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The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) injection around mating on skewing lamb sex ratio in ewes. Thirty cycling multiparous Kurdish × Romanov ewes were divided into two groups (15 per group) based on age and body weight (BW). Animals were received either 20 mL of solution (CaMg) or 20 mL of sterile water (Control) subcutaneously every 7 days from 28 days preto 7 days post-mating. Each mL of CaMg solution contained 400 mg of Ca borogluconate and 22 mg of Mg hypophosphate, which provided 30.4 mg of Ca and 2.04 mg of Mg. Ewes in CaMg group tended to had lower body condition score (BCD) at the day of controlled internal drug release (CIDR) removal (2.79 vs. 2.69; P=0.09) and its change from beginning of experiment to CIDR removal (0.21 vs. 0.04; P=0.06) than control group. The CaMg injection increased plasma insulin (13.2 vs. 11.33 μIU/mL), Ca (9.13 vs. 8.30 mg/dL), Mg (3.66 vs. 3.33 mg/dL), Na (188.83 vs. 175.73 mEq/L) and glucose (56.94 vs. 50.07) concentrations at the day of CIDR removal and Ca (8.87 vs. 8.03 mg/dL) at the day of estrous and mating compared to control group (P<0.05). Lower estradiol (E2) + testosterone to progesterone (P4) ratio at the day of estrous and mating (102.87 vs. 135.67) was observed in ewes received CaMg injection compared to other group (P<0.05). Injection of CaMg solution had no significant effect on lamb sex ratio (P>0.05), although proportion of female lambs (68.18 vs. 56.52%) was numerically higher in ewes of the CaMg group than control group. These results indicated that there was a potential for skewing the sex ratio of lambs toward females when CaMg solution was injected subcutaneously during mating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of diets containing roasted soybean (R), extruded soybean (E) or their combination (RE) on dairy cow performance and milk fatty acid (FA) profile. Nine multiparous lactating Holstein cows (680 ± 25 kg BW; 90 ± 10 DIM; means ± SD) were randomly assigned to a triple 3 × 3 Latin square design. Dry matter intake (DMI), apparent nutrient digestibility, milk yield, composition and FA profile and efficiency of nitrogen (N) utilization for milk production were measured. Cows fed R and RE had higher 4% fat corrected milk (FCM) yield and DMI compared to those fed the E (P<0.05). The efficiency of 4% FCM production per unit of DMI was not influenced by experimental diets (P>0.05). Experimental diets had no effect on milk fat and protein concentrations and nutrient digestibility (P>0.05). Milk fat concentrations of vaccenic acid (VA; C18:1 trans-11) and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA; C18:2 cis-9, trans-11) were higher for cows fed with RE compared to other groups (P<0.05). We concluded that cows fed with RE had similar milk production and fat content compared to those fed with R and a similar beneficial milk FA profile compared to those fed with E. Thus, feeding a diet with RE improved the quality and quantity of dairy cow milk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students' understanding of foundational concepts in fundamental courses is important as it is a pre-requirement for proceeding to any advanced and specific courses in any degree programme. Despite high passing rates in most universities, students actually do not really have a good understanding of the course content, especially in fundamental courses. This paper aims to discuss how the pre-test of basic knowledge in mathematics and physics learnt during pre-university or matriculation level can be used to determine and predict student achievement in the fundamental courses of the two subjects. The pre-test questions were distributed to the first-year students at the beginning of semester one (1) of their study at the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. In this study, two fundamental courses were selected from first- and second-year programmes, namely, Static & Dynamic (KH 1044) and Fluid Mechanics (KH 2134), respectively. A total of 35 students from the test sample of 43 students successfully obtained the pre-test scores of over 40%, while only one student scored more than 80%. However, students who did well in the pre-test did not necessarily obtain good results in the final examination of both fundamental courses and vice versa. Therefore, necessary action or improvement to the teaching and learning process of the identified courses need to be taken to ensure that students have deep understanding of the subjects before they proceed to the advanced courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses descriptive data to assess students' perceptions about the differences between the two programmes offered by the Department of Civil and Structural Engineering (JKAS). The programmes offered are Civil and Structural Engineering (CSE) and Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE). Confusion about the name may be the key issue affecting programme selection by prospective students in their application for placement in the department, thus curtailing their keenness to join the department out of fear of choosing the wrong programme. A total of 95 respondents consisting of new intake students of Semester 1 Year 1 of the 2014-2015 session engaged in the questionnaire survey process conducted in this research. Data obtained were analysed using the percentage of the score on a Microsoft Excel 2010 spreadsheet. The results showed that the students may have understood and may have had some basic knowledge about the field of study and the syllabus offered designed exclusively for each programme. Therefore, from the perspective of the students, efforts aimed at rebranding the programme names were not necessary. However, there were some existing courses that were identified and proposed for rebranding as their names were misleading for the students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]