The Role and Function of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Permanent Forest Reserve in Research and Education

The UKM Permanent Forest Reserve is an area within the main campus of UKM in Bangi, developed in an area formerly known as Bangi Forest Reserve (BFR). This 138 ha (340 acres) of recovering logged-over forest, inclusive of some 81 ha of ecological research area was formally gazetted in 1993 as UKM Permanent Forest Reserve to safeguard and prevent further development of this green area. This was further reiterated in the UKM Sustainable Forest Policy which was introduced in 1997. The BFR was part of what was used to be known as Langat Basin Forest area which is now very much fragmented into various pieces of small left-overs. The close vicinity of the forest to the campus has been one of the main reasons for the extensive utilisation of the area for student research projects. Since the early days of its development, the planners of UKM have envisaged holistic concept of having the campus to resemble a botanic garden as a whole to serve as living laboratories for the use of UKM students in education and research. As a result, UKM has set an example and currently hold one of the best germplasm collections of ornamental plants, especially palms and ferns collections in Malaysia. The UKM Permanent Forest Reserve is an important carbon sink green area in the Langat Basin as well as a biological laboratory and open classroom for UKM students

Effects of roof insulation on the thermal conditions of a medium scaled tropical enclosed giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) hatchery

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of roof thermal insulation on the indoor thermal environment of an existing enclosed giant freshwater prawn hatchery in relation to human thermal comfort and the thermal requirement for optimal larval growth. A typical medium scaled enclosed hatchery in Ipoh, Malaysia was chosen for this study. Thermal performances of five thermal insulation materials installed on the roof of the building were studied using Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) Virtual Environment software. Results showed no significant differences for indoor air temperatures reduction among the insulation materials. However, the installation of roof insulation gave a cooler indoor thermal environment and provided a suitable water temperature/ improved water thermal condition for the prawn larviculture. The study also suggested the aluminium foil was the best insulation for the partially transparent roof of the building

Unsur-unsur persefahaman antara agama dalam kurikulum Pendidikan Islam dan Moral

Persefahaman antara agama ialah persefahaman nilai, amalan atau tindakan sesuatu penganut agama yang berlandaskan agama dengan penganut agama lain, sama ada dalam hubungan dengan Tuhan, manusia atau alam dalam segenap kehidupan. Persefahaman antara agama diketengahkan sebagai mencari titik persamaan dalam nilai-nilai kebaikan, di samping menghormati perbezaan antara agama. Kajian ini bertujuan untuk meneliti unsurunsur persefahaman antara agama yang diterapkan dalam Kurikulum Pendidikan Islam dan Moral, Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia (KPM) yang menjadi panduan buat para guru dalam melaksanakan pengajaran dan pembelajaran di sekolah-sekolah. Kajian berbentuk kualitatif ini menggunakan kajian analisis kandungan dan kajian dokumen yang melibatkan pengumpulan data dan penganalisisan data diaplikasi untuk meneliti dan mengamati penerapan unsur persefahaman antara agama tersebut. Dapatan kajian ini menunjukkan pendidikan Islam dan moral amat menekankan: aspek toleransi beragama, kasih sayang, berperikemanusiaan dan kesederhanaan; aspek kemuliaan dan kehormatan manusia; dan aspek amalan pendekatan persefahaman ke arah mewujudkan persefahaman antara agama. Persefahaman ini dapat dijayakan menerusi amalan atau pendekatan sama ada dialog, pendidikan, kajian agama-agama, seminar dan persidangan agama, peranan media massa dan elektronik dan peranan semua pihak, sama ada pihak kerajaan atau badan bukan kerajaan (NGO). Persefahaman antara penganut agama wajar dilaksanakan bagi mencapai perpaduan, keharmonian dan keamanan, terutama di negara masyarakat majumuk seperti Malaysia. Kajian ini turut mendapati pendidikan Islam dan moral merupakan mata pelajaran KPM yang berjaya menerapkan aspek-aspek persefahaman antara penganut agama, terutama dalam diri para pelajar itu sendiri

Gus Dur dan Pemikiran Liberalisme

Studi keislaman oleh para sarjana telah melahirkan corakcorak pemikiran. Salah satu dari corak itu adalah pemikiran liberal. Di Indonesia terdapat beberapa tokoh yang diidentifikasi telah melahirkan atau menyuguhkan pemikiran-pemikiran Islam yang liberal, di antaranya tersebut misalnya nama Harun Nasution, Nurchalish Madjid, Abdurrahman Wahid, dan lain-lain. Tulisan ini bermaksud fokus pada salah satu tokoh, yakni Abduurahman Wahid yang tenar dipanggil dengan Gus Dur. Apa saja pemikiranpemikiran Gus Dur yang dipandang liberal, tulisan ini bermaksud untuk membahas hal itu

Feeding & nutritional requirements of young fish

The world annual total fisheries catch continues to decline, a trend observed since 1996. If timely remedial actions are not taken, scientists believe that the ocean seafood stocks and supply will soon be depleted. Aquaculture seems to be the only realistic solution to reduce the pressure on capture fisheries and to supply most of the seafood in the future. Currently, almost half of the world's total fisheries production is contributed by the aquaculture industry,On average, a Malaysian consumes almost 60 kg of seafood per year. Malaysia is tied with Korea for T" place among the top world seafood consumers. Although Malaysia has achieved ≥100% self sufficiency level (SSL) in seafood supply, more than 80% of its seafood comes from capture fisheries. Meanwhile, Malaysia's aquaculture industry has been experiencing an average annual growth rate of23.4% over the last ten years, although most of the growth has been contributed by seaweed production rather than food fish. Thus, in terms of ensuring its food security, Malaysia must increase its cultured food fish production to meet at least 50% of its seafood SSL. The main bottleneck in the expansion and growth of food fish aquaculture in Malaysia is the insufficient seed or fry supply. Despite breakthroughs in the induced breeding of many fish species, use of the right feed remains a major obstacle during the larviculture stage as larval feeding behavior, mouth gape, digestive capacity and nutrient requirements vary with species, growth stage or age. For successful larval and postlarval rearing, each fish species must be given a specific diet comprising the right particle size and nutrients at the correct feeding ration and frequency at each growth stage

