17362 research outputs found
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Dynamic response of agricultural production to financial stress using ARDL and QARDL models
No full textThe agricultural sector plays a vital role in ensuring food security for Malaysia and is one of the sources of income for the country, growing fast over decade. The Malaysian government has implemented various measures to address the challenges facing the agricultural sector and improve food security in the country. The government has also implemented various initiative such as subsidy for agricultural and government intervention in the market. This study investigates the performance of Malaysia financial stability by examining the short and long run effects on agricultural production. The monthly data selected agricultural products for the period of January 2015 to December 2022 are used for this study. We estimate an ARDL and Quantile ARDL model to analyze the relationship. Our results indicate crude palm oil and natural rubber have an integration with the financial stress. The crude oil palm and rubber have the largest contributions for Malaysia agricultural. Findings suggest addressing the challenges facing the agricultural sector include the stability of financial stress towards improving food security
Synthesis, structural elucidation, fire retardancy and mechanical properties of cyclotriphosphazene derivatives blended with polyurethane lacquer as wood coatings
No full textThis study synthesized cyclotriphosphazene derivatives and evaluated their fire retardancy and mechanical properties for use in wood coatings. Two hexasubstituted cyclotriphosphazene derivatives with dodecyl and hydroxy groups were successfully synthesized. These compounds were subsequently characterized by FTIR and NMR spectroscopy and CHN elemental analysis. The thermal stability of the cyclotriphosphazene compounds was assessed using TGA, while the fire-retardant properties of each coating were evaluated through LOI. Both compounds exhibited good fire retardancy compared to pure epoxy resin, with LOI values of 24.71 (dodecyl) and 25.80 (hydroxy) wt.%, respectively. The LOI results show that coatings made with these nitrogen- and phosphorus-containing compounds demonstrated a significantly improved retardant effect when combined with polyurethane lacquer, compared to polyurethane alone. In addition, the physical and mechanical properties of these derivatives were analysed to assess potential drawbacks of the additives. The essential indicators of the quality of the lacquered wood panel surfaces were: the determination of resistance to household chemicals (ASTM D 1308-2), determination of temperature change resistance (ASTM D1211-97 (2001)), determination of adhesion: cross-cut test (ISO 2409-2007(E)), determination of impact (BS 3962 Part 6:1980) and determination of abrasion (ASTM 4060-10). These tests revealed that the performance of the surface coating systems was significantly influenced by the coating formulation
Prognostic factor and survival rate among breast cancer patients? Post-surgical treatment
No full textObjective: The prognosis of breast cancer patients is affected by various types of factors, such as the present stage of illness during the initial diagnosis. The goal of this study is to evaluate the biological factors that can be assessed before breast cancer surgery to predict the outcome of breast cancer surgery for patients who have already undergone the procedure. Methods: STATA was utilised for reviewing and analysing the data obtained from the retrospective review of the breast cancer records, which focused on post-surgical treatment patient outcomes. Patients who underwent breast cancer surgery were analysed using the “Cox proportional hazards regression model” to evaluate the factors that predict survival rates. The data analysis includes 482 of breast cancer patients after surgical procedures. Results: A total of 482 patients with breast cancer had surgical procedures from 2016 to 2019. In terms of survival rate, prognostic factors were associated with a poor prognosis for higher-grade tumours, advanced-stage breast cancers, and invasive lobular carcinoma tumour types. Conclusion: Several clinical and pathological factors influence the overall prognosis and treatment choices. Therefore, it is crucial to adopt the right screening programme to diagnose breast cancer at an early stage. Healthcare practitioners must be aware of various therapeutic methods in the management of cancer to enhance the percentage of survival breast cancer patient
Performance evaluation and error decomposition of CMORPH satellite precipitation estimation for Klang Valley, Malaysia
No full textSatellite Precipitation Estimations (SPEs) have gained traction as a viable substitute for estimating urban rainfall. However, their performance assessment in Malaysia continues to be constrained. As an effort to enhance urban rainfall estimations, this study examines the performance of Climate Prediction Center Morphing technique (CMORPH) over urbanized areas of the Klang Valley from 2011 to 2020, through continuous and categorical statistical metrics. The continuous statistical metrics consists Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Percentage Bias (PBIAS) and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient (CC). Meanwhile, the categorical statistical metrics include False Alarm Ratio (FAR), Probability of Detection (POD), Critical Success Index (CSI) and Accuracy (ACC). The performance assessment was conducted on seasonal scale, comprising of Northeast Monsoon (NEM), Southwest Monsoon (SWM), Intermonsoon 1 (IM1) and Intermonsoon 2 (IM2). CMORPH exhibits strongest correlation with rain gauge during IM2 with maximum correlation coefficient (CC) recorded at 0.52. However, it exhibited significant inaccuracies in PBIAS, MAE and RMSE with values of 2514.04%, 111.41 mm/day, and 210.94 mm/day, respectively. Besides, characteristics of errors in CMORPH were identified using the error decomposition technique, which contains overhit bias, underhit bias, false bias and miss bias. The analysis shows that overhit bias is the main error component that contribute to the total bias in CMORPH at seasonal scale. High false bias and substantial total bias, primarily due to overestimation and false detection, underscore the need for further refinement of the CMORPH algorithm
