Peranan Badan Usaha Milik Desa (Bumdes) Dalam Peningkatan Perekonomian Masyarakat Di Desa Tanah Merah (Studi Kasus Pada Bumdes Pabrik Tahu Desa Tanah Merah Kecamatan Galang Kabupaten Deli Serdang)

This study aims to determine, describe, and analyze the role of Village Owned Enterprises (BUMDes) in supporting village economic independence, as well as to determine the obstacles and success of BUMDes.  The improvement of the rural economy is carried out by the village government through various programs with the aim of community welfare.  BUMDes management is fully implemented by village communities who take on roles, namely from the village, by the village, and for the village.  In analyzing research data using qualitative descriptive methods, only describe the results of interview questions in the field.  The results of the study indicate that BUMDes which has formed an entrepreneurial business entity in the form of a tofu factory has an important role in supporting village economic independence because the village economy is able to become the main center for improving village development progress.  Some of the obstacles that occur in BUMDes due to the lack of human resources and the large rental costs can now be overcome by the increasingly significant profits of BUMDes

Application of response surface methodology (RSM) for optimizing the palm-based pentaerythritol ester synthesis

The present study was performed to optimize reaction parameters for the transesterification reaction of palm oil methyl ester and pentaerythritol by using response surface methodology (RSM). The affecting parameters were selected as temperature (140–190°C), amount of catalyst (0.5–1.5 wt%), palm oil methyl ester-to-pentaerythritol molar ratio (4:1–5:1) and reaction time (1–5 h), in order to produce pentaerythritol ester (tetraester). The optimum operating conditions; temperature at 158°C; amount of catalyst, 1.19 wt%; molar ratio, 4.5 and 1 h of reaction time were obtained with the result of the pentaerythritol ester's yield of 40.13%. The interaction parameter of the catalyst amount with the palm oil methyl ester-to-pentaerythritol molar ratio was found to be the most significant amongst all of the interaction parameters. The pentaerythritol ester properties were analyzed and compared with the commercial oven chain lubricant. The results indicated that the pentaerythritol ester is able to withstand a high temperature environment with a flash point of 302°C and viscosity of 12.7 cSt at 100°C

Short Report: Lack of Diurnal Variation in Salivary Cortisol Is Linked to Sleep Disturbances and Heightened Anxiety in Adolescents with Williams Syndrome

Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the potential relationship between sleep patterns, cortisol levels, and anxiety profiles in adolescents with Williams Syndrome (WS) compared to typically developing adolescents. Method: Thirteen adolescents with WS and thirteen TD adolescents (age range 12–18 years) were recruited. Participants were provided with a “testing kit”, containing instructions for collecting data through a sleep diary, MotionWare actigraphy, the Childhood Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and the Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale, and a salivary cortisol collection kit. Results: Adolescents in the WS group did not show diurnal variation in salivary cortisol. Significantly higher scores were reported for two CSHQ subsections, night wakings and parasomnias, in the WS group. Regarding the actigraphy, only significantly longer sleep latency was observed in the WS group. In comparison to the TD group, the WS group had significantly higher anxiety. As expected, the TD group showed typical diurnal variation in cortisol, whereas the WS group showed a flattened cortisol profile throughout the day. Conclusions: From the developmental perspective, this study provides new data supporting the conclusion that sleep problems are not transient but continue to persist into adolescence in WS. Future studies ought to consider examining the role of cortisol and its interplay with anxiety levels and sleep problems across the lifespan in individuals with WS

Deposition of nanostructures derived from electrostatically stabilised TiO2 aqueous suspension onto a biocomposite

A nanostructure derived from TiO2 particle deposition onto a biocomposite surface derived from coir dust (CD) was developed to control degradation using a spray dry technique. To stabilise and reduce the size of dispersed particles, the TiO2 powder was prepared in deionised water at pH 10 and sonicated at 20kHz and 400W. The coir dust was obtained from coconut kernel waste and underwent drying treatment before it was mixed with polypropylene (PP) as the substrate. The suspension consisted of particles with an average size and zeta value of 285nm and -19.2mV, respectively. The suspension was spray dried onto a hot-pressed substrate (biocomposite) with a surface roughness between 0.23 and 1.57μm at ambient temperature. Scanning electron microscopy image analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy analysis indicated that the TiO2 particles were successfully deposited onto the substrate, shown by the existence of a carboxylic acid group (COOH) in the CD matrix. Moreover, the weight of the deposited substrate increased exponentially with deposition time compared to pure PP substrate. However, the deposition rate of TiO2 nanoparticles was limited by the ratio of the substrate surface roughness to particle diameter, as predicted by a previous study

