Proceedings of the Sustainable Concrete Materials and Structures in Construction 2020

Seminar on Sustainable Concrete Materials and Structures in Concrete Construction 2020 was held virtually for the first time on 24 August 2020. This event was organized by the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built Environment (FKAAB), Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) in collaboration with Concrete Society of Malaysia (CSM) and Civil Engineering and Built Environment Postgraduate Society, FKAAB (CiBPS). The theme of this seminar is Toward Sustainable Green Concrete. This seminar marks the first collaboration between these three organizations

Evaluation of Renal Gene Expression of Protein Kinase C (PKC) Isoforms in Diabetic and Nondiabetic Proliferative Glomerular Diseases

The protein kinase C (PKC) family consists of 13 members categorized as conventional or novel depending on whether diacylglycerol, calcium, or phosphatidylserine is required for activation. High glucose leads to activation of different forms of PKC across tissue types, thus determining the kind of diabetes-induced organ damage. PKC β was reported to have a positive role in B-lymphocyte activity through activation of NF-κB, leading to various immune disorders. We examined renal expression of two PKC isoforms α and β in renal biopsies of patients with diabetic nephropathy, lupus nephritis (LN) (Class 3-4), and mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (MPGN) to explore the role of each isoform in different glomerular diseases. PKC α and β gene expression was studied by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR in 20 patients with type 2 diabetes and proteinuria (serum creatinine 2.04 ± 0.85 mg/dl, 24-h urinary protein 3.61 ± 1.75 g, eGFR 37.85 ± 17.89 ml/min/1.73 m2), 20 patients with proliferative LN (serum creatinine 1.67 ± 1.50 mg/dl, 24-h urinary protein 4.46 ± 5.01 g, eGFR 69.62 ± 40.93 ml/min/1.73 m2), and 20 patients with MPGN (serum creatinine 3.32 ± 2.79 mg/dl, 24-h urinary protein 4.65 ± 4.11 g, eGFR 32.62 ± 29.56 ml/min/1.73 m2). Normal tissues from the normal pole of four kidneys removed because of renal tumor served as controls. PKC α gene expression was significantly increased in diabetic kidneys compared to LN and MPGN (316.95 ± 152.94 µg/ml vs. 185.97 ± 32.13 and 195.46 ± 46.45 µg/ml, p < 0.05). PKC β gene expression was significantly increased in the LN and MPGN groups compared to the diabetic nephropathy group (41.01 ± 14.03 and 39.93 ± 16.41 µg/ml, respectively, vs. 18.20 ± 4.91 µg/ml, p < 0.05). Significant correlation was noted between the PKC α gene concentrations and proteinuria in diabetic patients. Renal expression of PKC α and β genes in control tissues were significantly lower compared to diabetic kidneys, LN, and MPGN groups (32.31 ± 0.36 and 4.67 ± 2.41 µg/ml, respectively, p < 0.001). The study revealed enhanced renal gene expression of both PKC isoforms α and β in diabetic kidney tissues, LN, and MPGN, but in different patterns. PKC α gene expression was significantly increased in diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease. The increased expression of the PKC β gene in LN and MPGN highlights its role in regulation of the immune system. This may represent potential therapeutic targets for prevention of progressive kidney injury in diabetic and proliferative glomerular diseases

The determination of heavy metal content in soil treated with high dosage of fertilizer in paddy / Salwa Ibrahim

This study is about research to determine heavy metal content treated with high dosage of fertilizer in soil planted with paddy. Many source of heavy metal in soil such as achieve high yield farmers used many kind of fertilizer , pesticides and fungicide . The uncontrolled dosage of fertilizer can contribute many problems such as excessive heavy metal environment problem. It's also can cause toxicity and decrease fertility. This study wants to determine whether high dosage fertilizer can be a factor of soil contamination. The objective of this study are to determine the heavy metal content in soil planted with paddy before applying fertilizer and to determine the relationship of heavy metal content after applying fertilizer. The samples were extracted for their total nutrient content by wet digestion method. As a result, for before and after Cu there are significant different (p<O.05) on treatment 3 only. For before and after Zn there are significant on treatment 1 and 3.The fertilizers were applied cause the amount of heavy metal in soil change

