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Current challenges of the batik industry in Malaysia and proposed solutions
No full textBatik is an art or craft that is produced through a variety of textile designing techniques. In Malaysia,
batik is considered as a national heritage art that is the pride of the country. The World-Asia Pacific
Craft Council recognizes Malaysian batik as one of the most well-known local crafts globally. This study
aims to examine the challenges faced by the batik industry in Malaysia. The literature review method is
fully utilized to collect the required data. The results of the study found that the Batik Industry in
Malaysia faces the challenge of competition from cheaper and modern external products and even
more worrying is the original batik design imitated by irresponsible foreign entrepreneurs by offering
lower prices. The lack of skilled workers from young people should also be taken into consideration
when many young people voices that they are not interested in working in this industry. A more
detailed research study proposal is needed by paying attention to the role of entrepreneurs and
designers in the batik industry in Malaysia. They are the leading movers in addressing the challenges
and problems that exist in this industry in line with efforts to develop the local batik industry and
elevate the art of batik in Malaysia
Wasiyyah Wajibah in Islamic Estate Planning: Concepts, Parameters and Method of Extracting
No full textCorrelations between Colour Lightness and the Sweetness of Stingless Bee Honey with Its Minerals Content
No full textThe colour and the sweetness of honey are the main characteristics refers by consumers when buying honey for
their consumption. Consumers always believe that the darker the colour and the sweeter the taste, the better
the quality of honey. This study aims to investigate the correlation of colour lightness and the sweetness of
stingless bee honey with its mineral contents. Honey samples were collected from seven beehives around
Terengganu, Malaysia. All samples have different colours and tastes. The colour of honey was measured based
on CIELAB colour system using a reflectance spectrometry and the sweetness of honey is measured using a
refractometer. ICP-OES is used to analyze mineral elements present in the honey samples. We found that the
lighter the colour of honey, the less sweet it is (r= -0.77). The results obtained also shows that the lighter the
colour of honey, the higher the amount of potassium (r= -0.94) and phosphorus (r= -0.94) in honey. Meanwhile,
the sweeter the honey, the higher the amount of potassium (r= 0.87), sodium (r= 0.85) and phosphorus (r=
0.82). Our findings prove that the colour and sweetness of honey can only be used to estimate the certain
nutritive value of honey. Even though these findings still cannot fully uncover the myth of honey; consumers
still can depend on these characteristics to choose the best honey for their own consumption
Global retirement and pensions system development
No full textThis paper focuses on the development trends of retirement and pension system over the world. It
begins with the dated back on the first establishment of the system, continued with the chronological
of its entire system. Then the paper highlights the contributory and non-contributory pension system
in which classified into several perspectives. Furthermore, the discussion has brought the attention to
the two basic models of retirement system known as defined-benefit and defined contribution. At the
end, this paper concludes with the challenges and future directions of the retirement system which can
give a huge impact to the government and authorities to have a better preparation towards on an
ageing nation
Pemaparan nilai murni berdasarkan kisah kehidupan Rasulullah untuk kanak-kanak dalam karya Al-Nadwi
No full textNilai murni merupakan elemen penting yang mesti diterapkan dalam bahan kandungan
pendidikan untuk kanak-kanak. Meskipun dunia hari ini berdepan dengan kepesatan
teknologi digital, nilai murni tidak boleh dipisahkan dalam proses pendidikan kerana ia
memberi kesan terhadap pembentukan personaliti dan pemikiran insan. Justeru, bahan
pendidikan untuk golongan kanak-kanak perlu menekankan nilai-nilai murni yang
bersesuaian dengan tahap pemikiran mereka. Usaha seorang tokoh pemikir Islam terkemuka
iaitu Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali al-Nadwi (1914-1999, seterusnya al-Nadwi) menghasilkan bahan
bacaan untuk kanak-kanak berkisar tentang kehidupan Rasulullah s.a.w. memperlihatkan
pendiriannya yang menekankan keperluan golongan kanak-kanak didedahkan dengan
kehidupan seorang suri teladan unggul. Dalam keadaan al-Nadwi ada menghasilkan karya
berkaitan kehidupan Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk bacaan golongan dewasa, beliau telah
mengkhususkan sebuah karya khusus seumpamanya untuk golongan kanak-kanak. Hal ini
dengan sendirinya mengundang keperluan agar satu penelitian dilakukan menyentuh elemen
nilai murni yang dipaparkan dalam karya al-Nadwi khsusus untuk kanak-kanak. Oleh itu,
kajian ini akan menganalisis karya al-Nadwi berjudul Sirah Khatim al-Nabiyyin (Sejarah
Kehidupan Penutup Sekalian Nabi) dengan menggunakan kaedah analisis teks. Hasil
penelitian mendapati bahawa nilai murni diketengahkan dalam karya al-Nadwi yang dikaji
menjurus kepada pembinaan hubungan yang baik melibatkan manusia dengan Allah s.w.t.
