• Journal of East-Asian Urban History
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.57-82
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• 2021

This article examines the urban example of Batu Sawar which served as the capital of the Johor kingdom between 1587 and circa 1615. Around the middle of the eighteenth-century European reference works continued to describe Batu Sawar as the capital of Johor, even though the city had long ceased to serve as a trading center, let alone as Johor's capital, and probably no longer existed. Such observations raise the question of urban impermanence-the transience of sizeable settlements with reference to the Malay Archipelago. Two overarching questions form the backbone of the investigation: First, why did Batu Sawar rise as a regional trading center, and second, what are the reasons that contributed to its decline? Batu Sawar's fate was sealed by a combination of factors that included poor defenses, multiple external shocks, destruction by fire, court politics and rivalry between the early colonial powers.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.1479-1485
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• 2015

Background: Even after completion of conventional treatment, breast cancer survivors continue to exhibit a variety of psychological and physical symptoms, affecting their quality of life. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between socio-demography, medical characteristics and health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of a sample of breast cancer survivors in Malaysia. Materials and Methods: This pilot cross-sectional survey was conducted among breast cancer survivors (n=40) who were members of Breast Cancer Support Group Centre Johor Bahru. A validated self-administered questionnaire was used to identify the relationships between socio-demography, medical characteristics and HR-QOL of the participants. Results: Living with family and completion of treatment were significant predictive factors of self-rated QOL, while living with family and ever giving birth significantly predicted satisfaction with health and physical health. Psychological health had moderate correlations with number of children and early cancer stage. Survivors' higher personal income (>MYR4,500) was the only significant predictor of social relationship, while age, income more than MYR4,500 and giving birth significantly predicted environment domain score. Conclusions: The findings suggested the survivors coped better in all four HR-QOL domains if they were married, lived with family, had children and were employed.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.157-174
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• 2024

This study investigates the influence of varying concentrations of boric acid (BA) preservative on the physical and mechanical properties of light red meranti (LRM) found in Sarawak. LRM or Shorea leprosula samples were treated with various concentrations of BA via the dip diffusion method using American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) standards. The physical property, particularly the retention rate and mechanical properties, bending strength, modulus of elasticity (MOE), tensile and compression strength parallel to grain of impregnated and control samples were tested to determine the effects of BA preservative. The retention rate was found to increase with increasing BA concentration and higher surface area to volume ratio. The mechanical properties in terms of the MOE and tensile strength parallel to grain were found to be greater than those of the control samples, whereas the bending strength and tensile strength parallel to grain were lower. Amongst the results, only the retention rate and MOE showed significant interaction effects at 5% level of significance between all factors tested (samples size and BA concentration for retention rate and BA concentration for MOE).

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.4563-4570
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• 2015

Background: Smoking is a learnt behavior during adolescence and understanding the factor/s associated with smoking will assist in identifying suitable measures in combating the rising prevalence of smoking among adolescents. This research aimed to identify the factor/s associated with smoking among form four students in Kota Tinggi, Johor. Multistage sampling was used to select a representative sample of students in 2008 and data were collected using a self-administered validated questionnaire. This study revealed that the overall smoking prevalence was 19.0% with a significantly higher proportion of male smokers (35.8%) as compared to females (3.15%). Adolescents who were male (aOR 6.6, 95%CI 2.61-16.4), those who had peer/s who smoked (aOR 4.03, 95% CI 1.31-12.4), and those who studied in rural areas and Felda Settlements ( aOR 4.59, 95 CI 1.11-18.0; aOR 9.42, 95%CI 3.91-29.1) were more likely to smoke in the past one week. On the other hand, adolescents with better knowledge on the hazards of smoking and negative attitudes towards smoking were less likely to smoke (aOR 0.51, 95%CI 0.37-0.72; aOR 0.67, 95%CI 0.46-0.99). Future promotional and interventional programmes on smoking should be considered and the above identified risk factors integrated to reduce smoking prevalence among students of school-going ages in Kota Tinggi. Johor.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.533-542
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• 2021

The main objective of this article is to investigate the existence of the lunar effect during the full moon period (FM period) and the new moon period (NM period) on the selected Islamic stock market returns and volatilities. For this purpose, the Ordinary Least Squares model, Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity model, Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity model and Generalised Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity-in-Mean model are employed using the mean daily returns data between January 2010 and December 2019. Next, the log-likelihood, Akaike Information Criterion and Schwarz Information Criterion value are analyzed to determine the best models for explaining the returns and volatility of returns. The empirical results have deduced that, during the NM period, excluding Malaysia, the total mean daily returns for all of the selected countries have increased mean daily returns in contrast to the mean daily returns during the FM period. The volatility shocks are intense and conditional volatility is persistent in all countries. Subsequently, the volatility behavior tends to have lower volatility during the FM period and NM period in the Islamic stock market, except Malaysia. This article also concluded that the ARCH (1) model is the preferred model for stock returns whereas GARCH-M (1, 1) is preferred for the volatility of returns.

