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Interpersonal communication between the coordinator and members has an important role in supporting performance, but conditions show that interpersonal communication between the implementers of the Galur Village RPTRA Manager still looks bad, this can be seen from the frequent misunderstandings in the process of carrying out tasks. Thus, the research question can be formulated, namely how is Interpersonal Communication Between Coordinators and Members of the Child Friendly Integrated Public Space Management (RPTRA) Galur Village, Central Jakarta Administration, and the aim is to find out the Interpersonal Communication between the Coordinator and Members of the Child Friendly Integrated Public Space Management (RPTRA) Galur Village, using descriptive qualitative research methods through observation and in-depth interviews with informants, namely the management members as the object of research. The results of the study show: a), there is still weak or lack of communication between the coordinator and the management members so that they become passive in interacting, b) there are obstacles, namely the lack of discussion space and regular meetings. The research suggestions to overcome the obstacles faced are by scheduling regular meetings, making capacity building/training training, increasing the capacity of members, and family gatherings to increase intimacy

The soundness level of a bank is a qualitative assessment of various aspects that affect the condition or performance of a bank through quantitative or quantitative assessments. In this Regulation of the Financial Services Authority Number 4 / POJK.03 / 2016 using an individual and consolidated risk approach (Risk Based Bank Rating / RBBR). This risk approach includes the Risk Profile, Good Corporate Governance, Earnings and Capital factors. Conducting an assessment is not easy, especially if it is still manual for the process. That way designing an application is the right way to solve it because it can simplify the work process by utilizing existing technology capabilities. Android-based technology is one of the most dominating technologies in use throughout the world. This study aims to design an application to process financial report data for the commercial bank sector into information on the health level of commercial banks based on the RBBR method and to present the development (comparison) of the soundness level of commercial banks in a two years period with the help of an android-based application. The design of this application uses a prototype approach method with several stages, namely identifying needs, making prototypes, testing prototypes, improving prototypes and developing production versions. Then the trial was carried out at one commercial bank for two consecutive periods at once. The test results on the application design for calculating the soundness level of a commercial bank based on the RBBR method in accordance with applicable regulations have been able to determine the composite rating (PK) and can suggest developments (comparisons) on the NPL, GCG, ROA and CAR factors in one commercial bank for two consecutive periods at once.

Organizational change is one thing that public organizations cannot avoid. A dynamic organizational environment and high public demands for good quality services make public organizations have to be able to adjust to change. But unfortunately the changes that occurred are not always well received, and in fact there is a resistance. Through a post positivist approach, this qualitative research seeks to analyze how public sector organizations are able to overcome the resistance of existing changes so that changes can be carried out properly and successfully achieve the desired goals. Analysis is done through literature review on several books, publications, reports or relevant news. The results of the analysis indicate that the resistance of public organizations can be avoided by the readiness of the organization to deal with changes and supported by all members of the organization, especially leaders as drivers who will bring the organization from the status quo towards the desired change. In the level of practice these efforts can be carried out by building the mental readiness of the apparatus to always be ready to face changes and be balanced with the government's ability to make responsive change policies.

School children are at a rapid development stage in their intellectual and skill processes and are beginning to have vigorous physical activities. To support the development and physical activity, school children need various kinds of nutrients in sufficient quantities in order to grow and develop properly, because the role of nutrition greatly determines the child's health condition.In this regard, many direct factors are affecting nutritional status, including food consumption and infectious diseases. Moreover, several indirect factors, such as knowledge, education, income level, parental education, and family size, also affected the nutritional status. In developing countries, including Indonesia, nutrition is becoming more critical in terms of public health because malnutrition can reduce immunity to several diseases, especially infectious diseases.This community service program aims to increase education and provide information about stunting through the dissemination of stunting prevention and fostering the creativity of the community through the utilization of the home yard. The implementation methods employed includeddissemination, the use of Poskesdes as a Healthy Village House, coaching, and community empowerment. Thematic Community Service Program outputs are dissemination activities, the formation of Healthy Village Houses and modules on the use of house yards, and the formation of garden models, which are the results of the utilization of house yards that can be emulated by people who want to use their houses as gardens. The advice given regarding this Community Service Program is that the local government needs to support the stunting prevention in the village, especially in Karya Indah Village. Moreover, awareness is needed from village officials, health cadres, and the community in managing Poskesdes as a Healthy Village Home. Guidance and support from village officials and youth organizations are also needed for the community regarding the utilization of home yards