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene alteration and protein overexpression in Malaysian triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cohort

Background: Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a member of the ErbB family of tyrosine kinase receptor proteins that plays important roles in tumour cell survival and proliferation. EGFR has been reported to be overexpressed in up to 78% of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cases suggesting it as a potential therapeutic target. The clinical trials of anti-EGFR agents in breast cancer showed low response rates. However, a subgroup of patients demonstrated response to EGFR inhibitors highlighting the necessity to stratify patients, who might benefit from effective combination therapy that could include anti EGFR-agents. Population variability in EGFR expression warrants systematic evaluation in specific populations. Purpose: To study EGFR alterations and expressions in a multi ethnic Malaysian TNBC patient cohort to determine the possibility of using anti-EGFR combinatorial therapy for this population. Patients and methods: In this study, we evaluated 58 cases of Malaysian TNBC patient samples for EGFR gene copy number alteration and EGFR protein overexpression using fluorescence in-situ hybridization (FISH) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) methods, respectively. Results: EGFR protein overexpression was observed in about 30% while 15.5% displayed high EGFR copy number including 5.17% gene amplification and over 10% high polysomy. There is a positive correlation between EGFR protein overexpression and gene copy number and over expression of EGFR is observed in ten out of the 48 low copy number cases (20.9%) without gene amplification. Conclusion: This study provides the first glimpse of EGFR alterations and expressions in a multi ethnic Malaysian TNBC patient cohort emphasising the need for the nationwide large scale EGFR expression evaluation in Malaysia

Kinetics and thermodynamics of synthesis of palm oil-based trimethylolpropane triester using microwave irradiation

Enhancement of reaction performance utilizing microwave irradiation has drawn so much interest due to its shorter reaction time and low catalyst loading. These advantages are particularly significant from kinetics and thermodynamics perspectives. This study aimed to investigate the kinetics and thermodynamics of microwave-assisted transesterification of palm oil-based methyl ester into biolubricant. The transesterification reaction of palm oil methyl ester (PME) and trimethylolpropane (TMP) was conducted at 110–130 °C for 90 min under vacuum condition. Sodium methoxide was employed as the catalyst at 0.6 wt% of reactants fixed at molar ratio of 4:1 (PME: TMP). The experimental data were fitted with the second-order reversible reaction kinetics mechanisms. The data were solved via Runge-Kutta 4,5 order using MATLAB software. Analysis on the data revealed that the reaction rate constants at temperatures of 110–140 ℃ were in the range of 0.01–0.63 [(w/w)(min)]−1, with standard errors of 0.0026–0.0228 within 99.99% prediction interval. Microwave-assisted reaction obtained 17.0 kcal/mol of activation energy. This method reduced activation energy by 49% as compared to the conventional heating. Activation energy and time-periodic energy assessment showed that the reaction was endothermic. The reaction at 130 °C is the easiest to activate. The positive Gibbs free energy (ΔG > 0) found using Eyring-Polanyi equation indicated that the transesterification was non-spontaneous and endergonic

The Influences of Drug Abuse on Mother-Infant Interaction Through the Lens of the Biopsychosocial Model of Health and Illness: A Review

Women who abuse illicit drugs often engage in atypical parenting behaviors that interfere with the natural development of mother-infant interaction and attachment. Maternal caregiving deficits leave pronounced adverse consequences in the wake of drug abuse relapse, which often occurs and in early infancy. These are times when the child requires optimal parental care. The contemporary literature documents long-term implications of illicit drug-abuse in parenting on infants. However, factors that drive and sustain the influence of drug abuse on parent-infant outcomes remain elusive. This review adopts a biopsychosocial approach to synthesizing the existing state of knowledge on this issue. Mother-infant interaction is a dynamic socio-relational process that occurs at multiple levels of organization. As such, a biopsychosocial perspective enables us to uncover: (i) roles of specific physiological mechanisms and biological characteristics of atypical parenting in mothers who abuse drugs, (ii) the influence of drugs on maternal psychological state (i.e., beliefs regarding parenting practices, emotional regulation), and (iii) social relationships (i.e., relationships with spouse and other drug abusers) and contextual cues (i.e., triggers) that moderate non-optimal maternal caregiving. A comprehensive review of these key domains provides a nuanced understanding of how these several sources interdependently shape atypical parent-infant interaction amongst drug abusing mothers. Systematic elucidation of major factors underlying drug-abused maternal behaviors facilitates the development of targeted and more effective interventions

