Speech by D.Y.M.M Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin Ibni Al-Marhum Tuanku Syed Putra Jamalullail, the chancellor of USM, at the 39th convocation ceremony on 25 march 2009, at 9.00am in Dewan Tuanku Syed Putra Usm Pulau Pinang.

Bism illah i rra h man i rra him Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh By grace of Allah, I am here at USM 391 h Convocation Ceremony. Congratulations to all graduates. I would also like to congratulate Dr. Concepcion Campa Huergo, recipient of the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Science this morning, whom I believed, is an excellent example of those who are committed to knowledge and contributed significantlay to the society

Optimization of Processing Parameters to Achieve Superior Quality and Maximum Recovery of Canola Oil

Aim of the present study was to improve the efficiency of processing to achieve a superior quality of canola oil with better recovery. Three sets of canola oil containing crude, neutralized, bleached, deodorized oils and deodorizer distillates (DD) were collected from edible oil processing industries. Important physicochemical properties of the oil were evaluated in all three sets including unsaponifiable matter, phosphorus content and soap content. The industrial processing of set I and II was found to be satisfactory as compared to set III. Therefore, set III was selected for the optimization of different processing parameters during each stage of processing. For neutralization, bleaching and deodorization different parameters were optimized to achieve a better quality of the finished product, good recovery and control of the processing cost. After optimization, physicochemical characteristics of neutralized, bleached, deodorized oil and its DD were evaluated. Also, the loss and recovery of neutral oil were calculated in each processing stage. The results of the present study showed that a slight variation of processing parameters leads to a great impact on the quality and recovery of the canola oil. High contents of free fatty acids (FFA) in DD indicated that it could be used as a potential source of biodiesel production

Synthesis and evaluation of antibacterial activity for a series of N-phthaloylglycine derivatives

Two series of N-phthaloylglycine derivatives were synthesized under Schotten-Baumann conditions. The first series consists of N-phthaloylglycine amides (4a-h), and the second one consists of benzimidazole derivatives of N-phthaloylglycine (6a-d). All the synthesized analogues were evaluated for their in vitro antimicrobial activity by using disc diffusion method. In the first series, compounds 4h (MIC, 0.5 mg/L), 4a (MIC, 0.6 mg/L), and 4e (MIC, 0.7 mg/L) were found to be the most potent against vancomycin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (VRSA). Furthermore, three compounds i.e. 4g (MIC, 0.8 mg/L), 6b (MIC, 1.5 mg/L), and 4h (MIC, 1.6 mg/L) displayed good activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). All the synthesized compounds exhibited a wide range of antibacterial activity against all of the Staphylococcus aureus resistant strains tested. The structures of the synthesized compounds were characterized by IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS (EI)

Evaluation of Pain Experience During and After Scaling and Root Planing (SRP) Using Local / Topical Anesthetic Agents: A Comparative Study

ABSTRACT To evaluate the pain experience of the patient during and after scaling and root planing (SRP) using local or topical anesthetic agents. A total of 30 Chronic Periodontitis patients participated in this study. Three quadrants in each patient were randomly allotted to receive non-surgical periodontal therapy i.e. scaling & root planing (SRP) with 2% lidocaine injection (Group 1) or topical application of 8% Lidocaine + 0.8% Dibucaine (Group 2) or 2% lidocaine gel (Group 3). Pain was assessed midway through the treatment and immediately after treatment (post-operatively) using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The patients were asked about pain /discomfort following treatment after one day and their preference for the anesthetic if any. ANOVA followed by Bonferroni's post hoc Analysis was used to compare the mean pain score in all the three study groups. Paired t-tests were used to analyse pain scores during and after treatment in each groups. The inter-group comparisons of mean pain score in all the 3 study groups during procedure and post-operatively among the groups were statistically significant(< 0.05) but pain scores during the procedure between group 2 and group 3 were not statistically significant (0.061). The experience of pain or discomfort one day post operatively was significantly higher in Group1 (2% Lidocaine Injection) 70% compared to Group 2 (8% Lidocaine + 0.8% Dibucaine) 36.70% and group 3 (2% Lidocaine Topical) 46.70%. Though 56.70% of the patients in the study preferred (8% Lidocaine + 0.8% Dibucaine) anesthetic gel for procedure over 2% Lidocaine anesthetic Injection and 2% Lidocaine Topical. Lidocaine Injection 2% was more effective in controlling pain during scaling and root planing than 8% Lidocaine + 0.8% Dibucaine and 2% Lidocaine Topical, but 8% Lidocaine + 0.8% Dibucaine anesthetic gel had less pain/discomfort one day post-operatively and most preferred anesthetic when compared with other two as it avoided postoperative numbness, fear from needle prick and favourable taste of the anesthetic gel