Photovoltaic (PV) Farm is one of the effective way to produce high scaled electrical energy from sunlight. Many research has been done, is powered optimization method on PV Farm generator string cluster base. But, this method needed a bigger inverter power capacity about 240% from it was before. So this research offer a joint powered optimization method on PV Farm generator string cluster base also can reduce the needs of inverter power capacity. Reducing the needs on inverter capacity can be engineered through inverter position by using Smart Control Algorithm(SCA). This research used a PV Farm with 150 kWp capacity, 50 PV string, every string is consist of 12 module. When it got the shading effect then PV string grouped them into three cluster. The cluster criteria is base on voltage difference between string is more than 20%. Next those three output cluster connect to 3 inverter through switch matrix, where the power capacity comes to the three inverter continously are 75%, 20%, and 5% of power capacity in PV Farm. Inverter position controlled is determined SCA. its controller function to raise the ON/Off signal switch on switch matrix series. Process on raising the ON/Off by SCA base on the voltage input and string current PV Farm. The Voltage and electrical current value is captured through electrical sensor reading and voltage sensor on each cluster. With the controller, power of PV Farm could be channel by inverter with a minimize power capacity on the inverter. Base on simulation result , this method could pressure the need of inverter capacity on PV Farm generator cluster base about 140% (has the same power capacity as generator). So it's concluded that this method could work better on optimizing the power and reducing the inverter capacity in PV Farm generator cluster base on normal/partial shading radiation

This study aims to analyze warning letter reports and tax strengths and revenues from 2010-2014 KPP Pratama Jatinegara. The analysis used is descriptive analysis using the effectiveness of warning and forced letters and the ratio of income tax arrears. Data is collected through study of literature and articles. The results showed that tax disbursement with a warning letter and a letter of power in Jatinegara Primary KPP in general could be classified as ineffective either because a number of sheets or nominal values mentioned in the warning letter and forced letters did not reach 100%. Besides that, the taxpayer does not submit the SPT, SKPKB, SKPKBT etc., taxpayers in taxes do not recognize that there is a tax debt, taxpayers cannot settle the amount of debt, taxpayers submit requests for installment payments because financial conditions are not possible if they have to paid in total, taxpayers file objections to the amount of tax arrears, and taxpayers neglect it. The awareness of taxpayers in the tax payment of forced letter tax arrears, the lack of an active role of the forced letter tax arrears, and cannot be contacted because the taxpayer changes the address and does not report to the tax office.

Methadone Maintenance Therapy is a therapy of methadone drug substitution to manage the opioid dependence in drug addictions. Prescribing the optimal dose of methadone is crucial and complex. It involves avoiding the opioid withdrawal consequences, suppressing cravings, and preventing relapse to illicit opioids use. Hence, this study provides prediction for methadone optimal dose by applying the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) technique. ANFIS has the advantage of knowledge learning capabilities from both clinical data and the expert knowledge (i.e. fuzzy rules), and it is well suited for managing complex problems. The ANFIS model was developed by using MATLAB (i.e. Fuzzy Logic Toolbox). The results obtained show close agreement between the predicted and actual optimal doses as the obtained coefficient value are close to unity in both in both training and testing datasets. This indicates the ANFIS model is able to deal with real clinical data and it is viable to be used for predicting the optimal methadone doses in MMT patients.

One of the key elements in tuberculosis (TB) management is a system for recording and reporting, in which every health care provider needs to report every TB case to an authorized primary health center (PHC) to support effective treatment. This study was conducted to investigate the present condition of TB recording and reporting system and evaluate several factors that might influence PP behavior regarding the reporting of TB cases to a PHC in Bandung, Indonesia. Face-to-face interviews with PP and the head of the PHC were performed. Data were coded, categorized, and analyzed statistically by Fischer’s exact test. We found that there were four factors influencing the reporting of TB cases by PP to PHC, including self-awareness, ignorance, lack of time, and poor implementation of recording and reporting system. The level of PP self-awareness was significantly associated with the reporting of TB cases (p

