Masyarakat Sivil Dan Demokratisasi Politik Di Malaysia: Satu Analisis Ringkas

This paper analyzes the democratization process in Malaysia by positing the role of civil society as the engine of change. The analysis in this paper differs from the views of previous scholars who argued that political protests against the government first emerged during Dr Mahathir's regime. In fact, this paper argues that the protests process started even before Malaysian independence. Although this process continues to take place, it has not brought about real democratization in Malaysia. This is because of the success of the ruling government in providing comfort and feeding the people resulting in difficulty for civil societies to convince the peoples of the need for political transformation. In this aspect, this paper discusses a new approach for political protests by civil society over abuse of power by government, that is through political protests 'from within' which is more effective in raising the people's consciousness toward political change. The paper ends with a conclusion that one of the distinguishing features of Malaysia politics that differs from other political regimes in the world is that political leaders in Malaysia never have to shed the blood of its citizens and this is the very reason that they are able to sustain their status quo until now

Determinants of default from tuberculosis treatment among tuberculosis patients at a hospital chest clinic in Gezira state, Sudan

Background: Default from tuberculosis (TB) treatment is a major health problem among tuberculosis patient. High rates of default are still reported all over the world, especially in Africa despite availability of effective TB treatment. This study aims to determine the determinants of default from TB treatment among tuberculosis patients at a hospital chest clinic in Gezira State, Sudan. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study design involving newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients from 1st January 2014 to 30th June 2015. Data was collected from patients’ case file using pro-forma. Default from TB treatments refers to patient who had stopped taking anti-TB medication for a period of 2 consecutive months or more after being on anti-TB treatment. Data analysis used IBM SPSS version 22.0. Chi square test was performed to determine the association between default from TB treatment and socio-demographic factors, type of diagnosis, anatomical site of TB, TB treatment duration, follow-up sputum smear microscopy result, HIV/AIDS co-morbidity and type of referral. Binary logistic regression was conducted to identify the determinants of default from TB treatment. Result: The default rate was 15.0 % among TB patients. The determinants of default from TB treatment were age of the patients, TB site and TB treatment duration. Conclusion: The study revealed that the rate of default from TB treatment is high. Age of the TB patient, TB site and duration of treatment were determinants of default reflecting that reassurance of TB patients, health education in addition to shorter treatment regimens are important factors in preventing default from TB treatment

The case of cholera preparedness, response and prevention in the SADC region: A need for proactive and multi-level communication and co-ordination

In this paper the authors seek to identify the most appropriate model for a regional co-ordination mechanism for cholera preparedness, response and prevention. The qualitative mixed-method data collection approach that was followed revealed the need for alternative solutions, including a socio-political understanding of cholera responses at different levels of scale and at different stages of an outbreak. Important areas that need to be understood include the multiplicity of actors and the complexity of their interaction, the importance of building local capacity, the need for varying responses at different levels of scale, the need for improved inter- and intra-country co-ordination and information exchange, the importance of cultural belief systems and the impact of the media on the response to cholera outbreaks. Ultimately, despite the proposed co-ordinating role that the Southern African Development Community (SADC) can play in a regional cholera response effort, the onus remains on states to build capacity at the local level and to capacitate local communities to drive response efforts semi-autonomously.Keywords: Cholera prevention, preparedness and response, socio-political understanding of cholera, socio-cultural understanding of cholera, transboundary disease, Southern African Development Community (SADC), choler

Eccentric connectivity index of some chemical trees

Let G = (V, E) be a simple connected molecular graph. In such a simple molecular graph, vertices represent atoms and edges represent chemical bonds, we denoted the sets of vertices and edges by V(G) and E(G), respectively. If d(u, v) be the notation of distance between vertices u, v ε V(G) and is defined as the length of a shortest path connecting them. Then, the eccentricity connectivity index of a molecular graph G is defined as ζ(G) = Σ vεv(G) deg(v)ec(v), where deg(v) is degree of a vertex v ε V(G), and is defined as the number of adjacent vertices with v. ec(v) is eccentricity of a vertex v ε V(G), and is defined as the length of a maximal path connecting to another vertex of v. In this paper, we establish the general formulas for the eccentricity connectivity index of some classes of chemical trees

On the Security of Golden Cryptosystems

Abstract In this paper we have investigated the security of different variants the golden cryptography, and showed that all the variants of the cryptosystem are not secure against chosen-plaintext attack

Size frequency and length-weight relationships of spined anchovy, Stolephorus tri from the coastal waters of Besut, Terengganu, Malaysia

