This study aims to identify the role of mathematical representation as a mediator between mathematical belief and problem solving. A quasi-experimental design was developed that included 426 Form 1 secondary school students. Respondents comprised 209 and 217 students in the treatment and control groups, respectively. SPSS 23.0, ANATES 4 and Amos 18 were used for data analysis. Findings indicated that mathematical representation plays a significant role as mediator between mathematical belief and arithmetic problem solving. The Realistic Mathematics Education (RME) approach successfully increased the arithmetic problem-solving ability of students.
Learning through game scene is considered a game-based learning approach. Teaching and learning process using game scene is deemed interesting and effective due to the nature for this approach which seems alive with asserted activities. Students experience their own game via narration through the virtual world they undertook. This investigation is targeted towards conceptual change and explanation for basic programming theorem through navigated game scene by evaluating motivation and student experience. 55 respondents consisted of semester three students from computer software application certification a program from a community college is selected for the undertaken study. Motivation and experience surveys are reference based on intrinsic motivation inventory instrument (IMI). Findings were tabulated based on t-test statistics and descriptive to get the frequency, mean, standard deviation and percentage. Initial results reflected student acknowledgement on utilizing game scenes in terms of elaborating basic game programming key points in providing elevated learning experience.
Introduction: The effectiveness of teaching and learning process is highly dependent on the methods and
strategies of teaching and learning practices. As a result, nurse educator must choose and use the suitable
method to help the nursing students to achieve the learning objective.
Methodology: There were 218 respondents. This study consisted of two-group quasi experimental study
with pre- and post-test design. The experimental and control groups received education using concept
mapping and lecture method respectively. The data was analyzed using inferential and descriptive statistic.
Results: In the pre-test, students were taught using concept mapping. These students had achievement
mean scores of 11.23, SD=2.59 and post–test was 13.19, SD=1.71 with mean gain scores of 1.96. Students
who were taught using lecture method had an achievement mean scores of 10.71, SD=2.23 in the pre-test
and post-test was 12.60, SD=1.64 with mean gain scores of 1.89. The results showed an increase in grade
achievement, the percentage pass for the experimental group increased from 95.4% in pre-test to 100% in
the post-test. The percentage pass for control group had increased from 93.57% in pre-test increased to
99.08% in the post-test.
Conclusion: Student-centered learning is a teaching method that is active and can change passive to active
learning. Findings from several reviewed studies suggest that using concept mapping can improve
academic performance in nursing education and is a valuable teaching strategy.
Lane Change Assistance (LCA) system in cars can potentially mitigate blind spot related crashes; but its effectiveness
largely depends on driver acceptance and proper use. Although still in early stages, the volume of cars equipped with
LCA system is expected torise in the near future as the technology has been considered in the New Car Assessment
Program for Southeast Asian Countries (ASEAN NCAP) 2017 Rating Scheme. Therefore, this study is initiated to assess
user acceptance of and experience with LCA-equipped cars. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to
owners of LCA-equipped cars at selected service centres in the Klang Valley from November 2016 to February 2017.
From a total of 276 valid responses, results revealed that most owners greatly considered LCA system when
purchasing their cars and agreed that the systems had positively altered their driving behaviours i.e. regularly using
the turn signal and checking the side mirrors. Nevertheless, about 20% of the respondents stated theirannoyance and
distraction by the LCA systems due to unnecessary warnings from various sources, aside from getting too many
warnings during traffic congestion. The study findings provide some practical implications that can aid the industry
and relevant stakeholders in gauging the issue and actual situations concerning the use of LCA system in Malaysia.
Prolonged sitting is one of the factors for back discomfort. Sitting in the same position for long periods of time is worse.
This experimental based study was conducted to achieve three objectives. There were to 1) identify whether is there any
differences between perceived body discomfort among respondents before and after upright sitting, 2) identify whether
is there any differences between perceived body discomfort among respondents before and after slump sitting and 3)
compare the level of perceived body discomfort among respondents after two sitting postures. Thirty young and healthy
adults were recruited as study respondents. Each respondent was asked to sit in a posture either upright or slump for 30
minutes. Respondents were then rated their body discomfort using Borg CR-10 scale before and after sitting. Another
sitting posture was carried out after one day interval. There is a significant difference between perceived body
discomfort among respondents before and after upright and slump sitting. Body discomfort of upright sitting was shown
significantly greater than slump sitting. Although, slump sitting caused less discomfort than upright, but it proven by
previous studies did not provide benefit to occupational safety and health practice in preventing occupational health
related disease.
