Plant material booklet 1: palms of Malaysia

This book is intended as quick reference for landscape architects, architects and urban planners in identifying palms for landscape planning and design of open spaces, recreational areas, residential landscape and street planting. It begins with descriptions of the indigenous or introduced palms found in Malaysia. It then discuss how palms can be used as spatial articulation features in shaping human spaces. The book also includes a set of table describing eight subfamilies of palms in alphabetical order. This booklet is the first in a series of plant material booklets on the utilization of plants in landscape planning and designs. Other titles in this series include, among others, Herbs and Medicinal Plants, Wayside Trees and Bamboos in Malaysia

Evidence of bank lending channel in Malaysia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of banks in the transmission of monetary policy and business cycle. This paper attempts to look into the assets side as a monetary policy channel to influence economic activities. Changes in the monetary policy channel give an idea to regulate and strengthen the banking industry. The different views raise the following questions: how do changes in the monetary policy transmission affect commercial banks portfolio? If bank lending plays as a monetary policy channel, does it affect the other portfolios? Do the current regulations (such as capital requirement)affect the bank portfolio behaviour? Furthermore, Generalise Least Squares method was used to estimate the monetary changes toward commercial banks portfolio. Annual data was compiled from the year 1994 until 2004. The number of observations was based on the combination of time series and cross-sectional data, which is known as pooled data. In addition, an unbalanced bank-level panel data set for commercial banks was used. Finally, our results found that there exists a bank-lending channel in the case of Malaysia

Evaluating the state of investigative journalism in Malaysia from practitionners' perspectives

Investigative journalism is not a new area in journalism but its practice around the world vary from one country to another as media practitioners are arguing whether it should be practiced or not. Therefore, this research is trying to find out the state of investigative journalism in Malaysia from media practitioners’ perspective. Using qualitative interview, this research will try to evaluate their understanding on the roles of investigative journalism and barriers in practising it in Malaysia. Eight respondents consist of editors and reporters from four print media organizations were interviewed in this research. This research found that Malaysian media practitioners do understand investigative journalism but they have to adapt their practice into the country’s media environment. Most of them prefer to abide by the rules and regulations set by the government, their organization and even themselves. Consequently, the study showed that they prefer to investigate issues concerning consumer affairs and rarely touch on political issues

Sustainability of BMT financing for Developing Micro-enterprises

The aim of this study is to analyze the sustainability of Islamic micro-financing for developing micro-enterprises (ME). We use the sample of Baitul Mal Wat Tamwil (BMT), as Islamic microfinance institution in Indonesia. Two approaches will be used to explore the sustainability, i.e., technical efficiency (using data envelopment analysis (DEA) and level of outreach. The results indicate that: first, generally the efficiency of BMTs is relatively low. Scale efficiency also indicates that BMTs are operated still far from optimal scale. The results suggest that there is gap in efficiency scores obtained from CCR and BCC models. This indicates that BMTs still face the managerial problems. Second, Islamic micro-financing is useful for developing micro-enterprises and contribute a great social benefits to the society in several ways. Although the profitability efficiency of BMTs is relatively low, since generally BMTs have made a profit and social benefit, Islamic financing can be predicted to be sustainable – able to provide viable Islamic financing.Sustainability, technical efficiency of profitability efficiency, level of outreach

ISLAMIC BANK PERFORMANCE AND CAPITAL STRUCTURE

The choice between debt and equity financing has been directed to seek the optimal capital structure. Under the agency costs hypothesis, a high leverage or a low equity/asset ratio reduces the agency costs of outside equity and increases firm value. Several studies show that a firm with high leverage tends to have an optimal capital structure and therefore it leads to produce a good performance, while the Modigliani-Miller theorem proves that it has no effect on the value of firm. The importance of these issues has only motivated researchers to examine the presence of agency costs in the non-financial firms. In financial firms, agency costs may also be particularly large because banks are by their very nature informationally opaque – holding private information on their loan customers and other credit counterparties. In addition, regulators that set minimums for equity capital and other types of regulatory capital in order to deter excessive risk taking and perhaps affecting agency costs directly to change banks’ capital structure. In this paper we attempt to prove the agency cost hypothesis of Islamic Banks in Malaysia, under which high leverage firm tends to reduce agency costs. We set the profit efficiency of a bank as an indicator of reducing agency cost and the ratio equity of a bank as an indicator of leverage. Our findings are consistent with the agency hypothesis. The higher leverage or a lower equity capital ratio is associated with higher profit efficiency.agency cost; capital structure; Islamic bank performance; panel data

