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Introduction: Future floods are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. Communities must arm themselves with information and skills to overcome these disasters and limit their impact. Moreover, the Coronavirus-19 infection doubled as the transmission was thought to occur when evacuation facilities were overrun and crowded. Despite government and agency assistance, the aftermath of a flood disaster leaves victims susceptible to the impacts. Resilience is essential when battling flooding or a pandemic. Thus, this study aims to determine the community disaster resilience score and its associated factors in Selangor flood-prone communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey will be conducted with a sample size of 574 residents living in flood-prone areas. A validated self-administered questionnaire will be distributed in liaison with community leaders using paper and online. The questionnaire includes respondents' demographic, flood disaster preparedness, general disaster preparedness belief, and community disaster resilience. The associations and predictors between the independent and dependent variables will be examined using bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression with a < 0.05 significance level. Discussion: Insights from this research will help communities better prepare for and recover from disasters. A more robust resilience approach requires focusing on predictors and recruiting those factors to assist health authorities in promoting flood disaster preparedness and resilience practices in the community. Researchers may comprehend the health behaviour of a community to build disaster preparedness and resilience as well as a health intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: COVID-19 has led to a significant increase in household waste generation, ranging from 10% to 30% in certain regions. Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of knowledge and attitude on waste recycling practices in selected communities in Selangor during the post-pandemic period. Methods: A comprehensive waste analysis was conducted in six residential areas in urban Selangor, sampling waste from 25 households. A survey was administered to 244 respondents who had resided in the study area for at least one year and were familiar with the recycling programs and facilities. Data collection involved door-to-door surveys and online platforms. Results: The study revealed a weekly generation of 124.89 kg of solid waste, equivalent to 0.14 kg per person or 0.71 kg per household per day. Of this, 101.45 kg was recycled, resulting in an 81% recycling rate, averaging 0.11 kg per person or 0.58 kg per household per day. Paper accounted for the highest proportion of recycled waste (51%), followed by plastic (19%) and used items such as clothes (19%). Respondents displayed good knowledge (76.6%) and attitude (90.6%), but recycling practices were poor (61.9%). Significant associations were observed between knowledge and gender, attitude and factors such as age, race, monthly household income, and house type, and practice and factors such as residential location, gender, and the number of household members. Conclusion: Despite the pandemic, communities exhibited a high recycling rate, reflecting positive knowledge and attitude. However, bridging the knowledge-implementation gap is essential for improving recycling practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Future floods are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. Communities must arm themselves with information and skills to overcome these disasters and limit their impact. Moreover, the Coronavirus-19 infection doubled as the transmission was thought to occur when evacuation facilities were overrun and crowded. Despite government and agency assistance, the aftermath of a flood disaster leaves victims susceptible to the impacts. Resilience is essential when battling flooding or a pandemic. Thus, this study aims to determine the community disaster resilience score and its associated factors in Selangor flood-prone communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative survey will be conducted with a sample size of 574 residents living in flood-prone areas. A validated self-administered questionnaire will be distributed in liaison with community leaders using paper and online. The questionnaire includes respondents' demographic, flood disaster preparedness, general disaster preparedness belief, and community disaster resilience. The associations and predictors between the independent and dependent variables will be examined using bivariate analysis and multiple linear regression with a < 0.05 significance level. Discussion: Insights from this research will help communities better prepare for and recover from disasters. A more robust resilience approach requires focusing on predictors and recruiting those factors to assist health authorities in promoting flood disaster preparedness and resilience practices in the community. Researchers may comprehend the health behaviour of a community to build disaster preparedness and resilience as well as a health intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elder maltreatment or abuse is an important issue to be addressed, especially in institutional care settings where most of the elders are vulnerable and dependent on others for their daily activities. With a rapidly growing older population and increasing rate of chronic and degenerative diseases, long term care system will be on high demand. Research suggests that staff's knowledge and attitude condoning elder abuse are the possible risk factor for executing abusive behaviors against residents in the institutions but have been studied infrequently. Hence, this paper focuses on the prevalence of elder maltreatment in aged care institutions in Selangor. Staff's