In this modern era, accidents could occur anywhere any time before prevention can be made. Life insurance could help lend a sum of money to reimburse the medical fees. But not everyone has life insurance, some people think that life insurance is a waste of money where they think people should save money at an early age and only pay when there is actual accident occur. This occurs in young adults too. Some young adults do not know the knowledge of life insurance. Therefore, this study is conducted to help young adults understand and provide the awareness of the importance of life insurance by creating a mobile application on Android Operating System using Android Studio. This system was created based on waterfall system development life cycle and evaluated using cooperative evaluation method. The mobile application can display and provide the knowledge of life insurance and calculate the suggested life insurance plan for the user. Five participants were randomly selected for cooperative evaluation. They are young adults age between 20 to 25 years old and have their own income. Out of those five participants, two of them like the mobile application while the other three participants suggested several improvements on the developed mobile application.
There are 90000 professional expatriates working in Malaysia and the number is projected to increase year by year. This creates a need to explore work-life balance among expatriates in Malaysia. In this study, qualitative research method was used, and the data was collected using interview guide as the instrument. Actual data was collected from five (5) international lecturers in a public university in Sarawak. The data was analyzed using content analysis. The finding revealed that workload and family support are main contributors to work-life conflict among expatriates while receiving better salaries, meeting new people and experiencing culture are the work-life enrichment factors. Expatriates use general adjustment and interaction to adjust better with their new environment. Hence, it is recommended for organizations to support expatriates through relevant activities to assist them to achieve work-life balance in a foreign country.
Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskan tentang pelaksanaan aktiviti dakwah terhadap pekerja Industri Kecil dan Sederhana (IKS) di sektor pembuatan dan perkhidmatan milik Bumiputra Muslim. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan kuantitatif dan data kajian dianalisis menggunakan perisian SPSS versi 22.0. Bagi mendapatkan maklumat, borang kaji selidik diedarkan kepada 300 responden. Mereka terdiri daripada pekerja kilang berjawatan semua peringkat. Kajian ini menggunakan pesampelan rawak telah mudah dipilih bagi mendapatkan maklumat responden. Instrumen kajian merangkumi pencapaian aktiviti dakwah di kilang. Seterusnya data yang diperoleh dianalisis menggunakan kaedah deduktif. Maklumat kajian ini diperolehi menerusi kaedah pemerhatian pengkaji terhadap premis kilang dan suasana budaya kerja di premis terbabit. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan aktiviti dakwah telah dilaksanakan dengan kekerapan seminggu sekali. Nilai min bagi pelaksanaan aktiviti dakwah ialah 2.57. Ini merupakan suatu pencapaian yang baik. Program tersebut ialah ceramah, tazkirah, kelas pengajian fardu ‘ain, bacaan al-Qur’an, zikir, solat sunat, nasyid dan program menghafal doa harian. Sebagai kesimpulan, pencapaian aktiviti dakwah yang dilaksanakan di IKS merupakan suatu motivasi kepada pekerja supaya sentiasa mematuhi kehendak agama dalam segenap kehidupan ketika bekerja mahupun di luar waktu bekerja. Kajian ini juga memberi garis panduan dan persefahaman antara majikan dan pekerja ketika pelaksanaan aktiviti dakwah kerana menerusi aktiviti dakwah dapat melahirkan pekerja berkualiti dan meningkatkan produktiviti IKS
Objective: The purpose of this study is to measure the hearing level among smokers using high frequency sensitive testing which are extended high frequency Pure Tone Audiometry (EHFPTA) and Distortional Product of Otoacoustics Emissions (DPOAE). This study focuses on four specific objectives which determine the hearing level of smokers at high frequencies, identifying amplitude of DPOAE in measuring damage level of hearing cell in cochlea, correlating the smoking duration on hearing and lastly, smoking quantity per day effects on hearing. Methods: 30 subjects participated in this study whereby they were divided into testing groups (smokers) and control groups (non-smokers). Results: The result of this study found that there are elevation of threshold at 16 KHz, 18 KHz and 20 KHz among smokers compared to non-smokers depending on duration (years) and quantity of smoking (per day). The higher the number of cigarettes being smoked per day, and the longer duration of smoking, the higher the potential of getting hearing loss. This study result also found that the longer the duration of smoking (years), it also may increase the chance of hearing elevation especially at high frequency. Mean amplitudes of DPOAE among smokers was significantly low compared to non-smokers except on 1.5 KHz and 8 KHz. Conclusion: This study implies that the damaging effects of smoking tend to reduce the hearing sensitivity at extended high frequency first which later can be progressively affected on other frequency range of hearing
Background: Working in the healthcare industry has its effects on the female workers fecundity. Disorders of reproduction is listed as one of the top ten leading work-related diseases and injuries. The objective of this study is to observe the occurrences of adverse pregnancy outcomes among female healthcare workers in relation to their work schedules and identify the most frequent adverse pregnancy outcome. Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out obtaining pregnancy history and work schedule in the past three years. In the present study 469 respondents were obtained; 339 healthcare and 130 non-healthcare workers reporting a total of 564 pregnancies. Results: In this study, adverse pregnancy outcomes among female healthcare workers is significantly higher than non-healthcare workers. There is no significant findings between healthcare and non-healthcare workers with respect to the types of adverse pregnancy outcomes and the work schedule. However, from the respondents' lifetime pregnancy outcome, it is found that complete miscarriage occurred most frequently at 26.7% and among healthcare workers who work on shift. Conclusion: Healthcare workers carry a higher risk to experience adverse pregnancy outcome with complete miscarriage being the most common and most of these experiences occurs among those who work on shift/on-call.
