Many COVID-19 vaccine candidates were clinically tested in response to the coronavirus pandemic. This study aims to determine the acceptance rate of, main concerns about and knowledge of COVID-19 vaccination among the Malaysian population based on different sociodemographic characteristics during the early stages of vaccine arrival in Malaysia. A cross-sectional online survey was performed between January 25, 2021 and February 1, 2021 using descriptive statistics, Likert scale analysis, hypothesis testing, correlation and regression. These statistics assessed the correlation between sociodemographic characteristics, exposure to COVID-19 vaccine information, as well as the perceived risk of infection and acceptance towards COVID-19 vaccines. There exist significant differences across sociodemographic variables. More than half of the respondents (58.85%) voted safety as their primary concern. Moreover, a medium correlation exists between knowledge and acceptance, r = 0.444, N = 2051, p<0.01. The linear regression equation of acceptance predicted by knowledge was Acceptance = 2.873 + 0.981 (Knowledge). This study’s findings can help the government design the best way to execute COVID-19 vaccination campaigns in Malaysia, for example, the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme. It also demonstrates that online questionnaires are appropriate for assessing health literacy skills and attitudes towards vaccination during infectious disease epidemics. It can also aid in the adaptation of medical communication tactics to better comprehend vaccination values.

Dalam konteks penyebaran COVID-19, permodelan matematik telah menjadi satu komponen penting dalam merangka strategi bagi mengambil langkah awal dalam menangani penularan wabak. Dalam kajian ini, model SIR (Susceptible –Infected –Recovered) digunakan bagi meramalkan tindak balas wabak COVID-19 di Malaysia. Hasil kajian mendapati bahwa wujud perbezaan yang ketara sekiranya bilangan penduduk yang berpotensi dijangkiti S(0) dikurangkan, di mana puncak kes aktif dapat dikurangkan dengan begitu ketara (kes aktif puncak berlaku pada t=81, dengan peratusan kes berjumlah S(81) = 8.7%). Jadi, adalah amat penting bagi mematuhi arahan –arahan serta SOP yang digariskan oleh pihak kerajaan bagi menghentikan jangkitan pandemik COVID-19.

Dalam konteks penyebaran COVID-19, permodelan matematik telah menjadi satu komponen penting dalam merangka strategi bagi mengambil langkah awal dalam menangani penularan wabak. Dalam kajian ini, model SIR (“Susceptible” – “Infected” – “Removed”) digunakan bagi meramalkan tindak balas wabak COVID-19 di Malaysia. Menggunakan data rasmi daripada Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia, didapati kes puncak Ketika PKP 1.0 berlaku pada t=21 hari (8 April 2020) dengan kadar jangkitan a = 0.19. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa wujud perbezaan yang ketara sekiranya bilangan penduduk yang berpotensi dijangkiti S(0) dikurangkan, di mana puncak kes aktif dapat dikurangkan dengan begitu ketara (kes aktif puncak berlaku pada t=81, dengan peratusan kes berjumlah S(81) = 8.7%). Jadi, adalah amat penting bagi mematuhi arahan – arahan serta SOP yang digariskan oleh pihak kerajaan bagi menghentikan jangkitan pandemik COVID-19.

Higher education institutions with significant numbers of young adults may become centres of acute outbreaks during a pandemic. Due to the large number of young adults, universities have the potential to become outbreak centres. The aim of this research is to examine the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of university students towards COVID-19 at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM), in Nilai. A self-administered questionnaire with a sample size of 2061 Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) students was distributed to collect the data and analyzed using SPSS software. To identify the levels of KAP among USIM students, we used descriptive statistics based Likert scale questionnaire. Results show that the sample of students have excellent awareness (85 per cent) and good attitude (73.8 per cent) towards COVID-19. However, levels for practice is significantly lower (44.9%) than the other two attributes. This is most likely due to the unpreparedness to face this pandemic's crucial situation. In other words, it can be said that although students have a fairly good level of knowledge on the subject, there is still much room for improvement in attitude and practice.

