Mentransformasikan Kepimpinan Pendidikan: Model Pengurusan Institusi TVET yang Berkesan

Artikel ini membincangkan model pengurusan institusi TVET yang berkesan untuk mentransformasikan kepimpinan pendidikan di Malaysia. Sebanyak 22 buah artikel yang diperolehi melalui pangkalan data Google Scholar telah dikaji melalui kaeda kajian literatur sistematik. Dapatan kajian menujukkan bahawa amalan terbaik dalam pengurusan dan kepimpinan di institusi TVET adalah karismatik, perkembangan individu, stimulasi intelek, motivasi dan inovasi. Pelaksanaan transformasi kepimpinan dalam pendidikan merupakan aspek sangat penting bagi memastikan kejayaan dan kecemerlangan dalam institusi TVET. Institusi TVET memerlukan pengurusan dan kepimpinan yang berkaliber serta bertanggungjawab dalam melaksanakan amanah dengan baik agar dapat merealisasikan misi dan visi organisasi. Pemimpin yang berkaliber seperti bijak dalam melakukan tindakan dan keputusan adalah pemimpin yang dapat memutuskan keputusan yang baik kepada institusi serta dapat memuaskan hati semua pihak di institusi TVET. Hasil kajian literatur sistematik mendapati bahawa model pelaksanaan transformasi kepimpinan pendidikan dalam pengurusan institusi TVET yang paling dominan adalah perkembangan individu dalam kalangan pemimpin di institusi TVET, diikuti dengan sistem karismatik, inovasi, motivasi dan stimulasi intelek. Kajian lanjutan yang harus dilaksanakan adalah menentukan keberkesanan pelaksanaan transformasi kepimpinan pendidikan dalam pengurusan institusi TVET melalui model perkembangan individu agar dapat menjamin kualiti graduan TVET

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus: a diagnostic challenge

A 58-year-old woman presented to neuropsychiatric services with increased frequency of confusional episodes and intermittent psychotic symptoms. She had a 19-year history of atypical epileptic seizures and cognitive decline. Detailed review of history and clinical investigations revealed that she had accumulated sufficient features to meet diagnostic criteria for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). She had previously had lymphopenia and a malar rash; she had positive antinuclear, anti-Ro (anti-Sjögren's-syndrome-related antigen A) and anti-SM (anti-Smith Antibody) antibodies, and elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate. The seizures, cognitive impairment and psychosis were attributable to neuropsychiatric SLE. Treatment with immune-modulating therapy, cyclophosphamide, resulted in significant improvement in subjective and objective clinical presentation. Neuropsychiatric SLE should be considered a potential differential diagnosis for patients presenting with seizures, psychotic symptoms or cognitive decline. A detailed clinical evaluation with review of the medical history and appropriate laboratory analyses allows this diagnosis to be made, and appropriate treatment to be initiated

Towards a Pseudocapacitive Battery: Benchmarking the Capabilities of Quantized Capacitance for Energy Storage

Despite being capable of very fast charging, the pseudocapacitive properties of electrochemical capacitors still require significant research to attain energy densities comparable to that of batteries. Herein we discuss and theoretically benchmark the physics of quantized capacitance as a Faradaic charge storage mechanism, providing near “ideal” pseudocapacitive properties in the context of batterylike energy storage. Through careful electrolyte and reactant engineering, our physical analysis suggests that this less explored “pseudocapacitive battery” mechanism could provide power densities of approximately 10 4 W/L combined with volumetric energy densities in the range of 100 Wh/L (or potentially greater). These benchmarks are arrived at though a comprehensive analysis of two-dimensional (2D) graphitic nanoparticles considering the impact of solvation, electron-electron interactions, and electron transfer processes. In general, our findings indicate that 2D nanomaterials exhibiting quantized capacitance provide a promising and underexplored physical axis within electrochemical capacitors towards realizing very fast charging at energy densities comparable to that of batteries

Validation of the Malaysian Chinese-version of the EORTC QLQ-CR29 among Colorectal cancer patients in Malaysia

