Sedimentologi batuan enapan daratan Kumpulan Gagau (usia Kapur Awal) di hulu Sungai Chichir, Terengganu Darul Iman, Malaysia

Jujukan batuan sedimen Kapur Awal Kumpulan Gagau di kawasan sekitar hulu Sungai Chichir dibentuk oleh batu pasir berpebel masif, batu lumpur masif dan lapisan tebal batu pasir dengan pelbagai struktur sedimen serta fosil. Jujukan ini boleh dibahagikan kepada tujuh fasies dengan mekanisme pengenapan berbeza. Berdasarkan asosiasi antara pelbagai fasies sedimen dapat ditafsirkan bahawa jujukan ini telah terenap dalam pelbagai sekitaran dataran aluvium termasuk alur sungai utama, sungai berliku, sungai berburai dan dataran banjir. Fosil yang ditemui memberikan usia Kapur Awal kepada jujukan ini. Bukti kehadiran tanah atas di kawasan ini mencerahkan harapan untuk penemuan pelbagai fosil hidupan daratan, khususnya fauna vertebrat serta dinosaur yang lebih baik dan lengkap

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) 2006: nutritional status of adults aged 18 years and above

1Department of Nutrition Research, Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health, Kuala Lumpur; 2Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor; 3Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 50300 Kuala Lumpur; 4Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Institute for Medical Research,Kuala Lumpur; 5Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Clinical Research Centre, Ministry of Health, Kuala Lumpur; 6Department of Paediatrics, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur; 7Department of Community Health and Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, International Islamic University, Kuantan The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 to determine the nutritional status of a nationally representative sample of Malaysian adults aged 18 years and above. Body weight, height and waist circumference measurements were taken by trained health nurses according to a standard procedure (WHO, 1998). Body Mass Index (BMI) was determined among 33,055 eligible adults, while risk of abdominal obesity based on waist circumference (WC) was obtained from 32,900 individuals. In addition, peripheral muscle wasting was determined using calf circumference (CC) among 4,282 older individuals aged 60 years and above. The national prevalence of normal BMI (BMI 18.5-24.9 kg/m2) was 48.4% (47.7–49.0)*. The prevalence of underweight (BMI <18.5 kg/m2) was 8.5% (8.2–8.9), being higher in rural areas {9.8% (9.2–10.4)} than in urban areas {7.8% (7.4–8.3)}. Meanwhile, 29.1% (28.6–29.7) of the adults were overweight (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m2). Among the ethnic groups, Indians had the highest prevalence of overweight followed by Malays and Chinese. In addition, 14.0% (13.6–14.5) of the adults were obese (BMI >30.0 kg/m2). Women had higher obesity prevalence at 17.4% (16.7–18.0) than men at 10.0% (9.5–10.5). In terms of ethnic groups, Indians and Malays had higher obesity prevalence than other groups. By occupation category, housewives showed the highest prevalence of obesity at 20.3% (19.4–21.3). The prevalence of abdominal obesity (WC for women >88 cm and men >102 cm) was 17.4% (16.9-17.9), with women showing higher prevalence {26.0% (25.2-26.8)} than men {7.3% (6.7-7.6}. The prevalence of older persons with peripheral muscle wasting (calf circumference for women < 27.3 cm and men < 30.1 cm) was 19.9% (18.5–21.6), with a higher prevalence of men {23.7% (21.6-25.9)} than women {16.8% (15.1-18.5)} at risk of malnutrition according to this indicator. In comparison, the present national prevalence of underweight of 8.5% was three times lower than that (25.2%) reported in the NHMS II in 1996. In contrast, the prevalence of overweight hasof 14.0% in this study and 12.7% in the MANS were approximately three times the level of 4.4% found in 1996 (NHMS III). This alarming trend calls for serious re-examination of public health programmes for more effective reduction of obesity among Malaysian adults. increased from 16.6% in the NMHS II to 29.1% in the present study. The latter is comparable with the finding of 27.4% reported in another nationally representative sample involving over 5,000 adults namely, the Malaysian Adults Nutrition Survey (MANS) conducted in 2003. It is noted that obesity prevalence of 14.0% in this study and 12.7% in the MANS were approximately three times the level of 4.4% found in 1996 (NHMS III). This alarming trend calls for serious re-examination of public health programmes for more effective reduction of obesity among Malaysian adults

