PEACE, PROGRESS, PROSPERITY

Be silent. That\u27s the passport for peace. The country belongs to those who shut their minds, learn to unlearn what they once believed, apply their PhDs to save their own skins. The country still thrives, with little yes-men trying to act big — \u27no, this cannot; no, that is too sensitive, shut up, you\u27re a dog barking at a hill!\u27 In years to come, we may completely lose our voices, but our skins will be just as thin

A Sense Of Home (Opening sequence of a novel in progress)

Mama died two nights ago. Very quietly. No one expected. We were surprises because she\u27s awways so ... noisy. Dono wy but I diden cry much. In fac, I tink I feel ... diffren ... maybe like more free. Anyway, she never love me much la. I know because she even tole somebody, in fron of me. I only love der boys, she said. Der girl I hat

Sharing a Commonwealth in Malaysia

What is meant by \u27sharing a commonwealth in Malaysia\u27 as pertains to literature? I shall address it from the point of view of the writer. And because I am a writer writing in English rather than Malay, which is the national language, my views will be coloured by that bias. To me, writers share a commonwealth if they feel they belong to a community that ensures equal rights for all; provides them with nurture, support, even funding; accords them official recognition — in short, makes them feel wanted. In Malaysia, such a commonwealth does exist but for those who write in the national language. Only their works are considered \u27national literature\u27, as distinct from literatures in other languages, which are termed \u27sectional\u27 or \u27communal\u27 literatures. In practice, this means that \u27sectional\u27 or \u27communal\u27 literatures do not enjoy support, funding or recognition from official sources, despite the fact that they are no less Malaysian in substance and expression. They are not officially promoted; neither are they recognised for the intellectual and creative contributions that they make to the national culture and imagination

Development of biogranules using selected mix culture of decolourising bacteria for treatment of textile wastewater

Biological treatment of textile wastewater using granules involves the application of self-immobilisation of high density biomass under intermittent facultative anaerobic and aerobic system. Since granules are dense and have high settling velocity, high density of active biomass to be retained without being washed out, minimising previous problems of using suspended biomass in treating textile wastewater. The use of synthetic wastewater containing single or several combinations of dyes for the development of granules has been widely studied. However, little has been reported on the development of granules using more complex and toxic real textile wastewater. Hence, there is a need to develop granules that are well adapted to real textile wastewater in order to improve the treatment efficiency. In this study, granules consisting of bio-augmented consortium of four locally isolated decolourising bacteria were successfully developed under intermittent facultative anaerobic-aerobic system. Sludge was added as seeding agent in a single 1 L SBR reactor at hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 6 h. The 16S rDNA molecular analysis showed that ZK1 (JQ773350), ZK2 (JQ773351), ZB1 (JF742762) and ZB2 (JF742761) were closely related to Bacillus pumilus, Bacillus cereus, Brevibacillus panacihumi and Lysinibacillus fusiformis respectively. After 112 days, the size of the granules reached 3.3 ± 1 mm and were dark grey in colour, with integrity coefficient of 25 ± 2, settling velocity of 56 ± 5 m h-1 and sludge volume index (SVI) of 35 ± 5.5 mL g-1. Biomass concentration was 13 ± 0.8 g L-1 and 11 ± 0.6 g L-1 for MLSS and MLVSS respectively. In general, the developed granules showed good removal for colour (70 %; initial ADMI values ranging from 500 to 2000) and COD (53 %; initial values ranging from 400 to 1,500 mg L-1) at HRT of 24 h with intermittent facultative anaerobic (18 h) and aerobic (6 h)

Development of bio-granules using selected mixed culture of decolorizing bacteria for the treatment of textile wastewater

In this study, four dye-degrading bacteria, Bacillus pumilus strain ZK1, Bacillus cereus strain ZK2, Brevibacillus panacihumi strain ZB1, and Lysinibacillus fusiformis strain ZB2 were used for the development of granule. Sterile sludge was used as seeding agent in a sequencing batch reactor under intermittent facultative anaerobic–aerobic system followed by subsequent textile wastewater treatment. Physical and morphological characteristics of the granules were determined after 112 d of development time. The average size of the mature granules reached 3.3 ± 1 mm, with integrity coefficient of 25 ± 2, settling velocity of 56 ± 5 m h-1, and sludge volume index of 35 ± 5.5 mL g-1. Mixed liquor suspended solids and mixed liquor volatile suspended solids were 12.9 ± 0.8 and 11 ± 0.6 g L-1, respectively. The developed granules showed 61% of decolorization and 46% of COD removal at HRT of 24 h. The population distribution of the bacteria consortium in mature granules developed into subsequent ratio of 1:4:9:11 from initial inoculum ratio of 1:1:1:1 of B. pumilus strain ZK1, B. cereus strain ZK2, B. panacihumi strain ZB1, and L. fusiformis strain ZB2, respectively. The results obtained indicated that this mixed culture of bacteria has good potential application for the treatment of textile wastewater

Extraction and characterization of gelatin derived from acetic acid-treated black soldier fly larvae

Gelatin is a low-cost and widely used soluble protein compound derived from collagen. Black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) larvae (BSFL) are a potential alternative source of gelatin due to their high nutritional value. This study investigated the effect of acetic acid pretreatment concentration, time, and centrifugation speed on the yield of BSFL gelatin and characterized its physicochemical properties. BSFL gelatin extracted with 0.05 mol/L acetic acid for 3 h and centrifuged at 3000 × g (BSFL3) had the highest yield of 1.085%±0.2%. The BSFL3 gelatin had lower protein content and amino acids than commercial porcine gelatin, specifically proline and hydroxyproline. It also had a high melting temperature of 135.12±1.04 °C, viscosity of 1.69±0.05 mPa·s, and rough microstructure with low foaming properties. The BSFL gelatin is high in K (680/01 mg/kg) and contains less Na, Mg, Ca, and P. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) revealed that BSFL3 gelatin has high potassium content. The results suggest that BSFL gelatin can be used as a novel techno-functional ingredient in the food industry