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Digitalisation in 21st century music education: Smartphone as communication and teaching learning tool / Havilah Ginajil
Get PDFParents were the biggest influencer to every child’s development in any area of life, thus it is crucial to enhance parental involvement in order to assist efficiently in child’s learning at home environment. Moreover, this generation of children has commitment in more than one activity every week, therefore it is important for parents to manage the time equally in turn to have quality performances achieved from the children. Thus, this study is conducted on Digitalisationin 21st Century Music Education: Smartphone as Communication and Teaching-Learning Tool. The aims of this study are: (1) to investigate the effectiveness of digital device in enhancing parental involvement in children’s musical learning; (2) to identify the function of digital devices in improving communication among parents, music teachers and music students; and (3) to examine how digital device can be an effective teaching and learning tools. A total of 12 participants (4 parents, 4 music teachers and 4 music students) were purposefully selected according to the criteria needed in this study. In addition, 30 minutes face-to-face in-depth interview with semi-structured and open-ended questions was conducted with the individuals. The results found that digital device as smartphone was a useful tool to enhance communication between parent, teacher and student, also to access information efficiently through fingertips. Although smartphone benefits each individual in various ways, it should not replace the notion of parental involvement and face-to-face interaction between home and school partnership
The influence of WICS model, courage and self-efficacy on effective leadership: A military perspective / Mohamad Rudi Othman
Get PDFEffective leadership is complex; however, its application is always critical especially for military organisations. In grasping effective leadership, the Malaysian Army always emphasises continuous leadership training towards its leaders. The Army doctrines guide training in the Malaysian Army, a manual specifically formulated to suit the service requirement. Correspond to leadership scholars and researchers, the Army believed effective leaders possess a set of virtues that differentiate them from non-leaders and these virtues could be developed. The leadership training in the Army begins as early as when an officer report for basic officer cadet training and the training continues progressively as officers climb-up their career ladder. Positive virtues are developed accordingly. Nevertheless, few empirical studies had been conducted on the kind of virtues that really associates with effective military leadership. Hence, this research is examining virtues from effective leadership model and the one specified in the Army doctrines. Consequently, a WICS (an acronym for Wisdom, Intelligence, and Creativity Synthesised) were found in the literatures, while Courage and Self-efficacy were found from the Army in-house context. An extensive research instrument was adopted to rationalise measuring processes. Hence, the virtues were empirically tested on the Army senior-level officers who have undergone the highest leadership training scheme recognised as the Malaysian Armed Forces Defence College Course (MAFDC). Concurrently, senior officers who graduated from the course will be awarded with a Master degree and assume strategic level leadership appointment in the Malaysian Armed Forces. There were 201 of them available for this research and 91 responded to the survey. The research deploys SmartPLS version 3.0 to analyse all data. The result of this research suggested that wisdom and self-efficacy are virtues that have a significant relationship with effective military leadership while emotional intelligence, creativity and courage were not. Nevertheless, emotional intelligence, creativity and courage were mediated by self-efficacy in further describing effective military leadership. The findings of this study have managed to provide a new useful paradigm for the Malaysian Army in multiple directions. Firstly, the human resource department may use the results as a consideration in their periodically reviewed leaders’ development planning. The second direction involves the Army training institutions that may consider the development of those virtues in their training program. Indeed, further brainstorming sessions would translate the virtues into appropriate training scheme. As the third direction, the study provided a fresh platform for more empirical studies to be conducted especially in the same field but different in paradigm and perspective. Fourthly, the effort has played its part as a contributor to the body of knowledge. One must remember that this research was conducted in Malaysian Army senior-level leaders setting and the result may differ if used in another context. The study opens up future research opportunities and these were explained in the final chapter of the researc
Performance analysis of bacterial genome assemblers using illumina next generation sequencing data / Nur ‘ Ain Mohd Ishak
