Ergonomic problems and stress among workers in a manufacturing company

Ergonomics is one of the most important elements which influence both the productivity and the quality of workers’ output.Avoidance of the ergonomic consideration while designing the work and work process increases stress among workers. The main purpose of this paper is to identify the relationship between ergonomic factors and stress among manufacturing workers.This quantitative research was conducted in Bangi, Selangor.A total of 100 completed questionnaires were used in the data analysis process. Findings show that work design, work process design, working hours, and workload have significant and positive relationships on stress among the respondents

Pembangunan Aplikasi Android Dalam Membantu Kanak-Kanak Prasekolah Belajar Membaca Sebagai Asas Dalam Bidang TVET: Development of Android Applications to Assist Preschool Children in Learning to Read as A Foundation in the Field of TVET

Abstrak: Kajian ini dijalankan untuk merekabentuk dan membangunkan aplikasi android dalam membantu kanak-kanak prasekolah belajar membaca sebagai asas dalam bidang TVET dari aspek reka bentuk kandungan, interaksi dan antara muka. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kajian reka bentuk dan pembangunan produk (DDR) di mana pengkaji memberi tumpuan kepada pembangunan aplikasi android untuk proses pengajaran dan pembelajaran menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif serta reka bentuk pengajaran Model ADDIE. Pengkaji menggunakan kaedah persampelan rawak bertujuan dengan memilih 3 orang staf akademik yang mempunyai latar belakang pendidikan TVET yang sesuai untuk tujuan kajian. Staf akademik ini terdiri daripada 2 orang ahli akademik yang berkemahiran dan berpengalaman luas dalam bidang android kreatif dan seorang ahli akademik dalam bidang pendidikan prasekolah dari institusi pendidikan berkaitan. Data dikumpul dan dianalisis dengan menggunakan nilai kekerapan dan peratusan berdasarkan borang senarai semak yang telah diedarkan. Setiap item dikelaskan kepada kumpulan dan data kekerapan direkodkan sebagai peratusan. Kajian mendapati bahawa proses dalam menentukan kebolehfungsian aplikasi android ini dalam membantu kanak-kanak prasekolah belajar membaca dari aspek reka bentuk kandungan, interaksi dan antara muka mendapat maklumbalas yang positif dari pakar di mana mereka beranggapan bahawa aplikasi android ini berkesan sebagai salah satu medium bagi pembelajaran secara kendiri. Dapatan kajian ini boleh digunakan oleh setiap individu sebagi panduan khususnya dalam membantu perkembangan TVET kanak-kanak di peringkat prasekolah lagi.   Abstract: From the perspectives of content design, interaction, and interface, this study was undertaken to design and develop an android application to help preschool children learn to read as a foundation in the field of TVET. This study uses the research design and product development (DDR) method where the researcher focuses on the development of android applications for the teaching and learning process using a quantitative approach and the ADDIE Model teaching design. The researcher employed a random sample technique to identify three academic staff members with an appropriate TVET educational background for the investigation. This academic staff is comprised of two highly skilled and experienced academics in the field of creative android and one academic in the subject of early childhood education from an affiliated educational institution. On the basis of a distributed checklist form, frequency and percentage values were used to collect and analyse data. The classification of each item into a group and the recording of frequency data as a percentage. The study found that the process of determining the functionality of this android application in assisting preschool children to learn to read in terms of content design, interaction, and interface received positive feedback from experts, who believe that this android application is effective as one of the mediums for learning self-directed reading. Each individual can utilise the findings of this study as a reference, especially for fostering the growth of TVET among preschool-aged children

XRD and CO2 adsorption studies of modified silica gel with octadecylamine

Porous surface of silica gel (SG) have been modified with long and straight chain fatty amine compounds (octadecylamine, ODA) via wet impregnation process. Initially, heat treatment with various temperature which are 100 ºC, 200 ºC, 400 ºC and 600 ºC was done to the SG before continuing with impregnation process. Characterizations by XRD of the treated samples were showed no significant difference in each diffractogram. The best temperature for heat treatment was 600 ºC (SG600) and it was referred to the ability of the SG600 type adsorbents in adsorbing CO2 resulted from adsorption desorption isotherm of CO2. The 5 and 35 wt% of ODA supported on the SG600 was further characterized using XRD analysis which displayed the increasing intensity of crystalline ODA with higher percent amine loaded and shifting of the several crystalline peaks of ODA verified the interaction of SG600-ODA. These further strengthen the dispersion of ODA on the surface of SG600

