Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) is a crucial scope of work in civil engineering specifically on
monitoring the in-service and ageing coastal bridge deck concrete structure serviceability and limit
state status performance. One of the possible natural process that pose detrimental effects to such
structure performance monitoring is the steel rebar pitting corrosion problem. Progressive pitting
corrosion process on the certain steel rebar area in low quality of concrete cover due to chloride
ingression will cause local premature damage the steel rebar which obviously affect the serviceability
performance of the structural element, i.e. displacement. However, the available displacement
monitoring methods become an issue when it comes to engineering practicality and costs
considerations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to monitor and analyze the vertical
displacement of an undamaged and damage reinforced concrete beam using the digital signal
processing technology, Digital Image Correlation, (DIC) that use Sony camera and MATLAB scripts,
and compared to a traditional method, Linear Variable Displacement Transducer (LVDT) at two
points bending tests setup. It was concluded, that the quantified displacement for corrosion-damage
RC via DIC method is higher than the normal reinforced concrete beam by 2 to 46 percent of error to
LVDT measurements. Based on two tailed paired t-test analysis, DIC method was concluded to be as
good as the LVDT method of measuring the beam’s displacement. The developed method has the
potential implementation on monitoring the any beam deflection on current real civil engineering
related projects.
In this study, the unprecedented extraction of the Vitex pouch was performed. The compounds from
methanolic and chloroform extracts were isolated by using thin layer chromatography (TLC). The
compound of interest was investigated by using 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR, 500 MHz)
spectroscopy. From the NMR spectral examination, the compound from the methanolic extract was
suggested as glucononitol. Indeed, there are some parameters that could enhance the attainment of this
research, which include high performance liquid chromatographic supplies. Nevertheless, more
information and understanding on the pharmaceutical and chemical analysis of the Vitex species were
obtained. To sum up, it is anticipated that incoming research with advanced technology for this
natural product could be explored in the future.
Banana fruit which belongs to the family Musaceae is one of the most widely distributed and
consumed fruit in the world especially in tropical and subtropical countries. People only consume the
banana’s pulp and dump its peel as solid waste. This gives a very serious agricultural waste disposal
and eventually cause environmental problems that keep worsen each day. Thus, this study concern
on the phytochemical content and the antioxidant in peel extracts of unripe Cavendish and Dream
banana. The dried peels of banana fruit were grinded and extracted by using ethanol as the extraction
solvent. The percentage yield of the ethanol extract of unripe Cavendish and Dream banana fruit
peels were 17.765 % and 17.081 % respectively. The banana peel extracts were screened for the
presence of bioactive compounds which showed the presence of phenols, flavonoids and tannins.
Antioxidant activity of the banana peel extracts was evaluated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl
(DPPH) free radical scavenging assay. The concentration of the peel extracts required for 50 %
inhibition of DPPH radical scavenging activity ( ) were recorded at 90.28 μg/ml for Cavendish
and 113.09 μg/ml for Dream banana. The extracts of both banana peels definitely showed potential
as a sources of natural antioxidant.
Most studies done in the past on factors affecting academic performance did not touch on quality of life factor. Also, most studies only used correlation and regression analysis. Not many studies used classification analysis. Hence, this study aimed to classify students based on quality of life and academic performance. Students’ quality of life was measured by using WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire which consists of five quality of life domains namely physical health, psychological health, social relationship, environment and overall quality of life whereas the academic performances were represented by cumulative grade point average (CGPA). The selected sample for this study was 60 Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Perlis students from Bachelor of Science (Hons.) Management Mathematics program. This study applied support vector machine (SVM) method for classifying the students. The results for each quality of life domain showed that students with both low and high academic performance were classified into high academic performance class. The same result was obtained when all domains were combined. All models showed high accuracy which implied that the classification made by SVM were strongly correct. The findings of this study demonstrated that quality of life plays an important role in students’ academic performance.
The construction industry in Malaysia is heavily dependent on foreign workers. Unfortunately, it
seems that the local youth would prefer to be unemployed rather than be employed in construction
sites. Archival data from the Labor Force Survey Report was compiled to determine the trend of youth
participation in the construction workforce. The findings indicate that local youth participation has
never exceeded 25% of the total construction workforce. An extensive survey was also carried out on
youth at vocational training centers to determine their current perception of a career in the
construction industry especially in construction sites. Surprisingly, the findings of the survey found
that 3’D (difficult, dangerous and dirty) image is no longer a main factor in distracting local youth
from pursuing career in the construction workforce. Hence, the strategies have been adopted based on
extensive feedback from self-administered questionnaire survey to acquire perception 288 local youth
who are taking the non-construction courses at GIATMARA Malaysia. Construction industry experts
representing Government Authority, Researcher and contractor were also interviewed to obtain an
insight on what went wrong with the previous and current initiatives to attract youth into the
construction industry and how things can be done better. This study has attempted to produce more
effective and sustainable strategies that can transform the construction industry into a preferred sector
of employment for local youth.