Cervical cancer is known as a major health problem globally, with high mortality as well as incidence rates. Over the years, there have been significant advancements in cervical cancer detection techniques, leading to improved accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. This article provides a chronological review of cervical cancer detection techniques, from the traditional Pap smear test to the latest computer-aided detection (CAD) systems. The traditional method for cervical cancer screening is the Pap smear test. It consists of examining cervical cells under a microscope for abnormalities. However, this method is subjective and may miss precancerous lesions, leading to false negatives and a delayed diagnosis. Therefore, a growing interest has been in shown developing CAD methods to enhance cervical cancer screening. However, the effectiveness and reliability of CAD systems are still being evaluated. A systematic review of the literature was performed using the Scopus database to identify relevant studies on cervical cancer detection techniques published between 1996 and 2022. The search terms used included “(cervix OR cervical) AND (cancer OR tumor) AND (detect* OR diagnosis)”. Studies were included if they reported on the development or evaluation of cervical cancer detection techniques, including traditional methods and CAD systems. The results of the review showed that CAD technology for cervical cancer detection has come a long way since it was introduced in the 1990s. Early CAD systems utilized image processing and pattern recognition techniques to analyze digital images of cervical cells, with limited success due to low sensitivity and specificity. In the early 2000s, machine learning (ML) algorithms were introduced to the CAD field for cervical cancer detection, allowing for more accurate and automated analysis of digital images of cervical cells. ML-based CAD systems have shown promise in several studies, with improved sensitivity and specificity reported compared to traditional screening methods. In summary, this chronological review of cervical cancer detection techniques highlights the significant advancements made in this field over the past few decades. ML-based CAD systems have shown promise for improving the accuracy and sensitivity of cervical cancer detection. The Hybrid Intelligent System for Cervical Cancer Diagnosis (HISCCD) and the Automated Cervical Screening System (ACSS) are two of the most promising CAD systems. Still, deeper validation and research are required before being broadly accepted. Continued innovation and collaboration in this field may help enhance cervical cancer detection as well as ultimately reduce the disease’s burden on women worldwide.

The conjugate gradient (CG) method is a useful tool for obtaining the optimum point for unconstrained optimization problems since it does not require a second derivative or its approximations. Moreover, the conjugate gradient method can be applied in many fields such as machine learning, deep learning, neural network, and many others. This paper constructs a four-term conjugate gradient method that satisfies the descent property and convergence properties to obtain the stationary point. The new modification was constructed based on Liu and Storey's conjugate gradient method, two-term conjugate gradient method, and three-term conjugate gradient method. To analyze the efficiency and robustness, we used more than 150 optimization functions from the CUTEst library with different dimensions and shapes. The numerical results show that the new modification outperforms the recent conjugate gradient methods such as CG-Descent, Dai and Liao, and others in terms of number of functions evaluations, number of gradient evaluations, number of iterations, and CPU time.

This study attempts to explore the effect of the economic conditions, including population growth rate, inflation rate and unemployment rate, on the electricity consumption in Malaysia over the period from 1982 to 2018. Multiple Linear Regression is used to examine the significant determinants of electricity consumption. In addition, Pearson's correlation and autocorrelation function are used to investigate the correlation between all the variables and to identify the presence of random processes in the series, respectively. The result of the multiple regression model validates the significance of the variables population, inflation, and unemployment. It shows that all the variables have a significant negative relationship with electricity consumption. Whereas the Pearson correlation confirms that there is a correlation between variables population and unemployment with electricity consumption. In contrast, the result of autocorrelation function indicates the existence of random process in this study. Keywords: Electricity Consumption, Economic Condition, Correlation, Population, Malaysia

