We demonstrated high-quality single crystalline a-plane undoped-gallium nitride grown on a nonpatterned r-plane sapphire substrate via metal?organic chemical vapor deposition. The effect of four different numbers of sandwiched strain-periodic AlN/GaN multilayers on the strain state, crystal quality, optical and electrical properties was investigated. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy showed that the surface morphology was improved upon insertion of 120 pairs of AlN/GaN thin layers with a root-mean-square roughness of 2.15�nm. On-axis X-ray ?-scan rocking curves showed enhanced crystalline quality: the full width at half maximum decreased from 1224 to 756 arcsec along the [0001] direction and from 2628 to 1360 arcsec along the [1?100] direction for a-GaN grown with 120 pairs of AlN/GaN compared to a-GaN without AlN/GaN pairs. Reciprocal space mapping showed that a-plane GaN with a high number of AlN/GaN pairs exhibits near-relaxation strain states.....

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Crystal engineered semi-polar (11?22) GaN-based UV photodetectors have been fabricated which exhibit two dissimilar photo-responses depending on the crystal quality. The higher crystal quality evaluated via x-ray rocking curve (XRC) exhibited remarkable narrow full width half maximum (FWHM) along [-1?123] and [1?100] of 0.11� (396 arcsec) and 0.28� (1008 arcsec), respectively. Integration of the high crystalline structure with the metal?semiconductor-metal type photodetector resulted in notably lower dark current of 4.6?A. The responsivity value is significantly enhanced from 117 mA/W to 325 mA/W with higher crystalline epilayer. The photo-response of the detector made with the enhanced crystal epilayer is measured to be as low as 170 ms with a recovery time of 241 ms by which is the fastest switching time ever reported in semi-polar (11?22) GaN metal?semiconductor-metal UV photodetector. ? 2020 Elsevier B.V...

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The aim of this research was to develop a Professional Learning Communities Model in Malaysian secondary schools. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify the underlying factors whereas Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to examine the measurement models. A total of 532 and 1062 respondents completed the survey with usable data for EFA and CFA, respectively. With normed ?2 = 3.223, TLI = .950, CFI = .953 and RMSEA = .046, the results suggested that the model can be explained by two factors: Organisational Factor and Non-Organisation Factor. The Organisational Factor consists of four indicators: Shared Norms and Vision, Principal Commitment and Support, Structural Support, and Collegial Understanding and Trust whereas Non-Organisational Factor encompasses four indicators: Collaborative Learning, Reflective Dialogue, Collective Inquiry and External Support System. ? 2021 Inderscience Publishers. All rights reserved...

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Traditionally, graphic design (GD) education focuses on the training of technical production skills to prepare graduates for entry-level employment. However, due to the new challenges and the expanding opportunities of emerging practices, GD graduates are expected to master a wide range of additional competencies beyond traditional scope. The study aims to identify the competencies required by future GD graduates in the context of Malaysia. A two-round modified Delphi technique was used to gain consensus from a panel of experts consisted of design educators and industry practitioners regarding the competencies needed by the graduates for effective work performance. A total of 108 competencies were generated. All accepted competencies were ranked 'very important' and 'extremely important' by at least 75 percent of the respondents in Round Two. These competencies could be classified into 29 subdomains under five components, i.e., cognitive competence, functional competence, personal comp.....

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Crab allergy is reported as a serious form of food allergy in many countries. This study was aimed to identify the major allergens of the local mud crab, Scylla tranquebarica (S. tranquebarica), and subsequently, determine the effect of vinegar treatments on the crab allergens. Crab muscles were treated with synthetic and natural vinegar. Crab proteins were then extracted from the untreated and vinegar-treated crabs. All extracts were then fractionated by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and analyzed by immunoblotting; using sera from crab-allergic patients. The crab proteins were then further fractionated by two-dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE)and analyzed by mass spectrometry (MS). The untreated crab had 38 protein bands, while that was only a few bands between 18 to 73 kDa for the vinegar-treated crabs. Immunoblotting of untreated crab revealed 20 IgE-binding bands, whereas the vinegar-treated crabs could only retain a few IgE-binding bands. Fi.....