Get PDFThe advancement of next generation sequencing (NGS) technology has revolutionized the field of genomic and genetic studies. As compared to conventional methods, NGS generate comprehensive genomic data at a fraction of the cost with a higher percentage of accuracy. One of the processing and analyzing NGS data is genome assembly. De novo assembly is a process of assembling short reads into contiguous sections of sequence without a reference which is different with conventional mapping technique. De Bruijn graph is one of the assembly algorithms that are widely used for short reads sequences produced from NGS platforms. In this study, the performance of four de novo assemblers (SPAdes, ABySS, Velvet and MaSuRCA) is reported, in which variants of de Brujin graph algorithms are applied, using genomic data generated by the Illumina sequencing platform. The computational performance regarding the assemblers running time were compared. The assembled contigs and scaffolds were also evaluated based on several qualities specifically for their length and the contiguity of the assembly using ABySS-fac. Results showed that on single-end data sets, MaSuRCA, and SPAdes produced generally the best results among all the four assemblers with highest percentage of contigs that were equal or longer than 500 bp, highest total base pairs, highest N50 and the lowest L50 for most assemblers. For paired-end data sets, Velvet are suitable to assemble all the seven bacteria genome sequences. This comparative study will advance the current knowledge of de novo genome assembly as it is the first step toward characterizing and revealing whole genomic information. In addition, this work provides a practical guideline that could aid researchers in identifying the appropriate assembler(s) for their research projects
Fatigue damage assessment of reinforced concrete slabs using integrated dynamic testing and simulation / Adiza Jamadin
Get PDFAssessment of existing fatigued structures is an important aspect of civil engineering infrastructure. This is critical in most loaded civil engineering structures such as bridges that are constantly subjected to dynamic loading, causing fatigue in the materials over time. Bridge deck slabs are one of the most structural elements susceptible to different cyclic loads, requiring regular checks for damage to fatigue. In order to understand the deterioration, fatigue carrying capacity and residual strength, the serviceability of the slab under the fatigue loads was not fully explored. Therefore, this research is designed to use vibration-based techniques to investigate the integrity of fatigued RC slabs. The objective of the study was to develop an integrated technique to evaluate the serviceability of fatigued RC slab structures including their dynamic characteristics, stiffness reduction, fatigue carrying capacity and residual strength through an integrated dynamic test and finite element (FE) model and update. Static, fatigue and dynamic testing of RC slabs were involved in the experimental program. A series of investigations have been carried out and have been divided into three phases. Phase one identified the dynamic characteristics of RC slabs at different levels of fatigue damage, including natural frequencies, mode shapes and damping ratios. The parameters of the test include the different number of fatigue loads at 1 million, 1.5 million and 2 million; and the different level of damage at undamaged, fatigued and damaged condition. The dynamic characteristics of RC slabs have been studied at different levels of fatigue damage. The natural frequencies show the drop from 38.6 Hz to 36 Hz and to 29.2 Hz due to the increase in the level of fatigue damage. It can be concluded that the dynamic behavior was significantly influenced by the RC slabs experiencing fatigue loads. Phase two of the FE modeling developed to represent the identical behavior of the RC slabs tested. The FE model was then correlated and updated using parametric optimization against experimental data to reflect the actual condition of RC slabs. It has been shown that, compared to the initial models, the updated FE models have a small error of 0.22 percent for the first mode and thus better improvements in terms of agreement on natural frequencies. It can be seen that the natural frequencies of the updated FE models were close to the experimental data measured with a minimum percentage of 0.26% and a maximum of 2.74% for the first mode. RC slabs ' efficiency would be reduced–making it necessary to evaluate fatigue carrying capacity. Phase three observed the RC slabs ' fatigue carrying capacity through the structural stiffness change. It also concluded that the dynamic behavior was significantly influenced by the RC slabs experiencing a loss in stiffness. The maximum decrease of 70.26 percent in structural stiffness was observed from undamaged to the highest fatigued state in the first mode. The relationship between stiffness, load cycles and natural frequency dynamic response is thus established. The residual strength of the RC slabs was observed in this phase. The decrease in residual strength justifies the loss of the damaged RC slabs ' stiffness, which is accounted for by the Young's modulus and moment of inertia. The strength capacity can be estimated theoretically through the relationship of these parameters. Compared to the updated model, the results are verified and a good agreement with a maximum error is 0.52%. An efficient method of assessing fatigue damage that integrates the dynamic testing and simulation on concrete structure introduced in this thesis provides a comprehensive technique and therefore has a very good potential for predicting future structural performance in service
Immediate effects of dynamic lycra® orthosis on sitting to standing ability children with cerebral palsy / Ida Hasni Shaari