MeSH terms: Abortion, Spontaneous; Cross-Sectional Studies; Delivery of Health Care; Female; Fertility; Goals; Health Personnel; Humans; Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; Pregnancy; Pregnancy Outcome; Surveys and Questionnaires; Reproductive History; Health Care Sector
Background: Mentoring of new staff nurses is frequently performed. Internationally researches have reported that this exercise helped the new staff to retain information better, adopt a professional conduct, and be more satisfied with their jobs. Mentoring programmes are usually conducted to encourage cooperation as well as socialisation among the new registered nurses (RNs) in specific units or organisations. Aim: This research aims to evaluate the outcome of mentorship programs based on six specific criteria and nurses' willingness to stay in the profession in hospital settings. Method: A comparative cross-sectional study designed via convenience sampling was conducted in nine hospitals using the self-administered mentorship for nurses (MNMSN) questionnaire. Findings:Atotal of 593 respondents were recruited, mostly female (87.6%), under 25 years old (84.7%), from Malay (71%) and highest nursing education of diploma level (99.2%). The predisposing factors that influence performance for pre- and post-program are 'patients assessment' (mean=4.763, S.D=0.52 and mean=4.733, S.D=0.536); 'clinical decision' (mean=4.722, S.D=0.527 and mean=4.73, S.D=0.54); 'cultural competencies' (mean=4.42, S.D=0.443 as well as mean=4.354, S.D=0.442); and 'professionalism' (mean=4.764, S.D=0.533 and mean=4.698, S.D=0.563) respectively. Each predisposing factor showed a significant correlation (strong and moderately positive). Overall result for 'willingness to stay' is significant [F, (5,585)=556.308, p
A survey of ectoparasitic fauna on birds was conducted in October 2017 until January 2018. The aims of this study were to investigate the ectoparasitic fauna on birds and to compare its prevalence in the selected mainland and island of Sarawak. A series of sampling by using mist-net has been done in Mount Sadong and Satang Besar Island with a total of 1440 hours of sampling effort for each locality. A total of 53 individuals of birds were captured and examined for its ectoparasites. Twenty-one species of ectoparasites were recorded comprising four species of lice and 17 species of mites. Four species of lice and 11 species of mites were detected in Mount Sadong while eight species of mites and no lice were detected in Satang Besar Island. The prevalence of ectoparasites infested on birds in Mount Sadong (33.33%) was higher than Satang Besar Island (17.39%). The p-value (p= 0.474) indicated there was no significant difference between the prevalence of ectoparasites from both localities. The result is important since ectoparasites infestation could affect the survival of birds and has the potential transmission of zoonotic disease.
The fish health status and parasitic infection in paddy fields are understudied in Borneo. This study was done to compare the prevalence and abundance of parasites on freshwater fishes in the upstream and downstream rivers of paddy fields. Parasite study on freshwater fishes was done by collecting live fish samples using ten minnow traps with baits at each site in Serian and Padawan, Sarawak, from October 2017 until March 2018. A total of 120 freshwater fishes were examined during this study period. Cold anaesthesia was applied on live samples prior to ectoparasite and endoparasite microscopic screening, which involved scraping of outer body mucous and removal of fish intestines, respectively. No ectoparasites were recovered from the fish samples. A total of 19 (15.83%) fishes from Cyprinids were infected with endoparasites. From these, 58 individuals of endoparasites were recovered. Two groups of parasites, namely Nematoda (Cucullanus sp.) and Trematoda (unidentified), were recovered from the fish intestines. From this study, there was a significant difference between the upstream fishes and downstream fishes in their endoparasite infection at both Triboh Village (p = 0.035) and Annah Rais Village (p = 1.445 × 10-6) using two samples t-test. The endoparasite abundance in fish was higher in the streams where there was less human disturbance. This study may serve as a baseline study on the parasitic infections of freshwater fishes in streams near paddy fields or other agricultural area in Sarawak.