knowledge, attitude and practice towards elder maltreatment in the aged care institution are discussed. This descriptive study utilized simple random sampling method to identify 110 care workers from 31 public and private aged care institutions in Selangor. Findings showed that majority of the respondents had a low level of knowledge concerning the management of elder maltreatment in a residential setting (M=16.3; SD=8.1), while more than two third (71.8%) were reported to have low level of positive attitude against elder maltreatment. Results also highlighted that majority of the respondents (90.9%) reflected an 'abusive' behavior towards elderly resident at least once during the past 6 months where the physical and psychological maltreatment related to caring activities were most common among them. Taking into account that demographic ageing is taking shape in Malaysia, more attention should be given on education and support towards institutional aged care setting as the primary preventive strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robusta coffee is one of Malaysia’s most planted species due to its ability to adapt to the local climate. Nonetheless, the coffee species was perceived as having lower quality and economic value due to bitterness and astringency. It is widely believed that higher caffeine and chlorogenic acid contents in Robusta coffee beans contributed to the unfavourable bitter and astringent flavour. Hence, the present study intends to evaluate the effect of spontaneous wet fermentation (SWF) of locally grown Robusta (Coffea canephora L.) coffee towards the microbiological properties, phytochemical constituents, in particular caffeine and chlorogenic acids (CGA), total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant properties. The SWF of green Robusta coffee beans from University Agricultural Park (UAP), Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor, took place at ambient temperatures between 25 to 28°C, and the pH decreased from 5.2 to 3.64 over five days of fermentation. The total plate count, lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts were significantly increased to approximately 7 Log10 CFU/g. The SWF has reduced caffeine content by 35%, while the CGA has decreased by roughly 20%. The SWF also led to an increase in TPC of approximately 31.5% and an increase in antioxidant activity of approximately 60%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physical and Health Education (PHE) assessment is essential for evaluating students' knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards physical and health education. Despite the limited number of studies on conceptions of assessment, more research is needed to focus on PHE teachers in the local context. This quantitative study aims to uncover secondary school PHE teachers' conceptions of assessment by examining four variables: improvement, school accountability, student accountability, and irrelevance. The study involved 268 PHE teachers from two districts in Selangor, Malaysia. Results indicated that improvement received the highest level of agreement, while irrelevance had the lowest. A MANOVA analysis explored the effects of gender and years of teaching experience on teachers' perceptions. The analysis showed no significant gender differences, but teachers with more than 20 years of experience had a significantly different mean perception of assessment compared to all other groups, suggesting that teaching experience affects teachers' conceptions of assessment. The result of this study provides valuable insights for stakeholders in education, particularly in PHE assessment. Future research may benefit from incorporating qualitative methods to enhance the study's findings on conceptions of assessment among school teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to determine mobile device ownership and online shopping preferences among shoppers in the Klang Valley, Selangor, Malaysia. Additionally, it seeks to investigate the awareness and acceptance of Near Field Communication (NFC) Technology as a preferred payment platform or method among online shoppers. This quantitative research is carried out via survey questionnaire on a sample size of 200 respondents who have shopped online with majority residing in the Klang Valley. The findings indicate online shoppers still prefer to conduct their online shopping transactions using a desktop Personal Computer. Respondents, regardless of race and academic qualifications, use the English language medium when shopping online and majority prefer to shop at an individual e-commerce website rather than a single website comprising many e-commerce websites such as deals.bigsale.com.my. Awareness on NFC technology for payment solutions is still at the infancy stage among many online shoppers in Malaysia with a low acceptance level mainly due to security concerns. This finding has implications on the communications strategies of mobile network operators, banks, Android and Apple-device manufacturers, online retailers and other key players in the telecommunications and technology industry. The latter need to play an active role in educating the public about NFC-enabled payment devices and convincing online shoppers on the security features of such mobile payment devices. In other words, more than just touting the benefits of NFC and explaining the technology, the communications strategy of all relevant players must focus on persuading and convincing their target audience on the security features for diffusion and adoption of the technology online shoppers in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Total calcium concentration is widely used to assess body calcium status although limited by many confounding factors. Thus, this study aimed to derive and internally validate an albumin-adjusted calcium equation for a selected Malaysian population. Method: