Etika Kerja Islam sebagai Penyederhana dalam Hubungan antara Kecerdasan Emosi dan Kepemimpinan Administrator Universitas Negeri

The main challenges for the HEIs are to provide a market driven academic programmes and able to respond to the changing needs of economic sectors. Apparently, the recent challenges require the staff to equip themselves with leadership quality in order to achieve organizational goals. Previous studies have shown several factors such as EI influenced effective leadership. Another significant issue in leadership is ethical behaviors. Therefore, this study intends to examine the relationship between EI and leadership practices when Islamic work ethic is practiced in Malaysian public universities. The respondents will consist of middle administrators in Malaysian public universities. Using qualitative and cross sectional approaches, surveys will be distributed to the stratified randomly selected respondents. Most of the past results suggested there were significant relationships between the variables. The findings are expected to have some contributions both to the practical and theoretical aspects and enable PHIs to improve their leadership training programmes

PSMB7 is associated with anthracycline resistance and is a prognostic biomarker in breast cancer

BACKGROUND: To date individual markers have failed to correctly predict resistance against anticancer agents in breast cancer. We used gene expression patterns attributable to chemotherapy-resistant cells to detect potential new biomarkers related to anthracycline resistance. One of the genes, PSMB7, was selected for further functional studies and clinical validation. METHODS: We contrasted the expression profiles of four pairs of different human tumour cell lines and of their counterparts resistant to doxorubicin. Observed overexpression of PSMB7 in resistant cell lines was validated by immunohistochemistry. To examine its function in chemoresistance, we silenced the gene by RNA interference (RNAi) in doxorubicin-resistant MCF-7 breast cancer cells, then cell vitality was measured after doxorubicin treatment. Microarray gene expression from GEO raw microarray samples with available progression-free survival data was downloaded, and expression of PSMB7 was used for grouping samples. RESULTS: After doxorubicin treatment, 79.8+/-13.3% of resistant cells survived. Silencing of PSMB7 in resistant cells decreased survival to 31.8+/-6.4% (P>0.001). A similar effect was observed after paclitaxel treatment. In 1592 microarray samples, the patients with high PSMB7 expression had a significantly shorter survival than the patients with low expression (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that high PSMB7 expression is an unfavourable prognostic marker in breast cancer

Molybdenum reductase in Enterobacter cloacae

Under anaerobic conditions in glucose–yeast extract medium with phosphate, Enterobacter cloacae strain 48 grew well and reduced Mo6+, to Mo5+. The activity of Mo6+-reductase was measured by the formation of molybdenum blue (complexation between Mo5+ and phosphate ion). Models based on logistic and Luedeking–Piret equations were found adequate to describe the growth of E. cloacae and Mo6+-reductase production. Mo6+-reductase production was found to be a growth-associated process. Washed intact cells, membrane fraction (after disruption using a sonicator) and fluid supernatant (after cell disruption) were able to reduce Mo6+. However, Mo6+-reductase activity was much lower in the supernatant fluid. The (NH4)2SO4-precipitated Mo6+-reductase extract from fluid supernatant was assayed for its properties. The optimum pH and temperature for Mo6+-reductase activity were 8 and 30°C, respectively. The apparent Michaelis–Menten constant (Km) and a maximum velocity (Vmax) were 16.5mm and 0.0192μmol/ml.h, respectively

Co-combustion of oil palm trunk biocoal / sub-bituminous coal fuel blends

Biomass is a promising alternative for the reduction of global dependency on fossil fuels. However, there are some issues with the direct application of raw biomass such as high moisture content, low heating value, and poor grindability. To alleviate the problems, biomass-derived biocoal is introduced and utilised as fuel in power plants. Oil palm trunk biocoal (OPTC) is produced from pyrolysis of oil palm trunk biomass (OPTB) in a top-lit, updraft reactor at a constant air flowrate of 4.63 L/min and maximum temperature of 550 °C. OPTC is co-combusted at temperatures between 600 and 900 °C with sub-bituminous coal (SBC). Pollutant emission and ash production from combustion of fuel blends containing 20% and 50% biocoal are analysed and compared with pure SBC, OPTB and OPTC. NOx and SO2 emission profiles from all tested fuel blends are well below the limits imposed under Environmental Quality (Clean Air) Regulation 2014 of 296 and 190 ppm respectively. Response surface methodology (RSM) analysis indicates that the operation of combustion is optimised with 92.16% efficiency at 774 °C and air flowrate of 16.6 SCFH to emit 16.38% CO2, and the findings are validated against experimental results. The optimised combustion process produces ash with 67.9% silicon compounds

Mapping and analysis of Open Source Software (OSS) usability for sustainable OSS product

