A comparative study of spatial variation between the states of Peninsular Malaysia in terms of water supply characteristics and consumer’s perception

Peninsular Malaysia is made up of 11 states with different landforms, natural resources, population patterns and lifestyle patterns. This paper aims to compare the spatial variations between water supply characteristics in terms of price, non-revenue water (NRW) and domestic water consumption by states and domestic water consumers’ perception in terms of their satisfaction of their water service suppliers. The methodology is based on both primary and secondary data. Primary data is derived from a questionnaire survey on 400 domestic water consumers and secondary data obtained through a survey of books, articles, journals, annual reports and official websites that are related to water issues. The results conclude that different states show different levels of performance by various water service suppliers and different perception amongst consumers which is caused by spatial variation

Public Perception on Water Pricing in Penang

Increasing demand and consumption in water threatens water security and is a hindrance to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 – Clean Water and Sanitation. As a developing country, Malaysia is still highly dependent on water resources to support economic growth for agriculture, industry and domestic consumption. Penang state records the highest domestic water consumption in the country although it is considered a water-stressed state. The state government has employed integrated water management to sustain the water supply and reduce consumption. Water pricing is one of the approaches that can be used for both supply management and the control of demand management. This paper aims to examine the relationship between the demographic characteristic as factors affecting the water consumption of the Penangites with the perception of water price through a questionnaire survey. A total of 341 respondents from the north-eastern part of George Town, Penang, were randomly selected in this research. The analysis was carried out using SPSS to run the Chi-square test, whereby the p-value is used to indicate the relationship between each demographic variable with Penangites' perception of water tariff. The results show that only age and gender have a significant relationship with the perception of water price. Besides that, there is no significant relationship among education level, income and ethnicity on perception of water price. The research concludes that Penang’s water tariff could be reviewed and increased in terms of different block tariff as one of the mechanisms to reduce domestic demand and consumption

Roles and recommendations from primary care physicians towards managing low-risk breast cancer survivors in a shared-care model with specialists in Singapore-a qualitative study.

BackgroundBreast cancer is prevalent and has high cure rates. The resultant increase in numbers of breast cancer survivors (BCS) may overwhelm the current oncology workforce in years to come. We postulate that primary care physicians (PCPs) could play an expanded role in comanaging survivors, provided they are given the appropriate tools and training to do so.ObjectiveTo explore the perspectives of PCPs towards managing BCS in a community-based shared-care programme with oncologists.MethodsEleven focus groups and six in-depth interviews were conducted with seventy PCPs recruited by purposive sampling. All sessions were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and coded by three independent investigators. Thematic data analysis was performed and the coding process facilitated by NVivo 12.ResultsMajority of PCPs reported currently limited roles in managing acute and non-cancer issues, optimizing comorbidities and preventive care. PCPs aspired to expand their role to include cancer surveillance, risk assessment and addressing unmet psychosocial needs. PCPs preferred to harmonize cancer survivorship management of their primary care patients who are also BCS, with defined role distinct from oncologists. Training to understand the care protocol, enhancement of communication skills, confidence and trust were deemed necessary. PCPs proposed selection criteria of BCS and adequacy of their medical information; increased consultation time; contact details and timely access to oncologists (if needed) in the shared-care programme.ConclusionsPCPs were willing to share the care of BCS with oncologists but recommended role definition, training, clinical protocol, resources and access to oncologist's consultation to optimize the programme implementation

Presence of antioxidative agent, Pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro- in newly isolated Streptomyces mangrovisoli sp. nov.

A novel Streptomyces, strain MUSC 149T was isolated from mangrove soil. A polyphasic approach was used to study the taxonomy of MUSC 149T, which shows a range of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of the members of the genus Streptomyces. The diamino acid of the cell wall peptidoglycan was LL-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinones were identified as MK9(H8) and MK9(H6). Phylogenetic analysis indicated that closely related strains include Streptomyces rhizophilus NBRC 108885T (99.2 % sequence similarity), Streptomyces gramineus NBRC 107863T (98.7 %) and Streptomyces graminisoli NBRC 108883T (98.5 %). The DNA–DNA relatedness values between MUSC 149T and closely related type strains ranged from 12.4 ± 3.3 % to 27.3 ± 1.9 %. The DNA G + C content was determined to be 72.7 mol%. The extract of MUSC 149T exhibited strong antioxidant activity and chemical analysis reported identification of an antioxidant agent, Pyrrolo[1,2-a]pyrazine-1,4-dione, hexahydro-. These data showed that metabolites of MUSC 149T shall be useful as preventive agent against free-radical associated diseases. Based on the polyphasic study of MUSC 149T, the strain merits assignment to a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces mangrovisoli sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MUSC 149T (= MCCC 1K00699T = DSM 100438T)

Streptomyces antioxidans sp. nov., a Novel Mangrove Soil Actinobacterium with Antioxidative and Neuroprotective Potentials