A Conceptual Model for Sustainable Green Port Practices: A Case Study of Northport (Malaysia) Berhad

This paper aims to propose a conceptual model for sustainable green port practices. The port industry is the main gateway of trade around the world. Nowadays, ports do not only focus on business purposes but also non-business purposes specifically environmental concerns surrounding the ports. As the public becomes more engaged with the risks of climate change and the composition of port shareholders changes, the philosophy towards port business has evolved too. The environment has become an in-thing for ports to emphasize the sustainability of their business. It is also the regulation that is implemented by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) to protect the environment and community because ports are also the source contributing to pollution. Thus, the introduction of Green Port Initiatives (GPIs) is the best way and resolution to highlight the importance of keeping a safe environment for the future. The study presents the conceptual framework portraying the elements concerning the sustainability of GPIs from the Northport perspective. Firstly, examining the level of awareness of GPIs among the port community; secondly mapping the port GPIs to the six key areas of Green Port Concepts; thirdly, understanding the initial key areas of initiatives which port community is interested in practicing; and fourthly, comparison GPIs at Northport with other port for benchmarking. The findings will provide ideas on the best strategies to implement and sustain the GPIs at Northport (Malaysia) Berhad towards their operation and more significantly meeting the United Nation’s 17 SDGs

Assessment Of The Clinical Treatment Outcomes And Direct Medical Costs Among Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Outpatients At The Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is becoming a major public health problem, especially now that a large proportion of health care expenditure is being spent on the treatment of this disease and its complications. This was a prospective observational study of diabetes type 2 patients with the objectives of assessing the treatment modalities, glycaemic control and the factors associated with the development of macro and microvascular complications, and evaluating the direct medical costs of treating diabetic type 2 patients at the Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia (HUSM). All of the type 2 diabetes patients who attended and were followed-up at the HUSM diabetes clinic were included in this study

Fibulin-2 is required for basement membrane integrity of mammary epithelium

Fibulin-2 (FBLN2) is a secreted extracellular matrix glycoprotein which has been associated with tissue development and remodelling. In the mouse mammary gland, FBLN2 can be detected during ductal morphogenesis in cap cells and myoepithelial cells at puberty and early pregnancy, respectively. In an attempt to assign its function, we knocked down Fbln2 in the mouse mammary epithelial cell line EpH4. FBLN2 reduction led to an increase in the size of spheroidal structures when compared to scrambled control shRNA-transduced cells plated on Matrigel matrix. This phenotype was associated with a disruption of the collagen IV sheath around the epithelial spheroids and downregulation of integrin β1, suggesting a role for FBLN2 in stabilizing the basement membrane (BM). In contrast to mice, in normal adult human breast tissue, FBLN2 was detected in ductal stroma, and in the interlobular stroma, but was not detectable within the lobular regions. In tissue sections of 65 breast cancers FBLN2 staining was lost around malignant cells with retained staining in the neighbouring histologically normal tissue margins. These results are consistent with a role of FBLN2 in mammary epithelial BM stability, and that its down-regulation in breast cancer is associated with loss of the BM and early invasion

Fibulin-2 is required for basement membrane integrity of mammary epithelium

Fibulin-2 (FBLN2) is a secreted extracellular matrix glycoprotein which has been associated with tissue development and remodelling. In the mouse mammary gland, FBLN2 can be detected during ductal morphogenesis in cap cells and myoepithelial cells at puberty and early pregnancy, respectively. In an attempt to assign its function, we knocked down Fbln2 in the mouse mammary epithelial cell line EpH4. FBLN2 reduction led to an increase in the size of spheroidal structures when compared to scrambled control shRNA-transduced cells plated on Matrigel matrix. This phenotype was associated with a disruption of the collagen IV sheath around the epithelial spheroids and downregulation of integrin β1, suggesting a role for FBLN2 in stabilizing the basement membrane (BM). In contrast to mice, in normal adult human breast tissue, FBLN2 was detected in ductal stroma, and in the interlobular stroma, but was not detectable within the lobular regions. In tissue sections of 65 breast cancers FBLN2 staining was lost around malignant cells with retained staining in the neighbouring histologically normal tissue margins. These results are consistent with a role of FBLN2 in mammary epithelial BM stability, and that its down-regulation in breast cancer is associated with loss of the BM and early invasion

