Acquisition of scientific literature in developing countries

The second of a series of articles on the acquisition of scientific literature by libraries in developing countries. Deals mainly with higher education libraries. Summarizes the Malaysian background and the relationship between scientific research and libraries in Malaysia. Describes government policies with regard to contract purchasing, copyright and the national language and their effects on library acquisitions. Discusses acquisitions policy, the selection process, the acquisition of journals, audio-visual materials, maps and related materials, conference papers and theses, the role of gifts and exchanges in acquisitions work and problems of customs clearance and censorship. Progress in cooperative acquisitions and the automation of acquisitions work are also described. Presents proposals for further action

Scenario-based electric bus operation: A case study of Putrajaya, Malaysia

Globally, transportation sector has emerged as one of the major sources of air pollution. Correspondingly, green mobility (with electric bus) is gaining increasing attention as an essential step to mitigate emission concern. As such, a proper electric bus network design and fleet planning is important especially for bus operator to acquire an adequate number of electric bus, right on time, in order to operate electric bus system viably. Thus, this paper aims to examine the possibility to operate electric bus as a replacement for the conventional bus operation (with natural gas buses for the study area in Putrajaya, Malaysia). In order to determine a proper-designed electric bus operating system in terms of electric bus route, service frequency and quantity, the proposed methodology is developed with the aid of a traffic modeling software to cater various scenarios. Based on the existing (conventional) traffic and transit system in Putrajaya, the developed electric bus operating model is calibrated accordingly by considering various operational concerns including battery capacity and charging facility. The resultant findings revealed that the developed electric bus operating system in Putrajaya outperforms the conventional bus operation, not only in generating a higher profit margin for the bus operator, but also satisfying the passengers in a better manner (by carrying more passengers per unit of bus with a lower energy consumption)

A Circulating miRNA Signature for Stratification of Breast Lesions among Women with Abnormal Screening Mammograms

Although mammography is the gold standard for breast cancer screening, the high rates of false-positive mammograms remain a concern. Thus, there is an unmet clinical need for a non-invasive and reliable test to differentiate between malignant and benign breast lesions in order to avoid subjecting patients with abnormal mammograms to unnecessary follow-up diagnostic procedures. Serum samples from 116 malignant breast lesions and 64 benign breast lesions were comprehensively profiled for 2,083 microRNAs (miRNAs) using next-generation sequencing. Of the 180 samples profiled, three outliers were removed based on the principal component analysis (PCA), and the remaining samples were divided into training (n = 125) and test (n = 52) sets at a 70:30 ratio for further analysis. In the training set, significantly differentially expressed miRNAs (adjusted p < 0.01) were identified after correcting for multiple testing using a false discovery rate. Subsequently, a predictive classification model using an eight-miRNA signature and a Bayesian logistic regression algorithm was developed. Based on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis in the test set, the model could achieve an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.9542. Together, this study demonstrates the potential use of circulating miRNAs as an adjunct test to stratify breast lesions in patients with abnormal screening mammograms

Development of a microRNA Panel for Classification of Abnormal Mammograms for Breast Cancer

10.3390/cancers13092130CANCERS13