Brain mechanisms of parenting in co-parenting spouses and parent-child dyads

Parenting is an integral part of human society that involves cooperation between co-parenting spouses (i.e., mother-father dyads) and bonding within parent-child dyads. Continuous exposure to a dyadic partners’ behavioural repertoire in daily life will lead to rhythmic patterns of interactions that are postulated to be supported by temporally similar underlying brain signals commonly referred to as inter-brain synchrony. Within the parenting context, mother-father dyads and parent-child dyads are two attachment pairs in which inter-brain synchrony is expected to be observed. Despite the ubiquity of bi-parental rearing in humans, studies on inter-brain synchrony in mother-father dyads are scarce. Studies on parent-child dyads have yet to investigate the effects of child, parental and stimuli characteristics on a child’s processing of narrative scenes during everyday joint activities like co-viewing children’s movies together. Moreover, the effects of maternal psychological factors on inter-brain synchrony have been minimally investigated. This thesis comprises four functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) studies that have examined prefrontal cortex (PFC) brain mechanisms in dyadic parenting contexts. Study 1 investigated inter-brain synchrony in 24 mother-father dyads (N=48) who rear their infant together. In the everyday context, spouses are continually exposed to each other’s physical presence and to salient infant and adult vocalisations (e.g,. cry, laughter). To test the hypothesis that inter-brain synchrony would be enhanced when spouses are in each other’s physical presence, each couple was presented with salient vocalisations in two conditions: together (in the same room, at the same time) and separately (in different rooms, at different times). Findings showed that co-parenting spouses displayed significantly greater synchrony when together, and that this result was observed in true couples but not in control couples. Spouses also showed greater synchrony towards positive and neutral vocalisations, but not negative ones. These results imply that the physical presence of a spouse facilitates inter-brain synchrony in attentional brain regions, and that synchrony might be adaptive in favourable situations (i.e., exposure to laughter) but not under stressful conditions (i.e., exposure to cry). Study 2 transited to parent-child dyads and investigated inter-brain synchrony in mother-child pairs during a co-viewing paradigm. 31 mother-child dyads (N = 62) participated in this study, which investigated the effects of maternal parenting stress and maternal anxious attachment, on inter-brain synchrony during co-viewing of three 1-minute animation scenes. To test the hypothesis that greater parenting stress would be associated with reduced synchrony, mothers’ self-reported parenting stress was measured with a Parenting Stress Index (PSI) questionnaire. Findings supported this prediction as higher parenting stress was correlated with less synchrony in the medial left PFC cluster which is implicated in mentalisation processes and social cognition. This result implies that parenting stress undermines shared inter-subjective experiences between mother and child during co-viewing. Study 2 also investigated the effects of maternal attachment-related anxiety, measured using the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), on dyadic inter-brain synchrony and maternal brain responses during co-viewing of three 1-minute animation scenes. Since anxiously-attached mothers tend to be preoccupied with their child’s social cues, dyads with more anxiously-attached mothers were hypothesised to display reduced inter-brain synchrony during the co-viewing activity. Results showed that greater maternal attachment anxiety was associated with less inter-brain synchrony in the medial right cluster of the PFC which is critical for mentalisation. This finding suggests that there potentially exists a difference in the intersubjective experiences shared between a mother with anxious-related attachment and her child during everyday co-viewing activities. The implication borne out of the findings of Study 2 is that maternal psychological variables, namely parenting stress and attachment anxiety, could undermine the quality of shared experiences when dyads engage in passive bonding activities together. Finally, Study 3 measured children’s and parental brain processing when co-viewing narrative scenes. 62 children of preschool-age (37 boys, 25 girls) and their parents (29 fathers, 33 mothers) participated in a co-viewing activity (N = 124) which screened three 1-minute video excerpts of children’s movies of positive, neutral and negative emotional valences. Results showed that children displayed greater PFC activity when co-viewing with fathers than with mothers. Girls were also found to exhibit heightened PFC responses than boys towards the positive video stimulus. Analyses of mothers’ and fathers’ prefrontal responses revealed that parents from same-gendered dyads (i.e., mother-daughter, father-son) showed greater brain activation than parents from opposite-gendered dyads (i.e., mother-son, father-daughter) when watching a scene where the gender of the characters was salient. These findings suggest that social and stimuli factors in the environment influence parents’ and children’s processing of narrative scenes when co-viewing.Doctor of Philosoph