Influence of the inlet air temperature on the microencapsulation of kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) seed oil.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of different inlet air temperatures on the physicochemical properties and oxidative stability of microencapsulated kenaf seed oil (MKSO). Kenaf seed oil was homogenised with the wall materials at a total solid content of 30% and was spray-dried at 160, 180 or 200°C inlet air temperature. The microstructure and morphology of the microencapsulated kenaf seed oil were observed using a scanning electron microscope. The physicochemical properties, such as moisture content, water activity and particle size, of MKSO produced at different inlet air temperatures showed a significant difference (p<0.05). MKSO produced with an inlet air temperature of 160°C exhibited the highest microencapsulation efficiency (MEE, 96.46%) compared to 180°C (78.42%) and the efficiency was lowest at 200°C (58.96%). Increasing the inlet air temperature also resulted in significantly increased (p<0.05) lipid oxidation of MKSO and decreased total intrinsic phenolic content upon accelerated storage. However, all MKSO had lower lipid oxidation and higher total phenolic content than bulk (unencapsulated) oil. This study indicates that increased inlet air temperature results in larger particle size, higher lipid oxidation and lower MEE. The process of microencapsulation could protect oil from the external environment that causes lipid oxidation. Practical applications: Kenaf seed oil contains PUFA and phytosterols, which are beneficial to human health. However, the PUFA in kenaf seed oil is susceptible to lipid oxidation, which degrades its nutritional value. Microencapsulation is used to protect the kenaf seed oil from being oxidised. By knowing the influence of the inlet air temperature on the physical properties and oxidative stability of the microencapsulated kenaf seed oil, the ideal inlet air temperature can be used to produce microencapsulated kenaf seed oil, which may be incorporated into food products to supplement the bioactive compounds that are beneficial to human health

Cause-related marketing: it's influence on consumers' choice of hypermarket

Malaysia has undergone market changes which lead to transformation from small shops to larger scale shops due to the globalization. The larger scale shop such as hypermarkets will increase the supply from local suppliers if the demand of consumers toward local product is high. This indicates that cause-related marketing concept can be applied if consumers are favour to hypermarkets that intend to support local product. Therefore, this study aims to examine the factors that influence consumers’ participation intention on “support local product” CRM campaign in the Malaysia context. There were six variables included to determine their effects on participation intention in “support local product” campaign which were firm motive, perceived corporate social responsibility, offer elaboration, brand attitude, ethnocentrism and environmental concern. Multiple regression and one-way ANOVA analysis were used to carry out data analysis. The results of multiple regression analysis indicated that all the predictors have significant relationships with participation intentions except for firm motive. Based on the findings, hypermarket might choose to engage in CRM campaign that use “support local product” as a cause. By doing so, it might assist the hypermarket to differentiate themselves with other competitors in retail industry

A unique “turn-on” fluorescence signalling strategy for highly specific detection of ascorbic acid using carbon dots as sensing probe

Carbon dots (CDs) that showed strong blue fluorescence were successfully synthesised from sodium alginate via furnace pyrolysis. The single step pyrolytic synthesis was simple to perform while yielded CDs with high photostability, good water solubility and minimum by-products. In order to design the probe with “turn-on” sensing capability, the CDs were screened against a series of metal cations to first “turn-off” the fluorescence. It was found that ferric ions (Fe3þ) were most responsive and effective in quenching the fluorescence of CDs. Based on this observation, the conditioning of the probe was performed to ensure the fluorescence was completely quenched, while not overloading the system with Fe3þ. At the optimised condition, the CDs-Fe3þ mixture served as a highly specific detection probe for ascorbic acid (AA). The analytical potential of the probe was evaluated and showed a good linear range of response for AA concentration of 24–40 μg/mL. The selectivity study against other possible co-existing species was carried out and proved that our unique “turn-on” fluorescence signalling strategy was highly effective and selective towards AA as the target analyte. The probe was demonstrated for quantification of AA in real samples, which was the commercially available vitamin C supplement. The result showed good accuracy with minimum deviation from standard method adopted for validation purpose

Assessment of rainfall pattern and future change for Kelantan River Basin, Malaysia using statistically downscaled local climate models

Climate change has been discussed frequently in recent decades, and it has increased the probability of extreme flood occurrence. This study aims to provide an analysis of future rainfall patterns and flood occurrences specifically for the Kelantan River Basin which is identified as one of flood prone areas in Malaysia. The study area was divided into five regions of the Kelantan River Basin,-Kota Bharu (Northern), Kuala Krai (Center), Pos Lebir (Southeastern), Pos Hua (Southwestern) and Pos Gob (Northwestern). The historical rainfall data (1986-2019) was then retrieved from the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD) based on the five regions. The statistical approach was applied to downscaled climate model data from the CanESM2 GCM forced by the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 4.5 and 8.5. The reliability assessment using a Cronbach’s Alpha, Linear Regression and Pearson Correlation results show that local climates (2006-2019) forced by RCP4.5 have a similar trend to historical rainfall within the same period. The spatial analysis outcomes showed that the northeastern region of the Kelantan River Basin received its highest average annual rainfall (5,000 mm) in 1990 and caused severe flooding in the area. However, there is a significant change of rainfall pattern in all regions, with a steady increase in annual rainfall in the southwestern region (2021-2100)