Pengasingan dan pengesanan asid deoksiribonukleik (DNA) spesies haiwan menggunakan multipleks tindak balas rantaian polimerase (PCR) daripada minyak sapi

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengesan asid deoksiribonukleik (DNA) spesies haiwan dalam campuran minyak sapi menggunakan teknik tindak balas rantaian polimerase (PCR) multipleks. Kebolehdapatan DNA daripada produk berminyak membolehkan analisis PCR dijalankan dan sekaligus boleh menentukan kehadiran spesies haiwan produk tersebut dengan menggunakan primer haiwan yang khusus-spesies. Gen sasaran adalah DNA mitokondria (mtDNA) Sitokrom oksidase II (COII) untuk menentukan lembu, manakala mtDNA tRNA-ATP8 dan DNA nuklear (nDNA) Elemen Nuklear Berselang pendek (SINE) untuk menentukan babi. Terdapat satu kawalan (S1) dan tiga sampel campuran minyak sapi dengan gelatin babi ditambah pada kepekatan berbeza iaitu 1%, 3% dan 5% (w/v) (S2, S3 dan S4). Analisis PCR simpleks menggunakan primer spesies-spesifik yang disebutkan, berjaya mengamplifikasi DNA lembu dengan amplikon bersaiz 165 bp (COII) dan DNA babi dengan amplikon 212 bp (tRNA-ATP8) dan 161 bp (SINE). Manakala, teknik PCR multipleks yang telah dioptimumkan menggunakan primer mtDNA (tRNA-ATP8) dan nDNA (SINE) untuk menentukan kehadiran haiwan babi, juga menghasilkan amplikon bersaiz yang sama. Oleh itu, kajian menunjukkan bahawa kaedah PCR multipleks adalah kaedah yang mudah, ringkas dan pantas untuk menentukan kehadiran DNA babi di dalam sampel campuran produk minyak sapi selain daripada kaedah PCR simpleks

High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis for flavonoids profiling of Napier grass herbal tea

Natural plant products are becoming more and more essential in helping to promote safe well-being worldwide. This leads to a substantial rise in the consumption of various herbal teas. The presence of beneficial bioactive ingredients such as flavonoids may be correlated with Napier grass herbal tea having health benefits associated with their intake. Studies have shown that herbal teas have preferentially high antioxidant activity due to the presence of flavonoids in them. The purpose of this study was to identify the Napier grass herbal teas flavonoids prepared under different conditions. Napier grass herbal teas have been formulated using green tea and black tea processes, respectively. The tea samples were extracted in water (95°C, 30 mins) and 60% (v/v) aqueous methanol (30 mins), respectively. Approximately, 1% (v/v) aqueous acetic acid solution (solvent A) and acetonitrile (solvent B) were used as the mobile phase. The flow rate was adjusted to 0.7 mL/min, the column was thermostatically controlled at 28°C, and the injection column was kept at 20 μL. HPLC chromatograms were detected using a photodiode array UV detector at 272 nm. Gallic acid, P-coumaric acid, catechin, epigallocatechin gallate, quercetin, rutin, myricetin and kaempferol were found in both Napier grass water and methanolic extracts, respectively. The findings suggested that the HPLC techniques are ideal for the detection and identification of flavonoids in Napier grass teas

Adsorption Behavior of Heavy Metal Ions by Hybrid Inulin-TEOS for Water Treatment

The present work reports the adsorption behavior involved in the adsorption of heavy metal ions using a hybrid inulin-tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) adsorbent produced through the sol-gel process. An aqueous multi-element solution was used in order to examine the inulin-TEOS adsorbent efficiency in removing Cd2+, Co2+, and Ni2+ ions. The effects of the contact duration, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration, and solution pH on the adsorption of the targeted metal ions in batch systems were evaluated. The optimal conditions for the removal of all targeted heavy metals were as follows: 30 mg of an adsorbent dosage at pH 4 and 5 minutes of contact time with an initial concentration of 0.5 mg/L. A one-way analysis of variance (one-way ANOVA) with a replication test showed that all parameters had significant differences at a p-value of 0.05. At the optimum condition, 92.59%, 90.27%, and 86.472% of Cd2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ were removed, respectively. Findings from kinetic studies suggest that the pseudo-second order model can successfully describe the overall adsorption process. Additionally, the adsorption process can be adequately explained using an intra-particle diffusion model with diffusion rate constants following the sequence of Kint,1 > Kint,2 for Co2+ and Ni2+ and Kint,1 > Kint,2 > Kint,3 for Cd2+ in each step. The results suggest that Ni2+ fits with the Langmuir isotherm, while Cd2+ and Co2+ better fit the Freundlich one. Finally, the adsorbent can be reused and is able to retain a good percentage of removal, with percentage difference decreases of 1.99%, 3.29%, and 4.12% for Cd2+, Ni2+, and Co2+, respectively, after the fifth cycle. The hybrid inulin-TEOS bio-sorbent has good adsorption capacity and durability, which could offer a low-cost practical cleaner production process for removing targeted analytes from wastewater. Doi: 10.28991/CEJ-2022-08-09-03 Full Text: PD

