• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.41.1-41.14
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• 2021

Background: Our previously prepared ceftiofur (CEF) hydrochloride oily suspension shows potential wide applications for controlling swine Streptococcus suis infections, while the irrational dose has not been formulated. Objectives: The rational dose regimens of CEF oily suspension against S. suis were systematically studied using a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic model method. Methods: The healthy and infected pigs were intramuscularly administered CEF hydrochloride oily suspension at a single dose of 5 mg/kg, and then the plasma and pulmonary epithelial lining fluid (PELF) were collected at different times. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimal bactericidal concentration, mutant prevention concentration (MPC), post-antibiotic effect (PAE), and time-killing curves were determined. Subsequently, the area under the curve by the MIC (AUC_0-24h/MIC) values of desfuroylceftiofur (DFC) in the PELF was obtained by integrating in vivo pharmacokinetic data of the infected pigs and ex vivo pharmacodynamic data using the sigmoid E_max (Hill) equation. The dose was calculated based on the AUC_0-24h/MIC values for bacteriostatic action, bactericidal action, and bacterial elimination. Results: The peak concentration, the area under the concentration-time curve, and the time to peak for PELF's DFC were 24.76 ± 0.92 ㎍/mL, 811.99 ± 54.70 ㎍·h/mL, and 8.00 h in healthy pigs, and 33.04 ± 0.99 ㎍/mL, 735.85 ± 26.20 ㎍·h/mL, and 8.00 h in infected pigs, respectively. The MIC of PELF's DFC against S. suis strain was 0.25 ㎍/mL. There was strong concentration-dependent activity as determined by MPC, PAE, and the time-killing curves. The AUC_0-24h/MIC values of PELF's DFC for bacteriostatic activity, bactericidal activity, and virtual eradication of bacteria were 6.54 h, 9.69 h, and 11.49 h, respectively. Thus, a dosage regimen of 1.94 mg/kg every 72 h could be sufficient to reach bactericidal activity. Conclusions: A rational dosage regimen was recommended, and it could assist in increasing the treatment effectiveness of CEF hydrochloride oily suspension against S. Suis infections.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.18
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• pp.7725-7730
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• 2014

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the third most common cause for cancer death in the world, now being especially linked to chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This case-control study consisting of 65 HCC patients and 82 patients with other malignant tumours as controls was conducted to determine the association of HCV markers with HCC. Serum of each participant was obtained for detection of HCV Ab and RNA by DNA enzyme immunoassay (DEIA). Twenty six per cent (26.0%) of HCC patients had positive anti-HCV which was significantly greater than the control group (p=0.001). HCC patients significantly have a risk of exposure to HCV infection almost 3 times than the control group (OR=2.87, 95% C.I=1.1-7). Anti-HCV seropositive rate was significantly (p=0.03) higher among old age HCC patients and increases with age. Males with HCC significantly showed to have more than 9 times risk of exposure to HCV infection (OR=9.375, 95 % CI=1.299-67.647) than females. HCV-RNA seropositive rate was (70.8%) significantly higher among HCC patients compared to (22.2%) the control group (p=0.019). The most prevalent genotype (as a single or mixed pattern of infection) was HCV-1b. This study detected a significantly higher HCV seropositive rate of antibodies and RNA in HCC patients.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.173-187
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• 2017

Heavy metals, such as vanadium, are some of the most toxic types of water contaminants. In this study, vanadium was removed using a new composite adsorbent called BAZLSC. The impacts of pH and initial concentration of vanadium(V) on the elimination effectiveness of this metal by using BAZLSC were investigated in the first step of the study. Vanadium removal increased as pH increased to 3-3.5, and initial concentration increased to 60-70 mg/L. The removal efficiency then decreased. Central composite design and response surface methodology were employed to examine experimental data. Initial concentration of V ($mg.L^{-1}$), pH, and dosage of adsorbent (g/L) were the independent factors. Based on RSM, the removal effectiveness of vanadium was 86.36% at the optimum of initial concentration (52.69 mg/L), pH (3.49), and adsorbent dosage (1.71 g/L). Also adsorption isotherm investigations displayed that the Freundlich isotherm could explain vanadium adsorption by BAZLSC better than the Langmuir isotherm. Beside them, desorption studies showed sorption was slightly diminished after six continuous cycles.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.12-18
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• 2021

This paper proposes a framework for the development of the health recommender system, designed to cater COVID-19 symptoms' self-assessment and monitoring as well as to provide recommendations for self-care and medical treatments. The aim is to provide an online platform for Patient Under Investigation (PUI) and close contacts with positive COVID-19 cases in Malaysia who are under home quarantine to perform daily self-assessment in order to monitor their own symptoms' development. To achieve this, three main phases of research methods have been conducted where interviews have been done to thirty former COVID-19 patients in order to investigate the symptoms and practices conducted by the Malaysia Ministry of Health (MOH) in assessing and monitoring COVID-19 patients who were under home quarantine. From the interviews, an algorithm using user-based collaborative filtering technique with Pearson correlation coefficient similarity measure is designed to cater the self-assessment and symptoms monitoring as well as providing recommendations for self-care treatments as well as medical interventions if the symptoms worsen during the 14-days quarantine. The proposed framework will involve the development of the health recommender system for COVID-19 self-assessment and treatments using the progressive web application method with cloud database and PHP codes.