The use of critical thinking skills among university ESL students

This research was undertaken to measure the critical thinking ability of university ESL students and to determine the relationship between critical thinking ability and the (1) English language ability; (2) fields of study (or major); and (3) academic performance. The Cornell Critical Thinking Test Level X (CCTTX) developed by Ennis and Millman (1985) was used to determine the students’ critical thinking level and a questionnaire was administered to obtain other relevant data i.e. students’ English language ability, fields of study and academic performance. The respondents involved in the study were two hundred and sixty-one public university students in Pahang. The students’ CCTTX were marked and scores were given. Association between students’ critical thinking ability and English language ability, fields of study and academic performance were analysed via one-way analysis of variance using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences Version X (SPSS-X). The findings revealed that the overall scores obtained by the students in CCTTX test were low. There was a significant difference in the critical thinking scores with the students’ language ability. However, there were no significant differences recorded between the students’ CCTTX scores and their fields of study and academic performance. The implications of the findings for the English Language Curriculum were elaborated and relevant recommendations were made

MODEL 3W3S DALAM PROSES PEMBELAJARAN MENERJEMAHKAN WACANA BAHASA JEPANG : Penelitian Eksperimen Kuasi Terhadap Mahasiswa Departemen Pendidikan Bahasa Jepang UPI Tingkat 3 kelas 6-B Tahun Ajaran 2015/2016

Di era globalisasi ini, dengan menerjemahkan kita dapat melakukan proses transfer ilmu-ilmu dari bahasa asing ke dalam bahasa ibu yang bermanfaat. Sehingga nantinya orang-orang khususnya orang Indonesia dapat memperluas wawasan dengan membaca bentuk-bentuk bacaan dari hasil terjemahan. Namun pada kenyataannya bagi orang Indonesia, bahasa Jepang merupakan bahasa yang sulit untuk dipelajari. Kesulitan dalam mempelajari bahasa Jepang tersebut salah satunya adalah kemampuan menerjemahkan. Berdasarkan latar belakang di atas, peneliti melakukan penelitian mengenai penerapan model pembelajaran 3W3S dalam proses pembelajaran menerjemahkan wacana bahasa Jepang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui peningkatan kemampuan menerjemahkan wacana bahasa Jepang dengan menerapkan model pembelajaran 3W3S. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode eksperimen kuasi dengan desain One Group Pre-test Post-test design. Penelitian ini menggunakan studi kasus yang dilakukan pada kelas 6-B Departemen Pendidikan Bahasa Jepang Fakultas Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia sebagai objek uji coba pada penerapan model pembelajaran 3W3S. Instrumen yang digunakan yaitu pre-test, post-test, dan angket. Dari hasil analisis data, diketahui nilai rata-rata pre-test sebesar 64,15 dan post-test sebesar 81,3 dengan db = 19, sehingga thitung yang diperoleh sebesar 13,50. thitung tersebut lebih besar dari pada ttabel dengan taraf signifikansi 5% = 2,09 dan 1% = 2,86. Dengan begitu Hk diterima yang artinya penerapan model pembelajaran 3W3S dalam pembelajaran menerjemahkan efektif dapat meningkatkan kemampuan menerjemahkan wacana bahasa Jepang mahasiswa. Serta hasil analisis data angket, dapat dikatakan bahwa model pembelajaran 3W3S menarik dan diharapkan untuk bisa tetap digunakan dalam pembelajaran menerjemahkan. Selain itu, penting untuk dilakukannya penelitian lebih lanjut efektivitasnya dalam disiplin ilmu bahasa yang lain. ; In this globalization era, with translating, we can do the process transfer the knowledges from foreign language into mother language which is benefit. So that people especially Indonesian can expanding their perception with reading books, etc. from the translation result. But in fact for Indonesians, Japanese is a very difficult language to be learned. The difficulties in learning Japanese is the ability to translate. According to the background above, researcher do a research about 3W3S of learning model in learning process of translating discourse in Japanese. This research purpose is to get to know the improvement of the translating ability Japanese discourse with 3W3S learning model. The method research is Quasi Experiment with One Group Pre-test Post-test design. This research sample is 6-B graders of University students in Japanese education Department of Language and Literature Faculty Education Indonesia University of education as an experiment object in 3W3S learning model. The instrument are pretest, posttest and questionnaire. From the result of data analysis, the average value before the treatment is 64.15 and posttest is 81.3 with db = 19, so the t calculation is 13.50. The t calculation is higher than the t table in significant level 5% = 2.09 and 1% = 2.86. Because of that the hypothesis (Hk) is accepted that means 3W3S learning model in translating studies is effective to improve the ability to translate Japanese discourse students. And according to the questionnaire analysis result, 3W3S learning method is interesting and can be used in translating class in the future. Besides that, it’s important to do the research the effectiveness in another disciplines language class in the future