This cross-sectional study involved 1011 adults at an emergency department of a tertiary hospital. Patients who had total calcium, ionised calcium and albumin measurements taken simultaneously were included. Derivation of the albumin-adjusted calcium equation was based on the adjustment equation obtained from the Association for Clinical Biochemistry and Laboratory Medicine 2015 position paper. Additionally, the equation was internally validated and compared with ionised calcium (gold standard) and the conventional Payne's equation. Results: The newly derived equation = total calcium + 0.017 (41.35 - albumin). Internal validation exhibited the amount of shrinkage of 0.049. It tends to overestimate the adjusted calcium by a mean difference of 0.029 mmol/L compared to Payne's equation. The comparison between Payne's equation and the new equation with ionised calcium reclassified 402 and 486 patients, respectively into different calcium status. When both equations were compared, calcium status classification significantly differed in all and hypoalbuminaemic subjects by 90 and 16 patients, respectively. Conclusion: Locally derived albumin-adjusted calcium equation differed statistically in calcium status classification when compared to the Payne's equation. However, to confirm this significance, the result must be compared to ionised calcium under strict, controlled preanalytical conditions. In terms of clinical significance, there was no difference in classification of calcium status between Payne's and the new equation at medical decision limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the studies of land and forest exploration, as well as the establishment of new settlements in the Malay Peninsula, one could not neglect the presence of Indonesian settlers in general and the Minangkabau in particular. Their custom to travel served as a catalyst in the development of rural settlements in the Peninsular Malay states, thus making the relationship of history, blood ties and cultural ties between the Minangkabaus and Malay Peninsula throughout the history. In the British colonial era, the colonial documents showed that the Minangkabau settlers had been very active in playing a direct role in the implementation of the colonial policies that helped to ensure the retention of the characteristics of indigenous rural settlements. Although there are still uncertainties about the exact arrival date of the Minangkabau to the Malay Peninsula, their existence could be traced through their settlements which are not only concentrated in Negeri Sembilan, but also in Melaka, Pahang, Perak, Johor and Selangor. In Selangor, their settlements concentrated in areas such as Hulu Langat, Hulu Selangor, Klang and around Kuala Lumpur. This paper aims to discuss the Minangkabau settlements in the Malay Peninsula, particularly in Selangor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the application of Geographical Information System (GIS) and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) technology as a tool to aid decision-making in a case study to locate beekeeping zones in the state of Selangor. The combination of GIS capabilities with MCDM technique provides greater effectiveness and efficiency of decision making while solving spatial decision problems. In this research, land suitability analysis and zoning was carried out with respect to the bee's biotic needs and some other important factors in apiary management. Suitability weighting was determined using the pairwise comparison matrix of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and suitability score using Weighted Overlay function in ArcGIS9. The overall consistency ratio value of AHP pairwise comparison was 0.01 which indicates a reasonable level of consistency in the deployment of the pairwise comparisons. The results of the analysis are presented and verified with actual data of the existing apiaries in Selangor. The integration of AHP model with GIS resulted in Non-Suitable, Most Suitable, Moderately Suitable and Suitable beezones. The total Non Suitable Areas (NS) was 34.73%, leaving the remainder as potential areas (65.27%). The remaining are the Most Suitable Areas (S1) 13.72 %, Suitable Areas (S2) of 27.24% and Moderately Suitable Areas of 24.32 %. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the economic values of selected forest goods and services in Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve (AHFR), Puchong Selangor. It provides arguments for forest conservation and management on a sustainable basis. AHFR is currently used for research and education by UPM staff and students. Other important direct uses include the local dependence of Orang Asli for their livelihood, recreation by the local community, environmental education programme and other indirect uses such as protection of water resource and carbon sequestration. Appropriate methods were used to estimate the economic values of selected forest goods and services in AHFR. The total estimated economic value of five selected forest goods and services (timber, medicinal plants, Orang Asli dependence on forest, potential recreation benefit, and conservation value) was RM2.43 billion for the whole 1248 ha or RM1. 