Effect of biodiesel waste on brick absorption and strength
No full textThis study investigates the use of the spent bleaching earth pozzolanic, a byproduct of biodiesel production, as a sustainable partial substitute for a cement into cement sand bricks. Growing environmental concerns, along with waste disposal challenges and high carbon emissions from traditional cement, underscore construction industry’s need for eco-friendly alternatives. Spent bleaching earth pozzolanic offers a potential solution, enhancing the brick performances while addressing these issues. The purpose of this research is to assess how varying spent bleaching earth pozzolanic content (10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50%) impacts key properties of cement sand bricks, aiming to identify the optimal replacement level for the structural applications. Laboratory evaluations conducted to analyze the testing of moisture content, water absorption, wet and dry density, initial rate surface absorption (at 1 to 3 minutes), and compressive strength in both wet and dry states. Results demonstrated that cement sand bricks with 20% SBEP replacement performed the best. Specifically, these bricks showed moisture contents are between 134 and 245 grams, water absorption from 5.1% to 9.4%, wet densities ranging from 2444 to 2840 grams, and the dry density of 1.8 kg/m³. Initial rate surface absorption between 0.27 and 2.2 g/mm²/min, while the compressive strengths reached 7.1 MPa (wet) and 8.6 MPa (dry). The findings indicate that incorporating 20% spent bleaching earth pozzolanic into cement sand bricks produces eco-friendly, load-bearing bricks with sufficient structural integrity. Research highlights spent bleaching earth pozzolanic potential as an alternative material supports sustainable construction by reducing waste, environmental impact while maintaining material performance. This study contributes valuable insights into the feasibility of the spent bleaching earth pozzolanic as partial cement substitute, advancing the sustainable development in the construction industry
Ant species on a facultative ant-plant (Macaranga tanarius) and their possible roles in herbivory protection
No full textProtective mutualism between ants and Macaranga genus plants ranges from obligate to facultative interactions. Unlike obligate ant-plant interactions, facultative mutualists like Macaranga tanarius lack specialized structures to house ant symbiont colonies but offer food rewards such as extrafloral nectary secretions and food bodies. These rewards attract opportunistic foraging ants that provide defense against insect herbivores. We hypothesized that the efficacy of this defense depended on the composition of the ant species. We assessed insect herbivory by recording leaf damage and monitored ant activity at different times of the day. We also conducted behavioral assays to test ants’ response toward offered wax-moth larvae prey (representing lepidoptera larva that causes most leaf-loss damage of M. tanarius). Ant community composition did not differ between day and dusk, with almost half of the species (48.4%) active at both times. Saplings with foraging ants showed a trend of higher leaf loss (mean = 2.13%) than saplings without ants (mean = 1.32%), contrary to our expectations, although this difference was not statistically significant. This could be due to the short observation time in this study, as herbivore attacks on leaf loss may be accumulated over a longer period. Most ant visitors on M. tanarius, which relied on herbivory diets, ignored the prey items; only the yellow crazy ant Anoplolepis gracillipes consistently attacked offered prey. Future research should be carried out over a longer period, and the abundance of ant species patrolling M. tanarius should be recorded to understand the potential roles of ants on these plants
Adaptive hybrid reduced differential transform method in solving nonlinear schrodinger equations
No full textIn this paper, piecewise-analytical and numerical solutions are obtained by a new adapted approach named the Adaptive Hybrid Reduced Differential Transform Method (AHRDTM). The fundamentals of the method are introduced, followed by its application to Nonlinear Schrodinger Equations (NLSEs). Analytical and numerical solutions are acquired using piecewise convergent series with computationally feasible components across a sequence of sub-intervals of varying length. This succeeds due to the adaptive algorithm introduced and the substitution of the non-linear term in the NLSEs with their corresponding Adomian polynomials. The accuracy of the AHRDTM is observed through numerical comparisons between the proposed method and the Modified Reduced Differential Transform Method (MRDTM) with their respective exact solutions. The absolute errors presented in the table reveal that the proposed approach has better accuracy in solving the considered equations. The results and pictorial illustrations have been provided to demonstrate the reliability of the method’s accuracy in obtaining approximate solutions
The weighted values of the factor's classes based on different approaches for potential zones of the groundwater mapping using remote sensing data and GIS technique in the Taiz Region, Yemen
