Displaying publications 61 - 80 of 217 in total

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  1. Ali AQ, Md Sultan AB, Abd Ghani AA, Zulzalil H
    PeerJ Comput Sci, 2020;6:e294.
    PMID: 33816945 DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.294
    Despite the benefits of standardization, the customization of Software as a Service (SaaS) application is also essential because of the many unique requirements of customers. This study, therefore, focuses on the development of a valid and reliable software customization model for SaaS quality that consists of (1) generic software customization types and a list of common practices for each customization type in the SaaS multi-tenant context, and (2) key quality attributes of SaaS applications associated with customization. The study was divided into three phases: the conceptualization of the model, analysis of its validity using SaaS academic-derived expertise, and evaluation of its reliability by submitting it to an internal consistency reliability test conducted by software-engineer researchers. The model was initially devised based on six customization approaches, 46 customization practices, and 13 quality attributes in the SaaS multi-tenant context. Subsequently, its content was validated over two rounds of testing after which one approach and 14 practices were removed and 20 practices were reformulated. The internal consistency reliability study was thereafter conducted by 34 software engineer researchers. All constructs of the content-validated model were found to be reliable in this study. The final version of the model consists of 6 constructs and 44 items. These six constructs and their associated items are as follows: (1) Configuration (eight items), (2) Composition (four items), (3) Extension (six items), 4) Integration (eight items), (5) Modification (five items), and (6) SaaS quality (13 items). The results of the study may contribute to enhancing the capability of empirically analyzing the impact of software customization on SaaS quality by benefiting from all resultant constructs and items.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  2. Liu X, Peng MY, Anser MK, Chong WL, Lin B
    Front Psychol, 2020;11:1945.
    PMID: 33117202 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01945
    Higher education policy and talent training are failing to meet the ever-changing expectations of employers and society in Taiwan, resulting in a gap between university education and employment. This study used social cognitive career theory (SCCT) to explore the relationships among self-efficacy, transformational leadership (TL), student employability (SE), and problem-based learning (PBL) in higher education institutions (HEIs). The analysis of 637 undergraduates from 16 Taiwanese HEIs using structural equation modeling (SEM) shows significant positive correlations among self-efficacy, PBL, TL, and SE, with PBL and self-efficacy as key mediators. Based on these findings, the researchers propose feasible suggestions for related issues and future research.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  3. Zaslansky R, Chapman CR, Baumbach P, Bytyqi A, Castro Lopes JM, Chetty S, et al.
    Pain Rep, 2019 01 25;4(1):e705.
    PMID: 30801045 DOI: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000705
    Introduction: The burden of untreated postoperative pain is high.

    Objective: This study assessed feasibility of using quality improvement (QI) tools to improve management of perioperative pain in hospitals in multiple developing countries.

    Methods: The International Pain Registry and Developing Countries working groups, from the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP), sponsored the project and PAIN OUT, a QI and research network, coordinated it, and provided the research tools. The IASP published a call about the project on its website. Principal investigators (PIs) were responsible for implementing a preintervention and postintervention study in 1 to 2 surgical wards in their hospitals, and they were free to choose the QI intervention. Trained surveyors used standardized and validated web-based tools for collecting findings about perioperative pain management and patient reported outcomes (PROs). Four processes and PROs, independent of surgery type, assessed effectiveness of the interventions.

    Results: Forty-three providers responded to the call; 13 applications were selected; and PIs from 8 hospitals, in 14 wards, in 7 countries, completed the study. Interventions focused on teaching providers about pain management. Processes improved in 35% and PROs in 37.5% of wards.

    Conclusions: The project proved useful on multiple levels. It offered PIs a framework and tools to perform QI work and findings to present to colleagues and administration. Management practices and PROs improved on some wards. Interpretation of change proved complex, site-dependent, and related to multiple factors. PAIN OUT gained experience coordinating a multicentre, international QI project. The IASP promoted research, education, and QI work.

