Modeling the construction readiness parameters for abandoned housing projects in Malaysia: PLS-SEM approach

Purpose: This study aims to develop an interrelation model between critical parameters for assessing the construction readiness (CR) of abandoned housing projects, using Malaysia as a case study. To achieve that aim, the study objectives are to (1) identify critical parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects; (2) develop underlying constructs to categorize interrelated critical parameters and (3) assess the influence of the underlying constructs on the CR of abandoned housing projects. Design/methodology/approach: This study identifies potential parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects by reviewing existing literature and interviewing industry professionals. Then, the list was used to develop a questionnaire survey. The collected survey data were analyzed using normalized mean analysis to identify the critical parameters. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to develop underlying constructs to categorize interrelated critical parameters. Finally, the influence of the underlying constructs on the CR of abandoned housing projects was examined through partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Findings: The analyses suggest that 21 critical parameters are affecting the CR of abandoned housing projects. The critical parameters can be categorized into four underlying constructs: construction site evaluation, management verification, uncertainties mitigation and document approval. Finally, the analyses confirmed that all four constructs affect the CR of abandoned housing projects. Originality/value: This study is a pioneering effort to quantitatively analyze the parameters for assessing the CR of abandoned housing projects. The findings significantly benefit researchers and industry professionals by providing a list of critical parameters associated with the CR of abandoned housing projects

The usage of mobile application to teach practical skills among catering students

Latest educational media based on mobile application nowadays is an important tool for teaching and learning which can help to attract the students’ attention and the students will be more efficient since they can study by their own anywhere and anytime with different situations surround them. This paper focuses on the usage of the mobile application in teaching practical skills among catering students. In line with the issues nowadays where the live demonstration is too backdated rather than use the mobile application to enhance the enjoyment of the cooking process in catering classroom. Teaching and learning with the mobile application was perceived to assist the learning process in cooking by following ways: increasing the comprehension of the cooking process and real-time to reassurance in the cooking process, enhancing the enjoyment of the cooking process and acquire new cooking skills. The findings show that the usage of mobile application is at moderate level. On the other hand, the positive implication towards students is at medium level. Overall, for this study, researchers found that the usage of mobile application among catering students was good and perceived positively towards students

Type I Error Rates of the Two-Sample Pseudo-Median Procedure

The performance of the pseudo-median based procedure is examined in terms of controlling Type I error for a two independent groups test. The procedure is a modification of the one-sample Wilcoxon statistic using the pseudo-median of differences between group values as the central measure of location. The proposed procedure was shown to have good control of Type I error rates under the study conditions regardless of distribution type

Validation of Vis-Screen Mobile Application for Easy Vision Test by General Public: A pilot study

Visual impairment and blindness is a serious global concern. Poor awareness and late detection are significant factors contributing to the vast number of visually impaired people worldwide. The ubiquitous use of smartphone devices enables the general public to access various services provided easily. Our Vis-Screen mobile application is developed based on the necessity for early detection of any vision problem to avoid further vision loss. Simple built-in algorithm and user-friendly features of this application suits any laypersons to do vision testing among themselves with only minimal training needed, therefore promoting the importance of healthy vision within the community.Keywords: visual acuity; mobile application; vision screening; blindnesseISSN: 2398-4287 © 2019. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v4i12.189

Students’ acceptance towards kahoot application in mastering culinary terminology

Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform used to review students’ knowledge, for formative assessment and provides an opportunity not only to assess students' conceptual understanding but also to build new knowledge through further clarification during or after the game. The objective of this study is to assess the acceptability of culinary students in the use of Kahoot! application for mastery the culinary terminology. This study aimed to identify students' acceptance of learning applications, to identify students' acceptance of Kahoot! use in terms of memory as well as students' level of mastering Kahoot! in the learning process. This study is a descriptive study that used a five-point Likert scale questionnaire as an instrument. A total of 48 second year students from the Catering program were used as the study sample. The collected data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science Version 23.0 for Windows (SPSS). The results show that the aspect of students' level of mastering the culinary terminology using Kahoot! application is high with a mean score of 4.55. Whereas the students’ acceptance of Kahoot! as a learning application, was also high with a mean score of 4.44. Finally, the students’ acceptance of the culinary terminology tested using Kahoot! is high with a mean score of 4.45

Application of Digital Menu Design and Student's Cognitive Level in Food Plating Technique

