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The Sulu zone: a maritime cultural complex
No full textA Maritime Cultural Complex revisits enduring links for the conceptualisation of the Sulu Zone as a present-day cultural complex. Honouring Ric Trimillos, a leading ethnomusicologist researching and supporting the study of music and dance in the southern Philippines since 1960, this volume explores heritage, language, social, and political facets in the Southern Philippines, the east Malaysian state of Sabah, east Kalimantan, Central and North Sulawesi in Indonesia, and the surrounding Sulu and Celebes seas. This project ultimately seeks to contribute to society’s understanding of the history, contemporary cultures, and rich traditions of communities within the Sulu Zone
The rise of solo dining: prediction and consumer profiling
No full textThe aim of this study is twofold: first, to investigate the factors that affect consumers’ intentions to dine alone, drawing on the theory of planned behavior (TPB); and second, to segment consumers based on their motives for solo dining. The TPB is chosen as the theoretical framework because it is regarded as a comprehensive social-psychological model that can explain an individual’s intentions well. A total of 207 participants from Malaysia completed an online questionnaire using the convenience sampling method. The collected data were subjected to statistical analyses, including partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and cluster analysis. Our findings show that only attitudes have a significant positive influence on intentions. Furthermore, entertainment and economic factors are found to be significant factors of attitudes. Findings from cluster analysis show four diverse groups: enjoyers, economical diners, socializers, and relaxers. This study represents the first attempt to explore consumers’ solo dining intentions through the lens of the theory of planned behavior. Moreover, by identifying four distinct segments of solo dining consumers, the findings offer valuable insights for restaurant owners seeking to effectively target this growing market. Overall, this study not only examines the factors influencing consumers’ solo dining intentions but also segments the types of solo diners, extending the utility of the TPB
Biological Degradation of Natural Rubber Glove by Gram-negative Bacteria Klebsiella aerogenes
No full textThe increasing urgency and scope of global threat posed by rubber waste have led to efforts to find sustainable and efficient solutions. The biological degradation of rubber waste has gained interest in recent years as an alternative to conventional waste management practices and widely used chemical methods. This study uses the gram-negative bacterium Klebsiella aerogenes for natural rubber glove (NRG) degradation. The study investigates the effect of temperature and pH on the growth of the bacteria and enzyme production. The biodegraded rubber was characterized by dry weight analysis, growth curve, cell viability, Schiff’s staining, and FTIR analysis. The conversion of rubber waste to enzymes was also investigated in this work. Dry weight analysis showed a maximum weight loss of 17% at pH 7 under 35 °C after 21 days. The growth curve analysis reported a maximum cell biomass of 4.12 g/L during the second week of the biodegradation process. Schiff’s staining analysis showed deep pink colouration, indicating aldehydes and ketone formation. Further confirmation of the presence of new aldehydes and ketones peaks was shown in FTIR analysis. Results also showed that the highest protein concentration of 657.02 µg/mL and enzyme laccase and manganese peroxidase (MnP) activities of 0.43 ± 0.05 IU and 0.26 ± 0.05 IU, respectively, were observed at week 2 of the biodegradation. While Klebsiella aerogenes degrades rubber waste effectively within a shorter duration than other similar studies, laccase and MnP enzymes were also significantly produced during biodegradation. Other aspects of this resource recovery pathway, such as its mechanism and technoeconomic analysis for rubber waste treatment, are worth of further exploring
Corrigendum: Stylopine: a potential natural metabolite to block vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2) in osteosarcoma therapy