    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  4. Chin WK, Thuraisingam AS, Kanagasabapathy S
    Account Res, 2021 May 05.
    PMID: 33857400 DOI: 10.1080/08989621.2021.1917397
    Clinical trials play a critical role in the development of life-enhancing and life-sustaining biomedical advances. It is costly and, regardless of how well-designed and ethically conducted, there are always inherent uncertainties which subsequently expose human participants to the risk of injuries or even death. In Malaysia, compensation for clinical trial-related injury has not been incorporated into standard national regulations or policies. Therefore, when clinical trial-related injuries do occur, such participants cannot be compensated by researchers, and with the absence of specific statutory laws governing trial-related injury within the local legal framework, aggrieved parties need to seek legal redress and can only depend on the existing tort laws. To propose a viable compensation framework, the existing compensation regulations and policies implemented in India and South Africa are analyzed, and their best principles have been recommended. This study proposes the implementation of a no-fault compensation framework in Malaysia which should be disbursed efficiently at minimum administrative cost. This proposed approach should be mandated by the amendment of current laws governing biomedical research and, in the interim, should be adopted voluntarily by research sponsors, institutions and investigators conducting clinical trials in Malaysia.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  5. Md Jais Ismail, Rorlinda Yusuf, Loo, Fung Chiat
    MyJurnal
    Previous studies approved that not all lesson activities are suitable for gifted and talented students.
    This study is designed to identify what are the proper musical activities that can fill the needs of gifted
    and talented students in Malaysia. The research sample is among gifted and talented students from the
    whole Malaysia who are studying in Pusat PERMATApintar Negara. Result in this study may be used
    as reference for educators who want to teach music on gifted and talented children, so that educators
    may choose the right and effective activities to implement on those children. Therefore, the researcher
    collects data using Focus Group Discussion Techique,and Indepth Interview on gifted and talented
    children who had experienced music in formal class. Observation is also conducted in music classes in
    Pusat PERMATApintar Negara to identify their behavioral on the musical activities conducted. Result
    reveals that all the students believe the most proper musical activities are playing musical instruments, performance, music theory and singing. Teachers may attract students’ attention by using interactive
    learning apparatus, relates theory and practical, and justify the importance of music study.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  6. Gharibi F, Dadgar E
    Malays Fam Physician, 2020;15(2):19-29.
    PMID: 32843941
    Objective: This study was conducted to investigate the challenges faced in the implementation of the pay-for-performance system in Iran's family physician program.

    Study design: Qualitative.

    Place and duration of study: The study was conducted with 32 key informants at the family physician program at the Tabriz University of Medical Sciences between May 2018 and June 2018. Method: This is a qualitative study. A purposeful sampling method was used with only one inclusion criterion for participants: five years of experience in the family physician program. The researchers conducted 17 individual and group non-structured interviews and examined participants' perspectives on the challenges faced in the implementation of the pay-for-performance system in the family physician program. Content analysis was conducted on the obtained data.

    Results: This study identified 7 themes, 14 sub-themes, and 46 items related to the challenges in the implementation of pay-for-performance systems in Iran's family physician program. The main themes are: workload, training, program cultivation, payment, assessment and monitoring, information management, and level of authority. Other sub-challenges were also identified.

    Conclusion: The study results demonstrate some notable challenges faced in the implementation of the pay-for-performance system. This information can be helpful to managers and policymakers.

