Evaluation Of Spheronized Pellets As Potential Matrix Sustained Release Dosage Form

Satisfactory spherical pellets were successfully· prepared by the process of extrusionlspheronization using the excipient microcrystalline cellulose (IvrCC) as pellet-forming material. Nonetheless, the preparation of acceptable round spheres is highly dependent upon the attainment of an optimal formulation suited for this mcthod or proccssillg. The earlier part of the work has revealed that the MCe pellet system containing the active ingredientdiclofenac sodium generally produced strongly bonded spheroids which remained intact throughout the dissolution test. It may thus be postulated that the pellets behaved as an inert matrix system. Pelet~pelet yang berbentuk sfera telah berjaya disediakan melalui proses ekstrusi/sferonisasi dengan menggunakan mikrokristalin selulosa sebagai bahan pembentuk pelet. Walau bagaimanapun, penyediaan sfera yang baik sang at hc:rr~,HlruJlE kerada remerolehan suatu formulasi optimum yang padan akan proses tersebut. Kajian awal telah menunjukkan bahawa sistem pelet mikrokristalin selulosa yang mengandungi ramuan aktif diclofenac sodium, pada amnya menghasilkan sferoid yang mempunyai ikatan kuat sehingga bentuknya masih kekal semasa proses pemelarutan. Dengan ini, boleh dikatakan bahawa pelet tersebut bertindak sebagai sistem matriks lengai

Morphology Of A Sanguinicolid Blood Fluke, Sanguinicola Armata, In Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon Idella C. V.) Fingerlings And Its Prevalence

Sanguinicola armata Plehn, 1905 is redescribed under light and Nomarski microscopy and SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy). It is a lanceolate sanguinicolid with a single column of heavy lateral marginal spines; extensive vitellaria; long oesophagus and an X-shaped intestine with five-lobed caeca. There are 9-10 pairs of testes; median; post intestinal caeca and a single butterfly-shaped ovary. Male and female genital pores lie adjacent to each other, near to the posterior extremity. The uterus is short, post ovarian and contains only one egg.SEM study revealed minute, blunt spines at the posterior part of the proboscis and tiny posteriorly directed marginal spines at the posterior end which were not visible under the ordinary light and Nomarski microscopy. This had added extra taxonomical features to S. armata. Surface morphology of S. armata under SEM also showed many tegumental folds with ridges and crest, cilium-like structure and sensory papillae which may be related to their nutritional, sensory, excretory, secretory, osmoregulatory and immunological functions. Protrusion of the genital pores viewed under SEM helps to understand the fact that cross-fertilisation as being a rule in the trematodes' reproduction. The prevalence rate of infection of S. armata was found to be high (66.7%) in the locally produced grass carp (Ctenopharygodon idella) fingerlings in the farm under the present study. This was attributed to the abundance of aquatic snails which act as intermediate hosts of the fluke. However, the intensity of infection was low due to the host (immunological), environmental (stocking density and water chemistry) and parasite (reproductive biology) factors. Since the distribution of S. armata was highest (87.8%) in the bulbous arteriosus, it should be examined first for quick diagnosis of the fluke

Terjemahan Bahasa Inggeris Kepada Bahasa Mandarin Tentang Wanita Dalam Berita Bernama: Satu Kajian Kepadanan Leksikal, Pengaruh Konvensi Pemberitaan Dan Mesej (Makna)

Tesis ini mengkaji mesej terjemahan berita dalam talian yang mengandungi item leksikal yang mempunyai elemen gender, persembahan penulisan berita dan penstrukturan mesej berita yang mempengaruhi arah pemberitaan. The thesis studies the messages of the online news translation which contains genderelement lexical items, news presentation, news messages structures which affect the news direction

Robust Inference for Univariate Proportional Hazards Frailty Regression Models

We consider a class of semiparametric regression models which are one-parameter extensions of the Cox [J. Roy. Statist. Soc. Ser. B 34 (1972) 187-220] model for right-censored univariate failure times. These models assume that the hazard given the covariates and a random frailty unique to each individual has the proportional hazards form multiplied by the frailty. The frailty is assumed to have mean 1 within a known one-parameter family of distributions. Inference is based on a nonparametric likelihood. The behavior of the likelihood maximizer is studied under general conditions where the fitted model may be misspecified. The joint estimator of the regression and frailty parameters as well as the baseline hazard is shown to be uniformly consistent for the pseudo-value maximizing the asymptotic limit of the likelihood. Appropriately standardized, the estimator converges weakly to a Gaussian process. When the model is correctly specified, the procedure is semiparametric efficient, achieving the semiparametric information bound for all parameter components. It is also proved that the bootstrap gives valid inferences for all parameters, even under misspecification. We demonstrate analytically the importance of the robust inference in several examples. In a randomized clinical trial, a valid test of the treatment effect is possible when other prognostic factors and the frailty distribution are both misspecified. Under certain conditions on the covariates, the ratios of the regression parameters are still identifiable. The practical utility of the procedure is illustrated on a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma dataset.Comment: Published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org) in the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/00905360400000053

