Mechanical and rheological properties of selected varieties of peppers.

Stress-relaxation rates for eight varieties of peppers were measured. The specimens were loaded at 454,907 and 1361 grams and allowed to relax for time periods of 3.8 and 30 minutes. Stress levels used were 914, 1828 and 2741 gm/cm2. Floral Gem and Jalapeno varieties of peppers received the most attention

Effect of Biscuits and Muffins Added with Cornlettes Powder on the Glycemic Responses of Healthy Individuals

Dietary fibre content is a known factor that can affect the postprandial glycemic responses of a food and meal. Cornlettes vegetable which is rich in dietary fibre has been studied for its potential in lowering the peak glycemic responses of biscuits and muffins. Cornlettes was processed into powder and formulated into four formulations of selected bakery products. The glycemic responses produced by portions of the biscuits and muffins containing 25 g available carbohydrate were measured in 11 healthy volunteers. The incremental area under curve (AUC) of control biscuits was greater (81 ± 11 mmol × min/l) than cornlettes powder (CP) added biscuit (63 ± 12 mmol × min/l). Likewise, the AUC of control muffins was higher (88 ± 13 mmol × min/l) than CP-added muffins (74 ± 12 mmol × min/l). Control biscuits had an intermediate GI value of 61 while CP-added biscuits had a low GI value of 46. Both control and CP-added muffins recorded intermediate GI values (58 and 57, respectively). It is concluded that CP can be incorporated in selected bakery products as a potential ingredient to help lower the peak rise of postprandial glycemic responses

Literacy and numeracy teaching and learning in pandemic outbreak : a case study of private primary school in rural area

Literacy and Numeracy Teaching and Learning in Pandemic Outbreak: A Case Study of Private Primary School in Rural Area. Objective: This research aims to portray the teaching and learning of literacy and numeracy in a private school in rural area with few students in each class. Methods: The research method employed is descriptive qualitative. Data revealed that students doing Kampus Mengajar Angkatan 1 (KMA-1) or student teacher taught literacy and numeracy lesson through playing games and singing. Finding: The teaching procedures are claimed in three phases – pre, while and post. The teaching and learning process during the pandemic was carried out in various ways such as using videos and using games and singing. Conclusion: Students’ challenges are lack of vocabulary and its meaning. Teachers need to develop their teaching and learning based on student and school characteristics. This is done to develop student learning motivation, literacy, and student numeracy can improv

Assessment of the Behaviour of Soil Structure in Double-Porosity Kaolin Media Using Light Transmission Visualization (LTV) Method

Double-porosity is a phenomenon that occurs naturally and can be found in many subsurface media such as rock aquifers, agricultural topsoils and compacted soils. These media have different pore size characteristics that result in different hydraulic properties. Two approaches were used to create the doubleporosity soil structure using kaolin clay to be tested in migration of contaminant experiments using light transmission visualization (LTV) method. Aggregated kaolin and sintered clayey spheres mixture were used as the media for the first and second test, respectively. The observation shows that the first approach is not viable for a saturated-porous medium because kaolin particles have disintegrated and turned into emulsion. In contrast, uniform kaolin particles that remain strong and solid have been produced using the second approach. In conclusion, the LTV method is viable to monitor the behaviour of fluids in porous media under different conditions

FPGA technology in process tomography

The aims of this paper are to provide a review of the process tomography applications employing field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and to understand current FPGA related researches, in order to seek for the possibility to applied FPGA technology in an ultrasonic process tomography system. FPGA allows users to implement complete systems on a programmable chip, meanwhile, five main benefits of applying the FPGA technology are performance, time to market, cost, reliability, and long-term maintenance. These advantages definitely could help in the revolution of process tomography, especially for ultrasonic process tomography and electrical process tomography. Future work is focused on the ultrasonic process tomography for chemical process column investigation using FPGA for the aspects of low cost, high speed and reconstructed image quality

A Cognitive Approach To Designing Effective Implementation Of Industrial Policies : C-Solutions for Vehicle Maintenance Regulations (VMR) Implementation in Sarawak

