Purpose: The developmental, individual-difference and relationship (DIR)/Floortime? approach is a commonly used parent-implemented intervention with children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Currently, no evidence is available about the intervention?s implementation and utility in Malaysia. The aim of this paper is to investigate the applicability and impact of implementing the parent-implemented home-based DIR/Floortime? intervention program for children with ASD and their parents in a Malaysian context from parents? perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with eight mothers and four fathers of children with ASD was conducted. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Findings: Five themes were developed. Theme 1 described the implementation of DIR/Floortime? intervention; Theme 2 reported challenges parents faced when implementing the intervention; Theme 3 explored parents? perspective on play; Theme 4.....

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Since its de facto creation, Israel has endeavoured to legitimize its existence and mystify the ethnic cleansing it perpetrated in 1948, systematically working to efface historic Palestine from the Arab and global public memory. Visual discourse plays a constitutive role in the construction and preservation of national themes. This paper, a critical discourse analysis of a corpus of visual representations, aimed to examine how visual representation serves to memorialize and reconstruct national themes, and so how this semiotic mode of representation can act as a form of counter-hegemonic discourse against attempts at the memoricide of the other and mystification of history. Using Kress and van Leeuwen?s (2006) grammar of visual design as a framework for visual analysis, this social semiotic research analyzed the visual structure of a number of Nakba images to examine the role of visual representations in the memorialization of key Palestinian national themes, and so the reconstruction .....

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A system of bio-silica borotellurite glasses was fabricated based on the chemical formula [(TeO2)0.7 (B2O3)0.3]1-x (SiO2)x with x = 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, and 0.4 using the melt-quenching technique using silica (98.548% SiO2, from rice husk), TeO2 (Alfar Aeser, 99.9%) and B2O3 (Alfar Aeser, 99.9%). Measurements and characterizations such as density and molar volume measurements, XRD analysis, FTIR, and UV?Vis spectroscopes were performed on the studied glasses. The objective was to determine the glasses? applicability in optoelectronics, non-linear optics, and laser technologies through polarizability, linear electric susceptibility, and optical basicity study. Apart from confirming the amorphous nature of the glasses, the XRD analysis identified the presence of a crystalline phase of tellurium oxide (?-TeO2) formed. The FTIR spectral study revealed the presence of TeO3, BO3, and SiO4 structural units in the studied glasses. The refractive index (2.3026 ? 2.2651), molar polarizability (8.0696 .....

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Background: Organizational ambidexterity is an emerging concept and it permeates too many functional domains in the discussion of organizational performance. The importance of understanding this concept motivates researchers to explore organizational ambidexterity as internal and external capabilities in the context of supply chain. Despite its importance in building oriented capabilities to organizations, little information is known about organizational ambidexterity in supply chain context. The objective of this review is to produce a comprehensive mapping of themes related to organizational ambidexterity studies in supply chain research, particularly in improving firm performance. Method: A scoping review of the literature was conducted using Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and EconBiz databases to identify what is the nature of published scientific literature on this topic and what are the emerging themes of organizational ambidexterity in relation to supply chain studies. Result: Thi.....

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Background and Objective: The specific condition with slow-drying mechanisms of cacao seeds may prove to be a possible break through in improving the short-term storage of this recalcitrant species. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of storage conditions on the changes of physiological, microstructural and soluble sugars associated with slow-drying mechanisms in cacao seeds. Materials and Methods: Seeds from ripened cacao pods (PBC 123) were demucilaged, placed in zip-lock polyethylene bags and stored at 14 and 16�C (40 and 80% RH), RT (25�C) and control (freshly extracted seeds). Results: In this study, seeds at RT and 16�C, 40% RH showed a similar germination percentage as the control. Thus, it shall be convenient for the storability up to 12 days. The SEMmicrographs proved that the mild dehydration in seeds of both treatments caused the least cells? morphological changes, which leads to lesser cell damage. However, seeds at RT reduced their storability due to 8-10% of ge.....

