Leading Teaching and Learning in the Era of Education 4.0: The Relationship between Perceived Teacher Competencies and Teacher Attitudes toward Change

Abstract: The objective of the survey was to examine the relationship between perceived teacher competencies in the era of Education 4.0 (TCEdu4.0) and teacher attitudes toward change (TATC) in Malaysian secondary schools. A total of 1,293 teachers from 80 secondary schools that were chosen using disproportionate stratified sampling method completed the questionnaires with valid data. The results demonstrated that, i) there was a significant, positive and strong correlation between TCEdu4.0 and TATC; and ii) except Functional and Research Competency, Self-Management and Interactive Competency, Leading Learning and Mentoring, Problem Solving, Technological and Digital Competency, and Pedagogical Psychology and Assessment were the five predictors of TATC that contributed 49.20% to the total variation. The study re-affirms the practicality of the competency and planned behavioural theories, provides evidence that teacher’s individual factor is a major determinant of attitudes toward change. Moreover, it expands the understanding among educational practitioners regarding the interplay between these two variables and is a significant resource for Institut Aminuddin Baki in developing future training programmes for school leaders in enhancing TCEdu4.0 and TATC. In summary, the study offers valuable insights for driving school change effectively that sustainable school change is correlated to individual factors

Detection of Avian Influenza Virus H5N1 in Horses at Assiut Governorate, Egypt

The highly pathogenic H5N1 is a major avian pathogen that intensively affects the poultry industry in Egypt, even in spite of the adoption of vaccination strategy. The virus is currently panzootic in Egyptian poultry populations and crosses species barriers to humans and animals. In February 2014, 15 horses at El-Fath center, Assiut, Egypt, started to show mild fever, dullness, restlessness, slight nasal discharge and cough. Two weeks later one of these horses died and another one became recumbent. This was associated with the spread of avian influenza cases in the backyard birds in the same area. Serum samples were collected from the diseased horses and from birds in the same area and examined by haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assay for detection of viral antibodies. At the same time, nasal swabs from horses and tracheal swabs from birds collected and examined by rapid antigen detection and quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) for detection of the virus. Serum samples of horses showed positive titer with HI in 13 out of the 14 diseased horses and the highest titer was 6-log2 in the recumbent one. Meanwhile, the result of HI for birds serum samples (450) were negative for 425 samples, which indicate absence of previous vaccination or infection, while the remaining 25 samples were from balady chickens showing HI titer 6-log2±0. 84 and those birds were previously vaccinated 4 weeks before collecting the serum. Avian influenza H5N1 virus could not be detected by using rapid antigen detection strips in the nasal swabs taken from the diseased horses, but could be detected in birds in 102/150 with antigen capture immune-assay (AC-EIA) common antigen type A, 95/150 with (AC-EIA) H5, 0/150 with (AC-EIA) H7 and 0/150 with (AC-EIA) H9 of examined samples. By qRT-PCR, H5N1 virus could be detected only in the nasal swab of the recumbent horse, and in 138/150 tracheal bird swab. In conclusion, Assiut city in Egypt is a disease endemic area where the probability of intimate contact between infected backyard birds and horses is high. Therefore, the disease may be transmitted to these horses from aerosol exposure of infected birds' droppings or contaminated feeds and water or because of direct contact with infected birds. However, the moderate severity of the H5N1 in equine may be responsible for the recovery of most of the diseased horses without further complications

Leading sustainable schools in the era of Education 4.0: Identifying school leadership competencies in Malaysian secondary schools

The purpose of the study was to develop an empirical School Leadership Competency Model for the era of Education 4.0 (SLCMEduc4.0) to identify school leadership competencies that facilitate and maximize effectiveness in leading sustainable schools in Malaysia. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was employed to identify the underlying factors whereas Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was applied to test the measurement models using Structural Equation Modelling. A total of 444 and 931 respondents completed the survey with usable data for EFA and CFA respectively. The results suggested that the SLCMEdu4.0 can be explained by eight factors namely; Leading for Learning, Emotional Intelligence, Critical Thinking, Communication and Ethics, Collaboration, Decision Making and Problem Solving, Digital Dexterity and Entrepreneurial with good fit statistics; normed x2=2.628, TLI=.950, CFI=.954 and RMSEA=.042. With a total of 40 items, the model also features good convergent and discriminant validity and construct reliability. The SLCMEduc4.0 is a coherent premier model that provides useful feedback for practitioners in planning, designing and evaluating future professional development programmes for school leaders. The study encourages a fresh look at educational leadership development locally and globally specifically in enhancing the leadership development of Malaysian school leaders towards productive change in the era of Education 4.0

