Bayesian group Lasso regression for left-censored data

In this paper, a new approach for model selection in left-censored regression has been presented. Specifically, we proposed a new Bayesian group Lasso for variable selection and coefficient estimation in left-censored data (BGLRLC). A new hierarchical Bayesian modeling for group Lasso has introduced, which motivate us to propose a new Gibbs sampler for sampling the parameters from the posteriors. The performance of the proposed approach is examined through simulation studies and a real data analysis. Results show that the proposed approach performs well in comparison to other existing methods

Effect of enrichment on stress level of laboratory rats

In certain biomedical research protocols, there is a need to singly house experimental rats. Since rodents are classified as social animals in nature, housing rats singly will result in stress to the animals. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of enrichment to the stress leukogram, feed intake, weight gain and behavior of singly-housed rats as opposed to singly-housed rats without enrichment and pair-housed rats. Eighteen 5 weeks old, male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to three groups; singly-housed without enrichment, singly-housed with enrichment (provided with enrichment nestlets), and pair-housed. The rats were acclimatized for 7 days before start of study. Blood samplings were done on days 0, 14 and 26 for complete blood and differential counts. Feed intake and weight gain were recorded every 4 days and on days 0, 14 and 26. Behavioral assessment was done every week for 10 minutes for each cage. Results showed significant neutropenia in the singly-housed rats with and without enrichment as opposed to neutrophilia in the pair-housed rats. Monocytosis and eosinophilia were also more evident in the singly-housed rats without enrichment than in either the pair-housed rats or singly-housed rats with enrichment. However, there was no significant difference in other blood parameters, feed intake and weight gain. Singly-housed rats without enrichment also showed significantly higher stereotypical behavior when compared to rats in the other two groups. Thus, it could be concluded that singly-housed rats did not show higher stress level than pair-housed rats in the short term. Enrichment nestlets too have been proven to be effective in reducing some degree stress, aggression and stereotypical behavior in singly-housed rats

Youth Perception on Climate Change and Sustainable Consumption

This paper reviews the awareness level of youth on climate change issues by exploring how youth views climate change and their reaction to it. The paper also explores the social dimensions of climate change and how to promote energy-saving behaviour. This paper adopted the PRISMA systematic review methodology in selecting research articles from two scientific web databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). 38 research papers were examined in-depth and categorised into three themes, youth and sustainable consumption; the impact of social media on youth’s awareness; and the role of support systems such as parents, educational institutions, and peers. From this review, we summarised that the youth have a relatively elevated level of knowledge regarding the climate change crisis due to the vast and readily available information from the internet and the increasingly popular social media platforms. Our findings suggest that future research should focus on surrounding support systems that can enhance youth motivation in combating climate change. Furthermore, providing knowledge and information on climate change alone is no longer sufficient; instead, the youth want to be informed of the actions they can immediately partake in

Youth Perception on Climate Change and Sustainable Consumption

This paper reviews the awareness level of youth on climate change issues by exploring how youth views climate change and their reaction to it. The paper also explores the social dimensions of climate change and how to promote energy-saving behaviour. This paper adopted the PRISMA systematic review methodology in selecting research articles from two scientific web databases: Scopus and Web of Science (WoS). 38 research papers were examined in-depth and categorised into three themes, youth and sustainable consumption; the impact of social media on youth’s awareness; and the role of support systems such as parents, educational institutions, and peers. From this review, we summarised that the youth have a relatively elevated level of knowledge regarding the climate change crisis due to the vast and readily available information from the internet and the increasingly popular social media platforms. Our findings suggest that future research should focus on surrounding support systems that can enhance youth motivation in combating climate change. Furthermore, providing knowledge and information on climate change alone is no longer sufficient; instead, the youth want to be informed of the actions they can immediately partake in

Copper Bimetals and Their Nanocomposites

This chapter deals with the study of the electrolysis synthesis of copper matrix nanocomposites developed for the fabrication of nanoparticulate Cu-bimetals. In this chapter, we describe the successful synthesis of Cu matrix nanocomposites by the electro-deoxidation method. We think that this approach will make it possible to realistically integrate a series of copper-bimetals. This study makes a significant contribution to the literature because this method opens novel opportunity to the design of nanocomposite materials. Particularly, this opens up prospects for designing the new materials from immiscible metallic elements, which is the main topic in designing of alloys as well as materials science progression

Effect of stocking density on Haematological indices and welfare of grower rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) in tropical climate.

Ten New Zealand white cross rabbits of mixed sexes aged 10 weeks were used to evaluate the effect of stocking density (1 m2/rabbit and 0.1 m2/rabbit for 29 days) on haematological indices and welfare parameters in tropical climate. The rabbits were divided equally and allotted to the two stocking densities corresponding to an area of 0.5 m2 for Group A and 5 m2 for Group B. The rabbits were fed ad libitum with commercial rabbit grower pellets and fresh water was freely available throughout the study period. Each treatment group was also given carrot every Saturday and alfalfa hay every Monday evening as dietary enrichment. Group B rabbits had higher packed cell volume, haemoglobin concentration, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular haemoglobin concentration and recorded a steeper rise of these indices over time when compared to Group A rabbits. Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio showed a correlation between social hierarchy and the availability of more space. Group A rabbits had higher weight gain and feed efficiency compared to that of Group B rabbits. However Group B rabbits recorded higher locomotor activity and Group A rabbits were observed to be utilizing the raised platform more. Both groups enjoyed the dietary enrichment exhibiting increased locomotor activity. The results of the study indicate that rabbits kept at 1 m2/rabbit had better haematological indices and locomotion activities compared to rabbits kept at 0.1 m2/rabbit in the tropical climate of Malaysia

