Adoption of Fragrant Rice Farming: The Case of Paddy Farmers in the East Coast Malaysia

AbstractAnnually, Malaysia has to import approximately 30% of rice, including fragrant rice (Basmati and Jasmine type) to meet the shortage of domestic demand. The import of this specialty rice shows an up surging trend every year with a value of RM500 million. Mas Wangi or MRQ74 that has special characteristics and 80% similar attributes to Basmati type has been officially released in year 2005. The special characteristics such as long and slender grain shape, non- sticky and aromatic rice makes it preferred by Malaysian consumers and enabling it to tap the higher-end rice market, compared to normal white rice. The fragrant rice farming is one of the government initiatives to produce fragrant rice in large areas and needs full commitment from the farmers in non-granary areas. This study seeks to determine factors that influence new rice variety, MRQ74 adoption among paddy farmers in East Coast, Malaysia including the adoption behaviour. The study involved 28 farmers in non-granary areas in two districts; Pasir Mas and Tanah Merah, Kelantan via an in-depth interview approach. The results revealed that apart from the technology characteristics, there are other significant aspects that influence the adoption decision-making of the farmers such as extension services, capital resources, social influences, and institutional factor

Marketing in Malaysian Technology Firms

Today’s world technology recognizes Internet and World Wide Web as two of the main communication mediums in technology firms. modern technology and social networking turn out to be a part of a large number of people’s lives. technology firms are challenged with this fast-moving social network in organization that encourage viral marketing too. There has been little study about the effect of viral marketing towards technology firms. This paper aims to explore the factors that influence the effectiveness of viral marketing, determine the most influential factor and identify the impacts of onlinecontents that influence the effectiveness of viral marketing. a quantitative method was used and 384 respondents from Southern Region Malaysia participated in the survey. The results showed that all the motivational factors like playfulness, community-driven, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness had significant impact on the viral marketing in the Malaysian technology firms. Two other factors like critical mass and peer pressure were found to be insignificant in this study. The findings may contribute to the judgement on Malaysian technology firms about viral marketing that blend firm skills, knowledge and technical leadership roles to manage emerging technologies, develop innovative solutions and complex firm’s problems

Erratum: Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Interpretation: By quantifying levels and trends in exposures to risk factors and the resulting disease burden, this assessment offers insight into where past policy and programme efforts might have been successful and highlights current priorities for public health action. Decreases in behavioural, environmental, and occupational risks have largely offset the effects of population growth and ageing, in relation to trends in absolute burden. Conversely, the combination of increasing metabolic risks and population ageing will probably continue to drive the increasing trends in non-communicable diseases at the global level, which presents both a public health challenge and opportunity. We see considerable spatiotemporal heterogeneity in levels of risk exposure and risk-attributable burden. Although levels of development underlie some of this heterogeneity, O/E ratios show risks for which countries are overperforming or underperforming relative to their level of development. As such, these ratios provide a benchmarking tool to help to focus local decision making. Our findings reinforce the importance of both risk exposure monitoring and epidemiological research to assess causal connections between risks and health outcomes, and they highlight the usefulness of the GBD study in synthesising data to draw comprehensive and robust conclusions that help to inform good policy and strategic health planning

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Analysis of remote PV-diesel based hybrid minigrid for different load conditions

Lack of quality electricity supply in the remote areas is one of the main hindering factors of global development. Many countries around the world are trying to utilize renewable energy sources for remote electrification including developing countries like Bangladesh. After the renowned Solar Home System (SHS) program, Bangladesh is now focusing on solar PV-diesel hybrid minigrid system to reach more people by providing affordable electricity. Following the availability of electricity in the form of minigrid, a development in industries like sawmills, grinding mills, husking mills is predictable. Therefore, daytime loads might have significant contribution in energy consumption, unlike the usual residential scenario. With this, the irrigation demands are there during the dry season. This study analyzes the techno-economic feasibility of the solar PV-diesel hybrid system with different load conditions. A remote area of southern Bangladesh is taken as the case site. Three case studies are formulated based on the time of using irrigation pumps. HOMER Pro Microgrid Analysis Tool has been used to find the most optimized configuration for each case study. The optimized configurations from each case study are then evaluated based on the cost of electricity (COE), greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy fraction. The generation profile of solar PV and diesel generators are analyzed for each case study. From the techno-economic evaluation, it is observed that the optimum time to run the irrigation pumps is during the daytime. In this case, the solar PV has the highest contribution to meet the energy demand with the slightly increased cost of electricity