Nutritional enhancement of total lipid, n-3 and n-6 fatty acids in Artemia urmiana nauplii by enriching with ICES/30/4

Artemia urmiana nauplii were enriched with three different concentrations (100, 200 and 300 ppm) of commercial emulsion, ICES/30/4 during two periods (12 and 24 h) to evaluate the enhancement of its Highly Unsaturated Fatty Acids (HUFAs). This source was selected because of its high concentration of the longest chain HUFA's in the n-3 and n-6 series. When 24-h-old Artemia nauplii were enriched with 100 ppm concentration of ICES30/4 during 12 h enriching period, the docosahexanoic acid (DHA), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) contents of the nauplii increased to 0.77, 1.22 and 0.34 and when enriched with 300 ppm during 24 h increased to 5.99, 4.97 and 0.73 mg g(-1) dry weight, respectively. DHA, EPA and ARA in control nauplii were 0.00, 0.82 and 0.61 mg g(-1) dryweight, respectively. Total lipid increased from 16.79% in control group to 20.87% in the treatment ICES30/4 24-300. The results suggest that high amount of emulsion and prolong the enriching period are effective in enriching Artemia nauplii in both DHA and EPA increasingly (p < 0.05) but in other fatty acids, there are differences only among period treatments (p < 0.05) and concentration are not any increasing effective. There are only differences among concentration treatments in total lipid p < 0.05) and enriching period do not show any differences

Optimum dietary protein requirement of Malaysian mahseer (Tor tambroides) fingerlings.

The optimum dietary protein requirement of the Malaysian mahseer (Tor tambroides) fingerlings was determined in this study. In this completely randomized designed experiment, formulated diets of five levels of dietary protein (30, 35, 40, 45 and 50%) were tested on the T. tambroides fingerlings (initial body weight of 5.85 +/- 0.40 g), reared in aquarium fitted with a biofiltering system. The fingerlings were fed twice daily at 5% of biomass. The fingerling body weight and total length was taken at every two weeks. Mortality was recorded daily. The dietary protein had significant effects on the body weight gain and Specific Growth Rate (SGR) of the fingerlings. The body weight gain and SGR of fingerlings fed with the diet with the dietary protein level of 40% was significantly higher (p<0.05) than that of 30, 35 and 50%. The feed conversion ratio of the 40% dietary protein was the significantly lowest at 2.19 +/- 0.163. The dietary protein level of 40% was the most optimum for T. tambroides fingerlings

A study on religious interaction among the sinhala-buddhists and the muslims in Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, the religions such as Islam, Hinduism, Christianity are practicing, although it is a predominantly Buddhist country. However, since recent past years onward, it has been proliferated the various misinterpretations about the religions among the societies by a few nationalist groups in Sri Lanka. This effort poses a suspicious situation on the religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims, and the same situation could be observable even in Moneragala district as well. On the above backdrop, the main objective of this paper is to examine the religious interaction through measuring the religious understanding between the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in Moneragala, one of the 25 administrative districts in Sri Lanka. There are followers of two major religions, Buddhism and Islam, forming two religious communities living side by side in a few traditional villages namely Bakinigahawela, Godigamuwa, Kanulwela and Medagama which are located in Moneragala district. This is an ethno-religious study of the religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in said location, and the religious understanding has been selected as an indicator in order to measure the religious interaction among them. This was measured through a questionnaire survey on a total of one hundred respondents drawn from the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in selected villages. The samples together with the above mentioned indicator proved that the negative religious interaction among the Sinhala-Buddhists and the Muslims in Moneragala district, and also the lack of understanding of other religious teachings was the determinant factor to hinder their positive religious interaction

Post-war Tension between the Buddhists and the Muslims in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is a multi religious, multi lingual and multi cultural environment, and the members of all communities lived in peace and harmony with good social integration with one another. Since the arrival of Arab-Muslims in Sri Lanka in the early period the Buddhists and the Muslims have been maintaining a cordial relationship between them for more than ten centuries. However, in recent past years, particularly aftermath of ethnic war (1983-2009) in Sri Lanka, considerably from 2011 to later part of 2014, the unsteadiness of the relationship-a kind of tension- between the above two communities has come to be observed. In the case of Sri Lanka, the Muslims are most privileged society in terms of religious rights comparing to other minorities. Because of this reason, a few Buddhist nationalist groups posed questions on socio-cultural practices of the Muslims such as religious beliefs and practices, dressing culture and social customs. In fact, these factors have been transformed into issues and brought them out by mentioned groups on the mindset of Buddhist public as a threat against the Sinhalese and their religion-Buddhism. On the above backdrop, therefore, this paper is going to review the existing literature on post-war tension between the Buddhists and the Muslims as well as the acts of the Buddhist nationalist groups against the socio-cultural practices of the Muslims in Sri Lanka. Key words: post-war, tension, Buddhists, Muslims, Sri Lank