Infant Feeding Practices, Health And Nutritional Status: A Prospective Study Of Infants Seen At The University Of Malaya Medical Centre, Kuala Lumpur

Feeding practices during infancy are important determinants of a baby's future physical and mental well being because of the rapid growth spurts and development of organ and tissues during the first year of life. Hence the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between infant feeding practices and the health status of infants below six months of age. A prospective study was carried out to examine the relationship between infant feeding and the health status of infants in the first six months of life at the University of Malaya Medical Centre Kuala Lumpur. A total of 1 50 newborns from the medical centre were selected and fol lowed up for six months. Feeding practices were assessed monthly by questionnaire, frequency and duration of illnesses were recorded and anthropometric measurements were taken during monthly visits to the child health clinic

Production Of Braille Paper From Recycled Fiber Treated With Cellulose Acetate And Optimization By Response Surface Methodology (Rsm)

Paper dust and oil palm empty fruit bunch (EFB) unbleached chemical pulps were derived to a low-grade cellulose acetate in this study. Papers made from secondary fiber were then treated with the resultant cellulose acetate (CA) to produce paper that is suitable to be used on Braille embosser but in lower grammage (~80 gsm) and higher paper stiffness. The treatment of cellulose acetate derived from paper dust (CAPD) into handsheet was studied statistically by employing a half two level factorial design. The effects of the three independent variables of treatment - dipping time, pressing temperature and pressing time on three response variables (paper density, burst index and rate of surface wettability) was investigated. The factorial models obtained showed that dipping time is the most influential variable followed by pressing temperature, whereas the pressing time was insignificant to all responses. The optimization of treatment conditions on the paper properties were carried out by employing response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). Four response variables, namely density, burst index, smoothness, and rate of surface wettability were analyzed. Polynomial estimation model of each response was developed as functions of three independent variables, which are pressing temperature (T), dipping time (D), and concentration of cellulose acetate (C). The paper which was treated based on the calculated optimum condition (T: 163oC, D: 2.8 minutes and C: 2.7%) , possessed density of 0.5450 g/cm3, rate of surface wettability of 0.012o/s, burst index of 2.84-kPa m2/g, and paper smoothness of 475 mL/min. All the experimental values were significantly no different from the predicted values calculated from estimation models

Biohydrogen Production from Palm Oil Mill Effluent by Locally Isolated Clostridium Butyricum Eb6