No full textVascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signals cell survival, cell migration, osteogenesis, cell proliferation, angiogenesis, and vascular permeability by binding to VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR-2). Osteosarcoma is the most common primary bone cancer, majorly affects young adults. Activation of VEGFR-2 signaling is a therapeutic target for osteosarcoma. The present study aimed to evaluate the potency of stylopine in regulation of the VEGFR-2 signaling pathway and its anti-tumour effect human MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. The in silico study on benzylisoquinoline alkaloids was carried out for analyzing and shortlisting of compounds using a virtual screening, Lipinski’s rule, bioavailability graphical RADAR plot, pharmacokinetics, toxicity, and molecular docking studies. Among the benzylisoquinoline alkaloids, stylopine was selected and subjected to in-vitro studies against human MG-63 osteosarcoma cells. Various experiments such as MTT assay, EtBr/AO staining, mitochondrial membrane potential assessment, transwell migration assay, gene expression analysis by a quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) method, SDS-PAGE followed by immunoblotting were performed to evaluate its anti-tumour effect as compared to standard axitinib. The MTT assay indicates that stylopine inhibits cell proliferation in MG-63 cells. Similarly, as confirmed by the EtBr/Ao staining method, the MMP assay indicates that stylopine induces mitochondrial membrane damage and apoptosis as compared to axitinib. Moreover, stylopine inhibits the VEGF-165 induced MG-63 cell migration by a trans-well migration assay. The immunoblotting and qRT-PCR analysis showed that stylopine inhibits the VEGF-165 induced VEGFR2 expression in MG-63 cells. It is concluded that stylopine has potential to regulate VEGFR2 and can inhibit osteosarcoma cells to offer a new drug candidate for the treatment of bone cancer in future
State-level differentials in COVID-19 fatality: exploring age and sex disparities in Malaysia’s pandemic experience
No full textIssue
COVID-19 has resulted in mortality worldwide and exposed vulnerabilities in public health systems. Although countries have since transitioned to the endemic phase, it is nonetheless important to identify inequities within populations to improve public health strategies in light of another health crisis.
Purpose
This study aims to offer deeper insights into the sex and age differentials in COVID-19 fatality across different states in Malaysia, from the pandemic’s start to the country’s transition to the endemic phase.
Methodology
Analyses utilized data on the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths in Malaysia from January 2020 until April 2022. Case fatality rate (CFR) was computed for each state based on sex and age groups, for four periods (January–December 2020, January–June 2021, July–December 2021, and January–April 2022). Principal component analysis (PCA) uncovered patterns in the data and produced a multivariate visualization of the COVID-19 fatality within Malaysia.
Findings
Findings revealed heterogeneity in fatality and identified several vulnerable states, notably in the northern region (Kelantan, Perlis) and on the East Coast (Sabah, Sarawak). A sex disparity was apparent in Kelantan as the CFR among older females was higher than their male counterparts. Sabah exhibited relatively higher CFR among the child population from 2020 to 2021.
Implication
The findings deepened our understanding of COVID-19 fatality complexity, providing recommendations for Malaysia’s government in preparing for future health crises. Malaysia’s case study offers lessons on the need to address regional disparities and implement targeted strategies to protect vulnerable subgroups
Burgers, Fast Foods, and Increased Associated Risk for Atopic Dermatitis: A Cross-Sectional Study of Dietary Habits among Young Chinese Adults in Singapore/Malaysia
No full textBackground: We see increasing evidence that dietary and nutrients factors play a pivotal role in allergic diseases and recent global findings suggest that dietary habits influence the pathogenesis of atopic dermatitis (AD). Frequent consumption of fast food diets is associated with AD development. Despite the rising prevalence of AD in Asia, efforts in investigating the role of dietary habits and AD in adults are still lacking.
Methods: We evaluated the association between the dietary intake of 16 food types and AD manifestations using our Singapore/Malaysia Cross-sectional Genetics Epidemiology Study (SMCGES) population. Dietary habits profiles of 11,494 young Chinese adults (1,550 AD cases/2,978 non-atopic controls/6,386 atopic controls) were assessed by an investigator-administered questionnaire. AD cases were further evaluated for their chronicity (550 chronic) and severity (628 moderate-to-severe). Additionally, we derived a novel food index, Quality of Diet based on Glycaemic Index Score (QDGIS), to examine the association between dietary intake of glycaemic index (GI) and various AD phenotypes.
