Exploratory analysis of the movement pattern of skateboarding activities in Kuala Lumpur

This study is to reveal the skateboarding subculture as an important urban activity in Sultan Ismail Street, Kuala Lumpur. Furthermore, it is to explore the movement pattern that focuses more regarding the skateboarding movement and behavior from the activities. The understanding of the skateboarder in an urban environment area encourages them to use the skate space for the connectivity and integration according to movement and visibility. Meanwhile, a variety of data collection method was conducted around Sultan Ismail Street, Kuala Lumpur vicinity. The first method that will be used is quantitative method by using a questionnaire and survey. The next method is qualitative method by interview and spatial movement of space together with space syntax in order to know the visibility and movement pattern inside or outside the optional spaces. Therefore, it is expected that an intangible and connectivity of integration along the urban context and streets exists. Hence, more easement towards the skater and pedestrian to use the same space according to the movement pattern that influences the behavior and community in urban environment at Sultan Ismail Street, Kuala Lumpur

To study the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of Y- Centre / Mohd Norman Junit and Mohammad Harith Azaman

Service quality and customer satisfaction are vital to an organization which run, build devotion, expand benefit and enhance business of the organization. This proposition shows a study, in which activity is being made in enhancing service quality and customer satisfaction of Y-Centre. This is on account of there was no examination led to break down the satisfaction of the customers of the organization. In principle parts are depicted five determinants of good service quality which are reliability, tangibility, assurance, responsiveness, and empathy. The intension of the examination study was to discover the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of Y-Centre. This exploration entitled "Relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction of Y-Centre in UTC Malacca" had been led to acquire results and discoveries. There are 170 questionnaires were circulated to the respondent and the researcher figured out how to get back completely replied of 150 questionnaires. Likewise, different wellsprings of information additionally have been use as a referral to reinforce the issues on the exploration study. This research closes with exchange on these outcomes, study impediment and proposal to the organization and future exploration headings

Determinants of shadow economy: evidence from Germany / Nur Juliana Al-Junit

Shadow economy or also known as hidden economy has grown immensely all over the world and it exists alongside the official economy. The fact that this economy exists under 'shadow', the government has overlooked this problem. It is identified as a threat to a country as it undeniably has diverse impacts on the country in so many aspects. This research aims to identify the factors that influence the size of shadow economy. The researcher has specifically made a study on Germany which contains 33 observations beginning from 1983 to 2015 annually. The data is taken from secondary data sources which then are analysed to obtain the empirical results. The independent variables are tax burden, unemployment rate and self-employment rate. Several tests have been done to ensure the fulfilment of the underlying assumptions. The findings have found that all variables have significant relationship with the size of shadow economy. Based on the empirical results, the tax burden and unemployment rate are found to be positively related to size of shadow economy whilst the self-employment rate is found to be contravened with the expected sign as it is found to be negatively related with the size of shadow economy. The researcher has reached to a conclusion on this topic and has provided several recommendations to reduce the size of shadow economy

CT number changes within depth in CT and CBCT images

This study was carried out to determine the effect of increased depth to CT number on CT and CBCT images. In addition, this study was done to establish scanning method on CT and CBCT modalities in order to provide more precise dosimetry calculation involving CT and CBCT. An electron density phantom with tissue equivalent plugs was used in this study. The plug phantoms of various tissue equivalent materials were placed at different depths between the centre and peripheral of the phantom and scanned using CT and CBCT modalities. Images for both modalities were acquired and CT numbers at different depth in the phantom were analyzed. The results showed that on CT images, water equivalent plug phantom showed highest changes of CT number from peripheral position to central position with 146.4% and the lowest was air cavity with 0.55%. The results in CBCT images showed that muscle tissue equivalent plug phantom gave the highest change of CT number at increased depth with 6842.17% and the lowest difference was given by dense bone tissue equivalent plug phantom with 11.72%. A comparison of change in CT number between CT and CBCT showed that CBCT images having higher rate of change of CT number from peripheral position to central position compared to that in CT images. As conclusion, the CT number was found to be significantly increase as the depth increased. Thus, dosimetry measurement using CT number is suggested to be done at central position of phantom considering the contribution of x-ray scattering to the point of measurement. A calibration of CT number is required for dosimetry measurement at positions nearer to the surface of medium