Full reserve system and the Maqasid Shariah / Zuriyati Ahmad, Abdul Ghafar Ismail

The essence of the monetary system today is in using the fractional reserve banking system. Nonetheless, this system is not free of critics such as the fraud of making loans and creating deposits out of nothing which are argued to create distortion to the economy. Since 1930s, many economic scholars have debated the use of full reserve system as an alternative tool of monetary system.Islamic scholars also argue and reject the working of fractional reserve banking system and propose the idea of full reserve system. From the view of Islamic scholars, the full reserve system should be applied to avoid the riba’ in the monetary system. Hence, this study tries to assess whether the use of full reserve system can attain the Maqasid Shariah to support the alternative banking system. Using the argument on fractional reserve system, discussion on the concept of full reserve system, analysis of the impacts of full reserve system and the support from Quran and Hadith, this study concludes that the injustice and riba’ can be avoided under thefull reserve system, hence,attaining the Maqasid Shariah

The Application of Biodiesel as an Environmental Friendly Drilling Fluid to Drill Oil and Gas Wells

The oil and gas industries need to use oil based drilling fluids to drill troublesome rock layers such as sensitive shale formation or to drill very deep oil and gas wells. However, using oil based drilling fluids will create pollution and therefore, environmental regulations on discharge of such drilling fluids have become more stringent because it will give tremendous impacts on the marine life and ecosystem. This research is conducted to formulate a new environmental friendly drilling fluids using vegetable oils derived biodiesel to replace the oil based drilling fluids without reducing their performances. This study focuses on physical properties and biodegradation rate of biodiesel based drilling fluids with respect to its toxicity and compare with the conventional oil based drilling fluids. Several biodiesels which derived from vegetables oils such as palm oil, corn oil and rice bran oil have been used as base oil in formulating ester based drilling fluids. Acute toxicity test and biodegradation test using closed bottle method were tested using local fishes. The result showed that almost all vegetable oils achieve the required physical properties. However, rice bran oil is almost non-toxic since their 50% lethal concentration (LC­50) value is felt in the range of 10,000 to 100,000ppm. Besides, rice bran oil is found to be easily degraded as it showed about 80% of biodegradation rate within 28 days. Therefore, rice bran oil drilling fluid offer the best solution in solving the environmental standards compared to other vegetables oils

Hubungan keberkesanan latihan dengan prestasi kerja

This study aims to evaluate the training effectiveness and its relationship with the job performance of newly appointed customs officers who have undergone the Program Pengajian Asas Operasi Perkastaman (PPAOP) course at Royal Customs Academy (RCAM), Melaka. Data were gathered from 84 respondents using self administered questionnaires. Correlation analysis revealed that training seems to have a positive relationship with post training job performance. The study also showed there was a significant positive relationship between pre- and post-training job performance. The study showed that RCAM plays its role effectively in developing competent officers. It is suggested that RCAM should pay serious attention to the quality of methodology and teaching aids, facilitators, customs module and management module especially contents, methodology and teaching techniques