USM Journal Management System (Univ. Sains Malaysia)
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The COVID-19 Pandemic and Bank Performance: The Role of Diversification
Get PDFThis study investigates the impact of diversification on the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and bank performance using a sample of 121 banking systems from 2016Q1 to 2021Q2. Using the system generalised method of moments, the findings show the negative impact of COVID-19 on the global banking system. This is consistent with the literature. Furthermore, the findings emphasise that diversification (e.g., lending diversification, income diversification, and geographic lending diversification) may mitigate the adverse effect of COVID-19 on banking performance. Therefore, a diversification strategy should be further considered to overcome future shocks
Will Negative Textual Tone of Initial Profit Offering (IPO) Prospectus Affect Price Stabilisation? Evidence from Hong Kong
Get PDFInitial Public Offerings (IPOs) are featured with information asymmetry and aftermarket price volatility. The IPO prospectus can be a proper channel for issuing companies to convey information to underwriters and investors during IPO events, and potentially influence the level of information asymmetry and stock price volatility. We examine the association between the textual tone of IPO prospectus and price stabilisation in Hong Kong stock market from 2004 to 2021. Using a large sample of 1,185 IPOs, we find empirical evidence showing a positive relationship between price stabilisation and the negative textual tone in prospectus. This finding suggests that when more negative textual tone is implied in IPO prospectus, underwriters will stabilise more. Our results consider possible endogenous issues and perform a battery of robustness tests
Digitalisation and Bank Efficiency: Evidence from An Emerging Market
Get PDFThis study empirically assesses the impact of digitalisation on bank efficiency in Vietnam using the two-stage framework for an unabalanced sample of 27 banks from 2010 to 2019. In the first stage, we use the conventional data envelopment analysis (DEA) to estimate bank efficiency scores. Then, these efficiency scores are regressed on environmental variables to determine factors affecting bank efficiency. The findings show a negative relationship between digitalisation and bank efficiency. However, the results indicate a U-shaped relationship between digitalisation and bank efficiency, being first impeded and then facilitated. Foreign-owned and state-owned banks are more efficient than their domestic and privately owned peers. Our results, however, show that the impact of digitalisation on bank efficiency does not vary among bank ownership and listing status. Furthermore, bank efficiency is negatively affected by bank size. The results further demonstrate that large banks with higher levels of digitalisation may not be beneficial, at least in the short run. Nonetheless, our study provides additional evidence to the extant literature on the association between digitalisation and bank efficiency. Our empirical evidence also offers motivations for banks to pursue ongoing digitalisation strategies when the banking system environment is more intensively competitive
Identiti Masyarakat Thai di Langkawi dan Satun dari Perspektif Geolinguistik: Thai Community Identity in Langkawi and Satun from a Geolinguistic Perspective
Get PDFSpace plays an important role in sustaining the human life. Topographic factors such as rivers, fertile lowlands and highlands become the main attractions for a community that wants to form a new settlement and its identity. No rigid demarcation line could stop the community from migrating to other settlements. We can also observe the distribution of language or dialects in this settlement. It can be either a monolingual community and/ or a mixture of dialects and languages simultaneously. This study examines Malay Satun’s dialect in Langkawi and Malay Satun in Thailand. This study adopts fieldwork research to garner substantial data. The respondents are the elderly, adults and adolescents who can provide primary data. Then, the data are transcribed and analysed based on the Geographic Information System (GIS). The four selected lexicons are “water”, “pillow”, “coconut” and “sharp”. The findings proved that the socio-cultural elements, history, migration, education and demarcation factors influence the dissemination of both dialects. The mobility of these two communities has shown a mixture of both dialects with high intelligibility even though they came from different regions. In addition, this study creates an innovation in the dialectology discipline as the GIS employed has successfully produced a new isogloss of the Malay dialects in both regions.
