19672 research outputs found
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Effects of selected leisure activities on preventing loneliness among older Chinese
No full textThis study examined three types of leisure activities (playing cards/mahjong, watching TV/listening to the radio, and participation in social activities) among the older segment of the Chinese population, and the effects of these activities in preventing the feelings of loneliness. Data came from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), conducted in 2005, 2008, and 2011. The males, those who were educated, the young-old (aged between 65 and 74 years), urban dwellers, and living in institutions were more likely to participate in all three activities frequently. Frequent or occasional participation in these three activities was negatively associated with feelings of loneliness. The longitudinal study from 2005 to 2011 showed that respondents who frequently played cards/mahjong at baseline were less likely to feel persistent loneliness at the end of the 2011 wave. Instead, frequently watching TV/listening to the radio in 2008 was associated with lower odds in feeling persistent loneliness at the end of 2011. Hence, active participation in playing cards/mahjong and TV/radio entertainment can be effective treatment intervention against persistent loneliness among older Chinese. For the Chinese, a leisure activity steeped in a nation's culture and heritage, such as playing mahjong, may be used as an intervention strategy to prevent and alleviate chronic loneliness among older adults. © 2019 The Author
High Seroprevalence Against Typhus Group and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiae in Rural Indigenous Populations of Peninsular Malaysia
No full textRickettsioses of the typhus group (TG) and spotted fever group (SFG) are emerging bacterial infections worldwide, especially in the tropics. Only a few studies on these pathogens and their respective clinical diseases have been conducted in Malaysia. Here, we performed a seroprevalence study among 544 healthy, afebrile indigenous people (Orang Asli) from peninsular Malaysia for TG and SFG rickettsioses in nine rural and peri-urban settlements. The study population encompassed children, adolescents, and adults. The overall seroprevalence of rickettsiosis in the Orang Asli was 48.5%, with 27.9% seroprevalence against TG rickettsiae and 20.6% seroprevalence against SFG rickettsiae. In 7.9% of the study participants, antibodies against both rickettsial groups were found. The highest seropositivity rates against TG and SRG rickettsiae were detected in young children and adults. Overall, there were no gender differences. Seroprevalences were similar among inhabitants of different settlements, except for two localities. More studies are needed to shed more light on the ecology and risk factors for TG and SFG rickettsioses in Malaysia. © Copyright 2019, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2019
Development of new shoe-sizing system for Malaysian women using 3D foot scanning technology
No full textThe aim of this study was to develop and propose a standard shoe sizing system based on anthropometric measurements of Malaysian women's foot sizes and shapes. Participants were from the primary ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese, and Indian) aged 20 to 60 years old. Anthropometric measurements were obtained using a 3D foot scanner. Foot length was chosen as the primary parameter, while foot breadth and ball girth circumference were secondary parameters. A 5 mm increment is used to classify 15 sizes from size 4 until size 11, including half sizes. The increments taken to be 3 mm for foot breadth and 6 mm for ball girth. The eight shapes for these two parameters were then developed using alphabetical labels a, b, c, d, e, ee, eee and eeee. Finally, this new standard shoe sizing will be proposed to the manufacturers who will then create the corresponding lasts for the specified sizes. © 201
Leadership role of coaches in improving teachers’ instructional practices
No full textChanging instructional practices is not an easy job. Therefore, teachers need help and support in order to create changes in their practices. In some countries like Malaysia, the support is offered through coaching. Effective coaching takes place if teachers and coaches play their effective leadership roles and equip themselves with various attributes of coaching. Subsequently, this allows instructional changes to take place. A traditional idea of leadership focus on an individual managing a hierarchical system. Therefore, it poses a significant barrier for teachers to work together and does not provide teachers with autonomy as a leader. In the practice of coaching however, teachers play the different roles of leadership. Hence, this study looks at the perception of teachers and coaches on the implementation of coaching in Malaysian schools. Moreover, it looks at a form of instructional support given to teachers in helping them to improve their classroom practices which eventually leads to increased students’ learning outcome. This article specifically discusses the application of five attributes of coaching namely collaboration, support, feedback, reflect and trust. The study also looks at the leadership role of the coaches in coaching teachers to create instructional improvements. Data of this quantitative study were gathered through a set of questionnaires which was administered to 470 teachers and coaches in primary and secondary school in Selangor and Sabah. Analysis of findings were based on descriptive analysis using SPSS as well as inferential analysis using Smart PLS. The findings of the study provide and insight on the role of coaching attributes and coaching leadership in helping teachers and coaches to create changes and improvements in classroom practices which leads to increased learning outcomes. It also illustrates the significant relationship between coaching attributes and the role of leadership in the implementation of coaching in Malaysian schools. © 2019, University of Malaya. All rights reserved