94 million per hectare. This value is substantial and may be greater than the cost of conversion forest to other alternative uses such as housing development or agriculture. This study is important for policy-makers such that the forest can be maintained based on current uses and not to convert to other uses. The conversion to other uses may involve high social cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 coronavirus, an infectious disease originating in Wuhan, has become an outbreak worldwide, leading to unprecedented measures restricting social and physical activities in many countries. The subsequent social distancing of COVID-19 has significantly resulted in many psychological consequences. The current study examines the impact of social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic on the mental health symptoms of Selangor State, Malaysia residents. An online survey was conducted through social media platforms targeting residents of Selangor State in Malaysia. A convenience sampling method was led to include 258 respondents in the study. The questionnaire on the symptoms of mental health related to fear of COVID-19 included 13 items developed from the existing studies. The results showed that symptoms of mental health problems related to fear of COVID-19 are negatively associated with the likelihood of social interaction. The overall score of symptoms of mental health related to the fear of COVID-19 showed moderate symptoms of mental problems related to the fear of COVID-19. The factor of age was also associated with higher symptomatology of mental health problems related to fear of COVID-19. Thus, related measures and guidelines must consider the mental well-being of the at-risk person as the pandemic continues. The current study's findings contribute to the knowledge gaps in behavioural health during biological disasters. It also provides a reference for professionals and policymakers to develop programs and measures to handle the psychosocial status of the affected people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flies (Diptera) play a significant role in the ecosystem as pollinators and decomposers, and they are also important vermin and disease vectors. Studies on the dipteran species are still lacking in Malaysia; therefore, the dipteran species' biology, morphology, distribution, and abundance are necessary. The objectives of this study were to identify dipteran species using a molecular approach, determine flies' Bovidae hosts, and investigate the diversity of the fly's species at three different cattle farms purposively selected in Selangor, Malaysia. The fly species were identified using cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI) (Haematopota javana, Tabanus rubidus, Tabanus fontinalis, Iranihindia martellata, Musca domestica, and Chrysomya megacephala), while another six species only up to genus level (Haematopota sp. 1, Musca sp. 1, Asilus sp., Metopia sp., Anasillomos sp., and Ommatius sp.). In addition, two species of hosts: Bos indicus and Bos taurus, were proven to be the associated host species for the dipteran species based on molecular data of cytochrome b (cytb). However, there were no significant differences between farms in species diversity and richness (F = 1.262, df = 2, p = 0.2459 >0.05). Interestingly, the two most dominant dipteran genera collected from the cattle farms were Musca and Chrysomya. At the same time, its abundance may have been influenced by the structure of the cattle cage flooring, which serves as a breeding site and food source. These findings contribute to fundamental epidemiological data in developing control strategies for dipteran species and are of great economic and health importance to livestock production in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most food poisoning outbreaks are caused by consumers' poor knowledge, attitude, perception, and behaviour in relation to food safety. A valid and reliable tool is thus needed to measure these factors among the consumers. A total of 79 respondents participated in this pilot survey using convenient sampling, and participants self-completed the questionnaire given. Item analysis was conducted to determine the difficulty and discrimination indices of 40 items involved in knowledge construction. Construct validity and reliability were performed on 33 items which measured attitudes, preventive practices, and perceptions. Item analysis showed that more than 80% of respondents answered 19 items correctly. The discrimination index revealed that 16 items scored below 0.20. The Average Variance Extraction for all latent constructs, namely attitude, practice, and perception met acceptable threshold values of 0.527, 0.517, and 0.535, respectively. The Fornell-Larcker criterion suggested that three latent constructs were acceptable for discriminant validity. The internal consistency and reliability for all scaled items in each construct were good, with Cronbach's alpha values of more than 0.7 (0.820, 0.809, and 0.799 for attitude, practice, and perception, respectively). In conclusion, the present work indicated that the knowledge, attitude, practice, and perception (KAP2) questionnaire used could be a valid and reliable measure to evaluate consumer's knowledge, attitude, preventive practice, and perception on food poisoning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite considerable investments in transforming the physical education (PE) curriculum and improving PE quality in primary schools, reports indicate that quality implementation is mostly impeded by systemic barriers, especially at the administrative level. It is suggested that the vision of propelling quality PE is in the hands of administrators, especially principals. However, this role has been previously overlooked. This study explores the principals' attitude towards PE implementation, specifically by examining four implementation domains: a) supervision and monitoring (S&M); b) professional development (PD); c) support & allocation (S&A); and d) resource and curriculum (R&C). Seven personal variables (e.g., gender, years of teaching experience, working experience as a principal, type of school, academic qualification, professional qualification, physical activity level) were used to compare attitudes among groups across implementation domains. The ratio of 3:1:1 stratified random sampling was carried out to determine the sample size of 250 schools out of a total of 372 schools from five randomly selected districts in Selangor. Descriptive statistics showed that administrators generally had a low positive attitude towards the implementation of PE (mean= 3.88, SD= .604) but still being in a favourable range. