Adaptibility and modularity in housing : a case study of Raines Court and Next21

Adaptable buildings are widely recognized as intrinsic to a sustainable built environment. The term adaptable architecture describes an architecture from which specific components can be changed in response to external stimuli, for example the users or environment. Further, if the parts that do change over time are designed for assembly, disassembly and reuse, if not recycling, this is an additional benefit in the service of a sustainable future. The paper presents idea to transform and industrialized the Malaysian construction industry to be more innovative in architectural design towards adaptability and modularity. The modular housing of Raines Court in London and adaptable housing of NEXT21 in Osaka was selected as a case study to assess the stage of modularization and adaptation of the building. The cross-sectional case study was carried out by semi-structured interviews and observation. They are used to evaluate the level and method of adaptation for the cases. Different levels of adaptation are determined to pinpoint the relations between the different connotations of adaptable. To generalize the outcome of the analyses the different components of the building are categorized. As a conclusion, the studies suggested the series of specific design strategies such as integrated building design, and concept of recyclability and adaptability, as well as green effect to be carried out in Malaysia. Then it would meet the requirement of new techniques and a new level of adaptability for Malaysia as can be concluded as Architectural Programmin

Inclination towards fraud among the participants in financial reporting process

Fraud is a significant ethical dilemma for businesses and harmful to the capital market participants.Financial reporting fraud is an intentional misstatement of financial information to mislead the financial statement users.It causes huge losses to the organizations, threatens the investors’ confidence on the published financial statements and erodes the image of accounting profession.This descriptive paper attempts to explore the inclination level towards financial reporting fraud among the participants in the financial reporting process and to determine the effect of their personal background on such inclination level.Using a sample of 121 Muslim participants in the financial reporting process at Malaysian banking institutions, the findings indicate that the inclination level is low.The inclination level is only affected by the working experience at the present bank and the bank type.The findings provide insights to the banks’ stakeholders on the inclination level of fraud among the participants in financial reporting process and are particularly useful to the top management of banking institutions for a better understanding on personal background items influencing fraud in financial reporting intention.Limitations and suggestions for future research conclude the paper

Cultural values and career goal of employees in a Malaysian industrial corporation

This paper presents a study on the influence of cultural values (self-direction, achievement, tradition, and benevolence) on career goal of employees in an oil and gas corporation in Malaysia. The study used the Social Cognitive Career Theory to support the theoretical framework of the investigation. Data gathered from 87 employees of an oil and gas corporation in the area of Kuala Lumpur were used in the analysis. The results show that the levels of the four cultural values experienced by the respondents are high while for the career goal is moderate. The regression results reveal that the predictor variables explain 28.0% of the variance in the career goal of the employees. Recommendation for human resource management and future research are discussed

Skim Subsidi Dalam Usaha Membasmi Kemiskinan Petani Padi di Kawasan Pengairan Muda: Analisis Kualitatif

Kawasan Muda merupakan salah satu kawasan jelapang padi utama di Malaysia. Kawasan ini merupakan penyumbang terbesar kepada pengeluaran beras negara. Pelbagai usaha dan pendekatan melalui perbelanjaan kerajaan (subsidi) telah dilaksanakan bagi memastikan kawasan ini terus menyumbang hasil pengeluaran beras kepada negara. Kertas kerja ini bersifat kualitatif dan bertujuan untuk melihat keberkesanan skim subsidi padi yang telah diberikan oleh kerajaan terhadap perubahan hasil pengeluaran padi dan pendapatan petani di kawasan Pengairan Muda. Antara skim subsidi yang dikaji termasuklah harga minimum terjamin, skim subsidi harga padi, skim subsidi baja padi, insentif pengeluaran padi, insentif peningkatan hasil dan insentif pengeluaran benih padi sah. Penelitian daripada kajian lepas mendapati bahawa skim subsidi padi diperlukan bagi meningkatkan pengeluaran padi dan pendapatan petani di kawasan Pengairan Muda secara khususnya dan di jelapang padi yang lain secara amnya. Bagi menjayakan matlamat ini, perbelanjaan kerajaan perlu diteruskan menerusi skim subsidi padi bagi meningkatkan pengeluaran padi sekaligus dapat meningkatkan pendapatan petani padi melalui program pembangunan dan penyelidikan yang holistik

Relationships of distribution of macrobenthic invertebrates and the physico-chemical parameters from Semenyih River by using correlation and multiple linear stepwise regression analyses

The distribution of macrobenthic invertebrates at Semenyih River has been described by Yap et al. (2003a), but their relationships with physico-chemical characteristics of the river have yet to be established. By using correlation and multiple linear stepwise regression, it was found that BOD 3, orthophosphate, total suspended solids and turbidity were important in structuring the stream macrobenthic invertebrate communities because they determined whether organisms could colonize and persist in the stream habitats. Thus, the invertebrates are useful as bioindicators to the health of the river ecosystem, complementing water quality analysis. Impacts of anthropogenic inputs can therefore be assessed based on the macrobenthic invertebrates' different species distribution

The status of heavy metal levels in a Ramsar Site, Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary: the impact of the anthropogenic inputs.