    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  7. Alguri KS, Chia CC, Harley JB
    Ultrasonics, 2021 Mar;111:106338.
    PMID: 33338729 DOI: 10.1016/j.ultras.2020.106338
    Wavefield imaging is a powerful visualization tool in nondestructive evaluation for studying ultrasonic wave propagation and its interactions with damage. To isolate and study damage scattering, damage-free baseline data is often subtracted from a wavefield. This is often necessary because the damage wavefield can be orders of magnitude weaker than the incident waves. Yet, baselines are not always accessible. When the baselines are accessible, the experimental conditions for the baseline and test data must be extremely similar. Researchers have created several baseline-free approaches for isolating damage wavefields, but these often rely on specific experimental setups. In this paper, we discuss a flexible approach based on ultrasonic guided wave digital surrogates (i.e., numerical simulations of incident waves) and transfer learning. We demonstrate this approach with two setups. We first isolate reflections from a circular, 2 mm diameter half-thickness hole on a 10 × 10 cm steel plate. We then isolate 8 circular, half-thickness holes of various diameters from 1 mm to 40 mm on a 60 × 60 cm steel plate. The second plate has a non-square geometry and the data has multi-path reflections. With both data sets, we isolate damage reflections without explicit experimental baselines. We also briefly illustrate the comparison of our dictionary learning method with wavenumber filtering technique which is often used to enhance the defect wavefields.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  8. TANGAPRABHU MURTHY, MARY FATIMAH SUBET
    MyJurnal
    Proverbs are created when people started to observe and understand the nature around them. Proverbs consist of literal meanings and implicated meanings. The way these proverbs have been said, portrays the beauty and smoothness of the language to which the proverbs belong. This research is mainly conducted to distinguish Indian community's intellectual and philosophical abilities in conveying direct and indirect meanings. The theoretical framework used in this research is inquisitive semantics by Nor Hashimah Jalaluddin (2014). This is a qualitative research. The researcher attained 25 datas by interviewing four (4) Indian informants. However, this research acquired only three 3 data in which the image of sugarcane has been used. Finding shows that the Indian community's proverbs are established from their observation towards nature and the Indian community has their own philosophical understanding and also intellectual standards in the creation of proverbs. Actual meanings behind the data used in this research have been successfully decoded using the theory of inquisitive semantics. In a nutshell, this study is highly justifiable as the theory used in this research is a renowned and authoritative theory.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  9. Othman, M., Boo, H.C., Wan Rusni, W.I.
    MyJurnal
    The role of adolescents in family decision making related to food consumption in Malaysia has received comparatively little or no attention by researchers although there were evidences of differences in influences found in other countries. This study addressed the research gap by testing adolescents’ bilateral strategies in influencing their family decision using family power theory. A survey of 500 adolescents from urban area was conducted to investigate their influence based on their involvement in family consumer tasks. Key findings include strong relationship between perception of influence and rewards thus indicate the existence of strategies in adolescents influence attempt.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  10. Noorfarahzilah, M., Lee, J. S., Sharifudin, M. S., Mohd Fadzelly, A.B., Hasmadi, M.
    MyJurnal
    The development of food products using composite flour has increased and is attracting much attention from researchers, especially in the production of bakery products and pastries. This article focuses on the use of composite flour to produce food products, namely bread, biscuits, and pasta, with looks at on its impact, following some improvements made, on the sensory quality, rheology characteristics, and nutritional values as well as its overall acceptance. The blending of wheat flour with various sources of tubers, legumes, cereals and fruit flour in different percentages to produce variety of food products are also reported in this review. It was found that composite flour used to produce food products is still able to maintain similar characteristics to products made from full-wheat flour. The positive effects of the use of composite flour can be seen in the final product related to the functional and physicochemical properties and health benefits of raw blended flour along with percentage blending. Overall, composite flour is a good new approach to utilizing uncommon food products as the application of composite flour produced products with different characteristics and quality, depending on the types and percentage of wheat flour used in the formulation.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  11. Amran, A.R.
    MyJurnal
    Pulmonary sequestration is defined as a segment of ç separated from the tracheobronchial tree and receiving its blood supply from a systemic artery rather than a pulmonary arterial branch. Classically, it has been described in two forms: (1) intralobar sequestration (ILS), in which the sequestrated part of lung lies within normal pulmonary visceral pleura, and (2) extralobar sequestration (ELS), in which the abnormal segment of lung is completely separate and enclosed in its own pleural investment. The term sequestration was coined by Pryce in 1946 to describe a disconnected bronchopulmonary mass or cyst with an anomalous systemic artery. Since this original description, terminology has become confusing as investigator has recognized many variants of sequestration not strictly meeting the original description. The spectrum now recognized as a continuum, with normal vessels supplying abnormal lung at one end and abnormal vessels supplying normal lung at the other end. Recently, we incidentally found an asymptomatic, intralobar pulmonary sequestration during CT pneumocolon.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  12. Yoong, Wilkinson Jian Tan, Jo Wearn Yeap, Sharifah Sulaiha Syed Aznal
    MyJurnal