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that the attitude in carrying out PE implementation was significantly different (p < .05) among personal variable groups: a) type of schools; b) academic qualification; c) professional qualification; and d) physical level activity. The school leaders' attitude towards PE implementation may be dependent on the investigated variables which influence the development and sustainability of quality PE programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions in Malaysia are escalating due to rapid urbanisation wherein their sources are claimed to be generated by the construction industry, including urban park development. Upon completion of the urban park project, the vegetation will supposedly function immediately as a carbon sequester. However, the processes of building, maintaining, and renewing built features and plantings can emit additional carbon dioxide (CO2) than the storage. Rigorous CO2 release across the maintenance and renewal stages may be contributed by park management activities, such as planting grooming, built feature rectification, and park maintenance works. This study investigated carbon footprint derived from built features and planting works during the construction, maintenance, and renewal stages of park management. Taman Bandaran Kelana Jaya and Taman Aman Petaling Jaya were chosen as the study sites as they were located at urban areas. Continued use of the parks resulted in a swift deterioration of its facilities, whereby this scenario would ensure recurrent maintenance and renewal works were conducted for them. As-built drawings were utilised to identify the lists of inventories and work breakdown structure for every built feature and planting work to approximate the indirect CO2 emissions, which was aided by EToolLCD software. This study revealed that the amount of CO2 sequestered by the manicured vegetation was only 28.7% out of the total CO2 emission produced since its construction stage. Hence, urban parks can be perceived as a carbon source instead of a carbon sink medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beranang, one of the rural areas of Selangor which still depends on the groundwater as a secondary source of water for drinking and other purposes apart from treated water. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the health risk assessment of arsenic ingestion through groundwater consumption among Beranang residents in Selangor. Five houses with a functioning electrical pump-assisted tube well were chosen for the sampling, which occurred in February 2019. The groundwater samples were taken at each sampling point and stored at room temperature during transport to the laboratory within 24 hours. The groundwater samples were analyzed using the ICP-MS method. Both hazard quotient (HQ) and lifetime cancer risk (LCR) were calculated based on the formula provided by the US EPA (United States Environment Protection Agency). Arsenic concentration in the groundwater samples was higher than the WHO Drinking Guideline and Malaysia Raw Water Standard in all houses. The mean concentration was 46.90 µg/L with maximum and minimum concentrations of 54.40 µg/L and 23.70 µg/L, respectively. The concentration was approximately 2- to 6- fold in all houses with 100% prevalence of contaminated tube wells. The health risk degree of children was higher than that of adults on the whole, indicating that children suffer much higher risks than adults. The health risk degree through oral exposure was higher than dermal exposure. Despite the fact that the groundwater is not suitable for drinking, however, there is no health risk through dermal exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information technologies (ITs) have been employed in various fields of human endeavour especially to engender socio-economic development. One key sub-sector in which the adoption of ITs is increasingly becoming critical in Malaysia is the farm-based (agri-based) enterprises. However, previous studies have suggested that a number of factors influences the adoption of ICT by enterprises, especially small and medium firms. This study was prompted by the need to determine the factors that influence the adoption of IT among farm-based enterprises. A pre-test study was conducted with 50 IT-using entrepreneurs selected from five farm-based firms that were selected using systematic random sampling from a population of 500 farm-based entrepreneurs (selected from 50 farm-based firms) in Selangor, Malaysia. The study applied modified Entrepreneurial Event Model (EEM) theory with System Support and Readiness and Perceived Benefits as independent variables, while IT Adoption was the dependent variable. The data was collected using a structured questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analyses. The findings revealed that System support and readiness and Perceived benefits are the critical factors that determine IT adoption and that most of the enterprises (M = 3.81, SD = 1.00) adopted basic entrepreneurial ITs while a number of them (M = 3.68, SD = 1.23) adopted advanced entrepreneurial ITs. The limitations of the study include the size of the sample. Recommendations for effective application of IT into practical usage for farm-based enterprises development were included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the ethnographic nature of audience studies and the practices of audience ethnography in Kampung Papitusulem, Sabak Bernam. Although ethnography has been adopted in the studies of media reception worldwide, it is not a popular methodological tradition among the media and communication researchers in Malaysia. However, considering the multicultural nature of the Malaysian population and media, audience ethnography