Interim National Research Articles

Sites of contestation: kaleidoscopes of memory and the shrouding of Latinx lives in the Interim National Pulse Memorial

Sites of contestation: kaleidoscopes of memory and the shrouding of Latinx lives in the Interim National Pulse Memorial

Enhancing Contaminant Removal in Sewage Treatment Plant Effluent with PES/Ag Membrane

In this study, a silver-infused membrane was fabricated using an ex-situ method that involved blending silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) with Polyethersulfone (PES) as the base polymer in treating sewage treatment plant (STP) effluent. Three distinct membranes denoted as S1(Ag0), S2(Ag0.5) and S3(Ag2.0) were manufactured with varying weight percentages of polymer and silver (Ag) contents. The objective was to investigate the effect of the dosage of AgNPs on membrane characterization and performance, encompassing pure water flux filtration tests, organic rejection tests, and antibacterial properties. The results showed that all PES/Ag membranes demonstrated robust performance in removing total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), apparent colour (Hazen unit), total dissolved solids (TDS), turbidity, conductivity, total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), and Escherichia coli (E. coli), complying to Class IIB (Recreational use with body contact) of the Interim National River Water Quality Standards (INWQS) for Malaysia ruled by the Department of Environment Malaysia (DOE). The results also highlighted that upon the addition of AgNPs, the E. coli removal of the membrane S3(Ag2.0) was further improved to 99.87%. The results have evidenced that the PES/Ag membranes could reject E. coli effectively, proving their value in treating bacteria-contaminated surface water. In conclusion, this study highlights the effectiveness of PES/Ag membranes as a viable solution for domestic sewage treatment, aligning with stringent water quality requirements.

Spatial and seasonal variations in surface water quality of the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment, Sabah, Malaysia

Surface water quality was examined to determine spatial and seasonal variations in the Lower Kinabatangan River catchment, Sabah, Malaysia between October 2004 and June 2005, during the weak La Niña event. The study sought to distinguish between the quality in surface waters draining from an oil palm plantation (OP), a secondary forest (SF) and an oxbow lake (OB); and to identify its seasonal variability. A total of 45 samples were collected during fieldwork campaigns that spanned over the inter-monsoonal period, wet and dry seasons. The Water Quality Index (WQI) was calculated and analysed based on the Malaysia Interim National Water Quality Standard (INWQS). Results show that the quality of the river fall into Class II or moderate level. Discriminant analysis (DA) has been employed to classify independent variables into mutually-exclusive groups. Suspended sediment (SS) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) parameters were found higher during the wet season. COD was found dominant in stream located within the oil palm plantation, whilst SS was dominant in oxbow lake. Surface water quality variations could be influenced by weak La Niña event in 2005/2006, as precipitation anomalies have been observed during the sampling campaign.

World Order and Shifting Regional Security Landscapes

International Relations in the 21st Century have witnessed a transformation in the Global Order. This has impacted the priorities of the United States in different parts of the world, including the South Caucasus. The paper discusses the US interests in the South Caucasus in the framework of the US ‘Pivot to Asia’ policy and the revised strategy towards Europe and Middle East. It analyses the US National Security Strategy (2017), President Biden’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance (2021), and other strategic documents, interviews and public speeches, US economic cooperation with the region, as well as quotes expert interviews. The author concludes that the South Caucasus is losing its strategic attractiveness for the US. It is connected with the US policy of strategic refocusing towards the Asia Pacific, decreasing interest towards Caspian energy sources and the withdrawal of US military presence in Afghanistan. However, despite the above, apart from supporting democratic transitions in the region, the US is interested in the region in order to contain Russia, China, and Iran.