Policy implementation science has moved from its traditional top-down ‘’how-to’’ approach that focuses primarily on the policy implementers while neglecting those affected by the implementation, to the hybrid ‘’what-and-how-to’’ approach, where the policy implementation mechanics incorporate the understanding of the ‘’meaning’’ and ‘’benefits’’ of the policy from the perspective of all the stakeholders - those who will be doing the enforcement, and those who will be impacted upon by the policy. Theories from the science of the mind, or cognitive science, such as the theories of social cognition and distributed cognition, have gained popularity in policy implementation science in the developed countries since a decade ago. This new approach however, is still at inception stage in many developing countries. This research explored the utility of cognitive science approach in designing the implementation of industrial policies, in the case of implementing the Vehicle Maintenance Regulations (VMR) regulations, a set of mandatory regulations passed to regulate safe and healthy vehicle maintenance industry in Malaysia. The benefits of the cognitive approach, over the ‘’implementer-oriented’’ rational choice theory approach conventionally adopted in policy implementation were explored. The cognitive science approach is expected to increase the effectiveness of the VMR policy implementation by integrating the ‘sense-making’ and ‘meaning-making’ of all stakeholders whose cooperation and cooperativeness are highly essential in ensuring successful implementation. This research yielded both, an industrial working model, and an academic model. The C-Solutions Model suggests a win-win implementation plan that could garner support from all VMR stakeholders – the car workshop operators, the car owners, and the government implementer agents. The ‘’Cognitive Model of VMR Implementation’ was produced to describe how understanding the cognitive functions of the stakeholders could be utilised to collect their best support for the VMR regulations implementation

Hygiene logistics practices in osman goat farm at kangkar tebrau

Hygiene in food preparation for Muslim consumer is the same as Halal requirements. The contradicting term of halal is haram or non-halal. Halal is associated with the concept of hygiene because of what is permitted in Islam is related with human health (www.hdcglobal.com). As an example, a dead but non-slaughtered animal is normally associated with a disease. Most diseases originated or carried in the animal's blood. Therefore, slaughtering is mandatory to ensure the blood is completely out from the animal's body, thus minimizing the chance of microbial infection. Lack of awareness the hygiene logistics practices in animal farms results in unhealthy and dangerous consumption of meat and animals to be eaten. Thus, this research is trying to study the hygiene logistics practice in Osman Goat Farm at Kangkar Tebrau as one of the largest farm managed by Muslim in Johor. This study uses qualitative method by interviewing the authorized person to ensure that hygiene logistics practiced has been done. Semi structured interview and participation observation has been used as the study instrument to gain data. Case study has been used as the method of analysis by triangulation data between the interview and observations. Interview was conducted with the authorized person such as Mr. Osman who is the director and Mr. Supri who is his supervisor. The study found that Osman Goat Farm has implemented most of the requirement of halal logistics. Hygiene logistics aspects in this study consists of storage, processing, packaging, handling, and transportation. Osman Goat Farm had implied all the hygiene logistics practices measured. Surrounding factors such as the farm location, which is near to schools and residents area allows Osman Goat farm to implements hygiene logistics practices very well. This study recommends an innovation in storage system especially the food container and drink for the goat. The innovation also includes new waste management design system as issued in chapter 4. These solutions can be the benchmark or design of hygiene logistics practices of goat farming industries in Malaysia

Methodology approaches and challenges in population‐based longitudinal study of a neuroprotective model for healthy longevity

Aim: The 36‐month Long‐Term Research Grant Scheme project: Towards Usual Aging – Neuroprotective Model for Healthy Longevity among Malaysian Elderly was designed to address multidimensional aspects including psychosocial, biophysical health, nutrition and dietary pattern, and auditory and visual function to highlight the magnitude of these associations in a single study. Methods: A total of 2322 respondents aged ≥60 years were recruited at baseline using the multistage sampling method, followed up at 18 months and 36 months. Results: Response rates at baseline, 18 months and 36 months were 87.8%, 77.3% and 67.1%, respectively. At baseline, the prevalence of successful aging, usual aging and mild cognitive impairment was 11%, 73% and 16%, respectively. The prevalence of single and multimorbidity at baseline were 25.9% and 50.3%, respectively. The incidence rates of mild cognitive impairment at 18 months and 36 months were 6.5 and 5.6 per 100 person‐years. The incidence rates of multimorbidity at 18 months and 36 months were 23.7 and 21.5 per 100 person‐years, respectively. Conclusions: The Long‐Term Research Grant Scheme project: Towards Usual Aging study provides an opportunity to investigate the interactions between wide ranges of aspects of the older population in a nationally representative sample of the older population

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030