Breeding territoriality plays a role in determining the reproduction outcome of many passerines species. The spot-mapping was used to estimate the breeding territory size of a territorial male of Oriental Magpie robin (Cospychus saularis) at Dahlia College, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak which is located within Kota Samarahan. It was conducted by mapping the song perching locations established by a marked male. The breeding territory size of the male was estimated to be 0.78 hectares. The data analysis was done using Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) which was constructed by using Google Earth Pro software. Study on breeding territory size of this bird species is crucial to understand more regarding the breeding behaviour of this species. Data on the behavior of this species could be used for future studies of this bird in Borneo.
Purpose:The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between workplace mindfulness, cognition, emotion, behaviour and psychology on job performance. In addition, age was tested as the moderating factor on the relationship between workplace mindfulness, cognition, emotion, behaviour and psychology on job performance. Method: The research was conducted on nurses working in Malaysian government hospitals among 127 respondents were chosen. Data was collected from the respondents using a structured questionnaire. The data were analysed with factor analysis, reliability test and multiple regression analysis. Results: Results indicated that only workplace mindfulness, cognition and behaviour had a positive significant influence on job performance. Age moderated the relationship between the cognition, behaviour and psychology positively and significantly on job performance. Contribution: The Malaysian government hospital management is suggested to focus on these three factors in order to overcome job performance issue among nurses.
MeSH terms: Work Performance; Cognition; Emotions; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Government; Hospitals; Humans; Surveys and Questionnaires; Regression Analysis; Reproducibility of Results; Workplace; Mindfulness
Pain is a sensation that is difficult to remember. Pain exposure is a stimulus that can damage the development of the baby's brain and contribute to learning disorders and behavior in childhood. Therefore nursing intervention is needed that can reduce the pain response in infants, especially during hospital treatment. The aim of the study was to determine the effect of non-nutritive sucking (NNS) and ASI (Air Susu Ibu or Breast Milk) on oral responses to acute pain in the neonate when invasive actions were performed. The benefits of research as evidence-based practiced about administering NNS and ASI orally to pain responses in neonates when experiencing pain. The research design uses experimental nonequivalent control group before and after design. The population of all neonates admitted to Dr. Soekardjo Tasikmalaya, with a total sample of 30 respondents consisting of 15 ASI respondents and 15 respondents for the NNS group. Pain assessments instruments CRIES (Crying, Requiring an increase in oxygen, Increased vital sign, Expression, Sleeplessness) was applied. Data analysis used non parametric tests Mann Whitney and Wilcoxon. The results of the study showed no significant differences in pain response before and after the intervention (p-value 0.236). It was suggested that nurses can improve health education for parents to be able to provide breastfeeding during treatment, especially when the baby receives invasive action
MeSH terms: Brain; Breast Feeding; Child; Crying; Female; Health Education; Hospitals; Humans; Infant; Infant, Newborn; Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; Milk, Human; Oxygen; Pain Measurement; Parents; Surveys and Questionnaires; Research Design; Sensation; Control Groups; Vital Signs; Acute Pain
LBW infants are at risk not only due to neonatal complications but also by other risk factors (eg. congenital anomalies associated with LBW). This research is motivated by the high incidence of LBW in Tasikmalaya City Hospital each year. The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between demographic factors in this case the mother's age, maternal education level, socio-economic level with the incidence of LBW. The research hypothesis has a relationship between maternal age, maternal education level, socioeconomic level, pregnancy with LBW incidence. The benefits of research provide a basis for evidencebased practice to nursing practitioners, that there is a relationship between demographic factors (maternal age, education level and socioeconomic level) with the incidence of LBW. Quantitative research method was used with cross sectional approach. The data was processed using univariate and bivariate analysis. The results of the study show no significant relationship between the factors of maternal age, education level, socioeconomic level with the incidence of LBW in Tasikmalaya City Hospital with p value > 0.05 for all variables. From the present study it is suggested that nurses should improve health education so that people can understand better about the risk of LBW.