• Safety and Health at Work
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.31-42
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• 2012

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to determine the psychological fatigue and analyze muscle activity of production workers who are performing processes jobs while standing for prolonged time periods. Methods: The psychological fatigue experienced by the workers was obtained through questionnaire surveys. Meanwhile, muscle activity has been analyzed using surface electromyography (sEMG) measurement. Lower extremities muscles include: erector spinae, tibialis anterior, and gastrocnemius were concurrently measured for more than five hours of standing. Twenty male production workers in a metal stamping company participated as subjects in this study. The subjects were required to undergo questionnaire surveys and sEMG measurement. Results: Results of the questionnaire surveys found that all subjects experienced psychological fatigue due to prolonged standing jobs. Similarly, muscle fatigue has been identified through sEMG measurement. Based on the non-parametric statistical test using the Spearman's rank order correlation, the left erector spinae obtained a moderate positive correlation and statistically significant ($r_s$ = 0.552, p < 0.05) between the results of questionnaire surveys and sEMG measurement. Conclusion: Based on this study, the authors concluded that prolonged standing was contributed to psychological fatigue and to muscle fatigue among the production workers.

• Transactions on Electrical and Electronic Materials
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.165-171
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• 2013

Nanostructured pure a-C and nitrogen doped a-C: N thin films with small particle size of, ~50 nm were obtained by Aerosol-assisted CVD method from the natural precursor camphor oil. Five samples were prepared for the a-C and a-C: N respectively, with the deposition temperatures ranging from $400^{\circ}C$ to $600^{\circ}C$. At high temperature, the AFM clarifies an even smoother image, due to the increase of the energetic carbon ion bombardment at the surface of the thin film. An ohmic contact was acquired from the current-voltage solar simulator characterization. The higher conductivity of a-C: N, of ${\sim}{\times}10^{-2}Scm^{-1}$ is due to the decrease in defects since the spin density gap decrease with the nitrogen addition. Pure a-C exhibit absorption coefficient, ${\alpha}$ of $10^4cm^{-1}$, whereas for a-C:N, ${\alpha}$ is of $10^5cm^{-1}$. The high ${\sigma}$ value of a-C:N is due to the presence of more graphitic component ($sp^2$ carbon bonding) in the carbon films.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Marine Environment & Energy
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.41-47
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• 2002

The surface current in the region from Mara-do to mid of the Pacific has been measured by tracking the position of a buoy. The buoy was accidentally released from its original location, near Mara-do, and it has been drifting following the surface current. The tracking started on 27 December 2001 and continued until 29 June 2002. We combined the trace oi the buoy with the wind data available.

• Journal of Korean Ophthalmic Optics Society
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.333-338
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• 2011

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate eye dominance and reading performance based on eye movements and reading speed. Methods: The eye dominance of 30 subjects was determined using the sighting test (hole formed by hands). The subjects were asked to read the numerical reading material aloud in English from left to right and from right to left at random. The number of saccades, regressions, and inter-fixations per minute was calculated using Visual-Oculography (VOG) and the reading speed was recorded as number of characters per minute using stopwatch. Results: No significant differences in reading speed among right and left eye dominant subjects as they read from left to right and right to left directions (p>0.05). However, left eye dominant subjects were found to read significantly faster compared to right eye dominant subjects in both directions of reading (p<0.05). In term of eye movement patterns, no significant differences in saccades, regressions, and inter-fixations per minute were found between subjects with right eye dominance and left eye dominance for both reading directions (p>0.05). Conclusions: Reading performance in term of eye movement and speed was not affected by eye dominance, but subjects with left eye dominance read faster than subjects with right eye dominance.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.459-468
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• 2021

This study examines the factors influencing custom officers' readiness for the Sales and Service Tax (SST) implementation in Malaysia. Specifically, this study examines the factors stipulated in the Theory of Organisational Readiness namely, change valence, task knowledge, and resource availability on the customs officers' readiness in terms of change commitment and change efficacy for SST 2.0 implementation. This study utilizes the questionnaire survey distributed to employees of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) that have undergone a significant change of tax regime from Goods and Service Tax (GST) to SST 2.0. The results show that all three factors significantly and positively influence the customs officers' readiness in terms of change commitment and change efficacy for SST 2.0 implementation in Malaysia. The findings in this study indicate that to ensure smooth SST 2.0 implementation, it is important for the customs department to give attention to the perception of the officers and provide the necessary resources. The findings of this study could assist RMCD and other custom agencies to take into account factors that influence readiness for change which indirectly affect job responsibility and performance of the organization.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.271-279
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• 2022

In the discipline of design science, the integration of cognitive, semantic, and affective elements is crucial in the conception and development of a product. Affective components in IT artefacts have attracted researchers' attention, but little attention has been given to Geographic Information Systems (GIS). This research was conducted to identify emotions in web-based GIS, and determine design influences on the emotions using Kansei engineering (KE). In the evaluation procedure, ten web-based GIS were used as specimens, and 20 Kansei words were used as emotional descriptors in the Kansei checklist. 50 participants were asked to rate their emotional responses towards the specimens on the Kansei checklist. Principal Component Analysis was used to discover the semantic structure of Kansei, in which dynamism and spaciousness were identified. Significant Kansei concepts were identified using Factor Analysis, in which dynamic & well-organized, refreshing, spacious, professional, and nautical-look were identified. Partial Least Square analysis has assisted the research in discovering the significant design influence to the Kansei. These findings provide designers and other stakeholders with valuable knowledge for strategizing future web-based GIS designs that incorporate user emotions.