PENILAIAN PELAKSANAAN PENGAJARAN GURU PENDIDIKAN ISLAM (GPI): MENGINTEGRASIKAN KEMAHIRAN BERFIKIR ARAS TINGGI (KBAT) DI NEGERI TERENGGANU, MALAYSIA

This article aims to identify the evaluation of the teaching implementation of primary school Islamic education teachers integrating Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS). This study involved Islamic education teachers in the state of Terengganu. High -level thinking components such as contrast skills, sequencing skills, prediction skills, definition making skills and analogy creating skills are analyzed in the five main components of teacher teaching evaluation namely content delivery, implementation of questioning methods, enrichment methods, recovery methods and resource utilization. education. This study uses descriptive analysis (through a questionnaire instrument). All these data collection instruments were built by researchers with modifications from the HOTS instrument of the Ministry of Education Malaysia and the experts involved and their content was confirmed by an expert reference panel. The level of Cronbach's alpha reliability value obtained is high that is between (0.82173). A total of 402 GPIs were selected at simple random to answer the questionnaire instrument. Study data were analyzed descriptively using frequency and percentage of mean. Overall, the results of the study found that the evaluation of teacher teaching implementation based on high -level thinking skills is at a high level through the mean for the whole (4.43) and based on the teaching practice component consisting of the delivery of teaching content that recorded a mean (4.45), the implementation of questioning method recorded a mean (4.44), the implementation of enrichment methods recorded a mean (4.40), the implementation of rehabilitation methods recorded a mean (4.01) and the use of educational resources recorded a mean (4.12). The implications and recommendations presented provide a beneficial picture to the ministry, schools, teachers and the community to improve the level of teaching implementation based on high-level thinking concept skills (HOTS) as intended through the Education Development Plan 2013-2025. Keywords: Evaluation of teaching implementation, Islamic Education teachers, HOTS Abstrak: Kajian ini bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti penilaian pelaksanaan pengajaran guru pendidikan Islam sekolah rendah mengintegrasikan Kemahiran Berfikir Aras Tinggi (KBAT). Kajian ini melibatkan guru-guru pendidikan Islam di negeri Terengganu. Komponen berfikir aras tinggi seperti kemahiran banding beza, kemahiran menyusun urutan, kemahiran membuat ramalan, kemahiran membuat definasi dan kemahiran mencipta anologi yang dianalisis dalam lima komponen utama penilaian pengajaran guru iaitu penyampaian isi pengajaram, pelaksanaan kaedah penyoalan, kaedah pengayaan, kaedah pemulihan dan penggunaan sumber pendidikan. Kajian ini menggunakan analisis deskriptif (melalui instrumen soal selidik). Kesemua instrumen pengutipan data ini dibina oleh pengkaji dengan pengubahsuaian daripada instrument KBAT Kementerian Pendidikan Malaysia dan pakar yang terlibat serta kandungannya disahkan oleh panel rujukan pakar. Tahap nilai kebolehpercayaan alfa Cronbach yang diperoleh adalah tinggi iaitu antara (0.82173). Seramai 402 orang GPI dipilih secara rawak mudah untuk menjawab instrumen soal selidik. Data kajian dianalisis secara deskriptif menggunakan frenkuasi dan peratusan min. Secara keseluruhannya, hasil kajian mendapati penilaian pelaksanaan pengajaran guru berdasarkan kemahiran berfikir aras tinggi adalah berada pada tahap tinggi menerusi min bagi keseluruhan (4.43) dan berdasarkan komponen amalan pengajaran yang terdiri daripada penyampaian isi pengajaran yang mencatatkan min (4.45), pelaksanaan kaedah penyoalan mencatatkan min (4.44), pelaksanaan kaedah pengayaan mencatatkan min (4.40), pelaksanaan kaedah pemulihan yang mencatatkan min (4.01) dan penggunaan sumber pendidikan yang mencatatkan min (4.12). Implikasi dan cadangan yang dikemukakan memberi gambaran yang bermanfaat kepada kementerian, sekolah, guru dan masyarakat untuk mempertingkatkan tahap pelaksanaan pengajaran berdasarkan kemahiran konsep berfikir aras tinggi (KBAT) seperti yang dihasratkan menerusi Pelan Pembangunan Pendidikan 2013-2025. Kata Kunci : Penilaian pelaksanaan pengajaran, guru Pendidikan Islam, KBAT