Understanding the ‘other’: the case of Al-Biruni (973-1048 AD)
No full textPurpose: This study aims to demonstrate al-Biruni’s originality in the study of religion and the exploration of religious truth, while his firm stance on his religion effectively advocated his need to understand others more accurately. Design/methodology/approach: This study is a review of al-Biruni’s literature that uses content analysis method in establishing al-Biruni’s approach in understanding other religions through three main methodologies. From these approaches, this paper advocates al-Biruni’s firm stance toward his own faith despite using a scientific study on Hindu, which is in contrary to other phenomenological scholars who find that religious truth is relative in nature. Findings: Al-Biruni’s methods have proven that researchers are not necessarily required to dispose off their religious identity and commitment to faith, while simultaneously achieving objectivity and accuracy. Al-Biruni’s approach to understanding others may be seen as a remarkable early model of interfaith, intercultural and inter-civilizational dialogue seeking, eventually, to promote a harmonious co-existence within a highly polarized cultural and religious context. This inquiry demonstrates al-Biruni’s scholarly depth in his attempt to harmonize his methodology with the study of religious phenomena in compliance with Islam. Originality/value: This study signifies al-Biruni’s intellectual background with his mastery of first-hand information as a solid basis and grounds for the effective understanding of others in a descriptive, systematic and comparative manner. This paper also signifies al-Biruni’s methods of understanding others without having to dispose off one’s religious identity and commitment to faith which could be exemplified by other religious scholars. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited
Does institutional quality matter for the success of export-led growth?
No full textThis study aims to examine the influence of institutional quality on Export-led Growth (ELG) strategy with 125 countries' results. Toda and Yamamoto (1995) approach is employed to ascertain their causality between exports and growth, while both contingency table and binary logit models are for determining the influence of institutional quality on ELG from three dimensions, namely political, legal, and economics. This study finds that only 35 countries are supported by ELG hypothesis, while institutional quality does not really matter for the success of ELG, except for economic institutional quality. The results have important implications to policymakers and for further research in this field. © 2019, Universita Putra Malaysia
A Systematic Review and International Web-Based Survey of Randomized Controlled Trials in the Perioperative and Critical Care Setting: Interventions Increasing Mortality
No full textObjective: Reducing mortality is a key target in critical care and perioperative medicine. The authors aimed to identify all nonsurgical interventions (drugs, techniques, strategies) shown by randomized trials to increase mortality in these clinical settings. Design: A systematic review of the literature followed by a consensus-based voting process. Setting: A web-based international consensus conference. Participants: Two hundred fifty-one physicians from 46 countries. Interventions: The authors performed a systematic literature search and identified all randomized controlled trials (RCTs) showing a significant increase in unadjusted landmark mortality among surgical or critically ill patients. The authors reviewed such studies during a meeting by a core group of experts. Studies selected after such review advanced to web-based voting by clinicians in relation to agreement, clinical practice, and willingness to include each intervention in international guidelines. Measurements and Main Results: The authors selected 12 RCTs dealing with 12 interventions increasing mortality: diaspirin-crosslinked hemoglobin (92% of agreement among web voters), overfeeding, nitric oxide synthase inhibitor in septic shock, human growth hormone, thyroxin in acute kidney injury, intravenous salbutamol in acute respiratory distress syndrome, plasma-derived protein C concentrate, aprotinin in high-risk cardiac surgery, cysteine prodrug, hypothermia in meningitis, methylprednisolone in traumatic brain injury, and albumin in traumatic brain injury (72% of agreement). Overall, a high consistency (ranging from 80% to 90%) between agreement and clinical practice was observed. Conclusion: The authors identified 12 clinical interventions showing increased mortality supported by randomized controlled trials with nonconflicting evidence, and wide agreement upon clinicians on a global scale. © 2019 Elsevier Inc
Thermal Analysis of Nigerian Oil Palm Biomass with Sachet-Water Plastic Wastes for Sustainable Production of Biofuel