Foam and Antifoam Behavior of PDMS in MDEA-PZ Solution in the Presence of Different Degradation Products for CO2 Absorption Process

Absorption is one of the most established techniques to capture CO2 from natural gas and post-combustion processes. Nevertheless, the absorption process frequently suffers from various operational issues, including foaming. The main objective of the current work is to elucidate the effect of degradation product on the foaming behavior in methyldiethanolamine (MDEA) and piperazine (PZ) solution and evaluate the antifoaming performance of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) antifoam. The foaming behavior was investigated based on types of degradation product, temperature, and gas flow rate. The presence of glycine, heptanoic acid, hexadecane, and bicine in MDEA-PZ solution cause significant foaming. The presence of hexadecane produced the highest amount of foam, followed by heptanoic acid, glycine and lastly bicine. It was found that increasing the gas flow rate increases foaming tendency and foam stability. Furthermore, increasing temperature increases foaming tendency, but reduces foam stability. Moreover, PDMS antifoam was able to reduce foam formation in the presence of different degradation products and at various temperatures and gas flow rates. It was found that PDMS antifoam works best in the presence of hexadecane with the highest average foam height reduction of 19%. Hence, this work will demonstrate the cause of foaming and the importance of antifoam in reducing its effect

Investigating pricing strategies of hotel rooms in city centre: a case study

In this article, the pricing strategies among hotel rooms dwelling in the city centre are investigated. A sample of 25 hotels with star ratings from 2 to 4 are selected, all situated in the heart of Georgetown, Penang. The primary data is collected, in which hotel room prices were observed for December 2018 through online travel operator, agoda.com platform. A comparative study of four forecasting methods, i.e. simple moving average, adaptive response rate exponential smoothing and multiplicative decomposition method were used to investigate the patterns of pricing strategies for these hotel rooms, with their accuracies being measured. The findings revealed that the average pricing of the room is at its peak before the public holiday, with the seasonal pattern being present, in which the prices are higher on Fridays weekly. Room prices for a hotel with higher star rating were also observed to be more sensitive to holiday effects as opposed to the hotel with a lower star rating

Naturally Acquired Human Plasmodium knowlesi Infection, Singapore

Naturally Acquired Human Plasmodium knowlesi Infection, Singapor

Modeling and optimization of lipase-catalyzed partial hydrolysis for diacylglycerol production in packed bed reactor

Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the process variables namely packed bed height (cm) and flow rates (ml/min) on diacylglycerol (DAG) production via partial hydrolysis of palm oil using immobilized Rhizomucor miehei lipase in packed bed reactor (PBR). Quadratic models were successfully developed for both DAG(y) and unhydrolyzed triacylglycerol ((un)TAG) with determination coefficient (R2) of 0.9931 and 0.9986, respectively coupled with insignificant lack of fit (p > 0.05). Optimal conditions for DAG synthesis were evaluated to be 10 cm packed bed height and 3.8 ml/min flow rate. Immobilized enzyme can be reused up to 10 times without significant changes in enzymatic activity. The partial hydrolysis under studied was found to be mass transfer-controlled

Pulse wave velocity is associated with increased plasma oxLDL in ageing but not with FGF21 and habitual exercise

Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and adiponectin increase expression of genes involved in antioxidant pathways, but their roles in mediating oxidative stress and arterial stiffness with ageing and habitual exercise remain unknown. We explored the role of the FGF21–adiponectin axis in mediating oxidative stress and arterial stiffness with ageing and habitual exercise. Eighty age- and sex-matched healthy individuals were assigned to younger sedentary or active (18–36 years old,n=20 each) and older sedentary or active (45–80 years old,n=20 each) groups. Arterial stiffness was measured indirectly using pulse wave velocity (PWV). Fasted plasma concentrations of FGF21, adiponectin and oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) were measured. PWV was 0.2-fold higher and oxLDL concentration was 25.6% higher (both p<0.001) in older than younger adults, despite no difference in FGF21 concentration (p=0.097) between age groups. PWV (p=0.09) and oxLDL concentration (p=0.275) did not differ between activity groups but FGF21 concentration was 9% lower in active than sedentary individuals (p=0.011). Adiponectin concentration did not differ by age (p=0.642) or exercise habits (p=0.821). In conclusion, age, but not habitual exercise, was associated with higher oxidative stress and arterial stiffness. FGF21 and adiponectin did not differ between younger and older adults, unlikely mediating oxidative stress and arterial stiffness in healthy adults. <br

Diagnostic Accuracy of the Electrocardiogram for Heart Failure With Reduced or Preserved Ejection Fraction

Current heart failure (HF) guidelines recommend electrocardiography (ECG) as an essential initial investigation in a patient's workup. 1 However, these recommendations were based on studies primarily including patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). 1 , 2 , 3 Guidelines do not distinguish HFrEF from HF with preserved and mid-range ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFmrEF) in their ECG recommendations. We hypothesized that a normal ECG does not exclude HFpEF and has a considerably lower sensitivity for diagnosing HFpEF than HFrEF