It has been reported in the literature that the perception of crime at the neighbourhood level inversely affects the walking behaviour of individuals. On the other hand, the gated neighbourhoods are considered safe from crime, however, there is a lack of research on the association of the perception of crime and walking in gated neighbourhoods. Therefore, the objectives of the study reported in this paper were to investigate the association between the perception of crime and walking in gated and non-gated neighbourhoods. A questionnaire was used to collect the data on walking and the perception of crime in 16 neighbourhoods of Karachi Pakistan, 8 out of which were gated. Independent sample t-test and gamma tests were used for the data analysis. The results show that although there is a lower perception of crime in the gated neighbourhoods, yet the inhabitants of gated neighbourhoods engage in less physical activity comprising of walking. In spite of a greater perception of crime in non-gated neighbourhoods, higher values of walking were reported by the residents of those neighbourhoods. Therefore, it has been concluded that there does not exist a definite relationship between the perception of crime and walking behaviour at the neighbourhood level and the perceived safety from crime claimed by the proponents of the gated neighbourhoods does not encourage walking among the residents.
Introduction: The application of M-learning or mobile application (app) as a tool to disseminate occupational safety and health (OSH) information among students and staff in the university, to replace the use of conventional noticeboard was assessed in this study. Materials and Methods: Study was conducted between February to March 2016 and involved 124 respondents from health sciences program in Universiti Putra Malaysia. OSH information was incorporated into a mobile-app using online software and respondents were requested to use the app for fourteen days. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the level of knowledge, attitude and practice of respondents before and after using the app. Results: The mobile app has significantly increased the knowledge score among respondents (z = -7.331, p
Coaches are the people responsible for helping athletes work towards
achieving their full potential. The influence of coaches is associated with
positive impacts on athletes by enhancing their performance, character
development, athlete satisfaction and other various positive outcomes. In
order to develop successful athletes, coaches need to have a high level of
coaching efficacy. Many factors may affect coaching efficacy, such as
coaching education and experience, and it might play a part in the ability of
coaches in coaching their athletes. Hence, the purpose of this study is to
determine the impact of coaching experience and education on coaching
efficacy among Malaysian collegiate coaches. A total of 331 coaches for
SUKIPT 2016 were involved in this study. The Coaching Efficacy Scale
(CES) questionnaire was used to measure the coaches coaching efficacy.
Overall, Malaysian collegiate coaches showed that their level of coaching
efficacy was high for all subscales, namely character building (M=7.92,
SD=.83), technique (M=7.91, SD=.89), game strategy (M=7.80, SD=.93), and
motivation (M=7.79, SD=.83). Furthermore, study shows that there was a
medium positive correlation between coaching experience (r=.37, n=331,
p
This Methodology framework in research study smoothing the process of collecting data. Research
study is categorized into qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research refer to a studies
require careful observation, while quantitative research refers to a studies involve in statistics.
Qualitative and quantitative research study can be determined through primary and secondary data.
Primary data is defined as data that comes from original or the first source, while secondary data is
defined as data that has been collected by other researchers. Primary data can be categorized into
active and passive. Active primary data can be divided into direct interview (through face to face
between researcher and respondents) and interviewed indirectly (e.g. by phone, mail, technology),
while passive primary data involve with structured and secret characteristic, structured and open
characteristic, unstructured and secret characteristic, unstructured and open characteristic. Secondary
data involves with writing (journals, books, magazines, past records, reports and documents, internet, theses, short stories, newspaper), as well as vision and hearing (speeches, movies and videos, songs,
stories). Even secondary data has its advantages and disadvantages, but both secondary and primary
data are depend on each other in solving the society problems through the achievement of the
objectives or hyphotheses in a research study.
