Catering Group Piano Curriculum for the Music Educators of the Next Generation

Advances in consumer technology have drastically changed the ways students access and appreciate music. As a result, teaching materials in group piano curriculum have become quickly outdated. Students no longer recognize folk tunes that have been sung or used for harmonization exercises; they prefer to listen and play music on their playlist stored in their mobile devices. Although pedagogical principles and objectives should persist over time, teaching methodologies and materials should continuously be updated to increase students’ engagement in learning. The newer generation of students favor classes that are more practical, satisfy their personal interests, and meet their degree program expectations. Since education majors require keyboard proficiency, group piano programs play a critical role in their learning. Collegiate group piano classes can be a steppingstone for cultivating a wider range of audiences by utilizing instructional technology. Empowering these students with innovative keyboard skill curricula ultimately delivers positive results to the future generation. Integration of technology and innovative class projects help create engaging class sessions that actively draw learners’ participation, enable deeper learning, and gain strategies to apply in their future teaching career

Convergence of Actual and Predicted Share Prices a An ADALINE Neural Network Approach

Accurate forecasting of share prices is needed for fund managers and institutional investors for hedging decisions. Robust forecasting results will not only increase the effectiveness of hedging and reduce the hedging costs but also provide benchmarks for controlling and decision making. Existing traditional models for forecasting share prices rarely produce fair results. In this paper we have applied neural net work ADALINE approach to forecast the share prices listed in the Malaysian stock exchange. Adaptive linear neural net uses a moving window approach in updating its weights while training and this improves the accuracy of forecasting. We applied this technique on four share prices at four learning rates and the results nicely converge with the actual prices at higher learning rates. Our findings will increase the confidence in forecasting and will be helpful for stakeholders immensely

Comparison of RANS Turbulence Models in Predicting Wake Development in a 2-Dimensional Actuator Disk Model

One of the most popular methodologies used to predict the wake of a tidal stream turbine (TST) is the RANS turbulence models coupled with the actuator disk method. This methodology has been widely adopted in the in the wind industry, since the mid-1990s, to predict wake development of wind turbines. Moreover, the reason for its popularity is its capability to give accurate results at an affordable computational cost, and the application of 2-dimensional actuator disk approach could further reduce the computational cost. In this paper, a number of RANS turbulence models represented by a porous disk were used to simulate the wake development behind a TST, the findings were compared. The models adopted in this work are the Standard k-ε model, the Standard k-ω model, the RNG (Re-Normalised Group) k-ε model, the SST (Shear Stress Transport) k-ω model and the RSM (Reynold Stress Model). The results are also validated against experimental measurements found in literature, with a key focus on comparing the downstream velocity and turbulence intensity. It has shown that the Standard k-ε model is best at predicting downstream wake velocities while the SST k-ω model is better at predicting downstream wake turbulence intensity. Mesh convergence studies were conducted to optimise the computational efficiency for each turbulence model used

Editorial Says on Malaysian Journal of Sport Science and Recreation (MJSSR) / Dr. Tan Chee Hian

Malaysian Journal of Sport Science and Recreation (MJSSR) was grown from the early Dean of Faculty of Sports Science and Recreation (FSR) UiTM, Professor Dr Muhd Kamil Ibrahim and it is a continuous affort and conjoined vision of all other FSR deans since 2001. The first journal’s editor-in-chief was Associate Professor Dr Kwame Ampofo-Boateng, who moved from FSR for career advancement. However, MJSSR is apparently considered as the one’s issue of Malaysian’s setting of Sports Science and Recreation (broadly-defined) journal. It is hoped that this journal would be an avenue for high quality academic research papers aimed in sharing ideas, findings and reflections of academic world in Malaysia or abroad

Integrating environmental management into supply chains: a systematic literature review and theoretical framework