Patient reported outcome research are becoming a very important way of understanding patient’s satisfaction and tolerance with the treatment they receive. This study examined the validity and reliability of the Malaysian Chinese version of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) colorectal cancer-specific quality of life questionnaire (QLQ-CR29). Patients were recruited at the outpatient clinics of the University of Malaya and Universiti Kebangsaan Medical Centre, Malaysia. The QLQ-CR29 and Karnofsky Performance Scales (KPS) were used. Multi-traits scaling analysis such as Cronbach’s alpha, inter-class correlation (ICC) and known-groups comparisons (Wilcoxon-rank sum test) were performed. Significant level was pre-set at ≤ 0.05. Patients mean age (standard deviation, SD) was 64 (10) years, and 60% were male. Colon cancer was 50%. While 60% had advanced stage (Dukes’ C/D) cancers and about 30% of patients had a stoma. The mean KPS was 80% (SD 10). The internal consistency coefficient (ICC) was 0.89, 0.84, 0.46, and 0.73 for body image, urinary frequency, blood & mucus in stool and stool frequency scales respectively. The correlation coefficients for convergent validity were moderate to large (r ranged from 0.72 to 0.93) across all scales. For the discriminant validity measurements, small to moderate correlations were observed across the scales. The psychometric properties of the Malaysian Chinese version of the QLQ-CR29 were comparable to the original English version. This work provides a translated, culturally adapted, reliable and valid measure of HRQOL for use among Malaysian Chinese patients with colorectal cancer

Serotonin transporter in the temporal lobe, hippocampus and amygdala in SUDEP

Several lines of evidence link deficient serotonin function and SUDEP. Chronic treatment with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) reduces ictal central apnoea, a risk factor for SUDEP. Reduced medullary serotonergic neurones, modulators of respiration in response to hypercapnia, were reported in a SUDEP post-mortem series. The amygdala and hippocampus have high serotonergic innervation and are functionally implicated in seizure-related respiratory dysregulation. We explored serotonergic networks in mesial temporal lobe structures in a surgical and post-mortem epilepsy series in relation to SUDEP risk. We stratified 75 temporal lobe epilepsy patients with hippocampal sclerosis (TLE/HS) into high (16), medium (11) and low risk (48) groups for SUDEP based on generalised seizure frequency. We also included the amygdala in 35 post-mortem cases, including SUDEP (17), epilepsy controls (10) and non-epilepsy controls (8). The immunohistochemistry labelling index (LI) and axonal length (AL) of serotonin transporter (SERT)-positive axons were quantified in 13 regions of interest with image analysis. SERT LI was highest in amygdala and subiculum regions. In the surgical series, higher SERT LI was observed in high risk than low risk cases in the dentate gyrus, CA1 and subiculum (p<0.05). In the post-mortem cases higher SERT LI and AL was observed in the basal and accessory basal nuclei of the amygdala and peri-amygdala cortex in SUDEP compared to epilepsy controls (p<0.05). Patients on SRI showed higher SERT in the dentate gyrus (p<0.005) and CA4 (p<0.05) but there was no difference in patients with or without a psychiatric history. Higher SERT in hippocampal subfields in TLE/HS cases with SUDEP risk factors and higher amygdala SERT in post-mortem SUDEP cases than epilepsy controls supports a role for altered serotonergic networks involving limbic regions in SUDEP. This may be of functional relevance through reduced 5-HT availability

Structural Basis for the Superior Activity of the Large Isoform of Snow Flea Antifreeze Protein

The snow flea (Hypogastrum harveyi) is protected from freezing at sub-zero temperatures by a glycine-rich antifreeze protein (AFP) that binds to seed ice crystals and prevents them from growing larger. This AFP is hyperactive and comprises two isoforms [Graham, L. A., and Davies, P. L. (2005) Science 310, 461]. The larger isoform (15.7 kDa) exhibits several-fold higher activity than the smaller isoform (6.5 kDa), although it is considerably less abundant. To establish the molecular basis for this difference in activity, we determined the sequence of the large isoform. The primary sequences of these two isoforms are surprisingly divergent. However, both contain tripeptide repeats and turn motifs that enabled us to build a three-dimensional model of the large isoform based upon the six-polyproline helix structure of the small isoform. Our model contains 13 polyproline type II helices connected by proline-containing loops stacked into two flat sheets oriented antiparallel to one another. The structure is strictly amphipathic, with a hydrophilic surface on one side and a hydrophobic, putative ice-binding surface on the other. The putative ice-binding site is approximately twice as large in area as that of the small isoform, providing an explanation for the difference in activity that is consistent with other examples noted. By tagging the recombinant AFP with green fluorescent protein, we observed its binding to multiple planes of ice, especially the basal plane. This finding supports the correlation between AFP hyperactivity and basal plane binding first observed with spruce budworm AFP

A simple example of "Quantum Darwinism": Redundant information storage in many-spin environments