Application Of Chitosan As A Natural Coagulant In Groundwater Treatment

One major concern of water supply in Malaysia is the ability to provide safe access drinking water over lifetime consumption to the consumer. Safe drinking water means that it is free from potential risks to human health from exposure to contaminants in drinking water. There are various problems contributing to water pollution for instance the rapid industrialization and increasing population growth. This study was conducted to identify the quality of groundwater extracted from USM groundwater tube well as an alternative for drinking water supply. Jar testing was used to simulate the drinking water supply. Jar testing was used to simulate the performance (removal of colour, turbidity and suspended solids) of natural coagulant (Chitosan) compared to commercial polyaluminium chloride (PACl). The jar testing was conducted at different set of pH (pH 3.0 to pH 10.0) and various coagulant dose (30mg/L, 60mg/L, 90 mg/L, 120mg/L and 150mg/L). The results show that the optimum pH for chitosan and PACl are pH 10.0 with high percentage turbidity removal of 89.93% and percentage suspended solids removal of 85.63%, respectively. Comparison between chitosan and PACl for jar test under varied dosage shows optimum dose of 30mg/L and 150mg/L, respectively. Colour removal was also conducted, but with less significant percentage removal. This shows that chitosan can achieve the same percentage removal as PACl under the same optimum pH but with by far lower dosage. However, all the results shows that the value still exceed the permissible value for drinking water standards by National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (NWQSM) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Hence, this water should be used for other water classes which require high water demand such as irrigation or recreational purposes

Transkrip wawancara bersama Mohamad Aman Khan bin Md. Hussain Presiden Persatuan Guru-Guru Kedah dan Bekas Naib Ketua UMNO Kubang Pasu Jitra Kedah Darul Aman / Mohamad Hashime Othman and Mohamad Ainul Ariffin Junit

Transkrip ini mengandungi temubual bersama seorang Tokoh iaitu Mohamad Aman Khan Bin MD. Hussain iaitu bekas Presiden Guru-guru Kedah dan bekas Naib Ketua UMNO Kubang Pasu. Transkrip ini menyentuh serba sedikit tentang latar belakang beliau serta pengalaman hidup beliau sepanjang menjadi kerjaya sebagai guru dan juga ahli politik. Transkrip ini juga menceritakan tentang kerjaya beliau ketika menjadi Naib Ketua UMNO Kubang Pasu. Temuramah berdasarkan beberapa ciri iaitu soalan Orientasi, Spesifik dan General

Papillary thyroid cancer: Genetic alterations and molecular biomarker investigations

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most prevalent form of malignancy among all cancers of the thyroid. It is also one of the few cancers with a rapidly increasing incidence. PTC is usually contained within the thyroid gland and generally biologically indolent. Prognosis of the cancer is excellent, with less than 2% mortality at 5 years. However, more than 25% of patients with PTC developed a recurrence during a long term follow-up. The present article provides an updated condensed overview of PTC, which focuses mainly on the molecular alterations involved and recent biomarker investigations

Changes in antioxidant status and DNA repair capacity are corroborated with molecular alterations in malignant thyroid tissue of patients with papillary thyroid cancer

Introduction: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) accounts for approximately 80% of all thyroid cancer cases. The mechanism of PTC tumourigenesis is not fully understood, but oxidative imbalance is thought to play a role. To gain further insight, this study evaluated antioxidant status, DNA repair capacity and genetic alterations in individuals diagnosed with benign thyroid lesion in one lobe (BTG) and PTC lesion in another.Methods: Individuals with coexisting BTG and PTC lesions in their thyroid lobes were included in this study. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) level, ABTS radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant capacity, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activities were measured in the thyroid tissue lysate. The expression of selected genes and proteins associated with oxidative stress defence and DNA repair were analysed through quantitative real-time PCR and Western blotting. Molecular alterations in genomic DNA were analysed through whole-exome sequencing and the potentially pathogenic driver genes filtered through Cancer-Related Analysis of Variants Toolkit (CRAVAT) analysis were subjected to pathway enrichment analysis using Metascape.Results: Significantly higher ROS level was detected in the PTC compared to the BTG lesions. The PTC lesions had significantly higher expression of GPX1, SOD2 and OGG1 but significantly lower expression of CAT and PRDX1 genes than the BTG lesions. Pathway enrichment analysis identified “regulation of MAPK cascade,” “positive regulation of ERK1 and ERK2 cascade” and “negative regulation of reactive oxygen species metabolic process” to be significantly enriched in the PTC lesions only. Four pathogenic genetic variants were identified in the PTC lesions; BRAFV600E, MAP2K7-rs2145142862, BCR-rs372013175 and CD24 NM_001291737.1:p.Gln23fs while MAP3K9 and G6PD were among 11 genes that were mutated in both BTG and PTC lesions.Conclusion: Our findings provided further insight into the connection between oxidative stress, DNA damage, and genetic changes associated with BTG-to-PTC transformation. The increased oxidative DNA damage due to the heightened ROS levels could have heralded the BTG-to-PTC transformation, potentially through mutations in the genes involved in the MAPK signalling pathway and stress-activated MAPK/JNK cascade. Further in-vitro functional analyses and studies involving a larger sample size would need to be carried out to validate the findings from this pilot study

