Group level influence on blog's design behaviour

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The purpose of this research is twofold. Firstly, this research aims to investigate whether the design preferences of bloggers in selected countries from different cultural backgrounds are influenced by national culture traits. The investigation involves two categories of blogs selected within a country where the bloggers share similar attributes such as language or geographical location. Secondly, simultaneously, this research intends to discover the possibility of the impact of group level influence on design preferences of bloggers who are linked together in a network through bloggers’ linkage or blogrolls. To achieve the said purposes, observations on both the global and local blogs of six selected countries are conducted using the content analysis method. This method allows this research to observe web pages and rate design preferences of bloggers via a coding system, similar to the method used to analyse documents or manuscripts to find common themes or keywords. A total of 612 blogs (306 global and 306 local) are observed for a period of nine months to identify cultural traits on design behaviour based on national culture indicators chosen from prominent literatures. To prevent a systematic error, an independent second observer was appointed and the results obtained are compared using a statistical methodology. In addition, translators were also engaged to verify that the translations are of a correct meaning and comprehension since blogs use various national languages on their web pages. The data were statistically tested using SPSS engaging in statistical analysis of frequency table, Cross-Tabulation and cluster analyses and MANOVA. Results shown that design preferences between both the global and local blogs in each country, has significant differences in most of the design indicators chosen. The findings indicate that the national culture influence on design preferences in linked networks of blogs is weakening indicating another type of influence might be in existence. The results also provide evidence that blogs in linked networks are statistically significant as a cluster or a group by themselves and are independent from one cluster to another. The research, however, studies only six countries from six different cultural dimensions. The inclusion of other countries, similar to or different from the countries under investigation, would be an added advantage. Furthermore, the use of only a single type of global blog provider (blogspot.com) in this research could be extended to other global blog providers such as wordpress.com to give fairer coverage of major and popular global blogs as well as providing a wider generalisation effect of the research findings

Comparative study of NGOs towards disaster risk reduction in Nigeria

The aim of this paper is to explore some comparative advantages of training indigenous groups towards disaster risk reduction. Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are nonprofit organizations that have been recognized based on their efforts towards uplifting the poor, marginalized, unprivileged, underprivileged, impoverished and downtrodden groups. Based on related works, it is well known factor that on the average, a disaster occurs somewhere else in Nigeria’s each day and the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are usually the first or second agents to respond to humanitarian crisis, political, breakdown of the law and order. But it is unfortunate that even the NGOs suffered the same fate with the victims due to inadequate trainings on disaster risk reduction technics in Nigeria as a result of growing number of factors militating against them. The study followed a qualitative research strategy to conduct interviews with pre-tested interviews as key data collection instrument which was used in eliciting responses from10 heads of NGOs randomly selected from the North-Eastern Nigeria to seek information about the main NGOs missions in the region. The paper uses comparative analysis between Nigeria versus Malaysia to evaluate what is working well and what need to be corrected as both countries are party to world conference were global best framework on disaster risk reduction was developed at Sendai, Japan in 2015

Prediction Supply Modelling for High-Cost Housing in Malaysia

Oversupply and overhang among the high-cost housing type has become a blazing field that is often discussed in the press due to the failure in getting a balance of construction demand and supply unit. The basic purpose of the research is to develop a prediction modelling for high-cost housing supply based on the macroeconomic factors. The investigation involved the improvement of the analytical framework by synthesizing the models and framework advanced by a past analyst on the housing supply market framework. As initial, macroeconomic data of MHPI, GDP, BLR, CPI, population size, PCI, CBI, housing demand rate and housing stock index from 2007 to 2017 are collected from National Property and Information Centre (NAPIC) and Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) website. The prediction of the housing supply is investigated using Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). Based on these problem, the investigation contended that the housing supply prediction model will be accomplish using experimental data from economic data with supported from macroeconomic factors such as world borrowing cost, outflows of foreign capital, subprime crisis, population characteristics, migration, urbanization, stamp duty exemption, moratorium, RPGT, and also microeconomic factors such as location and accessibility, basic and public facility, financial loan, location and placement, credit facility, construction cost, development approval, price and rental and housing stock

Halal food based on maqâshid al-syarî’ah perspective

Halal food is essential for the life of a Muslim. Islam is very concerned about the halal aspect to safeguard the benefit of mankind. Halal food from the perspective of maqâshid al-syarî’ah is something that needs to be realized and understood so as not to cause harm. This study aims to explore and analyze the urgency of halal food from the perspective of maqâshid al-syarî’ah. Qualitative methods in the form of content analysis and literature study from secondary data were carried out in this study. Research shows that consuming halal food is very important in maintaining the five essential components in maqâshid al-syarî’ah, namely the maintenance of religion, soul, mind, descent, and property. Muslims must have awareness and understanding regarding every product they consume and producers should ensure the halal supply chain in processing their food products

SUPERVISI KEPALA SEKOLAH DI RHAUDHATUL ATHFAL AL-HIJRAH BELAWAN (Studi Kasus di Masa Pandemi Covid 19)

