Biosorption of chromium (VI) by chitosan-immobilized acinetobacter haemolyticus

In this study, the ability of chitosan-immobilized Acinetobacter haemolyticus as biosorbent for chromium (VI) biosorption in batch system was investigate. Optimized parameter namely pH, contact time, biosorbent dosage and initial metal concentration obtained from the experiment was then applied for electroplating wastewater treatment. Biosorption using chitosan-immobilized Acinetobacter haemolyticus at pH 3, 8 hours contact time, 3% (w/v) of biosorbent dosage with 100 mg L 1 initial metal concentration resulted in maximum chromium (VI) uptake of 0.2 mg g 1. Using electroplating wastewater, the biosorption capacity of the chitosan immobilized Acinetobacter haemolyticus was 0.27 mg g 1 at pH 3 which is higher than unmodified pH

Intellectual property rights and agro-based natural product: Malaysian legal perspective

Malaysia is a country which has been blessed with plethora of natural resources and product such as plants and animals. It is an established fact that the agriculture sector part of our natural product contributed substantially to the growth and development of the Malaysian economy. At the same time, it falls as part of the property which must be protected to ensure its sustainability. This paper will look into the right and protection of agro-based natural product specifically to the plant varieties and geographical indications from Intellectual Property Rights perspective in Malaysia

Hubungan di antara stres kerja dengan kepuasan kerja dalam kalangan guru-guru besar di daerah Batu Pahat

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti tahap stres , tahap kepuasan kerja dan hubungan stres dengan kepuasan kerja dalam kalangan guru-guru besar di Daerah Batu Pahat. Ia juga bertujuan untuk melihat perbezaan tahap stres dan kepuasan kerja berdasarkan faktor-faktor demografi iaitu jantina, pengalaman menjadi guru besar dan jenis sekolah. Tahap stres juga dilihat dari tiga aspek iaitu simptom fizikal, psikologikal dan tingkahlaku. Bagi kepuasan kerja ia dilihat dari aspek-aspek pencapaian, pengiktirafan, kenaikan pangkat, pekerjaan, hubungan interpersonal, gaji, penyeliaan dan suasana tempat kerja. Kajian ini melibatkan seramai 108 orang guru besar dari sekolah-sekolah rendah di Daerah Batu Pahat, Johor. Data-data diperoleh dengan menggunakan kaedah soal selidik dan diproses menggunakan kaedah "Statistical Package For The Social Science (SPSS)" versi 12.0. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan tahap stres yang dialami oleh guru-guru besar di Daerah Batu Pahat pada keseluruhannya berada pada tahap rendah dan bagi tahap kepuasan kerja, ia berada pada tahap sederhana. Daripada tiga aspek stres yang dikaji, hanya stres daripada aspek simptom fizikal menunjukkan tahap sederhana manakala bagi aspek symptom psikologikal dan tingkahlaku menunjukkan tahap rendah. Bagi aspek-aspek kepuasan kerja, semua aspek menunjukkan tahap sederhana. Dapatan kajian juga menunjukkan terdapat hubungan yang signifikan pada tahap rendah dan songsang di antara stress dengan kepuasan kerja (r=-0.31). Bagi faktor-faktor demografi, hasil kajian menunjukkan tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan tahap stres dan tahap kepuasan kerja terhadap semua faktor yang dikaji. Hasil kajian ini diharap dapat memberi sedikit panduan dan perbandingan bagi kajian-kajian seterusnya .Beberapa cadangan untuk kajian selanjutnya juga disarankan

Preparation of MgB₂ and BSCCO superconducting thin films / Nur Helmi @ Nur Jannah Azman … [et al.]

