Assessment of Teaching Practice Competency Among in-Service Teacher Degree Program (PPG) in Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

The best teacher preparation programs emphasise subject matter mastery and provide many opportunities for preservice teachers to spend time in real classrooms under the supervision of an experienced mentor. Thus, teaching practice plays utmost important component of teacher training in order to produce a high quality of future teacher due to the lacking of opportunity or comfort level to work on their pedagogy knowledge while managing their first class. But this condition is slightly different for in-service teacher with diploma and upgrade to degree through the in-service teacher degree programme (PPG) path. PPG is conducted in 4 years using distance learning mode. In-service teachers will attend the courses during weekend and only five times face-to-face meeting with the lecturers. PPG aims to improve the quality of teaching and school management by increasing the teachers’ level of educational qualifications. However, issues were highlighted where teaching competency or performance among in-service teachers are varied during teaching practice observation. Due to their part-time mode of learning, there are concerns whether their performance is at par with their full time peers. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the assessment of teaching practice competency among the PPG students. This study was applied the Documentation analyses as the research design by using the Teaching Assessment Form of Faculty of Technical & Vocational Education, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia. Descriptive statistic using mean and standard deviation were used to analyses the collected data. The result showed that the competency of in-service teachers in teaching practicum in descending order is Personality>Portfolio> Implementation of Teaching> Lesson Planning> Implementation off Innovation> Justification of Innovation>Reflection. Results also showed that in-service teachers are good in affective (M=4.33, SD=0.48), follow by psychomotor (M=4.12, SD=0.47) and cognitive (M=3.99, SD=0.56). In conclusion, in-service teachers need training for innovation in teaching and emphasise in cognitive taxonomy.&nbsp

Objectionable Commemorations: Ethical and Political Issues

The term, "objectionable commemorations”, refers to a broad category of public artefacts – such as, and especially, memorials, monuments and statues – that are regarded as morally problematic in virtue of what or whom they honour. In this regard, they are a special class of public artefacts that are subject to public contestation. In this paper, we survey the general ethical and political issues on this topic. First, we categorise the arguments on offer in the literature, concerning the objectionable nature of such commemorations. Second, we review common political responses to objectionable commemorations. Finally, we identify fruitful areas for further philosophical inquiry on this topic

Physico-chemical properties of palm olein fractions as a function of diglyceride content in the starting material

Crude olein preparations with different amounts of diacylglycerols (DAG) were refined, bleached and deodorized (RBD) prior to the dry fractionation process. The RBD olein samples with different amounts of DAG were then individually fractionated into low-melting (super olein) and high-melting fractions (soft stearin). Physical and chemical characteristics, i.e. iodine value, cloud point, slip melting point, triacylglycerol (TAG) and DAG profile, fatty acid composition, thermal profile and solid fat content, of the super olein and soft stearin fractions were analyzed. The TAG profile obtained from the RBD olein having a low DAG content (0.89%) showed a higher amount of the diunsaturated TAG, i.e. dioleyl pamitoyl glycerol, in the olein fraction (57.3%). This, consequently, led to super olein fractions with a better iodine value (IV 65) and the cloud point at 1.3°C, compared to non-treated super olein (DAG 5%) with an IV of 60.5 and the cloud point at 4.1°C

Compositional and thermal characteristics of palm olein-based diacylglycerol in blends with palm super olein

Palm olein-based diacylglycerol (POL-DAG) was blended with palm super olein (POoo) in various concentrations (10–90%), with increments of 10% (wt/wt) POL-DAG. The physical and chemical characteristics, i.e., iodine value, acylglycerol content, fatty acid composition, melting and crystallization profiles and solid fat content, for POL-DAG, POoo and their binary blends were evaluated. The mid-infrared FTIR was used to determine the absorption bands of the different concentrations of the oil blends. Only slight differences of FAC and IV were observed. POL-DAG:POoo blends showed significant changes (p < 0.05) in DAG content and decreases in TAG content with increasing POL-DAG content. The DSC thermograms showed that the addition of different concentrations of POL-DAG changed the melting and crystallization behavior of the oil blends (POL-DAG:POoo). The crystallization onset point increased (p < 0.05) with an increasing POL-DAG concentration (10–90%). POL-DAG has the same absorption bands as POoo, with the exception of several minor peaks that appeared at (I) 2954 cm− 1, (II) 1267 cm− 1, (III) 1199 cm− 1, (IV) 1222 cm− 1 and (V) 966 cm− 1. This study will provide essential information for the palm oil industry to identify the most suitable POL-DAG blends with desirable physicochemical properties for food application purposes

Growth performance of Jatropha curcas cultivated on local abandoned bauxite mine soil

Lack of regulation in bauxite mining has caused land contamination in Malaysia. Land rehabilitation requires plants with excellent adaptability to adverse conditions. Inedible, economical viable crops with environmental co-benefits, like phytoremediation, are preferred. In this study, Jatropha curcas was evaluated for its growth performance in bauxite mine soil. Topsoil and exposed subsoil were sampled from a bauxite mine at Bukit Goh, Kuantan and used for growing J. curcas for 90 days under greenhouse conditions. The soil physicochemical properties, plant growth parameters (increase in number of leaves, plant height, and basal diameter), and oil yield were determined. The findings showed that the mine soils had lower nutrient status than unmined soil as reflected by the total C, N, P, and K values. Al, Fe, and Pb were relatively high in topsoil and subsoil. Plants grown in both mine soils recorded significantly lower increases in plant height and basal diameter but higher increases in number of leaves than that of nursery soil. Oil yield was significantly different between the plants grown in subsoil (46.54%) and topsoil (41.65%). The study demonstrated that J. curcas has the potential to be cultivated as an alternative crop in bauxite mine soil

A review: modified agricultural by-products for the development and fortification of food products and nutraceuticals

Producing more food for a growing population in the coming decades, while at the same time combating environmental issues, is a huge challenge faced by the worldwide population. The risks that come with climate change make the mission more daunting. Billion tons of agriculture by-products are produced each year along the agricultural and food processing processes. There is a need to take further actions on exploring the inner potential of agro-waste to stand out as food ingredient to partially or fully substitute the foods in orthodox list. Some of the agro-waste contains the most valuable nutrients in the plant and it is truly a “waste” to dispose any of them. Furthermore, the paper aims at discussing the possible methods of modification to improve the safety and feasibility of the agro-waste either through physical, chemical or microbiological ways. The safety issues and bioactivity contains in the agro-waste also been discussed to present the better overall ideas about the employing of agro-waste in food applications

Benzotiazoles sustituidos y sus aplicaciones terapéuticas para el tratamiento de enfermedades humanas

La presente invención se refiere a una familia de benzotialoles diferentemente sustituidos que presentan actividad inhibitoria de la enzima caseína quinasa 1 (CK-1), por lo que son útiles para el tratamiento o prevención de enfermedades mediadas por esta enzima, especialmente, enfermedades relacionadas con el ritmo circadiano, enfermedades inflamatorias, autoinmunes, psiquiátricas, neurodegenerativas, neurológicas, oftalmológicas, así como para inducir regeneración celularPeer reviewedConsejo Superior de Investigaciones CientíficasB1 Patente sin examen previ