No full textChildren with Cerebral Palsy (CP) are highly exposed to postural mal-alignment which interrupt their functional movement pattern and the ability to attain certain functional activities, like walking and Children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) are highly exposed to postural mal-alignment which interrupt their functional movement pattern and the ability to attain certain functional activities, like walking and sitting-to-standing motion (STS). Orthoses are commonly prescribed to give good posture in these children. Yet, none of the orthoses has been found to be suitable in addressing trunkpelvis alignment in children with cerebral palsy, to enhance their STS performance. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the interface pressure profile and evaluate the effects of newly constructed Dynamic Lycra® Orthosis (DLO) on trunk and pelvis range during STS, in children with CP. A total of 20 Typically-developed (TD) children and 12 children with CP was recruited for this study. Three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis was used to determine the baseline of trunk and pelvis range, during STS in TD and CP group. Each child was seated on a backless and armless chair barefoot. The children performed STS motion at a self-selected speed, for children with CP, they performed the STS motion with an assistance from a walking frame. The second of 3D motion analysis was captured for CP group when the child was wearing the DLO. The differences between the STS movement with- and without DLO were analysed using Wilcoxon signed rank test. Effects size analysis was conducted using Cohen’s d formula to evaluate the effects of DLO on trunk and pelvis ranges. A separate analysis was conducted to compare to effects of DLO with other orthoses; at the same time investigating the interface pressure exerted by the orthosis over trunk and pelvis during STS. There are significant differences on CP child’s trunk and pelvis range during STS, when wearing the DLO and other orthoses (p 1.3) effects size pelvic range immediately after application. After 1-week application, the effects size only remain on child CP3 and CP7, for trunk and pelvic movement in sagittal plane. The DLO interface pressure is found to be significantly different in sitting, during STS and in standing position (p< 0.05). The DLO exerted higher interface pressure over trunk segment (mean±SD = 122±1.5 mmHg) compared to pelvic-thigh segment (mean±SD=120±1.8 mmHg). Overall, DLO produce significant different on the trunk and pelvic range during STS in children with CP. The effects however were found to remain only in two of the children with CP, for trunk and pelvic movement over sagittal plane. Next, the DLO interface pressure is found not uniform and graded, significantly different at different posture
Initial public offerings and pricing anomalies / Leow Hon Wei
No full textInitial Public Offering (IPO) is a form of fundraising through the stock market of which has evolved as an essential platform to study the performance of newly issued shares. In the case of an emerging market like Malaysia, the pricing anomalies that measure the performance of initial return and flipping activity of IPO remain an interesting subject. During the period of Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008-09, it is believed that the market sentiment will affect the initial return of new IPO and oversubscription will be negative, and hence firms will be unwilling to do the new listing on the stock market. However, results from our first paper show that oversubscription is positive and initial return is not necessarily negative. The results dispel the notion that investors should totally shun IPO during crisis period as there are still positive initial returns (offer-to-close) and initial returns (high-low intraday) among the new issues. Next, the second paper of the first three-day initial return shows that there is a positive relationship between the oversubscription ratio and initial return and negative relationship between trading volume and initial return on the first trading day. However, the relationship does not exist on the second and third day of trading. In addition, the trading volume does not act as a moderator that worsens the relationship between oversubscription ratio and initial return. This shows that investors should actively participate in subsequent trading of an IPO. This is because higher participation will bring greater shareholder wealth in the stock market. The third paper touches on flipping activity and heuristic representation, the results show: firstly, the oversubscription ratio has a positive relationship with flipping activity. This is because higher demand makes investors flip more to liquidate the IPO on the first trading day. In contrast, firm size has a negative relationship with flipping activity. Larger IPO firm is more stable in terms of performance, and less risky in terms of business operation; Secondly, heuristic representation influences the relationship between oversubscription ratio and flipping activity. This study dispels the notion that investors who are active in subsequent trading but not necessarily obtain a profit from the liquidation. Lastly, this thesis explores the IPO of newly established Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs). If SPACs are liquidated properly, it shows that the SPAC is a workable model for a new listing framework. Shareholders will get back their money and future investors feel comfortable with the fact that the system works. On the contrary, if the policy maker allows an extension for those SPACs which fail to acquire new qualifying assets, it would destroy the market confidence. In conclusion, industry players reckon that SPACs still have a bright future through its controlled experiment, stringent measurement and effective built-in mechanism with numerous safeguards to the processes of SPAC IPOs. In short, this thesis has examined and published the findings of IPOs and contributed to the extant literature of IPOs in the context of emerging markets
