The nature, extent and definition of a collaboration varies between individuals, disciplines, departments and institutions. It depends upon such factors as the people involved, the nature of the research problem, the research environment, the institutional culture and demographic factors. This paper will examine the concept of collaborative research and discuss its place and position in an evolving university.
Microsatellite markers associated with blast resistance genes were used to study the polymorphism and genetic relationship among 20 Malaysian upland rice and four varieties from the
International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Collection. Among the 11 microsatellite markers used, 10 were polymorphic (90.91%). Only RM313 showed monomorphic pattern. The genetic distances
ranged from 0 to 0.833. The lowest genetic distance was found between Ambas and Babayau. The highest genetic distance was found between Kedinga and Gulfmont. The average genetic
distance is 0.478. A dendrogram generated using genetic distance classified all 24 rice samples into 15 clusters. However, there were no well defined groupings. Further research is needed to verify the existence of the blast resistance genes among these Malaysian upland rice samples.
Setting a question paper for test, quiz, and examination is one of the teachers’ tasks. The factors that are usually taken into consideration in carrying out this particular task are the level of difficulty of the questions and the level of the students’ ability. In addition, teachers will also have to consider the number of questions that have impact on the examination. This research describes a model-based test theory to study the confidence intervals for the projected number of items of a test, given the reliability of the test, the difficulty of the question, and the students’ ability. Using the simulated data, the confidence intervals of the projected number of items were examined. The probability coverage and the length of the confidence interval were also used to evaluate the confidence intervals. The results showed that the data with a normal distribution, the ratio variance components of 4:1:5 and reliability equal to 0.80 gave the best confidence interval for the projected number of items.
Objective: The study aimed to obtain the perspective and teaching practice of novice lecturers serving at the training institutions, Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH).
Method: A qualitative research was conducted on 4 novice lecturers at the Medical Assistant College, Seremban. Data were obtained from interview and observation on their teaching in the lecture rooms. The data analysis was performed by using NVivo 9 software.
Result: In the aspect of the teaching perspective, the finding showed that there were two main themes; teaching concept and the teaching method. As far as the teaching concept is concerned, respondents perceived that lecturers were the source of knowledge and those who transfered the knowledge to the students. Meanwhile, the second perspective related to the teaching approach in which lecturers need to use their experiences, they need to be knowledgeable and creative in their teaching. The integration of the themes has formed the main perspective, which was the lecturer-centered teaching. In turn, in the teaching practice, it was consistent with their perspective whereby the approach of teaching is lecturer-centered.
Conclusion: This study showed that new lecturers would employ the lecturer-centered approach. Apart from that, they were also lacking of the skills in terms of class control and value inculcation. The deficiency in both these aspects needs to be overcome as it can affect the effectiveness of the teaching, also the quality of the graduates produced.
Malaysia has adopted various strategies in developing its space sector. Indigenous space technologies would enable a sustainable growth of the space field and at the same time develop the strategic space technologies. Therefore, issues related to the current space research level are fundamentally crucial to be highlighted. Subsequently, the space focus areas can be derived in order to meet the expectations of the national and international space technology growth requirements, which are moving on to a stronger posture in R&D. In the absence of a strong R&D national space industry leadership, the Malaysian space sector remains in a traditional downstream mode of the world space technology supply chain ever since. The space technology supply chain can be divided into the ground segment and the space segment. This paper examines the current space research activities in Malaysia within the framework of the space technology supply chain. As a result, a preliminary gap in the overview of space research in Malaysia is established.
Almost a half century after it was introduced, Wilks’ statistic has come into application in industrial manufacturing process variability monitoring. This is an important breakthrough in the way experts monitor the variability of manufacturing processes which is vital in modern industry. It leaves behind the traditional practice characterized by the use of sample size n which equals 1, if the process variability monitoring is based on individual observations and is greater than the number of variables p if one works with subgroup observations. The use of Wilks’ statistic allows us to work with n < p. This paper contains a review on process variability monitoring based on individual observations. First, some historical backgrounds of process variability monitoring in the general scheme was reviewed before it was revealed where the philosophy of Wilks’ statistic could be further interpreted. Subsequently it was indicated that the way to monitor the process variability depended on how the variability itself was measured. Finally, a new statistic for detecting the shift in variability based on individual observations was introduced and then a new control chart was proposed. The performance of the proposed chart as compared with Wilks chart, was quite promising. Therefore, some recommendations were given to better understand the history of manufacturing process variability.
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:
Most of important variables measured in medicine are in numerical forms or continuous in nature. New instruments and tests are constantly being developed for the purpose of measuring various variables, with the aim of providing cheaper, non-invasive, more convenient and safe methods. When a new method of measurement or instrument is invented, the quality of the instrument has to be assessed. Agreement and reliability are both important parameters in determining the quality of an instrument. This article will discuss some issues related to methods comparison study in medicine for the benefit of medical professional and researcher.
