Occurrence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in ducks and duck eggs in Selangor, Malaysia

The importance of Campylobacter and Salmonella as foodborne pathogens is well recognised globally. A recent work in Penang found ducks in commercial farms were infected with these organisms. The aim of the study was to detect the presence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in ducks and Salmonella in duck eggs in farms in a small part of Selangor. Cloacal swabs were obtained from 75 ducks and 30 duck eggs from three farms. The isolation and identification of Campylobacter and Salmonella were done using conventional methods. Twelve percent of Campylobacter and 16.0% of Salmonella were isolated from the ducks sampled. Salmonella was absent on and in eggs. Campylobacter isolates consisted of 22% Campylobacter jejuni and the remaining was Campylobacter coli. Three Salmonella serovars identified were Salmonella Agona, S. Braenderup and S. Corvallis. The presence of Campylobacter and Salmonella in ducks may cause contamination of the meat during processing and handling which can constitute public health hazard. Moreover, the farm workers may be exposed to the organisms through contact with the infected animals

Hubungan kelikatan minyak enjin terhadap usia guna serta suhu

Kelikatan minyak enjin bergred tunggal mengalami perubahan apabila berlakunya perubahan pada suhu dan tekanan. Namun begitu, secara realiti kelikatan minyak enjin juga mengalami perubahan terhadap usia guna. Oleh itu, kajian ini memperkenalkan satu hubungan kelikatan minyak enjin terhadap perubahan suhu serta usia guna. Hubungan ini berasaskan kepada persamaan matematik empirik yang melibatkan teori pelincir Newtonan dan bukan Newtonan. Hubungan yang baru ini dikenali sebagai model kelikatan matematik (ηmath). Dalam model ini, kelikatan minyak enjin dipengaruh oleh dua faktor iaitu faktor suhu (ks) dan faktor masa (km). Nilai kedua-dua faktor ini bergantung kepada formula bahan tambah minyak enjin tersebut. Analisis reologi meter likat telah digunakan untuk mendapatkan nilai kedua-dua faktor ini. Hasil kajian menunjukkan kelikatan minyak enjin mengalami penurunan apabila usia guna meningkat. Ini dibuktikan melalui model kelikatan matematik (ηmath) dan juga analisis reologi meter likat

Isolation of Campylobacter and Salmonella from houseflies (Musca domestica) in a university campus and a poultry farm in Selangor, Malaysia

Insects, in particular house flies and cockroaches, have been shown to be associated with the spread of pathogens in livestock farms and in human disease outbreaks: among these pathogens are salmonellae and campylobacters. A total of 60 flies were caught in three locations: an animal teaching facility and a cafeteria in a university campus, and a poultry farm. Five percent (5%) and 13.3% of flies sampled were found to carry Campylobacter and Salmonella, respectively

Real-time wearable device for predicting a long covid patient's condition

This paper aims to develop a wearable device that can be able to Predict the long covid-19 patients’ conditions, to notify the doctors on a real-time basis. Long covid-19 patients suffer a lot during their daily activities especially if the lasting symptom is related to the respiratory system. By developing a system, that is easy and comfortable to wear during normal daily life, we believe that we will be able to predict the long covid-19 patients’ condition. The system should first detect and analyze the patient’s breathing pattern using artificial intelligence then store the patient’s breathing pattern along with his status in an online database, then notify the doctors in case of a critical situation. To train the model the breathing pattern of current long covid patients and normal people was captured during doing daily activities such as walking, sitting, and climbing stairs. We hope that the developed system will help in easing the suffering of long covid patients by providing better monitoring of their health

Misuse case modeling for secure e-tendering system

Tendering process is utilized by principal to invited capable tenderer to participate in competitive bid for winning a large project.Due to advent of IT infrastructure, E-tendering is introduced and adopted in many countries. Yet, an electronic environment did not promise curbing collusion between principal and certain tenderers. Other than common threats to system like security breaches by malicious parties, security issue related to ethical issue like fraud and repudiation issue where no evidence existed to denied it.In this paper, common threats for e-tendering process altogether with security countermeasure are described. This three interrelated attribute (consist of tender phase, threat and security countermeasure) are illustrated in misuse case for better understanding of the risk that may occurs in particular tender phase. Furthermore, it sought to ease the system developer for designing and constructing a secure e-tendering system

Mahathir Mohamad as a World-Class Leader: A View from The Great Man Theory of Leadership