• SUVANNABHUMI
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.15-49
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• 2016

It is widely known that the Bugis people, originally from South Sulawesi, have been migrating to many places, including both the Indonesian and Malaysian sides of the borders today. The translocal and transnational movements of the Bugis people, especially to North Kalimantan of Indonesia and Sabah and Johor of Malaysia, have occurred in several waves, particularly during the 17th century, around 1965 and from 1980 to the present. The fall of the kingdom of Somba Opu in South Sulawesi and the rise Dutch colonial power have been the triggers for the early movement of the Bugis to both the Indonesian and Malaysian borders. This was followed by the second push of the Islamic rebellion in South Sulawesi, around 1965, creating another big wave of Bugis movement. The most recent one has been mainly due to economic reasons. These different phases of the movements, as well as the dynamic interplay of various aspects, such as citizenship, ethnic, and sub-ethnic groupings, practicing of cultural traditions and keeping the language, to mention a few, have contributed to the process of the construction of the multiple identities of the Bugis. Indeed, the Bugis people are no longer identified or identify themselves as a single group, but rather have fluid and contesting identities. This paper will discuss three main issues: the history of the translocal and transnational movements of the Bugis to North Kalimantan, Sabah and Johor; the process of adaptation to these new places; and the construction of Bugis identities.

• Magazine of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.76-78
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• 1996

• Proceedings of the Korea Water Resources Association Conference
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• 2005.09b
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• pp.945-946
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• 2005

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.1149-1155
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• 2016

Background: Examination of sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsies provides accurate nodal staging for breast cancer and plays a key role in patient management. Procurement of SLNs and the methods used to process specimens are equally important. Increasing the level of detail in histopathological examination of SLNs increases detection of metastatic tumours but will also increase the burden of busy laboratories and thus may not be carried out routinely. Recommendation of a reasonable standard in SLN examination is required to ensure high sensitivity of results while maintaining a manageable practice workload. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four patients with clinically node-negative breast cancer were recruited. Combined radiotracer and blue dye methods were used for identification of SLNs. The nodes were thinly sliced and embedded. Serial sectioning and immunohistochemical (IHC) staining against AE1/AE3 were performed if initial H&E sections of the blocks were negative. Results: SLNs were successfully identified in all patients. Ten cases had nodal metastases with 7 detected in SLNs and 3 detected only in axillary nodes (false negative rate, FNR=30%). Some 5 out of 7 metastatic lesions in the SLNs (71.4%) were detected in initial sections of the thinly sliced tissue. Serial sectioning detected the remaining two cases with either micrometastases or isolated tumour cells (ITC). Conclusions: Thin slicing of tissue to 3-5mm thickness and serial sectioning improved the detection of micro and macro-metastases but the additional burden of serial sectioning gave low yield of micrometastases or ITC and may not be cost effective. IHC validation did not further increase sensitivity of detection. Therefore its use should only be limited to confirmation of suspicious lesions. False negative cases where SLNs were not involved could be due to skipped metastases to non-sentinel nodes or poor technique during procurement, resulting in missed detection of actual SLNs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.6971-6978
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• 2013

Background: Smoking among adolescents has been linked to a variety of adverse and long term health consequences. "Susceptibility to smoking" or the lack of cognitive commitment to abstain from smoking is an important predictor of adolescent smoking. In 2008, we conducted a study to determine the psycho-sociological factors associated with susceptibility to smoking among secondary school students in the district of Kota Tinggi, Johor. Materials and Methods: Two thousand seven hundred students were randomly selected by proportional stratified sampling. Analyses on 1,736 non-smoking students revealed that prevalence of adolescents susceptible to smoking was 16.3%. Results: Male gender (aOR=2.05, 95%CI= 1.23-3.39), poor academic achievement (aOR 1.60, 95%CI 1.05-2.44), ever-smoker (aOR 2.17, 95%CI 1.37-3.44) and having a smoking friend (aOR 1.76, 95%CI 1.10-2.83) were associated with susceptibility to smoking, while having the perception that smoking prohibition in school was strictly enforced (aOR 0.55, 95%CI 0.32-0.94), and had never seen friends smoking in a school compound (aOR 0.59, 95%CI 0.37-0.96) were considered protective factors Conclusions: These results indicate that follow-up programmes need to capitalise on the modifiable factors related to susceptibility to smoking by getting all stakeholders to be actively involved to stamp out smoking initiation among adolescents.