Food policy and security issues : the need for increase investments

The authors, in the first section of this paper, review the world food situation, productivity growth and its determinants. Various features of international agricultural trade policies, the new protectionism and current trade liberalization talks are highlighted. A discussion of some issues of agriculture policies, both macroeconomic and sectoral policies follows. Elements of the National Agricultural policy are then analysed with regards its direction and rationale. The second section examines the National Agricultural Policy in more detail followed by an overview of investment opportunities in Malaysia

Kenaf Fiber Composite in Automotive Industry: An Overview

Recently, natural fibers become an attractive to automotive industry as an alternative reinforcement for glass fiber reinforced thermoplastics. Additionally, natural fiber components in the automotive industry can provide numerous advantages compared to synthetic conventional such as reduction of weight and cost,  recyclability, renewability and in addition to eco-efficiency. Thus, the use of natural fibers in automotive industry has shown increasingly stringent environmental criteria. Furthermore, amongst grouped bast fibers such as flax, hemp, jute, ramie and kenaf; kenaf fiber seen as potential natural fiber with robust mechanical properties. Kenaf fiber had been explored to enhance desired mechanical properties as an automotive structural components. As usual, natural fibres have some issues and disadvantages when used as reinforcements for polymeric composites. Therefore, some modification performed on fibers such as chemical treatment was carried out. In addition, the use of a coupling agent and a plasticizer can also increase fiber-matrix adhesive bonding

Position Tracking Performance for ElectroHydraulic Actuator System with the Presence of Actuator Internal Leakage

Electro-hydraulic actuator (EHA) system is known as one of the highly nonlinear systems due to its parameters uncertainties. Many types of robust controller had been studied and proposed to control the nonlinear EHA system. Different parameters uncertainties test is needed in the procedure to evaluate the controller robustness. In this paper, the effect of the actuator internal leakage to the output actuator displacement is studied. The actuator output displacement is analyzed using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) by means of giving sinusoidal input reference. The results show that as the actuator internal leakage increases, the RMSE will increase and the actuator will start to vibrate or show damping characteristics

Marine Sourced Glycosaminoglycans ‘GAGs'

Globally, there is an uprising interest for availability of tangible, novel, added value, sustainable commercial exploitable therapeutic compounds from naturally derived sources. The paper will highlight bioactive compounds of therapeutic potential from marine sources such as polysaccharides, especially glycosaminoglycans. It is now well documented, and this effort combined with a green technological approach in sustainable natural biodiversity will allow the development of a new generation of therapeutics. Outsourcing for a biocompatible, non-mutational bioactive compound such as GAG's in a worldwide research and industrial agenda. Hence, the thorough understanding on how the biosynthesis, structure and function of complex glycosaminoglycans will reveal the polysaccharides from the marine environment could provide a valid alternative to traditional polysaccharides such as glycosaminoglycans

Predicting acoustic wave-flow in a thermoacoustic resonator with binary gas-mixtures

Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 1-4 July, 2007.This paper studies the trend of near- wall acoustic wave flow in a thermoacoustic resonator with noble gas mixtures. Dimensionless 2D N-S equations were solved numerically for acoustic waves in a rectangular chamber generated by a membrane acoustic driver. The dynamic viscosity and thermal thermal thermal conductivity for the fluid mixture were calculated using the Wilke and Wassiljewa’s method while the gas mixture density is calculated using the virial equation of state. These parameters are incorporated into the Re and Pr number of the Navier-Stokes equations. Unsteady flow within the chamber is observed for different mixture combinations of He-Ar and He-Xe. The best mixture found is He-Xe (6:4) where thicker thermal boundary layer profile is observed near the solid surface. As time increases, vortex formation is found near the wavemaker, a similar phenomenon observed for pure fluid. This result shows potential for numerically predicting thermoacoustic behavior that involves mixtures.cs201

Ruptured testicular abscess: a rare complication of epididymo-orchitis

Epididymo-orchitis is a medical condition characterised by inflammation of epididymis and testis which is a common urological diagnosis encountered by healthcare professionals. Misdiagnosis and under treatment can lead to poor outcome such as infarction and abscess formation. We presented a 33-year-old man, with no known medical illness, presented with one-week history of left testicular pain, swelling and fever. He was commenced on Amoxicillin by his general practitioner. Physical examination showed left swollen and tender testis and normal right testis. Investigations showed an elevated white cell count (WCC) 41.3x103 /L and colour doppler ultrasound (USG) testes showed left epididymo-orhitis. He was admitted and treated with IV Unasyn® (Ampicillin+Sulbactam) for 5 days. His symptoms improved, and he discharged home well with one week oral Unasyn®. He represented 2 weeks later with worsening left scrotal swelling and pain. Clinical examination found a swollen, tender and erythematous scrotum with 1x1cm defect in the left scrotum with purulent discharge. He underwent operation incision and drainage of left scrotum and left orchidectomy. Post-operatively he recovered well. Histopathology reported as epididimoorchitis with abscess, necrosis and perforation. As a conclusion, testicular rupture and abscess formation secondary to epididymo-orchitis is an uncommon reported complication. Immediate recognition and treatment is crucial as a delayed diagnosis can lead to sepsis and infertility

Identification of angiotensin I converting enzyme inhibitory and radical scavenging bioactive peptides from sea cucumber (Stichopus vastus) collagen hydrolysates through optimization

The sea cucumber (Stichopus vastus) is an underutilized species, as most of its parts, including the integument (high collagen content) are thrown away during processing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different hydrolysis conditions (substrate to enzyme ratio (S/E), reaction temperature, and hydrolysis time) on the angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory and radical scavenging (RSc) activities of the hydrolysates produced from trypsin hydrolysis of S. vastus collagen. Optimal conditions predicted by Box-Behnken Design modelling for producing ACE inhibitory and RSc hydrolysates were found to be S/E ratio (15), reaction temperature (55°C), and hydrolysis time (1 h). Under optimal conditions, ACE inhibitory and RSc activities were estimated to be as high as 67.8% and 77.9%, respectively. Besides, some novel bioactive peptides were identified through mass spectrometry analysis. These results indicate that S. vastus hydrolysates might be used as a functional ingredient in food and nutraceutical products