Affordable housing is a significant issue that has been a concern among Malaysians nowadays, especially in the middle-income group. The demand for housing has been increasing, and thus, the preferences of this group must be taken into consideration. The focus of this study is to identify the factors influencing house buyers in purchasing affordable housing among middle-income groups. The data was collected through a questionnaire survey distributed among school teachers in Malaysia. Two hundred twenty-five respondents returned the questionnaire, which was used for data analysis. Descriptive and statistical analysis was performed to analyze the data collected using Minitab software, Microsoft Excel, and Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS). It revealed that house prices, location, and structure of housing had a significant relationship with the purchase decision of affordable housing among the middle-income group. In contrast, the neighbourhood factor had an insignificant relationship. It is also found that middle-income groups are aware of Malaysia’s affordable housing scheme and have a chance to be exposed to the scheme. Thus, this research will help the developers in developing housing schemes based on consumer’s orientation for future demand in Malaysia.

The study aims to look at macroeconomic variables’ impact on volatility of exchange rate in both short and long run. The relationship between real effective exchange rate volatility and macroeconomic variables such as gross domestic product deflator, total export in percentage of GDP, inflation rate, coefficient of inflation rate and lending interest rate have been analyzed with the help of statistical tool. This research is based on secondary data obtained from World Bank website, International Monetary Fund website and Statistical Department of Malaysia. The study uses a sample of 35 observations, starting from 1980 to 2014 annually. Unit root test is used to determine the stationarity of the variables. The existence of the stationary data will lead to a long run relationship of macroeconomic determinants, while the techniques of co-integration model are used to determine the long run relationship of some macroeconomic variables on the volatility of exchange rate. The error correction model is used to generate a short run model on this study by generating residual or error correction term. The findings revealed that the coefficient of the gross domestic product deflator, total export in percentage of GDP, and inflation rate are significant toward the volatility of real effective exchange rate in the long run. On the other hand, only the coefficient of inflation rate, and lending interest rate have significant relationship with the real effective exchange rate volatility in the short run.

The investigation of determining solutions for the Diophantine equation 𝑥𝑥4 + 𝑦𝑦4 = 𝑧𝑧3 over the Gaussian integer ring for the specific case of 𝑥𝑥 ≠ 𝑦𝑦 is discussed. The discussion includes various preliminary results later used to build the resolvent theory of the Diophantine equation studied. Our findings show the existence of infinitely many solutions. Since the analytical method used here is based on simple algebraic properties, it can be easily generalized to study the behavior and the conditions for the existence of solutions to other Diophantine equations, allowing a deeper understanding, even when no general solution is known.

The investigation of determining solutions for the Diophantine equation over the Gaussian integer ring for the specific case of is discussed. The discussion includes various preliminary results later used to build the resolvent theory of the Diophantine equation studied. Our findings show the existence of infinitely many solutions. Since the analytical method used here is based on simple algebraic properties, it can be easily generalized to study the behavior and the conditions for the existence of solutions to other Diophantine equations, allowing a deeper understanding, even when no general solution is known.

As COVID-19 hits the world shockingly, most nations worldwide have agreed to put educational institutions temporarily close. However, education has not stopped, but to go fully online as schools and universities could provide remote education. In this case, teachers have been struggling to adapt to the new norm to stop disease transmission. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate the impact of Online Teaching and Learning (OTL) on teachers during COVID-19. The questionnaire was distributed randomly online among 320 teachers in Malaysia. SPSS has been used to analyse the completed questionnaire to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. Three variables that have been used in this study were effectiveness, challenges, and school reopening using Cronbach’s alpha, hypothesis testing, t-test, ANOVA, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression. This study has shown that most teachers were affected by using online as a new method of teaching. A negative correlation between effectiveness and challenges has implied that increasing challenges would decrease online teaching effectiveness. Besides, many of the components show a significant difference in the variables in terms of socio-demographic profiles. The findings obtained would help the higher administration tackle challenges the teachers face and know the effectiveness of online teaching and learning.

