This paper discusses the effect of a metal chloride pre-cursor on the phase formation of Yb-doped Ba(Ce, Zr)O3 solid electrolyte derived from a sol-gel method via acetate and chloride salts. The use of metal chloride as a pre-cursor showed the increased in thermal decomposition temperature (Ttd≈1360oC) compared to the metal nitrate pre-cursor (Ttd≈1280oC) and (b) leading to the formation of impurity phases. At calcination temperature of 1500oC, the sample prepared from metal chloride did not form a single-phase of Ba(Ce, Zr)O3. Impurity phases of BaCl2, BaCO3 and (Ce, Zr)O2 were detected in the sample as proven by XRD result. A high purity compound at relatively lower temperature (T=1400oC) was only obtained for the sample that prepared from metal nitrate compared to acetate and chloride (T>1500oC) and carbonate and oxide (T=1500oC) pre-cursors.
This work is aimed to determine the characteristics of activated carbons derived from palm kernel shell (PKS) by microwave-induced zinc chloride activation for dye removal. Activation was performed in a microwave oven at power intensity of 70% for 10 min. The same procedures were repeated for activation using recycled ZnCl2 solution from the first activation. The activated carbons were characterized according to surface area, morphology, functional groups and batch adsorption. The yield for the first activation was 70.7% with surface area of 858m2/g. It was found that the activated carbon prepared using the recycled ZnCl2 still possesses good surface area for methylene blue removal. The adsorption behaviour of the continuous system was well fitted to and could be satisfactorily described by the Yoon and Nelson model.
Environmental health in general is referring to the aspect of concern on healthy environment, and the interrelations between environment and human health. Due to the urbanization, urban development is changing the natural environment into a man-made environment. Along with the process, level of environmental quality and human health are decreased. Air quality as reference shows that urban ambient air is more polluted than rural. Due to high density of human population and their activities in urban areas, it produces air pollutants with higher rate as compared to less-developed areas. Air pollutants contribute to various health problems. People suffering from respiratory diseases are the most likely to be affected by air pollution. This paper aimed to examine the rate of respiratory infection among residents in an urban growth corridor (Petaling Jaya-Shah Alam-Klang) and the relationship with the urban land uses, traffic volume and air quality. There were four major types of data used in this study i.e., respiratory infection of the respondents, air quality, land use and traffic volume. A health questionnaire survey was carried out besides the secondary data collection from the various government departments. Relationship analysis was performed between respiratory health and the urban factors (air quality, traffic volume and land uses). The study found out that the relationship between the respiratory health and the urban factors is different in city-wide land use and traffic factors, as compared to the localised air quality and land use factors. To conclude, the urban factors are potentially affecting the respiratory health.
MeSH terms: Air Pollutants; Air Pollution; Cities; Environmental Health; Government; Humans; Surveys and Questionnaires; Respiratory Tract Infections; Urban Renewal; Urbanization
In the present study, capability of water hyacinth in removing heavy metals such as Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Zinc (Zn), Iron (Fe), and Boron (B) in ceramic wastewater was investigated. The metal removal efficiency was identified by evaluating the translocation of metals in roots, leaves and shoot of water hyacinth. The heavy metal removal efficiency followed the order Fe>Zn>Cd>Cu>Cr>B during the treatment process. Water hyacinth had luxury consumption of those 6 elements. This study used the circulation system with 3 columns of plants which functioned as bioremediation of the sample. The concentration of metals in roots is much higher 10 times than leaves and stems. Roots give the result of metalR>metalL. The removal concentration from water hyacinth was estimated under pH of 8.21 to 8.49. This study proves water hyacinth to be a best plant for phytoremediation process
Oceanographic cruises in Pahang water in October 2003 and April 2004, monsoon transition months, produce data on water characteristics. The temperature in both months showed higher values in nearshore compared to the offshore stations. The nearshore salinity in both months is lower than offshore stations. Comparatively, there were smaller differences in temperature and salinity in October than in April, with very little variation between nearshore and offshore stations. T-S diagram showed significant differences between October and April water characteristics. According to the water characteristic observations, the temperature and salinity in October was lower than in April, while dissolved oxygen was higher than in April. The lower temperature and salinity taken during the sampling time in October suggested that during this time, the study area already received the influences of strong winds due to upcoming monsoon. The warmer and saltier water obtained in April showed that during this time, the study area was influenced by southwest monsoon. Winds related to rainfall were observed to have impact to the dynamics of water characteristics during both months.