Results: The majority of AD subjects are distributed in the good (37.1%) and moderate (36.2%) QDGIS classes. From the multivariable analyses for age and gender, a moderate QDGIS class was significantly associated with a lower odds of AD (adjusted odds ratio (AOR): 0.844; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.719-0.991; p < 0.05) and moderate-to-severe AD (AOR: 0.839; 95% CI: 0.714-0.985; p < 0.05). A good QDGIS class was only significantly associated with a lower odds of chronic AD (AOR: 0.769; 95% CI: 0.606-0.976; p < 0.05). Among high GI foods, frequent consumption of burgers/fast food was strongly associated with an increased risk of chronic and moderate-to-severe AD. Among low GI foods, increased intake frequencies of fruits, vegetables, and pulses decreased the odds of AD. Finally, we identified significant associations between frequent seafood, margarine, butter, and pasta consumption with an increased odds of AD despite them having little GI values.
Conclusion: While genetic components are well-established in their risks associated with increased AD prevalence, there is still a lack of a focus epidemiology study associating dietary influence with AD. Based on the first allergic epidemiology study conducted here in Singapore and Malaysia, it laid the groundwork to guide potential dietary interventions from changing personal dietary habits
Improved Manta Ray Foraging Optimizer-based SVM for Feature Selection Problems: A Medical Case Study
No full textSupport Vector Machine (SVM) has become one of the traditional machine learning algorithms the most used in prediction and classification tasks. However, its behavior strongly depends on some parameters, making tuning these parameters a sensitive step to maintain a good performance. On the other hand, and as any other classifier, the performance of SVM is also affected by the input set of features used to build the learning model, which makes the selection of relevant features an important task not only to preserve a good classification accuracy but also to reduce the dimensionality of datasets. In this paper, the MRFO + SVM algorithm is introduced by investigating the recent manta ray foraging optimizer to fine-tune the SVM parameters and identify the optimal feature subset simultaneously. The proposed approach is validated and compared with four SVM-based algorithms over eight benchmarking datasets. Additionally, it is applied to a disease Covid-19 dataset. The experimental results show the high ability of the proposed algorithm to find the appropriate SVM’s parameters, and its acceptable performance to deal with feature selection problem
A review on non-economic legacies of business events
No full textThe global expansion of business events has led to an increase in organizations hosting events, attracting participants from around the world, and promoting the host countries as travel destinations. While past research has primarily focused on the economic impact of these events, this paper seeks to address the gap in understanding the non-economic legacies of business events. Through a review of related literature from 2010 to 2020, the paper examines a sample of 37 articles and identifies emerging themes related to social, cultural, and environmental legacies that extend beyond the management period of the business event. The paper contributes an initial conceptual framework that highlights the impact of non-economic legacies on social, economic, and environmental factors, and proposes future research avenues for different stakeholders
Improving the synthetic coefficient of variation chart by incorporating side sensitivity
Full text linkThe control chart is recognized as a crucial technique in Statistical Process Control. However, due to inconsistencies in the mean and/or standard deviation of some processes, traditional control charts monitoring the mean or standard deviation become inappropriate in such situations. Therefore, monitoring the coefficient of variation is selected as an alternative and it has been implemented in numerous industries, for example, in human and public sciences, environmental research, agricultural sciences, engineering, technology, finance and education. The synthetic chart that monitors the coefficient of variation, namely the synthetic-y chart, is a widely used control chart. Unlike the Shewhart-y chart, the synthetic-y chart does not immediately signal an out-of-control condition when a sample coefficient of variation(yˆ) appears in the non-conforming region, i.e. the region below the lower control limit (LCL) or the region above the upper control limit (UCL). Instead, it waits until a second sample coefficient of variation to appear in the non-conforming region, and if these successive points are close to each other, it generates an out-of-control signal. In the existing literature, the synthetic-y chart performs better than the Shewhart-y chart at the same rate of false alarms, as waiting for the second sample coefficient of variation to appear in the non-conforming region allows for the adoption of tighter control limits without increasing the false alarm rate. However, the existing synthetic-y chart treats all points falling below the LCL or above the UCL as non-conforming samples. A side-sensitive synthetic-y chart is proposed in this thesis in order to monitor the coefficient of variation, where the non-conforming samples must appear in the same non-conforming region, for instance, either