Antioxidant Capacity and Total Phenolic Content of Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao L.) Beans from Different Countries

This study was conducted to investigate the antioxidant capacity, phenolic and (-) epicatechin contents of cocoa beans from different, countries, namely Malaysia, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire and Sulawesi. A simple linear regression test was used to analyse the relationship between total phenolic and antioxidant capacity. Antioxidant capacity was assayed using four different assays namely, bleaching, DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-$-picrylhydrazyl), ferric reducinghtioxidant potential (FRAP) and trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity WAC) methods. To estimate the content of total phenolic, an assay using Folin-Ciocalteu reagent was used. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to determine the (-) epicatechin content. In this study, two extraction media were used namely, ethanol and water. Between the twc extracts, ethanolic extract of cocoa beans showed higher antioxidant capacity compared to water extract except for$-carotene bleaching assay. The antioxidant activity of LJ ethanolic extracts based on fkarotene bleaching method followed the order of Cote d71voire > Malaysia > Ghana > Sulawesi. Water extract of Cote d"1voirian beans showed the highest antioxidant activity, followed by Ghana, Malaysia and Sulawesi with a significant difference at p < 0.05. All ethanolic extracts showed higher scavenging activity than that of water extract based on DPPH method. Ghanaian beans exhibited the highest scavenging activity, followed by Cote d'hoirian, Malaysian and Sulawesian. The scavenging activity of water extracts was in the order of Ghana > Malaysia > Cote d'Ivoire > Sulawesi. For FRAP method, Sulawesian beans had the highest antioxidant potential, followed by Malaysia, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire. There was no significant difference between Sulawesian and Malaysian beans. The antioxidant potential of water extracts was in the order of Sulawesi > Ghana > Malaysia > Cote d'Ivoire. In TEAC assay, Sulawesian beans exhibited the highest antioxidant value for both ethanolic and water extracts, followed by Malaysia, Ghana and Cote d'Ivoire with a significant difference at p < 0.05. Malaysian beans showed significant highest value (p < 0.05) in phenolic content for both ethanolic and water extracts, followed by Sulawesian, Ghanaian and Cote d'hoirian. For epicatechin content, Sulawesian beans exhibited significant highest (p < 0.05) amount followed by Malaysian, Ghanaian and Cote d'lvoirian. The results indicated that different assays revealed different antioxidant values. Moreover, the cocoa beans extracts from four different countries of origin showed different antioxidant capacities. A positive and high correlation were found between total phenolic and antioxidant potential (FRAP) for both ethanolic (R = 0.764) and water extracts (R = 0.782). While a positive moderate and low correlation were found between total phenolic content and TEAC for water and ethanolic extracts (R = 0.685, R = 0.286), respectively. 11 However, total phenolic content has negative correlation with antioxidant and scavenging activity. Antioxidant capacity of cocoa beans could be contributed by phenolic substances, through reducing potential. Moreover, (-) epicatechin content showed a positive and high correlation with antioxidant potential (ethanolic extracts, R = 0.837; water extracts, R = 0.789) and TEAC value (ethanolic extracts, R = 0.918; water extracts, R = 0.895) for both ethanolic and water extracts. Thus, indicating that, (-) epicatechin could be one of the phenolic contributes towards antioxidant capacity. Results indicated that antioxidant capacity, total phenolic and (-) epicatechin content of Malaysian beans were comparable to Ghanaian and Cote d'Ivoirian beans

Pelaksanaan Al-Rahnu Di Institusi Perbankan Dan Bukan Perbankan Di Malaysia

Kemunculan pajak gadai Islam (al-rahnu) di Malaysia pada tahun 1992 telah membawa perubahan kepada industri pajak gadai yang selama ini dimonopoli oleh konvensional. The emergence of Islamic pawnshop (al-rahnu) in Malaysia in 1992 has brought changes to pawnshop industry which has long been monopolized by the conventional