A novel strain, Streptomyces antioxidans MUSC 164(T) was recovered from mangrove forest soil located at Tanjung Lumpur, Malaysia. The Gram-positive bacterium forms yellowish-white aerial and brilliant greenish yellow substrate mycelium on ISP 2 agar. A polyphasic approach was used to determine the taxonomy status of strain MUSC 164(T). The strain showed a spectrum of phylogenetic and chemotaxonomic properties consistent with those of the members of the genus Streptomyces. The cell wall peptidoglycan was determined to contain LL-diaminopimelic acid. The predominant menaquinones were identified as MK-9(H(6)) and MK-9(H(8)), while the identified polar lipids consisted of aminolipid, diphosphatidylglycerol, glycolipid, hydroxyphosphatidylethanolamine, phospholipid, phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol and lipid. The cell wall sugars consist of galactose, glucose and ribose. The predominant cellular fatty acids (>10.0%) were identified as iso-C(15:)(0) (34.8%) and anteiso-C(15:)(0)(14.0%). Phylogenetic analysis identified that closely related strains for MUSC 164(T) as Streptomyces javensis NBRC 100777(T) (99.6% sequence similarity), Streptomyces yogyakartensis NBRC 100779(T) (99.6%) and Streptomyces violaceusniger NBRC 13459(T) (99.6%). The DNA–DNA relatedness values between MUSC 164(T) and closely related type strains ranged from 23.8 ± 0.3% to 53.1 ± 4.3%. BOX-PCR fingerprints comparison showed that MUSC 164(T) exhibits a unique DNA profile, with DNA G + C content determined to be 71.6 mol%. Based on the polyphasic study of MUSC 164(T), it is concluded that this strain represents a novel species, for which the name Streptomyces antioxidans sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is MUSC 164(T) (=DSM 101523(T) = MCCC 1K01590(T)). The extract of MUSC 164(T) showed potent antioxidative and neuroprotective activities against hydrogen peroxide. The chemical analysis of the extract revealed that the strain produces pyrazines and phenolic-related compounds that could explain for the observed bioactivities

Socio-Economic and Livelihood Assessment of Inland Fishermen in Muda River Basin

The Muda River is a shared watercourse between Kedah and Penang state. The inland fishery sector of Malaysia is an important socio-economic sector as it provides a vital source of protein, employment and livelihood for fishers who solely depend on it. However, anthropogenic and environmental issues such as water pollution, eutrophication, depletion of water level, erosion, sedimentation, and overfishing have further compounded the fish environment in Muda river basin. This study was conducted to evaluate the socio-economic and livelihood status of the inland fishermen around Muda river basin. A total of 46 fishermen respondents were selected randomly from the list of fishermen with the Department of Fisheries. The sample survey was carried out in November 2018 and data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The data interpretations showed that majority of the fishermen community are literate and the highest level of education in the fishermen community is Form 6 or Diploma. The findings show that primary occupation of the respondents was fishing and some of them are doing odd jobs and working in farmland to create a secondary source of income source. Lack of proper knowledge, research, data, training and much of governmental support was the major constraints of inland fisheries in the study area. It is recommended that the government should closely monitor fisheries in the area in order to prevent overfishing, work with NGOs and at the same time look into the welfare and livelihood of the fishermen

Designing and Evaluating an Interactive Multimedia Web-Based Simulation for Developing Nurses' Competencies in Acute Nursing Care: Randomized Controlled Trial

10.2196/jmir.3853Journal of Medical Internet Research17

The impact of air well geometry in a Malaysian single storey terraced house

In Malaysia, terraced housing hardly provides thermal comfort to the occupants. More often than not, mechanical cooling, which is an energy consuming component, contributes to outdoor heat dissipation that leads to an urban heat island effect. Alternatively, encouraging natural ventilation can eliminate heat from the indoor environment. Unfortunately, with static outdoor air conditioning and lack of windows in terraced houses, the conventional ventilation technique does not work well, even for houses with an air well. Hence, this research investigated ways to maximize natural ventilation in terraced housing by exploring the air well configurations. By adopting an existing single storey terraced house with an air well, located in Kuching, Sarawak, the existing indoor environmental conditions and thermal performance were investigated and monitored using scientific equipment, namely HOBO U12 air temperature and air humidity, the HOBO U12 anemometer and the Delta Ohm HD32.3Wet Bulb Globe Temperature meter. For this parametric study, the DesignBuilder software was utilized. The field study illustrated that there is a need to improve indoor thermal comfort. Thus, the study further proposes improvement strategies to the existing case study house. The proposition was to turn the existing air well into a solar chimney taking into account advantages of constant and available solar radiation for stack ventilation. The results suggest that the enhanced air well was able to improve the indoor room air velocity and reduce air temperature. The enhanced air well with 3.5 m height, 1.0 m air gap width, 2.0 m length was able to induce higher air velocity. During the highest air temperature hour, the indoor air velocity in existing test room increased from 0.02 m/s in the existing condition to 0.29 m/s in the hottest day with 2.06 °C air temperature reduction. The findings revealed that the proposed air well could enhance the thermal and ventilation performance under the Malaysia tropical climate

Green building design and assessment with computational BIM: The workflow and case study

Due to growing concern regarding sustainability in the built environment, several green building assessments and rating tools have been established worldwide including Green Building Index (GBI) in Malaysia which was introduced in 2009. However, the current methods of measuring, analysing and documenting the green building design rely on a number of disjointed processes to meet the discrete requirements for various building systems. The development of building information modelling (BIM) together with computational programming has made it easier for complicated building modelling to be digitally constructed, generating required information to support green building design and assessment throughout various project stages. Thereby, the aim of this research is to integrate computational BIM with green building design and assessment in Malaysia, using GBI as a unique case and an office building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a case study. Match-up of BIM (Revit) functionalities and GBI (NRNC) criteria was formulated, then visual programming (Dynamo) was employed to automate the BIM data management process. The findings of this research have developed workflows and templates to assess several criteria, namely energy efficiency (EE), indoor environmental quality (EQ), sustainable site planning and management (SM) and material and resources (MR), which allow a higher level of automation in green building assessment