Work-life balance play an important role in influencing employee’s quality of social and working life together with job satisfaction in the organization. Nowadays, teachers are also included in the context of work-life balance due to academic workload and career issues. In
this study, researchers aim to explore work-life balance policies that influence teacher’s job satisfaction in selected Malaysia boarding school. Only 56 school teachers were selected to represent as respondents consist of teachers from language, mathematics, science, social science, counselling unit, and vice principals department. The questionnaires were distributed using convenience sampling. The elements of work-life balance policies such as flexibility policies, welfare policies, job design and leave provisions were included in this study to examine potential influence on teacher’s job satisfaction. Based on statistical analysis using SPSS, Pearson Correlation analysis four elements of work-life balance policies indicated positive and significant relationship with job satisfaction, with flexibility policies showed the strongest relationship toward teacher’s job satisfaction. Most of teachers in selected Malaysian boarding school also demonstrated high level of job satisfaction at the workplace.
The purpose of this study is to investigate how reference materials (i.e. dictionaries) commonly
prescribed to Malaysian school learners address and describe a very common and important linguistic
feature - phrasal verbs. Two bilingual learner dictionaries frequently recommended for secondary
school learners in Malaysia were examined. Analysis of common phrasal verbs like pick up, come out,
and go out was carried out by examining entries in the dictionaries that discuss this linguistic feature.
Descriptive analysis was conducted to examine how this particular language form is described by
looking at the selection of phrasal verbs, as well as information provided with respect to phrasal verbs.
Results of the analysis have revealed some interesting findings with regard to the selection and
description of phrasal verbs in these dictionaries, which may have also contributed to learners'
difficulties in understanding and learning the language form. The paper will be concluded by
discussing some recommendations with respect to the inclusion and selection of phrasal verbs in
language reference materials particularly dictionaries in Malaysian schools.
Social media are now acknowledged as one of the platforms for engaging e-health that contributing to serious discussion and information regarding on medical and health issues. However, there are challenges and risks associated with social media in medical and health care which is misinformation. Misinformation can spread quickly on Twitter and each retweet is exposing to wider audiences. The aim of this paper is to identify the use of @MedTweetMYHQ among its’ users sepcifically among UiTM Melaka students. The researchers used in-depth interviews to five informants based on purposive sampling. The data was analysed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from the analysis which are the use of @MedTweetMYHQ to receive updated useful information on health, to share information on healthy lifestyle, to debunk health myths and as a platform for health discussions.
One of the main obstacles of protein hydrolysate application in food is bitterness and fishy off-flavor. Pretreatment
of the raw materials prior to hydrolysate production is one way of preventing the development
of this undesirable flavor. In this study, silver catfish which was used as the raw material was soaked in
lime or tamarind juice prior to hydrolysis process to produce hydrolysate with reduce bitterness and fishy
off-flavor. Initially, the fish flesh was pre-treated by soaking in either water, lime juice (Citrus
aurantifolia) or tamarind juice (Tamarindus indica). After the pre-treatment, the homogenised flesh was
hydrolysed in Flavourzyme 500L at pH 7, 50°C and enzyme substrate ratio (ES) of 2% for 120 minutes to
produce control (CH), lime (LIH) and tamarind (TAH) hydrolysates after soaking in water, lime juice and
tamarind juice, respectively. The physicochemical and sensory properties of the hydrolysates were
compared. Soaking in tamarind juice resulted in significantly (p0.05) in yield. TAH was
significantly (p
Resale Price Maintenance (hereinafter ‘RPM’) can be defined as the practice whereby a manufacturer and a distributor agree that the former will sell the latter’s products at certain prices. RPM may take a variety of forms including fixed, minimum, maximum, or recommended resale prices. In general, practice of RPM may restrict the distributors’ freedom of setting their prices at the downstream level henceforth attracting the application of competition law. The paper aims to analyse the legal status of RPM in the context of competition law in European Union and Malaysia including the ways RPM is able to restrict competition. This paper contains a detailed analysis of Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (hereinafter ‘TFEU’), the Competition Act 2010 (hereinafter ‘CA 2010’), related regulations, guidelines, case law, and scholarly writing in this area. The paper concludes that not all forms of RPM are prohibited under these two jurisdictions. Some of them are deemed illegal or anti-competitive because they are likely to harm competition and some of them may be permitted subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions.
