Predicting Student Use of the Internet in Bruneian Technical Colleges: a structural equation model

In the educational setting, the Internet is profiteering among academics and students. In fact, this has changed the functioning of the educational establishments. However, the success of use of the Internet is largely dependent upon the user’s behaviour that in turn affects their attitudes. Even when the formidable opportunities exist for the deployment of technology, adverse attitude can inhabit the use. Keeping this in view, a survey of 266 students of four technical and vocational colleges was conducted to study the attitudes of the students toward the use of the Internet. The present study develop a normative model by using Davis’s Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and validates two specific attitudinal variables; perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use that are hypothesised to be fundamental determinants of the attitude that in turn predict the students’ use of the Internet. By adding external variables such as demographics, task characteristics, computer exposure, and institutional support further test the parsimony of the model. A Structural Equation modelling techniques is used to validate the model. The study has confirmed that majority of the students (85%) are using the Internet. The final model has confirmed that external variables do contribute towards both of belief parts: perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness that further affects the attitude of the students in predicting the Internet usage

A Survey on Mental Health Detection in Online Social Network

Mental health detection in Online Social Network (OSN) is widely studied in the recent years. OSN has encouraged new ways to communicate and share information, and it is used regularly by millions of people. It generates a mass amount of information that can be utilised to develop mental health detection. The rich content provided by OSN should not be overlooked as it could give more value to the data explored by the researcher. The main purpose of this study is to extract and scrutinise related works from related literature on detection of mental health using OSN. With the focus on the method used, machine learning algorithm, sources of OSN, and types of language used for the mental health detection were chosen for the study. The basic design of this study is in the form of a survey from the literature related to current research in mental health. Major findings revealed that the most frequently used method in mental health detection is machine learning techniques, with Support Vector Machine (SVM) as the most chosen algorithm. Meanwhile, Twitter is the major data source from OSN with English language used for mental health detection. The researcher found a few challenges from the previous studies and analyses, and these include limitations in language barrier, account privacy in OSN, single type of OSN, text analysis, and limited features selection. Based on the limitations, the researcher outlined a future direction of mental health detection using language based on user’s geo-location and mother tongue. The use of pictorial, audio and video formats in OSN could become one of the potential areas to be explored in future research. Extracting data from multiple sources of OSNs with new features selection will probably improve mental health detection in the future. In conclusion, this research has a big potential to be explored further in the future

Development of vegetable oil-based emulsion liquid membrane for downstream processing of bio-succinic acid

Succinic acid has been recognized as a useful platform chemical that can be applied in various industries. The application of bio-based succinic acid is still limited due to high downstream processing cost. In this study, vegetable oil-based emulsion liquid membrane (ELM) process is proposed to recover succinic acid from fermentation broth. The ELM system consists of three main liquid phases; external feed, membrane, and internal stripping. The liquid membrane phase was prepared by dissolving Amberlite LA2 and Span 80 in palm oil, while, the internal phase comprises of sodium carbonate solution, Na2CO3. The influence of feed, stripping agent and carrier concentration, treat ratio, as well as liquid membrane recycling on ELM performance were studied. The results showed 10 g/L of initial concentration, 1.0 M of Na2CO3, 0.7 M of Amberlite LA2, and treat ratio of 1:5 is the best condition with almost 100% recovery and enrichment of 21 times. The recycled liquid membrane concentrates the succinic acid up to 12 times. Therefore, the proposed ELM is a potential technology to extract bio-succinic acid

Synergistic extractant for extraction of remazol orange 3R in liquid membrane formulation

Currently, various synthetic dyes are used in the textile industry and a lot of non-bonded dyes are released into the wastewater; increasing its toxicity and carcinogenicity. Liquid membrane process is one of the potential methods to eliminate these unwanted particles from the wastewater. The most crucial part of the liquid membrane process is its formulation; especially the extractant or carrier. In order to find a suitable extractant, liquid-liquid extraction process was carried out. The effect of synergistic extractant to extract the Remazol Orange 3R reactive dyes in a shorter time and at a lower concentration of extractant was investigated in this study. Several parameters have been studied such as extractant type, extractant concentration, synergist extractant type and synergist extractant concentration. The results show that, Remazol Orange 3R reactive dyes were extracted by tridodecylamine (TDA) as a base and trioctylamine (TOA) as a synergist extractant. Meanwhile, the salicyclic acid (SA) was used to protonate the TDA and TOA, and cooking palm oil was used as a diluent. The performance of extraction of reactive dyesat the 0.1 M concentration of extractant was 70% when synergistic system was applied compared to single extractant which was only 50% of the dyes have been extracted. Therefore, the synergistic extractant has a potential to be further utilised in liquid membrane studies on the extraction of reactive dyes