Power transmission lines are extremely important for the power system to deliver energy of electricity from the plant to the load. The short circuit of fault often occurs in the transmission line and may lead to disconnecting the power supply to the load. This study implements a hybrid technique that is Discrete Wavelet Transformation (DWT) and Support Vector Machine (SVM) for classification of fault in the transmission line. The DWT was created to extract the detailed signal of transient D8 and D9 (order of 4) at 50 kHz for sampling frequency. The value of Root Mean Square (RMS) will be determined by the coefficients D8 and D9 for training and test data using SVM technique. Furthermore, SVM is utilized to detect the fault for each phase and the ground is discovered in the type of fault. The SVM technique has been run using parameter C and kernel scale to achieve the great results of classification of the fault. Type of simulating fault has a variation of location of the fault, fault of resistance and initial angle. The training and test data run for the Test System of Riau, Indonesia. The test result for the classification of fault reaches the highest accuracy of 100%.

Wind energy is a promising alternative energy source that can be used to produce electricity. Wind energy is converted into electrical energy by the principle of converting the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. This working system is often called the wind energy conversion system. Work equipment for this conversion process occurs at wind power plants. One part of the wind power generation system that is no less important is the monitoring section. Monitoring section functions to determine conditions and to control wind power plants. In this paper, a web-based monitoring system has been established. By using Arduino and a data logger system to store data on wind speed and voltage generated by the generator. Data obtained from the anemometer sensor and voltage sensor are processed by Arduino. Then the sensor data is stored on the SD card connected to the data logger shield. Furthermore, data can be viewed through the website based on data sent by GSM Shield sim900. So that users can monitor wind speed and voltage data through the website.

Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) generation system is one of the renewable energy sources that is currently experiencing increased penetration on the grid. Generally, SPV panels are installed at a certain tilted angle. This type of installation has its own drawback such as when the sun’s position is behind the SPV panel, the energy produced decreases. To overcome this condition, the SPV panel with the dual axis sun tracker system is designed and implemented. The designed dual axis sun tracker of this research has several main components, such as 4 LDR sensors for detecting the position of the sun and the Arduino microcontroller used to read the measurement from the LDR sensors, processing these measurement data and instructing the actuator to drive the SPV panels at a perpendicular incident angle. The actuator is made from 2 servo motors for each vertical and horizontal axis respectively. It can be seen from the results that the use of dual axis sun tracker is capable to increase the “energy gain” up to 60 %. It is also worth noting that the use of this dual axis sun tracker has a big potential to apply in the tropical region such as Pekanbaru City, Indonesia.

Introduction: Inappropriate use of antibiotics has led to antimicrobial resistance, a major public health challenge worldwide. This study aimed to explore beliefs, knowledge, and practice on antibiotic use among general public. Methodology: Cross-sectional study was conducted at 13 hospitals and 44 primary health clinics in Perak from May to July 2017. Adults above 18 years, literate, and had experience in antibiotics consumption were selected through sequential sampling method. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire which included the three study domains i.e. belief, knowledge and practice. The questionnaire was pilot on 30 subjects. Results: Out of 2850 distributed questionnaires, 2773 returned and 2632 were included for analysis. Mean age of the respondents was 39.7 ± 14.5 years old. Most respondents were female (58.6%), Malay (74.7%) and underwent upper secondary school (45.6%). Mean score were generated for each domain with belief: 5.87 ± 3.00 (total score: 12), knowledge: 15.82 ± 3.85 (total score: 24), practice: 6.91 ± 2.07 (total score: 12). In the belief domain, 63.2% of respondents believed that antibiotics would help them to recover faster. In the knowledge domain, 52.7% of respondents inappropriately thought that antibiotics could work on viral infections. In the practice domain, 70% of respondents expected doctors to prescribe antibiotics if suffered from symptoms. Conclusion: Majority of the respondents expect doctors to prescribe antibiotics for their illness, and most believes that antibiotics can speed up recovery of illness. Lack of awareness on antibiotic resistance was found to be a significant factor associated with inappropriate antibiotic use.