PHIDA: A High Throughput Turbidimetric Data Analytic Tool to Compare Host Range Profiles of Bacteriophages Isolated Using Different Enrichment Methods

Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria and are present in niches where bacteria thrive. In recent years, the suggested application areas of lytic bacteriophage have been expanded to include therapy, biocontrol, detection, sanitation, and remediation. However, phage application is constrained by the phage’s host range—the range of bacterial hosts sensitive to the phage and the degree of infection. Even though phage isolation and enrichment techniques are straightforward protocols, the correlation between the enrichment technique and host range profile has not been evaluated. Agar-based methods such as spotting assay and efficiency of plaquing (EOP) are the most used methods to determine the phage host range. These methods, aside from being labor intensive, can lead to subjective and incomplete results as they rely on qualitative observations of the lysis/plaques, do not reflect the lytic activity in liquid culture, and can overestimate the host range. In this study, phages against three bacterial genera were isolated using three different enrichment methods. Host range profiles of the isolated phages were quantitatively determined using a high throughput turbidimetric protocol and the data were analyzed with an accessible analytic tool “PHIDA”. Using this tool, the host ranges of 9 Listeria, 14 Salmonella, and 20 Pseudomonas phages isolated with different enrichment methods were quantitatively compared. A high variability in the host range index (HRi) ranging from 0.86–0.63, 0.07–0.24, and 0.00–0.67 for Listeria, Salmonella, and Pseudomonas phages, respectively, was observed. Overall, no direct correlation was found between the phage host range breadth and the enrichment method in any of the three target bacterial genera. The high throughput method and analytics tool developed in this study can be easily adapted to any phage study and can provide a consensus for phage host range determination.

A Comparison of Blood Plasma Exosome Enrichment Strategies for Proteomic Analysis

Proteomic analysis of exosomes (EX) poses a significant challenge. A ‘gold-standard’ method for plasma EX enrichment for downstream proteomic analysis is yet to be established. Our group has performed a comprehensive study of multi-dimensional enrichment methods to determine their efficiency for protein isolation. Methods were evaluated for their capacity to a) successfully isolate and enrich EX from blood plasma, b) minimise the presence of highly abundant plasma proteins, and c) result in the optimum representation of EX proteins by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Blood plasma from four animals (Bos taurus) of similar physical attributes and genetics were used. Three methods of EX enrichment were utilised: ultracentrifugation (UC), size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), and ultrafiltration (UF). These enrichment methods were combined to create four groups for methodological evaluation: UC+SEC, UC+SEC+UF, SEC+UC and SEC+UF. UC+SEC yielded the highest number of protein IDs. Plasma protein identification was the least in SEC+UC, but this method yielded the lowest number of protein IDs overall. UC+SEC+UF decreased EX protein ID and did not improve purity compared to UC+SEC. Our data suggest that the method and sequence of EX enrichment strategy impacts protein ID, which may influence the outcome of biomarker discovery studies.