dan hubungan manusia sesama manusia
Key techniques and challenges for processing of heart sound signals
No full textRecently, new advances and emerging technologies in healthcare and medicine have been growing
rapidly, allowing for automatic disease diagnosis. Healthcare technology advances entail monitoring
devices and processing signals. Advanced signal processing and analytical techniques were effectively
implemented in numerous research domains. Thus, adopting such methods for biomedical signal
processing is an essential study field. The signal processing techniques are explicitly applied to heart
sound (called phonocardiogram or PCG) signals as part of biomedical signals for heart health
monitoring in this paper. The automatic detection of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias has been a
subject of interest for many decades. However, the computer-based PCG segmentation and classification methods are still not an end-to-end task; the process involves several tasks and
challenges to overcome. The conducted evaluation scheme of the classifier also has a significant impact
on the reliability of the proposed method. Our main contributions are twofold. First, we provided a
systematic overview of various methods that can be employed in real applications for heart sound
abnormalities. Second, we indicated potential future research opportunities. PCG segmentation is
critical, and arguably the hardest stage in PCG processing. Basically, basic heart sounds can be
identified by detecting the offset R-peak and T-wave in the ECG signal. Unfortunately, utilizing the ECG
signal as a reference to the PCG segment is not always an easy operation because: it requires
synchronous recording of ECG and PCG signals; precise identification of T-wave offset is often difficult;
and ECG-PCG temporal alignment is not always consistent. Using machine learning methods in PCG
segmentation involves multiple types and many features retrieved in both univariate or multivariate
formats. This leads to selecting the best PCG-segmentation performance feature sets. PCG
segmentation approaches that use featureless methods based on powerful statistical models have the
potential to solve the problem of feature extraction and minimize the total computational cost of the
segmentation approach
Are the factors of adolescents taking-up smoking and vaping the same?
No full textSmoking remains one of the hazardous acts to health, which is important to prevent in
adolescents. Nowadays vaping has also became a worrying trend with similar hazards. Are the
factors of adolescents taking-up smoking and vaping the same? This study compares the
associated factors of smoking and vaping among school-going adolescents in Terengganu,
Malaysia. This cross-sectional study was done from December 2018 to September 2019. A
validated questionnaire adapted from Global School Health Survey (GSHS) was administered
to 732 school-going adolescents aged 13 to 18 years old. Secondary schools and classes were
selected using cluster random sampling. Data were analyzed using SPSS ver23, using multiple
logistic regression for both dependent variables of smoking and vape. Independent variables
include age, gender, race, family income, parents’ marital status, and family members smoking.
More students (22%) had tried vape, compared to smoking (13.2%). Majority (54%) of those
who tried vape were virgin vaper, who had never tried smoking. Vaping was significantly
associated with increase age (p<0.001,OR:1.54,CI:1.34,1.79), male
gender(p<0.001,OR:9.92,CI:6.11,16.12), parents’ marital status (p=0.005,OR:
2.57,CI:1.34,4.94) and family members smoking (p=0.003,OR:1.11,CI:1.04,1.19). Smoking
was significantly associated with increase age, male gender, poorer family income and family
members smoking. In conclusion, vaping is an emerging worrying trend among adolescents,
with some similar significant associated factors with smoking, but majority had never tried
smoking before. A dual-target approach should be taken to curb the initiation of both smoking
and vaping as there is a similar target population and there should be more emphasis towards
education regarding the dangers of vaping among adolescents
Post-stroke malnutrition and associated factors in stroke survivors undergoing rehabilitation
No full textIntroduction: Stroke is a significant global health burden. Malnutrition is a common health problem after stroke
which results in poorer responses in stroke survivors to rehabilitation and interferes with the recovery of stroke
survivors. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of post-stroke malnutrition and its associated factors.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 172 stroke survivors were recruited from the rehabilitation clinic or
centre. Post-stroke malnutrition was defined by having a low body mass index (BMI) (BMI <18.5 kg/m2 for <65 years;
BMI <22.0 kg/m2 for ≥65 years).
