Stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobanks in Malaysia

The Malaysian Cabinet’s approval of MyCohort in 2005 was seen as the crucial step toward the country having its very first biobank to improve the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Past studies have shown that public attitudes towards biobanking depend heavily upon several factors including public engagement with biobanks, trust in key actors, privacy and data security, perceived benefit, altruism and certain demographic variables. The objective of this paper is to assess and compare the attitude levels of the Malaysian stakeholders’ towards the application of biobanks across education levels and religion. A survey was carried out on 509 adult respondents in the Klang Valley region of Malaysia. Results of the study have substantiated that the Malaysian stakeholders’ attitudes towards biobank were classified as high. Despite their high levels of perceived benefit and religious acceptance, they also expressed moderately high levels of concern when it comes to issues of data and specimen protection; this suggests that the Malaysian stakeholders also tend to be critical upon expressing their views towards a complex system such as biobanks. One-way MANOVA initially has detected a significant difference of attitude towards biobanks across stakeholder groups, education level and religion. Series of univariate analysis following the MANOVA, as well as Post Hoc analysis, also confirm significant difference of attitude existing across stakeholders; however, no significant differences were detected across education level and religion. The research finding serves as a useful benchmark for scientists and government regulators to understand public attitudes to biobanks before they are set into use

Ethical Aspects of Genetically Modified Organisms Release into the Environment

ABSTRACT The introduction of genetically modified organisms (GMOs

Effect of eucation level and religion on attitude to stem cells in Malaysia

The issue of using stem cells derived from human embryos and adult tissues to treat diseases has been divisively debated mainly due to ethical concerns. The objective of this article was to assess and compare the attitude level of the Malaysian public in the Klang Valley region towards human adult stem cells (hASCs) and human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Results of the survey on 509 adult respondents revealed that the Malaysian public expressed higher support for hASCs, perceived the application as having lower moral concern and more acceptable by their religion as compared to hESCs. Univariate analysis following Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) confirmed that there were significant differences for perceived benefits and religious acceptance of hASCs across education level. Respondents who hold tertiary education level tended to perceive both hESCs and hASCs as more beneficial and believed the applications as more acceptable from their religious point of view. Their opinion of hASCs differed significantly compared to the respondents who hold pre-university education. Respondents from all religions perceived both hESCs and hASCs as having moderate benefits and risks. Significant differences were only detected for perceived moral concerns and encouragement of hESCs across religion. The Christians expressed greater moral concern of both hESCs and hASCs compared to other religions but post hoc test only detected significant difference in their opinion on hESCs from the Buddhists. The Buddhists were found to be more supportive towards both hESCs and hASCs but their support level for hESCs only differed significantly from the Muslims

Korelasi Spasial Kejadian COVID-19 Terhadap Angka Kemiskinan di Kabupaten Pati Tahun 2020 dan 2021

Coronavirus is an easily contagious virus, this virus is named coronavirus (SARS- CoV-2), for the disease it is called Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). The rapid spread of COVID-19 has an impact on the economy so that the poverty rate in the community increases. This study aims to (1) analyze the spatial pattern of COVID-19 cases in Pati Regency in 2020 and 202, (2) analyze the spatial pattern of poverty in Pati Regency in 2020 and 202, (3) analyze the spatial correlation between COVID-19 cases and poverty in Pati Regency in 2020 and 2021. The method used is descriptive quantitative. This study uses two variables, namely COVID-19 as the independent variable and poverty as the dependent variable. This study uses secondary data obtained from the Health Service and Social Service of Pati Regency. The results of this study indicate that the spread of COVID-19 in 2020 in Pati Regency is clustered as evidenced by the Moran index value of 0.287. Meanwhile, the spread of COVID-19 in Pati Regency in 2021 has a clustered spatial pattern that tends to spread because it has a Moran index value that is close to zero, namely 0.124. The poverty moran index value in 2020 is 0.359 which shows a positive autocorrelation and has a clustering pattern, as well as what happened in poverty in 2021 with a moran index value of 0.340, which has a clustered pattern which means that it has the same characteristics in adjacent locations. The correlation between the COVID-19 case variable and poverty has a positive correlation, with a Moran's Index value of 0.033 in 2020, while in 2021 it is 0.036. The results of processing with bivariate LISA showed that the Districts with a spatial correlation between COVID-19 cases and poverty in Pati District were Sukolilo District, Gembong District, Pucakwangi District and Winong District