Hydrogen is a renewable, clean source of energy which has a great potential to be an alternative fuel. Abundant biomass from various industries could be a source for biohydrogen production where combination of waste treatment and energy production would be an advantage. Potential biomass that could be the substrates for biohydrogen generation include food and starch-based wastes, cellulosic materials, dairy wastes, palm oil mill effluent and glycerol. The objectives of this study were to isolate biohydrogen producing bacteria, to maximize the biohydrogen production in a synthetic medium and palm oil mill effluent (POME) and to improve the strain by overexpressing the hydrogenase gene in the host cell. A biohydrogen producer was successfully isolated from anaerobic POME sludge. The strain, designated as Clostridium butyricum EB6, efficiently produced biohydrogen during active cell growth. Controlled study was done on synthetic medium with 10 g/L glucose resulted in biohydrogen production at 948ml H2/L-medium and volumetric biohydrogen production rate of 172 mL H2/L-medium/h at initial pH 5.5. The supplementation of yeast extract at 4 g/L was found to have a significant effect with the highest biohydrogen production of 992 mL H2/L-medium. The effect of pH on biohydrogen production from POME was investigated, with the optimum biohydrogen production ability at pH 5.5. The maximum biohydrogen production and maximum volumetric biohydrogen production rate were at 3195 mL H2/L-medium and 1034 mL H2/L-medium/h, respectively. The biohydrogen content in the biogas produced was in the range of 60 - 70%. Optimization of biohydrogen production using synthetic medium was done on pH, glucose and iron concentration according to response surface methods (RSM) analysis. By central composite design (CCD) results, pH, glucose concentration and iron concentration were shown to significantly influence the biohydrogen gas production individually, interactively and quadratively (P<0.05) with some exception. The CCD results indicated that pH 5.6, 15.7 g/L glucose and 0.39 g/L FeSO4 was the optimum condition for biohydrogen production which gave a yield of biohydrogen at 2.2 mol H2/mol glucose. For the confirmation experiment model, t-test result showed that experimental data curve had a high confidence at 95% with t = 2.225. Based on the results of this study, optimization of the culture condition for C. butyricum EB6 significantly increased the biohydrogen production.Clostridium butyricum EB6 successfully produced hydrogen gas from POME. Central composite design and response surface methodology were applied to determine the optimum conditions for biohydrogen production (Pc) and maximum biohydrogen production rate (Rmax) from POME. Experimental results showed that the pH, temperature and chemical oxygen demand (COD) of POME affected both the biohydrogen production and production rate individually and interactively. The optimum conditions for biohydrogen production (Pc) was pH 5.69, temperature 36ºC and 92 g COD/L, with an estimated value of 306 mL H2/g carbohydrate. The optimum conditions for maximum biohydrogen production rate (Rmax) was pH 6.52, temperature 41ºC and 60 g COD/L, with an estimated value of 914 ml H2/ h. An overlay study was carried out to get an overall model optimization. The optimized conditions for the overall model was pH 6.05, temperature 36ºC and 94 g COD/L. [Fe]-hydrogenase (hydA) gene of C. butyricum EB6 was successfully amplified from the genomic DNA. Sequencing results of the hydA gene was identified with open reading frames of 1725 bp which encodes hydA of 574 amino acids with approximate size of 64 kDaltons. The hydA of C. butyricum was found 80.5% similar to hydA of C. acetobutylicum P262 and closely similar to Clostridia hydrogenase. A modified method of electroporation on C. butyricum EB6 was established for transformation of hydA. A hydA-expressing recombinant EB6 was successfully obtained with higher biohydrogen production from 4.2 L-H2/ L-medium to 4.8 L-H2/ L-medium compared to the wild type

Modeling, Simulation And Design Of Membrane Based Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) Treatment Plant From Pilot Plant Studies [QK495.P17 C549 2007 f rb].

Tanpa rawatan, pembuangan kumbahan kilang kelapa sawit (POME) ke persekitaran mengakibatkan masalah pencemaran yang serius dan rawatan POME berasaskan membran telah dicadangkan sebagai salah satu penyelesaiannya. If untreated, the discharge of Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME) into the environment leads to serious pollution problems and the membrane based POME treatment process has been suggested as a solution

Applications of Credit Scoring Models

The application of credit scoring on consumer lending is an automated, objective and consistent tool which helps lenders to provide quick loan decisions. In order to apply for a loan, applicants must provide their attributes by filling out an application form. Certain attributes are then selected as inputs to a credit scoring model which generates a credit score. The magnitude of this credit score is proved to be related to the credit quality of the loan applicant. As such, it is used to determine whether the loan will be granted, and also the amount of interest being charged. Currently, little effort has been devoted to verifying the correctness of the reported attributes provided by prospective borrowers. Moreover, with a long history of use of the same credit scoring model, borrowers will learn about the characteristics being used by the lender to make loan decisions, and may be motivated to lie about their attributes in order to increase their chances of loan approval. This thesis examines the effect on consumer lending if some borrowers strategically falsify their attributes on the application form. Under normal circumstances, analysts believe that using a larger dataset to develop credit scoring models will increase model accuracy. We will show that if some borrowers respond dishonestly to some questions on the application form, using higher dimensional data to build models will increase the associated accumulated error, and may result in having a more complex model but with low predictive power compared against using a dataset with lower dimensions. Furthermore, we will show that it is profitable for lenders to spend extra cost to directly eliminate lies in the dataset. In particular, we will examine the optimal amount of effort that lenders should spend on identifying liars in order to equilibrate between risk and return. However, we will also show that it is still possible for fraudulent loan applicants to eventually adjust their lies to escape from credit checks and get loans. Indeed the business of consumer lending may usefully be modeled as a game performed between the lender and the borrower. We will explore the cost to make a clever lie on the attributes and the cost to verify the correctness of the reported data towards the interaction between the lender and bad liars. The impact of having liars in the business not only affects the profitability of lenders, but also lowers the utility of those borrowers who always repay their loans and the utility of the economy as a whole. The proposed issues will be studied using discriminant analysis on simulated data, and then further assume the characteristics of borrowers follow half triangular distribution to present theoretical results. This research shows the importance of enriching data before making loan decisions. It can help lending financial institutions to reduce risk and maximize profit, and it also shows that it is feasible for customers to lie intelligently so as to evade credit checks and get loans