Ruang memainkan peranan penting dalam kesinambungan hidup manusia. Topografi seperti sungai, tanah pamah yang subur dan tanah tinggi menjadi tarikan utama untuk sesebuah komuniti membentuk petempatan baharu dan identiti mereka. Malah, tiada persempadanan tegar yang boleh menghalang sesebuah komuniti untuk berpindah ke kawasan lain. Sehubungan itu, kita boleh memerhatikan penyebaran bahasa atau dialek di petempatan ini. Hal ini boleh membentuk sama ada komuniti monolingual dan/atau percampuran dialek dan bahasa pada masa yang sama. Kajian ini meneliti dialek Melayu Satun di Langkawi dan dialek Melayu di Satun, Thailand. Kajian ini menggunakan kaedah kajian lapangan untuk membolehkan data yang mencukupi dikumpul. Responden terdiri daripada warga tua, dewasa dan remaja yang boleh membekalkan data primer. Data tersebut kemudiannya ditranskripsi dan dianalisis berasaskan Geographic Information System (Sistem Maklumat Geografi, GIS). Empat leksikon telah terpilih iaitu “air”, “bantal”, “kelapa” dan “tajam”. Dapatan kajian membuktikan bahawa penyebaran kedua-dua dialek dipengaruhi oleh elemen sosiobudaya, sejarah, migrasi, pendidikan dan persempadanan. Mobiliti bagi kedua-dua komuniti ini menunjukkan percampuran kedua-dua dialek dengan kadar kesalingfahaman yang tinggi meskipun datang dari wilayah yang berbeza. Sebagai tambahan, kajian ini telah mencipta inovasi dalam disiplin dialektologi kesan daripada penggunaan GIS yang berjaya menghasilkan isoglos baharu bagi dialek Melayu di kedua-dua wilayah ini
Intersecting War, Education and Politics: Chinese Higher Education Policy during the Anti-Japanese War, 1931–1945
Get PDFDuring the Nanjing nationalist government period, the Ministry of Education established a developmental theme of “rectification” for higher education. Within this framework, each successive minister of education influenced the direction of higher education through their unique educational philosophies and policy approaches. From the onset of the Mukden Incident (1931) to the end of the Anti-Japanese War, three Ministers of Education—Zhu Jiahua, Wang Shijie and Chen Lifu—held notably long and stable terms. Their tenures and the implementation of their educational ideologies reflect not only the political manoeuvring within the upper echelons of the Kuomintang (KMT) but also the ongoing contest with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). As Chiang Kai-shek’s position as “supreme leader” solidified, his control over educational administration evolved from limited influence to full authority. With the intensifying national crisis and the KMT government’s tightened control over education, liberalism in higher education entered a period of “dormancy”. The complex interplay between war, education and politics thus shaped the underlying factors driving shifts in higher education policies during this era
Unlocking the Potential of Pseudomonas aeruginosa SWUC02: Cell-Free Supernatant and Extracts for Controlling Anthracnose Disease and Inducing Resistance in Yellow Chilli Seedling
Get PDFChilli anthracnose is a significant constraint in chilli production and quality in cultivated areas worldwide. Alternative methods are being explored to avoid the use of chemical fungicides, including plant elicitors produced by beneficial microorganisms to enhance plant defense responses. However, studies on the use of biotic elicitors to control chilli anthracnose are limited. In this study, we investigated the efficacy of cell-free supernatant derived from Pseudomonas aeruginosa SWUC02 (CF-SWUC02) and its extracts on the antimicrobial activity and systemic resistance in yellow chilli seedlings. The anthracnose pathogen, Colletotrichum truncatum CFPL01, was isolated and assessed for its pathogenicity in yellow chilli and other varieties, exhibiting varying levels of susceptibility to anthracnose. CF-SWUC02 exhibited potential antimicrobial activity against several phytopathogens. Furthermore, it affected the mycelial growth and conidial germination of virulent C. truncatum CFPL01. The dichloromethane extract exhibited the highest efficacy in suppressing the growth of C. truncatum CFPL01, while the ethyl acetate extract demonstrated a significant reduction in anthracnose severity on both leaves and seedlings. The ethyl acetate extract also increased phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity in treated seedlings, demonstrating the induction of plant immunity. In summary, the elicitor compounds present in CF-SWUC02 have the potential to reduce anthracnose severity either directly through pathogen inhibition or indirectly via stimulation of the plant defense responses. These findings provide valuable insights for the development of sustainable and effective strategies for the control of chilli anthracnose
Pluronic F-68 Improves Root Growth of Recalcitrant Rice Cultivar Through Enhanced Auxin Biosynthesis