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Abdominal obesity in Malaysian adults: National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS III, 2006)

Abdominal obesity (AO) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in adults. There is a lack of data on the magnitude and socio-demographic profile of AO among Malaysian adults at the national level. In the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) conducted in 2006, AO of adults aged 18 years and above was determined based on the waist circumference as part of the nutritional status assessment. This article reports the prevalence of AO in relation to socio-economic factors and demographic characteristics of adult subjects. Out of a total of 33,465 eligible individuals 18 years and above, waist circumference was measured in 32,900 (98.3%) individuals. The prevalence of AO was assessed using the cut-off points recommended by World Health Organization. The mean waist circumference in men and women was 84.0cm [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 83.8, 84.3] and 80.3cm (95% CI: 80.1, 80.6) respectively. The national prevalence of AO was 17.4% (95% CI: 16.9, 17.9). The identified risks of AO were women (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 3.8, 4.6), aged 50-59 years (OR: 5.6, 95% CI: 4.0, 7.7), Indians (OR: 3.0, 95% CI: 2.4, 3.8), housewives (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.7), subjects with primary education (OR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) and ever married (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.6). Being the largest population-based study on AO among Malaysians, these findings have important public health implications. There is an urgent need to revise public health policies and programmes aimed at prevention of abdominal obesity especially in the groups at risk

Nutritional status of children below five years in Malaysia: anthropometric analyses from the third National Health and Morbidity survey III (NHMS, 2006)

The Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) was conducted in 2006 on a nationally representative sample of population in Malaysia. Over 21,000 children aged 0-17.9 years were measured for body weight and stature according to the protocol of the World Health Organization. This article describes the nutritional status of children aged 0-59.9 months. Mean z score for weight-for-age (WAZ), height-for-age (HAZ) and BMI-for-age were compared with the z-scores tables of the WHO standards. The overall prevalence of underweight and stunting of the children were 12.9% and 17.2% respectively. These levels included 2.4% severe underweight and 6.0% severe stunting. In terms of z scores, the age group of 0-5.9 months showed the best nutritional status with mean WAZ of-0.33 (95%CI:-0.52, 0.15) and-0.40 (-0.57, 0.24) for boys and girls respectively, while mean HAZ was 0.64 (0.38, 0.89) for boys and 0.76 (0.54, 0.98) for girls. Mean HAZ and WAZ status was least satisfactory after about 6 months, suggesting a faltering in growth rate at an age that coincides with dependence on complementary feeding. Prevalence of overweight based on BMI-for-age for the sexes combined was 6.4%, while that based on WAZ was 3.4%. The NHMS III results indicate that Malaysian children have better nutritional status compared to children under 5 years in neighbouring countries. In order to meet the targets set in the National Plan of Nutrition (2006-2015), more effective intervention programmes are needed to accelerate the reduction of underweight and stunting, and to arrest the rise of overweight in young children

The Mangking Sandstone formation of Kuala Tahan to Kampung Bantal: sedimentology and depositional environment

The Mangking Sandstone of Tembeling Group in the Kuala Tahan region records part of the infill of the continental extensional basin formed at the end of the Triassic. Described facies of this formation include sandy matrix conglomerate (that shows evidence of pseudoplastic debris flow and traction-dominated deposition), sandstones with trough, tabular and horizontal stratification, laminated and massive mudstone. Groups of associated facies are arranged into six distinct architectural elements (channel, sandy bedform, crevasse splay, laminated sand sheet, downstream and lateral accretion and floodplain fines), which are constant with a fluvial origin for the succession. The types of architectural elements present and their relationship to each other demonstrate that the Mangking Sandstone preserves a record of a meandering river system

