No abstract

The Juru River is a highly industrialized, urbanized, and agricultural catchment. This study aimed to investigate trace elements in Juru mangrove sediments, including geochemical baselines and enrichment. Sediment was collected from the mangrove in Juru, Penang, Malaysia. A total of eight target elements was examined.  Instrumentation activation analysis (INAA) was used to determine the concentration of Fe, V, Cr, Zn and Co. Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) was used to determine the concentration of elements that not detectable by INAA (Cd, Pb, and As). In both methods, validated reference material studies were used for validation of the methodology. Metal pollution was estimated using the Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), Contamination Factor (CF), and Pollutant Load Index (PLI). The EF, Igeo, and CF ranges from 0.45–7.96, -2.18 – 1.95, and 0.33–5.83 respectively. The order of accumulation of the elemental concentration found was Fe > Zn> Cr > V > Pb > As > Co >Cd. The computed mean value of PLI exceeds the unit (PLI > 1).

The main purpose of the research was to analyze the distribution of Arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Copper (Cu), Iron (Fe), Nickel (Ni), Cobalt (Co), Mangan (Mn), and Zinc (Zn) in soft tissues, shells, and associated surface sediments of Cerithidea obtusa (C. obtusa) mangrove snails collected from Sungai Besar Sepang. The concentration of iron (Fe) was found to be the highest in relation to other toxic elements in sediments, soft tissues, and shells of C. obtusa. The concentrations of Cu and Zn in soft tissues of C. obtusa were found to exceed the concentrations in sediments, indicating bioaccumulation of these metals. Metal pollution was assessed with the Enrichment Factor (EF), Geoaccumulation Index (Igeo), and Pollution Factor (CF). EF, Igeo, and CF were 0.34 to 22.41, -3.37 to 2.65, and 0.14 to 9.42, respectively. The results indicate that sediments in Sungai Besar Sepang are contaminated with As and Zn. According to the bivalve bioaccumulation results, the soft tissues of C. obtusa act as a macro-concentrator for Cu and Zn. As a result, it is suggested that ongoing monitoring of releases of heavy metals from anthropogenic sources and stricter environmental protection measures should be implemented.

Universities' identities and institutional images are showcased on their websites to the rest of the world. Nowadays, many university websites (UW)s have been well-investigated for usability improvement for all users in general. This study aims to review the publications indexed in the Scopus database in 2021 using the search term 'University Websites' and to synthesize the main information being discussed in the manuscripts. Two main reasons why only papers published in 2021 were selected for this study. Firstly, in terms of the number of publications (N = 456) indexed in Scopus from 1996 to 2021, the 2021 publications are the most recent complete year. Secondly, 2021 topped the list of publications along with 2020. For the year 2021, a total of 58 publications were found in the Scopus database as of February 26, 2022. After screening all the papers, only 39 papers were used for this quantitative analysis. The present systematic review presented three major trends. Firstly, the publications on the UWs are expected to be higher in near future aligned with the speed of Industry 4.0 development worldwide. Secondly, there is a total of 24 countries and 1 region (Latin America) found in this review, with Indonesia leading the list with 8 publications. Thirdly, all the papers aimed to identify the obstacles and recommended ways and room for future improvements for all users regarding their UWs. This review paper highlighted the importance of having effective and up-to-date websites from social and economic viewpoints. It can be synthesized here that continual improvements in the knowledge of the effective usability of a UW can sustain a university's reputation and ranking ultimately.