Determination of Nutritional Composition and Effect of Various Storage Conditions on the Vitamin C Content in Garcinia Dulcis, in Fresh and Dry Form

This study was carried to determine the nutritional properties of fresh Garcinia dulcis fruit, an indigenous fruit growth in Sabah, included proximate content of moisture, ash, crude protein, crude fat, crude fibre, total dietary fibre and total carbohydrate, vitamin C as well as several minerals content. The effect of different drying techniques and storage conditions on the vitamin  C content in dried Garcinia dulcis was investigated. The fruit slices were separated into four groups which subjected to four drying techniques, which were sun drying, hot air drying at 50C and 60C and vacuum drying, and dried to the moisture content of 16 ± 1 %. After drying, the sample was subjected to four storage conditions, which were dark and air-tight, dark and non-air-tight, light and air-tight and light and non-air-tight, and the vitamin C content was analyzed for sample subjected to each condition once per 7 days of storage until 28 days of storage. From the analysis, the nutritional properties of fresh fruit with the content of moisture (86.64 ± 0.21 %), ash (0.68 ± 0.01 %), crude protein (0.59 ± 0.03 %), crude fat (0.40 ± 0.02 %), crude fibre (1.89 ± 0.04 %), total carbohydrate (9.80 ± 0.18 %) and total dietary fibre (8.21 ± 0.38 %), vitamin C (6.88 ± 0.33 mg AA/100g ww) and several minerals (potassium, 64.63 ± 0.02 mg/100 g ww; phosphorus, 7.79 ± 0.13 mg/100 g ww; calcium, 7.59 ± 0.06 mg/100 g ww) were determined. The hot air drying at 50C and vacuum drying retained highest amount of vitamin C among the four drying techniques just after the sample was dried. The best storage conditions for all the drying techniques were dark and air-tight conditions. It was found out that the drying technique interdependent to each other in order to retain the highest content of vitamin C in dried Garcinia dulcis sample for a longer period of time

An adaptive approach for internet phishing detection based on log data

The Internet has become one of the most important daily socials, financial and other activities. the number of customers who use the Internet to conduct their business and purchases is very large. This results in billions of dollars being transferred every day online. Such a large amount of money attracts the attention of cybercriminals to carry out their illegal activities. “Fraud” is one of the most dangerous of these methods, especially phishing, where attackers try to steal user credentials using fraudulent emails, fake websites, or both. The proposed system for this paper includes efficient data extraction from the web file through data collection and preprocessing. and web usage mining procedure to extract features that demonstrate user behavior. and feature-extracting URL analysis to detect website phishing addresses. After that, the features from the above two parts are combined to make the number of features sixty-three. Finally, a classification algorithm (Random Forests) is applied to determine if website addresses are phishing or legitimate. Suggested algorithms performance is determined by using a confusion matrix and a number of metrics that shows the robustness of the proposed system

The Pragmatic Nature of Manipulation

Broadly defined, manipulation is a kind of covert behavior or a means, whether linguistic or non- linguistic, used by manipulators in certain communicative encounters to achieve their goals, desires, and interests regardless of the perceptual, cognitive , and emotional feelings of their interlocutors. In this regard, they utilize myriad devices, especially those dishonest ones, like cunning, lying, making tricks, deceiving, and the like. To be successful in doing so, manipulators should have a cognition which enables them to pursue their own interests through making use of some aspects of human cognition, notably reasoning, checking for likeliness, and emotions. As such, manipulators play on their targets’ weaknesses to influence their motivation, beliefs, emotions, and reaction. For some scholars, manipulation is a psychologicalissuebecause it can be considered as a kind of human behavior or cognition. For others, it falls within the region of cognitive pragmatics since it is basically based on the use of cognition in relation to context. In this study, as far as language use is concerned, it is argued that manipulation is more pragmatic than psychological in nature. Besides, it is characterized by pragmatic features other than the cognitive ones. Hence, it is felt, here, that there is a need to reveal those pragmatic aspects to locate its treatment in its right place. This is done by means of identifying the relationship between manipulation and various pragmatic theories and issues