Financial management and financial well-being of newly married couples: Practices and knowledge / Leylawati Joremi
No full textPrudent financial management is a critical factor to achieve better financial well-being. The failure of many individuals in managing their finances, resulting in bankruptcy, distress and divorce. Recognizing the importance of financial management practices as a roadmap towards future financial well-being, a study on young and newly married couples is imperative. This study intends to attain a profound understanding of financial management practices among urban Malays young couples. This study also deliberates the understanding of these couples on financial well-being. It takes the phenomenological approach and analyses qualitative data collected through a series of in-depth interviews. The interviews explore the actual experience of five couples in managing day-to-day household finances in terms of the resource management system, distribution of household financial responsibilities, expenditure control, savings and investment preferences, enabling richer data to be obtained. The study also sought to uncover the couples’ understanding of financial well-being. Several financial management practices themes emerged from the data. The study indicated that managing finances is a process which needs to be implemented at a young age. Therefore, the findings suggested that families form an effective way of controlling the flow of money as soon as they enter into marriage. In fact, activities performed by these couples were driven by the state of affairs and desire to achieve financial independence. Therefore, the wisdom in managing finances at present and the prudently crafted initiative steps for their long-term planning are seen as a roadmap towards achieving a higher level of financial well-being in the future. The financial viability is realized with the idea of controlling spending activities, thrifty, vigilant and diligently making this process a regular routine. In addition, adherence to religious teachings is also an important pillar in balancing the well-being of life on a wider concept
Multi-dimensional analysis of public transfer payment policy in Malaysia / Muhammad Adli Amirullah
No full textThe impact of public transfer payment is dynamic, whereby it has shown separately that it can affect the income of the poor, aggregate consumption, economics outputs, education level of the poor and unemployment. However, there is a gap in previous public transfer payment analysis where all previous literature used Ceteris Paribus assumption that means “other things equal” as the central assumption when conducting the study. Nonetheless, Ceteris Paribus assumption is unable to capture the complex economic phenomena of the real world since it assumes other variables constant when analysing the selected variables. Hence, the introduction of Omnia Mobilis assumption that means “everything is moving” may address its limitation. With the help of multi-dimensional graphs such as Inter-Linkage Coordinate Space that was introduced in Econographicology, visualising public transfer payment and its impacts with Omnia Mobilis assumption is made possible where it allows us to analyse multiple endogenous and exogenous variable simultaneously. The completed Inter-Linkage Coordinate Space for public transfer payment policy through this dissertation showed the domino-effect or “Ripple-Effect” of the public transfer payment policy through graphical representation with the real-time data. The result of this dissertation showed a temporary spike in the Bottom 40 (B40) household income level and it is an indicator that public transfer payment policy will only work for a short term. This dissertation provides an alternative view to scrutinising public transfer payment as a policy in Malaysia and contributes to the application in the field of Econographicology
Preschool children's toothbrushing behaviour and association with their oral health / Iqra Muhammad Khan
No full textToothbrushing is an important yet neglected behaviour that has affected oral health of
preschool children (4-6 years). Factors like dietary habit, socioeconomic status and oral
conditions also affect oral health of preschool children. Despite intervention efforts,
recent investigations reported high prevalence of early childhood caries (ECC) and oral
diseases among this age group across different populations. Therefore, it is imperative to
understand the relationship between toothbrushing behaviour and oral health status of
preschool children to prevent oral diseases, hence improve their oral health. The aim of
the current study was to evaluate toothbrushing behaviour of preschool children, assess
their oral health status and determine their association. It was a single visit cross-sectional
study. A written informed consent was obtained from the parents/guardians of 92 eligible
participants. Preschool children’s toothbrushing behaviour was evaluated from parental
responses (questionnaire) followed by observation (video recording) of their
toothbrushing. The extent of parents/guardians’ involvement in their children’s
toothbrushing was also observed and scored according to the formulated criteria. The oral
health status was assessed in terms of pre and post brushing plaque scores (used Mira-2-
tone for plaque identification), gingival index and dental caries status. The data from
assessment of toothbrushing behaviour and oral health status was analyzed using SPSS.