Abstrak: Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk melihat bagaimana supervisi yang dilakukan oleh kepala sekolah RA Al-Hijrah Belawan, dan bagaimana proses supervisi yang dilakukan kepala sekolah RA Al-Hijrah Belawan. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi kasus. Hasil dari penelitian ini di RA Al-Hijrah Belawan kepala sekolah mesupervisi guru-guru yang sedang melaksnaakan kegiatan proses pembelajaran semasa pandemi, proses yang dilakukan adalah diskusi mingguan untuk memecahkan problem dilapangan yang membutuhkan solusi secepatnya. Keywords: Melayani, Mengarahkan, dan Bantuan

Positioning Research Paradigm in the Development of the Social Housing Management Model in a Semi-Arid Climate

This paper examines the philosophical perspectives in research and the justification for the adoption of an appropriate paradigm in conducting social housing management research. An extensive review of established literature related to philosophical perspectives in social science research was conducted which forms part of the methodology. The review revealed several philosophical paradigms for conducting research such as positivism, realism, interpretivism, and pragmatism; and each of these paradigms aimed towards solving the many problems in research through appropriate methodologies. The review also indicated that effective strategy for housing management should be considered through research that is inclined to a relevant philosophical paradigm that dictates the appropriate research tools and design. The paper suggests that pragmatism with its methodological traditions was conceptualized by researchers to ensure not only adequate study of a given social phenomenon in the realm of social science as it views objective reality is embedded in the environment which is encountered through human experience; but also is a set of tools of value for addressing practical problems in the real world regardless of the peculiarity of research environment. Therefore, pragmatism has the potential to offer a suitable methodology to the social science research investigating social housing management in a peculiar environment such as the semi-arid climate by using different methodological combinations to address the research questions through either intermixing of interviewing, observation, and document analysis; relying on interviews rather than observations, or the intermixing of qualitative and quantitative data to address their research question

Tatacara Pemeriksaan Permohonan Dispensasi Kawin Menurut Perma Nomor 5 Tahun 2019 (Analisis Putusan No.0017/Pdt.P/2020/Pa.Lpk)

Children have the right to choose, whether to marry or not, and when their choice falls to marry, then the biggest thing to be considered is the age, the age that is considered safe and permissible for marriage, from a health perspective, from a psychological perspective, as well as from an economic standpoint. This study aims to see how the judges consideration in deciding marriage dispensation cases, based on the analysis of the judge's decision No.0017 / Pdt.P / 2020 / PA.Lpk. The method used in this research is normative juridical. Indonesia as a State party to the Convention on the rights of the child (Convention on the rights of children) assert, that all actions concerning children undertaken by institutions, social welfare institutions, state or private, courts, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, are implemented in the best interest of the child, to provide protection for children who choose to marry while they are hindered by ag

Positioning Research Paradigm in the Development of the Social Housing Management Model in a Semi-Arid Climate

This paper examines the philosophical perspectives in research and the justification for the adoption of an appropriate paradigm in conducting social housing management research. An extensive review of established literature related to philosophical perspectives in social science research was conducted which forms part of the methodology. The review revealed several philosophical paradigms for conducting research such as positivism, realism, interpretivism, and pragmatism; and each of these paradigms aimed towards solving the many problems in research through appropriate methodologies. The review also indicated that effective strategy for housing management should be considered through research that is inclined to a relevant philosophical paradigm that dictates the appropriate research tools and design. The paper suggests that pragmatism with its methodological traditions was conceptualized by researchers to ensure not only adequate study of a given social phenomenon in the realm of social science as it views objective reality is embedded in the environment which is encountered through human experience; but also is a set of tools of value for addressing practical problems in the real world regardless of the peculiarity of research environment. Therefore, pragmatism has the potential to offer a suitable methodology to the social science research investigating social housing management in a peculiar environment such as the semi-arid climate by using different methodological combinations to address the research questions through either intermixing of interviewing, observation, and document analysis; relying on interviews rather than observations, or the intermixing of qualitative and quantitative data to address their research question

Inflation and companies’ performance: a crosssectional analysis

Inflation is a major problem in many countries because during inflation, the purchasing power of money declines as the prices of goods and services increase. The impact of inflation affects the profits by reacting on sales volume and also influencing the level of costs. Manufacturing companies play an important role and have large influence on the Malaysian economy for the past three decades because it contributes almost 80% of overall country’s export. Company’s performance can be indicated by the gross profits obtained from the comprehensive income statement of the company. Manufacturing companies need to be aware of the impact of inflation to sustain the manufacturing company’s performance. Therefore, the aim of this study is to analyze whether there is a significant impact of inflation on manufacturing companies’ performance in Malaysia. Cross-sectional study will be used in this study. Fifty manufacturing companies will be chosen based on the population. Cluster random sampling is going to be used in this study along with correlation analysis, to understand how changes in gross profit is affected by the rate of inflation. The finding of research shows that there is a positive relationship between gross profit and inflation rate. This indicates inflation in fact contributed to a higher earning in manufacturing companies instead of lowering profit