Diamond back moth (Plutella xylostella) [Lepidoptera: Plutellalidae] is the most important pest of Brasisca vegetable in many part of area in Indonesia. Pest control of this pest has been relied on the use of synthetic insecticide. However prolog use of insecticide cause ecological and economical problems. There is a need for pest control that are sustainable and eviromentally sound. The use of natural (botanical insecticide) such as Ageratum conyzoides is expected to solve that problem. The objective of this research was to test the capability of goatweed suspension to cause mortality P. xylostella larvae and to measure toxicity level (LC50 and LT50) of Ageratum extract. This research was conduched during Juli 2016- February 2017 in green house and laboratory. The results indicated that all of concentration of goatweed (1-5%) was able to cause mortality onP. xylostella larvae. The lethal concentration for 50% mortality (LC50) value was 2,0254%. While the time need to kill 50% of P. xylostella larva were: 33.31 h, 20.68 h, 21.09 h, 12.65 h, 10.86 h treated by concentration of: 1%, 2%, 3%, 4% and 5% respectively. This study indicated the potential use of Ageratum extract to contol P. xylostella.

Solar photovoltaic generation system is a very promising type of renewable energy, particularly when it is implemented in the tropical country like Indonesia where it receives a huge amount of sunshine. Solar photovoltaic generation system can be utilised to supply power for different types of consumer, namely utility grids, industrials as well as household. This article discusses the effect solar radiation to the photovoltaic module with different slope angles namely; 300, 400 and 500 respectively. It was used a 100 Wp solar module in the research. It is not only the slope angle of module analysed in this article but also the weather condition such as: sunny or cloudy conditions. The performances of solar photovoltaic at temperature ranging from 280C to 500C are analysed significantly. The results showed that the above conditions affected the voltage generated by solar photovoltaic system. Finally, the results of this test will be compared with the simulation results of photovoltaic system modeling using Matlab/Simulink.

Solar energy system is one of the most promising renewable energy resources to meet the energy demand. This resource has been developed and utilized in many countries. Indonesia, as one of the tropical countries has been blessed with a huge amount of radiant energy from the sun during the whole year. However, the solar energy resource data is very limited. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to develop an automatic solar station to measure the potential of solar energy resource in the unique tropical region like Pekanbaru City. The availability of solar energy resource data are the foundation of information for designing, utilizing and deploying of solar energy generation and technologies. It is expected that the automatic solar station has capability to measure not only solar radiation data but also other related parameters such as air temperature and humidity. The measured solar energy resource data are also designed as foundation of solar energy resource data base of Pekanbaru City Indonesia.

Tooth and mouth disease is one of the health problems that many people complain. Tooth decay in children occurs due to lack of knowledge and independence of children in maintaining oral health. As the result, it can produce more plaque. Purpose: To determine the differences between the effectiveness of chewing Pineapple and Star fruit to reduce dental plaque for children aged 10-12 years. Methods: This study used 60 peoples and divided into three groups namely the intervention group (I: chewed pineapple; II: chewed Star Fruit and III: brushes teeth as control group). Data was analyzed with non parametric Wilcoxon test and the Kruskal wallis test. Results: The plaque index before intervention were 0,73 + 0,18 on group I, 0,78 + 0,19 on group II, and 0,83 + 0,18 on group III. After intervention plaque index were 0,47 + 0,18 on group I, 0,64 + 0,19 on group II, and 0,36 + 0,23 on group III. A significant difference existed in each groups in the reduction of dental plaque index. Comparing between group there were a significant differences existed between groups but the biggest decrease diference of plaque index occurred after being treated for brushing teeth (group III). Conclusion: Treatment chewing pineapple and star fruits can decrease dental plaque but brushing teeth was more effective in reducing the dental plaque.

Cross docking warehousing has become an important logistics strategy in the supply chain management for many distributions industries. The idea of cross docking is to eliminate the storage and order picking function in the warehouse while still allowing it to serve its receiving and shipping function. In the current literature, many cross docking models have been proposed and these models vary based on the cross docking setting and problem tackled. This study presents the gap analysis on the existing cross docking models pertaining to the operational scenarios and features addressed in solving short-term cross docking problem. On top of that, the main concept of cross docking and planning decision level are discussed. The contributions of this study are to identify the gap of knowledge of the cross docking short-term planning and point out future research direction in cross docking.