Leadership Styles and Motivational Goals of Secondary School Principal in Pulau Pinang

This study investigated the relationship between leadership style of principals of secondary schools and their motivational needs, and possible relationships among selected demographic variables (age, gender, birth order, and years of principalship experience) to leadership style. The dependent variable, leadership style was investigated along the consideration and initiating structure dimension (as measured by the Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire). The independent variables were motivational goals (nAch, nAff, and nPow) as defined by McClelland’s trichotomy of needs theory of motivation. Questionnaires were distributed to the principals of 34 secondary schools in Penang. The data were analysed by using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient, one-way ANOVA, t-Test and Stepwise Multiple Regression techniques.The results of the study indicated that both dimensions of leadership style of the principals correlated significantly with their nAch. There is significant relationship between leadership style along initiating structure and the nPow. However, no significant relationship was found between leadership style and the nAff. The four demographic variables found no significant differences at the .05 level of significance. The nAch and nPow emerged as the main predictors of leadership style along consideration and initiating structure dimensions respectively. Another significant finding showed that the principals were high in both initiating structure and consideration leadership dimensions. The nPow emerged as inversely related to the principal’s age. Implications of the findings and recommendations for practice and further research are presented

Factors Influencing Email Usage: Applying The UTAUT Model

Email has now become an important thread that has been woven into the fabric of our daily communication in life. It is a powerful method of communication medium. To understand the effect, we must first comprehend the reason. Therefore, the study objective is to perform analysis on the possible factors which determined the acceptance of the electronic mail as communication media in organizations. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) (Venkatesh et al., 2003) model was used as the basis of this study, and the data was collected using questionnaire. A total of 350 surveys were distributed to working adults in Penang, and a total of 138 useful responses were received, yielded 39.4 % response rate. The results of this study suggest that performance expectancy and social influences are important determinants of the behavioural intention to use email in an organizational environment

Enhanced Deep Residual Networks for Single Image Super-Resolution

Recent research on super-resolution has progressed with the development of deep convolutional neural networks (DCNN). In particular, residual learning techniques exhibit improved performance. In this paper, we develop an enhanced deep super-resolution network (EDSR) with performance exceeding those of current state-of-the-art SR methods. The significant performance improvement of our model is due to optimization by removing unnecessary modules in conventional residual networks. The performance is further improved by expanding the model size while we stabilize the training procedure. We also propose a new multi-scale deep super-resolution system (MDSR) and training method, which can reconstruct high-resolution images of different upscaling factors in a single model. The proposed methods show superior performance over the state-of-the-art methods on benchmark datasets and prove its excellence by winning the NTIRE2017 Super-Resolution Challenge.Comment: To appear in CVPR 2017 workshop. Best paper award of the NTIRE2017 workshop, and the winners of the NTIRE2017 Challenge on Single Image Super-Resolutio

Open University Malaysia (OUM) : The Path Travelled (2000 – 2020) & The Way Forward (2021 – 2030) - Issues, Challenges, Opportunities

Moving forward into the 3rd decade since its establishment, Open University Malaysia (OUM) was established with the core mission of knowledge globalization utilizing the open and distance learning (ODL) concept. The initiative of this research paper is to identify the issues and challenges faced by the organization in the aspect of their new media marketing methods as it continues to operate in a dynamic and borderless world of advancing digital communication technologies. Target samples of the OUM alumni, OUM new learners and the general public could only be approached through online questionnaires due to the onset of the country’s Movement Control Order (MCO) ruling during the COVID-19 pandemic, which is still in-force since 18th March 2020. The final analysis will identify the strengths and weaknesses of OUM’s current online digital marketing communication strategies, and also introduce new media improvements and opportunities that should be considered by the university to enhance their corporate communications and marketing strategies for greater brand awareness and business economics. (Abstract by author

Perkembangan Persuratkhabaran Bahasa Mandarin di Malaysia dan Peranannya Dalam Masyarakat Cina

The establishment of Chinese newspapers in Malaysia began with the migration of overseas Chinese (Huaqiao) to Malaysia. Several of the pioneer Chinese newspapers such as Kwong Wah Yit Poh (1910), Nanyang Siang Pau(1923), Sin Chew Jit Poh (1929), Overseas Chinese Daily News (1932), and China Press (1946) are still in existence today. This article explores the development of the Chinese newspapers by tracing their chronology; analyses the factors that contributed to the emergence of the newspapers, and identifies their challenges. A salient aspect of the contemporary mediascape pertaining to Chinese newspapers is the ownership of the newspapers. In the past, the ownership of newspapers revolved around individual companies, whereas, majority of the newspapers in Malaysia now are owned by two Chinese tycoons, both from Sarawak, through Media Chinese International Limited (MCIL) and Kumpulan KTS. This article will show how the Chinese newspapers played a crucial role in advocating and fighting for Chinese education,culture and identity