No full textRemote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) have become one of the leading tools in the field of groundwater, which help in assessing, monitoring, and mapping groundwater resources, especially in semi-arid areas. The objective of this paper is to assess and to map groundwater potential zone in Taiz Governorate by the overlaying technique of the geospatial factors. The available twelve factors were prepared in this work from different data sources using several processes. The soil and landuse factors were prepared from Landsat-7 with the colour enhancement technique and supervised classification. The lineament, automatic drainage, slope, elevation steepness (topography) and aspect were derived from DEM, rock units, geological faults, and contact created from previous geological map. Geophysical subsurface faults were also prepared from previous magnetic faults. The rainfall data was generated from the previous annual rainfall reading. All these maps were prepared and classified to be suitable for weighted values and GIS overlying model. The manual, scaling, and matrix weighted values were assigned to the factor (raster) maps to produce three groundwater potential zone maps. These maps were classified into five classes as very low, low moderate, high, and very high potential zones. Three groundwater potential maps produced in this work were compared together and evaluated using matching technique with previous prospecting groundwater map. The percentages of the matching were 58.56 % for the potential map of the matrix analysis, 27.95 % for the potential map of the scaling equation, and 13.49 % for the potential map of the manual weighted values. This evaluation shows that the potential map of matrix weighted values scored the highest of matching, and it is the best potential map compared with the other two maps. The new finding in this work was more than six new places in the best groundwater potential map of the area noted as new groundwater potential areas. The locations of these areas were NE corner, S-SW, W, NW corner, N, and some places in the central parts of the studied area. Hence, the resultant map may contribute to optimize the choice of location of future drilling, and to increase the chances to take water from new wells which will satisfy the increasing water demand of local population. Moreover, the groundwater potential zone map was assessed for the first time using these techniques in the area, and all maps of the factors created in this research are new maps that may represent the new database of the area
Optimized Eleutherine bulbosa Urb. bulb extract on the Inhibition of 3D retinoblastoma spheroids cultured in type I murine collagen
No full text● AIM: To investigate the efficacy of Eleutherine bulbosa (Mill.) Urb. bulb extract (EBE) on the 3D human retinoblastoma cancer cells (WERI-Rb-1) spheroids and explore its apoptotic mechanism. ● METHODS: The 3D WERI-Rb-1 and human retinal pigmented epithelium cells (ARPE-19) spheroids were developed using type 1 murine collagen that was excised from the rat tail tendon and cultured via hanging drop and embedded techniques. The cytotoxic activity was examined by Alamar blue assay meanwhile, the morphological characteristics were assessed by 4’,6-diamidino-2phenylindole (DAPI) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mRNA and protein expressions of apoptotic and antioxidant signal transduction pathways were explored to ascertain its molecular mechanisms. The statistical analysis was carried out using GraphPad Prism. ● RESULTS: The Alamar blue assay portrayed higher half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50 ) values of EBE and cisplatin on 3D WERI-Rb-1 model as compared to the previous study on 2D model. The results of DAPI and SEM illustrated apoptotic features upon treatment with EBE and cisplatin in a dose-dependent manner on 3D WERIRb-1 model. The mRNA and protein levels of apoptotic and antioxidant-related pathways were significantly affected by EBE and cisplatin, respectively (P<0.05). The regulation of gene and protein expressions of 3D WERI-Rb-1 spheroids differed from the 2D study, suggesting that the tumor microenvironment of extracellular matrix (ECM) collagen matrix hindered the EBE treatment efficacy, leading to apoptotic evasion. ● CONCLUSION: A significant inhibition effect of EBE is observed on the 3D WERI-Rb-1 spheroids. The presence of ECM causes an increase in cytotoxic resistance upon treatment with EBE and cisplatin
Uncovering bacterial leaf blight-resistant genes of rice in some advanced lines through molecular marker analysis and pathogenicity assessment
No full textBacterial leaf blight (BLB), caused by Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae (Xoo) is a longstanding and devastating disease in Bangladesh. Despite its prevalence, only one BLB-resistant rice variety has been developed. To address this, we evaluated 40 advanced rice lines to assess their resistance to a highly virulent Xoo strain. We also aimed to identify potential resistant genes linked to this resistance using five sequence-tagged site (STS) markers corresponding to the f4, Xa5, Xa13, Xa21, and Xa23 genes. The pathogenicity tests revealed that one germplasm was highly resistant, five were resistant, ten were moderately resistant, one was moderately susceptible, twelve were susceptible, and eleven were highly susceptible. In the subsequent molecular analysis, we found that 27 germplasms carried the Xa4 gene, 18 carried the Xa5 gene, and only one carried the Xa13 gene. A wide range of gene combinations was observed among the germplasms, with one germplasm carrying three genes and 15 germplasms carrying two genes in various combinations. The highly resistant BLB-P-003 germplasm was found to have a combination of the Xa4, Xa5, and Xa13 genes, making it the most effective against the Xoo strain. The results of this study contribute to the diversification and enrichment of the rice gene pool, highlighting promising candidates for developing durable BLB-resistant rice varieties in Bangladesh. Additionally, using the area under the disease progress curve (AUDPC) method, we observed a rapid progression of BLB disease in the studied germplasms, underscoring the importance of implementing control measures as soon as symptoms appear in the field