This study intended to identify the best learning strategies of writing by focusing in vocabulary
acquisition among the primary school pupils in Malaysia. Axiomatically, local education used the
Process Writing Approach in producing writing composition. Unfortunately, the researchers thought
that it is not sufficient to fulfill the component of good writing. By using the theory of scaffolding
pioneered by Vygotsky, the researchers agreed to include vocabulary learning to scaffold the existing
Process Writing Approach followed by application or practices. During application, the researcher as
the teacher will provide a module where the experimental group will do writing exercises by using the
new learned vocabularies. The researchers will use mixed method research where questionnaires of
vocabulary and writing strategies are distributed where the results are the determinants of VAW
module development.
This study aims understand microplastics from personal care and cosmetic products in Malaysia via quantification and characterization of microplastics together with emission estimation to marine environment. A total of 214 respondents from all over Malaysia were surveyed with identification of top ten personal care and cosmetic products usage. Particles found in facial cleaner/scrub and toothpaste were colored and colorless with majority of granular shapes. Particles in toothpaste were found between 3 and 145 μm while particles in facial cleaner/scrub were found to be between 10 and 178 μm, stipulating the presence of microplastics. Plastic polymers (LDPE and polypropylene) were found in all facial cleaner/scrub samples while only plastic polymers (LDPE) were present in toothpaste sample G. A total of 0.199 trillion microplastics are expected to be released annually to marine environment in Malaysia. Personal care and cosmetic products are seen as one of the microplastics sources for Malaysia and worldwide.
Software optical mark recognition (SOMR) is the process whereby information entered on a survey form or questionnaire is converted using specialized software into a machine-readable format. SOMR normally requires input fields to be completely darkened, have no internal labels, or be filled with a soft pencil, otherwise mark detection will be inaccurate. Forms can also have print and scan artefacts that further increase the error rate. This article presents a new method of mark detection that improves over existing techniques based on pixel counting and simple thresholding. Its main advantage is that it can be used under a variety of conditions and yet maintain a high level of accuracy that is sufficient for scientific applications. Field testing shows no software misclassification in 5695 samples filled by trained personnel, and only two misclassifications in 6000 samples filled by untrained respondents. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 99.73%, 99.98%, and 99.94% respectively, even in the presence of print and scan artefacts, which was superior to other methods tested. A separate direct comparison for mark detection showed a sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy respectively of 99.7%, 100.0%, 100.0% (new method), 96.3%, 96.0%, 96.1% (pixel counting), and 99.9%, 99.8%, 99.8% (simple thresholding) on clean forms, and 100.0%, 99.1%, 99.3% (new method), 98.4%, 95.6%, 96.2% (pixel counting), 100.0%, 38.3%, 51.4% (simple thresholding) on forms with print artefacts. This method is designed for bubble and box fields, while other types such as handwriting fields require separate error control measures.
The climate change phenomenon has been occurring in every part of the world, including Malaysia. In particular, changes such as rising temperature, sea level rise, and unstable rain pattern are proven to affect the socio-economic routine of the community. Hence, it is necessary to learn how to adapt to it, especially those who heavily rely on nature stability. The present study examined the adaptation towards climate change among islanders in Malaysia. In addition, the current research was performed quantitatively using a developed questionnaire as the main data collection tool. In this case, a total of 400 islanders were selected as the respondents through a multi-stage sampling technique. The results revealed that the respondents recorded a moderate to high mean score for adaptation aspects namely awareness, dependency and structure. Accordingly, a number of recommendations that were highlighted can be utilized as a basis to develop community adaptation policy that is in line with the islanders' need, ability, and interests.
Psychological well-being among students began to received attention and be seen as an important aspect in the life of an individual who are in primary, secondary or higher education institution. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the three subfactors of perfectionism, three sub-factors in basic psychological needs and psychological well-being among university students. Methodology of the research is based on a survey among 468 university students using questionnaires of Scales of Psychological Well-Being (SPWB), Almost Perfect Scale Revised (APS-R) and Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS). The subjects consisted of 468 undergraduate students in University Malaysia Sabah. Data were analysed by using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. The results showed a significant relationship between perfectionism, basic psychological needs and psychological well-being among university students. Implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.
