Impacts of e-business, e-negotiation, and trust building on e-agribusiness performance: a preliminary study on MBA students of Universiti Utara Malaysia / Assem O. Ali Mmar and Abdul Manaf Bohari

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the impacts of e-business, e-negotiation and trust building specifically on online e-agribusiness performance. The existing trend of online base e-agribusiness has rise some implication on current and future performance among agribusiness firms especially on the big potential of e-business and e-negotiation to agribusiness sectors. This preliminary study was conducted among fifty Master of Business Administration (MBA) students in University Utara Malaysia where all of them are familiar with agribusiness sector. The finding obtained from this study indicated that there was a significant (2 tailed significant) relationship between independent variables (e-business, e-negotiation, and trust building) and dependent variable (e-agribusiness performance). In sum, the result obtained from this study indicated that four hypotheses tested in this study were accepted

Solving Troesch's problem by using modified nonlinear shooting method

In this research article, the non - linear shooting method is modified (MNLSM) and is considered to simulate Troesch’s sensitive problem (TSP) numerically. TSP is a 2nd order non - linear BVP with Dirichlet boundary conditions . In M NLSM , classical 4 th order Runge - Kutta method is replaced by Adams - Bashforth - Moulton method, both for systems of ODEs . MNLSM showed to be efficient and is easy for implementation. Numerical results are given to show the performance of MNLSM, compared to the exact solution and to the results by He’s polynomials. Also, discussion of results and the comparison with other applied techniques from the literature are given for TSP

Alternative Medicine from Edible Bitter Plants of Besut, Malaysia

In Besut, there were elders who believed the bitter tasted vegetables may provide medicinal benefits. However, discontinuity of their knowledge to young generations leads to its deterioration. Since there still no documentation done on the consumption of edible bitter plants of Besut, this research conducted to reveal their knowledge of consuming edible, bitter and native plants for medicinal purposes. From the field visit and conversation, a list of accessions was made, continued by analysis for frequencies it has been used and dendrogram of linkage between purposes of the studied plants as alternative medicine by using IBM SPSS Statistics 20 software and bar chart plotted by using Microsoft Excel. There were 15 native families comprised of 17 plants species consumed for treating 31 types of diseases. The highest percentage of diseases treated represented by digestion problems, 64.7 %. The species of Syzygium polyanthum (serai kayu) and Nypa fruticans (nipah) found as highest uses among all the studied plants. The value of Pearson correlation, r =0.633, showed positive correlation between the purposes of treating diabetes and digestion problems at the significant level, p =0.01. Based on the dendrogram, there was nearest linkage at the distance of 3/25 in a cluster of 3; Crateva religiosa (dala), Oroxylum indicum (beka) and Tylopilus felleus (kulat gelam) which were used for treating hypertension, diabetes and poor food appetite. Bitter taste from the plants was stimulating positive perception of people to eat them as alternative medicine. Beside the leafy vegetables, mushroom also had been consumed as healing food