Myanmar’s military coup: The Rohingya caught “Between the devil and the deep sea”

AbstractThis article explores the consequences of the recent military coup in Myanmar for the Rohingya crisis. Data from seven semi‐structured interviews were collected from academic and Rohingya leaders in the Australian cities of Sydney and Brisbane. The findings suggest that the regime change that has taken place will not resolve the Rohingya crisis unless the Myanmar government moves away from its current anti‐Rohingya, religious nationalism policy agenda. A military coup on 1 February 2021 overthrew the relatively new democratic government in Myanmar. The anti‐military movement now faces the military’s brutal force for restoring democracy in the country. The elected parliament members established an interim National Unity Government (NUG) to lead anti‐military protests. Regarding the military junta and NUG’s strategy concerning the Rohingya crisis, both aim to get international support for their endeavours. The Rohingya became a sacrificial lamb for both of these competitors. The Rohingya now face a dilemma in making the decision to support one or the other political parties, as the leaders of both parties were involved actively in instigating the Rohingya genocide in 2017. The situation for the Rohingya becomes complicated as they now find themselves caught between the ‘devil and the deep sea’.

Study on Approaching Critical Discourse Analysis

Taking Biden’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance in 2021 as a case, this paper discusses the legalization of political discourse with the application of Proximization theory. It is found that Biden made full use of the strategy of spatial, temporal and axiological proximization in the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance to legalize the remediation actions of the United States. Specifically, in terms of spatial proximization, Biden explicitly uses two opposing groups, and focuses on understanding the invasion process and influence of external entities on internal entities in discourse space, so that listeners can get intuitive feelings to ban the legitimacy of the other party’s encroachment. Secondly, in the strategy of temporal proximization, Biden adopted the concept of “coming to the present” and presupposed the threat of external entities to the future, so as to legalize his defense measures. On the axiological proximization, Biden’s government highlights its positive attitude towards external threats, emphasizes its defense of national interests, and strives to enhance the legitimacy of its own actions, so as to create a positive image, provide legal basis for the implementation of its various policies and measures, and thus implement its own foreign policy more easily.

Legitimizing Analysis of Political Discourse from the Perspective of Proximization Theory: Visualized Modeling of Interim National Security Strategic Guidance Based on Visio

Legitimizing Analysis of Political Discourse from the Perspective of Proximization Theory: Visualized Modeling of Interim National Security Strategic Guidance Based on Visio

The US, Strategic Environment in the South Caucasus and Armenia: A Sight on the Future

The political, economic and geopolitical presence of the United States in the South Caucasus dates back at least a century, when, after the First World War, they emerged as a global political, economic and geopolitical actor. Cooperation has increased dramatically since 1991, when the three countries gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet Union. From this perspective, the article focuses on identifying core US interests in Eurasia and attempting to define US strategic interests and priorities with respect to the region. In this sense, the main research question is how the US relations with the South Caucasus and in particular with Armenia will look like in the future, especially within the current stage of the Ukrainian conflict that began after February 2022. The article simulates and tests four scenarios for future US engagement with the South Caucasus. Based on these scenarios, it is argued that, despite the lack of strategic interests in the region, the Ukrainian conflict prompted the US to increase its presence in the South Caucasus. This study is based on strategic documents, including the US National Security Strategy (2017), the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance of 2021, other white papers, reports, and studies of US foreign policy priorities.

Myanmar’s Coup d’état and the Struggle for Federal Democracy and Inclusive Government

This article reviews the first twelve months of the civil disobedience movement in Myanmar following the 1 February 2021 coup d’état and its many dynamics and manifestations. Myanmar’s ‘Spring Revolution’ generated a shared sense of national unity—overcoming gender, ethnic, religious and class boundaries, but raising questions about the long-term sustainability of nonviolent civil resistance in a state where the military has for decades wielded political and economic power. Since the coup, Myanmar has been in turmoil, paralysed by instability which escalated after the military’s deadly crackdown on pro-democracy activists. The article charts the growth of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM), its multiple methods of strategic resistance and non-cooperation, and the radicalisation of the resistance agenda. It analyses the formation of the Committee Representing the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw (CRPH), the creation of the interim National Unity Government (NUG), the founding of the National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) and the inauguration of the People’s Defence Force (PDF). It examines the implications for Myanmar when the crisis reached a more complex phase after the military’s open use of force and terror on the broader civilian population prompted the NUG to declare war on the junta, and to urge ethnic armed organisations (EAOs) and newly formed anti-junta civilian militias (PDF) to attack the State Administration Council (SAC) as a terrorist organisation. The NUG now opposes the military junta by strategic and peaceful non-cooperation, armed resistance, and international diplomacy. This paper considers whether the predominantly nonviolent civil resistance movement’s struggle for federal democracy and inclusive governance is laying the foundations for eventual transition to a fully democratic future or whether the cycles of violence will continue as the military continues to control power by using intimidation and fear. It notes that the coup has destroyed the economy and expanded Myanmar’s human rights and humanitarian crises but has also provided the opportunity for Myanmar’s people to explore diverse visions of a free, federal, democratic and accountable Myanmar. It finally examines the possibilities for future peaceful nation building, reconciliation, and the healing of the trauma of civil war.

