UMT Journal Universiti Malaysia Terengganu
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284 research outputs found
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Screening of Rhamnolipid Produced by Marine Bacterium for Heavy Metal Removal in Mangrove Soil
No full textMangrove located near urban area is exposed to various industrial discharge including heavy metals. Mangrove soil is capable of accumulating and storing these heavy metals. Heavy metals are toxic and non-biodegradable, so their accumulations affect water quality, while bioaccumulation and bio-assimilation of heavy metals in mangrove organisms negatively impact the food chain. Bacteria-derived biosurfactants are compounds capable of removing heavy metals from soil and sediment. Furthermore, environmentally friendly properties, such as biodegradability and low toxicity, exhibited by biosurfactants make them a suitable replacement for chemical surfactants for remediation efforts. This study was conducted to investigate the lead- (Pb) and zinc- (Zn) removing capability of rhamnolipid (RL), a type of biosurfactant produced by marine bacterium, Pseudomonas aeruginosa UMTKB-5. Rhamnolipid solutions of three different concentrations (25 mg/L, 50 mg/L and 75 mg/L) were added to mangrove soil and incubated for 7 days. The removal of Pb from soils was up to 18.3% using 25 mg/L RL solution, while 50 mg/L RL solution removed 48.3%, and 75 mg/L RL solution removed 75.9% Pb over time. Meanwhile, zinc removal of 25 mg/L RL solution was up to 24.9%, while 50 mg/L removed 16.5%, and 75 mg/L RL removed 30.5% of Zn. The results showed that RL from P. aeruginosa UMTKB-5 could be a potential biomaterial to use to remediate heavy metals in sediment
The Effectiveness of Adsorbent Derived from Moringa Oleifera as A Water Treatment Agent
No full textClean, safe and readily available water is very crucial in everyday life, especially for health, hygiene, and the productivity of the community. Unfortunately, increase in contaminants in water supplies from human activities and industrialization is very worrying. Conventional wastewater treatment includes the usage of alum that will affect health with prolonged consumption. This research was carried out to focus on the development of wastewater treatment system using adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds. Adsorbent was successfully synthesized from the seeds of Moringa oleifera. Characterization of the sample was made using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), while the effectiveness of water treatment was analyzed using Turbidity Meter. Then, all samples were tested against kaolin wastewater. XRD results showed that all the adsorbent samples were amorphous in nature. FTIR results indicated that there were hydroxyl group and carboxylic group in the sample representing numerous oxygen-riddled functional groups on the surface. From SEM results, it was clearly shown that the pore structure and size of Moringa oleifera affected the capability of adsorption where the smaller the size, the more effective the sample. Turbidity test showed that the sample that worked best for wastewater treatment was adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds in size of 125µm that was heated for 4 hours with 93.76% turbidity removal. Therefore, this study proved that the adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds is very suitable for high turbidity wastewater treatment. Further studies investigating the combination of conventional activated carbon with adsorbent from Moringa oleifera seeds should be conducted before these samples are made available for further use so that we can compare which sample works best for wastewater treatment
Methyl Orange Degradation using TiO2 Powder and Immobilized TiO2 Photocatalysts
No full textMethyl orange is one of the anionic dyes and is a major pollutant from textile industry that enters both aquatic and atmospheric systems. In this research, methyl orange was degraded using TiO2 powder and immobilized TiO2 on glass. Titanium tetra-isopropoxide (TTIP) was used for preparation of TiO2 powder using soft chemistry method, and it was immobilized on glass via paste-gel coating method. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized by XRD and SEM. Highly crystalline anatase TiO2 powder photocatalyst was obtained. Meanwhile, immobilized TiO2 was less crystalline and agglomerated onto the glass surface. TiO2 powder had higher degradation rate (71%) compared to immobilized TiO2 (52%) due to its chemical stability and larger amount of photocatalyst contacted with methyl orange during the degradation process
Muslim Travellers’ Perception on Quality of Service by Umrah and Hajj Travel Agencies in Malaysia