The use of the Three-Pass Protocol method in exchanging secret text messages is one effective method because the two interested parties do not need to use a single key to open the message sent. But there is a possibility that the message cannot be described because the cipher used is not suitable. The purpose of this study is to show whether the Affine Cipher Algorithm with One Time Pad Cipher using the Three-Pass Protocol method can be used to encrypt and decryption the text message.

The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence, antibiotic resistance and occurrence of plasmids in Salmonella isolated from catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and tilapia (Tilapia mossambica) obtained from wet markets and ponds in Malaysia. A total of 172 samples (32 catfish carcass rinse, 32 catfish intestines, 32 tilapia carcass rinse, 32 tilapia intestines, and 44 water samples) were obtained from nine wet markets and eight ponds that were fed chicken offals, spoiled eggs, and commercial fish feed from 2008 to 2009. Seven Salmonella serovars were isolated from 9/32 catfish (28.1%), 14/32 tilapia (43.8%), and 11/44 (25%) water samples. These include S. Albany, S. Agona, S. Corvallis, S. Stanley, S. Typhimurium, S. Mikawashima and S. Bovis-mobificans. Salmonella isolates were resistant to chloramphenicol (C, 37.2%), clindamycin (Da, 100%), rifampicin (Rd, 90.7%), spectinomycin (Sh, 27.9%), and tetracycline (Te, 67.4%). The multiple antibiotic resistance index of Salmonella isolates ranged from 0.32 to 0.45 for catfish; 0.14 to 0.36 for tilapia; and 0.27 to 0.36 for water. The predominant antimicrobial resistance profiles of Salmonella serovars from catfish, tilapia and water were CDaRdTe (4/13), DaRdSh (4/19), and DaRdTe (6/11), respectively. The plasmids of Salmonella serovars isolated from catfish ranged from 23 to 80 kb; those for tilapia ranged from 6 to 90 kb; that for water ranged from 6 to 70 kb, respectively. The presence of plasmids represents a potential health hazard since plasmids can mediate the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes to other bacteria present in the fish, and aquaculture environment, which can also enter the food chain.

Tuna (Thunnus spp.) and tuna-like species are significant sources of food and thus play a very important rolein the economy of many countries. More than 48 species of tuna swarm the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans, and theMediterranean Sea. The annual global production of tuna has undergone a marked increase from less than 0.6 millionmetric tons in 1950 to almost 4.5 million metric tons in 2007. Tuna generally is processed as raw fish flesh and marketedas loins/steaks or as a canned food. In the tuna canning process, only about one-third of the whole fish is used. Thus, thecanning industry generates as much as 70% solid wastes from original fish materials. This waste consists of muscle (afterloins are taken), viscera, gills, dark flesh/muscle, head, bone, and skin. Conventionally, these protein-rich by-productsfrom the tuna industry are processed into low market value products, such as fish meal and fertilizer. However, a promisingalternative use of these by-products is as functional food ingredients. Fish protein hydrolysate (FPH), which is obtainedthrough hydrolysis of tuna waste, can be used as an ingredient in food industries to provide functional effects such aswhipping, gelling, and texturing properties. Recently, FPH was found to be a potential source of antioxidants (such aspeptides with anticancer properties), antianemia compounds, and components for use in microbial growth media. Thisarticle is intended to summarize the existing knowledge about FPH, highlight some pertinent information related to thetuna fishing industry, and provide a new outlook on the production and applications of FPH.

This study was conducted to understand the association between low birth weight and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in young children aged 36 – 59 months in Sedayu Subdistrict, Bantul District, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. This study used cross-sectional design with a total of 185 children aged 36 – 59 months were selected by probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling technique. This study was located in Sedayu Subdistrict, Bantul District, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta. The study was conducted January 2017. Main variables in this study were low birth weight, prematurity, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Maternal and child book was used to confirm the birth weight and gestational age data. Abbreviated Conners Rating Scale form was used to detect ADHD symptoms in young children, followed by a psychologist confirmation. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, chi-square test, and multiple logistic regression at 0.05 level of significance. The proportion of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was 29.2% in this study. Meanwhile, the prevalence of low birth weight (