This paper presents the application of TOPMODEL in the Pinang catchment of Malaysia for stream flow simulation. An attempt has been made to use remote-sensing data (ASTER DEM of 30 m resolution) as a primary input for TOPMODEL in order to simulate the stream flow pattern of this tropical catchment. A calibration period was executed based on 2007-2008 hydro-meteorological dataset which gave a satisfactory Nash-Sutcliffe model (NS) model efficiency of 0.749 and a relative volume error (RVE) of -19.2. The recession curve parameter (m) and soil transmissivity at saturation zone (To), were established as the most sensitive parameters through a sensitivity analysis processes. Hydro-meteorological datasets for the period between 2009 and 2010 were used to validate the model which resulted in satisfactory efficiencies of 0.774 (NS) and -19.84 (RVE), respectively. This study demonstrated the ability ASTER DEM acquired from remote sensing to generate the required TOPMODEL parameters for stream flow simulation which gives insights into better management of available water resources.
Ceramics powder of BaCe0.54Zr0.36Y0.1O2.95 (BCZY) was synthesized using three different methods namely sol-gel (SG), supercritical fluid (SC) and supercritical fluid assisted sol-gel (SCSG). The respective prepared samples were denoted as S1, S2 and S3. TG thermogram of the dried powders for all samples showed three stages of weight loss. Each stage was corroborated by one or two exothermic peaks as shown in DTG signal. Complete thermal decomposition for all the samples was almost accomplished at 1000°C for about 2 h. At calcination temperature of 1100°C, S1 showed a single-phase of perovskite-type oxides as proven by XRD result. Morphology of the calcined powders by SEM micrograph showed that S1 is in spherical shape, S2 is in cubic structure and S3 has a mixture of spherical and rod-like structure. Therefore, as comparison, SG method gives better characteristics of cerate-zirconate ceramics powder compared to SC and SGSC.
Coral reefs are rich in biodiversity and ecosystem services. However increase in degradation are still occurring at an alarming rate. In management of this ecosystem, determination of its spatial distribution is of importance. Satellite imageries can be used to map distribution extent using spectral characteristics which is a fundamental parameter in mapping. The aims of this study were to determine the spectral characteristics of corals and associated habitats and to map its spatial distribution using 2009 ALOS advanced visible and near infrared radiometer type 2 (AVNIR-2) satellite imagery. Results indicated that coral and habitats surrounding the area display variation in the spectral characteristics magnitude but displays similar spectral curve. Spectral characteristics from the corals and surrounding habitats were determined by presence of benthic microalgae and calcium carbonate. Maximum likelihood classification on the image produced five main classes. Spatial distribution of coral and associated habitats indicated five main zones which are sandy shore zone, sandy intertidal zone, seagrass zone, coral/submerged sandy zone and rocky zone. Distribution of live corals indicated coverage of 0.54 km2, sea grass (0.94 km2), sandy bottom (1.31 km2) and rocky shores (0.19 km2). The results of this study indicated that ALOS satellite data was able to determine variation in spectral characteristics of coral reefs and other habitats thus is capable of mapping the ecosystems spatial distribution.