should be considered as one of the practical methodologies in media and communication research in the country. Based on the empirical ethnographic research involving a group of Malay-Javanese women in Kampung Papitusulem, Sabak Bernam, this article presents the methodological issues of an ethnographic approach in studying Malaysian television audiences. The practice of audience ethnography in the kampung indicates that the methodology would likely be applicable in media audience research in rural Malaysia by considering practical data collection techniques including partial immersion of fieldwork, conversational interviews, and selected participant observation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines problems in the enforcement of nafkah orders of the Syariah Court. Despite the fact that the Syariah Court is guided by comprehensive statutory laws, complaints on matters related to the enforcement of nafkah orders remain unresolved. Previous studies on this issue showed that women and children were the most affected group due to the weak enforcement of the Syariah Court's nafkah orders. Therefore, this study was undertaken to examine and identify problems that have resulted in failure to enforce nafkah orders. This research uses the qualitative approach based on legal doctrine and data collection from field study. Data were obtained through examination of files from court and from informants, namely, officers from the Syariah Court as well as clients of the court. The study discloses an obvious co-relation between complex and lengthy processes, unnecessary time consumption and cost inefficiency with the enforcement order of nafkah. This article is the preamble to an envisaged study on the enforcement of the nafkah order in the Syariah Court. The results will be useful for further improvement of existing legal provisions in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The enforcement of Shari'ah criminal offences in Selangor has always been subjected to public scrutiny. The commission of selected Shari'ah criminal offences has been rigorously enforced against by the Religious Enforcement Division of the Department of Islamic Affairs. Alas, there are times that the manner in which the enforcement has been carried out has led to public criticism. This article studies the power of the enforcement officers, the modus operandi of enforcement and the challenges faced by the Selangor Religious Enforcement Division. Using a mixed mode of content analysis and personal observation, the article argues that there is still much that needs to be done to improve the image and modus operandi of the enforcement of Shari'ah criminal offences in Selangor specifically and in Malaysia generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Listeria monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) is an important foodborne pathogen which can cause foodborne listeriosis with high mortality rates especially in susceptible population groups such as pregnant women, elderly and immunocompromised individuals. The biosafety level of L. monocytogenes in chicken offal has becomes a great concern as chicken offal is a cheap source of protein and it is often served as side dishes in South East Asian countries. In Malaysia, the consumption of chicken offal has almost doubled from 5 g per capita per day in the early 1980s to 9 g per capita per day in 2009. In this study, risk assessment was conducted to estimate the risk of acquiring listeriosis from consumption of chicken offal in Malaysia. A microbial survey on the prevalence and concentration of L. monocytogenes in chicken offal were carried out in Selangor, Malaysia over a one-year period (November 2010 to October 2011). It was assumed that there were no seasonal changes in the prevalence and consumption pattern all year round. Assuming that 5.6 million people in Selangor, Malaysia consume a single serving (125 g) of chicken offal per week, it is estimated that in a year there could be 0.61 cases and 1.98 x 10-4 cases of listeriosis per 100,000 population of pregnant woman and immunocompromised individual, respectively. However, the potential for getting listeriosis among the healthy population was very low, only 1.39 x 10-8 cases per 100,000 population. This study demonstrated risk assessment model not only used as a tool to estimate the risk of acquiring illness but it can influence public health surveillance and providing data in setting approriate level of protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape maintenance plays an important role in ensuring the landscape sustainability of recreational forest. Proper landscape maintenance can enhance park's quality as well as increase user experience in the park. As new recreational forests are developed, the need for good landscape maintenance and management geared towards sustainability is crucial. The goal of this study is to understand users' perception towards recreational forest landscape maintenance and management. The objective of this study is to analyze users' perception towards landscape maintenance of recreational forests in relation to their existing management programs, and to discuss implications of maintenance and management of recreational forest towards sustainability. The study is conducted at three selected recreational forests in Selangor, namely Sungai Tekala Recreational Forest, Sungai Chongkak Recreational Forest and Templer Recreational Forest. A total of 533 respondents participated in this study. Results indicate that the present landscape maintenance standards of these sites are low reflecting weaknesses in the management system. Therefore, the management team of these recreational forests must improve their landscape maintenance and management approaches for sustainability including improving users' convenience, safety and experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bugis have