METHOD:
This is a narrative review and this article review the most common statistical methods used to assess agreement and reliability of medical instruments that measure the same continuous outcome. The two methods discussed in detail were the Bland-Altman Limits of Agreement, and Intra-class Correlation Coefficient (ICC). This article also discussed some issues related to method comparison studies including the application of inappropriate statistical methods, multiple statistical methods, and the strengths and weaknesses of each method. The importance of appropriate statistical method in the analysis of agreement and reliability in medicine is also highlighted in this article.
CONCLUSION:
There is no single perfect method to assess agreement and reliability; however researchers should be aware of the inappropriate methods that they should avoid when analysing data in method comparison studies. Inappropriate analysis will lead to invalid conclusions and thus validated instrument might not be accurate or reliable. Consequently this will affect the quality of care given to a patient.
A Monte Carlo simulation of the Malaysian nuclear reactor has been performed using MCNP Version 5 code. The purpose of the work is the determination of the multiplication factor (k eff ) for TRIGA Mark II research reactor in Malaysia based on Monte Carlo method. This work has been performed to calculate the value of k eff for two cases, which are the control rod either fully withdrawn or fully inserted to construct a complete model of the TRIGA Mark II PUSPATI Reactor (RTP). The RTP core was modeled as close as possible to the real core and the results of k eff from MCNP5 were obtained. When the control-fuel rods were fully inserted, the k eff value indicates the RTP reactor was in the subcritical condition with a value of 0.98370 ± 0.00054. When the control-fuel rods were fully withdrawn the value of k eff value indicates the RTP reactor is in the supercritical condition, that is 1.10773 ± 0.00083.
The effect of sample density in the determination of radionuclides by gamma spectrometry was studied using two multinuclide standard sources of different densities. The self absorption corrections due to differences in sample matrix densities were estimated. The corrections were used in the analysis food and soil samples having packing densities between 0.2 – 1.6g/ml.
Sports engineering can be considered as a new engineering discipline. It bridges the gap between two distinctive fields: sport science and engineering. Sports engineers are responsible in designing and building new equipment based on athlete's demands, besides measuring the performance of the athlete, the equipment itself, as well as their interaction. It is without doubt that engineering and technology have played an important role not only in improving the performance of an athlete, but also in making sports more entertaining and safe. This article provides an insight into how engineering and technology have affected sports in many ways transforming it from just a past time to more exciting and competitive world events. Apart from the impact of engineering in sports, the history of the application of engineering and technology in sports is also elaborated. Furthermore, research conducted in related fields worldwide is highlighted. A brief overview of sports engineering research in Malaysia is also presented.
Traumatic dental injuries (TDI) refer to injury to the teeth and/or peridontium and
perioral soft tissues. To date, very few dental trauma studies conducted in the university setting,
thus the aim of this research is to provide an epidemiological data of TDI cases among patients
attending Kulliyyah of Dentistry (KOD), IIUM Kuantan Campus. (Copied from article).
The purpose of this research is to enhance the gain signal amplification by using dual
pump double pass configuration in comparative with single pump double pass that are
commonly used as conventional optical amplifier configuration in optical
communication system nowadays. Two input signals power have been implemented
which are -30 and 0 decibel (dB). The input signal defined as low and high input signals
power by using a pump power of 1480 nm. The amplification of EDFA in this study have
been taken place in conventional band (C) band and long wavelength band (L) band of
EDFA within the range of 1515 to 1615 nm. Therefore, to understand the performance
of the gain amplification, the OptiSystem software simulator version 13 has been used
for simulation and the values of fiber length and pump power has been varied for both
configurations. It has been found that the, dual pump double pass configuration has
shown better gain performance at lower input signal power compared to the single
pump double pass configuration.
There is a large volume of published studies describing the adverse relationship between treatment non-adherence with tuberculosis treatment outcome. Non-adherence could result in increased risks of prolonged infectiousness, drug resistance, relapse cases and poor survival among tuberculosis patients. Nevertheless, few studies are to be found providing detailed on the reason of defaulting treatment among tuberculosis patients in Malaysia. Hence the goal of this paper is to find out the barriers and motivations factors that affect patients’ treatment compliance among our local tuberculosis patients. This is a qualitative study which included 12 in-depth interviews with tuberculosis non-compliance patients who were treated at Institute of Respiratory Medicine, Kuala Lumpur. All the conversations were recorded, transcribed and analysed by using thematic analysis. It was found that low knowledge, self-negative attitudes, traditional believes, negative perceptions towards health caregiver, drug side effects, stigma, financial problems, less family support and work commitments are the barriers that prevent the patients from religiously taking their anti-tuberculosis treatment. Meanwhile, factors that encourage them to continue their treatment were the believes of bad effects of the disease onto their lives and health, good relationship between patient and health caregiver and social support from people around them. In conclusion, non-adherence involved a dynamic influence of individual, socio-economic and treatment-related factors on the patients. The results presented here may facilitate improvement in the activities in promoting compliance among tuberculosis patients in the future which tailored to the patients’ specific needs.