No full textNigeria, being the world's largest importer of diesel-powered gen-sets, is expected to invest in bio-fuels in the future. Hence, it is important to examine the thermal properties and synergy of wastes for potential downstream resource utilization. In this study, thermal conversion as a route to reduce the exploding volume of wastes from sachet-water plastic (SWP) and oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) biomass was studied. Thermogravimetric (TGA) and subsequent differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) was used for the analysis. The effect of heating rate at 20 °C min-1 causes the increase of activation energy of the decomposition in the first-stage across all the blends (0.96 and 16.29 kJ mol-1). A similar phenomenon was seen when the heating rate was increased from 10 to 20 °C min-1 in the second-stage of decomposition. Overall, based on this study on the synergistic effects during the process, it can be deduced that co-pyrolysis can be an effective waste for energy platform. © 2019 by the authors
Synthesis and characterization of novel p-type chemically cross-linked ionogels with high ionic seebeck coefficient for low-grade heat harvesting
No full textThe low value of the Seebeck coefficient of the order of few μV/K in inorganic conductors, semiconductors and conducting polymers has inspired the researchers to explore alternative thermoelectric materials. In this work, a novel class of ionogels (IGs) has been synthesized with the aim of developing high-performance thermoelectric materials. Chemically cross-linked ionogels were prepared by the immobilization of ionic liquid, 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium tetrafluoroborate (BMIMBF4) in polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate (PEGDMA) matrix using azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as the free radical initiator. The concentration of BMIMBF4 in IGs was varied from 60 to 90 wt (wt. %). The impact of variation of ionic liquid content on the thermoelectric properties of ionogels was analyzed by measuring their thermoelectric properties. Thermal stability, glass transition temperature (Tg), Surface morphology, microstructure, the crystallinity of IGs and nature of chemical interaction between the ionic liquid and polymer matrix were observed by performing TGA, DSC, FESEM, FETEM, XRD, and FTIR respectively. The ionic conductivities of neat BMIMBF4 and IGs were determined by electrochemical spectroscopy using SI 1260 Impedance/Gain-Phase Analyzer. It is worth noting that ionic conductivity (49.41 mS/cm) of IG with 90 wt % of BMIMBF4 is 10 times higher than the ionic conductivity of neat BMIMBF4 (4.5 mS/cm). The origin of this promising achievement (very high conductivity) lies in the “breathing polymer chain model”. The breathing in and out of polymer chains dissociates the ion aggregates resulting in a significant increase in ionic conductivity of IGs. A remarkably higher value of the Seebeck coefficient (2.35 mV/K) was achieved for IG with 60 wt % of BMIMBF4 and defined as ionic Seebeck coefficient because of its origin from the diffusion of ions of the ionic liquid. Due to the positive value of ionic Seebeck coefficient (in an analogy to positive Seebeck coefficient of p-type semiconductors) we termed the ionogels as p-type chemically crosslinked ionogels. A decrease in glass transition temperature of IGs with an increase in ionic liquid content was observed from DSC curves corresponding to an increase in mobility of cations and anions. TGA analysis showed that the synthesized IGs were highly thermally stable up to 390 °C. FESEM and FETEM images revealed that ionic liquid is well confined in the PEGDMA scaffold. The results indicate that ionogels may serve as promising candidates for future thermoelectric applications and also opens the perspective of engineering ionogels with high Seebeck coefficients and electrical conductivities. © 2019 Elsevier Lt
Intravaginal treatment with Marantodes pumilum (Kacip Fatimah) ameliorates vaginal atrophy in rats with post-menopausal condition
No full textEthnopharmacological relevance: Marantodes pumilum (MP) (Kacip Fatimah) is used to maintain the well-being of post-menopausal women. However, its role in ameliorating post menopause-related vaginal atrophy (VA) is unknown. Aims: To investigate the ability of intravaginal MP gel treatment to ameliorate VA in sex-steroid deficient condition, mimicking post-menopause. Methods: Ovariectomized female Sprague-Dawley rats received MP (100 μg/ml, 250 μg/ml and 500 μg/ml) and estriol (E) gels intravaginally for seven consecutive days. Rats were then euthanized and vagina was harvested and subjected for histological and protein expression and distribution analyses. Vaginal ultrastructure was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results: Thickness of vaginal epithelium increased with increasing intravaginal MP doses. Additionally, increased in expression and distribution of proliferative protein i.e. PCNA, tight junction protein i.e. occludin, water channel proteins i.e. AQP-1 and AQP-2 and proton extruder protein i.e. V-ATPase A1 were observed in the vagina following intravaginal MP and E gels treatment. Intravaginal MP and E gels also induced desmosome formation and approximation of the intercellular spaces between the vaginal epithelium. Conclusions: Intravaginal MP was able to ameliorate features associated with VA; thus, it has potential to be used as an agent to treat this condition. © 2019 Elsevier B.V