Biobutanol production by Clostridium acetobutylicum NCIMB 13357 in modified medium using date fruit as a carbon source

Abstract: Biofuel is an alternative energy that is conceived being the future energy source; it can be produced from natural and renewable agricultural raw materials by microbes. Clostridium acetobutylicum has the ability to ferment variety of compounds to produce solvents such as: Acetone, Butanol, and Ethanol (ABE). This study was designed to investigate the ability of C. acetobutylicum to produce biobutanol or any other possible solvents using date fruit as the organic carbon source under anaerobic condition. The fermentation process was carried out under the following conditions: initial pH 6 and 7, incubation temperatures 30 o C and 35 o C for 70 hours. The effect of date fruit concentrations on C. acetobutylicum was studied 10 -50 g/L. Results showed that 40 g/ L of date fruit under initial pH 7 at 35 o C were the optimum conditions for fermentation process to produce 5.31 g/ L and 8.42 g/ L as biobutanol and total solvents respectively. The yield and productivity of ABE was 0.52 and 0.12 g/(L.h), respectively

Comparative human landing catch and CDC light trap in mosquito sampling in knowlesi malaria endemic areas in Peninsula Malaysia

Adult mosquito sampling techniques are essential for monitoring transmission of malaria and other mosquito borne infections.Preference for any sampling technique depends on both its field efficiency and the characteristics of local vector populations. Surveys on adult mosquitoes using Human Landing Catch (HLC) and CO2-baited CDC light trap (CDC-LT) techniques were conducted in several knowlesi malaria endemic areas between the months of March to December 2012 in several states of Peninsula Malaysia.These two techniques were relatively compared to determine the preferences of anopheline mosquitoes towards CO2-baited CDC-LT technique using HLC technique as the reference method. Cx. gelidus, An. maculates and An. introlatus were the main three species collected by HLC technique, whereas the species collected by CO2-baited CDC-LT technique were mostly An. cracens, Ar.durhami and Coquillettidia species. Most of the Anopheles species were collected almost exclusively by the human collectors except for An. cracens and An.introlatus which were collected using both techniques.Anopheles cracens was the most dominant species captured using CO2-baited CDC-LT technique.This is the first report showing An. cracens was caught using CO2-baited CDC-LT technique in Malaysia

The factor of industrial development problems on bamboo furniture design in Malaysia: a concept paper

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to focus on analyzing the problems of development bamboo furniture design industry in Malaysia. This study will look at the design practices and issues of bamboo furniture design industry in Malaysia for future research purposes. Design/methodology/approach: This study is focused on identifying the problems (issue) of bamboo industry through design management aspect by exploring extensive literature review on the bamboo industry in Malaysia. The data are collected from journal and book to find out the main issue of design management of the bamboo industry in Malaysia. Findings: Based on the analyzed data regarding to the literature review show that four issues that can be underlined through the study. The issue in the bamboo industry in Malaysia is slow growth of production activities, low value added for bamboo furniture, low bamboo supply, and lack of interest from wood-based manufacturer to enter the bamboo-based industry. Research limitations/implications: The implication of this research is a guide to the researcher to see the real issues of bamboo furniture design environmental management among bamboo manufacturer. Generally, Malaysian bamboo furniture manufacturer group towards clear practice. Some of them have taken short steps to R & D by purchasing technology from abroad through joint venture agreements. The Malaysia-produced products with manufacturing contracts through Original Equipment Manufacturing (OEM) and Original Design Manufacturing (ODM). Malaysia as all developing countries relies heavily on imported technologies to achieve rapid industrialization. Practical implications: Through the use of implication design management practice for bamboo manufacturer can provide the attitude of the Malaysian bamboo furniture manufacturer can be positive for design management practices that contribute towards the knowledge transfer. Originality/value: This concept paper produces the issue environment of design management practice among the bamboo furniture manufacturer

Ergo-aesthetic concept design approach among bamboo furniture manufacturers in Malaysia

In general, the concept of ergo-aesthetic discloses the equilibrium of human behavioural character with form, shape, and symbolism incorporated into furniture design. This harmony synthesis is achieved throughout responses of behaviour and senses inside the design process. Many new developments have been made in the industry, especially on understanding the advantages and potentials of bamboo characters; however, these developments are not specific to designing with an aesthetic value in bamboo furniture design. Thus, this study focuses on the ergo- aesthetic principles incorporated in the design process to achieve a better output of bamboo furniture design among bamboo manufacturers in Malaysia. As such, ergonomic and aesthetic are the fundamental components that need to be considered throughout the design process as the implementation of ergo-aesthetic principles into a bamboo furniture design process through behaviour and cultural perspectives may lead to the enhancement of the quality of bamboo furniture output

The current practices and challenges of a community based early intervention centre for ASD children in Malaysia