A novel ‘Behavioural Observation Research Interactive Software’ (BORIS) was used to
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analyse toothbrushing videos. Another advanced Smart PLS 3 software was used to
perform a second-generation multivariate analysis to create models that depicted the
association between children’s toothbrushing behaviour and oral health status with and
without confounding variables. The impact of other factors was also analyzed as
confounders. About two-third of participants were of Malay ethnicity. Slightly more than
half (53%) were girls and 38% were 4years old. Majority (90%) of parents/guardians had
tertiary level education. The descriptive statistics revealed that there was a difference in
the recorded values of both methods (quantitative and qualitative) of toothbrushing
behaviour. About 35% of parents reported that their children used pea sized toothpaste
but only 28% were observed. Fifty one percent were observed to brush for 1-2mins,
however the reported data suggested only 40% to brush for 30sec-1min. A difference of
30% was recorded between reported (80%) and observed fluoride toothpaste (F lesser
than 1000ppm) use. Almost 30% were observed to use fluoridated toothpaste (F greater
than 1000ppm) and 20% non-fluoridated toothpaste. Slightly more than half of
parents/guardians reported to guide their children occasionally but only 11% were
observed to supervise them. The mean plaque score reduction after observed
toothbrushing was 10.80 (2.46), mean pre-brushing plaque score was 90.3 (10.2), mean
gingival index was 0.89 (0.65) and mean dental caries status dfs (1-6) was 18.87
(12.39).Toothbrushing behaviour contributed to plaque score change (86%), dental caries
status(73%), gingival index (66%) and pre-brushing plaque score (31%). The significant
confounding variables had a small influence on oral health of preschool children.
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Preschool children had inadequate toothbrushing behaviour and poor oral health status
with a statically significant association between them.
Keywords: Early childhood caries (ECC), oral health, plaque score, preschool
children, toothbrushing behaviour
Epitaxial growth of semi-polar (11-22) gallium nitride FOR UV photosensing application / Abdullah Haaziq Ahmad Makinudin
No full textSemi-polar (11-22) gallium nitride (GaN) epilayers have attracted numerous interests in GaN based technology as it possess significant advantages over its polar (c-plane) counterparts such as low to none spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization which is known to impair the device performance. However, growth along semi-polar (11-22) orientation has been known to exhibit numerous defect densities such as dislocations and stacking faults (SFs). In order to acquire high quality semi-polar (11-22) GaN epilayers, various growth optimizations must be employed. In this work, the semi-polar (11-22) GaN epilayers were grown on planar m-plane sapphire substrate with the use of a 2-inch capability horizontal metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD). This work is divided into three main phases namely phase I, where the optimization of the unintentionally-doped GaN epilayer was conducted with variations of three key parameters which includes the nitridation procedure, the V/III ratio of the Uid-GaN epilayer as well as the insertion and variation of the V/III ratio of the aluminum nitride (AlN) nucleation layer. The V/III ratios of the Uid-GaN were optimized via the variation of the ammonia (NH3) flux from 0.4 to 1.0 standard liter per minute (slm) whilst the V/III ratios of the AlN nucleation layer were conducted through the variation of the aluminum (Al) source, trimethylaluminum (TMA) from 50 to 98.5 standard cubic centimeters (sccm). Upon attaining the desired quality of the subsequent Uid-GaN epilayer, implementation of three in-situ defect reduction technique was conducted in phase II of the work namely, (i) insertion of single NH3 treatment with constant NH3 flux of 1 slm at different duration of 90-360 seconds, (ii) multiple NH3 treatment with NH3 flux of 1 slm and different number of alternations and (iii) inter-multilayers of AlN and GaN with different pairing numbers from 20-200 pairs prior to the growth of the subsequent Uid-GaN epilayer. The final stage of the work is Phase III where optimization of the final structure of the device is optimized prior to the ultraviolet (UV)-photodetector device performance evaluation. Additional transition layer consists of a thin n-GaN epilayer was grown on the Uid-GaN epilayer of higher and lower qualities prior to a thin Uid-GaN layer was realized for the device structure. Symmetric nickel (Ni) contact electrodes for the metal-semiconductor-metal device structure were further deposited via an electron beam deposition prior to the device performance analysis. The crystal qualities of the epilayers were then analyzed via a high resolution x-ray diffraction (HR-XRD) through a phase analysis, on- and off-axis x-ray rocking curve (XRC) analysis and reciprocal space mapping (RSM). Morphological analysis was conducted via a field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and an atomic force microscope (AFM). Electrical properties were analyzed via Hall-effect measurement and the in depth defect analysis were analyzed via a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The device performance on the other hand was analyzed via a photodetection measurement with the use of Keithley 236 Source Measure Unit equipped with an Oriel (Xenon arc lamp) solar simulator