No full textMillions of Muslims from all over the world perform Umrah and Hajj every year. There were 250,000 pilgrims from Malaysia in 2017, and the number is expected to grow by 20 percent in 2018. This projected increase will create a huge demand for Umrah and Hajj travel agencies’ services in Malaysia. At present, there are 328 Umrah and Hajj travel agencies registered under Malaysia’s Ministry of Tourism and Culture (MOTAC). However, the supposedly bright outlook maybe marred by undesirable consequences. Along with the increase in the number of Umrah and Hajj travel agencies, there also tends to be an increase in fraud Umrah packages offered by fake agents in Malaysia. Such incidents will cause sadness and anger in the victims and other involved parties. Umrah package fraud involving fake agents in Malaysia has attracted the attention of many including the public, the government, the private sector, even the media. Nevertheless, studies on correlation between Muslim travellers’ perception of the quality of service by Umrah travel agencies and their decision to purchase the Umrah package are scarce in Malaysia. Hence, this study investigated Muslim travellers’ perception of Umrah and Hajj travel agencies’ service quality and its influence on their decision to purchase the Umrah package, in an attempt to discover why some Muslim travellers fell into fake agents’ trap in Malaysia. A total of 319 Muslim respondents completed the questionnaire on service quality perception, specifically service quality elements and loyalty. The data obtained was examined using SPSS version 25 for descriptive and regression analysis. Umrah and Hajj travel agencies as well as relevant government agencies could use the findings of the study to assist with formulating plans and policies to improve the quality of service by Umrah and Hajj industry players and awareness among Muslim travellers on the importance of being able to identify bogus agencies. The limitations, implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed
Emergence of Mega Vessels and Their Influence on Future Malaysian Seaport Expansion Requirements
No full textThe emergence of mega vessels is not a new event in container shipping industry. Containerization has caused a spectacular growth in maritime transportation and brought significant developments to the industry, ranging from operation systems to seaport infrastructure expansion. Container vessels have gotten larger, with some having the capacity of 18,000 TEUs (Triple E Class), to cope with the demand for economies of scale (EOS). Mega vessels can influence the strategic planning of seaport operators for massive infrastructure development and investment on existing terminals at the seaports. The objective of this research is to identify and measure the requirements for seaport expansion that need to be prioritized by seaport operators to accommodate mega vessels. Additionally, this research aims to determine the challenges faced by seaport operator to meet the seaport infrastructure expansion requirements. Two mathematical methods were employed, namely Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Evidential Reasoning (ER). The results showed that the most important requirement for seaport expansion is navigation aspect followed by berth expansion, terminal, yard and gate operations. This research is expected to assist seaport operator in making a decision on prioritizing t requirements for expansion. Furthermore, this research aims to measure the readiness of seaports to serve mega vessels in global shipping industry in order to achieve competitive advantages
Application of MFRS 141: Insights from Financial Statements of Companies in Malaysia
No full textThis study examined biological asset information that has been reported by companies in Malaysia and the methods of valuation used in reporting the biological assets. It aimed to provide useful information to the regulators about the application of MFRS 141, the accounting standards for agriculture, in corporate reporting. This study employed the data derived from the 2016 annual reports of plantation companies listed on Bursa Malaysia. Descriptive analysis was used to examine the biological asset information that has been reported and the characteristics of the companies such as age, size, and leverage. The results of this study showed that most of the plantation companies believed that fair value and historical cost could be the best way to measure their biological assets. The findings of this study provide input towards identifying the gap in corporate reporting practices and the challenges faced by companies in the application of MFRS 141. The findings are expected to contribute to the regulatory improvement towards increasing the full adoption of MFRS 141 by companies in Malaysia
Consumers’ Knowledge, Perception, and Attitude towards Nutrition and Health Claims on Dairy Products and Purchase Intention in Johor Bahru