The changing of geopolitical environment in Northeast Asia after the Cold War illustrates some
fundamental shift in Japan’s security environment. The post-Cold War era provide a new set of
challenges and difficulties that must be diligently comprehend not only by Japanese policy maker but
also her military echelon as well. With the receding of Soviet Union threat from the north comes a
new and emerging volatile situation from her immediate neighbors; People’s Republic of China and
Democratic Republic of Korea. Aside from this, threats from Japan domestic security also did not
demonstrate any indication of declination. This article explores each international actor that can be
considered as security predicament to Japan and why each actor behaves in an aggressive manner
towards Japan. By analyzing issues that occur both domestic and beyond her border, the author show
how past threats that emerged will eventually be replace by a new and more volatile situations –
instances where PRC challenging Japan sovereignty over Senkaku and DPRK nuclear and ballistic
missile test. Variety of methodology tools has been used to provide an adequate data analysis to
interpret every states action in Northeast Asia, ranging from the using of primary and secondary
sources that seek to contribute to the argument of this article.
It has been remarked that food irradiation is an emerging technology with many advantages to
consumers. Among the benefits of food irradiation include the destruction of insects, fungi and bacteria
that cause food to spoil and causes food borne illnesses in humans. However, there appears to be a
lacking in widespread public awareness and understanding of food radiation for human consumption.
Therefore, this study is attempting to investigate consumer awareness, attitude, trust and understanding
toward food irradiation. A total of 237 respondents participated in the study via self-administered
questionnaires. Findings revealed that consumers’ level of awareness towards food irradiation was
surprisingly high. On the other hand, level of positive attitude and trust towards irradiated food were
accepted. The findings of this study could contribute to the body of knowledge regarding the
awareness, knowledge, attitude and trust towards food irradiation among consumers. In addition, it
provides information and suggestions for the authorities in governing and imposing rules and
regulations on food and beverage operators and handlers in Malaysia.
The recent focus of agricultural planning is on sustainable development which is very
pertinent to Malaysian rice industry. Therefore, this study intends to assess the long term
economic sustainability of Malaysian rice farming (1972-2014), by reviewing the bottom line
of prices and the purchasing power of rice (PPR). Statistical information of time series data on
farm harvest price of rice (PR), wholesale commodity price (WP) and rice production for 42
years period was obtained and compiled from the AGROSTAT system of the statistical
division of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA), World Bank and the Department of Statistics, Malaysia. The data was
analysed using Abdullah’s analysis of the impact of changes the value and purchasing power
of money and wheat in real terms (2013, p.71). The outcome reveals that the PR follows the
general price trend in commodities, even with increased productivity. Thus, the index value of
PR in 2014 at 375% of 1972 prices and WP generally at 614%, then the PPR or ‘real rice’ was
only 61% of what it was in 1972, and therefore had lost 39% of its purchasing power,
signifying that rice was relatively low in price.
Women’s credibility to be in an employment sector is always being underestimated by men. While
seeming the progress towards the empowerment of women in the public sector, yet they are still
constrained in many ways. The aim of this study is to analyse the factors influencing career choice
among women in public sector particularly at the Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment
(NRE), Putrajaya. The study examined two factors which are gender equality and government policy in
women employment. Survey questionnaires were used to gather information from 160 women civil
servants at Ministry of Natural Resources & Environment (NRE), Putrajaya. This study employed
quantitative method to identify the correlation of the variables. Findings revealed that gender equality
and government policy have significant relationship with their career choice in the public sector.
As the backbone of the economic contributor to the Gross National Profit (GNP), tourism sector plays
a vital role in creating employment opportunities. For that reason, attention is given to the travel
agencies’ operators to improve productivity and to be competitive in the travel and tour markets.
However, in reality, not all companies adopt and use effectively, or even use, information technology.
The gap lies between the realities of the actual usage of information technology. A deeper
understanding of the current demographic profile and web technologies and e-business adoption
practice is vital to know the current trends and practices are implemented among SME entrepreneurs.
This study provides a general description of SME’s travel agencies background and web-technology
and e-business adoption profile in Malaysia. A total of 313 respondents from SMEs owners/managers
has been selected using multistage cluster sampling method to answer the open ended questionnaire. A
descriptive analysis SPSS was used in describing the web technologies adoption among Malaysia
SMEs travel agencies. The findings of the study revealed that Malaysia SMEs still attach to the
conventional way of conducting travel agencyy business.
This study was carried out to investigate the electrical properties of YBCO sample as superconductor
and the effect of addition of Co3O4 on the superconducting properties of YBCO superconductor. The
YBCO sample was prepared by solid state reaction route. The samples were prepared by each with
weight percentage of cobalt oxide of x= 0.00, x= 0.01, x= 0.02 and x= 0.03. Electrical Conduction by
Multimeter, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), Critical temperature (Tc) measurement, X-ray
Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) were conducted for analysis.
