Core competencies of the halal executive from the practitioners’ perspective

Malaysia strives to accelerate the growth of its halal industry and attain its vision of being a global halal centre for innovation, production, and commerce. In attaining the vision, human competency and capability building through competent halal executives is important. It is in fact, one of the success factors in supporting comprehensive and future development of the Malaysian halal industry. Prior research, however, has revealed issues regarding halal executives’ competency. To fill the gap, 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with halal executives to identify the core competencies that were most related to their job performance. The identification of core competencies could aid in the development of guidelines that can be used to inform halal policymakers. These identified core competencies could also inform the industry about the recruitment of halal executives, their placement, training, and succession planning

Review: Identification of roadmap of fourth construction industrial revolution

Industrial revolution is a series of events driven by the growth of technological innovations, and so far, the world had witnessed the first three industrial revolutions. Today, a new revolution referred to as the fourth industrial revolution is entering even though it is still in its early stages of development. Many developed countries had established their own roadmap or strategic plan as a first step. However, only a few of them touched the construction sector even though the construction industry provides a significant contribution to the country’s GDP. Based on this understanding, there is a fundamental need to give a clear view of Industry 3.0 to Industry 4.0 from the construction industry’s perspective, since most users are still finding their way in this transition. An extensive literature review is used to define the scope and terms of the field of construction in the industrial revolution. Towards this goal, a clear definition and concept of each revolution, key technologies related to construction and challenges faced by the industry will be explored. Simultaneously, this review paper also benchmarked a few documents as a simple guide in the transition process to the fourth industrial revolution to avoid a lag in a world where changes are swift and sudden. Therefore, this review paper contributes by providing a better understanding of the challenges and trends in Construction 4.0 to academics and practitioners. Moreover, it will spark new ideas on the policy or strategic roadmap development in the future

Inter-hemispheric EEG coherence analysis in Parkinson's disease : Assessing brain activity during emotion processing

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is not only characterized by its prominent motor symptoms but also associated with disturbances in cognitive and emotional functioning. The objective of the present study was to investigate the influence of emotion processing on inter-hemispheric electroencephalography (EEG) coherence in PD. Multimodal emotional stimuli (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise, and disgust) were presented to 20 PD patients and 30 age-, education level-, and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) while EEG was recorded. Inter-hemispheric coherence was computed from seven homologous EEG electrode pairs (AF3–AF4, F7–F8, F3–F4, FC5–FC6, T7–T8, P7–P8, and O1–O2) for delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands. In addition, subjective ratings were obtained for a representative of emotional stimuli. Interhemispherically, PD patients showed significantly lower coherence in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma frequency bands than HC during emotion processing. No significant changes were found in the delta frequency band coherence. We also found that PD patients were more impaired in recognizing negative emotions (sadness, fear, anger, and disgust) than relatively positive emotions (happiness and surprise). Behaviorally, PD patients did not show impairment in emotion recognition as measured by subjective ratings. These findings suggest that PD patients may have an impairment of inter-hemispheric functional connectivity (i.e., a decline in cortical connectivity) during emotion processing. This study may increase the awareness of EEG emotional response studies in clinical practice to uncover potential neurophysiologic abnormalities

Changes in diad sequence distribution by preferential chain scission during the thermal hydrolysis of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyhexanoate)

Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are microbial polyesters produced by many types of bacteria as an intracellular energy reserve material under substrate limiting conditions and in the presence of excessive carbon sources.¹ Poly((R)-3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB), the most commonly used microbial polyester, was the first member of the PHA family to be discovered, and more than 150 other monomer units have been reported to date.2, 3 Poly((R)-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-(R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate) (PHBHHx) is a copolymer in the PHA family that consists of randomly distributed (R)-3-hydroxybutyrate (HB) and (R)-3-hydroxyhexanoate (HHx) units.⁴ This type of copolymer exhibits improved mechanical properties and processability compared with those of PHB and poly((R)-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV).⁵ PHBHHx copolymers are currently produced on a large scale and have proven to be biocompatible in clinical studies using mouse fibroblasts cells, and rabbit articular cartilage-derived chondrocytes.⁶ PHBHHx is a highly favorable copolymer of the PHB family due to its biodegradability, flexible mechanical properties and good melt processability