Benefits of short-term PV forecasting in a remote area standalone off-grid power supply system

The application of short-term PV forecasting in standalone off-grid power supply (SOPS) systems in remote electricity networks is an approach to enable higher levels of PV penetration without hampering the network stability. In this study, a diesel run remote electricity network has been considered where high levels of PV penetration has been found techno-economically feasible. Some unavoidable common scenarios, for example, maximum PV variability and abrupt load change have been considered in analyzing system performance and system stability. The application of short-term PV forecasting shows favorable outcomes when accommodating high PV variability and abrupt load fluctuation compared to the same system conditions when PV forecasting is not considered. The study contributes to the ongoing research of developing smart and efficient control mechanisms that enable higher levels of PV penetration in remote electricity networks worldwide

Demand response opportunities in residential sector incorporated with smart load monitoring system

For a successful implementation of demand response in the residential sector, access to real electricity consumption data and load profiles of major household appliances is crucial. With the advancement of the communication technologies and smart load monitoring devices, access to this information become simpler. This paper investigates characteristic of different communication technologies and their suitability for use in demand response implementation in the residential sector. A smart monitoring and controlling system is integrated into a household's electric appliances to study their daily energy consumption profiles and identify their potential demand response capacity. This paper intends to draw interest on the benefits from using the smart monitoring and controlling system, for instance, it provides real-time energy consumption feedbacks, standby power consumption information and remote load control flexibility. Using these information, the total demand response opportunity and standby energy loss are calculated for selected major appliances

Primary Closure Versus T-tube Drainage After Open Choledochotomy

Choledochotomy followed by T-tube has long been a standard surgical treatment for choledocholithiasis. It is still a preferred choice in many hospitals where minimal invasive procedures are not feasible. The use of T-tube is not without complications. To avoid the complications associated with T-tube, we have performed primary closure of the common bile duct (CBD) after exploration. This pilot study assesses the safety of primary closure of CBD, which would help form a basis for implementation on a wider scale. Objective: To compare the clinical results of primary closure with T-tube drainage after open choledochotomy and assess the safety of primary closure for future application on a greater mass. Patients and Methods: This comparative study was conducted at surgical unit IV Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences, Jamshoro, from January 2007 to December 2007. Thirty-five patients were included in the study of which 16 patients underwent primary closure. Results: Thirty-five patients were included in the study. The mean age of patients who had primary closure done (n = 16) was 46.0 ± 16.8 and there were two (12.5%) males and 14 (87.5%) females. After primary closure of the CBD, bile leakage was noted in one patient (6.3%), which subsided without any biliary peritonitis as compared to the T-tube group in which two patients (10.5%) had bile leakage. Postoperative jaundice was seen in one patient (5.3%) who had a T-tube because of a blockage of CBD. Not a single patient had a retained stone in both groups as well as no recurrence of CBD stones. The postoperative hospital stay after primary closure was 5.56 ± 1.1 days as compared to after T-tube drainage which was 13.6 ± 2.3 days. The total cost of treatment in patients who underwent primary closure was USD194.5 ± 41.5 but after T-tube drainage it was USD548.6 ± 88.5. The median follow up duration for both groups was 6 months. Conclusion: Primary CBD closure is a safe and cost effective alternative to routine T-tube drainage after open choledochotomy