Multimeter showed all samples were in electric conduction, FTIR showed that carbonyl compound in
the sample was removed after calcinations. Tc measurement showed that the critical temperature of
sample of x= 0.02 was increased compared to sample of x= 0.00. XRD showed all samples have
orthorhombic structure and SEM showed that the grain size was increased as increased the cobalt
addition in YBCO superconductor. Besides, the EDX also showed the composition of elements
YBCO were tally with chemicals used for pure YBCO and addition cobalt oxide into YBCO
superconductor.
As internet-based marketing utilizes channels of social media to interact and attract prospective customers to make online purchase for apparels there is a need to ascertain the extent to which salient features of social media such as customer engagement, attractive visual presentation and copywriting that are capable of driving such purchase. A total of 128 usable questionnaires were included in this study. Distribution of online questionnaires was assisted where the online questionnaire link in Google document was emailed to the company’s sales team who in turn blasted the online questionnaire via email to all of their online customers in their data base. A positive significant (0.01) high correlation of .709 for customer engagement and .711 were obtained for visual presentation with online purchase for apparels. In addition, a positive significant (0.01) modest correlation of .653was secured for copywriting and online purchase of apparels. The study affirms that online firms using social media marketing must ensure they engage their online customers through discussions, reviews, contest and comments to understand them better and to build relationship between their brand and customer’s which has a positive impact on sales. Social media marketing too needs an exemplary visual presentation to explain abstract concepts and facilitates retention of information and maintain audience interest which ultimately has a positive impact on sale. Consequently, copywriting too performs an important role of convincing people about a product by transforming product features into benefits to convince readers into making a purchase.
Pilling is one of the fabric faults that originally found in knitted woolen goods especially made from soft twisted yarns. The rubbing action on loose fibres that is present on the fabric surface gives a high tendency to form pills which gives poor appearance to the fabric. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of repeated launderings on the propensity of pilling formation by using pill grade machine. The primary objective of this study was to determine the pilling behaviour of different types of weft knitted fabrics after a repeated number of laundering cycles. The study was conducted using two types of knitted fabrics; cotton and polyester with three types of knitted structures; interlock, 1x1 rib and plain jersey. The various number of laundering cycles were given on the fabrics and followed by 15,000 revolutions of ICI pilling box. The results showed that polyester fibre has better pilling resistance due to its exceptional strength, whilst in terms of fabric structure, plain jersey showed an excellent resistance. This is due to the higher density and compact structure that it possessed.
Malaysia Education Curriculum mostly adapted from the colonization country since preindependence. It makes Muslim youngers forget on magnificent of Islam Civilization especially Abbasid Dynasty. By this, the needs of integrating naqli and aqli knowledge in syllabus should be implemented especially among gifted and talented Muslim students. Therefore, this paper focusing on the implementation of integrated naqli and aqli knowledge for Biology’s topic as enhancement programmes in gifted and talented curriculum. 56 students from PERMATA Insan who are recognized as gifted and talented students have been participated in this study. The integrated knowledge was conducted through two different approaches including conventional (Method A) and co-teaching (Method B) to identify the suitable teaching method. As result, 47 out of 56 students who were exposed with co-teaching method obtained moderate and high achievement. The students’ mark was continuously analysed through t-test to identify the significance difference between two methods. Admittedly, the co-teaching method contributed higher mark during the post-test compared to without co-teaching method. Therefore, coteaching method is the effective teaching method for integrated naqli and aqli knowledge especially in inheritance topic.
Statistics plays a vital role in various spheres of life. Choosing the right statistical analysis is one of the most crucial aspects in statistics. Some researchers especially those who have minimal statistical background, are often having difficulties in choosing the right statistical analysis for their study. Inappropriate analysis may produce misleading results at the end of the study. Hence, mySTATS Tracker was created as an alternative tool to assist the researcher in determining the right statistical analysis. The aim of this study was to gauge the effectiveness of using mySTATS Tracker in identifying the most appropriate statistical analysis based on the supplied input. In addition, this study intended to determine whether there was significant difference in score based on gender and faculties. The difference in the perception towards the usefulness and effectiveness of this application based on faculties was also investigated. A sample of 55 undergraduate students with various background have participated in this study. The sample of students were asked to answer a set of questions with (posttest) and without (pre-test) using mySTATS Tracker. Then, the score obtained was recorded and analysed. Gap analysis and Independent t-test were applied in achieving the objectives of the study. The results showed that there was a significant difference in scores between pre-test and post-test, p < 0.05. It could be concluded that the users scored significantly higher and answered the questions in a significantly shorter time using mySTATS Tracker compared to without using it. The study also found that there was a significant difference in score based on gender and faculties, p < 0.05. Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the perception of the usefulness and effectiveness of this application based on respective faculties. In overall, mySTATS Tracker has received a positive feedback from the potential users. This study has proven that mySTATS Tracker is a good alternative solution in suggesting the right statistical analysis to the users