SIRT6 IS CORRELATED WITH ESTRADIOL IN WOMEN WITH IN VITRO FERTILIZATION FAILURE

Objective: In vitro fertilization (IVF) is an important tool and it is widely used in the treatment of infertility. However, the failure rate is still high. Thus the study of the factors affecting the rate of success of IVF cycles is very important field of study. In the present study, the possible relationship between the Sirtuin-6 (SIRT6), a stress-responsive protein deacetylase, and the outcome of IVF was studied. SIRT6 also was correlated with hormone levels in women with IVF failure.Methods: Sixty women undergo IVF patients were participated in the study. Women group that had conceived from IVF are expressed as "pregnant group" while women who hadn't are expressed as "failure group." All groups had same preparations and same treatment regimen.Results: Results revealed that there is an insignificant difference between pregnant and failure groups in serum SIRT6 level. The results showed a significant higher estradiol, and lower prolactin and antimullerian hormone in pregnant in comparing with failure group. Correlations studies indicated no significant correlation between SIRT6 and hormones in pregnant group, while there is a significant correlation between SIRT6 and estradiol hormone in the failure group.Conclusion: It can be concluded that serum SIRT6 level does not differ between women who had success or failure IVF. However, in women with failure, SIRT6 is correlated with estradiol level.Â

Seroprevalence of helicobacter hepaticus in mice from laboratary animal facilities in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Helicobacter is a genus of Gram-negativebacteria possessing a characteristic helix shape. They were initially considered to be members of the Campylobacter genus, but since 1989 they have been grouped in their own genus. Helicobacter hepaticusis an enterohepatic Helicobacter species (EHS) belonging to the family Helicobacteriaceae of the order Campylobacterales of Epsilon-proteobacteria division. It is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic, urease-positive, spiral rod. H. hepaticus colonises the colon and invades the liver of mice causing chronic severe active hepatitis and proliferative typhlocolitis. It can also induce hepatocellular carcinomas in certain breeds. The bacterium has been associated with inflammatory bowel disease in immunocompromised mice. Certain strains of mice will develop a proliferative, inflammatory typhlitis and/or colitis that may result in rectal prolapse. Detection of H. hepaticus in laboratory mice is therefore important because of its effect on research animals ultimately complicating the research findings. Currently PCR, culture, serology test or histologic examination of silver-stained liver sections is used to diagnose H. hepaticus infection. Most mice colonised with helicobacters remain asymptomatic for long periods of time. This study was conducted to investigate the serological prevalence of Helicobacter hepaticus in mice in 5 laboratory facilities in the Klang Valley. Fifty sera were collected and examined for presence of H. hepaticus antibodies by commercial ELISA test kit. Result showed two facilities had positive sera towards H. hepaticus while the rest were negative. Four of fifty sera were positive while other serum samples were negative

Improvement of Mechanical Welding Properties by using Induced Harmonic Vibration.

The enhancement of the welding mechanical properties and the quality of the fusion metal is considered recently by using vibration during welding. In this study, the effect of induced harmonic vibration during welding is employed to improve the welding mechanical properties and to reach the best shape of welding line on the surface. The harmonic vibration method is examined experimentally by using four values of mechanical frequency during welding on the ductility, tensile strength and the homogeneity of the welding line. The frequencies were specified according to the natural frequency of the plate. Five simply supported rectangular plates are supported on the supporting stand and welded using a manual arc-welding machine. The experimental results show that the vibration applied during welding generally improved the bend property of the welding line, as well as the tensile strength has been improved distinctively at the resonance case when compared with that one welded without vibration. The morphology of the fillet metal after welding and for each value of frequency show an enhancement in the distribution of the fusion fillet metal, with gradually disappearing of the micro crack that may shown inside the metal with increasing the mechanical frequency. A comparison between the properties of welding without vibration and welding with vibration is discussed

Masjid Salehin sebagai wasilah dakwah kepada pelatih-pelatih pasukan polis di Pusat Latihan Polis Kuala Lumpur

Kajian dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti peranan yang dimainkan oleh Masjid Salehin (Masjid PULAPOL) di PULAPOL Jalan Semarak Kuala Lumpur dalam memberi kefahaman Islam dan mengukuhkan kerohanian pelatih-pelatih polis. Melalui kajian lapangan yang menggunakan soal selidik serta temubual sebagai instrumen kajian, data-data dikumpul dan dianalisa menggunakan perisian SPSS versi 12.0 untuk menentukan keberkesanan program pengukuhan kerohanian yang dijalankan untuk pelatih-pelatih polis tersebut. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan program yang dijalankan di Masjid PULAPOL itu dapat memberikan kesedaran, meningkatkan kefahaman dan memberi motivasi kepada pelatih-pelatih untuk beramal dengan amalan Islam. Namun, kajian mendapati masih banyak kelemahan yang perlu diperbaiki bagi menghasilkan kesan yang lebih baik kepada pelatih-pelatih polis. Dapatan kajian merumuskan perkara utama yang perlu diberi penekanan untuk penambahbaikan ialah merangka silibus yang lebih tersusun, memperuntukkan masa yang lebih panjang, menyediakan tenaga pengajar yang mencukupi, melaksanakan kaedah pengajaran yang lebih berkesan, memperbanyakan aktiviti yang memenuhi keperluan pelatih-pelatih di masjid dan menyediakan peruntukan kos yang mencukupi untuk memastikan program dapat berjalan dengan lancar dan berkesan