Relationship between skeletal muscle area and density and clinical outcome in adults receiving veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the prevalence of low skeletal muscle index (area normalized for height) and density, their trajectory of change, and to determine associations with clinical outcome in adults with severe respiratory failure requiring venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. PATIENTS: Adults receiving venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation for a minimum of 72 hours and a maximum of 6 months between September 2010 and June 2017, who had a CT scan which included the third lumbar vertebra. INTERVENTION: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Skeletal muscle index and density was determined using Slice-O-Matic V5.0 (TomoVision, Montreal, QC, Canada). Low skeletal muscle index and density were defined using published criteria. Regression models were used to assess for associations between muscle index and density and clinical outcome. Two-hundred fifteen patients, median (interquartile range) age 46 years (35.0-57.0 yr) were included. Forty-five patients (21.1%) had low skeletal muscle index, and 48 (22.3%) had low skeletal muscle density on commencement of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Low skeletal muscle index was more prevalent in males (28.8% vs 11.6%; χ 2= 9.4; p = 0.002) and was associated with a longer duration of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (B = 5.0; 95% CI, 0.2-9.9; p = 0.042). Higher skeletal muscle density was independently associated with ICU survival (odds ratio 1.6 per 10 Hounsfield units; 95% CI, 1.1-2.5; p = 0.025). No relationship was observed between skeletal muscle index nor density and physical function. Adequacy of energy and protein did not influence change in skeletal muscle index or density. CONCLUSIONS: Low skeletal muscle index at the commencement of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation was associated with a longer duration of venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, whereas preserved skeletal muscle density was associated with improved survival. </p

Overall survival in malignant glioma is significantly prolonged by neurosurgical delivery of etoposide and temozolomide from a thermo-responsive biodegradable paste

Purpose: High-grade glioma (HGG) treatment is limited by the inability of otherwise potentially efficacious drugs to penetrate the blood brain barrier. We evaluate the unique intra-cavity delivery mode and translational potential of a blend of poly(DL-lactic acid-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) paste combining temozolomide and etoposide to treat surgically resected HGG. Experimental Design: To prolong stability of temozolomide pro-drug, combined in vitro drug release was quantitatively assessed from low pH-based PLGA/PEG using advanced analytical methods. In vitro cytotoxicity was measured against a panel of HGG cell lines and patient-derived cultures using metabolic assays. In vivo safety and efficacy was evaluated using orthotopic 9L gliosarcoma allografts, previously utilized pre-clinically to develop Gliadel®. Results: Combined etoposide and temozolomide in vitro release (22 and 7 days respectively) was achieved from a lactic acid-based PLGA/PEG paste, used to enhance stability of temozolomide prodrug. HGG cells from central-enhanced regions were more sensitive to each compound relative to primary lines derived from the HGG invasive margin. Both drugs retained cytotoxic capability upon release from PLGA/PEG. In vivo studies revealed a significant overall survival benefit in post-surgery 9L orthotopic gliosarcomas treated with intra-cavity delivered PLGA/PEG/temozolomide/etoposide and enhanced with adjuvant radiotherapy. Long-term survivorship was observed in over half the animals with histological confirmation of disease-free brain. Conclusions: The significant survival benefit of intra-cavity chemotherapy demonstrates clinical applicability of PLGA/PEG paste-mediated delivery of temozolomide and etoposide adjuvant to radiotherapy. PLGA/PEG paste offers a future platform for combination delivery of molecular targeted compounds

The construction of the Malaysian Educators Selection Inventory (MEdSI): a large scale assessment initiative / Joharry Othman...[et al.]

of a nation’s human resource is undeniable. In Malaysia, teaching has always been perceived as a financially secure and relatively easy job by many, resulting in mass application for entry into teacher education programmes. Many of those who aspire and opto to go into the teaching profession however do so regardless of their personal interests, potential, and values. Pursuing a program that does not fit a person’s personality and interest – despite initially having good academic credentials and excellent co-curricular involvement in school – may result in unsatisfactory academic performance, frustration, change of program and even withdrawal at college level. Hence, in the quest for selecting suitable teacher trainee candidates, a psychometrically sound instrument known as the Malaysian Educators Selection Inventory (MEdSI) was developed as a screening measure to filter the large number of teacher hopefuls. This paper specifically describes the theoretical basis and the constructs of the instrument developed