As quantum information science approaches the goal of constructing quantum computers, understanding loss of information through decoherence becomes increasingly important. The information about a system that can be obtained from its environment can facilitate quantum control and error correction. Moreover, observers gain most of their information indirectly, by monitoring (primarily photon) environments of the "objects of interest." Exactly how this information is inscribed in the environment is essential for the emergence of "the classical" from the quantum substrate. In this paper, we examine how many-qubit (or many-spin) environments can store information about a single system. The information lost to the environment can be stored redundantly, or it can be encoded in entangled modes of the environment. We go on to show that randomly chosen states of the environment almost always encode the information so that an observer must capture a majority of the environment to deduce the system's state. Conversely, in the states produced by a typical decoherence process, information about a particular observable of the system is stored redundantly. This selective proliferation of "the fittest information" (known as Quantum Darwinism) plays a key role in choosing the preferred, effectively classical observables of macroscopic systems. The developing appreciation that the environment functions not just as a garbage dump, but as a communication channel, is extending our understanding of the environment's role in the quantum-classical transition beyond the traditional paradigm of decoherence.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, RevTex 4. Submitted to Foundations of Physics (Asher Peres Festschrift

Effect of superficial air velocity on solidstate fermentation of palm kernel cake in a lab scale fermenter using locally isolated fungal strain

Solid state fermentation (SSF) is emerging as an attractive alternative to submerged fermentation despite the engineering problems such as removal of metabolic heat, transport of oxygen and moisture into the particles and the heterogeneity of the substrate. In the present work, a lab scale fermenter which can be operated as fluidized bed and packed bed was fabricated. Solid state fermentation of palm kernel cake (PKC) using fungal strain TW1 was carried out at three superficial air velocities. PKC particles of mean diameter 855 μm were used and the fluidizing medium was air. Reducing sugar concentration, biomass growth, bed moisture content, substrate pH, and hemicellulose content were measured. The maximum increase in reducing sugar concentration was at 0.17 m/s since an increase in mannose from 14.55 to 18.63 mg mannose/g dry PKC was observed. The hemicellulose content of this fermented PKC was estimated and the result was around 10% in reduction of hemicellulose content in fermented PKC. Further improvement of PKC bioconversion can likely be achieved by selection of a more robust microbe that can withstand the conditions in the fluidized bed during SSF and by creating a system which can maintain the moisture content of PKC during SSF of PKC throughout the packed bed

Integrating Green Skills into TVET Curricula in Polytechnics Malaysia

Green skills are very much needed by green industry. Nevertheless, many TVET institutions have not yet embedded green skill elements into the programme’s curriculum because it is still unclear concerning the types of green skills demanded by the green industry. Therefore, this research was conducted to identify the green skills that should be integrated into TVET curricula from the perspective of engineering lecturers in Polytechnics. The nature of this research was descriptive in which the date were collected using self-developed questionnaire. Four Polytechnics located in the East Coast, Northern, Central, and Southern of Malaysia were involved. A total of 332 engineering lecturers from three departments of engineering (Civil, Electrical, and Mechanical Engineering) were invited to participate in this research. The findings revealed that the TVET curricular should contains some of these green skills: problem solving skill related to environmental pollution,&nbsp; interpretative skill on environmental phenomena, research skill on environmental issues, data collection skill, analytical skill, exploitation skill on green technology, management skill on natural resources, design skill, controlling skill on environment pollution, raw material management skill, energy saving skill, recycling skill, and reuse skill. It is suggested that Polytechnics should embed these green skills into their programme curricula in order to produce graduates who are able to meet the needs of green industry

Synthesis, characterisation and biological activities of 2-Methylbenzyl 2-(dipyridin-2-yl methylene) hydrazinecarbodithioate.

A new tridentate nitrogen–sulphur Schiff base has been synthesised from the condensation of di-2-pyridylketone and a novel dithiocarbazate, S-2-methylbenzyl-dithiocarbazate (S2MBDTC). The Schiff base was characterized using various physico-chemical and spectroscopic techniques. The X-ray crystallographic analysis of the Schiff base is reported. The Schiff base crystallized in a monoclinic system with a space group of P 21/n, with crystal cell parameters a = 10.8128 (2) Å, b = 9.3832 (2) Å, c = 18.0352 (4) Å, β = 97.1311 (9)°. The Schiff base was found to be inactive against selected microbes and two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 = Human breast cancer cell line with positive estrogen receptor and MDA-MB-231 = Human breast cancer cell line with negative estrogen receptor)