LAKE WATER QUALITY ASSESSMENT IN UNIVERSITI SELANGOR BESTARI JAYA CAMPUS: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Water quality study on the main lake of Universiti Selangor (UNISEL) Bestari Jaya Campus was conducted on weekly basis for twelve weeks. The level of pollution in the lake was classified according to Interim National Water Quality Standard (INWQS) and Water Quality Index (WQI). Three sampling stations were chosen and the concentration of Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Ammonia-Nitrogen (AN) were determined. Water samples were analyzed physically and chemically. The physical water quality parameter, Dissolved Oxygen (DO), temperature and pH were measured in situ and the chemical parameter of BOD, COD, TSS and AN were analyzed in the laboratory according to the APHA Method. Throughout the study period, the water temperature was recorded in the range of 28.0 oC to 29.1 oC and pH of the water was recorded at neutral level. Based on INWQS, COD, TSS, pH and AN parameters were classified in Class II. DO parameter was classified in Class III which indicate that the lake was slightly polluted and BOD parameter was classified Class V which is heavily polluted. Analysis of water parameter according to WQI showed the main lake was classified in Class IV. Based on these two water quality standards, this can be concluded that the main lake in UNISEL Bestari Jaya Campus were polluted and further actions need to be taken by the management of the university in order the improved the water quality of the lake.

Evaluation of radiation safety of the newly established national New Zealand 177–Lutetium (177-Lu or Lutate) Peptide Receptor Radiation Therapy (PRRT) service, a palliative treatment for patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumours

Following the initiation of a fortnightly interim National service in New Zealand for PRRT, for 6 months, radiation safety measurements over several hours during the treatment were recorded. This was to ensure that good medical practice and local regulations were being followed, also to ensure that the staffing groups involved, were not unnecessarily exposed to excessive levels of radiation while working regularly with an unsealed radiation source. Additionally, the external radiation doserate levels at discharge were assessed in order to assure radiation safety of family members and members of the general public.

Main trends of strengthening the statehood in the J. Biden’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance

Main trends of strengthening the statehood in the J. Biden’s Interim National Security Strategic Guidance

Implementation of the Nagoya Protocol in Livestock Sector: What Have We Learnt So Far?

Simple SummaryAdoption of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Nagoya Protocol) in 2010, and its entering into the force October 2014, created many questions within the genetic resources (GR) sector. The Protocol addresses access to and benefit sharing (ABS) resulting from utilization of GR and associated traditional knowledge (TK). The Protocol has been tailored to address commercial utilization of mainly wild species, and especially plants, due to their gene flow from the biodiverse rich countries of the South to countries in the North. Characteristics of the livestock sector differ in many aspects from the plant sector. Most significantly, the gene flow of livestock genetic resources of breeds and lines with high genetic potential for production is the highest between North–North countries and then North–South countries. Therefore, many working in the livestock breeding industry believed that impacts of the implementation of the Protocol would be limited for their sector. The question arises if this prediction is true, and how can we check impacts based on currently available sources of information related to the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol.The aim of the paper was to analyze impacts of seven years of implementation of the Nagoya Protocol on the livestock sector based on available sources of information and literature. Interim National Reports on implementation of the Nagoya Protocol provided by countries and other information available at the ABS Clearing House managed by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, especially Internationally Recognized Certificates of Compliance (IRCC), were analyzed. Moreover, trends in geneflow of breeding products in selected countries, based on the national reports provided to the UN COMATRADE database, have been compared. Analysis from these sources showed limited impact of the implementation of the Nagoya Protocol for livestock breeding and conservation, as out of 2370 IRCC issued by 31 May 2021, only 573 were granted for animal genetic/biological resources including 90 with livestock as the subject matter. Only one IRCC was granted to a foreign user; all other IRCC were issued for domestic users. The intent was to use livestock genetic/biological resources as bioresources for innovation, which should lead to establishment of the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) with benefits to be shared through the National Competent Authority or for research purposes.