Water pollution has become a growing threat to human society and natural ecosystem in recent decades, increasing the need to better understand the variabilities of pollutants within aquatic systems. This study presents the application of two chemometric techniques, namely, cluster analysis (CA) and principal component analysis (PCA). This is to classify and identify the water quality variables into groups of similarities or dissimilarities and to determine their significance. Six stations along Kinta River, Perak, were monitored for 30 physical and chemical parameters during the period of 1997-2006. Using CA, the 30 physical and chemical parameters were classified into 4 clusters; PCA was applied to the datasets and resulted in 10 varifactors with a total variance of 78.06%. The varifactors obtained indicated the significance of each of the variables to the pollution of Kinta River.
MeSH terms: Water Pollution; Cluster Analysis; Ecosystem; Principal Component Analysis; Rivers; Water Quality
This study was carried out to identify the pigment extracted from Malaysian brown seaweed, Sargassum binderi and its stability in various conditions. Pigments were extracted using methanol:chloroform:water (4:2:1, v/v/v), which is part of fucoidan extraction process, where the pigments were waste. Carotenoid and chlorophyll were found in the extract using UV-vis spectrophotometer (420 and 672 nm, respectively). Fucoxanthin was identified as the carotenoid present using HPLC, while its functional groups and structure were determined using FTIR and 1H NMR, respectively. The fucoxanthin-rich extract stability was tested on different pH (pH1-13), light exposure (dark and light) and storage temperature (4ºC, 25ºC and 50ºC). The stability tests showed that it was most stable at pH5-7, stored in dark condition and at the storage temperature of 4ºC and 25ºC. The fucoxanthin-rich extract from Sargassum binderi has potential to be applied as bioingredient and functional food as it is stable in normal storage conditions.
Prebiotic, such as inulin, has been applied as functional food and known for its various health benefit effects such as increased mineral absorption, improved immune response and colorectal cancer prevention. An attempt was made to determine the level of Malaysian consumers’ acceptance and market potential of newly developed pilot scale prebiotic milk chocolates (MC-1) and dark chocolates (DC-1) with no sugar added as compared to control milk and dark chocolate (containing sugar), MC-0 and DC-0, respectively. Trained panels were employed to evaluate the sensory quality of the chocolate products using the quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) technique and the 7-point hedonic scale was used by consumer panels. In comparison with control milk chocolate (MC-0), consumer and trained panels gave better (p<0.05) overall acceptance score for MC-1. Both MC-1 and DC-1 showed similar smoothness attribute (p>0.05) as control chocolates (MC-0 and DC-0). Similar likeness were shown by both trained panels and untrained Malaysian public consumers, where prebiotic milk chocolate MC-1 was the most preferred compare to prebiotic dark chocolate DC-1. This could be due to bitter taste driven by high cocoa liquor content in dark chocolate compared to milk chocolate. However, both type of prebiotic chocolates have high potential (>70%) to be bought by Malaysian consumers once introduced in the market.
Bioremediation of crude oil using biostimulation and/or bioaugmentation was done by simulation study in the green house under uncontrolled environment temperature. In this study, the soil with indigenous microbes was spiked with Tapis crude oil at 200 g/kg. The microbial density of the amended soils was augmented by addition of fresh inoculum of microbial consortium which consist of Pseudomonas aeruginosa UKMP-14T, Acinetobacter baumannii UKMP-12T and seed culture two strains of fungi, Trichoderma virens UKMP-1M and Trichoderma virens UKMP-2M at ratio 1:1:1:1 (v/w). The amendment soil was added with 20% (v/w) of standardize consortium inoculum, 20% (w/w) of dried empty fruit bunch (EFB) and the effect of EFB was compared with 0.7% commercial fertilizer (v/w) which contain NPK (8:8:1). Soil with indigenous microbes was used as a control. Results showed total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) degradation for treatment added with NPK fertilizer was 70.36%, addition with EFB bulking agent 68.86% and addition of both NPK and EFB was 100% at day 30 of incubation. The control plot, 62% of TPH degradation was achieved after 30 days incubation.