Purpose — Spending patterns changed during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the health crisis turning into an economic challenge. This study examines the Malaysian public’s awareness level and changes in their spending behaviour during COVID-19. It also aims to identify the spending patterns on different items based on the consumers’ income and establish whether the awareness level of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah (objectives of Islamic law) on spending affects the public’s perception of future spending behaviour. Design/Methodology/Approach — Quantitative approaches were implemented through questionnaire outcomes, and further analysis was carried out through the SPSS software. The survey included 420 participants, and the results were analysed using inferential and descriptive statistics such as the Chi-Square test and regression. Findings — Important findings of this paper show that the situation following the COVID-19 pandemic led to behavioural changes in many aspects, especially in Malaysians’ spending patterns. The findings show that most items related to awareness of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and spending are less than 3, which means that respondents are not aware or slightly aware of the concept. Only one item related to spending more on necessities during the pandemic achieves an average of more than 3. Secondly, changes in spending behaviour are seen on all items included in the study, which means the pandemic caused various changes in the spending patterns of Malaysians. Furthermore, certain categories of items (e.g., food and groceries, meal delivery services, entertainment items, face masks/hand sanitisers/disinfectants, and internet services) have shown significant differences among income groups in this study. Finally, from the regression results, it is found that the awareness level of maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah and its impact on spending is significant for the future perception of spending. Originality/Value — The novelty of this study comes from the concept of relating spending behaviour to maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah, especially during challenging moments such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Practical Implications — This paper reflects the importance of enhancing the maqāṣid al-Sharīʿah concept in spending patterns, especially in Muslim-majority countries. The current research added to knowledge in regard to how consumer behaviour changed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings may be useful in developing marketing strategies, considering psychological elements to suit the feelings and demands of genuine customers.

Cervical cancer refers to a dangerous and common illness that impacts women worldwide. Moreover, this cancer affects over 300,000 people each year, with one woman diagnosed every minute. It affects over 0.5 million women annually, leading to over 0.3 million deaths. Recently, considerable literature has grown around developing technologies to detect cervical cancer cells in women. Previously, a cervical cancer diagnosis was made manually, which may result in a false positive or negative. Automated detection of cervical cancer and analysis method of the Papanicolaou (Pap) smear images are still debated among researchers. Thus, this paper reviewed several studies related to the detection method of Pap smear images focusing on Nuclei Segmentation and Deep Learning (DL) from the publication year of 2020, 2021, and 2022. Training, validation, and testing stages have all been the subject of study. However, there are still inadequacies in the current methodologies that have caused limitations to the proposed approaches by researchers. This study may inspire other researchers to view the proposed methods' potential and provide a decent foundation for developing and implementing new solutions.

Finding a perfect triangle was stated as an open problem by Guy in [6]. Numerous researches have been done in the past to find such a triangle, unfortunately, to date, no one has ever found one, nor has proved its non-existence. However, on the bright side, there are partial results which show that there exist triangles that satisfy five or even six of the seven parameters to be rational. In this paper, we perform an extensive search to investigate if we can extract any perfect triangles from the curve C4 based on the final unsolved case in [9], which will then complete the proof of existence or non-existence of perfect triangle on the curve. Multiple conjectures were tested to eliminate the possibilities of finding a perfect triangle from the last unsolved case of n ≡ 3024 (mod 6052) in [9]. Finally, a theorem was proved, which was subtle enough to eliminate this case, proving that there does not exist any perfect triangle arising from the curve C4.

