Environmental impacts of ecotourism on mangrove : case study of Kuala Selangor Nature Park

Mangrove is one of the natural settings, which fall under wetland forest category with diverse ecosystem. With its location between the upland and coastal ecosystem, mangrove forest is an ecotone zone; a region of transition between two biological communities with diversity of wildlife habitat and human natural resources. The valuable intrinsic (natural) ecological functions and socio-economic values of mangrove forest make it one of the reasons why mangrove forest has been exploited under the name of development for example aquaculture production, timber or chip wood production and also tourism development

Effects of nitrification inhibitor with organic manure and urea on protein and mineral contents in grain of Oryza sativa cv. MR219 cultivated in acid sulphate soil

Several approaches to improve grain nutritive values involve in increasing seed accumulation of protein and micronutrients in rice. Therefore, a study was conducted to select a suitable combination of dicyandiamide (DCD) with organic manure (OM) and urea to improve protein and mineral content in rice grain of MR219. The protein (9.07-12.50%) and Ca, Mg, Zn, Cu, Fe and Mn concentrations increased from 1.92 to 21.05, 3.56 to 18.25, 2.25 to 20.22, 9.14 to 25.66, 3.34 to 27.20 and 5.17 to 23.86%, respectively due to the application of DCD with urea and OM. Moreover, the highest content of protein in grain was obtained for the application of DCD with urea and oil palm compost (OPC). Iron and Mn contents were also highest for DCD with urea and OPC, but Ca, Mg, Zn and Cu contents were highest for DCD with urea and poultry dung (PD) and kept similarity with DCD with urea and OPC

Cosmos caudatus as a dietary supplement for Bagrid Catfish, Mystus nemurus

The optimal level of Cosmos caudatus supplementation in fish formulation was conducted by using Mystus nemurus fingerlings in two initial sizes (3.05±0.39 g and 4.45±0.71 g). For Experiment 1, crude leaves incorporated were 0.00, 0.50, 1.50, and 2.00% with 60 days of feeding trial. For Experiment 2, the level of leave extract was 0.00, 0.01, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.20% with an experimental duration of 90 days. Both experiments showed significant differences (P<0.05) for growth performance and condition factor. The highest weight gain for Experiments 1 and 2 were 13.28±3.07 g and 18.51±4.21 g, respectively. There were no significant differences in the whole body content and survival rate for both experiments (P>0.05). The protein level was in the range of 15.70±0.79 to 16.74±1.90% (Experiment 1) and 14.96±1.90 to 15.67±0.55% (Experiment 2). The optimal level of crude leaves and extracts was considered at 0.50% and 0.05%, respectively, for M. nemurus fingerlings

Impact of nitrification inhibitor with organic manure and urea on nitrogen dynamics and N2O emission in acid sulphate soil

The accurate prediction of N transformation is an important requisite for optimizing N use efficiency in cropping systems. An incubation study was conducted to verify the impacts of nitrification inhibitor (NI) with organic manure (OM) and urea on N dynamics and N2O emission in acid sulphate soil. The conducted experiment was two-level factorial with 4 N sources (N1 = 100% of N from urea, N2 = 75% of N from urea + 25% N from rice straw, N3 = 75% of N from urea + 25% of N from cow dung and N4 = 75% of N from urea + 25% of N from poultry dung) and two levels of NI (with and without DCD). The NI (Dicyandiamide - DCD) with OM + urea enhanced mineral N contents and it was the highest (255.07 µg∙g-1) for urea with DCD applications. The highest net N-mineralization (213.07 µg∙g-1) was recorded for the application of urea with DCD and net nitrification (16.26 µg∙g-1) was recorded for the application of urea alone, but the highest cumulative N2O emission (5.46 µg∙g-1) was in urea + poultry dung (PD). In addition, DCD most effectively inhibited net nitrification (28.78%) and N2O emission (32.40%) from cow dung (CD) and urea in the tested soils. The combination of DCD with CD and urea was more effective in reducing N2O emissions (43.69%). These results suggest that the DCD with CD and urea may be the most potential combination to reduce nitrification and N2O emission as well as N loss from acid sulphate soil

