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The relationship between parental involvement and children’s language acquisition
No full textThis study proposes that when parents are involved in providing learning support, the success rates for language acquisition are significantly higher. This paper explores the pedagogical strategies employed by non-Mandarin speaking parents through interactions to support their children’s language development. A cross case analysis carried out with five high achieving children and their families showed that parents were involved personally in their child’s education. They took it upon themselves to read with the child, play with the child, learn the language together with the child, assess the child and create opportunities for the child to practise the language. The study revealed that the support and psychological tools parents used helped to mediate their children’s language development process within family practices. These psychological tools could be adopted in classroom settings to supplement language acquisition pedagogies used by teachers
Hydrothermally derived hydrochar from waste sawdust for solar vapor generation
No full textHerein, hydrochar is derived from abundant and low-cost waste sawdust using hydrothermal carbonization in distilled water with a series of temperatures (150, 200, and 250 °C) and time (2 and 3 h), where the hydrochar characteristics are evaluated toward its application as a solar absorber. The hydrochar-based solar absorber is fabricated and tested using outdoor solar vapor generation under direct solar radiation with an average solar intensity of 1.26 kW m−2. The solar absorber incorporated with hydrochar is derived at 250 °C for 3 h and displays the best average efficiency (71.35 ± 0.90%) and evaporation rate (1.30 ± 0.04 kg m−2 h−1). The collected clean water salinity (below 300 ppm) and pH (6.72–7.23) from the solar absorber is within the safe drinking water limit by the World Health Organization. Therefore, the hydrochar-based solar absorber can be used to generate clean water from seawater desalination using solar vapor generation
The impact of elevated temperature on the macro-nutrients of commercially important marine bivalves: The implication of ocean warming
No full textBivalves are nutritious animal protein source for humans, rich in high quality proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Many studies have shown that ocean warming has detrimental effects on the nutritional quality of bivalves. Although a number of studies are available on the effect of ocean warming on the nutritional value of bivalves, this information is not well organized. In this context, the current study provides a critical review of the effects of ocean warming on the nutritional quality of commercially important edible marine bivalves. In general, ocean warming has caused a reduction in the total lipid and carbohydrate content of bivalves, especially those bivalves inhabiting temperate regions. As for protein, there is no general trend in the effects of ocean warming on the protein reserves of bivalves. In addition, the specific effects of elevated temperature on the macro-nutrients of bivalves highly depend on the tissues, sex and developmental stages of bivalves, as well as seasonal factors. This review not only fills in the knowledge gap regarding the effects of elevated temperature on the macro-nutrients of commercially important marine bivalves but also provides guidance for the establishment of bivalve aquaculture and fisheries management plans to mitigate the impact of climate change
Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients outperform embeddings from pre-trained convolutional neural networks under noisy conditions for discrimination tasks of individual gibbons
No full textPassive acoustic monitoring – an approach that utilizes autonomous acoustic recording units – allows for non-invasive monitoring of individuals, assuming that it is possible to acoustically distinguish individuals. However, identifying effective analytical approaches for individual identification remains a challenge. Our study investigates how the use of different feature representations impacts our ability to distinguish between individual female Northern grey gibbons (Hylobates funereus). We broadcast pre-recorded calls from twelve gibbon females and re-recorded the calls at varying distances (directly under the tree to ∼400 m away) using autonomous recording units. We evaluated the effectiveness of using different automated feature extraction approaches to classify gibbon calls: Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs), embeddings from three pre-trained neural networks (BirdNET, VGGish, and Wav2Vec2), and four commonly used acoustic indices. We used a supervised classification approach (random forest) to classify calls to the respective female and compared two unsupervised clustering approaches (affinity propagation clustering and hierarchical density-based spatial clustering) to evaluate which features were most effective for distinguishing female calls without using class labels. We used MFCCs as a baseline as previous work has shown they can be used to distinguish high-quality calls of individual gibbon females. Human annotators could only identify calls in spectrograms from recordings 10 dB), while the remaining features did not perform well. Contrary to our expectations, we found that MFCCs outperformed all other features for the unsupervised clustering tasks at closer distances and none of the features performed well at farther distances. The ability to acoustically discriminate animals under noisy conditions and from low signal-to-noise ratio calls has important implications for monitoring populations of endangered animals, such as gibbons. Focusing only on high signal-to-noise ratio calls for individual discrimination may not be possible for rare sounds, and future work should focus on developing effective approaches of feature extraction that can perform well across noisy, real-world conditions with a limited number of training samples