Background: Results of Riskesdas in 2013 showed the prevalence of stunting by 37%. Stunting is a growth disorders such as chronic malnutrition will cause linear growth of troubled children. Stunting apart from the impact of the development of IQ, cognitive and motoric sector but also on emotional development. Hyperactivity disorder or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is one of the emotional problems in children.Objective: The general objective of this study was to determine the relationship between stunting with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children aged 36-59 months in the Sedayu Subdistrict, Bantul District, Yogyakarta in 2017.Methods: This study used a cross-sectional approach. The samples studied amount 185 samples retrieval techniques probability proportional to size (PPS). Variable examined included stunting and hyperactivity disorder.\Results: The prevalence of stunting in this study was 34,2%, meanwhile the prevalence of hyperactivity was 28,8%. Chi-square analysis showed no significant association between stunting with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (OR=0,98; 95%CI: 0,50-1,91).Conclusion: there was no association between stunting and hyperactivity in young children. KEYWORDS: stunting, hyperactivity, ADHD, children

Providing decision support for the medical prescribing process remains a challenge and complicated task. The implementation of Clinical Decision Support System (CDSS) in clinical practice today is not fully integrated and achieved. There are major issues involved in developing and implementing CDSS that challenge and hinders the success of CDSS applications in clinical practice. This paper review and discover the barriers, challenges and considerations of existing CDSS applications that need to be addressed. This study hopes to yield some useful findings in both the literature and the practice of CDSS as well as the contribution to usage of CDSS in improving health care services.

The aim of this study was to determine the microbiological quality in catfish (Clarias gariepinus) and tilapia (Tilapia mossambica) obtained from wet markets and ponds in Malaysia. A total of 108 samples (32 catfish, 32 tilapia, and 44 water samples) were obtained from nine wet markets and eight ponds in Penang, Malaysia. The feed in fish ponds were chicken offal, spoiled eggs and commercial fish feed. Using standard procedures, aerobic plate counts (APC), coliform, fecal coliform including E. coli were performed. A total 31/32 of catfish and 31/32 of tilapia exceeded the recommended microbiological standard for the APC. E. coli was less than 3 MPN/g for all catfish and tilapia samples. Temperature and pH of water ponds ranged from 26 to 27.5oC and 6 to 6.8, respectively. Homemade feed using chicken offal and spoiled egg may contribute to the microbiological quality in fish. This highlights the importance of feed in aquaculture system.

This paper aim to identify and understand the challenges that have to be faced by a small and medium offshore accounting outsourcing provider implementing knowledge management (KM). This study used interpretive in-depth single case study in order to understand the challenges and innovation in implementing the KM in company. Findings show that the middle manager plays an important role in managing challenge to implement KM by create innovations. This study will contribute to further understand the KM implementation in a small and medium company especially in offshore accounting outsourcing provider.

Aflatoxins are one of the major risk factors in the multi-factorial etiology of human hepatocellular carcinoma. Therefore, the information on aflatoxins exposure is very important in the intervention planning in order to reduce the dietary intake of aflatoxins, especially among the children. This study investigated the relationship between aflatoxin B 1 (AFB 1 ) lysine adduct levers in serum and socio-demographic factors and dietary intake of aflatoxins from nuts and nut products in Penang, Malaysia. A cross-sectional field study was conducted in five districts of Penang. A survey on socio-demographic characteristics was administered to 364 healthy adults from the three main ethnic groups (Malay, Chinese and Indian). A total of 170 blood samples were successfully collected and tested for the level of AFB 1 –lysine adduct. 97% of the samples contained AFB 1 –lysine adduct above the detection limit of 0.4 pg/mg albumin and ranged from 0.20 to 23.16 pg/mg albumin (mean ± standard deviation = 7.67 ± 4.54 pg/mg albumin; median = 7.12 pg/mg albumin). There was no significant association between AFB 1 –lysine adduct levels with gender, district, education level, household number and occupation when these socio-demographic characteristics were examined according to high or low levels of AFB 1 –lysine. However, participants in the age group of 31–50 years were 3.08 times more likely to have high AFB 1 levels compared to those aged between 18 and 30 years ( P = 0.026). Significant difference ( P = 0.000) was found among different ethnic groups. Chinese and Indian participants were 3.05 and 2.35 times more likely to have high AFB 1 levels than Malay. The result of AFB 1 –lysine adduct suggested that Penang adult population is likely to be exposed to AFB 1 but at a level of less than that needed to cause direct acute illness or death.