Sustainability is an important factor in designing vernacular architecture, including vernacular palace architecture; the latter refers to low-rise buildings similar to Traditional Malay Houses (TMH). However, the Istana Lama Seri Menanti is a 4-storey mid-rise vernacular palace which was designed with sustainability in mind. This mid-rise element of the palace communicates the vernacular architecture of TMH in Negeri Sembilan whereas sustainable designs are factored in environmentally friendly materials, construction methods, and the environmental impact of the building culturally and economically. This research was aimed at examining the sustainability approach of Istana Lama Seri Menanti as a mid-rise vernacular palace in the early 20th Century, and its impact on the current generation after 109 years. The research methodologies include case and precedent studies of vernacular palaces in Malaysia as well as interviews with experts in the field. In conclusion, the architectural sustainability of Istana Lama Seri Menanti had taken into account timber availability, consumption of naturally available resources, designs with minimal environmental impact and high cultural importance in the building design with the ultimate aim of conserving it for future generations.
Although wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have been the object of research focus for the past two decades, fault diagnosis in these networks has received little attention. This is an essential requirement for wireless networks, especially in WSNs, because of their ad-hoc nature, deployment requirements and resource limitations. Therefore, in this paper we survey fault diagnosis from the perspective of network operations. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first survey from such a perspective. We survey the proactive, active and passive fault diagnosis schemes that have appeared in the literature to date, accenting their advantages and limitations of each scheme. In addition to illuminating the details of past efforts, this survey also reveals new research challenges and strengthens our understanding of the field of fault diagnosis.
Sentiment analysis classification has been typically performed by combining features that represent the dataset at hand. Existing works have employed various features individually such as the syntactical, lexical and machine learning, and some have hybridized to reach optimistic results. Since the debate on the best combination is still unresolved this paper addresses the empirical investigation of the combination of features for product review classification. Results indicate the Support Vector Machine classification model combined with any of the observed lexicon namely MPQA, BingLiu and General Inquirer and either the unigram or inte-gration of unigram and bigram features is the top performer.
Fuzzy Logic is a popular method to tune a PID controller. By using Fuzzy Logic, the PID is tuned automatically based on information of output error, which is better than other tuning rule methods. Fuzzy Logic Control will tune gains of PID controller by using a set of fuzzy rules designed specifically for that. However, specific transient requirements of the process output cannot be assigned to the controller. This research proposes a new method to overcome this problem by using a reference model. Step input from the reference model that contains the desired response information will be compared against the actual output. The reference model can be pre-selected by the user as desired. This study was simulated on a steam temperature process model while few sets of first-order model were used as reference. The results showed that the proposed Fuzzy PID controller with reference model provides better performance with perfect tracking during transient and steady-state.
The Medical imaging service in Malaysia is expanding. The presence of
imaging technologies needs to be supported by homegrown research to optimize their
use. This study investigated the contribution of researches by Malaysian practitioners to
the field of Medical imaging in the Malaysian Citation index (MyCite) database. (Copied from article).
Top-Oil Temperature (TOT) is one of the basic components to estimate the Hot-Spot temperature (HST) of the transformers. This paper presents an alternative TOT model based on the heat transfer theory that utilises Nonlinear Thermal Resistance (NTR) and Lumped Capacitance (LC) approaches. It is applied in a thermal-electrical analogy and the heat transfer equivalent equation is determined. This model is tested on a measured TOT of 250 MVA ONAF and 400 MVA ONAF transformers obtained from IEC 60076-7 and previous research. A comparison of TOT is carried out with the existing models IEC 60076-7 exponential and IEEE Loading Guide clause 7 methods. It is found that the thermal model based on the NTR and LC approach could determine the measured TOT closer than the existing methods available in the standards.
There has been only limited research focused on the assumption of leader stress and affective well-being. Hence, this study aims to determine the relationship between leadership style and employee stress level at workplace. This study primarily took a quantitative approach for data collection and analysis. Questionnaires were distributed at three branches of banks located in Kuching, Sarawak and to their employees. The findings show that there is a relationship between autocratic leadership style and employee stress level at workplace. The strength of the relationship is weak due to r = .461, p = .002. The findings also show that democratic leadership and transformational leadership have no relationship with the employee stress level at workplace.