already forged trading relationship with the government of Melaka since the 15th century. At the end of the 17th century, they started to establish new settlements along the coast of the Malacca Strait. As a foreign power, their intervention in the politics of Malaya especially at the end of the 17th century and the beginning of 18th century could be seen obviously without any doubt. Their existence has shaped the history of Malaya in particular, and the Malay Archipelago in general. Majority of the Bugis could be traced in two states in the Malay Peninsula, namely, Johor and Selangor. In fact, both these states are said to be ruled by the rulers who had descended from the Bugis. The presence of the Bugis community in Johor can still be traced in several settlements which remain until today. Since their arrival in Johor, the Bugis community has managed to put their names in the local history to the extent that this particular community was said to be more pronounced than the other ethnic groups in the state. This situation is different from the state of Selangor, despite the fact that the Bugis community arrived there much earlier. Based on the Dutch's record, the Bugis settlements in Selangor (Sungai Selangor and Sungai Klang) were established by 1681. In 1700, Tuk Engku Klang, the relative of Sultan Abdul Jalil Riayat Shah of Johor, gave a power seal to Yamtuan Bugis to move freely in Selangor (Kuala Selangor). The gift marked the beginning of the Bugis influence in Selangor. In fact, the Dutch was worried to see the increasing number of Bugis in Selangor. However, a recent study shows that the number of Bugis in Selangor is relatively low in comparison wan uuici maiay giuups. inus, ims papei is an attempt to discuss the dissipation of the Bugis community in Selangor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A GIS-based user-interface programme was developed to compute the geospatial Water Productivity Index (WPI) of a river-fed rice irrigation scheme in Northwest Selangor, Malaysia. The spatial analysis includes irrigation blocks with sizes ranging from 20 to 300 ha. The amount of daily water use for each irrigation block was determined using irrigation delivery model and stored in the database for both main season (August to December) and off season (February to May). After cut-off of the irrigation supply, a sub-module was used to compute the total water use including rainfall for each irrigation block. The rice yield data for both seasons were obtained from DOA (Department of Agriculture, Malaysia) of the scheme. Then, the Water Productivity Index (WPI) was computed for each irrigation block and spatial thematic map was also generated. ArcObjects and Visual Basic Application (VBA) programming languages were used to structure user-interface in the ArcGIS software. The WPI, expressed in terms of crop yield per unit amount of water used (irrigation and effective rainfall), ranged from 0.02 to 0.57 kg/m³ in the main season and 0.02 to 0.40 in off season among irrigation blocks, respectively. The development of the overall system and the procedure are illustrated using the data obtained from the study area. The approach could be used to depict the gaps between the existing and appropriate water management practices. Suitable interventions could be made to fill the gaps and enhance water use efficiency at the field level and also help in saving irrigation water through remedial measures in the season. The approach could be useful for irrigation managers to rectify and enhance decision-making in both the management and operation of the next irrigation season. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food insecurity is defined as a condition whenever people are not able to access enough food at all time for an active and healthy life, as well as the availability of adequate and safe food acquired by socially acceptable ways. This study utilized the Malaysian Coping Strategy Instrument (MCSI) to determine the percentage and the risk factors of food insecurity among the urban welfare recipient households in Hulu Langat, Selangor. A total of one hundred and three women (aged 20-55 years old) from selected welfare recipient households were involved in this study. Questionnaires were used to collect demographic and socio-economic information, as well as food security status of the participating households. The results indicated that 26.3% of the households faced food security, while 39.8% experienced moderate food insecurity, and 34.0% were subjected to severe food insecurity. The risk factors of food insecurity included the presence of children below 7 years old (F=3.690; p≤0.05), school-going children (F=2.599; p≤ 0.5), disabled members in the households (F=3.690; p<0.028), income reliance on financial assistance and per capita income (F=4.349; p≤0.05). In conclusion, food insecurity is a major public health problem among the urban welfare recipient households. Meanwhile, diverse risk factors were identified to have contributed to food insecurity in this study. Therefore, welfare recipient households with these circumstances ought to give priority to intervention programmes that address food insecurity by policy makers and programme implementers. In addition, the intervention programmes should be designed to address this issue and other risk factors influencing food acquisition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research indicated that farmers' attitude, knowledge and competency influenced the adoption of technology. Realizing the truth, this study was carried out with the purpose to find factors and answers to questions that influenced the adoption of Precision Agricultural Practice (PAP). The study was carried out on 119 paddy farmers at IADA Barat Laut, Selangor. Results indicated that attitude, knowledge and competency significantly influenced the adoption of the PAP. Hence, to change the