Usahawan dalam era K-Ekonomi

Era K-Ekonomi bukan sahaja menyaksikan perkembangan teknologi maklumat dan telekomunikasi, malah juga menyaksikan perkembangan dalam pelbagai dimensi sosial, teknologi, politik, ekonomi dan persekitaran alam semula jadi. Globalisasi adalah salah satu aspek dimensi ekonomi yang sedang melanda di seluruh dunia. Globalisasi yang juga dikaitkan dengan "perkampungan global" dan dunia "tanpa sempadan" telah mengubah cara hidup masyarakat dan kaedah dan cara berniaga ke arah perniagaan antarabangsa dan global. Usahawan yang maju dan berdayasaing telah mengambil tindakan proaktif untuk terus berdayamaju dan berdaya tahan dalam perniagaan global. Pelaburan dalam teknologi, teknologi maklumat (IT) dan telekomunikasi telah meningkatkan lagi kelebihan dayasaing dan keteguhan usahawan dalam era globalisasi. Di samping itu usahawan perlu menjalinkan jaringan dengan syarikat transnasional agar perlimpahan teknologi dan peluang menebusi pasaran, maklumat dan kewangan dapat di capai dengan lebih berkesan. Akhir sekali, usahawan perlulah mempunyai beberapa kriteria bagi mencapai kejayaan yang kritikal dalam jaringan tersebut

Effects of Centellaasiatica L., Curcuma longa L., and Strobilanthescrispus L. extracts on 3 kidney cell lines: in vitro cytotoxicity analysis

Objective: This study was carried out to evaluate the in vitro cytotoxicity to three cell kidney lines by using the 3-(4, 5-d imethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) reduction assay of three popular medicinal plants used in Malaysia. Methods: Methanol and aqueous extracts of Centellaasiatica L., Strobilanthescrispus L. and Curcuma longa L. were tested at the non-toxic limit concentration at 50 (NTLC50) ranging from 50 µg/ml and 200 µg/ml depending on the cell lines used, i.e. African Green Monkey Kidney (Vero), Baby hamster Kidney (BHK) and Rabbit Kidney (RK) cells. Results: Centellaasiatica L. was the least toxic to the all cell lines tested followed by Strobilanthes crispus L. and Curcuma longa L. Methanol plant extracts inhibited cell growth but not to the aqueous plant extracts. Meanwhile, BHK cells were found to be the most resistant to the plant extracts. Conclusion: This study proves the safety of these plant extracts for future scientific studies in its biomedical properties

An update on type 1 diabetes treatments: insulin treatment, cell therapy and transplantation

Diabetes is one of the major life-threatening health problems worldwide today. It is one of the most fast-growing diseases that cause many health complications and a leading cause of decreasing life expectancy and high mortality rate. Many studies have suggested several different types of intervention to treat Type 1 diabetes such as insulin therapy, islet transplantation, islet xenotransplantation and stem cell therapy. However, issues regarding the efficacy, cost and safety of these treatments are not always well addressed. For decades, diabetes treatments with few side effects and long-lasting insulin independence has remained one of the most challenging tasks facing scientists. Among the treatments mentioned above, application of human islet transplantation in patients with type 1 diabetes has progressed rapidly with significant achievement. Again, the lack of appropriate donors for islet transplantation and its high cost have led researchers to look for other alternatives. In this review, we discuss very pertinent issues that are related to diabetes treatments, their availability, advantages, disadvantages and also cost

Microstructural and nonlinear electrical properties of ZnO ceramics with small amount of MnO2 dopant

A small amount of MnO2 dopant was added to ZnO system to see the improvement of the ceramic varistor microstructural and nonlinear electrical properties. The samples were prepared using solid-state reaction method and the microstructure and nonlinear electrical properties of the ZnO-xMnO2 system were investigated for × = 0.011 to 0.026 mol%, at three sintering temperatures, 1180°C, 1240°C and 1300°C for 1 and 2 h sintering time. The XRD and EDAX analyses showed that the main phase was ZnO while ZnMnO3 and ZnMnO7 as the secondary phases developed and distributed at the grain boundaries and triple point junction. The SEM observation revealed that prolonged sintering temperature and time improved the microstructure uniformity and strongly influences the nonlinear behavior of the samples. The maximum density and grain size have been observed at 92% of theoretical density and 10.8 μm, respectively and occur at the highest sintering temperature which is 1300°C. The value of nonlinear coefficient α is found to increase with the increase of MnO2 doping level up to 0.016 mol% and drop with further doping level increment for all sintering temperatures and time

Communication style towards student by excellent Islamic education lecturers in Teaching Education Institute of Malaysia