Analytic Hierarchy Process or better known as AHP is the method of structuring, measuring, and synthesizing numerous judgments in finding solutions to decision making problems. There are three common methods of determining the criteria weights in AHP; extent analysis, logarithmic least square method (LLSM), and Lambda-Max. This paper identifies the strengths and weaknesses of these three methods based on the weight accuracy and computational level involved in generating the criteria weights using the data of selecting the best catering company by Wang et al [1].

Degradable plastic is produced by combining oil palm products such as oil palm biomass (OPB); palm oil (PO); additives and polyethylene (PE). Several combinations of these input parameters are used in the formulation to produce degradable plastics of different physical properties. In this study, a Fuzzy Logic (FL) model has been developed to predict the physical properties of plastics based on the same three input components. The formulation of degradable plastics with the most bioactive components in it with desirable physical properties measured by its Melt Flow Index (MFI) and Density could be identified using the FL model developed. The model demonstrates high prediction accuracy reflected in small RMSE value of 0.000129 for the prediction of MFI and 0.009337 for the prediction of Density.

This paper reports the comparison of performance between Islamic and conventional unit trust funds in Malaysia. Least Square Methods were used to describe the overall growth of Malaysian unit trusts for the years 2004 to 2012 based on the number of launched funds, units in circulation, number of accounts and total net asset value. The results indicated that conventional unit trust funds grew exponentially while Islamic unit trusts grew linearly. The performances of 4 Islamic and 4 conventional unit trust funds based on their efficiencies (ratio of weighted sum of outputs to weighted sum of inputs) were measured using Data Envelopment Analysis over a three-year period (2010- 2012). The performances were measured based on two inputs namely the Portfolio Turnover Ratio (PTR) and Management Expense Ratio (MER) while the output was the companies’ annual returns. The outcome is the ranking of unit trusts performance which can be a good reference for investors. The finding shows that conventional unit trusts were the preferred investment among Malaysians. However, the growth of Islamic unit trusts was less affected by the world economic crisis compared to the growth of conventional unit trusts. This is reflected in the decrease of growth of the conventional unit trusts during the years 2007-2008, the time when the world economy was hit hard. On the contrary, the Islamic unit trust showed a gradually increasing growth during the same time period. CIMB conventional is found to be the best unit trust among the conventional unit trusts studied while Kuwait Finance House is found to be the best Islamic unit trust in this study, second only to CIMB conventional. Public Bank unit trust performed consistently on the average while AmBank showed poor performance throughout the years. CIMB conventional performed better than CIMB Islamic but RHB Islamic and AmBank Islamic performed better than their conventional counterparts.

Salmonella species are important foodborne pathogens that can cause illness and death in humans. The objective of this study was to determine the genetic relatedness of 115 Salmonella strains isolated from ducks and their environment using random amplified polymorphic deoxyribonucleic acid (RAPD). The analysis of Salmonella strains by RAPD produced DNA fingerprints of different sizes for differentiation purposes, and cluster analysis at a coefficient of 0.85 grouped the Salmonella strains into various clusters and singletons. S. Typhimurium were grouped into nine clusters and ten singletons, S. Hadar were grouped into seven clusters and nine singletons, S. Enteritidis were grouped into four clusters and five singletons, S. Braenderup were grouped into five clusters and four singletons, S. Albany were grouped into two clusters and seven singletons, and S. Derby were grouped into two clusters and four singletons at a coefficient of 0.85 with discriminatory index (D) ranging from 0.879 to 0.957. With the exception of S. Typhimurium strains which were grouped into three major groups (genotypes) by RAPD analysis, the rest were grouped into two major genotypes. RAPD was a useful genotyping tool for determining the genetic relatedness of the duck Salmonella strains. Comparison of the genetic relatedness among foodborne pathogens and their sources of isolation are important to trace their source and possibly the source of human infection. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s13205-013-0115-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.