Stakeholders’ Attitude to Genetically Modified Foods and Medicine

Public acceptance of genetically modified (GM) foods has to be adequately addressed in order for their potential economic and social benefits to be realized. The objective of this paper is to assess the attitude of the Malaysian public toward GM foods (GM soybean and GM palm oil) and GM medicine (GM insulin). A survey was carried out using self-constructed multidimensional instrument measuring attitudes towards GM products. The respondents (n=1017) were stratified according to stakeholders’ groups in the Klang Valley region. Results of the survey show that the overall attitude of the Malaysian stakeholders towards GM products was cautious. Although they acknowledged the presence of moderate perceived benefits associated with GM products surveyed and were moderately encouraging of them, they were also moderately concerned about the risks and moral aspects of the three GM products as well as moderately accepting the risks. Attitudes towards GM products among the stakeholders were found to vary not according to the type of all GM applications but rather depend on the intricate relationships between the attitudinal factors and the type of gene transfers involved. Analyses of variance showed significant differences in the six dimensions of attitude towards GM products across stakeholders’ groups

Interdisciplinary M-Biotech-STEM (MBS) Module for Teaching Biotechnology in Malaysia

An interdisciplinary approach of teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) has been emphasized in Malaysia. This study focused on the development of Malaysian (M)-Biotech-STEM (MBS) module for secondary students ages 16-18 in a suburban area who have had little exposure to biotechnology knowledge. The validity and reliability of the module and its instrument namely, achievement test and 21st century skills questionnaire, have been approved by the experts from Malaysia Ministry of Education and Malaysian universities. Results from a preliminary study showed that the module could foster the interest of the students in learning biotechnology and able them to improve their achievement and inculcate 21st century skills such as digital era literacy skills and inventive skills

The development of social work undergraduate programs in Malaysia public universities: issues, challenges and opportunities

Since the beginning of twentieth country, social work has become an integral part of higher education systems throughout the world and becoming increasingly important due to globalization and internationalization. Therefore, development of social work program particularly at the undergraduate level in Malaysia's public universities should be given special attention in order to meet the standards. This paper is a review and analysis of the existing literature regarding the development of social work undergraduate program in Malaysia. The rigorous search from Scopus and Web of Science databases identified 15 related studies that examined broader development of social work education including the issues, and challenges as well as opportunities faced by the Malaysia's public universities in their quest to deliver a cohesive social work undergraduate program. Among the issues identified to be significant in the development of social work program in Malaysia include unqualified educator, non-existence of a professional body and act in social work, influence of western ideology, and governance issue. The issues and challenges addressed in this paper create opportunities to provide solutions including to implement further training on community development programs for social work educators, social work administration and practitioners, establishment of social work act to regulate and maintain the discipline as well as to strengthen social relationship with stakeholders in order to encourage them in facilitating the learning of alternative skills for social work program to meet the standards that can be recognized internationally

GUEST LECTURER PROGRAM: SOSIALISASI TEKNOLOGI KLASIFIKASI AKTIVITAS MANUSIA BERBASIS AI DAN IOT

Pengabdian ini merupakan pengabdian kerjasama antara Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya (POLSRI) dengan Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD), Brunei Darussalam dan Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. Tujuan dari pengabdian ini adalah melakukan sosialisasi teknologi klasifikasi aktivitas manusia berbasis AI dan IOT melalui Guest Lecturer Program (Program Dosen Tamu). Program ini merupakan bentuk implementasi dari penelitian yang tengah dilakukan oleh tim peneliti, yaitu penelitian tentang kajian lanjut pada alat pemantau berbasis AI dan IOT, yang berfungsi untuk memantau aktivitas manusia di Sungai Sekanak.  Penelitian tersebut dilakukan karena kesadaran masyarakat untuk menjaga lingkungannya masih sangat rendah. Meskipun Sungai Sekanak telah direvitalisasi dan juga direstorasi, namun masyarakat sekitar masih melakukan pembuangan sampah di sekitar sungai. Oleh karena itulah, tim peneliti sekaligus juga pengabdi pada pengabdian ini memfokuskan diri untuk berkolaborasi melakukan kajian lebih lanjut dan melakukan pengabdian kepada masyarakat tentang monitoring aktivitas manusia. Selain itu, pengabdian ini juga bertujuan untuk memperdalam pengetahuan dari mahasiswa Teknik Elektro Politeknik Negeri Sriwijaya tentang implementasi IoT dan AI pada klasifikasi aktivitas manusia

The Anomaly of Good-Looking : The Relationship between Spirituality and Extremism on Hadith and Social Religious Perspective

The stereotype of Islam as an extremist religion is often associated with adherence in a good-looking character to the practices of ritual piety. This study aims to discuss the Hadith that allegedly refers to the presence of good-looking phenomenon from the prophetic period. The study uses a descriptive qualitative research design which relates to the basis of critical analysis through an interdisciplinary approach combining isnād-cum-matn and socio-religious phenomenology. The results indicate that the Hadith good-looking is ṣaḥīḥ (authentic) based on the review of its sanad transmission and examination on its matn. The good-looking trait is attributable to the emptiness of morality in the practice of Islamic spirituality. This vacuity is induced by religious insights focused solely on theological and normative viewpoints. The solution is to spread moral teaching and moderate religious values proactively through different methods and techniques, such as virtual proselytizing in social media