Aquatic plants as ecological indicator for urban lakes eutrophication status and indices

There is an increasing pursuit of utilizing plants as a gear to predict, describe and diagnose environmental stresses. Being united swiftly with their environments, granting them to offer beneficial information on the condition of the aquatic environment. The aquatic plant species are effectively reliable indices as water status indicators. Their ability in taking up metal and toxic pollutants has shown their level of strength as well as tolerance in any concentration levels. Eutrophication is also being associated with the existence of aquatic plants. This widespread crisis in water bodies is made by over enrichment with N and P. Excess nutrients can trigger undesirable eutrophication, resulting in unhealthy algal blooms, spreading of certain aquatic macrophytes, depletion of oxygen and loss of key species, resulting in widespread degradation of many freshwater ecosystems. A broad number of physico-chemical parameters and biological characteristics render the degree of quality of water resources. Supervising above parameters is a crucial part to classify the magnitude and origin of any pollution load. The study was carried out to determine the levels of Nitrite (NO2), Nitrate (NO3) and Phosphate (PO4), in different stations of urban lakes in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. Data for physico-chemical parameter were classified according to the Interim National Water Quality Standard, Malaysia (INWQS). The significant outcome of this research is the abundance or loss of certain key species can be used as indicator for eutrophication state and level for urban lakes management and maintenance

Influence of pectinase–assisted extraction time on the antioxidant capacity of Spent Coffee Ground (SCG)

Spent Coffee Ground (SCG) comprises a range of functional components with high antioxidant potential and health benefits. Although SCG has many advantages, antioxidant values obtained using enzymes is still scarce. Several studies reported that the use of enzyme-assisted extraction techniques could improve the detection of antioxidant compounds in samples of by-products. In this study, SCG was extracted using enzymeassisted techniques for different periods (0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 mins). The total antioxidant capacity was measured using Peroxidase, Catalase, Ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), Superoxide radical scavenging assay (SRSA) and 2,2-diphenyl-2- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) analysis. 60 mins extraction was found to exhibit antioxidant activity in DPPH, SRSA, Catalase and Peroxidase of 84.18±7.01%, 32.83±6.75%, 76.65±5.52% and 75.01±7.67%, respectively. Besides that, the extraction also gave a high amount of content with 267.17±26.69 mg TAE/mL and 58.30±2.36 mg QE/g in total phenolic content and total flavonoid content respectively. Flavonoids such as quercetin, kaempferol, rutin, gallic acid, catechin, epigallocatechin, p-Coumaric acid and myricetin were found to be present in SCG extract. A high amount of catechin was found in all periods of extraction, whereby 60 mins had the highest concentration of 1741.65 mg/L, while 40 mins had the lowest concentration which was 389.85 mg/L. In conclusion, 60 mins extraction using a pectinase-assisted method was the best extraction period. Additionally, the individual flavonoid catechin in SCG showed that it has potential as an antioxidant. Finally, there is a strong correlation between antioxidative activity and both phenolic and flavonoid content

Smart home aquaponic system monitoring and control with internet of things using mobile application

Food security has been a recurrent concern for numerous nations, including Malaysia. Climate change and population growth exacerbate this issue by increasing necessity food. In past few years, aquaponics has proven beneficial for fish and plant production, based on the idea that if every household can generate its own fish and plants, the nation's overall food consumption will reduce. The suggested smart house aquaponics system comprises an assortment of internet-connected sensors, actuators, and ESP32 microcontrollers that continuously monitor, adjust, and record the water and air quality of the fish tank. The Internet of Things (IoT) mobile application feature can alert the user in the event of an abnormal system state in terms of maintaining the health and growth of fish and plants. The Internet of Things (IoT) mobile application feature can alert the user in the event of an abnormal system state in terms of maintaining the health and growth of fish and plants. When the pH and turbidity thresholds are surpassed, the pumps are actuated to either fill or drain the tank. The results show that the design for a smart aquaponics system that can be used in a home is able to monitor and control all the parameters that are needed to cultivate wholesome fish and vegetation