Regulation of haematopoietic stem cycle (CFU-S) proliferation in irradiated mice

It has been suggested that the proliferation of haematopoietic stem cells (CFU-S) in mice is controlled by the balance of inhibitory and stimulatory factors. In normal mice about 10 percent of the CFU-S population are in DNA synthesis. It has been suggested that a high concentration of inhibitor blocks CFU-S from entering into DNA synthesis. Following damage by cytotoxic agents such as drugs or irradiation about 30 - 50 percent of CFU-S were in DNA synthesis and also stimulator was shown to be present. In this study the entry of CFU-S into DNA synthesis following low and sub-lethal doses of whole body X-irradiation has been studied. Furthermore the stimulator producing cells were also characterized. The number of CFU-S in bone marrow was not affected following exposure to a dose of 0.5 Gy. However the number of committed progenitors for the granulocyte/macrophage lineage was significantly reduced. The percentage of CFU-S in DNA synthesis was found to increase to 37.0+/- 7.0 percent at 30 minutes and 43.9+/-11.2 percent at 2 hours from that observed in unirradiated mice. However at 6 hours the percentage was 14.8 8.1 percent. At a sub-lethal dose of 4.5 Gy, the percentage of CFU-S in DNA synthesis increased to 34.0+/-14.0 percent at 6 hours after exposure, however before this time the percentage remained at a similar level to unirradiated control mice. When plugs of bone marrow were irradiated in-vitro at 0.5 Gy and 4.5 Gy doses, the time of CFU-S entering into DNA synthesis was the same as following in-vivo irradiation. The dose response curve of CFU-S entering into DNA synthesis when measured at 2 hours after exposure showed that the percentage was increased as the dose was increased and reached 30-50 percent at a dose of 0.5 Gy. Above this dose the CFU-S population was not stimulated at this time. When the percentage of CFU-S in DNA synthesis was measured at 6 hours after exposure, the values were the same as control for doses less than 0.5 Gy and above this dose the values were 30-50 percent. The presence of stimulator in bone marrow after irradiation was found to parallel the proliferative activity of CFU-S. The CFU-S population obtained 1 hour after 1.5 Gy was shown not' to respond to stimulator as CFU-S from normal bone marrow dia. The conditioned media prepared from bone marrow of mice Irradiated at 9.0 Gy (1 to 5 days post Irradiation) increased the proportion of CFU-S from normal bone marrow in DNA synthesis to 30-50 percent. The depletion of Thy1.2+ cells from regenerating bone marrow did not affect the ability to produce stimulator. However when Fc+ and Ia-2k+ cells were removed the stimulator production was affected. This suggests that the stimulator producing cells were radioresistant, Thy1.2-, Fc+ and Ia-2k+

A Review of Medicinal Plants and Daily Foods used in Southeast Asia Possessing Antidiabetic Activity

According to the recent estimates by the World Health Organization (WHO), 422 million adults aged over 18 years were living with diabetes in 2014 globally. Surprising, about 1.6 million deaths was reported cause directed by diabetes in 2016. In Southeast Asia alone, 96 million people have diabetes, and this is predicted to increase. The incidence of diabetes is worryingly increasing especially in developing countries. Numerous synthetic drugs have been discovered to control this disease, but these drugs can lead to negative side effects. Therefore, people are looking for natural remedies to combat the disease. The objective of this review is to study of the medicinal plants and daily foods that have been used to treat diabetes. Instead of common traditional medicinal plants such as Andrographis paniculata, Averrhoa bilimbi, Camellia sinensis, Cosmos caudatus Kunth, Leucaena leucocephala, Momordica charantia, Ocimum sanctum, Orthosiphon stamineus, Panax ginseng and Pereskia bleo and; daily foods ingredients like fenugreek, garlic, ginger, onion and turmeric possess significant positive effects on diabetic patients. Antioxidants, for instance andrographolide, flavonoids glycosides like epicatechin, quercetin, catechin, myricetin, epigallocatechin gallate, polysaccharide compound galactomannan, saponin, gingerol, allicin, euganol and curcuma, dietary fibers and some minerals such as magnesium as well as amino acid such as 4-hydroxyisoleucine were found to be responsible for this effect. Although some responsible compounds are known, the mechanisms involved are not yet fully explored. Thus, further research on the mechanism, effective dosage and toxicity of the particular medicinal plants need to be comprehensively studied before they can be marketed as nutraceutical products.

Identifikasi dan uji Bioaktivitas Lupeol dan Marmin yang dipisahkan dari Korteks Aegle Marmelos

ABSTRACT: Aegle marmelos Corr.(Rutaceae) mempunyai nama daerah Maja (Jawa), digunakan sebagai tanama obat tradisional. Pada penelitian sebelumnya korteks Aeglemarmelos Corr.diektraksi dengan pelarut petroleum eter, sehingga diperoleh senyawa triterpen dan campuran stigmasterol dan sitosterol. Pada penelitian ini serbuk kering korteks Maja yang telah diekstraksi dengan petrolium eter diekstrasi kembali dengan pelarut kloroform. Senyawa yang terkandung diadalam ekstrakkloroform dipisahkan dengan metode kolom kromatografi vakum dan dilanjutkan dengan kolom kromatografi graviti. Struktur molekul senyawa yang diperoleh ditentukan dengan spektroskopi UV,IR,Masa dan RMI 2-Dimensi. Uji bioktivitas dilakukan dengan uji antimikroba dan sitotoksik. Kata kunci: Lupeol, marmin, uji bioaktivitas, korteks Aegle marmelo