Bukit Perangin Forest Reserve, Kedah Malaysia is a popular forest park well known for its clear rivers and streams, interesting sedimentary rock formations and a rich biodiversity in flora and fauna. However to date no report on the amphibians and reptiles of this forest has ever been published. Therefore, from January 2009 to May 2010, herpetofauna surveys were conducted at Bukit Wang Recreational Forest, which forms a part of the Bukit Perangin Forest Reserve. The results of the survey showed that a total of 15 species of amphibians belonging to 6 families and 15 species of reptiles
belonging to 7 families were found in the study area. These constitute the first records for the amphibians and reptiles in this forest. The herpetofauna checklist showed that the most abundant amphibians were from the family Ranidae while the most abundant reptiles were from the family Gekkonidae.
Isu kepuasan kerja telah menjadi fokus banyak kajian dalam psikologi industri dan organisasi kerana ia merupakan satu petunjuk kepada pencapaian tinggi. Banyak instrumen psikologi telah dibina untuk mengukur kepuasan kerja dan satu daripadanya ialah Job Descriptive Index (JDI). Kajian ini bertujuan menilai aspek psikometrik Job Descriptive Index (JDI) khususnya kesahan konvergen dan diskriminan. Sejumlah 366 responden dipilih dalam kalangan pegawai polis yang berkhidmat sebagai pegawai keselamatn di satu organisasi. Mereka diminta menjawab JDI. Analisis statistik yang digunakan ilah kolerasi Pearson, alfa Cronbach dan analisis multitret-multimetod menggunakan pekali W. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa JDI mempunyai kesahan konvergen yang memuaskan dengan lima subskala Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ). Dapatan ini jelas menunjukkan bukti kesahan gagasan telah diperoleh dalam analisis matriks multitret-multimetod. Disamping itu, JDI juga menunjukkan kesahan kriteria dengan kolerasi signifikan di antara kepuasan kerja dan komitmen organisasi. Bukti-bukti kesahan gagasan dan kriteria ini disokong oleh keputusan alfa cronbach yang tinggi menunjukkan bahawa ia adalah satu instrumen yang mempunyai kesahan dan kebolehpercayaan untuk mengukur kepuasan kerja.
This research examined how managers in universities incorporate non-financial measures in their Learning Management Systems decision-making processes and particularly focused on the importance of the Human Capital perspective in LMS decision making processes. A mixed-methods approach to data collection was used involving both interviews and questionnaires. The qualitative data from the interviews were coded and analysed. A descriptive coding method using thematic analysis was used for the data coding. The qualitative data were analysed using an inductive approach where the categories of criteria and indicators were not determined before the interview. The participants in this research were five members of LMS decision-making teams at two different universities in Australia and 24 participants from different universities in Malaysia who were involved in LMS decision- making processes at their universities. The results of this research indicated that there was substantial support for using a multi-dimensional decision making model among IT decision makers at universities, particularly the Human Capital perspective and they believed that Human Capital measures are important and should be considered in a LMS decision making process.The research has both implications for theory and for practitioners where it contributes to the knowledge on LMS decision making in universities and IT decision making in general, and also in improving actual decision making practices.
This study examines the relationship between loneliness, life events and depression among 178 adults in the disadvantage community of Malaysia and to determine predictors of depression. A set of standardized questionnaires was used to measure depression, loneliness and stressful life events. The results showed that loneliness and stressful life events were related to depression. Results also showed that loneliness was a predictor of depression. Implications of the study in terms of theory and practice are also discussed.
A survey on coastal vegetation of Pahang in some localities from Sg. Balok in Kuantan southwards to Kuala Endau in Rompin was conducted from middle 2004 to early 2005. A total of 88 species of plants were recorded and identified mostly to the generic or species level. The usual vegetation types were sand and mudflat beach vegetations like Pandanus odoratissimus, Ipomoea pes capre and Casuarina equisetifolia and mangrove vegetation like Sonneratia caseolaris, Rhizophora mucronata and Avicennia marina. This paper also reports some unique heath-type forest vegetation like Hopea spp. in Menchali area.