both samples must fall in the region above the UCL or both must fall in the region below the LCL, resulting in faster detection of out-of-control conditions. Markov chains are applied to compute various performance measures, for example, the Average Run Length (ARL), Standard Deviation of the Run Length (SDRL) and Expected Average Run Length (EARL). In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed chart accurately due to run lengths that may be skewed, the analysis of the entire run length distribution was conducted, together with the Median Run Length (MRL) and Expected Median Run Length (EMRL). Algorithms to obtain optimal chart parameters are also formulated. Based on the results obtained which had been validated using simulations, the proposed side-sensitive synthetic-y chart outperformed the Shewhart-y chart, the EWMA-y2 chart and the existing synthetic-y chart without the side sensitivity feature for most cases and displayed a significant improvement. For instance, when n=5, t=1.3 and yo = 0.05, the values of the ARL1 and MRL1 for the proposed chart were 10.18 and 4, respectively, whereas the values of the ARL1 and MRL1 were 30.61 and 14, respectively, for the Shewhart-y chart, 11.80 and 9, respectively, for the EWMA-y2 chart, and 16.38 and 5, respectively, for the existing synthetic-y chart. The proposed chart was further implemented on actual industrial data and compared with the same existing coefficient of variation charts, showed better efficiency in detecting out-of-control conditions
The management of low-skilled migrant workforces within the construction industry in Malaysia: conservation of resources perspectives
No full textLow-skilled migrant workers (LSMW) constituted a marginalized group that society often overlooked, despite their aspirations for improved wages and living conditions in foreign host countries. Regrettably, they frequently endured not only precarious work conditions but also discrimination based on factors such as skin color, language, beliefs, norms, and culture. This unjust treatment perpetuated the cycle of societal and economic inequalities, as organizations played a significant role in redistributing wealth among various stakeholders. Workplace inequalities affect LSMWs' emotions, causing both happiness and pain. These existing disparities further exacerbated the already dire circumstances faced by LSMW, resulting in a range of psychological and mental health issues while simultaneously depleting their limited resources. This study revolved around the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, which constituted a pivotal lens for dissecting the amassed data. Embedded within this theoretical framework, the investigation delved deeply into the multifaceted assortment of resources attainable to LSMW, categorically segregated as material, social, and personal resources. These resources assumed a critical role in empowering LSMW to navigate the complex landscape of workplace inequalities and discrimination. Migrant workers employed a combination of silent and active coping strategies, leveraging personal, material, and social resources to navigate unfair treatment. Material resources, particularly money, played a crucial role in increasing overall happiness, with remittances and luxurious gifts to family members having a lasting impact on well-being. Some workers found solace in vacationing or working at holiday destinations, alleviating negative emotions. Significantly, a qualitative research strategy was embraced, employing the Grounded Theory methodology to intricately investigate the unique spectrum of resources available to LSMW. Grounded Theory, recognized as a systematic research approach, was instrumental in unearthing fundamental themes directly from the compiled data. This method facilitated the extraction of invaluable insights that inherently reside within the data itself. Malaysia, originally a diverse multi-ethnic population, is a developing country that heavily relied on LSMW from neighboring countries. This thesis delved particularly into the construction industry in Malaysia, accommodating the amalgamation of LSMW predominantly from Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. Data collection process were by means of interviews with 30 LSMWs and 4 supervisors. This research contributes significantly to the literature on coping with migration and intercultural management through three key theoretical advancements: Firstly, the study provided a comprehensive narrative, shedding light on the personal, material, and social resources that assisted each ethnic group in their coping efforts and adaptation while facing discrimination and workplace inequality. Secondly, management styles were identified that were relevant
and effective in better addressing workplace inequalities experienced by LSMW. Lastly, this thesis developed a framework that established a link between the management style adopted by supervisors and the coping mechanisms needed by LSMW. This framework supported supervisors and managers in providing adequate support and fostering the well-being and resilience of migrant workers. The contributions of this research extended beyond theory, offering practical implications for developing countries. By addressing the unique challenges faced by LSMW and proposing strategies for managing workplace inequalities, this study fostered positive change and promoted social justice and inclusivity in the labor market