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Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre has been expanding rapidly in Malaysia. However, the nature of this genre is addictive. Research in the area of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) among gamers of this genre is relatively new, signifying a substantial literature gap to be filled. The aim of the present study was to examine the selected determinants (i.e., motivations of gaming and identification of avatar) of IGD among MOBA gamers. The mediating role of identification of avatar in the associations between motivations of gaming (i.e., achievement, socialization, and immersion) and IGD was also investigated. A total of 1175 gamers were recruited through MOBA online groups in social media. Males were accounted for 75.20% (n = 808) and aged between 18 and 29 (Mage = 22.19�years, SD = 3.30). The findings revealed that motivation of achievement, motivation of immersion, and identification of avatar positively predict IGD, whereas motivation of socialization negatively predicts IGD a.....

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Candida albicans has been reported globally as the most widespread pathogenic species contributing candidiasis from superficial to systemic infections in immunocompromised individuals. Their metabolic adaptation depends on glyoxylate cycle to survive in nutrient-limited host. The long term usage of fungistatic drugs and the lack of cidal drugs frequently result in strains that could resist commonly used antifungals and display multidrug resistance (MDR). In search of potential therapeutic intervention and novel fungicidals, we have explored a plant alkaloids, namely arborinine and graveoline for its antifungal potential. Alkaloids belongs to Rutaceae family have been reported with numerous antimicrobial activities. In this study, we aimed to isolate and identify the antifungal active alkaloids of R. angustifolia and assess antifungal effect targeting C. albicans isocitrate lyase (ICL) gene which regulates isocitrate lyase, key enzyme in glyoxylate cycle contributing to the virulence po.....

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Extensive research has been conducted on e-tourism spanning a wide range of concepts, challenges and concerns discussed in tourism recommender systems (TRS). Smart tourism can be considered a logical progression from e-tourism laid with the extensive adoption of information and communication technologies and connecting the physical and digital worlds by taking advantage of 12 'smart key concepts' such as privacy protection, Internet of Things and augmented reality, among others. Consequently, several disparate types of research have existed in various classes of TRS that have accomplished smart key concepts where others have failed. However, such piecemeal development is insufficient for a pragmatic smart tourism solution. Accordingly, the current study complements the academic literature with a systematic review that covers all main aspects of the e-tourism management system applied to the smart tourism concepts over the last eight years of publication. This study also provides a stat.....

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This study assesses the effect of COVID-19 proxied by the number of confirmed cases of the infection and deaths on Nigeria?s stock market over the 23rd March to 11th September 2020 period using the autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL), canonical cointegrating regression (CCR), dynamic ordinary least squares (DOLS) and fully modified ordinary least squares (FMOLS) techniques. The bounds test to cointegration result reveals that a long-run relationship exists between COVID-19 and Nigeria?s stock market (along with oil prices and exchange rate). The results of the various estimations demonstrate that COVID-19 (proxied by the number of confirmed cases of infection) has a negative and significant impact on stock market performance, while the number deaths has a positive and significant impact on the market in the long-run. In addition, oil prices and exchange rate have a significant and positive effect on stock market performance in the long-run. Similar results were found for sub-sectors .....

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House Building Tips is the title of a classic text containing historical information on early house construction in Malay communities. These tips were written by a scholar with knowledge of house construction through observation of the surrounding environment. In Malaysia, written sources or records of house construction are scarce and underexposed. As such, this research was conducted to guarantee the written legacy of the construction of Malay houses. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a statistical data source of house building tips that is laden with Malay ingenuity and identity. The wordlists generated from this study can become a source of reference for the field of Malay architecture. Accordingly, this study utilises the quantitative method by applying the Linguistic Corpus Statistical Approach; these data utilise specific corpus development procedures, beginning with text collection, scanning and cleaning processes, text annotation, and data storing in plain text. Next, .....

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