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Displaying publications 921 - 940 of 2121 in total

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[Population growth and mortality decline in Southeast Asia]

Kobayashi K

Tonan Ajia Kenkyu, 1982 Sep;20(2):143-67.
PMID: 12312334
Matched MeSH terms: Research
Focus on Malaysia

Chen PC

Trop Doct, 1971 Oct;1(4):183-6.
PMID: 5152672
Matched MeSH terms: Research
Fulltext Developing consensus measures for global programs: lessons from the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Hypertension research program

Riddell MA, Edwards N, Thompson SR, Bernabe-Ortiz A, Praveen D, Johnson C, et al.

Global Health, 2017 03 15;13(1):17.
PMID: 28298233 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-017-0242-8

BACKGROUND: The imperative to improve global health has prompted transnational research partnerships to investigate common health issues on a larger scale. The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) is an alliance of national research funding agencies. To enhance research funded by GACD members, this study aimed to standardise data collection methods across the 15 GACD hypertension research teams and evaluate the uptake of these standardised measurements. Furthermore we describe concerns and difficulties associated with the data harmonisation process highlighted and debated during annual meetings of the GACD funded investigators. With these concerns and issues in mind, a working group comprising representatives from the 15 studies iteratively identified and proposed a set of common measures for inclusion in each of the teams' data collection plans. One year later all teams were asked which consensus measures had been implemented.
RESULTS: Important issues were identified during the data harmonisation process relating to data ownership, sharing methodologies and ethical concerns. Measures were assessed across eight domains; demographic; dietary; clinical and anthropometric; medical history; hypertension knowledge; physical activity; behavioural (smoking and alcohol); and biochemical domains. Identifying validated measures relevant across a variety of settings presented some difficulties. The resulting GACD hypertension data dictionary comprises 67 consensus measures. Of the 14 responding teams, only two teams were including more than 50 consensus variables, five teams were including between 25 and 50 consensus variables and four teams were including between 6 and 24 consensus variables, one team did not provide details of the variables collected and two teams did not include any of the consensus variables as the project had already commenced or the measures were not relevant to their study.
CONCLUSIONS: Deriving consensus measures across diverse research projects and contexts was challenging. The major barrier to their implementation was related to the time taken to develop and present these measures. Inclusion of consensus measures into future funding announcements would facilitate researchers integrating these measures within application protocols. We suggest that adoption of consensus measures developed here, across the field of hypertension, would help advance the science in this area, allowing for more comparable data sets and generalizable inferences.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
Fulltext Statement in support of the scientists, public health professionals, and medical professionals of China combatting COVID-19

Calisher C, Carroll D, Colwell R, Corley RB, Daszak P, Drosten C, et al.

Lancet, 2020 03 07;395(10226):e42-e43.
PMID: 32087122 DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30418-9
Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Fulltext Validation of the dose distributions with Monte Carlo simulation for carbon ion cancer therapy

Ying, C.K., W.A. Kamil, Matsufuji, Naruhiro

Journal of Biomedical and Clinical Sciences, 2017;2(2):1-7.
MyJurnal

Charged particle therapy with carbon ions has advantages over conventional radiotherapy using x-ray beams. The application of charged particle therapy has rapidly increased over the last decades. This is due to its characteristic Bragg peak which has relatively low entrance doses and favourable doses distribution. In this research work, Geant4 based Monte Carlo simulation (MC) method has been used to calculate the radiation transportation and dose distributions in tissue-like media. The main objective of the work was to compare the Geant4 simulated depth dose distributions with experimental measurements and verify the capability of the geant4 simulation toolkit. The carbon ion beams for the therapeutic energy of 350 MeV/u and 400 MeV/u respectively were simulated, with the same settings as the experimental work carried out at the treatment room at Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC), National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Chiba, Japan. The simulation results were verified with measurements data. The work was to measure the accuracy and quality of the dose distributions by Geant4 MC methods. The results show that the Bragg peak and spread out Bragg peak (SOBP) distributions in simulation has fairly good agreement with measurements.