"Goods" - its concept and meaning under the contract of sale / Azizah Othman

GOOD AS SUBJECT MATTER OF CONTRACT AF SALES - he concept of "progeny as oggossed to phxsical possession Asmould be seen earlier, Section 4 of 3060 (Malay States) 1957, defines contract of sale as follows: "a contract whereby a seller transfers or agrees to transfer the property in goods (emphasis addefl) to the buyer for a price. There may be a contract of sale between one part—owner and another". From the above definition, what is primary in the contract of sale in the transfer of ownership and not; mere physical possession of the goods. Thus under the contract of sale ownership is important and not just physical existance of the goods. By physical existence, is meant that the goods as subject matter under the contract of sale must be existing for example in a custody, control or possession. Section 6 (I) of SOGO (Malay States) I957, provides that there "must be existing goods, owned or possessed by seller or goods to be manufactured. “Therefore it is clearly shown that, there musr be a physical existence of the good itself. But as stated earlier by having the physical existence, it does not mean that one can have the title or the ownership of the goods

Fenomena sumbang mahram di kalangan masyarakat Islam di Malaysia

Sumbang mahram merupakan satu gejala yang semakin serius dan mendapat perhatian masyarakat dan pihak kerajaan pada masa kini. Masyarakat juga melabelkan kejadian ini sebagai “Haruan Makan Anak”. Kejadian sumbang mahram ini sebenarnya menunjukkan tanda-tanda kepincangan institusi kekeluargaan dalam masyarakat dan negara sedang mengalami kemelut gejala sosial yang meruncing. Senario ini hebat diperbincangkan sama ada di media elektronik dan media cetak. Perlakuan sumbang mahram ini adalah disebabkan oleh beberapa faktor dan ia telah memberi kesan kepada individu, keluarga dan masyarakat. Usaha-usaha untuk membebaskan persekitaran masyarakat dari jenayah sumbang mahram memerlukan pembabitan dan sokongan semua pihak seperti badan kerajaan, pihak swasta, ahli keluarga dan masyarakat setempat. Apa yang pasti jika permasalahan ini tidak ditangani dengan sewajarnya, ia mampu meruntuh institusi kekeluargaan dan masyarakat keseluruhannya. Kertas kerja ini cuba membincangkan permasalahan sumbang mahram dan alternatif yang perlu diambil untuk membendung gejala yang tidak sihat ini

A preliminary study on teaching programming at Malaysian school

This paper presents a study on teaching and learning programming in a Malaysian school.The study attempts to identify all possible relations of student’s background and attitudes towards learning programming.The motivations for this study comes from the fact that introductory programming in Higher Learning Institutes face a high rate of under achievers.Since the feeder to these institutions are schools, it is felt that if the teaching and learning of programming in schools are strengthen the above mentioned problem can too be greatly reduced. This study attempts to find all possible relations that would help in proposing a more effective method of teaching and learning programming in school and at Higher Learning Institution

Phytotoxicity of phenolic acids extracted from palm oil dry solids

A study on the extraction of palm oil dry solids (PODS) was conducted to identify the water-soluble compounds involved in the phytotoxicity of PODS. The aqueous extract of PODS was sequentially partitioned using various organic solvents. Each of the dried extracts was bio assayed for inhibitory activity on the growth of tomato radicles. Maximum inhibition of radicle growth was observed in the diethyl ether extract, resulting in 53.3% growth compared with control. Further separation of the ether fraction using column chromatography resulted in a single toxic fraction, RM10, which caused only 30% radicle growth. The fraction was compared with 14 synthetic phenolic compounds using thin-layer chromatography and was observed to be similar to four of the compounds. Further analysis by high performance liquid chromatography revealed that the RM10 fraction comprised vanillic acid. However, the RM10 fraction was more inhibitory to the growth of tomato radicles than synthetic vanillic acid

Kefahaman tentang konsep asas dakwah islamiah dan metodologi dakwah islamiah di kalangan pelajar-pelajar Institut Agama Islam Kedah (INSANIAH)

