Diversity and temporal distribution of birds in rice-growing landscape,Northern Peninsular Malaysia

Rice fields are traditional landscape in Malaysia that sustains various species of birds. Waterbirds, raptors, Passeriformes and Columbiformes were observed and counted using point count method at rice fields in Bandar Baharu, Kedah from March 2009 to February 2010. The current status of birds in the rice fields of Malaysia has not been widely researched. The objective of this study was to document the bird species richness and diversity and temporal bird distribution during the annual rice growing cycle. There were 5120 birds representing 67 species belonging to 29 families being recorded. The diversity index (Shannon-Wiener) varied monthly between 2.154 and 3.321. The most abundant bird family observed was Ardeidae (29.09%), followed by Sturnidae (10.15%) and Hirundinidae (7.86%). Rice growing seasons involve three main stages; direct seedling/transplanting, growing and harvesting. Each stage attracts different bird species to exist in the rice field and surrounding areas. Statistical analysis showed the alternative hypothesis that states abundance of bird species is different monthly was accepted (F11, 24 = 3.033, p< 0.05). Farming activities and rice growing seasons regularly influenced birds’ presence in the rice fields and attracted different bird species. Reclamation and urban development on the rice fields is a major concern. Conservation efforts and strict regulation of pesticide use should be implemented to develop sustainable agriculture practices that are beneficial to human and wildlife communities

Serum homocysteine in pre-eclampsia and

Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia are common obstetrical problem causing adverse effects on pregnancy outcome. Large bodies of evidences suggest that hyperhomocysteinemia is a causal factor of pre-eclampsia/eclampsia. This study designed to explore the association between hyperhomocysteinemia and pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, the knowledge of which expected to be used for prevention of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia. In a case-control study serum homocysteine was measured in 136 controls (healthy pregnant), 84 pre-eclamptic and 120 eclamptic pregnant women. Serum homocysteine in patients with pre-eclampsia (9.54 ± 3.21 µmol/L) and eclampsia (10.57 ± 3.39 µmol/L) found to be significantly increased compared to controls (6.86 ± 2.47 µmol/L)(p&lt;0.001). Between pre-eclampsia and eclampsia, homocysteine found to be raised more in eclampsia compared to pre-eclampsia (p&lt;0.03). In conclusion, hyperhomocysteinemia is associated with pre-eclampsia as well as eclampsia, but in eclampsia the severity of homocysteine elevation is more compared to that in pre-eclampsia

Superhydrophilic, low cost kaolin-based hollow fibre membranes for efficient oily-wastewater separation

The objective of this study is to produce superhydrophilic, low cost kaolin-based ceramic hollow fibre membrane (KHFM) for efficient oily-wastewater separation. The asymmetric KHFMs with short finger-like voids were successfully prepared via a combined phase inversion and sintering technique. It was observed that the increase in sintering temperature enhanced membrane mechanical strength and promoted significant changes on membrane morphology. The combination of hydrophilic characteristic (contact angle of 33°) and small pore size (0.35 μm) of the kaolin KHFM sintered at 1500 °C resulted in excellent oily wastewater separation, with a 100% success rate, thus indicating that KHFM is able to repel most of the oil and allow only water to pass through its pores. In conclusion, the developed KHFM can be regarded as a promising medium for oily wastewater separation

The village preacher "Lebai Kampung": Shaykh (Dr.) Muhammad Uthman El-Muhammady

The Village Preacher is the outcome of a special project by al-Futuwwah, the Students' Association of ISTAC of the 2012-2013, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 adacemic years, in commemoration of the beloved and dearly missed teacher and murabbi. In him, his students of all walks of life and his contemporaries found one of the brightest stars that twinkled with wisdom, humility, erudition and a guiding light. This special book is divided into two parts. Part One consists of anecdotes on the life of al-marhum, written by his daughter and students, and a number of his photographs. Part Two comprises of actual assignments, tests and final papers by his students, submitted to and graded by him - a select sampling from stacks and bundles of papers retrieved from his collection at his office and at his residence in ISTAC and in Pasir Mas Kelantan. Indeed, in him we see an exemplary beacon for us all. This book presents none, but a glimpse of this beacon