Matched MeSH terms: Research
Escaping domestic violence: A qualitative study of women who left their abusive husbands

Sukeri S, Man NNN

J Taibah Univ Med Sci, 2017 Dec;12(6):477-482.
PMID: 31435282 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtumed.2017.05.009

Objectives: This qualitative study aims to discover the factors that influenced the decisions of women who successfully escaped domestic violence by attaining a divorce.
Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with 17 women, ages 21-56 who were either divorced or currently in the process of getting divorced in Kelantan, Malaysia.
Results: Several themes emerged, indicating the following five reasons for divorce: 1) reaching the point of ultimatum, 2) having adequate support pre- and post-divorce, 3) concern for children's welfare, 4) seeking financial independence, and 5) fear of harm.
Conclusion: The identification of the driving factors for divorce may spark a change in our society's mindset to empower female divorcees and allow them to lead happy, abuse-free lives.

Matched MeSH terms: Qualitative Research
Fulltext Barriers to unmet needs among mothers of children with disabilities in Kelantan, Malaysia: A qualitative study

Sukeri S, Bakar RS, Othman A, Ibrahim MI

J Taibah Univ Med Sci, 2017 Oct;12(5):424-429.
PMID: 31435274 DOI: 10.1016/j.jtumed.2017.05.002

Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the barriers that deter mothers of children with disabilities from attaining their unmet needs.

Methods: In-depth interviews of 12 mothers of children with disabilities were conducted from November 2014 to January 2015 in Kelantan, Malaysia. The mothers were recruited by purposive sampling. Thematic analysis was used for identifying, analysing and reporting the data.

Results: Barriers to the unmet needs among mothers of children with disabilities were found to stem from the mothers' expectation and further propagated by lack of support, the role of healthcare professionals in providing care, inappropriate policies and shortage of resources required for survival and maintaining care.

Conclusions: Identification of the barriers to the attainment of unmet needs among mothers of disabled children is crucial for resolving the issue of unmet needs. Deeper understanding of these barriers may facilitate positive actions toward addressing the needs of these mothers and to alleviate the stress on mothers of disabled children. A concerted effort to coordinate services across all disciplines is required to dismantle these barriers by improving the provision of health care delivery and evaluation of welfare policies and services.

Matched MeSH terms: Qualitative Research
Co-valorization of delayed petroleum coke - palm kernel shell for activated carbon production

Rashidi NA, Yusup S

J Hazard Mater, 2021 02 05;403:123876.
PMID: 33264948 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.123876

In this study, a binary mixture of petroleum coke and palm kernel shell had been investigated as potential starting materials for activated carbon production. Single-stage potassium carbonate (K2CO3) activation under nitrogen (N2) atmosphere was adopted in this research study. Effect of several operating parameters that included the impregnation ratio (1-3 wt./wt.), activation temperature (600-800 °C), and dwell time (1-2 hrs) were analyzed by using the Box-Behnken experimental design. Influence of these parameters towards activated carbon yield (Y1) and carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption capacity at an atmospheric condition (Y2) were investigated. The optimum conditions for the activated carbon production were attained at impregnation ratio of 1.75:1, activation temperature of 680 °C, and dwell time of 1 h, with its corresponding Y1 and Y2 is 56.2 wt.% and 2.3991 mmol/g, respectively. Physicochemical properties of the pristine materials and synthesized activated carbon at the optimum conditions were analyzed in terms of their decomposition behavior, surface morphology, elemental composition, and textural characteristics. The study revealed that the blend of petroleum coke and palm kernel shell can be effectively used as the activated carbon precursors, and the experimental findings demonstrated comparable CO2 adsorption performance with commercial activated carbon as well as that in literatures.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design
Fulltext Optimisation of glucose templated silica for oil-water separation