    Background: Peripheral venous catheterisation is indispensable in modern practise of medicine. The indications of venous access should be weighed against the risk of complications, the commonest being thrombophlebitis. Thrombophlebitis causes patient discomfort and the need for new catheter insertion and risk of developing further widespread infections. Methodology: This observational study was conducted on adult patients admitted to the surgical and medical ward of a tertiary hospital in Negeri Sembilan Malaysia in 2011. Four researchers visited patients daily and examined for signs of thrombophlebitis; warmth, erythema, swelling, tenderness or a palpable venous cord. Risks factors that were studied in this research were patient/s age and gender, duration of catheterization, use of catheter for infusion, size of catheter, site of catheter insertion and types of infusate. Thrombophlebitis was graded using a scale adapted from Bhandari et al. (1979). Results: In total, 428 patients were recruited with an incidence rate of thrombophlebitis of 35.2%. Among those who developed thrombophlebitis, 65% had mild thrombophlebitis, 19% moderate and 8% severe thrombophlebitis. Results showed that female patients had a significant increased risk of developing thrombophlebitis. Also risk increased significantly with increased duration of catheterization and usage of the catheter for infusion. The age of a patient, types of infusate use, size of catheter and site of catheter insertion did not significantly influence the development of thrombophlebitis. Conclusion: The study showed that risk of developing thrombophlebitis is significantly increased among female patients, and also with increased duration of catheterization and use of the peripheral venous catheter for infusion. We recommended elective replacement of catheter every 72 hours and daily examination of catheters for signs of thrombophlebitis by a healthcare personnel.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  13. Mohd Rizal Abdul Manaf
    Int J Public Health Res, 2012;2(1):129-136.
    MyJurnal
    Introduction Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. The medical profession has long subscribed to a body of ethical statements developed primarily for the benefit of the patient. A physician must recognize responsibility to patients first and foremost, as well as to society, to other health professionals, and to self. This paper presents some information regarding medical ethics, including the values and principles of ethical conduct. Later the requirements of consent form is presented to guide the researchers before conducting a study.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  14. Chong, Aik Lee, Sakaria Abas, Yee, Angelina Seow Voon
    MyJurnal
    Collaboration without performance measures is likened to a football game without a scoreboard. Traditionally, universities have operated in isolation industry and vice versa. University and industry were formed with different agenda and objectives. Fundamentally, a university is a nonprofit oriented organisation while industry is profit oriented. However, industrialisation and egalitarian awakening in the early 20'" century gradually brought university and industry together. Currently, university and industry are increasingly seeking avenues to collaborate strategically. Nevertheless, 50% to 70% of collaborative efforts fail prematurely due to the lack of performance measures. In light of that, there is a need to search for a set of holistic performance measures. Therefore, this study is undertaken to determine the performance measures of strategic university industry collaborations in Malaysia using dyadic multicases approach. The researcher analyses multiple cases from the perspectives of university and industry within a bounded system via qualitative research methodology. Interviews respondents were from university and industry. From the 68 interviews conducted, university and industry respondents shared their experiences on the need for performance measures to include trust, commitment, enterprise, communication, complementary, flexibility, commercialisation and resources on top of conventional performance measures like agreed objectives, timelines, financial indicators and reporting. With that, a set of holistic performance measures is established from interviews. The main contributions of the research findings are: (i) to policy-making for the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia; and (ii) to the body of knowledge in investigating the performance measures in satisfactory performance of strategic university-industry collaboration.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  15. Rohaizuan Rosilli, Azmah Hanim Mohamed Ariff, Shahrul Fadzli Muhamad Zam
    MyJurnal
    The search for a high temperature lead-free solder replacement for high temperature leaded solder eutectic alloy has been an evolving process as the threat of a regional lead ban became a reality in July 2006. The advantages and disadvantages of lead-free solder in terms of manufacturing, performance and reliability have been increasingly revealed through companies’ Research and Development (R&D), industrial consortia and university researchers. Materials and component design are the primary criteria to focus on the development for the current generation of high temperature lead-free solder alloys. According to the current status of high temperature lead free soldering, there are many unsolved technical problems such as explanation on the lift-off phenomenon, establishment of high temperature lead-free plating technology, construction of a database of physical properties (solder, parts, PCBs), standardization of high temperature solder materials evaluation technology, and most importantly, the best candidate material for high temperature solder. Clearly, high temperature soldering is one of the unsolved problems of the century in lead-free soldering. Moreover, most of the questions still remain unanswered by researchers. This paper reviews research conducted on the Bi-Ag solder alloy, which is one of the candidate alloys that has been proposed as an alternative for high temperature lead-free solder.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  16. Mak JW
    MyJurnal
    There is no substantial difference in conducting research that is both ethical and responsive to the health needs in developing and developed nations. Differences are in financial constraints, technological expertise in identification and addressing needs, and in the perception of equal partnership of all stakeholders. There will be differences in emphasis of research but this is slowly blurred due to globalisation. Public health emergencies in developing countries need timely and effective global collaborative research to implement control strategies. Research needs should be based on predictive models with learning from past emergencies, technological advances, strategic critical appraisal of local and global health information, and dialogue with all stakeholders. Adequate funding will be challenging and resources from national, international and aid