IN VITRO INOCULATION OF ASPARAGUS OFFICINALIS TISSUE CULTURE SHOOTS WITH FUSARIUM PROLIFERA TUM

ABSTRACT Artificially inoculated asparagus tissue culture plantlets with a virulent fungus,  Fusarium proliferatum showed signs of infection as early as 4 days after inoculation. Macroscopic observations revealed presence of early symptoms such as necrotic lesions at the affected area and light microscopic examinations clearly revealed the post-penetration events that took place including the destruction of surrounding cells. However, little is known of the hyphal activity or advancement on the host's surface at the initial stage after inoculation. Scanning electron microscopic examination clearly revealed the hyphal advancement on the surface and the mode of entrance into the host tissues beneath. Four days after inoculation, the fungi proceeded to spread out from the inoculation point onto the host surface which eventually developed into a sparse network of both aerial and non-aerial hyphae. Non-aerial hyphae form a network of mycelium that adheres to the surface and it's movement appeared to be oriented towards the stomata. Hyphal penetration occurs more often through the stomata, natural openings or wounds. In some cases, the hyphae crossed over the stomatal opening without entering the host tissues. At places where the cuticle layer is absent or not well developed the hyphae successfully grew in between the epidermal cells into the tissues beneath. Key words: Tissue culture/Asparagus officinalis/shoots/Artificial inoculstion/Fusarium proliferatum

Generation and Evolution of Spin Entanglement in NRQED

A complete analysis on the generation of spin entanglement from NRQED is presented. The results of entanglement are obtained with relativistic correction to the leading order of (v/c)^2. It is shown that to this order the degree of entanglement of a singlet state does not change under time evolution whereas the triplet state can change.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Effect of the Lacuna Distribution on Stress and Strain in Single Osteon

In order to understand bone behaviour and bone failure behaviour, this study aimed to investigate stress distribution and strain developed in a single osteon with a different number of lacunae when a compressive load was given. Finite element (FE) analysis of single osteon was developed, one osteon with no lacuna (Model A) and three osteon models with a different number of lacunae (10 lacunae = Model B, 8 lacunae = Model C, 6 lacunae = Model D). The single osteon is developed as a semi-circle due to symmetric structure, with the presence of Haversian canal at the centre in each model. Stress distribution in Model B, Model C and Model D were shown to yield the highest stress at the lacuna near the given load and Model A was shown to yield maximum stress near the Haversian canal. The maximum strain of Model B, Model C and Model D were measured at the ellipse lacuna near the load while the maximum strain of Model A was shown at lamella near Haversian canal. These investigated results for the stress distribution and strain in the osteon can be used in the study to determine the yield region in osteon in bone fracture study

Incidence of hypoglycaemia among insulin-treated patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus: South African cohort of International Operations Hypoglycaemia Assessment Tool (IO HAT) study

Objectives: To assess the incidence and rates of hypoglycaemia in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in the South African cohort of the International Operations Hypoglycaemia  Assessment Tool (IO HAT) study.Methods: Patients diagnosed with either T1DM or T2DM, aged ≥ 18 years and treated with insulin for > 12 months, completed selfassessmentquestionnaires to record demography, treatment information and  hypoglycaemia during a 6-month retrospective and 4-week prospective periods (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02306681).Results: In T1DM 76.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 69.1%, 82.3%) of patients reported hypoglycaemia in the retrospective period and 98.2% (95% CI 94.7%, 99.6%) in the prospective period. The corresponding figures for patients with T2DM were 52.2% (95% CI 48.6%, 55.9%) and 90.1% (95% CI 87.7%, 92.3%), respectively. Rates of any and severe hypoglycaemia, respectively were T1DM 90.7 events per patient year (PPY) (95% CI 85.5, 96.1) and 8.8 events PPY (95% CI 7.2, 10.6) and T2DM 45.7 events PPY (95% CI 43.9, 47.5) and 8.9 events PPY (95% CI 8.1, 9.8) during the prospective period. The rates of hypoglycaemia were  independent of glycated haemoglobin levels.Conclusions: This is the first patient dataset of self-reported hypoglycaemia in South Africa; results showed that hypoglycaemia is under-reported.Keywords: diabetes, hypoglycaemia, hypoglycaemic, insulin, South Afric

Diabetes and Other Disorders of Glycemia in a Rural South African Community: Prevalence and associated risk factors

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of diabetes, impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), impaired fasting glycemia (IFG), and associated risk factors in a rural South African black community

Establishment of Wolbachia strain wAlbB in Malaysian populations of Aedes aegypti for dengue control

Dengue has enormous health impacts globally. A novel approach to decrease dengue incidence involves the introduction of Wolbachia endosymbionts that block dengue virus transmission into populations of the primary vector mosquito, Aedes aegypti. The wMel Wolbachia strain has previously been trialed in open releases of Ae. aegypti; however, the wAlbB strain has been shown to maintain higher density than wMel at high larval rearing temperatures. Releases of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes carrying wAlbB were carried out in 6 diverse sites in greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, with high endemic dengue transmission. The strain was successfully established and maintained at very high population frequency at some sites or persisted with additional releases following fluctuations at other sites. Based on passive case monitoring, reduced human dengue incidence was observed in the release sites when compared to control sites. The wAlbB strain of Wolbachia provides a promising option as a tool for dengue control, particularly in very hot climates

Systematic rifampicin resistance errors with Xpert® MTB/RIF Ultra : implications for regulation of genotypic assays

No abstract available.https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iuatld/ijtldhj2021Medical Microbiolog