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This research aimed to investigate the ultrafiltration of water from emulsified oily wastewater through the application of surface-functionalized ceramic membrane to enhance its water permeability based on optimized parameters using a cross-flow filtration system. The interactive effects of feed concentration (10?1000 ppm), pH (4?10), and pressure (0?3 bar) on the water flux and oil rejection were investigated. Central composite design (CCD) from response surface methodology (RSM) was employed for statistical analysis, modeling, and optimization of operating conditions. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) results showed that the oil rejection and water flux models were significant with p-values of 0.0001 and 0.0075, respectively. In addition, good correlation coefficients of 0.997 and 0.863 were obtained for the oil rejection and water flux models, respectively. The optimum conditions for pressure, pH, and feed concentration were found to be 1.5 bar, pH 8.97, and 10 ppm, respectively with.....

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Microalgae are known as an alternative source of biomass energy to replace fossil fuels. The aim of the present study is to optimise the growth conditions and increase the lipid, carbohydrate and biomass productivity of Tetradesmus obliquus UPSI-JRM02 using response surface methodology with Design Expert software. Four variables (nitrogen concentration, temperature, pH, and light intensity) were optimised to enhance T. obliquus productivity. The highest lipid (33 � 1.2mg/L/day), carbohydrate (51 � 1.5 mg/L/day) and biomass (115 � 1.4 mg/L/day) productivity were produced at a nitrogen concentration of 400 mg/L NO3? at 36 �C with pH of 9.8, and light intensity of 23500 lux. The fatty acid methyl ester contains polyunsaturated fatty acid (C18:2, C18:3) and saturated fatty acid (C16:0). These results demonstrate the potential of T. obliquus to produce promising feedstock for biofuel production. ? 2019 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group...

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This study aims to investigate the level of disclosure of Islamic banking in Bahrain by the web-based disclosure. The web-based disclosure method was implemented to determine the quantity of ?the level of web-based disclosure of Islamic banks in Bahrain? by using an index that consists of 90 items. The findings of the 'descriptive analysis' indicated that the overall level of web-based disclosure was 73.3%. The regression results showed a ?positive relationship between the independent variables (firm size, age, and profitability) and the level of web-based disclosure?. The results of this paper help the ?Islamic banking in Bahrain? to increase the level of web-based disclosure to reach full online financial reporting disclosure (OFRD) to satisfy the stakeholders. The outcomes of this study will be useful elsewhere. ? 2021 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd...

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This study presents a robot movement in tracking 2D objects. This input image is transformed into another image by certain techniques. In this study, by utilizing image processing, the robot can work to detect objects in the form of hexagons. Apart from detecting the detected shape, this image processing is also for detecting color. So that a hexagon-shaped 2D object will be detected with the magenta color that has been set in advance. The movement of this robot is to follow the motion of objects horizontally. While the object is shifted to the right, the robot will move to the right, and if the object is shifted to the left, the robot will move to the left. Robot movement is controlled by fuzzy logic. There are 5 membership functions to divide the object's position area and 5 membership functions output to adjust the speed and direction of the robot's motion. ? 2021 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd...

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Intensive investigation of phytochemicals from edible Melicope glabra leaves provided a series of O-alkylated quercetins (1?13). The quercetin 1 bearing prenyl and methyl motif showed potent inhibition to human acetylcholinesterase (hAChE) with mixed type I mode, while quercetin was inactive. The position of methyl group was also a critical factor to hAChE inhibition: 1 (4?-O-methyl, IC50 = 12.7 ?M) vs 2 (3?-O-methyl, IC50 = 119 ?M). Inhibitory potency was doubly confirmed with the binding affinity (KSV) based on fluorescence quenching. O-Methyl groups on quercetin were observed to influence ?-secretase (BACE1) inhibition. Thus, O-methylated quercetins (4?6) displayed potential inhibitions against BACE1 with IC50 values of 1.3, 4.1, and 14.1 ?M, respectively. All compounds (3?6) have noncompetitive mode to BACE1. Additionally, all quercetin derivatives (1?13) had antioxidant potentials against different radical sources (ABTS, ORAC and FRAP). The UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF/MS indicated that the lea.....

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