The purpose of this paper is to review the new management policy in medical imaging of the Covid-19 post-pandemic transition. This paper discussed the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) introduced by the Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia to prevent and control intrahospital transmissions of Covid-19. A conceptual framework is proposed to highlight the key areas in the national SOP for preventing Covid-19 intrahospital transmissions in the radiology department. The key areas were classified into four categories: planned requests (patient appointments), (ii) open-access management (walk-in patient workflow and the triage system), (iii) direct contact (during radiology procedures), and (iv) exit policy and disinfection (post imaging conduct). The paper ends with a summary of diagnostic imaging classifications based on chest radiographs (CXR) and Computed Tomography (CT) images of suspected and confirmed Covid-19 patients. The Covid-19 SOP for the radiology department by the MoH was found to retain most of the patient quarantine and isolation guidelines by the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and incorporated several international policies on patient triage and disinfection of radiological equipment. The majority of the SOP is also sustained, like the SOP during the pandemic, except for the SOP that has been proven to be insignificant by recent research. The Covid-19 SOP for the radiology department plays an important role in reducing the intrahospital spread of Covid-19, with some areas needing improvement. Health workers in the radiology department should continue implementing the Covid-19 SOP and increase their knowledge in identifying Covid-19 signs on radiographic images to help safeguard themselves and the patients from intrahospital transmissions.

The emergence of COVID-19 has affected people worldwide from all angles, from the aspects of health, wealth, emotional and also human interactions. This study aimed to look at the attributes such as positive behaviour, awareness, preparedness and relationships among Malaysians during the implementation of movement control order (MCO), and the predictors of preparedness in facing the COVID-19 pandemic. A cross-sectional study was conducted online involving 317 respondents above the age of 18 years old. A self-administered questionnaire was developed in both Malay and English languages to assess the level of positive behaviour, awareness, preparedness and relationships, as well as their main source of information retrieval regarding COVID-19. Overall, the measured attributes in this study showed the highest level in behaviour (84.2%), followed by awareness (73.5%), preparedness (62.5%) and relationships (60.6%). Multiple regression on preparedness revealed that all variables (behaviour, awareness, and relationships) are significant (p<0.05), while gender is not. The top two sources of information the respondents refer to during the MCO are social and broadcast media. This marks the influence of social and broadcast media in an Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. Despite having good awareness and positive behaviour, the MCO may also have caused relationship issues as well as lower preparation levels in facing a deadly pandemic. It is suggested that future research to look into whether this would have any association with the mental health of Malaysians facing the pandemic. By understanding the attributes related to the MCO during the COVID-19 pandemic, it would help the government in the implementation of policies and procedures in any future pandemic.

Image registration approaches based on standard information criteria were widely employed, showing promising results in the registration of medical monomodal images. Feature-based registering is an effective clinical application technique since computational costs can be reduced significantly. The following four steps are generally used for most registration methods: detection of features, extraction of features, matching features and transformation determination. The accuracy of the registration procedure is dependent on matching a feature and detecting control points (CP). Thus, this paper supports this feature for monomodal registration of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI is gold-standard imaging to detect prostate cancer progression as it provides better information for soft tissue visualization. In this study, registration of MRI images taken from different time frames is developed to ease the physician in integrating the information about the evolution of the tumour. The accuracy of the registration process depends on matching features and CP detection by calculating the iterative closest point (ICP). The prostate volumes are calculated, and the result shows minimal errors. This registration method has been applied in coronal, sagittal and axial views from five patient datasets. The accuracy of automatic registration results is 0.1mm (axial), 1.1mm (coronal) and 0.2mm (sagittal). These accuracies are comparable to gold-standard manual registration by the experts. There was no significant difference between the automatically and manually registered MRI monomodal. Thus, the proposed method enables the physician to diagnose prostate cancer as it can provide important information about the disease progression and decide the necessary therapies regarding the patient’s condition

This year's entrance to the month of Ramadan was distinctive from previous years. Whether fasting may present an elevated risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus due to dehydration while the coronavirus pandemic spreads its way through the world is a reasonable issue. During this COVID19 era, the misery fuels the thought about the public implications that emerged. Therefore, this study is undertaken in order to assess the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic in the holy month of Ramadan among Muslims in Malaysia in terms of religious practices (fasting, prayers, charity) by using data collection via questionnaires. Online sampling of residents from Malaysia has been actively recruited via the authors' networks of residents and social media in Malaysia. To sum up, during this year's Ramadan in Malaysia, the COVID-19 pandemic does impose differences in religious practices (fasting, prayers, charity) compared to previous years.