Water Quality and Phytoplankton Distribution of the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment, Sabah

A study on water quality and phytoplankton distribution was carried out at the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment, Sabah in November 2013, January 2014 and March 2014. The objectives were to study the surface water quality of the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment; to identify the composition of phytoplankton in three different types of land use in Sukau, Kinabatangan; and to determine spatial and temporal variations of water quality in Sukau, Kinabatangan. Three sampling stations were selected to represent different types of land use, consisting of oil palm plantation (OP), secondary forests (SF) and oxbow lake (OB). Based on Interim National Water Quality Standards (INWQS) for Malaysia, the parameters were categorized within Class I to Class IV. Statistical analyses ANOVA one-way, paired sample t-test and discriminant analysis have been carried out to both water quality and total monthly precipitation data sets. The distribution of phytoplankton in Kinabatangan River consisted of 5 divisions: the Bacillariophyta, Chlorophyta, Cyanophyta, Cryptophyta and Euglenophyta. Chlorophyta recorded the highest diversity, with 10 species recorded out of 17 species found of the Lower Kinabatangan River Catchment. Discriminant analysis suggested that UV-visible absorption coefficients at 254 and 340 nm were dominant in samples from OP and SF. Temporal variations showed that parameters suspended sediment, UV-visible absorption coefficients at 254 and 340 nm were dominant in samples from collected in January 2014.

Biden Administration Imposes Sanctions and Seeks to Cement Alliances to Counter China and Russia

The Biden administration's foreign policy emphasizes repairing U.S. alliances and returning the United States to a “position of trusted leadership” to counter increasing challenges from Russia and especially China. The U.S. Interim National Security Strategic Guidance (INSSG), released in March 2021, notes that the United States must “contend with the reality that the distribution of power across the world is changing.” It highlights that China, which has “rapidly become more assertive,” is the only country “potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system,” while “Russia remains determined to enhance its global influence and play a disruptive role on the world stage.” To reaffirm established international norms, the Biden administration has acted both unilaterally and in coordination with long-standing allies to impose sanctions in response to human rights abuses, malicious cyber activity, and election influence. The administration has also taken steps to cement alliances in the Indo-Pacific and with the West.

Orienting the 2021 Nuclear Posture Review

With its March 2021 Interim National Security Strategic Guidance, the Biden administration set down its first markers on nuclear policy. On international nuclear diplomacy, it committed to “head of...

Assessment of Trace Heavy Metals Contamination in the Tissues and Saliva of the Medicinal Leech Hirudinaria manillensis

Concentrations of heavy metals (HMs) in the tissues and saliva extracts of leeches (Hirudinaria manillensis) collected from Cheneh Lake, Terengganu, Malaysia were investigated. Concentrations of HMs like Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Iron (Fe), Manganese (Mn), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pb), Selenium (Se) and Zinc (Zn) were revealed by utilising Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Nearly all the examined HMs concentrations in the lake water were noted to be higher compared to the Maximum Permissible Limits (MPL) as per Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia (INWQS). Moreover, traces of HMs were discovered in tissues and saliva extracts of leeches. Such quantities may pose a health hazard to the patients upon an instant application of leeches on their skin. In this work, a novel technique was presented to decrease the level of metals in leech saliva by espousing a frequent washing process involving deionized or non-chlorinated water for three weeks. This process was extremely effectual in considerably decreasing HMs concentrations (P<0.05), particularly Cd level (up to 99.7%) in saliva and Pb level (up to 92.38%) in tissues. Thus, a constant washing process might aid in harmless utilization of leeches for different conventional biomedical practices.