The cognitive level of students in practical subjects is influenced by various external and internal factors. Cognitive is one of the important elements for students towards the achievement of better skills. The need to strengthen the cognitive level among TVET students has become a priority in the field of education. Effective pedagogical approach should focus on increasing culinary students’ understanding of plating technique. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify culinary student’s experience using digital platform for plating technique activities, to identify cognitive level of students to understand plating techniques through digital menu design and identify the suitability of culinary students to learn plating techniques digitally. The 63 students from the culinary program who enrolled in practical course. The survey design applied to conduct the research and set of questionnaires as instrument for data collection. The dimension measures are student’s experience, student’s cognitive level and suitability of learning with digital platform. The results of this study show that teaching using digital design for practical classes is an effective teaching that is expected to improve students' cognitive levels and indirectly improve student achievement. Hence, the digital menu design concept perhaps could be applied in other learning content and alternative teaching method in culinary program

Salinity effects on germination of forage sorghumes

Abstract: To investigate the effects of osmotic stress on forage sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench) varieties at critical stage of seed germination, i.e., at which salinization is initiated. A study was conducted at the Seed Technology Laboratory at University of Putra Malaysia (UPM- lab.) from October to November 2007. Two forage sorghum varieties (Speedfeed and KFS4) were evaluated in the salinity levels of 0, 5, 10, 15 dS m-1. The experimental design was Completely Random Design (CRD), which was based on factorial with 3 replications. In the experiment, seeds were germinated in covered, sterilized, disposable Petri dishes. Three parameters, namely germination percentage, germination rate, germination index and coefficient velocity of germination were estimated. The results of this study showed that different levels of salinity had significantly affected the germination percentage, germination rate germination index. In addition, a significant difference (1%) was also found in the germination percentage between the two varieties. Meanwhile, the mean comparison of the treatments showed that the germination percentage in distilled water (S1) was the highest (92.5%) and salinity dS m-1 (S4) had the lowest germination percentage. The maximum germination rate (35.58) and germination index (391.67) were retrieved from EC 0 and with the increasing salinity, these parameters were decreased. The evaluation of the two varieties showed that KFS4 (V1) had a higher germination percentage (82.91%) than the speed feed (72.5%). Consequently, the seed germination of KFS4 was better than the speed feed (in salty water and non-stress conditions). In other words, salt stress had been found to delay germination of both varieties

The effectiveness of cognitive and psychomotor domain of culinary art students’ performance after internship in private colleges

With the demand of culinary arts graduates in hospitality industry, more higher learning institutions especially private colleges offer the programs. The course syllabus of culinary arts is specifically designed to provide a strong foundation for students who aspire to be chefs in the local and international fields. Students are equipped with a basic education in the culinary skills and knowledge associated with the cognitive and psychomotor domain. This study investigates the influence of the cognitive and psychomotor domain effect to private college student’s performance after internship. The internship program is gradually enhancing the students’ knowledge; confidence level and psychomotor performance which enable them to at least gain confidence when performing their practical assessment after coming back from internship. This is a positive indication in the beginning of the students’ life before expose into a real life work situation. Thus, this research can be a guidance for the private institutional lecturers to look into the effectiveness of cognitive and psychomotor domain of culinary art students’ performance in their internship programs

Administration of waqf in Malaysia (with special reference to the state of Johore, Malacca, Penang and Selangor) / Nur Humairrah Abdul Rahman…[et al.]

The fundamental aim of this study is to examine whether the administration of waqf in Malaysia have been systemized with reference to four states in Malaysia, namely, Johore, Malacca, Selangor and Penang, well as some comparisons to the administration of waqf in Pakistan. We have done a study based o n interpretation of relevant s tatutes a s well as enactments on relevant states mentioned above. Interview have been conducted in order to obtain different views namely on the point of view legal scholars and Islamic Scholars. By this research we hope to increase awareness among the public regarding the institution of waqf

New procedure in testing differences between two groups

Despite the theoretical correctness of the t-test in testing differences between two groups and the existence of the nonparametric backup, i.e. Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test, these test fail to simultaneously control Type I error and maintain adequate power under certain condition. This study intends to alleviate this problem by applying the pseudo-median as the location measure of interest into the one-sample nonparametric Wilcoxon procedure in a two group setting.Pseudo-median is the median of all possible differences of observations from the two groups. Since the sampling distribution of this procedure is intractable, the bootstrap method was used to achieve the significance level.The finding shows that the new procedure has the ability to control Type I error rates and maintaining high power rates regardless of distributional shape whether symmetrical or asymmetrical. The performance of the new procedure is compatible to t-test and Mann-Whitney-Wilcoxon test