Impact of nitrification inhibitor with organic manure and urea on nitrogen use efficiency and yield performance of MR219 rice in acid sulphate soil

A glasshouse experiment was designed to study the effects of nitrification inhibitor (Dicyandiamide; DCD) with organic manure and urea on nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), growth performance and yield of MR219 rice. DCD along with N source increased NUE and apparent N recovery over that of sole application of urea. Application of DCD along with urea and oil palm compost (OPC) resulted in the highest NUE (25.94 kg/ha) and fertilizer N recovery by rice (61.75%) together with the highest increase of panicles/hill (17.43%) and filled grains/panicle (9.42%) over urea alone. The highest grain (21.95%) and straw (13.86%) yield increase over control was achieved from DCD with urea and OPC reflecting as the most potential combination to improve NUE and rice yield in acid sulphate soil

Knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) towards visual impairment and visual rehabilitation among teachers in Malaysia

Introduction: Visual impairment is one of the biggest public health concerns globally. It gives greater consequences to the children and their family members mainly on their education, employment, personal and social-emotional status. If the emphasis on the appropriate vision care and rehabilitation services are not rendered, the number of blind children is expected to rise significantly every year. Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) towards visual impairment and visual rehabilitation among school teachers in Malaysia. Methodology: A total of 384 respondents were recruited in this study, and all the respondents completed the validated and reliable self-administered questionnaires on their KAP towards visual impairment and visual rehabilitation. Results: Most respondents (92.4%) have good KAP on visual impairment and visual rehabilitation despite only 4.2% of them had attended formal low vision course or training. There was a significant association between attending low vision training and high KAP among the teachers. Conclusion: The study gives an insight into the need for low vision course in the teacher’s curriculum in order to improve their learning experience and academic performance

Assessment of mould growth on building materials using spatial and frequency domain analysis techniques

The phenomenon of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS), Building Related Illness (BRI) and some other indoor related diseases have been attributed to mould and fungi exposure in the indoor environment. Despite the growing concern over mould and fungi infestations on building materials, little has been reported in the literature on the development of an objective tool and criteria for measuring and characterizing the shape and the level of severity of such parasitic phenomenon. In this paper, an objective based approach of mould and fungi growth assessment using spatial and frequency domain information is proposed. The spatial domain analysis of the acquired Mould Infested Images (MII) is achieved using Ratio Test (RT), Compactness Test (CT) and Visual Test (VT) while the frequency domain analysis uses the popular Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) implemented in the form of Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) in analyzing the boundary pixel sequence. The resulting frequency components (Fourier Descriptors (FD)) can now be analyzed or stored for reconstruction purposes. Application of structural similarity measures on the reconstructed MII in spatial domain shows that the use of relative low number of FD is sufficient for analyzing, characterizing and reconstruction of the original spatial domain boundary pixels

Determination of In-Situ Density and Physical Properties with Microstructure of Klias Peat Soil

In Sabah, peatland can be found across Papar, Beaufort, Klias and Bukau in western region of North Borneo Island. With distinct behavior in peat soil, it provides growing consideration and limitations, it has various special characteristics and different from other types of soil. In this research, the physical profile and index properties of peat soil have been investigated through field and laboratory testing methods. Peat categorized as uncertainty material that has high compressibility and variety of index properties. In Klias peninsula where peat abundantly exist, has not recorded any engineering studies and the information of its index properties are inadequate. Thus, this study conducted to determine in-situ density and physical properties of peat soil classify peat soil in engineering terms. Modified peat sampler used to collect sample from various level of depth from soil surface to almost 5.0 m depth where boundary of peat zone and marine clay zone found. In-situ density of peat carried out simultaneously during sampling works of each increasing depth with interval 0.5 m. Disturbed sample analyzed in laboratory to determine the index properties. SEM imaging represents microstructure analysis of Klias peat soil. There are substantial significant relationships between peat behavior against depth and consequential properties discovered. Both zones of peat and marine clay have significant correlation. The pH value was in the range from pH 4.80 to pH 5.25. Certainly, high pH acidity of mixed-layered at 5.0 m level are believed due to the predominantly present of clay soil content in peat element. In-situ density of peat increasing proportionally to the depth of sample taken using peat sample