Kajian ini meninjau tentang kefahaman pelajar-pelajar Institut Agama Islam Kedah tentang kerja-kerja dakwah. Populasi kajian seramai 637 orang dan seramai 204 te pelajar telah dipilih sebagai sampel kajian dari fakulti Usuluddin, Syariah dan Bahasa Arab. Dua aspek utama yang akan dilihat iaitu kefahaman tentang konsep dan kefahaman tentang metodologi dakwah. Data dikutip dengan menggunakan borang soalselidik dan dianalisis dengan prisian komputer SPSS. Berdasarkan hasil kajian yang diperolehi didapati bahawa kefahaman pelajar-pelajar tentang konsep dakwah tinggi manakala kefahaman tentang metodologi dakwah di peringkat sederhana. Kajian juga mendapati terdapat perhubungan antara tahap kefahaman pelajar tentang konsep dakwah dengan tahap kefahaman tentang metodologi dakwah. Oleh itu kajian ini mencadangkan supaya usaha-usaha dilaksanakan untuk meningkatkan kefahaman pelajar-pelajar tentang kerja-kerja dakwah sebagai persediaan kepada mereka untuk melaksanakan tanggungjawab ini dalam masyarakat

The phytotoxic effects of palm oil dry solids on plant growth

Glasshouse and laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the phytotoxicity of palm oil dry solids (PODS) on growth of vegetables and the effect of decomposition on the reduction of PODS phytotoxicity. Raw and decomposed PODS was applied to sandy tailing soil at the levels of 0, 1, 3, 6, 9, 15 and 21 % (w/w) and planted with tomato and spinach seedlings. Samples of raw PODS were incubated at 30'C for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 weeks and the aqueous extract of each sample was bioassayed for growth inhibition of tomato radicles. Results from the glasshouse experiment showed that growth of tomato and spinach was strongly affected by the type (raw or decomposed) and amount of PODS applied. Growth of both plants was inhibited by application of >1%raw PODS. In contrast, application of 1- 21 % decomposed PODS increased plant growth, with maximum dry matter production at 6% level. At this level, shoot dry weights of tomato and spinach increased 7 and 178 times, respectively, while root dry weights increased 1.6 and 62 times, respectively, compared to plants in raw PODS. Soil N, P and K contents, pH and electrical conductivity also increased with increase in PODS levels. The incubation study showed that the phytotoxicity of raw PODS was reduced when PODS was decomposed for > 4 weeks

Variability and predictability of Malaysian export-grade starfruit properties

The properties of commercially-graded B10 cultivar starfruit (Averrhoa carambola) namely length, diameter, mass, volume, the five colours values (L, a*, b*, C, h°), firmness, total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA) and pH were measured. Coefficients of variation (CV), correlation and property tolerances were evaluated to develop a relationship between the non-destructively measurable external properties and the non-destructively immeasurable internal properties. The length, diameter, mass and hue were found to have low CV levels. Mass appears to have a very strong correlation with volume while hue has a strong correlation with firmness

Pola tingkah laku kewangan pekerja keluarga dwikerjaya.

In order to enhance the empowerment of consumerism, financial behaviours among workers are very important. Excellent financial behaviours will encourage individuals to achieve a high financial well-being. Previous reviews have that financial behaviour had a significant relation with financial well-being. The objectives of this study are to identify the pattern of financial behaviour among workers of dual-career families and to examine the differences in term of gender, education level and job position. The subjects of this study were government staff of different job positions. Based on this 'drop and pick-up' method, a total of 415 respondents were selected. The study findings showed that approximately 60 percent of respondents spent more than their income, more than 50 percent of respondents paid their utilities bill on time, and around 40 percent of respondent had some forms of saving. The overall level of financial behaviour practices were high, except for record keeping on expenses and saving for retirement. In addition, the differences in education level and job position are observed in the overall score of financial behaviour