Polyphenols from the extract and fraction of T. indica seeds protected HepG2 cells against oxidative stress

Background: Tamarindus indica L. (T. indica) or locally known as ``asam jawa'' belongs to the family Leguminosae. T. indica seeds as by-products from the fruits were previously reported to contain high polyphenolic content. However, identification of their bioactive polyphenols using recent technologies is less well researched but nonetheless important. Hence, it was the aim of this study to provide further information on the polyphenolic content and antioxidant activities as well as to identify and quantify its bioactive polyphenols. Methods: T. indica seeds were extracted with methanol and were then fractionated with different compositions of hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. Polyphenolic contents were measured using Folin-Ciocalteu assay while antioxidant activities were measured using DPPH radical scavenging and ferric reducing (FRAP) activities. The cytotoxic activities of the crude extract and the active fraction were evaluated in HepG2 cells using MTT assay. The cells were then pre-treated with the IC20 concentrations and induced with H2O2 before measuring their cellular antioxidant activities including FRAP, DPPH, lipid peroxidation, ROS generation and antioxidant enzymes, SOD, GPx and CAT. Analyses of polyphenols in the crude extract and its active fraction were done using UHPLC and NMR. Results: Amongst the 7 isolated fractions, fraction F3 showed the highest polyphenolic content and antioxidant activities. When HepG2 cells were treated with fraction F3 or the crude extract, the former demonstrated higher antioxidant activities. F3 also showed stronger inhibition of lipid peroxidation and ROS generation, and enhanced activities of SOD, GPx and CAT of HepG2 cells following H2O2-induced oxidative damage. UHPLC analyses revealed the presence of catechin, procyanidin B2, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, chloramphenicol, myricetin, morin, quercetin, apigenin and kaempferol, in the crude seed extract of T. indica. UHPLC and NMR analyses identified the presence of caffeic acid in fraction F3. Our studies were the first to report caffeic acid as the active polyphenol isolated from T. indica seeds which likely contributed to the potent antioxidant defense system of HepG2 cells. Conclusion: Results from this study indicate that caffeic acid together with other polyphenols in T. indica seeds can enhance the antioxidant activities of treated HepG2 cells which can provide protection against oxidative damage

Impacto social de la participación de la niñez y adolescencia a través del arte infantil, integrados en los procesos que facilita FUNARTE en el Municipio de Estelí, durante el segundo semestre del año 2019

El arte juega un papel importante en el desarrollo de la niñez y adolescencia, ya que a través del arte se desarrollan capacidades y habilidades, el arte es un tipo de educación alternativa, la fundación de apoyo al arte creador infantil -FUNARTE, impulsan talleres de muralismo dirigido a niñez y adolescencia. Es por esta razón que se planteó el estudio del impacto social de la participación de la niñez a través del arte infantil en FUNARTE en el municipio de Estelí en el segundo semestre del año 2019, el objetivo es valorar el impacto social de la participación de la niñez a través del arte infantil, desde tres dimensiones: a nivel personal, familiar y social. El diseño de esta investigación es cualitativo, con un estudio descriptivo y paradigma interpretativo, de corte transversal. Partiendo de la construcción de un sistema de categorías para la operativización de investigación, se elaboraron instrumentos de recolección de datos; como la entrevista a profundidad, observación participante, foto etnografía, grupos focales y análisis FODA. El procesamiento de la información fue clasificada a partir de los objetivos, categorías y subcategorías definidas para el estudio, posterior a la etapa de análisis de resultados, se identificaron las conclusiones y recomendaciones