Get PDFIn plants, roots play a vital role in crop performance and yield that impact the agricultural productivity. Pluronic F-68 (PF-68) is a type of non-ionic surfactant that is typically utilised as a plant growth additive. There is a lack of studies on the impact of PF-68 on root growth. This work aims to assess the impacts of PF-68 on recalcitrant MR 219 rice root growth. Supplementation of 0.04% PF-68 enhanced the length (18.50%) and number of roots (15.87%) of MR 219 rice. The PF-68-treated MR 219 rice also showed a significant increment in sugar accumulation (1.73 mg/mL) and glutamate synthase activity (0.88 ?mol/g protein). Consistent with the root growth enhancement, MR 219 rice supplemented with PF-68 recorded an increase in transcription levels of Indole-3-Acetic Acid 23 (OsIAA23) (1.84-folds) and WUSCHEL-Related Homeobox 11 (OsWOX11) (2.00-folds). Moreover, the PF-68-treated MR 219 rice also exhibited an enhancement of indole acetic acid (IAA) concentrations (27.33 ng/g FW), further suggesting its role in auxin biosynthesis. Taken together, our study revealed that the introduction of PF-68 enhanced the root growth of MR 219 rice through improved sugar accumulation, glutamate synthase activity and auxin biosynthesis
New Endiandric Acid from Beilschmiedia lumutensis and Their Molecular Docking Study as a-amylase and a-glucosidase Inhibitors (Early view)
Get PDFA preliminary study showed that an ethyl acetate extract of the bark from Beilschmiedia lumutensis (Lauraceae family) exhibited promising inhibition activities against ?-amylase and ?-glucosidase by in vitro assays. Subsequently, this extract revealed three new cyclic polyketides endiandric acids, namely lumutensic acid A-C (1-3). Their structures were elucidated by 1D and 2D NMR, FT-IR, HRESIMS spectroscopic data analysis and by comparison with literature data. The molecular docking study showed that lumutensic acid C (3) showed the highest binding affinity and stability with both enzymes, with strong hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interactions, outperfoming the standard drug acarbose. These findings suggest that compound 3 could be a promising candidate for anti-hyperglycemic therapeutic development, providing further insight into the potential of B. lumutensis as a source of bioactive compounds
Upregulation of Apoptotic Protein and Migration-Inhibitory Effects of Gallic Acid and Methyl Gallate Combined with Cisplatin in HeLa Cervical Cancer Cells (Early view)
Get PDFThe study investigated the effects of gallic acid (GA) and methyl gallate (MG), in combination with cisplatin (CIS), on apoptotic protein expression, antioxidant gene expression and cell migration in HeLa cervical cancer cells. HeLa cells were treated with the combinations CIS–GA and CIS–MG prior to further analysis. The expression of apoptotic proteins (Bax, Bcl-2, caspase-3, caspase-9 and p53) was determined via western blot analysis. Antioxidant gene expression in treated HeLa cells was then assessed using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The migration-inhibitory effect of the compound combinations was assessed using a scratch wound-healing assay. Treatment with CIS–GA significantly upregulated the expression of p53, Bax, caspase-3 and caspase-9, and downregulated the expression of Bcl-2. Results from RT-qPCR revealed downregulation of human catalase (hCAT) in the CIS–GA group and no changes in superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) expression in either the CIS–GA or CIS–MG groups. Moreover, lower wound closure percentages were observed after 24-hour incubation in both treated groups, indicating inhibited cell migration. These findings suggest that GA and MG combined with CIS upregulate apoptotic proteins by downregulating antioxidant gene (hCAT)
Do We Actually Need a New Scale? Improving Postpartum Depression Screening in Malaysia: A Narrative Literature Review
Get PDFPostpartum depression (PPD) is a major maternal health concern in Malaysia, impacting both maternal well-being and infant development. Despite the availability of several validated screening tools, concerns remain about their cultural appropriateness and diagnostic accuracy in Malaysia’s multiethnic context. This narrative review critically evaluates the psychometric properties, contextual relevance, and clinical limitations of PPD screening tools used in Malaysian healthcare. The objective is to assess whether current instruments sufficiently detect PPD in Malaysian women and explore the rationale for a culturally tailored alternative. A targeted literature search was conducted across six databases—PubMed, Scopus, Ovid MEDLINE, Wiley Online Library, Cochrane, and Google Scholar—for studies published between 2000 and 2024, using keywords such as “postpartum depression”, “screening tools”, “Malaysia”, and “psychometric validation”. The inclusion criteria focused on studies examining Malaysian populations and reporting on the implementation, psychometric properties, or contextual adaptation of common screening tools. The Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), Postpartum Depression Screening Scale (PDSS), and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) were the most commonly used tools. Although they demonstrated moderate validity and reliability, their use in Malaysia is limited by suboptimal linguistic translation, poor contextual adaptation, and inconsistent validation procedures. Furthermore, these tools often overlook key sociocultural determinants like postpartum confinement practices, stigma, and healthcare access disparities. This review highlights the inadequacy of foreign-developed PPD screening tools for Malaysian mothers. Thus, a culturally sensitive, empirically validated tool that incorporates biopsychosocial risk factors specific to Malaysia is warranted to enable timely detection, appropriate intervention, and improved maternal mental health outcomes