Development of the Mafriwal dairy cattle of Malaysia

The dairy market in Malaysia is mainly dependent on imported milk and milk products. The demand for milk has increased over the years and is expected to continue to rise with the increase in population and change in lifestyle. In 1990 the self-sufficiency for milk products was 4.66% (DVS, 2005a). Malaysia had, under the 7th Malaysian plan (1999-2000), targeted to achieve 10% self-sufficiency in liquid milk by the year 2000, and 30% by the year 2010. Although it would be unrealistic to expect the local production to meet the total demand, there is need for an increase in production in order to ensure food security and save foreign exchange. This paper reviews one of the many attempts to improve the dairy industry in Malaysia, through development of the Mafriwal dairy cattle by crossbreeding of the Friesian and the Sahiwal breeds

Comparing Different European Income Tax Policies Making Work Pay

Raising the participation at the lower end of the labour market abstract is hindered by the high burden of taxation. Therefore, recently, in some European countries serious efforts have been made to make work pay. In this paper an overview of these current efforts is given. With the exception of Germany there seems to be a consistent policy of making work pay through the introduction of a substantial in-work tax credit and a decrease of the basic rate. In some countries due to distributing aspects the in-work tax credit is targeted to families with children. Moreover, two countries have a back to work allowance or premium for benefit claimants. Given the limited resources for future tax reforms, increase of in-work credits seem appropriate for further progress in making work pay

Automated design analysis, assembly planning and motion study analysis using immersive virtual reality

Previous research work at Heriot-Watt University using immersive virtual reality (VR) for cable harness design showed that VR provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. This follow-on work was aimed at understanding the degree to which aspects of this technology were contributed to these benefits and to determine if engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail by nonintrusively monitoring and logging engineering tasks. This involved using a CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning that can be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-tasks to measure the system and users' performance. A novel design task categorisation scheme was created and formalised which broke down the cable harness design process and associated activities. The system was also used to demonstrate the automatic generation of usable bulkhead connector, cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user logging. Finally, the data generated from the user-logging allowed the automated activity categorisation of the user actions, automated generation of process flow diagrams and chronocyclegraphs

Degradation of biological potency in led light sources with lifetime

This paper investigates the degradation of biological potency in LED light sources over their lifetime. Biological potency refers to the ability of light to generate biological effects, for instance on sleep, mood, and circadian rhythms. Current lifetime metrics for LEDs typically do not consider the biological potency, despite its relevance for human health and well-being. Therefore, we investigate such metrics and explore blue light hazard changes over the lifetime of LEDs.Using a dataset of accelerated aging of LEDs, we show that the melanopic equivalent daylight luminance maintenance decreases faster than lumen maintenance, this effect is smaller in LEDs of 4000K versus 2700K. Over lifetime, the melanopic daylight efficacy ratio also decreases, while the blue light hazard does not significantly increase.Our findings highlight the need to consider changes in biological potency over time in the design and implementation of LED lighting solutions

Degradation of biological potency in led light sources with lifetime

This paper investigates the degradation of biological potency in LED light sources over their lifetime. Biological potency refers to the ability of light to generate biological effects, for instance on sleep, mood, and circadian rhythms. Current lifetime metrics for LEDs typically do not consider the biological potency, despite its relevance for human health and well-being. Therefore, we investigate such metrics and explore blue light hazard changes over the lifetime of LEDs.Using a dataset of accelerated aging of LEDs, we show that the melanopic equivalent daylight luminance maintenance decreases faster than lumen maintenance, this effect is smaller in LEDs of 4000K versus 2700K. Over lifetime, the melanopic daylight efficacy ratio also decreases, while the blue light hazard does not significantly increase.Our findings highlight the need to consider changes in biological potency over time in the design and implementation of LED lighting solutions

ENLIGHT:A consensus checklist for reporting laboratory-based studies on the non-visual effects of light in humans

Background: There is no consensus on reporting light characteristics in studies investigating non-visual responses to light. This project aimed to develop a reporting checklist for laboratory-based investigations on the impact of light on non-visual physiology. Methods: A four-step modified Delphi process (three questionnaire-based feedback rounds and one face-to-face group discussion) involving international experts was conducted to reach consensus on the items to be included in the checklist. Following the consensus process, the resulting checklist was tested in a pilot phase with independent experts. Findings: An initial list of 61 items related to reporting light-based interventions was condensed to a final checklist containing 25 items, based upon consensus among experts (final n = 60). Nine items were deemed necessary to report regardless of research question or context. A description of each item is provided in the accompanying Explanation and Elaboration (E&amp;E) document. The independent pilot testing phase led to minor textual clarifications in the checklist and E&amp;E document. Interpretation: The ENLIGHT Checklist is the first consensus-based checklist for documenting and reporting ocular light-based interventions for human studies. The implementation of the checklist will enhance the impact of light-based research by ensuring comprehensive documentation, enhancing reproducibility, and enabling data aggregation across studies. Funding: Network of European Institutes for Advanced Study (NETIAS) Constructive Advanced Thinking (CAT) programme; Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship (Wellcome Trust, 204686/Z/16/Z); Netherlands Organisation for Health Research and Development VENI fellowship (2020–09150161910128); U.S. Department of Defense Grant (W81XWH-16-1-0223); National University of Singapore (NUHSRO/2022/038/Startup/08); and National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF2022-THE004-0002).</p

The yeast Candida albicans has a clonal mode of reproduction in a population of infected human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients

To ascertain the population structure of Candida albicans, we have carried out a multilocus enzyme electrophoresis study based on the analysis of 21 gene loci. We have thus characterized 55 strains isolated one each from 55 human immunodeficiency virus-positive patients. There is considerable polymorphism among the strains. A population-genetic analysis indicates that the two fundamental consequences of sexual reproduction (i.e., segregation and recombination) are apparently absent in this population of C. albicans. The population structure of C. albicans appears to be clonal, a state of affairs that has important medical and biological consequences

FAdo and GUItar: tools for automata manipulation and visualization

Abstract. FAdo is an ongoing project which aims to provide a set of tools for symbolic manipulation of formal languages. To allow highlevel programming with complex data structures, easy prototyping of algorithms, and portability (to use in computer grid systems for example), are its main features. Our main motivation is the theoretical and experimental research, but we have also in mind the construction of a pedagogical tool for teaching automata theory and formal languages. For the graphical visualization and interactive manipulation a new interface application, GUItar, is being developed. In this paper, we describe the main components of the FAdo system as well as the basics of the graphical interface and editor, the export/import filters and its generic interface with external systems, such as FAdo.