Mahathir Mohamad's leadership as the Prime Minister of Malaysia is an example of excellent leadership. His stint is peculiar as he is the longest-serving leader in the world and the oldest Prime Minister to ever lead a country. The impact of his leadership establishes his reputation as an outstanding leader as supported by the Great Man Theory of Leadership. As an effort to comprehend his leadership excellence, this study examined Mahathir's leadership through the lens of the Great Man Theory of Leadership, which elevates leadership based on extraordinary achievements and considers the leader to be born a leader. The research was conducted by using a narrative review approach. Data were gathered qualitatively using thematic analysis, from secondary sources including academic journals, dissertations, books, and published articles pertaining to the topic of Mahathir's leadership. The results found that his leadership approach is indeed aligned with the underlying elements of the Great Man Theory of Leadership, namely charismatic, intelligent, politically skilled, and wise. Past studies reported that Mahathir possesses the quality of being visionary, trustworthy, authentic, resourceful, pragmatic, people-oriented, good communication skills, highly ethical, and core value-based, thus strengthening his premise as an outstanding leader. His excellence in leading the country has been proven beneficial to both Malaysia and its people while the attention that he received from the international community further reinforced his relevance and influence at both the local and international levels. It is indeed a pride for Malaysia as a Southeast Asia country to have a world-class leader

PBL project reflection: Challenges in communicating change

The objective of this paper is to discuss challenges of implementing a Project Based Learning (PBL) approach at three selected schools in one of the northern states in Malaysia.For this purpose, semi-structured interviewing and observation methods were employed.The data were analyzed based on the Five Sentiments Approach (Armenakis, Harris, Cole, Lawrence & Self, 2007a).The findings revealed that there was a high resistance from the teachers and students towards change due to the blatant exam-oriented culture which was still practiced in Malaysian educational institutions

Salmonella in native village chickens (Gallus domesticus): prevalence and risk factors from farms in South-Central Peninsular Malaysia

Village chicken or Ayam Kampung, common to Southeast Asian countries, has always been regarded as superior in comparison to commercial broiler chicken in terms of wholesomeness and health benefits. The current study investigates the prevalence and risk factors of Salmonella among village chicken flocks from the central and southern states of Peninsular Malaysia. A total of 35 village flocks were sampled from Selangor (n = 19), Melaka (n = 10), Johor (n = 4), and Negeri Sembilan (n = 2). In total, 1,042 samples were collected; these included cloacal swabs (n = 675), eggs (n = 62), pooled drinking water (n = 175), pooled feeds (n = 70), and pooled flies (n = 60). Isolation of Salmonella from cloacal swabs, poultry drinking water, and feeds was carried out according to the protocols and recommendations of the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) terrestrial manual. The prevalence of Salmonella at an individual bird-level was 2.5% (17/675, 95% CI: 1.6 to 4.0). All eggs screened were negative; in the case of environmental samples, however, Salmonella was detected in 5.14% (9/175), 7.14% (5/70), and 5.0% (3/60) for water, feed, and flies, respectively. A total of 34 isolates and 8 Salmonella serotypes were identified. Weltevreden (20.6%) was the most common, followed by Typhimurium and Agona (17.6%), Albany and Enteritidis (8.8%), Molade (5.9%), Corvallis and Schleissheim (2.9%), and others grouped as Salmonella spp. (11.8%). Multivariable logistic regression models revealed that Salmonella positivity among flocks could be strongly predicted by storage of feeds (uncovered feeds; OR = 10.38; 95% CI: 1.25 to 86.39; p = 0.030) and uncovered water tanks (uncovered tank; OR = 6.43; 95% CI: 1.02 to 40.60; p = 0.048). The presence of Salmonella in village chickens in the study area was lower than that of commercial chickens in Malaysia

Hamil luar nikah dalam kalangan remaja.

Keluarga merupakan pelindung utama dalam membina pembentukan sahsiah dan kesejahteraan psikologi dalam kalangan remaja. Remaja yang bertingkah laku negatif menunjukkan tidak ada perhubungan baik dengan keluarga. Ibu bapa kurang memberikan didikan rohani dan sosial yang sempurna kepada remaja sehingga mereka terjebak dengan pelbagai masalah sosial yang tidak terkawal. Tujuan utama kajian ini adalah untuk meninjau tingkah laku ibu bapa dan pengalaman remaja yang hamil luar nikah. Reka bentuk kualitatif digunakan dalam meneroka pengalaman remaja dan ibu bapa mereka secara temu bual mendalam. Sampel kajian adalah seramai 6 responden yang melibatkan remaja yang hamil luar nikah tinggal di Taman Seri Puteri, Cheras. Temu bual telah dirakam, dilaporkan secara verbatim, disusun dan ditafsirkan serta merta selepas kajian lapangan. Tema utama diperoleh daripada analisis dan maklumat persoalan kajian. Hasil kajian menunjukkan bahawa remaja yang hamil luar nikah tidak mempunyai perapatan dengan ibu bapa mereka dan mendorong remaja terlibat dalam aktiviti seksual yang tidak sihat. Persekitaran tempat tinggal, pengaruh rakan sebaya dan pendedahan mengenai aktiviti seksual secara berleluasa dalam jaringan web (internet) juga mempengaruhi remaja sehingga terjebak dalam hamil luar nikah. Pemantauan ibu bapa dan pihak sekolah secara berterusan boleh membantu remaja dalam mengurangkan kes remaja yang hamil luar nikah