The identification of chromosomal aberrations in prostate cancer has been widely studied with several known oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes have successfully been discovered. The most frequent aberrations detected in western population were losses in chromosome 5q, 6q, 8p, 13q, 16q, 17p, 18q and gains of 7p/q and 8q. The purpose of this study was to determine the chromosomal aberrations among Malaysian men of Southeast Asia population and discover those potential genes within that chromosomal aberrant region. Thirty-six formalin-fixed paraffin embedded specimens consist of eight organ-confined prostate cancer cases, five with capsular invasion, 14 showed metastasis and nine cases had no tumor stage recorded, were analyzed by array CGH technique. Chromosomal losses were frequently detected at 4q, 6q, 8p, 13q, 18q while gains at 7q, 11q, 12p, 16q and 17q. Gain of 16q24.3 was statistically significant with tumor size. Gains of 6q25.1 and Xq12 as well as losses of 3p13-p1.2 and 13q33.1-q33.3 were significantly correlated with Gleason grade whereas 12p13.31 gain was associated with bone metastasis. Several potential genes have also been found within that aberrant region which is myopodin (4q26-q27), ROBO1 (3p13-p11.2), ERCC5 (13q33.1-q33.3) and CD9 (12p13.31), suggesting that these genes may play a role in prostate cancer progression. The chromosomal aberrations identified by array CGH analysis could provide important clues to discover potential genes associated with prostate tumorigenesis of Malaysian men.
Morphometric analysis was carried out to find out changes in the growth pattern of male and female stomatopod, Harpiosquilla raphidea. Six morphometric relationships were examined on 105 males and 105 females, ranging in size from 103 to 207 mm and from 104 to 222 mm in total length, respectively. In both the sexes, the relative growth of carapace length, propodus length of raptorial claw and total weight in relation to total length was found positively allometric. Telson width in both the sexes and abdomen width in males showed slightly negative allometry, while the abdomen width of females showed slightly positive allometry, indicating some variation in the growth between sexes which could be attributed to the energy requirement for maturation in females. The propodus of females was also found to be bigger than that of males. It is quite interesting as males only have larger chela in other crustaceans. It has a functional significance in that it is of immense help at the time of intense feeding during maturation of oocytes which requires higher energy.
MeSH terms: Animals; Body Weight; Female; Hoof and Claw; Male; Oocytes; Abdominal Cavity; Animal Shells
Leptospermum flavescens, commonly known as ‘Gelam bukit’ has been used by the Malays as traditional plants in Malaysia for antidiabetic treatment. However, at this moment there is no scientific evidence and data available to validate such claim. In the present study, the aqueous extract of leaves and stems were studied for its antidiabetic activity. The total phenols and flavonoids were determined and correlated with antidiabetic activity. The detection of aqueous leaves extract with LCMS/MS showed the presence of flavonoids aromadendrin glucoside, kaempferol rhamnoside, quercetin rhamnoside and vindoline. The extract has significantly inhibited glycogen phosphorylase at 85% with IC50 = 0.18 mg/mL. In the alloxan induced diabetic rats showed that extract at 500 mg/kg decreased significantly fasting plasma glucose level by 61.9% (p<0.001) on the 20th day as compared to diabetic control. The treatment with Leptospermum flavescens at 500 mg/kg showed that it decreased the total cholesterol and triglycerides but restored the HDL level. The high antidiabetic activity was correlated with high total phenol at 1.57±0.01 GAE/g and total flavonoids at 1.41±0.01 mg QE/g. Thus, the high antidiabetic activity of the aqueous leaves extract attributed due to the presence of aromadendron glucoside, kaempferol rhamnoside, quercetin rhamnoside and vindoline in aqueous extract of Leptospermum flavescens.
Pollen morphology of 24 species of Vatica L. had been investigated using light and scanning electron microscopes. Vatica is a stenopalynous genus, the pollens are radially symmetrical, isopolar, subprolate to suboblate sometimes prolate rarely oblate, all tricolpate. Exine ornamentation varies from thin to medium reticulate. On the basis of pollen shape two groups of Vatica have been recognized. Within the genus pollen diversity is valuable for identification and delimiting species.