Перспективы политики Джозефа Байдена в отношении Восточной Азии

The article provides a forecast of a potential Joseph Biden’s East Asian policy. The forecast is prepared using the recently developed indirect coding language (ICL), which allows to interpret any state as a system and to build models based on official strategic documents. Through this approach, governmental strategies and official documents accepted as the ones can be translated into specific codes, which are connected to particular subsystems characterizing different aspects of a state’s development. The dynamic character of the model is provided by a temporal approach. The author analyses the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance using the ICL to build a model matching the interpretation of the global and regional development by J. Biden and his administration. Dynamically J. Biden’s policy inherits basic goals of Donald Trump’s in general or partly. Substantial changes of priorities can only be observed in food-agricultural, ecological-environmental and military subsystems. It allows forecasting that in general the 46th president will follow major directions of his predecessor’s policy. ICL-modeling of the J. Biden’s interpretation of East Asia allows forecasting the next basic parameters of probable future US policy in the region. First, the Chinese vector will be its core while all other priorities will be regarded as subordinate with an exception to counteracting the regional threats posed by North Korea. Second, policy toward China as a complicated threat will create a dividing line in several dimensions between United States and its allies and partners on the one hand and PRC and its partners on the other hand. It will affect such fields as economy, trade, technology, energy industry, raw materials, environment and ecology, military development, law, civil and humanitarian affairs. The dividing line will acquire global character because the US will be pursuing their policy priorities in the relations with the Indo-Pacific allies and partners as well as NATO ones, as the Pacific region recently becomes more important. Third, there is less and less space for the US and China cooperation. In the nearest future, it is likely to be limited to the climate change problem, health and nuclear non-proliferation.

The Accused Privacy Rights in the Sudanese Legal System

The purpose of this article is to discuss the rights of the accused person in the Sudanese legal system. Similar with other criminal justice systems, the Sudanese law do provide rights for the accused person to enable him or her to defend him or herself. These rights are considered as the core idea behind the thinking of human rights in the criminal proceedings. However the problematic issue here is to what extent does Sudanese law provide and protect the accused right especially the privacy right. It is also pertinent to balance the law enforcement interest in evidence collection in criminal proceedings with the privacy right of the accused in the Sudanese legal system. We found that there are evidence of privacy right protection on the accused within the Sudanese legal system. The result of this research shows that in Sudan, the privacy right was provided for the first time at the constitutional level in the T1973 Constitution (Articles 42 and 43). It has later received recognition in the 1985 Transitional Constitution (Articles 24 and 30), the 1998 Constitution (Article 29) and the 2005 Interim National Constitution (Article 37). At the statutory level, legislative protection is given to this right in the Penal Code 1991 (Section 166), the Code of Criminal Procedure 1991 (Sections 86 through 95) and the Informatic Offences (Combating) Act 2007 (Sections 16 and 6). The method adopted in this article is a qualitative content legal analysis of primary and secondary data obtained from legislation, case-law and various literature.

Treatment of Taman Beringin landfill leachate using the column technique

Landfill leachate is currently a major environmental concern because it contains high concentrations of organic and inorganic contaminants. Leachate treatment using natural materials, such as aquifer sand, peat, and the commercial material BIRM (Burgess Iron Removal Media), was performed through column experiments. Aquifer sand was taken from Kg Teluk, Kelantan, peat was taken from Peatland Paradise, and BIRM was bought from a supplier. The heavy metals (Fe3+, Cr, Ni, and Cu) from natural leachate were selected for this experiment. The concentrations of Fe, Cr, Ni, and Cu before the experiment were 11, 1.27, 4.535, and 3.293 mg L–1, respectively. The physical and chemical parameters of leachate and surface water at the Taman Beringin Landfill have been studied to understand the impact of pollution in the area. The results show that leachate samples at the bottom of the landfills have the highest pollution. Both the physical and chemical parameters of leachate exceed the limits of Interim National Water Quality Standards for Malaysia. Experimental test results were also analyzed in terms of breakthrough curves and percentage of heavy metal removal. The results show that the BIRM sample has a higher adsorption capacity for heavy metals, including Fe, compared with aquifer sand and peat.