Optimizing the light gradient-boosting machine algorithm for an efficient early detection of coronary heart disease
No full textBackground Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains a prominent cause of mortality globally, necessitating early and accurate detection methods. Traditional diagnostic approaches can be invasive, costly, and time-consuming, necessitating the need for more efficient alternatives. This aimed to optimize the Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM) algorithm to enhance its performance and accuracy in the early detection of CHD, providing a reliable, cost-effective, and non-invasive diagnostic tool. Methods The Framingham Heart Study (FHS) dataset publicly available on Kaggle was used in this study. Multiple Imputations by Chained Equations (MICE) were applied separately to the training and testing sets to handle missing data. Borderline-SMOTE (Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique) was used on the training set to balance the dataset. The LightGBM algorithm was selected for its efficiency in classification tasks, and Bayesian Optimization with Tree-structured Parzen Estimator (TPE) was employed to fine-tune its hyperparameters. The optimized LightGBM model was trained and evaluated using metrics such as accuracy, precision, and AUC-ROC on the test set, with cross-validation to ensure robustness and generalizability. Findings The optimized LightGBM model showed significant improvement in early CHD detection. The baseline LightGBM model with dropped missing values had an accuracy of 0.8333, sensitivity of 0.1081, precision of 0.3429, F1 score of 0.1644, and AUC of 0.6875. With MICE imputation, performance improved to an accuracy of 0.9399, sensitivity of 0.6693, precision of 0.9043, F1 score of 0.7692, and AUC of 0.9457. The combined approach of Borderline-SMOTE, MICE imputation, and TPE for LightGBM achieved an accuracy of 0.9882, sensitivity of 0.9370, precision of 0.9835, F1 score of 0.9597, and AUC of 0.9963, indicating a highly effective and robust model. Interpretation The optimized model demonstrated outstanding performance in early CHD detection. The study's strengths include its comprehensive approach to addressing missing data and class imbalance and the fine-tuning of hyperparameters through Bayesian Optimization. However, there is a need to test with other datasets for its generalizability to be well-established. This study provides a strong framework for early CHD detection, improving clinical practice by allowing for more precise and dependable diagnostics and effective interventions
Staying engaged : a qualitative study of the pursuits and desired of senior citizens after retirement
No full textRetirement, often seen as a peaceful stage of life, depends on how retirees utilize their time meaningfully. This study explores the activities and desires of retirees in Kuching, Sarawak, through 8 semi-structured interviews with Chinese respondents aged 65 to 86. The researchers adopted thematic analysis as our approach, and social interactions emerged as a significant element in the current study. However, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted and reshaped the efforts related to social engagements. Despite economic activities, monetary gain is not a top priority; instead, retirees find satisfaction in artistic and cultural endeavors, prompting further inquiry. Our study also uncovers retirees' longings, revealing a desire for external support driven by empathy and a yearning for cultural experiences, indicating a desire to preserve cultural heritage. These findings lay a foundation for tailored activities for retirees and merit further investigation especially after retirement
Factors related to air pollution and impacts on respiratory health in Malaysia
No full textIntroduction: Air pollution, driven by urbanization, industrial activities, and transboundary haze, poses a significant threat to public health in Malaysia. It contributes to respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and bronchitis. Although advancements in monitoring have improved data accuracy, challenges remain in addressing regional disparities and climate-related factors. This review aims to explore air quality monitoring, factors influencing pollution, and its impacts on respiratory health in Malaysia. Objective: To identify the scope of air quality monitoring, factors contributing to air pollution, and the associated impacts on respiratory health in Malaysia. Method: A scoping review methodology was employed, using databases such as ScienceDirect, Scopus, and Google Scholar. Studies were included if they were conducted in Malaysia, published in English within the last five years, and investigated the relationship between air pollution and respiratory diseases. Data extraction focused on pollutants, study settings, and key findings. Results: The review