Distributions of Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in the surface sediments from two sites of the Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary, Malaysia were monitored for a period of 6 months from October 2006 to March 2007. In December 2006, the concentration of Zn in one location was significantly ( p50.05) higher (3.91.3 mgkg1) than the other metals at both sites, but in the oxidizable organic fraction it was highest at both sites during October; with mean concentrations of 18mg kg1 at both locations. In the acid-reducible fraction, high concentrations of Pb (2.3 mg kg1) were detected at station 2 in February 2007, being highest among all four metals at both stations. The acid-reducible fraction found in Pb ranged from 0.10% to 3.1% in both stations. Percentages ranging from 51% to 96% were observed for all four metals in the resistant fraction throughout the sampling period. These results indicate low contributions from anthropogenic sources. The findings constitute a baseline data archive for future reference

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) applications in medical: non-invasive and invasive leukemia screening

Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) has been applied as analytical tool in numerous field of study due to its ability in non-invasive application. NIRS with the ability in providing the information on biological molecules shows a high potential as a diagnosis tool in medical as diseased related to biochemistry changes of the cell and tissue. This paper reviewed the application of NIR spectroscopy in leukemia screening and in other medical application. General comparison between invasive and non-invasive NIR spectroscopy method is provided. The author also proposed a new non-invasive NIRS method in leukemia screening and compared it with the previous invasive NIRS method

The distribution of the Heavy Metals (Cu, Pb and Zn) in the Soft and Hard Tissues of the Green-Lipped Mussel Perna viridis (Linnaeus) Collected from Pasir Panjang, Peninsular Malaysia

The distributions of Cu, Pb, and Zn in the different soft Pasir Panjang, Peninsular tissues, shell sections and layers of the green-lipped mussel Perna viridis from an area with unpolluted water in Malaysia, were studied.The soft tissues analysed were the byssus, mantle and gills,posterior adductor muscle, retractor byssal muscle, foot, crystalline style, gonad and the remaining visceral mass. The level of Cu in the crystalline style was significantly (P< 0.05) elevated when compared to the other soft tissues while elevated levels of Cu, Pb and Zn were found in the byssus. The byssus is therefore a more sensitive material for Cu, Pb and Zn. The heavy metal concentrations in the different sections of the mussel's shell layers were also differed. The level of Pb was significantly (P< 0.05) higher in the inner shell layer than in the inner shell layer. Copper, Pb and Zn were evenly distributed within the different sections of the inner shell layer with no significant (P< 0.05) difference in the concentrations of these metals in the different sections. The periostracum shell layer was found to be a more sensitive biomonitoring material for Cu, Pb and Zn than the inner shell layer

Investigation Of Whole Duration And Submicrosecond Structure Of Uncommon Negative Cloud-To-Ground Flash

This thesis potrayed analysis of uncommon negative cloud-to-ground flash by consider the whole duration of flashes which commonly were reported by majority of investigators to have less than 1 second. In order to get more understanding on these matters, the author attempted to identify and investigate the relationship of the fine structure of commencement (or also known as subsidiary peak) of the first return stroke with this uncommon profile . The subsidiary peak was suggested by the early investigator as current oscillation or by a reflection of a traveling wave in the return stroke just after its commencement. However, this subsidiary peak was not well understood in the scientific lightning study. This analysis is important as a scientific value for electromagnetic compatibility's community and lightning protection in designing a proper lightning detection system and lightning scheme protection. This thesis is also important in lightning comprehend the initiation process of lightning ground flashes. Therefore two locations have been selected for the measurement, Both two locations are in Paya Rumput Perdana, Melaka and Faculty of Technology Engineering (Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka). The electric fields generated by lightning negative ground flashes were measured. The data were measured with nanosecond resolution using the combination of flat plate antenna, fast electric field buffer and high-speed recorder (Yokogawa DL850E and HDO 4040 LeCroy). The total of 938 flashes which composed of 799 negative ground flashes, 26 positive ground flashes and 113 cloud flashes were analyzed in term of on electric field (also known as fast electric field). From 51 out of 799 samples of negative ground flashes were considered rare where the duration of the flashes was uncommon case (6 %) which had the duration of more than 1 second. Furthermore. the number of strokes varies from 4 to 19 strokes. Next, the subsidiary peaks of 50 of uncommon samples were analyzed by using the terminology that has been introduced by Krider (1980). It was consistently shown the existence of small second peak or alpha (a) for all sample followed by several larger subsidiary peaks (a peak. b peak and c peak). Interestingly, this thesis reported the finding of new features of subsidiary peaks which have more than 5 larger of subsidiary peak. Statistically, all the features of alpha and other larger peaks were discussed in this thesis. From the first contribution of the thesis was found that the numbers of subsidiary peaks are depending on the duration of zero crossing. In addition, the secondary new contribution was found that the subsidiary peak is related with the number of the production of the return stroke, However, the higher numbers of subsidiary peak have no correlation with uncommon duration (more than 1 second)