Purpose: the need to integrate environmental management into supply chains has been recognized recently. Yet, there is a lack of theoretical grounding and a conceptual framework guiding such efforts to leverage resources and capabilities across supply chain partners. Grounded on stakeholder and resource orchestration theories, this paper maps the emerging practices, develops a theoretical framework, and proposes future research for understanding an emerging best-practice called ‘green supply chain integration’ (GSCI). Design/methodology/approach: A systematic literature review of 142 academic articles is conducted to ensure the process of framework development is auditable and repeatable. The article selection criteria are aligned with the review question ensuring that related theories and practices are identified and evaluated. Findings: The paper illustrates how stakeholder and resource orchestration theories can be used to explain an integrative approach of environmental management in supply chains. The paper identifies four GSCI practices: internal, supplier, customer, and community stakeholder GSCI. A theoretical framework and proposition also provide new research directions. Research limitations/implications: The results of this paper are drawn from an extensive review of the existing literature and novel practices that have not been revealed and could have been missed. The emerging practices and theoretical framework can be used for further empirical investigation. Originality/value: This paper integrates theoretical concepts and empirical findings from the disparate literature and identifies four emerging practices of environmental management by developing a theoretical framework and proposition for future research

Structural and Functional Characterization of Malate Synthase G from Opportunistic Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistic human pathogen recognized as a critical threat by the World Health Organization due to the dwindling number of effective therapies available to treat infections. Over the last decade, it has become apparent that the glyoxylate shunt plays a vital role in sustaining P. aeruginosa during infection scenarios. The glyoxylate shunt comprises two enzymes: isocitrate lyase and malate synthase isoform G. Inactivation of these enzymes has been reported to abolish the ability of P. aeruginosa to establish infection in a mammalian model system, yet we still lack the structural information to support drug design efforts. In this work, we describe the first X-ray crystal structure of P. aeruginosa malate synthase G in the apo form at 1.62 Å resolution. The enzyme is a monomer composed of four domains and is highly conserved with homologs found in other clinically-relevant microorganisms. It is also dependent on Mg2+ for catalysis. Metal ion binding led to a change in the intrinsic fluorescence of the protein, allowing us to quantitate its affinity for Mg2+. We also identified putative drug binding sites in malate synthase G using computational analysis and, because of the high resolution of the experimental data, were further able to characterize its hydration properties. Our data reveal two promising binding pockets in malate synthase G that may be exploited for drug design.This work was supported by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 Grant 642620 to M.W. and A.P. and BBSRC Grant BB/M019411/1 to M.W

Effects of supplementation of MgO and lysine in high ratio concentrate diets on rumen condition

Tiga persentase molase dan air ditambahkan untuk meningkatkan palatabilitas dan kandungan air dari makanan untuk a tingkat 60%. Pakan diberikan dua kali sehari, pada pukul 07.00 dan 19.00, pada pembatasan pemberian pakan sebanyak 1.050 g DM/ekor/hari, sedangkan air diberikan dalam akses bebas libitum. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa pemberian pakan dengan rasio yang tinggi diet konsentrat meningkatkan kondisi cairan rumen seperti yang ditunjukkan oleh peningkatan suhu rumen, NH4 + konsentrasi, populasi protozoa dan bakteri, total VFA dan asam amino, serta menurunkan ORP rumen. Namun, risiko asidosis rumen meningkat karena penurunan pH rumen. Meningkatkan kondisi rumen dicapai dengan suplementasi MgO pada level 0,2, 0,4, dan 0,8% dan lisin pada level 0,25%, tetapi interaksi antara MgO dan lisin telah mengubah pola fermentasi pakan dalam rumen

Guidelines For Construction on Peat and Organic Soils in Malaysia - Second Edition (2)

This document is an updated version of “GUIDELINES FOR CONSTRUCTION ON PEAT AND ORGANIC SOILS IN MALAYSIA” developed in 2015. This new version supersedes the 2015 first publication. The main changes of this updated version incorporate new information obtained from research and revision carried out by local universities, government agencies and private consultants. This second edition contains high resolution and refined maps for all peat land in Malaysia. These updated maps were contributed by Jabatan Mineral dan Geosains Malaysia (JMG). Local universities such as Universiti Tun Hussien Onn Malaysia, Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak and Monash University Malaysia contributed on the engineering properties of peat. More local data were incorporated in this new document. Correlations on design properties were updated as reference for engineers and designers