Nurul Atiqah Mustaffa, Nur Hafizah Ab Hamid, Siti Nurehan Abd Jalil

ESTEEM Academic Journal, 2019;15(1):1-9.
MyJurnal

In this study, glucose is used as a template to manufacture microporosity in silica. Based on this objective, five different molar ratios of glucose (0%, 10%, 20%, 30% and 50%) were used for this experiment to maximise its affinity to adsorb oil droplets. The sample has been characterized using
thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Nitrogen Adsorption and UltravioletVisible (UV-Vis) pectroscopy. The adsorption of oil was tested in 1000 ppm oil-water emulsion in order to determine the performance of the templated silica. TGA analysis showed that 550 ̊C is a suitable temperature for material calcination for all the samples. N2 adsorption showed the glucose templated silica (50%) had limited porosity, with a low surface area of 2 m2 /g. This is much lower than non-templated silica which was mesoporous, with an average pore diameter of 2.6 nm and a surface area of 272 m2 /g. Interestingly, despite the low porosity of the templated silica, high oil-water
separations were achieved. This shows that glucose-templated silica is a promising material for oil-water separations.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design
Fulltext Transient Behavior in Variable Geometry Industrial Gas Turbines: A Comprehensive Overview of Pertinent Modeling Techniques

Hashmi MB, Lemma TA, Ahsan S, Rahman S

Entropy (Basel), 2021 Feb 22;23(2).
PMID: 33671488 DOI: 10.3390/e23020250

Generally, industrial gas turbines (IGT) face transient behavior during start-up, load change, shutdown and variations in ambient conditions. These transient conditions shift engine thermal equilibrium from one steady state to another steady state. In turn, various aero-thermal and mechanical stresses are developed that are adverse for engine's reliability, availability, and overall health. The transient behavior needs to be accurately predicted since it is highly related to low cycle fatigue and early failures, especially in the hot regions of the gas turbine. In the present paper, several critical aspects related to transient behavior and its modeling are reviewed and studied from the point of view of identifying potential research gaps within the context of fault detection and diagnostics (FDD) under dynamic conditions. Among the considered topics are, (i) general transient regimes and pertinent model formulation techniques, (ii) control mechanism for part-load operation, (iii) developing a database of variable geometry inlet guide vanes (VIGVs) and variable bleed valves (VBVs) schedules along with selection framework, and (iv) data compilation of shaft's polar moment of inertia for different types of engine's configurations. This comprehensive literature document, considering all the aspects of transient behavior and its associated modeling techniques will serve as an anchor point for the future researchers, gas turbine operators and design engineers for effective prognostics, FDD and predictive condition monitoring for variable geometry IGT.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
Fulltext Can dynamic consent facilitate the protection of biomedical big data in biobanking in Malaysia?

Abdul Aziz MF, Mohd Yusof AN

Asian Bioeth Rev, 2019 Jun;11(2):209-222.
PMID: 33717312 DOI: 10.1007/s41649-019-00086-2

As with many other countries, Malaysia is also developing and promoting biomedical research to increase the understanding of human diseases and possible interventions. To facilitate this development, there is a significant growth of biobanks in the country to ensure continuous collection of biological samples for future research, which contain extremely important personal information and health data of the participants involved. Given the vast amount of samples and data accumulated by biobanks, they can be considered as reservoirs of precious biomedical big data. It is therefore imperative for biobanks to have in place regulatory measures to ensure ethical use of the biomedical big data. Malaysia has yet to introduce specific legislation for the field of biobanking. However, it can be argued that its existing Personal Data Protection Act 2010 (PDPA) has laid down legal principles that can be enforced to protect biomedical big data generated by the biobanks. Consent is a mechanism to enable data subjects to exercise their autonomy by determining how their data can be used and ensure compliance with legal principles. However, there are two main concerns surrounding the current practice of consent in biomedical big data in Malaysia. First, it is uncertain that the current practice would be able to respect the underlying notion of autonomy, and second, it is not in accordance with the legal principles of the PDPA. Scholars have deliberated on different strategies of informed consent, and a more interactive approach has recently been introduced: dynamic consent. It is argued that a dynamic consent approach would be able to address these concerns.