farmers' attitude, knowledge and competency are vital aspects in the adoption of the PAR [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, dust samples were collected from 4 residential colleges (K2, K5, KOSAS and K10) in Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) Serdang, Selangor. The samples were collected from ceiling fans and car parks roadside dust. Sand dust on top of the car park cover were collected using polyethylene brush, tray and kept in a polyethylene bag. Dust from ceiling fan on the first floor was collected and put into a polyethylene bag. The dust samples collected were analysed for the concentrations of Cd, Cu, Fe, Ni and Zn. It was found that K5 [Cu (62.94 ± 0.77 µg/g dw), Fe (1802.40 ± 9.81 µg/g dw), and Zn (253.34 ± 22.76 µg/g dw) of car park dust; Zn (997.20 ± 16.10 µg/g dw) (of ceiling fan dust] and KI0 [Ni (26.88 ± 1.84 µg/g dw) and Zn (199.77 ± 6.64 µg/g dw) of car park dust; Cu (468.55 ± 3.67 µg/g dw), Ni (83.96 ± 0.75 µg/g dw), and Fe (3131.58 ± 27.01 µg/g dw) of ceiling fan dust] exhibited elevated concentrations of heavy metals that might be related to vehicular activities as compared to K2 and KOSAS. in general, ceiling fan dust had significantly (P< 0.05) higher concentrations of heavy metals than the car park dust. In comparison to other reported studies in the literature, the maximum levels of Ni and Cu were comparable or higher than those reported for major cities in the world. Hence, more monitoring studies should be conducted in the future to check for metal contamination in the dust, as this can serve as an atmospheric indicator of heavy metal pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this study was to assess the welfare of divorced women in relation to financial supports after divorce, i.e. iddah maintenance, mut'ah, arrears of maintenance, and child maintenance. The specific objectives were to determine the divorced women's satisfaction with the amount of financial supports, the ex-husbands' compliance to court-ordered financial supports, their satisfaction with post-divorce welfare (levels of economic strain and depression), the relationships between satisfaction with the amount of financial supports and post-divorce welfare, as well as the relationships between ex-husbands' compliance to court-ordered financial supports and post-divorce welfare. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The sample comprised of 201 divorced women selected from the cases recorded in the year 2003 till 2005 at the Shariah Subordinate Courts of Hulu Langat and Gombak Timur, Selangor. Pearson correlation showed that two factors were negatively correlated with the economic welfare of the divorced women, i.e. the dissatisfaction with the amount of iddah maintenance, mut'ah, and child maintenance and the ex-husbands' none or partial compliance to the court-ordered iddah maintenance, mut'ah, and child maintenance. However, on the contrary to the expectation, the divorced women's satisfaction with the amount of all types of financial supports provided by the ex-husbands and their ex-husbands' none or partial compliance to all types of financial supports was found to have no significant relationships with depression. The findings also indicated that the assessment of a reasonable sum of financial supports and the effective enforcement of court order were significant factors that might augment the welfare of women after divorce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface sediments were collected from 11 sampling sites in selected intertidals and drainages of Selangor. The sediment samples were analysed for Ni and Zn. The metal concentrations ranged from 15.1 to 121 μg/g dry weight for Ni and 50.2 to 336 μg/g dry weight for Zn. The highest total (Ni and Zn) concentrations in sediments were found at an industrial site in Serdang. The Ni and Zn ranges resulting from this study were wider and higher than those reported previously in Malaysia. Generally, the 'oxidisable-organic' fraction contributed the largest percentage of metals among the other three anthropogenic-related fractions. This study shows that the non-resistant fraction dominated the total Zn based on sequential extraction technique. Some sites had higher percentage (>50%) of non-resistant fraction of Ni and Zn, indicating anthropogenic sources of these metals. Therefore, it is suggested that continuous monitoring of the study areas be implemented especially at industrial areas in Serdang. Perhaps, the industrial waste must be treated before draining to the waterways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Timber value has significant effects on sustainable forest management in developing countries. Empirical evidence has shown that timber value depends on many factors including physical conditions of the forest area, characteristics and composition of species, market condition, logging methods and government policy. This study aimed to estimate the economic value or stumpage value of timber resources at the compartment level in six compartments of Ayer Hitam Forest Reserve (AHFR), Puchong, Selangor. The estimation of stumpage value was done using a residual-value technique based on pre-felling (pre-F) inventory data, log price and assumed logging cost. The results show that stumpage values varied by compartment and diameter class. Most of the compartments had a substantial stumpage value, ranging from RM34,514 to RM66.875 per ha for trees 15 cm and above. The total estimated stumpage value for the whole AHFR was RM64,175,904.00. On average, about 49% of this value was stumpage value for trees 50 cm and above. The estimated values ranged from RM9, 775 to RM35,606 per ha. From the results of the study, it can be conlcuded that AHFR is a high-value forest and that the total stumpage value is comparable with those of other dipterocarp forest areas in Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]