19672 research outputs found
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Mind the gap: What explains Malaysia’s underperformance in Pisa?
No full textEast Asia's phenomenal economic rise has been attributed to its early investment in human capital. While countries such as South Korea and Singapore dominate in international student assessments, other countries from the region (e.g. Malaysia) lag far behind despite heavy spending in education. This paper assesses student performance in mathematics, science and reading in Malaysia vis-à-vis Korea and Singapore by examining the relative contribution of individual, family background, school, teacher and institutional factors in explaining between-country test score differences. Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition analysis is performed using data from the 2012 round of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) to determine how much of the between-country test scores gap can be explained by observed family and school specific characteristics. Our results demonstrate that while socio-economic and school specific factors matter, more than half of the achievement gap between the two high performers and Malaysia remains unexplained even after accounting for the contribution of those factors. We conclude by highlighting policy, institution and culture related explanations for this unexplained gap. © 2018 Elsevier Lt
Analysis of discharge energy on surge arrester configurations in 132 kV double circuit transmission lines
No full textSurge arrester has been proven to be the most effective application to provide optimum lightning protection for the transmission line. Thus, many works on optimizing lightning protection for transmission line have been conducted since the past. However, works on minimizing double circuit outages and surge arrester physical properties during transient overvoltages are less likely to be found. Therefore, in this work, several surge arrester configurations installed on a 132 kV double circuit transmission line were modelled using EMTP-RV to investigate their capability to withstand current and energy discharged by lightning strokes during back flashover phenomena. These configurations were then compared to determine the most effective protection design based on the actual tripping pattern recorded by the lightning detection system (LDS) in Malaysia. The selection was made by considering arresters’ discharge energy due to variation in tower footing resistance, current magnitude, power frequency voltage, lightning tail time and front time, number of towers and span length. It was found that double circuit transmission line tripping can be completely eliminated by installing surge arresters at each phase conductor of one circuit. The selected arresters configuration provides sufficient lightning protection to the transmission line and complies with the discharge energy capability requirement specified by the utility company in Malaysia, of 5.1 kJ/kV for maximum continuous operating voltage (MCOV). © 2019 Elsevier Lt
In Vitro Antidiabetic, Anti-Obesity and Antioxidant Analysis of Ocimum basilicum Aerial Biomass and in Silico Molecular Docking Simulations with Alpha-Amylase and Lipase Enzymes
No full textThe present study explored phytochemicals, porcine pancreatic α-amylase (PPA) and lipase (PPL) inhibitory activities and antioxidant potential of polar and nonpolar extracts of the leaves and flowers of Ocimum basilicum and the in-silico mode of interaction between these enzymes and the major chemical constituents of the herb. The hexane extract (HE) and hydro-ethanolic extract (EE) obtained sequentially were used to estimate PPA and PPL inhibitory and antioxidant activities, total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC). Chemical constituents of the essential oils and HE were determined by GC-MS (Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry). For PPA inhibition, IC50 (µg/mL) of the extracts were 0.27–0.37, which were close to 0.24 of acarbose, while for PPL inhibition, IC50 (µg/mL) of the extracts were 278.40–399.65, and that of Orlistat 145.72. The flowers EE was most potent antioxidant followed by leaves EE. The leaves EE had highest TPC and TFC followed of flowers EE. The essential oil of flowers had higher estragole (55%) than linalool (37%), while the essential oil of the leaves had higher linalool (42%) than estragole (38%). The HE of the flowers contained higher estragole (42%) than linalool (23%), while of the HE of the leaves too had higher estragole (65%) than linalool (18%). The in-silico molecular docking study showed linalool and estragole to have considerable PPA and PPL binding potential, which were further investigated through molecular dynamics simulations and binding free energy calculations. The PPA and PPL inhibitory activities of O. basilicum extracts and their notable antioxidant potential propose the herb as a multi-target complimentary medicine for diabetes, obesity and oxidative stress. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland
The Shortage of Malaysian Stem Cell Ethics in Mainstream Database: a Preliminary Study
No full textEthics is a philosophical branch of inquiry that reasons between what is right and wrong. The moral philosophy of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato from ancient Greek became the basis of most of the western ethics. These days, ethics can be divided based on its inquiries for example, normative, descriptive, metaethics, and applied ethics or based on its theories like utilitarianism, emotivism, and universal ethics. In context with applied ethics that examines issues involving emerging technologies, this study will look into the ethics of Malaysian stem cell technology based on written literature. It was mainly to identify Malaysian literature on stem cell ethics through conventional search since the mainstream international database indicated an obvious shortage. The critical review of this literature will facilitate in the understanding of unique position of Malaysia towards stem cell and its ethics in reference to the limited number. Despite the limitation, this can be a preliminary study urging for more inquiries and exploration to fulfil the multiple perspectives in ethics such as the diversity of Malaysian ethics, the impact of ethics in stem cell regulation in Malaysia, and if western contemporary ethics influences Malaysian ethics particularly involving stem cell technology. © 2019, National University of Singapore and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd
Malaysia’s China Policy and the South China Sea Dispute Under the Najib Administration (2009–2018): A Domestic Policy Process Approach
