic materials. The physical properties show the largest grain size and the highest value of density, ρ which is 4.158 g/cm3 for x = 0.06. This physical properties led to the highest value of piezoelectric coefficient, d33, remnant polarisation, Pr and saturated polarization, Ps which are 304.6 pC/N, 3.27 µC/cm2 , and 5.54 µC/cm2 , respectively, while the highest dielectric constant, ɛr was 3994 when x = 0.12

Comparison of several imputation techniques for log logistic model with covariate and interval censored data

The main purpose of this study is to compare the performance of midpoint, right, and left imputation techniques for log logistic model with covariate and censored data. The maximum likelihood estimation method (MLE) is used to check the efficiency of imputation techniques by estimating the parameters. The performance of the estimates is evaluated based on their bias, standard error (SE), and root mean square error (RMSE) at different sample sizes, censoring proportions, and interval widths via a simulation study. Based on the results of the simulation study, the right imputation had the best overall performance. Finally, the proposed model is fitted to the real breast cancer data. The findings suggest that the log logistic model fits the breast cancer data well and the covariate of treatment significantly affects the time to cosmetic deterioration of the breast cancer patients

Attitudes toward real analysis and its reflection on academic performance in real analysis

Different students perceive the subject real analysis differently. However, the most common perception of real analysis is through four main aspects which are students’ enjoyment, fear, anxiety and distress in learning, usefulness of real analysis in life and perceived achievement in the subject. These perceptions affect how students behave in class during real analysis and subsequently affect their attitudes and academic performance in real analysis. This present work studies the students’ attitudes toward real analysis, their academic performance in real analysis and the relationship between these two attributes. The quantitative data for the present study is collected using the questionnaires of Mathematical Attitude Scale Concise Form (MAS Concise Form) and the Academic Success Inventory for College Students (ASICS) to measure students' attitudes toward real analysis and their academic performance in real analysis respectively. The differences in academic performance in real analysis between male and female students was also studied. Overall, it was found that students displayed moderate attitudes toward real analysis and moderate academic performance in real analysis, and there exists a significant relation between attitudes toward real analysis and academic performance in real analysis. However, it was found that there is no relation between students’ gender and their academic performance in real analysis