The purpose of this article is to discuss excellent communication style that being practiced by Excellent Islamic Education Lecturers in Teaching Education (EIEL) Institute of Malaysia. This excellent communication style is identified from a case study conducted. This case study was done at eight campuses of Teaching Education Institute of Malaysia. The study involved indepth interview with eight representatives from (EIEL), eight Heads of Department, Department of Islamic Education and Moral, 16 colleagues and 16 students. Results of this indepth interview were then organized and analysed by using NVivo version 7.0 program in order to construct theme and model that are related to excellent communication style of EIEL in Teaching Education Institute of Malaysia. Research findings show two aspects of excellent communication style being practiced by EIEL while performing their duties in Teaching Education Institute of Malaysia, which are verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal communications are questioning and answering, being poise, consulting, giving sermon and advising. Non-verbal communications are writing, eye contact, body language and appearance

Views of Instructors Towards Students Learning English Public Speaking at a Malaysian University

Public speaking was one of the most feared situations faced by many people, including public speaking in the English language. Speaking English in front of the public was really a daunting task for many people, including students of universities. This study addressed issues related to English public speaking at the university from the views of instructors who taught the English public speaking course. Some topics discussed were the common weaknesses of university students in delivering English public speaking, the causes of the weaknesses and some recommendations for students to improve their English public speaking. This was a qualitative research design where eleven instructors teaching English public speaking were interviewed and the gathered data were analyzed using thematic analysis and presented using Atlas. ti version 7. One of the theories employed in the study was the Uncertainty Reduction Theory that made their anxiety level increase. The study revealed that some common weaknesses of students were lack of confidence, limited vocabulary and grammar. Some contributing causes of the weaknesses were lack of reading, lack of ideas, and lack of self-esteem. Some recommendations were then forwarded to solve the problems such as giving the motivation to the students to speak, read and think in the English language and make a lot of practices.     Keywords: English public speaking, university, students, Instructors, UniSZA, Malaysi

Literasi Kewangan Islam: Sorotan Kajian Lepas Dan kaedah pengukuran

Di dalam Islam elemen patuh kepada shariah adalah keutamaan bagi setiap muslim di dalam setiap aktiviti di dalam kehidupan mereka. Panduan shariah meliputi aspek ekonomi, ibadat, perundangan, kemasyarakatan dan hubungan antarabangsa. Perbezan jelas diantara kefahaman kewangan konvensional dan Islam yang di ukur mengunakan pendekatan literasi kewangan adalah dari aspek pematuhan shariah. Berdasarkan perbezaan ini, kajian yang dilakukan oleh para sarjana berkaitan Literasi Kewangan (LK) adalah dalam bentuk kajian kes dan kajian literatur adalah sangat meluas. Namun begitu, kajian berkenaan Literasi Kewangan Islam (LKI) mula mendapat tumpuan sejak 2010. Oleh itu kajian ini cuba menganalisis kajian lepas berkaitan literasi kewangan Islam memandangkan LKI merupakan bidang kajian yang agak baru dalam dunia penyelidikan berbading literasi kewangan yang telah mantap dari aspek teori dan dapatan kajian. Berdasarkan kepada kajian lepas dan dapatan kajian oleh para sarjana, kajian ini cuba menyelidik beberapa konsep yang sesuai untuk mengukur literasi kewangan Islam selari dengan kehendak shariah. Perkara asas di dalam Islam seperti rukun iman, Islam dan hukum hakam asas dalam setiap aktiviti muslim cuba di ketengahkan. Selain itu beberapa konsep penting di dalam muamalat dan ekonomi Islam seperti konsep perlindungan di dalam Islam, Konsep tabungan di dalam islam, pinjaman dari persepktif Islam, Konsep jaminan dalam Islam, Konsep perwakilan (wakalah) dalam Islam dan pembersihan kekayaan di dalam Islam cuba di ketengahkan sebagai satu kaedah pengukuran literasi kewangan Islam. Berdasarkan daripada perbincangan konsep-konsep penting dalam muamalat Islam ini boleh dijadikan panduan untuk membangunkan konstruk yang sesuai untuk mengukur literasi kewangan Islam individu dan usahawan Muslim seterusnya boleh menjadi sumbangan bermakna kepada para sarjana untuk kajian kajian akan datang

Economic and emission load dispatch solution via artificial bee colony algorithm

The Economic Load Dispatch (ELD) is considered to minimize the only fuel cost in power system planning and operation. Due to environmental issues, the emission amount released by thermal power generation should be considered in minimizing the total cost generation as well. This make the power dispatch problem become multi-objective problem that called Economic and Emission Load Dispatch (EELD). This paper investigates the performances of Artificial Bee colony (ABC) algorithm for determining optimal solution for EELD problem. In this paper, the EELD problem is formulated as a single objective problem by taking minimization of total cost and emission level as separated objective. The cost characteristic of thermal generator considered the effect of opening and closing of the valve for practical application. The ABC algorithm has been tested on standard test systems which is 10-generating unit test system in order to validate the effectiveness of proposed ABC algorithm. The results obtained have been compared with reported result by other methods in literature. From the result, it found that ABC algorithm is better than other methods for minimizing fuel cost of thermal power generation and obtained comparative results in reducing the emission level