No full textNowadays the increasing prevalence of dietary disease has raised consumers’ awareness of healthy diet and lifestyle. The rise in the use of nutrition and health claims to promote health benefits in food products help consumers make effective food choices. There is very limited research regarding nutrition and health claims in Malaysia. This research focused on consumers’ knowledge, perception (i.e. perceived quality, perceived healthiness, perceived value, perceived importance, trust and perceived familiarity), and attitude towards nutrition and health claims on dairy products as well as their purchase intention towards the products, and examine the relationship between these variables in Johor Bahru, Johor. All responses were collected by distributing questionnaire to convenience and quota sample (n=200). Data was analysed to obtain descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. The results showed that most of the consumers (46%) had moderate knowledge of nutrition and health claims on dairy products. Consumers generally had almost positive perception and attitude towards nutrition and health claims on dairy products and positive purchase intention towards dairy products. Almost all independent variables correlated with purchase intention towards dairy products. Consumer attitude had the strongest positive relationship with purchase intention (r=0.722), followed by moderate positive correlation between consumer perception and purchase intention (r=0.671), while consumer knowledge only had low relationship with purchase intention (r=0.299). This study added new knowledge regarding public purchasing behaviour towards dairy products with nutrition and health claims. This research also provided valuable information for both food manufacturers and companies to help them make effective decisions to improve the presentation of nutrition and health claims for better expression of information as well as the goodness of food products in order to attract the attention of health-conscious consumers
Markowitz Theory in Portfolio Optimization for Heavy Tailed Assets
No full textThis paper aims at solving an optimization problem in the presence of heavy tail behavior of financial assets. The question of minimizing risk subjected to a certain expected return or maximizing return for a given expected risk are two objective functions to be solved using Markowitz model. The Markowitz based strategies namely the mean variance portfolio, minimum variance portfolio and equally weighted portfolio are proposed in conjunction with mean and variance analysis of the portfolio. The historical prices of stocks traded at Bursa Malaysia are used for empirical analysis. We employed CAPM in order to investigate the performance of the Markowitz model which was benchmarked with risk adjusted KLSE Composite Index. We performed a backtesting study of portfolio optimization techniques defined under modern portfolio theory in order to find the optimal portfolio. Our findings showed that the mean variance portfolio outperformed the other two strategies in terms of performance of investment for heavy tailed assets
The Effect of Diopatra claparedii Grube, 1878 Aqueous Extract on Chang Liver and Human Primary Glioblastoma (U-87) Cell Lines
No full textDue to the distinctive regenerative ability of Diopatra claparedii Grube, 1878, the local marine polychaete has the potential as a cellular growth agent. In this study, the growth effect was investigated in normal cells and cancer cells. Different concentrations (0-100mg/mL) of D. claparedii aqueous extract were tested on Chang Liver (normal cells), and Human Primary Glioblastoma (U-87) (cancer cells) cell lines for 24, 48 and 72 hours. Percentage of cell viability was evaluated by [2-(4, 5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-3, 5-diphenyl-2H tetrazolium bromide] (MTT) assay. The findings suggested that the extract had a proliferative effect on normal cell growth when tested at lower doses (<60 mg/mL) but inhibited normal cells at concentrations >80 mg/mL in all incubation periods. Meanwhile, it showed the cytotoxic effect on cancer cells only after 48h when treated with all concentrations. As demonstrated, the extract could induce normal cell growth without causing abnormal or cancer cells progression at low concentrations after 48h and 72h
A Qualitative Study on Psychological Wellbeing of Nurses Working in Palliative Ward
No full textThe main purpose of this research is to understand the experiences and psychological wellbeing of nurses working in palliative ward. There were two research questions driving this research throughout the process of data collection and data analysis. Four nurses from the palliative ward participated in this research to provide details on their psychological wellbeing. Semi- structured interview questions together with observation and simple survey questions were used to gather the data. Thematic analysis was used to identify the meaningful themes for each research question. Six main themes were identified: autonomy, environmental mastery, positive relation, personal growth, self-acceptance and purpose in life. The findings are highly relevant with the theory and literature. The findings indicate that the participants have good psychological wellbeing due to their huge experiences in palliative ward