No full textThe past explanations of Malaysia’s policy responses to China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea centered on systemic, economic, and ideational factors. I adopt a different approach by looking into the decision-making process of Malaysia’s China policy during Najib Razak’s administration (2009–2018). I explain that the China policy decision-making process under Najib was divided into two channels, one focusing on nonsecurity matters and the other on security matters, with the prime minister seated at the top of the two channels, while there were very little interactions between the two channels. These characteristics could partially explain the nature and outcome of Malaysia’s South China Sea policy posture. © 2019 Policy Studies Organizatio
Electrochemical behavior of NH4VO3 in glyceline DES studied by cyclic voltammetry method
No full textIn the present work, the redox behavior of vanadate ion in deep eutectic solvent (DES) was studied via cyclic voltammetry (CV) method where glyceline DES and NH4VO3 were used as electrolyte and the source of + 5 vanadium ions respectively. The CV showed a quasi-reversible redox couple pattern of + 5 to + 4 vanadium ions in glyceline DES. Analysis by UV-Vis revealed the presence of + 3 vanadium ions at λmax 545 nm. The glyceline DES does not only act as a solvent but also as a reducing agent by chemically reducing + 4 vanadium ions to the most stable oxidation state of + 3. Temperature dependence study of vanadate ion in glyceline DES showed that the peak current increased with temperature which enhances the reaction kinetics. In addition, the conductivity of NH4VO3 in glyceline DES improved remarkably with temperature, whereas its viscosity declined. Moreover, the Rs and Rct values decreased with increasing temperature. © 2019, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature
A model for youth entrepreneurship skills of the community-based leadership training for the urban youth in China
No full textWith the rapid social and economic development, the entrepreneurship skills become more important for the youth to ensure positive development of youth leadership skills. The purpose of this study is to investigate the entrepreneurship skills of urban youth and then develop a model for youth entrepreneurship skills of the community-based leadership training for the urban youth in China. In this study, two methods have been applied: students’ questionnaire survey and the Fuzzy Delphi Method by experts. This study involved 526 students aged 14 to 18 years old in four secondary schools and high schools in Baoding city, Shijiazhuang city, Chengde city and Handan city in Hebei Province for survey. The findings from the survey show that the levels of entrepreneurship skills are still at moderate level. The Fuzzy Delphi Method was conducted to eighteen experts from the fields of education, language, Chinese Studies, accounting and business, and life sciences to get a consensus on youth entrepreneurship skills and related activities. The results demonstrate that there are three categories of skills for the entrepreneurship namely, visiting the local famous enterprises; the lecture activities of successful entrepreneur to share their experiences to make the youth start to learn entrepreneurship; and the activities of financial literacy and personal finance. © 2019, University of Malaya. All rights reserved
Metacognitive Knowledge and Its Effect on Second Language Writing: Students' Perceptions of Writing Task
No full textMetacognitive knowledge is a comparatively constant information show how human beings learn and process information in general and individual. It is also considered as a significant element in learners’ achievement inside and outside the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to understand the knowledge and beliefs L2 learners bring to writing tasks, and how the metacognitive knowledge they possess influences their approach to L2 writing. Fifty undergraduate students were asked to fill the questionnaire and express their opinion on this matter. Findings of response data from questionnaires indicate that EFL writing is positively related to attention on the macro-level structure and negatively related to micro-level concerns. © 2019, Sciedu Press. All rights reserved
Conceptualizing Mobile Health Application Use Intention and Adoption Among Iraqian Older Adults: From the Perspective of Expanded Technology Acceptance Model
No full textThe aim of this article is to discuss how different factors affect the decision of intention to use and adopt mobile health applications using the extended technology acceptance model (TAM) among older adults in Iraq. "Perceived usefulness (PU), perceived ease of use (PEU), subjective norm (SN), and facilitating conditions (FC)" were four key predictors. Gender and age were included as factors for moderating the impact of two key TAM components in the proposed model (PU and PEU) on intention to use and adoption behaviors. The results of the past studies indicated that PU, PEU and SN were important predictors of adoption of mobile health applications among older adults in Iraq, While PU, SN, and FC were important predictors of the intention to use mobile health applications. Previous studies highlighted a strong impact of PEU on the intention to use mobile health applications on older adults than for younger adults. Implications are discussed for future research and practices. © 2019 International Association of Online Engineering
Brown dwarfs in Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld and beyond Horndeski theories
No full textWe studied herein the mass and the radius of brown dwarfs predicted by beyond Horndeski (BH) and Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld (EiBI) gravity theories by numerically solving the modified non-relativistic hydrostatic equations of both theories. We used a recent compilation of brown dwarf masses and radii obtained from Ref. Bayliss et al. (Astrophys J 153:1, 2016) to constrain the free parameter of both theories. We obtain the range of the corresponding parameters with 1σ and 5σ confidence by using chi-squared analysis. Furthermore, the minimum chi-squared values can be reached for the cases of κ=0.17×102m5kg-1s-2 and γ= - 0.1207 for EiBI and BH theories, respectively. The corresponding parameter values with the minimum chi-squared values are relatively small; therefore, they cannot significantly change the brown dwarf mass limits determined from the equivalence of nuclear and photosphere luminosities for the pp (hydrogen burning) and pp+pd (deuterium burning) reactions. © 2019, The Author(s)