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Viewing urban expansion from below: the complexity of sustainable urban growth
No full textThe approach taken in looking at change influences the understanding of the phenomenon. A pattern of change that seems smooth and linear at a smaller scale might yield fluctuations that can only be perceived at a larger scale, closer to ground zero. Viewing change at the local level can provide tipping points and critical transitions that are hidden in the more general pattern and such detailed incremental approach to urbanisation allows one to understand why, given the same set of drivers, some areas seem to prosper while others lag far behind. This paper views urban expansion as a culmination of local level activities that emerge into a complex network of urban growth. Daily decison making by individuals in the city about owning a house. These decisions eventually produce the spatial-temporal patterns of life in the Malaysian cities. These are then visualised in the patterns of land use, housing spread, commercial and others. These patterns are the outcome of inter-related workings of global capitalism with local ones and the local ‘adat’- the way of life. The article argues that effective planning for the urban expansion needs to be viewed from the local scene. The various local scenarios are then built up incrementally over space and time to produce a region wide explanation of urbanisation. This is, again, an alternate viewing of regional analysis that traditionally looks at the local as merely being a component of the larger region, differentiated by local attributes that create local shifts that skew its share of the regional trend
Prevalence and factors associated with job stress among employees of a state health department
No full textRefusal strategies in English by Malay University students.
No full textRefusals, like other speech acts, occur in all languages. According to Searle (1969), all linguistic communication involves the production of speech acts, such as offering
apologies, asking questions, making promises, or refusing. The speech act of refusal has been looked at by many researchers. However, in the Malaysian context, the study of
refusals has yet to be ventured, either focusing on manifestations in the speaker’s mother tongue, or focusing on manifestations in English. This study aims to discover the preferred semantic formulas or strategies used by Malay university students in Malaysia to refuse a request in an academic context. For this study, 40 undergraduate and
postgraduate students were asked to respond to different situations in which they were required to carry out the speech act of refusing a request. The data, collected by means of a Discourse Completion Test, were analyzed in terms of semantic formulas and were categorized according to the refusal taxonomy of Beebe et al. (1990). The findings show that participants differ in the ways they perform refusals. Regret or saying ‘sorry’, and giving excuses or explanations were the preferred formulas used in refusing requests. The choice of these semantic formulas suggests the influence of Malay culture in respondents’
realizations of refusals in English
Strategies for coping with face-to-face oral communication problems employed by Thai University students majoring in English.
No full textNowadays, it is undeniable that the communicative approach plays an important role in language teaching especially in the context where English is a foreign language and the
ultimate goal of language teaching is to improve the communicative competence of language learners. Language learners can significantly improve their communicative
competence by developing their ability to use communication strategies (CSs) or strategies for coping with face-to-face oral communication problems. The present study,which is exploratory in nature, primarily aimed at investigating how university students majoring in English for International Communication (EIC) cope with their face-to-face oral communication problems. The participants were 48 students studying at three different Rajamangala Universities of Technology in Thailand. A semi-structured interview was used for data collection. The obtained data were transcribed unfocusedly verbatim and translated from Thai into English. The translated data were then validated
and analysed. Based on the role of the language learners when engaged in a conversation,i.e. as the message sender and as the message receiver, the results show two main
categories of strategies for coping with face-to-face oral communication problems. The two groups of strategies employed for conveying a message to the interlocutor as the
message sender: continuous interaction and discontinuous interaction subcategories and one group of strategies for understanding the message as the message receiver were
reported
Consumption of repeatedly heated palm and soy oils causes similar effect on blood pressure and aortic morphometry in rats
No full textEffects of labisia pumila on bone histomorphometric parameters in post menopausal osteoporosis rats model
No full textPattern of crevicular alkaline phosphatase during orthodontic tooth movement: leveling and alignment stage
No full textBone formation has been associated with the presence of an enzyme called alkaline phosphatase (ALP). This longitudinal study was carried out to observe its activity in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) during leveling and alignment stage of orthodontic fixed appliance treatment. Fourteen patients between the ages of 15 and 27 years old with moderate upper labial segment crowding were recruited from postgraduate orthodontic clinic. GCF from mesial and distal sites of upper canines were collected using endodontic paper point before the fixed appliance placement (week 0). The baseline level of ALP (week 0) acted as a control. Samplings of GCF were repeated at 1st, 2nd and 3rd week during orthodontic treatment. The activities of ALP were measured using spectrophotometer (405 nm). Paired sample t-test was used to assess the significance of difference over the 3 weeks. Although the results showed patterns of ALP activities on the test teeth throughout the 3 weeks of leveling and alignment stage, however the results were not significant (p >0.05) when compared to control. Therefore, it has been shown that there was no significant pattern of ALP activities in GCF in patients undergoing leveling and alignment stage of orthodontic treatment
Determination of lead(II), cadmium(II) and copper(II) in waste-water and soil extracts on mercury film screen-printed carbon electrodes sensor
No full textA sensor incorporating a three electrodes configuration have been fabricated using low cost screen-printing technology. These electrodes couples with Square Wave Stripping Voltammetry (SWSV) has provided a convenient screening tool for on-site detection of trace levels of Pb(II), Cd(II) and Cu(II). Modification of the graphite carbon surface based on in situ deposition of mercury film has been carried out. By appropriate choice of supporting medium and optimized parameters setting such as amount of mercury used the deposition potential, deposition time, frequency and scan rate, well resolved and reproducible response for Pb(II), Cd(II) and Cu(II) were obtained. The performance characteristics of the developed mercury film screen printed carbon electrode (MFSPCE) for 120 s deposition time showed that the linear range for Cd(II), Pb(II) and Cu(II) were 10 to 200 μg L-1. The detection limit recorded for Cd(II), Pb(II) and Cu(II) were 2, 1 and 5 μg L-1 with relative standard deviation (RSD) of 6.5%, 6.9% and 7.5%, respectively. Successful applications of the sensing device to waste-water and extracted soil samples were demonstrated