Elimination of Endogenous Toxin, Creatinine from Blood Plasma Depends on Albumin Conformation: Site Specific Uremic Toxicity & Impaired Drug Binding

Uremic syndrome results from malfunctioning of various organ systems due to the retention of uremic toxins which, under normal conditions, would be excreted into the urine and/or metabolized by the kidneys. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the renal elimination of uremic toxin creatinine that accumulate in chronic renal failure. Quantitative investigation of the plausible correlations was performed by spectroscopy, calorimetry, molecular docking and accessibility of surface area. Alkalinization of normal plasma from pH 7.0 to 9.0 modifies the distribution of toxin in the body and therefore may affect both the accumulation and the rate of toxin elimination. The ligand loading of HSA with uremic toxin predicts several key side chain interactions of site I that presumably have the potential to impact the specificity and impaired drug binding. These findings provide useful information for elucidating the complicated mechanism of toxin disposition in renal disease state

The physiological responses of cacao to the environment and the implications for climate change resilience. A review

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is a tropical perennial crop which is of great economic importance to the confectionary industry and to the economies of many countries of the humid tropics where it is grown. Some recent studies have suggested climate change could severely impact cacao production in West Africa. It is essential to incorporate our understanding of the physiology and genetic variation within cacao germplasm when discussing the implications of climate change on cacao productivity and developing strategies for climate resilience in cacao production. Here we review the current research on the physiological responses of cacao to various climate factors. Our main findings are 1) water limitation causes significant yield reduction in cacao but genotypic variation in sensitivity is evident, 2) in the field cacao experiences higher temperatures than is often reported in the literature, 3) the complexity of the cacao/ shade tree interaction can lead to contradictory results, 4) elevated CO2 may alleviate some negative effects of climate change 5) implementation of mitigation strategies can help reduce environmental stress, 6) significant gaps in the research need addressing to accelerate the development of climate resilience. Harnessing the significant genetic variation apparent within cacao germplasm is essential to develop modern varieties capable of high yields in non-optimal conditions. Mitigation strategies will also be essential but to use shading to best effect shade tree selection is crucial to avoid resource competition. Cacao is often described as being sensitive to climate change but genetic variation, adaptive responses, appropriate mitigation strategies and interactive climate effects should all be considered when predicting the future of cacao production. Incorporating these physiological responses to various environmental conditions and developing a deeper understanding of the processes underlying these responses will help to accelerate the development of a more resource use efficient tree ensuring sustainable production into the future

The impact of surgical delay on resectability of colorectal cancer: An international prospective cohort study

AIM: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has provided a unique opportunity to explore the impact of surgical delays on cancer resectability. This study aimed to compare resectability for colorectal cancer patients undergoing delayed versus non-delayed surgery. METHODS: This was an international prospective cohort study of consecutive colorectal cancer patients with a decision for curative surgery (January-April 2020). Surgical delay was defined as an operation taking place more than 4 weeks after treatment decision, in a patient who did not receive neoadjuvant therapy. A subgroup analysis explored the effects of delay in elective patients only. The impact of longer delays was explored in a sensitivity analysis. The primary outcome was complete resection, defined as curative resection with an R0 margin. RESULTS: Overall, 5453 patients from 304 hospitals in 47 countries were included, of whom 6.6% (358/5453) did not receive their planned operation. Of the 4304 operated patients without neoadjuvant therapy, 40.5% (1744/4304) were delayed beyond 4 weeks. Delayed patients were more likely to be older, men, more comorbid, have higher body mass index and have rectal cancer and early stage disease. Delayed patients had higher unadjusted rates of complete resection (93.7% vs. 91.9%, P = 0.032) and lower rates of emergency surgery (4.5% vs. 22.5%, P < 0.001). After adjustment, delay was not associated with a lower rate of complete resection (OR 1.18, 95% CI 0.90-1.55, P = 0.224), which was consistent in elective patients only (OR 0.94, 95% CI 0.69-1.27, P = 0.672). Longer delays were not associated with poorer outcomes. CONCLUSION: One in 15 colorectal cancer patients did not receive their planned operation during the first wave of COVID-19. Surgical delay did not appear to compromise resectability, raising the hypothesis that any reduction in long-term survival attributable to delays is likely to be due to micro-metastatic disease