included 19 studies. Key findings indicate that urbanization, vehicular emissions, and transboundary haze are primary contributors to air pollution. Pollutants such as PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 are significantly associated with respiratory diseases, particularly asthma and COPD. Monitoring data shows that urban areas face greater challenges, while transboundary pollution affects rural and suburban regions. Conclusion: Air pollution remains a pressing issue in Malaysia, exacerbated by urbanization and transboundary haze. Strengthening air quality policies, enhancing monitoring systems, and promoting public awareness are crucial to reducing health risks. Future research should prioritize underrepresented regions, long-term health impacts, and the effectiveness of regulatory measures. Collaborative and region-specific interventions are essential to combat this multifaceted challenge
Hoven’s carp Leptobarbus hoevenii strategized metabolism needs to cope with changing environment
No full textCurrent water warming and freshwater acidification undoubtedly affect the life of aquatic animals especially ammonotelic teleost by altering their physiological responses. The effect of temperature (28 ◦C vs 32 ◦C) and pH (7 vs. 5) on the metabolic compromising strategies of Hoven’s carp (Leptobarbus hoevenii) was investigated in this study. Fishes were conditioned to (i) 28 ◦C + pH 7 (N28◦C); (ii) 32 ◦C + pH 7 (N32◦C); (iii) 28 ◦C + pH 5 (L28◦C) and (iv) 32 ◦C + pH 5 (L32◦C) for 20 days followed by osmorespiration assay. Results showed that feeding performance of Hoven’s carp was significantly depressed when exposed to low pH conditions (L28◦C and L32◦C). However, by exposed Hoven’s carp to L32◦C induced high metabolic oxygen intake and ammonia excretion to about 2x-folds higher compared to the control group. As for energy mobilization, Hoven’s carp mobilized liver and muscle protein under L28◦C condition. Whereas under high temperature in both pH, Hoven’s carp had the tendency to reserve energy in both of liver and muscle. The findings of this study revealed that Hoven’s carp is sensitive to lower water pH and high temperature, thereby they remodeled their physiological needs to cope with the environmental changes condition
Short communication: New records of rare endemic hose pygmy flying squirrel (petaurillus hosei) in sungai Rawog conservation area, Sabah, Malaysia
No full textBansa LA, Mohd-Kanapiah NAA, Chung A, Jaslin ZA, Hasan NH. 2024. Short Communication: New records of rare endemic Hose pygmy flying squirrel (Petaurillus hosei) in Sungai Rawog Conservation Area, Sabah, Malaysia. Biodiversitas 25: 2937-2942. The Hose's pygmy flying squirrel, Petaurillus hosei (Thomas, 1900), is an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) data deficient species. Information on this species is lacking, and the sighting of this species is extremely rare in Borneo, particularly in Sabah. In Sabah, Malaysia, this species was documented only in Sepilok Forest Reserve more than 30 years ago. Furthermore, measurement records for this species are limited to only four specimens. A male P. hosei, was captured in the Rawog River Conservation Area, marking only the second record in Sabah and the fifth in Borneo. This individual was captured using a mist net attached to a pair of 8-meter-long telescopic poles, indicating that P. hosei primarily inhabits forests with medium to high canopy levels, as evidenced by their tree-dwelling habits. This individual's Head-to-Body (HB) dimensions are approximately 70.71 mm, with a tail length of 77.83 mm and hind legs measuring 19.46 mm. This species is morphologically similar to Petaurillus emiliae (Thomas, 1908), with single records from Baram, Sarawak, and Petaurillus kinlochii (Robinson & Kloss, 1911), only known from Selangor, Peninsular Malaysia. This discovery significantly contributes to the current photographic record and measurements of P. hosei from Sabah, Malaysia Borneo. Further research on the Sabah flying squirrel is crucial to enhance our understanding of the diversity, distribution, and behavior of this IUCN data deficient species. Therefore, comprehensive statewide survey involving mist netting and mid-level to canopy observations targeting old-growth forests is highly recommended
A comparative study between chang'an school of flower-and-bird paintings and western still life paintings
No full textThis comparative study examines the stylistic, thematic, and cultural differences between the Chinese Chang'an School of Flower-andBird Paintings and Western Still Life Paintings. The analysis of differences in the visual approaches, philosophical underpinnings, and symbolic elements innate in each of the traditions elaborates how these two art forms reflect their cultural contexts. The Chang'an School, strongly attached to Confucian and Taoist thoughts, draws more attention in its balanced, harmonious relation with nature, while Western still life mainly focuses on realism, materiality, and transience in most works of the Renaissance and Baroque. This analysis follows theoretical frameworks such as the Iconology of Panofsky, the Cultural Ecology of Steward, and the Aesthetics of Ye Lang for insight into the cultural and historical philosophical influences on such artistic practices to explore how visual symbolism has communicated cultural values in both traditions through case studies of representative works by Shi Lu, Jiang Wenzhan, Claude Monet, and Henri Fantin-Latour