The main purpose of this project is to prepare MgB2 and BSCCO superconductor bulk samples and thin films, and also to determine the highest critical temperature for MgB₂ and BSCCO superconductor. In order to prepare the MgB2 and BSCCO superconductor, the solid state method will be applied which involve the process of grinding and sintering. The produced sample will be compress into pellet form before it is being sintered. The MgB₂ bulks were prepared by a pellet-in-sealed tube at different annealing temperatures of 650°C, 700°C, 750°C and 800°C. The superconducting thin films were prepared using sputtering technique. The bulk and thin film samples were then be characterized in various methods; electrical measurement, ac magnetic susceptibility measurement, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and also phase purity and composition by X-ray diffraction (XRD). For MgB₂ superconductor bulk samples, AC susceptibility measurements showed a sharp superconducting transition in all samples. The critical current density (Jc) was measured using ac magnetic susceptibility measurement method. The highest critical density in magnetic field, JC(T,H) from the magnetization measurements was recorded for the 650°C annealed MgB₂. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed small quantities of MgO and unreacted Mg phases as impurities in the samples which act as effective pinning centres for vortices. Unreacted Mg decreased with increasing annealing temperature

Angiogenic potential of dental stem cells seeded on human amniotic membrane as a scoffold for pulp tissue regeneration

Regenerative medicine, particularly in wound healing, is necessary for the mankind. Our study aim to investigate the angiogenic potential of a 3D model made up of Human Amniotic Membrane (HAM) scaffold; Human Exfoliated Deciduous Teeth (SHED) and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF). SHED grew on the stromal side of HAM had the ability to proliferate, migrate and differentiate. The SEM analysis revealed that SHED cultured on HAM with the addition of VEGF change its fibroblast-like shape into rounded-like shape. Besides, H&E analysis also showed the ability of SHED cell to form monolayer structure on stromal surfaces until day 14. However, on day 21 , cells started to infiltrate inside the HAM stromal layer. The infiltration could happen due to cell differentiation, where SHED might change its size, allowing cells to invade inside this fibrous structure. Gene analysis also revealed the potential of endothelial-like differentiation. Even though there was no expression of VEGFR2 and CD31 genes, protein analysis showed the expression of Cox-2. The Cox-2 expression is involved in the formation of the tubule. All the results proved that SHED has a potential to differentiate and involved in angiogenesis with the help of extracellular matrix components on HAM

The convex polytopes and homogeneous coordinate rings of bivariate polynomials / Shamsatun Nahar Ahmad, Nor’Aini Aris and Azlina Jumadi

Concepts from algebraic geometry such as cones and fans are related to toric varieties and can be applied to determine the convex polytopes and homogeneous coordinate rings of multivariate polynomial systems. The homogeneous coordinates of a system in its projective vector space can be associated with the entries of the resultant matrix of the system under consideration. This paper presents some conditions for the homogeneous coordinates of a certain system of bivariate polynomials through the construction and implementation of the Sylvester-Bèzout hybrid resultant matrix formulation. This basis of the implementation of the Bèzout block applies a combinatorial approach on a set of linear inequalities, named 5-rule. The inequalities involved the set of exponent vectors of the monomials of the system and the entries of the matrix are determined from the coefficients of facets variable known as brackets. The approach can determine the homogeneous coordinates of the given system and the entries of the Bèzout block. Conditions for determining the homogeneous coordinates are also given and proven

Understanding Emotional Engagement Amongst Primary School Children for Designing Gamification in Learning

Student engagement is an essential element for students to perform well in their studies. This paper focuses on one specific type of student engagement called the emotional engagement. The aim is to investigate whether student’s emotional engagement influences their academic performance. In addition, this paper explores how gamification can be used to help educators to increase student’s emotional engagement in learning. In this study, we measure student’s emotional engagement level based on their academic performance. We also recorded their feedback on gamification elements that they prefer during the lesson. The outcome indicates that there is no significant effect of emotional engagement on student performance. We argue that this could be caused by the instrument used in the study. The instrument is widely used by the western researchers, and its implementation in the Asian settings such as in Malaysia could be different due to the local values, principles, syllabus and the education system. However, the students responded well on some of the gamification elements, showing a positive direction for us to apply gamification technique in the classroom. More work is needed to be done to identify factors that can enhance student’s emotional engagement in learning, as well as to explore the benefits of gamification in learning

