Designing Fish Optic Mobile Application for Fish Disease Identification

The signs and symptoms of fish disease can be traced by checking on the eye surface which is the cornea of fisheye. The Fish Optic mobile application aims to help students study the fisheye anatomy and to trace the symptoms of diseases on fish. The Fish Optic user mobile application uses Human-Centered System Development Life Cycle (HCSDLC) which consists of four phases which are project selection and planning, analysis, design and implementation. As HCSDLC emphasizes on user involvement throughout all phases, an interview was conducted, and a post task walkthrough was performed. User Acceptance Test formative evaluation was then conducted by distributing questionnaire. Some recommendations are also discussed for future works to improve and refine the design of the Fish Optic mobile application to enhance user experience. It can be concluded that using HCSDLC method throughout the design of Fish Optic mobile application contributes to a well-defined systems requirement to support user needs and to accommodate the lack of human understanding that frustrates users in their daily routines

Evaluation of beak and feather disease virus, avian polyomavirus and avian papillomavirus of captives psittacine birds in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia

Aims: Psittacine birds such as parrots, macaws, cockatoos, lovebirds and parakeets, are widely reared as household pets or at aviary due to their attractive features. However, the status of virus-causing diseases of psittacine species in Malaysia is fairly under-documented. Therefore, this study was aimed to detect the presence of three common avian viruses that infect psittacine birds, i.e. beak and feather disease virus (BFDV), avian polyomavirus and avian papillomavirus. Methodology and results: Faecal samples from twelve asymptomatic captive psittacine birds of different species were collected from an undisclosed animal garden in Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. Briefly, the sample was homogenised and resuspended with SM buffer with the ratio 1:1 (weight of sample/g: volume of SM buffer/mL) before centrifugation at 1,000 × g for 20 min. The supernatant was collected and filtered before subjected to genomic DNA extraction using a commercialised kit. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique was used to screen the V1, VP1 and L1 genes of beak and feather disease virus (BFDV), avian polyomavirus and avian papillomavirus, respectively. Findings revealed that the samples were negative for BFDV and avian polyomavirus. However, positive results of 1.5 kbp PCR amplicon were detected for avian papillomavirus in four out of the 12 samples (33.33%), which was from the white-crested cockatoo, African grey parrot, yellow-collared macaw and Senegal parrot. Sequence analysis of the L1 gene from the Senegal parrot Poicephalus senegalus revealed 93% identity to a reference Psittacus erithacus timneh avian papillomavirus. Conclusion, significance and impact of study: This study added to the limited prevalence data of three important avian viruses which infect captive psittacines in Seri Kembangan, Selangor, Malaysia. Avian papillomavirus, but not BFDV and avian polyomavirus, was detected in the collected captive psittacine birds. Therefore, a routine screening can be performed to monitor the health status of birds despite their asymptomatic manifestation, in order to prevent possible virus transmission

Designing Fish Optic Mobile Application for Fish Disease Identification

The signs and symptoms of fish disease can be traced by checking on the eye surface which is the cornea of fisheye. The Fish Optic mobile application aims to help students study the fisheye anatomy and to trace the symptoms of diseases on fish. The Fish Optic user mobile application uses Human-Centered System Development Life Cycle (HCSDLC) which consists of four phases which are project selection and planning, analysis, design and implementation. As HCSDLC emphasizes on user involvement throughout all phases, an interview was conducted, and a post task walkthrough was performed. User Acceptance Test formative evaluation was then conducted by distributing questionnaire. Some recommendations are also discussed for future works to improve and refine the design of the Fish Optic mobile application to enhance user experience. It can be concluded that using HCSDLC method throughout the design of Fish Optic mobile application contributes to a well-defined systems requirement to support user needs and to accommodate the lack of human understanding that frustrates users in their daily routines