MeSH terms: Drug Hypersensitivity; Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; Phosmet; Pollen; Dipterocarpaceae
Setiu Wetland is located in the southern part of South China Sea, Malaysia. This wetland has diverse ecosystems that represent a vast array of biological diversity and abundance in utilizable natural resources. However, there are large scales of aquaculture activities within and nearby the wetland which could threaten the ecosystems of this area. Thus, the main goal of the study was to assess the impact of these activities through the measurement of physico-chemical water quality parameters and then compare this to a previous study carried out in the same study area. The parameters (salinity, temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, biological oxygen demand and total suspended solids) were monitored monthly at the surface water from July to October 2008. The results showed that the impact of aquaculture activities on the water quality in the area with dissolved oxygen and total suspended solids concentrations were considerably lower than those observed previously. With respect to the Malaysian Marine Water Quality Criteria and Standard, most of the level of parameters measured remained Class 1, suggesting the physico-chemical environment were in line with sustainable conservation of the marine protected areas and marine parks of this wetland area.
Due to widespread distribution of dwarf bamboo, Chimonobambusa utilis, in mountain environment, the effects of elevation (low and high) and canopy condition (forest understorey and forest edge) on the clonal morphology and leaf fluctuating asymmetry were investigated in an evergreen broadleaves forest of Jinfo Mountain Nature Reserve. Elevation and canopy condition were significant for all morphological traits of C. utilis (except for effect of elevation on node number under branch). Traits of clonal morphology such as height, basal diameter, height under branch tended to be higher in forest understorey and in high elevation. Forest understorey in high elevation was favour of shooting number. Interaction of elevation and canopy conditions had a significant effect on growth of node. Single leaf area (SLA) and all indices of fluctuating asymmetry were significantly higher in low elevation than that in high elevation of forest understorey. Thus, elevation and canopy condition formed environmental stress that lead to the adaptation of morphological traits and leaf fluctuating asymmetry of C. utilis populations to mountain forest habitats.
Knowledge of natural diet in Portunus pelagicus is essential to understand its nutritional requirements, its interactions with other organisms and its potential for culture. The natural diet of P. pelagicus was studied in Strait of Tebrau, Johor, Malaysia via gut content analysis and molecular analysis. A total of 30 identifiable fatty acids were detected in foregut content of P. pelagicus. Fatty acid 18:3ω3 act as a mangrove detritus marker was found to be the most abundant in foregut content of both sexes of P. pelagicus and has higher value in female. PUFA was the main fatty acid found in foregut content of P. pelagicus and major contributed by fatty acid 18:3ω3, 20:5ω3 and 22:6ω3. Marine animal’s marker was found to be the dominant in foregut content of P. pelagicus and that indicated that marine animals were the main food source of P. pelagicus. In conclusion, this study showed that P. pelagicus is a primarily omnivores crab with preference of marine animal and with addition and/or incidental fed plant items.
In the Kota Kinabalu coastal area, the episodic occurrences of harmful algal bloom (HAB) species had been reported more than a decade ago. But, the time of the occurrence and factors contributing to the occurrence are still inadequately understood. To fill the gap, a study using 4 years field data from 2007 to 2010 was conducted. Cell densities of two HAB species, physicochemical parameters such as temperature, salinity, pH and dissolved oxygen together with rainfall data, wind data and general influence of ENSO episodes were taken into account to identify the most probable factors that trigger the occurrence of HAB species in the Kota Kinabalu coastal waters. From the analysis, C. polykrikoides blooms after 1 to 2 days of rain and significantly high nutrient concentrations were recorded during the blooms. Other physicochemical parameters were almost the same during the bloom and non-bloom events. Climate phenomena like ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) affected the occurrence of P. bahamense var. compressum and C. polykrikoides. P. bahamense var. compressum occurred during El Niño due to high salinity and no blooms were recorded during La Niña. This indicates that unusual climate condition suppressed the bloom formation. The results gained from this study provide important information in managing HAB species particularly in the Kota Kinabalu coastal area.