The increase in the number of open source software (OSS) users have drawn attention to improving usability. Usability is a clear concept that encompassing both task and user characteristics as well as functionality. Usability is an essential factor that affects user acceptance and OSS sustainability, which is considered as the key to the success of the OSS. To some extent, usability is one concern of the larger issue of system acceptability and sustainability. Therefore, usability is an important factor that needs to be considered since the software that is not usable is not going to be sustainable. The objective of this paper is to review researchers' efforts to improve, investigate, and evaluate the usability factor that may affect the OSS acceptability and sustainability and map the research scenery from the articles into a comprehensible structured taxonomy, which would help the researchers to identify different research gaps of this field. A survey of the usability in OSS conducted and 6033 studies identified by a search in four scholarly databases using a query that includes the keywords (usability or learnability or efficiency or satisfaction) and (open source software or OSS). A total of 46 studies are selected. By manually searching in ACM, Springer, and Google Scholar five other studies identified, and thus a total of 51 studies were the final set that includes in this paper. Based on research topics, a taxonomy created and divided into four principal categories which improve OSS usability, analyze OSS usability, evaluate OSS usability, and select and adopt OSS. A comprehensive overview and synthesis of these categories are presented as well. This paper contributes to identifying the possible opportunities and gaps for enabling the participation of interested researchers in this research area. And give possibilities for extending the use of usability research and practices to create more sustainable software. Also, helps in selecting suitable OSS among the alternatives

Aeration and yeast extract requirements for kojic acid production by Aspergillus flavus link

Growth and kojic acid production by Aspergillus flavus Link 44-1 were studied at different levels of dissolved oxygen tension (DOT) using a 2-l stirred tank fermenter. In all experiments, agitation was fixed at 600 rpm and DOT was controlled at different levels by varying airflow rates. Single-phase DOT control at three different levels (30, 50, and 80% saturation) did not enhance kojic acid production when compared to fermentation without DOT control (13.5 g l-l). The production of kojic acid in a fermentation with single-phase DOT control at 80% was comparable to that of a fermentation without DOT control. Decreased DOT levels below 80% reduced the production of kojic acid significantly although the biomass increased. When DOT was controlled at a very high level (80%) during active growth and then decreased to a low level (30%) during the production phase (i.e., two-phase DOT control), the production of kojic acid (28.9 g l-l) was increased by about two times compared to a fermentation without DOT control; however, when yeast extract was added continuously in a fermentation with two-phase DOT control, active growth occurred during the production phase and the maximum accumulation of kojic acid was reduced significantly. High DOT during on active growth phase and no addition of yeast extract during the production phase were required to enhance kojic acid biosynthesis. The most effective control strategy for kojic acid production, therefore, was to control DOT at very high levels during active growth and not add a nitrogen source during the production phase while using low levels of DOT

Real-life glycaemic profiles in non-diabetic individuals with low fasting glucose and normal HbA1c: the A1C-Derived Average Glucose (ADAG) study

Abstract AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Real-life glycaemic profiles of healthy individuals are poorly studied. Our aim was to analyse to what extent individuals without diabetes exceed OGTT thresholds for impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and diabetes. METHODS: In the A1C-Derived Average Glucose (ADAG) study, 80 participants without diabetes completed an intensive glucose monitoring period of 12 weeks. From these data, we calculated the average 24 h glucose exposure as time spent above different plasma glucose thresholds. We also derived indices of postprandial glucose levels, glucose variability and HbA(1c). RESULTS: We found that 93% of participants reached glucose concentrations above the IGT threshold of 7.8 mmol/l and spent a median of 26 min/day above this level during continuous glucose monitoring. Eight individuals (10%) spent more than 2 h in the IGT range. They had higher HbA(1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), age and BMI than those who did not. Seven participants (9%) reached glucose concentrations above 11.1 mmol/l during monitoring. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: Even though the non-diabetic individuals monitored in the ADAG study were selected on the basis of a very low level of baseline FPG, 10% of these spent a considerable amount of time at glucose levels considered to be 'prediabetic' or indicating IGT. This highlights the fact that exposure to moderately elevated glucose levels remains under-appreciated when individuals are classified on the basis of isolated glucose measurements

Effect of different positions of hollow section on the high strength concrete beam

Today, the construction industry is continuously looking for lighter and high strength concrete (HSC) beams especially for high rise building. This research reported the effect of different positions of hollow section on the HSC beam containing eggshell powder (ESP) as partial cement replacement and tire crumb (TC) as partial sand replacement. Sustainable and high strength concrete is now widely used as a structural component like beam, slab and wall due to environmental impact. The hollow section also can reduce the dead loads which contribute to seismic effect in high rise buildings. Furthermore, eggshell is an agricultural waste that is generally considered worthless and is mostly disposed of because it leads to pollution, but it has similar properties as lime that used to be raw material to produce cement. In this study, 10% TC is used as partial sand replacement to produce a green concrete to make it more sustainable in construction. The experimental program consists of casting and testing high strength concrete beams of size 150 x 200 x 1500 mm with different positions of circular hollow sections. To study the flexural behaviour, all beams are tested after 28 days of curing subjected to four-points bending test in order to analyse the effect of different position of hollow section on the strength, deflection and mode of failure of HSC beam. Based on the experimental result, solid beam (SB) exhibits the higher strength with maximum loading of 156.45kN and flexural strength up to 39.11N/mm2. Besides, one hollow beam (OHB) and two vertical hollow beams (TVHB) show a better result in deflection compared to solid beam (SB). However, the two horizontal hollow beam (THHB) exhibits better performance in strength, with nearly 6.5% less than the SB. Conclusively, the position of the hollow beam affects the strength and deflection of the beam. All the beams experienced shear crack and flexural crack. The two horizontal hollow beams (THHB) can be used as a light structure beam of a building especially for the roof beam which receives less loading from the roof