Anti-tyrosinase and cytotoxic activities of synthetic compound 2’-hydroxy-3,4,3’,4’-tetramethoxychalcone

It has been demonstrated by several studies that synthetic chalcone compound products having antioxidant and anti tyrosinase properties. In this study, the novel synthetic 2’-hydroxy-3,4,3’,4’-tetramethoxychalcone (HTMC) was evaluated for their antityrosinase, antioxidant, and cytotoxicity properties. In anti tyrosinase activities, HTMC showed an activity and is postulated as potential tyrosinase inhibitor. The antityrosinase activity of HTMC, however, was lower than Kojic Acid (positive control). It was due to the structure of HTMC that have been modified synthetically at position 4 by inserting methoxy group. For that reason, the potency of HTMC as tyrosinase inhibitor was reduced and this statement supports our finding that is HTMC have less active compared to kojic acid. In contrast, HTMC demonstrate low antioxidant activities for both DPPH and FRAP assays. The highest percentage of inhibition for HTMC was 37% in DPPH assay at the concentration of 242 μM whilst the highest FRAP value of HTMC was 2 351 μmol/L. It is due to their chemical structure that contains only 1 group of hydroxyl in A-ring at position 2 that reflected to its ability to scavenge free radicals. HTMC showed negligible toxicity effect on Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell at the concentration of (0, 0.01, 0.1 and 1) μM. As it considered as preliminary report on cytotoxicity effect of HTMC, this data is valuable to be further investigated on human cell line

Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi motivasi pelajar sekolah menengah terhadap pembelajaran sains dan matematik

The aim ofthis study is to determine the motivation ofstudents towards learning of sciene and mathematic in SMK Tabuan Jaya and related factors (learning · environments, families support, learning culture and learning styles). It also determines the difference among students of various demographic characteristic (gender, race, parents income, number of children, and parents educational qualification) in terms of their motivation toward learning of sciene and mathematic. A survey methodology was used in this study. The populations of this study were all students in form four and form jive of the schools. A stratified sampling technique was used to obtain a sample ofso students for this study. The findings of the study showed that SI.25 % of the students had a high motivation toward learning of science and mathematic and IS.75 % had a moderate motivation. Also, there is no significant difference among student of various demographic characteristic (gender, race, parents income, number ofchildren and parents educational qualification) in term of their motivation toward of learning sciene and mathematic. The study also revealed that there was correlation between learning environment, family's support, learning culture and learning style with motivation of students towards learning of science and mathematic. The implication of this study in that schools need to improve their effort in providing better learning environment, enhance relationship with parents and develop better learning culture, which will help to increase motivation among student toward learning ofsciene and mathematic. Also, this study can be used as a guideline by future researcher to study students' motivation in learning

Impact of Scarcity on Panic Buying: Assessing the Mediating Role of Anxiety and the Moderating Role of Event Perception

Purpose: The main aim of this research is to explore the factors that contribute to panic buying behavior and to propose ideas for government control in such events.   Theoretical framework: scarcity is the theoretical basis of current research in the context of COVID-19 in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China. Collect and review previous relevant studies by theme to understand the latest literature trends of scarcity, anxiety and panic buying.   Method: This research takes 213 customers from Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China as a sample, and uses SPSS and AMOS questionnaires to investigate the status of panic buying.   Findings: This research uses questionnaire data, through empirical research, to explore the important role of anxiety as a mediating variable in panic buying in the COVID-19 epidemic.   Research, Practical & Social implications: Research has found that scarcity has a significant positive correlation with panic buying and anxiety; Scarcity has a significant impact on panic buying through the mediating effect of individual anxiety. Personal cognition has a significant moderating effect on scarcity on panic buying and anxiety on panic buying.   Originality: The research problem addressed in this study is the phenomenon of panic buying during public crisis events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. this study proposes ideas for guiding government control in public crisis events