Introduction: Students learn in many ways. Some students are visual learners, while others are auditory or kinesthetic learners. The purpose of the study is to identify the learning style of the students and factors that influence their learning styles. Methods: This is a descriptive study with cross-sectional design. Convenient sampling was used. In this study, a total of 51 nursing students were involved. A set of questionnaires using VARK (Visual; Auditory; Read/Write; Kinesthetic) inventory was used. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square test were use. Results: The learning styles of the respondents were mostly kinesthetic learning style and auditory learning styles which is 14(27.5%) for both, ten respondent had combinations of various styles, seven respondents had read write learning style and six respondent had visual learning style which is 13.7% and 11.8% respectively. Chi-square test shows that there was significant difference between learning style and respondents' demographic factors of previous school and number of siblings, where p-value 0.05). Conclusion: In order to achieve the goal of student learning it is important to use a combination of teaching methods and to make the classroom environment as stimulating and interactive as possible
The firm’s involvement in innovation became a necessary attribute for firms to remain competitive and successful. However, innovation is still considered a hallmark of large firms only. The literature on SME's involvement in innovation is scant and needs further exploration regarding the innovation process in the SME firms. This paper aims to hint the gap of knowledge related to the association between the owner-manager characteristics and innovation orientation at the SMEs. A review of relevant literature was exhausted for the achievement of the study objective. The findings of the study highlight that to fully explore the innovation process at the SME level, there is a need to divide the innovation concept into innovation creation and innovation adoption as two discrete concepts effected by the owner-manager personal characteristics. Literature hints at these two conceptualizations of the innovation among SMEs, but empirical examination is non-existence. Therefore, this work recommends future research endeavors to empirically examining the direction and strength of the relationship between owner-manager characteristics and SME's innovation performance in terms of creation and adoption. Moreover, literature and policy direction can be drawn from the respective research activities.
There are many factors determining the success or failure of the projects. Skills and competencies play a critical role in project management and shortage of skilled project managers and workers has become worldwide issue and a crucial risk that hindering the projects in achieving their objectives and increase the opportunities of project successful. There are two types of training methods used to provide soft and hard skills for project managers and team members. The aim of this paper is to specify the training methods that have roles in project teamwork training to enhance project performance. This paper uses a literature survey of the content of the research papers in project management training and training methods, to identify what extent training methods are related to project performance. This paper emphases the significance of the training process to enhance the project performance and reveals that on-the-job training, lectures and case study methods are most commonly used in project management training. This paper contributes to increasing awareness of the importance of training methods in project management as a feasible strategy to improve the performance of the projects and amply highlights the importance of skills in project management.
This case study illustrates an ongoing therapeutic dilemma which continues to place the patient's welfare at risk. The safety predicament is associated with the transfusion of blood or their products to the correct patient. Predictably, healthcare scholars declare that when clinical practice is ineffective, a “theory-practice gap” is typically responsible. Within this paradigm there is often a gap between theoretical knowledge and its application in clinical practice. Most of the evidence relating to the non-integration of theory and practice makes the premise that environmental factors will influence learning and practice outcomes, hence the "gap". However, it is the author's belief, that to "bridge the gap" between theory and practice an additional component called “Ethics” must be appreciated. This introduces a new concept “theory-practice-ethics gap” which must be considered when reviewing some of the unacceptable appalling outcomes in health care practice
MeSH terms: Blood Transfusion; Humans; Learning; Knowledge; Professional Practice Gaps
Black pod rot is the most economically important disease of cocoa in Malaysia which is
mainly caused by a highly polyphagous Phytophthora species, called Phytophthora palmivora.
The fungus could attack all parts of the cocoa plant organs and caused various diseases at
any growth stage from seedling until the mature stages, especially during raining season. The
application of synthetic fungicides has been widely recommended to manage the disease but
their repeated use had led to other problems such as environmental, human health and
development of fungicide resistance issues. This study isolated and identified Phytopththora
isolate from a cocoa pod sample based on micro-morphological characters. Besides, the
present investigation was undertaken to screen for the antifungal potency of different weed
extracts against the Phytophthora pathogen using poisoned food technique. The fungal isolate
was successfully recovered from pod tissues of clone PBC123 on 20% tomato juice agar
culture (20T). Only one out of ten weed extracts tested showed a significant in vitro inhibitory
effect towards mycelial growth of Phytophthora isolate, which was aqueous crude leaf extract
of Solanum torvum (42.68%). This study indicated that the potential of weed extracts in the
management of Phytophthora diseases, and may offer more natural, effective and economical
control methods.
Reef rubble representsthe broken components of the coraland reefstructure which could be in the form of dead,broken or other fragmented coral.The process to estimate the distribution of reef rubble is currently done manually and thus takesa long timeto completeand is laborious. This paper presentsan image-processing-basedmethod to estimate the distribution of reef rubbles in a coral reef environmentfrom a still image. The method is basically a series of image processing steps includingimage complement, image binarization, edgedetection, smoothing by Weiner filter and followed by erosion and dilation process.The experimentalresults showedthat the system wasable to roughly estimate the distribution of reef rubble.
MeSH terms: Animals; Dilatation; Health Services; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Research Design; Ecosystem; Anthozoa; Coral Reefs