Surface roughness effect on vortec-induced vibration phenomenon in cross-flow direction of a bluff body

This paper presents the experimental result concerning the effect of surface roughness towards the vortex-induced vibration phenomenon on the offshore structure such as riser, which is represented by a bluff body. VIV can cause fatigue damage which is due to excessive vibration in the long run. Simultaneously, the unwanted aquatic organism will be developed at a certain depth of the underwater structure and the roughness of the structure will be changed dramatically. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the effect of the surface roughness towards the VIV. In this study, A modelled cylinder pipe was mounted on a linear slider with two springs attached at both of its ends in a working section of a circulating water tank. Sandpaper with roughness coefficient varied from 0.19 × 10-3 to 5.10 × 10-3 was utilized to represent different surface roughness on the modelled body. The test covered the subcritical range of Reynolds number from 4.9 × 103 to 1.5 × 104. The displacement of the body was measured at different reduced speeds. The results show that as the surface roughness of the body increases, the amplitude response decreases

PID controller based on flower pollination algorithm of flexible beam system

Flexible beam is commonly used in a wide variety of engineering applications such as mechanical, aircraft and architecture. One of the advantages of these flexible structures is its lighter as compared to rigid structures. However, flexible structures are more sensitive to vibration compared to rigid structures. Excessive long term vibration can damage parts and reduce the performance of such structures. Therefore, a suitable system should be identified to overcome the problem. In the new era of technology, there are many methods developed to suppress unwanted vibration. One well-known system to suppress unwanted vibration is active vibration control (AVC). This system is suitable for structures experiencing low frequency of vibration. A proper modelling must be developed using system identification techniques in order to achieve high vibration cancellation in the system. For system identification, evolutionary swarm algorithm is the latest technique used compared to other methods. In this study, flower pollination algorithms (FPA) was used to develop a mathematical model of a system. The main objective of this study was to develop a model for flexible beam system using FPA in order to achieve an approximate model that represents the real characteristic of the flexible beam system. The developed model will then be used as a platform for PID controller development. The model was validated using three robustness methods, which are the mean squared error (MSE), correlation test, and pole zero diagram stability. Based on the validation, it was observed that the FPA was able to exhibit the lowest MSE value, very good correlation test and high stability. The model achieved in this study was used in controller development for vibration cancellation of a flexible beam system. It was noticed that the PID controller achieved 17.7 dB of attenuation level at the first mode of vibration. The attenuation of vibration was reduced from 56.72 to 39.03 dB, which is equivalent to 31.2% of reduction when the vibration control is active

Abdominal obesity in Malaysian adults: National Health and Morbidity Survey III (NHMS III, 2006)

Abdominal obesity (AO) is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus in adults. There is a lack of data on the magnitude and socio-demographic profile of AO among Malaysian adults at the national level. In the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS III) conducted in 2006, AO of adults aged 18 years and above was determined based on the waist circumference as part of the nutritional status assessment. This article reports the prevalence of AO in relation to socio-economic factors and demographic characteristics of adult subjects. Out of a total of 33,465 eligible individuals 18 years and above, waist circumference was measured in 32,900 (98.3%) individuals. The prevalence of AO was assessed using the cut-off points recommended by World Health Organization. The mean waist circumference in men and women was 84.0cm [95% confidence interval (95% CI): 83.8, 84.3] and 80.3cm (95% CI: 80.1, 80.6) respectively. The national prevalence of AO was 17.4% (95% CI: 16.9, 17.9). The identified risks of AO were women (OR: 4.2, 95% CI: 3.8, 4.6), aged 50-59 years (OR: 5.6, 95% CI: 4.0, 7.7), Indians (OR: 3.0, 95% CI: 2.4, 3.8), housewives (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.7), subjects with primary education (OR: 1.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 1.5) and ever married (OR: 1.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.6). Being the largest population-based study on AO among Malaysians, these findings have important public health implications. There is an urgent need to revise public health policies and programmes aimed at prevention of abdominal obesity especially in the groups at risk