Sol-gel based copper metallic layer as external anode for microtubular solid oxide fuel cell

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) performance depends greatly on the anode conductivity, which in traditional nickel-yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) anode is determined by the Ni content that is infamous for its coking problem under hydrocarbon fuel. Without the use of high content of Ni, anode conductivity can be elevated by adding an external metal layer on top of the anode. In this study, we present the incorporation of copper (Cu) metal layer on top of the anode of micro-tubular SOFC by applying a modified sol-gel method using syringe deposition technique at various chemical compositions and deposition cycles. Cu sol was found best to be made up of 2:1:8 ratio of Cu: citric acid: ethylene glycol, with 1.36 μm metal layer formed at 5 deposition cycle, and no obvious increase in thickness after the fifth cycle. The Cu layer elevated the conductivity by 1010 times compared to the uncoated anode. However, the coated layer also reduced the gas permeability by 10 times in the anode, which resulted from the blocking of a nano-sized pore in the anode, rather than the micron size pore. This blocking can be resolved by increasing the amount of micron-sized pore by using pore former during anode fabrication. From electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), Cu coating reduced the ohmic resistance (Rohm) and charge transfer resistance (Rct). From the current-voltage curve, the maximum power density (MPD) was found to increase linearly with the increase of the Cu coating cycle, but the value is almost stagnant at 2.3 to 2.5 mW cm−2 when the coating cycle of more than 4 was employed. This suggests that anode gas permeation plays an important role in anode conductivity. The findings from this study suggested that 5 deposition cycle shows to be the optimal coating layer required to achieve the percolation threshold without unnecessary loss in permeability

Correlation between Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist to Hip Ratio (WHR) among undergraduate students

Body mass index (BMI) is a common, inexpensive and simple method to categorize individuals as underweight, normal weight, overweight, obese I and obese II. However, this method does not reflect body shape and fat distribution. Waist to hip ratio (WHR) is a more recent and accurate method to measure body fat distribution and can be used routinely. The purpose of this study was to compare BMI and WHR of Malaysian undergraduate medical students. The weight, height, waist line and hip line of 82 undergraduate medical students studying at SEGi University, Malaysia were measured and used to calculate BMI and WHR using the standard formula. For males, the highest mean BMI was recorded for Indian students followed by those for Malay and Chinese. However, for males, the highest mean WHR was recorded for Malay followed by those for Chinese and Indian. For females, both mean BMI and WHR were highest for Malay, followed by those for Indian and Chinese. No correlation was found between BMI and WHR among the overall and male participants respectively. However significant correlation was present between BMI and WHR among female participants (r value = 0.623). In conclusion, in this research, there was correlation between BMI and WHR in female population. Therefore the Malaysian females, specially Malay females should be more aware of their health, their food intake and they should take better care of their health, do more physical activity in order to have healthier life and get less exposed to diseases caused by high BMI and WHR

The database of the PREDICTS (Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems) project

The PREDICTS project—Projecting Responses of Ecological Diversity In Changing Terrestrial Systems (www.predicts.org.uk)—has collated from published studies a large, reasonably representative database of comparable samples of biodiversity from multiple sites that differ in the nature or intensity of human impacts relating to land use. We have used this evidence base to develop global and regional statistical models of how local biodiversity responds to these measures. We describe and make freely available this 2016 release of the database, containing more than 3.2 million records sampled at over 26,000 locations and representing over 47,000 species. We outline how the database can help in answering a range of questions in ecology and conservation biology. To our knowledge, this is the largest and most geographically and taxonomically representative database of spatial comparisons of biodiversity that has been collated to date; it will be useful to researchers and international efforts wishing to model and understand the global status of biodiversity