    foundations will be needed. Issues associated with such funding include deployment of international rapid response teams, collaborating researchers, transfer of technology, and intellectual property ownership. While all types of research ranging from basic, applied, clinical
    studies, meta-analysis, and translational research are relevant, the relative importance and specific allocation of resources to these may differ. Is the choice related to responsiveness or based on researchers’ perception of their contributions to evidence-based practice and research? Ethical issues relating to vulnerable groups, risk distribution, quality issues, research integrity and oversight are just as important. Internationally funded
    research including clinical trials must be sensitive to such issues to avoid allegations of exploitation. Thus the potential of utilisation and buy-in of research findings and recommendations must be considered.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  17. Fadil Lokman ML
    Int J Public Health Res, 2013;3(1):232-235.
    MyJurnal
    It all started with a SSM research. SSM, which is an abbreviation for ‘Special Study Module’ is a unique module in the curriculum of the Medical Faculty National University of Malaysia (UKM), where each students were required to do a medical research in the field that we have interest in. Being interested in the field of public health, 3 of my friends and I did a research on the prevalence of tuberculosis in Cheras using the graphic informational system (GIS) to map each case of tuberculosis on the map of Kuala Lumpur. Our supervisor was Associate Professor Dr Shamsul Azhar, who is himself an expert on the field of GIS study and has been doing his PhD research using the same system in Niigata University, Japan for almost 4 years. During one of our SSM meetings, he mentions that the post-graduate students in UKM has done several visits to Niigata University and brought up the idea that maybe the undergraduate students like us could do the same. (Copied from article).
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  18. Che Mustapha Yusuf, J., Mohd Su’ud, M., Boursier, P., Muhammad, A.
    MyJurnal
    Finding relevant disaster data from a huge metadata overhead often results in frustrating search
    experiences caused by unclear access points, ambiguous search methods, unsuitable metadata, and long response times. More frequently, semantic relation between the retrieved objects is neglected. This paper presents a system architecture that makes use of ontologies in order to enable semantic metadata descriptions for gathering and integrating multi-format documents in the context of disaster management. After a brief discussion on the challenges of the integration process, the Multi-format Information Retrieval, Integration and Presentation (MIRIP) architecture is presented. A specific approach for ontology development and mapping process is introduced in order to semantically associate user’s query and documents metadata. An ontology model approach was designed to follow inspirational and collaborative approaches with top-down to bottom-up implementation. A prototype of the integrated disaster management information system is currently under development, based on the architecture that is presented in this paper.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  19. Izamin, I., Jamsiah, M., Aniza, I.
    MyJurnal
    Each organization has a particular culture, due to personal interactions, with certain values shared by its members. Corporate culture is defined as ‘the set of shared, taken-for-granted implicit assumptions that a group holds and that determines how it perceives, thinks about, and reacts to its various environments’. Positive corporate culture is linked to increased staff alignment, advanced level of employee commitment, increased employee productivity, enhanced organizational effectiveness and increased profitability. Researchers claimed that most studies suggesting the associations between culture and performance are methodologically weak. Cultural transformation has been a big part of NHS reforms and health system redesign in United States to deliver improvements in quality and performance. Environment, market competition, technology advancement, information age and government policies will influence the cultural change within the organization. Undesirable culture might emerge if the organization does not act appropriately to manage its corporate culture. There are six critical success factors for the implementation of corporate culture changes: committed and effective leadership, clear definition of the desired goals, rigorous implementation of a change management model, effective mitigation of change resistance, active governance structure and a design model, and effective communication. Among the issues in implementing corporate culture within healthcare organizations are middle managers dilemma, cultural diversity and subcultures within the organization, size of healthcare organization and critical mass.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
  20. Akbar John, B., Kamaruzzaman, B.Y., Jalal, K.C.A., Zaleha, K.
    MyJurnal
    Endotoxins (chemically known as Lipopolysaccharide) from gram-negative microorganisms initiates clot formation in blood when it is accidentally encountered by horseshoe crab blood stream. This property was extensively studied by various researchers as a result Limulus Amebocyte Lysate (LAL) test was established. The LAL tests in general, 3 to 300 times more sensitive than the United States Pharmacopeial (USP) rabbit pyrogen test method. It is apparent that major differences among the LAL preparations lie in the area of sensitivity. Differences, up to 100-fold, exist in the sensitivity of the various LAL preparations to the same endotoxin. Based on the above perspective, a portable Kit (Endo sensor) was developed to detect the presence of bacterial endotoxin in liquid biological samples using Tachypleus Amebocyte Lysate (TAL) as a source. Sensitivity of the Kit was determined using various concentrations of prepared endotoxin standards and pyrogen free water samples. It was observed that Endo sensor could detect up to nano gram level of endotoxin in liquid biological samples which could be expressed in (EU/ml) and the labeled sensitivity of the lysated product was 0.125 EU/ml. The gel clotting principle method was utilized for the detection of bacterial endotoxin in liquid biological samples.
    Matched MeSH terms: Research Personnel
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