Study on length-weight relationships of anchovy, Stolephorus tri collected from Benting Lintang (Lat. 5°44'33.62 N and Long. 102°39'22.84 E), the coastal waters of Besut, Terengganu was carried out on June and July 2010. Stolephorus tri are important component of marine ecosystems and commercially significant marine food resources in Malaysia. The mean size length of Stolephorus tri was 63.53 mm with a range of 51.0-76.0 mm. The average weight of Stolephorus tri was 1.57 g. The relationship between total length and body weight of Stolephorus tri was Log W = 3.0384 Log TL-5.2923 (W = 0.00001 TL3.0384). It is revealed that the exponent ‘b’ for Stolephorus tri was very close to the isometric value (b = 3). Therefore, the relative growth of Stolephorus tri was isometric in the coastal waters of Besut, Terengganu

Analysis of Intracellular State Based on Controlled 3D Nanostructures Mediated Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering

Near-infrared surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is a powerful technique for analyzing the chemical composition within a single living cell at unprecedented resolution. However, current SERS methods employing uncontrollable colloidal metal particles or non-uniformly distributed metal particles on a substrate as SERS-active sites show relatively low reliability and reproducibility. Here, we report a highly-ordered SERS-active surface that is provided by a gold nano-dots array based on thermal evaporation of gold onto an ITO surface through a nanoporous alumina mask. This new combined technique showed a broader distribution of hot spots and a higher signal-to-noise ratio than current SERS techniques due to the highly reproducible and uniform geometrical structures over a large area. This SERS-active surface was applied as cell culture system to study living cells in situ within their culture environment without any external preparation processes. We applied this newly developed method to cell-based research to differentiate cell lines, cells at different cell cycle stages, and live/dead cells. The enhanced Raman signals achieved from each cell, which represent the changes in biochemical compositions, enabled differentiation of each state and the conditions of the cells. This SERS technique employing a tightly controlled nanostructure array can potentially be applied to single cell analysis, early cancer diagnosis and cell physiology research

A monitoring campaign (2013-2020) of ESA's Mars Express to study interplanetary plasma scintillation

The radio signal transmitted by the Mars Express (MEX) spacecraft was observed regularly between the years 2013-2020 at X-band (8.42 GHz) using the European Very Long Baseline Interferometry (EVN) network and University of Tasmania's telescopes. We present a method to describe the solar wind parameters by quantifying the effects of plasma on our radio signal. In doing so, we identify all the uncompensated effects on the radio signal and see which coronal processes drive them. From a technical standpoint, quantifying the effect of the plasma on the radio signal helps phase referencing for precision spacecraft tracking. The phase fluctuation of the signal was determined for Mars' orbit for solar elongation angles from 0 - 180 deg. The calculated phase residuals allow determination of the phase power spectrum. The total electron content (TEC) of the solar plasma along the line of sight is calculated by removing effects from mechanical and ionospheric noises. The spectral index was determined as $-2.43 \pm 0.11$ which is in agreement with Kolomogorov's turbulence. The theoretical models are consistent with observations at lower solar elongations however at higher solar elongation ($>$160 deg) we see the observed values to be higher. This can be caused when the uplink and downlink signals are positively correlated as a result of passing through identical plasma sheets.Comment: The paper has 13 figures and one table. It has been accepted for publication in PASA and the article will receive its DOI in a week's tim

Radiomic signatures of posterior fossa ependymoma: Molecular subgroups and risk profiles

BACKGROUND: The risk profile for posterior fossa ependymoma (EP) depends on surgical and molecular status [Group A (PFA) versus Group B (PFB)]. While subtotal tumor resection is known to confer worse prognosis, MRI-based EP risk-profiling is unexplored. We aimed to apply machine learning strategies to link MRI-based biomarkers of high-risk EP and also to distinguish PFA from PFB. METHODS: We extracted 1800 quantitative features from presurgical T2-weighted (T2-MRI) and gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted (T1-MRI) imaging of 157 EP patients. We implemented nested cross-validation to identify features for risk score calculations and apply a Cox model for survival analysis. We conducted additional feature selection for PFA versus PFB and examined performance across three candidate classifiers. RESULTS: For all EP patients with GTR, we identified four T2-MRI-based features and stratified patients into high- and low-risk groups, with 5-year overall survival rates of 62% and 100%, respectively (p < 0.0001). Among presumed PFA patients with GTR, four T1-MRI and five T2-MRI features predicted divergence of high- and low-risk groups, with 5-year overall survival rates of 62.7% and 96.7%, respectively (p = 0.002). T1-MRI-based features showed the best performance distinguishing PFA from PFB with an AUC of 0.86. CONCLUSIONS: We present machine learning strategies to identify MRI phenotypes that distinguish PFA from PFB, as well as high- and low-risk PFA. We also describe quantitative image predictors of aggressive EP tumors that might assist risk-profiling after surgery. Future studies could examine translating radiomics as an adjunct to EP risk assessment when considering therapy strategies or trial candidacy