In Malaysia, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) play important roles in establishing community-based early intervention programmes for children with autism spectrum disorder. However, there are limited understanding of how the intervention programmes may be used in community-based settings. This paper aims to explore the practices and challenges faced by the community-based intervention centres in Malaysia. A principal, 6 teachers, and a therapist from IDEAS Autism Centre were selected as participants in this study through purposive sampling. Five main themes were identified through thematic analysis: [1] Admission Requirement, [2] Teacher’s Role, [3] Current Intervention Program, [4] Objectives and [5] Challenges. The results reveal that their curricula were self-designed through adaptation. This study provides a base to improve the community-based early intervention programmes

Evaluation of sound and working memory therapy using suppression otoacoustic emission (Suppression OAE) among autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children

Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of sound and working memory therapy using Suppression Transient-Evoked Otoacoustic Emissions (TEOAE) as the outcome measure tool. Participants and Methods: A total of 20 ASD children aged 6 to 14 years participated. All participants were assigned into four groups (n=5); one control group and three experimental groups. The participants from the control group did not receive any intervention while the other three experimental groups were trained with sound therapy using three different stimuli for each group (waterfall, white noise and Quranic Recitation) and required to do working memory training concurrently. A pre and post TEOAE suppression were done to investigate the changes between pre and post intervention. Results: RM-ANOVA found no significant effect among frequency tested but largest effect size was found at 2kHz between the pre and post intervention. At 2khz, only participants who underwent white noise and working memory training had significantly higher TEOAE suppression amplitude in post intervention as compared to the pre intervention (p< 0.05) with large effect size and medium effect size for other groups. Participant underwent white noise and working memory training group has a significantly higher gain than other groups followed by waterfall and Quranic recitation group. The 2kHz of TEOAE frequency has been identified as the main contributor that affecting both emotional aspects and triggering the medial olivocochlear bundle (MOCB). Besides, the amplitude of TEOAE suppression improved in white noise group only possibly because of its large bandwidth that improved the overexictation of the MOCB function. Conclusions: This study suggests that the combination of sound therapy using white noise together working memory training has the potential to improve emotional regulation and improve the function of MOCB in ASD. The finding suggests the improvement of MOCB function indirectly can lead to more regulated emotions in individuals

Malaysian teachers’ views on robot-mediated intervention to train autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children on emotional regulation

This qualitative study explored the views of teachers and an occupational therapist about the potential use of humanoid robots as an assistive tool in educating autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children. Seven participants with extensive experience handling early intervention programs for ASD children were selected via purposive sampling. Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussion (FGD) were applied as data collection method. Data gained were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four main themes were identified from the study, they are: (1) Teachers’ knowledge about robots, (2) Robots increase children's engagement, (3) Roles of robots in intervention, and (4) advantages and disadvantages of using robots. All participants had observed a robot-mediated intervention involving interactions between ASD children and a humanoid robot. It was observed that most of the children at the center liked interacting with the robot, suggesting that the use of robots could benefit ASD children. However, these interactions must be monitored and limited to a certain period to avoid over-dependence on robot use. This study provides a novel perspective on robotics and a practical example of how to use robots to enhance learning outcomes for ASD children

Biobutanol Production from Palm Kernel Cake (PKC) using Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 in Batch Culture Fermentation

Palm kernel cake (PKC), a by-product of palm oil industry, contains glucose and mannose as hexose sugars. This study was performed to determine the feasibility of using PKC as a lignocellulosic substrate for biobutanol production by Clostridium saccharoperbutylacetonicum N1-4 in an acetone-butanol-ethanol (ABE) fermentation process. Moreover, the effect of tryptone-yeast extract-acetate (TYA) medium and P2 medium on biobutanol production was evaluated. Experimental results showed that butanol production of 3.05 g/L was obtained using mannose sugar, which was comparable to 3.61 g/L butanol production measured using glucose. Moreover, the maximum production of biobutanol (0.38 g/L) was obtained at a PKC concentration of 30%, indicating the possibility of PKC utilization in butanol production. ABE fermentation of PKC using distilled water, TYA medium, and P2 medium showed that the highest butanol production (0.26 g/L) with ABE production of 0.38 g/L was obtained when ABE fermentation was conducted in P2 medium

Stimuli video quantification based on Valence-Arousal Elicitation in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social communication and repetitive behaviours. Understanding the emotional responses of children with ASD is crucial, especially for early interventions. Therefore, the study aims to validate appropriate stimuli in video forms that can elicit Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) children’s emotions. The study involves 56 children, 28 of whom have ASD, from IDEAS Autism Center in Rawang, Malaysia, aged between five and nine years (M = 6.43, SD = 1.2), and 28 typically developed children (M = 5.65, SD = 2.2) from IIUM Educare, Gombak, Malaysia. The children were presented with 15 stimuli videos that were targeted to elicit five basic emotions, which are happy, sad, fear, anger, and calm. Expert blind coders validate the stimuli to mitigate potential sources of bias and errors in the experiment. The subjects’ responses towards the stimuli videos were mapped onto the valence and arousal emotion model. The study observed that all stimuli were successfully classified into the respective emotion quadrants. The study also discovered that certain video stimuli produce higher intensity in emotion elicitation than others. Significant findings between ASD children’s responses to the stimuli video are extensively discussed