Catalytic Reductive Degradation of Methyl Orange Using Air Resilient Copper Nanostructures

The study describes the application of oxidation resistant copper nanostructures as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the treatment of organic dye containing waste waters. Copper nanostructures were synthesized in an aqueous environment using modified surfactant assisted chemical reduction route. The synthesized nanostructures have been characterized by UV-Vis, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR spectroscopy, Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-ray diffractometry (XRD). These surfactant capped Cu nanostructures have been used as a heterogeneous catalyst for the comparative reductive degradation of methyl orange (MO) in the presence of sodium borohydride (NaBH4) used as a potential reductant. Copper nanoparticles (Cu NPs) were found to be more efficient compared to copper nanorods (Cu NRds) with the degradation reaction obeying pseudofirst order reaction kinetics. Shape dependent catalytic efficiency was further evaluated from activation energy (EA) of reductive degradation reaction. The more efficient Cu NPs were further employed for reductive degradation of real waste water samples containing dyes collected from the drain of different local textile industries situated in Hyderabad region, Pakistan

Synthesis, Characterization, X-ray Structure and Biological Screenings of Silver(I) and Copper(I) Complexes of Triphenylphosphine Dithiocarboxylate

Two new transition metal dithiocarboxylates with general formula R2ML, where R = P(C6H5)(3), M=Ag(I) (1), Cu(I) (2) and L = Sodium salt of 4-formylpiperazine-1-carbodithioate, have been synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, multinuclear NMR (H-1, C-13 and P-31) and mass spectrometry. The structure of complex (1) has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction and illustrated the asymmetric bidentate bonding of the ligand. The crystal structure of complex (1) shows a distorted tetrahedral geometry. The inclination of the structure of complex (1) towards distorted tetrahedral is due to the steric hindrance of phenyl bulky groups. A subsequent antimicrobial study indicates that the compound (2) is considerably active against some bacterial and fungal strains while compound (1) shows little or no activity

A green method for the quantitative assessment of neutral oil in palm fatty acid distillates by single bounce attenuated total reflectance Fourier-Transform Infrared spectroscopy

This study developed a green, reliable, rapid and economical analytical method for the determination of neutral oil present in deodorizer distillates (DD) by Single Bounce Attenuated Total Reflectance (SB-ATR) Fourier-Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Beer's Law was applied to develop calibration model based on the band height at 1744 cm-1 with two point baseline between 1800 to 1600 cm-1 of the carbonyl group (C=O) related to triglycerides. It was found to be linear over wide concentration range of 0-100% for neutral oil with correlation coefficients greater than 0.999. No solvent or costly standards were used in the proposed method. The accuracy of the method was assessed by comparison to a conventional standard American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS) titrimetric procedure, which provided good correlation (>0.999). Therefore, proposed method could be used as an environmentally friendly alternative to the AOCS titrimetric method for the quantitative determination of neutral oil in Palm Fatty Acid Distillates (PFAD) for the routine analysis in quality control laboratories of oil processing industries

Synthesis, spectral characterization and in vitro antibacterial evaluation and Petra/Osiris/Molinspiration analyses of new Palladium(II) iodide complexes with thioamides

The paper emphasizes on the synthesis of Palladium(II) iodide complexes containing based ligands. The new compounds of general formulae [Pd(L)4]I2 where L = Thiourea (Tu), Methylthiourea (Metu), Dimethylthiourea (Dmtu), Tetramethylthiourea (Tmtu), Imidazolidine-2-thione (Imt), Mercaptopyridine (Mpy), Mercaptopyrimidine (Mpm), and Thionicotinamide (Tna) were prepared simply by reacting K2[PdCl4] with the corresponding thioamides in 1:2 M ratio and then with 2 equivalents Potassium iodide. The complexes were characterized by elemental analysis and spectroscopic techniques (IR, 1H and13C NMR). All the synthesized complexes were screened for antibacterial activity and some of compounds have shown good activities against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria. POM analyses reveal that the compounds are only slightly toxic and present a potential for antibacterial activity. Moreover, they have 16–23% drug score which is an important parameter for the compound possessing the drug properties