Matched MeSH terms: Biomedical Research
Fulltext Innovative Self-Confidence Webinar Intervention for Depression in the Workplace: A Focus Group Study and Systematic Development

Wan Mohd Yunus WMA, Musiat P, Brown JSL

Behav Sci (Basel), 2020 Dec 16;10(12).
PMID: 33339086 DOI: 10.3390/bs10120193

Brief face-to-face self-confidence workshops were effective in reducing depression among the public. Technological advances have enabled traditional face-to-face interventions to be adapted using unique technology-mediated platforms. This article details the formative development of a self-confidence web-based seminar (webinar) intervention for workplace depression. The first section discusses a qualitative study that explores the feasibility and acceptability of adapting the self-confidence workshops into a webinar platform on employees in the workplace. The second section describes the systematic development of this new webinar intervention informed by the qualitative study findings, a published systematic review, and previous face-to-face self-confidence workshops. The qualitative study involves three focus groups (n = 10) conducted in a small organization. Three themes were identified relevant to the running of the new self-confidence webinars in the workplace: personal (content, time and duration preference, features of the webinar, individual participation, personalization), interpersonal (stigma from others, engagement with participants/presenter, moderated interaction), and organizational (endorsement from management, work demand). For the intervention development, the format, structure, features, and content of the self-confidence webinar intervention are described. Features such as file sharing, virtual whiteboard, live chat, and poll are explained with the intervention primarily based on cognitive behavior therapy and coping flexibility concepts.

Matched MeSH terms: Qualitative Research
Fulltext ZIBMAP: Product for Tourists’ Wellness

Hassnah Wee, Nur Nadirah Abdul Wahab, Zamhariyah Ahmad Fudil

Jurnal Inovasi Malaysia, 2020;4(1):151-171.
MyJurnal

Tourists visiting destination in warm climate countries such as Malaysia might easily be affected with dehydration problem. Places like the Zoo requires tourist to walk intensively inside the Zoo area may cause dehydration if they do not consume enough plain water. This ZIBMAP innovative product intends to benefit the tourist wellness who visits the National Zoo, comes with an informative map and attractive infographic habitat, which can be kept as a souvenir. This innovative product is designed based on environmental-friendly features that support the implementation of environmental sustainability. A feasibility survey on dehydration risk awareness and the potential of the product acceptance for commercialization was carried out using a quantitative method. A convenience sampling technique was used to identify 300 tourists visiting the National Zoo as respondents for this survey. Descriptive analysis results indicated that majority of respondents aware of the dehydration risk and supported the used of the ZIBMAP innovative product. The outcome of the study highlighted the potential of this product to be commercialized and contribute to tourists’ wellness.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design
Fulltext The Effects of Various Concentrations of NaOH on the Inter-Particle Gelation of a Fly Ash Geopolymer Aggregate

Abdullah A, Hussin K, Abdullah MMAB, Yahya Z, Sochacki W, Razak RA, et al.

Materials (Basel), 2021 Feb 27;14(5).
PMID: 33673522 DOI: 10.3390/ma14051111

Aggregates can be categorized into natural and artificial aggregates. Preserving natural resources is crucial to ensuring the constant supply of natural aggregates. In order to preserve these natural resources, the production of artificial aggregates is beginning to gain the attention of researchers worldwide. One of the methods involves using geopolymer technology. On this basis, this current research focuses on the inter-particle effect on the properties of fly ash geopolymer aggregates with different molarities of sodium hydroxide (NaOH). The effects of synthesis parameters (6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 M) on the mechanical and microstructural properties of the fly ash geopolymer aggregate were studied. The fly ash geopolymer aggregate was palletized manually by using a hand to form a sphere-shaped aggregate where the ratio of NaOH/Na2SiO3 used was constant at 2.5. The results indicated that the NaOH molarity has a significant effect on the impact strength of a fly ash geopolymer aggregate. The highest aggregate impact value (AIV) was obtained for samples with 6 M NaOH molarity (26.95%), indicating the lowest strength among other molarities studied and the lowest density of 2150 kg/m3. The low concentration of sodium hydroxide in the alkali activator solution resulted in the dissolution of fly ash being limited; thus, the inter-particle volume cannot be fully filled by the precipitated gels.