Bright light therapy as part of a multicomponent management program improves sleep and functional outcomes in delirious older hospitalized adults.

ObjectiveDelirium is associated with poor outcomes following acute hospitalization. A specialized delirium management unit, the Geriatric Monitoring Unit (GMU), was established. Evening bright light therapy (2000-3000 lux; 6-10 pm daily) was added as adjunctive treatment, to consolidate circadian activity rhythms and improve sleep. This study examined whether the GMU program improved sleep, cognitive, and functional outcomes in delirious patients.MethodA total of 228 patients (mean age = 84.2 years) were studied. The clinical characteristics, delirium duration, delirium subtype, Delirium Rating Score (DRS), cognitive status (Chinese Mini-Mental State Examination), functional status (modified Barthel Index [MBI]), and chemical restraint use during the initial and predischarge phase of the patient's GMU admission were obtained. Nurses completed hourly 24-hour patient sleep logs, and from these, the mean total sleep time, number of awakenings, and sleep bouts (SB) were computed.ResultsThe mean delirium duration was 6.7 ± 4.6 days. Analysis of the delirium subtypes showed that 18.4% had hypoactive delirium, 30.2% mixed delirium, and 51.3% had hyperactive delirium. There were significant improvements in MBI scores, especially for the hyperactive and mixed delirium subtypes (P &lt; 0.05). Significant improvements were noted on the DRS sleep-wake disturbance subscore, for all delirium-subtypes. The mean total sleep time (7.7 from 6.4 hours) (P &lt; 0.05) and length of first SB (6.0 compared with 5.3 hours) (P &lt; 0.05) improved, with decreased mean number of SBs and awakenings. The sleep improvements were mainly seen in the hyperactive delirium subtype.ConclusionThis study shows initial evidence for the clinical benefits (longer total sleep time, increased first SB length, and functional gains) of incorporating bright light therapy as part of a multicomponent delirium management program. The benefits appear to have occurred mainly in patients with hyperactive delirium, which merits further in-depth, randomized controlled studies

The Credit Defaults of CDOs: An Investigation of Securitization in Offshore Financial Centers

Collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) have been subject to much scrutiny with the financial crisis. In fact, while other U.S. asset-backed securities are typically issued domestically, a majority of CDOs are issued in offshore financial centers such as the Cayman Islands, Ireland and Jersey rather than in the United States. This paper investigates the legal, regulatory and economic implications of issuing CDOs offshore, and whether offshore issuance of CDOs had an impact on the packaging of the underlying securities and CDO credit defaults. Using a dataset of 517 CDOs, three main findings were made. First, the country of issuance significantly explains the losses in the CDO collateral. Second, lack of reporting requirements for offshore-issued CDOs played a role in CDO credit defaults. Third, there was no evidence that the fact that offshore vehicles are bankruptcy-remote played a role in credit rating inflation and in explaining the proliferation of collateral defaults offshore