Comparative analysis of RNA enrichment methods for preparation of Cryptococcus neoformans RNA sequencing libraries

RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) experiments focused on gene expression involve removal of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) because it is the major RNA constituent of cells. This process, called RNA enrichment, is done primarily to reduce cost: without rRNA removal, deeper sequencing must be performed to compensate for the sequencing reads wasted on rRNA. The ideal RNA enrichment method removes all rRNA without affecting other RNA in the sample. We tested the performance of three RNA enrichment methods on RNA isolated from Cryptococcus neoformans, a fungal pathogen of humans. We find that the RNase H depletion method is more efficient in depleting rRNA and more specific in recapitulating non-rRNA levels present in unenriched controls than the commonly-used Poly(A) isolation method. The RNase H depletion method is also more effective than the Ribo-Zero depletion method as measured by rRNA depletion efficiency and recapitulation of protein-coding RNA levels present in unenriched controls, while the Ribo-Zero depletion method more closely recapitulates annotated non-coding RNA (ncRNA) levels. Finally, we leverage these data to accurately map the C. neoformans mitochondrial rRNA genes, and also demonstrate that RNA-Seq data generated with the RNase H and Ribo-Zero depletion methods can be used to explore novel C. neoformans long non-coding RNA genes.

The Upcoming 6Li Isotope Requirements Might Be Supplied by a Microalgal Enrichment Process

Lithium isotopes are essential for nuclear energy, but new enrichment methods are required. In this study, we considered biotechnology as a possibility. We assessed the Li fractionation capabilities of three Chlorophyte strains: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Tetraselmis mediterranea, and a freshwater Chlorophyte, Desmodesmus sp. These species were cultured in Li containing media and were analysed just after inoculation and after 3, 12, and 27 days. Li mass was determined using a Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer, and the isotope compositions were measured on a Thermo Element XR Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. The maximum Li capture was observed at day 27 with C. reinhardtii (31.66 µg/g). Desmodesmus sp. reached the greatest Li fractionation, (δ6 = 85.4‰). All strains fractionated preferentially towards 6Li. More studies are required to find fitter species and to establish the optimal conditions for Li capture and fractionation. Nevertheless, this is the first step for a microalgal nuclear biotechnology.

Selective whole genome amplification as a tool to enrich specimens with low Treponema pallidum genomic DNA copies for whole genome sequencing

Downstream next generation sequencing of the syphilis spirochete Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum (T. pallidum) is hindered by low bacterial loads and the overwhelming presence of background metagenomic DNA in clinical specimens. In this study, we investigated selective whole genome amplification (SWGA) utilizing Multiple Displacement Amplification (MDA) in conjunction with custom oligonucleotides with an increased specificity for the T. pallidum genome, and the capture and removal of CpG-methylated host DNA followed by MDA as enrichment methods to improve the yields of T. pallidum DNA in rabbit propagated isolates and lesion specimens from patients with primary and secondary syphilis. Sequencing was performed using the Illumina MiSeq v2 500 cycle or NovaSeq 6000 SP platform. These two enrichment methods led to 93-98% genome coverage at 5 reads/site in 5 clinical specimens from the United States and rabbit propagated isolates, containing >14 T. pallidum genomic copies/μl input for SWGA and >129 genomic copies/μl for CpG methylation capture with MDA. Variant analysis using sequencing data derived from SWGA-enriched specimens, showed that all 5 clinical strains had the A2058G mutation associated with azithromycin resistance. SWGA is a robust method that allows direct whole genome sequencing (WGS) of specimens containing very low numbers of T. pallidum, which have been challenging until now.

Rapid Methods for Identification of Plant-Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria

The growing human population has put enormous pressure on agriculture to increase production and productivity, which has resulted in the widespread usage of agrochemicals. The indiscriminate use of agrochemicals has harmed soil fertility and resulted in significant environmental contamination, impacting human health. The discovery and implementation of bacterial isolates with Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria (PGPR) have enormous potential for reducing the usage of chemical fertilizers, insecticides, and herbicides. However, the identification of bacterial isolates is a prerequisite to utilize them for agricultural purposes. Traditional methods involve culturing microbes using a range of nonselective and selective enrichment methods, followed by biochemical confirmation among others. Traditional methods involve culturing microbes, followed by morphological biochemical confirmation etc. In the present investigation, we describe a fast and effective approach for isolating and identifying bacterial isolates, followed by phylogenetic analysis and submission to GenBank.