Matched MeSH terms: Research
Fulltext SkytiderTM - overcomes the difficultness of installing and lowering the outdoor bunting

Asrizam Esam, Mohammad Hisham Omar, Muhammad Izzat Nor Adzmi, Mohd Mas’Ataillah Ismail, Norliyana Kamarudin, Hafliza Hussin, et al.

Jurnal Inovasi Malaysia, 2019;2(2):71-92.
MyJurnal

Bunting is a medium to promote advertisements or programs that are widely used in Universiti Putra Malaysia in conjunction with the programs. There are two types of bunting that are commonly used; indoor and outdoor bunting. Outdoor bunting is a bunting that is installed outside of a building and it is usually installed at the street lamp poles, fence or at dedicated space. In UPM, outdoor buntings usually installed at the street lamp poles, around the campus. Issues faced by staff when installing and uninstalling the outdoor buntings are; method used, number of staff needed, time consuming and securities issues. All these factors lead UPM to hire external contractor for installing the outdoor buntings. These issues are also faced by other universities/institutions and external contractors. Several initiatives have been identified in order to mitigate this issues including the implementation of ‘Program Bebas Dawai’, an improvement of Standard Operating Procedure for bunting installation and creation of a new innovation called SkytiderTM. SkytiderTM is an installation tool for outdoor buntings that will expedite method without using ladder, minimize time, improve security measures and save costs by hiring less external contractor. SkytiderTM protected under industrial design, trademark and copyright protection. SkytiderTM is widely used in Serdang Campus, Selangor, Bintulu, Sarawak and Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design
Fulltext Pre-hospital emergency medical service response time phenomenon in Klang valley: an answer for the society

MOHD SAID NURUMAL

Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, 2017;4(1):17-32.
MyJurnal

This qualitative descriptive study, underpinned by naturalistic inquiry, explored the prehospital emergency medical service response time in Klang Valley by providing an in-depth information of the phenomenon. In this study, various levels of health care personnel participated in focus group discussion and semi-structured interview. The staff members consisted of many levels of category from the lower ranks up to the higher level administrative officers. Content analysis was employed in analysing all data. Every one of the key informants was aware of the importance of making immediate responses to each ambulance call received. They shared their thoughts, experiences, and challenges in achieving the ideal response time in line with international recommendations. There were five categories of issues that emerged and challenges that arose from delays in response time, namely, 1) insufficient key information; 2) inconsistent information leading to delayed arrival of ambulance; 3) traffic condition causing delay in ambulance speed; 4) lack of resources contributing to an increase in workload; and, 5) unassertiveness in the attitude of members of staff. The findings have provided an answer to the society with regard to the current pre-hospital emergency medical service issues related to delay in the service delivered. Thus, policy makers and pre-hospital health care service providers should develop a strategic action plan by focusing on these findings to reduce the response time of ambulance call.