Results: Stroke survivors had a median age of 60.0 ± 15.0 years (age range 26 to 82 years). The percentages of
underweight, normal, overweight, and obese participants were 4.1%, 43.0%, 35.5%, and 17.4%, respectively. The
prevalence of post-stroke malnutrition based on BMI was 13.4%. The final regression model verified that increasing
age, high risk of malnutrition, and decreasing carbohydrate intake were the significant predictors of post-stroke
malnutrition.
Conclusion: Early detection of malnutrition in stroke survivors, especially in those who are at high risk of malnutrition,
from the elderly population, and poor dietary intake, should serve as a foundation in developing strategies for preventing
post-stroke malnutrition across all populations and demographics
Nutritional status and dietary patterns of stroke survivors under rehabilitation in Terengganu
No full textObjective Malnutrition is a major health issue after a stroke which has been linked to poor stroke outcomes, leading to poorer responses to rehabilitation and interfering with recovery. Dietary intake has an impact on rehabilitation recovery but has received little attention. The nutritional status of stroke survivors during the chronic period of the disease is also poorly understood. This study aimed to describe the nutritional status and dietary patterns in stroke survivors under rehabilitation.
Methodology A total of 172 stroke survivors under rehabilitation were recruited from the rehabilitation clinic or centre in this cross-sectional study. Nutritional status was assessed using anthropometric indices and dietary patterns were assessed using the Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ). The nutritional content was calculated using the Malaysian Food Composition Database. Nutritional status and dietary data were presented descriptively.
Results & Discussion The median age of stroke survivors is 60.0,±15.0 years, with 54.7% men and 45.3% women. There were 75.0% of the participants had ischaemic stroke whilst the other 25.0% had haemorrhagic stroke. The median post-stroke duration was 12.0,±23.0 months. The percentages of underweight, normal, overweight, and obese participants were 4.1%, 43.0%, 35.5%, and 17.4%, respectively. Compared to a Mediterranean diet, the stroke participants had demonstrated an unhealthy dietary pattern with a high intake of confectionery (8.6-,±13.8 servings/day), and a low amount of fruits (1.0,±1.6 servings/day) and vegetables (1.2,±1.4 servings/day), and no intake of legumes and nuts. However, the sweetened beverages consumed (0.8-i-±1 .0 drink/day) met the guideline of which less than one drink per day.
Conclusion Early detection of malnutrition in stroke survivors, especially in those with poor dietary intake is essential to provide nutritional support to improve rehabilitation outcomes. A dietary modification by emphasising healthy dietary patterns should serve as a guideline in secondary stroke prevention to improve the quality of life of stroke survivors
Thermal behaviour of different non-ionic surfactant concentration on the polymeric membrane
No full textThe principal objective of a study is indeed a well-functioning membrane such as high reject efficiency
and high flow rate. In fact, too many studies are carried out on factors influencing the membrane, such
as pressure intensity, polymer form, additive type, temperature influence during processing, and so on.
Therefore, the study of thermal behaviour of surfactant concentration is vital to study the glass
transition effect in good membrane production. Therefore, in this study, the main objective is to
analyse the morphology structural effect of TX 100 surfactant on membrane by FTIR spectrum, and also
to evaluate the thermal behaviour of different concentration of surfactant on membrane using DSC
analysis. In order to study the thermal behaviour, membrane with 0, 1, 3 and 5 wt% was prepared. The
effects of TX 100 concentration on membrane and thermal analysis have been studied and discussed.
Membrane without TX 100 has 30 °C of glass transition temperature (Tg) while membrane with 5 wt%
TX 100 has the highest Tg among the membranes. Therefore, the addition of surfactant to the
membrane has an effect on Tg, thereby also impacting the porosity