Matched MeSH terms: Qualitative Research
The role of financial development, R&D expenditure, globalization and institutional quality in energy consumption in India: New evidence from the QARDL approach

Godil DI, Sharif A, Ali MI, Ozturk I, Usman R

J Environ Manage, 2021 May 01;285:112208.
PMID: 33618139 DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112208

The aim of this research is to explore the association between financial development, research and development (R&D) expenditures, globalization, institutional quality, and energy consumption in India by using the quarterly data of 1995-2018. Quantile Autoregressive Distributed Lag (QARDL) approach is employed to examine the relationship. An application of the QARDL approach suggests that the R&D, financial development, globalization, and institutional quality significantly influence energy utilization in India. R&D and institutional quality have a negative effect on energy utilization which shows that due to the increase in the quality of institutions and R&D in the country, energy utilization is likely to decrease. However, globalization and financial performance have a positive influence on energy which depicts that due to the increase in financial performance and globalization in India the energy consumption is likely to increase. According to the outcomes of this research, India should make a policy to ease the penalties of energy utilization by monitoring resource transfer by means of globalization and by implementing energy conversation procedures through the advancement of the financial sector.

Matched MeSH terms: Research
Fulltext An understanding of the psychological challenges faced by student athletes and how they manage

Shamir Das K.N. Kavidas, Alexius, Cheang, Weng, Onn

Malaysian Journal of Qualitative Research, 2019;5(2):22-30.
MyJurnal

Student athletes represent a unique segment of society, having to manage a set of expectations and challenges that are distinct and psychologically demanding. They are expected to achieve the highest level of sporting excellence while also performing well academically. A basic qualitative study was used to gain an understanding of the nature and type of psychological challenges faced, and ways the student athletes successfully managed or was currently managing those challenges. The results entailed two overlapping groups of challenges; internal and external, where internal consisted of emotional strain, expectations from one’s self, balance between sports and studies, and present feelings of regret, while external consisted of issues with their coach, perception of others, and transition to tertiary education. Additionally, there were three ways of managing those challenges namely through problem-focused coping, emotion-focused coping, and experiential learning. Those three domains are further explored and discussed, with consideration to the local context and the role of individual differences.

Matched MeSH terms: Qualitative Research
Fulltext Efficient model selection of collector efficiency in solar dryer using hybrid of LASSO and robust regression

Javaid, Anam, Mohd. Tahir Ismail, Ali, Majid Khan Majahar

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2020;28(1):193-210.
MyJurnal

There are many variables involved in the real life problem so it is difficult to choose an efficient model out of all possible models relating to analytical factors. Interaction terms affecting the model also need to be addressed because of its vital role in the actual dataset. The current study focused on efficient model selection for collector efficiency of solar dryer. For this purpose, collector efficiency of solar dryer was used as a dependent variable with time, inlet temperature, collector average temperature and solar radiation as independent variables. Hybrid of the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) and robust regression were proposed for the identification of efficient model selection. The comparison was made with the ordinary least square (OLS) after performing a multicollinearity and coefficient test and with a ridge regression analysis. The final selected model was obtained using eight selection criteria (8SC). To forecast the efficient model, the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was used. As compared to other methods, the proposed method provides a more efficient model with minimum MAPE.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design
Fulltext Logic mining in league of legends

Liew, Ching Kho, Mohd Shareduwan Mohd Kasihmuddin, Mohd. Asyraf Mansor, Sathasivam, Saratha

Pertanika Journal of Science & Technology, 2020;28(1):211-225.
MyJurnal

Since its debut in 2009, League of Legends (LoL) has been on a rise in becoming an extremely favoured multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game. This paper presented a logic mining technique to model the results (Win / Lose) of the LoL games played in 3 regions, namely South Korea, North America and Europe. In this research, a method named k satisfiability based reverse analysis method (kSATRA) was brought forward to obtain the logical relationship among the gameplays and objectives in the game. The logical rule obtained from the LoL games was used to categorize the results of future games. kSATRA made use of the advantages of Hopfield Neural Network and k Satisfiability representation. The data set used in this study included the data of all 10 teams from each region, which composed of all games from Spring Season 2018. The effectiveness of kSATRA in obtaining logical rule in LoL games was tested based on root mean square error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and CPU time. Results acquired from the computer simulation showed the robustness of kSATRA in exhibiting the performance of the LoL teams.

Matched MeSH terms: Research Design

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